Recaps

Genma Shiranui, Namiashi Raidō, and the Aso brothers passed their Jonin assessments, while Sakura Haruno watched the fights and judged the candidates’ abilities. As Sakura stepped forward for her assessment, Tsunade chose Might Guy as her examiner.

• Tsunade selected Hotaru Hyuga to examine Genma Shiranui, who fought well but was eventually overmatched before Tsunade stopped the bout and declared him successful.
• The Third Hokage asked Tsunade how she had persuaded Genma to seek promotion, and she avoided explaining that she had encouraged him through his girlfriend.
• Kakashi Hatake examined Namiashi Raidō, who passed, and Kiji Aso and Kijo Aso each passed their assessments as well.
• Sakura Haruno took the field as the Jonin watching eagerly anticipated her assessment, while Kakashi offered to examine her and Tsunade declined because he was her teacher.
• Tsunade chose Might Guy to examine Sakura Haruno.

Sakura Haruno faced Might Guy in a test match, and their Taijutsu exchange showed that she could match his speed and skill while wielding overwhelming strength. The fight continued with both launching rapid attacks, leaving the outcome undecided.

• The Jonin debated whether Guy’s Taijutsu or Sakura’s Ninjutsu would give the advantage, while Tsunade and the Third Hokage watched.
• Guy and Sakura greeted each other, formed the Seal of Confrontation, and began their test match.
• Guy attacked with Konoha Whirlwind, but Sakura blocked his kick and sent him flying with a Wing Chun Hidden Kick.
• Guy increased his speed and launched a powerful punch, but Sakura dodged it and counterattacked; Guy evaded her kick and struck back with consecutive Konoha Whirlwinds.
• Sakura avoided Guy’s follow-up kick and met his next attack with Star Cannon Hammer, their punch and kick colliding as the rapid exchange continued.

Sakura Haruno and Might Guy escalated their spar after Sakura challenged him to use the Eight Gates Released Formation. They collided in a clash between Guy’s Sixth Gate Nirvana Strike and Sakura’s Star Cannon Fist, and the chapter ended before revealing who won.

• Sakura Haruno said Might Guy was holding back and urged him to use the Eight Gates Released Formation.
• Might Guy opened the Sixth Gate, filling the training ground with surging Chakra and forcing Tsunade to move the spectators farther away.
• Sakura released her Yin Seal and created a powerful golden Water Dragon with the Water Dragon Bullet Technique.
• Might Guy shattered Sakura’s water dragon with a Nirvana Strike, and Kakashi and Hotaru Hyuga protected the Hokage and spectators from the aftermath.
• Might Guy charged Sakura with another Nirvana Strike, and Sakura met his punch with her Nintaijutsu: Star Cannon Fist.
• The two attacks collided in a massive shock wave, and the chapter ended as their clash produced a victor without revealing who it was.

Sakura Haruno and Might Guy continued their fight, with Sakura using Water Release to redirect Guy’s Nirvana Strike and heal her injuries before turning to clones and Ice Release to counter him. After Guy used a third Nirvana Strike to destroy her enormous dragon, he was left exhausted and looked toward an uproar at the edge of the field, with the fight’s outcome still unclear.

• Might Guy’s Nirvana Strike overpowered Sakura Haruno’s punch, but Sakura used Water Release to channel much of the force into the ground and healed her damaged arm with Medical Ninjutsu.
• Sakura attacked with Ice Clones and used Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals to strike Might Guy while he was recovering, sending him into a rock.
• Might Guy adapted to Sakura’s clone tactics and nearly landed a punch, but Sakura evaded with her Ice Body Flicker Technique.
• Sakura trapped Might Guy among Ice Clones and detonated them, badly injuring him and weakening his Eight Gates aura.
• Might Guy destroyed Sakura’s enormous dragon with a third Nirvana Strike, then gasped for breath and looked toward the crowd’s uproar.

Tsunade stopped Sakura Haruno and Might Guy’s Jonin assessment before Guy opened the Seventh Gate, then declared Sakura and four others Jonin. The group celebrated Sakura’s promotion at an izakaya, where she met Yamato.

• Sakura formed five enormous water dragons, and Guy prepared to open the Seventh Gate before Tsunade stopped the assessment.
• Tsunade healed Guy, and Sakura and Guy ended their spar with the Seal of Reconciliation.
• Tsunade announced that Genma Shiranui, Namiashi Raidō, Kiji Aso, Kijo Aso, and Sakura Haruno had passed the Jonin combat assessment.
• Kakashi invited Sakura and the others to celebrate her promotion at an izakaya.
• Yamato removed his mask and introduced himself to Sakura after the others revealed that he used Wood Release.

Sakura joined Kakashi’s circle of elite Jonin for drinks and learned that Yamato’s Wood Release came from surviving Orochimaru’s experiment with Hashirama’s cells. After examining Yamato’s technique, she theorized that the First Hokage’s Wood Release fused Earth, Water, and Yang Release simultaneously, leaving Yamato to consider whether he could do the same.

• Sakura drank with Kakashi, Asuma, Might Guy, Hotaru Hyuga, and Yamato, and asked Yamato how he had gained Wood Release.
• Yamato revealed that Orochimaru had implanted Hashirama’s cells in sixty children and that he alone had survived.
• Yamato demonstrated Wood Release by transforming chopsticks into a tree, and Sakura compared his technique to her Ice Release.
• Sakura theorized that the First Hokage’s Wood Release combined Earth, Water, and Yang Release as a Kekkei Tōta, rather than combining only Earth and Water.
• Sakura explained that all three nature transformations had to be performed and fused simultaneously, but Yamato failed to reproduce the stronger technique.
• Hotaru asked how Sakura learned Ice Release, and Kakashi recalled that she had mastered its basics in seven days during the Land of Waves mission.

Sakura celebrated her promotion with Konoha’s elite jonin and asked how to learn Yin Release, but their discussion led her to consider returning to the past to study Madara Uchiha. The gathering ended with Hotaru giving her an ordinary invitation from Hyuga Hiashi, leaving Sakura wondering why he wanted to see her.

• Sakura asked the elite jonin how to train Yin Release, and they explained that the relevant techniques were closely guarded clan secrets.
• Yamato and the others discussed using Impure World Reincarnation to consult Madara, but Madara’s missing DNA made the idea impractical; Sakura privately considered traveling to the past through the ruins of Roran.
• Yugao and Hayate arrived late, and the jonin teased Hayate while Sakura was drawn into the women’s conversation.
• Shino returned from a mission, drank three cups to celebrate Sakura’s promotion, and joined the group’s joking about Yugao and Hayate.
• Hotaru gave Sakura an invitation from her brother, Hyuga Hiashi, and Sakura accepted it, puzzled by the ordinary-looking request.

Sakura accepted Hiashi's request to become Hanabi's Jonin instructor once Hanabi graduated from the Ninja Academy, though she could not promise what she would do six years later. Hiashi explained that he wanted the Hyuga Clan to align itself more closely with Tsunade's Hokage administration, and Sakura understood that he was preparing the clan for the new political order.

• Sakura accepted the Hyuga Clan's invitation after Hotaru left her curious about Hiashi's intentions, then celebrated her Jonin assessment with her family.
• Sakura learned about the Haruno Clan's modest history as her relatives celebrated their first Jonin.
• Sakura arrived at the Hyuga residence and watched Hotaru and Hiashi spar with advanced Gentle Fist techniques.
• Hiashi asked Sakura to become Hanabi's Jonin instructor when she entered the Ninja Academy, and Sakura said she had no objection but could not make a firm promise so far ahead.
• Hiashi said the Hyuga Clan should follow the Hokage's lead and integrate more fully into Konoha, and Sakura recognized that he was responding to Tsunade's growing power.

Sakura learned that both Hokage wanted her to take on a team of young ninja, and they brought her to the Academy to choose suitable students. The Third Hokage proposed graduating Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi early so Sakura could instruct them, and Sakura moved to test the trio herself.

• Hiashi chose to connect Hanabi more closely to Konoha by asking Sakura to become her instructor.
• Tsunade and the Third Hokage asked Sakura to consider leading a team next year and explained an instructor’s role in guiding students’ mental growth.
• The Hokage took Sakura to the Ninja Academy, where she watched students spar and discussed the dangers looming over the village.
• Sakura recognized Udon and Moegi as promising fifth-year students and learned the Third planned to graduate them early alongside Konohamaru.
• Sakura agreed to assess the trio herself and walked over to test them.

Sakura Haruno tested Konohamaru’s skill at the Ninja Academy and agreed to lead his team, while Tsunade arranged a training leave in the Land of Snow under the cover of an Akatsuki-tracking mission. Sakura planned to return before the Academy graduates in March, when her team assignment would begin.

• Sakura Haruno challenged Konohamaru to fight her Ice Clone after he demanded a stronger opponent for his sparring match.
• Konohamaru showed strong Taijutsu and used the Great Fireball Technique, but Sakura’s clone outmaneuvered him and defeated him with a Kunai at his neck.
• Sakura praised Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi, and agreed to take charge of their team after Third asked her to do so.
• Tsunade explained that Sakura’s team could be reassigned if war or an Akatsuki attack required Sakura to fight.
• Sakura asked to train in the Land of Snow, and Tsunade arranged a solo Akatsuki-tracking mission there, telling her to return before February next year.

Tsunade warned Sakura Haruno that the Akatsuki were nearing their plan to capture the Tailed Beasts, and Sakura vowed to protect Naruto. After being promoted to Jonin, Sakura traveled to the Land of Snow to train in her secret base.

• Tsunade told Sakura Haruno that the Akatsuki had gone dormant in regions where they had already gathered intelligence on Jinchūriki, and that their final plan might be close.
• Sakura vowed that Naruto would never be captured, then received her Jonin registration and uniform on September 2, Konoha year 61, at thirteen and a half years old.
• Sakura celebrated her promotion with her friends, and she defeated Lee by binding him with water snakes after he began performing Drunken Fist.
• Two days later, Sakura left Konoha under the stated mission of searching for Akatsuki clues and traveled by water to the Land of Snow.
• Sakura reached her former Snow Ninja castle in Asakusa, prepared the base with Ice Clones, and began her plan to train there for more than four months.

Akyo remembered how Sakura Haruno and Kazahana Koyuki had transformed the Land of Snow as he joined the capital’s crowds to welcome Koyuki home. After concealing herself from the public with Genjutsu, Sakura entered the daimyō’s residence with Koyuki and revealed she had come to train in Ninjutsu.

• Akyo recalled the hunger, oppression, and failed uprising under Kazahana Dōtō, followed by the reforms that brought food and warmth to the people.
• Akyo saw Kazahana Koyuki return to the capital and cheered with the crowd, while Sakura Haruno used Genjutsu to hide her identity from him.
• Koyuki asked Sakura why she concealed her role in the Land of Snow’s recovery, and Sakura explained that the publicity helped Koyuki govern and let her work unnoticed.
• Sakura and Koyuki discussed Sakura’s winter clothes and how Chakra affected ninja development as they walked to the daimyō’s residence.
• Once inside, Koyuki dropped her formal act and asked Sakura what she was doing in the country, and Sakura said she had come to train in Ninjutsu.

Sakura Haruno brought Kazahana Koyuki to her hidden base in the Land of Snow and revealed her experimental laboratories. She demonstrated that she could temporarily transfer herself into a full-grown cloned body, then prepared to show Koyuki her dangerous new Ninjutsu experiments.

• Sakura Haruno agreed to let Kazahana Koyuki visit her secret base and carried her to a remote mountain in the Land of Snow.
• Sakura showed Koyuki the concealed base, including its living quarters, supply rooms, training ground, and sealed laboratories.
• Sakura revealed rows of cloned bodies and used a blue rod to awaken one, explaining that she was temporarily inhabiting it while her original body lay unconscious.
• Koyuki learned Sakura planned to test techniques for powering the Yin Seal with electricity and overclocking the brain, both of which could be fatal.
• Sakura set her original body aside and offered to demonstrate the experiments to Koyuki.

Sakura Haruno tested a modified Eight Trigrams Seal to convert stored lightning into usable Chakra, but the experiment killed a clone and left her mentally shaken. She explained the next stage of Cherry Blossom Impact to Kazahana Koyuki, while warning that its brain-focused development was even more dangerous.

• Sakura Haruno experimented with a modified Eight Trigrams Seal, but leaking Lightning Release electrocuted her clone and forced her consciousness back into her original body.
• Kazahana Koyuki supported Sakura and asked whether she had died; Sakura confirmed it and explained the mental strain of repeatedly experiencing death.
• Sakura told Koyuki that urgency and her goal of reaching Yang God Mode drove her to keep refining the Yin Seal.
• Sakura recorded the failed experiment, then explained that the third stage of Cherry Blossom Impact would use Brain Overclocking to speed up thought.
• Sakura warned Koyuki that developing the brain-focused technique could kill people because the brain was fragile.

Sakura Haruno spent months in the Land of Snow developing her techniques and talking with Kazahana Koyuki, while the country’s geothermal project advanced. After completing Yin Seal Stage Two and charging her Lightning Sealing Seal, Sakura packed her belongings and left for Konoha in February.

• Sakura explained to Kazahana Koyuki why she needed to develop Cherry Blossom Impact Stage Three to improve her reactions against dangerous opponents like the masked man who called himself Madara.
• Sakura and Koyuki discussed the Land of Snow’s recovery, its geothermal power plant, and the funds Koyuki gained when her new film became a hit.
• During her months in the Land of Snow, Sakura developed Cherry Blossom Impact Stage Three (Pseudo), completed Yin Seal Stage Two after dying repeatedly, and practiced other skills.
• Sakura used the newly completed geothermal power plant to charge her Lightning Sealing Seal to its energy limit.
• When February arrived, Sakura sealed her belongings, froze and blocked the entrance to her base, and departed for Konoha using the Body Flicker Technique.

Sakura Haruno watched Konoha’s graduation exams before meeting her new students, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi. When they doubted her strength and questioned why she was their team leader, Sakura took them away from the school to demonstrate her abilities.

• Sakura Haruno, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata watched the graduation exams, and Sakura discussed the team-leader test she would give her students.
• The examiners failed several candidates before Iruka announced the names of those who passed, including Konohamaru Sarutobi, Udon, and Moegi.
• Iruka told Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi that Sakura Haruno would lead their team and explained that she was a recognized Kage-level ninja.
• Sakura Haruno corrected Konohamaru for calling her Big Sis and knocked him on the head when he interrupted her.
• When her students questioned her strength, Sakura Haruno led them away from the school to show them what she could do.

Sakura Haruno took Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi to Training Ground 9, where she impressed her new students with a towering Ice Release technique and led their introductions. After treating Udon’s chronic rhinitis and advising the trio to take their ninja duties seriously, she prepared to test the new graduates.

• Sakura Haruno brought Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi to Training Ground 9 and raised them hundreds of meters into the air with Ice Release: Heaven-Reaching Tower.
• The three students overcame their fear of heights, admired the view of Konoha, and became impressed by Sakura’s strength.
• Sakura introduced herself, and Konohamaru admitted that Naruto had taught him the Sexy Jutsu before sharing his ambition to defeat his grandfather, Naruto, and Sakura.
• Udon introduced himself, and Sakura used Delicate Illness Extraction Technique to remove the source of his chronic rhinitis and advised him to get smaller glasses.
• Moegi said she wanted to become a powerful kunoichi like the Fifth Hokage and Sakura; after the introductions, Sakura prepared to test the new graduates.

Sakura tested Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi’s teamwork in combat on the high ice tower, coaching them through their fear and evaluating their roles. The trio coordinated increasingly effective attacks, and Sakura dodged their final maneuver as the test continued.

• Sakura challenged Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi to force her back one step and taught them a Chakra technique to calm their nerves.
• The trio attacked together, and Udon used a rope to save Konohamaru after Sakura threw him off the tower.
• Sakura criticized Konohamaru for panicking instead of using his abilities, then assessed how the three divided their combat roles.
• Konohamaru learned to stop his fall with a rope, and the trio repeatedly regrouped and attacked while Sakura evaluated their teamwork.
• Udon distracted Sakura with a Genjutsu as Konohamaru and Moegi attacked with a fireball and Fūma Shuriken, which transformed into Konohamaru for a follow-up attack.

Sakura Haruno’s new team passed her combat test and celebrated becoming Genin at Ichiraku Ramen. On their first low-level mission, she explained why such work mattered, then urged the students to use their ninja skills to clean faster.

• Moegi, Udon, and Konohamaru coordinated their techniques to defeat Sakura’s test and earn her praise.
• Sakura took the newly formed team to Ichiraku Ramen, where she considered each student’s strengths and how she would guide them.
• The team received a sweeping mission, and Konohamaru complained that ninja should have more exciting assignments.
• Sakura explained how low-level missions kept Konoha running and supported Genin who could not take higher-level work.
• Sakura told the dejected students to use their ninja techniques for the cleaning, and they began demonstrating their abilities.

Sakura Haruno trained and led Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon through missions, while continuing her own studies and avoiding another time-space trip. In late May, she and Yuki Haku left the village for the Land of Waves to pay respects to Zabuza.

• Sakura Haruno praised her students for completing their first mission, carried an exhausted Konohamaru home, and revealed that she had led the mission using an Ice Clone.
• Sakura visited Sage Katsuyu, who said Sakura was suited to combining Ice Release with Yin Release and could begin Senjutsu training the following year.
• Sakura checked the replenished energy in the Ancient Kingdom of Roran but chose not to enter or attempt time travel.
• Sakura trained her team through low-level missions, including weeks of farm work and cleaning the Naka River channel and sewers, helping the students improve their stamina and experience.
• In late May, Sakura Haruno told her students she and Yuki Haku would leave the village for four or five days, then set out for the Land of Waves to pay respects to Zabuza.

Sakura Haruno and Yuki Haku returned to Zabuza’s grave in the Land of Waves, where they encountered Orochimaru and Hozuki Suigetsu seeking the Kubikiribōchō. Sakura confronted them, and her water dragon clashed with Orochimaru’s summoned gate.

• Sakura Haruno and Yuki Haku reached Zabuza’s grave and found its protective barrier intact.
• Orochimaru and Hozuki Suigetsu waited nearby for the barrier to be undone, hoping to take the Kubikiribōchō and capture Haku for her Ice Release Kekkei Genkai.
• After Sakura undid the barrier, she attacked Orochimaru and Suigetsu with water lines, but both survived their injuries.
• Sakura demanded to know why Orochimaru had come, and he explained that Suigetsu needed a weapon and they wanted the Kubikiribōchō.
• Sakura unleashed a giant water dragon, and Orochimaru summoned the Gate of Hell to block it; their techniques collided and tore a hole through the gate.

Sakura Haruno fought Orochimaru at the coast, determined to avenge her earlier defeat, while Suigetsu went to claim Kubikiribōchō and Haku was expected to stop him. Orochimaru exposed Sakura’s secret human experiments and provoked her into attacking, but survived her powerful blows with his body-modification techniques; the confrontation ended with him challenging her to admit the truth.

• Sakura Haruno confronted Orochimaru after destroying Rashomon and learned that Suigetsu had gone to seize Kubikiribōchō while Haku was expected to face him.
• Orochimaru praised Ice Release, argued that Kekkei Genkai were essential to his pursuit of knowledge, and revealed that he knew about Sakura’s human experiments in the Land of Snow.
• Angered by Orochimaru’s accusations about her experiments and Sasuke’s power, Sakura launched Ice Release: Frost Ice Burial and followed with rapid attacks using her ice mirrors and Star Cannon Fist.
• Orochimaru’s Soft Body Modification and Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique allowed him to survive Sakura’s blows and emerge unharmed from a corpse.
• Orochimaru taunted Sakura and demanded that she admit the truth as she landed on the water before him.

Sakura Haruno rejected Orochimaru’s claim that she would eventually become like him and dismissed his threats to expose her experiments. The chapter ended with the village’s leaders accepting her account of a masked Uchiha with the Mangekyō Sharingan, whose interference had helped cause the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

• Sakura Haruno condemned Orochimaru’s human experiments and argued that his cruelty came from his own weakness, not the world’s darkness.
• Orochimaru warned Sakura that hidden spies could expose her experiments and force her to flee Konoha, but Sakura remained confident that her base was protected and that Tsunade’s views were changing.
• Sakura recalled how she had reported her encounter with the Masked Man to the Third Hokage and the Hokage Advisors, presenting truthful details in a way that concealed the timing of her mission.
• The Third Hokage, Koharu Utatane, and Mitokado Homura concluded that the Masked Man had intercepted communication between Konoha and the Uchiha Clan and helped drive them toward conflict.
• The village leaders recognized Sakura’s information about the Masked Man as valuable and gained a new explanation for the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

After returning from the Land of Snow, Sakura demonstrated a telescope Ninjutsu to Konoha High Command, and the chapter later showed her refusing Orochimaru’s offer to join him. Their fight resumed at sea, where Sakura unleashed a massive Ice Release technique that froze the surrounding ocean and filled it with spikes.

• Sakura Haruno demonstrated her Ice Release: Telescope Technique to Konoha High Command, and the Third Hokage and Tsunade recognized its potential for reconnaissance.
• Tsunade decided to introduce the telescope technique to the Anbu first, while Sakura’s secret dealings in the ruins of the Ancient Kingdom of Roran remained hidden.
• Sakura told Orochimaru that his schemes could not sever her bonds with Konoha and refused his invitation to join his ninja village.
• Sakura attacked Orochimaru with Ice Release: Four-Pillar Prison, but he escaped the ice and countered with his Kusanagi Sword.
• Sakura cut down Orochimaru’s Water Clone with her ice knives, then recognized that Orochimaru had used a substitution to evade her.
• Sakura drew on the Chakra stored in her Yin Seal and froze the surrounding sea, covering Orochimaru’s area with a forest of icy spikes.

Sakura Haruno fought Orochimaru and his summoned snake Manda across an ice field, defeating Manda with powerful Water Release, Ice Release, and taijutsu attacks. After Manda was forced back to the Shikkotsu Forest, Sakura turned toward Orochimaru, who had prepared another ninjutsu.

• Orochimaru summoned Manda and promised him two hundred living sacrifices in exchange for destroying the ice.
• Sakura Haruno cut Manda in half with Water Release: Wind Blade Torrent, but Orochimaru helped the snake rejoin his body.
• Orochimaru unleashed Great Fire Annihilation, and Sakura countered with Water Formation Wall as Manda attacked from beneath the ice.
• Sakura created an Ice Human Technique giant, seized Manda, and kicked through his mouth and half his head with Guarding Foot.
• Manda vanished back to the Shikkotsu Forest, and Sakura faced Orochimaru as he prepared another attack.