Chapter Summaries

After Hyuga Shin’s message stirred doubt among the shinobi, Nara Shikatoshi and Shikaku considered how the Ino-Shika-Cho clans should respond. The three clan heads secretly arranged for Nara Kazuki and his companions to defect, and the chapter ended with news of their departure from Konohagakure.

• The Five Kage blamed Hyuga Shin for spreading false information and urged their shinobi to stand by their villages.
• Nara Shikatoshi asked Shikaku what the clans should do if Hyuga Shin’s revelations were true, and Shikaku suggested sending Nara Kazuki to the Nether Ninja Village.
• Shikaku argued that the Ino-Shika-Cho clans should prepare for change because the Nether Ninja Village had shown its strength and the Five Great Shinobi Villages had suffered losses.
• Nara Shikatoshi summoned the Yamanaka and Akimichi clan heads, and the three leaders agreed on a plan after discussing matters with Nara Kazuki and the others.
• Three days later, the Ino-Shika-Cho squad defected, leaving a letter saying that Konohagakure’s investigations, surveillance, and hostility had driven them away.

After Nara Kazuki and two comrades defected, other captured shinobi weighed leaving Konohagakure because Hiruzen Sarutobi had kept them under suspicion and surveillance. Hyuga Jun, Uchiha Seijou, and Jonin from the Aburame and Inuzuka Clans also disappeared or escaped, leaving Hiruzen facing a growing wave of defections.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi suspected the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans had helped Nara Kazuki and his teammates defect, while the three clan heads denied involvement and gave Anbu no evidence.
• Shikatoshi Nara had helped Kazuki recover his sealed memories and resolve to leave Konohagakure, where the captured shinobi had been marginalized and repeatedly interrogated.
• Hyuga Jun grew determined to defect after the Hyuga Main Family and Hiruzen Sarutobi subjected him to surveillance, memory probes, and repeated Caged Bird punishments.
• Uchiha Seijou considered defecting after Hiruzen Sarutobi repeatedly interrogated and monitored him and the Uchiha Clan failed to protect him.
• Hyuga Jun vanished from his residence, and Uchiha Seijou escaped after killing several Anbu who had monitored him.
• A Jonin from the Aburame Clan and a Jonin from the Inuzuka Clan disappeared from their residences and defected.

Miyashi Hizokurou welcomed several Konoha defectors to the Nether Ninja Village and inferred that Shikatoshi Nara had arranged the Ino-Shika-Cho clans’ strategic early defection. Conflicted Hizashi Hyuga retrieved a scroll left by Hyuga Shin, summoned Tiger King, and received another scroll whose contents he had yet to read.

• Miyashi Hizokurou welcomed seven talented ninjas who had defected from Konohagakure and recognized the combat strength they brought to the Nether Ninja Village.
• Miyashi Hizokurou deduced that Shikatoshi Nara had organized the Ino-Shika-Cho trio’s defection as a calculated bet on the Nether Ninja Village’s bid to unify the Shinobi World.
• Hizashi Hyuga struggled to decide whether to trust Hyuga Shin or Konohagakure, while remaining trapped in the conflict between the Hyuga Main Family and branch family.
• Hizashi Hyuga remembered the mysterious scroll Hyuga Shin had left for him and went alone to a secluded forest to follow its instructions.
• Hizashi Hyuga summoned Tiger King, who handed him another scroll from Hyuga Shin and told him to read it calmly before hearing the accompanying message.

Tiger King delivered Hyuga Shin’s method for removing the Caged Bird seal and his warning to Hizashi Hyuga, who resolved to study the technique and keep Hyuga Shin’s advice in mind. Tiger King then returned to Hyuga Shin in the Small World, where he was fishing.

• The chapter recounted how Hyuga Shin found a Little White Tiger, raised it with Natural Energy, and contracted with it as Tiger King.
• Tiger King gave Hizashi Hyuga a scroll containing a method to undo the Caged Bird seal, and Hizashi was overcome with joy.
• Tiger King relayed Hyuga Shin’s advice that Hizashi should remain cautious until he was strong enough and look beyond the Hyuga Clan.
• Hizashi thanked Tiger King, put away the scroll, and prepared to study the method for removing the seal.
• Tiger King returned to the Small World and found Hyuga Shin fishing by the lake.

Hyuga Shin’s scheme drew powerful defectors into the Nether Ninja Village, rapidly increasing its strength and bringing it close to becoming the Shinobi World’s Sixth Great Shinobi Village. In the Pure Land, the Sage of Six Paths discovered that Hyuga Shin’s mysterious chakra messages had spread throughout the Five Great Shinobi Villages and realized they threatened him and the villages.

• Tiger King reported to Hyuga Shin that he had completed his task, and Hyuga Shin rewarded him with a promise of a large fish.
• Miyashi Hizokurou advised Orochimaru to use the Black Market to spread news of mistreatment in the great villages, prompting three Elite Jonin from Sunagakure, four from Iwagakure, and Juzō Biwa, Munashi Jinpachi, and Raiga Kurosuki from Mist Village to defect.
• Pakura chose to join the Nether Ninja Village, which added to its growing ranks of Kage-Level and Quasi-Shadow-Level fighters.
• Miyashi Hizokurou reported the recruitment results to Orochimaru, who assessed the village’s strength and its progress toward becoming the Sixth Great Shinobi Village.
• After escaping a three-day battle with the Sage of Six Paths, Hirazaki Harukawa left the Sage furious and unable to suppress him completely.
• The Sage of Six Paths discovered mysterious chakra messages in all Five Great Shinobi Villages and realized that Hyuga Shin had left behind a dangerous scheme.

Future Jiraiya returned from the past to find the Shinobi World engulfed in chaos and Konoha gone. Great Toad Sage blamed his interference for changing the timeline and revealed that the Three Great Sage Regions had been drawn into the conflict.

• The Five Kage took Hyuga Shin's scheme seriously and tried to prevent similar defections from spreading.
• After waiting over a month for the Dragon Vein to recover, Future Jiraiya returned to the timeline five years later.
• Jiraiya found countries across the Shinobi World in violent upheaval, including Rōran, and used the Reverse Summoning Technique to reach Mount Myōboku.
• Jiraiya saw that Fukasaku and Shima were injured and that Great Toad Sage had become imposing and angry.
• Great Toad Sage told Jiraiya that Konoha was gone and demanded to know how much he had interfered in the past.
• Jiraiya admitted accelerating Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation research and the alliance against Nether Ninja Village, while Great Toad Sage explained that Oda Nobunaga had abandoned his agreement with the Three Great Sage Regions.

After returning from the past, Jiraiya discovered that Konoha had been destroyed and investigated the altered Shinobi World. He learned that the Nether Ninja Village was waging a brutal campaign for unification, leaving the Five Great Nations struggling to resist.

• The Great Toad Head Sage reprimanded Jiraiya for traveling through time and ordered him not to use the Dragon Vein again.
• Jiraiya returned to the present and found Konoha reduced to ruins, then set out to learn what had happened across the Shinobi World.
• After a week of investigation, Jiraiya learned that surviving Konoha shinobi had joined the other villages to establish a new Five Great Shinobi Villages in the Land of Fire.
• Jiraiya learned that the Nether Ninja Village had destroyed the other villages' original sites with nuclear weapons and had grown powerful enough to dominate much of the Shinobi World.
• Orochimaru continued the Nether Ninja Village's bloody campaign for unification, determined to eliminate anyone who opposed its ideal.

Hiruzen Sarutobi began studying Impure World Reincarnation to counter the Nether Ninja Village, while the Sage of Six Paths worried about Hyuga Shin’s schemes and his rivalry with Hirazaki Harukawa. In the Pure Land, Hidan demanded a reward from Hirazaki Harukawa for arranging four high-quality sacrifices, and the Evil God decided to grant him a power boost.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi proposed reviving previous Kage with Impure World Reincarnation and began studying the difficult Forbidden Jutsu.
• The Sage of Six Paths realized he could not locate or undo Hyuga Shin’s message-sending jutsu and worried about Hirazaki Harukawa competing for souls in the Pure Land.
• Hirazaki Harukawa celebrated capturing four high-quality souls to cultivate and harvest for their Soul Origins.
• Hidan sent Hirazaki Harukawa a message demanding a reward for the four sacrifices and threatened to offer only ordinary villains in the future.
• Hirazaki Harukawa agreed to strengthen Hidan because Hidan was his only believer and had done well.

Hidan received a major increase to the range of his Blood-Death technique and went looking for Sasori to spar, but Sasori was away on a mission. Meanwhile, Orochimaru worked to establish the Nether Ninja Village’s departments before the Five Great Shinobi Villages could threaten its growth, as Hyuga Shin’s broadcast raised the village’s profile across the Shinobi World.

• The Evil God rewarded Hidan for his sacrifices by more than doubling the range of his Blood-Death technique.
• Hidan went to Training Ground One to challenge Sasori, but learned Sasori had left on a mission and decided against fighting the other core members.
• Orochimaru and En no Gyōja reviewed plans for the academy, hospital, Ninjutsu Library, spies, and other Nether Ninja Village operations.
• Orochimaru hurried to build the village’s support systems because he feared the Five Great Shinobi Villages could act once they found a way to counter Hidan’s technique.
• Hyuga Shin broadcast memories of the battle in the Land of Grass across the Shinobi World, increasing awareness of the Nether Ninja Village’s strength and ideals.

Orochimaru mobilized the Nether Ninja Village to recruit new fighters while the Five Kage struggled to counter Hyuga Shin’s continuing information transmissions. In Konohagakure, Hyuga Sosuke asked Hinata Ayane whether Hyuga Shin had left her anything, then regretted the clan’s failures and its lost chance to inherit Shin’s legacy.

• Orochimaru sent available village ninjas to recruit wandering and Black Market Ninjas, while elite teams searched the Five Great Nations for talent.
• The Five Kage feared Hyuga Shin’s memory transmissions would gradually sway more ninjas and publicly warned them against believing the Nether Ninja Village.
• Hinata Ayane mourned Hyuga Shin after receiving memories of his death and recalling the happy childhood he had given her.
• Hyuga Sosuke asked Ayane whether Hyuga Shin had left her anything, but she said she had not seen him before he left.
• Hyuga Sosuke regretted distancing himself from Hyuga Shin and recognized that the Hyuga Main Family was unworthy of inheriting his legacy.

Might Duy told Might Guy why he trusted Hyuga Shin, then recalled how Shin had helped him overcome his struggles at the Ninja Academy and discover his talent for Taijutsu. The story ended with Shin giving eleven-year-old Duy the Eight Inner Gates scroll and urging him to train.

• Might Duy warned Might Guy to think for himself and not blindly believe the village’s claims about Hyuga Shin.
• Might Duy explained that he had met Hyuga Shin while delivering a meal to the Hyuga Clan compound as a child.
• Hyuga Shin hired Duy to deliver meals every day, tipped him generously, and helped him learn the Academy’s basic techniques.
• When Duy grew discouraged about his poor ninjutsu skills, Hyuga Shin recognized his exceptional talent for Taijutsu.
• When Duy was eleven, Hyuga Shin gave him the Eight Inner Gates scroll and told him to train his body.

Might Duy told Might Guy how Hyuga Shin had guided his training and revealed the truth he had uncovered about Sakumo Hatake’s death, urging Guy to think independently. The chapter ended with Duy’s later decision to join the Nether Ninja Village with Guy and help carry out Shin’s cause.

• Hyuga Shin gave Might Duy the Eight Inner Gates method and later encouraged him to persist in taijutsu despite ridicule.
• Might Duy asked Might Guy about Sakumo Hatake and explained that Hiruzen Sarutobi had conspired to bring about Sakumo’s death to protect his own position.
• Might Duy urged Guy to question authority, judge matters for himself, and respect Elder Shin, whose warnings about the Shinobi World’s darkness Duy believed.
• The narration revealed that Might Duy later accepted Orochimaru’s invitation and joined the Nether Ninja Village with Might Guy.
• Might Duy became one of the Nether Ninja Village’s top officers, surprising Hyuga Shin.

As the Nether Ninja Village celebrated its first New Year, Orochimaru praised its ideals and achievements, then announced a history department to record the contributions of its members. The banquet ended in high spirits while the Five Great Villages faced pressure from the village’s growing reach.

• The Nether Ninja Village celebrated its first New Year as a powerful, prosperous force under Hyuga Shin and Orochimaru.
• Orochimaru hosted a lavish New Year's Eve banquet and distributed money to registered ninja.
• Orochimaru thanked Hyuga Shin and the gathered ninja, then announced a history department that would preserve their names and deeds.
• The Nether Ninja Village’s reforms brought prosperity to the Land of Grass and support from ordinary people.
• The Five Great Villages’ Kage were in poor spirits as their Daimyo pressured them over the Nether Ninja Village’s expansion and recruitment.

The Nether Ninja Village expanded its influence and membership while Miyashi Hizokurou helped Shirafuji Shizuka and Kaguya Changming rescue their families from Kirigakure. As the village’s academy, hospital, and council developed, Hiruzen Sarutobi prepared to strike back against Orochimaru.

• Hyuga Shin released videos of the Five Kage being defeated, damaging their reputations and boosting support for the Nether Ninja Village.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi grew furious over the videos and neared completion of Impure World Reincarnation, intending to use it against Orochimaru.
• Shirafuji Shizuka and Kaguya Changming asked Orochimaru for help bringing their families from Kirigakure, and Miyashi Hizokurou escorted them to rescue their relatives.
• Miyashi Hizokurou asked Pakura whether she needed her family brought over, and she said they had all passed away.
• The Nether Ninja Village grew to more than three thousand ninja, opened its academy to promising recruits, and began trial operations at its hospital.
• Orochimaru advanced plans to expand the village’s elder council and strengthen its institutions, but Hiruzen Sarutobi was unwilling to give him time.

After Oda Kazuya defied Orochimaru and ignored the Nether Ninja Village, Miyashi Hizokurou activated the seal on his soul to punish him. Hyuga Shin then appeared in Oda Kazuya’s soul space, warned him to obey and keep his survival secret, and left Oda stunned by the reach of his power.

• Orochimaru announced Hiruko, Pakura, Kaguya Changming, and Shirafuji Shizuka as new core elders, while Oda Kazuya skipped the gathering and continued disregarding his orders.
• Miyashi Hizokurou judged Oda Kazuya an increasingly dangerous threat to the Nether Ninja Village and activated the sealing restriction on his soul.
• Oda Kazuya endured agonizing pain and realized Hyuga Shin was alive and watching over the village.
• Hyuga Shin entered Oda Kazuya’s soul space and ordered him to keep his survival secret, respect Orochimaru, stop testing his limits, and protect the village in exchange for eventual freedom.
• Oda Kazuya asked Hyuga Shin what realm of power he had reached, unable to sense him even as his voice seemed to surround him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other four Kage assembled an Impure World Reincarnation army to attack the Nether Ninja Village, while the Sage of Six Paths focused on countering Hyuga Shin’s information-transmission Forbidden Jutsu. As the five armies gathered for battle, Orochimaru recalled the Nether Ninja Village’s shinobi, preparing for an even tougher fight than before.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi recruited the other four Kage to gather powerful shinobi’s remains and prepare an Impure World Reincarnation assault on the Nether Ninja Village.
• Karatachi Yagura learned that Kaguya Changming and Shirafuji Shizuka had defected with their families, then forced the Kaguya Clan elders to allow the Third Mizukage’s grave to be used as a medium.
• The Sage of Six Paths returned through the link to the Pure Land, discussed Hyuga Shin’s Forbidden Jutsu and the Cursemancers with Hiruzen Sarutobi, and left the attack to the five Kage.
• Two days later, the five Kage gathered in the Land of Rice with armies of five thousand each and a large force of resurrected shinobi, including Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju.
• Orochimaru received news of the impending attack and recalled the Nether Ninja Village’s shinobi from their missions.

Orochimaru prepared the Nether Ninja Village for a decisive battle against the Five Great Shinobi Villages’ Impure World Reincarnation army, confident that his forces and plans could secure victory. The armies clashed twenty kilometers from the village, where the Nether Ninja fighters gained the upper hand against their weakened reincarnated opponents.

• Orochimaru assembled eleven Kage-Level members, four reincarnated Kage-Level fighters, and numerous other ninja, while preparing sealing scrolls and a method to bring Hyuga Shin back if needed.
• The Five Great Shinobi Villages sent their Impure World Reincarnation army directly toward the Nether Ninja Village under Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju.
• Orochimaru led his fighters to meet the enemy twenty kilometers from the village, and both sides began fighting near a forest.
• Kaguya Changming, Shirafuji Shizuka, Sasori, and Ebizo gained the advantage against their opponents, though Monzaemon’s experience helped him hold off Sasori.
• Explosion Release Gari, Hiruko, Heifeng, En no Gyōja, and Orochimaru engaged reincarnated fighters, and the Nether Ninja Village’s forces generally held the advantage.

The Nether Ninja Village’s fighters battled the Impure World Reincarnation Kage while the Five Kage assessed the conflict and sent the Allied Shinobi Forces to reinforce their side. Orochimaru tested poison on Blue B as he tried to capture him and locate the interworld link, leaving the Nether Ninja Village facing an imminent attack by twenty-five thousand shinobi.

• Kakuzu, Kagami Uchiha, Pakura, Hidan, Miyashi Hizokurou, and Oda Kazuya fought their assigned Impure World Reincarnation opponents, with most of the revived Kage struggling against their sacrifices’ limitations.
• Miyashi Hizokurou suppressed Hashirama Senju and noticed that Hashirama could barely use Space Ninjutsu.
• The Five Kage used their sensory unit and Yamanaka Clan techniques to order twenty-five thousand Allied Shinobi Forces into battle as reinforcements.
• Orochimaru poisoned Blue B with a snake bite, intending to capture him and use him to find the interworld link opened by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• The Five Kage’s swift reinforcement order left the Nether Ninja Village preparing to face an overwhelming attack.

Miyashi Hizokurou worked to suppress the reincarnated fighters and give Orochimaru time to undo Hiruzen Sarutobi’s technique, but the arrival of the Five Great Shinobi Villages’ Allied Shinobi Forces turned the battle against Nether Ninja Village. He took command of the village’s defense while Oda Kazuya faced Hashirama Senju.

• Miyashi Hizokurou warned Orochimaru that the Five Great Shinobi Villages’ armies were approaching, then helped him leave with Blue B while protecting him from Tobirama Senju.
• Miyashi Hizokurou suppressed Hashirama Senju, countered Tobirama Senju’s ambushes, and sealed Yotsuki Akito to stabilize Nether Ninja Village’s position.
• Oda Kazuya defeated and sealed Uzumaki Mito, while Hiruko and Explosion Release Gari defeated Uroko and Enryo; Tobirama Senju rescued Uroko, but Enryo was sealed.
• The Allied Shinobi Forces arrived with more than ten thousand troops and charged Nether Ninja Village’s roughly three thousand shinobi.
• Miyashi Hizokurou left Hashirama Senju to Oda Kazuya and took command of the village’s defense while Orochimaru worked to undo Hiruzen Sarutobi’s technique.

Miyashi Hizokurou brought En no Gyōja to the front line, where they threatened the Five Shinobi Allied Forces with the Nether Ninja Village’s power and En no Gyōja’s Forbidden Jutsu, Furious Heaven. The fighting stopped in an uneasy standoff as the allied commanders sought orders from the Five Kage.

• Miyashi Hizokurou asked En no Gyōja to prepare to use Furious Heaven as the Nether Ninja Village suffered heavy casualties, and Hiruko took over the fight against Ishikawa.
• Miyashi Hizokurou transported En no Gyōja to the front line, where he had been supporting the Nether Ninja Village forces against the far larger allied army.
• Miyashi Hizokurou warned the allied forces to leave the Land of Grass, and En no Gyōja threatened to use Furious Heaven against the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
• The Five Great Shinobi Villages’ commanders hesitated to continue fighting, and both sides entered a tense standoff.
• The allied commanders contacted the Five Kage, who monitored the battlefield through sensory shinobi, Cloud Village amplifiers, and the leader of the Yamanaka Clan.