Chapter Summaries

Kazashiro arranged for Yamato to renovate rooms at the Shimura Residence while Naruto and Karin visited him for wooden shuriken. The children went to play with Sasuke, where their teasing about how much Sasuke depended on Kazashiro embarrassed him as Itachi and Kazashiro watched.

• Kazashiro told Obito that he had secretly started an organization, then days passed as Sakumo’s plans for Konoha progressed despite a lack of funds.
• Naruto and Karin visited Yamato while he renovated the Shimura Residence, and Yamato complained that Kazashiro had assigned him the work.
• Kazashiro ordered Yamato to make dull wooden shuriken for Naruto and Karin, who then headed to the Uchiha compound to find Sasuke.
• Naruto and Sasuke argued over their closeness to their older brothers and to Kazashiro, and Karin noticed Sasuke blushing.
• Kazashiro appeared beside Itachi, who was carrying laundry, and Itachi complained that Kazashiro had entered without warning.

Kazashiro briefed Fugaku on security for Kumogakure’s upcoming peace delegation and warned that the Cloud Ninja might target Konoha’s kekkei genkai. After leaving Fugaku, Kazashiro took Itachi with him using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

• Kazashiro visited Fugaku to discuss the security arrangements for Kumogakure’s delegation, including a four-man mobile unit staffed by ANBU.
• Fugaku said the Military Police Force would oversee visible security, while Kazashiro doubted Kumogakure was sincerely seeking peace.
• Kazashiro warned Fugaku that Kumogakure might try to steal Konoha’s kekkei genkai, especially the Byakugan and Sharingan.
• Kazashiro found Itachi washing clothes, teased him, and teleported him away before he could change.
• Fugaku blamed Danzo for Kazashiro’s influence over Itachi, but felt reassured that Itachi might reconnect the Uchiha with the Hokage’s faction.

Kazashiro left Naruto with Itachi to watch the children, then went to meet Tsunade and received a scroll about training the Hundred Healings Jutsu. While Naruto and Karin built a snowman, they intervened when three children bullied Hinata and mocked Karin’s red hair.

• Kazashiro used the Flying Thunder God formula to arrive beside Naruto with Itachi, then left Itachi in charge of the children and gave him his coat.
• Naruto and Karin finished building a snowman and found three children surrounding Hinata and insulting her.
• Naruto punched one bully for mocking Karin’s red hair, while Karin grabbed another and pulled him to the ground.
• The remaining bully charged at Karin, but Itachi stopped him by seizing his arm.
• Kazashiro found Tsunade gambling at a casino and asked how to train the Hundred Healings Jutsu.
• Tsunade tossed Kazashiro a scroll containing the training instructions.

Kazashiro arrived to meet Naruto and found him, Itachi, and Hinata caught up in a fight with several children and their angry parents. After settling the dispute, he escorted Hinata toward the Hyuga compound, where Dekai Hyuga was organizing a search for her.

• Kazashiro mistakenly hit a furious parent with a snowball, then found Naruto nearby with blood on his hands and no visible wounds.
• Naruto told Kazashiro that Itachi had also fought, and Itachi explained that the children had provoked Hinata.
• Kazashiro invoked Itachi's father, Uchiha Fugaku, and the Hyuga clan to deter the parents, then offered to pay for the injured children's treatment.
• When a Chunin recognized Kazashiro, the parents quickly left, and Kazashiro set out to take Hinata home.
• Near the Hyuga compound, Kazashiro encountered Dekai Hyuga gathering a Branch Family squad to search for Hinata.

Kazashiro met with Hyuga Hiashi after the incident involving the children, mocked the Hyuga Clan’s strict discipline and faded prestige, and left without provoking a fight. Back at Minato’s home, Kushina confronted him about Naruto’s fight while Naruto and Karin watched him try to defend himself.

• Hiashi thanked Kazashiro for helping during the incident and offered to cover the children’s medical expenses, while Kazashiro drank his tea without proper manners.
• Hiashi ordered Hinata to return to training, and Kazashiro mocked the Hyuga Clan’s strict discipline and suggested its traditions had grown rotten.
• Kazashiro left the Hyuga grounds with Naruto and Karin after Iroha apologized and suggested he visit Hizashi.
• Kazashiro sent Itachi and Sasuke home, then warned Naruto and Karin not to tell Kushina about the incident.
• Kushina grabbed Kazashiro and demanded to hear everything about Naruto’s fight while Naruto and Karin watched and called him spineless.

Konoha held the joint Chunin Ninja Exams without incident, then welcomed a Kumogakure peace envoy whose unexpectedly mild negotiating stance made Sakumo and Hiruzen suspect a hidden motive. Sakumo chose to wait for Anbu intelligence before sending anyone to the border.

• Kazashiro monitored the Chunin Ninja Exams while Kakashi and Might Guy supervised the candidates, and the exam concluded without incident.
• The daimyo praised the exam and provided extra funding, prompting department heads to request more money from Sakumo.
• Hiruzen asked Sakumo about preparations for Kumogakure's envoy, and Sakumo said Shikaku was handling the negotiations.
• Kazashiro and Sparrow assessed the arriving envoy, while Kumogakure agreed to a peace framework without demanding reparations.
• Shikaku, Sakumo, and Hiruzen found the smooth negotiations suspicious, but Sakumo declined to send Hiruzen to the border and chose to dispatch Anbu for intelligence first.

Kumogakure's delegation used a disturbance at the inn to cover Darem's attempt to abduct Hinata for her Byakugan, but Hiashi killed him before he could escape. Konoha's leaders concluded the peace talks were a pretext and agreed to demand an explanation from Kumogakure while detaining its delegation.

• Serm and Darem confirmed their plan: Serm would distract Konoha while Darem infiltrated the Hyuga compound, with Darem prepared to die if caught.
• After the delegation caused a commotion at the inn, Kazashiro left his team and went to the Hyuga compound.
• Darem entered Hinata's bedroom, anesthetized her, and tried to escape, but Hiashi discovered him and killed him with Gentle Fist.
• Kazashiro appeared and confirmed Darem's identity, while Hiashi handed the unconscious Hinata to a servant and reported the attack to the Fourth Generation.
• At a meeting in the Hokage Building, Sakumo and the others determined Kumogakure had used peace talks as cover to target the Byakugan.
• Shikaku recommended demanding an explanation from Kumogakure and detaining its delegation, and Hiruzen agreed.

After Kumogakure rejected Konoha’s demands over Darem’s death and the detained delegation, Sakumo launched a surprise attack while Hiruzen Sarutobi led the main force into the Land of Lightning. Kumogakure’s border strongholds fell, and A considered reopening negotiations but insisted the intruders be crushed first.

• A rejected Konoha’s demands and ordered Kumogakure to demand the release of its delegation and the surrender of the alleged culprit.
• Sakumo ordered the surprise attack force to strike the border strongholds and sent Hiruzen Sarutobi’s main force north to invade the Land of Lightning.
• Senju Soujirou assigned Shimura Kazashiro to attack Stronghold A using intelligence gathered by Danzo’s agents.
• Kazashiro’s squad destroyed Stronghold A, and the surprise attack force cleared Kumogakure’s border strongholds over the next two days.
• After learning Hiruzen Sarutobi had crossed into the Land of Lightning, Dodai urged A to reopen negotiations, but A insisted on crushing the Konoha forces first.

A raced to the battlefield and attacked Kazashiro's team, revealing himself as the Fourth Raikage. Kazashiro survived A's rapid strikes with Flying Thunder God, but A continued pursuing him while Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi, and Iruka Umino struggled to intervene.

• A smashed through a wall and raced away, prompting Dodai to arrange a support force.
• Kazashiro, Kurenai Yuhi, and Iruka Umino rested after confirming the village had no survivors and discussed the Senju Clan and prejudice against the Uchiha.
• Kazashiro collapsed the house with Ice Release, exposing A, who emerged from the rubble and identified Kazashiro as his target.
• A struck Kazashiro with Liger Bomb, but Kazashiro dropped Flying Thunder God Kunai and escaped A's follow-up Raikage's Lariat by teleporting.
• A pursued Kazashiro again as Kakashi and the others tried unsuccessfully to slow him with ninja tools.

Kazashiro battled A, the Fourth Raikage, and escaped after wounding him with a Super Eightfold Light Wheel. A’s reinforcements found him badly injured and took him back to the village, while Kazashiro’s group reached safety.

• A’s Ice Clone exploded, and Kazashiro used mist and ambushes to evade the Raikage’s Lightning Armor.
• A found the Snow Woman statue and attacked, but Kazashiro deflected his strike with Ice Release and trapped him among Magic Mirror Ice Crystals.
• Kazashiro’s Eightfold Light Wheel tore through A’s Lightning Armor, and his Super Eightfold Light Wheel struck A and sent him flying.
• Kazashiro fled with Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi, and Iruka Umino, then coughed up clotted blood as they stopped to rest.
• A suffered a deep wound to his waist, and reinforcements sent by Dodai found him and carried him back to the village.

After the Fourth Raikage was injured, Kumogakure sought renewed negotiations while Konoha continued its advance into the Land of Lightning. Rasa secretly mobilized Sunagakure, but news of the Raikage’s defeat and Ōnoki’s reaction left the identity of the Konoha fighter unresolved.

• Medical ninja healed the Fourth Raikage, and Kumogakure sent Konoha a letter proposing renewed negotiations.
• Sakumo halted the surprise attack force, but Hiruzen Sarutobi’s main force continued into the Land of Lightning and occupied captured strongholds.
• Chiyo and Ebizo retired, leaving Rasa in control of Sunagakure and delaying the plan to seal Shukaku inside Gaara.
• Rasa ordered Sunagakure’s troops to mobilize secretly under the pretext of supporting Konoha, hoping to exploit a change in the war.
• Rasa learned that the Fourth Raikage had been injured by a Konoha ninja and ordered an investigation into the fight.
• Ōnoki dismissed the Fourth Raikage’s strength while recalling his own battle alongside the previous Tsuchikage against Madara Uchiha.

Kazashiro persuaded Kakuzu to accompany him to the Land of Water, where they entered through an illegal crossing and robbed traffickers who were selling migrants into slavery. After reaching a snowy town, Kazashiro searched for Haku while Kirigakure’s new Mizukage, Yagura, tried to ease prejudice against Kekkei Genkai users and conceal the village’s loss of its tailed beast.

• Kazashiro visited Pakura and asked Kakuzu to escort him to Kirigakure, but Kakuzu refused until Kazashiro bribed him with scattered bills.
• Kazashiro and Kakuzu entered the Land of Water through an illegal crossing, killed the traffickers, and let the captive migrants escape.
• Kakuzu found and took the traffickers’ hidden money before following Kazashiro onward.
• Yagura questioned reports that residents still persecuted Kekkei Genkai users, and Genji told him that prejudice would take time to fade.
• Kazashiro and Kakuzu reached a snowy town and stopped at a restaurant, where Kazashiro expected Haku to be nearby.

Kazashiro found the starving Haku behind a restaurant and took him in, then declared him Shimura Danzō’s illegitimate son and gave him the name Shimura Haku. He planned to bring Haku home and later introduce him to another illegitimate son with Shikotsumyaku.

• Kazashiro learned from a waiter that a barefoot boy had been lingering behind the kitchen and went to find him.
• Haku searched the trash for food, but Kazashiro stopped him from eating a discarded chicken carcass and took him away.
• Kazashiro had Haku bathe, gave him new clothes and a full meal, then named him Shimura Haku and claimed him as Shimura Danzō’s illegitimate son.
• Kazashiro told Haku about Yamato and said they would later meet another son of Danzō who had Shikotsumyaku.
• Kakuzu reacted with alarm to Kazashiro’s claims and wondered whether the information about the family’s kekkei genkai could be sold on the Black Market.

Kazashiro broke Kimimaro out of the Kaguya Clan's dungeon by claiming they were brothers and sons of Shimura Danzō. He left Kakuzu fighting the clan and took Kimimaro and Haku to an abandoned temple, where Kakuzu later arrived with stolen clan records and money.

• Kazashiro sent Kakuzu to search the Kaguya Clan's records while he headed to Kimimaro's dungeon.
• Kazashiro defeated the two guards, freed Kimimaro, and persuaded him to leave by claiming he was Shimura Kimimaro, his younger brother.
• Kazashiro brought Kimimaro to Haku, then left Kakuzu behind as an explosion and battle erupted in the Kaguya Clan's territory.
• Kazashiro introduced Kimimaro to Haku and told him about Yamato and their home while Isobu admired the two boys.
• Kakuzu arrived at the abandoned temple with four storage boxes, including three filled with banknotes, and complained that the Kaguya Clan's bones were nearly harder than his Earth Spear.

Kazashiro traveled by cruise ship with Kakuzu, Kimimaro, and Haku while Zabuza searched for Haku near the Kaguya Clan's territory. The voyage remained peaceful until armed samurai shoved through the passengers and ruined Kazashiro's breakfast, prompting Kimimaro to offer to kill them.

• Zabuza saw the charred bodies outside the Kaguya Clan's territory, left two Chunin to investigate, and continued searching for Haku.
• Kazashiro paid for four expensive tickets and clothes, then endured Kakuzu's complaints during the voyage.
• When Haku and Kimimaro refused to share a room with Kakuzu, they both squeezed into Kazashiro's bed for the night.
• Haku and Kimimaro quietly settled on either side of Kazashiro while he pretended to stay asleep.
• The next morning, samurai shoved through the deck crowd and knocked Kazashiro's cake onto the floor.
• Kimimaro revealed a bone spike and asked Kazashiro if they should kill the samurai, but Kazashiro told him to put it away.

Kazashiro and Kakuzu spotted an opportunity when pirates attacked their passenger ship, and they secretly boarded the pirates’ vessel with Kimimaro and Haku. They discovered the pirates were led by a Kirigakure jonin named Jie and planned to strike after reaching the pirates’ base.

• Kazashiro took Kimimaro and Haku to Kakuzu’s room, where Kakuzu sensed that ninja had boarded the ship.
• Pirates killed the ship’s samurai and crew members, then ordered the passengers to surrender their money.
• Kakuzu explained how pirates could loot passengers and disappear, and he and Kazashiro decided to rob the pirates instead.
• Kazashiro, Kakuzu, Kimimaro, and Haku secretly boarded the pirates’ boat while the pirates returned with their loot.
• Kazashiro identified the pirate leader Jie as a Kirigakure ninja, and he and Kakuzu agreed to wait until they reached the base before attacking.

Kazashiro deduced that Jie was a Kirigakure jonin disguised as a pirate and used Sage Mode to track him through the mist. Jie realized his cover was blown and chose to fight Kazashiro and Kakuzu to the death.

• Kimimaro watched Kazashiro’s Shadow Clone protect him and wondered whether Kazashiro saw him as more than a weapon.
• Kakuzu fought Jie, who evaded his black threads and used Water Release to counter Kakuzu’s flames, filling the area with mist.
• Jie probed Kakuzu’s Earth Spear defense through the fog, while Kazashiro sensed that the mist and Jie’s abilities pointed to a hidden identity.
• Kazashiro accused Jie of being a Kirigakure ninja in disguise and explained why the pirate attack seemed to be part of a mission.
• Kazashiro entered Sage Mode and sensed Jie’s movements as Kakuzu held his position and teased him about his analysis.
• Jie’s thoughts confirmed Kazashiro’s suspicions, and he unleashed the Great Waterfall Technique to fight Kazashiro and Kakuzu to the death.

Kazashiro defeated Jie and learned that Kirigakure was searching for Seimei’s Ultimate Ninja Tools, prompting him to consider taking them for himself. Meanwhile, Kisame Hoshigaki’s ANBU squad halted the operation after finding the burned battlefield, and the Artisan Ninja Village shinobi arrived hours later.

• Kazashiro froze Jie’s seawater attack, exposed Jie’s Water Clone, captured him, and had Kakuzu interrogate him before killing him and burning the evidence.
• Kakuzu told Kazashiro that Jie’s mission was to disguise himself as a pirate and search near the Land of Artisans for Seimei’s Ultimate Ninja Tools.
• Kakuzu named the Infinite Armor, Dragon Eye Retractable Sword, Peacock Twin Swords, and Light Sword, and explained that Kirigakure wanted them to replenish the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
• Kazashiro recalled that he had obtained Kubikiribōchō and Samehada and began considering taking the Ultimate Ninja Tools.
• Kisame Hoshigaki and a Kirigakure ANBU squad found the charred battlefield, suspended the operation, and collected the bodies for examination.
• The Artisan Ninja Village shinobi arrived several hours after the Kirigakure ANBU had left.

Kakuzu and Kazashiro looted Seimei’s mausoleum and stole Artisan Ninja Village’s entire treasury, prompting the village to seek help from the Five Great Nations. Houki, Mizutora, Peacock, and Dragon Eye tried to retrieve Seimei’s Ultimate Ninja Tools and revive him, but discovered the tomb had already been ransacked and were caught by a guardian ninja.

• Kakuzu and Kazashiro searched Seimei’s mausoleum, took his ninja tools, and found a coin in another coffin.
• That night, Kakuzu and Kazashiro robbed Artisan Ninja Village’s vault and killed its guards, leaving the village without its accumulated wealth.
• The village chief and senior officials decided to ask the Five Great Nations for help recovering the stolen assets.
• Houki gathered Mizutora, Peacock, and Dragon Eye to retrieve Seimei’s Ultimate Ninja Tools and revive him using Shukaku of Sunagakure.
• The four found Seimei’s coffin stripped of its tools and tried to retreat, but a guardian ninja recognized them and ordered someone to report their actions to the village chief.

Kazashiro returned to Konoha with Kimimaro and Haku, whom he called his younger brothers, and a misunderstanding spread that they were Danzo’s illegitimate sons. Danzo heard the rumor and drew a kunai, leaving Kazashiro suddenly uneasy.

• Kazashiro bought four cruise tickets in the Land of Artisans, endured Kakuzu’s complaints, and watched Kakuzu leave for North Central Town after they docked.
• At Konoha’s gate, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki welcomed Kazashiro and asked who the two boys with him were.
• Kazashiro called Kimimaro and Haku his younger brothers, prompting Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki to mistake them for Danzo’s illegitimate sons.
• Kotetsu Hagane’s explanation spread the rumor through Konoha, and Aburame Ryoma eventually heard it.
• At home, Kazashiro found Shisui and Yamato standing beside an angry Danzo, who asked if Kazashiro had found him two illegitimate sons before drawing a kunai.