Recaps

Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Akaseki ambushed the Rain Ninja at the valley entrance, trapping the survivors between Manda and the toads while their team fought through the poison mist. As the Rain Ninja were being slaughtered, the Great Salamander King appeared and forced Orochimaru to call for a retreat.

• Orochimaru warned Jiraiya that Hanzō had attacked and that more than a thousand samurai were trapped in poison mist.
• Akaseki’s Mirror Clones detonated Air Burst Techniques at the valley entrance, killing around fifty Rain Ninja and leaving others stunned.
• Manda and Gamabunta blocked both ends of the passage as Akaseki, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and their allies fought the remaining Rain Ninja and Giant Salamanders.
• Ranwu helped Gamabunta withstand the poison mist, and Jiraiya replaced him with Gamaken when Gamabunta had to withdraw.
• Akaseki, Minato, and Yakushi Nonō guarded the passage while Orochimaru and Jiraiya attacked the Rain Ninja.
• Manda sensed the Great Salamander King, and Orochimaru told Jiraiya to retreat.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya escaped Hanzō after the Rain Ninja ambush failed, while Hanzō spared the wounded Mifune and pursued Orochimaru's group. After fleeing for a day and night, Orochimaru, Akaseki, and Yakushi Nonō reached the coast near the land bridge to the Land of Lightning, where Orochimaru sensed something ahead.

• Orochimaru ordered a retreat when the Great Salamander King's poison began affecting Manda and he feared Hanzō would arrive.
• Mifune challenged Hanzō to a single strike, lost, and was paralyzed by poison; Hanzō gave him an antidote after Mifune asked him to spare his comrades.
• The Great Salamander King reverse-summoned Hanzō to the valley, where he learned Orochimaru and Jiraiya had escaped and set off after Orochimaru's group.
• Orochimaru split from Jiraiya so one group could survive to report what happened, then slowed Hanzō with traps as Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō fled with him.
• After running through the day and night, Orochimaru, Akaseki, and Yakushi Nonō reached the coast near the land bridge to the Land of Lightning, and Orochimaru stopped Akaseki as he sensed something ahead.

Orochimaru, Yakushi Nonō, and Akaseki captured a Kumogakure escort and discovered that its doctors were bound for the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. Rather than simply kill them, Orochimaru proposed infiltrating Kumogakure by taking their faces, and Akaseki agreed to learn the technique.

• Orochimaru, Yakushi Nonō, and Akaseki ambushed the Kumogakure escort, killing two ninja and capturing Murusu, Doctor Tetsusai, and their assistants.
• Akaseki and Orochimaru used Genjutsu to learn that Tetsusai was a psychological-treatment specialist being taken to treat the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.
• Orochimaru rejected killing the doctors as ineffective and revealed his Vanishing Facial Copy Technique by taking Tetsusai's face and wearing it as a disguise.
• Akaseki asked Orochimaru to teach him the technique, and Orochimaru agreed on the condition that it required advanced sealing techniques and Nine-Faced Tanuki's cooperation.

Orochimaru, Akaseki, and Yakushi Nonō disguised themselves as a Land of Sea medical team and entered the Land of Lightning under Kumogakure’s escort. They arrived in Kumogakure on August 31, where Dodai announced that the Raikage wanted to meet Doctor Tetsusai.

• Orochimaru taught Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō the limits of the Vanishing Facial Copy Technique, while Akaseki disguised himself as Genta and Tanuki Treasure took the form of the Southern Dipper Sage.
• Orochimaru issued Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō a provisional A-rank mission to infiltrate Kumogakure, and the three prepared disguises and planted evidence of a staged battle.
• Akaseki and Orochimaru convinced Dodai and Toroi that Konoha ninja had attacked their medical team, while Dodai and Qiyueyi returned from investigating and blamed Amegakure.
• Dodai escorted Orochimaru, Akaseki, and Yakushi Nonō through the Land of Lightning and into Kumogakure on August 31.
• Dodai said the Raikage wanted to meet Doctor Tetsusai, surprising Orochimaru.

Orochimaru, Akaseki, and Yakushi infiltrated Kumogakure under the guise of doctors and learned they were expected to treat the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, the Third Raikage’s nephew. Orochimaru planned to drug the jinchuriki and unleash the Eight-Tails within the village, while suspecting Kumogakure’s recent seal modifications had exposed the jinchuriki to the beast’s consciousness.

• Shizuma escorted Akaseki and Yakushi to their guarded lodgings, where they acted like ordinary medical assistants.
• Orochimaru returned and told them that members of the Kinkaku Force were surveilling the building.
• Orochimaru explained that killing the jinchuriki would only cause the Eight-Tails to revive, so he planned to prepare drugs that would release it inside Kumogakure.
• Akaseki learned the jinchuriki was the Third Raikage’s nephew and that Kumogakure had recently modified its sealing technique.
• Orochimaru suspected the altered seal allowed the Eight-Tails’ consciousness to reach the jinchuriki.

Orochimaru, posing as Doctor Tetsusai, investigated Kumogakure’s plans for Blue B and learned that experimental seal modifications had put the jinchuriki at risk. After A promised to bring Blue B the next day, Orochimaru planned to use the medical treatment to examine the seal.

• Kumogakure replenished the medical supplies Orochimaru had requested, but Blue B still did not come to see him.
• Yotsuki Sareiha and Yotsuki Gurando warned Orochimaru not to give Blue B medicine and tried to dismiss his concerns about the seal.
• Orochimaru told Akaseki that Kumogakure might be considering replacing Blue B, and explained that extracting a tailed beast would kill its jinchuriki.
• Young A urged Orochimaru to focus on treating Fukai, promised to bring him the next day, and vowed to ensure his safe return if anything went wrong.
• Orochimaru asked Akaseki to use his talent for Sealing Techniques to inspect Blue B’s seal under the pretext of helping with treatment.

Orochimaru posed as a doctor to treat Blue B while secretly encouraging him to accept the Eight-Tails as part of himself, intending to weaken the seal. After Blue B left the clinic, Orochimaru explained his trap to Akaseki and hoped it would let them return to Konoha by New Year.

• Orochimaru questioned Blue B privately after A left, then framed the Eight-Tails' consciousness as part of Blue B during their session.
• Akaseki gathered information about Blue B and learned that villagers often regarded him as a monster.
• Blue B's chakra briefly formed a tentacle-like tail, but he reined in the Eight-Tails' power and left with calming medicine from Yakushi Nonō.
• Orochimaru told Akaseki that persuading Blue B to see himself as one with the Eight-Tails would maximize the beast's influence on his mind and undermine the seal.
• Orochimaru revealed that his treatment was a trap and said he hoped they could return to Konoha by New Year.

Akaseki went to Kumogakure’s Sealing Research Institute to investigate the Iron Armor Seal and learn more about Blue B’s treatment. After Toroi introduced him to the researchers, Tojii tested his knowledge of sealing techniques, and Akaseki gave a startlingly basic answer.

• Orochimaru told Akaseki not to approach Kumogakure’s candidate Jinchuriki before their plan began, and Akaseki worried that Yakushi Nonō might try to assassinate the child.
• Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō separately asked Orochimaru to watch out for the other’s possible mistakes, and Orochimaru agreed without taking either concern seriously.
• Akaseki arrived at the Kumogakure Sealing Research Institute, where Toroi took him into its confidential section to observe and study.
• Toroi learned that Akaseki’s supposed sealing background amounted to knowing the Summoning Technique and brought him to meet Tojii, Kataii, and Shizui.
• Tojii asked Akaseki to name the two categories of sealing techniques, and Akaseki answered, “Sealing living things—and sealing dead things?”

Akaseki, disguised as Genta, learned how Kumogakure’s sealing researchers divided sealing techniques into two schools and investigated their efforts to modify the Iron Armor Seal. Toroi showed him the project’s shortcomings and explained the seal’s problems, while Akaseki suspected Kumogakure had borrowed techniques from other villages and taken knowledge from the Uzumaki Clan.

• Kataii explained that one school of sealing techniques dated to the Sage of Six Paths and another to an older era, and said Kumogakure sought to combine both.
• Akaseki privately recognized that Kumogakure’s supposed research breakthroughs likely relied on stolen Uzumaki knowledge and that its original Iron Armor Seal may have come from Sunagakure.
• Kataii asked Toroi to explain the research project and Blue B’s health problems to Genta.
• Toroi warned Genta not to praise Indra in Kumogakure because some local clans, especially the Yotsuki Clan, resented the Uchiha.
• Toroi showed Genta the sealing project and explained that the Iron Armor Seal risked Eight-Tails rampages and restricted its jinchuriki from using the beast’s power.

At Kumogakure’s Sealing Research Institute, Akaseki learned that the oldest sages and the Demon Gods were the same kind of beings, then used Sacred Spire to generate the Great Dragon Fire Technique. After clearing the fifth floor, he unlocked deck templates and saw a way to study sealing techniques that could help him simplify Tanuki Treasure’s powerful seals.

• Akaseki studied sealing materials with Toroi and reported to Orochimaru that Kumogakure was teaching them only scattered knowledge while trying to recruit them.
• Orochimaru explained that the oldest sages of the Three Great Sage Regions were exceptions to Chakra cultivation and were the same kind of beings as the Demon Gods sealed by the Sage of Six Paths.
• Akaseki asked whether he could meet the White Snake Sage, and Orochimaru admitted that he wanted to meet the sage too.
• On September 21, Akaseki cleared Sacred Spire’s fifth-floor Boss with a Fire Style deck and generated the Great Dragon Fire Technique.
• Akaseki discovered that his Great Dragon Fire Technique had gained a boost from his Chakra transformations and that Sacred Spire had unlocked deck templates for known ninjutsu.
• Akaseki realized he could use the templates to assemble sealing techniques and simplify Tanuki Treasure’s nine ultimate seals into techniques he could learn.

Orochimaru prepared to free the Eight-Tails by drugging Blue B and attacking his seal, while Akaseki planned to use the resulting chaos to escape Kumogakure. As Blue B lost consciousness, A’s unexpected arrival complicated Akaseki’s plans, and a roar and surge of chakra erupted from the clinic.

• Orochimaru told Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō that he would give Blue B a powerful final medicine during his next consultation and warned Akaseki to hide his Sharingan if possible.
• Akaseki prepared for the operation, kept up his usual routine, and advanced his Fire Style chakra transformation to 20%.
• On November 14, Blue B returned to Orochimaru’s clinic exhausted and asked whether he should request further seal modifications.
• Orochimaru gave Blue B a potent medicine, waited until he was incapacitated, and began tampering with the Iron Armor Seal on his chest.
• Akaseki encountered A, who had returned to Kumogakure and was visiting Killer B, and decided to leave before the planned escape became harder.
• A tremendous roar and surge of chakra came from the direction of the clinic.

Akaseki revealed his Sharingan and attacked Killer B during the Eight-Tails’ rampage in Kumogakure. A took the blow meant for Killer B and fought to protect him as Akaseki unleashed a fire technique.

• The Eight-Tails emerged in its complete form from the destroyed clinic, and A realized Blue B might have lost control or died.
• A began leading Killer B toward shelter, but Akaseki decided he could not go with them and chose to attack Killer B instead.
• Akaseki revealed his Sharingan and lunged at Killer B with a lightning-and-fire-wreathed sword, but A stepped in front of him and was stabbed in the ribs.
• A punched Akaseki and sent him flying, while the Kinkaku Force ninja recovered from Akaseki’s genjutsu.
• Akaseki used the Great Dragon Fire Technique to send three fire dragons at A, the Kinkaku Force ninja, and Killer B; A endured the flames and shielded Killer B as he charged Akaseki.

Akaseki fought A and used Mirror Clones to distract the Raikage and protect his escape from Kumogakure. He and Yakushi Nonō fled on Tanuki Treasure, but Toroi’s Magnet Release targeted her before Akaseki disrupted the magnetic force and helped them break through.

• Akaseki created a Shadow Clone and Mirror Clones to mislead A, hold him back with a Four-Pillar Lightning Bind, and pursue Killer B.
• A caught the wounded Killer B as the Eight-Tails’ Tailed Beast Ball destroyed Akaseki’s pursuing clone.
• Yakushi Nonō appeared to help Akaseki fight off Cloud Ninja, and the two reached Kumogakure’s outskirts.
• Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō escaped the blockade aboard Tanuki Treasure, but Toroi magnetized Yakushi Nonō and sent square shuriken after them.
• Akaseki used an electric current to disrupt the magnetism, allowing Tanuki Treasure to carry them out of the encirclement.

Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō escaped Kumogakure during the Eight-Tails’ rampage and traveled back to Konoha together. They reunited with Orochimaru, Ranwu, and Minato, learned that their mission had to remain secret, and chose to keep their A-rank mission record rather than join Orochimaru’s S-rank mission.

• Akaseki disrupted the magnetic force on Yakushi Nonō and helped Tanuki Treasure escape Kumogakure while the Eight-Tails’ rampage overwhelmed the village.
• After landing, Akaseki thanked Yakushi for helping him, and the two agreed to travel overland through the Land of Iron toward Konoha.
• Akaseki and Yakushi avoided two Cloud Ninja squads, crossed the Land of Lightning after two days and nights of travel, rested in the Land of Iron, and returned to Konoha five days later.
• Orochimaru met Akaseki and Yakushi with Ranwu and Minato, then told them that their actions in Kumogakure were top secret and that they had to maintain their cover.
• Orochimaru offered to list Akaseki and Yakushi as assistants on his S-rank mission, but Akaseki and Yakushi chose to keep their A-rank mission record.

Akaseki returned to Konoha with Orochimaru’s team after learning the Eight-Tails attack had inflicted heavy casualties on Kumogakure and that Kushina had become the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki. At Hiruzen Sarutobi’s summons, Danzo challenged Akaseki’s motives for trying to kill Killer B, and Akaseki defended himself by invoking Kumogakure’s killing of the Second Hokage and the Uzumaki Clan.

• Orochimaru told Akaseki that the Eight-Tails attack had killed three to five hundred Kumogakure ninja, though few were Jonin, and explained that Killer B had become the Eight-Tails’ Jinchuriki.
• Ranwu told Akaseki that Mito had died a month earlier and that Kushina had become the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki, while Orochimaru suspected Kumogakure’s Amber Purifying Pot no longer worked properly.
• An Anbu ninja summoned Orochimaru, Akaseki, Yakushi Nonō, Minato, and Ranwu to meet Hiruzen Sarutobi, where Danzo urged Hiruzen to distrust Akaseki and hand him over to Kumogakure.
• Danzo questioned Akaseki and Yakushi Nonō about the failed attempt to kill Killer B, but Yakushi supported Akaseki’s account that the Raikage candidate’s unexpected arrival had foiled it.
• Akaseki said he had targeted Kumogakure because it had killed the Second Hokage and destroyed the Uzumaki Clan, then thrust a statue of the Second Hokage toward Danzo when Danzo demanded his reason.

Akaseki received recognition for his Wind Pressure Technique and chose to study basic Uzumaki sealing techniques from Kushina, with Minato accompanying him. After returning to the Uchiha grounds, he told Jiancheng and Lanyu about his reward and revealed what had happened in Kumogakure.

• Sarutobi upgraded Akaseki’s mission to a classified A-rank mission and offered him a reward for developing the Wind Pressure Technique.
• Akaseki asked to learn basic sealing techniques from Kushina, and Sarutobi agreed that Minato would go with him.
• Ranwu invited Akaseki and Minato to ramen the next day and reminded Akaseki that the Senju wanted him to contract the Rashomon.
• Akaseki returned to the Uchiha grounds and told the clan head and Lanyu that he would study sealing techniques with Kushina.
• Akaseki recounted the events in Kumogakure to Jiancheng and Lanyu, who had already helped conceal his absence from the village.

Akaseki returned to Konoha and learned that war was looming as the great villages prepared to counter Giant Salamander venom. After resting and catching up with Ranwu, he headed to Forest Street to attempt the Rashomon trial offered by her uncles.

• Akaseki told Jiancheng and Lanyu that Orochimaru had caused the Eight-Tails incident in Kumogakure, and they warned him to train hard as war approached.
• Akaseki revealed that Ranwu’s uncles had offered him a chance to accept the Rashomon contract, and Lanyu urged him to win her over.
• Akaseki discovered that Ranwu had collected his secret taijutsu medicine and given it to Might Duy, then decided to improve his taijutsu and consider adding a chain sickle to his replica gunbai.
• Akaseki, Ranwu, and their teammates ate barbecue with Shinnosuke and Ino-Shika-Cho, while Akaseki refused to pay Shinnosuke’s bill.
• Minato went to the training grounds, and Akaseki returned to Forest Street with Ranwu.

Akaseki accepted Rashomon’s trial, which Canglan summoned at Ranwu’s house on Forest Street. Inside the first gate, the Gate of Emotion, Akaseki faced a choice to abandon one of his bonds, and the chapter ended with him baffled by the appearance of Liu Ru’s name.

• Canglan warned Akaseki that Rashomon’s five trials tested whether someone could face life and death, and Akaseki agreed to try despite the risk of emotional trauma.
• Ranwu brought Akaseki into her house, where Canglan explained that passing all five trials would form a contract and that only five people could hold contracts at once.
• Canglan summoned the Fivefold Rashomon, and Akaseki’s consciousness entered the first gate, the Gate of Emotion.
• The Gate of Emotion told Akaseki he could pass by abandoning one of the bonds represented by the names before him.
• Akaseki saw Ranwu and Minato Namikaze among the names, then was startled when the third name appeared as Liu Ru, a heroine from a short drama he had experienced during an earlier immersion.

Akaseki passed the Gate of Emotion by choosing Liu Ru, then used a short Immersion to strengthen his influence over Rashomon’s judgment before entering the Gate of Desire. The second trial presented the injured girl from that Immersion as the person Akaseki could not relinquish, leaving him confident that his interference had succeeded.

• Akaseki chose Liu Ru, causing her name to dissolve and easing the trauma attached to the story.
• Akaseki asked the Desire Gate for time to prepare and decided to grant his hippocampus access during a short Immersion.
• Akaseki experienced Hong Yan’s twelve-hour struggle to save a girl while the Luo family repeatedly assaulted him and the people around him.
• Akaseki recalled the Immersion, regained his composure, and entered the Gate of Desire without planning to grant his hippocampus access again.
• Akaseki saw the injured girl from the Immersion in the second trial and realized his interference had shaped Rashomon’s judgment.

Akaseki passed the Desire Gate by rejecting its offer to save someone at the cost of his lifespan, then discovered that his immersion had advanced his Yang Style chakra. He entered the Sin Gate and faced luminous figures of people whose deaths he felt guilty about.

• Akaseki rejected the Desire Gate's offer to save the person in the operating room with half his remaining lifespan, causing the illusion to collapse and completing the second trial.
• Akaseki reflected that the first two trials would have been difficult for an emotionally attached Uchiha, and decided to attempt the next trial without further preparation.
• Akaseki checked his chakra and found that Incineration (Sorrow) had reached 22.91%, Sinking Pressure (Anger) had reached 15.03%, and Yang Style had risen to 1.07%.
• Akaseki recalled Hong Yan kneeling and begging to save a life, and suspected that self-sacrificing devotion had stimulated his Yang Style chakra.
• Akaseki entered the Sin Gate, drew the blade it presented, and saw figures of people whose deaths he felt guilty about, including the little girl he had failed to save.

Akaseki passed the first three Rashomon trial stages and entered the dangerous fourth stage, where he had to endure despair without giving up on life. As the onlookers waited outside, the Silence Gate began confronting him with distressing scenes.

• The red Rashomon opened its eyes, and Akaseki passed the first stage after leaving the trial inactive for twelve hours.
• The green Rashomon activated, and Akaseki passed the second stage, surprising Canglan and the gathered neighbors.
• The blue Rashomon began the third stage, and Akaseki passed it quickly, becoming more trustworthy in Canglan's eyes.
• Canglan explained that the fourth stage, the Gate of Silence, required Akaseki to endure isolation and despair for twenty-four hours without wishing to die.
• The Silence Gate subjected Akaseki to a stream of despairing scenes, and he recognized how vicious the trial was.

Akaseki reached the Gate of Balance, where Life Shadow and Death Shadow tried to tempt him with visions of life and death. He beat them instead of merging with them, then realized the trial required balancing both shadows, but found he could not bring himself to merge with either.

• After enduring another day in the Silence Gate, Akaseki escaped and found the final Rashomon gate, the Gate of Balance.
• The gate produced Life Shadow and Death Shadow, who tried to sway Akaseki with promises involving Liu Ru, his family, and the princess.
• Akaseki recognized the shadows as manifestations of his obsessions but could not relate to their temptations, so he attacked them with his Uchiha Gunbai.
• After beating the shadows for half an hour, Akaseki realized the trial required him to merge with both in balance rather than reject them or choose one.
• Akaseki tried to hear more from the shadows but remained unable to merge with either, leaving the Balance Gate puzzled by his lack of temptation.

Akaseki remained trapped in Rashomon’s fifth-stage trial until the Hell Yama King appeared and offered him a final challenge with a contract as its reward. The King revealed that he had a difficulty of his own and hinted that another Uchiha had recently taken the trial.

• Akaseki passed Rashomon’s fourth stage, and the former Senju Clan neighbors gathered at Ranwu’s house to watch him attempt the fifth.
• As Akaseki’s fifth-stage trial continued for hours, Canglan compared his control to Hashirama’s, while Akaseki struggled to restart the trial by forcing the Life Shadow back into the Balance Gate.
• The Hell Yama King appeared and identified himself as the lord of Avici Hell, where Rashomon’s true forms resided.
• The Hell Yama King offered Akaseki a final trial and a chance to contract with him, but repeatedly lowered the penalty for failure when Akaseki refused.
• Akaseki asked what difficulty the Hell Yama King faced and who the other Uchiha was; the King opened his purple, ringed eyes as Akaseki’s Sharingan spun furiously.

Akaseki faced a second trial in Avici Hell after the Hell Yama King sought a contract with him to resist Madara Uchiha’s control. Akaseki defeated the trial’s impermanence and returned safely, keeping the Rinnegan and Madara revelations to himself.

• The Hell Yama King revealed that Madara Uchiha had used the Rinnegan to control him and asked Akaseki to forge a contract.
• Akaseki agreed to the Hell Yama King’s trial, which combined Rashomon’s five trials and summoned an armored impermanence to fight him.
• Akaseki shrugged off the trial’s restraints and wounds, then confronted the trembling impermanence with his Uchiha Gunbai.
• At Ranwu’s home, Ranwu and Canglan worried as the five Rashomon gates rose and surrounded Akaseki.
• The gates sank back down, and Akaseki emerged unharmed, telling Ranwu and Canglan that he had passed the trial while withholding the details about the Rinnegan and Madara Uchiha.

After passing Rashomon’s trial, Akashi returned to the Uchiha clan grounds to a celebratory feast and learned he could recommend another candidate every seven days. He later summoned Hell Yama King and asked about an Immersion Demon God, whose description made it cover its ears.

• Ranwu and Canglan fed Akashi rice soup after he finished Rashomon’s trial, and Akashi explained that Hell Yama King controlled when the trial could be activated.
• Chenggan and Yuanzuo escorted Akashi back to the Uchiha clan grounds, where the clan celebrated his success and learned he could recommend candidates once every seven days.
• Danzo warned Sarutobi that Akashi’s success might strengthen the Uchiha, but Sarutobi defended Akashi and dismissed Danzo’s concerns.
• Akashi escaped the feast, slept until afternoon, and summoned Hell Yama King, discovering that its summoned form had two-tomoe Sharingan.
• Akashi asked Hell Yama King about an Immersion Demon God from another planet, and Hell Yama King covered its ears rather than listen.