Chapter Summaries

Shikaku separated the investigation into the masked man's identity and responsibility for his crimes, leaving Obito's identity unresolved. The supplyman recalled an abnormal white handprint at Kannabi Bridge, giving Konoha a new lead about who helped move the injured person underground.

• Shikaku divided the investigation into identity and conduct tracks, and Danzo added the possibility that someone had later used Obito's body or eyes.
• Kakashi accepted the separate tracks and limited use of Obito's name to evidence tied directly to the candidate.
• The supplyman explained that the masked man knew details from the battle at Kannabi Bridge but not from the cleanup two days later.
• The supplyman recalled a pale handprint made after the rain, with force directed opposite the drag marks, and described a black fragment nearby.
• Shikaku recorded the handprint as a new lead suggesting that more than one person had helped move the injured person and that someone underground may have controlled the rescue.

Konoha’s investigation of the old soil sample confirmed that White Zetsu tissue had been present at Kannabi Bridge, supporting the Supplyman’s memory of a rescue. Following White Zetsu’s reaction, the team uncovered a concealed living space beneath the Mine Tunnel, where the person who controlled the rescue might have waited.

• The Medical Squad found aged White Zetsu-like tissue in the soil sample from Kannabi Bridge, confirming that an individual of its kind had touched the site.
• Shikaku and the Supplyman reconstructed the oversized handprint and concluded that two forces had lifted the rubble and pulled the injured person underground.
• White Zetsu admitted nothing directly, but Itachi noticed its chakra core shift toward the hidden conduit beneath the Mine Tunnel.
• The advance team followed the conduit, found sealed branch openings, and discovered a concealed space behind a disguised stone door.
• The team found a bed-shaped platform, medicine containers, and signs of long-term habitation, suggesting the rescue’s controller had lived beneath Kannabi Bridge.

Konoha investigators opened the hidden room beneath Kannabi Bridge and found evidence that an elderly, badly injured person had lived there before Obito was brought in to recover and train. The discovery of a damaged genealogy copy suggested Obito had been selected rather than found by chance, while his precise identity as the room’s later occupant remained supported by evidence rather than a surviving name.

• The Sealing, Cross-Verification, and Medical Squads opened the seamless stone door with a single-use Chakra Key made from White Zetsu tissue.
• The investigators divided the hidden room into zones and found that its stone bed, medicine, and life-support tubes had first served an elderly, severely injured occupant.
• The Hyuga jonin and other investigators identified later traces of someone recovering from right-side injuries, training with a Sharingan, and matching Obito’s injury profile.
• Fugaku confirmed that some training marks used old Uchiha methods that could have been known to Madara, while the evidence still could not establish the occupant’s name by itself.
• The Sealing Squad found two Space-Medium Slots linking the room to Kannabi Bridge and the Old Ritual Site in the Land of Rivers.
• Akito had the Sealing Squad retrieve a charred Genealogy Copy listing Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and promising young clan members, suggesting Obito had entered a selection pool.

Konoha's investigators reconstructed the life-support setup and candidate-selection process used to manipulate Obito, while Kakashi and Fugaku acknowledged both his victimization and the harm he caused. The investigation uncovered a possible link between the underground occupant's equipment and early Hashirama cell experiments, leaving the unknown large structure unopened.

• The Medical Squad used the stone bed and tubes to determine that an elderly, once-powerful occupant had relied on life support, while Shikaku left his identity unconfirmed.
• Fugaku and the clan recorders reconstructed copied Uchiha records showing that someone had evaluated candidates and formally selected Obito after the Kannabi Bridge battle.
• Kakashi reacted with anger, and Itachi argued that manipulation did not erase Obito's later choices or responsibility; Kakashi recorded that he remained angry and unable to forgive.
• Fugaku added that the Uchiha would investigate how their clansmen had been used while acknowledging the harm they caused.
• Gen kept the area around the unknown large structure sealed, and the Sealing Squad traced the tube fittings to a batch of equipment partly lost while being delivered to Konoha.

The investigation separated the underground Hashirama cell experiments from Root's internal research while finding evidence that the two trails may later have intersected. It left Madara as a strong but unconfirmed suspect in the missing equipment, and placed a former Root Recorder under protection after he reported that an outside network had watched Root's experiments.

• The investigators traced the underground equipment to a batch stolen before Konoha established its Hashirama cell storage, while Shikaku and Fugaku insisted that Root's later actions still required separate scrutiny.
• The Hokage Building created separate external and internal chains of origin, then found a Root purchase order for replacement valves matching the old equipment design.
• A workshop apprentice recalled a long-haired customer paying with an obsolete Uchiha Flame Mark, and Fugaku said Madara fit the period but was not the only possible user.
• The apprentice identified a crescent-shaped notch on a connector from the missing batch, corroborating the surviving rework records and raising the external chain's evidence tier.
• A retired Root experimental Recorder said a failed specimen had once warned that people underground were watching, and the Hokage Building arranged rotating protected residences for him.

Konoha investigated Root’s plant-cell experiments separately from Madara’s underground modifications, uncovering evidence that Root concealed subjects’ identities and continued experiments after they were officially terminated. White Zetsu offered information about another underground entrance in exchange for contact with outside soil, leaving Shikaku to weigh the intelligence against the risk of exposing Konoha’s location.

• Shikaku, Fugaku, and others examined evidence distinguishing Root’s failed experiments from the underground process that created White Zetsu, while Zemu described rootlets that had entered Root’s laboratory from underground.
• The Third Hokage sealed Root’s plant laboratory for investigation, and Zemu found temperature charts showing that three experiments had continued for forty-three days despite official records saying they lasted only seven.
• The Medical Squad determined that at least two recipients had survived acute rejection, and the Anbu identified five possible subjects as the Third Hokage ordered investigators to establish their identities.
• White Zetsu reacted to Zemu’s sketch of Konoha’s drainage system and offered information about another entrance in exchange for fifteen minutes of daily contact with outside soil.
• White Zetsu drew an entrance resembling a structure at the old ritual site in the Land of Rivers, and Shikaku demanded proof before considering its proposed trade.

Konoha verified White Zetsu’s second spatial entrance but discovered that he had concealed guards and used the exchange channel to attack a witness. The chapter left the Sealing Squad diverting the reverse connection as White Zetsu targeted the rescued former Supplyman in the medical area.

• Konoha investigated White Zetsu’s three coordinates, finding genuine spatial residue only in the Land of Rivers grotto and traps at the two false locations.
• Shisui’s team entered the grotto and found damaged spatial slots, then used a false identification code to reveal three hidden White Zetsu guards.
• Shisui sent Revealing Powder through the entrance, exposing the Masked Man keeping a paper marked with heart and moon symbols while other White Figures destroyed records.
• A White Zetsu traced the grotto connection back toward Konoha, and the Sealing Squad diverted it through layered blank scrolls.
• The reverse connection bypassed the captive White Zetsu’s chamber and targeted the rescued former Supplyman in the medical area.

White Zetsu attempted to kill the Supplyman, but the Masked Man removed the Plant Core and stopped the attack. Konoha confirmed that he had diverged from Madara’s orders and prepared to question him through the Space Medium.

• White Zetsu sent tendrils through a temporary Plant Core to attack the Supplyman in the Medical District.
• The Masked Man reached through a spatial vortex, removed the core, and prevented the attack from killing the witness.
• The Sealing Squad recorded spatial patterns matching the Masked Man’s earlier abduction, while the Supplyman recalled hearing someone say, “Stop.”
• Kakashi revised the official record to state that the Masked Man had removed the lethal core, without claiming he acted to protect the witness.
• Shikaku questioned White Zetsu about who said the Masked Man should not interfere, and White Zetsu’s silence pointed to Madara.
• Kakashi proposed confronting the Masked Man through the confirmed Space Medium with Shisui, Itachi, and the Anbu present as witnesses.

Kakashi spoke with the Masked Man about Konoha’s failures, the Nine-Tails attack, and each side’s responsibility, refusing to offer forgiveness or speak for Rin. The conversation ended without reconciliation, but the Masked Man kept an original record instead of burning it.

• Kakashi chose a factual account for the conversation and kept his personal statement separate from the official record.
• Kakashi acknowledged Konoha’s failure to search for him after Kannabi Bridge while telling the Masked Man he would not forgive the Nine-Tails attack.
• Kakashi described how the Land of Rivers, the Uchiha, and public records would cross-check Konoha’s investigation of its old mistakes.
• Kakashi refused to claim that Rin would have supported either his or the Masked Man’s choices, and said he would account for his own role in her death.
• The Masked Man kept an original record from Madara rather than burning it after Kakashi urged him not to destroy it.

The Masked Man sent Konoha a spatial rubbing of Obito’s original candidate record, revealing how Madara and White Zetsu isolated and manipulated him. Konoha preserved the copy as evidence and separated responsibility among itself, Madara, and the Masked Man, while a clue showed that an unreleased constraint remained inside Obito.

• Twelve hours after the Space Slots closed, a burning half-sheet emerged, and Konoha contained it and examined the spatial rubbing beneath its message.
• The rubbing showed that Madara selected Candidate Number Thirteen, identified as Obito, and ordered White Zetsu to conceal Konoha’s searches and make him believe he had been abandoned.
• Konoha compared the rubbing with its existing evidence and accepted it into a verifiable chain of evidence, though it could not replace the original.
• Fugaku separated responsibility among Konoha’s incomplete rescue efforts, Madara’s manipulation, and the Masked Man’s later crimes.
• Kakashi recorded that the Masked Man had preserved the original and sent the copy, but refused to claim that Obito had turned back or escaped control.
• The System Screen opened Obito’s reversible fate window and revealed an unreleased heart constraint, while Kakashi noticed the constraint’s black line extended from Obito’s chest.

Konoha’s investigators determined that the black line in Obito’s heart was a restriction left by Madara, not life support, and identified what could trigger it. After testing the restriction himself, Obito survived its tightening and chose to keep investigating despite its limits.

• The Sealing Squad found that the black line was a Heart Restriction that blocked tracing its source and removing it, and Kakashi rejected Danzo’s claim that it proved Madara controlled all of Obito’s actions.
• The Sealing Squad tested reconstructed nodes and determined that tracing chakra backward or removing the seal would make it constrict, while ordinary combat and spatial techniques would not.
• Kakashi sent the test results and a warning against reversing chakra flow to the Masked Man through the Space Slot.
• The Masked Man read the original record’s hidden warning and triggered the restriction by tracing backward with space chakra, but he repelled White Zetsu and kept the record.
• The Masked Man sent blood to Konoha, where the Medical Squad confirmed the restriction had spread through his white repair tissue and that removing it could endanger his right side.

White Zetsu split over conflicting orders, while Konoha captured a piece of the black will controlling some of them and learned it had an independent objective. The black will warned the Masked Man after his decision to preserve the records exposed him to another layer of authority.

• Three White Zetsu attacked the underground records while two questioned the Masked Man's orders, revealing that different commands had been implanted in them.
• Black threads controlled the three attackers, and the Masked Man moved the records before a spatial fault sliced the attackers apart.
• In Konoha, the black membrane tried to destroy the captive White Zetsu's recording marker, but Shisui and the Sealing Squad diverted and trapped part of it in a glass tube.
• The trapped sample reacted to a projection of the Masked Man's sealed blood, and the captive White Zetsu identified the black presence as something that emerged when they disobeyed.
• Gen named the investigation line "Black Will" and imposed precautions to prevent the sample from learning the team's plans.
• The black sample spoke through the captive White Zetsu, warning that Madara never allowed his successor to choose.

Kakashi’s review of Rin Nohara’s death uncovered a heart restraint that had prevented her from stopping the Three-Tails’ seal, while evidence suggested the pursuers had deliberately driven her toward Kakashi. The review ended with a scraped-off sign-off linking the Black Will to Kirigakure’s orders before Rin’s death.

• Kakashi requested a supervised review of the mission in which Rin Nohara died, and the Nohara family required investigators to include her attempts to survive.
• Medical records and seal analysis revealed that Rin had scratched at the Three-Tails’ seal and had a fourth heart-restraint node that would immobilize her if she tried to stop her own heartbeat.
• Investigators found that Kirigakure’s pursuit teams had driven Rin toward Kakashi, held back when they could have killed her, and attacked lethally after she fell.
• Kakashi testified that the pursuers had waited for him to arrive, and the Masked Man secretly listened through the Space Slot.
• An erased sign-off on Kirigakure’s old orders bore a black fingerprint whose chakra matched the isolated Black Will sample.

Konoha and Kirigakure’s joint review uncovered a hidden route restriction order that had guided Rin toward Kakashi, delivered by an infiltrating White Zetsu. The review confirmed White Zetsu’s role while leaving Kirigakure accountable for its own actions and record deletions.

• Shikaku and the Kirigakure liaison compared the Three-Tails mission records and found a hidden order directing the pursuit team to delay until Kakashi appeared, then block Rin’s escape.
• Kirigakure’s recorder found that the order had been archived separately, lacked the Mizukage’s sign-off, and carried a second authentication code tied to the black mark.
• A sensory ninja and Kakashi independently mapped their movements, confirming that the pursuit team’s delays had funneled Rin toward Kakashi’s attack.
• The sensory ninja identified the messenger as an impostor who had copied a dead Mist ninja, and the Medical Squad found White Zetsu’s plant-like residue on the identity token.
• The Kirigakure liaison acknowledged White Zetsu’s delivery of the orders, while Shikaku maintained that Kirigakure remained responsible for its secretive system and the harm it caused.
• The sensory ninja recalled that the messenger had turned into a white sheet and sunk into the ground after leaving the camp.

Konoha’s investigation established that two forged messages had deliberately guided Kakashi to Rin’s location, while Kakashi accepted that the deception did not erase his responsibility for the fatal strike. The Masked Man uncovered White Zetsu’s role in orchestrating Obito’s arrival, then demanded Konoha’s original messages to investigate Madara’s account.

• The Verification Squad traced Kakashi’s route to a stolen bamboo whistle and a disguised White Zetsu who had directed him toward Rin.
• A route trial showed that both false leads were needed to bring Kakashi to the gorge at the recorded time, and Kakashi said the setup did not absolve him of delivering the strike.
• The Masked Man learned that White Zetsu had been positioned in advance to guide Obito and that their memories followed a fixed mission script.
• One White Zetsu revealed that Black Shadow had ordered them to call the Masked Man Madara so he would not question the source of their orders.
• The Masked Man sealed the escaping black threads and sent Konoha an unsigned demand for Kakashi’s two original messages.

Konoha and the Masked Man completed their first evidence exchange, allowing both sides to compare records about Rin’s capture and the Kirigakure operation. The records revealed that an unknown black influence may have arranged the operation before Madara’s confirmation, leaving the Masked Man questioning who had shaped his despair.

• Shikaku prepared a limited copy of Konoha’s records, and the Third Hokage rejected Danzo’s proposal to hide a Tracking Sealing in it.
• Shisui exchanged Konoha’s copy for a stone sliver from the Underground Record Board, and both sides verified the materials.
• The Masked Man used the split within the White Zetsu Network to protect the copy from a White Zetsu with black threads.
• The Masked Man found that preparations for Rin’s capture began at least twenty-three minutes before White Zetsu claimed to discover her.
• Konoha’s examination of the stone sliver found black handwriting in the operation records, distinct from Madara’s, and the Masked Man uncovered the earlier impression: “Let him see it.”

Gen and Konoha’s teams trapped the black will’s takeover of White Zetsu and confirmed it could read the genuine exchange records while concealing its own role in Madara’s plans. The chapter left Konoha preparing a witnessed examination of the Uchiha Stone Tablet.

• Gen split the genuine exchange records among three secure locations and left a transcript with an incorrect preparation time as bait.
• The black will took control of White Zetsu, crossed the seals toward the evidence room, and burned the transcript where it recorded nineteen minutes.
• Shisui, Itachi, Gen, and the Sealing Squad diverted and trapped the black shadow, while Gen used its actions to confirm it could distinguish genuine evidence from a reconstruction.
• Under questioning, the black will admitted it had corrected Madara’s plan and claimed the Uchiha Stone Tablet contained the Moon’s Eye Plan, but it evaded questions about choosing Rin’s death.
• The Medical Squad found that separate black samples responded to White Zetsu’s shadow, and Konoha decided to verify the tablet with witnesses outside the Uchiha.

The Records Team separated Madara’s original commands from the black will’s later alterations, while the Masked Man independently found evidence that the black will had changed Madara’s instructions and acted without listed authority. An old Uchiha archive copy revealed that a warning about replacing the world with dreams had been altered into a method, leaving three conflicting sources of evidence.

• The Records Team used a three-layer Mirror Array to distinguish Madara’s trembling handwriting from the black covering, and mineral deposits showed the black will had altered the tablet at least a season later.
• Shikaku separated Madara’s responsibility for manipulating Obito and pursuing the Moon’s Eye Plan from the black will’s responsibility for adding commands and blocking review.
• Fugaku tested the tissue sample against the tablet’s covering, and matching filaments confirmed that both came from a common source.
• The Masked Man found that the black will had increasingly written Madara’s records, questioned who had witnessed its dictation, and discovered it was absent from Madara’s early Permission Table.
• The Masked Man sent a fragment of the covering layer to Konoha, where the Records Team confirmed that Madara’s writing came first and the black layer was added later.
• Fugaku retrieved an old Uchiha archive copy, which showed that “Beware of replacing the world with dreams” had become “Dreams can replace the world” in the current tablet.

Fugaku established a multi-party process to verify the Uchiha Stone Tablet and rejected Danzo’s attempt to take control of it. The readings exposed conflicting deeper inscriptions and evidence that a black substance had altered the tablet, leaving Itachi’s independent reading still pending.

• Fugaku set rules requiring separate readings, medical checks, and outside witnesses to verify the tablet without granting them access to every Uchiha secret.
• Fugaku rejected Danzo’s demand to take control of the tablet, and the Third Hokage formally denied it.
• Two ordinary Sharingan readers independently recorded the same first-layer text, while the Hyuga jonin found unusual chakra beneath a blank area.
• Shisui and Itachi separately traced an upward-flowing layer from a crack, and witnesses found inactive black substance there that matched a sealed sample.
• Shisui’s Mangekyo revealed conflicting passages about the Moon’s Eye Plan and a warning against replacing the world with a dream, with the black layer covering the original text.
• Shisui sealed his record without reading further, while Itachi’s independent reading remained to be done.

Itachi, Shisui, and the Uchiha reexamined the stone tablet and proved that Black Zetsu had added deeper text promoting the Moon’s Eye Plan. The Masked Man treated the plan as unverified, while the black will targeted the witnesses to the investigation.

• Itachi compared the tablet’s visible layers and found that the word “replace” came from black material in the cracks rather than the original chakra flow.
• Shisui’s record, the old transcription, and controlled tests showed that the black samples reproduced the added passages but ignored a forged sentence.
• Fugaku’s team preserved the tablet and old transcription while restricting access to the deeper layers and recording the original text separately from the black overlay.
• Konoha sent the Masked Man three verifiable signs of alteration, and he listed the Moon’s Eye Plan as pending verification rather than as a command to fulfill.
• The black sample pointed threads toward Shisui, Itachi, the Recorder, and the clan elder, marking them as targets for elimination.