Naruto: I, Shikotsumyaku, Byakugan Princess

Chapter 182 Gray Eyes
Under a clear blue sky and gentle breeze, a waterfall roared down the cliff and plunged into a pool below, its cool mist swirling in the air and reflecting a rainbow of colors.

Seemingly drawn by the cool, moist air, the glossy, jet-black crows flapped their wings, drawing a swirl in the sky before heading straight for the pool below the waterfall.

Fly closer.

At the mouth of the pool, there were countless dead trees and withered grasses. Countless dead fish lay trapped in the pool, their white bellies turned white. Crows gleamed in their eyes and flew diagonally toward the fishpond.

hum!
Before they even got close, the air suddenly began to ripple with twists and turns, and in an instant, the waterfall, the pool, and even the forest and the earth all split in two.

Pfft!

A large drop of blood splattered across the ground in a straight line. A dark crow fell to the ground, its head separated from its body, its eyes, the size of mung beans, becoming two neat semicircles.

Yang-style Gray Light gently moved his leather boots aside to avoid getting them stained with blood. He crossed his arms and placed them against his chest, watching the main body on the boulder raise its palm, his brows and eyes filled with surprise and doubt.

The three tomoe embedded in her palm slowly rotated, like a red and black fidget spinner. Hui Li calmed the chakra transformed by wind release within her body and aimed her activated Sharingan at the crow on the ground that was still struggling with its neck tilted.

A piercing, mournful cry rang out, and the crow began to convulse, as if it were being squeezed and crushed in a blender. Its two thin legs twisted and struggled like two withered tree branches plowing the ground.

The tree branches carved several thin lines into the desolate ground, and crimson blood extended outwards along these lines. The strange life force, brimming with vitality, was ripped out by the Sharingan's eye power.

As the three tomoe rotated, the pupil power evolved to simulate a tentacle-like septum, which at first glance looked like a transparent and illusory Hashirama cell.

The dark green light of life was enveloped by an illusory membrane. Gray Glass's five fingers gradually came together, and the membrane instantly contracted and squeezed towards the center.

A pure, tender green light was squeezed out and, under the guidance of the same green Yang Release chakra, transformed into a stream of water that entered Hui Li's body. Only dirty, black impurities remained in the membrane of her pupil power, which slowly dissipated as her pupil power faded.

This thing is the impurity contained in the life force, or you could say it's a biological trait, and it was the culprit that previously hindered the development of the Eight Gates Reversal.

It acts like a kind of identifier, mixed into the life force, preventing the individual's life source from being contaminated and harming the entire biological population. Like the animals she experimented with before, when their life source was contaminated, their bodies would grow parts that didn't belong to them.

This mutation is extremely unstable and mostly harmful. If these animals are allowed to live and reproduce, their offspring will eventually have all sorts of strange characteristics, and the entire population may even be wiped out.

This impurity can be seen as a biological defense mechanism, abandoning the individual to safeguard the stable development of the group, but it is entirely detrimental to her, and it is best to remove it.

Kaka!

The 'key' on the forehead began to spin.

One of the three doors cracked open, and the pure life force extracted from the crow's body immediately flowed into it, replenishing her life essence.

"Whoo~"

She exhaled a breath of stale air, closed her eyes to rest, and savored the lingering feeling of life filling her.

"You mean there's something wrong with our Byakugan?" The Yang Release clone's eye twitched slightly; she always felt that the appearance of the main body was attracting fans.

"There's a big problem!"

Opening her seemingly brighter, deathly gray eyes, Hui Li spoke with unwavering resolve.

"I always thought our eyes were just ordinary white eyes, just a little strange in color, nothing special. But after the initial development of the immortal body, I found that the situation was not what I imagined at all."

"How to say?"

Upon hearing the original body's words, the Yang Release clone leaned forward slightly, showing great interest. She was now too lazy to guess the original body's condition, and couldn't possibly guess it anyway.

Due to the previous mission at Leigu Mountain, she and her main body had not synchronized their information for a long time.

Although the two are of one mind, the original body, with the help of countless shadow clones who have sacrificed themselves one after another, has read countless books from Root and Konoha. Now, with the ability to reverse the Eight Gates and devour life, it is no longer comparable to what it was before.

It's not just information and capabilities; differences are evident in every aspect.

The body's vitality is vigorous, its appearance is healthier and more beautiful, and the development of the chakra seed and the physical body has also become more differentiated.

She is taller and heavier than her clone, and her chakra reserves are more than double those of her clone. Not to mention her muscles, which are getting stronger every day with the help of chakra. If it really came down to a fight, even with Samehada's help, she would definitely not be a match for her original body.

If one is focused on escaping, there is no danger; but if one confronts the true form with its Eight Gates seal broken, it will be reduced to pieces within seconds.

It can be said that a thick barrier has been erected between them.

If the gap is too large, information can no longer be transmitted; otherwise, her fragile mind would explode in the massive flow of information. To preserve the power of Kotoamatsukami's eyes, this gap and estrangement cannot be bridged for the time being.

"I suspect that our eyes aren't white at all!"
"I felt that... fetal movement!" Hui Li, unaware of her clone's thoughts, uttered a startling statement, pointing two fingers at the lifeless gray pupils as if she were about to gouge out her own eyes.

"The fetal movement of the Reincarnation Eye?"

The Yang Release clone immediately realized what the original body meant by fetal movement. After Otsutsuki Toneri on the moon seized the Byakugan, the first stage of activating the Tenseigan was the so-called fetal movement.

"It's not the Tenseigan." His grey eyes rippled, the grey waves resembling a dead sea.
"Do you remember what Kurama once said?"

The Yang Release clone paused for a second, then muttered to itself, "The Byakugan is the starting point of all intangible power, while the Ash Bones is the end point of all tangible things. Hamura's power is completely opposite to the nature of the power he inherited..."

"That's right!"

Hui Li opened her palm and stared at the Sharingan within:

"All members of the Otsutsuki clan initially possessed pure Byakugan. Only after consuming Chakra Fruits could they form various Rinnegan with strange eye techniques at the center of their foreheads."

The birth of the Rinnegan is absolutely inseparable from the Byakugan; I even suspect that the Rinnegan itself is a Byakugan evolved to its ultimate form. If the nine-tomoe Rinnegan between Kaguya Otsutsuki's eyebrows represents the pinnacle of dojutsu, then the pure Byakugan that appeared first is the starting point of all dojutsu.

There is only one starting point, but the end point is infinite.

This explains why the Otsutsuki clan, despite already possessing a more powerful Rinnegan, still retains the original Byakugan.

The Byakugan is the starting point of all invisible forces and the origin of all eye techniques in the world.

They left behind this initial Byakugan so they could continuously absorb new chakra fruits, stimulating it to awaken a completely different ultimate eye technique!

Rumble!
The roar of the waterfall filled his ears once more. The Yang Release clone stood frozen in place, stunned by the main body's absurd yet reasonable guess. He thought of the Otsutsuki clan in the original story, who could install Rinnegan in their brows, foreheads, and palms, yet none of them were willing to give up their seemingly ordinary Byakugan.

At most, you might have to give up one, but you'll still have to keep your original Byakugan.

She originally thought it was just a symbol of identity for the Otsutsuki clan, or a way to balance her bloodline limit by using the Byakugan's coordinating effect.

Only after being reminded by the original body did she realize that the eye technique that possesses the ability to manipulate chakra and harmonize bloodline limits could not possibly be limited to just the Byakugan. Everyone tries their best to preserve the Byakugan, so the original body's guess was probably pretty accurate.

The Byakugan itself only has a few basic abilities such as telescopic vision and X-ray vision, which are far less bizarre and powerful than other eye techniques. However, it is like a seed full of miracles, which can give rise to all kinds of terrifying ultimate eye techniques under the catalysis of different chakra fruits.

This is the evolutionary path of the Otsutsuki.

He planted a divine tree on the planet, devoured its fruit, gained more chakra, and awakened countless ultimate eye techniques under the influence of the pure Byakugan, until he became the legendary Otsutsuki God!

"So our eyes are neither Byakugan nor Tenseigan, but a new type of eye technique that evolved from Byakugan?"

"Is it because you didn't have enough chakra or life force before that this eye technique couldn't manifest? And after you absorbed life and initially obtained the Sage Body, the eye technique was activated, which caused the fetal movement?" The Yang Release clone pondered for a long time and finally understood the original body's meaning.

"That's it!"

"But I don't feel anything different about these gray eyes! Aren't they the same as the Byakugan's ability?" The Yang Release clone spread its palms in confusion, its small face full of doubt.

"What about you thinking about it?"

As she spoke, two bright red cuts suddenly appeared below Hui Li's eyes, and the three-tomoe Sharingan in her palm slowly sank into her flesh. Then, two small bumps swelled up on the back of her hand, like two little mice crawling up her arm to her face.

Two scarlet eyes emerged from the blood hole below the eyelids. The four eyes moved up and down as if they were staring at each other, or like the compound eyes of an insect, terrifying and eerie.

"It's...body manipulation!"

The surprise in the voice of the Yang Release clone couldn't be masked even by the sound of the waterfall. Their ability to resolve life-or-death crises countless times, and to build their battle systems upon it, was entirely dependent on the power of the Byakugan!

These mutated gray-white eyes have never shown any special abilities. The ability to control the body only came about after the awakening of the Corpse Bone Vein. In addition, the Corpse Bone Vein itself has a certain degree of power to control the body, so it went unnoticed.

Furthermore, since other people's eye techniques are simple and straightforward, such as Kotoamatsukami, Amaterasu, and Tsukuyomi, they can generate extremely strong power without much development. Due to stereotypes, she never even considered that her 'body manipulation', which required her to rack her brains to develop, was actually a kind of eye technique.

This is because it's dark under the lamp.

Seeing that the Yang Release clone had figured things out, Hui Li once again activated the Sharingan in her palm. The wound below her eyelids began to heal, and her appearance visibly improved.

"Without the zombie-like physical qualities of the Corpse Bone Pulse, this so-called manipulation simply wouldn't exist."

I suspect that 'body manipulation' isn't the true ability of these eyes. It's just that the pupil technique is in its nascent stage of evolution and cannot reveal its full extent. Combined with the awakening of the Corpse Bone Pulse, the two have given rise to this mutated power.

Makes sense!
The Yang Release clone nodded in agreement. If it were truly some kind of special eye technique, there was no reason why it would have to be combined with the Corpse Bone Pulse to be used. In that case, it wouldn't be a simple eye technique, but rather a Bloodline Limit combined with several Bloodline Limits.

"We'll know when the baby stops moving, and how much longer it will take," she said, looking very excited.

Eye techniques are like opening blind boxes; if she were to discover a space-time eye technique similar to Kamui's, she would be rolling in money.

Although she says she looks down on Obito for relying on Kamui, it's not that she has nothing else to rely on.

She also wants an eye technique that can dominate the world!

Otsutsuki Toneri awakened the Tenseigan and could directly destroy the moon, while she's still just living a carefree life on Earth!
Hui Li closed her eyes, calculating the time it would take for the special power to be formed within her pupils.

"It will take at least three to five years."

"I might not even be able to exist for three to five years, so you might as well not tell me!" Yang Dun Hui Li flipped through the scarlet kaleidoscope. The blind box was right in front of her, but she had to wait three years to open it. This feeling was worse than being killed.

Moreover, given the amount of time that has passed, she may have already completed the reconstruction of Kotoamatsukami. At that point, her shadow clone, which carries the Kotoamatsukami eye technique, would no longer be necessary and would most likely have turned into a ball of chakra and returned to her original body.

"Hopefully soon..."

"Silence!" Hui Li waved her hand to interrupt the Yang Escape clone, listened intently, and her expression suddenly turned serious.

rustling...

The branches rustled and rubbed together, making unusual sounds, as if some kind of animal was leaping and moving among the trees.

Hui Li's expression changed slightly. There were no animals around, and even the plants had been turned into nutrients for her Reverse Eight Gates. There was no way that any large animals could appear. The only ones approaching now were humans, or more precisely, Konoha ninjas!
Roll your eyes!

The veins at the corners of her eyes bulged, and the whites of her eyes, which were in a state of fetal movement, became even brighter and more dazzling, with a strong gray light that pierced through the trees in front of her like a sharp sword.

A chakra even more magnificent than the waterfall behind him shone brightly, and enveloped in this vast chakra, the frail old man darted swiftly through the forest.

He wore a black, tight-fitting combat suit, a ninja hat, a purple ribbon around his waist, mesh wrist guards on his arms and calves, and a green layered armor plating on his right arm. He moved with extraordinary agility, like an old ape.

It's Hiruzen Sarutobi!?

Hui Li and her Yang Release clone's eyes narrowed simultaneously, and in an instant she understood the reason for Hiruzen Sarutobi's arrival.

In order to develop the Reverse Eight Gates, she created a mysterious dead zone in the Forest of Death. Although this place is far away from Konoha City and is a remote corner in the vast Forest of Death, it has never left Konoha territory.

If someone with ulterior motives discovers a large number of animals dying mysteriously, it would be perfectly reasonable for them to come and investigate.

She never expected that the person who came was neither a Chunin or Jonin who had taken on a mission, nor an Anbu or Root member who was specifically investigating the village’s anomalies, but the Third Hokage himself who had come to investigate.

The Yang Release clone's legs sank, and it was about to run away before Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived.

She has been staying at Base 3 all this time. She rushed over as soon as she received the message from the main body. She is still wearing the Root uniform!

"No need to run anymore," Hui Li called out to the clone who was about to escape, and turned to look at the old ape that was already standing on the treetop, exuding a terrifying aura.

"Sarutobi-sensei, how have you been?"

(End of this chapter)