Tenseigan

So the Branch Family had no other thoughts. But not everyone felt that way. Some wondered why, when they were all members of the Hyuga Clan, the Main Branch could live freely while they had the Caged Bird Seal placed on them, restricting their freedom—and why their descendants had to suffer the same fate. Quite a few people felt this way, but there was nothing they could do. The Caged Bird Seal controlled their lives.

Although they couldn't stand being treated this way, they had to endure it for the sake of the clan's inheritance.

"Honestly, you're so backward. Just look at the Uchiha Clan. Their Sharingan is more versatile than the Byakugan, and at the Mangekyō level, it's far stronger. Yet they never came up with anything like the Caged Bird Seal. If you don't want them to target the Byakugan, why not just become stronger than they are?"

"That's a little naïve."

Emmm, he did have a point. Sigh, after spending fourteen years as a kid, he was almost forgetting he'd once been a young man in his twenties.

"Then forget it. I won't say anything else. If we can get rid of that thing, great; if not, so be it. Could you arrange for a cook? I haven't eaten yet. Afterward, I'll go spend some time with my little nephew and niece, and teach the others while I'm at it."

"Sure enough, you like your little niece more than us old geezers."

"Hahaha, how could I not? She's so adorable. When I find a girlfriend, I'll have her give me a daughter just as cute."

"Ahem, let's go. Hinata should be training."

"What?! Training?!"

They went to the training grounds of the Hyuga Main Family, where little Hinata was practicing a few simple Gentle Fist moves.

Fei Shi couldn't help frowning.

"Big brother, Hinata's still little. Making her train now isn't helping her—it's hurting her."

Hyuga Hiashi didn't understand. How was it hurting her to train and become stronger? Wasn't that helping her?

"You know what Hinata's like. Even though she's still young, you can already tell she's introverted, easily embarrassed, and a little lacking in confidence. When she was little, you should've focused on building her character and helping her gain confidence. Then your training would actually be effective. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time. If she learns even one or two things out of ten that you teach her, that'll be a miracle."

Hyuga Hiashi furrowed his brow, as if considering whether Fei Shi had a point. Could her personality be affecting her ability to learn and train? If so...

Hyuga Hiashi: "Then how should I teach her?"

"Ahem."

Fei Shi cleared his throat and continued, "Let her play. She can play however she likes. You should make time to stay by her side and play with her, too. Play some energetic games. Proper games."

Hyuga Hiashi, who had been listening intently, and Hizashi Hyuga, who had just arrived, both had veins bulging on their foreheads. Byakugan, activate!

Damn it! What do you take me/my brother for?!

How could the dignified head of the Hyuga Clan do something so vile?!

Wait?

Damn, did I really get what he meant right away?! Damn it! Damn it!

"Ah, this—big brother! Dear big brother! I was joking, just joking. Put your hands down, put your hands down."

Damn it, he'd misspoken.

"You're so young, and already you've learned nothing good. What kind of behavior is that? Fei Shi, you need to fix that flippant attitude of yours. You're a powerful shinobi now. How can you go around acting so unseriously?"

"Uh, sure, sure. I'll watch myself next time!"

But he wouldn't change.

Fei Shi silently added that to himself.

Just then, Hizashi Hyuga chimed in, "You said that last time, too."

Hyuga Hiashi: "눈_눈"

Fei Shi: "ಥ_ಥ"

Great. He'd brought this on himself.

After half an hour of being lectured, Fei Shi returned to the subject at hand.

"Let her work on her stamina until she's eight or nine, then have her work on technique. She can learn the theory at the Ninja Academy just by paying attention in class. She can practice her technique at home."

"No!"

Hyuga Hiashi rejected the idea outright.

"The elders will object. And it'll make the Branch Family think that the Main Branch isn't willing to put in the effort and is using their lives as a shield."

Fei Shi stroked his chin and thought it over. Then his eyes lit up. This would kill two birds with one stone.

"How about this, big brother? Let her play at home before she starts school. Since she won't have started school yet, it'll be hard for anyone to criticize us. Once she starts, send her to me. I'll teach her."

Hyuga Hiashi was startled. Was he planning to take Hinata as his student?

To be honest, he wasn't satisfied with Hinata. Her current personality made it easy to imagine what she'd be like in the future, so he'd been even stricter with her, trying to make her stronger and more confident.

But Hinata... seemed to have only grown more timid.

"You... what can you teach her?"

Hyuga Hiashi had already learned everything Fei Shi had taught the Hyuga Clan. He just hadn't fully grasped Taiji yet; it was too profound. But he'd mastered everything else, even if he wasn't as good as Fei Shi.Μ.Ｌωxδ9.org

Hahaha, I wonder how you'll react to what I'm about to say, big brother Hiashi.

"Ah, what I can teach her is something the Hyuga Clan can't. I can make her Byakugan evolve and take her strength straight to the top."

Hyuga Hiashi: "!!!"

Hizashi Hyuga: "!!!"

What had they just heard? The Byakugan could evolve? How was that possible? As far as they knew, the Byakugan had been passed down for nearly a thousand years, and they had no way of investigating its history before that.

Yet in all those nearly thousand years, the Byakugan had never evolved.

Knowing that kid's personality, could he be... trying to swindle me?

Trying to fool us? No way!

Seeing their disbelieving expressions, Fei Shi wore a look that said he'd expected as much.

"I know you don't believe me, but seeing is believing. Tenseigan, activate!"

Fei Shi activated his Byakugan first, then awakened the Tenseigan. A strange, astonishing chakra pulse radiated from him.

Seeing Fei Shi's blue eyes, they couldn't help but be startled. The chakra radiating from him was somewhat similar to the Byakugan's, but its intensity was leagues beyond it.

"The Tenseigan has the power to destroy and create. It can create puppets with their own consciousness, absorb the ninjutsu and chakra of shinobi who don't have the Byakugan, control space, and manipulate gravitational and repulsive forces. It seems to have other abilities, too, but they might cause too much destruction, so I haven't tried them."

Excitement! Boundless excitement—that was what Hyuga Hiashi felt right now.

"Fei Shi, Fei Shi! This, this... how does the Tenseigan compare to the Mangekyō Sharingan?"

He desperately wanted an answer. He needed one.

"It crushes the Sharingan."

"Ahahahahahaha!"

"Our Hyuga Clan has finally come into its own! Hahahaha! We're both clans with special eyes, yet the Byakugan could do nothing but observe. The Sharingan, which branched off from the Byakugan, was even stronger than the Byakugan. Hahaha, so the Byakugan's abilities just hadn't awakened! By the way, how does this ability awaken? Is it like the Uchiha Clan? Can the Hyuga awaken it?"

"Emm, strictly speaking, only Hinata has the talent for it. Neji has a chance, but it's pretty slim."

"Ah, it's that demanding? This... sigh. I thought our Hyuga Clan was finally going to rise. But... what a shame. We finally had a chance to get one over on the Uchiha, and now it's gone."