Chapter Summaries

Akaseki explained to Hiruzen Sarutobi how Dan Katō had escaped and described how his Spirit Transformation Technique and Jashin's power let him recruit followers covertly across great distances. Hiruzen ordered the cult followers rehabilitated and chose not to demand compensation, while Akaseki suggested blaming the incident on Root.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi questioned Akaseki about releasing Dan Katō, and Akaseki said he had let him go in exchange for the lives of six sealed comrades.
• Akaseki explained that Dan Katō could sense resentment toward life across vast distances, recruit isolated followers, and create small clusters that were difficult to detect.
• Akaseki told Hiruzen that warning signs existed but investigating them across the shinobi world would be costly, and he noted that Konoha could avoid public scrutiny by not revealing the Jashin Cult's role.
• Akaseki reported that Tsunade had said the six rescued comrades would recover, and that the captured cult followers believed Jashin himself had guided them.
• Hiruzen ordered the followers rehabilitated and refused to demand compensation from their families, while Akaseki suggested blaming the incident on Root.

Akaseki entered a cultivation-themed Immersion as Hong Yan, a Golden Core cultivator who bought South Mountain Town’s spirit fruit to repay an old kindness. When Gu Lingxi accused him of cheating the farmers and led them to sell directly to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, their plan fell apart, while Akaseki’s Immersion ended with Gu Lingxi still denouncing Hong Yan.

• Konoha kept pressing Iwagakure toward a ceasefire as the village prepared to elect four Elders on May 1.
• Akaseki entered a new Immersion and discovered he was Hong Yan, a Golden Core cultivator who had bought spirit fruit for a hundred years to repay an elderly couple’s kindness.
• Gu Lingxi accused Hong Yan of pocketing the price difference, and the farmers abandoned him after he explained that the Myriad Treasures Pavilion’s higher price applied only to premium fruit.
• Gu Lingxi persuaded the farmers to pool money for the Teleportation Array and took their fruit to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, where Elder Zhang accepted only a small portion as premium.
• Gu Lingxi led the farmers in blocking the pavilion entrance, so the Disciplinary Hall expelled her and Elder Zhang crippled her dantian.
• The farmers began to suspect they had misjudged Hong Yan, but Gu Lingxi sprang up and continued accusing him and Elder Zhang as Akaseki’s first stretch of Immersion ended.

Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the Elders' Council election results, with Canglan, Nara Luzang, Hyuga Jisuke, and Fujirō Namiashi elected. After Akaseki stirred tensions between the Uchiha and Hyuga, the missing votes left the jonin wondering whether a comrade had died at the front.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced Canglan as the top vote-getter and Nara Luzang as the runner-up, prompting the Uchiha to taunt the Hyuga over Hyuga Jisuke's lower ranking.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced Hyuga Jisuke's election as Akaseki let the Uchiha frame their refusal to vote for him as principled fairness.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi named Fujirō Namiashi the fourth Elder, and Akaseki kept the Uchiha from insulting him because of his ties to Kagami Uchiha.
• Akaseki noticed that several Uchiha candidates had received zero votes and answered a Hyuga elder's mockery with a pointed remark about Minato.
• The jonin noticed that the announced vote totals were three short, and they feared a comrade had fallen at the front.

Hiruzen Sarutobi informed the Jonin that Dan Katō had defected to the Jashin Cult and ordered them to report any encounter without attacking. The new Elders' Council debated Root's fate, agreeing on how to transfer its missions and handle its members but postponing a decision on Shimura Danzō.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi revealed that Dan Katō had joined the Jashin Cult, and Tsunade confirmed there had been no misunderstanding about his defection.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi warned the Jonin that Dan Katō was dangerous and told them to report any encounter rather than attack him.
• Kensho Uchiha proposed executing Shimura Danzō and investigating Root, while Mitokado argued for a gradual transition and Orochimaru suggested using Impure World Reincarnation to interrogate Danzō.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi declared Impure World Reincarnation forbidden, and Canglan, Orochimaru, and Hyuga Jisuke blocked Utatane Koharu's attempt to discuss Root's successful Wood Release experiment.
• The Elders' Council agreed to transfer Root's unfinished missions to the Anbu or police force and investigate exposed members while sealing the files of those who had done nothing.
• The Elders' Council failed to agree on Shimura Danzō's fate, and Kensho Uchiha agreed to revisit it after Root's missions were allocated.

After Konoha signed a ceasefire with Iwagakure, Jiancheng discussed Root’s dismantling and the police force’s expanded responsibilities with Akaseki and Chizuru. They left him urging the Uchiha to recruit capable ninja from outside the clan while keeping control of the force.

• Konoha signed a ceasefire agreement with Iwagakure on May 30, ending its active war with every hidden village.
• Jiancheng complained that Shimura Danzō had survived and that the Elders’ Council had allowed Root’s seals to remain in place under Anbu control.
• Jiancheng said Root’s preliminary investigations were nearly finished, and Chizuru persuaded him not to pursue Root’s lesser-involved members too harshly.
• Akaseki warned Jiancheng that the expanded police force lacked enough personnel, but Jiancheng said the Uchiha had few academy students ready to graduate.
• Akaseki urged Jiancheng to recruit other ninja and gradually form separate internal and external divisions, while keeping the Uchiha in charge.

Akaseki visited Kushina with Minato and Ranwu, where he proposed helping Kushina communicate with the Nine-Tails. Hiruzen learned of the proposal from Tian Lu and recognized that Akaseki had been indirectly seeking his permission.

• Jiancheng teased Akaseki about future children, then suggested recruiting Forest Street ninja for the Uchiha Clan and hinted at good news for the Jonin Meeting.
• Akaseki, Minato, and Ranwu shared a meal with Kushina at the Uzumaki Residence while Anbu watched them from the shadows.
• Akaseki asked Kushina whether the Nine-Tails had revealed its name, then offered to enter her consciousness space and speak with it.
• Tian Lu interrupted Kushina's agreement, and after the visitors left, she reported Akaseki's proposal to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Hiruzen told Tian Lu that Akaseki had raised the matter openly and reminded her to treat Konoha's war hero with proper respect.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and his advisors approved letting Akaseki help Kushina control the Nine-Tails, and Konoha held its first regular Jonin Meeting since peace with Iwagakure. Hiruzen announced wartime compensation and began recognizing shinobi for their service, starting with Uchiha Orochimaru.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted Akaseki's advice about helping Kushina control the Nine-Tails and ordered Tian Lu to supervise her progress.
• Hiruzen persuaded Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu to let Akaseki try his approach, with formal approval postponed until the next regular meeting.
• Konoha held its first regular Jonin Meeting since the war, where Hiruzen discussed Root and celebrated the peace agreement with Iwagakure.
• Hiruzen announced a compensation plan for fallen shinobi's families and the care of orphans, while the Uchiha claimed credit for helping fund it.
• Hiruzen began announcing promotions and rewards, then corrected himself to recognize Uchiha Orochimaru as the wartime commander-in-chief.

At the Jonin Meeting, Hiruzen Sarutobi announced wartime contributions and promoted Akaseki to elite jonin, making him Konoha’s youngest at eighteen. After celebrating the promotion, Akaseki decided to take Ranwu and Minato to find Kushina and try to meet the Nine-Tails.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the wartime tallies and promoted Yamanaka Weiyi and other high-contributing jonin to elite jonin.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi promoted Akashi Uchiha, whose S-rank missions placed him fourth by that measure, to elite jonin.
• Akaseki accepted congratulations and teased Ranwu and Minato about his record as Konoha’s youngest elite jonin.
• A Jie asked whether Akaseki could issue A-rank missions, and Akaseki clarified the limits of his authority as an elite jonin.
• Akaseki proposed finding Kushina so she could attend Hiruzen Sarutobi’s victory speech, and he intended to meet the Nine-Tails in her consciousness space.

Akaseki entered Kushina’s consciousness to persuade the Nine-Tails to cooperate with her, claiming the Sage of Six Paths had made him the Third Ninshu. He left Kushina and the Nine-Tails ready to fight together, with the fox sharing some of its power.

• Akaseki used his Sharingan to enter Kushina’s consciousness and met the sealed Nine-Tails.
• Akaseki claimed the Sage of Six Paths had chosen him as the Third Ninshu and urged the Nine-Tails to become his follower.
• Akaseki provoked the Nine-Tails by comparing it unfavorably with the other tailed beasts, then offered it a chance to rank above Shukaku.
• Kushina appeared after sensing the Nine-Tails’ chakra flare, and she challenged it to fight Akaseki alongside her without releasing it from the seal.
• The Nine-Tails’ chakra flowed through the bars and merged with Kushina’s red hair, giving her some of its power.

Akaseki sparred with Kushina in her consciousness space as she and the Nine-Tails tried to build a bond, but the Nine-Tails’ chakra pushed Kushina toward losing control. Kushina sealed the Nine-Tails back with her chains, leaving her six-tailed cloak unusable for now.

• Kushina entered a three-tailed Tailed Beast Cloak and fought Akaseki’s first-stage Susanoo, cracking its ribs before Akaseki formed a sturdier second stage.
• Kushina’s cloak intensified to four tails, and Akaseki checked her physical condition through a mirror clone while Ranwu treated her chakra-corroded skin.
• Kushina’s four-tailed attacks began scorching Akaseki’s second-stage Susanoo, and she used strange chakra limbs to restrain it.
• Kushina advanced to a six-tailed Tailed Beast Cloak, where chakra bones appeared and Akaseki sensed something was wrong.
• The Nine-Tails tried to seize more control, but Kushina bound her tails and body with eight golden chains and forced it back, confirming she could not yet safely use the six-tailed cloak.

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.