Sawada Hagoromo became Naruto’s teacher and disciple mentor, helping him master Chakra while gaining power from the Nine-Tails. After killing a Root ninja sent by Danzo, Hagoromo brought the body to Hiruzen, who began investigating him.
Hagoromo joined the Anbu while continuing to train his students, then helped expose Shimura Danzō’s crimes and stop his attempt to seize Shisui’s eye. Hiruzen and the clan leaders confronted the crisis, and Danzō was captured after Root tried to flee Konoha.
Hagoromo reshaped Konoha’s leadership and trained Naruto, Sasuke, and their friends while developing his own Yang Release. He helped Naruto confront Kurama and meet Minato, then accepted a mission to gather intelligence near the Land of Rice Fields.
Hagoromo trained his young students while confronting Orochimaru’s growing threat and helping Minato restore Asura’s Chakra within Naruto. As the Academy term began, the students faced new challenges, Sasuke awakened his Sharingan, and Kakashi encountered Orochimaru.
Hagoromo trained Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and the others while advancing plans to guide Konoha’s graduating students. After battling Might Guy and agreeing to seek Jonin promotion, Hagoromo received the Mirage Vapor Pearls and summoned a powerful white creature who called himself Madara.
Hagoromo trained in Senjutsu, guided his students, and passed a dramatic Jonin promotion test that established him as a rising political force in Konoha. The arc ended with Hiruzen assigning him to lead a covert mission to investigate an ancient cult in Yugakure.
Hagoromo stopped Takase’s blood-sacrifice plot in Yugakure, then trained his students in new techniques and helped Neji confront the Caged Bird Seal. As Konoha prepared a border exercise amid rising tensions with Kumogakure, Hagoromo and Might Guy faced the missing Killer B at Moon Wheel Gorge.
After defeating Killer B and preventing war with Kumogakure, Hagoromo trained Neji and his students while developing techniques based on Yang Release and Tailed Beast Chakra. His experiments produced a dangerous new mode and drew the attention of Obito, Zetsu, and the Three Great Sage Regions.
Hagoromo traveled with Hiruzen Sarutobi to Kumogakure for its Chunin selection and defeated Killer B in a demonstration match. The visit ended with Konoha and Kumogakure considering an alliance, while Killer B returned to Konoha with the delegation and tried to befriend Hagoromo.
Hagoromo trained Konoha’s students, then joined the war against Sunagakure and helped dismantle its allies and supply routes. The arc ended with Hagoromo facing Roshi while his companions moved to ignite the Sand Shinobi’s provisions.
Hagoromo captured Roshi, defeated Kisame and Kakuzu’s attacks, and returned to Konoha, where he trained Neji and took him on missions. At the Land of Grass front, Hagoromo uncovered Black Zetsu’s spying spores and killed Kitsuchi as Iwagakure launched its assault.
Hagoromo defeated Iwagakure and brought Karin to Konoha, where she joined his students as a disciple. As his students trained and Tsunade settled into teaching, Konoha turned to enforcing its postwar demands on Takigakure.
After Konoha’s victory, Hagoromo helped prepare the village for the Akatsuki’s hunt for tailed beasts and investigated the masked man behind the Nine-Tails attack. The arc ended with Kakashi’s Sharingan sealed and Hiruzen preparing to act on evidence that Obito might still be alive.
Hagoromo helped Naruto master the Flying Thunder God Technique while Naruto and his classmates advanced their training and prepared for early fieldwork. As the villages formed a joint response to Akatsuki, Hagoromo and Jiraiya joined Kumogakure’s search for the Five-Tails, while Hiruko and Shinnō set out to capture it.
Hagoromo helped rescue Han and preserve Fū’s spirit while uncovering more about Akatsuki. He then led Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata through their graduation tests and first missions, ending with their discovery that Raiga had been an Akatsuki member.
Hagoromo helped Neji awaken the Tenseigan and trained his students for the coming Chunin Exams while taking them on missions. An escort mission led the team to a hidden chamber in the Land of Whirlpools, where they discovered a sealed Rinnegan and learned that destroying its altar could devastate the surrounding region.
Hagoromo trained Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata while Konoha prepared to host the Chunin Ninja Exams and gathered the Kage against the Akatsuki. Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata passed the written test and entered the Forest of Death, where the exam’s true political stakes emerged.
Naruto’s team survived the Forest of Death, faced Orochimaru, and reached the Highland Tower, where Naruto received treatment and the second stage ended. After the preliminary fights, the third exam was set for a month later, while Gaara rejected Sunagakure’s operation and questioned the story of the Fourth Kazekage’s death.
The Chunin Exams were interrupted by Pain’s attack, and Hagoromo helped bring down Nagato while the Kage faced growing uncertainty about the Akatsuki. Gaara began preparing to lead Sunagakure, and Hagoromo set plans in motion to study the Rinnegan as tensions rose ahead of a Five Kage Summit.
Hagoromo helped expose Obito’s war plans and unite the Five Great Nations, then prepared Naruto, Sasuke, and his other disciples for battle. As the war spread across several fronts, Naruto and Sasuke gained new powers and joined Neji against the reincarnated Kage.