Chapter Summaries

Sasuke tried to eliminate Shion so he could ambush Yakumo, but his attacks were blocked by her bell artifact. After Sasuke knocked it away, Shion’s sealed Miko power erupted and immobilized him, leaving Shinji to face Yakumo alone.

• Sasuke attacked Shion, but her bell artifact automatically shielded her and repelled him.
• Sasuke tricked Shion into counterattacking, tripped her with a wire, and knocked the bell artifact away.
• Sasuke lunged at Shion while planning to ambush Yakumo, but Shion’s unleashed Miko power bound him and stopped his Chakra.
• Yakumo turned her attack on Shinji, who retreated, while Shion retrieved her artifact and asked the helpless Sasuke to speak.

Shion subdued Sasuke with the Land of Demons Miko’s sealing power, leaving Shinji alone to evade Yakumo’s Wood Release. As Kirigakure and Iwagakure teams tried to intercept them, Yakumo captured Kurotsuchi and continued pursuing Shinji.

• Shion used a sealing technique to defeat Sasuke, and Tsunade suspected it came from the Land of Demons Miko’s power.
• Shinji fled through the Forest of Death as Yakumo pursued him with Wood Release, while Fuki urged him to stop running.
• Kurotsuchi spotted Shinji and Yakumo after her teammates were injured in a fight with Shikamaru’s team.
• Suigetsu and Chojuro blocked Shinji’s path, but Shinji struck them and escaped past them.
• Kurotsuchi ambushed Yakumo, who ensnared her with vines and carried on chasing Shinji.

Shinji Uchiha and Kurama Yakumo overwhelmed their pursuers, while the village leaders discussed Shinji’s lack of a mentor. As Yakumo and Shinji continued fighting, Shinji exploited her hesitation and sent her flying.

• Shinji Uchiha and Kurama Yakumo easily defeated Chojuro, Suigetsu, and Kurotsuchi’s attacks, while Kimimaro fought off Kumogakure’s squad.
• Tsunade praised Yakumo and recognized Shinji’s exceptional battle instincts, while Jiraiya and Kakashi noted that no Jonin had taken Shinji as a student.
• Kakashi worried Shinji might resent the village for overlooking him and decided to report the matter to the Hokage.
• Shinji sent Fuki running in the opposite direction to distract Yakumo, then charged at her as her Chakra ran low.
• Yakumo cast genjutsu and prepared a Superhuman Strength Punch, but Shinji feigned being trapped, then struck her and sent her flying.

Shinji defeated Yakumo by wearing down her Chakra and exploiting her lowered guard, while observers praised his composure and renewed their interest in the First Hokage cell transplants. After Yakumo left, Shinji assessed her Wood Release and concluded that its reputation owed much to the First Hokage’s exceptional strength.

• Shinji revealed that he had deliberately avoided Yakumo’s genjutsu and worn her down until he could exploit an opening to defeat her.
• Fuki celebrated the win, while Yakumo accepted her loss and Ido urged her to let it take over next time.
• Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and the visiting Jonin discussed Shinji’s victory and Yakumo’s Wood Release.
• Chiyo, Mei Terumi, and the other visiting Jonin agreed that their villages should cooperate on the upcoming First Hokage cell surgeries.
• Shinji offered Yakumo a hand, but she stood up herself, promised to win next time, and left.
• Shinji judged that Yakumo’s Wood Release was formidable but below the First Hokage’s, whose strength had set an exceptional standard.

Naruto fought Gaara in the Forest of Death and landed a direct Rasengan that made Gaara feel pain for the first time. Jiraiya and Chiyo intervened before Gaara could kill Naruto, leaving Gaara jealous of the concern Naruto received.

• Naruto sent Shadow Clones at Gaara, who used his sand to destroy most of them and withstand the Rasengan attacks.
• Naruto emerged from underground and struck Gaara directly in the abdomen with a Rasengan, sending him flying and causing him pain.
• Gaara recovered and trapped the real Naruto in sand, preparing to crush him.
• Jiraiya freed Naruto while Chiyo stopped Gaara and told him to regain control because he was in Konoha.
• Gaara saw Shizune and the others caring for Naruto and wondered why Naruto received their concern.

Gaara’s violent instability alarmed the Konoha shinobi, while Kimimaro defeated Kumogakure’s Darui after overpowering Omoi. The visiting villages left the assessment shaken by Konoha’s powerful young generation.

• Gaara erupted in rage, and Naruto said he believed Gaara only wanted to make friends.
• Chiyo restrained Gaara and suppressed her hatred of Konoha to preserve Sunagakure’s alliance.
• Kimimaro knocked Omoi unconscious, then defeated Darui in a fight in the forest.
• Kakashi offered medical treatment to the visiting teams, but Mei Terumi and the other village leaders refused Konoha’s help.
• The visiting leaders recognized that Konoha’s young shinobi were exceptionally strong and could make the village dominant again.

After the village teams recovered their defeated shinobi, the rival genin clashed again in Konoha Hospital’s hallway. Shinji defused the confrontation, and the visitors left without a fight.

• Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure medical teams treated Suigetsu, Chojuro, Kurotsuchi, Darui, and Omoi after their battles.
• Suigetsu, Kurotsuchi, and Omoi traded insults at Konoha Hospital, then stopped when they noticed patients and nurses watching.
• Gaara arrived with Temari and Kankuro, and Suigetsu, Kurotsuchi, and Omoi mocked him for losing to Naruto Uzumaki.
• Kaoru Kusa asked the hostile shinobi to lower their voices, but they glared at her.
• Shinji stepped in, and the visiting shinobi backed down and left with their companions.

Tsunade organized surgeries for volunteers from the four allied villages to receive First Hokage cell transplants, arguing that cooperation would preserve the alliance and prevent war. Shinji joined Kaoru Kusa’s surgical group as public debate and the other villages’ hopes for Wood Release grew.

• Tsunade told the Medical Team that the four villages had requested surgery and argued that refusing them could threaten the alliance and benefit the Akatsuki Organization.
• Tsunade assigned seventeen surgical groups for the volunteers and ordered the group leaders and Yakumo to stay behind for further instructions.
• Kaoru Kusa invited Shinji to join her group, and he agreed to take part in a First Hokage cell transplantation surgery.
• Kaoru explained that the other villages’ Medical Ninjas would observe the surgeries and that the team had to prevent First Hokage cells from leaking out.
• Konoha villagers debated whether to share the surgery, while the other villages sought to add volunteers and Konoha rejected their requests.
• As attention focused on the surgeries, Karin quietly began merging the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in her apartment.

Shinji tried to keep Karin’s Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan fusion hidden while the village focused on Tsunade’s surgery project. The seventeenth operation was still underway after the others failed, and its Sunagakure volunteer repeatedly stabilized despite the rampaging First Hokage cells.

• Shinji found Karin’s fusion progressing slowly and realized she would need four to six weeks, so he planned to keep Konoha distracted after the surgery.
• Tsunade announced the surgical plan, and two weeks later Kaoru Kusa began the operation on a nine-year-old Sunagakure volunteer with Shinji and Chiyo present.
• The volunteer’s blood pressure and cell activity reached dangerous levels, and he began convulsing as Kaoru ordered more inhibitor injected.
• Tsunade and Jiraiya received reports that multiple operations had failed and their volunteers had died, including Shizune’s surgery.
• Tsunade learned that the seventeenth operation was still ongoing, while Kaoru and the other Medical Ninjas watched its volunteer repeatedly stabilize and deteriorate.

Tsunade took over a failed First Hokage cell transplant, but the Sunagakure volunteer survived in a coma, leaving the villages unsure whether the procedure had worked. Shinji revealed that he had secretly suppressed the cells’ backlash, though the volunteer could still die at any moment.

• Tsunade examined the Sunagakure volunteer and concluded that the cells had failed to fuse, then ordered Kaoru to increase the suppressant dose.
• The volunteer’s vital signs stabilized, but he fell into a deep coma and was transferred to intensive care; Tsunade said his survival left a chance of fusion.
• Mei Terumi, Iwagakure’s delegation, and Kumogakure sought answers after hearing that the Sunagakure volunteer was the only one transferred to intensive care.
• Chiyo ordered Baki to guard intensive care and keep everyone but Konoha’s Medical Ninjas away.
• Danzo urged the Third to take control of the situation, but the Third chose to wait because the other villages were watching.
• Shinji rested in his apartment and revealed that he had used Naobi and Magatsu to suppress the cells’ backlash, though the volunteer remained close to death.

Shinji kept the Sunagakure volunteer alive to divert attention while Karin fused with the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and the rumors stirred tension throughout Konoha. As Karin’s fusion neared completion, Kakashi gathered Jonin to find a mentor for Shinji.

• The Ninja Academy students discussed the surviving Sunagakure transplant volunteer as Konoha and the other villages remained silent and wary.
• Yakumo worried that reports of another successful transplant would encourage more people to undergo the dangerous operation, and she walked away without answering Shion.
• Shinji explained to himself that the volunteer had not fused with the First Hokage cells and survived only because he kept drawing out the volunteer’s rampaging Yang Release Chakra.
• Shinji sent the extracted chakra to Karin, whose Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan fusion was seventy to eighty percent complete after three weeks.
• Kakashi brought several Konoha Jonin to watch the students and hoped one of them would take Shinji Uchiha as a student.

Kakashi urged the Jonin to choose promising Academy students as disciples, but Shinji Uchiha and Kimimaro were left without instructors. As rumors spread about their exclusion, Shion told Shinji that her Jonin trainer had agreed to let them practice together.

• Kakashi proposed that the Jonin select promising students, but Asuma, Shizune, Kurenai, Guy, and Yamato explained their existing commitments or declined to choose Shinji Uchiha.
• A week later, Asuma, Kurenai, Shizune, and Yamato began training their assigned students, while Rock Lee also found a Jonin to teach him.
• Shinji was relieved that the new apprenticeship craze diverted attention from Karin, but rumors arose because he and Kimimaro were the only outstanding students left without instructors.
• Haku reassured Shinji about the rumors, and Sasuke offered to ask Kakashi to take him as a disciple, but Shinji refused both concerns.
• Shion told Shinji that her Jonin trainer had agreed to practice with him and said she would claim the Jonin had chosen him himself.

Shinji worried that the village’s failure to assign him a Jonin instructor had sparked rumors, while he continued preparing for Karin’s next procedure. An explosion at Konoha Hospital revealed an attack on the surviving Sunagakure volunteer, and Shinji decided to let the man die in a way that looked natural.

• Shinji kept a low profile as rumors spread that Konoha’s leadership had rejected him, and the Ninja Academy expelled several students for spreading them.
• Kakashi assured Iruka that the village was not targeting Shinji and had simply not found a suitable instructor for him.
• Shinji went to Konoha Hospital to work on formulas for Karin’s future procedures and noticed unfamiliar people in the corridors.
• An explosion shook Shinji’s lab, and he used his vision to locate it in the intensive care ward where the surviving Sunagakure volunteer was staying.
• Shinji concluded that someone had attacked the volunteer and decided not to save him, intending for his death to look natural.

Shinji let the Sunagakure volunteer die during an attack on Konoha Hospital, deepening tensions between the villages. As Konoha’s leaders argued over the death, Shinji removed the bandages covering Karin’s eyes and told her she could open them.

• Shinji sensed the First Hokage cells overwhelming the Sunagakure volunteer and chose not to intervene as his vital signs failed.
• Tsunade announced that the volunteer had died, and Chiyo demanded to know why it happened during the attack.
• Shinji slipped away while Sunagakure accused other villages and Konoha faced growing turmoil over the failed operation.
• Tsunade argued with Danzo, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and the Third that the volunteer’s death was not caused by the attack.
• Tsunade recalled that the First Hokage cells’ Yang Release Chakra had also unexpectedly calmed during Yakumo’s surgery.
• Shinji, dressed as an Akatsuki member, removed Karin’s eye bandages and told her she could open her eyes.

Karin awakened her newly fused Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and Shinji confirmed she could activate the eyes herself. He removed them for testing and discovered that they granted him a substantial amount of Dojutsu, revealing that the two pairs of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan complemented each other and still had room to improve.

• Karin opened her eyes, confirmed she could see clearly, and activated her Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan herself.
• Karin told Shinji that her left eye had awakened Amaterasu and her right eye enhanced Susanoo.
• Shinji removed Karin’s Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and took them to a hidden cave in the Forest of Death.
• Shinji used Susanoo Lamp to replace Fugaku Uchiha’s Mangekyo Sharingan with Karin’s Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
• Shinji found that the new eyes granted him more Dojutsu than the Byakugan and concluded that both pairs of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could still improve.

After testing Karin's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, Shinji realized that both her eyes and his own still had room to grow, and he decided to strengthen Karin's Yang Release Chakra with First Hokage cells. Meanwhile, Shion, Yakumo, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Tenten went to visit Karin, who was still recovering at home.

• Shinji found that Karin's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan had nearly as much Dojutsu as his own and exposed weaknesses in his eyes.
• Shinji considered ways to strengthen an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and decided to move up Karin's First Hokage cell transplant.
• Shinji removed Karin's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan after testing it and planned to see how well Karin herself could wield it.
• Shion, Yakumo, and Sakura decided to visit Karin, and Ino, Hinata, and Tenten joined them.
• The girls bought fruit and snacks and knocked on the door of Karin's apartment.

Yakumo and Karin sensed an unexplained threat in each other during a visit, while their classmates misread Yakumo’s unease as a grudge over Shinji. Later, Yakumo recognized an attack on Konoha’s Archives and rushed there, where ANBU confronted a figure in Akatsuki attire fleeing with two ninjutsu scrolls.

• Shion brought Yakumo and their classmates to visit Karin, and Yakumo and Karin each felt wary of the other while sensing the other’s power.
• Karin declined the group’s barbecue invitation, and Yakumo asked her to tell Shinji that she wanted to fight him again.
• Karin resented Yakumo for challenging Shinji, while Shion, Sakura, Tenten, and Ino wrongly assumed Yakumo had a grudge against Karin because of Shinji.
• Yakumo’s classmates joined her for barbecue after Shinji, Sasuke, Neji, and Kimimaro declined the invitation to train.
• A blast set the Archives ablaze, and Yakumo recognized it as an attack and rushed to the scene.
• An ANBU squad surrounded a figure escaping the Archives with two ninjutsu scrolls and identified the figure’s attire as belonging to the Akatsuki Organization.

A masked Akatsuki member attacked Konoha’s archives, escaped the initial pursuit, and proved immune to a powerful compound Ninjutsu. Sasuke confronted him after spotting his Mangekyō Sharingan, while Kakashi and the other Konoha Ninja prepared to hold him off until reinforcements arrived.

• A masked Akatsuki member stole two scrolls from the burning archives and escaped as ANBU pursued him.
• Sasuke learned the attacker might be Itachi and chased after him despite Kakashi’s warning.
• Tsunade organized a pursuit squad with Yakumo and Ninja from the other villages, while Jiraiya stayed to protect Konoha.
• The masked figure emerged unharmed from a Fire and Wind Release compound attack outside the village.
• Sasuke recognized the attacker’s Mangekyō Sharingan and challenged him, while Kakashi readied his own Sharingan.

Karin, acting on Shinji’s orders, raided the Konoha Archive to test her new Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and provoke Sasuke, easily capturing him with Susanoo. Tsunade and the other village ninja arrived, and Yakumo found herself torn between attacking a fellow Akatsuki member and allowing the raid to continue.

• Sasuke attacked the masked raider with kunai and explosive tags, but Karin’s Susanoo caught him in its skeletal grip.
• Karin revealed that she was the raider, acting under Shinji’s orders to test her Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, obtain Uzumaki sealing techniques, and provoke Sasuke.
• Karin tightened Susanoo’s grip on Sasuke as he struggled and tried to intensify his Sharingan.
• Yakumo used Wood Release to bind Karin’s Susanoo, and Tsunade arrived with ninja from the other four villages.
• Tsunade identified the attacker as Akatsuki’s “B,” while Yakumo realized she was facing a fellow member and hesitated over what to do.

Yakumo used Wood Release to free Sasuke from Karin’s Susanoo, but Sasuke’s Chidori failed to damage it. Yakumo then attacked Susanoo with Deep Forest Emergence, cracking its defenses as Karin awaited her lord’s instructions.

• Yakumo examined Karin with her Red Dragon Eye and sensed her unusual body and immense Chakra.
• Yakumo used Wood Release to weaken Susanoo’s grip, freeing Sasuke, who attacked Karin with Chidori but failed to pierce Susanoo.
• A branch carried Sasuke away from the battle, and Kakashi caught him while Tsunade questioned Karin about the archives.
• Tsunade ordered Yakumo to attack, and Yakumo used Deep Forest Emergence to crush Susanoo until it began to crack.
• Karin wondered whether the damage was acceptable, and her lord told her to do as she pleased.