He grew up at Te Teko in the Bay of Plenty and travelled to Lake Rotorua to find his father in adulthood.
Later, he visited Hapainga in Tauranga with his father and was nearly burnt alive, but escaped and took revenge by killing all the local people.
When Rangiwhakaekeau realised that Uenukurauiri was pregnant, he told her ka whanau to tamaiti he wahine, tapaia ki te au o Rangitaiki.
E whanau he tane, tapaia ko te ao e rere nei ("if the child is born female, name her after the current of the Rangitaiki river.
When Uenukurauiri went into labour, she was not able to give birth, until the tohunga included the whakapapa of Rangiwhakaekeau in their incantations, thereby revealing that the child was illegitimate.
[5] On the way, they encountered a taniwha called Kataore, which ate travellers, but they threw him a calabash of food and passed by safely.
Rangiwhakaekeau took Rangiteaorere to Te Waitohinga-a-Rangiteaorere in Okawa Bay, Rotoiti and performed the tohi ritual there to cleanse him of the tapu incurred by sitting on the pillow.
[5][7] Shortly before this, Ngāti Rangitihi had come into conflict with the residents of Mokoia Island in Lake Rotorua, who were led by Kawaarero.
The attackers also killed the chiefs Mamaku, Matariki, Ouepo, Te Arai, Maungaroa, and Parakiri and most of the other inhabitants of the island.
The following night he returned to the village and killed a woman at Paepaehumuti and performed incantations over her dead body, which empowered him to get revenge for the attack.