Chapter Summaries

Yagami spread rumors about Jiraiya, then focused on his plans to infiltrate the Hokage Building and learned that Rin Yamanaka was pregnant. He postponed his intended break-in until the next full moon and went to check on Little Six.

• Yagami used genjutsu to spread rumors about Jiraiya, whose reputation was later overshadowed by a scandal involving Sarutobi Hiyu.
• Jiraiya told Sage Fukasaku he planned to leave Konoha and put off assessing the village's young geniuses.
• Yagami visited the pregnant Kyouko, brought her dango, and gave her one million ryo.
• Yagami studied the Hokage Building's defenses and learned that a detection barrier had once been installed there.
• Rin Yamanaka revealed to Yagami that she was pregnant, and he promised to reduce his long missions and spend more time with her.
• After reading that Fox Squad had not guarded the Hokage Building, Yagami planned to infiltrate it before the next full moon, then went to the orphanage to check on Little Six.

Yagami tried to steal the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Building but was caught by its defenses and killed by Sarutobi Hiruzen. Hiruzen discovered that the masked intruder was Fox as the Arc of the Crescent Moon System activated.

• Yagami visited Yakushi Nonō, who told him she would not have children and gave him a Contraception Ninjutsu Scroll.
• Yagami spent the New Year planning to infiltrate the Hokage Building and steal the Scroll of Seals.
• Yagami entered the Hokage Building using the Mayfly Technique, triggering the Second Hokage's barrier and alerting the ANBU.
• Yagami reached the Scroll of Seals but could not break through its powerful barrier before Kuroari trapped him with Shadow Binding and Kongō Nyoi struck him.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived and killed Yagami, then shattered his mask and recognized Fox as the Arc of the Crescent Moon System activated.

Yagami learned the Five Elemental Great Explosion Technique and joined an ANBU effort to assassinate targets from Root’s new manual. After finding a Cloud Ninja whose Lightning Style could help him master the technique, he visited the orphanage and discovered Yakushi Nonō had left him a letter.

• Yagami chose the Five Elemental Great Explosion Technique as his lottery reward and mastered it, then assessed which elemental ninjutsu he still needed to use it effectively.
• Yagami selected Lightning Style: Roaring Thunder from the ANBU scrolls to help complete his set of suitable ninjutsu.
• Danzo introduced Root’s Assassination Manual to the ANBU squad leaders and ordered them to assassinate its listed targets.
• Yagami found Takami, a Cloud Ninja Jonin skilled in Roaring Thunder, listed as an assassination target.
• Yagami went to the orphanage to ask Yakushi Nonō about Root’s Spy System, found her office empty, and discovered her letter in the Right Scroll.

Yagami learned that Danzo’s secret spy network remained a powerful legacy of Root, then led Flower Deer Squad out of Konoha to target Cloud Ninja jonin Takami. Near a coal mine in the Land of Moon, Yagami watched Takami’s men brutalize conscripted miners as the squad approached.

• Yagami questioned Yellow Dog about Root’s intelligence, and Yellow Dog explained that Danzo controlled a long-established spy network whose agents were difficult to replace.
• Yagami watched Rin Yamanaka from afar, reflected on the bonds he had formed, and left using the Mayfly Technique.
• Yagami led Flower Deer Squad out of Konoha after Root reported that Takami had traveled to the Land of Moon.
• Takami’s mission for noble Kinyama Shin involved escorting conscripted miners back to a coal mine after he had stopped their escape toward the Land of Iron.
• Takami ordered his men to kill injured miners who were slowing the group, and Yagami observed the frightened civilians being driven onward.

Yagami used the Arc of the Crescent Moon System to revive after Takami killed him, then returned to defeat the Cloud Ninja Jonin and help a talented young miner fight the samurai. The surviving samurai fled, and the young miner rushed to free his bound companions.

• Flower Deer told Yagami that rioting miners, Cloud Ninja, and Land of Moon samurai and Missing-nin were gathered below, and Yagami led his squad into battle.
• Takami killed Yagami, triggering the Arc of the Crescent Moon System to revive him on the previous night of the full moon and award him a lottery draw.
• Yagami chose mastery-level Lightning Style: Roaring Thunder, revived, and killed Takami with a Kunai and Water Release: Water Severing Wave.
• Flower Deer Squad used Combined Ninjutsu to suppress the Cloud Ninja while Yagami watched a young miner fight the samurai.
• Yagami threw a Kunai that wounded a samurai attacking the young miner, who seized the samurai’s sword and killed him.
• The remaining samurai fled after seeing Takami’s defeat, and the young miner rushed to free his bound companions.

Yagami returned to Konoha, checked Orochimaru’s failing Wood Release experiments, and gained mastery of Water Dragon Bullet from a Mist Ninja. When two children vanished from the village, he traced one case to Senju descendant Kazematsuri Yuzu and secretly watched her seek help from Tsunade, suspecting the abduction was connected to Orochimaru’s research.

• Daiku thanked Yagami for freeing the miners, and Yagami gave him a Chakra manual before leaving with his squad.
• Yagami reported killing Cloud Ninja Jonin Takami, then learned Orochimaru’s experiments had killed fifty subjects and that Orochimaru wanted more compatible candidates for Wood Release modification.
• Yagami ambushed a Mist Ninja Jonin in the Land of Whirlpools and used the system to master Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet.
• After two children disappeared in Konoha, Yagami investigated and discovered that Kazematsuri Yuzu was formerly Senju Yuzu and that her one-year-old son was missing.
• Yagami watched Kazematsuri Yuzu enter the Senju compound with Tsunade and wondered whether Orochimaru was beginning to seek a child who would become Yamato.

Yagami traveled to the Land of Rain to assassinate Yamamoto, an Iwagakure jonin assigned to destroy the water diversion canal at Teikoku Town. After finding the town rebuilt on higher ground, he encountered Xiao Lan, then learned a conflict had broken out at the embankment.

• Yagami visited Orochimaru's laboratory, where he saw Tenzo among the infant test subjects intended for Wood Release experiments.
• Yagami led the Yak Squad toward the Land of Rain and explained their mission to kill Yamamoto at Teikoku Town.
• While traveling through the Land of Rivers, Yagami stopped to inspect a hydroelectric power station before continuing into the Land of Rain.
• After ten days of travel, Yagami arrived at Teikoku Town and saw that flooding had forced its residents to relocate to a newly built town.
• Yagami found Xiao Lan working at a bakery, and a member of the Yak Squad reported that a conflict had broken out at the embankment.

Yagami discovered that the Land of Wind was secretly diverting water through hidden pipes and warned Koizumi Chisa, then reunited with her aboard her ship. Chisa revealed that they had a one-year-old child, leaving Yagami stunned.

• Yagami learned that negotiations between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind had broken down over water diversion at Tigyu Dam, and he went to investigate.
• Yagami saw Koizumi Chisa among the Land of Rain nobles and later found five hidden pipes diverting water from the Yoshimizu River.
• Yagami sent Chisa a map marking the secret water inlets, and she recognized him when he emerged from the ship's wall wearing a fox mask.
• Yagami and Chisa reunited aboard the ship, and Chisa told him their child was already one year old.

Yagami visited his newborn son with Chisa, named him Koizumi Yaku, and promised to teach him when he was older. Chisa exposed the Land of Wind’s hidden river outlets during peace talks, but Stone Ninja attacked the nobles’ ship as negotiations showed promise.

• Chisa signed the White Panda Clan's contract scroll, and Bai Ci arrived to meet her.
• Yagami infiltrated the Land of Rivers Daimyo's Tenshu Castle and confirmed that Chisa's son had inherited the Uzumaki Bloodline.
• Yagami named the child Koizumi Yaku and told Chisa to contact him through Bai Ci if she needed help.
• Chisa warned Yagami that the Crown Prince might oppose her son inheriting the Koizumi surname, and Yagami promised to deal with any trouble.
• Chisa used Fox's marked locations to reveal five hidden Land of Wind pipe outlets, and the Land of Wind noble agreed to seal them.
• Stone Ninja charged from the riverside forest toward the nobles' ship during the peace talks.

Yagami faced Stone Ninja Jonin Yamamoto, who was trying to destroy the water diversion canal, and used a death-triggered revival to master Earth Release: Flying Gravel. After escaping Yamamoto’s final trap with the Mayfly Technique, Yagami caught White Crane trying to report his supposed death to Root and ordered her to send a revised account.

• Yamamoto led Stone Ninja against the Land of Rain nobles’ ship while Yagami and the Yak Squad prepared to intercept him.
• Yagami tested Yamamoto’s Earth Release: Flying Gravel, but Yamamoto killed him with a concealed blade and triggered his revival system.
• Yagami revived on the previous full-moon night, chose mastery of Flying Gravel, and returned to confront Yamamoto again.
• Yagami broke Yamamoto’s hidden blade and stabbed him, but Yamamoto dragged him into the Ant Lion Technique’s quicksand vortex.
• Yak Bull raised the ground twice to search for Yagami while White Crane prepared to report his presumed death to Root.
• Yagami emerged unharmed behind White Crane and ordered her to report that he had safely evaded Yamamoto’s final attack.

Yagami returned from the Land of Rain, met Yuka at the Uzumaki Hideout, and learned she had broken Danzo’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal. After Yagami planted false intelligence about Uchiha Madara’s base near the Valley of the End, White Crane stole Yak Bull’s report and alerted Root, prompting Danzo to race ANBU to the site.

• Yagami spared White Crane and ordered Yak Bull’s squad to support him at the Land of Rain border and gather intelligence from Yamamoto’s corpse.
• Yagami left the squad to meet Yuka, who told him she had broken Shimura Danzō’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
• Yagami told Yak Bull to report that Uchiha Madara had a secret base near the Valley of the End, west of Konoha.
• White Crane took Yak Bull’s report from Purple Cat and hurried to deliver its intelligence to Root.
• Bing told Danzo that ANBU were preparing to investigate the Valley of the End, and Danzo ordered Root to find Madara’s base first.

Yagami created the Spiral White Zetsu identity and used it to ambush Danzo and Root at the Valley of the End with the Great Five Element Combo. The blast engulfed the valley, leaving Danzo and his forces’ fate uncertain.

• Yagami asked Yellow Dog for two squads to investigate the Valley of the End, but Yellow Dog postponed the mission until another squad returned.
• Yagami made a double-eyed spiral mask and adopted the identity Spiral White Zetsu, a supposed Sarutobi Clan rogue ninja serving Uchiha Madara.
• Danzo led Root members and trainees to the Valley of the End after receiving false intelligence from Yagami.
• Bing reported finding a cave behind the waterfall, and Danzo approached it with the remaining Root members.
• Spiral White Zetsu emerged above the waterfall and accused Danzo of coming to destroy Uchiha Madara’s statue.
• Yagami and four Shadow Clones unleashed the Great Five Element Combo, and its explosion swallowed Danzo and Root in the valley.

Yagami, disguised as Sarutobi Kinosuke, used the Great Five Element Combo to destroy Danzo’s Root force at the Valley of the End, then returned to Konoha and joined the ANBU response. The chapter ends with Orochimaru questioning Hiruzen about the technique, which Hiruzen denied teaching to anyone.

• Yagami’s Great Five Element Combo caused a massive explosion that killed five Root members and more than a dozen rookies, while Danzo survived using Izanam.
• Yagami threatened Danzo as Sarutobi Kinosuke, escaped before Danzo could strike, and returned to an Izakaya in Konoha to establish an alibi.
• An ANBU emergency order summoned the village’s agents, and Yellow Dog told Yagami that Danzo had gone to the Valley of the End and nearly all of Root had been wiped out.
• Yagami joined Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, Orochimaru, and the ANBU as they hurried to the Valley of the End.
• Orochimaru identified the Great Five Element Combo at the scene and questioned Hiruzen, who insisted he had never taught the technique to anyone.

Danzo pushed Konoha to treat Uchiha Madara as a threat requiring war after accusing the Sarutobi Clan of hiding the rogue ninja Sarutobi Kinosuke. Sarutobi Hiruzen accepted the proposal, but the village leaders had yet to choose a commander.

• Mitokado Homura suggested Uchiha Madara might have learned the Great Five Element Combo from Konoha’s Scroll of Seals.
• Danzo accused the Sarutobi Clan of concealing Sarutobi Kinosuke, and Yellow Dog wondered whether the rogue ninja was Sarutobi Hiruzen’s illegitimate son.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen denied that a Sarutobi clan member would join Uchiha Madara and suggested Madara had copied the technique with his Sharingan.
• Danzo demanded an investigation into Sarutobi Kinosuke and called for a war against Uchiha Madara with at least five hundred elite ninja.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen accepted the war proposal, but Orochimaru refused command and Mitokado Homura suggested Hatake Sakumo instead.

Yagami rescued White Crane from Lynx and used Danzo’s spy network inside ANBU to push Yellow Dog toward confronting Danzo. After Yagami removed White Crane’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, she agreed to rely on him for protection and help expose the other informants.

• Yagami persuaded Yellow Dog to seek control of Root’s Spy System, then watched the ANBU leadership begin an internal investigation of the Sarutobi Clan.
• Lynx attacked White Crane and demanded details about the Valley of the End intelligence, but Yagami intervened and brought her back to ANBU.
• Yagami told Yellow Dog that Danzo had planted spies in ANBU and suggested that White Crane’s seal could help expose them; Yellow Dog obtained the sealing technique from the Scroll of Seals.
• Yagami studied the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal overnight and removed it from White Crane, who was revealed to be Rin Yamanaka.
• Rin asked Yagami to protect her and said she would tell him about the other informants.

Yellow Dog asked Sarutobi Hiruzen to let ANBU take over Root’s failing Spy System, while several clan heads protested Danzo’s demands for more members. Hiruzen promised to limit Root’s recruitment from the clans, but Danzo arrived as the meeting ended.

• Yellow Dog presented evidence that Root’s collapse had crippled the Spy System and asked Hiruzen to have ANBU take it over; Hiruzen said he would consider it.
• An assistant announced that several clan heads had arrived, and Hiruzen kept Yellow Dog and Yagami in the office to hear them.
• Inuzuka Hunter explained that the Inuzuka Clan’s Ninja Hounds made its members unsuited for assassination work, and Hiruzen promised to tell Danzo not to recruit them into Root.
• Yamanaka Inoen, Akimichi Yamashiro, Aburame Kazuma, and Hyuga Tengaku described Root’s high casualty rate and their clans’ inability to keep supplying ninja.
• Hiruzen said Danzo should focus on training civilian ninja and avoid recruiting from shinobi clans for several years; the clan heads agreed, then Danzo entered the office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen confronted Danzo over Root’s spies inside ANBU and Root’s failing Spy System, forcing Danzo to transfer two national spy networks to ANBU. Nara Shikatsuno then proposed disguising assassinations as Underground Exchange bounties, and Hiruzen barred Root from recruiting clan ninja for two years.

• Danzo challenged Yellow Dog’s investigation of Sarutobi Kinosuke, but Sarutobi Hiruzen ended the discussion and demanded that Root restore the Spy System.
• Yellow Dog and Fox exposed three ANBU recruits bearing Root’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, prompting Sarutobi Hiruzen to condemn Danzo for planting spies in ANBU.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered Danzo to transfer two Spy Systems to ANBU and required ANBU to assess Root’s new recruits for the Will of Fire and cursed seals.
• Nara Shikatsuno warned that enemy villages were retaliating against Konoha’s assassinations, and Danzo agreed to transfer the Spy Systems in the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind to ANBU.
• Nara Shikatsuno proposed disguising assassinations as Underground Exchange bounty killings, and Sarutobi Hiruzen asked him and Yellow Dog to develop the plan.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen barred Root from recruiting ninja from the major clans for two years, giving them time to recover.

Yagami witnessed Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen agree to pause conscription of ninja clan shinobi for a year, then was assigned to help Nara Meika use Underground Exchange bounties to target enemy Jonin. As they left Konoha, Yagami remembered that Nara Meika had already killed him once and resolved to record his deaths and avoid dying to her again.

• Danzo challenged Sarutobi Hiruzen's decision to halt conscription, and they agreed that ninja clan shinobi would not be recruited for a year while civilian shinobi were prioritized.
• Yagami worried that Yuka had not become pregnant, then assessed his abilities and decided to focus on increasing his chakra reserves.
• Yagami learned that Gibbon, Yellow Dog's cousin, had been assigned to assist with the Spy System and resented losing the role he had expected.
• Yellow Dog sent Yagami to meet Nara Shikatsuno, who assigned him to protect Nara Meika while she investigated the Underground Exchange and placed bounties on enemy Jonin.
• As Yagami followed Nara Meika out of Konoha, he recalled that she had killed him once and resolved to keep a death record and prevent her from killing him again.

Nara Meika and Yagami investigated the Underground Exchange, discovered its links to the nations’ daimyo and its technological communication system, then traveled to the Land of Wind to collect the bounty on Sand Jonin Tadehito. After several days waiting near the capital, they saw Tadehito leave with three genin, and Yagami recognized the Elite Jonin Puppet Master as a promising target.

• Nara Meika posted a sixteen-million-ryo bounty on Tadehito at the Underground Exchange and paid its twenty-percent handling fee.
• Yagami secretly observed Kanao, discovered a communication device inside a refrigerated cabinet, and escaped when it self-destructed.
• Nara Meika explained that daimyo used Underground Exchanges to place bounties on ninja, and she and Yagami decided to kill Tadehito themselves and reclaim the bounty money.
• Yagami used spy communication methods to learn that Tadehito was on a mission in the Capital of the Land of Wind and might soon return to Sunagakure.
• Yagami and Nara Meika waited outside the capital until Tadehito left at night with three genin, and Nara Meika identified him as a famous Puppet Master and likely Elite Jonin.

Yagami used the Arc of the Crescent Moon System to learn Tadehito's abilities, then resurrected and ambushed the Sand Jonin with his knowledge. After killing Tadehito, Yagami and Nara Meika fled, leaving the three genin alive to mislead Sunagakure into blaming the Stone Ninja.

• Tadehito's Earth Spears injured the three genin, and he attacked Yagami with puppets, poison smoke, and hidden mechanisms until Yagami died.
• The Arc of the Crescent Moon System resurrected Yagami on the previous full moon, and he chose Elite Jonin Level Chakra, raising his chakra quantity to 3.4 times that of an Elite Jonin.
• Yagami and Nara Meika returned to the desert, where Yagami hid underground and waited for Tadehito to leave the Capital of the Land of Wind.
• Yagami ambushed Tadehito, dodged the steel cable he expected, and stabbed Tadehito in the heart.
• Yagami and Nara Meika carried Tadehito's corpse north, while Yagami explained that they would leave the genin alive so they would suspect the Stone Ninja.