Chapter Summaries

Huicunze dismissed Dekang VI’s plans to eliminate him while his strategist, Dekang Haoyue, secretly plotted to take control of Matsuzaka Town. At the Land of the Moon border, Ye Liangnai’s group met their contact, but Ye Liangnai detected a distant spy that the team’s sensor denied was there.

• Huicunze boasted that he controlled much of the Land of the Moon’s army and could easily kill Dekang VI, while his guests flattered him.
• Dekang Haoyue privately revealed that he had helped build Huicunze’s power and intended to transfer it to his brother, Dekang VI.
• A ronin swordsman noticed something suspicious about Dekang Haoyue as the banquet continued.
• Kang Jiajun met Ye Liangnai and the Kumogakure team at the border, verified their identity, and led them toward Daimyo City through a secret passage.
• Ye Liangnai said he had detected a hostile spy three li away, but the sensing specialist Shinjo and the others challenged his claim.

Ye Liangnai convinced Dou Lang’s team that he could sense an enemy three li away, then proved it by tracking down and killing a scout. After the team eliminated four scouts and reached Daimyo City, Huicunze still believed his surveillance force had gone undetected.

• Ye Liangnai warned Dou Lang’s team about an enemy three li away, but most of the squad doubted his sensory range.
• Dou Lang sent Ye Liangnai and Shinjo to pursue the scout, and Ye Liangnai tracked the fleeing man down and killed him.
• Shinjo admitted Ye Liangnai had been right, and the squad accepted Ye Liangnai’s ability.
• Ye Liangnai helped the team eliminate four scouts before they reached Daimyo City in the Land of the Moon.
• Huicunze asked about the missing scouts, while Dekang Haoyue claimed that only the Hyuga Clan could detect their concealment.

Ye Liangnai and the Cloud Ninja arrived in Daimyo City and cleared Huicunze's spies, giving Dekang VI a chance to purge internal threats without being watched. As the purge began, Ye Liangnai went to the side hall and practiced sword swings, intent on growing strong enough to pursue his ambitions.

• Ye Liangnai entered Daimyo City with Ieyasu and the Cloud Ninja, and his group removed Huicunze's spies without alerting the enemy.
• Ieyasu introduced Ye Liangnai as Mr. Jinghong and told Dekang VI that Huicunze had been blinded to events in the city.
• Dekang VI ordered Ieyasu to begin the internal purge and asked the Cloud Ninja to protect him.
• Ye Liangnai asked to observe the operation but went to the side hall after Dekang VI told him to wait there.
• Ye Liangnai practiced sword swings to build strength, while the man sent by Dou Lang doubted that the training could help.

Ye Liangnai protected the Little Princess from an assassin while Minister of War led a rebellion against Dekang VI. The Cloud Ninja arrived to defend the Daimyo, while the attack on the Little Princess remained unresolved.

• Ye Liangnai told a maid he was a Cloud Ninja assisting the Daimyo, then a black-clad man killed the maid and tried to seize the Little Princess.
• Ye Liangnai rescued the Little Princess and shielded them both from the attacker’s explosive weapons with Lightning Release: Lightning Pillar Wall.
• Minister of War confronted Dekang VI and urged him to surrender, claiming Huicunze’s forces had surrounded the hall.
• Dekang VI revealed that he had dismissed his guards and kept only his personal guard while waiting for Ye Liangnai and the others.
• Minister of War ordered his men to attack Dekang VI, but Dou Lang and the Cloud Ninja cut down the attackers and appeared to protect the Daimyo.

Ye Liangnai rescued the Little Princess from the Minister of War’s abduction plot, preserving Dekang VI’s plan to confront Huicunze. The Minister of War and his men died in an explosive attack, and Dekang VI thanked Ye Liangnai as the war began.

• Dekang VI revealed that Cloud Ninja had been part of the plan and ordered Dou Lang and his men to surround the Minister of War.
• The Minister of War claimed that his men had captured the Little Princess and warned that her father, General Demu, commanded sixty thousand troops.
• Ye Liangnai arrived with the Little Princess safe on his back, ruining the Minister of War’s leverage.
• The Minister of War ordered the Kamikaze Squad to attack with Explosive Tags and tried to escape, but someone cut his throat.
• The Kamikaze Squad exploded in Daimyo Hall, and Ye Liangnai shielded the Little Princess from the blast.
• Dekang VI thanked Ye Liangnai for saving the Little Princess and said the war had begun.

Dekang VI grew confident after Ye Liangnai killed the Oniwaban who had tried to abduct the Little Princess, and he ordered his officers to suppress the rebellion. In Matsuzaka Town, Huicunze became worried when the Cloud Ninja team failed to report and called for Yasuo.

• Ye Liangnai told Dekang VI and Dou Lang that he had killed the black-clad attackers, identifying them by their plum blossom tattoos as Huicunze's Oniwaban.
• The Little Princess revealed that the seven attackers had fallen as they brushed past Ye Liangnai, then begged to accompany him into battle, but he refused.
• Dekang VI reprimanded the officers for failing to guard Daimyo Hall and sent them to suppress the rebellion as a test of their loyalty.
• Dekang VI told a guard to have Ieyasu kill the officers if they rebelled.
• In Matsuzaka Town, Huicunze worried that the Cloud Ninja team had not reported and called for Yasuo.

Huicunze prepared to march against Dekang VI after receiving reports that the Cloud Ninja had crossed the border and the Little Princess had been recovered. Meanwhile, Ye Liangnai’s forces exploited false intelligence and a staged uprising to arrange an ambush, leaving Huicunze marching into their trap.

• Huicunze learned that eighteen Cloud Ninja had crossed the border and ordered his forces to prepare for war.
• Ye Liangnai explained that his false reports had misled Huicunze while the rebellion in Daimyo City was being suppressed.
• Ieyasu reported the rebellion’s defeat to Dekang VI, who sent Dou Lang and the others to attack Huicunze’s forces.
• Ye Liangnai brought the Little Princess to the front lines and warned her to remain quiet.
• Huicunze received word that the Little Princess had been recovered, persuaded the Great General to march, and then set out with his own troops.
• Ye Liangnai surveyed a narrow canyon and recognized it as an ideal place for an ambush.

Ye Liangnai and his allies ambushed Huicunze’s army and brought the Great General’s daughter, Little Flower, to him. Ye Liangnai revealed that he had spread the story of her capture to lure Huicunze into the canyon and urged the Great General to join forces against him.

• Ye Liangnai and Dou Lang waited for Huicunze’s army, confident it would take the fastest road toward Daimyo City.
• The Great General halted his sixty-thousand-strong army to scout the canyon, and Huicunze sent men to search for ambushers.
• Ye Liangnai agreed to attack before the searchers found them, while Ieyasu headed to block Huicunze’s retreat at Lost Bridge.
• Dou Lang’s group attacked Huicunze with Lightning Release, and a masked young figure killed the green-haired ninja monitoring the Great General.
• Ye Liangnai presented Little Flower to the Great General, explained that he had used a false capture rumor to lure Huicunze there, and asked the Great General to join him.

The Little Princess reunited with the Great General, who ordered an attack on Huicunze. Ye Liangnai revealed that he had fed Huicunze false information and overwhelmed his attackers, leaving Huicunze facing a swordsman who doubted he could win.

• The guards recognized Little Princess Demu Xiaohua by her birthmark, and she reunited with her father, the Great General.
• The Great General ordered his army to attack Huicunze, while Ye Liangnai rushed ahead to confront him.
• Ye Liangnai told Huicunze that he had forged the information that misled him and clarified that the Little Princess was in Daimyo City.
• Huicunze sent his men to kill Ye Liangnai, but Ye Liangnai vanished and cut down the attackers with a swift strike.
• Mr. Kenshin judged Ye Liangnai's swordsmanship formidable and admitted he had only four chances of victory against him.

Ye Liangnai overwhelmed Huicunze’s forces with powerful lightning techniques and a swift blade attack, but Jianxin intervened to protect Huicunze. Huicunze fled as Dekang Haoyue and the Great General’s troops moved to stop him.

• Huicunze’s ninja troops and private soldiers turned against him, while Ye Liangnai charged into his defenders and cut them down.
• Ye Liangnai’s Thunder Array struck Huicunze and Jianxin, leaving Huicunze badly injured and blasting a crater into the battlefield.
• Ye Liangnai cut through the scattered rogue ninjas as his teammates watched, then turned his attention back to Huicunze.
• Jianxin blocked Ye Liangnai’s attack, declared he would protect Huicunze one last time, and engaged him as Huicunze fled.
• Dekang Haoyue and the Great General’s forces pursued Huicunze, blocking his path and firing arrows at him.

After Huicunze died, Ye Liangnai helped the Great General’s army pursue the fleeing wandering ninjas. He trapped one group in a Hidden Mist Technique and tricked them into attacking one another, leaving their fate unresolved.

• Huicunze was killed by a rain of arrows, and the wandering ninjas and his forces fled as the Great General ordered the army to pursue them.
• Dou Lang sent Ye Liangnai and the others after the scattered ninjas, using Ye Liangnai’s sensory reports to divide their pursuit.
• Ye Liangnai caught up with one group and enveloped them in a Hidden Mist Technique.
• The wandering ninjas attacked blindly through the fog, mistaking one another for Ye Liangnai and trading blows.
• Ye Liangnai feigned injury and retreat, prompting the confused ninjas to keep attacking in the directions where they heard him.

Ye Liangnai and the Assassination Squad helped eliminate Huicunze’s forces, then joined the army’s assault on Matsuzaka Town. With Huicunze dead and his criminal network subdued, the Land of the Moon moved close to being fully pacified.

• Ye Liangnai used distorted sounds and his teammates’ techniques to make a band of wandering ninjas attack one another, then killed the survivors and returned with a bloodstained scroll.
• Dou Lang and the Assassination Squad praised Ye Liangnai for eliminating nearly all of his targets, and the group assembled before marching on Matsuzaka Town with General Demu’s army and Ieyasu’s imperial guards.
• Little Princess Demu Xiaohua asked Ye Liangnai to take her into battle, but he ignored her, leaving Great General Demu Guangchuan relieved.
• Dekang Haoyue’s forces surrounded Matsuzaka Town and revealed Huicunze’s corpse, causing the town’s criminals to panic as the army subdued them.
• Dekang Haoyue’s account book exposed officials who had colluded with Huicunze, and the victorious forces returned to the city as the daimyo welcomed them.

After completing their mission in the Land of the Moon, Dou Lang and his team returned to Kumogakure, where Ye Liangnai quickly established himself as a standout member of the Assassination Squad. Four months after arriving, he reunited with Darui, who challenged him to fight again after developing a new skill.

• Dou Lang rejected Dekang VI's attempts to make the team stay, warning that they could be caught in a power struggle between Dekang VI and the Great General.
• Three days later, Dou Lang's team returned to Kumogakure, and the Fourth Raikage praised Ye Liangnai after reading the mission report.
• Ye Liangnai spent the next three months training and completing more than twenty dangerous missions, earning a reputation as the Assassination Squad's de facto vice-captain.
• Four months after arriving in Kumogakure, Ye Liangnai took a break from training and ran into Darui.
• Darui told Ye Liangnai he had developed a new skill and challenged him to fight again, while Ye Liangnai suspected the Raikage might be behind the challenge.

Darui challenged Ye Liangnai to a match and unveiled new techniques, but Ye Liangnai ultimately defeated him with a sealing jutsu. Darui admitted the gap between them had grown, while Ye Liangnai insisted he had tried his best.

• Darui and Ye Liangnai fought at a training ground, where Darui used genjutsu and Cloud Style Crescent Moon Slash to set up a surprise lightning attack.
• Darui unleashed Storm Release: Lichuo Suokesu, but Ye Liangnai protected himself with Six Pillars Flame Formation and burned the lightning cluster with his expanding barrier.
• Ye Liangnai dispelled the barrier and vanished, then used a punch to make Darui raise his guard before trapping him with Binding Flow Karma Curse.
• Ye Liangnai pressed his blade to Darui's neck and declared victory, and Darui lamented that his new techniques had not narrowed the gap between them.
• Darui accused Ye Liangnai of holding back, while Ye Liangnai claimed he had tried his best and pointed to his use of Barrier Jutsu.

After Darui admitted he could not damage Ye Liangnai, Ye Liangnai spent his accumulated Enhancement Points raising his physical attributes and improving his techniques. He reached Kage-level stamina and strengthened several skills, leaving him eager to test their new power.

• Darui told the Fourth Raikage that Ye Liangnai had taken no damage from his Storm Release and vowed to keep training until he could surpass him.
• The Fourth Raikage encouraged Darui, then wondered what Kira was planning by hiding his strength.
• Ye Liangnai used 600,000 Enhancement Points to raise his strength, speed, agility, and stamina to elite jonin level, earning the 'Invincible Elite Jonin' achievement.
• Ye Liangnai spent another 500,000 points to raise his stamina to Kage-level, experiencing a bodily transformation and washing away the grime it produced.
• Ye Liangnai spent 65,000 points enhancing his Lightning Release, swordsmanship, barriers, perception, sealing, and genjutsu, with several techniques reaching S-rank.

Ye Liangnai reflected on his Kage-level strength and trained in Kumogakure to control the power he had recently gained. After witnessing his swordsmanship, the Fourth Raikage judged that Kira had surpassed his superior, Dou Lang.

• Ye Liangnai decided to ease up on his training because his rapid growth might strain his body, though further enhancement would require vast numbers of points.
• Ye Liangnai practiced swordsmanship at a Kumogakure training ground while Cloud Ninja admired his dedication and strength.
• Ye Liangnai struggled at first to control his Chakra, then refined his sword strikes until he could cut a boulder cleanly with power and precision.
• Ye Liangnai concluded that his full-strength slashes could only be used a few times before exhausting his body's endurance, then left the training ground.
• The Fourth Raikage watched Ye Liangnai train and concluded that Kira had surpassed even his superior, Dou Lang.

After the Fourth Raikage witnessed Ye Liangnai's rapid growth, he decided to transfer him from the Assassination Squad to Dragon Containment Cave under close watch. The squad then set out on a deadly mission to retrieve the Nako Stone, with Dou Lang asking Ye Liangnai to protect the others if he could.

• The Fourth Raikage decided to move Ye Liangnai to Dragon Containment Cave and pair him with Yugito until doubts about his identity were cleared.
• Ye Liangnai went fishing by a river beneath Kumogakure, replenished his Chakra, and returned home with a full catch as he anticipated an approaching storm.
• Dou Lang briefed the Assassination Squad on its mission to retrieve the Nako Stone from the Land of Whirlpools for the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning.
• The Assassination Squad set out, and Dou Lang quietly asked Ye Liangnai to help keep the others alive if the battle grew intense.

Ye Liangnai and several rival forces headed toward the Nako Stone, while Nako Temple waited for Konoha's aid. The chapter ended as wandering ninja arrived first and threatened the monks for the stone.

• Ye Liangnai's group set out, and Dou Lang warned him not to go easy on Kirigakure during the mission.
• Kakashi led Might Guy, Itachi Uchiha, and Tenzo from Konoha, while Juzo Biwa, Zabuza, and Kisame Hoshigaki led Kirigakure's team with additional fighters.
• Kimimaro Kaguya and Yuki Haku decided to accept a contract that could let them secretly help Ye Liangnai obtain the Nako Stone.
• Hidan and Kakuzu of Dawn of the Night set out to claim the treasure for their organization.
• Wandering ninja converged on the Land of Whirlpools as the Nako Temple monks prayed for Konoha's help.
• A band of wandering ninja reached Nako Temple before Konoha and demanded that the monks hand over the item.

Wandering ninja fought and killed one another over the Nako Stone until Kakashi's Konoha team and Juzo Biwa's Mist team cornered its latest owners. The leader threw the stone toward them and fled, and Tenzo and Kisame Hoshigaki both moved to seize it.

• Ninja raided Nako Temple, stole the Nako Stone, and killed the abbot and several groups of rivals in successive battles.
• Kakashi and his team confronted the group carrying the stone, while Juzo Biwa, Zabuza Momochi, and Hozuki Suigetsu arrived behind them.
• The frightened leader threw the Nako Stone into the air and ordered his men to scatter before escaping into the forest.
• Tenzo used Wood Release to send branches toward the stone as Kisame Hoshigaki unleashed a huge wave of water.

Konoha and the Mist Ninja fought over the Nako Stone, with Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi, and Might Guy engaging the Mist swordsmen while Tenzo faced Hozuki Suigetsu and Ringo Ameyuri. Itachi confronted Zabuza in the Mist Concealment Technique and launched a Great Fireball into the fog.

• Kisame Hoshigaki used a massive water attack that knocked the Nako Stone into the water, and the Konoha ninja answered with Lightning Release.
• Juzo Biwa and Zabuza disrupted Konoha's lightning assault while Kisame Hoshigaki sent a water shark after the Nako Stone, but Itachi Uchiha interrupted him with water spikes and Phoenix Sage Fire.
• Kakashi and Juzo Biwa began fighting, while Might Guy opened the Sixth Gate and pursued Kisame Hoshigaki underwater; Zabuza charged at Itachi Uchiha.
• Tenzo fought Hozuki Suigetsu and Ringo Ameyuri, and Hozuki Suigetsu angrily denied being the White Cold Light.
• Itachi Uchiha faced Zabuza inside the Mist Concealment Technique and fired a Great Fireball into the fog.