Weekend.
"Hikari, we're heading out on a mission for a few days. Take care of your meals."
"Got it."
Her crisp, detached voice echoes in the air.
The faint smell of something burning wafts through the breeze.
Might Guy and Kakashi glance at Hikari, sitting cross-legged in the center of the training field, motionless for an entire day. They shake their heads helplessly.
No keeping up.
Truly, no keeping up.
No matter how hard they train, the gap between them and Hikari doesn't shrink—it only widens.
This monster eats one meal a day, enough for ten people.
Eight shadow clones plus her real self train together, sitting on the ground without moving, crackling with energy and getting stronger by the minute.
Someone more talented than you works harder than you. How do you even compete?
Kakashi secretly learned to use shadow clones for training too. He split into two clones, trained for about three hours, and when they dispelled, he collapsed for half a day.
Guy can handle it, but as a pure taijutsu ninja, training doesn't change much. He endures the pain, but his muscles don't grow.
Gradually, they come to terms with it.
A monster like Hikari might be one of a kind in the whole world. No need to push themselves to death—just keep training steadily.
The overheated enthusiasm sparked by Hikari fades, and life returns to normal.
With Hikari, the human money pit, around, Guy keeps an eye on new missions at the Hokage Tower. Recently, a well-paying mission to hunt a rogue ninja popped up.
According to intel, the target is a taijutsu expert with strong counter-surveillance skills.
Kakashi handles tracking and scouting, Guy handles the taijutsu beatdown—perfect fit.
"The money's in the second drawer by the bedside. Take what you need. We're heading out."
"Uh-huh."
Hikari squints, giving a half-hearted reply, her focus entirely on her body.
Blue-purple lightning races through her muscles, cells dancing with joy as they absorb the Lightning Release power, unlocking deeper vitality.
After days of training, her body's capacity for Lightning Release has noticeably grown.
The Lightning Release Chakra Mode fits her perfectly. Each session makes her body feel more alive, more flexible.
Her once-heavy body now feels light, like shedding a burden. Her lightning-charged reflexes, paired with the Byakugan's insight, make everything around her slow down.
She watches her agility weakness slowly turn into a strength.
The thrill is so intoxicating, she's almost addicted.
After the joy of Lightning Release training, every evening brings a flood of insights—nature transformations, taijutsu, shape manipulation—released from the depths of her mind.
One day, she might get an idea for a Water Release technique, and within days, she's built its framework.
When she hits a bottleneck, a breakthrough in another nature—like Lightning or Earth—solves it.
A few days later, she might realize a near-finished technique has a fatal flaw and abandon it. Its techniques become nutrients, fueling the foundation for new ninjutsu.
She's almost hooked on this lifestyle!
If only her Kaguya bone pulse would behave.
Hikari sighs regretfully.
Lightning Release boosts her physical vitality, but it seems to trigger a chain reaction with her Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse).
Gray bone matter spreads faster.
Her spine and limb bones, like overripe bananas, are speckled with spots. Some spots connect, forming web-like structures.
Even the bone membranes under her skin start showing strange patterns.
She had her "Ninja Academy Hikari" clone specifically ask Kurama for intel.
At first, Kurama was prickly, refusing to talk. After some coaxing and trading bits of original story intel, she pried two sentences from it:
It never saw Hamura's power, only heard bits from "that one." The Byakugan is the starting point of all intangible forces, while gray bones are the endpoint of all tangible things. Hamura's inherited power is the opposite of Hagoromo's.
Kurama clammed up after that.
Those two sentences were enough. Combined with the original story, Hikari pieced together plenty.
Hamura and Hagoromo's powers are opposites.
If the Rinnegan with tomoe is the ultimate "intangible force" or the endpoint of ocular jutsu, then the Byakugan, innate to all Ōtsutsuki, is its starting point.
If the Sage's body, brimming with life force, is the origin of life, then the decay-filled gray bones represent the end of all things.
The brothers split Kaguya-hime's power, but the younger got the short end.
The Byakugan, the source of ocular jutsu, pales next to the Rinnegan's raw power. The gray bones are devastating but come with heavy drawbacks, unlike the highly compatible Sage body.
It shows in their descendants.
Hagoromo's line split his power—Asura and Indra were both powerhouses.
Hamura's descendants, inheriting his weaker traits, produced no notable figures in the Hyūga or Kaguya clans.
Hinata and Kimimaro reflect Hamura's legacy: pure but useless Byakugan with no offensive ocular jutsu, and the powerful but double-edged Shikotsumyaku, which absorbs chakra aggressively.
Combined, they make Hikari—insanely strong but likely to die worse than Neji and Kimimaro combined as she ages.
Her hope? "Yang Release Hikari" might uncover something real in medical ninjutsu.
She's got a plan.
If her Yang Release clone finds a direction, she'll have all her shadow clones and her real self focus on developing a reverse Eight Gates.
If no progress is made, she'll use the next two years to grow stronger, hit Kage-level, then storm the Root's hideout to steal "Hashirama cells" and gamble with her life.
She'd rather not take that path.
Danzō's a tough old bastard to kill, and Root is crawling with secret technique experts.
One-on-one versus group fights is a huge gap.
Even now, much stronger, Hikari could take Yagetsu with minor injuries if she plays it right. But two Yagetsus? She'd struggle. Three? She'd die.
Unless she's leagues above her opponent, numbers are hard to overcome.
Hikari calms her mind, closing her eyes to continue training her Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
All her current dilemmas boil down to insufficient firepower.
As lightning surges through her veins, bringing power and a tingling, massage-like sensation, time slips toward dusk.
Thud, thud, thud… Boom!
Heavy, familiar footsteps suddenly echo in her ears, sounding like Guy training with stone weights.
"Guy, didn't you—" Hikari looks up, but her ashen pupils shrink in disbelief.
The visitor, pleased with her reaction, presses their hands down, eyes curving into crescent moons.
"No rush. Let me explain slowly."
Three hours earlier, Konoha Hospital.
In a temporary classroom converted from a meeting room, Chihaya Tōru leans on a small blackboard, facing two rows of teenage ninjas.
Sweat beads on their foreheads, hands hovering above desks, glowing green as they illuminate carp on the tables, their gills faintly twitching.
The fish's black-and-white eyes glint eerily.
"I've said it many times: the most critical part of medical ninjutsu is control," Chihaya Tōru says, scribbling "Control" on the blackboard with chalk through a wet cloth, circling it for emphasis.
"Uncontrolled life energy can cause horrific mutations at the injury site. If your chakra is too strong, it can disrupt cell division's core logic, causing bizarre growths at the wound."
Squinting, Chihaya Tōru glares at the irritable girl whose green chakra glow outshines the others.
"I once saw a young ninja with immense chakra turn a simple food poisoning case into a 'toad' covered in tumors. Trust me, students, invasive life energy is no less destructive than volatile Lightning Release. Brute force doesn't work in medical ninjutsu."
Targeted, "Yang Release Hikari" bites her lip, dialing back her chakra output.
The writhing carp calms, but its gasping gills slow, barely moving—either breathing or convulsing.
She's hit a problem.
In the last place she expected.
Whether it's Shikotsumyaku or Kurama's power, healing her body never required control—just ample chakra, and all sorts of wounds healed on their own.
Even her "body manipulation" seems precise but is simple. Her Byakugan issues commands, and her activated Shikotsumyaku flesh executes them without her micromanaging.
She's like a king, providing energy while her Shikotsumyaku realizes her vision.
Medical ninjutsu, though, is all manual.
Human wounds heal via cellular processes, intricate and precise. Medical ninjutsu requires the ninja to manually replicate these physiological activities one-to-one, demanding extreme precision.
With her Byakugan, this shouldn't stump Hikari.
The issue lies in her abnormal chakra.
After absorbing the Three-Tails and Nine-Tails, her chakra quality is sky-high, naturally infused with Yang properties. When she uses medical ninjutsu, the effect isn't just good—it's overbearingly potent.
For normal people, healing uses a "strand" of chakra. For her, even "half a thread" causes wound mutations.
Medical ninjutsu is already tough, and as a transfer student lacking physiology basics, her rogue chakra slows her progress.
Not her healing speed, though.
The carp's internal wound healed long ago, but extra tumors grew, squeezing its organs and causing pain.
No choice.
To save the carp's innocent life, she secretly uses Wind Release to slice its belly, cuts out the excess flesh, and heals it again.
After several rounds, the fish is barely hanging on.
Huff… puff…
Its mouth gapes weakly, eyes bulging, staring skyward in despair.
Facing Miss Hikari's torture therapy, its fishy life has gone numb.
Flop, flop, flop!
The dying carp suddenly springs to life, tail thrashing vigorously.
Blocking the fishy water spray, Hikari retracts her fingers from the carp's body, the blue-purple electric glow fading.
Medical Ninjutsu: Shock Therapy.
"Oh! Someone succeeded! That fish is so lively!"
"It's that Hikari from the Sunlit Path!"
"What a genius!"
Her classmates, studying medical ninjutsu, are drawn to the commotion.
Their envious gazes shift from the lively carp to the genius girl before it, filled with admiration.
Chihaya Tōru, drawn by the carp's "vibrant" life force, sets down the chalk and strides to Hikari's side.
Flop, flop!
The carp thrashes wildly, tail slapping the desk as if cheering for Hikari's brilliance.
Chihaya Tōru frowns, inspecting closely, then relaxes. "Perfect score!"
He starts clapping.
Clap, clap, clap!
The other students join in, celebrating Hikari.
No one saw her kill an elite jōnin, but successfully healing a carp on her first try earns their recognition.
Embarrassed by the misunderstanding, Hikari licks her lips, unsure how to explain.
Pop, pop…
The carp spits bubbles, its vigorous body slowing. Hikari purses her lips, gently patting its head.
Zzt!
A faint electric current surges from her palm.
Slap, slap!
Eyes rolling back, the carp thrashes again. The crowd's gazes grow even more fervent.
Ring, ring, ring!
The alarm clock chimes.
Whew. Hikari sighs, grabbing the carp's tail—now faintly smelling cooked—and tosses it into a red plastic bucket nearby.
Chihaya Tōru wipes his hands with a wet tissue, then rolls up his sleeve to reveal a pale gold watch.
"Time's up. Here's your homework: keep your carp alive. I won't check if it's the same fish, but don't fool me—or yourselves. Class dismissed!"
Whoosh!
Students grab their buckets and scatter.
"Hikari, stay a moment."
About to ponder what to do with her carp, Hikari freezes, guiltily hiding the whitening fish behind her.
Chihaya Tōru's malnourished face breaks into a smile. "Stop torturing that carp. Medical ninjutsu isn't that simple."
"You noticed?" Hikari sets the bucket down.
"You nearly cooked it. If I didn't notice, I wouldn't be a doctor."
Packing his things, Chihaya Tōru smiles at her. "Without physiology knowledge, you'll never master medical ninjutsu. I have some professional medical ninjutsu books at home, written by Tsunade-hime herself—way more detailed than your textbooks. Want to come take a look?"
Faced with Chihaya Tōru's tempting offer, "Yang Release Hikari" glances up.
Whirr…
Golden and black lights weave above Chihaya Tōru's head, distinct yet intertwined.
Half good, half evil.
Impossible to untangle.
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