Chapter Summaries

Yang Hao defeated Garaga with his Eight-Tails true form and sought to make the great snake his summon. After Garaga reluctantly submitted, Yang Hao began transforming him toward a dragon by stimulating his vestigial claws.

• Orochimaru watched as Yang Hao combined his Eight-Tails Martial Soul, natural energy, and Expansion Jutsu to create a hundred-meter form and knock Garaga unconscious.
• Yang Hao explained that the technique consumed considerable power and remained unstable because natural energy and tailed beast chakra opposed each other.
• Yang Hao healed Garaga's blinded eye and offered to make him a summon, but Garaga refused until Yang Hao threatened him with the Eight-Tails true form.
• Yang Hao persuaded Garaga to accept dragon transformation, then spent several days stimulating the snake's vestigial claws into growth.
• Garaga questioned why Yang Hao needed a summon, and Yang Hao explained that his powerful technique was far weaker outside Ryuchi Cave.

Yang Hao prepared to leave for the Chunin Exams in Sunagakure while Sarutobi Hiruzen and his advisers discussed how to contain his influence and prepare for a coming war. Before departing, Yang Hao bid farewell to his classmates and gave Might Guy and Uchiha Obito several techniques.

• Yang Hao and Orochimaru left Garaga after helping him gain four limbs, and Garaga reflected that the humans had treated him sincerely.
• Yang Hao told Sarutobi Hiruzen he would win first place at the Chunin Exams, while Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura warned that he could become more troublesome than Danzo.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen decided to arrange support for Namikaze Minato through the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, monitor those clans discreetly, and send Minato to Sunagakure ahead of a possible war.
• Yang Hao held a farewell meal with his classmates, where Sarutobi Asuma hoped to get closer to Yuhi Kurenai, but she disliked his smoking.
• Yang Hao gave Might Guy the Vitalizing Breathing Method and gave Guy and Uchiha Obito the Lightning Flash Movement Technique and Chidori Current.

Yang Hao learned that Danzo had attacked Mikoto Uchiha to undermine ties between the Uchiha and Minato, then obtained the incomplete Reanimation Jutsu from Orochimaru. He used it to summon and harvest the ocular power and death energy of dead Uchiha and Hyuga, including the Mangekyo power of Uchiha Kagami and Izuna Uchiha.

• Yang Hao told Kakashi that an external force was needed to wash away the mud, then left to meet Orochimaru.
• Orochimaru revealed that Danzo had targeted Mikoto Uchiha as part of a plan against Minato and the Uchiha, and Yang Hao arranged for her to be taken to Ryuchi Cave.
• Orochimaru gave Yang Hao Danzo's incomplete Reanimation Jutsu scroll, which Yang Hao had long sought.
• Yang Hao used White Zetsu spores and preserved remains to reanimate a Hyuga branch-family ninja and confirm that the technique carried the power of death.
• Yang Hao mass-reanimated dead Hyuga and Uchiha using collected remains, then used his Divine Tree Martial Soul to extract ocular power, souls, and death energy.
• Yang Hao identified the Mangekyo ocular power of Uchiha Kagami and Izuna Uchiha among the harvested power.

Yang Hao created the Demon Blade and Holy Sword Martial Souls from Mangekyo ocular power, then set off for Sunagakure to take part in its Chunin Exams. Fugaku Uchiha awakened his Mangekyo and agreed to kill Yang Hao to inflame tensions between Konoha and Sunagakure, while Yang Hao discovered that his escort, Mitarashi Shisui, was upset about his daughter’s red bean soup.

• Yang Hao used the Douluo Plane’s origin essence to evolve two portions of ocular power into the Demon Blade and Holy Sword Martial Souls, but concluded that he needed another portion to create the God-Slaying Spear Martial Soul.
• After Mikoto disappeared, Fugaku Uchiha awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan and revealed that his techniques were Futodama and Amaterasu.
• The Uchiha clan head told Fugaku to kill Ito Makoto during the Sunagakure Chunin Exams to provoke war, and Fugaku agreed.
• Yang Hao received gifts and food from Shizune, Yuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, and Nohara Rin before leaving the village with Mitarashi Shisui.
• Yang Hao and Mitarashi Shisui traveled through the forest and stopped for the night; Yang Hao ate his prepared meal while Shisui watched with growing irritation.
• Yang Hao learned his escort’s name and realized that Mitarashi Shisui was angry because Mitarashi Anko had given her red bean soup to him.

Yang Hao learned that Mitarashi Shisui would not openly support his future ambitions, then infiltrated the estate of the Daimyo’s brother to carry out a politically dangerous assassination mission. After quietly killing and replacing several guards, Yang Hao confronted a monk from the Fire Temple who had sensed something amiss.

• Yang Hao persuaded Mitarashi Shisui of his value by describing Anko’s training and his own strength, and Shisui agreed to take him on a mission to kill someone.
• Mitarashi Shisui revealed that their target was the Daimyo’s younger brother, and Yang Hao recognized the mission as a warning from Sarutobi Hiruzen meant to obstruct his future claim to the Hokage position.
• Yang Hao accepted Shisui’s refusal to support him openly, transformed into a Rain ninja, and infiltrated the estate underground without giving off detectable chakra.
• Yang Hao used White Zetsu spores to kill and replace a three-man patrol, then continued assassinating people and hiding their bodies for his Divine Tree Martial Soul.
• A monk from the Fire Temple sensed something wrong through natural energy, and Yang Hao emerged to ask whether he had mastered the complete Thousand-Armed Murder secret technique.

Yang Hao and Mitarashi Shisui raided a Fire Temple estate, escaped a suspected trap by Sarutobi Hiruzen's faction, and reached Sunagakure for the Chunin Exams. The chapter ended as Karura sensed a powerful presence among the Konoha visitors and Rasa realized their guest was no ordinary ninja.

• Yang Hao killed the Fire Temple monk and samurai, had the Spore White Zetsu slaughter and loot the estate, and found two girls hidden in a wall before killing them and burning the grounds.
• Mitarashi Shisui told Yang Hao that the Third Hokage had sent Namikaze Minato to the border, and Yang Hao inferred that preparations for the Third Great Ninja War were underway.
• A masked ANBU team arrived too late to gather evidence, then retreated; a Spore White Zetsu followed them and reported their actions to Yang Hao.
• Yang Hao and Mitarashi Shisui arrived in Sunagakure the day before the Chunin Exams, and Rasa learned that Yang Hao was Konoha's only examinee.
• Karura sensed an unfamiliar, powerful chakra near Rasa and came to investigate, prompting Rasa to suspect that the Konoha ninja was formidable.

Yang Hao and Mitarashi Shisui arrived in Sunagakure for the Chunin Exam, where Shisui warned him about the village’s powerful ninja and poisons. Hyuga Xia then reported that she had mapped the village and planted Flying Thunder God talismans, though barriers blocked her from reaching some areas.

• Yang Hao assessed Rasa and Karura, then discussed their abilities and Sunagakure’s other high-level ninja with Mitarashi Shisui.
• Mitarashi Shisui gave Yang Hao intelligence on Sunagakure’s experts and warned him to beware of powerful poisons before the Chunin Exam began.
• Yang Hao examined his Three Tomoe Sharingan and considered obtaining a Mangekyo or creating stronger eye techniques by combining cloned eyes.
• Hyuga Xia returned and showed Yang Hao drawings of Sunagakure, reporting that she had explored the village undetected with her disguise and Spore techniques.
• Yang Hao asked whether Hyuga Xia had placed the Flying Thunder God talismans, and she confirmed they were set but some barrier-protected areas remained inaccessible.

Yang Hao and Orochimaru planned to steal Sunagakure’s hidden reserves and provoke a conflict that would boost Yang Hao’s standing, while Orochimaru prepared to protect him from Konoha’s leaders. At the Chunin Exams, Yang Hao spotted a powerful red-haired puppeteer he suspected was Sasori.

• Yang Hao showed Hyuga Xia’s detailed maps of Sunagakure’s secret rooms to Orochimaru and explained his plan to steal the stored treasures.
• Yang Hao told Orochimaru that Sunagakure would be driven to war after losing its reserves, and that he intended to use the Chunin Exams to provoke its attack without targeting Namikaze Minato personally.
• Orochimaru warned Yang Hao to hold onto his principles, approved the plan, and returned to Konoha to prepare safeguards against the Third Hokage’s interference.
• Yang Hao attended Sunagakure’s Chunin Exam, quickly completed the written test, and noticed a red-haired puppeteer whose strength led him to suspect he was Sasori.

Yang Hao decided to prevent Sasori from killing the Third Kazekage and assessed the Hidden Mist Village’s elite examinees at the Chunin Exam. After the second round began, he ambushed Mei Terumi’s team in the desert and swiftly attacked Kisame Hoshigaki and Zabuza Momochi.

• Yang Hao realized Sasori had poisoned the Third Kazekage and decided to consult Hyuga Xia about warning him or Chiyo.
• Yang Hao noticed the Hidden Mist Village had sent thirty strong examinees, including a shark-faced youth, and met Mei Terumi, who teased him about being eight.
• Rasa explained that teams needed to collect Yin and Yang scrolls and reach the Demon Desert observation post within five days.
• Yang Hao sensed Mei Terumi’s chakra and raced ahead to ambush her team for their scroll.
• Kisame Hoshigaki began forming hand seals, but Yang Hao interrupted him with a strike to the throat, then disarmed Zabuza Momochi and kicked him away.

Yang Hao defeated Mei Terumi’s team, then met with Yakushi Nono and explained his ambitions and plans for the Chunin Exams. He learned about the One-Tail’s jinchuriki and received Hyuga Xia’s warning that Sunagakure’s leaders and elite young ninjas were targeting him.

• Yang Hao defeated Mei Terumi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Zabuza Momochi, took their supplies, and left them incapacitated.
• Mei Terumi recovered and followed Kisame Hoshigaki and Zabuza Momochi to seek water and supplies from other teams.
• Yang Hao set up camp near the Demon Desert monitoring station, where Yakushi Nono joined him for a meal.
• Yang Hao told Yakushi Nono that the Third had sent him to the exams to separate him from his classmates, described his plans to become Hokage and end war, and asked for information about the One-Tail’s jinchuriki.
• Yakushi Nono shared what she knew about the jinchuriki before leaving, and Hyuga Xia reported that Rasa, Karura, Pakura, Feiyu, and other Sunagakure ninja were moving toward Yang Hao.

Yang Hao prepared to undermine Sunagakure’s defenses while Rasa’s group searched for him, then confronted the gathered Chunin Exam candidates and overwhelmed them. The chapter left him facing two candidates he had paralyzed, as Pakura questioned whether he was truly eight years old.

• Yang Hao told Hyuga Xia that Sasori planned to kill the Third Kazekage, and she recommended discreetly informing Ebizo, who could investigate the threat.
• Yang Hao returned to Sunagakure to inspect its barriers and investigate the One-Tail’s jinchuriki while Rasa, Karura, Pakura, and Feiyu searched the desert for him.
• After five days, Mei Terumi and the other examinees reached the monitoring station and found Yang Hao waiting outside the detention center.
• Yang Hao declared that he alone would pass the exam, then swiftly knocked out the candidate teams and took their scrolls, leaving Mei Terumi furious.
• Two candidates attacked Yang Hao from beneath the sand, but he paralyzed them with lightning-charged punches and recognized one as a member of the Hozuki Clan.
• Pakura watched Yang Hao overpower the attackers and wondered whether he was really an eight-year-old child.

Yang Hao defeated every Chunin Exam contestant and alarmed Rasa and Feiyu, who considered killing him. On the way back to Sunagakure, he provoked the Hidden Mist examinees by exposing Mei Terumi’s two bloodline limits and discussing the village’s factional conflict, while Ringo Ameyuri asked about his unusual lightning chakra.

• Rasa ordered the examinees taken back to Sunagakure and stopped Feiyu from attacking Yang Hao during the exam.
• Sasori confronted Yang Hao with a Human Puppet, but Yang Hao severed its chakra threads, examined its core, and knocked Sasori unconscious.
• Yang Hao searched Sasori, then learned that Rasa would defer announcing the rankings until they returned to the village; the examinees protested after being eliminated.
• Yang Hao told Mitarashi Shisui that Orochimaru had arrived and was preparing for possible trouble, then traveled back with the Sunagakure group.
• Yang Hao warned Zabuza Momochi that the Third Mizukage would use civilian shinobi against the ninja clans, and revealed that Mei Terumi possessed Boil Release and Lava Release.
• Ringo Ameyuri asked Yang Hao about his lightning-attribute chakra, and he asked whether she had noticed it.

Yang Hao discovered that Ringo Ameyuri had a congenital heart defect and offered to cure her if she came to Konoha, then used his interactions with the Hidden Mist examinees to gather information about the village's political tensions. The group reached Sunagakure, where Mei Terumi and Ringo Ameyuri continued wondering whether his diagnosis was true.

• Yang Hao examined Ringo Ameyuri and diagnosed her with a congenital heart defect that could shorten her life if she continued refining chakra.
• Yang Hao explained that his Golden Lightning was a transformation beyond ordinary nature transformation, while warning that Ringo Ameyuri's heart could not withstand it.
• Yang Hao drew Kisame Hoshigaki close and later told Mitarashi Shisui that the Third Mizukage was old and the Hidden Mist's civilian and clan factions were in conflict.
• Yang Hao proposed using the information to make plans for the next war, and Mitarashi Shisui agreed to offer help from the shadows.
• The group reached Sunagakure and rested at their hotels before meeting the Third Kazekage.
• Mei Terumi listened to Ringo Ameyuri's heartbeat while they washed up, and Ringo Ameyuri admitted she had sometimes felt discomfort in her chest.

Yang Hao prepared to pursue Swift Release while Sunagakure leaders planned to kill him after he left the village. At the Kazekage Building, Yang Hao collected the exam results, exposed his explosive tags, and confronted the Third Kazekage, who escaped his grasp by turning his arm to sand.

• Mei Terumi and Ringo Ameyuri discussed Mei's health and anticipated Sunagakure's anger toward Yang Hao.
• Yang Hao examined Mei Terumi's chakra, chose a four-stage bloodline fusion route, and planned to obtain Swift Release from Feiyu.
• Rasa, the Third Kazekage, Chiyo, and Ebizo agreed to ambush Yang Hao after he left the village and prepared for Orochimaru's possible arrival.
• Yang Hao met the Third Kazekage on the Kazekage Building rooftop, mocked Sunagakure, and demanded the reply scroll confirming his Chunin Exam results.
• Yang Hao grabbed the Third Kazekage's wrist and revealed explosive tags under his clothes, accusing Sunagakure of planning to kill him.
• The Third Kazekage turned his arm to sand and slipped free of Yang Hao's grasp.

Yang Hao and Mitarashi Shisui escaped Sunagakure’s attempt to kill them by using weighted Shadow Clone disguises, then triggered chaos by freeing the One-Tail. Orochimaru rallied Manda and Garaga to help keep Sunagakure from resealing the beast as their assault began.

• Yang Hao left Sunagakure under escort after marking the Third Kazekage, while Chiyo and Feiyu waited outside to kill him.
• Feiyu and Rasa attacked Yang Hao and Mitarashi Shisui, but discovered they had struck weighted Shadow Clones.
• Chiyo realized the pair were still inside Sunagakure when the freed One-Tail roared, and the village’s defenders rushed to contain it.
• Orochimaru proposed an alliance with the One-Tail and summoned Manda and Garaga to prevent Sunagakure from sealing it.
• Mitarashi Shisui questioned Orochimaru’s attack on Sunagakure, and Orochimaru insisted he was acting as a teacher rescuing his disciple, not on Konoha’s behalf.

Yang Hao helped Orochimaru and Mitarashi Shisui fight Sunagakure while looting supplies and collecting corpses, then helped steal a piece of the One-Tail for research. The chapter ended with Orochimaru’s python carrying Yang Hao away after he struck Karura and escaped her sand.

• Yang Hao used the Flying Thunder God Technique to loot Sunagakure’s marked locations, taking supplies and unconscious personnel while the battle continued.
• Yang Hao killed Feiyu with a Flying Thunder God ambush, then returned to the battlefield and helped force Pakura and the ANBU ninja to retreat.
• Orochimaru, Yang Hao, and Mitarashi Shisui decided to take a small part of the One-Tail after Sunagakure’s sealing squad bound Shukaku and stripped away its Sand Armor.
• Orochimaru extended the Kusanagi Sword to carry Yang Hao to Shukaku’s head, where Yang Hao cut off one of its ears and Orochimaru sealed it away.
• Karura caught Yang Hao with sand, but he cut free, struck and shocked her, then escaped as Orochimaru’s python carried him away.

Yang Hao left Sunagakure with Karura and his companions, while Orochimaru explained their research into bloodline limits and offered Mitarashi Shisui a chance to gain Storm Release. The group headed toward the Land of Rivers, where Shisui agreed to the procedure but grew uneasy when Orochimaru required daily examinations.

• Yang Hao abducted Karura and taunted Rasa while the Third Kazekage ordered the sealing ninjas to subdue the rampaging One-Tail.
• Mei Terumi, Ringo Ameyuri, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Zabuza Momochi reacted to the battle and Yang Hao's strength from inside Sunagakure.
• Yang Hao, Mitarashi Shisui, Orochimaru, and Karura flew toward the Land of Rivers on a ninja hawk, which Yang Hao strengthened with his Wind Wing Technique.
• Yang Hao explained his interest in Karura's knowledge of Rasa's Gold Dust Magnet Release, and Orochimaru described how Sunagakure's Magnet Release differed from Hidden Cloud Village's.
• Yang Hao outlined his plans to fuse several bloodline limits, and Orochimaru explained the requirements and risks of his curse mark method.
• Mitarashi Shisui chose to receive Storm Release through Orochimaru's curse mark, then became apprehensive when Orochimaru asked him to record daily changes for examination.

Orochimaru and Yang Hao discussed combining Sasori’s human-puppet technique with the curse mark system while Sunagakure prepared for war after its supplies were looted. The Sand army invaded the Land of Fire, and Konoha’s leaders suspected their own political rivals had intercepted warnings as the crisis deepened.

• Yang Hao told Orochimaru about Sasori’s human puppets, and the two began discussing how to incorporate the technique into the curse mark system.
• The Third Kazekage learned that Sunagakure’s secret sites and granaries had been looted, then ordered Pakura to procure food and chose to launch an immediate war against Konoha.
• The Third Kazekage mobilized Sunagakure’s forces, broke through Konoha’s Land of Rivers defense, and sent disguised Sand ninja to raid supplies in the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers.
• Namikaze Minato brought news of the destroyed frontline force to Konoha, where Sarutobi Hiruzen and his advisers considered how to stop Sunagakure’s advance.
• Danzo Shimura claimed that someone had intercepted Root’s warning, while secretly admitting to himself that he had withheld Yakushi Nono’s intelligence to undermine Minato and Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other elders scrambled to prepare Konoha for war as the Uchiha plotted to assassinate Ito Makoto. Back in the Senju compound, Yang Hao discussed the coming battles with Tsunade, Mitarashi Shisui, and the younger ninja, leaving Kakashi warned to expect a battlefield assignment under Namikaze Minato.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen and the elders left to persuade the clans to send troops, while Danzo Shimura resolved to claim the Hokage seat someday.
• The Uchiha clan head ordered Fugaku Uchiha to kill Ito Makoto and promised him clan leadership if he succeeded.
• Yang Hao returned to Konoha with Mitarashi Shisui, declined to explain his actions in Sunagakure, and assured him that his Teacher had made arrangements.
• Tsunade agreed to remain in the village and treat severely wounded ninja if Shizune and the other girls could stay to assist her.
• Yang Hao told Shizune, Kakashi, and the others that war was approaching, warned Kakashi to look after Obito and Might Guy, and predicted that Namikaze Minato would lead Kakashi and Obito.

Yang Hao trained with Kakashi Hatake, returned the White Fang Ninja Blade to him, and warned Might Guy that war could force their class to graduate early. At Orochimaru’s laboratory, Yang Hao helped implant an experimental chakra core into Mitarashi Shisui, leaving Shisui with a second chakra pathway system suited to Storm Release.

• Yang Hao and Kakashi Hatake exchanged sword strikes infused with Chidori Current until Kakashi Hatake’s blade was cut in half, and Yang Hao returned the White Fang Ninja Blade to him.
• Might Guy delivered his father’s forbidden technique scroll to Yang Hao, who reassured him about Might Duy and warned that the war could bring early graduation.
• Orochimaru told Yang Hao to accompany him to the Land of Grass, explaining that Konoha planned to support the front and might draw Sunagakure and Iwagakure toward the Land of Rain.
• Yang Hao assisted Orochimaru in preparing an improved chakra core that used the navel as its center and would create a second set of chakra pathways through a Cursed Seal.
• Orochimaru sealed the chakra core into Mitarashi Shisui, who endured intense pain as the seal spread throughout his body and established pathways capable of performing Storm Release.
• Yang Hao treated Mitarashi Shisui after the procedure, and Orochimaru assured him that activating the Cursed Seal later would not hurt as much as the initial transformation.