Recaps

The Third Kazekage agreed to give Mukai a place in Shukaku’s trial after Elder Chiyo offered a large quantity of high-grade Chakra Metal. At Mukai’s workshop, Pakura tried on the White Phoenix Mecha, and its response to her Scorch Release surprised her.

• Rasa learned that Elder Chiyo had offered ten jin of high-grade Chakra Metal in exchange for a place in Shukaku’s trial for Mukai.
• The Third Kazekage approved Mukai’s participation and assigned Rasa to prepare for the trial.
• Mukai presented Pakura with the White Phoenix Mecha, which he had designed for her fighting style.
• Pakura questioned whether the light, clothing-like mecha could withstand her Scorch Release.
• When Pakura channeled her Chakra, orange-red flames spread across the mecha covering her body.

Pakura tested the White Phoenix mecha Mukai and Sasori had made for her, then thanked them warmly. Meanwhile, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato fled pursuing Amegakure rogue ninja and tried to warn Mukai’s group, but a hidden attacker struck as they ran.

• Pakura discovered that the White Phoenix mecha amplified her Chakra exceptionally well, and Mukai and Sasori teased her for having dismissed it.
• Pakura hugged Mukai and Sasori to thank them for making the mecha, strengthening the bonds among their team.
• In Moon Sake Town, an Amegakure squad pursued Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato after the youths disrupted the squad’s secret control of a sake brewery.
• Nagato sensed Mukai’s group nearby, and Konan sent them a paper crane warning them about the rogue ninja.
• Nagato detected a Chakra signature in a mountain stream, and a hidden ninja sprang out and used the Water Dragon Bullet Technique.

Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato fought Kurosawa Kazuo after he ambushed them, but the stronger rogue ninja overwhelmed them. Yahiko tried to persuade Kurosawa to join the Akatsuki, and the chapter ended with Konan shielding Yahiko and Nagato from his blade.

• Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato combined their techniques against Kurosawa Ichirō, but his Water Dragon Bullet broke through their defenses.
• Konan's Flowering Waltz trapped Kurosawa Kazuo, but he escaped with the Substitution Technique and counterattacked with a barrage of water balls.
• Kurosawa Kazuo knocked Nagato unconscious and demanded to know who had sent the children and what he knew about the Akatsuki.
• Yahiko stood between Kurosawa and his friends, explained the Akatsuki's goal of peace through negotiation, and invited Kurosawa to join them.
• Kurosawa Kazuo rejected Yahiko's appeal, struck him down, and raised his Ninja Blade to attack him and Nagato.
• Konan, exhausted from using her Chakra, flickered in front of Yahiko and Nagato to shield them.

Mukai arrived in his Zealot Mecha just in time to save Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato from Kurosawa Kazuo, killing the Amegakure Special Jōnin with a lightning-fast charge. He turned to fight the surrounding Moon Wine Gang rogue ninja and began cutting them down.

• Kurosawa Kazuo swung his blade at Konan, but Mukai rushed in and killed him with a single armored charge.
• Konan recognized Mukai, and he promised to explain his sudden arrival and growth after dealing with the rogue ninja.
• The Moon Wine Gang members attacked Mukai with concealed weapons, but he shielded Konan and the others and deflected the barrage with Wind Release-Great Breakthrough.
• Mukai launched himself at the gang with his Zealot Mecha, killing several rogue ninja with his arm blade and a charging punch.

Mukai and his allies defeated a group of wandering ninja after Pakura and Sasori arrived to reinforce him. Mukai invited Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato to join Sunagakure, but Konan refused because she would not leave her friends.

• Mukai warned the wandering ninja to surrender, but they attacked him with weapons and Ninjutsu until his Chakra ran low.
• Nagato raised an Earth Style Wall to help defend Mukai, while Konan urged them to retreat.
• The Mountain God Mecha arrived and crushed one wandering ninja, then Pakura joined the fight in her White Phoenix mecha and killed the remaining attackers with Scorch Release.
• Yahiko and Nagato were stunned by Mukai, Sasori, and Pakura's strength, while Konan blushed after Pakura teased her about Mukai being her boyfriend.
• Mukai invited Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato to join Sunagakure, but Konan declined because she would not abandon her friends.

Mukai proposed an alliance with Yahiko, arguing that peace required strength as well as ideals. Yahiko agreed to grow stronger while pursuing his dream and asked how Akatsuki could help.

• Konan turned down Mukai’s invitation to join Sunagakure because she could not leave the Land of Rain, and Mukai reassured her that they could still work together.
• Yahiko reaffirmed his goal of saving the people of the Land of Rain through communication, while Nagato silently supported him.
• Mukai praised Yahiko’s dream but argued that ideals and speeches alone could not overcome those who wielded power, and offered an alliance between their groups.
• Mukai pointed to his mechas and Pakura’s strength as evidence that practical power could help them earn the attention of influential leaders.
• Yahiko reconsidered his approach, clasped Mukai’s hand, agreed to train and become stronger, and asked how Akatsuki could help.

Mukai and his companions took shelter in Moon Sake Town, where Yahiko explained how wandering ninja had enslaved its people amid the Land of Rain’s lawlessness. Mukai proposed that Akatsuki move to the town with his support, and Yahiko questioned whether he intended to take it over.

• Mukai’s group reached Moon Sake Town and settled in an empty house to escape the rain.
• Pakura gave Konan food, liangpi, a storage scroll, and Chakra Metal gloves that Mukai had prepared for her.
• Yahiko told Mukai that wandering ninja controlled the town’s sake trade and deprived its villagers of food and clean water.
• Mukai considered Hanzō’s withdrawal from the Land of Rain and saw the town as an opportunity for development.
• Mukai offered to support Akatsuki in moving to Moon Sake Town and helping its people, and Yahiko asked whether he represented Sunagakure and planned to take over.

Mukai laid out a plan to stabilize Moon Sake Town and build a water channel from the Land of Rain to the Land of Wind, assigning tasks to his allies before setting out to clear threats near the town. At the same time, White Zetsu reported to Madara that three Sand ninja had contacted Nagato and the others.

• Mukai proposed restoring order in Moon Sake Town, providing food through a work-for-relief program, opening an orphanage, and digging an underground channel to carry water into the Land of Wind.
• Sasori questioned the channel plan’s feasibility, but Mukai explained how Chakra and Earth Release could overcome the obstacles, convincing the group to take on the project.
• Mukai assigned Yahiko to organize the civilians, gave Nagato an Earth Release scroll, and tasked Pakura with helping construct the water channels.
• Mukai gave Yahiko and Nagato money to buy supplies, then left with Sasori to deal with wandering ninja and bandits near Moon Sake Town.
• White Zetsu told Madara Uchiha that three Sand ninja had made contact with Nagato and the others, and Madara opened his eyes in response.

Madara Uchiha dismissed reports about Yahiko and Nagato befriending Sunagakure ninja, while Mukai and his allies confronted a bandit gang near Moon Sake Town. After Mukai killed the gang’s leader, he asked Nagato to identify which captives still harbored ill intent.

• White Zetsu told Madara Uchiha that Sand ninja had befriended Yahiko and Nagato, but Madara dismissed the report and told him to focus on Konoha and the Uchiha.
• Yahiko returned from the Land of Birds with food and met Nagato on the way back to Moon Sake Town.
• Nagato sensed familiar Chakra signatures ahead, and Yahiko and Nagato hurried toward Mukai and Sasori.
• Mukai blasted through a wandering ninja who threatened the group, killing him against the mountainside and forcing the remaining bandits to surrender.
• After Yahiko and Nagato arrived, Mukai asked Nagato to sense the captives and identify those with ill intent.

Mukai used Nagato’s ability to identify malicious bandits, then interrogated and punished the captives to establish order in Moon Sake Town. After deciding the sentences and planning a public trial for the murderers, he began excavating the canal.

• Nagato sensed which bandits harbored the greatest malice, and Mukai and Sasori separated them from the others.
• Mukai brought the malicious captives back to Moon Sake Town, where Konan greeted him and agreed to record their confessions.
• Mukai electrocuted one defiant bandit to death, then questioned the others and sentenced a less violent offender to three months of reform through labor.
• Mukai sentenced four bandits who had each murdered multiple people to execution after a public trial and ordered the others to build the canal before release.
• Mukai began excavating the canal tunnel with Earth Release-Tearing Earth Turning Palm.

Mukai began building a karez-style water channel from the Land of Rain to the Land of Wind, using Earth Release and specialized machinery to excavate and reinforce the route. As the project advanced, he revealed that his new device was a hydroelectric turbine generator intended to turn the water’s force into electricity.

• Mukai demonstrated Earth Release: Excavation Technique by digging a shallow shaft, then had Nagato unleash Tearing Earth Turning Palm at full power to excavate a large reservoir pit near the Moon Shadow River.
• Mukai planned twenty-two vertical shafts to guide the sloping channel and recruited six Earth Release ninja to dig a deep well at the Land of Wind endpoint.
• Mukai organized construction, asking Konan to coordinate Nagato’s work and food supplies while villagers laid stone slabs and Sasori operated the modified Mountain God Mecha.
• When Sasori’s excavation mecha struck hard rock, Mukai entered the Zealot Mecha and used its vibrating arm blades and pulse jets to cut through it.
• Sasori asked about Mukai’s machine, and Mukai explained that it was a hydroelectric turbine generator designed to convert natural power into electricity.

Mukai used the Zealot Mecha to extend the canal tunnel while explaining his new electricity-generating project to Sasori. In Sunagakure, the Third Kazekage arranged for Sasori and Mukai to enter Konoha’s Chunin Exams, and Chiyo grew curious about what they were building at the oasis.

• Mukai used the Zealot Mecha’s vibrating blades to break through rock as workers reinforced the tunnel behind him.
• The Third Kazekage announced Sunagakure would send two teams to the joint Chunin Exams and proposed putting Sasori and Mukai on a team without publicly identifying Sasori as a Chunin.
• Chiyo accepted the proposal but asked when Sasori and Mukai would receive their promised chance at the Shukaku Trial; the Third Kazekage postponed it in favor of selected Gold Dust Brigade candidates.
• Pakura told the meeting that Sasori and Mukai were building a canal to bring water to the oasis workshop, while Chiyo privately wondered what their project involved.
• Pakura told Chiyo that Mukai had improved her Caged Bird Seal and that both boys’ strength had risen quickly, so Chiyo invited her to visit the oasis workshop.

Pakura struggled to raise the temperature of her Scorch Release flames until Chiyo advised her to ask Mukai for help. At the oasis workshop, Mukai began explaining the nature of flame to Pakura, while Chiyo learned about the tunnel and mecha Sasori and Mukai had built.

• Pakura showed Chiyo that her Chakra Metal mecha amplified her flames, but she still could not melt the iron ball Mukai had given her as a challenge.
• Chiyo pointed out that Pakura could ask Mukai directly for advice, and Pakura decided to do so.
• Pakura and Chiyo arrived at the oasis workshop, where Konan said Mukai and Sasori were installing a generator.
• Mukai and Sasori emerged from a tunnel, and Sasori told Chiyo about digging it through a mountain toward the Land of Rain using their mecha.
• Mukai invited the group to sit and asked Pakura what she thought flame was.

Mukai demonstrated that his Lightning Release could heat an iron ball until it melted and vaporized, then explained to Pakura that flame temperature depended on how quickly the particles in matter moved. He began showing her how to raise a flame’s temperature, leaving her eager to learn.

• Mukai used electric arcs to heat Pakura’s iron ball until it melted, boiled, and turned into vapor.
• Chiyo watched the demonstration in amazement, while Pakura realized Mukai’s Lightning Release surpassed her Fire Style’s heat.
• Pakura grabbed Mukai and begged him to teach her how to make her flames hotter, and Chiyo rescued him from her embrace.
• Mukai explained to Pakura how temperature related to the speed of particles and demonstrated by changing a small flame from red to dazzling white.

Mukai helped Pakura deepen her understanding of flame and raise the temperature of her Scorch Release, then prepared to use it with wind to harden the tunnel. As Pakura began the technique, Mukai and the others stood ready to carry out the dangerous work.

• Mukai guided Pakura in sensing and controlling flame until her Extremely Steaming Murder fireball turned bright yellow and exceeded 1,500 degrees.
• Pakura thanked Mukai, then joked with him after he asked her to help burn through the tunnel; Chiyo reassured Konan that Mukai’s friends were welcome.
• Chiyo asked Sasori about Mukai teaching at the Ninja Academy, and Sasori praised Mukai’s knowledge and judgment while warning that the Third Kazekage’s faction would oppose it.
• Mukai explained his plan to melt the tunnel’s rock into a solid whole, declined Chiyo’s offer of help, and confirmed with Konan that Yahiko and Nagato had evacuated people near the reservoir and deep well.
• Pakura unleashed Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder into the tunnel as Mukai followed with Wind Release: Whirlwind Great Breakthrough Technique.

Mukai and Pakura combined Wind Release and fire to melt the tunnel walls into a reinforced mass of cooled magma. After Chiyo told Sasori he would attend the joint Chunin Ninja Exam in Konoha next year, Mukai joined him above the oasis and asked if he was afraid.

• Mukai and Pakura used a wind-formed Great Breakthrough to drive Pakura's intensified Extremely Steaming Murder flames through the tunnel, melting and compressing the surrounding soil and rock into solidifying magma.
• Konan, Sasori, and Chiyo watched the technique transform the tunnel, and Chiyo praised Mukai's strength before telling Sasori that Sunagakure would send him to the joint Chunin Ninja Exam in Konoha next year.
• Sasori asked whether the village would let him avenge himself on Hatake Sakumo, but Chiyo warned that seeking revenge would be fatal and urged him to prove himself in the exam instead.
• Mukai finished guiding the flames through the tunnel, and Pakura praised his skill and the increased power of her technique.
• Mukai noticed Sasori's mood, invited him to the top of the Iron Sand hill, and listened as Sasori mentioned the upcoming exam.
• Mukai asked Sasori whether he was afraid.

Mukai confronted Sasori’s fear of going to Konoha by challenging him to see Hatake Sakumo as a shinobi caught in a system of war rather than a born demon. He urged Sasori to join him in changing the Land of Wind and the wider Shinobi World, leaving Sasori to consider a purpose beyond revenge.

• Sasori insisted he was not afraid of fighting but admitted he dreaded going to Konoha.
• Mukai asked Sasori whether Hatake Sakumo was born evil and reminded him that both sides had lost parents in war.
• Mukai argued that borders and the rules imposed by rulers turned shinobi into tools and caused repeated tragedies.
• Mukai told Sasori that his grief and hatred were valid but that he should not remain trapped in them.
• Mukai called on Sasori to help change the Land of Wind and the Shinobi World by using their strength and ninjutsu to benefit people.

Mukai and Sasori planned to recruit Shisō for their squad for the next Chunin Ninja Exams. When Kawasaki Ryūji provoked Shisō by insulting his late wife and son, Mukai stopped him and revealed that Shisō had been recommended as a ninja, then challenged Kawasaki to a duel.

• Mukai told Sasori he wanted Shisō, rather than Konan, to join their squad, and Sasori accepted his judgment.
• Shisō worried that he could not perform the Three Basic Techniques despite mastering difficult Nintaijutsu.
• Kawasaki Ryūji provoked Shisō and insulted his late wife Delia and his son Shira, prompting Shisō to activate the Seven Heavens Breathing Method.
• Mukai caught Shisō's wrist and revealed his Genin paperwork and Forehead Protector, saying the village council of elders had specially recommended him.
• Kawasaki doubted Shisō's promotion, and Mukai punched him and challenged him to a duel between ninja.

Mukai defeated Kawasaki Ryūji in a duel, using his Zealot Mecha to paralyze him with electricity before beating him down and demonstrating the mecha’s power. After Kawasaki Ryūji’s teammates carried him away, Mukai offered Shisō special training and asked whether he was comfortable leaving Shira at Mukai’s house while they went to the border.

• Mukai punched Kawasaki Ryūji after he insulted Shisō, and Kawasaki Ryūji challenged him to a duel to the death.
• Shisō tried to take the duel himself, but Mukai gave him his identification and forehead protector and insisted on fighting as his future captain.
• Kawasaki Ryūji attacked with Kunai, an Explosive Tag, and a clone, but Mukai deflected the attack with Wind Release and electrocuted him through his Ninja Blade.
• Mukai slapped and punched the paralyzed Kawasaki Ryūji, then cut his Ninja Blade in two and smashed a crater into the ground to show he had held back.
• Kawasaki Ryūji’s teammates apologized and carried him away, while Mukai asked Shisō about Shira and offered to train him at the border.

Mukai brought Shisō to the border oasis to join his team and began training him while the camp’s others continued their demanding work. After the canal was completed, the day finally came to let water through it.

• Shisō thanked Mukai for caring for Shira, and Mukai told him he had recommended him for ninja qualification and would train him for the Chunin competition.
• Mukai took Shisō from the village to the border oasis and explained that Chakra strengthened a Taijutsu ninja’s body rather than disappearing.
• Mukai introduced Shisō to Konan, Sasori, and Pakura, then assigned him weighted training and the task of hauling Iron Sand.
• Sasori trained his Chakra Threads while operating puppets in the workshop, and Konan produced insulating paper and developed complex Shikigami designs.
• Yahiko visited with Moon Sake Village representatives to thank Mukai, while Nagato reinforced the embankments and Mukai and Pakura worked to widen the canal tunnel.
• Mukai and Pakura finally finished advancing through the tunnel, and the day came to let water through the canal.

Mukai and his companions opened the waterway, bringing river water to the parched border of the Land of Wind. After the ceremony, Mukai showed Sasori charged supercapacitors and proposed upgrading their mecha into a powered model.

• Chiyo and Ebizo visited the reservoir, where Sasori explained the children's work and Shisō's training.
• Shisō returned carrying over a thousand jin of Iron Sand, impressing Ebizo with his speed and Taijutsu.
• Mukai gave a speech and declared the waterway open, while Konan sent an origami swift as the signal to begin.
• Nagato opened the embankment, and river water flowed through the tunnel into the reservoirs and the surrounding oasis.
• Mukai gave Sasori a charged supercapacitor and installed another in a Chakra Metal arm, inviting him to try controlling it.

Mukai and Sasori tested the newly powered Mountain God Mecha while Mukai finished designing dual-form mecha for the team, including Shisō’s Tiger-Leopard Combat Mecha. As conflicts increased across the Shinobi World and the Chunin Ninja Exams approached, the team prepared to set out.

• Mukai warned Sasori to reserve the Mountain God Mecha’s ultimate killing move for desperate situations and gave him two supercapacitor boards to power it.
• Sasori tested the newly powered Mountain God Mecha, which could move and attack using stored energy and had powerful armor and multiple combat modes.
• Mukai completed dual-form designs that let the team conceal their mecha in storage scrolls and deploy them over their bodies in battle.
• Mukai tuned Shisō’s Tiger-Leopard Combat Mecha to protect his body and support the Seven Heavens Breathing Method, while forbidding him from using the dangerous Fourth Activation.
• Clashes grew more frequent across the Shinobi World as the Chunin Ninja Exams neared, and the team prepared to depart.

Mukai and his companions traveled through the Land of Rivers, where he observed how its lack of a ninja village left it vulnerable to nobles and bandits. When they heard a girl pleading for help, Mukai exposed a nobleman abusing her, and the noble threatened to send his clan’s missions to Konoha.

• Mukai checked Konan’s safety precautions, then left the Oasis Workshop with Pakura and the others.
• The group crossed into the Land of Rivers, where Mukai observed its fertile land, samurai, and dependence on ninja villages for protection.
• After leaving a town, Mukai and his companions heard a girl begging for help in a canyon and confronted Lord Ogawa’s retainers.
• Pakura was ready to leave the nobles alone, but Mukai used Wind Release-Great Breakthrough to tear away the carriage and expose Lord Ogawa assaulting the girl.
• Lord Ogawa ordered the Sunagakure ninja to leave and threatened to give his clan’s missions to Konoha.

Mukai rescued a little girl from Noble Ogawa and used Sasori’s memory-sealing technique to keep their encounter from being traced. The group reached a border town that evening, where Mukai suggested they stay the night.

• Mukai used Lightning Release to incapacitate Noble Ogawa’s guards and confronted Ogawa as he tried to assault a little girl.
• Pakura warned Mukai not to harm a noble, while Shisō offered to take the blame and Sasori prepared to support Mukai.
• Mukai took the girl away, then knocked her and Ogawa unconscious when Ogawa claimed he would not cause trouble.
• Pakura proposed burning the witnesses and carriage, but Mukai suggested Sasori erase their memories instead.
• Sasori used Chakra Threads and a fine needle to seal away two days of memories from the guards and Noble Ogawa.
• The group left with the girl and reached a town on the Land of Rivers and Land of Fire border, where Mukai proposed staying overnight.

Mukai and Sasori secretly killed the noble Ogawa, then Mukai explained to Sasori that his newly awakened consciousness was consuming his Lightning Release Chakra. He revealed that he called the consciousness Komushi and planned to help it evolve before the Chunin tournament.

• Mukai assigned Shisō to guard the room while he and Sasori went to kill Ogawa, and Shisō agreed to trust him.
• Mukai and Sasori entered Ogawa's inn, and Sasori used the modified Crow puppet to kill the sleeping noble.
• Mukai confirmed Ogawa was dead, and he and Sasori returned toward town without being detected.
• Sasori asked about Mukai's reliance on supercapacitors, and Mukai explained that a second consciousness was absorbing nearly all his daily Chakra.
• Mukai reassured Sasori that he could use a generator and his Hierarch Mecha to manage the risks, then named the intelligent consciousness Komushi.