Chapter Summaries

Minato and Rasa used the Genin’s attacks as a feint while Rasa tried to steal Kagura’s scrolls, but Kagura uncovered their plan and rushed to stop him. The others attempted to delay Kagura, and Inoichi’s Mind Body Switch Technique failed, leaving him unconscious as Kagura warned that he had told him not to use it.

• Minato rallied the Genin to attack Kagura while Rasa secretly used his sand vortex to pull away the scrolls.
• Kagura realized Rasa was missing, spotted him beside the scrolls, and understood that the attack had been a diversion.
• Minato called for Plan B, and Hiashi tried to stop Kagura with the Gentle Fist but was thrown aside before he could finish his move.
• Choza attacked Kagura with the Partial Multi-Size Technique, but Kagura dodged the punch and sent Choza flying.
• Inoichi used the Mind Body Switch Technique on Kagura, but the attempt failed and Inoichi fainted in terror.

Kagura defeated the remaining interceptors as Rasa and Minato’s group tried to steal the scrolls and pass the exam. Nara Shikaku distributed scrolls to the group, and Kagura announced that the examinees had passed after knocking Minato on the head.

• Aburame Shibi attacked Kagura with Kikaichū, but Kagura struck him and charged toward Rasa.
• Rasa used Gold Dust Release to hide underground, sink the scrolls, and retrieve one just before Kagura reached him.
• Rasa showed Kagura his scroll and claimed he had passed, then sent the stolen scrolls flying toward Minato and the others.
• Nara Shikaku used Shadow Sewing: Black Spider Lily to deliver a scroll to each of his Companions.
• Kagura ignored Minato’s claim that he had a scroll, knocked him on the head, and announced that the examinees had passed the Second Exam.

Minato and the other Examinees passed the Second Exam by taking scrolls from Kagura, who acknowledged Nara Shikaku’s role in their strategy. Kagura then explained that the final test before the round three days later would take place in the Trial Tower, with each Examinee entering the gate matching their scroll’s number.

• Kagura announced that Minato and the others had passed the Second Exam, then brushed off Minato’s complaint about being hit.
• Kagura recognized Nara Shikaku as the strategist behind much of the team’s plan, while Rasa also noted Shikaku’s importance.
• Kagura counted the remaining Examinees, disqualified those who had lost consciousness, and destroyed the six unclaimed scrolls.
• Kagura told the Examinees to open their scrolls and revealed that their numbers matched ten gates in the Trial Tower.
• Kagura explained that each gate led to a different test and that the Examinees had to reach the tower’s upper echelon to pass.

Minato entered the White Tower’s third gate and began the individual trial for the Chunin Exam. Mitokado Homura tested him with a question about whether a leader should abandon a mission to save teammates or press on alone, leaving Minato to consider his choice.

• Minato, Kushina, and Hiashi entered the gates marked on their scrolls, and the other examinees followed them into the tower.
• Kagura left the hall after the examinees had entered, planning to return home to his pregnant wife.
• The examinees discovered that each faced an individual trial involving traps or an examiner’s test.
• Minato opened a door at the end of a dark staircase and found Mitokado Homura waiting for him.
• Mitokado Homura praised Minato’s performance and asked whether he would abandon a mission to save his teammates or continue it at the cost of their lives.

Minato chose to protect his squad in Mitokado Homura’s examination, arguing that he would risk his own life rather than abandon companions. Elsewhere in the Trial Tower, Ao passed Uchiha Fugaku’s genjutsu test and discovered Fugaku had Mangekyō Sharingan, while Rasa cleared a trap room with his Gold Sand.

• Mitokado Homura tested Minato with a choice between risking the mission and sacrificing his squad, seeing potential in him to become Hokage.
• Minato chose to protect his squad because their deaths would be certain if he sacrificed them, and cited Teacher Kagura’s lesson that abandoning dying companions was worse than trash.
• Uchiha Fugaku trapped Ao in a genjutsu, and Ao endured it until he awakened and passed the examination.
• Ao recognized that Fugaku possessed Mangekyō Sharingan and left through the passage to the tower’s top.
• Rasa used Gold Sand to jam the traps in his examination room, then pulled a Red Lever to open the passage ahead.

Sasori faced Hatake Sakumo in a ninja-tool assessment, using his Puppets Crow and Hiruko against the Konoha jonin’s chakra short sword. Sakumo shattered Crow and damaged Hiruko, then recognized Sasori’s skill and passed him.

• Hatake Sakumo explained that Sasori’s assessment would be a duel using ninja tools, and confirmed that Puppets counted.
• Sasori summoned Crow and an unfinished Hiruko, while Sakumo drew his chakra short sword.
• Sasori sent Hiruko and Crow to attack Sakumo with a tail blade, poisoned needles, and separating blades.
• Sakumo cut off Hiruko’s tail blade and destroyed Crow with a flash of silver light.
• Hatake Sakumo declared that Sasori had passed the assessment.

Sasori passed the third assessment and explained to Hatake Sakumo that he did not blame him for killing his parents, whom Sasori said remained with him as eternal art. Minato reunited with Kushina and Hiashi on the White Tower’s summit, and a Konoha Jonin announced that thirty-two examinees had qualified for the final assessment in three days.

• Hatake Sakumo declared Sasori qualified, and Sasori told him he considered his parents’ deaths the result of bad luck and that they lived on as his art.
• Minato emerged onto the White Tower’s summit and reunited with Kushina and Hiashi.
• Hiashi described being beaten for fifteen minutes by his Hyuga clan examiner before being declared qualified.
• Kushina said she passed after smashing three holes into the room during her taijutsu assessment.
• Minato recalled that Mitokado Homura had qualified him after he insisted on following his own convictions.
• Kitsuchi arrived, and a Konoha Jonin announced that thirty-two people had qualified and the final assessment would take place in three days.

After the thirty-two survivors rested, they gathered at Konoha’s Duel Arena for the Chunin Final Exam, where the Five Kage assembled to watch. Hiruzen Sarutobi opened the exam, while Kagura wondered whether the ominous gathering would end in trouble.

• The examiner dismissed the thirty-two survivors and announced the Final Exam’s time and location, giving them three days to rest and gather information on one another.
• Konoha prepared the Duel Arena and village for the exam and the rare gathering of the Five Kage, filling the venue with spectators and guards.
• The thirty-two examinees entered the arena as spectators cheered for them and their villages.
• The Five Kage—Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Kazekage, Karatachi Yagura, Ōnoki, and Raikage A—arrived and took their seats, each accompanied by guards.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the start of the Chunin Final Exam, while Kagura inspected the Kage and worried that something unexpected might happen.

While the Five Kage gathered in Konoha, Akatsuki reappeared in the Land of Water and stole the Six-Tails from its secret seal. Danzo then hoped their simultaneous operation elsewhere would succeed as well.

• In a remote forest in the Land of Water, Danzo, Hanzo, and White Zetsu Obito killed Kirigakure guards while searching for the Six-Tails.
• Hanzo questioned whether the Six-Tails was sealed there, and Danzo explained that his Root spies had helped arrange the Five Nations Joint Exam to draw the Mizukage and his guards away.
• The three found a Stone Tablet and a sealing formation deep in the forest.
• Hanzo used a scroll to break the seal, uncovered a white bottle containing the Six-Tails, and secured it.
• Danzo looked toward the distance and hoped their operation elsewhere would also go smoothly.

Roshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki who had left Iwagakure, encountered three Akatsuki members in the Land of Grass. After realizing they had come to capture Son Goku, he activated his Lava Release Chakra Mode, and a battle was about to begin.

• Roshi drank from a river in the Land of Grass while continuing his travels as a wandering monk.
• Juzō Biwa, Suikazan Fuguki, and Kakuzu appeared before Roshi in Akatsuki's red-cloud robes.
• Roshi recognized the three former ninja and inferred that they had come for the Four-Tails, Son Goku.
• Roshi discarded his straw hat and activated his Lava Release Chakra Mode as the confrontation turned into an imminent battle.

Juzō Biwa, Suikazan Fuguki, and Kakuzu used their Water Style techniques to suppress Roshi and wear away his Lava Release cloak. Roshi entered a Partial Tailed Beast Transformation and attacked Kakuzu, but the Akatsuki team pinned and trapped him in a Water Prison Technique.

• Roshi charged the three Akatsuki members, who combined Water Style attacks to melt away his Lava Release cloak and knock him into a crater.
• Roshi realized the enemies had chosen their lineup and techniques to counter him, then entered a Partial Tailed Beast Transformation.
• Roshi rushed Kakuzu and pierced his body, but Kakuzu split into five masked thread monsters, including two with Water Style hearts.
• Kakuzu's monsters attacked Roshi with Water Bullets and earth spears, pinning him in place.
• Juzō Biwa and Suikazan Fuguki appeared and trapped Roshi inside a Water Prison Technique.

Juzō Biwa, Suikazan Fuguki, and Kakuzu defeated Roshi after he transformed into the Four-Tails and trapped him with a combined Water Style technique. Four-Tails fell into Akatsuki’s hands, and Uchiha Madara noted that only three remained.

• Juzō Biwa and Suikazan Fuguki trapped Roshi with the Water Prison Technique, but he transformed into the Four-Tails and broke free.
• Four-Tails attacked the group with magma, forcing Kakuzu, Juzō Biwa, and Suikazan Fuguki to follow their plan.
• Kakuzu blasted Four-Tails into the air with Water Style: Water Colliding Wave, and Juzō Biwa and Suikazan Fuguki imprisoned him with Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.
• Kakuzu’s five masked monsters combined their chakra cannons into a beam that defeated Four-Tails and returned him to Roshi’s form.
• Uchiha Madara received news that Akatsuki had captured Four-Tails and said only three remained.

Kagura decided to stay in Konoha and guard the Nine-Tails rather than risk gathering the other Tailed Beasts himself. At the Chunin Final Exam, the match chart suggested that only one examinee could qualify, prompting objections from several Kage as Hiruzen Sarutobi asked them to hear the examiner’s explanation.

• Kagura reasoned that collecting the Tailed Beasts would risk war, leave him unable to seal them, and potentially help Uchiha Madara, so he chose to protect Konoha’s Nine-Tails.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the start of the Chunin Final Exam, and Dan Katō introduced its one-on-one matches.
• Dan Katō displayed a Battle Chart that paired the thirty-two examinees through successive rounds toward a single qualifying slot.
• Karatachi Yagura objected to the format, and the Kazekage agreed that it could unfairly delay talented Genin’s promotion.
• Raikage A supported the single-slot format, while Hiruzen Sarutobi urged the Kage to hear the examiner’s explanation before continuing the debate.

Dan Katō explained the loser-bracket format and the assessment criteria, then Sasori faced a Kirigakure Genin who assumed he could not fight without his puppets. Sasori controlled the Genin with Chakra Threads and stabbed him with his own Kunai, leaving the match’s outcome unresolved.

• Dan Katō explained that each match’s loser advanced until one final loser remained, and prohibited maliciously killing an opponent.
• Karatachi Yagura noticed that victory did not guarantee promotion, and Hiruzen Sarutobi confirmed the Kages would judge strength, strategy, and mindset.
• The first match paired Sasori with a Kirigakure Genin who believed Sasori’s damaged puppets left him helpless.
• The Genin lunged at Sasori, who restrained him with Chakra Threads and forced him to stab himself with his Kunai.

Sasori won the first Chunin Final Exam match after secretly controlling a Kirigakure Genin into stabbing himself, and the following duels produced victories for favored competitors such as Ao and Kitsuchi. The chapter ended as Minato Namikaze and Rasa faced off, with Rasa summoning Gold Sand and Minato drawing his Kunai.

• Sasori used Puppet Technique to make the Kirigakure Genin stab himself while avoiding his vital spots, winning the first match without endangering his life.
• The later randomly assigned duels proceeded normally, and Ao and Kitsuchi won as Kagura had predicted.
• Kagura became especially interested when Minato Namikaze and Rasa were called to fight, and the five Kage watched in anticipation.
• Minato and Rasa entered the arena, smiled at each other, and prepared to fight.
• Rasa filled the air with Gold Sand and told Minato he would not hold back, while Minato silently drew his Kunai.

Rasa used his Gold Dust Release to pressure Minato, who countered with water and narrowly escaped the changing defenses. The fight remained unresolved as Kagura watched, confident that Minato still had more techniques to reveal.

• Rasa hesitated to attack Minato first because he knew little about Minato’s combat abilities.
• Rasa sent a giant Gold Dust palm at Minato, who dodged and destroyed it with the Water Dragon Bullet Technique.
• Minato charged Rasa with a Kunai, but Rasa raised a Gold Dust wall that hardened against the strike before shifting into quicksand.
• Minato escaped the quicksand and retreated as Rasa recalled his Gold Dust.
• Kagura judged Rasa’s defense formidable but anticipated that Minato would use the ninjutsu he had taught him.

Minato used the Flying Thunder God to escape Rasa’s Gold Sand attack, revealing that Kagura had taught him the forbidden jutsu. The duel continued with Rasa still holding the advantage, while the other Kage grew wary of Kagura.

• Rasa transformed nearly half the arena into Gold Sand and sent Sand Dragons after Minato as he leaped into the air.
• Minato threw a Kunai toward the arena wall and used Flying Thunder God to teleport to it, escaping the Sand Dragons.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi confronted Kagura for teaching Minato a forbidden jutsu, and Kagura casually admitted that he had taught him.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other Kage considered the danger of Flying Thunder God, while Karatachi Yagura became more wary of Kagura.
• Minato returned his attention to Rasa, but he still had no way to deal with the Gold Sand filling the arena.

Minato used explosive shuriken and the Flying Thunder God to get behind Rasa, but Rasa’s Sand Armor stopped his Kunai. Minato then revealed the Rasengan Kagura had taught him and drove it into Rasa’s armor.

• Minato attacked Rasa with giant shuriken and Shadow Clone Shuriken, then detonated Explosion Tags to blast away the Gold Sand between them.
• Minato threw a marked Kunai through a gap in the Gold Sand and teleported behind Rasa, but his strike only cracked Rasa’s Sand Armor.
• Rasa redirected the Gold Sand to capture Minato as Minato formed a Rasengan.
• A month earlier, Kagura had taught Minato the Rasengan, and Minato had proposed an elaborate name before Kagura settled on its familiar one.
• Minato pressed the Rasengan against Rasa’s Sand Armor.

Minato defeated Rasa with his newly revealed Rasengan, and the Five Nations Joint Exam concluded with Team 7’s three members becoming Chunin. Kagura celebrated by inviting his students to dinner, while he later learned that Akatsuki had captured two Tailed Beasts.

• Minato struck Rasa with Rasengan, shattered his Sand Armor, and knocked him unconscious.
• Dan Katō treated Rasa, and the Third Kazekage questioned Hiruzen Sarutobi about Minato’s unfamiliar ninjutsu.
• Rasa recovered, defeated his next opponent with Gold Sand, and shook Minato’s hand after the competition.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the end of the Chunin Exam, and Kagura later learned that Akatsuki had captured two Tailed Beasts.
• Kagura congratulated his three Team 7 students on becoming Chunin and invited them to dinner at his home.

In Konoha Year 42, Kagura and Tsunade welcomed their first child, a son, and Kagura felt a new sense of belonging as he became a father. Their household also took in Yamato, while the newly freed Four-Tails joined the family as a white monkey.

• Kagura and Tsunade had their first child, a boy, and Kagura held him with growing affection.
• Kagura brought Tsunade and their newborn home, where the Tailed Beasts gathered to see the baby.
• The Four-Tails, who had reached 100% Fusion Degree the previous year, lived outside Kagura's body disguised as a white golden monkey.
• Yamato, whose guardian was Jiraiya, toddled over to look at the newborn.
• After Jiraiya left Konoha to begin another journey, Kagura agreed to care for Yamato at home.