Upon seeing this set of data, even the Giant Tenseigan's pupil shrank violently in an instant, its entire eye jolting violently from being horrified by the astronomical figure that followed!
Battle Power: 9. This could be understood as Hyūga Yū's current base battle power in normal conditions.
However, indexed retrieved data indicated that the nature of individuals known as "shinobi" leaned toward being glass cannons. Whenever pushed into a desperate corner, they would inevitably erupt with forbidden jutsu or power that their own bodies could barely withstand.
The number in parentheses following the normal battle power represented the absolute limit value derived after cross-referencing and retrieving data on various ninjutsu.
Someone like Uzumaki Kushina possessed a battle power of only 2 on her own. Yet in her Adamantine Sealing Chains state, her battle power could reach 3. If she unsealed the Nine-Tails at all costs to borrow its power, her maximum output could reach the peak ninja world value of 14.5. The same logic applied to eye techniques with immense side effects like the Uchiha clan's Mangekyō Sharingan and Susanoo. However, even with terrifyingly extreme things like the Mangekyō Sharingan, Susanoo, or a Complete Tailed Beast form... their upper-limit values would never exceed 20.
Yet what about Hyūga Yū?
1062!
What kind of concept was that?
Within the Tenseigan's judgment logic, such a numerical value could perhaps only be reached by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki—the ancestor of the shinobi world—and her two sons, the Sage of Six Paths and Hamura Ōtsutsuki.
What was going on with this guy? If he went all out regardless of the cost, could he actually erupt with Six Paths-level output?
"Wait... no... is there really no error in this intel?!"
"——No error."
"Give me an explanation!"
"——Based on comprehensive judgment, this individual possesses the conditions to temporarily block the Giant Tenseigan's signal. Through reverse extrapolation, it is deduced that he is capable of bypassing the Ōtsutsuki clan in a short period to seize full authority over the complete Giant Tenseigan on the moon. Furthermore, due to unknown energy interference, the final figure is for reference only..."
The pupil of the Tenseigan twitched slightly. This meant that it was not actually Hyūga Yū's true personal strength. Instead, the data system had projected the battle power of the complete Giant Tenseigan on the moon through Hyūga Yū! Given the grand, majestic power to "reshape the world" possessed by a complete Giant Tenseigan, reaching such a figure was not surprising at all.
In that case, as long as it continued to plunder Byakugan to acquire its third ability, it would be able to sever the resonance connection between Hyūga Yū and the Giant Tenseigan on the moon. A mere weakling with a battle power of 9 wouldn't even last a single move against it!
"So that's how it is. This guy... is indeed a nuisance. Then, synthesize all information and design my next action plan!"
"——Bypass Konoha's Hokage Rock and sweep away all other obstacles. Prioritize plundering Byakugan to increase the degree of resonance, gather all Byakugan to boost battle power once more, and subsequently..."
Endless streams of data flashed through the center of the Tenseigan's pupil. Ultimately, its eye snapped wide open!
However, this time, its line of sight directly skipped past the direction of the Hokage Rock—the single target that attracted it the most!
In an instant, its vision expanded 120 kilometers outward, looking down at everything within that radius from a God's-eye perspective. Then, its focused vision settled outside the venue, landing upon the Konoha ninja force that was setting up defensive fortifications outside the Hyūga compound, standing ready in full combat alert.
Visibly to the naked eye, this particular area became noticeably brighter—as though... a sun or moon had broken through the dark clouds to shine its light directly upon this spot. Even the ambient air temperature within this zone rose directly by 3°C!
At the exact same time, atop Konoha's Hokage Rock.
Hyūga Yū sat cross-legged. A flock of chirping sparrows hopped all over his body, yet he remained completely oblivious to them, as though his entire being had transformed into an emotionless utility pole, blending seamlessly with his surroundings.
Right at that moment, he moved!
Hyūga Yū slowly opened his eyes, revealing cyan-white pupils that refracted multicolored specks of light like gemstones. A ring of platinum-white eye shadow suddenly materialized, imprinting itself around the corners of his eyes. The surrounding air trembled subtly, as if some peculiar phenomenon was generating with Hyūga Yū at its center. Yet this change occurred noiselessly and with delicate precision, failing to startle even the few birds resting on his shoulders, arms, and thighs.
Hyūga Yū gently raised his palm, and a sparrow affectionately hopped onto his index finger, tilting its head to look at him with curiosity. It seemed confused as to why this stone—which gave it such a pleasant feeling—had suddenly started moving.
Hyūga Yū raised his other hand, extending an index finger to tenderly stroke the bird's head, rubbing against the fine downy feathers atop it. The sparrow seemed to enjoy the gentle touch, letting out a comfortable coo. In the very next instant—whoosh~
A gentle breeze blew past. Hyūga Yū lowered his head slightly, meeting the bird's gaze. His vision zoomed in further and further through its pitch-black pupils!
It felt as though an entire universe was emerging inside the bird's eye. The moment the pad of Hyūga Yū's right index finger touched the sparrow's head, the entire world seemed to freeze!
At a corner of Hyūga Yū's vision—which was split into seven distinct views—an additional perspective suddenly joined: the perspective belonging to the sparrow. Through this viewpoint, Hyūga Yū could see himself through the bird's eyes.
In another flash of lightning speed, the universe within the bird's eye seemed to flicker!
Bzz, bzz!
Its subcutaneous tissue, muscles, muscle fibers, membranes, bones, meridians, and brain all lit up brightly at this exact instant!
Strangely, the sparrow's body suddenly stiffened. It fell from Hyūga Yū's finger onto his lap, seemingly having lost consciousness.
Replacing it, hovering right before Hyūga Yū's index finger, was a small, pale-yellow flame that flickered dynamically in sync with his thoughts.
Extracting natural energy from within the sparrow's body, fusing it with Hyūga Yū's own life energy and spiritual energy, and ultimately synthesizing this unique Senjutsu chakra.
Granted, the amount of natural energy contained inside a sparrow was minuscule. Even borrowing its entire vitality would not offer any effective assistance to Hyūga Yū. However, the process itself was incredibly fascinating.
As the range of Hyūga Yū's "hyper-perception" expanded to approach the qualitative threshold of 20 kilometers, he obtained his first special ability derived from his body cells fusing with natural energy: [Life Borrowing].
Through the Grand View World, Hyūga Yū understood that natural energy actually existed within all things. Serving as one of the underlying logics of life, it existed inside all living creatures and even objects deemed "inanimate" in human eyes, truly existing in the form of "vitality."
Among these, the portion that leaked outward was exceptionally rare. Consequently, ordinary people could hardly sense the presence of natural energy in the atmosphere, making people born with "Senjutsu talent"—who could inherently perceive natural energy—even rarer.
The vast majority of people could only clearly sense this bizarre energy through special means within the Three Great Sage Regions—where human tracks were scarce and vitality flourished abundantly—or inside certain peculiar locations.
The Senjutsu of the Three Great Sage Regions functioned by absorbing this thin natural energy spontaneously emitted into the atmosphere by countless living organisms. Only then could they fuse Senjutsu chakra and become a "Sage," acquiring various incredible Sage Techniques.
In reality, however, far more natural energy resided directly within nature itself, simply operating as a fundamental component of living organisms' underlying logic. It possessed an inherent lock bestowed by the operating logic of the "Grand View" world, forming individual, vibrant entities.
Viewed from this perspective, the Ōtsutsuki clan's Divine Tree technology was designed precisely to break through this logical seal of the "Grand View" world. It bypassed the individual existence locks of the planet itself and all living things upon it to directly drain their vitality, refining that massive life force into "pills" or "Chakra Fruits" to empower individual evolution!
By using a planet's vitality as a furnace, an individual could achieve ultimate evolution!
It was precisely for this reason that any planet planted with a Divine Tree by the Ōtsutsuki clan would ultimately be reduced to a barren, lifeless "dead star."
And now, just as the Great Toad Sage had noted, Hyūga Yū—who had mistakenly strayed into the Grand View World, experienced a brush with life and death, and unexpectedly seen through "samsara"—seemed to have gained a strange ability. Or rather, he had become an entity "recognized" by the planet.
He completely bypassed the step where the Ōtsutsuki still required Divine Tree technology to extract natural energy from vitality. Now, within the range of his "hyper-perception," he could directly borrow the natural energy existing within the vitality of all things!
Of course, since it was borrowing, it naturally had to be repaid. It was just that Hyūga Yū was temporarily unclear on how he was supposed to repay it.
He did not sense the existence of a so-called "will of the planet," nor was there any person or creature forcing him to do anything. Yet vaguely, Hyūga Yū had a premonition—borrowing too much vitality did not seem to be a good thing.
Judging by this ability he had acquired, this might have been the true root of the legendary "God of Shinobi," Hashirama Senju's power!
Hashirama Senju was not particularly strong in his youth, standing on roughly equal footing with Madara Uchiha before the latter awakened the Sharingan. Furthermore, the Senju clan was not renowned for massive chakra reserves. Even after awakening the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, Wood Release shouldn't have been that absurdly powerful at the very beginning.
While Wood Release could absorb chakra to sustain battle endurance, it could not expand the user's chakra capacity, after all.
Where, then, did Hashirama Senju's terrifying chakra capacity come from?
Why did his growth rate outpace Madara Uchiha—who possessed the natural growth cheat of the Sharingan—so dramatically?
Did his body truly possess that exaggerated "hand-seal-free self-healing" ability Madara spoke of right from the very start?
After acquiring this miraculous ability of [Life Borrowing], Hyūga Yū gradually figured out the oddities behind it.
According to previous deductions, Hashirama Senju—or rather, the reincarnated Asura—must have reincarnated continuously under the arrangement of the Sage of Six Paths, saw through the "samsara" mentioned by the Great Toad Sage, and ultimately obtained this [Life Borrowing] power.
Yet the reincarnated Hashirama Senju was unaware of this. Coincidentally, however, he had awakened Wood Release, which possessed the property of [Chakra Absorption].
When the chakra-absorbing trait of Wood Release combined with the trait of [Life Borrowing], it allowed him not only to absorb chakra, but also to indiscriminately drain the vitality of surrounding external objects across a wide area.
Throughout the hundreds of battles Hashirama Senju fought during the Warring States Period, he continuously borrowed the "vitality" of those objects crushed or drained of chakra by his Wood Release. Unconsciously, he caused the natural energy within to fuse with his own cells. As this process continued, the vitality of the cells in his body grew increasingly powerful. His adaptability and perception toward natural energy grew alongside it, making his physical constitution more and more exaggerated.
Ultimately, despite zero indication that Hashirama Senju had ever made contact with the Three Great Sage Regions, he spontaneously mastered Sage Mode.
Furthermore, with only half the bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths, he not only unlocked the Sage Body, but also acquired a constitution far more exaggerated than a normal Sage Body (such as Naruto Uzumaki's).
Yet such a man—whose vitality was so terrifyingly abundant that any injury would completely heal after a single night's sleep—suddenly died shortly after his final battle with Madara Uchiha during his prime.
Even after his death, his cellular vitality remained terrifyingly exaggerated!
Aside from the influence of the Kekkei Genkai Disease Hyūga Yū had deduced earlier, perhaps... it was also related to him borrowing too much vitality that did not belong to him?
Hyūga Yū's eyes flickered slightly as thoughts spun rapidly in his mind. Ultimately, he shook his head and flicked his finger, sending the small, pale-yellow flame flying back into the unconscious sparrow on his lap.
Unaware of what had just transpired, the sparrow simply felt as though it had enjoyed a wonderfully comfortable nap. Twisting its neck and shaking its wings, it hopped off Hyūga Yū's thigh and took flight, gliding away into the distance.
By now, Hyūga Yū's blueprint for his own self-improvement route was crystal clear. Since he already possessed a clear path to ascend toward the Six Paths level, there was no need for him to recklessly experiment with such profound, mystical methods of borrowing life. Even if doing so could immediately solve his current physical issues and gradually elevate his body strength to Hashirama Senju's terrifying level, the underlying principles, costs, and origins remained unknown. It was impossible to determine whether power obtained through this method carried hidden risks.
Hyūga Yū did not lack power right now—or rather, he did not lack paths to gain power.
Prior to the Fourth Shinobi World War version update, he was the strongest!
Whether it was the lunar Ōtsutsuki descending upon the world, the Giant Tenseigan causing chaos in Konoha Village, or Kara beginning to show its traces in the Land of Lightning... Hyūga Yū had never regarded these defective products as true opponents.
Still, now that the issue had already arisen, regardless, it needed to be dealt with cleanly and swiftly!
At this thought, Hyūga Yū raised his eyes slightly, his calm gaze landing upon Konoha Village below the Hokage Rock.
Looking out at this moment, wild winds howled across Konoha, dark clouds swirled above, and a giant orb resembling a full moon hung high in the sky, as if piercing through the void!
Centering around the Hyūga compound, massive numbers of ninja took to the streets. Under their guidance, Konoha villagers carried large bundles and bags, rushing toward the shelters near the Hokage Rock like an army of ants moving house.
Further away, squads of elite ninja who had just returned from the Third Shinobi World War battlefields formed units. Instead of heading straight toward the chaotic Hyūga compound, they redirected their course, gathering at the Forest of Death on the northeastern side of Konoha.
Right at the center of this increasingly chaotic, battle-ready Konoha Village, over a hundred elite ninja stood in the streets of the Hyūga compound, confronting that massive, purple eye-shaped entity. They waited anxiously, their hands tightly gripping their kunai.
The scene resembled a live-action Tokusatsu set, where humans confronted an eyeball monster floating in midair.
With a single glance, Hyūga Yū noticed that the embryonic purple Giant Tenseigan hovering in the center of the Hyūga compound... shifted its gaze slightly right at that moment. The instant Hyūga Yū opened his eyes and looked back, clearly sensing the violent, greedy, and unabashedly violent gaze directed at him from that eyeball, it...
Actually turned its gaze away?
As if... it didn't dare to make direct eye contact with Hyūga Yū?
"Heh." Hyūga Yū let out a soft laugh. Originally, he had intended to temporarily pause his Senjutsu training to deal with it immediately. To his surprise, it had chickened out first.
Raising an eyebrow, he pondered for a moment before suddenly realizing another possibility. Shifting his gaze toward the crowd confronting the Tenseigan, he quickly locked onto a slightly short figure!
Then, Hyūga Yū slowly stood up and took a deep breath. Sensing his movement, the sparrows perched on him finally realized that the surface beneath them was actually a living human, fluttering their wings and taking flight one after another.
Right within Hyūga Yū's vision, the gray border lines were continuously receding and dissolving. Vibrant color swallowed the monochrome, and the 20-kilometer boundary tightened rapidly.
Starting from the final 1.5 kilometers left, it accelerated—1.2!
1.0!
0.8!
0.6!
0.4!
It was as if from this moment onward, gray gloom would no longer exist in his eyes, and the entire world would burst into vivid life through Hyūga Yū's gaze!
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