Chapter Summaries

Yichen tried to draw Orochimaru into contact by exposing his Caged Bird research to the Hyuga Branch Family. After Hyuga Hiashi remotely killed Orochimaru’s test subject, Orochimaru gained a new insight and realized Yichen had engineered the incident, leaving Neji Hyuga as his likely next target.

• Yichen named his three Team Seven students, urged the graduating class to uphold Iwagakure’s status, and learned Orochimaru had ignored the village’s envoy.
• Yichen sent an intelligence operative to tell the Hyuga Branch Family that Orochimaru had abducted one of their members and was researching how to break the Caged Bird.
• The Hyuga Branch Family debated whether to report the news, but Hyuga Hiashi remotely killed Orochimaru’s captive with the Caged Bird and ordered the clan to check for anyone who had faked their death.
• Hyuga Hiashi let the Branch Family learn of the execution, and fear of the Caged Bird spread through the clan.
• Orochimaru watched his experimental subject die, gained a new insight into the Caged Bird, and suspected Yichen had arranged the incident to draw him into contact.
• Orochimaru dismissed cooperation in Konoha as too risky and identified Neji Hyuga in Iwagakure as his likely next experimental subject.

Kajiyamari followed Yichen’s instructions in Konoha, publicly seeking contact with the Uchiha while irritating Tsunade’s officials. As Uchiha clan members negotiated with him one after another, Iwagakure’s promised support grew to an enormous force, while Fugaku worried about Itachi’s talk of the clan’s destruction.

• Orochimaru recognized Yichen’s schemes, wrote to the Tsuchikage proposing cooperation, and sent envoys to Iwagakure.
• Kajiyamari arrived in Konoha and repeatedly sought a public meeting with Fugaku while spreading Iwagakure’s goodwill toward the Uchiha Clan.
• Fugaku sent Tekka to meet Kajiyamari, and Itachi warned Fugaku that the clan’s reckless conduct could lead to its destruction.
• Tekka and Kajiyamari discussed an alliance, with Kajiyamari offering Iwagakure’s military support, while Konoha’s officials monitored them.
• Yashiro and then other Uchiha Elite Jonin negotiated with Kajiyamari over the following days, increasing Iwagakure’s promised reinforcements to every Kage-level expert, two Jinchuriki, renowned ninja, and thirteen thousand troops.

Kajiyamari secretly established a working arrangement with Danzo while Yichen trained Team Seven and taught them to read village affairs. After Yichen revealed that Haku had been taken as an infant from Kirigakure's Yuki Clan, Haku and his teammates were left to face the news.

• Kajiyamari met Danzo's subordinate Kō in secret, negotiated over Iwa's support for the Uchiha, and later agreed to coordinate unreasonable demands at a public meeting in exchange for a brief escape from surveillance.
• Yichen taught Haku, Fujii Kusaka, and Kamizuru Tsuruhime how to interpret Iwagakure's Bi-Monthly Report and learned that Haku had grown up identifying wholly with Iwagakure.
• Yichen told Team Seven that Iwagakure had found the hiding place of the Uchiha who attacked Kirigakure and that Kirigakure had commissioned a search for the abducted clan children.
• Haku demonstrated his Ice Release techniques, including a B-rank technique, and said he did not know whether his abilities matched the Yuki Clan's.
• Yichen revealed that he had taken Haku from the Yuki Clan as an infant during a mission in Kirigakure, leaving Haku stunned while Fujii Kusaka and Kamizuru Tsuruhime watched with concern.

Yichen revealed to Yuki Haku the histories of Neji, Sokai, and Haku’s own clan, explaining that Haku’s parents had died in Kirigakure and that he might have suffered the same fate if he had stayed there. After Haku went home to think, Yichen encouraged Kamizuru Tsuruhime’s bee training and built up Fujii Kusaka’s confidence in her Fire Release.

• Yichen helped Yuki Haku regain his composure, then explained Neji’s and Sokai’s reasons for wanting to build a home for their clans in Iwagakure.
• Yichen told Haku how the Uzumaki Clan had joined Iwagakure and described the attacks on the clan by Konoha’s allies.
• Yichen revealed that Haku’s biological parents had died during the upheaval in Kirigakure, and Fujii Kusaka asked whether Haku would have been killed if he had stayed there.
• Haku said he wanted to go home, so Yichen sent a Shadow Clone to escort him to Kitsuchi’s home.
• Yichen praised Tsuruhime’s progress with her bees, gave her poisons for resistance training, and told her to develop useful bee traits.
• Yichen reassured Fujii Kusaka that she could overcome her weak Fire Release and encouraged her to train.

Yichen negotiated with Orochimaru over research into breaking Neji’s Caged Bird, then supervised a series of experiments that appeared safe thanks to Neji’s Yata Mirror. He reassured Haku about helping the Yuki Clan and learned that Raiga Kurosuki had located Obito Uchiha’s hideout in the Land of Iron and sent its location to Kirigakure.

• Yichen rejected Orochimaru’s proposal to experiment directly on Neji and instead arranged for his own team to conduct experiments and report the results.
• Orochimaru sent Yichen a scroll explaining Yin Release and possible Caged Bird experiments, which Yichen reviewed with Katsuya and Natsuki.
• Neji agreed to undergo carefully explained experiments, and Yichen entered Neji’s body with the Spirit Transformation Jutsu while Katsuya tested more than a dozen methods.
• Yichen told Haku he would help the Yuki Clan retrieve children, easing Haku’s concerns about his ties to Kirigakure and Iwagakure.
• Raiga Kurosuki and Ranmaru found Obito Uchiha’s hideout in the Land of Iron, and Raiga sent the location to Kirigakure using the Fixed Point Summoning Jutsu.

Raiga Kurosuki died after using a lightning strike to seriously wound Obito Uchiha, who captured Ranmaru. Kisame and Yichen joined forces to rescue the abducted children, and their assault began with Obito transferring the captives into another dimension.

• A White Zetsu clone alerted Obito Uchiha that Raiga Kurosuki might have spotted him, and Obito pursued Raiga and Ranmaru.
• Raiga exhausted himself attacking Obito, then sacrificed his life to strike Obito with lightning and leave him severely injured; Obito took Ranmaru away.
• Kisame and Genji planned to enlist Yichen and Iwagakure, and Yichen agreed to help in exchange for Kirigakure recognizing Haku as belonging to Iwagakure.
• Yichen brought Haku and the other members of Team Seven to meet Kisame, and Yuki Koru agreed to Haku's arrangement in return for Yichen saving at least ten children.
• Yichen and Kisame led their forces toward Obito's hideout, where Yichen sensed that Obito was injured and that Ranmaru and the other children were being held.
• Kisame's group attacked the village to seize the children, but Obito transferred the captives into another dimension just before their assault arrived, and Yichen began using Porcelain Release.

Yichen and the Kirigakure ninjas rescued children from Obito Uchiha, whose attempts to seize them were repeatedly thwarted by Hozuki Mangetsu and Kisame. The operation ended with Haku joining Iwagakure, but his sister Yuki Kinuyo remained missing, and Yichen returned to the village with captured White Zetsu clones to study.

• Obito Uchiha used Kamui to seize children while Kirigakure ninjas used fog and ice to obstruct him, and Hozuki Mangetsu's Water Clone wounded him with Water Gun Cannon.
• Yichen's mud trap struck Obito Uchiha as he tried to capture three children, forcing him to use Izanagi; later, Kisame's Super Long Water Dragon Bullet drove him underground and ended his attempts to snatch more people.
• Yichen and the Kirigakure ninjas gathered the children, removed and sealed the White Zetsu clones inside them, and Kisame agreed that Haku would become an Iwa ninja.
• Yichen learned that Obito Uchiha had taken around twenty children, including the child with the Red Eyes Bloodline Limit, while no one knew whether Yuki Kinuyo had been rescued.
• Kisame traded payment for three White Zetsu clones and Kirigakure's blood research techniques for half of Obito Uchiha's collected blood, then Yichen returned to Iwagakure with his disciples and the captured clones.

Yichen negotiated with Orochimaru to obtain White Zetsu transplant techniques in exchange for information about senjutsu, then began the next stage of Neji’s Caged Bird experiments. He also gave Sakura medical study materials and told her he would take her as a disciple after she graduated from the Ninja Academy.

• Yichen proposed using White Zetsu limbs to restore disabled ninjas and secured Iwagakure’s agreement to trade senjutsu research answers to Orochimaru for transplant techniques.
• Yichen asked Nakata Hajime to prepare introductory Medical Ninjutsu materials for Sakura and encouraged Han after his first high-level meeting.
• Orochimaru sent transplant research and further Caged Bird experiment data, which Yichen and his team used to conduct more than ten rounds of experiments on Neji.
• Katsuya advanced to Elite Jonin after analyzing the experiment data, and Yichen gave Neji foundational books on Sealing Jutsu and Yin Release.
• Yichen visited Sakura, gave her medical study materials, and told her he would take her as his disciple after she graduated.

Yichen traded for Yuki Kinuyo and reunited her with her brother Haku in Iwagakure. After Nakata Hajime’s team succeeded in transplanting a White Zetsu arm, Yichen arranged free surgeries for the village’s disabled ninja and turned the recovery effort into an annual festival and a diplomatic showcase.

• Yichen collected Yuki Kinuyo from Obito Uchiha in exchange for rent, then removed five White Zetsu clones from her body.
• Yichen brought Yuki Kinuyo to Iwagakure and reunited her with Haku, who took her to the hospital for a checkup.
• Nakata Hajime and the Medical Department successfully transplanted a White Zetsu arm, which the recipient used normally.
• Yichen gathered the village’s disabled ninja, honored their sacrifices, and ordered the Medical Department to begin transplant surgeries, starting with the oldest veterans.
• After every disabled ninja received treatment, Yichen proposed an annual Rehabilitation Festival, which the villagers and ninja approved.
• Yichen told Saka to publicize Iwagakure’s free disability treatments across the other major ninja villages, including through visits by recovered patients.

Yichen used Madara Uchiha’s notes to develop a method for suppressing Light Release, while Team Seven’s mission routine and a rivalry between Kurotsuchi and Yuki Kinuyo led to a chakra-control contest won by Sakura and Yuki Kinuyo. Meanwhile, Iwagakure squeezed Sunagakure financially and militarily until Gaara’s Shukaku rampage devastated the village, prompting Yichen to send a delegation led by Takuya to offer condolences.

• Yichen studied Madara Uchiha’s notes, then experimented with suppressing Light Release using Sage Chakra; after an early injury, he learned to contain and expel it safely.
• Yichen returned to Team Seven’s training ground and found Kurotsuchi and Yuki Kinuyo arguing over Haku, so he arranged a three-round competition and made Haku teach them chakra control.
• Sakura rapidly improved at climbing Yichen’s Earth Wall and reached its top, winning the first round for Yuki Kinuyo’s side.
• Yichen’s strategy had Iwagakure win over the Land of Wind’s Daimyo while taking Sunagakure’s missions and attacking its ninja, worsening Sunagakure’s shortages.
• Rasa’s lack of companionship and continued exposure to Shukaku’s chakra contributed to Gaara going berserk inside Sunagakure, causing heavy casualties and destruction.
• Yichen sent a delegation led by his disciple Takuya to Sunagakure to express Iwagakure’s condolences.

Kajiyamari used Danzo’s interest in Iwagakure’s White Zetsu transplantation surgery to secure valuable Konoha techniques and artifacts. Back in Iwagakure, Yichen’s researchers examined the acquired masks and began to suspect they were formed from souls, opening a new direction for their research.

• Kajiyamari spread news of Iwagakure’s limb-transplantation surgery with Danzo’s help, prompting Tsunade to investigate and discover their cooperation.
• Danzo met Kajiyamari and traded three Uzumaki masks, ten Flying Thunder God-marked swords, special Aburame insects, and Super Beast Imitation Drawing insights for Iwagakure’s transplantation technology.
• Yichen sent the Super Beast Imitation Drawing insights to Sasagawa Ayumi and gave Atsumi Akino the marked swords to help her study the Heavenly Transfer Technique.
• Yichen asked Atsumi Akino, Katsuya, and Natsuki to examine the Uzumaki masks, and Katsuya proposed that the masks were powerful souls shaped and maintained by runes.
• Atsumi Akino became absorbed in comparing a mask with the Flying Thunder God marks, while Katsuya concluded that using souls to seal souls could advance their research.

Yichen received the Land of Hot Water daimyo’s request for help against the Jashin Cult and planned a joint operation with the Mist ninja and Danzo while maintaining pressure on Sunagakure. Before investigating the cult, he returned to the training ground and assigned tasks to his disciples, including having Haku train in Water Release and Wind Release.

• Yichen gave Katsuya and Natsuki Ghost Fire for their soul research and warned them to protect themselves with Soul Seals.
• Yichen gave Kamizuru Tsuruhime ten special Aburame Clan insects to use in cultivating new abilities for her bees.
• The advisors discussed the Land of Hot Water’s aid request and agreed to send Iwa ninja against the Jashin Cult alongside the Mist ninja and Danzo, with Yichen proposing to divide the benefits with Konoha.
• Yichen told the advisors he had traded Iwagakure’s White Zetsu transplant technique to Danzo for Uzumaki masks, Flying Thunder God-marked weapons, special insects, and Super Beast Imitation Drawing notes.
• Yichen visited the training ground, noticed Shion among the children under Anbu protection, and assigned training tasks to Haku, Fujii Kusaka, and Kamizuru Tsuruhime.

Yichen visited the Land of Bears Branch, checked on his disciples, and took Chiga to investigate the Jashin Cult in the Land of Hot Water. At Yugakure, he sealed most of the cultists but discovered that the altar connected to Jashin, a powerful soul-like being.

• Yichen learned that Shion lived in Iwagakure, then persuaded her to accept extra study and training so Little Rhino Dog and Little Chōmei could visit her.
• Yichen visited the nearly completed Land of Bears Branch, heard that missing-nin had mostly been driven from the region, and ordered the branch to monitor the Star without actively pursuing it.
• Yichen tested Sasagawa Ayumi's Super Beast Imitation Drawing tactics and praised his progress.
• Yichen took Chiga from the branch to the Land of Hot Water, warning her that the Jashin Cult could use an enemy's blood to kill them and hoping to learn from their techniques.
• Yichen and Chiga found Yugakure poorly defended, and Yichen silently sealed hundreds of Jashin Cult members with Porcelain Release.
• At the Blood Pool, Yichen sealed more cultists, but some gained enough power to resist, while his Mind's Eye revealed a powerful soul-like presence connected to the altar that he identified as Jashin.

Yichen and Chiga uncovered how the Jashin Cult’s Bloodcurtse linked souls and let Yichen kill a target from within Chiga’s Blood Sensation space. After experimenting on the cult members, Yichen entered that space again with a bell to confront Jashin, leaving the encounter unresolved.

• The Jashin Cult leader summoned reinforcements, but the signal brought no one, and he ordered the surviving members to attack Yichen.
• Yichen used Chiga’s Blood Sensation to observe how the cult’s Bloodcurtse linked a target’s soul to the people who had swallowed the target’s blood.
• Yichen and Chiga experimented on the Jashin Cult members until Chiga understood Bloodcurtse, and Yichen used Spirit Transformation inside her Blood Sensation space to kill a cult member remotely.
• Yichen killed the cult leader and continued experiments with the remaining members until Chiga fully understood Bloodcurtse’s principles.
• Yichen entered Chiga’s Blood Sensation space with the bell to test Jashin directly after drawing it in through another cult member.

Yichen destroyed Jashin’s phantom repeatedly and merged with it to study how it processed the emotions of sacrificed souls, then left Yugakure with Chiga after the Jashin Cult’s headquarters and wealth had been cleared out. Danzo secretly allied with Iwagakure and Kirigakure to purge the cult and divide the Land of Hot Water, leaving Tsunade furious over his unauthorized actions and the ensuing disputes.

• Yichen used Yin Release inside Chiga’s Blood Sensation space to destroy Jashin phantoms, severing the cultists’ connection to Jashin without harming them directly.
• Yichen merged with Jashin’s phantom and discovered that Jashin sorted souls by emotion to withstand the overwhelming influx of negative feelings, then repeated his observations with Chiga’s help over two days.
• Yichen and Chiga sacrificed the Jashin Cult members in Yugakure, freed the captives, and searched the village for its wealth before leaving.
• Kajiyamari offered Danzo a deal to divide the Land of Hot Water, and Danzo agreed to provide two techniques in exchange for a share of the spoils.
• Danzo secretly sent Root forces alongside Iwagakure and Kirigakure troops to wipe out the Jashin Cult, while Yichen’s earlier cleanup left Root with an empty Yugakure and triggered disputes over the agreed division.
• Danzo publicized the operation as his achievement, and Tsunade became furious after the unauthorized campaign and a reprimand from the Fourth Raikage.

Yichen traveled to Konoha and recruited Yakumo Kurama, whose powerful Kekkei Genkai could turn illusions into reality, to join Iwagakure. He promised she would not have to fight Konoha ninja and took her away, offering to teach her a drawing-based ninjutsu suited to her abilities.

• Mei reviewed the wealth Yichen brought from Yugakure and arranged for him to practice the Mutual Distraction Explosion Tag Technique, while noting that Iwagakure still lacked a large-capacity Storage Scroll for selling Exploding Tags.
• Yichen tested the technique and taught it to Uzumaki Riori before receiving Kajiyamari's intelligence report about Yakumo Kurama.
• Yichen flew to the forest near Konoha, found Yakumo Kurama's guarded villa, and subdued the eight Anbu stationed outside.
• Yichen invited Yakumo Kurama to join Iwagakure, and she agreed after explaining her hopes of restoring the Kurama Clan and asking not to be made to attack Konoha ninja.
• Yichen lifted Yakumo Kurama and her chair on a Porcelain Platform and promised to teach her Super Beast Imitation Drawing so she could fly.

Yichen brought Yakumo Kurama from Konoha to Iwagakure, where he arranged for her to live with Purple Lightning and the others and helped seal the monster inside her. Atsumi Akino reported breakthroughs in long-distance teleportation and Flying Thunder God research, and Yichen concluded that possessing Flying Thunder God would let him begin unifying the ninja world.

• Yichen explained to Yakumo Kurama why he believed Konoha had hidden the truth about her parents' deaths to protect her, but said she needed to strengthen her will before he would reveal it.
• Yichen introduced Yakumo Kurama to Purple Lightning and Uzumaki Riori, whose Shadow Clones eagerly welcomed her, then continued with her toward Iwagakure.
• Yichen arranged for Yakumo Kurama to live with Purple Lightning's family and used Katsuya and his own seal to contain and harness the monster within her, while requesting Miroku's help with a Miko Seal.
• Atsumi Akino told Yichen she had achieved long-distance teleportation between Iwagakure and the Land of Bears and simplified Senju Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Mark.
• Yichen and Atsumi Akino tested the Teleportation Array, and Atsumi explained why using one did not grant someone the ability to use Flying Thunder God.
• Yichen argued that powerful individuals mattered more than armies and said he would begin unifying the ninja world if he possessed Flying Thunder God.

Yichen sent Atsumi Akino to research accessible Space-Time Ninjutsu and secretly establish Teleportation Arrays, then rushed to Konoha after learning Danzo had attacked Shisui Uchiha. He saved Shisui from death and confronted Itachi, who awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and attacked Yichen with Amaterasu.

• Yichen persuaded Atsumi Akino to prioritize Space-Time Ninjutsu research and secretly build Teleportation Arrays between Iwagakure and its bases.
• Danzo used his victory, claimed Wood Release, and rising prestige to strengthen his bid for the Hokage position before targeting Shisui Uchiha.
• After receiving urgent intelligence, Yichen traveled through a newly completed Teleportation Array and searched for Shisui near Konoha.
• Yichen arrived as Shisui gouged out his own eye and jumped from a cliff, while Itachi awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Yichen recovered the eyeless Shisui in Porcelain Mud and invited Itachi to talk.
• Itachi attacked Yichen with Amaterasu, but Yichen sealed the flames and revealed that they had struck a Porcelain Release Clone.

Yichen traded Shisui Uchiha’s life for his Mangekyō Sharingan, then fled after sensing a threat he suspected was the Sage of Six Paths and received an unexplained gift from another dimension. In Konoha, Shisui recovered and told Itachi that Danzō had taken his right eye, changing how Itachi viewed the village’s leaders.

• Yichen negotiated with Itachi Uchiha, tore off Shisui Uchiha’s arm as a concession, and exchanged Shisui’s life for the Mangekyō Sharingan in Itachi’s hand.
• As Itachi retreated with Shisui, Yichen sensed an overwhelming threat and fled; he suspected the Sage of Six Paths was watching over the Uchiha brothers.
• Yichen challenged the unseen Sage of Six Paths for compensation and received an item from another dimension before returning to Iwagakure.
• Itachi treated Shisui’s wounds and told him that Yichen had traded his life for his Sharingan and that Itachi had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Shisui urged Itachi to mediate the conflict between the clan and the village, then revealed that Danzō had taken his right eye.
• Itachi reacted with anger toward Danzō and began to see Konoha’s high-ranking officials differently.

Yichen returned to Iwagakure with a mysterious sphere from the Sage of Six Paths and persuaded the village leadership to fund research into its five-attribute structure. He also briefed them on Shisui Uchiha’s eye and Konoha’s Mangekyō Sharingan users, leaving Iwagakure weighing how to exploit Konoha’s internal conflict.

• Yichen examined the white sphere and found that it contained five separate attributes on the verge of fusion, which he believed could guide the pursuit of Bloodline Perfection.
• Yichen gathered Iwagakure’s leaders and secured their agreement to fund a village-wide research project, with Ikura placed in charge and village operations set as a spending limit.
• Yichen revealed that he had obtained Shisui Uchiha’s left eye, which held the Kotoamatsukami ocular technique, and the leaders agreed it required strict safeguards.
• Yichen described Itachi Uchiha’s black-flame ocular technique and explained that it could be countered by sealing the flames or shedding the affected Chakra.
• Yichen concluded that Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha would probably remain aligned with Konoha’s leaders, though they would likely trust Danzo less.