Chapter Summaries

Dragon Release Village strengthened its training and intelligence systems as Lin Ze learned that Konoha’s Uchiha were being isolated. In Konoha, Uchiha Fugaku considered the clan’s mounting losses while Uchiha Itachi discussed the transfer of Military Police Force authority to other clans.

• Lin Ze ended Haku and Kimimaro’s sparring, praised Karin’s chakra training, and sent her to visit Nonō’s hospital without disturbing the staff.
• Miyamoto Ichirō reported that Dragon Release Village’s growth depended increasingly on training its own ninja, so Lin Ze ordered a Ninja Academy and expanded intelligence gathering.
• Miyamoto Ichirō told Lin Ze that Pakura had gained renown after completing an S-Rank mission and that the White Snake Sage had reported Uchiha Onibi was isolated in Konoha.
• Uchiha Fugaku received a report of rising casualties after Kirigakure crossed the border and ordered Shisui to retaliate forcefully against any further incursions.
• Uchiha Fugaku reflected on the many deaths among his clan and suspected someone was secretly targeting the Uchiha.
• Uchiha Itachi asked Fugaku about transferring most Military Police Force personnel to the Sarutobi and Shimura clans, and Fugaku confirmed he had followed Itachi’s advice to exchange that authority for trust and positions in other departments.

Uchiha Fugaku suspected Uchiha Onibi of leaking the coup plans and ordered Ryōta into the ANBU under Shisui's supervision as a way to keep Onibi in check. Onibi accepted the order but threatened consequences if Ryōta was harmed, then reflected on the Mangekyō eyes he had once intended to give Lin Ze.

• Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Fugaku discussed a report alleging that Uchiha Onibi had secretly visited the Hokage Building before the coup plans were leaked.
• Itachi advised Fugaku to reassure Onibi, but Fugaku ordered Ryota Uchiha transferred to the ANBU and assigned to Shisui's squad without telling Onibi the reason.
• Itachi delivered the order to Onibi, who angrily refused and accused Fugaku of using Ryōta to keep him under surveillance.
• Onibi agreed to let Ryōta join the ANBU but warned Itachi that he would retaliate if Ryōta suffered unfair treatment or was harmed.
• After Itachi left, Onibi considered Fugaku's suspicion and recalled that he had intended his Mangekyō eyes as a gift for Lin Ze.

Lin Ze used the Soul-Devouring Spirit Refinement Technique to strengthen his damaged soul and decided to travel to Ryūchi Cave to learn senjutsu. He and Tagitsuhime departed Ascension Island using the Reverse Summoning Technique, leaving Kabuto in charge of the laboratory.

• Lin Ze completed another soul refinement, absorbing three purified soul origins and increasing his soul strength by about 2.1%.
• Lin Ze asked Tagitsuhime for Ryūchi Cave's sage arts scroll and considered the risks of snake transformation while studying its techniques.
• Tagitsuhime explained that Ryūchi Cave offered denser natural energy, guidance from the White Snake Sage, and facilities for training.
• Lin Ze decided to practice senjutsu in Ryūchi Cave and instructed Kabuto to continue his laboratory work while he was away.
• Lin Ze chose to take his Suzaku Shadow Clone, and Tagitsuhime reverse-summoned them from Ascension Island.

Lin Ze began training at Ryūchi Cave but discovered that its snake-based senjutsu could not properly fuse natural energy with his chakra because he was already a dragon. He decided to create Dragon Senjutsu himself and remained in Ryūchi Cave to begin, while sending Tagitsuhime and the White Snake Sage away on other duties.

• Lin Ze arrived at Ryūchi Cave with Tagitsuhime and met the White Snake Sage, who brought him to the Dragon Transformation Pool to begin senjutsu training.
• Lin Ze sensed natural energy and drew it into his body, but it would not properly fuse with his chakra, and he showed none of the signs of snake transformation.
• The White Snake Sage explained that Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu was designed for snakes becoming dragons, while Lin Ze was already a dragon and needed his own method.
• Lin Ze decided to create Dragon Senjutsu and asked the White Snake Sage about records of it, but she said no known tradition or surviving text described it.
• Lin Ze sent Tagitsuhime back to Ascension Island and the White Snake Sage to oversee Dragon Release Village, ordering Tashihime to monitor Sasuke without interfering unless his life was in danger.
• After Tagitsuhime and the White Snake Sage left Ryūchi Cave, Lin Ze returned to the Dragon Transformation Pool to begin developing his own senjutsu.

Obito and Black Zetsu discussed the Uchiha’s growing power and Shisui’s dangerous Mangekyō ability, then Obito went to Amegakure to persuade Pain to weaken Konoha. Pain agreed to send Akatsuki members on a covert operation, while forbidding direct combat and exposure of the organization.

• Obito and Black Zetsu agreed that Shisui’s will-altering ocular jutsu threatened their plans and that the Uchiha were too vigilant for further secret attacks.
• Obito learned from White Zetsu that the Crescent Moon Masked Man had disappeared and Suzaku had recently become active, and he ordered them to monitor Suzaku.
• Obito traveled with Black Zetsu and White Zetsu to Amegakure to discuss Konoha’s Uchiha-led government with Pain.
• Obito argued that Akatsuki should weaken Konoha and target Shisui before attempting to capture the Nine-Tails.
• Pain agreed to provide members for a covert operation but prohibited direct combat and any exposure of Akatsuki.

Lin Ze paused his sage-art experiments to attend an Akatsuki meeting, where Obito organized an operation to create chaos in Konoha and weaken the Uchiha, especially Shisui. He declined to participate and returned to Ryūchi Cave, where his experiments led him to question how his unusual balance of spiritual, physical, and natural energy should shape his sage arts.

• Lin Ze failed to fuse natural energy and chakra after three days of experiments, then received an Akatsuki summons through his Void ring.
• At the meeting, Deva Path Pain announced a mission to destabilize Konoha and weaken the Uchiha, particularly Shisui, while Obito volunteered to lead it.
• Lin Ze, Sasori, and Hiruko refused to participate; Kisame Hoshigaki and Shū agreed to assist Obito.
• Lin Ze returned to the Dragon Transformation Pool, decided to leave the Konoha operation to the others, and resumed researching sage arts.
• Lin Ze tested different ratios of natural, spiritual, and physical energy, suffered harmful side effects, and concluded that the standard balance did not suit him.
• Lin Ze considered his powerful dragon body, comparatively weaker chakra reserves, and Suzaku's access to Ryūmyaku chakra as he searched for his personal balance point.

Lin Ze tried to create Dragon Senjutsu by combining Ryūmyaku chakra, natural energy, spiritual energy, and physical energy, but repeated failures led him to recognize the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon's dragon might as the missing link. He began building a Five-Wheel Cycle to connect the five powers and left off as he guided energy through the completed wheels.

• Lin Ze combined Ryūmyaku chakra, natural energy, spiritual energy, and physical energy, but the unstable energy mass exploded and injured him.
• Over six months and more than a thousand experiments, Lin Ze reduced the energy's instability but could not keep it from collapsing.
• Lin Ze realized the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon's dragon might could serve as a bridge among the four energies.
• Lin Ze used dragon might to bring the four energies into harmony, then conceived a circulation system called the Five-Wheel Cycle.
• Lin Ze formed the Dragon Heart Wheel and four surrounding wheels, then began linking them into a pentagram cycle.

Lin Ze completed the Five Cycles True Dragon Sage Art, demonstrated its greatly amplified power, and gave Ryūchi Cave’s snakes a path to cultivate a simplified version after transforming into dragons. He then began creating dragon Senjutsu and revealed Dragon Might Domain, which overwhelmed the snakes with bloodline suppression.

• Lin Ze completed the Five Cycles True Dragon Sage Art and used it to create five-cycle shadow clones and unleash a powerful five-colored dragon flame.
• Lin Ze named his sage art and explained that snakes who transformed into dragons could practice its simplified Dragon Chapter, while the complete True Dragon Chapter required a genuine dragon bloodline.
• The White Snake Sage, Tagitsuhime, and the other snakes thanked Lin Ze for giving them a new path toward dragon transformation.
• Lin Ze began developing exclusive dragon Senjutsu and used Sage Art: Dragon Might Domain to suppress the snakes throughout Ryūchi Cave.

Lin Ze tested the Five Cycles True Dragon Sage Art and found that it greatly enhanced his dragon, fire, wind, and lightning abilities while dragon might seemed to help Ryūchi Cave’s snakes evolve. After taking stock of his abilities and setting his training priorities, he decided to acclimate to the Water Release shadow clone, Xuanwu.

• Lin Ze left Ryūchi Cave to test his sage art in Azure Dragon form and found that it strengthened his Bolo Breath, Flame Dragon Torch, wind techniques, and Mamaragan Prison Induction.
• Lin Ze noticed that his dragon might had subtly strengthened some of Ryūchi Cave’s snakes and considered asking White Snake to organize regular gatherings for them.
• Lin Ze reviewed his abilities and decided to focus on mastering and combining his existing techniques rather than creating new moves.
• Lin Ze noted that Konoha Year 51 had arrived and that Naruto and Sasuke would soon turn five, as the original story approached.
• Lin Ze decided to move on from the Suzaku Shadow Clone and begin acclimating to the Water Release shadow clone, Xuanwu.

After completing his sage arts training, Lin Ze learned that Shisui Uchiha had died and watched a recording of the battle that led to his death. The footage showed Shisui turning the fight against his attackers with Kotoamatsukami before summoning his Complete Body Susanoo.

• Lin Ze returned to Ryūchi Cave after six months of seclusion, and the White Snake Sage reported that Shisui Uchiha had died a month earlier.
• The White Snake Sage showed Lin Ze a recording of Shisui and three Uchiha ANBU battling Obito, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Hunter at the Land of Rice Fields border.
• Lin Ze noticed a figure hovering among the clouds and identified it as Nagato, who had blocked Shisui's escape.
• Shisui used Kotoamatsukami on Hunter, making him attack Kisame Hoshigaki and leave him gravely injured.
• Shisui told Ryōta to prepare to leave, then summoned his Complete Body Susanoo as Obito and the remaining enemies faced him.

Lin Ze watched the record of Shisui’s final battle and learned that Ryōta Uchiha had survived but remained unconscious in Konoha Hospital. He then took possession of a Water Release Clone, named it Genbu, and tested its strong Water Release affinity.

• Shisui used his final strength to destroy Chibaku Tensei, strike at Pain, and send Ryota Uchiha and another ANBU member toward Konoha before dying in battle.
• Lin Ze wondered why Nagato had allowed Ryota Uchiha to escape and suspected the decision could turn Ghost Fire against Konoha’s leadership.
• The White Snake Sage told Lin Ze that ambushes had killed the other Uchiha ANBU, while Ryōta had reached Konoha gravely wounded and remained unconscious after half a month.
• Lin Ze returned to his underground laboratory, where Kabuto showed him a fully grown Water Release Clone made from Haku’s cells.
• Lin Ze transferred his soul into the clone, tested its Water Release with Water Dragon Bullet Technique, and named it Genbu.

Lin Ze left Kabuto to continue his research and traveled to the Land of Water to obtain chakra from the reborn Three-Tails. In Konoha, Fugaku questioned Ryōta about Shisui’s death, but the investigation stalled when Ryōta could not remember his escape and Uchiha Onibi resisted probing his memories.

• Lin Ze tasked Kabuto with accelerating Kimimaro’s new body, researching the Soul-Splitting Method, and testing Hashirama cells before departing for the Land of Water.
• Fugaku questioned Ryōta about Shisui’s death, and Ryōta recalled Shisui’s final words but said his memories of the escape were blank.
• Torifu Akimichi and Yamanaka Fū suggested Ryōta’s memories might have been altered or sealed and proposed examining his brain with a secret technique.
• Uchiha Onibi objected to risking his injured brother, then confronted Fugaku over the Uchiha’s rise to power when Fugaku ordered the examination.
• Fugaku suppressed his anger and argued that learning who had killed Shisui was essential to Konoha’s safety.

Ryōta agreed to let the Yamanaka Clan examine his memories, while Ghost Fire demanded safeguards against harm. Outside Konoha, Obito revealed his plan to turn the village's resentment toward the Uchiha into a massacre and prepared to frame Ghost Fire for an attack during the examination.

• Ryōta asked Ghost Fire to let him undergo the memory probe so he could learn who had tampered with him, and Ghost Fire agreed after setting strict conditions with Fugaku.
• Obito and Zetsu discussed how Fugaku’s policies and the Uchiha’s actions had alienated Konoha’s clans, bringing resentment close to a breaking point.
• Obito explained that Ryota’s memory gap was meant to sow suspicion about a traitor within the Uchiha and make the other clans doubt them.
• Obito planned to have the Yamanaka expert die during Ryōta’s probe so the village would suspect Ghost Fire and the Uchiha, then use Ghost Fire’s supposed defection to fuel a massacre.
• Obito sent White Zetsu to watch the Hokage Office and Black Zetsu to prepare underground support, then vowed to complete his plans and revive Rin in a world without war.

Inoichi Yamanaka searched Ryota Uchiha’s memories but was attacked by a masked man who abducted Ryota and killed Inoichi. Uchiha Onibi tracked the attacker to his home, where the masked man began using Kamui to escape and Onibi followed with Divine Crossing.

• Inoichi Yamanaka found that Shisui had died in a joint attack by three Kage-level opponents, including an Uchiha, but could not clearly access Ryota’s memories after the battle.
• A masked man appeared in the sealed room, stabbed Inoichi Yamanaka, and abducted him and Ryota Uchiha through a spatial vortex.
• Uchiha Onibi pursued the spatial traces and vanished from the room; Torifu Akimichi confirmed Inoichi was dead, while Uchiha Fugaku found a blood-written threat demanding that Onibi go alone to the Valley of the End.
• Obito arrived at Uchiha Onibi’s home with Ryota and Inoichi’s corpse, but Uchiha Onibi appeared and demanded that he put his brother down.
• Obito activated Kamui to escape, and Uchiha Onibi used Divine Crossing to follow him.

Ghost Fire pursued Obito into the Kamui Dimension and then fought Obito and Kisame to rescue Ryōta. After escaping with his badly wounded brother, Ghost Fire faced them again as his right Mangekyō began to glow.

• Obito took Ryōta into the Kamui Dimension, but Ghost Fire used Divine Crossing to follow him there.
• Ghost Fire evaded Obito’s chains and pursued him out of the dimension to the forest near the Valley of the End.
• Kisame joined Obito, and Ghost Fire used Time-Reversal Trace to disrupt Kisame during their fight.
• Ghost Fire grabbed Ryōta and tried to escape, but Obito cut Ryōta’s throat while Kisame wounded Ghost Fire.
• Ghost Fire reappeared with Ryōta and confronted the pursuing Obito and Kisame as his right Mangekyō eye glowed.

Ghost Fire reversed Ryōta’s injuries and restored his own wounds and ocular power, then fled with him toward Dragon Release Village while Obito pursued. In Konoha, Fugaku told Itachi that Shisui had died fighting at least three Kage Level opponents, one of them an Uchiha.

• Ghost Fire used Time-Reversal Trace to heal Ryōta’s fatal throat wound and stabilize him.
• Ghost Fire reversed his own injuries and restored most of his ocular power, surprising Obito and Kisame.
• Ghost Fire took Ryōta and used Divine Crossing to flee toward Dragon Release Village in the Land of Whirlpools, while Obito pursued through Kamui.
• Fugaku sat alone in the Hokage Office until Itachi came in and asked about the events involving the ANBU.
• Fugaku told Itachi that Shisui had died at the Land of Rice Fields’ border, surrounded by at least three Kage Level fighters, including an Uchiha.

Itachi warned Fugaku that the Uchiha’s recent losses might have been orchestrated from within, leaving Fugaku to consider whether Ghost Fire had staged the events and disappeared with Ryota. The chapter ended with Fugaku confronting the possibility that his own brother had betrayed the clan.

• Fugaku told Itachi that Shisui had died, Ryota’s memories had been altered, Inoichi had been assassinated, and Ghost Fire and Ryota were missing.
• Itachi warned Fugaku that other clans might exploit the Uchiha’s losses and explained how Fugaku’s past decisions had fueled their resentment.
• Itachi suggested that Uchiha deaths during missions might have been caused by someone inside Konoha.
• Itachi pointed out that three of the five Mangekyō fighters associated with the Uchiha were now gone, leaving the clan vulnerable.
• Itachi proposed that Ghost Fire might have orchestrated the events and disappeared with Ryota, shocking Fugaku.

Itachi warned Fugaku that Konoha’s clans might turn against the Uchiha, but Fugaku insisted he would seek a way to protect both the village and his clan. After White Zetsu and Black Zetsu decided to fan tensions, rumors about the Uchiha spread through Konoha.

• Itachi questioned Fugaku about choosing between peace in Konoha and the Uchiha’s survival, and Fugaku said he would try to preserve both.
• Itachi left the Hokage Building thinking Konoha was on the verge of upheaval and went home to Sasuke and Naruto.
• White Zetsu told Black Zetsu that he had overheard Itachi and Fugaku’s conversation, and Black Zetsu ordered the next stage of their plan to begin.
• White Zetsu and Black Zetsu spread rumors that Shisui was dead, Onibi had disappeared, and the Yamanaka clan head had been killed.
• Ninja and teachers in Konoha repeated rumors that the Uchiha planned to purge the higher-ups and take control of important departments.

Rumors that the Uchiha planned to seize power and that Uchiha Onibi had defected spread through Konoha after Inoichi Yamanaka was found dead. Shikaku suspected someone was provoking a conflict and urged the Ino-Shika-Cho leaders to wait and watch how the Hyūga and other clans responded.

• Medical ninja and others spread rumors that the Uchiha were preparing to purge Konoha’s leadership, that Onibi had defected, and that Fugaku was their only remaining fighter.
• Shino Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi, Torifu Akimichi, and Shikaku Nara met to discuss Inoichi’s death and Onibi’s disappearance.
• Shikaku argued that Onibi’s supposed actions made little sense and concluded that someone was framing events to divide the Uchiha and provoke Konoha’s clans.
• Shikaku told the leaders not to act rashly and to watch Fugaku’s response, especially the Hyūga Clan’s stance.
• Shikaku judged that Shisui was dead, Onibi would likely defect, and Fugaku remained with his Mangekyō, while the two masked men probably were not Uchiha.

Shikaku and Torifu Akimichi decided to wait and see what the Hyuga Clan would do. Hiashi revealed the Hyuga’s sealed Giant Tenseigan to Hizashi and resolved to end the Branch Family system through the clan’s own preparations, leaving them waiting for the right moment as change approached Konoha.

• Shikaku told Torifu Akimichi that Crescent Moon remained a possible deterrent and that they should wait to see what the Hyuga Clan chose.
• Hiashi showed Hizashi an ancient scroll describing the Giant Tenseigan, a powerful eye the Hyuga Clan had sealed after its use blinded and killed a former clan head and six elders.
• Hiashi explained that he doubted Fugaku could reform the Branch Family system without provoking resistance from the privileged Main Family branches.
• Hiashi told Hizashi that his pregnant wife was expecting a child, and he wanted to change the clan so the child would not endure the same fate as them.
• Hizashi agreed to help Hiashi prepare, and Hiashi said the Hyuga Clan would wait for the right moment amid Konoha’s coming changes.