Chapter Summaries

Xiao broke the Main House’s Byakugan Sealing Array and defeated Hiashi and the four elders, while revealing that he had prepared separate sources of power to counter their trap. He spared Hiashi and left, but Hiashi descended into a hidden staircase after hearing a call from below.

• Hiashi and four elders trapped Xiao and Clone Shisui in a Byakugan Sealing Array designed to suppress Tenseigan Chakra, revealing that they had lured Xiao there with a planned trail of clues.
• The elders restrained Clone Shisui, but Xiao used Mōryō’s negative energy and Tenseigan Chakra drawn through a spatial rift to contaminate and destroy the array.
• Xiao defeated the elders with a giant Tenseigan phantom and shattered Hiashi’s Watcher Seed mark, declaring that he would live to see the Main House’s rule collapse.
• Xiao and Clone Shisui left after discovering a hidden staircase beneath the altar, while Xiao chose not to investigate the ominous presence below.
• Hiashi recovered and descended the staircase, drawn by a call connected to the Hyuga Clan’s origin, the Caged Bird Seal, and the countdown to the moon’s descent.

Hyuga Xiao broke free from Hiashi’s sealing array and exposed the Hyuga Main House’s role in the Moon Ōtsutsuki’s harvesting system. After freeing the Branch House souls and extracting Hiashi’s Watcher Seed, Xiao left Hiashi three days to choose whether to join him, then learned an Observer squad would arrive in 47 days and set his sights on the Moon Passage Key in Rōran.

• Xiao revealed that the Hyuga Clan’s Caged Bird Seal and Watcher Seeds served the Moon Ōtsutsuki’s harvesting system, and used the Pact Stone Mark to expose the elders’ Soul Links.
• Xiao shattered the sealing array, freed the souls trapped in the altar’s giant Byakugan, and blocked Hiashi’s Gentle Fist attacks.
• Xiao extracted Hiashi’s Watcher Seed and gave him three days to decide whether to help destroy the Moon Ōtsutsuki’s breeding system.
• Xiao showed Hiashi the Advanced Byakugan Manual’s harvesting records and warned that the moon might send an Observer early.
• Xiao met Clone Shisui and learned that an Observer squad would arrive in 47 days, so he planned to obtain the Moon Passage Key from the Dragon Vein Core beneath Rōran’s ruins.

Hyuga Xiao activated all three Covenant Stone Fragments, broke free of the Hyuga sealing array, and learned the Hyuga Clan was being used as a breeding farm by the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family. After opening a passage to the moon, he went there to kill the Branch Family, leaving Hyuga Hiashi and Raven’s vessel behind under the threat of his return.

• Hyuga Xiao exposed the Watcher Seed in Hyuga Hiashi and the Main House’s role in controlling the Branch House as he faced the eye-stripping technique.
• Hyuga Xiao activated all three Covenant Stone Fragments, shattered the Caged Bird Seal and sealing array, and incapacitated the four elders.
• Hyuga Hiashi revealed that the Advanced Byakugan Manual was with Raven’s vessel, who arrived and confessed the Hyuga Clan had been a breeding farm for harvesting Tenseigan candidates.
• Raven’s vessel trapped Hyuga Xiao and tried to take his eyes, but Xiao used the Covenant Stone Marks to locate the moon and open a passage to it.
• Hyuga Xiao crossed into the starry sky to attack the Ōtsutsuki Branch Family, promising to return and settle his remaining crimes with Hyuga Hiashi.

Xiao learned that Neji carried the Byakugan Advancement Scroll inside a Watcher Seed that would kill him if extracted, so he used Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami on Hiashi to persuade Neji to give it up willingly. Neji died releasing the scroll, and Xiao left with it, knowing the Observer Envoy’s descent was approaching.

• Hiashi revealed that Neji’s Watcher Seed contained the scroll and would make him a vessel for the Ōtsutsuki, while forcibly removing it would kill him.
• Xiao had Shisui use Kotoamatsukami on Hiashi, changing his convictions so he would sincerely seek to free the Branch House and persuade Neji to offer up the scroll.
• Hiashi summoned Neji to the Hyuga Ancestral Shrine and showed him records of the Main House’s crimes, including Ryota’s transformation into a Byakugan Aggregate.
• Neji agreed to willingly release the scroll from his Watcher Seed, and the extraction killed him.
• Xiao took the Byakugan Advancement Scroll, told Hiashi to bury Neji beside Hizashi, and left beneath the moon as the Observer Envoy’s arrival drew nearer.

Xiao erased Hiashi’s memories of the Observers and freed the Branch House souls trapped in the Byakugan Aggregate, then uncovered the truth about the planned harvest of the Shinobi World. After learning that the Pruner Raven would arrive within six months to eliminate him, Xiao prepared to take control of the Hyuga Clan and confront the threat.

• Xiao used Kotoamatsukami and the Tenseigan to make Hyuga Hiashi his collaborator and remove his memories of the Pact Stone, the Tenseigan, and the Observers.
• Xiao purified the Byakugan Aggregate, releasing the imprisoned soul fragments before the mass of flesh collapsed.
• Clone Shisui translated Hyuga records revealing that the Observers had manipulated the Hyuga Clan and planned to harvest those who reached the Starry Sky Realm.
• Xiao learned that the system was bait guiding him toward harvest, and he vowed to follow its path until he could destroy the Observers’ Breeding Farm.
• Xiao ordered Clone Shisui to memorize the records and return to Root as his spy, then discovered a protocol naming Hyuga Xiao as an abnormal variable and Raven as the Pruner due within six months.
• Xiao prepared to meet Raven and declared that he would first bring the Hyuga Clan completely under his control.

Hyuga Xiao learned that the system marked him for harvest by the Observer Civilization, and he decided to turn the impending threat against them. He struck a deal with the dying Shisui to learn the Sharingan’s abilities and planned to prepare a trap before the next signal transmission in eleven days.

• Hyuga Xiao and Shisui identified the system as an Observer mark and learned that the Shinobi World was an experimental site where bloodline subjects were bred for harvest.
• Hyuga Xiao agreed to learn Sharingan techniques from Shisui in exchange for killing Danzo and preserving fragments of Shisui’s consciousness after his death; Shisui asked him to prevent another clan tragedy.
• Over three days, Shisui taught Hyuga Xiao Sharingan perception, copying, and genjutsu, while Xiao’s combined ocular training worsened his Divine Erosion.
• Hyuga Xiao discovered that the system would transmit another coordinate signal in eleven days and resolved to set a trap for the incoming harvesters.

Hyuga Xiao reunited with Kurenai Yuhi and Samui in Tanzaku Street, where Tsunade warned that Samui’s unstable chakra could kill her and questioned Xiao’s increasingly inhuman path. After Tsunade revealed that strange, pupil-less observers were watching the city, Xiao led Kurenai Yuhi and Samui away, while an Observer recorded Xiao’s condition and continued surveillance.

• Hyuga Xiao found Kurenai Yuhi, Samui, and Tsunade at a Tanzaku Street inn and learned that Samui’s fused chakra natures were breaking through their seal.
• Hyuga Xiao rejected Tsunade’s claim that Samui could not be cured and said he would repeatedly suppress her chakra rampages rather than let her die.
• Hyuga Xiao discussed his willingness to become nonhuman to protect what he valued, and Samui chose to follow him rather than return to being a tool in Hidden Cloud.
• Tsunade warned Hyuga Xiao that unfamiliar, empty-feeling chakra signatures had appeared in Tanzaku Street and described a watcher with pupil-less white eyes.
• Hyuga Xiao recognized the watcher as an Observer Vessel and left Tanzaku Street with Kurenai Yuhi and Samui.
• An Observer on a casino rooftop recorded Hyuga Xiao’s Tenseigan purity and Divine Erosion Index, then continued its surveillance.

Tsunade warned Hyuga Xiao that Samui’s treatment could kill her and revealed that Shikkotsu Forest Senjutsu might help counter his Divine Erosion. Xiao secured Tsunade’s promise to take him there, then learned an Ōtsutsuki corpse bore signs of being killed by another Ōtsutsuki, strengthening his resolve to become a harvester rather than prey.

• Tsunade warned Xiao that his method for making Samui’s conflicting chakra powers adapt had only a thirty percent chance of success, while Xiao insisted Samui would survive.
• Tsunade revealed that Xiao’s Tenseigan evolution was stripping away his humanity and that emotional bonds served as anchors against Divine Erosion.
• Xiao deduced that Shikkotsu Forest Senjutsu had helped the First Hokage with a similar problem, and Tsunade explained that the Slug Sage had absorbed energy from an Ōtsutsuki corpse.
• Tsunade agreed to take Xiao to Shikkotsu Forest after he paid her casino debt, in exchange for his promise not to attack Leaf Village’s civilians or children; Xiao reserved the right to retaliate if Danzo or the elders attacked him or his people first.
• Tsunade told Xiao that the corpse had a clean chest wound and an eye-like mark, which Xiao identified as evidence of another Ōtsutsuki’s attack and took as confirmation that he must become a harvester.

Tsunade explained why Xiao’s Otsutsuki bloodline made Senjutsu training at Shikkotsu Forest dangerous, but Xiao forced the Slug Sage to examine him. He learned that an unknown force was altering the Observer’s mark, and returned to Leaf Village to investigate it before seeking entry again.

• Tsunade told Xiao that his higher-order energy system would reject natural energy and that Shikkotsu Forest would bar him because of his Otsutsuki Bloodline.
• Tsunade opened the entrance to Shikkotsu Forest, but the Slug Sage appeared and prohibited Xiao from entering.
• Xiao stepped toward the gate, triggering a violent clash of energies, and asked whether he could prove he could control the rejection.
• The Slug Sage discovered an ancient mark on Xiao and an unknown third force altering it, then offered him a chance to enter the forest’s outer region after he mastered that force.
• Xiao agreed to investigate the power within him and returned to Leaf Village, saying he would use it until he could devour it.

Hyuga Xiao confronted the Slug Sage about entering Wet Bone Forest and learned that his Ōtsutsuki bloodline made Sage Art cultivation deadly, though an anomaly within him might offer a chance. He accepted the near-fatal Bloodline Corridor trial and followed the Slug Sage into Wet Bone Forest, leaving Tsunade with his research scroll.

• Hyuga Xiao forcibly assimilated some of Wet Bone Forest's natural energy until the Slug Sage appeared and warned him to withdraw.
• The Slug Sage explained that Xiao's bloodline would conflict with natural energy and revealed the dangerous Bloodline Corridor trial as a possible path to mastering Sage Art.
• Tsunade warned Xiao that only one of seven previous challengers had survived the trial and that his chance of success was less than ten percent.
• Hyuga Xiao accepted the trial, resolved to face any cost, and gave Tsunade a scroll of research to pass to Kurenai and Samui if he died.
• The Slug Sage entered the light gate, and Hyuga Xiao followed it into Wet Bone Forest as Tsunade watched the gate close.

Xiao entered the Bloodline Corridor and fought a manifestation of his bloodline that urged him to abandon his humanity. He survived its strongest attack by accelerating his Divine Erosion, but lost a cherished memory, and the chapter ended as sixteen manifestations surrounded him for the next fight.

• Xiao was pulled into the Bloodline Corridor, where Divine Erosion intensified and a faceless manifestation of his bloodline appeared.
• The manifestation copied Xiao's Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and overpowered him with its purer bloodline energy.
• The manifestation urged Xiao to abandon humanity, arguing that emotions and bonds hindered his evolution, but Xiao refused.
• When the manifestation fired an attack Xiao could not evade, Xiao accelerated his erosion and absorbed the beam, losing the memory of his mother's miso soup.
• The manifestation created sixteen copies and warned Xiao it would no longer hold back, and Xiao prepared to fight all seventeen beings.

Xiao resisted Divine Erosion in the Bloodline Corridor by anchoring himself to his bonds and choosing to wield divine power with a human heart. He returned to Tsunade, Hong, and Samui, learned the Slug Sage had left a warning, and turned toward Ryūchi Cave as his next destination.

• Bloodline Manifestation tried to sever Xiao's emotions and merge with him, but voices and memories of Hong, Samui, Hinata, Ryota, Kurenai Yuhi, Tsunade, and others rekindled his humanity.
• Xiao broke free of the bloodline chains, rejected pure divinity, and caused the Bloodline Corridor to transform as Bloodline Manifestation disintegrated.
• A rune revealed that Xiao had completed deep confirmation of the Humanity Anchor and directed him to proceed to Ryūchi Cave before the light transported him away.
• Xiao emerged from the gate at Shikkotsu Forest, where Hong supported him and Tsunade confirmed that the Slug Sage had left a message warning his chosen path would be much harder.
• Xiao accepted the challenge and looked toward Leaf Village and Ryūchi Cave as dawn broke.

After surviving the Bloodline Corridor, Hyuga Xiao received a Sage Art Seed that could slow Divine Erosion and learned that the Humanity Stele lay beyond the sealed Starry Sky Altar in the Land of Iron. With only three months to resist the erosion, he planned to approach Mifune at the upcoming swordsmanship tournament and began creating sword forms for the journey.

• The Slug Sage told Hyuga Xiao that the Sage Art Seed could slow Divine Erosion, warned him to protect his Humanity Anchors, and revealed that Mifune's Starfall Decree was the key to the Starry Sky Altar.
• Xiao fused the Sage Art Seed into his body, and Tsunade gave him a map and intelligence about the Land of Iron before warning him to rest ahead of Samui's fusion surgery.
• Xiao, Hong, and Samui planned to approach Mifune at the Land of Iron's swordsmanship tournament the following month.
• Xiao used the Tenseigan Prototype to refine his swordsmanship and completed his first original form, Moon Scar.
• Hong agreed to accompany Xiao to the Land of Iron, and Samui agreed to go with them.

Hyuga Xiao learned that the Sage Art Seed would delay his Divine Erosion for only three months and identified the Starry Sky Altar in the Land of Iron as his best hope of finding a cure. After receiving Mifune’s invitation to a Five Kage Secret Conference, Xiao decided to travel there and obtain the Starfall Decree while investigating Mifune’s knowledge of the Pact Stone.

• Hyuga Xiao told Kurenai Yuhi, Samui, and Clone Shisui that he could not practice Shikkotsu Forest Senjutsu and had three months to find a cure for his Divine Erosion.
• Xiao revealed that the Humanity Stele at the Starry Sky Altar might help stabilize his humanity, but he needed the Starfall Decree held by Mifune to access it.
• Shimada Shin delivered Mifune’s invitation to a Five Kage Secret Conference and a travel permit allowing Xiao to bring three attendants into the Land of Iron.
• Xiao accepted the invitation and decided to use the conference as cover to infiltrate the Starry Sky Altar and obtain the Starfall Decree.
• Mifune confirmed that the Pact Stone’s presence had appeared and ordered preparations for Xiao’s arrival and the conference with the other four Kage.

Hyuga Xiao’s caravan approached the Land of Iron while he monitored the fallout from his defection and delayed Leaf Village’s investigation with false clues. After ambushing the caravan, Orochimaru traded intelligence about the Five Kage Summit for the Sage Art Seed cultivation method and asked Xiao to kill Mifune; the intelligence also revealed unknown Ōtsutsuki-like life signs beneath the Starry Sky Altar.

• Xiao watched reports showing Hiashi denounce him, Danzō place a bounty on him, and Hiruzen send teams to investigate a false Lunar Rift lead in the Land of Demons.
• Xiao detected ten shinobi ambushing the caravan, and Samui and Kurenai defeated the attackers when they launched their assault.
• Orochimaru arrived with three Sound Ninja and offered detailed Five Kage Summit intelligence in exchange for the Sage Art Seed cultivation method and Mifune’s death.
• Xiao accepted the intelligence but said he would consider killing Mifune, while Samui and the drivers disposed of the wounded attackers and corpses.
• Xiao read that the Starry Sky Altar was guarded by Mifune and twelve Star Swordsmen, and that unknown Ōtsutsuki-like life signs existed on its third underground level.

Hyuga Xiao traded forbidden Hyuga records to Orochimaru for a technique to extract Watcher Seeds and intelligence about the Starsea Covenant Alliance and Void Devourers. As Xiao and his allies headed toward the Land of Iron, a Main House spy reported their plans, and the alliance began preliminary harvest procedures with an estimated window of ninety days.

• Orochimaru offered the Watcher Seed Extraction Technique in exchange for Hyuga Xiao's Byakugan Aggregate data and Watcher Contract, and Xiao also demanded information about the Starry Sky Visitors.
• Orochimaru revealed clues linking the Starry Sky Visitors, the Ōtsutsuki, and the Void Devourers to the Shinobi World, including the Starry Sky Altar and the Starfall Decree.
• Xiao and Orochimaru exchanged scrolls, and Xiao learned that the Hyuga Main House had served as the Starsea Covenant Alliance's proxy Observer and that the Void Devourers might arrive in ten years.
• Xiao, Kurenai Yuhi, and Samui set out for the Land of Iron, intending to master the extraction technique and test it on Ko Hyuga while preparing for the Five Kage Summit.
• A Main House spy reported Xiao's intelligence and destination, received approval to activate Container Number Three, and the Starsea Covenant Alliance initiated preliminary harvest procedures with a ninety-day estimate.

Hyuga Xiao’s disguised caravan was ambushed by Hidden Cloud ANBU while traveling through the Land of Iron, but he defeated them and uncovered evidence of a Maple Clan alliance with the Fourth Raikage. He continued toward the capital and Mifune, aware that hostile forces were also waiting at the border checkpoint.

• Hyuga Xiao sensed seven Hidden Cloud ANBU lying in wait and let them mistake him for a frightened merchant.
• Xiao absorbed the ANBU captain’s Lightning Release, killed him, redirected another attacker’s ninjutsu, and paralyzed the remaining fighters.
• Xiao read fragments of an ANBU’s memories and found a secret letter linking the Fourth Raikage’s deputy Xi with a high-ranking Land of Iron figure.
• Xiao found a letter bearing the Maple Clan crest that ordered his assassination and promised rewards after the Five Kage Summit.
• Ko Hyuga buried the ANBU bodies, and Xiao chose to enter the capital openly and seek Mifune despite the threat.
• As the caravan approached the border checkpoint, Xiao sensed more hostile chakra waiting there.

Hyuga Xiao and his companions fought off a samurai checkpoint ambush and uncovered Feng Qianye and Hidden Cloud’s plot to seize the Pact Stone. Xiao learned that Mifune was testing him, then continued toward the Five Kage Summit and the Starry Sky Altar, where he had to earn the Starfall Decree within three months.

• Hyuga Xiao identified three Hidden Cloud ANBU hiding at the checkpoint while the samurai inspected his carriage of herbs.
• Feng Qianye’s scar-faced captain exposed Xiao, Kurenai Yuhi, and Samui, prompting Hong to trap the samurai in genjutsu as the ANBU attacked.
• Hyuga Xiao defeated the three Hidden Cloud ANBU and read the captain’s memories, learning that Feng Qianye planned to take the Pact Stone and that Mifune had tacitly approved the operation.
• Hyuga Xiao spared the checkpoint forces, marked the captain’s palm with a slashed Branch House crest, and warned Feng Qianye before leaving with Hong and Samui.
• Hyuga Xiao told Hong and Samui that Mifune was testing his power and worthiness to approach the Starry Sky Altar, and the group continued toward the capital.

Hyuga Xiao infiltrated the Land of Iron and discovered that Mifune, Hidden Cloud, and the Ōtsutsuki Clan were entangled in a scheme involving the Starfall Decree and human vessels. With the Five Kage Summit seven days away, Xiao and his companions prepared to act before the Ōtsutsuki Clan could carry out its plan.

• Hyuga Xiao studied the Land of Iron's layered defenses and found Ōtsutsuki-style barriers surrounding the Shogun's Estate.
• Xiao witnessed an Ōtsutsuki phantom order a forceful retrieval during the Five Kage Summit after Mifune refused to surrender the Starfall Decree.
• Xiao discovered a prison beneath the Shogun's Estate holding dozens of people marked as vessels.
• Xiao detected an artificial vessel in the Hidden Cloud delegation whose body carried a violent Astral Force crystal.
• Hong reported that black-market brokers had been killed and relayed warnings that the summit was a trap and the Starry Sky Altar was about to open.
• Samui reported the Maple Clan's sudden closeness with Mifune, and Xiao told his companions they would strike before the Ōtsutsuki Clan could reap the harvest.

Hyuga Xiao infiltrated the Shogun's Estate to meet General Mifune, but the Blind Swordsman revealed that Mifune was waiting at the Starry Sky Altar and helped Xiao escape when four Ōtsutsuki Observers appeared. Xiao headed north toward Dragon-Breaking Cliff with a warning that the Maple Clan had betrayed Mifune, while the Blind Swordsman stayed behind to face the Observers.

• Hyuga Xiao slipped through the estate's layered barriers using his Tenseigan and a fragment of the Covenant Stone.
• The Blind Swordsman detected Xiao, fought him with No-Mind Slash, and told him that General Mifune was waiting at the Starry Sky Altar near Dragon-Breaking Cliff.
• Four fully awakened Ōtsutsuki Observers triggered the estate's alarm, and the Blind Swordsman urged Xiao to flee while revealing that the Maple Clan had betrayed Mifune.
• Hyuga Xiao escaped as the Blind Swordsman held off the Observers with his Sword Domain.
• Hyuga Xiao headed north toward the Starry Sky Altar, and the battle at the estate abruptly fell silent on the seventh breath.