Chapter Summaries

Uchiha Jin trapped Hanzō the Salamander in a non-Sharingan illusion, then used a hidden cursed seal to force him to stop fighting. Hanzō agreed not to interfere with Jin and considered helping him deal with Shimura Danzō, but Jin then cast Sharingan Genjutsu to fully control him.

• Uchiha Jin revealed that Hanzō the Salamander and Salamander Ibuse had been caught in an illusion through an unexpected movement and remark.
• Hanzō the Salamander broke free of his chains and charged, but Uchiha Jin activated a hidden cursed seal that threatened to release thermal energy inside Hanzō's body.
• Uchiha Jin demanded that Hanzō not interfere with his plans and suggested that Hanzō help him deal with Shimura Danzō.
• Hanzō the Salamander accepted that he had no choice, and Uchiha Jin cast Genjutsu: Sharingan to fully control him.

Hanzō the Salamander investigated rising tensions between Konoha and Iwagakure after defeating an assassin, then ordered Amegakure to limit its involvement. He chose to meet Akatsuki’s leaders Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan to bring new talent into the village, while his Sharingan revealed a hidden connection.

• Hanzō the Salamander returned to Amegakure after defeating the intruder and ordered Rain Ninja to seal off the poisoned battlefield.
• Hanzō the Salamander learned from Ametsuyu that clashes between Konoha and Iwagakure had intensified and that two surveillance squads had disappeared.
• Hanzō the Salamander suspected someone from Konoha or Iwagakure was provoking war and ordered Amegakure to recall its surveillance squads, except for sentries near the camps.
• Hanzō the Salamander asked Ametsuyu about Akatsuki and ordered him to arrange a meeting with Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.
• Hanzō the Salamander told Ametsuyu that Amegakure needed fresh blood because he was over sixty, then revealed Three-Tomoe Sharingan after Ametsuyu left.

Yahiko and Konan worried over the unconscious Nagato after Iwagakure Ninja ambushed them, then received an invitation from Hanzō to discuss the Akatsuki Organization's future. Nagato woke just as Yahiko considered whether to bring him to Amegakure.

• Yahiko blamed himself for the ambush, while Konan comforted him and questioned why the Iwagakure Ninja had attacked them.
• Yahiko and Konan discussed the worsening Konoha-Iwagakure clashes, and Yahiko proposed asking Hanzō for help.
• Kyūsuke delivered a letter saying Hanzō wanted to meet Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.
• Yahiko read Hanzō's praise and invitation, then hesitated over bringing the unconscious Nagato to Amegakure because of his secret eyes.
• Nagato groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan arrived in Amegakure to meet Hanzō, where Ametsuyu explained that Hanzō had recently survived an assassination attempt and warned them to stay cautious. After sharing a meal and learning that Hanzō respected the Akatsuki’s work, they put on Anti-Toxin Masks and went to meet him.

• Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan arrived at Amegakure and were escorted to Hanzō’s residence by Ametsuyu.
• Ametsuyu told Yahiko’s Trio that Hanzō had been targeted in an assassination attempt and had withdrawn Amegakure’s forces because he suspected someone wanted to restart the war.
• Ametsuyu warned Yahiko’s Trio to avoid being too active, and they recalled the ambush they had faced the previous day.
• Ametsuyu explained that Hanzō valued the Akatsuki’s efforts and had wanted to meet its founders.
• After lunch, Ametsuyu gave Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan Anti-Toxin Masks and led them to Hanzō’s office.

Yahiko met with Hanzō the Salamander and explained the Akatsuki Organization’s plan to maintain peace through balanced power and negotiation. Hanzō challenged the ideal by pointing to the Tailed Beasts’ failure to prevent war, leaving Yahiko to reconsider how realistic his plan was.

• Ametsuyu admitted Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan to Hanzō the Salamander’s office while Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu watched from nearby.
• Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu discussed Nagato’s Rinnegan and decided to let the meeting proceed, expecting Hanzō to recognize it.
• Nagato glanced at Hanzō the Salamander and was shaken by the danger he sensed, but concealed his reaction.
• Yahiko explained that the Akatsuki Organization sought peace through equal negotiations and a protective force that could balance the nations.
• Hanzō praised Yahiko’s ideal as immature and argued that Senju Hashirama’s distribution of Tailed Beasts had increased casualties instead of preventing wars.

Hanzō the Salamander explained to Yahiko's Trio that wars arose from nations competing for limited resources, leaving them shaken about whether peace was possible. He then revealed that he was Uchiha Jin, stepping out from Hanzō's shadow to introduce himself.

• Hanzō the Salamander comforted Yahiko and recalled declaring war on the Three Great Nations to win the Land of Rain a chance to speak as an equal.
• Nagato asked whether true peace could exist, and Hanzō said they first needed to understand the essence of war.
• Hanzō compared nations to predators competing for limited resources and explained that war was a struggle for interests.
• Yahiko's Trio questioned their belief that mutual understanding could bring peace, but Hanzō said they could find ways to address conflict.
• Hanzō's eyes turned scarlet as Uchiha Jin emerged from his shadow and introduced himself to Yahiko's Trio.

Uchiha Jin restrained Hanzō the Salamander and warned Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan that Shimura Danzō planned to exploit their Akatsuki Organization and Nagato’s Rinnegan. He revealed that Minato Namikaze had asked him to protect them, leaving the trio willing to wait and see whether Danzō’s alliance with Hanzō was real.

• Uchiha Jin told Nagato that he had noticed the abnormal Chakra in Hanzō’s brain, and Nagato revealed his Rinnegan.
• Uchiha Jin explained that Shimura Danzō wanted to prolong the war and had already persuaded Hanzō to cooperate with him.
• Uchiha Jin warned Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan that Danzō wanted Nagato’s eyes and that their Akatsuki Organization would be sacrificed in the alliance.
• Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan agreed to stay and hear Danzō’s plans for themselves when he came to meet Hanzō.
• Uchiha Jin said Minato Namikaze had asked him to look after them, and the trio felt warmed by their connection through Jiraiya.

Uchiha Jin explained to Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan that conflicts could be reduced by bringing people onto the same side, using the cage and steamed-bun analogy to show how shared interests encouraged cooperation. He connected that idea to villages and the causes of the Third Shinobi World War, then said lasting peace also required liberating the productive forces.

• Yahiko asked Uchiha Jin to explain his method for resolving conflicts, and Jin illustrated it with two people competing for one steamed bun in a cage.
• Nagato and Yahiko said they would give the bun to each other, and Uchiha Jin explained that they had changed positions by standing on the same side.
• Uchiha Jin described how the One Country, One Village System unified clans and reduced internal conflicts by creating a larger shared position.
• Uchiha Jin said Sunagakure and other villages entered the Third Shinobi World War to redirect internal conflicts and reshape interests, while Yahiko and Nagato reconsidered their ideas about war and peace.
• Uchiha Jin told Nagato that shared positions could help resolve smaller conflicts peacefully, and said the next step toward peace was liberating the productive forces.

Uchiha Jin explained to Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan that ending war alone would not end commoners’ suffering, because nobles controlled most resources and exploited the poor. He argued that changing the world required unifying it, replacing its existing system, and liberating productive forces, and vowed to face the bloodshed himself.

• Uchiha Jin asked Yahiko why he sought peace, and Yahiko said he wanted everyone to live better lives.
• Uchiha Jin described how nobles controlled most resources while commoners endured exploitation, poverty, and disaster even in peacetime.
• Uchiha Jin said fixed social classes could only be changed by unifying the world, replacing its existing system, and liberating productive forces.
• Yahiko recognized that Jin’s plan would face tremendous resistance and feared the sacrifices it would demand.
• Uchiha Jin declared that reform would require bloodshed and sacrifice, and that his generation would bear the cost.

Uchiha Jin explained to Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan why reform and increased productivity required a unified stance, and Nagato embraced Jin’s reasoning. Jin then warned the Akatsuki trio that another threat might be targeting them and asked whether a mysterious man in a Vortex Mask had approached them.

• Uchiha Jin argued that rival nations and vested interests would oppose reforms in the Land of Fire unless people first united.
• Jin explained that increasing resources without unity could provoke jealousy and greater conflict between nations.
• Nagato agreed with Jin’s ideas and urged Yahiko and Konan to pursue unity and reform, while Yahiko remained cautious about trusting Jin.
• Jin reassured Yahiko and Konan that he would support them against Shimura Danzō and Hanzō the Salamander, then raised another matter concerning their lives.
• Uchiha Jin asked whether a mysterious man wearing a Vortex Mask had recently approached the Akatsuki Organization.

Uchiha Jin told Yahiko's Trio that the mysterious man calling himself Uchiha Madara was his inheritor, Uchiha Obito, and warned them that his promised world was a lie. He revealed that Nagato's Rinnegan belonged to the real Uchiha Madara, who had survived his battle with Hashirama, leaving Nagato to confront the truth that he had been used as a pawn.

• Yahiko told Uchiha Jin that a man calling himself Uchiha Madara had approached the Trio and tried to recruit Nagato by promising a world of peace, love, and only victors.
• Uchiha Jin identified the man as Uchiha Obito, an inheritor connected to Uchiha Madara, and said Obito himself had been deceived by the plan he preached.
• Uchiha Jin explained that the Rinnegan could awaken when an Uchiha's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan gained Senju power, and that Nagato's eyes had been placed with him by Uchiha Madara.
• Uchiha Jin said Nagato had been chosen as a pawn because the Uzumaki could bear the Rinnegan, leaving Nagato shaken by the revelation.
• When Yahiko questioned how Uchiha Madara could have chosen Nagato if Hashirama had killed him long before Nagato was born, Uchiha Jin explained that Madara had survived using Izanagi.

Uchiha Jin explained Uchiha Madara’s Eye of the Moon Plan and warned Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan that the Masked Man might target them to push Nagato into darkness. Yahiko’s Trio left for the Land of Rain with a promise to stay alert and three mysterious red books from Jin.

• Uchiha Jin told Yahiko that Uchiha Madara had manipulated the Masked Man into becoming a pawn rather than a true successor.
• Uchiha Jin explained that the Eye of the Moon Plan would trap the world in illusions while turning people in reality into White Zetsu.
• Uchiha Jin revealed that Nagato was meant to revive Uchiha Madara and warned him that the Masked Man might use Yahiko and Konan to influence him.
• Uchiha Jin told Yahiko’s Trio to stay together because he could not yet confront the Masked Man, and promised to leave them a contingency before leaving the Land of Rain.
• Yahiko’s Trio decided to return to the Akatsuki Organization, and Uchiha Jin gave each of them a red book bearing a Hammer and Sickle emblem.

After returning to Akatsuki Camp, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan discussed Uchiha Jin’s radical ideas and the revelations about Nagato’s Rinnegan. Nagato resolved to follow his own path, and the three agreed to learn more from Jin when they met again.

• Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan returned to Akatsuki Camp and gathered in Yahiko’s room to discuss their meeting with Uchiha Jin.
• Konan said Jin might mean them no harm but that his startling claims needed verification.
• Nagato said the Rinnegan were not his, had been draining his vitality, and had left him feeling like a pawn.
• Yahiko warned that Jin’s ideas seemed extreme, but Nagato argued that the world needed radical change and that they should follow their own convictions.
• Yahiko realized Nagato had found his own path and agreed that they should ask Jin to explain his ideas in more detail next time.

Hanzō the Salamander met Shimura Danzō, who asked Amegakure to mediate peace talks with Iwagakure while secretly manipulating Hanzō against Akatsuki Organization. They agreed to lure Akatsuki’s leaders into a trap, leaving their plan ready to unfold.

• Ametsuyu told Hanzō the Salamander that Shimura Danzō had arrived in Amegakure with two Root Ninja and a Rain Ninja’s corpse.
• Hanzō the Salamander received Shimura Danzō in the Meeting Room and heard his request for Amegakure to mediate peace talks with Iwagakure.
• Shimura Danzō blamed Akatsuki Organization for attacking Rain Ninja and warned that the group might replace Hanzō the Salamander.
• Shimura Danzō offered to help eliminate Akatsuki Organization in exchange for taking the corpses of its three leaders back to Konoha.
• Hanzō the Salamander agreed to lure the three leaders out without bringing other Rain Ninja, and he and Shimura Danzō settled the details and chose a time.

Hanzō the Salamander secretly moved to protect the Akatsuki Organization from Shimura Danzō and explained to Ametsuyu why he believed Yahiko and his companions represented the Land of Rain’s future. He left Ametsuyu convinced that Nagato and the others should become Hanzō’s successors.

• Ametsuyu questioned Hanzō the Salamander about cooperating with Shimura Danzō, and Hanzō revealed he suspected Danzō had caused the recent trouble and framed the Akatsuki Organization.
• Hanzō sent Kanzō with a letter to Yahiko, instructing him to negotiate secretly and decide what to do next.
• Hanzō reassured Ametsuyu that Danzō would not dare openly clash with Amegakure and that the Akatsuki Organization’s survival would not implicate them.
• Hanzō told Ametsuyu that Danzō wanted to eliminate Yahiko and his companions because they represented the Land of Rain’s chance to rise.
• Hanzō revealed that Nagato had inherited the power of the Sage of Six Paths and said he intended to train the group as his successors.

Kanzō delivered Hanzō’s plan for dealing with Shimura Danzō’s request to attack the Akatsuki Organization. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan agreed to use Konan as bait and arranged for Nagato’s Shadow Clone to attend the meeting while his real body stayed in camp to guard against the Masked Man.

• Kanzō told Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan that Shimura Danzō had asked Hanzō to move against the Akatsuki Organization, and he handed Yahiko Hanzō’s letter.
• Konan proposed patrolling the Southern Battlefield as bait so Kanzō could capture her and draw Shimura Danzō in, and Yahiko agreed.
• Yahiko and Nagato worried that the Masked Man might attack the Akatsuki Organization’s camp while they were away, so they planned for Kyūsuke to steady the members.
• Nagato proposed sending his Shadow Clone with Yahiko to the meeting while his real body remained hidden in camp, and Yahiko accepted the arrangement.

Obito learned that Danzō and Hanzō were conspiring against the Akatsuki and ordered White Zetsu to watch for a chance to intervene. In the Land of Rain, Danzō confirmed Hanzō had abducted Konan and prepared to act, while dwelling on his ambitions to become Hokage.

• Black Zetsu told Obito that Hanzō and Danzō appeared to be working together to trap Nagato and the Akatsuki.
• Obito ordered White Zetsu to monitor the plot and help push events along if an opportunity arose.
• A Root ninja reported to Danzō that Hanzō had abducted the woman from the Akatsuki trio and that Amegakure's forces showed no unusual movements.
• Danzō considered seizing Nagato's Rinnegan and possibly taking the Land of Rain, but concluded he lacked the strength and Konoha's support to hold it.
• Danzō decided to use the ongoing war to build his standing and pursue the Hokage position, then left the cave to bathe in the sunlight.

Hanzō the Salamander brought the bound Konan to a valley where Shimura Danzō and Root waited, intending to use her to turn Yahiko and Nagato against each other. When Yahiko and Nagato arrived, Hanzō suddenly cut off Danzō’s arm, threw Konan to them, and ordered them to leave.

• Hanzō the Salamander left Amegakure with the bound Konan after instructing Ametsuyu and Kanzō to guard the village and the Land of Rain.
• Hanzō the Salamander met Shimura Danzō and several dozen Root Ninja in a valley and said he planned to use Konan as a hostage to make the Akatsuki leaders fight each other.
• Hanzō the Salamander sealed Konan’s mouth when she protested, then spotted Yahiko and Nagato approaching.
• Shimura Danzō watched Nagato as Hanzō the Salamander drew his kusarigama and held Konan in front of him.
• Hanzō the Salamander cut off Shimura Danzō’s arm, threw Konan to Yahiko, and ordered Yahiko and Nagato to leave.

Uchiha Jin’s trap against Shimura Danzō unfolded as Hanzō the Salamander attacked him and revealed that Danzō’s death would benefit the Land of Rain. The ambush erupted into a battle, and the chapter ended with Hanzō preparing another attack while Yahiko and Konan escaped and Nagato’s Shadow Clone disappeared.

• Uchiha Jin controlled Hanzō the Salamander to attack Shimura Danzō when Yahiko and Nagato arrived, but Danzō avoided a fatal blow.
• Hanzō the Salamander explained that Sarutobi Hiruzen would not risk war to avenge Danzō and that Konoha’s willingness to compromise would benefit the Land of Rain.
• A Root Ninja discovered that Hanzō the Salamander’s poisoned kusarigama had turned Danzō’s wound purple-black, and Danzō ordered his Root Ninja to attack Hanzō and pursue Yahiko’s Trio.
• Hanzō the Salamander triggered the Exploding Tags Uchiha Jin had planted, setting the valley ablaze and giving Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato a chance to flee.
• Nagato used Shinra Tensei to repel pursuing Root Ninja, then stayed behind as Yahiko carried Konan away.
• The Root Ninja attacked Nagato, only for his body to vanish as a Shadow Clone; Hanzō the Salamander began forming hand seals against the remaining enemies.

Hanzō the Salamander used Ibuse’s poison to devastate Shimura Danzō’s Root forces, then realized Danzō might still be protected by Izanagi and turned his attack toward the surviving Root Ninja. Danzō chased after him, furious over losing Kagami Uchiha’s Mangekyō Sharingan and desperate to stop Hanzō before he was left alone.

• Hanzō the Salamander summoned Ibuse, whose poison spread across the battlefield and let Hanzō kill Root Ninja weakened by holding their breath.
• A Root Jonin’s wind technique failed to clear the poison, while Danzō summoned Baku and used wind-infused Shuriken to support its suction.
• Hanzō the Salamander dodged Danzō’s Vacuum Wave, blocked his Vacuum Bullets with a Water Prison Wall, and clashed with him using a kusarigama.
• Hanzō the Salamander suspected Danzō’s bandaged eye was using Izanagi, then charged at the remaining poisoned Root Ninja instead of continuing their duel.
• Shimura Danzō pursued Hanzō the Salamander, enraged that the Mangekyō Sharingan taken from Kagami Uchiha had been wasted and determined to protect his surviving forces.