Chapter Summaries

Sakura Haruno traveled to Kuiden City in the Land of Grass to investigate an Akatsuki-linked casino and learn what its owner knew about Kakuzu. After killing the criminal Scarface and finding no useful Akatsuki secrets, she returned to her temporary base and resumed her mission work.

• Sakura Haruno reviewed her assignments and traveled across Kannabi Bridge to Kuiden City in disguise.
• Sakura Haruno caused a disturbance at the casino, beat its thugs, and confronted its owner, Kuiden Scarface.
• Sakura Haruno interrogated Scarface with the help of a Water Release Alien and Genjutsu, learning Kakuzu had ordered the group to lie low but that Scarface knew no Akatsuki secrets.
• Sakura Haruno learned Scarface's crimes and killed him, then left the casino and searched the old Kannabi Bridge battlefield without finding traces of the past.
• Sakura Haruno returned to her temporary base, took over from her fading Ice Clone, rested through the day, and left another clone behind before continuing her mission that evening.

Pain convened an Akatsuki meeting to discuss Deidara’s death at Sakura Haruno’s hands, appoint Tobi as his replacement, and set stricter precautions before the organization captured the Tailed Beasts. The members were dismissed with orders to watch for Orochimaru, and Pain hoped they would all survive until their next gathering.

• Pain told the Akatsuki members that Sakura Haruno had killed Deidara, and Kakuzu complained that he had lost several hearts to her.
• Sasori revealed that he had turned Deidara’s body into a Human Puppet, provoking an argument about comradeship and art.
• Zetsu and Sasori described Sakura’s abilities, while Pain warned the members to be careful if they encountered her.
• Pain introduced Tobi as a provisional member who would take Deidara’s Azure ring and partner with Sasori.
• Pain ordered Akatsuki to lie low, suspend some intelligence gathering, and avoid exposing its peripheral organizations before the Tailed Beast capture plan began.
• Pain ordered members near the Land of Rivers to watch for Orochimaru and kill him on sight, then dismissed the gathering.

Sakura Haruno completed twenty cultivated hearts and used them to build up Chakra reserves for her Yin Seal. While she planned to repeat the process over the next two weeks, an Ice Clone went to a nearby border region to eliminate a bandit gang.

• Sakura Haruno finished cultivating twenty hearts after several days of monitoring them in her underground laboratory.
• She copied her Yin Seal onto each heart and used a Yin Release rod to feed spiritual energy into them, making the seals collect Chakra.
• Sakura estimated that repeatedly draining and restoring the hearts could save her about half a year's worth of Chakra reserves.
• Sakura's Ice Clone reached a mountain stronghold to carry out a mission to eliminate rogue ninja and bandits.

Sakura Haruno used Ice Clones to clear a long list of missions while she gathered chakra from newly grown hearts. The hearts rapidly deteriorated, and she prepared to transfer the chakra stored in their Yin Seals into her own body.

• Sakura Haruno's Ice Clone wiped out a bandit gang, killed its leader after he tried to attack her during his surrender, and vanished after completing the mission.
• Sakura Haruno's clones exterminated a crime family, assassinated Ao Fujiwara, escorted an employer, and handled other missions across several countries.
• Sakura Haruno used Yin Release to extend her Ice Clones' duration, but concluded that further research would require access to secret technique scrolls such as those held by the Nara family.
• After extracting chakra from the hearts daily for thirteen days, Sakura Haruno found they were rapidly aging and could not be restored with Medical Ninjutsu.
• Sakura Haruno connected the spiritual-energy rods in the hearts to her own and prepared to extract the chakra stored in their Yin Seals.

After completing her missions, Sakura returned to Konoha with a huge supply of Chakra and asked Tsunade about Yin Release. With little guidance available, she prepared for the Jonin combat assessment, which began at the Anbu training ground.

• Sakura transferred all the Chakra stored in the hearts into her Yin Seal, then destroyed the laboratory and returned to Konoha.
• Tsunade accepted Sakura’s completed missions and told her that the Jonin combat assessment would take place the following Monday.
• Sakura showed Tsunade her blue rod and asked how to train in Yin-Yang Release, but Tsunade could offer little help and promised to search Hashirama Senju’s records.
• Sakura spent five days reviewing the vague records and training before deciding to focus on Medical Ninjutsu instead.
• Yuichi brought five candidates, including Sakura, to the Anbu’s first training ground, where Tsunade started the Jonin combat assessment.

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.