Recaps

Yanbai agreed to take young Orochimaru under his care and began easing his fears with a gentle conversation. As Tobirama Senju and Madara Uchiha discussed Madara’s relationship with Yanbai outside, Yanbai asked Orochimaru what wish he wanted to fulfill.

• Yanbai agreed to Tobirama Senju’s request to take charge of five-year-old Orochimaru.
• Yanbai calmed Orochimaru by holding his hand and discussing what a bright future meant.
• Madara Uchiha realized Yanbai seemed to treat him like a son, and Tobirama Senju took him outside to talk.
• Tobirama Senju told Madara Uchiha to treasure his time with Yanbai, since Madara did not know how to comfort him.
• Yanbai stroked Orochimaru’s head and asked what wish he wanted to fulfill.

Yanbai asked Orochimaru for a favor and used his red eyes to alter the child’s perception. Outside the mausoleum, Madara rejected Tobirama’s advice about courting Yanbai, while Orochimaru ended the chapter calmly agreeing to help soothe someone.

• Orochimaru looked up at Yanbai, then watched a messenger mouse deliver a message and accept a cookie from him.
• Yanbai asked Orochimaru for a small favor, and his red eyes changed as Orochimaru’s surroundings shifted.
• Tobirama lectured Madara about sweet-talking Yanbai, but Madara pointed out that Yanbai had told him to be himself.
• Madara entered the mausoleum, and Tobirama followed him inside.
• Orochimaru prepared tea for Yanbai and said he understood everything and would help soothe him.

Yanbai used his Dōjutsu to give Orochimaru decades of education and a simulated family life with himself and Madara, leaving Madara furious and Tobirama bewildered. Orochimaru began explaining what happened, revealing that Yanbai believed he needed parental love before he could study.

• Yanbai pulled Madara and Orochimaru into his Dōjutsu Space while Tobirama stayed outside and counted the elapsed seconds.
• After more than sixty years inside the illusion, Orochimaru awakened, and Madara attacked him before Yanbai intervened and took Madara back into the Dōjutsu Space.
• Tobirama used the Flying Thunder God Technique to take Orochimaru to his room, where Orochimaru revealed that he had promised Mother to explain what happened.
• Orochimaru explained that Yanbai had taken him to an illusory modern world and given him ten years of life in a single-parent family, since he needed parental love before he could study.

Yanbai’s genjutsu simulations gave Orochimaru and Madara Uchiha decades of knowledge and a volatile father-son rivalry, ending only when Orochimaru built a nuclear reactor to take Madara down with him. After they returned, Tobirama Senju realized Orochimaru’s lawbreaking came from his nature, and remained uneasy despite Orochimaru promising to behave in the Shinobi World.

• Yanbai sealed Orochimaru’s early memories and raised him through a realistic ten-year illusion, then revealed the truth when Orochimaru was fifteen and began a second simulation with Madara Uchiha.
• Orochimaru and Madara Uchiha lived as ordinary father and son, but Orochimaru’s thirst for knowledge led him to break the simulation’s laws and clash with Madara.
• Madara Uchiha and Orochimaru repeatedly sent each other to prison, escaped, and fought using their intelligence and physical strength, while Yanbai watched and tried to ease their tensions.
• The pair spent decades learning skills and hunting each other until Orochimaru built a nuclear reactor in the Private Room, prompting Yanbai to expel them from the Dōjutsu Space.
• Tobirama Senju understood why Madara Uchiha had attacked Orochimaru upon waking, and Orochimaru assured his teacher he would restrain himself and not attack anyone from their country.

Orochimaru asked Tobirama Senju to teach him chakra cultivation, but Tobirama kept him from leaving while Madara Uchiha recovered from Yanbai’s dōjutsu. Madara worried about Orochimaru’s effect on Tobirama, while Yanbai expected the frustrations of the Shinobi World to push Orochimaru into action.

• Orochimaru asked Tobirama Senju how to cultivate chakra, and Tobirama warned him to wait until Yanbai had calmed Madara Uchiha.
• Tobirama refused to let Orochimaru leave or reveal where their home was, fearing Orochimaru’s knowledge of dangerous substances could cause trouble.
• Orochimaru reflected on how the decades in Yanbai’s dōjutsu had made Yanbai and Madara his true parents and left him eager to learn about the Shinobi World.
• Yanbai released Madara from the dōjutsu, and Madara immediately asked where his unfilial son had gone.
• Yanbai reassured Madara that the dōjutsu world had been unreal and predicted that Orochimaru would soon break down over life without modern technology.

Orochimaru asked Tobirama Senju about phones and other modern technology, then discovered that this world had none of the devices he knew. Tobirama Senju suggested Yanbai had deliberately brought him to a world with radically different technology, leaving Orochimaru unable to face it.

• Tobirama Senju listened to Orochimaru describe his upbringing and decided the child should focus on research rather than enter politics.
• Orochimaru politely asked Tobirama Senju for the time and to see his phone, but Tobirama Senju did not know what a phone was.
• Orochimaru inspected the bathroom fixtures, then asked Tobirama Senju about machines for long-distance communication.
• Orochimaru drew a smartphone and explained its functions, but Tobirama Senju had never seen one.
• Orochimaru asked about the internet, computers, and other electronic devices, then panicked when Tobirama Senju knew none of them.
• Tobirama Senju concluded that Yanbai had brought Orochimaru to a world without his familiar technology, and Orochimaru could no longer face the situation.

Yanbai refused Orochimaru’s request to remain in a dream world, instead urging him to build the life he wanted in reality. Tobirama Senju took Orochimaru to see Konoha, where Yuna Nara confronted him over his visits to Yanbai’s mausoleum and the illness of Itama.

• Orochimaru begged Yanbai to let him keep dreaming, but Yanbai refused and encouraged him to pursue his goals in the real world.
• Yanbai suggested Orochimaru learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique from Tobirama Senju so he could study and work on several things at once.
• Orochimaru tried to make peace with Madara Uchiha, but Madara refused to engage with him.
• Yanbai sent Orochimaru with Tobirama Senju to look around Konoha Shinobi Village, and Tobirama took him to the Memorial Stone.
• Yuna Nara confronted Tobirama about visiting Yanbai’s mausoleum instead of staying with the gravely ill Itama, and Tobirama said Itama had caused Kawarama’s death.

Tobirama Senju faced Yuna Nara and a crowd of Senju Clan members who demanded to confront Madara Uchiha and pay respects at Yanbai’s mausoleum. He summoned the dead, including Senju Kawarama, leaving the clan to answer for its accusations before their ancestors.

• Tobirama Senju denied staying at the mausoleum, but Yuna Nara accused him of invoking Kawarama and led Senju Clan members to confront him.
• Yuna Nara demanded justice and argued that Madara Uchiha might have been responsible for Hashirama Senju’s wounds, while Tobirama Senju defended Madara.
• Yuna Nara asked to enter Yanbai’s mausoleum, and Tobirama Senju refused to let her disturb the dead.
• Tobirama Senju used the Summoning Technique to raise coffins from beneath the snow, bringing Senju Kawarama and other Senju ancestors back to life.
• Senju Kawarama emerged and asked Tobirama Senju what was happening as the other coffins opened and Orochimaru watched in excitement.

Tobirama Senju and the resurrected Senju ancestors confronted Yuna Nara and her clan, exposing her plan to find Yanbai and ask him to save Itama. The ancestors declared that Itama’s soul would remain trapped in the Dream World, while Tobirama recognized Yanbai’s plan to leave Itama alive but abandoned and stripped of everything.

• Yuna Nara accused Tobirama Senju of abusing the ancestors, but the resurrected Senju elders instead denounced her and Itama Senju.
• The ancestors pulled their descendants aside and chastised them, while Senju Kawarama returned to his coffin and told Tobirama to handle the others as he saw fit.
• Tobirama accused Yuna of gathering the clan to provoke Madara Uchiha and uncover whether Yanbai was alive so Yanbai could save Itama.
• Yuna admitted that Itama had told her Yanbai was a powerful, immortal being sealed away with Madara, and begged Tobirama to let Yanbai treat Itama.
• The ancestors refused to let Itama awaken, and Tobirama realized Yanbai intended to make Itama lose his reputation, family, power, and property before releasing him from the Dream World.

Tobirama Senju discovered that Yuna had poisoned Itama and herself rather than let him face a miserable awakening, and arranged their burial. Later, Yanbai continued testing Flower of Thorns on Madara Uchiha, hinting that he was studying whether it could drain Madara’s life force.

• Tobirama Senju refused Mito’s request to summon Hashirama Senju because she had joined Yuna’s attempt to disturb Yanbai’s rest.
• After Itama’s women divided his property and left the Senju Clan, Yuna invited Tobirama Senju to visit Itama and questioned him about Yanbai’s plans.
• Yuna said that Yanbai would leave Itama with no way forward, and Tobirama Senju left the room to bring other clan members back.
• Tobirama Senju and the clan members found Itama dead from poison, while Yuna had also taken poison and died beside him.
• Tobirama Senju asked Kima to arrange Itama and Yuna’s burial.
• Yanbai repeatedly used Flower of Thorns on Madara Uchiha and asked whether Madara had noticed how quickly it drained his life force.

Tobirama Senju told Yanbai and Madara Uchiha that Itama had died, and their cynical analysis of Yuna’s choices changed how he viewed her sacrifice. Yanbai then ordered Tobirama to resurrect Itama and Yuna with the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu so they could help Orochimaru record his knowledge.

• Tobirama Senju told Yanbai and Madara Uchiha that Itama was dead and recounted what Yuna had done.
• Madara Uchiha and Yanbai argued that Yuna had died to protect her reputation and secure kind treatment for her children.
• Yanbai told Tobirama Senju that Orochimaru would record his knowledge before his memories faded.
• Yanbai instructed Tobirama Senju to preserve Itama and Yuna’s bodies, resurrect them, seal their powers, and make them assist Orochimaru.
• Tobirama Senju realized Yanbai held sway over the Senju Clan, influenced the Uchiha Clan, and had shaped Konoha’s laws and plans.

Orochimaru endured Yanbai and Madara’s punishing lessons and gradually mastered the basics of shinobi training. After Yanbai modified his bloodline with Madara’s blood, Orochimaru gained slightly more chakra and became capable of directing the reincarnated Yuna and Itama’s copying work.

• Madara beat Orochimaru each morning while Yanbai healed him, and Tobirama watched their harsh training routine.
• Orochimaru studied chakra control, the Three Basic Techniques, hand seals, and other skills under Yanbai and Madara’s instruction.
• Tobirama warned Orochimaru to humor Madara and described the harsher punishments he and others had suffered from Yanbai.
• Yanbai persuaded Orochimaru to accept Madara’s type O blood after Orochimaru resisted Yanbai’s type A blood.
• Orochimaru suffered a severe rejection reaction during the bloodline modification, but Yanbai kept healing him until the procedure was complete.
• Orochimaru’s constitution and chakra reserves improved slightly, and he mastered the Three Basic Techniques well enough to supervise Yuna and Itama’s copying work.

Yanbai arranged for the reanimated Itama and Yuna to help Orochimaru build multilingual dictionaries, after telling them a fabricated account of how they died that left Itama grateful to him. Tobirama realized Yanbai’s schemes had far exceeded his own, while Orochimaru’s work promised to upgrade Konoha’s education.

• Yanbai told Itama and Yuna a version of their past that blamed Yuna for Itama’s death and hid his own role.
• Itama thanked Yanbai for reuniting him with Yuna, and the couple happily worked together in death.
• Orochimaru had Itama, Yuna, and their clones copy dictionaries in several languages to support his research and Konoha’s studies.
• Yanbai encouraged Orochimaru to work Itama and Yuna hard, believing their happiness would improve their efficiency.
• Tobirama saw the unfinished dictionaries and understood how much Orochimaru’s language knowledge could improve Konoha’s textbooks.

Six-year-old Tsunade brought her younger brother Nawaki to the Princess Mausoleum after Mito instructed her to kneel near its barrier in hopes of gaining entry. Tsunade refused to pressure the mausoleum’s residents and waited beneath a flower arbor instead, while Yanbai learned of her visit and praised her kindness.

• Orochimaru celebrated his sixth birthday, and Itama and Yuna became spirits bound to the Study in the Princess Mausoleum.
• Tsunade and Nawaki arrived at the Memorial Stone grounds, where Tsunade remembered Hashirama and worried about the task Mito had given them.
• Tsunade carried Nawaki toward the Back Mountain, then sat with him beneath a flower arbor rather than kneeling near the mausoleum barrier.
• Birds watching the children carried news of their arrival to Yanbai, who fed them worms and told Madara that Tsunade was a good child.
• Madara recalled that Mito had sent Tsunade and Nawaki to the mausoleum to seek permission to enter and see Hashirama.

Tsunade struggled with loneliness and fear while caring for Nawaki, until Orochimaru arrived with food and comforted her. Yanbai planned to draw the children closer to Orochimaru and wondered how Mito would react if he took Tsunade and Nawaki away.

• Tsunade reflected on feeling ignored by the Senju Clan and blamed herself for Hashirama's death while she cared for the sleeping Nawaki.
• Orochimaru arrived with food after Yanbai sent him to treat Tsunade and Nawaki kindly.
• Tsunade nervously explained that she could not find her great-aunt's grave, and Orochimaru reassured her that Teacher knew she had been struggling.
• Orochimaru encouraged Tsunade to bring Nawaki back the next day and offered to train with her before school began.
• Yanbai watched from the Underground Palace entrance and planned to win Tsunade and Nawaki over, wondering how Mito would respond if he took them away.

Orochimaru gave Tsunade a warm hanfu outfit and encouraged her to stop wearing summer clothes in the cold. Above them, Yanbai revealed that he planned to raise Tsunade to become Daimyo and replace the current ruler, while Tsunade nervously emerged in her new dress.

• Orochimaru ran fifty laps around the Memorial Stone with Tsunade to warm her up, then taught her Taijutsu.
• Orochimaru gave Tsunade a traditional gradient-colored hanfu outfit, and she reluctantly changed into it.
• Yanbai told Madara Uchiha that he wanted to raise Tsunade to become Daimyo because of her lineage and the current ruler's growing resentment of Konoha.
• Yanbai explained that Tsunade needed to become one of their own before she could replace the current Daimyo.
• Tsunade emerged in the hanfu and looked nervously at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru reassured Tsunade about her new outfit and told her to visit Mito wearing it, presenting it as a gift from Second Grandfather. Mito recognized the clothes as Yanbai’s work and wondered whether he was inviting her to visit him.

• Tsunade asked Orochimaru why he treated her so kindly, and he avoided answering directly.
• Orochimaru told Tsunade to go home in the outfit and say it was a gift from Second Grandfather.
• Yanbai and Madara Uchiha watched as Orochimaru revealed himself to be a clone and vanished.
• Tsunade went to Mito’s residence, where Mito praised her outfit and Tsunade thanked her silently for allowing her to visit the Memorial Stone.
• Mito recognized Yanbai’s handiwork in the outfit and wondered whether he was hinting that she could visit him.

Tsunade went to meet Orochimaru while troubled by her family’s distance, and he told her that her parents were dead and that Kima and his wife had raised her as their own. He revealed that she was a princess of the Land of Fire and urged her to become strong enough to claim her place at the Daimyo’s Palace and work with Konoha.

• Tsunade put away Orochimaru’s new clothes, chose a warm green coat, and left the Senju Clan Grounds alone.
• Mito followed Tsunade toward the exit but turned back after sensing that Yanbai did not welcome her.
• Tsunade met Orochimaru beneath the Rose Flower Pavilion, where he lit a fire and grilled meat for them.
• Tsunade apologized to Orochimaru and confessed that she felt unloved and thought she held everyone back.
• Orochimaru told Tsunade that Kima and his wife were her uncle and aunt, and that her biological parents had died.
• Orochimaru revealed that Tsunade was a princess of the Land of Fire and urged her to grow strong, return to the Daimyo’s Palace, and claim power for Konoha and the country.

Orochimaru tried to reassure Tsunade and teach her chakra training, but his advanced explanations only deepened her self-doubt. He took her to the Forest of Death for practical combat, where he destroyed a charging bear and left Tsunade shaken and strangely exhilarated.

• Orochimaru told Tsunade that her Senju constitution mattered more than lacking a kekkei genkai and offered to teach her.
• Orochimaru explained chakra training and nature changes, but Tsunade understood none of it and blamed herself.
• Orochimaru reconsidered his teaching approach and took Tsunade to the Forest of Death for live combat practice.
• A bear charged at Tsunade and Orochimaru, and Orochimaru killed it with a powerful blast.
• Tsunade watched the bear burst apart and felt a burning, feverish excitement.

Orochimaru explained his newly developed Projection Ninjutsu to Tsunade and began teaching her its principles. Meanwhile, Tobirama Senju presented Orochimaru’s research achievements to Yanbai, who decided Orochimaru should attend school next spring while his clones continued working.

• Orochimaru used Projection Ninjutsu to destroy a bear and explained how he stored simple techniques in a summoning formula for rapid activation.
• Orochimaru demonstrated the technique to Tsunade, then began teaching her the principles of the Summoning Technique so she could learn to use it.
• Tobirama Senju showed Yanbai a scroll recording Orochimaru’s research and argued that the Ninja Academy would waste the boy’s time.
• Tobirama Senju reviewed Orochimaru’s many contributions, including new crops, manufacturing processes, textbooks, firearms, and composite ninjutsu.
• Yanbai said Orochimaru needed friends his own age and decided his original body would attend school next spring while his clones worked at the research institutes.
• Tobirama Senju suspected Yanbai had planned this arrangement when he encouraged Orochimaru to learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, and worried that the boy might die young if overworked.

Orochimaru brought Yanbai a kitten from Mito, whose gift signaled that she knew Yanbai had awakened and meant no harm. Yanbai settled into retirement with Madara and the kitten, while Orochimaru remembered how Yanbai had always indulged Madara and watched Yanbai trick the kitten into eating a fish they had cooked.

• Tobirama Senju left to speak with the Fourth Hokage, and Orochimaru returned carrying a kitten that Mito had sent Yanbai as thanks for caring for Tsunade.
• Yanbai accepted the kitten and told Orochimaru to treat Tsunade like a daughter if he did not want to marry her, prompting Orochimaru to mistake Madara’s irritation for a threat and flee to write a self-criticism.
• Yanbai explained that Orochimaru thought he spoiled Madara like a son, and Madara took the kitten, which soon relaxed in his arms.
• Orochimaru recalled spying on Yanbai soothing Madara as a child and concluded that Yanbai had always held Madara in the palm of his hand.
• Yanbai retired from outside affairs, named the kitten Tangerine, and later convinced it that the fish it had befriended needed treatment before cooking it.
• Tangerine and Orochimaru both ate the fish through their tears, while Orochimaru realized that the cat mattered less to Yanbai than Madara did.

Yanbai prepared a winter’s worth of meat for the household, while Tsunade grew braver under Orochimaru’s guidance. At New Year, Mito asked Yanbai to protect the Uzumaki Clan, but he refused, and the chapter ended with Orochimaru giving a speech at the Ninja Academy opening ceremony.

• Yanbai hunted a wild boar and made cured meat, Chinese sausage, and cat food, but Tobirama Senju later gave most of the preserved meat to Konoha’s administrators and arranged a farm to supply Yanbai with fresh ingredients.
• Orochimaru took Tsunade to slaughter livestock, helping her overcome her fear and resolve to grow stronger.
• Mito visited Yanbai at the Princess Mausoleum and asked him to look after the Uzumaki Clan, but Yanbai refused to help unless the clan was willing to offer something in return.
• At the Ninja Academy opening ceremony, Tobirama Senju brought Orochimaru to speak for the new students, and Orochimaru delivered an impressive speech.

Toshio Hyuga asked Yanbai to take his great-grandsons, Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga, as disciples so Yanbai could protect the Hyuga Clan from losing influence. He also revealed that the Hyuga branch family had suffered disappearances connected to their Byakugan relatives on the moon, leaving Yanbai to consider the request and the clan’s danger.

• Yanbai and Madara returned to the Princess Mausoleum and found former Hyuga clan leader Toshio waiting outside with two young twins.
• Toshio introduced Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga and asked Yanbai to take them as disciples because he feared the Hyuga Clan would decline after his death.
• Toshio explained that the Hyuga Clan had fallen behind other clans because the Caged Bird Seal had prevented its members from being corrected, and he feared rising clans such as the Sarutobi would displace them.
• Yanbai suggested Toshio ask Tobirama for support, but Toshio argued Yanbai was suited to teach the twins because he believed Yanbai had used Gentle Fist.
• Toshio disclosed that Hyuga branch-family members had periodically disappeared because their Byakugan relatives on the moon had sought help with their dwindling, inbred population.

Toshio Hyuga asked Yanbai to take in two young Hyuga children, but Yanbai sent him home to consider the consequences before deciding. As Toshio left with the twins, Yanbai and Madara Uchiha reunited with their animal companions, and Tangerine annoyed Madara by calling him “Hubby” and “Ba...ka...ya...ro.”

• Madara Uchiha grumbled that their home had become a kindergarten, then accepted that the two Hyuga children might call him Dad if Yanbai took them in.
• Yanbai warned Toshio Hyuga that the children might never obey the Hyuga Clan again if they became his apprentices, and asked him to think it over at home.
• Toshio Hyuga left with the twins, who each asked to be carried, and he picked them up as he continued down the mountain.
• Yanbai and Madara Uchiha saw the animals gathered to greet them and agreed they already had plenty of children to look after.
• Tangerine begged Yanbai for different food, then called Madara Uchiha “Hubby” and “Ba...ka...ya...ro,” leaving him irritated.

Madara disciplined Tangerine for swearing, while Orochimaru began his first day at the Ninja Academy and attracted the attention of Jiraiya, who wanted to be his friend. The chapter ended as Tsunade confronted Jiraiya for clinging to Orochimaru.

• Madara grabbed Tangerine, made it confirm that it was a cat and call him Dad, then dragged it into the underground palace after it threatened to hit him.
• Orochimaru listened to the school rules in his new classroom while Jiraiya stood outside as punishment for a failed prank.
• During the break, Jiraiya asked Orochimaru to be friends, and Orochimaru refused.
• Jiraiya clung to Orochimaru's leg and explained that he had seen Orochimaru use impressive techniques at the family farm.
• Tsunade told Jiraiya to let go of Orochimaru.