Recaps

Hiruzen Sarutobi delivered Konoha’s victory speech while Kushina Uzumaki attended with Minato Namikaze and Akaseki, and the village honored its war dead and celebrated the end of the fighting. Afterward, Hiruzen summoned Kushina and Akaseki to learn how they had handled the Nine-Tails, while Tsunade and Jiraiya left Konoha with a child.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi agreed to let Minato Namikaze and Akaseki bring Kushina Uzumaki to the victory speech, provided they stayed with her.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi commemorated the war dead, announced compensation and posthumous jonin promotions, and declared the war over for the villagers.
• The Uchiha clansmen gathered at the front of the crowd, and Hiruzen announced Akashi Uchiha as the youngest elite jonin.
• After the speech, Minato and Akaseki took Kushina to Ichiraku Ramen before Anbu invited Kushina and Akaseki to meet Hiruzen.
• Hiruzen learned that Tsunade and Jiraiya had left Konoha with a child and feared he would not see his students again for a long time.

Akaseki reported that Kushina had begun bonding with Nine-Tails and could use a Tailed Beast Cloak, prompting Hiruzen Sarutobi to assign Akaseki and Minato to help her develop that power. The meeting ended with Hiruzen backing Kushina’s training while Akaseki kept quiet about how strong her six-tailed form might already be.

• Akaseki told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Kushina’s bond with Nine-Tails had reduced the side effects of using his chakra and let her fight in a Tailed Beast Cloak.
• Akaseki explained that Kushina’s four-tailed cloak was still short of the strength Roshi and Han reached through Complete Tailed Beast Transformation, but he withheld that her six-tailed form had seemed dangerous.
• Utatane Koharu questioned Kushina’s control and Akaseki’s involvement, while Akaseki argued that Kushina could suppress Nine-Tails and was less dangerous than Iwagakure’s jinchuriki.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned Akaseki and Minato to help Kushina strengthen her bond with Nine-Tails, making it a long-term mission and setting a month-long trial before the Elders’ Council meeting.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi dismissed Koharu’s criticism of Akaseki, while Mitokado remarked that Akaseki’s increasingly crude fighting style was typical of the Uchiha Clan.

Akaseki planned real-world training to develop Kushina’s Nine-Tails power while Tsunade and Jiraiya left Konoha with Yamato. He arranged for Minato to find a secluded training site and said Ranwu would need to provide medical support.

• Mitokado warned Hiruzen Sarutobi that Uchiha arrogance could worsen, while Hiruzen dismissed concerns about Akaseki’s behavior.
• Akaseki asked Minato to find a remote place for Kushina’s Tailed Beast Cloak training, warning that its real-world effects could severely damage her body.
• Ranwu told Akaseki and Minato that Tsunade and Jiraiya had left with Yamato, and Akaseki learned that Canglan and the other elders had accepted their departure.
• Akaseki and Minato reassured Ranwu that Tsunade and Jiraiya might benefit from time away, while Akaseki joked about Tsunade’s gambling and Jiraiya’s interest in porn.
• Akaseki said the Nine-Tails seemed stronger than other Tailed Beasts but also caused worse side effects, and he planned to consult Uchiha Clan records while Ranwu helped monitor Kushina’s training.

At the Uchiha clan meeting, Jiancheng announced a plan to bring more ninjas into the Konoha Military Police Force, while the clan debated manpower shortages and mocked their rivals. The meeting ended with members considering the proposal and some already suspecting Akaseki had inspired it.

• Jiancheng promised to take Akaseki to Naka Shrine to read confidential information about Tailed Beasts, especially the Nine-Tails.
• At the clan meeting, Jiancheng celebrated Akaseki’s promotion and claimed that Tsunade’s departure left the Uchiha tied with Forest Street in Elite Jonin numbers.
• The Uchiha members vented their anger at Utatane Koharu and other Elders before Jiancheng warned that the Military Police Force was understaffed and vulnerable to criticism.
• A Jie proposed marrying Hoshina and having children to increase the clan’s manpower, while other members suggested recruiting or having more children.
• Jiancheng proposed recruiting ninjas connected to Uchiha spouses and relatives into the Konoha Military Police Force, prompting Yangyong and Gongzhi Jiu to suspect Akaseki had influenced the idea.

Akaseki pushed the Uchiha Clan to open more Military Police Force duties to outsiders, arguing that sharing public-order work could improve the clan’s reputation. The clansmen reluctantly accepted the plan, while elders Yangyong and Gongzhi Jiu suspected Akaseki was behind it but kept quiet.

• Clan Leader Jiancheng asked the Uchiha to distinguish essential Military Police Force duties from minor ones, and the clansmen argued that nearly all their authority was essential.
• Akaseki urged the clan to open routine patrols and public-order management to other ninja, pointing out that those jobs required many people but little specialized skill.
• Clan Elder Yangyong worried that outsiders might handle public order poorly or abuse their authority, and Akaseki reframed that risk as a chance to prove the Uchiha’s value.
• Akaseki persuaded the clansmen to place public-order management among the duties open to outside departments while keeping Uchiha leadership in charge.
• Yangyong and Gongzhi Jiu suspected Akaseki had orchestrated the proposal, but they only questioned him and did not expose his plan.

Akaseki searched the Uchiha archives for records about Tailed Beasts, but their disorder made the task seem nearly impossible until Ranwu shared Senju records that could serve as an index. After comparing notes at Ichiraku Ramen, Akaseki prepared to return to the archives, while the group discussed how controlled Tailed Beasts compared with Jinchuriki transformations.

• Jiancheng gave Akaseki access to the Uchiha clan's hidden archive, where Akaseki found records spanning a thousand years that were badly organized and sparse for older periods.
• Akaseki searched through records left by Mangekyo Sharingan users, finding one ancestor's list of clan grudges and another's failed rebellion, but no useful information about Tailed Beasts.
• After searching all night, Akaseki returned to Konoha and met Ranwu and Minato at Ichiraku Ramen, where Ranwu revealed that the Senju clan had recorded nineteen instances of Uchiha-controlled Tailed Beasts.
• Ranwu gave Akaseki the dates of the nineteen incidents so he could use Senju records to locate matching Uchiha records, though she said the clan probably lacked an account of Madara Uchiha and the Nine-Tails.
• Ranwu and Akaseki discussed five incidents involving the Nine-Tails, Eight-Tails, and One-Tail, and Akaseki explained that wild Tailed Beasts and uncontrolled transformations were weaker than a Jinchuriki's Complete Tailed Beast Transformation.

Akaseki investigated records of Tailed Beasts from the Warring States Period and learned how the Uchiha Clan had controlled them with Sharingan Genjutsu. The records also revealed a divine turtle in the North Sea whose spring could calm inner darkness, giving Akaseki a new lead to pursue.

• Ranwu explained that her great-uncle had invented the Jinchuriki method, which required powerful sealing and a suitable human vessel.
• Akaseki searched Naka Shrine with the Senju Clan records and found eight accounts of Tailed Beasts, including reports that they revived after dying.
• Akaseki learned that the Uchiha Clan had used Mangekyō Sharingan to control Tailed Beasts, but their control often failed and exposed them to the beasts’ negative emotions.
• Akaseki read that the Uchiha Clan once controlled the Eight-Tails by pooling their Dojutsu Power, then brought it to fight the Senju Clan before it broke free.
• Akaseki discovered that the Uchiha Clan had known of a divine turtle in the North Sea whose island held a spring that could calm darkness, and he set his sights on finding it.

Akaseki explained that Kushina’s body was adapting to the Nine-Tails’ chakra, but warned that mental erosion could be harder to recover from. He proposed searching for a Divine Turtle in the North Sea, then revealed that the Uchiha Clan’s long-standing mission in the Land of Lightning could help them reach it.

• Ranwu treated Kushina after Akaseki ended her sparring session, and she reported that Kushina’s body was adapting to the Nine-Tails’ chakra.
• Akaseki warned Minato and Kushina that using the Nine-Tails’ chakra could cause lasting mental erosion, though Kushina argued that the risk was worth taking.
• Akaseki said Uchiha records mentioned a Divine Turtle in the North Sea that could quell darkness within, but Minato worried that the region was under the Land of Lightning’s control.
• Akaseki revealed that the Uchiha Clan had a long-term private mission agreement with the Land of Lightning and kept members stationed in Hell Valley.
• Akaseki explained that the Uchiha Clan guarded the Chinoike Clan, which had been confined in Hell Valley after rebelling against the Land of Lightning’s ruling family.

Akaseki prepared to take his Uchiha Clan guard rotation in Hell Valley, where he hoped to improve his Sharingan genjutsu. He and Minato considered whether the secluded valley could also serve as a training site for Kushina and a place Hikari could visit, pending tests of Minato’s Flying Thunder God Technique there.

• Ranwu questioned why the Chinoike Clan had been confined to Hell Valley, and Akaseki explained that the valley’s Ketsuryūgan could help Uchiha improve their Sharingan genjutsu.
• Akaseki said he would leave for Hell Valley next month for a six-month rotation, and Ranwu teased him about his weak genjutsu and his claims about fighting Kage.
• Akaseki suggested that Hell Valley could meet Kushina’s requirements for a secure training location outside Konoha, and he explained why Kumogakure was unlikely to interfere.
• Minato offered to test whether his Flying Thunder God Technique worked in Hell Valley and proposed taking Hikari via Mount Myoboku so she could travel between the valley and Rōran.

Hiruzen Sarutobi reviewed and approved the Uchiha Clan’s plan to send ten ninja to Hell Valley in the Land of Lightning and recruit outsiders into the Police Force. The chapter ended with Fugaku comforting Jiancheng over Hikari’s inclusion, while Jiancheng kept quiet about the awkward rumors surrounding her parentage.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi, Utatane, and Mitokado debated the Uchiha Clan’s plan to send ten ninja, including Hikari, Fugaku, Mikoto, and Akaseki, to Hell Valley.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi revealed that Kensho Uchiha had submitted a list of thirty non-Uchiha recruits for the Police Force, mostly relatives of Uchiha spouses.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi approved both the Police Force recruitment and the Uchiha Clan’s collective leave of absence after discussing his concerns with Utatane and Mitokado.
• Fugaku asked Jiancheng whether Hikari was going to Hell Valley and reassured him that Hikari must have suffered hardships.
• Jiancheng stayed silent rather than explain himself, as he suspected Hikari might actually be the daughter of Clan Elder Chizuru and Setsuna.

Akaseki’s squad reached Hell Valley, where a Guardian Ninja led them to a stone tablet that imposed a secrecy oath before revealing the valley’s history. As the tablet’s Mangekyō effect began transmitting a message from a former Uchiha Clan Leader, Hikari entered Akaseki’s consciousness space and dismissed the secrecy restriction.

• Akaseki’s squad arrived at Hell Valley after four days of travel, and the six Uchiha acknowledged Hikari’s endurance despite her scorn for their toughness.
• Akaseki and the others found that geothermal heat made Hell Valley warm, and they saw crimson spring water outside the valley.
• Nietsui, a Guardian Ninja of the Land of Lightning, welcomed the Uchiha and guided them into Hell Valley.
• Akaseki’s squad swore an oath before a stone tablet marked with Ame no Sagiri, which activated and introduced a former Uchiha Clan Leader’s message.
• Hikari entered Akaseki’s consciousness space and told him not to bother with the tablet’s secrecy restriction.