The eldest son of Kahungunu and Rongomaiwahine was named Kahukuranui. His children included two sons, Rakaihikuroa and Rakaipaaka. Rakaihikuroa led a migration of his families and followers from Nukutaurua on the Māhia Peninsula to Heretaunga, the region known today as Hawke's Bay. Rakaipaaka remained in Nuhaka, where he remains the eponymous ancestor of the Ngāti Rakaipaaka hapū of that area. Accompanying Rakaihikuroa from Māhia to Heretaunga was a son from one of his first marriage, Taraia. Not long after their arrival in Heretaunga, Taraia succeeded Rakaihikuroa as the leader of their people, and he proved to be a proficient strategist in the struggle for dominance of the region, displacing the Whatumamoa, Rangitane, Ngāti Awa, and elements of the Ngāti Tara iwi, which lived in Petane, Te Whanganui-a-Orotu and Waiohiki. Within Taraia's lifetime, Heretaunga was brought under the control of his people, who became the first of the Ngāti Kahungunu in that area.