Chapter Summaries

Gaara continued his attempt to destroy Sunagakure, and Temari sacrificed herself trying to stop him. After witnessing the destruction and confronting his own role in the tragedy, Naruto rejected the Nine-Tails' taunts and resolved to keep fighting.

• Naruto realized Gaara intended to destroy Sunagakure, but Temari shoved past him and confronted her brother from the Kazekage Building.
• Temari attacked Gaara's sand island with Wind Release: Great Sickle Weasel, but Gaara let the building collapse and Deidara detonated Explosive Clay: Sandfall, killing her.
• Baki mourned Temari, while Naruto watched the Kazekage Building burn and understood the human cost of war and hatred.
• The Nine-Tails blamed Naruto for the tragedy and urged him to give in, but Naruto rejected it as his wounds healed.
• Naruto stood up, vowed to bear responsibility for his mistakes, and resolved not to give up while Sunagakure remained in danger.

Naruto kept trying to reach Gaara as Gaara’s Explosive Sand Shower devastated Sunagakure and he declared judgment on the village. Sasuke arrived with Temari and confronted Gaara before the falling sand island could crush the village.

• Naruto sent a huge Shadow Clone army toward Gaara, but Gaara unleashed Explosive Sand Shower, killing villagers and injuring Naruto when he charged through it.
• Gaara explained that the sand detonated when struck with enough force, then accused Sunagakure of creating and tormenting him before preparing to drop the sky island on the village.
• Sasuke rescued Temari and brought her to the southwestern city wall, where the villagers recognized them and rallied around their arrival.
• Naruto heard Sasuke say his brother was still below and felt moved, while Neji protected Karin from the sand rain.
• Sasuke faced Gaara and declared that he would not allow him to call Naruto stupid, though he added that Naruto really was unbelievably stupid.

Second Pillar used Kirin to destroy Gaara and Deidara’s explosive sand island before it could crush Sunagakure, then collapsed from the strain. As Gaara attacked him again, Neji protected him and Naruto stepped forward in a tailed-beast cloak, threatening to kill Gaara.

• Second Pillar summoned Kirin and blasted apart Gaara’s falling explosive sand island, preventing Sunagakure’s destruction.
• Temari used Wind Release Weasel to scatter the island’s remaining sand, and Sunagakure’s survivors cheered as Baki accepted the village’s submission to Konoha.
• Second Pillar collapsed after the battle, and Gaara and Deidara attacked him from their giant white bird.
• Neji used Eight Trigrams Palms Rotation to deflect Gaara’s Sand Shower and stood beside Second Pillar.
• Naruto appeared in a crimson tailed-beast cloak and warned Gaara that he would kill him if he advanced.

Naruto struck Gaara and Deidara with his unfinished Rasenshuriken, while Neji caught Naruto and Sasuke let the enemy escape. After the survivors returned to Sunagakure, a wooden pendant in Chiyo’s home glowed and opened a pair of eyes as Sasuke received an S-Rank Scroll.

• Gaara attacked Naruto and searched for Second Pillar, allowing Naruto to strike Gaara and Deidara with the Rasenshuriken despite Gaara’s sand shield.
• Gaara shielded Deidara from the attack and lost consciousness; Neji caught Naruto as the backlash sent him falling.
• Deidara loaded Gaara into his clay bird and escaped, while Neji stopped Second Pillar from pursuing them.
• Second Pillar scolded Naruto, then left with Neji; Temari carried the injured Naruto toward medical care as night fell over Sunagakure.
• At Chiyo’s residence, a wooden pendant glowed and opened a pair of eyes, while Second Pillar heard that he had earned an S-Rank Scroll.

After receiving an S-Rank Scroll, Second Pillar awakened the Sage Body, gaining enormous chakra reserves, powerful recovery, and relief from his Mangekyō Sharingan’s worsening blindness. He ended the night testing his eye technique and marveling at his newfound strength, convinced that he might become invincible.

• Neji Hyuga analyzed how Orochimaru and the Sound Ninja Village could exploit the shinobi world's growing chaos while Second Pillar grew impatient to check his system reward.
• Second Pillar opened the S-Rank Scroll and learned that he had inherited the Sage Body, a physique associated with the Six Paths Sage.
• Second Pillar discovered that the Sage Body provided tailed-beast-level chakra reserves, powerful healing, extraordinary stamina, and protection against Mangekyō Sharingan blindness.
• Second Pillar reconsidered his chances against Orochimaru and Jiraiya and began to wonder whether he could become the strongest shinobi in the world.
• Second Pillar tested Mangekyo Eye Technique: Fleeting Splendor on a dune, alarming Hozuki Suigetsu before explaining that he was simply indulging himself with his excess chakra.

Sasuke persuaded Akatsuki to spare Gaara, then returned to Orochimaru's Base and freed Suigetsu from the Mind Puppet. Suigetsu awakened in his own body and asked Sasuke what the Spiritual Treasure Item had originally been used for.

• Sasuke healed his eye and restored his stamina and Chakra, while Suigetsu wondered whether he had harmed Karin.
• Deidara begged Akatsuki to save Gaara, and Pain agreed to assign Kakuzu and White Zetsu to treat him.
• Sasuke's group returned to Orochimaru's Base and found the facilities occupied by Kumogakure forces, though the laboratories remained sealed.
• Sasuke cut through the seals and found Suigetsu alive in a water tank, then prepared to transfer him out of the Mind Puppet.
• Sasuke instructed Suigetsu to focus on his body and repeat a strange verse, and the Mind Puppet returned to its lifeless state.
• Suigetsu opened his eyes in the tank and asked Sasuke what the Spiritual Treasure Item had been used for.

Second Pillar freed Hozuki Suigetsu from Orochimaru’s base, and the group found records linking Yakushi Kabuto’s dealings with Shimura Danzō. As the four youths parted, Suigetsu chose freedom over joining Konoha, while Karin decided she would not return to Orochimaru.

• Second Pillar shattered Suigetsu’s water tank with a sword strike, freed him, and gave him clothes.
• Second Pillar and Neji Hyuga searched Yakushi Kabuto’s rooms and found a booklet documenting exchanges between the Sound Ninja Village and Shimura Danzō.
• Second Pillar explained that the records could support their cause but that strength, not evidence alone, would decide Danzō’s fate.
• Suigetsu invited Karin to travel with him, but Neji revealed that Suigetsu’s soul had once inhabited the Mind Puppet, prompting Karin to slap him.
• Second Pillar invited Suigetsu to return to Konoha, but Suigetsu chose to wander freely, and Karin resolved not to return to Orochimaru.
• The four youths set off together into the wind, and Neji looked back at the valley and bade farewell to Orochimaru University of Science and Technology, Hidden Sound Village.

Sasuke and Neji returned to Konoha, where the villagers welcomed Sasuke as a hero while Neji remained largely unrecognized. Neji reunited with Tenten, who slapped him before embracing him, as Kakashi welcomed the two men home.

• Sasuke and Neji arrived at Konoha’s main gate, where Kotetsu initially challenged Neji but warmly welcomed Sasuke after learning about his mission in Sunagakure.
• Kotetsu and Izumo let Sasuke and Neji enter the village, and Konoha’s ninja crowded around Sasuke to praise his achievements.
• Kakashi dispersed the crowd, welcomed Sasuke and Neji, and heard Sasuke reveal that Sasori of the Red Sands belonged to Akatsuki alongside Obito.
• Tenten spotted Neji, rushed toward him, shoved and slapped him, then embraced him and cried as Neji apologized.

Second Pillar returned to Konoha, where Jiraiya welcomed him and explained that Orochimaru had destroyed Mist Hidden Village. Back at home, Sasuke rested, learned Naruto was hospitalized after using Rasenshuriken, and discovered he had earned a C-Rank Scroll.

• Second Pillar encountered Ao leaving the Hokage Office and learned from Jiraiya that Mist Hidden Village had been devastated by Orochimaru, with Mei Terumi and fewer than twenty survivors seeking Konoha's help.
• Jiraiya reassured Second Pillar that his intelligence could not have changed the outcome and told him that the younger generation represented hope amid the threat of war.
• Jiraiya took Second Pillar home to celebrate his return, where he explained that Naruto was hospitalized with serious hand and meridian injuries from using Rasenshuriken.
• Second Pillar ate, returned to his familiar bedroom, and rested while Jiraiya cared for him.
• Second Pillar posted on the system forum about his newly awakened Sage Body and noticed a reward notification granting him a C-Rank Scroll for destroying Sasori of the Red Sands' Regeneration Core.

Sasuke received the Fire Release: Exploding Flame Array scroll, joked with forum users, and was warned about powerful threats across their worlds. He settled into a peaceful routine, but that calm ended when Neji Hyuga went missing.

• Sasuke opened a C-Rank Scroll and learned the Rank A technique Fire Release: Exploding Flame Array, along with its connection to Salamander Hanzo.
• Sasuke read forum replies praising his Sage Body, teasing his arrogance, and naming threats such as Obito, Madara, Kaguya Otsutsuki, and Doraemon.
• Sasuke thanked the forum users and resolved to stay humble and train harder, while they continued joking with him.
• Sasuke set aside thoughts of war and other crises for a quiet evening, then returned to his regular routine of training, eating, and visiting friends.
• Sasuke discovered that Neji Hyuga, his close brother and trusted comrade, had gone missing.

After Konoha officially announced Sasuke and Neji’s undercover achievements, Jiraiya secured unanimous votes to promote Sasuke to Elite Jonin and Neji to Jonin. Tenten then told Sasuke that Neji had been avoiding her and might have been replaced by an impostor after May sixteenth.

• Jiraiya presented Konoha’s announcement crediting Sasuke and Neji with infiltrating Orochimaru’s organization and helping defend Sunagakure.
• Jiraiya proposed promoting Sasuke to Elite Jonin and Neji to Jonin, and the meeting approved both nominations unanimously.
• Sasuke told Jiraiya he had expected some factions to abstain, but Jiraiya said their battlefield success had left opponents little room to object.
• Tenten asked Sasuke whether he had noticed anything strange about Neji, then described how Neji had avoided her since May sixteenth.
• Tenten told Sasuke she suspected that the Neji seen after May sixteenth was an impostor because his eyes were not those of the Neji she knew.

Sasuke believed Tenten’s warning that the Neji she had seen might be an impostor and set plans in motion to investigate. After sending birds to watch Neji, Sasuke went to the Hyuga estate to search for clues, while Tenten insisted on joining him.

• Tenten told Sasuke that Neji had been acting strangely and might have been impersonated or controlled.
• Sasuke reasoned that the false Neji might be hiding what had happened to the real Neji and asked Tenten for a photograph.
• Sasuke tore the photograph to help the Grey Starlings identify Neji, fed the birds, and sent them to watch him.
• Sasuke decided to investigate Neji’s home, but warned Tenten that confronting the Hyuga clan could cause trouble for her family.
• Tenten insisted on accompanying Sasuke, who left for the Hyuga estate and confronted a guard who challenged him at the gate.

Sasuke went to the Hyuga Estate to see Neji, where guard Hyuga Kamekichi insulted him and the Uchiha before attacking him. Hyuga Seyo intervened, apologized, and escorted Sasuke inside, while Kamekichi was left devastated by the Main Family’s treatment of him.

• Hyuga Kamekichi demanded that Sasuke register before entering the Hyuga Estate, and Hyuga Michitaka warned him that Sasuke was a celebrated hero.
• After Kamekichi insulted the Uchiha, Sasuke struck him down, pinned him in the dirt, and threatened him when he tried to use the Eight Trigrams Palm Fist.
• Sasuke registered his visit to see Neji, but Kamekichi attacked his back as he was about to enter, so Sasuke severed Kamekichi’s right hand and held a sword to his neck.
• Hyuga Seyo arrived and asked Sasuke to spare Kamekichi, then slapped Kamekichi and apologized to Sasuke for the guard’s offense.
• Sasuke told Seyo he had come to visit Neji, and Seyo escorted him inside while Kamekichi wept over the collapse of his faith in the Hyuga family.

Sasuke visited Neji to investigate Tenten’s suspicion that something was wrong, but Neji acted like himself and complained that Tenten was clingy and that they had broken up. Tenten was devastated by Sasuke’s report, yet insisted she would never regret investigating, calling it something beyond love.

• Hyuga Seyo tried to persuade Sasuke that friendships faded while shared interests endured, but Sasuke challenged his assumptions and continued to Neji’s home.
• Neji welcomed Sasuke and appeared normal, then said he and Tenten had broken up and complained that she was clingy and resented his past escape from the Sound Ninja Village.
• Sasuke left Neji’s house furious and studied a photograph of Neji and Tenten, still questioning whether Neji’s feelings could have changed so quickly.
• Sasuke told Tenten that Neji had called her a pest who would not stop bothering him, leaving her pale and devastated.
• Tenten asked Sasuke to investigate Neji’s identity and recent contacts, and said she would never regret pursuing the truth, calling her actions something beyond love.

Second Pillar and Tenten investigated whether Neji was an impostor, questioning Rock Lee and Naruto about his recent behavior. Their accounts linked Neji to a nurse named Eri, and they stopped as Naruto addressed Nurse Eri at the hospital.

• Rock Lee told Second Pillar and Tenten that Neji had met him on May 17, trained with him, and asked about beautiful female peers, eventually prompting Lee to mention Eri.
• Second Pillar told Tenten he was more than ninety percent sure the Neji they had seen was the real Neji, but he refused to assume that the breakup explained everything and decided to broaden the investigation.
• Second Pillar and Tenten questioned Naruto at Konoha Hospital, where Naruto said Neji had visited him and asked about Eri on May 18.
• Second Pillar and Tenten left Naruto’s room, but stopped when Naruto apologized to Nurse Eri; Tenten turned back toward the room in anger.

Sasuke and Tenten investigated Neji’s connection to nurse Eri, but Sasuke suspected Eri’s story was a deception and gathered clues about Neji’s movements around Konoha. After identifying a pattern in whom Neji avoided or approached, Sasuke headed to the Anbu to seek professional help and entered the problem into the system.

• Sasuke and Tenten questioned Eri, who claimed Neji had repeatedly courted her, including serenading her with a pipa on the morning of May twentieth.
• After Sasuke and Tenten left, the fake Eri freed the real Eri, who had been bound and hidden in a hospital storage room.
• Sasuke obtained Eri’s file, questioned Neji’s acquaintances, and warned Hinata to tell her father that Neji’s friends were his friends and Neji’s enemies were his enemies.
• Sasuke sorted the people Neji had avoided, ignored, or deliberately approached, and concluded that Neji was hiding something from those most familiar with him.
• Sasuke went to the Anbu to consult Uzuki Yugao and entered his question into the system.

Second Pillar consulted Uzuki Yugao about Neji Hyuga’s suspicious behavior, and her analysis helped him uncover a contradiction in Nurse Eri’s testimony. The case pointed to the possibility that two people had impersonated Neji at the same time, though Yugao warned that both of them might have been fakes.

• Second Pillar visited the Anbu base and asked Uzuki Yugao to help investigate Neji’s strange behavior.
• Yugao reasoned that a fake Neji may have left clues about a romance to distract investigators and buy time.
• Second Pillar used Eternal Memory to recall that Eri said Neji had serenaded her after work, despite claiming the incident occurred in the morning.
• Yugao concluded that the conflicting timeline suggested two Nejis had been present at the same time.
• Second Pillar wondered whether the Neji at the Hyuga Estate had been real, but Yugao said both Nejis might have been fake.

Second Pillar left Uzuki Yugao without evidence against the Hyuga Clan and focused on investigating Neji’s disappearance and Eri. After reading the forum’s jokes and speculation, he headed for the Hokage Residence when a new suggestion arrived.

• Second Pillar asked Uzuki Yugao whether the Hyuga Clan was behind Neji’s disappearance, and she warned him that there was no evidence and that accusing the clan could destabilize Konoha.
• Second Pillar thanked Uzuki Yugao and left the Anbu Base, deciding to keep investigating Neji and Eri through the birds.
• Second Pillar opened the veteran netizens’ forum and read their theories about Neji and Eri, growing irritated by their speculation and jokes.
• Second Pillar closed the forum and walked toward the Hokage Residence, then received a notification that a new suggestion had arrived.

After reviewing the system’s suggestions, Sasuke decided to kidnap Hanabi Hyuga and demand Neji’s return in an extreme one-for-one exchange. He infiltrated the Hyuga compound in bird form and flew toward its center to carry out the plan.

• Sasuke read suggestions from veteran netizens, including advice to ignore the matter, involve Jiraiya, confront Hiashi, or kidnap Hanabi.
• Sasuke considered the risks of taking Hanabi but decided his concern for Neji outweighed his hesitation.
• Sasuke went to the Hyuga Clan grounds, believing the clan was behind Neji’s crisis after encountering Fake Neji and Eri’s lies.
• Sasuke transformed into a black bird, slipped over the compound wall, and flew toward the center rather than approaching Neji’s home.

Sasuke infiltrated the Hyuga Clan head's residence to kidnap Hanabi Hyuga, but discovered a bound girl in her bed instead. He recognized the girl as Eri and called her name.

• Sasuke transformed into a bird and questioned a night owl, which directed him to Hanabi Hyuga's room.
• Sasuke entered the bedroom and found ninja tools and an Academy schoolbag, making him wonder if he had the right room.
• Sasuke pulled the blanket off the bound figure and discovered a pink-haired girl with a towel in her mouth.
• Sasuke recognized the girl as Eri and hesitantly called her name.