Byakugan

Although Uchiha Akira is a Chunin, he has no teammates and carries out missions alone.

Originally, he had three teammates—Genin who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy.

The cruelty of war needs no elaboration; even the grandson of Senju Hashirama fell in battle, let alone three Genin who had just stepped onto the battlefield upon graduation.

All three died in a large-scale battle.

Even though Uchiha Akira is of the Uchiha Clan and possesses formidable strength, he could not look after his subordinates at all times during such massive warfare.

After the Genin assigned to him were killed in action, the village did not assign him any others.

During wartime, the Genin graduating from the Ninja Academy were barely enough to meet the consumption rate; there was no surplus to reassign to him.

Uchiha Akira had no objections to this; for him, being alone was quite fine, as it saved him from the distraction of looking after others during routine missions.

Alone, he could do as he pleased and rest whenever he wanted, without worrying about someone tattling or gossiping behind his back after he returned.

Just like now, after Uchiha Akira departed the Konoha camp, he began to slack off.

He did not intend to take this mission too seriously.

Or rather, he had no intention of taking any missions from the Konoha higher-ups too seriously.

If it wasn't too dangerous, he would just do it while he was at it.

If it required risking his life, then forget it; as a member of the Uchiha Clan, he didn't care for the meager rewards of Konoha's missions.

In any case, the Konoha higher-ups would never open the ninjutsu within the Scroll of Sealing to the Uchiha Clan, so it wasn't worth risking his life for.

Just like that, Uchiha Akira wandered around the border of the Land of Fire.

Perhaps it was because he had exhausted his luck after intercepting the Mangekyo Sharingan of Uchiha Obito, or perhaps Murphy's Law had taken effect once again.

On this day, while Uchiha Akira was pretending to track the traces of Kirigakure ninjas, he suddenly looked up sharply toward the depths of the Dark Forest.

The dim forest shook, and two figures wearing masks and the attire of Kirigakure Anbu flashed out.

Uchiha Akira immediately locked onto the Kirigakure Anbu with long, gray-blue hair.

If he remembered correctly, the hair color of the Kirigakure Jonin who obtained the Byakugan in the original story was exactly this shade.

"Another Konoha brat here to die! How annoying!"

Before Ao could speak, another masked Kirigakure ninja beside him spoke up.

Ao scanned Uchiha Akira and said in a deep voice, "Tsuki, don't be careless. This is a brat from the Uchiha Clan. The fact that the Uchiha Clan allows him to operate alone means he is no ordinary brat."

"I know. Since we're already here, I certainly won't be careless." The Anbu named Tsuki glanced at Uchiha Akira and said in a deep voice, "Ao, we must end this fight quickly. We cannot let him drag this out; Konoha's experts could arrive at any moment."

"Water Style: Water Fang Blade!"

As elite troops of Kirigakure, their hand seal speed was fast. In an instant, a stream of azure water in his hand transformed into a spinning blade.

The Kirigakure ninja named Tsuki used the Body Flicker Technique to flash instantly in front of Uchiha Akira, brandishing the azure water blade in an attempt to cut him in two.

A squelching sound rang out.

Beneath Tsuki's mask, a cruel grin appeared on his face, but then he felt an indescribable pain at his neck.

"Cough..." Powerlessly clutching his own throat, the Anbu named Tsuki fell straight to the ground.

As his consciousness plunged into darkness, he heard an indifferent voice: "Who told you to look me in the eye? As an Anbu of Kirigakure, don't you know not to make eye contact with the Uchiha Clan?"

"He didn't even activate his Sharingan..." With confusion and terror, Tsuki's consciousness vanished.

Uchiha Akira looked coldly at Ao, who had retreated two steps; his chakra was already primed, and wisps of electricity began to crackle.

If Ao made any move, a thunderous strike from Uchiha Akira awaited him.

Beneath his mask, Ao's eyes were wide with fury. His companion had just fallen under the Uchiha brat's genjutsu without a sound, literally driving his own neck into the opponent's blade.

He had committed suicide right in front of him.

Ao felt extremely fortunate at that moment; if he had been the first to rush in, he feared he would have met the same fate.

"This is troublesome. Although this Uchiha brat is young, his strength is immense. He managed to trap a Jonin like Tsuki without even using his Sharingan..." Ao was already contemplating an escape route.

While they had expended a great deal of energy under Konoha's encirclement, they were still Jonin, and their level of strength was undeniable.

He never expected that a Jonin like Tsuki would be finished off by the opponent's genjutsu due to a moment of negligence.

"What are you waiting for?"

The next moment, a cold voice rang in Ao's ear, causing him to shudder in shock.

Then, a blue light as swift as thunder appeared before him in the blink of an eye.

"Lightning Style: Palm Lightning!"

He then saw a palm flickering with blinding blue light strike toward his heart.

BOOM!

In the dark forest, accompanied by a roar, blinding electricity erupted and burst forth, directly engulfing Ao.

Following a scream, everything fell silent.

One must flee when facing the Sharingan one-on-one; this was the conclusion reached by Sunagakure after countless deaths.

Ao did not flee immediately after seeing his teammates die, which was his absolute mistake.

Facing Uchiha Akira, whose ocular power had surged after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, Ao would have had a sliver of a chance had he run at once; staying behind meant certain death.

After rummaging through the deceased Ao, Uchiha Akira found a scroll marked with the character "Seal" in his ninja tool pouch.

This type of sealing scroll was not difficult to crack, and Uchiha Akira, possessing the Sharingan, naturally knew how to undo it.

Upon unsealing the scroll, Uchiha Akira indeed saw a Byakugan inside a container filled with pale green liquid.

Looking at the Byakugan in the container, the corners of Uchiha Akira's mouth curled up into a smile: "Very good, this Byakugan is mine now."

He had no intention of returning the Byakugan to the Hyuga Clan; if he hadn't encountered it, he would have let it be.

Now that the Byakugan was in his hands, there was no reason to return it to the Hyuga Clan.

The potential of the Byakugan was in no way inferior to the Sharingan.

The Tenseigan was an existence on the same level as the Rinnegan.

After the Sharingan evolves into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, one can draw out the chakra of the Sage of Six Paths by fusing the chakra of Indra and Asura, thereby becoming the Rinnegan.

The Byakugan can similarly fuse with the chakra of the Otsutsuki Clan to evolve into the Tenseigan.

Compared to the cumbersome steps required for the birth of the Rinnegan, the Tenseigan appeared much simpler and more brutal.

In all fairness, compared to the Rinnegan, Uchiha Akira believed the Tenseigan was stronger in terms of combat.

After stowing away the Byakugan, simply disposing of the bodies, and cleaning up the battlefield, Uchiha Akira continued to wander along the border line.

Since no one knew the Byakugan had fallen into his hands, he might as well let this mission drag on a little longer.

Heaven did not grant his wish; Uchiha Akira had only been slacking off on the border of the Land of Fire for an hour.

Suddenly, with a bang, a brilliant firework exploded above the forest a few hundred meters ahead.