Chapter Summaries

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.

Sakura Haruno fought Suikazan Harisenbon after the grand elder chose him to challenge her, and she revealed that she had entered the arena as an Ice Clone. She overwhelmed Harisenbon with her swordsmanship and pierced his chest, while the grand elder raised his hand as the fight reached its end.

• The grand elder selected Suikazan Harisenbon to fight Sakura Haruno, and Pakura advised her to use the fight as cover for a later raid on the secret base.
• Sakura Haruno and Suikazan Harisenbon moved to a training ground, where he ignored the sparring etiquette and attacked her as she bowed.
• Sakura Haruno revealed that the apparent fighter was an Ice Clone, which exploded and wounded Harisenbon.
• Sakura Haruno closed in with butterfly-shaped ice blades and cut Harisenbon with swift close-range attacks.
• Sakura Haruno used Eight Slashing Blades to sever Harisenbon's sword hand, then pierced his chest as the grand elder raised his hand.

Sakura Haruno defeated Suikazan Harisenbon, then survived the Suikazan faction’s ambush as Mei Terumi confronted the grand elder and revealed that both she and Sakura were Kage-level ninja. The chapter left the Mizukage’s forces facing the grand elder’s faction as a silvery-white line of water shot toward them.

• Sakura Haruno killed Suikazan Harisenbon in their duel, and the grand elder ordered an attack on her.
• Several Mist Ninja launched powerful Ninjutsu at Sakura, who countered with Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals and vanished in the resulting explosion.
• The grand elder claimed Sakura’s apparent death had forced the Mist Ninja to break with Konoha, and his supporters gathered openly at his side.
• Mei Terumi rejected the grand elder’s attempt to force her into compromise and said she would crush his faction in one blow.
• Mei revealed her full Kage-level strength and declared Sakura Haruno was also Kage-level.
• Mei sensed Sakura’s chakra outside the arena as a silvery-white line of water shot toward the gathered ninja.

Sakura Haruno and Mei Terumi confronted the grand elder and the Suikazan Clan, only for him to reveal that pollen had left their side unable to produce chakra. As Tomoaki Aono approached the helpless Mei Terumi, she struck back with Lava Release and killed him.

• Sakura Haruno arrived on the battlefield and killed several of the grand elder’s ninja with Water Release: Wind Blade Torrent.
• Mei Terumi dismissed the neutral ninja, leaving her group and the grand elder’s faction to face off.
• The grand elder used Hidden Mist, but Sakura Haruno dispersed it with Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.
• The grand elder revealed that pollen carried through the mist had paralyzed their chakra, and confessed that the Suikazan Clan had helped Madara Uchiha control Karatachi Yagura.
• Tomoaki Aono approached the weakened Mei Terumi, but she used Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique to dissolve him and rose to her feet.

Sakura and Mei Terumi fought the Suikazan Clan’s grand elder while weakened by pollen, and Mei’s subordinates prepared to sacrifice themselves rather than hinder her. Sakura then opened her Yin Seal and unleashed an overwhelming surge of Chakra, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Sakura and Mei Terumi blocked the grand elder’s Water Shark Bullet Technique, and Sakura used Wind Blade Torrent to cut down two enemy ninja.
• The grand elder revealed that pollen had paralyzed Mei, Sakura, and their subordinates, then taunted Mei for protecting her comrades.
• Mei declared that protecting her comrades was her purpose as Mizukage, and her subordinates struggled back to their feet to stand with her.
• Pakura and the others chose to kill themselves with their Kunai rather than hold Mei back, while Pakura privately regretted never confessing his feelings to her.
• Sakura opened her Yin Seal and released a vast surge of Chakra, shocking Pakura and the grand elder.

Sakura Haruno used her Yin Seal and Ice Release to shield the Mist Ninja inside a giant ice construct while Mei Terumi launched a counterattack against Great Elder Suikazan and the rebels. Mei’s Lava Release and Boil Release killed many enemies, leaving the battle strongly in her favor.

• The Great Elder was shocked by Sakura Haruno’s remaining chakra, but ordered the rebels to attack her and the others with a barrage of ninjutsu.
• Sakura used Ice Release to form a gigantic ice human that protected the Mist Ninja from the rebels’ attacks and lifted them high above the battlefield.
• Sakura and Mei Terumi agreed to fight from the ice giant, with Sakura controlling it while Mei attacked the enemies below.
• Mei Terumi’s Lava Release dragon broke through the rebels’ Earth and Water defenses, dissolving Zhicheng, Chunjiao, and Yuchi and badly injuring Madoka.
• Mei Terumi followed with Boil Release acid mist, killing Haruta, Kabaka, and several other enemies as Sakura praised her power.