Chapter Summaries

Hyuga Kagami planned to upgrade the Aerial Fortress with a Four Red Yang Formation powered by his Rinnegan Black Rods. He began a major renovation on a remote island, leaving the fortress stripped down and reinforced while preparing to conceal the Giant Tenseigan.

• Hyuga Kagami decided a standard Four Red Yang Formation would protect the Aerial Fortress from attacks by ordinary Kage-level fighters and regular Tailed Beast Balls.
• Hyuga Kagami marked four points on a blueprint and planned to use Rinnegan Black Rods to activate the barrier without other casters.
• Hyuga Kagami landed the Aerial Fortress on a remote, uninhabited island and began renovations with the help of Gaara, Karin, and two hundred humanoid puppets.
• Hyuga Kagami used Shadow Clones and construction materials bought under different identities to work on the fortress, which he planned to simplify by removing excess quarters, sculptures, and towers.
• Hyuga Kagami planned to retain and upgrade the power room, experimental area, and weapons room, adding a Giant Tenseigan backup power room sealed to prevent resonance with the moon's Giant Tenseigan.

Hyuga Kagami tested the Aerial Fortress’s Four Red Yang Formation after Karin linked its Black Rods to the power room. The barrier survived Ryumyaku’s Tailed Beast Ball, but the fortress sustained damage, so Hyuga Kagami ordered further attacks.

• Karin created Black Rods and fitted them into the fortress’s sealing points, and Hyuga Kagami activated the seals to connect them to the power room.
• Hyuga Kagami activated the Four Red Yang Formation, and Karin and Gaara marveled at the barrier surrounding the Aerial Fortress.
• Hyuga Kagami summoned Ryumyaku and ordered it to fire a Tailed Beast Ball at the barrier.
• The barrier remained operational after the blast, but Hyuga Kagami found and recorded several damaged areas on the fortress.
• Hyuga Kagami ordered Ryumyaku to keep attacking.

Hyuga Kagami tested the Four Red Yang Formation against the Ryumyaku’s Tailed Beast Balls, then ordered the Aerial Fortress rebuilt after assessing the damage. He examined the weakened Giant Tenseigan and considered two ways to restore it, leaving the second method unfinished.

• Hyuga Kagami stopped the Ryumyaku’s bombardment after Karin warned that it was nearly destroying the island.
• Hyuga Kagami inspected the damaged Four Red Yang Formation and Aerial Fortress, then ordered the puppet construction team to begin rebuilding.
• Hyuga Kagami noted that the redesigned Aerial Fortress would be smaller and use stronger materials.
• Hyuga Kagami felt his Tenseigan resonate with the Giant Tenseigan and learned that it was weakened after centuries of sealing.
• Hyuga Kagami identified integrating Byakugan into the Giant Tenseigan and absorbing chakra from Hyuga clansmen marked with the Caged Bird Seal as ways to restore it.

Hyuga Kagami considered ways to restore the Giant Tenseigan and use the Hyuga Branch Family’s chakra to support his experiments. At the Ninja Academy, Itachi began training Neji under the Hokage’s orders, while Kakashi took Sasuke for special training.

• Hyuga Kagami continued replenishing the weakened Giant Tenseigan with Ryumyaku chakra and estimated it would recover in two or three months.
• Hyuga Kagami considered safely drawing chakra from the Hyuga Branch Family through the Caged Bird Seal and having clan members cultivate the Yin Seal to store chakra for him.
• Iruka dismissed the Ninja Academy class, and Itachi told Neji that he would train him in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and ninja tool throwing under the Hokage’s arrangement.
• Sasuke complained that Itachi was biased, and Naruto offered to train with him.
• Kakashi arrived and took Sasuke for special training.

Kakashi took Sasuke for special training, while Naruto watched his classmates leave with mentors and felt alone. Hyuga Kagami then offered to teach Naruto the Rasengan and demonstrated its power.

• Kakashi told Sasuke he had to pass special training before receiving Jiraiya's guidance, and Sasuke followed him out.
• Naruto asked Rock Lee to train with him, but Guy took Lee away for a run, while Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba left for clan training.
• Rin and Kurenai called Shion, Sakura, Ino, and Yakumo away, leaving Naruto alone in the classroom.
• Naruto said he would train by himself, but he ran into Hyuga Kagami outside and told him he wanted to catch up with Sasuke and Neji.
• Hyuga Kagami brought Naruto to a training ground, showed him the Rasengan, and asked if he wanted to learn it.

Hyuga Kagami began training Naruto in the Rasengan and offered to take him as a disciple, while Kakashi trained Sasuke under orders to push him toward a fight. Sasuke outmaneuvered Kakashi with a feint and attacked from behind.

• Hyuga Kagami offered to teach Naruto the Rasengan and told him to call him Sensei.
• Naruto eagerly accepted the training and revealed that Orochimaru-sensei had been the first person to teach him ninjutsu one-on-one.
• Kakashi provoked Sasuke during their training, and Sasuke rose after being kicked down, his Three Tomoe Sharingan shining.
• Sasuke attacked Kakashi with shuriken and the Great Fireball Technique, which Kakashi blocked with an Earth Style Wall.
• Sasuke appeared behind Kakashi and swung a Kunai at him, believing he had caught the acting Hokage off guard.

Kakashi tested Sasuke harshly, exposing his lack of combat experience and a cohesive fighting style, while Hyuga Kagami urged Kakashi and Itachi to push Naruto and Sasuke to grow stronger. After Sasuke failed the test and faced his family, Hyuga Kagami and Itachi watched to see whether their plan would affect him.

• Sasuke attacked Kakashi with a kunai, but Kakashi seized him, slammed him down, and criticized his weak fighting style.
• Sasuke charged Kakashi again and was kicked into a tree, after which Kakashi declared that he had failed the test.
• Kakashi praised Sasuke to Hyuga Kagami, who described Naruto as difficult to teach and insisted that both boys needed to grow stronger quickly.
• Kakashi worried that his harsh treatment might anger Sasuke or the Uchiha Clan, but Hyuga Kagami told him not to worry.
• Sasuke returned home, failed to meet Itachi's gaze, and went to see Fugaku and his mother as instructed.
• Hyuga Kagami and Itachi watched from the courtyard as Sasuke emerged alone with guilt and tear tracks on his face.

Hyuga Kagami and Itachi used Fugaku’s disappointment to intensify Sasuke’s emotions and strengthen his Yin Release chakra, hoping to spur his growth toward awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan. Hyuga Kagami also arranged for Itachi to train Neji in battlefield analysis, while considering how Neji could keep pace with Naruto and Sasuke.

• Sasuke reacted intensely to Fugaku’s disappointment, and his Yin Release chakra and Sharingan ocular power grew stronger.
• Hyuga Kagami told Itachi that ordinary anger and humiliation did little to motivate Sasuke, while his family’s disappointment affected him deeply.
• Hyuga Kagami said Sasuke would awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan once his Yin Release chakra became strong enough and urged Itachi to help him grow stronger.
• Hyuga Kagami asked Itachi to guide Neji in battlefield and enemy analysis, and Itachi agreed.
• Hyuga Kagami reasoned that Neji would need support from someone as formidable as the Sage of Six Paths to catch up to Naruto and Sasuke.

Hyuga Kagami considered how Neji and the other promising students might grow, while the shinobi world continued searching for Akatsuki, Danzo, and other fugitives. At an Akatsuki base, Sasori prepared Utakata to become a new Path of Pain, and Nagato chose the Human Path for him.

• Hyuga Kagami concluded Neji could surpass Kage-level strength only through a dangerous genetic serum or a gift from Hyuga Kagami after he became a Kekkei Mōra.
• Hyuga Kagami had made arrangements to train Sakura, Shion, the new Ino-Shika-Cho, Rock Lee, and other promising students.
• Over four months, the villages searched for Akatsuki and Danzo, the Hyuga Clan sought Hyuga Aoki, and Uchiha members quietly investigated the God Organization.
• Hidan and Kakuzu returned to Akatsuki's base and recognized the screams as those of the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, Utakata.
• Sasori finished implanting sealing formulas in Utakata, and Ryu confirmed they were correctly placed.
• Nagato decided to turn Utakata into the Human Path of Pain, using Black Rods to control the Six-Tails through the implanted formulas.

Nagato and Sasori turned Utakata into the new Human Path, and Nagato planned to convert the other captured Jinchuriki into Pain’s remaining paths. Obito proposed using the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Kagami against the God Organization as Nagato prepared for an inevitable battle.

• Sasori modified Utakata into a mindless body, and Nagato used Black Rods to control him as the new Human Path.
• Nagato ordered Sasori to modify Yugito Nii, Rōshi, Han, and Killer B into the remaining Paths of Pain.
• Nagato said he would go to Konoha and capture the remaining Jinchuriki once the new Six Paths of Pain were complete.
• Obito told Nagato that the God Organization had taken Uchiha Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan and suggested the Uchiha Clan would oppose them.
• Obito proposed luring Hyuga Kagami into helping Akatsuki by using Hyuga Aoki’s method of removing the Caged Bird Seal, and Nagato told him to proceed.

After months of intense training under Hyuga Kagami, Naruto mastered the Rasengan with help from Shadow Clones and grew far stronger, while the Hokage and his advisers discussed his progress, Sasuke’s growing strength, and a message from Iwagakure. Naruto finished destroying every training post, and Hyuga Kagami took him to eat ramen.

• Naruto used a Shadow Clone to perform the Rasengan and completed his training by destroying all two hundred wooden posts.
• The Third Hokage, Tsunade, and Jiraiya watched Naruto train and recognized how much he had improved under Hyuga Kagami.
• Jiraiya reported that Sasuke had mastered Chidori and grown close to the strength of an average Special Jonin, while Tsunade and Jiraiya worried about his fixation on revenge.
• Tsunade asked the Third Hokage about Iwagakure’s message, and he chose to wait and see what the other ninja villages intended to do.
• Hyuga Kagami praised Naruto for finishing his training and invited him to eat ramen.

Hyuga Kagami treated Naruto to ramen and a hot spring visit, then welcomed him into the family life he shared with Rin. Naruto vowed to take first place in the graduation exam, while Hyuga Kagami considered how Sasuke, Neji, and Shion had also grown stronger.

• Hyuga Kagami took Naruto to soak in a hot spring after buying him a large bowl of ramen, and teased him about a dangerous secret.
• Naruto returned to Hyuga Kagami’s home, where Rin welcomed him and praised him for completing his training task.
• Rin tucked Naruto into bed, and Naruto promised to defeat Sasuke and Neji and take first place in the graduation exam three days later.
• Hyuga Kagami reflected that his self-interested guidance had given Naruto a sense of family and belonging.
• Hyuga Kagami noted that Sasuke and Neji were advancing under their mentors, while Shion’s chakra control drew Tsunade’s attention.
• Hyuga Kagami knew that Shion’s mother had sealed away her immense Miko power, which could make her strong enough to eradicate Moryo once released.

Hyuga Kagami reflected on Naruto’s training and the Nine-Tails secretly helping him, then reviewed the upgrades and experiments he had completed over four months. He continued developing his Lightning Release Clone and had found the threshold of Storm Release, though controlling lightning chakra remained difficult.

• Rin praised Naruto for enduring Hyuga Kagami’s extreme training, and Hyuga Kagami said Naruto had nearly reached his limit.
• Hyuga Kagami revealed that the Nine-Tails had secretly supplied Naruto with chakra when he was close to giving up.
• Hyuga Kagami restored the Giant Tenseigan with the Ryumyaku and confirmed it could connect him to the Hyuga Branch Family’s Byakugan chakra and temporarily suppress Rin’s Caged Bird Seal.
• Hyuga Kagami developed Type-Three Biological Armor that could simulate false chakra flows to evade sensory and Byakugan detection.
• Hyuga Kagami used the Soul Descent Jutsu to enter his Lightning Release Clone and found the threshold of Storm Release, but struggled to control its volatile lightning chakra.

Kakashi told Sasuke to prepare for the Ninja Academy graduation exam after admitting he had little left to teach him, while warning him not to underestimate his classmates. Sasuke dismissed Naruto as a rival and left determined to defeat Kimimaro, whom he believed he was now strong enough to challenge.

• Sasuke noticed Kakashi’s exhaustion and asked whether he trained after their lessons, but Kakashi denied it.
• Kakashi told Sasuke the graduation exam was in two days and advised him to rest and review, since he could not teach him the Flying Thunder God Technique or the Eight Inner Gates.
• Sasuke dismissed the exam and said he would train by himself, while Kakashi warned him that Naruto and the other students had grown stronger.
• Sasuke rejected the idea that Naruto could rival him and headed toward the Uchiha Clan compound.
• Sasuke remembered how Kimimaro had once overwhelmed him and vowed to defeat him, convinced that he now had the strength to do so.

Neji and Sasuke prepared for the Ninja Academy graduation exam, each determined to prove himself, while the extraordinary graduating class gathered before village leaders and families. Fugaku attended despite his blindness, intending to use Naruto to provoke Sasuke into awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan.

• Neji assured Hizashi that he did not resent Hyuga Kagami for focusing on Naruto and vowed to win his teacher's attention with his performance.
• Itachi told Sasuke that Fugaku and Mikoto would attend the exam, and Sasuke resolved to take first place.
• The students and their families gathered at the Academy, where the village's leaders observed the unusually prominent graduating class.
• Tsunade and the Third Hokage wondered why the disgraced, blind Fugaku had come to the public exam.
• Sasuke noticed people whispering about Fugaku and resolved to repay his parents by earning the best results.
• Fugaku and Mikoto identified Naruto as the target they hoped would help provoke Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan awakening.

Hyuga Kagami announced a combat graduation exam with life-and-death waivers, and the students began fighting under rules that rewarded victory without severe injury. After several impressive matches, Neji and Naruto were called to face each other, leaving Sasuke waiting for his own chance to prove himself.

• Itachi told Fugaku and Mikoto that Sasuke was in good form and reassured Mikoto that Naruto would be the key to stimulating Sasuke.
• Hyuga Kagami announced that the graduation exam would involve combat, allowed a range of techniques and weapons, and required every student to sign a life-and-death waiver.
• Hyuga Kagami warned that severely injuring an opponent would lower the victor’s rating, and Sasuke and Neji understood that restraint would matter.
• The students fought a series of matches that displayed abilities beyond those of ordinary Genin, with some competitors reaching Chunin level.
• Hyuga Kagami called Neji and Naruto for the next match, and Naruto confidently declared that he would be the class’s top student.

Naruto used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and Rasengan against Neji in their graduation exam match, stunning the spectators with the scale of his training. Neji held off the clones with the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, but Naruto escalated by having dozens of clones form Rasengan as the match continued.

• Neji activated his Byakugan and charged at Naruto, who responded by creating more than a hundred tangible Shadow Clones.
• Neji defended against the swarm with the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, destroying dozens of clones while searching for Naruto's real body.
• Naruto stopped relying on the clones' attacks and announced that he was getting serious.
• Naruto's clones paired up and formed dozens of Rasengan, shocking Neji and the spectators.
• Kakashi asked Hyuga Kagami whether he had taught Naruto the Rasengan, and Hyuga Kagami confirmed that he had.
• Sasuke watched Naruto's display and muttered, "That guy Naruto..."

Naruto overwhelmed Neji with a barrage of Rasengan, forcing him to use Kaiten to defend himself. Neji was left badly depleted but refused to accept defeat.

• Naruto formed dozens of Rasengan with his Shadow Clones and warned Neji about their power.
• Tsunade ordered the Medical Corps to stand by, while Kakashi prepared to intervene and Hyuga Kagami remained calm.
• Naruto charged Neji from every direction with Rasengan, and Neji used Kaiten to block the barrage, tearing up the training ground.
• The spectators reacted in shock, and Sasuke realized he could not withstand an attack like Naruto's head-on.
• Neji's Kaiten consumed nearly seventy percent of his chakra, but after seeing Hyuga Kagami's calm expression, he resolved not to lose.

Naruto and Neji fought through a fierce battle as Neji’s early mistakes left him depleted against Naruto’s seemingly endless Shadow Clones and Rasengan. Neji ran out of chakra after their second Kaiten clash, and Hyuga Kagami declared Naruto the winner while Sasuke studied the damaged arena.

• Neji and Naruto focused on the fight, then Neji abandoned defense and attacked Naruto’s Shadow Clones while searching for the real Naruto.
• Naruto hid among his clones and launched repeated Rasengan attacks, forcing Neji to evade them across the arena.
• Hizashi worried as Neji’s injuries and chakra loss slowed him, while Itachi judged that Neji’s dependence on Gentle Fist had already cost him the match.
• A flying pebble struck Neji and distracted him, leaving him unable to dodge Naruto’s next attack.
• Neji used Kaiten again to meet Naruto’s Rasengan, but the collision exhausted his chakra; Hyuga Kagami declared Naruto the winner, and the Medical Corps carried Neji away for treatment.
• Sasuke looked over the crater-riddled arena and fell into thought.

Shikamaru narrowly defeated Sai in a tactical match, and Sasuke faced Rock Lee next. As the fight began, Sasuke’s family underestimated Lee because he lacked ninjutsu and genjutsu, while Lee had removed his weights and become much faster.

• Shikamaru lured Sai into a trap and won their match by a narrow margin.
• Hyuga Kagami announced the match between Second Pillar and Rock Lee, and Sasuke eagerly entered the field.
• Guy encouraged Rock Lee to fight without holding back, and Lee gained confidence before joining Sasuke.
• Hyuga Kagami told Kakashi that Rock Lee was not wearing his weights, explaining his increased speed.
• Itachi told Fugaku and Mikoto that Rock Lee excelled at taijutsu despite lacking ninjutsu and genjutsu, and Fugaku dismissed him.
• Sasuke told Rock Lee to make his move quickly.