Chapter Summaries

Ming Jing persuaded Hizashi Hyuga to explain the Gentle Fist and suggested he develop a new martial arts style. After hearing Ming Jing recite a passage about the eight trigrams, Hizashi found inspiration and thanked him, though he mistakenly believed the passage came from a Kurama Clan text.

• Ming Jing finished arranging aid for the disaster victims and asked Hizashi Hyuga to discuss his situation.
• Hizashi explained the Gentle Fist’s principles and shortcomings, while Ming Jing asked whether he had considered creating a different martial arts style.
• Ming Jing recited a passage about the eight trigrams, and Hizashi became absorbed in its ideas.
• The next morning, Hizashi returned with a cold and asked to borrow the ancient text, but Ming Jing said it concerned the Kurama Clan’s genjutsu secrets.
• Hizashi apologized for overstepping, thanked Ming Jing, and held firmly to the new direction he had found.

Konan learned that the Land of Fire’s prime minister had survived an assassination attempt in Muchuan County and ordered an investigation. After Tamamachi Seiyo arrived, Ming Jing began planning the canal project, but a mountain blocked the proposed route, leaving him to wonder how it could be cleared.

• Konan questioned Honma about the refugees and the assassination attempt, then ordered him to investigate suspected remnants of Hanzō's forces.
• Ming Jing welcomed Tamamachi Seiyo and Asuma to Muchuan County so they could begin planning a canal with the refugees.
• Tamamachi Seiyo surveyed the terrain and found that a mountain seven hundred meters above sea level obstructed the planned river route.
• Ming Jing assigned the canal project to Tamamachi Seiyo and went with Asuma and Qing Yan to inspect the mountain.
• Ming Jing asked Asuma what rank of mission it would take to get the Third Hokage to blow up the mountain, and Asuma dismissed the idea.

Akira Kurama and his companions discovered that the mountain blocking their canal project might be hollow, and Tamamachi Seiyo warned that an underground river could make the project difficult. On the way to investigate the mountain, they met Konan, who joined them.

• Akira Kurama proposed using a million Explosive Tags to demolish the mountain, but Qing Yan discovered that it seemed hollow.
• Asuma confirmed the mountain was hollow with Earth Style: Moving Earth and Turning Palms.
• Tamamachi Seiyo explained that the hollow mountain might contain an underground river, threatening Akira Kurama's canal project.
• Akira Kurama decided to open a passage into the mountain and investigate with Asuma and Qing Yan.
• Akira Kurama met Konan on the way, invited her to join the investigation, and she agreed.

Ming Jing and his team discovered a giant centipede in a cave and were forced into a desperate fight. After rescuing Konan and injuring the creature with an illusion, Ming Jing escaped with her into a small opening as the centipede pursued them.

• Ming Jing found a cave, and he led Qing Yan, Konan, and Asuma inside to investigate.
• The group reached a massive pit, and a giant centipede suddenly climbed toward them from below.
• Konan attacked the centipede with explosive paper shuriken, but its tail struck her and sent her falling.
• Ming Jing caught Konan and used his illusion technique to wound the centipede's mouth before catching himself against the cave wall with his sword.
• Konan pointed out a small opening, and Ming Jing pulled her into it just before the centipede could bite them.

Ming Jing and Konan escaped the giant centipede into a cave, where he discovered Konan had been poisoned. With Konan unable to use Chakra and their time limited, Ming Jing treated the wound on her shoulder and sucked out the poison, helping her regain strength.

• Ming Jing carried Konan through the cave until the giant centipede’s attacks faded, then found her face turning purple and realized she was poisoned.
• Ming Jing identified the wound on Konan’s shoulder, but she woke before he could treat it and accused him of acting improperly.
• Konan said she had only suppressed the poison temporarily and could last at most five days, so she and Ming Jing continued searching for a way back to the surface.
• When Konan became too exhausted to keep crawling, Ming Jing proposed sucking the poison from her shoulder, and she agreed.
• Ming Jing cut the bruised spot, wiped away the discolored blood, and sucked out the poison until Konan’s strength began to return.

Ming Jing and Konan fled through the cave as the giant centipede pursued them, and Ming Jing used his Mother-Child Green Coins technique to implant memories in the monster and slow it down. They escaped for the moment, but the centipede’s pursuit remained a threat.

• Ming Jing and Konan chose an upward tunnel and fled from the approaching giant centipede.
• Ming Jing supported the injured Konan as they ran, and he promised to cook her grilled fish once they escaped.
• Konan sensed the centipede closing in, so Ming Jing carried her and continued running despite his poor stamina.
• Ming Jing rejected Konan’s offer to lure the centipede away and instead used his Mother-Child Green Coins technique to implant two books about human morality in its mind.
• The giant centipede slowed after the memories were implanted, and Ming Jing grabbed Konan and ran on.

Ming Jing and Konan followed a vast tunnel toward the source of the giant centipede, which caught up after gaining the ability to think. Ming Jing gave it logical thinking, but the centipede rejected human morality and vowed to conquer the surface, leaving Ming Jing confident it would not escape.

• Ming Jing and Konan entered a cavern riddled with tunnels and decided to follow the largest one toward the source of the giant centipede.
• The giant centipede woke, found their shoeprint, and followed them through the tunnel with growing control over its movements.
• Ming Jing realized the centipede's changed behavior could be used against it, so he and Konan slowed down and waited for it to catch up.
• Ming Jing drew a green copper coin, infused it with logical thinking, and tossed it to the centipede, which swallowed it and briefly froze.
• The centipede woke able to speak, rejected human morality, and threatened to escape underground and rule humanity.
• Ming Jing told the centipede it would not get out, while Konan held his hand.

Ming Jing trapped the giant centipede in a layered dream with his genjutsu and continued with Konan toward the underground spring. They found a cave with a glowing spring and a hostile vine-covered plant, then escaped after its vines chased them through the tunnel.

• Ming Jing used the Heart Fox Technique to trick the giant centipede into attacking an illusion, then trapped it in the layered dream of Pushing the Platform into the Wall.
• Ming Jing explained to Konan that the centipede was unlikely to wake from its dream and that he did not know how to find the keys that would let someone leave each dream layer.
• Ming Jing and Konan reached a cave containing an emerald-glowing spring and a sprawling vine plant bearing red fruits.
• Ming Jing noticed the cave had no other living creatures and pulled Konan away as the vines began moving and ringing.
• Ming Jing and Konan ran nearly ten kilometers before they escaped the vines, and Konan judged that an ordinary chunin could outrun them.

After spending two days trapped in a mountain, Ming Jing and Konan escaped into the Land of Rain, shared a meal, and were found by Deva Path Pain. Pain entered the mountain to investigate its dangerous plant and spring while Konan stayed outside with Ming Jing.

• Ming Jing woke after a long rest, and Konan said they had been trapped for two days before expressing hope that he could bring peace and happiness to everyone.
• Ming Jing and Konan found an exit into the Land of Rain, where he caught and grilled fish for them to eat.
• Deva Path Pain arrived and questioned Ming Jing about his relationship with Konan, who identified him as a friend.
• Konan told Deva Path Pain that a dangerous plant and spring were inside the mountain, and Pain flew into the cave to investigate.

Deva Path Pain fought the dangerous plant guarding the underground spring, captured it with Chibaku Tensei, and launched it into space. He returned with the spring and told Ming Jing to come to the Land of Rain in a week so he could repay him for saving Konan, rejecting Ming Jing’s offer of friendship.

• Deva Path Pain reached the spring and fought off the plant’s regenerating branches and explosive red fruits.
• Deva Path Pain drew the spring water toward himself and escaped the cave, but a branch burrowed into his thigh before he pulled it out.
• Deva Path Pain used Chibaku Tensei to uproot the plant and its roots, then blasted the sealed sphere into outer space.
• Ming Jing watched the sphere disappear and said that he and Konan had been lucky to escape earlier.
• Konan flew away, and Deva Path Pain returned with the spring water and invited Ming Jing to the Land of Rain in a week to repay him.
• Ming Jing suggested they become friends, but Deva Path Pain said he did not need friends.

After Pain rejected him, Ming Jing walked back toward Muchuan County and realized he should focus on using genjutsu to stop Nagato before he could deploy powerful techniques. Meanwhile, Nagato gave Orochimaru glowing spring water to study and arranged to trade for Black Paste to repay Akira Kurama for caring for Konan.

• Ming Jing ate the grilled fish Konan had left him and considered how he could counter Chibaku Tensei, concluding that he should deepen his genjutsu skills and seek advice from Jiraiya, Shisui, or Itachi.
• Konan reunited with Nagato and questioned his use of the technique, and Nagato explained that the dangerous plant had made it the safest option and that he could use it several more times.
• Nagato presented Orochimaru with the glowing spring water and promised him one-tenth if he could determine its effects.
• Orochimaru agreed to study the spring water, then traded three kilograms of Black Paste to Deva Path Pain for a research report on souls.
• Nagato sent Human Path with Orochimaru to collect the Black Paste, explaining to Konan that he intended it as thanks to Akira Kurama for taking care of her.

After Ming Jing went missing in a cave, Asuma, Qing Yan, and Hizashi Hyuga led a search while keeping the news from the disaster victims. Qing Yan and Hizashi eventually found Ming Jing alive, and they returned with him to Muchuan County.

• Qing Yan and Asuma told Tamamachi Seiyo that Ming Jing and Konan had gone missing, and Tamamachi Seiyo approved a secret search by one hundred Patrol Officers.
• Qing Yan asked Hizashi Hyuga for help, and Hizashi agreed to search using his Byakugan.
• The search teams spent two days looking through the cave but found no sign of Ming Jing or Konan, while Hizashi determined that Ming Jing was probably still alive.
• A tremor made the mountain collapse, and Qing Yan and Hizashi ran toward its source while Asuma led the Patrol Officers to safety.
• Qing Yan and Hizashi found Ming Jing alive, gave him food and water, and escorted him back to Muchuan County.

Ming Jing returned to work on the canal project with renewed seriousness and wrote to Itachi about his ideas on Genjutsu and consciousness. While preparing a fish banquet for Konan, he told Asuma that he intended to become the “King General” himself and maintain world peace.

• Ming Jing became stricter with the clerks after returning to the canal project, and Asuma mistook his resolve for grief over a comrade.
• Ming Jing wrote Itachi a letter exploring whether Genjutsu destroyed or extended another person's consciousness.
• When rain interrupted the day's plans, Ming Jing decided to cook a full fish banquet for Konan and asked Qing Yan to gather the ingredients.
• Asuma joined Ming Jing in the kitchen and asked whether the Daimyo or the Hokage was the King General in his heart.
• Ming Jing said he should become the King General himself and declared that he would maintain world peace.

Asuma discovered that eating Ming Jing’s spicy braised carp helped him complete a new ninjutsu. The next morning, he demonstrated the technique, which Ming Jing recognized as Ash Pile Burn.

• Ming Jing made fish soup and braised carp for Asuma and Qing Yan, then discarded a soup he thought tasted bitter after breaking a fish gallbladder.
• Asuma ate the braised carp, spat out the spicy food with blasts of Wind Release and Fire Release Chakra, and destroyed the courtyard rockery.
• Asuma repeatedly asked Ming Jing to cook more braised carp while he worked out the final step of his ninjutsu.
• Asuma declared that his ninjutsu had succeeded, then Ming Jing and Qing Yan helped him back to his room after he ate until he was full.
• The next morning, Asuma demonstrated his new technique by spitting out scorching ash and making it explode, naming it Ash Pile Burn.

Ming Jing met Konan and Deva Path Pain in the Land of Rain, bringing fish soup and receiving Black Paste as a gift. After recognizing the medicine as addictive opium, he warned them of its dangers and proposed ways to help their affected subordinates, but Deva Path Pain rejected his genjutsu treatment.

• Honma guided Ming Jing into the Land of Rain, where Qing Yan stayed behind as Ming Jing went alone to meet Konan and Deva Path Pain.
• Ming Jing prepared milky white crucian carp soup, which Konan and Deva Path Pain tasted and praised.
• Deva Path Pain gave Ming Jing three kilograms of Black Paste, and Ming Jing recognized its smell and appearance before identifying it as opium tablets.
• Ming Jing warned Konan and Deva Path Pain that Black Paste caused addiction and described the dangers of dependence and withdrawal.
• Ming Jing proposed natural withdrawal or using genjutsu to replace the mental chain of dependence, but Deva Path Pain refused to let a stranger enter his subordinates' minds.

Ming Jing sent a letter to Koji Kurama using a genjutsu to show him Black Paste, while his letter to Itachi prompted a discussion about how genjutsu worked. Shisui demonstrated his ideas by trapping Itachi in a genjutsu, leaving Itachi to realize when he had been caught.

• Ming Jing learned that Orochimaru had joined Akatsuki and decided to ask Koji Kurama whether the clan elders knew about Black Paste.
• Ming Jing wrote Koji a letter that used a genjutsu to show Black Paste’s appearance and scent, then sent Zuo to deliver it personally.
• Itachi received Ming Jing’s letter about whether genjutsu destroyed consciousness or extended it, and went to ask Shisui for his opinion.
• Shisui explained that the Sharingan used insight into small movements to hypnotize opponents and trap them in genjutsu.
• Shisui revealed that he had already placed Itachi in a genjutsu while asking why the Sharingan could hypnotize people.

After receiving Shisui's idea for trapping enemies in a prebuilt genjutsu world, Ming Jing considered how the Kurama Clan might develop it and wrote back with questions about creating a dream for an awake opponent. Koji Kurama arrived after hearing about Black Paste and revealed that it had driven Ming Jing's grandfather and several relatives into dependence before they disappeared in the Land of Rain.

• Shisui proposed using the Sharingan to carry a genjutsu world constructed in advance, and Itachi agreed to share the idea with Ming Jing.
• Ming Jing connected Shisui's proposal to Tsukuyomi and considered using the hall of impression as a vessel for a Kurama Clan technique.
• Ming Jing wrote to Itachi that his hypnosis technique could create layered dreams but asked how to draw an alert opponent into one.
• Xiao You announced that Koji Kurama had arrived, and Koji told Ming Jing he was relieved that Black Paste had been burned.
• Koji explained that Junichi Kurama and other genjutsu experts became dependent on Black Paste during the Second Great Ninja War, then disappeared after returning to the Land of Rain to find its source.

Ming Jing discovered that The Goose Illusionary Book was stored in his Celestial Court and tested a new ability that let him use Blade-less Head Shave without entering the Option Hall. He prepared to travel to the Land of Rain to meet his friend and investigate Black Paste, leaving Koji Kurama behind.

• Ming Jing worried that his weakness would make meeting Orochimaru dangerous, so he used a Tai Chi Seal and gathered Chakra at his Yintang point.
• Chakra flowed into Ming Jing's Celestial Court and brought him into the Option Hall, where he realized leaving it might grant him a calm state and special protection.
• Ming Jing tested the ability by using Blade-less Head Shave from his room, cleanly severing a support on the courtyard waterwheel.
• After sleeping through the morning, Ming Jing told Koji Kurama he would seek out the person who made Black Paste and arranged for Tamamachi Seiyo and Yamashita Taiji to handle his work while he traveled.
• Koji Kurama asked to accompany Ming Jing to the Land of Rain, but Ming Jing said he would sound out his strange friend alone, and Koji urged him to return quickly.

Ming Jing traveled to Amegakure to meet Orochimaru and ask about Junichi Kurama’s whereabouts. After Konan led him to Orochimaru’s hideout, Orochimaru demanded payment for the information.

• Konan and Deva Path Pain watched former subordinates suffer withdrawal from Black Paste, and agreed it was an evil drug.
• Konan recognized Ming Jing’s carriage and agreed to guide him to Orochimaru, despite Amegakure’s restrictions on visitors.
• Ming Jing and Konan reached Orochimaru’s hideout, where Orochimaru greeted them suspiciously.
• Ming Jing asked Orochimaru about Junichi Kurama and his group, but Orochimaru said he wanted something in exchange for the information.

Ming Jing challenged Orochimaru to five ninjutsu in exchange for the truth about the Kurama Clan, relying on his Heavenly Court state and newly honed techniques to survive their fight. Orochimaru gave him a map to Junichi Kurama, Jiro Kurama, and Takeo Kurama, while Ming Jing collapsed from exhaustion.

• Ming Jing persuaded Orochimaru to attack him with five ninjutsu, with the Kurama Clan's old bond as the reason for the bargain, and Konan agreed to witness the fight.
• Ming Jing entered Heavenly Court mode and countered Orochimaru's killing intent, snakes, and giant pythons with his sword, Blade-less Head Shave, and Illusion Technique: Beauty Guards the Boudoir.
• Ming Jing created five Mother-Child Green Coins from memories and used them as Orochimaru attacked at extreme speed, but Orochimaru's snakes briefly subdued him.
• Ming Jing used Five Senses Manipulation to conceal his position, and Orochimaru revealed he had been using a Clone Technique before giving Ming Jing a map to Junichi Kurama, Jiro Kurama, and Takeo Kurama.
• Ming Jing dispelled Heavenly Court Mode, became dizzy and exhausted, and fell asleep after Konan offered to let him rest for the night.