Recaps

Lin Ze found Sara and the surviving people of Rōran, then bought ownership of the Ryūmyaku for three million ryō. Sara agreed to accompany him to the ruins of Rōran to complete the handover while her people prepared to move to the Land of Rivers.

• Lin Ze collected intelligence confirming that Sara lived among roughly three hundred Rōran survivors in the southeastern Land of Wind.
• Lin Ze found the starving survivors and identified Sara distributing their scarce clean water.
• Lin Ze offered to buy the Ryūmyaku, and Sara cautiously named a price of five hundred thousand ryō.
• Lin Ze paid three million ryō, and Sara formally acknowledged his ownership of the Ryūmyaku under the ancient covenant.
• Sara entrusted the survivors’ departure for the Land of Rivers to an elder and accompanied Lin Ze toward the ruins of Rōran for the handover.

Lin Ze and Sara dismantled the seals protecting the Ryūmyaku beneath Rōran’s Spiral Tower and transferred its ownership to Lin Ze. He absorbed the Ryūmyaku into the Sea Dragon Jade shell, securing the immense power within himself.

• Lin Ze placed a Soundproof Barrier around the Underground Altar before beginning to break Minato Namikaze’s composite seal.
• Lin Ze released the Four Symbols Seal, exposing the seal core and its remaining layers.
• Sara used her bloodline and the ancient contract to transfer ownership of the Ryūmyaku to Lin Ze.
• Lin Ze found and cut a weak point in the Mount Myōboku natural energy seal, freeing the Ryūmyaku and unleashing powerful energy fluctuations.
• Lin Ze summoned the egg-shaped shell containing eight pieces of Sea Dragon Jade and channeled the Ryūmyaku into it for nearly ten minutes.
• The shell absorbed the Ryūmyaku, shrank, and merged into Lin Ze’s body, leaving him with the secured power.

Lin Ze claimed the Ryūmyaku and fled the Land of Wind with Sara, but Sasori of the Red Sands intercepted him. Lin Ze sent Sara away with Qingtian and prepared to face Sasori, asking whether he had the Third Kazekage with him.

• The Ryūmyaku transformed into a small ocher-yellow dragon inside Lin Ze, and he fled with Sara toward the Land of Rivers.
• Lin Ze sensed a powerful chakra source tracking him and recognized it as Sasori of the Red Sands.
• Lin Ze landed on a sand dune, summoned Qingtian, and ordered him to escort Sara to safety.
• Sasori arrived on a flying device and demanded that Lin Ze hand over the energy he had collected.
• Lin Ze confronted Sasori and asked whether he had the Third Kazekage with him.

Lin Ze used the Ryūmyaku’s vast chakra to destroy Sasori’s puppet forces and overwhelm them with shadow clones and beastified close combat. Sasori then summoned his strongest puppet, the Third Kazekage, whose Magnet Release controlled iron sand.

• Sasori recognized that Lin Ze knew he had killed the Third Kazekage and turned him into a puppet, then surrounded Lin Ze with his puppet army.
• Lin Ze drew on Ryūmyaku chakra to unleash a massive Great Fireball, destroying several puppets.
• Lin Ze countered Sasori’s coordinated attacks with repeated ninjutsu, then used beastification and twenty shadow clones to charge into close combat.
• Lin Ze and his clones shattered Sasori’s puppet army, forcing Sasori to summon his strongest puppet: the Third Kazekage.

Lin Ze outmaneuvered Sasori and seized the Third Kazekage Human Puppet and Sasori’s puppet scrolls. Sasori escaped, while Lin Ze left him alive in hopes his research might later benefit the Kekkei Mōra Project.

• Sasori attacked Lin Ze and his shadow clones with an Iron Sand Shower, but they dodged through its gaps and closed in on him.
• Sasori raised an Iron Sand Wall, but Lin Ze’s clones circled it and delayed the Third Kazekage Puppet while Lin Ze struck Sasori’s Regeneration Core body.
• Lin Ze’s punch sent Sasori flying and briefly severed his chakra threads to the Third Kazekage Puppet.
• A shadow clone bound the puppet with Adamantine Sealing Chains, and Lin Ze sealed it in a scroll before taking Sasori’s other puppet scroll.
• Sasori fled after losing the Third Kazekage Puppet and most of his possessions, and Lin Ze chose not to pursue him.

After using the Ryūmyaku against Sasori, Lin Ze overcame a bout of petrification with the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon and investigated the Ryūmyaku’s origins. He learned that it came from an ancient Earth Dragon and began considering how its lingering power could expand his abilities.

• Lin Ze left the battlefield with Sasori’s possessions and headed toward the Ascension Island base after confirming Qingtian and Sara were traveling safely.
• At the coast, Lin Ze’s fingertips began turning to stone from the Ryūmyaku’s natural energy, but the Azure Dragon’s vitality healed the petrification.
• Lin Ze recognized that prolonged Ryūmyaku use could overwhelm his ability to recover and decided to establish a safety threshold.
• Lin Ze meditated on the Ryūmyaku and received fragments revealing that it came from an ancient Earth Dragon that had merged with the earth to survive its grievous injuries.
• Lin Ze concluded that the Ryūmyaku’s lingering knowledge could help him control natural energy and supply the earth attribute missing from his Azure Dragon abilities.

After absorbing the Ryūmyaku, Lin Ze considered how parallel worlds could explain Naruto’s time-traveling journey, then returned to his hidden base and examined the Third Kazekage Puppet. He abandoned plans to extract its cells, headed back toward Konoha, and encountered Tagitsuhime, who had come searching for him.

• Lin Ze reasoned that Naruto’s time travel had occurred in a parallel world where the Ryūmyaku remained intact.
• Lin Ze collected his finished weights from the smithy on the Main Island of the Land of Whirlpools and returned to his underground laboratory on Ascension Island.
• Lin Ze examined the Third Kazekage Puppet but found Sasori’s techniques too complex to safely extract viable cells, so he sealed it away and decided to wait for Kabuto’s expertise.
• Lin Ze prepared to leave Ascension Island early to check on Kabuto and seek techniques from the ANBU, then traveled across the sea toward Konoha.
• Lin Ze sensed a powerful, unusual presence approaching and stopped to meet Tagitsuhime, who told him she had finally found the young man bearing dragon might.

Lin Ze rejected Tagitsuhime’s invitation to Ryūchi Cave and refused to sign its summoning contract until it ended its agreements with Orochimaru. Tagitsuhime agreed to report his condition to the White Snake Sage, leaving Lin Ze with a communication scroll as he returned to Konoha.

• Tagitsuhime tried to entice Lin Ze to Ryūchi Cave with promises of Senjutsu, power, and eternal life, but Lin Ze refused.
• Tagitsuhime offered Lin Ze Ryūchi Cave’s Summoning Contract and claimed it would support him even against Orochimaru.
• Lin Ze demanded that Ryūchi Cave completely terminate every Summoning Contract with Orochimaru before he would consider cooperating.
• Tagitsuhime agreed to report Lin Ze’s demand to the White Snake Sage and gave him a communication scroll.
• Lin Ze confirmed the scroll was safe and left for Konoha, while Tagitsuhime returned to report to the Sage.

Lin Ze returned to Konoha wary of Ryūchi Cave and the White Snake Sage, then reunited with Nonō at the orphanage and vowed to protect her from further missions. The old director briefly rose from his bed to welcome Nonō home, leaving Lin Ze to suspect that the frail man was nearing the end of his life.

• Lin Ze decided to avoid signing Ryūchi Cave's Summoning Contract or entering the cave until he was strong enough to face the White Snake Sage.
• Lin Ze arrived at the orphanage and found Nonō had returned after nearly seven years away.
• Nonō and Lin Ze reunited, and Lin Ze promised she would stay at the orphanage while he took care of her and everyone else.
• Rei Uesugi announced that the old director had gotten up and wanted to eat with everyone.
• The old director sat up to greet Nonō, who clasped his hand and told him she was back.

At a family dinner, Nonō gave Lin Ze a scroll containing Kumogakure’s Lightning Release Chakra Mode, which she had risked much to obtain. After dinner, Lin Ze went to train alone and began converting his chakra into Lightning Release.

• Lin Ze gathered the Orphanage family for a warm dinner with Nonō and the old director.
• Nonō gave the children thoughtful gifts, including Kabuto a medical kit and Lin Ze an old scroll titled “Lightning Release Chakra Mode.”
• Lin Ze realized Nonō had likely obtained the secret technique during years undercover in the Land of Lightning and thanked her for the precious gift.
• After dinner, Lin Ze left the Orphanage and studied the scroll at his secluded training ground.
• Lin Ze began following the scroll’s instructions to transform his chakra into Lightning Release chakra.

Lin Ze trained in Lightning Release Chakra Mode and then studied sealing theory and ancient cursed seal runes to find a way to remove the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on Nonō. He ended the chapter absorbed in a rune that seemed connected to the seal on her tongue.

• Lin Ze reached minor mastery of Lightning Release Chakra Mode after three days of training.
• Lin Ze went to ANBU headquarters and exchanged Merit Points for two scrolls about cursed seal runes and compulsory chakra bindings.
• Lin Ze returned to the Orphanage and told Nonō he would spend the next three days training in seclusion.
• Lin Ze studied the theory scroll and reasoned that the seal might be broken by disrupting its rules or chakra source, but feared harming Nonō by severing their connection.
• Lin Ze found a rune associated with silencing and contract prisons that resembled the chakra fluctuations of Nonō's seal, then studied it late into the night.

Madara dismissed reports about Lin Ze’s dragon-like form, while Orochimaru’s failed summons led him to suspect Ryūchi Cave had chosen Lin Ze after Orochimaru plotted against him. With Lin Ze’s fate unknown, Orochimaru sent a trusted subordinate to Konoha to investigate.

• Tobi told Madara that thirteen-year-old Lin Ze had escaped Kumogakure forces as a flying, half-human, half-dragon figure called the Azure Dragon.
• Madara dismissed Lin Ze as an unimportant new Kekkei Genkai and told Tobi to keep Obito on the path Madara had planned.
• Orochimaru tried twice to summon a snake, but both attempts failed as his connection to Ryūchi Cave seemed to have been severed.
• Orochimaru suspected Ryūchi Cave had chosen Lin Ze because he had colluded with Kumogakure against him, though he could not confirm Lin Ze’s fate.
• Orochimaru ordered a trusted subordinate to return to Konoha and find out whether Lin Ze had appeared or returned from his mission.

After his vacation, Lin Ze received an S-Rank mission from Hiruzen Sarutobi to find Tsunade in the Land of Hot Water and persuade her to return to Konoha. He also planned to capture isolated Root members to test a way of removing their Cursed Tongue Eradication Seals, and ended the chapter arriving at a hot spring inn after failing to find Tsunade.

• Lin Ze finished studying the Sealing Jutsu scrolls and decided he needed Root members with Cursed Tongue Eradication Seals as test subjects.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned Lin Ze to locate Tsunade in the Land of Hot Water and persuade her to return to Konoha, warning him not to endanger her.
• Lin Ze accepted the S-Rank mission and traveled toward the Land of Hot Water while practicing his Lightning Release Chakra Mode and planning to capture Root ninja.
• Lin Ze crossed into the Land of Hot Water and searched several places where Tsunade might have been, but found no useful clues.
• Lin Ze decided to stay at the Hot Spring Village inn and ask around for information.

Lin Ze stayed at an inn in the Land of Hot Water, avoided an unwanted encounter at the mixed bath, and continued searching for Tsunade. He found her gambling at a casino but chose to wait rather than approach her after she lost her money and returned to an inn.

• Lin Ze checked into an inn and chose the men's bath, where suggestive noises from the women's bathing area ended his relaxation.
• The next morning, Lin Ze resumed tracking Tsunade through the Land of Hot Water's towns and casinos.
• On the third day, Lin Ze spotted Tsunade gambling at the Golden Full House while Shizune and Tonton were with her.
• Lin Ze sensed Tsunade's frustration after she lost her money and watched her return with Shizune to the Traveler's Inn.
• Lin Ze decided not to approach Tsunade that night and checked into a nearby inn instead.

Lin Ze caught up with Tsunade and proved he could withstand her chakra enhanced strength, then obtained her thumbprint confirming she refused to return to Konoha. After Tsunade and Shizune left, Lin Ze planned to search for suitable experimental material.

• Lin Ze followed Tsunade and Shizune out of town and revealed himself when Tsunade called him out.
• Lin Ze told Tsunade that the Hokage wanted her to return, and she angrily refused before striking him with chakra enhanced strength.
• Lin Ze blocked Tsunade's punch with his own chakra enhanced strength, impressing her and easing her anger.
• Lin Ze asked Tsunade to leave a thumbprint confirming she had received the Hokage's orders but refused to return, and she agreed.
• Tsunade and Shizune left, and Lin Ze stored the signed scroll before setting out to find experimental material.

Lin Ze searched for Root ninja by sending out Shadow Clones and posting intelligence-gathering missions at three Bounty Station outposts. After receiving a lead near Kikyo Castle and a Shadow Clone’s report of another Root squad near the Land of Bears border, he prepared to begin hunting.

• Lin Ze sent twenty Shadow Clones to scout for Root ninja while he traveled to a Bounty Station.
• Lin Ze posted identical missions at three Land of Fire Bounty Station outposts, offering payment for verified intelligence on Root squads.
• For two days, neither the Bounty Station nor the Shadow Clones provided information.
• On the third day, Lin Ze received a report of a suspected three-member Root squad with wounded members about thirty li southeast of Kikyo Castle, then sent a Shadow Clone to investigate.
• A Shadow Clone scouting near the Land of Bears border dispelled and sent Lin Ze the location of three masked Root ninja moving toward a secluded valley, prompting him to begin the hunt.

Lin Ze infiltrated a remote Root base in a valley near the Land of Bears and began disabling its guards. After discovering evidence of cloning experiments, he knocked out five sentries, but an alarm sounded before he could reach the supervisors.

• Lin Ze chose the remote valley base over the Root squad near Kikyo Castle and followed his Shadow Clone’s memories to its hidden entrance.
• Lin Ze detected the concealed barriers and traps, entered the underground base, and sensed ten people inside, including two Jōnin-level supervisors.
• Lin Ze found containers holding strange flesh and tissue and concluded that Danzo was conducting cloning experiments.
• Lin Ze used partial beastification to silently knock out five Root ninja guarding and patrolling the base.
• A red light flashed and an urgent alarm rang as Lin Ze prepared to move toward the supervisors.

Lin Ze overpowered the Root members guarding the underground base and seized its cloning research records. He destroyed the base with Bolo Breath and left the unconscious ninjas outside.

• Lin Ze created six shadow clones to subdue the remaining Chunin while he charged into the control room.
• Lin Ze knocked out the bird-masked Jōnin with one blow and slammed the salamander-masked Jōnin unconscious.
• Lin Ze confirmed that all ten Root members were subdued and collected records on cloning and Hashirama cell experiments.
• Lin Ze inspected the laboratory, found no Wood Release research, and removed evidence of his presence.
• Lin Ze had the shadow clones carry the unconscious Root members outside, then fired Bolo Breath into the base and destroyed it.

Lin Ze experimented on Root ninja to learn how to remove Danzo’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal. After many failures, he freed the two Root Jōnin, then killed them and left the laboratory with the method mastered.

• Lin Ze tested the seal-breaking method on restrained Root ninja, but his first attempts triggered the cursed seal and killed them.
• After eight failures, Lin Ze identified the seal’s chain-like Yin Release chakra circuit as both its restraint and self-destruction trigger.
• Lin Ze used finely controlled chakra with a simulated life aura to loosen and remove the bird-masked man’s cursed seal.
• Lin Ze successfully removed the salamander-masked man’s cursed seal as well, confirming he had mastered the method.
• Lin Ze killed both freed Root Jōnin by striking their chests, and the bird-masked man died with a faint smile.

After returning from his mission, Lin Ze told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Tsunade refused to come back to Konoha. He then discovered that Nonō was bound by Danzo’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and successfully removed it, leaving her free of its control.

• Lin Ze reported Tsunade’s refusal to return to Konoha, and Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted her decision.
• Lin Ze asked Nonō whether Danzo had placed a Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on her and offered to remove it.
• Nonō warned Lin Ze that disrupting the seal could paralyze or kill her, but agreed to trust him.
• Lin Ze prepared barriers in Nonō’s room and carefully loosened the seal’s chakra chains.
• Lin Ze broke the seal, and Nonō found she could speak freely without its threat.

After Nonō’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal was broken, Lin Ze urged her to leave Konoha with him and the people they cared about, citing Danzo, Orochimaru, and Hiruzen Sarutobi as threats. They agreed to wait until the director’s final days had passed, then escape to the Land of Whirlpools.

• Nonō worried that Danzo would discover the broken seal, and Lin Ze proposed leaving Konoha.
• Lin Ze explained that Danzo, Orochimaru, and possibly Hiruzen Sarutobi made staying in Konoha dangerous for them.
• Lin Ze planned ways to help Nonō, Yumi, Ayumi, Rei, Ichirō, and Kabuto escape Konoha without drawing suspicion.
• Lin Ze and Nonō agreed to remain with the director until he died, since traveling would be too hard on him.
• Lin Ze proposed settling in the Land of Whirlpools, and Nonō agreed to tell everyone about the plan over breakfast.

Lin Ze planned to leave Konoha with Nonō and the children, while Rei Uesugi chose to stay because of Asuma. Hiruzen Sarutobi then assigned Lin Ze to investigate the Ryūmyaku's disappearance in the Land of Wind, unaware that Lin Ze had taken it himself.

• Nonō told the group Lin Ze planned to leave Konoha, and Yumi, Ayumi, Miyamoto Ichirō, and Kabuto agreed to go with him.
• Rei Uesugi said she wanted to stay in Konoha because she could not leave someone behind, and the others accepted her choice.
• The group agreed to keep their departure plans confidential and wait for the right moment.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned Lin Ze a mission to investigate the missing Ryūmyaku in the Land of Wind and examine the possible roles of Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure.
• Lin Ze accepted the mission, knowing he had taken the Ryūmyaku himself, and planned to use the time to prepare for the group's departure and deal with Orochimaru.

Lin Ze traveled to Cat Country to recruit ninja cats as messengers for his companions in Konoha. He met Cat Granny and found two promising candidates, though both immediately demanded payment in their preferred forms.

• Lin Ze placed a seal on Nonō's tongue and planned how his companions would leave Konoha over the coming months.
• Lin Ze traveled to Cat Country seeking ninja cats to relay information between him and Miyamoto Ichirō's group.
• Lin Ze entered Cat Country and met its overseer, Cat Granny, who explained that the ninja cats expected a price for their help.
• Lin Ze asked the assembled ninja cats to consider working as messengers, and an orange cat asked about money, food, and lodging.
• A little black cat said it wanted premium dried fish, leaving Lin Ze to consider the two cats' demands.

Lin Ze contracted with Chinchilla and Ink Maru in Cat Country to serve as messengers and learned how to summon them. He arranged for Miyamoto Ichirō to use the cats as a secret communication channel and planned to extend the contracts to Nonō, Yumi, Ayumi, and Kabuto.

• Lin Ze agreed to pay Chinchilla for deliveries and provide Ink Maru with dried fish, then signed the Summoning Contract with both cats.
• Cat Granny gave Lin Ze a scroll explaining the Reverse Summoning Technique and its hand seals.
• Lin Ze traveled to a border town and studied the reverse summoning scroll at an inn.
• Lin Ze summoned Chinchilla and Ink Maru for Miyamoto Ichirō, paid Chinchilla, and gave Ink Maru dried fish.
• Miyamoto Ichirō signed a Summoning Contract with the cats, and Lin Ze asked him to secretly arrange contracts for Nonō, Yumi, Ayumi, and Kabuto.
• Miyamoto Ichirō returned to Konoha, while Lin Ze planned to wait for Nonō and the others to leave on a mission.

Lin Ze located five of Orochimaru’s hidden outposts in the Land of Rice Fields and launched a coordinated attack on all of them. At noon, he entered the northeastern base, killed its jōnin guard, and began cutting down the people inside.

• Lin Ze used thirty shadow clones to search the Land of Rice Fields for Orochimaru’s experimental bases.
• A clone discovered a hidden crevice and found traces of Orochimaru’s chakra and an experimental facility studying Wood Release cells.
• Lin Ze gathered reports from the clones and identified five suspicious outposts, including two major bases.
• After resting, Lin Ze sent thirty newly strengthened clones to attack the outposts simultaneously at noon, ordering them to destroy facilities, collect documents, and kill anyone who resisted.
• Lin Ze activated his partial beastification and Lightning Release Chakra Mode, then infiltrated the northeastern base and killed its jōnin guard.
• Lin Ze raced through the base, killing guards and researchers as he pressed his attack.