Hanabi's Eyes

The place Qiuyang had brought Hanabi to investigate was Naka Shrine, where a stone monument left behind by the Six Paths stood.

Since the night Itachi massacred the Uchiha Clan, no outsider had dared enter the place where they once lived. Now the land was overgrown with weeds, and chilly winds swept through from time to time.

The howling wind sounded like the furious roars of Uchiha ghosts killed by Itachi...

Hanabi couldn't help shrinking back when she heard it. The place felt gloomy and eerie. If Qiuyang-gege weren't standing right beside her, she wouldn't have dared come here alone, even in broad daylight.

And you still won't admit you're a little kid?

Qiuyang was forming the Earth Seal and gathering chakra. Noticing the little girl's nervousness, he chuckled and said, "Don't be nervous, Hanabi. There are no ghosts here."

"I'm not scared of ghosts..." Hanabi whispered in protest, but the way she edged even closer to Qiuyang made it clear the girl wasn't being honest.

Qiuyang reckoned he'd gathered enough chakra, so he quickly told Hanabi to activate her Byakugan.

"I'll point out the exact spots I need you to investigate. Use your Byakugan to check what's there, Hanabi. Whether this works depends on you."

When Hanabi heard that Qiuyang-gege had given her a task, her little face turned serious at once. The veins around her eyes bulged as she activated her Byakugan.

She didn't know exactly what Qiuyang-gege was planning, but she only had to do as he said.

"Good!"

Qiuyang nodded in satisfaction. Then he crouched down and lightly pressed his right index and middle fingers to the ground, releasing the gathered Earth Release chakra.

Nothing seemed to happen, but all the earth within a two-hundred-meter radius around him became an area he could sense.

This was the Earth Release Sensing Technique the Second Hokage had used when he was pursued by the elite unit led by Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

The technique was also recorded in the Scroll of Sealing.

He had specifically learned it on the way back to Konoha so he could capture a White Zetsu without a hitch.

Back then, the Second Hokage had sensed the exact number of pursuers through the tremors in the earth. Qiuyang was now using the technique to locate the intelligence-gathering White Zetsu hidden underground.

Combined with the Byakugan's ability to see through objects, it would be more than enough to find a spy like White Zetsu.

Qiuyang began pointing out the areas he wanted her to check.

"Five meters underground, in that direction."

Hanabi stared intently. "There's a nest of rats."

"Eight meters underground, in that direction."

Hanabi said, "It's a snake digging a hole."

The first few places Qiuyang pointed out were mostly inhabited by small animals. But when he pointed to a spot thirty meters from the surface for the eighth time, Hanabi nearly cried out.

"Th-that thing... What is it? It looks like a person, but also like a tree."

The mysterious object she saw with her Byakugan had the same color as Natural Energy, like a tree. But it had no network of veins extending outward like a tree's.

And from its shape, it clearly had four limbs. She could even make out half of a blurry human face.

It was terrifying! How could something so strange exist here?

"Don't worry about it for now. Check the next spot, seventy meters in that direction."

Qiuyang had expected this, so Hanabi's discovery didn't surprise him at all. Instead, he was delighted that he had something to trade to Orochimaru.

After using Hanabi's Byakugan to check every location, they found something strange only at the eighth spot.

Looks like that old fox Obito figured I'd never dare come back after escaping, so he left a White Zetsu here.

But one is enough.

Thinking this, Qiuyang stood directly above the spot and told little Hanabi to step back. Then he took a scroll from his robe, its sealing formula already inscribed.

He quickly formed Hand Seals. "Earth Release: Earth Shore Return."

As the ground rumbled and rose, Qiuyang closed his left eye. His right eye transformed into a three-Tomoe Sharingan, then spun and changed into the Yin-Yang Bagua Mangekyo.

Huh? What kind of eyes are those...?

Hanabi hadn't deactivated her Byakugan, so she naturally noticed the pattern in Qiuyang's eye changing. Her little mouth hung open in utter shock—

That had to be the final form of the Sharingan her father had told her about: the Mangekyō Sharingan.

She couldn't believe Qiuyang-gege had awakened such eyes.

Father was right. Qiuyang-gege would surely become as powerful as Lord Hokage one day. But Father often said...

Was it true that the Hyuga were the strongest clan?

Could their eyes keep evolving, just like the Sharingan?

As the little girl tried to get a closer look at Qiuyang's right eye, the strange mass she'd just seen with her Byakugan emerged from underground.

Her attention was immediately drawn to it.

When she saw the white, plantlike humanoid mass, she was dumbstruck. How could something so ugly grow in nature?

And if she wasn't mistaken, was that thing... wriggling?

Hanabi was right. The hidden White Zetsu had awakened and was absorbing energy as it transformed into a human shape.

"Hello, White Zetsu."

"Damn it, brat! How did you know I was hiding..."

Qiuyang glared with his left eye and used the ability of the Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye—

Frost of Frozen Void.

Starting at its head and feet, a strange white mist slowly consumed White Zetsu.

"Aagh! What is this...?"

White Zetsu's voice trembled as it tried to twist its body, only to discover it could no longer move.

In less than five seconds, the mist had frozen the still-forming White Zetsu completely, encasing it in an ice cocoon that froze time and space.

So this was the space-freezing jutsu the original body had used back then, the one that even made Obito's Kamui useless?

It really was powerful.

Qiuyang thought happily. Since this was his first time using the technique after crossing over, blood began to trickle slowly from his eyes.

Once he understood how it worked and what it could do, he didn't hesitate. He moved the frozen White Zetsu to the center of the sealing array, then formed Hand Seals and sealed it into the scroll.

Poor White Zetsu. It had only gotten two lines out before being put back into a dormant state. It hadn't even managed to send out a single bit of information.

Qiuyang picked up the scroll and tied it shut with a rope.

"Done."

Qiuyang smiled warmly at Hanabi, who was still staring wide-eyed, unable to come back to her senses. He slipped the scroll back into his robe.

He was in a good mood. Seeing that Hanabi was still standing there in a daze, he bent down and leaned toward the little girl.

"I really have to thank you this time, Hanabi. And... you'll keep this a secret for me, right?"

"Ah... Mm..."

What a good kid.

Qiuyang ruffled her smooth hair a few more times. He decided then and there that when Otsutsuki Toneri came to take the little girl's eyes, he would protect her no matter what.

By then, he would probably have become an Otsutsuki himself, so he wouldn't have to worry about affecting the original story.

"Come on, Hanabi—little... friend."

When he brought Hanabi home, Hyuga Hiashi came out in person to see the lifesaver. After exchanging pleasantries, Hiashi asked Qiuyang to teach Hanabi whenever he had time.

Qiuyang looked down at Hanabi, who was gazing up at him, cleared his throat, and agreed.

He remembered that the little girl's eyes could evolve into the Tenseigan in Toneri's hands.

Hmm... He could ask Snake Auntie, the scientist, about it while he was at it!