Chapter Summaries

Hatake Sakumo pursued Hasegawa while Yugito Nii and Hidden Cloud ninja tried to hold him off. Minato and his team arrived to reinforce Konoha, but Yugito transformed completely into the Two-Tails as Hatake Sakumo raced after Hasegawa.

• Hatake Sakumo killed a Hidden Cloud Jonin and accused Hidden Cloud of sheltering Hasegawa and interfering with Konoha's Anbu intelligence network.
• Yugito Nii ordered Hasegawa to flee to Kumogakure while she and the other ninja held off Hatake Sakumo.
• Hasegawa escaped, boasting that he had backup copies of the Anbu intelligence and would meet Hatake Sakumo again on the battlefield.
• Minato, Uchiha Mai, Kakashi, and Might Guy arrived, and Minato wounded Yugito before her Tailed Beast Chakra healed her.
• Hatake Sakumo left Minato to hold Yugito back and pursued Hasegawa while the others fought Hidden Cloud ninja.
• Yugito Nii released the Two-Tails' Chakra and transformed into a massive blue-black cat.

Yugito Nii fully transformed into the Two-Tails while retaining her reason, overwhelming Konoha’s forces. The chapter left Hatake Sakumo facing a far more dangerous opponent than he had expected.

• Yugito Nii transformed into the Two-Tails, and Qiongyue charged in, confident that his sword technique could defeat her.
• Qiongyue’s attacks failed to harm Yugito Nii, and she killed him with a Fireball.
• Zuo Shi rushed to avenge Qiongyue, but Yugito Nii wounded him before Minato drove her back with Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.
• Hatake Sakumo realized Yugito Nii was a perfect Jinchuriki after she challenged the Konoha group to send another fighter.

Hatake Sakumo abandoned his pursuit of Hasegawa and returned to the battlefield to protect his comrades, fighting Yugito Nii in her Tailed Beast form. His refusal to leave anyone behind left Uchiha Mai reflecting on the conflict between Sakumo’s ideals and the Third Hokage’s increasingly pragmatic rule.

• Hatake Sakumo weighed recovering the stolen intelligence against saving his comrades, knowing the information could cripple Konoha’s intelligence network.
• Hatake Sakumo turned back to the battlefield and attacked Yugito Nii with a massive chakra blade, impressing Uchiha Mai, Kakashi, and Namikaze Minato.
• Zuo Shi urged Hatake Sakumo to pursue Hasegawa and finish the mission, but Hatake Sakumo refused to abandon his comrades.
• Uchiha Mai concluded that Hatake Sakumo’s ideals conflicted with Sarutobi Hiruzen’s pragmatic leadership and that Sakumo would likely be pushed out of Konoha’s inner circle.

Hatake Sakumo sent Mai and Kakashi after Hasegawa while the other Konoha shinobi held off Hidden Cloud. With Pakkun tracking their target, the two caught up and prepared to attack him together.

• Hatake Sakumo ordered Mai and Kakashi to pursue Hasegawa while the Konoha forces fought to hold back Hidden Cloud.
• A Hidden Cloud Jonin tried to stop Mai and Kakashi with a Great Fireball, but Minato used Great Breakthrough to divert it.
• Mai and Kakashi escaped the battlefield and followed Pakkun through the woods to track Hasegawa.
• Pakkun explained that Hasegawa had taken a detour, allowing them to catch up by taking a shorter route.
• Kakashi asked how they would divide their roles, and Mai said they both had to attack Hasegawa with all their strength.

Hasegawa escaped from Hatake Sakumo and prepared to kill Kakashi and Uchiha Mai, who pursued him together. After Hasegawa outmaneuvered Kakashi and then suppressed both boys with Wind Release, the fight left the two injured and struggling to respond.

• Hasegawa assumed Hatake Sakumo had stayed behind to face the Two-Tails Jinchuriki and mocked his choice to protect his comrades.
• Kakashi and Uchiha Mai caught up with Hasegawa, and the three exchanged taunts before fighting.
• Hasegawa used a clone, thrown kunai, and Body Flicker Technique to nearly strike Kakashi, but Uchiha Mai interrupted his attack.
• Kakashi and Uchiha Mai teamed up as the “two-in-one masked ninjas” and fought Hasegawa cautiously.
• Hasegawa combined taijutsu and Wind Release to overwhelm the pair, cutting them with wind blades and mocking their weakness.

Uchiha Mai and Kakashi changed tactics against Hasegawa, accepting injuries to land damaging blows and unsettle him. Mai explained that Hasegawa feared death more because he stood to lose the wealth and comforts he had gained, as their fight continued.

• Hasegawa attacked Mai and Kakashi with Wind Release: Cutting Wind Orb, forcing them to keep defending.
• Mai charged through the wind spheres using a paid-for dance skill, reached Hasegawa, and struck his arms with a flame-coated punch.
• Mai claimed he had adapted to Hasegawa's Wind Release, though Kakashi saw that Mai had taken hits and cauterized his wounds.
• Kakashi joined Mai in a reckless counterattack, and the two repeatedly traded injuries with Hasegawa.
• Hasegawa broke off to berate them for risking their lives, and Mai told him that he feared losing his status, wealth, and pleasures more than they feared death.

Mai and Kakashi fought Hasegawa, who had defected to Kumogakure, and left him brutally crippled. Mai secured him with kunai through the ankles after Kakashi watched her finish the fight.

• Mai used Dark Thrust, but Hasegawa dispersed the flames with Violent Wind Palm as Kakashi attacked with his sword.
• Hasegawa used the Body Flicker Technique to evade Kakashi's slash, but Kakashi stabbed him in the kidney while taking two shuriken to the chest.
• Hasegawa lashed out at Kakashi, but Mai struck him with a flying knee and interrupted his attack.
• Mai used her enhanced Boom Axe to break Hasegawa's spine, then dislocated his arms and broke all ten fingers.
• Mai drove kunai through Hasegawa's ankles to prevent the wounded Jonin from escaping.

Uchiha Mai and Kakashi captured Hasegawa alive and returned to find Hatake Sakumo fighting the Two-Tails. Sakumo defeated Yugito Nii with Dōjigiri Yasutsuna, while Mai reflected on Kakashi’s connection to the Hatake Sword Technique.

• Hasegawa complained that Mai had not used Sealing Jutsu, and Mai bound him tightly after disabling him.
• Mai hung Hasegawa from Kakashi’s back, and the two returned toward the battlefield.
• They found Hatake Sakumo battling the Two-Tails, and Sakumo noticed they had captured Hasegawa but kept fighting.
• Sakumo enlarged his lightning chakra blade and struck the Two-Tails with Dōjigiri Yasutsuna, forcing Yugito Nii out of her transformed state.
• Kakashi explained that Dōjigiri Yasutsuna was one of the Hatake Sword Technique’s ultimate moves, and Mai considered why Kakashi had later abandoned White Fang.

Uchiha Mai and Kakashi completed their mission by capturing Hasegawa alive while Hatake Sakumo and Yugito Nii agreed to end the battle. Back in Konoha, Mai checked his Style Points and found he had enough for a pull from the One-and-a-Half-Star Prize Pool.

• Hatake Sakumo and Yugito Nii agreed to stop fighting, and Hidden Cloud withdrew from the battlefield.
• Uchiha Mai and Kakashi revealed themselves with the captured Hasegawa, surprising Hatake Sakumo and Minato by bringing him back alive.
• Hatake Sakumo ordered the squad to collect their fallen comrades and return to Konoha, where the mission team disbanded after reporting in.
• Uchiha Mai returned home and discovered that his Style Points had risen to 1,067, enough to try the One-and-a-Half-Star Prize Pool.

Uchiha Mai risked his life to fuse Litwick’s ember into his heart, gaining a faint blue flame that could absorb life energy. After recovering at Konoha Hospital, he found Shisui waiting outside his home with another message from the clan head.

• Uchiha Mai used his Style Points to draw Litwick’s Ember and learned that using it required placing it inside his heart.
• Uchiha Mai cut open his chest and right atrium, placed the ember inside, and waited as it fused with his body.
• The ember absorbed roughly half of Uchiha Mai’s blood before his heart healed and resumed pumping normally.
• Uchiha Mai formed a ball of faint blue flame from his chakra and went to Konoha Hospital for treatment.
• As Uchiha Mai returned home at sunset, Shisui told him that the clan head had sent him to find him again.

Uchiha Mai learned that Namikaze Minato had become acting Anbu Minister after Hatake Sakumo resigned, and Fugaku encouraged him to build a career in the Anbu. Fugaku also told Mai that the Hokage wanted to see him the next day, possibly to promote him to Chunin or assign him another mission.

• Uchiha Mai told Fugaku how his team had joined the Anbu while assisting Hatake Sakumo on a mission.
• Fugaku praised Mai's Anbu position and promised the clan's support for his career.
• Fugaku explained that Hatake Sakumo had resigned as Anbu Minister after losing a vote among the Hokage, the Anbu, the Military Police Force, and the three advisors.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen appointed Namikaze Minato acting Anbu Minister after Shimura Danzō proposed choosing a replacement.
• Fugaku told Mai that the Hokage had asked him to send Mai to the Hokage Office the next day.

Sarutobi Hiruzen rewarded Uchiha Mai for his role in the Hasegawa pursuit operation and let him choose a technique from the Anbu Secret Technique Scroll. Mai chose Super Beast Imitating Drawing, and the chapter ended with Hiruzen asking whether he could draw.

• Uchiha Mai visited Sarutobi Hiruzen at the Hokage Office after Fugaku told him to go.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen praised Mai and Kakashi for their courage during the Hasegawa pursuit operation and gave Mai a 600,000-yen bonus.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen showed Mai the Anbu Secret Technique Scroll and allowed him to choose one technique to learn.
• Uchiha Mai chose Super Beast Imitating Drawing because it could help with reconnaissance, transport, and sealing.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen said he would send Mai the learning scroll, then asked whether Mai could draw.

Sarutobi Hiruzen asked Uchiha Mai to delay his Chunin promotion and represent Konoha at a multi-village exam in Sunagakure. Mai agreed, then learned Kirigakure planned to send several formidable young ninjas, leaving him apprehensive about the competition.

• Uchiha Mai agreed to learn Super Beast Imitating Drawing after Sarutobi Hiruzen praised his artistic talent.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen explained that Mai had earned a Chunin promotion but asked him to postpone it for several months.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen told Mai that Konoha, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure would compete in a Chunin exam hosted by Sunagakure four months later.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen revealed that he and Minato had chosen Mai to compete instead of Kakashi, who had already been promoted to Chunin.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen described Kirigakure's powerful young contestants, including members of the Mizunashi and Kaguya clans, Kisame, and Mei Terumi, and Mai grew worried about the exam.

Uchiha Mai studied Super Beast Imitating Drawing and used his Sharingan to bring a crudely drawn phoenix to life, but it could barely fly before collapsing. Jiraiya appeared, introduced himself with a recording playing his entrance music, and left Uchiha Mai questioning the device.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen gave Uchiha Mai the Super Beast Imitating Drawing scroll, excused him from missions for four months, and said a new teacher would guide his training.
• Uchiha Mai studied the scroll and learned that the technique could use either Yang Release to animate a drawing or Yin Release to give it a soul through conviction.
• After nearly a month of practice, Uchiha Mai used his Sharingan to hypnotize himself and bring a chick-like phoenix drawing to life.
• Uchiha Mai ordered the phoenix to fly, but it managed only a few centimeters before collapsing into ink.
• Jiraiya revealed himself in a tree, introduced himself as Jiraiya the Gallant, and explained that a recorder had played his entrance music.

Uchiha Mai explained his theory for mastering Super Beast Imitating Drawing and revealed that he planned to make the technique work with prepared drawings in battle. Jiraiya, assigned to guide him and lead Konoha’s Chunin Ninja Exams team, was left impressed by Mai’s ambition and apparent genius.

• Uchiha Mai bought two pink recorders from Jiraiya, who had acquired a stock of them in the Land of Snow.
• Jiraiya revealed that he was the teacher Minato had assigned to guide Uchiha Mai and the chief commander for Konoha’s Chunin Ninja Exams team traveling to the Land of Wind in three months.
• Uchiha Mai argued with Jiraiya over whether his failed drawing was a phoenix or a chicken, then gave Jiraiya an elaborate explanation of his gender and clothing preferences.
• Uchiha Mai explained that Super Beast Imitating Drawing relied on conviction and that crude drawings made it hard to manifest strong animals.
• Uchiha Mai said he could use his Sharingan to copy a skilled artist’s drawing process, but he had trained with crude drawings to strengthen his conviction and make prepared artwork viable in combat.
• Jiraiya was stunned by Uchiha Mai’s reasoning and concluded that the boy was a true genius who needed little guidance.

Uchiha Mai and Jiraiya spent two hours competing to improve Mai’s idea for sealing painted designs onto his body, then Jiraiya offered to help find an artist and a sealing expert. He led Mai to a suspicious establishment in Konoha, where Mai learned the Hokage was a regular visitor.

• Uchiha Mai and Jiraiya traded increasingly elaborate suggestions for using prepared paintings in battle until Mai proposed sealing special blood-reactive designs onto the body with Sealing Jutsu.
• Jiraiya praised Mai’s idea and offered to find him a master artist and a Sealing Jutsu ninja.
• Jiraiya led Uchiha Mai through Konoha to a dark alley and pointed out Sawamura Kabuki-cho as a clue to the artist.
• Uchiha Mai threatened to report the establishment to the Hokage, but Jiraiya said his teacher was a regular there.

Uchiha Mai accompanied Jiraiya to Kabukicho, where Jiraiya spent Mai’s money while claiming he was looking for a tattoo artist. After Mai spotted the tattoo style he wanted, Jiraiya admitted he had used the supposed clue to get Mai to pay for the night, and Mai punched him.

• Jiraiya dragged Uchiha Mai to Kabukicho and made him pay for the drinks and hostesses.
• Uchiha Mai secretly recorded Jiraiya as Jiraiya ordered drinks and bragged to the hostesses.
• Jiraiya told Uchiha Mai to wait for the nightly performance, then pointed out a dancer whose tattoo matched Mai’s desired style.
• Jiraiya admitted that he knew the tattoo artist and had tricked Mai into paying for the evening.
• Uchiha Mai punched Jiraiya in the eye socket.

Jiraiya brought Uchiha Mai to meet painter Kurama Murakumo, the Kurama Clan head, to commission a complex animal design for Mai’s new technique. Murakumo accepted the job for up to 400,000 yen, and Mai agreed.

• Jiraiya led Uchiha Mai to Kurama Murakumo’s home and warned him to be respectful.
• Jiraiya introduced Uchiha Mai and explained that he needed dozens of species and hundreds of animals combined into a body painting for a new technique.
• Uchiha Mai learned that Kurama Murakumo was the Kurama Clan head, and Murakumo admitted he secretly painted tattoos in Kabukicho to support his struggling clan.
• Kurama Murakumo agreed to create the design, quoting 200,000 to 400,000 yen with sketches in three days and revisions for half a month.
• Uchiha Mai accepted the price without hesitation.

Uchiha Mai commissioned Kurama Murakumo to design a body-covering artwork of hundreds of animals, and Jiraiya sealed the finished patterns into Mai’s skin as a cursed seal. The Omen Flower’s effects remained to be tested.

• Uchiha Mai spent hours describing his detailed designs for animals across his body to Kurama Murakumo.
• Kurama Murakumo completed a draft called Omen Flower, featuring 666 beasts and eight dragons instead of the requested nine.
• Uchiha Mai approved the design, and Kurama Murakumo painted it across his body.
• Jiraiya used Sealing Jutsu, Mai’s blood, and special liquid to seal the artwork into Mai’s skin so its patterns would not fade.
• Uchiha Mai activated his chakra and saw the patterns surface as Jiraiya explained the seal; they prepared to test its effects.

Uchiha Mai tested the concealment and combat effects of the beasts created by Super Beast Imitating Drawing. He explained how his mutated flames could restore the blood and vitality the technique consumed, and Jiraiya concluded that Mai needed a real battle to test his abilities.

• Uchiha Mai manifested concealed cobras from his arm and attacked Jiraiya, who swatted them away before throwing Mai across the room.
• Uchiha Mai found that the snakes stayed concealed for only two or three seconds, and Jiraiya judged that brief concealment could still disrupt enemies.
• Uchiha Mai explained that he used his own blood as the medium for his manifested beasts, preventing the body’s patterns from being consumed but risking blood loss and leaving his blood vulnerable to enemies.
• Uchiha Mai demonstrated dark blue flames that drained Jiraiya’s vitality and explained that the flames could absorb and restore the blood his manifested animals lost.
• Jiraiya said Mai’s abilities made him more versatile, but that a real battle was needed to test him.