Biological Armor and Evolution

Hiss!

Hearing this mission, Hizashi, standing to the side, drew a sharp breath. Although he knew Lan might have to undertake an extremely dangerous task to earn a chance at survival, wasn't this mission a bit too difficult?

Preventing the peace talks between the Mist Village and the Sand Village?

How could one person possibly deal with two major ninja villages simultaneously? Furthermore, those responsible for the negotiations would undoubtedly be the elites of both villages. How could Lan, on his own, ever manage such a feat?

In Hizashi's eyes, this was clearly a suicide mission. Hiashi noticed his younger brother's intent to plead for Lan, but before he could stop him, Lan made his decision.

"I am willing to accept this mission."

Seeing Lan agree, Hizashi wanted to offer a few more words of persuasion, but Hiashi had already nodded with satisfaction.

"Very good. I knew I hadn't misjudged you. Since you have made your decision, then depart quickly. You don't have much time. Once the news of the successful peace talks between the Mist Village and the Sand Village spreads, you know what the consequences will be."

As the name implied, if he intended to use this opportunity to defect from the village, then once the news of the successful peace talks between the Mist and Sand villages broke, the main branch would activate the Caged Bird Seal to execute him instantly.

It could be said that he would either die at the hands of the Mist and Sand villages or at the hands of the main branch. His only chance at survival was to complete the mission.

Watching Lan walk away with such nonchalance, Hiashi had already passed a death sentence on him in his heart.

In his view, there was no possibility of Lan completing the mission. Letting him live a few more days was, at best, a favor to his younger brother.

As he moved further and further away from Konoha Village, Lan breathed a sigh of relief after using his Byakugan to confirm that no one was following him.

It seemed the village and the Hyuga Clan had reached an agreement; his life was temporarily preserved until the peace talks between the Mist and Sand villages concluded.

It made sense. Konoha Village had suffered heavy losses in high-tier combat power, and the recently quelled Great Ninja War threatened to ignite once more.

The Cloud Village and Stone Village alone were already giving Konoha a headache. If the Mist and Sand villages successfully negotiated peace, allowing those two major powers to free up their forces, Konoha would face more than just being attacked from both sides.

Therefore, the peace talks between the Mist and Sand were unacceptable to Konoha. However, constrained by the alliance between Konoha and the Sand Village, Konoha could not intervene directly and had to find a way to sabotage the talks in secret.

As for the Hyuga Clan, they held deep-seated grievances against the Mist Village due to the Third Great Ninja War. Not only had a main branch elder been killed, but a Byakugan had also been seized by the Mist—an absolute disgrace to the Hyuga.

Thus, when he learned the village intended to move against Lan because he was a subordinate of Orochimaru, Hiashi, prompted by his brother Hizashi's pleas, devised a win-win strategy.

Let Lan go to sabotage the peace talks. Success would be ideal; failure would mean he died at the hands of outsiders, which could be considered a final service to the village.

For Lan, he currently needed time to integrate the Type-3 Bio-Armor. This was like being handed a pillow when he was already sleepy, especially since it allowed him to leave the village. Once he realized this, he agreed immediately.

As long as the integration of the bio-armor was successful and allowed him to awaken the Tenseigan, he would possess the power to dictate his own fate. He wouldn't need to care about some damn mission anymore.

After a day of travel, Lan found a sufficiently secluded spot to prepare for the bio-armor implantation.

Lan first channeled his chakra toward his chest. As the chakra gathered in large quantities, a protrusion appeared on his otherwise flat chest.

Placing his palm over the bump, he heard a click. A palm-sized, triangular, skin-toned, and peculiar device was detached from his body—this was the Type-2 Bio-Armor.

With the armor removed, Lan's aura dropped significantly. Clearly, without the enhancement of the bio-armor, his strength had declined, and even the light in his eyes dimmed—a sign of waning ocular power.

He seemed to have anticipated these changes, so his expression remained unchanged. After a brief rest, Lan took out a storage scroll.

Poof...

The scroll opened, revealing an object very similar to the Type-2 Bio-Armor he had just removed—the Type-3 Bio-Armor.

Holding the Type-3 Bio-Armor in his hand, Lan felt an uncharacteristic restlessness. The possibility of his Byakugan evolving was in his hands now; success or failure rested on this single attempt.

Without further hesitation, Lan pressed the Type-3 Bio-Armor against his chest. As the armor's hooks pierced into his flesh, the implantation entered its final stage.

The triangular armor began to thin out, spreading to cover his entire body like a tight-fitting suit.

The suit grew tighter and tighter, almost merging with his skin, making it nearly impossible to detect with the naked eye.

Ugh!

During the implantation process, Lan felt his entire body heat up, while waves of bone-deep, excruciating pain surged through him.

This sensation was far more violent than the previous implantation of the Type-2 Bio-Armor, causing his heart to leap into his throat.

Soon, the agony began to blur his consciousness, and he had a premonition that his body was on the verge of collapse. Clearly, the power of activating nearly his entire genetic sequence had exceeded his body's threshold.

The only reason he was still holding on was due to the change in his eyes.

His eyes had begun to frantically absorb chakra the moment the Type-3 Bio-Armor was implanted and his own chakra surged.

Because the absorption was so intense, it even generated a faint sensation of heat.

Lan's Byakugan acted like a vortex, devouring his chakra so ravenously that it strangely balanced out the energy that should have caused his body to collapse from the sudden surge.

However, Lan knew clearly that this balance would not last long. Even with the bio-armor's enhancement, his chakra reserves could not sustain such an exaggerated rate of absorption by his eyes.

Seeing his chakra nearing exhaustion while the eyes showed no signs of slowing their intake, Lan realized he was in deep trouble.

The amount of chakra required for the Byakugan to ascend to the Tenseigan was perhaps beyond imagination. If he relied solely on his own reserves, he feared he would never meet the demand.

Once his chakra was drained, he would be dead.

Should he stop?

As soon as this thought appeared, Lan shook his head internally.

Stopping the evolution to the Tenseigan might allow him to survive for a moment, but without the power of the Tenseigan, he couldn't complete the mission, and he would die when the time ran out anyway.

Death awaited him either way, so he might as well fight for it. Even if he only possessed the Tenseigan for a fleeting moment, it was better than dying in obscurity.

As Lan stopped struggling and let his eyes drain his chakra, moments before he was about to die from depletion, his transparent eyes finally underwent a change.

The golden light in his eyes grew increasingly intense. At the same time, a pattern began to flicker within the golden pupils, as if it were about to be etched upon them...