Chapter Summaries

Raikage A learned that Ōnoki had rejected both an alliance and a war proposal, but Kirigakure agreed to pressure Konoha and tie down its forces. In Konoha, Orochimaru read a letter from Ōnoki proposing trade cooperation over the Gureiru Stone Mine.

• Dodai told Raikage A that Ōnoki had rejected Kumogakure's proposal for war and its backup offer of an alliance.
• Raikage A decided to wait for Kirigakure's response rather than risk fighting Konoha and Sunagakure alone.
• Kirigakure agreed to deploy troops to the front lines and pressure Konoha, easing Raikage A's concerns.
• Orochimaru received and read Ōnoki's letter proposing cooperation between Iwagakure and Konoha over the Gureiru Stone Mine.

Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Kagetsu tested a method of resurrecting the dead by transferring a soul into a prepared clone. The clone awakened, but soon began choking and convulsing as Tsunade tried to treat him.

• Tsunade and Orochimaru began their resurrection experiment using a clone made from a dead prisoner's cells and a White Zetsu test subject.
• Orochimaru used Impure World Reincarnation and Soul Bestowal to summon and seize the prisoner's soul, then transplanted it into the clone.
• Tsunade activated the rune array and used the Gelel Stones' power to fuse the soul with the clone's body.
• After the clone appeared lifeless, Orochimaru detected signs of consciousness, and the man woke in the Nutrient Solution tank.
• Tsunade smashed the tank to free the terrified clone, who said he thought he had died, then began choking and convulsing as Tsunade tried to heal him.

Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Kagetsu investigated why the cloned body died after its soul was transferred into it. They suspected the Pure Land had taken the soul back because their ritual lacked a suitable sacrifice, and Orochimaru proposed testing the theory with another experiment.

• Tsunade examined the corpse and found that the clone's organs had worked normally before its vitality suddenly drained away.
• Orochimaru determined that the clone's soul had vanished and compared the force that took it to the Reaper Death Seal.
• Orochimaru and Tsunade considered whether the Pure Land or the Shinigami had prevented the soul from remaining in the clone.
• Kagetsu proposed that the ritual had failed because it lacked a sacrifice, and explained that the Pure Land might require a soul or suitable life force in exchange.
• Orochimaru agreed that the sacrifice theory was speculation but eagerly called for another experiment.

Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Kagetsu resumed their experiment to return a soul to a clone, but the soul was taken away again and the clone remained alive without a consciousness. Kagetsu suggested severing the soul’s connection to the Pure Land by involving the Hollow Circle, leaving Orochimaru wary of risking their final destination.

• Tsunade, Orochimaru, and the others performed a second experiment with a new clone and prisoner, but the prisoner died and the clone remained a living shell without the summoned soul.
• Orochimaru considered whether the sacrifice was too weak to satisfy the Pure Land, while Tsunade worried about the cost of finding stronger sacrifices to retrieve her loved ones.
• Orochimaru proposed testing with a sacrifice of Genin-level strength, keeping the experiment’s requirements limited.
• Kagetsu suggested severing the summoned soul’s connection to the Pure Land, and reminded Tsunade and Orochimaru that some souls went to the Hollow Circle instead.
• Orochimaru considered letting the Hollow Circle clash with the Pure Land but feared that doing so could damage the place where he expected to go after death.

After the resurrection experiment failed, Tsunade and Orochimaru left with different reactions. In Iwagakure, Ōnoki decided to accept Konoha and Sunagakure’s invitation to a Kage Summit and use the opportunity to explore their new cooperative approach.

• Tsunade smashed the resurrection laboratory floor in frustration and left with the bill, while Orochimaru remained eager to learn from the experiment’s failure.
• Ōnoki read Konoha and Sunagakure’s invitation and worried about Iwagakure’s shortage of suitable successors.
• Kitsuchi questioned why Konoha and Sunagakure wanted to hire Iwa Ninja, especially those skilled in Earth Release Style, and suspected a trap.
• Ōnoki interpreted the invitation as Konoha gathering allies and judged its offer more promising than Kumogakure’s.
• Ōnoki told Kitsuchi to keep the Land of Lightning delegation as leverage and join Konoha and Sunagakure’s initiative.

Ōnoki arrived in the Iron Country for a summit with Orochimaru, Rasa, and Yahiko, where the villages discussed the Gelel Stone and a proposed mission for Iwa. The chapter ended as Rasa explained that the mission was to carve a passage through the mountain range between the Rain Country and the Wind Country.

• Ōnoki entered the Iron Country with Kitsuchi and his guards, then met Mifune, who told him that the Rain Kage had also arrived.
• Ōnoki joined Orochimaru, Rasa, and Yahiko in the summit hall and questioned Yahiko’s presence.
• Orochimaru explained that Sunagakure and Amegakure wanted to commission Iwa and that completing the work would let Iwa and Earth Country merchants join the Gelel Commercial Transnational Alliance.
• Ōnoki asked what task the three villages could not accomplish, and Rasa said they planned to carve through the mountain range between the Rain Country and the Wind Country.

Orochimaru and Rasa proposed opening a passage through the mountain barrier between Wind Country and Rain Country, and invited Ōnoki to have Iwagakure help with the massive Earth Release project. They offered to hire Iwa Ninja and pay partly in Gelel Stone, leaving Ōnoki unexpectedly leaning toward accepting.

• Ōnoki accused Rasa and Orochimaru of using an impossible project as an excuse to exclude him from the benefits of the Gelel Stone.
• Orochimaru explained that the plan had been surveyed and that Iwagakure’s large-scale Earth Release expertise made its shinobi suitable for the work.
• Ōnoki objected that committing and training enough Iwa Ninja would burden Iwagakure’s other duties and missions.
• Rasa offered to have Wind Country hire Iwa Ninja, and assured Ōnoki that Sunagakure could afford their compensation.
• Orochimaru offered to pay part of the compensation in Gelel Stone, and Ōnoki agreed before realizing he had begun to accept the offer.

After the Kage Summit, Ōnoki questioned Orochimaru about Konoha helping the Wind and Rain Countries despite gaining little from it. Orochimaru revealed that he pursued a greater goal tied to the Sage of Six Paths, then arranged for Nagato to visit the Uchiha and see their Stone Tablet.

• Ōnoki wondered why Konoha had helped Sunagakure and the Rain Country, and asked Orochimaru about it after the summit.
• Orochimaru said he wanted companions for a greater goal beyond the Shinobi World and told Ōnoki to investigate the Sage of Six Paths.
• Ōnoki connected Orochimaru's words to Nagato's Rinnegan, which had inflicted losses on Iwagakure.
• Fugaku asked Orochimaru why Shisui had not used Kotoamatsukami on Ōnoki, and Orochimaru warned him not to rely on the Mangekyo or try to control potential allies.
• Orochimaru told Fugaku that he had invited Nagato to visit the Uchiha clan and see their Stone Tablet.

Orochimaru explained to Fugaku and Shisui that the Rinnegan was likely the Sharingan’s ultimate evolution and that Uchiha Madara had placed his Rinnegan in Nagato. Fugaku took to heart the plan to use Nagato’s eyes to learn more about the Stone Tablet and Madara’s intentions.

• Orochimaru told Fugaku that the Rinnegan could reveal all the Stone Tablet’s hidden content and was likely the Sharingan’s ultimate evolutionary form.
• Fugaku questioned how Nagato, an Uzumaki Orphan, had awakened the Rinnegan, and Orochimaru confirmed that Nagato had not awakened the eyes himself.
• Orochimaru revealed that Uchiha Madara had awakened the Rinnegan and placed it in Nagato, possibly intending for Nagato to revive him.
• Orochimaru said Kagetsu had removed the methods Madara left in Nagato, but the eyes might still serve Madara’s plan.
• Fugaku agreed to help investigate what the Rinnegan could reveal about the Stone Tablet and Madara’s intentions.

Jiraiya shared the Great Toad Sage’s account of the Otsutsuki, revealing the origins of the Sage of Six Paths, the Hyuga, and the sealed Rabbit Goddess. Orochimaru then ordered Fugaku to show Yahiko the Uchiha Stone Tablet when he arrived in Konoha, with Kagetsu accompanying them.

• Jiraiya told Orochimaru, Tsunade, Fugaku, and Kagetsu that the Sage of Six Paths was Otsutsuki Hagoromo and that his brother Hamura was the Hyuga Clan’s ancestor.
• Jiraiya explained that their mother, Otsutsuki Kaguya, had been sealed on the moon by Hagoromo and Hamura, while Hamura and his descendants guarded the seal.
• Kagetsu identified the sealing technique as Planetary Devastation and said Nagato had begun learning it.
• Orochimaru told Fugaku that Nagato would bring Yahiko to Konoha by the following day and ordered Fugaku to take him to see the Uchiha Stone Tablet, accompanied by Kagetsu.

Nagato used his Rinnegan to read the Uchiha Stone Tablet and revealed its claims about awakening the Rinnegan and using the Ten-Tails to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi. Kagetsu concluded that Madara may have trusted the tablet and pursued the plan to create a Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, leaving Fugaku, Jiraiya, and Nagato grimly considering the revelation.

• Fugaku led Nagato, Kagetsu, and Jiraiya to the Uchiha Naka Shrine and asked Nagato to keep the tablet's secrets within Konoha.
• Nagato examined the Stone Tablet with his Rinnegan and said its writing was a smokescreen that transmitted information directly into his mind.
• Nagato explained that an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan user could awaken the Rinnegan by merging their power with an opposing force, which Fugaku identified as Senju power.
• Nagato said the tablet described reviving the Ten-Tails, making a Rinnegan user its Jinchuriki, and using Infinite Tsukuyomi to impose permanent peace.
• Jiraiya rejected peace achieved through Genjutsu as false, while Kagetsu speculated that Madara had believed the tablet and sought to carry out its plan.

Nagato confirmed that Uchiha Madara had been the original owner of his Rinnegan and resolved to keep using them to protect Yahiko’s dream. In Konoha, Orochimaru proposed seeking a controlled way to create a weakened Ten-Tails without killing its hosts or the Tailed Beasts.

• Nagato recognized that Madara had transplanted the Rinnegan into him and vowed to guard the eyes until Yahiko’s wish was fulfilled.
• Jiraiya reassured Nagato, while Fugaku decided not to demand that the Uchiha eyes be returned.
• Kagetsu urged Nagato to undergo an examination and consider Tsunade’s medicines to ease the strain of using the Rinnegan.
• Orochimaru reacted eagerly to the possibility of the Ten-Tails, but Tsunade warned that gathering all nine Tailed Beasts would put Kushina and the world at risk.
• Orochimaru proposed using portions of the Tailed Beasts’ Chakra and souls to create a weakened Ten-Tails without killing the Jinchuriki or the beasts.

After learning that Iwa had allied with Konoha, Fourth Raikage A considered whether the Cloud could risk war, but Dodai judged Konoha too powerful to challenge safely. A ordered Dodai to send a delegation to join the Kage Summit and negotiate.

• Fourth Raikage A smashed a table after learning that Iwa had also allied with Konoha.
• Dodai explained that Mist Village was weakened by the Third Ninja World War and was struggling with internal political turmoil.
• A asked whether the Cloud could defeat Konoha in a war, and Dodai said he could not be sure, citing Konoha's powerful fighters and research capabilities.
• Yugito questioned whether the Cloud's mastery of Hollowfication Mode could change their odds, while Dodai warned that Konoha might understand the power even better.
• A suppressed his desire to fight and ordered Dodai to send a delegation to join the Kage Summit.

Chiyo, Tsunade, and Baki traveled through River Country on a mission to find Sasori, while Tsunade revealed evidence linking him to the Third Kazekage’s disappearance. Chiyo learned the mission could become an arrest, though Baki insisted Sunagakure wanted Sasori brought back alive.

• Chiyo and Tsunade exchanged barbed remarks as they walked through River Country, and Chiyo explained that she had joined the mission because Sasori was her grandson.
• Tsunade told Chiyo that Sasori had wiped out three small shinobi villages and that investigators had detected Magnet Release at the sites.
• Tsunade suggested Sasori might have the missing Third Kazekage, prompting Chiyo to realize the mission could be an arrest rather than a reunion.
• Chiyo questioned Baki, who said Sasori would be invited back if Konoha’s intelligence proved false but arrested and returned to Sunagakure if it proved true.
• Chiyo accused Rasa of using Konoha’s involvement to force her to put the village before family, while Baki assured her the mission was to bring Sasori back alive.
• Chiyo challenged Tsunade about leaving Konoha during its standoff with the Cloud Ninja, and Tsunade dismissed her concern.

Chiyo's group confronted Sasori over the Third Kazekage's disappearance, and Sasori revealed that he had turned the Kazekage into a Human Puppet. The confrontation became a battle as Sasori used the puppet's Iron Sand to stop Baki's attack.

• Chiyo asked Sasori to return to Sunagakure, but he refused and admitted the group had come because of the Third Kazekage's disappearance.
• Sasori summoned the Third Kazekage as a Human Puppet and declared that he would turn the others into puppets too.
• Baki attacked Sasori with Wind Blade, but Sasori used the puppet to block it with Iron Sand.
• Baki recognized the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand, while Tsunade assessed the threat and prepared to take it seriously.

Tsunade counterattacked Sasori, shattering his Sand Iron constructs and purging their poison with her Medical Ninjutsu. The battle continued as Sasori launched another Sand Iron assault and Tsunade charged into it with her fists.

• Baki warned the others that ninja tools would not work against the Third Kazekage’s Sand Iron, then dodged Sasori’s spinning cones.
• Tsunade burst from the dust and struck the ground with an axe kick, forcing Sasori to retreat onto a Sand Iron platform.
• Sasori recognized Tsunade and was astonished when she rapidly purged the poison from her fist.
• Tsunade explained that her body had developed immunity to Sasori’s poison, while Sasori resolved that he wanted to turn her into a Human Puppet.
• Sasori sent the Third Kazekage’s Sand Iron constructs against Tsunade, who charged through the assault with her fists.

Tsunade overwhelmed Sasori and defeated him, then helped Baki and Chiyo seal him. Sasori agreed to return to Sunagakure, but on the way he revealed that he wanted to turn Tsunade into a Human Puppet.

• Tsunade charged through the Third Kazekage puppet’s attacks, healing from her wounds and destroying its mechanisms as Sasori retreated.
• Tsunade knocked Sasori unconscious with a punch and told Baki to seal him.
• Chiyo confirmed Sasori was alive, then helped Baki seal his hands and Chakra.
• Sasori accepted his defeat and agreed to return to Sunagakure with Chiyo and the others.
• Sasori told Tsunade he wanted to preserve her as a Human Puppet, and Tsunade dismissed the idea.

Tsunade and Orochimaru discussed Sasori’s Human Puppet technique and their efforts to escape death, with Tsunade revealing how far her body had surpassed ordinary limits. After Tsunade left to prepare another Resurrection Experiment, Orochimaru’s research-focused main body received her report through the Soul Network linking his Soul Shadow Clones.

• Orochimaru reflected that Sasori’s Human Puppet technique might spare him bodily limits but questioned whether consciousness could endure forever, given the damage Orochimaru’s soul suffered with each reincarnation.
• Tsunade acknowledged that her body had surpassed ordinary limits and could rapidly produce antibodies against Sasori’s poison, though she had held back during their fight.
• Tsunade left Orochimaru’s office to prepare for the next Resurrection Experiment, intent on bringing back the people she cared about.
• Orochimaru’s office clone transmitted Tsunade’s report to his research-focused main body through their Soul Network.
• Orochimaru received the memories while preparing a potion and reflected on how his Soul Shadow Clones divided his soul, shared information, and could return to his main body upon death.

Tsunade and Orochimaru confirmed their revival experiment was stable and chose to revive Tobirama Senju first. Tobirama awoke in Konoha Year 53 and learned how much the village had changed.

• After a month of observing the revived test subjects, Tsunade agreed to begin bringing the dead back to life.
• Tsunade chose Tobirama Senju as the first person to revive, reasoning that his skills would help Konoha more than Nawaki or Hashirama at this stage.
• Tsunade prepared Tobirama's clone while Orochimaru arranged for Kagetsu to return to the village.
• Tobirama awoke in a life-filled tank, recognized the grown-up Tsunade, and was helped out by her.
• Tsunade introduced Orochimaru and Nara Kagetsu, and Orochimaru told Tobirama that Konoha was in Year 53 and Sarutobi had retired.

Orochimaru and the others briefed Tobirama Senju on the wars since his death, and Kagetsu explained his Shadow Puppet Technique and Yin Release Kekkei Genkai. After Tsunade finished examining Tobirama and left, Orochimaru told him to recover and review classified village records while Kagetsu remained available to explain the modern village.

• Orochimaru and the others told Tobirama Senju about the major events since his death, including the Third Ninja World War.
• Kagetsu identified Tobirama’s reluctance to be resurrected as less than genuine and explained that his shadow let him sense chakra and mental fluctuations.
• Tobirama examined Kagetsu’s shadow and learned about the Shadow Puppet Technique, which could sense and control objects and living beings that overlapped with it.
• Kagetsu confirmed that his technique came from an awakened Yin Release shadow-type Kekkei Genkai, while Tsunade denied helping him withstand its effects.
• Tsunade finished checking Tobirama’s body, left to record the experiment, and advised him to get directions if he returned to the Senju Clan Grounds.
• Orochimaru told Tobirama to recover and review classified intelligence files, and directed him to ask Kagetsu about the village and his future duties.