Bloodline Regression?

Hyuga Satoru lay propped against the pillows on his hospital bed, staring blankly at the white ceiling.

Orochimaru's Cell Activation secret technique was highly effective, and its training method was not complicated. Even from his hospital bed, he could temper his cells through the flow of chakra.

After only two days, Hyuga Satoru had the illusion that his body was nearly healed.

Compared to the feeling of physical strength almost overflowing from him, the emptiness in his heart was what truly left him lost.

Aburame Shibi's voice seemed to still be replaying in his mind.

"Considering your current abilities, the Hokage has specially promoted you to Chunin so that you can grow to the fullest extent possible. You may now accept A-rank missions and anything below them on your own."

"Actually, the Hokage initially intended to promote you directly to Special Jonin. But considering that such a large promotion at once would draw too much attention from other villages, he had no choice but to abandon that plan for your safety."

"As for Rin, she will return to her clan for training. Anko has become Orochimaru's disciple, and as for me... I will probably return to the ANBU."

"Team Three... will probably be disbanded like this."

Although he had known this day would come sooner or later, it had arrived so quickly that it caught him off guard.

But on further thought, given his current abilities, ordinary team missions could no longer help him improve. Perhaps that was why the Hokage had specially promoted him to Chunin.

In a sense, it was a good thing.

What he lacked most right now was experience. Carrying out missions alone would allow that lacking experience to grow quickly. That might also have been the Hokage's intention.

Just then, the door opened with a click.

Uchiha Rin walked in and placed a basket of fruit on the cabinet beside the hospital bed.

"Satoru, you look much better."

"Do I?"

Uchiha Rin sat on the edge of the bed, picked up an apple, and began peeling it with a fruit knife.

For some reason, the air suddenly fell quiet, leaving only the soft scraping of the apple peel.

"Um... Satoru, I might not be able to visit you tomorrow."

Uchiha Rin was the first to break the silence, her expression complicated.

"Is something wrong?" Hyuga Satoru asked.

"Yeah. The clan has arranged special training for me. Since the clan head personally stepped in, I have no way to refuse. I'm afraid we'll have to be apart for a while."

"The clan head personally stepped in?"

Hyuga Satoru showed a trace of surprise. Generally speaking, in a major clan like the Uchiha Clan, the clan head rarely involved himself with ordinary clan members.

"Yeah." Uchiha Rin nodded with a complicated expression. "I awakened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan."

Two tomoe? Hyuga Satoru drew a quiet breath. No wonder. Uchiha Rin had awakened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan before even turning eleven. Even since the founding of Leaf Village, she would have counted as an exceptionally rare genius in Uchiha history.

When she had only possessed one tomoe, the Uchiha Clan could still turn a blind eye. But she had awakened two tomoe in less than a year. With talent like that... it was no wonder even the clan head had stepped in.

But...

Hyuga Satoru looked at Uchiha Rin curiously and asked, "Rin, when did you awaken the Two-Tomoe Sharingan?"

To his surprise, the moment the words left his mouth, a faint flush appeared on Uchiha Rin's cheeks. She turned her head slightly away and said with a hint of impatience, "Why are you asking so much? It was some time ago. I awakened it when I ran into danger."

Uchiha Rin's gaze drifted involuntarily toward the window, and her memories seemed to return to that day.

Amid the torrential rain, soaked to the bone, trembling Anko had slowly walked toward her with Hyuga Satoru slung over her back, his fate unknown. With every step, she had left behind a streak of bright red blood in the rainwater.

For some reason, Uchiha Rin had felt as though her eyes were about to split apart. When she opened them again, she already had two tomoe.

But how could she possibly tell Satoru those things...

After Uchiha Rin left, Hyuga Satoru steadied his emotions and closed his eyes once more to continue practicing Cell Activation.

It had to be said that Cell Activation was an extraordinarily wondrous secret technique, the essence of Orochimaru's human-body research during the first half of his life.

It tempered the body's cells multiple times in stages. With every round of tempering, the cells' vitality increased dramatically, greatly enhancing the user's taijutsu abilities and chakra-refining capacity.

After training in Cell Activation, his chakra had faintly stepped over the threshold of Jonin level.

As for the cellular damage caused by forcibly squeezing out chakra in Tyrant Mode, it had completely disappeared by the second day of training.

Exhaling a breath of stale air, Hyuga Satoru opened his eyes and could not help but sigh in admiration.

"Cell Activation truly deserves to be called the secret technique Orochimaru spent three years developing. Without an extremely profound understanding of the human body, no one could have conceived of such a marvelous method for tempering cells."

Among Orochimaru's many secret techniques, Cell Activation was a foundation. Both Orochimaru's Substitution Technique and Living Corpse Reincarnation required Cell Activation to enhance the body's capabilities.

"It seems Satoru-kun likes the secret technique I developed very much."

A hoarse voice tinged with amusement came from nearby, causing Hyuga Satoru's brows to furrow slightly.

"Lord Orochimaru, don't you know to knock before entering?"

"With Satoru-kun's sensory abilities, I thought it would be impossible for you not to know I was coming."

Hyuga Satoru's brows relaxed slightly. Inside the sleeve on his right arm, a small silver snake coiled around his forearm. It was the Executioner's Blade in its Magnetofluid Transformation form.

With a mere thought from him, it would transform into a razor-sharp weapon.

Therefore, he was not worried that Orochimaru would try anything.

"Lord Orochimaru, what brings you here so suddenly?" Hyuga Satoru asked calmly.

Orochimaru smiled. "The results are in from the cell sample I took from you earlier. Since the results were quite interesting, I decided to come and share them with Satoru-kun."

"What were the results?"

Hyuga Satoru's expression grew more serious.

Orochimaru did not keep him in suspense and said directly, "Satoru-kun's cells are very strange. Judging from the experiment, they appear to be approaching some higher-level form. However..."

After pausing, Orochimaru suddenly changed the subject and smiled. "Satoru-kun's Byakugan range should be considerably greater than that of ordinary clan members, correct?"

"Yes." Hyuga Satoru nodded. There was nothing worth hiding about that.

"But what does that have to do with the experimental results?"

"Well... how should I put it? Satoru-kun's physical evolution is more like a form of ancestral bloodline regression. As a result, the purity of your Byakugan will continue to increase throughout this process."

Ancestral bloodline regression???

Hyuga Satoru drew a deep breath.

Orochimaru might not know the origin of the Hyuga Clan's bloodline, but Hyuga Satoru knew very well: Kaguya Otsutsuki!

Could it be that he would evolve into an Otsutsuki in the future?