Recaps

Konoha's reconnaissance team was surrounded by Rain ninja, and Yuhara fought to help them break through toward the Land of Rivers. He killed several attackers but was wounded by a suicide bombing as the Rain ninja pressed their reckless assault.

• Jian Dong chose to lead the surrounded team toward the Land of Rivers and told Yuhara she was counting on him.
• Yuhara shot an iron arrow through the first Rain ninja, killing him and stopping the rest of his squad.
• A Rain ninja used an Earth Flow Wall to block Yuhara's arrow, and Yuhara killed another attacker with Mercury Lamp, though the enemy carried the technique away from the fight.
• Two Rain ninja charged Yuhara, and one detonated a suicide attack that blasted him into a tree and mangled his right arm.
• Yuhara realized he had underestimated how readily the Rain ninja were willing to die.

Yuhara survived a Rain Ninja’s suicide attack and helped Jian Dong lead the Konoha survivors through the encirclement. As the pursuers caught up and the group dwindled, Kujo and the others chose to stay behind so Yuhara could escort Jian Dong and Tigo toward the Konoha camp.

• A Rain Ninja used a suicide attack against Yuhara, who survived by shielding his burned arm with an iron barrier.
• Yuhara killed the last member of the four-man squad and supported his teammates with his sword and Mercury Lamp technique.
• Jian Dong ordered the Konoha Ninja to retreat through the gap Yuhara had opened, and some of the twelve failed to escape.
• Yuhara used his Lightning Release technique to help the group flee, then noticed that many pursuers wore crossed-out Rain Village symbols.
• Kujo and the other Konoha Ninja stopped to hold off the pursuing enemies so Yuhara could protect Jian Dong and Tigo and lead them to the Konoha camp.

Yuhara escaped the Rain ninjas with Jian Dong and Tigo, but Jian Dong was gravely wounded and needed urgent treatment. At Konoha’s overcrowded frontline hospital, an injured Uchiha was given priority over Jian Dong, and Yuhara erupted in anger as he walked toward the treatment tent.

• Yuhara fled with Jian Dong and Tigo while their comrades stayed behind to delay the Rain ninjas.
• Jian Dong collapsed from a fatal abdominal wound, and Yuhara sealed it with metal before carrying her at full speed toward safety.
• After reaching the Land of Rivers, Yuhara and Jian Dong were brought to Konoha’s frontline hospital, where Tigo was performing surgeries.
• A Medical Ninja stabilized Jian Dong, but an injured Uchiha was moved ahead of her for priority treatment.
• Yuhara’s Nature Energy spread across his body, and he walked toward the tent in anger over Jian Dong being denied treatment.

After Jian Dong’s operation came too late, Yuhara struggled with her death and Konoha’s unequal treatment of its shinobi. When the Fourth Hokage visited the morgue after a fierce clash with Sunagakure, Yuhara concluded that strength alone would not be enough to protect what mattered; he had to become invincible.

• Jian Dong stopped Yuhara from confronting the people who had delayed her treatment and urged him to live on.
• Jian Dong died after her surgery came too late, leaving Yuhara to question her acceptance of death and Konoha’s treatment of civilian shinobi.
• The Fourth Hokage inspected Konoha’s front-line camp in the Land of Rivers and paid respects to the fallen and wounded.
• Yuhara stood among the corpses in the morgue after Konoha and Sunagakure fought a fierce battle, and realized he needed to become invincible to protect himself and others.

After Jian Dong died on a reconnaissance mission, Yuhara spoke bluntly with Minato about the limits of individual heroism and the impossible choices war forced on people. Yuhara and Tigo then returned to Konoha with Jian Dong's ashes, and their missions were temporarily suspended.

• Minato offered condolences to Yuhara and thanked him for the reconnaissance intelligence, and Yuhara replied that his fallen comrades needed no pity.
• Yuhara told Minato that no single hero could end a war and asked what he would do if he could save only one of two loved ones; Minato listened and said he would remember Yuhara's words.
• After Minato left, Tigo asked whether Yuhara would face consequences, and Yuhara assured her that their conversation had gone well.
• Yuhara and Tigo returned to Konoha with Jian Dong's ashes after her body was cremated, and they were temporarily left without missions.

After Jian Dong’s death, Yuhara continued living in Konoha while investigating the abandoned underground facility where he had once been held. He uncovered Hotaru’s hidden records and realized Orochimaru’s experiments pointed toward a plan connected to the successful Wood Release test subject.

• Yuhara rejected the idea of joining the Akatsuki and remained uncertain about what to do after Jian Dong’s death.
• On his third day back in Konoha, Yuhara followed a map into the underground tunnels and reached Orochimaru’s abandoned facility.
• Yuhara carved into a marked cell wall and uncovered a sealed box left behind by Hotaru.
• Yuhara inspected the box and found that most of its scrolls and books were blank, while some recorded Orochimaru’s experiments.
• After reading about Orochimaru’s research into Hashirama Cells, natural energy, the Three Great Dojutsu, and Living Corpse Reincarnation, Yuhara identified the successful Wood Release test subject as the key difference.

Yuhara retrieved Orochimaru’s hidden materials from an underground site, then was ambushed while leaving and killed his attacker with the Mercury Lamp. He escaped with the materials and no intention of reporting the encounter, though the attacker’s identity and affiliation remained uncertain.

• Yuhara considered how Orochimaru’s interest in Wood Release and Nature Energy could lead him toward the ninja world’s ultimate secrets.
• Yuhara collected the materials at the marked location and left the underground space without searching further.
• A masked ninja used Earth Release: Beheading Operation of the Inner Heart to trap Yuhara and demanded to know who he was and why he had come.
• The masked ninja kicked Yuhara, but Yuhara’s hardened body protected him and he counterattacked with the Mercury Lamp, killing the attacker.
• Yuhara retrieved his mercury, swallowed his blood, and hurried away without touching the corpse or leaving traces.

Danzo investigated the murder of a Root Ninja and the theft from Orochimaru's former research facility. At Whispering Stream Trail, Yuhara reviewed the techniques and tools he had obtained and saw the Cursed Seal and Nature Energy as his clearest path to greater strength.

• Danzo examined a dismembered Root Ninja's corpse and ordered an investigation into Orochimaru's subordinates, the facility's associates, and the Konoha Ninja involved in its cleanup.
• Danzo dismissed concerns that the investigation might face resistance from the Hokage's Anbu, saying Sarutobi would cooperate because someone had died.
• Yuhara returned to Whispering Stream Trail to train and considered his need to improve his Chakra and ninja abilities.
• Yuhara concluded that the Six Paths Tools he had recovered were too difficult or costly for him to use effectively.
• Yuhara read the scroll's explanation of Living Corpse Reincarnation, admired Orochimaru's research, and put the scroll away as useless to him.
• Yuhara turned to the Cursed Seal and the use of Nature Energy as his remaining options for rapidly increasing his strength.

Yuhara finished modifying the Cursed Seal schematics so he could learn to concentrate and use Nature Energy, then prepared to test them on himself. He asked Tigo to stand by with a sword and cut off his left hand if the experiment went wrong.

• Yuhara concluded that using Nature Energy directly was the practical path for him and used the basic Cursed Seal schematics to develop a plan.
• Tigo trained by climbing the ravine, hoping to gain enough strength to protect herself.
• Yuhara completed his modified Cursed Seal design after several days of work.
• Yuhara rescued Tigo from the stream after she fell in, and they sat together by a fire as snow fell.
• Tigo offered Yuhara Jian Dong's scroll of Fire Release techniques, but he said he could not learn a new elemental technique quickly.
• Yuhara drew techniques in blood on his left hand and gave Tigo a sword, asking her to cut off his hand if the experiment went wrong.

Yuhara risked his hand to test a Nature Energy technique, then built the Six Rulers Technique into his meridians to control and use Nature Energy. He developed a powerful new ninjutsu, the Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm, and tested it in front of Tigo.

• Yuhara absorbed Nature Energy through a technique on his palm while Tigo stood ready to cut off his hand, and his hand remained stable through the following day and night.
• Yuhara spent ten days placing seals at six acupoints along his torso's main meridian, creating the Six Rulers Seal, also called the Six Rulers Technique.
• Yuhara used the technique to regulate Nature Energy, channel it through his Chakra, and release it directly to activate Cursed Seal Mode Loss Technique.
• Yuhara developed the Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm and activated it, making black metallic patterns spread across his body as lightning and a shrill, birdlike sound surrounded him.

Yuhara successfully developed Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm, combining Magnet Release and Nature Energy to boost his combat power, though its strain and Chakra cost limited its use. Meanwhile, the Fourth Hokage signed a mutual non-intrusion agreement with the Fourth Kazekage, establishing the Brown Earth Mountain Range as the boundary between Konoha and Sand Hidden.

• Yuhara activated Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm and controlled the lightning surging around him, confirming that the technique worked.
• Yuhara reasoned that Twofold Rhythm could approach Senjutsu in effect, but its strain on his meridians and doubled Chakra consumption made it his limit.
• Yuhara concluded that his full power could reach elite jōnin level, though his brief endurance remained a weakness.
• The Fourth Hokage remained at the Land of Rivers frontline to negotiate with the Fourth Kazekage after Yuhara and Tigo had left.
• The Fourth Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage signed the Konoha–Sand Hidden Mutual Non-Intrusion Agreement, making the Brown Earth Mountain Range their ceasefire line.

After adapting to his new Magnet Release and Nature Energy abilities, Yuhara was assigned with Tigo to a new mixed ninja squad. The squad’s dismissive captain, Hayasegawa, sent them on a supposedly safe border-defense mission, leaving Yuhara uneasy about his attitude and the squad’s inexperienced members.

• Tigo reflected on Yuhara’s rapid rise from novice to Jonin and recognized that experiments and knowledge had driven his unconventional growth.
• Yuhara adapted to his new abilities for several days before he and Tigo received orders to join a new squad.
• Yuhara and Tigo arrived at the assembly point and found a mixed squad of old, young, sick, and disabled ninjas, including a child who seemed innocent of war.
• Hayasegawa introduced himself as the squad’s Konoha Chunin captain and made a condescending remark about Yuhara’s large ninja tool.
• Hayasegawa assigned the squad a routine border-defense mission near the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water, insisting that danger was unlikely.

Yuhara’s team approached the coastline under Captain Hayasegawa’s dangerously lax command, then encountered four Mist Village ninjas at a lake. Yuhara recognized the threat and urged the team to flee, leaving their survival uncertain.

• Captain Hayasegawa kept the twelve Konoha ninjas in a tight formation and dismissed Yuhara’s suggestions to improve reconnaissance and prepare an outpost.
• Hayasegawa claimed the war was nearing its end and treated the coastal patrol as a routine assignment.
• Four Mist Village ninjas emerged from the lake, and Hayasegawa ordered his squads to attack them.
• Yuhara recognized the short, green-haired ninja as Karatachi Yagura, shouted for everyone to run, and shoved Tigo backward.

The Mist Village squad ambushed a Konoha Genin group while searching the Land of Fire for the revived Three-Tails. Yuhara recognized Yagura and tried to help the others escape, but Yagura moved to pursue them as Yuhara fought the Mist swordsmen.

• The Mist Village secretly searched the Land of Fire for the Three-Tails, which had died there and was expected to revive nearby.
• Yuhara recognized Yagura among the four Mist ninja and urged the Konoha squad to flee.
• Captain Hayase ordered three squads to hold off the Mist ninja, then fled himself, prompting the Konoha ninja to scatter.
• Juzo Biwa pursued Yuhara, whose technique rebounded Juzo's sword and left him poised to strike.
• Hozuki Mangetsu hit Yuhara with Hiramekarei, and Yuhara released a spreading cloud of Mercury Vapor to cover Tigo's escape.
• Yagura sent the other three Mist ninja to deal with Yuhara and went after the fleeing Konoha ninja himself.

Yuhara charged across the lake and fought Juzo Biwa while using mercury techniques to hinder the Mist Village pursuers. He killed Juzo Biwa, but was swept away by the swordsman’s final blow as the battle continued.

• Yuhara burst from the mist, saw Yagura was gone, and redirected his charge toward Juzo Biwa.
• Yuhara struck Hozuki Mangetsu with Frostflow Mercury Lamp as he attacked Juzo Biwa across the lake.
• Yuhara wounded Juzo Biwa with Mercury Arrows and an Explosive Tag, destroying his left arm.
• Juzo Biwa struck Yuhara with Kubikiribōchō, but Yuhara’s body resisted the blow and trapped the sword.
• Yuhara used a telekinetically controlled arrow and a second Explosive Tag to leave Juzo Biwa exposed, then pierced his heart with a Mercury Longsword.
• Juzo Biwa swept Yuhara away with Kubikiribōchō in his dying strength, and Yuhara noted that the weakest enemy was dead.

Yuhara defeated Juzo Biwa, then drove off Hozuki Mangetsu and escaped Mei Terumi’s deadly acid mist. In the woods, he found the dead Konoha child and executed Captain Hayase, leaving the child’s death unanswered.

• Yuhara recovered from his injuries after killing Juzo Biwa, but his Chakra was nearly depleted.
• Hozuki Mangetsu attacked Yuhara, who smashed him away with Kubikiribōchō and broke the sword.
• Mei Terumi used Boiling Release: Clever Mist Technique, and Yuhara fled before the acid mist covered the lake.
• Yuhara found a trail of Konoha corpses and confirmed that the youngest child had died from a blow to the chest.
• Captain Hayase ordered Yuhara to escort him, but Yuhara killed him with a Mercury Longsword.

Yuhara found Tigo dying and used a desperate, incomplete Living Corpse Reincarnation ritual to seal away something from her before her body died. Though grief made him question returning to Konoha, he decided to go back after recovering his teammates’ bodies and destroying the captain’s corpse.

• Yuhara refused Captain Hayase’s orders, killed him, and continued retreating through the Land of Fire.
• Yuhara found Tigo gravely wounded and attempted to preserve her life with Living Corpse Reincarnation.
• Yuhara completed the ritual and sealed a substance drawn from Tigo, but could not tell whether it was her spirit and energy or only her Chakra.
• After considering how his comrades had died and who bore responsibility, Yuhara decided to return to Konoha.
• Yuhara planned to recover as many teammates’ bodies as possible and destroy the captain’s corpse to hide the different wounds on it.

Yuhara returned to Konoha and gave an account of his squad’s destruction, which the investigators confirmed through questioning and examination of the recovered bodies. Minato Namikaze ordered an investigation into the squad’s commander and asked for a count of young Ninjas still stationed on the front line.

• Yuhara told Konoha investigators that Captain Hayase’s poor decisions led to the squad’s destruction by Mist Ninjas, including Karatachi Yagura and Juzo Biwa.
• Yuhara explained that he had escaped by hiding inside iron sand, and the investigators accepted his account after using hypnotic guidance.
• Yuhara signed the casualty list, noticed Unno Iruka’s name, and said the boy had been too young to die on the battlefield.
• Konoha’s Torture Department examined the recovered corpses and confirmed that their evidence matched Yuhara’s account, while implicating the commander.
• Minato Namikaze ordered an Anbu Ninja to investigate how the commander had led the squad and asked the operations department to count front-line Ninjas under fourteen.

After his squad was wiped out, Yuhara remained in Konoha under watch and spent several days resting and assessing his abilities. He identified balancing his speed and strength modes as his next goal, then felt his mood lift while watching Spirit Beasts in a plaza.

• Yuhara stayed at his inn while Konoha Ninjas watched him to ensure he did not flee.
• Yuhara rested for three days and reflected on the battle, his abilities, and his next steps.
• Yuhara assessed his combat strength and concluded that he needed to use his speed and strength modes simultaneously and in balance.
• Yuhara wandered around Konoha and sat beside a plaza, where he watched Spirit Beasts doze in the sun and felt less melancholy.

Yuhara told a retired old man that he wanted to prove civilian ninjas could match clan ninjas if given equal training, and tied his goal to the Sage of Six Paths’ unfinished vision of equality. The old man warned him that the clans would resist, but Yuhara said he would try anyway.

• Yuhara woke when a retired old man sat beside him and struck up a conversation about his slovenly appearance and the war.
• Yuhara complained that, despite serving on the front line several times, no one had taught him ninjutsu.
• Yuhara compared the Ninja world’s hierarchy to a religion whose leaders monopolized its teachings.
• Yuhara argued that the Sage of Six Paths had spread chakra but not techniques, leaving civilian ninjas disadvantaged compared with clan ninjas.
• The old man warned that Yuhara’s plan would face enormous resistance from clan leaders, and Yuhara said he would try it anyway.

Minato Namikaze considered postwar population and shinobi matters over lunch, while Yuhara replenished his mercury, discovered a possible way to make money, and went to get a new hairstyle. The chapter left Yuhara asking a barber for Hatake Sakumo’s hairstyle and keeping an ordinary hair tie from a passing stranger.

• Minato Namikaze discussed the easing war and postwar population concerns with his wife, then suggested Kakashi help with the next matter.
• Yuhara finished speaking with the retired old man and went to the Ninja Tool Shop to replenish his mercury and adjust his Sword Crate supplies.
• The shopkeeper showed Yuhara a Chakra Blade priced at two hundred thousand ryo, which Yuhara rejected.
• Yuhara realized he could make money with his kunai and went to a barbershop to request Hatake Sakumo’s hairstyle.
• Yuhara stopped the barber from discarding his hair tie, explaining that he had no intention of throwing it away.

Yuhara cleared the suspicion surrounding him, registered for Konoha’s Chunin Exam, and began preparing for the next stage. He barely passed the first written test and learned that the following day’s exam would be a jungle battle royale.

• Yuhara received notice that the investigation had cleared him and blamed the destroyed squad on its captain.
• Yuhara saw an announcement for a Chunin Exam in two weeks and immediately registered.
• Yuhara spent the next half-month trying to complete his balanced mode and learn a new ninjutsu.
• Yuhara took the written exam at the Ninja Academy and scored fifty-one points, one point above the passing mark.
• The examiners announced that the second stage would be a jungle battle royale held the following day.

Yuhara entered the second Chunin exam, where examinees had to secure two genuine ciphertexts while surviving a forest full of dangerous opponents. He ignored the memorization challenge and headed into the forest, planning to gather enough ciphertexts to pass through probability.

• The chief examiner announced that examinees had one week to obtain and verify two genuine ciphertexts, while killing was forbidden.
• Yuhara recognized that memorizing the decryption instructions and ciphertexts would be difficult as the other Genin formed teams to divide the work.
• Yuhara claimed his ciphertext without studying the curtain and entered the forest alone, drawing concern and scorn from the other examinees.
• Yuhara suspected that most or all of the supposed enemy prisoners were disguised Konoha Ninja and decided to pass by collecting ciphertexts from ten or more people.

Yuhara used a campfire as bait during the Chunin Ninja Exams, capturing enemy teams and collecting coded messages until the examiners declared him passed. Kakashi Hatake escorted him out, and Yuhara asked Kakashi about the advantages of shinobi-clan ninjas.

• Yuhara lit a campfire in the woods and trapped two disguised Konoha Ninjas with his metal-binding technique.
• Yuhara captured several more attackers and candidate teams, gathering fifteen coded messages as the examiners noticed people were disappearing in his area.
• A Hyuga Ninja used his Byakugan to find captives hanging from a tree, and the examiners decided to pass Yuhara and bring him out.
• Kakashi Hatake found Yuhara and told him he had passed, leaving the captives for others to rescue.
• Yuhara followed Kakashi out and asked about shinobi-clan ninjas, and Kakashi said their early advantages did not determine their later achievements.

Yuhara passed the second Chunin Exam and entered the final assessment, where he was paired against the young Uchiha Shisui. He overwhelmed Shisui, stopped an Uchiha ninja who charged into the arena, and launched an advanced Wind Release technique as the Fourth Hokage intervened.

• Kakashi told Yuhara he had passed the second exam and ordered him to report for the final assessment in seven days; Yuhara handed him the coded scrolls he had collected.
• Yuhara arrived at the final exam, where the Fourth Hokage, Third Hokage, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru watched from the viewing platform.
• Shiranui Genma drew Yuhara and Uchiha Shisui as the first opponents, and Yuhara questioned whether the match was fair because Shisui looked so young.
• Yuhara unleashed several techniques and armored himself with the Art of the Holding Magnet, but Shisui's Great Fireball failed to harm him; Yuhara struck Shisui into a wall.
• An Uchiha ninja rushed into the arena, and Yuhara struck him with an iron arrow and pinned him to the wall.
• Yuhara formed and threw a False Sage Art: True Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken at the Uchiha ninja, prompting the Fourth Hokage to act as Yuhara ran out of Chakra.