Recaps

Kusana approved using Iwagakure’s thirty-million order to fund factories and research while delaying delivery to protect Kusagakure’s position before the war. Meanwhile, Mujie gave Iwa ninja a tour of Kannabi Bridge and its concealed routes, openly showing them terrain that could aid their plans.

• Kusagakure’s ninja celebrated the profitable Iwagakure order and began secretly preparing for the coming war.
• Kusana approved spending part of the thirty million on factory construction and putting the rest into research.
• Kusana told Uzumaki Yangzheng and Uzumaki Yoichi to delay producing Iwagakure’s harvesters and to modify exported technology.
• Mujie led Iwa ninja to Kannabi Bridge while posing as a tour guide for tourists visiting the Land of Grass.
• Mujie described hidden paths and concealment around the bridge as Kitsuchi took notes and praised the tour’s value.

After the Iwa ninja finished their visit to the Land of Grass, Mujie failed to recruit Jōshūryū Maruhachi and Kusana inspected the newly completed Scientific Ninja Tool factory. With the factory ready but short on staff, Kusana decided to recruit workers from a neighboring country.

• Mujie showed the Iwa ninja around Kannabi Bridge and hosted them before they prepared to return to Iwagakure.
• Kitsuchi and the Iwa ninja declined Mujie's offers to buy intelligence and departed with Jōshūryū Maruhachi.
• Mujie admitted that his attempt to recruit from Iwagakure had failed, then told Kusana that Konoha had done little to maintain its alliance with Kusagakure.
• Mujie hurried to see the completed Scientific Ninja Tool factory, and Kusana followed with Uzumaki Yangzheng and the others.
• Kusana found the factory empty of workers and decided to recruit them from next door.

Kusana finalized a large-scale recruitment plan for the Land of Grass and prepared to travel to the Land of Rain. Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato asked to accompany him to revisit their old homes, and he agreed but assigned them a lengthy reflection paper.

• Kusana and Kusagakure's senior officials finalized the Land of Grass Large-Scale Recruitment Plan, with Kusana leading the mission to recruit workers in the Land of Rain.
• Kusana visited Nagato and told him he was leaving, then scolded him about his studies after stepping on his flowers.
• Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato asked to travel with Kusana so they could revisit places and people from their past in the Land of Rain.
• Kusana agreed to take them along, then told them they would each have to write an extracurricular reflection of at least six thousand words.

In the war-ravaged Land of Rain, Kawaisuke struggled to find food and work while trying to keep his family safe. A red-haired child named Nagato left a recruitment flyer at their door, offering a job with a multinational corporation, and Kawaisuke and Shizuko discovered it was genuine.

• Kawaisuke returned home without finding work, and Shizuko comforted him as they reunited with their daughter, Ryukako.
• Kawaisuke warned Shizuko to keep the doors locked after hearing that ninjas from other villages had been seen nearby.
• Nagato knocked and offered a job with a multinational corporation, but Kawaisuke stayed silent and refused to open the door.
• Nagato slipped a recruitment flyer under the door and walked away, while Kawaisuke checked that he was gone.
• Kawaisuke and Shizuko read the flyer and found that it advertised a well-funded company partnered with the Five Great Nations.
• Nagato looked at his remaining stack of flyers and muttered that he should not have come.

Kusana, Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan prepared a recruitment site in the Land of Rain while the boys discussed their work and Yahiko recalled his approach to handing out flyers. The chapter ended with Yahiko explaining that he had called to a household, “Fellow villager, open the door!”

• Yahiko and Nagato finished setting up banners and the recruitment site, while Nagato worried about writing a six-thousand-word reflection report.
• Yahiko wondered why the Land of Rain had not found peace after the Second Great Ninja War, and Nagato said its leader was powerful but not a qualified leader.
• Kusana praised the recruitment site and asked Nagato and Yahiko how their flyer distribution had gone.
• Nagato said he had distributed flyers nearby and spoken with some interested people, while Yahiko admitted he had not put any directly into people's hands.
• Yahiko explained that he had tried to reassure a household by calling out, “Fellow villager! Fellow villager, open the door!”

Kawaisuke risked visiting a recruitment site in the Land of Rain because his family was running out of food, while Kusana and the others prepared to interview applicants for the Land of Grass. After Kawaisuke entered for his interview, Yahiko wondered what might have become of him and Nagato if they had stayed in the Land of Rain.

• Kawaisuke hesitated outside the recruitment site, fearing a scam but desperate to find food for his wife and daughter.
• Kusana told Yahiko they should wait for applicants to come in on their own, since desperate workers would value the opportunity and remain loyal.
• Kawaisuke became the first applicant to enter, and Yahiko welcomed him and helped him register.
• Kawaisuke asked to be hired for any job if the company would provide food for his family, then carried his registration inside for an interview.
• Yahiko asked Nagato what their lives might have been like if they had stayed in the Land of Rain, and Nagato reminded him that they now lived in the Land of Grass.

Kawaisuke accepted a job with an international company that would take his family out of the Land of Rain. He returned home with proof of his hiring, and Shizuko agreed they would leave together, hopeful about their future.

• Kusana interviewed Kawaisuke and offered him work in another country with food, housing, and arrangements for his family.
• Kawaisuke accepted the job, and the people waiting outside rushed in after seeing him leave with a smile.
• Kawaisuke noticed that the rain had stopped as he headed home.
• Shizuko welcomed Kawaisuke home, and he showed her the paper proving he had been hired.
• Kawaisuke explained that the family would have to leave the Land of Rain, and Shizuko agreed to go with him and Ryukako.

Kusana’s team recruited ten thousand ordinary people in the Land of Rain, while Nagato reluctantly advertised for them and the interviews exposed Kusana’s unusual hiring rules. With Amegakure likely to suspect their plans, Kusana decided that the group would return home the next day.

• Nagato broadcast recruitment slogans around the Land of Rain, embarrassed to be carrying a loudspeaker.
• Kusana rejected Ishibe after he threatened violence, then hired Tajima after he gave the expected answers.
• Kusana and his team filled their quota with ten thousand ordinary employees, though no ninja applicants impressed him.
• Kusana reminded the exhausted trio to write six thousand words of reflections before realizing Amegakure might stop them from leaving unnoticed.
• Kusana announced that the team would head home the next day.

Hanzo ordered his men to investigate the unfamiliar ninja recruiting workers in the Land of Rain, then decided they should bring them in for talks if they posed no danger. Kusana led the recruits toward the Land of Grass, but when six Rain ninja caught up, he trapped his three students behind a paper wall and left them to fight while he escaped with the group.

• Hanzo dismissed the workers-recruitment story as suspicious but ordered his men to bring the recruiters to him if they seemed harmless, hoping to keep the Land of Rain out of further conflict.
• Kusana reviewed survival lessons with his three students, then led the recruited workers toward the Land of Grass.
• The group traveled through the Land of Rain, with the recruits pressing on despite hunger and exhaustion because they hoped the promised new life was real.
• Kusana sensed six Rain ninja approaching and moved to the rear with his students.
• Kusana used Paper Release: Seven Fold Paper Wall Technique to separate the three boys from the workers, then told them to survive as he escaped with the group.
• The boys realized their teacher had left them to face the Rain ninja, while a nearby figure watched them and wondered how well they had learned.

Kusana led more than thirty thousand laborers out of the Land of Rain and joined up with Land of Grass ninjas, while Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan escaped their pursuers. As the group prepared to return to the village, Yahiko reminded his friends that they still had a six-thousand-word reflection to write.

• Kusana used his Seven Fold Paper Wall Technique and left a Paper Release clone behind while leading the laborers onward.
• The exhausted laborers marched through rain and mud until Kusana spotted the Grass Ninja unit waiting with firelight.
• Kusana and the Grass Ninja Captain joined forces, arranged food, rest, and medical care for the more than thirty thousand laborers, and planned to return to the village the next morning.
• Kusana told the Grass Ninja Captain that Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were safe and expected to arrive soon, and reminded him to tell them to hurry back and finish their homework.
• Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan rested in a secluded house after escaping the Rain Ninja, and Nagato urged them to leave.
• Yahiko proposed dying for their country, but after Konan told him to speak normally, he said they had to write a six-thousand-word reflection when they returned.

Kusana returned to Kusagakure with workers recruited from the Land of Rain, where the village prepared housing, clothes, baths, and food for them. As Kawaisuke reunited with his wife and daughter in their new clothes, he began to believe that Kusana had truly offered them a better life.

• Kusagakure's ninjas prepared to welcome the workers from the Land of Rain and organized housing and supplies for them.
• Kusana arrived at Kusagakure with the workers, and Kushina Kana accepted their records and responsibility for settling them.
• Grass Ninja captains divided the workers into teams, separated men and women, and directed them to bathe and change into new green clothes.
• Kawaisuke worried when he was separated from his wife and daughter, but his captain reassured him that he would see them soon.
• Kawaisuke reunited with his wife and daughter in the hall, felt reassured by their welcome, and returned to his team for the meal.

Kawaisuke and his family ate at the Land of Grass’s cafeteria, received a house near the factory, and began to feel hopeful about their new life. Meanwhile, Kusana reassured Kana and Mrs. Fusang that Konan and the others were fine, as Nagato began discussing how to distinguish enemies from friends with Yahiko and Konan.

• Kawaisuke overcame his fear, took food from the cafeteria, and showed the other refugees that they could eat freely.
• Shizuko and Ryukako joined Kawaisuke for food after seeing that the Grass Ninjas kept their word.
• A Grass Ninja gave Kawaisuke’s family the keys to their new home and told them to gather for work the next morning.
• Kawaisuke’s family settled into their new home and resolved to work hard so they would not be driven away.
• Kusana told Kana and Mrs. Fusang that Konan and the others were playing outside and would likely return the next day.
• Nagato wrote on a whiteboard and told Yahiko and Konan that distinguishing enemies from friends was their primary question.

Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan decided to stay in the Land of Rain and organize opposition to Hanzo of the Salamander, while Amegakure began hunting them with a poster of their laborer disguises. Back in the Land of Grass, Kusana learned they had not returned and ordered a search, promising them extra homework when they were found.

• Nagato explained that they should oppose Hanzo of the Salamander and his supporters while trying to win over people dissatisfied with his rule.
• Konan revealed that Amegakure had issued a wanted notice showing the three in their green laborer uniforms, prompting Nagato to agree with Yahiko about staying and seeking a chance to kill Hanzo.
• Mujie told Kusana that the three had not returned and that Amegakure had issued a wanted notice, though the group had not been caught.
• Kusana ordered ninja to find the three and threatened them with at least five jin of test papers when they returned.
• Kusana decided to go see how the new workers were doing on their first day.

Kusana called a meeting to address Kusagakure’s shortage of ninja labor as the Land of Grass expanded its factories and construction projects. After discussing potential clans to recruit, he proposed a ninja Literacy Campaign across the country.

• Kusana received a letter saying Yahiko, Nagato, and their teacher were well but would not return yet, easing fears that they had been captured or harmed.
• Kusana reviewed the Land of Grass’s construction drive, including its Scientific Ninja Tool factory, clothing factory, and infrastructure projects, and worried that there were too few ninja to support production.
• Uzumaki Yangzheng proposed recruiting the Fuma Clan and Tsuchigumo Clan, while Kusana considered seeking out the Snow Clan in the Land of Water.
• Kusana presented his prepared plan to launch a ninja Literacy Campaign throughout the Land of Grass.

Kusana won support for a cautious plan to teach civilians chakra refinement and production skills, arguing that the Land of Grass needed to grow stronger to defend itself. A week later, Yamato told factory worker Kawaisuke that the higher-ups had opened a Literacy Class.

• Kusana explained that chakra education could help civilians develop and proposed teaching refinement and production skills while strengthening ethics and selecting students carefully.
• Longzhi warned that creating more ninja could bring chaos and provoke the Five Great Ninja Villages into attacking the Land of Grass.
• Kusana argued that the country had to become stronger to protect its peace, and Uzumaki Yangzheng and the others pledged their support.
• Kusana sent Mujie to bring Yahiko and the other children back from the war-torn Land of Rain, warning that Mujie would inherit their twenty jin of homework if he failed.
• Kawaisuke finished work at the Scientific Ninja Tool Processing Factory and reflected on his hopes of sending his daughter Ryukako to school.
• Yamato pulled Kawaisuke aside and began telling him about the Literacy Class opened so everyone could learn ninja knowledge.

Kawaisuke learned that his daughter Ryukako might earn a school place through his work and promised his family they would all work hard. Meanwhile, Kusana brought Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan back from their unauthorized recruiting in Amegakure, ordered them to do their homework, and sent the people they had recruited to the academy.

• Captain Yamato told Kawaisuke about a limited school opportunity for Ryukako tied to his work record and an Excellent Employee Award recommendation.
• Kawaisuke asked Ryukako if she wanted to attend school, and she eagerly agreed to study hard.
• Kawaisuke shared the opportunity with Shizuko, and the family vowed to work hard together.
• Kusana scolded Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan for poaching people in Amegakure and assigned them two hundred jin of homework.
• Mujie reported that Yahiko and the others had brought back several people, including ninjas, and Kusana ordered them sent to the academy and night school.

Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan explained why Teacher Amang had sent them back to school, while Kyusuke and Daibutsu were placed under Kusagakure’s supervision. Madara learned the Grass Ninja Village Leader had returned the children to study and praised the principle, but a loud recitation interrupted his rest.

• Yahiko told Kyusuke that he, Nagato, and Konan had to return to school because Teacher Amang believed children should study and learn how to judge right and wrong.
• Yahiko and the others left, and Daibutsu decided to return to the dormitory and see for himself whether Grass was teaching ordinary people to refine Chakra.
• Nagato went home and lamented the two hundred jin of homework he had gained.
• White Zetsu told Madara that the Grass Ninja Village Leader had secretly knocked out and brought back the three children because children should study instead of going to war.
• Madara recalled his and Hashirama’s dream of keeping children out of war, praised the Grass Ninja Village Leader, and went to sleep.
• A chorus reciting “A grateful heart” sounded overhead, prompting Madara to ask whether morning had already come.

Black Zetsu and the White Zetsu original body discovered that Spiral White Zetsu had been secretly working and attending Kusagakure’s literacy classes. Kawaisuke tried to catch up with Student Fei after class, but Fei disappeared from the path.

• Black Zetsu worried that Madara Uchiha had become unusually talkative but concluded that Madara still followed his plan.
• The White Zetsu original body told Black Zetsu that Swirl Face had been buying Madara sweets and sometimes stayed out at night.
• Black Zetsu and the White Zetsu original body spotted Spiral White Zetsu walking with factory workers in Kusagakure.
• Kawaisuke thanked Student Fei for helping him understand lessons and Chakra extraction during night class.
• Kawaisuke turned back to invite Student Fei to his home, but Student Fei vanished from the path.

Yahiko vowed to uncover the academy’s latest ghost mystery while Kusana dismissed the incident as an Amegakure infiltration and focused on keeping Kusagakure stable. Daibutsu embraced his life in Kusagakure, while Kyusuke stubbornly refused to follow his example despite feeling cold.

• Yahiko insisted that the mysterious worker was another ghost and vowed to discover who he was, while Nagato urged him to finish his homework.
• Uzumaki Yangzheng reported that a black-haired man had attended night classes and secretly taken food, and Kusana decided to treat the case as an enemy-village infiltration.
• Kusana told Uzumaki Yangzheng to blame Amegakure, monitor the academy and workplaces, and prepare for unrest while arranging year-end wages and outings for workers.
• Uzumaki Yangzheng said Daibutsu and the other Amegakure ninja had requested permission to go out, and Kusana learned that Daibutsu had submitted a proper application.
• Daibutsu encouraged Kyusuke to study and appreciate Kusagakure, but Kyusuke rejected him and insisted he was not afraid of the cold as he eyed the green work uniform on his bed.

Madara and Spiral White Zetsu discussed the tense ninja world and recent changes in the Land of Grass while sharing dango. In the Land of Grass, Kusana suspected Nagato and Yahiko had cursed him and planned a special New Year gift for them.

• Spiral White Zetsu brought Madara tricolor dango and told him Sunagakure was searching for something amid rising tensions.
• Spiral White Zetsu described his spying in the Land of Grass, where the leader mistook him for an Amegakure spy, and reported roads, scientific tools, and farm machinery.
• Kusana sneezed repeatedly and told Kana he felt someone was cursing him.
• Nagato and Yahiko visited Kusana, said they had finished their homework, and asked permission to visit Kyusuke and Daibutsu at the factory.
• Kusana let Nagato and Yahiko go, then decided they might have cursed him and planned a New Year gift to teach them respect.

Kusana attended the Scientific Ninja Tool manufacturing plant’s payday celebration and named Kawaisuke the year’s Excellent Employee. Encouraged by his family, Kawaisuke began thanking Kusana and the Land of Grass in his acceptance speech.

• The workers gathered at the plant, excited to receive their first wages, while Kawaisuke nervously awaited the Excellent Employee selection.
• Kyusuke complained about attending the event, and Daibutsu teased him about considering a construction job in the Land of Grass.
• Kusana thanked the workers and announced Kawaisuke as the Excellent Employee, prompting thunderous applause.
• Kawaisuke accepted his certificate from Kusana and was asked to say a few words.
• Kawaisuke drew confidence from his cheering wife and daughter and began thanking Kusana and the Land of Grass.

On their holiday, Kawaisuke, Shizuko, and Ryukako enjoyed a home-cooked breakfast and prepared to explore the lively Land of Grass. After leaving through the guarded gate, Kawaisuke looked forward to working hard the following year to repay the Leader.

• Kawaisuke got up early, admired his Excellent Employee Award, and greeted his neighbor Mr. Ishigami while they went to wash up.
• Kawaisuke returned home to Shizuko and Ryukako, and the family ate their first home-cooked breakfast using their year-end gift package.
• Kawaisuke promised Ryukako she could buy what she wanted, and the family set out for their day off.
• The guards reminded the family to return early as they passed through the gate and joined other workers heading out.
• Kawaisuke admired the lively streets, held Shizuko's hand, and resolved to work hard the next year to repay the Leader.

Kusana reflected on the Land of Grass’s growth and rising tensions as the ninja world edged toward war. After spring arrived, Mujie reported that the Third Kazekage had disappeared, and Kusana concluded that war was coming.

• Kana told Kusana that Konoha had warned Kusagakure to watch Iwagakure, and that Mujitsu had replied with misplaced confidence before Konoha reinforced its border.
• Kusana visited Nagato’s home for New Year’s lunch and learned that Yahiko’s Akatsuki Organization had few committed members.
• Yahiko asked to graduate, but Kusana set an impossible standard and demonstrated it by summoning a winter-vacation gift package of books.
• As spring began, Mujie told Kusana that Sunagakure’s Third Kazekage had disappeared, and Kusana declared that war was coming.

As the Third Shinobi World War began, Kusana prepared the Land of Grass for conflict while protecting its civilians and children. Konoha then asked Kusagakure to help repel Sunagakure and safeguard peace, leaving Kusana to consider the request.

• Kumogakure attacked Sunagakure, then declared war on Konoha, while Sunagakure also attacked Konoha in the name of avenging the Third Kazekage.
• Kusana placed the Land of Grass on wartime footing, and the civilians settled under Kusagakure's organization.
• Kana reported that the Land of Grass had enough food for three years, while Oyakamon, Uzumaki Yangzheng, and Longzhi described security, production, and medical preparations.
• Kusana told Uzumaki Yangzheng not to let the first academy graduates be affected by the war, and Uzumaki Yangzheng promised to protect their studies.
• Kana reported that Konoha had asked Kusagakure to watch Iwagakure and help resist Sunagakure's attack.

Kusagakure refused Konoha’s request for help against Sunagakure, claiming it needed to guard against Iwagakure. Konoha accepted the refusal as a sign of restraint, but learned that Iwagakure had already reached the Land of Fire border.

• Mujie sent Konoha a refusal, saying Kusagakure could not spare troops while watching Iwagakure.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi and Konoha’s leaders discussed Kusagakure’s likely ability to delay Iwagakure and the need to prepare for war.
• Utatane Koharu noted that Konoha’s graduating students would help ease its shortage of ninja.
• An Anbu ninja reported that Iwagakure had entered the war.
• The Anbu ninja revealed that Iwagakure had already reached the Land of Fire border, leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi stunned and asking where Kusagakure was.