“That isn’t much better than the original,” I observed dryly.
She giggled. “Well, I’m not sure if I can squeeze it down any further. That’s just showing my primary attention focus, which is what I had back when I was a genin. These days I run eight or nine viewpoints at once, at least when I’m not concentrating on a divination zone, but I don’t think there’s any sensible way to render the rest in two dimensions. Wait, I remember it used to be hard to integrate moving views, is that a problem for you?”
She was so deliberately clueless I had to laugh.
“Ok, sweetie, you got me. Yes, I’ve always wondered what the world looks like to you, and now I’m amazed you can make sense of it. But you’re not going to convince me you don’t even know what normal vision is like. I know the Byakugan doesn’t activate until a few years after you’re born, and besides you were wearing my body for five weeks a couple of loops ago. So can I please have a view that shows what a normal person would see?”
“Um, no?” She admitted. “I haven’t been able to see like that since I was seven. The first time the demon stuffed me into a normal body I thought I was blind at first, until I remembered how to make sense of just seeing the outsides of things. But I suppose I can fix a secondary focus in front of my face and show you that. Or better yet…”
The view stopped spinning, and settled down into a position above and behind her head. Everything was still weirdly translucent, but the colors were more normal and now I could see both Hinata and her surroundings. That was much better, and I said so, but a minute later I realized it contradicted something I thought I’d understood.
“Wait, I thought the Byakugan was like x-ray vision. What’s this business about viewpoints, and how can you park one behind your head facing towards you?”
“Oh, that’s just misinformation we’ve leaked to confuse out enemies,” Hinata explained. “The truth is the Byakugan gives perfect perception of the entire volume of space-time within range of the user’s chakra, unless you’re born with a blind spot like Neji. Most Hyuuga have a range of a few hundred yards, and then we can view the light hitting the edge of that bubble to get something more like normal vision of things beyond our range. But of course that’s far more information than the human mind can assimilate, so we practice making an imaginary viewpoint that can zoom around in that sea of information and find what we’re looking for. Children start out with a pair of viewpoints located near their eyes, but with practice we learn to manage more of them and put them wherever we want.”
“I see,” I said. “So it’s sort of like having invisible, flying cameras that you can look through. Then what was that about divination zones?”
She slipped out the window and started towards the Hyuuga compound.
“The viewpoints are a beginner’s tool. There are clan techniques that let you actually take in a full understanding of the space immediately around you instead. The range is much smaller, but it lets you understand everything that’s happening at once.”
“Ah, so that’s how you do it. I was wondering how you hit all those snakes so fast. But if you do that, and then flood your brain with chakra to speed up your perception of time…”
“Then you can hit thousands of targets in the blink of an eye,” Hinata confirmed proudly. “Not to mention that I can use a specialized version of body flicker to teleport my limbs where I want them to be instead of moving them normally. All our best jyuuken attacks are built around that concept.”
So that was why I hadn’t heard any sonic booms when she fought Orochimaru, even though she was moving faster than I could. The critical weakness of Body Flicker is the fact that you need a good mental picture of the geometric relationship between your start and end points, and it takes most ninja a few seconds of careful observation and concentration to achieve the necessary level of clarity. I was good enough to do it much faster, but I still had to either see my destination or have it picked out in advance. But a divination zone would give a Hyuuga the necessary information for every point within range, constantly, with no extra attention or effort. No wonder they were so fast! When it looked like they were teleporting around an opponent, it was because they actually were.
I contemplated the implications as Hinata assumed her old, meek demeanor and entered her clan compound. She visited her room briefly, strolled through a side garden, nodded to one of the guards and ambled down a walkway that led past the door to the secure wing. Time to move.
I split into two aspects, and as Hinata nodded pleasantly to the guards each of us flew through the seals of the Mind-Body Switch Technique. The guards froze in place as we possessed them both.
I slapped a Total Paralysis technique on my victim as my other aspect did the same to hers, and Hinata laid her hand on the door. Apparently she’d tortured the details out of her old man at some point, because she opened the lock with the ease of long practice. I released the possessions and snapped back into Hinata’s mindscape, leaving the sentries frozen but unharmed as she stepped through the door and closed it behind us.
Five minutes later she held a strange little device that looked more like some kind of super-advanced technology that an example of divine magic. Hinata flipped it open to reveal a set of numbered buttons and a miniature display panel, which lit up with a welcome message as it played a cheery little tune.
“That thing must have some amazing seal work in it,” I commented as I pulled out Astoria’s card. “Can you see how it works?”
“Actually, I don’t see any chakra in it at all,” Hinata admitted. “Just a battery, a tiny radio and some impossibly miniaturized electronics. I think there’s actually a computer in it, but I can’t imagine how anyone could form billions of microscopic circuits into the surface of a sliver of silicon like that.”
I contemplated the idea for a moment, impressed despite myself. “You know, there’s something really weird about the idea that the kami are more hi-tech than we are. Are you sure this thing works?”
“No, but I know previous clan heads have used it a few times,” Hinata replied. “Supposedly you just press this button, then type the number, and then hold it to your ear and talk into it like a radio set. Do you have the number?”
She pressed buttons as I read off the numbers, since I wouldn’t have been able to see well enough to do it myself with her eyes. Then she held the little device to her ear, and let me take over.
“Office of the Sysadmin, Orion Arm Division. How may I help you?” Came Astoria’s voice from the tiny speaker.
“Astoria? This is Sakura, the girl from the time loop? If this is a good time I can give you that signature you wanted.”
“Sakura? I don’t know anyone named Sakura. Wait, did you say something about a time loop? Hold on, let me check my task list. Ok, yes, I see my notes now. It looks like I did a memory save on myself after we talked, so just give me a moment to do a context load. Hmm. Oh, I see! Yes, hello Sakura, I’m glad you called. Wow, you were right about the loop. If you can sign my report today I can file it almost two weeks before the incident even happens. That’ll put me above quota for the month unless something really crazy goes wrong. Well, I take it you don’t have off-world privileges yet?”
“Um, no?”
“That’s ok,” she reassured me. “Skuld-sama’s pretty cool about letting junior goddesses use the transport system. Let me just run a trace here… ok, I’ve got your location. Wow, one of the dark worlds? No wonder they don’t let you travel, there’s a class two security barrier around your whole sector. Things must be kind of grim over there with no doublet system and the demons running rampant. I don’t even have an address for your local pantheon.”