Chapter Summaries

Yichen coordinated the first caravan trade between the Land of Earth and the Land of Rain, establishing plans for future escorts and a supply station. After the caravan returned successfully, he sparred with Yahiko and struggled against Yahiko’s stronger combat fundamentals.

• Yichen handed Hiroteru’s caravan over to two Akatsuki Organization teams at the border while Team 7 waited for its return.
• Yichen trained his new Water Style ninjutsu and began practicing a B-rank Sword Technique after meeting Purple Lightning’s foundational requirements.
• Hiroteru’s caravan returned with Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, and Yichen created an operations manual for improving future trades.
• Yichen proposed building a modest supply station in the Land of Rain and explained how both countries could fund escorts and station work through mission rewards.
• Yichen asked Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan to spar, then faced Yahiko by a lake and found himself outmatched in taijutsu and swordsmanship fundamentals.

Yichen sparred with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato, then shared combat advice with them and questioned Nagato about his unusual access to all five chakra natures. Nagato’s account led Yichen to suspect the Rinnegan was changing how Nagato’s body handled chakra, though he had not yet reached a conclusion.

• Yichen used water jutsu to hold off Yahiko, but their match ended when Yahiko’s retreat gave Yichen time to unleash Water Style: Raging Waves.
• Konan defeated Yichen with her flying Paper Style attacks, and Yichen later advised her to use explosive-tag shuriken.
• Nagato overwhelmed Yichen with five-nature ninjutsu and Shinra Tensei, while Yichen deliberately tested whether he could discern Nagato’s limits.
• Yichen reviewed the fights with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato, suggested clone tactics suited to Nagato’s large chakra reserves, and explained that he could not teach him Iwagakure’s Earth Style Clone.
• Yichen asked how Nagato developed all five chakra natures, and Nagato described how new attributes seemed to awaken within him, prompting Yichen to form a bold conjecture about the Rinnegan.

Yichen assessed Nagato’s Rinnegan development and discovered that exhausting and transforming his existing Chakra could help reveal a new attribute in freshly extracted Chakra. Unsure which attribute he had uncovered, he took Team 7 to a nearby outpost so he could experiment under protection.

• Yichen advised Nagato to learn higher-ranked Ninjutsu, but Nagato chose to focus on developing the Rinnegan’s abilities.
• Konan teased Yichen about being unable to defeat the three of them, and Yichen explained that his strengths lay in mental power, genjutsu, and Yin Release.
• Yichen and the others parted ways as their caravan resumed trading in towns near the Land of Earth border, while Yahiko and his companions prepared the next caravan and a Supply Station.
• At the camp, Sumire practiced Earth and Wind Release, Kaede worked on the Body Flicker Technique, and Yichen tested his theory about developing a new Chakra attribute.
• Yichen transformed all his Chakra into Water Release, extracted new Chakra, and sensed a difference that seemed to indicate Earth Release, though he could not confirm it.
• Yichen took Team 7 to a nearby outpost so he could experiment safely by exhausting his Chakra.

Yichen developed the beginnings of Fire Release at the Border Outpost, then returned with Team 7 to meet Hiroteru and prepare for another caravan trip. Two additional caravans joined the venture to scout the route, leaving Yichen hopeful that the trade could expand.

• Yichen depleted his Water Release Chakra, converted newly extracted Chakra into Earth Release, and sensed that Fire was his third attribute.
• Yichen experimented with flames, wood, grass, and matches until he discovered how to channel Chakra into red phosphorus and ignite it.
• Yichen caught the sensation of Fire Release transformation and managed to set dry grass alight, though he said he had only just begun to master the attribute.
• Yichen led Team 7 back to Hiroteru's town after several more days at the outpost and learned that the caravan had returned with twice as many supplies.
• Yichen saw two smaller caravans join Hiroteru's group to scout the route and hoped the growing trade venture would expand across the Land of Rain and the Land of Earth.

Yichen escorted an expanding caravan trade between the Land of Earth and the Land of Rain, discovered that Amegakure Anbu were monitoring it, and learned that the Rain Daimyo supported the Akatsuki Organization. After reporting back to Ōnoki, Yichen revealed that Nagato possessed the Rinnegan, shocking Iwagakure’s leaders.

• Yichen detected four Amegakure Anbu following the caravan and had his subordinates track them until they left the border town.
• Yichen met Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, learned that the Rain Daimyo had sent a large caravan to support the Akatsuki Organization, and received four C-rank Ninjutsu scrolls from Nagato and Konan.
• Yichen escorted the caravans back to the Land of Earth, where two new caravans arranged to travel with Hiroteru’s caravan on the next trade journey.
• Yichen reported the trade’s growth and the Amegakure Anbu’s surveillance to Ōnoki and the advisors.
• Yichen told Ōnoki and the others that Nagato possessed the legendary Rinnegan, and they reacted with alarm.

Yichen reported intelligence about the Akatsuki Organization, Nagato’s Rinnegan, and the Land of Rain to Ōnoki, who appointed him to lead trade-route development and intelligence work. After choosing ten Chunin squads and receiving valuable rewards for his techniques, Yichen renamed them Rain Style: Light Rain Jutsu and Rain Style: Heavy Rain Jutsu.

• Yichen told Ōnoki and the advisors that Nagato possessed the Rinnegan and was likely from the Uzumaki Clan, and reported Jiraiya’s connection to Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato.
• Yichen explained that the Land of Rain’s Daimyo might support the Akatsuki Organization, while Hanzo had become alert to its growing connections; the advisors decided Iwa could not intervene without risking a wider war.
• Ōnoki appointed Yichen to lead trade-route development, maintain contact with the Akatsuki Organization, and gather intelligence on the Land of Rain, assigning him ten Chunin squads and rewarding his team’s mission and Rinnegan intelligence.
• Yichen shared Nagato’s ideas about Nature Transformation, and Ōnoki agreed to test them while giving Yichen access to the village’s Fire Release insights.
• Yichen submitted two upgraded group Water Release techniques to the Contribution Office, which awarded him 2,000 Contribution Points for one and a free B-rank Ninjutsu for the other.
• Yichen selected ten Chunin squads, including Shinohara, Mubuki, Taniya, Fujino, and Meikou, then named his techniques Rain Style: Light Rain Jutsu and Rain Style: Heavy Rain Jutsu.

Yichen spent the last day of the holiday training in new Ninjutsu, then prepared supplies and sealing materials for his Supply Station before heading to the border. The next morning, he met his fellow ninja at the village gates as the departure gathered.

• Yichen tested five new Ninjutsu and found that the B-rank techniques consumed large amounts of Chakra, limiting how much he could practice.
• Yichen continued studying Fire Release, managed only a tiny flame, and discovered that his fourth nature was Lightning Release.
• Yichen collected barrier materials and two A-rank Sealing Jutsu from Mizuhara to prepare a safe Supply Station at the border.
• Yichen spent his savings on necessities and collected the Supply Station’s military supplies from the Logistics Department, which sent them to a guarded transfer point.
• Yichen arrived at the village gates the next morning, greeted Mubuki, and watched Taniya and Fujino reunite with their teams and start bickering.

Yichen led a large caravan toward the border to establish a Supply Station, using his sensory abilities to eliminate pursuers along the way. At a canyon ambush, he helped his squads turn the scattered attackers against one another, killed a taijutsu Jonin, and prepared to confront the remaining Jonin.

• Yichen assembled his ten Chunin squads and led the caravan carrying supplies toward the border, with Hiroteru's expanded caravan and the Land of Rain caravan joining the journey.
• Yichen used Sensory Ninjutsu to detect pursuers and dispatched squads to kill them, eliminating more than thirty before the convoy reached a canyon.
• Yichen discovered fifty-seven ambushers, including two Jonin, and instructed Kaede and his other direct subordinates before approaching the canyon.
• Yichen's subordinates unleashed combined Wind Release and Earth Release attacks, killing or wounding many ambushers and triggering confusion among the separate groups.
• Yichen used Genjutsu, poisoned senbon, and Mind Disturbance Jutsu to kill the taijutsu Jonin with a Quick Draw Slash.
• Yichen identified the remaining Ninjutsu-type Jonin, sealed the dead Jonin's body in a scroll, and began preparing Water Style: Raging Waves.

Yichen broke the standoff with the remaining Ninjutsu-type Jonin by secretly moving through the earth and launching a surprise attack, then killed him with Earth Release—Headhunter Jutsu. After regrouping with Kaede, Sumire, and Qingtian, Yichen led the caravan safely through the canyon and onward to a resting place.

• Yichen's Water Style: Raging Waves scattered the attackers, and Kaede led the caravan guards in defeating several before the survivors fled.
• Yichen sensed that the Ninjutsu-type Jonin had stayed behind, then used Earth Style: Earth Submergence to circle beneath the canyon and reach the far side.
• Yichen attacked the Jonin and his two subordinates with Water Style: Raging Waves, killed one subordinate with Water Pressure Line, and forced the other to flee.
• The Jonin's Wind Release destroyed Yichen's rock decoy, but Yichen trapped him with Earth Release—Headhunter Jutsu and killed him.
• Kaede, Sumire, and Qingtian caught the fleeing Chunin and met Yichen, and they returned to the caravan without further casualties.
• Yichen checked the wounded, led the caravan through the canyon, and allowed everyone to rest after another hour of travel.

Yichen counted the spoils from the battle, rewarded his squads with mission records and ninjutsu, and led the caravan to its destination. He handed the merchants over to the Akatsuki Organization and began planning a heavily secured Supply Station.

• Yichen tallied the dead and seized goods, including cash, Chakra Metal, and four Ninjutsu Scrolls.
• Yichen awarded squads mission records and offered exchanges for C-rank ninjutsu based on their performance.
• Shinohara exchanged for a C-rank Wind Release, while Meikou exchanged for a sword technique and accepted two Fire Style scrolls from Yichen.
• After resting, Yichen's group escorted the caravan to its destination, clearing out several more Genin and lower along the way.
• Yichen handed the caravan over to the Akatsuki Organization and learned that it had sent one hundred and twenty people.
• Yichen planned a three-circle Supply Station with a Five Elements Barrier protecting its core building and restricted access to the underground military warehouse.

Yichen organized the Supply Station’s defenses, construction, and rotating caravan escorts while training Fire Release and gathering intelligence in the Land of Rain. Two years later, the trade route had transformed the Land of Earth’s economy, and Yichen was finally due to leave his long-term post once his replacement arrived.

• Yichen laid out the Supply Station’s three defensive circles, arranged shift rotations, contacted nearby outposts, and began construction with the teams remaining at the border.
• Yichen and Meikou trained Fire Release together, and both improved their understanding and skills.
• Yichen assigned teams to escort returning caravans while Kaede made repeated trips into the Land of Rain to collect intelligence.
• The Supply Station and trade route developed over two years, drawing caravans from across the ninja world and greatly increasing the Land of Earth’s trade and tax revenues.
• Yichen remained confined to the Supply Station for nearly two years and awaited village approval and the arrival of a temporary commander before he could leave.

After two years of combat and training, Yichen returned to the village to seek Ōnoki’s orders and claim his promotion to Jonin. He found Dango waiting in his house, but the ninja cat felt different than before.

• Yichen expanded the trade route’s defenses, killing numerous enemy ninja alongside his subordinates and nearby Anbu, while the Supply Station’s forces suffered casualties.
• Yichen improved his swordsmanship, Ninjutsu, Chakra reserves, and hand-seal speed, and mastered using the Body Flicker Technique without hand seals.
• Yichen sparred with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato; he defeated Yahiko, drew with Konan, and still lost to Nagato, whom he gave a retractable fake dagger.
• After learning that Hanzo had contacted Danzo and Root had returned to the Land of Rain, Yichen decided to return to the village for instructions and promotion to Jonin.
• Yichen reached the village with Kaede, Qingtian, and exhausted Sumire, then went home to rest instead of reporting to Ōnoki immediately.
• Yichen found Dango asleep in his house and sensed that the ninja cat felt different from before.

Yichen discovered that Dango was slowly absorbing Natural Energy and reported the breakthrough to Ōnoki, who organized an investigation across Iwagakure’s sealing barriers. The search found no other absorbers, but revealed a wounded Jonin’s weapon gathered Natural Energy; everyone then waited to see what happened when Dango woke.

• Yichen sensed Natural Energy entering Dango’s body and hurried to tell Ōnoki about the discovery.
• Ōnoki brought Yichen to Seal Number One, confirmed Dango was absorbing Natural Energy, and summoned Shironeko and the advisors.
• Yichen and Zero searched the other sealing barriers but found no additional ninjas or beasts absorbing Natural Energy.
• At Seal Number Seven, Yichen found Natural Energy gathering around Jonin Yoshiki’s weapon, and Ōnoki asked Saka to arrange a demonstration after Yoshiki recovered.
• Yichen told Shironeko that Dango’s slow absorption was likely beneficial, though becoming a Sage would take time.

Yichen reported that Konoha Root had contacted Rain Village and warned that Danzo and Hanzo might move against the Akatsuki Organization, raising fears of an early Third Shinobi World War. After testing Dango’s unusual improvement from absorbing Natural Energy, Ōnoki promoted Yichen to Official Jonin and rewarded him for completing his trade-route mission.

• Dango woke at Yichen’s hut, reunited with Shironeko, and revealed she had slept comfortably there for at least thirty nights without consciously noticing Natural Energy.
• Anbu tested Dango and found her abilities had become more balanced, which the higher-ups suspected was an early effect of Natural Energy; they decided she should remain in the village for further testing.
• Yichen reported that Konoha Root had contacted Rain Village, and he suspected Danzo and Hanzo were preparing to ally against the Akatsuki Organization.
• Ōnoki and the advisors worried that conflict in the Land of Rain could trigger an early Third Shinobi World War, which Iwagakure was not ready to face.
• Ōnoki announced that Yichen had become an Official Jonin after completing his trade-route mission, and awarded him credit for four S-rank and ten A-rank missions to exchange for ninjutsu.

Yichen became a Jonin and assessed his resources before preparing for an assignment in the Land of Rain. After receiving a large contribution reward for his Chakra training theory, he exchanged points for the Light-Weight Rock Technique and chose to study a secret scroll on Chakra fusion.

• Ōnoki promoted Yichen to Jonin and offered him a choice of promotion rewards, which Yichen deferred deciding on until later.
• Yichen calculated that he had around 112,000 Contribution Points and realized he could not afford an A-rank Ninjutsu with his current balance.
• A staff member told Yichen that the Advisor Group had awarded him 50,000 Contribution Points for his Chakra attribute training method, bringing his total above 160,000.
• Yichen exchanged Contribution Points for the Light-Weight Rock Technique and chose an A-rank Secret Scroll about fusing two Chakra types to form a Kekkei Genkai.
• Yichen studied the scroll, returned it to its sealed box, and received a Sealing Jutsu on his brain to prevent the secret from leaking.

After learning that his Earth Release mastery was too weak for Chakra Fusion, Yichen reconsidered his priorities and decided to develop it alongside his Water Release. He began focusing on Light-Weight Rock Technique as a step toward creating Heavy Rock Technique and qualifying to practice fusion.

• Yichen discovered that his Earth Release mastery did not meet the secret archive’s requirements for Chakra Fusion, though his Water Release likely did.
• Meishe reassured Yichen that he had to choose his path and reminded him that his earlier sacrifices had been worthwhile.
• Yichen decided that developing Earth Release was acceptable because the village could offer substantial help with Chakra Fusion.
• Yichen returned home, where he found Dango and Shironeko staying in his Sealing Barrier.
• Yichen planned to master Light-Weight Rock Technique and use it as a foundation for developing Heavy Rock Technique.

Yichen struggled to learn the Light-Weight Rock Technique because it required sensing and manipulating a special form of Earth Release. Ōnoki guided him for seven days, and Yichen learned to make a large rock float, though he still could not control the technique well enough to fly himself.

• Yichen failed to make progress practicing the Light-Weight Rock Technique and went to Ōnoki for guidance.
• Ōnoki agreed to guide Yichen for half an hour each evening for seven days.
• Ōnoki explained the technique’s unusual Earth Release Chakra and demonstrated how it changed a stone’s weight.
• Yichen used his perception talent to grasp the technique’s basics, and Ōnoki warned him to practice on objects rather than himself.
• During the seven days of training, Ōnoki took Yichen flying and helped deepen his understanding of Earth Release.
• By the seventh day, Yichen could make a rock about his size float, but he still could not control its gravity evenly or fly himself.

Yichen mastered the Light-Weight Rock Technique, learned to fly while using the Camouflage Jutsu, and prepared for his mission to the Land of Rain. After Ōnoki approved his plan to travel alone, Yichen left the village concealed at high altitude.

• Yichen tested the Light-Weight Rock Technique on animals, then carefully used it on himself and learned to fly.
• Yichen took Shironeko and Dango flying, and Dango's tests showed that Natural Energy was gradually increasing her strength.
• Yichen practiced combining the Light-Weight Rock Technique with the Camouflage Jutsu until he could use both while flying and developed aerial combat tactics.
• After Dango's month of training ended, Yichen received orders to report to Ōnoki and prepared for the Land of Rain.
• Ōnoki agreed to let Yichen travel alone, and Yichen flew toward the Land of Rain at high altitude while concealed.

Yichen investigated Danzo and Hanzo’s plans in the Land of Rain, confirmed that White Zetsu could be detected through its connection to Natural Energy, and tracked Root’s search for an ambush site. He discovered that a Root member could see through his camouflage with the Sharingan, forcing him to rethink how to watch the coming attack.

• Yichen learned from Iwagakure's covert agents that the Rain Village and Root had recently been in frequent contact, suggesting Danzo was in the Land of Rain and a secret agreement was nearing action.
• Yichen sent the Akatsuki Organization a warning to be careful of Konoha, then waited in hiding and detected White Zetsu by sensing Natural Energy in nearby plants.
• Yichen learned that Amegakure was gathering elite ninja and searched for locations where Hanzo might ambush the Akatsuki Organization.
• Yichen observed a Root squad inspecting a possible ambush site, but one member sensed his surveillance and revealed an unsettling aura around his eyes.
• Yichen concluded that the Root member had the Sharingan, which could see through his Camouflage Jutsu, and realized Danzo had accepted several Uchiha Clan members into Root.

Yichen was pursued by a Root squad after discovering that one of its members was an Uchiha with the Sharingan. He used Body Flicker to separate the pursuers and finally launched a powerful single-target Rain Style attack at the Uchiha, who prepared to counter with the Great Fireball Jutsu.

• Yichen realized the Sharingan could expose him, retreated, and was detected when a Wind Release ninja noticed his movement.
• Yichen fled from the Root squad and used repeated Body Flicker Techniques to leave two pursuers behind while the Uchiha closed in.
• Yichen tricked the Uchiha into using the Great Fireball Jutsu by feigning a ninjutsu, then used Body Flicker to widen the gap again.
• Yichen evaded the Uchiha's shuriken and kept running until the Uchiha came within fifty meters.
• Yichen began forming seals at exceptional speed and activated Rain Style: Heavy Rain Jutsu, while the Uchiha realized the attack could not be stopped by his Great Fireball Jutsu.