Chapter Summaries

Kakashi found comfort in Nara Dan’s care and began questioning the Third about his father’s death, but the Third’s answer did not satisfy him. Meanwhile, Hyuga Nana knelt before Nara Dan and asked to become his disciple.

• Kakashi thanked the nurse for her concern and accepted her advice to rest and recover.
• The Third visited Kakashi and praised Nara Dan, while Kakashi said he intended to learn everything from his new teacher.
• Kakashi asked the Third about White Fang’s death, recognized that his answer was not the truth, and resolved to grow stronger until he could uncover it.
• Hyuga Nana knelt before Nara Dan and asked to become his disciple.

Hyuga Nana offered herself as Nara Dan’s student on behalf of the Hyuga Clan and presented him with their secret teachings. Nara Dan discovered that the scroll also contained the Eight Inner Gates, a Taijutsu technique he had been seeking.

• Hyuga Nana told Nara Dan that becoming his student was the Hyuga Clan’s will and offered him a scroll as a gift.
• Nara Dan examined the scroll’s Gentle Fist teachings and judged that his own knowledge of the human body could let him counter the style.
• Nara Dan turned to the scroll’s final section and found the Eight Inner Gates, along with the Hyuga Clan’s research and training notes.
• Nara Dan realized the Hyuga Clan had studied the Eight Inner Gates but had failed to make it fit their Gentle Fist system.

Nara Dan accepted Hyuga Nana as his disciple and finally studied the Eight Inner Gates, hoping they would help him break through his Taijutsu bottleneck. After reading the technique, he found it incomplete and too similar to his own Release, leaving him unsure why his instincts had pointed him toward it.

• Nara Dan accepted Hyuga Nana as his disciple and sent her away so he could study the Eight Inner Gates scroll.
• Hyuga Nana left feeling dejected and resolved to seek advice from the older women in her clan.
• Nara Dan reflected that Konoha’s elders had likely withheld the Eight Inner Gates to limit his growth and keep him under their control.
• Nara Dan studied the Eight Inner Gates and learned that the technique’s final two gates were barely documented and carried great risks.
• Nara Dan compared the Eight Inner Gates with his own Release technique and concluded that the Gates would not help him surpass his current limits.
• Nara Dan saw that his Taijutsu Mastery was still just short of becoming a fully purple Talent Entry and struggled to understand his instincts.

Nara Dan tested the Eight Inner Gates and compared their effects with his Liberation technique. After opening the Third Gate, he demonstrated immense, tangible Chakra but recognized that it was difficult to control and could not be sustained for long.

• Nara Dan concluded that the Eight Inner Gates forced Chakra to flow faster at the cost of bodily strain, unlike his more controlled Liberation.
• Nara Dan opened the First Gate and sensed its effects on his Chakra flow, circulation, and body.
• Nara Dan opened the Second and Third Gates, causing his body and Chakra to swell dramatically.
• Nara Dan assessed the Third Gate's Chakra as vastly stronger than ordinary ninja's but too crude for ninjutsu or Genjutsu.
• Nara Dan released a Chakra-charged hand strike that destroyed a tree and noted the technique's heavy cost to his control and bodily potential.

Nara Dan opened the Fourth Gate and discovered it burned life force, but the danger let him understand the essence of life and transform his Taijutsu Mastery Entry. He gained precise control over his life force and displayed power far beyond Release—Limit State.

• Nara Dan opened the Fourth Gate and realized its uncontrolled chakra burned life force, unlike the physical damage caused by the first three gates.
• As his life force poured out, Nara Dan perceived the workings of his body in extraordinary detail, and his Taijutsu Mastery Entry became a pure purple Taijutsu Expert.
• Nara Dan used his new understanding to halt the loss of life force without closing the gate and gained complete control over it.
• Nara Dan's body became lean, crystalline, and free of scars and calluses as his gathered life force healed old injuries and strengthened his organs and bones.
• Nara Dan moved a hundred meters effortlessly and reduced a boulder to dust with a gentle touch, surpassing Release—Limit State.

After breaking through to God-Seeing Indestructibility, Nara Dan assessed his newfound strength and sensed Anbu investigating the disturbance at the Nara Clan Grounds. He accidentally overwhelmed their captain with his aura, then reassured the squad and explained how his instincts and Life Magnetic Field had changed.

• Nara Dan reflected that his breakthrough had brought him into the realm of Kage, where his strength and speed could let him kill many opponents at close range.
• Nara Dan sensed several Anbu Ninja approaching his home to investigate the powerful Chakra fluctuations from his Eight Inner Gates training.
• The Anbu Captain saw Nara Dan's eyes in a terrifying vision, collapsed unconscious, and left his squad on guard.
• Nara Dan appeared before the Anbu squad and told them their captain had only been startled by the energy he had released.
• Nara Dan explained that his evolved instincts let him anticipate danger and that his Life Magnetic Field could overwhelm weaker opponents.

After his breakthrough transformed his body, Nara Dan was visited by Nara Shikaku, who questioned him about the previous night’s enormous Chakra reaction and the Eight Inner Gates. Shikaku ended by asking whether Dan planned to marry into the Hyuga Clan.

• The Anbu members fled from Nara Dan, speculating about his terrifying energy and spreading rumors about his strength and personal life.
• The next morning, Nara Dan stood motionless in the courtyard, blending so completely into his surroundings that birds perched on him.
• Nara Shikaku visited and was shocked by how much Nara Dan’s appearance had changed overnight.
• Nara Dan explained that he had made a breakthrough and that his former excess fat had become something more substantial.
• Nara Shikaku asked whether the previous night’s Chakra reaction came from the Eight Inner Gates and whether the Hyuga had given Dan the technique.
• Nara Shikaku revealed that clan members had seen Dan’s Genin mentee visit and asked if Dan was trying to marry into the Hyuga Clan.

Nara Dan explained that Hyuga Nana wanted him as her teacher, prompting Nara Shikaku to consider the political consequences of a Hyuga alliance with the Nara Clan. Dan avoided declaring his political ambitions, raised Shikaku to deputy Taijutsu instructor, and began teaching him Quiet Meditation by releasing an aura that knocked out everything in the courtyard.

• Nara Dan struck Nara Shikaku for mistaking Hyuga Nana’s request for a marriage arrangement, then explained that Hyuga wanted Nana to become his student.
• Nara Shikaku analyzed how cooperation with Hyuga could disrupt the political balance of Ino-Shika-Cho and asked whether Dan would advance the Nara Clan’s position.
• Nara Dan accepted the clan’s increased monthly profit share without declaring his political intentions.
• Nara Dan appointed Nara Shikaku to take over Taijutsu training and said he would teach him Quiet Meditation.
• Nara Dan released an aura that disrupted the Life Magnetic Fields of creatures and people in the courtyard, leaving them unconscious.

Nara Dan explained the Immortal-Eating Technique to Nara Shikaku, a secret art for restoring the body’s vitality and expanding its potential. He revealed that its ultimate method was to absorb the traits of Sage Creatures, leaving Shikaku to grasp the technique’s dangerous, unprecedented path.

• Nara Dan ensured the household servants were unconscious before beginning his secret lesson for Nara Shikaku.
• Nara Dan described how ordinary life and Chakra depleted vital essence, then taught the Immortal-Eating Technique’s methods for drawing in energy and nourishing the body.
• Nara Shikaku realized the technique opposed the ninja way of exhausting the body and could greatly expand a ninja’s physical limits and potential.
• Nara Dan explained that the technique could bring a practitioner to a physical limit where they had to seek power beyond the body.
• Nara Dan condemned modifying the body with foreign genes as the Outer Path and taught that Immortal-Eating practitioners should absorb the vital traits of Sage Creatures.

Nara Dan explained the Immortal-Eating Technique to Nara Shikaku, while the Third Hokage and Hyuga Hiashi considered the implications of Dan’s power and his potential ties to their clans. The chapter left Hiashi weighing the opportunity Dan represented as he watched Hyuga Nana.

• Nara Dan explained how the Immortal-Eating Technique could use Sage Creatures to strengthen the body, and Nara Shikaku grew overwhelmed by the secret technique.
• Nara Dan restored Shikaku’s mental strength and had the servants escort him away to rest.
• The Third Hokage reviewed reports about the previous night’s Chakra fluctuations and worried that Nara Dan might ally with the Hyuga Clan.
• Hyuga Hiashi recalled seeing Nara Dan’s violent Chakra vanish and realized Dan had noticed him watching.
• Hiashi considered his hopes of changing the Hyuga Clan’s Main and Branch Family system through Hyuga Nana and the help Nara Dan could offer.

Hyuga Hiashi encouraged Hyuga Nana to grow closer to Nara Dan, hoping she could escape the Caged Bird and help the clan challenge its traditions. Elsewhere, Danzo considered Nara Dan’s immense power and political value, while the Nara Clan Head and Nara Shikaku assessed how the Immortal-Eating Technique could reshape the ninja world.

• Hyuga Hiashi urged Hyuga Nana to keep seeking Nara Dan’s guidance, and she understood that he supported her trying to become more than Dan’s disciple.
• Hyuga Hiashi remembered how the Caged Bird had destroyed his childhood closeness with Hizashi and trapped him in the role of Main Family head.
• Danzo heard an Anbu Jonin’s account of being overwhelmed by Nara Dan from miles away and studied the pulverized boulder, recognizing Dan’s extraordinary combat ability.
• Danzo considered using Nara Dan’s strength for his own political ambitions but concluded he needed to avoid making Dan an opponent.
• Nara Shikaku told the Nara Clan Head about the Immortal-Eating Technique, and they recognized its potential to disrupt the balance of the ninja world.

The Nara Clan Head and Nara Shikaku recognized that Nara Dan’s Immortal-Eating Technique could strengthen the clan and reshape its standing, but would also make them a target. They began preparing the clan around Dan’s power, leaving him in the role of its true leader.

• The Nara Clan Head and Shikaku discussed how the Immortal-Eating Technique could produce more Jonin and possibly Kage, while its easy spread risked drawing hostility from other clans.
• The Nara Clan Head concluded that the technique could overcome the Nara Clan’s physical weaknesses and praised Dan’s unprecedented understanding of the human body and Senjutsu.
• The Nara Clan Head ordered Shikaku to teach the technique, form a Secret Squad, relocate practitioners and their families, and place strong mental seals on them.
• The Nara Clan Head told Shikaku to report the plan to Dan, increase Dan’s share in the clan, and give him control of its precious medicinal herbs.
• After Shikaku left, the Nara Clan Head reflected that Dan had chosen to support the clan and hoped he would lead it to greatness.
• Nara Dan remained unconcerned with politics and rumors, believing that absolute power was the only lasting truth.

Nara Dan reflected on mastering the Taijutsu Expert realm and gaining extraordinary control over his body, Jin Force, and Chakra. He decided that combining National Martial Arts with Chakra could be a path forward, though mastering both systems would be difficult for ordinary people.

• Nara Dan realized he could control bodily functions, resist and neutralize poisons, and direct every part of his body with precision.
• Nara Dan tested his Jin Force by crumbling a stone fragment and considered how it could inflict internal damage without harming the outside.
• Nara Dan shaped his Chakra into precise forms and concluded that his control had surpassed that of other ninjas, though his reserves had not increased.
• Nara Dan dismissed teaching National Martial Arts alone because it lacked Chakra's advantages in combat and large-scale destruction.
• Nara Dan proposed combining National Martial Arts and Chakra, but recognized that few people could master both without a Cheat System.

Nara Dan tailored Stance Training to Kakashi, Hyuga Nana, and Ino Rinya, then began testing their combat progress. Kakashi’s first turn revealed that the training had greatly improved his speed, strength, and reaction time.

• Nara Dan corrected Hyuga Nana’s stance with a Chakra whip and made the three students focus on their training.
• Nara Dan reflected on how he had tailored Stance Training to Kakashi’s need for recovery, Hyuga Nana’s physical development, and Ino Rinya’s balanced foundation.
• Nara Dan announced that Stance Training needed to be tested in combat and chose Kakashi to go first.
• Kakashi charged Chakra and discovered that his speed and strength had increased by at least thirty percent, while his neural reactions could now keep pace.

Nara Dan taught Kakashi that high-level Kenjutsu depended on controlling rhythm and precision rather than relying on speed and strength. Kakashi accepted Nara Dan as his teacher, just as a figure wearing the Red White Fan arrived at the Training Ground.

• Nara Dan interrupted Kakashi's attack with a chakra pellet, and Kakashi drew the White Fang Blade to fight seriously.
• Kakashi attacked Nara Dan with fast, forceful slashes, but Nara Dan blocked them without moving from his spot or using his left hand.
• Nara Dan explained that Kenjutsu's highest level depended on rhythm, then used precise timing to suppress Kakashi's attacks.
• Nara Dan told Kakashi to conserve strength and leave room for changes in his moves, and Kakashi thanked him and bowed.
• A figure wearing the Red White Fan arrived and applauded.

Nara Dan impressed Uchiha Fugaku with his controlled presence and combat ability, prompting Fugaku to invite him to the Uchiha compound for a private discussion. Dan left Hyuga Nana and Ino Rinya with training scrolls, then shared fine tea with Fugaku as their conversation began.

• Uchiha Fugaku watched Nara Dan train Kakashi and praised Dan’s strength and combat theories.
• Dan alluded to the power of Fugaku’s Sharingan, making Fugaku wary before he changed the subject.
• Fugaku invited Dan to the Uchiha compound to discuss something over fine tea.
• Dan ended the training session, gave Hyuga Nana and Ino Rinya scrolls, and left with Fugaku.
• At the Uchiha compound, Dan praised Fugaku’s tea, and Fugaku offered to let him take some home.

Nara Dan heard Uchiha Fugaku’s proposal to cement their clans’ friendship with a marriage alliance and recognized the Uchiha’s political motives. When Fugaku named Uchiha Mikoto as the proposed bride, Dan deferred the decision, saying he needed to consult his clan.

• Uchiha Fugaku told Nara Dan that the Uchiha wanted his friendship and proposed a marriage alliance.
• Nara Dan considered how his arrival had disrupted Konoha’s political balance and why the Uchiha hoped to secure his support.
• Uchiha Fugaku named Uchiha Mikoto as the woman he wanted to offer for the alliance.
• Nara Dan thanked Fugaku for the offer but said he would consult his clan before deciding.

Nara Dan gave the Hyuga Clan two Gentle Fist techniques, and Hyuga Hiashi decided to cultivate Dan’s relationship with Nana rather than focus on acquiring more techniques. Danzo then tested the scroll he had given Ino Rinya, whose abilities changed in an unexpected way.

• Uchiha Fugaku persuaded Nara Dan to meet Mikoto while Dan considered discussing the marriage proposal with his clan.
• Hyuga Hiashi examined Dan’s scroll, which contained Gentle Fist—God Vacuum Attack and Gentle Fist—Golden Needle Acupuncture, and asked Hyuga Nana whether she could learn them.
• Hyuga Nana said she could probably learn Golden Needle Acupuncture but would need time to master God Vacuum Attack, then told Hiashi that Dan’s Standing Meditation was especially valuable.
• Hyuga Hiashi told Nana to spend more time with Dan and train, hoping to win Dan over for the clan.
• Danzo visited Ino Rinya and had a Root shinobi report that a sparring test had improved Rinya’s physical abilities by forty percent and increased his reaction speed.

Danzo ordered Ino Rinya to learn Nara Dan’s Stance Training, but Ino Rinya could not teach what he did not understand and secretly kept a scroll that made him question what he wanted. The Third summoned a drunken Tsunade to warn her that war was approaching and ask her to command the Land of Wind front, and she scoffed at him.

• Danzo ordered Ino Rinya to teach a Root ninja Stance Training, then threatened Ino Rinya’s sister and promised his family better opportunities if he cooperated.
• Ino Rinya returned home and secretly read Nara Dan’s scroll, which contained the question, “What do you want?”
• The Third received a drunken Tsunade in the Hokage Office and warned her that another war was about to begin.
• The Third asked Tsunade to command the Land of Wind front, and Tsunade mocked him as senile.

The Third persuaded Tsunade to manage medical care and logistics on the Land of Wind battlefield and support Nara Dan, rather than serve as commander. Tsunade described Nara Dan’s recent transformation and admitted his Taijutsu had surpassed her understanding, leaving the Third astonished at how far he had advanced.

• The Third proposed that Tsunade take command while Nara Dan served as deputy, but Tsunade saw through his political maneuvering and refused.
• The Third asked Tsunade to handle medical care and logistics on the Land of Wind battlefield and guide Nara Dan, and she reluctantly agreed.
• The Third asked Tsunade how strong Nara Dan had become, prompting her to recall that he had rejected her offer to become his student.
• Tsunade said Nara Dan had recently regained vitality, restrained his presence, and changed his build after making a breakthrough.
• Tsunade admitted that Nara Dan had forged his own path in Taijutsu and that she was no match for him, astonishing the Third.