Chapter Summaries

Hozuki Mangetsu defeated Suikazan Fuguki with a massive explosion, shaking Kirigakure’s belief in the invincibility of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. The battlefield concluded that Fuguki had lost, while the Hozuki Clan saw Mangetsu’s victory as a major step toward the Mizukage succession.

• Suikazan Fuguki failed to withstand the million Explosive Tags and was swallowed by the explosion.
• Kirigakure’s spectators recognized that Hozuki Mangetsu had defeated Fuguki and reconsidered rumors that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been wiped out by a Konoha shinobi.
• The Hozuki Clan Head accepted congratulations while saying Mangetsu still had other candidates to face.
• Qi Shuang withdrew his ice-wall barrier, and Mei Terumi asked who had caused the enormous explosion.
• Qi Shuang deduced that Mangetsu had used Exploding Blade: Shibuki to create the Explosive Tags and confirmed that Fuguki had lost.

Hozuki Mangetsu defeated Suikazan Fuguki and claimed Samehada, but the million Explosive Tags had badly injured him. As Mangetsu prepared to face shinobi from the Third Mizukage’s faction, he revealed he had anticipated their attack.

• Qi Shuang recognized Karatachi Yagura approaching and led Mei Terumi away from the battlefield.
• Mist shinobi found Fuguki alive but unconscious, then prepared to carry him away for treatment.
• Mangetsu demanded Samehada in exchange for letting Fuguki go, and the Mist shinobi surrendered the sword under Kirigakure’s rules.
• After the Mist shinobi left with Fuguki, Mangetsu’s injuries from the Explosive Tags caused him to collapse and cough.
• Shinobi from the Third Mizukage’s faction charged Mangetsu, who formed hand seals and struck the ground with Longsword Ninjutsu: Chizumigumo.

Hozuki Mangetsu used Nuibari’s steel-wire traps to cripple the Mist shinobi who approached him, then gained Samehada’s recognition and prepared to drain chakra from the wounded. Meanwhile, Karatachi Yagura faced a large group of Mist shinobi loyal to the Hozuki Clan and surrounded himself with a red chakra cloak as they attacked.

• Hozuki Mangetsu sprang his steel-wire net, cutting the legs of several Mist shinobi who had tried to capture him.
• Hozuki Mangetsu soothed Samehada with his Water Style Chakra and earned the living sword’s recognition.
• Hozuki Mangetsu approached the wounded Mist shinobi, intending to replenish his chakra with Samehada.
• Karatachi Yagura warned the Hozuki-loyal Mist shinobi surrounding him to move aside, but they attacked him with a volley of ninja tools.
• Karatachi Yagura formed a translucent red chakra cloak around himself.

Yagura overwhelmed the Mist ninja with his Great Tsunami, then froze dozens of Hozuki Clan members who survived by using Water Transformation. Hozuki Mangetsu emerged to challenge him, and the chapter ended as Mangetsu summoned Kabutowari while avoiding Yagura’s water jet.

• Yagura endured the Mist ninja’s attacks and unleashed a giant tsunami that swept away fighters and onlookers across the battlefield.
• Mangetsu survived the wave by liquefying his body, while spectators questioned whether he could oppose Yagura after Suikazan Fuguki’s defeat.
• Yagura discovered Hozuki Clan ninja hiding in puddles, knocked them into the water with Great Waterfall Technique, and froze them with Ice Release: Ice Prison Earth.
• Hozuki Mangetsu revealed himself and invited Yagura to fight, then dodged Yagura’s Water Pillar and summoned Kabutowari from a contract scroll.

Hozuki Mangetsu freed the trapped Hozuki Clan ninja and faced Yagura, revealing that he had defeated Suikazan Fuguki and claimed Samehada. Mangetsu’s opening strikes sent Yagura flying and drained a large portion of his chakra, but Yagura refused the Three-Tails’ offer to help and prepared to continue fighting.

• Hozuki Mangetsu shattered the ice with Kabutowari and ordered the freed Hozuki Clan ninja to leave the battlefield.
• Mangetsu revealed Samehada and told Yagura that he had defeated Suikazan Fuguki to become its second wielder.
• Yagura questioned Mangetsu about Fuguki’s defeat and the earlier explosion, but Mangetsu charged and said he would explain only if Yagura beat him.
• Mangetsu used Mizurappa to strengthen his arm and struck Yagura repeatedly with Samehada, forcing him out of the ground and sending him flying.
• The Three-Tails warned Yagura that Samehada had drained nearly a quarter of his true body’s chakra, but Yagura refused help and chose to keep fighting.

Hozuki Mangetsu kept Samehada under control as he fought Yagura, whose tailed-beast chakra cloak and Water Release attacks could not overcome Samehada’s chakra absorption. Mangetsu pressed Yagura with swordsmanship and left him at a serious disadvantage.

• Hozuki Mangetsu calmed Samehada after it reacted to the scent of a good friend in Yagura’s chakra.
• Yagura formed a tailed-beast chakra cloak and attacked Mangetsu with five high-pressure water bullets.
• Mangetsu used Samehada to drain the chakra from one water bullet and cut through it, escaping the barrage.
• The Three-Tails explained to Yagura that Samehada could absorb chakra and said its appetite exceeded even the beast’s supply.
• Mangetsu closed in and used his swordsmanship to block Yagura from preparing a large-scale attack.
• Yagura blocked Mangetsu’s strikes with his Coral Staff but was gradually forced into a disadvantage.

Hozuki Mangetsu initially overpowered Yagura with Samehada, but the Three-Tails took control of Yagura’s body and reclaimed the sword. Mangetsu escaped after Samehada turned against him, while Qi Shuang explained its bond with the Three-Tails.

• Hozuki Mangetsu used Samehada to strip away Yagura’s Chakra Cloak and drive him back with a series of sword strikes.
• Yagura yielded control of his body to the Three-Tails, which protected him with a black-red Chakra Cloak as Mangetsu attacked.
• The Three-Tails revealed itself as Samehada’s original master, and Samehada resisted Mangetsu before snapping his wrist and breaking free.
• Hozuki Mangetsu abandoned Samehada and used Body Flicker to escape as the Three-Tails took possession of the sword.
• Mei Terumi asked how Samehada had lost control, and Qi Shuang explained its living nature and its long connection to the Three-Tails.

Karatachi Yagura revealed that he had become a perfect Jinchuriki, with the Three-Tails controlling his body and wielding Samehada against Hozuki Mangetsu. Mangetsu counterattacked and sent the Three-Tails flying, leaving their battle unresolved.

• Qi Shuang explained to Mei Terumi that the Three-Tails' will, rather than Yagura's, could restrain Samehada, and they concluded Yagura had willingly yielded control.
• The clan heads realized Yagura had gained the Three-Tails' recognition, and the Third Mizukage confirmed that Kirigakure had another perfect Jinchuriki.
• The Hozuki Clan Head despaired as Yagura's new power and Samehada's betrayal threatened Mangetsu's plans.
• The Three-Tails reunited joyfully with Samehada, promised Yagura it would not take revenge on Kirigakure, and charged at Mangetsu.
• The Three-Tails struck Mangetsu, who liquefied his body, attacked with Water Release: Water Bullet, and sent the Three-Tails flying.

Hozuki Mangetsu tried to overcome Yagura’s powerful Three-Tails Chakra Cloak by summoning Exploding Blade Shibuki and splitting himself into two real bodies. After the Three-Tails relinquished control, Yagura charged at Mangetsu with Samehada, but Mangetsu detonated Explosive Tags on Shibuki and blasted him away.

• Hozuki Mangetsu summoned Exploding Blade Shibuki and Kabutowari, deciding to use Shibuki’s explosive power to finish the fight quickly.
• The Three-Tails withdrew its control over Yagura’s body, leaving Yagura to fight Mangetsu himself.
• Yagura kept Samehada and charged at Mangetsu in the first stage of Tailed Beast Transformation.
• Hozuki Mangetsu split into two real bodies through Water Transformation Jutsu, with one wielding Kabutowari and the other Shibuki.
• The Mangetsu wielding Shibuki covered its blade with Explosive Tags and detonated them, blasting Yagura away.

Yagura and Mangetsu’s clone fought while Mangetsu’s other clone secretly prepared an Explosive Tag formation. After realizing Mangetsu was holding back, Yagura paused the fight and asked if he had deliberately gone easy on him.

• Mangetsu’s clone attacked Yagura with Kabutowari, but Yagura’s Chakra Cloak softened the blow and he avoided the next strike.
• Mangetsu recognized that the Three-Tails had withdrawn and chose to keep Yagura occupied while his other clone prepared Explosive Tags around the battlefield.
• Mei Terumi questioned why Mangetsu was struggling against Yagura, and Qi Shuang explained that his clone carrying Shibuki was secretly laying Explosive Tags.
• The Three-Tails warned Yagura that Mangetsu’s other clone was doing something outside the fight, and Yagura realized he had overlooked it.
• Yagura forced Mangetsu back and asked whether he had deliberately gone easy on him.

Hozuki Mangetsu detonated nearly a million Explosive Tags against Karatachi Yagura, who survived by transforming into the Three-Tails. The Third Mizukage calmed the frightened spectators by explaining that the Three-Tails had reached an understanding with Yagura and would not rampage.

• Hozuki Mangetsu revealed that he had planted nearly a million Explosive Tags and used Water Release: Water Formation Wall to shield himself before detonating them.
• Karatachi Yagura began a Complete Tailed Beast Transformation as the Three-Tails urged him to defend himself from the blast.
• Mei Terumi asked Qi Shuang whether Mangetsu's attack could defeat Yagura, and Qi Shuang said Yagura would likely survive but might lose combat power.
• The Three-Tails appeared through the smoke, and the watching Mist shinobi panicked, believing it had escaped and would rampage.
• The Third Mizukage announced that the Three-Tails had reached an understanding with Karatachi Yagura, and the spectators calmed down and returned to their viewing positions.

Hozuki Mangetsu faced the Three-Tails after his explosive attack failed to defeat it, while Yagura’s perfect Jinchuriki transformation made the Hozuki Clan’s defeat inevitable. As the Three-Tails prepared a Tailed Beast Ball, Qi Shuang remembered that the dead Konoha girl’s corpse could still serve a purpose.

• The Three-Tails acknowledged that Mangetsu’s Explosive Tags had injured it and prepared to attack him with a Tailed Beast Ball.
• Mangetsu refused to surrender despite his depleted chakra and secretly seeped part of his liquefied body into the ground.
• Yagura asked Isobu about the attack, and Isobu assured him it could control the Tailed Beast Ball’s destructive range.
• The Hozuki Clan Head accepted the clan’s defeat, left the battlefield, and privately apologized to Mangetsu as he prepared to die fighting.
• Mei Terumi and Qi Shuang discussed the failed plan to destroy Konoha, and Qi Shuang said the dead Konoha girl’s remains could still be useful.

Qi Shuang decided to retrieve Rin Nohara’s corpse to use against Obito Uchiha, while the Three-Tails struck Hozuki Mangetsu and Karatachi Yagura faced a choice about his fate. The chapter left Yagura hesitating as he found his Coral Staff, while Mangetsu survived underground but was permanently left half-crippled.

• Qi Shuang told Mei Terumi he would recover Rin Nohara’s corpse and use it to deal with someone, then resolved to retrieve it after the Mizukage Succession Battle.
• The Three-Tails fired a Tailed Beast Ball at Hozuki Mangetsu, who survived by using a clone technique to send half his body underground.
• The Three-Tails explained that Mangetsu had lost half his body and could not recover, then returned to Karatachi Yagura’s body as Kirigakure’s spectators cheered.
• Hozuki Mangetsu realized his injuries had left him permanently half-crippled.
• Karatachi Yagura debated whether to kill Mangetsu and spotted his Coral Staff among the rubble.

Yagura retrieved his Coral Staff and continued defeating the Mist ninja, while Mangetsu emerged alive after surviving the Tailed Beast Ball by splitting off half his body. The clans withdrew, leaving Yagura the undisputed winner, and the Third Mizukage announced plans for his inauguration as Fourth Mizukage.

• Yagura recovered his Coral Staff, spared the spot indicated by the Three-Tails, and continued clearing Mist ninja from the battlefield.
• Hozuki Clan members searched for Mangetsu and found no trace of him until his chakra emerged from underground.
• Mangetsu re-formed before his clan, explained that he had split off half his body to survive, and ordered the Hozuki ninja to retreat.
• The Hozuki and Kugatsuki Clans withdrew, and the remaining Mist ninja yielded to Yagura.
• The Third Mizukage declared Yagura the next Mizukage, and the gathered leaders chose a date for his inauguration.

After Yagura became the Fourth Mizukage, Qi Shuang asked Ao to help locate Rin Nohara’s corpse so he could use it as protection against the mysterious man he had fought. Ao agreed to search Kirigakure’s archives.

• News that Yagura had become a perfect Jinchuriki and was about to become Mizukage spread through the shinobi world, and Kirigakure held his inauguration ceremony.
• During a break from patrol duty, Qi Shuang asked Ao to investigate the previous Three-Tails Jinchuriki, Rin Nohara.
• Ao warned Qi Shuang that information about Jinchuriki was sensitive, then asked why he wanted to find Rin.
• Qi Shuang explained that the mysterious man he had fought cared deeply about Rin, so he wanted her corpse under his control in case the man came after him.
• Ao agreed to search the village archives for information about Rin’s whereabouts.

Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi went to Blood Valley to retrieve Rin Nohara’s corpse after Ao reported where it had been disposed of. They passed the guards and entered the valley, where the story left them surrounded by the stench of rotting bodies.

• After receiving Ao’s reply, Qi Shuang told Mei Terumi he planned to find Rin Nohara’s corpse in Blood Valley.
• Mei Terumi accepted Qi Shuang’s challenge and joined him, leaving her fire nature transformation training behind.
• Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi traveled to Blood Valley and encountered two Kirigakure shinobi guarding its entrance.
• Qi Shuang claimed that their laboratory had accidentally discarded a corpse, and the guards let them pass.
• Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi covered their mouths and noses and walked into Blood Valley.

Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi entered Blood Valley to search for Rin Nohara’s remains, and Qi Shuang explained the valley’s scattered bones and strange flowers. They continued toward the eastern dumping site, where Mei Terumi realized the red flowers covered a vast burial ground.

• Mei Terumi stepped on a bone, and Qi Shuang explained that carrion-eating wolves had likely scattered it from a corpse.
• Mei Terumi asked whether the wolves might have eaten Rin Nohara’s remains, and Qi Shuang said the Three-Tails’ lingering aura would have kept them away.
• Qi Shuang led Mei Terumi east toward the recorded location where Rin Nohara’s body had been dumped about a year earlier.
• Mei Terumi nearly plucked a blood-red flower, but Qi Shuang warned her that the flowers grew on corpse-rich soil and fed on fumes from decaying bodies.
• Qi Shuang explained how the flowers gave Blood Valley its name, and Mei Terumi realized countless corpses might lie beneath them.

Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi searched a corpse-filled valley for Rin Nohara, using ice rods to part the flowers and rain to weaken the miasma. They reached the approximate dumping site and began looking for intact remains that might belong to Rin Nohara.

• Qi Shuang explained that the blood-red flowers grew over corpses and made ice rods so he and Mei Terumi could search without touching them directly.
• As the miasma thickened, Mei Terumi urged Qi Shuang to find a way through it, and they decided to combine Water Release and Ice Release to make rain.
• Mei Terumi used Water Release: Heavenly Rain while Qi Shuang cooled the air, producing a downpour that dispersed the mist and reduced the miasma.
• After the rain stopped, Qi Shuang led Mei Terumi about five hundred meters east to the approximate site where Rin Nohara's body had been discarded.
• Qi Shuang said the valley's wolves would have avoided Rin Nohara because of the tailed beast's aura, so they began searching the many remains for intact skeletons.

Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi searched a field of flowers for Rin Nohara’s skeletons until a hungry wolf pack surrounded them. Qi Shuang tested an unfinished ice technique on the wolves and pointed Mei Terumi toward a motionless wolf as the result he had intended.

• Mei Terumi and Qi Shuang swept flowers aside and marked five relatively intact skeletons while searching for Rin Nohara.
• Mei Terumi spotted a wolf pack approaching, and Qi Shuang stopped her from attacking so he could test a new technique.
• Qi Shuang froze some wolves’ legs, but most broke free and fled; he killed one wolf with a shuriken when it escaped its brittle ice.
• Qi Shuang explained that freezing the wolves was an unintended failure, then directed Mei Terumi to inspect the wolves behind them.
• Mei Terumi found a wolf that had not been frozen and was completely motionless.

Qi Shuang explained his new Ice Release technique, which slowed brain activity and left its targets unable to react, and discussed its limitations with Mei Terumi. After they searched the flowerbeds for skeletons, Qi Shuang suspected the smallest one belonged to Rin Nohara because its remaining clothes resembled what she had worn.

• Mei Terumi questioned Qi Shuang about the motionless wolf, and he explained that his technique used low temperatures to obstruct neural transmission in the brain.
• Qi Shuang killed the helpless wolf and told Mei Terumi that the technique could suppress a target's awareness, though stronger opponents could resist it and increased chakra output could give it away.
• Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi resumed searching the flowerbeds and found nearly ten relatively intact skeletons within a hundred-meter radius.
• Qi Shuang ruled out the larger skeletons as Rin Nohara's and suspected the smallest one was hers because its remaining clothes looked familiar.