Chapter Summaries

Tsunade investigated a supposedly completed S-Rank mission to Rōran after learning the Dragon Vein seal might have weakened, and decided Uchiha Asuka could reinforce it. At Asuka’s home, Kushina, still inhabiting the Orange Cat, urged him to take her on a mission before an urgent summons from the Hokage arrived.

• Tsunade reviewed reports and learned that Minato, Choza, Shibi, and Kakashi had been sent to Rōran four years earlier to investigate Anrokuzan and its growing Puppet Army.
• Tsunade discovered that the mission had been a joint Konoha–Sunagakure operation, and that Minato had eliminated Anrokuzan and sealed the Dragon Vein.
• Tsunade concluded that the Dragon Vein seal might have loosened and that someone needed to reinforce it.
• Tsunade recalled Asuka’s sealing abilities and considered him suited to the task.
• Asuka returned home, where Kushina, inhabiting the Orange Cat, asked him to take her to the seaside on a mission.
• A messenger arrived at Asuka’s residence and summoned him to see the Hokage.

Tsunade assigned Uchiha Asuka a dangerous mission to investigate a problem with the sealing technique Minato used at the Dragon Vein, framing it as a chance for the Uchiha to prove themselves against the Uzumaki. Asuka accepted the unpaid mission, while Tsunade revealed she had arranged it to solve the village’s problem without spending money or creating trouble over Anbu promotions.

• Kushina accompanied Asuka to the Hokage Building, where she revisited familiar places and saw Minato’s picture in the Hokage Office.
• Tsunade teased Asuka about his age and sealing skills before praising his medical ninjutsu and assigning him a mission involving the Dragon Vein.
• Tsunade told Asuka the mission could prove the Uchiha were not inferior to the Uzumaki in sealing technique, and Asuka accepted despite doubting her claims.
• Tsunade explained to Shizune that using Anbu procedure could complicate Asuka’s promotion, while issuing the high-rank mission normally would require a reward the village could not afford.
• Tsunade concluded that Asuka’s unpaid mission let the village resolve the problem while giving the Uchiha a chance to earn prestige.

Uchiha Asuka set out for Rōran with Kushina, whose body was being controlled by Fei Fei, to investigate the seal left by the Fourth Hokage. After Kushina returned to her own body in a distant forest, Asuka persuaded her to continue the mission, but she confidently headed in the wrong direction.

• Asuka waited at Konoha's gates for his assigned teammate, and Fei Fei arrived late in Kushina's body.
• Fei Fei explained that Danzo had helped persuade Tsunade to let her join Asuka on the mission to Rōran.
• Asuka and Fei Fei left the village, and Fei Fei rested on his shoulder until she could change back outside surveillance range.
• The next day, Kushina awoke in her own body in a primeval forest and learned that Fei Fei had used her to obtain approval for the trip to Rōran.
• Asuka convinced Kushina to continue the mission by pointing out that she had never completed a difficult recorded mission.
• Kushina claimed she had secretly carried out many S-Rank Missions, then headed in the opposite direction from the Wind Country.

Asuka, Kushina, and Fei Fei traveled to Rōran to investigate and reinforce the Dragon Vein seal, while Asuka recalled a past incident involving Minato Namikaze and a mysterious ally. They arrived to find Rōran deserted and declining, then Kushina and Fei Fei wandered off to look at the desert sky and try scorpion meat.

• Kushina confidently declared that the S-Rank Mission would be easy as Asuka wondered why the Dragon Vein seal needed attention so soon.
• Asuka remembered the report of Minato Namikaze and a mysterious person joining forces to defeat Anrokuzan, and questioned Kushina about the Fourth Hokage's Sealing Technique.
• Asuka and Kushina reached Rōran and saw that sand was creeping into the city and few residents remained on its streets.
• Asuka observed that businesses had closed and the remaining civilians seemed listless, then turned to find Kushina and Fei Fei had wandered away.

Uchiha Asuka visited a puppet shop in Rōran, where the shopkeeper sold him five toy cars and recalled the country’s decline after Anrokuzan’s defeat. The shopkeeper urged Asuka to leave, then reflected that people in small nations and great nations judged one another differently as he drifted to sleep.

• Uchiha Asuka woke the shopkeeper, who mistook his warning about a theft for trouble and gave him a lollipop as the shop’s first customer in eight days.
• The shopkeeper demonstrated a Chakra-controlled toy car and falsely claimed Puppet Technique originated when Shamon copied Hashirama Senju, while Asuka praised the craftsmanship and bought five.
• The shopkeeper told Asuka that Rōran had declined after Anrokuzan’s defeat, as wars, scarce water, and departing residents eroded the oasis.
• Asuka reminded the shopkeeper that Anrokuzan had captured residents and turned them into puppets, and the shopkeeper said people might have supported him if he had not begun capturing his own citizens.
• The shopkeeper urged Asuka to leave Rōran, then privately reflected on the different circumstances and judgments of people from small and great nations before falling asleep.

Uchiha Asuka accompanied Kushina shopping in Rōran while they prepared for their Dragon Vein sealing mission. In secret, Rōran residents agreed to act against the Five Great Nations, convinced their country could not survive without strength to deter them.

• Kushina bought a veil and other goods, and Asuka paid for them while teasing her about being overcharged.
• Kushina said Mito had left her a large fortune, then handed her purchases to Asuka and suspected the shopkeeper had been hostile.
• Asuka reflected that sealing the Dragon Vein seemed like an easy mission, unless something unexpected happened.
• People hiding in a building debated whether to trust a mysterious ninja's information and feared retaliation from Konoha.
• A deep-voiced speaker argued that Rōran's decline stemmed from the Five Great Nations suppressing its military strength, and the gathered residents decided to act.

Uchiha Asuka and Fei Fei noticed that Rōran’s residents seemed strangely unhappy, despite their purchases, while Kushina endured a sandy breakfast. They met King Sara, whose Chakra Blade drew Asuka’s attention.

• Fei Fei told Uchiha Asuka that Danzo had questioned him after checking for genjutsu with Hyuga Hiashi, then made him read insulting notes about Asuka.
• Uchiha Asuka and Fei Fei realized that shopkeepers in Rōran seemed unhappy even when they made large purchases.
• Kushina traded her sandy breakfast for Uchiha Asuka’s fried chicken and wondered how much Fei Fei’s habits had influenced her.
• Kushina asked when they would meet King Sara, and Uchiha Asuka said Sara would likely come to them.
• Lady Sara arrived at the restaurant, greeted the Konoha ninjas, and drew Uchiha Asuka’s attention to the Chakra Blade at her waist.

Kushina and Uchiha Asuka questioned Sara about a Konoha Chakra weapon and her blurred memories of a blond ninja, then learned how sealing the Dragon Vein had doomed Rōran. Sara left them with the burden of her nation's decline, while Asuka and Orange Cat provoked Kushina by joking about the blond ninja and his family.

• Kushina recognized the Konoha emblem on Sara's Chakra weapon, and Sara recalled that a blond Konoha Ninja had given it to her in a dream four years earlier.
• Sara described how the blond ninja saved, protected, and encouraged her, while Kushina grew jealous and Asuka was thrown into a wall after joking about Naruto marrying multiple women.
• Sara led the Konoha group through a corridor of decaying puppets and explained that sealing the Dragon Vein had left Rōran's puppet army powerless.
• Asuka asked whether Sara would let Rōran be buried by the sand, and Sara broke down, declaring that Rōran had been dead since the Dragon Vein was sealed.
• Kushina gave Asuka a pleading look, but he refused to help; Orange Cat joined him in teasing Kushina about the blond ninja and the tigress at home.

Sara led Uchiha Asuka, Kushina, and the Orange Cat underground to inspect the Dragon Vein, while Kushina discussed how Minato’s decision to seal it had left Rōran struggling. At the Dragon Vein, Sara found no visible problem with Minato’s seal and questioned why Konoha had sent them.

• Sara ran through the damaged corridor and stopped Uchiha Asuka and Kushina from fighting before leading them toward the Dragon Vein.
• Kushina tried to reassure Sara about Minato’s past decision to seal the Dragon Vein, but admitted she had no solution for Rōran’s resource shortage.
• Sara brought the group to an underground chamber containing the sealed Dragon Vein and pointed out Minato’s formula on the platform.
• Sara said she had found no issues with the seal and asked whether Konoha had received false information.

Asuka and Kushina discovered that poison on the seal had paralyzed them, while a masked man attacked them and Asuka defeated him with Susanoo. After Sara’s citizens gathered, they urged her to unseal and control the Dragon Vein, leaving her facing their demand.

• Asuka and Kushina found no flaw in the seal before realizing its steaming characters had been smeared with poison that paralyzed them.
• A black-robed, animal-masked man knocked Sara unconscious and attacked Asuka, but Asuka used Susanoo to defeat him and catch Kushina before she fell into the abyss.
• Sara’s citizens arrived, and Sara clarified that a masked man had knocked her unconscious rather than the Konoha ninjas.
• The citizens presented Sara with her mother’s medal and urged her to become strong enough to protect Rōran and lead its people.
• The puppet shop owner called on Sara to unseal and control the Dragon Vein, declaring that the royal family had the innate power to wield it.

Rōran’s citizens rejected Sara’s plan to leave and chose to break the Dragon Vein’s seal, using Asuka and Kushina’s Chakra to absorb it in turns. The seal was released, shaking the Ancient Kingdom of Roran as the sky turned violet-red, while Kushina blamed Asuka for her repeated deaths.

• Sara explained that the Dragon Vein was dangerous and urged the citizens to seek a new homeland, but they argued that controlling it was their only hope of saving Rōran.
• Danzo revealed that he had leaked the Dragon Vein news to send Asuka to Rōran and wanted to test whether people could absorb the Dragon Vein’s power.
• The puppet shop owner began absorbing the seal with Chakra drawn from Asuka and Kushina, and Rōran’s citizens took turns continuing the process as each collapsed.
• Sara was knocked unconscious as the citizens persisted, and the seal cracked while Asuka continued purging poison from his body.
• A middle-aged man pulled the kunai from the sphere, releasing the seal and causing the tower and the Ancient Kingdom of Roran to shake as the sky turned violet-red.
• Kushina glared at Asuka and complained that she hated him for how many times she had died.

The Dragon Vein’s seal broke, and its power engulfed Uchiha Asuka and Kushina before blasting them into the sky. They survived and woke among the ruins of Rōran, leaving them to wonder whether the Dragon Vein had destroyed the city.

• Rōran shook violently as its citizens fled, and Sara woke to find the underground seal broken and the Dragon Vein raging below.
• A purple pillar erupted from the Dragon Vein and pulled Asuka and Kushina toward it; Asuka threw Kushina clear, but she used a golden chain to reach back for him, and both were swallowed.
• Kushina woke in the desert, complained to Asuka about dying again, and realized they were still alive when he poured water over her.
• Kushina recognized the ruins around them as Rōran and asked Asuka whether the Dragon Vein’s power had blown the city into that state.

Uchiha Asuka and Kushina discovered they had awakened in a future where Rōran had long been abandoned and learned from an old account book that the Uchiha Clan had been massacred. They found no one in the desert to question, and Asuka revealed that Konoha still existed but the Uchiha were gone.

• Asuka told Kushina that he had searched Rōran and found no living people, while Kushina continued digging through the ruins.
• Kushina found a shopkeeper’s account book whose dated entries traced Rōran’s decline and ended in Year 58 with news that the Uchiha Clan had been massacred.
• Asuka and Kushina realized they had traveled to the future, and Kushina rushed off to gather intelligence.
• Kushina found only a few camels in the empty desert and returned to Asuka, who had made a fire and was eating fried chicken.
• Asuka told Kushina that Konoha still existed, but the Uchiha were gone.

Asuka told Kushina that they had arrived in a different version of the world in Konoha Year 63, where Naruto was missing and the Uchiha had been wiped out. After Asuka used a genjutsu to make his explanation clearer, Kushina attacked him for the disturbing dream he had inflicted on her.

• Kushina learned that a rogue ninja had exterminated the Uchiha Clan five years earlier and asked Asuka how much time had passed and where Naruto was.
• Asuka told Kushina it was Konoha Year 63 and explained that this world had diverged from their own after the Nine-Tails attack.
• Asuka used his Sharingan to cast a genjutsu on Kushina, then concluded that they had arrived in the original Naruto timeline and wondered what had happened to his counterpart.
• Kushina woke from the genjutsu and accused Asuka of giving her a disturbing dream, then accepted that they were in another timeline that could not change their original world.
• Asuka refused to explain further, so Kushina used Four Limbs Sealing on him, making him scream in the desert.

Asuka and Kushina searched for a way to return to their original world while hiding their identities, but the system only told Asuka to become stronger. In Konoha, Naruto grew frustrated with endless low-rank missions and fell asleep while imagining how he could earn the villagers’ recognition.

• Kushina angrily confronted Asuka after he dislocated both her arms, then the pair spotted a fresh Konoha mark and agreed to disguise themselves before approaching the village.
• Asuka questioned the system about the timeline and how to return, but it gave inconsistent dates and said only that he must become stronger than Naruto.
• Naruto asked Kakashi for another C-Rank mission for the seventeenth time while Sasuke and Sakura picked up trash nearby.
• Naruto complained about D-Rank work and wondered whether completing missions could help him become a great ninja and Hokage before falling asleep.
• Kakashi recalled Guy’s father completing more than two thousand cat-finding missions, and Naruto shuddered as Kakashi called him the Cat-Finding Expert.

Kakashi and Team 7 encountered two disguised strangers outside Konoha, and Kakashi suspected they were powerful and familiar with Jiraiya. The strangers, Asuka and Kushina, entered Konoha unseen, while Cat Granny recognized them and began investigating their impossible return.

• Kakashi took Team 7 on a weeding mission, then sensed an immense Chakra fluctuation as two black-robed figures approached.
• Naruto called out to the strangers, and Asuka and Kushina exchanged sharp remarks before walking away; Kakashi recognized their familiarity with Jiraiya and warned his students about his books.
• Asuka and Kushina infiltrated Konoha using disguises arranged by Cat Granny, and Asuka reflected on how the village had changed.
• Cat Granny told Little Black that Asuka and Kushina had both supposedly died years ago, then ordered it to summon Sasuke so she could question him.

Uchiha Asuka brought Kushina through a secret passage beneath Naka Shrine and showed her the comfortable underground house Uchiha Saburo had built to placate the clan’s radicals. They planned to wait for Cat Granny’s intelligence before contacting Konoha’s higher-ups, while Kushina asked to see Naruto.

• Kushina questioned Asuka about the long, well-ventilated passage beneath Naka Shrine, and he explained that Uchiha Saburo had built it.
• Asuka told Kushina that Saburo had proposed tunnels and houses as a way to pacify Uchiha clansmen who wanted to ambush Danzo.
• In the original world, Uchiha Saburo urged the clansmen digging a tunnel to work slowly and carefully, saying there was no hurry to deal with Danzo.
• Asuka opened a hidden door to reveal a furnished underground house, and Kushina asked whether they would stay there.
• Asuka said they would wait for Cat Granny’s intelligence before contacting the Konoha Higher-Ups, and Kushina asked to see Naruto.

Uchiha Asuka visited Teuchi's ramen shop in disguise, where Naruto encountered the Nine-Tails inside his mind. The Nine-Tails urged Naruto to use his Transformation Technique in front of Asuka, and Naruto transformed into a blond woman, leaving Asuka horrified.

• Asuka teased Ayame about her father and her crush on Kakashi, then entered Teuchi's ramen shop.
• Asuka learned that his counterpart in this world had been an unremarkable Chunin who died during the Uchiha massacre.
• Naruto arrived alone for ramen and felt dejected when Asuka moved away from him.
• The Nine-Tails recognized Asuka's scents and Mangekyo, then persuaded Naruto to demonstrate his Transformation Technique.
• Naruto transformed in a cloud of smoke, and Asuka dropped his chopsticks in alarm.

The Third Hokage and Konoha’s jonin watched Naruto blow kisses in a ramen shop, where Kushina mistook Uchiha Asuka’s actions for deliberate misconduct and attacked him. The Nine-Tails urged Naruto to keep going so he could grow stronger, and Kushina left the shop still convinced Asuka was responsible for Naruto’s behavior.

• The Third Hokage received the hidden villages’ Chunin Exams registrations and asked Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai whether they would recommend their genin.
• A Crystal Ball fell and showed Naruto blowing kisses while Kushina struck Uchiha Asuka with a wok, prompting the assembled ninja to speculate about the scene.
• Uchiha Asuka denied causing Naruto’s behavior, but Kushina accused him of using the Sharingan and punched him through a wall.
• The Nine-Tails urged Naruto to keep blowing kisses to improve his strength, and Naruto sent another kiss toward Kushina.
• Kushina left the shop, convinced Asuka had made Naruto behave disgracefully, then threw a pot at Naruto and sent him flying.

Naruto discovered that his Transformation Technique had become easier after the Nine-Tails briefly spoke to him, then faced Teuchi’s punishment for damaging the ramen shop. Meanwhile, Kushina questioned Uchiha Asuka about his reputation and Naruto’s lewd technique, and Asuka noticed someone hiding nearby.

• Naruto tested his Transformation Technique and found it worked more smoothly, while the Nine-Tails refused to answer him again.
• Teuchi treated Naruto to ramen and told him to gather bricks and cement to repair the damaged shop.
• Uzuki Yugao and another Anbu watched Naruto, and Yugao decided to wait for the Third Hokage’s instructions before investigating the Nine-Tails attack.
• Kushina pointed out Asuka’s past flaws, including drawing Tsunade and advising Mikoto to divorce, while Asuka blamed Jiraiya for Naruto learning the lewd Transformation Technique.
• Asuka spotted a shadow slipping into an alley and wondered whether it was Second Pillar.