The Coming Chunin Exams

Space Backpack: Kekkei Genkai · Byakugan (Red)

Ryusuke Clan.

After seeing off Hinata, who had eaten her fill and even helped clean up, Ryusuke summoned the Virtual Panel and examined the Red Light Cluster inside the Space Backpack.

Looking at this Kekkei Genkai he had anticipated for years, Ryusuke was in an exceptionally good mood.

Although after obtaining the Red Eye, the Byakugan no longer offered Ryusuke any improvement.

As a transmigrator, however, Ryusuke knew that was only true at this stage.

As the origin of all ocular techniques, the Byakugan not only possessed many branches, but also had astonishing growth potential. The prerequisite was a pure bloodline.

The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan was so weak precisely because their bloodline was not pure enough.

In contrast, the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon had a far superior bloodline to the Hyuga Clan. Even if they could not awaken the Reincarnation Eye, they could use a large number of Byakugan to create a massive Reincarnation Eye.

Otsutsuki Toneri, whose bloodline was pure, only needed to transplant a pair of relatively pure Byakugan to awaken the Reincarnation Eye within just a few days.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki's Byakugan had mutated for the same reason—his bloodline was pure.

Boruto Uzumaki in Boruto was likewise able to awaken a Jōgan because his bloodline had evolved.

Likewise, as long as Ryusuke evolved his bloodline, the potential of his Byakugan would rise as well.

Once he attained the Six Paths, even if his Byakugan did not evolve or mutate, perhaps he could kill enemies with a glance like Kaguya Otsutsuki, or see through other people's thoughts.

Or perhaps, like Momoshiki Otsutsuki, he could see other people's fates.

In short...

Ryusuke might not use the Byakugan, but he could not be without it!

Standing before the bathroom mirror, Ryusuke fused the Kekkei Genkai · Byakugan and observed the changes in his reflection.

As the red light seeped into his body, Ryusuke could clearly feel his brain secreting chakra, all of it converging in his eyes.

Then, Ryusuke's pupils began changing at a visible speed.

Ryusuke's pupils had originally been red, with tiny irises within them.

But now, his pupils had turned white, and the irises were gone.

If his pupils had not still been surrounded by his irises, Ryusuke would have thought that only the whites of his eyes remained.

At the same time, Ryusuke could sense that the white pupils contained an energy similar to that of the Sharingan and the Red Eye.

Moreover, he seemed to know how to activate that dormant energy.

Ryusuke formed a Boar Sign with both hands and called out softly, "Byakugan - Open!"

The next second, veins suddenly bulged at both of Ryusuke's temples in the mirror.

If it were an ordinary person, or someone ugly, this appearance would surely have been terrifyingly hideous.

Yet on the handsome young Ryusuke, those bulging veins gave him an eerie beauty, much like when Sasuke Uchiha activated his Cursed Seal.

After activating the Byakugan, Ryusuke's view changed just as it had when he activated the Red Eye, abruptly shifting from first-person perspective to an Omniscient View. Everything within a kilometer entered his sight.

Yet all the images and objects were black and white. Only the meridians inside human bodies, as well as the chakra flowing through them, appeared blue in Ryusuke's eyes.

It was precisely because meridians and chakra stood out so clearly that the Byakugan became the bane of the Invisibility Technique and genjutsu.

In this entirely black-and-white world, a Byakugan user merely needed to find that trace of blue to know where the enemy was.

After getting a feel for the Byakugan's perspective, Ryusuke deactivated it.

As the bulging veins faded, Ryusuke's white pupils gradually returned to their original red.

Seeing this, Ryusuke's mood became incomparably cheerful.

Unlike the Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan and Otsutsuki Clan, Ryusuke's Byakugan was like Himawari Uzumaki's in Boruto—it only turned white when activated, then returned to its original color once deactivated.

This way, he would not have to wear colored contact lenses all the time.

Still, the bulging veins were far too conspicuous. Until he could reveal all his trump cards, it was best not to use the Byakugan unless necessary.

Walking out of the bathroom, Ryusuke took out Lightning Blade: Kiba from the Space Backpack and began a new stage of training.

Ryusuke was not interested in swordsmanship.

Just as a ninja who had no connection to the Otsutsuki Clan's bloodline could only reach the peak of the Five Kage even if they developed Kekkei Tōta.

The end of a ninja's swordsmanship was likewise only Kage-level.

Of course, that was not the important part.

The important part was that once Ryusuke awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and could use Perfect Susanoo, he could have Susanoo unleash sword strikes on the level of the great swordsmen from the pirate world, effortlessly splitting mountains and shattering earth.

The massive Perfect Susanoo did not require any technique either—overwhelming strength could break through all methods!

Learning swordsmanship from scratch would only be a waste of Ryusuke's time.

The reason Ryusuke wanted Lightning Blade: Kiba was that, like Sarutobi Asuma's Flying Swallow, this ninja blade could allow Ryusuke's chakra to easily complete Lightning Release Nature Transformation.

Using this ninja blade to train Lightning Release Nature Transformation would yield twice the result with half the effort.

However, Ryusuke was not training Lightning Release Nature Transformation to strengthen his attacks, but to compensate for his weaknesses.

Ryusuke's current weaknesses were defense and speed.

Before his Sage Body acquired the ability of Markless Healing, he could compensate for both weaknesses with Earth Release and Lightning Release.

The defensive power Kakuzu displayed in the original story came from Earth Release ninjutsu.

Likewise, the reason Sasuke Uchiha could catch up to Rock Lee's years of hard work in just one month was because he used Lightning Release Nature Transformation to stimulate his cells, causing his Body Flicker speed to soar.

After successfully developing ninjutsu several times, Ryusuke had also learned the strengths and weaknesses of Sakura's Chakra Control.

Its strength was that this talent allowed Ryusuke to control chakra perfectly, letting him easily accomplish all kinds of Shape Transformation.

But this talent could not improve Ryusuke's Nature Transformation.

That was why Ryusuke could easily create chakra vortices and control water currents to form a Spiral Water Dragon Roll, yet could not directly form a Water Dragon Tornado with his bare hands.

The same was true for the Hard Vortex Water Blade!

Therefore, Ryusuke could only rely on these external aids to help himself.

Time passed swiftly, and soon it was late June.

During this period, Team 8 occasionally gathered to carry out missions, but they were all D-Rank Missions. Yuhi Kurenai did not take Ryusuke and the other two on any more C-Rank Missions.

It was not only Yuhi Kurenai. Even Kakashi Hatake, Sarutobi Asuma, and the Jonin Instructors from previous classes had not taken their students out on missions during this time.

Because they all knew that the period from late June to early July was very special.

Caw—

That day, Team 8 was handling the village's garbage as usual.

Then, the cry of an eagle suddenly rang out in the sky.

The call was incredibly piercing, as if it had spread throughout all of Konoha.

Upon hearing it, the jonin all stopped what they were doing, then vanished in unison with the Body Flicker Technique, turning into afterimages as they rushed toward the Hokage Building.

Yuhi Kurenai also said to Ryusuke and the other two, "Once you finish the mission, disband where you are. Gather at the usual place tomorrow."

After saying that, Yuhi Kurenai vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.

Ryusuke gazed thoughtfully at the eagle circling above Konoha.

At this time of year, if nothing unexpected happened, the Chunin Exams should be approaching!