In a hidden underground laboratory somewhere outside Konoha.
Clang...
The laboratory door was shoved open, and a hurried figure rushed inside.
"Lord Orochimaru, the Third Hokage is heading this way with the Anbu! He'll be here any moment. I'm afraid he means trouble!"
The speaker was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy with the Byakugan. He looked tense as he reported to Orochimaru, who was conducting human experiments.
At these words, Orochimaru stiffened for a moment, then stopped his work and began washing the blood from his hands.
Judging by his unhurried manner, the situation didn't seem beyond his control yet.
It looks like it's time for me to leave Konoha. I thought I had a while longer, at least until the uproar over Minato and his wife's deaths died down. I didn't expect them to act so quickly. My teacher really is decisive.
Orochimaru didn't bother wondering who had betrayed him. From the day he began experimenting on people from his own village, he had been prepared for this moment.
Memories flashed through Orochimaru's mind. By the time he had finished washing his hands, his emotions had settled.
He walked slowly over to the boy. As he looked at the boy's Byakugan, a trace of admiration—and regret—unconsciously appeared in his eyes.
"Lan, you're a true genius, both in training and in research. It's a shame that your status as a member of the Hyuga Branch Family holds you back. Otherwise, one day you might achieve more than I have."
Faced with Orochimaru's praise, Hyuga Lan lowered his head modestly.
"I'm not worthy of that praise. It's all thanks to your guidance!"
"No need to be modest. I've always been a good judge of character."
Orochimaru had always taken the greatest pride in his ability to judge and command people. Every subordinate he chose was fiercely loyal to him, willing even to give their life for his sake.
His charisma was the polar opposite of Madara Uchiha's. The only person Orochimaru had ever misjudged was probably Uchiha Sasuke. The Uchiha Clan was, in a sense, his destined nemesis.
No one knew what Hyuga Lan truly thought, but he had consistently acted like a loyal subordinate, which pleased Orochimaru.
"As a parting gift, those hidden laboratories of mine will be yours from now on.
"You've learned nearly all the techniques I have to teach you over the years. With your own talent, I look forward to the day you escape the fate imposed by the Caged Bird Seal."
Orochimaru patted Lan on the shoulder and offered him some encouragement.
Having decided to defect on his own, he naturally wanted to keep winning over loyal, talented subordinates like Hyuga Lan.
Having a pawn like him planted in the village would surely benefit Orochimaru's plans in the future.
There were surely many other sleeper agents like Hyuga Lan, but he was the only one to receive so much of Orochimaru's legacy.
Lan took the opportunity to show his excitement.
"Thank you for placing your trust in me. I, Lan, swear to follow you to the death. As for the scoundrels who framed you, I'll make sure they pay!"
Lan's heartfelt pledge of loyalty pleased Orochimaru.
"There's no time. Leave now. I'll take care of the rest."
Lan bid Orochimaru farewell, then left through a hidden passage.
Left alone in the laboratory, Orochimaru gazed at his surroundings with longing, breathing in the faint smell of blood. Then he fixed his eyes on the door and waited quietly for something to arrive.
Meanwhile, using the Byakugan to keep watch, Hyuga Lan made his way home along familiar routes without anyone noticing.
After weighing the pros and cons of what had just happened, he began to consider what he should do next.
The timeline had reached the point just before Orochimaru's defection. On top of that, the Fourth Hokage and his wife had died not long ago in the Nine-Tails Incident, leaving Konoha's upper ranks devastated.
No promising young shinobi had yet emerged to shoulder the burden, while the older generation's strongest were either dead or defecting. Konoha had entered its darkest period, with a severe shortage of capable shinobi.
If he could make it through the turmoil of Orochimaru's defection, the years that followed would be the perfect time to quietly build up his strength.
But could he really get through this unscathed?
Given how talented he had shown himself to be over the years, perhaps his clan would do what it could to protect him.
It was all that damn Caged Bird Seal's fault. It left him with no way to defect right now. Otherwise, he could have gone with Orochimaru and spared himself all this trouble.
As for joining Orochimaru, he had no regrets at all.
As a transmigrator, he had been orphaned when his parents died early in the war. From the moment he was born, he had witnessed the cruelty of the Ninja World.
Without a cheat, the only way to carve out a place for himself in this perilous world was through scientific research.
And Orochimaru was undoubtedly the greatest scientist in the Ninja World.
Orochimaru had welcomed Lan's approach. After all, he had long been interested in the Byakugan, the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga Clan, and he greatly valued having a willing test subject.
As they worked together, Lan's views on many subjects proved to be much like Orochimaru's. Orochimaru consequently taught him almost everything he knew, and Lan had nearly been won over by his charisma.
But that was in the past. After acquiring Orochimaru's techniques and gaining access to various instruments, Hyuga Lan began an in-depth study of the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai.
Hard work paid off. While sequencing genes one day, he accidentally discovered a particular genetic sequence shared by all members of the Hyuga Clan.
This sequence manifested differently in different Hyuga clan members. Some had more of its genes activated, while others had very few.
But they all shared one thing: the more talented a Hyuga was, the more genes in that sequence tended to be activated. The astonishing discovery left him ecstatic.
He immediately realized that this special genetic sequence might hold the secret to the Byakugan's evolution.
As one of the three great Dojutsu—and an especially prominent trait of the Ōtsutsuki Clan—the Byakugan surely had tremendous potential.
Others might not know the Byakugan could evolve, but as a transmigrator, Lan knew perfectly well that it could become the Tenseigan.
The Tenseigan was a Sage's Eye on the same level as the Rinnegan, and its destructive power was even greater.
There were two ways to awaken the Tenseigan. One was to combine the chakra of the Ōtsutsuki Clan on the moon with the pure Byakugan of the Hyuga Main Family in the Ninja World, awakening an individual Tenseigan.
After entering Tenseigan Chakra Mode, a wielder of this Tenseigan could even create Truth-Seeking Orbs, making them comparable to a Six Paths-level shinobi.
The other way was through a Giant Tenseigan formed by gathering a large number of Byakugan. Its power was so immense that it could control the moon and send it crashing into the earth, destroying the Ninja World.
A Giant Tenseigan like that was enshrined on the moon. However, it was guarded by members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan. With his current strength, trying to get his hands on it would be no different from throwing his life away.
Neither route to obtaining the Tenseigan was open to Hyuga Lan, so after discovering this secret, he began to suspect there might be a new path.
If he activated every gene in this special sequence, could he use it to awaken the Tenseigan?