Chapter Summaries

Neji fought a shadow in the Heavenly Secrets Tower and gained extensive combat experience and new Gentle Fist techniques, including a solution to his Rotation problem. After leaving the tower, he discovered that the Bronze Gate had vanished and the tower was visible inside his Sea of Consciousness.

• Neji and the shadow exchanged Gentle Fist techniques, and the shadow used Chaotic Stars to numb the meridian in Neji's arm.
• Neji copied Chaotic Stars, then traded Mountain-Crushing Strike, Sea-Covering Form, and Dragon Battles in the Wilds with the shadow.
• The shadow overwhelmed Neji's prolonged-combat technique, sent him flying, and merged into his consciousness, imparting combat experience and variations of the Eight Trigrams Palm.
• Neji realized the experience pack had revealed how to use Mirror Reversal to redirect attacks without spinning his body.
• Neji returned to the tower entrance and found the Bronze Gate missing, then saw the Heavenly Secrets Tower outlined within the open Taiji fish in his Sea of Consciousness.

After exhausting his mental energy while discovering that his Inner Landscape could store objects, Neji recovered and learned that the Hyuga clan had arranged for him to graduate early and take a border assignment. He accepted the orders but planned to use his final days in Konoha to strike back at the clan elders before leaving.

• Neji discovered that he could store and retrieve objects in the Inner Landscape, then collapsed after overusing his mental energy.
• Xiao Xi told Neji he had been unconscious for two days and that Shizune had diagnosed severe mental exhaustion; she also revealed she had begun cultivating chakra.
• Hiashi Hyuga told Neji he would graduate early, become an officially registered ninja, and join a long-term border assignment as an A-rank mission, which Neji accepted.
• Neji put the forehead protector into his storage space and resolved to disrupt the plans of the First Elder and the others before departing.
• Neji checked Xiao Xi's training, then meditated while planning how to cause trouble at the ancestral hall or with Kosuke Hyuga and escape without being tracked.

Neji infiltrated the Main House estate and killed Kosuke Hyuga after discovering Kosuke planned to have him captured at the border. He erased the evidence and returned home, waiting for the Main House to discover the murder.

• Neji created two Shadow Clones to scatter false trails while he headed for the Main House estate.
• Neji overheard Kosuke Hyuga and Hyuga Ryota discuss arranging for Neji to be captured by the enemy at the border.
• After Ryota left, Kosuke attacked Neji, who used Heavenly Mirror Reversal to return Kosuke's chakra and then killed him with One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms: Chaotic Stars.
• Neji stored Kosuke's corpse, erased traces of his presence, and slipped past the patrols.
• Neji returned home, dispelled his Shadow Clones, checked their memories, and waited for the Main House to react.

Kosuke Hyuga disappeared from the Hyuga Clan compound, prompting an investigation that left the clan in turmoil and drew in Konoha’s leadership. Neji and Xiao Xi were questioned, but Neji secretly welcomed the chaos as the search turned up confusing traces of Shadow Clone activity.

• The Hyuga Clan discovered Kosuke missing from his room, and the eldest elder ordered the compound sealed and searched.
• Hiashi and the eldest elder suspected an insider, while a scout suggested the culprit could be a Byakugan user familiar with the compound.
• Neji and Xiao Xi were questioned alongside other clan members as Neji privately saw the turmoil as an opportunity.
• ANBU reported Kosuke’s disappearance to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who ordered Konoha’s sensory ninja to help investigate.
• Sensory ninja found traces of released Shadow Clones but no lingering chakra, and Hiruzen wondered whether the Hyuga Clan was concealing something.

Neji infiltrated the Hyuga Ancestral Shrine to steal its hidden records, overcoming its shifting barrier with the power of the Primordial Bagua Diagram. He used the Heavenly Secrets Spring to copy the shrine’s entire collection, then escaped with the knowledge stored in his Inner Landscape.

• Neji slipped into the Hyuga Main House estate while the Grand Elder was away searching for Xiao Jie.
• A shifting barrier trapped Neji at the entrance to the ancestral shrine, but he suppressed his Caged Bird curse mark with the Primordial Bagua Diagram and passed through.
• Neji discovered a concealed underground chamber containing ninjutsu scrolls, clan secrets, and intelligence files.
• The Heavenly Secrets Spring copied the chamber’s records into jade slips in the Heavenly Secrets Tower.
• Neji resealed the chamber and left the shrine, convinced that the Hyuga Clan’s treasures were now in his hands.

Neji passed the ancestral hall’s chakra test, but the First Elder tried to accuse and examine him anyway, sparking a clash between the clan’s factions. When Yuumu Hyuga attacked Neji, Neji defended himself with his Wandering Dragon techniques, and their fight escalated as the chapter ended.

• Neji sent Xiao Xi away with instructions before joining the Branch House members summoned to the ancestral hall.
• The barrier stone platform tested Neji and passed him, but the First Elder accused him of acting suspiciously and reached to inspect his meridians.
• Neji challenged the First Elder’s authority, prompting Hiashi and rival elders to argue over the clan rules and the missing Xiao Jie.
• Yuumu Hyuga attacked Neji, and Neji used Wandering Dragon: Threefold Mountain-Breaking Waves to withstand the first strike.
• Yuumu unleashed Gentle Fist Technique: Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms, and Neji countered with Wandering Dragon: Sea-Covering and Dragon Battles in the Wilds.

Neji survived Yuumu Hyuga’s ultimate attack by awakening a mirror-like version of Rotation that reflected it back, but the Great Elder tried to kill him before Tsunade arrived. Tsunade protected her wounded disciple, injured the Great Elder, and demanded an explanation from the Hyuga clan.

• Neji endured Yuumu Hyuga’s Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms and was left gravely wounded.
• Yuumu fired an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm at Neji, who awakened Heavenly Mirror Reversal and reflected the attack, destroying Yuumu’s right arm.
• The Great Elder accused Neji of stealing a forbidden Main House technique and moved to kill him while Hiashi and the clan head’s faction could not intervene.
• Tsunade smashed through the ancestral hall’s dome, disrupted the Great Elder’s attack, and sent him crashing into the memorial altar with a falling boulder.
• Tsunade condemned the Hyuga elders for nearly killing Neji and threatened to tear down the ancestral hall unless they gave her a satisfactory explanation.

After Tsunade rescued Neji from the Hyuga Main House, she took him, Shizune, and Xiao Xi out of Konoha as her disciple. The group traveled onward while Neji explained the danger he had faced, and Xiao Xi worried about the Main House retaliating.

• An ANBU told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Tsunade had injured Hyuga elders and Jonin while claiming Neji as her disciple, then left Konoha with him.
• Hiruzen learned of Neji's talent and ordered the ANBU to let them go while keeping watch on their movements.
• Neji left the Hyuga Main Estate with Tsunade, Shizune, and Xiao Xi after the Main House agreed to conditions that granted him more freedom and provided disciple gifts.
• As they traveled, Tsunade questioned Neji about his injuries and the turmoil in the Hyuga Clan, and he explained that he had acted to protect himself from being killed at the border.
• Xiao Xi feared the Main House would use the Caged Bird curse mark against Neji, but Neji reassured her that Tsunade's protection would deter them.

Neji, Tsunade, Shizune, and Xiao Xi traveled away from Konoha and saw how poverty and hardship contrasted with the village’s prosperity. Neji explained why he thought the Ninja World needed reform, then camped with the others for the night, reflecting that he still cherished their bonds.

• Tsunade, Shizune, Xiao Xi, and Neji left Konoha and admired its fertile surroundings before encountering increasingly poor villages.
• Neji told Tsunade and Shizune that unequal resources and weak economic development contributed to the Ninja World’s problems.
• Neji said meaningful reform would bring war and violence, and explained that he belonged to neither a bottom-up nor a top-down reform movement.
• Neji changed the subject to dinner, and Xiao Xi and Shizune chose miso soup over his proposed grilled rabbit or frog.
• The group camped in the wilderness, and Neji felt happy to be with his companions despite his fractured ribs.

Neji began the second stage of Tsunade’s treatment by reciting an ancient scripture, helping her find peace and a new way to understand her life. Tsunade ended the night resolved to follow her own path beyond the limits of her past and the ninja world.

• Neji told Tsunade and Shizune that the first treatment had helped but that hypnosis would become less effective, then proposed enlightenment as the next step.
• Neji recited the Constant Clarity Scripture Spoken by Supreme Lord Lao, which he claimed to have found in the Hyuga Ancestral Shrine.
• As Shizune and Xiao Xi listened without understanding the scripture, Tsunade felt her old wounds and confusion fade into tranquility.
• Tsunade thanked Neji and said she now understood that peace of mind was true strength.
• While the others slept, Tsunade silently recited the scripture and resolved to keep walking her own path, no longer confined by her past, Konoha, or the ninja world.

Neji asked Tsunade to teach him the Summoning Technique and formed a contract with Katsuyu, summoning her at an enormous size. Katsuyu sensed Neji’s affinity with nature and suggested he visit Wet Bone Forest to find out whether he could learn Sage Art.

• Tsunade summoned the contract scroll and told Neji to sign it with his blood.
• Neji performed the Summoning Technique and called forth a mountain-sized Katsuyu, using half the qi in his Dantian.
• Neji greeted Katsuyu, who told him his power of affinity made her feel comfortable.
• Tsunade explained Sage Art and said Neji’s affinity reminded her of the First Hokage’s talent for sensing nature.
• Katsuyu invited Neji to visit Wet Bone Forest, and Neji realized he would need to go there to sense natural chakra.

Neji arrived at Shikkotsu Forest, where the Slug Sage agreed to teach him Sage Art and explained her confinement there. After reflecting on his recklessness, Neji began training to sense natural energy.

• Tsunade asked Katsuyu to summon Neji to Shikkotsu Forest so he could try to learn Sage Art.
• Neji arrived in the toxic, gloomy forest and met the enormous Slug Sage.
• The Slug Sage explained that she had been confined in Shikkotsu Forest for over a thousand years and could not leave without harming the Ninja World.
• Neji recognized that his foreknowledge had made him arrogant and resolved not to underestimate others.
• The Slug Sage explained that Sage Chakra required sensing natural energy and combining it with his own chakra in equal measure.
• Neji confidently assumed that calming himself meant meditation, and the Slug Sage told him he would soon understand.

Neji learned that the Sage Arts of the Three Great Sage Regions held secrets of creation, time, and space, and that Shikkotsu Forest’s art could create independent spaces. The Slug Sage explained how its mastery of space had bound it to the forest and urged Neji to begin by sensing natural chakra.

• The Slug Sage revealed the enormous Thousand-Armed Statue as Shikkotsu Forest’s inherited Dharma Form and explained that the three sage lineages followed different paths.
• The Slug Sage said Ryūchi Cave’s art could grant life to plants and lifeless objects, while the toads’ art could glimpse the river of time.
• The Slug Sage revealed that its Sage Art mastered the secret of freely creating spaces, then explained that spatial structures supporting its body had ultimately bound it to Shikkotsu Forest.
• The Slug Sage told Neji it had seen a trace of destiny upon him and advised him to prepare by learning to sense natural chakra.
• Neji considered pursuing the Sage Arts of all three regions, then focused on the Slug Sage’s cultivation method.

Neji began learning Shikkotsu Forest’s Sage Art through the Visualization Method, but his first attempt drew uncontrolled natural energy into his body and nearly caused him to be assimilated. The Slug Sage warned him to limit his practice until he completed the visualization, then sent him back to where he had departed.

• The Slug Sage explained that visualizing the Thousand-Armed Statue strengthened spiritual power and instructed Neji to study and depict it in his mind.
• Neji entered a trance and repeatedly tried to control a point of light, gradually making his drawing smoother.
• Natural energy gathered in Neji’s body, causing it to swell and turn translucent, so the Slug Sage struck him awake before he was assimilated.
• The Slug Sage explained how visualization, spiritual power, natural energy, and chakra combined to form Sage Chakra, and warned Neji to practice for no more than two hours a day until he completed the visualization.
• Neji thanked the Slug Sage, resolved to investigate the nature of the spiritual power involved, and was sent back through Reverse Summoning.

Neji returned after learning to draw natural energy into his body, and Tsunade took the group to the Land of Hot Water to celebrate. While relaxing at an inn, Neji planned his training and considered how Tsunade’s future return to Konoha might affect his ambitions.

• Xiao Xi welcomed Neji back, and he told Tsunade and Shizune that his Sage Art training had gone smoothly.
• Tsunade celebrated Neji’s progress and decided to treat the group to a hot spring in the Land of Hot Water.
• The group traveled to the Land of Hot Water, checked into an inn, and went to its hot springs.
• Xiao Xi joined Neji in the pool and massaged his back, while Tsunade and Shizune arrived and massaged each other.
• Neji considered training in Sage Art, medical ninjutsu, the Monstrous Strength Technique, and sealing, and weighed whether Tsunade might return to Konoha.

Neji trained medical ninjutsu, Sealing Jutsu, and taijutsu while Xiao Xi developed her Gentle Fist and sword techniques. In the Land of Hot Water, Neji defeated Xiao Xi in a sparring match, though she showed off her new Solar Term Sword and Rotation Sword Dance.

• Neji studied medical ninjutsu and Sealing Jutsu under Tsunade and mastered the Palm Sage Art and Chakra Scalpel.
• Sparring with Tsunade taught Neji the principles of the Monstrous Strength Technique and strengthened his Wandering Dragon Eight Trigrams Palm.
• Neji continued training while Xiao Xi practiced the Gentle Fist, and he planned to develop a technique suited to her.
• Neji and Xiao Xi sparred beside a hot spring in the Land of Hot Water, where Xiao Xi used her Solar Term Sword and Rotation Sword Dance.
• Neji broke through Xiao Xi's Rotation Sword Dance with Wandering Dragon: Sea-Covering and won the match.

Neji explained his Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword to Tsunade and decided to gain combat experience by taking missions from a Bounty Exchange. After choosing a mission in the Land of Hot Water, he was ambushed by three Chunin-level men and prepared to fight them.

• Tsunade praised Neji’s sword technique, and Neji explained that its full formation could reach S-rank.
• Neji reassured Xiao Xi about her training, then told Tsunade they planned to take missions for combat experience.
• Neji visited a Bounty Exchange and bought intelligence about a massacre near the border of the Land of Hot Water.
• Three men followed Neji from the exchange and attacked him with swordsmanship, Lightning Release, and explosive-tagged shuriken.
• Neji avoided their attacks, judged the three to be Chunin-level fighters, and readied his chakra for a counterattack.

Neji killed three rogue ninjas from Yugakure after a fierce fight and collected their bounty at the Bounty Exchange. He left with three hundred thousand ryo and continued down the road as evening fell.

• Neji killed the bandaged ninja with Wandering Dragon: Mountain Breaker, then caught the swordsman's blade and struck his vital acupoints.
• Neji escaped the Earth Release ninja's Quicksand Technique, turned the Rock Demon's Grip against him, and killed him with Mountain-Crushing Strike.
• The swordsman activated a forbidden technique, but Neji used his Eight Trigrams Domain and Gentle Fist strikes to defeat him.
• Neji confirmed all three ninjas were dead, treated his wounds, changed clothes, and carried the bodies to the Bounty Exchange.
• Neji received three hundred thousand ryo for the Yugakure rogue ninjas and left the Bounty Exchange.

Neji and his companions investigated the massacre of an entire village, where the victims had been arranged for a ritual intended to reverse life and death. They left the shrine after questioning a group of Hot Water Shadow Village ninjas, whose leader concealed what he knew as his team began removing the corpses.

• Neji showed Tsunade, Shizune, and Xiao Xi the mission scroll about a village massacre, and they argued over whether killing civilians differed from killing on missions.
• Tsunade agreed with Neji that the two kinds of killing were the same, causing Shizune’s belief in putting missions first to collapse; Tsunade knocked her unconscious so she could rest.
• Neji and the others found 360 corpses arranged in concentric circles inside the village shrine, with inverted-cross wounds and bloodstains forming an evil-looking figure.
• Neji identified reversed blood sigils as part of a forbidden technique meant to reverse life and death, while Tsunade condemned the scene.
• Neji spotted approaching ninjas from Hot Water Shadow Village and questioned their Chunin leader, who blamed a wandering cult and stopped a Genin from revealing more.
• Neji let the team enter and watched them carry the corpses away.

Misaki told Neji and the others how the Great Elder’s pursuit of the Evil God’s power drove Hot Water Shadow Village into bloody madness and led to her sister’s disappearance. Neji agreed to take her along as the group prepared to follow the trail, while suspecting the immortal Hidan was unlikely to be behind the crisis.

• Misaki approached Neji’s group and asked them to help her find her missing sister, Chizuru, after explaining that the Great Elder had taken her.
• Misaki recounted how the Great Elder began performing bloody rituals to gain the Evil God’s power, causing villagers to descend into madness and violence.
• After clear-minded ninja destroyed the altar, the village split, and the Great Elder fled with children, including Chizuru.
• Tsunade dismissed pain as a path to eternal life, and Neji agreed to let Misaki join their operation.
• Neji connected the account of an immortal, indestructible ninja to Hidan but doubted that Hidan or the Akatsuki had masterminded the events.