Chapter Summaries

Hinata’s defiance united the Hyuga Branch Family and forced Hiashi and Konoha’s advisors to recognize the danger of conflict within the clan. At the Akatsuki base, Kakuzu became an uncontrollable monster, and Yakushi Kabuto proposed recruiting Hiruko as a possible solution.

• Hinata’s show of force rallied the Branch Family, and Hiashi warned the advisors that the Hyuga Clan could erupt into infighting if its members were pushed further.
• Hiashi dismissed the Grand Elder’s demands to punish Hinata, explaining that the Branch Family had united behind her and could no longer be controlled by the Main House.
• At the Akatsuki base, Pain, Konan, Sasori, and Yakushi Kabuto concluded that Kakuzu could not be saved as Earth Grudge Fear overwhelmed his body.
• Pain agreed that the Akatsuki needed a new member, and Yakushi Kabuto recommended Hiruko, a former Konoha ninja he knew how to find.

Obito recovered his left Mangekyō Sharingan and planned for Akatsuki to capture the One-Tail as its next target. Meanwhile, Menma returned to the Land of Snow’s secret training base and discovered an ancient contract scroll bearing the name Shikkotsu Forest, Slug Sage.

• Obito learned that his left eye’s Kamui was offensive while his right eye’s was defensive, and vowed to keep Kakashi alive in regret rather than kill him.
• Black Zetsu and White Zetsu reported Akatsuki’s recent setbacks, the appearance of powerful new enemies, and Iwagakure’s approaching delegation.
• Obito agreed with Pain’s plan to stop hiding and chose the One-Tail as Akatsuki’s next target.
• Menma toured the Land of Snow’s secret base and heard from Asama Santayū that the Uzumaki Clan and Uchiha Clan survivors were settling in and serving as teachers and squad captains.
• Menma examined ancient clan records and found a blood-signature contract scroll whose first entry named Shikkotsu Forest, Slug Sage.

Menma studied the Shinobi World’s power structures and the growing Iris Flower market bubble before preparing to explore Shikkotsu Forest. After visiting Snow Castle Academy, he reflected on the orphaned students and hoped the Land of Snow could keep the world’s suffering from becoming theirs.

• Menma considered how ninja power and cultural outreach could reshape society, while Iris Flower bulb speculation began creating an economic bubble.
• Menma used a Contract Seal to erase two names from the Shikkotsu Forest contract scroll and decided to visit the Slug Sage’s realm.
• At Snow Castle Academy, Kazahana Koyuki slacked off during Uzumaki Ashina’s Sage arts lesson while Kurama Yakumo listened attentively.
• Menma and Asama Santayū observed the orphaned students’ progress, and Santayū admitted he did not know whether they would someday seek revenge on the world.
• Menma hoped the children would not inherit the world’s sorrow, while acknowledging that he wanted to change the world to suit his own purpose.

Menma explained the Land of Snow’s military and education plans to Asama Santayū, then visited a classroom and chose Uzumaki Karin for personal training. He gave Karin a contract scroll and prepared to take her to Shikkotsu Forest to learn Sage Mode and use Sage Chakra.

• Menma told Asama Santayū that the Land of Snow needed loyal military elites and core personnel, not only enhanced ordinary soldiers.
• Menma explained that the Land of Snow’s roads and integrated government system had fueled development, and praised Tobirama Senju’s reforms as an inspiration.
• Menma visited Uzumaki Ashina’s classroom, where Kazahana Koyuki greeted him affectionately and Santayū chided her.
• Menma recognized Uzumaki Karin as the first child he had rescued and said he would teach her personally.
• Menma gave Karin a contract scroll for the Three Great Sage Regions and said he would take her to Shikkotsu Forest to train in Sage Mode and Sage Chakra.

Menma brought Karin to Shikkotsu Forest to begin her training and seek help from Katsuyu for the Land of Snow’s overwhelmed psychological-care services. Katsuyu welcomed them and agreed to keep Menma’s identity secret, while explaining that she disliked Gamamaru’s overbearing personality.

• Menma made Karin his disciple and told her to learn the Summoning Technique as the first step in carrying the will of Red Moon.
• Menma discussed the shortage of psychotherapists with Asama Santayū and planned to ask Katsuyu for help caring for war-traumatized children.
• Menma and Karin signed a contract with the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest and were summoned to the Sacred Land.
• Katsuyu appeared before Menma and Karin, introduced herself, and explained how she treated humans who entered Shikkotsu Forest.
• Menma revealed that he was Uzumaki Menma, and Katsuyu promised not to disclose his identity to Tsunade.
• Katsuyu told Menma that the Three Great Sage Regions were not as close as he thought and that she disliked Gamamaru’s overbearing personality.

Menma persuaded Katsuyu to join him and signed a summoning contract, but Tsunade ambushed him in Shikkotsu Forest and was quickly subdued. Tsunade discovered Menma’s Uzumaki techniques and questioned why he led attacks on the Leaf Village, prompting Karin to accuse the Leaf Village of abandoning her clan.

• Menma told Katsuyu he wanted her to work with him and described his resolve to pursue his ambitions regardless of how others judged him.
• Katsuyu accepted Menma’s offer, gave him a summoning scroll, and formed a contract with him.
• Tsunade attacked Menma by surprise, but he dodged and countered her Super Strength before binding her with Adamantine Sealing Chains.
• Katsuyu asked Menma and Tsunade not to fight inside Shikkotsu Forest, and Menma released Tsunade.
• Tsunade recognized Menma’s Uzumaki techniques and questioned why the Uzumaki Clan was attacking the Leaf Village.
• Karin said her mother had told her that the Leaf Village had watched the Uzumaki Clan die, leaving them to live as wandering outcasts.

Tsunade learned from Karin that Leaf Village had abandoned the Uzumaki Clan during the fall of the Whirlpool Country, while Menma dismissed her concerns and went to explore Shikkotsu Forest. Elsewhere, Yakushi Kabuto and Hidan confronted Hiruko, whose Chimera Technique had succeeded, and Kabuto told him that Orochimaru was dead.

• Karin told Tsunade that Leaf Village ignored the Uzumaki Clan's distress signals and took only Kushina, leaving the clan to suffer and flee after the Whirlpool Country fell.
• Menma said the Uzumaki Clan had joined him by choice, warned Tsunade that Leaf Village would be destroyed if it obstructed a new era, and left with Karin to tour Shikkotsu Forest.
• Tsunade asked Katsuyu to help her find the scroll her grandfather had left behind.
• Yakushi Kabuto explained Hiruko's Chimera Technique to Hidan, and Hidan was struck by Hiruko's Scorch Release attack.
• Hiruko arrived looking like a teenager, and Yakushi Kabuto congratulated him on completing the Chimera Technique before revealing that Orochimaru had been killed.

Hiruko fought Hidan to test his Chimera Technique, but Hidan revealed his damage-sharing ritual and turned Hiruko’s attacks against him. As Hidan wounded himself, Hiruko suffered the same injuries, leaving Hidan to choose how to finish the sacrifice.

• Hiruko rejected Yakushi Kabuto’s implied recruitment and attacked him and Hidan, using Swift Release and Scorch Release to overwhelm Hidan.
• Hiruko blasted a hole through Hidan’s back, but Hidan survived and mocked the strength of Hiruko’s Forbidden Technique.
• Hiruko used Demon Bud to try to devour Hidan, while Yakushi Kabuto watched and realized the Chimera Technique could fuse living creatures at the cellular level.
• Hidan drew his Blood Ritual formula in his own blood and activated his damage-sharing ability, causing Hiruko to suffer the injuries Hidan inflicted on himself.
• Hidan repeatedly wounded himself as Hiruko screamed and bled, then asked whether he should stab Hiruko’s heart or neck.

Hiruko nearly killed Hidan but was overwhelmed by Yakushi Kabuto’s Sage Arts and captured. Kabuto offered him a place in the organization, and Hiruko began considering the invitation.

• Hiruko escaped Hidan’s ritual by knocking him out of its boundary, then tried to devour him with the Chimera Technique.
• Yakushi Kabuto bound Hiruko with wire and Exploding Tags, then used Sage Art: White Ripple Technique to blind and disorient him.
• Kabuto followed with Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation, trapping Hiruko among earth spikes and pinning him without killing him.
• Kabuto explained that the organization could provide intelligence and help Hiruko find Kekkei Genkai shinobi, while Hidan mocked Hiruko’s combat ability.
• Kabuto praised Hiruko’s potential and offered him membership, explaining that Orochimaru had also joined before being expelled for poor performance.
• Hiruko asked about the conditions and agreed to go with Kabuto to take a look.

Yakushi Kabuto entered Orochimaru’s underground hideout, where he exposed Yomi’s attempt to recruit him and met Orochimaru, who questioned his loyalties and tested his abilities. After Kabuto easily defeated Orochimaru’s snakes, Orochimaru summoned a colossal creature to continue the test.

• Kimimaro attacked Kabuto in the valley, but Kabuto cut down his Shadow Clone before Yomi arrived and escorted him toward Orochimaru.
• Yomi tried to recruit Kabuto as an ally, but Kabuto saw through his disguise, and Orochimaru warned Yomi through a White Snake to stop meddling.
• Kabuto entered Orochimaru’s chamber, where Orochimaru showed him a scroll about his recent battle with Hiruko and asked about Hiruko’s Forbidden Technique.
• Orochimaru questioned Kabuto’s loyalties and asked why he refused the Heavenly Cursed Seal, while Kabuto explained that Pain’s suspicion could endanger his intelligence work.
• Orochimaru attacked Kabuto with venomous snakes, but Kabuto cut them all down and asked whether he qualified to become her partner.
• Orochimaru summoned a colossal creature, which complained that she had disturbed its sleep and threatened to eat her without enough sacrifices.

Yakushi Kabuto fought Orochimaru and Manda, revealing his serpentine swordsmanship and summoning Garaga to drive Manda away. Orochimaru agreed to take Kabuto to the Demon Country, where he was preparing for the Konoha Crush Plan and wanted to obtain something.

• Orochimaru summoned Manda to test Yakushi Kabuto, who used his breathing method, poisoned scalpels, and Snake-Style Swordsmanship to wound the giant snake.
• When Manda charged again, Kabuto summoned Garaga, whose petrifying Sage Technique and attack forced Manda to retreat to Ryūchi Cave.
• Kabuto ended the test, and Orochimaru acknowledged his strength and asked what had brought him there.
• Kabuto asked Orochimaru about his assistant Yomi, the Demon Country monster, and the prophecy.
• Orochimaru offered to take Kabuto to the Demon Country, revealed he was preparing for the Konoha Crush Plan, and said he needed something there.

Menma learned from Katsuyu that Shikkotsu Forest’s Sage Art training relied on Slug Liquid, which could mutate humans and turn them to stone if they absorbed too much Natural Energy. After discovering that Demon Country’s Priestesses preserved ancient sealing techniques and could foresee the future, he decided to visit one in search of a human Sage Art inheritance.

• Menma asked Katsuyu whether Slug Liquid could be taken outside, and she explained that it quickly lost its effects and could cause Slugification or petrification.
• Menma examined the Slug Statues and asked Katsuyu about Sage Art inheritances outside the Three Great Sage Regions.
• Katsuyu suggested that Demon Country might preserve a human Sage Art inheritance because its Priestesses possessed foresight and ancient sealing techniques.
• Menma decided to visit the Priestess of Demon Country and wondered whether she could see his future.
• Menma told Katsuyu that humans had to keep fighting until they found their own goals, even if others called them brave or fools.

Kakashi learned that Hiruzen had assigned him to lead Naruto and Sasuke’s team, while Asuma’s return to Leaf Village brought another bitter clash with his father over the Hokage, the daimyo, and the Will of Fire. Asuma left the Hokage Office, and Hiruzen was left feeling helpless as both Hokage and father.

• Kakashi left Robin Cinema and went to the Hokage Building, where he learned from Iruka that Asuma had argued with Hiruzen about military reform and the relationship between the Hokage and the daimyo.
• Iruka told Kakashi that Hiruzen intended to make him Naruto and Sasuke’s squad-leading jonin, and Kakashi reluctantly accepted the assignment.
• Hiruzen urged Asuma to abandon his dangerous ideas and come home for dinner, but Asuma rejected his appeal and criticized him as a dying old man.
• Asuma recalled how his search for the true Jade had led him to serve the Daimyo Residence and join the Guardian Ninja Twelve, where ideological conflict had left only him and Chiriku alive.
• Asuma left the office, and Hiruzen struggled to light his pipe before reflecting on his failures as Hokage and as a father.

Danzō sought Enshu Ki’s backing for a drug developed from Nine-Tails Chakra, demonstrating its deadly effects and proposing a year-long research program. Meanwhile, Kurama Unkai delivered a plan to Oyakishiro Honoo in the Land of Waves, and Honoo realized it could ruin numerous merchants and nobles.

• Danzō met with Enshu Ki, presented him with an iris flower from Naruto Uzumaki, and discussed his ambition to become Fifth Hokage.
• Danzō showed Enshu Ki a test subject transformed by a Nine-Tails Chakra-based pill, who died after two minutes and nine seconds.
• Enshu Ki agreed to fund Danzō’s research and use the drug among samurai, despite its enormous cost and severe risks.
• Kazuma arrived with Fuka, Fudo, and Fuen, and Enshu Ki revealed that a boy behind them had become an imitation Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
• Kurama Unkai gave Oyakishiro Honoo a lucrative job scroll, and Honoo recognized that carrying out its plan would ruin many merchants and nobles.

Menma set his plan to organize Land of Waves' workers and peasants in motion, aiming to weaken the nobles and merchants and use the country against Land of Fire. Oyakishiro Honoo began recruiting a bankrupt merchant into a scheme built around the Iris Flower craze, and ended by telling him a story about Archimedes and a daimyo.

• Menma explained to Kukomaka that he planned to organize Land of Waves' workers and peasants into a cooperative association and had sent Shin Uchiha and the Lightning Flash Squad to assist Oyakishiro Honoo.
• Menma identified Land of Waves as his next target and said he intended to use it as a blade against Land of Fire.
• Oyakishiro Honoo reviewed a list of influential Land of Waves merchants, officials, and nobles, then chose the indebted Iwen Reren as his target.
• Oyakishiro Honoo entered Iwen Reren's estate in disguise and showed him an original-variety Iris Flower.
• When Iwen Reren asked to buy the flower, Oyakishiro Honoo claimed a more profitable opportunity awaited and began telling him a story about Archimedes.

Oyakishiro Honoo persuaded Yi Wenren to join an iris-flower sales scheme built around exponential commissions, then trained him to recruit nobles as downlines. The story shifted to the Land of Waves, where struggling Tazuna went into town and found a crowd gathered around a man offering fifty gold to whoever could move a wooden pole.

• Oyakishiro Honoo explained the membership ranks and commissions to Yi Wenren, who calculated the potential profits and agreed to become his downline.
• Oyakishiro Honoo taught Yi Wenren methods for recruiting and persuading wealthy nobles, then gave him the scroll containing the Iris Flowers and vanished using Ketsuryūgan genjutsu.
• Yi Wenren imagined using his future wealth to humiliate Qingchuan and followed Oyakishiro Honoo's instruction to keep iris flower exclusive to the wealthy.
• At breakfast, Tazuna insisted on seeking work despite his worsening cough, while Kaiza went fishing and Tsunami worried over them.
• Tazuna entered town and joined a crowd surrounding a smiling middle-aged man, whose sign promised fifty gold to whoever could move a wooden pole.

Kurama Unkai won the Land of Waves workers’ trust by paying Haku for moving construction materials with Ice Release, then hiring workers at generous wages. Haku’s earnings surprised Zabuza and gave them a new source of funds as they continued planning to return to Kirigakure and bring peace.

• Kurama Unkai offered 10,000 Ryo to anyone who moved a log, and Haku used Ice Tracks to slide it to the construction site and received the reward.
• After seeing the Robin Merchant Guild honor its promise, the crowd rushed to register for construction jobs paying 10,000 Ryo a day with free meals.
• Haku used his Ice Release to move materials throughout the day and received 100,000 Ryo, including a bonus for completing far more work than expected.
• Zabuza was astonished by Haku’s earnings and medicine, then praised him and suggested seeking more commissions from the Robin Merchant Guild.
• Haku voiced his faith that Zabuza would return to Kirigakure and bring peace, while Zabuza resolved to earn money before confronting the Fourth Mizukage and the Water Country Daimyo.

Menma learned that Mei Terumi might be planning a coup against the Fourth Mizukage and decided to interfere in Kirigakure’s power struggle. He planned to find Momochi Zabuza in the Land of Waves and support him as another candidate for Mizukage, hoping to gain access to Kirigakure.

• Bug returned from Demon Country with a letter from the Priestess, and Menma gave him newly cultivated Exploding Bugs that used Natural Energy.
• Menma told Bug to seek out En no Gyōja and learn about the Tsuchigumo Clan’s Raging Heaven technique, which might help Bug develop a form of senjutsu.
• Bug told Menma about a Sugi Ninja Village bounty worth one hundred million ryo for recovering a stolen secret technique, and Menma ordered him to investigate even if the thieves were from Kumogakure.
• Shisui reported that Mei Terumi might be preparing a coup against the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, though the intelligence remained unconfirmed.
• Menma explained that Zabuza had opposed the Bloody Mist policies and fled after his assassination plot against Yagura failed.
• Menma decided to find Zabuza in the Land of Waves and support him in Kirigakure’s power struggle, aiming to open the village’s gates from within.

Menma considered how to influence Kirigakure’s leadership and examined a scroll containing traces of Demon Moryo, while Yi Wenren recruited merchants and fallen nobles into an iris-flower scheme. In the Land of Waves, Kurama Unkai continued investigating local workers and prepared the next stage of Menma’s plan against the Land of Fire.

• Menma told Shisui to keep Kirigakure’s Shadow Guard from acting rashly and to monitor Zabuza in the Land of Waves, then considered installing a more radical Fifth Mizukage.
• Menma examined a scroll from the Demon Country, sensed pure Sage Chakra and malicious purple mist, and identified the malice as part of Demon Moryo.
• Yi Wenren gathered merchants and fallen nobles, drove away more than ten skeptics, and pitched an iris-flower business using a Five-Level Three-Promotion System.
• Kurama Unkai learned that 127 residents of a Land of Waves village were workers and discussed the villagers’ poverty and lack of access to education with Kurama Murakumo.
• Kurama Unkai ordered his subordinates to investigate the workers and exclude those with gambling-related misconduct as they began the plan to make the Land of Waves a weapon against the Land of Fire.

Rasa prepared to test Gaara as two Akatsuki members forced their way into Sand Village, while Hiruzen Sarutobi sent Kakashi, Yamato, and Might Guy to help Demon Country eliminate the Yomi Sect. The team, joined by Neji, Lee, and Tenten, crossed into the Land of Rain and planned their cautious route onward.

• Two rogue Cloud Village ninjas encountered reassembling stone statues at a cave near the Land of Snow and were attacked by the Ghost Legion.
• Rasa decided Yashamaru would test Gaara that night, and an ANBU Ninja reported that two people claiming to be from Akatsuki were breaching Sand Village's defenses.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned Kakashi, Yamato, and Might Guy an S-Rank mission to exterminate the Yomi Sect, and Might Guy asked to bring Neji, Lee, and Tenten.
• The group left Leaf Village for Demon Country, and Neji reasoned that the demon was likely Tailed Beast-level and that other shinobi villages would join the mission.
• Kakashi's team entered the rainy Land of Rain, chose a cautious route through the small countries, and discussed the danger posed by Amegakure's leader, the Demigod.