Chapter Summaries

Neji and Zabuza planned to find Isobu and bring the Land of Water’s forces under the Heavenly Court’s influence. Neji traveled toward the Land of Water with Gaara, Karin, and Haku, where he recognized Ringo Ameyuri and suspected she carried the Thunder Sword, Kiba.

• Neji and Zabuza agreed to search for Isobu, then investigate and win over or suppress the Land of Water’s major forces.
• Neji considered cooperating with Mei Terumī and the Terumī Clan but concluded they would demand leadership, which he could not accept.
• Neji left with Gaara, Karin, and Haku, traveling by ship from the Land of Bears rather than using the Thunder Roc.
• Neji noticed four disguised Kirigakure ninja boarding the ship and recognized a woman’s lightning-charged weapon as likely Ringo Ameyuri’s Thunder Sword, Kiba.
• Neji and his companions entered a luxurious private cabin next door to Ringo Ameyuri and the other Kirigakure ninja.

Neji's group sailed toward the Land of Water aboard a ship carrying Ringo Ameyuri and her Kirigakure team, while both groups remained wary of one another. When Karin sensed an approaching Kumogakure force led by Darui, Neji recognized them as pursuers likely targeting Ringo's Thunder Sword—Fang, and the chapter left the teams on the verge of a confrontation at sea.

• Neji's group and Ringo Ameyuri's team noticed each other aboard the passenger ship but chose to remain alert rather than provoke trouble.
• Neji learned the ship and its sea route belonged to the Hozuki clan and considered contacting the clan's leaders after reaching the Land of Water.
• Neji asked Karin to watch for sea beasts as the ship crossed the deep sea.
• Karin sensed a fast boat carrying eight shinobi approaching, and Neji identified Darui among them.
• Neji realized Darui's group was likely pursuing Ringo Ameyuri's team to claim the Thunder Sword—Fang.

Darui’s Kumogakure squad attacked Ringo Ameyuri and her Kirigakure companions to seize the Thunder Sword: Kiba, and the battle stalled when Kirigakure’s Hidden Mist trapped both sides. Darui’s group then damaged the passenger ship, but Haku prevented it from sinking, leaving Neji’s group planning to demand compensation from the Hozuki clan.

• Mita Kotree recognized Darui’s squad as a threat, withdrew with the other guard shinobi, and left Ringo Ameyuri’s group to face them.
• Darui demanded the Thunder Sword: Kiba, and Ringo Ameyuri refused to surrender it before both sides clashed at sea.
• Ringo Ameyuri and the other Kirigakure Jonin combined Water Style attacks with her lightning-enhanced sword, while Darui countered with Storm Release and Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
• After Darui wounded Ringo Ameyuri, the four Kirigakure shinobi concealed themselves in layered Hidden Mist, leaving Darui’s squad unable to pursue safely.
• Darui ordered attacks on the passenger ship, but Haku sealed its damaged hull with ice and raised a shield to protect it from further strikes.
• Neji’s group watched the ship’s passengers escape immediate danger, and Neji decided they would seek an intervention fee from the Hozuki clan.

Haku used Sage Art to trap the Kumogakure and Kirigakure ninjas in an ice-mirror labyrinth, allowing Darui’s group to retreat without further damaging the passenger ship. Neji’s group then met Ringo Ameyuri’s team, and after Neji invoked his history with Mei Terumī, both sides parted without a fight as the ship continued toward the Land of Water.

• Neji directed Haku to protect the ship and drive off the Kumogakure group, and Haku formed a vast Sage Art ice-mirror labyrinth in the fog.
• Darui led his eight Kumogakure ninjas back to their speedboat and used Storm Release to clear ice mirrors and escape the fog.
• Haku let Darui’s group leave and returned to Neji as Ringo Ameyuri and her three companions emerged from the mist.
• Ringo Ameyuri thanked Neji’s group and asked Haku to speak privately, but Neji instead recounted his history with Mei Terumī and declined an invitation to meet her.
• Neji chose not to seize Ringo Ameyuri’s team, and both groups returned to their vessels after the passenger ship was temporarily repaired and resumed its journey toward Kirigakure.

Neji’s group reached Mist Harbor and met Hozuki Suiryu, an elder leading the Hōzuki Clan’s operations there. After Neji revealed that he might join Kirigakure, Suiryu worried that the group would tip the village’s factional balance, but the two eased tensions and arranged for Neji to meet the Hōzuki Clan Head in the capital.

• Neji’s group arrived safely at Mist Harbor, where Mita Kotree thanked them for protecting the passenger ship and invited them to the Hōzuki Clan’s headquarters.
• Mita Kotree introduced Neji’s group to Hozuki Suiryu, who offered to refund their travel costs, pay them five million ryo, and give them a Hōzuki Clan VIP card.
• Hozuki Suiryu asked why Neji and his companions had come to the Land of Water after identifying their backgrounds, and Neji used his Eight Trigrams Domain to show his displeasure at being investigated.
• Neji said Mei Terumī had invited him to join Kirigakure and that he might accept, alarming Suiryu because the group could upset the balance among the village’s factions.
• Suiryu blamed Mei for circulating Neji’s information, and Neji softened his tone and arranged to meet the Hōzuki Clan Head in the capital.

Neji refused Akatsuki’s invitation to join and surrender the One-Tail after encountering Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki in Mist Harbor. As Neji’s group headed toward Headquarters City to meet the Kagura Clan Head, Mei Terumī sent Ringo Ameyuri to guide and monitor them.

• Hozuki Suiryu gave Neji a Hozuki clan token, and Neji’s group explored Mist Harbor before stopping for a seafood feast.
• Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki confronted Neji and invited him to join Akatsuki and hand over the One-Tail; Neji refused and warned that their next meeting might make them enemies.
• Itachi told Kisame they could not defeat Neji’s group, so they left without trying to capture Gaara.
• Neji reassured Gaara, Karin, and Haku about Akatsuki’s threat, and the group returned to selecting seafood.
• Mei Terumī ordered Ringo Ameyuri to guide and monitor Neji’s group, while offering only a thank-you letter for their help against Kumogakure.
• Neji’s group set out for Headquarters City to approach the Kagura Clan Head, and Ringo offered to treat them to a meal to ease the awkwardness.

Neji visited the Kagura Clan in Headquarters City, where Kagura Shifeng courted him with lavish gifts and a banquet that revealed a surviving Yuki Clan member to Haku. In a private meeting, Neji proposed joining forces with the old clans to overthrow the Terumī Clan and seize control of the Land of Water, leaving Kagura Shifeng considering the plan’s feasibility.

• Neji questioned Ringo Ameyuri about her illness, then left for the Kagura Clan headquarters while she wondered whether he might be able to treat her.
• Kagura Shifeng welcomed Neji, showered his group with gifts, and hosted a banquet featuring Mizunazuki Shuang, a surviving Yuki Clan member whose Ice Release stirred Haku.
• After dinner, Neji told Kagura Shifeng he wanted to help the Kagura, Hoshigaki, and Kurogane Clans overthrow the Terumī Clan and take power in the Land of Water.
• Neji argued that the old clans and his allies could defeat the Terumī Clan and even remove the daimyo, while subtly influencing Kagura Shifeng with the Spirit Transformation Technique.
• Kagura Shifeng initially doubted Neji’s proposal but began to see how an alliance might prevent the Kagura Clan from being pushed aside.

Neji persuaded Kagura's Loss that their forces could seize control of the Land of Water, and the two planned a coup against the Reform Faction. The plan depended on Neji capturing the Three-Tails and defeating Mei Terumī and Elder Genji, while the Karatachi-led alliance prepared to take control of Kirigakure and the daimyo's government.

• Neji compared the Land of Water's limited Kage-level forces with his own team's strength, convincing Kagura's Loss that they could overpower the Reform Faction.
• Neji said he had found the Three-Tails' trail, and Kagura's Loss pledged the Karatachi Clan's support for jointly governing the Land of Water and Kirigakure.
• Kagura's Loss explained the Reform, Martial, and Neutral Factions and identified Mei Terumī and Elder Genji as the Reform Faction's central figures.
• Neji and Kagura's Loss agreed that the Karatachi Clan would consolidate its forces, stockpile supplies, and seek support from its allied clans before seizing Kirigakure's military authority.
• Neji planned to capture the Three-Tails and defeat the Reform Faction's leaders, after which the Martial Faction would take political control from the daimyo and unify the Land of Water.

Neji examined Ringo Ameyuri after she asked whether he could treat her illness, and discovered that her condition came from her powerful Kekkei Genkai consuming more Natural Energy than her body could replenish. The chapter left her disease unexplained to her while Neji understood its cause and considered whether treatment was possible.

• Kagura's Loss gave Neji a large gift before escorting him and the others from the clan grounds.
• Neji opened the gift and learned from Ringo Ameyuri that it was an exceptionally large, valuable piece of Chakra-Conductive Metal.
• Ringo Ameyuri visited Neji and asked him to examine her illness after he clarified that he had only promised to investigate whether it could be treated.
• Neji sensed the Natural Energy in Ringo Ameyuri's body and concluded that her Kekkei Genkai was draining it faster than she could absorb it.
• Neji reasoned that exceptionally gifted Kekkei Genkai users could develop fatal diseases when their abilities outgrew their bodies' Natural Energy supply.

Neji offered to cure Ringo Ameyuri’s illness in exchange for her betraying Kirigakure and joining him, but left her to consider the offer. The next day, he and his group traveled to Mito City, where they settled into a Kagura Clan manor and went shopping.

• Neji explained that Natural Energy could treat Ringo Ameyuri’s illness and offered to teach her Sage Jutsu if she joined him as a fighter.
• Ringo Ameyuri struggled with Neji’s demand, and he gave her Natural Energy Compression Fluid to use when her illness flared up.
• Neji’s group left Headquarters City in a carriage Kagura's Loss had provided and reached Mito City that afternoon.
• The group settled into a Kagura Clan manor, and Neji gave each person one million ryo in spending money, with red envelopes for the coachman and housekeeper.
• Neji and the others visited Mito City’s bustling commercial district after dark.

Neji and his companions spent an evening in Mito City before he ran into Hozuki Suigetsu and attacked him to test the Hozuki clan’s Hydrification Secret Technique. Neji showed Suigetsu Hozuki Suiryu’s token to explain his excuse, leaving their encounter unresolved.

• Neji, Haku, Karin, Gaara, and Ringo Ameyuri watched a movie, then ate a large meal and strolled along the river.
• Neji recognized Hozuki Suigetsu and wondered how his actions might have changed the future.
• Neji asked Suigetsu about Hozuki Suiryu, then used Gentle Fist—Finger Flick Divine Skill to numb Suigetsu’s arm and leg.
• Suigetsu’s Water Wall Formation failed to stop Neji’s attack, and his Hydrification Secret Technique did not protect him from the chakra strikes.
• Neji released Suigetsu and showed him Hozuki Suiryu’s token, claiming Suiryu had asked him to teach his nephew a lesson.

Neji tested how the Byakugan and Gentle Fist could counter the Hozuki clan’s Water Transformation Technique, then brought Hozuki Suigetsu back to the villa and sealed his chakra. The next morning, Neji went to meet the Land of Water’s daimyo, who decided to face him in person despite fearing the danger.

• Neji discovered that blocking chakra within liquefied tissue could interrupt the Water Transformation Technique and disable the affected body part.
• Neji introduced Haku, Karin, Gaara, and Ringo Ameyuri to Hozuki Suigetsu, declared he would kidnap him for a while, and sealed Suigetsu’s chakra with the Five Elements Seal.
• The next morning, Neji left Suigetsu asleep and told Karin he was going to the Daimyo’s Mansion.
• Neji presented a letter of state at the Land of Water’s Daimyo’s Mansion and told Yamashita Keigo he wanted to speak with the daimyo.
• Yamashita Keigo reported Neji’s arrival to Takemi Masaki, who weighed the danger of meeting or refusing him and ordered his guards prepared before deciding to meet Neji himself.

Neji met Takemi Masaki, the Daimyo of the Land of Water, and warned him that the world order was about to change. He left after telling Takemi to remain a compliant Daimyo and not resist when the time came.

• Takemi Masaki arrived to meet Neji after the foreign minister failed to appear, and the two exchanged cautious pleasantries.
• Neji warned Takemi that the world order was about to change and mentioned Yukawa Mitsuhisa, hinting that Takemi could suffer the former Hot Water Daimyo’s fate.
• Takemi feared Neji meant to overthrow him, then realized Neji had approached openly and might leave room for an agreement.
• Takemi stopped Neji from leaving and asked what he must do to keep living peacefully.
• Neji told Takemi to continue as Daimyo, avoid resistance at critical moments, and expect little change to his position before leaving the mansion.

Neji met with Hozuki Suiryu and Hozuki Suiten, who offered him the Kusanagi Sword Futsu-no-Mitama to build ties with him ahead of a coming conflict in the Land of Water. Neji accepted the sword and promised to treat the Hōzuki Clan favorably if it avoided opposing him, then agreed to let Hozuki Suigetsu stay by his side.

• Neji left the Daimyo's Mansion and was approached by Hozuki Suiryu and Hozuki Suiten, who invited him to lunch.
• Neji told the Hōzuki men he would release Hozuki Suigetsu, whom he had tied up the previous night.
• Hozuki Suiten gave Neji the Kusanagi Sword Futsu-no-Mitama, which amplified Lightning Release and could sever the soul of a wounded body part.
• Neji warned the Hōzuki Clan that action would come within two or three months and promised favorable treatment if they did not seek their own destruction.
• Hozuki Suiryu asked Neji to let Hozuki Suigetsu remain with him, and Neji agreed.

Neji gathered his team and traveled with Zabuza's search party to locate the Three-Tails. Karin sensed its chakra at the fourth suspected lake, and Neji confirmed that Isobu was hiding there.

• Neji returned to the villa and shared a meal with his group, while Hozuki Suigetsu became fascinated with the Kusanagi Sword and received Futsu-no-Mitama to examine.
• Neji sent Ringo Ameyuri away because she was an obvious spy, then led Haku, Gaara, Karin, and Hozuki Suigetsu out of the city.
• Neji summoned the Golden Peng and flew with his group to meet Zabuza and the search teams near the suspected lakes.
• Neji and Karin searched the lakes from the air, and Karin sensed the Three-Tails' chakra near the fourth lake.
• Neji used the Byakugan to confirm that the Three-Tails was hiding in the fourth lake.

Neji and his team prepared to capture the Three-Tails, using Haku’s Sage Art to freeze the lake and deprive Isobu of its watery battlefield. Gaara’s One-Tail Shukaku then fought Isobu on the ice, and the battle left the Three-Tails enraged and expending chakra on small Tailed Beast Balls.

• Neji led the team to the lake and planned the Three-Tails capture with Haku, Gaara, Karin, Zabuza, and Hozuki Suigetsu.
• Haku used Natural Energy and Karin’s Dragon Vein Chakra to freeze the lake and its nearly two-hundred-meter-deep bed with Ice Seal.
• Gaara released Shukaku, which confronted Isobu after the Three-Tails broke through the ice.
• Shukaku’s Drilling Air Bullets overwhelmed Isobu’s weakened Water Bullets, provoking the Three-Tails into a rage.
• Isobu fired small Tailed Beast Balls while Shukaku countered with giant Drilling Air Bullets, sending explosions and ice across the battlefield.

Neji and his allies defeated and sealed the Three-Tails inside Zabuza, leaving him thrilled to gain a Tailed Beast's power. They returned to Peach Blossom Island to rest before planning an attack on the Reform Faction's leaders in the Land of Water.

• Zabuza and Hozuki Suigetsu watched the battle and were shaken by the strength of Neji's group and the Tailed Beasts.
• One-Tail battered the Three-Tails across the ice for nearly an hour, leaving it too weak to fight back.
• Neji had Haku freeze the Three-Tails, then Karin used the Eight Trigrams Seal to seal it inside Zabuza.
• Neji checked the surroundings, helped the exhausted Haku, and gathered everyone onto Golden Peng.
• The group flew to Peach Blossom Island to rest before heading to the Land of Water to defeat the Reform Faction's upper ranks.

After returning to Peach Blossom Island, Neji rested while Zabuza trained to control the Three-Tails and Hozuki Suigetsu investigated the villa’s Natural Energy. In Kirigakure, Mei Terumī and the Reform Faction assessed Neji’s group and concluded that attacking the Martial Faction could leave the Land of Water vulnerable to annexation.

• Neji returned to Peach Blossom Island with his group, explained their progress, and went to sleep after the exhausting trip.
• Zabuza eagerly sought Gaara’s advice on controlling Tailed Beast Chakra, while Karin added guidance about the Eight Trigrams Seal and Haku served iced fruit juice.
• Hozuki Suigetsu discovered that the villa’s mist-making machine eased his clan’s constant thirst, but he could not identify or take the Natural Energy it produced.
• Mei Terumī presented the Reform Faction with intelligence on Neji’s group, including their Kage-level strength and Zabuza’s improved abilities.
• The Reform Faction’s leaders concluded that attacking the Martial Faction could cripple both sides and leave the Land of Water open to annexation by the Land of Lightning.

Kirigakure leaders Mei Terumī and Genji concluded they could not confront Neji’s group and considered persuading Neji to join them. The next morning, Neji watched Gaara explain how Jinchuriki could control Tailed Beast Chakra, while Zabuza prepared to practice.

• Genji told Mei Terumī that scouts had found evidence of a battle between the One-Tail and Three-Tails, with Haku, Uzumaki Karin, or Zabuza possibly becoming the Three-Tails’ Jinchuriki.
• Genji suggested that Mei Terumī might persuade Neji to join Kirigakure and the Land of Water, possibly through marriage, and she fell silent.
• Neji followed Zabuza, Gaara, and Karin to the shore to observe their practice controlling Tailed Beast Chakra, with Haku and Hozuki Suigetsu joining them.
• Gaara demonstrated releasing a small amount of One-Tail Chakra without controlling it, then used his spiritual energy to shape the chakra into a powerful monstrous hand.
• Gaara explained that controlling Tailed Beast Chakra exposed a Jinchuriki to the conflicting thoughts and emotions within it, and Neji trusted Zabuza’s will to endure the strain.

Zabuza tested his control over the Three-Tails’ chakra and discovered that Sage Chakra greatly reduced its mental effects. Over the following month, Neji and the others trained on Peach Blossom Island as Zabuza’s power grew and Suigetsu began learning Sage Jutsu.

• Zabuza resisted the Three-Tails’ chaotic emotions long enough to form one tail, then resealed the beast when he neared his limit.
• Neji suggested that Zabuza protect his brain with Sage Chakra, and Zabuza found that it reduced the chakra’s mental impact to about one-third.
• Neji assessed his growing abilities and trained on the sea while Zabuza, Gaara, Haku, Karin, and Hozuki Suigetsu practiced on the beach.
• Over a month, Hozuki Suigetsu joined the group and received Haku’s Sage Jutsu cultivation method, while Neji gave up on teaching Sage Jutsu to the original Genin.
• Zabuza learned to control the Three-Tails’ chakra more effectively, strengthening his water techniques and Hidden Mist Technique into a powerful Mist Domain.