Chapter Summaries

Yui escaped the giant spider’s clearing and carved a passage through the web-filled space, hoping to find a Black Mist Vortex leading to the Red Ant Desert. She reached the space’s stone boundary, confident she could find the vortex by following it, but still unsure how to identify where it led.

• Yui broke off the giant spider’s foreleg and used its sharp tip to cut through the webbing.
• Yui recalled Kazama Ya’s claim that every space had a Black Mist Vortex leading to the Red Ant Desert and decided to search for one.
• Yui carved a passage through the webbing for an hour, traveling more than ten kilometers without finding the space’s edge.
• The charred spider began to recover, its eyes turned scarlet, and its severed foreleg started to regrow as Yui moved farther away.
• Yui reached a stone wall at the edge of the space and decided to follow it until she found the Black Mist Vortex.

Yui searched the web-filled passages for a Black Mist Vortex while trying to avoid another giant spider. She found a hidden cavern and reached a vortex at its center, but had not yet learned where it led.

• Yui followed the rock wall, hoping to find a Black Mist Vortex, but found none for a long time.
• Yui heard a piercing cry and suspected another giant spider was following the trail she had cleared.
• Yui ran through the spider silk and discovered an open space with a crack in the rock wall.
• Yui widened the crack with her tool and entered a cold, narrow passage.
• Yui found a Black Mist Vortex in the center of a vast cavern.

Yui sent a Shadow Clone into a Black Mist Vortex and learned it led to a freezing world rather than the Red Ant Desert. She found another chamber containing a Black Mist Vortex, but a strand of white material blocked her entrance.

• Yui sent a Shadow Clone into the cold-emitting Black Mist Vortex, then left the cavern to search for another one.
• Yui felt a chill as she cut through webs, while a giant spider watched her from the darkness.
• Yui received the Shadow Clone's memories and learned it had frozen and dissolved in an icy world beyond the vortex.
• Yui found a brightly lit chamber with a huge glowing rock and spotted a Black Mist Vortex inside an opening.
• Yui moved to enter the opening, but a strand of white material dropped down and blocked her way.

Yui tried to reach the Cave while a giant spider pursued her, then realized the spider was the one she had previously burned and that it could hide inside its silk. The spider struck what appeared to be Yui, but the smoke revealed only two pieces of dark wood, leaving her whereabouts unknown.

• Yui dodged the spider’s attacks and recognized the pale tip of its foreleg as a newly healed wound.
• Yui realized the spider was the same one she had burned before and wondered whether it could revive after death.
• Yui used the Body Flicker Technique to race toward the Cave while the spider pursued her.
• Yui cut apart the spider silk the spider spat at her, but the spider emerged from the silk and struck her from behind.
• The spider watched Yui’s smoke disperse, only for two pieces of dark wood to appear where she had been.

Yui escaped the giant spider through a Black Mist Vortex and returned to the Red Ant Desert, where she planned to find Nai Hyuga and report her discovery. Meanwhile, Nai Hyuga struggled to recreate the Mirror’s connection as Orochimaru and Big Bear waited for her to verify it.

• Yui tricked the giant spider with the Substitution Technique and escaped into a cave it could not enter.
• Yui entered a Black Mist Vortex, passed through it, and emerged in the Red Ant Desert.
• Yui realized the vortex could lead out of the Black Mist Space and decided to find Nai Hyuga before dispelling her Shadow Clone.
• Orochimaru asked Big Bear whether Nai Hyuga’s explanation was true, and Big Bear said they should keep waiting for her and Yui.
• Nai Hyuga opened her eyes, frustrated that she still could not recreate the connection between the Mirror and the space.

Nai Hyuga used the Mirror to reopen a limited connection to the Black Mist Space, where Yui sensed an unexplained presence watching her. As Nai struggled to widen the connection, one of Yui’s Shadow Clones found Nai, Orochimaru, and Big Bear in the Red Ant Desert and approached them.

• Nai Hyuga gathered chakra and poured it into the Mirror, restoring its connection to the Black Mist Space.
• Yui learned that one of her Shadow Clones had frozen to death after entering a Black Mist Vortex, while the other clones continued searching for a route back to the Red Ant Desert.
• Yui felt an unseen gaze watching her in the Black Mist Space, but her Byakugan revealed nothing, and she wondered whether Nai was observing her through the Mirror.
• Orochimaru saw that the Mirror could connect to the space, but Nai could not widen the faint connection despite pouring more chakra into it.
• Yui’s Shadow Clone spotted the purple smoke from Nai’s group and approached, hoping to surprise Nai.

Yui approached Nai Hyuga while Nai struggled to expand the Mirror’s connection to the Black Mist Space because she lacked chakra. Nai learned from Orochimaru that tailed beasts existed, while Big Bear discovered that Yui was standing outside the Mirror and signaling it to stay quiet.

• Yui conserved her remaining chakra as she walked toward Nai Hyuga and the others.
• Nai Hyuga realized that her chakra was insufficient to expand the connection and tried to learn whether Orochimaru knew about the Nine-Tails’ chakra without revealing her plan.
• Nai told Orochimaru that expanding the connection to its maximum would require chakra equal to that of several hundred ordinary Jonin.
• Orochimaru answered Nai’s questions by mentioning the God of Shinobi and the tailed beasts.
• Big Bear smelled Yui nearby, spotted her outside the Mirror, and saw her signal it to stay quiet.

Yui’s shadow clone emerged from the Black Mist Space through the mirror and reunited with Nai Hyuga in the Red Ant Desert. Yui and Nai realized the connected spaces might allow travel between them, though they had only just discovered the possibility.

• Big Bear watched a second Yui appear beside him while the Yui in the mirror and the distant Yui remained in place.
• Yui approached Nai Hyuga and noticed that she could sense the Black Mist Space through the mirror.
• Nai Hyuga asked Orochimaru about tailed beasts, and he said every ninja village controlled powerful ones but admitted he knew little else.
• Yui startled Nai Hyuga by speaking beside her, then explained that she was a shadow clone who had entered the Black Mist Vortex from within the Black Mist Space.
• Yui reminded Nai Hyuga that Kazama Ya had said the spaces were connected to the Red Ant Desert, and Nai realized Yui might be able to return from the Black Mist Space.

Nai Hyuga explained that feeding chakra into the Mirror strengthened its connection to the Black Mist Space, and she and Yui considered turning it into a spatial gateway. Big Bear decided to test the purple mist, and Nai Hyuga asked Orochimaru to stop him.

• Nai Hyuga told Yui that more chakra linked the Mirror to the Black Mist Space and let her examine it.
• Yui suggested using enough chakra to turn the Mirror into a gateway, but Nai Hyuga said she lacked the chakra to try.
• Big Bear wondered whether entering the purple mist could return him to his real body and decided to test it despite Yui's warning.
• Big Bear vanished and left pawprints racing toward the purple mist, while Nai Hyuga held Yui back.
• Nai Hyuga asked Orochimaru to stop Big Bear, and Orochimaru questioned whether she meant him.

Nai Hyuga used nine-tails chakra to activate the Mirror, opening a connection between it and the Black Mist Space. She and Yui Hyuga confirmed that the passage swallowed a kunai, but it remained too small for Yui’s original body to pass through.

• Nai Hyuga persuaded Orochimaru to leave and pursue Big Bear, then reassured Yui Hyuga that the purple mist probably would not affect the bear.
• Nai Hyuga surrounded herself with nine-tails chakra and poured it into the Mirror while Yui watched.
• The Mirror’s image of the Black Mist Space vanished, and Nai Hyuga continued feeding it chakra until she felt it had absorbed enough.
• Nai Hyuga dropped a kunai onto the Mirror, and it sank through the surface without appearing behind it.
• Yui concluded that the Mirror had opened a passage to the Black Mist Space, and Nai Hyuga handed it to her to inspect.

Yui and Nai Hyuga tested whether someone could reach into the mirror connected to the Black Mist Space. Nai Hyuga’s shadow clone returned with the kunai Nai Hyuga had thrown inside, leaving them puzzled about how it had reached her hand.

• Yui gave Nai Hyuga the giant spider’s claw and examined the mirror, sensing a faint trace of her original’s chakra within it.
• Yui considered reaching into the mirror herself, but Nai Hyuga stopped her and proposed using a shadow clone instead.
• Nai Hyuga created a shadow clone, which put her arm into the mirror and pulled it out unharmed.
• The shadow clone emerged holding the undamaged kunai Nai Hyuga had previously thrown into the mirror.
• Nai Hyuga’s shadow clone said it had felt as if someone put the kunai in her hand, glancing toward Yui as she explained.

Yui and Nai Hyuga’s shadow clone confirmed that the Black Mist Space connected to the mirror, but the opening was too small to enter. Earlier, Yui had faced a gathering mass of energy in the space, which vanished before it attacked her.

• Nai Hyuga’s shadow clone recognized that Yui’s original had slipped the kunai into her hand through the mirror.
• Nai Hyuga and Yui discussed the mirror’s small opening and planned to contact Yui’s original by using a scroll before Yui’s chakra ran out.
• In the Black Mist Space, Yui sensed an unseen presence watching her and flew toward it with Hakutaku ready.
• Yui noticed the presence intensify and raised a Water Formation Wall as an enormous concentration of energy gathered nearby.
• The energy stopped gathering and suddenly scattered, leaving Yui unharmed and confused.

Yui investigated a black shadow that appeared in the Black Mist Space and discovered it was connected to Nai Hyuga through the Mirror. The chapter ended with Yui grabbing Nai Hyuga’s hand as she tried to withdraw and returning the kunai that had emerged from the shadow.

• Yui noticed the mysterious energy and sense of being watched disappear, then saw a round black shadow appear overhead.
• Yui examined the shadow and sensed Nai Hyuga’s chakra growing stronger within its aura.
• A kunai emerged from the shadow, carrying Nai Hyuga’s aura and a grain of sand containing a sleeping Red Ant.
• Yui realized the shadow might be a spatial passage shaped like the Mirror and that Nai Hyuga had been watching her through it.
• Nai Hyuga’s arm emerged from the shadow, and Yui grabbed her hand and returned the kunai as she tried to withdraw.

Yui discovered that the dark mass connected the Black Mist Space to the Red Ant Desert, and Nai Hyuga used the passage to send her a scroll. Yui received the scroll and began reading its densely packed writing.

• Yui used a Shadow Clone to test the dark mass and confirmed that her arm passed through into another space.
• The Shadow Clone reported that someone familiar was holding its hand and confirmed that the other side was scorching hot like the Red Ant Desert.
• In the Red Ant Desert, Yui grabbed the Shadow Clone's hand and placed a scroll in it while Nai Hyuga held the Mirror steady.
• The Shadow Clone withdrew with the scroll, gave it to Yui, and vanished.
• Yui unfurled the scroll and focused on its densely packed writing.

Yui discovered that the Mirror created the spatial passage and learned that her Shadow Clone had returned to the Red Ant Desert and reached Nai Hyuga. She investigated whether Xiao You had also returned to her original body, then Xiao You awoke beside her in the Black Mist Space.

• Yui read the scroll and learned that the Mirror had created the spatial passage and that she herself had reached Nai Hyuga through her Shadow Clone.
• Yui considered how to enlarge the passage and wrote down ideas for testing the Mirror’s other functions.
• Yui remembered Xiao You, found her asleep inside her sleeve, and realized the mouse’s consciousness had returned to her original body.
• Yui rejected the idea of sending Xiao You through the Mirror as a dangerous test and wrote that her Shadow Clone could try summoning Xiao You instead.
• Xiao You sneezed, woke on Yui’s shoulder, and asked where they were.

Xiao You awoke with Yui in the pitch-black Black Mist Space, while the Yui in the Red Ant Desert read a message from her original body and tried to summon Xiao You. The Summoning Technique worked just as Yui’s Shadow Clone ran out of chakra.

• Xiao You woke in the Black Mist Space, drifted away from Yui, and clung to her after Yui warned it could get lost.
• Yui began explaining to Xiao You what had happened while they waited in the Red Ant Desert for a reply from the Black Mist Space.
• A Scroll shot out of the Mirror, and Yui read her original body’s ideas about testing the Mirror and using summoning.
• Yui realized she could test whether she could summon Xiao You, but Nai Hyuga worried that the attempt would make Yui disappear.
• Yui used her remaining chakra to perform the Summoning Technique, and white smoke appeared as she exclaimed that it worked.

Yui’s Summoning Technique appeared to bring Xiao You to Nai Hyuga in the Red Ant Desert, but Yui realized she may have summoned a different Xiao You from that space rather than crossing between spaces. She prepared to warn Nai, then received a scroll from the shadows.

• Yui’s Shadow Clone gave Nai Hyuga the Scroll before disappearing, and Nai examined the Xiao You that the Summoning Technique had brought over.
• Xiao You woke in Nai’s hand and confirmed that it had been with Yui in the Black Mist Space moments earlier.
• Nai wrote to Yui on the Scroll to ask what had happened.
• Yui realized the summoning might have freed the Xiao You affected by the purple mist in the Red Ant Desert, while the Xiao You beside her remained in the Black Mist Space.
• As Yui prepared a warning for Nai, a scroll drifted down from the shadows.

Yui and Nai Hyuga discovered that Xiao You had been summoned as a consciousness, while Yui remained trapped in the Black Mist Space because the mirror passage was too small for her body. After reading their scroll, Xiao You decided to return to its original body by jumping through the mirror, and landed on its rim.

• Yui told Nai Hyuga through a scroll that Xiao You was safe and explained what had happened when it was summoned.
• Nai Hyuga realized the mirror passage was too small for Yui to escape the Black Mist Space and wondered whether she could enlarge it.
• Xiao You read the scroll and learned that Yui's Shadow Clone had summoned its consciousness while its original body remained in the Black Mist Space.
• Xiao You spotted the mirror in Nai Hyuga's hand, decided to jump through it to return to its original body, and landed on its rim.

Nai Hyuga let Xiao You enter the Mirror’s black veil after it insisted, though the Mirror reacted strangely as it passed through. Xiao You emerged inside the Black Mist Space near Yui, leaving its fate uncertain.

• Nai Hyuga caught Xiao You as it tried to enter the Mirror and asked whether it truly wanted to go through the spatial passage.
• Xiao You decided to enter so it could return to its original body and see Yui, and Nai Hyuga released it into the black veil.
• The Mirror vibrated twice as Xiao You vanished, startling Nai Hyuga.
• Yui waited in the Black Mist Space before the dark silhouette when Xiao You suddenly emerged and fell out.

Yui found Xiao You had emerged from the spatial passage and learned it had deliberately entered after seeing how Yui and Nai Hyuga communicated. As Xiao You noticed its unconscious original body, glowing particles began rising from beneath it, leaving Yui visibly shocked.

• Yui discovered Xiao You had appeared in the Black Mist Space and checked that it seemed physically unharmed.
• Xiao You explained that it had gambled on entering the spatial passage and said Nai Hyuga had let it go after it insisted.
• Yui scolded Xiao You for taking such a risk, then noticed its original body still lying unconscious in her palm.
• Xiao You saw its other body and recoiled in shock at finding another version of itself beside it.
• Yui stared at Xiao You in alarm as tiny, round particles of light rose from beneath it.