Chapter Summaries

Miwa Masayo was swept into the whirlpool after completing the mission, while Uchiha Yu was caught in the culvert’s torrent when the pipe exploded. He rescued Miwa Masayo and protected her as the current carried them toward Jiusen Village.

• Miwa Masayo panicked in the whirlpool and was pulled into the drainage culvert.
• Uchiha Yu rested on top of the concrete culvert, unaware that the rock Miwa Masayo had used to block its entrance had been shattered.
• The torrent blasted apart the culvert beneath Uchiha Yu and swept him downstream.
• Uchiha Yu spotted Miwa Masayo in the water, swam to her, and pulled her into his arms.
• Uchiha Yu shielded Miwa Masayo with his body and circulated Earth-aspected Natural Energy as they drifted toward Jiusen Village.

Uchiha Yu reached Jiusen Village during a devastating flood and used Sage Art to protect it with a massive rock wall. The villagers watched in awe, while their chief realized they needed to honor the mission.

• Jiusen Village saw the flood arrive and evacuated uphill as the rising waters swept away houses and threatened the lumberyard.
• Uchiha Yu emerged from the flood after enduring its current for five hours and recognized the villagers’ plight.
• Miwa Masayo questioned whether Uchiha Yu would intervene, and he decided to help despite the possible burden of dealing with the villagers’ memories.
• Uchiha Yu used Sage Art: Ten Thousand Mile Rock Flow Wall to raise a vast granite dam that held back the flood.
• The villagers stared in stunned awe, and the village chief resolved to do something about the mission.

Uchiha Yu completed the flood-protection mission in Jiusen Village and used Sharingan suggestion to shape the villagers’ account of what happened. He and Miwa Masayo then headed back to the unnamed Barrier Lake to begin claiming it for Cat Castle.

• Uchiha Yu explained that he wanted the mission payment because he had earned it, and Miwa Masayo challenged him over how he had pressured Jiusen Village.
• Uchiha Yu restored the rock dam while explaining the risk of leaving it removed, and the village chief paid him the maximum C-rank reward.
• Uchiha Yu reflected that he needed time to delay joining the war, study the Barrier Lake’s Natural Energy, and prepare for Foundation Establishment.
• Uchiha Yu used his Sharingan to suggest an account of the flood to the village chief, leaving villagers with a misleading but consistent explanation of his actions.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo left Jiusen Village, doubled back, and returned to the Barrier Lake, which Uchiha Yu declared would belong to Cat Castle.

Uchiha Yu searched the lake for the source of Natural Energy while Miwa Masayo avoided the water, then the two reconciled and shared meat from a Senjutsu-capable Mountain Lord. While cutting into the boar, Uchiha Yu struck something hard that might have been the lake’s Natural Energy source.

• Miwa Masayo refused to search underwater, and Uchiha Yu explored the lakebed alone until late at night.
• Uchiha Yu returned to camp and found Miwa Masayo had prepared supplies and food, then lured her back with catnip and promised not to force her into the water.
• Miwa Masayo showed Uchiha Yu a giant boar she had killed, and he found traces of Natural Energy, Chakra, and Sage Chakra in its body.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo grilled and ate the Mountain Lord’s meat, experiencing the effects of cooked Natural Energy.
• Uchiha Yu’s knife struck a hard object near the boar’s leg bone, and he suspected it was the source of the lake’s Natural Energy.

Uchiha Yu discovered a half-seed shard embedded in a wild boar’s leg that radiated immense chakra and could not be stored or contained. He followed his body’s urge to eat it, absorbed it through his furnace-like stomach, and began a new Foundation Establishment stage as he realized that his path lay in eating.

• Uchiha Yu removed a half-seed-shaped shard from the wild boar’s thigh and recognized its powerful energy as chakra.
• Uchiha Yu found that the shard could not be sealed or contained, and that it only stopped radiating when embedded in the boar’s flesh.
• Miwa Masayo suggested that Uchiha Yu eat the shard, prompting him to recognize his body’s intense craving for it.
• Uchiha Yu chewed and swallowed the shard, which softened under fire-aspect Natural Energy and was smelted and absorbed by his stomach.
• Uchiha Yu began a breakthrough into a new Foundation Establishment stage as powerful Natural Energy erupted and gathered with a new attribute.

Uchiha Yu’s breakthrough into wind-aspected Natural Energy awakened the soul-based divine ability Thunder Shout, while the mysterious metal shard left his power difficult to control. The chapter ended with his Majestic Destroyer Flame spiraling out of control.

• Uchiha Yu ate a strange Chakra-infused metal shard, triggering his Foundation Establishment breakthrough and drawing wind-aspected Natural Energy into his lungs.
• Miwa Masayo feared Uchiha Yu’s thunderous breathing, then followed his warning to flee and cover her ears atop a burning tree.
• Uchiha Yu expelled the breath lodged in his chest with Thunder Shout, a divine ability that disoriented Miwa Masayo and struck at the spirit.
• Uchiha Yu’s cultivation grew stronger, but his control worsened as his body, Chakra, and Natural Energy fell out of balance.
• Uchiha Yu cast Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame, boiling a huge body of water before realizing he could not control the flames.

Uchiha Yu survived a dangerous breakthrough by entering an Epiphany, balancing his body, chakra, and Natural Energy through harmony with heaven and earth. He emerged with his Foundation Establishment greatly advanced and learned that his previous life's cultivation system could not progress beyond the Golden Core in the Ninja World.

• Uchiha Yu suppressed the rapid growth of qi and tried to control his digestion of the Strange Metal.
• Miwa Masayo returned to Uchiha Yu and panicked when he sealed himself off from the outside world and did not respond.
• Uchiha Yu entered an Epiphany, where heaven and earth balanced his essence, qi, and spirit and helped him integrate the Strange Metal into his life system.
• Uchiha Yu completed the breakthrough with doubled physical strength, greatly increased spirit, and a new heart-form developing in his mental world.
• Uchiha Yu deduced that his previous life's cultivation system was incompatible with the Ninja World's Natural Energy beyond the Golden Core, and realized that beginning with the fire aspect had saved him from disaster.

Uchiha Yu recovered from his exhaustion and spent thirty hours discussing Immortal Path breakthroughs with Miwa Masayo before cooking for her. In his inner world, he discovered a new white-cat heart-shape modeled on the divine beast Feifei.

• Uchiha Yu woke after two days of sleep, and Miwa Masayo dropped her plan to punish him and continued their discussion of the Immortal Path.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo exchanged insights for thirty hours until both were exhausted and Miwa Masayo said she was hungry.
• Uchiha Yu cooked grilled pork chops from the wild boar, and Miwa Masayo ate before falling asleep.
• Uchiha Yu entered his inner world and found a fluffy white cat as his third heart-shape.
• Uchiha Yu recognized the white cat as Feifei, the divine beast described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo located a Natural Energy spring beneath the lake and planned to restrict access to its underground fissure. On the fourth day of waiting for Maoyu, they sensed hostile ninjas approaching, and Yu faced a three-person Sunagakure group demanding answers.

• Uchiha Yu found a fissure feeding the lake with Natural Energy-rich springwater and concluded it connected to an underground river.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo agreed to narrow the fissure and set traps to keep large underground creatures out while capturing smaller ones for study.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo discussed their different Sage paths and continued refining their cultivation methods.
• On the morning of the fourth day of waiting for Maoyu, Uchiha Yu sensed at least four hostile ninjas and told Miwa Masayo to support him from the perimeter.
• Three Sunagakure ninjas surrounded Uchiha Yu and demanded to question him, but he drew his sword and refused.

Uchiha Yu posed as a weak genin and let a Sunagakure squad believe its poisoned ambush had worked. He incapacitated the squad and learned they were searching the Land of Rivers for the missing Kazekage.

• Uchiha Yu used Genjutsu to encourage the Sunagakure ninja to underestimate him, then pretended their poisoned senbon had incapacitated him.
• The Sunagakure squad cautiously approached Yu and discussed their search for information about the missing Kazekage.
• Yu revealed he was conscious, cut the squad members’ wrist tendons, and disabled the ninja carrying Explosive Tags.
• Yu trapped the Sunagakure ninja in the earth and used his Three-Tomoe Sharingan to disrupt their chakra, preventing them from escaping or killing themselves.
• Miwa Masayo emerged from hiding and praised Yu, who explained that he had recognized the poison by its scent.

Uchiha Yu learned that Umino Keisuke had ordered the slaughter of Jiusen Village for no reason beyond being in a bad mood, and he set out with Miwa Masayo to kill him. After finding the villagers’ remains, they memorized the dead and continued following Keisuke’s trail.

• Uchiha Yu used the Sharingan to learn that Umino Keisuke had ordered the killing of Jiusen Village’s people simply to relax.
• Miwa Masayo joined Uchiha Yu in heading south, and he burned the four captured Sunagakure ninjas to death before pursuing Keisuke.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo discussed Ebizo’s influence, and Yu decided to kill Keisuke while taking care to hide his tracks.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo reached the ruined Jiusen Village and found its villagers’ badly decomposed bodies.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo silently memorized the villagers and followed the traces Umino Keisuke had left behind.

Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo tracked Umino Keisuke and planned an ambush, but a sudden assembly signal brought ten Sunagakure ninja together. Despite the overwhelming odds, Uchiha Yu chose to fight and disguised himself before the battle.

• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo caught up with the Sunagakure group and identified Umino Keisuke and the other ninja by the campfire.
• Two more jōnin joined the group, and Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo waited for the Sunagakure ninja to separate before attacking.
• A Swift Hawk's cry prompted the Sunagakure jōnin to send a signal, and the scattered ninja returned with an additional squad.
• Uchiha Yu decided to fight the assembled ten Sunagakure ninja despite their advantage in numbers and strength.
• Uchiha Yu gave Miwa Masayo his identifying belongings and altered his face before covering it with goggles and several masks.

Sunagakure prepared to march against Konoha after the Third Kazekage and Sasori vanished, while Uchiha Yu prepared to ambush their forces. Yu unleashed immense Sage Art fire and wind techniques, leaving the valley engulfed in flames and the Sunagakure ninja under attack.

• Jonin Fusha explained to Umino Keisuke that Sunagakure intended to attack Konoha despite not knowing who had caused the Third Kazekage and Sasori to disappear.
• Fusha sensed danger, ordered the Sunagakure ninja to march without waiting for Ishida Takeshi, and spotted Uchiha Yu on the ridge.
• Uchiha Yu assigned Miwa Masayo to support his attack and watch the three genin, then began combining Natural Energy and chakra.
• Fusha and Umino ordered the Sunagakure ninja to hold their positions as Yu used his Sharingan to disrupt their senses with Genjutsu.
• Uchiha Yu unleashed Sage Art: Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame and Sage Art: Wind Style: Gale Force Sweep, sending a vast wave of fire through the valley.
• The flames engulfed the charging Sunagakure ninja, burning their airways and causing them to collapse.

Uchiha Yu’s overwhelming Senjutsu flames devastated the Sunagakure forces, and he and Miwa Masayo pursued the survivors. Uchiha Yu killed a special jonin, while Miwa Masayo killed a jonin with her Sage Art.

• Uchiha Yu’s massive Fire Style engulfed the valley, killing four Sunagakure ninjas and injuring the survivors.
• Fusha ruled out Uchiha Fugaku and Hiruzen Sarutobi as the attacker and could not identify any Kage-level ninja capable of the technique.
• Uchiha Yu dispersed his Sage Chakra and charged after the fleeing Sunagakure ninjas, confident in his remaining abilities.
• Uchiha Yu used Body Flicker and Genjutsu to get behind a Sunagakure special jonin and stab him through the heart.
• Miwa Masayo used Sage Art: Flame Leap and Sage Art: Pure White Claws to kill a Sunagakure jonin as he climbed out of a pit.

Miwa Masayo and Uchiha Yu devastated the Sunagakure force, killing two jonin and leaving only Fusha and Umino Keisuke to resist. The survivors prepared their strongest techniques as Fusha unleashed a poisonous wind.

• Miwa Masayo recovered from killing a Sunagakure jonin and quickly slaughtered the surviving genin, helping Uchiha Yu wipe out two squads in under twenty seconds.
• A Fire Style jonin fled, but Uchiha Yu's Genjutsu turned him back toward the battlefield, where Uchiha Yu wounded him and Miwa Masayo killed him.
• Fusha and Umino Keisuke abandoned their plans to escape and decided to fight, with Umino Keisuke deploying eight puppets, including an armored puppet and a flying one.
• Fusha revealed scorpion and kamaitachi tattoos across his body and released a poisonous wind, then gave Umino Keisuke an antidote.

Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo defeated Sunagakure’s elite jonin, using fire and genjutsu to kill Fusha and trapping Umino Keisuke inside his heated defensive puppet. Afterward, Uchiha Yu wondered why Ebizo had not appeared to rescue his son.

• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo agreed that their strength made their earlier plans unnecessary and decided to kill Umino Keisuke first.
• Uchiha Yu burned away Fusha’s poison and countered his large-scale Wind Style sealing technique with Fire Style.
• Uchiha Yu used Sharingan Genjutsu to deepen Fusha’s despair until Fusha became unresponsive, then stabbed him through the heart.
• Miwa Masayo outmaneuvered Umino Keisuke’s eight puppets while Uchiha Yu set fire to the defensive puppet and suffocated Keisuke inside it.
• While cleaning up the battlefield, Uchiha Yu asked Miwa Masayo why Ebizo had not appeared to save his son.

Uchiha Yu considered traveling to Sunagakure to sell the recovered corpses and distract Danzo, but his conversation with Miwa Masayo changed his plans. Rather than defecting, he decided to try to make the Third Hokage retire so the Uchiha clan could live more freely in Konoha.

• Uchiha Yu collected five corpses and considered selling them for bounties, though he doubted they would bring much money.
• Uchiha Yu told Miwa Masayo he wanted to set off a Natural Energy-powered firework in Sunagakure to divert Danzo and Root's attention from the Uchiha clan.
• Miwa Masayo encouraged Uchiha Yu to leave Konoha and excitedly listed places she wanted to visit, but he had not decided to defect.
• Uchiha Yu realized he did not want to abandon Konoha, which he considered the most comfortable place to live, and decided to try turning the village's situation around instead.
• Uchiha Yu planned to make the Third Hokage retire on schedule so the Uchiha clan could face less suspicion and he could cultivate peacefully in Konoha with Miwa Masayo.

Uchiha Yu planned to build a political force capable of challenging the Third Hokage by taking control of the Uchiha clan. He intended to organize overlooked branch-family youths into a study group and help them awaken their Sharingan, leaving him poised to advance the clan’s influence in Konoha’s coming Hokage succession struggle.

• Uchiha Yu explained that removing Hiruzen Sarutobi required a rival faction strong enough to weaken the Hokage’s control and support a genuine successor.
• Uchiha Yu said he would divert Shimura Danzō’s attention by spreading news of attacks on Sunagakure, creating room to maneuver within the Uchiha clan.
• Uchiha Yu revealed to Miwa Masayo that he could help Uchiha awaken the Sharingan through spiritual-power training, and she realized his own Sharingan evolutions had followed the same principle.
• Uchiha Yu proposed creating a Ninjutsu Mutual Aid Study Group to teach his younger branch-family relatives ninja skills and spiritual-power training.
• Uchiha Yu hoped the group would produce enough Sharingan-wielding supporters for him to replace Uchiha Fugaku as clan head and change the Uchiha clan’s fate before the massacre.

Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo planned to conceal their clash with Sunagakure while preparing to carry out their mission, and Yu reflected on his cultivation after a major breakthrough. The chapter ended as the Ninja Cats discovered that the lake’s trap net had caught many animals.

• Uchiha Yu told Miwa Masayo to head toward Sunagakure and use Reverse Summoning on the fourth night while he established an alibi near the Capital of the River.
• Miwa Masayo revealed that Ninja Cat bloodline memories described the First Hokage as having transformed the lands of the Fire and Wind, prompting Uchiha Yu to reconsider his pride and strengthening his ocular power.
• Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo returned to Barrier Lake, where Maoyu welcomed them and sent Ninja Cats out to keep watch.
• Miwa Masayo and Uchiha Yu agreed to keep their fight with Sunagakure secret from Maoyu because Cat Castle could not withstand the retaliation of a major ninja village.
• Uchiha Yu meditated on how his breakthrough had strengthened his meridians and inner heart forms, then followed the Ninja Cats to see what their lake trap had caught.

Uchiha Yu discovered transparent underground fish whose powerful life energy healed Maoyu’s old wounds but overwhelmed him, then processed the fish into safer snacks. After refining a diluted recipe, Uchiha Yu and the Ninja Cats tested it successfully, though ordinary cats still experienced manageable side effects.

• Maoyu and Uchiha Yu hauled in transparent fish from the underground river and found a piece of fossilized bark the fish had been biting.
• Maoyu ate one fish, and Uchiha Yu guided its intense life energy as it healed Maoyu’s scars before leaving him exhausted and asleep.
• Uchiha Yu fried the remaining fish into Dried Small Fish, but a tiny portion made Miwa Masayo suffer an intense reaction until she learned a Digestive Cultivation Method.
• Uchiha Yu devised a diluted recipe with flour, spices, and medicinal ingredients, then prepared a new batch for the Ninja Cats to test.
• Maoyu led more than thirty Ninja Cats in trying the new snacks, which proved safe enough for regular use despite manageable side effects for ordinary cats.
• The Ninja Cats agreed that the new treats should be called Dried Small Fish.