Chapter Summaries

The Sacred Lord’s will descended through the White Zetsu Clone and attacked the group, targeting Sasuke with a soul-piercing strike. Tobirama disrupted the coordinates and stopped the descent, but realized the Sacred Lord may have marked everyone and learned their location.

• The Sacred Lord’s will overwhelmed the base, and Tobirama used a hidden Flying Thunder God formula to disrupt its hold on Sasuke.
• The White Zetsu Clone burst into a dark mass that stabilized the passage and began corrupting the base as Minato, Hashirama, and Tobirama prepared a space-time barrier.
• The Sacred Lord’s will launched a concentrated attack at Sasuke, and Tobirama switched places with him to take the strike.
• Tobirama used the connection to the attack to activate Space-Time Seal: Chaos, destabilizing the coordinates and forcing the dark mass to vanish.
• Tobirama warned that the descent had been reconnaissance and marking, and that the Sacred Lord may already have remembered them.

Sasuke heard the Hokage explain how Konoha’s policies, Danzo’s actions, and Hiruzen’s failures contributed to the Uchiha Clan’s destruction, then learned Danzo was already dead. The Hokage urged Sasuke to direct his anger toward the Sacred Lord, while Tobirama’s Beacon resonated with Ling from afar.

• Hashirama, Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato admitted their roles and failures in the history that led to the Uchiha Clan’s destruction.
• Sasuke learned that Danzo had been executed after the Akatsuki attacked Konoha, leaving him without the target for his revenge.
• Tobirama warned Sasuke that the Sacred Lord sought to exploit his hatred and urged him to confront the true mastermind behind the tragedies.
• Tobirama told the Hokage and Orochimaru to prepare for the Sacred Lord’s next move and unite their forces against him.
• Ling felt Tobirama’s Beacon pulse from the medical room at the Allied Forces headquarters in the Land of Iron.

Sasuke agreed to join the Allied Forces after the resurrected Hokage warned him that the Sacred Lord was the true threat, while Orochimaru prepared to travel with them. At headquarters, Ling received Tobirama’s warning through the soul Beacon and sent back a safe route, leaving the forces preparing to isolate Sasuke when the group arrived.

• Tobirama urged Sasuke to unite with the Allied Forces and explained that the Sacred Lord wielded influence through vessels and God Tree Remnants.
• Sasuke agreed to go to Allied Forces headquarters, and Orochimaru chose to join after gathering his research materials.
• Tobirama sent an encrypted signal to headquarters, identifying the group and their intentions.
• Ling received the Beacon’s message, learned that Sasuke was deeply corrupted and marked by the Sacred Lord, and reported the warning to the command center.
• Tsunade ordered the Forbidden Chamber prepared to isolate Sasuke, while Ling sent Tobirama the headquarters location, threat information, and proposed route.

The Allied Forces received Tobirama and the reanimated Hokage at headquarters and placed Sasuke in the Forbidden Chamber to contain the mark within him. After Naruto awoke, Tobirama stayed behind to question Ling about the beacon and the Sacred Lord, while a faint trace of the Sacred Lord's presence slipped through the chamber's seals.

• Tsunade, Kakashi, Shikaku, and Ling prepared headquarters to receive the arriving reanimated Hokage and Sasuke.
• Tobirama, Hashirama, Hiruzen, Minato, and Sasuke landed at the Castle, and Tobirama ordered Sasuke isolated in the Forbidden Chamber.
• Sasuke entered the chamber under guard, while Tobirama confirmed that Ling's beacon linked the two spacetime realms and urged him to regain control of it.
• A medical ninja reported that Naruto had awakened, and Minato and Hashirama went to see him.
• Tobirama sent the others away and began questioning Ling about the Sacred Lord as its faint presence seeped through the Forbidden Chamber's seals.

Tobirama explained that the Beacon held a purification method meant to protect Ling from the Sacred Lord's dark power, then forcefully transferred its knowledge to him. When Sasuke's darkness erupted inside the Forbidden Chamber, Tobirama proposed that Ling use the Beacon's knowledge and his Purifying Karma to disrupt it.

• Tobirama told Ling that the Beacon was a Composite Jutsu Core containing a prototype purification method against dark power.
• Tobirama criticized Ling's slow progress and forcefully transmitted the Beacon's deeper knowledge and his analysis of the darkness.
• The dark power inside Sasuke went berserk in the Forbidden Chamber, and Tsunade, Kakashi, Minato, and Hashirama arrived as the seals came under attack.
• Tobirama identified Sasuke's mark as a back door through which the Sacred Lord was amplifying the darkness and proposed using Ling's purification power to disrupt it.
• Ling accepted the risk and asked Tobirama what he should do.

Ling entered Sasuke’s mental realm and disrupted the Sacred Lord’s hold long enough for Hashirama and Tsunade to reinforce the Forbidden Chamber’s seal. The seal temporarily stabilized, but Tobirama warned that the Sacred Lord had sensed Purifying Karma and that they had little time.

• Tobirama explained that Ling had to enter Sasuke’s consciousness, find an anchor, and disrupt the dark energy’s nodes while Hashirama and Tsunade prepared to seal the breach.
• Ling used the Beacon and Tobirama’s technique to enter Sasuke’s mental realm, resist the Sacred Lord’s temptations, and locate a faint remnant of Sasuke’s will tied to Team 7.
• Ling struck a weak point in the darkness and called to Sasuke, whose brief surge of chakra opened an opportunity for the others.
• Hashirama pinned unstable energy nodes with the Gate of the Great God while Tsunade sent Adamantine Binding chains into the Forbidden Chamber.
• Ling was pulled back into his body and collapsed into Kakashi’s arms as the barrier stabilized and the rampaging chakra subsided.
• Tobirama said the Sacred Lord’s influence ran deeper than expected and had sensed Purifying Karma, leaving the group with little time.

Ling recovered from the damage to his soul while Tobirama planned how to prepare him for the Sacred Lord’s next attack. Naruto vowed to bring Sasuke back, as a tiny White Little Snake secretly watched the Castle.

• Tobirama told Ling that his soul was badly damaged and proposed training him to assimilate the knowledge in the Beacon before they traced the Sacred Lord’s power.
• Naruto woke in the infirmary and demanded to know where Sasuke was, then learned Ling had been injured trying to stabilize Sasuke.
• Hashirama and Minato discussed Tobirama’s gamble and agreed to trust his judgment while keeping watch over the Forbidden Chamber.
• After several days, Ling regained enough strength to walk and continued studying the energy-diversion models Tobirama assigned him.
• Naruto brought Ling porridge, thanked him, and promised to bring Sasuke back before leaving.
• A tiny White Little Snake slipped through a Castle wall and watched the Forbidden Chamber and Ling’s infirmary.

Ling endured Tobirama Senju’s punishing training while trying to recover his senjutsu, as Naruto clung to hope that Sasuke could still hear them. At the Castle, Ling spotted a white snake carrying Orochimaru’s chakra and realized Orochimaru might be targeting the Beacon itself.

• Ling endured Tobirama Senju’s sealing-formula exercises and pushed himself to sense natural energy despite his weakened soul.
• Naruto visited Ling, spoke about the God Tree remnants, and insisted Sasuke would not give up.
• Hashirama Senju and Minato Namikaze suppressed violent energy surges from the Forbidden Chamber while a white snake secretly observed the Castle’s patrols and weak points.
• Ling sensed a faint, unusual presence but dismissed it as a hallucination caused by exhaustion.
• During training, Ling saw a white snake watching his unfinished space-time anchor model and sensed Orochimaru’s chakra in its eyes.
• Ling concluded that Orochimaru’s target might be the Beacon connecting the two Tobirama Senjus.

Ling told Tobirama about Orochimaru’s apparent interest in the Beacon, and Tobirama revealed he expected an attack and intensified Ling’s training. As Ling grew more capable of controlling the Beacon, the Castle tightened security, but Orochimaru’s unseen presence persisted and the hunt drew closer.

• Ling reported the white snake and its Orochimaru-like chakra to Tobirama, who said Orochimaru was preparing to target him for the Beacon.
• Tobirama assigned Ling adversarial mental-defense training and controlled Space-Time Ninjutsu interference exercises to help him protect the Beacon.
• Ling endured punishing training that gradually improved his awareness and control of the Beacon, letting him sense the wills and chakra within it and a distant connection to another Tobirama Senju.
• The Castle increased patrols and sensory monitoring, while Naruto began special training with Minato and Kakashi.
• Ling continued to feel watched by Orochimaru and glimpsed a familiar silhouette atop the Abandoned Clock Tower before it vanished.

Ling endured Orochimaru’s increasingly invasive tests until a direct attack forced him to defend the Beacon, prompting Orochimaru to propose a bargain with Tobirama. Orochimaru traded his research records for limited data, and Tobirama ended Ling’s bait assignment as preparations shifted back to the battlefield.

• Orochimaru probed Ling’s mental defenses, while Tobirama trained Ling to recognize the attacks and lure Orochimaru into revealing his methods.
• Orochimaru attacked Ling’s unstable formula in the fog, but Ling used a defensive model to protect the Beacon’s core.
• Orochimaru offered research data on the Sacred Lord and god tree remnant in exchange for Beacon knowledge and possible cooperation.
• Tobirama negotiated a narrower exchange: Orochimaru would provide his complete observation records for selected data on dark energy and interference models.
• Orochimaru handed Tobirama a scroll and disappeared, and Tobirama told Ling his bait assignment was over.
• Tobirama sent Ling back to the Castle and said it was time to focus on the real battlefield.

Ling studied Orochimaru’s research on the God Tree Remnant and suspected its energy resonances could point to the Sacred Lord’s true location. As Hashirama and Tobirama sensed the Sacred Lord weakening the boundaries between worlds, Kaguya detected the same ancient darkness from her prison on the moon, and Ling rushed to consult Tobirama about his dangerous idea.

• Hashirama told Tobirama that the Sacred Lord’s power was thinning the boundaries between worlds, while the Sage of Six Paths seemed unable to respond.
• Tobirama agreed that the dark energy was distorting reality and said they had to plan without help from the Sage.
• Imprisoned beneath the Tenseigan on the moon, Kaguya sensed the ancient darkness and feared it would consume the Shinobi World and her refuge.
• Ling noticed that the God Tree Remnant’s energy nodes briefly resonated and wondered whether they could reveal coordinates connected to the Sacred Lord’s true body.
• The Beacon flared in response to Ling’s idea, and he rushed to find Tobirama while an unseen presence listened from the room.

Ling and Tobirama prepared a dangerous test to use the Beacon to trace the Sacred Lord’s true body, knowing the signal could also alert the living Tobirama in Konoha Year One. As the test began, a vast, alien will stirred in response to the Beacon’s pulse.

• Ling brought Tobirama a chart of abnormal energy fluctuations and proposed using them to locate the Sacred Lord’s true body.
• Tobirama agreed the theory was plausible but warned that activating the Beacon could draw both the Sacred Lord and his living self in Konoha Year One.
• Ling accepted the risk, and Tobirama prepared a reinforced barrier for a single attempt to record the energy feedback.
• Before dawn, Ling entered the sealed testing chamber with Tobirama while Tsunade, Minato, Hashirama, and Kakashi watched from outside.
• Tobirama activated the Beacon and sent a high-intensity pulse toward the first resonance point, causing a distant, powerful will to awaken.

Ling endured three Beacon pulses as Tobirama mapped the Sacred Lord’s location, but the experiment exposed them to the Sacred Lord’s attention and nearly destroyed Ling. The data revealed that the Sacred Lord was gathering power or calling something, while young Tobirama briefly sensed a disturbance from the future.

• Tobirama ordered three increasingly intense Beacon pulses, and Ling sensed the Sacred Lord’s indifferent presence, a possible tear in space, and a malicious consciousness probing the channel.
• Tobirama severed the connection after unknown consciousness fragments tried to attach themselves, and Tsunade treated Ling as he collapsed from the strain.
• Minato said the Sacred Lord had noticed and remembered their scent, while Tobirama reported no sign that his living past self had traced the connection.
• In Konoha Year One, young Tobirama felt a brief, familiar disturbance before dismissing it and entering the Hokage’s office.
• Tobirama identified a rough region for the Sacred Lord’s true body and warned that it was drawing in power, possibly preparing a large-scale release or calling something.

Tobirama concluded that the corruption was concentrating its power to create an anchor or weapon capable of attacking the world's laws, while a new zone of absolute corruption appeared near headquarters. The Allied Forces decided to send a reconnaissance team toward the core, relying on Ling and the Beacon to locate it.

• Tobirama explained that the corruption was drawing energy toward convergence points and destabilizing reality around them.
• Ling suggested that the enemy was adapting its invasion after the Allied Forces' resistance, and Tobirama agreed that the threat had grown.
• A contracted toad reported that a grayish-white zone had erased the natural energy and vitality of nearby soil and vegetation.
• Tobirama identified the new corruption as an attempt to overwrite the world's laws and called for reconnaissance of the core region.
• Tobirama told Ling that the Beacon was their best guide to the core, and Ling accepted that he would have to return to the dangerous corrupted territory.

Kakashi led Ling and a small team into a corrupted region where the natural energy and space itself were decaying. They found a pulsing nest draining vitality from the world, and its spreading ripple nearly severed one of Ling’s escape marks.

• Kakashi selected Ling, Sakura Haruno, Shino Aburame, and Kankuro for the mission, while Naruto and Sai stayed behind.
• Tsunade gave Ling a life-filled scroll, and Tobirama warned him to prioritize gathering intelligence and preserve his Flying Thunder God escape route.
• As the team approached the target, Shino sensed natural energy becoming inert, while Ling left faint Flying Thunder God marks at stable points.
• The team entered a barren, corroded landscape where pale crystals drained energy from Shino’s insects and Sakura examined their empty fragments.
• Ling sensed fragile space ahead and led the team to a pulsing nest that was drawing vitality from the land and deeper layers of space.
• A pale ripple spread from the nest and nearly severed Ling’s nearest Flying Thunder God mark.

Ling and Kakashi’s squad tried to retreat as the pale nest corrupted the ground and disrupted their spatial coordinates. They reached a mysterious black rock for temporary shelter, but the corruption surrounded them and their escape route was gone.

• Ling sensed that the Flying Thunder God coordinates were becoming clogged and fading, so Kakashi ordered the squad to gather footage and prepare to withdraw.
• Shino reported that the ground at the pale area’s edge was softening, while Kankuro lost control of his scouting puppet after it sank into the ground.
• A pulse from the pale nest turned the rusted earth into quicksand and shattered the nearest coordinate, dragging the squad downward and draining their chakra.
• Kakashi led the squad toward a black rock that had not softened, and Ling felt a cool stream of natural energy when he touched it.
• The squad sheltered by the black rock as the corruption surrounded them, leaving Ling to wonder whether the nest had acted in self-defense or hunted them deliberately.

Trapped beside the Black Stone in an expanding corrosive zone, Ling discovered it was linked to the Shikkotsu Forest contract and could power a passage there. The group awakened the stone as the pale nest attacked, and a beam of green light carried them away as the stone shattered.

• The group took shelter against the Black Stone while Kakashi, Sakura, and Shino examined its strange energy and resistance to the corrosion.
• Ling sensed an ancient memory in the stone and recognized markings connected to the Shikkotsu Forest contract.
• Ling realized the stone could strengthen the summoning contract, and Sakura sensed a dormant Ancient Energy Core sealed inside it.
• As the corrosion accelerated, Kakashi assigned Ling and Sakura to awaken the stone while Kankuro prepared defenses and Shino monitored the threat.
• Ling and Sakura fed chakra into the markings, provoking the pale nest to attack, and Ling forced the summoning formula to open a passage.
• A beam of green light erupted from the Black Stone, and when it faded, the stone was shattered and the group was gone.

In Shikkotsu Forest, the Katsuyu Sage revealed that the Sacred Lord was a natural law of decay rather than a living enemy, and that activating the Tombkeeper Stone had made the forest more vulnerable to its influence. She said the breach could be sealed or the law’s flow redirected, perhaps with fragments of a long-lost Key.

• Ling, Kakashi, Sakura, Kankuro, and Shino arrived in Shikkotsu Forest exhausted, carrying the cracked Tombkeeper Stone.
• The Katsuyu Sage identified the stone as the last relic and gravestone of the Valley of Slumber, whose people had been consumed by the dark side’s laws.
• Kakashi learned that the Sacred Lord was a phenomenon that drove order toward disorder and life toward death, with its nest serving as a breach.
• The Katsuyu Sage warned that activating the stone had created another small opening and made Shikkotsu Forest more sensitive to the dark side’s influence.
• The Katsuyu Sage said they must seal the breach or redirect the law’s flow, and suggested fragments of a long-lost Key might help.

Ling sensed a twisted will hiding beneath the Sacred Lord’s seemingly impersonal law and suspected Obito had grafted his consciousness onto it. As Shino detected a structure being dismantled near the moon, Obito reached Ling through the corrupted law and identified him as the “Key.”

• Ling sensed emotion and obsession within the Black Stone’s resonance and connected them to Obito’s chakra at Annihilation Valley.
• Ling asked the Katsuyu Sage whether a powerful will could hijack or distort a law, and the sage confirmed that an individual might briefly become the dark side’s mouthpiece.
• The Katsuyu Sage said they needed to find a way to separate the rider from the law before either fully assimilated the other or caused irreparable destruction.
• Shino detected an abnormal energy spike near the moon, as though a structure were being forcibly dismantled.
• Ling suspected Obito intended to break the Sage of Six Paths’ seal and release Kaguya Otsutsuki.
• The Beacon and Black Stone painfully connected Ling to Obito, who sent the message, “Found you... ‘Key’...”

Obito recounted how he had secretly connected his hatred and obsession to the Sacred Lord’s law of erasure, seeking to reset the world rather than create Madara’s dream. After sensing Ling and identifying him as the Key, Obito attacked him through that connection.

• Obito recalled accepting Madara’s Eye of the Moon plan after Rin’s death, while privately doubting that a dream world could bring her back.
• Obito discovered a vast law of erasure within the Ten-Tails’ power and synchronized his desire to reset reality with it.
• Obito secretly projected his hatred into the Sacred Lord’s law and learned to influence its manifestations while continuing to collect the tailed beasts.
• Obito sensed a fluctuation from the Land of Iron and identified Ling, who carried the Key and a stone with resisting power.
• Obito locked onto Ling in Shikkotsu Forest and sent the law’s corrupted power toward him, vowing to erase him and his hopes.