Chapter Summaries

Yunqing accepted Pakura’s decision to marry him and took her out, promising to share his assets and savings with her. Sunagakure’s waiting officials learned that their meeting was canceled for the day, leaving them furious but unwilling to challenge Yunqing.

• Pakura told Yunqing that she had decided to marry him after accepting her clan’s expectations.
• Yunqing agreed to marry Pakura and invited her to drink, see his assets, and take charge of his savings.
• Yunqing granted himself and Pakura a day off while Sunagakure’s higher-ups waited for a meeting.
• An Anbu announced that Yunqing and Pakura had gone out to have fun, and Ye Xiu urged the officials to return home.
• Sāmon and the other officials left, suppressing their anger because they could not defeat Yunqing and depended on his ability to make them money.

Yunqing showed Pakura his many properties in Sunagakure and took her to one of his upscale restaurants, where they discussed how he understood the needs of stressed ninjas. When Pakura asked about his future investments, Yunqing admitted he would not compete with the Uchiha and Kurama Clans in the film industry because their Genjutsu was unmatched.

• Yunqing showed Pakura seven storefronts, eight small buildings, and nine orchards that he owned in Sunagakure, explaining that he had gained the land through demolition compensation.
• Yunqing took Pakura to his upscale restaurant, where she enjoyed the atmosphere and praised his understanding of what customers needed.
• Pakura reflected that Yunqing’s indulgences helped him relieve the pressure of ninja life, while Yunqing privately disagreed with her assumption that he did not like visiting pretty young women.
• Pakura asked Yunqing about future investments, and he said the Uchiha and Kurama Clans had already taken the film industry.
• Yunqing told Pakura that the film industry required powerful Genjutsu, and she accepted that the Uchiha and Kurama Clans were the strongest in that field.

Yunqing presided over Sunagakure’s delayed meeting and settled plans for the conquered Country of Roran, overseas islands, and personnel who had either betrayed or served the village. The meeting ended with traitors marked for execution, troublemakers assigned forced labor, and loyal performers promised promotions and rewards.

• Yunqing joked with Sunagakure’s resentful leaders about his absence before Ebizo brought the meeting to order.
• Ebizo reported that Sunagakure had taken coastal islands after Iwagakure withdrew from the war and outlined the agenda.
• Yunqing proposed making the Ancient Kingdom of Roran a subordinate force while preserving its leadership and opening its commerce to Sunagakure’s factions, and the leaders agreed.
• Yunqing proposed auctioning development rights to the resource-rich islands in exchange for tribute, and the leaders agreed.
• Yunqing ordered those who obstructed the village’s plans sent to the islands as laborers and those who betrayed Sunagakure executed.
• Yunqing promised promotions, raises, and other rewards to those who had performed well.

Yunqing ordered Sunagakure to purge wartime collaborators and expand its Police System across the Land of Wind. Bunpuku recruited Akai and Leikai as his deputies, while the new police force became the first target for ideological education.

• Yunqing ordered elite Sand Shinobi and Sunagakure police led by Bunpuku to arrest suspected collaborators across the Land of Wind.
• Akai told Leikai that they would both be assigned to work in Sunagakure, and Bunpuku confirmed they would help train and manage the Police System.
• Leikai asked why he had been chosen, and Bunpuku explained that he had remained loyal to Sunagakure despite wartime temptations.
• Bunpuku explained Yunqing's plan to expand the Police System and strengthen ideological education, beginning with the police.

Yunqing oversaw the harsh training and ideological instruction of Sunagakure’s new police recruits, aiming to build a disciplined force that would earn the public’s trust. Meanwhile, Suke chose negotiation or continued war to settle the growing conflict with Kirigakure over the islands.

• Yunqing expanded Sunagakure’s Police Department and put Akai, Bunpuku, and Leikai in charge of recruits’ fitness, combat, and ideological training.
• Leikai taught the recruits to honor Sunagakure and serve its people, while Bunpuku used surprise nighttime assemblies to test their readiness.
• Yunqing explained to Pakura that the regimen would improve discipline and help the police build public trust, despite many recruits being clan members seeking local posts.
• At Harbor Port, Suke dismissed concerns about Kirigakure and said he would negotiate, but fight if negotiations failed.

The Kaguya Clan Head argued with the Hozuki Clan Head over Sunagakure’s development of coastal islands and Kirigakure’s unwillingness to spend lives on an unprofitable war. An order from the rear directed them to negotiate with Konoha and Sunagakure and establish a joint market, leaving the Hozuki Clan Head to handle the reply while the Kaguya Clan Head despaired over Kirigakure’s priorities.

• The Kaguya Clan Head raged that Sunagakure had begun developing islands along the coast, while the Hozuki Clan Head mocked his inability to stop them.
• The Kaguya Clan Head proposed requesting reinforcements to contain Konoha and Sunagakure, but the Hozuki Clan Head rejected the idea because the fighting offered too little profit.
• A Kirigakure Anbu delivered an order from the Mizukage Building, and the Kaguya Clan Head reacted with relief, excitement, anger, and finally dejection as he read it.
• The Hozuki Clan Head read that Kirigakure was to negotiate with Konoha and Sunagakure to establish a joint market and sell its goods.
• The Hozuki Clan Head wrote a reply demanding that the rear send goods within ten days and told the Anbu that they would settle matters soon.

The Hozuki Clan Head persuaded the Kaguya Clan Head to pursue negotiations with Konoha and Sunagakure, explaining how the wider war and competition for resources shaped their strategy. Hatake Sakumo accepted the invitation, and the three-sided battlefield quieted as all parties prepared to negotiate.

• The Hozuki Clan Head urged the Kaguya Clan Head to contact Suke and Hatake Sakumo and arrange negotiations in three days.
• The Hozuki Clan Head explained that Konoha needed a ceasefire because it was fighting on multiple fronts, while Kirigakure hoped to use the peace to develop its resources and keep rival villages in check.
• Hatake Sakumo received Kirigakure's request and decided to attend the negotiations despite suspecting a possible scheme.
• Suke continued defending Sunagakure's island and directing naval warfare with his Magnet Release.
• The three parties paused their fighting and waited for negotiations, while their villages' leaders struggled with shortages of ninja manpower.

The Kaguya Clan Head quickly settled negotiations with Hatake Sakumo and Suke to establish a jointly managed trading market, though his blunt manner left the Konoha and Sunagakure representatives furious. The market’s leaders approved the deal, and Hiruzen Sarutobi planned to use the freed-up forces to deal with trouble in the Land of Waterfalls.

• The Kaguya Clan Head proposed establishing a trading market, and Suke and Hatake Sakumo agreed on behalf of Sunagakure and Konoha.
• The three parties agreed to share management and taxes equally, with Kirigakure offering marine goods, Sunagakure offering placer gold and iron sand, and Konoha offering grain, salt, and daily necessities.
• The Kaguya Clan Head ended the negotiations without discussing compensation, and Hatake Sakumo and Suke left in anger while the Hozuki Clan Head enjoyed their frustration.
• The Third Mizukage welcomed the successful deal, and Yunqing praised Suke for resolving matters peacefully.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi praised Hatake Sakumo and planned to use Konoha’s freed-up forces to crush unrest in the Land of Waterfalls.

Yunqing and Sunagakure’s leaders debated how to respond after the Land of Wind’s Daimyo escaped their control and began touring the country with his own guards. Yunqing ordered Bunpuku to protect the Daimyo and investigate the missing guards while Sunagakure monitored the situation.

• Yunqing confronted Sunagakure’s leaders after they learned the Daimyo had been touring the Land of Wind with elite samurai and civilian guards.
• Ebizo explained that the Daimyo’s assigned ninja had been eliminated or bought off, and the leaders debated whether to wait, restrict the nobles, or assassinate them.
• Yunqing suspected an unfamiliar force was stirring unrest and predicted other hidden villages would face similar challenges from their daimyo.
• Yunqing ordered Bunpuku to take ninja to protect the Daimyo and investigate the missing guards.
• Yunqing instructed the remaining leaders to monitor Sunagakure and the Land of Wind, kill anyone who defied their place, and protect themselves.

Sunagakure purged nobles who knew about the Daimyo’s tour while protecting those who knew nothing, as Bunpuku led an elite Anbu unit to intercept the Daimyo. The Daimyo, manipulated by Madara’s genjutsu and confident in his samurai army, prepared to challenge Sunagakure while his ministers feared the consequences.

• Sand Shinobi surrounded noble estates, questioning nobles about the Daimyo’s tour and killing those who knew about it.
• Bunpuku led an elite Anbu unit out of Sunagakure as the Daimyo traveled across the desert with more than twenty thousand samurai.
• White Zetsu told the Daimyo that Sunagakure was slaughtering nobles and that Bunpuku was coming, then reassured him that Madara would protect him.
• The Daimyo vowed to raise an army of one hundred thousand samurai and defeat Yunqing, unaware that Madara’s genjutsu had shaped his confidence and hostility.
• The Right and Left Prime Ministers worried that the Daimyo’s actions could destroy the alliance between the Five Great Nations, and they resolved not to warn their sons.

Madara Uchiha manipulated the Daimyo of the Land of Fire into gaining power and preparing to challenge the shinobi system, while he secretly planned to orchestrate similar upheaval among the other nations. As the daimyo tours sparked military preparations, the hidden villages halted their conflicts and mobilized to protect their own power.

• Madara Uchiha persuaded the Daimyo of the Land of Fire that he was helping him seek revenge against Hashirama Senju and gave him a pill that appeared to grant him Chakra.
• The Daimyo of the Land of Fire accepted Madara’s offer and went to test his new strength, while Madara secretly mocked him and planned to record the daimyo’s future despair.
• Within ten days, the daimyo of the other four great nations also held tours, and the hidden villages learned of the growing threat too late to stop them.
• The Third Mizukage ordered Kirigakure to retrieve the Kaguya Clan Head and summon Yagura as the Land of Water prepared for possible war.
• Konoha and Kumogakure halted their conflict and reorganized their forces as Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Third Raikage prioritized securing their countries against their own daimyos.

Madara Uchiha watched the chaos caused by the Daimyo’s militarization and traveled to the Land of Waterfalls to inspect Konoha’s system of clan rule. In Sunagakure, Yunqing and its leaders discussed how Konoha and the Daimyo’s factions were exploiting the turmoil.

• The Daimyo of the Land of Wind gathered fifty thousand samurai in Daimyo City and armed them with Chakra Weapons, while their disorder and abuses drove the city into decline.
• Madara Uchiha witnessed a samurai break a vegetable farmer’s leg and told Tobi that the samurai would suffer when war came.
• Madara Uchiha decided to visit the Land of Waterfalls and see how Konoha’s arrangement of clans governing civilians was working.
• Ebizo told Sunagakure’s leaders that idle samurai were causing trouble in Daimyo City, and they discussed the Daimyo’s profiteering and Konoha’s role.
• Yunqing argued that Hiruzen Sarutobi intended to bleed the Daimyo dry and punish the nobles, prompting laughter from the Sunagakure leaders.

Yunqing ordered Sunagakure to prepare defensively while waiting for the Daimyo’s conflict to weaken him, and Bunpuku revealed that Madara Uchiha was involved. Meanwhile, Madara explored the Land of Waterfalls and saw that its people welcomed Uchiha rule, leaving him to reconsider what ordinary people needed for peace.

• Yunqing told Sunagakure’s leaders to manage their own territory and wait for the Daimyo to make the first move.
• After the meeting, Yunqing ordered Sāmon to distribute stored weapons and told Bunpuku and Shukaku to prepare to cut off the Land of Wind.
• Yunqing warned that powerful samurai could pose a threat, and Ebizo concluded that the Land of Iron might intervene.
• Bunpuku said Shukaku had sensed Madara Uchiha’s familiar aura on the Daimyo, and Yunqing dismissed the need to warn the other hidden villages.
• Madara toured the Land of Waterfalls and saw how Konoha’s Ninja Clans provided land, work, education, and security to the common people.
• A tavern owner and another customer praised Uchiha rule, leading Madara to conclude that ordinary people valued a secure, comfortable life more than abstract equality.

Madara traveled through the Land of Earth and saw Iwagakure improve civilian life through roads, villages, and commerce, strengthening his belief that ninjas could coexist with civilians. In the Land of Rain, he found widespread starvation under the daimyo’s rule and headed to the Land of Wind to ask Yunqing what had happened to the world.

• Madara visited the Land of Earth and watched Iwagakure build roads and villages while connecting the region to its economy.
• Madara saw civilians living well under Iwagakure’s rule and concluded that the problem was how ninjas were used, not the ninjas themselves.
• Madara traveled to the Land of Rain and found starving people across much of the country, especially in its central region.
• Madara checked that the eyes he had left in the Land of Rain were growing well, then set out for the Land of Wind to seek answers from Yunqing.
• Madara wondered whether the Ninja World might fare better without daimyo and under ninja rule.

Madara sought Yunqing out to ask why life under ninja rule seemed better than life under daimyo rule, and Yunqing explained that class divisions—not ninjas or daimyos alone—caused the suffering. As Yunqing prepared to attack, Madara asked how he judged Hashirama, and Yunqing declared both men poor leaders.

• Madara brought the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to Sunagakure and fired a Chakra sphere at it, which Yunqing blocked.
• Yunqing confronted Madara and threatened to kill him, but Madara said he only wanted to talk.
• Madara described his travels through the Five Great Nations and asked Yunqing why people fared better under ninja rule than daimyo rule.
• Yunqing explained that nobles exploited commoners while ninjas treated commoners and nobles alike, but Madara misunderstood the point.
• Yunqing called Madara unsuited to lead and said Hashirama was similarly unqualified, crediting Tobirama with Konoha's governance.

Yunqing defeated Madara Uchiha in the desert and stayed with him as he died, honoring his legacy. Madara’s body was sent to Konoha for burial, and Konoha announced it would grant him a grand funeral.

• Yunqing removed Tobi from Madara and agreed to let him leave before fighting Madara without restraint.
• Yunqing’s heated Dragon Slayer punch shattered Madara’s Susanoo, and Yunqing sealed Madara’s Chakra circulation to prevent his escape.
• Madara asked about his Rinnegan and laughed at the thought of an Uchiha youth leading Konoha before dying peacefully.
• Yunqing praised Madara as a hero and ordered his body sent to Konoha for burial among the Uchiha Clan.
• Konoha announced that it would honor Madara with a grand burial and recount his achievements.

Hiruzen Sarutobi called a meeting to decide how Konoha would honor Madara Uchiha, arguing that Madara’s contributions and love for the village deserved recognition. The meeting ended with the clans considering his legacy, while Hiruzen’s faction sought to win the Uchiha’s loyalty.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi proposed granting Madara Uchiha posthumous honors, burying him in the Uchiha ancestral grounds, and recording his story in Konoha’s history.
• Iwa Uchiha knelt before the meeting and asked everyone to honor Madara, prompting the Uchiha Clan Members present to kneel with him.
• Shū Senju said he had hated Madara for killing Senju clansmen but admired his strength and character.
• The Nara Clan Head questioned the Uchiha Clan Head and Iwa Uchiha, who affirmed that Madara had sought peace, founded Konoha sincerely, and loved the village.
• Shimura Danzō recognized that Hiruzen Sarutobi hoped to honor Madara and secure the Uchiha Clan’s support, but kept his objections to himself.

Konoha held Madara Uchiha a grand funeral, which helped Hiruzen Sarutobi secure the Uchiha Clan’s loyalty. Hiruzen then arranged to expand the Police Force with other clans, leaving the Uchiha less dominant and strengthening his faction’s control.

• Konoha held a citywide funeral for Madara Uchiha, with Hiruzen Sarutobi officiating and the Uchiha Clan and other clans in attendance.
• The Uchiha Clan Head pledged to share the Police Force with other clans after Hiruzen Sarutobi asked about expanding it.
• The Uchiha Clan Head recommended several clans for the Police Force, and Hiruzen Sarutobi agreed to assign them recruits to train.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi used the expanded Police Force and rivalries among the clans to strengthen his faction and keep Konoha’s powers in check.

Konoha publicly sent precious medicinal herbs to Sunagakure while spreading rumors that Hiruzen Sarutobi was deeply worried about Yunqing, who was said to be near death. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru traveled with the delivery, speculating about Yunqing’s condition and reflecting on the power of Hashirama Senju.

• Konoha handed Madara Uchiha’s corpse to Konoha, provoking envy and anger among other villages and the Daimyo.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi sent medicinal herbs to Sunagakure with a conspicuous convoy and encouraged rumors of his concern for Yunqing.
• Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru rode with the delivery, and Jiraiya complained that they had been recalled from the border.
• Orochimaru recognized that Hiruzen Sarutobi had sent Tsunade away to help her recover from Madara Uchiha’s burial and ordered him to keep watch over her.
• Jiraiya asked whether Yunqing was truly gravely wounded, and Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya discussed the uncertainty and immense power of Kage-level fighters.

Yunqing listened as Kakuzu argued that Hashirama Senju’s gentleness and overwhelming strength shaped the ninja world, then teased Kakuzu about being single. Kakuzu left in embarrassment, while Yunqing concluded that having a wife separated heroes from villains.

• Kakuzu told Yunqing that Hashirama Senju’s accommodating nature had led others to challenge him and suffer, while Madara Uchiha’s confidence had ended in defeat.
• Kakuzu speculated that if Hashirama had been more domineering and Madara gentler, the other hidden villages might never have been established.
• Yunqing praised Kakuzu’s ideas as suitable for novels, and Kakuzu said he would contact a publisher.
• Kakuzu teased Yunqing about neglecting government work and lectured him about lust after Pakura left the room.
• Yunqing claimed that prolonged bachelorhood twisted people and made them villains, prompting Kakuzu to leave with the Body Flicker Technique.
• Yunqing reflected that many successful heroes had wives while notorious villains were single, and decided marriage helped people avoid becoming antagonists.