Late at night, in the forest outside the Hidden Leaf Village.
Rakawa came alone to the dark forest. The lightless night made the forest appear eerie and terrifying, and the night wind sent shivers down his spine.
"Byakugan, activate!"
His mutated Byakugan activated. On the surface, it looked similar to an ordinary Byakugan, but the difference lay within.
Once activated, all the surrounding scenery no longer posed any obstruction to his vision. He could see through physical matter to everything beyond.
This was the fundamental ability of an ordinary Byakugan: to see the flow of Chakra, the Chakra Pathway System within the body, and so on. However, when his activated, there was a slight difference. In addition to these fundamental abilities, there was another change: a strange desire hidden within the Byakugan, a desire to devour!
Previously, when his Byakugan was active, a terrifying desire would surge within him, a desire that seemed to want to devour everything. When he was training within the Hyuga Clan, he thought it was meant to devour the Main Family. However, with recent battles, he gradually discovered that this devouring desire was not only directed at the Hyuga Clan's Main Family but at everything.
As long as there was energy, as long as it was a Kekkei Genkai power, these eyes would produce that sensation.
Could it be that this mutated Byakugan was meant to devour the power of Kekkei Genkai? But what would be the effect after devouring?
He couldn't understand. Currently, he hadn't devoured any Kekkei Genkai, so he naturally didn't know the reason behind it.
An ordinary Byakugan didn't possess this ability, but an ordinary Byakugan could evolve through the gathering of multiple Byakugan or by fusing the Byakugan with the bloodline of the Otsutsuki Clan.
However, his eyes didn't need such methods. It seemed that as long as they devoured and obtained enough energy, they could evolve.
'A miraculous Byakugan. Although its abilities seem ordinary, it fundamentally restrains many Kekkei Genkai. When fighting someone with a Kekkei Genkai, even if my strength is slightly inferior, I can still strip away the enemy's ability by devouring.'
This was the greatest advantage. Although people with Kekkei Genkai in the Shinobi World were not as numerous as stars, they were certainly not as rare as morning stars. Thus, devouring Kekkei Genkai to evolve the Byakugan would be much easier.
However, devouring another's Kekkei Genkai was a major taboo in the Shinobi World. If discovered, he would surely become the target of public criticism.
Just like when he killed that Uchiha Clan ninja earlier, he simply found an excuse, claiming it was an enemy ninja attempting to steal the Byakugan. The Third Hokage not only didn't suspect him but instead thoroughly investigated enemy ninjas.
This showed how strict the ninja villages were in protecting Kekkei Genkai, rarely allowing them to leave the village.
"But how do I devour? How do I perform the devouring?"
This question stumped him. What good was it to merely know he could devour? He needed to know how to use it.
He had no clue. Currently, there was no lead on this matter. He could only slowly explore to uncover its mysteries.
Temporarily setting aside the Byakugan's abilities, he shifted his attention to the mutated Dust Release.
The mutated Dust Release's abilities were already known: destruction, devouring, and annihilation. It destroyed souls, a powerful ability that thoroughly annihilated souls.
Some Kinjustu could revive the dead, such as Impure World Reincarnation. It summoned the souls of deceased individuals back to the living world and placed them in prepared bodies, thereby achieving resurrection.
However, if a person's soul was annihilated in battle, could Impure World Reincarnation still summon them back?
Clearly, that was impossible.
The soul was the most fundamental existence of a living being. Once the soul was destroyed, the world would forever lose its mark.
The devouring ability was different from the Byakugan's ability to devour Kekkei Genkai; this was space devouring. It devoured a certain space, but the consequences after devouring were unknown.
However, this was definitely a very powerful ability. When he truly mastered it, and this power was utilized, the entire space might tremble.
Then there was the annihilation attribute. What could annihilation achieve? It could annihilate everything.
Whether it was souls, matter, energy, or space, everything was within the scope of annihilation.
What a powerful ability, what a terrifying ability.
The two mutated powers created infinite possibilities for his path forward. To deal with Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan could devour them. To deal with Impure World Reincarnation, Dust Release could destroy the souls. To deal with Space-Time Ninjutsu like Flying Thunder God Technique, Dust Release could devour space. He could even use annihilation to turn everything into nothingness.
When these two abilities reached their peak, any other technique would dim before him, losing all its brilliance and all its effectiveness.
Even the legendary Sage of Six Paths, and even Kaguya Otsutsuki, could only be manipulated by him.
Improving these two abilities required self-exploration. Without guidance from predecessors, everything had to be done on his own.
"For now, I'll test the Dust Release's abilities. I haven't really used Dust Release's power much until now. It's time to get familiar with it."
Rakawa pondered inwardly. Any ability, whether Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu, required time and practice to master. Not being familiar enough with a technique meant not being able to fully unleash its power; this was inevitable.
Currently, Dust Release already had a few known techniques, but based on the power of the mutated Dust Release, developing more new techniques was very necessary.
With the infinite ideas in his mind, creating some techniques is very possible.
"Since it can destroy souls, I need to accurately pinpoint the enemy's location. Also, devouring space... wait! Devouring space? Annihilation?"
A flash of inspiration struck his mind. He seemed to have thought of something, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.
"In that case, even if I face the Flying Thunder God Technique in the future, I'll have absolute confidence in intercepting it!"
The idea that appeared in his mind gave him absolute confidence. Without another word, he began to experiment.
On the other side, within the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Senyo was holding a meeting with the Elders.
"The matter is settled for now. Elder Chiba, you will arrange for personnel to execute it tomorrow. No matter what, it must be retrieved!"
"Yes, Clan Head."