Chapter Summaries

Jiraiya and Konoha’s forces fought Nagato’s summoned beasts and Pain bodies across the village. Jiraiya remained locked in battle with Animal Path Pain while Sakumo, Kakashi, Konan, and Maki defeated Human Path and Asura Path.

• Jiraiya fought Animal Path Pain, and Preta Path Pain arrived to absorb his Big Ball Rasengan.
• Jiraiya, Fukasaku, and Shima used Sage Art: Gama-Bō to burn most of the summoned beasts, while Preta Path Pain absorbed only the flames near him.
• Choza, Shikaku, and Inoichi subdued the summoned beasts inside Konoha, then received orders to support Jiraiya outside the village.
• Kakashi and Sakumo attacked Asura Path and Human Path while Konan helped them, and Sakumo warned Konan to watch over Kakashi.
• Maki used Rasenshuriken to destroy Asura Path after Sakumo disabled one of its legs, while the Rasenshuriken had already sliced Human Path in half.

As Kushina gave birth, Uchiha Obito abducted her and took control of the Nine-Tails while Minato pursued them. Jiraiya continued fighting Pain as the Nine-Tails appeared in Konoha, and news arrived that Yūske had begun to stir.

• Yūske muttered in his room, prompting Kurenai Yūhi to report signs of his awakening to the Fifth Hokage.
• Kushina gave birth, and Minato entered the room as Deva Path Pain used Banshō Ten'in to hold back the defenders.
• White Zetsu infiltrated the room, and Uchiha Obito abducted Kushina while controlling the Nine-Tails with his Sharingan.
• Minato pursued Obito, while Tsunade fought Deva Path Pain and was blasted away by Shinra Tensei.
• Jiraiya fought Animal Path Pain as Hell Path revived the other Pains, and Shikaku Nara reported that Konoha's situation was dire.
• The Nine-Tails appeared in Konoha, and Jiraiya demanded that Nagato get out of his way, but Animal Path Pain refused.

Minato Namikaze fought to contain the Nine-Tails after Uchiha Obito unleashed it on Konoha, while Obito and Pain prepared another attack. Watanabe Yūske awoke to learn the village was under siege and, as the Fourth Hokage, went to confront Pain.

• Uchiha Fugaku held back the Nine-Tails until Minato Namikaze arrived and learned that Uchiha Obito had abducted Kushina and controlled the beast.
• Minato Namikaze entrusted Naruto to Hiruzen Sarutobi, diverted the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball to Pain's battlefield, then transported the Nine-Tails away.
• Uchiha Obito and Pain discussed Konoha's defenses and decided to leave the village with an unforgettable final attack.
• Watanabe Yūske woke beside Tsunade and learned that Obito and Nagato had invaded Konoha.
• After an Anbu reported that Pain had taken to the air and was gathering chakra, Yūske put on the Hokage robe marked Fourth Hokage and prepared to act.

As Nagato gathered his chakra for a devastating attack on Konoha, Yūske returned and contained Deva Path Pain’s Shinra Tensei, saving the village. He captured Deva Path Pain and began searching for Nagato, while Konan was welcomed into Konoha.

• Animal Path Pain’s summoned beasts vanished, and all five Pains collapsed, but Konan recognized the signs of Nagato gathering chakra for a powerful technique.
• Jiraiya and the others hurried back to Konoha, where Konan tried to stop Nagato from using Shinra Tensei.
• As Shinra Tensei erupted, Yūske appeared and used String Domain, Sage Art: Bird Cage, and Armament Haki Coating to contain the attack.
• Yūske freed Konan from a sphere and told her that Konoha was her home, though he said Nagato could not be absolved for his actions.
• Yūske tightened the threads around Deva Path Pain and began sensing for Nagato’s whereabouts.

Yūske arrived as Minato and Kushina faced death after the Nine-Tails was unleashed, and stopped Minato from making a fatal sacrifice. He restrained Kurama and sealed it back into Kushina, though she warned that her life was still slipping away.

• Yūske discovered the Nine-Tails outside Konoha and flew to help Minato, leaving the other ninja to handle the village’s wounded and invaders.
• Minato and Kushina struggled to seal the controlled Nine-Tails, and it pierced them both when Minato let his guard down.
• Minato decided to take the Nine-Tails with himself and Kushina to the next world, while Kushina urged him to live and raise Naruto.
• Yūske broke through Minato’s barrier, restrained the Nine-Tails, and treated Minato and Kushina’s wounds.
• Yūske used the Eight Trigrams Seal to draw the Nine-Tails back into Kushina, but she said that sealing it would not save her life.

Yūske stopped Minato Namikaze from sacrificing himself and used Sage Power to save Kushina after the Nine-Tails attack. With Kushina recovering and Konoha beginning repairs, Yūske planned to confront Black Zetsu through a Five Kage Summit, while Mei Terumi warned that Kirigakure was closing itself off again.

• Yūske slapped Minato Namikaze and rejected his plan to use the Reaper Death Seal, then took him and Kushina to the Senju Clan Compound to try to save her.
• Yūske used Sage Power to revive Kushina, and after dawn he emerged and told Minato Namikaze that she would recover.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi reclaimed the Hokage's Office and organized efforts to calm villagers, rebuild Konoha, and increase security.
• Tsunade offered to step down as Fifth Hokage, but Yūske told her to remain in charge while he handled matters outside the village.
• Yūske announced that he planned to expose Black Zetsu and convene a Five Kage Summit, and Mei Terumi warned that Kirigakure was closing itself off again.

Watanabe Yūske addressed Konoha after returning and explained that Pain and the Akatsuki Organization had led the invasion using puppets with the Rinnegan. The village kept Senju Tsunade as Hokage and announced a new Foreign Affairs Department, with Yūske as its minister.

• Several hundred Konoha ninja and civilians gathered outside the Hokage Building to hear the Hokages address the invasion.
• Watanabe Yūske appeared with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Senju Tsunade, then told the crowd that Pain had led the attack and that the captured attackers were puppets wielding the Rinnegan.
• The crowd reacted with shock but declared its determination to face the powerful enemy and avenge their fallen comrades.
• Yūske announced that Senju Tsunade would remain Hokage, and Tsunade urged the villagers to rebuild Konoha.
• Tsunade announced the Foreign Affairs Department, naming Watanabe Yūske as minister and Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze as deputy ministers.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi asked what the new department would do, and Tsunade explained that it would handle ties with other villages and foreign trade.

After Konoha’s attack, Yūske returned to work and dealt with Jiraiya’s requests before agreeing to accompany Mei Terumi to Kirigakure to investigate her family’s disappearance and the village’s strange behavior. The chapter ended with Konoha’s leaders still occupied with the village’s extensive reconstruction.

• Tsunade dragged Yūske into the office and piled work on him, saying Yūto needed his father around.
• Jiraiya asked Yūske for the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs position, but Yūske refused and said he would handle Nagato himself.
• Jiraiya persuaded Yūske to let him join the future mission to Nagato, while Yūske warned him not to act on his own.
• Mei Terumi told Yūske that her family had stopped sending letters and that Kirigakure Anbu had intercepted gifts intended for them.
• Yūske agreed to accompany Mei to Kirigakure in a few days to investigate and help if something had happened.
• Konoha’s leaders continued planning reconstruction, including district layouts, personnel assignments, materials, and funding.

Yūske bought a fishing boat and secretly set sail for Kirigakure with Mei Terumi and a small group, suspecting Uchiha Obito had taken control of the village through Karatachi Yagura. As the boat crossed the sea, Yūske and Mei grew closer and agreed to face whatever awaited them in Kirigakure.

• After returning home, Yūske reunited with his companions, and Tsunade sought him out after the gathering ended.
• Yūske told Tsunade he planned to travel to Kirigakure, and she had previously agreed to let him take Mei Terumi along.
• Yūske bought a small fishing boat, then boarded it with Shisui Uchiha, Gekko Yoru, Might Duy, Senju Clan members, and Mei Terumi.
• At sea, Yūske took Mei's hand, embraced her, and asked her to become his woman; Mei accepted his closeness.
• Yūske warned Mei that Kirigakure might be under Akatsuki's control and said Uchiha Obito could have controlled Karatachi Yagura.
• Mei agreed that subduing Karatachi Yagura might restore Kirigakure, then asked Yūske to wait until later before becoming intimate.

Yūske and his group reached the Land of Water after ten days at sea, and Mei Terumi led them toward Kirigakure. As Yūske and Mei prepared to infiltrate the village, Mei suggested seeking help from the Kaguya Clan.

• Shisui Uchiha and Might Duy ran along the ship at dawn, frightening away the fish the Senju Clan members had hoped to catch.
• Yūske and his companions reached the Land of Water after Shisui Uchiha used genjutsu to deceive patrolling shinobi.
• Mei Terumi led the group toward Kirigakure, and they seized carriages from bandits and disguised themselves as merchants.
• Yūske and Mei Terumi left the rest of their party in a nearby village and continued toward Kirigakure in disguise.
• Mei Terumi said she could not contact her former companions and suggested they visit the Kaguya Clan grounds outside the village.

Yūske and Mei Terumi visited the Kaguya Clan to investigate why Mei’s letters and plans to return to Kirigakure had gone unanswered. The clan agreed to arrange a meeting with its head, who could explain what was happening in the village.

• Mei Terumi led Yūske to the Kaguya Clan’s territory after he agreed to go with her.
• Kaguya Clan members confronted them, and Mei identified herself before Yūske revealed that he was Konoha’s Fourth Hokage.
• Yūske asked to meet the clan head or elders, and the Kaguya Clan leader sent messengers to notify the clan head.
• Yūske and Mei waited at a patrol rest area, where Yūske noticed the clan’s heightened security and asked about unusual events in Kirigakure.
• A reply arrived soon after, following the Kaguya Clan leader’s request for a meeting.

Yūske fought the Kaguya Clan Head to demonstrate his strength and overcame Shikotsumyaku with his String-String Fruit abilities. The Clan Head surrendered, and Yūske asked to enter the clan grounds and talk.

• The Kaguya Clan Head charged at Yūske with Shikotsumyaku, and Yūske stopped Mei Terumi from joining the fight.
• Yūske defended against the Clan Head’s bone attacks with threads, Flying Thunder God, and jutsu while studying his techniques.
• After Mei Terumi urged him to stop playing around, Yūske trapped the Clan Head in a Bird Cage of threads reinforced with Armament Haki.
• The Kaguya Clan Head surrendered when he could not cut through the tightening threads, and Yūske asked to enter the clan grounds with Mei Terumi.

Yūske and Mei Terumi met with the Kaguya Clan, whose head offered to relocate the clan to Konoha after Kirigakure targeted them for extermination. Yūske entered Kirigakure in disguise with Kaguya teams and, noticing they were being watched, ordered them toward a less crowded area.

• The Kaguya Clan Head told Yūske that Kirigakure had ordered the Yuki and Hozuki clans exterminated, prompting Mei to worry about her own clan.
• The Kaguya Clan Head admitted that his clan had planned a coup but offered to relocate to Konoha and follow Yūske.
• Yūske declined to promise the Kaguya Clan a place in Konoha and told them to discuss the matter among themselves while he investigated Kirigakure.
• Yūske and Mei entered Kirigakure disguised in Kaguya attire and saw deserted streets that reminded Mei of the Bloody Mist Village.
• Yūske detected several groups watching the Kaguya team and ordered them to head somewhere with fewer people.

Yūske captured a Kirigakure Anbu squad and questioned them about the purge of the bloodline clans, learning that Karatachi Yagura had ordered it and that the Kaguya Clan was next. He warned the Anbu that Yagura might be controlled or replaced, then released them at Mei Terumi’s request.

• Yūske restrained eight Kirigakure Anbu with his Parasitic Strings and threatened them to make them answer his questions.
• The Anbu revealed that Lord Mizukage had ordered the destruction of the Mizuki and Hōzuki Clans and that the Kaguya Clan was next.
• The Anbu said Karatachi Yagura had been injured a year earlier, after Jūzō Biwa attempted to assassinate him, and that they had since been removed from his guard.
• An Anbu said the Terumi Clan had not yet been targeted, and Mei Terumi recognized her former companion Kiko among the squad.
• Yūske told the Anbu that Yagura might be controlled or replaced, then released them because Mei asked him to let them go.

Yūske and Mei Terumi infiltrated the Terumi Clan grounds to investigate Kirigakure’s turmoil, and Mei reunited with her family after her father caught them together in her room. The chapter ended with Mei’s mother scrutinizing Yūske as Mei’s father asked who he was.

• Yūske reassured the Kaguya Clan members, healed an Anbu’s severed hand, and urged the Anbu to continue their cover while he and Mei checked on her clan.
• Yūske and Mei Terumi reached the Terumi Clan grounds, evaded hidden watchers, and used a Flying Thunder God Formula to enter Mei’s room.
• Yūske discovered a suggestive book in Mei’s room, and he and Mei began kissing before someone burst through the door.
• Mei’s father entered, and Yūske explained their disheveled state with an excuse about slipping on a banana peel.
• Mei Terumi reunited tearfully with her father while her mother watched Yūske suspiciously and her father asked Mei to introduce him.

Yūske reunited Mei Terumi with her parents in Kirigakure, where his disguise caused a misunderstanding before he proved his identity. After Mei explained his suspicion that the Fourth Mizukage had been controlled, her parents asked Yūske to help Kirigakure, and he agreed.

• Mei Terumi's parents mistook disguised Yūske for an unknown lover and feared their daughter had betrayed her engagement to Watanabe Yūske.
• Yūske's String Style restrained Mei Terumi's father and proved that he was the Fourth Hokage.
• Mei Terumi explained Yūske's suspicions about Karatachi Yagura and shared what the Kaguya Clan and the Anbu had told her.
• Mei Terumi's parents agreed that the Fourth Mizukage might have been controlled and asked Yūske to help Kirigakure.
• Yūske solemnly agreed to support Kirigakure, delighting Mei Terumi and her parents.

Yūske planned to infiltrate the Mizukage Building to investigate Kirigakure, using Orochimaru’s Faceless Art to disguise himself as a local ninja. After entering the building as Mizukawa, he spent a quiet morning observing its staff and drew suspicion from Ryūzaki.

• Yūske asked Mei Terumi’s father to arrange for a Mizukage Building ninja to be killed so he could take the man’s face and infiltrate the building.
• Mei Terumi and Yūske spent the night together, and Mei said she did not regret being with him despite his other wives.
• The next morning, Mei Terumi’s father brought Yūske the corpse of a Chunin named Mizukawa, and Yūske used the Faceless Art to take his face and appearance.
• Yūske learned that Mizukawa delivered intelligence and then spent the morning quietly sitting in the Mizukage Building’s office area.
• In the restroom, Yūske smoked and offered a cigarette to Ryūzaki, who questioned when Mizukawa had started smoking before accepting it.

Yūske infiltrated the Mizukage’s office and discovered that Uchiha Obito was controlling Kirigakure through the incapacitated Karatachi Yagura. After Yūske revealed that he recognized Obito, Obito prepared to flee while White Zetsu emerged from the restroom.

• Yūske complained to Ryūzaki about the strange situation in Kirigakure, then knocked him unconscious after Ryūzaki recognized that he was not Mizukawa.
• In the Mizukage’s office, Tobi asked Uchiha Obito whether Watanabe Yūske would come to Kirigakure, while Obito watched over the barely alive Karatachi Yagura.
• Tobi hurried off to the restroom, and Obito reflected on how Yūske had disrupted their plans and suppressed Nagato’s abilities.
• Yūske followed Ryūzaki’s information to the restroom near Karatachi Yagura’s floor, where Uchiha Obito caught him and accused him of being a Konoha spy.
• Yūske identified Obito and confirmed that White Zetsu was inside the restroom, prompting Obito to tense up and prepare to flee.

Yūske was framed for Karatachi Yagura’s murder after Uchiha Obito triggered an alarm and escaped, but Ao confirmed that Yūske’s chakra did not match Konoha’s Fourth Hokage. Surrounded by Kirigakure ninja, Yūske entered Sage Mode, defended himself from their Water Style attacks, and secretly sent Mei Terumi a message.

• Uchiha Obito admitted that he intended to take Kirigakure, then raised the alarm and escaped using his intangible state.
• Yūske found Karatachi Yagura newly dead and fought his way toward the surrounded Mizukage Building.
• Kirigakure ninja accused Yūske of murdering the Mizukage, but Ao used his Byakugan to confirm that Yūske’s chakra differed from the Fourth Hokage’s.
• Genji questioned Yūske, while Ryūzaki arrived and asked why he had assassinated the Mizukage.
• Yūske entered Sage Mode and used Wind Style: Wind Wall to deflect the Kirigakure ninja’s Water Style attacks.
• Yūske used the waterspout as cover to write a note and send it through the ground to Mei Terumi.

Mei Terumi and Yūske arranged for her father to help him fake his death during a fight with Kirigakure ninja. Yūske appeared to die as Mizukawa, while the real Yūske escaped beside Mei Terumi without exposing his identity.

• Mei Terumi passed Yūske’s message to her father, asking him to attack while Yūske pretended to die and escape.
• Mei Terumi’s father charged Yūske, who fought off the Kirigakure ninja and staged signs of exhaustion.
• Mei Terumi’s father engulfed Yūske in acidic Lava Release, and Ao used the Byakugan to search for him.
• Yūske attacked Ao from below, then used prepared threads to pull Mei Terumi’s father into position as the Kirigakure ninja stabbed him with kunai.
• Mei Terumi’s father believed Yūske was dead, then saw Mei holding the arm of a masked ninja and realized the corpse still appeared to be Mizukawa.