As the illusion spread, more than a dozen members of the Hyuga branch family leapt down from the stands. One of them cradled the sleeping Hanabi in her arms. They quickly formed a defensive circle around Hinata.
"Lady Hinata! Something's wrong!" one of them shouted. "Lord Hiashi has ordered us to escort you and Lady Hanabi home immediately!"
For the Hyuga clan, protecting and preserving the Byakugan was their sacred duty. Every branch family member present was willing to die if needed — except for Hinata and Hanabi. They were the future of the clan, the seeds that must never be lost.
Before Hinata could even respond, a female branch member stepped forward, scooped her up by the waist, and leapt away at full speed. The remaining shinobi retrieved her three puppets and every item she had brought. Not a single belonging of Hinata's was left behind.
…
Back at the Hyuga compound, Hinata's wounds were treated, and bandages wrapped carefully around her arms.
Hanabi soon awoke, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"Sister? Why are we home? What happened?"
Hinata smiled softly, brushing a hand through Hanabi's hair.
"There was an attack. It's dangerous outside right now, so we're staying here."
With nothing else to do, Hanabi sat quietly beside her sister, gazing blankly out the window.
Hinata, meanwhile, continued eating slowly, her Byakugan activated as she watched the world outside. In that quiet moment, she began to understand the true nature of the Hyuga clan.
The branch family was bound by the Caged Bird Seal, enslaved by the main family. But the main family, too, was shackled — trapped by strict family rules and responsibilities.
Both were prisoners in their own way.
Neither side was free.
Unless something drastic changes, Hinata thought, this cycle will continue forever.
Perhaps one accident wouldn't be enough.
Perhaps it would take several.
…
The battle outside lasted for hours. Explosions echoed in the distance, yet the Hyuga compound remained untouched. Their defense was impeccable, the invaders unable to breach their walls.
By nightfall, the chaos had subsided. The enemy retreated, and Konoha's forces began restoring order.
Then came the devastating news.
The Third Hokage was dead.
The Kazekage had been Orochimaru in disguise.
Before fleeing, Orochimaru had marked Sasuke with a Cursed Seal, and more details of the incident were still being gathered.
Hinata sat silently, absorbing the information.
"Orochimaru…"
Her thoughts drifted back to the Forest of Death, to the eerie "genin" who had toyed with them all. So that was him — the Snake Sannin himself, the Third Hokage's own student.
No wonder he had survived despite her attack.
A snake could always shed its skin.
The "corpse" she had left behind had probably been nothing but that — a discarded shell.
"An enemy that can't be killed," Hinata murmured, her eyes narrowing. "That's going to be… troublesome."
Immortality. It was terrifying — but not impossible.
If such enemies existed in this world, she had to find a way to counter them. Running away wasn't an option.
"If I can't deal with it now," she whispered to herself, "it'll only come back stronger next time."
No matter how powerful the foe, if they could be killed, they weren't truly frightening.
What was terrifying was an opponent who was both strong and unkillable.
That was true despair.
And Hinata intended to find a way to break it.
…
Konoha's recovery was swift. Within a day, the village had resumed near-normal operations. The fallen were honored, and the Third Hokage's funeral was held soon after.
Hinata had seen countless deaths in her previous life, so her emotions remained calmer than most. She stood silently among the mourners, the rain mingling with her breath.
From afar, she saw Naruto, standing beside the Hokage's young grandson. She couldn't tell if the water on their cheeks was rain or tears.
The dead are gone, she thought quietly. The living must keep moving forward.
And so Konoha did.
Because of Hinata, Neji pushed himself even harder in training, driving both Rock Lee and Tenten to follow his lead.
Because of Hinata, Sasuke trained with a near-manic obsession — which in turn spurred Naruto to chase after him, refusing to fall behind.
Even Sakura, unable to match their pace, found herself awed. She began bringing them meals during breaks and training quietly on her own whenever she could.
Kiba and Shino, too, threw themselves into practice — Team 8's synergy growing stronger by the day.
The only ones untouched by the wave of motivation were the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. With their families' inherited techniques and relaxed attitudes, they preferred to progress at their own pace.
…
Team 8 continued their usual missions. Kiba and Shino took the lead, while Hinata often remained behind, focusing on personal training — eating, meditating, and refining her techniques. Occasionally, the three would spar together.
Kiba, having suffered numerous "educational defeats," eventually learned his lesson. Though he had protested at first, repeated beatings from Hinata had made him obedient and humble.
Shino, ever the quiet observer, offered no complaints.
"So what if it's routine?" Kiba once muttered, rubbing a sore shoulder. "If getting beaten makes me stronger… then I'll take it."
…
Amid her regular training, Hinata added something new — a personal elective: sealing techniques.
She sought out her father, consulted with Kurenai-sensei, and even visited Shikamaru, asking them all the same question:
"What should one do against an enemy that cannot be killed?"
Every person she asked gave roughly the same response — disbelief, curiosity, and uncertainty.
"How could anyone in this world be truly unkillable?" they said.
Yet Hinata didn't stop asking. She pressed for details, for theories, for possibilities. And in time, each of them gave her their answers.
Her father's advice had been straightforward—brutal, even.
"Beat him. Beat him to death. And if he won't die, then beat him until he weakens. When he's too weak to fight back, break him into pieces and seal each part in a different place."
Hiashi's approach was clear: if you couldn't kill the enemy, you destroyed them completely.
Kurenai-sensei, on the other hand, had spoken of the spirit.
"Even if someone's body can't be killed, their spirit can still be destroyed. A soul is far more delicate than flesh. Break it with genjutsu, or erase it completely—and that person might as well be dead."
Then there was Shikamaru, whose explanation had been the simplest and most practical.
"If killing doesn't work, then seal them. That's the only option left."
Each opinion struck a different chord in Hinata's mind—but it was Shikamaru's calm logic that truly stayed with her. His words inspired her decision to study sealing techniques as an elective.
She refused to ever again face an immortal opponent like Orochimaru and feel helpless.
…
Hinata enjoyed testing her intellect against hypothetical problems. She would imagine an enemy—an impossible one—and then methodically devise a way to defeat it.
With her current position in the Hyuga main family, resources were no obstacle. Whatever she needed—scrolls, instructors, equipment—was provided without question. Unless something had been destroyed or simply didn't exist, Hinata could have it.
From basic to intermediate, and from advanced to master level, every sealing technique available in Konoha was laid out before her, waiting to be learned.
The tadpole-script seals were arcane and complex—a system unlike any other form of ninjutsu. Deciphering them was like learning a new language entirely.
Hinata devoted herself to it with quiet intensity. She broke down each symbol, each phrase, ensuring she understood not just their function but the underlying principle behind them.
If I only memorize without comprehension, she thought, then all of this would be meaningless.
Sealing, like taijutsu, required patience and discipline. There were no shortcuts—only progress built step by step, seal by seal.
…
A week after the Chunin Exams, Hinata's long-awaited home construction project was finally nearing completion.
Although only a week had passed in the real world, the home space's unique ten-to-one time dilation gave her far more time to refine every detail inside.
When everything was ready, Hinata meticulously inspected every corner of the domain, comparing it with the blueprint. Not a single deviation.
Confident, she began the final phase.
Ding!
"You expand your home using self-produced materials! Upon completion, you will be rewarded with one of the Tenseigan's abilities: Chakra Extraction!"
A new memory dawned on her immediately.
Chakra extraction—broadly speaking—was the ability to absorb chakra from anything that contained it, the most common example being ninjutsu.
If her understanding was correct, Hinata could now absorb an opponent's technique and reproduce it in its original form.
Of course, there were limitations. Without the actual Tenseigan, she couldn't extract chakra from afar—only through direct contact. Moreover, the power she could absorb was restricted by both the strength of the jutsu and her own tolerance.
"So strong…" Hinata whispered, awestruck.
Ding!
Then came another prompt.
"Perfect score achieved! Bonus reward: Choose one of the following—Ash Bones, Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan, or Ten-Tails Chakra."
The turntable began to spin automatically. It whirred, slowed, and stopped—landing on Ten-Tails Chakra.
Before Hinata could react, her surroundings distorted. Her vision blurred. She was forcibly pulled from her home space's dimension, as though some external power had yanked her out.
When she awoke, her head throbbed violently. A ringing filled her ears, and her body convulsed in pain.
Her limbs swelled unnaturally; her body ballooned grotesquely, her head, arms, and legs growing large and heavy. The Ten-Tails Chakra was forcibly reconstructing her body from within—modifying her cells, her bones, her very essence.
It felt endless.
Only after what seemed like an eternity did the pain finally recede.
Hinata gasped softly, drenched in sweat.
"I… I thought I was going to die!"
She lay there for a long time, trembling as she caught her breath. When she finally stood, she stared down at herself in stunned disbelief.
A layer of pure white chakra covered her skin, forming a flowing, ethereal garment. On the back, nine jet-black tomoe shimmered faintly—a simple but haunting pattern.
"So strong…" she murmured. Words failed her; only awe remained.
Clenching her fist, Hinata felt an overwhelming force pulse through her veins. It wasn't her chakra—it was something vast, ancient, and alive. The Ten-Tails' essence.
Even without its husk, the chakra itself was a fragment of the divine beast—raw power incarnate.
When she tried to suppress it, the chakra-clothing faded away, retreating into her core. All of it condensed into her lower abdomen, swirling like a storm in hibernation.
She concentrated again, and the Ten-Tails' chakra flared outward, enveloping her once more, reforming the radiant clothes.
"This form amplifies my power exponentially," she realized aloud. "The stronger my foundation, the greater the amplification."
Hinata's mind sharpened. She needed to train—harder than ever before—to fully harness this strength.
…
Curiosity led her back into her home space.
Ding!
"Expand your home using self-produced materials! Upon completion, you will be rewarded with one of the abilities of the Tenseigan: Gravity and Repulsion!"
Her eyes widened as the territory expanded tenfold—from one hundred thousand square meters to a million.
She opened the construction blueprints and was momentarily speechless. The new plans weren't for a simple home—they resembled an entire kingdom.
Standing atop the watchtower, Hinata gazed across the vast landscape. The remaining 900,000 square meters were nothing but untamed wilderness—dense weeds, untapped earth. But in her mind, she could already see the future layout: training fields, sealing chambers, cultivation gardens, and sanctuaries of silence.
Each space would serve a purpose. Each step, a design for growth.
To gain such power… all the effort and pain were worth it.
Every bruise, every sleepless night—it was a small price compared to the gift she had been given.
She knew how rare this opportunity was.