Byakugan

For the past half month, Hyuuga Nen had been training with Kuromaru. The training had greatly improved his combat experience.

During this time, Hyuuga Nen had also learned a little trick from the Seal of Resilience his father had left him. With it, he could turn the seal on his Byakugan on and off, and supply it with the chakra it needed.

Today, with Kuromaru's help, Hyuuga Nen would activate the seal on his Byakugan for the first time.

"Are you ready? Your father's seal is very sophisticated, but this is the first time he's used it on a Byakugan. I don't know what might happen when you activate it," Kuromaru said, watching Hyuuga Nen with some apprehension.

"What's coming is coming. I can't run from it, can I?" Hyuuga Nen was nervous, too, but he put on a carefree air as he spoke.

"Then let's begin." Kuromaru sat down in front of Hyuuga Nen and watched him closely.

Hyuuga Nen took a deep breath and sat on the ground. He gathered the chakra in his body, formed a relatively simple hand seal, then slowly placed his index and middle fingers against either side of his forehead.

"Seal, release!" Hyuuga Nen cried.

Hyuuga Nen slowly lowered his hands, feeling for any changes in his eyes. Black markings welled up from either side of his forehead and spread toward the corners of his eyes, writhing as though they were trying to break free of his body.

Hyuuga Nen took out the mirror he had prepared and, using the moonlight reflected off the snow, studied the changes in his eyes. In the reflection, the black markings gradually stopped moving, grew paler and paler, then vanished.

The color of Hyuuga Nen's eyes faded, too. In the end, they turned a ghastly white, exactly like the Byakugan he remembered.

"So this is the Byakugan!" Hyuuga Nen lightly touched the corners of his eyes, then stood and looked around.

"It feels like everything around me has gotten a little brighter. Does that mean the Byakugan can see in the dark?" Hyuuga Nen asked as he surveyed his surroundings.

"All right, try activating it now," Kuromaru said.

At Kuromaru's words, Hyuuga Nen nodded and began forming hand seals. Since this was his first time activating the Byakugan, he still needed the hand seals to help him.

"Byakugan, activate!" As he directed chakra to the area around his eyes, veins bulged around them, making him look rather fierce.

Once it was activated, Hyuuga Nen could tell the world had changed. He was about to focus on what was different when a tremendous pain struck his eyes, so intense that it seemed to reach deep into his brain.

"Argh!"

The pain left Hyuuga Nen unable to speak. He could only scream again and again. He reached for his eyes, but then collapsed onto the ground and writhed in agony.

"Damn it, the worst-case scenario really did happen!" Seeing Hyuuga Nen's agony, Kuromaru rushed to his side. But he could do nothing to help and could only pace around him in a panic.

Then Kuromaru saw that Hyuuga Nen had stopped writhing and passed out. Blood slowly seeped from his wide-open eyes. Kuromaru had no time to worry about anything else. He grabbed Hyuuga Nen's clothes in his teeth and raced toward his house...

Hyuuga Nen woke up and reached for his eyes. They were wrapped in bandages. Alarmed, he pulled one corner of the bandages loose.

The light stung his eyes, but he felt relieved, because for a moment he had seen something, albeit vaguely.

"Good thing I'm not blind." Hyuuga Nen retied the bandages and let out a sigh of relief.

"You're awake. How do you feel?" Kuromaru's voice came from nearby.

"I'm not blind, but I can't be exposed to light for now."

"Mm. It's not the worst-case scenario. Rest for a while. I'll keep an eye on you. If things get worse, I'll have no choice but to risk Reverse Summoning your father."

Hyuuga Nen wasn't in the mood to answer Kuromaru. He simply murmured, "Mm."

Hyuuga Nen rested for two weeks. During that time, he stayed in his room and went nowhere, to keep anyone from noticing something was wrong. Rika also told everyone that her son was sick and needed to rest, so he couldn't receive visitors.

While he was recovering, Hyuuga Nen couldn't train with Kuromaru, so he used Shadow Clones to spar with him instead. When the clones dispelled, they passed their experience back to him. Because the clones weren't as durable, the training was less intense than before, but it was better than nothing.

After two weeks, Hyuuga Nen's eyes had recovered. He felt no discomfort when he activated them again, and only then did he finally relax.

Today was Kuromaru's last day there, so Hyuuga Nen trained with him one last time.

After pointing out Hyuuga Nen's shortcomings, Kuromaru also advised him on his training. Since Hyuuga Nen had been training alone, it was inevitable that he'd made mistakes and overlooked things. With Kuromaru's guidance, he was able to adjust his training.

"I've told you about my mother's condition. I need more advanced medical ninjutsu, especially the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique. Can you get it for me?" Hyuuga Nen asked Kuromaru.

Kuromaru was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Your father bears some responsibility for your mother's condition. I'll tell him and do my best to get you what you need, but it may take some time."

Hyuuga Nen simply nodded and said nothing.

Seeing that Hyuuga Nen had nothing else to say, Kuromaru turned and left.

"It's time to test the full extent of the Byakugan's abilities." With that, Hyuuga Nen activated his Byakugan.

In the darkness, Hyuuga Nen strained to look into the distance. He could see things several kilometers away as clearly as if they were close, and every detail stood out, no matter how large or small. By adjusting his field of vision, he could even see his target through obstacles.

"So this is what the Byakugan can do?" Hyuuga Nen turned his gaze to the ground, ready to look beneath the surface, but found only darkness.

"Mm, why is that?" After thinking for a moment, Hyuuga Nen slowly formed a hand seal. Five earthen walls appeared around him, enclosing him inside.

Inside the earthen walls, Hyuuga Nen could no longer see anything outside. "It seems that even the Byakugan can't see without any light." He drew his first conclusion.

Next, Hyuuga Nen used the Shadow Clone Technique and had his clone burrow underground with Earth Style. To his surprise, he could see the clone slowly moving beneath the ground.

"What does that mean? Could chakra give off light?"

Hyuuga Nen voiced his question. Then he remembered that, inside the earthen walls, he couldn't see what was outside, but he could see his own chakra flowing through his pathways and tenketsu.

"Chakra really is mysterious," Hyuuga Nen murmured.

By then, the clone had burrowed more than ten meters underground, and Hyuuga Nen could no longer track it. He dispelled the clone.

"Even with the chakra signal, I can only see about ten meters underground for now. I wonder if I'll be able to see farther as my Byakugan improves." Hyuuga Nen stroked his chin as he pondered.

"There's no doubt that the Byakugan's vision is excellent, but it has limits. Where there's no light or chakra, it's no different from being blind. If an enemy is hiding underground, beyond my field of vision, I won't be able to detect them. I need to be especially careful about that, or I could easily be caught off guard."

Having reached a conclusion, Hyuuga Nen didn't deactivate his Byakugan. Instead, he continued testing it, hoping to discover more and better understand its abilities.