Recaps

Kusana and Kusagakure defeated Urashiki and continued building their strength as Sasuke awakened his Mangekyo and welcomed a new sister. Meanwhile, Danzo formed an alliance to challenge Grass Ninja Manufacturing with a price war, leaving Kirigakure uneasy and Zabuza set to investigate the Land of Waves Production Base.

• Black Zetsu lured Naruto, Sasuke, and their allies to Kannabi Forest, where he turned on Urashiki and Kusagakure’s forces surrounded the Otsutsuki.
• Kusana used an experimental Sage Mode to overpower and seal Urashiki, then released him later, killed him, and gave his body to Elder Yang Zheng for research.
• Great Sasuke left with Boruto after giving Sasuke a power that awakened his Mangekyo, and Sasuke returned to his life in Kusagakure and met his newborn sister.
• Danzo convened a secret summit and persuaded the other villages and Otogakure to fund the Land of Waves Production Base as a rival to Grass Ninja Manufacturing.
• Kakashi and his companions visited prosperous Kusagakure, where Kakashi saw Obito and Kushina and reflected on the home they had found there.
• Kusana rejected Kakuzu’s proposal to seize the Land of Waves Production Base and decided Kusagakure would buy its goods at prices below its own production costs.
• Danzo’s alliance launched a price war and demanded more funds from its members, while Karatachi Yagura worried about Kirigakure’s unrest and Zabuza vowed to investigate the production base.

Danzo united the great villages against Kusagakure, but Kusana’s forces defeated the alliance and captured its leaders. Kusana began demanding compensation and prepared for a Kage Summit, while Kushina approached him with important news.

• Zabuza discovered that Kusagakure had infiltrated the Land of Waves Production Base, and Danzo abandoned Hiruzen when Grass Ninja swarmed the site.
• Danzo persuaded the Four Great Ninja Villages and Otogakure to form an alliance and declare war on Kusagakure, using Zabuza’s capture to rally them.
• Shikaku negotiated Zabuza’s release for seven hundred million, and Kusagakure prepared for war as Kusana refused Naruto and Sasuke permission to join the front.
• Kabuto revealed that he was a Kusagakure graduate and turned Yagura’s attack on Sunagakure into a trap, while Zabuza discovered that his Sound Ninja ally had betrayed him.
• The alliance escalated its offensive, but Kusagakure’s agents undermined its forces, and Naruto and the other children fired a Tailed Beast Ball at the Konoha camp.
• Kusagakure defeated the alliance, captured the leaders of the great villages, and brought Danzo and Hiruzen back to the village alive.
• Kusana ordered demands for territory and compensation and agreed to a Kage Summit, while the captured leaders accepted they had little choice but to attend.
• Kushina entered Kusana’s office in a secretary’s outfit, locked the door, and said she had something important to tell him.

Kusagakure forced the Four Great Ninja Villages into concessions, merged the Grass and Rain Countries, and expanded its control over neighboring lands and villages. As Kusana’s reforms and plans advanced, Kabuto’s group cornered Orochimaru, who summoned Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju to fight them.

• Kushina persuaded Kusana to hire her part-time as his secretary, and the Second Kage Summit began in Kusagakure with the Four Kage and Danzo as captives.
• Kusana and Hanzō pressured the Four Kage into negotiations, and Kusagakure secured compensation, trade and communications access, then merged the Grass and Rain Countries.
• At the merger ceremony, Scorpion reunited with Chiyo and Ebizo but chose to return to factory work, while the Four Kage were eventually released to their villages.
• Kusana’s negotiations and reforms extended Grass control over Takigakure and neighboring lands, while Naruto promised Black Zetsu he would help him see his mother again.
• Kusana and Elder Yang Zheng tested an improved Sage Art Curse Mark, as Kabuto’s group prepared to close in on Orochimaru’s base.
• Kabuto confronted Orochimaru with Hanzō, Obito Uchiha, and another masked Grass Ninja, but Orochimaru summoned Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju with Impure World Reincarnation.
• Orochimaru exposed Kabuto’s group as Kusagakure ninja, while Hanzō used a photograph to claim ties to Danzo, and Orochimaru ordered the controlled Hokage to attack their opponents.

Kusana drew the Otsutsuki Clan into Kusagakure, expanded the village’s influence through education, technology, and a televised year-end celebration, and prepared to begin the next phase of his plan. The stretch ended with Grass ninja confronting nobles in the Kingdom of Goa as Konoha noticed Kusagakure’s troop movements and Nagato’s departure.

• Kabuto abandoned his plan to capture Orochimaru, persuaded Tobirama to spare Guren, and watched the reanimated Hokage vanish as Konoha reinforcements arrived.
• Kusagakure launched Kaguya One, but the Byakugan clansmen on the moon destroyed it after pressing its warning button, prompting Kusana to demand compensation.
• Kusana used the debt and the Otsutsuki Clan’s declining fortunes to persuade its leaders to move many clansmen to Kusagakure, while Elder Yang Zheng remained on the moon to study their technology.
• Kusagakure prepared visiting ninja for school and organized a year-end celebration, while Itachi bought a television and watched the Land of Grass’s broadcast.
• The ninja clans performed for the televised celebration, including the Uchiha dance that brought Sasuke’s family together on screen and the Uzumaki Clan’s Death God Festival Dance.
• The Snow Clan won the festival’s top performance award, the lunar research institute opened, and Kusagakure expanded its media and commercial influence as Kusana announced the next step of his plan.
• Hiruzen learned that the Hyuga Clan Head was concealing information about a Byakugan ninja and that Kusagakure had withdrawn most border troops as Nagato departed for an unknown purpose.
• Grass ninja surrounded nobles at a royal banquet in the Kingdom of Goa and identified themselves as the Land of Grass.