Chapter Summaries

Tsunade defended Uchiha Mai against the Hokage advisors and appointed him five-star Mizukage, asking him to support the Sand Front once Kirigakure was stable. Mai delayed leaving Kirigakure, saying he needed time to prevent unrest, but promised to find a way to aid Hatake Sakumo.

• Tsunade rebuked Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura for plotting to strip Mai of his position, warning that Kirigakure might rebel and Konoha could not safely control him by force.
• Tsunade signed Mai’s appointment letter and sent Kakashi to Kirigakure with orders for Mai to support the Sand Front after stabilizing the village.
• Mai told Kakashi he needed at least half a year to govern Kirigakure, but said he would find a way to relieve Hatake Sakumo’s pressure at the front.
• Mai arranged for Kakashi to stay in Kirigakure for several days before returning to Konoha, then explained to Mei Terumi that he wanted to prevent unrest before leaving.
• Mei Terumi, Genji, the Yuki Clan, and the Hozuki Clan accepted Mai’s rule, while small groups of Kirigakure troublemakers still resisted; Mai said he would wait until the village was secure before acting elsewhere.

Uchiha Mai planned to hire the legendary assassin Kakuzu to help Konoha survive its crisis without sending Kirigakure shinobi into the war. He secured Mei Terumi’s agreement to spend up to two hundred million from the village treasury, promising to get Konoha to reimburse Kirigakure later.

• Mei Terumi questioned how Uchiha Mai could help Konoha without going to the Sand Front or sending Kirigakure forces, and he explained that Konoha needed one top-tier fighter.
• Uchiha Mai dismissed Mifune and Nagato as options and revealed that Kakuzu, a survivor from the Warring States Era who had once fought Senju Hashirama, was his intended recruit.
• Mei Terumi examined Kakuzu’s assassination record and learned that he had killed numerous famous shinobi, including senior Kirigakure shinobi who had disappeared.
• Uchiha Mai told Mei Terumi that Kakuzu’s main ambition was earning and saving money, and that sufficiently high pay could persuade him to take dangerous missions.
• Mei Terumi said Kirigakure had less than two hundred million available after essential expenses, but Uchiha Mai ordered her to set that amount aside to hire Kakuzu and said Konoha would reimburse them.

Mei Terumi placed a ten-million-yen bounty on Kakuzu to find him, and the bounty drew the immortal ninja into a fight with four would-be hunters. After killing them and learning Mei had posted the bounty in the Land of Water, Kakuzu headed there to investigate.

• Uchiha Mai sent Mei Terumi to collect ten million and contact Kakuzu, then gave her a week off after the mission.
• Mei Terumi posted a real-name bounty on Kakuzu at the Underground Exchange and waited in a Land of Water town.
• Kakuzu ambushed four ninja who recognized his name and learned they had taken the ten-million-yen bounty at the Underground Exchange in Tianchuan County.
• Kakuzu killed the four ninja after interrogating their leader, who described the bounty poster as a beautiful, orange-haired girl staying at an inn.
• Kakuzu destroyed the worthless corpses, accepted several missions, and set off for the Land of Water.

Mei Terumi recruited Kakuzu with a lucrative commission and brought him to Kirigakure to meet her boss, whom Kakuzu assumed was hiring him to assassinate Uchiha Mai. Kakuzu grew puzzled when he saw Uchiha guards defer to Mei and realized they were approaching the Mizukage's Office.

• Kakuzu confronted Mei Terumi over her bounty, then became receptive when she offered him a commission worth at least four hundred million.
• Mei explained that her boss would choose the targets and gave Kakuzu a ten-million deposit; Kakuzu agreed to meet him, suspecting the job involved assassinating Uchiha Mai.
• Mei and Kakuzu traveled to Kirigakure, with Mei carefully keeping ahead of him and giving him directions.
• Mei showed her pass to the Uchiha Clan guards, who let her and Kakuzu enter Kirigakure respectfully.
• Kakuzu noticed that the guards treated Mei like an elder and wondered why Uchiha Mai had not taken over the Mizukage's Office.

Uchiha Mai invited Kakuzu to work as a mercenary for Konoha, offering payment for every Sunagakure shinobi he killed and protection from powerful enemies. Kakuzu rejected the idea of working beneath Mai and boasted about his past fight with Senju Hashirama.

• Mei Terumi brought Kakuzu to the Mizukage's Office, where she found Uchiha Mai asleep and flirted with him before bringing Kakuzu inside.
• Mei Terumi nestled into Uchiha Mai's arms and fed him a lychee while Kakuzu studied the pair and criticized Mai for being frivolous.
• Kakuzu asked who Mai wanted him to kill, and Mai explained Konoha's plight and offered to hire him to fight Sunagakure on its front.
• Uchiha Mai promised to pay Kakuzu for each Sunagakure shinobi he killed, let him keep the bodies, and protect him if powerful enemies pursued him.
• Kakuzu refused Mai's offer to work for him and declared that a true man could not serve another forever, claiming he had fought thirty exchanges with Senju Hashirama.

Uchiha Mai negotiated with Kakuzu over a contract to fight for Kirigakure, but when Kakuzu refused to lower his rates, Mai proposed testing his hospitality with a sofa. The test turned into a surprise attack that sent Kakuzu crashing through the Mizukage's Office and into the plaza.

• Kakuzu quoted high fees for fighting in the Ninja World war, and Uchiha Mai countered with lower rates while offering him the corpses and bounty rights.
• Kakuzu rejected Mai's offer and insisted he would leave unless Mai accepted his original prices.
• Uchiha Mai framed a sofa test as proof of sincere friendship and promised to accept Kakuzu's rates if the sofa was uncomfortable.
• As Kakuzu approached the sofa, Uchiha Mai struck him with a purple-flamed fist, blasting him through a wall and into the plaza.
• Uchiha Mai challenged Kakuzu to bet on whether he would settle comfortably on the sofa, while Mist Garrison Headquarters members drove away the watching residents.

Uchiha Mai overwhelmed Kakuzu, destroyed one of his five hearts, and exposed the truth about Kakuzu’s supposed battle with Senju Hashirama. He left Kakuzu shaken and began trying to break his confidence so he could bring him under his command.

• Kakuzu attacked Uchiha Mai with Earth Grudge Fear: Flower Storm, but Mai’s Deathfire burned the threads and drained life force from Kakuzu’s hearts.
• Uchiha Mai grabbed an Earth Grudge Fear thread and pulled Kakuzu into range, then struck him with Split-Claw Comb and shattered his earth-nature heart.
• Mai kicked Kakuzu away and explained that Kakuzu could keep fighting as long as he had remaining hearts, while Kakuzu struggled to understand how Mai knew his secret technique.
• Kakuzu tried to recover his confidence by insisting he still had four hearts and had fought Senju Hashirama.
• Uchiha Mai dismissed Kakuzu’s claim, outlined the tiers of powerful ninja, and mocked Kakuzu for having only thrown a shuriken at Hashirama from far away before fleeing.
• Mai planned to crush Kakuzu’s confidence with his strength and bring him under his command.

Uchiha Mai humiliated Kakuzu, dodged his attacks, and withstood his powerful composite ninjutsu inside Susanoo. Kakuzu ended the fight reeling from the gap between them and questioning whether his old battle with Senju Hashirama had meant anything.

• Kakuzu insisted he had fought Senju Hashirama, and Uchiha Mai suggested Hashirama had used a Wood Clone and mocked Kakuzu for mistaking the encounter for a true fight.
• Kakuzu unleashed Composite Ninjutsu: Scorching Gale Blast, but Uchiha Mai used his speed to evade him, removed his hood, slapped him, and kicked him away.
• Uchiha Mai burned Kakuzu's hood and taunted him as Kakuzu gathered power for another Composite Ninjutsu: Scorching Gale Blast.
• Kakuzu's fire tornado swallowed Uchiha Mai, but Uchiha Mai emerged unharmed inside Susanoo and struck Kakuzu with a Yasaka Bead, shattering his water-nature heart.
• Seeing Uchiha Mai's Susanoo, Kakuzu fell into despair and wondered whether the gap between him and Senju Hashirama had truly been as vast as Mai claimed.

Uchiha Mai explained the overwhelming gap between Kakuzu and the legendary Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, then defeated Kakuzu by interrupting his strongest attack and striking him repeatedly. Kakuzu’s fourth heart was destroyed, leaving him near defeat.

• Uchiha Mai revealed that his blood-red Susanoo was an ultimate Mangekyō Sharingan technique and explained that Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had been vastly stronger than him.
• Uchiha Mai told Kakuzu that the Senju Hashirama who had defeated him was only a wood clone, and Kakuzu struggled to accept that he had spent decades boasting about the loss.
• Kakuzu asked about the Thirds of the Five Great Ninja Villages, and Uchiha Mai said the Third Mizukage had exchanged roughly a hundred moves with him.
• Kakuzu offered to serve Uchiha Mai if his strongest attack failed, then began preparing Earth Grudge Fear: Final Shooting while Uchiha Mai stood in Susanoo.
• Uchiha Mai dismissed Susanoo and used Body Flicker Technique and Innate Time Control to cut Kakuzu in half before Final Shooting could be unleashed.
• Kakuzu stitched himself back together and accused Uchiha Mai of refusing to fight fairly, but Uchiha Mai pressed the attack and beheaded him, shattering his fourth heart.

Uchiha Mai nearly killed Kakuzu, then used the threat of death to force him to accept a steep discount on his assassination fees. Kakuzu survived and accepted Mai’s offer of friendship, though he remained wary of him.

• With only one heart left, Kakuzu panicked as Uchiha Mai continued attacking him.
• Kakuzu begged Mai to hire him and offered to lower his price to avoid being killed.
• Mai insisted that his supposed brotherly kindness deserved a larger discount, and Kakuzu raised it to sixty percent.
• Mai sheathed his blade and helped Kakuzu to his feet, and Kakuzu accepted his hand while shivering at Mai’s smile.

Uchiha Mai hired Kakuzu at a steep discount and brought him to the Mizukage’s Office to formalize the arrangement. As Kirigakure’s reconstruction continued under Mai’s control, the chapter ended with Mei Terumi preparing a contract for Kakuzu.

• Uchiha Mai praised Kakuzu for accepting a lower fee and escorted him back to the Mizukage’s Office.
• Uchiha clansmen ordered Elder Genji, the Mizunashi and Hōzuki clan heads, Kisame, and others to clean up and continue rebuilding Kirigakure.
• Uchiha Mai’s architectural designer died at sea after completing a blueprint that called for Kirigakure to be rebuilt.
• Uchiha Mai rejected Mei Terumi’s suggestion to name a road Department Secretary Road.
• Uchiha Mai questioned Kakuzu about his sweat, praised his professionalism, and told Mei Terumi to draft a contract using a sixty percent discount.

Uchiha Mai explained to Kakuzu why his Uchiha background made becoming Konoha’s Fourth Hokage difficult and why he needed military victories at the Sunagakure Front. Kakuzu agreed to help crush Sunagakure after Mai promised him a performance bonus.

• Uchiha Mai advanced Kakuzu two hundred million in wages and required him to keep records of his missions.
• Uchiha Mai told Kakuzu and Mei Terumi that he wanted to become Konoha’s Fourth Hokage but was disadvantaged by the Uchiha’s history and his weak ties to Namikaze Minato.
• Mei Terumi suggested Mai could wait and pursue the Fifth Hokage position, but Mai insisted he wanted power while he was still young.
• Kakuzu offered to kill Namikaze Minato for extra pay, but Uchiha Mai refused and said he wanted to preserve useful allies and his future foundation.
• Uchiha Mai said Kakuzu’s mission was to defeat Sunagakure and secure military honors that would strengthen Mai’s Hokage bid.
• Uchiha Mai promised Kakuzu a ten-percent performance bonus if he earned over two hundred million in six months while keeping genin kills below seventy percent.

Uchiha Mai sent Kakuzu to the Sand Front with his sword as a token, where Kakuzu became a notorious force against Sunagakure. As Kakuzu’s growing reputation drew the Third Kazekage’s attention, Sasori was assigned to keep him in check.

• Uchiha Mai gave Kakuzu a willow branch and Izumi no Kami Kanesada, then sent him to the Sand Front as reinforcements and warned Mei Terumi that Danzo could not die yet.
• Kakashi returned to Konoha with news that Uchiha Mai had dispatched reinforcements, and Kakuzu arrived at the Sand Front to meet Hatake Sakumo and Danzo.
• Kakuzu attacked Sunagakure’s lines, killed more than three hundred ninjas, and spread boasts that he had fought Uchiha Mai and Senju Hashirama for hundreds of rounds.
• The Third Kazekage shattered eight of Kakuzu’s hearts during repeated ambushes, then stopped pursuing him and assigned Sasori of the Red Sands to keep him in check.
• Kakuzu continued earning money by fighting Sasori, though the dangerous matchups made his work riskier.

After more than half a year in Kirigakure, Uchiha Mai returned to Konoha as the war dragged on, and Tsunade hoped his intervention would bring it to an end. His arrival delighted Tsunade but turned awkward when Mei Terumi followed him into the Hokage Office.

• Uchiha Mai hosted Kirigakure’s New Year gala while Konoha’s people and Tsunade missed him.
• Tsunade vented her frustration over the prolonged war, and Mitokado Homura argued that Uchiha Mai’s return could shift the balance.
• Tsunade defended Uchiha Mai against the advisors’ criticism, and Kakashi announced that he had returned to Konoha.
• Uchiha Mai entered the Hokage Office carrying flowers from Konoha’s people and greeted Tsunade affectionately.
• Mei Terumi followed with the fruit Uchiha Mai had made her carry, and she and Tsunade sized each other up.

Tsunade and Mei Terumi competed over their closeness to Uchiha Mai, trading barbed compliments and stories while Mai watched from the sidelines. Mai realized he had underestimated their rivalry, then unsettled Kakashi by warning that Hatake Sakumo was planning to arrange a hundred blind dates for him after the war.

• Tsunade sized up Mei Terumi, and Mei compared herself unfavorably with Tsunade’s figure.
• Mei introduced herself as a sixteen-year-old Kirigakure Jonin who worked in the Government Affairs Department and the Mist Garrison Headquarters.
• Tsunade and Mei exchanged pointed remarks about their ages and their relationships with Mai, each claiming special closeness to him.
• Mai watched them argue and recognized that both women had invented stories about his preferences and past behavior.
• Kakashi teased Mai for bringing Mei to Konoha, but Mai warned him that Hatake Sakumo planned to find him a wife and arrange many blind dates.

Uchiha Mai met with Tsunade and Mei Terumi, whose rivalry escalated when Tsunade pulled him into an awkwardly intimate embrace and accidentally broke his arm. Tsunade fled after striking him, while Mei Terumi supported Mai and criticized her.

• Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu offered to send Konoha personnel to help govern Kirigakure, but Uchiha Mai rejected their attempt to intervene.
• Mei Terumi praised Tsunade while clinging to Uchiha Mai, and Tsunade answered with teasing remarks about Mei’s skincare knowledge.
• Tsunade pulled Mei Terumi away to discuss official matters, then embraced Uchiha Mai and held his arm tightly as he repeatedly misread her reactions.
• Tsunade accidentally snapped Uchiha Mai’s arm, then punched him into the ground and fled the Hokage Office, claiming she would fetch medical supplies.
• Mei Terumi helped Uchiha Mai up and complained about Tsunade, while Mai defended his big sister.

Uchiha Mai helped Tsunade confront her hemophobia after she saw blood, and the exposure revealed that her symptoms had improved. Tsunade accepted his offer to treat her, but postponed further therapy until the Shinobi World War was over.

• Tsunade brought a medical ninja to treat Uchiha Mai, but his Sun Wheel Armor had already healed his broken arm.
• Tsunade noticed blood on Uchiha Mai's arm and, despite developing nausea and dizziness, managed to resist her fear longer than before.
• Uchiha Mai offered to provide Tsunade with desensitization therapy, and Tsunade reluctantly agreed that the method could help cure her hemophobia.
• Mei Terumi and the others realized Tsunade's illness was a secret, but Tsunade told them not to worry about being silenced and warned them not to spread it.
• Uchiha Mai suggested erasing the witnesses' memories, but Tsunade rejected the idea and said the enemy could already suspect her condition.
• Tsunade told Uchiha Mai to wait until the Shinobi World War ended before treating her, since Konoha's safety came first.

Uchiha Mai and Tsunade chose the Third Kazekage as Konoha’s first target, and Mai vowed to kill him within a month and end the war within three. The next morning, Mai set out for the Sand Front with Mei Terumi, Shisui, and Obito, who asked him for advice about Rin.

• Tsunade rejected plans to target the Third Raikage or Ōnoki and agreed that the Third Kazekage was Mai’s safest opponent.
• Mai promised to bring the Third Kazekage’s corpse back within a month and finish the war within three months, while Tsunade agreed to continue treatment for her hemophobia gradually.
• Mai left the Hokage Office, arranged matters with the Void Division, and attended to Uchiha clan business.
• Mai departed for the Sand Front with Mei Terumi, Shisui, and Obito.
• Obito complained that Rin still liked Kakashi, and Mai advised him to become more impressive so Rin would notice him.

Uchiha Mai arrived at Konoha’s Sand Front, arranged potential brides for Kakashi, and addressed the frontline commanders, promising to defeat Sunagakure within a month. He confronted Danzo after hearing him mock the plan, and Danzo backed down under Mai’s murderous intent.

• Uchiha Mai reunited with Hatake Sakumo and gave him profiles of eligible women from Kirigakure and the Uchiha Clan for Kakashi to meet.
• Hatake Sakumo insisted that Kakashi meet every candidate, leaving Kakashi dismayed while Obito realized Mai’s matchmaking scheme might help him with Rin Nohara.
• Hatake Sakumo introduced Uchiha Mai to the frontline Jonin as the force’s true commander, despite Danzo’s displeasure.
• Uchiha Mai declared that Konoha should defeat Sunagakure within a month and then use its strength to force Iwagakure and Kumogakure to surrender.
• Danzo mocked Uchiha Mai in Root’s coded language, but Mai understood him, fixed him with murderous intent, and made him agree that Minister Mai had a point.

Uchiha Mai crippled Danzo in three punches after overhearing him speak ill of him, then led Konoha’s commanders to plan a decisive confrontation with Sunagakure’s Third Kazekage. After ordering a challenge letter, Mai left the command tent to attack Sunagakure and announce his return.

• Uchiha Mai struck Danzo twice with his fists, then used Susanoo to blast him out of the command tent and leave him gravely injured.
• Kakuzu offered to lure out the Third Kazekage by raiding Sunagakure camps, but Hatake Sakumo proposed challenging him openly while Mai and Kakuzu attacked the front.
• Uchiha Mai approved Hatake Sakumo’s strategy, ordered Mei Terumi to prepare a challenge letter inviting the Third Kazekage to a decisive battle, and said the Kazekage had to be among his opponents.
• Uchiha Mai left the command tent with Kakuzu, declaring that he was going to kill people and show the Ninja World that he had returned.