Chapter Summaries

Yanbai and Madara Uchiha argued over their daily shared baths, while Madara explained why he no longer expected Yanbai to return his feelings. Madara revealed he knew Yanbai had used dreams to deceive him and asked him to stop, saying that simply staying close and watching Yanbai was enough.

• Yanbai asked Madara Uchiha why he bathed with him every day, and Madara insisted that there was nothing shameful about two men bathing together.
• Yanbai and Madara traded familiar arguments about Yanbai's gender, then gave up trying to convince each other.
• Madara explained that Yanbai lacked any reason to value him for his strength or other qualities, and that Madara now understood why Yanbai would not choose him.
• Madara admitted that bathing with Yanbai was a small wish he pursued despite knowing it might annoy him.
• Madara revealed that he knew Yanbai had used dreams to deceive him, asked him not to force himself to please Madara with illusions, and said he only wanted to remain near and watch him.

Madara Uchiha wandered through the rain to reflect on Yanbai, the work that had shaped the Land of Fire, and the home he found wherever Yanbai was. When he entered the Uchiha Clan Grounds, its shinobi gathered warily to face the unfamiliar-looking visitor.

• Madara Uchiha ignored Yanbai’s call to wait and walked in the rain until Yanbai left for Konoha with Sasori.
• Madara Uchiha made his way toward Konoha, recalling how Yanbai had helped develop the land and realizing that Yanbai’s presence made a place feel like home.
• Madara Uchiha entered Konoha and walked its streets as villagers watched him with fear and kept their distance.
• Madara Uchiha reached the Uchiha Clan Grounds, where Uchiha shinobi assembled in silence and stood ready to defend those behind them.

Madara Uchiha returned to the Uchiha Clan Grounds and met his descendants, whose fear eased after Uchiha Sumi verified his identification. Sumi led him to find Fugaku.

• Madara Uchiha startled the Uchiha clansmen, and Uchiha Sumi approached him despite his fear.
• Uchiha Sumi recognized Madara's Yan Weave and suspected he was one of Yanbai's descendants.
• Madara handed Sumi his identification papers, which confirmed his identity as the legendary Madara Uchiha.
• Madara asked where Fugaku lived, and Sumi agreed to lead him there.
• After Madara and Sumi left, the gathered clansmen recovered from their fear and speculated about Madara's identity.

Madara Uchiha visited Fugaku’s home to see his children and introduced himself to Mikoto as a reincarnated Madara whose power her child had inherited. When young Itachi appeared, he and Madara recognized something unsettling in each other, and Madara told him, “Itachi, we’re the same kind.”

• Madara Uchiha told Uchiha Sumi he was visiting Fugaku’s children on Yanbai’s behalf, and Sumi accompanied him to the house.
• Mikoto opened the gate with her baby and grew wary when Madara said he was reincarnated and that her child had inherited his power.
• Mikoto hesitated to invite Madara inside until Itachi came to the gate and stared at him.
• Itachi sensed a deadly aura from Madara, and Madara spoke to him in Chinese, saying they were the same kind.

Madara Uchiha visited Fugaku’s home, where young Uchiha Itachi shielded his family and later followed Madara into the rain to confront him. That evening, Madara returned to drink with Yanbai and asked when Yanbai was taking a bath.

• Uchiha Itachi protected his mother and younger brother when Madara Uchiha visited, then claimed his father was away.
• Madara Uchiha left the Uchiha Clan grounds and told Uchiha Sumi to return without following him.
• Uchiha Itachi caught up with Madara in an alley and asked to speak, but Madara accused him of failing to help and walked away.
• Madara Uchiha trapped Uchiha Itachi in an apparent genjutsu, leaving Itachi alone in the rain-soaked alley.
• Madara Uchiha and Yanbai drank beneath the eaves that evening, where Madara remarked on his visit to Fugaku’s home and asked when Yanbai would bathe.

Madara reconsidered how his need to be right had cost him Yanbai’s patience and decided to stay close without pressuring him. After discovering Itachi’s dependent status, Madara kept quiet and began accompanying Yanbai at work, where they discussed Jiraiya’s book.

• Madara reflected on his past arguments with Yanbai and realized that winning them had not helped him achieve his goal of being together.
• Madara stopped exploring and discovered Sasuke from a distance, then sensed that Itachi was another of Yanbai’s dependents.
• Madara chose not to tell Yanbai about Itachi or complain about him.
• Madara began going to work with Yanbai, quietly bringing him tea and reading nearby.
• At lunch, Yanbai asked Madara about Jiraiya’s book, and Madara called it an eye-exercise pamphlet because its contents hurt his eyes.

Yanbai explained Icha Icha Paradise as a story about human nature and the pressures shaping ordinary people in the Land of Fire, while Madara struggled to understand its appeal. Madara remained baffled by the series, and Yanbai privately recognized that he had given it to him on purpose.

• Madara complained to Yanbai that Icha Icha Paradise was incomprehensible despite its popularity.
• Yanbai described how Jiraiya's bleak first novel, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, had flopped before he found success writing Icha Icha Paradise.
• Yanbai interpreted the female lead's choice to stay in the Land of Fire as a practical attempt to escape poverty, war, and limited opportunities in the Land of Earth.
• Yanbai told Madara that readers related to the characters' lives, though the book's plot mattered less than its erotic content.
• Madara admitted that Yanbai's explanation made some sense but that the series was not for him, while Yanbai hid his knowing smile.

Madara Uchiha read Konoha’s archives and learned how Yanbai’s relentless work and unconventional policies had made the Hokage position terrifying to inherit. The chapter ended with Yanbai’s shinobi recruits openly defaulting on illegal lenders’ loans, baiting the loan sharks into breaking the law and facing arrest.

• Madara Uchiha read the village archives and realized how difficult Yanbai had made the Hokage’s work and how his successors had struggled to carry out his plans.
• Madara remembered Yanbai’s schemes, including turning criminals’ skills to the Land of Fire’s use and repurposing some prisoners as material for Impure World Reincarnation.
• Yanbai outlawed unauthorized lenders, established public banks with the Daimyo, and required private lenders to obtain licenses, follow legal interest rates, and pay taxes.
• Yanbai organized shinobi-class graduates into rural villages that secretly targeted loan sharks who continued lending illegally.
• The shinobi recruits borrowed from hundreds of illegal lenders, refused repayment openly, and dared collectors to report them, risking arrest by the authorities.

Yanbai uncovered hospitals and local residents abusing Tobirama Senju’s social security policies through fraudulent operations and reimbursements. He ordered annual medical-record audits that would expose the fraud, relocate the residents and hospitals, and punish the operators, leaving the Land of Fire with more accurate health statistics.

• Yanbai discovered elderly villagers discussing repeated circumcisions and learned that a local hospital was arranging fake operations to claim medical reimbursements.
• Madara Uchiha read Yanbai’s report and was baffled by both the fraud and Yanbai’s account of how he investigated it.
• Yanbai ordered newly graduated medical shinobi to collect annual surgical records and assess unusual patterns in local communities.
• Yanbai arranged for suspicious areas to be cleared for industrial development and for the fraudulent hospital operators to be imprisoned.
• The hospital would reopen with new staff, residents would lose their fraudulent gains to relocation costs, and medical statistics would become more reliable.

Uchiha Itachi secretly watched Yanbai and used his Vision to investigate the man calling himself Madara Uchiha, whose profile identified him as Yanbai’s familiar but concealed his status with question marks. Madara noticed Itachi’s spying, while he reflected on how Yanbai’s accumulated record and demanding role made finding a successor difficult.

• Uchiha Itachi climbed to a rooftop and watched Yanbai drink tea with the silver-haired Madara Uchiha, feeling regret that he was no longer the one sitting opposite Yanbai.
• Uchiha Itachi used his Vision to inspect Madara Uchiha and saw that his profile named him as Yanbai’s familiar while listing his status and other details as question marks.
• Uchiha Itachi realized he could not eliminate Madara because Madara was classified as a familiar, then quietly left his vantage point.
• Madara Uchiha glanced toward the place where Itachi had been hiding and continued reading Yanbai’s extensive dossier.
• Madara Uchiha reflected that Yanbai’s record of bold policies and the demands of the Hokage position made it difficult to find a suitable successor.

Madara Uchiha turned down Uchiha Fugaku’s apology so he could spend the afternoon with Yanbai, then confessed how deeply he had suffered while Yanbai tried to leave and how much their time together meant to him. He feared he would eventually lose Yanbai, leaving their quiet afternoon weighted with his uncertainty.

• Madara Uchiha reviewed Yanbai’s case files and unexpectedly suggested that Junlin inherit the Hokage position.
• Shikaku Nara told Madara Uchiha that Uchiha Fugaku had come to apologize for Mikoto turning Madara away from their home, but Madara refused to see Fugaku and ordered him to leave the gifts.
• Madara Uchiha called the afternoon his date time with Yanbai and said sitting together to drink tea made him happy.
• Madara Uchiha told Yanbai that he had considered taking his own life in Sumeru after learning his efforts were meant to fulfill Yanbai’s wish to die, but Muye and Silver Moon had helped him keep living.
• Madara Uchiha admitted that he feared he could not keep Yanbai and wished he were stronger.

Yanbai brought Madara Uchiha to Shimura Danzō for a private counseling session, claiming Madara’s unusual behavior had become troublesome. Danzō suspected the behavior was a pretext for Madara to obtain intelligence, and asked whether he had come seeking information about the Dōjutsu World used on Obito Uchiha’s graduating class.

• Yanbai told Shimura Danzō that Madara Uchiha had been reading unfamiliar books, studying relationships, behaving strangely, and climbing into Yanbai’s bath and bed.
• Yanbai left Madara alone with Shimura Danzō for a private counseling session and asked Danzō to report his findings afterward.
• Shimura Danzō inferred that Madara had deliberately acted strangely to gain a legitimate reason to meet him and access Konoha’s intelligence.
• Shimura Danzō recalled his recent contact with Uchiha Itachi’s group and Yanbai’s special treatment of Itachi.
• Shimura Danzō asked Madara whether he had come for information about the Dōjutsu World that Lord Hokage used on Obito Uchiha’s graduating class.

Madara Uchiha accompanied Yanbai to the Konoha Military Police Force, where Shimura Danzō tried to explain Uchiha Itachi's history and insulted Yanbai. Madara used a technique to witness Danzō's past, then left with Yanbai and told him what he had seen.

• Madara Uchiha ignored Shimura Danzō's speculation about Uchiha Itachi and silently listened as Danzō called Yanbai neurotically cautious.
• Madara Uchiha abruptly confronted Shimura Danzō after he described everything surrounding Yanbai as a vessel of desire.
• Madara Uchiha left the office smiling and led Yanbai away, telling him he felt better and asking him not to see Danzō again.
• Madara Uchiha told Yanbai that he had used a technique to view Shimura Danzō's past and had witnessed Danzō rape and murder women while interrogating foreign shinobi.
• Madara Uchiha told Yanbai that none of the women were as good-looking as him.

After Madara Uchiha returned, Junlin feared losing his place in Yanbai’s family and wandered near the Senju Clan grounds. Uchiha Itachi confronted him with an offer to alter his genes and reveal the truth of his parentage, leaving Junlin furious and afraid that their secret would be exposed.

• Yanbai told the children that Madara Uchiha had returned and asked Kushina Uzumaki to wait until after Naruto’s birth before visiting him.
• Junlin wandered the forest, unsettled by Madara Uchiha’s presence and anxious that he might lose his home with Yanbai.
• Near the Senju Clan grounds, Junlin met Uchiha Itachi, who said he could help make Junlin Yanbai’s real child.
• Uchiha Itachi offered to replace the genes Junlin inherited from Tobirama Senju with Yanbai’s genes.
• When Uchiha Itachi began mentioning Orochimaru, Tobirama Senju, and Uchiha Izuna, Junlin shouted at him to stop, fearing their secret would be overheard.

Junlin confronted Uchiha Itachi, who revealed that he knew Junlin’s hidden ability and offered to help him in exchange for assistance. At the Princess Mausoleum, Yanbai teased Madara about staring at his chest, then asked what he wanted for dinner.

• Junlin feared killing Itachi because he believed Yanbai could see everything through the trees.
• Uchiha Itachi explained that Junlin’s Sharingan reflected his wish to become Yanbai’s child and let him steal bloodlines, though the ability had restrictions.
• Uchiha Itachi showed Junlin a system panel containing detailed information about his identity, abilities, and life, then offered to help him if Junlin helped him.
• At the Princess Mausoleum, Sasori hurried inside while Yanbai wondered why he had been acting so afraid since Madara returned.
• Yanbai accused Madara of staring at his chest, teased him by welcoming him back into his arms, and then pulled away.
• Yanbai asked Madara what he wanted for dinner, and Madara requested food filled with love made by Yanbai.

Yanbai prepared an elaborate dinner for Madara Uchiha and packed a meal for Sasori, prompting Madara to insist he disliked sweet egg rolls while privately resenting Yanbai’s attention to Sasori. After Yanbai left, Muye and Silver Moon teased Madara about his relationship with Yanbai, leaving him speechless.

• Yanbai served Madara Uchiha a lavish dinner and packed food for Sasori, who was working in his workshop.
• Madara praised the meal but complained that Yanbai had added sugar to the egg rolls, while privately thinking Yanbai cared too much about Sasori.
• Yanbai carried Sasori’s meal to the workshop and reminded him to clean up if he spilled anything.
• Muye and Silver Moon complained that Yanbai rarely cooked for them, then teased Madara about being covered in injuries after spending time with Yanbai.
• Muye and Silver Moon asked whether Yanbai gave Madara any perks after beating him up, leaving Madara speechless.

Madara Uchiha endured Muye and Silver Moon’s teasing before Yanbai pressed him for useful feedback on dinner. As autumn arrived, Yanbai grew anxious about Kushina’s approaching delivery, while Madara confronted Jiraiya about the tacky plots in Icha Icha Paradise and learned Jiraiya intended to make them even tackier.

• Madara Uchiha told Muye and Silver Moon to leave after they teased him about Yanbai, and Yanbai returned to find them all awkwardly silent.
• Yanbai asked Madara Uchiha for detailed feedback on dinner, while Muye complained that his parents were flaunting their affection in front of him.
• Yanbai visited the hospital repeatedly as Kushina neared childbirth and arranged for Minato Namikaze to stay by her side on parental leave.
• Madara Uchiha sought out Jiraiya to criticize the implausible, tacky plot devices in Icha Icha Paradise.
• Jiraiya defended his writing and told Madara Uchiha he wanted to make it even tackier.

After beating Jiraiya, Madara Uchiha was attacked near the Memorial Stone by a mysterious opponent, later identified as Itachi. Madara summoned Yanbai, who arrived and told Itachi to stop.

• Madara Uchiha beat Jiraiya after Jiraiya described his novels as a way to profit from readers' desires.
• On his way to the Memorial Stone, Madara Uchiha heard wolves warn of danger and was attacked by someone using a strange power that dissolved everything.
• Madara Uchiha realized he had no desire to prolong the fight because only Yanbai gave him a sense of reality without battle.
• Madara Uchiha cut his hand and used Tobirama Senju's Summoning Technique: Princess's Casket to summon Yanbai.
• Yanbai appeared amid white roses as the attacker used the strange power again, and Yanbai told Itachi to stop.

Yanbai confronted Uchiha Itachi after Itachi used Yanbai’s bestowed ability on Madara Uchiha, and Itachi claimed he would try to help Yanbai despite the Old Woman’s orders. Yanbai left open the possibility of an alliance and explained that Itachi had intended to analyze and reconstruct Madara, becoming him.

• Yanbai appeared when Uchiha Itachi summoned him, and Itachi knelt to apologize for being unable to help him through the usual means.
• Madara Uchiha accused Itachi of lying, but Yanbai quieted Madara and accepted Itachi’s offer to try to help.
• Yanbai recalled how the Old Woman had trapped his mother in a Virtual World and forced her into marriage, recognizing similarities with his own predicament.
• Back at the Princess Mausoleum, Madara questioned why Yanbai had been lenient with Itachi, and Yanbai said Itachi might still become an ally.
• Yanbai revealed that Itachi had used his ability to observe, understand, analyze, and reconstruct Madara in order to become him.

Yanbai explained that the Gift was a curse born from a mortal’s undying love, powerful enough to kill a god, and revealed how its rule had shaped his past with Madara Uchiha and his sister. He left Madara wondering whether the rule had been restricted in the Shinobi World, which might explain why Itachi had a Gift and Madara did not.

• Madara asked why Itachi had received Yanbai’s Gift while he had not, and Yanbai said it arose from praise and was also a curse.
• Yanbai told Madara that he treated the world as an MMORPG, logging in and out before replaying it from its factory settings.
• Yanbai recounted arriving in the Uchiha Clan Grounds with his younger sister, later Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, and said a past version of Madara had proposed to her.
• Yanbai recalled attacking that Madara in anger and feeling betrayed when his sister intervened, before later allowing him to pursue becoming a god.
• Yanbai explained that Kaguya revived the past Madara and imposed a rule against gods becoming too close to mortals, with the Gift emerging from undying love and carrying the power to kill them.
• Yanbai speculated that the rule might have been restricted in the Shinobi World, accounting for Madara’s lack of a Gift.