Chapter Summaries

Lin Ze joined Squad B-5, where he reunited with the ANBU captain who had brought him to Konoha and met his teammates. After choosing a green snake mask and the codename Aoda, he officially began his career as an ANBU member.

• Lin Ze reported to Squad B-5 and recognized Captain Fox as the ANBU who had brought him to Konoha two years earlier.
• Fox introduced Gray Wolf and Night Owl as Lin Ze's teammates and explained the squad's rules.
• Fox took Lin Ze to the Logistics Department to choose his ANBU equipment, codename, and mask.
• Lin Ze chose a green snake mask, and Fox named his codename Aoda.
• The clerk recorded Aoda as Lin Ze's codename and No. 567 as his former number.

After three months of ANBU missions, Lin Ze received an urgent solo assignment to enter the Land of Grass and escort a spy carrying important intelligence back to the Land of Fire. He prepared for the journey and left Konoha, heading toward the rendezvous point.

• Lin Ze completed several missions with Squad B-5, earned Gray Wolf and Night Owl’s recognition, and continued training his Beastification ability.
• An ANBU clerk named Wildcat gave Lin Ze an urgent B-Rank solo mission to meet the spy Dandelion in the Land of Grass and escort them and their intelligence to a border outpost.
• Wildcat explained that Fox was on a classified mission and Gray Wolf and Night Owl were recovering from injuries, leaving Lin Ze as the only available member of Squad B-5.
• Lin Ze collected equipment and a map, changed into his ANBU uniform, and prepared extra smoke bombs before departing.
• Lin Ze passed through Konoha’s gate and set off through the forest toward the Land of Grass.

Lin Ze traveled alone into the Land of Grass to retrieve a spy called Dandelion, suspecting the mission might be a trap. After cautiously reaching the rendezvous, he accepted Dandelion’s intelligence and immediately sensed danger.

• Lin Ze questioned whether the solo mission had been arranged as a test by Hiruzen Sarutobi or Danzo, but continued toward the rendezvous point.
• Lin Ze reached a remote valley, searched for signs of an ambush, and cautiously entered to meet Dandelion beneath Eagle Beak Rock.
• Lin Ze and Dandelion exchanged the recognition phrase, and Dandelion claimed to have intelligence about Iwagakure’s troop movements.
• Dandelion handed Lin Ze a metal tube, and Lin Ze noticed a tremor and subtle chakra fluctuation before leaping backward.

Lin Ze used his Azure Dragon abilities to kill Dandelion and then Black Panther while three Root ninja tried to capture him alive. With two enemies dead, he remained surrounded by Wild Boar and Tanuki.

• Lin Ze burst past Dandelion’s defenses and crushed his heart, killing him instantly.
• Tanuki, Wild Boar, and Black Panther attacked Lin Ze together, but he leapt clear of their coordinated assault.
• Lin Ze targeted Black Panther, crushed his Vacuum Great Sphere with his dragon claw, and endured the Earth Dragon Bullets with his scales.
• Lin Ze used the blast’s momentum to reach Black Panther and pierce his throat, killing him as Wild Boar’s attack arrived too late.

Lin Ze survived Dandelion’s surprise genjutsu and faced a coordinated ambush by four Root members. After opening the Fourth Gate, he pressed his attack on Dandelion and began drawing on the Azure Dragon’s power to strengthen his legs.

• Dandelion used Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death, but Lin Ze dispelled it with his dragon might.
• Dandelion signaled three Root members in Panther, Wild Boar, and Tanuki masks to surround Lin Ze.
• The four Root members attacked together, forcing Lin Ze to open the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation.
• Lin Ze dodged their attacks, suffered cuts from Black Panther’s blades, then struck Black Panther and charged at Dandelion.
• Lin Ze evaded Dandelion’s Wind Release: Vacuum Wave and used the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon to empower his legs.

Lin Ze defeated Boar and the other Root ninja, but Tanuki summoned a Baku and dragged him toward its trunk with powerful suction. Exhausted from the fight, Lin Ze faced the Baku’s attack as the chapter ended.

• Lin Ze realized Tanuki was observing him and holding back while Boar attacked under orders to capture him alive.
• Lin Ze dodged Tanuki’s Lightning Release: Earth Flow and used dragon breath to melt Boar’s Earth Spear armor.
• Lin Ze seized the opening and killed Boar by piercing and crushing his heart with his dragon claws.
• Tanuki summoned a Baku, whose powerful suction pulled Lin Ze toward its trunk.

Lin Ze escaped Baku’s suction by burning its trunk with Dragon Breath, but realized he could not defeat Tanuki and planned to flee. An Iwagakure squad arrived and, after spotting Lin Ze’s unusual abilities, its jōnin ordered his chunin to capture him alive.

• Lin Ze burned Baku’s trunk with Dragon Breath and escaped its suction.
• Lin Ze concluded he could not defeat Tanuki and decided he had to flee rather than risk capture by Root.
• Four Iwagakure ninja arrived, and Lin Ze realized they were pursuing the real Dandelion.
• The Iwagakure jōnin assessed Lin Ze’s abilities and ordered three chunin to capture him alive.

Lin Ze pretended to be trapped by an Iwagakure genjutsu and let the Iwa ninja bind him while he secretly ate Soldier Pills to recover. As the Iwagakure jōnin and chunin battled Tanuki and Baku, Lin Ze waited for both sides to weaken each other.

• An Iwagakure jōnin attacked Baku and Tanuki with Earth Release while three Iwagakure chunin closed in on Lin Ze.
• An Iwagakure chunin cast False Surroundings Technique, and Lin Ze pretended to be disoriented rather than break the genjutsu.
• Lin Ze swallowed Soldier Pills as one chunin tied his hands and left him behind a rock to join the fight.
• The Iwagakure jōnin and chunin harassed Tanuki and Baku with Earth Release, and a tall, thin chunin briefly trapped Baku with Earth Prison Dome.
• The jōnin used Mountain Earth Technique to squeeze Baku between two boulders while Lin Ze secretly recovered and waited for an opening.

Lin Ze recovered while the Iwagakure ninja defeated Baku and fatally wounded Tanuki. When the survivors turned their attention to him, Lin Ze broke free and killed the tall, thin Chunin in an instant, leaving the Iwagakure Jōnin to defend himself behind an Earth-Style Wall.

• Lin Ze used the Soldier Pills and his Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, to recover as the Iwagakure Jōnin and tall, thin Chunin fought Baku and Tanuki.
• The Iwagakure Jōnin trapped Baku in a swamp and crushed its skull with an Added-Weight Rock Technique, killing it.
• Tanuki suffered backlash from Baku's death, and the Iwagakure Jōnin seized the opening to fatally strike him.
• As the Iwagakure ninja relaxed and approached Lin Ze, Lin Ze broke his bindings, rushed the tall, thin Chunin, and tore out his heart.
• The Iwagakure Jōnin retreated behind an Earth-Style Wall as Lin Ze prepared to finish the fight quickly.

Lin Ze combined Dragon Transformation with the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation and fought an Iwagakure jōnin, revealing his immense speed, strength, and ability to fly. He evaded the jōnin’s Earth Release attacks and closed in on him again.

• Lin Ze opened the Fourth Gate while transformed into a dragon, finding that his enhanced body endured the strain more easily and gave him greater strength.
• Lin Ze raced around the Earth-Style Wall and attacked the Iwagakure jōnin, who saw his dragon features and responded with Earth Flow Spears and Rock Armor.
• Lin Ze dodged the spears and shattered the jōnin’s stone-armored arm with a powerful punch enhanced by wind and lightning.
• The Iwagakure jōnin used Added-Weight Rock Technique to slow Lin Ze, then fired an Earth Dragon Bullet barrage at close range.
• Lin Ze instinctively gathered wind beneath his feet, rose into the air, evaded the barrage, and flew toward the stunned jōnin.

Lin Ze defeated an Iwagakure jōnin who tried to kill them both with a body full of explosive tags, then turned toward the sole surviving Iwagakure chunin. With his powers and abilities exposed, Lin Ze decided that no witnesses could be allowed to leave the valley alive.

• Lin Ze struck the Iwagakure jōnin with Lightning Claw, breaking his stone armor and leaving him incapacitated.
• The jōnin activated Reverse Four Symbols Detonation Tags and charged at Lin Ze, who retreated and threw smoke bombs to obscure their sight.
• Lin Ze sensed the jōnin through the smoke, scattered explosive tags in his path, and detonated them, triggering the tags inside the jōnin's body.
• The resulting blast obliterated the jōnin and injured Lin Ze, but Lin Ze's Azure Dragon regeneration began healing him quickly.
• Lin Ze saw the terrified Iwagakure chunin as the valley's only survivor and resolved to kill every witness.

After killing the last surviving Iwagakure chunin, Lin Ze suppressed his revulsion and fabricated a battlefield to conceal his abilities and Root’s role in the fight. He set off toward Konoha pretending to have fled in panic, leaving behind a story that an Iwagakure ninja had escaped with the intelligence.

• Lin Ze killed the last surviving Iwagakure chunin and realized the Azure Dragon fruit was affecting his instincts.
• Lin Ze decided to return to Konoha and devised a cover story in which he had escaped while Root and Iwagakure ninja fought.
• Lin Ze altered Black Panther’s corpse, planted tracks and scraps of Iwagakure cloth, and staged the apparent retreat of a surviving Iwagakure chunin.
• Lin Ze burned the Root members’ bodies with Dragon Breath and sealed the four Iwagakure bodies in a scroll.
• Lin Ze opened the Fourth Gate again and ran toward Konoha, deliberately making his escape look hurried and unsteady.

Lin Ze returned to Konoha badly exhausted after escaping an ambush involving Dandelion, masked ninja, and Iwagakure ninja, then reported the mission’s failure to Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen suspected Danzo had targeted Lin Ze, leaving him angry but conflicted about the boy’s potential.

• Lin Ze hurried toward Konoha after scattering the ashes of the four Iwagakure ninja, struggling with the effects of repeatedly opening the Gate of Pain.
• Near Konoha, Lin Ze cut and burned himself to make his healed body look wounded, then staggered to the gate and identified himself as Aoda of ANBU Squad B-5.
• Lin Ze told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Dandelion had ambushed him with genjutsu and that three masked ninja had tried to capture him.
• Lin Ze said he fought the masked ninja, then escaped when Iwagakure ninja arrived and clashed with them; he apologized for failing the mission and returning without intelligence.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi suspected Danzo had arranged the attack and silently condemned his methods, while recognizing that he too had concerns about Lin Ze’s potential.

Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted Lin Ze’s account of the attack without investigating further, choosing to warn Danzo while keeping the village’s factions in balance. Lin Ze left for the Orphanage with time to recover, aware that he would need to grow stronger before he could stop either man from controlling him.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi praised Lin Ze’s escape, promised to deal with the attack, and granted him half a month to recover.
• Lin Ze pretended to trust Hiruzen Sarutobi while recognizing that the Hokage intended to warn Danzo rather than break with him.
• Lin Ze decided to repay his personal debt to Hiruzen Sarutobi by saving Asuma instead of Hiruzen Sarutobi during the Konoha Crush.
• Lin Ze headed toward the Orphanage, counting on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s suppression of Danzo to give him time to master the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon and advance his Eight Gates Released Formation.

Hiruzen Sarutobi investigated the mission that had endangered Lin Ze and suspected Danzo, while Danzo moved to erase evidence and protect Root. A week later, Hiruzen blamed the incident on Tanuki and foreign ninja, and Lin Ze played along as he resolved to grow strong enough to decide Konoha’s future himself.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi investigated Tanuki’s records, ordered ANBU to monitor him, and sent a concealed squad to examine the valley in the Land of Grass.
• Danzo learned that Lin Ze had returned alive, ordered Root to erase evidence before ANBU arrived, and warned Tanuki that he was likely exposed.
• After a week of recovery, Lin Ze met Hiruzen Sarutobi, who said Tanuki had confessed to colluding with other villages and was awaiting trial.
• Lin Ze concealed his skepticism and thanked Hiruzen Sarutobi, who declared the matter closed and reassured him that Konoha would protect him.
• Lin Ze left the Hokage Building determined to master the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon and advance the Eight Gates Released Formation until he could decide how Konoha treated him.

Lin Ze searched ANBU's Ninjutsu Repository for an A-Rank technique that suited his strengths, hoping to improve his close-combat power. He chose the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique after realizing its clones could help him train and safely experiment with his Devil Fruit abilities.

• Lin Ze entered ANBU's Ninjutsu Repository under strict security and received one hour to choose a single A-Rank scroll.
• Lin Ze searched for Chakra Enhanced Strength but found that the technique was not recorded in the repository.
• Lin Ze considered the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and its risks to users with limited chakra.
• Lin Ze realized he could use a small number of shadow clones to practice techniques and conduct dangerous Devil Fruit experiments, with their accumulated experience returning to him.

Lin Ze borrowed the A-Rank Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and quickly learned to create one clone despite his limited chakra. He discovered that the clone could use his Azure Dragon powers, opening a way to test and develop those abilities without risking his real body.

• Lin Ze chose the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, borrowed its scroll from Suzuka, and left the archive eager to study it.
• On returning to the Orphanage, Lin Ze worried about Nonō and recalled Hiruzen Sarutobi's reassurance that the village would protect her.
• After dinner, Lin Ze studied the scroll and mastered enough of the technique to create one shadow clone, using up more than half his chakra.
• Lin Ze tested the clone's ability to fly with the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, and confirmed it could also transform into a dragon-man.
• Lin Ze realized he could use shadow clones to experiment with Dragon Breath and other fruit abilities while keeping his real body safe.

Lin Ze used shadow clones to accelerate his training and improved his control of the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, though absorbing their memories left him exhausted. A week after the Root attack, he met Might Duy and Guy at the stream and asked Duy for guidance on advancing his Eight Gates training.

• Lin Ze instructed a clone to develop dragon transformation in its waist while he studied chakra allocation for the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
• Lin Ze successfully created two additional clones and assigned the three clones to train dragon transformation, practice flying, and study the Shinobi World.
• After training late into the night, Lin Ze dispelled the clones and absorbed their memories, enduring a headache and fatigue as he gained progress and knowledge.
• About a week after the Root attack, Lin Ze continued his daily taijutsu training during his leave from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Lin Ze found Might Duy and Guy exercising by the stream and told Duy he could open and close the Fourth Gate fairly proficiently, then asked for advice on the next steps.

Might Duy demonstrated the fifth and sixth gates of the Eight Gates Released Formation to Lin Ze and Might Guy, explaining the dangerous costs of the higher gates. Lin Ze stopped Duy from opening the seventh gate, and Duy agreed to teach Might Guy after he graduated from the Ninja Academy.

• Might Duy opened the fifth gate and smashed a boulder with a single punch, then opened the sixth gate and cracked the riverbank with his strength.
• Might Duy explained that the seventh gate severely strained the body and that opening the eighth gate meant certain death.
• Lin Ze reflected on Duy's strength and sacrifice, then refused to let him demonstrate the seventh gate to avoid injury and unwanted attention from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Might Duy ended the demonstration and advised Lin Ze and Might Guy to build their physical foundations before attempting higher gates.
• Might Duy agreed to teach Might Guy the Eight Gates Released Formation after he graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Lin Ze reflected on his growing strength and the dangers ahead as he returned from training with Might Duy and Guy. He resolved to keep improving his taijutsu and Azure Dragon abilities while taking greater care on ANBU missions, and left determined to protect the people he cared about.

• Lin Ze trained with Might Duy and Guy, improving his understanding of the Eight Gates Released Formation while Guy pushed himself through extreme workouts.
• Lin Ze considered whether he could help Guy develop Evening Elephant and Night Guy early, but decided to focus on his own strength first.
• On his way back to the orphanage, Lin Ze reviewed his progress and concluded that his abilities gave him combat strength comparable to a special jōnin, though future threats remained far beyond him.
• Lin Ze suspected Danzo had arranged the trouble during the Land of Grass mission and resolved to use a shadow clone to scout future ANBU missions.
• Lin Ze planned to train taijutsu by day, develop his Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon abilities with a shadow clone at night, and seek Might Duy's guidance on weekends.
• Lin Ze recognized that his young body and limited chakra reserves constrained him, but resolved to keep training and grow strong enough to protect those he cared about.