After Haruki mentioned the word "Tenseigan," he carefully watched Tsukasa's reaction.
The Hyuga clan was one of the most prestigious clans in Konoha, right up there with the Uchiha and the Senju, carrying a long and distinguished history.
If the Uchiha had their mysterious stone tablet hidden in the Naka Shrine, then logically, the Hyuga should have had some kind of ancestral record too. But nothing like that was ever shown or mentioned in the original series.
At first, Tsukasa looked slightly caught off guard, then his face shifted into a confused blankness.
Haruki wasn't surprised at all.
The truth was, the Hyuga clan had never awakened the Tenseigan.
For generations, they had been conservative, with no groundbreaking developments in their jutsu arsenal.
The Caged Bird Seal was a major reason.
It kept the branch family suppressed and stunted the clan's overall growth. The main family was small in number, making the birth of geniuses rare.
And even when geniuses appeared in the branch family, the Caged Bird Seal crippled their potential, both physically and mentally. The Byakugan itself, while powerful, had weaknesses.
Under those conditions, the idea of even producing a Kage-level Hyuga was slim, let alone evolving the Byakugan into the Tenseigan.
"What's the Tenseigan?" Tsukasa asked, unable to recall anything like that from Hyuga history.
"It's the evolved form of the Byakugan," Haruki replied without missing a beat.
"...Huh?" Tsukasa blinked. His first instinct was to think Haruki was joking. As the clan head, being told by an outsider that the Byakugan could evolve was absurd.
It was like being told by the milkman that your wife was pregnant before you even knew yourself.
But then, Tsukasa paused. Something about Haruki made him second-guess his doubt. The man left too strong of an impression. His words, however bizarre, had weight.
"Where'd you even hear about this?" Tsukasa finally asked, eyeing Haruki, who only smiled in return.
"From the Great Slug Sage," Haruki said, calm and composed. "You know of the Slug Sage, don't you? It's been around since the time of the Sage of Six Paths."
Tsukasa's eyes widened. He had heard of it. The Slug Sage was the ancient being that ruled over Shikkotsu Forest, one of the three sacred lands, and had lived for thousands of years.
"I went to Shikkotsu Forest once, with Tsunade," Haruki explained. "I met the Slug Sage there, signed a spiritual contract, and learned several secrets that had long been lost to time."
He left the rest unsaid, trailing off just enough to provoke curiosity.
Tsukasa leaned forward before he realized what he was doing. "Why'd you stop talking?"
Then it hit him. He was actually buying this story.
"The Slug Sage told me that, back in its youth, it saw a person who had awakened the Tenseigan. And biologically, it was unmistakably born from the Byakugan. The same chakra roots, the same essence."
Haruki leaned back, watching Tsukasa's expression shift from skeptical to shaken.
"There's no doubt about it," he continued. "The Tenseigan is the natural evolution of the Byakugan."
"Who was that? Was he one of our ancestors?" Tsukasa asked eagerly.
"Don't know," Haruki lied smoothly. He couldn't exactly say it was Kaguya Otsutsuki.
"What a shame," Tsukasa muttered, disappointed. He took a deep breath, trying to process everything. Then he asked, "So what was the point of all this? You just wanted to tell me the Tenseigan exists?"
Haruki raised his cup, took a slow sip of tea, then met his eyes. "Not just that. I came here to tell you how the Byakugan can be evolved into the Tenseigan."
That got Tsukasa's full attention.
"How?" he asked sharply.
"It requires the fusion of a large number of Byakugan," Haruki said, stating the one method that, as of now, seemed the most plausible.
Silence followed.
Tsukasa stared into his tea, his fingers drumming softly on the porcelain. He didn't speak for a long while.
Finally, he shook his head.
"That method is meaningless," he muttered.
"Agreed," Haruki replied, meeting his gaze with a calm, almost resigned look. There was disappointment in his voice, but also conviction.
"But there's still a way to make it happen without harming the Hyuga clan," Haruki said. "Through cloning."
"Cloning?" Tsukasa repeated, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't like Orochimaru. Cloning was a foreign concept to him.
"Yeah. Clone a body that carries the Byakugan. If you have enough of them, you can eventually merge them to awaken the Tenseigan."
Tsukasa folded his arms. "I don't know much about cloning, but that sounds like something out of a novel. If kekkei genkai could be cloned that easily, the entire world would've descended into chaos by now."
"You're not wrong. It's incredibly difficult under normal conditions," Haruki admitted.
The reason he was even bringing it up was because someone similar already existed, Uchiha Shin.
One of Orochimaru's test subjects, Shin had a body littered with Sharingan. That alone wasn't shocking.
What mattered was that Shin had been cloned from cells, and his clones also possessed the Sharingan. Whether those eyes were cloned directly or implanted after the fact was still unclear, but Haruki leaned toward cloning.
Seeing Haruki fall into thought, Tsukasa pressed him. "If you're not sure, then why bring up cloning in the first place?"
"Because I've seen it with my own eyes," Haruki replied firmly. "Orochimaru's already laid the groundwork. If you're willing, you can assign ten trusted clan members to assist him and take part in the experiment."
Of course, Haruki didn't trust the Hyuga clan completely. But shared interests created strong bonds. As long as Tsukasa believed him, even if only partially, he'd be unable to resist testing the theory.
The Byakugan was the pride and lifeblood of the Hyuga clan. Even the much-criticized Caged Bird Seal was created to protect it.
Tsukasa studied Haruki's face carefully, then slowly lifted his teacup and drained it. "I'll follow your lead."
"You won't regret it," Haruki replied with a calm smile. Technically, he wasn't lying. If Orochimaru's experiment succeeded, the Tenseigan would no longer be a myth.
"But there's an issue," Haruki added. "Cloning costs a fortune. The Hyuga's resources alone won't cut it."
Tsukasa immediately thought of the business proposal Haruki had made earlier with the Sand Village. A deal in such a barren place… he wasn't convinced.
"Can we really profit from that desert wasteland?"
Reading his hesitation, Haruki said, "The Sand Village delegation leaves in two days. I want you to send two of your most business-savvy clan members to go with me."
"You're going yourself?" Tsukasa was surprised. "Do you even know there's a 30 million ryo bounty on your head?"
Haruki blinked. That was news to him. He wasn't Kakuzu, after all. He didn't keep up with bounties.
'Wait… 30 million? That's the same price as Asuma Sarutobi, isn't it?'
"I'm pretty sure that bounty came from the Sand Village. If you go there, it'll be like walking straight into a lion's den," Tsukasa said bluntly.
Haruki just chuckled and waved it off. "Relax. I'll be bringing Minato with me. He's got the Flying Thunder God Technique."
Tsukasa nodded slowly. Of course, he knew that jutsu. It was invented by the Second Hokage himself, Senju Tobirama. Still, it didn't exactly paint a heroic picture to use it for retreating.
Not that Tsukasa dared to voice that out loud.
"One more thing," Haruki added. "I'm throwing a party, bringing together all the major clans in Konoha. It'd be good if the Hyuga sent someone as a representative."
Tsukasa had been keeping an eye on Haruki's recent venturs, newspapers, advertisements… all innovative, all attention-grabbing. He gave a small nod. "Alright. Any specifics?"
"Someone beautiful and presentable," Haruki replied casually.
"Hyuga Kaoru. Hiashi's girlfriend," Tsukasa said after a brief pause.
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