Chapter Summaries

Ito Yoko met Genma and Kurenai in Konohagakure and proposed a swordsmanship exchange with Kurenai. The group headed to the training grounds to spar with wooden swords.

• Ito Yoko sensed Genma and Kurenai were skilled swordsmen and asked Kaiyuan Leng to introduce her to them.
• Kaiyuan Leng introduced Ito Yoko to Genma and Kurenai, and Kurenai and Ito Yoko exchanged polite greetings.
• Genma and Kaiyuan Leng teased each other while Kurenai and Ito Yoko spoke privately, then Ito Yoko said she wanted to spar with Kurenai.
• Genma suggested using wooden swords, and the group set off for the training grounds after he retrieved a scroll from his ninja tool pouch.

Kurenai defeated Ito Yoko in a wooden-sword match by using her self-developed Genjutsu technique, Obscure Moon Night. Afterward, Kurenai helped Ito Yoko up and invited her to talk, while Genma and Kaiyuan Leng wondered at their sudden change in relationship.

• Genma gave Kurenai and Ito Yoko wooden swords, and Kaiyuan Leng started their match.
• Kurenai and Ito Yoko traded sword strikes until Ito Yoko knocked Kurenai back and provoked her.
• Kurenai used Obscure Moon Night to ensnare Ito Yoko in Genjutsu, then appeared behind her and held a wooden sword to her neck.
• Ito Yoko accepted her defeat and said she would have died if they had been fighting on a battlefield.
• Kurenai helped Ito Yoko up and walked away with her to talk, leaving Genma and Kaiyuan Leng puzzled.

Genma took Ito Yoko on a date toward Tonika Village, but they stopped in Yechang Village after he discovered its residents were overcome with grief and unable to remember something important. Ito Yoko suggested she might leave Konohagakure soon, while Genma turned his attention to the village’s strange condition.

• Genma agreed to spend the day with Ito Yoko, and they headed for Tonika Village outside Konohagakure.
• Genma and Ito Yoko passed through Yechang Village, where he noticed its residents seemed vacant and unusually listless.
• Genma questioned a middle-aged man, who wept as he described forgetting something important and said his wife had been behaving as if they once prepared food for someone else.
• The villagers began crying around Genma, so he apologized to Ito Yoko and abandoned their date to investigate what was wrong.
• Ito Yoko teased Genma about asking Kurenai before meeting her again and said she might soon return home.

Genma realized the village’s mass memory loss and the snakes were likely connected to Orochimaru, then tried to escort Ito Yoko back to Konohagakure. When a snake swarm attacked, he sent her away with Shadow Clones while staying behind to fight.

• Ito Yoko told Genma that meeting him had awakened her desire to pledge herself to a man, and Genma urged her to leave the village with him.
• Genma suspected the villagers’ forgotten memories and the snakes were connected to Orochimaru, so he led Ito Yoko back toward Konohagakure.
• A swarm of snakes rushed at Genma and Ito Yoko, and Genma summoned four figures to help cut them down.
• Genma used Earth Release: Flying Gravel to slow the snakes and told his Shadow Clones to escort Ito Yoko away while he held them off.
• A white light flashed around Ito Yoko and the Shadow Clones, leaving Genma behind; Ito Yoko worried about whether he would return safely.

Genma and Ito Yoko returned safely to Genma’s home, where his mother Riya found Yoko waiting in his room. As Genma wondered who had been behind the snake attacks, two white-robed men arrived at the strange area and discussed whether to tell Orochimaru about the intruders.

• Ito Yoko realized she was in Genma’s room and grew flustered when she heard a woman approaching.
• Riya found Yoko in Genma’s room, but Genma appeared with two Shadow Clones before she could question her further.
• Genma introduced Ito Yoko to Riya as a guest from the Land of Iron and said they had encountered trouble on the road.
• Riya led Yoko to the living room, while Genma checked himself and considered the sinister presence and giant snakes they had encountered.
• Two white-robed men found the Snake Net Barrier breached, and one warned the other that reporting it to Orochimaru might cost them their lives.

After Genma reported the danger in Chang Village, Minato offered to teach him the Flying Thunder God Technique and asked him to apologize to Ito Yoko. Genma then met Kurenai, hid Minato’s offer, and invited her to watch the sunset at Hokage Rock.

• A White Robed Figure told his subordinate to delay reporting the incident and mark himself with injuries, after which the subordinate cut himself with a dagger and limped away bloodied.
• Genma reported what he had witnessed in Chang Village, and Minato ordered an investigation of Yechang Village and assigned Genma to accompany Ito Yoko.
• Genma confessed that he had used the Flying Thunder God Array to bring Yoko back, and Minato praised his talent and promised to teach him the Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Minato asked Genma to apologize to Yoko, and Genma left the office excited and doubtful about Minato’s offer.
• Kurenai confronted Genma about his date with Yoko, and Genma reassured her before inviting her to watch the sunset at Hokage Rock.

Genma said goodbye to Kurenai, then joined Minato at a training ground to begin learning the Flying Thunder God Technique. Minato explained that Genma needed to develop specialized sensory skills to distinguish and select marked kunai, and began training him to sense them.

• Genma promised Kurenai he would visit her the next day, and she hurried away when Minato appeared.
• Genma told Minato that Kurenai was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
• Minato took Genma to a training ground and gave him a scroll containing the Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Minato explained that using the technique effectively in battle required sensing and choosing marked kunai, not merely seeing them.
• Minato showed Genma four marked kunai and explained that Genma would need to create his own marks and kunai.
• Minato began teaching Genma to sense the kunai by guiding Shadow Clone Chakra outside his body.

Genma discovered that he could not extend his sensory abilities far enough to use the Flying Thunder God Technique in combat, so Minato taught him to memorize the Chakra patterns for marked kunai. Minato brought Genma to a new training ground and watched him return home using the Flying Thunder God Array.

• Genma failed to guide his Shadow Clone Chakra more than a meter beyond his body, and Minato told him he could not use Flying Thunder God in combat without sensory abilities.
• Minato explained that Genma could still practice solo teleportation by memorizing the marks and Chakra circulation patterns of different Flying Thunder God Kunai.
• Genma began crafting Flying Thunder God Kunai and studying their patterns until Minato ended their training for the evening.
• Minato told Genma to report his progress while on duty and transported him to a training ground in Konohagakure.
• Genma explained how two Shadow Clones jointly activated his Flying Thunder God Array, then used the Array to leave the training ground after Minato vanished.

Genma joined Kakashi and the Hokage's guards in a secret investigation after evidence linked Orochimaru to missing shinobi and dozens of children from Yechang Village. Their search of several bases outside Konohagakure found no decisive evidence, and they continued to Orochimaru's next location.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi authorized Minato to investigate the disappearances and asked to arrest Orochimaru if his guilt was confirmed.
• Minato formed an investigation team with Kakashi, Genma, Washi, Raiton, and other Hokage's guards.
• The team searched a mountain cave where Orochimaru had been seen, but found only empty chambers and scattered papers.
• Kakashi led the team to investigate more of Orochimaru's bases, while Genma considered the Curse Mark and Orochimaru's scientific work.
• After half a day, the team had searched seven bases without finding decisive evidence and set off for another location.

While searching one of Orochimaru’s bases, Genma recognized a coded message written in element symbols from his Chemistry Book and suspected it might have been left by his father, Hideyoshi. The decoded message revealed “Child Replication,” and Genma told his companions that Orochimaru was conducting human experimentation, leaving them wondering who had sent the warning and why.

• Kakashi’s team searched a hidden base in a hollowed-out hill and found numbers and symbols that seemed to form a code.
• Genma recognized the symbols as elements from the Periodic Table in his Chemistry Book and considered whether Hideyoshi or researchers from the Capital of the Land of Fire had left them.
• Genma converted the element symbols into electron counts, and he, Kakashi, Raiton, and Washi decoded the message as “Child Replication.”
• Genma said the message suggested Orochimaru was conducting human experimentation, but he could not explain further because it involved his family’s secret.
• Raiton and Kakashi questioned who had left the message and why, and Genma agreed that the person probably wanted to escape Orochimaru.

Genma and his team discovered a laboratory where Orochimaru was conducting experiments on children, then confronted a researcher who transformed into a half-human, half-Omba monster. Raiton attacked the creature after learning Orochimaru’s people had kept the Ombas for experiments.

• Genma told Kakashi, Raiton, and Washi that Minato was sending reinforcements, including the Third Hokage, to capture Orochimaru.
• Kakashi led the team to another base, where they found children connected to tubes in large cultivation tanks.
• Genma used the Substitution Technique to evade a researcher’s attack and held a blade to the man’s throat.
• The researcher transformed into a half-human, half-Omba monster and declared himself one of Orochimaru’s outstanding subordinates.
• Raiton learned the laboratory had kept the Ombas and attacked the transformed researcher with his blade.

Genma and the others subdued a researcher who had transformed into a monster, then watched him revert to a frail old man. After Minato and medic Yakushi Nonō arrived, the researcher managed to identify the cause as a Curse Mark.

• Washi stopped Raiton from attacking Genma, and Kakashi knocked out and tied up the transformed researcher.
• The researcher reverted to an elderly, debilitated state, so Genma gave him a Ration Pill and Kakashi gave him water.
• Genma sent a Shadow Clone to summon Minato using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Minato arrived with Yakushi Nonō, who examined the researcher while Genma explained what had happened.
• The researcher trembled and said that a Curse Mark had caused his transformation.

Genma and Yakushi Nonō discovered Orochimaru’s experiments and tried to save the children in the incubation tanks. After a child in tank 66 emerged with living branches growing from their body, Genma brought Nonō to perform an urgent operation and arranged to retrieve the needed equipment.

• Genma found a three-tomoe Curse Mark on the researcher, and Nonō said she was unfamiliar with sealing as she continued treating him.
• Genma left Raiton and Washi to guard the control room, then inspected the incubation tanks and worried about whether the children could be saved.
• A tank shattered nearby, and Genma found a child in tank 66 with six leafy branches growing from their body.
• Genma used Shadow Clones to remove the glass, cut back the longest branches, and brought Yakushi Nonō to examine the child.
• Yakushi Nonō said the branches needed to be removed immediately and listed surgical equipment for Genma to retrieve.

Genma helped Yakushi Nonō remove branches from a child’s body, then arranged to get him medical care and summon help for the other children. Exhausted from repeated Shadow Clone and Flying Thunder God use, Genma rested while Nonō stayed to check the children.

• Genma used Earth Style, mirrors, and firestarters to make a light-focusing device so Nonō could operate more effectively.
• Nonō and Genma worked together to extract all the branches from the child’s body.
• Nonō recommended taking the sleeping child to Konoha Hospital and bringing medical equipment and Medical Ninja to the facility.
• Genma sent clones to transport the child and notify Minato, then collapsed from chakra and mental exhaustion.
• Nonō reassured Genma that he had already helped greatly and continued checking on the children in the incubation chambers.

Genma, Minato, Nonō, and the others worked to rescue the children trapped in Orochimaru's cultivation tanks after learning how to operate them from Washi's notes. With the children evacuated, Washi and Genma prepared the dead researcher for transport, and Raiton asked Washi why he had been crying.

• Minato arrived with Medical Ninja and reunited with Genma and Nonō.
• Raiton reported that the strange researcher had mostly recovered, and Genma, Minato, Nonō, and Raiton went to the control room.
• They found the researcher dead and Washi crying, but Washi had recorded the man's instructions in a notebook.
• The group studied the notes, operated the cultivation tanks, and removed the children with help from the Medical Ninja and Minato's Shadow Clones.
• Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique to evacuate the children in groups while Genma, Raiton, and Washi stayed behind.
• Washi and Genma placed the researcher in a body bag, and Raiton asked Washi why he had been crying.

After helping rescue the children, Washi, Raiton, and Genma buried a researcher who had helped them, then returned to Konohagakure after sharing a meal. Genma went home expecting to sleep, but found an unknown little girl in his bed and was ordered by Riya to sleep elsewhere and make breakfast.

• Washi asked Minato for permission to bury the researcher, and Minato called the man a hero for helping save the children.
• Washi, Raiton, and Genma buried the researcher, then went for grilled meat before returning to Konohagakure.
• Genma returned home, found a crying girl in pink pajamas on his bed, and asked Riya where she had come from.
• Riya shoved Genma aside and comforted the girl, then forbade him from touching her.
• After Genma finished bathing, Riya ordered him to sleep in another room and make breakfast the next morning.

Genma struggled with the disruptive girl Riya had taken in, while Orochimaru and Hideyoshi arrived in the Land of Rice after fleeing Konohagakure. Genma began retrieving damaged manuscripts for his Naruto-world apocalypse novels, wary that Orochimaru might turn a fictional virus into reality.

• Genma made breakfast after a sleepless night, resenting the girl’s crying and the fact that she had taken his room.
• Riya told Genma she enjoyed caring for the girl and had always wanted a daughter, prompting him to recall her past attempts to make him look feminine.
• Orochimaru and Hideyoshi reached the Land of Rice with a group of researchers, where officials were waiting to receive them.
• Genma watched the girl make a mess of the house and found that she had torn up some of his manuscripts.
• Genma decided to use Flying Thunder God to retrieve the manuscripts and continue writing apocalyptic stories set in the Naruto World, avoiding viruses because Orochimaru might recreate one.

Genma questioned Riya about the girl she had brought home and then went to Konoha Hospital to learn what had happened to the other children rescued from Orochimaru’s experiments. Nonō’s grief led him to suspect that Danzo would exploit the children, though Genma had no clear way to expose him.

• Genma asked Riya about the girl’s background, and Riya defended adopting her while warning him not to bring up her past.
• Genma went to Konoha Hospital to investigate the children who had arrived the previous day.
• Genma found Yakushi Nonō and asked about the children and the effects of the experiments.
• Nonō broke down in tears, and Genma comforted her by offering a handkerchief and mentioning Kabuto.
• Genma concluded that the other children might fall into Danzo’s hands, but knew that exposing Danzo would be difficult.

Genma comforted Yakushi Nonō as she grieved over the orphanage children and learned that many could not be reunited with their biological parents. He asked Nonō to investigate the orphan his mother had brought home, and her records showed that his mother had cared for the girl before taking her in as more children arrived.

• Genma accepted the nurses’ accusations while Nonō recovered from crying, then reassured everyone that he had only been comforting her.
• Nonō told Genma that many visiting families and children had lost their memories, and that the children’s Hashirama Cells had been removed after researchers found a way to resist them.
• Genma comforted Nonō and asked whether his mother could adopt the orphan she had brought home.
• Nonō agreed to investigate the girl and showed Genma her record, which listed his mother as her caregiver and suggested she had taken the girl home because more children had arrived.

Genma learned that Riya planned to adopt Yana, whose survival of the Hashirama Cells experiment left him worried about her hidden power. He returned home and overheard Riya caring for Yana and explaining that he would be her real big brother.

• Yakushi Nonō congratulated Genma on becoming a big brother, and Genma admitted he felt nervous about Yana.
• Genma worried that Yana’s unruly nature and possible Hashirama Cells powers could endanger his family and expose her.
• Genma returned home and heard Riya and Yana happily talking about the things Yana wanted.
• Riya encouraged Yana to make friends, and Yana asked whether the big brother from the previous day counted as a friend.
• Riya told Yana that Genma would be her real big brother, lifting Genma’s spirits as he listened outside.