Chapter Summaries

Sasuke took Sasori and Chiyo to the Land of Rivers, where they reunited with Sasori’s parents. The chapter left Sasori facing his family’s disbelief as he revealed that he was their long-lost son.

• Sasori declined Sasuke’s suggestion to open a factory and discussed taking a vacation with him.
• Sasuke teased Chiyo about his identity, while she failed to discover who he was.
• Sasuke brought Sasori and Chiyo to the Land of Rivers and used the Muggle Dispersal Technique to keep neighbors away from the house.
• Sekiryu and Saori recognized Chiyo, and the family reunited after believing they had been buried.
• Sasori told his astonished parents that he was Sasori.

Sasori reunited with his family and asked Sasuke to procure equipment suited to his small body. After Sasuke returned from the Land of Marshes, Kabuto told him Danzo was seeking Orochimaru’s support, and Sasuke looked for a way to refuse without exposing that Orochimaru was gone.

• Sasori explained his past to his family, while Sasuke helped account for his salary and shared news about the shinobi world.
• Sasuke offered to help Sasori’s younger brothers find work or fund their hobbies, then left after spending a day with the family.
• Sasori gave Sasuke a list of supplies for equipment to assist with operations in his small body.
• Sasuke traveled to the Land of Marshes to inspect the effects of unrest and a volcanic eruption on his investments and supply purchases.
• Kabuto told Sasuke that Danzo wanted Orochimaru’s support and had sent Konoha’s shinobi roster as a condition.
• Sasuke told Kabuto to avoid spending more effort on the roster and asked him to find a way to dismiss Danzo without raising suspicion.

Sasuke and Kabuto discussed keeping Danzo occupied while Kabuto continued adapting to implanted Hashirama Cells. After Naruto returned from training and the Kazekage rescue, Jiraiya stayed away from Konoha, leaving Kakashi to monitor Naruto despite his injury.

• Kabuto advised Sasuke to delay dealing with Danzo, and Sasuke agreed to keep him in place while maintaining a low profile.
• Sasuke and Kabuto discussed the ongoing effects of Kabuto’s Hashirama Cell augmentation and decided he should avoid a Sharingan transplant until his body stabilized.
• Danzo learned Orochimaru had refused cooperation and began planning to turn against him after becoming Hokage, sending letters to potential allies outside Konoha.
• Jiraiya trained Naruto in basic ninja knowledge and helped him draw on more of the Nine-Tails’ Chakra by opening a small crack in the seal.
• After Naruto returned to Konoha and joined the mission to rescue the Kazekage, Jiraiya followed the teams to gather intelligence and stayed away after they returned.
• Jiraiya handed Naruto’s monitoring duties back to Kakashi, but Kakashi was injured, so Yamato temporarily led Team Seven.

The Sky Ninja attacked Konoha and nearby settlements from the air, prompting Konoha to launch a counterattack against their coastal fortress. Sasuke went directly to the ruins of the Land of Sky, where he learned how the Sky Ninja had tried to awaken Zero-Tails.

• The Sky Ninja launched an aerial assault on Konoha and then bombed villages and towns along their route.
• Konoha organized forces to counterattack the mobile fortress on the coast.
• Sasuke arrived at the ruins of the Land of Sky before Konoha's forces reached the coast.
• The Sky Ninja destroyed their own surface village to provoke the growth of the Zero-Tails embryo.
• Shennō had arranged for the embryo to grow inside a girl before slaughtering the people she cared about.

Sasuke infiltrated the Land of Sky’s fortress, rescued Hinata, and prepared to trap Shennong and the Sky Ninja. Naruto defeated the Zero-Tails long enough to free Uryū, while the beast’s consciousness returned to Shennong’s fortress to be sealed and used as a power source.

• Sasuke patrolled the ruined fortress and found Hinata imprisoned with the captured villagers.
• Sasuke took the keys, disguised a Reanimated Ninja as a Sky Ninja, anesthetized Hinata, and hid her outside with her chakra points sealed.
• Shennong faked his death before Uryū, then used Earth Style to enter the royal capital fortress.
• Sasuke summoned ten Reanimated Ninjas, who sealed the fortress’s entrances and exits with Earth Style.
• Naruto defeated the Zero-Tails with Rasengan and Talk no Jutsu, freeing Uryū as the beast’s consciousness returned to the fortress’s waiting seal.

Sasuke stopped Shennong from activating Ankbandian and captured him after he declared war on the Five Great Nations. Meanwhile, Naruto and Uryū searched the fog-covered ruins for missing villagers but became lost, leaving them to rely on Shadow Clones to investigate.

• Shennong began charging the underground base and declared war on the Five Great Nations in the name of the Land of Sky.
• Sasuke severed Shennong's head, pulverized his body with blade shadows, and sealed him in a scroll.
• Uryū insisted on searching the ruins for the missing villagers, while Sakura Haruno set out to seek help from the naval battle's main force.
• A thick fog engulfed the village and ruins, so Naruto sent Shadow Clones to investigate several moving groups of Chakra nearby.
• Naruto and Uryū realized they were lost in the ruins, and Uryū admitted she had only guessed that the missing villagers might be hiding there.

Naruto escaped a deadly fog with Uryū, Hinata, and Sakura, while a night-shaking disaster left Uryū's former village as a vast crater. Elsewhere, Sasuke began planning a major renovation of the floating fortress to make it a secure base.

• Naruto's Shadow Clones failed to clear the fog, and the rain helped create a poisonous mist that killed a passing snake.
• Naruto carried Uryū out of the fog, collected unconscious Hinata and Sakura, and reached a clear mountain area with them.
• Uryū examined Hinata and Sakura and found that their mental strength and Chakra had been depleted, so they needed rest and restorative potions.
• A widespread disturbance shook the ground around midnight, but no enemy attack followed.
• The next day, Uryū saw that her former village had been replaced by a vast crater and felt fear at having survived.
• Sasuke judged the floating fortress unsafe and outdated, and decided to renovate its structure, weapons, flight systems, and Zero-Tails seal himself.

Sasuke considered how to repurpose the Land of Sky’s Zero-Tails as a safe, environmentally friendly energy source instead of letting it kill people. He decided to keep the fortress aloft and began weighing the costs of optimizing it for long-term use.

• Sasuke compared Zero-Tails’ reliance on negative emotions with the Sage of Six Paths’ Tailed Beasts and judged its power and food supply limited.
• Sasuke concluded that Zero-Tails’ cycle of killing people would eventually weaken it and turn the world against it.
• Sasuke decided to prevent Zero-Tails from killing anyone and considered using it to absorb scattered negative emotions for energy.
• Sasuke planned to keep the Land of Sky fortress above the clouds and considered testing different ways to conceal it and reduce its flight costs.
• Sasuke spent several days drafting and revising optimization plans, then questioned whether their costs were worthwhile for a base that produced no profit.

Sasuke considered how to turn Sky City into a profitable communications hub, settling on radios and related services instead of television or satellite relays. He planned to wait for reconstruction in the Land of Fire to stabilize before positioning Sky City near its coast and using rebuilding projects to expand business.

• Sasuke dismissed renaming Sky City because it lacked a living tree and its flight systems differed from the original inspiration.
• Sasuke considered using Sky City as a signal relay but judged its low altitude and the political obstacles too limiting.
• Sasuke rejected promoting television because broadcasting infrastructure and televisions remained too expensive for ordinary people.
• Sasuke decided that radios, accessories, broadcasting services, and training schools could provide a more practical business.
• Sasuke favored placing Sky City over the sea but avoided the Land of Rain because the final boss was there.
• Sasuke planned to wait for reconstruction in the Land of Fire to stabilize, then position Sky City along the coast and let outside merchants profit from rebuilding.

After the Sky Ninja attack, a second enemy began massacring villages and stealing corpses, prompting Konoha to investigate grave robberies at the Temple of Fire. Team Seven encountered Sora and clashed with the grave robbers, who escaped after briefly restraining the team.

• Jiraiya returned to Konoha after hearing about the Sky Ninja attack, spoke with Tsunade, and left to gather intelligence.
• Tsunade sent ninja across the Land of Fire to check on villages, but another group attacked and wiped out clans before Konoha could respond.
• Reports of grave robberies spread, and Tsunade and Shikaku rejected Shizune's suspicion that Orochimaru was responsible.
• After the Temple of Fire requested help investigating stolen remains, Tsunade sent Team Seven, led by Yamato.
• Naruto met Sora, an apprentice Ninja Monk who unknowingly carried implanted Nine-Tails Chakra and hid his frightening strength.
• Team Seven and the Temple of Fire waited for the grave robbers, who stole coffins and used terrain ninjutsu to split the pursuers before retreating.

Kazuma exploited Konoha’s depleted security to launch an attack, using a village-wide blackout and Sora’s failed assassination attempt to create an opening. He and his men reached Konoha’s gates and sealed the village inside a dark chakra barrier.

• Yamato and Land Monk invited Sora to travel to Konoha, while Kazuma secretly prepared to destroy the village.
• Team Seven returned to Konoha with insufficient evidence, and Sora learned of Asuma’s misunderstanding about his father.
• Danzo viewed the rogue ninja’s actions as a chance to force Tsunade from office as Konoha’s forces were stretched thin.
• Kazuma sabotaged Konoha’s power plant, plunging the village into darkness, and Sora failed to assassinate Tsunade.
• Tsunade mobilized guards as Kazuma and his men fought their way to Konoha’s gates.
• Kazuma’s forces raised four ritual structures and used the Eight Gates Closed technique to seal Konoha and its airspace inside a dark chakra barrier.

Sasuke checked Konoha after the enemy’s barrier and battle flooded and devastated the village, then chose not to intervene. As Konoha restarted its reconstruction and Sasuke’s businesses continued to grow, his secluded subordinates remained unaware of the danger ahead.

• Sasuke used a Shadow Clone to inspect the Uchiha clan compound and found it flooded by water from the battle.
• Sasuke decided against breaking the barrier or assisting Konoha, expecting Tsunade to secure more funds for rebuilding.
• Konoha’s reconstruction returned to its starting point, forcing ninja to resume infrastructure work and endure overtime.
• Sasuke kept his subordinates training and developing products, while judging that only he and Naruto would face the final battle.
• Sasuke’s investments in electronics, building materials, and reselling goods brought mixed returns, with border sales of Blade Tools and medicine remaining more profitable.

Sasuke discovered that Isobu had lost contact with its original body and brought Matatabi out to confirm that her original body was also unreachable. He explained the plan to thwart the Akatsuki's attempt to revive the Ten-Tails, then discussed where Matatabi would stay while they waited.

• Isobu told Sasuke that it could no longer sense or contact its original body.
• Sasuke summoned Matatabi, who confirmed that she could not contact her original body through Yugito either.
• Matatabi explained to Isobu that the Akatsuki wanted to collect the Tailed Beasts and revive the Ten-Tails, while Sasuke planned to secretly prevent them from gathering the complete beasts.
• Sasuke admitted that he had deliberately left a loophole in Isobu's seal so it could alert him if the Akatsuki acted.
• Matatabi ate Isobu's fish and fruit while she and Sasuke discussed Isobu's memories of dying and returning as Chakra.
• Sasuke told Isobu the cooperation terms he had discussed with Matatabi and asked whether Matatabi wanted to stay underground or be sealed in a scroll.

Sasuke considered the resources and risks surrounding the Mercenary Bond while waiting for events to unfold. A public declaration by Hiruko triggered war fears across the Five Great Nations and forced Tsunade to distance Konoha from him.

• Sasuke reflected on Asuma's death, the value of his trench knives, and the potential uses of Earth Grudge Fear remains for research.
• Sasuke judged that attacking the forces behind the Mercenary Bond was too risky for now and tried to wait for events to develop.
• A massive projection appeared over the Five Great Nations, where Hiruko claimed responsibility for the disappearances of Kekkei Genkai ninja and announced his plan to start the Fourth Great Ninja War.
• News of the imminent war spread through the Five Great Nations, and Konoha could not control public opinion.
• Tsunade reported to the daimyo and declared that Hiruko had been a rogue ninja for more than a decade, severing his ties to Konoha.

As Konoha prepared for a possible war with the other nations, Kakashi learned that Hiruko’s cursed seal had activated and volunteered to confront him. Sasuke’s group decided to join the mission, while Mito stayed behind to guard their base.

• The other major nations deployed troops along their borders, and Tsunade returned to Konoha to mobilize its forces.
• Konoha’s Anbu team sent to Mount Sumeru was wiped out, and Hiruko activated the cursed seal on Kakashi.
• Kakashi realized Hiruko had chosen him as his fifth Kekkei Genkai target and volunteered to face him with a Fuinjutsu formula placed inside his body.
• Karin, Suigetsu, Kabuto Yakushi, and Kidomaru agreed to accompany Sasuke to confront Hiruko.
• Jugo told Sasuke to go and volunteered to remain at the base with Mito.

Sasuke and his companions attacked Hiruko at his mountain stronghold, where Sasuke challenged him to a fight. Sasuke tested Hiruko’s Swift Release in close combat as Hiruko’s subordinates fused with their modified Summoning Beasts and attacked the others.

• Kakashi reached the shattered stone gate near Hiruko’s hideout and sensed signs of a battle inside.
• Sasuke and his companions blasted open the entrance, drawing Hiruko and his three subordinates outside.
• Sasuke identified himself as the current head of the Uchiha clan and challenged Hiruko, who decided to take his Sharingan.
• Hiruko used Swift Release to attack Sasuke, who blocked his blows before countering with a lightning-charged assault.
• Hiruko’s subordinates fused with the modified Summoning Beasts, while Kabuto Yakushi criticized their grotesque forms.

Sasuke used the Eight Inner Gates and careful preparation to overcome Hiruko’s speed, Steel Style, and Storm Release. Hiruko’s body finally stopped regenerating, and Sasuke confirmed that he was dead.

• Hiruko used Void Style to absorb Sasuke’s Lightning Style enhancement, then amplified his own speed with Lightning Style.
• Sasuke opened the Eight Inner Gates and battered Hiruko through a mountain, then smashed his body with a warhammer.
• Hiruko’s remains expanded into a mass of paste as Sasuke tracked its shifting chakra core and struck it repeatedly.
• Hiruko unleashed Storm Release: Thunder Cloud Cavity Wave, but Sasuke sheltered inside a summoned metal cage and used Fire Style to dry the nearby black mist.
• Sasuke resumed his assault with a greatsword and shattered Hiruko until his body stopped regenerating and he was dead.

After killing Hiruko, Sasuke reunited with Kakashi, removed the curse controlling him, and taught him a technique for storing ocular jutsu. The group defeated Hiruko’s fused Summoning Beasts and looted his base, where the captured Kekkei Genkai ninja died.

• Sasuke returned to the mountain and watched Suigetsu, Kidomaru, and the others fight the regenerated fusion beast.
• Kakashi arrived and explained that Hiruko had placed a puppet curse on him, forcing him to seek Hiruko with help from the Hokage.
• Sasuke removed Hiruko’s Cursed Seal from Kakashi and confirmed that Hiruko was dead.
• Kakashi revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan, and Sasuke taught him the Transcription Seal to store an ocular technique.
• The group defeated the fusion beast and looted Hiruko’s base, where the four weakened Kekkei Genkai ninja died.

Naruto arrived at the ruined valley and found Sasuke with Kakashi and his companions, but learned that Sasuke was not being held by Hiruko or serving as Orochimaru’s captive. Naruto challenged Sasuke to test their growth, while Kakashi learned that one of Sasuke’s allies was Karin Uzumaki.

• Naruto charged into the valley with Shadow Clones, separating Sasuke and Kakashi and attacking Sasuke’s companions.
• Naruto realized Sasuke was working with the group and argued that he would defeat Orochimaru and bring Sasuke back to Konoha.
• Sasuke and Naruto agreed to fight and summoned their weapons as Karin watched from higher ground with the others.
• Naruto used coordinated Shadow Clone attacks with varied weapons and bow fire as he and Sasuke exchanged blows.
• Kakashi recognized Karin from the Chunin Exams, and Karin confirmed her name while keeping Sasuke’s plans confidential.

Kakashi tried to learn about Sasuke’s plans for Orochimaru while Sasuke and Naruto held an enormous practice battle. The fight ended when Suigetsu spotted someone approaching, leaving the group to deal with the unexpected arrival.

• Kakashi questioned Sasuke’s group about Orochimaru, but they gave evasive answers and kept their plans secret.
• Naruto sent wave after wave of Shadow Clones against Sasuke, and Kabuto Yakushi counted five hundred clones defeated.
• Sasuke and Naruto escalated their battle with Lightning Style, Earth Style, Wind Style, and Water Style, devastating the canyon around Hiruko’s base.
• Karin and Suigetsu bickered while watching the fight, then Karin sensed someone approaching and Suigetsu called out to Sasuke.
• Sasuke and Naruto stopped fighting, exchanged remarks about their progress and the dangers of Akatsuki, and Sasuke chose not to tell Naruto how to feel about the Nine-Tails.