Chapter Summaries

White Zetsu infiltrated Amegakure, learned about Akatsuki’s rule, and searched for Groselle's Travels while confirming his suspicion that Akatsuki had members of the Twilight Hermit Society. Konan’s growing unease led her to a hidden chamber, where she asked Lord Adam whether the book had warned her of danger.

• White Zetsu entered Amegakure disguised as a merchant and used Psychological Suggestion to learn how Akatsuki had transformed the village.
• The izakaya owner told White Zetsu that the Angel was said to be in the village’s central tower, and White Zetsu erased the owner’s memory before leaving.
• White Zetsu concluded that Akatsuki had members of the Twilight Hermit Society and began planting thoughts in nearby pedestrians while searching for Groselle's Travels.
• Konan asked Nagato to watch for suspicious people, but kept the reason for her unease and her previous disappearance to herself.
• Konan entered a secret chamber beneath the tower and asked the book bearing Lord Adam’s name whether it had sent her a warning.

Konan summoned Orochimaru into a dream to ask him to divine whether anyone in Amegakure coveted Groselle's Travels, the book she had secretly guarded while Adam slept. Orochimaru agreed, claiming his loyalty to Adam had never wavered.

• Konan reflected on Adam's long slumber and suspected Ōnoki of Both Scales had helped sabotage the effort to eliminate the traitor.
• Troubled by a premonition, Konan lit a bronze lamp and entered a dreamlike space to summon Orochimaru.
• Orochimaru left Naruto training in Otogakure and entered the Gray Fog, where he found Konan in a crude version of Adam's Divine Kingdom.
• Konan revealed that the place was a dream granted to her by Adam and asked Orochimaru to divine whether someone in Amegakure coveted Groselle's Travels.
• Orochimaru warned that divining an item of such high level might cause a backlash, but agreed, insisting that his loyalty to Adam had not changed.

Konan learned that powerful enemies were likely approaching Amegakure and urged Nagato to hide so he could not be controlled. Nagato agreed to leave and secretly evacuate the civilians, determined to protect Konan and the village as war threatened to destroy their hard-won peace.

• Orochimaru's divination suggested a mid- to high-sequence Beyonder was in Amegakure, and Konan suspected White Zetsu and Obito.
• Konan warned Nagato to leave Amegakure and keep himself beyond the enemy's reach so the Six Paths could not be compromised.
• Nagato agreed to hide, while Konan feared Amegakure could be destroyed or erased entirely.
• Konan asked Nagato to evacuate the civilians as secretly and quickly as possible.
• Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain across Amegakure to begin the hidden evacuation, swearing to protect Konan and the village.

White Zetsu confronted Konan in Amegakure and demanded that she reveal where Groselle's Travels was, while using hypnotized civilians as shields. After he subdued Konan over the ocean, a Rinnegan-wielding man arrived and attacked him.

• White Zetsu discovered Nagato's evacuation plan, hypnotized Amegakure's civilians, and led them to the tower.
• Konan faced White Zetsu and denied knowing about Groselle's Travels, then attacked him with paper blades and Divine Sanction, killing many civilians.
• Konan flew away from Amegakure to draw White Zetsu away, but he pursued her and threatened to destroy the village.
• White Zetsu struck Konan with Mind Whip and began taking control of her Mind Body.
• A man with orange hair and Rinnegan appeared, used Banshō Ten'in to hurl a mountain into White Zetsu, and demanded to know why he had hurt Konan.

Nagato, Konan, and the Six Paths fought White Zetsu, whose Dragon Scales and Mythical Creature Form let it withstand their strongest attacks. Konan then revealed her prepared trap: six hundred billion Explosive Tags enhanced by Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tag, which began multiplying around White Zetsu.

• White Zetsu resisted the Asura Path and the summoned beasts, but Yahiko used Banshō Ten'in and Shinra Tensei to injure and blast it away.
• White Zetsu transformed into a gray Rock Dragon, overpowered Yahiko, and attacked Konan with Mind Breath as Nagato and the other Paths tried to protect her.
• Konan used Imprisonment to hold White Zetsu while the Human Path attempted Soul Extraction, but White Zetsu broke free and destroyed the Human Path.
• White Zetsu discovered that Yahiko and the other Rinnegan users were corpses and prepared to attack Nagato’s hidden real body.
• Nagato dragged White Zetsu toward the sea while Konan revealed six hundred billion Explosive Tags and activated Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tag.

Konan believed she had killed White Zetsu with her Explosive Tags, but it had survived by abandoning its main body and infiltrated Amegakure in Yahiko’s form. White Zetsu and Uchiha Obito tried to destroy Adam’s slumbering artifact, Groselle’s Travels, but were instead pulled inside it.

• Konan used six hundred billion Explosive Tags against White Zetsu, and Yahiko shielded her and Amegakure from the blast with Shinra Tensei.
• Konan thought White Zetsu was dead and let Yahiko carry her back to Amegakure, unaware that White Zetsu had hypnotized Nagato and taken Yahiko’s form.
• White Zetsu revealed itself in the secret room, explained how it had manipulated Konan into finding Groselle’s Travels, and announced its plan to surpass Adam.
• Uchiha Obito arrived and tried to destroy Groselle’s Travels with his space-time ability, but the booklet remained unharmed.
• White Zetsu and Uchiha Obito decided to enter the booklet, and Groselle’s Travels sucked them inside before closing.

White Zetsu and Obito struggled to survive inside Groselle's Travels, where they encountered the giant Groselle and discovered Adam in his memories. In the outside world, Uchiha Sōgetsu used Aleister Crowley's Pen to enter the book, pursuing what he believed was an opportunity to reach Sequence 1 despite the risk of awakening Ankewelt.

• White Zetsu and Obito found their powers cut off from the outside world and endured the blizzard, then cowered as a colossal white Dragon passed overhead.
• Obito and White Zetsu attacked the elf Shatalin, but Groselle arrived and confronted them.
• Obito and White Zetsu defeated Groselle and Shatalin, and White Zetsu entered Groselle's memories.
• White Zetsu saw Adam in Groselle's memories, causing the cave to shake as a higher being's presence watched them.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu told Adam that the opportunity to enter Sequence 1 lay in Alesshod and Groselle's Travels, then signed Groselle's Travels with Aleister Crowley's Pen.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu merged Aleister Crowley's Pen into the book and stepped into its scenes, declaring that he was coming for Ankewelt.

Uchiha Sōgetsu discovered Miracle City Luvid, the dreamscape’s core and the Dragon of Fantasy Ankewelt’s supposed Divine Kingdom, while Obito sought a cure for White Zetsu’s madness. After Sōgetsu secretly guided them toward Luvid by posing as Father Alvin, Obito set out believing he had found a lead to Adam.

• Uchiha Sōgetsu used Aleister Crowley’s Pen to locate Miracle City Luvid and decided to have others scout it first.
• White Zetsu succumbed to corruption from the dead giant Groselle and muttered a history of the Creator and the Angels, frightening Obito with the idea of devouring a god.
• Obito carried White Zetsu to Pesote City and asked Father Alvin to cure his companion’s madness.
• Father Alvin told Obito that only the Imaginary Angel Adam in Miracle City Luvid might be able to help White Zetsu.
• Obito left to follow White Zetsu’s brief point toward a towering mountain, while Sōgetsu revealed that he had fabricated Pesote City and steered them toward Luvid.

White Zetsu and Obito entered Miracle City Luvid to seek Ankewelt’s inheritance, but a presence behind the Bronze Gates hypnotized them and drew them inside. Uchiha Sōgetsu arrived with Aleister Crowley’s Pen and moved toward the palace with a yellow-robed figure, while Adam’s fate remained uncertain.

• White Zetsu identified Miracle City Luvid as Ankewelt’s imagined Divine Kingdom and decided that its legacy could help it become a Visionary.
• White Zetsu and Obito explored Ankewelt’s palace, where the hall projected their thoughts and murals showed Adam acquiring Groselle’s Travels and a mysterious feather pen.
• White Zetsu interpreted the final mural as a path to inherit Ankewelt’s legacy and used its mental abilities to locate a passage behind the broken pillar.
• White Zetsu and Obito saw many dark-blue-cracked eyes beyond the Bronze Gates, heard a call, and walked into the darkness under its influence.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu realized that White Zetsu and Obito had been hypnotized and wondered whether Adam had entered the sealed space willingly.
• As Aleister Crowley’s Pen struggled more violently near the palace, Uchiha Sōgetsu headed there with a yellow-robed figure.

White Zetsu killed Adam, claimed his pathways and the Dragon of Fantasy’s inheritance, and rose to become the Visionary before awakening restrained in a psychiatric hospital as Bai Awang. Confronted with novels and comics matching his memories, he could no longer distinguish reality from delusion.

• White Zetsu beheaded Adam, destroyed his body, and took the Spectator Pathway card and the Dragon of Fantasy’s hidden Potions.
• White Zetsu seized control of the Twilight Hermit Society, conquered the Shinobi World, and advanced through the Sequences to become the Visionary.
• White Zetsu suddenly awoke restrained in a hospital bed, where Director Zong identified him as patient Bai Awang and described his experiences as delusions.
• A nurse showed Bai Awang Lord of the Mysteries, and he found its Sequences, characters, and events echoed his memories.
• Director Zong showed Bai Awang the Hokage Ninja comic, and Bai Awang broke down, admitting he could not tell what was real.

White Zetsu accepted Director Zong’s advice to treat its visions as a realistic game, while Uchiha Sōgetsu encountered Ankewelt in the library beyond the Bronze Door. Ankewelt revealed that White Zetsu’s story was a gift and that White Zetsu was Sōgetsu’s opportunity to advance to Sequence 1.

• White Zetsu told Director Zong it had stopped having hallucinations, but Director Zong warned it that the imagined world might return and advised it to regard that world as a realistic game.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu explored the vast library beyond the Bronze Door and found Adam praying before a giant cross.
• Ankewelt took over Adam’s personality, introduced himself as the Dragon of Fantasy, and discussed how God had influenced his failure and the Ancient Sun God’s plans.
• Ankewelt told Uchiha Sōgetsu that he was a way to break free from God and handed him a book titled White Zetsu’s Travels.
• Ankewelt revealed that White Zetsu’s apparent recovery had left it a puppet, then asked whether Sōgetsu was satisfied with the ending.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu realized that White Zetsu was his opportunity to advance to Sequence 1.

Uchiha Sōgetsu questioned Ankewelt about the mysterious gift and learned that Groselle's Travels, the Divine Kingdom of Levichede, and Erihog were entrusted to him. After leaving the book, he used White Zetsu's story to complete his advancement to Sequence 1: Writer, while suspecting that greater forces had arranged his path.

• Ankewelt told Uchiha Sōgetsu that he could leave freely, entrusted him with Groselle's Travels, the Divine Kingdom of Levichede, and Erihog, and said they would not meet again.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu returned to Adam, who verified that he had not been replaced, and learned that Ankewelt had given him a book built on White Zetsu's story as an advancement opportunity.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu decided to use the book, and White Zetsu's story began unfolding across its pages as the advancement opportunity arrived.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu completed the Sequence 1: Writer ritual and gained the power to control minds through the Subconscious Domain, along with a measure of omnipotence.

Uchiha Sōgetsu advanced to Sequence 1, accommodated the Visionary Uniqueness, and prepared to make White Zetsu the foundation of the Sun Pathway while Adam took over the Twilight Hermit Society. The Society’s members gathered at the Church of Bones, where Adam announced the approaching Tide of the Era and urged them to advance quickly to face the coming crisis.

• Uchiha Sōgetsu became a Sequence 1 Author, accommodated the Visionary Uniqueness, and decided to keep White Zetsu as the foundation for the Sun Pathway.
• Uchiha Sōgetsu explained that Uchiha Obito had served his purpose and told Adam to manage the Twilight Hermit Society in his place.
• Konan gathered Orochimaru, Uchiha Mikoto, Hatake Sakumo, and Hagoromo Otsutsuki in the Mind Domain and led them to the Church of Bones.
• Adam welcomed the Society members and introduced the two newcomers, Nidhogg and Izanami.
• Adam announced that the Tide of the Era was approaching and urged everyone to advance soon to face the coming crisis.

Uchiha Sōgetsu approved Sasriel’s plan to bolster the Aurora Society by creating one hundred thousand White Zetsu, while Bai Awang went to capture Fifth Kazekage Gaara. Gaara’s defense against Bai Awang’s overwhelming attack ended in a devastating explosion over Sunagakure.

• Uchiha Sōgetsu discussed the Twilight Hermit Society and Aurora Society, then agreed with Sasriel to strengthen the latter using one hundred thousand White Zetsu.
• Sasriel reported that Uchiha Itachi was preparing to advance to Sequence Four and that Hidan had reached Sequence 8.
• Gaara reflected on becoming Fifth Kazekage before Bai Awang appeared and demanded that he come along under Uchiha Itachi’s orders.
• Gaara attacked Bai Awang with sand, but Bai Awang melted his defenses and revealed his identity.
• Bai Awang unleashed Sunflare at Gaara and the Sand Ninja, and Gaara’s sand barrier broke as a huge explosion and mushroom cloud engulfed Sunagakure.

Gaara fought Bai Awang to protect Sunagakure, but Bai Awang’s overwhelming Sun Pathway powers devastated the village and left Gaara unconscious. Bai Awang returned to the Aurora Society with Gaara, while Uchiha Itachi asked about his new pathway.

• Gaara remembered Karura’s love, rose to defend Sunagakure, and ordered the village’s ninjas and Anbu to evacuate the villagers.
• Gaara attacked Bai Awang with vast waves of sand and metal, but Bai Awang shattered his defenses with blazing light and destroyed part of the village.
• Gaara tried to lure Bai Awang away from Sunagakure, but Bai Awang unleashed another sunbeam that killed hundreds of people.
• Bai Awang called the villagers game characters and identified himself as Sequence Two, a Sun Chaser, before overpowering Gaara’s sand attacks.
• Gaara raised a massive sand barrier over Sunagakure against Bai Awang’s Chasing the Sun, but Bai Awang ultimately defeated him and carried him unconscious to the Aurora Society.
• Uchiha Itachi asked Bai Awang whether the Sun Pathway was enjoyable, and Bai Awang praised it while suggesting that Itachi try the Witch pathway.

Bai Awang left the psychiatric hospital to test whether his world was fake, but his mother’s appearance and memories made him break down and question what was real. Sōgetsu’s written story brought Bai Awang back to the hospital, while Sōgetsu wondered if he had taken the events too far.

• Sōgetsu allowed Bai Awang half an hour outside, hoping he would confront his doubts about reality, and then discussed Uchiha Hikari’s choice of the Error pathway with her.
• Bai Awang escaped over the hospital wall and ran through the city searching for the edge of the supposedly false world.
• Bai Awang took a child hostage at a kindergarten and demanded a car as police and security guards surrounded him.
• Bai Awang’s mother begged him to release the child, and her words and memories made him collapse and admit that he could not tell what was real.
• Sōgetsu’s medical record described Bai Awang’s return to Baishan Psychiatric Hospital, and Sōgetsu wondered whether the story had gone too far.

Tsunade learned that the Aurora Society had abducted Gaara and sent Kakashi’s team to support Sunagakure. Jiraiya and Sasuke returned to Konoha, where Sasuke revealed how much she had accomplished during their two years away.

• An Anbu delivered Sunagakure’s distress call, and Tsunade learned the Aurora Society had defeated and abducted Gaara to pursue the Tailed Beasts.
• Tsunade and Kakashi agreed to aid Sunagakure, and Kakashi departed with Sakura Haruno, Neji Hyuga, and Yamato while Might Guy’s Squad was recalled as a second wave.
• Jiraiya and Sasuke returned to Konoha after two years of training, and Tsunade welcomed them at the Hokage’s Office.
• Sasuke revealed that she had mastered the Yin Seal, and Jiraiya said she had perfected a powerful ninjutsu that left him bedridden for three months.
• Jiraiya added that Sasuke had begun training in Sage Jutsu, leaving Tsunade and Shizune stunned by her abilities.

Tsunade tested Sasuke’s strength and, impressed by her new abilities, sent her to support Sunagakure after Gaara was captured. On the way, Sasuke reunited with Naruto, who warned her about the Aurora Society and Iwagakure before revealing he had advanced to Sequence 5.

• Tsunade fought Sasuke at the training ground and was impressed when Sasuke survived her strength and demonstrated Time Zero and hand-seal-free ninjutsu.
• Tsunade assigned Sasuke to join the second team sent to support Sunagakure after the Aurora Society defeated and captured Gaara.
• Sasuke departed ahead of Might Guy, Rock Lee, and Tenten to scout the route to Sunagakure.
• A gray-robed figure restrained Sasuke, then revealed himself as Naruto, whom she had not seen in two years.
• Naruto warned Sasuke that the Aurora Society was beyond her power and urged her to watch Iwagakure, then revealed he was Sequence 5: Traveler and nearing Demigod.

Uzumaki Naruto returned to Orochimaru’s base, where Orochimaru discussed Ōnoki of Both Scales’s rise and Naruto’s need to complete his Promotion Ritual. In Sunagakure, Sasuke joined Kakashi’s team to pursue Gaara’s kidnappers, then confronted the Third Kazekage, who was helping the Aurora Society.

• Uzumaki Naruto met with Orochimaru, who revealed that Ōnoki of Both Scales had become a Sequence 2 Duke of Entropy and that Iwagakure was under his control.
• Orochimaru reminded Uzumaki Naruto that his Promotion Ritual required him to seal a Demigod, while Naruto said he was seeking a target other than Sasuke.
• Sasuke arrived in Sunagakure, reunited with Kakashi, Sakura, Neji, Tenten, and Chiyo, and joined their pursuit of Gaara’s kidnappers.
• Black Zetsu told Uchiha Itachi he needed about ten hours to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and sent a pawn to delay Konoha’s group.
• The Third Kazekage fought Kakashi’s group with Iron Sand, and Chiyo recognized him before he declared that the Aurora Society was the Shinobi World’s hope.

Kakashi's group encountered the reanimated Third Kazekage, and Chiyo stayed behind to let them continue toward the Aurora Society's headquarters. As the Third Kazekage overwhelmed Chiyo, Sasori rescued her and challenged him with the Red Secret Technique: Hundred Puppets Performance.

• Kakashi recognized the Third Kazekage as a victim of the Impure World Reincarnation, and Chiyo summoned the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu to hold him back.
• Chiyo used her puppets to protect Kakashi's group as they escaped, losing several puppets while the Third Kazekage attacked with Iron Sand.
• The Third Kazekage trapped Chiyo in a forest of multiplying Iron Sand spikes and began destroying her remaining puppets.
• Sasori emerged from a puppet, rescued Chiyo, and revealed that he wore the Akatsuki's black robe with Red Clouds.
• Sasori summoned a vast swarm of puppets with the Red Secret Technique: Hundred Puppets Performance and challenged the Third Kazekage.