Chapter Summaries

Ling began his Anbu service as Crow, balancing missions with Taijutsu training and research into his eyes. When his Fragment resonated with a distant source to the northwest, he resolved to investigate its origins while remaining cautious and building his strength.

• Tsunade assigned Ling the Anbu codename Crow and placed him in Fox's squad, with strict orders to conceal his eyes and abilities.
• Fox moved Ling to the Anbu dormitory and gave him a basic first-month schedule, while Tsunade allowed him to continue Taijutsu training with Team Guy.
• Ling trained with Rock Lee and Might Guy, carried out Anbu patrol and intelligence work, and used his Jōgan to detect overlooked traces and security vulnerabilities.
• Ling studied the connection between the Jōgan and Sharingan and tested how his insight into trajectories and weak points could improve ninjutsu.
• The Fragment against Ling's chest warmed as his Jōgan detected a distant, sinister energy fluctuation from the northwest.
• Ling continued writing his report without revealing his discovery and decided to uncover the Fragment's origins when he had grown stronger and found the right moment.

Ling joined Fox and Azure Phoenix on an S-rank mission to infiltrate the Land of Rain, meet the injured undercover operative Late Autumn, and investigate Amegakure. The team discovered that the rain itself formed a vast sensory network and stealthily approached the rendezvous shrine under its watch.

• Ling adjusted to his Anbu identity as Crow and built rapport with Fox while continuing his training.
• Fox introduced Azure Phoenix and ordered Ling to help rendezvous with Late Autumn and investigate reports of Akatsuki activity and a possible Tailed Beast experiment in Amegakure.
• The three Anbu traveled toward the Land of Rain, where Azure Phoenix detected patrols and established a communications point at the border.
• Azure Phoenix contacted Late Autumn, who reported that he was seriously injured and warned that God's gaze was everywhere inside Amegakure.
• Ling used his Jōgan to discover that the rain carried chakra threads that formed an enormous sensory barrier, and Fox ordered the team to suppress their chakra.
• The team crept through the rain toward the abandoned shrine, while Ling sensed that the Fragment had grown unusually quiet.

Ling and “Fox” entered an abandoned temple to rescue their undercover operative, “Late Autumn,” but discovered the mission was an Akatsuki trap led by Deva Path Pain. As “Fox” fought the attackers, Ling injured the burly opponent and escaped into an underground fissure while Pain watched him.

• Ling and “Fox” found the wounded “Late Autumn,” who warned them that Akatsuki had discovered them and set a trap.
• Deva Path Pain, Konan, and a burly man emerged, and Pain’s Shinra Tensei shattered “Fox’s” earth wall and killed “Late Autumn.”
• “Fox” tried to contact “Azure Phoenix,” but the communication signal was blocked, so he ordered Ling to split up and escape.
• Ling ran toward an underground fissure while Konan sent chakra-charged paper after him and the burly man attacked him.
• Ling used his Jōgan and Sharingan to strike the burly man’s energy core, then escaped into the fissure as “Fox” fought Konan.
• The black Fragment against Ling’s chest trembled briefly when Deva Path Pain looked toward him, then became still.

After escaping into an underground river, Ling treated his broken arm and discovered an ancient artificial structure beneath the Land of Rain that resonated with the Fragment. Though badly injured and nearly out of chakra, he followed faint chain sounds and sobbing deeper into the tunnels.

• Ling was swept through the underground river until he reached a gravel bank, where he splinted his broken left arm and tried to recover his chakra.
• Ling detected a rhythmic hum and an artificial structure buried beneath him, and the pitch-black Fragment warmed in response to it.
• Ling suspected the underground structure might be connected to the Akatsuki’s base or the sensory barrier covering the Land of Rain.
• Ling heard chains dragging and faint sobbing from one passage, then chose to follow the sounds despite his injuries.

Ling discovered Xi, the last Miko of the Uzumaki Clan, imprisoned to power Pain’s Abyssal Corridor and stabilize the Ryūmyaku. As Pain accelerated his corruption of the ancient contract and sensed Ling, Ling attacked a damaged rune on one of the Six Binding Pillars with the Fragment’s power.

• Ling found Xi chained inside a cavern, where the Six Binding Pillars drained her energy into the underground structure.
• Xi told Ling that Pain had twisted her clan’s ancient contract with the Ryūmyaku to power the Abyssal Corridor and gain control of the energy source.
• Xi warned that freeing or killing her could destabilize the Ryūmyaku and unleash a catastrophe across the continent.
• The Fragment flared as Pain accelerated his erosion of the contract, and Ling felt Pain’s consciousness sweep through the cavern.
• Xi pointed out damaged runes on the southeast pillar, and Ling struck them with the Fragment’s power using “Purifying Erosion: Barrier Break!”

Ling destroyed one of the Six Binding Pillars to free Xi, but the Ryūmyaku erupted out of control and Deva Path Pain arrived. A burst of Ryūmyaku energy disrupted Pain’s attack, allowing Ling and Xi to escape into a fissure while Pain began trying to stabilize the torrent.

• Ling used Purifying Erosion Power to destroy the southeastern pillar, snapping its chains and freeing Xi as the Ryūmyaku went berserk.
• Ling and Xi tried to escape the weakened barrier, but Deva Path Pain appeared above them and used Banshō Ten'in to pull them toward him.
• The rampaging Ryūmyaku surged upward and disrupted Pain’s Banshō Ten'in, flinging Ling and Xi toward a fissure in the shaft wall.
• Ling dragged the weakened Xi into the fissure while Pain stayed behind to stabilize the Ryūmyaku and warned that they could not hide from him.

Ling escaped the fissure with Xi and learned that Pain had twisted the Ryūmyaku’s ancient contract while attempting to merge with its core. With the Ryūmyaku running wild and threatening widespread destruction, Ling decided they had to return to Konoha and seek help, but first they needed a chance to evade Pain’s surveillance and leave the Land of Rain.

• Ling carried the nearly unconscious Xi through the fissure and reached a riverbank, where he tended to her and recovered some chakra.
• Xi woke and explained that Pain had used her bloodline to maintain the Rain Tiger at Will Technique and was trying to become the Ryūmyaku’s consciousness.
• Xi warned that the uncontrolled Ryūmyaku could cause disasters beyond the Land of Rain and recalled a method requiring Contract Blood, a Ryūmyaku Guide, and the Mightiest Seal to establish a new contract.
• Ling suspected the Fragment could serve as a Ryūmyaku Guide and resolved to take Xi back to Konoha to gather help against Pain.
• Ling and Xi considered escaping while Pain was occupied with the rampaging Ryūmyaku, but still faced the challenge of getting past the blockades.

Ling devised a way to disguise himself and Xi as the chakra fluctuations in Pain’s rain, then led them toward Amegakure to evade the expected search near the borders. The pair cautiously approached the village, hoping to reach a river tributary that could carry them toward the Land of Fire.

• Ling realized that escaping the Land of Rain’s surveillance might be possible if he blended into the chakra signature of the rain.
• Ling asked Xi to help him use the Fragment to imitate the surrounding chakra, and she agreed.
• After many failed attempts, Ling and Xi formed a faint energy camouflage that weakened Pain’s perception of them.
• Ling proposed heading toward Amegakure, reasoning that Pain would focus his search on the borders and remote areas.
• Ling and Xi left the cliff and carefully crossed the rain-soaked landscape, avoiding patrols as they moved toward Amegakure.

Ling and Xi hid from Rain Ninja patrols before Araki, a former Amegakure Elite Jonin, rescued them and offered a plan to disrupt Pain’s control of the Ryūmyaku. They agreed to wait for a moment when a secondary energy node would be vulnerable, set for midnight tomorrow.

• Ling and Xi concealed themselves in an abandoned house as Amegakure patrol ninja searched for them.
• A masked stranger killed the patrol and identified Ling as Konoha’s Crow and Xi as the Miko of the Uzumaki.
• Ling accepted the stranger’s offer to guide them to safety, and the man led them through hidden routes to an underground hideout.
• The stranger revealed that his name was Araki and explained that he opposed Pain gaining control of the Ryūmyaku.
• Araki proposed attacking a secondary Ryūmyaku node to weaken Pain’s defenses and create an escape opportunity.
• Ling agreed to the plan, and Araki said they would act during the node’s next weak point at midnight tomorrow.

Ling, Xi, and Araki recovered and prepared in the hideout for a midnight attack on the Ryūmyaku Node, while Araki revealed how few resistance fighters remained. As the first night watch sounded, the three prepared to begin their dangerous operation.

• Ling treated his wounds with supplies and herbs from Araki, then worked to restore his chakra.
• Araki reported intense energy fluctuations near the core, increased patrols, and fewer than ten reachable resistance fighters who would create distractions during the operation.
• Ling trained to conceal his energy and considered how to use the fragment against the node, while Xi recovered and offered to disrupt its energy flow with her remaining contract power.
• Araki reviewed the route and retreat plan, explaining that the node's defenses would weaken during a five-minute lull at midnight.
• When a wooden watch clapper sounded, Ling, Xi, and Araki readied themselves to begin the operation.

Ling, Xi, and Araki attacked a secondary Ryūmyaku node in Amegakure, hoping to sever its power with Xi’s sealing abilities. Just as the node began to collapse, Konan arrived and wounded Araki while preparing to attack Ling and Xi.

• Araki drew two guards away from the node, allowing Ling and Xi to rush the remaining guards and disrupt the tower’s runes.
• Ling used his Sharingan to evade the guards’ Water Release and hold them off while Xi defended herself with Sealing Jutsu: Mirror Reflection.
• Xi poured her Uzumaki chakra into the tower, and the Fragment’s black light helped destabilize the node until it began to crack.
• Konan appeared between Xi and the tower and sent a storm of paper toward her.
• Araki shoved Xi out of danger and was shredded by Konan’s paper, leaving him barely alive as Konan turned back toward Ling and Xi.

Ling and Xi destroyed the node tower, worsening the Ryūmyaku’s rampage, but Konan cornered them before Konoha’s reinforcements arrived. Tsunade, Kakashi, and Jiraiya confronted Konan as Ling lost consciousness.

• Konan prepared to kill Ling and Xi while the damaged node tower remained active.
• Ling awakened the Eye of Purification and Erosion and identified the tower’s crucial weak point for Xi.
• Ling and Xi struck the same rune together, destroying the tower and severing its connection to the Ryūmyaku.
• The tower’s destruction intensified the Ryūmyaku’s rampage, and Konan became furious as Ling collapsed from exhaustion and eye pain.
• Tsunade arrived with Kakashi, while Jiraiya appeared nearby, and Tsunade challenged Konan as Ling lost consciousness.

Ling and his companions returned to Konoha after escaping the Land of Rain, bringing intelligence about Akatsuki’s plan for the Ryūmyaku and Ling’s altered eyes. As Konoha prepared for the threat, Ling remained hospitalized under close observation and resolved to grow stronger.

• Ling awoke on a toad’s back as Kakashi Hatate explained that Araki had died covering him and that Tsunade had treated his injuries.
• Tsunade examined Ling’s eyes, warned him not to use his ocular power, and confirmed that Xi needed a long recovery after her life force had been depleted.
• The group reached Konoha, where Tsunade ordered the wounded treated and called an emergency meeting about the mission’s intelligence.
• Kakashi reported Akatsuki’s plans involving Pain and the Ryūmyaku, and Tsunade ordered Konoha to raise its alert, expand intelligence gathering, coordinate with allies, and protect Ling and Xi.
• Ling was placed in Konoha Hospital’s highest-security ward while Tsunade’s medical team studied his eyes and the energy fusion within them.

Uchiha Ling recovered in Konoha Hospital while learning that Danzo’s surviving Root loyalists might be targeting him. As his recovery neared its end, Fox warned him that Konoha planned to use his unstable condition as bait to draw the remnants out.

• Tsunade examined Ling’s eyes and ordered him not to use his ocular power while their conflicting energies continued to stabilize.
• Ling trained his chakra control and physical strength while helping Konoha’s analysts review intelligence about Pain, Konan, and the Land of Rain.
• Uzumaki Xi told Ling she still felt the damaged Ryūmyaku contract and hoped to recover enough to fulfill her duty as its Seal Guardian Miko.
• Rock Lee, Tenten, Neji, and Naruto visited Ling as he recovered, and Naruto described his training with Jiraiya.
• Fox told Ling that former Root members were secretly rebuilding their organization or seeking revenge, and that Konoha would use reports about his recovery to lure them out.

After recovering, Uchiha Ling returned to Anbu duty and infiltrated a Root remnant meeting in Tanzaku Town. He stole a forbidden-research scroll and stopped a suicide attack with his newly awakened eye power, but the gray-clad leader recognized him and exposed the secret of his eyes as Fox and the Anbu launched their assault.

• Tsunade discharged Ling and assigned him an A-rank mission to investigate Root remnants operating in Tanzaku Town.
• Ling tracked the remnants to an antique shop, confirmed their movements with his Jōgan, and relayed the intelligence to Fox.
• With Azure Phoenix disrupting the shop’s barrier for three seconds, Ling infiltrated the hidden chamber and recorded the meeting about research material on the Dead Demon Kiss.
• Ling created a diversion with the Hidden Mist Technique and seized the black scroll, but an attendant lunged at him using the Dead Soul Technique: Self-Destruction.
• Ling awakened the Purifying Erosion Power and halted the attendant’s explosion by piercing its chakra core, but the gray-clad leader identified him as Uchiha Ling and recognized his altered eyes.
• Ling called for support, and Fox and the perimeter Anbu burst into the shop as the battle began.

Ling and Fox’s Anbu team defeated Root remnants in Tanzaku Town, but the captured scroll and gray-clad man suggested a more ancient organization stood behind them. As Ling worked to control his eyes and trained with newly assigned adviser Uzumaki Xi, he sensed a hostile watcher nearby, leaving their next threat unresolved.

• Fox’s Anbu team overwhelmed the Root remnants, and Ling subdued the gray-clad man before handing Fox the black scroll.
• On returning to Konoha, Ling and Fox reported the mission to Tsunade, who ordered Fox to conceal Ling’s movements while leaking vague information to lure the Root remnants into a trap.
• Ling learned that the prisoner had revealed little and that the black scroll contained an incomplete, ancient version of Dead Demon Kiss, raising Konoha’s suspicions of a dangerous organization behind the Root remnants.
• Fox assigned Uzumaki Xi to the squad as a special adviser, and Ling and Xi began coordinating during a training exercise.
• After training, Ling sensed a malicious presence watching him and Xi from a nearby grove, but the feeling vanished before he could locate its source.

Ling, Fox, and Xi investigated a spreading gray mist at border outpost B-7 after its chakra-eroding energy showed similarities to ancient forces they had encountered before. They reached the mist’s core, but contaminated outpost guards surrounded them as Xi’s protective shield neared collapse.

• Ling continued training with Fox and Xi while remaining wary of a concealed observer he had sensed near the training ground.
• Fox received an emergency report that B-7 Outpost had gone silent inside a spreading gray mist, and she led Ling and Xi there on an S-rank investigation.
• Ling and Xi detected chaotic, corrosive energy in the mist and located its apparent core near the outpost’s main building.
• Xi formed a chakra shield, and Ling guided the team through the mist as its animated tendrils attacked them and drained the shield.
• Contaminated outpost guards emerged near the core and surrounded the team while the mist’s energy pulsed faster and Xi’s shield weakened.

Ling charged the mist core alone while Fox escorted Xi and bought him time, but the core trapped and assaulted him after he pierced it. Ling’s awakened Eye of Purification and Erosion revealed its weak points, allowing Fox to destroy it with lightning; Ling was thrown unconscious, and his fate remained unknown.

• Ling assessed that a direct assault was unlikely to succeed and proposed drawing the controlled ninjas away while he attacked the core alone.
• Fox opened a passage with a combined Wind and Fire Release attack, then led five controlled ninjas away as Ling rushed toward the core.
• Ling severed the energy threads controlling three ninjas, then pierced a weak point in the core and was overwhelmed by its dark purple energy.
• The core identified Ling as the bearer of the key, trapped him with energy tentacles, and assaulted his mind until his Eye of Purification and Erosion awakened.
• Ling identified the core’s inner soul aggregate and relayed its weak points to Fox, who struck it with Lightning Release: False Darkness.
• Fox’s lightning destroyed the core and dispersed the mist, but the blast threw Ling away and left him unconscious.

After Ling survived the destruction of the contaminated core, Tsunade treated his severe injuries and sealed the newly evolved power in his eyes. A briefing revealed that the attack had targeted Ling and involved an organization experimenting with ancient powers, while Akatsuki dismissed the group and continued preparing to pursue the Tailed Beasts.

• Ling awoke in Konoha Hospital, and Fox told him the mission had destroyed the pollution source but left four rescued border ninja in comas.
• Fox explained that the pollution source had targeted Ling as a “Key Holder,” and Tsunade had sealed most of the newly evolved power in his eyes.
• Tsunade treated Ling during his recovery and warned him not to force open the seal or use excessive chakra.
• Inoichi reported that the B-7 Outpost attack had been a deliberate attempt to create a contaminated zone, and Jiraiya linked the attackers and Ling’s fragment to ancient power systems.
• Tsunade ordered stronger border defenses and surveillance, while forbidding Ling from leaving Konoha until he recovered and adapted to his eyes.
• Ling resumed careful chakra training as Pain told Zetsu and Konan to ignore the rival organization and continue collecting the Tailed Beasts.

Ling trained with Kakashi and Might Guy, then learned that an organization was testing gray-mist contamination at ancient sites across the Land of Fire. Tsunade sent Fox, Ling, and Xi to secretly investigate the Shrine of Sealing Evil, where the organization was already preparing to corrupt its weakened seal.

• Ling improved his combat skills while sparring with Kakashi, then tested his recovery against Might Guy.
• Ling visited Xi at the hospital, and they discussed the artificially created soul aggregate and ancient forbidden knowledge.
• Fox reported several gray-mist incidents, and Jiraiya identified the Shrine of Sealing Evil as a likely target of the organization.
• Tsunade assigned Kakashi and Team 7 to investigate openly and sent Fox, Ling, and Xi ahead for covert reconnaissance.
• A masked squad led by a priest approached the shrine with a sealed contamination source, while White Zetsu and Black Zetsu watched from hiding.