Chapter Summaries

Ming Jing, Yuexi, and Qing Yan shared a farewell lunch with Asuma, who revealed he would become Team 10’s jonin instructor. Meanwhile, the Third Hokage assigned Utsuki Yūhi to lead Team 1, and she met her new students before taking them from the academy.

• Yuexi gave Asuma flowers at the restaurant, and Ming Jing gave him a lighter before Asuma announced he would instruct Team 10.
• Ming Jing named Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi as Asuma’s students and discussed the politics of becoming Hokage.
• The Third Hokage reassigned Utsuki Yūhi from the Anbu to serve as Team 1’s jonin instructor for Kurama Yakumo, Kurama Shikouin, and Xiangling.
• Utsuki Yūhi removed her Anbu mask, changed into a jonin flak jacket, and went to the academy after meeting Iruka.
• Utsuki Yūhi entered the classroom, called Yakumo, Shikouin, and Xiangling to follow her, and left with them as their classmates discussed her.

Utsuki Yūhi took her new students Kurama Yakumo, Kurama Shikouin, and Xiangling for a test to decide whether they could become her subordinates. Shikouin fought Utsuki Yūhi while Yakumo’s support and genjutsu turned the battle, leaving Utsuki Yūhi trapped in Yakumo’s illusion.

• Utsuki Yūhi led the girls on a three-hour march, then awkwardly began introductions after realizing Yakumo was exhausted.
• Yakumo, Shikouin, Xiangling, and Utsuki Yūhi introduced themselves, and Utsuki Yūhi announced that all three students had to pass a five-minute fight or return to the academy.
• Yakumo boosted Shikouin’s senses as Shikouin charged Utsuki Yūhi with her lightning-enhanced techniques.
• Xiangling identified Utsuki Yūhi’s clone and called out her position, while Shikouin countered the clone’s attack with the Lightning Shock Technique.
• Yakumo completed Demonic Illusion: False Awakened and revealed that Utsuki Yūhi was caught in the Kurama Clan’s Bloodline Limit.

Utsuki Yūhi tested Yakumo, Xiangling, and Shikouin, then announced that they had passed and established Team 1. Meanwhile, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura waited for their teacher, and Naruto’s prank gave Kakashi a bad first impression of Team 7.

• Utsuki Yūhi endured Yakumo’s Genjutsu and deduced its limits while Xiangling and Shikouin helped carry out their plan.
• Yakumo used a shuriken illusion to wound Utsuki Yūhi, but Utsuki released her killing intent and broke the Genjutsu, causing the three girls to collapse.
• Utsuki bound the girls, praised their resolve, and announced that they had passed and Team 1 was established.
• Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura waited in the classroom for their jonin teacher, and Naruto set a blackboard eraser above the door.
• Kakashi entered and was struck by the eraser, prompting Naruto to laugh and Kakashi to say he disliked his new students.

Asuma tested Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino by challenging them to escape the Academy while pursued by Ming Jing, Yuexi, and Qing Yan. The trio’s elaborate plan nearly worked, but Ming Jing’s genjutsu kept Ino just short of the gate, leaving Shikamaru with more to learn before joining Team 10.

• Asuma introduced Ming Jing, Yuexi, and Qing Yan as the seniors who would test Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, then set their escape challenge in motion.
• Shikamaru took charge, sent Ino to misdirect Team 8, and devised a plan with Choji to use a glider and disguises to reach the gate.
• Ming Jing shot down the glider, while Yuexi grew suspicious of the disguised Team 8 members heading for the exit.
• Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino used transformations and a coordinated maneuver to send Ino over the gate, but Ming Jing revealed that she was still outside it only in a genjutsu.
• Asuma and Kurenai praised the clever plan, while Asuma noted that Shikamaru still needed polishing.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji passed Asuma’s test and formed Team 10, while Ming Jing parted ways with Hinata and met Yakumo’s jonin instructor, Utsuki Yūhi. Utsuki assigned Yakumo, Xiangling, and Shikouin an early meeting at the academy the next morning.

• Shikamaru apologized to Kurenai for tricking her, but Kiba and Shino revealed that Team 8 had seen through the ruse and praised his plan.
• Asuma accepted Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji into Team 10 after judging their teamwork and trust, then invited Kurenai to celebrate with them.
• Kurenai declined Asuma’s dinner invitation and left with Kiba and Shino, while Hinata said goodbye to Ming Jing.
• Ming Jing and Yuexi left with Hinata, then encountered Team 1 and Yakumo pounced on her brother, Akira Kurama.
• Ming Jing met Team 1’s instructor, Utsuki Yūhi, learned she had recently been promoted from chunin, and invited her to dinner, but she refused.
• Utsuki ordered Yakumo, Xiangling, and Shikouin to meet at the school gate at six the next morning, and Yakumo reluctantly agreed.

Yakumo and her teammates grew tired of dull D-rank missions, so Ming Jing arranged a C-rank escort mission for them and discussed giving genin more challenging work with the Third Hokage. The team met their client, only to discover it was Ming Jing, who had deliberately made them wait four hours before they began the journey.

• Yakumo, Shikouin, and Xiangling complained to Ming Jing about their repetitive, poorly paid D-rank missions.
• Ming Jing asked the Third Hokage to assign Utsuki Yūhi’s Team 1 a C-rank escort mission to protect important documents headed to the Royal Capital.
• The Third Hokage warned Ming Jing that peaceful conditions were making ninjas complacent, and Ming Jing promised to have the Police Department issue less dangerous missions to genin.
• Utsuki Yūhi led Yakumo, Shikouin, and Xiangling to the train station for their escort mission and reminded them to follow orders outside the village.
• After waiting four hours, the team discovered that their client was Ming Jing, and Yakumo angrily confronted him for making them wait.
• Utsuki Yūhi stopped Yakumo from attacking the client, and Yakumo sweetly asked Ming Jing when they would leave.

Ming Jing rode the newly opened train to the Royal Capital with Yakumo, Xiangling, Shikouin, and Utsuki Yūhi, who were assigned to guard him. The next morning, Qing Yan discovered Sleeping Incense in the carriage, and Ming Jing realized someone had attacked during the night.

• Ming Jing explained that the train would take twenty hours and left the protection mission to Utsuki Yūhi and the three girls.
• Utsuki Yūhi divided the guards into shifts, then inspected the train with Xiangling as it departed.
• Yuexi explained that Ming Jing was riding the train to reassure the public and promote the railway.
• At midnight, Yakumo, Shikouin, and Xiangling took over the watch; Shikouin gradually fell asleep on the sofa.
• The next morning, Qing Yan identified ash in the carriage as Sleeping Incense, and Yuexi found the three girls asleep.
• Ming Jing narrowed his eyes and realized that someone had dared to cause trouble.

After learning that the Chancellor's carriage had been robbed while they slept under Sleeping Incense, Yakumo, Xiangling, and Shikouin investigated the train with Utsuki Yūhi. They found no suspicious chakra and began to suspect that ordinary people had committed the theft.

• Utsuki Yūhi told the three girls that the Chancellor's carriage had been robbed and they had slept through the night after being hit by Sleeping Incense.
• Ming Jing urged Yakumo, Xiangling, and Shikouin to investigate the crime scene before the train reached the Royal Capital.
• Yuexi showed the girls incense ash containing Chen Mian Powder, which was unique to the Land of Water, and explained the train's stops.
• Xiangling sensed through the carriages while Yakumo and Shikouin searched, but they found no suspicious chakra among the passengers.
• Utsuki Yūhi noticed two men and a pregnant woman in the eighth carriage, while Xiangling concluded the thieves might be ordinary people rather than ninja.

Utsuki Yūhi and the girls confronted the suspected document thieves on the train, where the pregnant woman used a secret technique to transfer Chakra to her accomplices. Qing Yan drove the attackers out of the train, and Ming Jing erased the passengers’ memories before leaving to help pursue them.

• Utsuki Yūhi taught Yakumo, Xiangling, and Shikouin how to spot ninjas and led them to question the wary black-haired man beside a pregnant woman.
• The suspected thieves attacked, and the pregnant woman used Art of Release and Return to share her Chakra as she grew less pregnant.
• Utsuki Yūhi deflected the attackers’ glass and water projectiles while Shikouin carried Yakumo and Xiangling out of danger.
• Qing Yan shattered the fireball, threw two attackers through the train window, and frightened the pregnant woman into jumping out after them.
• Utsuki Yūhi and the three girls pursued the thieves, while Ming Jing used Art of Clever Washing to erase the passengers’ short-term memories.
• Yuexi asked Ming Jing to help repair the train, and he jumped out through the broken window.

Team 1 fought three pursuers in the forest, where Shikouin was poisoned while protecting Xiangling and Yakumo trapped the enemies in her Genjutsu. Xiangling treated Shikouin, and the chapter ended with her promising to protect her in return.

• Uzuki Yugao pursued the three enemies while Shikouin and Xiangling joined the fight, and the woman’s Air Cannon knocked Yugao back.
• The black-haired man wounded Shikouin with a poisoned flexible blade, and she took the blow meant to kill Xiangling.
• Yakumo charged the black-haired man to protect Shikouin, then used True Realm of Extreme Cold to trap all three enemies in Genjutsu.
• Xiangling identified the poison as Opium Poppy poison, treated Shikouin with an Antidote Pill, and stopped her bleeding.
• Xiangling promised Shikouin that she would block the blade for her from then on.

Ming Jing and Qing Yan watched Yakumo and her companions survive an ambush, then Ming Jing questioned captive Mihara Shiroko about her connection to Tsunade and recovered the stolen documents. The group set off back with the captives in custody.

• Ming Jing stopped Qing Yan from intervening as Shikouin was wounded and Yakumo used Genjutsu to help defeat the three attackers.
• Ming Jing praised Yakumo for protecting her companions, and Qing Yan accepted Shikouin's challenge for a future fight.
• Ming Jing questioned Mihara Shiroko privately and recognized her technique as a simplified form of Tsunade's Yin Seal.
• Mihara Shiroko admitted she had betrayed Tsunade's trust, and Ming Jing used Genjutsu to make her hand over the documents.
• Ming Jing confirmed the documents were intact, then told the others to watch the captives as they headed back.

Yuexi and her team traveled to the Land of Waves, where Shiraki asked them to help him recover the Kubikiribōchō by making him look badly injured. Yuexi then reunited with Naruto and Team 7 and learned that Momochi Zabuza had injured Kakashi.

• Yuexi led six Patrol Officers to the Land of Waves, where she and Inuzuka Sen waited on the shore for Shiraki.
• Shiraki told Yuexi that the Fifth Mizukage had sent him to retrieve the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist and that he was seeking the Kubikiribōchō held by Momochi Zabuza.
• Shiraki asked Yuexi and Inuzuka Sen to fight him hard enough to make him return to Kirigakure injured, and they agreed.
• The next day, Yuexi encountered Naruto with Tazuna and went with him to meet Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi.
• Yuexi began treating the badly injured Kakashi, and Sakura told her that Momochi Zabuza had caused his injuries.

After recovering from his injuries, Kakashi realized the masked Hunter-nin might have faked Zabuza’s death. Yuexi set out with Inuzuka Sen and Yura to find the child, while Kakashi planned training for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

• Yuexi told Naruto, Sakura, and Tazuna that Kakashi would need about a week to recover from overusing the Sharingan, and Kakashi woke at noon and confirmed her diagnosis.
• Kakashi questioned how the masked Hunter-nin had taken Zabuza’s body and concluded that the ordinary senbon needles suggested Zabuza’s death had been staged.
• Yuexi said she wanted to meet the masked child and left with Inuzuka Sen and Yura to search for him.
• Naruto was astonished that Yura could talk, while Sasuke explained that Yura was a trained ninja dog from the Inuzuka Clan.
• Kakashi told Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to meet him in the forest at two for special training.

Yuexi and Inuzuka Sen pursued Zabuza into the Land of Fire but lost his trail before meeting Yuki Haku. Yuexi recognized Haku as her Yuki Clan kinsman and offered to negotiate with his guardian, but Haku asked her not to interfere with his life.

• Yuexi and Inuzuka Sen followed Zabuza into the Land of Fire, then turned back after Yura could not track the Mist Ninja Anbu's scent-dilution technique.
• Yura detected someone hiding in the bushes, and a disguised-looking young man emerged, claiming he was gathering herbs for an injured relative.
• Inuzuka Sen and Yura sensed that the newcomer had an aura like Yuexi's, and he identified himself as Haku of the Yuki Clan.
• Yuexi revealed her Ice Release and introduced herself as Tsukishiro Yuexi, prompting Haku to recognize her as a powerful Land of Fire official and a fellow clansman.
• Yuexi offered to speak with Haku's guardian and meet his demands, but Haku bowed and asked her not to interfere because he was living well with Zabuza.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura began Kakashi’s tree-climbing Chakra-control training, with Sasuke and Sakura quickly reaching the branches while Naruto struggled. Nearby, Yuexi and Inuzuka Sen watched the training and discussed the students’ potential after a younger boy dismissed their efforts as useless.

• Kakashi arrived late and explained Chakra control before demonstrating how to climb a tree using Chakra in the soles of the feet.
• Sasuke drew on Izumi’s earlier lessons and reached a branch after five attempts, while Sakura steadily climbed with precise control.
• Naruto repeatedly fell during his attempts, then changed tactics and began climbing slowly after deciding to catch up to Sasuke.
• Kakashi praised Sakura’s control and endurance but noted Naruto and Sasuke had far greater Chakra reserves.
• A younger boy watched the training and said it was useless, but Yuexi argued that the children’s effort could lead to surprises.
• Inuzuka Sen suggested Sakura was suited to Genjutsu, while Yuexi said she was better suited to Medical Ninjutsu and watched Naruto and Sasuke.

Zabuza and Haku endured Gato’s threats while avoiding a fight that would draw the authorities’ attention. As Yuexi’s pursuit of Shiraki continued, the Eagle of the Mist arrived seeking the Kubikiribōchō, and Naruto’s training and Sasuke’s departure left the group facing new complications.

• Gato insulted the recovering Zabuza and tried to touch his bandages, but Haku stopped him and threatened his two Rogue Ninja escorts.
• Haku told Zabuza that Tsukishiro Yuexi had offered him a place, but he had refused because he considered himself Zabuza’s weapon.
• Yuexi and Inuzuka Sen returned to Kakashi’s group after failing to catch Shiraki, and Kakashi ended the children’s training for the day.
• Yuexi sent Shiraki’s intelligence to the Royal Capital while she and Inuzuka Sen kept up their pursuit, letting two Patrol Officers believe they were trying to capture him.
• Yuexi and Inuzuka Sen arrived at breakfast looking battered and revealed that the Eagle of the Mist, Batan Shiraki, had come for the Kubikiribōchō.
• Sakura said Naruto had likely fallen asleep in the forest after exhausting his Chakra, and Sasuke left the group as Yuexi watched him with an enigmatic smile.

Yuexi watched Naruto and Sasuke improve while explaining to Kakashi that she planned to protect the suspected last surviving member of her Yuki Clan. On the seventh day, Zabuza and Haku attacked the bridge workers, and Kakashi’s team arrived to face Zabuza in the mist.

• Yuexi and Kakashi found Naruto practicing tree climbing, and Sasuke caught him when he fell.
• Yuexi told Kakashi that the suspected Kirigakure Anbu child was likely the last surviving bloodline of her Yuki Clan and that she would protect the child.
• On the seventh day, Yuexi and Inuzuka Sen hid nearby while Shiraki prepared to appear after Zabuza clashed with Kakashi.
• Zabuza crushed Gato’s radio, and Haku disabled the bridge workers with Ice Needles while leaving them alive.
• Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura escorted Tazuna onto the bridge, where mist surrounded them and Kakashi warned that Zabuza was there.

Yuexi received Ming Jing’s proposal for a home for the Yuki Clan, then helped stop two Rogue Ninja from attacking Tazuna’s family. Meanwhile, Sasuke fought Haku and discovered that Haku could form Hand Seals with one hand.

• Yuexi read Ming Jing’s suggestion that the Yuki Clan settle near Mount Iwate and smiled at his thoughtful note.
• Yura stopped two Rogue Ninja from killing Tazuna’s daughter-in-law, broke their swords, and Inuzuka Sen knocked them unconscious.
• Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura faced Zabuza and Haku in the mist, and Sasuke destroyed Zabuza’s Water Clones.
• Haku fought Sasuke at close range and explained that he had two advantages: the water around them and his free hand.
• Haku formed Hand Seals with one hand and launched the Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death, surprising Sasuke and Kakashi.

Sasuke fought Haku, who trapped him in the Demonic Mirror Ice Crystal and overwhelmed him with rapid attacks. Just as Haku was about to finish Sasuke, Naruto arrived and struck him with a Shuriken.

• Sasuke dodged Haku’s Ice Needles and kicked him away, but Haku then surrounded him with Ice Mirrors and began attacking at high speed.
• Kakashi tried to reach Sasuke, but Zabuza blocked him and threatened the others if he interfered.
• Sakura retrieved Sasuke’s dropped Kunai and threw it through a gap in the mirrors, but Haku caught it before Sasuke could take it.
• Naruto struck Haku with a Shuriken, knocking him out of an Ice Mirror, and made his entrance at the center of the bridge.

Naruto arrived during Haku’s fight with Sasuke, but Haku intercepted Zabuza’s attack and asked to face Naruto and Sasuke himself. Haku trapped Sasuke in the Ice Mirrors and overwhelmed him with needles, while Naruto blundered into the mirrors to save him.

• Naruto made a conspicuous entrance and began forming a Shadow Clone technique, but Haku knocked away Zabuza’s shuriken before they hit him.
• Haku asked Zabuza to let him handle Naruto and Sasuke in his own way, then returned to the Ice Mirror.
• Sasuke tried to attack Haku, but Haku moved through the mirrors and struck him with a barrage of needles.
• Sasuke realized the Ice Mirrors were central to Haku’s attacks and prepared to coordinate an attack with Naruto.
• Naruto entered the mirrors to save Sasuke, prompting Sasuke to scold him for acting recklessly.