Even though Uchiha Akira was a Chunin, he had no teammates and carried out missions alone.
Originally, he had three teammates, Genin who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy.
The cruelty of war needs no elaboration; even the grandson of Senju Hashirama died, let alone three Genin who had just graduated and stepped onto the battlefield.
All three died in a large-scale battle.
Even though Uchiha Akira was from the Uchiha Clan and his strength was formidable, he couldn't always look after his subordinates in a large-scale war.
After the Genin assigned to him died, the Village did not assign him any other Genin.
During the war, the Genin graduating from the Ninja Academy were not enough to meet the demand, so there was no spare capacity to reassign him.
Uchiha Akira had no objection to this; for him, being alone was quite good, and it saved him from being distracted by taking care of others during routine missions.
Alone, he could do whatever he wanted, rest whenever he wanted, without worrying about someone reporting him or gossiping about him when he returned.
Just like now, after Uchiha Akira departed from Konoha's camp, he began to slack off.
Uchiha Akira did not intend to take this mission too seriously.
Or rather, he did not intend to take any missions from Konoha's higher-ups too seriously.
If it wasn't too dangerous, he would just do it casually.
If it required risking his life, then he wouldn't bother; as a member of the Uchiha Clan, he didn't lack the mission rewards from Konoha.
Anyway, Konoha's higher-ups would never open up the Ninjutsu from the sealing book to the Uchiha Clan, so it wasn't worth trying too hard.
Thus, Uchiha Akira began to wander around the border of the Land of Fire.
Perhaps his luck had run out after intercepting Uchiha Obito's Mangekyo earlier, or perhaps Murphy's Law was at play again.
On this day, as Uchiha Akira was feigning to track the Hidden Mist Ninja, he suddenly looked up sharply towards the depths of the dark, dense forest.
He saw the dim, dense forest shake, and two masked figures dressed in Hidden Mist Anbu attire flashed out.
Uchiha Akira immediately locked onto the Hidden Mist Anbu with long, gray-blue hair.
If he remembered correctly, the Hidden Mist Jonin who obtained the Byakugan in the original story had hair of that color.
"Another Konoha brat coming to die! How annoying!"
Before Ao could speak, a masked Hidden Mist Ninja next to him spoke up.
Ao scanned Uchiha Akira and said in a deep voice, "Getsu, don't be careless. This is a brat from the Uchiha Clan. The Uchiha Clan daring to let him act alone means he's no ordinary brat."
"I know, since we're here, I certainly won't be careless." The Anbu named Getsu glanced at Uchiha Akira twice and said in a deep voice, "Ao, we need to end this battle quickly; we can't be dragged on by him for too long. Konoha's experts could arrive at any moment."
"Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!"
As an elite unit of Hidden Mist, their hand seal speed was very fast. In an instant, a beam of azure water transformed into a spinning blade in his hand.
The Hidden Mist Ninja named Getsu instantly appeared in front of Uchiha Akira with a Body Flicker Jutsu, swinging the azure water blade, intending to cut him in half.
A soft tearing sound echoed.
Under Getsu's mask, a sneer appeared on his face, and then he felt an indescribable pain in his neck.
"Cough..." Powerlessly clutching his neck, the Anbu named Getsu fell straight to the ground.
As his consciousness plunged into absolute darkness, he heard a detached voice: "Who told you to look me in the eye? As a Hidden Mist Anbu, don't you know not to make eye contact with the Uchiha Clan?"
"He didn't even activate his Sharingan..." With bewildered fear, Getsu's consciousness faded.
Uchiha Akira's expression was cold as he took two steps back from Ao, his Chakra already poised to strike, with faint threads of lightning appearing.
If Ao made any move, Uchiha Akira's thunderous strike would await him.
Under his mask, Ao's eyes were bloodshot. His companion had silently fallen for the Uchiha brat's Genjutsu, directly ramming his own neck onto the opponent's Ninja blade.
He had committed suicide right in front of him.
Ao was extremely grateful at this moment; if he had charged first, he would likely have met the same fate.
"This is troublesome. This Uchiha brat, though young, is very strong. He can make Getsu, a Jonin, fall for his trick without even using a Sharingan..." Ao was already contemplating his retreat.
Although they had expended a lot of energy under Konoha's encirclement, they were still Jonin, and their skill level was evident.
He had never expected that Getsu, a Jonin, would be directly taken out by the opponent's Genjutsu due to a slight oversight.
"What are you waiting for?"
The next moment, a cold voice echoed in Ao's ear, startling him.
Then, a blue light, swift as lightning, appeared before him in the blink of an eye.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Palm!"
Then, he saw a hand, emitting a dazzling blue light, heading towards his heart.
Boom ~
In the dark forest, accompanied by a roar, dazzling lightning erupted and enveloped Ao completely.
With a scream, everything fell silent.
When facing a Sharingan one-on-one, one must flee. This was a conclusion reached by Sunagakure after countless deaths.
Ao's failure to flee immediately after seeing his teammate die was his absolute mistake.
Facing Uchiha Akira, who already possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan and greatly enhanced ocular power, if Ao had fled immediately, he would have had a sliver of hope. Staying meant certain death.
After searching the deceased Ao's body, Uchiha Akira found a scroll with the character 'Seal' in his Ninja tool pouch.
Such sealing scrolls were not difficult to decipher, and Uchiha Akira, possessing the Sharingan, naturally knew how to unseal it.
After unsealing the scroll, Uchiha Akira indeed found a Byakugan in a container filled with a pale green liquid.
Looking at the Byakugan in the container, Uchiha Akira's mouth curved upward, forming a smile: "Excellent, this Byakugan is mine."
He had no intention of returning the Byakugan to the Hyuga Clan. Originally, if he hadn't encountered it, that would have been that.
Now that the Byakugan was in his hands, there was no reason to return it to the Hyuga Clan.
The Byakugan's potential is not at all inferior to the Sharingan.
The Tenseigan is on the same level as the Rinnegan.
After the Sharingan evolves into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, it can become the Rinnegan by fusing the Chakra of Indra and Asura, thus drawing out the Chakra of the Six Paths Sage.
The Byakugan can also fuse with the Chakra of the Ōtsutsuki to evolve into the Tenseigan.
Compared to the complex steps required for the Rinnegan's birth, the Tenseigan appears much simpler and more direct.
Frankly, Uchiha Akira believed the Tenseigan was stronger in combat than the Rinnegan.
After putting away the Byakugan, simply destroying the bodies and cleaning up the battlefield, Uchiha Akira continued to wander along the border.
Anyway, no one knew the Byakugan was already in his hands, so he might as well make this mission last a bit longer.
However, fate had other plans. Uchiha Akira had only been slacking off for an hour on the border of the Land of Fire.
Suddenly, with a bang, a brilliant fireworks display exploded in the forest several hundred meters ahead.