Just as I prepared to collapse against a tree, the faint crunch of footsteps caught my attention.
"Kaien!"
Hinata burst through the treeline, her chest heaving as she panted for air. The veins around her temples were visibly bulging, her distinctive, pale Byakugan activated.
"I brought food for you," she managed to say between breaths, a bright smile breaking across her face. "Aunt Aya asked me to deliver it before it got cold. And look, Kaien! Look at my eyes! I can see everything around us now. I can see your entire chakra pathway system... though, from the looks of your nodes, you have terribly overworked yourself."
I stepped forward and took the heavy bundle of food from her hands. The scent of warm rice and grilled meat hit my nostrils. I sat down on a log and began to eat, using the fuel to spark my almost exhausted stamina.
Hinata sat nearby, vibrating with excitement. "Aren't you going to ask me? Kaien, ask me how I finally awakened the Byakugan!"
I paused, giving her a dry look from the corner of my eye.
And thought, "Are you for real, young lady?"
She let out a soft huff, puffing her cheeks out slightly. "Fine... it really is no fun trying to tease you. If you must know, I've been watching you out here for months. I took your training routines and tried to include them in my own schedule. Even attempting a tenth of what you do out here nearly broke me. But I kept at it consistently, for the past half-year. And today, during my training... I awakened this eyes."
I swallowed the last of the food, the nourishment instantly coursing through my exhausted limbs. I didn't say a word, but I gave her a small nod of acknowledgement before standing back up and stepping into the center of the training ground. It was time to finish what I started.
My new technique didn't rely on striking the body; it targeted the mind's perception of depth.
I stood still, closing my eyes and exhaling a slow, steady breath. I began to manifest my Yin chakra, but instead of keeping it coiled within my physical pathways, I bled it outward into the ambient atmosphere. The spiritual energy rolled off my skin like an invisible, odorless mist.
The concept was simple but terrifying. When an opponent step into this territory, the ambient Yin chakra would subtly hijack their cranial nerve and vestibular system. Their brain would completely misinterpret visual depth and spatial senses.
An enemy could look at me, believe with absolute certainty that they were sprinting in a perfectly straight line to cut my throat, but their legs would actually carry them at a 45-degree angle to the left. Alternatively, they might perceive me as standing fifty paces away, completely unaware that my blade was already resting against their jugular.
The true brilliance of this technique lay in its persistence. Standard genjutsu could be broken with a simple disruption of chakra. But this is an environmental and continuous effect. Even if an elite shinobi realized their senses were warped and successfully dispersed the illusion, the ambient Yin chakra hanging in the atmosphere would instantly re-infect their mind. They would be caught in an infinite loop of distortion as long as they are within the range.
If I can manage to use this technique without any hand signs, it will be a great advantage.
~~
Kushina flickered directly behind Hinata, as her eyes narrowed as she stared across the training ground at Kaien, who suddenly appeared to be standing half a mile away—a tiny, distant silhouette against the horizon. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she yelled, "Hey, Kaien! Why did you go so far away all of a sudden?"
Even Kushina's eyes saw a distant figure, but her highly tuned sensory instincts... the awareness of her Kagura's Mind's Eye... told otherwise. The information being sent by optic nerves to her brain contradicted her Kagura's Mind Eye.
Kushina grinned as she realized what was happening. "Is this your new jutsu? Wow, it's a pretty brilliant utility technique. Even I got caught in it for a second! If you manage to perfect this, the potential is absolutely limitless."
Hinata jumped, a small gasp escaping her lips as the older woman's voice came right behind her shoulder. Because her Byakugan was currently deactivated, she had been completely oblivious to her arrival. "A-Aunt Kushina! Please don't scare me like that," she breathed, patting her chest to calm her racing heart.
With a subtle shift of his chakra, Kaien deactivated the jutsu. To Hinata, it looked as though he had instantaneously jumped across space, reappearing right in front of them. Hinata flinched back, thoroughly startled for the second time in two minutes. "What is even happening today?" she mumbled.
Kaien lifted his index finger, he traced a swift pattern in the air which glowed with intricate Kanji manifested out of pure chakra, hovering in the space between them for Kushina to read:
"Yes... this is a Genjutsu I am currently working on."
"And it looks like you've been practicing your sealing arts, too," Kushina remarked, her eyes tracing the flawless calligraphy of the floating Kanji. "Your Kanji has drastically improved. Tell you what... if you need any help training, I'd gladly assist. I'm going to be staying in the village until next week anyway."
Kaien's eyes glowed with interest. With a flick of his wrist, the floating Kanji dissolved, reshaping itself into a new message: "I need help effectively combining my Water Release and Yin Release."
To demonstrate his current roadblock, Kaien immediately cycled through a sequence of hand signs, unleashing his current arsenal in rapid succession:
Water Style: Syrup Wave!
Water Style: Drill Gun!
Kushina crossed her arms and analyzed the chakra flow and the jutsu. "I see the issue. After witnessing your use of Yin Release, it's clear you are treating them as two entirely separate entities. You are perfectly capable of handling water and yin chakra individually, but you're facing a wall when trying to execute them simultaneously."
She stepped closer, offering a practical breakdown. "Initially, just get used to perfecting them separately. When you want to combine them, try a stacked approach. Gather your Water chakra first, but instead of completing the jutsu, hold it steady. At the same time, gather your Yin chakra and perform the Jutsu. As you practice this rhythm, you'll naturally reduce the delay between gathering the two different chakra nature until it becomes a single, fluid Jutsu. I could show you but it destroy the whole landscape so I will refrain from it."
Taking her advice, Kaien closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He gathered his water chakra, and then instead of completing his jutsu, he proceed to mold yin chakra before releasing the technique.
The resulting jutsu tore through the training field. The stability and raw destructive power had spiked threefold... all while consuming the exact same amount of chakra. It was a staggering success; all he needed to do now was eliminate the jutsu time, which was longer than his water release technique s. All these time, he was aiming to finish the jutsu quickly.
A fresh set of Kanji appeared in the air: "Thank you, Kushina-san."
Kushina grinned brightly, lunged forward, and wrapped her arms around Kaien in a fiercely affectionate, tight hug as she rubbed his cheek with hers. Kaien's expression remained stoic.
"I guess it's finally time to strike the first name off my kill list," Kaien thought, his eyes neutral. "Minato Namikaze... your time is up. I hope Sayami-san mastered the jutsu."
~~
A/N: Upto 20 Advance chapters available @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0