Byakugan Mutation, Shigaraki Tanuki

Crow Forest.

This forest is located at the tail end of the Kirigakure encirclement, meaning that to reach it, one would have to traverse the entire oval-shaped Kirigakure blockade from the middle.

The upside is that there are no enemies along the way.

The downside is that although the Crow Forest is called a forest, it is extremely dry. The trees are all withered branches and dead leaves, and they are spaced far apart, lacking the tree branches that a ninja would use for mobility.

In other words, once he arrives here, Hyuga Yu will be unable to use the tree branches for mobility to create distance between himself and the dozens of Kirigakure ninja pursuing and converging behind him.

He will be trapped here.

Without reinforcements, he can only wait for death.

After arriving here at full speed, boosted by the chakra amplified by the mutation of his Byakugan, Hyuga Yu has no more hidden means.

Thirteen years of accumulation, a breakthrough after long preparation, Byakugan: Invisibility Jutsu, research and application of Byakugan: Chakra principles, Wind Release: Vacuum Blade, the third gate of the Eight Gates, Gate of Life Burst, and over ten types of Medical Ninjutsu copied by his Byakugan.

This is all that Hyuga Yu has as a ninja.

At this moment, Inside the Crow Forest.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Hyuga Yu leaned against a bare banyan tree and caught his breath for a moment, calming his heart rate, which had accelerated due to intense exertion.

After recovering some of his stamina, he took a large handful of Military Rations Pills from his ninja tool pouch and stuffed them into his mouth.

He closely monitored his body's changes while remaining constantly ready for battle.

At this time, The mutation of the new Byakugan in his eye sockets was still ongoing.

Ever since he integrated the cyan chakra generated by the Caged Bird curse seal, Hyuga Yu quickly gained his first new ability—

Observation Eye.

It wasn't a far-seeing eye or an insight eye, but rather a dynamic visual acuity similar to the Sharingan.

Of course, this dynamic visual acuity wasn't very strong, roughly equivalent to a single tomoe Sharingan. It was at a level where he could see most ninjutsu and taijutsu movements clearly but couldn't replicate them one-to-one.

Was it useful?

Of course, it was useful. It was precisely the kind of ability Hyuga Yu needed at this stage.

With this dynamic visual acuity, Hyuga Yu's Byakugan now possessed the Observation Eye, Insight Eye, Far-Seeing Eye, and X-ray Eye all in one. It could greatly assist Hyuga Yu in mastering taijutsu, improving his throwing techniques, and even increasing the accuracy of his bow and arrow shots by more than double.

And soon, Hyuga Yu gained his second brand-new ability—

Chakra Amplification.

Through internal vision with his Byakugan, Hyuga Yu discovered that the chakra within his body was steadily transforming from its normal sky-blue color into a cyan chakra that possessed a mysterious, profound, and pure quality.

This was somewhat similar to the Tenseigan chakra that coiled around Otsutsuki Toneri's entire body when he transformed into the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Hyuga Yu wasn't sure if this was exactly the same, but he could confirm that the quality and level of this chakra were clearly higher than ordinary chakra.

Ninjutsu released with this chakra would be more powerful.

Finally, There was the change in the amount of chakra.

People in the village always said Hyuga Yu's talent was poor, and Hyuga Yu himself thought so too.

So, just how poor was this talent?

It could be understood this way: he could only refine one-tenth the amount of chakra as others his age.

Hyuga Yu was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His family background was certainly not bad. His parents were high-ranking members of the Branch Family who had a life-or-death friendship with the main family elder Hyuga Takahiro.

The basic training resources Hyuga Yu enjoyed from childhood were essentially equivalent to those of the Hyuga Main Family.

Expensive medicinal baths, sufficient and nutritious food, professional basic ninja instruction...

While also practicing Konoha Steel Fist and Hyuga Gentle Fist, and working so hard that even Might Duy shed tears of approval, Hyuga Yu's chakra reserves were about level 2 'essence'.

By forcefully opening the third gate of the Eight Gates and clearing all the blockages in his meridians, he managed to materialize all his past efforts and money, reaching only level 5 'essence'.

But now—

This situation was undergoing a earth-shattering reversal!

His base Chakra reserves alone, after the Byakugan's mutation, rapidly increased from level 2 to level 4.

This level was now sufficient for Hyuga Yu to carry out many ideas he had previously conceived but couldn't execute due to insufficient Chakra.

Moreover, Hyuga Yu could feel that this change was still ongoing, transforming from a surging tidal wave into a gentle, silent stream.

As the cyan Chakra flowed through his meridians, it was quietly altering Hyuga Yu's physique, Opening up previously blocked meridians, Strengthening fragile vessels, Causing Hyuga Yu's body to continuously evolve in an unknown direction.

With such a physique and foundation, Hyuga Yu had practically been reborn!

His future path was certainly not limited to Chunin, Jonin, or elite Jonin.

The scenery of the Kage, And even the path to surpassing the Kage, he was qualified to glimpse!

But the prerequisite was, That he still had a future.

At this moment, Above the nameless forest adjacent to Crow Forest, a flock of birds suddenly took flight, flapping their wings and flying far away.

Hyuga Yu took a deep breath and pushed himself up, leaning on a tree trunk.

He didn't activate his Byakugan immediately.

Although his Chakra reserves had greatly recovered compared to before, he was facing at least 20 enemies, a Kirigakure unit with at least 4 Jonin!

He needed to conserve Chakra, And stall until Hyuga Natsu could deliver the message to Root. Aburame Ryūma was a smart man; he would surely understand his current value and the purpose of his actions.

His Ninja Sword was already lost, and his bow was still hanging on a tree in the nameless forest.

Hyuga Yu reached for his Ninja Tool Pouch.

The Ninja Tool Pouch was empty.

Finally, he silently drew a scroll from his storage bag, took out a sharp surgical knife, and gripped it in his palm.

Hyuga Yu coldly stared at the pass of Crow Forest.

Crow Forest and the nameless forest were on two separate landmasses, separated by a gorge filled with jagged, sharp stones. The only connection between them was a steel cable suspension bridge.

If nothing unexpected happened, the enemy would attack from this direction.

Hyuga Yu quickly calculated in his mind how to utilize the terrain.

However, Just then, "--Flap flap!"

In the distance, within the nameless forest, something unexpected seemed to have occurred. More birds were startled, forming a continuous, dense, black "cloud," as if a large group of people was rushing in the completely opposite direction of Hyuga Yu.

A flicker of bewilderment crossed Hyuga Yu's eyes.

A moment later, The commotion within the nameless forest ended. Then, from the forest behind the other cliff face, a man slowly emerged.

A young man with long black hair, a scruffy beard, and heavy dark circles under his eyes stepped onto the suspension bridge and slowly walked over.

Hyuga Yu recognized the Konoha forehead protector on the man's forehead.

And so, the man, looking annoyed, walked from the other side of the suspension bridge to Hyuga Yu.

He sized up Hyuga Yu, his gaze lingering for a moment on the surgical knife in Hyuga Yu's hand, then let out a low sigh and spoke indifferently:

"Let's get acquainted."

"From today on, I'm your superior, Shigaraki Tanuki."

"Shigaraki... Tanuki?"

Hyuga Yu was slightly taken aback, thinking, Isn't this the Root remnant from Boruto, the technical talent who worked on the "Ox-Head Heavenly King" project?

Shigaraki Tanuki raised an eyebrow slightly, staring at Hyuga Yu's Byakugan, then shook his head and stated directly:

"You're in big trouble."

"What trouble?"

"Aburame Ryūma couldn't stop Kirigakure. There are smart people in Kirigakure too. Now, he's run off with his men."

"Ao... ran off with his men?" Hyuga Yu was stunned.

This shouldn't be happening!?

Given Ao's displayed fanaticism, that look in his eyes as if he wanted to devour him alive, Could he calm down?

Shigaraki Tanuki let out a gloating snort and sneered, "Soon, everyone will know that you, a Hyuga Branch Family member, stole the Main Family's Byakugan."

Hyuga Yu's heart tightened, and he immediately asked, "Then what should I do?"

Shigaraki Tanuki thought for a moment, his gaze suddenly shifting to the scalpel in Hyuga Yu's hand, and asked, "Do you know Medical Ninjutsu?"

"Yes."

"How good are you?"

"Give me a year, and I can join the upper echelons of the medical team."

Shigaraki Tanuki translated Hyuga Yu's words: "So you haven't mastered the three A-rank Medical Ninjutsu, and your skill level is just average."

Hyuga Yu: "..."

"However, if your skill level were too high, I wouldn't dare to use you. You'll do," Shigaraki Tanuki looked down at Hyuga Yu and said calmly, "Be my assistant, and I'll protect you from the Hyuga Main Family."

Hyuga Yu froze, finding it hard to believe: "You?"

The future number one fugitive of Root, a wanted criminal of Konoha, claimed he could protect him from the pressure of the Hyuga Main Family?

No, was this even Konoha anymore?