Chapter Summaries

Gu Sheng returned to Ryūchi Cave, passed its trials again, and met with the White Snake Sage to discuss cultivating Sage Mode. The White Snake Sage warned that Gu Sheng’s Chakra conflicted with hers, but said Azure Spirit’s Senjutsu Chakra might make cultivation possible.

• Tagorihime praised Gu Sheng’s Sharingan and led him onward after he refused her attempt to tempt him with food.
• Gu Sheng observed Ryūchi Cave’s enormous snakes and considered the strength and uses of different Summoning Beasts.
• Gu Sheng passed the trials of Ichikishimahime and Tagitsuhime without being deceived again.
• Gu Sheng reunited with Azure Spirit, and the White Snake Sage said her Senjutsu and Wind Release cultivation were progressing quickly.
• The White Snake Sage warned Gu Sheng that his Chakra had conflicted with hers before, but said Azure Spirit had accumulated enough Senjutsu Chakra to meet the minimum requirement for another attempt.

Gu Sheng explained why Sage Mode was dangerous to cultivate and why Reincarnators had difficulty mastering it through the Three Great Summoning Lands. He revealed that his own body had violently rejected Ryūchi Cave’s Senjutsu Chakra, leaving the problem unresolved without help from the Lord God.

• Gu Sheng contrasted ordinary Chakra training with the lethal risks of absorbing Natural Energy without guidance.
• Gu Sheng described how Sage Mode and its failure conditions differed between Mount Myoboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest.
• Gu Sheng recalled that the White Snake Sage had praised his physique and that he had easily passed Ryūchi Cave’s trial.
• Gu Sheng explained that his body rejected the White Snake Sage’s Senjutsu Chakra, nearly causing him to explode, so he cut away the affected flesh and sought Tsunade’s treatment.
• Gu Sheng concluded that Reincarnators’ Lord God-provided bodies resisted foreign energy, making Sage Mode cultivation through the Three Great Summoning Lands extremely difficult without the Lord God’s assistance.

Gu Sheng used Qing Ling’s Senjutsu Chakra to achieve a nearly perfect Sage Mode without his body rejecting the energy. After a month and a half of training, he mastered the enhanced power and considered whether to contract a Ryūchi Cave snake.

• Gu Sheng had Qing Ling transfer Senjutsu Chakra into him, triggering Dragon Transformation and drawing Natural Energy into his body.
• Gu Sheng achieved a stable Sage Mode with minimal physical changes, then began practicing to keep it from collapsing during combat.
• Gu Sheng trained in Ryūchi Cave and found that Sage Mode greatly enhanced his ninjutsu, taijutsu, speed, and strength.
• After a month and a half, Gu Sheng gained complete control of his enhanced power and learned how Ryūchi Cave’s Senjutsu could control Natural Energy.
• Gu Sheng considered contracting a giant snake but decided against it because of the possible cost and his doubts about its usefulness.

Kushina disappeared, prompting Gu Sheng to mobilize Konoha’s forces and search for her before the suspected abduction could threaten the village. Tsunade summoned Slug to investigate, while Danzo saw the crisis as a chance to undermine Gu Sheng.

• Shikaku Nara told Gu Sheng that Kushina had vanished and Minato had gone after the trail of her red hair alone.
• Gu Sheng ordered a village-wide search, sent Shikaku to investigate the Land of Lightning caravan, and led people outside the village in pursuit.
• Gu Sheng assigned Nawaki, Chu Xin, and Uchiha Fugaku to search different areas as Konoha’s alarm sounded.
• Tsunade learned that Kushina was missing and summoned Slug to investigate, suspecting the timing might be connected to Jiraiya’s departure.
• Danzo left the advisors’ office, intending to find Kushina before Gu Sheng and use the crisis against him.
• Mitokado Homura mobilized his own forces, while Utatane Koharu hurried out after seeing something in the office.

Gu Sheng’s forces rescued Kushina from Kumogakure, and he called an emergency meeting to decide how Konoha should respond. The chapter left the village’s leaders divided, with Danzo and the Advisory Elders’ Council pushing for negotiations while Gu Sheng weighed the danger of fighting on another front.

• Hyuga Hiashi detected Minato and Kushina ahead, and Minato returned with the rescued, unconscious Kushina and a Kumogakure forehead protector.
• Gu Sheng praised Minato, ordered the search parties to regroup, and signaled that the mission was complete.
• At the Hokage Building, Gu Sheng identified Kumogakure as responsible for Kushina’s abduction and presented forehead protectors as evidence.
• Danzo challenged the evidence and urged Konoha to negotiate with Kumogakure until the war with the Land of Wind ended.
• Utatane Koharu warned that Konoha was stretched across multiple fronts, and Mitokado Homura backed the Elders’ Council’s call to avoid immediate war.

Gu Sheng faced opposition from Danzo and Konoha’s advisers over how to respond to Kumogakure’s provocation, then used his authority as Hokage to order the village into military preparedness. The advisers left threatening to impeach him while Gu Sheng and Tsunade began discussing battle deployments.

• Nawaki and Chu Xin argued that Konoha should prepare for war, while Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura opposed them.
• Gu Sheng recognized that Danzo’s proposal was meant to undermine his standing whichever response he chose.
• Gu Sheng ordered Konoha into military preparedness and directed its active-duty ninja to prepare for an attack on the Land of Lightning.
• Danzo tried to challenge the order, but Gu Sheng asserted his authority as Hokage and made him sit down.
• Mitokado Homura warned Gu Sheng he would bear responsibility for the war, while Gu Sheng began discussing deployments with Tsunade.
• Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu left, promising to report Gu Sheng’s actions and seek his impeachment.

After the meeting, Gu Sheng told Tsunade that he planned a dangerous mission in the Land of Lightning to force Kumogakure into peace without a direct war. Tsunade reluctantly accepted his decision after he argued that Jiraiya would not carry out the plan and that he could protect himself.

• Gu Sheng dismissed the meeting and gave Chu Xin and Nawaki additional assignments before speaking privately with Tsunade.
• Tsunade offered to watch the elders' council, and Gu Sheng asked whether she had contacted Jiraiya, who was still at Mount Myoboku.
• Gu Sheng explained his plan to Tsunade, who objected to him taking such a risk and urged him to wait for Jiraiya.
• Gu Sheng argued that Jiraiya would not accept a mission likely to cause heavy civilian casualties and said he would use a Decapitation Tactic in the Land of Lightning.
• Tsunade warned Gu Sheng to be careful and accepted that he would go, while Dan Katō remained retired in Konoha because of his injuries.

Gu Sheng led a small Konoha team to infiltrate Kumogakure and unleash the Eight-Tails inside Blue B, aiming to cripple the village and force it to make peace. After entering Kumogakure under cover of night, Gu Sheng reached Blue B’s residence.

• Shikaku Nara estimated that the operation had a sixty-percent chance of success because Kumogakure’s attention was divided by Konoha’s border forces and its Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had been restless.
• Gu Sheng ordered the team to infiltrate Kumogakure after nightfall and told them to cause as much chaos as possible without hesitation.
• Gu Sheng spoke privately with Minato Namikaze, urging him not to let misplaced kindness interfere with the mission, and Minato firmly agreed.
• Under a full moon, the team entered Kumogakure through a weak point in its defenses while Gu Sheng moved separately toward his target.
• Gu Sheng arrived at Blue B’s residence, identified it as the home of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and prepared to act.

Gu Sheng infiltrated Burui’s residence and used a soothing fragrance to leave the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki vulnerable to the beast’s influence. As the Eight-Tails provoked Burui over his lost chance to become Raikage, Burui struggled to maintain control of his body.

• Gu Sheng slipped into Burui’s residence while Burui lay awake, troubled by the war and his growing inner emptiness.
• A breeze carried a faint fragrance through Burui’s window, calming him and making him drowsy.
• The Eight-Tails spoke to Burui and taunted him about being turned into a Jinchuriki instead of succeeding the Raikage.
• Burui rejected the Eight-Tails’ claims, but his agitation weakened the seal and the beast began battering his mental defenses.
• The Eight-Tails urged Burui to accept its power and pursue his dream of becoming Raikage as Burui fought to control his body.

Gu Sheng used the Sharingan to make Blue B reveal where the Two-Tails was sealed, then broke the seal containing Gyūki and triggered a rampage in Kumogakure. As the Third Raikage fought Gyūki, Gu Sheng stole its severed horn and set off explosions throughout the village, leaving the Raikage to send A and Killer B back to respond to the conspiracy.

• Gu Sheng immobilized Blue B with a hallucinogenic drug and hypnotized him into revealing that the Two-Tails was at the Temple Altar.
• Gu Sheng broke the Iron Armor Seal containing Gyūki, and the Eight-Tails burst free and began destroying Kumogakure.
• The Third Raikage and the village shinobi fought Gyūki, with the Raikage severing one of its horns after the shinobi weakened its Tailed Beast Bomb.
• Gu Sheng sealed the fallen horn in a scroll and detonated Exploding Tags across Kumogakure, setting the village ablaze.
• The Third Raikage recognized the attack as a conspiracy and ordered A and Killer B to return to the village while he kept Gyūki occupied.

Gu Sheng infiltrated Kumogakure during the chaos and seized the chance to reach the Temple holding Matatabi. He planned to draw on the Two-Tails’ immense Chakra to overcome his stalled growth.

• Killer B returned to Kumogakure with A to help restore order while the Third Raikage led the fight against Gyūki.
• Gu Sheng’s staged fires and genjutsu sowed chaos across Kumogakure as he made his way to the Temple.
• Gu Sheng summoned Qing Ling, who killed the Temple’s thirteen Jonin-level guards with her venom.
• Gu Sheng reached the Altar and sensed Matatabi, the Two-Tails, restrained inside a chained box.
• Gu Sheng revealed that he intended to use the tailed beasts’ immense power to break through his current strength bottleneck.

Gu Sheng returned from Kumogakure with the Two-Tails Matatabi and told his team he would become its Jinchuriki to help end the wars. He released Matatabi in a valley and asked her to become his partner.

• Gu Sheng used the Five Elements Seal to restrain Matatabi in the Sealing Box and escaped the temple with Azure Spirit.
• Gu Sheng reunited with Hyuga Hiashi and the others in a concealed valley, where Shikaku Nara proposed contacting the Frontline Command.
• Gu Sheng ordered the army to mobilize and probe the border without entering the Land of Lightning.
• Gu Sheng announced that he would become Matatabi's Jinchuriki, arguing that a Tailed Beast could help end the wars sooner.
• Nawaki supported Gu Sheng, and the Sealing Squad formed a formation to release Matatabi from the box.
• Gu Sheng faced Matatabi and asked her to become his partner.

Gu Sheng asked Matatabi to become his partner and help Konoha end the war, but she refused to become a Jinchuriki. He challenged her to a one-on-one fight without using the Sharingan, and the battle left Gu Sheng badly struck against a mountain wall.

• Matatabi rejected Gu Sheng's request, unwilling to become a Jinchuriki and wary of his Uchiha heritage.
• Gu Sheng sent the Sealing Squad and the others out of the valley, then challenged Matatabi to a fair fight without the Sharingan.
• Gu Sheng's crimson Fire Release injured Matatabi and let him withstand her blue flames as he attacked with powerful fire techniques and physical blows.
• Matatabi adapted to the fight and used her speed, claws, and flames to evade Gu Sheng's attacks and counter him.
• Matatabi headbutted Gu Sheng and blasted him into a mountain wall, startling the onlookers.

Gu Sheng defeated Matatabi with Sage Art and persuaded it to become his companion. Their powers fused into a new Purple Flame, and Gu Sheng emerged transformed, hovering above the crater as Chu Xin watched.

• Gu Sheng rejected a war of attrition and entered Sage Mode as Matatabi attacked with blue fireballs and charged at him.
• Gu Sheng used Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and Sage Art: Meteor Shower of Fire to overwhelm Matatabi with giant fireballs.
• Gu Sheng told the defeated Matatabi to become his companion and promised to make it stronger, and Matatabi accepted by extending its paw.
• Gu Sheng and Matatabi's crimson and blue flames merged into a destructive Purple Flame that formed a shrinking cocoon and then a fireball.
• Gu Sheng emerged from the fireball transformed and surrounded by Purple Flame, then smiled at Chu Xin.

Gu Sheng confronted the Third Raikage and more than a thousand Kumogakure ninja, offering them a choice between fighting and making peace. After the Raikage refused, Gu Sheng attacked and cut through their ranks, leaving A to charge him with lightning-clad fists.

• The Third Raikage and A led Kumogakure’s weakened forces toward the Land of Fire border after learning Konoha had advanced.
• A sensor detected the Two-Tails’ Chakra ahead, and the Third Raikage ordered the army to move faster.
• Gu Sheng positioned himself atop a mountain wall while Chu Xin, Nawaki, Minato Namikaze, and the others hid nearby.
• Gu Sheng identified himself as the Acting Hokage and offered the Third Raikage a choice, but the Raikage rejected peace and declared Kumogakure would fight.
• The Cloud Ninja charged Gu Sheng, who swiftly struck down many of them and threw Killer B into the crowd.
• A covered himself in lightning and rushed at Gu Sheng with a powerful punch.

Gu Sheng fought Ai, Killer B, and the Third Raikage, overpowering their attacks before revealing his Perfect Jinchuriki form. The Third Raikage rejected his offer to make peace and launched a final assault as Gu Sheng prepared a massive fireball.

• Gu Sheng repelled Ai and Killer B’s Double Lariat and sent them flying with his strength.
• Gu Sheng caught the Third Raikage’s Hell Stab: Four-Finger Strike and hurled him into the rocks.
• The Third Raikage and Ai attacked Gu Sheng together with another Double Lariat, but he caught both of their arms.
• The Third Raikage recognized Gu Sheng’s Tailed Beast Transformation and retreated with Ai as Gu Sheng became a gigantic purple cat with Sharingan eyes.
• Gu Sheng offered the Third Raikage one more chance to fight or make peace, but the Third Raikage refused and charged with Hell Stab: Four-Finger Strike.

Gu Sheng used the Two-Tails’ power and Sage Mode to overwhelm the Cloud Ninja with a city-destroying fire technique. As the pale-purple flames spread across the battlefield, the Raikage and his forces faced destruction with nowhere to hide.

• The Third Raikage and Ai struggled against Gu Sheng’s transformed Two-Tails, whose power surpassed the Eight-Tails’ ordinary rampage.
• Gu Sheng’s Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation sent giant snakes bursting from the ground to attack the Cloud Ninja.
• Gu Sheng used Sage Art: White Violent Strike, whose blinding light and vibrations left the Raikage and the AB Combo numb and impaired.
• Gu Sheng combined Sage Mode, Matatabi, the Azure Serpent, Wind Release, and Purple Flame to unleash Sage Art: Sky Scorching Wildfire.
• The pale-purple fire cloud expanded across more than ten li, leaving the Cloud Ninja nowhere to hide.

Gu Sheng overwhelmed Kumogakure’s army with a vast Purple Flame attack and forced the Third Raikage to choose peace. As Gu Sheng and Minato departed, Gu Sheng praised Kumogakure’s unity and warned Minato that Konoha’s internal corruption threatened the village.

• Gu Sheng’s Purple Flame engulfed the battlefield but deliberately spared the Third Raikage and the Cloud Ninja forces.
• Gu Sheng offered the Third Raikage a final choice between fighting and making peace, and the Raikage accepted Gu Sheng’s terms.
• At the Land of Lightning border, A and Killer B encouraged the Third Raikage, and the three laughed together as Kumogakure’s troops regained their morale.
• Gu Sheng looked back at the Kumogakure forces and reflected on the internal conflicts weakening the other great villages.
• Gu Sheng told Minato Namikaze that Konoha must not allow darkness directed at its own people, and condemned Danzo’s Root as a source of internal decay.

Gu Sheng informed Tsunade and the Advisory Elders that the war with Kumogakure had ended in an alliance that handed Konoha control of Two-Tails. The advisers challenged his terms and authority, and Gu Sheng silenced them with a display of power.

• Tsunade reacted with disbelief when Gu Sheng showed her that Kumogakure had agreed to peace talks.
• Jiraiya and the Advisory Elders arrived, and Gu Sheng told them the war was over and ordered them to handle the aftermath.
• Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Danzo read the Treaty of Alliance and were shocked that Kumogakure had agreed to lend Two-Tailed Matatabi to Konoha.
• Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu objected to taking Two-Tails, but Gu Sheng said it had already been sealed into a Jinchuriki for the war in the Land of Wind.
• Danzo hinted that Gu Sheng should hand over the new Jinchuriki, and Gu Sheng asked if Danzo was trying to recruit him into ANBU before unleashing his Chakra flames.

Gu Sheng ordered the Konoha army to leave the Land of Lightning border and march toward the Land of Wind battlefield, while the advisers were left to handle the handover. As the army crossed the Land of Fire, Gu Sheng struggled with his first experience commanding troops and accepted Tsunade’s help.

• Gu Sheng dismissed the advisers’ objections, ordered Jiraiya to assemble the army, and left a thousand men with Danzo and the other advisers to manage the Land of Lightning handover.
• Gu Sheng departed with Tsunade and the army for the Land of Wind battlefield after warning the advisers to avoid trouble with the Third Raikage.
• Gu Sheng’s army passed through the Land of Fire border using authorization he had secured from the Daimyo.
• Shikaku Nara estimated that the army would reach the frontline in five days because of possible delays and enemy awareness.
• Tsunade used the Mystical Palm Technique to ease Gu Sheng’s fatigue as he reflected that he was not suited to commanding armies.