"Tsunade-sama, how could I possibly know what Orochimaru-sama is thinking?"
Hyuga Yuu spread his hands helplessly. "Maybe he just wants to protect his comrades. After all, he is the overall commander of the Mist front."
"Protect comrades? Orochimaru?"
For some reason, Tsunade felt the urge to laugh—but the sound never came.
If it weren't for the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars, Orochimaru might truly have become Hokage.
A capable Hokage. One who genuinely valued his comrades.
But the Orochimaru of today… Tsunade could no longer understand him.
War…
With her interest gone, she waved her hand dismissively. "You can go."
Whatever Orochimaru wanted to do had nothing to do with her.
Let the old man deal with his own headaches.
She was just a frail kunoichi suffering from hemophobia, after all. What did Konoha's endless power struggles have to do with her?
…
"So even Tsunade was called back, huh? Looks like I can afford to have some expectations."
Out on the street, Yuu glanced back toward the laboratory, deep in thought.
Being reborn as a Hyuga Branch House member, the biggest problem was always the Caged Bird Seal.
But in truth… the Caged Bird couldn't kill him.
In his first transaction with Orochimaru, he had traded the secrets of the Senju and Uchiha for guidance—and the Spirit Transformation Technique.
If a soul didn't belong to this world, did the body it occupied truly belong to it either?
The answer had already been verified during the Edo Tensei experiment: no.
In fact, Yuu had formed this suspicion much earlier—when he first obtained the Spirit Transformation Technique.
While using it, he could sense the existence of the Pure Land.
He could even enter it directly.
But his intuition screamed at him: once he stepped in, coming back would be extremely difficult. So he never tried.
That alone proved it.
His life and death were no longer tied to the flesh, but to the soul itself. The body was merely a vessel.
The Caged Bird could destroy nerves and brain—but it couldn't touch his soul.
Still, reaching his current level of strength hadn't been easy. Yuu had no habit of deleting a character and starting over.
Since he'd already made his move, he intended to secure tangible results.
Yuu's gaze shifted to a kunoichi walking toward the laboratory.
Hyuga Miyuki.
—the Branch House girl who had called the Caged Bird "ugly."
The Byakugan research has reached a certain stage. You'll do nicely as a test subject… and you'll help stir the pot a little more.
…
"Tsunade-sama, how's the progress on the Caged Bird research?"
Inside the research lab, Hyuga Miyuki's cute face was taut with unmistakable tension.
"The progress is encouraging," Tsunade replied flatly, glancing at the girl's delicate features.
"In another month, the Branch House will be engraved with a brand-new version of the Caged Bird."
Miyuki stiffened.
"…I see."
So nothing was going to change after all.
Back home, she collapsed onto her bed, exhaustion pressing down on her chest like a weight.
Was she really supposed to live like this forever—just like her father and mother—offering everything to the Main House?
The memory of her parents surged up.
They had died on the battlefield… forced there because a Main House member had acted on a whim.
If that Main House ninja hadn't insisted on going to the front lines, her parents—assigned as guards—would never have gone.
If not for the Main House…
They wouldn't have fallen into a Mist ambush.
Devotion to the Main House?
"No. Absolutely not!"
She sprang up from the bed and rushed to her desk.
Two fingers rose before her eyes.
"Release."
A small barrier dissolved, and the desk drawer slid open.
Miyuki stared at the scroll inside. Her hand hovered in midair, trembling.
She clenched her teeth.
"I don't care what his purpose is. Right now… I need power!"
Having convinced herself, she grabbed the scroll and began to read.
It had appeared in her room not long ago.
She didn't know who left it there. She didn't know if it was a trap.
But as a Branch House member—even with jōnin parents—she had never been qualified to access advanced Gentle Fist training.
If she wanted the power to resist, she had to take it.
The first part of the scroll recorded Gentle Fist techniques—Rotation, Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms, and the like.
Miyuki skipped past them quickly and turned to the end.
—
The Byakugan and the Sharingan are the same type of kekkei genkai.
The activation and evolution of the Sharingan are linked to Yin Release chakra. What about the Byakugan?
Different Hyuga possess different levels of Byakugan ocular power. This is directly reflected in their detection range.
Further research shows that this difference is also related to Yin Release chakra—however, the gap is extremely small. The apparent detection limit of a normal Byakugan is around one kilometer, and Yin chakra can only extend it by a few meters.
The Byakugan is clearly different from the Sharingan. This kekkei genkai is exceptionally stable. If one wishes to force evolution, simply increasing Yin chakra will not work.
But it is precisely because of this stability that rejection reactions are almost nonexistent. Anyone can transplant a Byakugan. Its ocular power is also stable—any Byakugan can perfectly absorb the ocular power of another.
Then what would happen if a single pair of Byakugan absorbed the ocular power of every Hyuga Byakugan?
The evolution of the Sharingan dramatically increases chakra and can even awaken the legendary Mangekyō—the power that allowed the "Asura of the Shinobi World" to dominate the era.
As one of the Three Great Dōjutsu of the shinobi world… is the Byakugan really inferior to the Sharingan?
—
The final section read like an experimental log.
And she… was the experiment chosen to continue it.
Miyuki didn't want to refuse.
The scroll offered her two paths.
First: train the Gentle Fist step by step and eventually become a Hyuga jōnin.
Second: inherit the research and continue the experiment.
The first path promised comfort—a "good life" within the Hyuga.
A high-ranking slave.
But it wouldn't give her revenge.
After her parents died, she had buried her hatred deep inside, never daring to show it.
Because she lacked the power.
Whether it was the Main House members whose whims had sent her parents to their deaths—or the Mist jōnin who had killed them—she, a mere chūnin, stood no chance.
Let alone taking revenge on the Hyuga Main House itself—the true root of every tragedy.
Miyuki stared at the final line of the scroll.
Is the Byakugan really inferior to the Sharingan?
She whispered softly to herself:
"Then… let me find out for you."
…
Elsewhere, Hyuga Yuu—his Byakugan active—curved his lips into a faint smile.
It was time.