Chapter Summaries

Chiyo warned Sasori against letting his genius turn into arrogance, while Madara Uchiha studied the Third Kazekage’s training book and decided to seek an Uzumaki descendant as a backup. The book spread among Sunagakure’s wealthy patrons, and after Kakuzu confirmed its value, a red-haired figure watched him from above.

• Chiyo teased Senra and Sasori, then warned Sasori that doubts needed strength behind them and that arrogance could lead him to ruin.
• Madara Uchiha read the Third Kazekage’s book and praised its author as a hero who could rival Hashirama and himself.
• Madara Uchiha ordered Zetsu to find a suitable Uzumaki descendant in the Land of Whirlpools or elsewhere instead of approaching Sunagakure directly.
• Nobles and wealthy merchants obtained the book, and one paid Kakuzu one million taels to assess it.
• Kakuzu judged the book capable of guiding a talented student toward Jonin rank and possibly Kage-level, while a red-haired figure watched him from the sky.

Yunqing sought out Kakuzu in the Desert and recruited him to teach ninjutsu at the Sunagakure Ninja Academy. After testing Kakuzu’s strength and offering him a generous salary, Yunqing reflected on how Takigakure had squandered its chance to become the sixth great Ninja Village.

• Kakuzu sensed Yunqing following him and learned that Yunqing knew about his past and Earth Grudge Fear.
• Yunqing asked Kakuzu to teach at the Sunagakure Ninja Academy, and Kakuzu challenged him to test his strength.
• Kakuzu attacked with fire, wind, lightning, water, and earth techniques, but Yunqing’s defenses kept him unharmed.
• Yunqing offered Kakuzu a two-million-ryo base salary plus bonuses, and Kakuzu accepted the offer.
• Yunqing lamented that Takigakure had wasted its advantages and ended up as a subordinate village of Konoha.

Yunqing explained how Takigakure might have become a major Ninja Village, then brought Kakuzu to Sunagakure and recruited him with a luxurious home and ten million ryo. Kakuzu pledged to teach Sunagakure’s children, leaving Yunqing satisfied that he had secured his loyalty.

• Yunqing told Kakuzu that Takigakure could have become the sixth major Ninja Village if it had used his abilities and the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki wisely.
• Yunqing and Kakuzu walked through a prosperous, transformed Sunagakure, and Kakuzu remarked on how much the village had changed.
• Yunqing showed Kakuzu a luxurious house and promised he could live there for the rest of his life.
• Kakuzu found ten million ryo in the house and eagerly embraced the money.
• Kakuzu pledged his loyalty to Yunqing and promised to train Sunagakure’s children into capable ninja.

Yunqing learned that Kirigakure had helped defeat the Land of Whirlpools after a covert attack, and he realized the conflict centered on the power of a nation’s resources. He warned Ebizo that the Five Great Nations would soon move against their Daimyos, then searched Sunagakure’s Dark Plane for signs of Black and White Zetsu.

• Kakuzu celebrated moving into a fifty-million-ryo house, while Yunqing returned to work in his Kazekage's Office and sent Pakura out on a task.
• Ebizo informed Yunqing that Kirigakure and the Land of Water had won the war, Masahiko Uzumaki had been killed by Mizunaki Kuchiki, and Hozuki Gengetsu had killed the Land of Whirlpools' Daimyo.
• Ebizo revealed that a covert force had bombed Kirigakure’s rear and wiped out the Land of Whirlpools' army, prompting Yunqing to use his systems to investigate.
• Yunqing concluded that Hozuki Gengetsu had exposed the danger of a nation combining its full military and financial strength, and he warned Ebizo that the Great Nations and their Daimyos would soon act.
• After Ebizo left, Yunqing searched Sunagakure’s Dark Plane for Black and White Zetsu and considered the figure’s tree-planting ability useful for improving the environment.

Yunqing planned how to use White Zetsu and other tree-growing ninjas to improve the Land of Wind, then expanded Sunagakure’s Ninja Academy curriculum and hired Kakuzu to teach. Kakuzu settled into the job but resented Yunqing for seeing through his love of making money.

• Yunqing excitedly considered using White Zetsu, Yamato, and Madara Uchiha to plant trees, then recorded plans for exploiting talented tree growers.
• At the Ninja Academy, Sasori explained to his classmates why Lord Suke was not teaching ninjutsu and speculated about the new teacher.
• Kakuzu received Yunqing’s extensive curriculum and began teaching at the Academy with help from part-time Genin and Chunin.
• Kakuzu trained Sasori and the other students in taijutsu and Five Release Ninjutsu, explaining that they needed skills beyond their puppets.
• Yunqing asked Kakuzu whether he loved making money more than money itself, and Kakuzu called him an annoying guy after Yunqing left.

Yunqing tracked down Madara Uchiha, challenged his plan to use Infinite Tsukuyomi, and fought him in the desert. Their battle continued as Yunqing tried to preserve Madara’s Wood Release trees for the benefit of Sunagakure and the Land of Wind.

• Yunqing followed an evil Chakra presence and found Madara Uchiha waiting with Black and White Zetsu.
• Madara declared that he would bring peace to the ninja world through Infinite Tsukuyomi, but Yunqing questioned the Uchiha Clan’s claims about the Sage of Six Paths and the stone tablet.
• Madara offered Yunqing a pair of Rinnegan if he would help, but Yunqing refused to be persuaded by his status or promises.
• Madara attacked with Great Fire Annihilation and Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence, and Yunqing extinguished the flames and punched Madara into the desert.
• Madara used Susanoo, while Yunqing formed a giant purple Chakra avatar, and the two clashed with swords.
• Yunqing softened his attacks whenever Madara used Wood Release so that the trees would survive.

Yunqing turned the battle with Madara into a public story that strengthened Sunagakure and fueled its river-channel project, while other villages blamed Konoha for producing a Wood Release Ninja. Hiruzen Sarutobi rejected the accusations and ordered Konoha to fight back as the chapter ended with the coming war still unresolved.

• Yunqing approved Sunagakure’s river-channel plans and ordered Suke to protect trade routes while ignoring Konoha’s condemnation.
• Sunagakure and the Land of Wind showed other villages the battle ruins, convincing them that a Konoha Wood Release Ninja had fought Yunqing.
• Kumogakure and Iwagakure joined forces to attack Konoha and demand an explanation for the supposed Wood Release Ninja.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi cursed the accusations, then told Konoha’s leaders to fight back and have the Anbu watch for the Wood Release Ninja.

Madara recovered in his cave after his battle with Yunqing and vowed to study Yunqing’s book before seeking a rematch. In Sunagakure, Yunqing discussed Sāmon’s research and proposed using it to develop desert-adapted trees, while also considering ways to turn desert animals into food and protected species.

• Madara connected himself to the God Tree to restore his Life Energy, asked Zetsu for Yunqing’s book, and vowed to settle things with him in a few years.
• Sāmon gave Yunqing research results from his blood and said he had diluted them into portions for medicine, rewards, and further study.
• Yunqing suggested combining the research with tree species to develop a Desert Tree Series that could grow in the desert.
• Yunqing considered holding a Food Festival to create economic benefits from food and its side products.
• Yunqing thought about breeding Desert Lizards, Desert Snakes, and Desert Scorpions as food, unknowingly setting his sights on the desert creatures.

Yunqing took Pakura along Sunagakure's bustling food street, where they ran into Ye Nan and discussed her relationship with En Uzumaki. The chapter left Yunqing encouraging En to keep supporting the Uzumaki Clan and to treat Ye Nan well.

• Yunqing strolled through Sunagakure's food street with Pakura and praised the new businesses while sharing grilled Desert Lizard meat with her.
• Pakura met Ye Nan, and Yunqing asked how things were going with En Uzumaki and when they would marry.
• Ye Nan explained that En wanted to buy a house himself before marrying, though his earnings went toward the Uzumaki Clan's debts.
• Pakura pointed out that Ye Nan already covered En's daily expenses, and Ye Nan concluded that he simply did not want to marry yet.
• Yunqing found En nearby, heard that he and Aizawa Uzumaki were repaying the clan's debts out of guilt, and urged him to treat Ye Nan well.

Yunqing warned Pakura against deifying people and grew alarmed when she revealed that some villagers had created slogans praising him. He took Pakura to Rasa and Karura’s jewelry shop to reward her, leaving her happily browsing while he protested the prices.

• Yunqing told Pakura that even Hashirama Senju had serious flaws and warned her not to worship anyone as perfect.
• Yunqing asked how many people in Sunagakure had deified him, and Pakura revealed that someone at the Ninja Academy had created the Three Thoughts and Two Corrects.
• Yunqing worried that people might later exploit his ideas and leave him blamed for their actions.
• Yunqing offered Pakura gold and silver jewelry as a reward, and she eagerly accepted.
• Yunqing and Pakura visited Rasa and Karura’s shop, where Karura showed them her personal collection and Pakura began choosing jewelry.

Yunqing addressed Sunagakure’s Ninja Academy students, urging them to study and telling them that anyone could compete for the Kazekage’s position. His words stirred the village, and Ebizo explained that reducing reliance on the Kazekage would help Sunagakure grow stronger.

• Yunqing discovered that students had built a collection of his past remarks from wealthy families and clan leaders who had credited their own ideas to him.
• Yunqing told the Ninja Academy students that everyone made mistakes and that hard work could let anyone try for the Kazekage’s seat.
• Sāmon, Chiyo, Ebizo, and the other Elders approved of Yunqing’s view, while Kakuzu was stunned by Sunagakure’s straightforward approach to leadership.
• Yunqing’s speech prompted Sunagakure’s people, including merchants and nobles, to discuss studying and whether their children might become Kazekage.
• Pakura reported that the village was unsettled by Yunqing’s words, and Ebizo explained that people should stop relying on the Kazekage alone.

Yunqing and Ebizo discussed the influx of refugees into the Land of Wind and devised a plan to keep them under control. Sunagakure would assign them work and teach them its ideology and laws.

• Pakura objected to Yunqing's claim that anyone could become Kazekage, and Yunqing rebuked her before sending her back to work.
• Ebizo told Yunqing that a huge number of refugees were entering the Land of Wind and Sunagakure while other nations were at war.
• Yunqing realized the refugee influx was a deliberate attempt to damage Sunagakure's reputation and asked Ebizo how they could manage it.
• Yunqing spotted a copy of Lord Kazekage's Three Ideologies and Two Speeches and ordered Ebizo to adapt it into Sunagakure's ideological principles.
• Yunqing instructed Ebizo to teach the refugees Sunagakure's laws every day, give them copies, and impose severe punishment on those who refused to work.

A steward confronted refugees protesting unequal work and pay at the River Channels Project site and punished Leikai after he spoke up. The refugees returned to work, while Leikai faced three months of confinement and one hundred copies of Sunagakure’s Constitution and Ideological and Political Program.

• The Steward learned from Zongkai that newly arrived refugees were protesting their work and meals, then went to confront them.
• Leikai spoke for the refugees and challenged the Steward, but the others backed away from him.
• The Steward identified Leikai as the ringleader, had Zongkai restrain him, and raised a podium with Earth Release.
• The Steward publicly sentenced Leikai to three months of confinement and one hundred copies of Sunagakure’s Constitution and Ideological and Political Program.
• The Steward left with Leikai after the refugees quieted down and resumed working.

Leikai, a Cloud Ninja trainee, tried to incite refugees in the Land of Wind to riot, but Sunagakure caught and punished him. His unusual ability to memorize Sunagakure’s Ideological and Political Program without losing his sanity astonished Yunqing, who recognized him as a rare and valuable captive.

• Leikai recalled accepting a mission from Kumogakure to stir up refugees and cause trouble for Sunagakure.
• After Leikai encouraged the refugees to make trouble, a Sunagakure ninja frightened them, and Leikai was punished when he stepped in.
• While confined, Leikai copied Sunagakure’s Ideological and Political Program until he had memorized it without going mad.
• The Steward and Zongkai judged Leikai either a trusted spy or a lunatic and ordered that he be kept safe as a valuable specimen.
• Yunqing read Leikai’s records in the Kazekage Building and marveled that he had survived the program’s psychological effects.

Yunqing and Ebizo investigated Leikai, a Kumogakure trainee whose reading and copying of Sunagakure’s Ideological and Political Program had reshaped his loyalties. The chapter left Ebizo planning to keep Leikai confined and use his apparent devotion to Sunagakure as a model for governing refugees.

• Yunqing read intelligence about Leikai and told Pakura that accurate information about him would arrive soon.
• Yunqing ordered Pakura to have Bunpuku patrol and identify where the One-Tail had settled.
• Ebizo praised Leikai for memorizing and copying the Ideological and Political Program, while Leikai called the book poison and criticized its claims.
• Ebizo questioned Leikai, who instinctively said he would give everything for Sunagakure and wanted to live there because life was fulfilling and affordable.
• Ebizo told the steward and Zongkai to keep Leikai writing the program during his confinement and promote his heroic deeds afterward.

Yunqing walked through Sunagakure to inspect its development while reflecting on the secret work he had done to transform the Land of Wind. He left Sunagakure’s future in the hands of its people, seeing himself as a guide who helped them build a lasting village rather than a savior who handed them prosperity.

• Bunpuku left Sunagakure to inspect the Land of Wind, while Yunqing set out to check on the village’s development with Pakura following him.
• Yunqing joked that Bunpuku’s patrol was taxpayer-funded travel, and Pakura silently complained about his remarks.
• Yunqing boasted that he understood the Land of Wind better than anyone, while privately recalling how he had used his Void Engine to reshape its underground environment.
• Yunqing decided against transforming the Land of Wind through individual effort alone because he wanted Sunagakure’s people to develop through their own work.
• Yunqing viewed himself as a guide who delegated responsibility and aimed to ensure Sunagakure could remain strong after he was gone.

Yunqing inspected Sunagakure’s Chakra Cannons, Chakra Guns, and other research projects, seeing how Lord Sāmon had turned his research into powerful weapons and useful devices. He left with Pakura after urging Lord Sāmon to develop civilian applications and considered how Sunagakure could access Natural Chakra.

• Lord Sāmon showed Yunqing and Pakura a Chakra Cannon that destroyed an Earth Style Wall and explained that improvements had sharply reduced its charging time.
• Lord Sāmon demonstrated Chakra Guns as ten Genin fired together and quickly destroyed an Earth Style Wall defended by three Jonin.
• Pakura feared that Chakra Guns made her training pointless, so Yunqing demonstrated that the weapons could not harm him and explained that powerful ninja had ways to counter them.
• Yunqing toured Lord Sāmon’s other inventions, including Chakra Energy Converters and Chakra Suppression Devices, and asked him to focus some research on civilian uses.
• Yunqing left with Pakura and reflected that Sunagakure needed Natural Chakra, while the Three Great Sacred Lands that could help develop it remained aligned with Konoha.

Yunqing visited Chiyo to check on her research and ask whether the Uzumaki Clan had crossed a line, then met with Aizawa Uzumaki and En Uzumaki at Whirlpool Hospital. Chiyo agreed to take Uzumaki Clan members as students, and Yunqing left the clan leaders to arrange it with her.

• Yunqing visited Chiyo’s herb garden and asked whether the Uzumaki Clan had violated a taboo.
• Chiyo said the Uzumaki Clan had helped fill gaps in Medical Ninjutsu and agreed to train one of its members as her successor.
• Chiyo teased Yunqing about finding a wife and heir before he and Pakura left.
• Yunqing met Aizawa Uzumaki and En Uzumaki at Whirlpool Hospital and learned that clan members had helped them repay most of their loan.
• Yunqing told Aizawa Uzumaki and En Uzumaki to negotiate with Chiyo about taking Uzumaki Clan members as disciples, and they thanked him.

Yunqing inspected Sunagakure’s factories and Commercial Street, then explained that the merchants there secretly provided supplies and other support. He called a meeting to strengthen Sunagakure’s industrial chain, where attendees proposed ways to reuse materials and distribute medicine.

• Yunqing inspected Sunagakure’s factories and Commercial Street with Pakura, noting that merchants’ businesses would provide hidden support.
• Yunqing told Pakura that Sunagakure needed a complete industrial chain and headed back to the Kazekage Building to arrange a meeting.
• Yunqing praised Sunagakure’s Chakra Weapons, Chiyo’s pharmaceutical work, and Whirlpool Hospital during the meeting.
• Yunqing asked attendees to plan how materials, factory products, and surplus medicine could be used and distributed.
• Sunagakure’s meeting attendees proposed turning metal scrap into tools and toys and selling medicine through pharmacies or using safe damaged medicine in cooking.

Yunqing urged Sunagakure’s administrators to plan an industrial system, then addressed a worker shortage caused by the village’s existing workforce being fully employed. He decided to build factories across the Land of Wind and recruit local residents, leaving the chapter with his thoughts on the power of Ninja Villages.

• Yunqing listened as Sunagakure’s administrators proposed breeding farms, scrap-reuse factories, prison labor, and other industrial projects, then ordered them to plan a complete industrial system within three years.
• Pakura told Yunqing that Sunagakure’s recruitment drive had attracted too few workers, and he explained that most locals already had stable jobs.
• Yunqing decided to build factories near battle ruins and oases across the Land of Wind so they could recruit local residents.
• Pakura asked whether the Daimyo would object, and Yunqing said the factories would pay taxes on time.
• Yunqing reflected on how much power Ninja Villages held compared with the Daimyo and other rulers.