As for how a member of the Hyūga clan could grow stronger, Hazan had already devised a detailed plan from a very young age.
He never pursued the illusory Tenseigan. In the shinobi world, such a thing was simply impossible to obtain without relying on some kind of "cheat."
The correct path was to fully exploit the true advantages of the Hyūga clan.
And what advantages did the Hyūga clan possess?
The Byakugan's abilities—x-ray vision, perception of chakra flow, long-distance sight, and near-complete 360-degree vision—were already common knowledge.
These traits ensured that, once the Byakugan was activated, a Hyūga would rarely fall victim to ambushes, genjutsu, or fail to notice an enemy's weaknesses.
However, the Hyūga clan possessed other advantages that most people simply overlooked.
The first was that Hyūga shinobi generally had an abnormally large amount of chakra.
Taking Hiashi and Hizashi as examples, according to the official Naruto databooks, both possessed a value of Stamina 9 during their prime.
What did that actually mean?
Naruto, widely acknowledged as someone with extraordinarily large chakra reserves, had Stamina 8 at the age of twelve or thirteen.
Orochimaru, a shinobi universally recognized as Kage-level, had Stamina 7.
Meanwhile, the Third Hokage in his old age had Stamina 6.
The "Stamina" stat represented chakra quantity, and each increase of one point roughly meant nearly double the chakra reserves.
The second advantage was that the Byakugan granted the Hyūga clan exceptionally refined chakra control.
The third advantage followed naturally from the first two: thanks to the Byakugan and their superior chakra control, Hyūga were capable of releasing chakra from every tenketsu in their bodies.
Ordinary shinobi could not do this. They could only release chakra through their hands, feet, and mouth. Dōjutsu users gained, at most, the eyes as an additional outlet.
With these three advantages, as long as they were willing to study ninjutsu and learn chakra nature transformation, producing true Kage-level shinobi within the Hyūga clan would not be difficult.
Hazan's Wind Release: Kaiten was a perfect example. The technique fully exploited these three strengths. Its underlying principle was not complicated—Hiashi and Hizashi would both be capable of performing it.
All they needed was to learn chakra nature transformation.
Yet, for thousands of years, no one in the Hyūga clan had ever trained in it.
Every technique they used relied on pure, attribute-less chakra.
What truly limited the Hyūga clan was not their bloodline… but their way of thinking.
Hazan firmly believed that the future of the Hyūga clan lay in mastering chakra nature transformation.
Above all, the most crucial ones were Yin and Yang.
His theory that "Yin–Yang Release is the key to the evolution of the Byakugan" did not come out of nowhere. Hazan knew that, in the original Naruto story, every Ōtsutsuki who appeared possessed mastery over Yin and Yang.
Even if they did not use the five elemental releases, Yin Release, Yang Release, and their fusion—Yin–Yang Release—were always within their grasp.
With that in mind, the path forward was obvious. Yin–Yang Release itself was far too distant to obtain immediately, but learning Yin Release and Yang Release individually was entirely feasible.
And on top of that…
Senjutsu.
Hazan had been pondering Senjutsu since childhood.
He understood its principles well: the training consisted of three steps.
First, sensing natural energy.
Second, drawing that natural energy into the body.
Third, mixing it with chakra at a precise ratio to form senjutsu chakra.
Three steps that sounded simple, yet each was hellishly difficult in practice.
Just the first step—sensing natural energy—was enough to stop ninety-nine percent of all shinobi.
At Mount Myōboku, toad oil helped shinobi sense natural energy, but Hazan had no such aid.
With no one to teach him, he could rely only on himself. From childhood onward, he spent long hours every day attempting to sense natural energy.
In his previous life, he had read countless novels about cultivation, internal energy, and spiritual practice. After arriving in this world, he adapted those concepts to the chakra system, conducting innumerable experiments.
After years of chaotic trials and repeated failures, he finally succeeded in sensing natural energy.
After that, drawing it into his body became relatively easier. For most senjutsu practitioners, the greatest challenge of the second step lay in controlling the natural energy once it entered the body.
A single mistake could result in petrification.
However, the Hyūga clan's outstanding chakra control proved invaluable at this stage. Controlling chakra and controlling natural energy were not fundamentally different—the latter merely required greater precision.
After several attempts, Hazan succeeded.
From that point on, he continuously absorbed natural energy to strengthen his body.
By now, his physical constitution far surpassed that of other Hyūga of the same age, and the same was true of his chakra reserves.
According to his own estimates, if he continued training at this pace, his chakra would reach Stamina 10 within at most one year.
The only issue was that, in terms of Senjutsu, he was still stuck at the third step. He was unable to form senjutsu chakra.
Without any inherited Senjutsu teachings, his research progressed with extreme difficulty.
Even so, one year earlier, after forming a contract with the Ninja Crane Clan, he finally glimpsed hope. That clan possessed a tradition of Senjutsu.
At the same time, his research into Hashirama's cells had also borne fruit, allowing him to better understand the characteristics of cells modified by Senjutsu and Yang Release.
Thus, his next objective was clear: obtain more information on Yang Release, then travel to the Ninja Crane Clan to study Senjutsu.
That was precisely why he had chosen to defect.
Remaining in Konoha had already become a severe limitation.
"Then, Uzumaki Ashina… I hope you do not disappoint me," Hazan thought as he gazed toward the Land of Whirlpools.
The next step of his plan was simple—and dangerous.
To summon Uzumaki Ashina using the Edo Tensei.
That man was known as the supreme ancestor of sealing techniques.
His status was extraordinarily high. Uzumaki Mito, Hashirama's wife, was his daughter.
He had personally led the alliance between Uzushio and Konoha and had gifted the Leaf Village countless sealing techniques passed down through generations of the Uzumaki clan.
The massive barrier that enveloped Konoha itself was his handiwork.
Yet, whether because he refused to live under another village's authority or for other unknown reasons, he did not lead the Uzumaki clan to join Konoha. Instead, he founded the Hidden Whirlpool Village.
During the Second Great Ninja War, that village was destroyed—and Konoha never sent aid.
Unlike the former Hyūga clan leader of generations past, Ashina could not be treated brutally, forcibly controlled, and manipulated into creating a technique to undo the Caged Bird Seal.
They were not on the same level.
Uzumaki Ashina was undoubtedly a Kage-level shinobi, and likely one of the strongest among them.
Moreover, the Edo Tensei had yet to reach the level of perfection it would later achieve under Kabuto. Hazan knew it would be extremely difficult to control Ashina precisely.
Once summoned, he would have only two choices:
either release Ashina's consciousness entirely,
or erase his will and turn him into a mere puppet driven by instinct.
But choosing the latter would make it impossible to obtain information about Ashina's techniques.
Thus, only the former option remained.
Even so, given Ashina's mastery of sealing techniques, it was highly likely that he would undo the Edo Tensei the very moment his will was restored.
After all, the Edo Tensei was, at its core, a form of summoning technique.
It functioned by forming a summoning contract with the soul of the deceased, calling it back from the Pure Land.
And the Uzumaki clan had mastered the Contract Seal Technique.
If Minato could sever the summoning contract between Obito and the Nine-Tails, then Ashina had no reason to be incapable of doing the same.
Thus, the most probable outcome was clear: Hazan would be unable to control the former Uzumaki clan leader.
What remained to him were only two strategies:
First, select an extremely weak living vessel, ensuring that even after possession, Ashina could only manifest a minimal fraction of his power.
Second, be fully prepared to persuade him.
/------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Read more chapters on my Patreon: https://patreon.com/SailorTranslations?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink