Chapter Summaries

Sarutobi Toru and Konoha prepared for the Joint Chunin Exam, whose tournament format and large prize drew teams from across the Shinobi World. As the exam’s rules were announced and the rival contestants assembled, Konoha’s leaders recognized that other villages had sent unusually powerful fighters disguised as Genin.

• Sarutobi Toru reviewed the KOF-inspired exam format with Tsunade, then went to inspect the seeded teams with Might Duy and Inuzuka Hana.
• Mitokado Homura welcomed the visiting Jōnin and explained that teams would compete in a three-day Forest Sea preliminary round to win marked Invitation Letters for the finals.
• Sarutobi Toru recognized several future shinobi among the contestants, including Yagura, A, Dodai, and a likely future Third Kazekage, and complained that many were far too powerful to be Genin.
• Hatake Sakumo asked Sarutobi Toru which contestants he wanted to challenge, and Toru dismissed them as unworthy, silencing the lounge.
• Danzo complained to Sarutobi Hiruzen that rival villages had falsely claimed their powerful ninja were demoted to Genin, while Hiruzen noted that Konoha was benefiting from the exam’s visitors, spending, and publicity.

Sarutobi Toru’s team secured an Invitation Letter for the Chunin Exam’s forest round after Might Duy and Tsunade beat down challengers in the waiting room. Toru’s team camped near Konoha instead of rushing into the forest, expecting the teams that traveled farthest to draw the most attention.

• Might Duy defeated several Amegakure examinees and drove the other candidates to hesitate before challenging him.
• Tsunade arrived, knocked Fukai down with one punch, and revealed that she had attacked him for provoking her boyfriend, Sarutobi Toru.
• Torifu Akimichi announced the forest-round rules and distributed eight Invitation Letters, which Hatake Sakumo, Sarutobi Toru, Rōshi, Kosa, Yagura, Fukai, and two teams chosen by lot received.
• Tsunade waved goodbye to Sarutobi Toru as his team left Konoha with their Invitation Letter.
• Sarutobi Toru’s team set up camp near water, where Duy trained and Toru explained that teams traveling far would attract the most attention once the letters’ locations were announced.

Sarutobi Toru and Might Duy faced a nine-person probe from the Rock, Cloud, and Mist villages. Sarutobi Toru swiftly defeated the Mist and Cloud Shinobi while Duy fought the Rock Shinobi, leaving the attackers routed.

• Sarutobi Toru reflected on the decoded Yang God Martial Way and told Might Duy to stop training for the day.
• Inuzuka Hana detected nine approaching enemies, and teams from the Rock, Cloud, and Mist villages confronted Sarutobi Toru.
• Sarutobi Toru destroyed the three Mist Shinobi’s Water Clones and struck the Mist team down before they could react.
• Might Duy knocked one Rock Shinobi into the air and then battled the remaining two with taijutsu.
• Sarutobi Toru scattered the fleeing Cloud Shinobi, striking their leader with Senbon and blinding another attacker.
• The blinded Cloud Shinobi realized Sarutobi Toru had spared him and considered his ninja career over.

Sarutobi Toru and his teammates survived several days of attacks in the forest, then faced a coordinated ambush by more than twenty examinees near Konoha. Toru blocked their opening techniques with Earth Flow Wall and prepared to counterattack.

• Cloud Shinobi Captain Kenji met Ogura, learned that Ogura was blind too, and asked him to use sensory ninjutsu to find Jiro.
• Sarutobi Toru rejoined Duy and Inuzuka Hana after Duy defeated two Rock Shinobi, and Toru decided he needed to learn sensory ninjutsu to find opponents hiding underground or underwater.
• Over the next three days, Toru's squad stayed at their campsite, repelling attackers while other seed squads hunted examinees and the two weaker Invitation Letter teams were reportedly wiped out.
• More than twenty examinees secretly agreed to attack Toru's squad together, hoping to seize its Invitation Letter before the exam ended.
• Near Konoha's gates, the examinees launched a barrage of techniques at Toru's group, but Toru raised an Earth Flow Wall to block them and readied his counterattack.

Sarutobi Toru defeated the examinees by blinding them, then revealed that Konoha’s organ-regeneration treatment could restore their eyes. He left them with the prospect of recovery at a discounted price, while Inuzuka Hana learned not to mistake his friendliness for gentleness.

• Sarutobi Toru blinded several examinees, survived a Rain Ninja’s Explosive Tags with only superficial scrapes, and created Shadow Clones to blind the rest.
• Inuzuka Hana questioned Sarutobi Toru’s eye-poking and feared he would punish her, so he used a pain-inducing Medical Lightning Release technique on her.
• Sarutobi Toru told the blinded examinees that Konoha could regenerate their eyes in a week for 10 million ryo.
• Sarutobi Toru offered the examinees a ninety percent discount, bringing the treatment fee down to one million ryo.

Sarutobi Toru returned to Konoha with his team after using regenerated eyeballs to restore the sight of blinded candidates and promote Konoha’s Medical Ninjutsu. With all eight teams assembled, the first round ended and the tournament was set to begin in a week, leaving Toru free to celebrate with Tsunade.

• Sarutobi Toru and his team reached Konoha after restoring the blinded candidates’ eyes, and their arrival drew tense attention from the other teams.
• Tsunade rushed to check Sarutobi Toru for injuries, and Might Duy interrupted their flirtatious moment.
• Torifu Akimichi announced that the competition would begin in a week at Arena 13 and explained the first-round pairings and village rules.
• Tsunade invited Sarutobi Toru to celebrate at Yakiniku Q, while Inuzuka Hana dragged Might Duy away before he could spoil their outing.

Sarutobi Toru discussed his plan to use the first exam to draw attention to Konoha Hospital, then showed Tsunade the Yang God Martial Way training method he and Duy had developed. After Tsunade agreed to join the research but promised not to train until Duy succeeded, she examined Duy, treated his training injuries, and watched Sarutobi Toru train as he advanced toward tendon training.

• At Yakiniku Q, Sarutobi Toru told Tsunade that the first exam would bring injured examinees to Konoha Hospital and help its reputation spread.
• Sarutobi Toru showed Tsunade the Yang God Martial Way training method he and Duy had developed, and Tsunade recognized that it had stages beyond skin, flesh, and tendons.
• Tsunade agreed to help with the training method but insisted that neither she nor Sarutobi Toru practice it until Duy succeeded.
• At Konoha Hospital, Tsunade found tiny fractures in Duy's bones, forbade him from training, and knocked him unconscious before treating him.
• Sarutobi Toru trained at the rehabilitation Training Ground while Tsunade watched, and he had advanced from flesh training toward tendon training within seven days.

As the second round of the Chunin Exam began, Konoha hosted the gathered ninja teams and dignitaries at its new arena. Inuzuka Hana opened Team One’s individual matches with a fierce attack, but her opponent survived and fought back.

• Kosa, Rena, Keiji, Fukai, Kenji, and Dodai arrived in Konoha and wondered why important intelligence was being discussed openly around the village.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen welcomed the assembled dignitaries and team leaders to Arena 13, where Tsunade served as referee.
• Sarutobi Toru’s team chose individual matches, and Inuzuka Hana volunteered to fight first after strengthening her Chakra and mastering her clan’s Secret Technique.
• Inuzuka Hana and her dog attacked with Fang Over Fang, but their opponent evaded with Substitution Jutsu and countered with Earth Flow Wall and Hardening Jutsu.
• Inuzuka Hana and the nameless ninja traded blows as Tsunade and most teams watched with little interest, while Duy cheered enthusiastically.

Hatake Sakumo's team faced Kumogakure's seeded squad in a three-versus-three battle, and Sakumo defeated Fukai and A with his swordsmanship. Dodai surrendered after Hiruko's duel with him stalled and the Cloud team was left badly outmatched.

• Inuzuka Hana won the first match with Fang Wolf Fang, and Duy and Kosa also swept through their opponents in the following matches.
• Hatake Sakumo's team and the Kumogakure squad agreed to a three-versus-three battle, and Hiruko summoned a griffin as the fight began.
• Fukai charged Sakumo, who stopped him with the White Fang Dagger and wounded him before revealing a blade infused with pure Wind Release.
• Hiruko attacked Dodai from the air, but Dodai's Lava Release defended against the assault while his counterattacks failed to reach Hiruko.
• Fukai and A fought Sakumo together, but Sakumo wounded Fukai and knocked A unconscious after more than ten exchanges.
• Dodai saw his team losing and surrendered.

Konoha defeated the Iwa and Mist teams in a series of brutal Chunin Exam matches, while the exam brought Konoha wealth and attention through its hospital advances. The chapter ended with Might Duy killing Suikazan Fuguki and leaving Yagura wary of facing him.

• Hatake Sakumo's victory over Dodai's team secured the win for Konoha, and Yagura then defeated Rōshi in their match.
• Yagura defeated Shū and Gari, taking down three Iwa Ninja in a row.
• During the three-day break, Konoha Hospital's organ cultivation technology attracted dignitaries, while Sarutobi Hiruzen saw the village grow richer and more influential.
• Jinin Akebino challenged Might Duy, who opened the Third Gate and defeated him with Reverse Lotus, leaving him barely alive.
• Suikazan Fuguki tried to stall Might Duy with Water Clones, but Duy opened the Six Gates and killed him with Morning Peacock.
• Yagura watched Might Duy leave the arena exhausted and felt relieved that he had not fought him.

Sarutobi Toru defeated Yagura with his newly developed Five Decay Technique after entering a state of Absolute Reason. The technique left Yagura temporarily overwhelmed by extreme emotions, and Sarutobi Toru’s victory revealed both the power and the risks of his ability.

• Yagura entered the arena wary of Sarutobi Toru, and Tsunade started their match.
• Yagura dodged Sarutobi Toru’s opening attacks, created Water Clones, and used the Hidden Mist Technique.
• Sarutobi Toru activated Absolute Reason, heightened his senses, and struck Yagura with the Five Decay Technique.
• Yagura lost control of his emotions and actions, and the mist dispersed as he writhed and shrieked.
• Tsunade declared Sarutobi Toru the winner, while Sarutobi Hiruzen wondered whether Toru had learned genjutsu.
• Sarutobi Toru explained that the Five Decay Technique could eventually release on its own, but prolonged exposure would damage the victim’s organs.

Sarutobi Toru calmed Yagura after the previous match, and the tournament continued with Hatake Sakumo’s team facing the Sand Shinobi team. Sakumo’s team won after Hiruko and Aburame Ryoma held off Kosa’s Iron Sand Technique while Sakumo defeated the two Puppet Masters and then Kosa.

• Yagura recovered after Sarutobi Toru slowly undid the effects of the Five Decay Technique and headed to the waiting room, still terrified of him.
• Kosa chose a team battle against Hatake Sakumo’s team, then used iron sand to rise into the air and attack Hiruko and Aburame Ryoma.
• Hiruko summoned a defensive Slime that absorbed Kosa’s iron sand, while Aburame Ryoma’s Kikaichū began draining Chakra from Kosa’s armor.
• Hatake Sakumo found the Puppet Masters’ real bodies after cutting down two Puppets and forced them to concede by slashing their necks.
• Kosa continued fighting until Hatake Sakumo leapt onto his iron-sand platform, beat him, and pinned him with the White Fang Dagger, securing the victory.

Konoha’s teams faced each other in the final, with Hatake Sakumo’s team named champion while Sarutobi Toru stayed hidden. After sparring with Hatake Sakumo, Sarutobi Toru learned that the Uchiha Clan had secretly experimented on Kagami Uchiha’s orphan, prompting Danzo to ask what he thought of the clan.

• Konoha’s final match became an all-Konoha contest, and Hatake Sakumo’s team won after Sarutobi Toru agreed to remain hidden.
• The village took 100 million Ryo from the prize money, most of the remainder went to Sarutobi Toru as research funding, and the other participants received 10 million Ryo each.
• Sarutobi Toru fought Hatake Sakumo at the Root Training Ground and defeated him with his speed and senbon, without using Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Sarutobi Toru found Danzo in his office beside a shattered desk and read documents about the Uchiha Clan and Kagami Uchiha’s orphan.
• The documents revealed that the Uchiha Clan had transplanted Kagami Uchiha’s exhausted Mangekyo into the child, leaving him alive but unable to become a ninja.
• Danzo asked Sarutobi Toru what he thought of the Uchiha, and Sarutobi Toru called them a powerful clan that refused to integrate and acted like a village within the village.

Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen discussed how to punish the Uchiha for pursuing Mangekyo transplantation, deciding to destroy the Mangekyō Sharingan and pressure the clan’s ringleader through Root missions. They then considered Sarutobi Toru’s political prospects as he sought to become the second Pot Kage.

• Danzo argued that the Uchiha refused to integrate into Konoha and needed to be punished for pursuing Mangekyo transplantation.
• Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen agreed that they could not openly imprison the Uchiha, but decided to destroy the Mangekyō Sharingan without leaving evidence.
• Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen planned to send the Uchiha ringleader on Root missions and seize an opportunity to eliminate him, using the plan as a warning to the clan.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen assessed Sarutobi Toru’s political instincts and village ties, noting that his lack of the Will of Fire could hinder him in Konoha’s public-facing high command.

Sarutobi Toru proposed secretly using hormones to make most Uchiha newborns girls, prompting Hiruzen and Danzo to approve a plan to gradually assimilate the clan. Six years later, Toru reviewed worsening economic and population problems in the ninja world.

• Toru asked Hiruzen whether he could accept taking twenty years to resolve the Uchiha problem, then proposed a hormone that could make fetuses female.
• Hiruzen rejected making every birth at Konoha Hospital female as too conspicuous, so Toru offered a diluted medicine with a more than ninety percent chance of producing girls.
• Hiruzen assigned Root to secretly provide the enhanced pregnancy medicine to Uchiha women and ordered Toru to handle the formula; Danzo welcomed the plan.
• After leaving the office, Toru wondered how the plan might change the fates of Obito, Shisui, Itachi, and the wider Shinobi World.
• Six years later, Toru studied reports in the Hokage's Office and worried about inflation, currency depreciation, rising prices, and the growing number of ninja.

Sarutobi Toru advised the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō as they prepared for a possible war between Konoha and the other ninja villages, then proposed a way to protect Konoha Hospital’s expansion. The chapter ended with the Third Hokage asking Toru what he thought about Lady Mito’s proposal to replace the Jinchuriki.

• The Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō reviewed intelligence and debated whether Konoha should strike first, while Sarutobi Toru argued that the other villages’ economic pressures could drive them toward war.
• The Third Hokage decided that Root would intensify its infiltration and sow discord among the Four Great Ninja Villages, while Konoha strengthened border strongholds, stockpiled supplies, and increased patrols.
• The Third Hokage raised the problem of Konoha Hospital’s expansion, since its branches had saturated peaceful regions and could not be safely established in other major countries.
• Sarutobi Toru proposed giving local nobles and Daimyos shares in hospitals abroad so they would protect their own investments, and the Third Hokage approved the idea.
• The Third Hokage asked Sarutobi Toru for his opinion on Lady Mito’s proposal to replace the Jinchuriki.

Sarutobi Toru and Tsunade considered Uzumaki Mito’s proposal for Tsunade to become the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Toru supported her but urged her to delay until they had safely completed the dangerous blood-exchanging stage of their martial arts cultivation.

• Sarutobi Toru left the Hokage's Office knowing Uzumaki Mito’s proposal meant Tsunade was the likely next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
• Tsunade reflected on becoming a Jinchuriki and worried about what Sarutobi Toru would think if she lost control.
• Sarutobi Toru embraced Tsunade, reassured her that he would never hate her, and told her he believed she could handle the Nine-Tails.
• Sarutobi Toru advised Tsunade to postpone becoming a Jinchuriki until they passed the blood-exchanging stage, a perilous step in their Human Immortal Martial Way training.

Sarutobi Toru learned that Uzumaki Mito might endure only another year before the Nine-Tails made blood transformation too dangerous, then received Danzo’s mission to impersonate Cloud Shinobi and attack Iwagakure shinobi. After reaching a secret Root outpost in the Land of Earth, he began investigating Iwagakure’s movements and economic troubles.

• Sarutobi Toru and Tsunade discussed the danger of Uzumaki Mito undergoing blood transformation as a Jinchuriki, and Tsunade embraced him.
• Hiruko’s messenger crow summoned Sarutobi Toru to Root, interrupting the two of them.
• Danzo ordered Sarutobi Toru to impersonate Cloud Shinobi and attack Iwagakure shinobi to drive a wedge between Iwagakure and Kumogakure.
• Sarutobi Toru declined to bring Root personnel and asked Danzo how far he should take the operation; Danzo told him to target Iwagakure shinobi dissatisfied with Kumogakure.
• Sarutobi Toru used the Flying Thunder God Technique to reach a Root outpost in the Land of Earth and reviewed intelligence about Iwagakure’s strained finances and reduced mission volume.

Sarutobi Toru chose an Iwagakure iron-mine outpost as a target and disguised himself as a Cloud Shinobi. At the outpost, Hatake Sakumo, the Konoha White Fang, launched an attack, while the last Iwagakure Jōnin trapped the survivors in a prison fueled by their Chakra.

• Sarutobi Toru selected an Iwagakure outpost guarding an iron mine near the Land of Lightning and transformed his appearance to resemble a Cloud Shinobi.
• Two Iwagakure shinobi at the outpost complained about competition for missions before the barrier detected an intruder.
• The Iwagakure shinobi recognized Hatake Sakumo as the Konoha White Fang and gathered with the outpost's defenders.
• Hatake Sakumo counted the thirty-seven defenders, killed an Iwagakure Jōnin with his White Fang Dagger, and beheaded another Jōnin.
• The last Iwagakure Jōnin ordered the others to scatter, then used Earth Release: Inner Earth Prison Tomb Mu and explained that it would drain the Chakra of everyone trapped inside.

Hatake Sakumo’s disguise helped the Cloud Shinobi destroy an Iwa outpost and steal its refined iron, but Shū and Ōnoki suspected Kumogakure was behind the attack. After learning that the disguised “Konoha White Fang” had struck three more outposts along a route toward Konoha, Ōnoki concluded Kumogakure planned to seize the Tianhuang Mountain Range and vowed to hunt the impostor himself.

• Hatake Sakumo transformed into a Cloud Shinobi and escaped the earth prison, then killed or wounded the shinobi at the Tiequ Mountain outpost.
• Shū’s investigation found the outpost’s shinobi dead, its refined iron stolen, and evidence that Tsuchikai’s brain had been destroyed to hide what he discovered.
• Shū told Two-Headed Oonoki that Kumogakure likely staged the attack, but Ōnoki chose to blame Konoha publicly and retaliate against the Cloud Shinobi indirectly.
• An urgent report revealed that the supposed Konoha White Fang had attacked three more Iwa outposts.
• Ōnoki inferred that Kumogakure intended to seize the Tianhuang Mountain Range as an invasion route into the Land of Fire and vowed to hunt the impostor himself.