The shonen action anime series Naruto regularly expanded upon its incredible combat system, starting with basics like substitution jutsu and kunai knives and then moving on to incredible ninjutsu and even the likes of hiden jutsu and kekkei genkai. As Naruto's power levels rose, the story started adding powerful eye-based jutsu, with the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Rinnegan being the three greatst dojutsu of all. The first two were introduced fairly early on, and they were treated as counterparts.
While the Sharingan is the trademark of the Uchiha clan, such as Naruto's shonen-style rival Sasuke Uchiha, the famed Byakugan is the iconic dojutsu of the esteemed Hyuga clan. There is plenty to learn about how the Byakugan works in ninja-based combat, who uses it and how, and even how the Byakugan impacted Naruto's storyline and themes. The Byakugan is also example of what happens when an anime's power scaling starts getting out of control, unfortnately for all Byakugan users.
How Does the Byakugan Work in Naruto?
The Byakugan Allow Its User to Perceive Things in far Greater Detail
The Byakugan eye originated from the Otsutsuki clan, but later became the primary dojutsu of the Hyuga clan, one of the most prominent ninja families in the entire Hidden Leaf Village. While the Sharingan is the all-seeing red eye, the Byakugan is the all-seeing white eye. Both dojutsu have the obvious function of seeing and perceiving more things than ordinary shinobi can with mundane eyeballs, but the Sharingan and Byakugan work in different ways.
Notably, while a Sharingan or Rinnegan's user will awaken those dojutsu at some point in their lives, anyone who inherits the Byakugan kekkei genkai is born with it, and the Byakugan is always visible. A Sharingan can visibly be turned on and off, while a Byakugan is a permanent physical trait of a ninja who bears this dojutsu. The Byakugan only fully activates on command, but the white/lavender quality of the eyes is always there.
One of the main uses of the Byakugan eye is to see and perceive things in far greater detail than ordinary ninjas can. With the Byakugan, a ninja almost has telecopic vision, able to see people and other objects from some distance away. The exact effective distance varies based on the individual and how much training they have, because in Part I, Neji Hyuga could see things up to 50 meters away with his Byakugan eyes, but after the anime's time skip, his range was 800 meters or more.
Kaguya Otsutsuki, being an otherworldly being with near-divine power, could see almost the entire world with her Byakugan. While used this way, a Byakugan's user can see through barriers and obstacles, even more so than a Sharingan user can. This is excellent for locating a hidden enemy or detecting would-be ambushers, among other uses. The Byakugan has practically no blind spots, either.
When activated, Byakugan eyes can see in a 360 degree dome around the user, with only a narrow, cone-shaped blind spot stemming from one of the user's upper vertebra. Only a precise, well-timed attack can slip through that blind spot in the heat of combat to fool the Byakugan's user and strike a blow. Otherwise, a Byakugan user is impossible to surprise with sudden ambushes or attacks from unexpected angles.
One of the most effective and memorable uses of the Byakugan is to see the flow of chakra in another person, more so than a Sharingan user can. Not only that, a trained Byakugan user can see the chakra pathway system, which is almost like a vascular system for chakra, including the 361 tenketsu, or pressure points. Seeing all that allows a Byakugan user to determine if the subject is using genjutsu, but there's more to it.
On offense, a Byakugan user can use that vision as a reference to perform unique taijutsu called the Gentle Fist style. The physical movements and chakra flow of Gentle Fist may not be a kekkei genkai, but the Gentle Fist style does rely on the Byakugan's sight, so Gentle Fist only delivers results when paired with this dojutsu. Thus, only the Hyuga clan trains with the Gentle Fist style, making it an example of a hiden jutsu.
A Byakugan user can then use Gentle Fist to precisely strike the opponent's pressure points to manually open or close them, thus altering the flow of chakra in their opponent. In most cases, such as in battle, Gentle Fist is used to close all of the opponent's pressure points, blocking off their flow of chakra and rendering them unable to use ninjutsu, genjutsu, or any other technique that calls for chakra usage.
Thus, ninjas who rely heavily on jutsu are rendered nearly helpless unless they happen to be handy with weapons or taijutsu as backup options. Notably, the Gentle Fist technique cannot block off a jinchuriki's Tailed Beast chakra, so the Byakugan isn't truly foolproof. That is a rare exception, however. In most cases, the Byakugan is a fearsome dojutsu that can make quick work of most opponents with detection and Gentle Fist.
Who Are Notable Users of the Byakugan and How Do They Use It?
Some Notable Users Are: Neji Hyuga, Hinata Hyuga, & Ao
The Naruto anime had more prominent Sharingan users than Byakugan users, so fans were given far fewer examples of how the Byakugan can be used and how it can vary from one character to another. Still, Naruto at least gave anime fans a few major examples so they can see how this dojutsu works. Arguably, the "main" Byakugan user is Neji Hyuga, Hinata's cousin. Neji and Hinata both introduced the Byakugan in the Chunin Exam story arc, with them using during their brief yet intense duel in the Forest of Death's tower.
They both used Gentle Fist against one another with their Byakugans activated, but after winning, Neji did far more in his next match against Naruto Uzumaki. Neji would demonstrate the Byakugan's strengths and weaknesses in even greater detail during his battle against Kidomaru in the Sasuke retrieval story arc. Neji Hyuga didn't hold back when he fought Naruto Uzumaki in their memorable duel of Byakugan vs Shadow Clones.
In a way, that duel was like Gaara vs Rock Lee 2.0, a fierce clash of natural talent vs hard work, with the Byakugan being the "hard work" side of things. In that battle, Neji activated his Byakugan and used it to guide his Eight Trigams 64 Palms style, one of the most advanced forms of Gentle Fist, and Naruto Uzumaki was helpless before it. With deadly precision and insight, Neji Hyuga struck all of Naruto's chakra points, and for a moment, it seemed the match was over. Naruto was only a passable taijutsu and weapon user at the time, and he relied on jutsu like the Shadow Clone jutsu.
Neji thought he had won, and against almost any other opponent, he was right. But then Naruto used his half-other powers with Kurama's chakra, something the Byakugan could not have expected. With that immense chakra, Naruto fought back with renewed power, using shadow clones and some resourceful trickery to strike Neji from underground. The Byakugan may see through obstacles, but at the time, Neji couldn't perceive Naruto underground, a fact that Naruto exploited. Based on Neji's experience and training, that was a drawback of the Byakugan, but with later training, he could see more and further than ever.
Neji used the Byakugan again to fight Kidomaru, a spider-themed member of the Sound Four ninja team. Neji could easily spot Kidomaru anywhere in their forest battlefield, giving him an advantage that Neji's teammates would have lacked. However, being a cunning and insightful Sound ninja, Kidomaru detected the narrow blind spot in Neji's Byakugan, and exploited it to the best of his ability.
Another notable Byakugan user is a Mist ninja named Ao, who is closely connected to the Mizukage. He is a rare example of non-Leaf ninjas succeeding in stealing a kekkei genkai trait from Leaf ninjas, and Ao took great pains to protect his stolen prize. His right Byakugan eye was normally hidden under an eyepatch in Naruto Shippuden, but he could still use it and see things from under the eyepatch.
Ao also had talismans on his person that would cover and protect his right Byakugan eye if anyone tried to forcibly take it from him. The Root ninja Fu Yamanaka discovered that for himself when he successfully took control of Ao's body in the days leading up to the Fourth Great Shinobi War, only to have the talismans block Ao's Byakugan when Fu tried to remove it via Ao's possessed body.
How Does the Byakugan Affect the Hyuga Clan and International Politics in Naruto?
The Hyuga Clan Will Do Whatever It Takes to Protect Byakugan
The presence of a powerful or dangerous kekkei genkai can greatly affect the lives of its wielders or even the politics of the shinobi clan that bears it, both in positive and negative ways. In the Hyuga clan's case, the Byakugan is a gift because of its formidable powers in combat or when tracking enemies, but it comes at a humanitarian cost. The Hyuga clan is determined to protect the precious Byakugan eye at all costs, and the clan has a lot of ground to cover.
While only some Uchihas awaken the Sharingan and even fewer awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan and its powers, 100% of Hyugas are born with Byakugan. To deal with this, the Hyugas have a strict system in place, one that Neji Hyuga despises. The Hyuga clan is split between its main family and branch family, with the main family's members being privy to the clan's greatest secrets and having special privileges.
By contrast, the branch family's members are viewed as lesser, and they are expected to risk and even give their very lives to protect the main family's members. As for the Byakugan's role in all this, the branch family's members all have curse seals place on them, showing how far the Hyuga clan will go to protect its trademark dojutsu. The main family's members keep their Byakugan eyes safe from theft by having branch family members defend them, but there's no one to defend branch family members and their Byakugan eyes.
So, if a branch family member dies, their curse seal will destroy the Byakugan to keep it out of enemy hands. Aside from that, main family members can use a hand seal to cause pain in a branch family member of even destroy their brain. In one notable case, a prominent Cloud Village ninja kidnapped Hinata Hyuga to steal her Byakugan eyes, only for Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata's father, to kill Hinata's kidnapper.
The Cloud Village demanded blood for blood, so Hiashi's twin brother Hizashi, who belonged to the branch family, was sacrificed in Hiashi's place. It was because of the Byakugan's coveted power that Hizashi, Neji's father, had to die. However, Hiashi accomplished his goal of smoothing over relations with the Cloud Village, preventing an escalation of the growing conflict.
The Byakugan Was a Victim of Power Scaling
For a time, the Byakugan and Sharingan were depicted as counterparts, two powerful dojutsu that allowed their users to see things that other ninjas could not. The Sharingan could copy jutsu, while the Byakugan could see the chakra pathway system and thus seal its points. For many episodes, these two dojutsu were roughly on par with one another, but after a point in Naruto Shippuden, those two two dojutsu became distinctly unequal. In fact, after a point, the Byakugan felt practically obsolete, but no Naruto fan would say that about the Sharingan.
Over time, the anime kept making the Sharingan even more powerful, mostly through the Mangekyo Sharingan's incredible jutsu including the Amaterasu, the Tsuguyomi, and most of all, the Susano'o. Such jutsu had little to do with stealth, insight, or ninja trickery, and had much more to do with reckless power scaling. With the Mangekyo Sharingan, a ninja could become a blunt offensive powerhouse, with Susano'o being more like chakra mechas than any proper ninja tool or technique.
After a point, the Sharingan and its Rinnegan counterpart meant everything for the story in terms of both power and plot relevance, such as Madara Uchiha's plan to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi and trap the world in a giant genjutsu to force world peace. Some characters like Sasuke even had the Rinne Sharingan. Compared to all that, the Byakugan felt obsolete, even weak, since Naruto's combat system kept moving away from stealth and tracking and toward Dragon Ball Z-style clashes of power.
Jutsu like the Susano'o, giant Rasengan variants, and biju cloaks took over Naruto Shippuden's fight scenes. The Byakugan certainly didn't have its own Susano'o or Amaterasu to keep up, so it faded away as an insightful tracking tool that no one needed in an era of leveling mountains and fighting space gods. That might make fans nostalgic for the days when the Sharingan and Byakugan were equal to the eye-based techniques that the Hidden Leaf Village could proudly call its own.
