HBWnovel 15. Thoughts About Hyuga vs Uchiha
15. Thoughts About Hyuga vs Uchiha
15. Thoughts About Hyuga vs Uchiha
And Hikari wasn't just relieved to be born into the Hyuga clan because he avoided the kind of extermination he would have faced if he had been reborn into the Uchiha clan for example.
He also believes that, in terms of their current strength and potential, at this point in time, the Hyuga clan is on par with the Uchiha clan. This is contrary to the popular belief held by readers in Hikari's previous life, who generally viewed the Uchiha as the stronger of the two.
After everything he learned in these few days, Hikari now considered the Byakugan to be a far more valuable dojutsu than the One-Tomoe Sharingan, and even more powerful in terms of pure vision and insight than even any higher version of the Sharingan in existence.
Sharingan's mastery of insight and vision differed from the Byakugan's in that it primarily involved 'superpower-like' pattern recognition and memory recollection of observed patterns.
This is why, historically, the Uchiha clan leaned heavily on skills like shinobi weapon throwing, kenjutsu, and, most importantly, ninjutsu, even developing strong affinities for fire, mainly, and lightning, secondary, releases over time.
Their vision facilitated the easy copying and learning of ninjutsu over generations, leading them to develop fighting skill sets around it, unlike the Hyuga, who, with their internal and 360-degree vision, honed the Gentle Fist technique and mainly used ninjutsu as a supplementary skill.
Therefore, while the Uchihas might not have had as diverse a range of visual abilities as the Byakugan, their unique talent allowed them to excel across various combat disciplines, truly mastering ninjutsu on a way higher level.
However, without the second gift from the Sharingan—a heightened affinity for Yin Release, which was related to genjutsu—the Uchiha would still have been outmatched by the Hyuga.
With this enhanced capability for genjutsu, the Uchiha became the strongest users of such techniques in the world, surpassing the Hyuga in this domain by far. So, only with their prowess in both ninjutsu and genjutsu could the Uchiha be on equal footing with the Hyuga.
That exact affinity for Yin Release and genjutsu was also why they got famous for being able to control 'Tailed Beats'.
In fact, Hikari classified the Sharingan more as a vehicle of 'Yin Release' affinity altogether rather than placing it in the same category as the Byakugan in terms of eyesight 'buffs'.
The requirement of experiencing strong emotional pressures to awaken the Sharingan spoke volumes to its true nature, aligning it more closely with Yin Release and spiritual elements rather than the eyesight and biological aspects characteristic of the Byakugan.
The clearest example of how the Byakugan is more 'biological' and the Sharingan more 'spiritual' can be seen in how easily the Byakugan was transplanted to a non-clan member, Ao, in the original story.
Ao could activate and deactivate the Byakugan at will and use it with minimal chakra expenditure, almost as if he were a native Hyuga.
In contrast, the Sharingan, when transplanted into non-Uchiha like Kakashi, proved to be much more challenging to use. It couldn't be turned off at will, controlled easily, and it drained significant amounts of chakra and caused fatigue, which limited Kakashi's potential.
This difference in usability led the Uchiha clan to not place any special jutsu to safeguard their eyes, unlike the Hyuga. The Uchiha likely felt secure in the knowledge that the Sharingan's demanding nature made it almost impossible for non-Uchiha shinobi to use it.
In fact, Hikari came to realize that there might not even be an evolution akin to the Mangekyo Sharingan for the Byakugan. Instead of having distinct, binary visual transformations, the Byakugan's power lay in its 'purity' and the potential for incremental improvement.
This understanding led Hikari to focus intensely on training his Byakugan, hoping to gradually unlock new abilities over time.
He entertained the hope that perhaps, with enough dedication and refinement of his dojutsu's purity, some new powers could manifest, possibly even suddenly overnight.
However, during the period when Hikari was born, there were no Mangekyo Sharingan holders in the Uchiha clan, unlike the decades before or after the original story. This unique situation meant that the Hyuga and Uchiha clans could genuinely be considered of similar strength.
Yet, the Uchiha, proud as they were, would never admit to this parity. Meanwhile, the Hyuga preferred to stay out of the limelight, adopting a strategic policy of keeping a low profile. As a result, this balance of power wasn't widely recognized among the general populace.
And this assessment didn't even take into account the possibility of the Hyuga clan harboring more hidden secrets or 'weapons', something Hikari theorized.
If his theory held true, then no one outside the few people placed at the top of the Hyuga clan truly knew the full extent of their comprehensive power in the Ninja World.
Regarding sociological factors that might influence the overall strength of the two clans, both had their share of internal issues.
The Uchiha clan, with its deep emotional ties to the Sharingan, experienced civil strife and internal conflicts throughout history, including notable divisions into 'doves' and 'hawks' in recent decades and the civil war during Madara's defection.
These ideological splits often led to tension and discord within the clan, impacting its unity and, by extension, its overall strength.
On the other hand, the Hyuga clan faced a different set of issues stemming from the division into Main and Side Branches which happened for some more tangible, mysterious reason in Hikari's speculation.
Over time, the Main Branch became somewhat complacent, indulging in the privileges and comforts that came with their status.
This indulgence led to a loss of the rigorous discipline and drive that might have propelled them to greater heights of power.
Conversely, members of the Side Branch often felt demoralized and oppressed, burdened by the Curse Seal, and aware that no matter how hard they trained, they would never be able to rise to the top of the clan hierarchy.
This resulted in a lack of motivation to push themselves to their limits. Meanwhile, the Main Branch lacked motivation for a different reason—they already had everything they needed and saw little reason to strive for more.
This lack of a 'middle ground' between the driven and the complacent further exacerbated the clan's internal issues, affecting its potential to grow stronger as a unified force as well.
This all also doesn't consider that the Hyuga clan didn't have powerful Indra and Ashura reincarnations every few generations that gave rise to many overpowered individuals inside of the Senju and Uchiha clans that made them considerably stronger than the Hyuga clan during the Warring States period for example, the last two being 'demigods' like Hashirama and Madara just a few decades ago and also probably the two strongest reincarnations.