Chapter Summaries

Izuna studied Heikyoku with Matsuda Hōshi and realized that its stories erased the lives and perspectives of ninja. He considered adapting The Tale of the Heike into a stage play told through a ninja’s eyes, then returned home and asked Madara whether he had found a suitable Genjutsu.

• Izuna listened as Matsuda Hōshi performed The Tale of the Heike and recognized how closely it resembled the history he remembered from his previous life.
• Izuna concluded that Heikyoku depicted ninja as indistinct tools and considered turning the concert into a play that gave them a central role in the story.
• Izuna asked Matsuda Hōshi about ninja in The Tale of the Heike, then continued the lesson by hearing about Nasu no Yoichi and the fan.
• Izuna returned to the Uchiha compound, found Madara studying a worn scroll, and asked whether he had found a suitable Genjutsu.

Izuna proposed adapting The Tale of the Heike into a ninja-perspective stage play, using music and Genjutsu to portray war and its overlooked victims. Madara agreed to help recruit performers and arrange a mission, while Izuna began outlining the production despite his many other obligations.

• Madara found the Five Senses Labyrinth: Mirage technique, and Izuna decided it could switch illusions in time with his music if five users coordinated closely.
• Izuna told Madara he wanted to retell The Tale of the Heike as a stage performance that brought the ninja perspective and the horrors of war into view.
• Madara suggested recruiting willing ninja through a cooperative mission, and Izuna estimated that the production might need about sixty people.
• Madara agreed to coordinate with Hashirama and recruit across the clans, while asking Izuna to prepare a detailed script outline and division of work.
• Madara reminded Izuna to continue learning Heikyoku from Matsuda Hōshi and Sealing Jutsu from Mito, alongside his performance preparations.
• That night, Izuna stayed up in the Uchiha Residence study, writing and sketching his stage-play plan.

After weeks of preparation, Izuna and his escort left Konoha for the Capital, where he was to perform his musical stage play at the Spring Festival. As the city came into view, Madara and Hashirama grew alert, and Izuna steeled himself for the performance.

• Black Zetsu watched Izuna's routine near Konoha, saw no unusual preparations, and continued building public anticipation in the Capital.
• Uchiha Takashi delivered Konoha's response to the Daimyo, who ordered a ceremonial procession to escort Izuna and his party to the Capital.
• Izuna, Madara, and Hashirama departed Konoha with Uchiha Takashi, officials, and nearly sixty ninja serving as visible and hidden guards.
• During the journey, Izuna practiced his music and reviewed the stage play while discussing the performance and Genjutsu coordination with Madara and Hashirama.
• As the procession neared the Capital, Madara and Hashirama became alert, and Izuna tightened his grip on his pipa and prepared to arrive.

Uchiha Izuna prepared for his performance at the Capital’s Spring Festival, adjusting the undersized platform and coordinating with the participating ninja. After a night of restful sleep, he walked toward the stage as the crowd gathered, ready to begin.

• Madara watched Uchiha Izuna stay outwardly composed as their convoy entered the Capital amid a roaring crowd, while Izuna privately fought his panic by focusing on music.
• Izuna inspected the festival platform, found it too small for his planned performance, and asked Hashirama to enlarge it with Ninjutsu before the show.
• Izuna rehearsed with the five Uchiha on the Genjutsu team and confirmed instructions with the other participating ninja.
• Izuna went to bed on time, then woke the next morning, dressed formally, checked his biwa, and packed his marked sheet music.
• Madara and Hashirama joined Izuna before the performance, and Izuna walked toward the platform as the crowd watched.

Izuna opened his performance of "The Tale of the Heike" with a genjutsu spectacle depicting the decline of the Taira clan. After the illusion left the Daimyo and the crowd stunned, Izuna plucked the biwa’s first string to begin the tale.

• Izuna warned the crowd that his performance would use Uchiha Genjutsu and other ninja techniques, and promised Konoha colleagues would keep everyone safe.
• Izuna signaled five Uchiha elites, who helped darken the square as his voice introduced the bells of Gion Monastery and the impermanence of all things.
• Izuna conjured a glowing camellia tree and a shower of flowers, then showed the Taira’s Ageha butterfly struggling before it vanished among the petals.
• The illusion faded and the light returned, leaving the crowd and the Daimyo stunned and silent.
• Izuna plucked the biwa’s first string, beginning his rendition of "The Tale of the Heike."

Izuna tested a way to steer and accelerate a Great Fireball with Chakra wire and Wind Release, creating a long-range attack that stunned the Uchiha clan members secretly watching him. After discovering the crowd, he ordered clan members with suitable Chakra natures to begin training in the technique, while Madara watched and left him to teach.

• Madara noticed Uchiha clan members secretly following Izuna to the training ground and chose to observe rather than intervene.
• Izuna experimented with a wire-linked Shuriken and Chakra to alter a Great Fireball's path, eventually steering it through a sharp turn.
• Izuna used Wind Release to accelerate a guided Great Fireball across the sky and into a distant forest, astonishing the gathered Uchiha.
• Izuna discovered the crowd on his System Map and called out clan members with fire and wind Chakra natures.
• Izuna ordered the suitable clan members to practice the guided Great Fireball, then had Uchiha Takashi begin first.
• Madara watched Izuna take charge of training and left, considering the larger changes that might follow.

Izuna presented a streamlined adaptation of The Tale of the Heike that added invented stories about ninja to portray them as people rather than tools. The performance began with the young ninja guarding Taira no Shigemori’s sons, while the audience watched their bonds form and reacted to the portrayal.

• Izuna explained that he had shaped the story around key events in the Taira’s fortunes and added ninja stories, and Matsuda Hōshi worried that the inventions would provoke criticism.
• Uchiha Takuma appeared onstage, and Hashirama used Wood Release to expand the platform into a stage as the audience applauded.
• Taira no Shigemori introduced Shintarō, Takuichi, and Shinrei as the guards of his sons, and Taira no Sugemori mocked the ninja until he and Takuichi traded insults.
• The performance showed the ninja and the young Taira masters laughing, playing, and growing close while remaining respectful in front of the adults.
• The audience discussed the ninja’s bond with the Taira children as a way of cultivating loyal retainers, while the Daimyo watched Izuna with understanding.

Izuna’s play showed how the Taira’s growing power led Kiyomori to retaliate violently after Sukemori was beaten by Fujiwara no Motofusa’s attendants. Shinrei, troubled by the consequences and unable to warn the Taira openly, spoke with Tokuko, who revealed the political burdens awaiting noblewomen and the misery of abandoned Shirabyōshi.

• The audience’s distrust of the ninja softened as Shinrei’s kindness toward the Taira children won the women’s sympathy.
• Shintarō, Takuichi, and Shinrei left their clan to serve the Taira, where Shintarō befriended Koremori and Takuichi bonded with Sukemori despite their squabbles.
• Sukemori rode past Fujiwara no Motofusa’s procession without paying his respects, and Motofusa’s attendants beat and humiliated him.
• Kiyomori ordered three hundred mounted samurai to attack Motofusa’s procession, smash his ox cart, and cut off his attendants’ topknots.
• Shinrei worried that the Taira’s retaliation would bring trouble, but Shintarō and Takuichi dismissed her concerns and she left the training ground.
• Tokuko told Shinrei about Moriko’s political marriage and her own impending marriage to ten-year-old Narihito, while Shinrei considered the limited freedom of ninja and the plight of Gio and Gijo.

Shinrei overheard Shigemori’s strained exchange with Kiyomori and confided in her fellow ninjas, who reminded her to leave clan affairs alone. As the dispute faded and Kiyomori departed for Itsukushima, Shinrei grew closer to Tokuko, while she continued to witness how those around the Taira were treated at the family’s whim.

• Shinrei overheard Kiyomori mock Shigemori after Shigemori reported dismissing the men involved in the attack on Motofusa and sending Sukemori to Ise.
• Shinrei told Shintarō and Takuichi what she had heard, and they urged her not to concern herself with the Taira’s affairs.
• Shigemori resigned as Major Counselor and handed responsibility for Narihito’s coming-of-age ceremony to Munemori, while Kiyomori left the Capital for Itsukushima.
• Tokuko began seeking Shinrei’s company, sharing her worries about marrying Narihito and giving Shinrei small gifts, while Arimori grew jealous of their time together.
• Shinrei saw Kiyomori summon Gio and Gijo again, realizing he had called them to keep the newly arrived Hotoke Gozen from being lonely.

Six years after joining the Taira, Shinrei and the others attended a ceremony at Itsukushima Shrine, where Taira no Kiyomori prayed for Tokuko to conceive an imperial heir. Shinrei reunited with Tokuko, learned she feared a child would suffer, and watched the younger generation’s playful rivalries continue.

• Shinrei saw Gio living as a nun, while Koremori explained to Takuichi why powerful Warrior Monks could intimidate the Taira.
• Six years passed, and the Taira fleet arrived at Itsukushima, where Koremori danced and Taira no Kiyomori declared that Tokuko’s conception was the ceremony’s foremost purpose.
• Shinrei spoke privately with Tokuko, who admitted she thought it might be better not to have a child because the child could suffer.
• Sukemori awkwardly tried to keep Tokuko company, and Tokuko told Shinrei and Takuichi that he had fallen for one of her attendants.
• Takuichi teased Sukemori and fought with Shintarō, leaving Shinrei to intervene in their squabbles.

Izuna’s performance depicted the Enryaku-ji Warrior Monks’ forceful petition and the bloody battle at Taikenmon, where the Taira and Higa ninja crushed their attack. The spectators and nobles were left shaken by the violence as the stage illusion faded and the performance continued.

• Enryaku-ji’s monks marched on the capital after the court failed to punish Fujiwara no Moritsune and Fujiwara no Morotaka for burning a temple.
• Retired Emperor Shirakawa ordered Taira no Shigemori to defend the palace, while Shintarō identified rogue ninja among the Warrior Monks as priority targets.
• The Warrior Monks charged Taikenmon, and arrows struck their sacred palanquin as the Taira and Higa ninja met them in battle.
• Takuichi and Shinrei killed attackers in self-defense, while Shintarō and the Higa ninja fought the rogue ninja.
• The Taira and Higa forces broke the monks’ assault, leaving casualties and the sacred palanquin strewn across the battlefield.
• The audience fell silent at the bloody scene, then the Shadow Clones and Genjutsu were dispelled and the ninjas prepared the next stage props.

After the Angen Great Fire, the Taira faced hostile rumors that blamed them for the disaster, while the audience recognized how public opinion shifted blame onto those with less power. The Daimyo suspected Uchiha Izuna’s play might be preparing the ninja to challenge the existing order, but Izuna gave no sign of his intentions.

• Shinrei, Takuichi, and Shintarō continued their duties at the Taira residence while privately struggling with the deaths they had witnessed at Taikenmon.
• The audience felt sympathy for the young ninja and began to recognize that they had been born into a life of violence without choice.
• The Angen Great Fire destroyed Taira no Shigemori’s residence, and Shigemori wondered whether it was retribution for shooting the sacred palanquin.
• Commoners and courtiers spread rumors that the fire was divine punishment for the Taira, turning public opinion against them and overlooking the complicated events at Taikenmon.
• The audience reflected on how those in power used ninja, claimed credit for their actions, and shifted blame onto them when convenient.
• The Daimyo suspected Uchiha Izuna had staged the play to change the ninja’s standing and feared they might seek power, while Izuna continued playing the biwa without revealing his intentions.

During the Shikadani conspiracy, Taira no Kiyomori crushed the plot against him and moved to control Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, while Taira no Shigemori pleaded with his father not to attack the retired emperor. Shigemori ultimately revealed that he had gathered troops to oppose Kiyomori and asked his father to kill him first.

• At Shikadani, Saikō Hōshi, Narichika, and other nobles swore to overthrow the Taira and planned a surprise attack on Rokuhara.
• After the conspiracy was reported to Taira no Kiyomori, his warriors raided the villa and captured Fujiwara no Narichika, Saikō, Shunkan, and other conspirators.
• Kiyomori punished the captured conspirators and planned to bring Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa under his control.
• Taira no Shigemori warned Koremori that their peaceful days were over, and Koremori prepared the warriors under his father's command.
• Shigemori begged Kiyomori not to move against the retired emperor, but Kiyomori declared that he would take him to Rokuhara Residence.
• Shigemori revealed that his gathered troops were meant to fight Kiyomori and asked his father to strike off his head first.

Izuna’s troupe performed Shigemori’s confrontation with Kiyomori, and Hashirama and Madara realized how precisely Izuna had matched the actors to their characters. Backstage, Izuna used his system’s character compendium to explain his casting choices, then prepared the troupe for the next scene.

• Shigemori’s calm resolve persuaded Kiyomori to abandon his plan to seize the cloistered emperor, though Kiyomori ordered Shikadani plotters punished.
• Hashirama recalled how Izuna’s scripts and cast choices had convinced him to support the production, and he recognized how closely the actors’ personalities matched their roles.
• Madara realized Izuna seemed able to see through people, especially after watching Uchiha Naoaki portray the domineering Kiyomori.
• Izuna’s Shadow Clone thanked Naoaki backstage, and Naoaki admitted stiffly that Izuna’s script was good.
• Izuna checked the system’s character compendium and called the cast to prepare for the next scene, teasing Takahiro about being chubby.

During Izuna’s play, Tokuko gave birth to a son and then grieved Moriko’s death, while the performance exposed Hyuga Akari’s own anger at the strictures imposed on her by the Hyuga Main Family. The chapter ended with Akari softening Tokuko’s grief into a reassuring smile for Ren, her younger kinswoman.

• Shigemori explained that Shunkan had been left behind because he had neither repented nor made sotoba, and Tokuko’s nightmares gradually eased as she waited to give birth.
• Tokuko endured a painful labor and emerged holding her newborn son, moving the audience with her portrayal of motherhood.
• Kiyomori celebrated the birth of a boy as a sign of the Taira’s rising power, but news soon arrived that Moriko had died in a natural disaster.
• Tokuko told Shinrei that Moriko had been kept from remarrying so their father could retain her inherited estate, and she bitterly recalled rumors that divine punishment had caused her sister’s death.
• During rehearsal, Akari confronted her father, Hyuga Masayoshi, about the Hyuga Main Family’s rules and the constraints placed on women and Branch Family members.
• Onstage, Akari finished Tokuko’s bitter account of Moriko’s death, then gave Ren a faint smile and reassured her that she was only a little sad.

The play showed Taira no Shigemori’s final illness and the audience’s pleas for him to survive, while he refused treatment and accepted his approaching death. Before dying, he entrusted Koremori with a funeral sword and a final duty concerning Kiyomori, leaving the Taira without its voice of restraint.

• After Moriko’s death, Shigemori prayed at Kumano Shrine to trade the years left in his life for relief from the Taira’s future suffering, and Koremori and Shintarō witnessed the prayer.
• Shigemori fell gravely ill and refused treatment, even after Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the audience begged him to live.
• Shigemori reassured Koremori that the songs and dances in the courtyard were meant to ease the household’s gloom, while Kiyomori returned from Fukuhara and tried unsuccessfully to arrange treatment.
• Shigemori dreamed that Kiyomori’s head had been taken and that the Taira had reached the end of their fortunes, then awoke weeping in terror.
• Shigemori gave Koremori an old funeral tachi and told him to wear it when Kiyomori was dying, asking him to take up the task Shigemori could no longer fulfill.
• Shigemori died at forty-three, and Sarutobi Sasuke finished his final scene backstage, troubled by the performance.

After Sarutobi Sasuke finished portraying Taira no Shigemori, the audience and musicians reacted to Izuna’s innovative performance and score. As the play resumed, Black Zetsu possessed Senju Hideki unnoticed, and Izuna spotted the intrusion on his map but chose to wait and watch.

• Sarutobi Sasuke removed his makeup, thanked Uchiha Izuna, and left to watch the rest of the performance.
• Uchiha Izuna puzzled over Sasuke’s sudden thanks, while Tobirama Senju hurried away from his questions.
• The audience stayed through intermission, and musicians discussed how Izuna’s Biwa score had transformed the story.
• Madara Uchiha dragged Hashirama Senju away for a Taijutsu fight after Hashirama laughed at Madara being ignored by Izuna.
• Izuna restarted the play, while Black Zetsu possessed Senju Hideki unnoticed backstage.
• Izuna discovered Senju Hideki’s possession on the Shitty Map and silently decided not to alert Black Zetsu yet.

After Shigemori’s death, Taira no Tomomori tried to rally his family while Tokuko worried about the clan’s future. Kiyomori emerged from his grief when Munemori reported the retired emperor’s encroachments, and his return to the capital signaled that the conflict was about to intensify.

• Taira no Munemori took over as clan head, while the audience compared him unfavorably to Shigemori.
• Tomomori visited Tokuko, met Shinrei, and discussed Munemori’s leadership and Kiyomori’s grief over Shigemori’s death.
• Tomomori urged his brothers to stand together and carry on the Taira despite their loss.
• Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa celebrated Kiyomori’s withdrawal from public life as an opportunity to act against the Taira.
• Munemori told Kiyomori that Go-Shirakawa had confiscated estates and interfered in court appointments, prompting Kiyomori to order troops and ninja assembled and announce his return to the capital.
• The young performers discussed who would play Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and Naoaki quieted the tense reactions to Lord Izuna being praised for the role.

Naoaki recalled how Izuna had seen through his suspicions and persuaded him to join the troupe, then watched the play depict Taira no Kiyomori's coup and the Taira's rise to power. The troupe's staged ninja duel won over the audience as young clan members continued competing for a chance to challenge Izuna.

• Naoaki remembered realizing that Izuna had understood his suspicions and written them into the role of Taira no Kiyomori.
• The play showed Kiyomori carrying out the Jishō coup, forcing Emperor Takakura to abdicate, and placing the young Emperor Antoku on the throne.
• The troupe used rehearsed Taijutsu, preset Ninjutsu, and a Genjutsu Formation to stage convincing ninja battles safely.
• After Izuna defeated challengers from several clans, he created a Challenge Ranking Board that intensified the young people's contests.
• A Sarutobi youth playing a Taira ninja defeated a Yamanaka youth playing a Fujiwara ninja in a staged duel, drawing cheers from the audience.

Shigehira visited Kiyotsune and Sukemori, playing the flute and discussing the Taira’s conduct and their responsibilities. He left after teasing Sukemori about a lady-in-waiting and urging him to be more open, while Takuichi and Kiyotsune helped ease the tension.

• Shigehira played the shakuhachi for Kiyotsune and Sukemori, then described how Munemori had humiliated Minamoto no Nakatsuna by taking and abusing his treasured horse, Kinoshita.
• Sukemori criticized Munemori and Kiyomori, while Shigehira said the Taira’s younger generation had to prepare for government and martial duties and protect those in their care.
• Shigehira teased Sukemori about fancying a lady-in-waiting, making Sukemori blush, then advised him to be more open with people who cared about him.
• After Shigehira left, Sukemori confronted Takuichi about hiding nearby, and Kiyotsune observed that Takuichi cared about his brother.