Recaps

Kusagakure weathered a newspaper feud while its leaders managed visits from Chiyo and Tsunade, and the children traveled to Sunagakure. Danzo pursued a factory to challenge Grass Ninja Manufacturing, securing Hiruzen’s support just as the new semester began.

• Danzo and Mujie escalated their newspapers’ attacks, while Ōnoki kept Stone Daily out of the feud and watched it go bankrupt.
• Jiraiya tried to teach Naruto and Sasuke, but found they had already learned advanced techniques at Kusagakure’s academy and could stump him with their questions.
• Chiyo discovered that Scorpion had designed a highly efficient factory machine, blocked his resignation, and arranged to strengthen the factory’s security.
• Kusana arranged for Danzo to seek equipment through Gato, who eventually agreed to supply it after Konoha shinobi threatened him.
• Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, and their companions visited Sunagakure, while Tsunade arrived in the Land of Grass and reunited with Kushina.
• Kusana had Gato encourage Danzo’s factory plans, and Gato offered to help source cheap materials through his Kusagakure connections.
• Danzo sought 15 billion from Hiruzen for his factory venture, and Hiruzen offered savings and proposed gathering the clan heads to discuss shares.
• Kusana remained unaware of Danzo’s investment plans as the new semester began.

Kusagakure grew through technological advances and new partnerships while Naruto began confronting the Nine-Tails and prepared for a joint graduation exam. The written test ended, and the students entered Kannabi Forest for the practical trial.

• Danzo’s Root Factory collapsed after the BBC Daily exposed its connection to Orochimaru’s experiments, and Danzo sent the factory supplies to the Land of Waves with Gato.
• Kusagakure advanced while Tsunade became a famous actress, and Chiyo and Hanzō’s rivalry continued even as their villages prepared for a joint exam.
• Naruto entered the Nine-Tails’ sealed space and repeatedly tried to persuade Kurama to train him, eventually gaining his help during the written exam by appealing to his rivalry with Shukaku.
• Gaara reunited with Kankuro and Temari in Kusagakure, and the siblings encouraged one another ahead of the joint exam.
• Students from Kusagakure, Amegakure, and Sunagakure took the written test, where Naruto and Kurama used textbooks to answer questions while Gaara and Shukaku competed against them.
• After the written test, Kusana prepared a practical survival trial in Kannabi Forest with rescue teams, medics, surveillance, and public viewing screens.
• Kushina, Mikoto, Kusana, Nagato, Konan, Yahiko, Pakura, and Tsunade gathered at the viewing stands as the practical exam began.

Naruto, Sasuke, and their classmates completed academy and graduated before Kusagakure joined Konoha’s reopening Chunin Exam. The exam began with Naruto and Sasuke trapping rival teams in the Forest of Death, while Hanzo’s visit to Danzo left Hiruzen worried about what might follow.

• During the survival exam, Naruto and Sasuke used Black Zetsu as bait to ambush competitors, until Gaara and the students faced the disguised Leader Mang and learned the whole battle had been staged.
• Gaara earned Top Student honors, Naruto and Sasuke graduated as Grass Ninja, and Kusagakure prepared to attend Konoha’s reopening Chunin Exam.
• Kabuto continued working undercover in Orochimaru’s base, where he taught Tayuya and other children, while Kusana assembled the Grass Ninja delegation.
• Konoha initially shut its gates to the Grass Ninja delegation, but Hanzo confronted the gates and Konoha opened them with a public welcome.
• Kusana brought Naruto and Sasuke before Hiruzen, and Naruto said he wanted to return to Konoha and become Hokage, while Hiruzen told him the village would welcome him home.
• At the first exam, Black Zetsu passed despite cheating, then Naruto and Sasuke used him and Akamaru to lure rival teams into traps and seize their scrolls.
• Gaara’s group and the Amegakure ninja joined Naruto and Sasuke in the Forest of Death as their traps caught more than half the teams.
• Hiruzen escorted Hanzo, Chiyo, Ebizo, and the others to the Valley of the End, where Hanzo said he had come to see Danzo because his days were numbered.

Konoha reopened while Sasuke and Boruto arrived from another time and found a thriving Kusagakure where Naruto and Sasuke trained under Great Sasuke. As the families prepared for new babies, Urashiki found Black Zetsu and offered to help release Kaguya.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi postponed Konoha’s reopening after Kusagakure’s team swept the Chunin Exam, and Kusana returned with an advertising flyer for BBC News Agency.
• Itachi confronted Sasuke and Naruto, but Sasuke rejected his account of the Uchiha Clan’s betrayal and Itachi fled after warning that Konoha would pursue Naruto.
• Boruto and Sasuke arrived in Konoha, where Danzō mistook them for Kusagakure spies and ordered his forces to attack.
• Jiraiya brought Boruto and Sasuke to Kusagakure, where Sasuke encountered its prosperity and mistook rumors about Kusana for a scandal involving his mother.
• Kusana assigned Naruto and Sasuke to Great Sasuke, who tested them in combat and then began training them in the Rasengan and Chidori.
• Konoha reopened, while Kusana used BBC News Agency’s coverage of the Land of Waves base’s bankruptcy to plan a takeover of its market.
• Great Sasuke spent time with Mikoto and her family, then left with Boruto after sensing something, while Urashiki approached Black Zetsu and offered to help release Kaguya.
• Kusana learned Mikoto and Fusang and their babies were healthy, then took Naruto, Sasuke, Nagato, and Little Xiang away from the hospital to train.