It was the middle of the school year, tensions were rising throughout the elemental nations and there were whispers of war on the horizon, I sat in my room curled up in blankets and stewing in a particularly nasty fart.
I was getting increasingly nervous and was making no substantial progress in medical Ninjutsu nor the Kaguya bloodline and was hesitant to dedicate more time to it.
As it was I spent very little time learning medical jutsu, most of my time "Learning medical ninjutsu" was just memorizing bone, arteries, vein, and tendon placement.
I only had 3 actual medical jutsu to my name, any more then that was beyond Tokma and thus I'd have to intern or apprentice at the hospital, and that was a no go.
I didn't want to get shafted and permanently stuck in the hospital, I was also worried about what the clan elders could do when I no longer impressed them and furthered the Hyuga name.
I decided to go back to brain enhancements, although incredibly risky and without a doubt dangerous they were something I needed.
I didn't want to waste time learning time-consuming things that I could later take a glance at and remember forever with my as of yet theoretical memory enhancements.
Corse of action decided I left my room in search of books on the brain or more specifically memory.
...
I'd had little to no luck finding books so I sent my favorite teacher on a mission to find them, with that done I bumbled about trying to find something to do with my time.
...
I was sitting crossed legged Infront of a mirror I recently had the branch members put my room, and winking at myself and admiring my good looks, I was originally sending chakra to my eyes in small burst varying in both size and density and among different paths, trying to discover new things about the Byakugan and maybe luckily awaken the Tenseigan but alas I had no luck and got distracted and started admiring my exotic looks.
My mother, of course, walked in while I was doing so.
"Shiro, Tokuma brought the books you asked for…."
'Well this is embarrassing'
We stared at each other silently for a moment.
"Thanks, I was just admiring my good looks"
More silent eye contact ensued.
"The books are on the table"
'Would it have been less awkward if I made an excuse?'
Maybe honesty isn't always the answer.
...
I was sitting on my bed, a stack of brain-related books next to me, I was currently trying to summon up the mental strength to do a possible eight-plus hour study session.
Sadly it was not working and I was once again staring at myself in the mirror.
I took the mirror off the wall and turned it around so I could no longer see my reflection, that done I proceeded back to my bed and cracked open the first book on the pile "Genjutsu And The Brain Made Easy"
'Probably not what I need but I'll take a look'
'Are memories stored in just one part of the brain, or are they stored in many different parts of the brain? Inojin Yamanaka began exploring this problem, about 160 years ago, by making lesions in the brains of animals ….'
Finally getting somewhere after going through half of the books I was overjoyed, I continued reading
'Bla-Bla-Bla… Short-term memory occurs in the prefrontal cortex. It stores information for about one minute and its capacity is limited to about 7 items…'
'Now we're cooking'
'Long-term memory is processed in the hippocampus of the temporal lobe and is activated when you want to memorize something for a longer time. This memory has unlimited content and duration capacity.
Skill memory is processed in the cerebellum, which relays information to the basal ganglia. It stores motor skills, like using hand signs, throwing a kunai, and disemboweling your enemies.'
On the next page was a diagram detailing different parts of the brain
'Jackpot!'
I couldn't keep the grin off my face, this is what I needed, I spent the rest of the day flipping through the rest of the books in case I missed something.
...
That done I spent the next week with my hand on my head constantly using the diagnostic jutsu, parsing out the different parts of my brain according to the book, I also enrolled Gai to help in my brain enhancements, not that he was much help or that he knew he was helping.
"What do you need my help for my most youthful friend!?"
"I just need you to sit still so I can stare at your head with my Byakugan"
"Yosh!, what are you trying to do my friend!"
"I'm finding ways to send more chakra to my eyes, since I can't see the tenketsu in my head I'm using yours, now stay still and quiet well I draw your tenketsu"
Half-truth
"Yosh! Shiro! Let your power of youth explode!"
Gai ended that sentence with a thumbs up and a sparkle in the corner of his eye, he was indeed as youthful as one might imagine.
Short-term memory, prefrontal cortex
Long-term memory, hippocampus
Skill memory, cerebellum
I'd identified all the parts of my brain with the diagnostic jutsu and was ready to experiment.
Late at night, I sat on the toilet book in lap, hoping that if I fall unconscious my mother will open the door and find me the next time, she has to use it.
I did one last check over deciding my pants should be around my ankles if I was found just sitting on the toilet it would be a tad bit odd.
With that done I took a hair sized string of chakra from the tenketsu at the very top of the head and guided it down to the prefrontal cortex and started cycling it then back to my tenketsu while thinking that I could afford to lose some short-term memory…
Nothing seemed to happen, I continued sending chakra through my brain and proceeded to read the book on my lap, again no noticeable success but no failure either, I figured no success would come from my half-assed attempt but continued nonetheless, I ran a second string of chakra to the hippocampus and repeated the process, I took a look at the book read a few sentences and looked away recalling them word for word vividly right away.
Success!
Overjoyed with my success I continued to flip through the book, slowing my perception, enhancing my short- and long-term memory, trying to see if I could memorize the whole book
It was working, I could recall everything I'd seen and read, a grin stretched across my face only to leave as quick as it came, I snapped the book closed and closed my eyes, a headache pounding behind my eyes, I felt extremely hungry and very tired.
I let out a sigh, a partial success, I put the book on the back of the toilet pulled up my pants and stumbled out of the bathroom, down the hall, and into the kitchen planning to quietly have a mid-night snack.
After a day of rest missing school and training in the process I was back to experimenting late at night.
Sadly it seems, much like how shadow clones cant slow their perception they can't use the memory enhancement as well, even with its obvious downsides id still call it a success, though my headaches seem to have slowly decreased the more I used it I believed I wouldn't ever be able to permanently use it.
It didn't allow me to view memory's only creating very vivid new ones, the short term memory enchantment only seemed to work with the long term enhancement and vise versa.
The Skill memory enhancement has yet to be tried, the book claimed that the cerebellum is responsible for learning and memorizing new motor skills like katas.
I believed that the Sharingan move copy thing probably had something to do with this part of the brain as well, I had high hopes that I could run around copying moves like I had a Sharingan but like the long-term memory enhancement didn't make pre-existing memories clearer the same most likely applied to the skill-memory part of the brain.
I spared a minute of thought on what I would name my memory enhancements but came up blank, I decided to end my night and perhaps come back the other memory enhancement later, maybe after id burned some medical texts into my brain.
...
A few weeks passed I was in my much too large classroom, in the protagonist's seat, burning a book about the respiratory system into my brain, no longer experiencing a headache for a couple of minutes of use.
I had made explosive progress in memorizing the medical books needed to use medical jutsu, compared to before when It took 6 months to memorize what is now 3 weeks memorization.
It was extremely impressive, some would call it extremely youthful.
Yes, I was very youthful indeed.
I spared a second to look at Gai, yes most youthful.
Id since added chakra scalpels to my medical jutsu repertoire, I've also started to practice something I call medical mode, which is just me circulating medical chakra around my body and speeding up my already impressive regeneration.
Improvement aside, I had very little experience using medical jutsu on humans, only animals, there pretty much the same thing, right?
Left.
I was sitting beside an extremely excited Gai, we were doing Konhoa's equivalent of a midterm test today to decide who moves up a grade who goes down, and who stays where they are.
I believe this is when Kakashi advances to the final grade to join what must be Obitos and Rins class.
I might advance as well, I've got some impressive taijutsu, average ninjutsu, impressive medical jutsu, but very mediocre written grades, as I never really paid attention and sometimes stopped halfway through assignments handing them in half blank when I got bored.
The written test was alright, if an answer took too long to write id half-ass it, I couldn't be bothered to explain my reasoning mainly due to general laziness.
I decided that I'd leave my advancement up to fate, and not try my hardest on the written test.
The tests were soon collected and the next part of the test started, we went through some physical exorcize, the teacher marking when a student dropped out, that finished we were lead back to the classroom, most of the class sweaty and miserable looking, Kakashi, Gai, and I standing out looking rather unruffled.
The final test started, slowly person after person left the room some returning some not, and midway through it was my turn, I was brought in to a cleared classroom and made to stand in Infront of a group of 3 teachers.
They made me go through the academy katas, then the academy 3, and told me to go to room 2A which I guess meant I passed and had been moved up.
I walked into my new classroom and stared at a brawling Kakashi and Obito, Who could only have been Rin tried to break up the fight with no success.
I ignored whatever that was and looked towards my favorite seat, only to find it already taken by a brown-haired average joe none the less.
I refocused back to the Hatake/Uchiha brawl and started thinking about ways to get average joe to give up my seat.
I was scared out of my thoughts by a loud.
"Break it up brats!"
From directly behind me.
Note to self: perhaps don't stand in doorways.
Its been three weeks since the academy's midterm, I of-course passed. Gai, did not.
Gai was extremely upset, a river of Youthful tears streamed down his face, and he promised to train ten times as hard to catch up to his most Youthful friend.
I asked Gai if he wanted me to wait for him so he could catch up to me, as I didn't mind doing so.
Gai answered with a Youthful no.
We had a rather touching moment
"Don't let anything stir you from your path you have drawn for yourself! Forge ahead until the end! Stick to it, Shiro! Make me proud! Be everything you can be"
Gai finished it with his nice guy pose, a thumbs-up, and a sparkle on his teeth.
"Thanks, Gai, that was extremely Youthful!"
I returned my nice guy pose, a double thumbs up.
Youth is infectious.
...
I stood alone in the center of training ground three white hair lightly blowing in the breeze, this training ground was the training ground the current third Hokage trained the Sannin, and where Kakashi will train his future team.
I figured that since this training ground birthed and will birth legends, that maybe some of that would rub off on me.
I recently wrote all I could remember from the Naruto timeline, only to immediately trash it afterward.
I figured that my presence has probably changed things and I shouldn't count on what I had seen to be accurate, seeing as it was 10ish years away anyway I didn't need to worry for a while.
I instead decided to make a timeline and burn it into my brain, though Kisimoto himself didn't know the timeline I thought id give it a shot
I put my birth about 15.5 years before the Nintales attack (BNT)
Gai, Rin, and Obito were at 17 BNT
Kakashi is about 2-3 years younger then than them so 15BNT
Kakashi graduates at 5, I put that at 9/10 BNT I wasn't sure.
Obito and Rin Graduate at 9YO 5ish BNT
Kakashi becomes Chunin, Obito does not… 5 BNT
Sumako "causes war" 4 BNT
Third shinobi war? 5-4 BNT
Sakumo dies 4 BNT
Itachi birth? 5 BNT
3rd Shinobi war for 2 years? 4-2 BNT
Obito "dies" meets old man Madara 1-2 BNT
Minato Hokage 1.5 ish Bnt
Naruto conceived 0.9 Bnt
And nine tales attack 0 NTA
I figured it was at least something close to that, Though I wondered what training Madara gave Obito that let him contend with the fourth Hokage in just 2 years.
Although the timeline was made with half-forgotten memories and patched together with shabby detective work I was somewhat confident that it was close. My only major problem seemed to be Itachi, I figured he was 5-7 years old when the nine tales attacked, but I wasn't sure.
Going by my current timeline if Kakashi graduates this year that means I had 4 or so years until the war.
That isn't a lot of time, when I had this realization I panicked for a while.
After stewing in panic for a while, I decided that it was time to get back to work.
I was standing alone in the center of what was called "The third training ground", white hair lightly blowing in the breeze, half blank, but soon to be filled war monument to my back.
This was the training ground the current third Hokage trained the Sanin, and where Kakashi will train his future team.
I figured that since this training ground birthed and will birth legends, that maybe some of that would rub off on me.
Anyway, I was here to practice the Body Flicker or Shunshin, while a clone practiced medical jutsu on the fish in the nearby river.
The Shunshin was pretty much enhancing your legs with chakra while pushing chakra onto the surface of your body to eliminate drag and resistance caused by the air around us, reducing the "limiters" the atmosphere puts on your speed which increasing your acceleration considerably.
Not hard which is why it is considered a D-Ranked Jutsu.
I was both normally using Shunshin and using it with my perception enhancement, now aptly named Chikaku kyōka.
It Is just Perception Enhancement in Naruto-verse Japanese, as one could tell I was very creative.
Using Chikaku kyōka, allowed great control during Shunshin, being unable to control the Shunshin was the reason ninja didn't use it in combat.
The exceptions being Shisui with his Sharingan and possibly A the Raikage with however he slowed his perception.
I believed the Raikage's Lightning armor was a Shunshin Lightning Release combo.
I hoped to achieve the speed both Shisui and A will be known for.
But I was having little luck, it seemed I wouldn't get instant speed.
My first problem was that the Shunshin was tiering.
Easy Peasy
Just build up my stamina, something I could do, though it was something that took time.
My second problem was that using the Shunshin only took my speed up to High-Chunin level, which was a great increase as it was Mid Genin level before.
I had expected I instantly jump to Jonin speed, but I guess my expectations were too high.
Again, the solution was simple I just had to build up my base speed.
No problem.
So, the solution to my problems seemed to be training…
Which was great as I loved simple solutions.
What was not great however was that any bodily training I was doing wasn't as effective as before.
I simply wasn't improving as fast as I once was, there's a limit to a five-year-old's body and it seems I've about reached it.
This is what caused me to think of the Shunshin in the first place.
And although I already had another solution, it wasn't one I was happy with.
Trying to stimulate or activate the pituitary gland.
The pituitary gland releases the human growth hormone which controls the physical growth of the body.
I certainly didn't have good enough medical knowledge to do so safely, and I didn't want to grow to 7ft tall and look like Sloth from the goonies.
I thought the body did good enough on its own.
I decided perhaps I should visit an expert, the good thing is I knew the most Youthful expert in Konoha.
Popping my clone and absorbing its memories I set off in search of said expert.
My trip to said expert was delayed, as he was out of Konoha on a mission.
I instead sought out Tokama, the next best but least Youthful expert I knew.
"…"
My trip to Tokuma was also delayed, a branch member told me that I had to attend a meeting with Elder Kakuzō tomorrow.
It seems that I won't find an answer to my problems today.
Or tomorrow for that matter.
I didn't know what the elder wanted, or who he was, I hoped fate would be merciful and I would not be ganged up on and sealed.
I was paranoia given human form.
I had faith I could kill a couple of people before they sealed me, maybe make them think twice about future sealings.
First, before any drastic action was taken, I had to go ask my mother who this Kakuzō was, and see if she knew what he wanted, as she was the child of an elder, I figured she might know who he was and what he wanted.
I arrived home and the moment of truth came.
"Mother, Elder Kakuzō requested my presence tomorrow"
"Hmm"
Thanks, very helpful…
"Could you tell me who he is, I'm unfamiliar with the name" I asked.
She slowly blinked at me and I blinked back in reply.
"The former clan head"
…
"Do you know what he wants with me?"
She blew a breath out of her nose, looked away, and said.
"Clan members are taught more about the Byakugan when they are deemed responsible enough"
I held back a relived breath from escaping my mouth and enjoyed the feeling of tension leavening my body.
I mumbled a quick "Thank you Oka-sama" and scurried away, wanting to escape to my room.
I heard a Muffled "Dress nicely tomorrow" as I closed my door
I always dress nicely
And by nicely I meant Youthfully.
When I tried to leave the next morning, I was stopped by my mother and promptly told to leave my Youthful Green jumpsuit at home.
I went back to my room without argument, putting on a black and gray yukata and finally leavening the house under my mothers approving gaze.
But the joke was on her, halfway to the elder's house I shed my yukata revealing my Youthful jumpsuit for the world to see.
You may be able to slow it down, but you can not stop the power of Youth!
I arrived at the elder's house knocked on the door and waited.
A branch member opened the door stepped to the side and made a motion for me to enter.
After taking off my shoes, I was led down the hall to a room and told to wait, I had a quick look around, admiring the calligraphy that hung on the wall, and then seated myself at the chabudai.
After very little time an old man with brown hair walked in, and then paused to admire my youthful attire, but then continued and sat cross-legged at the chabudai.
"Let's get started I have better things to do than teach you." He sneered at me.
Asshole
I being a Youthful gentleman, pleasantly smiled back.
"Yes Elder, let's not waste your time, after all, you don't have much left"
"Hmfp, Unlike the Sharingan, which do not manifest unless the users meet certain conditions, the Byakugan is present from the time of birth…"
The elder blabbered on, totally ignoring my verbal jab.
"…. Unlike a Sharingan that has been transplanted, the Byakugan when trained can be activated and deactivated at will, making it highly coveted, more so then the Sharingan…
Ah! Something I didn't know, maybe this will be worthwhile.
"Wielders of the Byakugan have a near-360º field of vision around themselves, save for a small blind spot at the back of the neck…"
I've changed my mind.
"The Byakugan's vision can penetrate almost any object, allowing users to see through walls, peer underground, or even examine the contents of a person's body, only certain barriers can block a Byakugan's sight."
The elder paused and took a sip of tea, that was provided by a branch member while he was talking.
"We use one of these barriers in every house in the compound for privacy"
The elder set his cup down took a deep breath and continued.
"Users of the Byakugan can focus their vision on anything and everything within the Byakugan's range, allowing them to monitor individuals from out of range or to quickly survey a vast area and pinpoint specific locations…"
'I'm not the only one that learned the telescopic vision, it seems common actually'
"…The exact range of the Byakugan varies between users but can be improved with training. The Byakugan can see chakra to a greater degree than the Sharingan…"
I felt a tinge of disgust at the smug look on his face when he said it.
"…This enables users to distinguish clones from their original and even identify specific individuals' chakra signatures…"
"…The Byakugans ability to see chakra is acute enough to see the chakra pathway system within a target's body and the 361 tenketsu that run along with it…"
"…Our clan devised the Gentle Fist style of combat specifically to take advantage of this ability, wherein they strike an opponent's tenketsu to either seal or forcibly open them, thus giving the user complete control over their opponent's chakra"
I waited for him to continue but it seems that was it.
"Any questions?"
Perhaps not.
"Yes Elder, what's the average range of the Byakugan?"
"The range of the Byakugan varies, sometimes being 22 meters and sometimes being 20 kilometers."
'That's not really what I asked, but ok.'
Time to get out of here.
Still seated I lightly bowed at the waist.
"Thank Elder for expanding my horizons, may I be excused?"
"Yes, leave my house" He shoed me with his hand.
I stood up, gave another small bow, and started to leave.
I figured id already dug myself a hole it didn't matter how deep it was anymore, I continued on my way throwing one last jab over my shoulder as I left.
"Thank you Elder, I admire how you don't care about how you come across."
Rudeness causes me to behave most unyouthfully.