Chapter Summaries

Yui and Big Bear realized they might have to rely on Kazama Ya to escape the Ruin, while Yui kept the Totsuka Blade secret from Orochimaru. As the group prepared to leave the desert, Orochimaru noticed something alarming by the Stone Tower's stairway.

• Yui asked Big Bear how to use the Gourd to leave the Ruin, and he admitted he had only assumed she would know.
• Yui and Big Bear concluded that Kazama Ya might be their only way out, but Orochimaru entered and interrupted their discussion.
• Orochimaru questioned whether Yui's visions in the Mirror and black mist were real, and Nai Hyuga refused to reveal their secrets.
• Nai Hyuga gave Orochimaru an invisibility cloak and announced that they were leaving the dangerous desert.
• Orochimaru regretted missing the chance to search the Stone Tower for treasures, then glanced at the stairway and turned pale with fear.

Yui, Nai Hyuga, Orochimaru, and Big Bear escaped the Stone Tower after Big Bear sensed a danger, while Orochimaru realized the strange silhouette he had seen might be real. As they flew through the ruin, Red Ants pursued them, and Big Bear revealed that Kazama Ya had stolen the bodies of its parents.

• Orochimaru saw a dark silhouette with scarlet eyes at the stairwell, but it vanished before he could identify it.
• Big Bear sensed a huge danger approaching, so Yui and Nai Hyuga decided to leave the tower immediately.
• Yui flew out with Big Bear, while Nai Hyuga hauled Orochimaru into the air by a rope and carried him away.
• A swarm of Red Ants rose from the ground and chased the group as they flew through the ruins.
• Big Bear told Yui that Kazama Ya had befriended it when it was young, then tried to steal its parents' bodies.

Yui learned that Kazama Ya could create clones that escaped spatial restrictions and could disguise themselves as other creatures. After Yui and her companions returned, Kazama Ya greeted them, unaware that strands of black hair were exposed in the sand nearby.

• Big Bear told Yui that Kazama Ya's clones could travel between spaces, change appearance, and imitate other creatures.
• As the Red Ants weakened in the falling temperature, Yui spotted Kazama Ya near a sandy slope and continued toward it with Big Bear.
• Kazama Ya believed it had defeated Nai Hyuga and tried to hide the Withered Tree's black oil, which the windblown sand covered while exposing a few strands of black hair.
• Yui, Nai Hyuga, and Orochimaru landed on the dune, and Kazama Ya complained that they had kept it waiting.
• Orochimaru reproached Nai Hyuga for nearly getting him killed, while Nai Hyuga showed no guilt and put away the rope.
• Kazama Ya nervously asked what Yui was looking at, and Yui said she was checking whether the Red Ants had followed them.

Kazama Ya convinced Yui to enter the Red Ant Desert with the Gourd so they could retrieve an object needed to leave the ruin space. While the others waited, Nai Hyuga discovered human hair emerging from the sand and realized someone was buried beneath it.

• Kazama Ya said it needed an object from deep in the Red Ant Desert and asked Yui to help retrieve it because only she could carry it back.
• Nai Hyuga lent Kazama Ya the Invisibility Cloak, but Kazama Ya hid inside Yui's Gourd and told her to use the cloak while it guided her.
• Yui flew toward the desert with Kazama Ya, leaving Nai Hyuga, Big Bear, and Orochimaru behind.
• Nai Hyuga spotted black strands in the sand and pulled them up, and Orochimaru recognized them as human hair and urged the others to dig.

Nai Hyuga and Orochimaru uncovered a corpse that looked exactly like Nai Hyuga, with Big Bear recognizing the dangerous Withered Tree black oil on it. The corpse crumbled into white powder, and Big Bear realized Kazama Ya had created it.

• Nai Hyuga dug up a woman’s corpse while Big Bear recognized Nai Hyuga’s scent coming from beneath the sand.
• Nai Hyuga and Orochimaru discovered that the corpse had the same build and face as Nai Hyuga.
• Big Bear recognized the black substance on the corpse as Withered Tree black oil and warned Nai Hyuga not to touch it.
• Orochimaru found pits filled with black matter, and Big Bear concluded that the other Nai Hyuga had fought Kazama Ya and lost.
• The corpse cracked, turned gray, and crumbled into white powder, prompting Big Bear to realize Kazama Ya had created it.

Yui Hyuga flew deeper into the Red Ant Desert to retrieve an item, following Kazama Ya’s uncertain directions through increasingly dangerous heat and swarms of active Red Ants. After she passed a marked Yellow Rock Pillar, the ants formed an enormous eye that spotted her, leaving her racing toward a diamond-shaped stone stele.

• Big Bear identified the destroyed figure as an illusion clone created by Kazama Ya, while Orochimaru examined the remaining white powder and Nai Hyuga worried about Yui.
• Yui Hyuga flew deeper into the desert as the heat rose and active Red Ants pursued her after detecting unusual sounds.
• Kazama Ya directed Yui toward a Yellow Rock Pillar and told her to follow the arrow marked on it.
• Yui passed the pillar and saw an enormous eye formed from Red Ants staring at her, but she could not stop to answer Kazama Ya.
• Yui fled at full speed and spotted a smooth, diamond-shaped stone stele ahead.

Yui learned that the Red Ant Queen was watching her as she flew toward the white, diamond-shaped monument with black patterns. Kazama Ya urged her to retrieve a purple crystal that it claimed would let them escape, leaving Yui uncertain whether she could trust it.

• Yui recognized the monument as their destination while a Red Ant eyeball watched her from behind.
• Kazama Ya explained that the eyeball belonged to the Red Ant Queen, which controlled the Red Ants and hunted anything it noticed.
• Yui told Kazama Ya that the Red Ant Queen had already fixed its gaze on her, and Kazama Ya told her to reach the monument and promised to handle their escape.
• Yui flew to the monument, descended amid intense heat, and protected herself with chakra.
• Kazama Ya told Yui to find an irregular purple crystal on the ground, claiming it was their goal and the key to escaping the space.

Yui approached the purple crystal while Kazama Ya urged her to take it, but she suspected it was dangerous and used protective layers of rock and senjutsu chakra to retrieve it. With the Red Ants closing in, Kazama Ya promised to get her out, smiling eerily as she held the crystal.

• Kazama Ya urged Yui to grab the purple crystal before the Red Ants caught up, claiming it would help them escape the space.
• Red Ants surrounded the monument, and Kazama Ya appeared from Yui's gourd to persuade her to trust it.
• Yui hesitated and asked how they would leave after taking the crystal, while the Red Ants pressed closer.
• Yui encased the crystal in rock, covered it with chakra, and picked it up without touching it directly.
• Yui demanded that Kazama Ya get her out, and Kazama Ya agreed with an eerie smile.

Kazama Ya trapped Yui Hyuga with a cursed purple crystal and revealed that it had been manipulating her to escape its prison and obtain a physical body. It also claimed the Nai Hyuga traveling with Yui was a Clone illusion, leaving Yui in agony and pretending to be shocked.

• Kazama Ya enveloped Yui in white light, and the purple crystal cracked as a purple mist invaded her arm.
• Yui realized Kazama Ya had trapped her, while the curse spread toward her heart and Kazama Ya admitted it had used her to escape and gain a physical body.
• Kazama Ya explained that it had learned Yui wanted to find Nai Hyuga by reading her mental fluctuations and had forged the letter.
• Kazama Ya claimed it had already dealt with the real Nai Hyuga and that the Nai Hyuga beside Yui was its Clone illusion.
• Yui rejected the revelation inwardly but pretended to be shocked as she asked Kazama Ya to repeat what it had said.

Kazama Ya transferred the curse from the Crystal into Yui Hyuga, used it to regain a body, and escaped the sealed space with the Gourd. He left Yui near death and challenged the Red Ant Queen to tell her master that Kazama Ya Otsutsuki had returned.

• Kazama Ya watched the curse weaken Yui Hyuga as the Crystal glowed and confirmed that the curse transfer had succeeded.
• Kazama Ya pried the Crystal from Yui's hand, entered it, and fused it with black oil to form a new body.
• Kazama Ya awakened in an Otsutsuki body and saw that the curse was spreading across Yui's chest toward her heart.
• Kazama Ya took the Gourd from Yui and faced the Red Ant Queen as Red Ants swarmed toward him.
• Kazama Ya opened a spatial gateway, escaped with the Gourd, and told the Red Ant Queen to inform her master that he had returned.

Yui lay dying from Kazama Ya’s curse in the Red Ant Desert, but Evil God Nami emerged from her horn to examine it as the Red Ant Queen watched. At the desert’s edge, Nai Hyuga’s growing unease led her to ask Big Bear whether Yui was in danger.

• The Red Ant Queen ordered the ants to attack Yui, but purple mist from Yui’s left arm dissolved them and forced the queen to withdraw.
• Yui, overwhelmed by pain and darkness, remembered Kazama Ya’s curse and worried she would never see Nai Hyuga again.
• As the curse spread through Yui’s body, blood mist emerged from her horn and Evil God Nami appeared to inspect the curse.
• An enormous eyeball formed in the sky and watched Evil God Nami as she examined Yui.
• Nai Hyuga felt that Yui was in danger, found Big Bear trembling behind a mound of sand, and urgently asked him to foresee Yui’s fate.

Big Bear sensed that Yui was in danger, prompting Nai Hyuga to decide to rescue her. They settled on using their equal Summoning Contract for a reverse summoning, with Nai Hyuga lending Big Bear her chakra, and he prepared to attempt it.

• Big Bear recovered from his strange state and told Nai Hyuga that Yui might be in life-threatening danger.
• Big Bear sensed that an even greater crisis was closing in on him, while Nai Hyuga resolved to find Yui.
• Nai Hyuga used Byakugan, Visual Tracking to reveal Yui's flight path, but Big Bear suggested using their Summoning Contract instead.
• Big Bear realized he could not use chakra, so Nai Hyuga transferred her chakra to him and offered to help him form the hand seals.

Nai Hyuga helped Big Bear prepare to learn the Summoning Technique when Kazama Ya appeared above them and mistook Nai for his clone. After realizing his mistake, Kazama Ya discovered white powder and black residue in the sand, leaving Yui’s fate unresolved.

• Orochimaru showed Big Bear the hand seals for the Summoning Technique while Nai Hyuga transferred chakra into it.
• Kazama Ya appeared in the sky, startling Nai Hyuga, Orochimaru, and Big Bear with his Byakugan and horns.
• Kazama Ya demanded to know why Nai Hyuga had not killed the two men and knocked the group back with a shock wave.
• Nai Hyuga asked Kazama Ya where Yui was, then attacked him with ice spikes.
• Kazama Ya destroyed the ice spikes and realized Nai Hyuga was not his clone after spotting white powder and black residue in the sand.

Kazama Ya taunted Nai Hyuga by claiming he had killed Yui, driving Nai Hyuga into a furious Nine-Tails transformation. She formed a Tailed Beast Bomb and charged him, but he struck her in the abdomen before she could hit him, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Kazama Ya caught and shattered Nai Hyuga’s ice attacks, then claimed he had killed Yui Hyuga.
• Nai Hyuga attacked with a massive ice spike, but Kazama Ya slowed it with a breath and shattered it.
• Big Bear tried to calm Nai Hyuga and insisted Yui was alive, but she erupted with Nine-Tails chakra.
• Nai Hyuga formed a purple Tailed Beast Bomb and used the Body Flicker Technique to rush Kazama Ya.
• Kazama Ya flicked Nai Hyuga in the lower abdomen, sending her flying before her Tailed Beast Bomb could reach him.

Nai Hyuga’s Tailed Beast Bomb devastated the desert but failed to kill Kazama Ya, who overpowered her and began choking her. Just as he was about to finish her, rustling sounds behind him made him stop.

• Nai Hyuga extended her nine-tails chakra arm and launched a Tailed Beast Bomb at Kazama Ya, whose blast knocked Orochimaru and Big Bear hundreds of meters away and left Orochimaru unconscious.
• Nai Hyuga recovered enough to check the crater and found Kazama Ya alive, with only burns on his body.
• Kazama Ya mocked Nai Hyuga, then released a crushing aura that pinned her to the ground as pain flared in her abdomen.
• Kazama Ya lifted Nai Hyuga into the air, rushed over, and grabbed her by the throat after she vowed he would pay for hurting Yui.
• Kazama Ya tightened his grip to kill Nai Hyuga, but stopped when he heard rustling sounds behind him.

Kazama Ya opened a spatial portal and escaped after Nai Hyuga failed to stop him, leaving her badly wounded and falling toward a swarm of Red Ants. Big Bear rushed to save her as the ants closed in.

• Kazama Ya abandoned his attempt to kill Nai Hyuga when Big Bear disrupted him and the Red Ants approached, then used the Gourd to stabilize a spatial portal.
• Big Bear appeared beside Nai Hyuga, but she charged at Kazama Ya to keep him from escaping and avenge Yui.
• Kazama Ya shot an invisible air current at Nai Hyuga and fled through the portal; she dodged the fatal blow but was pierced through the shoulder.
• Nai Hyuga fell toward the ground, grieving that she could not avenge Yui, as the Red Ants turned toward her.
• Big Bear saw Nai Hyuga in danger and moved to save her.

Big Bear and Nai Hyuga hid from the Red Ants while Nai struggled with the fear that Yui had died. They discovered that Yui's Gourd was attracting the ants, and Big Bear concluded that its continued existence and their unbroken contract link meant Yui was still alive.

• Big Bear caught the falling Nai Hyuga and hid with her from the swarming Red Ants.
• Nai Hyuga refused to believe Yui was dead and wondered about Kazama Ya's resemblance to Yui and her Byakugan eyes.
• Big Bear smelled an unfamiliar fragrance and asked Nai Hyuga to search for its source with her Byakugan.
• Nai Hyuga spotted Yui's Gourd emitting purple mist and told Big Bear it was attracting the Red Ants.
• Big Bear told Nai Hyuga that the Gourd's continued existence and their unbroken contract link meant Yui was still alive, restoring her hope.

Nai Hyuga and Big Bear drove off the Red Ants by taking the cracked Gourd and sealing the purple mist, which briefly affected Nai Hyuga. They began using the Summoning Technique to bring Yui back, while Orochimaru remained missing; elsewhere, a man in white emerged from a Black Mist Vortex.

• Big Bear told Nai Hyuga that Yui might still be alive and explained how to scatter the Red Ants by taking the Gourd and masking its scent.
• Nai Hyuga pulled the Gourd to her with an Iron Chain, but its purple mist made her lose focus until thoughts of Yui helped her snap out of it and seal the Gourd.
• The Red Ants lost their target and flew back into the Desert, and Nai Hyuga and Big Bear prepared to summon Yui.
• Nai Hyuga transferred chakra to Big Bear as he formed the hand seals Orochimaru had taught him, while she wondered where Orochimaru had gone.
• A man dressed in white stepped out of a Black Mist Vortex in a star-filled space.

Kazama Ya escaped the sealing space but left his Divine Artifact behind, then emerged on a planet already occupied by one of his clansmen. He decided to feed on chakra from a local battle before fleeing, while Evil God Nami prepared to deal with the enormous eyeball watching her and Yui Hyuga.

• Kazama Ya realized he had forgotten to retrieve the Tower and accepted that he could not recover it without defeating the man who held it.
• Kazama Ya stepped through a spatial rift onto a golden desert planet and discovered that a fellow clansman had occupied it and cultivated a Chakra Fruit there.
• Kazama Ya sensed two factions of natives fighting and chose to consume their chakra quickly before leaving the planet.
• Evil God Nami examined Yui Hyuga, whose skin was stained purple by the curse, and touched her face and lips.
• Evil God Nami looked up at the enormous eyeball in the sky and said she would deal with the peeping Tom.

Evil God Nami killed the Red Ant Queen and wiped out the attacking Red Ants before turning her attention to the cursed Yui. She drained the purple curse from Yui by biting her arm, though she expected Yui to suffer lasting side effects.

• The Red Ant Queen tried to flee, but Evil God Nami bound it and dragged its enormous body back from the sky.
• Evil God Nami burned the Red Ant Queen, prompting the Red Ants across the desert to reveal themselves and swarm her.
• Evil God Nami unleashed Blood Mist, which melted the attacking Red Ants and cleared the area around Yui.
• Evil God Nami examined Yui, resisted taking advantage of her, and bit the arm where the curse had first entered.
• The purple curse receded from Yui and gathered at Evil God Nami's bite, while Evil God Nami suspected Yui would suffer lasting side effects.