Chapter Summaries

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha completed a bandit-clearing mission and prepared to return to Konoha, with Zou determined to avoid danger and hide his abilities. When they heard a nearby battle involving shinobi, Zou chose to stay hidden and leave it alone.

• Zou Hyuga checked the bandit lair with his Byakugan while Oto Uchiha confirmed there were no hidden enemies.
• Zou Hyuga reflected on his concealed strength as a Hyuga Branch Family member and his resolve to avoid dangerous missions.
• Oto Uchiha collected the bandits' meager spoils, and Zou Hyuga took the valuables before telling her they would return to Konoha.
• Zou Hyuga adjusted his forehead protector to reveal his Caged Bird Seal, then led Oto Uchiha through the trees toward home.
• Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha heard explosions from a nearby shinobi battle, but Zou refused to intervene and Oto followed him.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha were drawn into a dangerous mission after a wounded Konoha ninja entrusted Zou with sealed intelligence. When Kumogakure ninja surrounded them, Zou used a barrage of traps and Explosive Tags to attack their captain.

• Zou Hyuga treated the wounded black-haired Konoha ninja while Oto Uchiha kept watch.
• The black-haired ninja gave Zou a Sealing Scroll containing intelligence and went to hold off the pursuers.
• A group of Kumogakure ninja surrounded Zou and Oto, and their captain demanded that Zou hand over the intelligence.
• Zou stalled the Cloud Ninja while Oto prepared, then attacked the captain with an Explosive Tag disguised as a Gentle Fist technique.
• Zou's traps and Explosive Tags set off a chain of explosions, and he insisted his attack was his original Eight Trigrams Explosive Vacuum Palm.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha used explosive-tag traps to defeat the Kumogakure pursuers alongside Asuma, who was trying to deliver intelligence. After they stopped the captain’s surprise attack, Zou learned Asuma was the Hokage’s son and worried that the encounter would draw unwanted attention.

• Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha disabled and killed Kumogakure ninja by striking their chakra points and driving them into hidden explosive tags.
• Zou, Oto, and the black-haired ninja prepared to escape, but a gust cleared the smoke and revealed that the pursuers had already been defeated.
• The black-haired ninja attempted the Summoning Technique while Zou and Oto collected weapons and scrolls from the fallen enemies.
• The wounded Kumogakure captain rose and charged the black-haired ninja, but Zou and Oto detonated another explosive tag before he could attack.
• The black-haired ninja summoned a monkey and identified himself as Asuma Sarutobi, leaving Zou alarmed that the Hokage’s son might draw attention to him.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha escorted the injured Asuma Sarutobi toward a Konoha outpost after helping him survive a Cloud Ninja attack. As Cloud Ninja tracked them, Zou discovered that Asuma had left a cigarette butt behind, undoing their efforts to hide the group’s trail.

• Asuma thanked Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha for saving him and insisted their contributions deserved recognition, but Zou offered to sell their mission credit for two hundred thousand ryo.
• Cloud Ninja examined the battlefield, realized their comrades had been killed by a powerful explosion, and pursued Asuma, whom they had intended to abduct.
• Zou complained about being dragged into a dangerous mission, while Oto Uchiha accepted that they had little choice but to keep escorting Asuma.
• Asuma expected to reach a Konoha outpost soon and hoped the intelligence he had sent about Kumogakure’s planned assassination of the daimyo would hasten peace talks.
• Zou and Oto erased their footprints and checked for scents, but Oto spotted Asuma’s discarded cigarette butt and Zou realized their concealment had failed.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha ambushed an approaching Cloud Ninja force with senjutsu-enhanced ninjutsu. The Cloud Ninja leader mistook them for a powerful Konoha jonin team and prepared for close combat, unaware another attack was coming.

• Zou Hyuga sensed ten to twenty enemies approaching and chose to face them with Oto Uchiha without calling Asuma Sarutobi.
• Zou activated his tattoo-triggered Sage Mode, while Oto concealed her three-tomoe Sharingan behind her goggles.
• Oto fired a Great Fireball Technique, and Zou amplified it with Wind Release, blasting the Cloud Ninja force and setting the surrounding area ablaze.
• Oto said she could fire five more Great Fireballs at most and urged them to conserve their strength.
• The wounded Cloud Ninja leader assumed the attack came from a Konoha jonin team and believed they could not repeat it, just as another wave of ninjutsu appeared.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha routed the pursuing Cloud Ninja with modified Fire Release, then met Jiraiya, who mistook them for genin. Zou gave Jiraiya a bathhouse discount card in exchange for his favor, just as Asuma arrived and eyed Zou suspiciously.

• Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha exhausted the Cloud Ninja force with modified ninjutsu, causing the survivors to retreat.
• Zou and Oto approached the battlefield to search for loot and encountered Jiraiya, who questioned why they had tried to sneak away.
• Zou showed Jiraiya his Caged Bird Seal and claimed that he and Oto were genin who had been fleeing the Cloud Ninja.
• Jiraiya searched for the jonin responsible for the battlefield’s destruction while Zou and Oto collected valuables from the fallen Cloud Ninja.
• Zou gave Jiraiya the loot, including a Konoha Bathhouse Discount Card, and Jiraiya promised to help them within Konoha’s rules.
• Asuma arrived with Konoha’s force and watched Zou’s exchange with Jiraiya suspiciously.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha returned to Konoha after surviving a dangerous encounter with Cloud Ninja, and Zou declined an offer to become a Chunin. Meanwhile, Asuma and Jiraiya reported Kumogakure’s plan to assassinate the Land of Fire’s daimyo to the Third Hokage.

• Asuma arrived at the battlefield, thanked Jiraiya for saving them, and then left with Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha, who slipped away while Asuma briefed Jiraiya on Kumogakure’s movements.
• Three days later, Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha returned to Konoha, and Zou submitted a report that downplayed their fight with the Cloud Ninja.
• A Chunin at the mission center told Zou Hyuga that his record qualified him to take the Chunin Exams, but Zou refused promotion and collected his mission payment.
• Jiraiya and Asuma went to the Hokage Building, where Asuma told the Third Hokage that the Cloud Ninja planned to assassinate the daimyo of the Land of Fire.

The Third reviewed Asuma’s report, identified Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha as promising Genin, and assigned Minato a dangerous mission involving a possible jinchūriki. Back in the Uchiha clan grounds, Oto prepared to defend Zou from her clanmates’ taunts but stopped when Shisui Uchiha arrived.

• Asuma left out Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha’s attempted bribe and credited them for helping him, while Jiraiya left the Third’s office.
• The Third reviewed Zou and Oto’s records, decided to promote them to Chunin, and put their names on a mission request.
• The Third gave Minato Namikaze a sealed, dangerous mission and temporary authority to command Jonin, based on intelligence about an elite squad and a possible jinchūriki.
• Uchiha clan members mocked Oto for staying teamed with Zou and remaining Genin, so she prepared to teach them a lesson using only Taijutsu.
• Shisui Uchiha appeared and dispersed the clan members, causing Oto to abandon her plan to fight.

Oto explained to Shisui that Uchiha pride should be held within rather than used to look down on ordinary villagers, changing his opinion of her. Zou returned to his laboratory and continued researching the Caged Bird Seal, focusing on the strange markings covering his body.

• After sending away the clan children, Shisui asked Oto why she could speak calmly with villagers when other Uchiha could not.
• Oto said Uchiha pride should be held within and that bullying ordinary people was nothing to be proud of.
• Shisui reflected on Oto's words, and she left before he could say more.
• Zou checked the security traps at his home and entered his basement laboratory through a secret passage.
• Zou recalled that his elderly uncle's protection had kept him safe from the Main Family, but feared what would happen when his uncle died.
• Unable to obtain a Tenseigan or accept slaughtering the Hyuga, Zou focused his research on the strange markings produced by his attempts to break the Caged Bird Seal.

Zou Hyuga studied how his unusual tattoos transformed natural energy into senjutsu chakra, then discussed his genin status with his uncle, Hyuga Yu. Hyuga Yu challenged him to a Gentle Fist sparring match and threatened to disband his team if Zou could not force him to use Rotation.

• Zou Hyuga tested senjutsu chakra on lab mice, but each one turned to stone, so he recorded the failed experiments and destroyed the remains.
• Zou Hyuga visited Hyuga Yu for dinner and explained that he remained a genin because he believed he was not strong enough to become a chunin.
• Hyuga Yu suspected Zou Hyuga was stronger than he admitted but accepted that his nephew did not want promotion after surviving a mission where a Sunagakure elite jonin killed their teacher.
• Hyuga Yu invited Zou Hyuga to spar at the training ground, limiting himself to chunin-level strength and making Zou's team's future depend on whether he could force Hyuga Yu to use Rotation.

Zou Hyuga defeated Hyuga Yu in another sparring match, then learned that Hizashi had welcomed a son and met Oto Uchiha at the mission center. When Oto mentioned seeing Shisui Uchiha, Zou warned her that they should keep their distance and continue living quietly as genin.

• Zou Hyuga used his stamina and careful defense to outlast Hyuga Yu, forcing him to use Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin and winning their sparring match.
• Zou Hyuga returned home to recover, then learned that Hizashi had welcomed a son and wondered whether the boy was Neji.
• Zou Hyuga congratulated Hizashi and gave his family a gift before heading to the mission center.
• Oto Uchiha met Zou Hyuga outside the mission center, and they planned to take a D-rank mission and work on ninjutsu together.
• Oto Uchiha told Zou Hyuga she had seen Shisui Uchiha, and Zou warned her to stay away from him.

Zou Hyuga worried about Oto Uchiha’s future and tried to avoid dangerous missions, but the Third Hokage assigned them to escort a senior official alongside Orochimaru and Anko. The convoy left Konoha for the Capital of the Land of Fire, with Zou wary of Orochimaru’s interest in kekkei genkai.

• Zou Hyuga wondered whether he could protect Oto Uchiha from the Uchiha Clan’s eventual destruction and asked if his death might advance her Sharingan.
• Finding no D-rank missions, Zou Hyuga refused the available assignments and planned to practice ninjutsu with Oto Uchiha instead.
• A Chunin stopped Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha and gave them a B-rank escort mission assigned by Lord Hokage.
• Zou Hyuga read that they would escort a senior official to the Capital of the Land of Fire alongside Orochimaru and Anko, and suspected the Third had arranged the mission to help him earn credit.
• The next day, Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha met Orochimaru and the client at Konoha’s entrance, then departed with the convoy.

Orochimaru invited Zou Hyuga to work under him, but Zou refused and returned to the camp with Oto Uchiha. On the third morning, the convoy encountered displaced bandits, and Orochimaru ordered his subordinates to clear the road.

• Orochimaru praised Zou Hyuga and invited him to become his subordinate, but Zou declined.
• Orochimaru asked Zou to bring him the finished version of the long-range ninjutsu he and Oto Uchiha were developing.
• Zou used his Byakugan to survey the area, then told Oto that Orochimaru had spoken with him and wondered if they might become Chunin.
• On the third morning, the convoy met a group of displaced bandits blocking the road, and the Bald Official reminded the Konoha Ninja that he had paid three hundred thousand ryō.
• Orochimaru ordered his subordinates to eliminate the bandits, and Anko stepped forward after finishing her dumplings.

Anko defeated a bandit group, and Zou Hyuga noticed that the strange light he had seen on the dead bandits was also present in a Ninja Cat. After reaching the Capital of the Land of Fire, he left the cat clan with Oto Uchiha and gave her a kunai as an apology.

• Anko killed the bandits' wandering ninja, and the survivors fled; Orochimaru killed a wounded bandit before the team burned and buried the bodies.
• Zou Hyuga noticed fluorescent light in his palm and hid it from Orochimaru while the convoy continued to the Capital of the Land of Fire.
• Orochimaru went to request military funding while Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha took a break and visited the Ninja Cat Clan.
• Zou Hyuga sensed the same strange presence within Bell Cat, frightening the cat with his Sage Mode and prompting Bell Cat to tell him to leave.
• Zou Hyuga gave Oto Uchiha a specially crafted kunai as an apology, then told her she would look good with cat ears.

Zou Hyuga and his team returned to Konoha, where they encountered a grief-stricken Kakashi carrying Rin Nohara’s belongings. After Orochimaru renewed his offer to recruit Zou and Oto Uchiha, a Mission Center chunin informed them that they had been promoted to chunin.

• Orochimaru focused on training Anko as the team traveled back toward Konoha.
• Zou Hyuga, Oto Uchiha, and Orochimaru spotted Kakashi carrying belongings that Zou identified as Rin Nohara’s.
• Kakashi passed the team without speaking, and they continued into Konoha together.
• At the Mission Center, Orochimaru again invited Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha to work under him, but they declined to decide yet.
• A Mission Center chunin handed Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha a document announcing that Lord Third and the elder advisors had promoted them to chunin.

Zou Hyuga reluctantly accepted his direct promotion to Chunin and planned to avoid dangerous missions. At home, he found his uncle Hyuga Yu waiting, who told him the Yellow Flash had returned from the front lines after driving back the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and A.

• Zou Hyuga received a Chunin promotion order from the Third Hokage without taking the exams and worried that his new rank would bring dangerous missions.
• Zou Hyuga told Oto Uchiha they could choose their missions and declined their usual training session so he could think alone.
• Zou Hyuga found that the warning traps at his home had been triggered and braced for an intruder, but discovered his uncle Hyuga Yu inside.
• Hyuga Yu encouraged Zou Hyuga about his promotion, reflected on his prospects despite his branch-family status, and shared that the Yellow Flash had returned from the front after driving back the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and A.

Zou Hyuga investigated the mysterious chakra he had collected and discovered that his black markings could produce it and transfer it to animals. After his experiment transformed a white mouse into a dangerous, short-lived creature, he resolved to continue testing on the remaining mice.

• Hyuga Yu told Zou Hyuga that the Third was considering passing the Hokage position to Minato Namikaze, then left Zou's home.
• Zou Hyuga hid his senjutsu energy and examined glowing specks he had collected from a recent mission.
• Zou discovered that his black markings let him manipulate the specks like natural energy and produce more of them.
• Zou theorized that the glow was a kind of chakra found in corpses and ninja cats, and wondered whether the Ninja Cat Clan could use senjutsu.
• Zou infused a white mouse with the chakra, causing its chakra reserves and apparent intelligence to surge.
• The mouse attacked Zou, who killed it and concluded that too much chakra could make an animal powerful but unable to survive; he decided to continue experimenting on the other mice.

After days of experiments, Zou Hyuga discovered that his unique natural chakra could strengthen living creatures but caused them to die within minutes. He joined Oto Uchiha at the Mission Center, where they avoided the grieving Kakashi and Zou spotted a tutor job that suited him.

• Zou Hyuga concluded that his natural chakra could enhance a creature’s body, chakra reserves, and reflexes, but lab mice invariably died within five minutes.
• Oto Uchiha visited Zou Hyuga after he had stayed home for three days, and she persuaded him to go with her to the Mission Center for work.
• Zou Hyuga recognized Kakashi at the Mission Center and warned Oto Uchiha that he was more terrifying than Asuma, so they hid from him.
• Kakashi wandered the Mission Center while grieving Rin Nohara and Obito, then left to seek work from the Third Hokage.
• Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha emerged after Kakashi left, and Zou found a low-paying chunin tutor job that seemed suited to him.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha sought safe work as Ninja Academy teachers, while Minato learned he had been chosen as the Fourth Hokage. Zou and Oto reached the Hokage’s office to make their case, leaving Zou in the middle of a speech about serving the Will of Fire.

• Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha read a tutor posting and decided to seek Ninja Academy teaching positions instead.
• Zou learned that the Third had to approve academy appointments and decided to ask him, unwilling to leave Oto behind on missions.
• Minato Namikaze told the Third he regretted arriving too late to save his comrades and learned that Kakashi had joined the ANBU.
• The Third told Minato he had submitted him as his choice for Fourth Hokage to the Daimyō.
• Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha entered the Hokage’s office and applied to become teachers, and Zou began praising the academy and the Will of Fire.

Zou Hyuga began his temporary instructor training at the Ninja Academy and met four-year-old Uchiha Itachi, who had enrolled early. He tried to steer the future prodigy toward the Will of Fire and gave him private advice about the Uchiha Clan, while Asuma Sarutobi witnessed their exchange.

• Zou Hyuga arrived at the Ninja Academy for his first day as a trainee instructor and took notes during a lesson on chakra.
• Uchiha Itachi introduced himself to Zou and explained that his father had enrolled him before the usual age of six.
• Itachi revealed that Shisui had told him Zou had insights into the Uchiha Clan, and Zou denied wanting involvement in clan affairs.
• Zou offered to help Itachi with emotional troubles and gave him a note containing his personal suggestions about the Uchiha Clan.
• Asuma Sarutobi passed outside the classroom window and saw Zou give Itachi the note.