Chapter Summaries

Uchiha Tokimitsu defeated Orochimaru in a spar and recruited Kisame Hoshigaki into a new Shogunate combat division as tensions with the sacred lands grew. Meanwhile, Jiraiya accepted a summons to Ryūchi Cave, unaware that the sages were sending him there under false pretenses.

• Uchiha Tokimitsu overwhelmed Orochimaru with Sage Art fireballs that changed direction and exploded around him.
• Orochimaru told Tokimitsu that Natural Energy had become easier to sense through the Sage Art Seed, and they discussed the sacred lands’ likely response to the Akatsuki Organization’s destruction.
• Tokimitsu appointed Kisame Hoshigaki to a new main combat division and ordered him to take Samehada to his new post.
• At Mount Myōboku, Fukasaku and Shima comforted Jiraiya and told him the sacred lands would support him against the Shogunate.
• Fukasaku gave Jiraiya a formation scroll to Ryūchi Cave, and Shima provided a return scroll; Jiraiya entered the formation believing both sacred lands served him.

Uchiha Tokimitsu’s new 150-person combat unit joined Uchiha Shiina’s Joint Anti-Terrorism Unit and proved its strength in a series of exercises. After Rasa’s detachment suffered a decisive defeat, Shiina appointed him commander of the newly created First Column, while privately planning to use the promotion to manage his ambition and authority.

• Uchiha Tokimitsu sent Kisame Hoshigaki north with an elite 150-person unit composed of chunin and above to join Uchiha Shiina’s command.
• Kisame Hoshigaki’s unit won nineteen of its twenty-four exercises, including a swift defeat of Rasa’s detachment through coordinated attacks and counters to his Iron Sand.
• Uchiha Shiina privately consoled Rasa after the defeat and offered him command of a new combat echelon above the detachment level.
• Rasa accepted his appointment as leader of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Unit First Column, which included Detachments Twenty-One through Twenty-Four.
• After Rasa left, Uchiha Shiina burned the unused appointment letters and planned to promote Rasa further if he served well, then later take the column away from him.

The Third Kazekage struggled to control Sunagakure’s dysfunctional Elder Council as its members argued over taxes and Rasa’s promotion. Ebizo backed raising the United Company’s tax farming amount, then proposed dissolving the council and holding a full reelection, which delighted the Third Kazekage.

• Sunagakure’s elders argued over raising taxes, while the Third Kazekage reflected on their corruption and the government’s dependence on the United Company’s oasis contracts.
• The Third Kazekage redirected the meeting to Rasa’s promotion, but elders demanded his punishment, his replacement, and access to his Konoha Kekkei Genkai ninja.
• Ebizo challenged the elders’ proposals, warning that their recklessness could push Sunagakure toward disaster and conflict with Konoha.
• Ebizo urged the Third Kazekage to raise the United Company’s tax farming amount to secure funds and supplies for Sunagakure.
• Ebizo proposed dissolving the Elder Council and holding a full reelection, and the Third Kazekage enthusiastically agreed.

Uchiha Tokimitsu rejected Sunagakure’s tax demand and ordered military restructuring and increased United Company hiring in the Land of Wind. Meanwhile, Jiraiya emerged from Ryūchi Cave, struggled with its influence, and realized his presence could drive ordinary snakes into slaughter.

• Uchiha Tokimitsu refused the Third Kazekage’s demand to raise taxes on contracted oases and ordered Commander Fugaku to prepare the Western Border Defense Force for military restructuring.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu planned to increase the United Company’s long-term ninja hires in the Land of Wind to win over the lower class.
• Jiraiya emerged from Ryūchi Cave in the Land of Swamps with vertical pupils and new senses, then bought poisonous snakes from local snake catchers.
• Jiraiya released the snakes into a swamp, where they began killing one another, and the Little Flower Snake explained that Ryūchi Cave power had awakened their instincts.
• Jiraiya realized his presence could cause the snakes’ slaughter and touched the bite mark left by the White Snake Sage.

Uchiha Tokimitsu prepared to exploit Sunagakure’s growing factional conflict, while the Third Kazekage and Ebizo confronted the Elder Faction’s rebellion. The chapter ended with Sasori coldly asking the Third Kazekage, “Do you want to die?”

• After the elders formed the Sand Village Guardian Army, Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered United Company to assemble three Defense Columns and prepare a peacekeeping operation.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu moved Rasa’s First Column to the southern Land of Grass, hoping to give Sunagakure’s middle class a banner to rally behind.
• The Third Kazekage, Ebizo, and Pakura learned that United Company’s forces had entered the Land of Rivers and Rasa’s troops had moved south.
• Ebizo admitted that he had instigated the Elder Faction’s secession and said he would take the blame while the Third Kazekage dealt with the rebellion.
• Pakura agreed to patrol the border, while the Third Kazekage warned her to avoid Konoha and United Company’s contracted oases.
• The Third Kazekage found Sasori beside an oasis lake and offered to teach him Magnet Release, but Sasori asked if he wanted to die.

As Sunagakure’s Elder Faction lost ground, Rasa gained support from the middle-class Sand Ninja, while Sasori secretly tested the Third Kazekage’s defenses. After reports linked a snake uprising in the Land of Swamps to Ryūchi Cave and revealed Jiraiya’s presence there, Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered an operation and prepared to go himself.

• The Kazekage Faction and Veteran Faction defeated the Elder Faction’s Guardian Army, while Pakura and Uchiha Fugaku maintained a tense border standoff.
• The middle-class Sand Ninja rallied around Rasa, making him the spokesman for a faction within Sunagakure.
• Sasori provoked the Third Kazekage, then secretly recorded how his poisoned needles performed against the Kazekage’s defenses.
• A poisonous snake uprising in the Land of Swamps was suppressed by a merchant caravan’s ninja, and Joint Anti-Terrorism Unit scouts found a Ryūchi Cave snake den.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu received reports that Jiraiya had been spotted in the Land of Swamps and ordered the Red Force First Division to deploy and seal him in the swamps.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu decided to go to the Land of Swamps himself.

Jiraiya pushed the Great Sage Lands toward a decisive battle against the Shogunate while secretly seeking to protect Yahiko. Uchiha Tokimitsu assembled a large force and set the battle for three days later, leaving Sage Fukasaku and Tagitsuhime suspicious of Jiraiya’s strange behavior and worried about the coming casualties.

• Jiraiya argued that the Great Sage Lands had to confront the Shogunate directly, and Sage Fukasaku reluctantly accepted his reasoning.
• Jiraiya encouraged Yahiko to keep working on the defenses while privately thinking that he needed to send the children away.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu learned that the aberrations were fortifying the swamps, summoned reinforcements, and ordered civilians evacuated before a decisive battle in three days.
• Jiraiya told Sage Fukasaku and Tagitsuhime that thousands of Shogunate forces were gathering and insisted that retreat was no longer an option.
• Sage Fukasaku and Tagitsuhime fought while insulting their respective Great Sages, then agreed that Jiraiya seemed emotionally numb and dangerously changed.

Uchiha Tokimitsu led the ninja army into a decisive battle against the forces of Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, using Tailed Beast Ball bombardment and flanking attacks to break through their forward positions. The fighting continued without a decisive victory, so Tokimitsu ordered his forces to defend and prepare supplies for a campaign lasting up to three days.

• Uchiha Tokimitsu gave a speech and ordered Rasa, Kisame Hoshigaki, and other units to begin the assault on the aberrations’ positions.
• Karatachi Yagura and the Two-Tails Matatabi fired Tailed Beast Balls while the ninja advanced, and Tagitsuhime sent Garaga to punish anyone retreating.
• Jiraiya reassured Sage Fukasaku and Sage Shima, then sent Yahiko to oversee the rear and activate the ambush force if needed.
• Uchiha Shisui noticed that enemy forces kept reoccupying captured positions, while Karatachi Yagura and the Two-Tails Matatabi grew exhausted after firing ten Tailed Beast Balls.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered Hizashi Hyuga to investigate, told the army to hold its positions, and set a goal of ending the battle within three days.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered continued Chakra Cannon bombardment and told Orochimaru that his New Snake Medicine would soon be useful.

Uchiha Tokimitsu’s forces battered the allied aberrant army with sustained artillery, forcing the rival Ninja Frogs and Ninja Snakes to cooperate as casualties mounted. As the Konoha Ninja Army prepared a general offensive at dawn, Tagitsuhime and Sage Fukasaku suspected Jiraiya and agreed to watch him closely.

• The Ninja Frogs and Ninja Snakes quarreled over battlefield orders and secretly attacked one another while Jiraiya urged them to focus on surviving the war.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu’s barrage strategy devastated the aberrant army, while Rasa praised the cannons and the Ninja Army reported fewer than a thousand casualties against thousands of dead aberrations.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered bombardment to continue through the night and a full offensive to begin at six the next morning, with supplies and a victory banquet prepared.
• After two days of bombardment, the Ninja Frogs and Ninja Snakes stopped fighting each other and worked together as they repaired defenses and treated wounds.
• Tagitsuhime and Sage Fukasaku discussed their escape talismans and secret techniques, suspected Jiraiya because Yahiko had disappeared, and agreed to keep a close watch on him during the coming offensive.

Uchiha Tokimitsu directed a devastating artillery bombardment before the Konoha Ninja Army launched its full assault on Jiraiya's forces. As the battle erupted, Tokimitsu and Orochimaru confronted Jiraiya and Tagitsuhime, and Tokimitsu turned Jiraiya's Sage Art attack back with the Uchiha Flame Fan.

• Jiraiya concealed most of the Ninja Snakes and Ninja Frogs in shell shelters beneath the swamp and prepared to ambush the advancing Konoha army.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered repeated artillery barrages, destroying exposed defenders and striking the swamp with Tailed Beast Balls before the full assault began.
• Tagitsuhime charged the Konoha army and used White Rage Technique against Rasa, but Uchiha Tokimitsu and Orochimaru intervened.
• Orochimaru and Karatachi Yagura prepared to fight Tagitsuhime while Tokimitsu mounted Matatabi and formed a miniature Susanoo around them.
• Jiraiya attacked Tokimitsu with Sage Art: Goemon, but Tokimitsu used the Uchiha Flame Fan to send the oil fire back toward him.

Uchiha Tokimitsu overwhelmed Jiraiya and the allied forces of Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, while Jiraiya accepted his apparent death after revealing he believed he had been an aberration since the White Snake Sage bit him. Tokimitsu beheaded Jiraiya, but the body vanished in a flash of white light, leaving the outcome unexplained.

• Uchiha Tokimitsu used Sage Art and Perfect Susanoo to suppress Jiraiya and the Two Sages, trapping them inside the Uchiha Flame Formation.
• Orochimaru and Karatachi Yagura remained locked in a draw with Tagitsuhime, while Rasa and Uchiha Shisui fought the Ninja Snakes and Ninja Frogs on the battlefield.
• Tokimitsu broke through Jiraiya's defenses with Five Dragon Bullet, seriously injuring Sage Fukasaku and shattering the Flame Formation.
• Jiraiya severed his Chakra connection to the Two Sages and told them he believed he had been dead since the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave bit his neck.
• Tokimitsu killed Sage Shima as Sage Fukasaku escaped with the teleportation Sage Talisman, then beheaded Jiraiya at his request.
• Jiraiya's body vanished in a flash of white light, leaving his severed head behind and puzzling Tokimitsu.

Uchiha Tokimitsu and his allies fought Tagitsuhime until she summoned the White Snake Sage’s phantom, who demanded Orochimaru. Tokimitsu attacked the phantom and targeted Tagitsuhime, ending the chapter as his Five Dragon Combo struck at her exposed snake body.

• Tagitsuhime knocked Orochimaru into a crater while Uchiha Tokimitsu arrived with the Two-Tails Matatabi, and Hikari-no-Mikoto and Matatabi pinned Tagitsuhime down.
• Tagitsuhime crushed the Ryuchi Cave Talisman and summoned the White Snake Sage’s phantom, which resisted Tokimitsu’s attacks and trapped Hikari-no-Mikoto and Tagitsuhime in stone dragons.
• Tokimitsu broke through the White Snake Sage’s stone techniques, freed Hikari-no-Mikoto, and equipped Matatabi with Complete Body Armored Susanoo.
• The White Snake Sage demanded that Tokimitsu hand over Orochimaru, but Tokimitsu used darkness and wind and fire Sage Arts to attack her and expose Tagitsuhime’s lower body.
• Tokimitsu drained Matatabi’s Tailed Beast Chakra and launched the Sage Art Release: Five Dragon Combo at Tagitsuhime.

Uchiha Tokimitsu defeated Tagitsuhime and absorbed her Sage Art Origin, then fought the White Snake Sage’s phantom as it attacked his Perfect Susanoo. The phantom dispersed and detonated itself against Susanoo, leaving the battle’s outcome uncertain.

• Uchiha Tokimitsu trapped Tagitsuhime and the White Snake Sage’s phantom in darkness, then struck them with Sage Arts and the Five Dragon Bullet Technique.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu seized the badly injured Tagitsuhime with Perfect Susanoo, and Hikari-no-Mikoto scorched and devoured her remains.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu absorbed Tagitsuhime’s Sage Art Origin, strengthening his Sage Chakra and Perfect Susanoo.
• The White Snake Sage’s phantom transformed into a giant snake and wrestled with Uchiha Tokimitsu’s Perfect Susanoo while he drew on Two-Tails Matatabi’s Chakra.
• The White Snake Sage’s phantom dispersed into violent energy and exploded against Perfect Susanoo, creating a vast mushroom cloud and blasting Orochimaru away.

Uchiha Tokimitsu survived the White Snake Sage's self-destruction but was trapped in its spatial storm, where he studied the distortions and devised a technique to calm them. After returning to the battlefield, he found the battle nearly won and named the crater Lake of Sighs.

• Uchiha Shisui, Kisame Hoshigaki, and others failed to enter the blast zone, while Uchiha Shiina stopped Shisui from collapsing.
• Orochimaru and Karatachi Yagura arrived and reassured the gathered forces that Uchiha Tokimitsu was alive; Tokimitsu then ordered them to resume the battle.
• Trapped inside the blast zone, Uchiha Tokimitsu discussed the Ten-Tails' shell and the moon with Two-Tails Matatabi while studying the spatial disturbances.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu used Ninja Art: Void Anchor to calm the Chakra flames and spatial fissures, then emerged unharmed with Two-Tails Matatabi weakened.
• Uchiha Shiina reported that the forces were eliminating the remaining enemies, and Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered the army back into action.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu surveyed the battlefield's dead and named the hot-spring-filled crater Lake of Sighs.

Ōnoki responded to Konoha’s victory by strengthening Iwagakure’s military and reorganizing its occupied territories into a special economic zone. On Mount Myōboku, the Great Toad Sage used a Sage Talisman and Hagoromo’s help to resurrect Jiraiya as Asura’s final reincarnation, with a new face and golden hair.

• Ōnoki smashed the radio broadcasting Tokimitsu’s victory report and ordered Iwagakure to ally with Kumogakure and expand its ninja forces to thirty thousand.
• Ōnoki made Kensei commander of a new Special Economic Zone Construction Corps and tasked Kitsuchi with obtaining Konoha New Area’s regulations.
• The Great Toad Sage prepared to resurrect Jiraiya, whose headless corpse lay in Mount Myōboku’s sleeping palace.
• Hagoromo agreed to help by allowing Asura to reincarnate in Jiraiya’s body, while explaining that this would be Asura and Indra’s final reincarnation.
• The Great Toad Sage activated the Sage Talisman, and Jiraiya’s corpse regenerated with a new face and golden hair as Asura awoke.

After celebrating the victory in the Land of Swamps, Uchiha Tokimitsu returned to Konoha and congratulated Uchiha Fugaku on the birth of his son, Itachi. He investigated whether the child might be Indra’s reincarnation and left himself a note to watch Itachi as he grew up, while wondering whether an old Uchiha clan head might still be alive.

• At the victory banquet, Uchiha Tokimitsu learned that Uchiha Fugaku had hurried back to Konoha because his fiancée Mikoto was about to give birth.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu discussed the Uzumaki Clan’s recovery with Ashina Clan Head, who said the clan had suffered only six injuries and had no newborns due that year.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu arranged a congratulatory gift for Fugaku and visited the clan head’s residence after returning to Konoha, where he met Fugaku’s newborn son, Itachi.
• A Dark Guard ninja reported that neither the Uzumaki Clan nor the Senju Clan had newborns that year, and Uchiha Tokimitsu considered whether Itachi could be Indra’s reincarnation.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu wrote a memo to check on Itachi when he was older and wondered whether an old Uchiha clan head might still be alive.

Asura learned that Ryūchi Cave had withdrawn its Ninja Snakes, while the White Snake Sage ordered the cave sealed for three hundred years rather than risk confronting Uchiha Tokimitsu. Tagorihime discovered that someone had broken through a Sage Art seal and rushed to attack them.

• Sage Fukasaku told Asura that Ryūchi Cave had injured a messenger frog and refused to provide Ninja Snakes, and Asura said he would later speak with the White Snake Sage.
• The White Snake Sage ordered Tagorihime to seal Ryūchi Cave and keep its inhabitants inside for three hundred years, explaining that survival mattered more than revenge for Ichikishimahime and Tsuruhime.
• Tagorihime questioned the decision to abandon her sisters' deaths, but the White Snake Sage insisted that Ryūchi Cave should wait out the turmoil surrounding Uchiha Tokimitsu and the Uchiha Clan.
• After leaving the Divine Temple, Tagorihime grew furious and kicked several Ninja Snakes to death before retreating to her sleeping cave.
• Tagorihime sensed that someone had broken through a Sage Art seal, transformed into a giant green snake, and charged toward the disturbance.

Uchiha Tokimitsu explained his doctrine of power to Uchiha Shisui and gave him a Sage Art Seed. Meanwhile, Asura confronted Tagorihime at Ryūchi Cave and demanded to speak with the White Snake Sage, leaving her terrified and pleading for help.

• Uchiha Tokimitsu taught Uchiha Shisui that power made the clan’s reasoning persuasive and showed him Yin Fire Chakra.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu offered Uchiha Shisui a Sage Art Seed, and Shisui swore to serve the clan before receiving it.
• Tagorihime attacked the blond intruder with poisonous mist, but he used Inorganic Reincarnation to turn it into a Poison Dragon.
• The intruder identified himself as Asura and explained that he had come to discuss eliminating rioters and restoring legitimate order.
• Asura revealed that he had blocked Ryūchi Cave’s communications, then released the seal and let Tagorihime contact the White Snake Sage for help.

Uchiha Tokimitsu explained to Uchiha Shisui how rulers maintained power through bargains with the clans and ordinary people. Meanwhile, Asura bluffed the White Snake Sage into agreeing to send twenty thousand Ninja Snakes in exchange for Ryūchi Cave’s freedom to claim the Land of Whirlpools, then escaped to Mount Myōboku before the Sage’s poison gas overwhelmed him.

• Uchiha Shisui asked Uchiha Tokimitsu why the False Third’s rule had lasted, and Tokimitsu explained how the Senju, allied clans, and the Hyuga’s internal divisions had kept the village stable.
• Uchiha Tokimitsu told Uchiha Shisui that rule depended on a lasting transaction and said the Uchiha Clan held power through strength and righteousness.
• The White Snake Sage and Tagorihime confronted Asura, who admitted he needed Ryūchi Cave’s power and proposed trading the Land of Whirlpools for its support.
• The White Snake Sage demanded incense offerings and the Uzumaki Clan’s service, while Asura negotiated its contribution down to twenty thousand Ninja Snakes.
• Asura escaped Ryūchi Cave with the Flying Thunder God Technique and collapsed at Mount Myōboku, where Sage Fukasaku treated him for the White Snake Sage’s poison.
• Asura revealed that he and the Great Toad Sage had planned the deception, and that his bloodline and bluff had convinced the White Snake Sage to accept the deal.

Hizashi Hyuga defied the Great Elder’s attempt to summon him, using his Konoha and military positions to protect himself and the branch family from the main family’s control. Meanwhile, Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered a sweep of spy bases uncovered in the Administrative Department, while Mitokado Homura waited to learn what would happen to his position.

• Hizashi Hyuga confronted the Great Elder at his residence and condemned the main family’s control over the branch family, including the Caged Bird Seal.
• Hizashi Hyuga invoked his rights as a Konoha Jonin and Joint Anti-Terrorism Unit Chief Strategist to warn the Great Elder’s guards away from his private property, and the Great Elder left without taking him.
• Hizashi Hyuga returned inside, admitted to himself how frightened he had been, and began planning to buy a home in Konoha New Area.
• Mitokado Homura reported that the Administrative Department had uncovered three spies, and Uchiha Tokimitsu questioned how confidential files had been leaked.
• Uchiha Shisui arrived with a report identifying spy bases, and Uchiha Tokimitsu ordered him to lead a joint operation to destroy them without interrogating confirmed spies.