Chapter Summaries

Xing Ran negotiated with Sunagakure and examined Gaara’s seal, but the proposed upgrade required further study by the Sand Ninja. That night, One-Tails Shukaku went berserk in the middle of the village, leaving Sunagakure under attack.

• Xing Ran and Sunagakure reached a preliminary agreement, and he began teaching the Sealing Squad the Four Symbols Sealing and Five Elements Sealing.
• Xing Ran examined Gaara’s seal and proposed dismantling part of it and embedding the Four Symbols Sealing, with a Five Elements Sealing layer to limit Chakra leakage.
• Rasa sent Xing Ran away while Sunagakure considered his plan, and Xing Ran beat Huang Hei Hong again after returning to the hotel.
• Shukaku burst into the center of Sunagakure at night, roaring and striking the ground as villagers fled and alarms sounded.

Shukaku rampaged through Sunagakure, resisting Rasa’s Gold Dust and the Sand Ninja’s attacks as it began charging a Tailed Beast Ball. Xing Ran recognized that the blast would destroy the village cemetery and left to help Rasa, telling Kabuto to protect Huang Hei Hong.

• Shukaku broke through Rasa’s Gold Dust and fired an Air Bullet at the Fourth Kazekage.
• Rasa called on the Sand Ninja to attack Shukaku, but their attacks barely injured it and the counterattacks caused widespread destruction.
• Xing Ran watched the battle with Yakushi Kabuto and realized his sealing techniques had helped prompt Rasa’s ill-fated test of Gaara, which led to Yashamaru’s death and Shukaku’s rampage.
• Shukaku began forming a Tailed Beast Ball that would pass through Sunagakure’s cemetery, where Pakura’s corpse and other bodies lay.
• Xing Ran told Yakushi Kabuto to keep Huang Hei Hong alive, then used the Body Flicker Technique to leave and help Rasa.

Rasa and the Sand Ninja prepared to face Shukaku’s Tailed Beast Ball, but Xing Ran appeared and used Flying Thunder God to send it into the desert outside Sunagakure. The blast buried much of the village in sand and obscured the battlefield as Shukaku paused.

• Rasa raised layers of sand walls to divert Shukaku’s Tailed Beast Ball away from Sunagakure.
• Xing Ran appeared before Shukaku as the hundred-meter Tailed Beast Ball was released.
• Xing Ran used Space-Time Barrier: Flying Thunder God: Lightning Arrow to transfer the Tailed Beast Ball to the desert outside the village.
• The Tailed Beast Ball exploded outside Sunagakure, blasting a vast amount of sand over the village and leaving much of it half-buried.
• The sandstorm blocked everyone’s vision, and Shukaku made no further moves as the battlefield disappeared beneath the blowing sand.

Xing Ran looted Pakura’s grave and the graves of the First and Second Kazekage while Sunagakure struggled with Shukaku’s sandstorm. Shukaku found him and attacked, and Xing Ran retaliated by smashing through more than half of the beast’s belly with a Flying Thunder God kunai.

• Xing Ran used Earth Release to retrieve Pakura’s coffin and sealed her corpse in a scroll.
• Xing Ran looted the graves of First Kazekage Retsu and Second Kazekage Sarumon, deciding to keep historical powerhouses’ corpses from being used for Impure World Reincarnation.
• Shukaku located Xing Ran and blasted the Kazekage graves with an Air Bullet as Xing Ran escaped.
• Shukaku focused his attacks on Xing Ran, and their dodging and bombardment devastated Sunagakure’s cemetery.
• Xing Ran struck Shukaku with a Flying Thunder God kunai at tremendous speed, crushing more than half of the beast’s belly.

Xing Ran pierced Shukaku with a devastating punch, but the tailed beast scattered its body into sand and escaped Rasa’s gold-dust suppression. As Xing Ran reflected on the attack, he realized it had revealed the key to breaking through the Eight Gates and reaching the Sixth Gate.

• Xing Ran used the Fifth Gate and the Super Strength Fist to punch through Shukaku’s chest, sending sand across Sunagakure.
• Rasa tried to seize Shukaku with Magnet Release: Gold Dust while the tailed beast was badly wounded.
• Shukaku scattered its body into yellow sand, leaving Rasa’s gold dust without a target as Xing Ran withdrew from the Eight Gates state.
• The Sand Ninja watched Xing Ran expectantly, but he focused on reliving the sensation of his powerful strike rather than sensing Shukaku.
• Xing Ran realized that combining the Super Strength Fist with the Eight Gates had shown him how to break through toward the Sixth Gate.

Xing Ran tested his ability to use ninjutsu while the Eight Gates filled his body with berserk Chakra, trading blows with Shukaku in Sunagakure. He repeatedly punched through Shukaku’s defenses and ended the chapter facing the tailed beast’s massive sandstorm.

• Xing Ran charged Shukaku as the One-Tails reformed and smashed through Shukaku’s Shield, though the impact sent him flying.
• Shukaku fired Shukaku’s Spear at Xing Ran, who used Eight Gates: Super Strength to knock it aside with his bare fist.
• Xing Ran landed and punched through Shukaku’s belly again, while Rasa began protecting the village and preparing for the aftermath.
• Shukaku tried to restrain Xing Ran with the Hand of Sand and Sand Prison Spear Strike, but Xing Ran broke both with punches.
• Shukaku unleashed Wind Release: Infinite Sand Dust Great Breakthrough, sweeping a massive desert storm toward Xing Ran.

Xing Ran repeatedly battered Shukaku until it stopped rebuilding, then saved Sunagakure from another Tailed Beast Ball. As Shukaku prepared to attack the village again, Xing Ran opened the Sixth Gate and faced it with a new level of power.

• Xing Ran repeatedly punched through Shukaku while the Sand Ninja watched from inside the sandstorm.
• Xing Ran sensed he could break through to the Sixth Gate, and Shukaku stopped rebuilding after its Chakra began to run low.
• Xing Ran and Rasa realized Shukaku had formed again beyond the village and was preparing a Tailed Beast Ball.
• Xing Ran teleported between Sunagakure and Shukaku, then transferred the Tailed Beast Ball far away.
• Shukaku began gathering Chakra for another attack, and Xing Ran opened the Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates.

Xing Ran defeated Shukaku, captured Gaara, and temporarily sealed the tailed beast before returning the Jinchuriki to Rasa. With the transaction between Konoha and Sunagakure complete, Xing Ran’s group left the village carrying One’s Own Life Reincarnation and several Wind Release scrolls.

• Xing Ran unleashed Morning Peacock: Super Strength Fist and beat Shukaku into scattered sand, then captured the unconscious Gaara.
• Xing Ran placed a temporary Four Symbols Sealing on Gaara to suppress Shukaku and handed him to Fourth Kazekage Rasa.
• Xing Ran returned to his lodging, then learned the next day that Sunagakure had no resources to reward him beyond several Wind Release Ninjutsu Scrolls.
• Xing Ran’s group left Sunagakure after completing the Ninjutsu transaction and obtaining the training scroll for One’s Own Life Reincarnation.
• On the road, Xing Ran examined the Wind Release scrolls while Huang Hei Hong and Yakushi Kabuto hoped he would take them home by flying.

After returning from Sunagakure with One's Own Life Reincarnation, Xing Ran mastered the forbidden technique and resumed his Wood Style Ninja research, but days of experiments yielded no success. Danzo plotted to frame Xing Ran if the project appeared close to succeeding, while Xing Ran realized that strong self-awareness and Spiritual Power might be essential to creating a Wood Style Ninja.

• Danzo received a report that Xing Ran had obtained One's Own Life Reincarnation and defeated the rampaging Shukaku, then ordered a subordinate to frame him if the Wood Style Ninja project neared success.
• Xing Ran returned to Konoha, mastered One's Own Life Reincarnation, and rushed to his laboratory to continue the Wood Style Ninja project.
• Researchers became excited by the forbidden technique, but days of experiments consumed many samples without producing a successful result.
• Xing Ran grew exhausted and concluded that Wood Style Ninja bloodlines were not inherited from birth, citing Hashirama Senju's late awakening and Tenzo's survival in Orochimaru's experiments.
• Xing Ran recognized that strong self-awareness and Spiritual Power could be crucial to surviving the Wood Style transformation.

Xing Ran’s Wood Style research reached another impasse, as neither an automatic technique formula nor a clone experiment could safely control Hashirama Cells. Danzo abandoned his framing plan and decided to leave Xing Ran occupied with the project while he remained useful to Konoha.

• Xing Ran developed a formation to perform the One's Own Life Reincarnation Technique, but it could not adjust its Chakra flow to the needs of the Wood Style flesh.
• Xing Ran considered human experimentation and tried using Spirit Transformation Technique to control an Ice Release clone injected with Hashirama Cells, but the clone burst apart before he could act.
• Xing Ran concluded that the clone experiment had too many uncertainties and halted his Wood Style research rather than risk abandoning the Steel Body.
• The Third Hokage and the other advisors were displeased by the lack of progress, while Danzo reconsidered his prepared plan to frame Xing Ran.
• Danzo decided not to frame Xing Ran or secretly assist with human experiments, and chose to let him remain tied down by the research project.

Danzo decided to undermine Xing Ran’s research project and keep him from making further achievements until Danzo became Hokage. When Xing Ran discovered that the institute’s funding had been withheld, he sought out Hiruzen Sarutobi and confronted him.

• Danzo planned to cut Xing Ran’s funding and research staff so the project would keep him occupied until Danzo became Hokage.
• Xing Ran learned that the institute’s weekly funding had not arrived and suspected Danzo was targeting him.
• Xing Ran fired the market-woman handling the institute’s finances, but she said only the Hokage could dismiss her.
• Xing Ran used Flying Thunder God to reach the Hokage Building, where Kakashi Hatake told him Hiruzen was away.
• Xing Ran found Hiruzen working in a restaurant tea room, went to meet him with Kakashi following, and demanded to know what he was doing.

Xing Ran rejected Konoha’s reduced support for his Wood Style research, and the Third Hokage tried to keep the project under village control by tying its funding to Xing Ran’s missions. Xing Ran abandoned the Konoha institute for his Land of Marshes base, where he reconsidered his next research project after finding Pakura’s corpse waiting in the laboratory.

• The Third Hokage told Xing Ran that Konoha would downgrade the Wood Style project and cut its funding.
• Xing Ran refused the reduced budget and said he would conduct research independently, while the Third Hokage insisted the work remain under Konoha’s control and offered to fund it with half the fees from Xing Ran’s missions.
• Xing Ran left the meeting, and the Wood Style project was left in a half-shut-down state.
• Xing Ran returned home, left behind a Shadow Clone, and flew to his Land of Marshes base, where he had backed up the research materials and equipment.
• Xing Ran entered his laboratory and considered starting the Scorch Release clone project, but the funding shortfall and his need to build up his reserves had delayed it.

Short on funds for his Scorch Release clone research, Xing Ran decided to return to bounty hunting and brought Haku to the black market in the Village of the Priestesses. There, he encountered Guanglin Huateng, who recognized him as a potentially familiar customer.

• Xing Ran considered ways to earn steady money after realizing he could not afford the materials and pills needed to cultivate Scorch Release clones.
• Xing Ran visited Haku at the training ground and imagined forming a bounty organization, but Haku refused to lend him money.
• Guanglin Huateng recalled how trouble with a green-eyed organization member had forced him to flee to the Land of Demons, where his black-market business was struggling.
• Xing Ran took Haku to the Village of the Priestesses to resume bounty hunting and introduce him to the outside world.
• Haku showed interest in girls' clothes, and Xing Ran decided to support him in becoming a crossdressing master.
• Xing Ran found the underground black market and approached Guanglin Huateng, who offered him a range of illicit services.

Xing Ran visited the black market to find a quick-paying bounty and discovered a notice targeting Kazahana Sōsetsu and Kazahana Koyuki. Instead of turning in the father and daughter for the reward, he planned to kidnap Kazahana Dōtō and help Sōsetsu reclaim the Land of Snow in exchange for funding his Scorch Release clone project.

• Guanglin Huateng showed Xing Ran a fifty-million-ryō bounty on him, and Xing Ran suspected Kazekage Rasa or the Land of Lightning had issued it.
• Xing Ran searched the bounty flyers for an easy target that could quickly fund his Scorch Release clone project while Haku observed the black market.
• Xing Ran found a two-and-a-half-million-ryō bounty on Kazahana Sōsetsu and Kazahana Koyuki, whose whereabouts he could learn through his Konoha connections.
• Xing Ran rejected the idea of turning in the father and daughter and decided to kidnap Kazahana Dōtō and deliver him to Sōsetsu in return for support.
• Darkness fell over the royal capital of the Land of Snow as Xing Ran's plan took shape.

Xing Ran infiltrated the Land of Snow’s royal palace to kidnap Kazahana Dōtō, but found no sign of him in the main hall. While searching the inner palace, Xing Ran discovered a heavily guarded underground storehouse filled with valuables.

• Xing Ran surveyed the Land of Snow’s capital and judged its snow ninja forces to be weak, though numerous enough to threaten an opponent in a mass assault.
• Xing Ran avoided the night patrols and entered the royal palace without being detected.
• Xing Ran found the main hall empty and noticed signs that its office chair had rarely been used.
• Xing Ran headed toward the inner palace and discovered a guarded underground storehouse containing jewelry, antiques, art, and money.

Xing Ran searched Kazahana Dōtō’s palace for the Land of Snow’s treasury and decided to capture him quietly so he could be made to reveal its location. He infiltrated Dōtō’s bedchamber and killed one of his four elite guards, leaving the corpse in a remote desert as someone arrived.

• Xing Ran concluded the money he found was only Kazahana Dōtō’s pocket money and searched the palace for the real treasury.
• Xing Ran located Dōtō in his bedchamber and identified four jōnin-level Snow Ninja as his main protectors.
• Xing Ran infiltrated the roof above the bedchamber and targeted the female Snow Ninja, who served as the team’s scout and sensor.
• Xing Ran used the Flying Thunder God Technique to transport the female ninja to a remote desert and cut her throat with a Chakra Scalpel.
• After the female ninja died, someone arrived beside her corpse.

Xing Ran used Flying Thunder God to assassinate Snow ninja guards, but the team captain sensed danger and escaped his attack with a substitution or clone. Xing Ran returned to Kazahana Dōtō’s bedchamber and launched a mind technique against another guard as the surviving team grew suspicious.

• Xing Ran silently teleported the Sensor Ninja away and killed him, then approached the sleepy-looking Snow ninja captain.
• The captain sensed an intruder, readied an Explosive Tag, and was teleported to the desert, where Xing Ran struck his throat.
• The captain escaped in a burst of smoke, leaving the dead Sensor Ninja behind, and fled while Xing Ran returned to the bedchamber.
• The remaining Snow ninja guards noticed the captain and female ninja had stopped responding over their earpieces, while the burly guard joked about Kazahana Dōtō.
• Xing Ran returned to the bedchamber and began using the Yamanaka Clan’s Mind Body Switch Technique on the burly Snow ninja.

Xing Ran killed three Snow ninja and pursued the one who escaped, using a Flying Thunder God kunai to catch him. After knocking the survivor unconscious, Xing Ran tried the Mind Reading Technique so he could learn how to uncover the Land of Snow’s treasury withdrawal procedure.

• Xing Ran used the Mind Body Switch Technique to kill the vice-captain and a burly Snow ninja, then moved their bodies and pursued the fleeing Snow ninja.
• Xing Ran hurled a Flying Thunder God kunai at the fleeing Snow ninja and teleported above him to attack.
• Xing Ran stopped short of killing the Snow ninja, knocked him unconscious, and pressed a hand to his head to use the Mind Reading Technique.
• Xing Ran decided to practice mind reading on the Snow ninja before using it to learn the treasury withdrawal procedure from Kazahana Dōtō.

Xing Ran used Mind Reading on a Snow ninja, then possessed Kazahana Dōtō to clear the king’s bedchamber and incapacitate him. He obtained Kazahana Dōtō’s memories, but his inexperienced technique left the king an idiot.

• Xing Ran read the memories of the Snow ninja Hanshan but found mostly sexual memories and little useful information.
• Xing Ran returned to Kazahana Dōtō’s bedchamber and possessed the exhausted king with the Mind Body Switch Technique.
• Xing Ran ordered the two women out, then dislocated Kazahana Dōtō’s jaw, arm, and legs before ending the technique.
• Xing Ran knocked out Kazahana Dōtō and used the Mind Reading Technique to obtain all of his memories.
• Xing Ran realized that his mistake had left Kazahana Dōtō an idiot.

Xing Ran controlled Kazahana Dōtō to raid the royal treasury, gathering money, valuables, and Land of Snow Ice Release scrolls for his plans. He also tested how completely the Snow ninja obeyed the king, then ordered the treasury sealed to everyone else.

• Xing Ran realized Kazahana Dōtō had squandered the country’s wealth and decided to take what he could from the treasury before suspicion arose.
• Xing Ran used the Mind Body Switch Technique to control Kazahana Dōtō and enter the underground treasury.
• Xing Ran packed nearly five million in cash, valuables, and Land of Snow Ice Release Ninjutsu Scrolls into Sealing Scrolls.
• Xing Ran ordered a Snow ninja to surrender his Chakra Armor, threw it to the ground, and watched the ninja meekly retrieve it.
• Xing Ran forbade anyone from entering or leaving the treasury without his orders and vanished into the night.