Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chiyo reviews Konoha’s border-security report, Baishi’s invitation to meet, and records linking former Konoha adviser Mitokado Homura to illegal dealings with Sunagakure’s Puppet Corps. She recognizes the invitation as a political trap: refusing could damage Sunagakure’s standing, while accepting means entering Konoha’s carefully arranged negotiation.
• At a private meeting, Hokage Baishi and Chief of General Staff Shikaku present the report on three ANBU killed by a mysterious force near the border, along with a crystal containing residual purple chakra.
• Chiyo questions Konoha’s motives and the reliability of its claims. Baishi frames the deaths as a threat to the Land of Fire and describes the Homura documents as information shared in the interest of trust between allied villages.
• Chiyo recognizes the chakra as connected to Sasori’s Human Puppet technique, but distinguishes the Barrier’s life-draining, assimilating power from Sasori’s methods. She concludes that the force is more likely Orochimaru’s work.

Character developments

• Chiyo moves from guarded suspicion to reluctant cooperation. Though she understands Baishi is using the meeting to extract information, she examines the crystal and shares her expertise. Her recognition of Orochimaru’s influence also reveals genuine fear.
• Baishi demonstrates controlled, strategic diplomacy, presenting Konoha’s demands as routine security cooperation and the compromising records as an act of alliance.
• Shikaku remains quiet and supports Baishi’s strategy by supplying the evidence and technical findings.

Significant themes

• Diplomacy as leverage: Official courtesies mask a calculated exchange, and both sides understand the political maneuvering beneath the conversation.
• The cost of cooperation: Chiyo must choose between helping Konoha and risking Sunagakure’s influence, while the records offer her a potential bargaining chip of her own.
• The desecration of life: The chapter contrasts Sasori’s pursuit of “eternity” through puppetry with a more ravenous technique that drains living beings, suggesting a deeper and more disturbing threat.

Character interactions

• Baishi and Chiyo trade carefully worded statements, each probing the other while withholding their full intentions.
• Baishi and Shikaku coordinate smoothly: Baishi controls the diplomatic framing, while Shikaku provides the report and chakra sample.
• Chiyo’s expertise shifts the meeting from political maneuvering toward identification of the enemy, as she distinguishes Sasori’s technique from the Barrier and names Orochimaru as its likely creator.

Key plot points and events

• Chiyo identifies the purple chakra barrier around the Scorpion’s Nest as a combination of Orochimaru’s cursed-seal techniques and Sasori’s human-puppet techniques.
• After she leaves the official meeting, Shikaku warns Baishi that the operation’s players—Lady Jiye, the Tsukuyomi Trading Company, Sasori, and Orochimaru—may threaten the Land of Fire’s political foundations, not merely run a smuggling network.
• Konoha cannot attack the barrier openly without risking heavy casualties and alerting powerful observers. Baishi decides the solution must come from someone who understands how it was built.
• Baishi visits Chiyo privately and reframes the request as a purchase of technical expertise rather than an official favor. He offers Sunagakure a three-billion-ryo interest-free loan and priority access to three Chakra Conduit Pumps.
• Chiyo refuses to settle for money or equipment. She demands a person: Namikaze Minato.

Character developments

• Baishi remains composed and politically shrewd. He recognizes that changing the negotiation from “assistance” to a technical transaction gives Chiyo leverage—and allows him to make a direct offer.
• Shikaku moves from controlled concern to alarm as the conspiracy’s scale becomes clear. He emphasizes the dangers of a conventional assault.
• Chiyo carefully maintains the appearance of an ordinary adviser, then reveals she has been waiting for Baishi to make a genuine offer. Her demand for Minato shows that Sunagakure’s needs extend beyond financial reconstruction.

Significant themes

• Information as leverage: Chiyo’s technical knowledge is valuable because the barrier cannot be safely overcome by force.
• Political language and bargaining: Recasting a request as a purchase changes the balance between the parties.
• Threats beyond crime: The alliance’s power and connections suggest ambitions that could destabilize the state itself.
• Competing obligations: Baishi invokes shared responsibility between Konoha and Sunagakure, while Chiyo negotiates for her village’s recovery.

Character interactions

• Baishi and Shikaku privately assess the threat and agree that stealth and specialized knowledge are preferable to a public assault.
• Baishi approaches Chiyo alone, using both diplomatic courtesy and the personal reminder that Sasori is her grandson.
• Chiyo sees through Baishi’s stated rationale and negotiates directly, turning the discussion into an exchange: a way through the barrier in return for what Sunagakure truly wants.

Key plot points and events

• Chiyo demands that Konoha hand over Namikaze Minato so Sunagakure can study his survival of Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal and use what they learn to break the barrier around Scorpion’s Nest.
• Baishi refuses extradition, invoking Konoha’s Medical Confidentiality Act: Minato is a protected S-rank patient, and his custody cannot be transferred.
• Rather than end negotiations, Baishi offers a compromise. Chiyo may serve as a special medical expert and take part in a joint consultation, but all research must happen in Konoha, with Konoha controlling Minato and owning the resulting data.
• Chiyo accepts the terms. At the first consultation, Tsunade presents Minato’s monitoring data. Chiyo identifies a faint, stable signal as the autonomous frequency of Sasori’s Third-Generation Puppet Core, Hiruko—meaning Minato is resonating with Sasori’s true body.

Character developments

• Baishi demonstrates that he can use law as both a principled safeguard and a political tool. He protects Konoha’s control of Minato while still securing Chiyo’s expertise.
• Chiyo shifts from making a hard demand to accepting a constrained partnership. Her quick reading of the data reveals the depth of her knowledge—and the frightening significance of Minato’s condition.
• Tsunade contributes the latest medical evidence and works with Chiyo despite the political tension.
• Minato, though absent from the meetings, remains central to the negotiations and the emerging mystery.

Significant themes

• Law versus power: Baishi insists that even technical necessity cannot justify bypassing Konoha’s rules.
• Negotiation and compromise: Both sides preserve important interests—Konoha keeps custody, while Chiyo gains access to research.
• Science, secrecy, and control: The consultation raises questions about who may study a vulnerable patient and who owns the knowledge gained.
• Hidden danger: Minato’s unexplained resonance suggests his connection to Sasori may be more direct than anyone expected.

Character interactions

• Baishi calmly counters Chiyo’s demand with legal protections, then redirects the confrontation toward a joint consultation.
• Chiyo recognizes that refusing the offer would leave Sunagakure worse off, and accepts with reluctant respect for Baishi’s tactics.
• Tsunade shares Minato’s data with Chiyo; Chiyo’s interpretation shocks the room by linking his signal to Hiruko and Sasori’s true body.

Key plot points and events

• Chiyo explains that Minato’s abnormal chakra resonance is an active tracking link tied to Sasori’s body and the barrier around the Scorpion’s Nest. Trying to disrupt it directly could trigger the cursed seal or alert Sasori.
• She proposes a two-part plan: reproduce Hiruko’s chakra frequency to confuse the barrier for up to ten minutes, then physically sever the earth vein powering it.
• Baishi orders Shikaku to coordinate a technical assessment with Konoha’s relevant departments. Until the report is ready, Tsunade and Chiyo are to monitor Minato without attempting risky treatment.
• Shikaku’s report finds that recreating the frequency is feasible, though it requires more data from Chiyo and chakra control of exceptional precision. Only Baishi and Tsunade qualify.
• Severing the earth vein would require deep excavation and blasting, permanently damaging the local water system. Regulations require environmental and geological studies, a construction plan, and a permit from the Daimyo Residence Ministry of Works, a process normally taking at least three months.
• Intelligence links the ministry to Lady Jiye: her uncle is its minister, while companies under the Tsukuyomi Trading Company have won most of its waterworks and road contracts. Obtaining approval would threaten her interests.

Character developments and interactions

• Chiyo contributes the essential technical insight, fulfilling her side of the bargain while remaining cautious and detached.
• Baishi stays composed and turns a dangerous military obstacle into a political and administrative problem he believes he can handle.
• Shikaku translates the plan into practical requirements, identifies its environmental and regulatory barriers, and brings Baishi intelligence connecting the ministry to Lady Jiye.
• Tsunade recognizes the severity of Minato’s condition and agrees to keep monitoring him rather than risk provoking the seal.
• Baishi directs Shikaku, Tsunade, and Chiyo with calm authority, while Shikaku responds promptly and Chiyo watches the proceedings with reserve.

Significant themes

• Security and surveillance: Minato’s resonance turns him into an unwitting beacon inside Konoha.
• Technical limits and trade-offs: Breaking the barrier may work, but the necessary excavation could permanently damage vital infrastructure.
• Bureaucracy as a battleground: A tactical operation becomes dependent on permits and interdepartmental coordination.
• Power and vested interests: Infrastructure contracts and family ties may obstruct action against Orochimaru’s network.
  The chapter ends with Baishi concluding that, before they can reach the enemy’s lair, they must first challenge the political interests protecting it.

Key plot points and events

• Shikaku reports that the Capital is likely to block Konoha’s permit to sever the Earth Vein beneath Scorpion’s Nest, since the Ministry of Works is controlled by Lady Jiye’s family.
• Baishi sidesteps the permit process by invoking an existing Fire–Rain environmental agreement. He classifies the area’s biological chakra contamination as an A-Rank source and frames the Earth Vein operation as necessary flood control.
• The ministers unanimously approve the operation under the name “Fire-Rain Border Joint Flood-Control Exercise.” Shikaku is assigned to prepare the operational plan and public notice.
• Just as the meeting is about to end, Takahashi raises a new obstacle: the specialized explosive tags needed to sever the Earth Vein are out of stock, and Tsukuyomi Trading Company has suspended supply.

Character developments and interactions

• Baishi demonstrates political and legal ingenuity, turning a vulnerable permit application into an action justified by an existing international obligation. He calmly guides the ministers toward the new framing.
• Shikaku quickly understands Baishi’s strategy and supports it, recognizing the difference between asking the Capital for permission and notifying it that Konoha is fulfilling an agreement.
• The ministers, initially daunted by political pressure, rally behind Baishi once the plan offers a viable path forward.
• Takahashi supports the approval but then brings the group back to practical concerns by revealing the supply cutoff.
• The meeting shifts from collective anxiety to confidence, then ends on renewed uncertainty over whether the operation can be equipped.

Significant themes

• Political framing and institutional power: Changing how an operation is defined can determine whether it is blocked or legally enabled.
• Pragmatism and strategic leadership: Baishi uses existing agreements rather than confronting the Capital on its chosen terms.
• The limits of bureaucratic victories: Legal approval does not guarantee practical success; control over supplies can create a new form of leverage.

Summary

Key events

A major supply crisis threatens Konoha’s planned Fire–Rain border flood-control exercise: the Tsukuyomi Trading Company, which controls much of the high-end supply market, has withheld Specialized Drilling-and-Blasting Explosive Tags. The company appears to be using its monopoly to pressure Konoha politically. Rather than compromise or seize the supplies by force, Hokage Baishi classifies the exercise as an S-rank strategic operation and requires suppliers to pass a joint ANBU–Military Police security review. This effectively excludes the Tsukuyomi company and opens the procurement contract to the Uchiha clan’s new Susanoo Trading Company, which Fugaku offers for review. Baishi directs Shikaku to expedite its approval and contract.
After the meeting, an ANBU reports that Hyuga Tokuma, representing Tsukuyomi, has arrived with an officially authorized letter from the Daimyo’s Financial Audit Office and is requesting an urgent meeting with Baishi about the same supplies.

Character developments and interactions

• Baishi demonstrates calm, strategic leadership, using administrative rules to counter the monopoly without appearing to act arbitrarily. He also turns the crisis into a way to deepen the Uchiha clan’s ties to his administration.
• Fugaku is summoned despite the meeting’s focus on flood control. He recognizes the opportunity, pledges the Susanoo Trading Company’s cooperation with security reviews, and publicly reinforces the Uchiha clan’s loyalty to Konoha.
• Morita, responsible for procurement, fears blame, but Baishi reassures him and treats the company’s conduct—not the minister’s oversight—as the core problem.
• Shikaku remains observant and is tasked with carrying out the new procurement plan.
• The ministers, initially trapped between surrendering to the company and using force, recognize Baishi’s maneuver as a decisive shift in Konoha’s political order.

Significant themes

The chapter explores how economic monopolies can become instruments of political coercion, and how authority can counter them through lawful procedure rather than force. It also highlights the growing alliance between Baishi and the Uchiha: the crisis reshapes both Konoha’s supply network and its political loyalties. Tokuma’s arrival with Daimyo-backed authorization suggests that the conflict may escalate beyond a dispute between Konoha and a trading company.

Plot and events

• Konoha’s Hokage, Baishi, and Chief of General Staff Shikaku meet with Hyuga Tokuma, a senior representative of the Tsukuyomi Trading Company.
• Tokuma objects to new security requirements for suppliers of specialized explosive tags for Konoha’s S-Rank border flood-control exercise. He presents an authorization letter from the Daimyo Residence urging Konoha to restore Tsukuyomi’s supply allocation.
• Baishi thanks the Daimyo but refuses to bend Konoha’s rules, insisting that all bids follow the revised procurement regulations and remain open to qualified companies.
• Tokuma then threatens to cut off Tsukuyomi’s exclusive supply of Dreamfloating Incense, hoping the Capital’s influential consumers will pressure Konoha. Baishi counters by offering to send Tsunade to treat the supposedly unwell Lady Jiye, turning the threat into a potential opening for Konoha.
• Baishi reiterates that Tsukuyomi may bid if it passes joint security reviews by the Military Police Force and ANBU. Tokuma departs without getting his allocation restored, but warns that the Daimyo Residence’s environmental agency will scrutinize the planned exercise.

Character developments and interactions

• Baishi demonstrates calm, procedural resolve. He rejects political pressure without open confrontation, using regulations to deny Tsukuyomi special treatment and neutralize its leverage.
• Tokuma begins with polished confidence, but grows unsettled as his official letter and economic threat fail. He recovers his composure when leaving, then issues a final warning about environmental oversight.
• Shikaku watches the negotiation closely and recognizes the incense threat before Tokuma makes it explicit.
• The encounter is a contest of influence: Tokuma invokes the Daimyo, elite consumers, and economic pressure; Baishi keeps redirecting the discussion to rules, qualifications, and formal review.

Significant themes

• Procedure as political defense: Transparent bidding rules give Konoha a “moat” against outside pressure and favoritism.
• Power and leverage: Both sides try to use institutional connections and scarce resources to influence the other.
• Principle versus pragmatism: Baishi upholds Konoha’s standards while cleverly turning Tokuma’s own claims to his advantage.
• Escalating pressure: Tokuma’s environmental warning suggests that the dispute is not over and may shift to another form of scrutiny.

Key plot points and events

• The Daimyo Residence issues an environmental work-stoppage order halting Konoha’s planned Fire–Rain border flood-control exercise. A required environmental review would take at least three months, threatening the project, Konoha’s newly gained prestige, and its plans to address the A-rank contamination source known as the Scorpion’s Nest.
• Shikaku recognizes that openly defying the order would give Konoha’s political opponents ammunition, while appealing through domestic channels would be too slow.
• Baishi reframes the issue as a matter of international security. He tells Sunagakure’s representative, Baki, that delaying the joint project could endanger the Land of Wind downstream, carefully leaving Sunagakure to decide how to respond.
• Baki reports the risk to his village. That same afternoon, the Wind Daimyo sends a formal protest to the Fire Daimyo, turning Konoha’s internal administrative dispute into a diplomatic incident.
• The next morning, the Fire Daimyo Residence withdraws the work-stoppage order—but announces a joint investigation team to inspect the project. The team includes Lady Jiye’s confidant, Yamanaka Inoichi, as deputy leader.

Character developments and interactions

• Baishi demonstrates composure and political ingenuity. Rather than confront the order directly, he uses its potential cross-border consequences to create diplomatic pressure.
• Shikaku initially assesses the order as a trap and then understands Baishi’s strategy. He acknowledges that Baishi has found an effective opening, though he notes the pressure placed on Sunagakure.
• Baki recognizes the implications of Baishi’s warning and promptly acts in Sunagakure’s interests, promising to report the matter and involve his village’s leadership.
• Baishi and Baki maintain a courteous, formal exchange: Baishi frames his message as an ally’s warning, while Baki turns it into a basis for diplomatic action.
• Lady Jiye remains an indirect adversary. Though her order is withdrawn, her influence persists through the investigation team and its deputy leader.

Significant themes

• Law as political leverage: An environmental order provides an ostensibly unassailable justification for obstructing Konoha.
• Diplomacy and strategic reframing: Baishi changes the dispute’s scale—from domestic administration to international security—to overcome a procedural trap.
• Indirect power and accountability: Baishi does not direct Sunagakure to intervene; he gives it information and lets it act to protect its own interests.
• A partial victory: Konoha gets the work-stoppage order lifted, but the incoming inspection team signals continued political scrutiny and conflict.

Yamanaka Inoichi’s investigation team arrived at Konoha’s border project, where Shikaku Nara used security regulations to confine them to a guarded camp and conceal the work. After three days of fruitless inquiries, Inoichi activated a hidden Owl Resonator, and a pair of scarlet eyes opened in an underground cave near the Scorpion’s Nest.

• Yamanaka Inoichi arrived with the investigation team and presented the Daimyo Residence’s inspection order to Shikaku Nara.
• Shikaku invoked the joint security rules and biological contamination risks to place the team in an isolated camp with restricted movement and communications.
• For three days, the team received only vague briefings, while Inoichi’s attempts to inspect the site or meet its chief engineer were blocked.
• Inoichi used the Owl Resonator to send a chakra pulse toward the Scorpion’s Nest.
• A pair of scarlet eyes opened in a culture dish inside an underground cave near the Scorpion’s Nest.

Shikaku Nara used border-security regulations to delay rescuing the Joint Investigation Team while a monster slaughtered the camp, then ordered a rescue after the Hokage’s instructions arrived. The sole survivor was Yamanaka Inoichi, and a pipe belonging to Mitokado Homura was found in the monster’s remains.

• An ANBU sensor reported a fast-moving, unidentified chakra signature heading toward the Joint Investigation Team’s isolation camp, and Shikaku contacted the Hokage’s Office.
• A grotesque monster attacked the camp, killing its guards and officials as Yamanaka Inoichi recognized it as the creature awakened by the Owl Resonator.
• Shikaku refused to send help until the attacker was classified and the Hokage’s instructions arrived, citing border-security regulations despite Yamanaka Inoichi’s request for support.
• After the camp fell silent, Shikaku received orders to begin rescue operations, and rescuers found Yamanaka Inoichi alive among the dead.
• An ANBU ninja recovered a meerschaum pipe bearing Mitokado Homura’s family crest from the monster’s remains.

After a monster attack killed twelve members of the Daimyo Residence’s Joint Investigation Team, Baishi used a pipe linked to former advisor Mitokado Homura to frame the incident as terrorism and authorize an unrestricted counterattack. The chapter ended with Tsunade warning that Lady Jiye had gone mad while suffering withdrawal from Dreamfloating Incense.

• Shikaku Nara reported the deaths and secured a pipe identified as Mitokado Homura’s at the attack site.
• Baishi called an emergency press conference and announced that Konoha would treat Scorpion’s Nest as an S-Rank terrorist organization.
• Baishi displayed the pipe, implicated Homura in the attack, and authorized Konoha’s Defense Department to counterattack without restrictions.
• Baishi told Shikaku Nara to notify Chiyo that she could begin implementing her technical plan.
• An ANBU delivered Tsunade’s message that Lady Jiye, also known as Queen Bee, was near mental collapse after seventy-two hours without Dreamfloating Incense.

Baishi and Shikaku authorized an all-out assault on Scorpion's Nest despite Lady Jiye’s threats from the Capital. Konoha breached the barrier, but discovered that its energy was being drawn underground toward the Special Care Unit beneath Konoha.

• Baishi told Shikaku that Lady Jiye could no longer obstruct the operation, and ordered him to begin the all-out assault on Scorpion's Nest.
• Chiyo directed Konoha’s Barrier Team to disrupt the barrier while Pangolin demolished its underground energy supply points.
• The coordinated blasts opened a large breach in the purple barrier around Scorpion's Nest.
• Chiyo and Shikaku learned that the barrier’s energy had not dissipated but was flowing through buried conduits toward the Special Care Unit beneath Konoha.

After energy from the breached frontline Barrier flowed back into Konoha Hospital's underground Special Care Unit, Tsunade urged Baishi to disconnect its life-support systems before they exploded. Baishi required an expert review and multiple reports first, and the chapter ended with a warning that the chakra storage tanks could detonate within fifty minutes.

• An ANBU intelligence officer told Baishi that energy from the breached Barrier at 'Scorpion's Nest' was flowing into the Special Care Unit, disrupting its life-support equipment.
• Tsunade warned Baishi that the overloaded systems could trigger explosions and demanded immediate S-Rank physical disconnection to save Namikaze Minato and the other patients.
• Baishi cited safety regulations requiring independent assessments and a joint expert review before the irreversible disconnection could proceed.
• Baishi ordered an emergency review meeting for half an hour later and instructed Tsunade to prepare the Medical Department's technical materials.
• A Medical Department Jonin reported that the 'Life Cradle' was smoking, backup power had failed, and the underground chakra storage tanks could detonate within fifty minutes.

At a review meeting, Baishi confronted Logistics Minister Morita and Defense Minister Takahashi over faulty life-support equipment as the underground energy storage tanks neared detonation. After exposing kickbacks tied to the procurement, Baishi left Morita accusing Lady Jiye and the Daimyo Residence.

• Tsunade warned Baishi and the department heads that the underground energy storage tanks would detonate within thirty minutes unless they were physically cut off.
• Baishi questioned Morita and Takahashi about how defective life-support equipment had passed procurement and inspection.
• Morita blamed the Defense Department’s installation and acceptance work, while Takahashi blamed Logistics for approving an unqualified supplier.
• Baishi presented an audit memorandum showing that two 600,000-ryo payments had gone to accounts benefiting Morita’s brother-in-law and Takahashi’s son.
• Takahashi slumped in his chair, and Morita panicked and claimed that Lady Jiye had arranged the kickbacks, with most of the money going to the Daimyo Residence.

Baishi detained Logistics Minister Morita under the Dual Regulation procedure and reclassified the Konoha Hospital incident as a possible act of sabotage and contamination. He then invoked the First Hokage Order, placing Konoha’s central neighborhoods under military rule and shifting policing authority to the Hokage’s Direct ANBU and General Staff Headquarters.

• Baishi cut off Morita’s accusations and ordered the Discipline Inspection Department to isolate him under Dual Regulation.
• Two Discipline Inspection Department officers escorted Morita from the meeting room while Takahashi watched in fear.
• Baishi declared the energy backflow at Konoha Hospital a potential act of sabotage involving contaminated equipment or cursed seals.
• Baishi signed the First Hokage Order and imposed Level One combat readiness under military rule across Konoha’s central neighborhoods.
• Baishi assigned security, patrols, traffic control, and entry screening to the Hokage’s Direct ANBU and General Staff Headquarters, ordering existing clan and department patrols to withdraw.

Baishi used a contamination simulation and legal provisions to make Fugaku transfer central-district security authority to the Hokage during martial law. An ANBU then reported an unusual chakra pulse from the Special Care Unit’s underground core, identifying the Fourth Hokage as its source.

• Baishi ordered all central-district public security patrols to operate under unified command.
• Fugaku invoked the Military Police Force’s statutory jurisdiction over routine public security and resisted transferring authority.
• Shikaku presented a simulation showing contamination spreading from the Special Care Unit toward the Uchiha Clan Compound, which would face evacuation and permanent sealing if designated a severe infection zone.
• Fugaku signed the temporary transfer of central-district security authority to Baishi and said the police force would obey.
• An ANBU operative reported an unusual chakra pulse in the underground core monitoring chamber and identified the Fourth Hokage as its source.

Baishi used the report of Namikaze Minato’s terminal decline to tighten security and place Uzumaki Kushina under protective medical supervision. Kushina was subdued at the hospital after trying to reach Minato, but she secretly slipped a button into a young nurse’s pocket.

• Baishi classified the meeting as S-Rank secret and accepted the diagnosis that Minato was in the terminal stage of cursed seal erosion.
• Baishi ordered tighter security around Minato, a public critical-condition notice, and a special care group to supervise Kushina.
• Kushina arrived at Konoha Hospital and fought the special care group and ANBU when they tried to escort her away.
• Kushina recalled a chain to protect a young nurse, allowing an ANBU to knock her unconscious as the nurse caught her.
• Kushina discreetly slipped a button into the nurse’s coat pocket before ANBU carried her away under the explanation that she had become emotionally agitated.

Baishi ordered a covert inspection of Konoha Hospital that uncovered a button carrying an encrypted chakra signal, which led to the suspected location of Orochimaru’s secret laboratory. As the discovery reached him, an urgent report warned that Lady Jiye’s forces were advancing toward Konoha.

• Baishi ordered the Discipline Inspection Department to conduct a surprise inspection of the nurses’ station near the Special Care Unit, where Hinata Aya had recently contacted Uzumaki Kushina.
• Inspectors found an unusual button in Hinata Aya’s locker and sent it to Baishi as evidence.
• Baishi detected a modified Flying Thunder God formula on the button and ordered the Codebreaking Team to analyze it in the Silent Room.
• The Codebreaking Team traced the button’s one-way signal to the Sea of Death, matching the location of an area Orochimaru had requested to survey before defecting.
• An urgent message from the Capital reported that Lady Jiye had forged an order from the Daimyo and was advancing toward Konoha’s security perimeter with the Internal Guard.

Baishi learned that Lady Jiye had sent the Capital Guard to seize control of Konoha Hospital's Special Care Unit, so he used infectious-disease regulations to block their entry. The chapter ended with Okamura threatening to force his way through Konoha's gates, while Baishi received the ultimatum.

• Shikaku told Baishi that Lady Jiye had forged an order and sent the Capital Guard toward the Special Care Unit.
• Baishi ordered Health Bureau Director Sato to go to Konoha's main gate with the latest infectious-disease regulations and follow them.
• Okamura presented the Daimyo's sealed order and demanded that Tokugawa Hyuga let the Capital Guard enter Konoha.
• Sato cited a law requiring anyone entering the contaminated area to undergo fourteen days of quarantine and directed Okamura's unit to a camp outside the village.
• Okamura threatened to force his way through the gates, and an ANBU transmission carried his ultimatum to Baishi.

Baishi defused the Capital’s Internal Guard standoff by planting false supply information that lured Okamura away from Konoha and toward Orochimaru’s exposed lair. As the Hokage ordered the flood-control operation to accelerate, a call from the Capital’s sole holder of the secret number reached his office.

• Baishi ordered Hyuga Tokugawa not to fire first or give ground, then directed ANBU to plant an aged, forged supply draft pointing to Orochimaru’s laboratory.
• Okamura received the planted document during the standoff and, tempted by the supposed Dreamfloating Incense ingredients, ordered the Internal Guard to head for the eastern border.
• The Internal Guard withdrew from Konoha and raced toward the uninhabited Land of Wind border region.
• An ANBU operative reported the withdrawal, and Baishi ordered the Frontline Flood-Control Engineering Command to speed up its work.
• The top-secret telephone connecting the Hokage to the Capital rang, and Shikaku recognized that only one person there knew the number.