Recaps

Sasuke learned that Mikoto might still be alive in the Land of Stars, while the Chunin Exams brought rival teams together and exposed the danger of an alliance between Orochimaru and the Land of Stars. The exams erupted into an invasion of Konoha, leaving Menma and the other candidates trapped in the arena as Gaara revealed his power.

• Gaara defeated Sasuke’s genjutsu and urged him to ask Mikoto where she was, leaving Sasuke to question Konoha and his hatred.
• Menma’s team and other candidates survived the Forest of Death, then gathered in Konoha for the team-combat finals as Sasuke learned Shisui’s message that Mikoto missed him.
• Jigen and Urashiki planned to attack Konoha during the exams, while Amado warned that his clones suffered from instability and accelerated aging.
• Menma’s team began its match against Deidara’s team, and Menma incapacitated Kirara while Naruto’s clones pressured Deidara and the artificial Void.
• Orochimaru launched the Konoha Crush during the match, taking Hiruzen hostage as Sound Ninja attacked the village and the Land of Stars moved toward war.
• Jiraiya learned that Menma might be Naruto’s missing twin, while Konoha’s defenders fought the invasion and Star Ninja struck the Anbu and Root bases.
• Menma, Naruto, and Hinata prepared to evacuate the arena, but Gaara stopped the contestants from leaving and unleashed immense chakra and sand.

Orochimaru’s attack on Konoha coincided with an assault by Jigen and Urashiki, while Menma revealed his overwhelming power and ties to Naruto and Minato. After Konoha’s northern district was destroyed and Isshiki emerged from Jigen, Menma defeated him and turned toward the spectators and visitors from another space-time.

• Gaara attacked the allied teams as Orochimaru summoned Hashirama and Tobirama to fight Hiruzen, while Menma arrived and warned the shinobi that Otsutsuki were approaching.
• Jigen and Urashiki entered the Four Violet Flame Formation, subdued the reanimated Hokage, and brought down the barrier, after which Hiruzen died and named Jiraiya the next Hokage.
• Menma confronted Jigen and Urashiki, revealed his ten-tailed dark-red chakra, and fought them while Naruto’s Nine-Tails chakra began to overwhelm him.
• Menma defeated Urashiki after a battle that devastated the arena, then removed Urashiki’s Golden Rinnegan as Jigen attacked with a Sealing Cauldron.
• Menma’s Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion split the battlefield, destroyed much of Jigen’s body, and forced Isshiki to emerge through an imperfect reincarnation.
• Menma battled Isshiki with Daikokuten cubes, Truth-Seeking Orbs, and his Black Eye, then killed him despite Isshiki’s attempt to detonate his body.
• Menma recovered Isshiki’s Black Eye and turned his attention toward the spectators and two visitors from a parallel space-time.

Menma declared his plan to unite the Shinobi World as Konoha fell under Danzō’s control and Akatsuki targeted the tailed beasts. Naruto and Sasuke left Konoha for the Land of Stars, where they encountered refugees and Menma’s forces prepared to intercept them.

• Menma revealed the Otsutsuki threat to the survivors and gave Kirigakure and Kumogakure one month to join the Land of Stars or oppose him.
• Menma invited young Sasuke and Boruto to the Land of Stars, while Konoha’s leaders debated the village’s future and Danzō secured appointment as acting Hokage.
• Jiraiya told Naruto that Minato and Kushina were his parents and that Menma was his presumed-dead twin brother.
• Danzō’s agents and hostile villagers increased pressure on Naruto, while Sasori and Hidan attacked Gaara’s team and escaped after Shisui, Yukimi, Kimimaro, and Haku drove them back.
• The Daimyo appointed Danzō acting Hokage, and the threatened villages began preparing for a Five Kage Summit as Mei Terumi accepted the role of Mizukage.
• Naruto decided to find Menma, and Sasuke helped him leave Konoha, and Shikamaru led a team after them while Jiraiya investigated the deaths of Root ninja.
• Naruto and Sasuke defended starving refugees from Fukuyama’s samurai, then entered the town as Neji, Kimimaro, and Toneri prepared to bring them away on Menma’s orders.

Naruto and Sasuke traveled with Neji’s group through the Land of Stars, witnessing its relief efforts before reuniting with family and learning more about their pasts. Naruto accepted Kushina and Minato as his family, while Sasuke confronted his grief and began rebuilding his relationship with Mikoto as the Five Kage Summit approached.

• Naruto rejected Yamamoto Naoki’s ultimatum as Fukuyama’s samurai massacred civilians, and Shikamaru’s team arrived to find Naruto’s clones fighting back before Neji, Kimimaro, and Toneri trapped them in a barrier.
• Neji and the others defeated Shikamaru’s team and took them along to the Land of Stars, where the group saw famine in the Land of Rivers and then witnessed the Land of Stars provide organized refuge and disaster relief.
• Neji brought the group through Nagano City’s quarantine and into the Land of Stars, where Naruto reunited with Kushina, Minato, Menma, Hikari, and Ajisai and learned that Menma had arranged their yearly dream meetings.
• Gaara confronted Sasuke over his refusal to speak with Mikoto, and Mikoto and young Sasuke finally reunited while adult Sasuke watched with Boruto.
• Menma demonstrated the Spirit Reincarnation Technique by transferring the souls of Yoshikawa and Kurihara into prepared clones, hoping to use the method to resurrect Minato and Kushina.
• Mikoto explained why she had stayed away from Sasuke, and Sasuke met Shisui, learned about Hikari’s Rinnegan, and resolved to seek Menma’s help in becoming strong enough to kill Itachi.
• Sasuke declared his hatred of Itachi before the Uchiha clansmen, then surprised Mikoto by making her breakfast and shared a warm meal with her before Naruto arrived.