Chapter Summaries

Chiba and Mira escaped an earlier pack of snow wolves, but they were surrounded again by a larger pack led by a talking snow wolf king. Chiba and his Shadow Clones fought back, and the chapter ended with the wounded king enraged and Chiba still facing its freezing magic.

• Chiba and the others used the Shadow Clones’ Gale Palm to escape the first pack, then slowed their fall with another gust of wind.
• Mira pulled Chiba out of the snow, but the group soon found itself surrounded by nearly a hundred snow wolves and their enormous, talking king.
• Chiba summoned nine Shadow Clones, and they used Phoenix Flower Jutsu to kill roughly a third of the wolves.
• The snow wolf king attacked Chiba with a powerful ball of ice, but Chiba blocked it with Water Formation Wall and wounded the king with Winter Water.
• Chiba retreated from the king’s spreading freezing aura and struck it with Shuriken combined with Phoenix Flower Jutsu, enraging the wounded beast.

Chiba and his companions defeated the Snow Wolf King, but its final attack triggered an avalanche that swept them to a cliff. After helping Lisanna and Elfman climb to safety, Chiba tried to reach Mira, who was suddenly threatened by strange birds.

• Chiba and his Shadow Clones used Water Formation Wall, then combined Fire Style and Wind Release attacks against the Snow Wolf King, but it survived the flames as Chiba ran out of Chakra.
• The dying Snow Wolf King charged into the mountainside, triggering an avalanche that buried Chiba, Mira, Lisanna, and Elfman after the snow wolves fled.
• Chiba and the others were swept to a cliff edge, where Chiba used Winter Water and Kunai to climb up with Lisanna and Elfman.
• Chiba climbed back down to help Mira, but strange white birds flew in and one attacked her.
• Chiba threw Shuriken at the bird, but it knocked them aside with its claws.

Chiba fought the strange birds on the cliff to protect Mira, Lisanna, and Elfman, using his last Chakra to help Mira reach safety and bring down the attackers. He survived his fall into the birds’ corpses, then heard a girl’s voice nearby.

• Chiba refused to climb away, taunted the strange birds, and drew their wind attacks onto himself despite being wounded.
• Chiba used a Shadow Clone and Gale Palm to send Mira up to a foothold, then attacked the birds with Phoenix Flower Jutsu.
• Chiba used his final Chakra on another Phoenix Flower Jutsu, then struck the burning birds with Kunai as he fell with them.
• Mira and the others believed Chiba had died and mourned him as he plunged down the cliff.
• Chiba crawled out from the strange-bird corpses after surviving the fall, and a nearby girl said he was still alive.

Chiba survived his fall and encountered Ultear, who spared him before deciding to keep him around to study his power. After recovering by eating the strange birds, Chiba challenged her and was beaten down.

• Chiba woke in a wilderness and recognized the armed girl who threatened him as Ultear.
• Ultear considered killing Chiba, but spared him after he pleaded to be kept around for company.
• Chiba roasted and ate the strange birds, recovering enough strength and Chakra to challenge Ultear.
• Ultear said she was interested in Chiba's power and wanted to observe him.
• Chiba challenged Ultear, who beat him and pinned his face beneath her heel.

Chiba lost to Ultear’s Time Magic and became her personal attendant rather than a member of Grimoire Heart. At the guild’s hidden base, Ultear began to suspect that Chiba’s calm demeanor concealed formidable combat instincts.

• Ultear defeated Chiba and threatened to kill him, but made him her personal attendant after he explained that he was a ninja who used Chakra.
• Ultear led Chiba through a spatial illusion that concealed an ice-covered world from the outside.
• Chiba followed Ultear toward Grimoire Heart’s base and met Sawen, whom Ultear identified as a powerful A-Class mage wanted for slaughtering a town.
• Ultear explained that strength determined status in Grimoire Heart, while Chiba admitted that he was hungry.
• Ultear noticed that Chiba showed no real panic and recognized that his combat instincts were unusually strong.

Ultear brought Chiba to a hideout, warned him not to escape, and left him to recover and train. After Chiba began studying two B-Class Ninjutsu, two hostile healing mages arrived, and he sensed that the scarred mage was plotting against him.

• Ultear led Chiba to a rundown room and told him he would stay there for at least a week because he lacked a guild emblem.
• Chiba created two Shadow Clones and entered the Ninjutsu Chamber to take the Earth Dragon Bullet Technique and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet scrolls for training.
• At night, two unfriendly healing mages arrived, and Chiba let them treat his injuries despite their insults.
• While the scarred mage healed him, Chiba sensed suspicious magic like the kind he had felt from Bobbit.
• After claiming Chiba was healed, the scarred mage began explaining the dark guild's rules.

Chiba fought two boys who attacked him and destroyed his cabin, then Ultear stopped his fire attack and sent the boys away. With nowhere to sleep, Chiba accepted Ultear's offer to stay in her room, while wondering how Mira was doing.

• Chiba threw the scar-faced boy and his companion out of the cabin after they threatened him and tried to use magic on him.
• The boys destroyed the cabin with wind blades, but Chiba dodged their attacks and knocked them both down.
• The boys combined Wind Current and Fire Rain against Chiba, who countered with Great Fireball Technique and Gale Palm.
• Ultear used her Time Magic to make Chiba's fireball disappear, then kicked the boys away after they blamed Chiba and claimed he had insulted the guild.
• Ultear told Chiba to sleep in her room, warned him not to try anything, and Chiba wondered how Mira was doing.

Chiba chose to accompany Ultear on a dangerous mission against Shadow Skull rather than help attack an ordinary town, refusing to kill unarmed people. Ultear questioned his resolve and admitted she wanted to see how long he could resist the darkness, while reflecting on her own path and her devotion to Zeref.

• Chiba practiced Ninjutsu through the night, then woke to find he had used Ultear's toothbrush and was beaten for it.
• Ultear ordered Chiba to join her on a mission and described two choices: suppress a rebellion tied to Shadow Skull or take a southern town and kill its inhabitants.
• Ultear warned that the rebellion would be dangerous for Chiba and offered the town mission as the easier option.
• Chiba chose the rebellion mission, saying he would not kill a group of unarmed ordinary people.
• Ultear said she wanted to see how far Chiba could go without becoming a mage or succumbing to darkness, and recalled that she had once held a similar attitude before devoting herself to Zeref.

Ultear gathered about a hundred Grimoire Heart members, including Chiba, to travel toward a rebellious town. After a day of travel and punishing training, Chiba returned exhausted and accidentally called Ultear “Sister Lei,” provoking her surprise and menace.

• Ultear introduced Chiba to Sawen and the other black-robed members, then led the group to a stable to prepare for the mission.
• Chiba admitted he could not ride a horse and persuaded Ultear to let him ride behind her, provoking Scarface and Cross-Eyed Wolf.
• That night, Ultear noticed Chiba was missing while he trained alone in the forest, enduring painful Chakra conditioning and reflecting on his motives.
• Chiba returned to Ultear's tent exhausted from his week of weighted running and Taijutsu training and said he was hungry.
• Ultear reacted sharply when Chiba accidentally called her “Sister Lei.”

Chiba was forced out of Ultear’s tent after calling her “Sister Lei,” leaving her alone with painful memories of Ur. While he slept outside, two guild members tried to kill him, but he killed them first and faced their furious father before Ultear intervened.

• Ultear asked Chiba why he called her “Sister Lei,” then sent him out of her tent and brooded over her mother, Ur.
• Scarface and Squint-Eyed Wolf carried the exhausted Chiba into the forest and attacked him.
• Chiba used his Sharingan and Gale Palm to overpower the two men, then killed them with his Kunai.
• The men’s father, Qiaote, confronted Chiba and attacked him with black magic.
• Ultear’s emerald-green Free Ball stopped Qiaote’s attack, and she challenged him for trying to kill her guard.

Ultear stopped Qiaote from retaliating against Chiba, then scolded Chiba for failing to guard himself. After Chiba fell asleep, the Ninjutsu Chamber upgraded his talent, leaving him able to learn ninjutsu more easily and use certain techniques with greatly increased power.

• Ultear explained that Qiaote's son and his accomplice had tried to assassinate Chiba and declared the matter closed under Grimoire Heart's rules.
• Ultear threatened Qiaote and took Chiba back to camp, while Qiaote secretly resented them.
• Ultear scolded Chiba for not watching his back, and Chiba realized she had been keeping an eye on him.
• Chiba fell asleep on a stool, and the Ninjutsu Chamber upgraded his talent and awarded him a Kekkei Genkai before settling on Yamato-version Wood Release.
• Chiba woke to find he had gained Complete Version Ninjutsu and Simplified Ninjutsu, which made techniques easier to learn and strengthened eligible ninjutsu.

Chiba woke to find that Ultear had ordered him carried to bed, then discovered that Grimoire Heart’s negotiations with Shadow Skull had erupted into battle. As he joined the fight, Qiaote turned against Ultear, blaming her for protecting Chiba.

• Chiba created two Shadow Clones and ordered them to study earth-attribute shape transformation and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet before heading to the confrontation.
• Ultear rejected Puroke’s demand to surrender the traitor and give Shadow Skull Lute Town, and Sawen killed the captive traitor.
• Puroke declared war, and the two guilds began fighting; a stray magic missile hit Chiba, who joined the battle with a kunai.
• Puroke called for action, and Qiaote attacked Ultear with a book before accusing her of forcing him to betray Grimoire Heart by protecting Chiba.

Chiba intervened when Sawen betrayed Ultear and stabbed her, but Ultear revealed that she had anticipated the betrayal and used Time Reversal to heal herself. She launched an attack on Sawen, beginning the fight she had planned to use to kill him.

• Sawen revealed himself as a Shadow Skull spy, stabbed Ultear, and killed Qiaote while Puroke joined him.
• Chiba attacked Sawen and Puroke with fire-wreathed shuriken and a powerful Great Fireball, then blocked Sawen's Dark Spirit with a Water Formation Wall.
• Ultear healed her wound and restored her clothing with Time Reversal, explaining that she had known Sawen's allegiance and provoked him to expose himself.
• Ultear attacked Sawen with lines of free spheres, and Sawen sent Dark Spirit to intercept them.

Ultear and the Grimoire Heart mages were trapped in Puroke’s Magic-Sealing Space, which suppressed their magic and left them outnumbered by Shadow Skull. Chiba entered the fight unaffected by the spell and faced two B-Class mages as his improved strength was put to the test.

• Ultear battered Sawen with Free Balls, but Puroke used a one-use Magic-Sealing Space to suppress the magic power of everyone inside its barrier.
• More than two hundred Shadow Skull mages entered the barrier, giving Puroke’s side a numerical advantage over the weakened Grimoire Heart mages.
• Puroke and two A-Class mages attacked Ultear, but Chiba knocked all three aside and revealed that the barrier did not weaken him.
• Chiba burned many Shadow Skull mages with Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu, while Ultear used Free Ball to stop the remaining A-Class mage from joining the fight.
• Puroke and another A-Class mage attacked Chiba from opposite sides, and Chiba prepared to fight them using the strength he had gained over the past week.

Chiba used Shadow Clones and powerful fire and wind techniques to defeat Puroke and an A-Class mage, then fought his way through Shadow Skull’s forces. Puroke returned with enhanced power and struck Chiba with a crimson sword attack.

• Chiba and his Shadow Clones combined Gale Palm with a Great Fireball, breaking through a Rock Barrier and badly burning Puroke and the A-Class mage.
• Chiba saw that the A-Class mage had stopped breathing, while Ultear was close to defeating Shadow Skull’s other A-Class mage.
• Puroke ordered the surrounding mages to stop Chiba, who used his Two-Tomoe Sharingan to fight through them and kill many of them.
• Puroke reappeared with a crimson longsword, strange markings, and power beyond that of an ordinary B-Class mage.
• Puroke blocked Chiba’s Kunai strike, sent him flying, and launched a streak of crimson sword energy at him.

Chiba found that Puroke could destroy his strongest defensive ninjutsu and overpower him in close combat, so he fled the Magic-Sealing Space. He turned back to carry Ultear to safety, while Grimoire Heart mages fought to shield them from Puroke and the pursuing Shadow Skull mages.

• Puroke detonated his magic power inside Chiba’s Water Formation Wall, destroying it, then overpowered Chiba in hand-to-hand combat and hurled him into the crowd.
• Chiba escaped Puroke’s attack and ran toward the edge of the Magic-Sealing Space, but reconsidered leaving Ultear behind.
• Chiba returned, hoisted Ultear over his shoulder, and used Gale Palm to shatter stone spikes as he continued fleeing.
• Puroke ordered the Shadow Skull mages to pursue and kill Ultear, while a Grimoire Heart mage rallied his allies to protect her escape.
• Puroke and an A-Class mage attacked the fleeing pair, but more than ten Grimoire Heart mages raised stone barriers to slow Puroke’s sword aura.

Chiba and Ultear fought to escape the Magic-Sealing Space while Shadow Skull overwhelmed Grimoire Heart. After awakening Lava Release and covering himself in Lava Armor, Chiba killed an A-Class mage and charged at Puroke.

• Ultear's magic failed to break the barrier, and Chiba discovered that his Ninjutsu could damage it.
• Puroke and Shadow Skull's mages surrounded Grimoire Heart, forcing Chiba to abandon his assault on the barrier and help Ultear.
• Ultear trapped Puroke and his companion in Ice Condensation, Rose Garden, but struggled to sustain the spell as the enemy mages attacked.
• Chiba released his Shadow Clones and gained Wood Release, Lava Release, and the Lava Armor technique.
• Chiba's Lava Armor melted through Ultear's ice and let him kill the A-Class mage with a single strike.
• Chiba and Puroke charged at each other, and their lava and blood-red sword collided.

Chiba defeated Puroke in their final clash, but the battle left him unconscious and Ultear exhausted amid the destruction of Shadow Skull and Grimoire Heart. When a mysterious book sealed Ultear’s magic and stranded them in the snow, Chiba woke and built a wooden cabin to shelter them.

• Chiba and Puroke’s final clash left Chiba unconscious and Puroke dead.
• Under Ultear’s lead, the survivors killed nearly all of Shadow Skull and Grimoire Heart, leaving Ultear and Chiba alive inside the Magic-Sealing Space.
• After the barrier vanished, a book that Qiaote had failed to open entered Ultear and suppressed her magic, forcing her to carry Chiba through the snow.
• Ultear collapsed from cold and exhaustion while clinging to Chiba, who later woke and found her nearly frozen.
• Chiba carried Ultear and used Wood Release, Four-Pillar House to make a crude cabin for shelter.

Ultear woke in a snowbound cabin that Chiba had made and questioned why he had stayed with her after she lost her magic power. As Chiba considered taking her to find Mira and the others, a mysterious female voice suddenly spoke in his mind.

• Ultear awoke in the cabin and discovered Chiba’s coat and the strange trees and lava that warmed the room.
• Chiba returned and told Ultear he had stayed because she had saved him and he considered them friends.
• Ultear rejected the idea of friendship and explained how magic power had changed animals and made ordinary beasts rare.
• Chiba decided to leave the wilderness to find Mira and the others and considered bringing Ultear with him.
• A female voice called Chiba a scumbag inside his mind, startling him.

Chiba and Ultear settled into a remote mountain house, where he cooked for them and used his abilities to expand and furnish their shelter. Ultear insisted on staying with him for now, while Chiba remained worried about his friends and planned to find them when he could.

• Chiba cooked the snow deer with help from his Shadow Clones and shared it with Ultear.
• Chiba told Ultear he wanted to find his friends, but she asked to stay in their shelter and reminded him he was her bodyguard.
• Ultear guessed Chiba was thinking about a girl, and he insisted she was only a friend.
• After dinner, Chiba made a water tank, furniture, and a second house, using lava to warm and light the space.
• Ultear revealed that her spatial item contained several dresses, and Chiba joked that he had no clothes to change into.