Chapter Summaries

Chikage brought four Root operatives captured at the border to the Hokage Building and framed them as suspects in the military arms smuggling case. Danzo and Hiruzen tried to take control of the prisoners, but Chikage insisted the Military Police Force had to investigate them first.

• Danzo arrived at the Hokage Building and found Chikage, Fugaku, Yashiro, and the Military Police Force displaying four captured attackers.
• Chikage accused the prisoners of being smugglers who had ambushed him while he investigated the case on Danzo's orders.
• Hiruzen hinted that the prisoners looked like Anbu, but Chikage rejected the idea and warned that it would imply Konoha's elite forces were compromised.
• Danzo tried to have the Anbu take the prisoners, but Chikage cited the Public Security Administration Regulations and presented Root-marked, poisoned short swords as evidence.
• Hiruzen argued that the Military Police Force could not handle the case alone, and Chikage protested that the leaders were dismissing the work Danzo had assigned him.

Chikage forced the Hokage to recognize his investigation expenses and let the Konoha Military Police Force hold four suspects under Anbu supervision. He then secured full reimbursement from the Finance Department, while Danzo moved to cover his tracks.

• Chikage demanded reimbursement and a reward before handing over the four suspects, and Hiruzen ruled that the police force would hold them while the Anbu observed interrogations.
• Danzo left in anger and considered cutting financial links to the smuggling operation and disposing of the prisoners.
• Chikage ordered Yashiro to secure and guard the suspects, then told Fugaku their immediate priority was collecting the money.
• Chikage, Fugaku, and Yashiro took the receipts to the Finance Department, where Chikage defended the listed expenses.
• The Finance Department supervisor approved the full 230,000 ryo reimbursement, and Chikage collected the money.

After returning to Konoha, Chikage collected a huge reimbursement and accepted Fugaku’s invitation to dinner. Itachi then told Fugaku that Chikage had defeated the four Root elites himself, leaving Fugaku stunned as Itachi began recounting the battle.

• Chikage received 230,000 ryo in reimbursements, including an intelligence fee he had paid to himself.
• Chikage visited his usual dango shop, where the owner thanked him for stopping trouble on South Street and gave him extra food.
• Fugaku invited Chikage to dinner, saying Mikoto had prepared his favorite Pacific saury and Itachi wanted to ask him something.
• At home, Fugaku praised Itachi for supposedly defeating and capturing four Root assassins, but Itachi corrected him.
• Itachi told Fugaku that Chikage had defeated the Root ninja himself and began explaining what happened at Black Wind Valley.

Itachi told Fugaku how Chikage defeated four Root elites in under thirty seconds, revealing his strength and one-tomoe Sharingan. Fugaku reconsidered Chikage’s abilities and political insight, then welcomed him to dinner, where Chikage dismissed his victory over Danzo as using rules to beat dirty schemes.

• Itachi told Fugaku that Chikage broke free of Sealing Iron Chains, smashed through an Earth-Style Wall, and subdued four Root elites using Lightning Release Chakra Mode and his one-tomoe Sharingan.
• Fugaku struggled to reconcile Chikage’s strength with his familiar habit of avoiding work and arguing over money.
• Itachi repeated Chikage’s view that the Uchiha needed to protect their interests by following the rules and negotiating rather than yielding ground.
• Fugaku acknowledged that Chikage understood the village’s politics better than he did and wondered how far Chikage could see.
• Chikage arrived at Fugaku’s home with sake bought using public funds and said he had beaten Danzo’s dirty tactics with open schemes and rules.

Chikage defended his hidden strength to Fugaku, arguing that his work protecting the Uchiha through money and regulations was safer than open confrontation with Konoha's leaders. At the Root Base, Danzo resolved to eliminate the Uchiha threat, but a mysterious spatial passage appeared in his office.

• Chikage admitted to Fugaku that he had used Lightning Release Chakra Mode and awakened his eyes, then explained he had concealed his abilities to avoid endangering himself and the Uchiha Clan.
• Chikage reminded Fugaku of the fines and reimbursements he had secured and argued that working within regulations kept the clan in a stronger position than fighting.
• Fugaku's anger eased as he considered Chikage's reasoning, and Chikage urged him to keep their arrangement secret while they continued pressuring the Konoha High Command.
• Danzo brooded over Root's financial losses, the captured operatives, and Chikage's growing influence, then decided the Uchiha Clan had to be eliminated.
• A swirling spatial passage opened in Danzo's office, and Danzo stood with a kunai in hand and demanded to know who was there.

A masked man calling himself Madara Uchiha offered Danzo help exterminating the Uchiha clan, and Danzo began considering the plan. The chapter ended with Danzo ordering surveillance of Uchiha Chikage and the clan compound.

• A masked man appeared in Danzo’s office and claimed to be Madara Uchiha.
• The Masked Man criticized Danzo’s failed efforts against Uchiha Chikage and offered to eliminate the Uchiha clan if Danzo and Konoha’s leaders stayed out of the way.
• Danzo questioned the Masked Man’s power and motives, but the Masked Man demonstrated his chakra and told Danzo to signal him at the Naka Shrine if he agreed.
• After the Masked Man departed, Danzo imagined taking Chikage’s eyes and reviewed his plans for the Uchiha compound.
• Danzo ordered a Root ninja to check the compound’s patrol routes and closely monitor Chikage.

Danzo investigated the Masked Man after agreeing to consider his offer to destroy the Uchiha Clan, but the disappearance of Root’s elite tracking squad revealed how dangerous the man was. Danzo decided to cooperate, planned to leave an encrypted message at Naka Shrine, and ordered Root to avoid conflict with Chikage’s forces while he waited for the right moment.

• Danzo sent the Shadow squad to track the Masked Man and discover where he was staying and who he really was.
• When the Shadow squad failed to report, Danzo sent two sensory ninja after them, but they found no trace of the three trackers beyond a trail that ended in the woods outside the village.
• Danzo concluded that the Masked Man had extraordinary power and decided that his offer was the best way to eliminate the Uchiha Clan and remove Chikage’s threat.
• Danzo wrote an encrypted message agreeing to cooperate and promising to create an opening by diverting Anbu surveillance.
• Danzo ordered a carriage, requested the day’s patrol roster, and told Root’s peripheral members to stop operations and avoid conflicts with the Konoha Military Police Force.

Uchiha Fugaku told Uchiha Chikage that Konoha’s leadership had approved the Uchiha clan’s enormous relocation compensation claim, but Chikage suspected the payment was meant to distract them from a larger scheme. The chapter ended with Chikage warning Fugaku not to lower his guard.

• Uchiha Chikage clocked in at the Military Police Force and ordered Uchiha Hikari to retrieve the Root prisoners’ custody records and double patrol meal allowances.
• Uchiha Fugaku brought Chikage the Hokage-approved compensation document, which covered the Uchiha clan’s full relocation proposal, including its extravagant added claims.
• Fugaku said the Third Hokage had approved the payment in a meeting attended by Danzo and the two advisers, and that the first installment would arrive that afternoon.
• Chikage questioned why Konoha’s leadership had agreed so readily to pay tens of millions of ryo despite the village’s strained finances.
• Chikage warned Fugaku that the payment was not an olive branch and that the leadership was likely using it to keep the Uchiha quiet while preparing a larger scheme.

Chikage suspected the Hokage's sudden approval of a huge compensation payment was meant to lull the Uchiha before a massacre, so he told Fugaku to accept and spend the money while keeping the clan alert. After work, Chikage went to find Itachi and sound out his loyalties; at the Third Training Ground, shuriken whistles rang through the woods.

• Chikage showed Fugaku the approved compensation document and warned that the higher-ups might be using the payment to make the Uchiha lower their guard before an attack.
• Chikage told Fugaku to accept the money and quickly turn it into supplies, while Fugaku reminded him to maintain patrols, especially around South Street.
• Chikage considered whether Itachi would side with the Uchiha or become an inside agent for the higher-ups and Obito, and decided to test the boy's thinking.
• Chikage clocked out at five, bought three boxes of dango, and headed to the Third Training Ground to meet Itachi.
• Rapid shuriken whistles sounded through the woods at the Third Training Ground.

Itachi questioned Obito’s plan to overthrow Konoha, using practical concerns about civilians, funding, and political legitimacy to expose its flaws. Obito claimed to be Madara Uchiha, but Itachi challenged him to explain why the village’s founder would destroy Konoha without a plan.

• Itachi practiced shuriken throwing while reconsidering Chikage’s lessons about power, rules, and peace.
• Obito appeared at the Uchiha training ground and tried to recruit Itachi by condemning Konoha and promising a new world.
• Itachi asked how Obito would provide for civilians, negotiate with the daimyo, and fund reconstruction after overthrowing Konoha.
• Obito dismissed Itachi’s concerns, but Itachi cited the approved relocation compensation and demanded evidence that the higher-ups planned to attack the Uchiha.
• Obito claimed to be Madara Uchiha, and Itachi questioned why Konoha’s founder would destroy the village without a reconstruction plan or regard for the daimyo.

Obito warned Itachi that Konoha's leaders planned to annihilate the Uchiha, but Itachi challenged the intelligence by calculating the forces involved and identifying the risk to the village. He began considering how to expose the plot and disrupt a possible ambush, while Obito believed fear had made him vulnerable.

• Obito lost patience with Itachi's objections and claimed Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō planned to use Anbu and Root to wipe out the Uchiha.
• Itachi compared the forces of Anbu and Root with the Uchiha's fighters and argued that a direct attack would endanger all of Konoha.
• Obito warned that the High Command could launch a surprise attack when the Uchiha were moving and said he could help ensure their defeat.
• Itachi considered the threat of Obito's Space-Time Ninjutsu and recalled Chikage's advice to reveal an opponent's hidden cards and involve a third party.
• Obito left Itachi to think, believing the threat of clan annihilation had frightened him into becoming easier to control.

Itachi met the masked Obito, who warned that the Higher-Ups might attack the Uchiha during relocation and offered to spare Sasuke if Itachi worked with him. Seeing the clan’s ordinary members, Itachi rejected the idea of sacrificing them and went to Chikage for help; Chikage asked how he had answered Obito’s offer.

• Obito vanished after telling Itachi to seek him out if he agreed to work together, and Itachi decided to tell Chikage about the warning.
• On his way through the Uchiha district, Itachi saw clan members enjoying their ordinary lives and began doubting the Will of Fire’s justification for sacrificing them.
• Itachi rushed to Chikage’s home, determined to find a way to protect the clan during relocation.
• Itachi told Chikage about the masked man’s warning, offer of cooperation, and promise to spare Sasuke.
• Chikage called the masked man’s approach a pyramid scheme and asked Itachi how he had responded.

Chikage and Itachi planned to use the daimyo and foreign delegations as witnesses to deter the High Command from attacking the Uchiha during relocation. They arrived at Fugaku’s home to secure his approval for spending the compensation money.

• Itachi told Chikage that the Masked Man had threatened the Uchiha after Itachi challenged his plans and finances.
• Chikage warned Itachi that the High Command’s compensation was meant to lull the clan before a planned attack during relocation.
• Chikage proposed inviting the Land of Fire’s daimyo to a relocation celebration and attracting other villages with news of a rare ninja-tool auction.
• Chikage explained that witnesses would make an attack threaten Konoha’s funding and reputation, and Itachi agreed that they should use the rules to expose the plot.
• Chikage and Itachi brought dango to Fugaku’s home to discuss how to spend the compensation, where Mikoto said Fugaku was working on the accounts.

Chikage teased Fugaku by urging him to pocket most of the relocation funds, provoking an angry outburst. Chikage then admitted the allocation plan was sound and praised Fugaku for accounting honestly for every coin.

• Mikoto told Chikage that Fugaku was struggling to divide the tens of millions of ryo allocated for the clan's relocation.
• Chikage entered Fugaku's study and rejected his detailed allocation plan without reading it, claiming he was thinking too small.
• Chikage urged Fugaku to take seventy percent of the funds for himself, then suggested that even eighty percent would be justified.
• Fugaku flew into a rage, condemned the idea as corruption, and threw his brush at Chikage, who dodged it.
• Chikage revealed the proposal was a joke, then praised Fugaku's honest, meticulously detailed allocation plan.

Itachi told Fugaku and Chikage that a masked man with Space-Time Ninjutsu and a Sharingan had approached him and warned that the village planned to destroy the Uchiha during their relocation. Fugaku rejected the warning as unproven but was left wondering who the man was and how he obtained a Sharingan.

• Chikage summoned Itachi into Fugaku's study to report an encounter at the Third Training Ground.
• Itachi described a black-robed man in an orange Spiral Mask who appeared and vanished through a black vortex.
• Itachi said the man claimed the village would use the relocation to launch a surprise attack and annihilate the Uchiha.
• Fugaku angrily dismissed the claim, while Chikage cautioned that the compensation money did not prove the clan was safe.
• Itachi revealed that the masked man had a Sharingan, leaving Fugaku to consider whether the eye had been transplanted or belonged to a supposedly dead clan member.

Itachi told Fugaku that the masked man who tried to recruit him called himself Madara Uchiha, and Chikage warned that the man’s Sharingan could be used to frame the Uchiha Clan. Fugaku feared the Higher-Ups and the masked man were conspiring to create a pretext to destroy the clan.

• Chikage urged Itachi to tell Fugaku the masked man’s name, and Itachi said the man had called himself Madara Uchiha.
• Fugaku rejected the claim, insisting that Madara had died at the Valley of the End and that the masked man was a fraud.
• Chikage warned Fugaku that the masked man’s Space-Time Ninjutsu and Sharingan could let him attack the clan or frame it for crimes.
• Fugaku acknowledged that villagers would blame the Uchiha whenever they saw a Sharingan, regardless of the man’s true identity.
• Itachi explained that the masked man could assassinate the daimyo and expose his Sharingan to create grounds for the Higher-Ups to surround the Uchiha District.
• Fugaku concluded that the masked man was working with Danzo to manufacture an excuse to move against the clan.

Fugaku panicked over the masked man’s appearance, but Itachi proposed framing Danzō and using public pressure and political connections to protect the Uchiha. The chapter ended with Fugaku alarmed by Itachi’s plan to spend twenty million ryō bribing influential nobles.

• Fugaku worried that the masked man would use his Sharingan to frame the Uchiha and considered alerting the Third Hokage or mobilizing the police force.
• Chikage dismissed Fugaku’s ideas and asked Itachi how the clan could escape the trap.
• Itachi argued that the Uchiha should accuse Danzō of human experimentation and illegally implanting Sharingan, despite having no evidence.
• Itachi proposed blaming any trouble caused by the masked man on Danzō’s experiments and spreading rumors to force the Third Hokage to investigate Root.
• Itachi suggested using twenty million ryō from the relocation compensation to buy influence among nobles and encourage the Daimyo to visit Konoha, leaving Fugaku shaken.

Itachi and Chikage persuaded Fugaku to abandon compromise and use the Uchiha’s funds and a fabricated report to expose and blame Danzo for Root’s crimes. Fugaku approved their plan, leaving Chikage to arrange the money and Itachi to prepare the report.

• Itachi outlined a plan to route money through the Konoha Military Police Force, bribe the Daimyo’s delegation, and blame Danzo if the Masked Man caused trouble.
• Chikage urged Fugaku to fight the Higher-Ups with their own tactics instead of relying on the clan’s reputation or appealing to the Hokage.
• Itachi told Fugaku that yielding would not bring peace and that the Uchiha had to show they could fight back.
• Fugaku approved the plan, ordered Itachi to write a detailed report implicating Danzo in civilian disappearances, and assigned Chikage to arrange the twenty million ryo.
• After Itachi left, Chikage reviewed the plan while Fugaku considered the risks of their decision.

Chikage told Fugaku that political maneuvering could only buy the Uchiha time and pressed him to reveal whether he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. Fugaku reacted by securing the study, but the chapter ended before he answered.

• Chikage considered the threats posed by Hiruzen, Danzo, and the masked man and concluded the Uchiha needed overwhelming power.
• Chikage told Fugaku that the clan's ordinary Sharingan users could not protect them from top-tier opponents.
• Fugaku admitted that Shisui was not yet strong enough to intimidate the shinobi world and said no Uchiha had matched Madara's power since their ancestor.
• Chikage asked Fugaku directly whether he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Fugaku shut the curtains, locked the study door, and raised a soundproof barrier before turning back to Chikage.

Chikage confronted Fugaku about his Mangekyō Sharingan, and Fugaku revealed both its power and the danger of using it. Chikage then rattled off secret Mangekyō abilities, leaving Fugaku demanding to know how he learned them.

• Fugaku angrily warned Chikage that speaking openly about the Mangekyō Sharingan could endanger the Uchiha Clan, but Chikage assured him the study was secure.
• Chikage reasoned that Fugaku’s wartime experiences had awakened his Mangekyō, and Fugaku confirmed it by showing his transformed eyes and powerful chakra.
• Fugaku explained that using the Mangekyō could hasten blindness and make Konoha’s leaders view the Uchiha as a threat.
• Chikage asked what abilities Fugaku’s eyes had and named Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo, Izanagi, and Izanami.
• Fugaku accused Chikage of knowing top-secret information recorded on the Stone Tablet and demanded to know where he had learned the names.