Chapter Summaries

Tsunade was nearly killed by Chiyo’s forces, but Hyuga Wuye arrived and unleashed a tremendous burst of power to save her. Chiyo and Ebizo then trapped Tsunade and attacked Wuye with a lethal combination of techniques, leaving him surrounded and stabbed beneath the ground.

• Chiyo surrounded a wounded Tsunade with Sand Village jonin and the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu, while Ebizo signaled that Tsunade was not their true target.
• Hyuga Wuye arrived with Konoha reinforcements, and Tsunade regained her will to live before warning him that the Sand ninja had set an ambush for him.
• Chiyo sent the puppets to attack Tsunade, and Wuye’s hair turned white as golden chakra chains blasted the Sand ninja away from her.
• Wuye rushed to Tsunade, but Chiyo used Three Treasures Vacuum Crush while a lion-headed puppet sealed Tsunade’s chakra.
• Wuye countered the tornado with Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation, but Ebizo sent puppets up through the ground to stab him in the abdomen.

Hyuga Wuye was nearly killed while trying to escape Chiyo and Ebizo, but the Third Kazekage arrived and pinned him down with Sand Iron. As the Kazekage’s iron-sand pyramid fell, Kato Dan’s Spirit Transformation Technique diverted it, leaving Wuye protected by his chakra chains while Dan was fatally impaled.

• Hyuga Wuye used Paper Clones to scatter with Tsunade and evade Chiyo and Ebizo, but the Third Kazekage identified his real body by its iron forehead protector and pinned him down with Sand Iron swords.
• The Third Kazekage explained that he had gathered intelligence on Wuye and formed an iron-sand pyramid to kill him, while Tsunade warned that killing Wuye could bring consequences for Sand Village.
• The Third Kazekage dismissed Tsunade’s warning and sent the pyramid crashing toward Wuye as Wuye’s Shadow Clones vanished and their remaining chakra returned to him.
• Kato Dan used the Spirit Transformation Technique to enter the Third Kazekage’s body and divert the pyramid, while Wuye’s chakra chains formed a protective sealing space around him.
• The Third Kazekage struck Kato Dan with iron-sand spikes, piercing his vital points and leaving him covered in blood.

Kato Dan sacrificed himself to protect Tsunade and Hyuga Wuye, but the Third Kazekage used iron sand to fatally wound Wuye before retreating. Tsunade reached Wuye too late and mourned him in the rain.

• Kato Dan seized control of the Third Kazekage, turned his iron sand against the Sand Village shinobi, and tried to kill the Kazekage before his soul dissipated.
• The Third Kazekage forced Kato Dan from his body, then detonated the iron sand blades inside Hyuga Wuye despite his Adamantine Sealing Chains.
• Wuye’s chakra chains erupted after the attack, striking the Kazekage and driving the Sand Village shinobi to retreat.
• Tsunade found Wuye’s life force gone and collapsed beside his battered body.
• Tsunade held Wuye in the rain, remembered their time together, and begged him not to die.

Hyuga Wuye reunited with Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto, then returned to Konoha and shouted that he was home. His cry spread through the village as its people joined in welcoming themselves back.

• Hyuga Wuye recognized Uchiha Mikoto, and he and Kushina teased her about the Uchiha Clan.
• Kushina invited Uchiha Mikoto to join them shopping, and the three entered Konoha together.
• Hyuga Wuye climbed onto a rooftop overlooking the village and shouted that he was back home.
• Konoha's people joined Hyuga Wuye in shouting that they were back.
• Hyuga Wuye returned to Kushina and joked that the welcome was more exciting than her grandson's.

Hyuga Wuye enjoyed a street outing with Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto, then arranged for Mikoto to leave so he could be alone with Kushina. As they kissed, a beautiful woman dressed in white approached, unnoticed by Wuye.

• Hyuga Wuye received free snacks from vendors, and Uchiha Mikoto explained his fame in the village as a celebrated ninja and disciple of the Three Sannin.
• Uchiha Mikoto offered Wuye her snacks, but he gave Kushina his wallet and teased Mikoto about eating the food and gaining weight.
• After Mikoto finished the snacks and fled when Wuye offered to buy more, Wuye admitted he had wanted to send her away so he and Kushina could have a date.
• Hyuga Wuye pulled Kushina close, and they kissed passionately in the street.
• Uchiha Mikoto watched the kiss from a corner as a beautiful, cold-faced woman dressed entirely in white approached, while Wuye failed to notice her.

Kaguya found Wuye kissing Kushina and demanded an explanation, but his embrace softened her anger. Tsunade then raised the Third Hokage’s proposal for Wuye and Kushina to marry, and Kaguya ended the chapter insisting Wuye had to marry a Hyuga woman.

• Kaguya found Wuye with Kushina and questioned why he had not gone home.
• Wuye hugged Kaguya and told her he had missed her, while Kushina announced that she and Wuye were on a date.
• Kaguya admired Wuye’s changed appearance until Tsunade arrived and pulled him away from her.
• Tsunade told Kaguya that Wuye and Kushina were old enough to marry and that the Third Hokage wanted to discuss their marriage.
• Kaguya rejected the proposal and declared that Wuye must marry a woman of the Hyuga Clan under clan law.

Hyuga Wuye was pressured by Kaguya, Tsunade, and Kushina to name whom he would marry, but he tried to delay the decision and escape with Orochimaru. Meanwhile, Danzo urged the Third Hokage to pressure the Uchiha and Hyuga clans and hinted at a plan to weaken them against each other.

• Kaguya refused to let Wuye choose his own spouse and said she would arrange for him to marry a Hyuga clanswoman, prompting Tsunade and Kushina to challenge her.
• Wuye asked to postpone marriage for a few years, but Tsunade revealed that he had met Konan in the Land of Rain, and Jiraiya admitted he had told her.
• Wuye tried to escape by proposing that Orochimaru research turning a man into a woman, but Kaguya dragged him home while Tsunade and Kushina followed to demand an answer.
• An Anbu reported to the Third Hokage that the Hyuga clan head had rejected his proposal, and Danzo then urged him to use his postwar prestige to pressure the Hyuga and Uchiha clans.
• The Third Hokage worried that pressuring the clans could weaken Konoha, while Danzo claimed he had a plan to make the clans weaken each other.

The Third Hokage approved Danzo’s plan to position Hyuga Wuye in a role that would weaken the Uchiha and Hyuga clans, while Danzo pursued his own plan to isolate Wuye from potential Hokage support. In the Uchiha compound, Uchiha Mikoto was tasked with drawing Wuye into the clan, but her growing fondness for him left Uchiha Fugaku jealous.

• The Third Hokage accepted Danzo’s plan to use Hyuga Wuye to weaken both clans and ordered Danzo to suppress rumors about Tsunade kissing Wuye.
• Danzo left, privately believing the Third Hokage was grooming Wuye as his successor and that his own scheme would thwart that goal.
• Uchiha Yuxiong told Uchiha Mikoto to get close to Hyuga Wuye and persuade him to join the Uchiha Clan.
• Uchiha Fugaku offered to free Mikoto from the mission, but she said Wuye was nice and that she was not forcing herself.
• Fugaku watched Mikoto leave, clenching and relaxing his fists as he struggled with jealousy.

Uchiha Mikoto secretly visited Hyuga Wuye’s blind father beneath Wuye’s ninja tool shop and discussed her mission to assess the Uchiha Clan. She admitted her feelings for Wuye, leaving his father to support the possibility of a relationship between them.

• Uchiha Mikoto returned to her house in the Uchiha compound and used a hidden tunnel to reach the basement of Hyuga Wuye’s shop.
• Tianyu's wife let Mikoto into the basement, where she met Hyuga Wuye’s blind father and described Wuye’s grown appearance.
• Wuye’s father explained that Mikoto had returned to the clan to monitor the hardliners, and Mikoto said she had not wanted to attract Uchiha Fugaku’s attention.
• Mikoto told Wuye’s father that she had seen Kaguya, Tsunade, and Kushina fighting over Wuye, and admitted she envied Tsunade for the years Wuye had sacrificed for her.
• Mikoto said she wished there had been no order from the elder, then clarified that the mission had brought her and Kushina together as friends.
• Wuye’s father realized Mikoto had feelings for Wuye and said he supported her.

Hyuga Wuye returned to the Hyuga estate, where Kaguya summoned him to the bathhouse after his cousins watched her beat him in training. As he massaged her, he insisted he would marry no one in the clan but her, then kissed her cheek and stopped before pushing her further.

• Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Hizashi watched Hyuga Kaguya beat Hyuga Wuye, then worried that she might arrange a marriage between him and one of the clan's young women.
• A maid summoned Hyuga Wuye to Kaguya in the bathhouse, and he hurried there while the brothers speculated about their own marriage prospects.
• Kaguya asked Hyuga Wuye about Tsunade and the five years of life he had given up, and he explained that the Kazekage had targeted him and that mastering natural energy could prevent him from aging.
• Hyuga Wuye told Kaguya he would marry no one in the clan but her, and she avoided answering.
• Hyuga Wuye pinned Kaguya to the tatami and tried to kiss her, but she turned her face aside, so he kissed her cheek and then stopped.

Kushina lamented that Kaguya and Tsunade had monopolized Wuye, while Mikoto struggled with her mission to get close to him because he was her best friend's man. At the training grounds, Wuye quickly learned Tsunade's Monster Strength and their flirtation left Tsunade blushing and reconsidering whether to make a move on him.

• Kushina told Mikoto that Kaguya and Tsunade had taken Wuye away from her with training plans.
• Mikoto privately weighed her mission to approach Wuye against her friendship with Kushina and her lack of interest in other potential partners.
• Wuye made a five-meter crater with Monster Strength and teased Tsunade about learning her technique in less than a quarter of an hour.
• Wuye kissed Tsunade, and they embraced until she restrained his hands and teased him by licking his neck.
• Tsunade blushed after glancing at Wuye and began thinking of reasons she should act before it was too late.

Tsunade took Hyuga Wuye drinking with the Konoha Hospital doctors, then led him to a private hot spring and secretly gave him a potion. Wuye drank it without knowing what she had done, leaving Tsunade eager to see what would happen.

• Tsunade brought Wuye to Konoha Hospital and told him to invite the female doctors out for a drink.
• Tsunade secretly took a vial from the hospital's refrigerated cabinet and hid it in her pocket.
• Tsunade pulled Wuye away from the female doctors, and the group went to a tavern, where Wuye refused to drink alcohol.
• After the doctors passed out, Wuye used Shadow Clones to take them home and accompanied the tipsy Tsunade to a private hot spring.
• Tsunade poured the potion into a cup of water and tricked Wuye into drinking it.

Tsunade and Hyuga Wuye were overcome by an unexplained heat in the hot spring, and Kaguya interrupted them just as they were about to lose control. Tsunade took Wuye into the inner room, but Kaguya kicked open the door after Tsunade called her an uninvolved party.

• Tsunade watched Wuye in the hot spring as her attraction to him grew, while Wuye became increasingly overwhelmed by the heat.
• Wuye accused Tsunade of drugging him, but she denied it and fell against him; Tsunade soon pinned him to the floor.
• Kaguya burst into the room and threw Tsunade back into the pool, where Tsunade blurted out an offer to let Kaguya join them.
• Wuye kissed Kaguya's neck, but Tsunade regained her composure, pulled Wuye away, and carried him into the inner room.
• Tsunade told Kaguya to leave, and Kaguya kicked open the inner door.

Hyuga Wuye endured the effects of Tsunade’s healing potion for three days while Tsunade and Kaguya argued over him and kept him contained. After recovering, he realized Kushina was missing and rushed to alert the Hokage, suspecting the Kumogakure delegation had taken her.

• Tsunade and Kaguya kept watch over Wuye, arguing over who would take him home while sealing him whenever he lost control.
• After three days, Wuye regained his reason, left Tsunade and Kaguya exhausted, and stormed out in anger.
• Wuye went to Kushina’s room at the Senju Estate but found her missing and her bedding cold.
• Wuye learned from Kushina’s maid that a Kumogakure Village delegation had arrived two days earlier and was supposed to be in Konoha.
• Wuye concluded the delegation had already left with Kushina and told the maid to notify the Hokage.

Hyuga Wuye followed the trail of red hair after Kumogakure kidnapped Kushina, while Kushina grew despondent as they neared the Land of Rice Fields. Kurama offered Kushina his chakra, but she remained reluctant to act despite gaining a chance to escape.

• Hyuga Wuye found Kushina's red-hair markers and raced after the Kumogakure ninja toward the Land of Lightning.
• Kushina feared she would never return to Konoha or see Hyuga Wuye again as her captors dragged her toward the Land of Rice Fields.
• Kurama urged Kushina to use his chakra to defeat her captors, but she refused and lamented that everyone had abandoned her.
• Kurama released his chakra for Kushina to use, but she still could not bring herself to act.

Hyuga Wuye rescued Kushina from four Cloud Village ninjas, but the future Fourth Raikage, A, ambushed him and overwhelmed him with lightning-fast attacks. Wuye finally landed a heavy counterblow that sent A flying.

• Kushina learned Kurama had not sensed her abduction because she had cut him off from the outside world before sleeping.
• Hyuga Wuye emerged from underground, grabbed Kushina, and escaped the four Cloud Village ninjas as his Paper Clones detonated Air Blast Tags.
• A appeared behind Wuye and battered him while he protected Kushina, then used Lightning Release attacks to drive him into the ground.
• Wuye used his Sharingan and Byakugan to evade A's killing strike and punched him in the chest, sending him flying hundreds of meters.

Hyuga Wuye survived A’s attack, but Kushina’s fear for him triggered a Four-Tails rampage and a Tailed Beast Bomb. After Wuye sealed the Nine-Tails chakra and comforted Kushina, the Third Hokage tied Wuye’s marriage choices to the village’s need to keep the jinchuriki stable.

• A and Hyuga Wuye both survived their exchange, but Kushina erupted into Four Tails and fired a Tailed Beast Bomb at A, who escaped with his speed.
• As Kushina began transforming further, Wuye activated a Uzumaki Clan seal to drain the Nine-Tails chakra and then healed her burns.
• Kushina embraced and kissed Wuye after he reassured her that he would never leave, and he carried her away from the battlefield.
• The Third Hokage arrived with Anbu and told Tsunade that only Wuye could control Kushina’s jinchuriki power.
• The Third Hokage told Kaguya that Wuye could not marry anyone other than Kushina unless he chose not to marry at all, and Kaguya accepted the condition.

After rumors about Hyuga Wuye and Tsunade spread through Konoha, Tsunade was devastated by the villagers’ condemnation, while Wuye suspected someone was deliberately fueling the scandal. As Wuye worried about what the pressure would do to Tsunade, an Anbu arrived with a summons from the Hokage.

• Kumogakure concealed its failed operation and continued negotiating a ceasefire with Konoha, while Wuye and Kushina grew closer.
• Tsunade went out and heard villagers condemning her rumored relationship with Wuye, then disguised herself as Kaguya to listen to more gossip at a tavern.
• Tsunade left the tavern distraught, questioning why she had sacrificed so much for a village that now slandered her.
• Wuye smashed a table after learning how widely the rumors had spread, and Kushina worried that Tsunade might be forced to leave Konoha.
• Wuye suspected someone was deliberately stirring up the scandal and worried about the pressure Tsunade faced as the last Senju descendant.
• An Anbu ninja appeared and told Wuye that the Hokage wanted to see him.

Hyuga Wuye met with Uchiha Mikoto, who explained the Security Force’s structure and agreed to help investigate who was spreading rumors about Tsunade. Kushina found them together, but Wuye reassured her and went with her to check on Tsunade, while Mikoto planned how to enlist Uchiha Masuke’s help.

• Hyuga Wuye asked Uchiha Mikoto to explain the Security Force’s personnel and squad divisions, and she shared detailed intelligence she had prepared.
• Kushina spotted Wuye and Mikoto together and confronted them, but Wuye kissed her and Mikoto explained that she was now Wuye’s subordinate.
• Kushina told Wuye that Tsunade had opened her wine cellar and nearly drunk all the alcohol.
• Wuye asked Mikoto to investigate who was manipulating public opinion and slandering Tsunade, then left with Kushina.
• Mikoto considered how to recruit clan members to help and decided that Uchiha Masuke might be willing, before worrying that she was using her own clan for Wuye.

Hyuga Wuye found Tsunade drinking alone in her cherry blossom garden and stayed to comfort her as she lamented the loss of her freedom and the villagers’ respect. Their conversation turned to the village’s distrust of Kushina and Wuye, and Tsunade warned him that the Hyuga Clan could also become a target.

• Hyuga Wuye searched Tsunade’s quarters and found her sitting alone in the cherry blossom garden with liquor.
• Wuye drank with Tsunade, then stopped when she asked him to keep her company and talk.
• Tsunade told Wuye that slander had cost her the villagers’ respect and that she felt constrained by her identity.
• Wuye said someone was directing public opinion to drive Tsunade out, and Tsunade said the village leadership distrusted her, Kushina, and him.
• Tsunade warned Wuye that he might have to seek the Hokage position to keep Kushina from being taken away, and he admitted he feared a coup.
• Tsunade asked what Wuye would do if the Hokage targeted the Hyuga Clan, then pointed out that its hardline clan head could make it vulnerable.