Chapter Summaries

Kukomaka transformed and fought the Four-Tails, first striking it with her bare fist before unleashing the dangerous Ultra-High Heat, Particle Breath. The beam devastated the volcanic battlefield and badly injured the Four-Tails, while Deidara watched in awe.

• Kukomaka ordered Shisui to handle Sasori and Deidara while she confronted the Four-Tails.
• Kukomaka took on a golden, foxlike form and knocked the Four-Tails back with a punch.
• The Four-Tails unleashed Scorching River Great Eruption, turning the surrounding land into a volcanic wasteland and forcing Shisui and Sasori to retreat.
• Kukomaka gathered Chakra into a massive fox head and fired Ultra-High Heat, Particle Breath at the Four-Tails.
• The Four-Tails endured the beam with its Chakra and powerful body but suffered severe damage as the attack carved a vast ravine through the land.
• Deidara watched the destructive technique from above and called it true instant art.

Kakashi and Yamato tracked the Alien Clan to the Gelel Stone Ore Vein and discovered that Red Moon was involved, while Yamato sensed the canyon’s pull on Hashirama Cells. In the underground palace, Menma defeated Hyde’s ambush, but the exposed ore vein began flooding Hyde with power and driving Menma’s Three-Tomoe Sharingan toward its Mangekyō threshold.

• Kakashi and Yamato followed the Alien Clan’s warship to a canyon and recognized Ame-no-Minaka-Nushi among the group entering a hidden cave.
• Kakashi sent a warning to Leaf Village, then Yamato sensed that his Hashirama Cells were craving something inside the canyon.
• Menma inspected the Gelel Stone as Hyde brought their group down to an underground palace containing an ancient space-time technique.
• Hyde and the Alien Clan members surrounded Menma and attacked, but Menma manifested a golden Half-Body Giant and cut down several of them.
• Menma’s strike exposed the Gelel Ore Vein, which fed power into Hyde while its energy caused Menma’s Three-Tomoe Sharingan to surge toward the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Menma’s attempt to draw power from the Gelel Ore Vein awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan as Kakashi and Yamato entered the palace and the broken seal unleashed a flood of energy. Yamato’s Wood Release surged, but Menma transformed Susanoo into its red-gold Fourth Form and brought down a devastating sword strike against him.

• Menma absorbed the Gelel Stone’s life energy, while Hyde gained power from it and Kakashi struck him down and took the stone with Yamato.
• Menma broke open the palace wall, revealing the Gelel Ore Vein, whose flooding essence healed and empowered some people while causing others to explode from absorbing too much.
• Yamato absorbed the Gelel Stone’s power, released his Chakra, and grew a vast forest with the Great Forest Technique before forming a Wood Golem.
• Menma awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and expanded Susanoo into its red-gold Fourth Form as Yamato prepared to fight him.
• Menma’s Yasaka Magatama destroyed the Wood Golem’s arm, which began regenerating, and Menma then raised Susanoo’s sword and swung it down with Futsunomitama Sword: Cleave.

Menma defeated the Konoha team’s resistance, secured the Gelel ore vein, and exposed Hyde’s crimes to Timothy. After Timothy killed Hyde and learned that a peaceful ideal nation could not exist, Menma asked whether he was still willing to witness a miracle.

• The Crimson Gold Giant cut Yamato’s Wood Golem in half, while Kakashi opened the Gate of Pain and unleashed a Purple Lightning Wolf at Menma before fleeing with Yamato and the old man.
• Menma met the Purple Lightning attack head-on, and its blast devastated the underground palace and injured the Alien Clan survivors.
• Menma sealed the Gelel ore vein with Adamantine Sealing Chains and took the Book of Gelel from Hyde.
• Menma used genjutsu to make Hyde reveal that he had killed Timothy’s family and deceived homeless children, and Timothy killed Hyde after Menma urged him to remember the victims.
• Menma told Timothy that an ideal nation without conflict or killing did not exist, then asked whether Timothy was still willing to witness a miracle.

Kukomaka defeated the Four-Tails and devoured its four tails, while Shisui drove Sasori and Deidara from the battlefield. Rōshi agreed to leave Iwagakure with them, but Kukomaka warned that she would devour the Four-Tails if he betrayed them.

• Kukomaka subdued the Four-Tails, tore off its four tails, and permanently devoured the Chakra in them.
• The Four-Tails agreed that Kukomaka should take the tails of the other Tailed Beasts too, so none of them could mock it.
• Sasori withdrew with the motionless Kakuzu, and Deidara flew back toward Iwagakure while Shisui let them escape.
• Shisui used genjutsu to control the wounded Four-Tails, but Rōshi transformed back and offered to go with them instead of returning to Iwagakure.
• Kukomaka refused to trust Rōshi and warned him that she would devour the Four-Tails if he had ulterior motives.

Izumi Uchiha’s Snow Country Squad defeated Sand Village’s mining and support teams while she fought Rasa, who escaped after Izumi used her Mangekyō techniques to turn back his Gold Dust Tsunami and sever his legs. Menma arrived with the recovered ore, praised the mission’s success, and told Izumi she would receive Fusion Fluid after returning, while she resolved to reassess her strength.

• Izumi Uchiha held Rasa at bay as the Snow Country Squad ambushed and overwhelmed the sand ninja reinforcements.
• Rasa ordered a retreat, then unleashed Gold Dust Tsunami to protect his soldiers and threaten the Snow Country Squad.
• Izumi stopped the Gold Dust Tsunami with Yomotsu Hirasaka and Chigaeshi no Kami, then struck Rasa and severed both his legs as he escaped.
• Izumi recovered while the Snow Country Squad gathered Gold Dust and searched the battlefield for spoils.
• Menma arrived carrying the enormous azure ore and told Izumi that Rasa’s escape was expected, then promised her Fusion Fluid after they returned.
• Menma chose to leave Rasa’s severed legs behind for the Kazekage to find.

Sasuke learned an imperfect Sage Mode with help from Shima and Fukasaku, then set out to challenge Naruto. Jiraiya received alarming reports of the Red Moon’s return and Wood Release’s reappearance, while Ōtsutsuki Rito prepared to take Toneri to the Shinobi World.

• Sasuke entered Sage Mode with Shima and Fukasaku’s help and tested it by unleashing a greatly enhanced Great Fireball Technique.
• Sasuke accepted that his Sage Mode was imperfect and headed into the Death Forest to challenge Naruto.
• Jiraiya received a letter reporting the Red Moon’s return, Yamato’s suspected Wood Release, and other disasters, and decided to find Tsunade.
• Ōtsutsuki Rito’s Branch Family slaughtered the Main Family on the moon, leaving no survivors.
• Ōtsutsuki Rito told Toneri that they would go to the Shinobi World to find the pure Byakugan.

Naruto and Sasuke discussed Sasuke’s future and Naruto promised him eyes like Itachi Uchiha’s, while keeping the means secret. Meanwhile, Neji’s frustration with the limits of the Byakugan drew the attention of Ōtsutsuki Rito and Toneri, who offered to teach him its true power.

• Naruto explained how his wind-and-summoning defensive ninjutsu extinguished Sasuke’s fire dragons, and Sasuke asked whether they would share a team with Haruno Sakura after graduation.
• Sasuke said he might travel after graduation to discover what he wanted beyond revenge, while Naruto said he wanted to be himself and promised him eyes like Itachi Uchiha’s.
• Naruto explained that the Sharingan evolved through intense emotions brought on by losing love, then told Sasuke to wait for the day his ocular power would improve.
• Neji angrily struck a wooden post after Rock Lee defeated him, lamenting the limits of the Gentle Fist and the Byakugan compared with the Uchiha’s Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Ōtsutsuki Rito and Toneri appeared before Neji, called him a caged bird, and Ōtsutsuki Rito offered to teach him the true power of the Byakugan.

Ōtsutsuki Rito tried to recruit Neji to help him obtain pure Byakugan, but Neji betrayed him and raised the alarm when they approached the Hyuga residence. Older Hinata prepared to answer a distress call as the Hyuga Clan faced Rito’s attack.

• Ōtsutsuki Rito offered Neji the secret of the Byakugan in exchange for help finding high-purity eyes, and Neji pretended to agree to lead him to Hanabi Hyuga.
• Older Hinata recognized the Ōtsutsuki Clan’s arrival, put on her masked cloak, and sent a distress signal to Naruto.
• Naruto used a clone to continue home while he slipped away to answer Older Hinata’s call.
• Neji attacked Ōtsutsuki Rito near the Hyuga Clan Head Residence and shouted a warning, bringing Hyuga Hiashi and other clansmen to the courtyard.
• Hiashi blocked Rito’s Chakra sphere with Rotation, but Rito summoned more than a dozen Puppets that surrounded the Hyuga clansmen and fired green Chakra spheres.

Ōtsutsuki Rito attacked the Hyuga Clan to take Hanabi’s high-purity Byakugan, but Hinata defeated his Puppets and drove him off. As Rito and Toneri escaped the Leaf Village, a masked figure using Wood Style intercepted them.

• Ōtsutsuki Rito drained the Hyuga Clan members’ Chakra and identified Hanabi’s eyes as the Byakugan needed to give Toneri the Tenseigan.
• Hinata appeared to protect Hanabi, destroyed Rito’s Puppets, and forced him to retreat with Toneri when Konoha ninja arrived.
• Hinata told the ANBU the Puppets had gone out of control, then avoided Hiashi’s questions by pretending to be timid and sending him to Neji.
• Ōtsutsuki Rito escaped the Leaf Village with Toneri in a Flying Ninja Tool and resolved to train his son to obtain the Tenseigan.
• A masked figure used Wood Style to seize the Flying Ninja Tool, forcing Ōtsutsuki Rito and Toneri to abandon it and face the new opponent.

Naruto used his black Wood Release to overpower Ōtsutsuki Rito and Toneri, destroying their Ancestor Statue and seizing Toneri while tearing off Rito’s arm. As Rito summoned the Giant Tenseigan, a meteorite began falling toward the Shinobi World.

• Naruto’s black Wood Release broke through Ōtsutsuki Rito’s Chakra Barrier, forcing Rito to have Toneri summon the Ancestor Statue.
• Naruto revealed his Wood Golem and smashed the statue, whose damaged body began repairing itself with Chakra.
• Rito tried to flee, but Naruto rode a Wood Dragon into the air and grabbed Toneri, tearing off Rito’s right arm as he tried to protect his son.
• Rito cursed Naruto and the Shinobi World, then raised his remaining hand toward the moon and summoned the Giant Tenseigan.
• The Giant Tenseigan awakened and accelerated a small meteorite toward the Shinobi World.

Yamato’s life-threatening Wood Release complications and a report of a Red Moon fighter using similar powers sent Hiruzen Sarutobi and Konoha’s forces to the village outskirts. There they found Naruto beneath a falling Meteorite controlled by Ōtsutsuki Rito, who fled as Naruto launched an attack instead of escaping.

• Medical Ninja struggled to keep Yamato’s regenerative cells under control, and Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered them to delay his condition while waiting for Tsunade.
• An ANBU captain reported that a Red Moon member had fought outside the village using ninjutsu resembling Wood Release, so Hiruzen Sarutobi led ANBU to investigate.
• Kakashi trained with Purple Lightning after losing his Sharingan, then followed an ANBU order to repel the enemy outside Konoha.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Konoha forces found Naruto atop a Black Wood Golem as a Meteorite descended toward them.
• Ōtsutsuki Rito revealed that he had used the Giant Tenseigan to control the Meteorite and tried to flee, but Naruto attacked him with the Black Wood Dragon.

Naruto killed Ōtsutsuki Rito and used his crimson Rose Sword to split the falling meteorite, but the remaining half still threatened Leaf Village. Hiruzen Sarutobi failed to stop it, so Naruto stepped in and destroyed most of the remnant with a Tailed Beast Rasengan, leaving the Anbu Ninja inspired by his strength.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the ninja to retreat as the meteorite neared, while Naruto attacked Ōtsutsuki Rito and Toneri.
• Ōtsutsuki Rito used the Giant Tenseigan to push away Naruto’s Flying Ninja Tool, but Naruto caught him with thorn-covered vines and snapped his neck as Toneri escaped.
• Naruto manifested a crimson Rose Sword and used Mountain of Swords and Tree of Blades to cleave the meteorite, splitting it but leaving half still falling toward Leaf Village.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned Enma and tried to stop the remaining meteorite with the Adamantine Staff, but the impact threw him aside and injured him.
• Naruto appeared before Hiruzen Sarutobi, told him to rest, and destroyed most of the meteorite with a Tailed Beast Rasengan.
• Naruto told the Anbu Ninja to fall back and vowed to protect the village, while they recognized him as Naruto Uzumaki rather than merely the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Naruto used a Wood Clone disguised as Takamimusubi to stage a destructive attack on Leaf Village, while presenting himself as its defender. After Naruto and the clone faked a fierce battle, Jiraiya and Tsunade arrived, and the clone escaped before Naruto claimed he had failed to stop it.

• Takamimusubi's Wood Clone unleashed Tree Sea Advent and Tree World Advent, overwhelming Leaf Village's defenses and forcing Hiruzen Sarutobi and the ANBU to retreat.
• Naruto used Tailed Beast Rasengan and Nine-Tails Chakra Mode to hold back the black forest, then asked Kurama how his Wood Release compared with Hashirama Senju's.
• Kurama began to explain that Naruto still fell far short of Hashirama, but Kushina interrupted by pinching him as he enjoyed her attention in the Sealing Space.
• Naruto sensed Jiraiya and an unfamiliar woman approaching, while he and his Wood Clone continued staging their battle inside the forest.
• Jiraiya and Tsunade reached Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Wood Clone appeared atop a Black Wood Dragon before vanishing; Naruto arrived and said it had gotten away.

After the attack on Leaf Village, its leaders debated the identities of Takamimusubi and the Masked Man while Naruto argued that Takamimusubi was not Hashirama Senju. Tsunade rejected the Hokage position but agreed to examine Yamato, then asked Naruto to become her disciple.

• Leaf Village's officials reviewed the attack, and Kakashi reported that ANBU suspected the Masked Man was Madara Uchiha but could not confirm Takamimusubi's identity.
• Tsunade angrily rejected the idea that Takamimusubi was her grandfather, Hashirama, and Naruto argued that their Wood Release differed in nature and character.
• Tsunade refused Hiruzen's offer to become Fifth Hokage but agreed to examine Yamato after learning he had awakened Wood Release.
• Naruto left the Hokage Building, where Tsunade confronted him in the corridor and offered to take him as her disciple.

Hiruzen Sarutobi debated how to handle the Gelel Stone, the mysterious Byakugan wielder, and the possibility of investigating the Hyuga Clan, while Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu considered acting without him. Naruto reflected on the villagers’ renewed affection before Shimura Danzō appeared and asked whether he had taken Tsunade as his master.

• Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu criticized Tsunade and Jiraiya for leaving the village, while Hiruzen Sarutobi defended them and decided to give the Gelel Stone to Jiraiya.
• Shimura Danzō declined to challenge Hiruzen Sarutobi’s decision and left for Root, surprising Hiruzen Sarutobi, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu.
• Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu urged an investigation into the Hyuga Clan, but Hiruzen Sarutobi chose to avoid provoking them without evidence that the Byakugan could evolve.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi worried about the coming war and Sasuke Uchiha’s risk of exposing the truth about the clan massacre, while Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu left intent on acting themselves.
• Naruto encountered villagers praising him for the previous night’s battle, then privately mocked their sudden kindness and reflected on the Shinobi World’s distorted history.
• Shimura Danzō appeared in Naruto’s room, praised his actions, and asked whether he had taken Tsunade as his master.

Naruto won Danzo’s favor by offering him an iris flower that calmed his Hashirama arm, while secretly continuing his work for Menma-nii. At the Hyuga Clan, the Main House elders learned that the recent intruder had an uncursed Byakugan and planned to use a meeting with Konoha’s advisors to pressure Hinata Hyuga and the Branch Family.

• Naruto denied that becoming Tsunade’s disciple meant he wanted to become Hokage and told Danzo that he admired his willingness to bear the village’s darkness.
• Naruto agreed to help Danzo research Tailed Beast Chakra, and Danzo gave him sealing techniques to help control the Nine-Tails.
• Naruto presented Danzo with an iris flower, which soothed Danzo’s mood and restless Hashirama arm; Danzo offered to train Naruto to lead Root.
• After Danzo left, Naruto summoned Azure Dragon and sent Ōtsutsuki Rito’s sealed corpse to Menma-nii.
• Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura examined the Hyuga Clan’s Forbidden Ground records while the Main House Grand Elder discussed the intrusion with the other elders.
• The Grand Elder said the intruder had an uncursed Byakugan and called for a Branch Family meeting with the two advisors present, planning to challenge Hinata Hyuga’s influence.

After Hanabi’s attack exposed the threat of an unsealed Byakugan, Hiashi warned Hizashi against stirring Branch Family unrest while reflecting on the Caged Bird and his brother. Hinata prepared to attend an increasingly tense clan meeting, where the Grand Elder confronted Branch Family members discussing the intruder.

• Hizashi asked Hiashi about the attacker, but Hiashi warned him not to involve himself and revealed that he knew about Hizashi’s secret activities.
• Hiashi explained that the Caged Bird could protect the clan as well as control Branch Family members, and Hizashi promised to keep the Branch Family under control.
• Hyuga Tokuma questioned Hinata about her whereabouts and warned her not to harm the clan, then told her to attend the clan meeting.
• Hinata discussed the Caged Bird with her older self, reaffirmed her wish for everyone to choose their own fate, and covered her forehead seal with a strip of cloth.
• Branch Family members gathered at the Meeting Room and discussed the unsealed Byakugan intruder until the Grand Elder accused them of speaking ill of the Main House.

Hinata arrived at the Hyuga clan meeting as the Grand Elder accused her and Neji of colluding with a Byakugan intruder. She rejected his accusations and suddenly attacked the Main House elders, leaving the meeting in chaos.

• The Grand Elder activated Neji’s Caged Bird Curse Mark after Neji showed defiance, and Hiashi intervened before the Grand Elder could kill him.
• The Grand Elder sentenced Neji to confinement, and Neji privately resolved that he would rather die pursuing freedom than live as a household-guarding bird.
• Hinata arrived at the clan meeting, where the Grand Elder accused her and Neji of helping a Byakugan intruder and endangering the village.
• Hinata defended Neji’s actions, then dismissed the Grand Elder’s accusations and attacked the three Main House elders, striking their heads together.

Hinata Hyuga crushed the Main House elders’ attempt to punish her and exposed how the Caged Bird seal had weakened the Hyuga Clan. She left the meeting after the Branch Family stood with her, declaring that the clan needed fierce allies rather than obedient servants.

• Hinata Hyuga knocked out two Main House Elders, controlled the Grand Elder’s Chakra, and defeated Hyuga Tokuma when he attacked her.
• The Branch Family members refused the Grand Elder’s orders to stop Hinata, while Hyuga Hiashi and the advisors stayed out of the conflict.
• Hinata choked the Grand Elder and explained to Hiashi that Hanabi needed to be prepared for the dangers of being a ninja and future clan head.
• Hinata revealed that she had already undone the Grand Elder’s Caged Bird seal and challenged him to activate it as the Branch Family rose to protect her.
• Hinata said the clan needed a pack of mad dogs, promised to charge at their front, and left the Meeting Room.