Chapter Summaries

Soji recruited Sasori and sent him with his parents to the Ancient Kingdom of Roran, while securing a way to exchange intelligence about the Akatsuki Organization. As Soji headed for the Land of Snow, Sunagakure's leaders decided to hand Pakura over to Kirigakure to ease the pressure on their village.

• Soji offered Sasori freedom in his personal affairs and gave Sasori's family a choice between the Land of Snow and the Ancient Kingdom of Roran; they chose Roran.
• Soji told Sasori about Mukade's puppet techniques, gave him a summoning contract for sending messages, and departed after arranging to be notified if his parents' Impure World Reincarnation bodies weakened.
• Sasori and his parents set out for the Ancient Kingdom of Roran, while Soji decided to travel to the Land of Snow.
• Sunagakure's leaders discussed their precarious war situation after hearing that Mizuki Ember had fought Sasori near Roran.
• Sunagakure's elders proposed sacrificing Pakura to appease Kirigakure, and Fourth Kazekage Rasa approved the plan.

Rasa and Karatachi Yagura agreed to sacrifice Pakura in exchange for peace between Sunagakure and Kirigakure. When a Mist ambush revealed Sunagakure’s betrayal to Pakura, Soji intervened and saved her, saying they were the same kind.

• Rasa decided to offer Pakura to Kirigakure, and Karatachi Yagura accepted the plan so he could focus on becoming Isobu’s Jinchuriki.
• Soji secretly returned toward Kirigakure to investigate whether Karatachi Yagura had changed under Obito’s influence.
• Pakura traveled to Kirigakure for peace negotiations, believing she was representing her village in good faith.
• A young Mist ninja stabbed Pakura and told her that Sunagakure’s higher-ups had arranged her death.
• As Mist Ninjas attacked Pakura with Kunai, Soji stopped them with Ice Release and rescued her.

Soji treated Pakura’s wound and claimed that Kirigakure had rejected him, using their supposed shared fate to persuade her to join his faction in the Land of Snow. He revealed that he wanted her to help strengthen Snow Ninja Village and build an intelligence network, leaving Pakura to decide whether to trust him.

• Soji stopped Pakura’s bleeding and told her that Kirigakure’s leaders had kept him from returning to the village.
• Soji explained that he had saved Pakura because he believed they shared the experience of being cast aside by their villages.
• Pakura said she trusted neither Sunagakure nor Kirigakure, and Soji clarified that he wanted her to join his own faction rather than Kirigakure.
• Soji invited Pakura to help develop his territory in the Land of Snow and strengthen Snow Ninja Village.
• Soji revealed that he also wanted Pakura to establish an intelligence division, and he considered killing her if she refused and left with his secrets.
• Soji destroyed the Mist Ninjas trapped in ice and told Pakura that he had abandoned Kirigakure.

Soji helped the wounded Pakura recover and agreed to let her return to Sunagakure to investigate whether its leaders had betrayed her. After learning that Sunagakure had declared her dead, Pakura abandoned the village and left for the Land of Snow with Soji.

• Pakura asked Soji to let her investigate Sunagakure, promising to follow him if its leaders had deliberately sent her to die, and he agreed.
• Soji supported Pakura onto Golden Eagle, took her to a nearby small country, and treated her wounds for several days.
• Pakura and Soji disguised themselves and infiltrated Sunagakure, where they heard that the village had declared her dead on a confidential mission.
• Pakura realized Sunagakure had discarded her, but rejected Soji's offer to take revenge on its leaders and went to see her disciple Maki.
• After looking back at Kirigakure beneath the setting sun, Pakura left the Land of Wind with Soji and chose not to seek revenge on Sunagakure.

Soji brought Pakura to the Land of Snow and put her in charge of building an intelligence unit, then demonstrated his control over its weather when she doubted the stories about him. As Pakura began settling into her new role, Kazahana Koyuki revealed her jealousy by accusing Soji of secretly looking at Pakura’s chest.

• Soji returned to the Land of Snow with Pakura and told King Kazahana Sōsetsu that he wanted her to reform Snow Ninja Village, train students, and establish an intelligence unit.
• Pakura said she could handle either village reform and teaching or the intelligence unit, so Soji assigned her to build the unit first.
• Soji stayed with Pakura for six or seven days as she became familiar with the Land of Snow, where she learned that its people revered him as the Snow Emperor.
• Pakura asked Soji to verify the stories about his power, and he entered Sage Mode to stop the wind and snow before summoning a blizzard.
• Kazahana Koyuki teased Pakura and accused Soji of sneaking glances at her chest, while Soji protested that he had only been polite.

Soji’s engagement to Kazahana Koyuki was exposed to Pakura, who mistook the arrangement for evidence that Soji was a pervert. After helping Pakura settle into the Land of Snow, Soji returned to Konoha, leaving her a way to contact him and a valuable sword.

• Kazahana Koyuki blurted out that she was Soji’s fiancée, shocking Pakura and ruining her favorable impression of him.
• Pakura assumed Soji had agreed to marry the young princess for improper reasons, while Koyuki proudly insisted that Soji belonged to her.
• Soji led Pakura and Koyuki around the Land of Snow for another day, then prepared to leave for Konoha.
• Soji left Pakura a Soaring Eagle summon to contact him and gave her Nuibari, one of the Seven Ninja Swords, which she accepted.

Soji noticed Kakashi’s worsening grief and urged him to visit his father for guidance, leaving Kakashi to decide whether to take his advice. As Soji returned to his walk, he reflected that Konoha’s peaceful days were likely the last before Kushina Uzumaki’s due date and the coming Nine-Tails Night.

• Soji sent Orochimaru a list of laboratory instruments he needed and went out to walk through Konoha.
• Soji watched Might Guy, Asuma Sarutobi, and Kurenai Yuhi attempt to cheer Kakashi by challenging him, but Kakashi easily defeated them and walked away.
• Soji followed Kakashi and warned him about reacting to every touch with a Kunai after Kakashi nearly stabbed him.
• Soji suggested that Kakashi visit his father in Daimyo City of the Land of Fire, and Kakashi thanked him before leaving.
• Soji reflected that Konoha’s calm would end in about half a year when Kushina Uzumaki’s due date arrived, and hoped their plans would avert disaster.

Soji, Minato, Fugaku Uchiha, and Uchiha Homura discussed an unknown intruder repeatedly entering Konoha through Uchiha territory and how to prevent the Elder Council from blaming the clan. After Fugaku agreed to open the clan territory to visitors, Soji and Minato reviewed their plans for the Nine-Tails Night, which was a month away, while Soji remained uneasy that an unforeseen event would force them to use their second plan.

• Minato told Soji, Fugaku Uchiha, and Uchiha Homura that the Barrier Team had detected an unknown person entering and leaving Konoha through Uchiha territory.
• Soji warned that the Uchiha Clan could not escape suspicion while the intruder kept appearing in its territory, and he suggested opening the clan grounds to ordinary visitors.
• Fugaku Uchiha agreed to arrange the opening with Uchiha Homura, while Minato gave them three days before he could no longer delay informing the Elder Council.
• After Fugaku Uchiha and Uchiha Homura left, Soji asked Minato about their preparations for the Nine-Tails Night and learned that Minato had learned one of the two ninjutsu needed for their second plan.
• Soji worried that an unexpected change would make them rely on the second plan, though he and Minato hoped their first plan would work.

Kakashi visited Obito and Rin’s graves, unaware that Obito had been watching and learned Kushina’s due date. As Nine-Tails Night approached, Minato prepared Soji as a secret defense, while Obito planned to attack Konoha and Danzo prepared to seize power.

• Kakashi spoke at Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara’s graves about protecting Kushina and her child, and Obito emerged after Kakashi left to replace the flowers at Rin’s tomb.
• Obito learned that Kushina’s due date was October 10th and decided it offered a chance to destroy Konoha before leaving through his vortex.
• An Anbu squad reported signs of someone at the cemetery, prompting Minato to increase patrols while rejecting Danzo’s proposal to surveil the Uchiha Clan.
• A month passed without Konoha discovering the mysterious intruder, and on October 9th Soji prepared to guard Kushina’s childbirth alongside Minato, with the Amber Purifying Pot as their trump card.
• Soji caused snow to fall across Konoha, unsettling its leaders, while Danzo gathered his followers and prepared to launch a coup during the coming crisis.

Soji declined to join the Hyuga Clan’s reception so he could keep waiting for his meeting with Minato, while three Moon Otsutsuki Elders attacked the clan in search of Byakugan for the newborn Toneri. After sensing the destruction, Soji headed for the Clan Head’s residence, where Hyuga Ryusuke was left fighting the intruders.

• Soji refused Hyuga Kiyoka’s message to attend the reception and stayed in his courtyard awaiting his appointment with Minato.
• Hyuga Ryusuke gathered the clan’s leaders to meet three unfamiliar Byakugan-wielding men carrying the infant Toneri.
• The Otsutsuki Elders revealed their contempt for the Hyuga Clan and explained they sought suitable Byakugan to awaken Toneri’s Tenseigan.
• Otsutsuki Second Elder attacked the Hyuga gathering, killing some clansmen and leaving Hyuga Ryusuke standing amid the ruins.
• Soji sensed the powerful Chakra from the Clan Head’s residence and set out to investigate before his meeting with Minato.
• Hyuga Ryusuke used Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven to survive Otsutsuki Second Elder’s attack, and the Second Elder charged at him again.

Soji arrived at the Hyuga clan head’s residence and found the Moon Otsutsuki Branch Family had devastated the clan. He confronted the three elders, who sought his Byakugan for Toneri, and left the Second Elder severely crippled with his new Ice-blue bone spur.

• Soji kicked the Otsutsuki Second Elder away from Hyuga Ryusuke and told the clan head to evacuate the wounded.
• Soji recognized the attackers as the Moon Otsutsuki Branch Family and confronted them over the Hyuga clansmen they had killed and injured.
• Toneri demanded Soji’s eyes so he could awaken the Tenseigan, and the three elders resolved to take them.
• Soji attacked the Second Elder, but the elders combined Byakugan: Pressure and the Second Elder used Absorbing Palm to counter him.
• Soji overwhelmed their pressure with his own Byakugan: Pressure and pierced the Second Elder with an Ice-blue bone spur, freezing his blood and soul and disrupting his Chakra.

Soji fought the Otsutsuki Branch Family elders and lured them away from Konoha to protect the village from the battle. While he was gone, the Nine-Tails appeared in Konoha, leaving Soji furious that his agreed plan with Minato might have failed.

• Soji overpowered Otsutsuki First Elder and Third Elder, then prepared to kill the wounded Otsutsuki Second Elder.
• Otsutsuki Second Elder borrowed the Giant Tenseigan's power, revived in a green Chakra cloak, and attacked Soji to seize his Byakugan for Toneri.
• Soji drew Otsutsuki Second Elder out of Konoha, and Otsutsuki First Elder and Third Elder followed them.
• Hyuga Ryusuke organized Branch House members to search for survivors after the battle damaged the clan compound.
• The Nine-Tails appeared in Konoha and began destroying the central district while Soji and the Otsutsuki elders sensed its Chakra outside the village.
• Otsutsuki Second Elder tried to distract Soji from returning to help Konoha, hoping to exploit an opening and take his Byakugan.

The Third Hokage and Konoha’s ninja fought the rampaging Nine-Tails as suspicions grew that an Uchiha was controlling it, while Danzo refused to help. In the Uchiha compound, Fugaku Uchiha accepted Uchiha Homura’s plan to send clan members both to the front lines and to rescue civilians.

• The Third Hokage ordered civilians and young ninja evacuated, then led Konoha’s forces to intercept the Nine-Tails while Danzo chose to keep his former Root members out of the fight.
• Konoha’s fighters discovered the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails’ eyes, and Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu warned that it resembled the Uchiha Clan’s Mangekyō Sharingan.
• The Third Hokage learned that the Uchiha and Hyuga clans had not arrived, that the Hyuga compound had been attacked, and that Minato’s whereabouts remained unknown.
• Fugaku Uchiha’s clan debated whether to fight the Nine-Tails or rescue civilians because they feared Konoha would suspect them of controlling the beast.
• Uchiha Homura proposed splitting the clan’s forces between the front lines and civilian rescue, and Fugaku Uchiha ordered the clan to do both.

The Hyuga and Uchiha clans joined Konoha’s fight against the rampaging Nine-Tails, and the Uchiha earned the other ninja’s trust by fighting alongside them. As the Nine-Tails threatened to wipe out the front lines, Uchiha Homura awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and used its power to turn the beast’s Tailed Beast Ball back on it.

• Hyuga Ryusuke sent Hyuga Hiashi and the injured Hyuga clansmen to support the village, while Fugaku Uchiha led the Uchiha Clan to the battlefield.
• Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu questioned the Uchiha’s loyalty, but the Third Hokage accepted their help, and the Uchiha gained the other ninja’s trust by protecting them in battle.
• Fugaku Uchiha concealed that he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan when the Third Hokage asked whether the Uchiha could take control of the Nine-Tails.
• Uchiha Homura asked Hyuga Hiashi about Soji and learned that Soji might be fighting the three attackers who had targeted the Hyuga Clan.
• The Nine-Tails shattered the battlefield formation, killed more than a hundred people with a Tailed Beast Ball, and prepared another attack against the front lines.
• Uchiha Homura awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and used Metsuke to redirect the Nine-Tails’ Tailed Beast Ball back into the beast, severely injuring it.

Soji used the Byakugan's Mind Reading to overwhelm the Otsutsuki Second Elder, then survived his Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion in Sage Mode and killed him. After refusing to return the corpse, Soji faced the First and Third Elders, who prepared to attack together for the sake of Otsutsuki Toneri and their clan.

• Soji anticipated the Otsutsuki Second Elder's attacks with Mind Reading and battered him with a Void Strike and a slam into the ground.
• The Otsutsuki Second Elder unleashed Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, but Soji entered Sage Mode and endured it without further injury.
• Soji confirmed that he could not absorb the Giant Tenseigan's power, then killed the Otsutsuki Second Elder with an ice-blue bone spur and collected his blood.
• The Otsutsuki First Elder demanded the Second Elder's corpse, but Soji refused and condemned the elders for their attack on the Hyuga Clan.
• The Otsutsuki First and Third Elders agreed to sacrifice themselves if necessary and prepared to attack Soji together to obtain his Pure Byakugan for Otsutsuki Toneri.

Minato defeated the masked Obito Uchiha in their first exchange, but Obito escaped while the Nine-Tails continued attacking Konoha. Meanwhile, Soji faced the Otsutsuki First and Third Elders, who had borrowed the Giant Tenseigan’s power, and discovered the First Elder was plotting a surprise attack.

• Obito claimed to be Madara Uchiha and attacked Minato, who used the Flying Thunder God Technique to strike him with a Rasengan.
• Obito, badly injured, withdrew through Kamui, and Minato hurried back toward Konoha while worrying about Soji.
• The Otsutsuki First Elder and Third Elder activated combat modes powered by the Giant Tenseigan and attacked Soji together.
• Soji caught both Elders’ kicks, threw them aside, and assessed their relative strength.
• Soji used his Byakugan’s Mind Reading ability to uncover the First Elder’s plan to land a fatal blow and began plotting against him.

Uchiha Homura awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and helped Konoha fight the Nine-Tails, first reflecting its Tailed Beast Ball and then freeing it from Obito Uchiha’s genjutsu. When the freed Nine-Tails attacked the exhausted Third Hokage, Homura used his right-eye ability, Takamagahara, to protect him.

• Uchiha Homura awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan while protecting the people threatened by the Nine-Tails’ Tailed Beast Ball, and Fugaku Uchiha warned him about the cost of using it.
• Uchiha Homura’s power sent the Tailed Beast Ball back into the Nine-Tails, boosting Konoha’s morale as the Third Hokage and his advisers discussed the Uchiha Clan.
• The Third Hokage wounded the Nine-Tails with Five-Style Barrage, giving Uchiha Homura the chance to enter its mind and erase Obito Uchiha’s genjutsu.
• After regaining control of itself, the Nine-Tails attacked the exhausted Third Hokage, and Uchiha Homura used Takamagahara to make him invulnerable for three seconds.

Uchiha Homura freed the Nine-Tails from Obito Uchiha’s control, and Minato arrived to move the beast outside Konoha while Soji continued fighting the Otsutsuki First Elder and Third Elder. Soji’s devastating attack left the elders doubting they could obtain his Pure Byakugan.

• The Nine-Tails struck the Third Hokage, but Uchiha Homura’s newly awakened Mangekyo blocked the blow and left the Third Hokage unharmed.
• Uchiha Homura exhausted his strength, and Minato arrived after driving Obito Uchiha back and said Soji was fighting powerful enemies in the village’s west.
• Minato transported the Nine-Tails to the east, while the Third Hokage gathered shinobi to help seal it rather than investigate the western battle.
• Soji used Sage Art: Ice Release—Ice Snow Great World, forcing the Otsutsuki First Elder and Third Elder to combine their Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion to clear the ice.
• Soji countered with Sage Art: Six Styles of Void Strike, and the Otsutsuki elders escaped by striking each other with Repulsion Palm as his attack devastated the forest.
• The Otsutsuki First Elder and Third Elder questioned whether they could still obtain Soji’s Pure Byakugan.

The Otsutsuki First Elder absorbed the Otsutsuki Third Elder’s Giant Tenseigan power and fought Soji, while the Third Elder took Toneri toward the moon. Soji killed the First Elder, but the dying elder summoned a meteor aimed at the village, leaving Soji to stop it.

• The Otsutsuki Third Elder transferred his Giant Tenseigan power to the Otsutsuki First Elder, who ordered him to take Toneri back to the moon.
• Soji and the empowered Otsutsuki First Elder clashed in the sky as Minato stayed with the Nine-Tails outside Konoha.
• Soji used Ice Mirror Technique to evade the First Elder’s suction and repeatedly attack him, leaving him badly wounded.
• Soji pierced the Otsutsuki First Elder’s heart, but the elder clutched Soji and revealed that he had sent a meteor toward the village.
• The Otsutsuki First Elder died, and Soji broke free and focused on stopping the approaching meteor.

Soji stopped a meteorite from devastating Konoha by creating a gigantic ice lotus, but the effort left him severely injured. After collecting blood samples from the Moon Otsutsuki Branch Family elders, he flew east to help Minato and Kushina face the Nine-Tails.

• Soji rejected shattering the meteorite with Six Styles of Void Strike and prepared his strongest ninjutsu to protect Konoha from its impact.
• Konoha’s villagers began evacuating east, while the Nine-Tails offered to leave and Minato refused, preparing to use the Reaper Death Seal.
• Soji unleashed Sage Art: Ice Release—Rotating Ice Lotus and used the ten-kilometer-wide ice formation to absorb the meteorite’s full impact.
• The meteorite fell harmlessly from low altitude after Soji released the ice lotus, but he suffered severe internal injuries and was knocked out of Sage Mode.
• Soji collected blood samples from all three Moon Otsutsuki Branch Family elders and flew east to help Minato and Kushina deal with the Nine-Tails.