Recaps

After the explosion was blamed on the Jashin Cult, Kawanishi and the other followers hid their marks as Sunagakure began a crackdown. Rasa ordered a captured monster studied for its potential as a source of materials, and Sasori of the Red Sand secretly discovered it and saw a new kind of puppet.

• Sunagakure announced that the explosion had killed fifty-six people and revealed evidence of a Jashin Cult attack, while ANBU could not identify the perpetrators.
• Kawanishi and the other followers watched their Jashin marks sink beneath their skin and abandoned the idea of reporting the cult to Rasa.
• Rasa inspected the chained monster captured at the blast site, and Baki explained its strength, vitality, sharp limbs, and poisonous gas.
• Rasa ordered a research team to study the monster and declined Baki’s suggestion to seek help from Chiyo before they had results.
• Sasori of the Red Sand entered the holding area, tested his control over the monster, and regarded its flesh, genes, and instincts as materials for an innovative puppet.

As Amegakure’s outposts fell, Hanzo asked Danzo for help and promised him anything in return. Ueno secretly served Jashin’s followers, and the chapter ended with Hanzo learning that Akatsuki was behind the attacks.

• Hanzo learned that five more Amegakure outposts had lost contact and ordered Ueno to ask Danzo for an elite force and help identifying the enemy.
• Ueno reassured Hanzo, then secretly met two Jashin followers and reported that Hanzo planned to rely on Danzo.
• Ueno left Amegakure with Hanzo’s secret scroll and returned two days later with news that Danzo would send two elite Root squads and intelligence on the enemy.
• Ueno named Akatsuki as the enemy, and Hanzo feared that the surviving members had returned for revenge.

Pain and Konan entered Amegakure with Ogawa Mari’s help as rebels began fighting Hanzo’s supporters. Pain summoned two Rinnegan-bearing figures and prepared to begin his revenge against Hanzo.

• Amegakure’s gate guards argued over Hanzo’s failure to confront Akatsuki until Ogawa Mari arrived and silenced them.
• Pain and Konan approached the gate, and Ogawa Mari attacked the six guards with a Water Dragon Bullet Technique, sparing the one who had questioned Hanzo.
• Ogawa Mari welcomed Pain and Konan, explaining that Amegakure’s rebels had started fighting Hanzo’s supporters and that they only needed to kill Hanzo.
• Pain summoned two cloaked figures with Rinnegan eyes, rose into the air with them, and declared that his revenge was beginning.

Hanzo faced a rebellion in Amegakure as his confidant Ueno and several renowned shinobi revealed their allegiance to Lord Jashin. Pain then attacked the village and demanded that its shinobi submit to him or die.

• Hanzo ordered Ueno and Konoha's Root shinobi to probe the invaders, but Ueno betrayed him and triggered an explosive ambush against the administrative building.
• Ueno declared that Amegakure needed the protection of Lord Jashin, and five Amegakure shinobi removed their masks and joined him.
• Hanzo blocked the traitors' attacks, killed one of them, and declared that the others would die for their betrayal.
• Pain appeared above Amegakure and blasted Hanzo through several buildings with Shinra Tensei.
• Pain summoned giant beasts across the village and warned the shinobi that those who submitted to him would live while Hanzo's followers would die.

Pain confronted Hanzo in the Rain Village, where Hanzo’s summoned salamander Ibuse was kept from answering his call and Pain’s other summoned beasts attacked. After Hanzo escaped Pain’s gravity techniques and his water attack was absorbed, he abandoned the fight and fled toward the village’s edge.

• Hanzo recognized Pain’s Rinnegan, and Pain condemned him for abandoning his allies and grovelling before Konoha.
• Hanzo tried to summon Ibuse, but the salamander was bound far away and drained of the Chakra needed to answer.
• Pain’s summoned beasts attacked Hanzo, who cut a giant bird in two before the Amplified Summoning Technique split it into two birds.
• Hanzo poisoned the giant birds with gas from his mask, causing them to vanish, and Pain then pulled Hanzo in with Banshō Ten'in before blasting him away with Shinra Tensei.
• Hanzo’s Water Dragon Bullet was absorbed by another Rinnegan-wielding man, so Hanzo fled toward the edge of the village using the Water Body Flicker Technique.

Pain killed Hanzo and Akatsuki took control of Amegakure, putting Nagato and Konan in charge of its new administration. Nagato burned Hanzo’s body at the graves of Akatsuki’s founders and renewed his vow to fulfill Yahiko’s dream.

• Hanzo fled Pain, who used repulsion to destroy the center of Amegakure and kill him.
• Simu watched the battle and reflected that Hanzo’s fear of defeat had kept him from using his full strength.
• Pain declared a new god’s arrival, pardoned Amegakure’s opposition and neutral factions, and purged Hanzo’s remaining supporters.
• Pain and Konan arranged for Ueno, Mari, and Shigure to help govern Amegakure while Konan directed the village’s administration.
• Nagato and Konan burned Hanzo’s body at Akatsuki’s founders’ cemetery, and Nagato vowed to fulfill Yahiko’s dream.
• Konan raised concerns about the Jonin Simu had recruited, but Nagato dismissed them as unimportant to his partnership with Simu.

Danzo learned that Hanzo had closed the Land of Rain to outsiders, while Hiruzen secretly oversaw the recovery of Kishou Arima, the sole survivor brought back from Yugakure. Arima began training with his Kagune blade, determined to grow stronger and seek revenge.

• Danzo complained to Hiruzen that Konoha squads had disappeared in the Land of Rain, and Hiruzen revealed Hanzo had sealed the borders amid a civil war.
• Danzo left without answers, unable to investigate the Land of Rain while Konoha faced the Uchiha threat.
• Kakashi reported that Kishou Arima was recovering under Dr. Fang Zhu's care, and Hiruzen ordered him to keep Arima's existence secret.
• Kakashi visited Arima and found him pushing himself through rehabilitation training at the research institute.
• Arima asked when he could learn ninjutsu, then resumed training with a long blade formed from his Kagune.

After Akatsuki took control of Amegakure, its members discussed recruiting powerful rogue ninjas and strengthening the organization. Simu agreed to provide Konan with seeds suited to the Land of Rain in exchange for Nagato’s explanation of how his avatar absorbed ninjutsu.

• Pain announced that Akatsuki would recruit members and expand after taking control of Amegakure.
• Konan recommended Kakuzu, and White Zetsu recommended Sasori of the Red Sands; Pain planned to recruit Kakuzu and sent Simu and Hidan to approach Sasori.
• Konan warned Hidan about Sasori’s Human Puppets, but Hidan left confidently with his Three-Moon Blood Scythe.
• Konan asked Simu for help addressing food shortages after neighboring countries cut off exports to the Land of Rain.
• Simu offered rain-resistant rice seeds in exchange for Nagato’s principles for absorbing ninjutsu, and Nagato agreed to write them down.

Kawanishi tried a highly praised Military Ration Pill at the Red Spider Lily trading company and discovered a wriggling worm inside it, while the Jashin Cult mark beneath his glove burned. He recognized the shop’s owner but concealed his reaction and admitted the pill was effective.

• Kawanishi heard Sunagakure ninja praise the Red Spider Lily trading company’s pills and weapons before joining its long queue.
• The owner recommended a 5,000-ryo Strength God Military Ration Pill, and Kawanishi accepted a free sample.
• Kawanishi ate the pill and felt it rapidly replenish his Chakra and heal his body.
• The Jashin Cult mark beneath Kawanishi’s glove burned, and he saw a worm wriggling inside the bitten pill.
• Kawanishi recognized the owner from his memories, swallowed, and said the Military Ration Pill was effective.

Kawanishi discovered that the Military Ration Pills contained insects, then watched Simu warmly welcome Gaara despite the fear and resentment surrounding the young Jinchuriki. After Gaara was taken home, Rasa scolded him and hurled him into a wall for wanting to go outside.

• Kawanishi swallowed the insect in his Military Ration Pill and wondered whether his Jashin Mark had revealed its true nature.
• Gaara entered Simu’s shop, and Simu sensed the lonely Jinchuriki and the violent soul of One-Tail Shukaku within him.
• Simu called Gaara a cute little kid, gave him Military Ration Pills, and watched as Yashamaru and the ANBU took him away.
• Rasa reprimanded Gaara for wanting to go outside and sent him crashing into a wall, while Temari and Kankuro hid in fear.

Gaara endured another assassination attempt and struggled with the fear and rejection surrounding him. After Simu's Military Ration Pill put him to sleep, Shukaku began attacking the weakened seal, but Simu appeared inside Gaara's mind to confront the Tailed Beast.

• An assassin attacked Gaara with Kunai and explosive tags, but Gaara's sand shield protected him until Yashamaru subdued the attacker.
• The attacker accused Gaara of killing his family, and Yashamaru reassured Gaara that the monster inside him—not Gaara—had killed people.
• Temari and Kankuro helped clean Gaara's room, but their fear and their father's absence left Gaara feeling alone.
• A voice from Red Spider Lily urged Gaara to take a Military Ration Pill, and Gaara ate it before falling into an exhausted sleep.
• Shukaku began striking the weakened seal in Gaara's mind, but Simu appeared and marveled at the Tailed Beast's violent Chakra.

Simu entered Gaara’s mind, restrained the One-Tailed Shukaku with his new Blood Tentacle Seal, and studied the Tailed Beast before leaving. Rasa found Gaara unharmed, and Gaara woke the next morning relieved that the village was still peaceful.

• Simu confronted the berserk Shukaku in Gaara’s mind and began recording observations about him.
• Shukaku attacked Simu, but Simu bound him with eight tentacles and suppressed his Chakra using the Blood Tentacle Seal.
• Simu left Gaara’s mind, and Rasa arrived with Yashamaru and ANBU to examine Gaara and confirm that his body and seal were normal.
• After Rasa left, Shukaku hinted that a major event was coming, and Gaara woke the next morning to find the village undamaged.

Simu’s insect network secretly transported One-Tail Chakra from Sunagakure to a Land of Wind stronghold, where he began studying its effects. After finding the chakra supply inadequate, he considered capturing a Jinchuriki and preparing a major gift for Sand Village.

• A modified Blood-Spirit Worm carried One-Tail Chakra from Sunagakure, and Black Beetles moved it through Simu’s hidden network without leaving evidence for Rasa or the Red Spider Lily Merchant Guild.
• A red-hooded boy spotted the beetles leaving Sunagakure and became interested in their ability to control insects.
• At a stronghold fifty kilometers from Sunagakure, Simu kept Hidan’s head in a test tube after stopping him from challenging the Fourth Kazekage.
• Simu fed a Black Beetle carrying One-Tail Chakra into his Blood Pool and began researching Tailed Beast Chakra.
• Simu considered replacing Hidan’s Chakra with Tailed Beast Chakra, but decided he needed more chakra and prepared to give Sand Village a major gift.

Simu expanded his surveillance network in the Land of Wind by creating desert creatures controlled through Broodmothers, while the dangerous new predators increased Sunagakure’s missions and boosted the Red Spider Lily Merchant Guild. Jugo and Uzumaki Rii helped a struggling village drive off a scorpion swarm, provided water and Divine Rice, and gained new Jashin Cult believers.

• Simu created Desert Dragonflies, Ghost-Faced Wind Scorpions, and Poison-Blade Centipedes, linking them to regional Broodmothers that relayed information and commands.
• The new predators made desert travel more dangerous, increasing Sunagakure’s mission volume and demand for weapons and medicines, which helped the Red Spider Lily Merchant Guild grow.
• Jugo, Uzumaki Rii, and another young person drove a Wind Scorpion Swarm away from a poor village and brought the villagers to worship the Faceless Divine Statue.
• Jugo’s group cleared the villagers’ wells and taught them to grow Divine Rice, prompting the villagers to pledge themselves to the Jashin Cult.
• Uzumaki Rii teased Jugo for becoming more suited to his role as a Jashin Cult priest, and Jugo wondered if she was right.

Kawanishi succumbed to the Jashin Cult’s influence and transformed into a monstrous creature. As Rasa assigned Baki to investigate the creatures spreading across the Land of Wind, Kawanishi requested an urgent audience with the Kazekage.

• Kawanishi woke from a nightmare, saw the Jashin Cult mark on his hand, and became convinced that the man he had met was haunting him.
• After Kawanishi punched a mirror, his blood formed the cult’s symbol, and he gave in to the promise of power and fame by praising Lord Jashin.
• An insect inside Kawanishi rapidly grew, transforming him with arthropod limbs and a scorpion tail.
• Rasa reviewed reports of Ghost-Faced Wind Scorpions and Poison-Blade Centipedes causing damage across the Land of Wind, then ordered Baki to eliminate nearby monsters and investigate their origins.
• Rasa’s secretary announced that Kawanishi had arrived with urgent intelligence, and Rasa told him to enter.

Kawanishi revealed to Rasa that transplanted Wind Scorpion organs called Scorpion Jade could grant people powerful armored limbs and a tail. After testing Kawanishi’s new appendages, Rasa recognized their potential for combat and puppet production and asked whether anyone could learn the transplanting technique.

• Rasa questioned Kawanishi about his intelligence concerning the Wind Scorpions.
• Kawanishi showed Rasa his mutated limbs and tail and explained how Scorpion Jade granted him the ability.
• Rasa brought Kawanishi to Sunagakure’s training ground and had Takashima Hisao test the appendages.
• Hisao found that the appendages were as durable as ordinary ninja tools and could provide valuable puppet-making material.
• Rasa recognized Scorpion Jade’s strategic value and asked Kawanishi whether anyone could learn his secret technique.

Kawanishi gave Rasa a secret technique that activated Scorpion Jades, earning a promotion and public acclaim while continuing to serve Lord Jashin. After ANBU confirmed the technique and Wind Scorpions were useful and apparently safe, Rasa ordered a cautious trial and Sunagakure began capturing the creatures across the desert.

• Kawanishi handed Rasa a scroll explaining how to refine Chakra to activate Scorpion Jades, and Rasa appointed him a Special Jonin in the Supreme Research Laboratory.
• Rasa gave the scroll to ANBU for testing and ordered an investigation into Kawanishi's background.
• Kawanishi became celebrated among Sunagakure's villagers and praised Lord Jashin for his rise in status.
• After a month of experiments, ANBU confirmed that Chunin-level ninja could use the technique, Scorpion Jades were common among mature Wind Scorpions, and no significant implant side effects had appeared.
• Rasa learned that investigators had found no human involvement in the Wind Scorpions' origin and ordered an ANBU squad to test the technique before wider adoption.
• Sunagakure issued missions to capture Wind Scorpions, and ninja soon exhausted the nearby supply and ventured deep into the desert.

Simu met with Rasa to discuss Sunagakure’s interest in the Red Spider Lily Merchant Guild’s Military Ration Pills. He proposed a strategic partnership that would establish the guild in Sunagakure, with the contract left for Rasa to consider.

• Simu watched Sunagakure’s ninjas capture and transport Wind Scorpions while reflecting on his role in the Shinobi World.
• After nearly two months, Simu noted that Rasa had not yet widely promoted Kawanishi’s Scorpion Jade Secret Technique.
• ANBU ninja invited Simu to the Kazekage Building, where Rasa asked whether the guild supplied its Military Ration Pills to other villages.
• Simu told Rasa that the guild was considering exports to Konoha and other villages.
• Simu proposed a strategic partnership in which Sunagakure would host and protect the guild, share profits, provide research support, and receive priority access to its products.
• Simu handed Rasa the prepared contract.

Simu finalized a lucrative partnership between the Red Spider Lily Merchant Guild and Sand Village while Kawanishi was assigned to study a captured monster. Kawanishi recognized the creature as a former Jashin Cult teammate and tortured him, while Lord Jashin remained weakened by Hidan’s draining of his energy.

• After two days of negotiations, Simu and Sand Village established a partnership that gave the village priority access to the guild’s medicines and split its profits with them.
• The Red Spider Lily Merchant Guild prepared to send its first caravan to Konoha, guarded by Sand Village shinobi.
• Rasa transferred Kawanishi to Sand Village’s Biological Research Laboratory, where Baki showed him a powerful captured creature.
• Kawanishi recognized the monster as his former teammate and a Jashin Cult traitor, then declared that blasphemers deserved punishment.
• After Baki left, Kawanishi tortured the creature for half an hour, believing that sincere prayer would provide the research results.
• Lord Jashin lay drained and lamented that Hidan kept haunting him, while Simu watched Sand Village and decided to speed things up.

Gaara visited Simu’s shop for Military Ration Pills and asked why the villagers feared him. Simu told him that beasts could only be companions to other beasts, and Gaara left believing that others would always flee from him before his sand attacked a child.

• Gaara returned to the Red Spider Lily Shop, where Simu greeted him and gave him a Military Ration Pill.
• Gaara apologized for not paying, and Simu said he had already paid through the Tailed Beast Chakra Simu was collecting.
• Gaara asked Simu why nobody liked him, and Simu explained that people feared him because he was like a tiger among sheep.
• Gaara repeated Simu’s words about beasts as companions while leaving the shop.
• When children accused Gaara of stealing their soccer ball, they fled as he tried to return it, and his sand surged toward one child.

Gaara accidentally injured a child, and Yashamaru comforted him as he struggled to understand why others feared him. Meanwhile, Rasa sent Baki and two ANBU companies to rescue a reconnaissance squad and capture a creature that controlled Wind Scorpions.

• Gaara's sand nearly killed a child, but Yashamaru blocked it and suffered a deep wound to his hand.
• Yashamaru reassured the remorseful Gaara and took him home after bandaging his injury.
• Gaara reflected on the shop owner's words about beasts and sheep, while Temari and Kankuro watched him with concern.
• Baki reported that a reconnaissance squad had found an ancient ruin holding over a thousand Wind Scorpions and a creature that controlled them.
• Rasa ordered Baki to lead two ANBU companies to support the besieged squad and capture the creature unharmed.

Simu told Shukaku that his chance to escape the seal was near, and Shukaku began restoring his Chakra. Gaara returned a ball to a child before Rasa summoned Yashamaru to test whether Gaara was a stable weapon.

• Simu told Shukaku that drawing his Chakra had weakened Rasa's seal and that the time for Shukaku to escape was near.
• Shukaku decided to cultivate and restore his Chakra in preparation for a possible escape.
• Gaara returned the ball to the child he had nearly killed, then dismissed the people around him as sheep who could not fight back.
• Rasa summoned Yashamaru and said Gaara had to be tested as Sunagakure's weapon, which needed to have no emotions.

Gaara spoke with Temari and Kankuro about the village as a sheep pen, then fought an assassin who was revealed to be his uncle, Yashamaru. As Yashamaru died after claiming his affection for Gaara had been false, Gaara carved the character for “love” into his forehead and cracks appeared across his body.

• Temari and Kankuro joined Gaara on the roof, where he called the entire village a sheep pen.
• After his siblings left, an assassin attacked Gaara with kunai, and Gaara trapped and grievously wounded him with sand.
• Gaara recognized the attacker’s bandaged hand and uncovered the masked assassin’s face, discovering Yashamaru.
• Yashamaru told Gaara that his kindness had been an act and that he hated him for his sister’s death, then died from his wounds.
• Gaara wiped away his tears, carved the character for “love” into his forehead, and cracks appeared across his body.

Simu sabotaged Rasa’s attempt to suppress Shukaku and helped Gaara’s tailed beast fully manifest in Sunagakure. The chapter ended with Shukaku’s complete form descending on the village amid widespread explosions.

• Gaara’s growing malice triggered Shukaku’s transformation, and Rasa used Gold Dust to activate the seal and suppress it.
• Simu emerged from Gaara and weakened Rasa’s seal with foul blood while another Simu confronted Rasa.
• Simu introduced himself as Tobi, a spokesperson for Lord Jashin, and destroyed Rasa’s Gold Dust with an explosion.
• Shukaku fully manifested as Rasa rushed toward him, but explosive bugs detonated and explosions erupted across Sunagakure.
• Rasa protected himself with Gold Dust, but Shukaku’s complete form descended upon the village.

Gaara released Shukaku, which began devastating Sunagakure as Simu recorded its rampage and taunted Rasa. Rasa attacked Simu with Gold Dust, but Simu evaded him and took to the air as Rasa launched a massive wave after him.

• Gaara gave up on living, released Shukaku, and the Tailed Beast began smashing Sunagakure with its enormous tail.
• Simu recorded Shukaku's release and destruction as experimental data while Rasa watched the rampage.
• Simu rebuked Rasa for making Gaara suffer and warned that Shukaku would reduce Sunagakure to ruins.
• Rasa abandoned his plan to deal with Shukaku first and attacked Simu with spears of Gold Dust.
• Simu escaped underground, flew into the sky on crimson wings, and faced Rasa's Gold Dust Tidal Wave.