Chapter Summaries

Sakura demonstrated her talent for genjutsu to Kurenai Yuhi, who secretly tested her ability to detect and escape a powerful illusion. Sakura passed the final test and was promised genjutsu training after they visited Kurenai Yuhi’s student at Satomi Hill Villa.

• Sakura quickly broke Kurenai Yuhi’s basic genjutsu and then passed several increasingly difficult illusions.
• Kurenai Yuhi agreed to teach Sakura genjutsu after their visit to Satomi Hill Villa.
• Sakura realized that the silent Kurenai Yuhi leading her onward was an illusion and attempted to release herself.
• Kurenai Yuhi revealed a thorn-filled genjutsu as Sakura’s final test, and Sakura escaped after holding back her Chakra and using Genjutsu Release.
• Kurenai Yuhi explained that Sakura had walked backward ninety-two steps and broken the illusion in four minutes and eight seconds, confirming that she had passed.

Sakura passed Kurenai Yuhi’s genjutsu test and followed her to Satomi Hill Villa to meet a mysterious girl who was painting. When the girl painted a lightning bolt over the Hokage Office Building in her picture, a real bolt struck the building and set its top floor ablaze.

• Kurenai Yuhi told Sakura she had passed the test and invited her to study genjutsu.
• Kurenai Yuhi brought Sakura to the heavily guarded Satomi Hill Villa to visit one of her students.
• Kurenai Yuhi and Sakura entered a ward filled with paintings, where a mysterious girl was painting the Hokage Office Building.
• The mysterious girl added a lightning bolt to her painting, and an actual bolt struck the Hokage Office Building, causing an explosion and fire.

A mysterious lightning strike damaged the Hokage Office Building, leading the Third Hokage and the Kurama Clan to suspect Kurama Yakumo had awakened her Five Senses Manipulation. At Satomi Hill Villa, Yakumo hid the extent of her power from Kurenai Yuhi and Sakura as the village began turning its attention toward her.

• A bolt of lightning struck the Hokage Office Building and started a fire, but the Anbu found no trace of its source.
• The Third Hokage suspected the Kurama Clan’s Five Senses Manipulation and sent an Anbu squad to investigate Satomi Hill Villa.
• The Kurama Clan’s leaders concluded that Yakumo’s ability had awakened and agreed to bring her back from the villa.
• Yakumo’s attempt to add another lightning bolt to her painting left her trembling, so Kurenai Yuhi stopped her and told her to rest.
• Sakura introduced herself to Yakumo, who spoke wistfully about being unable to become a ninja.
• Yakumo asked Kurenai Yuhi to find a doctor, and Kurenai left Sakura to keep her company.

Sakura visited Kurama Yakumo at Satomi Hill Villa, where Yakumo concealed the truth about her condition and quietly unleashed a dark presence. The chapter ended when Sakura uncovered a sinister portrait of herself and froze in terror.

• Sakura spoke with Kurama Yakumo after Kurenai Yuhi left, and Yakumo revealed that she had attended the Ninja Academy with Kimimaro Kaguya, Yuki Haku, and Yota.
• Yakumo told Sakura that her growing Chakra had weakened her body, forcing Kurenai to seal it and send her to Satomi Hill Villa for treatment.
• Sakura tried to cheer Yakumo by admiring her paintings, unaware that black mist and spreading shadows were overtaking the room.
• Sakura accidentally pulled the cloth from a covered canvas and discovered a dark, twisted portrait of herself.

Kurama Yakumo’s Five Senses Manipulation trapped Satomi Hill Villa and its surroundings in an illusion that blurred reality, while Kurenai Yuhi tried to find her and protect Sakura. The chapter ended with Yakumo appearing behind Sakura and claiming she had foreseen her arrival.

• Sakura screamed when the dark figure in one of Kurama Yakumo’s paintings moved.
• Kurenai Yuhi knocked out the medical workers who attacked her and hurried back toward Yakumo’s ward.
• Kurenai Yuhi found that the ward’s surroundings changed whenever she opened the door and realized Yakumo’s Five Senses Manipulation had ensnared her.
• Kurama Yakumo threatened to torment Sakura unless Kurenai found her, and Kurenai began searching the illusion world.
• Sakura discovered paintings depicting her entire day, then Kurama Yakumo appeared behind her and said she had foreseen Sakura’s arrival.

Kurama Yakumo trapped Sakura in a genjutsu and accused Kurenai Yuhi and the Third Hokage of persecuting the Kurama Clan and murdering her parents. As Yakumo revealed her clan’s reality-twisting kekkei genkai and explained why she was acting against Kurenai, a mysterious Black Hole appeared behind her and threatened them both.

• Sakura realized she was inside a genjutsu as Yakumo confronted her and expressed hatred toward Kurenai Yuhi.
• Yakumo claimed the village had persecuted the Kurama Clan and killed her parents, who had been its former Clan Head.
• Yakumo explained that the clan’s Five Senses Manipulation could twist illusion and reality, and said she had caused lightning to strike the Hokage Office Building through her painting.
• Yakumo accused Kurenai of coveting her abilities, arranging her parents’ deaths, and planning to silence her on the Third Hokage’s orders.
• A Black Hole appeared behind Yakumo, unnoticed by her, while Sakura mistook it for part of the genjutsu and the entity within it watched them both.

Sakura learned that Kurama Yakumo’s genjutsu could not be escaped and that it caused real physical injuries. Yakumo left Sakura in the hands of her inner demon, Ido, while she went to confront the Anbu and Kurama Clan members entering Satomi Hill Villa.

• Sakura rejected Yakumo’s claims about the village and tried to release herself from the genjutsu, but her attempts failed.
• Yakumo surrounded Sakura with flames, and the illusion’s effects began burning Sakura’s real body.
• Ido emerged from a black hole and told Yakumo that Anbu and Kurama Clan members had infiltrated Satomi Hill Villa.
• Yakumo left to confront the intruders and ordered Ido to keep Sakura alive as bait for Kurenai Yuhi.
• Ido approached Sakura, called her experimental material, and dragged her into the black hole.

The Third Hokage struggled to choose someone to stop Inner Demon Ido from taking over Kurama Yakumo at Satomi Hill Villa, while weighing the political cost of asking the Uchiha Clan for help. Soji arrived and volunteered to resolve the crisis himself.

• The Third Hokage learned that Konoha teams and Kurama Clan members sent to Satomi Hill Villa had gone missing, and feared Inner Demon Ido had taken control of Kurama Yakumo.
• The Third Hokage considered sending a Uchiha genjutsu specialist, but worried that the Uchiha Clan's success would force him to grant Fugaku Uchiha a seat on the Elder Council.
• Soji entered the Hokage's Office after the lightning strike and explained that he had served under Kurama Hachizo during the Second Ninja World War.
• Soji asked the Third Hokage to let him handle the situation at Satomi Hill Villa and promised to resolve it.

Soji accepted the mission to investigate the danger at Satomi Hill Villa, motivated by his friendship with Kurama Hachizo and a desire to help Hachizo’s granddaughter, Kurama Yakumo. At the village gate, he reunited with his returning disciples and decided to bring them along to save their former classmate.

• Soji surprised the Third Hokage by volunteering to handle the Satomi Hill Villa matter, then secured the mission despite joking about taking the rest of the day off.
• Soji recalled how Kurama Hachizo had taught him about the Five Senses Manipulation bloodline and resolved to repay his former superior by helping Hachizo’s granddaughter, Kurama Yakumo.
• Soji headed for the village gate and encountered Kimimaro, Haku, and Yota returning from an A-rank mission.
• Soji asked his disciples whether they remembered Kurama Yakumo, and all three recalled that she had been their classmate before dropping out due to poor health.
• Soji invited Kimimaro, Haku, and Yota to accompany him to save their former classmate.

Soji explained that Kurama Yakumo's Inner Demon, Ido, could be absorbed rather than destroyed so Yakumo might keep her genjutsu powers, then led his disciples into her illusion at Satomi Hill Villa. As Soji's Right Eye Void Mirror overpowered her Five Senses Manipulation, Yakumo grew frightened while the group advanced toward her.

• Soji told Kimimaro, Haku, and Yota that Yakumo could preserve her strength by devouring Ido, though she would have to accept the truth about herself.
• Soji warned his disciples that they had to enter Yakumo's illusion to save her, and instructed them to knock unconscious everyone inside it.
• Yakumo recognized her former classmates and sent controlled people after them, but the three disciples knocked them unconscious as they followed Soji.
• Yakumo sent a sea of flames, then wind, water, and lightning at Soji's group, but Soji's Right Eye Void Mirror dispelled or redirected each attack.
• Yakumo created an abyss to block the corridor, but a path appeared beneath Soji's feet as his Void Mirror clashed with her Five Senses Manipulation.

Soji seized control of Kurama Yakumo’s genjutsu space and forced her to seek help from Ido, who had been secretly modifying Sakura Haruno. After Soji overcame their combined control and reunited with Kurenai Yuhi, he prepared to confront the inner demon.

• Soji used Void Mirror to take control of most of Kurama Yakumo’s genjutsu space, while the area containing Ido remained beyond his reach.
• Kurama Yakumo fled to Ido and asked it to help defeat Soji, interrupting Ido’s attempt to modify Sakura Haruno.
• Ido and Kurama Yakumo joined forces to fight Soji for control of the genjutsu space, but Soji gradually gained the upper hand as the surroundings shifted around him and his three students.
• The shifting space brought Kurenai Yuhi before Soji, and he caught her attack before Kimimaro, Haku, and Yota could strike her.
• Kurenai Yuhi told Soji what had happened and warned him about Yakumo’s inner demon, but Soji declared that he could defeat it easily.

Soji led Kurenai Yuhi and the children into Kurama Yakumo’s Black Hole space to rescue Yakumo and Sakura. Yakumo’s paintings made parts of Soji vanish, but his body instantly recovered, leaving Yakumo shocked and unable to harm him.

• Soji entered the distorted room with Kurenai Yuhi, Yota, Haku, and Kimimaro, where Kurama Yakumo and Inner Demon Ido confronted them beside a Black Hole.
• Kurenai Yuhi questioned Yakumo’s alliance with Ido, while Yota, Haku, and Kimimaro tried to reach their former classmate; Yakumo angrily blamed Konoha for her treatment.
• Kurama Yakumo revealed Sakura trapped inside the Black Hole and challenged the group to follow her into it, so Soji and the others entered to save both girls.
• Soji realized the Black Hole fused Yakumo’s consciousness space with the illusion, giving Yakumo and Ido greater power there.
• Kurama Yakumo painted over Soji’s arm in his portrait, making it disappear, but it immediately returned; repeated attempts to erase other body parts also failed.

Soji survived Inner Demon Ido’s attacks in the Black Hole space and restored both himself and his portrait, exposing Ido’s deception to Kurama Yakumo. After Ido revealed its true form and tried to devour Yakumo, Soji restrained it with crudely drawn restraints, then swore never to use drawing techniques again.

• Inner Demon Ido tore Soji and his portrait into countless pieces, but Soji’s voice continued to speak from every direction.
• Soji reassembled himself unharmed and restored his portrait, frightening Ido and making Kurama Yakumo question whether Ido was truly her alternate personality.
• Inner Demon Ido approached Kurama Yakumo while claiming its emotions were hers, then revealed its monstrous true form and lunged to devour her.
• Kurenai Yuhi warned Kurama Yakumo, but Soji stopped Ido by drawing restraints around its limbs.
• Yota pointed out that Soji’s supposed iron chains looked like hemp rope, prompting Soji to vow never to use drawing techniques again.

Soji subdued Inner Demon Ido and tried to persuade Kurama Yakumo that he and the others wanted to help her. He revealed his past connection to her grandfather and told her she could still become a ninja, leaving Yakumo excited and Kurenai Yuhi regretful about the choices made for her.

• Inner Demon Ido broke the hemp ropes, but Soji struck it down and broke its spine before it could reach Kurama Yakumo.
• Yakumo distanced herself from Soji and insisted she did not need anyone's help, while Soji hoped that seeing Ido defeated would make her less afraid of it.
• Soji asked Yakumo about her grandfather, Kurama Hachizo, and explained that Hachizo had once been his superior during the Second Ninja World War.
• Soji said he had taken the case from the Third Hokage to repay Hachizo's kindness and to prevent Uchiha ninja from escalating the conflict.
• When Soji told Yakumo she could still become a ninja, she showed undisguised excitement, and Kurenai Yuhi regretted that Yakumo had been forced to leave the Ninja Academy.

Soji restored Kurama Yakumo’s painful memories and urged her to accept responsibility for her past and merge with Inner Demon Ido again if she wanted to become a ninja. Yakumo chose to endure the pain, and then asked Soji to take her as his disciple.

• Soji used genjutsu to awaken Kurama Yakumo’s memories while Kurenai Yuhi watched with concern.
• Yakumo remembered that her Five Senses Manipulation had caused her parents’ deaths and realized she had misunderstood the Third Hokage, Kurenai Yuhi, and the Kurama Clan.
• Yakumo tried to kill Inner Demon Ido, but Soji stopped her and told her to merge with it again if she wanted to become a ninja.
• After wavering, Yakumo dropped her colored pencil and chose to carry her guilt and accept Ido as part of herself.
• Soji said he would explain the situation to Lord Naruto, and Yakumo knelt before him and asked him to accept her as his disciple.

Kurama Yakumo asked Soji to become his disciple, and he agreed on the condition that she merge with Inner Demon Ido without losing control. She endured the painful process and absorbed Ido, while Ido secretly glanced at the unconscious Sakura before disappearing.

• Kurama Yakumo knelt and asked Soji to accept her as his disciple, and Kurenai Yuhi supported her request.
• Soji agreed to make Kurama Yakumo's acceptance conditional on her merging with Inner Demon Ido without losing control.
• Kurama Yakumo began absorbing Ido's Chakra and endured reliving the painful memories of her past.
• Kurama Yakumo stayed true to herself, completed the merger, and made Inner Demon Ido vanish.
• Inner Demon Ido glanced at the unconscious Sakura just before it disappeared.

After overcoming Inner Demon Ido, Kurama Yakumo reconciled with Kurenai Yuhi and became Soji’s disciple. The group returned to Konoha, where Soji skipped his report to make it home for afternoon tea.

• Kurama Yakumo told Kurenai Yuhi she had accepted her painful memories and thanked her, and Soji agreed to take Yakumo as his disciple.
• Kurama Yakumo dispelled the genjutsu around Satomi Hill Villa, restoring contact with Konoha, and Soji and the others returned with her and Sakura.
• Sakura woke feeling that something about her had changed but decided not to ask Soji or Kurenai Yuhi about it.
• Soji told Kurenai Yuhi and Yakumo to report to the Hokage without him, then hurried home for his afternoon tea.
• Haku explained Soji’s reason for rushing off, while Kurenai Yuhi and Yakumo apologized to Sakura and invited her to learn genjutsu.

Soji learned that Inner Demon Ido had transferred its consciousness into Sakura, and chose to watch whether Sakura could turn the power into an advantage. After Kurama Yakumo became a ninja and Soji’s fourth disciple, the story ended on the eve of the third stage of the Chunin Exams, with Sakura’s transformation still to be revealed.

• Soji realized Inner Demon Ido had left a fragment of its power and consciousness inside Sakura, and decided to observe whether she could master it.
• Soji reasoned that Sakura’s talent might let her use a weakened Five Senses Manipulation, giving her a chance to grow stronger.
• The Third Hokage restored Kurama Yakumo’s freedom and approved her request to become a ninja after Kurenai Yuhi and Inoichi Yamanaka confirmed she posed no safety risk.
• Soji repeated his report to the Third Hokage, who became exasperated with Soji’s habit of finishing tasks efficiently and then avoiding work.
• Soji accepted Kurama Yakumo as his fourth disciple before the Kurama Clan and Hyuga Clan members, strengthening ties between the clans.
• Several days passed, bringing the story to the eve of the third stage of the Chunin Exams, when Sakura’s changes were still unknown.

Konoha filled with visitors as the third stage of the Chunin Exams began, and ticket scarcity drove residents to bid wildly for seats. The examinees entered the arena after a month of training, with Sasuke confident that he, Naruto, Gaara, Chiyo, and Neji were the strongest contenders.

• Konoha residents fought over scarce tickets to the third stage, while resellers raised prices and Konoha officials allowed the trades.
• The third stage began in the arena, where Konoha had more surviving examinees than any other village because the preliminary round had been canceled.
• Sasuke reflected on his training with Might Guy and Kakashi, including learning Chidori and gaining control of the Curse Seal’s first state.
• Naruto checked that Sasuke was all right, then Sasuke declared he would defeat Naruto and avenge his graduation-exam humiliation.
• Naruto and Sasuke identified Gaara, Chiyo, and Neji as the other examinees who could challenge them, and Sasuke believed his improved strength made him fear no one.

At the Chunin Exams, Naruto and Sasuke were baffled when Chiyo greeted them amicably, unaware that she had abandoned her clan’s hatred after learning the truth from her father. As the contestants prepared for the third stage, Sakura remained strangely listless, a state linked to the influence of Inner Demon Ido.

• Gaara, Naruto, and Sasuke exchanged friendly nods, and Chiyo surprised Naruto and Sasuke by nodding to them as well.
• Sasuke told Naruto that the Chinoike Clan had once fought the Uchiha Clan and been exiled to Hell Valley, while Naruto sensed no hostility from Chiyo.
• Chiyo recalled learning the truth from her father, Oyakiro Homura, and decided she wanted to fight Sasuke to prove the Chinoike Clan's strength rather than seek revenge.
• Suigetsu teased Chiyo about smiling at Sasuke, and she stomped on his foot before telling him to stop talking.
• The contestants considered their prospective opponents as they prepared for the third stage, while Sakura remained unusually listless after half a month of rapid genjutsu study.
• Sakura's strange state was attributed to the influence of the power belonging to Inner Demon Ido.