Recaps

After Kirigakure shinobi landed in the Land of Whirlpools, Yanbai's family discussed intervening without involving Konoha or the Land of Fire officially. Silver Moon hinted that he and Muye had powerful combat methods, while Yanbai wondered whether Minato might gain a reputation in the coming conflict.

• Shikaku Nara reported that Kirigakure shinobi had landed on the coast of the Land of Whirlpools.
• Yanbai realized the landing was a test of whether he would protect the Land of Whirlpools after Mito's death.
• Muye proposed that Yanbai's family members help Kushina and Nagato as relatives rather than as Konoha shinobi.
• Yanbai agreed that Muye, Silver Moon, Junlin, and Minato could take part in the family effort.
• Yanbai questioned whether Muye and Silver Moon could fight, and Silver Moon hinted at their Overload Reaction combat technique.

Yanbai allowed Muye and Silver Moon to resolve the crisis in the Land of Whirlpools, while demanding that the Uzumaki Clan affiliate with the Land of Fire. He then ordered Shikaku Nara to prepare a scheme to steal other countries’ war supplies and sell them back at a discount, leaving Kirigakure vulnerable to economic ruin.

• Muye and Silver Moon explained their powers and promised that ghosts and their allies could help keep them safe as they confronted the crisis in the Land of Whirlpools.
• Yanbai agreed to let the children handle the crisis, but Muye promised that the Uzumaki Clan would affiliate with the Land of Fire or receive no help during a future siege.
• After the children left, Yanbai told Shikaku Nara that the Land of Fire would sell war supplies to other countries at fair prices.
• Yanbai ordered Shikaku Nara to organize supplies he planned to steal from countries using the Flying Thunder God Technique, stamp them with the Land of Fire’s mark, and sell them back at a discount.
• Yanbai planned to take Kirigakure’s money and, if it ran out, have its clans and shinobi work in the Land of Fire to pay for supplies.

Muye, Nagato, Kushina, and their companions arrived in the Land of Whirlpools, where Uzumaki Takuma questioned Kushina for returning without Konoha’s army or firearms. Muye then made clear that his brothers would only help the Uzumaki Clan for a price, leaving Takuma displeased as the clan’s younger generation began to doubt its old resistance to Yanbai.

• Uzumaki Takuma welcomed Kushina but asked whether she had brought Konoha’s army or the Land of Fire’s advanced firearms, and Kushina said she had brought neither.
• Uzumaki Takuma questioned why Kushina had returned, upsetting her, while Minato Namikaze comforted her and Nagato defended their companions’ ability to resolve the crisis.
• Uzumaki Takuma recognized Muye, Silver Moon, and Junlin from the Land of Fire’s Shinobi History textbook and tried to smooth over his exchange with Kushina.
• Muye told Uzumaki Takuma that he and his two brothers had come to help out of goodwill but would not work for free.
• Uzumaki Takuma reacted angrily to the mention of payment as the Uzumaki Clan’s younger generation began questioning its elders’ refusal to deal with Yanbai.

Yanbai summoned Izuna and Tobirama for a mysterious task while Muye negotiated the Land of Whirlpools’ fate with Uzumaki Takuma. Under pressure from Kirigakure and Muye’s ultimatum, the Whirlpool Daimyo signed an agreement bringing the territory into the Land of Fire as Whirlpool Sea Port, and Yanbai prepared to take control of its islands.

• Yanbai stood with the reincarnated Izuna and Tobirama above Konoha and hinted that Izuna would help with a task benefiting the Land of Fire.
• Muye told Uzumaki Takuma that the Land of Whirlpools must either join the Land of Fire, pay for protection, or provide labor in exchange for aid.
• Uzumaki Takuma referred Muye’s terms to the Whirlpool Daimyo while Kirigakure delayed its advance because someone kept stealing its military supplies.
• After several days, the Whirlpool Daimyo signed documents making the Land of Whirlpools a city of the Land of Fire provisionally called Whirlpool Sea Port.
• The Fire Daimyo recognized Whirlpool Sea Port, and Yanbai prepared to send people to take over the islands.

Yanbai profited by sending Tobirama and Izuna to steal and resell supplies while the Land of Fire annexed the Land of Whirlpools. As the island’s residents relocated, Yanbai invited every shinobi village’s Kage to witness its formal acquisition, leaving them wary of what would happen if they refused.

• Yanbai had Tobirama and Izuna repeatedly steal and resell supplies, using Tobirama’s summoning marks to reclaim goods after each sale and drain Kirigakure’s treasury.
• The Land of Fire began relocating cooperative civilians and Uzumaki Clan shinobi from the annexed Land of Whirlpools to temporary accommodation along its coast.
• Minato Namikaze announced the Land of Whirlpools’ incorporation and warned unauthorized visitors to leave within three days before the island underwent “comprehensive disinfection.”
• Yanbai sent every village’s Kage an invitation to attend the Land of Fire’s acquisition ceremony at Whirlpool Sea Port in three days.
• The Kage saw the Fire-Earth-Lightning Memorial Park’s human figure covered in white roses and worried that refusing Yanbai’s invitation might make them another landmark.

Yanbai consolidated the Land of Whirlpools’ annexation, intimidated the other nations, and prepared a lavish coastal resort to host the invited Kage. He planned to use the gathering to demonstrate the Land of Fire’s power and make its protection of the island unmistakable.

• The Third Kazekage accepted Yanbai’s invitation and asked Sunagakure’s Council of Elders to choose a gift for him.
• After the Land of Whirlpools merged with the Land of Fire, Kirigakure stopped fighting, while Izuna and Tobirama gathered supplies from the Four Great Nations for Yanbai.
• Shikaku Nara organized Konoha Anbu into shifts to count and sort the stolen weapons, food, and medical supplies.
• Yanbai arranged lanterns and festive decorations along the coast and prepared Hanamaki Resort City to host the Kage.
• Yanbai planned to sterilize the evacuated Land of Whirlpools with meteors, then use the materials to expand the island and build a bridge connecting it to the Land of Fire.

The Third Kazekage and other invited Kage traveled to the Land of Fire aboard luxurious air transports escorted by Chōmei. After arriving in Hanamaki City, the visiting leaders confronted the scale of Yanbai’s development and were left uneasy about the Land of Fire’s power.

• The Third Kazekage and his entourage boarded a Konoha air transport carried by a clone of Chōmei, the Seven-Tails.
• Chōmei flew through torrential rain and carried the Sunagakure party past Ishinomaki City's immense golden alloy walls.
• Chōmei delivered the Third Kazekage to Hanamaki City, where the other major villages' Kage arrived around the same time.
• Konoha's receiving ninja guided the visiting Kage into Hanamaki City's largest hotel.
• The Kage looked over the prosperous city Yanbai had built and felt apprehension, envy, and fear of the unknown.

Yanbai arranged a meteor demonstration over the Land of Whirlpools to remind the visiting Kage of Konoha’s overwhelming power. The spectacle left the Kage and displaced residents terrified, while Ōnoki concluded that resisting cooperation with Konoha was no longer an option.

• Shikaku Nara reported that every village’s Kage had arrived in Hanamaki, and Yanbai ordered the meteor drill to begin once their accommodations were ready.
• The Kage settled into rooms at the Hanamaki Hotel, where balconies offered views of the city and the distant coastline.
• Yanbai’s meteors struck the Land of Whirlpools in a display he called comprehensive disinfection, frightening the Kage and the relocated residents watching from Hanamaki.
• Ōnoki recalled Madara Uchiha’s meteor attack on Iwagakure and realized Yanbai wielded power comparable to both Madara and Hashirama Senju.
• Ōnoki examined a brochure describing Sunagakure’s gains from cooperating with Konoha and concluded that no one would dare refuse cooperation after witnessing the meteor display.

Ōnoki reflected on Yanbai’s coercive tactics and the devastation his Wood Release had brought to the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning. The Kage all agreed to meet Yanbai about cooperation, but his offer to let villages use their earnings to ransom prisoners of war left Ōnoki facing a political dilemma.

• Ōnoki recalled how Iwagakure’s shinobi who had worked in the Land of Fire returned as prisoners after Iwagakure joined the war against Konoha.
• Ōnoki watched Yanbai’s meteor shower and considered the giant hogweed spreading through the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning.
• Ōnoki stayed alone on the observation deck overnight, then heard from a Konoha reception shinobi that the Kage could either leave or meet Yanbai about cooperation.
• The Kage agreed to cooperate with Konoha and prepare to meet Yanbai to sign agreements tailored to their villages’ local specialties.
• Ōnoki learned that Iwagakure and Kumogakure could use their cooperation earnings to pay war reparations and ransom prisoners, forcing him to weigh the cost of freeing them against the consequences of leaving them abandoned.

After signing a cooperation agreement with Iwagakure, Yanbai healed Ōnoki and acquired an upgraded Dust Release technique, which he used to carve through mountains. The power reminded Yanbai that he believed his world was a simulation and that he needed to escape it, leaving him yearning for news of Madara.

• Ōnoki signed the agreements with Yanbai and, after shaking his hand, found that his back and leg pain had disappeared.
• Yanbai sent Shikaku Nara to organize the Iwagakure cooperation documents, then used Flying Thunder God to travel to a wilderness development site.
• Yanbai used the upgraded Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique he had acquired from Ōnoki to erase the barren mountains blocking his planned route.
• Yanbai reflected on his isolation, his belief that the world and its people were part of a simulation, and his desire to escape back to his own world.
• Yanbai decided his younger siblings should ask after Madara and, if necessary, find another incarnation of him, while he lamented how long the wait had become.

Yanbai strengthened cooperation between the villages and shifted his attention to observing the younger generation. At the academy, Rin Nohara overheard a strange conversation between Obito Uchiha and Might Guy and fled before delivering the reimbursement form.

• Yanbai returned to Hanamaki City and resumed work after discussing his destruction of a barren mountain with Shikaku Nara.
• Chōmei escorted the Kage home after they signed the Cooperation Agreement with Konoha, and Yanbai later signed new treaties with Ōnoki and A.
• Trade and exchanges between the villages increased, while Yanbai allowed young foreigners to study and train in Konoha Shinobi Village.
• Yanbai decided to stop competing with everyone and quietly observe the characters from the story.
• Rin Nohara's teacher asked her to take a medical reimbursement application to Obito Uchiha in the infirmary.
• Rin overheard Obito and Might Guy joking about mixers and embarrassing personal matters, then hid from Guy and delayed delivering the form.

Rin Nohara went to the hospital intending to tell Obito Uchiha to stop pursuing her, but she lost her nerve when she saw how happy he was to see her. Just as she began to explain her feelings, a ghostlike figure appeared outside the window, and Rin tried to stop Obito from looking.

• Rin Nohara reflected on how Obito's persistent attention had made her determined to focus on her studies and leave Konoha after graduation.
• Rin brought Obito a medical reimbursement application form at the hospital and explained that their homeroom teacher had asked her to deliver it.
• Rin struggled to tell Obito she wanted him to stop coming near her, even as he thanked her and smiled.
• Rin saw a ghostlike figure appear outside the hospital window and rushed to stop Obito from turning around.

Yanbai visited Obito at the school infirmary and interrupted Rin Nohara as she tried to reject Obito. Rin accidentally fell on Obito, leaving him unable to breathe, and Yanbai disappeared before Obito noticed him.

• Yanbai visited the school after learning Obito was in the infirmary.
• Yanbai found Rin Nohara with Obito and mistook her rejection speech for a possible romantic moment.
• Yanbai appeared at the window with a warning not to break school rules, startling Rin and interrupting her.
• Rin lunged to stop Obito from turning around, and they fell to the floor with Obito's face buried in her chest.
• Rin hurriedly got up and apologized as Obito caught his breath, then Obito asked if someone had been at the window.
• Rin saw that the window was empty and blamed her mistaken sight while feeling embarrassed about what had happened.

Rin Nohara left Obito after he unexpectedly confessed his love and proposed marriage, then returned home to her foster father, Jiraiya. After making Jiraiya dinner, she went to her room, while he suspected she had been with a lovestruck boy.

• Obito asked Rin what she had been trying to tell him, then proposed that they marry and promised to bring the betrothal gifts his grandmother had prepared.
• Rin found herself back at home, where her foster father Jiraiya greeted her and chided her for returning late.
• Jiraiya complained that hunger had given him writer’s block while he worked on the next chapter of Icha Icha Paradise.
• Rin made egg fried rice for Jiraiya, then went to her room after he encouraged her to spend time with her friends.
• Jiraiya watched Rin leave and remarked that he could smell the sweet scent of a boy in heat.

Rin Nohara woke from a recurring dream in which Obito Uchiha proposed to her, while Obito believed Rin had confessed her feelings to him. Yanbai learned more about Rin’s troubled home life and helped Obito choose a gift, leaving Obito happily heading to the Ninja Academy.

• Rin Nohara woke from a dream of Obito proposing and worried that she could not remember how she had answered him.
• Obito told Yanbai that Rin had confessed her feelings to him, while Yanbai recalled witnessing their awkward encounter the previous day.
• Yanbai reflected on how Jiraiya had become Rin’s adoptive father and how Rin’s upbringing had made her withdrawn and uncomfortable around men.
• Obito asked Yanbai for advice on a present for Rin, and Yanbai helped him choose one.
• Obito left the Hokage Office carrying a food box for Rin.

Rin Nohara prepared breakfast and lunch for herself and Jiraiya, who asked about her relationship with Obito and offered to help. The offer turned into Jiraiya presenting her with his collection of pornographic books and urging her to study them.

• Rin Nohara cooked breakfast and packed lunches for herself and Jiraiya.
• Jiraiya asked Rin Nohara how things were going with Obito from the Uchiha Clan.
• Rin Nohara said that little was happening with Obito, and Jiraiya offered to help her.
• Jiraiya summoned a pile of pornographic books and told Rin Nohara to choose titles that matched her kinks and ask him questions.

Rin Nohara fled Obito after finding Jiraiya’s erotic books hidden among her school supplies. Sasori woke beside the Raiden Shogun puppet and concealed the Yanbai-like puppet head he had secretly made, while worrying that he had only a year to finish a matching body without Yanbai discovering his theft.

• Rin Nohara found Jiraiya’s note and erotic books in her schoolbag, then rushed out when Obito approached with breakfast.
• Obito wondered whether Rin had run into trouble, while Might Guy announced that Obito had been dumped again.
• Sasori woke beside the Raiden Shogun puppet and recalled how hard he had worked for Yanbai’s care and praise.
• Sasori hid the puppet head resembling Yanbai in a Storage Scroll and put the Raiden Shogun head back on its body.
• Sasori worried that he had only one year to make a body matching Yanbai’s appearance without arousing suspicion.

Sasori asked Orochimaru to use artificial-human technology to give him a child from his own cells and cells taken from Orochimaru’s mother. Orochimaru refused, warning Sasori that his mother would never love him and that creating a child without consent would provoke the family’s anger.

• Sasori visited Orochimaru under the pretense of asking for energy-restoring medicine, then revealed that he wanted help creating a child.
• Orochimaru explained that artificial-human procedures required consent, approval, and eligibility that Sasori did not have.
• Orochimaru recognized that Sasori had provided silver-haired cells and warned him not to fall in love with his mother.
• Orochimaru explained that Muye and Silver Moon had been created without their parents’ consent and that his mother had retaliated against Tobirama Senju.
• Orochimaru refused Sasori’s request, fearing the consequences of defying his mother, father, uncle, and younger siblings.

Jiraiya visited Yanbai after hesitating outside the Hokage Building all morning, and Yanbai teased him about his conflicted fascination with the Hokage. Jiraiya finally revealed that he had come to discuss his daughter, Rin.

• Jiraiya spent the morning outside the Hokage Building before going in to meet Yanbai.
• Yanbai served Jiraiya an elaborate seafood lunch sent from Kirigakure.
• Jiraiya struggled with his attraction to Yanbai while reminding himself that the Hokage was a man.
• Yanbai guessed that Gamamaru had told Jiraiya he was a man and urged him to explain his visit.
• Jiraiya apologized and said he had come to talk about his daughter, Rin.

Jiraiya and Yanbai discussed Obito’s unchanging feelings for Rin and why Rin kept her distance from boys. Jiraiya defended his belief in pursuing many loves, while Yanbai concluded that Rin’s distrust of men came from her upbringing and lack of security.

• Jiraiya told Yanbai that Obito had sincerely proposed to Rin years ago, but Rin still did not like him.
• Yanbai advised Jiraiya to encourage Rin to spend more time with people her own age instead of interfering in her love life.
• Yanbai suggested that Jiraiya’s erotic novels might have shaped Rin’s expectations of men and made her cast boys as his male protagonists.
• Jiraiya defended his protagonist’s many romances, saying that he believed in love and that a man could have more than one true love.
• Jiraiya argued that waiting at home for true love showed a lack of faith in love, while Yanbai reflected that Rin’s fear of socializing came from her upbringing and insecurity.

Jiraiya drunkenly lectured Yanbai and Shikaku Nara about love, prompting Yanbai to advise him to help Rin spend more time with her peers. After Jiraiya left, Izuna appeared and told Yanbai he wanted to kill Uchiha Itachi.

• Jiraiya drunkenly talked about love and relationships while Yanbai and Shikaku Nara listened.
• Jiraiya described visiting women on Flower Street to gather material for his novels, and Yanbai reflected on why Tsunade rejected him.
• Yanbai knocked Jiraiya sober, then told him that Rin Nohara needed to spend more time with people her own age.
• Yanbai confirmed Sasori was having lunch with Orochimaru, sent Shikaku Nara back to work, and began brewing tea.
• Yanbai called out to the concealed Izuna, who appeared and said he wanted to kill Uchiha Itachi.

Yanbai questioned Izuna about why he wanted to kill the young Uchiha Itachi, but Izuna gave cryptic answers tied to a future he had seen. The chapter ended with Izuna revealing that Itachi would propose to Yanbai.

• Yanbai asked Izuna why he wanted Itachi dead, but Izuna said the reason was extremely difficult to explain.
• Yanbai considered how the Uchiha Clan's standing in Konoha had changed and wondered whether Izuna had foreseen a massacre.
• Izuna called Itachi demonic, then praised Yanbai's beauty and asked whether Yanbai was a god.
• Izuna asked what Jiraiya had meant about Yanbai and Madara's compatibility, then asked why Yanbai had never married Madara.
• Yanbai said he would never marry, and Izuna said he could rest easy because Itachi had shown him a future he hated.
• Izuna revealed that Itachi would propose to Yanbai in the future.

Yanbai explained how trying to prevent a foreseen future could bring it about, after Izuna warned him of a future in which Itachi proposed to him. The chapter left Izuna considering that telling Yanbai about Itachi might itself make that future more likely.

• Yanbai wondered why Izuna had seen a future involving Itachi, since he had paid little attention to the boy.
• Izuna told Yanbai about the future he had seen and admitted he disliked the thought of Itachi proposing to him.
• Yanbai described the story of Oedipus, whose father’s attempt to evade a prophecy helped cause it to come true.
• Yanbai pointed out that Izuna’s warning might make him curious about Itachi and lead them to meet, bringing the predicted future closer.

Jiraiya argued with Rin Nohara over her refusal to attend the graduation retreat, while her fears about the trip and judgments about his novels left him questioning himself. Later, Yanbai walked toward the Uchiha Clan Grounds with Uchiha Izuna, who warned him against approaching Itachi, but Yanbai decided to continue.

• Jiraiya insisted Rin attend the graduation retreat after Yanbai advised him to encourage her to spend more time with her peers.
• Rin told Jiraiya she feared the students would sleep together in one room and accused him of writing novels based on sexual fantasies.
• Jiraiya defended the retreat and his novels, then wondered whether the Hokage was right about problems with his protagonists.
• Yanbai strolled through Konoha with Uchiha Izuna after giving his subordinates time off, and they arrived at the Uchiha Clan Grounds.
• Izuna reminded Yanbai that approaching Itachi might make the prophesied future more likely, but Yanbai said he still wanted to look, prompting Izuna to tell him not to go.

Yanbai took Izuna around Konoha and discussed how village life and its residents had changed. He then visited Junlin, whose resemblance to Yanbai left Izuna questioning their relationship.

• Yanbai redirected Izuna away from the Uchiha Clan grounds and listened as Izuna described Konoha's residents and his fading interest in the future.
• Yanbai explained that younger generations felt more pressure but had grown more attached to the Land of Fire and Konoha Shinobi Village.
• Yanbai brought Izuna to Junlin's home, where Junlin warmly welcomed Yanbai as his mother.
• Yanbai introduced Junlin to Izuna as the Second Hokage, whom he had summoned using Impure World Reincarnation.
• Izuna scrutinized Junlin and abruptly asked who his father was.