Chapter Summaries

Uchiha Yoru arrived with Mei Terumi to confront the Mist Ninja, stopping their enormous Water Release attack and overwhelming their forces. The chapter ended with Karatachi Yagura firing a Tailed Beast Ball at his own troops as Uchiha Yoru faced him.

• Uchiha Shisui used the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju's Space-Time Ninjutsu to bring Uchiha Yoru and Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi to the Konoha fleet.
• Mei Terumi took command of the Konoha ninja while Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura ordered the Mist Ninja to counterattack with a massive combined Water Release technique.
• Uchiha Yoru used Earth Style: Earth Splitting Technique to open a fissure in the seabed and disperse the tsunami.
• Uchiha Yoru unleashed Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame, then fought through the Mist Ninja on shore as Mei Terumi ordered her forces to capture and persuade them to surrender.
• Karatachi Yagura entered a partial Tailed Beast transformation and fired a Tailed Beast Ball toward his own troops, prompting Uchiha Yoru to mock him.

Uchiha Yoru crushed the Mist Ninja army, defeated the Three-Tails with his Perfect Susanoo and Lightning Style: Kirin, and left Kirigakure unable to resist Mei Terumi’s takeover. Mei declared the Bloody Mist Policy over and began incorporating and treating the Mist Ninja.

• Uchiha Yoru used Susanoo to repel the Mist Ninja’s attacks and declared that he would take over the Land of Water, with Mei Terumi leading it and abolishing the Bloody Mist Policy.
• Karatachi Yagura transformed into the Three-Tails and fired a Tailed Beast Ball, which Uchiha Yoru caught and detonated above the battlefield, devastating the Mist Ninja’s morale.
• Uchiha Yoru’s Perfect Susanoo kicked the Three-Tails into the sea and split the waves with its sword, then struck it down with Lightning Style: Kirin.
• Mei Terumi declared herself in control of Kirigakure and ended the Bloody Mist Policy, then summoned Katsuyu to treat the wounded.
• Mei Terumi’s three thousand ninjas began incorporating the defeated Mist Ninja and treating them as their own people.

Uchiha Yoru planned how Konoha and Kirigakure could integrate and overcome their longstanding hatred, while the other major villages investigated the masked ninja behind Kirigakure’s Bloody Mist Policy. He laid out policies for lasting cooperation and peace, leaving the assembled leaders and ninja to consider the first steps toward unifying the villages.

• Ōnoki received Uchiha Yoru’s letter identifying the masked ninja who had taken the Fourth Mizukage, and ordered a secret investigation into the one-eyed dragon mask.
• Uchiha Yoru, Mei Terumi, and Genji announced Kirigakure’s merger with Konoha and exposed the suspected conspiracy behind the Bloody Mist Policy, prompting the major villages to investigate the masked ninja.
• Two months after the Land of Water’s incorporation, Uchiha Yoru convened Konoha and Kirigakure’s elite ninja and warned that internal and inter-village hatred threatened their integration.
• Uchiha Yoru proposed relocating Kirigakure’s Kekkei Genkai ninja to Konoha, sharing Anbu intelligence, and transferring rivals apart to give their grudges time to fade.
• Uchiha Yoru outlined further measures, including exchanging teachers and students, encouraging joint missions and cross-village marriages, and teaching that ninja should protect their homes and civilians.

Uchiha Yoru outlined the gradual integration of Konoha and Kirigakure and announced plans for the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. As the Shinobi World investigated the missing Tailed Beasts and Akatsuki reorganized, Yoru began challenging the Daimyo’s authority, calling the division between ninja and civilian rule a source of division.

• Uchiha Yoru proposed an eight-year benchmark for Konoha and Kirigakure’s integration and announced that the first five Thirteen Court Guard Squads would be established within five years.
• Mei Terumi returned to Kirigakure, where she took charge with Genji’s support and abolished the Bloody Mist Policy with little resistance; Konoha and Kirigakure officially merged.
• Ōnoki received Kirigakure’s report that the Three-Tails and Six-Tails Jinchuriki had disappeared, while the Five Great Nations suspected Uchiha Yoru might be behind the events.
• Masked Obito brought Karatachi Yagura and Utakata to Akatsuki, joined the organization as a supposed Root experiment subject, and proposed recruiting Hidan and Deidara.
• Uchiha Yoru questioned Kakashi about why ninja villages answered to the Daimyo and declared that having two governing powers in one country meant division.

Uchiha Yoru planned to use Kazahana Koyuki’s former faction to build an administrative force independent of the daimyo, while arranging for Kakashi to bring them to Konoha. He also returned Minato’s remaining assets to Naruto and warned Jiraiya that Naruto might have an unexplained problem with his soul.

• Uchiha Yoru showed Kakashi evidence that the Daimyo’s Mansions were secretly coordinating budget cuts against ninja villages and explained his opposition to treating ninja as tools.
• Uchiha Yoru tasked Kakashi with negotiating with Kazahana Dōtō and bringing Kazahana Koyuki and her former daimyo faction to Konoha, with Yamato and Byakugan Ao assisting.
• Uchiha Yoru told Jiraiya he would reveal Naruto’s identity, returned records of Minato’s assets, and permitted Jiraiya to teach Naruto ninjutsu, including the Rasengan.
• Uchiha Yoru warned Jiraiya that the Akatsuki Organization possessed the Rinnegan and was targeting Tailed Beasts, and identified its masked member as the culprit behind Nine-Tails Night.
• Uchiha Yoru told Jiraiya that Naruto’s unusual convictions and resistance to Kotoamatsukami suggested a possible problem with his soul, leaving Jiraiya alarmed.

Uchiha Yoru convinced Jiraiya that Naruto Uzumaki might be influenced by a hidden force and persuaded him to train Naruto while watching for unusual changes. Jiraiya agreed to take Naruto away for training, while Karin became Uchiha Yoru’s disciple and prospective Nine-Tails Jinchuriki; elsewhere, Kakashi received a mission with Tsunade’s approval.

• Uchiha Yoru told Jiraiya that Naruto’s soul contained a mysterious power and urged him to investigate quietly without revealing the matter to Mount Myōboku.
• Jiraiya agreed to train Naruto as a straightforward ninja and watch for signs that he was pursuing an unusual vision of peace.
• Uchiha Yoru revealed that Karin would become the village’s Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, then accepted her as his disciple after she chose to stay by his side.
• Karin showed Jiraiya her copy of Make-Out Paradise, prompting Uchiha Yoru to give her another book and Jiraiya to hurriedly defend his novel.
• Tsunade approved Kakashi’s mission and arranged for Tenzō, under the identity of Yamato, and Byakugan Ao to accompany him.
• Hinata gave candy to the tired Ino during their medical training, while Tsunade reflected on Ino’s resentment toward the Nara and Akimichi Clans.

Uchiha Yoru arranged for Naruto Uzumaki’s parentage and Karin Uzumaki’s supposed status as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to be announced, while secretly preparing Karin to become a perfect Jinchuriki. He persuaded the Nine-Tails to cooperate with Karin by warning it about the Akatsuki’s plans, and the two reached a temporary agreement.

• At Konoha’s gate, Jiraiya took Naruto Uzumaki away for training while Uchiha Yoru reflected on Naruto’s unusual nature and planned to nurture Sasuke.
• Uchiha Yoru ordered Uchiha Itachi, Yamanaka Fu, and Torune Aburame to eliminate hard-line opponents at Fire Temple, offering them its Sage Art cultivation method as their reward.
• Uchiha Yoru asked Tsunade to announce Naruto Uzumaki as the Fourth Hokage’s son and Karin Uzumaki as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, with both children named as disciples of prominent Konoha leaders.
• Pain and Masked Madara Obito dismissed Karin Uzumaki as a decoy and identified Naruto Uzumaki as the real Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, while other villages interpreted Konoha’s announcement as a display of strength.
• Uchiha Yoru entered Karin Uzumaki’s sealed space, confronted the Nine-Tails, and warned it that Madara Uchiha and the Akatsuki sought to gather the tailed beasts.
• Karin Uzumaki and the Nine-Tails bumped fists and agreed to cooperate temporarily.

Years after Konoha and Kirigakure merged, Uchiha Yoru oversaw the graduating ninja class assignments while pushing Tsunade, Mei Terumi, and Shizune to complete their administrative work. He assigned the most promising Genin to trusted Jōnin and announced that Konoha would host the Five Great Nations’ Chūnin Exam the following July.

• Uchiha Yoru used Shadow Clones to make Tsunade and Mei Terumi finish their government work, then brought Shizune into their effort to complete a mission scroll.
• Uchiha Yoru gathered the Jōnin and distributed the class assignment materials for the graduating Genin.
• Uchiha Yoru assigned Naruto Uzumaki’s team to Hatake Kakashi, explaining that Jiraiya had brought Naruto back and that he had passed the graduation exam.
• Uchiha Yoru assigned Karin Uzumaki and her teammates to Yūhi Kurenai, noting Karin’s Nine-Tails Jinchūriki status and the training she had received.
• Uchiha Yoru announced that Konoha would host a Chūnin Exam for Genin from all Five Great Nations the following July, and the Jōnin agreed to prepare their teams.

Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno graduated and joined Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi, who confronted Naruto over his views on Konoha and Kirigakure. Sasuke challenged Naruto’s ideals and defended their shared home, leaving Naruto unable to answer.

• Iruka announced the graduates’ new teams, then Mizuki teased him for crying after the students left.
• Hatake Kakashi introduced Team 7, while Yūhi Kurenai, Zabuza Momochi, and Asuma gathered with their teams nearby.
• Naruto said he wanted to surpass the Hokage and criticized Kirigakure’s place in the village, prompting Kakashi to warn him that Konoha and Kirigakure had become one family.
• Sasuke introduced himself as a supporter of Uchiha Yoru’s reforms and declared that he would oppose anyone who threatened the shared village.
• Naruto argued that mutual understanding could end hatred, but Sasuke cited the Uchiha’s suffering and Naruto’s own family origins to refute him.

The newly graduated students and their teachers gathered for barbecue, revealing tensions among Konoha’s factions and clashing views about Uchiha Yoru’s strength. The teachers ended the evening by agreeing to compete through their chosen successors in next year’s Chunin Exam, with Zabuza hinting that he already had a candidate.

• At barbecue, Ino Yamanaka reprimanded Choji Akimichi for eating selfishly, while Haku and Hinata helped calm the exchange.
• Kin declared that ninjas respected strength, and Shino named Uchiha Yoru the strongest in the Shinobi World; Naruto vowed to surpass him and drew criticism from Kin and Sasuke.
• Kakashi reassured Sarutobi Asuma that pressure on the Sarutobi Clan had eased, while Asuma’s invitation helped signal a desire to restore trust with the village.
• Zabuza revealed that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist would emerge by next year’s Chunin Exam and mocked Kakashi’s chance of selecting a Konoha blade holder.
• Kurenai proposed a Chunin Exam competition based on the successors the teachers chose, and Zabuza agreed while hinting he already had a candidate and promising to train Kin.

Uchiha Yoru and Kakashi discussed the Sarutobi Clan’s factions and agreed to give Asuma a chance to ease tensions, while keeping the militant members under watch. Later, Jiraiya challenged Naruto’s idealism and urged him to act on his beliefs, leaving Naruto confused and Jiraiya determined to uncover who had altered Naruto’s soul.

• Kakashi reported that militant elements in the Sarutobi Clan still resisted losing power, while Asuma represented a faction seeking better relations with Konoha.
• Yoru agreed to let Tsunade and Asuma pursue a peaceful resolution, but warned that he would not accept unreasonable demands from the clan’s militant faction.
• Yoru reviewed Konoha and Kirigakure’s integrated departments and their shared rules for access to powerful Ninjutsu.
• Yoru and Kurenai spent time together in the Hokage Office before returning home.
• Naruto asked Jiraiya why people could not understand one another, and Jiraiya criticized him for imposing his ideals without acting on them.
• Jiraiya urged Naruto to grow stronger and put his ideals into practice, then vowed to confront whoever had tampered with Naruto’s soul.

Uchiha Yoru prepared Konoha to host the Shinobi World's largest Chunin Exam, while Naruto Uzumaki's disregard for rules strained his relationships with his teammates and alarmed the village leadership. Tsunade gave Jiraiya a mission concerning the Sarutobi Clan's militant faction, leaving him to help investigate its ties to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

• Uchiha Yoru announced a major Chunin Exam for the following year, and Hatake Kakashi took Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha on a Land of Waves mission.
• Naruto Uzumaki argued against the Ninja Regulations, upsetting Sasuke Uchiha and drawing disapproval from villagers as he headed to the Sarutobi Clan.
• Tsunade and Mei Terumi reviewed Jiraiya's records of Naruto's training and warned him to keep Naruto from reopening tensions between Konoha and the Mist Ninja.
• Tsunade told Jiraiya that the Sarutobi Clan had a conciliatory Dove Faction and a powerful Militant Hawk Faction that sought to reclaim its former influence.
• Tsunade and Jiraiya agreed to handle the Sarutobi Clan mission together, while suspecting Hiruzen Sarutobi might be directing the militant faction; they decided not to involve Orochimaru.

Jiraiya questioned Sarutobi Asuma about the Sarutobi Clan’s militant faction and began working with Tsunade to contain it. At Orochimaru’s laboratory, Uchiha Yoru learned that experiments on the cultivated Demonic Statue of the Outer Path could potentially create an immortal clan.

• Jiraiya warned Sarutobi Asuma that the Sarutobi Clan’s weapons stockpile and preparations could be treated as evidence of a coup, and Asuma revealed the five leaders of its militant faction.
• Jiraiya ordered Asuma to report all intelligence about the clan and said he and Tsunade would handle the crisis.
• Uchiha Yoru told Tsunade to keep the Sarutobi Clan under watch and described the Chunin Exam as an opportunity to demonstrate Konoha’s strength.
• Uchiha Yoru gave Kabuto Yakushi records from the Konoha Orphanage and promised him the director’s position after another year.
• Orochimaru showed Uchiha Yoru his cultivated Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and explained how its energy, combined with the Cursed Seal and Chimera, might create a clan with immortality.

Uchiha Yoru and Orochimaru discussed the origins of Chakra and the Shinobi World, then agreed to investigate its ancient secrets while preparing for the Chunin Exam. In the Land of Waves, Kakuzu confronted Kakashi’s group and read out their bounties.

• Orochimaru told Uchiha Yoru that historical records suggested Chakra appeared after the Sage of Six Paths, and Yoru discussed evidence of ancient users of Sage Art.
• Orochimaru revealed that living things shared genetic factors with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and that Yoru’s body might be an ideal Jinchuriki vessel.
• Uchiha Yoru warned Orochimaru that the Sage of Six Paths might still be alive and directed him toward clues about the Ancestral Country.
• Orochimaru told Uchiha Yoru that Root had researched Impure World Reincarnation, prompting Yoru to suspect the Third Hokage was still plotting against him.
• Uchiha Yoru gave Orochimaru an invitation to the Chunin Exam and asked him to bring Otogakure openly.
• In the Land of Waves, Kakuzu confronted Hatake Kakashi, Zabuza Momochi, Yūhi Kurenai, and their companions, then announced the group’s bounties.

Kakashi, Kurenai, Zabuza, and Karin fought Kakuzu on the Land of Waves bridge, then Kakuzu abandoned Gato’s underpaid mission as the hired attackers charged. Sasuke killed the attackers with a Fire Style technique, provoking Naruto’s outrage and prompting the others to explain why they treated the men as threats to civilians; Naruto was left realizing he had never read Yoru’s book of ideals.

• Karin blocked Kakuzu’s combined Fire and Wind Style attack with a Water Prison Wall, while Kurenai trapped one of his masked clones in the Second Hokage’s Dark Walking Technique and Zabuza struck with a Water Dragon Bullet.
• Kakashi wounded Kakuzu with White Fang swordsmanship, and Kakuzu revealed his fused hearts before conceding that the mission was not worth its two hundred thousand ryō fee.
• Gato arrived with a crowd of Rogue Ninja and Samurai, offered two hundred thousand ryō for Tazuna’s death, and Kakuzu vanished as the crowd charged.
• Sasuke burned Naruto’s Shadow Clones and the attackers with Dragon Fire, then argued with Naruto when Naruto condemned him for killing them.
• Karin scolded Sasuke for destroying the attackers’ valuables, while Kiba told Naruto that Yoru’s book explained how Rogue Ninja became bandits and robbers when no one hired them.
• Naruto admitted he had only read the Third Hokage’s Will of Fire, leaving Kiba disappointed.

Sarutobi Asuma left his senile father, Hiruzen Sarutobi, while Hiruzen secretly met with Masked Obito and agreed to work with him against Uchiha Yoru. At Amegakure, Uchiha Yoru met Nagato and Konan, discussed their competing plans for peace, and invited Amegakure to next year’s Chunin Exam while hiring the Akatsuki Organization to find powerful Summoning Beasts.

• Sarutobi Asuma told Hiruzen Sarutobi about his plans for the Sarutobi Clan, believing his father was too confused to understand.
• Masked Obito appeared before Hiruzen Sarutobi, mocked the Sarutobi Clan’s decline, and gave him intelligence as they discussed their shared opposition to Uchiha Yoru.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi revealed his intent to eliminate the Uchiha as an unstable force before handing Konoha to Tsunade, and he agreed to cooperate with Masked Obito.
• Uchiha Yoru arrived at Amegakure with Nagato and Konan, and Nagato explained his plan to use a powerful weapon to deter war and preserve their ideals.
• Uchiha Yoru refused to hand over the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and suggested Nagato leave the capture to the masked man behind the Akatsuki Organization.
• Uchiha Yoru invited Amegakure to next year’s Chunin Exam and hired the Akatsuki Organization to find powerful Summoning Beasts, including Hanzo’s Ibuse.

Uchiha Yoru traded intelligence about the Rinnegan for Nagato’s Summoning Beast Scrolls, prompting Nagato to question whether his eyes were truly his own. As the major ninja villages prepared for Konoha’s Chunin Exam, Enma arrived in Sunagakure with intelligence for the Kazekage and village elders.

• Uchiha Yoru told Nagato and Konan that the Rinnegan was the evolved form of the Uchiha’s Sage’s Eye and suggested Nagato test whether he could close or regress his eyes.
• Nagato agreed to examine the Rinnegan, planned to reclaim Amegakure, and told Konan to seek refuge with Uchiha Yoru if anything happened to him.
• Uchiha Yoru announced that Konoha would host next year’s Chunin Exam, while Fourth Raikage, Ay planned to send only two weak teams and Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki planned to attend with ordinary Genin teams and an intelligence-gathering delegation.
• Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, Ebizo, and Chiyo met in Sunagakure as Enma delivered intelligence and left the decision to them.

Pakura learned that Enma had secretly visited Sunagakure and decided to change the village for its future, while shinobi in Konoha and the Mist prepared for next year’s Chunin Exam. The chapter ended with Uchiha Yoru announcing powerful rewards and special training for the exam’s participants.

• Pakura returned to Sunagakure, reflected on the village’s betrayal and decline, and resolved to change it for the village’s sake.
• Pakura’s chameleon reported that Enma had appeared in the Kazekage’s meeting room, prompting her to order continued surveillance.
• Hatake Kakashi assigned Sakura medical ninjutsu training and planned to help Naruto while acknowledging Sasuke’s and Naruto’s advantages.
• Might Guy agreed to cover Zabuza’s duties while Zabuza went to the Land of Rice Fields to train his Hozuki Clan disciple for next year’s Chunin Exam.
• The Kage Office Building announced B-Rank Ninjutsu rewards for outstanding instructors and a three-month special training program for Genin who became Chūnin.
• Uchiha Yoru showed Mei Terumi and Tsunade the Scroll of Seals and urged them to select talented, loyal Jōnin to train after the exam.

Uchiha Yoru and his allies prepared for the Chunin Exam while Konoha strictly guarded its visiting ninja, and Sasuke Uchiha confronted Gaara’s group after Kankuro bullied Konohamaru. Jiraiya learned that the Sarutobi Clan’s militant faction was conspiring with Sunagakure, leaving him responsible for deciding how to handle the clan.

• Uchiha Yoru told Tsunade and Mei Terumi to protect the visiting daimyos and showed them intelligence that could advance their plans for the Land of Fire and the Land of Water.
• Kankuro bullied Konohamaru until Naruto Uzumaki objected and Sasuke Uchiha intervened, warning Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro not to approach the Sarutobi Clan’s territory.
• Sasuke Uchiha explained that outsiders were barred from major clans’ territories, and Temari led the Sand Ninja away after the confrontation.
• Uchiha Yoru and Jiraiya discussed the Sarutobi Clan’s militant faction, and Uchiha Yoru gave Jiraiya intelligence in exchange for guarding the Land of Wind after the Chunin Exam.
• Jiraiya learned that the Sarutobi Clan had stockpiled war supplies, protected Enma in Sunagakure, and helped an elite Sunagakure legion infiltrate the Land of Fire.

More than six hundred Genin gathered in Konoha for the Chūnin Exam, where Senju Yamato used Wood Release to build their examination hall. As the written test began, Uchiha Yoru watched from the Hokage's Office and planned to turn the later rounds into a public, profitable spectacle.

• Konoha, Mist, and Sound Genin assembled and faced hostility from the foreign examinees, while Karin Uzumaki shared intelligence files and sensed Gaara's powerful Chakra.
• Kimimaro dismissed Sasuke Uchiha as weak, and Gaara warned Temari and Kankuro not to underestimate their dangerous opponents.
• Senju Yamato, Byakugan Ao, and Kabuto Yakushi arrived as examiners, and Yamato created a huge wooden classroom with desks and chairs for the examinees.
• Uchiha Yoru explained that the exam would gather intelligence as well as display Konoha's strength, then proposed broadcasting the later rounds and charging admission while hosting betting pools.
• Tsunade and Mei Terumi welcomed Yoru's plans, and Tsunade eagerly anticipated gambling.