Recaps

Sakura Haruno watched Orochimaru summon Tobirama Senju with Impure World Reincarnation and hoped to learn from the technique, but Tobirama immediately broke free enough to strike Orochimaru. Orochimaru restrained him, and Sakura and Tobirama then clashed with massive Water Release techniques, leaving their next moves poised to collide.

• Sakura recognized Impure World Reincarnation and introduced herself to Tobirama as Tsunade's disciple.
• Tobirama used Flying Thunder God Slash to cut off Orochimaru's head, but Orochimaru survived by emerging from the corpse and restrained him.
• Orochimaru revealed that he had transplanted Hashirama's cells into his body and began forcing Tobirama to fight.
• Sakura launched Water Release: Leviathan's Wrath at Orochimaru, while Tobirama countered with Water Release: Water Formation Wall.
• Sakura and Tobirama formed hand seals and prepared to use the same Water Release technique.

Sakura Haruno overwhelmed Tobirama Senju's Water Release and then faced him and Orochimaru in close combat. After activating Cherry Blossom Impact - Stage Three, she countered Tobirama's sudden attack, but Orochimaru followed with another Great Fire Annihilation.

• Sakura Haruno's Water Release: Wind Blade Torrent defeated Tobirama Senju's Water Severing Wave and cut apart Hell Rashomon.
• Tobirama Senju acknowledged Sakura Haruno's skill, while Orochimaru announced that the fight would continue with close-quarters combat.
• Sakura Haruno activated Cherry Blossom Impact - Stage Three and formed Ice Armor before Tobirama Senju attacked with Water Release: Shunsui.
• Sakura Haruno shattered Tobirama Senju's hands with a counterattack and a Wing Chun Hidden Kick, but Tobirama escaped with the Body Flicker Technique.
• Orochimaru attacked Sakura Haruno with Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation.

Sakura Haruno battled Orochimaru and Tobirama Senju, surviving Tobirama’s Flying Thunder God attack and explosive tags while healing her injuries. With Tobirama temporarily shattered and Orochimaru’s water-dragon opponents defeated, Sakura launched an army of Ice Clones to overwhelm Orochimaru.

• Sakura Haruno sent her repaired ice giant against Orochimaru’s Fire Style and summoned five water dragons that broke through his Triple Rashomon gates and pursued him.
• Orochimaru controlled Tobirama Senju, who used Flying Thunder God Strike to stab Sakura Haruno, but she dodged a fatal wound, grabbed his wrist, and kicked him apart at the waist.
• Tobirama Senju revealed that he had marked Sakura Haruno’s left elbow and detonated Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags, but Sakura shattered his body, healed herself, and cut the marked skin from her arm.
• Orochimaru summoned giant snakes to entangle and destroy Sakura Haruno’s two remaining water dragons while Tobirama Senju recovered.
• Sakura Haruno told Orochimaru she would attack him while Tobirama was down, then surrounded him with tens of thousands of Ice Clones.

Sakura Haruno used a multiplying Ice Clone tactic to overwhelm Orochimaru after he grew exhausted fighting her and the Second Hokage. She trapped Orochimaru in a chain of clone attacks and detonated the clones, leaving the battle amid a continuing barrage of explosions.

• Sakura Haruno created a growing horde of Ice Clones while Orochimaru cut through them with the extended Kusanagi Sword and summoned a sea of snakes.
• Sakura used an Ice Clone as a medium for the Body Flicker Technique, then multiplied the number of clones appearing before Orochimaru in successive waves.
• Orochimaru unleashed a Great Fireball and used Water Substitution to counter the clones, but Sakura joined the attack in person and cut him in half with her butterfly knife.
• Orochimaru's counterattack pierced an Ice Clone after Sakura switched places with it, while Sakura gathered Chakra and activated the Mutually Multiplying Ice Clone Explosive Jutsu.
• Sakura caused the clones around Orochimaru to explode in a relentless series of blasts.

Sakura Haruno nearly defeated Orochimaru with a chain of attacks, but Tobirama Senju rescued him using the Flying Thunder God Technique. Orochimaru could still escape through marked formulas, and Sakura refused his offer to defect from Konoha, warning that his reincarnations had badly damaged his soul.

• Sakura Haruno weakened Orochimaru with the Mutually Multiplying Clone Explosion Technique and advanced on him as his Chakra and stamina dwindled.
• Sakura Haruno attacked Orochimaru with five water dragons, but Tobirama Senju teleported him away and used Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags to destroy the dragons.
• Tobirama Senju revealed that Orochimaru could escape using Flying Thunder God Formulas hidden nearby, and Sakura Haruno admitted she had no way to stop him.
• Orochimaru invited Sakura Haruno to leave Konoha and join him as an equal partner, offering to share his research and Reincarnation Technique.
• Sakura Haruno refused Orochimaru's offer and warned that repeated reincarnations had damaged his soul and would ultimately lead to his death.

Sakura Haruno and Tobirama Senju ended their battle with Orochimaru, who escaped with Tobirama, while Suigetsu challenged Haku for the Kubikiribōchō. Haku countered Suigetsu’s Water Release and froze his water dragon, but Suigetsu refused to surrender and charged into close combat.

• Tobirama Senju recognized Sakura Haruno’s Ice Release talent, then used the Flying Thunder God Technique to take Orochimaru away; Sakura set off to find Haku.
• Suigetsu entered the valley to search for the Kubikiribōchō and met Haku, whom he identified as Zabuza’s former companion.
• Suigetsu demanded the Kubikiribōchō, but Haku refused to give him Zabuza’s sword, so the two began fighting.
• Haku countered Suigetsu’s Water Release and froze his Water Dragon Bullet Technique into ice with Frost Ice Burial.
• Haku urged Suigetsu to give up, but he insisted he could still win with Taijutsu and charged at her.

Haku defeated Suigetsu and waited with him while Sakura fought Orochimaru, then learned that Sakura had won and returned to discuss Zabuza’s grave and the Kubikiribōchō. After staying with Tazuna’s family, Haku agreed to move Zabuza’s grave to Konoha.

• Haku used the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals to freeze Suigetsu in place and waited with him for Sakura’s battle to end.
• Orochimaru arrived with the Second Hokage, and a Konoha shinobi told Haku that Sakura had defeated Orochimaru; the Second Hokage then took Orochimaru and Suigetsu away.
• Sakura arrived and discussed the danger to Zabuza’s grave and the Kubikiribōchō, suggesting that they move both to Konoha.
• Sakura and Haku stayed at Tazuna’s home, where they saw how the Land of Waves had prospered and Sakura rested after the battle.
• The next morning, Haku decided to take Zabuza’s grave back to Konoha.

Sakura and Haku brought Zabuza’s coffin and Kubikiribōchō back to Konoha, forcing Tsunade to weigh Haku’s wishes against diplomacy with Kirigakure. After leaving the Hokage’s office, Sakura reunited with her students and began teaching them tactics by recreating her battle with Orochimaru.

• Tsunade explained that burying Zabuza in Konoha and keeping Kubikiribōchō could strain relations with Kirigakure, which regarded the blade as its property.
• Sakura asked about Konoha’s contact with Kirigakure, and Tsunade said Kakashi, Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata had returned from an envoy mission to meet its new Mizukage.
• Tsunade asked whether Haku would return Zabuza’s blade for the sake of peace, then reassured her that Konoha would support her and sent her and Sakura home to rest.
• Sakura went to Training Ground 9, reunited with Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon, and promised to teach them tactics using her fight with Orochimaru.
• Sakura recreated the Land of Waves battlefield by the river and used small, lifelike figures to begin reenacting the battle for her students.

Sakura Haruno used a miniature reenactment of her battle with the Second Hokage and Orochimaru to teach Moegi, Udon, and Konohamaru about teamwork, chained attacks, and seizing the initiative. With the Chunin Ninja Exams approaching, she planned to intensify their combat training and left them with lessons to review.

• Sakura showed her students a scaled-down battle and explained how Orochimaru timed Great Fire Annihilation to follow the Second Hokage's attack.
• Sakura asked the students how they would handle the fireball, then demonstrated how she used the ice giant to block it and create an opening to counterattack.
• Sakura replayed her fast exchange with the Second Hokage, explained how he chained Flying Thunder God attacks and Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags, and taught the students to connect their own moves.
• Sakura warned Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon that she would watch their attack combinations during sparring as she prepared to increase their combat training before the Chunin Ninja Exams.
• Sakura finished the reenactment and listed several past battles she could demonstrate to her students in the future.

After Sakura Haruno reported her battle with Orochimaru and Tobirama Senju, Konoha’s leaders discussed the threat posed by Orochimaru’s improved Impure World Reincarnation. They decided to take the initiative against him, and Danzo proposed involving Sasuke Uchiha.

• Sakura Haruno finished training Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon and promised to teach them a powerful Ninjutsu the next day.
• Tsunade brought Sakura Haruno to a high-level meeting, where the leaders read Sakura’s detailed report about her battle with Orochimaru in the Land of Waves.
• Sakura confirmed that Tobirama Senju had remained conscious and spoken while Orochimaru controlled him through Impure World Reincarnation.
• The leaders worried Orochimaru could summon Tobirama at full strength, but Tsunade rejected the idea of keeping Sakura confined to the village and urged them to act against Orochimaru.
• Danzo argued that Konoha should find and kill or capture Orochimaru, whose base might be near the Land of Rice Fields.
• Tsunade considered asking Hiashi Hyuga for help, but Danzo proposed Sasuke Uchiha for the mission, drawing Sakura’s cold glare.

Konoha’s leaders discussed using Sasuke as bait to draw out Orochimaru and confirmed Kirigakure’s sincere intention to end its isolation. Sakura accepted a mission to visit Kirigakure with her Genin team, while the leaders remained to consider their reply to Mei Terumi.

• Danzo proposed using Sasuke as bait for Orochimaru, and Tsunade and the Third Hokage discussed providing support until Team 7 could reunite.
• Tsunade reviewed Kakashi’s report confirming that Kirigakure had received Konoha’s team peacefully and planned to open contact with the outside world.
• The leaders agreed to send a Jonin and Genin team to Kirigakure as a gesture of goodwill.
• The Third Hokage nominated Sakura Haruno’s team, including his grandson Konohamaru, and insisted Konohamaru should receive no special treatment.
• Sakura accepted the mission, which was expected to begin in about a week.
• Danzo left the meeting before Tsunade and the others discussed how to respond to Mei Terumi.

Tsunade proposed inviting the Mist Ninja to Konoha’s Chunin Exams and suggested that the Fifth Mizukage visit in person. At Training Ground 9, Sakura Haruno taught her students the principles and dangers of her new sound-based technique, Illusory Sound of Silence, and began demonstrating it.

• Tsunade proposed that the Fifth Mizukage come to Konoha to discuss the Mist Ninja’s participation in the Chunin Exams, and the Third Hokage questioned whether there was enough time to arrange it by messenger.
• Sakura Haruno arrived late to Training Ground 9 and told Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon that a meeting of Konoha’s highest-ranking leaders had kept her away.
• Sakura Haruno explained that Wind Blade Torrent was too difficult for her students to learn and announced that she would teach them a sound Genjutsu she had created.
• Sakura Haruno taught Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon how Illusory Sound of Silence used inaudible infrasound to cause mental and physical harm, including potentially fatal organ damage.
• Sakura Haruno warned her students to practice the dangerous technique carefully, keep it secret, and watch her Hand Seals as she began demonstrating it.

Sakura Haruno taught her students Illusory Sound of Silence and guided them in choosing how to develop it according to their needs. By mid-May, her team had grown stronger, and they faced a less peaceful month after Sakura accepted an envoy mission to the Land of Water.

• Sakura Haruno explained that Illusory Sound of Silence was unfinished and asked her students to choose how they wanted to develop it.
• Udon chose to deepen the technique's Genjutsu, Konohamaru chose to emphasize its destructive power, and Moegi decided to focus on Water Release instead.
• Sakura Haruno entered Illusory Sound of Silence into Konoha's database and described its strengths and limitations against powerful ninja.
• After more than two months of training, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi had each reached roughly Chunin or Special Jonin fighting ability.
• Sakura Haruno accepted a mission to serve as an envoy to the Land of Water.

After Konoha approved diplomatic relations with Kirigakure, Sakura learned from Hinata and Sasuke that opposition to the Mist’s open-door policy was stirring trouble. The three arranged a spar, while Sasuke tried to hide an embarrassing side effect of his Combination Transformation Technique.

• At the expanded Jonin meeting, Tsunade held a vote and won overwhelming support for establishing diplomatic relations with Kirigakure.
• After the meeting, Sakura invited Hinata and Sasuke to spend time together and encouraged them to spar.
• Hinata and Sasuke discussed their progress, and Sasuke said he planned to pursue Jonin assessment after the Chunin Ninja Exams.
• Sasuke and Hinata warned Sakura that many Mist Ninja opposed the Fifth Mizukage’s open-door policy and that Kirigakure remained politically unsettled.
• Hinata agreed to spar with Sasuke, but Sakura’s questions about his Ninja Cats’ Combination Transformation Technique embarrassed him into changing the subject.

Sakura Haruno taught two Anbu how to correctly use the Super Water Gun Technique and exchanged training insights with them. She worried that few ninjas would master the technique well enough to inherit its advanced form, the Wind Blade Torrent, before taking a bloodshed mission for the three children.

• Sakura Haruno left Sasuke and Hinata to advise two Anbu who had turned the Super Water Gun Technique into the Water Severing Wave.
• Sakura demonstrated that the technique should be formed in the hand and fired as a water line less than a millimeter thick.
• One Anbu tested the hand technique and found it easier to control, while both admitted their Chakra control needed improvement.
• Sakura shared Chakra-control advice and additional ways to strengthen and stabilize the water jet, and the Anbu exchanged Genjutsu and Fire Style scrolls with her.
• Sakura wondered whether anyone would master the Super Water Gun Technique enough to preserve the Wind Blade Torrent, then took a bloodshed mission for the three children.

Sakura Haruno’s Team completed its first combat mission, exposing the students’ inexperience with real fights, before setting out on a diplomatic mission to Kirigakure. After resting in a cave on the coast, Sakura and her students crossed the sea toward the Land of Water.

• Konohamaru killed a bandit but froze afterward, and Sakura saved him from a sneak attack before ordering him to help his teammates.
• Sakura criticized her students’ nerves and poor teamwork, then encouraged them and explained that their upcoming mission to Kirigakure could be dangerous.
• Two days later, Sakura Haruno’s Team left Konoha and traveled across the Land of Fire and the Land of Bears to the coast.
• Sakura led her rain-soaked students to a cave, used Ninjutsu to make a sheltered camp, and taught them to use Chakra to keep warm.
• After resting overnight, Sakura Haruno’s Team set out across the sea toward the Land of Water at daybreak.

Sakura Haruno and her three students reached the Land of Water, where two separate groups of Mist Ninja claimed to have been sent to welcome them. After confronting Tomoaki Aono, Sakura released him when Jonin Pakura arrived, then demanded an explanation for the conflicting welcomes.

• Sakura Haruno and her three students crossed the sea to the Land of Water, where masked Mist Ninja checked their identification and escorted them inland.
• Sakura noticed the escort's haste and hostility, then seized Tomoaki Aono's wrist when he tried to grab her.
• A second group of Mist Ninja arrived, and their leader, Pakura, identified himself as a Kirigakure Jonin and said his group had been ordered by the Fifth Mizukage to welcome the Konoha envoys.
• Pakura vouched for Tomoaki Aono, so Sakura released him, and he left with his three subordinates.
• Pakura verified Sakura's documents and formally welcomed her, but his smile froze when Sakura asked why Kirigakure had sent two parties to greet them.

Sakura Haruno and her team arrived in Kirigakure, where Pakura guided them through a neglected outer settlement and past a massive waterfall into the village’s hidden core. Sakura considered the village’s political divisions and revealed her mastery of Water Release, while the team saw signs of Kirigakure’s violent past.

• Pakura led Sakura Haruno’s team to their guest residence and warned them to stay inside the courtyard unless they had an important reason to leave.
• While keeping watch, Sakura learned from Pakura that Kirigakure remained divided over Mei Terumi’s reforms and suspected that Mei had killed the Fourth Mizukage.
• The next day, Pakura guided Sakura and her three students through the rundown outskirts of Kirigakure and showed them the waterfall entrance to the village’s core.
• Pakura parted the waterfall with Water Release, then Sakura surpassed his display by making the water curtain open wide enough for her team to cross the bridge without getting wet.
• Sakura and her team entered Kirigakure’s bustling core and saw abandoned courtyards and old bloodstains left from the village’s past violence.

Sakura Haruno visited Kirigakure as Konoha’s envoy and witnessed a bitter dispute between Mei Terumi and an elder over the village’s treatment of Kekkei Genkai clans and whether it should open its borders. Mei sent Sakura and her students on a tour while the Mist leaders continued their debate, leaving Sakura uneasy about Mei’s meaningful look to Pakura.

• Sakura Haruno presented Konoha’s documents and Tsunade’s letter to Mei Terumi, who welcomed her as Tsunade’s disciple.
• Sakura asked about the Terumi family in Konoha, and Mei explained that members of her clan had fled Kirigakure’s persecution of Kekkei Genkai families.
• An elder challenged Mei’s policies, arguing that bloodline clans harmed the village and that Kirigakure should close its borders and rebuild its strength.
• Mei rebuked the elder for exposing Kirigakure’s divisions in front of Konoha’s envoy and called on the gathered leaders to resolve their differences.
• Mei asked Pakura to show Sakura and her three students around the village, and Sakura wondered what Mei intended after seeing her look at Pakura.

Sakura Haruno and her students toured Kirigakure with Pakura, who abruptly challenged Sakura to prove her strength and help decide the village’s internal struggle. Sakura accepted and prepared to face him in a Water Release duel.

• Pakura led Sakura Haruno and her students through Kirigakure, where the wary Mist Ninja watched the Konoha visitors with suspicion.
• At the Ninjutsu training ground, Pakura explained that most Mist Ninja trained in Water Release and praised Sakura’s ability.
• Pakura suddenly attacked Sakura with a Kunai, but Sakura evaded him with the Body Flicker Technique and warned him not to make dangerous jokes.
• Pakura demanded a fight, saying Sakura’s victory would prove herself and earn his explanation of the village’s conflict.
• Sakura sent her students back under the protection of two Ice Clones, then agreed to settle their contest with Water Release.

Sakura Haruno defeated Pakura in a Water Release test, then learned that the Fifth Mizukage planned to move against Kirigakure’s isolationist opposition. Pakura urged Sakura to help, but revealed that the Mist Ninja’s blood feud with Akatsuki was the reason they would fight alongside Konoha.

• Sakura Haruno repeatedly canceled Pakura’s Water Release techniques and overwhelmed his Water Dragon Bullet with a massive dragon of her own.
• Pakura surrendered, and Sakura withdrew her water dragon before asking why he had challenged her.
• Pakura explained that Lady Fifth Mizukage intended to deal with the grand elder’s faction, which opposed opening Kirigakure to the outside world.
• Sakura questioned why a Konoha ninja should risk herself for Kirigakure, and Pakura argued that Konoha needed Kirigakure’s help against Akatsuki.
• Pakura revealed that Akatsuki had controlled the previous Mizukage and directed the brutal policies that made Kirigakure the Bloody Mist Village.

Pakura told Sakura Haruno how Akatsuki had controlled the Fourth Mizukage and explained Kirigakure’s plan to expose opposition to Mei Terumi’s open-door policy. Sakura agreed to help, learning that Kirigakure was short on trustworthy fighters as they prepared for the next Jonin meeting.

• Sakura doubted that a Sharingan user could control a Mizukage for over a decade, but Pakura said the Fourth Mizukage had been controlled by an Akatsuki member who might have been Madara Uchiha.
• Pakura recounted how Karatachi Yagura’s brutal rule turned Kirigakure into the Bloody Mist Village, until Mei Terumi’s coup defeated him and he revealed the Genjutsu controlling him.
• Pakura identified Kisame Hoshigaki as the Akatsuki member who controlled Yagura and described Kisame’s immense Chakra, Water Release, and Samehada.
• Sakura thanked Pakura for the intelligence, and he promised to give her a detailed scroll as Kirigakure and Konoha cooperated against Akatsuki.
• Pakura explained that Kirigakure would gather evidence that the chief elder’s family smuggled strategic resources, hoping to weaken opposition to Mei Terumi’s open-door policy.
• Sakura agreed to follow Pakura’s lead, and he admitted Kirigakure was so short on fighting strength that they had struggled to find someone both trustworthy and strong enough for the mission.

Sakura Haruno considered the instability of Mei Terumi’s position in Kirigakure while Pakura joked with her about reading faces and shared the grim story of his mother’s death. Later, a powerful Kirigakure clan elder visited Sakura to apologize for his grandson, but his threatening manner turned the meeting into a confrontation.

• Pakura explained that he had chosen Mei and Sakura because he believed pretty women were trustworthy, then joked about Mei’s romantic prospects.
• Pakura told Sakura that his mother had been killed by an Anbu escort under a rule established by the Fourth Mizukage, and Sakura apologized.
• Pakura teased Sakura about marriage before she threatened to report his gossip to Mei, and the team returned to their courtyard for the night.
• An elderly man from Kirigakure’s largest clan arrived with two young men, including Tomoaki, and offered Water Release scrolls as an apology for Tomoaki’s forged welcoming documents.
• Sakura rejected the scrolls and demanded that the elder state his real purpose directly.
• The elder tried to intimidate Sakura and reminded her that she was in Kirigakure, but Sakura’s killing intent made the young men reach for their swords.

Sakura Haruno listened as the Suikazan Clan elder offered her wealth and cooperation in exchange for opposing Mei Terumi’s policies, but she rejected the clan after learning it wanted Kirigakure isolated and had no concern for the Akatsuki. When the elder threatened her companions, Sakura drove the clan members out, leaving their hostility unresolved.

• The Suikazan Clan elder offered Sakura Haruno training materials, money, trade profits, and deeper cooperation to win her support.
• Sakura learned that the clan wanted Kirigakure to remain closed to Konoha and dismissed the Akatsuki as irrelevant to the Mist Ninja.
• Sakura rejected the clan and challenged its claims of power, prompting one young man to boast that the clan could kill Mei Terumi.
• Tomoaki Aono drew his blade, but Sakura bound him with Blue Water snakes and subdued him before the other Mist Ninja could react.
• The elder acknowledged that the clan had underestimated Sakura, then threatened her companions as he prepared to leave.
• Sakura hid her killing intent and told the Suikazan Clan members she would not see them out.

Sakura Haruno and Pakura attended a tense Mist Ninja meeting, where the grand elder orchestrated a challenge questioning Konoha’s respect for the village. Sakura offered to prove her rank and strength in a fight, leaving the room poised for a confrontation.

• Sakura told Pakura that she had turned away the smugglers who visited her, and Pakura outlined a plan to use the meeting as cover for their mission.
• Sakura’s team entered the meeting room and watched the Mist Ninja split into hostile camps and resume their dispute.
• The grand elder stopped the argument, then gave Tomoaki Aono the floor; Tomoaki accused Konoha of insulting the Mist by sending low-ranking envoys.
• The grand elder asked Sakura whether Konoha looked down on the Mist, and Sakura invited anyone who doubted her rank or strength to fight her.