Recaps

The Master of Open Stratagems ordered the players to unleash a coordinated Rasengan barrage, routing the Kusagakure guards and opening the way for the players to enter the village. Meanwhile, Ye Chen restrained a wounded Kusagakure elder, who offered secrets in exchange for his life and revealed the Mental Power Cultivation Manuscript.

• After learning the infiltrating players had been exposed, the Master of Open Stratagems ordered the second stage of the plan and coordinated Rasengan attack.
• The players combined their Rasengan attacks, and the Earthshaker buff amplified the bombardment's terrain damage.
• The barrage killed around a dozen Kusagakure guards, who fled as the players pursued them.
• Ye Chen dispelled the wounded Kusagakure elder's genjutsu and kept him restrained.
• The elder divulged secrets to bargain for his life, including the Mental Power Cultivation Manuscript.

Ye Chen captured Kusagakure's old genjutsu specialist and learned of the Mental Power Cultivation Manuscript, which the system verified but found incomplete. When Ye Chen challenged the old man's account of its origins, the old man faltered, leaving Ye Chen to demand the Uchiha prodigy's real name.

• Ye Chen subdued the injured old man and interrogated him amid Kusagakure's disrupted defenses.
• The old man said he had traded insights with an Uchiha Clan prodigy who helped create the Mental Power Cultivation Manuscript.
• Ye Chen uploaded the manuscript to the system, which verified it as effective but identified numerous errors and began correcting it.
• Ye Chen realized the old man had withheld crucial details and suspected his story about the Uchiha prodigy was a lie.
• Ye Chen demanded the prodigy's real name, and the old man hesitated.

Ye Chen exposed the old man from Kusagakure’s story as a lie and left him unable to use his mental power after striking him. Bibiye arrived with Grass Ninja experts and attacked the old man.

• Ye Chen identified Orochimaru as the supposed Uchiha genius behind the body-transplant cultivation method, leaving the old man from Kusagakure stunned.
• The old man begged Lord Junyin for mercy and admitted that parts of his earlier account were inaccurate.
• Ye Chen said he would spare the old man’s life, then struck his head and disappeared, leaving him dazed and unable to summon his mental power.
• The old man threatened Ye Chen before Anbu Commander Bibiye entered with Grass Ninja experts.
• The old man tried to cast an illusion but could not summon his mental power, so Bibiye drew his kunai and thrust it at him.

Bibiye assassinated Kusagakure Lüshijian and took over as acting village chief, while Ye Chen remained hidden in the bedroom and decided Bibiye had to be eliminated. The players received an updated mission to enter Kusagakure, defeat its defenders, and capture or kill Bibiye.

• Bibiye killed Kusagakure Lüshijian, blamed the Hidden Jun Village chief, and declared himself acting village chief.
• Bibiye ordered Grass Ninja to detain dissenters and search Kusagakure for the escaped Hidden Jun Village chief.
• Bibiye considered abandoning Kusagakure if the danger became too great, then left the bedroom after it was cleared.
• Ye Chen appeared in the bedroom, watched Bibiye leave, and decided to eliminate him.
• The players received a system notification announcing Kusagakure Lüshijian's death and assigning them a mission to defeat Kusagakure's defenders and capture or kill Bibiye.

After Kusagakure's leader died, Master of Open Stratagems concluded that the Hidden Jun Village Chief had been captured as part of a plan and redirected the Glory Legion to push into Kusagakure. The players broke through the village's outskirts with little resistance, but met powerful enemies in its core area.

• Players speculated that the Hidden Jun Village Chief had caused Kusagakure's leader's death by faking his capture.
• Master of Open Stratagems learned the elite players had failed to infiltrate Kusagakure and that enemies remained in ambush there.
• Master of Open Stratagems ordered the Glory Legion to abandon its current route and push into Kusagakure to rendezvous with the infiltration team.
• The players used ninjutsu and items to bombard Kusagakure's outskirts, while its guards held back and waited in vain for reinforcements.
• The Glory Legion charged into Kusagakure with little resistance and encountered powerful enemies in the core area.

Master of Open Stratagems redirected the elite infiltration squad to coordinate with the main force after a game notification suggested the Hidden Jun Village Chief was in Kusagakure. As powerful Grass Ninja reinforcements blocked the combined players, Master of Open Stratagems ordered them to prepare a joint Rasengan attack.

• Master of Open Stratagems changed the elite infiltration squad’s role from expendable pawns to the main force coordinating an attack from within Kusagakure.
• Raijin drew enemy fire from above while Corpse Bearer, Bullfighting Master, and the other elite players fought Kusagakure’s defenders on the ground.
• The seven elite players received the notification about the Kusagakure Village Chief’s mysterious death and fought with renewed confidence after learning the Hidden Jun Village Chief might be nearby.
• Master of Open Stratagems’s main army joined the seven elite players, but more than a dozen Jonin and over thirty Chunin led by Bibiye emerged to block their advance.
• Master of Open Stratagems ordered the players to form basic units and prepare a joint A-Rank Rasengan attack.

Ye Chen overheard Bibiye’s plan to attack Hidden Jun Village while its main force was away, then confronted him in the Kusagakure Official Residence. As Ye Chen pursued the fleeing Bibiye, Bibiye smashed his own head and released a terrifying tide of chakra that engulfed Ye Chen.

• Bibiye’s confidant reported that his men had failed to find Ye Chen, then asked whether they could begin the next stage of the plan.
• Bibiye ordered the force ambushing outside Hidden Jun Village to attack its weakened defenses, and Ye Chen learned of the scheme while listening from concealment.
• Ye Chen stepped out to confront Bibiye, who recognized that calling the guards would not help and hurled his confidant at Ye Chen as a distraction.
• Bibiye turned to flee, but when Ye Chen pursued him, Bibiye stopped, struck his own forehead until his head was crushed, and unleashed a tide of chakra that engulfed Ye Chen.

Ye Chen realized Bibiye had lured him into a trap involving a decoy and a massive detonation of Explosive Tags, then faced a Wood Release Cooperation Ninjutsu. As the Kusagakure Official Residence collapsed, Ye Chen spotted Bibiye leading the fleeing Jonin and prepared to continue the fight.

• Bibiye's apparent self-detonation unleashed a huge chakra explosion, forcing Ye Chen to dodge.
• A group of Kusagakure ninja attacked Ye Chen with Wood Release: Wood Thorn Dragon, and its strength caught him by surprise.
• Ye Chen recognized that the Bibiye inside the residence was likely a puppet or Shadow Clone and deduced that the explosion came from tens of thousands of Explosive Tags.
• Ye Chen realized Bibiye had arranged the decoy, explosion, and Cooperation Ninjutsu to lure him into a trap.
• Ye Chen launched himself above the collapsing residence and saw Bibiye leading more than a dozen Kusagakure Jonin as they fled.

Ye Chen discovered that Bibiye had survived the explosion and used a forbidden technique to unleash Explosion Release: Wood-Fire Stream. Ye Chen escaped the blast by disguising Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique as Boil Release and hiding himself within the resulting mist.

• Ye Chen recognized Bibiye among the fleeing Kusagakure Jonin and realized he had served as the vessel for their Cooperation Ninjutsu.
• Bibiye stopped running, ignited his life force, and used the lingering wood and fire chakra to unleash Explosion Release: Wood-Fire Stream.
• A fire dragon surged toward Ye Chen and exploded around him as he fell.
• Ye Chen shouted that he was using Boil Release: Hidden Mist Technique, then secretly used Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique to conceal himself in the mist and avoid injury.

Ye Chen killed Bibiye, but a mysterious spark touched his arm as a bloody shadow escaped underground. With Bibiye dead, the system changed the battle objective to capturing Kusagakure, and Master of Open Stratagems ordered the players to unleash their S-rank cooperative Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

• Ye Chen struck down Bibiye, who released a nearly transparent spark that vanished after touching Ye Chen's arm.
• A bloody shadow slipped underground from beneath Bibiye's corpse, while one Grass Ninja quietly left the squad and headed into the forest.
• The system announced Bibiye's death and changed the players' objective to capturing Kusagakure and seizing its resources.
• Master of Open Stratagems rallied the struggling players and ordered the combat personnel to cast Wind Release: Rasenshuriken as support squads prepared to protect their withdrawal.

Hidden Jun Village players unleashed a coordinated Wind Release: Rasenshuriken that devastated Kusagakure’s central battlefield, leaving both sides stunned. With the players drained of chakra and Kusagakure’s survivors too frightened to attack, the Hidden Jun squads began evacuating and treating their incapacitated fighters.

• Several Kusagakure Jonin split up as some fled and others headed toward the Official Residence, while four stayed because Bibiye held their families under his control.
• The Hidden Jun Village players activated their coordinated Spiral Shuriken, and its blast engulfed the battlefield in white light.
• The attack carved a crater nearly a hundred meters wide, vaporized weaker Grass Ninja Chunin, and left the surviving Kusagakure fighters stunned.
• The Hidden Jun players exhausted their chakra, while the surviving Kusagakure guards were too terrified to counterattack.
• Following the Master of Open Stratagems’ arrangements, Logistics Squad, reconnaissance squad, and Cavalry Squad moved incapacitated players to safety as Dai Xiaomei organized treatment and supplies.

After killing Bibiye, Ye Chen forced Kusagakure’s surviving fighters to choose between leaving, joining Hidden Jun Village, or challenging him. He prepared to return to Hidden Jun Village, leaving the players to sweep up the remaining opposition and take control of Kusagakure.

• Dai Xiaomei became frustrated by livestream comments as players immersed in the game felt increasingly disconnected from the real world.
• After confirming the area was safe, Ye Chen confronted Bibiye’s followers and the Kusagakure Jonin who had arrived.
• Ye Chen offered Kusagakure’s fighters the choice to leave, join Hidden Jun Village, or challenge him, and no one dared take the third option.
• Some fighters fled, while others stayed and pledged loyalty; Ye Chen planned to bring the willing high-level fighters into Hidden Jun Village.
• With Kusagakure’s senior fighters dealt with, Ye Chen prepared to return to Hidden Jun Village and leave the players to defeat the remaining opposition.

Ye Chen left Kusagakure’s remaining resistance to the players, who cleared the village for Contribution Points while some elite players went monster hunting outside. The players captured Kusagakure, and the system announced the battle’s rewards.

• Ye Chen let the players continue fighting and demolishing Kusagakure, expecting to redesign the village after incorporating it into Hidden Jun Village’s territory.
• Corpse Bearer, One Sword Opens Heaven, and other elite players left the army to hunt wild monsters outside Kusagakure.
• Players and livestream viewers discussed the battle’s rewards as the village neared full capture.
• The players defeated Kusagakure’s final gatekeeper, and the system declared the village occupied and tallied the rewards.
• The system awarded all villagers the title “Dual Ninja” and announced special rewards for Raijin, Corpse Bearer, and Master of Open Stratagems.

After the battle, players discussed their exclusive rewards and the advantages they might provide, while many Glory Legion members praised Master of Open Stratagems and others left the group. Master of Open Stratagems tried to keep the legion from losing more members by asking everyone about their settlement rewards, and his followers urged him to reveal his own.

• Players discussed the system's title and personal settlement rewards, including the six displayed stats and whether later players could catch up.
• Some players returned to town to check their mailboxes as the celebration and reward discussions wound down.
• Glory Legion members praised Master of Open Stratagems for being named by the system, while some players left the legion after the battle ended.
• Master of Open Stratagems considered the legion's losses and asked the chat what settlement rewards its members had received.
• Emperor of Sinking, Dai Xiaomei, and San Feng urged Master of Open Stratagems to reveal the rewards he had won.

Master of Open Stratagems drew the legion members into discussing the system's rewards and revealed his title and A-rank ninja tool. The players reacted to their powerful combination, while the battle's settlement rewards remained unannounced.

• Master of Open Stratagems teased Corpse Bearer and Bullfighting Master about their gains, then asked them to reveal their rewards too.
• Master of Open Stratagems used the lively discussion to hold the legion members' attention and prevent more players from leaving.
• Master of Open Stratagems revealed that his Master Strategist title permanently increased four attributes by five points each.
• Master of Open Stratagems showed that the Soulwood Casket could resurrect up to 100 corpses at once, three times per day, with a one-week cooldown.
• The legion members debated whether the rewards were unfair, and Master of Open Stratagems noted that the battle's settlement rewards had yet to be announced.

Master of Open Stratagems, Emperor of Sinking, and Corpse Bearer revealed their campaign settlement rewards to the legion. Corpse Bearer received powerful Eight Gates techniques, including Night Guy, and the players recognized his rewards as a deadly offensive weapon.

• Master of Open Stratagems showed his rewards, including an S-Rank Death-Substitution Puppet, an S-Rank summoning technique, and 80,000 war merits.
• Emperor of Sinking showed his rewards, including an A-Rank Death-Substitution Puppet and an S-Rank Beast-Taming Egg, while taking a jab at Master of Open Stratagems for assigning him to the Cavalry Squad.
• Corpse Bearer revealed his Killing Machine bonuses, Bloodlust, and A-rank Eight Gates Released Formation.
• Corpse Bearer displayed his settlement rewards: an S-Rank Death-Substitution Puppet, 100,000 war merits, and S-rank Night Guy, a fatal technique that costs the user's life.
• The legion channel compared Master of Open Stratagems's defensive rewards to a shield and Corpse Bearer's life-consuming techniques to a spear.

Corpse Bearer explained how Bullfighting Master helped him earn his rewards, and Bullfighting Master defended the painful Taijutsu as a way to build strength. He revealed that their in-game physical improvements had affected their real bodies, leaving Master of Open Stratagems alarmed and asking for confirmation.

• Players reacted to Corpse Bearer's rewards, which included powerful but painfully costly forbidden Taijutsu.
• Corpse Bearer explained that Bullfighting Master helped him secure kills by wounding enemies while Corpse Bearer delivered the finishing blows.
• Bullfighting Master said the pain and rewards of forbidden Taijutsu could strengthen willpower, fighting spirit, and constitution.
• Bullfighting Master revealed that he and Corpse Bearer had tested improvements to physical fitness in the game and found they slightly affected their real bodies.
• Master of Open Stratagems locked down the legion chat and asked Bullfighting Master whether the real-world effects were true.

The players shared their tailored rewards, while Ye Chen gained substantial power through their progress and realized the game could affect visitors’ real world. After seeing how deeply Dai Xiaomei had become absorbed in the game, he worried that its realistic world could cause serious consequences.

• Corpse Bearer clarified that the game improved players’ mental willpower and pain tolerance rather than directly strengthening their bodies, and he and Bullfighting Master logged off during the reward showcase.
• The players displayed their exclusive rewards and ended their meeting satisfied.
• Ye Chen received chakra and numerous ninjutsu, taijutsu, and other rewards through feedback from the villagers’ progress.
• Ye Chen asked the system whether the open world affected visitors’ other world, and learned that its improvements had a 0.01% effect there.
• Ye Chen watched footage of Dai Xiaomei becoming deeply immersed in the game and worried that its realism could make the effect dangerous.

Ye Chen worried that players’ immersion in Hidden Jun Ninja could draw authorities’ attention and disrupt the game, so he ordered new anti-addiction measures. The players reacted angrily to the announcement, while a few defended the changes.

• Ye Chen saw that Hidden Jun Ninja had affected the other world by 0.01% and worried that players might lose touch with reality and attract official scrutiny.
• Ye Chen ordered the feedback system to add an eight-hour daily play limit and reduce simulation fidelity by 5%, with compensation for players.
• The system announced the anti-addiction measures to all players, leaving the game world briefly silent.
• Some players blamed the changes on a busybody or jealous rival developers and condemned whoever had reported the game.
• A few players defended the report, saying the game’s realism could distort perceptions and praising the developers for responding, but louder criticism drowned them out.

Ye Chen monitored Corpse Bearer and Bullfighting Master and discovered that Taijutsu movements from the game could be brought into the real world, though without their full power. The system explained that things existing in both worlds could be carried from one to the other.

• Ye Chen ordered the system to monitor Corpse Bearer and Bullfighting Master's communications and watched them talk in the real world.
• Corpse Bearer told Bullfighting Master to keep their physical improvements secret because neither of them could prove whether the game had directly caused them.
• Ye Chen had the system retrieve their previous communications and reviewed the available recordings.
• Ye Chen found that Taijutsu movements learned in the game could be performed in the real world, but were much weaker without Taijutsu Chakra.
• The system explained that things already existing in both worlds could be brought into the other world.

After Kusagakure merged into Hidden Jun Village, Ye Chen upgraded the village to level five and gained a Ninja Academy, then spotted a Konoha ninja waiting outside the village. The chapter left Ye Chen facing an unexpected visitor.

• Ye Chen reasoned that techniques could pass between the real world and the game world when they followed both worlds' rules, and wondered whether he could use those rules to travel back.
• The system announced that Kusagakure had merged into Hidden Jun Village and that the village met the requirements for an upgrade.
• Ye Chen upgraded Hidden Jun Village to level five and received Five Elements Ninjutsu, a Ninja Academy, and a Bounty Hall.
• Ye Chen decided the Ninja Academy could train low-ranking ninja and give the captured Kusagakure Jonin a role as teachers under his watch.
• Ye Chen sensed someone outside the village, vanished, and found a ninja wearing a Konoha Forehead Protector.

Yamato delivered Konoha’s invitation for six Hidden Jun Village shinobi to enter its Chunin Tournament, offering the slots left vacant by the destroyed Kusagakure. Ye Chen declined to keep his small village out of the Five Great Shinobi Villages’ conflicts, while Yamato hinted they would meet again soon.

• Yamato introduced himself to Ye Chen as a Root member from Konoha and said he had brought a confidential directive.
• Yamato told Ye Chen that Shimura Danzō, after consulting the Hokage, had invited six Hidden Jun Village Chunin to Konoha’s tournament.
• Yamato explained that the six slots had belonged to Kusagakure, whose contestants were now refugees in Konoha after the village’s destruction.
• Ye Chen considered the benefits of sending his shinobi to gain experience but worried that joining the tournament would draw Hidden Jun Village into wider conflicts.
• Ye Chen politely declined the invitation, and Yamato accepted his answer and prepared to return to Konoha.
• Yamato turned back to tell Ye Chen that they would meet again before long.

Ye Chen discovered that the Land of Rain bordered the Land of Grass and realized Hidden Jun Village was closer to Amegakure and the Akatsuki than he had thought. He estimated that Hidden Jun Village was still remote from the major nations, then asked the system to show who had explored the newly unlocked area.

• Ye Chen saw a system notification that the Land of Rain had been unlocked and the Land of Grass had six of eight exploration areas completed.
• Ye Chen used the map to realize the Land of Grass bordered the Land of Rain and reconsidered how Kusagakure had hired Kisame Hoshigaki.
• Ye Chen connected Kisame Hoshigaki and Uchiha Itachi's appearance to the Akatsuki under Nagato and Madara Uchiha, and worried that conflict might spread to the Land of Grass.
• Ye Chen estimated that Hidden Jun Village was more than six hundred li from Amegakure and at least a thousand li from the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning.
• Ye Chen asked the system to replay the footage of whoever had explored the newly unlocked territory.

Ye Chen realized Raijin had discovered that the Land of Grass bordered the Land of Rain and worried that Hidden Jun Village could be drawn into conflict with the Five Great Shinobi Villages. In Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other leaders reviewed Root intelligence about Hidden Jun Village.

• Ye Chen watched the system's reconstructed footage and saw Raijin exploring the map aboard Azure Bird: Thunderclap.
• Ye Chen considered how Hidden Jun Village's location and his own strength could attract the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and began planning how to prepare for conflict.
• Ye Chen recalled Yamato's invitation for Hidden Jun Village's Chunin to attend Konoha's competition and feared it was meant to assess the village's strength.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi read Root's intelligence about Hidden Jun Village, then passed it to Shimura Danzō to distribute among Konoha's High Command.

Konoha's leaders debated how to respond to Hidden Jun Village, with Shimura Danzō proposing a scheme to exploit the Chunin Tournament and destroy it indirectly. Confidential reports about the village also prompted the leaders of Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure to consider their next moves.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi heard opposing views on whether Konoha should attack Hidden Jun Village, and Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, and Tsunade argued against starting a war immediately.
• Shimura Danzō proposed moving the Chunin Tournament's battlefield to the Land of Grass, investigating Hidden Jun Village, and using battlefield accidents to destroy it.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi postponed the decision and said Konoha's leaders would discuss the plan further before the tournament.
• In Sunagakure, the stern-faced man asked Elder Chiyo about Gaara's whereabouts, handed her a confidential report, and left to attend to something.
• In Kumogakure, the older brother of Killer B read the report, called the situation an opportunity, and left, while Killer B examined the report.
• In Iwagakure, the small old man read the report, called it interesting, and left the conference room.