Sense of Belonging

"If I finish the training within the allotted time, the rest of the time is mine to do with as I please."

"?"

Samui narrowed her eyes, then smiled, "Alright, it's all yours to command. If you perform exceptionally well, there will be special rewards too!"

"It's a deal."

"Don't waste any more time, let's go!"

Samui swung her arms back and shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.

Neji took a deep breath and quickly followed.

[You went for a morning run, your physical fitness has improved, your basic taijutsu has been enhanced, EXP +3]

[You practiced chakra refinement, related insights have improved, EXP +2]

[You used the Byakugan, related insights have improved, EXP +1]

Nine o'clock in the evening. Neji, utterly exhausted, returned to his lodging and stared at the panel in his mind. The notifications he hadn't checked during the day popped up one after another.

"Creak!"

The door was pushed open.

Samui walked into the room and scooped Neji up.

"Stop, Sister, what are you doing?" Neji dangled his legs.

Samui didn't speak and directly tossed Neji into a large wooden tub.

The tub was filled with hot water. Neji soaked in it, his skin quickly turning red, like a boiled shrimp.

"Ah, it's so hot!"

Neji instinctively tried to climb out of the tub.

Seeing this, Samui roughly pushed Neji back in.

"Neji, I know it's uncomfortable, but just bear with it. It'll be fine."

Samui rubbed Neji's head with some concern, then took out a packet of powder and sprinkled it into the tub.

"This powder is a precious secret medicine passed down by the Yozuki clan. One packet costs a hundred thousand ryo, it's very expensive."

A hundred thousand ryo?

Neji raised an eyebrow. He stopped trying to climb out and, gritting his teeth, retreated back into the tub.

After a while, seeing that Neji was gradually getting used to the temperature, Samui extended her small hands into the water.

"Sister will give you a massage. Consider it a reward for your hard training today."

Neji closed his eyes, emptied his mind, and asked, "Hiss, Sister, what is this secret medicine for?"

"It strengthens the body, widens the meridians, and stimulates the body's potential to generate Lightning Release Chakra."

"Lightning Release Chakra?"

Hearing this, Neji's eyebrows twitched, and he exclaimed excitedly, "There's such a magical secret medicine?"

As everyone knows, chakra nature is innate.

If you have it, you have it; if you don't, you don't.

Mastering multiple chakra natures means you can learn more ninjutsu, have a more flexible fighting style, and fewer weaknesses.

The five common chakra natures counter each other.

Fire counters Wind, Wind counters Lightning, Lightning counters Earth, Earth counters Water, and Water counters Fire.

A ninja with a single nature is at a disadvantage against a ninja with the five basic natures before the fight even begins.

When their strength is similar, a ninja facing an opponent with a countering nature has a slim chance of winning.

The Third Raikage's battle against tens of thousands of Iwagakure ninja, and Sasuke's defeat of Deidara, were partly due to elemental advantage.

As far as Neji knew, the only ways to artificially gain other chakra natures were through special forbidden jutsu, surgical transplants, or consuming chakra fruits.

Forbidden jutsu include Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear and Hidan's Chimera Technique.

Surgical transplants include transplanting Wood Release, Sharingan, Byakugan, and later, Kabuto transplanting the cells of the Sound Five.

Strictly speaking, apart from the Chimera Technique, these two methods are shortcuts and do not allow the body to acquire new chakra natures.

As for consuming chakra fruits, the difficulty is too high to even consider.

Seeing Neji's astonished expression, Samui smiled, "The Yozuki clan is not a kekkei genkai family. Many Yozuki clan members have acquired Lightning Release Chakra by soaking in this secret medicine. Moreover, the medicine only works on children under ten years old. If you had come a few years later, you wouldn't have been able to learn Kumogakure's Lightning Release Chakra Mode."

Neji narrowed his eyes and asked, "Sister, does that mean I have to soak in this secret medicine for six years?"

"Mhm!"

Samui pinched Neji's buttock.

"Hiss!"

Neji's molars ached.

One hundred thousand ryo a day, that's one Asuma a year.

In other words, the initial investment to cultivate a Lightning Release ninja exceeds six hundred million?

Is Kumogakure really that wealthy?

Samui seemed to guess Neji's thoughts, tapping his head and saying, "What are you thinking about? You're receiving special attention from Lord Raikage. Ordinary Yozuki clan members don't get your treatment. They're immersed in medicinal pools in batches, and the medicine is stopped once they awaken Lightning Release Chakra, naturally lowering the cost significantly."

Hearing Samui say this.

Neji's nose stung a little.

Yozuki A wasn't just saying things; he was truly cultivating Neji as one of his own.

If Neji's previous reliance on Kumogakure was a desperate measure born out of having no other options, then now he had developed a sense of belonging to Kumogakure.

Cloud ninja are just too amazing!

At four in the morning the next day, as soon as Samui stepped out of her room, she saw Neji already in the living room.

"Hey, you're up early!"

A smile appeared on the ice beauty's face, her conscience heavy and trembling.

"Sister, please increase the training volume and torment me severely!"

"Alright, let's start with a warm-up—climb Tianyun Mountain before sunrise. Let's go now."

Day after day of arduous training finally led to a transformation six months later.

[Congratulations, after prolonged immersion in secret medicine, your body's potential has been further developed, awakening Lightning Release Chakra.]

[Congratulations, after prolonged training, your Byakugan has been upgraded to Lv2.]

The first notification made Neji's eyes narrow slightly.

He had once asked Samui, and ordinary Yozuki clan members needed two to three years of immersion in secret medicine to awaken Lightning Release Chakra.

But he had only taken half a year.

Thinking about it carefully, Neji felt relieved.

In the original work, Neji achieved the rank of Jonin at fifteen without any cultivation resources.

He was already a top-tier genius.

Next, Neji focused his mental energy in his mind, his gaze falling on the Kekkei Genkai section.

Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan Lv2 (1/1000)

Effect: Your pupil power has no upper limit. Your viewing distance, X-ray vision, and insight will continuously improve as your pupil power increases.

Looking at the newly appeared effect of the Byakugan, Neji narrowed his eyes slightly.

The Byakugan's pupil power has no upper limit.

This means it can completely evolve into the Tenseigan through cultivation.

This conjecture was not without basis.

In the original work, there were two methods for the evolution of the Tenseigan.

One was the eye that evolved from the Otsutsuki clan members on the moon by plundering the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan's main family, an eye on par with the Rinnegan.

The other was a giant Tenseigan formed by the fusion of a massive number of Byakugan. It was less an eye and more a "divine artifact," possessing terrifying power capable of destroying the world.

The former is a Dojutsu, the latter a divine artifact.

The Dojutsu Tenseigan is related to bloodline.

The divine artifact giant Tenseigan is clearly the result of accumulating pupil power.

Therefore, as long as pupil power is increased, it can also evolve into the Tenseigan.

However, the pupil power of the Byakugan of the Otsutsuki clan on the moon and the Hyuga clan of Konohagakure cannot be increased limitlessly like his. Perhaps he will be the only one to autonomously evolve into the Tenseigan.