Chapter Summaries

After special training, Yichen and Tana entered sparring matches with Shinohara, whose skill humbled them and restored his confidence. Kitsuchi then led Team Five on a B-rank mission to hunt Aoyen, a cautious rogue ninja last seen taking work in the Land of Fields.

• Tana returned from training having learned to use the Body Flicker Technique in combat, while Yichen had greatly improved his hand-seal speed and Water Line Jutsu.
• After Team Five completed a C-rank mission, Kitsuchi arranged sparring matches to test the team’s changed abilities.
• Shinohara defeated Yichen by disrupting his attacks and reading his Substitution Technique, then fought Tana to a stalemate.
• Kitsuchi’s lessons helped Yichen and Tana recognize their overconfidence and restored Shinohara’s confidence.
• Three days later, Kitsuchi accepted a B-rank mission for Team Five to find and hunt Aoyen, a rogue Chunin last spotted near a black market in the Land of Fields.
• Team Five prepared supplies, registered their departure, and set out for the Land of Fields.

Team Five waited near the Land of Fields’ underground black market for Aoyen, but their surveillance led to a confrontation with a three-ninja team that included an Ice Release bloodline user. The two teams prepared to fight, leaving Yichen and the others concealed while their opponents tried to locate them.

• Yichen analyzed the intelligence agent’s message and concluded that Aoyen might still be nearby, so Team Five scouted northeast and chose a hill as an ambush site.
• Team Five watched the road for five days, avoiding travelers with Jonin-level Chakra while Yichen used Sensory Ninjutsu to screen them.
• Tana spotted three approaching ninjas, and Yichen sensed a Jonin, a Taijutsu ninja, and an Ice Release bloodline ninja before the latter detected his probing.
• Yichen led Team Five to its prepared trap zone as the three pursuers followed, and both sides concealed themselves for battle.
• Imamura Kosaku decided to attack after Yuki Kagami confirmed his Ice Release identity had likely been exposed, then swept the trap zone with a Water Release Ninjutsu.
• Team Five avoided the water dragon inside prepared hiding holes, while Yichen sensed the enemy and Yuki Kagami warned that the opposing team could not pinpoint their positions.

Yichen’s Team Five destroyed the enemy’s Water Clone with traps, but Yuki Kagami’s Ice Style exposed their positions and forced them into battle. The fight left Kitsuchi facing Imamura Kosaku while Yichen, Tana, and Shinohara fought Yuki Kagami and Kono Oda.

• Imamura Kosaku sent a Water Clone to scout, and Yichen lured it into a trap barrage that destroyed it.
• Yuki Kagami unleashed Ice Style: Ice Needles, destroying Team Five’s traps and revealing the four ninjas’ hiding places.
• Imamura Kosaku attacked with Water Style: Raging Waves, but Kitsuchi raised an Earth Flow Fortress that blocked the assault.
• Imamura Kosaku engaged Kitsuchi while Yuki Kagami and Kono Oda charged Yichen, Tana, and Shinohara.
• Yichen’s team countered Yuki Kagami’s Ice Style attacks, and Yuki Kagami decided to target the slower Shinohara.

Yichen, Tana, and Shinohara fought Yuki Kagami and Kono Oda while Kitsuchi battled Imamura Kosaku. After Kitsuchi killed the enemy ninja, the group sealed the bodies and fled before more enemies arrived.

• Kono Oda slashed apart Yichen's Water Line Jutsu, while Shinohara used his weighted training gear to slow Yuki Kagami's ice spear and dodge it.
• Yichen interrupted Yuki Kagami's jutsu, but Yuki Kagami formed an Ice Prison Jutsu and attacked from inside; Yichen tipped the prison over with Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear and sent Shinohara to support Tana.
• Imamura Kosaku attacked Yichen, who used Substitution to evade the strike and then hit Imamura with Water Style: Water Line Jutsu, allowing Kitsuchi to kill him with Rock Fist.
• Kitsuchi killed Kono Oda, crushed Yuki Kagami's ice prison, and then caught and beheaded Yuki Kagami as he escaped.
• Yichen sealed Yuki Kagami's remains and the heads of Imamura Kosaku and Kono Oda, then he and the others left without cleaning up the battlefield.

After recovering from the mission, Yichen studied information on Kekkei Genkai and became determined to pursue a way to develop one himself. He spent the rest of his leave refining his Earth Style techniques, reducing their hand seals and recognizing that he could simplify them further.

• Kitsuchi and the others carried the injured Yichen back to Iwagakure, where Kitsuchi gave Team Five ten days off after their return.
• Yichen spent several days helping the Barrier Team with experiments while recovering, then exchanged Contribution Points for information on Kekkei Genkai.
• After studying the intelligence, Yichen learned how bloodline limits could improve a ninja’s abilities and resolved to seek a method to cultivate one.
• Yichen decided to save Contribution Points and ask Ōnoki about bloodline-limit cultivation methods after rendering great service.
• Yichen analyzed his Earth Style techniques and reduced Earth Rising Spear from twelve hand seals to ten and Earth Flow Wall from ten to nine.

After two years of missions, Yichen witnessed the Five Great Nations formally end the war, leaving Team Five facing an uncertain future. He visited the Barrier Team’s experiment on absorbing Natural Energy, where the reconstructed sealing technique began and Ōnoki reacted suddenly.

• Kitsuchi took Yichen, Shinohara, and Tana on pursuit missions for two years, and Team Five killed four Chunin-level rogue ninja.
• The Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire signed peace treaties, and Ōnoki announced the end of the war.
• Yichen reflected on the fragile peace and the coming disbandment of Team Five as Tana and Shinohara prepared for the Chunin Assessment.
• Yichen visited the Barrier Team’s experiment, where Mizuhara and Uzumaki Yumi discussed the risk of accumulated Natural Energy.
• More than a dozen seal masters activated the reconstructed sealing technique, and Ōnoki’s body jolted as Yichen tried to sense the experiment’s progress.

Yichen and Ōnoki helped the Barrier Team learn to control a sealed area filled with Natural Energy, then the village planned experiments to study its effects. After Yichen lived in the area without harm, the village selected residents and assigned him to the Anbu as Team Five was disbanded.

• Yichen sensed the Natural Energy gathering in the sealed area, and Ōnoki directed the sealing specialists to slow its buildup.
• The Barrier Team spent several days testing the seal until they could start and stop it and replace the Ninjas maintaining it.
• Yichen suggested using the sealed area as a special environment for Ninjas and Ninja Beasts, and Ōnoki decided to begin with selected residents and recovering patients.
• Yichen volunteered to live in the sealed area and spent more than a dozen days there without discomfort, reporting that his affinity for Natural Energy might be growing.
• Yichen suggested selecting both calm nature-loving Ninjas and those with especially strong killing intent, and Ōnoki ordered the village to begin moving selected people in.
• The village disbanded Team Five, assigned Yichen and Tana to the Anbu, and made Shinohara the captain of a new team.

Yichen joined Iwagakure's Anbu and learned about its structure, training, and the skill each member could choose to study. After Captain Owl advised him to prioritize survival, Yichen chose the Body Flicker Technique and began reading its scroll.

• Captain Owl led Yichen to the Anbu base, explained its security procedures, and helped him collect standard equipment.
• Yichen began theoretical and combat training and was told that Anbu members could choose a skill to learn.
• Yichen reviewed his progress in ninjutsu and struggled to choose a skill that would fit his long-range combat style and busy training schedule.
• Captain Owl recommended the Body Flicker Technique so Yichen could escape danger and reposition during missions.
• Yichen chose the Body Flicker Technique, received its scroll, and began studying how it worked.

Yichen joined Team 18 after demonstrating his Ninjutsu in sparring matches against its members. Captain Purple Lightning and the others accepted him into the squad, and the team revealed their faces to one another.

• Yichen reported to Team 18 and introduced himself by the codename Yi to Captain Purple Lightning, Shironeko, and Little Stone.
• Shironeko attacked Yichen, who used Water and Earth Style Ninjutsu to keep her at bay until her black ninja cat intervened and she acknowledged his strength.
• Little Stone charged with his sword, but Yichen forced him to surrender with repeated Earth Style: Earth Rising Spears.
• Captain Purple Lightning ambushed Yichen and put a blade to his neck, demonstrating that her speed could overwhelm him.
• Purple Lightning accepted Yichen as a member of Team 18, and the squad members removed their masks to learn one another's appearances.

Yichen joined Team 18 on a border patrol and rapidly improved his Body Flicker Technique under Purple Lightning’s guidance. When his sensory ability revealed a hidden Anbu squad among a merchant caravan, Team 18 gathered two neighboring squads and launched a coordinated attack.

• Team 18 patrolled the border, where Purple Lightning coached Yichen in the Body Flicker Technique as the squad inspected travelers.
• Yichen mastered two Body Flickers from one set of seals in just over twenty days, surprising Little Stone, Shironeko, and Purple Lightning.
• Yichen sensed eight Ninjas accompanying a merchant caravan, including a concealed Anbu squad led by a Jonin.
• Purple Lightning sent Team 18 to contact neighboring Anbu squads, then regrouped with a second squad and tracked the caravan.
• Yichen identified the enemy Ninjas’ positions and abilities, and Purple Lightning assigned the three squads to attack their respective targets.
• The twelve Anbu launched their coordinated attack on the merchant caravan.

Yichen’s Anbu squad helped defeat an enemy team in a rapid ambush, then he reflected on his performance and received a substantial mission reward. At the Ninjutsu Exchange Office, he discovered he could claim an unredeemed free C-rank jutsu and decided to choose the most expensive option.

• Yichen and the other Anbu killed the enemy squads, secured the bodies and spoils, and withdrew from the battlefield in under a minute.
• Yichen studied a copied Phoenix Fire Technique scroll, reviewed his mistake in the group battle, and asked Team 18’s seniors for advice.
• The mission was credited as A-rank, and Yichen received 2,000 Contribution Points, bringing his total to more than 7,000.
• At the Ninjutsu Exchange Office, Yichen learned that he still had a free C-rank jutsu exchange from the village’s wartime pension arrangement.
• Yichen asked to see the full list so he could choose the most expensive C-rank Ninjutsu.

Yichen studied the village’s C-rank techniques and, after discovering true Yin Release Chakra, realized he could double his Chakra capacity. He contributed his self-created Water Pressure Line Jutsu to the village, earning enough free exchanges to acquire several techniques before leaving with his chosen skills.

• Yichen set aside familiar and unsuitable catalogs, then found that descriptions of Yin Release techniques helped him comprehend true Yin Release Chakra.
• Yichen realized his excess mental power had previously limited his Chakra extraction and estimated that his future Chakra volume would double.
• Yichen compared the available Genjutsu and Yin Release techniques but lacked enough contribution points to claim both Mind Disturbance Jutsu and Body Bind Technique.
• Yichen demonstrated Water Pressure Line Jutsu, which pierced four Earth Style: Earth Flow Walls while consuming only 25C of Chakra.
• The staff member accepted Yichen’s technique for the village’s collection and granted him two free C-rank exchanges.
• Yichen chose Mind Disturbance Jutsu, Body Bind Technique, and Earth Style: Earth Clone Jutsu for free, then spent more than 7,000 points on Earth Style: Earth Submergence, an anti-sensory Ninjutsu, and a sword technique.

Yichen learned Earth Style: Earth Submergence during his short break before Team 18 received a mission to gather intelligence in the Land of Rain. While crossing the country under the guise of escorting a merchant caravan, he trained with his teammates and began developing a group attack based on Water Style: Water Line Jutsu.

• Yichen posted a mission for guidance and learned Earth Style: Earth Submergence from a Chunin, gradually reducing the technique’s high Chakra cost.
• Captain Purple Lightning accepted a mission for Team 18 to assess Rain Village and retrieve intelligence while investigating Hanzo’s strength and the influence of the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
• Danzo supported the Akatsuki Organization in the Land of Rain, hoping to weaken Hanzo and eventually make the country a vassal.
• Yichen’s team traveled through the Land of Rain disguised as ordinary ninjas escorting a merchant caravan, and Yichen practiced the Body Flicker Technique with Little Stone.
• Yichen trained Shironeko and Dango in evasion and began planning a group attack version of Water Style: Water Line Jutsu.

While escorting a caravan through the Land of Rain, Yichen met Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan and helped the Akatsuki Organization obtain food for refugees. He left after encouraging Yahiko’s pursuit of peace, while the three planned to thank him at another settlement.

• Yichen noticed the Land of Rain was filled with refugees and reflected on Hanzo’s weakening control and Danzo’s efforts to support local factions.
• Yichen encountered Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan while practicing ninjutsu, and Yahiko explained that the Akatsuki Organization was helping refugees and needed food.
• Yichen took Yahiko to the caravan leader, who refused to sell supplies at the low price Yahiko offered.
• Yichen used his own money to buy food from the caravan and gave it to Yahiko, telling him that the Akatsuki’s work had renewed his hope for peace.
• Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan distributed the food at a settlement, then decided to visit the next site and thank Yichen.

Yichen questioned Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato to gather intelligence about Akatsuki, Konoha’s secret support, and the Land of Rain’s many independent organizations. After his team found a large ambush at their intelligence drop point, Yichen proposed drawing nearby Konoha ninja into a clash with the suspected Sunagakure force.

• Yichen learned from Konan that more than forty organizations operated in the Land of Rain and from Nagato that Konoha Anbu secretly aided Akatsuki; he warned Yahiko to be cautious.
• Yichen told Purple Lightning, Shironeko, and Little Stone that Hanzo might have lost control of the Land of Rain and that Konoha was secretly involved.
• Yichen’s team found sixteen ninja guarding the intelligence drop point, including three Jonin and one Special Jonin, and retreated without retrieving the intelligence.
• Purple Lightning concluded that the spy had likely been exposed and recommended returning to the village, but Yichen proposed luring nearby Konoha Anbu into a clash with the suspected Sunagakure ambushers.
• Purple Lightning agreed to consider the plan and said the team first needed to locate enough Konoha ninja while keeping themselves out of the conflict.

Team 18 watched Konoha Root and Sunagakure fight, then attacked the Root ninja left behind to recover the bodies. Purple Lightning and Yichen caught the cleanup squad off guard, and the battle continued as Purple Lightning killed one of the wounded Root members.

• Two organizations received conflicting reports that Sunagakure or Iwa had allied with Hanzo, and Root traced both reports to the same suspicious location.
• Root surrounded a group of Sunagakure ninja, who broke south through the encirclement; both sides suffered casualties as Root pursued the retreating force.
• Team 18 observed the battle, and Purple Lightning decided they would attack the Root ninja left behind to collect the fallen bodies.
• Team 18 charged the cleanup squad, and Yichen disrupted the first Root ninja with Water Style: Water Line Jutsu while Purple Lightning advanced.
• A Root ninja countercharged Purple Lightning with Exploding Tags, but she escaped with Body Flicker Technique and moved toward the others.
• Yichen's Water Pressure Line pierced a Root ninja through an Earth Wall, and Purple Lightning cut off the wounded man's head before retreating.

Team 18 survived Sunagakure’s ambush, returned to Iwagakure with valuable intelligence, and earned an S-rank mission record. During his leave, Yichen learned and simplified the Mind Disturbance Jutsu, then collected contribution points and a silver reward.

• Yichen, Purple Lightning, Shironeko, and Little Stone killed the remaining Root ninjas and escaped toward the Land of Earth with the scrolls.
• The Root commander found his cleanup team dead, realized he had been manipulated, and ordered his force back to the village.
• Team 18 reported its mission to Ōnoki and the advisers, who accepted Yichen’s deductions, explained Sunagakure’s objective, and awarded the team an S-rank mission record.
• Yichen used his leave to hire a Jonin to teach him the Mind Disturbance Jutsu, and they simplified it to require only one hand seal.
• Yichen submitted the simplified jutsu to the Contribution Office for 300 Contribution Points and collected 5,000 points for the mission, along with his silver reward.

After Team 18 began a month of internal training, Yichen followed Owl’s advice and learned the Body Bind Technique, then tested his new Genjutsu and Little Stone’s Chakra-conducting sword at the training ground. Yichen discovered that his mental strength made his Genjutsu difficult to escape, leaving him eager to focus on mastering it.

• Captain Purple Lightning announced that Team 18 would spend the next month training internally after their S-rank mission.
• Owl advised Yichen to prioritize the Body Bind Technique, improve his Body Flicker Technique and Earth Style Clone, and learn swordsmanship before less useful techniques.
• Yichen posted a B-rank mission for Genjutsu instruction and learned the Body Bind Technique in three days.
• Little Stone tested his new Chakra-conducting sword by cutting through Yichen’s Water Style: Water Line Jutsu and charging through his other attacks.
• Yichen used Mind Disturbance Jutsu to disorient Little Stone, then trapped him with the Body Bind Technique despite Little Stone trying to dispel it.
• Yichen released the Genjutsu after Little Stone admitted defeat and resolved to become more familiar with Genjutsu.

Yichen tested his genjutsu before witnessing Purple Lightning demonstrate an A-rank technique, which led him to realize he had become a true ninja. After Purple Lightning pushed him through a long spar, his will transformed and he crossed the threshold toward becoming a Jonin.

• Yichen discovered that attacks broke Little Stone out of his genjutsu, then decided to practice simplifying its hand seals while he looked for a better sparring target.
• After seven days, Purple Lightning returned and demonstrated Wind Release—Vacuum Wave to Yichen, Shironeko, and Little Stone.
• Seeing the A-rank technique’s destructive power made Yichen realize he had long since become a ninja and could grow to reach Purple Lightning’s level.
• Purple Lightning sparred with Yichen for over an hour, later bringing Shironeko and Little Stone into the fight, until Yichen ran out of Chakra.
• Purple Lightning recognized that Yichen’s will had transformed, bringing him across the threshold toward becoming a Jonin and accelerating his future growth.
• Purple Lightning explained Yichen’s breakthrough to Shironeko and Little Stone, who carried him back to the village while resenting that he had advanced ahead of them.

Yichen’s strengthened willpower accelerated his training, but Team 18’s border patrol mission uncovered a series of disappearances. After meeting another Anbu squad, Yichen sensed that its members had been poisoned, though even their Jonin leader could not identify or remove it.

• Yichen realized that a Jonin’s willpower and mental strength helped a ninja unleash their abilities, and his own resolve and growth increased.
• Yichen improved his ninjutsu, swordsmanship, Chakra control, hand-seal speed, and efficiency during intensive training.
• Team 18 began a border patrol mission and learned from Miyake that ninja had been disappearing, including an entire Chunin squad.
• Shironeko, Little Stone, and Yichen discussed whether the hidden enemy was targeting ninja bodies or living captives before Yichen sensed four other Anbu nearby.
• Team 18 met the other Anbu squad, and Yichen detected abnormal Chakra in its members and warned them they had been poisoned.
• The other squad’s Jonin confirmed that something was wrong with his Chakra flow but could not detect the poison clearly or remove it.