Chapter Summaries

Xuan Yu returned to Hinata and Kurenai after letting the Cloud ninjas leave, then revealed his many abilities to Kurenai. In Konoha, the elders planned for possible Uchiha unrest and discussed using Impure World Reincarnation, while the Hyuga Eighth Elder confronted Neji's Mother over Neji's disappearance.

• Xuan Yu reassured Hinata, told Kurenai he had let Killer B, Darui, and the others go, and confirmed he could use Flying Thunder God, Wood Release, the Gravity Domain, and Six Paths Tomoe.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other elders discussed preparing for unrest from the Uchiha Clan after Xuan Yu's presumed death.
• Danzō told Sarutobi Hiruzen that his Forbidden Technique research had focused on Impure World Reincarnation and that he had gathered relics from former Hokage.
• The Hyuga Eighth Elder brought Hyuga Sosuke and Main Family members to Neji's home to interrogate Neji's Mother about Neji's whereabouts.

The Eighth Elder and other Main House members confronted Neji's Mother, demanding to know where Neji was and what had happened to Hyuga Changliu. She defied them and condemned the Main House's treatment of the Branch House, while Hyuga Sosuke prepared to punish her.

• The Eighth Elder beat Neji's Mother and demanded Neji's whereabouts and an explanation for Hyuga Changliu's disappearance.
• Neji's Mother accused the Main House of abusing the Branch House and defended Neji for protecting himself from the Caged Bird Mark.
• The Branch House members gathered nearby silently recognized the truth in her accusations.
• The Eighth Elder openly called the Branch House the Main House's slaves, and the First Elder objected only to his saying it in public.
• Neji's Mother refused to reveal Neji's location and said she was glad he had escaped the Hyuga Clan.
• Hyuga Sosuke urged his grandfather to punish Neji's Mother and began forming hand seals.

Hyuga Sosuke and the Eighth Elder tortured Neji's Mother with the Caged Bird to use her as bait for Neji, while Neji watched Owuya Bai attempt to replace a Branch House member's seal. The new mark began blooming into a Lotus as Neji remained unaware that his mother was in danger.

• Hyuga Sosuke intensified the Caged Bird's pain on Neji's Mother, and the Eighth Elder said she would be kept alive until Neji returned.
• Hyuga Sanming tried to stop the torture, but the Eighth Elder kicked him down and activated his Caged Bird seal as well.
• The Eighth Elder beat Hyuga Sanming when he urged him to end Neji's Mother's suffering, while the Branch House members fell silent.
• At Small Lake Side, Neji watched Owuya Bai carefully carve a new Cursed Seal onto a Hyuga Branch Family member, hoping it would free the Branch House from the Main House.
• The Caged Bird Mark began transforming into a Lotus, with its petals slowly opening.

Owuya Bai removed Hyuga Qing Mo’s Caged Bird and replaced it with a Lotus Mark, freeing him and strengthening his Byakugan. Neji returned to have his own seal transformed, and the chapter ended as he opened his eyes after receiving a Lotus Mark with 108 petals.

• Hyuga Qing Mo awakened his Byakugan after Owuya Bai transformed his Caged Bird into a Lotus Mark with twenty-six petals.
• Hyuga Qing Mo thanked Owuya Bai, who told him to live for himself; Qing Mo decided to follow Uchiha Xuan Yu instead of returning to the Hyuga Clan.
• Neji grew worried about his mother and agreed to let Owuya Bai remove his Caged Bird before he went home.
• Owuya Bai spent half an hour transforming Neji’s seal, which bloomed into a Lotus Mark with 108 petals.
• Neji slowly opened his eyes after Owuya Bai completed the transformation.

Neji discovered that the Cursed Seal had freed his Byakugan from the Caged Bird and decided to return to Konoha, worried about his mother. Meanwhile, the Hyuga Eighth Elder tortured Neji’s Mother and ordered her displayed outside the clan grounds to lure Neji back.

• Neji told Owuya Bai that the Cursed Seal had removed the Caged Bird’s restrictions and was strengthening his Byakugan.
• Neji’s dread returned, and he decided to go back to Konoha to bring his mother to Owuya Bai for treatment; Hyuga Qing Mo accompanied him.
• The Eighth Elder tortured Neji’s Mother for information about Neji, but she refused to tell him where Neji was.
• Hyuga Sanming pleaded for Neji’s Mother, but the Eighth Elder threatened his family and knocked him down.
• The Eighth Elder ordered Neji’s Mother hung outside the clan grounds so Neji and everyone in Konoha would see her fate.

Neji returned to the Hyuga Clan Grounds and found the Main House elders had beaten and threatened his mother to force him to appear. He arrived just as they were taking her away, and his mother recognized him as the Main House turned its attention to him.

• Neji and Hyuga Qing Mo found the Hyuga Clan Grounds unusually empty, and Neji used his Byakugan to spot a weak Chakra signature at his home.
• Neji feared his mother was in danger, rushed toward home, and Hyuga Qing Mo followed after realizing the Main House might have targeted her.
• The Eighth Elder ordered Neji's mother bound and threatened to hang her until Neji returned, while the Fifth Elder warned that the punishment could anger Hyuga Hiashi.
• Neji arrived as clan members carried his barely conscious mother away, and she recognized him; the Eighth Elder and Hyuga Sosuke confronted him.

Neji returned to the Hyuga compound and killed a Main House disciple who tried to strike his mother. As his mother lay gravely wounded, Neji promised to take her away and showed her the mark that had replaced his Caged Bird Curse Mark.

• Neji stopped a Main House disciple from hitting his mother, broke his wrist, and killed him by snapping his neck.
• The other disciple handed Neji's barely breathing mother over to him.
• Neji held his mother, apologized for leaving her behind, and wept as she recognized him.
• Neji refused his mother's suggestion that they go to the Pure Land together and promised to take her away and have her Cursed Seal removed.
• Neji showed his mother the Lotus-shaped mark where his Caged Bird Curse Mark had been, and she smiled at his escape from the Bird Cage.

Neji told his dying mother that he had broken free of the Caged Bird and could free her too, but the Hyuga elders dismissed his claim and tried to activate his curse mark. When they discovered it had truly vanished, Hyuga Qing Mo stepped forward and revealed that he had also undone the Caged Bird.

• Neji comforted his dying mother and said he had broken free of the Caged Bird and had come to take her away.
• The Eighth Elder and other Main House members accused Neji of lying, while a disciple tried to activate his Caged Bird curse mark.
• Neji's mother urged him to flee, but the disciple could not find a Caged Bird mark on him.
• The Eighth Elder and the other elders also failed to find Neji's mark, and the Branch House members noticed the changes in his eyes and chakra.
• The First Elder claimed Neji had only concealed the curse mark, dampening the Branch House members' hopes.
• Hyuga Qing Mo stepped forward and said he had also undone the Caged Bird Curse Mark.

Hyuga Qing Mo revealed that the Lotus Cursed Seal could free Branch Family members from the Caged Bird and strengthen their Byakugan, then openly defied the Main House and called for its overthrow. The Eighth Elder recognized Qing Mo as his former attendant and demanded to know where his son, Hyuga Changliu, was.

• Hyuga Qing Mo explained the Lotus Cursed Seal’s benefits, including removing the Caged Bird’s restrictions and improving the Branch Family’s Byakugan.
• The Branch Family crowded around Qing Mo to ask how they could obtain the Lotus Cursed Seal, but the First Elder activated the Caged Bird and left three members writhing in pain.
• The First Elder warned the Branch Family not to speak of removing the Caged Bird, and the others fell silent in fear.
• Hyuga Qing Mo denounced the Main House as parasites and declared that he would tear down the Hyuga Clan’s leadership.
• The Eighth Elder recognized Qing Mo as the attendant he had sent with Hyuga Changliu and demanded to know where Changliu was.

Hyuga Qing Mo confronted the Eighth Elder after revealing that his Caged Bird seal no longer controlled him, while Neji focused on rescuing his gravely injured mother. The Eighth Elder ordered Neji stopped as Neji carried her away, and Neji continued forward despite the threat.

• Hyuga Qing Mo struck the Eighth Elder when he tried to seize him, and the Eighth Elder discovered his Caged Bird seal had failed.
• Hyuga Qing Mo accused the Eighth Elder of trying to keep him from freeing Branch House members and taking them out of Konoha.
• Neji's mother repeatedly urged him to flee, and Neji promised to take her to Owuya Bai for treatment.
• The Eighth Elder ordered Neji to stop, but Neji challenged him and kept walking with his mother.
• The Eighth Elder ordered the others to stop Neji.

Neji tried to take his injured mother away from the Hyuga Main Family and killed disciples who blocked him, discovering that his Bone Spikes could absorb Byakugan energy. The Eighth Elder threatened his mother with her Caged Bird mark, and Neji agreed to sacrifice an arm and a Byakugan only if Hyuga Qing Mo took his mother to safety first.

• Neji killed a Hyuga Main Family disciple with a Bone Spike and discovered that it absorbed the man's Byakugan energy, strengthening his own eyes.
• Neji killed another disciple who blocked his way and prepared to attack the rest as the elders condemned him.
• The Eighth Elder threatened to erase Neji's mother's Caged Bird mark unless Neji killed himself, then demanded an arm and a Byakugan instead.
• Neji offered to trade the Eighth Elder's son Changliu for his mother, but the Eighth Elder refused and demanded Neji's sacrifice.
• Neji agreed to destroy one arm and one Byakugan on the condition that Hyuga Qing Mo first took his mother away, and the Eighth Elder accepted.

Neji faced the Hyuga Main House’s demand that he sacrifice an arm and an eye in exchange for his mother’s release, while Hyuga Qing Mo urged him not to comply. As Neji reached for the kunai, his mother suddenly shoved him aside and threw herself onto it.

• The Eighth Elder demanded that Neji surrender an arm and an eye, claiming his mother would be released, while secretly planning to kill him and Hyuga Qing Mo.
• Neji challenged the Main House’s promise, but the Eighth Elder threatened to activate the Caged Bird Curse Mark against his mother.
• Hyuga Sosuke gloated that Neji’s family ties could still be used to control him, while the Branch Family members remained unable to help.
• Hyuga Qing Mo urged Neji to leave, but Neji decided to take the kunai and sacrifice an arm and an eye for a chance to save his mother.
• As Neji reached for Hyuga Zongwen’s kunai, his mother shoved him aside and crashed into the blade.

Neji's mother died after stabbing herself to stop him from mutilating himself, and Neji erupted in rage against the Hyuga Main Family. He attacked the Seventh Elder and began draining his Byakugan as he vowed to break every bone in his body.

• Neji's mother stabbed herself with Hyuga Zongwen's kunai, then pleaded with Neji not to mutilate himself and urged him to leave with her.
• Neji's mother lost consciousness and her Chakra faded, while Neji desperately tried to keep her alive.
• Neji rose in a rage as bone spikes and Cursed Seals covered his body, and the elders realized they could no longer lock onto his mother's nearly vanished Spiritual Imprint.
• Neji declared that everyone from the Hyuga Main Family deserved to die and attacked the Seventh Elder with Bone Spike Chains.
• Neji's chains pierced and dragged the Seventh Elder toward him while draining the elder's Byakugan, and Neji vowed to break every bone in his body.

Neji tortured the Seventh Elder and condemned the Hyuga Main Family for abusing the Branch Family. When the Eighth Elder expelled Neji and ordered the Branch House members to kill him, they stared back in stunned disbelief.

• Neji kept breaking the Seventh Elder's bones while recalling the agony his mother had suffered from the Caged Bird.
• The First Elder tried to stop Neji, but Neji denounced the Main Family as parasites who had built their status on the Branch Family's lives.
• The Eighth Elder declared Neji an enemy of the Hyuga Clan and expelled him, while Neji vowed to bring the Main Family down and save the Eighth Elder for last.
• Hyuga Qingmo urged Neji to retreat with his mother, but Neji refused and said he would handle the elders himself.
• The Eighth Elder ordered the Branch House members to seize and kill Neji, leaving them stunned that the Main Family expected them to attack their own.

Neji overwhelmed the Hyuga Branch House members who had been forced to attack him, then trapped the Main House elders and disciples in his expanded Eight Trigrams domain. As the First Elder prepared to face him and the Fifth Elder tried to evacuate the younger generation, Neji made clear that no one would escape.

• Hyuga Sanming resisted the Eighth Elder's order to attack Neji, but the Caged Bird's pain forced him to the ground.
• The Branch House members surrounded Neji under threat, and Neji unleashed a vast Eight Trigrams field that injured them all with Gentle Fist strikes.
• The Main House disciples recoiled at Neji's strength, while the Branch House members lay still rather than continue fighting him.
• The First Elder ordered the Fifth Elder to take the younger Main House members away, leaving him to face Neji; Hyuga Sosuke begged not to be abandoned.
• Neji expanded his domain across the courtyard and used bone chains and palm strikes to trap the Main House attackers, drawing attention across Konoha.

Sarutobi Hiruzen tried to spy on the Hyuga Clan after a strange Eight Trigrams Pattern appeared, but Neji Hyuga’s chakra concealment blocked his Telescope Technique. After learning Neji had returned and Hyuga Hiashi was away, Hiruzen ordered the Anbu to investigate the clan.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen sensed unfamiliar chakra around the Hyuga Clan and used the Telescope Technique, but the Eight Trigrams Pattern obscured his view.
• Neji Hyuga used a method taught by Xuanyu, aided by his strengthened Byakugan, to conceal the Hyuga Clan from surveillance.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen questioned an Anbu ninja, who reported that the Eighth Elder had targeted Hizashi’s wife to draw Neji out while Hyuga Hiashi was away.
• The Anbu ninja reported that Neji Hyuga had returned home and that the anomaly appeared afterward.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered the Anbu to investigate the Hyuga Clan, declaring that the clan could not refuse Konoha.

A vast Eight Trigrams display over the Hyuga Clan drew the attention of Konoha’s ninja and villagers, while the Nine-Tails sensed a powerful boy inside it. As Kakashi and others rushed to investigate, Hyuga Sanming and the Branch House blocked Anbu from entering so Neji could deal with the Main House.

• Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura saw the Eight Trigrams display over the Hyuga Clan, and the Nine-Tails warned Naruto that a boy around his age had a power that made it wary.
• Kakashi headed for the Hyuga Clan, and Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura followed to investigate.
• Sarutobi Asuma noticed the disturbance and went to the Hyuga Clan, followed by Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino.
• Might Guy and Rock Lee noticed the disturbance, and other clans and ninja also headed toward the Hyuga Clan.
• Hyuga Hiashi saw the Eight Trigrams display while returning to Konoha and hurried toward it.
• Hyuga Sanming and the Branch House blocked Anbu from entering the Hyuga Clan so Neji could deal with the Main House.

Hyuga Sanming and the Branch House members blocked Konoha's Anbu from entering the Hyuga grounds to investigate, hoping Neji Hyuga would destroy the Main House and free them from the Caged Bird. After Kakashi failed to persuade them, Sarutobi Asuma arrived and ordered them to stand aside.

• Hyuga Sanming and the Branch House members refused to let the Anbu investigate the Hyuga Clan's internal affairs, despite the Hokage's orders.
• The Branch House members held their ground because they hoped Neji Hyuga would eliminate the Main House and wanted freedom from the Caged Bird.
• Kakashi arrived, heard the Anbu's explanation, and asked Hyuga Sanming to let them enter, but Sanming refused.
• Kakashi told the Anbu to report back to the Hokage, but Sarutobi Asuma arrived and demanded to know what had happened.
• After hearing the Anbu's account, Sarutobi Asuma accused the Branch House of defying the Hokage and ordered them to move aside.

Sarutobi Asuma forced a confrontation with Hyuga Sanming after the Branch House blocked Konoha from entering the Hyuga grounds. Hyuga Changwen used the Main House’s authority to incapacitate Sanming, allowing Asuma to sever his arm before leading a group farther inside.

• Hyuga Sanming refused Asuma’s demand to let Konoha enter, and Asuma ordered the Anbu to attack when another scream came from within the grounds.
• Asuma fought Sanming while the Anbu clashed with the Branch House members, and Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura arrived to witness the battle.
• Kakashi moved the Genin out of danger after catching a shuriken headed toward Sakura.
• Hyuga Changwen arrived and ordered Sanming to stop, but Sanming continued to bar entry as another scream sounded.
• Changwen formed hand seals and caused Sanming to clutch his head, giving Asuma the chance to cut off Sanming’s arm.
• Asuma told an Anbu ninja to summon more people and led the Anbu and Changwen deeper into the Hyuga Clan grounds.

Naruto, Kakashi, and the others followed Sarutobi Asuma to the heart of the Hyuga Clan conflict, where Neji Hyuga had trapped the Main House members inside an Eight Trigrams Array Diagram. They found Neji standing over the First Elder in a bloody scene, crushing his bones as the others watched helplessly.

• The Nine-Tails urged Naruto to follow Sarutobi Asuma, and Kakashi agreed to take Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura after him.
• Kakashi reattached Hyuga Sanming's severed arm and promised not to target Neji or get involved in the conflict.
• Naruto recognized Neji's name and hurried with the others toward the center of the battle.
• Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura reached the Eight Trigrams Array Diagram and saw Neji standing over the First Elder, crushing his bones while the trapped Main House members could not move.