Chapter Summaries

Pakura rewarded Mukai with Iron Sand and access to an abandoned puppet repair workshop, then joined Mukai and Sasori for a meal at his family’s izakaya. Mukai connected Chakra Metal to Rōran’s Dragon Vein and revealed that he and Sasori might have found a way to make money from it.

• Pakura told Mukai that the Third Kazekage had awarded him the Iron Sand left near a Land of Rain outpost and use of its underground puppet repair workshop.
• Mukai invited Pakura and Sasori to his family’s izakaya, where they ate liangpi and discussed the village’s reduced funding and lack of missions.
• Mukai proposed visiting the abandoned workshop and asked Sasori about their money-making plan, while Pakura explained that battlefield Iron Sand was low-quality and rarely sold.
• Mukai asked whether Chakra Metal came mainly from the Land of Iron, and Pakura described how the rare metal formed and why it made the Land of Iron powerful.
• Mukai suggested that Rōran’s Dragon Vein could make the Land of Wind rich in Chakra Metal, prompting Sasori to question his discovery.
• Mukai showed Pakura the piece of Chakra Metal Sasori had given him and invited her to join their plan to make a fortune.

Mukai brought Pakura and Sasori to the northern border of the Land of Wind and demonstrated molten-salt electrolysis to extract fine iron from a large cache of Iron Sand. After producing valuable iron in half an hour, he revealed that the residue in the crucible was his real target.

• Mukai, Pakura, and Sasori traveled to an abandoned village near the northern border, where they found a mound of Iron Sand left from the war.
• Mukai mixed the Iron Sand with salt crystals in a graphite crucible and had Pakura heat and dry the mixture with Extremely Steaming Murder.
• Mukai used his hands as electrodes to electrolyze the molten mixture, while Sasori operated the crucible’s discharge gate.
• Pakura scraped and weighed the cooled iron, marveling that Mukai had produced over a hundred jin of fine iron in half an hour.
• Mukai told Pakura that the fine iron was only the beginning and that the residue left in the crucible was the real treasure.

Mukai extracted high-grade Chakra Metal from Iron Sand, alarming Pakura about the danger of his rare ability. He proposed seeking protection from Elder Chiyo, who arrived at the hidden workshop a day after Sasori sent her a message.

• Mukai adjusted his Lightning Release and extracted silvery-gray Chakra Metal particles and a gray spongy substance from the leftover salts.
• Pakura recognized the metal as exceptionally pure Chakra Metal, checked the area, and led Mukai and Sasori into an abandoned underground puppet repair workshop.
• Pakura warned Mukai that his refining ability was too valuable and dangerous for her to protect on her own.
• Mukai explained that the village's internal conflicts made it unsafe to keep the Chakra Metal between the three of them and proposed relying on a powerful protector.
• Sasori sent an urgent message to Elder Chiyo using a puppet, and she arrived at the workshop a day later.

Mukai demonstrated his ability to refine Chakra Metal to Granny Chiyo, who agreed to protect him and manage his trade with Sunagakure. He asked her to secure a trial at Shukaku’s sealing site despite lacking Earth Release, and the chapter ended with him requesting a mission into Amegakure.

• Sasori recounted the group’s story to Granny Chiyo, and Mukai refined iron and Chakra Metal in front of her.
• Granny Chiyo appointed Pakura as team leader for Sasori and Mukai, offered to trade Mukai’s Chakra Metal, and promised to protect them.
• Mukai asked for a Shukaku trial to pursue Magnet Release and the Ten Fingers Technique for Sasori, but Granny Chiyo warned that his lack of Earth Release could prevent him from qualifying.
• Mukai demonstrated his precise control of Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water chakra, and argued that he could develop new attributes over time.
• Granny Chiyo promised to supply their workshop and pursue benefits for them, while Mukai asked her to assign them a mission into Amegakure.

Mukai arranged a mission to the Land of Rain with Pakura and Sasori, while Shisō’s fortunes improved through Mukai’s support. Rasa worried about Sunagakure’s worsening finances and military readiness before the Third Kazekage urgently summoned him.

• Mukai explained his plans to visit the Land of Rain, and Chiyo assigned Pakura’s squad a herb-gathering mission and gave them antidotes to Ibuse’s poison.
• Pakura agreed to lead the mission, then scolded Mukai for making her take responsibility again; the group planned to leave in three days while they prepared their base and armor.
• Shisō told Shira that Mukai had offered him work, a place to live, and a chance for Shira to become his disciple at age six.
• Rasa returned home and complained to Karura about Sunagakure’s declining income, disputes over military spending, and the shortage of a candidate to become the next Jinchūriki.
• An Anbu appeared and urgently summoned Rasa to meet the Third Kazekage.

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.