Chapter Summaries

Qi Shuang returned to the Terumi Clan’s defensive zone and proved his identity to Mei Terumi after its guards attacked him. Mei recognized him as an old acquaintance, then immediately drew Zabuza’s sword and attacked him, leaving their reunion unresolved.

• Qi Shuang froze the Mist ninja’s Water Release attack and shrugged off their Lightning Release, then told them he was Mei Terumi’s friend.
• A guard went to inform Mei Terumi, who paused her meeting and hurried with Zabuza and Haku to meet the visitor.
• Qi Shuang greeted Mei, Zabuza, and Haku, and they gradually recognized him despite his changed appearance.
• Mei asked Zabuza for his sword and struck at Qi Shuang, who dodged as the blade smashed the stone where he had stood.

Mei Terumi reunited with Qi Shuang after more than five years and angrily chased him with a blade over his long absence. After her blade broke against Qi Shuang’s Chakra Cloak, she apologized to Zabuza, and the group headed back to the Terumi Clan’s heartland.

• Mei Terumi recognized Qi Shuang and chased him with a blade while scolding him for being gone more than five years.
• Zabuza stopped the others from intervening and explained that Qi Shuang was one of their allies and Mei Terumi was only fooling around.
• Qi Shuang explained that he had been trapped for three years, but Mei Terumi resumed her attack after realizing he had spent over two years away afterward.
• Mei Terumi’s blade struck Qi Shuang’s Chakra Cloak and snapped, leaving him unharmed.
• Mei Terumi apologized to Zabuza and offered to pay for a replacement blade, then argued with Qi Shuang before Zabuza led everyone back to the Terumi Clan’s heartland.

Qi Shuang returned from Ryūchi Cave and learned that Mei Terumi’s faction was locked in an even civil war with the Hozuki Clan. He was devastated to hear that Ao had died, then recognized the strange man Zabuza described as Zetsu and questioned how he could have killed Ao.

• Mei Terumi asked Qi Shuang where he had been, and he revealed that he had cultivated in Ryūchi Cave.
• Zabuza explained the legends of Sage Power, while Mei Terumi asked whether Qi Shuang had mastered it; Qi Shuang left her question unanswered.
• Mei Terumi described how news that the Fourth Mizukage was being controlled had shifted support, though her faction and the Hozuki Clan remained evenly matched.
• Mei Terumi left to attend a meeting and told Qi Shuang that Ao’s remains were being kept at the Kaki Clan estate.
• Zabuza confirmed that Ao had died and described the black-and-white man he saw near the One-Eyed Mask; Qi Shuang identified him as Zetsu and doubted he could have defeated Ao.

Qi Shuang learned how Captain Ao died and reassured Haku that he had done all he could. After demonstrating his self-created Ice Release: Chakra Mode to Zabuza, Qi Shuang slept and later found Mei Terumi working on a chakra fusion experiment that appeared more stable than before.

• Zabuza explained that he had stayed behind to cover Mei and Captain Ao's escape, but Ao had fled alone and was targeted by Zetsu.
• Haku apologized for leaving Ao behind, and Qi Shuang told him that he had saved Mei and was not to blame.
• Qi Shuang refused to show Zabuza his Sage Power, then demonstrated that his pale defensive chakra could stop a broken sword.
• Qi Shuang revealed that he had created Ice Release: Chakra Mode, leaving Zabuza feeling defeated before Zabuza and Haku left.
• Qi Shuang slept until evening, then went to the sitting room where Mei Terumi was conducting a chakra fusion experiment that seemed unusually harmonious.

Mei Terumi showed Qi Shuang her newly developed Corrosion Release and explained the danger of using the unfinished technique. She then assigned him to lead an elite team in a dawn assault and decapitation mission against the Hozuki Clan, targeting its leaders, especially clan head Hozuki Masamune.

• Mei Terumi demonstrated how Corrosion Release could reduce a corner of a table to ash, and Qi Shuang warned her not to use the dangerous, unfinished technique unless necessary.
• Mei Terumi told Qi Shuang that Kirigakure would attack at dawn and send elite squads to infiltrate the Hozuki Clan and eliminate its leaders.
• Qi Shuang warned Mei Terumi that the Hozuki Clan's Water Transformation Jutsu would make its leaders difficult to kill or capture.
• Mei Terumi chose Qi Shuang to lead the decapitation squad with Lightning Release experts, explaining that his Ice Release made him better suited than Zabuza and Haku.
• Mei Terumi gave Qi Shuang photographs of the targets, and he recognized the most important one as Hozuki Masamune, the clan head.
• Qi Shuang joked that the dangerous mission could be a death sentence, though he remained confident he could escape unharmed.

Qi Shuang demonstrated that his Ice Release: Chakra Mode could withstand Mei Terumi’s Lava Style, then shared what he knew about Obito’s abilities and weaknesses. He proposed meeting Hozuki Mangetsu before the attack, hoping to find a way to end the war without destroying the Hozuki Clan.

• Mei Terumi urged Qi Shuang to lead a decapitation strike against the Hozuki Clan and promised to avenge him if he died.
• Qi Shuang activated Ice Release: Chakra Mode and let Mei Terumi test its defenses with Lava Style, which froze harmlessly against him.
• Mei Terumi explained that she would command from the rear and use Boiling Release Acid Mist to defend herself against Tobi.
• Qi Shuang told Mei Terumi that he had fought Tobi again and explained his abilities and weaknesses.
• Qi Shuang proposed meeting Hozuki Mangetsu before the attack, hoping to persuade him and prevent further losses in the war.

Qi Shuang sought Mei Terumi’s support for persuading Hozuki Mangetsu to defect, while a White Zetsu Clone reported their conversation to Tobi. Tobi recognized Qi Shuang as a dangerous threat and moved to infiltrate the Terumi compound as a new Akatsuki member arrived in the Land of Water.

• Mei Terumi told Qi Shuang that the Terumi Clan might accept peace with the Hozuki Clan, but would require them to leave the village.
• Qi Shuang used the Floating Technique to fly toward the Hozuki Compound to speak with Hozuki Mangetsu, while Mei Terumi began arranging the assassination squads.
• A White Zetsu Clone overheard Qi Shuang and Mei Terumi, then reported Qi Shuang’s knowledge of Tobi to Tobi through their mental connection.
• Tobi decided to counter Qi Shuang’s attempt to sow discord by approaching members of Kaki Terumi’s side, and he infiltrated the Terumi compound using a space-time marker.
• A black-cloaked Akatsuki member arrived by ship outside the central island of the Land of Water and shouted for Kakuzu to hurry.

Kakuzu and Sasori headed toward Kirigakure, each intent on exploiting the civil war for his own gain. Meanwhile, Qi Shuang infiltrated the Hozuki Compound in disguise and learned where Hozuki Mangetsu’s room was.

• Kakuzu arrived from a ship he had robbed and slaughtered, then argued with Sasori about money and the value of corpses.
• Sasori agreed to seek out special corpses in Kirigakure, and the pair hurried toward the village.
• Qi Shuang flew past the compound’s defenses, transformed into a servant, and claimed to be the brother of a servant who owed a gambling debt.
• Qi Shuang paid a male servant one thousand taels to win his trust and learn the compound’s layout.
• The male servant directed Qi Shuang to Hozuki Mangetsu’s bedroom, and Qi Shuang hurried down the corridor.

Qi Shuang lured Hozuki Mangetsu to a watchtower by claiming he knew Hozuki Suigetsu’s whereabouts. Mangetsu attacked Qi Shuang with Nuibari’s steel wire, but Qi Shuang’s pale radiance let him force the wires apart.

• Qi Shuang threw a note through Hozuki Mangetsu’s window, inviting him to meet at the watchtower and promising information about Suigetsu.
• Mangetsu brought more than a dozen guards toward the village entrance, then sent them to hide while he approached the watchtower alone.
• Qi Shuang identified himself, and Mangetsu demanded to know where Suigetsu was.
• Mangetsu bound Qi Shuang to a pillar with Nuibari’s steel wire, but Qi Shuang’s glowing defense allowed him to pry the wires apart.

Qi Shuang met Hozuki Mangetsu and argued that Kirigakure could rise again from its destruction. The chapter ended with Mangetsu crushing Qi Shuang’s tiny ice lotus, only to find it still intact.

• Hozuki Mangetsu’s Nuibari wire snapped against Qi Shuang’s defense, and he stopped attacking to hear Qi Shuang out.
• Qi Shuang told Mangetsu that he knew where Hozuki Suigetsu was but wanted to discuss something unrelated to him.
• Qi Shuang explained that he believed Orochimaru had abducted Hozuki Suigetsu and other Hozuki Clan members to incorporate their liquid bodies into his immortal snake body.
• Qi Shuang pointed out Kirigakure’s ruined state, and Mangetsu admitted the village was on the brink of destruction.
• Qi Shuang made a snow lotus from ice, crushed and reformed it, and claimed that Kirigakure could be reborn after destruction.
• Mangetsu crushed the smaller lotus with his chakra-enhanced hand, but it remained intact.

Qi Shuang urged Hozuki Mangetsu to split the Hozuki Clan and help end the war, then revealed his plan to use the conflict to remake Kirigakure’s rules and establish a peaceful village. Mangetsu remained skeptical, but Qi Shuang’s revolutionary ambitions shocked him.

• Hozuki Mangetsu failed to crush Qi Shuang’s snow lotus and suspected Qi Shuang wanted an alliance with the Hozuki Clan.
• Qi Shuang asked Mangetsu to lead his followers in splitting the Hozuki Clan and ending the war, but Mangetsu angrily rejected the idea.
• Qi Shuang declared that the Hozuki Clan was destined to perish, and Mangetsu mocked his claim that he could change the war’s course.
• Qi Shuang asked Mangetsu what kind of village he hoped to establish, then shared Ming’s wish for a peaceful Kirigakure.
• Qi Shuang proposed joining the Terumi and Hozuki Clans to overthrow Kirigakure’s old rules, leaving Mangetsu shocked by the scope of his revolution.

Qi Shuang tried to persuade Hozuki Mangetsu to help end the war and rebuild Kirigakure, arguing that its brutal old system had weakened every clan. Mangetsu refused to betray his father or risk dividing the Hozuki Clan, but Qi Shuang’s words left him questioning whether he should choose his own path.

• Qi Shuang blamed Kirigakure’s bloody rules, rather than the Hozuki Clan alone, for the village’s conflicts and decline, and urged Mangetsu to consider his clansmen’s future.
• Mangetsu considered whether rebuilding Kirigakure could improve life for his clan, but rejected the idea because it would mean opposing his father and risking the Hozuki Clan’s defeat and division.
• Mangetsu challenged Qi Shuang’s proposal as unfair, while Qi Shuang replied that the outcome depended on strength and said he would not let the Hozuki Clan win.
• Mangetsu demanded to know where Suigetsu was, and Qi Shuang offered to reveal his location if Mangetsu helped end the war and rebuild Kirigakure’s order.
• Mangetsu refused the offer and prepared to leave, but Qi Shuang urged him to take charge of his own future, leaving Mangetsu’s resolve wavering.

Qi Shuang returned to the Terumi Clan after failing to secure Hozuki Mangetsu’s agreement, while Tobi prepared an ambush for the coming battle. As Mei Terumi organized a decapitation operation against the Hozuki Clan, Zabuza chose to take up the broadsword and Haku pledged to stand by him.

• Hozuki Mangetsu left after Qi Shuang urged him to consider unifying Kirigakure, while Qi Shuang prepared to attack at dawn if the Hozuki Clan resisted.
• Tobi learned that reinforcements had arrived and planned to use their hidden position to ambush Qi Shuang, with Kisame ready to act.
• Tobi admitted that his approach to Zabuza was meant to make him betray Qi Shuang, and Zetsu confirmed that Kisame’s preparations were ready.
• Zabuza took up the strange broadsword, and Haku promised to support him wherever he went.
• Mei Terumi rallied the Terumi Clan shinobi and arranged decapitation attacks on Hozuki leadership to disrupt the clan’s command.
• Qi Shuang told Mei Terumi that Hozuki Mangetsu had rejected his proposal but might reconsider after the Hozuki Clan’s defeat became inevitable.

Mei Terumi assigned Qi Shuang to lead eight Lightning Release specialists in the coordinated effort to kill the Hozuki Clan's direct descendants. As they prepared to depart, Zabuza explained how he had acquired the Executioner's Blade, which still felt awkward in his hands.

• Mei Terumi introduced Qi Shuang as captain of the squad and reassured the eight ninja that Zabuza approved of his strength.
• Mei Terumi gave Qi Shuang the departure time and explained that the Kaki Clan would support the battlefield but would not join the decapitation operation.
• Qi Shuang led his squad away from the crowded courtyard, learned their abilities, and heard that they sought revenge for relatives killed in the Civil War.
• Zabuza arrived carrying the Executioner's Blade and asked to speak with Qi Shuang.
• Zabuza told Qi Shuang that he had stolen the sword from Kirigakure's armory after Juzo Biwa's death and the destruction of his own weapon.

Qi Shuang rejected Zabuza’s challenge to compete over who could kill Tobi, then led a decapitation squad into Hozuki territory as the battle drew the factions’ attention elsewhere. Tobi’s companions prepared ambushes, but Qi Shuang’s team struck down a Hozuki patrol and continued its operation.

• Zabuza challenged Qi Shuang to a contest to kill Tobi first, but Qi Shuang refused because Tobi was too dangerous.
• Explosions signaled that the battle had begun, and Qi Shuang waited with eight Lightning Release Ninjas until the appointed time.
• Qi Shuang led the squad around the battlefield and into the heart of Hozuki territory.
• White Zetsu told Tobi that Qi Shuang had arrived with eight Lightning Release Ninjas, and Tobi’s two companions split up to intercept them.
• A Hozuki patrol discovered Qi Shuang’s squad, and the eight Lightning Release Ninjas combined their techniques to knock the patrol down.

Qi Shuang’s squad fought through the Hozuki Compound and reached the Hozuki Clan Head’s residence, where Hozuki Masamune and other leaders were gathered. With the residence heavily guarded and their time running short, Qi Shuang planned a nine-way search and volunteered to draw the guards’ fire.

• Qi Shuang used Lightning Release and Ice Release to incapacitate a patrol, then led his squad deeper into the compound.
• Other decapitation squads began fighting across the stronghold, prompting the Hozuki branch ninjas to mobilize and tighten their defenses.
• Qi Shuang’s squad avoided or swiftly eliminated guards on the way to the Hozuki Clan Head’s residence, but the eight members besides him used more than half their chakra.
• Qi Shuang told the squad that they would have to break through by force, and the others pledged to fight rather than retreat.
• Qi Shuang ordered the eight members to enter from separate directions and signal once they located Hozuki Masamune and the other leaders.
• When the others objected to Qi Shuang drawing the guards’ fire alone, he kept his plan, relying on his Ice Release: Chakra Mode to protect him.

Zabuza abducted Mei Terumi to make her meet someone, while Qi Shuang attacked the Hozuki Clan Head's estate to draw the guards away. Qi Shuang's ice dragon breached the main gate but was eventually destroyed by the gathered defenders, leaving him exposed.

• Qi Shuang told his eight teammates to find openings around the estate while he drew the guards' fire, and they spread out to prepare for the attack.
• Zabuza returned to Mei Terumi's command room, used a surprise attack to hold her at blade point, and escorted her away after she ordered her subordinates to stabilize the battlefront.
• At the appointed time, Qi Shuang approached the estate's main gate, activated Ice Release: Chakra Mode, and formed an enormous ice dragon.
• Qi Shuang used the ice dragon to scatter the guards and demolish the courtyard wall, but reinforcements surrounded it and shattered it with a concentrated barrage of ninjutsu.

Qi Shuang’s attack on the Hozuki residence drew the guards’ fire while his eight subordinates infiltrated the compound, but Afei’s allies quickly stopped them. After a signal flare revealed Hozuki Masamune’s location, Qi Shuang broke through the guards and charged into the residence aboard his ice dragon.

• The guards’ ninjutsu failed to break through the chakra defense covering Qi Shuang, while Hozuki Masamune and Hozuki Mangetsu watched from hiding.
• Hozuki Mangetsu said Samehada or a fully charged Shibuki might pierce Qi Shuang’s defense, but using Shibuki could destroy the residence.
• Hozuki Masamune ordered Hozuki Mangetsu to attack the eight Lightning Release intruders, but Afei emerged from a Void Vortex and said his friends had already dealt with them.
• Afei’s revelation made Hozuki Masamune wary, while Mangetsu remained suspicious of the masked collaborator.
• Qi Shuang saw his squad’s signal flare confirming they had found Hozuki Masamune, then formed an ice dragon and rode it through the guards’ encirclement into the residence.

Qi Shuang rushed to the signal flare’s launch point and discovered that a teammate had been ambushed, then fought off a coordinated attack by Kakuzu and Sasori. The battle ended with Qi Shuang facing both Akatsuki members as Hozuki Masamune’s guards withdrew and surrounded the area.

• Qi Shuang charged through the estate on an ice dragon, reached the signal’s launch point, and found a teammate dead beside a spent flare.
• A hidden attacker launched a device that filled the courtyard with senbon, but Qi Shuang’s Ice Release: Chakra Mode deflected them before Kakuzu struck him with an Earth Spear-enhanced punch.
• Hozuki Masamune ordered his guards to withdraw from the battlefield, and Hozuki Mangetsu relayed the command.
• Qi Shuang emerged from the ruins unharmed, recognized Kakuzu as a rogue ninja from Takigakure and an Akatsuki member, and Kakuzu realized Qi Shuang’s defense matched his Earth Spear.
• Qi Shuang called out Sasori of the Red Sands, who came out of hiding and wondered how Qi Shuang had identified him.

Qi Shuang fought Kakuzu and Sasori after identifying them as the attackers in Kirigakure. He foiled Sasori’s attempt to stab him and forced Sasori to reveal his true body, but both Akatsuki members remained ready to claim Qi Shuang’s body.

• Qi Shuang deduced that Kakuzu and Sasori had ambushed him, then challenged them and warned they might not leave Kirigakure alive.
• Kakuzu charged Qi Shuang and struck him with enough force to shatter the ground, while Sasori moved behind Qi Shuang and attacked with his iron tail.
• Qi Shuang’s Chakra Cloak blocked Sasori’s iron tail, and his Ice Sealing Technique froze it in place.
• Sasori scattered Hiruko’s mechanical parts and revealed his red-haired true body to escape being frozen.
• Sasori asked Kakuzu whether he could claim Qi Shuang’s body, and Kakuzu agreed.