Chapter Summaries

Ye Yuexin visited his former teacher, Haino Fuji, to ask whether Konoha’s spreading rumors about his mission put him in danger and to claim the signature technique Haino had promised him. Haino reassured him that the village seemed to be building him up, then passed him the technique scroll as his legacy before Ye Yuexin left for class.

• Ye Yuexin slipped into Haino Fuji’s office during lunchtime, and Haino warmly welcomed and praised him for the attention his mission had brought.
• Ye Yuexin told Haino he had concealed the enemy’s strength in his mission report and feared the rumors might put him in danger.
• Haino reasoned that the rumors’ wide spread suggested Konoha was building Ye Yuexin up rather than targeting him, easing Ye Yuexin’s worries.
• Ye Yuexin asked Haino for the signature technique he had promised after graduation, and Haino retrieved the scroll he had prepared long ago.
• Ye Yuexin accepted the scroll as Haino’s legacy, thanked him for his mentorship, and left as class was about to begin.

Ye Yuexin studied Haino Fuji’s Space Transfer technique and received orders to join Minato Namikaze’s team on a mission against Rock Ninja. Meanwhile, Itachi Uchiha trained under Shisui Uchiha until Shisui told him to focus on mastering fire nature.

• Ye Yuexin studied Space Transfer, sensed space as he drew its seal, and failed to transport a test sheet of paper.
• Ye Yuexin planned to engrave the seal onto his flying daggers so he could retrieve them and chain attacks more easily.
• An Anbu told Ye Yuexin that he would join Minato Namikaze’s elite team in three days to eliminate a Rock Ninja strike squad in the Land of Fire.
• Itachi Uchiha overtrained while trying to master Shisui Uchiha’s Body Flicker Technique, leaving himself exhausted and dehydrated.
• Shisui Uchiha told Itachi to stop practicing the technique and focus on understanding fire nature, then invited him to discuss his opponent over a late-night meal.

Ye Yuexin spent three days training with the Void Rotation Technique, refining his flying daggers and mastering a wind-blade ninjutsu. After he headed into Konoha to eat, Kurenai Yuhi invited him to dinner and teased him about marrying her.

• Ye Yuexin trained for three days, improving his spatial awareness and entering his Flying Dagger Mode as his daggers pierced through trees without leaving visible marks.
• Ye Yuexin mastered the wind-blade ninjutsu awarded by the Third Hokage and discovered that kicking out wind blades consumed a lot of chakra.
• Ye Yuexin finished training and went into Konoha to get grilled meatballs before his mission the next day.
• Kurenai Yuhi stopped Ye Yuexin in the street and said she had returned from a long-distance escort mission.
• Kurenai Yuhi invited Ye Yuexin to dinner, then moved close to him and asked if he was ready to marry her.

Ye Yuexin recalled how Kurenai Yuhi had become close to Anko and how an accident had led him to promise he would marry her. Kurenai Yuhi treated their outing for dango like a date, and Ye Yuexin played along, leaving the two of them happily entering the shop together.

• Kurenai Yuhi dressed up, surprised Ye Yuexin with her marriage question, and invited him out for a treat.
• Ye Yuexin remembered that Kurenai Yuhi had rescued Anko as a child, bringing the girls together as friends.
• Ye Yuexin recalled accidentally seeing Kurenai Yuhi bathing and promising to take responsibility for her, then later telling her he would marry her once he became a Kage Level strongman.
• Kurenai Yuhi reflected on how Ye Yuexin's kindness and reassuring presence had made her take his promise seriously.
• Ye Yuexin suggested they get dango, and Kurenai Yuhi asked whether he considered their outing a date.
• Ye Yuexin called Kurenai Yuhi beautiful and said he had asked her out, delighting her as they entered the shop.

Ye Yuexin shared a meal with Kurenai Yuhi, then picked wild roses for her before preparing for a new mission. At the village gates, he met Might Guy and Obito Uchiha while waiting for team leader Minato Namikaze.

• Ye Yuexin ate with Kurenai Yuhi, who told him she would deliver medical supplies to the border the next day.
• Ye Yuexin walked Kurenai Yuhi home, picked white wild roses along the way, and went home to prepare for his mission.
• Might Guy came to collect Ye Yuexin, and the two headed to the village gates together.
• Ye Yuexin arrived at the gates and saw Obito Uchiha and Kakashi waiting, but Minato Namikaze had not yet arrived.
• Obito Uchiha praised Ye Yuexin while insulting Kakashi, prompting Ye Yuexin to decide not to befriend Obito.

Ye Yuexin met his new teammates and joined Minato Namikaze on an urgent mission to reinforce Konoha’s border with the Land of Earth. Because several teammates could not keep up with Minato’s pace, the squad split up, with Minato taking Ye Yuexin and two others ahead while Kakashi led the rest.

• Ye Yuexin introduced himself to Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, Genma Shiranui, Ebisu, and Might Guy.
• Minato Namikaze arrived using the Flying Thunder God, noticed Ye Yuexin had sensed him, and led the squad out of Konoha on an urgent mission.
• The squad traveled at a jonin’s pace until Rin Nohara, Obito Uchiha, and Ebisu became exhausted.
• Minato Namikaze split the team, taking Ye Yuexin, Might Guy, and Ebisu ahead while Kakashi Hatake led the others to rest and reach the border by morning.

Minato Namikaze and Ye Yuexin investigated a suspicious campfire and discovered that the apparent carelessness of the ninja around it could be part of a deeper trap. After Minato and Ye Yuexin struck, Ye Yuexin sensed spatial fluctuations during Minato’s rapid use of Flying Thunder God, leaving him with a new insight into space.

• Minato Namikaze detected chakra ahead, and he and Ye Yuexin cautiously approached while the others waited behind.
• Ye Yuexin realized Konoha’s border guards should have been warned about the Rock Ninja strike team, so the conspicuous campfire might be bait for a larger plan.
• Ye Yuexin and Minato attacked the five ninja by extinguishing the fire and using the darkness to conceal their assault.
• Minato killed four of the five ninja with throat cuts, moving so quickly that Ye Yuexin heard only one strike.
• Ye Yuexin sensed spatial fluctuations during Minato’s rapid Flying Thunder God movements and understood why space had felt familiar during his Space Transfer practice.

After Ebisu discovered that the captured Iwagakure ninja had been bait, Minato Namikaze split the team’s duties to respond to a planned attack on the Land of Fire’s border. Minato raced toward the Sand Ninja defenses while Ye Yuexin led the others toward reinforcements, carrying Minato’s abandoned Flying Thunder God kunai.

• Ye Yuexin realized his flying knives could travel along the walls of space, then went to fetch Ebisu and Might Guy.
• Ebisu read the captured Rock Ninja’s memories and learned that an assault force of eighty rogue ninja planned to attack the Sunagakure border within a day.
• Minato Namikaze ordered Ye Yuexin to warn the border defense squad, arrange reinforcements for the Sand Ninja Defense Base, and then join Team Kakashi to strike Iwagakure outposts.
• Minato Namikaze set off toward the Sand Ninja defenses using the Body Flicker Technique, leaving four Flying Thunder God kunai behind.
• Ye Yuexin collected the kunai and rode on Might Guy’s back as the team hurried toward the base; Ebisu killed the captured Rock Ninja before they left.

Ye Yuexin and his exhausted teammates reached Konoha’s border defense base and reported urgent intelligence to Captain Akamichi Shima. After the base mobilized against the Sand Ninja Defense Base, Ye Yuexin relayed Shima’s instructions to the hidden sentries and went into the woods with his team to act while they waited for Kakashi.

• Ye Yuexin, Might Guy, and Ebisu reached the defense base after exchanging passwords with its sentries, and Chunin Yage escorted them inside.
• Ye Yuexin realized a sentry had been concealed underground and resolved to remember the danger of overlooking Earth Release.
• Yage introduced the team to Captain Akamichi Shima, and Ye Yuexin reported the important intelligence from Minato.
• After hearing the report, Akamichi Shima organized most of the base’s forces to attack the Sand Ninja Defense Base, leaving sentries and replacements behind.
• Ye Yuexin returned to Yage’s post, relayed Akamichi Shima’s instructions to the hidden sentries, and then went into the woods with his teammates to do something while waiting for Kakashi.

Ye Yuexin reunited with Kakashi's team and proposed using feints at two Rock Ninja outposts to draw reinforcements away from their main base. Kakashi rejected the plan's deception and revised it into a direct assault on five outposts, which the others reluctantly accepted.

• Ye Yuexin decided to turn back with Might Guy and Ebisu and rejoin Kakashi's team.
• The two teams met, and the group discussed how their combined strength could take on Rock Ninja outposts.
• Ye Yuexin proposed feigning attacks on two outposts to lure reinforcements away from the Rock Ninja main base, then striking the base.
• Kakashi objected, arguing that they needed to follow Minato-sensei's mission properly.
• Kakashi changed the plan to capture both outposts by force, then attack three more together, and the team reluctantly agreed.

Ye Yuexin and his team ambushed the Rock Ninja sentries at their sub-base, but the surviving defenders sealed themselves inside a massive earthen sphere. Ye Yuexin inspected the barrier with Might Guy and Ebisu, uncertain how they could attack without putting Ebisu at risk.

• Ye Yuexin used Flying Dagger Mode to kill two Rock Ninja sentries with daggers to their necks.
• Might Guy attacked two other Rock Ninja while Ebisu pulled one underground, allowing Guy to break both enemies’ necks with his kick.
• An alarm sounded, and the Rock Ninja at the base surrounded it with a huge, chakra-reinforced sphere of earth.
• Might Guy asked Ye Yuexin what to do, and Ye Yuexin led the team closer to inspect the smooth earthen barrier.
• Ye Yuexin decided not to send Ebisu inside, fearing traps and the Rock Ninja defenders, including a likely Chunin.

Ye Yuexin and his team broke through the earthen sphere and defeated three Rock Ninja, but a powerful attacker arrived and struck Ye Yuexin and Guy. The chapter ended with Ye Yuexin wounded and Guy sent tumbling.

• Guy tested the earthen sphere with taijutsu, and Ebisu breached it with his Earth Dragon Bullet Technique.
• Ye Yuexin, Guy, and Ebisu dodged spikes from the sphere as three Rock Ninja emerged from the smoke.
• Ye Yuexin rejected the Rock Ninja leader’s accusation and killed him with a throwing knife, then took his chakra-conducting short blade.
• Ebisu defeated one Rock Ninja with a family jutsu, and Guy knocked another down with Shadow Leaf Dance.
• A new attacker struck Ye Yuexin through the left arm and kicked Guy away.

Taiyuan Zeng confronted Ye Yuexin, Ebisu, and Might Guy after the young master of the Tumu Clan died, and he blamed them for ruining his future. Ye Yuexin and Guy fought back against Taiyuan Zeng’s overwhelming speed, but their coordinated opening attack struck only a wooden post, leaving Taiyuan Zeng’s location unknown.

• Taiyuan Zeng revealed that the dead squad leader had been the Tumu Clan’s young master and decided to kill Ye Yuexin and the others before seeking revenge on Konoha.
• Ye Yuexin warned Ebisu and Might Guy that they could die, then wrapped his bleeding arm and activated Flying Dagger Mode.
• Taiyuan Zeng vanished and attacked Ye Yuexin with a rapid feint and a kick from behind.
• Ye Yuexin used the Substitution Technique to escape Taiyuan Zeng’s kick and leave a wooden post in his place.
• Might Guy struck the post with a Konoha Hurricane, but Taiyuan Zeng had disappeared.

Ye Yuexin and Might Guy wounded Taiyuan Zeng, but Guy’s Eight Inner Gates began to fade, leaving them at risk. Ye Yuexin and Ebisu refused Guy’s offer to hold off Taiyuan Zeng alone and charged back into the fight.

• Taiyuan Zeng attacked Ebisu, prompting Might Guy to open three of the Eight Inner Gates and drive him back with a powerful kick.
• Taiyuan Zeng activated Swift Release and fought Might Guy at high speed until Ye Yuexin joined the battle with wind-enhanced attacks.
• Might Guy knocked Taiyuan Zeng aside, allowing Ye Yuexin to slash a deep wound across his chest.
• Might Guy’s strength began to fade, and Taiyuan Zeng realized his power came from a time-limited technique.
• Might Guy told Ye Yuexin to escape with Ebisu while he held Taiyuan Zeng off, but Ye Yuexin refused to give up and charged at their enemy.
• Ebisu drew his kunai and joined Ye Yuexin in the fight against Taiyuan Zeng.

Ye Yuexin, Ebisu, and Might Guy continued their desperate fight against Taiyuan Zeng, who used Swift Release to overwhelm them with speed. They found a way to pressure him, but Guy and Ye Yuexin were badly weakened by the end of the battle.

• Taiyuan Zeng poured more chakra into Swift Release, kicked Ye Yuexin aside, and attacked Ebisu, but Ebisu blocked him with an earth wall.
• Might Guy opened the Gate of Pain and battered Taiyuan Zeng, who survived the attack by pulling a metal plate from his chest.
• Ye Yuexin spotted that Taiyuan Zeng's movement speed exceeded his close-combat speed and urged Guy to fight at close range.
• Taiyuan Zeng switched to hit-and-run tactics, but Ye Yuexin joined Guy and helped them gradually gain the upper hand.
• Guy spat blood, and Taiyuan Zeng struck Ye Yuexin and sent her flying; Guy then used his remaining strength to punch Taiyuan Zeng before collapsing.

Ye Yuexin awakened Wind Transformation during his fight with Taiyuan Zeng and defeated the elite Jonin. After surviving, he found a Swift Release training scroll among Taiyuan Zeng’s belongings and headed back to Might Guy and Ebisu.

• Taiyuan Zeng overwhelmed Might Guy and Ye Yuexin, leaving both unable to fight back.
• As Taiyuan Zeng attacked, Ye Yuexin completed his first Wind Transformation and cut off Taiyuan Zeng’s right arm.
• Ye Yuexin threatened Taiyuan Zeng with a flying dagger, and Taiyuan Zeng fell dead.
• Ye Yuexin reassured Might Guy and Ebisu, then searched Taiyuan Zeng’s body and found a Swift Release training scroll.
• Ye Yuexin hid Taiyuan Zeng and the other Rock Ninja bodies beneath the collapsed base, then went to rejoin Might Guy and Ebisu.

Ye Yuexin, Might Guy, and Ebisu retreated toward the Land of Fire to recover after their injuries and chakra loss. They encountered Rin Nohara, who urgently asked them to help Kakashi and Genma Shiranui, both badly injured.

• Ye Yuexin learned that none of the three could use a summoning or communication technique, so he decided they should retreat and recover instead of continuing toward Kakashi’s team.
• Ye Yuexin carried the injured Might Guy toward the Land of Fire, and Ebisu took over when Ye Yuexin’s arm grew tired.
• Ye Yuexin sensed two approaching chakra signatures and led the others into hiding, preparing to attack.
• The group recognized Rin Nohara as one of the approaching figures and realized she had rushed to them alone.
• Rin Nohara told them that Kakashi was badly injured and nearly unconscious, and that Genma Shiranui was badly injured as well.

After learning that Kakashi and his team were fleeing after a deadly encounter with a Jonin, Ye Yuexin went to help while Rin Nohara took Might Guy and Ebisu to the main base for reinforcements. As he traveled, Ye Yuexin assessed the strengths and weaknesses of his abilities and realized his chakra reserves had grown, possibly marking his promotion to Chunin.

• Rin Nohara told Ye Yuexin that Kakashi had defeated a patrolling Jonin at the cost of injuries and that their group was still being pursued.
• Ye Yuexin ordered Rin to take Might Guy and Ebisu to the main base while he went to find Kakashi, rejecting Ebisu's and Might Guy's offers to go instead.
• Ye Yuexin set off using his mastered footwork, traveling cautiously to recover chakra as he went.
• Ye Yuexin considered how Fire Release could counter his Wind Transformation and concluded that his speed and formlessness were its main strengths.
• Ye Yuexin identified improving his knives' speed and penetrating power as future goals and noticed that his chakra reserves had increased, suggesting he had advanced to Chunin.

Ye Yuexin used Kakashi’s ninken to track Kakashi and the others, while the wounded team was surrounded by Iwagakure shinobi led by the elite jonin Tugang. Kakashi, Obito Uchiha, and Genma Shiranui faced what seemed like certain defeat.

• Ye Yuexin picked up Kakashi’s ninken and told it to lead him toward Kakashi and the others by scent.
• Obito Uchiha carried the badly wounded Kakashi as he, Genma Shiranui, and Rin Nohara made their way toward the Land of Fire’s border.
• Kakashi considered staying behind to stop their pursuers, but the group was suddenly surrounded by eight enemies.
• Obito Uchiha refused to put Kakashi down and challenged the surrounding shinobi.
• Tugang identified himself as an elite jonin from Iwagakure, and Kakashi explained that he belonged to the village’s Earth Style Group.
• Genma Shiranui gripped his blade and prepared to face death alongside his companions.

Ye Yuexin arrived in time to save Kakashi, Obito Uchiha, and Genma Shiranui from Tugang’s ambush. He held off the remaining Rock Ninjas while the injured Konoha team retreated to find reinforcements, leaving the fight poised to begin.

• Tugang tried to make the injured Kakashi, Obito Uchiha, and Genma Shiranui surrender, but they refused and prepared to fight.
• Ye Yuexin appeared and killed Yamamura and another Rock Ninja with flying knives, then told Tugang that Konoha Genin were strong.
• Ye Yuexin revealed that Rin Nohara was safe and had gone with the others to get reinforcements, and he ordered Kakashi’s team to retreat.
• When the remaining Rock Ninjas tried to stop them, Ye Yuexin killed one with another flying knife and declared that anyone crossing his line would die.
• Tugang ordered the four remaining Rock Ninjas to attack Ye Yuexin together, believing he could throw only one flying knife at a time.