Chapter Summaries

Minato learned that the Third Kazekage’s disappearance had reduced the planned Five Kage Summit to a Three Kage Summit, and he sought to keep the Mizukage from joining the war against the Land of Summer and Konoha. Minato and Senju Chihiro intercepted the Third Mizukage on his way to the summit, and the Mizukage launched an attack.

• Minato inspected the Castle Keep construction site and learned that processing the Uchiha Clan’s three hundred billion Exploding Tags would take at least five more months.
• Minato planned to delay the war and said he would try to stop the Third Mizukage from attending the Three Kage Summit.
• The Third Mizukage departed for the summit, while his Foreign Affairs Advisor worried that the Stone and Cloud villages would not unite against the Land of Summer and Konoha.
• The Mizukage’s party traveled by ship and then crossed the Land of Hot Water, where the Foreign Affairs Advisor grew wary of a suspiciously large tree.
• Minato and Senju Chihiro confronted the Third Mizukage at a crossroads and urged him to turn back, but he formed hand seals and the people around him moved at once.

Minato and Qian Kong confronted the Third Mizukage, whose secret technique turned blood droplets into devastating projectiles. After discovering the Mizukage’s reliance on the droplets and exploiting his blindness, Minato created an opening and launched a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken at him.

• The Third Mizukage filled the valley with mist, but Minato dispersed it with a powerful Wind Release and attacked him with a Shadow Clone and Rasengan.
• The Third Mizukage revealed Secret Technique: Rupert's Tears, firing hardened blood droplets that pierced Minato’s clone, the Wood Release wall, and the Mist ninjas’ restraints.
• Minato entered Sage Mode, blocked a blood droplet with a Chakra Kunai, and ordered Qian Kong to attack the Mizukage’s guards.
• Minato and the Third Mizukage exchanged attacks as four blood droplets deflected Minato’s Flying Thunder God assaults, while Minato noticed the Mizukage remained stationary and relied on the droplets.
• Minato concealed a Chakra Kunai among his Flying Thunder God Kunai, baited the Mizukage into smashing the wrong one, then appeared behind him and hurled a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

Minato exposed White Zetsu’s control of the Third Mizukage, but the attack left the Mizukage dying and White Zetsu slaughtered the Mist ninja at the battlefield. The Third Mizukage entrusted Minato with a message about his intentions and the Ice Release Clan before dying, and Suikazan Fuguki later arrived to recover the bodies.

• Minato’s Rasenshuriken struck the Third Mizukage, while White Zetsu armor absorbed the blast and revealed that the Mizukage had been controlled.
• A White Zetsu posing as Bai Jiao killed the Foreign Affairs Advisor, confessed that Madara had controlled the Mizukage, and was killed by Minato, while more White Zetsu emerged.
• Minato took the Sharingan from a White Zetsu and told Chihiro to remember their enemy and develop Wood Release against them.
• The dying Third Mizukage told Minato that he had opposed the bloodline clans to help commoner ninja, regretted the Ice Release Clan’s destruction, and asked him to place flowers at White Lotus’s grave.
• Two days later, Suikazan Fuguki arrived with ANBU and sealed the Mizukage’s and Mist ninja’s bodies as evidence of the Mizukage’s control.

After the Third Mizukage died, Elder Yuan Shi took control of the Mist Hidden Village and declined to rush into choosing a successor or attending the summit. At the stalled Five Kage Summit, Ōnoki and the Third Raikage argued over opposing the Land of Summer until a Trident Kunai flew into the hall.

• Elder Yuan Shi examined the Third Mizukage and White Zetsu, then postponed choosing a Fourth Mizukage and withdrew the Mist Hidden Village from the summit.
• Suikazan Fuguki honored the Third Mizukage and First Hokage White Lotus at their graves, while Yuan Shi promised to search for surviving Ice Release bloodlines.
• Mifune hosted the summit as the Third Raikage and Ōnoki arrived without the Sand or Mist leaders, leaving it a Two Kage Summit.
• Ōnoki warned the Third Raikage that Konoha's new generation made an attack on the Land of Summer dangerous, but the Third Raikage insisted the alliance must defend the established order.
• A Trident Kunai shattered a high window and embedded itself in the hall wall, prompting Ōnoki, the Third Raikage, and Mifune to ready themselves.

Minato declared war on the old ninja order, prompting Ōnoki and the Third Lightning Kage to negotiate a Stone–Cloud alliance against the Land of Summer. As the villages prepared for the coming Third Ninja World War, Minato and Kushina attended Uchiha Mikoto and Fugaku’s wedding, where they faced one last celebration before the fighting began.

• Minato appeared before Ōnoki, the Third Lightning Kage, and Mifune, declared war, and escaped Ōnoki’s Dust Release attack.
• Ōnoki and the Third Lightning Kage argued over how the Stone Hidden Village and Cloud Hidden Village would divide the costs and troops for a war against the Land of Summer.
• After a day of negotiations, the two villages established a framework for an alliance while Unleaf Village and the Land of Summer also prepared for war.
• On the third day of the new year, sixteen-year-old Minato, Kushina, Qian Kong, and their classmates attended Uchiha Mikoto and Fugaku’s wedding.
• Minato and Kushina served as best man and bridesmaid and shared a cup of wine, knowing the Third Ninja World War was about to begin.

Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the Northern Front command and sent Konoha’s forces to face the Stone Hidden Village and Cloud Hidden Village alliance. Minato Namikaze equipped the troops with the Land of Summer’s explosive-tag weapons, and Konoha’s army marched north alongside two Guardian Army legions.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced that Stone Hidden Village and Cloud Hidden Village had declared war on Konoha and established the Northern Front Command Headquarters.
• Hiruzen named Minato Namikaze commander-in-chief, Hatake Sakumo deputy commander, and Senju Takeoto deputy commander of logistics.
• Minato announced that Konoha’s genin, chunin, and jonin would receive explosive-tag kunai from the Land of Summer.
• Hiruzen asked Minato to protect Kushina and safeguard the Nine-Tails’ seal whenever she fought, and Minato agreed.
• Hatake Sakumo and Senju Takeoto addressed the troops before 3,000 Konoha ninja departed in fifty battalions.
• Two 1,000-strong Guardian Army legions left Kyoto for the northern border to join the war.

Minato Namikaze led Hizashi Hyuga, Nara Shikatsu, and a Guardian Army battalion into the Land of Hot Water to test the Mutually Multiplying Mortar against Rock Cloud Alliance scouts. The weapons annihilated two enemy squads, and the battalion returned with range and combat data for a tactical manual.

• Minato Namikaze, Nara Shikatsu, and Hizashi Hyuga led a Guardian Army battalion out of camp to test its weapons against enemy scouts.
• Hizashi Hyuga located a four-person Rock Cloud Alliance squad, and the battalion killed them with a Mutually Multiplying Mortar Ten Thousand Style warhead.
• The battalion used a Thousand Style warhead to annihilate another enemy reconnaissance squad, and Minato Namikaze judged it sufficient for attacking enemy squads.
• Hizashi Hyuga and the staff officers tested mortar ranges, establishing a maximum range of three kilometers and a minimum of one hundred meters.
• The battalion returned with combat data, and Minato Namikaze planned to discuss sharing the Senju Clan's Seismic Reconnaissance Technique with the Guardian Army.

The Rock Cloud Alliance sent the Third Raikage and six hundred ninja toward the Land of Fire after losing more than thirty reconnaissance teams to Konoha’s long-range mortar tactics. Konoha moved to occupy the southern slopes of the Land of Hot Water Basin, where Hizashi Hyuga spotted the Third Raikage among an enemy force being bombarded at extreme range.

• The Third Raikage decided to lead ten battalions toward the Land of Fire to gather intelligence on Konoha, while Ōnoki ordered Jonin to lead the teams.
• Nara Shikatsu reported that Konoha’s mortar tactics had destroyed more than thirty enemy reconnaissance teams without casualties and proposed seizing the southern slopes of the Land of Hot Water Basin.
• Minato approved relocating the command headquarters, and Konoha squads began moving into the hills of the Land of Hot Water.
• Hizashi Hyuga and Qi Yan led an elite battalion carrying mortars, then Hizashi detected an enemy battalion and directed the Guardian Army to fire.
• The Guardian Army’s shells killed more than thirty enemy ninja, and Hizashi called out coordinates as the enemy split to flank them.
• Hizashi noticed that one cloud ninja charging from the right looked like the Third Raikage.

The Third Lightning Kage charged through Konoha’s explosive-tag barrage and fought Hizashi Hyuga and Qi Yan before Minato arrived to face him. Minato could not defeat the Lightning Kage’s armor, but escaped with Flying Thunder God after admitting his opponent was strong.

• The Third Lightning Kage survived multiple Multiplication Exploding Tag blasts, lost his advancing Cloud Ninja, and continued toward the Konoha force.
• Hizashi Hyuga prepared to use a Multiplication Exploding Tag Ten Thousand Style against the Third Lightning Kage, but Qi Yan opened the Seventh Gate and kicked him off course.
• Qi Yan threw Minato’s Trident Kunai, and Minato appeared to knock the Third Lightning Kage away while Hizashi evacuated the men and mortars.
• Minato entered Sage Mode and clashed repeatedly with the Third Lightning Kage, but his kunai only partly pierced the Lightning Armor and the Third Lightning Kage could not catch him.
• Minato admitted the Third Lightning Kage was strong, then escaped using Flying Thunder God.

The Third Lightning Kage and Ōnoki assessed Konoha’s mass-produced Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags and Minato Namikaze’s battlefield mobility before advancing the Rock Cloud Alliance toward Konoha. After the Land of Hot Water’s daimyo sought reassurance, the Third Lightning Kage promised to arrange a decisive offensive.

• The Third Lightning Kage reported that Konoha’s iron tubes fired Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags over long distances and warned that Minato Namikaze could appear anywhere.
• An intelligence ninja revealed that the Land of Summer mass-produced the tags and that Minato Namikaze protected its factories and ships, so Ōnoki abandoned his plan to sabotage them.
• The Third Lightning Kage and Ōnoki agreed to advance with the Rock Cloud Alliance’s superior numbers, and more than ten thousand Stone and Cloud ninja marched through the Land of Hot Water.
• The Rock Cloud Alliance built a camp near Konoha’s position, while the Third Lightning Kage and Ōnoki ordered their forces to guard against a surprise attack.
• A Guardian Ninja reported that the Land of Hot Water’s daimyo had pledged allegiance to the Land of Lightning and asked for a battle plan; the Third Lightning Kage promised to launch a general offensive against Konoha.

Konoha and the Guardian Army prepared to defend against the Rock Cloud Alliance, with Minato’s mortar strategy inflicting devastating casualties before the enemy reached the front lines. As three Jinchuriki launched Tailed Beast Balls, Minato stepped forward to face them.

• Minato and Hatake Sakumo led Konoha’s forces to the front while Senju Takeoto stayed behind to command the reserves.
• Qi Yan, Song Yi, and San Die took positions protecting the Mutually Multiplying Mortars, which fired fifty shells at the advancing Rock Cloud Alliance.
• Four mortar volleys killed more than three thousand enemy ninja before they reached Konoha’s line.
• Nara Shikatsu recorded that the new mortar warheads had sharply reduced the battlefield value of the Tailed Beast Ball.
• Rōshi, Han, and Bunabi entered Tailed Beast Cloak Mode and fired three Tailed Beast Balls toward Konoha, and Minato moved to confront them.

Minato countered the Jinchuriki’s Tailed Beast Balls by redirecting them into the Iwa Ninja, while Konoha’s forces fought to hold back the Rock Cloud Alliance. As mortar fire concentrated on Iwa’s advance and inflicted heavy losses, Ōnoki flew toward Konoha’s artillery to destroy it.

• Minato used Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder to redirect six Tailed Beast Balls, sending one into the Iwa Ninja and causing devastating casualties.
• The Third Lightning Kage charged Minato, but Hatake Sakumo intercepted him, while Fugaku and Qian Kong moved to delay the Jinchuriki.
• Fugaku’s Mangekyo Sharingan Genjutsu stopped Han, and Qian Kong’s Wood Release blocked Rōshi.
• Konoha’s fifty Mutually Multiplying Mortars concentrated their bombardment on the Iwa Ninja, slowing their advance and killing many more.
• Ōnoki saw that more than 3,500 of his 8,000 Iwa Ninja had died and flew toward Konoha’s cannon barrels to destroy them.

Konoha used its Chakra Weapons and battlefield formations to focus its assault on the Iwa Ninja while holding off the allied Cloud Ninja. Ōnoki ordered a retreat, but the bombardment continued to devastate his forces as they withdrew.

• Minato brought Kushina to the battlefield, where she restrained Bubi with Adamantine Chains while Minato drew Ōnoki into the air.
• Konoha shifted its formation to prolong mortar fire against the Iwa Ninja, while explosive-tag kunai inflicted heavy casualties on the Cloud Ninja.
• Minato dodged Ōnoki's Particle Style attacks and nearly cut his throat with a Flying Thunder God Slash, prompting Ōnoki to order the Iwa Ninja to retreat.
• The Cloud Ninja and the central fighters withdrew as Konoha's command ordered an orderly pursuit.
• Nara Shikatsu directed another mortar barrage against the retreating Iwa Ninja, and Ōnoki watched in fury as the Cloud Ninja escaped safely.

After the Rock Cloud Alliance's defeat, Minato's forces relentlessly pursued the Iwa Ninja with long-range mortar fire, while the Guardian Army impressed Konoha with its discipline and battlefield effectiveness. As Hizashi Hyuga and Qi Yan discussed future tactics, Hizashi sensed Ōnoki and a powerful force approaching the camp.

• Minato divided Konoha's forces to monitor the Cloud Ninja, block their return, and pursue Ōnoki's fleeing Iwa Ninja.
• Ōnoki, Han, and Rōshi struggled to protect the Iwa Ninja from repeated long-range mortar attacks as hundreds died during the retreat.
• Ōnoki and Han left the main force at night to ambush Konoha's pursuers and destroy the Land of Summer's mortars.
• Hizashi praised the Guardian Army's training and low-cost battlefield impact as Qi Yan explained Minato's plans for coordinating infantry and artillery.
• Hizashi sensed Ōnoki and another powerful presence within three kilometers of the camp, triggering an alarm.

Ōnoki and Han attacked Konoha’s camp, but Minato and Sakumo fought back with explosive tags and drove Han’s seal into failure. The Five-Tails rampaged, Ōnoki escaped, and Minato and Sakumo prepared to face the beast together.

• Ōnoki and Han advanced on Konoha’s camp as the mortar company fired Multiplication Exploding Tag Ten Thousand Style shells at them.
• Minato and Sakumo threw Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tag Kunai, forcing Han and Ōnoki to spend chakra defending themselves.
• Sakumo slashed Han’s back, destabilizing his seal, while Minato kept Ōnoki occupied with Flying Thunder God and Rasenshuriken.
• Han’s seal failed and the Five-Tails went on a rampage; Han warned Ōnoki to run, and Ōnoki fled into the sky.
• The Five-Tails knocked Minato away from his pursuit, and Minato joined Sakumo to confront the beast and discuss striking Stone Hidden Village.

Minato, Hatake Sakumo, and Senju Takeoto stopped the Five-Tails Mū King from destroying the Konoha camp, and Minato killed the beast with a Super-Sized Rasenshuriken. In the Land of Rain, Yahiko and Konan learned of the Five-Tails’ death and decided to investigate the deaths of the tailed beasts and turn their attention to the wider ninja world.

• Han freed the Five-Tails Mū King in exchange for his help destroying the Konoha camp, and the beast charged past Minato and Hatake Sakumo toward it.
• Minato used Yellow Springs Swamp to try to stop the Five-Tails, while Senju Takeoto led Konoha ninja in throwing Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tag kunai.
• The explosive tags stopped the Five-Tails’ Tailed Beast Ball before it reached the camp, and Hatake Sakumo cut the beast’s legs to bring it down.
• Minato entered Sage Mode, unleashed a Super-Sized Rasenshuriken, and pulverized the Five-Tails Mū King’s chakra.
• Yahiko and Konan learned that the Five-Tails had died, and they resolved to investigate the tailed beasts’ deaths and focus on the wider ninja world.

After routing the Iwa Ninja in the Land of Hot Water, Minato threatened the Land of Iron’s envoy but explained that he only meant to pressure Mifune. When Ōnoki arrived in the Land of Iron with about four hundred survivors, Mifune learned of Konoha’s devastating weapons and left to stop Minato from advancing.

• Minato led Guardian Army troops in a flank ambush that killed more than six hundred Iwa Ninja, leaving Ōnoki with roughly four hundred men.
• Minato told the Land of Iron’s Foreign Affairs Advisor to have Mifune gather his samurai, while telling Nara Shikatsu that he was using threats to pressure Mifune rather than declaring war immediately.
• Mifune reduced the supplies prepared for the returning Iwa Ninja as reports revealed their losses and Han’s death.
• Ōnoki arrived at a ravine with about four hundred Iwa Ninja and cursed inwardly at the two hundred and fifty tents Mifune had prepared for a thousand men.
• An Iwa staff officer told Mifune that Konoha’s long-range weapons had crushed the Iwa Ninja, and Mifune departed to stop Minato from entering the Land of Iron.

Mifune negotiated with Minato to preserve the Land of Iron’s neutrality, agreeing to warn Konoha and the Land of Summer about future attacks crossing its territory. Minato ended the pursuit of Ōnoki and planned to return to drive out the Cloud ninja and take the Land of Hot Water, while Mifune told his advisor to ask Ōnoki to leave.

• Mifune met Minato, Hatake Sakumo, and Senju Takeoto and defended the Land of Iron’s role in hosting the Five Kage Summit and aiding passing ninja villages.
• Nara Shikatsu challenged Mifune over the Land of Iron’s support for Iwa, and Mifune explained that it offered aid and passage to any village that paid.
• After Minato threatened to pursue the remaining Iwa ninja, Mifune promised to secretly warn Konoha and the Land of Summer of any future forces crossing the Land of Iron to attack them.
• Minato accepted Mifune’s terms, stopped the pursuit at the border, and declared that Konoha would return to drive out the Cloud ninja and take the Land of Hot Water.
• After leaving Konoha’s camp, Mifune told the foreign affairs advisor to ask Ōnoki to leave the Land of Iron as soon as possible.

Minato Namikaze planned to draw the cloud ninja into a prepared battle by attacking the Land of Hot Water’s capital and used the invasion to expand the Land of Summer. After the city’s nobles rejected surrender, Konoha bombarded South Completion City, and they rushed out to surrender too late.

• Minato Namikaze chose to attack the Land of Hot Water’s capital, expecting the cloud ninja to come to its defense and face Konoha’s prepared Mutually Multiplying Mortar positions.
• Minato ordered Qi Yan to find trusted people in the Land of Hot Water and sent San Die to Kyoto to prepare officials to take over Tang Guarding Way.
• Nara Shikatsu told South Completion City’s envoy that the nobles had half an hour to surrender unconditionally or face the Land of Summer’s forces.
• When the nobles refused to surrender, Minato ordered the Mutually Multiplying Mortars to bombard the city’s northern district.
• Fugaku Uchiha worried that the Uchiha Clan’s walled territory could be vulnerable to a similar attack and resolved to urge his father to remove its walls.
• The city gates opened as the nobles rushed out to surrender, but Minato’s plan called for their execution and the Land of Summer’s takeover of the city.

Minato surrounded Kyoto and demanded the Land of Hot Water’s daimyo surrender, while the Third Lightning Kage prepared a rescue and an anti-Konoha alliance. The Cloud Ninja advanced toward Kyoto under attack from Konoha, and Fugaku’s elite squads began destroying their exposed flanks as Song Yi tested new weapons.

• Minato led Konoha’s main force to Kyoto, surrounded the capital, and demanded the daimyo and nobles surrender unconditionally.
• The Hot Water daimyo sent Guardian Ninja to seek the Lightning Kage’s help, and Hizashi reported that the plan had begun.
• The Third Lightning Kage ordered efforts to form an anti-Konoha alliance and planned to rescue the daimyo with three thousand troops.
• After learning Konoha had gathered beneath Kyoto’s walls, the Lightning Kage ordered Cloud Ninja inside the city to ambush Konoha from behind.
• The Cloud Ninja spread into a wide formation, endured the first barrage, and continued advancing despite Konoha squads attacking their flanks.
• Fugaku led elite Konoha squads in wiping out Cloud Ninja units while Song Yi’s special squad tested new weapons.