Recaps

After reporting on the Land of Waves mission, Akaseki learned that the upcoming Chunin Exams would include major hidden villages and might serve as a display of Konoha’s strength. Team 7 received time to rest and train, while Akaseki realized he would need to prepare seriously for the exams.

• Akaseki told Jiancheng about the Land of Waves mission and the plan to expand influence at sea, and Lanyu reminded him that the Chunin Exams were a month and a half away.
• Akaseki joined Minato, Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi for ramen, where Ranwu arrived after reading medical books.
• Yamanaka and Nara told Akaseki that Konoha had invited the major hidden villages to this year’s Chunin Exams, and Nara predicted Iwagakure and Kirigakure might attend.
• Akaseki realized the exams would test Konoha’s reputation as well as determine promotions, so he agreed that everyone needed to prepare.
• Team 7 received a week of rest and easier missions so they could recover and train before the Chunin Exams.

Akaseki arranged to train basic taijutsu against Might Duy, a genin who earned money by being beaten up. He paid Duy and took him to an open area near the Forest of Death, where Duy agreed to spar after Akaseki promised they would use only taijutsu.

• Akaseki asked Fugaku whether practicing taijutsu without activating his eyes would improve his basic skills, and Fugaku agreed it could help.
• Uchiha Yang told Akaseki that a genin named Might Duy took paid sparring commissions, and Uchiha Jie explained that Uchiha paid him a reduced fee.
• Fugaku advised Akaseki to get secret medicine for hidden injuries, and Akaseki collected it from the clan's general affairs department.
• Akaseki found Might Duy preparing to leave home, paid him two thousand ryo, and watched him give the money to his pregnant wife.
• Akaseki took Might Duy to an open area near the Forest of Death and reassured him that they would practice taijutsu without releasing Chakra.

Akaseki sparred with Might Duy using only Taijutsu, then gave him medicine and arranged to continue training. He went to find Ranwu so she could practice Medical Ninjutsu on a sparring partner, and Tsunade called her over.

• Akaseki and Might Duy sparred outside the Forest of Death until Duy could no longer stand, relying only on their physical skills.
• Akaseki gave Duy Uchiha Clan medicine and counted it as payment for five more days of training.
• Akaseki went to Forest Street to find Ranwu, hoping she could practice Medical Ninjutsu while he trained.
• Tsunade warned Akaseki that Ranwu's healing was still weak and teased him about Jiraiya's past Taijutsu practice.
• Tsunade called Ranwu over and told her that a sparring partner had arrived.

Akashi recruited Ranwu to practice medical ninjutsu by treating Might Duy during taijutsu training, while the immersive story Tanuki Swaps with the Young Master advanced through six years of abuse endured by Hong Yan. The chapter ended as Hong Yan began his first major counterattack after a maid falsely accused him of rape.

• Ranwu agreed to treat Might Duy during Akashi's chakra-free taijutsu training, and her relatives questioned her after Akashi fled their confrontation.
• Ranwu met Akashi and Might Duy outside the Forest of Death, treated Might Duy's injuries, and paid him three thousand ryo.
• Akashi spent the next four days training with Might Duy and immersing himself in Tanuki Swaps with the Young Master.
• Hong Yan endured years of beatings, injuries, and assassination attempts while the Hong family repeatedly dismissed doubts about his identity.
• A maid accused Hong Yan of raping her, and he launched his first powerful counterattack.

Akaseki’s Immersion followed Hong Yan through his perfect Gaokao score and the revelation that he was the Hong Family’s biological heir, while Akaseki endured the story’s absurd revenge scenes. Afterward, Akaseki’s Earth Style transformation Breathing Soil reached 3%.

• Hong Yan exposed a false theft accusation by swallowing the ring, and the Hong couple secretly confirmed that Hong Yangyang was not their biological son.
• Hong Yan reunited with the Hong couple but asked them to conceal his identity until after the Gaokao so he could take revenge on Hong Yangyang.
• Hong Yan endured a week of humiliation, then scored a perfect 750 on the Gaokao, prompting the Hong Family servants to accuse and restrain him.
• The Hong family head revealed Hong Yan was his biological son and sole heir, and threatened to destroy the family that had schemed against them.
• Akaseki continued channeling Happiness into Earth Style, raising Breathing Soil to 3%.

Team 7 accepted a B-rank mission to recover Sealing resources from the former site of the Land of Whirlpools, with Kushina joining them to pay her respects. Meanwhile, Danzo tried to expand Root’s authority and separate Kushina from Akaseki, but Hiruzen rejected his proposals and restricted Root’s recruitment.

• Akaseki and Ranwu discussed their next mission with Jiraiya, who explained that Team 7 would take an easy B-rank mission before the Chunin Exams.
• Team 7 learned they would recover the Uzumaki Clan’s Sealing resources, and Jiraiya assigned Akaseki’s Tanuki Treasure to help open the Sealing.
• Jiraiya, Akaseki, Ranwu, and Minato met Kushina and two Anbu at the village entrance before departing for the former site of the Land of Whirlpools.
• Danzo objected to Hiruzen allowing Kushina to leave the village and demanded that Root take over protecting Jinchuriki and Jinchuriki candidates.
• Danzo urged Hiruzen to keep Akaseki away from Kushina and questioned how Akaseki had obtained the Tanuki Beast, but Hiruzen defended him and refused to take the beast by force.
• Hiruzen ordered Danzo not to recruit ninja-clan youths who had not yet become ninja without his approval, and Danzo reluctantly agreed.

Kushina Uzumaki and Team 7 honored the Uzumaki Clan while Akaseki spent seven days helping uncover sealed mineral deposits and train with the group. Akaseki and Ranwu's full-strength taijutsu spar ended when Jiraiya stepped in to stop them.

• Kushina Uzumaki paid her respects at the former Land of Whirlpools site, and Tanuki Treasure opened the Mask Storage Hall before hiding it again after she chose several masks.
• Akaseki used his evening's Liu Liu opportunity on a small sculpture after Tanuki Treasure refused to let him take more masks.
• Akaseki, Tanuki Treasure, Kushina Uzumaki, and Team 7 spent seven days finding and undoing seals around Whirlpool Mountain while training.
• Ranwu told Akaseki she could use a little Strength of a Hundred, then challenged him to spar after their meal.
• Akaseki and Ranwu fought using taijutsu and auxiliary techniques, with Akaseki evading Ranwu's Strength of a Hundred attacks.
• Jiraiya stopped the spar by catching Ranwu's wrist and blocking Akaseki's vision.

Akaseki finished an Immersion show and received a trial of a moxibustion foot-soak bucket, which began awakening his Yang Release Chakra. He left the island with a plan to buy the bucket using his remaining Liu Liu chance, while Ranwu reacted to his strange explanation for his pleasure-filled dream.

• Jiraiya stopped Akaseki and Ranwu's spar before either won, though Akaseki believed he had the advantage.
• Ranwu healed a small cut on Akaseki's face and told him to shut up when he joked about it healing on its own.
• During the next five days, Akaseki trained and used Immersion, then completed a Prosperity Realm show and received a moxibustion foot-soak bucket trial.
• The trial began awakening Akaseki's Yang Release Chakra, and his Physical Examination Device showed it at 3.12%.
• Akaseki found the bucket cost 998, retrieved the Second Hokage statue, and used his remaining Liu Liu chance to purchase it.
• When Ranwu asked what he had been dreaming about, Akaseki said Hizashi and Hiashi were rubbing his feet, and Ranwu mocked his taste.

Akaseki bought a Prosperity Realm Moxibustion Foot Soak Bucket, then joined Ranwu and Kushina for a final water-walking contest in the Whirlpool Sea. He sank near the whirlpool’s center, where a mysterious vision of the Uchiha Clan’s past began to overwhelm him, but Ranwu reached him.

• Akaseki declined the foot soak bucket’s prompt to use it, choosing to save its possible benefits for later.
• Jiraiya told the group they could spend the morning as they wished before the ship arrived, and Akaseki, Ranwu, Kushina, and the others went to the Whirlpool Sea.
• Ranwu and Kushina challenged each other to see who could water-walk closest to the whirlpool’s center, while Akaseki acted as referee.
• Akaseki noticed a pattern in the whirlpool’s interference, activated his Sharingan, and rushed ahead before suddenly sinking beneath the water.
• Ranwu used a Water Flow Whip to dive after Akaseki, while Kushina stayed with the Anbu as they sent for Jiraiya.
• Akaseki lost consciousness as he saw a vision of people discussing Yachihoko and Uchiha ocular techniques, but Ranwu caught his outstretched hand.

After Akaseki returned to Konoha, Hiruzen and Danzō questioned Jiraiya about his near-drowning, which Danzō linked to a sealed Uchiha weapon from the Warring States period. Hiruzen dismissed the accusation, but Danzō left considering how to make the Uchiha learn about the seal.

• Jiraiya scolded Akaseki for carelessly endangering himself, and Akaseki wondered whether an unfamiliar experience during the whirlpool had affected him.
• Akaseki thanked Ranwu for saving him, but she angrily warned that she might let him drown next time.
• Team 7 returned safely to Konoha, and an Anbu ninja summoned Jiraiya to meet Hiruzen and Danzō.
• Jiraiya explained that Akaseki had nearly drowned while competing with Ranwu and Kushina, and Hiruzen accepted his account.
• Danzō accused the Uchiha of testing the seal on a weapon called Nameless, but Hiruzen rejected his theory.
• Danzō left the meeting still intent on opposing the Uchiha and wondered how they could be made to learn about the seal.

After returning to Konoha, Akaseki discovered a suspicious scroll about an Uchiha weapon and realized someone was setting him up. When three masked ninja confronted him on Adviser Shimura's orders, Akaseki fought back and sent the Uchiha distress signal to summon help.

• Akaseki treated Team 7 and Kushina to a meal in Konoha, then used the foot-soak bucket and worried that its diminishing effects might leave him short of awakening Yang Release Chakra.
• Akaseki finished watching a familiar drama and heard rustling near the bushes, where he found a tampered scroll mentioning the Uchiha's nameless weapon sealed by the Uzumaki Clan in the Whirlpool Sea.
• Akaseki suspected the scroll was bait and changed course toward the Sarutobi Clan's home, reasoning that someone might be framing or testing him.
• Three masked ninja surrounded Akaseki and began claiming they acted on Adviser Shimura's orders, confirming his suspicion that he was being framed.
• Akaseki hurled shuriken using the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique and activated the Uchiha distress signal, creating a huge Sharingan image in the sky.

Akaseki was caught in Danzo’s attempt to frame him for stealing a classified scroll, bringing the Uchiha Clan and Sarutobi into a tense confrontation. The chapter ended with Jiancheng threatening to withdraw the Uchiha from Konoha unless Sarutobi restrained Root.

• Akaseki refused to go with Root, and Sarutobi arrived with Danzo to stop the confrontation.
• Akaseki’s Uchiha comrades arrived, and Danzo accused Akaseki of stealing the Warring States Sealing History.
• Akaseki revealed that his scroll contained figurines, not the stolen document, and said he had found the missing scroll before it vanished.
• Danzo proposed having Akaseki’s memories examined, prompting Lanyu to threaten him and Jiancheng to demand that Sarutobi control Root.
• Jiancheng warned that the Uchiha Clan would leave Konoha if Root continued its actions, and Sarutobi tried to calm him.

The Uchiha Clan forced Hiruzen Sarutobi to hand over three Root ninja and a guard for questioning after Danzo accused Akaseki of stealing classified information. Back at the compound, Akaseki concealed the scroll’s disappearance and the sealed Uchiha he had discovered, leaving the clan convinced Danzo had framed him to hide the scroll’s contents.

• Jiancheng challenged the accusation against Akaseki and demanded that the memories of the guard and Root ninja be examined.
• Danzo said Root’s Cursed Seals made its members’ memories inaccessible, and Sarutobi ordered Danzo to reflect on his conduct and transferred classified-site guard duties to the Anbu.
• Jiancheng pressured Sarutobi into handing four prisoners over to the Uchiha Clan for interrogation.
• Akaseki told Jiancheng and Lanyu the same account he had given Sarutobi, while hiding that he had made the scroll vanish and found an old Uchiha sealed near the Whirlpool Sea.
• Jiancheng suspected Danzo wanted to conceal a seal mentioned in Warring States Sealing History, and Akaseki explained that he had admitted seeing the scroll to avoid appearing guilty.

Akashi could not stop Jiancheng and Lanyu from retaliating against Root, and the Uchiha killed four Root members while blaming their deaths on cursed seals. Danzō tried to separate Akashi from Team 7, but Ranwu defended the team, and Hiruzen ordered Danzō to retrieve the Warring States Sealing History.

• Akashi urged Jiancheng to let Tanuki Treasure try to remove the Root members' cursed seals, but Jiancheng and Lanyu dismissed his concerns and pursued retaliation.
• The Uchiha tortured four Root members and caused their cursed seals to kill them, claiming Root was responsible for their deaths.
• Danzō urged Hiruzen to remove Akashi from Team 7 and return him to the Police Force, while Hiruzen insisted Ranwu's opinion should be considered.
• Ranwu objected to replacing Akashi with Shibi Aburame and said Team 7's current arrangement suited them.
• Ranwu told Hiruzen that Akashi carried and cherished a figurine of her grandfather, Tobirama, persuading Hiruzen that Akashi did not share the Uchiha's supposed hostility.
• Hiruzen dismissed Danzō's attempt to separate Akashi from Team 7 and ordered him to find and return the Warring States Sealing History that day.

After returning from his diplomatic mission, Kagami visited Akashi and discussed Hiruzen, Danzō, and the Chunin Exams, while Akashi refused an offer to join the Anbu. Akashi later completed D-rank missions with Minato and Ranwu, then argued with classmates over their Ninja Beasts and the upcoming exams, which several foreign villages had agreed to attend.

• Danzō accepted that Hiruzen trusted Akashi and began planning to create a fake Warring States Sealing History scroll.
• Kagami returned to Konoha on June 10 and visited Akashi, advising him to rest and not resent Danzō.
• Kagami asked whether Akashi would join the Anbu after becoming a chunin, and Akashi directly refused.
• Akashi, Minato, and Ranwu completed their monthly D-rank missions and met Shibi, Tsume, and Murakumo at a ramen shop.
• Akashi boasted about Tanuki Treasure and taunted Murakumo about the Kurama Clan’s Kekkei Genkai, while Tsume challenged him over the Chunin Exams.
• Shibi and Ranwu discussed which foreign villages would send genin to Konoha’s Chunin Exams, including Kirigakure and Iwagakure.

As the joint Chunin Exams approached, Akaseki, Ranwu, and Minato discussed the political situation and formed a study group to prepare. After discovering Akaseki struggled with written tactical problems, they trained for weeks, and Minato proposed focusing their final review on Amegakure-related terrain and intelligence.

• Minato warned that Hanzō's refusal to serve as another nation's pawn could leave the Land of Rain as a battlefield, while the group discussed Iwagakure's decision to attend the exams.
• Akaseki claimed he could tutor Minato and Ranwu, but Ranwu arranged tutoring at her home after the others questioned his written-exam ability.
• Akaseki studied with Ranwu and Minato, revealing poor arithmetic and tactical deductions despite his improved combat skills.
• For the next half month, Akaseki trained with Might Duy, completed missions with Minato, and attended study sessions at Ranwu's home.
• With three days left before the exams, Minato suggested predicting questions by reviewing Amegakure terrain and intelligence, and Akaseki agreed.

Team 7 finished its final mission before the Chunin Exams and met Karatachi Yagura and his Hidden Mist companions while gathering intelligence in Konoha. Their exchange was interrupted when a huge Hidden Mist ninja began wrestling Choza Akimichi.

• Ranwu proposed gathering intelligence on the foreign ninja, and Akashi said the Military Police Force was already watching them.
• Team 7 completed a C-rank mission and went out to explore Konoha after collecting their reward.
• Akashi mocked Momochi Senzan and his Hidden Mist companions, while Minato tried to smooth over the encounter.
• Karatachi Yagura introduced himself as the son of Karatachi Xuancang and challenged Minato to a contest during the exams.
• The group rushed toward a commotion and found a massive Hidden Mist ninja wrestling Choza Akimichi.

Akashi and Team 7 learned more about the rival Kirigakure and Iwagakure genin teams before the Chunin Exams began at the Ninja Academy. Akaseki, Minato, and Ranwu detected and dispelled the entrance Genjutsu screening, then continued toward the written-test classroom.

• Choza defeated Suikazan Fuguki in a strength contest, and Karatachi, Ao, and Shikaku stopped the Kirigakure and Konoha groups from escalating the dispute.
• Shikaku told Akashi that Kirigakure had sent three genin teams representing different factions, and identified Juzo Biwa and Iwagakure’s Kitsuchi as notable competitors.
• On July 1, genin from Konoha and other villages gathered at the Ninja Academy, where Hatake Sakumo, Roshi, and Jinin Akebino oversaw the exams.
• Akaseki, Minato, and Ranwu noticed the Genjutsu screening in the corridor, and Akaseki dispelled it for all three.
• The team reached Classroom 302 while many Konoha genin wandered into the wrong classrooms under the Genjutsu.

Team 7 took a written Chunin Exam built around wartime battlefield scenarios, and Akashi realized that passing required balancing mission success with protecting comrades. As he began answering, the examiners revealed that several questions had no fully correct solution unless an examinee chose to sacrifice themself.

• Akashi learned from Shibi Aburame that the proctor, Aburame Ryoma, was distantly related to Shibi and had ties to Shimura Danzō's Root.
• Aburame Ryoma explained the exam rules, and the proctors unsealed the test papers after the examinees infused them with Chakra.
• Akashi recognized that most questions concerned the Land of Rain and realized he needed to preserve teammates while achieving enough battlefield objectives to pass.
• Roshi and Akebino discussed how Kirigakure's exam concept forced examinees to choose between accepting casualties and finding another way to win.
• Hatake Sakumo revealed that sacrificing oneself could earn full marks on questions that otherwise had no completely correct answer.

Ranwu and Minato finished the written exam with solutions involving self-sacrifice, while Akaseki used combination ninjutsu to answer several difficult questions. After ninety genin passed, the examiners displayed disputed answer sheets and asked the candidates to defend answers that differed from the standards, drawing attention to Akaseki’s paper.

• Ranwu solved all ten questions after realizing that a candidate could sacrifice themselves, while Minato completed the test with one self-sacrifice answer and four partial-credit solutions involving teammates.
• Akaseki spotted that the rules did not prohibit combination ninjutsu, rewrote four answers using it, and crossed out three questions that required the most deaths.
• After the exam, Akaseki told Ranwu and Minato that he believed his combination-ninjutsu answers were perfect, and Minato agreed the examiners might accept them.
• The posted results showed that ninety genin had passed, and Konoha Military Police members kept disappointed candidates from forcing their way into the academy.
• Hatake Sakumo presented the candidates’ answer sheets and invited challenges to answers the examiners had not agreed on, prompting objections and scrutiny of Akaseki Uchiha’s combination-ninjutsu solutions.

Akashi and the other examinees discussed their written-test answers before the examiners challenged unconventional solutions. Suikazan Fuguki proved that he could safely convert the poisoned fish into Chakra, and Hatake Sakumo then turned to Akashi Uchiha.

• Akaseki and the others discussed the rounded passing score, cheating risks, and why Minato had answered more mission questions than necessary.
• Ranwu and Shikaku explained that the examiners had selected more than a dozen unconventional answers for review, and Hatake Sakumo invited examinees to object by throwing shuriken.
• Akashi Uchiha and Kurama Murakumo each objected to the other's answer, while Suikazan Fuguki received the most objections overall.
• Hatake Sakumo challenged Suikazan's claim that eating all three lightly poisoned fish would restore his Chakra, and Suikazan ate them raw.
• Hiashi and Hizashi confirmed with their Byakugan that Suikazan rapidly refined Chakra from the fish, and Hatake accepted his answer before turning to Akashi.

Akashi Uchiha proved his written answers by demonstrating the powerful combination ninjutsu Hell's Gate Technique, and the examiners confirmed the written-test results. The surviving candidates prepared for the next preliminary test, scheduled for the following morning, while Konoha's teams met at a ramen shop to discuss what might come.

• Hatake asked Akashi Uchiha to demonstrate the combination ninjutsu he had described, and Akashi created a heated, churning swamp with Hell's Gate Technique.
• The examiners accepted Akashi's answers, and most candidates who had given unusual answers proved them genuine.
• Shecang withdrew Suien of Takigakure after admitting that Suien had written nonsense, leaving Takigakure's three participants eliminated.
• Hatake announced that ninety candidates had passed and that the next test would begin at eight the next morning, telling them to gather at the village □ and prepare supplies.
• Shikaku advised Choza to prepare a month's worth of supplies and warned against carrying supplies for other teams, while Akaseki noted that Tanuki Treasure knew Sealing Jutsu.
• Team 7, Team 8, and the previous class's Ino-Shika-Cho team went together to a ramen shop.

After the written preliminary, Akaseki and the Konoha genin compared theories about the next exam and prepared for it. At the village entrance, examiner Santoku revealed a fourteen-day coded-message test spanning three locations, where teams would transmit, receive, and intercept messages to score points.

• Akaseki invited Fugaku and his companions to the ramen shop, but Fugaku politely declined and told the genin to prepare for the exams.
• At the ramen shop, Shikaku, Minato, and Shibi analyzed the preliminary results and predicted the next exam’s likely location and military focus.
• Shinnosuke brought Hiashi and Hizashi into the shop, where the genin discussed the exam and Shikaku reasoned that the site would be within the Land of Fire and under Konoha’s control.
• The Konoha teams prepared that evening, and ninety genin gathered at the village entrance the next morning.
• Santoku announced that the fourteen-day exam would test coded-message transmission, reception, and interception at the Valley of the End, Tanzaku Town, and Shukuba Town.

Santoku explained the intelligence interception rules, and Akaseki’s team set out to receive a code at the Valley of the End. After traveling at full speed, they reached the statues late that night and located the hidden safehouse rendezvous described in their scroll.

• Santoku clarified that teams had to obtain an intelligence code to complete an interception, and that destroying a scroll counted as forfeiting only if opponents did not stop them first.
• Santoku explained how transmission and interception affected points, while Akaseki asked about exploiting the rules and learned that senders could not leak an updated code after handoff.
• Suikazan tried to bait other teams into revealing whether they were carrying codes by claiming his team was going to the Valley of the End, but Akaseki challenged him.
• Akaseki, Minato, and Ranwu decided to race to their assigned rendezvous and potentially ambush other teams along the way.
• Team 7 traveled without resting and reached the Valley of the End at eleven that night; Akaseki used the scroll to identify a Genjutsu-sealed tree hollow concealing the safehouse.

Minato, Akaseki, and Ranwu discovered that their code-delivery mission had changed after another team intercepted the code, so they set an ambush near the Valley of the End. While Akaseki immersed himself in a drama, he found himself watching as the dead Hong Yan and learned that Princess Ruoxi planned to ask the Su Family for a marriage.

• Minato failed to sense the sealed rendezvous point, but Akaseki opened the entrance beneath the dead pagoda tree and the team entered the safe house.
• Akaseki discovered that their mission had changed from receiving a code to delivering one, meaning the team meant to deliver it had been intercepted.
• Minato persuaded Akaseki and Ranwu to wait near the rendezvous point and ambush the team that had stolen the code, while he kept watch.
• Akaseki began an immersive drama as Hong Yan, a military commander who had died after repelling an invasion, and returned to the imperial capital as a soul.
• Akaseki heard that Princess Ruoxi intended to ask the Su Family for a marriage despite already being Hong Yan's wife, while townspeople defended her plan.