Recaps

Namikaze Minato confronted Shimura Danzō over Root’s cursed seals, arguing that they enslaved Konoha’s ninja and must be removed. Danzō tried to turn the issue toward the Hyūga clan’s Caged Bird seal, but Minato defended it as protection, leaving Danzō furious and politically cornered.

• Namikaze Minato challenged Shimura Danzō’s use of cursed seals on Root and won the meeting’s support by insisting that ninja were people, not tools.
• Namikawa Yū observed that the confrontation had been planned with Minato, while Hiruzen Sarutobi reviewed evidence of Danzō’s abuses and resolved to leave matters to the younger generation.
• Shimura Danzō argued that the Hyūga clan’s Caged Bird seal also controlled its members and demanded that Minato address it if Root’s seals were to be removed.
• Namikaze Minato distinguished Root’s seals as tools of enslavement and the Hyūga Caged Bird as protection, then declared Root’s seals evil and the Hyūga seals benevolent.
• Shimura Danzō realized he had underestimated Minato and angrily condemned his shamelessness.

Namikaze Minato forced Shimura Danzō to accept limits on Root, while Namikawa Yū urged him not to draw the Hyūga Clan into the dispute. Danzō then targeted Namikawa Yū and summoned Yakushi Nonō, threatening the orphanage and its children when she refused his mission.

• Shimura Danzō left a meeting after Namikaze Minato pressured him, and Minato ordered Root's Cursed Seals removed.
• Namikawa Yū explained that he and Minato had avoided involving the Hyūga Clan because the Caged Bird still protected its branch-family members.
• Danzō resented Minato's restrictions on Root and decided to obtain Namikawa Yū's Wood Release method through unconventional means.
• Kabuto Yakushi saw Root members arrive at the Konoha Orphanage and warned Nonō, who told him she would settle the matter and return.
• Danzō gave Nonō a mission to investigate Namikawa Yū, but she refused and said she no longer belonged to the Anbu or Root.
• Danzō threatened that the orphanage's funds and children could be targeted if Nonō did not cooperate.

Nonō used Minato’s order to make Danzo responsible for the orphanage’s safety, while Namikawa Yū arranged for her to monitor Danzo and explained why he wanted him kept in Root. Later, Yū continued researching flesh-and-blood clones designed to acquire kekkei genkai, and the chapter ended as he considered the risks of using the Chimera Technique.

• Nonō showed Danzo Minato’s order assigning Root to protect the Konoha Orphanage, forcing Danzo to safeguard her and the children rather than threaten them.
• Nonō encountered Uchiha Yakumi heading into Danzo’s office, then heard him argue with and mock Danzo.
• Nonō reported the encounter to Namikawa Yū, who asked her to monitor Danzo and gather intelligence on his movements.
• Namikawa Yū explained that keeping Danzo in Root and under scrutiny was safer than removing him and letting him operate from the shadows.
• Namikawa Yū examined cloned infants in his laboratory and used his genes and separated kekkei genkai to create vessels for acquiring other bloodlines.
• Namikawa Yū considered the Chimera Technique’s drawbacks, including the danger of bodily rejection when absorbing too many powerful kekkei genkai.

Namikawa Yū developed two flesh-and-blood clones with different Kekkei Genkai, named Ice and Purity, and prepared them to grow independently. Months later, Ice woke alone in the snowy Land of Water and encountered a caravan.

• Namikawa Yū explained that his clones could develop Kekkei Genkai without the limits imposed by ordinary Chimera Technique absorption, helping him strengthen his future Otsutsuki body.
• After most of the experimental infants died, Namikawa Yū kept the two survivors: Ice, with the Sharingan and Ice Release, and Purity, with the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku.
• Purity grew faster than Ice and showed signs of awakening powerful Shikotsumyaku, impressing Namikawa Yū.
• Namikawa Yū aged both children to about five, placed Karma Seals and Flying Thunder God marks on them, and gave them different consciousnesses before sending them out.
• Months later, Ice woke in a snowy wasteland with no clear memories, felt no cold, and walked until he found a caravan from the Land of Fire.
• The caravan owner saw that Ice was only a child and relaxed, believing he was not a threat.

Bing was taken in by a traveling caravan after being found alone in the snow, but rogue ninja attacked the group near Kirigakure. The attack awakened his Sharingan and Ice Release, and the chapter left him out of chakra as the rogue ninja prepared to strike him.

• The caravan's owner found Bing in the winter wilderness and brought him along with the help of a female Chunin from Kusagakure.
• Over several days, the caravan discovered that Bing could name the Five Great Nations and read and write unusually well, and the owner decided he wanted to adopt him.
• Rogue ninja attacked the caravan near Kirigakure, and their leader killed the female Chunin with a kunai.
• Bing's Sharingan awakened as he saw her blood, and he used Ice Release to kill several of the attackers.
• The rogue ninja leader attacked Bing, who raised an ice shield, but his chakra ran out before he could stop the man from reaching him.

Bing awakened his two-tomoe Sharingan after a Kusagakure ninja sacrificed herself to protect him, then fought the rogue ninja and was rescued by Mei Terumi. Mei offered to take him with her, and Bing agreed, while the wounded ninja was reported safe.

• A female Kusagakure ninja shielded Bing from the rogue ninja’s attack and was stabbed, prompting Bing’s Sharingan to develop a second tomoe.
• Bing ran from the rogue ninja, then turned to fight him with Ice Release and a kunai, wounding him before being kicked away and exhausted.
• Mei Terumi subdued and killed the rogue ninja, then noticed Bing’s Sharingan and assumed he was the child of Yuki and Uchiha Clan members.
• Mei told Bing that the wounded ninja was out of danger and offered him protection in Kirigakure, and Bing agreed to go with her.

Mei Terumi brought Bing to Kirigakure, kept him hidden while he grew stronger, and showed him the village’s brutal condition. After Bing promised to help her change it, they encountered Kisame Hoshigaki, one of Kirigakure’s strongest ninja.

• Bing asked Mei Terumi to let Li stay with them, but Mei said Kirigakure was too dangerous and told him he could bring Li there when he was older and stronger.
• Bing said goodbye to Li, then Mei took him to her home and ordered him not to go outside without her permission because his Sharingan could make him a target.
• Over the following months, Mei taught Bing, who learned ninjutsu and taijutsu rapidly and became powerful enough to rival an elite Chunin.
• After nearly a year, Mei took Bing into Kirigakure, where he saw the village’s dilapidated streets and suspicious, divided ninja; Mei told him she wanted to restore it, and Bing agreed to help.
• Mei introduced Bing to Kisame Hoshigaki, a teenage Jonin returning from a mission, and later told Bing to remember him as one of Kirigakure’s best ninja.