Chapter Summaries

Tang Ping gave Kushina medicine that restored her strength and revealed her pregnancy while Minato tried to seal the Nine-Tails into Naruto. Meanwhile, Uchiha Mei confronted Tobi and was wounded after her lightning attack failed.

• Tang Ping gave Kushina a concentrated White Zetsu-derived medicine, which restored her vitality and made her pregnancy visible.
• Minato prepared to seal the Nine-Tails into Naruto as Kushina went into labor, while Tang Ping watched and refused to intervene.
• Uchiha Mei used a sweeping Fire Release attack to flush Tobi out of hiding, then trapped the area in darkness with Ama-no-Iwato.
• Tobi evaded Uchiha Mei's attacks and countered with Wood Release, while his lack of eyes made her genjutsu ineffective.
• Uchiha Mei struck Tobi with Chidori Current, but it had no effect, and Tobi wounded her abdomen with a wooden spike.

Hinata Cang Yue intercepted Hiruzen Sarutobi’s group on their way to the sealing site and denied that Shell had released the Nine-Tails. After killing several Konoha ninja, she began hunting the survivors while Hiruzen tried to stop her.

• Hinata Cang Yue blocked Hiruzen Sarutobi’s group and claimed a former Konoha villager was responsible for the Nine-Tails Attack, not Shell.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi secretly ordered an attack, but Hinata Cang Yue killed Nara Maruo with Godly Vacuum Attack.
• Hinata Cang Yue pulled a Yamanaka ninja into the path of an Akimichi ninja’s Human Bullet Tank, killing him and leaving the Akimichi ninja exposed.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi attacked Hinata Cang Yue with his Adamantine Staff, but she dodged and mocked him.
• Hinata Cang Yue killed an attacking Anbu ninja with her Chakra Blade, then opened her assault on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s retreating group with Godly Vacuum Attack.

Hinata Cang Yue fought Hiruzen Sarutobi after wiping out the forces accompanying him, overpowering his compound ninjutsu with her Tenseigan abilities and Godly Vacuum Attack. She kicked him away and pulled what looked like his body toward her, only to be caught in an Exploding Tag trap.

• Hinata Cang Yue killed an Anbu member as Hiruzen Sarutobi used Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet to clear the surrounding terrain.
• Hinata Cang Yue challenged Hiruzen Sarutobi, but his Shadow Clone tricked her with Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi attacked with Compound Ninjutsu: Earth Dragon Flame Stream, and Hinata Cang Yue first repelled it with Shinra Tensei, then shattered it with Triple Godly Vacuum Attack.
• Hinata Cang Yue kicked Hiruzen Sarutobi from behind and used Banshō Ten'in to pull him toward her.
• Hinata Cang Yue realized she had pulled a wooden stake with an Exploding Tag attached, and the explosion engulfed her.

Hinata Cang Yue overwhelmed Hiruzen Sarutobi with Super Almighty Push while stalling Konoha’s forces, as Minato Namikaze died after failing to finish sealing the Nine-Tails. Tang Ping took over the seal, named Minato and Kushina’s newborn daughter Uzumaki Naruko, and left Kushina questioning who he was.

• Hinata Cang Yue survived Hiruzen Sarutobi’s attack and struck him with Super Almighty Push, leaving him severely injured in a massive crater.
• Hinata Cang Yue mocked Hiruzen Sarutobi and continued stalling as tremors and rising forests signaled Wood Release nearby.
• Minato Namikaze lost consciousness after the Nine-Tails resisted his sealing, and the newborn’s cries confirmed that Kushina Uzumaki had given birth.
• Tang Ping took over Minato Namikaze’s sealing work, named the baby girl Naruko, and comforted Kushina Uzumaki as she grieved.
• Kushina Uzumaki asked Tang Ping who he was after seeing his proficient Eight Trigrams Seal suppressing the Nine-Tails.

Tang Ping sealed the Yang Nine Tails into Naruto, took Naruko to the Tenshukaku, and helped Kushina choose death so she could be revived later. After receiving the retreat signal, the Shell Organization withdrew, leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi to suspect that someone in Konoha had released the Nine-Tails.

• Tang Ping sealed half of the Yang Nine Tails into Naruto and asked Kushina whether she would go to the Tenshukaku with him.
• Kushina agreed to die and be taken to the Tenshukaku, and Tang Ping took Naruko away after calling her “Kushina-neechan.”
• Tang Ping substituted a prepared corpse for Kushina, staged the scene to preserve the Nine-Tails Attack story, and fired the retreat signal.
• Uchiha Mei ended her fight with Tobi and retreated after seeing Tang Ping’s signal.
• Hinata Cang Yue told Hiruzen Sarutobi that someone in Konoha had released the Nine-Tails, then withdrew.

After the Fourth Hokage and his wife died in the Nine-Tails Attack, Hiruzen Sarutobi temporarily took the Hokage position again as Konoha faced threats from other villages. Wood Release evidence complicated the investigation, while the village put aside its plan to annex the Tenshukaku and sought to make peace with its occupants.

• An Anbu reported Wood Release traces at the scene and gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a fragment for Orochimaru to study.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi rejected the idea that a Senju had awakened Wood Release, while Danzo and Orochimaru privately wondered whether the other had created it.
• Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura backed Hiruzen Sarutobi returning as Hokage, and Nara Shikaku suggested he take the post temporarily until the crisis passed.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted the temporary appointment and ordered Konoha to strengthen its border defenses.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi shelved the annexation of the Tenshukaku and wrote that the village would not force its occupants to return, while offering them help if they needed it.

Tang Ping used Konoha’s offer of compensation to seek a trade charter while planning to use a dispute over a mine in the Land of Wind to strike at Sunagakure. He sent Guren to escalate the conflict under Hinata Cang Yue’s protection and left Konoha believing Tenshukaku would merely contain Sunagakure.

• Tang Ping and the others discussed Hiruzen Sarutobi’s offer, and Tang Ping decided to demand a trade charter from Konoha.
• Tang Ping assigned Yashiro to negotiate and ordered Guren to make the dispute over the mine in the Land of Wind as serious as possible.
• Tang Ping explained that Sunagakure had used a Land of Wind noble to seize the mine as a test of Tenshukaku’s resolve.
• Guren accepted the mission, and Hinata Cang Yue agreed to protect her.
• Tang Ping told Yashiro to present Tenshukaku’s planned action as helping Konoha contain Sunagakure, prompting Konoha’s leaders to welcome the offer.
• Guren’s team set out for the Land of Wind as the spark for Tang Ping’s Sand Ninja Collapse Plan.

Guren led a squad to reclaim the Mining Area in the Land of Wind, part of Tang Ping’s plan to seize its resources. The squad walked into a Sunagakure trap led by Baki, and Guren prepared to fight.

• Guren and her squad landed at a natural harbor with civilians and supplies, then headed toward the Mining Area.
• The squad discovered and disarmed a concealed Exploding Tag trap before reaching the mine.
• Guren’s group openly approached the Mining Area, where a noble family’s flag flew above a fortress and a vast open-pit mine.
• The supposed miners rushed out after a gong sounded, and Guren sensed that their response was too quick and their numbers too small.
• Baki dispelled his Transformation Technique after countering Guren’s Crystal Shuriken, while other Sunagakure ninja emerged and cut off the squad’s retreat.

Guren fought to escape a Sunagakure force occupying the mining area, while Hinata Cang Yue realized Sunagakure was testing Tenshukaku’s strength and intentions. As Guren stalled for reinforcements, the Blazing Sun Fleet arrived at the harbor.

• Guren challenged Baki’s claim to the mining area, but Baki said he would capture her and hand her over to Lord Lise.
• Guren used Crystal Release to scatter Sunagakure ninja and break through the encirclement, while Baki’s squad pursued and tried to exhaust her Chakra.
• Hinata Cang Yue observed the battle and concluded that Sunagakure was testing the terms of future cooperation, with a powerful hidden presence among its ninja.
• Guren kept stalling for time as she expected Tenshukaku reinforcements to arrive.
• The Blazing Sun Fleet arrived at the natural harbor with several large warships and numerous transport vessels.

Uchiha Mei commanded her forces as they landed for a war against Sunagakure, while Guren’s exhausted squad was cornered in the desert. Storm's Fury arrived between Guren and the pursuing Sunagakure ninja, leaving Baki to face the sudden intervention.

• Uchiha Mei directed the landing and refused to reveal the Flying Machine, trusting Tang Ping’s judgment that it should remain a trump card.
• Uchiha Mei sent Uchiha Shizuka to reinforce Guren after Yamaa Koji had already gone ahead.
• Guren refused to abandon her squad and prepared to lead one last attempt to break through Sunagakure’s blockade.
• Storm's Fury descended into the desert between Guren’s squad and Baki’s forces, halting the confrontation.
• Baki hesitated to give up on capturing Guren, but an approaching voice ended his uncertainty.

Rasa and Yamaa Koji fought while Baki’s Sunagakure forces clashed with Uchiha-led reinforcements, and Pakura was ambushed by Uchiha Shizuka. Both sides withdrew after gaining useful information, leaving the probing battle an uneasy draw.

• Rasa arrived and fought Yamaa Koji, whose mission was to keep him occupied rather than defeat him.
• Baki’s Sunagakure troops fought Yamaa Koji’s reinforcements, led by Uchiha, while Baki battled Uchiha Inaho.
• Baki withdrew after confirming that no Konoha ninja had joined the enemy reinforcements, revealing that Tenshukaku and Konoha were pursuing separate goals.
• Uchiha Shizuka ambushed Pakura, who dispelled her genjutsu, suffered a minor injury, drank a Healing Potion, and escaped.
• Rasa withdrew from his fight with Yamaa Koji, and both sides ended the probing operation after securing the information and objectives they wanted.

Uchiha Mei prepared Tenshukaku’s forces to defend a port against Sunagakure while Tang Ping planned to use the conflict as a step toward controlling the village. After nearly two months of supply raids and attrition, Sunagakure’s ninja gathered to discuss what to do.

• Uchiha Mei assessed Sunagakure’s advance force and made the port a defensive stronghold, with the fleet ready to provide fire support.
• Tang Ping set controlling Sunagakure as a strategic goal and planned to use the conflict to cover Konan’s investigation into One's Own Life Reincarnation.
• Sunagakure established a base in the Mining Area and began a low-profile war of attrition against Tenshukaku.
• Uchiha Mei exploited Sunagakure’s difficult desert supply routes by sending squads to intercept and kill its supply convoys.
• After nearly two months of fighting, Sunagakure’s supplies grew so tight that its ninja gathered in January of Konoha’s forty-ninth year to discuss countermeasures.

Sunagakure's leaders decided to launch a full-scale assault on Tenshukaku after mounting losses and supply costs threatened to bankrupt the village. As over a thousand Sunagakure ninja advanced on the harbor behind a redirected sandstorm, Uchiha Mei prepared the defenses and Tenshukaku's warships trained their cannons on the approaching force.

• Chiyo, Pakura, and Rasa debated how to counter Tenshukaku's Blazing Sun Fleet, which the Hozuki Clan protected from the water.
• Chiyo ordered a full-scale assault and revealed that she had brought Sunagakure's Puppet Squad, while Rasa agreed partly because the war was draining the village's finances.
• Uchiha Mei received word of Sunagakure's preparations and put Tenshukaku on full alert, distributing supplies and setting traps.
• The next day, more than a thousand Sunagakure ninja led by Chiyo, Pakura, and Rasa advanced toward the harbor under a redirected sandstorm.
• Inside the U-shaped harbor, Tenshukaku's three aircraft carriers and five gunships turned their cannons toward the advancing force.

Tenshukaku’s fleet and defenders battered Sunagakure’s puppet assault, but Rasa joined the battle with a massive wave of Gold Dust. Yamaa Koji met him head-on, smashed the wave apart, and pursued him as the two moved their fight away from their allies.

• The Blazing Sun Fleet bombarded the advancing puppets with shells packed with Exploding Tags, destroying many before its cannons had to stop firing.
• Tenshukaku shinobi raised Earth Flow Walls, then used Exploding Tags and kunai to destroy puppets that reached their defenses while keeping antidotes ready for their poison.
• Rasa sent a towering wave of Gold Dust toward the fortress, and Yamaa Koji entered the Eight Gates state to intercept him.
• Yamaa Koji used Cosmic Illusion to shatter the Gold Dust wave, then charged after Rasa as they took their battle away from the main forces.
• Sunagakure dispatched another powerful shinobi.

As Sunagakure attacked the Tenshukaku, Uchiha Mei deployed her allies and joined the battle herself. She charged toward Chiyo, whose puppet brigade had broken through the defenders, setting up a clash between the commanders to decide the fight.

• Uchiha Mei sent Uchiha Shizuka to hold off Pakura and allowed Guren to join the front lines while Hinata Cang Yue stayed concealed and Uzumaki Kasumi guarded against a Tailed Beast.
• Guren used Crystal Release to cut down Sunagakure ninja, then met Baki head-on when he moved to stop her.
• Sunagakure's attackers struggled against the Tenshukaku forces' long-range fire, so Chiyo deployed her ten modified puppets and tore open the defensive line.
• Uchiha Mei rushed into the melee with Chidori, cutting through Sunagakure ninja and puppets as she advanced toward Chiyo.
• Uchiha Mei charged Chiyo, and the two sides relied on their commanders' duel to determine the battle's outcome.

Uchiha Mei fought Chiyo while hiding her Mangekyo ability, Ama-no-Tokotachi, which let her restore her body to an earlier condition and overcome Chiyo’s poison. She summoned a massive Kirin over the battlefield, leaving both armies facing her impending attack.

• Uchiha Mei used Lightning Release, Chidori Blade, and Fire Release to destroy or damage Chiyo’s puppets and suppress Chiyo.
• Sunagakure realized Uchiha Shizuka and Uchiha Mei were stronger than expected, shifting the battle’s balance against them despite their numerical advantage.
• Uchiha Mei took an antidote after discovering Chiyo had poisoned her, while Ama-no-Tokotachi restored her body to its unpoisoned state.
• Uchiha Mei gathered the battlefield’s lightning into a huge Kirin above her head and declared that thunder would bury everything.

Uchiha Mei defeated Chiyo with Kirin, leaving both armies to regroup around the crater after their duel. Rasa and Pakura joined Chiyo, while Uchiha Shizuka and Yamaa Koji stood with Mei, setting the stage for the battle to end.

• Uchiha Mei unleashed Kirin, while Chiyo used her puppets and Chakra barriers to defend herself.
• Kirin destroyed Chiyo’s puppets and left her with no Chakra, though she survived the strike and acknowledged defeat.
• Uchiha Mei reflected that she had beaten Chiyo without revealing her Mangekyo Sharingan.
• The Sunagakure forces gathered behind Chiyo, and the armies took stock of their losses as the battle drew to a close.
• Rasa and Pakura joined Chiyo, while Uchiha Shizuka and Yamaa Koji appeared beside Uchiha Mei across the crater.

After Sunagakure withdrew from the commission, Uchiha Mei secured the Mining Area and arranged its defenses, then prepared to return to Tenshukaku for negotiations. The battle’s outcome spread among the major ninja villages, drawing an especially intense reaction from one force.

• Chiyo announced Sunagakure’s withdrawal from the commission and led its ninja away.
• Uchiha Mei inspected the deserted Mining Area, where Hinata Cang Yue discovered extensive mineral veins beneath the sands.
• Uchiha Mei assigned guards and management for the Mining Area, then ordered Uchiha Shizuka to arrange for the noble Lise to be robbed without leaving evidence.
• Uchiha Mei placed the Mining Area under Uchiha Inaho’s responsibility and led the fleet and most of the ninja back toward Tenshukaku.
• News of Sunagakure’s defeat spread to the major ninja villages, and one force reacted intensely.

Danzo persuaded Hiruzen to authorize Root recruitment from the major clans, while Hiruzen tacitly allowed surveillance of the Tenshukaku. Danzo pressured Yamanaka Inoichi to surrender more than twenty clansmen, but Nara Shikaku secured a delay, leaving Danzo to approach the other clans.

• Danzo warned Hiruzen that the Tenshukaku's growing strength threatened Konoha, and Hiruzen tacitly approved Root monitoring it.
• Danzo obtained Hiruzen's signature to recruit personnel from the major ninja clans, concealing his satisfaction with the authorization.
• Danzo presented Yamanaka Inoichi with a list of more than twenty Yamanaka clansmen for Root, and Inoichi struggled to refuse.
• Nara Shikaku intervened and persuaded Danzo to let Inoichi consider the demand before answering.
• Akimichi Choza arrived after Danzo left and asked Inoichi why Danzo had come.

Nara Shikaku and several clan heads confronted Hiruzen Sarutobi after Danzo demanded that members of their clans join Root, including the Aburame clan head. Hiruzen summoned Danzo to the Hokage Office, where the clan leaders waited for an explanation.

• Akimichi Choza wanted to confront Danzo, but Nara Shikaku stopped him and proposed appealing to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Aburame Shibi arrived at the Yamanaka Clan and revealed that Danzo had demanded fifteen Aburame members, including Shibi himself.
• Nara Shikaku, Aburame Shibi, and clan heads from other small clans went to the Hokage Building to demand Hiruzen's help.
• Aburame Shibi pleaded with Hiruzen, and Nara Shikaku explained that Danzo had ordered the Aburame to join Root.
• Hiruzen angrily ordered Anbu to bring Danzo to the Hokage Office, and Danzo arrived several dozen minutes later.