The True Byakugan

Under the cold moonlight, Ryosuke lay in his room, gazing at the stars through the skylight.

His palm gently brushed his cheek, his fingers feeling the sensation emanating from his eye, as though he were touching a slightly hard little sphere.

As he recalled what had happened on the way home after school that afternoon, his mind was a complete mess. He could not remember what exactly he had seen at the time.

That was highly unusual.

Ryosuke had always had an excellent memory.

Even in his previous life, he could still remember some small events from his childhood quite clearly, let alone something that had happened only that afternoon.

Yet now, he could not remember anything that had happened then. All that remained was an impression—a very vague impression.

The fragment of memory before it was of him saying goodbye to Naruto and leaving the classroom with Hinata.

After that, Hinata had been trembling all over as she looked at him, as though she were facing some utterly vicious demon. Every movement she made and every expression on her face radiated fear.

So... what happened in between?

Ryosuke's expressionless face narrowed slightly, and the fingers resting beside his eye unconsciously tapped against his eyelid again.

He was certain that he could not possibly have forgotten that part, yet there was no chance that he had been possessed or had his body taken over. That left only one possibility.

He could not bear it.

Though he had no memory of it and could no longer recall what he had seen, Ryosuke still retained the feeling from that moment.

It was a kind of... omnipotent strength.

As though he were a god seated high above the nine heavens, looking down upon mortals on the ground who endlessly fought over their desires.

A single glance from him, a casual gesture, could bring endless bloodshed upon the human world.

In that state, he had seen many things he could not endure, and lost that portion of his memories.

Could this be an ability granted by these eyes?

Ryosuke analyzed the situation.

It had now been five years since he came to this world.

Another three-year period was about to end, and the experience bar in his mind—the source of his Byakugan and bloodline evolution—was gradually nearing its end as well.

The last time that experience bar had reached one hundred percent, it had optimized his bloodline, giving him a Byakugan that surpassed those of ordinary Hyūga and granting his Byakugan a portion of the ancient Otsutsuki Clan's power.

So he wondered whether, because that experience bar was about to be completed, it had triggered an ability of his Byakugan.

And once he turned six, once six years had passed since he came to this world, his bloodline and Byakugan would advance another step, allowing him to gain even more abilities of the Otsutsuki Clan.

For example... Future Sight.

As he pondered, Ryosuke's Byakugan opened unconsciously.

Under the moonlight, a faint crystalline gleam shone within his eyes, which appeared no different from an ordinary Byakugan.

The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan and the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan were both abilities of the ancient Otsutsuki Clan. The two clans had originally shared the same source.

The Sharingan, which ran throughout the future timeline of the Ninja World, could evolve under certain conditions into the Rinnegan possessed by the Sage of Six Paths, wielding immense power.

The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan was the same.

As long as its purity was sufficient, combined with an infusion of Otsutsuki Clan Chakra, it could evolve into the Tenseigan and possess might equal to that of the Rinnegan.

But that did not mean the Byakugan was inferior to the Tenseigan.

Nor did it mean the Sharingan was inferior to the Rinnegan.

All things in this world might possess innate differences in strength and weakness, but what one lacked at birth could still be made up for through effort afterward.

That was the path Ryosuke had believed in since his previous life.

There was no absolute power. What mattered was how powerful the person wielding that power was.

Before reaching the Mangekyo, the Sharingan gradually awakened three abilities as its number of tomoe increased: insight, copying, and hypnosis. After awakening the Mangekyo, it would manifest an ability unique to its wielder based on the flaws in their heart. It was an eye that reflected the soul.

After awakening through training, the Byakugan could possess insight, X-ray vision, and enhanced eyesight. That was the ordinary Byakugan, the Byakugan that had deteriorated over a thousand years.

But the true Byakugan possessed far more abilities than those.

When the experience bar reached its maximum, broke through its limit, and evolved his bloodline—

It was more like giving Ryosuke a key, allowing him to ignore the thousand years of degeneration and attempt to touch the true Byakugan, the Byakugan of a thousand years ago.

Although his Byakugan's Genjutsu ability had come from his bloodline evolution, it had not appeared the instant he awakened. Ryosuke had developed it himself through experimentation.

As someone who had been reincarnated, he knew very well what kind of power the true Byakugan possessed.

Genjutsu was merely one part of it.

Like the Rinnegan, the ability to physically release one's own Momentum and form a crushing pressure was another.

There was even Space-Time Ninjutsu like Obito Uchiha's Kamui, which could phase one's body and shift it between another world and reality, as well as the ability to see through other people's hearts, see through their fates...

These powerful abilities were all things the true Byakugan should possess.

Of course, they might also have been abilities developed by members of the Otsutsuki Clan.

The predecessors planted trees, and those who came after enjoyed the shade.

It was like how Minato Namikaze spent years developing the Rasengan, while Naruto learned it in only half a month. As long as one knew the result and tried to replicate and learn it, it did not require the same enormous effort as developing it from scratch.

But after all, these were ocular techniques, already Ninjutsu at the level of Bloodline Limits.

So even though Ryosuke knew the final result, developing these abilities was no easy task.

At least for now, he was still in the dark.

At present, Ryosuke had developed only two abilities: Genjutsu and crushing pressure.

He had already fully mastered Genjutsu, while the pressure similar to that of the Rinnegan still needed refinement.

Normally, he could not use it at will. Only under certain circumstances, when his emotions aligned with the proper state, could he release tangible pressure through his Byakugan and affect reality.

But today's unexplained transformation had given Ryosuke a new understanding and insight into this ability of crushing pressure.

The reason was that feeling of being high above all else, looking down upon everything.

Crushing pressure was an ability in which spiritual power reached its peak, then used the Byakugan as a medium to launch tangible damage at the surroundings. That was the conclusion Ryosuke had reached from the "result" he knew.

And based on that conclusion, he had continued trying to develop it.

Sensing spiritual power was easy, and controlling it was just as easy.

The condensation of Chakra was the union of spiritual power and physical energy, so Ryosuke accomplished both with ease.

The difficult part was how to release the spiritual power inside his body through his Byakugan.

There were two obstacles in this process, and they had troubled Ryosuke for nearly a year.

The first was that once spiritual power gathered around his eye sockets, it would be absorbed by the Byakugan and become Pupil Power, making him more perceptive when using his other abilities.

But that was not what he wanted. What he wanted was to release that power.

The second was that Ryosuke's spiritual power was not strong enough.

Although living two lives had given him spiritual power far beyond that of others his age, it was still insufficient for him to release it as tangible force and cause a major impact upon the real world.

These two problems were fatal, and they were the reason Ryosuke had never managed to master this new ability.

Thanks to reader Xingxi 233 for the donation and support.