Hiss!
Hearing the mission, Hizashi sucked in a sharp breath. He knew Lan might have to take on an extremely dangerous mission in exchange for a chance to live, but wasn't this one far too difficult?
Stop Kirigakure and Sunagakure from making peace?
How could one person possibly take on two great ninja villages at once? The people in charge of the peace talks would undoubtedly be elite shinobi from both villages. How could Lan possibly manage it alone?
To Hizashi, this was clearly a suicide mission. Hiashi saw that his younger brother wanted to speak up and plead for Lan, but before he could stop him, Lan had already made his decision.
"I'm willing to accept this mission."
Seeing Lan agree, Hizashi was about to try to persuade him, but Hiashi nodded in satisfaction first.
"Very good. I knew I hadn't misjudged you. Since you've made your decision, set out at once.
"You don't have much time. Once word spreads that Kirigakure and Sunagakure have successfully made peace, you know what the consequences will be."
In other words, if Lan planned to use this opportunity to leave the village and defect, the Main Family would activate the Caged Bird Seal and curse him to death as soon as news of the successful peace talks between Kirigakure and Sunagakure got out.
He would either die at the hands of Kirigakure and Sunagakure or at the hands of the Main Family. His only chance to survive was to complete the mission.
Watching Lan stride away, Hiashi had already sentenced him to death in his mind.
As far as he was concerned, Lan had no chance of completing the mission. At least this way, he could let his younger brother live a little longer, which was the least he could do for him.
As he got farther and farther from Konoha, Hyuga Lan used his Byakugan to make sure no one was following him. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed the village and the Hyuga Clan had reached an agreement. His life was safe for now, at least until Kirigakure and Sunagakure made peace.
It made sense. Konoha had suffered devastating losses among its high-ranking fighters, and the war that had only just ended could flare up again at any moment.
Kumogakure and Iwagakure alone were already giving Konoha a headache. If Kirigakure and Sunagakure made peace and were free to act, Konoha would face more than just the possibility of being attacked from both sides.
So Kirigakure and Sunagakure making peace was something Konoha could not accept. But because Konoha was allied with Sunagakure, it couldn't interfere openly and could only find a way to sabotage the negotiations in secret.
The Hyuga Clan, meanwhile, had a deep-seated grudge against Kirigakure because of the Third Shinobi World War. Not only had a Main Family elder been killed, but Kirigakure had also seized a Byakugan. That was an absolute disgrace to the Hyuga Clan.
So when Hiashi learned that the village planned to target Hyuga Lan because he was one of Orochimaru's subordinates, he came up with a solution that served both sides, after his younger brother Hizashi pleaded on Lan's behalf.
He would send Hyuga Lan to sabotage the peace talks between Kirigakure and Sunagakure. If Lan succeeded, all the better. If he failed and died at the hands of outsiders, he would still have given everything for the village.
As for Hyuga Lan, he needed time to fuse with the Type-3 Bio-Armor. This was just what he needed, especially since it also gave him a chance to leave the village. Naturally, it couldn't have worked out better. That was why he'd agreed without hesitation once he'd thought it through.
Once he successfully fused with the Bio-Armor and awakened the Tenseigan, he would have the power to decide his own fate. He wouldn't have to bother with some damn mission.
After traveling for a day, Hyuga Lan found a sufficiently secluded spot to implant the Bio-Armor.
Lan first directed chakra toward his chest. As a large amount of chakra gathered there, a bump appeared on his previously flat chest.
He pressed his palm against it. With a sharp click, he detached a palm-sized, triangular device from his body. It was nearly the color of his skin and was none other than the Type-2 Bio-Armor.
Once the armor was removed, Hyuga Lan's presence immediately weakened. Without the Bio-Armor's enhancement, his strength had clearly declined; even the light in his eyes dimmed, a sign that his Dojutsu Power was waning.
He seemed to have expected this change, and his expression didn't shift. After resting briefly, Lan took a Storage Scroll from his body.
Poof...
The scroll opened, revealing an object strikingly similar to the Type-2 Bio-Armor he'd just removed. It was the Type-3 Bio-Armor.
Holding the Type-3 Bio-Armor in his hands, Lan felt unusually unsettled. The possibility of evolving his Byakugan was right there before him. Everything depended on what he did next.
Without hesitating further, Lan pressed the Type-3 Bio-Armor to his chest. As its hooks pierced his body, the implantation entered its final stage.
The triangular armor began to spread thin and cover Hyuga Lan's entire body, like a skintight suit.
The suit tightened until it seemed to merge with his body, becoming almost impossible to detect with the naked eye.
Ugh!
During the implantation, Hyuga Lan felt his whole body grow hot, while waves of excruciating pain that seemed to reach his bones swept through him.
It was far more intense than when he'd implanted the Type-2 Bio-Armor, and his heart clenched.
Soon, the pain made his consciousness grow hazy. He felt as if his body was about to break down. Clearly, the power of activating nearly his entire gene sequence had exceeded what his body could withstand.
The only reason he was still holding on was the change in his eyes.
The moment the Type-3 Bio-Armor was implanted and strengthened his chakra, his eyes had begun to devour it at a frantic rate.
They were drawing in so much chakra that they even seemed to grow hot.
Lan's Byakugan were like a vortex, greedily devouring his chakra. Instead of collapsing from the sudden surge of chakra, his body somehow settled into an eerie balance.
But Lan knew that balance wouldn't last long. Even with the Bio-Armor's enhancement, his eyes couldn't keep absorbing chakra at such an absurd rate.
As his chakra was nearly depleted and the speed at which his eyes absorbed it showed no sign of slowing, Lan realized he was in serious trouble.
The amount of chakra needed for the Byakugan to advance into the Tenseigan might be beyond his imagination. Relying on his own chakra alone might not be enough.
Once his chakra was drained, he would be done for.
Should he stop?
The moment the thought surfaced, Lan shook his head.
Stopping his attempt to awaken the Tenseigan might keep him alive for a while, but without the Tenseigan's power, he couldn't complete the mission. When the time ran out, he would still die.
Either way, he was going to die. He might as well risk it. Even a brief moment with the Tenseigan would be better than dying without anyone ever knowing.
As Lan gave up resisting and let his eyes absorb his chakra, the moment before he was about to die from chakra depletion, his transparent eyes finally changed.
The golden light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter. At the same time, a pattern flickered into view in his golden pupils, as if it were about to be etched into them...