Chapter Summaries

Shinji’s investigation found no sign of a conflict between the Plague Overlord and the Breeding Overlord, while the Six Rings World’s defenses weakened under increasingly severe attacks. As the Lantern Bearers faced the possibility of defeat, Shinji decided to provoke a clash between the Overlords and unleashed a colossal sword strike on the Flesh Puppets.

• Shinji searched nearly all of the Six Rings World’s Contaminated Zones but found no abnormalities, and Arcane explained that the Magic Rings blocked his perception beyond the spatial barrier.
• The Lantern Bearers waited for a satellite remote-sensing system to be deployed, but twenty days later the Flesh Puppets returned in greater numbers and size as new Contaminated Zones appeared.
• Radiant Alice’s model reduced the Six Rings World’s projected remaining lifespan from two years to six months, while Alice apologized to Arcane for her failed plan.
• Shinji argued that the Overlords might turn against each other when dividing the spoils and said he would stir up trouble.
• Shinji flew from the fortress, formed a golden sword from his nine Truth-Seeking Orbs, and cut down the Flesh Puppets across the landscape with one slash.

Shinji destroyed every Flesh Puppet on the battlefield with the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, but the Breeding Overlord retaliated from beyond the Six Rings World's spatial barrier. The surviving defenders watched a much larger horde charge toward them, and Arcane concluded that his world was beyond saving.

• Mage Roy watched the Knowledge Tower's defenders retreat and realized the rumors of Doomsday might be true.
• Shinji swept his golden sword across the battlefield and annihilated the Flesh Puppets in sight.
• The Storm Archmage sensed the danger of Shinji's attack but trusted the Magic Ring and the Knowledge Tower to protect him.
• Shinji looked toward the gathering storm, certain the Breeding Overlord would react to his presence.
• The Breeding Overlord's fury darkened the sky and caused the distant Flesh Puppets to swell to mountain size and charge.
• Arcane saw the renewed horde and told the Lantern Bearers that his world was beyond saving.

Shinji used Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion to erase the Breeding Overlord’s Flesh Puppets, leaving the Six Rings World’s defenders stunned by his power. After the Overlord’s roar briefly paralyzed nearly everyone, Shinji deliberately provoked it further to test how much power it could send through the spatial barrier and see what the Plague Overlord would do.

• Alice, Hengo, and the old martial artist felt despair as they realized luring the Breeding Overlord to the Six Rings World had hastened its destruction.
• Shinji dismissed the advancing Flesh Puppets as no threat and challenged the Overlord to show more power.
• Shinji unleashed Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion and wiped out the Flesh Puppets and the surrounding landscape.
• The Breeding Overlord roared through the spatial barrier, paralyzing most living creatures while the Lantern Bearers were partly protected by their Lamps.
• Shinji shrugged off the roar and deliberately released the Divine Tree’s aura to provoke the Overlord and test its power, while waiting to see how the Plague Overlord would respond.

Shinji’s aura drew the Breeding Overlord’s power toward Six Rings World, and the Archmages joined forces to reinforce the barrier. Black liquid poured from the sky and corrupted the mages into monsters, while the Lantern Bearers survived under their lamps and Alice looked up at Shinji.

• Shinji’s aura caused a vast vortex to form over Six Rings World, alarming the Storm Archmage and the Lantern Bearers.
• The Storm Archmage alerted the other five Archmages, and all six unleashed their Magic Rings to strengthen the barrier around the world.
• Alice and the other Lantern Bearers realized Shinji was trying to draw in the Overlord, and they watched as a crack sounded within the vortex.
• Black liquid poured from the vortex and blinded everyone who looked at it, though the Lantern Bearers gradually regained their sight under the protection of their lamps.
• The surviving mages transformed into monsters covered in fleshy buds and tumors, and Alice looked up at Shinji.

Shinji confronted the Breeding Overlord’s invasion in the Six Rings World and fought the monster that emerged from a fleshy cocoon. He brought the creature down and cut it in half, but the chapter left its fate unresolved.

• Shinji cleared the contamination from the black liquid with his own Chakra and realized how much stronger he had become.
• A giant fleshy cocoon formed beneath the vortex, and Shinji attacked it with Susanoo and a Chakra spear.
• Shinji used Kamui Shuriken to tear open the cocoon, revealing a long, gelatinous monster that flew into the air.
• Shinji fought the nearly thousand-meter-long monster while the Lantern Bearers and a few sheltered mages watched.
• The wounded monster fell to the ground, and Shinji slashed its abdomen, cutting it in half.

Shinji fought a rapidly regenerating monster whose radiation and corrosive blood damaged his Susanoo, while the Lantern Bearers launched a nuclear missile against it. The monster survived, destroyed their fortress, and Shinji rescued the Lantern Bearers as it attacked them.

• Shinji cut the monster in half, but it regenerated while its radiation and black blood corroded his Susanoo.
• Alice ordered the Lantern Bearers to bombard the monster and launch a nuclear missile as their final weapon.
• The nuclear blast destroyed the other mutated monsters, but Hengo detected signs that the main monster had survived.
• The monster charged and smashed the temporary war fortress, then swept toward the escaping Lantern Bearers.
• Shinji pulled Alice and the other Lantern Bearers out of danger and ordered them to stand down.

Shinji fought the monster believed to be part of the Breeding Overlord while the Lantern Bearers retreated and the Knowledge Tower fell. After cutting the monster into pieces, he used Planetary Devastation to continue the attack.

• Hengo led Alice, Arcane, and the old martial artist away from the battlefield while Shinji faced the monster alone.
• Shinji used Amaterasu to burn the monster, but it shielded itself with black liquid and extinguished the flames.
• The monster struck the Knowledge Tower, shattered its Magic Ring, and caused the mages inside to mutate.
• The Storm Archmage charged the monster and self-destructed, but the blast failed to stop it.
• Shinji summoned Susanoo and a golden sword, cut the monster into dozens of pieces, and cast Planetary Devastation.

Shinji used Planetary Devastation to trap the monster, then kept drawing in and compressing mountains and rubble when the creature’s corrosive black liquid threatened to break the sphere. After exhausting himself, he created a moon for the Six Rings World, leaving the monster sealed inside it.

• Shinji’s Planetary Devastation captured the wounded monster in a sphere of earth and rubble, but black liquid began seeping through the surface.
• Shinji expanded the sphere with distant mountains and compressed its growing mass to withstand the monster’s strength and corrosion.
• The Lantern Bearers retreated from the ruined battlefield, and Hengo realized Shinji was making a celestial body by hand.
• Shinji continued powering Planetary Devastation until the sphere surpassed the moon that had sealed Kaguya Otsutsuki.
• Shinji’s sphere became a moon visible across the Six Rings World.

Shinji sealed part of the Breeding Overlord inside a celestial body, then wounded it when it forced its way through the Six Rings World’s spatial barrier. The Plague Overlord attacked the weakened Breeding Overlord, and Shinji realized their former balance had been broken.

• Shinji created a celestial body with Planetary Devastation and sealed part of the Breeding Overlord inside it.
• The Breeding Overlord tried to invade the Six Rings World again, and Arcane reinforced the spatial barrier while Shinji prepared to strike.
• Shinji wounded the Breeding Overlord with Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, but its black liquid damaged his Truth-Seeking Orbs.
• The Breeding Overlord vanished after another powerful presence appeared beyond the barrier, and Shinji sensed the Plague Overlord fighting it.
• Shinji concluded that the Plague Overlord had attacked because the Breeding Overlord’s losses had disrupted the balance between the two Overlords.

Shinji weakened the Breeding Overlord, which retreated after the Plague Overlord drove it away. The Plague Overlord then tried to invade the Six Rings World, but Shinji repelled it until the Space Rift closed, leaving the threat waiting beyond the spatial barrier.

• Shinji sensed that the Breeding Overlord had fled while the Plague Overlord remained largely unharmed.
• The Plague Overlord appeared in the Breeding Overlord's Space Rift and attempted to invade the Six Rings World.
• Shinji struck the Plague Overlord with a Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, driving it back, though the attack and his Chakra were contaminated.
• Shinji held his ground until the Arcane closed the Space Rift, then returned to the Lantern Bearers.
• Shinji told Alice and the others that he had sealed part of the Breeding Overlord and warned them that the Plague Overlord still watched from beyond the spatial barrier.

After sealing part of the Breeding Overlord and driving back the Plague Overlord, Shinji cleanses the contamination and reflects on how far he still has to grow. Back in the Shinobi World, he decides to create his own Otsutsuki sacrifice, and learns that Obito has started thinking about escaping.

• Shinji told the Lantern Bearers to monitor the sealed moon and the Contaminated Zones, then left to recover.
• Alice, Hengo, the old warrior, and "Arcane" organized surveillance, recruitment, and efforts to limit the battle's fallout.
• Shinji used his lamp to remove the Plague Overlord's contamination and resolved to grow a second Chakra Fruit after assessing his weakness against the Overlords.
• Shinji returned to the Shinobi World and learned from Amado that he had made no progress on Otsutsuki communication technology.
• Shinji asked White Zetsu about Obito and welcomed the news that Obito was considering escape.

Obito learned that Group 3 had evolved his Mangekyō Sharingan into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and planned to use him to help create the Rinnegan. After the proposed experiment was rejected, White Zetsu secretly passed Obito some of his Dojutsu, giving Obito faint red pupils and a possible chance to escape.

• Obito overheard researchers say Group 3 had evolved his Mangekyō Sharingan into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and wanted to use him as a living incubator for a Rinnegan experiment.
• Obito met White Zetsu in the temporary cell and learned Hidan had failed to escape after attacking the researchers.
• Obito asked White Zetsu to pass him some of the Chakra from his Sharingan during the experiment so they could try to escape.
• Obito later heard that the group leader had rejected Group 3's proposal to use him as an incubator, cutting off his chance to reach his eyes.
• White Zetsu secretly dropped a spore into Obito's cage, and Obito crushed it and absorbed his Dojutsu, causing faint crimson pupils to appear.

Obito escaped the laboratory with White Zetsu after recovering his Sharingan, which had become an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He planned to use Sasuke’s Chakra to awaken the Rinnegan and learned that A might possess a smaller Ten-Tails.

• Obito phased into Lab 3, knocked out two researchers, and freed White Zetsu, who told him where his Sharingan was stored.
• Obito found the tank labeled “Kamui,” reclaimed his Sharingan, and discovered that it had become an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
• After the alarm sounded, Obito took petri dishes containing White Zetsu Cells infused with Sasuke’s Chakra and escaped with White Zetsu to the Land of Tea.
• Obito explained that he needed Sasuke’s Chakra to try to awaken the Rinnegan, while White Zetsu said Obito already carried Ōtsutsuki Ashura’s Chakra through his transplanted cells.
• White Zetsu told Obito that A had seized a smaller Ten-Tails from Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, rekindling Obito’s ambition to awaken the Rinnegan and confront A.

After Obito escaped with White Zetsu, he planned to hide until he could pursue the little Ten-Tails, while Shinji kept the escape under control and maintained the Research Institute’s defenses. Shinji then turned his attention to building a defensive system for the Shinobi World inspired by the Six Rings World’s six Archmages.

• Obito learned about the little Ten-Tails and asked White Zetsu where Isshiki’s Ten-Tails was being held.
• Obito and White Zetsu gathered supplies from old Akatsuki laboratories and used Kamui to hide on a remote island.
• Shinji’s Research Institute continued operating under heavy surveillance and guard, and Yakumo reported Obito’s escape to him.
• Shinji warned Yakumo not to underestimate Obito’s Space-Time Dojutsu and relied on White Zetsu and Ada to monitor him.
• Shinji decided to develop a defensive system with Karin, Hikari, Shion, and Sasuke, modeled on the six Archmages’ Magic Rings.

Shinji planned to build a defensive system capable of resisting the Overlords, but he needed at least six Six Paths-level powerhouses and a way to advance them. He considered seeking the Sage of Six Paths’ help for Naruto and Sasuke, then found Sasuke training and warned him that the Six Tomoe Rinnegan would not overcome Daemon’s Killing Intent Reflection.

• Shinji concluded that the Shinobi World needed six Six Paths-level defenders and a coordinated defensive system to resist an Overlord.
• Shinji decided to reclaim Karin and Hikari’s Karma and rely on the Research Institute to find new paths to Six Paths level.
• Shinji considered Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, and Kimimaro as candidates for receiving power from the Sage of Six Paths or Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
• Shinji went to the Flying Fortress and found Sasuke, whose Rinnegan had advanced into the Six Tomoe Rinnegan.
• Sasuke asked to challenge Daemon again, but Shinji warned that the Six Tomoe Rinnegan could not defeat Killing Intent Reflection without a way to counter it.

Shinji tested Sasuke's strength, then brought him to Mount Myōboku to seek Hagoromo Otsutsuki's help in raising Sasuke to the Six Paths level. There, Sasuke unexpectedly encountered Naruto, and Shinji asked the Great Toad Sage to let him see Hagoromo.

• Sasuke attacked Shinji with Amenotejikara and Chidori, but Shinji dodged the strike and caught his hand.
• Shinji told Sasuke that his control of killing intent needed improvement and explained that Hagoromo could grant him Six Paths-level Chakra.
• Shinji opened a Space Gate and took Sasuke to Mount Myōboku, where Sage Shima agreed to guide them to the Great Toad Sage.
• Sasuke encountered Naruto at the Great Toad Sage's residence and learned that Konoha's leaders had sent Naruto there after Shinji took Ada and Daemon.
• Shinji asked the Great Toad Sage to let him see Hagoromo Otsutsuki.

Shinji took Naruto from Mount Myōboku and brought him to the Land of Hot Water, where he arranged a fight between Naruto and Sasuke. Their battle escalated into a clash between Sage Fox Mode and Susanoo, leaving Shinji surprised by Naruto’s strength.

• Shinji asked the Great Toad Sage to arrange a meeting with Hagoromo Otsutsuki and announced that he would take Naruto with him.
• The Great Toad Sage agreed to meet Shinji in two days and let him take Naruto, while Sage Shima worried about Jiraiya’s trust in them.
• Shinji brought Naruto and Sasuke to the Land of Hot Water and said Naruto could leave if he defeated Sasuke.
• Naruto and Sasuke fought with Taijutsu, and Naruto’s training with Daemon had improved his skills enough to hold his own.
• Sasuke used Shinra Tensei, and Naruto entered Sage Fox Mode, escalating their battle into a clash between the giant orange fox and the purple Susanoo Giant.

Shinji stopped Naruto and Sasuke’s battle, revealed that he was the Akatsuki leader known as “A,” and explained that he had brought them to meet the Sage of Six Paths so Naruto could ascend to Six Paths level. The chapter ended with Shinji waiting for the Sage of Six Paths to arrive.

• Shinji assessed Naruto and Sasuke’s strength as they fought, noting that both were weaker overall than in their original-timeline battle but had other advantages.
• Sasuke blasted Naruto away with Shinra Tensei, but Menma struck Susanoo with a Great Spiraling Ring and knocked Sasuke out of it.
• Sasuke caught Menma’s Spirit Body with his Rinnegan and restrained him as Naruto rushed to help.
• Shinji intervened and ended the fight, saying he had seen what Naruto and Sasuke could do.
• Shinji removed his Cat Mask, revealing himself to Naruto and Menma as the Akatsuki leader “A,” and explained their trip’s purpose.
• Naruto asked about being the Sage of Six Paths’ son, and Shinji waited for the Sage to arrive.

Sasuke explained to Naruto and Menma why Shinji had formed the Akatsuki Organization and warned them about the Overlord of Fear, whose invasion threatened the Shinobi World. As Shinji rested on the coast, the Sage of Six Paths appeared, and Shinji asked why he had finally shown himself.

• Naruto questioned how Shinji could be the Akatsuki Organization's leader, and Sasuke defended Shinji's hidden strength and the sacrifices the organization had made.
• Sasuke told Naruto and Menma that the Overlord of Fear could destroy the Shinobi World and that Shinji needed their help to face it.
• Naruto vowed to fight the Overlord, but Sasuke said neither Naruto nor Sasuke was strong enough to confront it yet.
• Sasuke reflected that Karin and Hikari had reached Six Paths level through Shinji's Karma and could easily defeat him in sparring.
• The Sage of Six Paths appeared above the sea, and Shinji asked what he wanted.

Shinji told the Sage of Six Paths that a terrifying enemy threatened to destroy the Shinobi World within three years and asked him to train Naruto and Sasuke to reach Six Paths level. After deciding he would have to rely on himself, Shinji left, while Amado and Orochimaru discussed escalating failed cell-transplant experiments to living shinobi.

• Shinji explained that an enemy more dangerous than the Otsutsuki threatened the Shinobi World and asked the Sage of Six Paths to help Naruto and Sasuke reach Six Paths level within a year.
• The Sage of Six Paths agreed to do his best, then took Naruto and Sasuke away to train them.
• Shinji concluded that the Sage of Six Paths was too diminished to be a useful ally and left the Land of Hot Water through a Space Gate.
• A White Zetsu Clone swelled and exploded during Amado's cell-transplant experiment at the Research Institute.
• Amado told Orochimaru that only people suited to become Otsutsuki Shibai's vessel could survive the transplant, then said he would ask Shinji for permission to experiment on living shinobi.