Chapter Summaries

At the Battle of Swords, Wang Hao discovered that the Five Kage had come to assess him, then challenged every contestant at once to build momentum for his fight with General Amane. His overwhelming skill heightened the Kage’s fear and murderous intent, while he prepared to demonstrate his perfected Iaido Slash.

• Kurosawa Shichirō explained that the Five Kage had come to meet Wang Hao after he reached the High-Dan Swordmaster realm, and Wang Hao realized his strength had been leaked.
• Wang Hao promised Kurosawa Shichirō that he would revive the Ancient Sword Dao after becoming the next general of the Land of Iron.
• Wang Hao entered the arena and challenged all the Battle of Swords participants at once, then used the Sword of the Eye to send an attacking samurai flying from the ring.
• General Amane praised Wang Hao’s talent, while the Third Hokage and the other Kage grew more wary and murderous toward him.
• Six Initial-Dan Swordmasters joined forces against Wang Hao, who blocked their attacks without drawing the Kurosawa Divine Sword and explained that he understood their sword styles better than they did.

Wang Hao defeated Mifune in a sword duel, helping him break through to High-Dan Swordmaster, before facing General Amane in a clash of their legendary swords. Their Iaido Slashes met in a stalemate, and the spectators were overwhelmed by the force of the duel.

• Wang Hao defeated six Initial-Dan Swordmasters using only the Kurosawa Sword's scabbard, leaving the Ancient Sword Dao and New Sword Dao schools stunned.
• Mifune challenged Wang Hao, who fought him with the scabbard and helped him break through to High-Dan Swordmaster before Mifune conceded.
• Wang Hao introduced the Kurosawa Divine Sword, and General Amane revealed the Masamune Divine Sword and used a secret medicine to restore himself to his prime.
• Wang Hao and General Amane drew their swords at nearly the same instant, and their powerful Iaido Slashes collided and locked together.
• The force of the duel overwhelmed the spectators, knocking some of the weaker ones unconscious.

Wang Hao defeated General Amane in a clash of sword energy, became the Land of Iron’s new general, and announced that he had created a cultivation system to renew the Ancient Sword Dao. After the Five Kage left, Wang Hao feigned greater weakness than he truly felt to lure them into an immediate attack, and he prepared the samurai to meet them.

• Wang Hao’s Sword Qi overcame General Amane’s and cut through a distant mountain, after which Amane entrusted the Land of Iron’s future to him and died.
• The samurai accepted Wang Hao as their new general, and he announced his renewed Ancient Sword Dao cultivation system, delighting both Ancient and New Sword Dao practitioners.
• Wang Hao dismissed the Five Kage, who concealed their killing intent, then pretended to collapse from exhaustion after they departed.
• An iron-sand eyeball monitored Wang Hao until it confirmed his exhaustion, while Wang Hao revealed that he intended to bait the Five Kage into attacking before they could gather reinforcements.
• Wang Hao took replenishing pills, ordered the samurai to prepare for an assassination attempt, and asked for General Amane’s Masamune Sacred Sword.

The five Kage launched an ambush against Wang Hao and the Land of Iron while he appeared weakened, and their guards collapsed the mountain to gain a battlefield advantage. Wang Hao sent Mifune away with the Ancient Sword Dao inheritance and revealed that his apparent weakness had been a ruse, leaving him to face the approaching Kage.

• The five Kage agreed to attack Wang Hao despite recognizing that his public announcement was an open scheme, and their guards struck the Swordmasters at the mountain summit.
• The Swordmasters’ prepared Iaido Slashes destroyed the guards’ clones, killed five guards, and wounded the survivors before Earth Release: Mountain Collapse Technique brought down the mountain.
• Wang Hao rejected Mifune’s suggestion to retreat and pretended to lead the Swordmasters toward the Bronze Wasteland, drawing the hidden guards out of the fog and killing two more.
• Wang Hao entrusted Mifune with the Ancient Sword Dao inheritance and named him the Land of Iron’s next general if Wang Hao fell.
• Mifune and the Swordmasters charged through the fog toward the Bronze Wasteland, while Wang Hao’s strength returned and he prepared to face the five Kage alone.

Wang Hao faced the Five Kage after breaking the Third Mizukage’s Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, and the Kage tried to make him surrender to spare the Land of Iron. He refused, and the Third Hokage and Third Raikage prepared to attack.

• Wang Hao recognized the Third Mizukage’s Hidden Mist Technique as an Ice Release technique linked to the Minazuki Clan.
• The Third Mizukage trapped Wang Hao in Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals and launched more than a thousand ice-crystal spears at him.
• Wang Hao redirected the spears into the mirrors, shattering most of them and breaking the Mizukage’s technique.
• Ōnoki and the Third Kazekage appeared, followed by the Third Hokage and Third Raikage, completing the Five Kage’s assembly.
• The Third Hokage and Third A offered to spare Wang Hao and the Land of Iron if he surrendered, but Wang Hao rejected the offer and challenged them.
• The Third Hokage summoned Enma, while the Third Raikage activated Lightning Release Armor and gathered black lightning for his ultimate move.

Wang Hao fought the Third Raikage and the other Kage, using his swords to wound the Raikage and survive their combined attacks. He manipulated the Third Tsuchikage into severing the Raikage’s arm, driving the Raikage away and worsening the rift between the Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud villages.

• Wang Hao’s Sword Qi cut the Third Raikage’s hand during their clash, while the Third Hokage’s Adamantine Staff nearly severed Monkey King Enma’s arm; Enma withdrew to the summoning realm.
• The Third Kazekage and Third Mizukage joined the attack, and the Third Raikage wounded his wrist with successive Nukite strikes before preparing his One-Finger Nukite.
• Wang Hao and the Third Raikage clashed as the other Kage attacked, and the Third Tsuchikage fired Dust Release at Wang Hao.
• Wang Hao evaded the Dust Release beam, causing it to sever the Third Raikage’s arm; the Raikage cauterized the wound and fled.
• Wang Hao revealed that he had sensed the Third Tsuchikage and used his attack to turn the Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud villages against each other, easing pressure on the Land of Iron.

Wang Hao fought the four remaining Kage after the Third Raikage withdrew, driving the Third Hokage to near defeat. When Wang Hao prepared a finishing move, the Kage fled, and he left the Third Tsuchikage badly wounded but escaped himself.

• The Third Tsuchikage abandoned his pursuit of the injured Third Raikage after the Third Hokage and Third Mizukage promised support against the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
• The Third Kazekage, Third Hokage, Third Mizukage, and Third Tsuchikage unleashed their strongest attacks, but Wang Hao survived by using a Shadow Clone.
• Wang Hao focused on the Third Hokage, repeatedly striking him and leaving him with severe wounds while the other Kage only inflicted superficial injuries on Wang Hao.
• Wang Hao announced that the fight was over, prompting the four Kage to retreat using their individual escape techniques.
• Wang Hao's Sword Qi carved a deep canyon and wounded the Third Tsuchikage, who escaped underground; Wang Hao did not pursue the other fleeing Kage.

Wang Hao launched the Land of Iron’s attack on the Land of Fire after Minato Namikaze escaped with the inheritance scroll, which restored and empowered Hiruzen Sarutobi when he opened it. As the Leaf and Land of Iron forces met at the border, Wang Hao and Hiruzen exchanged accusations and led their troops into battle.

• Wang Hao ordered the Pilgrimage Palace Samurai Corps and other forces to march on the Land of Fire, while Minato Namikaze collapsed after teleporting himself and Hiruzen Sarutobi to safety.
• Hiruzen opened the inheritance scroll, whose Sword Qi healed his injuries and gave him Swordmaster-level cultivation experience, but destroyed the scroll in the process.
• Tsunade examined Minato Namikaze and found his body and foundation badly damaged; Jiraiya took him to Mount Myoboku for treatment.
• Hiruzen ordered Leaf ninja to reinforce the border, then organized its defenders against the approaching Land of Iron forces.
• Wang Hao and Hiruzen accused each other of causing the conflict, and both sides charged into battle.

Wang Hao pretended to be badly injured while waiting for reinforcements and spectators, using his swordsmanship inheritance to strengthen the Land of Iron’s samurai. As the Leaf assembled a massive force and Hiruzen Sarutobi obtained the Sword of the Thunder God, Wang Hao sent his troops into battle.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi kept the Leaf forces behind an Earth Release wall, while Wang Hao’s samurai traded insults with them and Wang Hao feigned grave injuries.
• Wang Hao secretly passed his swordsmanship inheritance to the samurai, helping them advance quickly despite the costs to their future potential.
• The four great ninja villages sent spies to observe the conflict, while the Leaf mobilized thirty thousand reinforcements to join the ten thousand already at the border.
• Shinnosuke Sarutobi delivered the sealed Sword of the Thunder God, and Hiruzen Sarutobi released it and formed a blade of Storm Release lightning.
• After sensing the Leaf reinforcements arrive, Wang Hao ordered the Swordmasters and samurai into battle, eager to break through the limits they had begun to sense.

Wang Hao and Hiruzen Sarutobi fought as the Leaf and Land of Iron forces clashed, while Hiruzen’s new mastery of the Sword of the Thunder God exposed his use of the Land of Iron’s supreme Sword Dao inheritance. Wang Hao pretended to be overwhelmed, intending to use Hiruzen’s display to advance his own plan, as Leaf jonin and spies from the other villages began to suspect what had happened.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi assembled twenty thousand Leaf ninja and ordered them to attack rather than wait for the next wave of reinforcements.
• Wang Hao sent Mifune and the other Swordmasters to meet the Leaf army, then faced Hiruzen Sarutobi alone.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi used the Sword of the Thunder God to cut through Wang Hao’s Sword Qi, and Wang Hao accused him of stealing the Land of Iron’s supreme Sword Dao inheritance.
• Tsunade and Jiraiya recognized that Hiruzen Sarutobi had gained Swordmaster-level cultivation, while Leaf jonin grew dissatisfied and considered the inheritance’s value.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi and his Shadow Clones pressured Wang Hao with the Storm Release blade and Ninjutsu, and Wang Hao pretended to struggle and suffer wounds.
• Leaf jonin and spies from the four great ninja villages watched Hiruzen Sarutobi’s strength and began to suspect the source of his power.

Wang Hao’s samurai fought the Leaf to a costly draw, forcing Hiruzen Sarutobi to retreat as the samurai grew stronger during battle. After reviewing the casualties, Wang Hao learned that Sakumo Hatake had nearly pushed Kurosawa Shichirō to a breakthrough, and he feared Sakumo’s growing prominence would provoke Hiruzen.

• Wang Hao held Hiruzen Sarutobi in a stalemate while the Land of Iron’s samurai grew stronger through the fighting and turned the tide against the Leaf ninja.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi withdrew his forces, and Wang Hao let them go because his own troops were exhausted.
• Mifune reported 307 samurai dead and 189 seriously wounded, while the Leaf had lost 200 jonin and many other ninja.
• Wang Hao ordered the wounded treated, the dead gathered, and his forces to rest and prepare for the next battle.
• Kurosawa Shichirō told Wang Hao that Sakumo Hatake had injured him and rapidly advanced his swordsmanship during their fight.
• Wang Hao feared Hiruzen Sarutobi would soon see Sakumo as a threat, especially when the hidden cost of Hiruzen’s inheritance Sword Qi emerged.

Hiruzen Sarutobi rushed to defeat Wang Hao before the other great ninja villages could invade, but Wang Hao’s newly empowered samurai legion routed the Leaf forces. Wang Hao pursued them into the Land of Fire and stopped at the City of the Underworld, intending to use the River of Flowers as a defensive line.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered Sakumo Hatake to gather intelligence on the Land of Iron samurai’s strength and coordination.
• Ōnoki ordered fifty thousand Stone ninja into the Land of Fire, and the Sand, Mist, and Cloud villages also deployed troops to pressure the Leaf.
• After ten days, the second wave of Leaf reinforcements arrived, and Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately attacked Wang Hao’s samurai legion.
• Wang Hao’s seven hundred samurai unleashed a combined Sword Qi attack that destroyed a third of the charging Leaf forces.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi fled as the Leaf army collapsed, and he ordered his troops to retreat in scattered groups.
• Wang Hao led the samurai across the Land of Fire for three days and nights, captured the City of the Underworld, and stopped at the River of Flowers.

Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the Leaf to hold its borders as the other great villages pressured it and the Land of Iron consolidated its recaptured northeastern territory. After a month of limited fighting, the Five Kage negotiated an end to the conflict, while the villages left resentful over Hiruzen’s refusal to share the Land of Iron’s swordsmanship inheritance.

• Shikashin Nara concluded that the Land of Iron had planned its war to reclaim the ten-thousand-li northeastern region, and Hiruzen weighed whether the Leaf could counterattack while facing threats from the other villages.
• An Anbu ninja reported that the Stone, Cloud, and Sand armies were approaching the borders and that the Mist had sent the Seven Ninja Swordsmen with ten thousand elite ninja, while its Three-Tails and Six-Tails jinchūriki were missing.
• Hiruzen sent Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya to hold the Stone, Cloud, and Sand outside the Land of Fire, then returned with the remaining leaders to defend the Leaf against the Mist.
• Wang Hao kept a hundred Swordmasters at the City of the Underworld and sent the other six hundred-odd Swordmasters across the region to secure it with reinforcements from the Land of Iron.
• The Leaf and the three invading villages fought to a month-long stalemate, the Mist maintained pressure offshore without landing, and the Five Kage negotiated an end to the conflict and withdrew their armies.
• The Third Kazekage returned to the Sand angry that Hiruzen had refused to give up the swordsmanship inheritance, while Hiruzen regretted destroying its scroll and could not provide copies.

Jiraiya and the Leaf clan heads distrusted Hiruzen Sarutobi after he refused to share the Land of Iron Sword Dao inheritance, while Hiruzen secretly struggled with its power damaging his body. Danzō and Orochimaru pursued a way to awaken Kagami Uchiha’s eyes as Wang Hao secluded himself to strengthen his cultivation and study the Land of Iron’s sword schools.

• Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze left the Hokage’s office disappointed after Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to provide the inheritance scroll, claiming its restrictions had destroyed it.
• Hiruzen revealed that Sword Qi and his Chakra were fighting within his body, forcing him to seal the Sword Qi in his right arm and consider replacing his damaged organs.
• Danzō Shimura questioned Orochimaru about Kagami Uchiha’s eyes, and Orochimaru reported that First Hokage cells could restore them but that the process might take fifteen years.
• Orochimaru considered using Shisui Uchiha’s eyes to pursue an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and disclosed that he had found the Rinnegan in the Land of Rain.
• Wang Hao handed the Land of Iron’s affairs to Mifune and secluded himself to raise his cultivation, address his Byakugan’s stalled evolution, and study the New Sword Dao schools.

After emerging from seclusion, Wang Hao assessed his growing power, refined his plans for Innate Qi, and addressed problems in the Land of Iron. He then traveled toward the Land of Lightning to approach the Third Raikage and seek an ally.

• Wang Hao reviewed his improved attributes and concluded that his Innate Qi had absorbed pure Chakra, gaining its capacity to accommodate and evolve.
• Wang Hao decided he would eventually spread the fused Innate Qi, but postponed doing so until he was strong enough to face the Sage of Six Paths.
• Wang Hao complained that his newly formed Byakugan’s x-ray vision showed only colorless internal structures and Chakra flow.
• Mifune explained that administrative burdens and resistance to new ideas had limited his cultivation and the progress of Wang Hao’s governing classes.
• Wang Hao gave Mifune his improved sword dao cultivation method and insights, then toured the Land of Iron before setting out for the Land of Lightning.
• Wang Hao chose the Village Hidden in the Clouds and the Third Raikage as his next targets, hoping to gain a potential ally for the Land of Iron.

Wang Hao visited the Village Hidden in the Clouds to challenge the Third Raikage and discuss a deal, clashing with the village’s fighters using his Knockoff Gungnir. The Third Raikage accepted a sparring match and powered up with the Eight-Tails’ Chakra, leaving Wang Hao ready to meet his dangerous new attack.

• Wang Hao reached the Village Hidden in the Clouds, defeated the Fourth Raikage-to-be with one blow, and told the Third Raikage he wanted a fight and a deal.
• Wang Hao unveiled Gungnir, charged it with lightning from the storm clouds, and used it to overwhelm the Cloud jonin who attacked him.
• The Third Raikage stopped Wang Hao’s charge with One-Finger Nukite of Hell Stab, and Wang Hao demanded a proper fight to settle their past grudge.
• The Third Raikage agreed to spar, then asked Killer B to transfer him nearly half of the Eight-Tails’ Chakra.
• The Third Raikage merged the Eight-Tails’ Chakra with his black Lightning Release, producing a Six Paths Level attack as Wang Hao prepared to fight seriously.

Wang Hao defeated the Third Raikage, gave him Gungnir, and traded the missing key to his cultivation method for the Land of Lightning’s inherited Secret Methods. He then accepted Killer B as a student and offered to forge him nine divine swords.

• Wang Hao’s World-Destroying Stab overpowered the Third Raikage’s Hell Stab and blasted a mountain apart, but Wang Hao diverted the attack before it killed him.
• Wang Hao gave the Third Raikage Gungnir, revealing that he had made it using the Raikage’s lost left arm as its foundation.
• Wang Hao offered to teach the Third Raikage the cultivation method needed to reach his level in exchange for all inherited Secret Methods in the Land of Lightning, and the Third Raikage agreed.
• Wang Hao gave the Third Raikage a crystal containing the missing method for condensing Innate Qi, which the Raikage pressed to his forehead.
• Wang Hao offered Killer B a Nine-Sword Style inheritance, and Killer B called him Teacher.
• Wang Hao promised to forge nine divine swords for Killer B if he provided the materials.

Wang Hao offered to forge divine weapons for the Cloud ninja and warned them that Chakra cultivation was constrained by dwindling natural energy, urging them to consider his new samurai system. He also revealed that the tailed beasts had a potentially living master, then prepared to expose spies in the village.

• Killer B hurried to the Cloud treasury to find materials for a weapon, while Wang Hao warned the Third Raikage and the others that Chakra cultivation had reached a dead end.
• Wang Hao urged the Cloud ninja to consider returning to the samurai system, and the Third Raikage said they would assess its potential before deciding.
• Wang Hao explained that the Eight-Tails limited Killer B's growth and warned that the tailed beasts might still have a living master.
• Wang Hao revealed that Chakra consumed dwindling natural energy, leaving the Third Raikage and the other Cloud ninja alarmed about the future of their system.
• Wang Hao offered to identify and remove spies planted in the Village Hidden in the Clouds.

Wang Hao exposed traitors within the Village Hidden in the Clouds, then accompanied the Third Raikage to inspect its treasury in exchange for teaching him about black lightning. There, Wang Hao examined the village’s ores, and the Third Raikage explained the history of the Ten Thousand Lightning Stone.

• Wang Hao struck seventeen suspected traitors with stone fragments, and fourteen jonin fled before the Third Raikage ordered the village’s forces to pursue them.
• Three Kage Level experts admitted their ties to the Hagoromo Clan and fought the Third Raikage, who killed them with Hell Stab and Gungnir.
• The Third Raikage asked Wang Hao about his black lightning, and Wang Hao offered to teach him in return for precious materials.
• The Third Raikage led Wang Hao to the village treasury, where Wang Hao ignored the seals and examined the stored ores; Killer B tried to copy him and was electrocuted.
• After a Yotsuki reported that the fleeing jonin had been caught, the Third Raikage explained that the Ten Thousand Lightning Stone had shaped the Yotsuki Lineage’s Lightning Release Armor.

Wang Hao examined the Ten Thousand Lightning Stone, recruited A Yotsuki as his disciple, and bargained with the Third Raikage for precious ores. After Killer B woke and A Yotsuki accidentally knocked him out, Wang Hao suggested A Yotsuki’s closeness to Killer B meant his son might be gay, prompting the Third Raikage to beat him.

• Wang Hao identified the Ten Thousand Lightning Stone as a supreme treasure containing a damaged rune of the world's origin, then offered to teach A Yotsuki a hammer path inheritance.
• A Yotsuki accepted Wang Hao as his teacher, and Wang Hao offered the Third Raikage a hundred Seventh Tier divine weapons and training to make his son a Great Swordmaster in exchange for the village's precious ores.
• Wang Hao explained the stone's value, and Killer B woke from the seal's electric shock before A Yotsuki mistook him for a stranger and kicked him unconscious.
• After Wang Hao told A Yotsuki that Killer B was his little brother, A Yotsuki tried to revive him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
• Wang Hao suggested to the Third Raikage that A Yotsuki might be gay, and the Third Raikage kicked and beat his son while Wang Hao privately justified his scheme.