Recaps

Hinata investigated a mysterious cyborg organization and focused on preparing for an approaching threat from beyond the stars, while Tsunade bet on Kumogakure to defeat Kirigakure. Kirigakure’s surprise attack inflicted heavy losses but captured one of Kumogakure’s Oni Persons, and Tsunade argued that the exchange still favored Kumogakure.

• Hinata considered the mysterious organization’s mature cyborg technology, then set aside the question and prioritized developing her Mutation Potion against an unknown presence approaching through the stars.
• Tsunade secretly bet a million ryo on Kumogakure winning the coming war, while Shizune tried to dissuade her and sensed that Kumogakure might lose.
• Kirigakure launched a nighttime surprise attack on Kumogakure’s advance force before it could finish building defenses.
• Kumogakure revealed five Oni Persons among its troops, and Kirigakure suffered heavy losses before two of its own Oni Persons captured one and retreated.
• Tsunade told Shizune that Kirigakure had sacrificed too much by shortening its Oni Persons’ lifespans to capture a weapon it could not immediately use.

Kirigakure drove Kumogakure's advance force from its island base, then destroyed nearby islands to leave the retreating ninja without a place to regroup. The Kumogakure commander realized they needed to create a foothold before reinforcements arrived, and the four Oni Persons proposed using Puppet Corpses as temporary ground.

• Tsunade dismissed concerns about Kirigakure's attack, while Shizune let her go gambling.
• Kirigakure attacked Kumogakure's advance force with a thousand ninja and six Oni Persons, forcing the commander to order a retreat.
• Kirigakure sank the deserted island and began destroying other islands, leaving the Kumogakure ninja without safe places to rest.
• The Kumogakure commander stopped his men from charging into battle and considered how to prepare for their reinforcements.
• The four Oni Persons said Puppet Corpses could serve as temporary footholds despite the force's low chakra.

Kirigakure used a tactic devised by Nagato’s New Organization to destroy the island, while Hinata considered the war unimportant and continued her mutation experiments. In her laboratory, white Zetsu cells caused the potion to multiply into a growing black mass, and Hinata chose to observe the result rather than reverse time.

• Kirigakure’s opponents used Puppet Corpses to reach the submerged island and began rebuilding its unstable ground.
• Tsunade wondered whether Kumogakure could lose and tried to identify who had devised Kirigakure’s underhanded island-sinking tactic.
• Hinata learned that a spy from Nagato’s New Organization had suggested the tactic, but decided there was little reason to send Leaf ninja into the war.
• Hinata continued studying her mutated subjects and worked on the Third-Generation Mutation Potion, using Isshiki’s eyes to speed up its production.
• Hinata added white Zetsu cells to the potion, which rapidly grew into a black, slime-like mass, and she let the accident continue so she could study it.

Hinata tested the Black Slime and built a prototype Repulsion Control Device to contain it and other dangerous experiments. As she continued perfecting the Mutation Potion, the war between Kirigakure and Kumogakure escalated toward the New Year.

• Hinata watched the Black Slime grow, corrode and absorb nearby objects, then tested its ability to regenerate after she cut it in half.
• Hinata realized the Black Slime could absorb chakra and might become extremely dangerous, so she kept it suspended with repulsion rather than killing it.
• Hinata used a Rinnegan to create a prototype Repulsion Control Device and considered using Rinnegan-based repulsion barriers to secure her laboratory.
• Hinata continued working on the Mutation Potion as a month passed and the New Year approached.
• Kirigakure and Kumogakure escalated their fighting into a war involving thousands, while both villages kept half their Oni Persons in reserve.

Konoha traced the disappearance of villagers to the Daimyo’s deal with the Mysterious Organization and located one of its hidden bases. As Hinata prepared to act, Keita Otake confronted a black-robed stranger and six samurai in a remote village.

• Kumogakure and Kirigakure continued fighting while Iwagakure and Sunagakure watched the conflict and questioned Konoha’s apparent lack of concern.
• Konoha sent Hyuga Jonin to watch a village, where they saw samurai lure residents away under genjutsu and deliver them to a hidden base.
• Hinata guided Konoha toward the Daimyo, whose deal with the Mysterious Organization allowed him to supply ordinary people for conversion into Modified Humans.
• Konoha’s High Command condemned the Daimyo, and Hinata prepared to send a team to raid the base before a voice reached her.
• Keita Otake sensed malice near his village, intercepted six samurai and a black-robed stranger, and demanded to know who the stranger was.
• The stranger ordered the samurai to kill Keita, who recognized the men’s bloodied swords and remembered their lack of hesitation.

Keita Otake defeated the black-robed man and tried to force him to reveal his organization’s location. The man died from a safeguard before Keita could learn where the organization’s base was, leaving Keita to deal with the threat without that information.

• Keita Otake killed six samurai with ordinary punches, then rejected the black-robed man’s offer to join his organization.
• Keita Otake knocked the black-robed man out of the air with a halberd, shattering most of his bones and leaving him unable to move.
• Keita Otake demanded the organization’s location and burned the man’s belly when he refused to talk.
• Keita Otake tortured the black-robed man for half an hour, but the man’s tongue rotted and black blood flowed from his eyes, ears, and nose before he died.
• Keita Otake burned the corpse and realized the organization had placed a lethal safeguard on the man.

Keita Otake tracked a Black-Robed Man to a hidden base where Modified Humans were being created, then fought his way through its guards. The base leader confronted Keita, and their battle began after Keita’s halberd transformed and cut the leader’s hands.

• Keita Otake followed hypnotized villagers to a cave and bypassed the barrier guarding the base.
• Keita found laboratories for creating Modified Humans and killed a restrained Modified Monster, then waited for the base’s Black-Robed Men to arrive.
• Keita defeated the Black-Robed Men who came down the corridor, and the base leader arrived to find their corpses.
• The leader caught Keita’s halberd and mocked it, but the weapon transformed and injured his hands.
• The leader formed gauntlets and punched at Keita, who dodged and swung his halberd toward the leader’s neck.

Keita Otake pursued the wounded leader and killed him after overpowering his attempts to escape. He burned the leader’s body to ashes and scattered them.

• The leader escaped Keita Otake’s initial assault by creating dark red hardened material, but Keita Otake tracked him by following the trail of blood.
• Keita Otake killed the people who tried to block his way and caught up with the fleeing leader.
• Keita Otake struck the leader with a crescent-shaped attack, then wounded his back, chest, and abdomen as the leader tried to escape.
• The leader attempted to fight back with a blade grown from his hand, but Keita Otake severed the blade and his arm.
• Keita Otake cut off the leader’s head, burned his remains to ashes, and scattered them.

After Keita Otake destroyed the Mysterious Organization’s base and freed its captives, Hinata secretly planted evidence there and sent Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to investigate. Keita sensed danger and fortified his village, while Sasuke found traces of a large captive creature at the ruined base.

• Keita searched the base, freed the civilians he found, erased his traces, and returned to the village.
• Hinata heard Keita’s report, returned to the destroyed base to leave something behind, and sent a team led by Shisui to investigate.
• Keita felt an ominous premonition and prepared barriers and traps throughout his village.
• Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke reached the destroyed base after Shisui disappeared, then split up to search for clues.
• Sasuke used his Sharingan to inspect melted glass in the room where Keita had first attacked and suspected it had held a large creature.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura investigated a destroyed experimental base, while Shisui secretly uncovered evidence of a larger organization with hostile intentions toward the Hidden Leaf Village. After Shisui sent a clone to warn Hokage-sama, Sasuke indicated that Naruto had noticed something at the base.

• Sasuke found two large holes in the floor and faint traces of nature energy in ashes from the destroyed rooms.
• Sakura identified wrecked laboratory equipment as tools for human experimentation and sealed some of it to take back to the village.
• After Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura left, a burly bald man and a Black-Robed Man emerged from beneath charred corpses and discussed hunting whoever destroyed the base.
• The burly bald man stored a weapon fragment in a box, and the two men left to track down the base's destroyer.
• Shisui revealed that he had secretly observed the men, sent two clones after them, and dispatched another clone to warn Hokage-sama about the organization.
• Sasuke told Naruto they had traveled far enough and revealed that he had noticed Naruto's subtle movements at the base.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura followed two members of the Mysterious Organization while the men tried to identify who had destroyed their base. The Black-Robed Man connected the attack to children who had once devastated a base in the Land of Water, leaving the identity of the attacker unresolved.

• Naruto told Sasuke and Sakura that his Shadow Clones had discovered others in the base, and the three agreed to investigate the Mysterious Organization.
• Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura began secretly following the Bald-Headed Man and the Black-Robed Man, using Sasuke's Sharingan to track them.
• The Bald-Headed Man smashed the chakra-detecting machine after it failed to locate the person who had destroyed the base.
• The Black-Robed Man reminded the Bald-Headed Man that children had wiped out an elite squad and ten squads of Modified Humans at a base in the Land of Water.
• The Land of Water base leader had abandoned the pursuit, relocated the base, and suppressed a rebellion by Test Subjects.

The Bald-Headed Man and Black-Robed Man set out to capture Che Fengzi, hoping she could reveal who destroyed their base. Che Fengzi sensed their approach and prepared to face them, believing they had come for revenge.

• The Bald-Headed Man and Black-Robed Man recalled a woman living on an island in the Land of Water and decided to seek her out for information.
• Naruto and the others followed the two men as they headed toward the coast.
• Keita Otake set up a Barrier in a village, while Che Fengzi felt an ominous premonition and returned to her village to prepare.
• Hyuga Hinata sensed that Che Fengzi might be thinking of her, but decided not to intervene because her disciple was not in danger.
• Che Fengzi sensed two people approaching and recognized their auras as belonging to the Modified Humans from the organization she and her fellow disciples had fought years earlier.

Che Fengzi fought two Modified Humans who had come seeking information about a mysterious weapon fragment, using barriers and her Water Control Sword to keep them trapped. As she prepared to finish them, she noticed three children approaching and set barriers to restrain them too.

• The Bald-Headed Man showed Che Fengzi a weapon fragment, and she recognized that it had been made by the same method as her Water Control Sword, possibly belonging to her master.
• The Bald-Headed Man attacked with Energy Bullets while the Six-Armed Modified Human struck at Che Fengzi with his blades, but she evaded them and escaped using an afterimage.
• Che Fengzi trapped the two Modified Humans in barriers, and the Bald-Headed Man bombarded the area as he tried to break through the Mist Barrier.
• Che Fengzi prepared to use more barriers and considered how to kill the tough Modified Humans, then noticed three children approaching them.
• Che Fengzi erected additional barriers to trap the three children before they could interfere.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura broke through a barrier and found Che Fengzi fighting two Modified Humans. Che Fengzi killed the Six-Armed Modified Human, while Naruto confronted the fleeing bald man as Che Fengzi approached.

• Naruto and Sasuke sensed a dangerous gathering of nature energy, found a barrier, and broke through it with Sakura.
• Che Fengzi trapped the Six-Armed Modified Human with the Water Control Sword's gravity and killed him with Ice Spikes.
• The bald Modified Human fled toward Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura after realizing his partner was doomed.
• Naruto sent four Shadow Clones to block the bald man's escape, but the man's Energy Bullets canceled their Rasengans.
• The bald man grew spikes on his arms and destroyed two Shadow Clones, while Naruto smiled as Che Fengzi approached.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura survived the Bald-Headed Man’s self-detonation, while Che Fengzi captured his true body and handed him over to Sasuke. After the others left, Che Fengzi wondered whether Sasuke’s Threads were connected to her teacher.

• Sasuke restrained the Bald-Headed Man with Hokage-sama’s Threads, then protected Naruto and Sakura with Susanoo when the man detonated himself.
• The explosion left a large crater, but the three were unharmed, and Sasuke searched for and recovered the Threads.
• Che Fengzi emerged carrying the Modified Human, explaining that she had noticed him when he left the Vessel and had captured him.
• Sasuke took the Modified Human into custody and learned that his companion was dead.
• Che Fengzi examined her longsword and wondered whether the Threads had been made by someone connected to her teacher.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura brought a captured Modified Human back to the Hidden Leaf Village, where Hinata sent him to a laboratory after finding a lethal brain restriction. As the war between Kirigakure and Kumogakure escalated, mysterious visitors met several daimyo, and the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire reacted with shock and fear to a demand.

• Naruto carried the hypnotized Modified Human back while Sasuke considered how to repair his damaged Threads, and the captive briefly woke before Sasuke hypnotized him again.
• Sakura discovered that the Modified Human had been deliberately altered, including three hearts and a modified brain, so the group brought him to the village while she collected samples.
• Shisui decided not to investigate Che Fengzi after sensing a resemblance between her presence and Hokage-sama's, and he returned to his duties.
• Hinata found a lethal restriction in the captive's brain and sent him to a laboratory, where he remained hypnotized for research.
• Kirigakure and Kumogakure gathered forces for a major battle as other villages watched, while mysterious visitors met the daimyo of several lands.
• The Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire reacted with shock, anger, and fear when a mysterious visitor made a demand.

The mysterious man reassured the Fire Daimyo that their dealings would continue and encouraged him to consider buying Modified Humans, while warning that the Uchiha had investigated the destroyed base. At a hidden cave, the organization’s survivors planned to search the Land of Fire for Keita Otake, using their modified members as signal transmitters.

• The mysterious man told the Fire Daimyo that a powerful monster, not the Hidden Leaf Village, had destroyed the organization’s base, and promised that their dealings would continue after a delay.
• The mysterious man warned the Daimyo that Uchiha members had investigated the destroyed base, prompting the Daimyo to ask whether he could buy a large number of Modified Humans.
• The mysterious man assured the Daimyo that the organization had enough material and could supply as many Modified Humans as he wanted.
• The mysterious man went to a concealed cave, where surviving members had gathered after operatives sent to capture Che Fengzi in the Land of Water failed to return.
• The mysterious man ordered the survivors to search the Land of Fire’s target villages for the person who destroyed the base, using the modified members as signal transmitters.

Hinata hid the dangerous Black Slime in a cave in the mountains between the Land of Earth and the Land of Snow. Meanwhile, six survivors from a Land of Earth mission reached the snow-covered Land of Snow after months at sea and discovered that village after village stood abandoned.

• Hinata chose a remote mountain cave to contain the Black Slime, relying on her clone in the Land of Snow to check on it.
• Six members of a party sent by the Daimyo of the Land of Earth finally landed in a snowy country after storms, damaged sails, and months of drifting at sea.
• The party's leader wondered whether they had truly reached the Land of Snow or had returned to the Land of Earth, where winter snow might explain the landscape.
• The six travelers found an abandoned village, rested there, then encountered two more deserted villages as they continued onward.
• The party realized that many villages in the Land of Snow had been abandoned, while their food supplies dwindled and snow remained plentiful for drinking water.

A group of starving travelers crossed the snowy hills and discovered the fertile fields of the Land of Snow. Their leader demanded an audience with the king, but Yamato focused on a silent member whose presence carried a metallic scent, and the leader attacked him.

• The six travelers killed seven snow wolves and used their meat and pelts to continue across the snowfield.
• They crossed a hill and found lush fields and terraces in the Land of Snow, then followed a path through the crops.
• Yamato confirmed that the fields were in the Land of Snow, and the travelers' Leader revealed he was an envoy from the Land of Earth seeking the king.
• Yamato sensed a metallic scent from one silent member of the group, ignoring the Leader's demands.
• The Leader threatened Yamato and reached for his neck, but a vine wrapped around his arm and held him fast.

Yamato captured a delegation of men, including the powerful and mysterious Yi Yuan, while protecting the Land of Snow’s hidden role as the Hidden Leaf Village’s logistics base. Meanwhile, Kumogakure defeated Kirigakure at great cost, then asked the Hidden Leaf Village to join an alliance against it.

• Yamato used chakra-absorbing wheat to immobilize the delegation’s leader, ripened the stalks, and collected their grains.
• Yamato bound four men with wheat, but Yi Yuan cut his way free and revealed his strength; Yamato then encased him and the other five men in cocoons and marched them home.
• Hinata’s unease disrupted her experiments, and she avoided laboratory explosions by repeatedly reversing time with her Rinnegan.
• Kirigakure and Kumogakure fought with more than ten thousand shinobi each, and Kumogakure won after losing five thousand troops.
• Kirigakure withdrew to defense, and a Kumogakure shinobi arrived in the Hidden Leaf Village with the Raikage’s request for an alliance against Kirigakure.

The Hidden Leaf Village’s leaders debated attacking the weakened Kumogakure and Kirigakure while a Kumogakure envoy waited for an answer to his alliance request. Naruto questioned why ninja waged war, and Sasuke argued that uniting the world under one country could end it, leaving Naruto troubled by the village’s plans.

• The Hidden Leaf Village delayed answering Kumogakure’s alliance request and held a meeting about attacking Kumogakure and Kirigakure.
• Naruto asked Sasuke why the village was going to war, and Sasuke promised to explain after the meeting.
• At Naruto’s home, Naruto asked why war existed and whether ninja were supposed to protect peace.
• Sasuke said that a single country could end war and argued that other nations would start conflicts if the Hidden Leaf Village did not.
• Sasuke considered Kumogakure’s desperate alliance offer and the risks of the Hidden Leaf Village attacking both weakened villages at once.

Naruto and Sasuke chose to lead the Hidden Leaf Village’s force to the Land of Lightning, while Sakura and Tsunade prepared for the Land of Wind front. The Leaf troops reached a concealed position near Kumogakure and began planning an attack.

• Naruto volunteered to go to the Land of Lightning to end the war quickly, and Sasuke joined him with Hinata’s approval.
• Sakura learned that she would go to the Land of Wind with Tsunade, and Sasuke told her to wait for his return.
• Sasuke told his family about the deployment, and Shisui promised Fugaku that he would protect Sasuke and the others.
• Naruto and Sasuke departed with the main force, while Tsunade and Sakura prepared to lead the Land of Wind force alongside the Uchiha Clan and medical ninja.
• The Land of Lightning force used the Hyuga Clan’s Byakugan to evade Kumogakure’s sentries and reached a secluded spot near the village.
• Sasuke and several Jonin discussed their assault plan, and Sasuke proposed attacking Kumogakure through its main gate.

Naruto and Sasuke reached Kumogakure to demand Raikage A's surrender and explain the Hidden Leaf Village's plan to unite the countries. A rejected Naruto's appeal for peace and learned that the Leaf had sent troops against the other great shinobi villages.

• Sasuke ordered the Jonin to advance on Kumogakure while he and Naruto went ahead to negotiate with Raikage A.
• Naruto and Sasuke entered A's office, where Mabui recognized them as Hidden Leaf intruders and guarded the Raikage.
• Naruto asked A to surrender to avoid casualties, but A laughed at his demand.
• Naruto argued that uniting all countries would end war, and Sasuke revealed the Hidden Leaf had sent troops against the other four great shinobi villages.
• A accused the Hidden Leaf of starting the Fourth Shinobi World War and asked what had happened to his guards; Sasuke said they had only been put to sleep.

Uchiha Sasuke challenged A, the Raikage, and the two clashed in a display of speed, strength, and durability. Sasuke cracked his arm while defending against A’s strike, then sent A crashing through a wall with Inch Force: Rock Breaker, but A emerged still standing.

• A recognized Sasuke as the Uchiha Clan’s young master and challenged him to prove his strength.
• Sasuke used Chidori to blast A through the wall of his office, but A emerged uninjured in Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
• A ordered his subordinates to stand down and formally introduced himself to Sasuke before attacking with Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop.
• Sasuke blocked A’s strike with his left arm, cracking a bone, then dodged A’s follow-up and countered with a knee that failed to injure him.
• Sasuke struck A in the chest with Inch Force: Rock Breaker, sending him through another wall, but A walked out of the smoke with lightning still surrounding him.

The Hidden Leaf Village's forces arrived outside Kumogakure, and A agreed to surrender if Sasuke defeated him, with the village's submission at stake. After healing his injuries with Sasuke's Chakra Gem, A fought Sasuke again and was wounded by his Sage Art: Lightning Release: Chidori.

• The Hidden Leaf Village's forces approached Kumogakure's gates, and Mabui asked Naruto to halt the attack.
• A agreed to surrender Kumogakure if Sasuke defeated him, while Sasuke agreed to withdraw the forces if he lost.
• Sasuke gave A a Chakra Gem to heal his injuries, and A used it to restore his health and chakra before returning it.
• Mabui left with one of Naruto's Shadow Clones to stop the battle from breaking out.
• A attacked Sasuke with Lightning Release: Lariat, but Sasuke activated Sage Mode and struck A's head with Sage Art: Lightning Release: Chidori.