Chapter Summaries

Minato questioned whether his life had been arranged for him after realizing the Kirigakure Anbu’s ambush seemed deliberately timed and positioned. Jiraiya urged him to keep examining Konoha’s power structure, leaving Minato uncertain whether his future decisions were truly his own.

• Minato sat with Jiraiya at the Training Ground and asked why his life felt laid out for him.
• Minato told Jiraiya that the Kirigakure Anbu’s locations, timing, and escape route had seemed calculated around his mission with Kushina.
• Jiraiya said he did not know what would have happened if Minato had not gone, but the person standing there might not have been Minato.
• Jiraiya explained that Konoha’s power structure followed a system and told Minato he could choose whether to keep tracing its thread.
• Minato returned to his lodgings, wondering whether he or someone else was making his decisions.

Jin Zhiyin told Kushina that the Uzumaki clanspeople had turned against Konoha and stripped Mito Uzumaki of her surname. He also revealed that another Kushina had been rescued from Rōran and would not become a Jinchūriki, leaving Kushina to absorb the news and find some peace in it.

• Jin Zhiyin told Kushina that the rescued Uzumaki clanspeople had turned against Konoha and had stripped Mito Uzumaki of her surname for betraying the clan.
• Kushina struggled to reconcile this Mito with the gentle elder who had guided and sheltered her in Shinobi World No. 1.
• Jin Zhiyin revealed that they had rescued the Kushina from this world from Rōran and that she would not become a Jinchūriki.
• Kushina asked whether the other Kushina had worries, and Jin Zhiyin replied that safety came before other worries.
• Kushina accepted that the other Kushina was not her, but said it was good that she could live safely, then sat quietly with Jin Zhiyin.

Kushina reflected on Mito Uzumaki and asked Jilan how he would respond to discovering that someone he admired had done wrong. Their conversation turned to Jilan’s view of the Nara Clan, which he criticized for relying on allies and strategy instead of developing independent combat strength.

• Kushina sat alone after Jin Zhiyin left, thinking about Mito Uzumaki and the replacement she needed for a framework she had established.
• Jilan joined Kushina in the garden pavilion, and she asked what he would do if someone he admired proved flawed.
• Jilan said he agreed with his father and corrected Kushina’s suggestion that his father might sacrifice the Toyotomi Clan’s interests for Konoha.
• Kushina concluded that Jilan had a higher IQ than the Nara Clan, and he replied that the Nara were outsmarted by their own cleverness.
• Jilan argued that the Nara depended on the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance, had limited independent combat ability, and refused to expand their Shadow Technique because they prized stability.
• Kushina listened, questioned Jilan’s claim that the Nara lacked virtue, and moved the cold tea aside as a crack spread across its edge.

Chengkong explained the abilities and side effects of his Mangekyō Dōjutsu to Sakura Haruno and Toyotomi Yinglang. After both called him invincible, he completed the verification of his abilities and prepared to move forward.

• Chengkong told Sakura Haruno that Temporal Replication could permanently copy techniques and increase his attributes, but could clutter his thoughts with other people’s techniques.
• Chengkong explained that Temporal Extremum could push mastered abilities to their theoretical maximum and grow stronger with use, but could make him forget his past.
• Sakura Haruno recorded the abilities, summed them up as infinite growth and limit-breaking, and called Chengkong invincible.
• Chengkong acknowledged that the Dōjutsu’s side effects could not be ignored.
• Chengkong repeated his ability descriptions to Toyotomi Yinglang, who also called him invincible and noted the side effects.
• Chengkong completed the verification of his abilities and continued along his established path.

At the Imperial Palace training ground, Toyotomi Chengkong demonstrated his compact platinum armor and immense striking power to Sakura Haruno and Toyotomi Yinglang. The armor remained intact after the test, and Chengkong confirmed he could keep it on but had no need to.

• Toyotomi Yinglang examined Chengkong’s platinum armor and told him to throw a punch.
• Chengkong’s punch sent fine cracks across the edge of the stone paving, impressing Sakura Haruno.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said Chengkong had greater strength and growth potential than Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura called him “invincibility with a face.”
• Chengkong struck an upright steel pillar without denting it, while a symmetrical crack appeared in the ground behind it.
• Toyotomi Yinglang ended the test, and Chengkong told Sakura Haruno he could wear the armor continuously but did not need to.

Toyotomi Yinglang showed Kushina and Jilan an alternate timeline in which Naruto’s postwar failures let the Shinobi World grow vulnerable to Kara and the Ōtsutsuki. They concluded that Naruto had missed the brief chance after the Fourth Shinobi World War to unite the Five Great Nations and reform the shinobi system, and that the opportunity was now gone.

• Kushina asked Toyotomi Yinglang to show her the Shinobi World’s future, and he let her witness Naruto’s life in a timeline where he never existed.
• Kushina questioned why peace after the Fourth Shinobi World War gave way to greater chaos, and Toyotomi Yinglang traced Naruto’s success to allies, inherited advantages, and his ability to persuade people within the shinobi system.
• Toyotomi Yinglang showed Jilan the same timeline, and Jilan identified the days after the Fourth Shinobi World War as Naruto’s chance to unite the Five Great Nations and abolish the Shinobi Villages.
• Jilan explained that the Allied Shinobi Forces would soon disband and that Naruto instead wasted the opportunity by fighting Sasuke and crippling their strength.
• Kushina accepted that the window had closed and could no longer be reopened.

Kushina questioned Jilan about why she had failed to recognize Konoha’s chances to unify and heard how Minato could have used the Nine-Tails’ Attack to seize power. She accepted that those opportunities had passed and that Konoha’s later course had been rearranged around the choices Minato did not make.

• Kushina asked Jilan why she had not seen the opportunity for unification, and he told her that most people were mediocrities who could not recognize what was becoming possible.
• Kushina asked whether Minato had also been a mediocrity, and Jilan argued that Minato’s death during the Nine-Tails’ Attack had squandered a chance to reshape Konoha.
• Jilan explained that Minato could have framed Danzo as the Masked Man by pointing to Danzo’s Sharingan and Wood Release, then used the public’s anger to justify killing him.
• Jilan said Minato could have followed Danzo’s death with a purge of Root’s old forces, the Elder Council, and conservatives, consolidating power in the name of ending Konoha’s unrest.
• Kushina stopped questioning Jilan and concluded that Konoha’s opportunities had closed and that Minato’s choices had permanently rearranged the paths that followed.

In Roran, Toyotomi Shining Sand advanced a marriage alliance with the Uzumaki Clan as the Resettlement Zone continued to receive new residents. In Konoha, Uchiha Fushan realized the alliance could strengthen the Toyotomi with Uzumaki blood, widening their advantage over the Uchiha.

• Toyotomi Shining Sand told Karura that anyone willing could register for the marriage alliance, while those who were not ready did not need to hurry.
• Uzumaki elders and a Toyotomi liaison recorded the first batch of volunteers, their preferences, and initial contacts, then filed the completed dossier.
• Uchiha Taiken reported the Toyotomi-Uzumaki marriage alliance to Uchiha Fushan and warned that it could make the Toyotomi resemble the Senju in strength.
• Uchiha Fushan concluded that the Toyotomi would combine the Uzumaki physique with the Sharingan and lamented that even the heavens seemed to help them.

Toyotomi Yinglang used Jin Zhiyin’s cells to design the Aoki Eternal Life Body, a mass-producible bloodline with vegetation-based healing, longevity, and wood manipulation. Tsunade learned its limitations and how Yinglang planned to explain the source of Wood Release, then left the laboratory with Jin Zhiyin.

• Tsunade entered the underground laboratory and found Jin Zhiyin collecting dead skin from his heel as a sample for Toyotomi Yinglang.
• Toyotomi Yinglang analyzed the sample and combined Jin Zhiyin’s gene traits with the Forest-Forest Fruit’s ability characteristics to create the Aoki Eternal Life Body.
• Toyotomi Yinglang showed Tsunade the bloodline’s healing, longevity, and vegetation-control abilities, along with its advanced techniques and vulnerabilities to sustained high heat and vitality overuse.
• Tsunade asked how they would explain their clansmen’s Wood Release, and Toyotomi Yinglang said they would claim the clansmen had been injected with Jin Zhiyin Cells.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said his method could be mass-produced and that combining the Aoki Eternal Life Body with the Uzumaki Constitution through marriage alliances would yield better results.
• Tsunade recognized the Aoki Eternal Life Body as a weakened version of the Divine Tree and immortality; Toyotomi Yinglang agreed, and she left with Jin Zhiyin.

Toyotomi Yinglang, Tsunade, and Jin Zhiyin discussed the completed Aoki Eternal Life Gene and how it would be introduced to the Toyotomi clan. After Jin Zhiyin left the laboratory, Toyotomi Yinglang asked Tsunade to wait for him that night.

• Toyotomi Yinglang confirmed that the Aoki Eternal Life Gene had been verified and explained that it derived from Jin Zhiyin’s Forest-Forest Fruit-altered genes.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said the gene would pass down through generations, contrasting the Toyotomi’s genetic modification with Konoha’s use of Hashirama Cells.
• Toyotomi Yinglang planned to modify clan members in the Great British Empire first, followed by those in the Country of Roran, while concealing the method behind a story about Jin Zhiyin’s cells.
• Tsunade noted that outsiders would view Jin Zhiyin’s cells as the Toyotomi version of Hashirama Cells.
• Toyotomi Yinglang drew Tsunade close, and she told him not to because Jin Zhiyin was still present.
• Jin Zhiyin left the laboratory, and Toyotomi Yinglang told Tsunade to wait for him that night.

Tsunade questioned Toyotomi Yinglang about his sons’ political skill and how Konoha’s leaders maintained power. Yinglang explained that rulers could manufacture popular consent through control of force and public opinion, leaving Tsunade to absorb his explanation.

• Tsunade asked why Toyotomi Yinglang’s four sons had recognized and seized the chance to save Uzumaki Clan members during the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said ninja education trained people to be tools, not wise rulers, and that secret police suppressed dissent to make rulers appear successful.
• Toyotomi Yinglang described maintaining rule through making money, buying off enforcers, and using them to suppress resistance.
• Tsunade asked what it meant that only someone recognized by everyone could become Hokage, and Toyotomi Yinglang said those who did not recognize him could be stripped of personhood.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that rulers could manufacture majority consensus by controlling public opinion and power and isolating minorities, citing Konoha’s suppression of the Uchiha.
• Tsunade fell silent as she processed his explanation.

Toyotomi Shining Sand spent a year in the Soul-Searching Illusionary Realm, awakening a Mangekyō with powerful abilities and severe costs. He emerged claiming to be invincible, and Toyotomi Yinglang warned him to bear the weight of the crown.

• Toyotomi Shining Sand entered the Soul-Searching Illusionary Realm after telling Toyotomi Yinglang he would awaken the Mangekyō.
• Toyotomi Shining Sand spent a year tempering his Eye Power and fixing its structure while only one day passed outside.
• Toyotomi Shining Sand emerged with scarlet eyes bearing a golden crown pattern and described his Undying Army Summoning and Ascendant Ritual, including their costs.
• Toyotomi Shining Sand claimed his body, Chakra, mind, and resistances met Six Paths standards, and Toyotomi Yinglang summarized his abilities and cautioned him to use them carefully.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Toyotomi Shining Sand that to wear the crown he must bear its weight, and Toyotomi Shining Sand left with Pakura after noting that he was seven.

Yōsa explained the five tiers of the Ascendant Ritual to Pakura and Karura, then gave them the tier-one blessing while sharing its pain. Both women became tier-one Ascendants, and Yōsa confirmed that he had endured the ritual’s cost and could continue.

• Yōsa asked Pakura and Karura whether they were willing to become Ascendants, and both agreed.
• Yōsa explained the five blessing tiers, their trials and powers, and the risk of becoming a mindless Sand Puppet.
• Yōsa chose the tier-one basic royal blessing for Pakura and Karura so he could test the ritual and its limits.
• Yōsa channeled gold dust into both women and endured the trial’s pain as they completed the blessing.
• Yōsa declared Pakura and Karura tier-one Ascendants, confirmed that his condition had recovered, and followed them from the side hall.

At the Resettlement Zone medical station, Toyotomi clan members queued to receive injections of Jin Zhiyin’s cells as Shining Sand and Jin Zhiyin explained the procedure’s safety and availability. The orderly process continued, with recipients leaving after confirming their bodies remained intact.

• Shining Sand told the waiting Toyotomi clan members that Jin Zhiyin’s living cells were available for everyone and that the risks of injection had been minimized.
• A Toyotomi clan member asked whether the injection was dangerous, and Shining Sand explained that Jin Zhiyin’s cells could be collected continuously and were more stable than cells from the dead.
• Jin Zhiyin assured the line that his cells would not cause strong rejection because the recipients belonged to the same clan.
• Toyotomi Dingzhen and other clan members proceeded through registration and received injections as the line moved forward.
• A recipient checked his palm and fingertips after leaving the consultation room, then walked away without hesitation.

After the first round of injections, Toyotomi Dingzhen and other subjects demonstrated controlled Wood Release, growing branches, roots, and new shoots that stopped at set lengths. Reports reached the Royal Palace of Rōran, and Dingzhen ended the day with a stable leaf growing on his shoulder.

• Toyotomi Dingzhen pressed his palm to the ground and made a transplanted sapling grow a new branch, then confirmed that he had Wood Release.
• Subjects in a western clearing tested their abilities, with several growing roots, weeds, shrubs, or branches while others failed.
• New growth appeared on saplings and old trees throughout the Resettlement Zone, and the branches and vines stopped at their intended lengths.
• Jin Zhiyin filed the report, Pakura glanced toward Dingzhen’s palm, and Karura confirmed that the saplings were properly distributed.
• Dingzhen used Wood Release again outside his home, and a small leaf appeared on his shoulder and stayed in place.

After learning that the Toyotomi Clan was developing Wood Release through Hashirama cells, Orochimaru asked Hiruzen Sarutobi to authorize human experiments. Hiruzen approved the experiments with Anbu candidates as test subjects, and Orochimaru left to begin.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi reviewed intelligence that members of the Toyotomi Clan were gaining Wood Release, while Orochimaru said their Hashirama Senju was still alive.
• Orochimaru urged Hiruzen Sarutobi to begin Wood Release experiments, arguing that Konoha needed its own users.
• Jiraiya warned that human experiments would kill people, but Hiruzen Sarutobi cut him off and approved Orochimaru's plan.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered Orochimaru to select test subjects from the Anbu candidate list and leave villagers alone.
• Jiraiya left the office, and Orochimaru departed to carry out the experiments.

Uchiha Fushan and Uchiha Tuitai discussed reports that the Toyotomi Clan had successfully implanted Wood Release in twelve children using fragments of the First Hokage’s Scroll of Seals. Fushan remained in the Meeting Hall with an unopened report as night fell, while Tuitai sat silently beside him.

• Uchiha Fushan read reports confirming that the Toyotomi Clan had given Wood Release to twelve children with a success rate above ninety percent.
• Uchiha Tuitai confirmed the intelligence and explained that the Toyotomi had both Wood Release and the Sharingan, making them more troublesome than the Senju.
• Uchiha Fushan said that Heaven would not help the Uchiha, then walked to the window and watched leaves fall.
• Uchiha Fushan returned to the table and left the third report unopened as darkness settled over the Meeting Hall.
• Uchiha Tuitai stayed with Uchiha Fushan, who did not light a second lamp.

In the Country of Roran, Yōsa spent a quiet night and morning with Pakura and Karura, who cared for and fed him. The chapter ended with the three in the Side Hall as morning light and desert wind filled the room.

• Pakura and Karura bathed Yōsa and helped him settle into bed between them.
• Yōsa fell asleep while Pakura and Karura lay awake beside him, then both eventually slept.
• Karura held Yōsa on her lap the next morning while Pakura and Karura fed him porridge, vegetables, and flatbread.
• Yōsa joked that Pakura and Karura were harder than pillows and said being fed by mouth felt different.
• Pakura dried Yōsa's damp hair as Karura held him, while sunlight advanced through the open Side Hall door.

Toyotomi Jilan emerged from a year of training inside the Heavenly Court’s illusory realm with his Mangekyō awakened and adapted to its double vision. He revealed the dangerous powers and costs of his two Dōjutsu to Toyotomi Yinglang, then followed his father back toward the passage.

• Toyotomi Jilan entered the Heavenly Court’s dark gray door while Toyotomi Yinglang waited outside.
• Inside the illusory realm, Jilan repeatedly used his newly awakened eyes under restricted conditions, endured severe pain, and spent a month adjusting to his double vision.
• Jilan emerged on the second day outside with scarlet eyes bearing a golden dagger-axe in his left eye and an iron horse in his right.
• Jilan explained that Extreme Strike concentrated his chakra and physical strength into a powerful attack that injured him, while Extreme Sealing could suppress an enemy or seal away his own burdens at the cost of permanent damage to his soul.
• Toyotomi Yinglang called both abilities frightening trump cards and briefly patted Jilan’s shoulder.
• Jilan waited for Yinglang to head back, then followed him toward the passage with their footsteps and pace in unison.