Chapter Summaries

Hinata fought Raiga and pushed herself to move faster with each charge. From a nearby hill, Tenten and Rock Lee saw the disturbance and suspected Hinata was keeping Raiga occupied to protect them.

• Raiga blocked Hinata's attack with his twin blades, which crackled with chakra-enhanced lightning.
• Hinata retreated, judged her wings too slow to outpace Raiga, and resolved to become faster.
• Hinata charged again and again, increasing her speed and the commotion around the fight.
• Tenten and Rock Lee spotted the disturbance while searching for Hinata and suspected she was fighting Raiga.
• Rock Lee reasoned that Hinata's Byakugan had shielded her from the mysterious power and that she had drawn Raiga away to protect them.

Hinata pushed Raiga to his limits while using him to test and refine a move, discovering that it had significant flaws. Raiga was left badly wounded and barely able to stand as Tenten and Rock Lee headed toward the thunderous booms to find Hinata.

• Rock Lee explained that Raiga had been restrained and taken away, and Tenten agreed that they should investigate the booms.
• Tenten and Rock Lee headed toward the source, with Tenten worrying that Hinata might be in danger.
• Hinata avoided using her mastered Tenseigan abilities and treated Raiga as a sparring partner to improve her strength.
• Hinata repeatedly tested her move against Raiga and discovered significant flaws in it.
• Raiga ended up covered in wounds, gasping for breath and kneeling while leaning on his twin blades.

Hinata prepared to kill Raiga, hoping Ranmaru would plead for his life so she could earn Ranmaru’s gratitude. Raiga praised the situation, but Ranmaru still did not intervene, leaving Hinata unsure what to do.

• Hinata wondered why Ranmaru had not asked her to spare Raiga, despite expecting their bond to make him intervene.
• Hinata considered Raiga’s strength but valued Ranmaru more and hoped to use Raiga’s life as a favor to Ranmaru.
• Hinata silently panicked when Ranmaru remained still and aimed her longsword at the weakened Raiga again.
• Raiga raised his head and told Hinata, “Good. This is good,” in a hoarse voice.
• Hinata ignored Raiga and continued her act.

Hinata recognized the hostage scene as a familiar villain’s tactic and suspected Ranmaru wanted her to threaten Raiga. She thrust her sword toward Raiga’s heart, leaving the outcome in Ranmaru’s hands.

• Hinata recalled how villains used hostages to pressure their opponents and wondered whether Ranmaru wanted her to play along.
• Hinata decided she could either kill Raiga or let Ranmaru intervene, depending on what he chose.
• Hinata charged at Raiga and thrust her sword toward his heart.

Hinata confronted Ranmaru through the voice in her heart while holding Raiga at swordpoint. After Ranmaru admitted Hinata's real target was her and begged her to spare Raiga, Hinata opened a dark portal and appeared beside the travel bag where Ranmaru was hidden.

• Ranmaru's voice told Hinata to let Raiga go.
• Hinata challenged Ranmaru but kept her sword at Raiga's throat without striking.
• Ranmaru said Hinata's target was her and begged her to release Raiga.
• Hinata withdrew her sword, turned it and her wings into Truth-Seeking Orbs, and opened a dark passage.
• Hinata stepped through the passage, appeared beside a large travel bag, and pulled open its zipper.

Hinata removed Ranmaru from the soaked travel bag, concerned that his frail body could not withstand the rain. Raiga tried to get up but collapsed, leaving Hinata to confront Ranmaru in Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

• Hinata searched for a way to protect Ranmaru from the rain but found nothing.
• Raiga noticed Hinata appear beside Ranmaru and pull him from the travel bag.
• Raiga tried to rise and circle Hinata but collapsed, dropping his twin swords.
• Hinata stared intently at Ranmaru, who looked away under her imposing gaze.

Hinata took the weakened Ranmaru and Raiga away through a spatial passage, leaving Tenten and Rock Lee to find a ruined battlefield with no trace of their departure. Ranmaru understood that Raiga had chosen to leave him and prepared to focus on what he had to do next.

• Hinata noticed something and used a spatial passage to reach the weakened Raiga while still holding Ranmaru.
• Hinata seized Raiga and took both him and Ranmaru through another spatial passage, leaving the battlefield behind.
• Tenten and Rock Lee arrived less than two minutes later and found the battlefield devastated but no trace of anyone leaving.
• Ranmaru realized Raiga had chosen to part ways with him and accepted that he had something more important to do next.

Hinata helped Raiga carry out his final choice, and he used Lightning Release: Lightning Burial to die in a storm. Ranmaru then began explaining the loneliness he and Raiga shared, leaving Hinata to consider his question about fate.

• Hinata recognized that Raiga wanted to sever his bond with Ranmaru and respected his choice.
• Hinata struck Raiga off the cliff, and he used Lightning Release: Lightning Burial to summon lightning that consumed him.
• Raiga's ninja swords and ashes fell to the ground as he thought that his death might allow Ranmaru to live anew.
• Hinata turned her attention to Ranmaru, who asked whether she believed in fate.
• Ranmaru said he and Raiga shared a profound loneliness and felt like orphans rejected by the world.

Ranmaru reflected on his bond with Raiga and the loneliness that shaped their choices, while Hinata began to suspect his story was turning toward her. He still avoided answering her directly and explained that, unlike the person he described, he could not truly choose to leave.

• Ranmaru said he had been satisfied when he and Raiga finally had someone to talk to, but wished they could have stayed together or left together.
• Hinata privately enjoyed listening to Ranmaru's tragic story until she sensed it was beginning to concern her.
• Hinata asked Ranmaru what he was trying to say and why the situation seemed to involve her.
• Ranmaru said the other person could choose to leave because he saw less deeply, while Ranmaru could not be the same as him.

Ranmaru told Hinata that he had recognized her as someone without roots in this world, unlike him and Kiba, who still had bonds with others like themselves. He left her facing his claim that she was utterly alone and out of place.

• Ranmaru reflected that isolated people could still find traces of their past and leave behind something of themselves.
• Ranmaru explained that he had begun observing Hinata as she approached and had noticed something different about her.
• Hinata lost her composure and asked Ranmaru what he had seen.
• Hinata denied that anything was wrong, but Ranmaru said she did not belong to this world and seemed to have appeared there as an aberration.
• Ranmaru contrasted his and Kiba’s bonds with others like themselves with the unique loneliness he believed Hinata carried.

Ranmaru prostrated himself before Hinata and asked to follow her so he could understand the new realm he believed her loneliness had reached. His words left Hinata shaken and drenched in the rain as Ranmaru began to lose consciousness.

• Ranmaru struggled upright, then pressed himself flat against the ground in a grand salute to Hinata.
• Ranmaru solemnly declared that he was willing to follow Hinata and remain by her side.
• Hinata trembled, overwhelmed by Ranmaru's words, which shattered her composure.
• As the rain continued, Ranmaru began to lose consciousness, while Hinata forgot to protect herself with Chakra.
• Hinata's Tenseigan vanished, leaving her with the ordinary white eyes of a Hyuga Clan ninja.

Hinata returned to Tenten and Rock Lee carrying an unconscious, feverish boy, but collapsed after insisting she was fine. Tenten and Rock Lee rushed to her side.

• Tenten and Rock Lee searched the battlefield and exchanged signals when they heard footsteps approaching.
• They ambushed the newcomer and discovered it was Hinata, holding an unconscious boy whose face was red with fever.
• Tenten asked Hinata what had happened and where she had been, but Hinata initially showed no emotion.
• Hinata forced out a faint smile and told Tenten not to worry.
• Hinata's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed; Tenten and Rock Lee rushed to her, with Rock Lee reaching her first.

Hinata woke at Granny Sansho's Life Curry House after collapsing and reflected on how Ranmaru had made her realize her secret might have been exposed. Tenten found her awake and went to bring her curry.

• Hinata woke in a room and recognized it as one where she had stayed at Granny Sansho's Life Curry House.
• Hinata reviewed her encounter with Ranmaru and realized she had underestimated the people of this world and risked exposing her greatest secret.
• Tenten entered and greeted Hinata with relief.
• Hinata thanked Tenten, who said Hinata's body had become weak and went to bring Life Curry made by Granny Sansho and Karashi.

Hinata woke up and learned that Ranmaru had explained what happened during their ordeal. After hearing his account and seeing how dark his heart could be, Hinata found herself liking him, while Ranmaru accepted that his choices were changing him.

• Rock Lee, Tenten, and Granny Sansho welcomed Hinata after she woke.
• Hinata asked where Ranmaru was, and Tenten said he had recovered earlier but was resting in another room because he was weak.
• Rokosuke carried Ranmaru into the room, and Ranmaru thanked Hinata for helping him escape his misery.
• Ranmaru recounted what had happened, leaving Hinata shocked by the darkness of his heart.
• Hinata privately decided she liked Ranmaru, while he reflected that his choices were changing him.

Hinata gave Tenten and Rock Lee a fabricated account of how she and Ranmaru escaped Raiga, and they believed her. Still recovering in a hospital bed, she planned to keep the details of her story from Ranmaru until they returned to the village.

• After waking, Ranmaru had told Tenten and Rock Lee that Raiga had kept him because of his Kekkei Genkai and that he had helped Hinata escape in exchange for freedom.
• Hinata claimed Raiga had attacked them, then retreated after a difficult fight and caused the mountain's collapse with a huge stockpile of Explosive Tags.
• Tenten and Rock Lee believed Hinata's account because they had been unconscious during the mountain's destruction.
• Hinata decided there was no need to compare stories with Ranmaru before returning to the village, since they could plausibly have forgotten details.
• While lying weakly in a hospital bed, Hinata berated herself for deceiving the others but privately enjoyed it.

Hinata tried the Life Curry at Granny Sansho's restaurant and enjoyed it so much that she ate a whole pot. Her companions were startled by her appetite, and Hinata explained that she was making up for days of missed meals.

• Granny Sansho scolded Karashi for rushing with the Life Curry, then offered the dish to Hinata.
• Hinata tasted the curry and felt a soothing warmth spread through her body.
• Hinata kept eating until she finished the whole pot of curry.
• Rock Lee admired Hinata, while Tenten called her a headache because of her appetite.
• Hinata apologized and said she had eaten so much because she had been asleep for several days.

Hinata, Tenten, Rock Lee, and Ranmaru left Granny Sansho and Karashi and continued toward Konoha, reminiscing about the Life Curry. At the Hokage Building, Tsunade and Shizune discussed the troublesome daimyo from the Land of Sea.

• Hinata, Tenten, Rock Lee, and Ranmaru said farewell to Karashi and Granny Sansho and set off.
• After the group left, Granny Sansho scolded Karashi for not being more like Rock Lee, Tenten, and Hinata.
• On the road to Konoha, Rock Lee, Tenten, and Hinata talked about missing Granny Sansho and Karashi and enjoying their Life Curry.
• At the Hokage Building, Shizune told Tsunade she had worked hard dealing with the troublesome daimyo from the Land of Sea.

Tsunade set aside her frustration with the Land of Sea's daimyo and reviewed Konoha's outstanding missions with Shizune. After learning that Hinata, Rock Lee, and Tenten had been away longer than expected, she asked Shizune to investigate.

• Tsunade complained about the Land of Sea's daimyo and asked which mission teams had not returned to the village.
• Shizune explained that the daimyo had chosen to stay in Konoha, which fell under Tsunade's jurisdiction.
• Shizune reported that seven Anbu squads and forty-six regular squads were carrying out missions outside the village.
• Tsunade asked Shizune to find out why Hinata, Rock Lee, and Tenten had been gone for so long.

Tsunade concluded that Hinata, Tenten, Rock Lee, and the wounded Rokosuke had encountered trouble because they were overdue returning to the village. She ordered Anbu to investigate, and Shizune accepted the decision.

• Tsunade said the group had definitely run into trouble and ordered the nearest Anbu squad to abandon its mission and investigate at Wood Sorrel Gold Mine Mountain.
• Shizune questioned whether it was appropriate to divert Anbu when Hinata and the others might already be returning.
• Tsunade explained that Hinata's role and the children's talent made their safety important, and that as Hokage she had to face the situation without hesitation.
• Shizune accepted Tsunade's order with renewed resolve.

Hinata, Tenten, Rock Lee, and Ranmaru hurried back to Konoha after their mission ran far past its deadline. They reached the village safely, and Hinata reflected on how different Konoha felt after being away.

• Hinata and the others rested near Konoha after several days of rushing back from the Land of Rivers.
• Ranmaru recovered from being carried under Rock Lee's arm throughout the exhausting journey.
• Hinata's Byakugan detected several patrol squads near Konoha, and one squad briefly checked that the group were allies.
• Hinata, Tenten, Rock Lee, and Ranmaru arrived safely at Konoha's gates.
• Hinata felt complicated emotions as she looked at Konoha after her time away.