Hyuga Yu's body was rapidly breaking down.
As the surgery progressed, his ability to experience emotion was dismantled in a manner that amounted to pure self-harm. It was somewhat reminiscent of a lobotomy in modern medicine, an ancient human method used to treat epilepsy—by drilling holes in the skull or driving a spike through the upper orbit into the brain to destroy the frontal lobe white matter and corresponding nerves, thereby rendering an emotionally volatile patient docile and compliant from the root.
Naturally, the side effects of this procedure were extremely severe, causing the patient to lose all mental drive and exhibit signs of dementia or severe cognitive impairment.
However, what Hyuga Yu was doing wasn't just a crude, self-destructive excision. The unique capacity of the Chakra Scalpel to penetrate the skull and reach the target area directly spared him from the extreme necessity of drilling open his head. In this process, using the Meridian Reconstruction and Nerve Repair techniques from medical ninjutsu as a foundation, Hyuga Yu fashioned atomic-state Wind Style Chakra Scalpels into temporary prosthetic implants. He then connected them to his central nervous system, reconfiguring the synthesized areas—such as the amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and surrounding cortex—to activate or remain dormant solely at the executive command of his brain.
To put it simply—
Hyuga Yu had switched his emotional perception mechanism to... manual transmission.
Furthermore, utilizing his ability to split his mind seven ways, he constantly manipulated this emotional perception mechanism to filter out the memetic infection spreading from the Giant Tenseigan.
Once the surgery achieved this milestone, in a mere instant, the noisy, buzzing voices echoing in his ears were almost entirely shut out.
The immense, inexplicable pressure he had been facing instantly vanished. His mind became incredibly peaceful, his thoughts piercingly clear. Body and soul melded seamlessly at this moment, achieving a state akin to the philosophical ideal of "the unity of knowledge and action" through this extreme surgical intervention.
Hyuga Yu began to ponder—
Faced with the current situation, what should he do? How should he proceed?
It was known that the Otsutsuki clan would descend upon the ninja world in four and a half years. Whether these early arrivals were Momoshiki, Kinshiki, or Urashiki from the original timeline was still up in the air. Therefore, completely blind to their true nature, his most pressing need was—
Information gathering.
A ninja's battle is a battle of information.
Driven by this realization, Hyuga Yu's mind stirred. He tilted his head slightly, shifting his "gaze" toward the moon hanging in the night sky.
Compared to its function as an ultimate weapon capable of destroying the ninja world, the Giant Tenseigan's capacity for surveillance and observation was actually far more staggering. It could detect the approach of the Otsutsuki clan and sound an alarm from hundreds of light-years away.
This likely meant that, as an "eye," the core purpose behind the Giant Tenseigan's creation was to serve as the sentinel for the Otsutsuki clan on the moon—to observe and detect those extraterrestrial threats that even Kaguya Otsutsuki dreaded.
Since the news of the Otsutsuki descent came from the Giant Tenseigan, whether he wanted to continue drawing upon its power or use it to extract more detailed intelligence, given the circumstances, the Giant Tenseigan was Hyuga Yu's only path.
Hyuga Yu needed to truly acquire the Giant Tenseigan and gain complete control over this ultimate weapon.
However, this posed another problem—the Giant Tenseigan did not belong to Hyuga Yu. At this point in time, Toneri Otsutsuki shouldn't be the sole survivor of the moon's Otsutsuki clan yet.
Hyuga Yu could vaguely sense that the Giant Tenseigan currently seemed to have an "owner" with higher authorization than his own.
If Hyuga Yu's current authorization level was [Three]—meaning he had completed the fusion of three chakra natures—then the authorization level of the other owner he sensed was [Six]!
That was a pure-blooded Otsutsuki who mastered the fusion of six chakra natures on the evolutionary path of Tenseigan chakra.
This indicated that this last descendant of the Otsutsuki clan surpassed Hyuga Yu in bloodline development, whereas Yu still relied on the "Tenseigan Chakra Mode" as his ultimate trump card. In terms of Kekkei Genkai alone, Yu was far from being a match for him. Furthermore, the opponent possessed a devastating weapon like the Giant Tenseigan, whose internal authorization was far higher than Yu's own...
This was absolutely not an enemy Hyuga Yu could currently face.
Almost instantly, combining what he already knew from Hyuga Natsu regarding the rumors of "Hyuga Tennin" and his personal experience with the negative effects of the Giant Tenseigan, he immediately deduced that the relationship between the Otsutsuki clan on the moon and "Hyuga Tennin" on Earth didn't seem... entirely harmonious.
Moreover, at this time, Madara Uchiha had long since awakened the Rinnegan and transplanted it into Nagato. This meant that more than a decade ago, the Gedo Statue guarded by the lunar Otsutsuki clan had already been summoned away by Madara Uchiha.
According to the original timeline, the theft of the Gedo Statue served as the catalyst for the civil war within the lunar Otsutsuki clan. By this era, the branch family had already used the Giant Tenseigan to wipe out the main family. Those currently alive on the moon... were likely an entire cluster of extremist Otsutsuki branch family members who wished to destroy the ninja world.
For Hyuga Yu to reach an agreement with these people and secure the right to use the Giant Tenseigan through negotiation and cooperation was practically impossible.
Since he was currently resonating with the Giant Tenseigan, gaining authorization, and activating it, the Otsutsuki clan on the moon would likely discover him very soon—so, what would they do?
His thoughts raced in a split second. Hyuga Yu knit his brows slightly; the situation on the moon had become a logical paradox for him—
The cosmic invaders were about to arrive, and to deal with them, the Giant Tenseigan was indispensable;
Yet, to obtain the Giant Tenseigan, the Otsutsuki on the moon were an unavoidable obstacle—he had to find a way to eliminate this band of extreme terrorists;
And to eliminate them, his current strength was far from sufficient.
Most crucially—
The enemy had likely already detected his actions and realized the threat he posed. As such... they probably wouldn't grant Hyuga Yu the time to lie low and grow stronger.
Realizing this, Hyuga Yu's expression turned grim. "This power is temporarily useless to me and could even become a burden. My primary focus must return to rapidly raising my own strength."
"I can only temporarily abandon the Giant Tenseigan... However, before cutting ties, I should still be able to extract some... useful things from it."
As a weapon of war, the Giant Tenseigan stored a massive amount of interstellar warfare technology that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Among it, there might be information valuable to Hyuga Yu.
Using the Clairvoyance of the Giant Tenseigan to complete his surgery, after barely half a second of thought, Hyuga Yu immediately made his decision—
At that moment, he suddenly raised his head to look up at the sky, locking eyes with the massive full moon. Controlling his body and chakra, he began to sever his resonance with the Giant Tenseigan—resonance that had only been triggered because he activated the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
This resonance stemmed from the gradual, adaptive "remodeling" of the body by the Tenseigan chakra while in Tenseigan Chakra Mode. It enhanced the signal-reception capabilities of the Byakugan to the absolute limit, causing them to begin evolving into true Tenseigan.
Hyuga Yu had already destroyed the twin eyes that formed the very core of this system. Now, the only thing left to do was reverse the adaptive remodeling inflicted on his body by the Tenseigan Chakra Mode. This was not difficult for Hyuga Yu, whose body had been enhanced by Yang Release. He could simply excise the altered tissues and block their growth process while they attempted to regenerate.
At this moment, Hyuga Yu kept a cautious "eye" on the full moon in the sky, constantly sensing the shifts within the Giant Tenseigan on the moon. Simultaneously, he pushed his innate, razor-sharp sensitivity to being watched to its absolute limit. The instant he felt the lunar Otsutsuki about to lock onto his position, he would disconnect from the Giant Tenseigan in a heartbeat.
In this process, completely unaffected by the Giant Tenseigan's interference, Hyuga Yu drove the giant eye in reverse. Through his Clairvoyance authorization, he rapidly scanned the vast amount of vital technological information stored within it—
Ninja World Coordinate Cloaking and Planetary Barrier Manufacturing Technology—skip.
Celestial Pathways and Spatial Turbulence Technology Application—skip.
Planetary Environment Weaponization Blueprint I—skip.
Spatial Banishment Trap Modification Protocols—skip.
Puppet Army Control and Organizational Readiness—skip.
Until—Individual Tenseigan Utilization and Ultimate Tenseigan Warrior Cultivation Blueprint (Failed).
This was it!
As Hyuga Yu's gaze swept rapidly through the millennia of technological accumulation stored inside the Giant Tenseigan by the lunar Otsutsuki clan, his "eyes" finally lit up. He stopped at a section of black ocular meridians whose color was starkly different from the other data-storing pathways. His consciousness triggered the black meridian.
A torrent of information flooded into his brain. A document with its title enlarged, bolded, and rendered in a warning red-and-black font poured into his mind:
[Sentinel—The Hyuga Clan Ultimate Tenseigan Warrior Cultivation Blueprint]!
Almost simultaneously, Hyuga Yu's heart gave a sudden jolt, and a bone-chilling shiver shot up his spine!
In the next fraction of a second, within his perception, the Giant Tenseigan on the moon shattered with a thunderous boom. Immediately after, Hyuga Yu's consciousness and "gaze" were directly kicked out of the Giant Tenseigan by the one holding higher authorization!
A colossal gaze followed the anchor of their resonance, sweeping down from the moon toward the ninja world!
It rapidly swept from the Land of Water to the Land of Fire, then to the Land of Wind. Moving upward, it instantly fell upon the Land of Rain. Scanning from south to north, it was just about to "see" Hyuga Yu—
At that critical juncture, Hyuga Yu didn't hesitate for a second. He brandished the Chakra Scalpel in his hand and plunged it straight through his own heart.
Inside his chest, the glowing green heart that beat like a radiant gemstone ground to a sudden halt!
"Thud!"
Hyuga Yu collapsed straight backward onto the ground, his face wearing the hollow expression of "death."
Before the stunned gazes of the gathered Hidden Stone and Rain shinobi, Yahiko and the Akatsuki members, Black Zetsu, Obito Uchiha, Kakuzu, the Foundation Root forces in the rear led by Terai, and even the underground White Zetsu and Madara Uchiha... Hyuga Yu was dead.
The gaze from the moon lingered briefly over the Land of Rain, focusing for a moment on the Gedo Statue that had emerged in the center of the basin, as well as the Rinnegan in Nagato's eyes.
The immense gaze paused. The terrifying ocular power descending from the high heavens swept back and forth across the basin several times. Ultimately, failing to detect any trace of the "Hyuga Tennin" who had resonated with the Giant Tenseigan, it continued its sweep toward other regions of the ninja world!
Eventually, this grand gaze completed its circle, returning to the Land of Fire and reaching the Hidden Leaf Village. Expending a massive amount of chakra to penetrate the barrier over Konoha, it fell upon the Hyuga compound. At this moment, on the outskirts of the Hyuga estate, a Byakugan girl with shoulder-length black hair was lying on a tatami mat inside Hyuga Yu's narrow apartment. She turned her head slightly, her gaze falling upon a photo frame beside her.
In the photo, a black-haired boy and a short-haired girl leaned against a park bench, holding hands in an intimate pose while flashing smiles that were as fake as fake could be.
Beside her, a female medical ninja with grayish-brown hair, round-rimmed glasses, and a somewhat stern, long face held a glass container in which two white eyeballs floated. She knit her brows slightly and asked, "Natsu, are you sure you want to do this? I must warn you... the risk of this surgery is extremely high!"
Hyuga Natsu looked at the photo, the corner of her lips curving up in a barely perceptible smile. Finally, she turned her head back, nodded, and replied coolly, "Let's begin, Furofuki-sensei."
Furofuki stared at Hyuga Natsu with a complex gaze and asked, "Why not wait until that boy returns? He should be much more experienced than I am... And with his current achievements, Natsu, you don't need to take this kind of risk..."
Hyuga Natsu smiled as sweetly as ever, though her lips trembled slightly. "He wouldn't agree to it."
"Besides, even if I'm let out of the birdcage, I refuse to settle for being just a canary depending on him!"
Hyuga Natsu looked resolutely at Furofuki and raised her palm against her Byakugan. On her pale, slender fingertips... a brilliant blue Chakra Scalpel quietly flickered to life!
"I'm ready. Let's begin!"
The immense gaze penetrated the apartment walls, lingering inside the room for a brief moment as if hesitant. But soon, it shifted focus once more, sweeping its gaze toward...
The center of the Hyuga clan compound, inside the estate of Hizashi Hyuga, who currently held the nominal title of "Hyuga Tennin" for the branch family.
Meanwhile, back on the other side, in the center of the Land of Rain, at the heart of the massive basin battlefield.
Upon sensing that the massive gaze cast down from the high heavens had departed, the wound on Hyuga Yu's heart began to mend at a pace visible to the naked eye. The restored, gemstone-like green heart appeared slightly dim, but it quickly began to beat once more!
Thump! Thump!
Thump! Thump!
Thump! Thump!
His blood supply rapidly recovered, and Hyuga Yu's blacked-out consciousness snapped back in an instant!
Then, under the horrified gazes of the gathered Hidden Rain and Hidden Stone elites, along with Kitsuchi and Roshi...
The boy who had been lying flat on the ground—who had first neutralized Han in an instant, then produced an 80-centimeter-long Chakra Scalpel to slash himself, stabbing his own body eighty times until he was entirely drenched in blood like a terrifying specter, and finally drove the blade straight into his own heart to commit sudden suicide right before their eyes...
After being dead for a solid minute, he suddenly bolted upright, raising his bare chest from the ground!
He was fucking alive again!
At this moment, everyone present felt a chill rush straight from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads, their hearts nearly leaping out of their throats!
Kitsuchi's face was deathly pale. His lips trembled as he swallowed hard, staring at Hyuga Yu with a look of pure, uncomprehending terror. This sequence of enigmatic actions from Hyuga Yu had pushed his inner dread to the absolute limit!
What does he want to do?
Why did he do that?
制Is he trying to show us that even if our plans succeeded and we beat him to death, he could still resurrect, crawl back up, and fight again? Is he telling me that it's impossible for us to defeat him?
But we've already lost!
Tennin, what the hell are you playing at?!
Right then, Kitsuchi suddenly saw the resurrected Hyuga Yu's expression shift through a rapid sequence of changes: first a look of relief at having escaped death, followed by a countenance as solemn as still water, then a flash of sudden realization, and finally a return to absolute calm. Rolling out of the dirt, Yu scrambled to his feet. He slowly turned his head, fixing his pitch-black, empty eye sockets right onto Kitsuchi. Then, a smile that made Kitsuchi's skin crawl suddenly spread across the guy's face!
And he began walking toward him with slow, deliberate steps!
Just as Kitsuchi was on the verge of a total breakdown, barely holding back a high-pitched, womanly shriek, a clear, steady, and resonant teenage voice echoed through the center of the battlefield, carrying a comforting warmth like a gentle spring breeze:
"Um... excuse me—"
"—"
"You must be Mr. Kitsuchi, the representative for the Hidden Stone's peace talks, correct?"
"Ah, there's no need to be nervous. Please, take a seat. Let's have a chat."
Kitsuchi instantly looked utterly bewildered, completely unable to grasp what was happening. He turned his head around, looking behind him—there were no chairs. There was only a massive, ruined basin stretching ten kilometers in diameter...
Right then, the clear teenage voice rang out once more:
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"Kitsuchi, sit down."
————
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