Recaps

Kakashi brought Naruto, Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee to the Country of Demons in response to a distress letter, while Lin Qing and Konan joined them to investigate Obito. The group discovered that the city’s people seemed like “false humans,” and learned that Mōryō and Yomi had taken over the Daimyo and were preparing to target Lin Qing, while holding Shion and more than a thousand children hostage.

• Kakashi explained that Konoha had sent his team to investigate a blood-written distress letter bearing the Country of Demons’ Daimyo’s seal, and Naruto joined early as a genin.
• Lin Qing and Konan joined Kakashi’s group in disguise, and Konan wore a Konoha forehead protector as they headed to the royal capital.
• The Daimyo claimed he had sent the letter while delirious and said a masked doctor had treated him, but Lin Qing found no illness or genjutsu and sensed something was wrong with the mansion’s occupants.
• Kakashi, Lin Qing, and Konan agreed that the people in the mansion felt like “false humans,” and Lin Qing decided to investigate the shrine.
• Yomi revealed that Mōryō had possessed the Daimyo by devouring his soul and planned to take Lin Qing’s body, while Shion agreed to cooperate after Mōryō threatened the children held in the dungeon.

Lin Qing infiltrated the shrine in the Country of Demons and discovered that its underground seal contained the demon god’s power, which he identified as extremely yin Natural Energy. After using it to strengthen his Ripple, he left the shrine suspecting the daimyo had been possessed by a ghost and that the Masked Man had taken some of the power.

• Lin Qing used Catch the Rainbow and Weather Report to reach the shrine, then found and opened a hidden passage beneath the priestess statue.
• Lin Qing entered the underground palace and learned that priestesses had used the sealed demon god’s power to cultivate sealing techniques.
• Lin Qing touched the purple jade, resisted its chilling power, and identified the power as a form of Natural Energy.
• Lin Qing refined the power with the Dragon Snake Treasure Orb and discovered that it transformed his Natural Energy and Ripple, offering a way past his Ripple bottleneck.
• Lin Qing concluded that the Masked Man had sought the demon god’s power and that the Country of Demons’ daimyo had already been possessed by a ghost.

Naruto tried to use the bathroom in the haunted palace, then learned from Shion that Yomi and Mōryō planned to attack Lin Qing that night. Naruto was captured while protecting Shion, as Mōryō’s attack began and Lin Qing extinguished the shrine’s flames.

• Naruto woke Rock Lee and asked Neji to accompany him to the bathroom because he was afraid to walk through the dark corridor alone.
• Neji left Naruto in the bathroom, and Naruto fled from a ghostly woman before finding Shion hiding in a dark room.
• Shion told Naruto that Yomi planned to activate the ghost-summoning formation and help Mōryō take over Lin Qing’s body.
• Naruto carried Shion out to find Kakashi, but Yomi’s subordinates struck Naruto with several ninjutsu and knocked him unconscious.
• Yomi ordered his subordinates to imprison Naruto with the captured women and children, then saw an explosion at the shrine.
• Lin Qing stood unharmed in the flames and extinguished them with wind and rain.

Lin Qing discovered that Mōryō had possessed the feudal lord of the Country of Demons and was corrupting the nation, so he descended into the demon-summoning formation to confront it. When Mōryō offered him immortality, Lin Qing recognized the offer as possession and launched a time-stopped attack.

• Lin Qing concluded that Mōryō had possessed the feudal lord and was tainting the people of the Country of Demons.
• Yomi learned that Neji had escaped and Priestess Shion had slipped away to contact Naruto Uzumaki, but he dismissed their chances of escape.
• Lin Qing used C-Moon to descend beneath the shrine, and an explosive trap destroyed the shrine and the statue of the first-generation priestess.
• Lin Qing dispelled Mōryō's demonic storm with lightning and confronted the demon as it rose from the summoning formation.
• Mōryō offered Lin Qing its power and memories in exchange for a small price, but Lin Qing identified the offer as body possession and drew the Blade of Ruin.
• Lin Qing stopped time with Star Platinum: The World and moved in to attack Mōryō alongside Star Platinum.

Lin Qing repelled Mōryō’s possession and pinned him to the demon-summoning circle while Naruto rescued the prisoners and defeated Yomi. Mōryō then broke the seal on his underground true body at the cost of his shattered soul.

• Lin Qing blasted Mōryō with lightning as Kakashi and the others fought Yomi and the undead army.
• Mōryō possessed Lin Qing, but Star Platinum and the other Stands overwhelmed him inside Lin Qing’s consciousness and shattered his confidence.
• Lin Qing hurled the Blade of Ruin through Mōryō and pinned him to the demon-summoning circle.
• Yomi threatened Shion and ordered her to unseal Mōryō’s true body, but Naruto and his clones rescued the prisoners and knocked Yomi unconscious.
• Mōryō slammed his head into the ground and broke the seal on his true body, sacrificing his soul and leaking power.

Mōryō unleashed his demonic power across the city, but Lin Qing contained it with the Dragon Snake Treasure Orb and resumed fighting Mōryō’s true body. Unable to harm the regenerating demon with ordinary attacks and unwilling to risk Shion’s sealing technique, Lin Qing drew a blade from his eye and prepared another method of attack.

• Mōryō regretted trying to seize Lin Qing’s body and unleashed his true body’s tentacles, destroying the Feudal Lord’s Mansion and turning the dead into undead warriors.
• Mōryō spread his leaked demonic power across the city, overwhelming Shion and threatening the civilians.
• Lin Qing moved Shion out of danger and used the Dragon Snake Treasure Orb to suppress and seal the demonic power covering the city.
• Lin Qing attacked Mōryō with the Blade of Ruin, Ripple flames, and Killer Queen, but Mōryō’s body regenerated from the damage.
• Lin Qing declined to make Shion risk sealing Mōryō, drew a thin blade from his eye, and asked Mōryō if he was ready to accept misfortune.

Lin Qing defeated Mōryō by trapping him beneath an avalanche and draining his divine demonic power into the Dragon Snake Treasure Orb. Rather than kill him, Lin Qing sealed Mōryō inside the Demon-Sealing Jade for the Research Institute to study.

• Lin Qing used the Tear Blade to inflict a hidden calamity on Mōryō, then fought him with the Blade of Ruin and his Stand.
• As the battle plunged deep underground, Lin Qing controlled magma against Mōryō’s tentacles.
• A snowflake alerted Mōryō to the avalanche Lin Qing’s misfortune had arranged, and snow mixed with Natural Energy trapped him in solidified magma.
• Lin Qing cut into Mōryō and drained his divine demonic power into the Dragon Snake Treasure Orb over half an hour.
• Lin Qing pressed the weakened Mōryō onto the Demon-Sealing Jade, whose formation sealed him inside.

Lin Qing defeated Mōryō and ended the priestesses’ generations-long duty to keep the demon sealed. After learning that using the Tear Blade had cost him lasting vitality, he rested and examined the demon god power he had gained.

• Kakashi reassured Naruto and the others that Lin Qing could handle Mōryō alone.
• Lin Qing emerged from underground with Mōryō sealed inside the Demon-Sealing Jade and told Shion she was free to choose her own future.
• Konan confirmed she was unharmed after defending much of the city from Mōryō’s undead army.
• Lin Qing revealed that the Tear Blade had withered his hand by reducing his maximum vitality and considered the danger of using it repeatedly.
• Lin Qing used Ripple flames and Natural Energy to begin restoring his hand, then took out the Dragon Snake Treasure Orb to inspect the demon god power he had gained.

Lin Qing failed to break through to Ripple’s fourth stage because his body had reached its evolutionary limit, but he discovered that breaking through further would require challenging Kars through a trial mission. After using golden Ripple crystals to heal the injured in the Country of Demons, he left its people believing the era of demons had ended.

• Lin Qing absorbed Mōryō’s demon god power to push Ripple toward its fourth stage, but his body ruptured and forced him to stop.
• Lin Qing sensed Kars blocking his evolution and realized he needed a trial mission, possibly unlocked by a Dimensional Ascension Star Core connected to the moon and the Otsutsuki clan.
• Lin Qing restored his life force and reached Ripple Stage Three and a Half, with pale golden crystals floating around him.
• Lin Qing joined Konan and the others as they dealt with casualties and damage across the city.
• Lin Qing used Weather Report, Pearl Jam, and his golden Ripple crystals to send healing clouds over the city, restoring injured residents.

Lin Qing learned that Shion’s death visions had become absolute darkness, matching the Great Toad Sage’s ominous vision and suggesting a catastrophe within a year. After Haku arrived with the Extermination Army, Ōnoki introduced himself to Lin Qing.

• Kakashi told Lin Qing that citizens had worshipped his photographs, and Lin Qing reflected on his inability to revive the dead and his failed attempt to find Obito.
• Lin Qing concluded that Obito was avoiding him and decided to focus on strengthening his faction faster than its enemies could grow.
• Lin Qing stayed in the Country of Demons to study demonic god power and asked Shion about her ability to foresee deaths.
• Shion explained that her visions had increasingly shown absolute darkness since the last Ninja World war, and Lin Qing suspected a widespread disaster was approaching within months to a year.
• Haku arrived with the Extermination Army, accompanied by Ōnoki, who introduced himself to Lin Qing.

Ōnoki went to Lin Qing to surrender Iwagakure and ask that the village be spared, and Lin Qing offered him a path forward. Elsewhere, Itachi met Obito to ask for a replacement eye, and Obito agreed on the condition that Itachi accept his terms.

• Lin Qing told Ōnoki that he had chosen to let Iwagakure weaken rather than destroy it outright.
• Ōnoki knelt before Lin Qing, pledged Iwagakure's loyalty, and offered his own life in exchange for the village's survival.
• Lin Qing told Ōnoki to rise and said history would become nourishment for their march toward the New World.
• Obito met Itachi in a forest, and Itachi asked him for an eye to replace the one blinded by Izanagi.
• Obito agreed to give Itachi an eye but said he would impose conditions.

Obito offered Itachi Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan and improved White Zetsu cells to restore and surpass his former strength. Itachi accepted the risk and sent a crow to lead Obito to his real body for the operation.

• Obito told Itachi he could regain more than his former strength with a compatible Mangekyō Sharingan and enhanced cells.
• Itachi suspected Obito meant to take Sasuke’s eyes, but Obito denied it and said he would avoid anything connected to Lin Qing until he could kill him.
• Obito revealed that the eyes belonged to Itachi’s father, Fugaku, and that he had also brought improved White Zetsu cells containing Hashirama cells.
• Obito asked to meet Itachi’s real body and perform the surgery, while Itachi recognized the risks of trusting him.
• Itachi’s clone vanished, and a crow offered to lead Obito to Itachi’s real body; Obito agreed to follow.

Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi helped a village survive a sandstorm while serving prison labor, and Ōnoki secured their release by agreeing to assist Lin Qing’s space program. After Lin Qing explained why Kurotsuchi had been invited and showed her a photograph of the villagers she had saved, she chose to join the research work.

• Kurotsuchi worked diligently planting trees in the Land of Wind prison and gradually found comfort in the labor, while continuing to put off writing to Ōnoki.
• Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi joined guards in helping a village withstand a sandstorm, then celebrated with the villagers and took a commemorative photograph.
• Kurotsuchi wrote Ōnoki a letter, but two days later the warden returned it and told her and Akatsuchi that they had been bailed out.
• Ōnoki explained that he had made a deal with Lin Qing to assist the space program, and the three of them traveled to the Research Institute.
• Lin Qing explained that Ōnoki, Akatsuchi, and Kurotsuchi were needed to improve the space program’s flight system, and showed Kurotsuchi the photograph and evidence of her work.
• Kurotsuchi accepted Lin Qing’s offer and asked to join the research work.

Lin Qing and Samui discussed the Research Institute’s scholar recruitment, its security screening, and the long-term work ahead after the moon landing. Samui left embarrassed after mistaking Lin Qing’s advice to exercise for a comment about her weight.

• Samui praised Kurotsuchi’s work and discussed the scholar recruitment plan with Lin Qing.
• Samui showed Lin Qing applications from scientists and explained that she had also invited promising researchers.
• Lin Qing and Samui discussed the risk of spies among the incoming scientists, and Samui volunteered to screen them.
• Samui asked Lin Qing what he planned to do after the moon landing, and he described future space defense, exploration, and improvements to life in the Ninja World.
• Lin Qing advised Samui to exercise for her health, and Samui blushed after interpreting his remark as a comment on her weight.

Lin Qing oversaw the first test flight of Heaven-Opening I, which reached space before exploding at a suspiciously precise altitude. He ordered Samui to investigate the development team, while a researcher revealed that the sabotage was meant to halt the moon landing plan for Kara and peace under heaven.

• After more than two months of preparation, Lin Qing joined the launch team at the rocket center for Heaven-Opening I’s first test flight.
• Lin Qing pressed the launch button, and Heaven-Opening I successfully broke through the atmosphere before exploding in space.
• Lin Qing reassured the researchers and told Samui to investigate the core development team because the explosion’s altitude seemed deliberate.
• A researcher reported the plan’s success to a chief, who said humanity should not venture among the stars.

Lin Qing questioned Nakajima Daishi about sabotaging the Sky-Opening and learned that he acted out of fear that space exploration would draw the Otsutsuki’s attention. Lin Qing rejected Nakajima’s plea to isolate the planet and questioned whether Kara’s leader truly acted for humanity.

• Samui identified Nakajima Daishi as the scientist who planted a hazard in the Sky-Opening project, and Lin Qing went to question him.
• Nakajima Daishi told Lin Qing that he belonged to Kara, whose leader had asked him to join the space program and sabotage it.
• Nakajima Daishi explained that he feared humanity’s exploration of space would alert the Otsutsuki and endanger his family and the world.
• Nakajima Daishi begged Lin Qing to stop exploring the universe and isolate the planet, saying that doing so would secure peace for generations.
• Lin Qing said that shutting themselves away and refusing to progress led to death, then questioned whether Kara’s leader had truly acted for the world’s sake.

Rasa and Gaara left Gelin City after Gaara described his time at the Research Institute and in Kirigakure, but their reunion was interrupted when Itachi Uchiha attacked to capture Gaara and the One-Tail. Rasa fought to protect his son as Itachi began using a new Mangekyō ability.

• Rasa reprimanded Gaara for rambling, then offered him ice cream and promised they could visit the Research Institute and Kirigakure together.
• Itachi Uchiha appeared in the crowded street, caught Rasa's kunai, and attacked him with Amaterasu.
• Rasa blocked the black flames with gold dust, while on-duty rats fled to call for reinforcements.
• Itachi declared he would finish the battle within three minutes and revealed that he had made a deal with Obito to capture Gaara and the One-Tail.
• Rasa vowed to kill Itachi for threatening Gaara and launched Magnet Release: Gold Dust Boundary Method, but Itachi activated the Mangekyō ability Ame-no-Futodama-no-Mikoto.

Itachi Uchiha used Fugaku Uchiha’s Mangekyō ability to predict Rasa’s moves and drive him into a deadly trap in Gelin City. Gaara transformed into Shukaku to protect his father, while Iwao Genyako and Lord Shirakawa mobilized aid.

• The chapter explained that Fugaku Uchiha’s Mangekyō ability, Ame-no-Futodama-no-Mikoto, deduced a target’s likely future from information fragments, and that he had failed to use it on Itachi before the Uchiha clan massacre.
• Itachi used Ame-no-Futodama-no-Mikoto to anticipate Rasa’s movements, then attacked with Susanoo’s Totsuka Blade, Amaterasu, and Yata Mirror, killing civilians and cornering Rasa and Gaara.
• Rasa tried to send Gaara underground to escape and distract Itachi with a clone, but Gaara pulled his father behind him and transformed into Shukaku to block the Yata Mirror.
• Iwao Genyako ordered her followers to evacuate civilians, then inserted a disc into her chest and headed to support the battle.
• Lord Shirakawa ordered the highest-level distress call for Lin Qing and had his adjutant use his snack-buying hotline to send the alert quickly.

Rasa and Gaara fought Itachi Uchiha outside the city, where Rasa used Gold Dust to keep him at bay despite a fatal wound. Rasa saved Gaara from being sealed by sacrificing his chance to kill Itachi, then died as Lin Qing and Iwao Genyako arrived.

• Shukaku and Rasa followed Itachi Uchiha out of the city, where Itachi wounded them with the Totsuka Blade.
• Rasa buried Itachi beneath Gold Dust, but discovered he had struck a clone; Itachi then stabbed Rasa through the heart.
• Rasa kept himself alive with Gold Dust and trapped Itachi in a tornado of burning, spinning particles while Gaara attacked with a Tailed Beast Bomb.
• Itachi broke through the storm and pierced Shukaku with the Totsuka Blade, forcing Rasa to choose between killing Itachi and saving Gaara.
• Rasa severed the Totsuka Blade and freed Shukaku, then collapsed and died in Gaara's arms after apologizing to him.
• Lin Qing and Iwao Genyako arrived as Itachi escaped south with part of Shukaku sealed in his gourd.

After Rasa died protecting Gaara, Lin Qing pursued Itachi Uchiha and vowed to kill him this time. Gaara carried his father's body back toward Gelin City to help with the rescue efforts, while Itachi recalled how he had chosen to undergo extreme bodily modifications because he expected to be reborn in the past.

• Iwao Genyako tried to heal Rasa but confirmed that he had died, and Gaara mourned beside his father's body.
• Lin Qing arrived after a two-minute-and-forty-two-second emergency transfer and comforted Gaara, who did not blame him for arriving too late.
• Lin Qing promised Gaara that he would kill Itachi Uchiha this time, then flew after Itachi as he fled.
• Gaara carried Rasa's body and asked Iwao Genyako to return with him to help rescue people in Gelin City.
• Itachi recalled that he had accepted extensive White Zetsu cell modifications despite the risk of losing his human traits, because he believed he would be reborn in the past.

Itachi Uchiha used the Dragon Vein seal to travel into the past, hoping to rewrite history and undo the tragedies of his life. As the timeline began forming a Black Box, Lin Qing headed to Queen Sara’s village to learn what was happening.

• Itachi Uchiha escaped Lin Qing’s pursuit and reached the Rōran Ruins, where he removed the Dragon Vein’s seal and vanished.
• The White Snake Sage explained that Itachi’s time travel was creating a Black Box in the timeline, with Lin Qing and Queen Sara acting as anchors that delayed its closure.
• Obito left the Kamui Dimension after obtaining Shukaku’s chakra, while Kabuto Yakushi and the others relaxed, expecting Itachi’s success to overwrite their history.
• Lin Qing sensed that something was wrong, and C-Moon detected a trace of temporal chaos around a fragment of the Dragon Vein seal.
• Lin Qing flew to the Rōran survivors’ village and saw the villagers gathered outside Queen Sara’s house.

Lin Qing revived Queen Sara with a potion after the Dragon Vein seal’s loosening left her unconscious and her memories in chaos. Learning that history was overlapping and might soon solidify into a single timeline, he realized Itachi Uchiha had traveled into the past and prepared to pursue him.

• Lin Qing learned Queen Sara had collapsed about ten minutes earlier, when Itachi Uchiha activated the Dragon Vein seal.
• Lin Qing brewed a potion with vitality-restoring ingredients and ghostly divine power, then fed it to Queen Sara.
• Queen Sara awoke and said her memories were revealing overlapping timelines as history fell into chaos.
• Lin Qing concluded Itachi Uchiha had gone back to rewrite history and decided to stop him.
• Queen Sara offered to take Lin Qing to the Dragon Vein Ruins and send him back.

Lin Qing traveled through the Dragon Vein to the past and confronted a young Sara, discovering that White Zetsu cells had given her and the people of the Country of Roran their chakra. As Minato Namikaze tried to take Sara away, Lin Qing stopped him and objected to the interruption.

• Queen Sara used the Dragon Vein's remaining power to send Lin Qing into the past, leaving him to face history alone.
• Young Sara attacked Lin Qing with Fire Release, a wired kunai, shuriken, and a crow, but he deflected her attacks and caught the bird.
• Lin Qing removed White Zetsu cells from Sara and burned them, causing her to lose her chakra and physical enhancements.
• Sara realized the supposed power of the moon given to the Country of Roran came from White Zetsu cells.
• Minato Namikaze appeared and tried to take Sara away, but Star Platinum seized his wrist as Lin Qing stopped him.

Lin Qing defeated Minato Namikaze’s ambush and convinced him and his teammates that they were allies, then explained that he had traveled from the future. The chapter ended with Minato and the others stunned by Lin Qing’s claim that Minato had not yet become the Fourth Hokage.

• Minato Namikaze escaped Lin Qing’s restraint and attacked with Flying Thunder God, but his marked target shifted to an exploding butterfly, stopping his strike.
• Lin Qing showed Minato a Konoha forehead protector belonging to Naruto Uzumaki and explained that Naruto was his friend, not his name.
• Minato and his teammates accepted that Lin Qing was not their enemy, while Sara worried that they had joined forces.
• Minato explained that the Third Hokage had sent his team to investigate the Power of the Moon in the Country of Roran.
• Lin Qing said he was a Terminator who had traveled from the future and asked whether Minato had not yet become the Fourth Hokage, leaving Minato, Choza Akimichi, Shibi Aburame, and Sara bewildered.

Lin Qing and Minato Namikaze learned that Itachi Uchiha had arrived in the Country of Roran as Mr. Crow and planned to investigate his use of the Dragon Vein before acting. Sara refused to help the outsiders and tried to escape, but Lin Qing stopped her in the corridor.

• Lin Qing explained the time-travel crisis to Minato Namikaze and Sara, and Minato accepted his account while Sara struggled to believe it.
• Sara revealed that Mr. Crow had married her mother and taken charge of the Country of Roran, while Lin Qing concluded he was Itachi Uchiha.
• Lin Qing and Minato decided to investigate Mr. Crow’s plans before making a move, then led their group through an underground passage into Roran.
• Choza Akimichi asked Lin Qing about the Akimichi clan’s future, and Minato chose not to learn more about his own future after hearing it would improve.
• Sara decided to protect her family and the Country of Roran, then tried to flee through a manhole, but Lin Qing returned her to the corridor.