Chapter Summaries

Baishi rejected Tsunade’s attempt to rescue Namikaze Minato and ordered the Special Care Unit sealed to protect Konoha. After the shutdown was completed, the Capital’s top-secret direct line rang, leaving the next crisis unresolved.

• Tsunade urged Baishi to let her medical teams stabilize the Special Care Unit, but he refused because the rescue was uncertain and the explosion could destroy Konoha’s underground chakra network.
• Baishi signed the emergency shutdown order and sent the Anbu Captain to carry it out.
• Tsunade left the Hokage’s Office after Baishi told her she would have to sign the sealing report.
• Shikaku reported that the specialized cement mixers and thirty-six Jonin from the Sealing Team were ready to seal the facility.
• The sealing team completed the cement injection and composite barrier, and an ANBU operative reported that the Special Care Unit’s energy and vital signs had fallen to zero.
• The Capital’s highest-level top-secret direct line rang as dawn broke.

Baishi negotiated with the Daimyo over the Capital Guard’s intrusion and Konoha’s financial independence, securing the Daimyo’s tacit approval to conceal the Guard’s actions and eliminate the related evidence. He ordered ANBU to launch a highest-level sweep in the Sea of Death region under the codename “Pure Land.”

• The Daimyo called Baishi and acknowledged that Lady Jiye and her supporters had caused trouble, saying they had been confined to reflect on their mistakes.
• Baishi defended Konoha’s Security Bonds, and the Daimyo agreed to give Konoha more freedom to pursue financial autonomy.
• The Daimyo asked Baishi to conceal Okamura’s unit’s unauthorized actions and any clash with Orochimaru, and Baishi promised to keep the Capital Guard out of reports where they did not belong.
• After the call ended, Baishi ordered Shikaku to draft an order authorizing ANBU’s highest-level sweep of the Sea of Death region under the codename “Pure Land.”

Shikaku Nara used Baishi’s wartime authorization to overcome the Defense Department’s attempt to block supplies for Operation Pure Land. As the explosive tags reached the front, a dying reconnaissance shinobi reported that the Capital Guard had engaged monstrous targets that were devouring and evolving.

• Shikaku ordered the Third Supply Warehouse to release the explosive tags, but Warehouse Officer Yamashita refused without Minister Takahashi’s handwritten approval.
• Shikaku sent an ANBU Captain with Baishi’s Wartime Special Authorization Order, which granted Shikaku authority over village departments and supplies during Operation Pure Land.
• Yamashita saw the order and hurriedly opened the warehouse, and the loaded transport convoy departed fifteen minutes later.
• An ANBU operative brought Shikaku an encrypted message from a dying reconnaissance shinobi reporting that the Capital Guard had engaged nonhuman monsters that were devouring and evolving.