Recaps

The Konoha exams tested the contestants’ combat skills and teamwork, while Gaara and Naruto helped Fuu improve her bond with Chomei. Meanwhile, Akatsuki captured the Four-Tails and Six-Tails, leaving Utakata dead and the organization’s hunt advancing.

• Haku defeated Kankuro’s upgraded puppet and made him surrender, while Tobi and Deidara captured Isobu and began sealing it for Akatsuki.
• Konohamaru defeated Temari with a Mini Rasengan, then joined Karin and Suigetsu to overcome Kimimaro, Moegi, and Udon in the team match.
• Gaara and Shukaku defeated Fuu and Chomei, after which Gaara helped Fuu recognize Chomei as a friend and Naruto replaced her seal with an Eight Trigrams Seal.
• Naruto helped Fuu create a small Chomei from gathered chakra, while Orochimaru and Kisame captured Roshi and the Four-Tails, Son Goku.
• Pain changed Akatsuki’s strategy after learning of Naruto’s power, and the organization extracted the Four-Tails from Roshi, killing him.
• The Six Paths of Pain pursued Utakata, overcame his attacks, and forced him to transform completely into Six-Tails Saiken.
• Deva Path defeated Saiken with Shinra Tensei and Planetary Devastation, then Pain’s forces extracted the Six-Tails’ Chakra, killing Utakata.

Pain captured Han and the Five Great Nations prepared to unite against the Akatsuki, while Naruto became the Sixth Hokage and led a delegation to the Five Kage Summit. As the summit approached, Pain recruited Shennong, Hiruko, and Uchiha Shin to strengthen the Akatsuki.

• Pain’s team captured Han and extracted the Five-Tails, prompting the villages to recognize the Akatsuki threat and Kumogakure to push for a united campaign.
• The Five Great Nations agreed to hold a summit in the Land of Iron, and Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure prepared their Kage and delegations.
• Tsunade nominated Naruto as the next Hokage, and Sasuke secured the Fire Daimyo’s approval before Naruto was appointed Sixth Hokage.
• Naruto selected an escort and invited Gaara to join his delegation to the Five Kage Summit, while Tsunade and Jiraiya stayed behind to protect Konoha.
• White Zetsu recruited Hiruko, Shennong, and Uchiha Shin as potential Akatsuki members, and Shennong agreed to join if the organization helped him destroy Konoha.
• Shennong defeated the Animal Path in an evaluation and joined the Akatsuki, while the Naraka Path restored the defeated Path with King Yama.
• Hiruko defeated the Preta Path using his Kekkei Genkai and joined the Akatsuki, then planned to ask Orochimaru for help obtaining the Sharingan.
• Uchiha Shin destroyed the Asura Path’s Chakra-receiving core and qualified to join, and Pain welcomed the recruits as the Akatsuki prepared to face the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Orochimaru strengthened Hiruko and advanced his Sharingan research as the Akatsuki prepared for war. At the Five Kage Summit, Naruto led Konoha’s fighters through a series of matches that proved their strength, ending with Neji defeating Killer B and declaring that destiny could be changed.

• Orochimaru helped Hiruko stabilize his four Kekkei Genkai and absorb a Sharingan, while his own transplanted eyes evolved into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Pain announced that the Five Great Shinobi Villages planned to discuss eliminating the Akatsuki, and Nagato resolved to use Rinne Rebirth to revive Yahiko.
• At the summit, Naruto exposed and killed White Zetsu spies, then argued that Konoha’s knowledge of the Akatsuki made it fit to lead the Shinobi Alliance.
• Naruto proposed that Konoha prove its strength in combat, and Sasuke defeated Kurotsuchi before intimidating Ōnoki with genjutsu.
• Sakura defeated Chojuro, and Choji overcame Darui, Shii, and Karui, earning praise from Raikage A.
• Naruto chose Neji to face Killer B, and Neji overcame Killer B’s sword attacks and successive transformations by combining his gates, Sage Mode, and Tenseigan.
• Neji stopped Killer B and Gyuki’s Tailed Beast Bomb, defeated them, and left Killer B unconscious as the leaders acknowledged Konoha’s victory.
• Neji endured a brief backlash from his techniques, and he thought of his father as he declared that destiny could be changed.

Naruto proved his strength to the Five Kage and led the Shinobi Alliance toward Amegakure, where Obito prepared an army of reanimated shinobi. As battles erupted across the fronts, the Mist forces faced Kinkaku and Silver Ninja.

• Naruto defeated the Kage in a demonstration, won their allegiance, and ordered the alliance to attack Akatsuki in Amegakure.
• Black Zetsu and Tobi stole Konoha’s Scroll of Seals, and Obito mastered Impure World Reincarnation and revived powerful shinobi, including Hashirama Senju and Senju Tobirama.
• Naruto divided the alliance across five fronts as Obito deployed Akatsuki members and reanimated fighters against them.
• Rock Lee and the Kumogakure forces defeated the reanimated Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and Shennong, then killed Uchiha Shin and destroyed his clones.
• Mei Terumi, Ao, Chojuro, Itachi, and Shisui fought Konan, Hiruko, and the Preta Path, defeating Hiruko and the Preta Path while the Asura Path escaped with Konan.
• After Shisui and Itachi left to report, Mei Terumi’s group encountered Kinkaku and Silver Ninja, whose Six Paths Treasures overwhelmed their first attempt to stop them.