Chapter Summaries

The Five Great Ninja Villages and the Akatsuki faced off inside the First Layer of the Underground Palace until a Kumogakure Chunin was suddenly killed, triggering a chaotic battle. As the fighters clashed, Kakuzu charged toward the village forces with his newly modified Earth Style body.

• A Kumogakure Chunin was killed from behind, breaking the standoff between the two sides.
• Yugito Nii transformed into the Two-Tails and attacked the Akatsuki, while Kakashi intercepted Hiruko’s Steel Release bandages and fought him.
• Shinno charged Karatachi Yagura, but Kisame Hoshigaki stepped in with Samehada and clashed with him.
• Mui summoned Satoru, and the creature joined the Two-Tails in a massive battle.
• Kakuzu charged the Five Great Ninja Villages with a giant rock-covered arm, displaying his enhanced Earth Style power.

Kitsuchi and the Konoha ninja fought Kakuzu, Konan, and Nagato, but Nagato revealed a lethal ability when Jiraiya and Asuma attacked him. The chapter ended with Asuma collapsing from wounds that seemed to mirror the damage from Jiraiya’s Big Ball Rasengan.

• Kitsuchi blocked Kakuzu’s attack and met his rocky fist with a powerful axe strike, halting Kakuzu’s advance.
• Nagato sent Konan against the Konoha group, and Asuma ignited her paper attack before Jiraiya drenched her in Toad Oil.
• Nagato used Banshō Ten'in to pull Jiraiya toward him, but Jiraiya formed a Big Ball Rasengan and struck Nagato directly.
• Asuma appeared behind Nagato and attacked with his Flying Swallow chakra blades, but Nagato drew the Tachi Karma Object.
• Asuma was suddenly pierced by several internal wounds and fell to his knees, leaving Jiraiya shocked.

Nagato used the Karma Object to transfer the damage from Jiraiya’s attack to Asuma and suppress Jiraiya’s Sloth sword, while battles across the Underground Palace turned against the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Karatachi Yagura demanded that Rasa finally join the fight.

• Nagato revealed that the Karma Object could force targets to pay a price for a chosen result, and explained that he had taken Jiraiya’s blow to inflict equivalent damage on Asuma.
• Nagato exchanged the price of revealing the blade’s ability for suppressing Jiraiya’s Sloth, then attacked him with his tachi.
• Karatachi Yagura countered Hanzo’s poison mist with the Water Mirror Technique as the Two-Tails struggled against Satoru.
• Kakashi wounded Hiruko with Purple Lightning, while Kisame fell behind Shinno and Kitsuchi gained the advantage over Kakuzu.
• Akatsuki’s forces overwhelmed the Five Great Shinobi Villages across the battlefield, and Karatachi Yagura demanded that the watching Rasa act.

Obito's Kamui spiraled out of control and absorbed the souls of the dead, exposing him to the gathered shinobi. Orochimaru disguised as Rasa tried to distance himself from Obito, but Shadow appeared above the Ten-Tails statue and summoned a white figure from the vortex.

• Orochimaru watched Obito begin using Kamui, but the vortex instead drew the dead ninjas' souls into it and caused Obito severe pain.
• Kakashi recognized Obito's space-time ability, and the gathered shinobi turned their attention toward him and the disguised Rasa.
• Orochimaru attacked Obito with Gold Dust Giant Needles, which the expanding vortex swallowed, helping Orochimaru appear uninvolved.
• Shadow appeared atop the Ten-Tails statue and invited Obito to meet an old friend.
• Shadow reached toward Obito, and a white figure leaped out of the vortex.

Hyuga Yunchuan reasoned that Nohara Rin’s soul had been trapped inside Uchiha Obito’s Kamui dimension, then Shadow revealed a Gillian resembling Rin and forced Obito to confront his role in imprisoning her. Obito and Kakashi turned their fury on Shadow as the Hogyoku absorbed Obito’s negative spiritual energy.

• Hyuga Yunchuan connected Nohara Rin’s absence from the Pure Land and the gap to the possibility that she was inside Uchiha Obito’s Kamui dimension.
• A white, feminine Gillian emerged from the vortex, and Obito recognized the Hollow Hole in her chest as the wound where Rin had been pierced.
• Shadow told Obito that Rin’s soul was inside his Kamui dimension, and Obito realized he had drawn her there when his Mangekyō Sharingan first awakened.
• Kakashi demanded to know what Shadow had done to Rin, while Shadow blamed Kakashi and Obito for the deaths they had caused.
• Obito confronted Shadow with a furious roar as the Hogyoku absorbed his surging negative spiritual energy.

Shadow revealed Rin’s past and named her the Healer Who Does Not Kill, then used the battlefield’s chaos to open the Bronze Giant Gate and slip inside. As the others pursued him, Rin stopped them with a power that put several Kumogakure ninja into a peaceful sleep.

• Shadow explained that Rin had witnessed Obito’s actions but held no hatred toward him, and gave her a chance to stop him from continuing down the wrong path.
• Shadow named Rin Espada Number Nine, and she used her white scepter to dissolve Darui’s laser beams and the incoming ninja tools.
• Four Giant Shadows struck the Two-Tails, Satoru, Karatachi Yagura, and Shinno, driving three of them into the Bronze Giant Gate as Yagura halted his flight with a water whip.
• The gate drained Chakra from Shinno, the Two-Tails, and Satoru, then began to open; Shadow slipped inside while Jiraiya and the others rushed after him.
• Rin tapped her scepter and spread an invisible wave that put Omoi, Karui, and several Kumogakure ninja to sleep, halting the pursuers.

The Healer erased every attack aimed at her, transforming Yugito Nii’s Tailed Beast Ball into a shower of cherry blossoms. Jiraiya discovered that her domain only affected things driven by malice or aggression, and identified her as the Non-Killing Healer.

• Nagato, Konan, and Karatachi Yagura attacked the Healer, but their techniques were harmlessly transformed within her domain.
• Yugito Nii fired a Tailed Beast Ball, which became a rain of pink petals as it entered the Healer’s hundred-meter radius.
• Kisame Hoshigaki asked Hatake Kakashi about Rin, and Kakashi explained that she had been an ordinary twelve-year-old Chunin who knew basic Medical Ninjutsu.
• Karatachi Yagura proposed that the villages and Akatsuki join forces against each other, but Jiraiya stayed focused on the Healer.
• Jiraiya flicked an ordinary pebble toward the Giant Gate, and it passed through the Healer’s domain unharmed.
• Jiraiya concluded that the Healer erased malice and harmful intent, then called her the Non-Killing Healer.

Jiraiya discovered that the domain subdued anyone driven by strong desire or competition, then crossed it by focusing only on moving forward. As the others followed and Obito rejected the figure he believed was Rin, Shadow entered the Second Layer and focused on one of the ten floating scrolls.

• Hiruko tried to rush through the domain, but his desires vanished and he fell asleep.
• Jiraiya revised his theory, then crossed safely by letting go of thoughts of gain and competition.
• Nagato, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the others followed Jiraiya through, temporarily setting aside their conflict.
• Kakashi wondered whether Rin wanted this, while Uchiha Obito called the figure a false impostor and cursed the false world.
• Shadow entered the Second Layer, examined the ten scrolls above the stone statue's fingertips, and focused on the scroll above its right middle finger.

Shadow obtained a scroll containing Hado, Bakudo, and Kido techniques, then linked the Underground Palace to the Dragon Vein and transformed its Third Layer into a gateway to a chosen point in the future. Jiraiya and Nagato attacked him, and Shadow used Bakudo to meet Jiraiya’s amplified flames.

• Shadow took a scroll of Hado, Bakudo, and Kido from the stone statue and sensed the vast energy stored inside it.
• Shadow connected the Underground Palace to the Dragon Vein, making the palace impossible for anyone in the Ninja World to destroy by force.
• Shadow spent 10,000 Reality Points to make the Third Layer a one-time passage to a future point he had chosen.
• Jiraiya attacked Shadow with an amplified Fire Dragon Flame Bullet while Nagato supported him with a Karma Object.
• Shadow cast Bakudo 39: Round Gate Fan as Jiraiya’s flames were about to hit him.

Shadow defended the Scrolls from Jiraiya and the gathered shinobi, then used Kido to restrain them and unleash a devastating fire attack. Nagato and Hanzo broke free to counter the flames as a small figure appeared before the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

• Jiraiya’s Fire Dragon struck Shadow’s Bakudo 39 shield, which cracked but held, and Kisame Hoshigaki and the other shinobi arrived.
• Kitsuchi demanded that Shadow hand over the Scrolls, and the crowd attacked when he challenged their motives.
• Shadow used Bakudo 62: Hyappo Rankan to paralyze the shinobi and interrupt their Chakra and techniques.
• Shadow unleashed Hado 33: Sokatsui, engulfing the charging Chunin in flames as Nagato and Hanzo broke free and tried to counter the attack.
• A small figure appeared before the Five Great Shinobi Villages as the firestorm exploded across the second level.

Shadow’s Hado left Isobu critically wounded and Karatachi Yagura dying, so Yagura asked Jiraiya to seal the Three-Tails inside Kisame. Kisame accepted, but Nagato ordered Hanzo to act just as Jiraiya began forming seals.

• Shadow’s attack blasted the group backward, killed several Chunin, and severely wounded the fully transformed Three-Tails.
• Konan, Yugito Nii, and other elites entered the second floor, while Jiraiya, Kitsuchi, and Yugito stopped Hanzo from reaching the Scrolls.
• Isobu reverted to Karatachi Yagura, who explained that he was dying and asked Jiraiya to seal the Three-Tails inside Kisame.
• Kisame hesitated at the request but accepted, and Jiraiya’s Shadow Clone began forming seals.
• Nagato ordered Hanzo to move, and Hanzo opened a spatial portal and stepped into it.

Nagato, Hanzo, and Konan seized two scrolls and escaped the Underground Palace as the Five Great Shinobi Villages regrouped under the Healer’s domain. Meanwhile, Kakashi worried that Obito had rejected his past, while Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, and Ryosuke Chiba left the Noble Academy and discussed fighting Hollows.

• Hanzo and Konan grabbed scrolls while Jiraiya and Kitsuchi attacked; Nagato’s group escaped through the gate to the Second Layer after Nagato ordered them to avoid a fight.
• Nagato, Hanzo, and Konan emerged on the First Layer and fled the Underground Palace, followed by Kakuzu carrying Hiruko, Shinno, and Mui.
• Kakashi and the surviving shinobi returned to the First Layer and learned that Obito had escaped using Space-Time Ninjutsu; Kakashi feared Obito had abandoned his bond with Rin.
• The narration explained that the Healer had been born by absorbing malice and desire rather than souls and lacked the strong sense of self of the other Espada.
• Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, and Ryosuke Chiba left the Noble Academy, where Ryosuke asked whether Naruto and Sasuke had been helping the Daimyo fight Hollows.

A courtesan on FUNFUN Street reflected on the debt and exploitation trapping the women there as Hollows made customers with violent appetites less common. A scream then erupted from a nearby courtesan house, where a freezing aura began drawing negative spiritual energy from the district.

• A courtesan forced a drunken customer toward an establishment while he groped her in the street.
• Another courtesan reflected on how debt and redemption fees kept women imprisoned in the licensed brothels.
• She noted that customers prone to extreme violence had become less common since Hollows began appearing around the Capital City.
• A scream rang out from a courtesan house in the middle of FUNFUN Street.
• A cold aura spread from the house and drew currents of pain, resentment, and despair from the district toward it.

A newly strangled courtesan transformed into a powerful Hollow and attacked the man and woman in the brothel. Just as it was about to crush the man, a figure with Three-Tomoe Sharingan burst into the room with two Adamantine Sealing Chains.

• A man in fine clothes tried to flee after the courtesan died, but kicked away the woman who begged him to take her along.
• The courtesan transformed into a Hollow, and its cold shockwave wrecked the room and sent the man and woman crashing into the walls.
• The Hollow grabbed the man and slowly crushed his skull while the woman watched in fear and resignation.
• A wall exploded, and two Adamantine Sealing Chains shot toward the Hollow as a black-clad figure entered the room.
• The newcomer glanced at the woman, who recognized the figure’s cold, sinister Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Naruto and Sasuke subdued a Gillian Hollow born from a courtesan’s death and confronted the nobleman responsible. After Sasuke questioned whether killing him would matter, Naruto chose to absorb the Hollow’s energy and reflected that even a destined death had to have meaning.

• Sasuke used his Sharingan to disrupt the Hollow while Adamantine Sealing Chains bound and sealed it.
• Sasuke recognized the nobleman’s role in the courtesan’s death and asked Naruto whether they should kill him, but Naruto refused to risk trouble for Sasuke and the village.
• Nanwu arrived with security forces, thanked Naruto and Sasuke, and prepared to kill the sealed Hollow.
• Naruto stopped Nanwu and drew the Hollow’s spiritual energy into himself through the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
• Sasuke left after asking whether meaning really mattered, while Naruto decided that even the nobleman’s death had to have meaning.

Danzo began the final stage of an experiment to combine a Hollow’s power and a Byakugan with his existing abilities, intending to overpower Hyuga Yunchuan. At Konoha Hospital, Hiruzen waited for news about Asuma and asked Jiraiya about the scrolls and Hayate’s altered Chakra Blade.

• Danzo prepared to absorb a Hollow’s power and a Byakugan, confident that the experiment would help him defeat Hyuga Yunchuan and claim power in Konoha.
• A woman identified as Diao began the procedure, and Danzo endured the pain as the Hollow’s energy and nutrient fluid flowed into his body.
• At Konoha Hospital, Jiraiya apologized to Hiruzen for failing to protect Asuma, but Hiruzen said he did not blame him.
• Genma escorted the gravely coughing Hayate away to rest while Kakashi noticed Hiruzen suppressing his grief and resentment.
• Hiruzen asked Jiraiya about the scrolls recovered from the Underground Palace and whether Hayate’s Chakra Blade had changed.

Jiraiya reported the Underground Palace battle, the Akatsuki’s new abilities, and the losses among the Five Great Nations to Sarutobi Hiruzen. As Jiraiya prepared to consult Hyuga Yunchuan about the scrolls and their allies, an explosion struck Konoha’s southwestern outskirts.

• Jiraiya told Sarutobi Hiruzen that 'Shadow,' Uchiha Obito, and Nohara Rin had appeared in the Underground Palace, and he described Rin’s ability to neutralize hostile actions.
• Jiraiya reported that 'Shadow' used an unfamiliar Natural Energy power, took one scroll, and left two scrolls to the Akatsuki.
• Jiraiya described the Akatsuki’s previously unknown abilities and said many elites died before the survivors escaped with Hayate Gekko’s transformed weapon helping them break through.
• Jiraiya told Sarutobi Hiruzen that Hayate’s illness had worsened and that he had brought back seven scrolls, which remained in his possession.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen agreed to show trust toward the allied villages, and Jiraiya set out to report to Hyuga Yunchuan.
• An explosion shook Konoha near its southwestern edge, prompting Jiraiya and Sarutobi Hiruzen to turn toward the blast.

Danzō underwent a procedure to implant a Byakugan and infuse Hollow energy into his Hashirama Cells, but the power spiraled out of control when Hyuga Yunchuan intervened and the captured Hollow was revealed to be a Gillian. The resulting explosion devastated the underground laboratory and sent monstrous black trees bursting through Konoha, while Kitsuchi, Yugito Nii, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the others reacted to the tremor outside the village.

• Diao oversaw Danzō's Byakugan transplant, release of the final seal on his Hashirama Cell arm, and infusion of Hollow energy.
• Danzō's Hashirama Cells, Sharingan, Byakugan, and Hollow energy clashed and began suppressing and devouring one another.
• Hyuga Yunchuan sensed the procedure from the Hyuga Clan patriarch's residence and clenched his hand as the energies went out of control.
• Diao ordered the emergency sealing procedure, but the Hollow's energy could not be stopped, and she realized it was a Gillian.
• The laboratory exploded as black trees consumed Diao and the researchers, then burst through the earth and spread across Konoha.
• Kitsuchi, Yugito Nii, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the others outside Konoha sprang up and looked toward the explosion.

Shimura Danzō’s secret experiment transformed Konoha into a spreading black forest and turned him into a half-man, half-tree monster. When Yugito Nii, Kitsuchi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the others found him, his roar made the forest attack them.

• Yugito Nii, Kitsuchi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the others saw a monstrous black forest spreading through Konoha and hurried toward its crater.
• Shimura Danzō regained consciousness in the crater and realized his experiment had given him a surge of power.
• Yugito Nii, Kitsuchi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the others arrived and found Danzō fused with roots and transformed into a half-man, half-tree creature.
• Danzō roared in shock, causing the black trees to grow violently and impale nearby ninjas.
• Kitsuchi and the others retreated as enormous roots burst from the ground and pursued them.

Hyuga Yunchuan arrived as Shimura Danzō’s forbidden experiments were exposed before Konoha’s Anbu. Danzō blamed Yunchuan for his monstrous transformation and attacked him with a forest of black roots.

• Black roots spread through Konoha as Yugito Nii, Kitsuchi, Kisame, and the others struggled to escape them without damaging the village.
• Hyuga Yunchuan arrived from above and cut through the pursuing roots with Wind Blades.
• Anbu recognized the corpses as Root members and identified the monster as Shimura Danzō, connecting his transplanted Sharingan, Byakugan, and Wood Release to the forbidden experiments.
• Danzō tried to control Yunchuan through the Caged Bird Curse Mark but found that Yunchuan had no mark.
• Danzō accused Yunchuan of sabotaging his experiment, then unleashed the black forest against him as Yunchuan folded his wings.