24 The New Beginning After The Timeskip
Sorry I didn't post for a few days. I lost some motivation after falling off the Power Stone ranking once again on Monday from the 7th to 14th place just because I don't post 500 words chapters every single day, but instead post 3000 words chapters every other day. And it is not only the quantity part, but the quality as well. Just look at the quality of the stories that are always ranked above this one on this site. Not just the quality of English but every other possible objective metric.
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If you want me to write more, just give this story more Power Stones. Anyways, from the next week, I'll try to post 4 chapters per week and see if something changes. It just makes me feel really bad what kind of "stories" get attention here, well not all honestly, but at least objectively 95% of them.
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More than two years passed by inside the Konohagakure without anything major happening. It turned out that nothing disastrous took place, like the invasion of other big villages, as someone predicted. Apparently, there were now footprints of a really mysterious and dangerous organization all around the continent. So, despite Konoha being weakened, they dodged the bullet this time, due to apprehension that all of the big ninja villages shared for that organization and their scary goals.
The night already swallowed the entirety of Konoha. However, a little further from the village itself, in the endless forest, existed a secret laboratory that was now fully litten up due to a fateful surgery that was about to happen there, or better said surgery to be performed by Neji on his own body.
Hundreds of different test tubes, microplates, Petri dishes, and other kinds of labware, were placed all around. Dozens of thick books, papers, and notes, were scattered on shelves and tables, and various weird high-end pieces of equipment and machinery occupied the central position. There at the center of the room was even a low-level monitor of a computer. The room overall gave a very serious impression. Neji was currently there, his heart beating fast, so he was calming himself. He was now taller and had a bigger frame than before, though his hair and clothes remained the same.
The secret path to this laboratory was constructed by Neji from the small forest inside the Konoha walls, it then led to this endless forest which was outside of the village gates. It was located underground, and had a bunch of secret mechanisms, both from the engineering and from the fuinjutsu side, and could only be accessed by him. Regarding that equipment, it was all secretly obtained from Orochimaru, that is from his minions inside the Konoha, from their previous deal. He then carefully moved it all there. So, they didn't know the location of this room, and no one did.
Neji was also stunned by the current technological level of this world, after he saw all of that equipment for the first time, as it had all those high-end labware, monitors, and even some low-level computers. However, he later wrote it off as people of this world having higher IQs, due to spiritual energy, and then they created those things, however, as they were still constant wars everywhere, due to the existence of chakra, societies didn't develop as a whole like in his past life.
Neji could already completely shut down all of his tenketsu and suppress all of his chakra inside of his body, with his Gentle Fist, therefore he never gets sensed by the Konoha's large Sensing Barrier. Konoha's Barrier Team was in charge of maintaining that detection barrier surrounding Konoha, detecting intruders, and intercepting them. The team was led by members of the Yamanaka Clan.
Neji also always tracked his surrounding which Byakugan the moment he went in and out of it. He also rarely came here, only when doing some kind of human experiments and tests, on others, or experiments and tests on himself. The rest of the research was always done back inside his room at the Hyuga compound. All of his cellular experiments were also done in this place in vitro. Cells were also stored and cultivated inside this secret laboratory. It had even some prison rooms, for those kidnapped guinea subjects, although now all of them were empty as they served their purpose already. Overall it was a small room with just basic functions and necessities, but it served him well.
To obtain those experiment subjects, Neji prayed on shinobi practicing inside the Konoha training grounds, especially those covered by that small forest and trees inside the Konoha gates. He quickly jumped, immobilized them, and then took them here with him. He also kidnapped two Hyuga branch members, from the same forest, though he had to wait a while longer for an opportunity to present itself. However, he was never greedy, he kept only five people in total. Some of them died from his experiments, while the others were disposed of now that they have fulfilled their purpose.
Neji already mastered the true microscope vision, required to see the cells themselves and mess with them, from practicing that soul technique, a long time ago. During the past two years, he researched, planned, verified, and practiced things regarding that future cell injection surgery.
Tonight was the day when he finally put all of that previous practice and preparation into use. He's about to break free from his cage. A small mission break was finally approved by Tsunade after he had done many dangerous missions during the past two years. Hyuga clan never cared about his movements, to begin with, and Might Guy is also not in the village at this time. He didn't want to deal with him later due to a myriad of reasons. So, tonight was that life-changing moment for him.
Neji sighed in complete tranquility, after calming himself down. He then resolutely hooked himself up to the prepared body-measuring equipment which connected all the way to that monitor. He lay in the medical bed at the center of the room. On the table near were placed many cell culture tubes. Neji waited for this moment for more than sixteen years, so, he was fully prepared for this moment.
At this time, Neji went over the procedure inside his head again to make sure he doesn't slip next. The procedure was that he would pick those freshly cultivated Hashirama Senju's cells from those numerous big tubes on that large table with his own micro chakra scalpel/cell injection tool made out of all of his chakra. The chakra thread was so small that it could be only seen and controlled with his Byakugan eyes and monster chakra control. A single cell was many times smaller than a string of hair for example. That whole operation would not be visible to any other people, and he thinks could be performed by only him inside the whole Ninja World, at least in this way specifically.
The micro chakra thread, made of Neji's blue chakra, would go inside the tissue, without affecting or hurting anything nearby, just like an ordinary chakra scalpel would. However inside, it was also made like an injection tube, holding many cells in isolation with cells, ready to be administered inside Neji's various parts of the bodily tissue. In this situation, it was required to be administered to the entirety of Neji's organism in various amounts. After all, hoping to change his overall macro DNA structure, and get his body to awaken Tenseigan, certainly required a huge amount of cells.
But, it must be done safely, after all, injecting too many foreign cells could result in a certain death, and that's why all those experiments and tests. Neji now knew how much was the limit. That experiment on Hyuga branch members was especially helpful as they could take much more cells than those ordinary Konoha chunin shinobi he also abducted. It showed that Hyuga really had a superior genetical makeup than the rest of the population, or they have some kind of opposing genetic factors which balanced those Senju cells more effectively and allowed for more of them.
Neji could probably take safely even more Senju cells than those two ordinary Hyuga branch members previously could, before messing his whole organism up, as his genetic makeup was certainly better than theirs. After all, he was a Hyuga big-time genius. However, just to be completely safe, Neji decides to not do that. If that does fail to produce Tenseigan then he would simply back off for now and try to search for another method. His life was the most important.
If everything goes well with this procedure, not just Tenseigan due to more of Otsutsuki genetic factors, Neji could even get considerably more chakra, something that he previously lacked a bit.
Chakra is created when two more primal energies, known collectively as one's "stamina", are molded together. Physical energy is collected from each of the body's cells. Therefore, Neji implanting all those cells, especially from Hashiarama Senju himself, could give him really bigger pool of chakra.
There is also spiritual energy derived from the mind's consciousness on which Neji worked before. These two energies becoming more powerful will in turn make the created chakra more powerful.
'Time to start now! This is the turning point of my life!', Neji murmured and exerted his Byakugan, while performing his chakra control operational micro tool, 'If this goes well, in the future, something like this could be used to change my DNA composition too, just like a personal CRISPR!', Though that would only happen after his Byakugan achieves the level of DNA internal vision, which is still a few years away from him. But thanks to that soul exercise of Dan Kato, he was getting closer.
'The eleven organ systems of the body, it's time to change you: The integumentary system, skeletal system, muscular system, lymphatic system, respiratory system, digestive system, nervous system, endocrine system, cardiovascular system, urinary system, reproductive system...', Neji concentrated.
***
The Tenseigan was one of the legendary dojutsu of the Otsutsuki Clan, rivaling the power of the Rinnegan. The Tenseigan was first awakened by Hamura Otsutsuki, brother of Hagaromo Otsutsuki and son of Kaguya Otsutsuki. It seemed as though Kaguya's chakra was divided evenly between the two sons, Hagaromo possessing the Sharingan, evolving into the Rinnegan, and Hamura having the Byakugan, soon developing into the Tenseigan.
Legends of the fabled eyes emerged within Hamura's time. Still, all factual information regarding the Tenseigan and how it gained its power has been lost to history, similar to the Rinnegan. The Tenseigan is one of the two true Legendary Dojutsu alongside the Rinnegan, with each dojutsu being the key to the power that allowed the twins Hagoromo and Hamura Otsutsuki to fight evenly with and eventually defeat their mother, Kaguya as well as that catastrophic beast, the Ten-Tails.
Tenseigan gave its holders more complete control of gravity than Rinnegan did, and an immediate ability for creation and molding of Truth-Seeking balls, just like that one Ten-Tail jinchuriki and some holders of Sage of Six Paths chakra had. It also allowed for entering a special Tenseigan Chakra Mode, then it also allowed for the combined attacks of those two, Tenseigan Chakra mode, and Truth-Seeking balls, to create majestical attacks like the "Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion", that could slice the Moon in half or "Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion", that break through the Moon's exterior crust. Also many other abilities, like the overall manipulation ability, which Toneri used to control giants made of the Moon's surface, puppets, and even humans, also stealing chakra or reading memories from others. It was all seen from that short time Toneri had it in the original.
Truth-Seeking balls encompassed the power of all five basic chakra natures, and as such, they surpassed both kekkei genkai and kekkei tota. By combining the various natures inside the orbs, it is possible to produce a variety of effects. They are capable of instantly turning anything they touch to dust in a manner similar to Dust Release. They could also be molded in various offensive and defensive shapes, and they could nullify all ninjutsu, making only senjutsu or taijutsu effective against them.
Silver and Gold Reincarnation Explosions are similar in a way that one creates a giant typhoon attack while the other a giant sword beam attack. Both are done by combing Truth Seeking balls and then Tenseigan Chakra Mode. The user of the Silver Explosion clutches and disintegrates one of their Truth Seeking balls, then rotates and shoots that in a way of a tornado. While the user of the Gold Explosion infuses and then breaks one of their Truth Seeking balls with their Tenseigan Chakra, creating a high-powered and sharp laser. One is a long area attack while the other is for precision.
Seven days, that's how long Neji constantly, manually loaded his body with Hashirama's cells, from head to toe. Of course, he needed to do it sporadically due to his Byakugan's possible exhaustion. It couldn't be turned on during the whole time, after all, that's why the procedure took so long to do.
However, there was still no sign of Tenseigan, while looking at the mirror, he was becoming more and more nervous, checking the process, inside his mind, again and again, to see if he missed something important. He thought that maybe his theory regarding Otsutski genes and Tenseigan was wrong from the beginning, maybe the Otsutsuki clan's genes, from the Moon, weren't that similar to Senjus' after all.
Barely any cells were now left in those deep tubes near the table as he was approaching the safety limit he previously determined. The only thing that went according to the plan was the amount of chakra he now had inside of his body, by his own feeling, and his overall body metrics displayed on the monitor in front of him. He was sure that he was really stronger now than before, but that was nothing in comparison to freedom the most.
'Wait! How could I be so stupid!? Of course, I should try that! This is my last chance...', Neji suddenly remembered something and instantly started focusing all of his chakra, to his utmost limits, right toward his two eyes. One second, two seconds, three seconds... ten seconds... It was getting more and more painful and dangerous. However, just around the tenth second, the pain suddenly intensified by a hundredfold. Neji even screamed a bit. His eyes, face, his whole head were hurting.
"Hahahaha, oh God, oh God...", Neji laughed in an intense fashion as he looked at the mirror while his white Byakugan now slowly transformed into a celestial and starry looking, pale blue Tenseigan!
Below those heaven-defying bright eyes were two streams of blood, both from Neji's excitement and the previous chakra overdrive toward his eyes. However, he was still laughing madly feeling like nothing could stop him now and that he could even conquer the whole world! Because, there at his forehead, now wasn't that greeny Curse Mark that plagued him all his life, his forehead was clear!
Neji checked his health monitor once again, still laughing, and then detached all the measuring equipment from him, now standing fully tall in front of the mirror, marveling at those new eyes. When activated, it also retained all of his Byakugan's abilities, so he didn't have to worry about that.
However, he then noticed that as soon as those magical eyes appeared, he started slowly burning out his chakra, so he thought, 'This is not good! In a few hours, I'm going to lose all my chakra!',
'It seems that I got Tenseigan eyes, however, I still don't have enough Otsutsuki DNA to give me the required chakra reserves to operate those eyes to their fullest potential!', Neji thought in pity.
'It seems that I must increase my Otsutsuki-related genes in the future, or at least, get some kind of a large pool of chakra from other sources. Let's try and turn off those beautiful eyes for now!', Neji immediately started controlling his chakra, and tenketsu points around his eye area to try and shut down the chakra inflow toward his eyes. And he succeeded, however, he snorted in anger afterward.
Right after his Tenseigan got shut down, his eyes returned to their usual Byakugan state, and the Curse Mark on his forehead returned as well, 'But at least now, I have a way to break it and kill them! Good things come to those who wait!', Neji knew that both Tenseigan and Rinengan, in their true forms, remained as the user's eyes forever.
However, it seems that he can't use Tenseigan to the fullest, as he lacked more chakra, he could only use it periodically like Sharingan and Byakugan were used. But, it wasn't all that bad, Neji would now surely find a way to improve his chakra reserves further next after he gets his revenge on them.
'I must familiarize myself with its abilities before I go for the revenge. Maybe I don't even go for it if I could just use it for a few seconds before running out of chakra...', Neji thought and swiftly exited.
It was not that Toneri or his Tenseigan was weak back then, it was just that Toneri fought against Naruto right after he awakened those eyes and was not ready to use it, nor he was familiarized with it. Neji doesn't want to make those same mistakes. He'll go back to Konoha once he was prepared.
***
In the end, after checking the situation of his body even further, Neji realized that he didn't awaken the legendary Wood Release this time around, however, he wasn't worried. It was even better for him this way. Danzo in the original also had the Wood Release, however, it didn't bring him much, quite the opposite, it presented quite a danger for his body. While Yamato could use it safely, but, that kind of incomplete ability was now nothing in Neji's eyes. As Yamato was only a small jonin in his opinion after all. As for why he didn't get it, Neji speculated that in order to obtain it, you need to give yourself an even higher amount of Hashirama's cells, than he planned for safety measures.
Somewhere above a random mountain inside the Land of Fire Neji stood with his Tenseigan open, 'This way, I could leave it open for a few hours, but it doesn't bring me any benefits in terms of combat ability. As the only abilities that could be used without the Tenseigan Chakra Mode were that manipulation and reading memories, nothing spectacular. However, this also means that I have a few hours to fight against those main branch bastards without them being able to use the Curse Mark on me! I finally accomplished my first goal in this world, I got freedom!', Neji laughed loudly.
"However, how long I could keep my chakra with the Tenseigan Chakra Mode on, how much of Truth-Seeking Balls could I operate now, and how many Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosions or Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosions could I do, or on what scale or if I could perform them at all, remained to be seen next. Also those two new moves I thought about before! I must master them as well. They're all about chakra control. Tsunade gave me two weeks of vacation. That's enough for me!", Neji smiled preparing to give the whole village, and the world, a big surprise three days later.
"Uh, how long I waited for this! Tenseigan Chakra Mode!", On some kind of natural instinct, Neji's whole body suddenly floated in the air next, in a Godly way, getting coated in azure blue colored flamy kind of chakra. Six magatama markings appeared on his collar, dark markings over his eyebrows and lower eyelids, and a single horn shaped like Kaguya's extended from his forehead. The shroud constantly radiated flickering flames of chakra, and his clothing and hair continuously flew upwards as if he was caught in a strong breeze, 'It seems that every Tenseigan user gets a different chakra mode color!', Neji thought in amazement after inspecting his whole body in the air.
Small Truth-Seeking balls also levitated beside him and he could control them with his thoughts, like the nearby gravity apparently as well, as he moved the nearby rocks with just his thoughts. He could also accelerate them and use as weapons. His body also got much stronger than before, 'But, I feel this could last for only about five minutes at most! Let's try and see how long my chakra would last after I use those two advanced Silver and Gold moves!', Neji thought as he prepared.
Three days later, Neji looked at the devasted scenery in front of him, where previously a large mountain stood, in satisfaction. He could use only two times one of the four advanced moves at the time before his chakra got wholly drained out of his body. Two moves were those two that Toneri used in the original, of course not on such a continent-level scale, and two of his new personal moves he mastered just now in those three days, however, they were not any weaker than Toneri's.
'Two moves are enough to destroy the Hyuga clan! After I recover chakra, it's time to go and kill!',
'With Hashirama's cells, I could get regenerate my chakra in just a few hours!', Neji thought happily. Nearly a quarter of his overall cell count was now of Hashirama's origin, so it was not so surprising.
'I also realized that Toneri was a much bigger prodigy than everyone thought. Those magatama marks on his collarbone from the moment of his birth, that whitish hair and skin colors. He was probably the closest person to real Otsutsuki out to all of us in the Ninja World, even more than Madara and Hashirama. His chakra reserves must've been gigantic. I now can't come close to slicing half of the Moon! His biggest problem was that he was overly cocky and had no combat experience!', Neji recalled how Naruto punked him in the original with cheap shinobi tricks like attacking from the ground. Had Toneri not been so cocky and unaware he wouldn't have lost at all.
