Chapter Summaries

Hyuga Yunchuan overwhelmed Hiruko with a single punch and identified the powers Hiruko had gained through his Chimera Technique as stolen. Hiruko charged at him in a rage, and Yunchuan formed a black orb to meet the attack.

• Hyuga Yunchuan struck Hiruko with a powerful punch, sending him crashing into a tree.
• Hiruko recognized Yunchuan as a dangerous opponent and blamed Orochimaru for misleading him.
• Hyuga Yunchuan mocked Orochimaru and recognized Hiruko as a former Konoha ninja who had developed the Chimera Technique.
• Hiruko grew greedy for the distant power he sensed in Yunchuan and insisted that his fused abilities belonged to him.
• Hyuga Yunchuan told Hiruko that his powers were stolen, prompting Hiruko to attack at Swift Release speed.
• Hyuga Yunchuan extended his palm and condensed a black orb.

Hyuga Yunchuan drove Hiruko into retreat and considered how to awaken more Kekkei Genkai using Ōtsutsuki blood and stolen cells. Back in Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen received a bloodied report about the returned escort team and feared that a Fourth Shinobi World War was beginning.

• Hiruko escaped from Hyuga Yunchuan using Swift Release, while Yunchuan's Tenseigan and Ōtsutsuki bloodline advanced.
• Hyuga Yunchuan realized that Kekkei Genkai shinobi's chakra and cells could help him awaken additional abilities, and he resolved that war would give him opportunities to act.
• Hiruko returned to a cave near the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, where he argued with Orochimaru.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen worried after the escort team carrying Hyuga Hiashi's corpse failed to send another report on time.
• An Anbu shinobi delivered a blood-soaked scroll, and Sarutobi Hiruzen read it and announced that the Fourth Shinobi World War was coming.

After Toroi and nearly a hundred Kumogakure shinobi died at the handover site, Sarutobi Hiruzen concluded that war with Kumogakure was unavoidable. He accused Shimura Danzō of colluding with Iwagakure, then headed to Konoha Hospital to question the survivors and learn what had happened.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen read the report and told Mitokado Homura that Konoha could not escape responsibility for the deaths, so he ordered a Jonin meeting and preparations for war.
• Shimura Danzō entered the office and claimed his Root operatives had only been placed with the escort team as a precaution.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen struck Danzō with his pipe and demanded to know whether he or his spies had colluded with Iwagakure.
• Mitokado Homura pulled Danzō out of the office and said he would contact the clan heads, Jiraiya, and Tsunade.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen decided to question Akamichi Chodo, Hyuga Yunchuan, and the other survivors, then hurried toward Konoha Hospital.

Samui’s squad investigated the Land of Hot Water border and found a destroyed port and what appeared to be the remains of Kumogakure shinobi Toroi. At Konoha Hospital, Akamichi Chodo woke to find Hyuga Yunchuan beside him, just as Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived.

• Samui led her squad to investigate disturbances near the Land of Hot Water border after Kumogakure lost contact with its outpost.
• Samui and her squad found the port erased into a barren wasteland and discovered a damaged Kumogakure forehead protector.
• Samui’s squad found blood, bones, and purple hair at the site, and Atsui wondered if the remains belonged to Toroi.
• Akamichi Chodo woke in Konoha Hospital and saw Hyuga Yunchuan sleeping beside his bed.
• Hyuga Yunchuan helped Chodo when he began coughing, then turned in surprise as Sarutobi Hiruzen entered the room.

Sarutobi Hiruzen questioned Hyuga Yunchuan about the deadly blast after Utatane Koharu treated Akamichi Chodo. At the Land of Hot Water border, Samui and her companions surveyed the devastation and realized the destruction had been caused by a terrifying wind technique.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen brought Utatane Koharu to treat Akamichi Chodo's burned airways with the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique.
• Hyuga Yunchuan watched Koharu's technique with his Byakugan and copied it while Sarutobi Hiruzen assumed he was worried about Chodo.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen reassured Hyuga Yunchuan that he did not blame him for copying Rotation and questioned him about his improved abilities and the incident.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen asked Hyuga Yunchuan what had happened after he left, and Yunchuan trembled as he said everyone was dead and the attacker was not human.
• Samui and three others surveyed the ravaged border of the Land of Hot Water and inferred that a person had unleashed a massive, controlled Wind Style tornado that destroyed everything around him.

Samui and Black Zetsu investigated the blood-soaked wasteland left by a devastating attack, while Black Zetsu feared the attacker might be an Outsider and ordered Obito and Nagato to collect the Tailed Beasts. In Konoha Hospital, Sarutobi Hiruzen began considering the secrets inside the Abyss, and Hyuga Yunchuan learned that his deception had earned him more Reality Points.

• Samui found the devastated battlefield with Atsui and two Chunin, then decided they should report to the Raikage rather than investigate further.
• After the area fell silent, White Zetsu and Black Zetsu emerged from the soil, and Black Zetsu suspected the blue-eyed attacker was an Outsider.
• Black Zetsu resolved to make Obito and Nagato begin collecting the Tailed Beasts immediately, then traveled toward the Land of Rain with White Zetsu.
• At Konoha Hospital, Hyuga Yunchuan told Sarutobi Hiruzen about the blue-eyed monster, the Abyss, and the building he had seen inside it.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen wondered whether the building held secrets or forbidden techniques, while Yunchuan received 6,000 Reality Points after his lie fooled the witnesses.

Hyuga Yunchuan urged Sarutobi Hiruzen to stop retreating and prepare for war against Kumogakure and Iwagakure, then volunteered to speak at the Jonin meeting. Hiruzen brought him to the meeting, where the gathered ninja confronted the Hokage with a united show of pressure.

• Akamichi Chodo asked Sarutobi Hiruzen whether war was coming, and Hiruzen said it seemed unavoidable.
• Hyuga Yunchuan argued that Konoha had nowhere left to retreat and declared he would stand on the front lines.
• Hiruzen decided to take Yunchuan to the Jonin meeting, despite Chodo's concern about the consequences for Yunchuan and the Hyuga Clan.
• Yunchuan confirmed he wanted to go, and Hiruzen reassured him that he would not be alone.
• Hiruzen entered the meeting room with Yunchuan, and the assembled ninja rose and addressed him in a display of pressure.

Hizashi Hyuga attended a Jonin meeting disguised as Hyuga Hiashi, where Sarutobi Hiruzen blamed Kumogakure for an ambush and proposed war. Hyuga Yunchuan supported the campaign and was revealed to have been promoted to Jonin, leaving the gathered clan leaders stunned.

• Hizashi Hyuga arrived at the meeting in Hyuga Hiashi's place and was startled to see Hyuga Yunchuan following Sarutobi Hiruzen.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen claimed Kumogakure had ambushed the escort squad after receiving Hizashi's body, killing many Konoha ninja.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen proposed gathering forces and declaring war on Kumogakure, while the clan heads responded with silence.
• Hyuga Yunchuan volunteered to join the force and argued that reason could not save them from danger.
• Hyuga Riwo challenged Yunchuan's right to speak, but Sarutobi Hiruzen announced that he had promoted Yunchuan to Jonin.

At a Konoha Jonin meeting, Sarutobi Hiruzen appointed Hyuga Yunchuan a Jonin, prompting Hyuga Hiwu to insult him and challenge his standing. Yunchuan demonstrated his strength, and Hiruzen forced both men to apologize, leaving the gathered clans to recognize Yunchuan as a powerful ninja outside the Hyuga Clan’s traditions.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen announced that Hyuga Yunchuan was a Jonin, and Akamichi Chodo vouched for Yunchuan’s importance during their mission.
• Hyuga Hiwu called Yunchuan worthless and began to threaten him, but Yunchuan warned him to think before speaking.
• Yunchuan unleashed a handseal-less Wind Style attack that cut Hiwu’s cheek and cracked the wall behind him, while Sarutobi Hiruzen restrained Yunchuan’s raised fingers.
• Yunchuan criticized Hiwu for forgetting his duties as a Konoha Jonin, and Hiruzen made Hiwu admit that he had spoken without thinking.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered Yunchuan and Hiwu to apologize to each other, and Yunchuan reminded Hiwu that Hyuga did not need to rely only on the Byakugan and Gentle Fist to grow stronger.

Sarutobi Hiruzen secured the clans’ support for war and assigned Hyuga Yunchuan to Hatake Kakashi’s team to investigate the Abyss in the Land of Hot Water. Konoha’s declaration of war shocked Kumogakure and prompted the Akatsuki to change its plans.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen gained the Hyuga Clan’s, Ino-Shika-Cho’s, and other clans’ agreement to place their ninja under his command, while Hyuga Yunchuan reflected on Tobirama Senju’s reforms and the clans’ political divisions.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen asked Hyuga Yunchuan to join Hatake Kakashi’s team on an S-rank mission to investigate the Abyss, and told him to visit the Forbidden Jutsu Library before departure.
• Hyuga Yunchuan ignored Hyuga Riwo’s threat as he left, and Riwo could only watch him go.
• The Fourth Raikage reacted furiously to Konoha’s declaration of war, while Mabui studied the notice and the wider Ninja World sought to learn what had prompted Sarutobi Hiruzen’s decision.
• In the Land of Rain, the Akatsuki questioned Sarutobi Hiruzen’s sudden decisiveness, and a voice ordered Nagato to act immediately because the plan had changed.

At Hizashi Hyuga’s funeral, Hinata fled the oppressive gathering and was bullied by three boys before Hyuga Yunchuan rescued her. Yunchuan then met Naruto Uzumaki and received missions to investigate Hanzo of Amegakure, leaving him considering Hanzo as a potential Human Puppet.

• Hinata Hyuga left Hizashi Hyuga’s funeral, overwhelmed by guilt and grief, and ran into the snow.
• Three boys mocked Hinata for her Byakugan and shoved her down, but Hyuga Yunchuan knocked them out and sent her home.
• Naruto Uzumaki praised Yunchuan, who used the Body Flicker Technique to leave after realizing their meeting was premature.
• A Root ninja delivered Yunchuan two Scrolls from the Third Hokage, including a Forbidden Jutsu Library pass and an order to investigate Hanzo of Amegakure.
• Yunchuan wondered whether Sarutobi Hiruzen or Shimura Danzō had assigned the mission and considered making Hanzo a Human Puppet.

As war threatened to engulf the Land of Rain, the aging Hanzo feared that his country would once again become a battlefield and struggled with his declining strength. Outside Amegakure, Deva Path Pain and two cloaked companions prepared to seize the village.

• Hanzo learned that Amegakure had purged most of Akatsuki’s remnants but still could not locate its two leaders.
• A Rain Ninja reported that the Land of Fire had declared war on the Land of Lightning, and Hanzo feared the conflict would draw the Land of Rain into another war.
• Hanzo worried that his death would leave the Land of Rain and its people defenseless as his strength continued to fade.
• Deva Path Pain emerged near Amegakure with two companions and decided to take control of the village so Akatsuki could begin recruiting members.

Hyuga Yunchuan found Hyuga Neji grieving his father’s death through bloody, self-destructive training and challenged him to fight. After beating him, Yunchuan urged Neji to reject the despair of his Caged Bird fate and fight back, leaving Neji crying in the snow.

• Hyuga Yunchuan came upon Hyuga Neji punching a training post with bloody knuckles in the snowy courtyard.
• Hyuga Neji blamed Hyuga Yunchuan for failing to protect his father’s body, and Yunchuan challenged him to a fight while claiming he would use neither hand.
• Hyuga Neji attacked with the Gentle Fist, but Hyuga Yunchuan countered him and quickly broke his nose and injured his leg.
• Hyuga Yunchuan pinned Hyuga Neji’s wrist and taunted him about being a Caged Bird before releasing him into the snow.
• Hyuga Yunchuan told Hyuga Neji to resist the Main Branch and reject helpless anger, and Hyuga Neji struggled in the snow and cried.

Hyuga Yunchuan urged Hyuga Neji to seek answers in the Clan Ancestral Library after describing a powerful monster with brilliant blue eyes. He then entered Konoha’s Forbidden Jutsu Library, where he inspected its scrolls and considered the origins of the shinobi clans’ secret techniques.

• Hyuga Yunchuan told Hyuga Neji about the monster who had killed Toroi and nearly a hundred Kumogakure shinobi, and directed him to a specific book in the Clan Ancestral Library.
• Hyuga Neji recalled his dream of brilliant blue eyes and wondered what he would learn from the library.
• Hyuga Yunchuan used Sarutobi Hiruzen’s scroll to enter the Forbidden Jutsu Library beneath the Hokage Building, despite its seals and barriers.
• Hyuga Yunchuan examined the library’s scrolls, including B-rank techniques and clan secrets, while noticing that the scrolls seemed deliberately chosen for him.
• Hyuga Yunchuan reflected that secret-technique clans might have developed through inherited traits and intermarriage, and concluded that his body’s bloodline made him the ancestor of every shinobi clan.

Hyuga Yunchuan studied the Forbidden Jutsu Library scrolls while Sarutobi Hiruzen misjudged his choice to learn Chidori and the Yin Seal. By the time Hiruzen returned, Yunchuan had mastered Chidori and demonstrated its concentrated lightning form.

• Hyuga Yunchuan memorized the locations of scrolls that interested him, then chose to study the Chidori and Yin Seal scrolls.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Yunchuan through the Crystal Ball and judged him greedy and immature for choosing both techniques.
• After Hiruzen stopped observing, Hyuga Yunchuan spread out the clan secret techniques and began testing the limits of his Ōtsutsuki Bloodline.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen returned to the Forbidden Jutsu Library, where he found Yunchuan practicing Chidori with his right hand badly strained and burned.
• Hyuga Yunchuan compressed the lightning into a concentrated form, told Sarutobi Hiruzen he had learned Chidori, and left him stunned.

Hyuga Yunchuan impressed Sarutobi Hiruzen by displaying advanced Lightning Release control and claiming he had trained with it for years, prompting Hiruzen to consider taking him as a disciple. Hiruzen’s hopes cooled when Yunchuan said he had only Wind and Lightning affinities, but he then asked about the Yin Seal, unaware that Yunchuan had already mastered it.

• Hyuga Yunchuan demonstrated a lightning technique and modestly claimed it was only an A-rank technique, astonishing Sarutobi Hiruzen.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen asked when Yunchuan had developed such strong Lightning Release control, and Yunchuan said he had trained with it for three or four years.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen hurriedly asked Yunchuan to name his Chakra attributes, then felt disappointed when Yunchuan said he had only Wind Release and Lightning Release.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen noticed the Yin Seal scroll and asked Yunchuan what he thought of the technique.
• Hyuga Yunchuan said the Yin Seal’s meridian system seemed suited only to women and too difficult to modify, though he had secretly mastered it.

Hyuga Yunchuan left Sarutobi Hiruzen after gaining the Yin Seal and other techniques, then recognized a connection between the seal and the Otsutsuki Kusabi. He spent Reality Points to manifest a method for cultivating a version of Kusabi suited to him.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen warned Hyuga Yunchuan to take care during his mission and promised to support him if the Hyuga Clan cut off his resources.
• Hyuga Yunchuan left with the Yin Seal, Adamantine Sealing Chains, and other additions to his abilities.
• Hyuga Yunchuan noticed the Yin Seal’s black diamond mark and felt a familiarity linked to his Otsutsuki bloodline.
• Hyuga Yunchuan connected the Yin Seal’s storage principle to Kusabi, the Otsutsuki ability that stores genetic data and can resurrect its holder through a Vessel.
• Hyuga Yunchuan failed to manifest a complete Kusabi cultivation method, then chose a cheaper method based on the Yin Seal and Curse Mark.
• Hyuga Yunchuan accepted the 8,000 Reality Point cost to manifest the method.

Hatake Kakashi and Hyuga Yunchuan infiltrated the Land of Rain’s capital to gather intelligence and heard Amegakure ninja complain about food shortages and speculate about Hanzo’s disappearance. The scar-faced ninja noticed Kakashi watching him and confronted the group, leaving them on the verge of a tavern brawl.

• Hatake Kakashi led Hyuga Yunchuan and two others into the Land of Rain and split the team to gather intelligence.
• Kakashi and Yunchuan entered the capital and observed its rain-soaked, industrial streets before taking seats in a tavern.
• Amegakure ninja discussed dwindling food rations, rising grain prices, and whether the Land of Fire’s war with the Land of Lightning would affect them.
• A scar-faced ninja questioned whether Hanzo was dead, then panicked when he realized he had spoken too freely.
• The scar-faced ninja spotted Kakashi’s gaze, shouted at him, and strode toward the group as the tavern fell silent.

Hyuga Yunchuan and Hatake Kakashi’s group confronted four Rain Ninja who tried to detain them, then subdued the men and persuaded the tavern patrons that they had punished Hanzo’s enemies. They left with the unconscious Rain Ninja, while the crowd admired them as loyal guardians of the Land of Rain.

• A scar-faced Rain Ninja accused Kakashi and his companions of being spies and ordered them to come along.
• Kakashi challenged the Rain Ninja, and the long-haired ninja suspected the group were Anbu because of Yamato’s demeanor.
• Yunchuan shouted to distract the Rain Ninja, and the four Konoha ninja smashed wine bottles over their heads.
• Yunchuan crushed the scar-faced ninja’s wrist and condemned the men for insulting Hanzo, earning 300 Reality Points as the tavern patrons believed his claims.
• Kakashi told the patrons to keep quiet, and the group carried away the unconscious Rain Ninja after paying for the wine and cleanup.

Kakashi’s team interrogated a Rain Ninja and learned that Akatsuki had driven Hanzo into a drastic change, prompting them to consider an alliance with Amegakure. Meanwhile, Orochimaru completed Living Corpse Reincarnation, opened Yunchuan’s scroll, and discovered its claims about souls and Hueco Mundo.

• Hyuga Yunchuan tortured the scar-faced Rain Ninja until he revealed information about Hanzo, Amegakure’s forces, and its weapons stockpile.
• Kakashi concluded that Akatsuki might pose a threat to Konoha and proposed gathering intelligence while seeking an alliance with Hanzo, subject to the Third Hokage’s approval.
• Yunchuan sensed that Orochimaru had unlocked the scroll and reflected that its final contents contained a lie—or rules—he wanted to implant into the Ninja World.
• Orochimaru completed Living Corpse Reincarnation but remained bound to Ryūchi Cave after fusing with Tagorihime and gaining Sage Mode.
• Orochimaru opened the scroll’s hidden contents and read that souls could return to the Pure Land or fall into Yunchuan’s Hueco Mundo.