Chapter Summaries

Soseki anticipated a Sky Ninja air raid and helped the Leaf forces take cover before Cloud Village’s bombers attacked. He then proposed using Natsuhoshi’s flight ability to fight back, and she agreed to carry him into the air.

• Natsuhoshi told Soseki that Cloud Village appeared to be targeting Hoshigakure ninja who could fly, and Soseki suspected the Sky Ninja were involved.
• Soseki ordered Earth Release users to dig shelters and warned the main camp to disperse; Orochimaru trusted his judgment and ordered the camp to take cover.
• Sky Ninja dropped explosive bombs over the main camp, and those who had sheltered were grateful to Soseki for anticipating the attack.
• Soseki explained that the Sky Ninja’s usual tactics had weaknesses, but Cloud Village’s funding might let them bomb without restraint.
• Soseki suggested that Natsuhoshi carry him into the sky so he could retaliate, and Natsuhoshi agreed.

Soseki used Genjutsu to turn Sky Ninja into attackers against the Hidden Cloud, then decided to infiltrate the Sky Ninja and follow them to their base. Natsuhoshi stayed behind, believing Soseki could save Hoshigakure Village.

• Soseki controlled a group of Sky Ninja with Genjutsu and sent them back toward the Hidden Cloud camp.
• The Sky Ninja bombed the Hidden Cloud, and A ordered B to unleash the Eight Tails and fire Tailed Beast Bombs at them.
• Soseki concluded the remaining Sky Ninja were retreating but decided they were still a danger and planned to follow them to their base.
• Soseki landed in a valley, took equipment from a Sky Ninja, and set off alone on a flying device.
• Natsuhoshi watched Soseki leave and hoped he would save Hoshigakure Village.

Soseki infiltrated the Sky Ninja ruins by posing as Naruto, then secretly took control of the Zero-Tail and its ancient seal. He left the Zero-Tail guarding Ancor Vantian until the Throne of Heaven became available.

• Soseki used the Sky Ninja’s passphrase and friendly conversation to win their trust and learn that they had prepared for war two years earlier.
• The Sky Ninja escorted Soseki into their ruins, where he entered the base using the flying craft’s password.
• Shinnō canceled the revenge operation after hearing that supposed traitors had attacked the Hidden Cloud, then returned to the Zero-Tail’s control room.
• Soseki secretly deceived Shinnō and the Zero-Tail, took the revival scroll, and seized the Zero-Tail’s highest authority.
• The Zero-Tail offered Soseki part of its body as a Chakra converter, and Soseki ordered it to guard the ruins until the Throne of Heaven’s vacant period ended.

After destroying the Sky Ninja branch base, Soseki returned to camp and was asked to help the western front secure Sunagakure’s cooperation. He accepted a mission to investigate a poisonous monster that had left ninja from three nations unconscious.

• Shinnō decided to use the alias Amaterasu, destroy his remaining branch base, and hide until the next war.
• Soseki considered how the Zero-Tail’s body converted negative emotions into Chakra and wondered whether it could reveal the body’s reserves of Physical Energy.
• Soseki returned to the main camp, where the Third Hokage and the others praised his actions against the Sky Ninja.
• The Third Hokage explained that Hanzo’s ambiguity and Sunagakure’s reluctance had stalled the western front, and asked Soseki to gain Sunagakure’s cooperation.
• The Third Hokage told Soseki that Sunagakure had requested help after a poisonous monster left ninja from the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Wind unconscious.
• Soseki agreed to investigate the monster and do his best to find a way to break the deadlock with Sunagakure.

Soseki rescued Inuzuka Tsume’s group from pursuing Stone Village ninja, then headed to the temporary hospital to reunite with Tsunade and Shizune. He explained that he would treat the injured Leaf Village ninja before going to Sand Village, leaving his next move tied to the mission and Sand Village’s weakness.

• Inuzuka Tsume and her team fled Stone Village pursuers while carrying intelligence, and Soseki arrived to help them.
• Soseki killed all the pursuing enemies, astonishing the Land of Birds jonin accompanying Tsume.
• Soseki went to the western front hospital, where Shizune had just completed her first independent detoxification operation.
• Shizune embraced Soseki, and Tsunade asked why he had come to the hospital before heading to Sand Village.
• Soseki said he would treat the poisoned Leaf Village ninja first and trusted that he could still handle the Sand Village mission.

Soseki learned Nonō’s difficult toxin-removal surgery after watching her perform it once, then completed every pending operation at the hospital before preparing to leave for Sunagakure. Danzo summoned him, and the chapter ended with Danzo bitterly thinking that Hiruzen had prevented Soseki from becoming his tool.

• Tsunade explained that only Nonō and Shizune could safely remove the toxins from patients’ organs, and Nonō offered to demonstrate the surgery.
• After watching Nonō operate, Soseki said he understood the procedure and performed it himself with exceptional skill.
• Soseki completed the hospital’s remaining surgeries in seven hours without tiring, astonishing Nonō and the other Medical Ninja.
• The next morning, Soseki looked forward to collecting experience in Sunagakure and was summoned by Danzo through Ryoma Aburame.
• Danzo welcomed Soseki with fervent interest and resented Hiruzen for keeping him from becoming Danzo’s tool.

Soseki rejected Danzo’s attempt to recruit him to overthrow the Hokage, while Danzo’s plan to use Nonō also failed when she revealed she had surrendered her medical leadership posts. The chapter left Danzo furious at Soseki and hinting at a threat against Nonō’s orphanage.

• Danzo tried to convince Soseki that the Hokage had sidelined him and urged him to help overthrow Sarutobi, but Soseki named Minato, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and his teacher as possible Hokage candidates before realizing Danzo meant himself.
• Soseki left to set off for Sunagakure, and Danzo angrily threatened that he would regret refusing to cooperate.
• Danzo ordered Nonō to use her role as medical logistics captain to give Soseki orders, but Nonō said she had asked Lord Hokage to make Soseki captain and director of Konoha Hospital.
• Nonō told Danzo she had left Root because she wanted an ordinary life, and Danzo threatened the children at her orphanage by suggesting one might be a spy.
• Danzo realized Soseki’s remark about it being daytime had implied Danzo was dreaming, and he vowed not to let Soseki off.

Shimizu Soseki arrived in Sunagakure and demonstrated his medical skill by performing three operations at once. After working all day to treat poisoned patients, he was summoned by Rasa, while Sunagakure’s medical staff wanted him to stay and teach them.

• Shimizu Soseki entered Sunagakure and asked his escorts to take him to the hospital, where he noticed the village’s poverty.
• Soseki took over three critically ill patients and used Shadow Clones to perform three operations simultaneously, impressing Sunagakure’s medical staff.
• Rasa, Chiyo, and Ebizo watched Soseki work, and Rasa considered investing in medical resources and arranging exchanges with Leaf Village.
• Soseki worked from nine in the morning until nine at night, completing the operations and thanking the hospital staff.
• Baki arrived to summon Soseki to Rasa, and the nurses angrily blamed him for interrupting their chance to learn from Soseki.

At a banquet in Sunagakure, Soseki negotiated with Rasa for aid and cooperation while turning Rasa’s plea for a loan into a joke about finding Danzō a match. Rasa agreed to send Pakura and a team with Soseki into the desert the next day to track down the enemy.

• Rasa explained that Sunagakure depended on his Magnet Release and hoped one of his descendants would inherit it, but Kankuro had failed to awaken it.
• Soseki suggested that Rasa arrange a match between Danzō and Chiyo, implying the Hokage might approve a loan if Danzō’s lifelong affairs were settled.
• Rasa rejected sending substantial forces for an offensive, offering fifty chunin instead, and asked when Leaf Village’s aid would arrive.
• Soseki asked Rasa to send a team into the desert to find the enemy, promising that he had brought enough antidotes.
• Rasa agreed to the operation and assigned Pakura to lead the team, which would set out with Soseki the next day.

Soseki led Pakura and a Sunagakure squad to track the ninja poisoning Iwagakure shinobi, using Sage Mode to locate corpses and guide them to the wasteland. There they discovered Sasori, who confirmed he had defected and killed the Third Kazekage, and the Sunagakure ninjas charged to capture him.

• Pakura arrived with two Jonin and eight Chunin, and Soseki gave the squad antidotes before offering to sense for their target.
• Soseki used Sage Mode and Listening to the Voice of All Things to find poisoned Iwagakure corpses northwest of their position.
• Sasori killed an Iwagakure ninja and began making a puppet as Soseki guided the Sunagakure squad to the wasteland.
• The squad recognized Sasori, and he confirmed that he had defected from Sunagakure and killed the Third Kazekage.
• The Sunagakure ninjas rushed Sasori, hoping to capture him before he could summon his puppets.

Sasori used his puppetry to overpower the Sand Village ninja and revealed that he had transformed himself into a puppet to escape human limits. Soseki rescued Pakura from Sasori’s attack, and Sasori rose to continue the fight.

• Sasori controlled eight chunin with Chakra Threads, but Pakura’s fireballs freed them.
• Sasori animated ten Rock Village corpses and sent them against Pakura as she charged him.
• Pakura’s Scorch Release failed to harm Sasori, and he shattered her kunai with a hand chop.
• Soseki struck Sasori and protected Pakura, then healed the wound Sasori had inflicted on his hand.
• Sasori revealed his mechanical body and declared that he would no longer be human.

Sasori attacked the Sand Village shinobi with his puppet army, but Soseki used Sage Mode to resist the poison and destroy his puppets. Sasori then revealed he had another puppet he had hoped to keep secret and threatened to kill everyone who saw it.

• Sasori fired a storm of poison needles, but Katsuyu shielded the Sand Village shinobi and distracted them with a tickle attack.
• Sasori summoned more than a hundred puppets, assigning a few to Pakura and the Sand Village shinobi while sending most after Soseki.
• Soseki smashed the puppets with his strength, and Saseki rushed in before being beaten back and realizing Soseki was far more than a medical ninja.
• Soseki entered Sage Mode and used its heightened perception, self-healing, and poison resistance to fight Sasori’s puppets without succumbing to their poison.
• Sasori brought out another scroll, saying he had not wanted to use what was inside and that everyone who saw it would have to die.

Soseki fought Sasori and the Third Kazekage puppet while Sand Village ninja watched. After Soseki pierced Sasori’s puppet body, Sasori prepared to counterattack, but Soseki renewed his Sage Mode.

• Sasori revealed that he had killed the Third Kazekage and summoned him as a puppet, enraging Nakayoshi and the other Sand Village ninja.
• Sasori used the Third Kazekage’s Magnet Release techniques against Soseki, who passed through the iron sand attacks with Sage Art: Slug Body.
• Soseki advanced through Sasori’s corrosive mist and battered the Third Kazekage puppet, while Sasori realized that physical attacks and poison were ineffective against him.
• Sasori reasoned that Soseki’s Sage Mode had a time limit, but Soseki secretly recognized that Sasori’s puppet body made him resistant to Genjutsu.
• Soseki caught Sasori off guard with Acid Finger Gun and pierced his left shoulder, then clapped his hands together as his Sage Mode markings began to fade.

Soseki fought Sasori and his puppet army while the Sand Village ninja tried to escape. Sasori withdrew after Pakura fell, leaving Soseki to check on her.

• Sasori shifted his strategy and used the Third Kazekage to attack the fleeing Sand Village ninja, but Soseki blocked the iron sand with Triple Rashomon.
• Pakura stayed behind to hold off the Third Kazekage, while Soseki attacked Sasori’s puppets using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Soseki dodged the puppets’ elemental attacks and smashed through their ranks, then caught Sasori’s Spiral Slashes and slammed him into the ground.
• Sasori recalled the Third Kazekage and warned Soseki that Pakura was vulnerable to poison; Soseki saw that she had fallen as Sasori escaped with his damaged puppets.
• Sasori flew away on the Third Kazekage, promising to capture Soseki next time, and Soseki turned toward Pakura.

Soseki rescued Pakura and returned to Sunagakure, where his companions revealed that Sasori had assassinated the Third Kazekage and turned him into a puppet. The village leaders then worried about how to keep Soseki from exposing the scandal.

• Soseki treated Pakura’s poison injuries while the Sunagakure ninja gathered the remains of Sasori’s puppets.
• Soseki and the others returned to Sunagakure with Pakura, and Nakayoshi’s group accused Chiyo of trying to silence them.
• Nakayoshi told Rasa and the jonin that Sasori had killed the Third Kazekage and made him into a puppet.
• Saseki described how Soseki defeated Sasori’s puppet army and the puppet Third Kazekage, shocking the assembled jonin.
• Rasa urged the leaders to focus on keeping Soseki quiet, while the jonin dismissed assassination and seduction as unworkable ideas.

Soseki met with Rasa and Sunagakure’s jonin, who asked him to help keep Sasori’s survival and the Third Kazekage’s fate secret. He urged Sunagakure to join Leaf Village in a war against the Land of Earth, offering a share of conquered territory and promising to help green the desert if he recreated Wood Release.

• Rasa praised Soseki for his role in the incident and asked about Sasori’s escape.
• Soseki warned that Sasori’s poison made a joint hunt too dangerous, and revealed that Leaf Village had already been told Sasori was alive.
• Rasa asked what Soseki wanted in exchange for keeping Sunagakure’s scandal secret, and Soseki said he wanted Sunagakure to send troops.
• Soseki proposed that Sunagakure join Leaf Village against the Land of Earth and offered to share the territory they conquered.
• Soseki promised to help turn Sunagakure’s desert green if he succeeded in recreating Wood Release, and Rasa accepted the proposal.

Soseki studied Hashirama's cells and considered how Wood Release might relate to higher forms of chakra. Meanwhile, Rasa and Sunagakure's jonin decided to use Danzō's apology letter to stir conflict between him and Soseki, leaving them ready to betray Danzō.

• Soseki tested Wood Release, then studied Hashirama's cells and theorized that its power came from qualities beyond an ordinary Kekkei Genkai.
• Rasa gathered Sunagakure's jonin at night and explained that Danzō had sent a letter apologizing for Soseki's delayed arrival.
• Rasa argued that Danzō's letter could give Sunagakure an excuse to protest and withhold the reward, while also creating leverage against Danzō.
• Ebizo explained that Sunagakure benefited from setting Soseki and Danzō against each other so the village could strengthen its position.
• Rasa and the jonin agreed to hint that Sunagakure would formally protest, and they chose to back whoever could win, favoring Soseki over Danzō.

Shimizu Soseki returned with Pakura as rumors blamed him for ruining Danzo’s supposed agreement with the Sand Village. Danzo then accused Soseki before the assembled jonin and demanded that he apologize to the Sand Village, while nurses also asked Soseki to save Nonō from a spy mission.

• Wolf and Weasel spread rumors that Soseki had angered the ailing Danzo and sabotaged a planned alliance with the Sand Village, while Leopard recognized them.
• Soseki returned to camp with the Sand Village Special Envoy Pakura and heard increasingly outrageous rumors about his dispute with Danzo.
• Young nurses asked Soseki to intervene because Nonō was being transferred to carry out a spy mission, and he promised to handle it.
• Danzo led a meeting about Rain Village’s movements and claimed he had negotiated for the Sand Village to join the war in exchange for help with the poisoning incident.
• Danzo blamed Soseki for ruining the troop deployment plan and demanded that Soseki apologize to the Sand Village, while Fugaku stayed silent.

Soseki entered the jonin meeting with Pakura, who revealed that the Sand Village would join the war only if Soseki commanded the allied forces. Soseki accepted the challenge for command, and Danzo proposed testing his strength against the Stone Village.

• Soseki and Pakura entered the jonin meeting, where Pakura announced that she represented the Sand Village in discussing sending troops.
• Pakura clarified that Soseki had secured the Sand Village's cooperation and that the Kazekage had not mentioned Danzo.
• Pakura announced that the Sand Village trusted only Soseki and required him to command the allied forces.
• Soseki accepted the command position and turned Danzo's own words about sacrifice against him, while accusing Ryoma Aburame of sabotaging cooperation.
• Danzo agreed to give up power if Soseki proved his ability, then proposed testing Soseki's strength against the Stone Village.

Soseki and Danzō tested their strength in a remote valley, trading sealing techniques, Wind Release, and close-range attacks. Soseki surprised Danzō with the Flying Thunder God and struck him into a crater, where Danzō lay coughing up blood.

• The jonin followed Soseki and Danzō to a remote valley to watch their duel.
• Danzō attacked with a Vacuum Wave, and the two briefly immobilized each other with linked sealing techniques before Danzō retreated.
• Soseki entered Sage Mode and clashed with Danzō’s Wind Release in a battle that tore through the valley.
• Soseki threw shuriken, prompting Danzō to summon Dream Tapir and use a gale to blow them away.
• Soseki suddenly teleported in and punched Danzō, then kicked him into the ground, leaving him coughing up blood in a massive crater.