Chapter Summaries

After two years of training, Yota returned to the Black Market and learned that Nagato Uzumaki had taken control of the sealed-off Land of Rain. As he headed there to draw out his pursuers, Jiraiya confronted him and asked what had happened when the Nine-Tails broke free.

• Yota completed two years of intense training, mastering the Seventh Gate and strengthening his other abilities.
• Yota visited the Black Market, collected intelligence, and discovered that the Uchiha remained under suspicion while the Land of Rain had closed itself off under Nagato Uzumaki.
• Yota left the Black Market, allowing news of his return to spread, and headed toward the Land of Rain without rushing.
• Three days later, Jiraiya confronted Yota in a forest and asked how the Nine-Tails had escaped its seal.
• Yota withdrew the black mist around himself, showing that he did not want to fight Jiraiya.

Yota confronted Jiraiya about Konoha’s shinobi system and revealed that Obito Uchiha had released the Nine-Tails. Jiraiya doubted the explanation, so Yota began recounting the history behind Obito and the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.

• Jiraiya demanded to know who had released the Nine-Tails, while Yota challenged his faith in Konoha’s shinobi system.
• Yota told Jiraiya that Obito Uchiha had released the Nine-Tails and defeated Minato Namikaze.
• Jiraiya recognized Obito as his former disciple’s teammate and doubted that he could have survived or become powerful enough to attack Konoha.
• Yota explained that Obito had survived being crushed, been taken in by Madara Uchiha, and had his body repaired with White Zetsu.
• Yota began explaining the Sage of Six Paths, Indra and Asura’s reincarnations, the altered stone tablet, and the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.

Yota recounted the future of the ninja world to Jiraiya, including Yahiko’s death and Naruto’s rise, then argued that only overwhelming strength could change the world’s rules. He planned to go to the Land of Rain and find Nagato, inviting Jiraiya to witness both the truth of his account and his power.

• Yota told Jiraiya how Black Zetsu and Konoha’s Root contributed to Yahiko’s death and Nagato’s transformation.
• Yota described Naruto’s future and the eventual sealing of Kaguya, leaving Jiraiya questioning whether the ninja world had truly changed.
• Yota argued that the strongest person could rewrite the world’s rules and declared his ambition to become stronger than everyone else.
• Jiraiya questioned whether Yota could surpass Madara Uchiha and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, while Yota invited him to witness his strength in the Land of Rain.
• Yota planned to seek Nagato and take the Rinnegan, believing Jiraiya would not risk fighting him after hearing his account.

Yota and Jiraiya reached the Rain Ninja Village, where Yota dispelled its rain with a single attack instead of attempting to infiltrate. Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain to investigate and ordered Konan to guard his hidden real body.

• Jiraiya traveled with Yota to the Land of Rain, hoping to confirm what Yota had told him about Nagato and the past.
• At the Rain Ninja Village, Jiraiya sensed chakra in the rain and recognized the Rain Tiger at Will Technique.
• Yota formed a sphere of black mist and hurled it skyward, where it swallowed the rain clouds.
• Konan prepared to investigate, but Deva Path Pain stopped her and ordered her to guard Nagato's real body.
• Konan obeyed and flew to Nagato's hiding place while the other Paths of Pain prepared to probe the intruders.

Yota and Jiraiya confronted Deva Path Pain in the Rain Ninja Village, and Yota quickly overwhelmed the Six Paths of Pain with his Dark-Dark Fruit and the Eight Gates. Nagato watched from hiding as all the Paths except Deva Path were destroyed.

• Jiraiya asked Deva Path Pain if he was Nagato, and Pain claimed he was the god who would create a New World.
• Yota canceled Deva Path Pain's Almighty Push with black mist, then explained that Nagato's questions should wait until they met the real body.
• Yota's black mist absorbed and destroyed the Preta Path, while Nagato realized it was not ordinary Chakra-based ninjutsu.
• Yota swallowed a stronger Almighty Push, killed a hidden chameleon, and reverse-summoned Deva Path Pain to safety.
• Yota opened the third gate and destroyed the remaining Paths of Pain in less than half a minute, leaving Nagato embarrassed and Deva Path Pain still alive.

Yota defeated Deva Path Pain and tried to help Jiraiya reason with Nagato, but Nagato rejected the request to surrender the Rinnegan and Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. After Nagato withdrew Pain, Yota said he would find him and take the tools by force.

• Yota absorbed Deva Path Pain's Almighty Push and captured him, then let Jiraiya speak with him.
• Yota searched Rain Ninja Village with Observation Haki and sensed the direction of Nagato's receivers.
• Nagato blasted Jiraiya away with Almighty Push and summoned Deva Path Pain back after Jiraiya asked him to give up the Rinnegan and Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
• Jiraiya explained that Nagato's powers consumed his life force, but Yota said Nagato likely knew the cost and was prepared to die for his plan.
• Yota promised to find Nagato and confiscate the tools he used to destroy the world, without needing Nagato's consent.

Yota captured Nagato, Jiraiya, Konan, and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path in his Dark Space, then took Nagato’s Rinnegan for himself. His new eyes began helping merge his Senju and Uchiha bloodlines, but he could not fuse the Demonic Statue into his body.

• Nagato ordered Konan to prepare to evacuate the Land of Rain after the Black Shadow Ninja and Jiraiya defeated the Six Paths of Pain.
• Yota broke into the underground base, and Nagato made Konan faint before asking Yota to let her go.
• Jiraiya arrived and confronted Yota, who used Dark Hole to suck Jiraiya, Nagato, Konan, and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path into his Dark Space.
• Yota fused Fugaku Uchiha’s Mangekyo Sharingan into the Rinnegan, replaced his eyes with it, and felt his Senju and Uchiha bloodlines begin to merge.
• Yota tried to fuse the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path into his body but found that even the Munch-Munch Fruit could not do it.

Yota abandoned plans to devour the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and grew far stronger after absorbing the Sage Eyes. He healed Nagato and removed his Rinnegan, then revealed himself in Nagato’s former gaunt, rod-pierced form to speak with Konan.

• Yota decided not to absorb the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path further until it had absorbed enough Chakra to become the God Tree.
• After absorbing the Sage Eyes, Yota’s Sage Body, Chakra, and Wood Release grew stronger, bringing his strength close to Naruto and Sasuke at their late-stage peaks.
• Yota released Jiraiya, Nagato, and Konan from Dark Space, and the three woke to find Nagato’s body healed and his Rinnegan replaced with ordinary eyes.
• Nagato thanked Yota for healing him, while Konan rejoiced at his recovery and objected when Nagato offered to serve Yota in exchange.
• Yota said he only needed to speak with Konan, then transformed into Nagato’s former gaunt, red-haired appearance with black Chakra rods embedded in his back.

Yota revealed his Rinnegan and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path as part of a plan to take over Akatsuki, while Jiraiya explained to Nagato that his life and the Rinnegan had been manipulated. Yota said his strength and knowledge of the future came from a later stroke of good fortune, leaving Jiraiya, Nagato, and Konan curious about how he changed his fate.

• Yota transformed his eyes into the Rinnegan and summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to imitate Nagato.
• Jiraiya realized Yota intended to take control of Akatsuki after Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu gathered its members.
• Yota told Nagato that Akatsuki, rather than the Rain Ninja Village, was his target because Black Zetsu would help it grow powerful.
• Jiraiya explained to Nagato that he had been deceived, that the Rinnegan had never truly been Nagato's, and that Yahiko's death had resulted from the scheme.
• Nagato accepted the revelation, reasoning that Yota had no reason to lie and that the truth would become clear in a few years.
• Yota said he had once been an ordinary genin with little chance of surviving the Third Great Ninja War, but a later stroke of good fortune had changed his fate.

Nagato tested the Wood Release he gained after fusing with Hashirama Cells, while Jiraiya worried about Yota’s growing power and ambitions. After sending Jiraiya away, Yota impersonated Nagato and prepared to deceive Obito and Black Zetsu as he planned his next moves.

• Nagato used Wood Style: Tree World Descent and praised the power and natural feel of Wood Release.
• Yota explained that Nagato had fused completely with Hashirama Cells, gaining a Sage Body and greatly increased potential.
• Jiraiya worried that Yota could use his ability to fuse others with Hashirama Cells to build a force that threatened the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
• Yota drove Jiraiya away because his plans required impersonating Nagato without being discovered.
• Yota transformed into Nagato, trained in the underground base, and considered barriers and a Wood Clone to hide his activity from Obito.
• Yota noted that the Rinnegan’s gravity manipulation would pair perfectly with the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Obito Uchiha learned that Nagato had recruited the Black Shadow Ninja into the Akatsuki and argued with Deva Path Pain over expanding the organization. Outside, Yota confronted Obito about Konoha’s Nine-Tails’ Rampage and attacked him, but his punch passed through Obito.

• Obito Uchiha returned to the Rain Ninja Village and learned that Deva Path Pain had met and recruited the Black Shadow Ninja half a month earlier.
• Obito worried about the Black Shadow Ninja’s strength, spatial abilities, and possession of Kakashi’s Kamui Sharingan.
• Deva Path Pain planned to develop the Akatsuki and asked whether Obito’s White Zetsu had found information on S-Rank Rogue Ninja.
• Obito objected to Nagato Uzumaki recruiting more ninja, but Deva Path Pain dismissed him.
• Yota confronted Obito outside, questioned whether he was Madara Uchiha and behind Konoha’s Nine-Tails’ Rampage, then punched through him and the wall behind him.

Yota challenged Obito Uchiha’s claim to be Madara Uchiha, forcing Obito to retreat without revealing his face. Jiraiya uncovered Yota’s identity in Konoha’s archives and realized that almost everyone who had tied him to the village was dead.

• Yota questioned Obito Uchiha’s identity and removed his own mask, but Obito refused to unmask himself and escaped underground.
• Obito Uchiha asked Black-and-White Zetsu to investigate Yota, but they had found no trace of his past.
• Obito Uchiha worried that Yota possessed Kakashi Hatake’s Kamui Sharingan and considered building his own following within Akatsuki.
• Jiraiya identified the Black Shadow Ninja as Yota, a former Konoha genin whose mission records showed he had disappeared before the battlefield and been declared dead.
• Jiraiya reviewed Yota’s records and found that his parents, classmates, teacher, and former mission companions had all died.

Jiraiya told the Third Hokage that the Black Shadow Ninja’s origins were documented but ruled out Orochimaru as the cause of his rapid rise. He warned that the Black Shadow Ninja had become too powerful for Konoha to oppose, and the chapter ended with Jiraiya agreeing to consider becoming Hokage while the Third Hokage urged him to stay in Konoha.

• Jiraiya gave the Third Hokage documents about the Black Shadow Ninja, whose past showed he had risen from a low-ranking shinobi to overwhelming strength in six years.
• The Third Hokage wondered whether Orochimaru’s experiments had created the Black Shadow Ninja, but Jiraiya explained why Orochimaru could not have done so.
• Jiraiya warned that the Black Shadow Ninja intended to establish rules for the shinobi world and that Konoha would eventually have to face him.
• Jiraiya revealed that even in Sage Mode he could not fight the Black Shadow Ninja, while the Third Hokage claimed he still had a ninjutsu that could deal with him.
• The Third Hokage asked Jiraiya to become Hokage, and Jiraiya said he needed more time to think before agreeing to stay in Konoha for a while.

Yota and Nagato traveled to Loulan to seek its Dragon Vein, discussing the strange climates of the Five Great Nations along the way. They arrived to find the town deteriorated, and neither knew where Queen Sara was.

• Yota set aside his plan to reach the moon and chose Loulan's Dragon Vein as his first treasure target.
• Yota traveled with a recovered Nagato, who explored the Land of Wind and talked with Yota about the world's unusual climate.
• Yota and Nagato used Yota's gravity manipulation to cross the desert and reach Loulan in one day.
• Yota explained that Loulan had declined since its Dragon Vein was sealed, as wind and sand eroded the town and residents moved away.
• Yota and Nagato entered Loulan, where residents regarded them with awe, but they could not find Queen Sara or her collapsed tower.

Queen Sara struggled to relocate Rōran’s people after the Dragon Vein was sealed, and feared that two newly arrived ninjas might endanger the kingdom. At the seal, Yota and Nagato Uzumaki examined the space-time formula as Sara warned them that breaking it would unleash the Dragon Vein and destroy Rōran.

• Queen Sara learned that two ninjas had gone to the Dragon Vein and hurried to investigate.
• Yota asked Nagato Uzumaki to interpret the seal, but Nagato admitted he could not understand its complex space-time formulas.
• Yota refused to risk damaging the seal, fearing the Dragon Vein could devastate Rōran or send them into another world.
• Sara confronted Yota and Nagato, who discussed whether her powers might help with the Dragon Vein.
• Sara warned them that the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Dragon Vein and that forcibly opening it would destroy Rōran and kill whoever broke the seal.

Yota modified Queen Sara with Hashirama Cells, giving her powerful Water Release and Wood Release, and discovered that Dragon Vein energy could reduce the cost of his world crossings. He tried to recruit Sara into Akatsuki, and she was left fearing the consequences of refusing.

• Queen Sara used Water Release to fill a lake and Wood Release to turn the surrounding desert into an oasis, while Nagato watched in shock.
• Yota drew energy from the Dragon Vein and discovered it could charge his system, reducing the energy needed for future crossings.
• Nagato explained to Sara that her new abilities and chakra reserves were exceptional, and Yota credited both his modifications and her talent.
• Yota told Sara that she would need to join Akatsuki to keep the powers she had gained, and said its first goal was ruling the world.
• Sara tried to refuse, but Yota warned that she could not leave with Akatsuki's secrets and that other villages would target her Wood Release.

Two months after Rōran became a thriving oasis, Yota and Nagato trained Queen Sara in Wood Release before Yota and Nagato prepared to leave with her. Elsewhere, Obito Uchiha confronted Kakuzu after he left the Underground Exchange and attacked him with Fire Release.

• Sara and Nagato fought with Wood Release during a training match, and Nagato caught Sara with a Wood Clone.
• Yota praised Sara’s rapid progress, then said he and Nagato were leaving Rōran after absorbing enough Dragon Vein energy.
• Sara worried that other ninjas would capture her to study her Wood Release, and Yota assured her they could not uncover how he had modified her.
• Sara left Rōran with Yota and Nagato, choosing to go partly to protect her people and enjoy freedom beyond the isolated kingdom.
• Kakuzu left the Underground Exchange carrying a suitcase, and Obito Uchiha blocked his path.
• Obito attacked Kakuzu with Fire Release—Storm Dance after Kakuzu asked to see his face to judge his bounty.

Obito defeated Kakuzu and recruited him into Akatsuki by promising him control of the organization’s finances. At the underground base, Kakuzu immediately eyed Yota as a bounty rival, and Pain’s Rinnegan left him awed.

• Obito defeated Kakuzu, who doubted Obito’s claim to be Madara Uchiha but accepted defeat.
• Obito offered Kakuzu control of Akatsuki’s finances, and Kakuzu agreed to join.
• Kakuzu met Yota and asked whether he could claim bounties on Akatsuki members who died.
• Yota challenged Kakuzu to spar, and Kakuzu looked to Pain for a response.
• Kakuzu saw Pain’s Rinnegan and felt reverence for its power.

Yota defeated Kakuzu and Sara joined the Akatsuki, which began assigning missions to the new members. On their first battlefield mission, Sara unleashed her Wood Release to overwhelm a group of rogue ninjas and proudly celebrated her strength.

• Yota defeated Kakuzu with Dark Release, draining his Chakra and carrying him back to the Akatsuki meeting.
• Pain accepted Sara into the Akatsuki, distributed Chakra rings, and assigned Yota and Kakuzu to take missions from smaller countries.
• Yota secretly captured White Zetsu sent to spy on him, while Obito grew suspicious of Sara after learning she had Wood Release.
• Sara used Wood Style: Tree World Descent to capture more than a hundred rogue ninjas and drain their Chakra.
• Yota teased Sara about being afraid to go to battle, and Sara replied that she had once been a queen before he turned her into a ninja.

Yota and Sara finished eliminating the Rogue Ninja attacking the Land of Salt, then planned to collect their payment and travel to the Land of Bears so Yota could take the Star. Yota explained the dangers of powerful techniques and praised his ability to give Sara Wood Release, but Sara insisted her talent was responsible.

• Yota absorbed the Chakra of the defeated Rogue Ninja and left their shriveled bodies hanging in the forest, unsettling Sara.
• Yota said the mission in the Land of Salt was complete and planned to collect the remaining payment before going to the Land of Bears for its Star.
• Yota explained that the Star’s radiation enabled the Peacock Method but damaged the bodies of those who trained with it.
• Yota told Sara that Konoha’s experiments to recreate Hashirama Senju’s Wood Release had killed more than a hundred people and produced a much weaker ability.
• Yota said Sara was lucky to gain Wood Release through his body-modification ability, but Sara credited her own talent for withstanding Hashirama Cells.