Chapter Summaries

Kabuto's probe revealed that Konoha's border defenses had erased his chakra signal, but Orochimaru became even more determined to confront Baishi. He prepared two resurrected Kage and a forbidden third coffin, whose occupant began to stir as Orochimaru set out for the Land of Fire.

• Kabuto failed to activate his explosive-tag probe and felt a powerful force erase his chakra signal.
• Orochimaru dismissed Kabuto's warning that Baishi had set a trap and declared that he would go anyway.
• Orochimaru ordered Kabuto to bring the resurrected Mu and Hozuki Gengetsu to counter Konoha's reinforcements.
• Orochimaru also ordered Kabuto to bring a sealed black coffin containing Danzo's forbidden legacy.
• As Orochimaru awaited the confrontation with Baishi, two heavy thumps sounded from inside the black coffin.

Hojo Tokugawa and allied elders tried to starve Konoha of supplies, but Baishi and Shikaku used evidence and the Daimyo’s institutions to dismantle their wealth and power. Desperate, Hojo opened a hidden underground cell and unleashed a terrifying creature.

• Hojo Tokugawa gathered allied elders and ordered them to cut off supplies to Konoha.
• Baishi watched the elders through a Water Mirror and told Shikaku to begin their economic strangulation.
• The Daimyo Guard seized the elders’ granaries, the Ministry of Finance froze their accounts, and the military took over Elder Ito’s iron mine.
• Hojo and the elders realized Baishi had used evidence of their corruption to orchestrate a targeted purge, and Hojo collapsed in despair.
• Hojo opened a secret underground vault and unlocked a chained cell, where a creature with scarlet eyes awoke.

Konoha’s ANBU, following Baishi’s plan, ambushed the rampaging Blood Luo and battered it with traps and Explosive Tags. As they moved in to finish it, Blood Luo’s Cursed Seals activated and revealed Orochimaru’s Chakra, prompting Baishi to comment that the bait had drawn a stronger response than expected.

• Crow and the ANBU squad waited at Death Corridor for the monster released by Hojo Tokugawa, following Baishi’s orders to wear it down.
• Blood Luo charged the ANBU, who scattered and lured it through the forest according to Baishi’s formation plan.
• The ANBU trapped Blood Luo behind an Earth Wall and blasted it with successive formations of Explosive Tags until it lay near death.
• Blood Luo’s Cursed Seals spread across its body as Crow prepared to strike, unleashing a far more violent surge of Chakra.
• Baishi spoke through Crow’s communicator and said the bait smelled richer than he had expected.

Baishi used Blood Luo’s activated Cursed Seal to draw Orochimaru’s attention and deliberately opened a tiny gap in Konoha’s Barrier. Orochimaru recognized the gap as a trap but chose to enter through it with his Impure World Reincarnation army.

• Baishi ordered Crow and the ANBU to stop attacking Blood Luo and withdraw while keeping it under surveillance.
• Baishi instructed the Barrier Team to lower the sensor Barrier’s sensitivity in the northwestern sector for one minute.
• Kabuto Yakushi saw Blood Luo’s Cursed Seal signal reach the apparent gap and mistook it for a defensive breach.
• Orochimaru realized Baishi had deliberately invited him in, then set out with three prepared coffins and his Impure World Reincarnation army.

Kabuto and Orochimaru entered the Land of Fire through the Barrier, which sealed behind them under the Fifth Hokage’s control. As Orochimaru welcomed the danger, Kabuto’s scout snake was destroyed by unseen watchers in the forest, leaving them trapped and exposed.

• Kabuto told Orochimaru they had entered the Land of Fire and sensed the forest’s unnatural silence.
• The Barrier gap slammed shut and hardened into an impenetrable wall, cutting off their retreat.
• Orochimaru called the sealed Barrier a declaration of sovereignty and eagerly anticipated meeting the Fifth Hokage.
• Kabuto sent a Hidden Shadow Snake into nearby bushes to scout the area.
• Dozens of emotionless white eyes appeared in the shadows, and their Chakra destroyed Kabuto’s scout snake and severed his link to it.

Kabuto Yakushi discovered that a vast network of Byakugan had exposed and erased his scouting snake, leaving Orochimaru and him unable to infiltrate unseen. Orochimaru accepted the challenge and began summoning the Impure World Reincarnation, preparing a violent return gift for Baishi.

• A hidden force destroyed Kabuto Yakushi’s scouting snake through its chakra link, making him realize the forest was watched by more than a hundred Byakugan.
• Kabuto recognized that Baishi’s Hyuga network had tracked Orochimaru and him since they entered the area.
• Orochimaru stopped Kabuto from probing again and told him they had lost their chance to act as observers.
• Orochimaru decided to turn the encounter into a spectacle and began forming seals for the Impure World Reincarnation.
• Orochimaru completed the final seal and declared that Baishi should savor his return gift.

Baishi ordered Hiashi and the Hyuga force to abandon their ambush, retreat to the Gate of Death, and refrain from retaliating against Orochimaru’s Impure World Reincarnation. Hiashi obeyed with fanatical devotion, and the chapter ended as a summoned figure triggered the lethal Dark Thunder Baishi had planted underground.

• Hiashi confirmed Orochimaru was using Impure World Reincarnation and requested permission to attack while the summoning was unstable.
• Baishi ordered Hiashi’s force to retreat three hundred meters to the Gate of Death and forbade them from using ninjutsu to retaliate.
• Yang Release Chakra calmed Hiashi and healed his hidden injuries, turning his confusion into fanatical faith in Baishi’s orders.
• Hiashi led more than a hundred Hyuga clan members away from their ambush position without resistance.
• A summoned figure stepped into the abandoned defense line and triggered the Dark Thunder hidden underground.

Hojo Tokugawa rejoiced at news that Orochimaru had breached Konoha’s border, believing he would be rescued, while Baishi watched through a Water Mirror and ordered the Daimyo Residence cut off from all supplies. The chapter ended as Blood Luo screamed in the ruins, revealing that Orochimaru’s attack may have concealed a sacrifice and a greater objective.

• Hojo Tokugawa received a report that Orochimaru had crossed into the Land of Fire and destroyed Konoha’s border defenses, and he celebrated the prospect of Baishi’s defeat.
• Baishi watched Tokugawa through a Water Mirror and ordered Shikaku Nara to sever every supply and communication line to the Daimyo Residence.
• Shikaku accepted Baishi’s order and vanished to carry it out, leaving Tokugawa trapped in what Baishi intended to become a tomb.
• A scream from the border ruins revealed that Blood Luo was being sacrificed, and Baishi suspected the explosion had concealed Orochimaru’s true objective.

Baishi watched as Orochimaru used Blood Luo’s life force to create a summoning array inside the forest. A black coffin marked with the character “Water” emerged from the array, leaving Baishi to face Orochimaru’s apparent surprise attack.

• Baishi realized Blood Luo’s injuries were meant to force Orochimaru to reveal his true plan.
• Kabuto Yakushi urged Orochimaru to retreat, but Orochimaru revealed that Hojo Tokugawa and Blood Luo had only been an appetizer for Baishi.
• Orochimaru activated Blood Luo’s Cursed Seal, dissolving the monster into a vast Flesh Marsh.
• The Flesh Marsh formed a summoning array from Blood Luo’s life and tore open a hidden summoning node inside Baishi’s Barrier.
• A massive black coffin rose from the ground and landed on the bloody altar, bearing the character “Water.”

Orochimaru used Impure World Reincarnation to summon Hozuki Gengetsu and set him against the Hyuga Clan. Gengetsu’s Clam Mist overwhelmed the Byakugan and drove the Hyuga into attacking one another, until Hyuga Hiashi’s communication Scroll began glowing silver.

• Hozuki Gengetsu emerged from his coffin and recognized that Orochimaru had summoned him with Impure World Reincarnation.
• Gengetsu attempted to attack Orochimaru, but a control talisman stopped him, and Orochimaru ordered him to silence the forest.
• Gengetsu summoned the Giant Clam, whose Clam Mist spread across the forest and distorted the Hyuga Clan’s Byakugan.
• The mist’s genjutsu made Hyuga Clan members mistake their comrades for enemies and attack them, while Hiashi struggled to stop the fighting.
• Hiashi’s communication Scroll, given to him by the Fifth Hokage, began to shine with a pure silver light.

Baishi used Hiashi’s Byakugan to analyze Hozuki Gengetsu’s mist-based genjutsu and mark the Giant Clam’s true location. Hiashi rallied the trapped Hyuga to attack the coordinates, even as his clansmen struck him.

• Mikoto massaged Baishi in the Hokage’s Office while Hiashi pleaded for a retreat from the genjutsu engulfing the Hyuga.
• Baishi connected to Hiashi through Yin Release and used his Byakugan to inspect the distorted battlefield.
• Baishi analyzed the mist and marked the Giant Clam’s true body with precise coordinates in Hiashi’s vision.
• Hiashi ignored his wounds and ordered the Hyuga to abandon defense and judgment, then attack the indicated location at full power.

Hyuga Hiashi used Baishi’s guidance to direct the Hyuga clan through Gengetsu’s illusion and unleash a combined attack on the hidden Giant Clam, breaking the mist and exposing the battlefield. Hozuki Gengetsu became curious about the distant Hokage and prepared a dangerous counterattack.

• Hiashi endured attacks from his clanmates and ordered the Hyuga shinobi to fire at the coordinates Baishi had revealed, ignoring their illusions and abandoning defense.
• A young branch-family shinobi attacked first, and hundreds of Hyuga followed with a combined Eight Trigrams: Air Palm that formed a massive Chakra torrent.
• The torrent struck the concealed Giant Clam, cracking its shell and dispersing the illusion mist.
• The Hyuga survivors saw their wounded companions and the exposed Giant Clam, then celebrated their survival and praised the Hokage.
• Gengetsu recognized the attack as the work of an intriguing Konoha shinobi and condensed a dangerous droplet of water at his fingertip.

Baishi used his Chakra Thread to twist Hyuga Hiashi out of the path of Hozuki Gengetsu’s Water Gun, saving his life while analyzing Gengetsu’s techniques. Gengetsu sensed the distant intervention and realized his true opponent was in Konoha, not on the battlefield.

• Hozuki Gengetsu fired a Water Gun at Hyuga Hiashi after Hiashi’s clan exhausted itself in battle.
• Baishi used Yang Release Chakra Threads to wrench Hiashi’s body aside, leaving the attack to destroy his right shoulder instead of piercing his heart.
• Hiashi recognized that Baishi had controlled his body and felt both terror and absolute loyalty toward him.
• Baishi’s thread touched the Water Gun’s Chakra and gathered detailed information about Gengetsu’s abilities and techniques.
• Hozuki Gengetsu sensed Baishi’s foreign Chakra, looked toward Konoha, and concluded that his real opponent was manipulating the battlefield from afar.

Hozuki Gengetsu traced his attack’s mysterious interference through Hyuga Hiashi’s Byakugan and encountered Baishi’s Mangekyō Sharingan, which overwhelmed him with terrifying ocular power. Orochimaru shared the encounter through his connection to Gengetsu, became obsessed with Baishi as the key to immortality, and prepared to open the sealed coffin marked “Mu.”

• Hozuki Gengetsu sensed Baishi’s intervention in his Water Gun Technique and used Hyuga Hiashi’s Byakugan to trace the connection to its source.
• Baishi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, causing Hiashi’s eyes to bleed and leaving Gengetsu paralyzed by overwhelming ocular power and terrifying visions.
• Orochimaru shared Gengetsu’s experience through his connection to the Impure World Reincarnation body and became fanatically determined to obtain Baishi’s body.
• Orochimaru dismissed further testing and approached a sealed coffin marked “Mu,” reaching to open it.

Baishi used his Mangekyō Sharingan to crush Hozuki Gengetsu’s will from afar and ordered Hyuga Hiashi to seal him. As the Hyuga prepared the Four Symbols Seal, an unnatural cold spread through the Forest of Death and Hiashi detected a region of absolute nothingness.

• Baishi’s ocular power made Hozuki Gengetsu collapse in terror, while Hyuga Hiashi and the surviving clansmen revered Baishi as a god.
• Baishi withdrew his ocular power and sensed Orochimaru’s greed and excitement through the Chakra thread.
• Baishi ordered Hiashi to seal Hozuki Gengetsu, and Hiashi sent the Branch Family Sealing Team to prepare the Four Symbols Seal.
• A deathly cold suddenly enveloped the Forest of Death before the sealing scrolls could be thrown.
• Hiashi used the Byakugan and discovered a vast blind spot to the north where matter, energy, and life seemed not to exist.

Baishi watched Orochimaru break the seal on Mū and command the Second Tsuchikage to assassinate him in Konoha. Mū vanished with the Dustless Mist Barrier and attacked Konoha’s northern defense line, where patrol squads disappeared as he advanced toward the village.

• Baishi monitored Orochimaru’s underground laboratory through a Water Mirror as Orochimaru opened Mū’s coffin despite Kabuto Yakushi’s warnings.
• Mū emerged from the coffin, but Orochimaru seized control of him with a special kunai and ordered him to kill Baishi.
• Mū activated the Dustless Mist Barrier and disappeared from the laboratory, evading Orochimaru’s Perception Barrier.
• Hyuga Hiashi sent Baishi an emergency report that an invisible attacker had made three patrol squads vanish at Konoha’s northern defense line.
• Baishi saw through Hiashi’s Byakugan feed that Mū was tearing through Konoha’s defenses and heading toward the village’s heartland.

Baishi watched Mū’s Dustless Mist Barrier and Dust Release slaughter the Hyuga forces while refusing Hiashi permission to retreat. As the Hyuga held their position, a glowing cube-shaped Barrier unfolded over them.

• Hiashi reported that three Hyuga guards had vanished inside a blind spot the Byakugan could not perceive.
• Mū’s invisible attacks disintegrated a tree and killed Hyuga shinobi, spreading panic through the formation.
• Baishi recognized the techniques as Mū’s Dustless Mist Barrier and Dust Release, and studied the energy fluctuations instead of intervening.
• Baishi ordered Hiashi to hold the position and seal Hozuki Gengetsu, promising to deal with the invisible enemy himself.
• Hiashi ordered the Hyuga to stand their ground, and a luminous cube-shaped Barrier appeared above the formation.

Baishi used Yin Release Chakra to expose the invisible Mū, who had trapped Hiashi and more than a hundred Hyuga elites beneath a Dust Release barrier. The black spores outlined Mū in midair just as the barrier threatened to destroy the clan.

• Hiashi warned Baishi that Mū's expanding Dust Release barrier threatened to annihilate the Hyuga forces, while the Byakugan could not locate the caster.
• Baishi realized Mū's invisibility could be countered by marking him with Yin Release Chakra that would adhere to his Chakra.
• Baishi sent a droplet of Yin Release along the Chakra link to Hiashi and told him to watch closely.
• The droplet burst into black spores above the battlefield, and the spores clung to Mū, outlining his invisible figure.

Baishi used Yin Release spores to reveal Mū’s invisible body and let the Hyuga Clan attack him, but Orochimaru took control and prepared to unleash a devastating Dust Release technique. Baishi watched the threat escalate in the Forest of Death, with a silver Chakra thread tightening around his fingers.

• Baishi’s Yin Release spores marked Mū and exposed his outline to Hiashi and the Hyuga Clan.
• Orochimaru felt the spores’ effect through the Impure World Reincarnation link, then poured more Chakra into the technique.
• Hiashi ordered the Hyuga elites to attack, and their Gentle Fist strikes badly damaged Mū and destabilized his Dust Release Barrier.
• Orochimaru seized control of Mū, repaired his body, and began forming the Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique.
• Hiashi tried to order a retreat but found himself unable to move as Mū’s attack threatened to erase the Forest of Death.
• Baishi watched the white light in the Water Mirror and tightened a silver Chakra thread around his fingers.

Baishi used Hiashi and a precisely placed Gentle Fist strike to deflect Orochimaru's Dust Release attack away from the Hyuga clan, destroying a mountain instead. As Konoha reacted to the blast, Kushina stormed into the Hokage's Office in a Nine-Tails Chakra cloak, and Baishi eyed the chakra spilling from her with greed.

• Baishi took control of Hiashi through the silver mark and drove him toward Mū's Dust Release attack.
• Baishi guided Hiashi to strike a pressure point on Mū's wrist, disrupting the technique's chakra balance and deflecting its beam into a mountain.
• The Hyuga clan survived, while Orochimaru suffered backlash from the soul link and laughed at Baishi's feat.
• Kushina burst into the Hokage's Office surrounded by Nine-Tails Chakra and confronted Baishi about the threat he had brought to Konoha.
• Baishi focused on Kushina's exposed Nine-Tails Chakra and regarded her arrival as perfect timing.