The Byakugan from the Start

The next day, Hyuga Soji broke his promise in spectacular fashion.

It was not that he did not want to begin training right away; his body simply would not allow it. Chakra exhaustion was no joke. At best, it could leave someone bedridden for days. At worst, it could cost them their life.

So, after Hyuga Kumokawa invited Tsunade over once more to treat Soji the next day, Soji spent the following days in his room, attended to by the maids.

For Soji, it was truly painful yet enjoyable.

Ah, this kind of life really does make people fall into decadence. As he enjoyed the maids' meticulous care, Soji sighed inwardly.

Hyuga Kumokawa had also exhausted himself over the past few days, so he took the chance to relax and left Soji entirely in the maids' care.

Hyuga Soji remained in bed for another three or four days before finally feeling strength fill his body once more.

After roughly familiarizing himself with his residence, Soji headed toward Hyuga Kumokawa's room.

Soji's home was quite large, covering roughly six hundred square meters. As a member of the Main House, he was entitled to such high-standard treatment.

Hyuga Kumokawa was drinking tea in his room when he suddenly heard footsteps outside, followed by a knock.

"Come in." He already knew who it was.

"Grandpa." Soji called from the doorway, then walked in and sat on his knees atop a cushion opposite Hyuga Kumokawa.

This was how the grandfather and grandson got along. They were not as stern with each other as they were around outsiders.

"How is your body recovering? Do we need to invite a Medical Ninja over for another look?" Hyuga Kumokawa set down his teacup and asked warmly.

"Mm, I'm fine now. My Chakra has completely recovered as well." Soji honestly explained his condition.

Hyuga Kumokawa carefully looked Soji over from head to toe again. Only after noticing Soji's uncomfortable expression did he finally let go of the worry in his heart.

After all, he himself had been entirely responsible for causing his grandson to faint. When he invited Tsunade to treat Soji, she had given him a fierce scolding. If not for Hyuga Kumokawa being her senior, she probably would have cursed him even more harshly.

"Grandpa, please teach me how to train."

Just as Hyuga Kumokawa was regretting how harshly he had pushed Soji to train before, he heard those words.

"Hm? Why? Didn't you hate training before? I had to force you into it, so why now... And you suffered this time because of training too. Can you tell Grandpa why?"

Hyuga Kumokawa was deeply puzzled. Getting his grandson to train in the past had been like sending him to his death, so why was he now asking to train on his own initiative?

He had assumed that after this incident, his grandson would hate training even more. He had even prepared himself: if his grandson only wanted to peacefully inherit the Main House, he would no longer force him too much.

In truth, as a member of the Hyuga Main Family, Soji could simply live as a rich second-generation heir and enjoy himself in peace. That was also the mindset held by most Main House members nowadays.

The Branch House members would risk their lives for them, so why should they exhaust themselves?

Among the Clan Head's line and the eight elder branches, perhaps not all, but at least more than half of the Main House members held such thoughts.

That was also why, in the anime Soji had watched in his previous life, the Hyuga Clan Main Family basically had no powerful fighters.

Living pampered lives in an ivory tower all the time—how could they possibly produce strong people?

But as a member of the older generation of the Main House, Hyuga Kumokawa still possessed the Ninja Spirit deep in his bones. That was why he had trained Soji's predecessor so harshly.

Soji did not hesitate when faced with his grandfather's question. He gave his answer, the true thought that had been in his heart these past few days.

Having come to this world and knowing so much about the future, if he still drifted through life, then what difference was there between him and a salted fish?

"Grandpa, I want to control my own destiny! I did not suffer this time because of training, but because I was weak. If I had enough Chakra and physical strength, how could I have fainted from such minor training?"

Soji paused, then stared seriously at Hyuga Kumokawa.

"So, Grandpa, please train me as you did before. No, please train me even more harshly than before. This time, I will not complain again."

Hearing the resolve in his grandson's voice and seeing the determination in his eyes, Hyuga Kumokawa smiled.

Hyuga Kumokawa, who had been blaming himself moments ago, suddenly realized that his grandson's fainting might actually have been a good thing.

"Good! As expected of my, Hyuga Kumokawa's, grandson! Then let's begin training now."

He rose and headed toward the training yard, with Soji getting up to follow him.

Once they reached the yard, Hyuga Kumokawa initially planned to train Soji's physical fitness as usual. After all, for a five-year-old child, it was still too early to teach him the Gentle Fist.

"Grandpa, I want to learn the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist."

Soji voiced his opinion before Hyuga Kumokawa could.

"Hm? Soji, the Gentle Fist is the core of our Hyuga Clan. It is not something a child your age should be considering. Without the Byakugan, you cannot bring out the power of the Gentle Fist at all, and you might even injure yourself instead. Your priority now should be physical training, not reaching too far in pursuit of other powerful ninjutsu."

Hyuga Kumokawa was quite displeased that his grandson, having only just recovered from fainting, was already thinking about learning the Gentle Fist. He even wondered whether Soji's desire to train was merely a passing impulse, and whether he would return to his old ways after a few days.

"Hehe, Grandpa, let me show you a secret."

Soji had long expected his grandfather's objection. But he was not making this request without reason; he would not have brought it up without confidence.

Hyuga Kumokawa was equally puzzled by his grandson's strange smile.

Of course, he could never have imagined what Soji was about to show him.

"Byakugan, activate!"

As Hyuga Soji's words fell, veins bulged around his eyes. His field of vision expanded dramatically, and everything within a one-kilometer radius became clearly visible in every direction, without a single blind spot.

Through the Byakugan, Hyuga Kumokawa's body looked like a diagram of meridians, and even the flow of Chakra within him could be seen clearly.

When Hyuga Kumokawa saw the Byakugan Soji had revealed, his mouth fell open in utter shock. He hurriedly rubbed his eyes, then could not help activating his own Byakugan to examine him.

In the end, he had no choice but to accept it. Hyuga Soji, his five-year-old grandson, had truly awakened the Byakugan at such a young age.

"A genius, a true genius! Hahaha, our Hyuga Main Family has not declined!"

Only after excitedly dancing about for a while did Hyuga Kumokawa finally calm down.

The thought that his grandson was a genius filled him with incomparable pride.

"Grandpa, the halo of a genius cannot control one's destiny. A genius who has not grown up is worthless."

Hyuga Soji remained calm about having awakened the Byakugan at such a young age.

How should he put it? The Byakugan, as a Kekkei Genkai Dojutsu, was strong early on but weak later.

Unlike the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, which was a top-tier Kekkei Genkai at every stage.

If the Chakra purity of the Byakugan and Sharingan were compared on a scale of zero to one hundred—

The Byakugan could awaken at a Chakra purity of ten, while the Sharingan awakened its first tomoe at twenty.

But from a Chakra purity of ten all the way to ninety-nine, the Byakugan remained the Byakugan. At most, it could see a little farther.

The Sharingan was different. At thirty purity, it gained two tomoe; at forty, Three Tomoe; at fifty, it underwent a qualitative transformation into the Mangekyo; and at seventy-five, it could awaken the Eternal Eye.

Yet even if the Byakugan reached a Chakra purity of ninety-nine, it was still only roughly comparable to a Three-Tomoe Sharingan at forty purity. It simply could not compare to a Mangekyo at fifty purity or an Eternal Eye at seventy-five purity.

Only when both the Byakugan and Sharingan reached one hundred purity, evolving into the Tenseigan and Rinnegan respectively, would they once again reach the same level.

Of course, this talk of Chakra purity was merely an analogy.

In short, the Byakugan could ascend to the heavens in a single step, but 99.999% of people could not take that step. The Sharingan, however, could cross the distance gradually in small steps, with every step bringing a qualitative transformation.

This was the only point where Hyuga Soji felt the Hyuga Clan was inferior to the Uchiha Clan.

Still, the Byakugan was said to be the origin of all Dojutsu. Even the legendary Sage of Six Paths, Otsutsuki Hagoromo, had initially possessed the Byakugan before it mutated into the Sharingan. Later, it skipped past the Mangekyo and Eternal Eye stages altogether and evolved into the Rinnegan.

But that held no reference value for Hyuga Soji at all!

The Sage of Six Paths was special. Hyuga Soji did not believe that he possessed anything special himself.

Hyuga Soji's current goal was the Tenseigan!

Unfortunately, he did not have the slightest clue how to achieve it. Otsutsuki Toneri, the only person in the original work to awaken the Tenseigan, had done so in a way that was completely meaningless to Soji.

The road ahead is long, and the Tenseigan remains far beyond reach.

After hearing Hyuga Soji's words, Hyuga Kumokawa felt greatly comforted. His grandson had truly matured in an instant after fainting this time.

"Soji, since you have awakened the Byakugan, I should tell you about some taboos. Within Konoha Village, you are forbidden from activating the Byakugan unless there are special circumstances. It is fine within the clan grounds, since we have set up barriers specifically against the Byakugan around the perimeter. Many special places within the clan grounds also have barriers, and their sole purpose is to guard against the Byakugan."

Hyuga Kumokawa then began explaining the Byakugan's taboos to Soji one by one.

The most important rule was that using the Byakugan freely in the village to spy on others or their belongings would get one invited for tea by the Konoha Military Police Force. In more serious cases, even the Anbu would come knocking.

It made sense. If the Byakugan could be used freely in the village, the Hyuga Clan would have been ostracized by the entire village long ago.

For all anyone knew, women might be bathing at home, married couples might be doing embarrassing things, or there might be bathhouses. In even more serious cases, the Hokage Building and the secrets of every clan would be completely exposed before the Hyuga Clan.

After listening to his grandfather's teachings, Hyuga Soji nodded seriously. He had no interest in challenging these taboos. He was not some white-haired, perverted old man who loved reading smut and peeping into bathhouses!

After learning that Hyuga Soji had awakened the Byakugan, Hyuga Kumokawa no longer held anything back and prepared to teach his grandson the Hyuga Clan's core technique—the Gentle Fist.

After all, the Gentle Fist was a Nintaijutsu developed to work alongside the Byakugan! The Byakugan was also an essential requirement for using the Gentle Fist.

Unlike the Steel Fist Style, the Gentle Fist was a taijutsu that sent one's own Chakra into an enemy's body, damaging their Chakra pathways—the "meridian system"—and internal organs.

For the Hyuga Clan, the Steel Fist Style could only serve as a reference; it was not something they could learn.

So, although Hyuga Soji greatly admired the Eight Inner Gates from the original work, he had no intention of learning it.

This was not a matter of being unconventional. The Steel Fist Style itself was simply unsuited to the Hyuga Clan's development. Otherwise, could all the Hyuga Clan's ancestors over the years really have been fools?

After all, this was something gradually established through hundreds of years of exploration.

Next came the official beginning of his Gentle Fist training!