Recaps

Orochimaru concealed his reasons for entering the morgue and kept Yanbai’s hair, while Tobirama Senju grew suspicious and planned stricter safeguards. Orochimaru left realizing that Tobirama’s presence made his plans increasingly difficult.

• Orochimaru told Tobirama Senju he had entered the morgue to store Yanbai’s hair, showed him the lock, and agreed to leave the morgue.
• Tobirama Senju warned Orochimaru that using a deceased person’s cells required Hokage approval, then asked whether he understood the language Yanbai and Cherry Ink spoke.
• Orochimaru denied understanding Thai, and Tobirama Senju let him leave while considering how to make the morgue harder to access.
• Back in his office, Orochimaru worried that Tobirama Senju had discovered Yanbai and Cherry Ink’s secret language and resented his uncle’s constant scrutiny.
• Orochimaru took the soaking-wet hair from his pocket and realized that future morgue visits would require an approved research project.

Yanbai watched Cherry Ink dote on the two babies before Kima Senju reported that Iwagakure had joined Kumogakure in attacking Konoha. Yanbai urged Kima to treat the war as an opportunity to defeat the invaders and gain territory, while Kima remained anxious about the cost and his responsibility as Hokage.

• Yanbai watched Cherry Ink kiss and babble with Muye and Silver Moon, then told Cherry Ink to stop kissing them so forcefully.
• Kima Senju gave Yanbai documents and reported that Iwagakure had joined Kumogakure in the war against Konoha.
• Kima explained that the Third Tsuchikage could counter Tailed Beast Bombs and the Third Raikage could fight Directors Kurama and Shukaku, and worried that a prolonged war would harm Konoha.
• Yanbai told Kima that other countries feared the Land of Fire's growth and that Konoha should use the attack to defeat its enemies and claim territory.
• Kima said the people had come to abhor war and admitted that he feared being blamed for any failures during his term as Hokage.

Yanbai planned to use wartime publicity and refugee protections to draw civilians into the Land of Fire, while trusting the tailed beasts to choose their family. Cherry Ink reported that it had begun helping immigrant followers and exposing corrupt officials, and Yanbai left the matter in its hands.

• Yanbai asked Kima Senju about border publicity, then ordered elite guards to report the war and show foreign civilians how the Land of Fire treated its people.
• Kima Senju asked whether they should bring back the Nine Tailed Beasts, but Yanbai said they could choose for themselves and promised to intervene when necessary.
• Cherry Ink told Yanbai that civilians were fleeing into the Land of Fire and that some border guards were monitoring immigrants while giving them work and a path to citizenship.
• Cherry Ink said it visited disciplinary officers in their dreams after immigrant followers were bullied and helped them investigate corrupt officials.

Yanbai spoke with Tsunade about her childhood, her feelings for Orochimaru, and her desire not to disappoint him. He urged her to gain strength and power, leaving Tsunade smiling as his affection brought back memories of visiting him as a child.

• Orochimaru brought Tsunade to visit Yanbai and secretly gave Cherry Ink the Strongman's Cells, hinting that Tobirama had spies in the Princess Mausoleum.
• Cherry Ink understood Orochimaru's warning and hurried to the underground kingdom to complete the gene synthesis experiment.
• Tsunade told Yanbai that she wanted his approval and explained how Orochimaru had shaped and cared for her.
• Tsunade admitted that she liked Orochimaru and worried he would not marry her, and Yanbai advised her to pursue strength and power.
• Yanbai stroked Tsunade's head, and she remembered visiting him as a child and began smiling with him.

Yanbai sabotaged Kumogakure’s Chakra Cannon, stole its plans, and turned the war into a campaign that ruined Kumogakure’s and Iwagakure’s reputations. Third Raikage A and Ōnoki realized they had been manipulated and faced growing opposition to the war at home.

• Third Raikage A learned that Yanbai’s animals had repeatedly sabotaged Kumogakure’s Chakra Cannon, preventing it from firing safely.
• Yanbai obtained the cannon’s blueprints and had Orochimaru copy them while Kima Senju urged people to develop smaller versions for Konoha’s defense.
• Kumogakure and Iwagakure continued fighting with conventional methods as Yanbai manipulated the conflict and cast them as villains.
• Third Raikage A and Ōnoki realized Konoha had been controlling the war’s pace and that their villages had lost public support.
• Ōnoki heard that civilians in Iwagakure were protesting the war and demanding a ceasefire.

Yanbai used giant hogweed to infect the nobles and daimyo of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth, forcing Kumogakure to halt its campaign against the Land of Fire. As Black Zetsu complained about the turmoil Yanbai had caused, Yanbai listened to reports from birds in his living room.

• A and Ōnoki struggled against the Land of Fire’s artillery and septic-tank defenses during the prolonged war.
• After six months of stalemate, Kumogakure prepared its Chakra Cannon against the Land of Fire.
• Yanbai used the Flying Thunder God Technique and Wood Clones to spread giant hogweed around the daimyo’s palaces in the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth.
• The giant hogweed sap left nobles and daimyo with painful burns and blisters, and the nobles of the Land of Lightning ordered Kumogakure to stop attacking and send medical shinobi.
• A halted Kumogakure’s operations under pressure from the daimyo, while Yanbai listened to reports and Black Zetsu complained about the chaos.

Yanbai continued caring for Muye and Silver Moon while defying Black Zetsu and allowing the Shinobi World's plot to collapse, hoping to escape the broken system. He revealed that he had sent Madara to another world to help him leave, and Black Zetsu realized Yanbai had prepared for this plan for years.

• Yanbai ignored Black Zetsu's demands and argued that his testing work was finished, while threatening to let the Shinobi World's plot collapse unless the system backend was repaired.
• Yanbai reflected on how he had used his growing power to undermine the Four Countries and retaliate over Old Grandmother's past actions.
• Black Zetsu described how Yanbai secretly monitored and controlled the war while staying home to care for Muye and Silver Moon.
• Yanbai confirmed that Madara was no longer in the Shinobi World after Black Zetsu tried to summon him with Impure World Reincarnation.
• Yanbai told Black Zetsu that he needed Madara's help to escape, and Black Zetsu inferred that Yanbai had sent Madara to another world to awaken his incarnation and establish a resonance.

Yanbai questioned Kima Senju about his plans to retire as Hokage and his list of candidates, which included Yanbai. Kima explained that the Hokage controlled the Scroll of Seals and the Book of Merit, and that Yanbai’s recorded achievements made it impossible to leave her off the list.

• Black Zetsu ended his conversation with Yanbai when Kima Senju arrived, while Cherry Ink taught Muye and Silver Moon to sing as they shelled vegetables.
• Kima Senju gave Yanbai documents about his planned retirement and the next Hokage election, and Yanbai questioned why her name appeared among the candidates.
• Kima Senju explained that Hokage candidates needed merit, political achievements, popular support, and backing from Konoha’s major clans.
• Kima Senju told Yanbai that the Hokage controlled the Scroll of Seals and the Book of Merit, which recorded the deeds of Yanbai, Madara, and others.
• Kima Senju said Yanbai’s achievements made her the most qualified candidate and that the villagers would object if her name were omitted.

Yanbai considered whether to accept a possible nomination as Seventh Hokage, then learned that Ōnoki planned to use Dust Release against civilians at the Land of Fire’s border. The Land of Whirlpools remained aloof after its attempt to secure Konoha’s help through family ties had angered Yanbai.

• Yanbai weighed becoming Hokage and decided the role might be worth experiencing in this timeline.
• Kima Senju briefed Yanbai on the front lines and their plans for the coming days.
• A bird brought Yanbai word that Ōnoki intended to attack border civilians from the air with Dust Release.
• Kima Senju warned that Ōnoki and A were formidable, while Yanbai dismissed the danger.
• The Uzumaki Clan stayed silent as Konoha faced attacks after Yanbai rejected its attempt to obtain aid through family ties.

Kima Senju explained the strained relationships between the Senju and Uzumaki clans and revealed that Tobirama Senju had arranged for Tsunade to inherit the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. Yanbai considered the Daimyo’s precarious position and decided Tsunade should take over sooner.

• Kima Senju told Yanbai that accepting help and exchanging favors could build useful relationships, while Yanbai warned that one-sided relationships were not worth keeping.
• Kima Senju recounted how he and the Senju household had struggled to care for Tsunade after her parents died, and how Tobirama Senju had quietly supported her.
• Kima Senju revealed that Tobirama Senju had helped the current Daimyo take power and secured her promise to name Tsunade as her successor.
• Kima Senju said the aging Daimyo was preparing to abdicate but admitted he did not know how to tell Tsunade.
• Yanbai concluded that the Daimyo had long depended on Konoha and decided Tsunade should take the position sooner.

Yanbai listened to birds report on Shukaku’s brutal, experimental battlefield tactics against Kumogakure and Iwagakure. He then learned that Kirigakure was attacking the Land of Whirlpools, but decided not to intervene after Black Zetsu warned him to stay out of it.

• Kima Senju finished his report and withdrew from the Princess Mausoleum, where Cherry Ink cared for Muye and Silver Moon.
• Yanbai heard that Shukaku had turned the border battles into experiments, combining chakra natures and combustible materials to devastate enemy troops.
• A bird told Yanbai that Kirigakure had begun attacking the Land of Whirlpools and that Black Zetsu had asked him not to interfere.
• Yanbai agreed to leave the Uzumaki Clan to its fate, reasoning that the Land of Fire was already fighting on two fronts.

Yanbai used the war and attacks on the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning to build public support for the Land of Fire and prepare a postwar compensation claim. After sending Kima Senju a thick policy proposal, he left the Hokage and his advisers stunned by the scale of his plans.

• Yanbai reasoned that Tobirama Senju had kept him away from the battlefield with two children, allowing other nations to mistake his absence for old age.
• Yanbai’s giant hogweed attacks on nobles in the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning deepened their hatred of him while leaving them unable to prove his role.
• Yanbai planned to use the war’s suffering and public anger to rally the people of the Land of Fire and lay the groundwork for demanding compensation after the war.
• Yanbai sent a large stack of documents to Kima Senju during a Hokage meeting, prompting Kima to call on the advisers to read them.
• The Nara clan head, the Hyuga clan leader, and Uchiha Akira realized Yanbai’s proposal involved the princess’s return and a plan that would leave Konoha and the Land of Fire taking the blame.
• Kima Senju warned the advisers that Konoha and the Land of Fire would implement Yanbai’s policy and would need to prepare to take responsibility.

Yanbai’s giant hogweed and battlefield tactics devastated the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning, pushing their daimyo to seek peace with Konoha. Kima Senju revealed that Konoha had rejected their proposals and would accept only surrender.

• Yanbai’s giant hogweed spread across the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning, poisoning people and ruining farmland.
• Ōnoki and the Third Raikage tried using giant hogweed sap against the Land of Fire, but its people were less vulnerable to it.
• The daimyo of the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning ordered Ōnoki and the Third Raikage to seek peace with Konoha as their countries faced mounting losses.
• Kima Senju told Yanbai that Konoha had rejected the peace proposals and would accept only surrender.
• Yanbai smiled and praised Kima for the decision.

Kima Senju rejected peace talks and demanded the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning surrender, then announced that shinobi responsible for massacres would be taken as prisoners and forced into labor in the Land of Fire. When the surrender terms reached Iwagakure and Kumogakure, the Third Raikage learned that their captured shinobi would be spared but barred from returning home.

• Yanbai’s dossier persuaded Kima Senju and the Hokage Advisors to reject peace talks and insist on surrender from the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning.
• Kima Senju delivered a speech at the Land of Fire’s border, promising that shinobi who committed massacres would be imprisoned and forced into hard labor.
• Kima Senju traveled to accept the surrender after explaining the coming decrees to the people of the Land of Fire.
• The Daimyo’s Palaces of the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning agreed to the prisoner-of-war arrangement after negotiating with the Land of Fire directly.
• The Third Raikage read Konoha’s surrender terms and learned that captured Iwagakure and Kumogakure shinobi would be spared but could never return home.

At the surrender ceremony on the Land of Fire’s border, Kima Senju warned Ōnoki and the Third Raikage that invading Konoha meant making enemies of the Land of Fire’s tens of millions of people. His speech left the Iwagakure and Kumogakure shinobi terrified as the surrender proceedings began.

• Kima Senju met Ōnoki and the Third Raikage on the Land of Fire’s border before shinobi from all three nations.
• Ōnoki questioned why the meeting was not being held in the neutral Land of Iron, and Kima said they could refuse to surrender and keep fighting.
• Kima explained that the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning had slaughtered civilians and warned that the Land of Fire would repay such attacks twofold.
• Kima declared that anyone who invaded Konoha would face the entire Land of Fire and that the conflict would last until one nation was destroyed.
• The shinobi of Iwagakure and Kumogakure remembered that civilians in the Land of Fire also fought back and were left terrified by Kima’s warning.

At the surrender ceremony, Kima Senju announced that Yanbai Senju would become the next Hokage and that nearly ten thousand prisoners would be assigned to labor reform. Shikaku Nara justified Konoha’s demands by citing documented casualties and arguing that Land of Fire civilians had fought with ordinary household supplies, leaving Ōnoki and A with little room to object.

• A challenged Kima Senju’s warnings and boasted that the Land of Lightning would endure, but Kima predicted that the villages would face Konoha’s next Hokage in two years.
• Kima Senju opened the surrender ceremony and told Ōnoki that the nearly ten thousand prisoners would be assigned by the next Hokage, Yanbai Senju.
• Shikaku Nara presented Yanbai’s labor-reform plan and claimed the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning had caused over five hundred thousand deaths in the Land of Fire.
• When Ōnoki questioned the figure, Shikaku explained that annual censuses and household records supported the casualty count.
• Shikaku said nearly four hundred thousand victims were unarmed elderly people, women, and children, then explained that civilians had used household supplies and ceramic knives rather than restricted weapons.

Shikaku Nara explained Konoha’s plan to make prisoners of war from the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning repay four trillion ryō in reparations through labor and a strict “good and evil points” system. Ōnoki and the Third Raikage realized the rules would force the prisoners into exhausting work, with execution for failing to meet daily quotas.

• Shikaku Nara said the two nations owed four trillion ryō for the Land of Fire’s wartime losses, but their prisoners of war would repay it through labor instead of money.
• Ōnoki questioned how the damages had been calculated, and Shikaku said Konoha had verifiable evidence but would keep its records secret.
• Shikaku described how prisoners would earn points for assigned work, with inspectors deciding whether they had met their quotas.
• Shikaku announced that prisoners had to earn and surrender ten points each day, would lose points for delays or disobedience, and would be executed if they failed to meet the daily minimum.
• Ōnoki and the gathered Iwagakure and Kumogakure shinobi realized prisoners would have to work long hours for necessities until the reparations were paid.

Yanbai appeared during the surrender negotiations and ordered Ōnoki and A to listen as he repeated Konoha's terms. The Third Raikage A challenged the four-trillion-ryō compensation demand, and Yanbai killed him in front of everyone.

• Yanbai arrived beside Kima Senju and told Shikaku Nara that Ōnoki and A should follow the surrender terms or die.
• Yanbai introduced himself to Ōnoki and A and ordered them to stay silent and listen.
• Yanbai said prisoners of war from the Land of Earth and Land of Lightning would be sent to the Land of Fire for labor and held responsible for four trillion ryō in compensation.
• A objected that the compensation was excessive, and thorny vines seized him.
• Yanbai drained A into a flower-covered skeleton and warned the gathered shinobi not to let battlefield victories over tailed beasts go to their heads.

Yanbai forced Iwagakure and Kumogakure to accept his authority, then explained how their nearly ten thousand prisoners of war would work off reparations under harsh labor reform. He left Ōnoki responsible for replacing every prisoner who died and warned the prisoners that their families and villages would bear the cost of their deaths.

• Yanbai told Ōnoki that he had once restrained his cruelty to preserve his kind image, but no longer cared what others thought of him.
• Kumogakure and Iwagakure shinobi lowered their heads rather than provoke Yanbai, and Ōnoki urged his people to listen to him.
• Yanbai explained that prisoners of war would earn good and evil points through assigned labor to repay reparations, despite the risk of death or suicide.
• Yanbai said Konoha would record prisoners’ identities and casualties quarterly, while their villages would have to replace every prisoner who died.
• Yanbai warned the prisoners to work for their families’ sake and said they would be repatriated only after the reparations were paid in full.

Yanbai forced Ōnoki and Blue B to accept a surrender plan that subjected their captured shinobi to a brutal morality-coin system designed to make them compete and rob one another. Both leaders signed under threat of death, while Fourth Raikage A watched with hatred.

• Yanbai had Shikaku Nara give Ōnoki and Blue B the surrender document and prisoner-of-war disposition plan to review and sign.
• Ōnoki and Blue B discovered that prisoners would have to work long hours, earn morality coins, surrender ten coins each day, and face execution or hunger if they failed.
• Ōnoki realized prisoners could steal and exchange coins, making the system a trap that would turn prisoners from Iwagakure and Kumogakure against one another.
• Fearing Yanbai would kill him and his village if he refused, Ōnoki signed the documents despite the damage it would do to his reputation.
• Blue B signed as well, while Fourth Raikage A suppressed his urge to attack Yanbai and glared at her with hatred.

Yanbai arranged for the prisoners of war from Kumogakure and Iwagakure to be registered and assigned production work, revealing armored transport vehicles designed by Orochimaru to move them and supplies. As the vehicles impressed the defeated nations, Yanbai explained that their technology was difficult to reproduce and made clear he viewed every living person as labor to harvest.

• Shikaku Nara delivered the agreements signed by Ōnoki and Blue B, and Yanbai ordered the prisoners registered in groups and assigned suitable production work.
• Konoha Shinobi began relaying Shikaku Nara's instructions through hand signals as more than a hundred armored transport vehicles emerged from the city gates.
• Yanbai introduced the vehicles as Orochimaru's military equipment for safely transporting prisoners and supplies, and said the blueprints would not be enough for other nations to reproduce them.
• Fourth Raikage A challenged Yanbai's claim, but Blue B stepped in front of him and Yanbai chose not to punish him.
• Yanbai explained that Orochimaru's technology depended on precision components they could not manufacture, and recalled Orochimaru's frustration at failing to build a smartphone.

Yanbai explained why the shinobi world needed a stronger industrial foundation, then used Wood Release: Rose Bud Control and meticulous procedures to secure nearly ten thousand prisoners of war for transport. Fourth Raikage A asked to take the Third Raikage’s body home, but Yanbai’s reply left him unable to press the request.

• Yanbai told the assembled officers that building industrial capacity required time, skilled craftsmen, and competition between nations.
• Yanbai revealed that he had implanted Kumogakure and Iwagakure shinobi with chakra- and vitality-fed rose seeds called Wood Release: Rose Bud Control.
• Shikaku Nara’s plan guided the Land of Fire’s personnel as they counted, supplied, grouped, and loaded the prisoners into transport vehicles.
• The vehicles released ether to anesthetize the prisoners, and nearly ten thousand captives were secured for transfer.
• Fourth Raikage A asked Yanbai whether he could take the Third Raikage’s body to the Land of Lightning, but fell silent after Yanbai challenged him to take it by force.

Yanbai returned from the surrender ceremony and met Tobirama Senju and a mysterious silver-haired child. Tobirama introduced the boy as Junrin Senju, who called him Mother and was struck by Tobirama for it.

• Yanbai intimidated Ōnoki, Blue B, and the Kumogakure shinobi before leaving them to discuss prisoner arrangements with Shikaku Nara.
• Yanbai returned to Konoha using the Flying Thunder God Technique and found Tobirama with a silver-haired child.
• Yanbai urged Tobirama to treat the children well, and Tobirama hinted that he had followed Yanbai’s old advice and taken in another child.
• Tobirama told Yanbai the child was named Junrin Senju, and Yanbai departed.
• Junrin asked why he could not call Yanbai Mother, so Tobirama slapped him and ordered him to call Yanbai his aunt before offering to apply medicine.

Yanbai returned to the Princess Mausoleum, where he drove off the ghosts who attacked him and kept them occupied with work around his haunted estate. He spent time with Satsuki and learned about the ghosts’ plans for a coastal city before Cherry Ink returned with Muye and Silver Moon.

• Yanbai arrived at the Princess Mausoleum and slapped a group of attacking ghosts into the walls, then left them to resume their assigned work.
• Yanbai talked with Satsuki, who showed him ghost-drawn coastal city plans and discussed her favorite architectural styles.
• The narration explained that Satsuki and Yumemizuki had reincarnated into their own clones to stay with Yanbai, while the other original cats had died naturally.
• Cherry Ink returned from taking Muye and Silver Moon out, and Yanbai recalled how she had scolded him for trying to make the children call him Daddy.

Yanbai learned that Junlin, the silver-haired child living with Tobirama, was Tobirama’s biological son, despite Tobirama believing he had created a child from Yanbai’s genes. The revelation left Yanbai wondering whose genes Cherry Ink had used, and Cherry Ink fell silent.

• Yanbai told Cherry Ink he had seen Tobirama with a distressed silver-haired child named Junlin.
• Cherry Ink revealed that he knew Junlin and explained that he and Orochimaru had obtained genetic material from Tobirama’s laboratory.
• Cherry Ink said he had secretly replaced Tobirama’s embryo, destroying the original and arranging for Tobirama’s biological child to be born instead.
• Cherry Ink explained that Tobirama believed Junlin was Yanbai’s child and raised him as a boyish version of Yanbai, while telling him to call Yanbai Auntie.
• Yanbai asked whether Junlin was truly Tobirama’s son, and Cherry Ink confirmed it with a paternity test.
• Yanbai asked whose genes Cherry Ink had used, but Cherry Ink’s gaze flickered and he fell silent.