The night was as dark as ink, deeply enveloping Konoha.
Deep within the Hyuga Clan's head family estate, only moonlight filtered through the paper windows, casting a cold, faint light onto the tatami in Hinata's room.
Takuno stood silently by the bedside of the sleeping Hinata.
The young Hinata was completely unaware of the change about to descend upon her, remaining fast asleep.
Takuno's gaze fell upon the girl's tightly closed eyes.
His choice for nurturing the Tenseigan was already determined: it would be Hinata's Byakugan.
If he was going to do it, he naturally had to choose the best.
This thought was crystal clear in his mind.
Admittedly, Hanabi's pure Byakugan also held enough potential to serve as the seed for nurturing a Tenseigan.
However, in the 'original work', the purity of Hinata's Byakugan was repeatedly emphasized, reaching a level that was almost 'ridiculous', making it the ultimate manifestation of the Hyuga Clan's bloodline.
Even members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan might be astonished by such purity upon seeing those eyes.
Comparing the two, Hinata's Byakugan was undoubtedly the optimal choice.
He actually already possessed a pair of Byakugan belonging to another head family member, but their purity could not be guaranteed.
There was no need for Takuno to waste time trying to nurture a Tenseigan with a pair of Byakugan of unknown purity.
Even if successful, the resulting Tenseigan would likely pale in power and potential compared to one nurtured from Hinata's high-purity Byakugan.
Furthermore, Hinata would not lose her sight because of this; the pair of Byakugan he held was precisely the replacement prepared for this moment.
For Hinata, there shouldn't be a significant difference in sensation when using these two pairs of Byakugan, as both belonged to the main family and functioned identically.
The replacement began; the entire process was swift and secretive, not even disturbing the sleeping Hinata.
Soon, the pure Byakugan Takuno desired had quietly fallen into his possession.
And before him, beneath Hinata's eyelids, the spare pair of head family Byakugan had been embedded.
Takuno knew that for the next two or three days at most, Hinata might feel a slight strangeness or minor discomfort in her eyes.
However, once that bit of discomfort dissipated, even Hinata herself likely wouldn't guess that her eyes had undergone a replacement during her slumber.
After completing all this, Takuno's figure once again stood upon the surface of the moon.
Before him, a sophisticated laboratory had risen from the ground.
Takuno's gaze slowly swept across this brand-new building, a hint of imperceptible satisfaction flickering in the depths of his eyes.
The construction capabilities of the Intelligent Puppets were indeed impressive; their tireless nature, combined with the power of chakra, had pushed the project's progress far beyond expectations.
However, he was in no hurry to step inside the laboratory.
For his current body, which had been tempered to an extraordinary level of toughness, replacing a Byakugan required no surgical instruments.
The process was similar to Madara's direct 'plug-and-play' method during the Fourth Shinobi World War; while it didn't need to be that violent, he was capable of it, and even stronger than Madara.
With his mind made up, Takuno once again arrived at the deepest part of the Lunar Palace.
The massive Golden Tenseigan still floated at the core, emitting a soft yet majestic light.
This time, Takuno had no more hesitation or concern.
He took a deep breath, slowly raised his arm, and firmly pressed his palm against the surface of the sphere that flowed with solar brilliance.
Hum.
Accompanied by a slight resonance, Takuno closed his eyes.
A stream of pure chakra began to surge from his body, pouring into the Golden Tenseigan according to a certain rhythm.
He was following the secret technique passed down by the Ōtsutsuki Clan, attempting to establish the most basic connection with this giant Tenseigan.
Initially, the process was like a one-sided sacrifice, with Takuno's chakra continuously flowing into the Tenseigan.
But after just a moment, the golden orb seemed to have its core activated; a surge of chakra containing pure life and spatial power—the unique power of the Tenseigan—began to flow back gently along Takuno's arm and into his body.
Feeling the influx of this vast power, Takuno opened his eyes.
In the depths of his originally profound pupils, a golden glow was now clearly reflected; the tangible sensation of that long-awaited power being within reach caused a look of satisfaction to appear in his eyes.
This was precisely the key power that would help him finally nurture his own Tenseigan!
Toneri's experience in the original work told him that the incubation period for the Tenseigan was not long; if all went smoothly, it could be achieved in just a few days.
However, he also remembered that Toneri had once forcibly activated immature power after the Golden Tenseigan was destroyed, ultimately leading to a decline in power and a reversion to an ordinary Byakugan.
But the corners of Takuno's mouth curled up slightly, tracing a confident arc.
Toneri's tragedy stemmed from forced interruption by external forces.
But here, in this isolated lunar core far from the world, no one could disturb him, and no one could stop him!
He possessed an absolutely stable nurturing environment.
Therefore, when his Tenseigan finally emerged from its cocoon, its stability of power would surely far exceed Toneri's version!
Afterward, Takuno transplanted Hinata's Byakugan into his own eye sockets.
He felt only a very brief sensation of a foreign object, and then his thoroughly tempered physique quickly adapted to these brand-new eyes.
As the discomfort receded, it was replaced by a field of vision even clearer than that of the Sharingan.
He slowly opened his eyes and activated the power of the Byakugan.
In an instant, the world around him presented a completely different scene.
Walls and obstacles became transparent; his vision instantly penetrated through layers of Barriers, reaching far into the distance.
The flow of energy and every minute detail had nowhere to hide.
Takuno marveled slightly; the insight of the Byakugan truly surpassed that of the Sharingan!
Even though his Sharingan had evolved into its Mangekyo form, it was only when he activated his Ocular Power for enhancement that the depth and breadth of its insight could surpass the basic capability of the current Byakugan.
However, it was a pity that the core ability of the Byakugan was limited to this.
Compared to the Sharingan's diverse and infinitely potential-filled abilities like Genjutsu, copying, Mangekyo, and even Susanoo, it seemed far too singular.
If not for the Golden Tenseigan floating quietly before him, the difficulty for the Byakugan to evolve into the higher-level Tenseigan by its own power would be like an insurmountable chasm.
Even Takuno, who was well-versed in the tales of Naruto, did not know of a second method to awaken the Tenseigan.
Of course, this was also related to the fact that there were so few depictions of the Tenseigan.
But regardless, the process of the Byakugan evolving into the Tenseigan was far less smooth than the Sharingan's evolution into the legendary 'Rinnegan' of the Sage of Six Paths.
At this moment, Takuno could clearly perceive a stream of pure chakra continuously being injected into his newly acquired Byakugan through the mysterious connection channel established between him and the Golden Tenseigan.
This power was strong yet gentle, saturating every ocular cell.
He was certain that this process of nourishment and transformation would not last long before he could awaken the Tenseigan.
With power within reach, a crucial choice also rose to his mind.
Once the Tenseigan was awakened, which pair of eyes should he use for daily use?
Should it be this newly acquired power, the Tenseigan, or the Mangekyo Sharingan that had accompanied him?
Takuno fell into deep thought; admittedly, the absolute power level of the Tenseigan would most likely surpass his current Mangekyo Sharingan.
It could grant various abilities such as manipulating gravitational and repulsive forces, wielding Truth-Seeking Orbs, driving giant Tenseigan puppets, and even activating the Tenseigan chakra Mode.
However, from the perspective of comprehensive utility and future development, the Tenseigan seemed less 'convenient' and had less potential than his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Unlike the Rinnegan, which left many different abilities in the original work—perhaps due to the limited coverage—the Tenseigan's performance seemed more focused on pure and direct destructive power.
What made him even more skeptical was that the Tenseigan user, Toneri, despite holding all the advantages, ultimately failed to defeat Naruto, who had lost the power gifted by the Sage of Six Paths.
Such a record, in Takuno's view, was truly unsatisfying; at best, it could only be considered 'pseudo-Six Paths level', still a gap away from the true Six Paths realm.
"But..." Takuno's gaze became profound, "that was Ōtsutsuki Toneri after all."
He had absolute confidence in himself.
If he were the one wielding the power of the Tenseigan, the might he could unleash might reach a whole new height!
After a brief weighing of options, Takuno made a decision.
After initially familiarizing himself with and mastering the power of the Tenseigan, he would switch back to his Mangekyo Sharingan.
These eyes were the crucial bridge to the Rinnegan.
He knew the secret to awakening the Rinnegan lay in fusing the chakra of Ashura and Indra, thereby drawing out the 'Six Paths Power' to complete the evolution.
Although Takuno already knew the answer beforehand—greatly lowering the threshold compared to Madara, who only realized this path while on the brink of death—
How to specifically achieve the combination of these two source Chakras and how to safely and stably draw out the Six Paths Power was a 'problem-solving process' that remained full of unknowns and might require a long time of exploration and effort.
As for the Tenseigan? It would become an extremely powerful trump card.
With his own physique and recovery ability, Takuno could 'plug and play' these eyes whenever needed, using them as a finishing move to turn the tide at critical moments.
Suddenly, a thought also flashed through his mind.
Could he use Yin Release to modify new 'eye sockets' in other parts of his body, thereby accommodating two pairs of top-tier ocular techniques simultaneously?
Unfortunately, his current control over Yin Release was far from reaching the level where he could perform such precise and safe body modification.
However, he believed his future self would surely be able to master such power.
But on second thought, the image of having four eyes... was truly a bit weird.
A self-deprecating smile flickered across Takuno's lips.
"Perhaps," he thought to himself, "it won't be too late to consider opening a third eye in the center of my forehead once I have the ability to truly fuse a pair of eyes into one."
For now, better to focus on the path ahead.
...
After successfully establishing a connection with the Golden Tenseigan and guiding its energy to begin nourishing his own Tenseigan, Takuno temporarily withdrew his mind, and his figure then appeared in that newly built, massive laboratory.
Looking around, a sense of emptiness rushed over him.
This laboratory was completely different from his one far away in the Shinobi World, which was stuffed with precision instruments and experimental samples; it felt exceptionally cold and even echoed with the slight sound of his footsteps.
However, for Takuno's current goals, this emptiness didn't affect anything.
The field he was about to delve into was Sealing Jutsu, an art that relied more on knowledge, chakra control, and understanding of formulas than on experimental apparatus.
There was also no need to worry about the issue of materials.
Deep within the Ōtsutsuki Clan palace, countless blank scrolls and special materials for sealing formulas were stored.
The sturdy barrier outside the palace was the best proof of the Ōtsutsuki Clan's attainment in Sealing Jutsu.
Takuno knew very well that such profound skill did not come from nowhere.
Even the Ōtsutsuki, who possessed divine bloodlines, needed to master it through practice and experimentation like all other Shinobi.
It was just that this process was much shorter than for normal Shinobi.
Therefore, various consumables required for Sealing Jutsu were piled up like mountains here.
Of course, Takuno also knew the simple truth of 'sitting and eating until the mountain is empty'.
The palace's inventory would eventually run out.
So he could have some of the Intelligent Puppets take action, heading to resource-rich areas on this planet to collect raw materials and manufacture scrolls according to established diagrams.
Daily necessities and such could also be left to those Intelligent Puppets.
Fortunately, the Ōtsutsuki Clan had similar material needs in the past, and relevant scroll records—including raw material types, origins, and processing techniques—were kept quite complete.
Takuno only needed to input the core instructions of these knowledge scrolls into the thinking cores of the Intelligent Puppets, and they would be able to complete their learning and execute tasks efficiently in a very short time.
This was precisely the value of the Intelligent Puppets; if not for this, the consumption of large amounts of precious resources to manufacture them would have been meaningless.
Withdrawing his thoughts from resource management, Takuno devoted all his mind to the core subject before him.
He spread out a blank scroll, and with tiny points of chakra light condensing at his fingertips, he began to sketch the prototype of a sealing formula in his mind.
This formula being designed belonged to the same lineage of technology as those 'Attribute Seals' he had inscribed on his body surface for resisting and reflecting attacks, but the purpose was the exact opposite.
It was not for outward defense, but for inward reinforcement.
Constructing a barrier or formula to strengthen oneself was not difficult in principle.
However, the reinforcement Takuno sought was by no means an ordinary increase in strength or speed.
His goal was a deeper realm: neural reaction speed!
As early as when he mastered the Lightning Nature chakra Mode, overlaid with Wind Release Secret Techniques, and experienced that speed he himself couldn't react to, this thought had already taken root in his heart.