Hanabi's Eyes

The location Qiuyang and Hanabi were scouting was Naka Shrine, where the stone tablet left by the Sage of Six Paths resided.

Ever since the night Itachi wiped out his clan, no outsider dared to step foot in the place where the Uchiha Clan once lived. Now, the land was overgrown with weeds, and a chilling wind blew through from time to time.

The howling, wailing sounds felt like the angry roars of the Uchiha ghosts who had died at the hands of Itachi...

Hanabi couldn't help but shrink back, feeling the eeriness of the place. If Qiuyang weren't standing right beside her, she certainly wouldn't have dared to come here alone, even in broad daylight.

"Still refusing to admit you're just a little kid?"

Qiuyang, who was forming the Earth Seal to gather chakra, sensed the tension in the little girl beside him and spoke with an amused smile:

"Don't be nervous, Hanabi. There are no ghosts here."

"I'm not afraid of ghosts..."

Hanabi whispered a rebuttal, but judging by how she pressed her body closer to Qiuyang, the little girl wasn't being honest at all.

Qiuyang figured he had gathered enough chakra, so he quickly told Hanabi to activate her Byakugan.

"I'll point out the specific locations for you to scout in a moment. Use your Byakugan to help me see what's going on. Whether we succeed or not depends on you."

Hearing that Qiuyang had given her a task, Hanabi's small face turned serious instantly. The veins around her eye sockets bulged as she entered the Byakugan state.

Although she didn't know exactly what Qiuyang was planning to do, she would just do as he said.

"Very good!"

Qiuyang nodded in satisfaction, then crouched down, pressing his right index and middle fingers gently against the ground, immediately radiating the gathered earth-attribute chakra.

Nothing happened on the surface, but within a two-hundred-meter radius centered on him, the earth became his area of perception.

This was the Earth Release Sensing Technique used by the Second Hokage when he was pursued by the elite troops of Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

This technique was also recorded in the Scroll of Sealing.

To successfully capture a White Zetsu, he had specifically learned this sensing technique on his way back to Konoha.

The Second Hokage had used the vibrations of the earth to sense the exact number of pursuing enemies, and now Qiuyang was using it to pinpoint the dormant White Zetsu hiding underground.

Combined with the Byakugan, which could see through objects, finding a spy White Zetsu was more than enough.

Qiuyang began to point out the directions that needed to be investigated:

"Five meters underground in this direction."

Hanabi peered intently: "There's a nest of mice."

"Eight meters underground in this direction."

Hanabi: "It's a snake digging a hole."

The places Qiuyang pointed to earlier were mostly small animals causing trouble, but when he pointed to a spot thirty meters away for the eighth time, Hanabi almost gasped:

"W-what on earth is that? It looks like a person, but also like a tree."

The mysterious object she saw with her Byakugan had the color of natural energy, like a tree, yet it lacked the vascular system that trees used to grow.

Moreover, in terms of shape, one could clearly see that the object had limbs, and one could vaguely make out half of a human face.

It was truly terrifying! How could such a strange thing exist in this place?

"Don't worry about that for now. Next location, seventy meters in this direction."

Qiuyang had anticipated this, so he wasn't surprised when Hanabi described it; instead, he was delighted that he had something to trade with Orochimaru.

Finally, after using Hanabi's Byakugan to check all the spots, it was only at the eighth location that such a bizarre situation was discovered.

It seems that old fox Obito thought I wouldn't dare return after escaping, so he left this White Zetsu behind.

But one is enough.

Thinking this, Qiuyang stood up and walked to the spot directly above the target. After asking little Hanabi to stand further away, he took out a scroll inscribed with sealing formulas from his robe.

He then quickly formed hand seals: "Earth Release: Earth Shore Return."

As the ground rumbled and rose, Qiuyang closed his left eye, his right eye shifting into a three-tomoe pattern before rotating into the Yin-Yang Bagua Mangekyo.

Hm? What kind of eye is this...

Hanabi, who hadn't deactivated her Byakugan, naturally noticed the change in the pattern of Qiuyang's eye, her small mouth agape in shock once again--

This must be the final evolution of the Sharingan that her father spoke of: the Mangekyo Sharingan.

She never expected that Qiuyang would be able to awaken such an eye.

Her father was right; Qiuyang would surely be as powerful as the Hokage in the future. But what her father often said...

That the Hyuga were the strongest clan—was that really true?

Could the eyes of her own clan also evolve like the Sharingan?

Just as the little girl was about to continue observing Qiuyang's right eye, the strange mass she had just seen with her Byakugan emerged from the ground.

It immediately drew her gaze back to it.

Seeing a humanoid white plant-like entity, she was stunned; how could nature produce something so hideous?

Furthermore, if her eyes weren't deceiving her, was this unidentified object currently... wriggling?

Hanabi was indeed not mistaken; a lurking White Zetsu had awakened and was currently absorbing energy to revert to its humanoid form.

"Hello there, White Zetsu."

"Damn it, brat, how did you know I was hiding in..."

Qiuyang glared with his left eye, unleashing the ability of his right Mangekyo Sharingan—

Frost of Frozen Void

Immediately, starting from its head and feet, a strange white mist began to consume the White Zetsu bit by bit.

"Awoo, what on earth is this..."

The White Zetsu's voice trembled as it tried to twist its body, only to find itself completely unable to move.

In less than five seconds, the white mist had frozen the White Zetsu—still in the process of transforming—entirely, forming an ice cocoon that locked both time and space.

Is this the space-freezing ninjutsu that, when used by the original body, rendered Obito's Kamui completely ineffective?

Truly impressive.

Qiuyang thought happily. Since this was his first time using it after transmigrating, blood began to trickle slowly from his eyes.

Having understood the principle and effect, he did not hesitate, controlling the frozen White Zetsu to move into the center of the sealing formation before weaving hand signs to seal it into a scroll.

Poor White Zetsu; it had only managed to utter two lines of dialogue before being forced back into a dormant state, without even managing to transmit a shred of intelligence.

Qiuyang picked up the scroll from the ground and tied it securely with a cord.

"Done."

Qiuyang offered a gentle smile to Hanabi, who was still wide-eyed and dazed, then casually tucked the scroll into his robe.

He was in a great mood. Seeing that Hanabi was still staring blankly, he leaned down until he was right in front of the little girl:

"I really have to thank Hanabi this time, and... you'll keep this secret for me, won't you?"

"Ah... yes..."

What a good child.

Qiuyang ruffled her soft hair a few more times, deciding then and there that when Otsutsuki Toneri came to snatch the little girl's eyes, he would definitely step in to protect her.

By then, he should have already become an Otsutsuki himself, so there would be no need to worry about whether or not he was affecting the original plot.

"Let's go, Hanabi, little... kid."

When he returned Hanabi to her home, Hyuga Hiashi personally came out to meet his daughter's savior. After the formalities were concluded, he didn't forget to ask Qiuyang to spend more time teaching Hanabi whenever he was free.

Qiuyang looked down at Hanabi, who was gazing up at him, and gave a cough before agreeing.

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

Hmm... I'll ask Snake Auntie the scientist about it when the time comes!