Chapter 37: Byakuya's First Public Lecture, and the Unusual Audience!
The next morning, just as the sky began to brighten.
The various major clans of Konoha had already become lively.
The reason was simple.
Today was the day Byakuya would give his lecture.
Everyone was extremely curious about how Hinata suddenly obtained such tremendous power.
And they were all desperately eager to acquire that kind of strength themselves.
So—
These normally lofty and proud great clans were, for once, extraordinarily enthusiastic.
And it wasn't just the major clans who were excited.
People with more… unconventional identities were equally eager.
For example, the spies who had infiltrated Konoha from various villages.
And also the White Zetsu who had secretly transformed and slipped inside.
Through all sorts of means, these people had also managed to enter the large lecture hall for the public class.
Since the lecture hadn't started yet,
the members of the great clans sat in the classroom and chatted idly.
...
When Byakuya arrived at the large lecture hall, what greeted him was precisely this scene of lively chatter.
Seeing this, Byakuya didn't particularly mind.
After all, he was only here to fool them anyway.
However, the audience below turned out to be extremely cooperative.
The moment they saw Byakuya step up to the podium, everyone immediately fell silent.
The entire classroom became pin-drop quiet. Everyone was waiting for him to begin.
"Looks like it's about time."
Byakuya glanced calmly over the people in the room.
He saw members of the Hyūga clan, the Akimichi clan, the Nara clan, the Aburame clan...
and even people from the Kurama clan.
Basically, all the prestigious families of Konoha had shown up.
Beyond that,
there were also some Anbu standing guard both inside and outside the classroom,
verifying the identity of everyone who entered.
The whole thing looked quite solemn and formal.
Byakuya swept his gaze around once.
Then he paused slightly longer on the members of the Kurama clan.
"Since almost everyone who's coming has arrived, let's begin."
Byakuya spoke slowly.
Seeing that everyone below had already taken out notebooks and prepared to write,
he went straight into the lecture.
"A shinobi's strength is influenced by many different factors.
Today, we'll focus on one particular factor—chakra."
"Chakra
is generally composed of two types of energy.
The first is physical energy, drawn little by little from the 130 trillion cells in the human body.
The second is spiritual energy, cultivated through years of training and accumulated experience.
Through practice, people can increase the amount of chakra in their bodies.
However—
this increase has an upper limit.
Once a certain point is reached, it becomes impossible to raise it any further.
This is common knowledge.
So… how can one break through that limit, increase total chakra volume, and thereby raise their overall strength?"
Byakuya paused slightly.
He looked at the eager, shining eyes below, then smiled and continued his smooth deception—
"Generally speaking,
there are three methods.
The first is to evolve the Sharingan.
Upgrading the Sharingan greatly increases spiritual energy,
which in turn significantly boosts total chakra volume.
But since none of you have it, we'll skip that one.
The second is to obtain a tailed beast.
That one we'll also skip.
The third method is to use external assistance.
And this one… is actually achievable for everyone here.
So let's talk about this method in detail."
With that,
Byakuya turned around and began drawing on the blackboard.
A moment later, an extremely lifelike White Zetsu appeared on the board.
The White Zetsu sitting in the back row, who had been earnestly taking notes, suddenly froze.
A giant question mark popped up above his head.
...
"Everyone, look at this!"
Byakuya pointed at the board.
"This is a White Zetsu.
It is a very special kind of creature.
To call it a 'person' wouldn't be accurate—it's more precise to say it's a type of plant.
They are born from absorbing the essence of heaven and earth."
Byakuya continued: "Precisely because White Zetsu are so unique,
if a human is lucky enough to eat one,
they can greatly increase their total chakra volume!"
The White Zetsu in the back row, who already had one question mark, now had three question marks and one exclamation mark floating above his head.
...
"Byakuya-sensei!"
A young member of one of the great clans raised his hand and asked,
"Then, where should we go to find White Zetsu?"
"Excellent question."
Byakuya nodded in approval.
"White Zetsu are a species I once read about in an old book.
They are born from the God Tree of chakra.
Extremely nourishing.
However… the God Tree of chakra has long since disappeared from this world.
So finding a White Zetsu nowadays is, frankly, incredibly difficult."
The White Zetsu in the back, who now had four question marks and one exclamation mark, suddenly sprouted ten more question marks.
...
"Byakuya-sensei!"
Another clan youth raised his hand.
"What exactly is this God Tree of chakra?"
"The God Tree of chakra is something from legend.
According to the tales,
all the chakra in the world originally came from the God Tree.
Later, the tree bore a single fruit.
When a woman named Ōtsutsuki Kaguya saw that fruit, she couldn't hold back—
and ate it in one bite.
After that, she gained godlike power.
And she also became the very first shinobi!
It is said that the chakra flowing in all of our bodies today originated from her."
The White Zetsu in the back row, whose head was already covered in question marks, now had countless exclamation marks exploding above him.
"He… he knows all this!?
Just what is his goal!?"
The White Zetsu looked at Byakuya with eyes full of terror.
Black Zetsu's plan was on the verge of success.
If something went wrong at this critical moment…
they would probably be finished!
...
Meanwhile, the many students attending the lecture were feeling quite frustrated.
Because none of the methods Byakuya had just described were actually usable for them.
"Byakuya-sensei, how did Hinata-sama manage to increase her chakra volume so dramatically?"
Hearing the question,
Byakuya smoothly delivered the answer he had prepared long ago.
"That's because Hinata possesses an extremely rare and special constitution.
It's called the Sage Body!
People with this constitution
don't show much in the early stages.
But as training time accumulates,
their total chakra volume can grow almost without limit.
As long as they keep cultivating, their chakra will skyrocket.
And Hinata is precisely someone with this kind of ability."
"Ohhh!"
Everyone's eyes instantly filled with envy.
Although they had no idea what the Sage Body was, nor how to tell who possessed it,
that didn't stop them from feeling jealous.
"As expected of the Hyūga clan, one of the great families~"
"Yeah~
To think they still had such a thing passed down~"
"So enviable…"
...
The class passed quickly—Byakuya finished fooling them in no time.
And the effect was quite good.
The people in the village no longer obsessed over exactly how Hinata's chakra had suddenly exploded in volume.
What's more,
a strange new trend emerged in the village: the "White Zetsu Hunting Movement."
Which allowed Byakuya to harvest a massive wave of plot points for free.
A perfect outcome.
He was in a very good mood.
However—
the mood of that particular White Zetsu was… extremely bad.
Carrying a face full of confusion, he left Konoha,
found Zetsu,
and reported every single detail of the intelligence he had gathered, word for word.