Chapter Summaries

Sasori learned of an ore that could greatly strengthen puppets and decided to investigate it despite suspecting a trap. At a Sunagakure banquet, Rasa and the village’s ninjas praised Soseki and offered him refuge, while Soseki declined their offer to intervene with Leaf Village.

• Sasori heard that a rogue puppet master had used strange ore to strengthen a puppet and escape Sunagakure’s pursuit team.
• Sasori learned that Soseki was in Sunagakure and ordered his subordinate to exaggerate the ore’s effects and draw more people into the ruins.
• Rasa and Sunagakure’s ninjas flattered Soseki at a banquet and praised his power and Rasa’s judgment.
• Rasa offered to protest to Leaf Village on Soseki’s behalf and invited him to settle in Sunagakure, but Soseki declined.

Soseki transformed the area around Sunagakure into a living forest, bringing joy to its residents and fulfilling his promise to Rasa. Later, Rasa told him about the Gelel Stone, unaware that Soseki had planted a fake ruin with real ore to lure Sasori and the clan guarding the Gelel Ore Vein.

• Soseki used Sage Art: Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence to create a vast forest around Sunagakure, astonishing the villagers and shinobi.
• Soseki told Rasa he could continue transforming the land near Sunagakure, and residents celebrated their improved prospects.
• After resting for a day, Soseki met with Rasa, who thanked him for fulfilling his promise from the Third Shinobi World War.
• Rasa explained that a defecting Sunagakure shinobi had found Gelel Stone in an ancient ruin and escaped after embedding it in a puppet.
• Soseki revealed that he had created the fake ruin and placed real ore there to draw out Sasori and the clan guarding the Gelel Ore Vein.

Rasa told Soseki that Sunagakure had secured the Gelel Stone ruins and planned to investigate them, hoping to draw out Sasori. In Iwagakure, Han persuaded Ōnoki that Sunagakure—not Shimizu Soseki or Leaf Village—was the growing threat, and Ōnoki ordered Han to go to the ruins.

• Rasa told Soseki he had sent guards to the ruins and would charge visitors one-third of their Gelel Stones, claiming the fee would protect the weak Land of Rivers.
• Rasa said he would go with Soseki to the ruins because Sasori might appear, and asked Soseki to help capture the Sunagakure traitor.
• Iwagakure's shinobi resented Sunagakure's new oasis and argued that they could not let Sunagakure monopolize the Gelel Stone ore.
• Ōnoki worried that Shimizu Soseki might attack Iwagakure's shinobi, but Han argued that their greater danger was Sunagakure's growing power.
• Ōnoki accepted Han's argument and ordered him to take a group to the ruins.

Rasa’s team arrived at the ruins and learned that the Gelel Stone’s rumored benefits had drawn far more people than expected, while Soseki prepared to avoid the Leaf Village team. Inside, Aizen searched explorers’ thoughts for the clan guarding the ore and recognized Sasori, who planned to collect enough Gelel Stone to strengthen himself and his puppets.

• Rasa found Baki and the entrance guards beaten after a crowd forced them away, and learned that rumors claimed the Gelel Stone could enhance ninja and restore youth.
• Rasa ordered Baki’s team to hide and prepared to enter the ruins with the others, while Soseki said he would stay away in case Leaf Village’s team appeared but would intervene if they encountered Sasori.
• Aizen used Wu’s soul in the Death God Mask to read explorers’ thoughts as he searched for members of the clan guarding the Gelel Ore Vein.
• Aizen noticed Sasori’s calm thoughts and recognized him, while Sasori sensed danger from the masked man and chose to leave without fighting.
• Sasori examined the ore in his palm and decided to gather enough Gelel Stone to improve his puppets and Regeneration Core before challenging Aizen or Soseki.

He Yan lured ninja into a clash with Hyde’s knights over the Book of Gelel, but Sasori appeared and overwhelmed the Gelel-powered fighters. Sasori left most of Hyde’s forces dead or wounded, while He Yan realized they had misunderstood the Gelel Stone’s supposed invincibility.

• He Yan used the Book of Gelel to provoke Hyde and his armored knights into fighting the ninja, hoping to eliminate Hyde’s group and later destroy the book.
• Hyde’s beastmen defeated the ninja, and he ordered Camilla to attack Sasori when he emerged from the shadows.
• Sasori seized Camilla, blocked her Gelel-powered beam, and shielded himself from the knights’ attacks with the Light Shield Seal.
• Sasori used Chakra Threads to control several knights and make them attack their companions, killing or injuring more than half of Hyde’s force.
• He Yan concluded that the Gelel Stone was not truly invincible and that Hyde’s group did not know how to use its power properly.

Sasori’s fight escalated when Iwagakure and Sunagakure shinobi arrived and attacked over the Book of Gelel. After Sasori revealed his identity and unleashed his puppet army, the two groups struggled to defend themselves in the cave.

• Firelight and Pakura led their groups into the cave, where they found Sasori controlling shinobi with Chakra Threads.
• Hyde revealed that the Book of Gelel could lead to the Gelel Ore Vein, but Sasori seized it with his Chakra Threads.
• The Iwagakure and Sunagakure shinobi attacked Sasori, who summoned the Third Kazekage and struck them with poisonous Iron Sand needles.
• Pakura identified Sasori and warned Firelight that his puppet army had surrounded them.
• Sasori’s puppets unleashed waves of elemental attacks, forcing the two groups to shelter behind Earth Flow Walls.

Sasori attacked the allied ninja with his puppets and poisoned iron sand, but Rasa arrived and countered him with Magnet Release. With Han joining the battle, Sasori faced growing pressure while the factions set aside their dispute over the Book of Gelel until later.

• Huoguang learned that Pakura had survived her earlier encounter with Sasori because Soseki had been her teammate.
• Sasori chose to keep attacking the defenders, and the frightened onlookers discussed the power of ninja and Soseki’s reputation as the God of Shinobi.
• Sasori’s iron sand needles poisoned many ninja after the reinforced Earth Flow Walls collapsed, but Rasa arrived and overwhelmed the iron sand with Sand Gold Tsunami.
• Sasori recognized that the Fourth Kazekage had surpassed the Third Kazekage, while Rasa credited his victory to Sasori’s poor control of the Third’s power.
• Han arrived, learned Sasori held the Book of Gelel, and agreed with Huoguang to defeat Sasori alongside Rasa before discussing the spoils.

Sasori swallowed the Gelel Ore and used his vastly increased Chakra to overwhelm Rasa and Han, then attacked the ruins to trigger a collapse. As the explorers faced being buried, Soseki stepped out of the shadows to intervene.

• Han asked to fight alongside Rasa, and Rasa gave Iwagakure Medical Scrolls to avoid trouble over the clash.
• Sasori pulled more than a dozen pieces of Gelel Ore from Hyde and his knights, then swallowed them to increase his Chakra.
• Sasori unleashed hundreds of puppets against the Sunagakure and Iwagakure ninjas, forcing Rasa and Han to defend their people.
• Sasori attacked the cavern walls with large-scale ninjutsu, causing the ruins to begin collapsing.
• Soseki left the shadows as the explorers cried out in fear of being crushed.

Shimizu Soseki saved everyone from the collapsing ruins with a giant tree, then turned it into a giant to battle Sasori’s puppets. Sasori’s forces suffered heavy losses, leaving him unable to overcome Soseki’s creation.

• As the ruins collapsed, Shimizu Soseki summoned a massive tree whose trunk and vines supported the earth and protected everyone.
• Nod identified Soseki as the God of Shinobi, while Rasa, Pakura, Han, Firelight, and the others expressed relief and gratitude.
• Soseki greeted Sasori, who said he would challenge him while the Chakra tide remained and sent his puppets to attack the tree.
• Soseki transformed the tree into a giant that absorbed Chakra, dispersed Sasori’s ninjutsu, and crushed his puppets.
• Sasori’s puppets attacked the giant’s ankles, but its roots resisted their attacks as it stomped them and hurled boulders at his forces.
• The Third Kazekage blocked some of the giant’s attacks, but Sasori’s forces still suffered tremendous losses.

Soseki froze Sasori and exposed Aizen, who revealed that he had secretly controlled the other people in the cavern with Genjutsu. Aizen freed them to prove his control and offered to trade their lives for his and Sasori’s, leaving Soseki to consider the deal.

• Rasa and Huoguang watched Soseki’s giant pursue Sasori, while Sasori grew furious at Soseki for standing aside.
• Sasori stopped fleeing and prepared to self-destruct, but Soseki froze him and his remaining puppets with Ice Release.
• Soseki attacked a masked man hiding in the cavern, and Aizen claimed Soseki had noticed his presence and deliberately waited to find him.
• Sasori broke free of the ice, and Aizen offered to buy both their lives by threatening the lives of the 724 people under his Genjutsu.
• Aizen dispelled the Genjutsu with a snap of his fingers and warned that he could control the people again if Soseki refused to let them leave.

Aizen freed Sasori from the ruins by revealing a flaw in his Genjutsu and arranging for the group to leave, then brought Sasori to his desert base and invited him to join Akatsuki. Sasori learned that Aizen had engineered the ruins to lure him out and challenged him to prove his Genjutsu could affect a puppet.

• Aizen explained that his Genjutsu could not be cast from a distance and had noticeable flaws, easing Rasa and Han's fears.
• Soseki let Sasori leave with Aizen after Sasori surrendered the Third Kazekage puppet and the Book of Gelel, then announced that no Gelel ore vein remained in the ruins.
• After the group left the ruins, Soseki noticed He Yan while He Yan celebrated being able to return home.
• Sasori led Aizen to his hidden base beneath the desert, where Aizen invited him to join Akatsuki and Sasori refused.
• Aizen revealed that he had fabricated the ruins to lure Sasori out, and Sasori said his puppet body was immune to Genjutsu before Aizen proposed testing that claim.

Aizen trapped Sasori in a Genjutsu of his lost family, then fought him and demonstrated an ability to make illusions influence reality. Sasori asked whether Aizen could deceive the boundary between life and death, and Aizen hinted that this was what he had wanted to discuss.

• Aizen used Genjutsu to show Sasori a memory of his parents and Chiyo, briefly restoring Sasori's humanity before the illusion vanished.
• Sasori attacked Aizen with his remaining puppets, but Aizen destroyed them with his sword and cut through Sasori's mechanical arms.
• Sasori fired a storm of poison needles and charged Aizen, but the needles veered away from him and Aizen struck Sasori down.
• Aizen explained that he had used Genjutsu to deceive the world and slightly influence reality.
• Sasori asked whether the boundary between life and death could also be deceived, and Aizen said that was what he had wanted to tell him.

Aizen recruited Sasori to study uses for the Gelel Stone, then exploited He Yan’s memories to locate the Gelel Ore Vein. After erasing He Yan’s memories, Aizen reached the vein and decided to train beside it.

• Aizen told Sasori to join the organization and research ways to use the Gelel Stone, and Sasori deduced that Aizen had used fake ruins to draw out someone who knew about the ore vein.
• Aizen revealed that the organization included people with Wood Release and the Rinnegan, while Sasori decided to follow Aizen’s instructions.
• Hyde ambushed He Yan and tried to force him to reveal the Gelel Ore Vein’s location, but Aizen erased Hyde’s group and took the location from He Yan’s memories.
• Aizen restored He Yan’s memories without the location, leaving him to believe he had simply fallen and hurt his shoulder.
• Aizen found the Sealing Chamber and the Gelel Ore Vein behind it, then decided to have his main body cultivate beside the vein.

News spread about Sasori of the Red Sands and Shimizu Soseki’s feats in the ruins, while a new organization meeting brought Sasori, Kakuzu, and Raiga Kurosuki together. Aizen’s account of Shimizu Soseki recognizing a disgusting aura left Black Zetsu fearing that his disguises were about to be exposed.

• Word spread that Sasori of the Red Sands had killed the Third Kazekage and that Shimizu Soseki had defeated Sasori after saving people from the underground collapse.
• Raiga Kurosuki, Kakuzu, and Sasori introduced themselves at the Illusionary Space meeting, where Raiga and Kakuzu admitted how badly Shimizu Soseki had beaten them.
• Raiga asked who had rescued Sasori, and Aizen said that he had.
• Obito challenged Aizen over whether his rescue had exposed the organization, and Aizen recounted that Shimizu Soseki had sensed a disgusting aura on him.
• Black Zetsu realized Shimizu Soseki’s remark had been directed at him and feared that both his Zetsu disguise and his assumed Uchiha Madara identity might be uncovered.

Black Zetsu redirected suspicion by claiming that Obito was Uchiha Madara’s heir and that Madara had orchestrated the Nine-Tails Rebellion. The group accepted the farcical explanation, and Black Zetsu ended by admitting that he and Obito wanted to destroy the Leaf Village with the organization’s help.

• Black Zetsu blamed the Nine-Tails Rebellion for Shimizu Soseki discovering Aizen, prompting Yahiko to suspect that Tobi was Uchiha Madara.
• Obito played along and claimed to be Madara, while Black Zetsu described him as an heir created from Madara’s and Hashirama Senju’s genes.
• Obito joked that Madara and Hashirama were his sons, and Black Zetsu told the group that Madara had faked his death after attacking the Leaf Village.
• Obito privately reflected that he and Madara were the same kind of person, while Black Zetsu relievedly believed suspicion of his identity had passed.
• Black Zetsu explained that he and Obito had joined the organization to destroy the Leaf Village, and Yahiko objected that their terrorist methods differed from his revolutionary goals.

Yahiko’s group discussed Black Zetsu and Obito’s plan to capture all nine tailed beasts and use the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to create a vast army. After the meeting, Aizen privately revealed that the Gelel Stone could restore Nagato’s depleted Life Force.

• Yahiko warned the group not to let their retaliation against the Leaf Village harm civilians, and Black Zetsu claimed Madara had planned to defeat the village by capturing the tailed beasts.
• Obito and Black Zetsu explained that the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path could transform tailed-beast Chakra into stronger Demonic Beasts, potentially producing an army of one hundred thousand jonin.
• Yahiko questioned the plan’s risks, including Shimizu Soseki, but agreed to build strength and wait for the right opportunity to capture all the tailed beasts at once.
• After the meeting, Aizen kept Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan behind and told them the Gelel Stone’s true function was restoring Life Force.
• Aizen said the Gelel Stone could restore the Life Force Nagato had depleted.

Aizen explained that he had arranged the Gelel ruins to lure out the people guarding a mineral vein and obtain enough Gelel Stone to replenish Nagato’s Life Force. After Obito and Black Zetsu discussed how to strengthen their influence in Akatsuki, they turned their attention to the Uchiha clan and the Hidden Mist Village.

• Aizen told Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato that using the Rinnegan drained Nagato’s Life Force and that Gelel Stone could restore it.
• Aizen revealed that he had planted the Gelel Stone in fake ruins to draw out the descendants guarding a mineral vein, and claimed he had risked himself to take the Book of Gelel from Sasori.
• Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato were moved by Aizen’s care, while Aizen admitted that Shimizu Soseki’s involvement had made the ruse risky.
• In the Grass Country, Obito confronted Black Zetsu about the fabricated rumor that Obito was the illegitimate son of two men, then accepted Black Zetsu’s appeal to endure the humiliation for Rin’s sake.
• Black Zetsu advised Obito to expand their influence in Akatsuki through an unconnected recruit, and Obito proposed finding talent in the Uchiha clan and Hidden Mist Village.

After Cloud Village demanded Hiashi’s death for killing one of its shinobi, Ryoma Aburame pressured the Hyuga clan on Danzo’s behalf. Neji exposed the political motive behind the demand, and an unknown voice challenged Danzo’s subordinates from outside the hall.

• Ryoma Aburame told the Hyuga clan that Cloud Village demanded Hiashi’s corpse to avert war, but Hiashi refused to submit to Danzo’s pressure.
• Hinata overheard Neji explain that Hiashi supported Shimizu Soseki and silently memorized Soseki’s name.
• Hizashi offered to die in Hiashi’s place, claiming he had killed the Cloud Village shinobi, but Hiashi objected because Hizashi had Neji.
• Neji rushed out to protect Hizashi and accused Danzo’s men of targeting the Hyuga clan instead of confronting Soseki directly.
• A voice outside the hall agreed with Neji and called Danzo’s subordinates cowards.

Mizuki arrived at the Hyuga residence and announced that Shimizu Soseki would confront the Raikage over Hidden Cloud's pressure on the clan. In Hidden Cloud, A and Dodai acknowledged that their attempt to exploit Leaf Village's weakness might end with A taking a beating.

• Mizuki confronted Ryoma at the Hyuga residence, and Hiashi confirmed that he had invited Mizuki as a guest.
• Mizuki declared that he recognized Danzō as Hokage only in public, then told Hiashi that Soseki would ask the Raikage to show mercy to the Hyuga clan.
• Neji praised Soseki, irritating Ryoma, while Mizuki assured Hiashi that Soseki would act on the clan's behalf.
• In Hidden Cloud, A worried that pressuring Leaf Village would draw Soseki out, and Dodai explained that Soseki might beat A but was unlikely to kill him.
• Dodai argued that Leaf Village's internal divisions and absent leaders made it a good moment to pursue the Byakugan, and A accepted the risk of taking a beating.

Shimizu Soseki visited the Cloud Village to resolve the dispute over Hasegawa’s death, and proposed using Impure World Reincarnation to uncover the truth. A avoided the test and agreed to investigate the matter himself, leaving Soseki wary of whether the Cloud Village would pursue the guilty.

• A learned that Shimizu Soseki had arrived and worried that a fight with him would end in a beating.
• Soseki told A he had come to discuss the misunderstanding caused by Hasegawa’s death, while A defended the Cloud Village and challenged Leaf Village’s account.
• Soseki proposed reviving Hasegawa with Impure World Reincarnation so he could be questioned under Genjutsu.
• A objected to using death-row prisoners as sacrifices, and Dodai helped him avoid Soseki’s proposal.
• A promised to investigate the truth and not wrong any innocent person, but Soseki found his wording suspicious.