Optimizing the Byakugan

"Hinata, are you ready? We're about to start. Don't worry, there won't be any danger, unless you don't trust me," Issui said, standing outside Hinata's door.

"I'm ready. How could I not trust you? I trust you completely, Issui-kun. Let's go." Hinata came out and linked her arm through Issui's.

The two arrived at an open area, where Hiashi was waiting. After seeing them arrive, Hiashi opened a movable stone slab beneath his feet, revealing a secret passage. The three of them went in, and Hiashi, walking last, replaced the slab.

After some distance along the passage was a chamber made of stone. It had been built specifically to optimize Hinata's bloodline, and it had taken considerable effort.

Four old men were already in the chamber. They all had white eyes in common, so they were presumably elders of the Hyuga Clan.

"All right, I'll explain what we need to do, so please listen carefully. Everyone here is my elder, but for Hinata's sake, I hope you'll follow my instructions this time. First, Father-in-law and the four elders, please each take one of these five bottles of my blood." Issui took five glass bottles containing his blood out of his ninja pouch.

Hiashi and the four elders, whose names Issui didn't know, each took one.

"Please spread out first. I'm going to set up the barrier, so leave me enough room. Monkey, rat, horse, ox, dragon, earth, tiger, dog, rabbit, tiger. Secret Technique: Five Elements Rotation Formation!" A tremendous amount of Chakra energy surged from Issui, and five pillars of Chakra rose from the stone chamber floor, displaying the five attributes of fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. The Chakra forming the pillars had already become solid.

Everyone present except Issui and Hinata looked astonished.

"In a moment, Hinata and I will enter the formation together. Father-in-law and the four elders, please each sit on a pillar and supply the energy needed to maintain its Chakra. Everyone here is highly skilled at controlling Chakra, so you must make sure the elemental Chakra pillars don't dissipate. Inside the pillars, Hinata and I will enter the soul plane. When the five pillars suddenly descend to the floor, quickly pour the blood I gave you onto them. That's the most crucial part. The instant Hinata and I successfully communicate through our souls, the five pillars will merge into her body along with my blood, and the bloodline optimization will begin..." After speaking, Issui entered the formation with Hinata.

Once inside, Issui had Hinata sit facing him, and they closed their eyes together.

The instant they closed their eyes, Hinata and Issui entered a special space. There was nothing here but darkness.

"Hinata, sense the inheritance in your bloodline, then find it in this space, and our task will be complete. Don't worry, time here doesn't count in the real world. In other words, even if we spend a year here, nothing will have changed outside. But this method of optimizing a bloodline has one enormous drawback. If we can't find the location of your bloodline inheritance, we'll be trapped here forever. Even if we spend a hundred years, ten thousand years here, we'll never get out. Here, you and I will experience how terrifying the passage of time can be... But getting out isn't impossible. Once you leave, though, you'll never be able to come back in," Issui said to Hinata, who was in her soul form.

"But I can't sense anything. What should I do? I know I'm very weak, and I always back down. I've been trying hard to change myself. It's because of the confidence you gave me, Issui-kun." Hinata's weaknesses were completely exposed in this space, and Issui's words had made her even more timid.

"No, Hinata, you're wrong. Confidence isn't something others give you; it comes from within. It seems I've been so busy training these past few years that I've neglected how you really feel. But I believe you have confidence of your own. If you only rely on others to give it to you, you're just a puppet, like when I was unconscious before. You have to know that even if I, Issui Kanna, die, I'll still be watching over you and staying with you for the rest of your life. You have to carry my share with you and keep living." Issui gripped Hinata's shoulders as he spoke.

"But when a person dies, isn't everything gone?" Hinata asked.

"No. My grandfather died to save me, and all the villagers of Heaven Village died to save me. So I'll carry their share with me and do my best to keep living. The ninja world is a world of flesh and blood. It's normal for family and comrades to die, but we have to carry their share with us and do our best to keep living. That's how we'll grow stronger and stronger," Issui said seriously.

"I... I think I understand a little..."

"Believe in your own strength. That strength comes from love, friendship, and family. That's a ninja's true strength. As long as we have those things, we can be filled with strength. I believe in you because you have genuine feelings, Hinata. Timidity and weakness are ideas we deliberately impose on ourselves. Fate isn't predetermined. Those who seize their opportunities can gain extraordinary power."

"You believe in me because I have genuine feelings? That's right. The reason you were able to wake up from your coma, Issui-kun, was because of my tears, Sasuke's curses, and Naruto's impulsiveness. We gave you strength, and that gave you confidence. It was your love for me that gave rise to my confidence, not that you gave me confidence. I finally understand. So ninjas with feelings are the true ninjas. That's your ninja way, Issui-kun, and it's mine too. I understand now..." Hinata finally realized that only ninjas with feelings were the true strength of ninjas.

"That's right. The ninja world is made up of flesh-and-blood ninjas, not so-called tools. Even if we're timid and weak, when we have feelings, we become immensely strong. That's my ninja way. I'm going to prove it, prove it to everyone in the ninja world. Ninjas should live with their hearts full of feeling. Because we have feelings, we gain great strength. Because we have feelings, we're no longer afraid!" Issui held Hinata in his arms. Hinata, you're the source of my love. If you hadn't stayed by my hospital bed every day back then, I probably would have given up the courage to live long ago. You gave me this life and love, Hinata.

"Yes, I can feel the inheritance in my bloodline now. It's right in front of me. It was never hidden; it's been watching me all along. I've found the belief that gives me a reason to exist!" Hinata said, tears streaming down her face. I've finally changed, hehe.

"Yeah. Let's go back. The future will be even better. Let's create it with our own hands, my love," Issui said gently.

The next moment, Issui and Hinata opened their eyes inside the formation. To Hiashi and the others, however, it felt as though they had merely blinked. But the elemental Chakra pillars descending toward the floor told them it was over. They immediately followed Issui's instructions and poured the blood from their bottles onto the pillars, completely covering the elemental Chakra pillars in blood.

When the elemental Chakra pillars descended level with the floor, five rings of different colors shot into Hinata's eyes.

"Ah... mm..." Hinata felt no pain, only great comfort, as though some kind of restriction within her body had melted away and broken.

Issui's face instantly turned pale, and his body swayed unsteadily. If he hadn't kept up his physical training and rapidly improved his Taijutsu, he would probably have collapsed by now. Optimizing a bloodline consumed a great deal of soul power, but Issui had gained something too. The third stage of his own Kekkei Genkai had already opened a crack and was about to awaken. It was quite a gain.

"Mm, that feels so good. Huh? Issui-kun, what's wrong? Are you all right?" Hinata looked at Issui before her and asked with concern.

"I'm fine. I just used up a little too much energy. A night's rest will take care of it. Your bloodline optimization succeeded, right?" Issui said happily.

"Yes, Hinata, how did it go? Did it succeed?" Hiashi and the four Hyuga elders also came over happily and asked.

"It succeeded. My Byakugan has no blind spots at all now, and I can use Ninjutsu too. I'll have to develop the rest gradually. I believe I can develop a very powerful Byakugan Secret Technique and become a strong ninja." Hinata was full of confidence. It wasn't just her Kekkei Genkai that had been optimized.

Hiashi looked at his daughter before him. He felt that from this moment on, she was no longer the timid, weak child he had known. The unyielding confidence in her eyes left even him transfixed. Is this my Hinata? She's finally changed herself. It seems the bloodline optimization was a great success. Hinata might become an even stronger ninja than me...

"Here, this is Chakra paper. Test your Chakra attributes so I can help you train in Ninjutsu." Issui handed Hinata a sheet of his white paper.

"Okay." Hinata placed the Chakra paper on her hand and slowly fed her Chakra into it. When she took her hand away, she found that the paper had become damp. Not only that, it had split down the middle. She actually had both wind and water attributes. Very good.

"Hinata, you have both wind and water attributes. That's really good. There aren't many ninjas in Konoha with two attributes. From now on, besides training in Taijutsu every day, you'll also need to practice Ninjutsu. I'll guide you. Although I'm not especially strong, I can still help you train in Ninjutsu. But make sure to keep it secret. This is your trump card. A ninja should always keep something in reserve," Issui said with a smile.

"Okay." Hinata nodded.

Then they all came out of the secret chamber. The basement environment wasn't very good, and it wasn't good to stay down there all the time. Hyuga Hiashi and the elders looked very happy. After all, starting with Hinata's line, the Hyuga Clan's bloodline would be different from before-stronger. A Hyuga Clan capable of using Ninjutsu could no longer be compared to what it had been.