Chapter Summaries

Hyuga Yuuki joined the Hyuga Clan’s advance force carrying a compound bow and a large travel bag as Konoha mobilized against Sunagakure’s invasion. The armies met, and after Minato argued with Chiyo over the missing Third Kazekage, Pakura challenged him to a duel.

• Hyuga Yuuki accepted a compound bow from Hyuga Mie and joined the Hyuga Clan’s reconnaissance force, where many Branch Family members also carried bows and travel bags.
• The Hyuga clan head ordered Hyuga Shinji to lead the group to Konoha’s main force and asked Hyuga Hiashi to test the bows’ effectiveness.
• Sunagakure’s forces passed road workers on a new forest road, then encountered Jiraiya, Namikaze Minato, and Konoha’s advance force.
• Chiyo accused Konoha of killing the Third Kazekage, but Minato challenged her to provide evidence and suggested Iwagakure could have been responsible.
• Chiyo sent Pakura to challenge Minato, and Jiraiya pushed his student forward to accept the duel.

Minato defeated Pakura and showed how his techniques could counter Scorch Release, then overwhelmed Sunagakure's forces with his speed and newly revealed Flying Thunder God Technique. Chiyo ordered a retreat after Minato's attack and poison forced the battle to turn against Sunagakure, while Jiraiya realized Minato had concealed how much he had mastered.

• Minato countered Pakura's Scorch Release with Wind Style: Breath of Wind Technique and defeated her in close combat before Chiyo intervened to save her.
• Chiyo ordered Sunagakure's forces to attack as Rasa and Karura confronted Minato with Gold Dust and Sand Staircase.
• Rasa's Gold Dust appeared to engulf Minato, but Minato reappeared behind Karura and stabbed her, causing Rasa to abandon the battle to tend to her.
• Minato charged into Sunagakure's formation and struck down its ninja until Chiyo released poison across the battlefield to stop his advance.
• Chiyo ordered Sunagakure's forces to retreat, and Jiraiya recognized Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique; Minato said he had only just gained insight into it.

After Sunagakure lost 300 ninja in minutes, Chiyo assessed Minato’s strength and found her commanders Rasa and Pakura unreliable. She redirected her retreating force toward walled Xitang Town, intending to use its defenses to restore morale by fighting Konoha again.

• Chiyo learned that Sunagakure had lost 300 ninja and questioned the wounded Pakura about her defeat by Minato.
• Chiyo discovered that Rasa had left the battlefield with the injured Karura, and she grew angry at both Rasa’s retreat and Pakura’s poor judgment.
• Chiyo questioned survivors and learned that Minato had exceptional Wind Release, perception, speed, and Taijutsu, making him resemble Hatake Sakumo.
• Akizane reported that Konoha’s force followed ten li behind and that Xitang Town, forty kilometers away, had walls.
• Chiyo decided to seize Xitang Town and fight Konoha again, then ordered Sunagakure’s force to take the road toward it.

Chiyo’s Sunagakure force attacked Xitang Town, expecting its civilian militia to be easy prey, but the militia’s explosive-tag arrows devastated the Puppet Force. After discovering how the arrows worked, Chiyo ordered a retreat to Sunagakure to investigate the weapon before continuing the war.

• Chiyo identified Xitang Town’s defenders as ordinary militia and ordered Sanju to lead two hundred Puppet Masters in an attack.
• The militia fired in rotating rows, and arrows pierced the puppets’ back armor before exploding and killing or wounding many Puppet Masters.
• Akizane recognized the weapons as arrows fitted with explosive tags, and Chiyo ordered the force to retreat while they recovered examples.
• Chiyo dismantled an arrow and figured out that an iron block striking a stone spacer triggered sparks that ignited the explosive tag.
• Chiyo realized the militia’s weapon could threaten Jonin and ordered the entire force back to Sunagakure to investigate the arrows.

Minato defied Jiraiya’s order to stay back and rushed to Xitang Town, where Ning Organization-backed militia were fighting Sunagakure’s forces. After Sky relayed Ningyuan’s order to spare Chiyo, Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique to kill more than 130 enemies, forcing Chiyo to withdraw and leave the towns unharmed.

• Jiraiya ordered Konoha’s force to keep its distance from Xitang Town, but Minato broke away to support it.
• Minato found the town’s militia fighting the Sand Village Puppet Force and recognized them as troops supported by the Ning Organization.
• Sky told Minato that Ningyuan had ordered him to spare Chiyo, so Minato targeted other Sunagakure leaders instead.
• Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique to kill more than 130 Sand Village Ninja, including Pakura, while leaving Chiyo alive.
• Minato warned Chiyo he would keep attacking if Sunagakure continued its campaign, and she agreed to collect the dead and withdraw without plundering towns.

After forcing Sunagakure to retreat from the Land of Rivers, Minato argued with Jiraiya over whether towns should be allowed to maintain militias. Their clash over village-first thinking left Minato wondering whether he and his sensei would become enemies.

• Chiyo counted Sunagakure’s heavy losses, including Pakura’s death, and withdrew farther into the Land of Rivers when Minato’s forces arrived.
• Jiraiya followed Minato’s lead as Minato planned to reclaim the Land of Rivers’ towns and establish border strongholds.
• Minato questioned whether Xitang Town’s militia should be disbanded, arguing that local militias could protect remote villages from bandits.
• Jiraiya defended Konoha’s mission system and urged Minato to trust the judgment of the village’s past and present leaders.
• Minato recognized that Jiraiya prioritized the village over the ideals Minato valued and wondered if they would become enemies.

After reading Jiraiya’s report, Hiruzen Sarutobi recognized Minato’s battlefield strength and considered the political threat he posed as a potential Fourth Hokage. Hiruzen plotted to retain control of Konoha’s institutions, undermine Minato, and stop civilians from forming militias, then summoned Danzo.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi read Jiraiya’s report and realized Minato had mastered the Flying Thunder God and forced Sunagakure to retreat.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi concluded he might not be able to defeat Minato and regretted dismissing Jiraiya’s earlier praise.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted that Minato could become the Fourth Hokage and planned to keep the Anbu and mission assignments under his control.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi considered using an Uchiha student to prevent Minato from gaining the Uchiha Clan’s support, and contemplated exploiting Kushina’s Nine-Tails seal to force Minato from office.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi objected to civilians forming militias and ordered someone to fetch Elder Danzo.

Danzo informed Hiruzen Sarutobi that the Akatsuki Organization was rapidly expanding in the Land of Rain, while a report revealed that a town militia had repelled Sunagakure forces. Hiruzen ordered Root to investigate militia forces across the Land of Fire and left the Akatsuki issue to gradual persuasion, while considering the possibility that the Daimyo was behind the militias.

• Danzo told Hiruzen Sarutobi that the Akatsuki Organization had grown to nearly twenty thousand members and occupied six towns in the Land of Rain.
• Danzo proposed working with Hanzō to suppress the Akatsuki Organization, but explained that Hanzō viewed its teenage founders as Amegakure's future.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Danzo not to deploy forces to the Land of Rain and showed him a report about Xitang Town's militia defeating Sunagakure's Puppet Force.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered Danzo to have Root investigate how many towns had formed militias and report back before taking action.
• After Danzo left, Hiruzen Sarutobi wondered why Konoha's ninja had not reported the militias and thought about Jiraiya, the Akatsuki Organization, and Uchiha Obito.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo addressed the growing militia forces in the Land of Fire’s border towns and planned an operation against the powerful Akatsuki Organization in the Land of Rain. They agreed to send Danzo with sixty Jonin commanded by Sarutobi Shinnosuke, while Danzo secretly resolved to bring Shimura clansmen and compete for the operation’s political credit.

• Danzo reported that twenty-seven border towns had formed militia forces to defend against Rogue Ninja, and Hiruzen Sarutobi drafted rules to regulate them.
• Danzo revealed that the Akatsuki Organization had grown to more than fifty thousand members and occupied nearly one-fifth of the towns in the Land of Rain, partly by providing meals and Ninja Subsidies.
• Danzo asked Hiruzen Sarutobi for at least thirty Jonin to help Root fight the Akatsuki Organization, and Hiruzen offered sixty instead.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi appointed Sarutobi Shinnosuke to command the sixty Jonin, prompting Danzo to suspect Hiruzen planned to claim the operation’s credit for his clan.
• Danzo agreed to the arrangement and secretly planned to bring Shimura clansmen to compete for the credit, while Hiruzen decided to send twenty more Jonin disguised as Chunin as a precaution.

Ningyuan learned that Hiruzen Sarutobi had sent Danzo and Sarutobi Shinnosuke with 140 clan and Root Jonin to help Hanzō destroy the Akatsuki Organization. He joined Yahiko in the Land of Rain and urged the Akatsuki to answer Hanzō’s summons with all its Amegakure ninja, preparing for one decisive battle over the land’s future.

• Ningyuan read that Danzo and Sarutobi Shinnosuke were leading 140 Sarutobi, Shimura, and Root Jonin to the Land of Rain, and decided to collect his first interest from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Ningyuan and Yūhi Kurenai used clones to keep up appearances in Konoha, then traveled to the Land of Rain using Ningyuan’s Flying Thunder God technique.
• Ningyuan met Yahiko and discussed how the Akatsuki Organization had recruited ninja and civilians by paying salaries while executing members guilty of serious crimes.
• Yahiko told Ningyuan that Hanzō was preparing for war and had ordered all Amegakure ninja to return under the pretext of restoring the village’s system.
• Ningyuan advised Yahiko to accept Hanzō’s summons and bring all three thousand Akatsuki Amegakure ninja, proposing a decisive battle to determine the fate of the Land of Rain.

Hanzō rejected Yahiko’s demand that he step down, mobilized Amegakure’s forces, and began a war against the Akatsuki Organization. As Hanzō and Danzo charged into battle, they believed Amegakure had the advantage, while Yahiko’s army remained outside the city.

• Yahiko brought all three thousand Akatsuki Organization ninja to Amegakure, but Hanzō refused to let them enter the city together.
• Yahiko confronted Hanzō outside the walls and demanded that he step down, while Danzo recognized Yahiko’s resemblance to Nawaki and resolved to kill him.
• Danzo urged Hanzō to mobilize the troops, and Hanzō assembled 9,600 ninja, including those attending the peace conference.
• Hanzō summoned Ibuse and declared that the war had begun, then charged down from the city wall with Danzo and Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

Nagato held off Amegakure and Konoha’s forces with the Rinnegan, allowing the Akatsuki Organization to escape. After Danzo’s forces trapped him in Genjutsu, Nagato broke free and fled, with Danzo, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, and Hanzō pursuing him.

• Yahiko ordered the Akatsuki Organization to retreat, and Nagato stayed behind to cover their escape as Amegakure and Konoha’s vanguard caught up.
• Nagato revealed the Rinnegan and used Shinra Tensei and Double Almighty Push to repel the attacking ninja and inflict heavy casualties.
• Hanzō recognized the Rinnegan and ordered his forces to attack Nagato, while Danzo and Sarutobi Shinnosuke joined the pursuit to seize his eyes.
• Nagato challenged Danzo’s justification for Konoha’s intervention, and Danzo answered that potential future threats should be eliminated early.
• Danzo’s Root ninja used Darkness Technique to trap Nagato in Genjutsu, but Nagato absorbed the Chakra, regained his sight, and ran.
• Danzo and Sarutobi Shinnosuke led their men after Nagato, and Hanzō ordered his forces to follow.

Nagato led the pursuers across Tanggu Valley, where Yahiko’s Akatsuki force stopped to confront Hanzō and Danzo. Hyuga Ningyuan revealed himself as the organization’s leader and unleashed a lake-spanning sea of Explosive Tags, engulfing nearly everyone except Danzo.

• Nagato ran ahead while Danzo’s forces pursued him, and both groups crossed Tanggu Valley after mistaking the lake for an easy route.
• Yahiko stopped the Akatsuki Organization’s main force on the water and challenged Hanzō’s confidence in Ibuse.
• Yahiko introduced Hyuga Ningyuan and Yūhi Kurenai as the Akatsuki Organization’s leaders, and Danzo accused the Hyuga Clan of colluding with a foreign organization.
• Hyuga Shinka revealed that he had been an undercover agent, removed Danzo’s Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, and joined Ningyuan.
• Ningyuan used Paper Release: Tracking Sea of Explosive Tags Technique to cover the lake and engulf Hanzō, Danzo’s forces, and the Amegakure ninjas, sparing only Danzo.

Ningyuan used millions of Explosive Tags to kill Danzo’s forces and corner Danzo, then explained his hidden talent and challenged Danzo’s view of Konoha’s history. He persuaded Danzo to help document his secrets and ended by asking how Danzo became the Second Hokage’s disciple.

• Ningyuan’s modified Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tag technique bombarded Danzo and his troops, killing Sarutobi Shinnosuke and leaving Danzo trapped.
• Ningyuan revealed that he had hidden his power behind a Medical Ninja identity and accused Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi of eliminating rivals to protect their ambitions.
• Ningyuan explained that Danzo’s loss of the Hokage position had stemmed from Hiruzen Sarutobi’s ties to Tsunade, and Danzo reconsidered the event that had haunted him for decades.
• Ningyuan revealed that he was a historian seeking to record Danzo’s secrets, and persuaded Danzo that becoming an infamous figure would preserve his name.
• Danzo agreed to cooperate after learning Ningyuan had written Primordial, and Ningyuan asked how Danzo became the Second Hokage’s disciple.

Ningyuan questioned Danzo while recording his life story, learning about Konoha’s founding, the creation of Root, and Danzo’s role in Dan Katō and Nawaki’s deaths. He revealed Tsunade had been listening, and Danzo realized Ningyuan had used the biography as a trap to expose his crimes.

• Danzo began recounting his childhood, the Shimura Clan’s entry into Konoha, and his rivalry and friendship with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Danzo explained that Hiruzen Sarutobi and he created Root after the clans blocked plans to expand the Anbu, while Ningyuan questioned Danzo’s account of Konoha’s failure to aid the Uzumaki Clan.
• Danzo admitted that he arranged Dan Katō’s death by having a Root ninja kill him while he used the Spirit Transformation Technique.
• Danzo described how he exploited Nawaki’s battlefield recklessness by ordering Orochimaru along a trapped route, causing Nawaki’s death.
• Ningyuan summoned Tsunade, who confronted Danzo after hearing him confess to killing Dan Katō and Nawaki.

Tsunade used Wood Release to defeat Danzo, and Hatake Sakumo executed him after revealing that his apparent death had been faked. Ningyuan destroyed Danzo's remains, while Tsunade quietly thanked him before masking her emotion with a harsh retort.

• Tsunade confronted Danzo over his crimes, including Nawaki's death and the Sarutobi and Shimura clans' corruption and control of Konoha.
• Tsunade revealed that she had mastered Wood Release and trapped Danzo with a barrage of giant crossbow arrows and expanding vines.
• Tsunade held Danzo conscious through his pain and told him that another enemy would deal with the rest of him.
• Hatake Sakumo appeared and revealed that Orochimaru had forged the corpse that deceived Danzo into believing Sakumo was dead.
• Hatake Sakumo slit Danzo's throat, and Ningyuan used Light Release to burn the body to ashes.
• Ningyuan celebrated their victories, and Tsunade hugged him after briefly kneading him and murmured her thanks.

Ningyuan assessed the Land of Rain and found that its advanced industry and abundant water could support a new role as the organization’s industrial and educational center, though famine, floods, and weak administration needed attention. He assigned Nagato and Konan to consolidate the country’s ninja while outlining plans for transport, universities, and a renamed Rain Capital.

• Ningyuan reviewed the Land of Rain’s records and learned that Hanzō’s hands-off rule had fostered industry but left the country with famine, worsening floods, and uncoordinated development.
• Tsunade reported on the wounded, Hatake Sakumo reported that troublemakers had been arrested, Orochimaru reported that Amegakure’s research materials had been gathered, and Yūhi Kurenai reported that 4,762 orphans had been taken in.
• Yahiko reported that 7,400 Amegakure ninja had survived, and Ningyuan ordered Nagato and Konan to lead the Land of Rain Peace Army in bringing the country’s ninja under the new rule within a year.
• Ningyuan rejected Yahiko’s suggestion to attack the Land of Waterfalls, explaining that the Land of Rain’s plentiful water made it suited to industry and that the organization could supply its food.
• Ningyuan set plans to develop the Land of Rain through industry, education, technology, improved roads and waterways, and new universities, and he renamed Amegakure Rain Capital.

After losing contact with his son and several other Konoha Jonin sent to investigate the Land of Rain, Hiruzen Sarutobi concluded that Hanzō had ambushed them. He summoned Konoha’s Jonin and clan heads for an emergency meeting.

• After Sarutobi Shinnosuke and eighty other Jonin vanished, Hiruzen Sarutobi suspected Danzo and Hanzō had ambushed them.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi sent Akimichi Zero, Yamanaka Ichi, and Nara Mi to investigate the Land of Rain, but none returned.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi sent Aburame Taku to gather intelligence and report every three days, but he also disappeared.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi learned that Danzo and the Root ninja were dead, then blamed Hanzō for the disappearances and his son’s fate.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered every village Jonin and the heads of the major ninja clans to attend an emergency meeting.

Hiruzen Sarutobi tried to rally Konoha’s clan heads for war against the Land of Rain after Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Shinnosuke were ambushed, but Kakashi challenged the secretive decision and walked out. His defiance prompted several clan heads and elders to withdraw their support, leaving Hiruzen’s expedition in disarray.

• Uchiha Nanato introduced Uchiha Fugaku as the Uchiha Clan’s next head, while Hyuga Hiashi introduced himself as the Hyuga Clan’s successor.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told the clan heads that Hanzō had ambushed Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Shinnosuke during peace negotiations and asked them to support an invasion of the Land of Rain.
• Uchiha Nanato and the Hyuga clan head negotiated benefits for their clans, while Kakashi questioned why the negotiations had been kept secret from the clan heads and elders.
• Kakashi accused Hiruzen Sarutobi of starting a war without explaining the reason, mocked the possibility that Danzō and Shinnosuke had been killed while trafficking women, and left the meeting.
• Uchiha Nanato and the Hyuga clan head withdrew their support, followed by several other clan heads; Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu also refused to back Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi adjourned the meeting after the proposed punitive expedition had effectively lost its support.

Hiruzen Sarutobi abandoned plans to attack the Land of Rain after weighing the risks and chose not to pursue Kakashi. As Konoha Year 45 began, Chiyo and Sunagakure’s leaders discussed Minato’s limits and waited for other ninja villages to act.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi concluded that invading the Land of Rain could cost him the Hokage Position, and he decided to leave the deaths there uninvestigated.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi recognized that he could not safely retaliate against Kakashi and considered sending someone to protect him.
• Konoha Year 44 ended with the Konoha White Fang’s suicide, the disappearance of the Third Kazekage and Sasori of the Red Sands, and the deaths of Danzo, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, and Hanzō as the Akatsuki Organization took over the Land of Rain.
• Chiyo learned from two months of probing that Minato’s Flying Thunder God landing points depended on his thrown kunai, and she explained that Rasa’s Magnet Style could help counter them.
• Chiyo told Rasa and Pakura that Sunagakure could not defeat Konoha alone, but urged them to wait for other ninja villages to make their move.