Chapter Summaries

After the banquet, Moriyue carried the drunken Kazeki home and returned to find his shadow clones had spent days studying scrolls and ninjutsu. Their memories clarified new ideas for his forbidden techniques, and Moriyue resolved to eventually strike back at the Akatsuki Organization.

• Moriyue carried the sleeping Kazeki home, freed himself from her grasp, and tucked her in.
• Yugito Nii surprised Moriyue outside Kazeki's home, then left him to return to his own house.
• Moriyue answered a password from behind his locked door and entered, revealing that his shadow clones had been studying scrolls and ninjutsu in isolation.
• Moriyue dispelled the exhausted clones and received their knowledge, which gave him new ideas for combining his techniques and using the Dog Talisman.
• After suppressing the clones' returning emotions and considering plans against several enemies, Moriyue vowed to settle his score with the Akatsuki Organization.

Moriyue and Yugito Nii departed for Takigakure after training their students, while the Fourth Raikage rebuffed the research division’s attempt to claim Yugito for experiments. On the road, an attacker ambushed Moriyue and Yugito as they stopped to eat.

• Yugito Nii trained Kaede in insect control, while Kazeki studied Medical Ninjutsu and Ando trained under Darui.
• Moriyue and Yugito Nii set off for Takigakure, hoping their students would become worthy of the Chunin title.
• The research division urged the Fourth Raikage A to hand Yugito Nii over for study, but A defended her and compared their demand to taking Killer B.
• Moriyue and Yugito stopped to eat, but Yugito’s badly cooked fish alarmed them, so she burned it and they ate other food instead.
• Yugito heard footsteps in the darkness, and Moriyue prepared to fight as kunai carrying Explosive Tags flew toward them.

Ajisai returned to Amegakure, received an S-rank mission from Konan, and was revealed as the attacker sent to intercept Moriyue and Yugito Nii. Yugito broke through Ajisai’s paper attack and closed in as he resorted to a desperate summoning technique.

• After the Chunin Exams were suspended, Ajisai returned to Amegakure believing his report about Kazeki would earn Konan’s praise.
• Konan congratulated Ajisai, then gave him an S-rank mission scroll without revealing that it would lead to his death.
• Ajisai accepted the mission to intercept Moriyue and Yugito Nii and ambushed them with an Explosive Tag.
• Moriyue knocked the Explosive Tag away, while Yugito charged Ajisai through his Paper Blizzard technique.
• As Yugito’s claws reached him, Ajisai slapped both hands against his body and used himself as the medium for a Summoning Technique.

Moriyue and Yugito Nii defeated Ajisai after she attacked them, and they questioned her about who had sent her. When Ajisai refused to betray Lady Angel, Moriyue began experimenting on her with his mutated Earth Grudge Fear tentacle.

• Ajisai summoned a giant bird from the Curse Mark on her abdomen to block Yugito Nii’s attack, but Moriyue recognized her and stopped her escape.
• Moriyue bound Ajisai, and Yugito Nii demanded to know who had sent her and why she attacked them.
• Ajisai refused to reveal anything, insisting that she would never betray Lady Angel.
• Yugito Nii handed Ajisai over to Moriyue and searched her equipment while he prepared to interrogate her.
• Moriyue confronted Ajisai about notifying Kakuzu and Hidan, then began testing whether his mutated tentacle could alter her nerves.

Moriyue’s attempt to interrogate Ajisai went awry when she reacted strangely to his treatment, though he already knew the intelligence he wanted from his own memories. He linked Amegakure to the Akatsuki Organization and decided to break Ajisai’s loyalty to Konan gradually, hoping to recruit her for her talent in space-time techniques.

• Moriyue tried to question Ajisai, but she unexpectedly responded to his actions with confusing eagerness rather than resistance.
• After Moriyue withdrew his finger, Ajisai believed he had read her memories and cried over betraying Lady Angel and leaking Amegakure’s intelligence.
• Moriyue told Yugito Nii that he had obtained the information, and she connected Amegakure to the Akatsuki Organization and the earlier attack.
• Moriyue admitted to himself that he had learned the intelligence from his memories, not from Ajisai, and resolved to weaken her loyalty to Konan.
• Moriyue decided to keep working on Ajisai, whose talent in sealing and space-time techniques could make her a useful specialist and assistant.

Moriyue stopped Yugito Nii from killing Ajisai and secretly poisoned her, then let her flee with the promise of an antidote. Yugito Nii worried Ajisai might bring pursuers, but Moriyue remained confident she would not get far.

• Yugito Nii approached the wounded Ajisai and nearly killed her before Moriyue intervened.
• Moriyue planted a dark mark on Ajisai's hand and told her she had been poisoned, offering an antidote if she submitted to him.
• Ajisai rejected Moriyue's offer and fled after regaining her mobility.
• Yugito Nii questioned why Moriyue had let Ajisai escape, and Moriyue said she would not get far.

After humiliating Ajisai, Moriyue let her go, and she fled into the forest worried that he had marked her and uncertain whether she could safely return to Amegakure. Moriyue gained new insights from his studying clones and proposed borrowing Yugito Nii’s Two-Tails to test his sealing space, leaving Yugito baffled.

• Ajisai examined the mark Moriyue had left on her hand, feared it might track her, and fled while doubting whether she could return to Amegakure.
• Moriyue absorbed his clones’ accumulated knowledge and discovered ideas about fusing talisman formulas and using his sealing space.
• Moriyue recalled that his sealing space held traces of the One-Tail and Seven-Tails’ Chakra and considered sealing the power of other talismans inside it.
• Moriyue asked Yugito Nii if he could borrow the Two-Tails, and she stared at him in confusion.

Moriyue asked Yugito Nii to let him test whether his Sage Art: Severing Extraction Technique could absorb Tailed Beast Chakra, forcing her to weigh her trust in him against the danger to her life. He successfully drew some of the Two-Tails’ Chakra into his sealing space, but after severing the chain, he vomited blood as his Curse Mark spread uncontrollably.

• Yugito Nii recognized that Moriyue’s technique could extract a Jinchuriki’s Tailed Beast and chose not to act against him.
• Moriyue asked Yugito Nii for some of the Two-Tails’ Chakra, and she questioned whether she could trust him.
• Moriyue told Yugito Nii that no one would hurt her while he was there, and she agreed to let him proceed.
• Moriyue used the chain technique on Yugito Nii and began drawing out her Tailed Beast Chakra.
• Moriyue confirmed that the Chakra had entered his sealing space, then severed the chain and began bleeding as his Curse Mark spread across his body.

Moriyue used the Sage Art: Severing Extraction Technique to take in some of Yugito Nii’s Two-Tails Chakra, but suffered severe backlash until the Dog Talisman suppressed the forces fighting inside him. Afterward, he realized the technique might let him gather chakra from all the tailed beasts and move toward becoming a Quasi-Sage of Six Paths.

• Yugito Nii saw Moriyue trembling from the technique’s backlash and realized he had hidden its danger from her.
• Black tentacles emerged from Moriyue’s back and struggled against the expanded sealing chains until the Dog Talisman’s green energy suppressed them both.
• Three differently colored chains settled across Moriyue’s chest, and his pain vanished.
• Yugito Nii punched Moriyue’s shoulder and scolded him for using a forbidden technique without telling her the truth.
• Moriyue sensed traces of the Two-Tails’ Chakra in his sealing space and noticed changes in the One-Tail and Seven-Tails Chakra already inside him.
• Moriyue imagined collecting all the tailed beasts’ Chakra and using the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to become a Quasi-Sage of Six Paths.

Moriyue and Yugito Nii continued toward Takigakure while an unseen Ajisai followed them. Near the village, they encountered an unnaturally silent landscape and a strangely tame squirrel, but reached Takigakure without further incident.

• Moriyue reflected that collecting tailed beasts would put him against the powerful Akatsuki Organization, whose members were unlikely to cooperate well.
• Ajisai watched Moriyue and Yugito Nii from the forest, then followed them after dismissing her summoned panda.
• Moriyue and Yugito Nii noticed that the area near Takigakure was unnaturally silent and seemed lifeless.
• Moriyue found a tame squirrel that accepted food and touch, but suspected it was connected to the strange power in the area.
• Moriyue and Yugito Nii reached the outskirts of Takigakure without encountering an attack, and Yugito urged him to stay alert.

Moriyue and Yugito Nii investigated an empty village near Takigakure and discovered Paper Figures made in their likeness. A strange power trapped them inside coffins as the figures approached, leaving Moriyue searching for the source of the distortion.

• Moriyue and Yugito Nii entered Takigakure and found the village deserted despite signs that people had recently been there.
• Yugito Nii and Moriyue investigated an empty house and discovered two coffins in another room.
• Yugito Nii opened a coffin, revealing a Paper Figure made to resemble her, while the other coffin burst open with a figure resembling Moriyue.
• Moriyue and Yugito Nii were suddenly transported into the coffins and found themselves unable to move or use their powers.
• Moriyue closed his eyes and tried to identify the cause of the strange phenomenon as the Paper Figures approached.

Moriyue and Yugito Nii escaped a coffin trap after realizing a squirrel had drawn them into an unusual Genjutsu, which Moriyue suspected was connected to the Sheep Talisman. Confident that the Dog Talisman still made him immortal, Moriyue set out to challenge the deserted village’s dangers.

• Moriyue remembered the squirrel and realized he and Yugito Nii were probably trapped in Genjutsu, allowing them to break out of their coffins.
• Moriyue pinned down two Paper Figures and tried to interrogate them, while Yugito Nii noted that they had no mouths and warned that the Genjutsu was unusual.
• Moriyue suspected the Sheep Talisman was behind the dreamlike trap, and Yugito Nii confirmed she could still use ninjutsu even though Moriyue’s other powers were sealed.
• Moriyue decided his Dog Talisman’s immortality let him face the village’s dangers without fear, then dragged the Paper Figures into a room to confront whatever was inside.

Moriyue rampaged through the illusion, destroying its ghostly inhabitants until the world began to collapse. As he and Yugito Nii prepared to return to reality, Ajisai crept up to their motionless bodies and searched Moriyue for the antidote.

• Moriyue read a child's notebook and found the room empty, then charged through rooms, shrugging off the ghosts' curses and attacking them with barbed paper figures.
• Yugito Nii worried about Moriyue's reckless approach but relaxed as he overwhelmed the entities hiding in the rooms.
• A small ghost fled past Moriyue carrying a door, and the illusion's mastermind made the village and forest begin to dissolve.
• Moriyue jumped beside Yugito Nii and threw away the paper figures as she recognized that the illusion was breaking.
• Outside the illusion, Ajisai saw Moriyue and Yugito Nii lying motionless, crept over, and searched Moriyue for the antidote.

Ajisai accidentally bound herself to Moriyue with a chain while searching him for an antidote, and Moriyue woke to find her trapped. After Moriyue broke the environmental suggestion with a destructive attack, he spotted a white shadow in the forest, though Yugito Nii had seen nothing.

• Ajisai searched Moriyue for an antidote and accidentally triggered a chain that pierced her hand and bound them together.
• Moriyue woke up and caught Ajisai struggling to escape, but Yugito Nii warned them that danger still remained.
• Moriyue pierced Ajisai's other hand with a tentacle, then tossed her aside, and Ajisai fled into the forest.
• Yugito Nii suspected environmental suggestion had hypnotized them, with a squirrel acting as the trigger.
• Moriyue attacked the surrounding forest with lightning and tentacles to disrupt the suggestion, then spotted a white shadow that Yugito Nii could not see.

Moriyue chased the Sheep Talisman’s ghostly form through the burned forest and found it had possessed a black-faced sheep. He captured the sheep with Senju Arashi's Chain, and he and the Sheep Talisman began draining each other’s energy in a struggle that would decide who claimed the talisman.

• Moriyue pursued the white shadow, suspecting it was the Sheep Talisman in a soul-separated state.
• Moriyue followed the shadow into the forest and encountered an ordinary black-faced sheep that charged at him while nearly falling asleep.
• Moriyue looped Senju Arashi's Chain around the sheep, causing both of them to glow as the Sheep Talisman's energy flowed toward him.
• The Black-faced Sheep tried to escape, but the chain restrained it and forced both sides into a tug-of-war over their energy.
• Moriyue declared that he would take the Sheep Talisman, and the two continued their struggle.

Moriyue defeated the Black-faced Sheep and obtained the Sheep Talisman, absorbing its remaining energy and strengthening his mental resistance. After Yugito Nii revealed she had been guarding him, Moriyue kissed her cheek, leaving her flustered and unsure how to respond.

• Moriyue resisted the Black-faced Sheep's hypnosis by using pain to stay awake while his chains drained its energy.
• Moriyue steadily weakened the Black-faced Sheep, whose hypnosis lost strength as his mental resistance grew.
• The Black-faced Sheep shattered into a talisman, and Moriyue caught the Sheep Talisman before his chains absorbed it into powder.
• Yugito Nii told Moriyue she had been watching over him while he fought the Black-faced Sheep.
• Moriyue kissed Yugito Nii on the cheek and excitedly told her he had accomplished something incredible, leaving her flustered.

Moriyue and Yugito Nii reached Takigakure and discovered its residents had been massacred, with evidence suggesting Kakuzu and the Akatsuki Organization were responsible. After burying the dead and finding no trace of the mysterious energy, Yugito Nii agreed to keep Moriyue’s secret and let the crime be blamed on the Akatsuki.

• Moriyue and Yugito Nii continued toward Takigakure after dealing with the Black-faced Sheep and stopped beneath a waterfall outside the village.
• Moriyue and Yugito Nii entered Takigakure and found its houses dark and empty.
• Moriyue and Yugito Nii discovered bodies throughout the village, including victims whose hearts had been torn out, and Moriyue suspected Kakuzu.
• Moriyue and Yugito Nii buried the dead and searched the area, but found no sign of the energy mentioned in their intelligence.
• Yugito Nii recognized that Moriyue had dealt with the mysterious energy and agreed to blame the Akatsuki Organization for the events in Takigakure.

Moriyue and Yugito Nii returned from Takigakure after failing to find the unknown energy, while Moriyue let Ajisai go with a tracking device and a fresh brand. Back in the village, Kazeki and Kaede worried about their absent teammates until Moriyue appeared behind them.

• Moriyue and Yugito Nii decided the mission was over and began their journey back to the village.
• Moriyue spotted Ajisai, who surrendered, and branded him again before letting him leave for another month.
• Yugito Nii questioned Moriyue's decision, and he explained that Ajisai could gain experience and gather materials for them.
• Kazeki and Kaede struggled with worry while Ando trained diligently under Darui.
• Kazeki asked Kaede if she felt strong enough, and Moriyue appeared behind them as they spoke his name.

Moriyue told Kaede the truth about what had happened to someone she cared about and promised to help her get revenge. He then returned home and explored the Sheep Talisman's power in his sealing space, discovering its potential to separate souls and draw people into his dream world.

• Yugito Nii left Moriyue, Kaede, and Kazeki to report the leaked mission intelligence to the higher-ups.
• Moriyue told Kaede what had happened, and she broke down in his arms as he promised to help her get revenge.
• Moriyue sent Kaede away with Kazeki, returned home, and prepared to examine the Sheep Talisman's power.
• Moriyue entered his sealing space and found the Black-faced Sheep, which had become friendly toward him.
• Moriyue stroked the Black-faced Sheep and discovered that the Sheep Talisman's power could send souls out of their bodies and might let him hypnotize people or pull them into his dream world.

Moriyue absorbed his clones’ memories and learned they had made progress improving the Shadow Clone Jutsu before he went to report to the Raikage. He found Yugito Nii being harassed outside the Raikage’s office and stepped in, suspecting the men had leaked their mission information.

• Moriyue dispelled his clones and absorbed their memories, including their dangerous ninjutsu ideas and progress toward improving the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
• Moriyue inspected the Black-faced Sheep but could not get it to explain its undeveloped abilities, then left clones behind to study while he went to find the Raikage.
• Moriyue found Yugito Nii outside the Raikage’s office as several men mocked her for supposedly failing the S-rank mission and threatened to dissect her.
• Moriyue used his tentacles to attack the men, then reassured Yugito Nii that he would not let her get hurt again.
• Moriyue suspected the men were responsible for leaking their information.