In less than a week, Uchiha Rin delivered the custom-made metal crossbow to him.
Hyuga Satoru was thrilled, marveling that Uchiha Rin truly was someone who kept her promises.
The ninja tool he needed had been completed in such a short time.
After school, Hyuga Satoru excitedly made his way into the forest behind the mountain.
He wanted to test the power of the Electromagnetic Cannon!
When he had conceived of the Electromagnetic Cannon, his Electromagnetic Force had only been LV1. Now that it had risen to LV2, he wondered whether its power would surpass his expectations!
Hyuga Satoru opened the wooden box.
Inside lay the ninja tool he had been looking forward to.
It resembled a metal crossbow, but differed greatly from one. At the center of the bow was a specially made metal acceleration rail. The arrows were also specially made—long and slender, making them easy to accelerate with a magnetic field.
Hyuga Satoru took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement as he picked up a metal arrow for testing.
The principle behind an Electromagnetic Cannon was extremely simple. A metal projectile underwent Electromagnetic Acceleration within a magnetic field, gaining an incredibly high initial velocity.
The crucial part was the acceleration process—what was known as Electromagnetic Propulsion.
Hyuga Satoru remembered how the Eagle and the Rabbit had engaged in an arms race in his previous life, with Electromagnetic Cannons among their projects. The primary technical hurdle had also been the process of Electromagnetic Propulsion.
To accelerate a projectile to ideal power required an enormous amount of current. The Eagle had been constrained by this very issue and had long been unable to deploy Electromagnetic Cannons on aircraft carriers.
The Rabbit, on the other hand, had overcome the technical obstacle and far surpassed the Eagle in applying Electromagnetic Cannons.
He drew the bow and nocked an arrow. Blue currents flowed along his arm, forming a propulsive magnetic field and altering the metal arrow's magnetic field to grant it even greater acceleration.
If this had been back when his Electromagnetic Force was LV1, Hyuga Satoru definitely would not have performed this entire sequence so easily. But with LV2 Electromagnetic Force empowering him, everything flowed smoothly.
His Byakugan was already active, placing everything within a thousand meters in his sight.
When the Electromagnetic Propulsion reached its peak, Hyuga Satoru released his fingers. A sharp detonation rang out, and the arrow became a blue electric arc that vanished from sight.
Whoosh!
A streak of lightning flashed past in an instant.
Hyuga Satoru's mouth fell open.
The metal arrow had nearly exceeded the limits of his Byakugan's vision. Like a bolt of thunder, it buried itself deep in a tree so thick that three people could barely wrap their arms around it.
"Within a thousand meters, this shot poses an enormous threat to any ninja!"
By his rough calculations, the Electromagnetic Cannon he had developed gave its projectile an initial velocity close to three times the speed of sound.
A conventional anti-materiel sniper rifle bullet had an initial velocity of roughly 850 meters per second, still far below three times the speed of sound. Its initial kinetic energy was nowhere near that of this arrow.
Its attack range was around 1,600 meters, roughly equivalent to the effective range of a conventional anti-materiel sniper rifle. Beyond that, both accuracy and power would decline.
He could already achieve this at his current limit. Once his Electromagnetic Force became stronger in the future, wouldn't he soar straight into the sky?
Maybe he would even be able to control arrows to turn mid-flight. Ever seen a sniper rifle that could track its target?
Ninjas were all fragile little things, with high offense and low defense. Caught off guard by an ultra-long-range sniper shot, even Shadow-level experts would likely have to avoid its edge—apart from tanks like the Third Raikage!
Hyuga Satoru exhaled a breath of stale air and carefully retrieved the arrow. This ability would count as one of his trump cards in the future.
On the way back, Hyuga Satoru felt much more relaxed. The shadow of the Third Shinobi World War had been weighing on him all this time, leaving him afraid to slack off for even a moment.
Now that he had developed a low-grade Electromagnetic Cannon with considerable power, his ability to protect himself had greatly improved, and his tightly wound mind finally relaxed somewhat.
Just as he was about to reach home, however, he suddenly stopped, his brows knitting slightly.
From afar, he saw that a figure was standing at the entrance, which had originally been empty, as though he had been waiting there for some time.
Looking at the face that resembled that man from the main hall by seventy or eighty percent, Hyuga Satoru vaguely formed a guess.
The man gave Hyuga Satoru a kindly smile. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Hizashi Hyuga. May I have a word with you?"
Hizashi Hyuga. So it was him... Hyuga Satoru's heart tightened.
He walked past Hizashi Hyuga, opened the door, and turned back to look at him.
"Lord Hizashi, please come in."
Hizashi Hyuga followed Hyuga Satoru into the room and curiously examined the surroundings. One corner was piled high with battered metal items, while apart from basic living necessities, there was no other furniture.
"I usually don't have time to tidy up because of training. Please excuse the mess, Lord Hizashi."
Hyuga Satoru pulled over a chair and gestured for Hizashi Hyuga to sit.
Seeing the maturity in Hyuga Satoru that did not match his age, Hizashi Hyuga suddenly felt a pang of sadness. With a sigh, he said, "Yuntaki has been gone for so many years. You must have suffered quite a bit, haven't you?"
Hyuga Satoru raised an eyebrow slightly. Hyuga Yuntaki was the original body's father, so it seemed Hizashi Hyuga had known him. However, as a transmigrator, Hyuga Satoru's memories of him were rather vague.
Seeing that Hyuga Satoru remained silent, Hizashi Hyuga assumed he was immersed in the pain of his father's death and said,
"I heard from the clan that you awakened your Second Bloodline because you were overwhelmed by grief over your father's death?"
Hyuga Satoru's mouth twitched slightly. He had made that up in the main hall to bluff his way through, but he had not expected it to spread so widely that even Hizashi Hyuga knew about it.
"Why have I never seen you train with the other clan members?" Hizashi Hyuga asked.
"I awakened a Second Bloodline. That makes me an outlier in the clan, so it is better for me to train alone."
Hyuga Satoru said this, and it truly was what he thought. His path differed from that of every other clan member, so it was better to have less contact with them.
To his surprise, the moment he finished speaking, Hizashi Hyuga sighed and said with a trace of unwillingness,
"You think awakening a Second Bloodline makes you an outlier? No. I once thought the clan was like a stagnant pool, that it would never change, until I heard about you."
"You, who awakened a Second Bloodline, are absolutely not an outlier. You are a variable, proof that the rotten old tree known as the Hyuga Clan still possesses new life."
Hearing the clear deeper meaning in Hizashi's words, Hyuga Satoru's expression grew more solemn as he said,
"Lord Hizashi, did you come here today for something?"
Hizashi Hyuga gradually reined in his emotions and shook his head, his voice becoming much gentler.
"No, I merely wanted to see you—to see the newly grown green leaf on this rotten old tree."
"Perhaps I was being somewhat presumptuous."
With a sigh, he rose from his chair.
"I will take my leave for now. If you need anything regarding training in the future, you may come find me."
Watching Hizashi Hyuga's departing back, Hyuga Satoru's gaze shifted with complicated emotions.
In the original story, Hizashi Hyuga should have deeply hated his identity as a Branch House member. He had even been punished with the Caged Bird by his own brother for revealing killing intent toward Hinata, and in the end, he had died by committing suicide in Hiashi's place.
Every one of those points showed his hatred for the Hyuga Clan's rotten system.
Hyuga Satoru had a feeling that he would come looking for him again.
Even if only for the variable he spoke of—the newly sprouted green leaf on a rotten old tree.
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