Time rolled back to February 26th, 6:32 PM.
As dusk deepened, the sun sank below the horizon, leaving only a final streak of dim yellow clinging to the edge of the sky.
The lingering afterglow of twilight fell upon an apartment building facing southwest beside Konoha's Tea Street, illuminating the loan collection notices pasted on the door of Room 203 on the second floor, as well as an exquisitely crafted invitation card tucked into the door handle.
Click~
The door to the apartment—which looked as though it had been uninhabited for a long time—opened by a crack. The invitation card slipped downward and was caught by a slender, pale hand that was almost completely devoid of color.
The woman who owned the apartment unfolded the letter and looked down to read it. It was only when her gaze landed on the familiar name written on the page that her cloudy, confused, and bewildered eyes gradually focused into a sharp line, regaining a sliver of consciousness. Her fingertips pressed tightly against that name: Hyūga Yū.
She finally remembered who she was, where she was, and understood what she had to do next.
Hyūga Natsu—that was her name.
203 was her apartment number. She lived here, and because she hadn't paid her mortgage in a long time, the deadline for judicial foreclosure was fast approaching.
Strangely enough, no one had come to aggressively collect the debt. Even the workers who came to paste the foreclosure notices acted exceptionally gentle when putting up the fliers.
Natsu did not know why this was, nor was she willing to think about it. Recalling the past gave her a splitting headache, as if thousands of human figures stood between her present and her past—countless people forming an indestructible wall of memory. The more desperately she sought to find herself, the more she lost herself in the memories of those countless individuals.
Among these memories, she saw towering giant stone statues reaching into the clouds; she saw a wooden monster sitting cross-legged, imprisoned in a deep cave; she saw countless people lined up to gouge out their own eyes to offer them to a golden sphere as brilliant as the sun; and she also saw...
A flat beam of light firing, piercing through, and exploding violently!
Absolute silence fell over heaven and earth.
A purple wave of light wiped out everything on the planet's surface, along with self-existence itself.
The very last image remaining in her mind was of herself gouging out her own eyes, allowing another stern-faced woman to implant a different pair of pure-white eyes into her sockets.
Who was that woman?
She didn't know.
Why swap eyes?
She didn't know.
What was she supposed to do after putting on these eyes?
She didn't know.
The memories of her fourteen years of life were as thin as a single drop of water in the ocean when stacked against memories spanning tens of thousands of years. Even though she knew that this drop of water was precious to her, after trying everything—and nearly losing her sense of self in the process—she relied on her innate instinct to calmly and decisively give up on finding that single drop of water in the vast ocean.
If she continued down that path, she would turn into something terrifying.
So, what should she do next?
Natsu first looked down at her own body. From the moment she swapped eyes to the present—when she finally reclaimed her sense of self—she had no idea how much time had passed. During this period, not a single drop of water or grain of rice had entered her stomach.
Her hair had grown much longer, falling below her neck. However, the strands were dry, split, and a sickly, malnourished yellowish-green. Her frame was emaciated, her skin pale enough that her blue veins showed clearly, and she was so skin-and-bones that even moving slightly took immense effort. If not for the support of the new chakra born from these eyes, she probably would have died already.
Only her pair of eyes—pure white with a pale blue glow—shone brightly!
Natsu put away the letter that had reawakened her self-awareness. Driven by instinct, she stumbled out of the apartment building and arrived at a newly opened ramen shop not far downstairs: Ichiraku Ramen.
"Welcome, customer! What can I get for you? Oh... what happened to you?"
"Give me food."
"U-Uh, you must be starving. Which combo meal would you like? U-Uh, you don't even have to pay..."
Natsu abandoned her usual calm demeanor and barked out almost ferociously, "Give me food!"
Inside the ramen shop, Teuchi wiped cold sweat from his forehead. Unconcerned with combo meals, he worked at lightning speed to prepare and serve a bowl of Tonkotsu Chashu Ramen to Natsu.
Even though her body was screaming in agony and Natsu felt like she could eat an entire dinosaur, she still maintained a sense of elegance while eating.
She pulled her chopsticks apart, clasped her hands together, and whispered softly, "Itadakimasu."
Then, she began to eat in a calm and rhythmic manner. She knew that at a time like this, she couldn't eat too quickly. She had to maintain a steady rhythm to allow her body to gradually adapt to receiving energy.
Soon, the bowl of ramen was wiped clean, with not a single drop of broth remaining.
Natsu raised her head, her cold eyes sweeping over to signal Teuchi to keep making ramen.
Seeing that Natsu was truly starving and had no intention of hurting him, Teuchi let out a sigh of relief. As he made the ramen, he tried to break the tense atmosphere at the counter, starting a conversation: "Customer, the way you eat ramen is identical to a customer I met back when I was still apprenticing at my boss's shop. He was from the Hyūga Clan, too."
Natsu paid it no mind, simply waiting quietly for the next portion of food to be served—until she heard that name from Teuchi's mouth once again: "I remember... he was called Hyūga Yū, I think."
"Ah, that young man was truly extraordinary. Back then, I already felt that a customer with an eating posture like that would never be ordinary..."
Natsu's gaze froze. She snapped her head up and stared intently at Teuchi, like a wild beast catching the scent of prey. "Hyūga... Yū?"
She remembered the name on the letter that had awakened her self-consciousness was also this name.
So, who was Hyūga Yū?
What was his relationship with her, and why did seeing this name trigger such a violent surge of emotion within her?
"Hyūga Yū... now he's a big figure. He rose to prominence during the Third Shinobi World War..."
Natsu took the bowl of ramen Teuchi had finished making. While moving her chopsticks, she listened quietly as Teuchi recounted the legends he had heard about Hyūga Yū.
As that name was brought up again and again, her heart rippled like a lake ruffled by the wind. Natsu gradually remembered what she wanted to do.
She desperately wanted to know more about the owner of this name—wanted to draw close to him, help him, embrace him, hold his hand, press her cheek against his, and listen to him say the words he could never bring himself to speak out loud...
Like a small monster meeting another, even lonelier monster, violently wanting to crush him and squeeze him into her own body. Or like a stubborn, lonely hermit crab finding a seashell that could accommodate it perfectly—even if the shell no longer fit as it grew, it would rather squeeze itself to death inside than leave, refusing to be separated even in death!
But...
In the end, standing from an outsider's perspective, she realized that she didn't actually desire to possess him that desperately.
In truth, she was afraid, terrified, anxious, and horrified.
Because she gradually realized—
She wasn't that crab. She was merely the seashell whose size happened to fit him, a gentle haven where he could settle down in peace.
She couldn't bear to watch that crab continuously contort itself to fit her mediocre size, suppressing the growth of its own flesh and ambition until it ultimately turned into the very monster it hated most. Yet, she loved that crab—resting peacefully in her embrace—so deeply.
And so, she cast him out of the gentle haven, out of the seashell house, personally sending him into the deep sea filled with raging waves and flashing blades—into the reality known as "Hell."
She watched with her own eyes as he maneuvered masterfully in Hell, slaughtering in all directions, cutting through ranks of enemies, growing ever stronger while simultaneously becoming ever more distant and unfamiliar.
She didn't regret it. But as she watched the distance between them grow further and further apart, she felt a profound loneliness that gradually drove her mad.
And so, this crazy little seashell leaped into the deep sea without a second thought, jumping into Hell to chase after the unstoppable tracks left by that crab's claws!
"So..."
Natsu stared down at the broth of her two hundred and thirty-third bowl of ramen. The moon was reflected in the bowl, and her face was reflected beneath the moonlight. Looking at the moon in the bowl, the person beneath the moon, and her own unfamiliar self, she let out a self-deprecating smile. "Is this the price?"
When she broke through the restriction of the Caged Bird, obtained her first trace of Tenseigan chakra, and began the nature transformation of her chakra attributes, Natsu's resonance with the giant Tenseigan began immediately.
Unlike past generations of Tennin who awakened the Yang Release attribute, or even Hyūga Yū who first awakened the Wind Release attribute, Natsu was affected on the day she swapped eyes. On that day, Yū had committed suicide to avoid resonating with the giant Tenseigan, causing the failed resonance to trigger a rampage of Yin Release [PS: February 17th, see Chapter 164 for details].
Resonating with the giant Tenseigan at that exact moment, Natsu awakened Tenseigan chakra with the Yin Release attribute. Under the guidance of the giant Tenseigan, she automatically completed the nature transformation of Yin Release Tenseigan chakra. Her soul linked with the giant Tenseigan, turning her into an outlet for massive amounts of Yin Release Tenseigan chakra.
The current Hyūga Natsu was no longer just Hyūga Natsu.
Dwell within her chakra was the collective consciousness of countless Ōtsutsuki clan members. Due to the unique effect of the Yin Release Tenseigan chakra, she had luckily preserved her main core of self-identity. In the process, she gained vast amounts of precious knowledge and intelligence, but she also lost even more valuable memories and self-identity.
All power came with a price.
As Natsu utilized this Yin Release Tenseigan chakra, the massive mental energy of the giant Tenseigan would gradually drown out her original consciousness. Eventually, she would completely become the physical manifestation of the collective consciousness of the Moon's Ōtsutsuki Clan.
And the time remaining was "three months."
"Right now, I am still me. I am still Hyūga Natsu, just missing many memories of the past."
"But three months from now..."
"Hyūga Natsu will no longer exist in this world."
Natsu smiled. She smiled very sweetly, just like in the past—that same gentle, traditional Yamato Nadeshiko smile.
However, a trace of madness flashed through her eyes. "Three months is enough."
"It's just starting over—dates, shopping, movies, holding hands..."
"Finishing everything we didn't finish in the past!"
"Within three months, I want to hear that idiot confess to me with his own mouth!"
Inside the ramen shop, Teuchi looked at the mountain of large bowls stacked in front of Natsu and listened to the incomprehensible murmurings coming from her mouth. He couldn't help wiping sweat from his forehead—this was real sweat, not cold sweat. Even though Teuchi was a master ramen chef possessing secret ramen techniques, cooking over two hundred bowls of ramen back-to-back made him feel like his arms were about to cramp...
"Customer, you see... we're really out of noodles. All the noodles I brought out are completely used up. Next, should we...?"
"Put it on my tab," Natsu said faintly as she put down her chopsticks.
"Huh? Put it on your tab?" Teuchi froze, then looked at Natsu cautiously, suspecting she wanted to dine and dash.
"Put it under the name of that guy named Hyūga Yū."
Having said that, Natsu pulled out the invitation addressed to "Hyūga Yū" once again and read it carefully like a newspaper. When she saw the line regarding the "Tennin Competition," her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she slowly raised her head, looking toward a direction where—after regaining consciousness—the surging chakra in her body made her feel faintly uneasy—
Above the Hyūga Clan compound.
Between her pure-white pupils, a pale-teal light flared up. Immediately after, Natsu saw an abnormal cluster of mental energy hovering over the Hyūga Clan compound. A particularly prominent cluster was gathering in the direction of Hyūga Hizashi's residence.
This is... a sign of a massive number of Byakugan gathering?
Is the Hyūga Clan of Earth trying to imitate the Ōtsutsuki Clan of the Moon to create a giant Tenseigan?
However, this quantity is far from enough... In the end, I'm afraid it will result in a horrific disaster.
Moreover, the spearhead of this incident is directed straight at... Hyūga Yū?
Natsu immediately detected the bizarre nature of the event. Just as she noticed these signs, the chakra within her body began to vibrate repeatedly, as if urging her to do something.
"Enough!"
Natsu grit her teeth and snapped cold, as if holding a conversation with an internal voice. "Even death row convicts get a final meal before their execution! I just want to fall in love, is there a problem with that?"
"Stop rushing me! I'll handle it on the way!"
"With Hyūga Yū and me joining forces, we won't die, nor do we need to run!"
"Even if we run, I'm taking him with me! You better cooperate, or else we'll all die together!"
Once the chakra inside her stabilized and the Ōtsutsuki collective consciousness communicated a sense of helpless acquiescence, Natsu casually tossed the invitation aside. She narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly, turning her gaze toward the direction of the Hyūga Main House residence. "This matter is abnormal..."
The technology to create a giant Tenseigan... nearly a thousand years ago, after learning the lesson of the First Tennin's rampage, this was the ultimate method passed down by the Ōtsutsuki Clan to the Hyūga Main House to keep the Tennin in check and prevent the Hyūga Clan from being destroyed by them. I just didn't expect... it would be used on the Ōtsutsuki Clan first.
And after the plan to cultivate a Hyūga Tennin failed, the management of the Hyūga Clan became exceptionally strict. How could the Branch House possibly know the method to create a giant Tenseigan?
Furthermore, it's happening at such a sensitive point in time... According to what Teuchi said, when Hyūga Yū returned to the village the day before yesterday, the Clan Head Hyūga Hiashi displayed an attitude of submission one moment, and in the next moment, Yū was attacked by the abandoned Great Elder of the Main House.
This must be inextricably linked to the members of the Main House...
Natsu pondered for a moment, and a plan quickly took shape in her mind. Since the core of the problem lies with the Main House, directly finding the person involved to interrogate them is the fastest way!
At this moment, she looked down at her body. After having a hearty meal at Ichiraku Ramen and receiving a massive supply of physical energy, her body shape had returned to normal, and her skin had become plump and fair, though overall she still looked slightly slender.
If I only use a little bit of Tenseigan chakra, it will be enough. As for stopping the birth of the giant Tenseigan...
I can only use the authority of the giant Tenseigan!
Natsu closed her eyes and slowly opened them once again. A pale-teal brilliance immediately lit up within her pure-white eyes. Following that, her entire being seemed to be erased from paper by an eraser, abruptly vanishing from her seat in the Ichiraku Ramen shop.
Yin Release: Creation of All Things from Nothingness.
Its origin stemmed from void itself. After mastering the nature transformation of Yin Release, Natsu gained this power of transformation from existence to non-existence in reverse.
Now, turning her entire body into nothingness, she dashed in a straight line toward the Hyūga Clan compound at extreme speed, passing straight through a vast number of houses, walls, and patrols in Konoha Village.
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