Chapter Summaries

Sōji offered to treat Samui’s chronic shoulder pain, and his chakra massage stirred feelings between them as their interaction grew increasingly intimate. The chapter ended with Samui turning onto her back and meeting Sōji’s gaze.

• At dinner, Sōji noticed Samui barely eating and repeatedly rubbing her right shoulder.
• Sōji offered to massage Samui, and she accepted before returning to her cabin after a hot bath.
• Sōji used Yang Release chakra to ease blockages in Samui’s shoulder and arm while she relaxed under his touch.
• Sōji noticed Samui’s heart rate and body temperature rising, and he acknowledged that the massage had become emotionally charged.
• Sōji asked Samui to turn over, and she slowly rolled onto her back with flushed cheeks and looked up at him.

Sōji and Samui began a secret romantic relationship after Samui chose to remove his blindfold. The next morning, they agreed to keep their private connection quiet while continuing their official duties, and Sōji noticed his chakra and Cursed Energy flowing with unusual ease.

• Samui asked to see Sōji's eyes, and he gave her the choice to stop before she removed his blindfold and kissed him.
• Sōji and Samui spent the night together aboard the Island Turtle.
• Samui woke before Sōji and watched him sleep, then they shared a quiet moment after he woke.
• Samui and Sōji agreed that their relationship would remain secret for now and would not affect their official liaison work.
• Sōji left the cabin and sensed that his chakra, Cursed Energy, and Six Eyes perception had improved.

Sōji practiced maintaining Limitless before time passed and the villages gathered to celebrate the New Year at the Former Site of the Land of Whirlpool. The festival continued beneath heavy snow, with the three villages sharing food and conversation as Sōji exchanged quiet glances with Samui.

• Sōji met Muku after his training and encouraged him to keep working hard with Gō.
• Sōji tested Limitless by concentrating on its cursed energy algorithm and achieved continuous operation of the technique.
• A year passed, and the three villages held a New Year Festival beside the newly built Uzumaki Clan building at the Former Site of the Land of Whirlpool.
• Shikaku and Ao discussed the second-phase drainage plans while Kakashi and Guy teased them about working during the festival.
• Killer B, Darui, and Atsui prepared grilled meat as Suigetsu eagerly waited for food and Hotaru joined him.
• Samui watched Sōji from across the venue, while Mangetsu gave Suigetsu a peeled mandarin after criticizing his grilled meat.

Tsunade arrived at the New Year gathering in the Land of Whirlpool ruins and confronted Sōji for failing to contact her while he carried out his many duties. The gathering welcomed the new year beneath the restored Uzumaki Clan Emblem, and Tsunade stood with Sōji as fireworks filled the sky.

• Karin, Ye Tong, Muku, Utakata, and the gathered ninja celebrated while Guy and Killer B staged a playful taijutsu and rap contest.
• Tsunade arrived with Shizune and Tonton, and Sōji left his planning meeting to greet her.
• Tsunade questioned Sōji about his active Cursed Technique and scolded him for going two months without contacting her; Sōji admitted he was wrong and promised to send a message next time.
• At midnight, the snow stopped and the ninja gathered beneath the Uzumaki Clan Emblem as Tsunade wished her grandmother could see it.
• The ninja launched fireworks shaped in the clan emblem's colors, and Karin smiled as the celebration continued.

After the New Year festival, Tsunade visited Sōji at his temporary residence and admitted she regretted waiting too long to pursue him. They spent the night together, and Tsunade left him with a teasing warning not to neglect her again.

• The ninja from the various villages returned to their lodgings after the festival, and Samui supported the drunken Darui back to the Hidden Cloud district.
• Tsunade arrived at Sōji’s townhouse with Shizune and Tonton, then asked him about Samui’s feelings for him.
• Tsunade confessed that she had wanted Sōji since they met again in Tanzaku Town but had waited until someone else came along.
• Sōji took Tsunade’s hand and told her that she and Samui were different to him, and Tsunade kissed him.
• After spending the night together, Tsunade told Sōji to contact her more often and joked that Mei Terumi had also had her eye on him.

Sōji told Tsunade he planned to seek Orochimaru’s cooperation and explained his suspicions about the Senju and Uchiha bloodlines and the roles Naruto and Sasuke might play. The next morning, Ao briefed Sōji on reconstruction work and arranged for Samui to travel with his team to Hidden Mist.

• Sōji told Tsunade he planned to visit Orochimaru in the Land of Rice Fields and later stay in Konoha to observe Naruto and Sasuke.
• Sōji explained that the Senju and Uchiha were tied by a recurring fate and suggested Naruto and Sasuke were the destined figures of their era.
• Tsunade woke beside Sōji the next morning and asked about the heat from his Red Lotus Mark, which he attributed to his body integrating with senjutsu chakra.
• Ao reported on reconstruction assignments and the cost-sharing plan, then told Sōji that Samui had requested to return to Hidden Cloud.
• Sōji arranged for Samui to travel with his team to Hidden Mist and send her Island Turtle assessment report to Hidden Cloud through encrypted communications.

Sōji and his party returned to the Land of Water, where they saw the results of its agricultural, economic, and educational reforms. Mei Terumi sent Sōji onward with travel documents for the Land of Rice Fields and instructions for his upcoming assignment in Konoha; the party stopped at the Land of Hot Water before crossing the border.

• Sōji's party sailed from the Land of Whirlpool to the Land of Water and saw the expanded port and signs of Kirigakure's reforms.
• Karin and Ye Tong described the progress of agricultural projects, while Samui praised Hidden Mist's new school curriculum and Karin's work on sealing textbooks.
• Sōji gave Mei Terumi reports on the Land of Whirlpool, and Mei provided him travel documents and warned him to be careful around Orochimaru.
• Mei told Sōji that Ao would lead Hidden Mist's Chunin Ninja Exams team, Karin would attend the opening ceremony, and Sōji would represent Hidden Mist while stationed in Konoha.
• Sōji's party left Kirigakure and sailed to the Land of Hot Water, where they planned to stay overnight before crossing into the Land of Rice Fields.

Sōji found Jacob’s Ladder in the System Shop and decided it could purify any hidden tampering in Kaguya’s origin chakra, but its prerequisites and price left him short on funds. After the others split up to explore the night market and gamble, Samui invited him to the inn’s private hot spring, and he accepted.

• Karin, Ye Tong, and Samui went to the night market, while Tsunade and Shizune headed for a gambling den.
• Sōji found Jacob’s Ladder in the System Shop and recognized it as a way to remove any harmful influence Black Zetsu might have hidden in Kaguya’s origin chakra.
• Sōji learned that buying Jacob’s Ladder, Prison Realm, and a Sukuna’s Finger would cost 2.3 billion ryō, so he bookmarked the technique and decided to ask Achun to speed up collections.
• Samui returned to the inn room and invited Sōji to join her at the private hot spring.
• Sōji took Samui’s hand and agreed to go with her.

Sōji and Samui shared an intimate evening in the inn’s private hot spring before Samui left for Hidden Cloud the next morning. The others departed in separate groups, leaving Sōji to continue toward the Land of Rice Fields while Tsunade and her companions headed for Konoha.

• Samui told Sōji she had completed the Land of Whirlpool report, added the Island Turtle training assessment, and prepared his travel papers.
• Samui asked Sōji to take the initiative with her that night, and they grew intimate in the private hot spring.
• Afterward, Samui asked whether she could see Sōji when she delivered supplies to Konoha next month, and he assured her she could.
• Samui left for Hidden Cloud with two Hidden Cloud ninja, planning to submit her reports to Lord Raikage and deliver Konoha’s supply list next month.
• Tsunade warned Sōji to be wary of Orochimaru before departing for Konoha with Shizune, Karin, Ye Tong, and Tonton.

Sōji traveled from the Land of Hot Water through the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rice Fields, where he headed for Otogakure to meet Orochimaru. He arrived at the village’s gates and identified himself to the guards.

• Sōji left the inn and traveled west on foot, then collected Achun’s funding plan in Tanzaku Town and postponed redeeming Jacob’s Ladder by two months.
• Sōji crossed the Valley of the End into the Land of Rice Fields and considered how Orochimaru had turned Otogakure into a private research network while the daimyo lost control.
• Sōji detected hidden chakra concentrations and Orochimaru’s sensory barrier, deliberately letting the barrier register his presence as he continued toward Otogakure.
• Sōji reached Otogakure’s headquarters at sunset, where two Sound Ninja guards challenged him.
• Sōji told the guards, “Yamada Soji!”

Sōji confronted Otogakure’s forces outside its headquarters and effortlessly withstood their attacks using his Six Eyes and Limitless. He continued fighting the Sound Ninja while Orochimaru remained absent.

• Otogakure’s guards signaled the village, and hundreds of Sound Ninja poured out to surround Sōji.
• A Sound Ninja jonin revealed Orochimaru’s order to capture Sōji alive and said Orochimaru wanted his Six Eyes.
• Sōji removed his outer clothing and charged into the formation, killing and scattering Sound Ninja with his lightning-enhanced strength.
• Sōji used Limitless to stop incoming blades and kunai, then repelled nearby attackers and sped through the ranks.
• The Sound Ninja launched ninjutsu of all five elements, but Limitless halted every attack and left Sōji unharmed in the crater.

Sōji slaughtered hundreds of Sound Ninja and confronted Kimimaro, condemning his devotion to Orochimaru. Orochimaru arrived before they could fight, ordered Kimimaro to stand down, and faced Sōji amid the battlefield.

• Sōji summoned Rainbow Dragon, Desolate Skeleton, and Kuchisake-Onna to attack the Sound Ninja while he fought through their ranks with Lightning Release and bone blades.
• Sōji killed or wounded most of the hundreds of Sound Ninja, leaving only a few survivors standing.
• Kimimaro arrived and challenged Sōji, who criticized him for giving his life meaning through Orochimaru and prepared to kill him with All-Killing Ash Bones.
• Orochimaru emerged from the shadows, stopped Kimimaro, and told him to stand down because his life was still useful.
• Kimimaro withdrew his bone spears and stepped back as Sōji put away his killing intent; Orochimaru looked over the corpses and smiled.

Sōji visited Otogakure and offered Orochimaru a partnership, hinting that he could see the future. He revealed that he knew about the Konoha Crush Plan, leaving Orochimaru demanding to know how much he knew.

• Sōji confronted Orochimaru among the fallen Sound Ninja and said he had come to discuss a partnership.
• Orochimaru led Sōji and the Sound Five into his underground base, where Sōji saw the scale of the hidden laboratory and its past human experiments.
• Orochimaru offered Sōji a Cursed Seal and asked what he wanted to cooperate on.
• Sōji asked whether Orochimaru believed a dōjutsu could see the future, then named the Konoha Crush Plan.
• Orochimaru and the Sound Five reacted with shock, and Orochimaru asked Sōji how much he knew about the plan.