Chapter Summaries

The Third Hokage tortured Li Yao to try to break a suspected Memory Seal and uncover the Spirit Transformation Technique. Li Yao passed out before the Hokage could probe his memories, so the Hokage stopped and planned to continue the next night.

• The Third Hokage ordered the Anbu guards to keep everyone away while he prepared torture tools for Li Yao.
• The Third Hokage dismissed Li Yao’s pleas as possible deception and pressed a needle beneath his thumbnail.
• Li Yao cursed the Third Hokage in Mandarin before the pain overwhelmed him and he lost consciousness.
• The Third Hokage’s Bringer-of-Darkness Technique failed because Li Yao’s consciousness rejected the genjutsu Chakra.
• The Third Hokage stopped torturing Li Yao, told the Explosion Squad to feed and care for him, and planned to return the next night.

Li Yao woke in the interrogation room and realized the Third Hokage would keep torturing him to learn about a Spirit Transformation Technique he did not know. After failing to bring himself to commit suicide, he faced the Third Hokage’s return with renewed terror.

• Li Yao woke, ate the ramen left for him, and concluded that the Third Hokage wanted information about the Spirit Transformation Technique he supposedly possessed.
• Li Yao decided suicide was his only way to avoid further torture, but could not cut his wrist and instead vented his anger by striking the floor.
• Li Yao spent the night blaming his transmigration and eventually fell asleep.
• After the Anbu brought him three meals, Li Yao realized night had come and grew increasingly frightened as someone approached.
• The Third Hokage entered the interrogation room carrying a toolbox, followed by two Anbu ninja.

The Third Hokage tortured Li Yao through the night while trying to breach his Chakra, but failed to learn the Spirit Transformation Technique or penetrate his defenses. After Ran healed Li Yao, he woke the next day traumatized and tried to kill himself, but Ran stopped him.

• Li Yao told the Third Hokage about the ninja world's secrets, but could not explain the Spirit Transformation Technique, so the Hokage resumed torturing him.
• The Third Hokage repeatedly knocked Li Yao unconscious and woke him with Water Release, continuing the torture while his genjutsu attempts failed.
• When Li Yao's eyes began bleeding, the Third Hokage stopped and ordered Ran to heal him without leaving hidden injuries.
• Li Yao woke the next day, ate his meal in silence, and stared at the torture bed without trembling.
• Li Yao smashed his bowl and tried to stab his temple with a shard, but Ran appeared and froze him in place.

After a week of escalating torture, Li Yao resolved to survive and escape Konoha by developing Kimura Takuya’s Perfect Transformation Jutsu, but the Third Hokage began a new torture before he could make progress. The chapter ended with Li Yao screaming and begging to die.

• Ran removed the bowl shards and chopsticks, prevented Li Yao from killing himself, and watched as he beat and cursed himself.
• Over the following week, the Third Hokage had Li Yao’s fingernail beds and the spaces between his toes pierced, while Li Yao’s screams weakened and his mind began to collapse.
• Li Yao stopped wanting to die and resolved to escape, kill the Third Hokage and Konoha, and destroy the world.
• Li Yao decided that creating Kimura Takuya’s Perfect Transformation Jutsu could help him escape, but he still needed to learn how to conceal or eliminate Chakra.
• That night, the Third Hokage pulled down Li Yao’s pants and prepared to torture him with a needle, and Li Yao begged him to kill him.
• The Third Hokage ignored Li Yao’s pleas and began the torture, leaving Li Yao screaming in agony.

The Third Hokage continued torturing Li Yao in an effort to break his mind and steal his memories, but his genjutsu invasion failed again. Li Yao’s pain-driven self-protection left him unconscious at times, while his injuries and mounting pressure made the torment worse.

• The Third Hokage repeatedly used the Dark Walking Technique on the unconscious Li Yao, but could not invade his Chakra, then ordered Ran not to treat Li Yao’s injuries.
• After several Water Style attacks failed to wake Li Yao, the Third Hokage concluded that Li Yao’s mind was shutting out his senses and left, promising further suffering.
• Li Yao woke in the night from lingering pain and stayed motionless, but the pressure building behind his clotted wound kept him awake.
• The pressure eventually burst through Li Yao’s wound, tearing it open and making him scream as pain and relief overwhelmed him.
• The Third Hokage, hidden in the interrogation room, tried the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique when Li Yao fainted, but the genjutsu invasion failed again.
• The Third Hokage decided to continue with other forms of torture, convinced that Li Yao’s mind would eventually crumble.

Over six months, the Third Hokage subjected Li Yao to escalating torture, but Li Yao’s mind resisted and even reflected the Hokage’s genjutsu. When Ran said Li Yao had entered a vegetative state, the Third Hokage summoned Inoichi Yamanaka to investigate his memories.

• The Third Hokage tormented Li Yao with pain, unbearable itching, and terrifying creatures over half a year, leaving his body severely aged and dependent on nutrient solution.
• Baku reported that Li Yao had been unconscious for ten days, so the Third Hokage hurried to the interrogation room and ordered everyone else to stay out.
• The Third Hokage cast the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique on Li Yao, but the genjutsu rebounded and trapped him in darkness until he dispelled it.
• The Third Hokage decided to stop physical torture because Li Yao’s body was close to collapse, then called Ran in to explain his condition.
• Ran said Li Yao had entered a vegetative state and his mental will had withdrawn into dormancy, prompting the Third Hokage to summon Inoichi Yamanaka to search his memories.

Inoichi Yamanaka examined Kimura Yao’s memories but found no explanation for how Li Yao’s soul had fused with his Chakra. The Third Hokage kept Li Yao alive to study his tailed-beast-like Chakra state and began considering how to use Root against the Uchiha Clan.

• Inoichi Yamanaka read Kimura Yao’s memories and saw that Li Yao’s consciousness appeared after Kimura Yao learned of his parents’ deaths.
• Inoichi Yamanaka reported that Kimura Yao had read his father’s notes on the Perfect Transformation Jutsu, but had performed no special ninjutsu.
• The Third Hokage realized the brain memories revealed nothing about Li Yao’s soul possession and that Li Yao’s Chakra remained impossible to invade.
• After Inoichi Yamanaka left, the Third Hokage confirmed Li Yao was insensate and considered whether to kill him or keep him for study.
• The Third Hokage decided Li Yao’s unusual Chakra might help him develop a technique to counter the Uchiha Clan and resolved to make use of Root.

After prolonged torture by the Third Hokage, Li Yao’s consciousness fused with his Chakra and became a Chakra energy lifeform, freeing him from physical pain but leaving him dependent on his body to survive. He discovered that the sealing formula still blocked his Chakra and began searching for a way to remove it without alerting the Third Hokage or the Anbu.

• Li Yao sensed five Humanoid Flames around his body and recognized the departing, exceptionally powerful one as the Third Hokage.
• Ran examined Li Yao’s injuries and connected his body to a nutrient IV, showing Li Yao that they intended to keep him alive.
• Li Yao realized his Chakra form remained linked to his physical body and resolved to survive so he could take revenge on the Third Hokage.
• Li Yao found that he could still sense bodily and spiritual energy and condense Chakra, but the sealing formula immediately locked away any new Chakra.
• Li Yao sensed that the formula’s Chakra differed from his own and the Anbu’s, giving him ideas for removing the seal unnoticed.

Li Yao realized that the sealing formula's Chakra had its own nature and began trying to imitate it to escape the restraint. Meanwhile, the Third Hokage agreed to establish Danzo's Root organization as an Anbu unit without formal autonomy.

• Li Yao sensed that the sealing formula's Chakra had a distinct nature that locked his own Chakra in place.
• Li Yao concluded that ninjutsu and sealing formulas used specialized Chakra natures, and that his perception gave him an advantage in identifying them.
• Li Yao began gradually altering his Chakra to resemble the Chakra in the sealing formula, hoping to break free of its restraint.
• The Third Hokage dismissed Chiba Emi and told Danzo that he would approve Root only as a special unit under Anbu, without autonomy.
• Danzo accepted the conditions, believing he would still command Root because the Third Hokage would not trust anyone else while the Uchiha existed.

Danzo secured the Third Hokage’s approval to establish Root, though he had to remove Orochimaru from its initial roster. After Root was founded, the Third Hokage asked about equipment from the old Wood Release Revival Project, and the chapter recounted how Konoha’s leaders had secretly started that research.

• The Third Hokage limited Root to eight members and assigned two deputies to monitor Danzo, while reminding him that Root should help ease restrictions on the Uchiha Clan’s mission access.
• Danzo submitted his prepared roster, but the Third Hokage objected to Orochimaru’s inclusion because he intended Orochimaru to become the Fourth Hokage.
• Danzo crossed out Orochimaru and added another name, then the Third Hokage signed and stamped Root’s establishment application.
• As Danzo prepared to leave, the Third Hokage asked whether the Wood Release Revival Project’s research equipment remained intact, and Danzo eagerly asked if the project would restart.
• The Third Hokage denied plans to restart the project, and the narration explained that Konoha’s leaders had secretly launched it after the First Hokage’s death, amid wartime losses and concern over the Uchiha Clan’s rising strength.

The Third Hokage questioned Danzo about the old Wood Release research base, then gave up trying to awaken Li Yao and ordered him transferred to Root. Li Yao secretly gained the ability to replicate the sealing chakra restraining him and resolved to wait for a chance to escape Konoha.

• The Third Hokage recalled how the Wood Release Revival Project had killed many Senju and asked Danzo whether the research equipment at the abandoned base still worked.
• Danzo confirmed the equipment was usable, but the Third Hokage refused to explain why he was asking and sent him away.
• After another failed attempt to break through Li Yao's genjutsu immunity, the Third Hokage ordered him sent to Root and returned Baku's team to Anbu duty.
• As the Explosion Squad moved Li Yao, he prepared to retaliate if necessary while keeping his ability to remove his seal secret.
• Li Yao realized that merging his soul with Chakra gave him precise control over chakra transformations and the ability to learn ninjutsu by sensing their chakra.

Li Yao reasoned that his control and sensing of Chakra would let him learn nearly every ninjutsu, and he found a way to remove the seal holding him. Root replaced it with an Eight Trigrams Seal and stored him in an experimental pod, where nutrient fluid began restoring his physical vitality.

• Li Yao learned to replicate the sealing Chakra on his body, but worried that growing Chakra reserves would alert the ANBU.
• Root's squad took Li Yao from the Blast Squad despite Blast's warning that the seal must not be removed, and Blast reported the transfer to Baku.
• Root removed Li Yao's existing seal, and Li Yao dispersed his copied sealing Chakra to conceal his ability to manipulate seals.
• Root placed an Eight Trigrams Seal on Li Yao, which could absorb Chakra to maintain itself, so Li Yao stopped trying to copy it.
• Root placed Li Yao in Glass Experimental Pod Number Eight, where nutrient fluid containing vital Chakra began restoring his body.

Uchiha Keisuke returned from an S-rank mission in Kumogakure but was caught in a prepared ambush after crossing into the Land of Fire. Trapped in a mist-filled pit with his Sharingan's vision suppressed, he planned to use wire-attached kunai to escape into open terrain.

• Uchiha Keisuke crossed the Land of Fire border and relaxed, believing the patrols would protect him from pursuit.
• Uchiha Keisuke fell into a concealed pit and used his Sharingan to spot explosive tags on twelve incoming kunai.
• Uchiha Keisuke used Water Style: Water Shockwave to repel the kunai, but their explosions filled the pit with mist.
• Uchiha Keisuke recognized the ambushers' plan and prepared to use wire-attached kunai to gain a foothold and escape the trap.

Danzo killed Uchiha Keisuke with a trap tailored to exploit his combat abilities, then took his Sharingan and erased the evidence. The border patrol blamed Kumogakure, while the Third Hokage told the Uchiha Clan that Keisuke had died on a mission; Danzo secretly returned to Konoha.

• Danzo’s trap amplified a Lightning Release attack with iron filings, striking Uchiha Keisuke and leaving him unable to fight.
• Danzo removed Keisuke’s three-tomoe Sharingan and ordered his Root team to destroy the body and conceal the evidence.
• Border patrol ninjas found ashes and traces of a cleaned-up battlefield, then pursued the killer toward the Land of Lightning.
• The patrol team concluded that the killer had gone to Kumogakure and sent a report to Konoha.
• Five days later, the Third Hokage told the Uchiha Clan that Keisuke had died after failing a mission.
• Two days afterward, Danzo and his Root team returned to Konoha unnoticed.

Danzo urgently sought more Sharingan to preserve Kagami’s Mangekyō Sharingan, which was being damaged by his body’s rejection. He ordered Sarutobi Hibiki to speed up plans to assassinate Uchiha Luffy and Uchiha Ace, but Hibiki insisted that more intelligence was needed first.

• Danzo stored Uchiha Keisuke’s Three-Tomoe Sharingan in a nutrient chamber and dismissed the test subject waiting in Lab Two.
• Danzo considered how to obtain more Sharingan before Kagami’s Mangekyō Sharingan was ruined by bodily rejection.
• Sarutobi Hibiki named Uchiha Luffy and Uchiha Ace as the next targets and explained that the brothers were close and both wielded Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
• Danzo decided the brothers had to be assassinated simultaneously and demanded that intelligence gathering take no more than two missions.
• Sarutobi Hibiki refused, warning that insufficient intelligence could cause the assassination to fail and alert the Uchiha Clan.

After three months without interference in Root’s Lab Two, Li Yao began testing a way to generate chakra without detection by storing it in Chakra Acupoints unaffected by the Eight Trigrams Seal. His first test worked, but he realized the largest acupoint he was using corresponded to the Gate of Death.

• Danzo demanded that he act against the Uchiha after three intelligence-gathering missions, but Sarutobi Hibiki insisted that the Hokage’s order required five.
• Danzo accepted the delay and went to Lab One to research the Sharingan, forgetting about Li Yao.
• After three months in the nutrient pod, Li Yao decided to risk secretly building strength by gathering his body’s physical and spiritual energy into Chakra Acupoints.
• Li Yao successfully condensed chakra in the acupoint near his heart and found that the Eight Trigrams Seal did not restrict the chakra stored there.
• Li Yao identified eight unusually large Chakra Acupoints and realized the one he was using was located at the Gate of Death.

Li Yao spent months trying to find a way to release chakra trapped inside his acupoints, while Kushina Uzumaki arrived at the Ninja Academy and caught Minato Namikaze’s attention. After learning Konoha had a new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Ōnoki arranged with Kumogakure and Kirigakure to destroy the Uzumaki Clan.

• Li Yao discovered that chakra could not escape his acupoints and resolved to study how to open them.
• Over the following months, Li Yao practiced moving chakra through his acupoints and examined the force sealing them.
• Kushina Uzumaki entered Minato Namikaze’s class, and Minato began watching over her when she was bullied.
• Ōnoki learned that Kushina could become Konoha’s next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and worried she might grow as powerful as Mito Uzumaki.
• Ōnoki contacted Kumogakure and Kirigakure, and the villages began planning to exterminate the Uzumaki Clan.

Li Yao developed Acupoint Chakra, allowing him to draw controlled amounts of chakra from his acupoints and vastly increase his reserves. Still trapped in the Root Base, he decided to learn the Dark Walking Technique as a first step toward escaping.

• In Spring of Year 35 of Konoha, Li Yao successfully condensed Acupoint Chakra after a year and a half of research.
• Li Yao used Acupoint Chakra to open and close passages in his acupoints, controlling how much chakra flowed out without risking a destructive surge.
• Li Yao realized that his acupoints could store chakra like individual Yin Seals, potentially giving him reserves a thousand times greater than a single dantian could hold.
• Li Yao concluded that he needed to gain strength before attempting to escape the underground research base, but saw little chance of quickly improving his ninjutsu.
• Li Yao remembered the Third Hokage's Dark Walking Technique and began reconstructing its chakra transformations so he could learn the genjutsu.

The Third Hokage and Danzo discussed halting the Uchiha hunt because of military activity at Konoha’s borders, the Nine-Tails succession, and Root’s role in the response. The Third Hokage then reminded Danzo to investigate Li Yao and ordered him killed if he found nothing useful within a year.

• Danzo demanded to know why the plan to hunt the Uchiha Clan had been stopped, and the Third Hokage explained that other nations were mobilizing along their borders.
• Danzo questioned whether Kushina could become the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and proposed restarting the Wood Release Restoration Plan, but the Third Hokage said Lady Mito could hold on for ten more years.
• The Third Hokage assigned two Root squads to border intelligence gathering and reassured Danzo that he would not disband Root.
• The Third Hokage asked Danzo about his research on Li Yao, and Danzo admitted he had forgotten about the boy.
• The Third Hokage gave Danzo one year to find useful results from researching Li Yao, then ordered him to kill the boy if he failed.

Danzo reviewed the records of Li Yao’s resistance to illusions, then tested the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique on him. Li Yao replicated its Chakra instantly, and Danzo left with a sample of his flesh for study.

• Danzo read Hiruzen’s records about Li Yao’s resistance to the Mind Disturbance Body Technique and the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, and decided the boy remained a serious threat.
• Danzo entered Lab Two, where he saw Li Yao’s rapidly aged body floating in a nutrient chamber and concluded that it would soon collapse.
• Danzo cast the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, and Li Yao sensed its Chakra structure and replicated it in his own acupoint.
• Danzo drained the chamber, moved Li Yao to an operating table, cut his thigh, and removed a piece of flesh.
• Danzo treated Li Yao’s wound and left Lab Two carrying the flesh sample in a test tube.