Recaps

Xuanyu exposed the Mission Hall’s negligence while protecting a poor farmer, then accepted a dangerous escort mission that Sarutobi Hiruzen had secretly arranged to kill him. As Xuanyu left Konoha with his team, Owuya Bai weakened a Hyuga Branch Family member’s Caged Bird Mark, and the Eighth Elder searched Neji’s home for answers.

• Xuanyu tested Yuhi Kurenai’s team, defeated her, and agreed to help Shino Aburame develop his Kikaichū through research at Uchiha Hospital.
• Xuanyu’s team accepted an overdue pig-search mission and learned that Konoha had denied a farmer’s missing relatives’ mission subsidy, so Xuanyu arranged protection and compensation for the old man and Xiao Hu.
• Xuanyu manipulated the Sarutobi Clan into paying 720,000 ryo for the farmer’s claimed livestock losses, and Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered the clan to pay rather than risk losing its influence over the Mission Hall.
• Xuanyu trained Hinata and Shino in Zhong Kui’s Gravity Domain while Kakashi told Yuhi Kurenai that Root had joined Uchiha Itachi’s attack on the Uchiha Clan under orders partly from Sarutobi Hiruzen.
• After Xuanyu injured Konohamaru and his servant, he accepted an escort mission for Hideyoshi Me, whom Hiruzen had secretly identified as a dangerous Land of Lightning ninja and used to set a trap for Xuanyu.
• Xuanyu left Konoha with Hinata, Shino, and Yuhi Kurenai, warned Hideyoshi Me not to become anyone’s weapon, and prepared to expose Hiruzen during the Chunin Exams.
• Owuya Bai reshaped a Hyuga Branch Family member’s Caged Bird Mark, freeing him from its control, while the Eighth Elder searched Neji Hyuga’s home and demanded to know where Neji’s mother had hidden him.

Xuan Yu escorted Hideyoshi Me to Kumogakure, where he defeated Killer B and the Eight-Tails and revealed his extraordinary abilities. Meanwhile, Neji and Hyuga Qing Mo gained freedom from the Caged Bird Mark, and Neji returned to rescue his mother as Qing Mo challenged the Hyuga Main House.

• Hyuga Hiashi confronted the Eighth Elder over the torture of Neji's Mother and secured eighteen days to find Neji, while Neji learned Owuya Bai's estimates for modifying the Caged Bird and completing his Shikotsumyaku fusion.
• Xuan Yu escorted Hideyoshi Me and his team into Kumogakure, where Hideyoshi Me presented the First Hokage Cells and Dodai and Fourth Raikage Ai began monitoring Hinata.
• After Xuan Yu's group left Kumogakure, Killer B, Darui, Hideyoshi Me, and other shinobi attacked them, and Yuhi Kurenai used Genjutsu: God's Binding against Killer B.
• Xuan Yu blocked Killer B's attacks, killed the surrounding Kumogakure shinobi, and fought the Eight-Tails with Wood Release, Black Flames, and his Gravity Domain before subduing Killer B and Gyūki.
• Xuan Yu caught Hideyoshi Me and Darui after they fled, defeated Darui, and told the Kumogakure group that he wanted peace before sending Yuhi Kurenai, Hinata, and Shino Aburame ahead.
• The Eighth Elder tortured Neji's Mother and Hyuga Sanming as Neji watched Owuya Bai transform Hyuga Qing Mo's Caged Bird into a Lotus Mark, then had his own seal transformed.
• Neji returned with Hyuga Qing Mo and found his mother near death, while the Eighth Elder prepared to hang her to force Neji to appear.
• Neji rescued his mother and showed the Main House that his Caged Bird Mark had become a Lotus Mark, while Hyuga Qing Mo revealed the same change and challenged the Eighth Elder as Neji walked away with his mother.

After the Hyuga Main House tortured Neji’s mother and tried to control him, Neji turned on the elders and fought off Konoha’s forces with help from Deidara, Jugo, and Kimimaro. Xuanyu arrived with Hinata as Neji’s rampage continued, preserved his mother, and stopped Neji from attacking Hinata.

• Neji killed Hyuga Main House disciples and agreed to surrender an arm and a Byakugan if the Eighth Elder released his mother, but she stabbed herself to stop him from sacrificing himself.
• Neji’s grief and rage erupted as he attacked the elders, drained their Byakugan, and trapped the Main House in his Eight Trigrams Array while the Branch House refused to fight him.
• Konoha’s forces, led by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō, entered the compound and tried to capture Neji, but Kakashi and Might Guy objected to touching his mother.
• Deidara, Jugo, and Kimimaro arrived to defend Neji, broke the Four Red Flame Formation, and forced Konoha’s forces to retreat from the Hyuga grounds.
• Neji rejected Hyuga Hiashi’s plea to spare the Main House and revealed that they had tortured his mother to death as his Byakugan changed.
• Neji continued tormenting the surviving elders and Hyuga Sosuke while Deidara’s group faced off against Konoha’s forces outside the formation.
• Xuanyu arrived with Hinata, used Wood Style Chakra to preserve Neji’s mother, then entered the formation and stopped Neji as he lunged at Hinata.

Xuanyu helped Neji break the Hyuga Main Family’s control, saved Neji’s mother, and brought Neji and others into the Akatsuki Organization. As Konoha and the Land of Lightning braced for conflict, Xuanyu’s team set out for the Land of Waves and encountered Tsunade.

• Xuanyu stopped Neji’s rampage, helped him absorb Byakugan power, and took him and the Hyuga elders away as Konoha forces gathered.
• Xuanyu and Owuya Bai stabilized Neji’s mother’s soul, then gave Hinata a Lotus Mark that fused with her body and could manifest when she used its power.
• Neji joined the Akatsuki Organization alongside Deidara, Kimimaro, and Jugo, while Neji’s allies began removing the Caged Bird Curse Mark from trusted Branch Family members.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō planned to use the Chunin Exams as cover for action against Xuanyu and the Uchiha Clan, while Raikage Ai rejected Killer B’s call to consider Xuanyu’s terms.
• Xuanyu accepted a mission to escort Tazuna to the Land of Waves, and the team continued after Tazuna apologized for demanding stronger protection without paying for a higher-ranked mission.
• Xuanyu’s group stopped in a border town, where Xuanyu restrained and threw a drunken Tsunade before leaving her behind as they continued toward the Land of Waves.