Chapter Summaries

Shinji worried that Haku might expose his secret after recruiting him through a threat, so he sent Meiqiu to follow Haku. Haku reported to his Kirigakure superior, who ordered him to approach Sasuke and investigate the Akatsuki Organization, leaving Haku shocked by the revelation that Itachi and Juzo Biwa belonged to it.

• Shinji returned to his apartment, confirmed the mysterious figure at the training ground had been his Shadow Clone, and reflected on why he had recruited Haku while hiding his own identity.
• After hearing Haku leave next door, Shinji summoned Meiqiu and ordered him to follow Haku and find out whom he met.
• Haku met a Kirigakure superior in the forest and reported that Shinji seemed to consider him a friend.
• The superior ordered Haku to get close to Sasuke and investigate his ties to Itachi and any organization he might have joined.
• The superior revealed that Itachi and Juzo Biwa had joined the Akatsuki Organization, and Haku froze in shock.

Haku struggled to keep his Akatsuki membership secret from his Kirigakure handler, while Shinji learned why Haku had approached him and began seeking a second attendant. Shinji confronted Karin in her apartment about her interest in the Nine-Tails.

• Haku withheld from his handler that he had joined the Akatsuki Organization, fearing the danger of revealing its secrets.
• Meiqiu reported Haku's meeting to Shinji, who connected Kirigakure's investigation to Madara Uchiha's past control of the village.
• Shinji took Meiqiu to watch Karin's apartment while he went inside to question her.
• Shinji asked Karin what she wanted the Nine-Tails for, and her panicked reaction confirmed his suspicion.

Shinji recruited Karin into the Akatsuki Organization, offering to protect her in exchange for her healing and sensing abilities. After ensuring she had not left her apartment overnight, he planned to use her as support alongside Haku, while Meiqiu learned she had another night of guard duty.

• Shinji confronted Karin about her connection to Mizuki and Naruto's attack, then offered to protect her if she joined his organization.
• Karin accepted the offer, and Shinji warned her never to reveal anything about the Akatsuki Organization before using genjutsu to intimidate her.
• Shinji used Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan to interfere with Karin's sensing and conceal his identity, then left her apartment with Meiqiu.
• Shinji returned home and decided he would handle dangerous fights while Haku occupied enemies and Karin provided support.
• The next morning, Meiqiu reported that Karin had stayed in her apartment all night, and Shinji assigned Meiqiu to guard her again that night.

After the Chunin Exams, Shinji found himself drawn into a confrontation with Sasuke, Neji, and a crowd of upperclassmen who challenged them to fight. Worried that his poor Taijutsu would expose how much he differed from his body’s original owner, Shinji launched into the brawl anyway.

• Shinji observed Haku and Karin at the reopened Ninja Academy while classmates speculated about the Shadow Clone Technique contest.
• Shinji reassured Haku over lunch, then followed a classmate’s message to the woods behind the school.
• Shinji found Sasuke and Neji surrounded by dozens of upperclassmen, who taunted and shoved the three younger students.
• Iruka and Mizuki tried to enter the woods, but the ANBU protecting Sasuke stopped them and insisted the children could handle the situation.
• Sasuke proposed a contest to see who could take down the most upperclassmen, and Shinji charged at the nearest opponent.

Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji fought a group of older students, but Shinji defeated more than a dozen before the others could catch up. As classmates and teachers gathered to watch, Shinji left the grove to avoid drawing more attention.

• Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji launched an attack on the older students while Iruka, Mizuki, and an ANBU watched from outside the grove.
• Shinji used his taijutsu and enhanced strength and agility to knock down at least thirteen or fourteen opponents, stunning everyone on the field.
• Sasuke and Neji, frustrated by Shinji's lead, fought harder and each took down several more older students.
• Haku, Tenten, Rock Lee, Shikamaru, and other classmates arrived intending to help, but they stopped in amazement at the scene.
• As Sasuke and Neji argued over the last standing opponent, Shinji walked out of the grove and said, "You're too slow. I'm leaving first!"

Shinji defeated the older students with his Taijutsu, drawing attention from his classmates and teachers while reflecting on the strength he and Haku had developed. The Lamp then warned that an invasion would begin after midnight, and Shinji decided to alert Haku and Karin and prepare his new team.

• Sasuke and Neji stayed on their feet after Shinji left, while the last older student fled and the other upperclassmen lay injured or unconscious.
• Mizuki and the ANBU guarding Sasuke recognized Shinji's exceptional Taijutsu and speed, while Shinji considered how his and Haku's abilities compared with other Academy students.
• Haku, Tenten, and Rock Lee praised Shinji, and Neji challenged him to a future class assessment before resolving to catch up.
• The Lamp told Shinji that the plane had been invaded and gave a countdown of one day, leaving him little time to prepare.
• After returning home, Shinji decided to accept the coming fight and find a way to warn Haku and Karin to prepare for midnight.

Shinji took Haku and Karin to a dark town to repel a demon invasion, explaining their mission and how to assess demon strength. As the team followed Karin’s detection of the strongest Chakra signature, a demon appeared and prepared to attack them.

• Shinji prepared his ninja tools, transformed, and traveled to the invasion area after midnight.
• Haku and Karin arrived with Shinji, learned that they had joined the same organization, and put on Red Cloud Cloaks and masks.
• Shinji explained that demons invaded the Shinobi World by devouring living beings and stealing their Chakra, and declared that the organization would destroy them.
• Shinji warned Haku and Karin to support him in battle and explained how demons with Chakra could pose a Jonin-level threat.
• Karin detected the strongest Chakra signature in the dark town, and Shinji told Haku to protect her.
• A figure stepped around a corner and promised to put Shinji, Haku, and Karin to sleep.

Shinji was pulled into a dream by Enmu, whose rank and the other demons’ markings revealed that the Demon Slayer world differed from his memories. While Haku fought the demons outside and Karin carried the injured Shinji to shelter, she encountered another demon, leaving Shinji to face Enmu in the dream.

• Enmu’s Blood Demon Art drew Shinji into a dream, but Haku and Karin remained outside; Shinji realized Enmu’s eye marked him as Lower Rank Five rather than Lower Rank One.
• Shinji found that he could not use Amaterasu in the dream, and Enmu explained that injuries suffered in reality appeared there too.
• Haku defended the unconscious Shinji and Karin from five demons, then trapped four of them inside his Demonic Mirror Ice Crystals technique.
• Karin carried Shinji away and entered a house seeking help, where she encountered a demon with drums embedded in its body.
• Shinji stopped bleeding in the dream, blamed himself for leaving Haku and Karin in danger, and invited Enmu to look closely at his eyes.

Shinji altered Enmu’s dream with his Mangekyō Sharingan and burned him with Black Flame, then woke and rescued Karin from the Drum Demon. After destroying the demon, Shinji healed by biting Karin and set off to find Haku.

• Shinji changed the dream’s moon into a Mangekyō Sharingan and used Black Flame to torture Enmu.
• The Drum Demon trapped Karin and the unconscious Shinji in a maze of shifting rooms, then lunged to eat Karin.
• Shinji woke and used Susanoo’s skeletal arm to smash the Drum Demon away from Karin.
• Shinji expanded Susanoo, demolished the house, crushed the Drum Demon, and burned its remains to ash with Black Flame.
• Shinji, injured from the demons’ ambush, bit Karin’s arm to recover, then asked her to locate Haku and carried her toward him.

Shinji and his team repelled the demon invasion after Haku’s ice dome failed, and the Lantern Bearer confirmed the rift had closed. Shinji received three pieces of loot, while the fate of the Lantern Bearer’s plans remained unclear.

• The demons combined their strength to empower one of them, whose Blood Demon Art cracked Haku’s mirrors until the ice dome shattered.
• Shinji appeared with Susanoo, burned three demons with Black Flame, and captured the fourth for interrogation.
• The captured demon exploded before it could reveal why the demons had invaded, and Haku told Shinji that Enmu had turned to ash.
• Karin sensed no demons remaining, and the Lantern Bearer confirmed the invasion had been repelled and the rift closed.
• The Lantern Bearer presented Shinji with Dream Construction, a Small Drum, and Haste as loot.

Shinji claimed Enmu’s Dream Construction ability and gave Haku and Karin the Small Drum and Haste, warning them that demon-related spoils and memories could corrupt the Shinobi World if revealed. He sealed the survivors’ memories of the demons, planted a false memory of a fire, and had Haku and Karin set the town ablaze to support the illusion.

• Shinji claimed Dream Construction for himself, assigned the Small Drum to Karin and Haste to Haku, and warned them never to reveal anything connected to demons.
• Shinji told Haku and Karin that leaked demon spoils could link the Shinobi World to the demons’ world and ultimately destroy both worlds.
• Shinji and his companions gathered the town’s surviving residents, and Shinji used his Mangekyō Sharingan to seal away their demon memories and implant memories of a fire.
• Shinji ordered Haku and Karin to set fires around town, making the survivors’ false memories more convincing.
• The Lamp gave Shinji an A rating.

After earning an A-rank reward, Shinji gave up a Shinobi World's Gift for Merit Points and followed Karin's detected Chakra signature to a temple. There he encountered Deidara before the young shinobi had joined the Akatsuki Organization, and claimed to be there to recruit him.

• Shinji gave up the Shinobi World's Gift and received 25 Merit Points, bringing his total to 46.
• Karin detected a hidden, shifting Chakra signature in a distant forest, so Shinji, Haku, and Karin went to investigate.
• The trio tracked the signature to a dilapidated temple, where Haku spotted candlelight inside.
• Shinji entered the temple and recognized the blond boy there as Deidara, who had not yet joined the Akatsuki Organization.
• Deidara pulled out Explosive Clay, and Shinji told him he had come to invite him to join the Akatsuki.

Shinji used his Sharingan to defeat Deidara in an illusion and recruited him as an inner-circle member of the Akatsuki Organization. After Shinji, Haku, and Karin left the temple, a shadowy figure watched them and decided to report what he had learned about the organization.

• Deidara attacked Shinji and the others with Explosive Clay, but Shinji revealed that Deidara had been trapped in a genjutsu and made the ruined hall appear restored.
• Shinji dazzled Deidara with his Dojutsu, destroyed his Explosive Clay, and persuaded him to honor their bet and join the Akatsuki Organization.
• Shinji named Deidara an inner-circle member and ordered him to join the outer circle undercover, watch its members, and keep his status secret.
• Haku began to ask Shinji about what had happened, but Shinji stopped him; Karin said she could no longer identify the chakra she had sensed earlier.
• Shinji led Haku and Karin back toward their apartment, while a hidden figure revealed that he had discarded stolen chakra to avoid being tracked and planned to report his suspicions about the Akatsuki Organization.

After his Mangekyō Sharingan left him with severe eye discomfort, Shinji searched the Uchiha genealogy for a way to obtain an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. He suspected his grandmother Chiri Uchiha had awakened the Mangekyō and created Izanami, but Meiqiu confirmed her Sharingan was not among those in Danzo’s vault.

• Shinji returned to his apartment after using his Mangekyō extensively and realized he needed to find an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan before his Dojutsu ran out.
• At the Ninja Academy, Shinji noticed Haku and Karin exchanging discreet glances despite not speaking to each other.
• Shinji visited Konoha’s archives and found his family in the Uchiha Clan genealogy, which showed that his father had a Three-Tomoe Sharingan but his mother had never awakened one.
• Shinji noticed that his grandmother Chiri Uchiha had served in the Konoha Military Police Force and suspected she was the Mangekyō user who created Izanami.
• Shinji summoned Meiqiu and asked whether Chiri Uchiha’s Sharingan had been in Danzo’s vault, and Meiqiu said it had not.

Shinji realized Danzo’s old, unlabeled jars might contain Mangekyō Sharingan reclaimed by the Uchiha Clan and decided to seize them quickly. At the temple, Deidara met Itachi Uchiha, Juzo Biwa, and Sasori of the Red Sands as they came to recruit him, and he received an Akatsuki cloak but no mask.

• Shinji asked Meiqiu about unlabeled Sharingan jars in Danzo’s secret storehouse, and Meiqiu confirmed that some jars looked old.
• Shinji reasoned that the old jars might contain Mangekyō Sharingan kept by Uchiha elites and worried Danzo might discover the secret after the theft of Fugaku Uchiha’s Mangekyō.
• Shinji decided he had to take every Sharingan in Danzo’s possession as soon as possible.
• Itachi Uchiha, Juzo Biwa, and Sasori of the Red Sands entered the temple and met Deidara.
• Deidara recognized the Akatsuki, demanded his cloak and mask, and received the Red Cloud outfit from Itachi Uchiha, but found that it had no mask.

Shinji prepared for the Academy’s outdoor survival exercise while suspecting that the event and its two participating classes were unusual. At the Forest of Death, the students began setting up camp, but an ANBU assigned to protect Sasuke suddenly fell from the trees, leaving the danger unresolved.

• Shinji prepared ninja tools and reconsidered how to take the Sharingan from Danzo, deciding against a direct attack for now.
• At noon, Shinji discovered that Sasuke and Naruto’s class was the only other class joining the exercise, and Naruto had returned from the hospital.
• Iruka and Mizuki led the students into the Forest of Death, where they set up camp despite Shinji’s warnings to Neji to stay alert.
• Mizuki told Iruka that ANBU were protecting Sasuke, but an ANBU fell from the air and crashed to the ground.

A mysterious man attacked the students during their training, and Shinji recognized him as likely Orochimaru, who appeared to be targeting him and Sasuke. Shinji used a trap and a powerful Great Fireball Technique to start a forest fire and help the group escape, but the mysterious man emerged unharmed and watched them flee.

• The mysterious man knocked Mizuki and Iruka unconscious and approached the students, while Neji sensed his enormous Chakra reserves.
• The man confronted Sasuke, unleashed overwhelming killing intent, and focused his attention on Sasuke and Shinji as Haku led the other students away.
• Shinji told Sasuke and Neji to cover him while he threw wire-linked kunai with Explosive Tags at the mysterious man.
• Shinji followed the explosions with a powerful Great Fireball Technique aimed at the treetops to alert the village, then dragged Sasuke and Neji away.
• The mysterious man emerged from the smoke unharmed and called the encounter interesting as he watched the three flee.

Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji tried to escape a mysterious man, but their attacks failed to stop him. After Root shinobi knocked out Sasuke and Neji, Shinji pretended to be unconscious so he could be taken to Root Base, only to hear the men order that the others be left behind.

• Shinji led Sasuke and Neji in an attempt to flee the mysterious man, then set a wire-and-Explosive Tag trap that briefly engulfed their pursuer in an explosion.
• The mysterious man escaped the trap, defeated Sasuke and Neji, and forced Shinji to use wires and kunai to pull them away before continuing their escape.
• After Neji and Sasuke asked to walk, Root shinobi appeared and knocked both boys unconscious.
• Shinji realized Danzo was involved and pretended to be unconscious, hoping Root would take him to Root Base.
• The Root shinobi ordered one another to take Sasuke Uchiha and leave Shinji and Neji alone.

Root operatives abducted Shinji and Sasuke and imprisoned them in the Root Base, where Shinji began a plan to steal Danzo’s Sharingan. He sent Meiqiu and a Shadow Clone to raid the vault and summoned another ninja cat to help create a diversion.

• Shinji repeatedly resisted the Root operatives until they took him along with Sasuke.
• ANBU found Neji unconscious, learned that Shinji and Sasuke were missing, and reported the situation to Lord Hokage.
• The Root operatives brought Shinji and Sasuke to the Root Base, confiscated their tools, and locked them in adjacent cells.
• Shinji assessed his restraints and the time available, then used the Shadow Clone Technique and summoned Meiqiu.
• Shinji instructed Meiqiu to take as many Sharingan as possible, and Meiqiu and the Shadow Clone escaped the cell to begin the raid.
• Shinji summoned a second ninja cat to create chaos and cover the operation.

Shinji and Feng Ji escaped Danzo's prison, freed Sasuke, and triggered an alarm before Shinji used a combined fire-and-wind attack to hold off Root shinobi. The Third Hokage and Danzo arrived, and an explosion from the direction of Danzo's vault interrupted a report that Sasuke had fled there.

• Feng Ji cut Shinji's chains and cell door, then freed Sasuke from the neighboring cell.
• Shinji and Sasuke escaped, but Shinji deliberately triggered an alarm to create an opening for his Shadow Clone and Meiqiu.
• Shinji told Sasuke to flee while he held off the Root shinobi, directing Sasuke toward Danzo's vault.
• Shinji and Feng Ji combined Fire Release and Wind Release, creating a huge fireball that forced the Root shinobi to abandon their pursuit of Sasuke.
• The Third Hokage and Danzo arrived with ANBU, and a Root shinobi reported that Sasuke had run toward the vault before an explosion erupted there.