Escape from Konoha.

It was already dark in the dense forest behind the school.

Ayane was the one who made the promise to meet Shiraishi here.

Two years have passed, and she has gone from a first-grade student to a third-grade student, and she is a little taller than before.

Hearing the voice behind her, Ayane, who had her hands clasped behind her back, slowly turned around.

She wore a white dress with the Hyuga clan crest, dark blue trousers, and long, straight black hair that reached her waist. Her pure white pupils were without any impurities, and the smile on her face gave people a bright and innocent feeling.

"It's alright, I just arrived not long ago. But Shiraishi-kun was delayed because of Ruri, right? Sometimes I really envy her."

Although the Uchiha clan, due to their command of Konoha's security force, are known for their decisive and efficient style of doing things, which can give people the impression of being arrogant and domineering, and their excessive worship of strength has offended many ninja clans and civilians, at least this clan is not as ruthless and cold-blooded as the Hyuga clan, which would treat its own clansmen as slaves.

For this reason, Ayane, who also comes from a wealthy family, greatly envies Ruri's free and unrestrained personality and life.

If only she had been born into the Uchiha clan.

"Yeah, she lectured me again."

Shiraishi scratched his head, looking slightly troubled.

"Don't say that. I think it's precisely proof of your friendly relationship."

Ayane smiled. Although she hadn't had any contact with Shiraishi on the surface since that incident, she secretly knew everything about him.

For example, his hidden strength has already reached the Chunin level.

He had developed a very close relationship with Ruri, a genius from the Uchiha clan.

They were also secretly conducting experiments of unknown purpose.

He felt almost no sense of belonging to the village and had already decided to leave the village and become a rogue ninja in the near future.

As their interactions deepened, Shiraishi no longer hid these things from Ayane.

Shiraishi believed that since they were companions, they should be honest with each other.

At least some of your plans and objectives should be revealed to Ayane to put her at ease.

"Hmm." Shiraishi felt that their time together privately was limited and he couldn't dwell on this matter too much, so he went straight to the point: "Things are alright on your end, right?"

"No, after all, I am just an insignificant member of the branch family. The main family will not waste too much energy on someone like me."

What was meant to be a self-deprecating remark sounded very bland coming from Ayane's mouth.

Two years have passed, and she has become quite adept at controlling her rising anger.

Nevertheless, a trace of sorrow and sigh lingered in her pure white pupils.

As she spoke, Ayane took out a small package from her ninja tool pouch, wrapped it in a cloth strip, and placed it in Shiraishi's hand.

"Thanks a lot."

Shiraishi took the package and said softly.

"It's what I should do, but studying only blood probably isn't enough, is it?"

Ayane asked this question.

As the experiments became more formalized, Shiraishi began to work on more significant experiments.

Studying blood is an important aspect of this process.

The blood belongs to Ayane herself, as well as to other branch family members of the Hyuga clan.

These are all precious materials that Ayane carefully collected.

Because Ayane and Shiraishi both understood one thing: if they were to leave Konoha in the future, they would have to break the seal on the Caged Bird Seal and free Ayane.

Otherwise, once Ayane's identity as a traitorous ninja is confirmed, the main branch of the family will definitely use curse magic to kill her on the spot.

What Shiraishi wanted to do was conduct experiments on this part.

Break the Caged Bird Seal used by the Hyuga clan to control the branch family, and restore Ayane's freedom.

Thinking about it carefully, it's practically impossible for Shiraishi to achieve his current abilities.

Seemingly sensing Ayane's hidden worries, after all, this was a matter of life and death, and Shiraishi understood Ayane's tense and uneasy state of mind.

"Blood is only one of the conditions for obtaining it, but it is not something that is absolutely necessary. The answer to how to break the curse on the caged bird does not lie in this."

Shiraishi only intended to use the blood collected by Ayane to make some comparisons in order to obtain more accurate data and find a very small entry point.

If one could obtain the secrets of the Hyuga clan simply by studying their blood, then one would be underestimating the bloodline ninja clan that has been passed down for so many years.

"Besides, we can't get more materials right now; we'll have to wait and work on it later."

Hearing Shiraishi say that, Ayane felt relieved.

Collecting this blood had already exhausted all her resources; as for complete human samples, she knew without a doubt that it would end in failure and capture.

"It's about time. Let's part ways here. If we stay any longer, someone might notice us."

Shiraishi was worried that his secret contact with Ayane would be exposed, and if that happened, not only Ayane but he himself would be thoroughly investigated.

Things would undoubtedly be very troublesome if things turned out that way.

Chapter Fifteen: Exploring the Truth of Chakra

"It's about time. Let's part ways here. If we stay any longer, someone might notice us."

Shiraishi was worried that his secret contact with Ayane would be exposed, and if that happened, not only Ayane but he himself would be thoroughly investigated.

Things would undoubtedly be very troublesome if things turned out that way.

“Actually, there’s no need to worry, Shiraishi-kun. I’ve already awakened the Byakugan. Within a kilometer radius, no one can approach this place without me noticing. I already searched this area before coming here.”

As she spoke, Ayane formed hand seals, and the veins around her eyes began to bulge, turning her white pupils bluish-white.

This is the Byakugan, the bloodline limit passed down through the ages by the Hyuga clan.

Members of the Hyuga clan who have awakened their Byakugan can now combine it with their clan's ancient Gentle Fist technique to further enhance its power.

In addition to maximizing the power of Gentle Fist, the Byakugan also possesses many auxiliary abilities such as long-range vision, X-ray vision, insight, and enhancing the power of chakra release.

Currently, Ayane can see everything within a one-kilometer radius. Combined with the Byakugan's innate X-ray vision, this means that within a one-kilometer radius, no one can sneak close without being detected by Ayane.

Whether using cover or hiding, the human body's meridian system will inevitably be detected by the Byakugan, which is why Ayane is confident that no one can approach this place silently.

While the Byakugan's combat enhancements may not be as strong as the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan, its strategic value far surpasses that of the Sharingan.

It can be said that as long as the Byakugan exists, Konoha will not have to worry about being ambushed by the enemy and losing its composure during the war.

All of the enemy's defenses and traps will become meaningless.

"Ayane, when did you activate your Byakugan?"

Bai Shi's eyes showed surprise.

According to what he knew, the probability of awakening the Byakugan was far higher than that of the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan.

However, generally speaking, the chances of Hyuga clan members under the age of ten awakening their Sharingan are relatively small.

Ayane is only eight years old this year, yet she is able to activate the Byakugan, which shows that her talent is also very outstanding.

"It was just opened a while ago. I didn't tell you because I wanted to surprise you, Shiraishi-kun."

Ayane, with her Byakugan activated, smiled and said.

"I see." Shiraishi stroked his chin and said, "In that case, we'll have to change our plans and speed up the research process. Here's what we'll do: come to my house sometime, and I'll give you a full-body checkup."

Rolling my eyes... I really don't want to let go of such precious and unknown data.

"Although I know that Shiraishi-kun is conducting legitimate experiments... um... Shiraishi-kun, you won't do anything strange to me afterward, will you?"

Ayane seems to have reservations about Shiraishi's character.

"What are you thinking? You said it yourself, it was a legitimate experiment, wasn't it?"

Shiraishi glanced at Ayane helplessly.

"That being said... but Shiraishi did touch my body all over before, right? He said it was to design a scientifically sound training method for me... but who knows if that's really true?"

Ayane smiled faintly, a sly glint in her pale blue eyes.

What does it mean to touch the whole body? Shiraishi doesn't remember ever doing such a thing.

Besides, Ayane was wearing clothes during the inspection.

Copper smelting is illegal.

“Hey, Ayane, you’re getting more and more outrageous… If my training method really didn’t work, you wouldn’t be complaining to me today… Anyway, I have important things to take care of next, so let’s call it a day.”

"Just kidding. I'll find time to come over and help you with your medical check-up, Mr. Shiraishi. Well then, goodbye."

"Okay, goodbye. Be careful not to get caught."

Watching Ayane leave the woods in another direction, Shiraishi put his hands in his pockets and slowly headed back home.

◎

After returning home, Shiraishi took the blood collected by Ayane and began to analyze it, using instruments to analyze its composition.

Even ordinary blood contains many different things, or rather, different characteristics.

Just like blood of the same blood type, the blood of a bloodline family and the blood of an ordinary civilian have very different characteristics.

Generally speaking, people from bloodline families have more active blood and carry a very special genetic factor that can be passed on to the next generation.

Therefore, Shiraishi concluded that chakra is the origin of everything.

Shiraishi called this topic 'Exploring the Origin and Essence of Chakra'.

Ninjas used chakra to change form and nature, and the fusion of these chakra nature changes resulted in a common prototype of bloodstains.

Bloodstains are usually caused by a specific abnormality in a part of a person's body under the influence of chakra, giving that part an extremely powerful active factor that alters the genes of the entire body.

And through the form of chakra, this special gene is passed on to the next generation, allowing the next generation to naturally master the power of the bloodline.

That's how the Bloodstained Family came to be.

It is precisely because of this special genetic power that ordinary ninjas have virtually no advantage when facing bloodstained ninjas.

However, Shiraishi's main purpose in testing the blood collected by Ayane from the Hyuga clan's branch family members was not to prove just how special the power of the blood was, or what kind of huge advantage the blood had over ordinary people.

This kind of topic is actually of no value to Baishi.