Two Months Later

Hinata was feeling rather troubled as well.

Back when she first saw Nature Energy with her own eyes, she had been thrilled too.

Before that, she had always absorbed Nature Energy through perception before refining it.

Being able to see Nature Energy meant that her natural affinity had increased, or that her eyes had evolved.

At first, Hinata had been delighted, but what left her speechless afterward was...

As the days passed, more and more Nature Energy gradually appeared in Hinata's field of vision, almost filling her entire sight.

At that time, Hinata's eyes saw nothing but red, blue, yellow, and green. She could not even make out human figures clearly.

Helpless, she could only deactivate the ability that allowed her eyes to directly see Nature Energy.

And now, the same thing had happened again! Only this time, it was even more serious!

So serious that Hinata had trouble even turning this ability off.

Even the ability to directly see Nature Energy, which she had previously turned off, had activated on its own.

Now, Hinata's field of vision was filled with countless colorful specks of light, along with that black energy.

Because this chaotic, twisted energy seemed far too hostile to life, her body's self-protection mechanism had gone against her wishes, making it impossible for her to deactivate her ability to see energy directly.

This discovery gave Hinata quite a headache.

Through Hinata's Level 9 Byakugan, this energy had undergone a strange chemical reaction with the world itself.

Although this chaotic, twisted energy was extremely unfriendly to life, it did not directly affect living beings themselves.

Instead, it gave birth to strange things. These born entities seemed to hold a grudge against humanity, harboring immense malice toward humans and killing people on sight.

However, since they had been born from that chaotic, twisted energy, they possessed little intelligence.

They were like monsters designed in advance, only killing people who met certain conditions.

Otherwise, although the Black Shadow from a few days ago had only just been born, it possessed the ability to devour humans through shadows and grow stronger with every human shadow it consumed.

If it had not been stopped, the Hidden Leaf Village would probably have been destroyed.

The strange entities born from that chaotic, twisted energy were incredibly difficult to kill.

Or rather, by the means currently available to ninja, those strange entities possessed Immortal Bodies. True Immortal Bodies!

Even if Hinata acted personally, she could only use her True Qi to slowly wear them down bit by bit.

"If I can't turn it off, this will be troublesome."

Hinata sighed. For now, she could only let things remain this way.

Although she could see an extraordinary number of things, with a full three hundred and sixty-degree view without blind spots...

It had not actually affected Hinata very much.

After all, Hinata did not rely solely on her eyes to "see" the things around her.

Through abilities such as perception and spiritual power, even without her eyes, Hinata could still clearly perceive everything around her.

"So, do I have to be blind for a while?"

Her eyes were already useless to a certain extent, so she might as well shut down all their functions.

Commonly known as closing her eyes.

But it was not that simple. Since the Byakugan possessed x-ray vision, the ordinary act of closing one's eyes could not stop the Byakugan from seeing.

If a member of the Hyuga Clan closed their eyes in front of you, you had better be careful. They might be peeking at you.

After deciding to "close" her eyes, Hinata's father, Hyuga Hiashi, who spent every day with her, noticed something unusual about Hinata.

Although Hinata appeared no different from normal...

She had not deliberately concealed anything, and Hyuga Hiashi's Byakugan was no joke. He immediately noticed something was wrong.

"Because my vision is filled with that chaotic, twisted energy, my eyes are a little out of control, so I shut them off."

Although she had "shut off" her eyes, that did not mean it would be permanent.

In another half year, Hinata's Immortal Body would reach Level 2, and her strength would become even greater.

The sense of danger produced by that chaotic, twisted energy would diminish greatly, or perhaps even disappear.

At the very least, she would have a little more control over her eyes.

"As long as you're fine. If anything happens, tell me. There's no need to hide it all by yourself." Hyuga Hiashi cared deeply about Hinata.

But if she had shut off her eyes, did that not mean she could not see?

Then how was Hinata "seeing" things?

In the end, Hyuga Hiashi did not ask. His daughter had her secrets, and as her father, he did not necessarily have to force her to explain them.

Besides, Hyuga Hiashi was immensely proud to have a daughter like Hinata.

Whenever guests came to visit, he would introduce Hinata with his head held high, looking utterly proud.

He had even compared the Uchiha Clan's genius next door, Itachi Uchiha, with his own daughter, and found that his daughter was even more outstanding.

This made Hyuga Hiashi even happier.

The Hyuga Clan had always been overshadowed by the Uchiha Clan, but now that they had Hinata, things were different.

Hyuga Hiashi was now looking forward to seeing what astonishing talent Hinata would display once she grew up and began refining Chakra!

Hinata had no idea what her father was thinking, but if she did, she would definitely refuse to refine Chakra.

Was the True Qi flowing through her body like surging rivers not good enough? Why would she need Chakra?

But there was one thing she and her father thought alike: she now wished time could speed up.

What she was looking forward to, however, was the upgrade of her Immortal Body half a year later.

But before her Immortal Body could level up, news reached the Hyuga household.

And it was no small matter.

Two months after the Black Shadow appeared, a commission arrived at the Hidden Leaf Village.

The commission had been issued by a merchant.

When that merchant came to the Hidden Leaf Village to post the commission, he looked as though he had been terrified. Or rather, scared out of his wits.

Only after being comforted for quite some time did his mental state finally stabilize.

Then, the merchant explained his commission.

Investigate the truth behind the massacre of every person in an entire village!

A few days earlier, the merchant had gone to a village to collect some goods.

But he found the village extremely strange. There was not a single person in sight.

Instead, several stray cats and dogs saw the merchant caravan and, rather than being afraid, approached them while crying out.

It was as though they were begging for food. The merchant grew irritated by the cats and dogs' cries and directly ordered his guards to drive them away.

Just then, a guard who had traveled with him in business for many years spoke up. "Isn't this the cat raised by the family next to the village chief's house? Why is it here?"

"Are you sure?" the merchant asked.

"I'm sure. It was so cute that I remembered it clearly. But why is it so dirty? I remember its owner treasured it and practically gave it a bath every day."

The villagers had disappeared, yet their pets were still there. How strange.