Chapter Summaries

Mei Terumi oversaw negotiations to end Kirigakure’s clan war and proposed choosing a Mizukage by vote. The three clans named their candidates and cast ballots, but the results were left unrevealed after the Terumi Clan’s five votes all went to Mei Terumi.

• Mei Terumi, Qi Shuang, and the Kaki and Hozuki Clans finalized a ceasefire and divided Kirigakure’s interests according to their remaining strength.
• A Terumi Clan representative proposed selecting the Fifth Water Shadow by vote, with five votes for the Terumi Clan, three for the Kaki Clan, and two for the Hozuki Clan.
• Mei Terumi told Qi Shuang that the Terumi Clan planned to nominate him, while Hozuki Mangetsu warned the Terumi representative that the Kaki Clan seemed to share that plan.
• The Kaki Clan nominated Kaki Keiichi, the Hozuki Clan nominated Hozuki Mangetsu, and the Terumi Clan nominated Mei Terumi and Qi Shuang.
• The clans cast their ballots, and the chapter ended as all five Terumi Clan votes were revealed to name Mei Terumi.

Mei Terumi was chosen as the Fifth Mizukage after Qi Shuang gave up his claim, and she began planning the Hidden Mist’s reconstruction. The chapter ended with news that a Hidden Cloud ninja fleet was approaching the central main island.

• A Terumi Clan representative voted for Mei Terumi instead of Qi Shuang, helping her win the vote six to four.
• Qi Shuang declined to contest the result and declared Mei Terumi the Fifth Mizukage.
• The representatives of the Kaki, Terumi, and Hozuki Clans knelt and greeted Mei Terumi as Mizukage.
• Mei Terumi ordered the clans to rest, prepare to rebuild the Hidden Mist, and guard against invasion.
• A Hozuki ninja reported that a suspicious fleet approaching the central main island had been identified as a Hidden Cloud force.

After learning that Kumogakure had sent two thousand shinobi led by Killer B, Mei Terumi ordered Qi Shuang to intercept them with five hundred Kirigakure fighters. Qi Shuang reached the northern coast before the enemy arrived and brought the three factions’ coastal guards together under Kirigakure’s unified command.

• Mei Terumi learned from the three intelligence shinobi that Killer B was leading about two thousand Kumogakure shinobi, whose ships would reach the coast in roughly half an hour.
• Qi Shuang offered to lead five hundred fighters, and Mei Terumi ordered the Mei, Kisame, and Hozuki factions to gather them under his command.
• Qi Shuang selected five hundred shinobi from the assembled force and led them toward the northern coast.
• At the coast, Qi Shuang ordered the troops to rest and sent signals calling for the nearby intelligence shinobi to provide updated reports.
• The three factions’ coastal guards arrived, learned that the civil war was over, and saluted Qi Shuang as their commander.

Qi Shuang prepared to intercept the Cloud fleet alone, ordering the Mist ninjas to use clones to make their force appear larger while he gathered Natural Energy. As Killer B and Gyuki detected the strange energy above the fleet and prepared to attack, Qi Shuang unleashed a vast Senjutsu blizzard, leaving the battle about to begin.

• Qi Shuang learned the Cloud fleet would arrive in about five minutes and told the Mist ninjas to create clones to make their force look larger.
• Qi Shuang entered Ice Dragon Sage Mode and warned the Mist ninjas to stay in place while he flew into the sky.
• Killer B approached the shore with the Cloud fleet, but Gyuki sensed Natural Energy gathering above the sea and warned him of an enemy.
• Killer B spotted Qi Shuang in the sky and prepared to use a Tailed Beast Ball with Gyuki.
• Qi Shuang cast Senjutsu: Ice Release: Snowfall on Mortal World: Pure Land, covering nearly ten thousand meters with heavy snow.

Qi Shuang attacked the Hidden Cloud fleet and immobilized Killer B with Senjutsu, but Gyuki transformed and fought back. Qi Shuang then used ice chains to bind Gyuki, leaving both partners unable to move freely.

• Qi Shuang's Senjutsu paralyzed Killer B, and Gyuki helped him break free of the Genjutsu-like effect without restoring control of his body.
• Qi Shuang dived toward Killer B, so Gyuki emerged in his complete Tailed Beast form and struck Qi Shuang across the sea.
• Qi Shuang realized his Senjutsu could not affect Gyuki while it was intangible inside Killer B, and Gyuki demanded to know why the Hidden Mist had attacked.
• Qi Shuang used Sage Art: Ice Release: Eight Gates of Divine Sealing to summon eleven ice chains around Gyuki.
• Gyuki knocked away the chains, but they returned and bound his head, hands, and eight tails, leaving him unable to move.

Qi Shuang captured Killer B by binding him with Cold Chain and threatening the Cloud ninja who tried to rescue him. After draining Killer B’s chakra with Samehada, Qi Shuang demanded that the Cloud forces withdraw and the Raikage come to Kirigakure to ransom him, while Killer B called on Gyuki for chakra.

• Killer B proposed leaving tailed-beast form, but Qi Shuang tightened his ice chains as Gyuki shrank and severed a tail to help them escape.
• Qi Shuang restrained the severed tentacle and Killer B’s apparent body, then blocked the charging Cloud ninja behind a huge ice wall.
• Qi Shuang threatened to slaughter the Cloud ninja unless the hidden Killer B revealed himself, and Killer B ordered his people to stop approaching.
• Qi Shuang threatened Killer B with Samehada and demanded the Cloud forces withdraw and the Raikage come to Kirigakure to ransom him.
• Samehada drained Killer B’s chakra, leaving him unable to resist, and Killer B called on Gyuki to lend him chakra.

Killer B failed to break Qi Shuang’s Cold Chain, so Qi Shuang used him to force the Cloud shinobi to withdraw and demand that the Fourth Raikage come to Kirigakure to ransom him. The Cloud force sailed back to Kumogakure, while Qi Shuang carried Killer B toward shore.

• Gyuki returned control to Killer B, who unleashed a burst of Tailed Beast chakra that sent Qi Shuang flying but could not break the Cold Chain.
• Qi Shuang explained that the chain could withstand even a Tailed Beast and drained Killer B’s chakra with Samehada.
• Qi Shuang demanded that Killer B order the Cloud shinobi to retreat and have the Fourth Raikage come to Kirigakure to ransom him.
• Killer B sensed a large shinobi force on the shore through Gyuki and ordered the Cloud shinobi to return to Kumogakure rather than fight.
• The Cloud shinobi obeyed, and Qi Shuang carried Killer B toward Kirigakure.

After capturing Killer B and forcing the Kumogakure forces to retreat, Qi Shuang led his troops toward Kirigakure, only to learn that an unknown coalition was attacking the southern coast. He arrived and devastated the invading force with a single Ice Release technique, leaving the battle poised for Kirigakure’s counterattack.

• Qi Shuang captured Killer B, revealed that the Mist ninja had used clones to bluff the Cloud forces, and ordered his troops to withdraw.
• Qi Shuang told the three garrison forces to rotate guard duty, then led five hundred ninja back toward Kirigakure.
• An Anbu Mist ninja delivered Mei Terumi’s letter reporting that three thousand unknown ninja were invading the southern seas, and Qi Shuang hurried to support the defenders.
• Qi Shuang found about fifteen hundred Mist ninja fighting the larger invading force and ordered his troops to withdraw from the battle so he could attack.
• Qi Shuang froze the seawater across nearly a thousand meters, trapping many of the unknown ninja and lifting the Mist forces’ morale.

Qi Shuang summoned Manda and Garaga to help Kirigakure repel the invading ninja forces, then ordered Manda to attack the enemy. Manda smashed through their defenses and began routing them across the battlefield.

• Qi Shuang summoned the giant snakes Manda and Garaga, revealing that he had entered Sage Transformation.
• Garaga attacked Qi Shuang, but Qi Shuang knocked him unconscious with a single punch.
• Qi Shuang ordered Manda to kill the enemy ninja while sparing the Kirigakure forces, and told him to leave nine sacrifices for Lady Tagorihime.
• Manda charged the enemy, shattered their Earth Release walls, and sent their leader crashing into the crowd.
• The enemy ninja's attacks barely scratched Manda as he rampaged through their ranks, leaving many badly injured and turning the battle against them.

Qi Shuang routed the invading shinobi and prepared to return to Kirigakure with the Mist forces. He left their frozen prisoners adrift as a warning, and the battle’s aftermath spread his name throughout the shinobi world.

• The invading shinobi fled as Qi Shuang and the Mist forces counterattacked, and Qi Shuang ordered his troops to stop pursuing and gather the prisoners.
• Qi Shuang freed ten captives from the ice, froze them onto Manda, and sent them to Ryūchi Cave as sacrifices for Tagorihime.
• Qi Shuang carved a warning onto a pillar of ice and sent the frozen enemies drifting out to sea, confident that few could break his senjutsu ice seal.
• Qi Shuang led the Mist forces home, prompting the shinobi to weep at the thought of returning to their ruined village.
• People across the shinobi world later failed to break the Floating Ice, and Qi Shuang’s name became known as that of a fearsome Kirigakure powerhouse.

After waking from a long sleep, Qi Shuang saw Kirigakure’s devastation and joined Mei Terumi in rebuilding its administration. Mei asked him to solve the village’s urgent food shortage, leaving him to consider how to feed the survivors and returning villagers.

• Qi Shuang woke after sleeping for a day and two nights, then went to eat amid Kirigakure’s ruins and cleanup efforts.
• Qi Shuang visited Mei Terumi’s temporary office and found her overwhelmed by administrative work.
• Qi Shuang advised Mei Terumi to appoint department heads and get Kirigakure’s administrative system running before refining its structure.
• Qi Shuang declined a department post and offered to serve as Mei Terumi’s assistant.
• Mei Terumi explained that Kirigakure had about twenty thousand residents, little food left after the Kaki Clan’s Water Prison Fog soaked its reserves, and growing shortages ahead.

Qi Shuang advised Mei Terumi on addressing Kirigakure’s food shortage by hunting whales, restoring rice production, and using work relief to clear the village ruins. He also warned her that paying wages and suppressing prices could worsen inflation while goods remained scarce.

• Qi Shuang proposed hunting whales with ninja squads to supply food, and Mei Terumi agreed that the plan was promising.
• Qi Shuang explained that farmland outside Kirigakure could provide rice in three months, while whale meat could help cover the shortage until then.
• Qi Shuang urged Mei Terumi to have able residents clear the ruins through work relief and pay them as little as possible because money was plentiful but goods were scarce.
• Qi Shuang warned Mei Terumi that demand exceeding supply could drive prices sharply upward as Kirigakure’s market recovered.
• Mei Terumi asked whether the village could forcibly cap prices, and Qi Shuang explained that sellers might ignore low official prices when buyers offered more.

Qi Shuang explained to Mei Terumi why price controls would fail and proposed paying workers with IOUs while attracting more merchants to Kirigakure. Mei Terumi prepared notices for those measures and assigned the Hozuki Clan to handle the first Whaling Mission.

• Mei Terumi suggested limiting bids and making buyers line up, but Qi Shuang explained how paid queue positions would let sellers raise prices anyway.
• Qi Shuang warned that soaring prices could reduce purchasing power and trigger a chain of business failures, leaving Kirigakure unable to sustain its people.
• Mei Terumi asked how to prevent the crisis while continuing to pay workers, and Qi Shuang proposed issuing them IOUs.
• Qi Shuang recommended reducing caravan escort fees to encourage merchants to bring supplies to Kirigakure.
• Mei Terumi decided that the Hozuki Clan would take the first Whaling Mission, and Qi Shuang offered to carry the mission scroll to them.

Qi Shuang checked on Killer B and Kisame Hoshigaki, who remained bound outside Kirigakure after attempted rescues by suspected Kumogakure spies. As he considered how much ransom to demand for Killer B, Kisame revealed the bounty on his head.

• Qi Shuang learned that unidentified rescuers had failed to free the prisoners and were believed to be Kumogakure spies.
• Killer B urged Qi Shuang to send him back, and Qi Shuang said he would wait for the Fourth Raikage to negotiate a ransom.
• Qi Shuang explained that the Fourth Raikage had been delayed because Konoha and Iwagakure were preparing to attack Kumogakure while he was away.
• Qi Shuang asked the guards how much Killer B was worth at the Underground Bounty Exchange, but they stayed silent.
• Kisame Hoshigaki said Killer B's head was worth three hundred million ryo.

Qi Shuang arranged to have Kisame Hoshigaki’s arms reattached and then delivered Mei’s whale-hunting mission to Hozuki Mangetsu. Mangetsu realized the mission was meant to ease Kirigakure’s coming food shortage.

• Kisame Hoshigaki revealed that Killer B carried a bounty of three hundred million, and Qi Shuang joked that a living Killer B could be worth even more.
• Qi Shuang removed the ice preserving Kisame Hoshigaki’s severed arms and ordered guards to find medical ninja to reattach them.
• Qi Shuang stopped the guards from arguing with Kisame Hoshigaki and left to visit the Hozuki Clan Head’s residence.
• Qi Shuang gave Hozuki Mangetsu a mission scroll from Mei requesting that the Hozuki Clan hunt whales.
• Hozuki Mangetsu understood that a whale’s meat could help feed Kirigakure through its coming food shortage.

Qi Shuang began freezing Hozuki Mangetsu into dormancy to slow the loss of his life, while Mangetsu entrusted clan affairs to a Water Clone. Mangetsu asked Qi Shuang to find Hozuki Suigetsu, then lost consciousness as the carefully controlled ice-sealing technique took effect.

• Hozuki Mangetsu ordered Tanaka to arrange manpower, including more Hozuki Clan ninja from the main family.
• Qi Shuang formed an ice platform, and Mangetsu sat on it while a medical ninja prepared to monitor his vital signs.
• Mangetsu created a Water Clone to handle clan affairs while his main body remained in dormancy.
• Mangetsu asked Qi Shuang when he would find Hozuki Suigetsu, and Qi Shuang promised to investigate and bring him back.
• Qi Shuang entered Sage Transformation and carefully lowered the activity of Mangetsu's cells with cold air until Mangetsu lost consciousness.

Qi Shuang sealed Hozuki Mangetsu’s body in an ice coffin that could preserve it for three months, then learned that the prisoners had died before Tanaka inspected them and went to investigate. Meanwhile, Kakashi was summoned by the Hokage after rumors spread that Obito Uchiha had caused the Nine-Tails’ Rampage and might still be alive.

• Qi Shuang lowered Hozuki Mangetsu’s body temperature to the limit of his control and sealed him inside a senjutsu-created ice coffin.
• The medical ninja said Hozuki Mangetsu’s body could last three months and advised opening the coffin once daily for no more than a minute to exchange air.
• Hozuki Mangetsu’s clone told Qi Shuang that the prisoners had been found dead before Tanaka entered the prison, and Qi Shuang went to inspect their bodies.
• An ANBU ninja summoned Kakashi to meet the Hokage in Konoha.
• Kakashi walked toward the Hokage Building, troubled by rumors that Obito Uchiha had caused the Nine-Tails’ Rampage and might be his deceased teammate.

Kakashi told the Third Hokage how Obito had survived long enough to give him his Sharingan, and the Hokage ordered Kakashi to retrieve Obito’s remains. Meanwhile, Itachi confronted Obito over the Nine-Tails attack and trapped him in Tsukuyomi.

• Kakashi recounted Obito’s apparent death and the events surrounding the loss of his Sharingan to the Third Hokage.
• The Third Hokage ordered Kakashi to go to the Land of Grass and bring back Obito’s remains.
• An Uchiha boy in Konoha noticed villagers had begun treating him with resentment because of Obito’s name.
• Obito failed to comfort Rin, who remained withdrawn after Qi Shuang’s blade pierced her heart.
• Itachi confronted Obito, who admitted he had caused the Nine-Tails incident, and attacked him with flaming shuriken.
• Itachi cast Tsukuyomi on Obito, trapping his consciousness in a strange space.

Qi Shuang investigated the mass killings at Kirigakure Prison, where prisoners and guards had died despite the cells remaining closed. He demonstrated that the strange holes in the passage walls differed from marks made by a shattered ice spike, leaving the cause of the damage unresolved.

• Obito found himself immobilized by Itachi's genjutsu, and Itachi drove a kunai into his chest.
• Qi Shuang entered the abandoned Kirigakure Prison and questioned a bespectacled official about the deaths of 213 prisoners and 15 guards.
• The official explained that the prisoners had been killed at close range in locked cells, with no footprints leading in or out.
• Qi Shuang examined the cracked passage walls and made a hole with a shattered ice spike to compare it with the murderer's marks.

Qi Shuang deduced that the killer had used an Earth Release technique and then examined the victims’ bodies at Kirigakure, where he suspected he knew the culprit. Meanwhile, Itachi’s Tsukuyomi nearly broke Obito before Itachi’s illness forced him to release the Genjutsu, and Rin urged Obito to return to Konoha.

• Qi Shuang explained that the killer’s marks showed force bursting outward from inside the stone, indicating Earth Release or a related bloodline technique.
• Itachi stabbed Obito repeatedly inside Tsukuyomi, but Obito invoked Itachi’s responsibility for the Uchiha massacre, triggering Itachi’s chest pain and ending the Genjutsu.
• Itachi escaped as a flock of crows, while Obito resolved to guard against his Genjutsu and Rin asked whether they should return to Konoha.
• At Kirigakure’s autopsy tent, Qi Shuang examined the corpses and asked whether anyone had found residue resembling wood.