Half a Year

Half a year passed in a flash, and Neji's life as a ninja remained remarkably peaceful.

Not every Genin team had missions as eventful as Team 7, the team the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki belonged to.

Neji's Team 3 had a far quieter time, taking on simple missions around Konoha.

Team 3 had never truly traveled far from the village. All their work took place near Konoha.

The hardest mission Team 3 had undertaken was only C-Rank: patrolling Konoha Forest. It suited them perfectly.

With Neji's Byakugan, almost nothing could escape his notice.

As six months passed, not only had his Byakugan's Eye Power changed beyond recognition, but so had his Chakra.

Though his strength had risen along with his Chakra and Eye Power, Neji felt little joy. His Eye Power had already reached its peak, with no sign of further growth.

After six months, Neji could feel that his Eye Power had stopped growing. Although his eyes continued to use Chakra Absorption, their Eye Power no longer increased.

Worse, these eyes' demand for Chakra kept rising, and Neji had no good solution.

Neji was beginning to worry that, as time went on, he might no longer be able to supply his eyes with Chakra. They were like a bottomless pit, demanding more and more Chakra.

For now, Neji's Chakra could keep up. But by his calculations, if his eyes still had not evolved into the Tenseigan in three months—at the beginning of Konoha's sixty-third year—he would no longer be able to supply them with Chakra.

That was bad news for Neji. If they required too much Chakra, he would have no choice but to stop there.

Of course, the increase in Eye Power had its benefits, too. Neji discovered that he had gained the ability of Chakra Absorption.

Unlike the Rinnegan, which could absorb Ninjutsu directly, Neji could only use Chakra Absorption.

Overall, his ability still fell far short of the Rinnegan's. After all, no one would stand there in Dō and let him use Chakra Absorption.

Neji suspected this was an early sign of the Tenseigan, emerging once his Byakugan had evolved far enough.

Beyond that, thanks to the Fly-like leaps in both the quality and quantity of his Eye Power and Chakra, Neji had managed to bring some of his ideas to life during this time.

He had developed the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm into a move called Divine Vacuum Strike.

It turned the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm into something resembling Kaguya Otsutsuki's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack. Of course, Neji could not compare with her. Even Sasuke's Perfect Susanoo, empowered by Six Paths Power, could not withstand more than a few blows from Kaguya Otsutsuki's attack. Neji's was nowhere near that powerful.

The move combined immense visual power with vast amounts of Chakra. Unlike traditional Gentle Fist, Divine Vacuum Strike was more like the ferocious Strong Fist: one punch could shake mountains and split the earth.

Neji extended a hand and pressed it toward the air ahead. "Divine Vacuum Strike!"

A streak of white light flashed, and a tremendous boom came from the forest ahead.

Boom! Massive trees and several meters of earth beneath them were pulverized.

Dust billowed up in an instant. A fan-shaped swath hundreds of meters long had been carved through the forest.

That was the piercing force of Gentle Fist. A massive amount of Chakra had pierced everything in its path.

Looking at the gap his palm strike had left, Neji smiled in satisfaction. This was the power of legendary eyes!

Once his eyes evolved, his strength naturally rose with them.

As the saying went, those who knew, knew. Those who didn't, wouldn't understand.

This was what naturally happened once his Eye Power reached a certain level. Developing the move after his Eye Power reached the required level had taken Neji little effort. It had come to him almost effortlessly, as if everything had fallen into place.

Chakra erupted beneath Neji's feet, and he vanished. Team 3's mission today was to patrol the forest around Konoha. Familiar with the route, he had used the Body Flicker Technique to slip beyond the mission area and test his move.

His Body Flicker Technique had reached a terrifying level, far beyond that of an ordinary Jonin.

The Body Flicker Technique came down to Chakra reserves and control.

Neji excelled at both. With the aid of his Byakugan in particular, his control over Chakra was exceptional.

After making a show of patrolling, Neji returned to Team 3's meeting point.

I can't let this go on. I need to find a way. On the road back to Konoha, Neji searched distractedly for a solution.

There were few ways to solve his Chakra shortage. One was the legendary Yin Seal, but Neji had no way to obtain it. It was most likely recorded only in the Scroll of Seals.

The second was Tailed Beast Chakra, which would be about as difficult to obtain as the Yin Seal.

Using his eyes' ability for Chakra Absorption was no long-term solution, either. In Konoha, Neji had few opportunities to drain other ninja of their Chakra.

And absorbing other ninja's Chakra alone won't be enough. I'll need a way to store it, too. Only now did Neji truly feel how troublesome this had become.

Evolving the Byakugan into the Tenseigan really isn't as simple as I thought... Frustration stirred in Neji's heart for the first time in a long while.

Recently, the hope he had felt had kept him calm.

"I need to talk to you about something." At the street corner, Sasuke stood with his hands in his pockets, looking as though he had been waiting a long time.

"Teacher Guy, sorry to leave the mission wrap-up to you," Neji said.

Might Guy studied Sasuke Uchiha at the corner for a moment, then said, "Go on, Neji. Don't keep your friend waiting."

Neji nodded and walked toward Sasuke.

"We'll talk over there." With that, Sasuke turned and led the way.

"Is that Sasuke Uchiha, the Top Student in Sixth Grade? I heard he's a genius like Neji. He looks strong." Rock Lee gazed at Sasuke, eager for a fight.

"Lee, Sasuke Uchiha is even stronger than you! Your youth isn't burning fiercely enough!" Might Guy clenched a fist, brimming with passion.

"As expected of Neji's friend! Teacher Guy, I've decided. Once Sasuke Uchiha graduates, I'll challenge him. I'll prove that hard work can surpass genius!" Rock Lee seemed to blaze with green flames of youth.

"Teacher Guy, really? That cool-looking guy is that strong?" Tenten asked skeptically.

"Tenten, you may not know this, but that boy is no ordinary student," Might Guy said. "He awakened the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan long ago. The Sharingan can copy Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, and I often see Sasuke Uchiha at Konoha's Training Grounds."

"He's using the Sharingan to copy the older ninja's Ninjutsu?!" Tenten exclaimed.

"So that's what a genius can do..." Rock Lee grew even more excited. This was exactly the kind of opponent he wanted to surpass.

"He's probably copied some of my Taijutsu, too..." Might Guy said, utterly unconcerned.

"Doesn't anyone try to stop him?" Tenten asked.

"If he can copy someone else's techniques, that's his skill," Might Guy said. It did not bother him.

"And he isn't the only one who does it." Might Guy smiled. His eternal rival Kakashi had surely copied plenty of Ninjutsu with the Sharingan in private, too.