Chakra Control Exercise № 8: Waterfall Walking.

Difficulty Rating: 7/10

Exercise similar in concept to the Water Surface Walking Exercise, however, instead of walking on still water, the individual walks up on a moving waterfall.

Chakra Control Exercise № 9: Kunai / Senbon Balancing.

Difficulty Rating: 8/10

A kunai or senbon is placed on the tip of the index finger with its sharp end towards the skin and is held there with chakra. Warning, it is recommended to master all previous exercises in this manual before attempting this and the following ones.

Chakra Control Exercise № 10: Multiple Kunai / Senbon Balancing.

Difficulty Rating: 9/10

Similar in concept to the Multiple Leaf Sticking Exercise, increasing the number of kunai will increase the effectiveness of the previous exercise, as well as making it noticeably harder to perform.

Chakra Control Exercise № 11: Performing the previous exercises simultaneously.

Difficulty Rating: 10/10

Like in the exercise before, similar to performing the Leaf Sticking Exercise or the Multiple Leaf Sticking Exercise at the same time as the Water Surface Walking Exercise, almost all of the previous exercises can be combined.

A few examples: Combining the Kunai / Multiple Kunai Exercise with the Water Walking, Vertical Surface Walking, and Waterfall Walking.

I slammed the book shut, feeling incredibly satisfied. It had been worth every penny.

I took the earphones out of my ears and took in the view before me. The entire Hidden Leaf Village could be seen from where I was sitting. The setting sun made for a breathtaking view.

Looking down at the rock sculpture I was sitting on, that of Tobirama Senju, my respect for the first two Hokages and Madara Uchiha grew quite a bit.

They truly managed to create something beautiful in this rather bleak world.

Even if one of them had gone off the deep end after doing so and even tried to destroy it

The cold wind blew my hair as my thoughts drifted to the events that transpired two months ago.

What had been dubbed as 'The Hyuga Affair,' now classified as a B Rank secret that, as far as I was aware, only the Hokage, his personal ANBU guard, his two advisors, the other clan heads, Hiashi, a few selected Main branch members and maybe Hinata knew about.

And Danzo, that guy probably knew every secret in the village.

I knew all of this because of the surprise visit an ANBU had paid me two days after my father's funeral to inform me and my mother that we were not to speak of the incident to anyone until further notice or face serious consequences.

It didn't bother me, I did not want to talk to anyone about it.

I thought back to the second night after Hizashi had 'passed away'.

I stared at my mother as we ate dinner in silence, what should I do? I wanted to comfort her but simply didn't know how.

"Are you feeling ok Mother?" She raised her head to look at me, the sadness was clear in her eyes, "I ah… I'm sorry this happened, Neji." "Don't say you're sorry Mom, it's not your fault."

"I know… It's just…" "It's alright," I said as I got up and hugged her.

We hugged each other for some time as she started crying.

I shook my head attempting to brush the sad memory away. Getting up by performing a kick-up, I stuck my foot on the rocky wall I'd been resting my back on while reading and started descending the Hokage Monument, sparing a glance at the younger of the two Senju brothers before moving again.

It was time to go back home.

I looked around as other kids shuffled in lines made of 5 each, forming a square of 5 by 5. I glanced back to look at my mother, waving as she smiled at me. Just as expected, I did not recognize anyone here, except for a girl with her hair styled in two buns and a boy who, while not yet sporting what would become his iconic bowl cut in the future, could still be easily recognized thanks to his incredibly bushy brows.

It didn't take long for the Third Hokage to walk from inside the Academy building, dressed in his red and white Hokage robes and wearing the legendary red hat.

A probably very welcoming speech that I didn't bother paying attention to later, two Chunins told us to follow them to what would be our class for the next five years.

I hoped the Academy wouldn't be as boring as I expected, and even if it wasn't, I was still planning on graduating earlier.

"Neji dear, what are you doing?" I glanced up to look at my mother leaning on my room's door, which the floor was currently covered in papers with notes taken from my science book for my upcoming test tomorrow.

"Oh, I'm just revising for tomorrow's exam," I replied.

It was partially true.

The fact was that the Ninja Academy was hard.

Learning how to read and write was skipped, assuming that if a parent wanted their kid to become a Ninja, it was up to them to teach their kids that before they joined the Academy.

Some of the stuff we were learning in math, science, and biology was incredibly advanced for seven-year-olds, it even left me struggling from time to time, not so much because it was hard but because of the speed we were moving from one topic to another.

We were basically being taught everything that would be covered in six years in elementary school back in my old world, but in one single year, along with ninja subjects like shuriken, hand seals, etc.

Some kids had dropped out after the third week, but most of my classmates of civilian origin surprisingly managed to keep up, which confirmed my theory that just having chakra enhanced not only your physical ability but your brain power too.

"But does it need to be spread out like that?" I looked at my mom with pleading eyes, "Sorry Mom, it's a learning technique I read about last week."

That was total bullshit. While I was enjoying going to school this second time around a lot more, as school was far more enjoyable when your attention span was not that of a kid and you already knew a lot of the subjects' material, I did not want to risk it. I wanted perfect scores in everything.

I'd always been a perfectionist back in my old life, and it seemed that Neji had also possessed that trait to a degree, so when we became 'one', our obsession with everything being perfectly organized and flawless had grown to what were probably redundant levels.

My head perked up as I realized something.

Was that why I was so fixated on obtaining 'perfect' chakra control?

Maybe, but it wasn't such a harmful obsession anyway, at least in my opinion.

If anything, it was a good trait. Right?

Which was why, by taking advantage of the Byuakugan's ability to see from very far away with incredible precision, I had devised the ultimate cheating technique.

While the precision needed to read a close book or scroll was still beyond me, and something I suspected only the very best in the Hyuga clan history had been able to do, by leaving notes spread across my room's floor I could circumvent the small issue.

Leaving the window open was the second to last step of my self-proclaimed genius idea, done to get around how the Byakugan could not see through the walls of the Hyuga compound.

The last step was to activate the Dojutsu and use the Transformation technique to hide away the small changes in my eyes when the Byakugan was active as well as the veins around my eyes before leaving home, and I had an undetectable way to cheat in all my upcoming exams.

I wondered why there wasn't a history of Hyugas from past generations getting perfect scores on all their exams. I could only assume it was either because of a lack of ingenuity or because they were just too prideful to cheat.

Such things were below me, however.

"Alright... But when you get back from class tomorrow, you're cleaning the entire house." I sighed and smiled, "Okay..."

I needed to be the perfect son if I wanted the gift I'd asked for my future eight birthday.

A calligraphy practice kit and books on the subject.

Music played in my ears from the cassette player safely stored in one of the zipped pockets on the gray jacket I was wearing.

I bobbed my head to the song's rhythm as I swung back and forth on the iconic swing outside the Academy, eying this year's new students.

Everyone was easily recognizable, from a lonely blonde to a pink-haired girl, a tired-looking boy with a pineapple hairstyle talking to a fat kid, my half-sister Hinata, as well as the second son of the head of the Uchiha Clan, everyone from the rookie 9 was here.

Along with their parents of course.

It was quite interesting really. Had every single Clan Head in Konoha agreed to have kids at the same time? If so, the word 'weird' was not enough to describe it.

I took my eyes off the boys and girls one year younger than me to stare at the future Akatsuki member and current ANBU member, Itachi Uchiha.

The man definitely had an aura about him. Sasuke was now seven years old, which meant that the Uchiha massacre was going to happen this very year. So there was a chance that Itachi was already thinking of what he would have to do soon and what his future would be like.

It made me feel a bit disturbed that I felt so excited about the upcoming tragedy, one where hundreds would perish and an innocent boy would be traumatized forever. I, on the other hand, was feeling excited.

Excited to prove myself, to prove that I was built to deal with the shinobi lifestyle, and that I wouldn't freeze again at the sight of danger.

That I was not a failure.

The second year of the Academy introduced a new subject.

Taijutsu training.

And with Taijutsu training came something I quickly came to love, sparring with the other students.

Sparing felt good, physical activity just felt good in general, but spars and normal fights -despite the fact I'd never been in a real one- felt even better.

The sound of my heart in my ears. The vibrations through my hands on contact when hitting your opponent just right. My breathing became more unsteady the longer the fight lasted. Even the taste of blood in my mouth when I got caught with a good hit. It was truly an intoxicating feeling.

And the best part, after a fight was over, was seeing your opponent on the ground. His ego and pride shattered at your feet, while yours only grew.

I realized how childish and almost psychopathic it was of me. Wow, look at me, a 19-year-old man with multiple years of Taijutsu training under the Clan in Konoha that was famous for its Kekkei Genkai that enhanced their Taijutsu beating the crap out of eight-year-old kids with no prior training.

My only defense was that physically speaking, I was in the body of an eight year old too. I followed that train of thought. I'd been 19 when I died, but by now I'd lived 3 years as Neji Hyuga and now thought of myself as him, my old name long forgotten, so was I technically 22?

Everything turned white for a split second as I felt a fist strike me on the left cheek, sending me rocketing to the ground, hitting my head against it hard.

Note to self, never get distracted during a fight.

I opened my eyes, the world around me spinning uncontrollably. My opponent had really rocked my shit.

The boy kept looking down at me with a grin on his face as my vision slowly became less blurry. The kid I had been paired against was the only one in my class who could even push me slightly in a physical fight, a male Uchiha that I never bothered to learn the name of.

I gave him an obviously fake smile as I got up, then dusted myself off.

Maybe I should let him win all of our spars from now on to make him happy, a sort of gift before his death.

Well maybe not all of them, that would just look suspicious, but most.

I heard whispers from my classmates, things about genius and whatnot, and that maybe my previous undefeated streak had been pure luck.

After my perfect scores in every subject in my first year, people had begun labeling me as a genius and a prodigy.

I'd even heard someone call me the Hyuga Itachi. I tried to not let the praise get to my head but I would be lying if I said that it didn't feel good to have people talk about you in a positive light.

It was not really true however, Itachi had already graduated at my age and was probably way stronger than me when he was eight.

"The fight is over! Now both of you make the Seal of Reconciliation," our Sensei commanded.

We both did without complaining, "I was distracted, but you still got me good, congratulations."

The Uchiha boy without a name stared at me before responding. "You're weird," he said before walking away, giving me his back.

"Yes, no point in learning the name of a walking corpse." I thought grimly as I stared at the Uchiha symbol on the clothes of my classmate.

I looked at my special notebook that could only be opened by me with a bored expression.

Uchiha Massacre Data.

- Happened after sunset, but before Sasuke made his way back to the Uchiha compound

- Itachi kills parents then waits for Sasuke inside their room

- Sasuke runs out and Itachi follows

- Obito takes out police force

- Likely bodies are taken by both him and Zetsu from the police force for their 'Sharingan collection'

- Itachi knocks out Sasuke then goes to speak with Hiruzen and then to Danzo or vice versa

- The Uchiha Compound is relatively big, but not huge, probably around 800 meters

More things were written but those were the important points.

Unlike Obito, I didn't own a secret hideout where I could store dozens of bodies, so the objective was getting a single pair of 3 tomoe sharingan.

"Hmm..." I murmured as I scratched my cheek with the pencil in my hand, an idea coming to me that I wrote on another page of the notebook.

Get a badass hideout somewhere somehow.

I thought back to a few months ago when the new year at the Academy had begun. When I'd seen Sasuke and his family together for the first and probably last time.

"Hmm, shouldn't the leader of the clan have the best eyes?"

Yes, Fugaku Uchiha. Didn't he also have the Mangekyo Sharingan?

A plan started forming in my head. From everything I knew, Itachi was not a sensor type, so staying at least around 250 meters away from him would make it impossible for him to detect me. The timing was also great, I could look from afar with the Byakugan and when Sasuke ran from his parent's room and Itachi followed him, I could silently sneak in, grab Fugaku's eyes, and get out of there while the two Uchihas were occupied.

"It will have to do, I guess."

The Byakugan was truly the greatest ability one could have when it came to stealth and gathering information, as well as how much it increased the user's multitasking capabilities.

I could be at the Academy, listening to a lecture about the Second Great Ninja War while actively looking at Shisui Uchiha train on the other side of the village.

As long as he was alive and well, the massacre would not happen. Shisui's death would indicate when the Uchiha clan's time was near its end.

My body started falling as I stopped the flow of chakra to my feet that had been holding me upside down on a tree branch while keeping the pencil balanced on my index finger with chakra just like the guide had said to do.

The fight had been fascinating to watch. Shisui had tried his best, but his best had not been enough. He'd been training for an hour before being ambushed by eight Root ANBU members.

Shisui had managed to take three down before one got him with a poison bomb, sealing his fate.

Even poisoned, Shisui had kept going for a while, taking down another Root ANBU member before the old war hawk, Shimura Danzo, joined the fight. Despite being in his late 50s, the Root leader possessed some very impressive speed and strength.

It had been too much for the poisoned Uchiha to handle, before long, an eye was ripped out of his socket.

The fight didn't last long after that, only ending when Shisui decided to use his trump card.

The Susano'o helped him get away but disappeared shortly after making its grand appearance. The green avatar simply consumed too much chakra.

After that, I decided to not keep looking. I already knew what would happen.

Itachi would show up to hear Shisui's last words and receive his other Sharingan before he committed suicide and drove Itachi to awaken his Mangekyo Sharingan.

All of this just meant the day of the massacre was very close.

It was a bloodbath.

Itachi carved his way through the streets of the Uchiha clan compound like a knife through butter, while on the other side, a man with a special mask that not even the Byakugan could see through killed dozens of Uchiha ninjas at the Konoha Police Force Headquarters.

I felt my stomach almost force my launch out just from seeing so much carnage, but I forced it down.

I expanded my area of sight, looking for any other bystanders, but finding none. It left me feeling anxious, had all ANBU members been given orders to stay away from the compound for undisclosed reasons? Or did the location of the clan grounds help with how no one was around to sense hundreds of people dying?

Ultimately, it was probably the small time frame that played the most crucial role in how the massacre had gone unnoticed. In just around 40 minutes, the entire Clan had been driven to almost extinction.

My focus moved to Sasuke. The poor child was getting ready to return home after training his shuriken jutsu, completely unaware of what awaited him.

I then focused my Byakugan to inspect underground, attempting to find a certain half-white half-black humanoid figure, but could not see anything.

It made me feel paranoid, was there an enemy my All Seeing White Eye could not see?

Hmm… maybe the creature known as Zetsu was just not here.

My eyes moved to look at the Police Force Headquarters again. Obito had already killed everyone in the building and was now transporting the corpses of his victims to his pocket dimension by touching them one by one. I kept staring at him for around 8 minutes, which is the time it took him to collect all twenty members of the Police Force before transporting himself to his pocket dimension.

"That means Obito came out of the Uchiha massacre with a whooping 40 three tomoe Sharingan… "

Which meant Obito could, theoretically, use Izanagi 40 times.

How very troublesome.

I felt a sting of jealousy as I thought of all the stupid, overpowered abilities the Sharingan gave to its user.

In the end, I reasoned that while the Sharingan could not be beaten when it came to raw power, it was the Byakugan that came on top for more general-purpose stuff thanks to its more diverse set of abilities.

"Beggars can't be choosers." I thought to myself.

With Obito seemingly gone from the picture, I concentrated on what Itachi was doing. He was in his parents' bedroom, talking with the last two Uchihas that would die today.

"Not to self, learn how to read lips." Even if I didn't know what they were saying, I could imagine what it was.

The tanto in Itachi's hand trembled, tears falling from his face.

"What a horrible existence..." I thought with sadness as Itachi raised his sword and gave his parents a deep and long cut across their backs that ended their lives.

"How can any sane person keep living with themselves after murdering their parents?" Guess that just showed the type of mental fortitude Itachi possessed, or how he was a bit insane.

Itachi just sheathed his sword and stood completely motionless for a while. Even If I couldn't possibly imagine what was going through his mind, I presumed he would stay like that until Sasuke arrived.

About 10 minutes passed before a trembling child slowly opened the door of his parent's room.

The Byakugan allowed me to see everything in perfect detail as If I was in the very room with them instead of 200 meters away. The two brothers exchanged words for a while when an expression of pure horror spread across Sasuke's face as he dropped to his knees.

Sasuke seemed to ask his older brother something, his face becoming even more pale at Itachi's reply, and then ran out of the room and house.

A grin spread across my face as a few seconds later, Itachi disappeared from the room in a flash. "Chance!"

I quickly made my way to the main Uchiha household, jumping from roof to roof while wearing the ANBU costume I'd bought 2 years ago.

Landing on the roof as silently as I could, I stuck my hand to the window using chakra and soundlessly opened the sliding window. With a dash, I kneeled beside the body of Fugaku Uchiha, grabbed its shoulder, and turned his body around so I could look at his face.

The smell of blood and the soulless eyes of the man who seemed to be staring at me made my stomach churn once again, but I suppressed the feeling.

There was work to be done.

I grabbed the two vials that I'd bought seemingly so long ago from my shinobi pouch and put them down on the floor next to Fugaku's head. Then I used my left hand to hold open the eyelid of the right eye as far as I could. Subsequently, I placed my index and middle finger inside the upper eyelid and my thumb inside the lower eyelid.

It was a strange sensation, like sticking your fingers into rotten fruit.

After a few seconds, feeling comfortable in my grip and that I wouldn't damage the eye when removed, I simply applied some pressure before pulling my arm back.

The sound the eye made as it was removed from its socket was sickening. It was the third and the closest moment this night I almost puked, but I managed to hold it once again.

I used my left hand to open the container with "right" written on tape on it and carefully dropped the eye inside. Quickly closing the container, I stared at it for five seconds as the eye floated in the semitransparent green liquid.

The process was equally as unpleasant for the left eye, but this time I at least did not gag.

I cursed as I looked down at my right hand after screwing the other vial, 3 of my fingers utterly covered in blood.

Making my way out of the room using the same window I got in, I jumped to get as far away from the "crime scene" as fast as I could manage without making a lot of noise.

Feeling safe enough after dropping into a dark alley around 180 meters away, I used my Byakugan to try and find Itachi and Sasuke. To my surprise, it seemed the operation hadn't taken as long as I'd thought, as Itachi was now standing a few meters before Sasuke in one of the streets filled with bodies of the compound.

Once again, I was amazed by how great the Byakugan was for reconnaissance and espionage.

Who wants to be a sensor when you can just see for kilometers in whatever direction you desire and have 360-degree vision?

The elder of the two Uchihas said something, then I tensed as I saw a large amount of chakra concentrating on Itachi's eyes as they turned from the usual 3 tomoe to the Mangekyo Sharingan, putting Sasuke under the legendary Genjutsus known as Tsukuyomi.

The special Genjutsu began and ended in just one second.

I swallowed with difficulty as Sasuke seemed to let out a scream that I could almost hear just by looking at his face, then fell flat on his face and stomach. Unconscious.

I grimaced at the thought of a seven-year-old child suffering under one of the most powerful Genjutsu in the world.

There was unnecessary and then there was this.

Itachi stayed still looking down at his brother, then made a one-handed seal and disappeared.

The veins around my temples retracted as I deactivated my Byakugan. No point in following Itachi anymore.

I smiled, Mission Completed Successfully.