Chapter Summaries

Soseki fought Danzo in a test match, using taunts and a genjutsu to defeat him without seriously injuring him. Danzo fainted after reliving the memory of the Second Hokage choosing him as bait.

• Soseki realized he needed to beat Danzo without causing a serious injury that could be used against him.
• Danzo identified Soseki’s Flying Thunder God mark, but Soseki tricked him with a feint and shaved his head with a kunai.
• Soseki provoked Danzo with jokes about a marriage alliance with Chiyo and rumors about his feelings for Hiruzen.
• Soseki cast Mind Mirroring, making Danzo relive the moment the Second Hokage chose him to serve as bait.
• Soseki woke Danzo with a kunai at his throat, and Danzo spat blood and fainted amid the onlookers’ comments.

Soseki treated Danzo after Danzo collapsed, then took charge of the Allied Forces meeting to assess the war and plan for Rain Village’s possible involvement. He proposed preparing to win Rain Village over while readying for battle, and offered to face Hanzo alongside Chiyo if necessary.

• Soseki healed Danzo, who realized he was now Soseki’s subordinate and yielded his seat at the head of the meeting table.
• Soseki resumed the meeting and heard that Stone Village had committed sixteen thousand troops while Sand Village could deploy up to six thousand.
• Pakura warned that Rain Village might join Stone Village’s side after Sand Village entered the war.
• Soseki ordered the alliance to pursue Rain Village within a controlled price range while preparing for it to join the war.
• Shibi Aburame warned that Hanzo’s poisonous mist made him a formidable threat, and Soseki said he and Chiyo would face him if needed.

Soseki took command of the Leaf-Sunagakure alliance and warned Danzo not to target his subordinate Nonō. Sunagakure and Iwagakure assessed the alliance’s strength and prepared their next moves, with Ōnoki agreeing to make major concessions to secure support for the war.

• Soseki reassured the gathered jōnin that he and Chiyo could handle Hanzō of the Salamander, then ended the meeting.
• Soseki warned Danzo to keep his hands off Nonō, prompting Danzo to abandon some of his schemes against Soseki’s people.
• Rasa received Pakura’s report that Soseki had decisively defeated Danzo and told Sunagakure’s jōnin to follow Soseki while preparing for a possible Iwagakure attack.
• Ōnoki warned Kitsuchi and Morihiru not to underestimate Soseki, then agreed to Hanzō’s terms and ordered them to recruit mercenaries and wandering shinobi.
• Ōnoki decided to seek the Daimyo’s guards and national shinobi himself and told Kitsuchi to contact Rōshi, offering to admit defeat and apologize.

Hanzo weighed Amegakure’s choices between Iwagakure and the Leaf Village while investigating Akatsuki, whose three young founders he suspected were connected to Jiraiya. He ordered contact with Iwagakure and surveillance of Akatsuki, believing the group might be the Leaf Village’s agents in Rain Country.

• Hanzo heard that Iwagakure had offered to help Amegakure replace Sunagakure among the Five Great Nations, but he distrusted both Iwagakure and the Leaf Village.
• Hanzo asked the jonin about Akatsuki and revealed that its three young members had swiftly defeated his men, then released them after speaking about peace.
• Hanzo learned that Akatsuki’s founders were two boys and a girl whose unusual ninjutsu matched the three youngsters once taught by Jiraiya.
• Hanzo suspected the trio had faked their deaths to escape his recruitment and that the Leaf Village had planted Akatsuki to gain control of Rain Country.
• Hanzo ordered his people to contact Iwagakure and monitor Akatsuki’s movements.

Soseki rescued Nonō from losing her hospital position and arrived at the temporary hospital as the trusted commander of the Konoha-Sand Alliance Army. The chapter left him confronting Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan after they were surrounded by Leaf Village ninja.

• Nonō thanked Soseki for helping her keep her position, and Soseki thanked her for helping him avoid danger with rumors.
• Soseki went outside to welcome Asuma, Mizuki, and the others, where Asuma learned that Soseki had become the Konoha-Sand Alliance Army Commander.
• Guy, Mizuki, and Asuma defended their trust in Soseki when Akimichi Choza questioned his rapid rise to battlefield command.
• Soseki sensed three people hiding underground and ordered them to come out.
• Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan emerged, and more than a hundred Leaf Village ninja surrounded them.

Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan met with Soseki and asked him to stop the war, but he argued that ending it quickly was the only realistic path to peace. After they left safely, Black Zetsu planned how to guide Nagato and establish a way to approach Madara.

• Yahiko introduced himself and Akatsuki to Soseki and Danzo, explaining that the group had no ties to Hanzo.
• Soseki recognized Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan as old acquaintances and cautiously watched for Black Zetsu’s interference.
• Yahiko asked the Leaf and Sand forces to prevent the war from escalating, but Soseki and Danzo rejected the appeal as unrealistic.
• Soseki warned the three not to approach the Tsuchikage or Hanzo with their plea, and Yahiko agreed they would not seek them out on their own.
• Black Zetsu watched the group leave safely, then resolved to find a spokesperson and arrange a way to guide Nagato and appear before Madara.

Black Zetsu searched for a suitable spokesman to carry out Madara’s plan and began considering Soseki as a candidate. After Soseki drove him away from the Leaf Village camp, Black Zetsu fled and debated whether to scheme against him.

• Black Zetsu lamented that Madara would die before the young Uchiha candidates could serve as his spokesman, then realized he could choose someone outside the clan.
• Black Zetsu considered Soseki’s strength, talent, leadership, and regard for bonds, but fled underground when Shuriken flew toward him.
• Soseki teleported to the tree and destroyed it with a Big Ball Rasengan, while Danzo stopped a jonin from criticizing the camp’s defenses.
• Soseki suspected Black Zetsu had targeted him and considered studying his Yin-Yang Release body.
• Black Zetsu hid more than ten kilometers away, concluded Soseki had detected him through intuition, and decided to try scheming against him anyway.

Soseki's allied forces confronted Hanzo at the Rain Country border, where Hanzo used Ibuse's poison mist to attack them. Soseki revealed that he had prepared for the poison and entered Sage Mode, leaving the fight poised to begin in earnest.

• Danzo, Rasa, and Soseki led their armies toward the front lines, with Soseki's force blocking the Rain Country's reinforcement route.
• Hanzo suspected Akatsuki's peace mission to Leaf Village was a performance and decided to face the allied forces himself.
• Soseki and Chiyo met Hanzo's Rain ninja at the border, and Hanzo summoned Ibuse to spread poison mist across the battlefield.
• Soseki's Leaf and Sand ninja survived the mist with gas masks, while several Rain ninja were poisoned because they had not retreated in time.
• Soseki released his prepared Sage Chakra and entered Sage Mode before challenging Hanzo.

Soseki and Chiyo fought Hanzo, turning his water techniques and poison against him while exchanging powerful attacks across the battlefield. Hanzo escaped the poisoned Water Prison and launched a hundred poison dragons at Chiyo, whose puppets blasted them apart into poisonous rain.

• Hanzo tore off his mask and attacked Chiyo with the Great Waterfall Technique, but her puppets redirected the torrent with the Three Treasures Suction Crush.
• Soseki struck Hanzo with a Giant Rock Heavy Fist, then evaded Hanzo's Water Prison and chained sickle attack by using a water-like transformation.
• Hanzo's sickle appeared to split Soseki in two, but Soseki reappeared and punched Hanzo into a crater.
• Hanzo trapped Chiyo's puppets in a vast Water Prison, but Soseki's Poison Release turned the water purple-red and trapped Hanzo in his own poisoned lake.
• Hanzo escaped with an Exploding Tag and launched more than a hundred poison dragons at Chiyo, whose puppets shattered them into poisonous rain across the battlefield.

Soseki used the vast Chakra from unsealing his power to heal Leaf and Sand ninja, while secretly replenishing himself with Chakra from his ring. Hanzō attacked him relentlessly, but Soseki and Chiyo’s puppets wounded him, leaving Hanzō determined to overwhelm Soseki with sheer power.

• Soseki summoned Lady Slug and spent Chakra healing the poisoned Leaf and Sand ninja across the battlefield.
• Hanzō believed Soseki had exhausted himself and attacked with his sickle and Water Release techniques.
• Chiyo sent the Chikamatsu Puppet Brigade to protect Soseki and counter Hanzō’s attacks.
• Hanzō used a Water Clone and hid his real body in a waterfall before launching multiple attacks at Soseki.
• Soseki evaded with the Flying Thunder God Technique and left a slug clone that exploded with acid, corroding Hanzō’s cheek.
• Hanzō acknowledged that he could not underestimate Soseki and resolved to crush him with Chakra.

Soseki fought Hanzo with Chiyo’s giant puppet, but Hanzo gained the upper hand after Soseki’s Sage Mode appeared to run out. As the Allied and Rain Country shinobi watched, Black Zetsu prepared to steal Soseki if he was left near death.

• Hanzo thanked Soseki for reminding him of his lost convictions, then attacked with a Water Dragon as Chiyo combined her puppets into a giant puppet.
• Soseki and Hanzo exchanged heavy blows, and Soseki used a Sage Art Rasengan to split Hanzo’s high-pressure water cannon.
• When Soseki’s Sage Mode faded, Hanzo assumed his poison immunity and remaining Chakra were gone, but Soseki’s Sage markings returned and he claimed conviction had created a miracle.
• Soseki fought alongside Chiyo’s puppet but fell behind, and Hanzo began suppressing him with long-range Water Release attacks.
• Yahiko and Konan watched from the shadows, while Nagato insisted Soseki would win because he was determined to end the war quickly.
• Black Zetsu watched Soseki’s apparent defeat and planned to possess and carry him away if he was left near death.

Soseki and Chiyo defeated Hanzo after he overwhelmed the Allied shinobi with his Rain blades. Hanzo named Soseki the Sage of the Ninja World, but Soseki credited Chiyo and chose to spare Hanzo before the Allied forces.

• Hanzo used Water Release: Heaven's Blade of Mist to take down dozens of Allied jonin who rushed to help Soseki.
• Soseki restrained Hanzo's hands, but Hanzo blasted Chiyo's giant puppet away by forming seals with one finger.
• Soseki tricked Hanzo with a genjutsu before piercing his chest, and Hanzo admitted defeat.
• Hanzo offered Soseki the title of Sage of the Ninja World, but Soseki said he would take what he wanted himself and credited Chiyo's help.
• Soseki spared Hanzo in return for Hanzo having spared Tsunade years earlier, and the Allied shinobi cheered.

Soseki defeated Hanzō and spared him, ending the Rain Country battle and freeing Soseki to rejoin the wider war. A day later, Ōnoki learned of Hanzō’s defeat and realized Iwagakure had to prepare for the additional Leaf forces.

• Soseki spared Hanzō, who vowed not to oppose Leaf Village while Soseki remained there.
• Soseki ended the fighting, and the Rain ninja laid down their weapons as Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato reacted to Hanzō’s defeat.
• Black Zetsu abandoned his plan to act against Soseki and decided to wait until Soseki went to the Iwagakure battlefield.
• Ōnoki and the Iwagakure jōnin celebrated Rōshi’s Tailed Beast Bomb training and discussed their battlefield plans.
• A messenger told Ōnoki that the Rain Country had surrendered to Leaf Village and that Soseki had defeated Hanzō.
• Ōnoki concluded that their ally had delayed the news and urged the jōnin to prepare for the additional Allied Shinobi Forces.

Soseki and Chiyo reported that the Rain Country had surrendered after they defeated Hanzo, and the allied leaders learned that Soseki had also saved many Leaf and Sand shinobi from poison. An intelligence report then revealed that Ōnoki had launched a sudden attack with at least fifteen thousand troops, and Soseki prepared to face the Four-Tails Jinchuriki.

• Danzo, Ryoma Aburame, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Rasa argued over the allied forces' recent defeat and Soseki's absence from the front.
• Soseki and Chiyo entered the war room and announced that the Rain Country had surrendered after they nearly killed Hanzo.
• Chiyo revealed that Soseki used the Slug Technique to save Leaf and Sand shinobi poisoned by Hanzo, then defeated him alongside her.
• An intelligence ninja reported that Ōnoki had launched an attack with at least fifteen thousand troops.
• Soseki inferred that Iwagakure was rushing to battle before news of the Rain Country's surrender damaged morale, and he volunteered to handle the Four-Tails Jinchuriki.

After the Hidden Stone Village attacked with Tailed Beast Bombs, Soseki restored the Allied Forces’ morale by recounting his victories. The armies met at the Land of Earth border, where Ōnoki launched the opening attacks and Soseki directed the battle from within his formation.

• The Hidden Stone Village fired Tailed Beast Bombs at the Allied Forces, causing little damage but unsettling the troops.
• Soseki rallied the camp by describing how he had held back the perfect Jinchūriki, defeated the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and Hanzō, and led the troops toward battle with renewed morale.
• Ōnoki discovered the Allied Forces advancing in high spirits and learned that Soseki had inspired them.
• Ōnoki ordered the Lava Release unit to attack, and the Allied Forces countered with Water Release before both sides sent in further units.
• The Hidden Stone Village and Allied Forces clashed with Fire and Wind Release techniques as Soseki stayed within his formation to direct the battle.

Soseki led the Allied Forces to push back the Hidden Stone forces, then fought Han and Rōshi as the battlefield broke into squad combat. After Soseki revealed his Ice Release and defeated Rōshi’s lava attack, Ōnoki resolved to kill him.

• Ōnoki ordered the Hidden Stone forces to retreat in scattered groups, but Soseki directed the Allied Forces to bombard their retreating formations.
• The Hidden Stone ninja scattered across the battlefield, and Soseki used a Yamanaka secret technique to order the Allied Forces to fight in squads.
• Han activated Steam Form and challenged Soseki, who avoided the fight and moved to confront Rōshi instead.
• Rōshi used Lava Release against Soseki’s Water Release, but Soseki froze Rōshi’s magma fist with Ice Release and sent him flying.
• Soseki explained that he had developed Ice Release by combining Wind and Water attributes, and Ōnoki secretly decided to kill him with Dust Release if necessary.

Soseki battled Rōshi, using Ice Release and Genjutsu to counter the Four-Tails jinchūriki's Lava Release. After Soseki struck Rōshi with Icy Thousand Years of Death, Rōshi entered partial tailed beast transformation, and Soseki activated Sage Mode.

• Rōshi unleashed Lava Release attacks, but Soseki froze him in an ice coffin and turned the battlefield's magma into solid ice.
• Rōshi used a tailed-beast tail and attacked with magma, while Soseki countered with water, blizzards, and an ice-enhanced punch that sent Rōshi flying.
• Rōshi launched heat-seeking lava fireballs, and Soseki's Genjutsu made Rōshi get hit by his own attack.
• Soseki circled behind Rōshi and stabbed him with a frost-coated kunai using Icy Thousand Years of Death.
• Rōshi entered partial tailed beast transformation, and Soseki quietly entered Sage Mode.

Soseki manipulated Rōshi into transforming fully into the Four-Tails, then used Sage Art: Ice Release: Heavenly Descent to seal the beast in ice. The Iwagakure and Konoha ninja were left stunned by his power.

• Ōnoki and Danzo traded insults while Rōshi entered partial Tailed Beast Transformation and attacked Soseki with a huge magma fireball.
• Soseki led Rōshi through crowded parts of the battlefield, healing the ninja with Katsuyu as he secretly spread her across the field to monitor events.
• Soseki kicked Rōshi’s extinguished magma sphere into him and taunted him by blaming Kurama, enraging Rōshi and the Four-Tails.
• Rōshi transformed into the complete Four-Tails and charged across the battlefield, crushing ninja who could not escape.
• Soseki summoned a blizzard with Sage Art: Ice Release: Heavenly Descent and sealed the Four-Tails inside a massive ice sculpture.

Soseki suppressed the Four-Tails, but Ōnoki attacked him with Dust Release while Iwa tried to free Rōshi. Rōshi broke out of the ice only to collapse, then used his final Lava Release to block the Allied Shinobi Forces as Ōnoki prepared to retreat.

• Soseki sealed the Four-Tails with one move, leaving the battlefield stunned and prompting Rasa to reaffirm his support for Leaf Village.
• Ōnoki attacked Soseki with Dust Release, but Soseki survived by transferring the beam with the Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Han charged Soseki while Ōnoki's Dust Release fire disrupted the ice seal around Rōshi.
• The Four-Tails broke free of the ice but immediately reverted to Rōshi, exhausted by the seal.
• Ōnoki grabbed Rōshi as the Allied Shinobi Forces attacked, and Rōshi used his final Lava Release to create a volcanic barrier.
• Han realized the barrier had blocked his own path across the battlefield.

After the Allied Shinobi Forces defeated Iwagakure, Soseki discovered Black Zetsu was watching him and considered striking first. In Iwagakure, Ōnoki planned to redirect the village’s war effort toward Kumogakure, prompting Black Zetsu to possess Morihiru and speak up.

• Han tried to escape the Allied Shinobi Forces by charging through Flame Mountain, but was badly wounded, while other stranded ninja were captured or burned.
• Soseki sealed the Four-Tails’ flames into a scroll and sensed Black Zetsu underground, deciding he should act before Black Zetsu could interfere with his plans.
• The war ended with Iwagakure losing more than four thousand fighters, including fewer than two thousand of its own ninja.
• Ōnoki outlined plans to wait for changes on Leaf Village’s other fronts, seek a temporary truce between Kumogakure and the Hidden Mist Village, or attack Kumogakure instead.
• Black Zetsu possessed Morihiru as Ōnoki’s forces considered abandoning their attack on Leaf Village, and Morihiru announced that he had something to say.