Chapter Summaries

Li Yao tested how the Konoha pursuers tracked him, then used his Shadow Clones and a change of course to confuse them while his original body slept in a Black Iron Giant Eagle. Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi guessed that the Li Yao flying north was the original body and turned to pursue him, leaving the other Li Yao behind.

• Li Yao Shadow Clone hid in the forest and confirmed that the Konoha Ninja tracked him by sight rather than Chakra sensing.
• Li Yao dispelled the Shadow Clone flying in the opposite direction, changed his original body's course, and went to sleep inside the Black Iron Giant Eagle while another Shadow Clone piloted it.
• Yamanaka Chōka reported the vanished eagle and the northbound change of course to Sarutobi Tenchu, who discussed the clues with Ayase Sarutobi.
• Ayase Sarutobi concluded that the northbound Li Yao was the original body, and Sarutobi Tenchu agreed to pursue him.
• Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi slowed down to mislead the Li Yao ahead, then Ayase turned their Ink Great Bird north.

Li Yao discovered that the Konoha squad had stopped pursuing his shadow clone and realized they had identified his real body. He confirmed that four Konoha Ninja were tailing him, while they learned that his Chakra sensing could detect traces too faint for even the Byakugan.

• After waking, Li Yao checked the shadow clone he had left behind and found no Konoha Ninja within its sensing range, so he flew back to investigate.
• Li Yao realized the squad had abandoned the clone and suspected they were following his real body, so he turned around to search for them.
• Ayase Sarutobi and Sarutobi Tenchu had reunited with Hyuga Shika and Echizen Ryoma and were tracking Li Yao from seven kilometers away.
• Li Yao sensed the squad's faint Chakra traces and identified the four Konoha Ninja, then turned away again.
• Hyuga Shika realized Li Yao could detect Chakra leaking into the air, and Sarutobi Tenchu ordered Ayase to send the intelligence to Konoha.
• The four continued following Li Yao while hoping Sarutobi Tenchu's father could devise a way to defeat and seal him.

Minato rescued the exhausted Kushina from the Kumogakure kidnappers and carried her back to Konoha. Meanwhile, Li Yao continued flying north on the Black Iron Giant Eagle with Konoha’s ninjas still pursuing him.

• Li Yao ate a Soldier Pill and relied on the eagle, his Water Release, and his Chakra recovery to keep flying without stopping.
• Kushina, exhausted after three days without sleep, continued leaving strands of red hair as clues while the Kumogakure ninjas led her toward the Land of Fire border.
• Minato approached the kidnappers and killed the three Kumogakure ninjas before they could react.
• Minato asked Kushina if she was hurt, then carried her back to Konoha beneath the moonlight.
• Li Yao flew north beneath the moonlight, feeling calm and somewhat lonely despite the Konoha pursuit.

Li Yao flew toward Minato and Kushina, intending to kill them, while Minato tried to avoid him and protect the exhausted Kushina. When they recognized each other, Minato accused Li Yao of stealing Yao’s body, and Li Yao remembered the kindness he had once received from Minato.

• Li Yao sensed Minato and Kushina’s enormous Chakra and decided to attack them to weaken Konoha.
• Minato sensed the approaching flyer, changed course to avoid a possible enemy, and woke Kushina when the pursuer followed.
• Minato and Kushina stopped to face the approaching stranger, and Kushina stood beside Minato despite her exhaustion.
• Minato recognized Li Yao’s Chakra and shouted that he had stolen Yao’s body.
• Li Yao recognized Minato’s familiar voice and recalled their shared lunch, while admitting to himself that he was not Kimura Yao.

Li Yao confronted Minato and chose to fight him directly, despite recognizing Minato’s reasons for reporting him. Their battle began with Minato testing Li Yao’s abilities, and Li Yao ended the chapter adjusting his tactics after seeing Minato’s superior reflexes.

• Li Yao reflected that he understood Minato’s actions but still intended to kill him as an enemy.
• Li Yao leaped from the Black Iron Giant Eagle and equipped his Black Iron Feather Cloak to face Minato.
• Minato created two Shadow Clones and coordinated shuriken and kunai attacks to strike Li Yao as he landed.
• Li Yao used Black Iron Chains to evade Minato’s attacks, destroy one Shadow Clone, and launch an underground ambush.
• Minato sensed and dodged Li Yao’s chains, revealing that his reflexes and movement outmatched Li Yao’s chain control.
• Li Yao withdrew the chains and changed his stance, suspecting Minato had been using the exchange to test him.

Li Yao pressed Minato with his Black Iron Chains, believing he could kill him by getting close, while Minato searched for an opening in Li Yao’s defenses. Minato’s sudden Body Flicker strike reached Li Yao’s eye, but the chapter ended as the kunai struck the membrane over his pupil.

• Minato fired two powerful Wind Release: Wind Bullets, which Li Yao blocked with his Black Iron Chains.
• Kushina warned Minato that Li Yao’s chains were the Uzumaki Clan’s Adamantine Sealing Technique and could seal Chakra on contact.
• Li Yao charged Minato at high speed, but Minato used Shadow Clones and the Body Flicker Technique to keep his distance and evade the chains.
• Li Yao adapted by using his chains to propel himself and nearly seized Minato at close range.
• Minato used an exceptionally fast Body Flicker to attack Li Yao’s exposed eye, and his kunai touched the membrane over Li Yao’s pupil.

Li Yao and Minato broke off their close-range fight, but Li Yao trapped Minato, Kushina, and Minato’s Shadow Clones inside a massive Black Iron Chain bird cage. As the cage began to contract, Minato searched for a way to save them.

• Li Yao blocked Minato’s kunai with a Black Iron Chain emerging from his right eye, and Minato created a Shadow Clone before fleeing toward Kushina.
• Li Yao launched himself into the air on the Black Iron Giant Eagle, choosing to escape the fight rather than pursue Minato on the ground.
• Sarutobi Tenchu and his group raced toward Minato and Kushina after Hyuga Shika spotted them with his Byakugan.
• Li Yao spread countless Black Iron Chains across a five-hundred-meter area, forming a bird cage around Minato, Kushina, and two Shadow Clones.
• Minato’s Shadow Clones and Kushina failed to damage the cage, while Li Yao made part of it intangible and began contracting it inward.

Li Yao trapped Minato and Kushina in a Black Iron Chain birdcage, but Sarutobi Tenchu’s attack interrupted its contraction and revealed to Li Yao that Tenchu was the Third Hokage’s son. As the cage closed again, Kushina unleashed her Adamantine Sealing Technique to free them, and Li Yao escaped, promising Minato would regret this.

• Li Yao’s Black Iron Chain birdcage trapped Minato and Kushina and began contracting while Sarutobi Tenchu’s team rushed to reach them.
• Sarutobi Tenchu fired a powerful Vacuum Sphere that struck Li Yao and interrupted his control of the birdcage.
• Li Yao recovered with Wood Release Chakra and recognized a familiar Chakra fluctuation in Tenchu, concluding that he was the Third Hokage’s son.
• Li Yao sped up the birdcage’s contraction, leaving Tenchu unable to reach him in time as Minato shielded Kushina inside the crushing cage.
• Kushina released Golden Chakra Chains that pulled the birdcage open and prevented Li Yao from killing Minato and her.
• Li Yao recalled his chains, flew away on the Black Iron Giant Eagle, and told Minato he would regret this.

Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase lost Li Yao’s trail at sea, while Li Yao found a remote island in the Sea of War and made it his temporary base. He continued wondering about the Third Hokage’s Chakra in his children and discovered new possibilities for strengthening his elemental releases.

• Sarutobi Tenchu sent Shika and Echizen Ryoma back to Konoha while he and Ayase continued searching for Li Yao at sea.
• Li Yao flew north across the Sea of War and remained puzzled that Mina Sarutobi and a male Anbu ninja carried traces of the Third Hokage’s Chakra.
• Li Yao chose the isolated, snake-infested Viper Island as a hideout and burned away its vegetation with Fire Release.
• Li Yao used Water Release to draw in water vapor and control some seawater, then reasoned that corresponding natural materials could strengthen elemental Chakra.
• Li Yao built a wooden house with Wood Release and ate roast chicken from a Sealing Scroll, settling in to rest and study ninjutsu.

Li Yao studied Explosive Tags and Sealing Scrolls, discovering how their patterns transformed Chakra into ninjutsu and how he could copy the resulting Chakra. He ended the chapter wondering whether storage-sealing Chakra also needed a medium.

• Li Yao woke after sleeping without leaving a Shadow Clone on watch, then laid out his supplies and examined an Explosive Tag.
• Li Yao deduced that the tag's patterns transformed Fire Release Chakra into explosive ninjutsu, and he detonated one to test his theory.
• Li Yao concluded that Explosive Tags and storage Sealing Scrolls used similar Chakra transformations, and he reconsidered how his Black Iron Chains and Adamantine Sealing Technique worked.
• Li Yao wore his Black Iron Feather Cloak and detonated a tag at close range, then copied and condensed the Fire Release ninjutsu Chakra it produced.
• Li Yao found that the copied Chakra did not explode on its own and wondered whether storage-sealing Chakra also required a medium.

Li Yao learned to create Storage Space Chakra from a Sealing Scroll and discovered it could store and release objects, but it collapsed when it encountered Chakra. He began experimenting with combining it with Acupoint Chakra and Adamantine Sealing Technique Chakra to create a more powerful space-devouring ability.

• Li Yao activated a storage Sealing Scroll, sensed its Chakra, and condensed the black liquid he named Storage Space Chakra.
• Li Yao used the black liquid to absorb part of a rock, move it, and release it elsewhere.
• Li Yao tested the black liquid against a Shadow Clone’s fireball and found that it scattered when it struck ninjutsu containing Chakra.
• Li Yao concluded that the space within Storage Space Chakra was unstable and considered using Acupoint Chakra to stabilize it.
• Li Yao began fusing Storage Space Chakra, Acupoint Chakra, and Adamantine Sealing Technique Chakra, but made no breakthrough after three hours.

Dan Katō agreed to learn the Reaper Death Seal to kill Li Yao, while the Third Raikage subdued the Eight-Tails and worried that Kumogakure might fall behind Iwagakure in developing a reliable tailed-beast seal.

• Dan Katō reaffirmed his willingness to sacrifice himself for Konoha, and the Third Hokage gave him the Reaper Death Seal scroll.
• The Third Raikage fought the rampaging Eight-Tails for three days and three nights, then knocked it unconscious before its Tailed Beast Bomb could form.
• The Sealing Squad stabilized Fuka and reinforced his seal, and the Third Raikage returned to the village with them.
• The Sealing Squad captain explained that a flaw in Fuka's modified sealing technique had let the Eight-Tails overpower his consciousness.
• The Third Raikage dismissed the captain and worried that Iwagakure might master tailed-beast sealing before Kumogakure.

The Third Raikage identified Li Yao as the user of powerful black chakra chains and decided to lead a capture mission himself. Madara Uchiha learned that Li Yao possessed Wood Release and ordered White Zetsu to keep him alive as a possible backup vessel for the Rinnegan.

• The Third Raikage connected Li Yao's black chakra abilities to the ninja who had fought Mito Uzumaki and decided to personally lead Kumogakure's effort to capture him.
• Madara Uchiha awoke in a cave in the Land of Grass as White Zetsu reported Li Yao's escape from Konoha and the intelligence surrounding him.
• White Zetsu explained that he had sensed Li Yao using Wood Release to heal himself but had lost track of him after he went out to sea.
• Madara concluded that Li Yao's Wood Release came from experiments with Hashirama's cells and recognized his hatred of Konoha as a useful trait.
• Madara ordered White Zetsu to find Li Yao and keep him alive as an alternate vessel for the Rinnegan if anything happened to Nagato Uzumaki.

Li Yao studied whether Storage Space Chakra could be transformed into space-manipulating chakra while training his body on Viper Island. He remained unable to identify the space-resonating fluctuation, but his body kept growing stronger and he began to suspect his storage space also involved time.

• Li Yao studied the nature-transformation fluctuations of Storage Space Chakra and sought a chakra fluctuation that could resonate with space.
• After three days of research, Li Yao still could not identify the fluctuation he needed to develop Space Chakra.
• A Li Yao Shadow Clone trained underwater by running around the island, while another clone studied Storage Space Chakra.
• Li Yao felt that his strength and speed had increased through training and believed Wood Release Chakra was guiding his cells toward a powerful Sage Body.
• Li Yao dispelled his Shadow Clones, retrieved a hot roast chicken from Storage Space Chakra, and wondered whether the black-water space involved the power of time.

Li Yao prepared to leave Viper Island for supplies after deciding to train there for four years, and secured a chakra link to the island so he could find his way back. Near the Land of Lightning, the Third Raikage’s team located Li Yao and prepared to pursue him.

• Li Yao had his Shadow Clones inscribe a Devouring Seal Array on his body, but it failed to activate, convincing him he needed to study sealing jutsu.
• Li Yao decided to train on Viper Island for four years before hunting ninja with powerful Kekkei Genkai and confronting Konoha.
• Li Yao buried a Sealing Scroll containing his chakra beneath Viper Island and confirmed that its connection could guide him back.
• Li Yao flew away from the island on his Black Iron Giant Eagle to search for food.
• Near the Land of Lightning, a Kumogakure shinobi used a black seabird and Shared Sensory Vision to find Li Yao, and the Third Raikage vowed to capture him.

The Third Raikage learned that Li Yao was hiding on Viper Island in the Sea of Storms and set out to capture him, while Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi headed to investigate the same dangerous sea. Three days later, Li Yao infiltrated a wealthy man’s building in the Land of Earth and began testing his genjutsu Chakra on two hired ninja.

• A Daruma Family scout told the Third Raikage that Li Yao was on an island in the Sea of Storms, and the Raikage traveled toward it on the giant eagle Peda with four companions.
• Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi concluded that Li Yao might be hiding in the Sea of Storms and flew there on the Ink Great Bird to search from above.
• Three days later, Li Yao used Chakra sensing to identify a wealthy man’s building in a small city on the eastern border of the Land of Earth as his target.
• Li Yao entered the building, used genjutsu Chakra to conceal himself from its occupants, and sealed and restrained the two ninja guarding the wealthy man.
• Li Yao subjected the two wandering ninja to the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique and studied how its Chakra interacted with theirs.

Li Yao discovered that the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique physically severed sensory signals near the eyes, then adapted its method to block signals reaching the brain. After two rogue ninjas broke free by violently releasing Chakra and became brain-dead, Li Yao named his lethal variation the Genjutsu: Perception Deprivation Technique.

• Li Yao determined that the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique severed the neural pathways carrying visual signals from the eyes to the brain rather than merely altering perception.
• Li Yao withdrew his Black Iron Chains and tested whether the two rogue ninjas could escape the technique by disrupting their Chakra.
• Li Yao used Bringer-of-Darkness Chakra to cut off sensory signals reaching the ninjas' brains, leaving them motionless and unresponsive.
• The ninjas broke through the Chakra blockade with an instinctive burst, but the strain left them brain-dead.
• Li Yao concluded the technique could serve as a lethal trump card and named his brain-targeting variation the Genjutsu: Perception Deprivation Technique.

Li Yao prepared to test his new Perception Stripping Technique when Iwagakure jonin Kaitō and her three students approached the building. He disabled Kaitō’s senses, leaving her conscious but unable to perceive the world.

• Li Yao explained that disrupting Chakra flow could not dispel the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, then killed the two rogue ninjas and the people on the bed.
• Li Yao waited for the chefs in the building to prepare food and sensed a ninja squad approaching.
• Kaitō detected the smell of blood, sent an Earth Clone to investigate, and ordered her three genin students to prepare for battle.
• Li Yao attacked Kaitō’s squad, and Kaitō recognized him and ordered her students to flee, but they stayed to help her.
• Li Yao used the Perception Stripping Technique on Kaitō, cutting off her physical senses while leaving her conscious.

Li Yao captured the Earth Release ninja Kaitō and decided to study Genjutsu while using her as a captive. After collecting the chefs’ prepared meals, he destroyed the tycoon’s building and left the island, embracing his desire to act without moral restraints.

• Li Yao trapped Kaitō with Genjutsu, killed her three students, and bound her after she collapsed.
• Li Yao realized his body had matured prematurely and reflected on his growing physical desires and hatred of the Third Hokage.
• Li Yao extracted Earth Release Chakra from Kaitō and resolved to study Genjutsu after considering the power of techniques like Kotoamatsukami and Izanagi.
• Li Yao took Kaitō to the tycoon’s building, restrained her Chakra, and planned to experiment on her and investigate Genjutsu.
• Li Yao collected the chefs’ stored meals, then destroyed the tycoon’s building with a massive fireball and flew away with Kaitō.

Li Yao escaped the Land of Earth after killing Kaitō and three young Iwagakure ninja, while Iwagakure began investigating the attack. As Li Yao flew onward, Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi spotted him and secretly followed at a distance.

• Li Yao flew away from the Land of Earth on the Black Iron Giant Eagle, planning to keep a low profile until his Chakra grew stronger.
• An Iwagakure squad found the bodies of three genin, including members of the Dotō and Mizuto Clans, and confirmed that their leader had been Kaitō, the Third Tsuchikage's youngest daughter.
• The Iwagakure squad suspected Kumogakure, but its captain considered Li Yao a possible culprit and sent two teammates to track the eagle-like bird.
• Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase Sarutobi gave up searching the Sea of Storms and later spotted Li Yao through the Ink Great Bird's eyes.
• Ayase Sarutobi changed their course and altitude so she and Sarutobi Tenchu could follow Li Yao from seven kilometers away without being detected.