Insight, Analysis, Replication

In the original story, there were two paths for the Byakugan to evolve into the Tenseigan. One was the combination of Ōtsutsuki Clan chakra and the Byakugan; the other was a gigantic Tenseigan formed by fusing a large number of Byakugan. ]|I{•------» «------•}I|[

Ning Qi's current path for advancing his Byakugan was, in literal description, very similar to the second Tenseigan advancement route. Both required hunting down clan members' Byakugan to advance. But Ning Qi was certain that his situation was special. His Byakugan had absolutely nothing to do with the Tenseigan.

[Byakugan Essence Collected: 1.4%]

Ning Qi felt as though he had floaters. Ever since he had absorbed the Byakugan Essence of his father, Hizashi, this tiny line of text had seemed branded onto his retina. No matter where Ning Qi looked, it forever hovered at the top of his field of vision, constantly reminding him:

Go collect Byakugan Essence.

Go collect Byakugan Essence!

If you want to grow stronger, go collect Byakugan Essence!

According to Ning Qi's research, the Byakugan Essence he absorbed essentially increased the purity of his own Byakugan. Once its purity reached a certain threshold—when the collected essence reached 100%—his Byakugan would evolve and awaken entirely new abilities.

For the Hyuga clan, Byakugan purity was basically determined at birth. It could indeed be raised through training or frequent use, but the speed was simply too slow. At Ning Qi's previous training rate, his collected essence would only increase by around 4% each year. He would need twenty years to raise his Byakugan to the next stage...

After experiencing the nearly insane advancement speed brought by plundering the Byakugan of his own clan, honest training was as bland and tasteless as plain water and white flour.

Killing clan members and harvesting essence—this was the proper upgrade path for Ning Qi's Byakugan!

"At the current essence collection rate, advancing from the third stage to the final stage will require at least thirty-odd pairs of medium- to high-purity Byakugan Essence." Ning Qi lowered his eyes.

Considering the current number of surviving Hyuga clan members, it might barely be enough only if he counted everyone serving in or away from Konoha...

"I wonder whether I'll still need Byakugan Essence after reaching the final stage."

A new Hyuga clan bloodline needed time to grow. The native Hyuga living in Konoha were truly one fewer for every one killed, and the Byakugan Essence available for harvesting would only grow scarcer. How to sustainably harvest them was a question future Ning Qi would need to ponder carefully.

As for now, why worry about so much? He would grow stronger first.

Fifteen minutes later, dinner was ready. Ning Qi was an excellent cook; even simple ingredients could be turned into something mouthwatering.

"Is this chicken?" Neji stared at the only meat dish on the table.

"Pigeon." Ning Qi answered flatly.

"Hm?" Neji looked at him suspiciously.

His brother hadn't shot down someone's carrier pigeon, had he?

After taking a bite, Neji's eyes lit up.

It tasted really good.

Whatever.

"Brother, just asking... is there really no way for us Branch Family members to resist the Caged Bird Seal?" Neji buried his head in his food and asked in an intentionally casual tone.

Ning Qi glanced at him and replied methodically:

"Many members of the Hyuga Branch Family have tried to find out what you want to know throughout history. Whether they used sealing techniques against the curse seal or faked their deaths to trigger the Caged Bird and pull off a cicada-shell escape, they all ended in failure. Those living examples are recorded in the Hyuga clan ancestral hall, warning every Branch Family member not to act recklessly. Once you become a genin and gain the right to enter the ancestral hall, you'll understand."

"Then..." Neji's eyes shifted. "Could there have actually been successful cases in history, but the Main Family was afraid later Branch Family members would imitate them, so they didn't record them? Maybe the examples in the ancestral hall were all selected failures meant specifically to scare us."

"That possibility can't be ruled out." Ning Qi smiled. "But it doesn't mean much. This is a curse seal the Hyuga clan has perfected and passed down for a thousand years. Even if there were successful examples, they most likely used extreme methods that would be difficult to replicate. Otherwise, the current ninja world wouldn't have only this one branch of the Hyuga Family in Konoha. In any case, there is currently no way to directly resist the Caged Bird Seal."

Ning Qi spoke naturally, but Neji was deeply discouraged. If there was no direct way to resist the Caged Bird Seal, how was he supposed to fight back against Hyuga Ling's oppression?

Hm?

Neji suddenly raised his head.

"Then... is there an indirect way?" Neji felt he had caught the key point in Ning Qi's words and hurriedly asked.

"Sure. Just kill every Hyuga Main Family member who knows the Caged Bird's secret command." Ning Qi said with a smile.

"Ah—" Neji immediately grimaced. What kind of solution was that?

"Brother, aren't you joking?"

"Who cares whether I'm joking? Did it solve the problem or not?"

Seeing his brother acting so shamelessly, Neji gritted his teeth and simply followed his line of thought. "Even if we wanted to kill the Hyuga Main Family, wouldn't they activate the secret command to control us the instant we showed killing intent?"

"Who said you had to kill them all at once? Catch them off guard and do them one at a time." Ning Qi said casually.

"How could that possibly be done?!"

"How long would it take to kill them one by one? And could you finish without anyone noticing?!"

"The moment someone notices, it's over!"

Neji shook his head repeatedly. Ning Qi made it sound as if every Main Family member were dumb pigs waiting for slaughter, as if he could simply walk over and cut them down one by one.

And even if it could be done, the hatred brought by the Caged Bird Seal was nowhere near enough for Neji to go so far as to wipe out the Hyuga Main Family. He hated the Caged Bird for controlling his life, and he hated the arrogant Hyuga Ling, but he also enjoyed the benefits of being part of the Hyuga clan—the free schooling, along with all sorts of invisible advantages he usually never noticed.

Neji was not cold-blooded enough to raise a blade against the Main Family for that.

"That's a matter of method. How would you know it can't be done if you don't try?" Ning Qi curled his lip disdainfully.

"Then you go try it," Neji suggested.

"Try what? I've already done it." Ning Qi said.

"Ha..." Neji held his forehead and sighed. Here he went again.

His brother was good in every way except that he was far too unguarded with his words and had no taboos at all. He said things like this everywhere. No wonder the ANBU had investigated their home.

"It's fine to say that to me, Brother, but don't let anyone from the Main Family hear it. They'd take it seriously."

The Hyuga clan rules had a well-known punishment clause for the crime of "disrespect." It applied to all overstepping behavior by Hyuga clan members, such as juniors disrespecting elders or Branch Family members disrespecting the Main Family.

Of course, the clause was mainly used to punish the latter.

Ning Qi merely smiled noncommittally. He himself had been punished twice under that rule before. Although he had learned to behave afterward, Neji still felt he had a record.

After dinner, Ning Qi was about to head out.

"Where are you going, Brother?" Neji asked, hugging the unfinished pigeon.

"To plant a tree." Ning Qi answered without looking back.

Neji was speechless for a moment.

"If you don't want to tell me, just say so. Why say you're planting a tree..."

It was already very late after the tree had been planted.

Ning Qi arrived at the Hyuga clan training ground.

Having only just entered the third stage, Ning Qi did not yet know how much his strength had increased, so he planned to test it here.

He looked at his own eyes in the mirror.

"The changes after the third-stage increase in Byakugan purity aren't all that obvious."

For Hyuga clan members, Byakugan purity was directly linked to talent. The Byakugan Essence left behind after his father Hizashi's death was the foundation of Ning Qi's rise. Now, after absorbing the Byakugan of so many clan members and entering the third stage, the purity of Ning Qi's Byakugan had become so high that mist had formed within his eyes. This change added a trace of feminine softness to his originally delicate features.

He drew the short blade at his waist. The blood-stained grime had been roughly cleaned away, but a faint stench still clung to the blade. This was a flaw that the Inuzuka Clan and their ninja hounds could detect. It would need to be treated repeatedly before he could draw his sword in front of them.

When killing people, the characteristics of the Gentle Fist were too obvious and made it easy to be recognized. A sharp blade was far cleaner and left no trace.

"After absorbing Hizashi's Byakugan Essence, the purity of my Byakugan rose by one level. That gave me sharper dynamic vision, more precise Insight, a farther and broader range of sight, and it also awakened my first ability—Insight."

The Byakugan itself possessed Insight. It could see through obstacles and detect people behind them, but it could not determine who those people were. Its black-and-white view had limited effectiveness.

But the world Ning Qi saw through Insight was in color. To his eyes, the entire world held no secrets. Not only could he easily identify people behind obstacles, but he also ignored genjutsu and ninjutsu aimed at vision. This was the foundation that allowed him to stand evenly matched with the genjutsu prodigy Itachi and be known alongside him as one of Konoha's Twin Prodigies.

The Byakugan activated.

Ning Qi cut the trigger rope, and dozens of preset kunai instantly flew toward him.

This was a trap array capable of taking the lives of most Chunin. Without using ninjutsu, even many Jonin could only meet a bitter end here!

Yet in Ning Qi's eyes, the incoming kunai became exceedingly slow. Not only did they reveal flaws everywhere, but even the gaps between them became incomparably wide.

Ning Qi did not move. His expression remained calm as the short blade in his hand swung forth, every strike landing on the tip of a kunai. The sword shadows whistled, graceful as a dance, his movements flowing without interruption.

Only the ceaseless sounds of metal striking metal could be heard.

The next moment, the dense kunai array was completely sent flying by his blade!

"My speed at identifying weaknesses is at least 30% faster than in the second stage." Ning Qi's lips curved upward.

Why practice the Gentle Fist? Swordsmanship paired with the Byakugan was a match made in heaven!

"The ability my second-stage Byakugan gave me was Analysis."

Ning Qi spread out his hand, and lightning gathered in his palm. This was the signature technique of Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake—Lightning Cutter!

Then the lightning vanished, a fierce wind rose, and blue chakra gathered in Ning Qi's hand to form a bright, crystalline sphere. This was the Fourth Hokage's prized technique—the Rasengan!

Then came fire, earth, and water ninjutsu of three different attributes in succession.

Ning Qi was no genius. Analysis had merely allowed him to completely understand the operating principles of these ninjutsu, and reproducing them was as natural as following established rules.

Of course, since Ning Qi possessed lightning-nature chakra, other than Lightning Cutter and the non-elemental Rasengan, the other ninjutsu above would not be very effective in actual combat.

Analyzing the operational patterns of ninjutsu and reproducing them was merely one insignificant use of Analysis.

More importantly, Analysis could quantify everything Ning Qi saw. The degree of Analysis represented the degree of mastery; complete Analysis meant complete mastery. Before Analysis, there was no ninjutsu that could not be analyzed or mastered, even if that ninjutsu had been made up by Ning Qi himself...

Yes, as long as he designed the basic operational pathways of a ninjutsu, it did not matter how difficult it was to learn. So long as he gave Analysis enough time, Ning Qi would certainly be able to learn it... though its practical effects were another matter.

The higher the difficulty of learning a ninjutsu, the longer the Analysis time required. Over the years, Ning Qi had used Analysis to create and master seventeen ninjutsu, ten genjutsu, and eight sword techniques. Few possessed practical combat value, and only one had truly pioneering significance and major strategic value: an S-rank genjutsu capable of misleading all perceptions of reality. Ning Qi called it—the This-Realm Naraku Technique.

Analysis was difficult to test. There was only one Analysis progress indicator, for a sword technique Ning Qi had once created based on Konoha Style Swordsmanship and Secret Sword Technique:

[Analyzing: Trick Sword (Swordsmanship)]

[Difficulty: S-rank]

[Analysis Progress: 41.4%]

The Analysis progress number ticked up very slowly. By his estimate, it would take at least a month to complete the Analysis. The Analysis speed had increased by roughly 15% compared to the second stage.

Once the Analysis was complete, this would become the second S-rank technique Ning Qi had mastered after the This-Realm Naraku Technique!

"The ability my third-stage Byakugan gave me is... Replication."

Ning Qi unconsciously frowned. He had only completed his third-stage advancement a few days ago, and he had not yet specifically tested this newly acquired ability.

No matter what, he would give it a try.

The Byakugan activated. Ning Qi's snow-white pupils flickered with a deep blue light as Analysis began operating wildly. He stared at the short blade before him.

[Analyzing: Standard Short Blade]

[Difficulty: D-rank]

[Analysis Progress: 20%]

It then jumped to 55%, and in the blink of an eye, the entire Analysis progress reached 100%.

[Analysis Successful!]

Mist-like chakra emerged at that moment. As Ning Qi completed the hand seals, the surrounding chakra gathered frantically, as if being sucked into a black hole.

The next second, the chakra mist dispersed, and an identical short blade appeared out of thin air on the table!

Ning Qi examined the two short blades, his expression solemn.

This short blade was not a Shadow Clone, but a genuine material construct!

There was not the slightest difference between them. Even the faint smell of blood on the blade was exactly the same.

"Copy and paste, creating something from nothing... this is Yin–Yang Release." Feeling that more than half the chakra in his body had vanished, Ning Qi could not help twitching his mouth.

This was not Kakashi's ninjutsu Replication, but the genuine creation of tangible matter from the intangible. It stood at an unknown number of levels above Kakashi's Sharingan. From the looks of it, he could replicate inanimate objects, and living things might not be impossible either. Everything that could be analyzed should be replicable. The only limitation was likely the amount of chakra required.

Though it was useless in actual combat, turning the unreal into reality and creating all things was the authority of a sage who had mastered Yin–Yang Release!

With Replication, there were simply too many possibilities.

Ning Qi considered many things, but in the end, he took a deep breath and gradually regained his calm.

Replicating a single short blade had consumed more than half his chakra. Unless he solved the issue of chakra quantity, all the ideas in the world would be useless without the means to carry them out.

"Right now, the most important thing is raising the Byakugan's abilities to the final stage."

He wondered what kind of surprise the highest-grade Byakugan would bring him.

At that moment, footsteps sounded at the door.

"Ning Qi, the clan head wishes to see you."