Chapter Summaries

Jingyi sent Anbu to bring Shimura Lichu in for questioning, knowing the Shimura Clan and Third Hokage would resist. The Third Hokage arrived at the compound just before the standoff became a fight, and the Shimura Patriarch began denouncing the Anbu.

• Jingyi ordered Tiger to take two Anbu squads to bring Shimura Lichu back, then ordered the Anbu in the village to assemble for full deployment.
• Tiger told the Shimura Patriarch that the Anbu wanted Shimura Lichu for an investigation, but the patriarch refused and summoned the Third Hokage.
• A Shimura Clan ninja alerted the Third Hokage, who recognized the arrest as Jingyi's retaliation and rushed to the compound.
• The Anbu and Shimura Clan members drew their weapons, but the Third Hokage arrived before a fight began.
• The Third Hokage signaled the Shimura Patriarch to stop as the patriarch complained about the Anbu.

After the Third Hokage stopped the Anbu from arresting a Shimura Clan elder, Jingyi planned repeated operations to pressure the Hokage Office and reshape the Anbu. He began bringing Ino-Shika-Cho and Yamanaka Clan members into the organization and requested hundreds of equipment sets.

• The Third Hokage ordered Tiger to tell Jingyi to end the attempt to arrest the Shimura Clan elder, and Tiger withdrew the Anbu from the compound.
• Jingyi accepted the failed mission and told Tiger to keep his team ready for a major operation that night.
• Shikaku Nara warned Jingyi that the Third Hokage could quickly block an open arrest, and Jingyi planned to keep mobilizing the Anbu to exhaust the Hokage Office and remove disloyal members.
• Jingyi asked Shikaku Nara to place Ino-Shika-Cho members in Anbu clerical roles and assign interrogations to the Yamanaka Clan; Shikaku agreed to arrange twenty people within three days.
• Jingyi told the Logistics Department to move its fifty spare equipment sets to the main hall and submit an application to the Hokage Office for at least two hundred more.

Jingyi Hyuga sought two hundred sets of equipment to expand the Anbu, but the Third Hokage refused to provide them. At a late-night Anbu assembly, Jingyi dismissed more than a dozen members for secretly passing Anbu information to the Hokage Office and let them leave without stains on their records.

• Jingyi requested two hundred sets of equipment from the Third Hokage to support an Anbu recruitment drive.
• The Third Hokage rejected the request, despite Jingyi's warning that he would collect the equipment himself from Logistics.
• Jingyi addressed more than a hundred Anbu members at headquarters and ordered Tiger to remove everyone on his list.
• Several dismissed members challenged Jingyi, who accused them of violating Anbu regulations by secretly sharing intelligence with the Hokage Office.
• Jingyi told the dismissed members to surrender their equipment and weapons, promising to destroy their files without leaving a stain on their records.

Jingyi expelled Anbu members who had betrayed the organization, then replaced their numbers with puppets and began an operation to surround the Shimura Clan Compound. He also arranged for Orochimaru to make more puppets from corpses, including the demigod’s, and left Orochimaru to deliver them to the Anbu within ten days.

• Jingyi warned the remaining Anbu that disobedient members could be replaced by his cheap, loyal puppets, which took over the expelled members’ duties.
• Jingyi ordered the Anbu to surround the Shimura Clan Compound and forbade anyone from entering or leaving without his permission.
• Shikaku Nara left the Anbu headquarters to avoid being caught up in the operation when the Third Hokage arrived.
• Jingyi contacted Orochimaru and arranged for him to use his remaining corpses and the demigod’s corpse to make puppets, with Orochimaru covering the costs and keeping some finished puppets.
• Orochimaru agreed to deliver the puppets to the Anbu within ten days and decided to recycle the puppets he had damaged during his research.

The Third Hokage rushed to the Shimura Clan Compound after Jingyi ordered a large Anbu force to surround it. He failed to make the Anbu retreat, learning that Jingyi had threatened to replace anyone who abandoned the mission with puppets.

• Tiger and Eagle led dozens of Anbu shinobi to surround the Shimura Clan Compound, waking the Shimura Patriarch and alarming the clan.
• The Third Hokage hurried from his office to the compound, believing he had to protect the Shimura clan’s credibility.
• The Third Hokage ordered the Anbu to withdraw, but the shinobi remained in place.
• Tiger explained that Jingyi had declared retreat a mission failure that would cost Anbu members their positions.
• Eagle revealed that Jingyi’s puppets could replace Anbu operational personnel, leaving the Third Hokage stunned.

The Third Hokage confronted Jingyi Hyuga over the Anbu’s blockade of the Shimura Clan Compound and urged him to restore stability. They struck a deal for 260 sets of equipment in exchange for the Anbu withdrawing.

• The Third Hokage had the Hokage Guard Team reassure the Shimura Clan and then headed to ANBU Headquarters to meet Jingyi.
• The Third Hokage found Jingyi’s puppets guarding the headquarters and sat down with him to discuss the Anbu’s actions.
• Jingyi accused the Third Hokage and the Elder Council of starting the conflict by blocking supplies and threatening Anbu privileges.
• The Third Hokage promised to discipline the Shimura Clan member who had attacked Jingyi and to stop the clans behind the Elder Council from troubling him.
• Jingyi and the Third Hokage bargained over Anbu equipment and settled on 260 sets, after which the Anbu personnel would withdraw.

Jingyi refused to let the Anbu withdraw from the Shimura Clan Compound until the Logistics Department delivered 260 sets of equipment. The Third Hokage agreed to the terms and urged Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura to provide the equipment, leaving them distressed by the cost and the Anbu’s growing strength.

• Jingyi insisted that the Anbu remain around the Shimura Clan Compound until the equipment was delivered, and the Third Hokage agreed to gather it quickly.
• The Third Hokage summoned Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, explained the siege, and told them he had agreed to provide 260 sets of equipment.
• Mitokado Homura protested the equipment’s value, while Utatane Koharu questioned how the Anbu had gained so many members.
• The Third Hokage explained that Jingyi Hyuga’s puppets would join the Anbu and could replace Operations Department personnel while providing surveillance and communications.
• The Third Hokage asked Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura to have the Logistics Department deliver the equipment so the Anbu would withdraw and village stability could be restored.
• Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu worried over the costly demand and the fact that they could not reduce the Anbu’s privileges.

After the village delivered equipment to the Anbu, Jingyi deployed puppets to take over many guard duties and missions, leaving the Anbu short of work. He reassured Eagle and Tiger that the personnel would not be dismissed, while he and Shikaku struggled to find new assignments; at home, Jingyi met Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha, whose clan remained wary of his intentions.

• Mitokado Homura agreed to provide the Anbu with equipment, and the Logistics Department delivered the supplies by the next day.
• Jingyi withdrew the Anbu from the Shimura Clan Compound and used more than three hundred puppets to replace guards and take over some Anbu duties.
• Eagle and Tiger asked Jingyi about the Anbu personnel displaced by the puppets, and he promised they would keep their jobs while their assignments were adjusted.
• Jingyi asked Shikaku Nara where to place the surplus Anbu, but they found that the front lines, prison, and Hokage's office already had enough personnel.
• Jingyi went home and found Mikoto Uchiha and Fugaku Uchiha visiting, while the Uchiha remained uncertain whether he meant to provoke the Hokage Faction or win them over.

Fugaku Uchiha visited Jingyi to ask for help improving the Uchiha’s standing in the village, but Jingyi rejected the proposal because the clan offered little benefit and too much trouble. Mikoto Uchiha and Kushina overheard the conversation, and Mikoto was left wondering whether the Uchiha’s situation was truly so bad.

• Fugaku Uchiha visited Jingyi with Mikoto Uchiha and asked Kushina to show Mikoto upstairs.
• Jingyi told Fugaku Uchiha to speak plainly, and Fugaku explained that he wanted the Uchiha to integrate into the village and needed Jingyi’s help.
• Jingyi asked what he and Tsunade would gain from helping, and Fugaku offered Uchiha funds, supplies, and manpower.
• Jingyi rejected Fugaku’s offer, citing the Uchiha’s problems, the risk of creating conflicts during wartime, and the lack of sincerity.
• Kushina and Mikoto Uchiha listened from the stairs, and Mikoto asked whether the Uchiha’s situation was really so bad.

Jingyi finished discussing clan matters with Fugaku Uchiha, then hosted Kushina, Mikoto Uchiha, and Nawaki for dinner. When Kushina and Nawaki learned Jingyi would have more time at home, he announced that Nawaki’s training would be doubled, leaving him stunned.

• Jingyi told Kushina and Mikoto Uchiha to keep his discussion with Fugaku Uchiha secret.
• Nawaki came home complaining that he had eaten Ichiraku Ramen too many times while Jingyi had been busy.
• Jingyi invited Mikoto Uchiha to stay for dinner, and Kushina pulled her away to wash their hands.
• Nawaki wolfed down Jingyi’s cooking while Kushina rushed to save her favorite dishes.
• Mikoto Uchiha asked whether Jingyi would be home more often, and Kushina and Nawaki reacted eagerly.
• Jingyi told Nawaki that his training would be doubled because he wanted to double it, and Nawaki protested in disbelief.

Jingyi reassured Mikoto Uchiha that she could remain friends with Kushina without giving in to her family's matchmaking pressure, and revealed that Mie Hyuga faced similar family schemes. At the Land of Rivers camp, Tsunade read a startling message from the Third Hokage and choked in surprise.

• After dinner, Jingyi walked Mikoto Uchiha home and told her not to let her family's pressure interfere with her friendship with Kushina.
• Jingyi told Mikoto Uchiha to use his name if anyone pressured her again, then explained that Mie Hyuga also faced family schemes because the Hyuga Clan was in a difficult position.
• Jingyi left Mikoto Uchiha at the Uchiha compound and departed after she asked how the Hyuga Clan could use someone from its Main House as a tool.
• At the Land of Rivers camp, Tsunade opened a scroll from the Third Hokage and choked in shock at its contents.

Tsunade rejected the Third Hokage’s plea to make Jingyi hand over his puppets, convinced Konoha’s leaders had to offer compensation rather than demand them for free. At Sunagakure’s camp, Chiyo grieved for her murdered son and daughter-in-law, ordered more spies into the Land of Fire, and blamed Tsunade for the worsening war.

• Tsunade read the Third Hokage’s complaints about Jingyi and refused to persuade him to surrender his puppets without compensation.
• Tsunade considered how puppets could have strengthened Konoha on the battlefield, then sighed over the casualty report and the village’s refusal to compromise.
• Chiyo stared at a photograph of her dead son and daughter-in-law before a ninja brought intelligence scrolls from Ebizo.
• Chiyo ordered Ebizo to send more spies into the Land of Fire, where Konoha’s internal situation was reportedly unstable.
• Chiyo blamed Tsunade for Sunagakure’s run of bad news after Tsunade arrived at the front.

While Tsunade overwhelmed Sunagakure's Puppet Corps, Jingyi focused on experimenting with new puppet materials and watched Hatake Sakumo return to Konoha as a celebrated war hero. Orochimaru was ordered back to the battlefield, and Jingyi anticipated trouble when the daimyo's reward for Sakumo arrived.

• Tsunade countered Chiyo's poison and battered Sunagakure's Puppet Corps, leaving Chiyo unable to find an opening to kill her.
• Orochimaru delivered his puppets to Jingyi, helped him dispose of the demigod's corpse, and then Jingyi delegated Anbu work to Shikaku Nara to focus on experiments.
• Jingyi tested metal, soil, and stone as puppet materials, but his new puppet remained stiff and ineffective.
• Hatake Sakumo returned to a cheering Konoha, while Jingyi watched and reflected on how F4's publicity had made Sakumo more famous than him.
• Orochimaru said the Third Hokage wanted him back at the front, and Jingyi hinted that the daimyo's reward for Sakumo could provoke the old man; Orochimaru expected to leave the next day.

Hatake Sakumo invited Jingyi to dinner to apologize for the Hokage Office using him to overshadow Jingyi, but Jingyi assured him he did not blame him. They discussed the village’s political conflict and Sunagakure’s destruction of villages, while the promised retaliation remained undecided.

• The Third Hokage failed to persuade Orochimaru to surrender his puppets and pressed him to return to the battlefield, where Orochimaru hoped to gather materials.
• Hatake Sakumo invited Jingyi to an Akimichi barbecue restaurant and tried to explain that he had not caused the village to promote him over Jingyi.
• Jingyi told Hatake Sakumo that the Hokage Office had used his victory over Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law to suppress Jingyi after failing to obtain Jingyi's puppets.
• Hatake Sakumo struggled to understand the political conflict, and Jingyi reassured him that neither he nor the Hatake Clan was responsible for it.
• Hatake Sakumo described Sunagakure's destruction and looting of villages, while Jingyi doubted that the Hokage Office would follow through on its promised retaliation.

The Third Hokage visited Shimura Danzō in prison, where Danzō accused him of favoring the Elder Council and refusing to help him. Danzō threatened to reveal the truth about Kagami Uchiha’s death and gave the Third Hokage one year to secure his release.

• The Third Hokage visited Shimura Danzō in Konoha Prison, and Danzō accused him of breaking his promise to get him released.
• The Third Hokage explained that Jingyi’s actions and the political fallout had made Danzō’s release difficult, but Danzō argued that the Third Hokage had helped Utatane Koharu while abandoning him.
• The Third Hokage blamed Danzō’s actions against Jingyi Hyuga and Kushina for weakening their position and alienating allies.
• Shimura Danzō threatened to expose what the village did not know about Kagami Uchiha’s death if the Third Hokage continued to leave him imprisoned.
• Shimura Danzō gave the Third Hokage one year to find a way to release him, warning that he could not predict what he would do otherwise.

The Third Hokage told Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura that Shimura Danzō had threatened to expose what happened to Kagami Uchiha unless he was released within a year. The three failed to agree on how to persuade Tsunade and Jingyi Hyuga, then arrived exhausted at a morning meeting where Jingyi noticed their condition.

• The Third Hokage summoned Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura and told them Shimura Danzō had threatened to reveal what happened to Kagami Uchiha if he was not released within a year.
• Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura reacted with alarm, but agreed that releasing Shimura Danzō required persuading Tsunade and Jingyi Hyuga.
• The Third Hokage, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura argued through the night without finding a solution, then learned they had to attend a morning meeting.
• Jingyi Hyuga arrived at the meeting, noticed the three looked exhausted, and asked Torifu Akimichi what had happened.

After a long village meeting, Jingyi ate with Hyuga Hiashi, who explained that he had arranged for Mie Hyuga to get close to Jingyi because he valued Jingyi’s help to the clan. Jingyi advised Hiashi to reduce the Main House’s arrogance and improve the Branch House’s treatment, leaving Hiashi to consider how difficult that would be.

• The Third Hokage held a lengthy meeting about the war, and Jingyi left with Hyuga Hiashi for a meal.
• Jingyi asked why the Hyuga Clan had sent Mie Hyuga, a Main House member, to win him over, and Hiashi said the idea had been his own.
• Hiashi told Jingyi that he believed Jingyi’s help mattered more to the clan than choosing a future wife.
• Jingyi advised Hiashi to improve the Branch House’s treatment and have the Main House act with less arrogance.
• Hiashi worried that the other Main House members would not allow him to treat the clan equally, and Jingyi told him there were no excuses.

Jingyi’s advice led Hyuga Hiashi and his father to improve the Branch House’s treatment after months of persuading the Main House. Meanwhile, Jingyi successfully synthesized puppet-making clay, and Jiraiya watched Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato train in the Land of Rain.

• Hyuga Hiashi told his father about Jingyi’s suggestions, and the Hyuga clan head agreed that the Branch House’s treatment should be improved first.
• Hyuga Hiashi and his father persuaded the Main House to accept better treatment for Branch House members after several months of effort.
• Jingyi finished synthesizing inexpensive clay for making puppets, removing material costs as a limit on production.
• Jingyi told Shikaku Nara that he could stop relying on puppets made from corpses and then left to relax at a hot spring.
• Jiraiya praised Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato for their training and wondered how Nawaki had progressed under Jingyi’s guidance.

Jiraiya stayed in the Land of Rain to train Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko, while Nawaki, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina pushed themselves through fierce training back in Konoha. Jingyi received a protection request concerning the Land of Rain’s daimyo and learned that Konoha’s withdrawal had left the country dangerously chaotic.

• Konan worried that Jiraiya would leave her, Nagato, and Yahiko, but Jiraiya promised to stay and teach them.
• Nawaki, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina competed in training, rapidly improving their strength.
• A member of the Hokage Guard Team summoned Jingyi to the Hokage Office.
• The Third Hokage gave Jingyi a protection request from the Daimyo’s Court involving the Land of Rain’s daimyo.
• Jingyi learned that Hanzō’s death had ended the war and that Konoha’s withdrawal had left the Land of Rain overrun with dangerous people and Rogue Ninja.

Jingyi led three Anbu squads into the Land of Rain to protect its daimyo and search for Jiraiya. The Land of Rain proved to be overrun with Rogue Ninja, and Jingyi’s group intervened in their sixth home invasion within a day.

• The Third Hokage assigned Jingyi to lead three Anbu squads to protect the Land of Rain's daimyo and asked him to tell Jiraiya to return to the village.
• Jingyi ordered Tiger to choose three squads, arranged additional puppet support, and left Konoha with his people the next day.
• Jingyi's group traveled through the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rain, where they found Rogue Ninja robbing an elderly couple's home.
• The Anbu killed the two home invaders, and Jingyi ordered his squad to leave food for the elderly couple.
• Jingyi released puppets across the Land of Rain to search for Jiraiya and survey the region, finding that Amegakure's surviving ninja and other Rogue Ninja had left the country in chaos.