Chapter Summaries

Li Yao fled Konoha and assessed the lasting damage and new abilities caused by opening nearly all his Acupoint Spaces. He continued toward Kaguya Otsutsuki’s direction, intent on surviving long enough to grow stronger and take revenge.

• Li Yao found no Konoha pursuers nearby and set out to find a town for food and clothes.
• Li Yao practiced leaping between trees, gradually relying less on his Black Iron Chains to correct his movements.
• Li Yao discovered that all his Acupoint Spaces except the Gate of Death had been destroyed, permanently limiting his Chakra reserves.
• Li Yao realized the destruction had also enhanced his mental and physical attributes, making his Black Iron Chain control much faster and expanding his Chakra sensing range to five kilometers.
• Li Yao decided that his new abilities would help him survive the pursuit, and vowed to repay Konoha for what he had endured.

Li Yao infiltrated a noble estate to replenish his Chakra by using Mito Uzumaki's Adamantine Sealing Technique on its guards. After draining two ninja and testing the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique on a Chakra-depleted Konoha Ninja, he learned where the kitchen was.

• Li Yao spotted a wealthy estate guarded by two ninja and decided to drain their Chakra.
• Li Yao and his Shadow Clone restrained both guards with Golden Chakra Chains and devoured their Chakra, purifying it into energy he could control.
• Li Yao found that his Chakra reserves had nearly reached the level of an Anbu Jonin after draining the guards.
• Li Yao used the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique on a Chakra-depleted Konoha Ninja and discovered it could control the ninja's thoughts.
• Li Yao asked where the kitchen was, and the Konoha Ninja pointed him toward a room in the rear courtyard.

Li Yao looted and burned the bodies of the Konoha ninjas who had pursued him, then planned to leave the Land of Fire while keeping his abilities hidden. In Konoha, Minato gained the Third Hokage’s permission to search for the abducted Kushina and set out to find her.

• Li Yao ate oden, looted a Konoha ninja’s gear, and found a pouch of twelve Soldier Pills.
• Li Yao tested the fire-nature Chakra he had copied from the Third Hokage, burned both Konoha ninjas’ bodies to ashes, and resolved to keep his abilities concealed.
• The Third Hokage learned that Kushina had been abducted and three Kumogakure delegates had disappeared, but he sent only one Anbu squad to search because he feared trouble from the Uchiha.
• Minato asked the Third Hokage for permission to search for Kushina, arguing that he could recognize signs she might have left behind.
• The Third Hokage approved Minato’s request but ordered him to end the mission if Kushina’s abductors crossed the Land of Fire’s border, and Minato immediately left.

The Third Hokage learned that his nephews Sarutobi Tobirama and Sarutobi Hashirama had been killed and blamed Li Yao. He summoned Tenchu and his wife, vowing to stop hiding Li Yao’s abilities and use the shinobi world’s greed to bring him down.

• Chiba Emi delivered a red emergency report that rogue shinobi had massacred a noble family in the Land of Wa and two Konoha Ninja had died there.
• The Third Hokage recognized the charred forehead protectors as belonging to Sarutobi Tobirama and Sarutobi Hashirama, his nephews.
• Chiba Emi comforted the grieving Third Hokage as he examined a map and concluded Li Yao had killed his nephews.
• The Third Hokage ordered Chiba Emi to summon Tenchu and his wife so he could send people after Li Yao.
• The Third Hokage vowed to stop coveting Li Yao’s secrets and planned to spread word of his techniques so other shinobi would hunt him.

Li Yao used a Shadow Clone to lure a Konoha patrol squad into an ambush and defeated its three members with the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique and Black Iron Chains. After restraining the squad, he began absorbing their Chakra, leaving their fate in his hands.

• Li Yao sensed three Konoha ninjas pursuing him and sent a Shadow Clone to confront them while his real body continued onward.
• The patrol squad, led by a captain with long black hair, approached Li Yao and prepared to capture him.
• Li Yao saw through the squad's Clone Technique, dispelled their clones, and blinded their real bodies with the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.
• Li Yao bound all three ninjas with Black Iron Chains, sealing their Chakra and capturing them.
• Li Yao pierced the captives with Adamantine Sealing Technique chains and absorbed their Chakra into his Dantian and Gate of Death Acupoint Space.

Li Yao captured a Konoha ninja whose Chakra carried traces of the Third Hokage’s, and pressed her to explain their connection. After deciding she was not related to the Third Hokage in the way he hoped, he prepared to kill her.

• Li Yao sensed the Third Hokage’s Chakra in the beautiful ninja and demanded to know who she was.
• Li Yao drained her Chakra and dispelled his techniques, revealing that her two teammates had been killed.
• The beautiful ninja resisted Li Yao’s genjutsu with her willpower, prompting him to consider developing a technique like Kotoamatsukami.
• Li Yao questioned her about the Third Hokage, and she insisted she had nothing to do with him while expressing hatred toward him.
• Li Yao concluded her connection was not the one he had expected and said he would kill her.

Li Yao learned that Mina Sarutobi was the Third Hokage’s daughter and heard why she sought revenge on him. He considered using her to torment the Third Hokage but decided he could not let her go because she might expose his abilities.

• Mina Sarutobi revealed that she was the Third Hokage’s biological daughter, and Li Yao bit her and savored her scent.
• Mina told Li Yao that the Third Hokage had killed her mother and that she wanted revenge.
• Li Yao considered how to use Mina and the women of the Sarutobi Clan to make the Third Hokage suffer.
• Li Yao decided not to release Mina, fearing she could reveal his Bringer-of-Darkness Technique and his ability to copy and condense others’ ninjutsu Chakra.

Li Yao sealed Mina Sarutobi’s head in a scroll, while the Third Hokage learned of her death and intensified the hunt for him. When Sarutobi Tenchu’s squad caught up with Li Yao in a town, he used a family as hostages, and Ayase Sarutobi sent ink-drawn birds to intervene.

• Li Yao used a Sealing Scroll to seal Mina Sarutobi’s head and carried it away before destroying the evidence.
• Sarutobi Tenchu’s Anbu squad found the scorched site, identified Mina Sarutobi’s forehead protector, and followed Li Yao east using Ayase Sarutobi’s ink-drawn birds to track him.
• The Third Hokage learned Mina Sarutobi was dead and arranged to spread word of Li Yao’s Immortality Technique through the underground bounty exchange.
• Sarutobi Tenchu’s squad found Li Yao in a small town, where he bound four civilians to his Black Iron Chains as hostages.
• Li Yao flung the civilians toward the squad, and Ayase Sarutobi sent ink-drawn birds to rescue one hostage and attack him.

Li Yao’s Shadow Clone fought Sarutobi Tenchu’s team, but Ayase Sarutobi’s ink technique trapped and crushed it. The team searched the town for Li Yao, found no trace of him, and set out to locate where he had separated from the clone.

• Li Yao’s Shadow Clone defended itself from the team’s attacks with Black Iron Chains, then was caught when Ayase Sarutobi’s sticky ink seeped through its defenses.
• Li Yao’s apparent defeat proved to be the destruction of a Shadow Clone, leaving the team to realize that their tracking efforts had failed to find his real body.
• Sarutobi Tenchu assigned Ayase Sarutobi, Hyuga Shika, and Echizen Ryoma to search the area, check the town, and examine witnesses’ memories.
• After finding no trace of Li Yao, Sarutobi Tenchu ordered the team to retrace the route and search for where Li Yao had separated from the Shadow Clone.

Li Yao recovered from the memories of a Shadow Clone killed by Konoha’s pursuit squad and decided to remain in the Land of Fire while using other clones to learn more about his pursuers. A day later, Sarutobi Tenchu’s squad tracked his trail to the river and found signs that he had headed north.

• Li Yao woke in a waterfall cave after receiving the dead eastern Shadow Clone’s memories, while his northern and western clones remained active.
• Li Yao reasoned that Konoha might be stretched thin by the Second Shinobi World War and chose to stay in the Land of Fire to pursue the female ninja’s Super Beast Imitation Drawing Chakra.
• Li Yao concluded that Shadow Clones would let him probe the pursuit squad’s abilities without risking his real body, and planned to keep his Adamantine Sealing Technique and Bringer-of-Darkness Technique hidden.
• A day later, Sarutobi Tenchu’s squad reached the river where Li Yao had created a Shadow Clone and searched the surrounding area.
• Ayase Sarutobi reported finding Black Chakra Chain marks about one kilometer north, and the squad concluded that Li Yao had headed that way.

Sarutobi Tenchu’s team debated whether to pursue Li Yao’s northbound or southbound trail and whether to split up, weighing the risk of his unknown abilities. Tenchu ordered the team to divide and track Li Yao from a distance without engaging him.

• Hyuga Shika found Black Chakra Chains marks pointing south, so Sarutobi Tenchu realized Li Yao had left trails in both opposite directions and might have created Shadow Clones.
• Ayase Sarutobi and Hyuga Shika searched ten kilometers farther but found no additional traces.
• Echizen Ryoma suggested splitting up, and Sarutobi Tenchu considered his father’s warnings about Li Yao’s abilities and the dangers of facing him in smaller groups.
• Sarutobi Tenchu chose to split the team, sending himself and Ayase north and Hyuga Shika and Ryoma south.
• Sarutobi Tenchu told the two teams to follow Li Yao from afar and avoid engaging him.

Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi found Li Yao waiting in a valley and concluded he was the original body, while Echizen Ryoma and Hyuga Shika had found a Shadow Clone. When both Li Yao sightings remained the next morning, Sarutobi Tenchu ordered tests on both, unsure which was real.

• Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi watched Li Yao sitting in a valley and waited past midnight, believing he was the original body because a Shadow Clone should not last so long.
• Echizen Ryoma and Hyuga Shika found another Li Yao in a village to the south.
• The next morning, Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi received a letter saying the Li Yao found by Echizen Ryoma and Hyuga Shika had not dispersed.
• Sarutobi Tenchu ordered Ayase Sarutobi to coordinate with the other team and sent a Shadow Clone to attack the Li Yao in the valley.

Li Yao's Shadow Clone fought Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi, revealing its improved reactions and using Lightning Style to counter their ink techniques. The clone eventually ran out of Chakra and dispersed, leaving Tenchu suspicious of Li Yao's unusually large reserves.

• Sarutobi Tenchu entered the Shadow Clone's sensing range, and Li Yao recognized him as a member of the squad that had killed his previous clone.
• Li Yao charged Tenchu, deflected his Vacuum Spheres with Black Iron Chains, and destroyed Ayase's ink birds by wrapping the chains in Lightning Style Chakra.
• Tenchu struck from behind with a short blade, but Li Yao blocked the blow with a chain and showed reaction speed that surprised him.
• Li Yao realized Ayase was attacking from beyond his sensing range as she sent another flock of ink birds while Tenchu continued firing Vacuum Spheres.
• After enduring their long-range attacks for over a minute, Li Yao's Shadow Clone ran out of Chakra and dispersed.
• Tenchu confirmed the opponent had been a Shadow Clone and grew wary because its Chakra reserves seemed far greater than the intelligence reports suggested.

Li Yao tried to create a flying mount from Black Iron Chains so he could escape Konoha's encirclement. After learning that a Black Iron Eagle could fly with rapid wingbeats, he devised a way to use Shadow Clones to control it while he fought.

• Li Yao concluded that the pursuit squad was unlikely to reveal more of its abilities and that he needed flight to escape safely across the border.
• Li Yao attempted to weave a small bird from Black Iron Chains, but it could only roll across the ground.
• Li Yao sent a Shadow Clone to catch a bird, and it returned with a Konoha Messenger Hawk whose chakra-activated message scroll burned before he could read it.
• Li Yao studied the eagle's flight and made a Black Iron Eagle, which briefly flew when he made it flap its wings twenty times per second before it crashed.
• Li Yao realized Shadow Clones could share control of the Black Iron Eagle's wings and movements, leaving him free to fight.

Li Yao refined his Black Iron Chains into a giant eagle that could fly under its own lift and carry him into the sky. At two thousand meters, he felt he had gained the freedom to leave whenever he wanted and a foothold in the world of Naruto.

• Li Yao realized his first Black Iron Giant Eagle was too bloated to fly well and reshaped it with a slender body and a fourteen-meter wingspan.
• Li Yao severed his control chains and found that the giant eagle could remain airborne by flapping its wings.
• Li Yao leaped onto the eagle, quickly stabilized it under his weight, and confirmed it could carry him.
• Li Yao flew to an altitude of two thousand meters and marveled at the view over the Land of Fire.
• Li Yao decided that flight had freed him from his cage and believed his Black Iron Giant Eagle could outfly Konoha's Ink Great Birds.

Li Yao tested how his Shadow Clone could coordinate with and control the Black Iron Giant Eagle, then concealed the clone inside its body so he could fight freely while flying. A chakra sensory barrier detected an A-rank fluctuation near Yellow-Green Forest, and Nara Sanjō suspected it came from the fugitive Sarutobi Tenchu was tracking.

• Li Yao created a Shadow Clone to control the Black Iron Giant Eagle while he tested his Black Iron Chains in flight.
• Li Yao hid the Shadow Clone inside the giant eagle, using their shared senses to direct its flight while keeping himself free to fight.
• Yamanaka Chōka detected an A-rank chakra fluctuation near Yellow-Green Forest and reported its location.
• Nara Sanjō connected the fluctuation to the fugitive Sarutobi Tenchu was tracking and ordered Yamanaka Chōka to notify Tenchu.

Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi diverted toward an A-rank disturbance in the Yellow-Green Forest, hoping it might lead them to Li Yao. Danzo returned to Konoha, found Lab Zero and the Root Base devastated, and confronted the furious Third Hokage over Li Yao’s escape.

• Yamanaka Chōka alerted Sarutobi Tenchu to an A-rank disturbance in the Yellow-Green Forest, and Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi headed there to investigate.
• Danzo returned to Konoha and entered the Root Base, where he found the laboratory wrecked and the First Hokage's Wood Release Cell Extract missing.
• Danzo discovered that the Devouring Seal Orb had been destroyed and concluded that the Sharingan in Lab One had deteriorated without its Chakra supply.
• The Third Hokage arrived, sent away the two Anbu ninjas, and confronted Danzo about Li Yao's escape.
• Danzo tried to blame the Third Hokage for the destruction and missing test subjects, then lowered his head when he realized how furious Hiruzen was.

The Third Hokage learned that Danzo had implanted the First Hokage’s Wood Release cells into Li Yao and concluded Li Yao had not fully fused with them yet. He ordered Dan Katō back to Konoha to help seal Li Yao, while assigning Danzo to resume the Uchiha Hunting Plan.

• The Third Hokage confronted Danzo, who admitted implanting the First Hokage’s Wood Style Cell Extract into Li Yao and letting him escape before the fusion was complete.
• The Third Hokage reasoned that Li Yao had not yet gained Wood Release and would become more dangerous as he fused with the cells.
• Danzo asked to bring Dan Katō into Root, but the Third Hokage refused and said he would handle Li Yao himself.
• After hearing how Li Yao escaped and learned the Spirit Transformation Technique, Danzo blamed the Third Hokage for withholding information and offered to pursue Li Yao.
• The Third Hokage ordered Danzo to restore Root and resume the Uchiha Hunting Plan, threatening to remove him as commander if he refused.
• The Third Hokage ordered Dan Katō to return to Konoha, planning to combine his Spirit Transformation Technique with the Reaper Death Seal to sense and seal Li Yao.

Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi discovered that Li Yao had developed a chakra giant eagle that let him fly, and decided to keep tracking him while reporting the new ability to Tenchu’s father. Li Yao mastered the eagle’s flight and returned to a waterfall cave to sleep under his shadow clone’s watch.

• Ayase Sarutobi spotted Li Yao practicing with a giant eagle made of chakra, and Sarutobi Tenchu concluded that he had developed a new flight ninjutsu.
• Ayase suggested sealing Li Yao immediately, but Sarutobi Tenchu rejected the idea and chose to report the intelligence and continue tracking him.
• After Li Yao descended, Ayase sent ten ink swallows toward his apparent resting place while she and Sarutobi Tenchu followed at a distance.
• Li Yao finished mastering the black iron giant eagle’s flight and returned to the waterfall cave with his shadow clone.
• Li Yao told his shadow clone to watch for chakra fluctuations, then entered a deep sleep to recover.

Li Yao captured an Ink Swallow to learn the Chakra principles behind Super Beast Imitation Drawing, then used Shadow Clones to test how Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi had tracked him. He concluded they had spotted him from the air and left a Shadow Clone at the waterfall cave while his true body escaped.

• Li Yao sensed Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi approaching with Ink Swallows and decided to investigate their tracking method.
• Li Yao trapped an Ink Swallow with Black Iron Chains and learned the Chakra principles of Super Beast Imitation Drawing, though he lacked the materials needed to create ink animals.
• Li Yao sent three Shadow Clones riding Black Iron Giant Eagles in different directions, and Sarutobi Tenchu chose to pursue the one heading south.
• After Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi flew more than five kilometers away, Li Yao concluded Ayase had spotted him from the air and vanished, leaving a Shadow Clone behind.