Chapter Summaries

Tsunade reunited with Kushina in Kusagakure and learned that Kushina was alive and had been secretly raising Naruto there. Kushina hurried away before Tsunade could discover more about her home, leaving Tsunade to suspect that Kushina and the Grass Ninja Leader had an unusual relationship.

• Kushina told Tsunade how Kusagakure had rescued her after the Nine-Tails Rebellion and kept her alive in secret.
• Kushina assured Tsunade that Naruto was doing well but complained about his fighting, poor grades, and rude behavior.
• Kushina and Tsunade agreed that the Third Hokage deserved blame for Naruto being mistreated in Konoha.
• Tsunade asked to stay with Kushina, but Kushina insisted she had booked her a hotel room and rushed out with Kusana.
• Tsunade and Shizune misunderstood each other while discussing what they had noticed, then Tsunade wondered whether rumors about the Grass Ninja Leader and other men's wives were true.

Tsunade woke with a hangover and realized that the rumors about Kushina and the Grass Ninja Leader might be true, then wondered whether BBC Daily’s reports about Hiruzen and Danzo were true as well. Meanwhile, Kusana disapproved of Danzo’s small factory plans and ordered Gato to teach him how to do business properly.

• Tsunade asked Shizune whether her memories of Kushina and the Grass Ninja Leader together the night before had been real, and Shizune confirmed that their relationship seemed unusual.
• Tsunade recalled Hiruzen’s unusual tolerance of Danzo and wondered whether BBC Daily’s reports about them had been true.
• Hiruzen felt a chill, worried about Konoha’s position, and hoped Danzo’s factory project would succeed.
• Kusana read Gato’s report about Danzo preparing to open a factory and criticized his limited investment and preparations.
• Leader Mang ordered Mujie to tell Gato to teach Danzo how business was supposed to be done.

Danzo prepared to challenge Kusagakure’s manufacturing monopoly but lacked confidence that his factory could compete on price and quality. Gato offered to cooperate, revealing that he had a way into Kusagakure.

• Danzo ordered Root to pressure raw-material suppliers and prepared to open a factory on the former Uchiha Clan compound.
• Danzo reflected on his plans to defeat Kusagakure and met Gato at a banquet.
• Gato served Danzo expensive Grass Ninja Jade Liquor and asked whether he was confident his factory could compete with Grass Ninja Manufacturing.
• Danzo admitted the challenge was difficult, and Gato warned that they would have only one chance before Kusagakure retaliated.
• Gato proposed cooperating with Danzo and whispered that he had a way into Kusagakure.

Gato persuaded Danzo to fund a joint raw-materials deal, and Danzo agreed to contribute far more money than he could afford. Kusana learned Danzo was inspecting clan fire safety to raise funds, while Hiruzen ordered Danzo to meet him at the medical department after hearing the news.

• Gato offered to use his Kusagakure connections to obtain cheap raw materials, and Danzo demanded a larger investment while cutting Gato's share to thirty percent.
• Gato warned that Danzo lacked the money for the deal, but Danzo insisted he would secure the funds and accepted the arrangement.
• After Gato's secret letter arrived, Kusana learned Danzo was inspecting fire safety in the Ninja Clans and reacted with approval.
• Hiruzen heard that Danzo was inspecting clan fire safety because he lacked factory funds, became short of breath, and ordered Danzo to meet him in the medical department.

Danzo sought 15 billion for a risky opportunity to challenge Kusagakure's manufacturing, and Hiruzen agreed to help fund it and bring the clans into the discussion. Kusana did not yet know Danzo was seeking investment as the new semester began.

• Hiruzen met Danzo at the medical department, and the two argued over Danzo's investigation and plans for Kusagakure.
• Danzo told Hiruzen he needed 15 billion to pursue an unverified opportunity that could give him an advantage over Grass Ninja Manufacturing.
• Hiruzen warned Danzo that failure could bring more turmoil to Konoha, but Danzo insisted the venture was for the village.
• Hiruzen offered 500 million from his and Biwako's savings, and Danzo accepted.
• Hiruzen proposed gathering the clan heads to discuss shares, and Danzo agreed to give up 20 percent while retaining 50 percent.
• Kusana remained unaware that Danzo was seeking investment, and the new semester began.

On the first day of the new semester, Naruto discovered that Black Zetsu had advanced to second year and challenged him to another fight. The chapter ended as Black Zetsu transformed into Flame Dragon Armor in front of the assembled children.

• Naruto and Sasuke escorted Little Xiang to the academy, where Naruto was disappointed not to find Black Zetsu in her classroom.
• Black Zetsu revealed that he had advanced to second year and made his lackeys welcome him, stunning Naruto.
• Naruto challenged Black Zetsu to a fight, while Kusana and Madam Mikoto discussed Tsunade's visit to Kusagakure and the Uzumaki Clan.
• Kusana headed to the academy's back mountain near the end of the school day, and Mikoto guessed that he was going to watch the children.
• Naruto and Black Zetsu met with their groups in the grove, where Black Zetsu transformed into Flame Dragon Armor.

Naruto and Sasuke kept training against Black Zetsu while Kusana secretly upgraded Black Zetsu’s equipment to keep them striving. Over two years, Kabuto graduated and Tsunade remained in Kusagakure; Danzo finally prepared to open another factory.

• Naruto and Sasuke returned defeated by Black Zetsu, and Kusana restored their confidence with advice to keep training and use their ninjutsu flexibly.
• Kusana repeatedly upgraded Black Zetsu’s equipment as Naruto and Sasuke grew stronger, while Little Xiang thrived at the academy and Naruto was punished for complaining about her.
• Danzo gathered fifteen billion from Konoha’s clans and sent Gato to buy twenty-two billion worth of top-grade raw materials from Kusagakure.
• Two years passed, and Kabuto graduated at the top of his class before helping at the Medical Department, orphanage, and Research Institute.
• Naruto and Sasuke advanced to fourth grade, while Tsunade continued gambling in Kusagakure and accumulated more debt with Kusana.
• Danzo, after securing materials and planning to capture markets in three lands, finally prepared to open another factory.

Danzo opened the Root Factory with a public ceremony and promoted it as Konoha’s answer to dependence on Grass Ninja Manufacturing. The launch was thrown into chaos when a BBC Daily reporter accused Danzo and Orochimaru of abducting children for human experiments, and incriminating newspapers began raining down.

• Danzo prepared to launch the Root Factory, while Hiruzen Sarutobi, Mitokado Homura, Gato, and a crowd gathered to witness the opening.
• Danzo cut the ribbon and announced that the Root Factory had begun production.
• Danzo told reporters that he had built the factory so Konoha could produce its own goods, and Root supporters rallied the crowd behind him.
• A BBC Daily reporter appeared at the ceremony and accused Danzo of colluding with Orochimaru to abduct children and conduct human experimentation for profit.
• Newspapers bearing a sinister photograph fell over the crowd, and Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo ordered the people to stop the reporter and avoid looking at them.

Danzo’s Root Factory collapsed amid public outrage after the BBC Daily exposed it for human experimentation and exploiting workers, while Orochimaru fled with the laboratory’s remaining money. As Kusana learned that Konoha was planning a village lockdown, he was left baffled by how far the village had fallen.

• The BBC Daily published accusations and photos linking Danzo’s factory to Orochimaru’s human experiments and the exploitation of villagers, sparking protests across the Three Great Nations and Konoha.
• Danzo’s factory opening ceremony turned into a riot, and he watched his twenty-two billion disappear as villagers attacked and boycotted the factory.
• Danzo ordered his Root ninja to capture the BBC reporter, but the reporter fled and alerted villagers to Danzo’s location.
• A Root ninja told Danzo that Orochimaru had defected and emptied the laboratory, then handed him Orochimaru’s letter explaining that he had taken the remaining money.
• Konoha’s clan heads and factory investors were left stunned by the collapse, while Kusana lamented the loss before Mujie reported that Konoha was planning a village lockdown.

After Kusagakure exposed Danzo’s business and Orochimaru’s human experiments, Hiruzen tried to stop Danzo from resuming business and announced a Village Lockdown. The fallout left Tsunade in Kusagakure reading about Konoha’s latest crisis as she hurried back to work.

• Danzo woke in the hospital and learned that Hiruzen was hospitalized beside him after being angered by Kusagakure’s exposure of Orochimaru’s human experiments.
• Hiruzen told Danzo that he had dealt with the outside fallout and urged him to stop pursuing business, but Danzo insisted he would try again.
• Hiruzen repeatedly convulsed whenever Danzo said “business,” and Biwako arrived, misunderstood their argument, and decided to move Hiruzen to another ward.
• Hiruzen told Danzo he would impose a Village Lockdown, and Konoha later announced the lockdown while Hiruzen blamed Danzo publicly and ordered Orochimaru’s arrest.
• Tsunade read the news in Kusagakure, sighed over Konoha’s situation, then answered a coworker who threatened to dock her pay.

Hiruzen Sarutobi moved to seal Konoha after Danzo’s factory collapse devastated the village’s finances, while Kusagakure offered to buy back the factory’s equipment and materials. In Root’s base, Danzo told Gato he was handing the factory over to him.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi convened Konoha’s clan leaders and ordered them to prepare for Village Lockdown.
• Kusagakure’s leader praised the friendship between the villages and offered to buy Konoha’s equipment and raw materials for five hundred million.
• Kusana asked Mujie where Gato was, wondering why he had not returned.
• Root brought Gato to Danzo, who assumed Gato had lost seven billion and had been afraid to admit it.
• Danzo declared that he was handing everything in the factory over to Gato.

Danzo arranged for Gato to move Konoha’s factory supplies to the Land of Waves under a new name, while secretly joining Root. Kusana’s negotiation team learned the goods were already being handed over and decided to build the factory.

• Danzo persuaded Gato to relocate the factory equipment and supplies worth over twenty billion to the Land of Waves, giving him the business channels and requiring him to join Root.
• Gato left Konoha with the supplies and wondered what to do next.
• Kusana assembled a team led by Mujie to negotiate for Konoha’s goods at a fraction of their value.
• Mujie arrived with a report that stunned Kusana, Hanzō, Kakuzu, and Chiyo, who praised Danzo as a good man.
• Kusana told Mujie to build the factory instead of bringing the goods back.

Konoha entered a village-wide lockdown while Orochimaru fled with his money and Kusagakure’s new production base began operating. After Tsunade asked Kusana how to earn more, he offered her the lead role in a gambling movie.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi sealed Konoha and forbade ninjas from entering or leaving without permission.
• BBC Daily covered the lockdown as the Grass Ninja Village Leader called on the villages to preserve peace.
• Orochimaru learned of the lockdown, fled with his remaining money, and considered visiting the Obito Production Base in the Land of Waves.
• Tsunade told Kusana that her acting work paid poorly, and Shizune revealed that Tsunade had been blacklisted for slacking off and causing trouble.
• Kushina stopped Tsunade from asking Kusana to meet with her alone, and Kusana proposed making Tsunade the star of a gambling film.

Kusana recruited Tsunade to star in a gambling movie inspired by her unlucky life, and filming revealed that she was just as unable to win in fiction as in reality. After Tsunade’s winning cards mysteriously became losing ones during the final scene, Kusana concluded that the Third Hokage was still alive and well.

• Kusana gave Tsunade the script for Gambling Saint: Man Can Conquer Fate, and she agreed to make the film after recognizing its story as a reflection of her own.
• Shizune and Kushina mistook Kusana’s script for a heartfelt attempt to persuade Tsunade to stop gambling, and Tsunade chose to act in the movie anyway.
• Kusana brought Tsunade to Grasswood to film, where she impressed the crews by convincingly playing a shameless gambler.
• During the final showdown scene, Tsunade’s four Aces inexplicably became little threes just before she revealed them.
• Kusana decided they could fix the scene with special effects and said the missing cards showed that the Third Hokage was still alive and well.

Orochimaru watched Tsunade’s new movie and met Gato, who brought him Danzo’s research plans and pressured him to take them on. Orochimaru agreed to cooperate, though he vowed to remember Danzo’s threats.

• Kusagakure promoted and released Tsunade’s movie, while rumors about the strange incident during filming renewed an old mystery.
• Orochimaru watched the movie in the Land of Fields and considered contacting the Afēi Production Base for work.
• After receiving Gato’s intelligence, Kusana went to the Research Institute.
• Gato met Orochimaru and delivered Danzo’s research plans, including studies on trains, chakra datafication, long-distance signals, and natural energy.
• When Orochimaru resisted, Gato relayed Danzo’s threats to cut off funding and expose Orochimaru’s whereabouts to Konoha.
• Orochimaru shook Gato’s hand and agreed to cooperate, privately vowing to remember Shimura Danzō.

Two years after Konoha’s lockdown, Kusagakure had become a prosperous center of technology and production while its residents’ lives grew increasingly complicated. Kusana learned that Kakuzu and Hanzō had disrupted a railway, only for Chiyo and the academy’s puppet teachers to rebuild it and ride off in a Green Train.

• Danzo rested during Konoha’s lockdown and planned to return to the shinobi world with Orochimaru’s help once the village reopened.
• Two years passed as Kusagakure advanced technologically, Sunagakure recovered as a research and production village, and Tsunade became a famous Grasswood actress.
• Naruto and Sasuke narrowly defeated Black Zetsu’s training technology, while Little Xiang grew into a troublesome academy gang leader under Kushina’s influence.
• Mikoto and Fusang became pregnant, and Nagato returned to visit before nearly attacking Kusana for asking him to call him Dad.
• Kusana read that Kakuzu and Hanzō had cut off the railway, but Chiyo and the academy’s puppet teachers laid new tracks and drove away on a Green Train.

After Hanzō and Kakuzu sabotaged the railway to keep Chiyo from discovering Hanzō’s boasts about funding, the two village leaders fought on the road. Kusana approved Sunagakure’s funding and ordered them to stop, but Chiyo and Hanzō kept fighting in the rain anyway.

• Hanzō bragged to Chiyo about receiving funding, prompting her to apply for money to improve Sunagakure.
• Kakuzu rejected Chiyo’s application, and Hanzō joined him in tearing up the railway to prevent her from visiting Kusagakure.
• Chiyo gathered puppet masters to drive a train while Hanzō brought Rain ninja to intercept her, and their followers began fighting without knowing why.
• After Ebizo reported the fight, Kusana approved Sunagakure’s funding and sent word for Chiyo and Hanzō to stop.
• Ebizo told Chiyo that the funding had been approved, but she and Hanzō continued fighting and insulting each other in the rain.

Kusana and Pakura discussed the academy’s graduating class, the choice of Top Student, and Kusagakure’s progress as it prepared to establish long-distance communication. Pakura fell asleep at Kusana’s desk, and Kusana let her rest before dozing off himself.

• Kusana ignored the renewed quarrel between Hanzō and Chiyo while Ebizo tried to break up the fight.
• Pakura told Kusana that the academy’s graduating students needed a Top Student chosen, and Kusana said to follow the rules and select the best one.
• Pakura mentioned that Naruto wanted a little sister like Sasuke’s, and Kusana called his own coming child an accident.
• Kusana explained that the new Chakra Signal Towers would soon enable long-distance communication.
• Pakura reminisced about being rescued, becoming the academy’s dean, and watching Kusagakure grow; she fell asleep at Kusana’s desk, and he let her rest before falling asleep too.

Kusana returned home to find Kushina beating Naruto, and the family shared dinner as Naruto and Sasuke worried about their upcoming graduation and their contest to become Top Student. Naruto studied late into the night, fell asleep at his desk, and woke in a dim space before a terrifying caged monster.

• Kusana walked home through Kusagakure, recalling the Gold Medal Reporter’s dangerous infiltration of Konoha and the village’s ban on the BBC Reporter and Kusagakure Bandits.
• Kusana arrived to find Kushina beating Naruto, then joined the family for dinner and heard Naruto and Sasuke discuss graduation, homework, and their Top Student rivalry.
• Naruto went to study, secretly hoping his efforts would help his mother and Uncle Amang have another child, and smiled at a family photograph.
• Naruto tried to solve his test paper, complained that the problems were too difficult, and fell asleep at his desk.
• Naruto found himself in a dim space facing a terrifying monster locked behind bars.

Naruto encountered the Nine-Tails inside the seal and questioned it about its past and powers. After Naruto demanded rent for living inside his body, he asked the fox to solve a speed-and-distance problem, leaving it baffled.

• Naruto found himself inside the sealed space and met the Nine-Tails, which complained that it could not open the gate.
• Naruto asked about the Nine-Tails' battle with the First Hokage, and the fox grew irritated at his questions and rumors.
• The Nine-Tails tried to threaten Naruto with its claws, but Naruto said he knew they would both die if he died and mentioned Elder Yang Zheng's new seal research.
• Naruto kept questioning the Nine-Tails about its history and whether it was powerful, and the fox boasted that it could do anything.
• Naruto demanded that the Nine-Tails pay rent by answering his questions, then posed a speed-and-distance problem that left the fox dumbfounded.