Chapter Summaries

Hyuga Kazuya took Mata outside Konoha and revealed his overwhelming strength to persuade him that he could change the Branch Family’s fate. Mata pledged himself as Kazuya’s retainer after Kazuya hinted he could even remove the Caged Bird, and they left before anyone arrived.

• Hyuga Kazuya invited Mata on a walk, then led him out of Konoha and into a mountainous forest.
• Kazuya confronted Mata about his unborn child inheriting the Caged Bird and promised to help him.
• Mata angrily doubted that Kazuya could help because Kazuya was Branch Family too.
• Kazuya activated Lightning Style Chakra Mode and the Eight Gates, then blasted the forest into cratered ground with his punches.
• Mata was awed by Kazuya’s power, pledged to serve him, and asked whether Kazuya could remove the Caged Bird.
• Kazuya hinted that he could remove the seal, then left with Mata following after him.

Hyuga Kazuya encouraged Mata to see himself as a comrade and appointed him to handle commercial affairs. He planned to buy officially recognized land near the coast for an agricultural venture and decided to visit the Land of Fire’s capital with Mata.

• Hyuga Kazuya led Mata to a river and told him they were equals working toward a shared goal, prompting Mata to feel newly valued.
• Hyuga Kazuya told Mata to call him Boss and asked him to find a large, remote parcel of land near the coast that the Land of Fire officially recognized.
• Hyuga Kazuya decided to accompany Mata to the capital in a few days so they could inspect potential land and learn more about the city.
• After Mata left, Hyuga Kazuya wondered whether he could be trusted, then concluded that a betrayal would pose little risk because he could deny his plans and rely on his influential supporters.

Hyuga Kazuya practiced his Vacuum Arrow and reflected on how the Caged Bird restrained him despite his growing strength. He resolved to prioritize learning Sealing Jutsu, then travel to the Capital of the Land of Fire to start a company.

• Hyuga Kazuya practiced the Vacuum Arrow and judged that his combat abilities had reached the peak of Kage-level, though he still had room to grow.
• Hyuga Kazuya felt frustrated that the Caged Bird could control him and decided he needed information from the Main Family's records.
• Hyuga Kazuya rejected relying on his Uncle to obtain the records and chose to improve his Sealing Jutsu instead.
• Hyuga Kazuya set his priorities as Sealing Jutsu, starting a company, taking missions, and continuing his other training.
• Hyuga Kazuya planned to focus on Sealing Jutsu starting the next day and visit the Capital of the Land of Fire a few days later.

Hyuga Kazuya traveled with Mata to Kyoto to handle Agriculture Company business and investigate how ordinary people lived. After finding that the apparent beggars were mostly gamblers rather than people in need, he decided to revise his plan to recruit farmers instead.

• Hyuga Kazuya finished a period of Sealing Jutsu study and left Konoha with Mata for the Capital.
• Hyuga Kazuya and Mata entered Kyoto through a gate reserved for nobles and noticed a guard report their arrival to the Daimyo's Mansion.
• Hyuga Kazuya explored a poor district near Kyoto's prosperous Red Light Street to observe the lives of ordinary people.
• Mata explained that most people begging in the district were gamblers who had lost their money, not genuine beggars.
• Hyuga Kazuya concluded that he would need to recruit ordinary farmers for his plan instead of gathering beggars.

Hyuga Kazuya left the Capital’s streets to meet with the Daimyo, hoping to trade shinobi training and power for land. Tokugawa Gen escorted Kazuya and Mata to the Daimyo’s Mansion, where Kazuya entered the palace to meet their host.

• After his second objective in the Capital failed, Hyuga Kazuya decided to pursue land by offering the Daimyo access to shinobi power and training.
• Hyuga Kazuya considered trading the Life Breath Technique but concluded it would be difficult for ordinary people to learn, leaving shinobi qualifications and ninjutsu as possible bargaining chips.
• Tokugawa Gen arrived in the Daimyo’s carriages and invited Hyuga Kazuya and Mata to the Daimyo’s residence.
• On the way, Mata explained that Tokugawa Gen was an elder of the Daimyo’s Mansion whose surname had been bestowed by a previous Daimyo.
• Tokugawa Gen led Hyuga Kazuya and Mata through the imposing Daimyo’s Mansion, and Hyuga Kazuya entered the palace where the Daimyo was waiting.

Hyuga Kazuya met the Daimyo to negotiate for land near the sea for an Agriculture Company. Instead of offering money or ninjutsu, he proposed training a force for the Daimyo’s Mansion, having noticed Tokugawa Gen’s strength and begun considering the Temple of Fire.

• Tokugawa Gen left Hyuga Kazuya and Mata waiting while he told the Daimyo that Kazuya was a young ninja with Elite Jonin-level strength.
• The Daimyo asked whether Tokugawa Gen could defeat Hyuga Kazuya, and Tokugawa Gen said he could if they fought to the death.
• The Daimyo joined Hyuga Kazuya and Mata, apologized for the delay, and dismissed the attendants after Kazuya signaled that he had private business.
• Hyuga Kazuya asked to buy coastal land for an Agriculture Company and offered to train a force for the Daimyo’s Mansion as payment.
• Hyuga Kazuya considered the Temple of Fire as he reconsidered his offer after noticing Tokugawa Gen’s capabilities.

Hyuga Kazuya struck a deal with the Daimyo to train ordinary people into Chunin-level fighters in exchange for land, resources, and Temple of Fire's Secret Technique Inheritance. After Kazuya left for Konoha, the Daimyo and Tokugawa Gen discussed the bargain and agreed that its benefits outweighed its risks.

• Hyuga Kazuya sensed Tokugawa Gen's natural energy and realized he was the High Monk of Temple of Fire, then offered to train the Daimyo's people in exchange for Temple of Fire's Secret Technique Inheritance.
• The Daimyo agreed to provide the inheritance after Kazuya trained the first batch, and they settled on land near the Land of Bears and discussed expenses, policies, and medicinal herbs.
• Kazuya left Mata behind as a liaison, bid farewell to the Daimyo, and set off for Konoha.
• The Daimyo failed to learn much about Kazuya from Mata during a banquet, then asked Tokugawa Gen how Kazuya had seen through his disguise.
• Tokugawa Gen said he did not know how Kazuya had uncovered him, and the Daimyo defended trading Temple of Fire's techniques for a method that could train ordinary people.

After returning from Kyoto with the land and housing arrangements secured, Hyuga Kazuya taught Momona the Life Breath Technique to study how others absorbed natural energy. Momona succeeded in absorbing it, but at only about seven percent of Kazuya’s rate, leaving him unsure whether his own absorption was unusually fast.

• Hyuga Kazuya returned to Konoha, reviewed the gains from his trip, and noted that the Daimyo had funded the company’s land, housing, and facilities while offering a possible Temple of Fire Secret Technique inheritance.
• Hyuga Kazuya visited his uncle and saw that the Life Breath Technique had noticeably improved his vitality and spirit.
• Hyuga Kazuya found Momona preparing for a low-level mission, persuaded her to take the day off, and brought her home to learn the Life Breath Technique.
• Hyuga Kazuya guided Momona through the technique until she began absorbing natural energy, then measured her absorption rate at about seven percent of his own.

Momona completed her first cultivation of the Life Breath Technique, and Hyuga Kazuya continued investigating his unexplained bodily changes while deciding to take missions to earn access to Shadow Clone Jutsu. At the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi offered him several suitable A-rank missions to choose from.

• Momona described absorbing natural energy through the Life Breath Technique, and Hyuga Kazuya told her not to teach it to anyone yet.
• Hyuga Kazuya recorded his concerns about his bodily mutation, burned his notes, and decided to seek Shadow Clone Jutsu by completing missions.
• The next morning, Hyuga Kazuya told Uncle he planned to take missions and went to the Hokage Building to apply for solo A-rank missions.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi questioned Hyuga Kazuya about his readiness, then selected several suitable missions and handed him their Scrolls to choose from.

Hyuga Kazuya accepted three missions from Hiruzen Sarutobi and set out to earn merit and obtain the Shadow Clone Jutsu. After reaching the Land of Rice Fields, he located the missing-nin Yogizai near the Bounty Hunter's Guild, leaving the confrontation ahead.

• Hyuga Kazuya chose the first three missions, and Hiruzen Sarutobi approved his request to exchange their rewards for the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
• Hyuga Kazuya left Konoha after saying farewell to his acquaintances without revealing his missions.
• Hyuga Kazuya traveled toward the Land of Rice Fields to hunt Yogizai, a Konoha Chunin who had defected with stolen ninjutsu.
• Hyuga Kazuya reached the Bounty Hunter's Guild near the capital and searched the surrounding area with his Byakugan.
• Hyuga Kazuya found Yogizai only hours later, but the missing-nin was already extremely close to the Bounty Hunter's Guild.

Hyuga Kazuya killed the rogue ninja Yogizai and took his Earth Style Wall scroll. He then traveled to the Land of Hot Springs and arrived at Yunze Gorge to investigate the beasts assigned to his next mission.

• Hyuga Kazuya waited until Yogizai left the crowded district, then followed him into the forest and killed him with a Vacuum Arrow.
• Hyuga Kazuya searched Yogizai's belongings, found an Earth Style Wall scroll, and decided to learn the technique despite having no earth nature.
• Hyuga Kazuya stored Yogizai's corpse and departed to carry out his next mission.
• Hyuga Kazuya traveled for two days to the Land of Hot Springs and headed directly to Yunze Gorge.
• Hyuga Kazuya reached the mist-shrouded gorge, where beasts had driven away the humans who worked there.

Hyuga Kazuya investigated Yunze Gorge and found evidence that humans, not wild beasts, had attacked its inhabitants. He discovered Cultists preparing a ritual with bound civilians and launched a surprise attack, leaving the Cultists badly weakened as they began advancing toward him.

• Hyuga Kazuya inspected bloodied buildings and corpses, finding signs of weapons and ninjutsu but no beast tracks.
• Hyuga Kazuya spotted a group of Black Robes conducting a ritual with civilians tied to stakes and searched the area for hidden threats.
• Hyuga Kazuya counted twenty-four suspected Cultists, assessed their strength, and decided to intervene before the ritual was completed.
• Hyuga Kazuya killed the Cult's Jonin with a Vacuum Arrow, then used Wind Chasing Arrows to shoot down several more Cult Ninja.
• The surviving Cult Ninja identified the direction of the attacks and advanced toward Hyuga Kazuya after losing much of their strength.

Hyuga Kazuya killed the Cultists who had taken civilians hostage, treated the survivors, and uncovered how the merchant association had been misled about the threat. After completing the mission, he headed for the eastern coast of the Land of Fire to hunt a suspected group of defected ninja, still favoring long-range attacks over direct combat.

• Hyuga Kazuya shifted around the misty canyon and shot the Cult Ninja, but some killed civilians before he could stop them.
• Hyuga Kazuya treated the surviving civilians, apologized to a wounded young man, and secretly planted chakra near the man's heart that would eventually kill him.
• Hyuga Kazuya rescued the civilians with help from the canyon workers, collected the Jonin's body for its bounty, and received extra payment because the client's intelligence had been wrong.
• Hyuga Kazuya learned that the Cultists had used genjutsu and fabricated evidence to make people mistake them for wild beasts.
• Hyuga Kazuya left the Land of Hot Springs for the eastern border and coastal region of the Land of Fire to eliminate or drive out a suspected band of defected ninja.
• Hyuga Kazuya reflected that he had relied on sniping in both missions, then decided that sneak attacks counted as combat experience.

Hyuga Kazuya tracked a squad of Kirigakure Missing-nin to a coastal mountain range, where their captain planned to flee west with a chakra-enhancing treasure. As the squad imagined peaceful lives, Hyuga Kazuya closed in on their cave.

• Hyuga Kazuya learned from a Konoha intelligence agent that Kirigakure Missing-nin had been seen near a coastal mountain range three days earlier.
• The squad’s captain reassured his men that they would eventually travel west and sell their treasure for a peaceful life.
• The captain recalled that the treasure had rapidly increased his chakra and that he had shared its effects with his squad after they defected from Kirigakure.
• The captain secretly planned to keep the treasure and use it to build power and establish a new ninja village.
• Hyuga Kazuya searched the mountain range with his Byakugan and gradually approached the squad’s cave.

Hyuga Kazuya found a squad of Kirigakure Missing-nin led by a Kage-level ninja, overcame his hesitation, and attacked them from a distance. His first Chakra Metal Vacuum Arrow pierced the cave and gravely wounded the captain, so he launched a second shot to finish him off.

• Hyuga Kazuya detected five powerful chakra signatures in a cave and confirmed that the squad wore slashed Kirigakure forehead protectors.
• Hyuga Kazuya hesitated over attacking the suspicious Kage-level defector, slapped himself, and decided to proceed after judging his odds of victory to be high.
• Hyuga Kazuya searched the area for threats, then fired a Chakra Metal Vacuum Arrow through the cave wall at the squad captain.
• The Kirigakure Missing-nin noticed the captain's severe abdominal wound and quickly organized defensive measures and medical treatment.
• Hyuga Kazuya saw that the captain had survived the first shot and fired another Vacuum Arrow at him.

Hyuga Kazuya killed the Kirigakure Missing-nin captain and pursued the fleeing survivors, eliminating them all. After burning the bodies and collecting their possessions, he found a strange crystal and began retrieving his Chakra Metal arrows.

• Hyuga Kazuya killed the captain with a second Vacuum Arrow, and the remaining Kirigakure Missing-nin fled in different directions.
• Hyuga Kazuya fired four more Vacuum Arrows, killing two Missing-nin, then activated Lightning Style Chakra Mode and opened the First and Second Gates to pursue another.
• Hyuga Kazuya caught and killed the fleeing Missing-nin with a Vacuum Arrow, then tracked down and killed the last survivor.
• Hyuga Kazuya burned the Missing-nin corpses, took their valuables, and discovered a crystal that seemed to slightly increase his chakra.
• Hyuga Kazuya used his Byakugan and the chakra traces on his Chakra Metal arrows to begin retrieving them.

Hyuga Kazuya recovered all his Chakra Metal arrows, blasting through a mountain to retrieve the last two, then returned to Konoha with his mission spoils. After reporting to Hiruzen Sarutobi, he left the Hokage with the idea that the Hyuga Clan could benefit from combining the Byakugan with archery.

• Hyuga Kazuya searched the mountain range and recovered the arrows he had fired, using repeated Great Ball Rasengan attacks to reach the final two buried deep inside the mountain.
• Hyuga Kazuya returned to Konoha after twelve days away, tallying his earnings, equipment, stolen Earth Release: Earth Style Wall, and an unexplored Crystal.
• Hyuga Kazuya reported to Hiruzen Sarutobi and submitted the mission evidence, including Yogizai's corpse and the Kirigakure Missing-nin forehead protectors.
• Hyuga Kazuya gave Hiruzen Sarutobi the compensation for the Land of Hot Springs intelligence error, and Hiruzen told him to keep it.
• Hyuga Kazuya recounted the mission while concealing several details and emphasizing how effective the Byakugan and archery could be together.

Hyuga Kazuya reported his mission to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who identified the cultists as members of the Jashin Cult and awarded him the Shadow Clone Jutsu. After reuniting with Momona and her teammates, Kazuya returned home to sort through his spoils.

• Hyuga Kazuya showed Hiruzen Sarutobi the cultists’ clothing, and Hiruzen identified their pattern as belonging to the Jashin Cult of the Land of Hot Springs.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi praised Hyuga Kazuya for completing the mission and gave him a Scroll containing the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
• Hyuga Kazuya found Momona training with Inuzuka Hana and Aburame Tomomi, then took the three girls to eat at Konoha’s Barbecue Restaurant.
• Hyuga Kazuya sent the girls back to training, returned home, and decided to sell the ninja tools, explosive tags, and Military Rations Pills while setting aside the mysterious Crystal.

Hyuga Kazuya learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu and used three clones to study Sealing Jutsu, medicine, and Earth Release at once. When he dispelled them, their knowledge flooded into his mind painfully, but he welcomed the results and praised the technique.

• Hyuga Kazuya chose to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu before Earth Style Wall and considered how he might develop the technique further.
• After three days of study, Hyuga Kazuya successfully created a Shadow Clone and was unsettled by thoughts about the clone’s identity and independence.
• Hyuga Kazuya created three clones and assigned them to study Sealing Jutsu, medicine, and Earth Release while he trained.
• Hyuga Kazuya dispelled the clones after three hours, and their memories overwhelmed him with intense pain.
• Hyuga Kazuya recovered, recalled the knowledge they had gained, and called the Shadow Clone Jutsu the ninja world’s number one divine technique.

Hyuga Kazuya refined his Shadow Clone study schedule and spent several months training between missions, making major progress in combat and learning basic Medical Ninjutsu and foundational Sealing Jutsu. He realized that advancing further in those fields required practical training, which consumed too much chakra for his clones to keep studying around the clock.

• Hyuga Kazuya reduced his study sessions to two Shadow Clones and rested between sessions to lessen the backlash from dispelling them.
• He calculated that Shadow Clones could give him more than thirty hours of study a day and vowed to outgrind the Shinobi World’s natives.
• Over the next few months, Hyuga Kazuya completed several A-rank and B-rank missions while continuing his training, with Hiruzen Sarutobi approving his requests for shorter missions.
• Hyuga Kazuya grew strong enough to consider himself among the stronger Kage-level fighters and learned basic Medical Ninjutsu from Tsunade, while Kushina had already provided him with foundational Sealing Jutsu.
• Hyuga Kazuya stopped relying on book study because further progress required practical training, which would consume too much chakra for his Shadow Clones.