Chapter Summaries

Hyuga Xiao and Kurenai Yuhi stormed Root’s underground facility and slaughtered its elite operatives. Xiao reached the Inspection Room, where Huomen Hyuga held a Branch House girl hostage with the threat of activating her Caged Bird Seal.

• Xiao and Kurenai entered the second underground level and faced twelve Root operatives.
• Xiao turned the operatives’ Composite Ninjutsu against them and killed the attackers as Kurenai helped eliminate the remaining Root ninja.
• Xiao broke into the Inspection Room and found a Branch House boy injured on an operating table.
• Huomen seized a young Branch House girl and threatened to activate her Caged Bird Seal if Xiao approached.
• Xiao stopped before Huomen and challenged him to see whether his hand or the Curse Mark would act faster.

Xiao stopped Huomen from activating the Caged Bird Seal, freed the captive girl, and overpowered him with the Tenseigan. While using Soul Search Technique on Huomen, Xiao discovered that Hiashi and Danzo were seeking the “God Tree Roots.”

• Huomen activated the Caged Bird Seal’s destruction command on the girl, but Xiao severed its chakra link and Kurenai Yuhi caught her safely.
• Xiao used Universal Pull and gravity to seize Huomen and crush his limbs against a wall.
• Huomen begged for his life and offered money and secret techniques, but Xiao used Soul Search Technique to probe his memories.
• Xiao found memories of Branch House abuses and Root experiments, then discovered that Hiashi and Danzo were searching for the “God Tree Roots.”

Hyuga Xiao learned from Huomen’s memories that Danzo and Hiashi were using Branch House children in experiments connected to the God Tree Roots. He exposed Huomen’s crimes to the captive children and left them killing the Main House official, while preparing to confront Danzo and Hiashi.

• Hyuga Xiao used the Soul Search Technique on Huomen and learned that Danzo and Hiashi were seeking the God Tree Roots to advance their experiments.
• Xiao searched Huomen’s recent memories and uncovered how he selected Branch House children for Root and killed those who resisted.
• Qiye and Kurenai Yuhi brought more than twenty imprisoned Branch House children to Xiao, and he exposed Huomen’s crimes with a chakra projection.
• Xiao dropped kunai at the children’s feet and challenged them to kill Huomen rather than keep submitting to the Main House.
• The children attacked Huomen, and Xiao watched as they tore him apart while Hong chose not to intervene.

Hyuga Xiao freed the children held at Danzo’s underground transit station, stole its supplies, and destroyed the facility after leaving Danzo a threatening message. In the crater, Xiao found a mysterious Silver Scale that reacted to his Covenant Stone Fragments and seemed connected to an unknown creature.

• Hyuga Xiao ordered Qiye to take the children to the supply depot, while Kurenai Yuhi promised to lead them out of the Land of Fire.
• Xiao used Huomen’s blood to carve a threat to Danzo and a split-bird symbol into the metal wall.
• Qiye reported the stolen supplies, and Kurenai and Qiye led the children north while Xiao stayed behind.
• Xiao unleashed a Miniature Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, obliterating the Root transit station but preserving the wall bearing his message.
• Xiao discovered a Silver Scale with a starry-sky pattern in the crater, felt his Covenant Stone Fragments react to it, and sealed it away.

Danzo investigated the destruction of his underground fortress and wrongly suspected Orochimaru or the Akatsuki after dismissing Hyuga Xiao as the culprit. With his Hashirama Cell experiment nearing collapse without Byakugan, he ordered Root to abduct Hinata Hyuga from the Hyuga Main House.

• Danzo found his underground fortress destroyed, its supplies and thirty Root ninja gone, and a blood-written threat signed with a split Caged Bird Seal.
• Danzo rejected the possibility that Hyuga Xiao caused the destruction and suspected Orochimaru or the Akatsuki instead.
• A Root researcher warned Danzo that the Astral Matter was failing and that his Hashirama Cell experiment needed high-purity Byakugan within two days.
• Danzo learned that Hiashi was under surveillance and that secretly taking more Branch House ninja would expose Root.
• Danzo activated the Class-A Contingency Plan and ordered Root to bring Hinata Hyuga to its headquarters before sunset the next day.

Xiao planned to use Hinata Hyuga as bait to draw Danzo out of Root headquarters and destroy him. He secretly compelled Hiashi to hand Hinata over, while preparing to make sure she could strike back.

• Qiye reported that Danzo had activated the Class-A Contingency Plan and targeted Hinata Hyuga for her Byakugan.
• Xiao rejected rescuing Hinata outright and instead planned to use her as bait to lure Danzo out of Root's underground headquarters.
• Xiao ordered Kurenai to stay behind and eliminate anyone who escaped, while Qiye arranged to send the Branch House children away.
• Xiao infiltrated the Hyuga Ancestral Shrine and used Kotoamatsukami to compel Hiashi to resist Root's demand before ultimately handing Hinata over.
• Xiao spotted Hinata training beneath an icy waterfall and prepared to make her the fuse for his attack on Danzo.

Hyuga Xiao used Kotoamatsukami to make Hyuga Hiashi worship him and ordered him to stage a public confrontation when Root came to take Hinata. Hiashi warned that Hiruzen Sarutobi had secretly deployed ANBU around the clan grounds, while Xiao welcomed the chance for the village to witness Root’s actions.

• Hyuga Xiao humiliated the mind-controlled Hyuga Hiashi in the ancestral shrine and made him denounce the Main House’s traditions.
• Hiashi told Xiao that Root planned to take Hinata before sunset the next day under the pretext of investigating Huomen’s disappearance.
• Xiao instructed Hiashi to resist Root publicly, then appear forced to surrender Hinata and place chakra-restraining cuffs on her before the clan.
• Hiashi warned that Hiruzen Sarutobi had sealed off the Hyuga grounds with ANBU squads, including a shinobi whose chakra suggested Kakashi Hatake.
• Xiao decided to let Hiruzen witness the confrontation and vanished from the shrine using spatial distortion.

Hinata pushed herself to the brink under a waterfall, and Xiao rescued and healed her before learning why she wanted to become stronger. He revealed that Hiashi would hand her over to Danzo the next day, leaving Hinata to decide whether she would face the deadly trap alone.

• Hinata exhausted herself practicing the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms beneath a waterfall until her chakra ran out and she sank into the pool.
• Xiao rescued Hinata and used his gravity to hold back the waterfall, then carried her to the shore and healed her injuries with Yang Release chakra.
• Hinata confessed that she feared becoming a burden, and Xiao ordered her to become his sharpest blade and eventually take the Hyuga clan leadership from Hiashi.
• Xiao revealed that Hiashi would deliver Hinata to Root as living experimental material the next day and warned her about Danzo's underground lab, its Explosive Tag Formation, and two hundred elite fighters.
• Xiao asked Hinata whether she was afraid to face the danger alone.

In the woods, Xiao prepared Hinata for Danzo’s planned extraction by engraving a Pact Stone Mark into her back with Stellar Chakra. The mark would turn her into a bomb when Danzo tried to take her ocular power, and a starry azure gleam began appearing in her Byakugan.

• Hinata told Xiao she was not afraid and would follow his arrangement, even after he warned her about Danzo’s laboratory and the danger of being used as bait.
• Xiao ordered Hinata to remove her shirt and used Stellar Chakra to forcefully reshape her chakra pathways, engraving ancient patterns along her back.
• Xiao sealed the Pact Stone Mark, which healed Hinata’s injuries and would activate when Danzo attempted to extract her ocular power.
• Xiao promised to break through Root and rescue Hinata after the mark detonated, and Hinata accepted his words with renewed resolve.
• An azure gleam appeared briefly at the center of Hinata’s pupils, revealing that the Pact Stone Chakra had begun resonating with her Byakugan.

Hinata awakened the ancient power of the Byakugan and prepared to let Root take her so she could strike Danzo’s laboratory from within. At dawn, Root arrived at the Hyuga Estate with a secret order, while Xiao watched from afar as his plan began.

• Xiao confirmed Hinata had adapted to the Pact Stone’s power and gave her instructions for infiltrating Root’s laboratory.
• Hinata agreed to conceal her power, endure chakra-suppressing shackles, and wait until the eye-extraction device was near before detonating Xiao’s hidden power.
• Hinata returned to the Hyuga Estate disguised as her timid former self, while Xiao sensed Astral Aberrant Matter beneath Konoha and vowed to confront Danzo.
• At dawn, four Root ANBU arrived at the Hyuga Estate and demanded that Hiashi receive a secret order.
• Xiao watched from several thousand meters away as Root approached, certain the bait had been taken.

Hyuga Xiao arranged a staged confrontation in which Hiashi appeared to surrender Hinata to Root, while Hinata concealed her strength and Stellar Chakra. Root took her to its underground base, where Danzo awaited her as a test subject.

• Root ANBU demanded that Hiashi hand Hinata over for questioning, accusing her of contacting Hyuga Xiao.
• Hiashi angrily denounced the accusation, but the fox-masked ANBU threatened the Hyuga Clan with the Hokage's authority.
• Hinata appeared to be a frightened, helpless daughter, and Hiashi reluctantly told her to go with Root.
• Root ANBU restrained Hinata with chakra-sealing handcuffs and carried her away in a black carriage.
• Hyuga Xiao watched from Hokage Rock, knowing Hinata's Stellar Chakra remained unaffected and urging her to burn Danzo's base to ashes.

Hinata was taken to Danzo’s underground Root laboratory, where she concealed her composure while studying its defenses and the horrors inside. Bound to an operating table for an eye-extraction procedure, she recognized the monstrous mass of First Hokage cells and dark silver substance as Danzo’s trump card.

• Hinata rode in shackles through an underground passage, secretly recording the route and controlling her fear with the breathing method Hyuga Xiao had taught her.
• At a Root cell, Hinata saw a mutilated Hyuga Branch House man with a damaged Caged Bird Seal and pretended to recoil in terror while surveying the guards and defenses.
• Root guards dragged Hinata into a laboratory filled with grotesque bodies in culture tanks and strapped her to an operating table for an eye-extraction procedure.
• As a medical ninja prepared to inject her, Hinata fixed her gaze on a huge mass of flesh containing First Hokage cells and dark silver substance, which triggered the Stellar Chakra implanted in her by Hyuga Xiao.

Danzo prepared to remove Hinata’s Byakugan to stabilize the First Hokage’s cells and Astral Matter, believing the eyes would grant him godlike power. As the extraction probes neared her eyes, Hinata revealed a cold smile, poised to act with the Stellar Chakra Brother Xiao had left her.

• Danzo entered the laboratory and learned that Hiashi had accepted Hinata’s sacrifice for the village’s interests.
• Danzo inspected Hinata’s Byakugan and ordered her eyes extracted without anesthesia to preserve their purity.
• A medical shinobi warned that the unstable culture vessel containing First-Generation Cells and Astral Matter could explode without high-purity ocular power.
• Danzo declared his plan to combine Wood Release and Astral Matter, using Hinata’s eyes to become the true god of the Shinobi World.
• The medical shinobi sealed Hinata’s chakra and activated the eye-extraction machine as the probes approached her eyes.
• Hinata felt the Stellar Chakra at her Gate of Life acupoint and smiled coldly at Danzo as the probes nearly touched her.

Hinata escaped Danzo’s eye-extraction operation when the Stellar Force implanted by Hyuga Xiao awakened, killing several Root ninja and overwhelming the others. As Danzo prepared to fight back, the power triggered a mutated test subject to break out of its tank, leaving both Hinata and the monster loose in the underground laboratory.

• Hinata’s restraints and the eye-extraction machine were destroyed when her implanted Stellar Force erupted, killing the two medical ninja beside her.
• Hinata awakened with azure, star-filled eyes and killed the fox-masked ANBU with a single strike.
• Danzo ordered twelve Root elites to capture Hinata, but she deflected their attacks with a Stellar Force version of Revolving Heaven and killed four of them.
• Hinata’s Stellar Chakra drove the mutated test subject to devour the First-Generation Cells and smash through its containment tank.
• Danzo froze as the monster emerged and the underground base descended into chaos.

Hinata awakened a power that summoned Hyuga Xiao’s projection into Danzo’s underground laboratory. Xiao crushed the Root ninjas and the monster with his gravity, then confronted Danzo over his designs on Hinata.

• Danzo ordered the Root elites to kill Hinata and preserve her eyes while the malformed monster attacked her.
• Hinata’s Life Gate array flared, and an azure pillar of light pierced the laboratory ceiling as Hyuga Xiao’s projection appeared.
• Xiao’s presence terrified the monster and nullified the Root ninjas’ attacks.
• Xiao increased gravity around the projection, crushing the monster and forcing all fourteen Root elites to the ground.
• Xiao fixed his gaze on Danzo and demanded to know whether the old man had improper designs on what belonged to him.

Hyuga Xiao’s projection overwhelmed Danzo and Root in their underground laboratory, but Danzo briefly believed the fading projection meant Xiao was exhausted. Xiao revealed that he had come in person as the ceiling collapsed under his arrival.

• Hyuga Xiao’s projection crushed Root’s fighters and the mutated monster with gravity while Hinata watched beside him.
• Danzo accused Xiao of endangering Leaf Village, and Xiao condemned Danzo’s greed and hypocrisy.
• Danzo attacked with Wind Release: Vacuum Barrage, but Xiao reflected the blades and wounded Danzo, exposing part of his bandaged arm.
• As the projection faded, Danzo ordered the surviving fighters to seize Hinata, but Xiao stopped her and challenged Danzo’s assumption that he had sent only a projection.
• The underground laboratory’s ceiling cracked and collapsed as the real Hyuga Xiao descended through the barriers with overwhelming gravitational force.

Hyuga Xiao protected Hinata as Danzo revealed his Sharingan-studded arm and attacked with Wood Release. Xiao effortlessly crushed Danzo’s Sharingan Forest and confronted him, leaving Danzo’s trump card exposed as a failure.

• Hyuga Xiao shielded Hinata from falling debris and the laboratory’s hazards as Danzo crawled from the rubble.
• Danzo tore away the seal on his right arm, revealing ten Triple-Tomoe Sharingan and unstable First Hokage cells held in balance by Astral Matter.
• Danzo claimed the arm granted him Wood Release and Izanagi, then unleashed a forest of wooden spikes bearing Sharingan to attack Hyuga Xiao and Hinata.
• Hyuga Xiao stopped the spikes with gravity and crushed them, destroying Danzo’s attack without moving from his position.
• Hyuga Xiao approached Danzo and condemned his arm as stolen powers crudely held together with inferior Astral Matter.

Hyuga Xiao defeated Danzo’s attacks and used the Tenseigan to destroy three Sharingan, disabling Izanagi and triggering the Hashirama Cells in Danzo’s arm to run out of control. As the wood transformation spread, Danzo swallowed the unstable Astral Matter in a desperate bid for power.

• Danzo attacked Xiao and Hinata with Wind Release, then tried to stab Xiao with a kunai, but Xiao pierced his chest.
• Danzo revived with Izanagi and explained that the technique could turn death into a dream by sacrificing Sharingan.
• Xiao used the Tenseigan’s gravity to crush three of the Sharingan in Danzo’s right arm, preventing further Izanagi revivals.
• With Yin Release suppression gone, Danzo’s Hashirama Cells began transforming his body into wood, and he crawled toward the Astral Matter.
• Danzo ignored a Root researcher’s warning and swallowed the unstable Astral Matter.

Danzo swallowed Astral Matter and transformed into a monstrous, unstable being with immense power, then attacked Xiao and Hinata. Xiao effortlessly repelled him, but the battle collapsed the underground chamber, and Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived with ANBU as Danzo prepared another attack.

• Danzo swallowed the lump of Astral Matter, which battled the Wood Release inside him and transformed him into a towering monster.
• Monster Danzo demanded high-purity Byakugan and lunged at Xiao, who stopped and twisted his wooden spike with gravitational power.
• Danzo unleashed a storm of wind blades, but Xiao reversed the attack and hurled him through support pillars.
• Monster Danzo gathered a compressed energy cannon as the battle's shockwaves brought down the underground ceiling.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi and more than a dozen ANBU descended through the fissure into the ruined chamber.

Hyuga Xiao used his Tenseigan’s time-based power to stop Danzo’s attack and tear the Astral Matter from his body. As Hiruzen Sarutobi and the ANBU moved to intervene, Xiao remained in the ruins with Hinata beside him.

• Danzo lunged at Xiao, but Xiao slowed time around them and avoided the strike while protecting Hinata.
• Xiao pierced Danzo’s chest and began extracting the Astral Matter with the Tenseigan’s gravitational power.
• Danzo’s body weakened and began transforming into a tree as the Astral Matter was pulled free.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered Xiao to stop and attacked with the Golden Cudgel while ANBU prepared Fire and Wind Release techniques.