Konoha Year 60, Late MarchNinja Academy Graduation Season
Time flew. Years slipped by like a fleeting breeze.
In the blink of an eye, childhood had come to an end.
The most exceptional generation of students was finally stepping into a new chapter—their graduation from the Ninja Academy.
"Izanami-kun, wake up. Today's the graduation assessment."
For once, Izanami had overslept.
Lost in a rare dream, he was gently pulled back to reality by a soft, familiar voice.The owner of the voice stood right beside him, and yet, despite her presence, he remained completely unguarded—a testament to his unwavering trust in her.
As he opened his eyes, his blurred vision slowly focused on a delicate silhouette.
A small, refined face—no longer that of a child—came into view.
Long, flowing black hair cascaded down to her waist like strands of silk. Her skin, visible beneath a white windbreaker and the black mesh lining underneath, was porcelain fair.
Her Byakugan, unlike that of others in the Hyuga Clan, shimmered faintly with a touch of soft violet, giving her eyes the clarity and allure of polished gems.
Her lips, a subtle shade of cherry blossom pink, curved ever so slightly in a gentle smile. With her hands folded behind her back, she leaned closer, gazing down at the boy who had just woken up.
For a few heartbeats, Izanami stared at her in a daze. It felt like just yesterday when this same girl had a chubby, innocent face.
But then his gaze subtly shifted downward, and a mischievous grin curled his lips.
"…Hinata, did you grow again?"
"Ah—!"
Hinata let out a surprised cry, finally realizing the awkward angle she was leaning in from. Flushed with embarrassment, she tugged her windbreaker's zipper all the way up and turned away with hurried steps.
"I… I-Izanami-kun, go wash up. I brought you breakfast!"
And with that, she fled the room, her voice still trembling slightly.
Chuckling to himself, Izanami rose from bed with a long stretch, then headed into the en-suite bathroom to freshen up.
As he brushed his teeth, he glanced into the mirror.
Six years had passed, and the boy who once had a soft, round face, black hair, and clear blue eyes had matured into a striking young man. His features had sharpened—sculpted and defined. The slight messiness of his short, black hair gave him a casual charm.
His deep blue eyes, brighter and more intense than Naruto's, shimmered under the light like the ocean's surface.
But then, in the very next moment, something changed.
Those blue eyes suddenly turned white—just like Hinata's Byakugan.Yet unlike the usual transformation, the veins around his temples remained still.
Once, every activation of his Byakugan had caused those veins to bulge prominently.But since the start of the year, that trait had vanished.
He narrowed his eyes slightly—and then, in front of him, a translucent interface appeared. It wasn't reflected in the mirror and was visible only to him.
[Host: Izanami][Talent Entries:]Ōtsutsuki Bloodline (Red)Sage's Eye (Red)Prince of the Byakugan (Red)Six Paths Aptitude (Red)Bloodline Limit: Byakugan (Gold)Chakra Control (Gold)Uzumaki Bloodline (Purple) [+]All-Attribute Physique (Purple) [+]Medical Genius (Blue) [+][Points: 12,391]After six years at the Academy, Izanami's panel had become dazzling.
In addition to his starting entry, Ōtsutsuki Bloodline (Red), he had acquired three more red-tier talents.Sage's Eye (Red), derived from Uchiha Sasuke's lineage.Prince of the Byakugan (Red), which awakened from his connection with Hinata two years ago and had since evolved through fusion.And Six Paths Aptitude (Red), a pinnacle entry he had refined and awakened on his own.While others struggled to develop even basic aptitude—or had no talents at all—Izanami stood at the summit with four red entries, the highest known to date.
Even Naruto, the destined child bearing Asura's chakra, half of the Nine-Tails, and the Uzumaki lineage, couldn't compare to the sheer quality of Izanami's foundation.
And yet, if one looked closely at the panel, they would notice something peculiar.
Nearly five years had passed since Izanami first obtained Sage's Eye (Red)—a terrifyingly long time to harbor such a power, and still be growing.
Despite everything, Izanami's talent list still hadn't unlocked Bloodline Limit: Sharingan (Purple) or Uchiha Bloodline (Purple).
The reason was obvious—Bloodline Limit: Byakugan (Gold).
In late June of Konoha Year 58, Izanami had received a delayed birthday gift: a red-tier talent awakened through his bond with Hinata. After fusing it, the new entry had been renamed Prince of the Byakugan (Red). In the nearly two years since, his chakra reserves had grown at a staggering rate, seemingly expanding every month.
Izanami wasn't entirely sure how immense the chakra reserves of a Sage Body truly were, but he had a sense. Had Naruto not suffered from malnutrition during childhood, or lacked half of Kurama's chakra, then even with his own Sage Body, his chakra would still have been dwarfed by Izanami's.
And among that vast ocean of chakra was an abundance of Yin Release.
If his Yin chakra could be measured numerically, it would have long surpassed the threshold needed to awaken the Sharingan—or even evolve it into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Yet... it hadn't.
No tomoe. No swirl of crimson in his irises.
The Yin Release chakra secreted by his brain never reached his optic nerves. Instead, it was devoured—consumed entirely—by the Byakugan.
The result?
The Byakugan had absorbed that spiritual power, and evolved.
Sometime during Konoha Year 59, his Byakugan had subtly shifted from its faint purple hue to a striking gold.
Since fusing Prince of the Byakugan, his ocular range had begun to evolve in periodic leaps. Now, his field of vision extended up to a staggering eighty kilometers—in all directions.
A complete 360-degree omnidirectional view. X-ray precision. Real-time perception.
This range far exceeded the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, the most powerful sensory technique of the once-great Uzumaki Clan. Without doubt, Izanami's sensory prowess had reached a level unrivaled in this era.
Nearly a full year had passed since that last evolution.
And now…
"Soon."
He rinsed his mouth, spat into the basin, and dabbed his lips with a folded handkerchief. Then, instinctively, his hand rose to the corner of his right eye as he stared into the mirror.
There it was—the Byakugan, still with that soft violet gleam.
"I can feel it…" he murmured. "The first quickening is near."
Compared to Ōtsutsuki Toneri, Izanami's configuration was overwhelmingly superior.
Toneri had reached his peak around the age of nineteen, having refined the Ōtsutsuki Bloodline and the Sage Body to their limits. That was how he managed to awaken the Tenseigan—the Reincarnation Eye—in just a few days after transplanting the Hyuga sisters' Byakugan.
But that scenario was cinematic fantasy. In reality, neither Toneri nor Izanami had yet realized their full potential.
Even with a direct transplant of Hinata's or Hanabi's Byakugan, neither would be able to evolve the Tenseigan in mere days.
However—if they both received transplants at the same time, there was no doubt in Izanami's mind: he would reach the Reincarnation Eye first.
His ace? Sage's Eye (Red).
Together with Prince of the Byakugan, he wasn't running one cheat—he had two.
At only twelve years old, he stood on the precipice of awakening the most divine ocular technique in existence.
Even Uchiha Itachi, who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at eleven, paled in comparison.
What Izanami carried within him wasn't just legacy.
It was inevitability.
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