Recaps

Akaseki and Ranwu survived the Chunin Exam preliminaries, but a Rinnegan-wielding Madara Uchiha nearly killed them before withdrawing. After reaching the final round, Akaseki uncovered the attacker’s identity and began Kagami’s secret Mirror Clone training, making startling progress with Yang Release.

• Akaseki and Ranwu captured Grass Ninja, then defeated Star Ninja and gathered codes while completing their exam missions.
• Madara Uchiha attacked Akaseki and Ranwu with the Rinnegan, wounded them, and withdrew when Konoha ninja arrived.
• Akaseki and Ranwu continued the preliminaries with Shinnosuke’s team, and Team 7 passed in fourth place with 1,856 points.
• Hatake Sakumo named Akashi Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha, Kitsuchi, and Karatachi Yagura as arena holders for the final round.
• Akaseki told Jiancheng and Lanyu about the attacker’s eyes, then recognized his Mangekyō pattern as Madara’s Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Akaseki confided his suspicions to Tsunade, who agreed to keep Madara’s possible survival secret while they sought a lead.
• Kagami began teaching Akaseki Mirror Clone, and Akaseki practiced its Yin and Yang steps despite his slow initial progress.
• Akaseki awakened full Yang Style Chakra transformation and produced a stable Yang-leaning Shadow Clone, astonishing Mirror with his progress.

Akaseki completed his Mirror Clone training, fought through the chunin arena trials, and survived Yakushi Nonō’s attack while the match exposed the danger surrounding Root. He joined Team 7 on a supply escort to the Land of Iron, where the group found survivors of a poisoned village and continued toward another supply point.

• Akaseki completed Mirror Clone training, received an imitation Uchiha Gunbai from Jiancheng, and promised Hizashi he would help him break the Caged Bird curse.
• At the Konoha Arena, Minato defeated Karatachi Yagura, while Ranwu, Kitsuchi, Fugaku, and Shikaku earned advancement spots through the successive matches.
• Akashi Uchiha defended the final arena against several Kirigakure and Iwagakure challengers, using Mirror Clones and the Earth Prison Dome of Nothingness to outlast them.
• Akaseki fought Yakushi Nonō, who refused to surrender even after his attacks wounded her, then struck him with a Chakra Scalpel during his attempt to settle the match with words.
• After Nonō surrendered and Akaseki recovered, Ranwu told him Root’s missions were frozen, and Akaseki persuaded Jiancheng and Lanyu to transfer Root’s suicide soldiers into the Anbu under Kagami.
• Orochimaru led Team 7, Jiraiya, and Yakushi Nonō on a Land of Iron escort mission, explaining that their trade route would take them through the conflict zone and interfere with the Land of Rain’s offensive.
• After the team found a village poisoned by Amegakure ninja, Minato rescued four children from a sealed well and Ranwu and Yakushi Nonō treated them.
• Akaseki subdued four suspicious samurai with his Sharingan, and they led the group and the rescued children to another mountain village.

Akaseki developed Wind and Air Release techniques while helping Orochimaru’s squad protect the Land of Iron from the Rain Ninja. The arc left the samurai raiding the Rain Ninja position as Orochimaru’s squad waited to ambush a larger force after confirming Hanzō’s presence.

• Orochimaru sent Akaseki and his team to rescue villagers poisoned by Miasma Wind’s Rain Ninja, and Akaseki used Wind Release to disperse the mist and defeat the attackers.
• Akaseki awakened his Wind Release talent during Immersion, then developed Wind Pressure Technique and Air Burst Technique to clear poison mist, injuring himself while driving poison from Mountain Hollow Village.
• Orochimaru’s squad captured six Rain Ninja, and Akaseki gave Jiraiya the Wind Pressure Technique for Konoha while Orochimaru arranged a trade with the Land of Iron.
• At Severed Mountain City, Akaseki, Minato, and Ranwu fought Rain Ninja and giant salamanders, using their techniques to clear poison mist and force the enemy to retreat.
• Orochimaru’s squad declined to promise support for the samurai’s attack, while Jiraiya and Orochimaru warned Akaseki and Ranwu that Hanzō might still be with the Rain Ninja.
• Three-Eyes led more than a thousand samurai on a night raid, while Orochimaru’s squad waited outside a valley for confirmation that Hanzō was with the Rain Ninja force there.

Akaseki infiltrated Kumogakure with Orochimaru and helped trigger the Eight-Tails’ rampage before returning to Konoha. He later endured Rashomon’s trials and forged a contract with the Hell Yama King, while learning that Madara Uchiha had once controlled it.

• Orochimaru’s group escaped Hanzō’s attack, then infiltrated Kumogakure disguised as medical staff and began tampering with Blue B’s seal.
• Orochimaru’s plan released the Eight-Tails inside Kumogakure, and Akaseki fought A and the Kinkaku Force before escaping with Yakushi Nonō.
• Akaseki and Yakushi returned to Konoha, where Orochimaru kept their actions secret and Danzo questioned Akaseki before Sarutobi classified his mission.
• Akaseki asked Kushina to teach him sealing techniques and accepted Canglan’s invitation to face the Fivefold Rashomon trials.
• Akaseki passed the Emotion, Desire, Sin, and Silence trials, then struggled to merge with the Life Shadow and Death Shadow in the Gate of Balance.
• The Hell Yama King revealed that Madara Uchiha had controlled him with the Rinnegan and offered Akaseki a final trial in exchange for a contract.
• Akaseki defeated the armored impermanence, passed the trial, and returned to a clan celebration before summoning the Hell Yama King and asking about an Immersion Demon God.