Recaps

Shuji completed a bandit mission with Itachi, advanced his experiments with natural energy, and earned Special Jonin status. He rebuilt Team Five with Itachi and Anko, then received a B-rank escort mission to investigate the Black Erosion Corps near Chujie Port.

• Shuji and Itachi investigated bandit activity in Shirakawa, where the villagers killed the bandits and Shuji later killed the surviving Shin'ya.
• Shuji and Itachi returned to Konoha with Shin'ya's head, and Grandma Toka told Shuji how the Senju clan had dissolved for the village.
• Shuji experimented with Wood Release and natural energy, while his conversations with Itachi explored the village's history and the balance between clans and Konoha.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi arranged Shuji's Special Jonin assessment, which Shuji passed after defeating the Anbu examiners' attacks.
• Shuji met Fugaku and agreed to guide Itachi, then helped Anko recover her motivation and brought her onto his team.
• Shuji tested Itachi and Anko's combat coordination, bought them new gear, and set a team fund and mission-reward split.
• Hiruzen assigned Team Five to escort Hongshan Cheng's caravan to Chujie Port and investigate the five-member Black Erosion Corps.

Shuji uncovered the Black Erosion Corps’ plan to take control of Chujie Port and joined the Wasabi Clan against them. The fighting left Nether Erosion dead, Itachi poisoned, and Water Erosion under attack as Anko and Jirocho defended the rear courtyard.

• Shuji escorted Hongshan Cheng’s caravan to Chujie Port, where he exposed the port guards as Tea Mountain Gang bandits posing as officials.
• Wasabi Jirocho told Shuji that the Wasuke Clan had absorbed the Tea Mountain Gang and was exploiting travelers, while Shuji linked the gang to the Black Erosion Corps and arranged for evidence to reach the Feudal Lord.
• Shuji defeated First Erosion and sent the messenger onward, while Beast Soldier Guard declared martial law and attacked the Wasabi Clan estate.
• Illusion Erosion tried to trap Shuji’s Wood Clone, but Shuji turned their mental link against him and killed him.
• Beast Soldier Guard and his companions attacked the Wasabi Clan, forcing Jirocho to evacuate his people as Anko, Itachi, and Shizune fought to protect them.
• Tsunade gave Itachi Slugs to support the defenders, but Corpse Erosion poisoned him, leaving him unable to move as Jirocho’s guards used explosive arrows to hold off Water Erosion.
• Shuji recognized that Beast Soldier Guard was a living armor concealing its operator, then killed Nether Erosion with a concealed kunai.
• Anko discovered that fire disrupted Water Erosion’s insect swarms and attacked him with Dragon Flame Technique, while Jirocho detonated an Explosive Tag beneath him.

Shuji treated Itachi, resisted Root, and began working with Itachi to ease tensions between the Uchiha and Konoha. After the Kumogakure envoy incident, he led a diplomatic mission to Sunagakure, where he warned Ebizo that Iwagakure planned to attack and learned that Ōnoki’s envoy had arrived first with a generous offer.

• Shuji replenished Tsunade’s chakra, received permission to sign the Shikkotsu Forest summoning scroll, and helped her remove the foreign energy from Itachi.
• Shuji returned to Konoha with Team Five, reported Root’s attempted seizure of the Wasabi Clan’s account books, and received Hiruzen’s promise to rein in Danzo’s subordinates.
• Shuji explained the Uchiha’s political isolation to Itachi and Fugaku, then proposed moving Uchiha elites into the Anbu to open Police Force positions to other clans.
• Shuji joined Itachi in assessing the Uchiha Police Force members and began studying the Flying Thunder God technique as preparation for confronting Obito’s Kamui.
• Shuji led Team Five’s investigation of the Kumogakure envoys’ route, but Obito abducted Hinata and was killed by Hiashi after the attack was discovered.
• Hiruzen promoted Shuji to jonin and sent him to Sunagakure, while Danzo blamed the Uchiha for the envoy incident and Shuji’s team fought off an Iwagakure ambush.
• Fengjuan lured Shuji’s team toward a supposed Sand camp and revealed Sunagakure’s claimed alliance with Iwagakure, so Shuji sent three teammates back to warn Konoha while continuing with Anko and Itachi.
• Baki admitted Shuji’s group into Sunagakure, where Ebizo challenged Konoha’s motives and Shuji warned him of Iwagakure’s plans, and Ebizo revealed that Ōnoki’s envoy had arrived first with a generous gift for Konoha.

Shuji helped Konoha secure peace with Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure before traveling to find Tsunade and asking her to return as Hokage. After helping him master Sage Mode, Tsunade demanded a practical plan, starting with his ideas about the Uchiha clan.

• Shuji negotiated with Ebizo and Rasa, killed Iwagakure’s envoy, and returned to Konoha with Sunagakure’s alliance intact but uncertain.
• Assigned to Anbu with Kakashi and Yamato, Shuji used Wood Release against Iwagakure’s Jinchuriki and helped force Ōnoki to withdraw from the Kannabi Bridge front.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi negotiated peace with Ōnoki, while Konoha reached an alliance with Kumogakure after the Hyuga Clan accepted responsibility for Akai’s death.
• After Shimura Danzō urged Shuji to oppose the Uchiha, Shuji received leave from Hiruzen Sarutobi to find Tsunade and persuade her to become Hokage.
• Shuji found Tsunade with Shizune and the Fourth Raikage, then persuaded Tsunade to help him train in Sage Art in exchange for serving as her attendant.
• At Uzushio Village, Tsunade and Katsuyu helped Shuji safely absorb natural energy, and he achieved a preliminary Sage Mode.
• Shuji shared the original owner’s memories with Tsunade and asked her to become Hokage, while Tsunade refused until he presented a practical plan beginning with the Uchiha clan.