Chapter Summaries

Izuna proposed a reciprocal exchange-student agreement that would let Konoha and the Land of Whirlpools share training while protecting the Uzumaki Clan’s control over its core sealing techniques. The Land of Whirlpools’ Major Counselor considered whether to accept Izuna’s offer as a dignified way to strengthen and protect his country.

• Izuna explained the exchange-student idea to Tobirama, who agreed to draft regulations while teasing Izuna about his work habits.
• After five Senju died in an attack on the road, Tobirama sent condolences as Konoha continued talks with the Land of Whirlpools’ delegation.
• Izuna learned the delegation had moved to Konoha’s Hot Spring District and eagerly looked forward to visiting after the negotiations.
• At their meeting, Izuna offered the Major Counselor either a conventional alliance that would make the Land of Whirlpools a vassal state or a reciprocal exchange program without political or military conditions.
• Izuna presented terms for each country to train the other’s students, share research, and protect the Land of Whirlpools’ core sealing formulas.
• The Major Counselor remained silent as he weighed Izuna’s offer and wondered why Izuna wanted to strengthen the Land of Whirlpools.

Izuna reflected on Konoha’s role as a shelter and on how its people had come to trust its leaders, while a returning Senju force found the village—and its admiration for Madara—almost unrecognizable. Tetsugaku ended the chapter stunned by his clansmen praising Madara as a capable, caring leader.

• Izuna sent the Four Nations’ envoys home with Konoha’s draft exchange plan, while Ōnoki returned to the Land of Earth with a sword from his new master, Madara.
• Ren and Hinata held a small engagement ceremony, and Izuna recognized that Hashirama had built Konoha as a refuge where children and adults could live safely.
• Izuna considered how he and the other leaders had gradually earned the villagers’ willing trust through their actions and policies.
• Tetsugaku returned to Konoha with his fellow Senju and found its busy, cheerful streets unfamiliar after six months at the border.
• At a tavern, Tetsugaku overheard ninja from several clans praising Madara’s battlefield skill, mission decisions, and concern for their safety.
• Tetsugaku gripped his cup in disbelief as Senju Shin'ichirō and the others spoke warmly of Madara.

Hashirama, Tobirama, Madara, and Izuna set out from Konoha on a diplomatic journey to the Land of Whirlpools. They reached the Land of Hot Water by boat, where Tobirama had arranged to meet a minister from the Land of Whirlpools.

• Mito Uzumaki wrote to her father about her life in Konoha and explained why she could not accompany him.
• Hashirama, Tobirama, Madara, and Izuna left Konoha after Tobirama made Hashirama cut down his oversized luggage.
• The group crossed the Fire Country and reached the sea, where Izuna revealed his wings and flew above the water.
• Tobirama said they would meet a minister from the Land of Whirlpools in the Land of Hot Water, and the four boarded the last boat there.
• Madara learned that merchant ships had recently been detained near the Land of Whirlpools, while Tobirama gathered information about the Land of Hot Water.
• The group arrived at the Land of Hot Water, and Madara woke Izuna, who had slept through most of the boat journey.

Jotaro Uzumaki reflected on the growing pressure against the Land of Whirlpools as he welcomed Hashirama Senju, Tobirama, Madara Uchiha, and Uchiha Izuna to Hot Spring Street. The group settled into a secluded inn before their planned visit and talks about cooperation, while Izuna failed to pitch his Exchange Student Plan.

• Jotaro Uzumaki considered how the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning were probing and economically isolating the Land of Whirlpools.
• Jotaro met Hashirama Senju, Tobirama, Madara Uchiha, and Uchiha Izuna on Hot Spring Street and welcomed them on behalf of the Land of Whirlpools.
• Hashirama told Jotaro that Konoha had come to visit Mito's family and discuss future cooperation.
• Jotaro escorted the four to a private hot spring inn and left them there before the formal welcoming banquet.
• Izuna complained that he had been unable to explain his improved Exchange Student Plan to Jotaro.
• Tobirama reasoned that Jotaro had kept his distance to avoid attracting scrutiny from other countries, and Madara assigned the group their rooms.

Hashirama, Madara, Izuna, and Tobirama relaxed at an open-air hot spring, where Hashirama noticed unexplained scars on Izuna that Izuna could not remember acquiring. Izuna later tried making hot spring eggs and shared chilled milk with the others before they sat beneath the inn’s eaves.

• Hashirama noticed that Izuna's shoulders, arms, and back were covered in scars, but Izuna called them old scars and Madara told the others that Izuna had no memories.
• The four discussed marriage, and Madara explained that he had taken Ōnoki as his disciple partly for political reasons and intended to train him responsibly.
• Drowsy in the hot spring, Izuna summoned a Shadow Clone to fetch eggs and chilled milk, then tried cooking an egg in the pool.
• Izuna found the egg oddly cooked, ate it with soy sauce, and complained that the iced milk tasted unpleasant alongside it.
• After the bath, Hashirama persuaded Tobirama to try chilled milk, but Tobirama dismissed it as nothing special and Izuna teased him for having no taste.

Izuna overheard a merchant explain that the Land of Lightning had blocked sea routes and was confiscating goods from the Land of Whirlpools, leaving Yanzhen to realize his country was in grave danger. Izuna concluded that the Uzumaki Clan’s Sealing Jutsu and the nobles’ fear of Ninja autonomy had made the Land of Whirlpools a target.

• Izuna wandered Hot Spring Street after finishing his documents and noticed Madara and Hashirama moving toward the border.
• Izuna overheard Yanzhen, an Uzumaki Clan member, discussing the difficulty of selling sealing scrolls with Luotai.
• A sea merchant told Luotai that the Land of Lightning had closed coastal routes and was confiscating goods bearing the Uzumaki Clan’s crest.
• Yanzhen realized the Land of Whirlpools was in serious trouble, while Izuna inferred that political leaders were targeting it to curb Ninja independence.
• Izuna pulled Yanzhen away after deciding he had learned enough.

Izuna warned Enma that the Land of Whirlpools was in danger and invited him to travel there, while Mokushō’s sudden appearance made the warning seem real. As Hashirama and Madara discussed Izuna’s strange changes, Izuna took Enma to an izakaya, where a striking stranger spoke to him about the sake.

• Izuna told Enma that several countries might target the Land of Whirlpools and offered to take him there.
• Enma saw Mokushō appear unnoticed by passersby and was shaken by the impossible sight.
• Hashirama worried that Izuna’s changed behavior could affect Konoha, and Madara admitted Izuna had seemed like his dead brother before returning to normal.
• Izuna took Enma to an izakaya, ordered sake, and explained what cocktails were.
• A handsome man at a nearby table asked Izuna whether Sakura Drunk impressed him.

Uchiha Izuna and Uzumaki Enma met Ise Haruto, a rebellious heir who had built a successful liquor business, and Izuna persuaded him to move his birthday banquet to the Summer Evening Bar. Haruto welcomed them to his estate as his only guests, while his strained relationship with his mother and troubles with his business remained unresolved.

• Ise Haruto introduced himself to Uchiha Izuna and Uzumaki Enma, invited them to his home, and Izuna agreed after learning he had a battle results screen.
• An attendant found Haruto and tried to bring him back to his birthday banquet, but Haruto refused and said he would rather escape by boat than inherit the family business.
• Izuna challenged Haruto to stop running away and proposed moving the celebration to the Summer Evening Bar, where guests could choose to join them.
• Haruto agreed to Izuna's plan and recounted how he left home at fifteen, became a merchant, and built a network of liquor shops despite his mother's disapproval.
• Haruto explained that shipping disruptions, thefts, and spoiled liquor had recently hurt his business, and Izuna inferred that his mother had arranged the banquet to pressure him into returning.
• Haruto led Izuna and Enma into the Summer Evening Bar courtyard and welcomed them as his only guests.

Tobirama learned that Wakako had stayed in Konoha and heard her proposals to hire Guardian Ninja, exchange Hinata Rei for Princess Mariko, and betroth Mariko to Senju Yūki. Meanwhile, Izuna helped Haruto turn his sparsely attended birthday gathering into an uninvited banquet, leaving Enshin astonished.

• Tobirama returned to Konoha and learned from Rokuhiko that Wakako had remained in the village after the Daimyo departed.
• Tobirama visited Wakako, who asked him to arrange Guardian Ninja, take Hinata Rei to Kyoto in exchange for Princess Mariko, and convey her proposal to betroth Mariko to Senju Yūki.
• Tobirama tasked Raisuke with preparing Guardian Ninja candidates and planned to deliver Wakako's proposals to Hashirama.
• Izuna rejected Haruto's plan to drink quietly and led Haruto and Enshin to a restaurant hosting a private banquet.
• Izuna talked his way into the banquet by pretending to know a guest, and Haruto joined in by offering to pay for the wine.

At Haruto’s birthday celebration, Izuna’s performance lifted the banquet’s mood, while Haruto protected Enma from guests wary of his Uzumaki heritage. Izuna drew attention to Enma’s sealing and barrier skills, turning the merchants’ suspicion into eager interest in hiring him.

• The Ise mistress ordered her attendants to search for Haruto after he vanished from his birthday banquet, but they could not find him.
• Haruto attended the merchants’ association president’s banquet, where Izuna sang and played the biwa and Enma quietly drank in a corner.
• When guards tried to remove Enma because he was an uninvited red-haired Uzumaki, Haruto declared him a guest and persuaded the president to let him stay.
• After Izuna introduced himself, the president recognized him as a prominent Konoha diplomat and hastily offered him special treatment.
• Izuna praised Enma’s sealing and barrier abilities until Enma described the Uzumaki Clan’s techniques, prompting Haruto to ask about protecting his wine cellar.
• The merchants, who had shunned Enma earlier, crowded around him to discuss hiring him to secure their warehouses and homes.

Enma handled the merchants seeking his sealing services while Izuna discussed peace and family troubles with Haruto and the Chamber of Commerce President. When Haruto’s mother confronted him at the banquet and ordered him home, he fled by ship, leaping away with Ninja Footwork.

• Enma recovered from the merchants’ rush, set prices and payment terms for his sealing work, and recorded their orders while Haruto helped him.
• Izuna told the Chamber of Commerce President a tragic shipwreck story, prompting Haruto to reflect on his troubles and Enma to ask why Izuna supported the Land of Whirlpools.
• Izuna said he supported peace because he liked it, and the President toasted him for speaking plainly.
• Haruto’s mother arrived and demanded that he return home for his birthday banquet, but he said he hated living under her control and refused to leave with her.
• Izuna identified himself as a Konoha diplomat and tried to stop the family argument, but Haruto’s mother ordered her attendants to seize her son.
• Haruto escaped through the rear courtyard using Ninja Footwork, and Enma urged the stunned guests to chase after him.

Tobirama followed a chaotic crowd toward the shore and discovered Hashirama and Madara at its center, while Mokushō entered the Yuhara Pleasure Quarter and disrupted Masato’s gambling. Masato recognized Mokushō as a suspicious stranger and ordered a covert guard to follow Luotai.

• Tobirama returned to Hot Spring Street, saw Izuna chasing a young man, and followed the growing crowd toward the shore.
• Mokushō transformed into a young man and entered a gambling house in the Yuhara Pleasure Quarter.
• Luotai told Masato that everything was in place and asked him to spare a friend; Masato agreed to let the friend leave and ordered a covert guard to follow Luotai.
• Masato’s bet on an odd roll lost when the dice showed an even result, and he spotted Mokushō winning chips nearby.
• Mokushō smiled at Masato from across the gambling hall, and Masato watched him with suspicion.

Luotai fled after learning Masato planned to eliminate him, but his attempt to escape with his mother ended with Masato’s wounded dark guard confronting him. Meanwhile, Mokushō introduced himself to Masato as Inari and vanished after sensing a believer nearby.

• Luotai evaded pursuit through Yuhara Pleasure Quarter and blundered into the oiran’s room, where the dark guard fought the debt collector and Luotai escaped.
• Masato invited Mokushō to join his gang, but Mokushō refused and gave his name as Inari before Masato left on urgent business.
• Mokushō sensed one of his believers nearby and disappeared from the gambling den.
• Luotai hurried home to flee with his mother, feared she had been taken, then found her returning from Inari Shrine unharmed.
• As Luotai tried to lead his mother away, Masato’s wounded dark guard appeared at the alley entrance and confronted him.

Mokushō used a Five-yen Coin to turn Luotai’s fate, allowing Luotai to kill the shadow guard and escape with his mother. Masato then lost property and money in a dispute at Tamamoya, learned his guard was dead, and ordered his men to find Inari.

• Luotai stood his ground against the shadow guard to protect his mother, and Mokushō tossed a Five-yen Coin to alter the guard’s strike so Luotai killed him.
• Luotai fled the alley with his mother while Mokushō realized he had failed to make himself less noticeable.
• Masato learned his shadow guard had caused trouble at Tamamoya and went there to apologize to Tamamo-no-Mae.
• Hiroyama demanded Rōchōya and Seikōbō as compensation, and Masato agreed to give Rōchōya, three shops, and separate compensation.
• Masato learned that Luotai had escaped and his shadow guard was dead, then ordered his subordinates to find Inari.

Tamamo-no-Mae and Hiroyama discussed Masato’s threat, while Tamaro recovered from his injury. Later, Mokushō rescued an elderly woman and followed her home to Hiroyama’s estate, where Luotai arrived seeking protection from Masato.

• Hiroyama warned Tamamo-no-Mae to be careful and said he would handle the trouble with Masato.
• Tamamo-no-Mae treated Tamaro’s injured wrist, and they argued about his marriage prospects.
• Mokushō rescued an elderly woman trapped beneath a handcart and accompanied her to her home.
• Mokushō discovered that the woman was Hiroyama’s mother and that her home was Hiroyama’s estate.
• Luotai arrived with his mother, begged Hiroyama for protection, and offered to reveal Masato’s schemes.

Hashirama and Madara discovered a shipyard where the Land of Lightning, the Land of Water, and the Tsuchigumo Clan were preparing to blockade the Land of Whirlpools. After leaving the shipyard, they encountered a man mistaken for Hashirama, while the Tsuchigumo girl realized outsiders had found their base.

• Hiroyama stopped Mokushō from leaving and questioned Luotai about Masato's schemes.
• Hashirama and Madara found a hidden shipyard and overheard plans to blockade the Land of Whirlpools with support from the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water.
• Hashirama recognized the Tsuchigumo Clan crest on the people emerging from crates and realized the clan had joined the operation against the Land of Whirlpools.
• A Tsuchigumo girl found fresh Ninja Footwork prints in the woods and warned the others that someone had discovered the shipyard.
• Shipyard workers agreed to take their complaints about the outsiders to the chamber of commerce.
• Armed guards mistook Hashirama for Inari, but a similar-looking man appeared and drew their pursuit away; Madara wondered why the man resembled Hashirama.

Mokushō learned that Luotai had exposed Masato’s dealings with the Land of Lightning, prompting Hiroyama to raid the docks. As Masato dismissed warnings that Luotai might betray him, Hiroyama’s men stormed his gambling house and called him out.

• Mokushō disguised himself and learned from a passerby that Hiroyama had captured Masato and was heading to the docks to seize his people and supplies.
• A shopkeeper explained how Masato had spent three years taking over Yuhara Street’s businesses before conspiring with the Land of Lightning to prepare an attack on the Land of Whirlpools.
• Luotai gave Hiroyama a deployment map and detailed intelligence about Masato’s bases, contacts, and patrol schedules, and Hiroyama immediately led his men to the docks.
• Sachiko reassured Luotai that she would care for his mother, Kiyoko, and offered him a place with the Hiroyama family.
• Masato dismissed his guard’s warning that Luotai could expose his operation, then Hiroyama’s men kicked open the gambling house doors and shouted for Masato to come out.

Masato was captured after Hiroyama’s men overran the gambling den, while Mokushō watched a crowd converge on the docks. Hashirama and Madara fought off an ambush there, but before they could act further, a huge crowd arrived.

• Masato fled through the gambling den’s hidden exit but Tamamo-no-Mae and Tamaro captured him, and Hiroyama ordered him taken to the docks.
• Mokushō saw Masato’s captors, merchants, and shipyard workers heading toward the docks from different directions.
• At the shipyard, Yotsuki A urged the gathered Ninja not to provoke Hashirama and Madara, but the Land of Water Ninja forced the Tsuchigumo Clan to stay and join their operation.
• The Land of Water and Tsuchigumo Ninja ambushed Hashirama and Madara at the docks, but the pair quickly incapacitated the first attackers and sent A crashing into a boat.
• The shipyard workers demanded that Hashirama and Madara drive out the intruders, and a crowd of one or two thousand people suddenly arrived at the docks.

Ise Haruto’s attempt to flee by boat plunged him into a chaotic battle at the docks, where Izuna protected him and Tobirama evacuated bystanders. As the fighting continued, Tamaro rescued Ma from a Land of Water Ninja, and Ma blushed while looking up at him.

• Haruto ran toward the docks to escape, but Land of Lightning Ninja mistook him for an enemy and attacked.
• Izuna shielded Haruto as Hashirama, Madara, and others joined the sprawling fight among the dockside factions and workers.
• Hiroyama used Water Release near the sea, and Land of Lightning Ninja electrocuted people caught in the water.
• Tobirama arrived and repeatedly transported civilians out of the battle while Hashirama and Madara fought the Ninja.
• Izuna questioned Mokushō about his activities, but Ma’s cry for help drew attention to her hostage situation.
• Tamaro attacked the Land of Water Ninja, freed Ma, and pulled her into his arms; Ma blushed as she looked at him.

Tamamo-no-Mae’s wish for Tamaro to find a good wife echoed the red thread Mokushō saw tying Tamaro to Makoto. At the burning dock, Haruto reconsidered his rift with his mother, and Izuna used Haruto’s fan to summon Mokushō and unleash a gale that swept nearly everyone into the sea.

• At Inari Shrine, Tamaro discovered Tamamo-no-Mae’s ema wishing for him to find a good wife, and she said she worried about him being alone.
• Mokushō declared that Tamaro and Makoto’s red thread had turned scarlet and that they would become husband and wife.
• Haruto offered his mother’s fan as Mokushō’s vessel, and Izuna urged Haruto to reconsider his estrangement from his mother.
• Haruto decided he would stop running away and gave Izuna the fan as a thank-you gift.
• Izuna recited the system’s incantation, allowing Mokushō to merge with the fan and instructing Izuna to use Tengu Wind.
• Izuna swung the fan and blasted the dock with a gale that swept people, weapons, boats, and Ninjutsu into the sea, while Madara, Hashirama, and Tobirama avoided the wind.