Chapter Summaries

Kushina told Chiga that Misa had been placed under Tsunade’s protection, then thanked him for rescuing her. After discussing Chiga’s lazy routine and his teammates’ training, Kushina remembered another reason for her visit and raised an invisible barrier with hand seals.

• Kushina told Chiga that Tsunade had taken Misa in as her personal disciple, preventing the Konoha Higher-Ups from sending her to Root.
• Kushina tried to bow and thank Chiga on behalf of the Uzumaki Clan, but he stopped her and agreed to let her treat him and his teammates to a feast.
• Chiga said he had been resting after exhausting his Chakra and had handed his teammates over to Minato for training.
• Chiga told Kushina where Minato was, and she started to leave before remembering her other purpose for visiting.
• Kushina formed hand seals and pressed her hands to the floor, surrounding herself and Chiga with an invisible barrier.

Chiga entered Kushina’s sealing space to meet the Nine-Tails and discovered how thoroughly she had restrained it. The Nine-Tails recognized Chiga as an Uchiha and attacked him with insults, while Kushina explained that her reinforced seal kept it from knowing about her disciple.

• Kushina told Chiga that the Nine-Tails refused to reveal its name, and Chiga suggested he enter her sealing space to meet it.
• Kushina loosened a small part of her seal, allowing Chiga’s spiritual body to appear inside her body.
• Chiga found the Nine-Tails bound to a disc with golden chains and mocked its restraints.
• The Nine-Tails mistook Chiga for Kushina, then roared when it saw an outsider and recognized Chiga as an Uchiha.
• Kushina entered the sealing space, silenced the Nine-Tails, and told Chiga that her reinforced seal had kept it unaware of him.

Chiga taught Kushina how to build a friendship with the Nine-Tails so she could become a Perfect Jinchuriki, explaining that she needed to let it vent and treat it without hatred. The Nine-Tails interrupted their discussion in anger after realizing they had been analyzing its personality right in front of it.

• Kushina showed Chiga how she forcibly drew the Nine-Tails' Chakra through her golden chains, and Chiga warned her that doing so could harm her and worsen their relationship.
• Kushina asked what she should do, and Chiga offered to teach her how to win the Nine-Tails over with love.
• Chiga advised Kushina to abandon her hatred, communicate with the Nine-Tails, and patiently let it express its resentment.
• Chiga described the Nine-Tails as a tsundere, and Kushina joked that Chiga and Mikoto had the same trait.
• The Nine-Tails listened, wondered how Chiga understood it so well, then roared at Chiga and Kushina for discussing it as if it were not there.

Kushina struck a deal with the Nine-Tails, promising to help it contact the other Tailed Beasts in exchange for its name. After Kurama revealed it was called Kurama, Kushina and Chiga left him furious after tricking him into admitting he wanted companionship.

• The Nine-Tails asked Kushina whether the Four-Tails had been brought to Konoha, and she told him it had been returned to the Land of Earth two years earlier.
• Kushina offered to help the Nine-Tails communicate with the other Tailed Beasts if he told her his name, while Chiga encouraged him to admit he wanted companionship.
• After Chiga pretended to leave, the Nine-Tails revealed that his name was Kurama, and Kushina promised to call him by it.
• Kurama suggested that a little of the Four-Tails' Chakra would be enough, and Kushina agreed to look into obtaining it from Konoha's research facilities.
• Kushina called Chiga back, revealing that his spirit body had only pretended to disappear, and Kurama roared at them for tricking him.

Kushina began building a friendship with Kurama while Chiga advised her on loosening his seal, then faced complaints from his neglected students. An urgent summons revealed that Sunagakure had gone on high alert and Konoha had lost contact with its spies there.

• Kushina resolved to improve Kurama’s seal so he could sense the outside world, and Chiga advised her to bind him in a different shape.
• Chiga met Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Shizune, who complained that he had left their training to Minato and asked to learn Sage Mode; Chiga refused because they lacked enough chakra.
• An eagle summoned Konoha’s teams, and Chiga went to the Hokage Building for an emergency briefing.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced that Sunagakure had gone on its highest alert and Konoha’s spies there had stopped transmitting information.

Chiga trained Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Shizune while Konoha prepared an intelligence mission to investigate Sunagakure. Kushina then invited Chiga to steal Four-Tails Chakra from Orochimaru’s laboratory, leaving him wary of provoking Orochimaru again.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned Jiraiya to lead fifteen squads into the Land of Wind to investigate Sunagakure’s emergency alert and missing spies.
• Chiga declined to join the S-rank mission and told Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Shizune that he would double their daily training.
• Chiga defeated Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai in training, then lectured them about knowing an opponent’s abilities and using Genjutsu by surprise.
• Kushina told Chiga she had found Four-Tails Chakra in the Konoha Third Laboratory and invited him to steal it.
• Chiga warned Kushina that stealing from Orochimaru’s laboratory could provoke him, but asked where they were going.

Chiga, Kushina, and Sarutobi Asuma infiltrated Konoha's Third Laboratory to find the Four-Tails' Chakra, subduing the ANBU guards along the way. They reached the core of the laboratory, where Orochimaru confronted them.

• Kushina recruited Sarutobi Asuma to join her and Chiga on a night raid of the Third Laboratory.
• Chiga and Kushina opened a hole in the laboratory barrier and subdued the six ANBU guards at the entrance and on the roof.
• Chiga and Kushina moved through the laboratory, quietly overcoming additional ANBU while Sarutobi Asuma followed behind.
• Kushina sensed the Four-Tails' Chakra in the laboratory's core and prepared to enter its chamber.
• Orochimaru appeared behind Chiga, Kushina, and Sarutobi Asuma and confronted them.

Kushina and Chiga were caught by Orochimaru while trying to enter his laboratory, and a confrontation broke out as Kushina pushed inside. Orochimaru tried to lure Chiga into supplying him with blood, but Chiga resisted his auditory Genjutsu and rejected the offer.

• Orochimaru confronted Kushina, Chiga, and Sarutobi Asuma outside the laboratory and identified Chiga’s old forged note.
• Orochimaru sent a snake at Kushina, but Chiga cut it down before it could strike her.
• Orochimaru warned Kushina that the room held more than test materials, but she kicked open the door and rushed inside.
• Orochimaru attacked Chiga with Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, and Chiga cut through the snakes before using Sarutobi Asuma as a shield.
• Orochimaru offered to overlook their intrusion if Chiga supplied him with five hundred milliliters of blood each month.
• Chiga broke free of Orochimaru’s auditory Genjutsu and rejected the deal.

Chiga and Kushina infiltrated Orochimaru’s laboratory for the Four-Tails’ Chakra, but Chiga escaped Orochimaru’s sealing technique and fled with Kushina using the Flying Thunder God Technique. Five days later, the group gathered for a barbecue to make amends to Sarutobi Asuma, and Chiga asked Minato whether Jiraiya had returned from the Land of Wind.

• Orochimaru tried to capture Chiga after Chiga rejected his deal, but Chiga broke free of Orochimaru’s sealing technique and struck him with a punch.
• Chiga and Kushina escaped Orochimaru, leaving Sarutobi Asuma behind, and Hiruzen Sarutobi learned they had come for the Four-Tails’ Chakra.
• Five days later, Chiga and Kushina treated Sarutobi Asuma to barbecue as compensation for forgetting him during their escape.
• Chiga asked Minato whether Jiraiya had returned from the Land of Wind.

After Jiraiya reported that Chiyo had nearly killed him with poison, Chiga suggested the Third Kazekage might have been incapacitated, prompting Jiraiya to warn Hiruzen Sarutobi. Days later, Sunagakure invaded the Land of Fire, and Hiruzen considered who should command the war as Tsunade faced the prospect of confronting Chiyo.

• Jiraiya told Minato and Chiga that Chiyo's poison had forced his infiltration team to retreat, and Tsunade had cured him.
• Chiga suggested that something might have happened to the Third Kazekage, and Jiraiya left to inform Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Three days later, the Land of Wind invaded the Land of Fire after crossing the Land of Rivers, despite Konoha's preparations.
• Orochimaru volunteered to serve as frontline commander, but Hiruzen hesitated because other great nations might also attack.
• Hiruzen asked Tsunade to confront Chiyo, and Tsunade raised her head and asked what he meant.

Tsunade agreed to command Konoha’s counterattack against the Land of Wind, with Hatake Sakumo as her deputy and three thousand shinobi under his lead. As Chiga prepared to escort supplies to the front, he reassured Kushina and warned that other great nations might soon join the war.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi asked Tsunade about her illness, but she accused him of sending her to the battlefield despite the deaths of Dan and Nawaki.
• Jiraiya offered to replace Tsunade, but she struck him and insisted she would go; Orochimaru abandoned his own offer to take her place.
• Tsunade agreed to command the counterattack, and Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned Hatake Sakumo as her deputy because she could not fight.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced that Tsunade and three thousand Konoha shinobi led by Hatake Sakumo would face the Land of Wind, while Chiga Team would escort supplies to the front-line Command Post.
• Kushina packed Chiga’s gear and urged him to report to Tsunade, while Chiga reassured her and said the Land of Earth and Land of Lightning might soon enter the war.

Chiga and his team escorted Konoha’s logistics force toward the Land of Rivers while discussing Kushina’s strained relationship with Kurama. Near the border, Chiga detected Sand Shinobi attacking from behind, and the chapter ended as Hizashi Hyuga and the other Jonin fought the prepared enemy force.

• Chiga teased Kurama through Kushina, who warned him not to disrupt the progress she had made with the Nine-Tails.
• Chiga’s team joined Hizashi Hyuga’s force and took a position protecting the logistics personnel and supplies.
• After seven days of travel, the force camped near the border while Chiga sent crows through the surrounding woods.
• Chiga sensed approaching enemies from the force’s rear and alerted the other Jonin.
• Hizashi Hyuga led the Jonin to intercept the Sand Shinobi, while Chiga stayed behind to guard the camp.
• Chiga used his crows to see that Hizashi Hyuga and the others had been drawn into a fierce fight against a large, prepared enemy force.

Chiga left Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Shizune to guard the camp, then went to support the battle and discovered the Konoha ninja had been weakened by the Sand Shinobi’s poison. He evacuated them with the Flying Thunder God Technique and faced the pursuing Sand Shinobi with a massive fire-and-wind attack.

• Chiga assigned Sarutobi Asuma and the others to protect the camp, leaving crows as a signal for his return.
• Chiga reached the battlefield, saved a Konoha ninja from a Sand Shinobi, and learned the Konoha force had been poisoned.
• Chiga used his marked kunai and the Flying Thunder God Technique to pull the Konoha ninja out of the poisoned battlefield.
• Hizashi Hyuga urged the group to retreat with the supplies while they held off the Sand Shinobi, but Chiga refused and formed a Shadow Clone.
• Chiga and his Shadow Clone combined Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation and Wind Release: Pressure Damage, sending a flaming tempest into the Sand Shinobi.

Chiga and the logistics troops survived a Sand Shinobi ambush, reached Konoha’s Command Post, and reported the attack to Tsunade. Tsunade was surprised by where the enemy had struck and began investigating how so many Sand Shinobi had gotten through her defenses.

• Chiga’s Flame Wind Balls wiped out more than thirty Sand Shinobi, and he and Hizashi Hyuga returned to camp with the surviving troops.
• Chiga and the Medical Ninjas analyzed the poisons and prepared antidotes for the afflicted ninjas.
• At dawn, the logistics force set out and passed Konoha’s checkpoints after Hizashi Hyuga confirmed their passwords and supplies.
• Chiga’s team reached the Command Post, where Chiga told Tsunade that fifteen Sand Shinobi squads had attacked them and been annihilated.
• Tsunade asked Chiga to mark the ambush site on her sand table and wondered how so many enemies had reached an area her forces had cleared.

Tsunade and Shikaku Nara investigated the Sand Shinobi attack on a logistics unit and discussed the front-line situation. Shikaku advised delaying a counterattack, while the threat of a spy in the command post remained unresolved.

• Tsunade asked Shikaku Nara to explain why Sand Shinobi kept appearing near the abandoned outpost, and he explained that the area had once been the Land of Fire’s border.
• Shikaku Nara concluded that the Sand Shinobi had deliberately targeted the logistics unit, and Tsunade ordered ANBU and the Yamanaka Clan to secretly investigate a possible spy in the command post.
• Tsunade announced that Konoha had secured its defensive line and proposed a counterattack, but Shikaku Nara warned that the Sand Shinobi’s morale and numbers made the timing unfavorable.
• Shikaku Nara urged Tsunade to delay, arguing that the Land of Wind had overstretched supply lines and that the Land of Earth would likely exploit its conflict with Konoha.

Tsunade assigned Chiga Team to transport supplies and intelligence between Konoha’s outposts while the war settled into a stalemate against the Sand Shinobi. During a patrol, Chiga let Asuma and Kurenai engage three Chunin, but Asuma discovered his target was a disguised puppet.

• Tsunade gave Chiga Team responsibility for intelligence transfers and supplies at ten outposts along Konoha’s defensive line.
• Chiyo’s poisons and Tsunade’s antidotes prolonged the stalemate between Konoha and the Sand Shinobi.
• Chiga Team exchanged supplies and intelligence with another Konoha team before heading toward its next outpost.
• Chiga spotted a Sand Shinobi team and ordered Asuma and Kurenai to fight its three Chunin while he held off their Jonin.
• Kurenai used the Hell Viewing Technique as Asuma attacked, but his Chakra Blade struck a disguised puppet instead of a Sand Shinobi.

Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Shizune were overwhelmed by the Sand shinobi, leaving them near defeat. Chiga arrived just in time and stopped the burly shinobi’s attack, while the Sand captain’s warning saved the puppeteer from being struck by his own teammate.

• A Sand shinobi revealed himself as a puppet, and Sarutobi Asuma killed another Sand shinobi with his Great Fireball Technique.
• The puppet’s senbon poisoned Asuma, while the burly Sand shinobi injured Yuhi Kurenai; Shizune gave Asuma emergency treatment and went to help Kurenai.
• Kurenai and Shizune were knocked down, leaving the three Konoha ninja badly weakened as the two remaining Sand shinobi closed in.
• Asuma, Kurenai, and Shizune joked about their mistakes and the post-battle report, angering the Sand shinobi.
• As the burly shinobi swung his cleaver, Kurenai activated her signal, and Chiga appeared with the Flying Thunder God Technique, freezing the attacker with his scarlet eyes.
• The Sand captain told the puppeteer to move, allowing him to dodge the burly shinobi’s slash.

Chiga defeated the Sand Shinobi who had attacked his team, then brought the poisoned Sarutobi Asuma and wounded Yuhi Kurenai to a stronghold for treatment. The stronghold's medical ninjas began treating Asuma under Hizashi Hyuga's direction.

• Chiga rejected the Sand Shinobi captain's proposed deal and used the burly Sand Shinobi under his control to kill himself.
• Chiga teleported behind the Sand Shinobi captain using the Flying Thunder God Technique Mark and killed him, then pursued and killed the fleeing puppet user.
• Chiga checked Yuhi Kurenai's wounds, and Shizune said she could suppress Sarutobi Asuma's poison but needed a safe place and time to remove it completely.
• Chiga teased Sarutobi Asuma, whose anger worsened his condition, and helped him travel with the others to the nearest stronghold.
• Hizashi Hyuga called out the stronghold's medical ninjas, who examined Sarutobi Asuma and improved his condition.

After Sarutobi Asuma was poisoned in a fight with Sand Shinobi, Chiga agreed to let his team rest at the Konoha base overnight while Asuma recovered. Before they could settle in, the Sand Shinobi attacked the base, and Chiga rushed into the battle with his crows.

• Hizashi Hyuga scolded Chiga for fighting the Sand Shinobi instead of withdrawing with his team, but Chiga agreed to stay at the base until Asuma recovered.
• Asuma’s poison was neutralized, though his injuries left him weak, and Chiga ordered Asuma, Shizune, and Yuhi Kurenai to write five-thousand-word self-criticism reports after failing his test.
• An explosion sounded outside the base, and Chiga told Asuma, Shizune, and Kurenai to stay in the ward while he went to investigate.
• Chiga arrived as Konoha’s ninjas fought a large Sand Shinobi force and joined the battle by sending dozens of crows toward a Sand Shinobi squad.

Chiga stayed at the outpost to face Pakura, a powerful Sunagakure Jonin with Scorch Release, while Hizashi Hyuga continued fighting elsewhere. Chiga taunted Pakura by claiming Sarutobi Asuma inside the outpost was a prize valuable enough to make her Kazekage, and she attacked him.

• Chiga killed a squad of Sand Shinobi and met Hizashi Hyuga, who urged him to take Asuma and flee.
• Pakura attacked Chiga and Hizashi with Scorch Release fireballs, and Hizashi identified her as a dangerous Sunagakure Jonin.
• Chiga refused to leave and persuaded Hizashi that his Flying Thunder God Technique could let him delay Pakura until reinforcements arrived.
• Hizashi accepted Chiga's plan and charged into another battle, leaving Chiga to face Pakura.
• Pakura recognized Chiga as the young Uchiha who used the Flying Thunder God Technique and saw him as a valuable target.
• Chiga teased Pakura by claiming Asuma was a prize that could make her Kazekage, and Pakura raised a Scorch Release fireball to attack him.