The Tenseigan Stirs

Hyuga Ruri looked as though she were ready to make the ultimate sacrifice, her pretty face flushed.

She turned her head away with a haughty air.

"If you're going to do it, hurry up. Don't... don't make it hurt too much..."

Inuzuka Mi, standing nearby, stared in bewilderment. She glanced nervously at Keigo Uchiha, then at Hyuga Ruri's flushed face, and for a moment had no idea whether she should stay or leave.

This... the atmosphere seemed a little off.

Keigo Uchiha's face darkened. He hurriedly said, "What are you thinking?!"

"Mi-chan is right here!"

Inuzuka Mi: "???"

So I should leave?

This sudden flirtation had my knees weak—who knew you were like this, Keigo?!

"Keigo... actually... I don't mind."

Inuzuka Mi's delicate face turned crimson. Her butterfly-wing lashes trembled as she lowered her eyes and bit her lip, her soft hands already reaching for the hem of her clothes.

"I was joking!"

Keigo Uchiha pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation and quickly caught Inuzuka Mi's little hands.

A thick fog rolled in.

For a moment, even he wasn't sure whether he'd been joking...

Or whether Mi-chan had meant it.

He looked at Hyuga Ruri, the corner of his mouth twitching. "The way you and Mi-chan get stronger is different, so there's no need to lift your clothes. It won't hurt, either. Don't say things that could be misunderstood."

"Next, I'll send the Tailed Beast's Yang Release Chakra into you."

"Let's see if this method can stimulate your Byakugan and advance it to a higher level."

Keigo Uchiha spoke slowly and deliberately, then added a warning: "And don't lift your clothes again!"

Hyuga Ruri: "..."

So embarrassing.

I'm going to die of shame!

As he spoke, Keigo Uchiha took Inuzuka Mi's little hand. The Two-Tails' Tailed Beast Chakra inside him was immediately drawn out, passed through the Cursed Seal on his body, and converted into Yang Release Chakra!

Then, little by little, he sent it into Hyuga Ruri's body.

"It feels so gentle, like soaking in a hot spring. It's wonderful."

Hyuga Ruri let out a soft hum.

The features on her pretty face relaxed, and she looked utterly blissful.

The Two-Tails inside Inuzuka Mi was stunned. The whole cat was horrified!

"Again?"

"I'm already sealed, so why do I still have to go through this?"

Two-Tails Matatabi was miserable.

A portion of Two-Tails Chakra gathered on Inuzuka Mi's right shoulder and turned into a tiny Two-Tails Matatabi again, looking adorably cute.

It perched on Inuzuka Mi's shoulder and glared at Keigo Uchiha with a deeply aggrieved look.

"You! Why are you absorbing my chakra again? Can't you absorb another Tailed Beast for a change? This... this is going to make every Tailed Beast live in constant fear!"

Looking at the cute, aggrieved Two-Tails Matatabi, Keigo Uchiha felt a little guilty.

"Sorry. Next time, for sure."

Two-Tails Matatabi: "...So you're saying you're definitely going to absorb it this time?"

This is the end!

Why did Keigo Uchiha have to find me?

I've practically become his workhorse!

"Don't get distracted. Send the Yang Release Chakra to your eyes and stimulate their evolution. Your strength is still too low. If we compare your Byakugan to the Sharingan, it's only at the two-tomoe level right now!"

Keigo Uchiha gave a sharp reminder. "Awakening the Tenseigan will be a long road. Don't slack off!"

Hyuga Ruri hurriedly sent the Yang Release Chakra to both her eyes.

At once, she felt a faint pressure and stinging pain.

But every time the chakra flowed through them... her ocular power grew stronger!

At the same time, Two-Tails Matatabi's chakra was vanishing at an alarming rate, pouring into Hyuga Ruri like a flood bursting through a dam!

"This is the end! If this keeps up, the Tailed Beast really will die!"

Fear filled Two-Tails Matatabi's dark eyes.

This was terrifying!

Keigo Uchiha's mouth twitched, and his guilt deepened. "Don't be afraid. I'm not absorbing your chakra this time, and she doesn't have the ability to do that anyway. In the end, the chakra will return to you."

The chakra was being absorbed even faster now.

It was like it would never end.

Two-Tails Matatabi's face went pale, and it shrieked, "But you're not stopping at all! You horrible creature! You're a demon!"

The guy kept saying he was sorry.

But he wasn't stopping for a second!

It was like killing someone while endlessly apologizing. What good did that do?!

"It'll be over soon. Just hang in there."

Keigo Uchiha tried to reassure it. This was Hyuga Ruri's chance to awaken the Tenseigan. If they stopped now, her eyes might be ruined. What Keigo Uchiha hadn't expected, though, was that Hyuga Ruri's Byakugan could absorb so much.

A full half an hour passed.

The little Matatabi beside them had shriveled up, looking utterly drained.

"I can't... My chakra's been drained dry. My clone is going to disappear..."

With a pop, the little Matatabi vanished without a trace.

It was proof that Two-Tails Matatabi had run out of strength!

Keigo Uchiha couldn't draw even a single bit more Two-Tails Chakra. Its flow changed from a surging river to a trickle, then disappeared altogether.

"Even after absorbing all of Two-Tails Matatabi's chakra, it still wasn't enough?"

Keigo Uchiha was astonished. He looked at Hyuga Ruri with undisguised disdain. "How poor are your foundations? I awakened the Mangekyō with just a fraction of this. You used up an entire Tailed Beast and still couldn't awaken the Tenseigan?"

Of course.

He was only joking.

Hyuga Ruri, overcome with excitement, suddenly opened her eyes!

A faint blue glow filled them!

"Is this... the power of the Tenseigan? I can feel that the Reincarnation Blast I'd previously mastered has grown much stronger. This technique is called... Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack!"

Hyuga Ruri spoke proudly, her beautiful eyes gleaming.

Her presence was also far stronger than before.

Keigo Uchiha looked unimpressed. "What are you showing off for?"

"This doesn't count as the Tenseigan yet. At most, you've only grasped a portion of its power."

"You drained a Tailed Beast and only awakened a new ability? Your foundation is too weak. For the time being, you have only one thing to do: train your Byakugan."

Keigo Uchiha spoke casually, his eyes glinting. He rubbed his chin and continued.

At once.

Hyuga Ruri's pretty face stiffened.

"So... this still doesn't count as awakening the Tenseigan?"

"Based on my assessment, even if you awaken it, you won't be able to go straight to the Tenseigan. But you can awaken an eye that lies between the Byakugan and the Tenseigan. That power will be enough to make you a Kage Level expert."

Keigo Uchiha looked into Hyuga Ruri's radiant eyes. "You haven't awakened the Tenseigan, but there are already signs of it. That means we're on the right track!"

Keigo Uchiha's eyes were full of excitement.

Hyuga Ruri was someone he had personally trained.

There was nothing like the feeling of watching someone grow.

"Keep training your Byakugan until you've fully mastered your current power. Then I'll stimulate it again!"

In the laboratory.

Orochimaru was brimming with excitement, his eyes alight with a thirst for knowledge. "Excellent. So this is Tailed Beast Chakra? Most people would have trouble controlling it, but based on the secrets Keigo shared..."

"The Sharingan, Sage Body, and Wood Release are precisely the powers best suited to suppressing a Tailed Beast."

"So, in theory, if I became a Jinchuriki, implanted a Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and gave myself Senju Hashirama's cells, the balance between these three would let me use Hashirama's cells to control the Sharingan."

"Through the Sharingan, I could suppress the Tailed Beast. And through the Tailed Beast, I'd have an endless supply of chakra to use the Sharingan!"

The discovery thrilled him.

His eyes gleamed with a peculiar light in the darkness.

"There's one more thing. Could Tailed Beast Chakra and the Sharingan stop Hashirama Cells from consuming me? Or... could they make the Hashirama Cells non-aggressive?"

At the thought, excitement surged through him.

If he could achieve this,

then he could stabilize the Tailed Beast Chakra himself, suppress the Hashirama Cells, and rapidly increase his strength. He'd come up with this method himself; he hadn't needed Keigo's help!

But just then, the Two-Tails Matatabi in front of him abruptly swelled.

Under Orochimaru's puzzled gaze, it vanished with a pop!

Gone without a trace.

"What... happened?"

Orochimaru stared in bewilderment.

How had the Two-Tails Matatabi clone suddenly disappeared?

Keigo Uchiha rubbed his temples, sensing the utterly despondent Two-Tails Matatabi inside Inuzuka Mi. As though he'd just realized something, he murmured, "Looks like the Two-Tails Matatabi clone at Teacher's place has disappeared too."

"Once Two-Tails Matatabi has recovered its chakra, I'll send Teacher another one."

He'd expected Hyuga Ruri to use a lot of Tailed Beast Chakra.

He just hadn't thought she'd need this much!

Two-Tails Matatabi had been drained dry!

Yet in the short span of ten-odd minutes, the Tailed Beast's terrifying recovery speed had already restored about five percent of its chakra!

"That's enough for today. Ruri, send Two-Tails Matatabi's clone back to Teacher. His research has probably hit a bottleneck, and losing Matatabi at a time like this will likely make him impatient."

Keigo Uchiha said with a smile.

Orochimaru's thirst for knowledge was no joke.

Hyuga Ruri and Inuzuka Mi both nodded. Keigo Uchiha then saw them to the door.

The sun was setting, and the night was growing darker.

Stimulating the Tenseigan had cost them not only energy and Tailed Beast Chakra, but time as well.

"Heh heh heh. You've done a fine job."

"You did this, didn't you? It had to be you!"

A sinister voice rang out. "I'd just figured out the secret to becoming a Kage Level expert, and then the Two-Tails disappeared. You... have done a fine job indeed!"

"Sorry, Teacher. We didn't realize stimulating Ruri's Byakugan would take so much chakra. Even the Two-Tails itself ran out..."

Keigo Uchiha turned toward Orochimaru, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Orochimaru stood nearby, his robes fluttering. He looked thoroughly displeased...

Who could have known Orochimaru had just made a breakthrough in his research?

It couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes since the Two-Tails clone vanished.

And Orochimaru had already rushed over!

Anger and curiosity burned fiercely in his eyes!

"Sorry, Teacher. It was all my fault."

Hyuga Ruri stiffened, mortified. "I've already prepared a new Two-Tails clone for you. I promise I won't do this again!"

She might have been haughty,

but she instinctively respected her elders.

She stiffened and handed him a sealing scroll containing the Two-Tails.

"Hmph. That's more like it."

Orochimaru's anger eased a little. He looked at Hyuga Ruri and Inuzuka Mi, then suddenly paused and studied them both. "You two... have gotten stronger?"

His voice was hoarse. "Inuzuka Mi, you've become the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki, and Hyuga Ruri, your presence... it's much stronger than before. Those eyes of yours... they seem to hold tremendous power!"

"How did you manage this in a single day?"

A trace of astonishment showed in Orochimaru's eyes.

But even more than that, he was eager to understand how it could happen!

How had they become this strong in just a few days? What... was the reason?!

Suddenly, he looked at Keigo Uchiha's calm face and thought of a possibility. Keigo Uchiha's magnificent Mangekyō Sharingan had reminded him of something earlier.

He grinned. "I don't know exactly what happened, but... it seems to have something to do with you, Keigo?"

"You just awakened those eyes, and Hyuga Ruri's Byakugan grew stronger along with them!"

"Nothing gets past you, Teacher."

Keigo Uchiha replied with a smile. Orochimaru wasn't just a mad scientist; he was also extremely intelligent, perceptive, and sharp. His eyes, flecked with amber, gleamed brightly.

He possessed the potential to see through everything.

"My eyes and Ruri's are both awakened eyes inherited from the bloodline of the Sage's descendants. And didn't we talk about something earlier?"

Keigo Uchiha spoke slowly. "By their very nature, the Tailed Beasts and our eyes are closely connected. You could even say they come from the same source. So when I use a Tailed Beast's Yin Release to stimulate my Sharingan—"

"Or when a Tailed Beast's Yang Release stimulates Ruri's Tenseigan, our eyes evolve!"

"That's the secret behind our growing ocular power."

As Keigo explained, Orochimaru's pupils contracted.

He understood at once what Keigo meant. His whole body trembled slightly, as if he'd just learned something that thrilled him.

"So that's how it is. The Tailed Beasts and your eyes draw their power from the same source. Stimulating your eyes with Tailed Beast Chakra makes them evolve. What a brilliant idea!"

As he spoke,

Orochimaru suddenly froze.

He'd thought of something. After a long silence, he looked at Keigo and asked, "Keigo, let me ask you something. If someone had Hashirama Cells in their body and also had a Tailed Beast sealed inside them—"

"Could those two forces reach a state of balance? Could they even be brought completely under control?"

Keigo paused, then answered thoughtfully, "In theory, yes. They, too, come from the same source. Wood Release can suppress a Tailed Beast's power, while a Tailed Beast's power can restrain Wood Release's aggressiveness."

"It's the same principle as the Sharingan restraining Hashirama Cells."

Orochimaru fell silent.

Damn it, that was exactly what he'd been researching lately!

And Keigo Uchiha had already done it!

What difference was there between Hashirama Cells and a Tailed Beast restraining each other, and the Sharingan and a Tailed Beast restraining each other?

None at all!

"Keigo, you're a monster—a monster anyone would envy."

Orochimaru drew a deep breath, looking somewhat helpless. "Still, I came up with this idea myself, so it's not like I copied you."

Keigo paused.

He immediately understood what Orochimaru meant.

His teacher had thought of using Hashirama Cells and Tailed Beast Chakra to restrain each other, then rise to Kage Level. He just hadn't realized that the idea was essentially the same as Keigo's.

"Of course."

Keigo smiled and said earnestly, "Teacher, most of what I do is just provide a theory. There's no way I could carry out all that research myself."

"Only you can use scientific methods to unravel powerful forces—and even create a god!"

"I could never do something like that."

From the very beginning,

Keigo had known that research wasn't his strength, so he'd never involved himself in it.

Everyone had their own specialty.

Orochimaru was the true genius of research.

As for Keigo, he would rely on his own strength to reach the very summit!

Orochimaru paused. Looking at Keigo's sincere expression, he couldn't help smiling. In his hoarse voice, he said, "You really are full of surprises. You have a way of drawing people to you—a quality I don't have."

He looked at Hyuga Ruri, who stood beside Keigo with a thoroughly bewildered expression, then at Inuzuka Mi, whose face was full of admiration.

For some reason, he felt a little envious.

"Teacher, do you have time right now?"

Keigo suddenly spoke. As if he'd thought of something, the corners of his mouth lifted. "There's something I'd like your help with."

"Oh?"

Orochimaru paused, then nodded.

After saying goodbye to Hyuga Ruri and Inuzuka Mi, Keigo gave them an apologetic smile at their displeased looks, but showed no sign of changing his mind.

"Sorry, sorry. You two really can't take part in what we're about to do. Only my teacher and I can handle it."

Keigo gave a faint smile, as if he'd thought of something amusing.

"Relax, you always say the strangest things. We wouldn't understand anyway. We're going now. It's about time to head home for dinner, or my father will scold me."

Hyuga Ruri waved dismissively.

"Goodbye, Keigo. Please... be careful!"

Inuzuka Mi looked at Keigo's handsome face and earnestly reminded him.

Then she turned and left, her beautiful eyes reluctant and touched with worry.

Keigo paused.

How had Inuzuka Mi known that what he was about to do was dangerous?

Inuzuka Mi and Hyuga Ruri lived in the same direction.

They were headed the same way.

It was already past eight in the evening in Konoha, but the village was still brightly lit, and the streets were full of people.

The two lovely young women made a captivating sight.

Hyuga Ruri was tall, with a cool, beautiful face. Her pure white eyes carried an air of aloof superiority, like a goddess descended to earth, someone others could only admire from afar!

Inuzuka Mi's delicate, elfin face held a hint of vulnerability. Her butterfly-like lashes fluttered softly, making her look utterly endearing. The two walked side by side,

like the sun and the moon shining together.

Neither outshone the other.

The young men around them stared wide-eyed. Some watched from afar, their faces flushed.

"Be careful?"

Hyuga Ruri parted her lips, bored and puzzled. "It's so late. Keigo isn't going to do anything dangerous."

"No. What Keigo's about to do is dangerous." Inuzuka Mi was certain. She said it slowly and seriously, one word at a time.

"Why? Keigo didn't explain anything to us. Besides... with his teacher there, what could put the two of them in danger?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that what Keigo's about to do could put him in danger, even though he's so strong. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent us away."

At Inuzuka Mi's words,

Hyuga Ruri stopped. Her pale eyes trembled as she turned to Inuzuka Mi's resolute, earnest face. Suddenly, she understood. She gave a bitter smile. "It seems you pay a lot more attention to Keigo than I do, Mi-chan."

She'd noticed such a tiny detail.

That meant Inuzuka Mi had already memorized Keigo's every habit. Even she, with her Byakugan, couldn't do that!

She knew all too well what that meant.

"N-no, it's nothing. I-I should go!"

Inuzuka Mi's face suddenly reddened. Realizing how strange she'd been acting, she hurried off at a run and disappeared from sight.

Watching Inuzuka Mi's figure—stunning even from behind—Hyuga Ruri's beautiful eyes grew troubled. "Why... do I suddenly feel so upset?"

"This is so frustrating!"

She bit her lip, then said firmly, "I'm the granddaughter of Hyuga Tenjin. I can't let myself get so depressed!"

With that,

she vanished from the spot and hurried away.

Keigo Uchiha took Orochimaru to the Forest of Death.

"So, my dear student, what is it you need my help with?"

Orochimaru licked his lips.

It wasn't every day his student asked him for help.

His eyes gleamed with curiosity.

Keigo Uchiha took a deep breath. As Orochimaru watched with curiosity, he turned and spoke slowly. "Teacher, I want to reverse-summon myself to Ryūchi Cave. I need your contract scroll."

"My strength has reached a bottleneck. If I want to grow stronger, I need the power of Ryūchi Cave!"

He looked at Orochimaru with shining eyes.

That was right.

He felt... he still wasn't strong enough!

He could still get stronger.

And Senjutsu was the most convenient way for him to do that!

Combining the Uchiha Clan's Susanoo with Senjutsu, or combining other ninjutsu with Senjutsu, would unleash even greater power. It was one of the strongest forces in the world!

It was also the foundation of the Six Paths Sage Art!

It would instantly raise his ceiling to the very top!

"You want to grow stronger still?"

Orochimaru stared at Keigo in disbelief and couldn't help exclaiming, "You already possess the power of a Kage Level shinobi, and you even have those legendary eyes. Why are you in such a hurry to learn Senjutsu?"

It was no wonder he was surprised.

Keigo's strength had grown far too quickly.

A Kage Level shinobi at twelve.

Who could even imagine that!?

He wasn't just a genius—he was a monster!

No one could hide his brilliance!

"No."

Keigo said earnestly, "Teacher, what I want is to learn every ninjutsu in the world. Age isn't a limitation, nor is it the standard by which I'll be judged. I want to master the most powerful forces in the world."

"To become... the strongest in the world!"