Chapter 109: Hyūga's trash? No, it's my Uchiha Akira's treasure!
The auspicious moment has arrived. The master of ceremonies announced the official start of the discipleship ceremony.
Under everyone's gaze, Hinata took small, hesitant steps, one by one, with great difficulty, onto the high platform. She came before Uchiha Akira, knelt according to tradition, picked up the prepared teacup, and offered it with both hands.
"Teacher… please drink tea." Her voice was as faint as a mosquito and carried an uncontrollable tremor.
Akira took the teacup and drank it in 1 gulp. He then gently placed it back on the tray. This action signified the formal establishment of the master-disciple relationship. From this moment on, Hinata was Uchiha Akira's first direct disciple.
[Ding! Host has successfully taken in S-rank potential disciple Hyūga Hinata, and the Disciple Cultivation function has been officially activated!]
Today was truly a good day.
After the ceremony, the guests dispersed, and Uchiha Akira returned to his study. The first thing he did was open the brand-new "Disciple Cultivation" panel. A virtual 3D miniature of Hinata appeared before him, nervously poking her fingers together.
"Disciple: Hyūga Hinata"
"Current Strength: Not yet Genin"
"Potential Rating: S (Can be upgraded to SSS-rank)"
"Bloodline Limit Mastered: Byakugan (Purity: 92%)"
"Detected that the disciple possesses the Byakugan bloodline, fulfilling the evolution conditions. Glory points can be consumed to gradually evolve it into — Tenseigan!"
Tenseigan! That was an ultimate dōjutsu on the same level as the Rinnegan!
"Interesting." Akira could already foresee the expression of that old man, Hyūga Hiashi, when the timid little girl one day appeared before him with a pair of Tenseigan radiating destructive power. He would look as if he had seen a ghost.
Akira closed the system panel and instructed the guards outside the door to "Go call Hinata."
The study door was gently pushed open. Hinata entered with small, shuffling steps, her head bowed and nervously clutching the corner of her clothes. She didn't dare to look up. This was Uchiha Akira's study, the most central place of power for the entire Uchiha Clan, and now, within Konoha Village.
The study was very quiet—so quiet that Hinata could hear her own heart pounding.
"Look up." A calm voice sounded, and Hinata's body instinctively trembled.
She tried for a long time, using all her strength, to lift her flushed little face just a tiny bit. Her gaze, however, still dared only to rest on the floor in front of Akira.
"Do you know why I took you as my disciple?"
"Be... because... Father he..." Hinata's voice was as faint as a mosquito, broken and intermittent.
"Because your father, Hyūga Hiashi, used you to express his loyalty to me," Akira directly interrupted her.
"He believes that exchanging a 'useless daughter' for the future of the entire Hyūga Clan is a very worthwhile trade."
"What do you think?"
Hinata's face instantly turned pale. Her eyes immediately filled with tears, on the verge of spilling.
Yes. Father thought that way. She knew. She had always known. In the clan, she was the "failure" who disappointed her father. She was the "superfluous person" who couldn't compare to her younger sister, Hanabi. But knowing and having it said to her face were 2 completely different, heartbreaking pains.
"It seems you are well aware of it yourself." Uchiha Akira's tone remained unchanged.
He didn't need to comfort a little girl on the verge of breaking down. What he needed was to shatter her and then reshape her.
"You are weak. Cowardly in character, mediocre in strength, you don't even have the courage to look me in the eye. It's natural that your father abandoned you. If it were me, I would do the same."
Every word was like a knife, piercing Hinata's heart. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably, her small shoulders twitching. Finally, a tear as big as a bean slipped from her eye, hitting the cold floor and shattering into a tiny splash. Then came the second, the third… She cried.
Akira quietly watched Hinata. After an unknown amount of time, Hinata's crying gradually subsided, turning into suppressed sobs. She seemed to have no more strength to shed tears.
"Done crying?" Akira finally spoke again. "Then, now answer my second question. A good-for-nothing abandoned by her clan, a coward who can't even respect herself. Why would I, Uchiha Akira, take you as my disciple?"
Hinata was stunned. She raised her swollen, tear-stained eyes and looked at Akira blankly.
Yes. Why? She couldn't understand.
"Because…" Uchiha Akira leaned slightly forward, and an invisible sense of pressure enveloped Hinata.
"Your eyes."
Hinata's crying stopped abruptly. Eyes? She instinctively reached to touch the corners of her eyes. Those Byakugan, which her father and the entire Main House considered a disgrace, and which had been slow to awaken.
"The Hyūga Clan only saw your superficial weakness. But they couldn't see the truly pure power contained within these eyes. They couldn't develop it because they are incompetent."
Akira reached out his hand, a hand with distinct knuckles, long and powerful. It slowly magnified in Hinata's tear-filled, swollen eyes. She instinctively recoiled, but Akira's hand had already gently covered her eyes.
There was no coldness as she had imagined. Instead, an indescribably warm current slowly seeped in from his palm.
[Consuming 10,000 Clan Glory Points, beginning to activate disciple's bloodline potential…]
[Bloodline purity detected… 92%… extremely high purity, meets deep development conditions.]
[Byakugan, activated!]
A scorching, vast energy instantly surged from Uchiha Akira's palm into Hinata's ocular meridians.
"Ugh!" Hinata let out a suppressed cry of pain.
She felt her eyeballs burning. The veins on both sides of her temples bulged out, one by one. Akira withdrew his hand. He calmly watched his disciple, who was trembling violently and desperately covering her eyes with both hands.
"Open your eyes." Hinata's body uncontrollably obeyed the command.
She slowly, tremblingly, lowered her hands. Then, slowly, she lifted her incredibly heavy eyelids.
The world changed. No longer a blurry, tear-stained scene. Everything became incredibly clear. So clear that she could see every tiny detail of the wooden grain on the desk.
"This is your power. This is the gift your teacher gives you for becoming his disciple. Do you like it?"
Like it? Hinata stared blankly at this brand-new world.
This was a gift? Tears once again surged from Hinata's pure white eyes.
"I... I like it..." She lowered her head, looking at her hands which were still trembling slightly. "I like it." Her voice was still very soft.
"This is just the beginning. Your eyes, their potential is far more than this. The Hyūga Clan, guarding a treasure mountain without knowing it, are truly a bunch of good-for-nothings. They are only fit to possess the Byakugan. But you will possess much more."
Akira reached out and ruffled Hinata's head.
"I want you to become the strongest existence in the history of the Hyūga Clan. Surpass your father, Hyūga Hiashi. Surpass all the ancestors of the Hyūga Clan. Can you do it?"
Can she do it? If this question had been asked 1 hour ago, Hinata's answer would definitely have been no. But now… Perhaps, she really could. As long as she followed her teacher, it was possible.
"Yes. Teacher."