Chapter Summaries

Tsunade exposed the Third Hokage’s role in framing Sakumo and revealed that he had ordered attacks on civilians and withdrawn enemy forces. After he tried to summon Enma, Li Yao Lightning Style Clone sealed him, and Konoha’s leaders prepared to hand him over to the four great hidden villages.

• Tsunade accused the Third Hokage of ordering Danzo’s Root to attack a town and kill civilians to frame Sakumo, citing Orochimaru as her source.
• The Third Hokage’s expression betrayed his guilt, while Konoha’s leaders recalled his refusal of the four villages’ ceasefire and his secret attacks on their withdrawing forces.
• Tsunade and the clan heads backed the demand to hand the Third Hokage over, and he declared their actions rebellion before trying to summon Enma.
• Li Yao Lightning Style Clone struck the Third Hokage with Decay Lightning and sealed his Chakra before he could summon Enma.
• Konoha’s leaders silenced and escorted the Third Hokage away to deliver him to the four great hidden villages in the Land of Iron.

After the Third Hokage was taken into custody, Konoha's leaders made Tsunade interim Hokage while Sakumo declined the permanent role and agreed to become her fiancé. They uncovered evidence of the Third Hokage's crimes and brought him before the villagers, where he saw that even his own clan had abandoned him.

• Hyuga Hiashi and the clan heads urged Tsunade to become Fourth Hokage, but she proposed Sakumo instead.
• Sakumo agreed to become Tsunade's fiancé but refused the Hokage position, so the leaders made Tsunade interim Hokage until a postwar election.
• Hyuga Hiashi and the others uncovered evidence that the Third Hokage had attacked clan members, stolen property and secret techniques, and prolonged the war to suppress White Fang.
• The Uchiha and Hyuga clans were enraged by the evidence, including proof that the Third Hokage and Danzo had murdered Hyuga clansmen to obtain the Byakugan.
• Tsunade and the others brought the Third Hokage to the Hokage Building roof before the villagers and clans, where he saw that his own clansmen had abandoned him.

Tsunade exposed the Third Hokage’s crimes to Konoha’s grieving villagers, turning their support into hatred as they demanded justice. As the Third Hokage realized he was finished, his sealed memories returned and he wept bloodied tears.

• The Third Hokage knelt silently atop the Hokage Building while villagers cheered, and the clan leaders looked to Tsunade for support.
• Tsunade asked villagers who had lost relatives in the war to raise their hands, revealing that everyone present had suffered a loss.
• Tsunade recounted the Third Hokage’s crimes, including human experimentation, prolonging the war for political gain, and framing the Konoha White Fang.
• The villagers turned against the Third Hokage, blaming him for their relatives’ deaths and calling for vengeance.
• The Third Hokage’s sealed memories returned, and he shed bloody tears as he remembered the past month.

Li Yao watched as the Third Hokage’s reputation collapsed and Tsunade took control of Konoha. The disgraced former Hokage was escorted toward the village exit, while Li Yao hinted that the Sarutobi Clan would be his next target.

• The Third Hokage briefly broke through Li Yao’s Five Senses Manipulation with a roar, then remained trapped as villagers continued to curse him.
• Tsunade proposed stripping the Third Hokage of his position and becoming acting Hokage, and the villagers agreed.
• Tsunade, White Fang, and three ANBU squads escorted the former Hokage through a hostile crowd toward Konoha’s exit.
• A Sarutobi clansman cursed and threw an egg at the Third Hokage, who felt relieved that his clan had separated itself from him.
• Li Yao told Danzo that the Third Hokage was leaving and hinted that he intended to target the Sarutobi Clan later.

Li Yao took Danzo to find a dog, then used his techniques to transfer Danzo’s weakened soul into a big black dog. Danzo awoke in the dog’s body, horrified by his new form and instincts.

• Li Yao brought Danzo to a nearby city and asked him to choose among the dogs they encountered.
• Danzo agreed that Li Yao could choose, and Li Yao settled on a filthy big black dog eating waste.
• Li Yao extracted Danzo’s Spirit Body and weakened it with intense soul pain while his Shadow Clone removed the dog’s will.
• Li Yao fused Danzo’s soul with the dog’s soulless body and restored it with Medical Chakra.
• Danzo woke as the big black dog, struggled to move on four legs, and instinctively licked a tempting smell.

Li Yao turned Danzo into a black dog and cursed him before returning to Konoha. Two days later, Jiraiya blocked Tsunade’s escort of the Third Hokage, offering to die in his teacher’s place and causing Tsunade and the ANBU to reconsider their decision.

• Li Yao controlled Danzo’s black dog body, made him fall into shit, and returned with him to Konoha.
• Li Yao placed curses on Danzo that kept him in Konoha and forced him to eat only shit, then left him free to move around.
• Two days later, Jiraiya arrived on Gamabunta at the river border and confronted Tsunade as she escorted the Third Hokage toward the Land of Iron.
• Tsunade explained that the Third Hokage’s actions had endangered Konoha and asked Jiraiya to choose between his teacher and the village.
• Jiraiya offered to die in the Third Hokage’s place, moving the ANBU and making Tsunade reconsider sending her teacher to his death.

Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang stopped Jiraiya from persuading Tsunade to spare the Third Hokage, and Tsunade declared Jiraiya a rogue ninja when he chose to defend his teacher. As Tsunade and the Anbu withdrew with the Third Hokage, Li Yao stayed behind to fight Jiraiya and discovered Nature Energy could resist Decay Lightning.

• Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang offered to die in the Third Hokage’s place, prompting Tsunade to reaffirm that the Third Hokage had to die to resolve Konoha’s crisis.
• Jiraiya insisted the Third Hokage was his teacher, and Tsunade declared him an S-rank rogue ninja after he entered Sage Mode.
• Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang persuaded Tsunade to leave with the Anbu and escort the Third Hokage while he faced Jiraiya.
• Li Yao attacked Jiraiya and Gamabunta with Decay Lightning, but Jiraiya escaped and Gamabunta returned to Mount Myōboku after Nature Energy hindered the attack.

Jiraiya and the toads fought Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—the White Fang, whose Decay Lightning threatened even Jiraiya in Sage Mode. After the toads’ coordinated attacks drove him back, the White Fang revealed Sage Mode, leaving Jiraiya, Shima, and Fukasaku stunned by his power.

• Shima and Fukasaku warned Jiraiya that the White Fang’s speed and Decay Lightning made him a dangerous opponent.
• Jiraiya and the toads coordinated Wind and Water Release attacks, but the White Fang countered with Decay Lightning and was blasted into the ruins.
• Jiraiya tried to rush toward Tsunade’s group, but the White Fang intercepted him and forced him to retreat with a follow-up attack.
• The White Fang revealed Sage Mode and severed Jiraiya’s and the toads’ Sage-powered attacks, shocking them.

Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang defeated Jiraiya and the two toads who tried to stop him from reaching Tsunade and rescuing the Third Hokage. He spared them, then caught up with Tsunade’s group, leaving the Third Hokage shocked by how quickly he had returned.

• Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang overwhelmed Jiraiya in close combat while Jiraiya and the two toads struggled to hold him off.
• Shima proposed using Mount Myōboku’s genjutsu, but Fukasaku warned that Jiraiya could not survive without their support while they prepared it.
• Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang unleashed Sage Art Decay Lightning across a two-kilometer area, incapacitating Jiraiya and the two toads.
• Mount Myōboku summoned Jiraiya and the two toads back before Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang could assess their condition, and he went after Tsunade’s group.
• Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang returned to Tsunade’s group, and the Third Hokage realized Jiraiya had likely been defeated in about ten minutes.

Tsunade brought the Third Hokage to a meeting in the Land of Iron, where Li Yao’s four Kage clones ended the war without signing a ceasefire agreement. The Third Great Ninja War officially ended several years earlier than in the original timeline.

• Li Yao’s Lightning Style Clone—White Fang told Tsunade that Jiraiya had been gravely injured and summoned back to Mount Myōboku, and Li Yao comforted her.
• Tsunade and her group reached the Land of Iron castle, where Mifune welcomed them and led them to the four Kage.
• Tsunade handed the Third Hokage over to the Fourth Kazekage, who replaced Hatake Sakumo’s sealing formula with an identical one and had Sunagakure ninja take him away.
• The four Kage declared that their villages would withdraw from the war, while Mifune guaranteed the ceasefire decision with the honor of the Land of Iron.
• Tsunade accepted Mifune’s guarantee and left, and the Third Great Ninja War officially ended several years early.

Black Zetsu struggled to arrange Rin Nohara’s death and decided to seek Li Yao’s help. Meanwhile, Li Yao reunited with his Wind Style Clone, took the Third Hokage into custody, and flew him toward a companion for Danzo.

• Black Zetsu watched Obito train and resolved to make Kakashi kill Rin before Obito’s love faded further.
• Black Zetsu sent White Zetsu to search for Li Yao and ask for his help.
• Li Yao’s Wind Style Clone sent the Sand Ninja back with news that the war had ended, then carried the Third Hokage toward Li Yao.
• The Third Hokage realized the Fourth Kazekage had used the Flying Thunder God Technique and wondered how he, Li Yao, and Hatake Sakumo were connected.
• Li Yao told the Third Hokage that he had arranged his betrayal, then revealed he was taking him to find a companion for Danzo.

Li Yao’s Wind Style Clone ordered Sunagakure to relocate to the southern Land of Wind after the Feudal Lord cut off its supplies. He lifted the entire village into the air with Iron Sand and began carrying it south, leaving Sasori astonished by the gap between their abilities.

• Li Yao spent three days taking the Third Hokage around the world to look at dogs while news spread that the Third Great Ninja War had ended.
• The Five Great Nations’ Daimyo angrily demanded that the ninja leaders seek their forgiveness for ending the war without permission.
• Li Yao’s Wind Style Clone announced that Sunagakure would move to the southern coast, where its people could leave the harsh desert behind.
• After the Land of Wind’s Feudal Lord’s Mansion suspended supplies, Sunagakure’s villagers welcomed the relocation, while some clan members objected to losing the desert’s protection.
• Li Yao used Iron Sand to lift Sunagakure, its walls, and the surrounding ground into the air as the villagers watched in shock.
• Sasori watched Li Yao control the airborne village with ease and resolved to find a way to strengthen his soul.

Li Yao's Wind Style Clone moved Sunagakure into the sky and continued his secret research into soul flames. In Konoha, Tsunade rejected the Daimyo's authority and pressured the village leaders to choose a Fourth Hokage before she left to travel with Sakumo.

• Li Yao's Wind Style Clone sent Sasori back to his laboratory, then began building a soul-flame furnace to investigate how burning souls could strengthen them.
• After several days, emissaries from the Great Nations' Feudal Lord's Mansions arrived at the hidden villages, where Konoha, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure killed them.
• Tsunade ordered Konoha's Anbu to reject the Land of Fire's emissary and declared that Konoha would no longer answer to the Feudal Lord's Mansion.
• At Konoha's internal Hokage election meeting, the clan heads and leading ninjas gathered to select a candidate for Fourth Hokage, while Jiraiya remained absent as a rogue ninja.
• Hyuga Hiashi suggested Tsunade become Fourth Hokage, but she refused and warned that she would stop managing Konoha if they failed to choose someone.
• Tsunade told the gathered leaders that she and Brother Sakumo would leave Konoha the next day to travel the world.

At the Fourth Hokage selection, Li Yao’s allies rallied behind Fugaku Uchiha, leaving Orochimaru to decide whether to challenge him. The chapter ended with Orochimaru also supporting Fugaku.

• Li Yao asked the Third Hokage who he least wanted to become Fourth Hokage, and the Third Hokage realized Fugaku was likely to win.
• Li Yao Lightning Style Clone—White Fang nominated Fugaku, and Fire Style Clone—Fugaku accepted the recommendation and entered the election.
• Hyuga Hiashi stayed silent, while the other clan heads took his silence as acceptance of Fugaku’s candidacy.
• The Sarutobi Clan’s new head hoped Orochimaru would oppose Fugaku, but Orochimaru judged that Sakumo, Fugaku, and Tsunade had joined forces.
• Orochimaru announced that he also supported Fugaku becoming Fourth Hokage.

Fugaku Uchiha became the Fourth Hokage and appointed Orochimaru to lead Konoha’s new Ninja Arts Research Institute. Meanwhile, Kakashi returned home hoping to learn whether his father had won, only to find him kissing Tsunade.

• The new Sarutobi Clan head objected to Fugaku Uchiha’s appointment, but Tsunade called a vote and announced Fugaku as the Fourth Hokage after everyone else raised their hands.
• Fugaku invited Orochimaru to direct a Ninja Arts Research Institute, and Orochimaru accepted after Fugaku promised full support.
• The new Sarutobi Clan head realized his opposition had been a mistake and hurried back to make arrangements for his clan.
• Li Yao and the Third Hokage continued their search for companions for the Third Hokage’s best buddy.
• Kakashi came home to ask whether his father had become Hokage, then found his father and Tsunade kissing and ran out in embarrassment.

Li Yao transformed the Third Hokage into a white female dog and brought him back to Konoha, where he was unable to communicate with anyone or escape. The Third Hokage wandered the village in despair, realizing Li Yao had trapped him there.

• Li Yao extracted the Third Hokage's Spirit Body, destroyed his body, and turned him into the white female dog they had found.
• The Third Hokage tried to attack Li Yao and then kill himself, but Li Yao's Forbidden Curse prevented him from dying.
• Li Yao sent the Third Hokage to Konoha, where villagers mistook him for a rabid stray and a genin kicked him.
• The Third Hokage fled toward Konoha's gates, but a restriction forced him to run back inside.

After Li Yao turned Danzo into a dog and left him in Konoha, Danzo struggled with hunger and his canine instincts. He survived by eating what he found in the woods, then hid in an alley after three male dogs bit him.

• Danzo, starving and unable to eat ordinary scraps, wandered toward the woods behind the Uchiha Clan Compound.
• Danzo found Fugaku Uchiha's Fire Style Clone and was driven to eat the pile of excrement it left behind.
• Danzo washed his mouth in a water basin and wandered Konoha after his body recovered.
• Danzo approached a female dog, but three male dogs chased and bit him through several streets.
• Danzo hid in an alley, licked his wounds, and vowed to kill the three dogs.

Third Hokage wandered Konoha as a white female dog, unable to warn the Sarutobi Clan or find food because of Li Yao’s restrictions. After escaping a male dog, he hid in an alley overnight, unaware that Danzo was sleeping nearby.

• Third Hokage reached the Sarutobi Clan gate, but a clan ninja kicked him away before he could get inside.
• Third Hokage tried to scratch a warning about Li Yao into the ground, but his dog legs would not cooperate, so he left the gate.
• Third Hokage tried to steal food from a little girl and from oden carts, but his hind legs weakened each time and he was kicked away.
• Third Hokage gave up searching for food and lay in an alley, where a large spotted male dog tried to mount him.
• Third Hokage escaped the male dog and collapsed in another alley, unaware that Danzo was sleeping nearby.
• Danzo woke refreshed and began thinking about doggy tug-of-war again.

Danzo and the Third Hokage discovered they had been transformed into dogs and were forced into an awkward encounter, which Li Yao watched as punishment. Black Zetsu then sought Li Yao’s help to recreate the circumstances that would turn Obito against Konoha, but Li Yao questioned why he could not revive Madara to do it himself.

• Danzo’s canine instincts overcame him, and he attacked the white dog who turned out to be the Third Hokage, Hiruzen.
• Danzo and Hiruzen recognized each other through their mental connection and struggled through Konoha’s streets before heading into an alley.
• Li Yao watched the pair and declared Hiruzen’s punishment temporarily over, then teleported to a mountain outside Konoha.
• Black Zetsu emerged in a White Zetsu body and asked Li Yao to arrange for Kakashi to kill Rin in front of Obito.
• Black Zetsu explained that Konoha’s powerful defenders made the plan too difficult to carry out alone, and admitted he did not know the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu when Li Yao suggested reviving Madara.

Li Yao questioned Black Zetsu about why Madara had chosen to die instead of continuing his plan through Impure World Reincarnation. Black Zetsu explained that Madara intended to restore his aged soul in the Pure Land Space before returning, leaving Li Yao to decide whether Kaguya Otsutsuki would be revived.

• Li Yao threatened Black Zetsu and demanded to know why Madara had not used Impure World Reincarnation to pursue his plan himself.
• Black Zetsu revealed that Madara's soul was too old to withstand becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki while alive or reanimated.
• Black Zetsu explained that Madara's Rinnegan let him sense the Pure Land Space, where he could absorb the remnants of departed souls to restore his own soul.
• Black Zetsu said Madara planned to spend about fifteen years in the Pure Land while others guarded Nagato, protected the Rinnegan, and gathered the Tailed Beasts.
• Li Yao concluded that the Pure Land Space could strengthen souls and suspected the Sage of Six Paths used it to build power against the Progenitor of the Otsutsuki.