Can the Byakugan Really Not Evolve? (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The sky was just beginning to brighten.

The night had passed without the anticipated attack from the Cloud Village ninjas, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed the battle during the day had successfully intimidated the Cloud Village.

At this rate, perhaps the war would soon come to an end.

"Lan, did you not rest last night? Why do you look so haggard?"

Early in the morning, Hizashi came to find Hyuga Lan and couldn't help but ask, noticing that the young man looked listless and as if he hadn't slept at all.

Hyuga Lan had indeed barely slept the previous night; he had fought a fierce battle against the Cloud ninjas during the day and then spent the night turning the Cloud Village upside down.

Even though his chakra reserves were now incomparable to what they once were, he could not withstand such constant depletion, which was why he appeared so exhausted early in the morning.

However, he could not tell outsiders about his trip to the Cloud Village, so he simply followed Hizashi's line of reasoning, claiming he had patrolled all night out of concern for a potential Cloud Village raid.

Hearing this answer, Hizashi was delighted. To be so young yet so thorough in his duties—it was truly satisfying to see.

With a genius like Hyuga Lan in the branch family, they would be able to stand firm in the village in the future.

The two then began to discuss the previous day's battle. When they reached the part where the Fourth Raikage attacked Hyuga Lan, they both couldn't help but sigh.

In Hizashi's view, if not for Shisui's intervention, Hyuga Lan might have already died at the hands of the Fourth Raikage.

Little did he know that Hyuga Lan had already been prepared to unleash the Tenseigan, only holding back once he saw Shisui reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan first.

After all, the Tenseigan involved too much. If he were careless, not only would he suffer, but if he attracted the attention of the Otsutsuki on the moon, it could very well bring disaster upon the entire Ninja World.

It was precisely because they were talking about Shisui that Hizashi was reminded of the scene he had witnessed the day before.

Thinking back to the dark green giant Shisui had summoned to block the Fourth Raikage, Hizashi felt a lingering sense of dread.

As the head of the branch family, he was naturally well-versed in the Uchiha Clan, another family with a bloodline limit based on ocular powers. He knew that the dark green phantom giant was a dojutsu known as Susanoo.

It was a technique that could only be performed with the Mangekyo Sharingan. For Shisui, a genius of the Uchiha, to have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan—something that hadn't appeared in the Uchiha Clan for many years—at such a young age was terrifyingly gifted.

As fellow families with ocular bloodline limits, the Hyuga and Uchiha were often mentioned together in Konoha Village.

Originally, the Byakugan could hold its own against the three-tomoe Sharingan, but having witnessed the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan firsthand, Hizashi knew clearly that the Byakugan could no longer be compared to it.

This was difficult for Hizashi, who had always taken pride in the Byakugan, to accept. Although he believed Shisui was currently the only one in the Uchiha Clan to have unlocked the Mangekyo Sharingan, it already placed immense pressure on him.

He feared that soon everyone would believe the Byakugan was inferior to the Sharingan, because the Sharingan could evolve into the Mangekyo, while the Byakugan possessed no power equivalent to it.

Shisui's performance with the Mangekyo Sharingan yesterday had been too shocking; a technique like Susanoo left Hizashi feeling hopeless, as he could see no way for the Byakugan to contend with it.

Was the Byakugan truly inferior to the Sharingan?

Why was it that, as fellow ocular bloodline limits, the Sharingan could evolve from one tomoe to three, and even awaken into the Mangekyo, while there hadn't been a single rumor of the Byakugan evolving in thousands of years? Was it truly impossible for the Byakugan to evolve?

Watching the solemn expression on Hizashi's face, Hyuga Lan guessed what was going through his mind after a moment of thought.

"Lan, do you think our clan's Byakugan is really inferior to the Sharingan? In the face of the Mangekyo Sharingan's power, the Byakugan seems to have no means of resistance."

Facing Hizashi's dazed inquiry, Lan replied after a brief pause, "The power of the Mangekyo Sharingan is indeed shocking, but that does not mean the Byakugan is necessarily inferior. Furthermore, Shisui's state after using the Mangekyo yesterday shows that this powerful ability comes at a cost, so there is no need for us to belittle ourselves."

Hyuga Lan's confident answer warmed Hizashi's heart.

"If only our clan's Byakugan could evolve like the Sharingan... but how could that be possible? Heh..."

Having said this, Hizashi mocked himself. There hadn't been a single rumor of the Byakugan evolving in over a thousand years; his musings were nothing more than a delusion.

Hyuga Lan knew better than anyone whether the Byakugan could evolve, as his own eyes could currently transform into the Tenseigan.

Although his Tenseigan was more like a flawed evolution, the various abilities it currently possessed were absolutely far superior to the mere Mangekyo form of the Sharingan.

He was well aware that the Byakugan, as a dominant trait of the Otsutsuki, possessed multiple paths of evolution. It was only because the current Hyuga Clan was ignorant of these facts that they looked down on the potential of the Byakugan after the appearance of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

However, even though Hyuga Lan knew this, he would never reveal such secrets to others to avoid exposing his own intelligence.

Perhaps one day, when he possessed the absolute strength to dominate the Ninja World and no longer feared the exposure of his secrets, he would reveal some of the Byakugan's mysteries to the branch family to bolster their strength. But for now, it was far from the right time.

"We owe Shisui a great favor; it must be repaid. If you cannot repay it, the clan will step in to provide him with some compensation."

"There is no need for the clan to worry about this matter; I have my own plans."

He already had an idea of how to repay this debt.

According to his memories, not long after Shisui revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan, he was attacked by Danzo. Not only did he lose one of his Mangekyo eyes on the spot, but to prevent a war between his clan and the village, he eventually chose to take his own life.

He entrusted his remaining eye to Itachi. Although Shisui was deeply influenced by the Will of Fire and held deep feelings for the village, he also valued the people of the Uchiha Clan, which was why he tasked Itachi with inheriting his will to protect both the village and his clan before he died.

It was a pity that he probably never dreamed that Itachi would eventually choose to wipe out the entire Uchiha Clan; this was certainly not what Shisui had envisioned.

But since the man had saved his life, he would simply warn him to be wary of Danzo's sneak attacks. In doing so, he would be saving Shisui's life in return, and they would be even.

When Hyuga Lan warned Shisui to be wary of Danzo and other high-ranking officials, the latter felt that Lan's words were merely alarmist.

How could the village's high-ranking officials be so wary of him just because he had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan that they would resort to attacking him?

If not for the concern that revealing his Mangekyo Sharingan would provoke his clansmen and embolden the radicals among them to disregard everyone else, he probably would have already reported the awakening of his Mangekyo Sharingan to the Third Hokage and the other high-ranking officials.

However, the appearance of the Mangekyo Sharingan was indeed a matter of great importance. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Shisui felt he had to explain things properly to Konoha's leadership, even if it meant exposing the details of his dojutsu to earn their trust...