Chapter Summaries

Chiba struggled to determine when Kakashi's team would face danger during the Kannabi Bridge mission, then found a way to estimate the timing from their route. As he traveled with Hirohiko and Yukina, the group spotted a ninja who tripped and fell from a tree.

• Chiba realized he could use Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Kunai and distress seal to reach Kakashi's team, but lacked a way to know when they would be in danger.
• Chiba considered using a Shadow Clone Jutsu to follow Kakashi's team, then rejected the idea because the clone could not last the three days to the Border Line.
• Chiba recalled that Kakashi, Obito, and Rin would reach Kannabi Bridge within about two days of separating from Minato Namikaze, giving him an approximate window for the attack.
• Chiba suddenly stopped and told Hirohiko and Yukina to take cover when he noticed a ninja moving through the trees.
• Chiba, Hirohiko, and Yukina watched as the ninja tripped over a vine and fell beneath the tree.

Obito arrived late to meet Minato Namikaze, Kakashi, and Rin, and Chiba's team emerged from hiding as they prepared to leave on a mission. The two teams parted in opposite directions, while Minato wondered whether Chiba was concealing something.

• Obito crashed out of the forest and was scolded by Kakashi for arriving late, though Minato defended his story about helping an old woman.
• Kakashi and Obito argued over rules and discipline while Rin tried to calm them, and Minato stopped Rin from revealing what day it was.
• Minato noticed Chiba, Hirohiko, and Yukina hiding nearby and called them out; Obito briefly suspected they were disguised enemies.
• Chiba said his team was carrying out a mission and left with Hirohiko and Yukina in the opposite direction from Minato Squad.
• Minato wondered whether Chiba knew something, then led Minato Squad away after Kakashi noticed the other team was carrying an iron pot.

Minato Namikaze split the mission party into two routes, with Kakashi leading Obito and Rin while Minato traveled alone. Elsewhere, Chiba, Hirohiko, and Yukina studied the battlefield map, and Chiba created a Shadow Clone, leaving his plan unclear.

• Minato Namikaze assigned Kakashi to lead Obito and Rin while he took a separate route alone.
• Minato Namikaze gave Kakashi a Flying Thunder God Kunai, and Rin gave him a modified medical kit.
• Obito argued with Kakashi after admitting he had no gift for him, and Rin stepped in to stop their quarrel.
• Chiba stopped with Hirohiko and Yukina to eat and examine a battlefield map showing routes around Kumogakure forces.
• Chiba drew a second route on the map and created a Shadow Clone, surprising Hirohiko and Yukina.

Chiba and his Shadow Clones used clues from a remembered scene and a detailed map to identify the likely location of the waterway near Kannabi Bridge. After confirming the water was running water, Chiba found the matching site, though the time remained to be deduced.

• Chiba and a Shadow Clone compared the remembered scene with a scroll and concluded the waterway was probably running water.
• Chiba created a second Shadow Clone to reason backward about whether the water could have been stagnant.
• The second Shadow Clone also concluded that the clues ruled out stagnant water, while the two Clones argued about logic and independent thought.
• Hirohiko and Yukina examined the detailed map of the Land of Grass side of Kannabi Bridge as Chiba searched it.
• Chiba located the only map site matching the running waterway and vegetation, then declared the location settled.

Chiba and his Shadow Clones used the maps and Minato Squad’s likely progress to identify the destination and calculate how much time each team had. Their estimates left little margin, so they agreed to hurry and avoid complications.

• The second Shadow Clone Chiba proposed another possible location, but Shadow Clone Chiba rejected it because it lay far off Minato Squad’s route.
• Chiba and his Shadow Clones identified the likely destination and estimated Minato Squad’s current position and travel time, accounting for the ambush and Kakashi’s injury.
• The three Chibas calculated that Minato Squad would reach the destination within about a day after splitting up, while their own route would require several days.
• Shadow Clone Chiba concluded that they needed to reach the border a day early and cross out the shortcut plan involving Teacher Kushina’s gift.
• The second Shadow Clone Chiba and Chiba agreed to the tight schedule and resolved to hurry without allowing complications.

The Third Hokage questioned Danzo’s motives after Danzo’s two-route plan sent teams, including Hyuga Yukina, toward the Kannabi Bridge mission. Danzo met with a mysterious figure outside Konoha, who told him he no longer needed to carry out a certain task, leaving Danzo uneasy.

• An Anbu Ninja reported that Minato Namikaze, Kakashi, Obito, Rin, Taki Chiba, Uchiha Hirohiko, and Hyuga Yukina had left Konoha on their assigned routes.
• The Third Hokage reviewed Danzo’s coded proposal and grew suspicious because Danzo had recommended Yukina despite his usual opposition to Hyuga Main Family members taking part in missions.
• The Third Hokage called Kenichi after deciding to investigate what Danzo was planning.
• Danzo met a mysterious figure in a hidden underground facility outside Konoha and reminded him that his debt for helping arrange Hanzo’s alliance with Akatsuki had been repaid.
• The mysterious figure thanked Danzo and told him he no longer needed to carry out the task, leaving Danzo wondering what the figure intended.

Chiba planned how to intervene in the Kannabi Bridge events while preserving Kakashi, Obito, and Rin’s fates, then realized Hirohiko and Yukina had been present during his calculations. Seeing that they trusted him to decide what came next, he resolved not to let them face the battlefield without his protection.

• Chiba calculated that he needed to reach the bamboo forest in three and a half days and planned to wait until Kakashi and Obito encountered the Iwagakure Jonin before intervening to save Rin.
• Chiba realized he had forgotten that Hirohiko and Yukina were part of the mission and worried they might have inferred his true intentions from his analysis.
• Hirohiko and Yukina revealed that they had been absorbed in watching Chiba think and asked what he had concluded.
• Chiba understood that Hirohiko and Yukina had simply been waiting for his instructions and resolved to keep them under his protection throughout the dangerous mission.

Chiba struggled to justify changing the route to reach Kakashi’s group in three and a half days without revealing that he knew they would be in danger. Hirohiko and Yukina supported his plan without demanding an explanation, and Chiba accepted their help as the team prepared to leave.

• Chiba realized his earlier calculations could make Hirohiko and Yukina suspect he intended to rescue Kakashi’s group rather than destroy Kannabi Bridge.
• Yukina and Hirohiko noticed Chiba’s distress and asked what was wrong.
• Yukina explained how the team could reach their destination in three and a half days, and Hirohiko agreed the schedule was feasible.
• Yukina and Hirohiko offered their hands and urged Chiba to go with them without asking why he needed to reach that point.
• Chiba took both their hands, feeling resolute as he prepared to set out with them.

Chiba, Hirohiko, and Yukina reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass after a rapid march, using Chiba's improved Ration Balls to keep up their strength. They camped in the forest before continuing behind enemy lines, and the chapter ended with Hirohiko setting traps around their campsite.

• Chiba, Hirohiko, and Yukina pressed on through the forest for two days, relying on the nourishing Ration Balls and short rests to maintain their pace.
• The three reached the grassland border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass, having avoided enemy patrols with Yukina's Byakugan.
• Chiba chose to camp in the forest to conceal their fire and protect them as they traveled behind enemy lines.
• Yukina used her Byakugan to check the area and reported that there were no people or large predators nearby.
• Hirohiko returned with a wild boar and told Chiba he had placed alarm traps and three layers of concealed traps around the camp.

Chiba, Hirohiko, and Yukina ate a miserable dinner and settled in for the night after Yukina spotted intense fighting ahead. Yukina then detected enemies nearby, leaving the group on alert.

• Chiba reported that he had set warning traps across the grassland and said they would map their locations after dinner.
• Yukina told Chiba and Hirohiko that two fighting squads had passed nearby and that a fierce war zone might lie ahead.
• Chiba decided the group should eat and sleep while the area remained relatively safe, then he and Hirohiko discovered Yukina had cooked their meal with Ration Balls.
• Chiba and Hirohiko finished the unpleasant meal and fell asleep outside while Yukina slept in the tent.
• Yukina remembered Chiba holding her hand, then sensed enemies and activated her Byakugan.

Yukina detected two four-person enemy teams approaching the camp from opposite directions, and Chiba weighed whether to fight or flee while the group remained hidden. Chiba began giving the others a plan, but the chapter ended before he revealed it.

• Yukina warned Chiba and Hirohiko that two enemy teams would meet near their camp in about ten minutes.
• Hirohiko started to check their traps, but Chiba stopped him and told him to stay still.
• Yukina reported that each approaching team had four people, and Chiba reasoned that they were likely covert squads from Iwa and Kumogakure.
• Chiba weighed the risks of fighting the enemy teams against fleeing and losing time on their mission.
• Chiba told Yukina and Hirohiko to listen as he began laying out his plan.

Dodai led Senior Maki and two young Kumogakure ninjas on a covert mission to intercept enemies carrying stolen intelligence. As Dodai began explaining their orders, Maki stopped the group just short of a steel-wire trap and rebuked Dodai for failing to notice it.

• A young Kumogakure ninja questioned why Dodai's team had been rerouted to the rear battlefield, and Senior Maki scolded the two young ninjas for questioning the Third Raikage's orders.
• Dodai explained that the Third Raikage had sent them to stop enemies in the area who had stolen important Kumogakure intelligence.
• Senior Maki angrily condemned the intelligence unit's failure and demanded to know how the team would recover the stolen information.
• As Dodai began relaying the Third Raikage's intelligence, Senior Maki halted the team and knocked the two young ninjas aside.
• Senior Maki caught Dodai by the collar before he reached a steel-wire trap and told him to write a self-criticism for his poor vigilance.

Dodai’s team encountered carefully placed traps while carrying out an intelligence recovery mission, and Maki reprimanded the inexperienced young ninja before warning that the area held more traps. After Kuroi sensed four approaching Iwa ninja, Dodai suspected the team had entered a trap, and Maki confirmed he could identify the traps.

• Maki stopped Dodai from approaching a Steel Wire trap and scolded him and the young ninja Kuroi and Saroi for their lack of vigilance.
• Maki ordered Kuroi to sense the area and Saroi to stay still, while Dodai worried that Kumogakure’s war effort was faltering.
• Kuroi sensed four Chakra signatures approaching from about three hundred meters away.
• Dodai identified the approaching ninja as Iwa ninja and questioned why they were heading toward the Land of Fire rather than the Land of Grass.
• Maki warned that more traps lay ahead, and Dodai asked whether he could identify them; Maki said he could.

Maki and Dodai investigated a suspected trap field as Kuroi and Saroi tracked the approaching target. Maki used Lightning Release to expose an enormous linked web of steel-wire traps, leaving the four Kumogakure ninja shocked by its scale.

• Maki ordered Kuroi and Saroi to fall back, and Kuroi reported that the target was about 280 meters away.
• Dodai ordered Saroi to prepare for battle and refused Maki's demand that he retreat, insisting that he was the captain and needed Maki to mark the traps.
• Maki's furious roar startled Saroi into dropping his Kunai and Kuroi into falling onto the branch.
• Kuroi resumed sensing and reported that the target was 230 meters away as Maki and Dodai prepared to probe the steel wire.
• Maki sent electricity through the wire, revealing a vast, interconnected web of traps throughout the forest.
• Dodai, Kuroi, Saroi, and Maki realized the trap field could have killed them and wondered who had built it.

Dodai’s team confronted an immense Steel Wire trap field while an Iwa team waited nearby, and Maki identified the traps as the work of Konoha’s Uchiha Clan. As Dodai began deciding how to proceed, explosions sounded ahead, indicating that Iwa’s team had triggered the traps.

• Dodai and Maki found the route blocked by a sprawling, interconnected Steel Wire trap field that Maki could not safely disarm.
• Kuroi sensed an Iwa team stopped about a hundred meters away, leaving Dodai to suspect they were waiting for his group to make a move.
• Maki revealed scars from a similar trap formation set by Kagami Uchiha and concluded that Konoha’s Uchiha Clan had likely planted the traps.
• Maki urged Dodai to decide quickly, but a series of explosions erupted ahead before Dodai could finish speaking.
• Dodai and Maki realized that Iwa’s team had triggered the traps.

An Iwagakure squad triggered a powerful chain-explosion trap laid by Kumogakure and narrowly avoided its worst effects behind an earthen wall. A young Kumogakure ninja then set Plan F in motion and vanished toward the blast zone, leaving his companions to watch for danger.

• A chain of explosions tore through the grassland and forest for five minutes, throwing debris across the area.
• The four Iwagakure ninja sheltered behind an earthen wall, and Michiko began sensing for Kumogakure's movements.
• A kilometer beyond the blast zone, a young ninja told Yukina and Hirohiko to follow Plan F and keep watch.
• The young ninja unleashed Chakra and disappeared from the branch where the three had been standing.

Dodai and Maki survived the explosion by sheltering in Protective Membrane Jades, while Kuroi suffered only a superficial injury. Maki ordered Dodai to take one sensory ninja toward the intelligence unit as the Iwagakure team chose to charge the approaching Kumogakure shinobi.

• Dodai emerged with Maki from the Protective Membrane Jades and confirmed that Kuroi and Saroi were alive.
• Maki recognized the blast-and-projectile trap as similar to one Kagami Uchiha had once used and wondered whether its maker was Kagami’s descendant.
• Kuroi returned with a superficial wound, and Saroi bandaged his arm.
• Maki told Dodai that Iwa’s interception unit had arrived and ordered him to take one sensory ninja toward the intelligence unit.
• Michiko sensed the Kumogakure shinobi charging, and her Iwagakure captain led his three teammates into the forest to meet them.

The Iwagakure and Kumogakure interception squads rushed toward each other through the forest, preparing their opening attacks. Just as the sturdy Iwagakure captain and Maki were about to collide, both stopped their fists in shock.

• The Iwagakure captain assigned Magane to prepare Wind Release and Nonō to prepare a defensive Earth Style Jutsu while Michiko sensed the enemy’s position.
• Maki ordered Dodai, Kuroi, and Saroi to prepare for the decisive first clash, and Dodai committed himself to the plan.
• Both squads closed in on the clearing as their sensory ninjas called out the final distances.
• The Iwagakure captain and Maki launched powerful punches at each other, but both abruptly stopped their fists against their palms in alarm.

The boy blocked the burly Iwagakure captain and Maki’s powerful punches, then used the Body Flicker Technique to vanish. Maki struck at the captain while the boy attacked Michiko, and the chapter ended with Maki realizing the boy was beneath him.

• The boy blocked the burly Iwagakure captain and Maki’s punches with his bare hands.
• The boy vanished with the Body Flicker Technique as the captain warned Nonō to protect Michiko.
• Maki redirected his momentum and attacked the captain with an electrified fist.
• The boy appeared behind Michiko, while Nonō and Magane reacted in alarm.
• Two impacts sent dust billowing and toppled trees; Maki looked down and saw the boy beneath him.

Chiba ambushed the Iwa and Kumo ninjas, defeating the remaining fighters with three Exploding Tags. As he questioned why the Iwa team had behaved so recklessly, someone opened resolute, murderous eyes behind him.

• Nonō and Magane saw their captain and Michiko incapacitated, then realized Chiba had vanished.
• Chiba appeared behind the pair, where three burning Exploding Tags detonated and blasted them into the forest.
• Chiba watched the explosion and wondered whether the Kumo ninjas had split up or taken another route.
• Chiba questioned why the Iwa captain had charged in and suspected the team had been sent to die as part of a larger scheme.
• Chiba sensed danger behind him as a pair of eyes opened with killing intent.