Chapter Summaries

Orochimaru gave Hyuga Kagami his laboratory and said he might leave the village, prompting Kagami to consider why Orochimaru planned to defect. Kagami resolved to continue relying on Orochimaru’s research to pursue the Tenseigan, his best hope of gaining enough power to survive.

• Orochimaru handed Hyuga Kagami the laboratory and warned that he might leave the village, leaving Kagami to find his own materials.
• Orochimaru departed, and Kagami wondered whether his own actions had caused Orochimaru to defect voluntarily.
• Kagami recalled seeking Orochimaru’s protection during the war because his combat talent was poor and he wanted to survive.
• Kagami reasoned that the Caged Bird Seal protected weak Hyuga Branch Family members from being targeted for their Byakugan.
• Kagami focused on the Tenseigan as his best chance to gain power and concluded that Orochimaru was the only person in the village who could help him pursue it.

Hyuga Kagami discovered that activating all thirty-three special genetic sequences might evolve the Byakugan into the Tenseigan, and he obtained the final sequences he needed from tissue Orochimaru gave him. With Orochimaru’s defection imminent, Hyuga Kagami sealed away the gene solution and prepared to erase evidence of his experiments.

• Hyuga Kagami studied Hyuga genetics and found that clan members carried thirty-three special genetic sequences, with different sequences activated in different people.
• Hyuga Kagami collected and compared more than a hundred samples, extracting activated sequences four through sixteen but failing to obtain the first three from Branch Family samples.
• Orochimaru gave Hyuga Kagami Main Branch tissue before departing, and Hyuga Kagami suspected Orochimaru wanted to leave him behind as a spy because of his Caged Bird Seal.
• Hyuga Kagami found that the tissue, likely from Hyuga Hiashi, contained twenty-eight activated sequences and extracted the first three he needed.
• Hyuga Kagami sealed the completed gene solution in a Scroll and began removing traces of himself and his experiment from the laboratory.

After Orochimaru attacked Hyuga Hiashi and defected, Hyuga Kagami was detained with hundreds of Orochimaru’s former subordinates while the village screened them. Danzo recruited most of the detained Jonin into Root, but Hyuga Kagami declined Root’s invitation.

• Hyuga Kagami heard that Hyuga Hiashi had been attacked and concluded that Orochimaru was preparing to defect.
• An Anbu squad escorted Hyuga Kagami to a temporary prison, where hundreds of Orochimaru’s subordinates were detained.
• The Third Hokage began screening the detainees, but the process stalled amid their resistance and leadership disputes over using torture.
• On the fifth day, Danzo visited the detained Jonin and took most of them away to join Root.
• Hyuga Kagami refused Root’s invitation and was left alone by its recruiters.

Hyuga Kagami was exiled from Konoha to a border outpost with Orochimaru’s former subordinates, including Anko, and spent two months under surveillance. When three suspicious new squad leaders arrived, he realized they were likely Anbu or Root and decided to begin the Tenseigan Project immediately.

• Hyuga Kagami said goodbye to Rin and left Konoha with eleven other ninja, including Orochimaru’s former subordinate Mitaraishi Anko.
• Hyuga Kagami stayed alert on the journey, and the group reached the border outpost safely.
• Hyuga Kagami, Anko, and Oda joined the Jonin squad leader’s team and began patrolling the desert border.
• Hyuga Kagami spent two months at the outpost under the squad leader’s watch, with no news from Konoha.
• The village replaced the squad leaders with three cold, suspicious Chunin, and Hyuga Kagami suspected they were Anbu or Root.
• Hyuga Kagami realized danger had arrived and decided to launch the Tenseigan Project immediately.

Hyuga Kagami injected the Genetic Fluid and survived the activation of all thirty-three Special Gene Sequences, though the process nearly killed him. His Tenseigan began evolving, leaving him unable to use his eyes during the adaptation period and searching for a way to endure it.

• Hyuga Kagami summoned the One-eyed Viper and retrieved the Genetic Fluid from its Scroll in a secluded stretch of desert.
• Hyuga Kagami injected the Genetic Fluid and endured sixteen Activation Recombinations as his chakra vanished and his body seemed to collapse.
• Hyuga Kagami passed out in the desert and woke inside the outpost, where Mitsui Chuichi questioned him about what had happened.
• After Mitsui Chuichi left, Hyuga Kagami realized his chakra was steadily increasing and all thirty-three Special Gene Sequences had activated.
• Hyuga Kagami saw that his irises had become translucent and star-like, but a wave of dizziness and eye pain showed he could not use them during the Tenseigan's adaptation period.

Hyuga Kagami continued adjusting to his new Tenseigan while Anko returned from a disastrous special mission, reporting that Oda had been killed in an ambush. Mitsui Chuichi’s reaction deepened Kagami’s suspicion that the mission had been a trap arranged by their own side.

• Oda told Hyuga Kagami that he and Anko had received a special mission that might get them transferred back to the village, and Kagami warned them to be careful.
• Over the next three days, Hyuga Kagami’s chakra reserves grew dramatically, his Tenseigan became usable, and he discovered that his Caged Bird Seal had lost its effect.
• Anko returned to the outpost wounded and alone, and Hyuga Kagami found no pursuers behind her.
• Anko told the gathered ninja that she and Oda had been ambushed at the mission site, Oda had died, and she had hidden in the desert for two days before escaping.
• Mitsui Chuichi claimed that their undercover agent might have been exposed and hurried away, while Hyuga Kagami grew suspicious and helped Anko back to her room.
• Anko asked whether the village had abandoned them, and Hyuga Kagami treated her wounds while concealing his doubts before returning to his room in anger.

Hyuga Kagami survived the Tenseigan’s adjustment period and discovered its enhanced perception, increased chakra, and a new attraction-and-repulsion technique he named Rotation. After testing its limits, he realized his abilities were far below Otsutsuki Toneri’s and wondered whether hand seals were needed to enter Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

• Hyuga Kagami suspected that Mitsui Chuichi’s special mission for Oda and Anko was a trap intended to purge Orochimaru’s former subordinates, and considered Danzo and the Third Hokage possible masterminds.
• A week after Anko’s ambush, Hyuga Kagami completed the Tenseigan’s adjustment period and gained greatly enhanced vision and chakra reserves.
• While patrolling alone, Hyuga Kagami manipulated the desert sand with an attraction-and-repulsion ability and named the technique Rotation.
• Hyuga Kagami discovered that Rotation had an effective range of about fifteen meters and rapidly depleted his chakra.
• Hyuga Kagami concluded that Otsutsuki Toneri’s strength came from his own exceptional abilities as well as the Tenseigan, and found that he could not use Toneri’s more advanced techniques.
• Hyuga Kagami wondered whether hand seals were required to enter Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Hyuga Kagami assessed his lack of inherited techniques and his need to grow strong enough to negotiate with Orochimaru, while suspecting that a mission with Mitsui Chuichi was a purge trap. At the rendezvous, they found dead Sunagakure Ninja and encountered Sasori of the Red Sands.

• Hyuga Kagami concluded that he needed to strengthen himself and change his relationship with Orochimaru from subordinate to collaborator.
• Mitsui Chuichi ordered Hyuga Kagami to join him on a mission to meet a Konoha spy in Sunagakure and retrieve intelligence.
• Hyuga Kagami suspected the mission was a trap and considered whether Root, Anbu, or Sunagakure Ninja would attack them.
• Hyuga Kagami sensed danger at the rendezvous point after noticing a stranger with vast chakra and several dead Sunagakure Ninja.
• Mitsui Chuichi and Hyuga Kagami approached the stranger, who revealed himself as Sasori of the Red Sands.

Hyuga Kagami and Mitsui Chuichi encountered Sasori, who revealed the Third Kazekage Human Puppet and attacked them with poisoned Iron Sand. After Mitsui Chuichi was killed, Hyuga Kagami tried to pull Sasori in with Rotation but instead ripped the puppet away from him, leaving both men stunned.

• Sasori summoned the Third Kazekage Human Puppet and attacked Mitsui Chuichi and Hyuga Kagami with Iron Sand needles.
• Mitsui Chuichi and Hyuga Kagami fled in separate directions, but Sasori flew after Mitsui Chuichi on the puppet.
• Mitsui Chuichi collapsed from the poison on the needles, and Sasori finished him off before confronting Hyuga Kagami.
• Hyuga Kagami approached Sasori while planning to use Rotation and the Gentle Fist to restrain him.
• Hyuga Kagami activated Rotation, which tore the Third Kazekage Human Puppet away from Sasori and snapped their chakra threads.

Hyuga Kagami used the Tenseigan to control the Third Kazekage Human Puppet and tried to escape Sasori. Sasori summoned his ten puppets and pursued, forcing the puppet to defend Hyuga Kagami from poisoned senbon.

• Hyuga Kagami seized the Third Kazekage Human Puppet, and the Iron Sand fell when Sasori lost control of it.
• Chakra flowed from Hyuga Kagami into the puppet, which began moving and drawing the scattered Iron Sand into the air.
• Hyuga Kagami realized the Tenseigan could control puppets and ordered the Third Kazekage Human Puppet to face Sasori.
• Sasori summoned Jikki Chikamatsu no Shu, and Hyuga Kagami used Rotation to repel the ten puppets before escaping on the Third Kazekage Human Puppet.
• Sasori pursued and attacked with poisoned bone senbon, while the Third Kazekage Human Puppet shielded Hyuga Kagami with Iron Sand.

Hyuga Kagami destroyed Mitsui Chuichi’s corpse, escaped Sasori, and staged an attack on himself to conceal his encounter and the Third Kazekage Human Puppet. Back at the outpost, he found that all seven of Orochimaru’s former subordinates had died and warned Anko that the replacement squad captains might be Root.

• Hyuga Kagami destroyed Mitsui Chuichi’s corpse with Explosive Tags to prevent Sasori from identifying him.
• Hyuga Kagami escaped Sasori, then disguised the Third Kazekage Human Puppet and had it wound him so he could stage a plausible return to the outpost.
• Anko and the two other squad captains saw the cloaked puppet pursuing Hyuga Kagami, fought it briefly, and watched it retreat.
• Hyuga Kagami told the others that Mitsui Chuichi had died during an ambush in the Land of Wind and that he had barely escaped.
• Anko told Hyuga Kagami that all seven of Orochimaru’s former subordinates had died, and he warned her that the replacement squad captains might be Root.

Hyuga Kagami pieced together why Sunagakure had joined Konoha’s purge and weighed the threats from the village and Sasori. After retrieving the Third Kazekage Human Puppet, he spent a brief lull testing how much control his Tenseigan chakra could give it.

• Hyuga Kagami realized Konoha and Sunagakure had tacitly agreed to purge each other’s expendable people, and suspected Orochimaru had provoked the village’s unusually harsh response.
• Hyuga Kagami identified Konoha’s purge, Sasori, and the village’s reaction to Mitsui Chuichi’s death as his immediate threats.
• Hyuga Kagami retrieved the Third Kazekage Human Puppet from near the outpost and sealed it into his Scroll before a support squad could discover it.
• Hyuga Kagami studied the Tenseigan’s puppet control and found that greater agility required more chakra, while even all his chakra could not give the puppet independent consciousness.

Hyuga Kagami realized the village's silence was caused by the Nine-Tails Incident, then returned to a devastated Konoha and learned the scale of its losses. After connecting the attack to Obito, he resolved to use his Tenseigan to claim a place in the coming upheaval.

• Hyuga Kagami deduced that the Nine-Tails Incident had occurred and that Konoha's weakened leadership and suspicion of the Uchiha Clan had changed the village's priorities.
• Hyuga Kagami and the others received orders to abandon the outpost and return to Konoha, while Sasori continued to overlook their location.
• Hyuga Kagami, Anko, and their two companions returned to Konoha and saw the extensive damage caused by the Nine-Tails.
• Hyuga Kagami gathered reports of the deaths, destruction, and civilian casualties before returning home.
• Hyuga Kagami recognized Obito's role in the incident and resolved to step onto the stage with his Tenseigan.

Hyuga Kagami decided to build a new, high-profile reputation in Konoha and went to accept a mission. He left the Mission Center with Uchiha Itachi as his teammate.

• Hyuga Kagami resolved to rise in status by displaying his strength through missions, while remaining cautious about revealing his Tenseigan and his past under Orochimaru.
• Hyuga Kagami went to the Mission Center and found that most available B-rank missions required a team.
• Uchiha Itachi asked for a solo C-rank mission, explaining that the village’s shortage of manpower and backlog of work threatened its reputation.
• Hyuga Kagami initially refused to team up with Itachi but reconsidered the value of learning about the Uchiha Clan and forming a connection with him.
• Hyuga Kagami agreed to take Itachi along on a B-rank mission, ordering him to follow instructions and not act independently.

Hyuga Kagami and Uchiha Itachi escorted the physician Shennong toward the Land of Rice Fields, while Kagami recognized him as a surviving Sky Ninja and the future creator of Zero-Tails. At the border, they camped for the night after Shennong shared medical knowledge and avoided explaining what he had stolen from Kumogakure.

• Kagami chose a B-rank mission to escort Shennong and learned that Kumogakure suspected the physician of involvement in a theft.
• Kagami recognized Shennong as the Sky Ninja from his memories but kept his identity secret, then set out with Itachi and their client.
• During the weeks of travel, Itachi carefully planned their route and kept records while Kagami observed him and Shennong with the Tenseigan.
• At the Land of Fire’s border, Shennong taught Kagami and Itachi about medical knowledge of the body’s meridians.
• Shennong denied knowing why Kumogakure was pursuing him, and Itachi set warning tripwires around their campsite before resting.

Hyuga Kagami and Itachi escorted Shennong through the Land of Rice Fields, where they encountered Kumogakure’s Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii, who demanded Shennong’s surrender. As Hyuga Kagami weighed whether to fight, an explosion revealed Orochimaru and Jiraiya battling nearby, and he noticed Shennong looked pleased.

• Hyuga Kagami considered the Zero-Tails as a possible future source of chakra.
• Hyuga Kagami and Itachi defeated six wandering ninjas who ambushed and followed their group.
• Hyuga Kagami sensed four powerful Kumogakure ninjas approaching and recognized their leader as the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii.
• Yugito Nii accused Shennong of stealing Kumogakure secrets and ordered Hyuga Kagami and Itachi to abandon their mission.
• An explosion drew both groups’ attention to Orochimaru and Jiraiya fighting nearby, and Hyuga Kagami noticed Shennong’s flash of delight.

Hyuga Kagami and his team encountered Orochimaru and Jiraiya while escorting Shennong, and the confrontation drove Yugito Nii’s Kumogakure team to withdraw. After completing the escort mission, Hyuga Kagami met secretly with Orochimaru, who confirmed Shennong worked with him and offered to share stolen Forbidden Techniques concerning Physical Regeneration.

• Hyuga Kagami recognized that Shennong seemed pleased by Orochimaru and Jiraiya’s arrival, then signaled Itachi to fire a distress flare.
• Orochimaru and Jiraiya joined Hyuga Kagami’s group, and Yugito Nii led her Kumogakure team away after Orochimaru threatened them.
• Jiraiya told Hyuga Kagami to leave, and Hyuga Kagami departed with Itachi and Shennong.
• Hyuga Kagami’s group traveled cautiously and completed the escort mission at a village afflicted by an epidemic.
• Itachi told Hyuga Kagami that he suspected Shennong was hostile toward Konoha, and Hyuga Kagami acknowledged the possibility.
• Hyuga Kagami followed Orochimaru’s secret mark to a meeting, where Orochimaru discussed Danzo’s purge, confirmed Shennong’s connection to him, and offered to share stolen Forbidden Techniques.

Hyuga Kagami received a Forbidden Technique Scroll from Orochimaru in exchange for watching Itachi, then returned with him to Konoha after their mission was upgraded to A-rank. The Third Hokage reviewed the mission and Kagami’s file, ordered him watched longer, and considered removing him from the purge list as Konoha faced growing threats.

• Orochimaru gave Hyuga Kagami a Forbidden Technique Scroll and asked him to keep a closer eye on Itachi.
• Hyuga Kagami and Itachi returned to Konoha, where the Mission Center upgraded their completed mission from B-rank to A-rank because it had involved Kumogakure and Yugito Nii.
• Itachi thanked Hyuga Kagami for what he had taught him during the mission, while Kagami reflected on the Uchiha Clan’s extreme convictions and growing ocular power.
• The Third Hokage learned that Itachi had completed an A-Rank Mission and reviewed Hyuga Kagami’s connection to Orochimaru and the failed purge against him.
• The Third Hokage ordered Hyuga Kagami observed for a while longer and said he could be removed from the purge list if nothing unusual happened.

Hyuga Kagami learned Orochimaru’s Physical Regeneration Secret Technique, then mastered Kaiten as he sought combat methods he could use openly. After returning to the Mission Center to seek an A-rank mission, he realized he needed a compatible teammate, just as a green figure arrived.

• Hyuga Kagami studied the Physical Regeneration Secret Technique, recognized that it consumed the user’s lifespan, and mastered it before destroying the scroll.
• Hyuga Kagami decided to develop his Gentle Fist techniques and trained in a remote forest until he mastered Kaiten.
• Hyuga Kagami returned to the Mission Center and found he could accept A-rank missions, but few were suitable for solo work.
• Hyuga Kagami realized he needed a compatible teammate, and a green figure darted into the Mission Center.

Hyuga Kagami sought to befriend Might Guy so he could learn the Eight Inner Gates, and challenged him to a spar while posing as his rival. After a fierce exchange, Hyuga Kagami used Gentle Fist to defeat Guy, who praised his skill.

• Hyuga Kagami recognized Might Guy and decided to become his rival to gain access to the Eight Inner Gates.
• Hyuga Kagami mocked Guy for taking low-level missions, and Guy explained that other ninja avoided teaming up with him because he could not use Ninjutsu.
• Hyuga Kagami challenged Guy to a spar and led him to a secluded grove.
• Guy attacked with impressive speed, but Hyuga Kagami used the Tenseigan to read his movements and keep pace.
• Guy launched Leaf Whirlwind, and Hyuga Kagami countered with Gentle Fist, sealing acupoints in Guy's leg and sending him flying.
• Hyuga Kagami mocked Guy's progress, but Guy sincerely praised him.