Anko stared blankly at Hyuga Lan's retreating figure.
She didn't know if her senses were playing tricks on her, but during her recent duel with Hyuga Lan, she'd felt the same way she once had when facing Orochimaru.
She couldn't believe it.
Could Hyuga Lan's true strength already be close to, or even on par with, Orochimaru's?
At that moment, Anko was filled with confusion. She couldn't accept the outcome. As Orochimaru's direct disciple, she'd been left so far behind by someone who had once served under him.
No, it had to be my imagination. There's no way that guy Hyuga Lan is that strong.
Seeing that the fight was over, Kurenai Yuhi quickly got up and went to Anko's side.
After checking her over and finding that she hadn't suffered any serious injuries, Kurenai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your injuries are minor. You'll be fine after some rest. It seems that guy Hyuga Lan showed quite a bit of restraint."
Hearing that only made Anko feel more dejected. It meant that the gap between her and Hyuga Lan was enormous. Only someone whose strength was on an entirely different level could control their force with such precision.
Since Lan was so powerful, if she could persuade him to work with her, then perhaps she'd have a chance of taking on Orochimaru.
But when she thought of Hyuga Lan's attitude toward Orochimaru, Anko couldn't help wondering.
Could Hyuga Lan still have lingering feelings for Orochimaru?
If so, that would be terrible. Would he betray her plan for revenge to Orochimaru?
Elsewhere, Hyuga Lan had just left the arena when he seemed to notice something. He suddenly stopped and looked in a certain direction. After apparently finding nothing, he turned away and headed home.
Inside the Hokage Building.
The Third Hokage lowered his hands from the Crystal Ball, then took out his pipe and drew on it hard.
That boy from the Hyuga Branch Family was no simple character. He'd almost noticed me watching him.
He'd beaten Anko with such ease. This boy's strength must rank among the best even among the Special Jōnin.
He was about the same age as Kakashi, yet already this strong. He truly lived up to his reputation as a genius of the Hyuga Branch Family. No wonder Hizashi had gone to such lengths to protect him.
Should I recruit such a talented young man into the Anbu?
The thought had barely occurred to the Third Hokage when he quickly rejected it himself.
The fact that Hyuga Lan had once served under Orochimaru remained a thorn in his mind, making it impossible for him to trust the boy completely.
So even though Hyuga Lan had shown ample talent and strength, the Third Hokage still couldn't bring himself to accept him into the Anbu.
It would be better to wait until he'd passed a few tests and proven his loyalty to the village before bringing it up.
Yes, I'll keep watching him...
Back at home, Hyuga Lan began weighing the gains and losses from the duel.
While they'd been in the arena, Kakashi and the others had been watching, so he hadn't noticed anything.
But once he'd left, the improved sensory perception he'd gained upon awakening the Tenseigan had immediately alerted him to the presence of an unfamiliar observer.
When he found no suspicious targets in his field of vision, he thought it over briefly and realized who the watcher had to be.
After all, this was Konoha, the strongest shinobi village in the world. The only person who could casually spy on others here was the one who possessed the Telescope Technique. So he'd pretended not to notice and simply gone home.
Hmph. What a bored old man. He should spend that time looking at beautiful women instead of spying on me.
Then he recalled his fight with Anko. The battle had given him a clearer sense of his strength without using the Tenseigan.
With the Tenseigan's power, he could match or even surpass Kage Level fighters, as long as he didn't run out of chakra.
Without using the Tenseigan's power, he was still stronger than a Special Jōnin, reaching the level of a Jōnin or even an elite Jōnin. His strength was already on par with Kakashi, who was known as a genius.
Although Hatake Kakashi would later be called "Kakashi of the Sharingan," during his early years, he was an undeniable genius.
A Jōnin at twelve—such a record was probably unmatched before and would remain so afterward.
A genius he'd once looked up to had now been surpassed. And if the other man continued to wallow in dejection, the gap between them would only grow.
Remembering how far apart they'd been as boys, Hyuga Lan found the thrill of turning the tables quite satisfying.
As for Anko, her current strength lay somewhere between a Chunin and a Special Jōnin. With a two-tier gap between them, he'd been able to defeat her with little effort.
At this stage, most people his age were no longer a match for him in his normal state, and the gap would only widen with time. The only person in the village who could currently make him take notice was Uchiha Shisui, who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Thinking of Shisui's strongest genjutsu, the Dojutsu known as Kotoamatsukami, he furrowed his brow.
Although the Tenseigan he possessed was on a higher level of power than Shisui's, genjutsu could sometimes be unreasonable.
So he didn't know whether his Tenseigan could resist Kotoamatsukami's ability to alter someone's will. Perhaps an evolved Rinnegan, with its greater Dojutsu Power and higher level, could ignore Kotoamatsukami's effects.
But he couldn't predict how his own unusual Tenseigan would fare against it. Faced with such uncertainty, he didn't dare take the risk.
Although Hyuga Lan really wanted to test himself against an Uchiha with the Mangekyō Sharingan and see how their Dojutsu Power compared,
It was always better to be cautious. For now, it was best not to provoke Shisui.
But not provoking him didn't mean avoiding him. His next plan required the Uchiha Clan's strength, so getting along with the Uchiha was the right thing to do.
And Shisui was the perfect way in. Starting with him would make it easier to get his hands on the Uchiha Clan's genes.
As for why he needed the Uchiha Clan's genes, that was naturally connected to Hyuga Lan's next plan.
Although the Type-3 Bio-Armor had allowed Hyuga Lan to awaken the Tenseigan by supplementing his genes in an unconventional way, his Golden Tenseigan was still far weaker than the one Otsutsuki Toneri had awakened.
He especially regretted that he couldn't enter Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
The Tenseigan's greatest strength lay in its Chakra Mode, which let its user cross the divide between ordinary humans and the Six Paths level, condense Truth-Seeking Orbs, and gain strength comparable to that level.
Such a tremendous increase in power surpassed even the Rinnegan's. And only after entering Tenseigan Chakra Mode could one use the Truth-Seeking Orbs to perform the powerful Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion and Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.
From the beginning, Hyuga Lan had sought a Tenseigan like Toneri's. Yet, by a twist of fate, he'd awakened a Golden Tenseigan instead.
His Golden Tenseigan was certainly impressive, but since he knew the true power of the Tenseigan, he still wanted the Blue Tenseigan that Toneri had.
But awakening that kind required the chakra of the Ōtsutsuki Clan on the moon and the pure Byakugan of the Hyuga Main Family.
The Hyuga Main Family's Byakugan wasn't an issue. But the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family on the moon was something Hyuga Lan was doing his best to avoid. Going after them would be far too dangerous for him at present.
And it wasn't as though the chakra of just any member of the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family could combine with the Hyuga Main Family's Byakugan to awaken the Tenseigan.
The only member of the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family who met the requirements was probably Otsutsuki Toneri. With his current strength, going after the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family, who possessed the Giant Tenseigan, would be downright suicidal.