Insight, Analysis, Replication

In the original story, there were two paths for the Byakugan to evolve into the Tenseigan. One was the fusion of Ōtsutsuki Clan chakra with the Byakugan; the other was a giant Tenseigan formed from the fusion of a massive number of Byakugan.

Now, Ning Qi's path for advancing his Byakugan sounded very similar to the second path of Tenseigan evolution. Both required hunting down clan members' Byakugan to advance. But Ning Qi was certain that his case was special. His Byakugan had nothing whatsoever to do with the Tenseigan.

[Byakugan Essence Collected: 1.4%]

Ning Qi felt as if he had floaters. Ever since he had absorbed the Byakugan Essence of his father, Hizashi, this line of tiny text had seemed branded onto his retina. No matter where Ning Qi looked, it hovered forever at the top of his 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, absorbing Byakugan Essence essentially raised the purity of his own Byakugan. Once the purity of Ning Qi's Byakugan reached a certain level—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 improved through training or frequent use, but the speed was simply too slow. At Ning Qi's previous training pace, his collected essence would only increase by around 4% a year. He would need twenty years to raise his Byakugan to the next stage...

After experiencing the almost insane rate of advancement brought by plundering the Byakugan of his own clan, honest training was as bland and tasteless as plain water and noodles.

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

"At the current rate of essence collection, 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 gaze.

Given the current number of surviving Hyuga clan members, he would barely have enough only if he included everyone serving in Konoha or away on missions...

"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 becoming fewer with every batch he killed, and the Byakugan Essence available for harvesting would only continue to diminish. How to keep harvesting them sustainably was a question Future Ning Qi needed to ponder carefully.

As for now, why bother thinking that far ahead? He would grow stronger first.

Fifteen minutes later, dinner was ready. Ning Qi was an excellent cook; even simple ingredients became mouthwatering in his hands.

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

"Pigeon." Ning Qi answered flatly.

"Hm?" Neji eyed him suspiciously.

Brother didn't shoot down someone's carrier pigeon, did he?

After one bite, Neji's eyes lit up.

It tasted really good.

Whatever.

"Brother, I'm 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 what he tried to make sound like a casual tone.

Ning Qi glanced at him and replied evenly:

"Many Hyuga Branch Family members have tried throughout history. Whether they used sealing techniques to resist the curse mark or faked their deaths to trigger the Caged Bird and pull off an escape by shedding their shell, all of them ultimately failed. Those living examples were recorded in the Hyuga clan ancestral hall to warn every Branch Family member not to act recklessly. Once you become a Genin and qualify to enter the ancestral hall, you'll understand."

"Then..." Neji's eyes shifted. "Could there actually have been successful cases in history, but the Main Family refused to record them because they were afraid later Branch Family members would imitate them? Maybe the cases recorded in the ancestral hall were deliberately selected failures meant to scare us."

"That possibility can't be ruled out." Ning Qi smiled. "But it doesn't mean much. This is a curse mark the Hyuga clan has perfected and passed down for a thousand years. Even if there were successful cases, they most likely relied on extreme or impossible-to-replicate methods. Otherwise, the Ninja World wouldn't have only this one Hyuga Family in Konoha. In any case, there's currently no way to directly resist the Caged Bird Seal."

Ning Qi spoke naturally, but Neji was quite dejected. If there was no way to directly resist the Caged Bird Seal, how was he supposed to resist Hyuga Ling's oppression?

Hm?

Neji suddenly raised his head.

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

"Yes. Kill every member of the Hyuga Main Family who knows the Caged Bird command phrase." Ning Qi said with a smile.

"Ah—" Neji's face immediately filled with bitterness. 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's shameless attitude, Neji gritted his teeth and simply followed his logic. "Even if we were going to kill the Hyuga Main Family, wouldn't they use the command phrase to control us the instant we revealed any killing intent?"

"Who said you had to kill them all at once? Catch them off guard and take them out one by one." Ning Qi said casually.

"How could that possibly work?!"

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

"The moment you're discovered, it's over!"

Neji shook his head repeatedly. Ning Qi made it sound as though every Main Family member were a stupid pig waiting to be slaughtered, as if he could simply walk over and cut them down one at a time.

Besides, even if it could be done, the hatred brought by the Caged Bird was nowhere near enough to support Neji taking the Hyuga Main Family to the point of extermination. He hated the Caged Bird for controlling his life, and he hated the arrogant, overbearing Hyuga Ling, but he also enjoyed the benefits of the Hyuga clan: free enrollment, along with all kinds of unseen advantages in daily life.

Neji was not cold-blooded enough to raise his blade against the Main Family over this.

"That's a matter of technique. How do 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.

"Sigh..." Neji rubbed his forehead. Here he went again.

His brother was good at everything, except he was far too loose-lipped and had no taboos at all. He said things like this everywhere. No wonder ANBU investigators had come all the way to their home.

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

The Hyuga clan rules contained a famous punishment clause called the "crime of disrespect." It applied to all improper conduct 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 deal with the latter.

Ning Qi merely smiled noncommittally. He had been punished under that rule twice before. Though he had learned to behave afterward, Neji still considered him a repeat offender.

After dinner, Ning Qi was about to head out.

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

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

Neji was speechless for a moment.

"If you don't want to say, then don't. Why make up something about planting a tree..."

It was already very late after he finished planting the tree.

Ning Qi arrived at the Hyuga clan training ground.

Having only just entered the third stage, Ning Qi still did not 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 brought by the increased Byakugan purity at the third stage aren't particularly obvious."

For Hyuga clan members, the purity of their Byakugan was directly tied to talent. The Byakugan Essence left behind by his father Hizashi after his death was the foundation of Ning Qi's rise. Now, after absorbing the Byakugan of so many clansmen and entering the third stage, the purity of Ning Qi's Byakugan had reached the point where mist seemed to form within his eyes. This change added a trace of feminine eeriness to his originally delicate features.

He drew the short blade at his waist. The bloody mud had been roughly cleaned off, but the blade still carried a faint stench of blood. This was a flaw that the Inuzuka Clan and their ninja hounds could smell. He would need to cover it up several more times before he could draw his sword in front of them.

When killing, the characteristics of Gentle Fist were too obvious and easily identifiable. A sharp blade was far cleaner and left no trace.

"After absorbing Hizashi's Byakugan Essence, the purity of my Byakugan rose by an entire level. It gave me sharper dynamic vision, more precise insight, a farther and wider field of vision, and it also awakened my first ability—insight."

The Byakugan itself possessed the ability of insight. It could see through obstacles and spot people behind them, but it could not determine who those people were. Its black-and-white view had limited effect.

But the world Ning Qi saw through insight was in color. In his eyes, the entire world held no secrets. Not only could he easily identify people behind obstacles, he could also ignore genjutsu and ninjutsu aimed at visual perception. This was the basis 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 through the mechanism's rope. Instantly, dozens of prearranged kunai flew toward him.

This mechanism array was enough to take the lives of most Chunin. Without using ninjutsu, even many Jonin could only die with regrets if they came here!

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

Ning Qi did not move. Calm and composed, he swung the short blade in his hand, each strike landing precisely on the tips of the kunai. Blade shadows flashed like a hunting wind, graceful as a dance, every movement flowing seamlessly.

The sounds of clashing metal rang out without end.

The next moment, he had actually sent the entire dense kunai array flying!

"The speed at which I perceive weaknesses has improved by at least 30% compared with the second stage." Ning Qi's lips curled upward.

Why bother with Gentle Fist? Swordsmanship combined with the Byakugan was a match made in heaven!

"The ability the 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 gale rose, and blue chakra gathered in Ning Qi's hand into a bright, crystalline sphere. This was the prized creation of the Fourth Hokage—the Rasengan!

Then came fire, earth, and water, three ninjutsu of different attributes appearing one after another.

Ning Qi was not a genius. Analysis merely helped him fully understand the operating principles of these ninjutsu, making their recreation as natural as following established rules.

Of course, because Ning Qi possessed lightning-nature chakra, aside from Lightning Cutter and the non-elemental Rasengan, the other ninjutsu above would not perform very well in actual combat.

Analyzing the operational laws of ninjutsu and reproducing them was merely one insignificant use of the entire analysis ability.

More importantly, analysis allowed Ning Qi to quantify everything he 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 completely invented by Ning Qi himself...

Yes, as long as he designed the basic operational pathways for a ninjutsu, it did not matter how difficult it was to learn. So long as analysis was given enough time, Ning Qi would definitely be able to learn it... though its practical effectiveness was another matter.

The more difficult a ninjutsu was to learn, the longer analysis took. Over the years, Ning Qi had used analysis to create and master seventeen ninjutsu, ten genjutsu, and eight sword techniques. Few possessed real combat value, while only one had truly groundbreaking significance and important strategic value: an S-rank genjutsu capable of misleading all perception of reality. Ning Qi called it—the This-Realm Naraku Technique.

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

[Analyzing: Trick Sword (Swordsmanship)]

[Difficulty: S-rank]

[Analysis Progress: 41.4%]

The progress number climbed very slowly. Based on his estimates, it would take at least a month to complete. The analysis speed had improved by roughly 15% compared with the second stage.

Once it was completed, this would become the second S-rank technique Ning Qi had mastered, aside from the This-Realm Naraku Technique!

"The ability granted by the third-stage Byakugan is... Replication."

Ning Qi unconsciously frowned. He had only completed his advancement to the third stage a few days ago, and he had yet to specifically test this new ability.

No matter what, he would try it.

The Byakugan activated. A dim blue light flickered in Ning Qi's snowy white pupils as he stared at the short blade before him. At that moment, his analysis ability began operating frantically.

[Analyzing: Standard-Issue Short Blade]

[Difficulty: D-rank]

[Analysis Progress: 20%]

Then it jumped to 55%, and in the blink of an eye, the entire progress bar reached 100%.

[Analysis Successful!]

Mist-like chakra emerged. As Ning Qi completed his hand seals, the surrounding chakra seemed to be sucked into a black hole, gathering together in a frenzy.

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 with a grave expression.

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

There was not the slightest difference. Even the faint scent of blood on the blade was identical.

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

This was not Kakashi's ninjutsu copying. This was truly creating tangible things from the intangible, a technique on an entirely different level from Kakashi's Sharingan. From what he could see so far, he could replicate inanimate objects, and living things might not be impossible either. Anything 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 insubstantial into substance and creating all things was the authority of a sage who had mastered Yin–Yang Release!

With replication, there were simply too many possible applications.

Ning Qi considered many things, but ultimately took a deep breath, and his expression gradually returned to calm.

Replicating one short blade had consumed more than half his chakra. Without solving the problem of his chakra reserves, no number of ideas would matter; even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice.

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

He wondered what surprise the highest-level Byakugan would bring him.

Just then, footsteps sounded from the doorway:

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