Recaps

Silver Moon and Muye assessed whether Minato Namikaze and Kushina were a suitable match by laying out what each could offer the other. They left Minato stunned as the marriage evaluation began.

• Kushina endured Muye's blunt remarks while Yanbai encouraged her to listen, and Silver Moon explained that the family would assess her and Minato before marriage.
• Silver Moon argued that marriage should be an equal exchange rather than an act of charity, leaving Minato and the others unsettled.
• Muye explained that the assessment would focus on traits that benefited a partner, and he listed Minato's advantages for Kushina and Kushina's advantages for Minato.
• Minato struggled to respond after hearing their qualities spelled out, and Silver Moon warned him that embarrassment now could leave him in trouble later.

Minato Namikaze reflected on Yanbai and Silver Moon’s careful assessment of his compatibility with Kushina and the importance of mutual respect between their families. Later, Yanbai approved Kakashi Hatake’s early graduation, and a bewildered Obito asked whether good grades and strength made people more likable.

• Minato Namikaze considered how differences in worldview, family background, and character had made Kushina and Senju Nawaki a poor match.
• Silver Moon explained that Minato Namikaze and Kushina would remain influenced by their families after marriage, and Minato Namikaze felt pressure from the scrutiny.
• Yanbai reviewed Kakashi Hatake’s graduation requirements and, after Shikaku Nara verified them, stamped his certificate with the Hokage’s seal.
• Obito asked Yanbai whether good grades and strength made people like him more, and Yanbai said they did at his age.

Obito worried that Kakashi’s graduation would draw Rin away, but Yanbai helped him reconsider graduating early. Meanwhile, Yanbai observed how his disciples’ relationships and family lives had changed, with Senju Nawaki left alone as the people he relied on grew old.

• Obito told Yanbai he wanted to graduate early, and Yanbai asked whether Kakashi was his crush; Obito insisted that he liked Rin.
• Yanbai pointed out that graduating early would also take Obito away from Rin, and Obito decided to treasure the time they had together.
• Kushina and Minato Namikaze became a couple, and Kushina began caring for Minato while he visited Yanbai to ask about the Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Hyuga Yuisaki married a woman chosen by his clan, while Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto were already legally married and planned their wedding banquet.
• Senju Nawaki remained the only one of Yanbai’s four disciples without a partner as the people he could rely on grew old.

Bored with the lack of conflict, Yanbai sent Sunagakure a lucrative commission for puppet toys, with a veiled threat to bring a meteor shower if it refused. The Third Kazekage accepted the invitation and set out for Konoha to meet Yanbai.

• After learning from Shikaku Nara that Sunagakure was impoverished, Yanbai wrote a commission offering ten million ryo for puppet toys and demanding that the Kazekage come to Konoha.
• Yanbai threatened to visit Sunagakure and make the village watch a meteor shower if it refused or returned the deposit.
• Shikaku Nara recognized the letter as a threat and expected the Kazekage to accept rather than risk Sunagakure's destruction.
• Yanbai's roads and border city of Ishinomaki enabled the commission to reach the Third Kazekage that evening.
• The Third Kazekage weighed the money against Yanbai's threat, then decided to travel to Konoha and discuss the collaboration.

The Third Kazekage arrived in Konoha and experienced the Land of Fire’s comfortable facilities before meeting Yanbai to discuss a puppet-making collaboration. Yanbai proposed that Sunagakure build lifelike entertainment puppets from his designs, with possible combat-puppet work to follow if the first project succeeded.

• The Third Kazekage and his entourage traveled to Konoha through the Land of Fire’s efficient logistics system and were impressed by their accommodations and services.
• The Third Kazekage’s party saw how Ishinomaki City had transformed the desert and wondered whether Sunagakure could become similarly prosperous.
• Shikaku Nara escorted the Third Kazekage to Konoha’s diplomatic conference hall the next morning, where Yanbai welcomed him.
• Yanbai showed the Third Kazekage an illustration of a purple-clad woman and explained that he wanted Sunagakure’s Puppeteers to reproduce her as a lifelike humanoid puppet.
• Yanbai proposed sharing the profits from rare civilian-use entertainment puppets and said he might offer combat-puppet designs after Sunagakure proved its worth.

Yanbai negotiated a puppet-making partnership with the Third Kazekage, offering materials from the Land of Fire to make the puppets more lifelike. After securing favorable terms, Yanbai hosted the Kazekage in Konoha and proposed expanding their cooperation by opening Land of Fire eateries in Sunagakure.

• Yanbai showed the Third Kazekage baby-bottle nipples as a model for soft, lifelike puppet skin and offered to supply materials from Konoha and the Land of Fire.
• Yanbai and the Third Kazekage agreed to an eighty-twenty profit split, with eighty percent going to Yanbai and twenty percent to Sunagakure.
• Yanbai took the Third Kazekage on a tour of Konoha factories and treated him and his companions to an elaborate meal.
• Yanbai asked about the Kazekage's favorite dishes and learned that Sunagakure lacked vegetables because of the Land of Wind's barren soil.
• Yanbai proposed opening eateries from the Land of Fire in Sunagakure, leaving the Third Kazekage to consider another expansion of their cooperation.

The Third Kazekage reflected on the many trade agreements Yanbai had persuaded him to sign and learned more about the Land of Fire’s hotels and logistics. After breakfast, Yanbai hurried him onto a beast-drawn vehicle to return to Sunagakure, eager for the village to fulfill its commission.

• The Third Kazekage recalled signing agreements with Yanbai for Puppet Toy production, chain businesses, and trade in desert waste products.
• Yanbai took the Third Kazekage to the hotel’s self-service restaurant and explained that breakfast was included with the room fee.
• The Third Kazekage’s party filled their plates at breakfast and regretted missing the previous day’s meal.
• Yanbai showed the Third Kazekage the Didi Beast-Ride vehicle and described the Land of Fire’s animal-powered transport network.
• The Third Kazekage declined Yanbai’s further business proposals and departed for Sunagakure by ninja-beast vehicle.

Yanbai prepared to expand Konoha’s influence in Sunagakure through trade, infrastructure, and assimilation, while anticipating resistance from the Land of Wind’s Daimyo. He revealed that the Land of Fire’s Daimyo supported his plans, leaving him free to press ahead.

• Shikaku Nara reported that Konoha’s chain-store supplies and skilled workers would reach Sunagakure with the Third Kazekage and begin opening shops.
• Yanbai planned to use Konoha-run stores, local marriages, and compulsory education to gradually assimilate Sunagakure and eventually take it over.
• Shikaku Nara warned that the Land of Wind’s Daimyo would resist Sunagakure becoming economically independent and slipping from his control.
• Yanbai said the Third Kazekage would have to choose between offending the Daimyo and accepting Konoha’s support, and joked that he could use a meteor strike as a pretext to rebuild the Land of Wind.
• Yanbai told Shikaku Nara that the Land of Fire’s Daimyo supported his decisions, had ordered puppet dolls from him, and planned to visit.

On the journey home, the Third Kazekage’s anxiety eased as Aik explained Yanbai’s ideas about accepting imperfection, though he remained wary of the Hokage’s power and the puppet business deal. He arrived at Sunagakure to find Yanbai’s convoy already prepared to begin building a Farmers' Market in the Gobi that night.

• Aik spoke with the Third Kazekage during the carriage ride and reassured him that Yanbai was unusually successful, not a standard anyone else had to meet.
• The Third Kazekage realized Yanbai had arranged the dogs’ conversations to calm him so he could carry out the commission.
• The Third Kazekage considered copying Yanbai’s lucrative puppet business but rejected the idea because he feared provoking the Hokage.
• The Third Kazekage’s convoy reached Sunagakure, where Yanbai’s representatives presented plans to build a Farmers' Market in the Gobi and announced construction would begin that night.

Yanbai’s plans brought Konoha construction crews and an animal army to Sunagakure, where they built an agricultural market that began supplying the village with fresh food. Back in Konoha, Obito asked Yanbai how she had won over Madara, and took her story of bullying him as useful advice for impressing Rin.

• Yanbai used birds’ memories to map the terrain around Sunagakure and prepared detailed plans for an agricultural market before the Third Kazekage arrived.
• Cherry Ink sent sick children to Konoha for care and mobilized rats to join the animal army traveling to the Land of Wind.
• Konoha crews and animals built the market near Sunagakure, while native animals supplied food and materials for the workers.
• Konoha’s transport service began rotating construction crews and bringing vegetable sellers and produce to the market, giving Sunagakure fresh food and launching a joint venture.
• Obito asked Yanbai how she had won over Madara, and Yanbai said she had bullied him when they were young.
• Obito thanked Yanbai and concluded that her story would help him with Rin.

Yanbai corrected Obito’s mistaken belief that he and Madara were romantically involved, then reviewed Konoha’s projects and Sunagakure farmers’ market with Shikaku Nara. He planned to expand the market and its services until Sunagakure increasingly depended on cooperation with Konoha.

• Yanbai told Obito that his long life made lasting romance impossible, but Obito promised that his family would keep Yanbai company, prompting Yanbai to send him away.
• Shikaku Nara reported on construction projects and policy results across the Land of Fire before updating Yanbai on Sunagakure.
• Shikaku Nara said the farmers’ market had opened with vegetables, seasonings, meat, fruit, and prepared food, and that its daily revenue had met its target and was growing.
• Yanbai approved plans to promote biogas stoves and sell natural gas made from Sunagakure’s free communal waste, while reminding staff to avoid allergy-triggering ingredients.
• Yanbai planned to expand the market with greenhouses fertilized by septic-tank residue, reducing transport costs and making Sunagakure more reliant on Konoha.

The Third Kazekage watched Konoha establish a farmers' market in Sunagakure, where cheap food, sanitation improvements, and waste collection quickly transformed village life. Unable to oppose Konoha's growing influence, Chiyo decided to visit Konoha and meet the legendary Princess Senju once the Puppet Doll was finished.

• The Third Kazekage summoned Chiyo to take over Yanbai's Puppet Toy commission and convened Sunagakure's leaders to explain his agreements with Konoha.
• Konoha's construction shinobi built a farmers' market and collected Sunagakure's accumulated shit before returning to Konoha and being replaced by sales shinobi.
• Konoha's sales shinobi introduced cheap produce, group purchases, delivery, and paid work to Sunagakure's villagers.
• The farmers' market improved sanitation by collecting waste and helping villagers install urban drainage systems.
• The Third Kazekage realized Konoha was gaining influence over Sunagakure through its services, while Chiyo and Ebizo saw no easy way to resist.
• Chiyo decided to visit Konoha Shinobi Village and meet the legendary Princess Senju after finishing the Puppet Doll.

Yanbai refused to use artificial-human technology to help Uchiha Fugaku and Minato Namikaze have children, but prescribed tonics for their wives, and Mikoto became pregnant. When Granny Chiyo brought him the first form of the puppet doll, Yanbai learned that Sasori had designed its humanlike construction.

• Uchiha Fugaku and Minato Namikaze asked Yanbai to help them have children through artificial means, but he refused and prescribed different tonics for them and their wives.
• Yanbai noted that none of his four students seemed suited to replace him as Hokage, while his projects continued without a successor in sight.
• Mikoto became pregnant after taking the prescribed tonics, while Kushina remained unpregnant and tried to ease her anxiety by taking walks.
• Granny Chiyo brought Yanbai the puppet doll’s initial form, a wooden human skeleton intended to be fitted with artificial organs, muscles, and skin.
• Yanbai asked whether the design was Granny Chiyo’s idea, and she explained that her grandson Sasori had devised it from Yanbai’s drawings and requirements.

Yanbai met Sasori, who proposed to him because he believed Yanbai was immortal, and learned that Sasori’s parents had died protecting him from Ōnoki. Yanbai rejected the proposal and turned their conversation toward Sasori’s work on the Raiden Shogun puppet.

• Chiyo brought Sasori to meet Yanbai in the Hokage Office, where Sasori immediately proposed marriage to Yanbai.
• Yanbai asked about Sasori’s parents, and Sasori said Ōnoki had killed them with Dust Release while they protected him during an invasion of Sunagakure.
• Yanbai realized Sasori’s parents had died differently than they had in the original course of events and wondered how witnessing their sacrifice had shaped Sasori.
• Yanbai told Sasori he would not marry him because he did not want to have sex with him.
• Yanbai discussed the Raiden Shogun puppet with Sasori and told him to give it a beautiful, commanding presence or risk having his pay docked.

Sasori asked to remain in Konoha to study materials for Yanbai’s puppet and visit him each day, and Yanbai approved. After Shikaku warned that Sasori might make a puppet resembling Yanbai as part of his fixation, Yanbai summoned Sasori back to speak with him privately.

• Sasori told Yanbai he wanted to stay in Konoha to study alloy and other materials for the puppet, and Yanbai approved his temporary residency and daily visits.
• Chiyo left the Hokage Office with Sasori and the puppet skeleton, while Konoha Anbu escorted them from the building.
• Shikaku warned Yanbai that Sasori seemed fixated on him and could use puppet-making to fulfill his fantasies.
• Yanbai called Sasori back without Chiyo and tried to explain that he would not marry him because Yanbai was a man.
• Sasori looked down at Yanbai’s chest in disbelief, and Yanbai said he had called him back to discuss something important.

Yanbai refused Sasori’s request to attend the Konoha Ninja Academy but offered to teach him privately, and Sasori began designing and building the “Raiden Shogun” puppet in Konoha. After several months of study and industrial manufacturing, the puppet’s frame, muscles, organs, and artificial skin took shape.

• Yanbai warned Sasori to obey the Land of Fire’s laws, including his rule against copying a living person’s face without permission.
• Yanbai rejected Sasori’s request to attend the Konoha Ninja Academy because he feared Sasori might kill another student, and offered him private lessons instead.
• Sasori began reporting to the Hokage Office each morning, studying the “Raiden Shogun” and arranging for Konoha workshops to manufacture its alloy skeleton.
• Sasori designed the puppet’s muscle tissue, organs, and artificial skin, studied medicine and suturing, and ordered the components from local workshops.
• After several months, Sasori assembled the skeleton, added artificial muscles and organs, and covered them with artificial skin as Yanbai watched the design take shape.

Yanbai and Sasori completed the Raiden Shogun puppet after six months of work, then Yanbai made a small puppet modeled on young Uchiha Itachi and brought it to the Uchiha Clan. Fugaku and pregnant Mikoto received the gift, which was addressed to their soon-to-be-born child as “Uchiha Weasel.”

• Yanbai suggested implanting individual strands of hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes into the humanoid puppet, and Sasori carefully completed its custom hair.
• Sasori dressed the finished Raiden Shogun puppet, declared it their child, and held its hand while calling himself its father.
• Shikaku Nara told Yanbai that the Three-Kidney Pill had sold out, and Yanbai ordered purchase limits and warnings after learning small shinobi clans had bought it in bulk.
• Yanbai used leftover materials to make a small puppet modeled on young Uchiha Itachi, and Sasori meticulously implanted its hair.
• Yanbai gave Sasori a cash reward and delivered the doll to Uchiha Fugaku and pregnant Mikoto with a card addressed to “the soon-to-be-born Uchiha Weasel.”

Yanbai visited Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto to question their choice of Itachi for their unborn son, joking that the name sounded inauspicious. He accepted their decision but warned Fugaku not to honor him by naming a future child after Yanbai or his family.

• Yanbai explained the meanings and traditions behind names, then wondered whether Fugaku might name a second son Uchiha Butsuma.
• Fugaku and Mikoto confirmed that they had chosen Itachi for their unborn son after learning from a Hyuga doctor that they were expecting a boy.
• Yanbai said Itachi sounded inauspicious but accepted the name because Fugaku and Mikoto had chosen it themselves.
• Yanbai joked that he had feared Fugaku would name the child Uchiha Yanbai, and Fugaku assured him he would not.
• Yanbai warned Fugaku not to honor him by using his father's or brothers' names for a second child, and Fugaku agreed.

While Yanbai was away, Sasori became attached to the completed “Raiden Shogun” puppet and insisted it could not be sold. Yanbai proposed that Sasori buy it himself, then presented an agreement demanding payment beyond the commission’s costs and fees.

• While Shikaku Nara watched, Sasori carefully applied makeup to the puppet and braided its hair.
• Sasori asked Shikaku Nara about Yanbai’s popular Three-Kidney Pill, and Shikaku explained its sales and use.
• Yanbai returned to the Hokage Office and found Sasori shielding the puppet and declaring that it could not be sold.
• Sasori treated the puppet as his child and asked Yanbai how to keep it from being sold.
• Yanbai suggested Sasori buy the puppet and showed him an agreement listing costs, fees, and an additional profit.

Yanbai offered Sasori a way to keep the Raiden Shogun by buying it in installments and working for him to cover the payments. Sasori considered the deal as Yanbai proposed hiring him personally instead of renewing Sunagakure's contract.

• Yanbai presented Sasori with documents to renew the puppet-making contract with Sunagakure, but Sasori could not afford to buy the Raiden Shogun outright.
• Yanbai offered Sasori installment payments, calculating that twelve monthly payments would make the puppet cost 32,250,000 ryo in total.
• Yanbai proposed that Sasori sign a twelve-month contract and use his wages to pay for the Raiden Shogun.
• Yanbai told Sasori he could hire him personally rather than renew the contract with Sunagakure, and urged him to sell himself to Yanbai.

Yanbai brought Sasori from Sunagakure to live and work at his home under a one-year contract. He then hurried to Mito’s bedside, where she confessed her long-held feelings before dying peacefully.

• Sasori agreed to work for Yanbai for a year, and the Third Kazekage approved the contract for 2.25 million ryo.
• Yanbai brought Sasori home, where Kushina told him that Mito’s condition had worsened and she wanted to see him.
• Yanbai used the Flying Thunder God Technique to reach Mito, who apologized for past trouble and spoke about the Senju Clan’s future.
• Mito confessed that she had fallen for Yanbai and said that voicing her thoughts made her feel truly happy.
• Mito died peacefully while Yanbai held her hand.

At Mito’s funeral, Yanbai reflected on death, resurrection, and the preparations he was making involving Sasori. He sensed someone near the Memorial Stone and caught Killer B, who had sneaked into the Land of Fire and crashed banquets, singing before Yanbai arrested him.

• Yanbai attended Mito’s funeral and wondered whether resurrecting the dead would only prolong their suffering.
• Yanbai reflected that Mito’s death and Itachi’s birth had occurred on the same day, then considered visiting Mikoto and Itachi.
• Yanbai sensed someone hiding near the Memorial Stone and stopped Shikaku Nara from speaking.
• Killer B emerged from behind a tree and launched into a song and dance.
• Yanbai slapped Killer B and declared him under arrest for attempting to molest the Hokage.
• Killer B’s recent travels had involved sneaking into the Land of Fire and crashing hundreds of weddings and funerals for their food.

Yanbai detained Killer B and sent the Fourth Raikage A a bill for his meals and entertainment in the Land of Fire. After arranging for Killer B to be pampered in custody, Yanbai went home to find Sasori, newly interested in Granny Chiyo's Living Reincarnation.

• Yanbai and Shikaku Nara brought Killer B to the Konoha Military Police Force detention center, where Yanbai told Shimura Danzō to keep him well fed and entertained.
• Yanbai wrote Fourth Raikage A a letter detailing Killer B's unpaid banquet meals, pig-trotter feasts, and fashion magazines, then sent it by express airdrop.
• Yanbai ordered his subordinates to monitor Kumogakure and Shimura Danzō to continue fattening Killer B, while deciding not to use the incident as a reason to attack the Land of Lightning.
• After Mito's death made Yanbai more attentive to Sasori, he finished his work and went home to find him, intent on learning more about Granny Chiyo's Living Reincarnation.

Yanbai helped Sasori industrialize puppet construction while Sasori devoted himself to bringing the Raiden Shogun to life and pursuing eternity. Sasori confronted Yanbai about seeming to know him from the start and said Yanbai had shown him that true immortality might be possible.

• Yanbai let Sasori use his puppet-component standards so Konoha's industrial department could mass-produce puppet bodies.
• Sasori continued working to bring the Raiden Shogun to life, while Yanbai learned about his past and watched his fascination with puppets and eternity deepen.
• During lunch, Sasori discussed human puppets, the friend he had turned into one, and his plan to transform his own body.
• Sasori told Yanbai that he seemed to know him before they had met and never acted surprised by his confessions.
• Sasori said he wanted eternity and asked whether Yanbai's example meant that true immortality was possible.

Yanbai explained to Sasori how death and being forgotten made existence precious, and challenged Sasori’s belief that puppets could replace the people he had lost. Sasori confessed how he had turned a boy into a Human Puppet and recognized that Yanbai was protecting him, then promised to stop anyone who could kill Yanbai; Yanbai said she could only be sealed.

• Yanbai told Sasori that he could die and described how his experiences with death and oblivion had changed his understanding of what mattered.
• Sasori argued that people and objects could endure even when forgotten, but Yanbai asked whether endless loneliness was truly the eternity he wanted and reminded him that puppets could not replace his parents.
• Sasori recounted how he had accidentally caused a boy’s death while fitting him with a puppet arm, then made him into a Human Puppet, and how Chiyo had concealed the truth to protect him.
• Sasori realized Yanbai already knew his secret and had kept him close to protect him, then asked whether they had known each other in a previous lifetime.
• Sasori thanked Yanbai for remembering him and vowed to stop anyone who could kill him; Yanbai said she could only be sealed, and Sasori agreed to seal her.