Chapter Summaries

Rinto rejected Madara Uchiha’s plan to end conflict through Infinite Tsukuyomi and returned to Amegakure, where he spent months writing a scheme. By midway through Year 46 of Konoha, he was preparing to dig up Madara Uchiha’s grave.

• Rinto confronted Madara Uchiha about the Sharingan and suggested they capture and study gods, but Madara argued that a shared enemy could only create fragile peace.
• Rinto defended human emotions and bonds against Infinite Tsukuyomi, then vanished after calling Madara’s view a child’s tantrum.
• Rinto returned to Amegakure and began cultivating in seclusion as Year 45 of Konoha ended.
• Rie visited Rinto’s home and learned from Tsunade that he had been writing nonstop for nearly half a year since returning from sending Kome to Kirigakure.
• Rie fled to the Hidden Rain Building, while Rinto continued drafting a plan to dig up Madara Uchiha’s grave.

White Zetsu clones attacked Amegakure, where Sakumo and the Guard Unit defended the village with a newly developed Fireball Launcher. Rinto learned of the attack and the weapon, and suspected Madara Uchiha was trying to distract him.

• White Zetsu clones transformed from refugees and attacked Amegakure’s gates, prompting Sakumo to call for reinforcements and protect civilians.
• Sakumo fought the attackers until one White Zetsu slipped into the village, where the Guard Unit blasted it back with their black rods.
• The Guard Unit fired thumbnail-sized Chakra-powered fireballs that exploded among the White Zetsu clones.
• Rinto heard explosions while shopping for radishes, then learned from Six that White humanoid creatures were attacking the village.
• Rinto suspected Madara Uchiha was using the attack to distract him and learned that the Guard Unit’s black rod was a Fireball Launcher.

Obito reached the battlefield in time to see Kakashi pierce Rin’s chest, triggering Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan and a brutal rampage. Rinto revealed that Rin was only in suspended death, and she awoke in the Kamui Dimension as he told her that her visions were real.

• Spiral White Zetsu told Obito that Rin and Kakashi were surrounded by powerful Kirigakure forces, while Minato was away on a mission.
• Obito hurried toward the battlefield, where he found Kakashi’s lightning attack piercing Rin’s chest.
• Obito awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan and unleashed Wood Style: Hellish Forest, killing the fighters around him.
• Rinto observed that Rin was alive in suspended death because of the Izanagi in her left Rinnegan, then used Flying Thunder God Technique to leave.
• Rin awoke in the Kamui Dimension and recalled her visions of being made a Three-Tails Jinchuriki and Obito grieving over her.
• Rinto appeared beside Rin and told her that her visions had not been a dream.

Rinto told Rin that her death and Obito’s grief had been real, then explained Madara’s plan to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi and urged Rin to help bring Obito back by choosing him. He brought Rin to Amegakure, where she learned that returning to Konoha could mean interrogation, while Danzo continued trying to push a newspaper proposal through Sunagakure’s Eighteen Seats Conference.

• Rinto told Rin that Madara had survived Hashirama’s attack with Izanagi and had chosen Obito to carry out the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan, which required Rin to die before him.
• Rin asked Rinto if he could bring Obito back, and he suggested that she could change Obito’s mind by choosing to be with him.
• Rinto teased Rin about choosing between Obito and Kakashi, then used the Flying Thunder God Technique to take her to Amegakure.
• Rinto told Rin that Konoha would likely interrogate her if she returned and suggested she stay in Amegakure with Tsunade, while Rie joked that Rin was another of Rinto’s daughters.
• In Sunagakure, Danzo, disguised as Kaza, reviewed intelligence and continued holding Eighteen Seats Conferences to promote newspapers as a way to earn money, manipulate public opinion, and undermine Rasa’s authority.

Danzo expected the Eighteen Seats to approve the newspaper proposal, but Leaf Handle's objection derailed the meeting. Outside Kaza's mansion, Kubo rallied members to demand her removal while Taida watched, convinced Kaza would keep acting from the shadows.

• Danzo reviewed the Eighteen Seats' factions and expected the meeting to go smoothly after Rasa's three seats had been replaced.
• At the conference, Leaf Handle objected to the newspaper proposal, and Danzo ended the meeting in anger rather than openly retaliating.
• Kubo gathered fourteen members outside Kaza's mansion and urged them to demand that Leaf Handle be expelled.
• Taida watched the petitioners and privately judged their effort futile, believing Kaza would not intervene in public.

Taida realized that the man posing as Lord Kaza was an impostor and swore revenge. Meanwhile, Danzo arranged with Rasa to remove Leaf Handle from the Eighteen Seats, and Taida entered the Kazekage Building after confirming his suspicions.

• Kubo asked Danzo, disguised as Lord Kaza, to vote Leaf Handle out of the Eighteen Seats, but Danzo refused and left.
• Taida noticed that Danzo’s behavior did not match his detailed records of Lord Kaza and spent the night checking his notebook.
• Taida concluded that the man was an impostor and vowed revenge, driven by his admiration for the real Lord Kaza.
• Danzo visited Rasa and secured his agreement to remove Leaf Handle from her seat.
• Taida recognized Danzo as the impostor when he passed without greeting him as Lord Kaza usually did, then entered the Kazekage Building.

Taida told Rasa that the current Lord Kaza was an impostor, using changes in his conduct and failed Eighteen Seats proposals as evidence. Rasa considered the claim and saw a chance to escape his five-year agreement and reclaim power.

• Taida met with Rasa and claimed that Lord Kaza had been replaced, citing his former service as Kaza's assistant and changes in Kaza's behavior.
• Taida asked whether the earlier Kaza had offered Rasa Leaf Handle's Eighteen Seats position in exchange for secretly removing Leaf Handle, then argued that the recent failed proposals proved the current Kaza was a fake.
• Rasa dismissed Taida after questioning his loyalty, while Taida left believing he had shown both his ability and devotion to Lord Kaza.
• Baki warned Rasa that Taida and the Municipal Department were untrustworthy, but Rasa said he would use Taida as an ally on the periphery.
• Rasa and Baki agreed that the current Kaza's delays seemed unlike the real Kaza, and Rasa realized that Kaza being an impostor might void their five-year agreement and let him reclaim power.

Rinto considered how Rasa might move against Danzo and the Eighteen Seats, while Taida earned Rasa’s trust by offering a plan to take control of the Municipal Department. The chapter ended with Taida recommending a sudden public exposure of Kaza as a fake and a simultaneous seizure of the Eighteen Seats’ factories.

• Rinto learned from his clone that Rasa and Taida were likely to act against Danzo, and considered several ways they might undermine the Eighteen Seats.
• Rinto decided Taida might serve as his agent in Sunagakure and dismissed Danzo as someone suited only to take the blame.
• Three days later, Rasa discussed taking on the Eighteen Seats with Baki, who recommended gradually hollowing out the group and taking over the Municipal Department.
• Rasa summoned Taida to hear his advice, and Taida recognized the meeting as a chance to help Rasa take revenge on the Eighteen Seats.
• Taida outlined a gradual approach, then advised Rasa to expose Kaza as a fake at a public gathering while ninjas seized control of the factories.

Taida persuaded Rasa to expose the fake Lord Kaza, hoping to gain influence in the Municipal Department afterward. A week later, Danzo suspected Rasa’s birthday banquet was a trap and tried to flee, but two Sunagakure Jonin blocked his way.

• Taida advised Rasa to reveal the fake Lord Kaza through a decisive scheme, while secretly planning to use the aftermath to gain power.
• Rasa proposed holding a celebration for Temari and invited the village’s important figures.
• Danzo woke from three nightmares, suspected the banquet was a trap, and found no Shadow Clone waiting in his basement.
• Danzo dressed to escape Sunagakure and left a coded retreat signal for his Root members.
• Two Sunagakure Jonin arrived to escort Danzo to Rasa and stopped him from leaving for the factory.

Rasa used his daughter’s birthday celebration to expose Danzo as an impostor wearing Kaza’s appearance. Sakuta Rinto then revealed himself as Lord Daimyo and covered the venue with Iron Sand.

• Danzo agreed to attend the gathering rather than reveal his identity, still hoping Rinto would appear.
• Rasa held his daughter’s birthday celebration and praised Sunagakure’s leaders and citizens before raising the village’s shortages.
• Rasa accused the man disguised as Kaza of being a foreign spy who had murdered his uncle, and the crowd recoiled from Danzo.
• Taida recognized the man emerging from behind the cake as Kaza by his blade-like gaze.
• Sakuta Rinto introduced himself as Lord Daimyo, and Iron Sand rose to shroud the sky.

Rinto used a sudden switch to preserve his Kaza disguise, then forced Rasa to publicly accept him as Great-Uncle. He suspended the Eighteen Seats Conferences, handed his duties to Leaf Handle temporarily, and moved to reclaim the Municipal Department’s factory shares and technology, alarming the three officials who had blocked his newspaper proposal.

• Rinto switched places with Danzo, disguised as Kaza, and revealed Iron Sand that led the Sand Clan patriarch to treat him as the Daimyo of the Land of Rain.
• Rasa realized Kaza had returned, while Karura sensed that the sand on Kaza had changed and that someone had replaced him.
• Rinto offered Rasa a way to save face by calling his accusation a joke, and Rasa agreed before the gathered guests.
• Rinto told Kubo to suspend the Eighteen Seats Conferences, let Leaf Handle temporarily take over his work, and reclaim the Municipal Department’s factory shares and technology.
• The three officials who had obstructed the newspaper proposal realized Kaza was about to move against them.

Rinto settled the dispute over the newspaper by threatening to keep out of Sunagakure’s affairs until a High Council Advisor was removed. Before leaving, he gave Taida a plan to take control of the Eighteen Seats and preserve the Municipal Department’s authority.

• At Rinto’s birthday celebration, he walked away from the Eighteen Seats Conference, leaving Sunagakure’s factions to consider targeting Leaf Handle and the people behind her.
• Rinto told Danzo that he had been exposed and predicted that Leaf Handle and her backers would be brought to his doorstep within three days.
• Rinto refused to teach Danzo how to exploit Konoha’s weaknesses, then left the study.
• Rinto caught Taida sneaking into his home, and Taida asked whether he could earn a higher position.
• Rinto told Taida to infiltrate and secretly control the Eighteen Seats, then gave him a scroll containing intelligence on them.

After Rinto was summoned to the battlefield, Yawai asked him to help Kumogakure fight Iwagakure, and he agreed in exchange for borrowing the Amber Purifying Pot. Rinto joined forces with the Third Raikage and attacked the ten thousand Rock Ninja, splitting the battlefield with a wall of earth and a sea of fire.

• Rinto was summoned away from Amegakure and reunited with Yawai near the battlefield between Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
• Yawai asked Rinto to help the Third Raikage, and Rinto agreed after she promised to lend him the Amber Purifying Pot.
• Rinto leaped into the Iwagakure formation and unleashed Toad Oil Flame Bullet.
• Iwagakure raised an Earth Flow Wall that blocked most of the Toad Oil and divided the battlefield, leaving some Rock Ninja exposed to the flames.

Rinto returned to the battlefield and joined the Third Raikage, A, in fighting the Iwagakure forces. After they captured their opponents and routed the enemy army, A said he planned to pass the Raikage position to his son.

• A recognized Rinto in the flames, and the two launched Absolute Lightning Scythe at the Iwagakure commander before Kitsuchi raised an earthen wall to protect him.
• Rinto and A charged Kitsuchi and the commander, but Rinto used Super Expansion Jutsu to hold apart the giant hemispheres created by Kitsuchi’s Mountain Earth Jutsu.
• Rinto drove back the allied forces with Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon while A attacked the commander, disrupting Kitsuchi’s jutsu.
• Rinto grabbed Kitsuchi, and A pierced and captured the Sand Ninja Force commander with Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite, causing the Iwagakure forces to flee.
• Rinto handed the unconscious Kitsuchi to A, who said he would give the Raikage position to his son after the war.

Rinto finished the battle alongside the Third Raikage and tried to convince Yawai to return with him to Amegakure. When Yawai resisted, Rinto stabbed her with a kunai, leaving her to believe she was dying while he anticipated her embarrassment when she woke up.

• Rinto helped the Third Raikage finish the battle in less than an hour, and the Raikage admitted he owed Rinto a favor.
• Rinto asked to borrow the Glazed Vase and bring Yawai home, but the Third Raikage complained that Rinto had neglected to visit Kumogakure.
• Yawai joined Rinto and the Third Raikage, and Rinto urged her to return with him to Amegakure.
• Yawai teased Rinto about whether Tsunade would be jealous, and Rinto joked that he would forgive both women if they fought.
• When Yawai refused to go with him, Rinto stabbed her in the heart with a kunai.
• Yawai delivered what she believed were her last words, while Rinto privately looked forward to her embarrassment when she woke up.

Rinto revived Yawai and spent three days helping the Third Raikage until Iwagakure's defeated army withdrew, bringing the Third Great Ninja War to an end. Konoha celebrated the returning ninja with a festival, where Rinto confronted Rie, Fugaku, and Teuchi after catching them laughing about him.

• Rinto revived Yawai with the Reanimation Jutsu, and she realized she had returned to life after mistaking his words for a farewell.
• Rinto stayed with the Third Raikage for three days until Anbu reported that Iwagakure's main army had fled the Land of Lightning.
• The Third Raikage handed Kitsuchi and Iwagakure's commander to Anbu, and the failed attack marked the end of the Third Great Ninja War.
• Danzo returned to Root exhausted and let Hiruzen Sarutobi's decision to forgo compensation from Ōnoki pass without protest.
• Konoha held a festival to celebrate victory and welcome the returning ninja, and Rie, Fugaku, and Teuchi joked about Rinto's swollen face.
• Rinto caught the three laughing and demanded to know what was funny, prompting Rie, Fugaku, and Teuchi to claim they were pregnant.

Rinto and his companions joked about his past and the injury that left him wearing an eyepatch as they walked through Konoha. Sakumo revealed that Kakashi was hospitalized after using the Sharingan, but was pleased to see him making a close friend in Guy.

• Rie told Fugaku and Teuchi that the woman supporting Rinto was an old romantic debt from Kumogakure, and explained that Brother Kagami had stopped Rinto's rampaging Eight Inner Gates Formation by piercing the Gate of Life with Susanoo's weapon.
• Rinto surveyed Konoha's strength and asked Sakumo whether he had visited his son.
• Sakumo complained that Kakashi had been hospitalized after insisting on using the Sharingan instead of focusing on Hatake swordsmanship and the Body Flicker Technique.
• Sakumo said he had seen Guy and Kakashi playing rock-paper-scissors in the hospital and left them alone, thinking Guy was Kakashi's lifelong best friend.

Rinto met Hiruzen in Konoha and turned down another suggestion that he become the Fourth Hokage, while asking about the secret Scrying Jutsu. Elsewhere, Madara gave Obito a final warning to stay away from Amegakure, Konoha’s 66 Mingcha Street, and Rinto.

• Rinto and his family encountered Hiruzen, who regretted losing the loyalty of powerful allies and again urged Rinto to become Fourth Hokage; Rinto refused.
• Rinto asked Hiruzen to teach him the Scrying Jutsu, but Hiruzen explained it was tied to Konoha’s highly classified protective barrier and said he would take the technique to his grave.
• Rinto joked to himself that he would visit Hiruzen’s grave to find the Scrying Jutsu, then told Sakumo that Hiruzen had repeatedly asked him to become Hokage.
• At Mountain Pasture, Madara warned Obito to avoid Amegakure and Konoha’s 66 Mingcha Street, especially Sakuta Rinto, whom Madara described as powerful and dangerously underhanded.

Rinto tried to coax Nekomata after she accused him of planning to replace her with the Nine-Tails, while Tsunade and Awayi eavesdropped. He distracted them by revealing Madara Uchiha’s Infinite Tsukuyomi Plan and convinced Nekomata that he needed the Nine-Tails’ power to protect her.

• Rinto released Nekomata from the seal on his stomach, and she accused him of wanting to replace her with the Nine-Tails.
• Tsunade and Awayi eavesdropped from outside, each reacting with jealousy to Rinto’s affectionate words to Nekomata.
• When Nekomata demanded an answer about their relationship, Rinto noticed the two women listening and changed the subject.
• Rinto told Nekomata that Madara Uchiha planned to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi to trap the ninja world in an illusion and prove Hashirama Senju wrong.
• Rinto claimed he needed the Nine-Tails and the other Tailed Beasts to become the Ten-Tails’ Jinchuriki and gain the strength to protect Nekomata, who blushed and nestled against him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Minato Namikaze confidential intelligence about Sakuta Rinto and explained how the village should handle him. Minato resolved to speak with Rinto and seek a harmonious relationship between him and Konoha.

• Rinto persuaded Nekomata that he had to protect his friends and family, while secretly listening for Tsunade and Awayi’s reactions.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi handed Minato Namikaze the village’s defense maps and a secret scroll detailing Rinto’s history, abilities, and restrictions.
• Minato was shocked by the Konoha High Council’s wariness of Rinto and asked why the intelligence was classified.
• Hiruzen explained that Rinto valued Bonds and that mishandling the information could provoke him or leave the village unprepared.
• Minato solemnly decided to talk with Rinto and work toward a peaceful, mutually helpful relationship with him.