Ideas

"Your Uchiha Clan's Stone Tablet has a little more content than our Hyuga Clan's, but I can't decipher all of it," Neji said.

Sasuke looked surprised. "More content?"

Neji nodded. "Yes. And your Uchiha Clan's Stone Tablet only has information about awakening the Rinnegan. There's nothing about the Tenseigan."

"I'm guessing you'll have to wait until your Eye Power approaches the Rinnegan's level, or even until you awaken it, before you can decipher that part," Neji said.

Sasuke nodded, then asked curiously, "Your Eye Power hasn't even reached the level of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan?"

Neji was speechless. "Do you know what level of Eye Power the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan has?"

"And you do?" Sasuke shot back.

"Judging from what I deciphered on the Stone Tablet, along with a few other things I've learned, Madara Uchiha, one of Konoha's founders, was very likely an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan user," Neji said, giving him a disdainful look.

"Uh..." Sasuke fell silent. After Neji had mercilessly mocked his ignorance, he had studied up on the subject and now knew roughly what Madara Uchiha had done.

Legend held that the area around the Valley of the End had been formed by Madara Uchiha's battle with the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.

Sasuke had visited the place during a school break. He couldn't imagine what kind of battle could have caused destruction on that scale, permanently reshaping a vast stretch of land.

The two statues in the Valley of the End had been carved later to commemorate them. Their battlefield had extended far beyond the statues.

"Looks like you have some idea how strong Madara Uchiha was," Neji said with a shrug.

"Hmph. Don't underestimate the Uchiha." Sasuke gave a cold snort. "But judging by what you can do, your Eye Power can't be far from Madara Uchiha's level. Otherwise, you couldn't have deciphered so much."

"If you're only a step away, how can the gap be that big?" Sasuke asked, puzzled.

"In my experience, what looks like a single step can actually be a world of difference. Cross it, and you might find yourself in an entirely new realm," Neji said.

Often, a single step marked a qualitative change.

Sasuke nodded, accepting Neji's guess. As his own Eye Power grew, he increasingly felt that the Uchiha Clan relied on its eyes. Most of the clan's abilities probably depended on the Sharingan.

He suspected that when the Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyō Sharingan, it underwent a qualitative change. Awakening it would bring a tremendous leap in both the Sharingan's Eye Power and Chakra.

That suggested the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan brought another transformation after the Mangekyō Sharingan. No wonder Madara Uchiha had been so terrifyingly strong, like a demon of war made flesh.

Sasuke guessed that Neji's Byakugan was stuck at a stage similar to the one between the Mangekyō Sharingan and the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Does your Byakugan need to undergo a transformation before it can become the Tenseigan, like the Mangekyō Sharingan becoming the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan?" Sasuke asked.

Hearing that, Neji thought it over seriously for a moment. It really was possible.

Neji gave a slight nod. "It's possible. My Byakugan may need to transform before it can advance any further."

"What are you going to do?" Sasuke asked.

Sasuke already had an idea. If he were in Neji's position, he would target the Main Family and use the Secret Technique they had just learned to absorb the Eye Power of their Byakugan.

The Main Family didn't treat the Branch Family as human anyway. There would be no reason to feel guilty.

"You think I'm going to steal the Eye Power of their Byakugan, don't you?" Neji asked, looking at him with an odd smile.

Sasuke said without hesitation, "If I were you, I would."

A strange smile crossed Neji's face. "I'd love to go after them, but with the Caged Bird Seal on me, it isn't up to me!"

"What? I don't believe you'd give up just like that. Knowing you, even the Caged Bird Seal wouldn't stop you." Now it was Sasuke's turn to be puzzled.

Neji was absolutely capable of turning on his own clan. In the time Sasuke had known him, he had gradually come to understand what kind of person Neji was.

As Sasuke saw it, Neji felt no affection for the Main Family he came from. He even seemed to want to destroy them.

"My fault. I didn't explain it clearly. Only members of the Uchiha Clan can use this method." Neji pressed a palm to his forehead. "The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan is actually a fusion of the Eye Power of two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan. It's a Secret Technique that fuses your own eyes with another pair. Only then can you possibly awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."

"Do you think that would work for me?" Neji asked with an amused look.

Now that he could see a way forward, Neji had no desire to go after those people yet. Once he awakened the Tenseigan, he could deal with them however he pleased.

Sasuke shook his head. "Your Byakugan won't go blind, and no one else in the Hyuga Clan has Eye Power as strong as yours. The Secret Technique for awakening the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan doesn't suit you."

Then Sasuke looked at Neji curiously. "So what are you going to do? You've hit a bottleneck."

Neji thought for a moment. "I have another idea for my eyes. There's no rush."

Yes, Neji believed the most important thing now was to solve his Chakra problem. He was managing for the moment, but who knew what would happen in a month?

The amount of Chakra his eyes absorbed grew by the day.

Neji still thought it came down to Chakra. He believed that as long as he supplied enough Chakra, it shouldn't be a problem.

Sasuke nodded. "Good. If you need help, just say so."

"I will," Neji said with a nod. "By the way, how's your Rasenshuriken coming along?"

Sasuke exhaled and held back his frustration. "The Rasenshuriken is still only half-finished. I can't throw it like a real Shuriken the way you described, but I feel like I'm only one step away."

Sasuke looked rather dejected.

For more than half a year, Sasuke had devoted a great deal of his energy to the technique. First, he had studied changes in the nature and form of wind-nature Chakra. Then, at night, he had secretly worked on Wind Release: Rasenshuriken in the basement.

Even after all that, he had only managed a half-finished version. Worst of all, he felt he was just one step away, yet he couldn't take that final step.

"Don't rush it. We came up with this move to make up for the Gentle Fist's lack of killing power, but I've since improved some of my Gentle Fist techniques. They're good enough for now, so let this one come together in its own time," Neji said.

"In its own time?" Sasuke frowned. "I still want to finish it. My Taijutsu has about reached its limit for now. Even using Lightning Release Chakra to stimulate my body, I can't push it further until my body catches up. Besides, I need a finishing move, and this technique is so close."