Recaps

Yutian sent Shiya to Rōran to help Sasha screen displaced people for ninja potential and recruit them for the Great British Empire. Shiya selected thirty-seven promising refugees, including twelve with the potential to become Jonin, while Yutian ordered the screening to continue and reflected on the empire’s growth as Konoha remained mired in conflict.

• Yutian reviewed the empire’s ninja clans with Shiya and tasked him with traveling to Rōran to find potential recruits among the displaced people.
• Three days later, Shiya arrived in Rōran with twenty elite clan members and reported to Queen Sasha.
• Shiya began screening refugees and identified A Mu, a boy from the Land of Rivers, as someone with the potential to become a ninja.
• Shiya’s first screening selected thirty-seven people with potential, including twelve who could potentially become Jonin.
• Yutian received Shiya’s report and told him to continue screening for fresh recruits to strengthen the empire’s ninja clans.

Yutian watched Shanbao and Tiemu demonstrate their clans’ developing combat techniques, then explained the empire’s strength ranks and urged them to keep improving. The chapter ended with Shiya training potential recruits in Rōran while Yutian reflected on the empire’s growth and continued reviewing documents.

• Shanbao demonstrated the first version of his clan’s secret method, which transformed him and let him shatter a granite block, and Yutian explained its strengths and drawbacks.
• Tiemu demonstrated his clan’s forceful staff technique, and Yutian pointed out its vulnerability against faster opponents while suggesting ways to refine it.
• Yutian presented Shanbao and Tiemu with the empire’s strength ranks and described the roles associated with different levels.
• Yutian reviewed reports on both clans and reflected that their techniques might become hallmarks of the empire if improved.
• In Rōran, Shiya studied the ranks and looked toward the thirty-seven displaced people selected for their potential, who were undergoing preliminary training.
• Yutian took up the imperial state seal, reflected on the empire’s progress, and resumed reviewing documents.

Toyotomi Yinglang continued constructing the Great British Empire's National Fortune Formation and assigned Shiya to protect Sasha in Rōran. He upgraded Shiya's clan technique into the Earth Travel Technique, leaving Shiya training in hopes of reaching Kage Level.

• Toyotomi Yinglang completed another stage of the National Fortune Formation and noted that only three nodes remained before Great Britain was protected from supernatural perception.
• Toyotomi Yinglang ordered Shiya to serve as Sasha's bodyguard and explained that protecting Rōran's queen would protect the empire's interests.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Shiya that reaching Kage Level required valuable resources and offered to improve his clan's secret techniques.
• Toyotomi Yinglang enhanced Shiya's Mountain-Piercing Shiya Technique with faster underground movement and protection from sensory detection, renaming it the Earth Travel Technique.
• Shiya tested the improved technique, found it three times faster and difficult to detect, and continued practicing toward a Kage Level breakthrough.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Sasha that he was investing in his subjects and the empire's future, while Shiya trained underground for the sake of his clan and the empire.

Toyotomi Yinglang explained how Shiya could use the Earth Travel Technique and Earth Release to protect Rōran and deter powerful ninja villages. Shiya trained until he could descend 130 meters, while Toyotomi Yinglang’s clone considered Rōran the empire’s unshakable bridgehead in the Shinobi World.

• Shiya emerged from underground after testing the Earth Travel Technique, and Toyotomi Yinglang explained how it could keep him safe and make him a threat to enemy villages.
• Shiya vowed to protect Queen Sasha and Rōran, and Toyotomi Yinglang ordered him to specialize in Earth Release and use Wind Release to sharpen his weapon.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Sasha that Shiya’s power would deter Kage Level fighters because he could threaten a village’s ordinary ninja.
• Shiya trained underground for four more hours and reported that he could reach a depth of 130 meters, and Toyotomi Yinglang told him to keep training until he could reach 200 meters.
• Toyotomi Yinglang’s clone called Shiya Rōran’s unshakable pillar and Rōran the empire’s impregnable bridgehead in the Shinobi World.

Shiya used the Earth Travel Technique to defeat twenty-three rogue ninja threatening Rōran, exposing Sunagakure’s interest in the Dragon Vein. After the attack became a warning to others, Shiya prepared to defend Rōran against future threats.

• Shiya sank through the earth and buried twenty-three rogue ninja alive before they could reach Rōran.
• Shiya ordered Shiya Changya to dig up the attackers, and the survivors revealed that an underground broker had hired them, with signs of Sunagakure’s involvement and interest in the Dragon Vein.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Shiya that Rōran’s formation concealed the Dragon Vein and ordered the attack publicized as a warning to anyone coveting the city.
• News of Shiya’s victory spread across the Land of Wind’s border, while Sasha praised the deterrent and Shiya predicted Iwagakure would not risk targeting Rōran during its war with Konoha.
• Shiya watched the eastern horizon and sank underground, ready to face Sunagakure if it came for Rōran.

Toyotomi Yinglang ordered Shiya to threaten Sunagakure with harm to Shamon’s family and the Ninja Academy if the village entered Rōran. Shamon barred Sunagakure from Rōran, while Shiya continued training to deepen his underground travel.

• Toyotomi Yinglang told Shiya to deliver Shamon a warning threatening his son, wife, and the students at Sunagakure’s Ninja Academy.
• Shiya delivered the letter, and Sunagakure’s elders argued that they could neither reliably kill him underground nor afford to protect the academy.
• Shamon ordered Sunagakure not to set foot in Rōran, despite the Radical Elder’s objections.
• Shiya reported Shamon’s decision to Toyotomi Yinglang, who told him to continue training until he could descend two hundred meters.

The Jashin Cult spread across the Land of Rain by turning believers’ pain and hatred into evil power, while its growth drew Jiraiya’s attention. The Evil God fed on the expanding faith and suffering as Jiraiya left to warn Danzo.

• Abe became one of the Land of Rain’s first anointed after the Evil God’s aura awakened his powers and filled him with disturbing voices.
• The Apostle of Pain awakened Tieshi through a Pain Ritual, naming him Iron Fang and sending him to seek greater pain and power.
• The Jashin Cult established a hierarchy and a system that exchanged believers’ negative emotions for strength, at the cost of control and lifespan.
• The Jashin Cult spread through the Land of Rain as desperate people gathered at its altars and offered their pain for power.
• Jiraiya saw the cult’s dark red light from the border and left to report its growth to Danzo.
• The Evil God praised the believers’ pain, hatred, and fear as nourishment while its form grew within the altar.

Toyotomi Yinglang unveiled Soul Yin Mountain, a Dragon Vein-powered source of spiritual-energy crystals that could strengthen Yin Release users, and restricted access to the resource as an imperial secret. Nagato began training with a Soul Yin Stone, while Yinglang planned to use the mountain to build the empire’s strength as Konoha continued to weaken.

• Toyotomi Yinglang showed Yutian, Nagato, Sasori, Yahiko, Konan, and Kushina Soul Yin Mountain and explained how it converted amplified emotions into Soul Yin Stones.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said the mountain produced about thirty stones per day, reserved them for himself, Nagato, and potentially Mangekyō-awakened Toyotomi clansmen, and warned that prolonged exposure could destabilize emotions.
• Yutian asked whether Soul Yin Mountain could be moved, and Toyotomi Yinglang explained that it depended on the Dragon Vein and ordered its secrets classified at the empire’s highest level.
• Nagato absorbed a Soul Yin Stone in his training room and felt his ocular power increase steadily.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Nagato to keep training until he had enough ocular power to attempt an evolution.

Sunagakure’s envoy presented harsh ceasefire terms, which Danzo rejected after Sai and Orochimaru advised continuing the war. Toyotomi Yinglang had anticipated the refusal and sent the Jashin Cult’s ten-thousand-strong force to attack the Southern Army’s flank, where they began a surprise assault.

• Sunagakure’s envoy delivered Sasori’s ceasefire proposal, and Danzo rejected it, demanding Sunagakure withdraw, release prisoners, and pay reparations.
• Sai and Orochimaru advised Danzo that refusing the terms and continuing the war served Konoha’s interests.
• Sai secretly reported Danzo’s decision to Toyotomi Yinglang, who ordered Sunagakure to proceed with a coordinated attack alongside the Jashin Cult.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Sasori that the Jashin Cult’s Faithful Legion, led by the Apostle of Pain, would cripple Danzo’s forces without killing him.
• The Apostle of Pain led ten thousand Jashin Cult followers toward the Southern Army’s flank while Sai concealed their movements from Danzo.
• The Jashin Cult launched a surprise assault that tore open the Southern Army’s flank as Danzo remained unaware.

The Jashin Cult, led by the Apostle of Pain, routed Konoha’s Southern Army flank while Sunagakure attacked the main front. Danzo ordered a retreat toward headquarters, as Nagato joined the battle and harvested fallen ninja to strengthen his shadow servants.

• Ten thousand Jashin Cult believers charged the Southern Army’s flank, breaking through Konoha’s defenses with their reckless assault.
• The Apostle of Pain used Pain Resonance to overwhelm Konoha ninja with their fears, and the flank defense line collapsed within an hour.
• A Root ninja reported the defeat to Danzo, who learned that Sunagakure was also attacking and that no reserves were available.
• Danzo ordered the troops to abandon their outer positions and retreat toward headquarters while Orochimaru prepared Impure World Reincarnation troops.
• Nagato struck his black rods together to unleash a powerful shock wave that battered fleeing Konoha ninja.
• Nagato used Shadow Devouring Extraction on the fallen, storing their souls as shadow servants and increasing his power.

Nagato unleashed his soul servants against Jiraiya while Tsunade stepped in to give him time to enter Sage Mode. Meanwhile, the Jashin Cult crippled the Southern Army, and Toyotomi Yinglang’s plan to weaken Konoha from within succeeded.

• Nagato confronted Jiraiya and sent his soul phantoms after him, preventing him from preparing Sage Mode until Tsunade arrived to protect him.
• Tsunade challenged Nagato while Jiraiya began gathering natural energy behind her.
• Danzo ordered the Southern Army to abandon its outer positions and regroup at headquarters, while Sai concealed that the army’s defeat fulfilled Toyotomi Yinglang’s mission.
• Hashirama Senju fought the Jashin Cult’s Faithful Legion but could not use large-scale Wood Release while Konoha Ninja were tangled among the attackers.
• By dawn, the Southern Army had lost or suffered injuries among more than fifteen hundred Ninja, and the Faithful Legion had completed its mission despite heavy losses.
• Toyotomi Yinglang received the battle report and told Sasori they would wait while Konoha continued fighting itself and they kept growing stronger.

Hashirama Senju tried to negotiate a ceasefire with Sunagakure and the Jashin Cult, but the Apostle of Pain rejected peace unless Konoha accepted severe territorial and financial demands. As Nagato overwhelmed Tsunade and Jiraiya with his powers, the battle resumed and peace remained out of reach.

• Hashirama Senju ordered Danzo to gather the remaining Southern Army troops while he pursued negotiations.
• The Apostle of Pain rejected Hashirama Senju’s ceasefire request and demanded territory, compensation, recognition of the Land of Rain, and military bases in the Land of Fire.
• Nagato wore Tsunade down with Shadow Servants and Gold Release while she waited for Jiraiya to enter Sage Mode.
• Jiraiya activated Sage Mode, but Nagato used Gold Release Fusion Technique to create a towering metal giant and resumed his assault.
• The Apostle of Pain ordered the Jashin Cult to attack, and Hashirama Senju countered with Wood Release as the war continued.

Hashirama Senju and Danzo fought the Apostle of Pain while Nagato faced Jiraiya and Tsunade elsewhere on the battlefield. Hashirama defeated the Apostle but ordered him sealed alive, then prepared to reorganize the battered forces and speak with Sunagakure.

• The Apostle of Pain used Pain Sharing to inflict his wounds on marked Konoha ninja, forcing Hashirama Senju to hold back until Danzo attacked and killed the marked soldiers at the cost of their lives.
• The Apostle of Pain revealed that his power came from Pain Conversion and vowed to destroy Hashirama Senju and Shimura Danzō for the Land of Rain and the Evil God.
• Nagato told Jiraiya that Toyotomi Yinglang had given him new eyes and the truth about the Rinnegan and the Child of Prophecy, then let Jiraiya and Tsunade leave.
• The Apostle of Pain used Pain Resonance to torment Konoha ninja, but Hashirama Senju struck him down with Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands.
• Hashirama Senju ordered the Apostle of Pain sealed alive, then told Danzo to reorganize the remaining troops and said he would speak with Sunagakure.

The Apostle of Despair blinded and captured Tsunade, then offered to exchange her for the Apostle of Pain and demanded Konoha ninja or civilians for holy water that might heal her eyes. Hashirama Senju hesitated over the demands as a hoarse voice spoke from behind him.

• Nagato sensed the Apostle of Despair emerge near Tsunade and warned her, but the apostle distracted her with memories of Nawaki and Dan, stabbed her eyes, and injected her with a muscle relaxant.
• The Apostle of Despair carried the unconscious Tsunade toward the battlefield’s center while Jiraiya held back, and Nagato told Jiraiya that he could not save her.
• The Apostle of Despair brought Tsunade to Hashirama Senju and demanded that he trade her for the captured Apostle of Pain.
• After Hashirama hesitated, the Apostle of Despair offered holy water to heal Tsunade’s eyes in exchange for a thousand Konoha ninja or ten thousand civilians.
• A hoarse voice spoke from behind Hashirama Senju.

Orochimaru’s proposal led Hashirama Senju to trade the Apostle of Pain’s remains for the Holy Water and Tsunade, while the Apostle of Despair left Konoha with her. The Apostle of Despair explained how Konoha’s treatment of the cursed ninja could create hatred and new Jashin Cult allies, as Toyotomi Yinglang revealed his plan to give Tsunade Sharingan.

• Orochimaru proposed using a chakra-granting drug and ninja status to meet the Apostle of Despair’s definition of Konoha ninja, and urged Hashirama Senju to consider Tsunade’s safety.
• The Apostle of Despair triggered the sealed Apostle of Pain’s self-destruction, splashing Konoha ninja with foul liquid he claimed carried a hereditary curse, then demanded an exchange.
• Hashirama Senju agreed to trade the Apostle of Pain’s remains for the Holy Water, and the Apostle of Despair took Tsunade with him while leaving the bottle with Hashirama.
• The Apostle of Despair told Nagato that Konoha’s suspicion and persecution could turn the splashed ninja and their children against Konoha, making them Jashin Cult allies.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Sasori the Holy Water was fake and planned to heal Tsunade by giving her Sharingan, hoping to make her power serve the Empire.

Toyotomi Yinglang kept the blinded Tsunade captive, deceived her by imitating Katō Dan, and replaced her damaged eyes with Sharingan. After Tsunade discovered the deception, Yinglang planned to make her dependent on him and train her as a weapon against Konoha.

• Tsunade woke blind and paralyzed in Yinglang’s secret chamber, where he offered to restore her sight in exchange for her body, power, and bloodline.
• Yinglang visited Tsunade at night, impersonated Katō Dan, and manipulated her grief while keeping her drugged and confined.
• Yinglang told Tsunade that surgery had implanted Sharingan in her eyes, then removed her bandages so she could see again.
• Tsunade recognized Yinglang instead of Dan and confronted him about deceiving her and sharing her bed, while Yinglang said her training would begin the next day.
• Yinglang explained to Sasori that Tsunade would depend on him to regulate her Sharingan and planned to make her the Empire’s weapon against Konoha.

In Sunagakure, Toyotomi Yinglang trained the recovering Tsunade to sense chakra and use her Sharingan, while revealing that Kushina had taken a new identity and no longer trusted Konoha. After Kushina spoke with Tsunade, Toyotomi Yinglang comforted her as she dreamed of Dan, leaving Tsunade’s new life under his control just beginning.

• Toyotomi Yinglang gave Tsunade a simple breakfast and taught her to sense chakra through her bandaged Sharingan eyes.
• Tsunade sensed Kushina nearby, and Toyotomi Yinglang said she was his woman and was now called Kushina Toyotomi.
• At the training ground, Tsunade used chakra threads to guide a kunai and learned that Toyotomi Yinglang wanted to discover what the Senju Clan’s power could produce when combined with the Sharingan.
• Kushina visited Tsunade and said she no longer believed in Konoha, while confirming that Minato thought she was dead.
• That night, Toyotomi Yinglang held Tsunade as she dreamed of Dan and murmured that she would get used to life with him.

In Konoha’s Southern Army camp, the shinobi splashed by the Apostle of Pain were quarantined and began questioning their loyalty, while Hashirama Senju went to confront Danzo about their treatment. The Jashin Cult’s power grew beyond the Sage of Six Paths’ perception, and Toyotomi Yinglang prepared to expand it further as Tsunade’s Sharingan adapted.

• An isolated Jonin told a young Chunin that Konoha was treating the splashed shinobi like the Uchiha, leaving them to decide whether Konoha was still worth their sacrifices.
• Hashirama Senju refused his meal and set out to demand that Danzo explain the quarantine and food restrictions.
• The Apostle of Pain was resurrected and learned that the Jashin Cult had gained new followers and would recruit more to spread pain.
• The Sage of Six Paths discovered that evil power had hidden the Land of Rain from his perception and kept the souls of the cult’s powerful members from entering the Pure Land.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Sasori that the Jashin Cult could eventually erode the Pure Land, and confirmed that Tsunade’s Sharingan were adapting.

Sasori delivered Pakura and Karura to Toyotomi Yinglang, who kept them with Tsunade and Kushina and claimed he would make them stronger as creations for his Empire. Rasa stood guard outside the bedroom, unaware that his wife was inside and that Toyotomi Yinglang had taken control of Sunagakure.

• Sasori presented the captured Pakura and Karura to Toyotomi Yinglang, explaining that he had sealed their chakra and arranged their abduction through a false mission.
• Toyotomi Yinglang ordered Tsunade to show Karura and Pakura their room, then discussed Sunagakure’s expanded ninja force and Sasori’s upgraded Battle Armor and plans for Superhuman Warriors.
• Toyotomi Yinglang ordered Pakura, Karura, Tsunade, and Kushina to share his bed, called them creations, and claimed they were vital to the Empire’s future.
• Tsunade grieved for Dan while Toyotomi Yinglang comforted her, and Kushina told her they had no choice but to adjust to their lives there.
• Rasa stood guard outside the bedroom under Sasori’s orders, unaware that Karura was inside with Toyotomi Yinglang or that Sunagakure was under his control.

Danzo ordered the forced registration and rapid militarization of commoners in the Southern Army’s territory to create a mass force of expendable fighters. As conscription began, civilians fled toward enemy lands, while Orochimaru continued developing the drug and sought more raw materials.

• Danzo admitted that Konoha’s slow, talent-dependent recruitment had left his army outnumbered, and ordered Orochimaru to double production of a drug that gave commoners Chunin-level chakra reserves.
• Danzo ordered commoners aged sixteen to thirty-nine to register, receive ideological education and physical examinations, then train for suicide attacks; Orochimaru warned that the drug shortened users’ lives and destabilized them.
• After a week of registration, Danzo learned that more than thirty-two thousand civilians had been listed, including roughly twenty-eight thousand assigned to the Reserve Force, and expected thousands to become fighters within three months.
• In a remote village, a scar-faced young man urged others to flee to the Land of Rain or elsewhere rather than become Konoha’s cannon fodder; hundreds fled that night, while some chose to stay.
• Orochimaru worked in a secret laboratory on the unfinished Commoner Drug and concluded that he needed more raw materials.

Kirigakure declared war on Konoha, and Minato Namikaze prepared to lead a small force east while worrying that Hiruzen Sarutobi or Shimura Danzō would seize power in his absence. As Minato departed, the Sage of Six Paths watched the conflict unfold, and young Obito, Kakashi, and Rin spoke of their desire to protect Konoha.

• Shikaku Nara told Minato Namikaze that Kirigakure had declared war and sent its fleet toward the Land of Fire, prompting Minato to decide to lead troops against it.
• Minato worried that Hiruzen Sarutobi or Shimura Danzō would take control of Konoha Headquarters while he was away, and Shikaku said he would do his best to stop them.
• The Sage of Six Paths watched Konoha's troubles and resolved to keep the village divided so wars would continue and souls would flow into the Pure Land.
• At the Ninja Academy, Obito, Kakashi, and Rin learned that Kirigakure had declared war; Obito vowed to protect Konoha, Rin, and everyone important to him.
• Minato explained to Shikaku that he would take three hundred Fire Release- and Lightning Release-skilled ninja east to hold off Kirigakure, then led the force out of Konoha Headquarters while wondering where Kushina was.

At Mount Myōboku, Minato Namikaze received the Seed of Senjutsu from the Great Toad Sage, who named him the Child of Prophecy and urged him to protect the world. Meanwhile, the Sage of Six Paths strengthened Konoha’s shinobi’s faith to prolong the war, and Minato left Mount Myōboku intending to train before returning to battle.

• After seven days of training at Mount Myōboku, Minato Namikaze was summoned to meet the Great Toad Sage.
• The Great Toad Sage gave Minato the Seed of Senjutsu, which would let him enter Sage Mode quickly, and told him he was the Child of Prophecy.
• The Great Toad Sage privately revealed that it had given Minato a reason for his sudden improvement in Sage Mode.
• At Konoha Headquarters, Shikaku felt his faith in Konoha grow stronger as the Sage of Six Paths sent spiritual power to all Konoha shinobi to reinforce the Will of Fire.
• Fukasaku warned Minato to let the seed adjust, and Minato said he would train before leaving Mount Myōboku for the battlefield.

Toyotomi Yinglang explained that the Sage of Six Paths had strengthened Minato Namikaze’s Sage Mode to make him a pawn in the war, while Kushina and Tsunade faced questions about bearing his children. Minato routed Kirigakure’s vanguard with his newfound power and headed back toward Konoha Headquarters, unaware of who had empowered him.

• Toyotomi Yinglang told Kushina that the Sage of Six Paths had enabled Minato to activate Sage Mode instantly and was using him to intensify the war.
• Kushina said she wanted to have Toyotomi Yinglang’s child because he treated her as a person and did not lie to her.
• Toyotomi Yinglang asked Tsunade if she wanted children, and she said they could leave it to fate.
• Minato activated Sage Mode instantly and defeated Kirigakure’s advancing force with Flying Thunder God and Rasengan.
• Minato wondered why he had suddenly grown stronger, then ran toward Konoha Headquarters to protect his village and comrades.

Black Zetsu deceived the blind, weakened Madara and began plotting to awaken Obito’s Mangekyō by making him witness Rin’s death. Meanwhile, Toyotomi Yinglang watched the war’s progress from Sunagakure and prepared for a future confrontation with the Sage of Six Paths.

• Black Zetsu told Madara that Konoha was under pressure on several fronts and Nagato was mastering the Rinnegan, while concealing the truth about both.
• Black Zetsu claimed Madara was too frail to leave his cavern and secretly planned to worsen his injuries with toxins whenever he considered going outside.
• Kakashi, Obito, and Rin searched a battlefield after Konoha repelled Kirigakure’s vanguard, and Kakashi said he had killed seven enemies.
• Black Zetsu watched the three children from underground and planned to make Obito witness Rin’s death at Kakashi’s hands to awaken Obito’s Mangekyō.
• Toyotomi Yinglang reviewed intelligence from the eastern front and declared that he would challenge the Sage of Six Paths once his plans and the Empire were ready.

Toyotomi Yinglang explained to Nagato and Konan that Minato Namikaze’s instant Sage Mode came from the Sage of Six Paths granting him access, while reaching Six Paths power depended on bloodline and investment. He described how shinobi systems constrained powerful clans, then told Nagato that he was no longer a pawn but a disciple and legacy, leaving Nagato determined to grow stronger.

• Nagato and Konan discussed Minato Namikaze’s sudden Sage Mode and wondered what resources had caused his rapid growth.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said the Sage of Six Paths had granted Minato Namikaze special access to natural energy, making him a pawn dependent on the Sage’s investment.
• Toyotomi Yinglang argued that bloodline was essential to surpassing Kage level and explained how the Uchiha, Senju, Hyuga, and Kaguya clans faced barriers that limited their potential.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Nagato that ninja were treated as tools, but Nagato had moved from being a pawn to becoming his disciple and legacy.
• After Toyotomi Yinglang left, Nagato thanked him and promised Konan they would grow stronger as his Mangekyō Sharingan activated.