Chapter Summaries

Hikaru’s team discovered two White Zetsu-like chakra signatures near Iwami Village, prompting Tsunade to reinforce the village and investigate their presence. After one underground signature disappeared, Tsunade kept the watch in place and wondered what the creature meant when it said “hurts”; the chapter ended with Neji training before dawn.

• Hikaru stopped his team from chasing a fast creature after realizing it was leading them in circles around Iwami Village, and he reported a White Zetsu-like creature aboveground and another underground.
• Tsunade ordered Hikaru to remain near Iwami Village with reinforcements, guard the village, and avoid pursuing or killing the creatures.
• Tsunade discussed the possibility that someone was deliberately drawing Konoha’s forces away and decided to wait for Chisen to return with information from Orochimaru about killing the God Tree.
• A new report stated that the underground chakra signature had disappeared, so Tsunade approved Hikaru’s extended stay and sent three more people to support the watch.
• Tsunade wondered what had hurt the creature that said “hurts,” while Neji stood alone at Konoha’s eastern training ground before dawn.

Neji and Tenten discovered that Lee had vanished after someone left a suspicious note, and Chisen recognized the disappearance as a trap meant to draw Konoha's elite out of the village. Guy and the others prepared to pursue Lee, while Chisen identified a likely underground base in the Land of Rice Fields and warned that Kabuto was expecting a small Konoha squad.

• Tenten told Neji that Lee was missing and showed him a note promising to lead someone to the White Zetsu's home.
• Neji determined that someone else had written the note and left it in Lee's room, then went to find Chisen while Tenten sought Guy.
• Chisen told Neji that someone had made a move and spotted a decoy heading north out of Konoha, confirming that Lee's disappearance was bait.
• Guy examined the note and concluded that Lee had not left willingly, while Neji, Tenten, Hanabi, and the others refused to let Guy pursue Lee alone.
• Chisen revealed that Kabuto had expanded an underground facility in the Land of Rice Fields and was waiting for Konoha to send a small squad.

Chisen explained Kabuto’s trap and devised a hidden route for a small team to rescue Lee, while Tenten identified White Zetsu blood on the note as evidence linking Kabuto to the kidnapping. Guy led Chisen, Neji, and Tenten out of Konoha, where he noticed Chisen was concealing an injury to his right leg.

• Chisen warned that Kabuto had prepared the direct route to his base as a trap, then revealed an underground river that could let the rescue team bypass its defenses.
• Guy chose a four-person team of himself, Neji, Tenten, and Chisen, while Hanabi and Yamato stayed behind to prepare a larger force if the team did not return within three days.
• Tenten tasted the note’s unusual final stroke and identified it as White Zetsu blood; Chisen concluded that Kabuto had written the message.
• The four left Konoha through a northern drainage outlet rather than the main gate and headed toward the hidden route.
• Guy studied Chisen’s gait and realized that Chisen was hiding an injury to his right leg.

Chisen led Guy, Neji, and Tenten through Kabuto’s White Zetsu surveillance net, avoiding detection until lime-marked ground exposed their position. As the White Zetsu herded them north, Chisen recognized the trap and turned the team west toward the larger group instead.

• Chisen detected three White Zetsu ahead, and Neji confirmed they were conducting a coordinated search.
• The team used a dry creek to bypass the first search group, then Neji spotted White Zetsu blocking the routes north, west, and east.
• Chisen chose to risk crossing a gap between two White Zetsu, but discovered Kabuto had spread lime to make their footprints easy to track.
• Neji reported that seven White Zetsu had spotted the team and were steering them north while reporting their movements to Kabuto.
• Chisen realized the northward route was a trap and led Guy, Neji, and Tenten west toward the three White Zetsu there.

Chisen led Guy, Neji, and Tenten into the underground river to evade Kabuto’s White Zetsu and approach Pheasant Feather Valley from the north. They reached a shaft marked by a tiny point of sunlight, and Guy began climbing out first.

• Chisen realized the White Zetsu were steering the group northeast, so he turned back toward the dried-up stream instead of following them.
• Chisen used a wide detour to slip behind the White Zetsu search network and found the concealed crevice leading underground.
• The group squeezed into the underground river, with Neji guiding Guy through a narrow gap in the rocks.
• Chisen followed markings along the river wall to a fork and directed the group toward the main channel beneath a shaft of sunlight.
• Guy climbed first toward the shaft, which would bring them to the surface north of the mine.

Chisen, Guy, Neji, and Tenten left the mine to search for Lee and entered a strangely empty bamboo forest. After they discovered they had circled back, Neji realized the bamboo stalks were moving to close off their path.

• Chisen said Kabuto would keep Lee alive to study his cells and abilities, and the four headed toward Pheasant Feather Valley.
• Neji used his Byakugan to find no living creatures in the bamboo forest, while Chisen identified its unnatural black, chakra-infused soil.
• Neji could not see far enough underground to locate Lee, so Chisen urged the group to keep moving through the forest.
• Neji used the sun to guide them north, but after fifteen minutes Chisen recognized a stalk he had scratched earlier and concluded they had gone in a circle.
• Neji scanned the forest and discovered that the bamboo stalks were shifting to seal off the path behind them.

Neji, Guy, Tenten, and Chisen discovered that Kabuto controlled the Bamboo Forest through an underground chakra field and shared root system. After White Zetsu emerged throughout the forest, they began severing the bamboo stalks that powered them, but the fight was still underway.

• Neji explained that the bamboo’s movements guided them in a circle and revealed a vast chakra field beneath the forest.
• Guy failed to break a bamboo stalk, and Chisen explained that the underground chakra field spread the force throughout the forest.
• Chisen and Neji discovered that the bamboo shared one enormous root system extending beneath Pheasant Feather Valley.
• Hundreds of White Zetsu emerged as the forest darkened, and Neji counted 237 of them receiving chakra through the roots.
• Chisen cut a bamboo stalk, Guy broke it, and the White Zetsu connected to it stopped moving as Neji saw the chakra field weaken.
• Tenten disrupted four stalks with wired kunai, slowing their White Zetsu, while Chisen fought off attackers and asked Neji to identify the core stalk.

Chisen, Neji, Tenten, and Guy fought an overwhelming horde of White Zetsu in the Bamboo Forest, but the seemingly endless attackers wore them down. As Neji warned that something larger and different waited beyond the horde, Guy steadied Chisen with a hand on his shoulder.

• Neji failed to locate the Bamboo Forest's core, so Chisen urged the group to kill the White Zetsu instead.
• Guy, Tenten, Neji, and Chisen fought the White Zetsu as more emerged from underground, while their stamina and supplies dwindled.
• Neji saved Tenten from a White Zetsu attack, and Chisen noticed Guy slowing as his own leg wound reopened.
• The White Zetsu surrounded the exhausted group, and Chisen judged their numbers too great to overcome easily.
• Neji sensed a larger, different presence beyond the encirclement and warned Chisen before Guy placed a steady hand on Chisen's shoulder.

Chisen identified the God Tree’s main root as the source sustaining the White Zetsu and devised a plan to sever it, but first he needed Guy to break through more than a hundred meters of earth. As the White Zetsu closed in, Chisen revealed that his Black Blade was made from mineral found around the root and prepared to use it to create a detonation point.

• Chisen explained that the White Zetsu depended on chakra from the bamboo and the God Tree’s root system, and that severing the main root would destroy the chakra field.
• Neji used his Byakugan to locate the main root 103 meters underground and traced it northwest toward Pheasant Feather Valley, about ten kilometers away.
• As more than three hundred White Zetsu closed in, Chisen asked Guy whether he could punch through the ground with the Sixth Gate, and Guy said he needed a prepared hole to focus the force.
• Chisen bent the Black Blade and explained that it was forged from crystalline mineral gathered near the God Tree’s roots.

Chisen, Guy, Neji, and Tenten prepared a coordinated assault to expose the God Tree’s main root beneath the Bamboo Forest. Chisen’s resonance and Guy’s punch began opening a path toward the root as the White Zetsu were disrupted.

• Chisen explained that vibrating the Black Blade at the God Tree root’s 7.3-hertz frequency could crack the ground around it, and Guy agreed to punch along those cracks.
• Neji offered to hold back the White Zetsu with the Byakugan and Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, while Tenten pledged to guard the rear and use her last two modified exploding tags to block the sides.
• Neji swallowed a powerful Hyuga soldier pill, and Guy opened the first six gates of the Eight Gates Formation as Chisen began vibrating the blade at the measured frequency.
• Cracks spread through the Bamboo Forest, releasing green chakra mist that disrupted the White Zetsu and caused some to freeze, dissolve, or burst.
• Guy punched beside Chisen’s blade, collapsing the ground into a pit whose cracks continued spreading downward toward the main root.

Guy, Neji, Chisen, and Tenten fought to hold back the White Zetsu while Guy’s blows and Chisen’s vibrating blade extended the underground cracks. Tenten and Neji were close to being overwhelmed when the cracks reached 103 meters and the Black Blade’s vibration abruptly stopped.

• Guy kept punching into the pit as the strain of the Eight Gates Formation tore at his body, while Tenten set off Exploding Tags to hold back the White Zetsu on the east side.
• Tenten ran west and attacked the larger horde with Shuriken and Steel Wire as Neji used Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm to protect Guy.
• Chisen maintained the Black Blade’s vibration at 7.3 hertz despite his bleeding leg, while Guy’s blows deepened the pit and Neji’s chakra began to run low.
• Tenten ran out of weapons and became surrounded, but bound a broken Kunai to her hand and prepared to keep fighting as White Zetsu pushed through the fading flames.
• Guy’s seventeenth punch extended the underground cracks to 103 meters, and Chisen sensed the Black Blade abruptly stop vibrating.

Chisen, Guy, and Neji exposed the God Tree Main Root, which awakened and reclaimed the chakra of the White Zetsu. As Chisen prepared to descend and sever it, Neji discovered that Tenten had killed forty-eight White Zetsu but was gravely wounded and unable to answer.

• Chisen used resonance and Guy's heel strike to expose a section of the God Tree Main Root more than a hundred meters underground.
• Chisen told Neji and Guy to guard the pit while he went down to sever the root, but Neji warned that its chakra was surging faster.
• The White Zetsu throughout the Bamboo Forest froze as the awakened main root reclaimed their chakra and began gathering energy to bury its exposed section.
• Chisen prepared his cracked Black Blade with his blood and planned to use Tenten's steel wire to escape the pit, but Guy questioned how he would get back up.
• Neji saw that Tenten had killed forty-eight White Zetsu and was still alive, badly wounded and leaning against bamboo.

Chisen stayed behind to sever the God Tree's exposed main root while Guy carried the badly wounded Tenten out of the Bamboo Forest with Neji. Chisen cut into the root, triggering internal pressure that began tearing it apart.

• Neji saw that Tenten was still alive and told Guy she needed immediate treatment.
• Chisen ordered Guy to carry Tenten to safety with Neji while he handled the exposed main root alone.
• Guy found Tenten, who told him that it hurt, and carried her out of the Bamboo Forest as Neji followed.
• Chisen jumped into the pit and landed on the God Tree's main root before locating a weak point in its fibers.
• Chisen drove the Black Blade into the root and made intersecting cuts, causing its internal pressure to tear the tissue apart.

Chisen cut the God Tree's main root, causing it to rupture and flood the pit with corrosive chakra. As the pit filled, Chisen climbed its crumbling wall with one injured leg, but his exhausted muscles gave out before he could reach Guy; he drove the Black Blade into the rock to hold himself up.

• Chisen made a third cut into the God Tree's main root, and the root split open under the pressure of its chakra.
• Guy returned to the pit's opening and offered to jump down, but Chisen warned him to stay back as the pit collapsed.
• Chisen jumped to the wall and climbed while the rising liquid corroded the rock and his injured right leg dragged behind him.
• Chisen's left leg cramped and then failed as he climbed, and he slid several meters down the wall while Guy reached for him from above.
• Chisen drew the Black Blade, drove it into the wall, and braced his left knee in a hollow to keep himself from falling.

Chisen used a Neural Stimulant to destroy the God Tree’s main root and collapse the Bamboo Forest, then returned to Guy, Neji, and Tenten as the drug wore off. Guy realized Chisen had lied about improving the stimulant and faced the returning pain with his friend.

• Chisen drank a Neural Stimulant, ignored his injuries, and climbed out of the pit after warning Guy to flee.
• Chisen set off a directional blast that severed the God Tree’s main root and caused the Bamboo Forest to collapse.
• Guy escaped the forest, and Neji and Tenten watched as the forest sank and a column of dark red liquid erupted from the pit.
• Chisen ran out of the Bamboo Forest and told Guy, Neji, and Tenten that the severed root would kill the feeder roots, the forest, and the White Zetsu.
• Guy asked about the Neural Stimulant, and Chisen claimed he had improved its formula before Guy accused him of lying.

Chisen admitted he had lied about the Neural Stimulant so Guy could make faster decisions, then treated Tenten before succumbing to the drug’s side effects. The team returned toward Konoha, with Chisen feverish and unable to use chakra during his recovery, and Tenten asked Neji whether Chisen had used a Neural Stimulant before.

• Chisen explained that he had concealed the Neural Stimulant’s risks to preserve Guy’s decision-making speed, then sealed Tenten’s eyelid wound with Medical Adhesive.
• The Bamboo Forest died after the God Tree’s main root was severed, and Neji, Guy, Tenten, and Chisen confirmed they had survived.
• Neji carried Tenten as the injured team made the four-day journey back toward Konoha, while Guy carried Chisen after he developed a high fever from the stimulant’s aftereffects.
• Neji explained that Chisen’s nervous system needed to recalibrate and that he would be unable to use chakra while recovering.
• Tenten asked Neji whether Chisen had used a Neural Stimulant before.

Neji explained that Chisen’s double dose of Neural Stimulant could leave him recovering for months, while the team camped and discussed Kabuto’s weakened position. On the third morning, Chisen woke from his fever and learned Neji had followed the detailed recovery prescription he had prepared for emergencies; the team began packing to continue their journey.

• Neji estimated that Chisen might need three to four months to recover from the Neural Stimulant, with complications potentially extending that time.
• Guy, Neji, and Tenten camped for the night, and Neji explained that Kabuto’s base had lost its God Tree chakra supply and that Kabuto would need a new source to preserve his White Zetsu samples.
• Neji asked Guy about Neural Stimulants, and Guy said Chisen had forbidden him from using one because it could interact dangerously with the Eight Gates Formation.
• On the morning of the third day, Chisen’s fever broke and he regained consciousness; Neji gave him medicine prepared from the recovery prescription in his medical kit.
• Neji told Chisen that his detailed prescription had anticipated teammates with no medical knowledge having to care for him, and Tenten finished packing the tent.

Guy, Chisen, Neji, and Tenten recovered enough to travel back to Konoha, where they were admitted to the hospital for treatment. Shizuko examined them and warned Neji that the Hyuga Clan’s specially made soldier pill had left his chakra dangerously depleted.

• Chisen said his shaking would take until that afternoon to stop and that he could not use ninjutsu for at least two months, while Guy learned his cracked rib needed four to six weeks to heal.
• Tenten gave Chisen a cane, and he stood and began walking with Guy, Neji, and Tenten toward Konoha.
• The group reached Konoha, where Guy reassured a child that they had chased off the bad guys before the four continued to the hospital.
• Shizuko examined Tenten’s head wound and told her it might leave a scar that would need repair after healing.
• Shizuko checked Neji’s chakra and learned he had taken one Hyuga Clan soldier pill; she said his chakra might take one to two weeks to recover and warned him not to use it forcefully.

Chisen and the others recovered overnight at Konoha Hospital and were discharged with strict instructions. On their way home, Chisen helped Taro search for his missing cat without using chakra, then arranged rehabilitation exercises for Guy.

• Shizuko examined Chisen, warned that his double dose of Neural Stimulant might cause prolonged neurological damage, and took over his prescribing privileges.
• Shizuko kept Chisen, Tenten, Neji, and Guy in the hospital overnight, then approved their discharge after their conditions remained stable or improved.
• Chisen explained to Guy that his adapted nervous system reduced the likely damage, though he still expected an eight-to-twelve-week chakra recovery.
• Taro asked Chisen to help find Mimi, and Chisen gave him mint water to lure the cat out without using ninjutsu.
• Chisen told Guy he would come by the next morning to help rehabilitate his fractured rib.

Chisen returned to Konoha, tended to his injuries, and began planning to retrieve records from Kabuto’s ruins in Pheasant Feather Valley once he recovered. The next morning, he started Guy’s rehabilitation and guided him through breathing exercises, leaving Guy able to reach the prescribed five-centimeter mark despite a faint ache.

• Chisen set rehabilitation appointments for Guy, Neji, and Tenten, and warned Neji against straining his recovering chakra pathways.
• Chisen returned to his apartment, treated his leg wound, and decided he would revisit Pheasant Feather Valley in eight to twelve weeks to recover Kabuto’s remaining research records.
• Chisen wrote a first draft of a plan to retrieve the records, then went downstairs to accept the pork rib soup Mrs. Tanaka had saved for him.
• Chisen arrived at Guy’s home the next morning with a homemade breathing trainer and assessed Guy’s rib injury and chest mobility.
• Chisen coached Guy through breathing exercises until Guy inhaled enough to pull the trainer’s spring to the five-centimeter mark.