Recaps

Danzo came to Lin Chuan’s home and forced the boy to join Root, despite his parents’ distress. Lin Chuan’s father appealed to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who worried that Danzo would refuse to release him even if his positions were restored.

• Danzo visited Lin Chuan’s home and told his father that he wanted Lin Chuan to join the ANBU.
• Lin Chuan’s father tried to refuse, but Danzo ordered him to call Lin Chuan over.
• Lin Chuan agreed to join, then followed Danzo away without being allowed to collect clothes or signal his father.
• Lin Chuan’s father went to Hokage Tower and told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Danzo had taken Lin Chuan.
• Hiruzen sent Lin Chuan’s father away and considered restoring Danzo’s positions in hopes of securing Lin Chuan’s release.

Iruka learned that Danzo had taken Lin Chuan to Root and failed to get help from Hiruzen Sarutobi. At Root, Lin Chuan shared a dormitory with Kabuto Yakushi, cautiously settling in while wondering what the dangerous spy might do.

• Iruka discovered that Lin Chuan had missed class because Danzo had taken him away, then went to Hiruzen Sarutobi and was told to wait for news.
• Iruka returned to the academy shaken by the fates of his two best students, Sasuke Uchiha and Lin Chuan.
• Lin Chuan met his dormitory roommate, Kabuto Yakushi, and followed his instructions to make his bed and change into Root's uniform.
• Kabuto Yakushi took Lin Chuan to the cafeteria for dinner and told him that Root's training would be difficult.
• Lin Chuan answered Kabuto Yakushi cautiously, then returned to the dormitory and lay awake beside him.

Lin Chuan began Root’s ANBU Training Class under Danzo and instructor Ryūma Aburame, where the children faced brutal selection and were told to serve Danzo without question. After collecting their gear and receiving the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, the trainees prepared to return to training.

• Danzo addressed the gathered children, preached Root’s loyalty and self-sacrifice, and assigned Ryūma Aburame to oversee their selection with Kabuto Yakushi and Leopard as assistants.
• Ryūma warned the children that ANBU selection had a near-ninety-percent elimination rate and outlined their harsh training and duties.
• Lin Chuan stood and followed Kabuto Yakushi, while three children who could not get up were dragged away by masked ANBU.
• Kabuto led the surviving children to collect ANBU equipment, and Lin Chuan chose a white mask with black markings.
• The trainees went to Root’s sealing class and received the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal to prevent intelligence leaks.

Ryūma Aburame put the numbered trainees through an exhausting endurance test, which all thirty-four survived, before starting a genjutsu test with the Hell Viewing Technique. The chapter ended with the trainees trapped in visions of their greatest fears.

• The trainees received the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, while Kabuto Yakushi and Leopard, who had already been marked, needed no new seal.
• Ryūma Aburame ordered the trainees to run without stopping and used his whip to force one exhausted child back onto the track.
• The trainees collapsed one by one over the day-long run, and Kabuto Yakushi treated them and assigned numbers according to when they fainted.
• Torune Aburame and Fū Yamanaka collapsed before Lin Chuan, who earned Number Thirty-Three; the final trainee became Number Thirty-Four.
• After recovering and eating, the thirty-four trainees gathered again, learned that their numbers were their code names, and were caught in Ryūma Aburame's Hell Viewing Technique.

Lin Chuan was the first child to break Ryūma Aburame’s genjutsu and chose the B-rank Water Release technique Heavenly Weeping. After the children received their ninjutsu scrolls, Leopard led them into the Forest of Death for a half-month survival test.

• Lin Chuan overcame the Hell Viewing Technique by disrupting the chakra flow in his body, and a little over twenty children eventually broke free on their own.
• Ryūma Aburame let the children who broke the genjutsu choose B-rank ninjutsu, while those who failed could choose only C-rank techniques.
• Lin Chuan chose the B-rank Water Release: Heavenly Weeping scroll for its concealed, seal-less attacks.
• Ryūma Aburame announced that the children had to learn their chosen ninjutsu and survive in the Forest of Death for half a month without food or medicine.
• Leopard led the masked children through Root’s underground passage and into the Forest of Death.

Lin Chuan and Terai teamed up for the Forest of Death survival test, then discovered a beast was stalking them. The chapter ended as Lin Chuan dodged its attack and slashed it with his short blade.

• Leopard explained the half-month survival rules and hid in the treetops to observe the children.
• Fū Yamanaka teamed up with Torune Aburame, while Shin left with Sai.
• Terai introduced himself to Lin Chuan, and the two agreed to team up despite complaints from the crowd.
• Terai revealed that he belonged to the Shimura Clan, while Lin Chuan said he had been the top student in his year at the Ninja Academy.
• Lin Chuan sensed a beast targeting them, and he and Terai prepared to fight.
• Lin Chuan dodged a sudden attack and slashed the beast overhead with his short blade.

Lin Chuan and Terai cooked snake meat and rested in the Forest of Death after a grueling day, each concealing which ninjutsu he had chosen. Elsewhere, a large alliance plotted to learn ninjutsu for ten days before hunting the other candidates, including Lin Chuan and his peers.

• Lin Chuan and Terai prepared snake meat but discovered they had no fire, so Terai used a tiny Great Fireball Technique to ignite the wood.
• While grilling, Lin Chuan claimed he had chosen Water Release: Water Fang Bullet, and Terai claimed he had chosen Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet; both realized the other was lying and laughed.
• After eating, Lin Chuan and Terai extinguished the fire, hid in a tree, and rested instead of practicing their new ninjutsu.
• A group of more than ten candidates gathered around a bonfire and discussed surviving together in the Forest of Death.
• One resentful candidate urged the group to attack the stronger candidates in numbers, and the others identified several targets, including Lin Chuan and Terai.
• The alliance agreed to spend ten days learning ninjutsu before hunting the other candidates.

Lin Chuan studied the B-rank Water Release technique Heavenly Weeping and used physics to improve the speed of its water needles. After testing pressure and negative pressure, he gained an initial understanding of the technique and checked his ninjutsu progress.

• Lin Chuan and Terai ate river fish sashimi before beginning their ninjutsu training.
• Lin Chuan used a Shadow Clone to study Heavenly Weeping and worked out that the water needle needed greater density and speed to penetrate targets.
• Lin Chuan reasoned that pressure differences could increase the water needle's initial velocity, then tested both pressurization and depressurization against a tree.
• Lin Chuan found that depressurizing his mouth produced a more powerful shot in Konoha and considered using different methods at different elevations.
• Lin Chuan opened his ninjutsu panel and saw Heavenly Weeping listed at Beginner: 2/10.

Lin Chuan and Terai trapped and killed a huge wild boar, then preserved its meat for food. After they left the riverside, scavengers descended on the carcass, and curious people found the stripped skeleton.

• Lin Chuan practiced Heavenly Weeping, then went into the forest to find food and was chased back by a wild boar.
• Lin Chuan and Terai lured the boar into a gap between two boulders, where Terai stabbed its heart and Lin Chuan cut its throat.
• Lin Chuan washed the blood into the river, and the two butchered the boar, cooked some meat, and dried the rest.
• Lin Chuan and Terai gathered their meat and left before nightfall as beasts gathered near the bloody carcass.
• A leopard and other scavengers ate the remains, and curious people later found the boar's enormous skeleton.

Lin Chuan and Terai learned that lower-numbered trainees were attacking stronger teams to avoid being eliminated, and Terai gathered allies to fight back. Number Thirty, Number Nineteen, Sai, and Shin joined them, but the group learned that Number Twenty-Nine and several other trainees had already been killed.

• Lin Chuan finished learning Water Release: Heavenly Weeping while he and Terai rested during their wilderness exercise.
• Terai investigated a nighttime battle and discovered that lower-numbered trainees had teamed up to attack Number Thirty and Number Twenty-Nine.
• Terai proposed forming a group to strike back, and Lin Chuan said he would leave the recruiting to him.
• Terai returned the next day with the injured Number Thirty, Number Nineteen, Sai, and Number Twenty, Shin.
• Number Thirty reported that Number Twenty-Nine had been killed, and Terai said he had seen two other teams surrounded and killed but had not dared to intervene.

Lin Chuan and Terai gathered a group to oppose the peers hunting higher-numbered survivors, but Lin Chuan spotted a mole among their recruits. When the enemy attacked before dawn, Lin Chuan stayed behind to hold them off as the others fled.

• Terai recruited Shin, Sai, and Number Thirty, then brought in Torune, Kaede, and other survivors until their group numbered fourteen.
• The group planned a decisive battle for the fourteenth day, but Lin Chuan noticed one recruit sneaking away to alert their enemies.
• Lin Chuan warned Terai that the group lacked trust and advised scattering if the enemy pursued them; the two escaped the camp while their Shadow Clones pretended to sleep.
• Before dawn, the mole stabbed Number Twenty-One and dozens of enemies converged on the camp.
• Lin Chuan told the others to flee and stayed behind to face the attackers.

Lin Chuan and the others used Shadow Clones to escape the Forest of Death selection, then regrouped with the surviving recruits and returned to Root. After demonstrating his chosen Water Release technique to Ryūma Aburame, Lin Chuan went back to the dormitory to rest.

• Terai and Fū Yamanaka stayed with Lin Chuan while the other recruits fled, and the four exposed and killed an infiltrator who had remained behind.
• No. 29 led an attack on Lin Chuan's group, but the four used Shadow Clones to retreat and Torune's exploding Insect Clone poisoned five attackers.
• No. 29 abandoned the pursuit, and twenty-three survivors gathered at the clearing after seeing the assembly signal.
• Lin Chuan, Terai, Fū Yamanaka, Torune, and Kaede reunited without revealing that they had used Shadow Clones, then returned to Root with the other survivors.
• Lin Chuan handed over his extra scrolls and demonstrated Water Release: Heavenly Weeping to Ryūma Aburame, who approved the technique.
• Lin Chuan returned to the dormitory and went to sleep while Kabuto Yakushi was away.

After a month of intense training, Lin Chuan entered the first monthly life-and-death battle, where he drew Number Seven against Number Thirty-Three. The fight began as his opponent used Fireball Jutsu and Lin Chuan answered with Water Shock Wave.

• Ryūma Aburame ordered the twenty-three candidates to train for six months and announced monthly life-and-death battles that would eliminate the lowest-ranked fighter.
• Lin Chuan obtained a water training ground from Kabuto Yakushi and trained his Water Release and combat skills, while Terai prepared to practice Wind Release.
• Over the next month, Lin Chuan improved his Water chakra nature, Body Flicker Technique, and Shadow Clone while planning to keep strengthening his ninjutsu.
• At the monthly battle, Lin Chuan drew number seven and entered the bloodstained room with his matching opponent as Ryūma Aburame watched.
• Number Seven tested Lin Chuan with a kunai, then formed Fire Release seals; Lin Chuan deflected the weapon and began casting Water Shock Wave.

Lin Chuan survived another Root battle and spent the following month training until his Body Flicker Technique reached Chunin proficiency. In the next round, he defeated Sai but failed to kill him after Sai surrendered, leaving both alive for another battle.

• Lin Chuan defeated Number Seven with two Water Clones and learned that three candidates had died during the battles.
• He trained relentlessly through the second month, raising his Body Flicker Technique to Chunin proficiency and his Shadow Clone to Genin level.
• Lin Chuan drew Number Three for the next round and planned to train Water Release techniques while considering how to improve his skills.
• Lin Chuan used his enhanced speed to kick Sai out of his Ink Mist Technique and nearly stabbed him before Sai surrendered.
• Ryūma Aburame stopped Lin Chuan's blade and declared him the winner, and Shin arrived afterward relieved that Sai was alive.

Two months after Lin Chuan vanished from the Ninja Academy, Naruto and his classmates remained unsure when he would return, while Danzo and Orochimaru continued their secret exchange. The chapter ended with Kabuto carrying Orochimaru’s response back to Danzo as Orochimaru set his sights on Sasuke as a future vessel.

• Naruto asked Hiruzen Sarutobi when Lin Chuan would return, and Hiruzen could only say that Lin Chuan was undergoing training in Root.
• Iruka continued calling Lin Chuan’s name at roll call, while Sasuke and Shikamaru noticed his absence and wondered what had happened to him.
• Danzo sent Kabuto Yakushi to deliver a sealing scroll to Orochimaru, and Kabuto shook off the ANBU squad following him before reaching the Hidden Sound Village.
• Orochimaru gave Kabuto a scroll containing a failed experiment for Danzo and told him to arrange a way into the Ninja Academy for Orochimaru’s plan involving Sasuke.
• The Root squad failed to locate Kabuto or Orochimaru’s hideout and returned to report their unsuccessful search.

After six months of brutal training, Lin Chuan reviewed his progress as the remaining trainees were assigned their first practical missions. He teamed up with Terai, and they received a mission to hunt a Chunin-level rogue ninja in Tanzaku Town.

• At the end of the sixth month, sixteen trainees gathered, and no death match was held.
• Lin Chuan checked his panel and saw that his Water chakra nature, kunai throwing, and Body Flicker Technique had reached Chunin level, while his other skills remained mostly Genin level.
• Ryūma Aburame ordered the trainees to choose partners, form two-person squads, select captains, and collect mission scrolls.
• Terai asked Lin Chuan to team up, and Lin Chuan accepted because Terai was one of the strongest trainees.
• Terai chose a mission scroll that tasked them with hunting a Chunin-level Konoha rogue ninja hiding in a Tanzaku Town casino.

Lin Chuan and Terai disguised themselves as beggars to investigate the rogue ninja working at a Tanzaku Town casino. After Tsunade gave them money, they spotted the casino thugs heading to the pleasure district and prepared to follow them.

• Ryūma Aburame warned the trainees to complete their missions within a week and reminded them that Root would hunt down any who defected.
• Lin Chuan and Terai collected supplies, traveled to Tanzaku Town, and disguised themselves as beggars to get close to the casino target.
• Tsunade gave Lin Chuan and Terai a ten-thousand-ryō note as alms while leaving the casino with Shizune.
• The casino thugs discussed robbing the beggars and said they planned to go drinking in the pleasure district that night.
• Terai nudged Lin Chuan and urged him to act after the thugs revealed their plans.

Lin Chuan and Terai tracked their mission target after casino thugs stole the money Tsunade had given them. Disguised as ANBU, they killed the thugs in the red-light district and attacked the rogue ninja, who woke and threw a smoke bomb at Lin Chuan.

• Lin Chuan and Terai left the casino to buy food, but a casino thug stole their money and drove them away.
• Lin Chuan and Terai waited outside the casino until the thugs left, then changed into ANBU uniforms and followed them to the red-light district.
• Lin Chuan secretly wrote a letter, tied it to a kunai, and returned to Terai on the rooftop above the thugs' private room.
• Lin Chuan and Terai entered the room and stabbed more than ten casino thugs through the heart, including the one who had stolen their money.
• Lin Chuan moved to kill the rogue ninja, but the target woke and threw a smoke bomb, which Lin Chuan cut open and filled the room with smoke.

Lin Chuan and Terai captured a rogue ninja in a casino, where they encountered Tsunade and Shizune. Lin Chuan killed the captive during their escape, and Tsunade realized the two children belonged to Danzo’s Root.

• Lin Chuan and Terai cornered the drunken rogue ninja, who begged Tsunade to protect him.
• The rogue ninja took Shizune hostage, but Shizune disarmed him and threw him to the floor.
• Tsunade questioned Lin Chuan and Terai about their identities, and Terai revealed they were ANBU trainees.
• Lin Chuan stabbed the rogue ninja through the heart, triggering Tsunade’s hemophobia, and he and Terai fled after destroying the body.
• Shizune found the signal kunai and helped Tsunade recover by the lakeside, where Tsunade identified the children as Danzo’s Root ninjas.

Tsunade learned that Lin Chuan had joined Danzo's Root and considered passing his plea for help to his teacher, Maruboshi Kosuke. A year later, Lin Chuan joined a Root mission to purge infiltrators and bandits along the Land of Fire's northern border, where his team prepared to attack samurai raiding a village.

• Shizune found Lin Chuan's letter hidden in a kunai, and Tsunade identified Maruboshi Kosuke as his teacher but left delivering the message to chance.
• Lin Chuan and Terai returned to Root after their mission, reported meeting Tsunade, and received no reward.
• Six months later, Ryūma Aburame assigned Root's trainees a border mission against infiltrating ninja, samurai, and Jashin Cult members, with Leopard leading them.
• Lin Chuan traveled north with the team and saw villages devastated by refugees and bandits before they found samurai slaughtering and looting a village.
• Leopard ordered the sixteen ANBU to kill every armed samurai, and the teams split up to infiltrate the burning village.

Lin Chuan and the ANBU purged samurai and bandits from the northern Land of Fire, restoring order and slowing the refugee exodus. After months of patrols, Lin Chuan reflected on his improving ninjutsu while expecting the unrest beyond the border to continue.

• The sixteen ANBU killed the wandering samurai attacking a village, then continued north and eliminated plunderers along the way.
• Leopard handed the mission over at a border outpost, where the ANBU received orders to purge criminals across assigned patrol sectors.
• Lin Chuan and Terai killed five samurai threatening refugees at the docks, and Lin Chuan told the ship manager that passage could continue as long as nobody caused trouble.
• The ANBU's campaign and the border ninja's propaganda calmed the north, halted much of the migration, and made people afraid to carry samurai swords.
• After months of patrols, Terai complained that the mission was dull, while Lin Chuan considered the continuing unrest in the Land of Hot Water and reviewed his ninjutsu progress.

Lin Chuan and Terai entered the Land of Hot Water for an assassination test, seeking bandit samurai they could kill without exposing their identities. After observing a bandit camp, they waited until its occupants got drunk and prepared to attack.

• Leopard ordered the trainees to infiltrate the Land of Hot Water in civilian clothes and return with ten pairs of samurai hands each.
• Lin Chuan and Terai chose to hunt bandit samurai rather than risk confronting warriors hired by nobles or wealthy merchants.
• They found a fortified bandit camp and watched its samurai rob refugees while accepting supplies from a merchant caravan.
• Lin Chuan suspected the bandits were private soldiers tied to a noble, but agreed to strike after they got drunk.
• The bandits drank late into the night, and Lin Chuan and Terai prepared to attack under cover of darkness.

Lin Chuan and Terai cleared a bandit stronghold, where they discovered and captured an immortal Jashin Cult follower. After returning to the border outpost, they were sent with Fū Yamanaka and Torune Aburame to find two missing ANBU squads, and the group located them at a noble’s estate.

• Lin Chuan and Terai killed the drunken bandits and defeated their leader, a Jashin Cult follower who survived being stabbed through the heart.
• Lin Chuan and Terai severed the follower’s limbs and head, then brought him and the bandits’ hands to Leopard, who approved their mission.
• Leopard sent Lin Chuan’s team and Fū Yamanaka’s team to search for two missing ANBU squads using an Aburame tracking insect.
• The four shinobi followed the insect to a noble’s estate, where Fū Yamanaka chose Lin Chuan to infiltrate with him while Terai and Torune Aburame provided support.

Lin Chuan and Fū Yamanaka infiltrated a noble's estate, discovered a Jashin Cult ritual that drained the life from four missing ninjas, and killed the old man behind it. After returning to Root, Lin Chuan considered which ninjutsu to learn next as the remaining ANBU trainees headed back to the village.

• Lin Chuan and Fū Yamanaka sneaked into the estate, killed the two basement guards, and found the four missing ninjas being sacrificed by a Jashin Cult devotee.
• The old man's ritual briefly restored his youth before it stopped, and Fū Yamanaka killed him while Lin Chuan checked the four sacrifices for Life Points.
• Lin Chuan found a bound young girl in a hidden bedroom and left her a kunai before he and Fū Yamanaka escaped with the bodies and weapons.
• The girl freed herself and fled the estate, while Lin Chuan's personal panel remained unchanged after the rescue.
• After returning to the border outpost, Lin Chuan joined Leopard and the surviving trainees on their journey back to the village and weighed which ninjutsu to learn at Root.

Lin Chuan chose and learned the C-rank Water Prison Technique, experimenting with its uses and limitations before reaching Usable proficiency. A week later, he demonstrated the technique to Leopard and passed the assessment.

• Lin Chuan selected Water Release: Water Prison Technique because it was practical and suited his chakra reserves.
• Lin Chuan practiced shaping and compressing the water prison, testing its ability to immobilize and kill with Shadow Clones.
• Lin Chuan considered using the air-filled prison for diving and concluded that trapped enemies could instead be drowned.
• Lin Chuan checked his Ninjutsu Grind Panel and found Water Prison at Usable proficiency.
• Lin Chuan demonstrated Water Release: Water Prison Technique to Leopard, who passed him and called the next trainee.