Recaps

Minato told Nara Dan that Kakashi would join his team with Obito and Rin, and Dan accepted the assignment while promising Kakashi he would try to bring him back later. Jiraiya warned the Third Hokage that Dan might become a threat to Konoha, but the Third trusted his ability to keep Dan under control.

• Minato found Kakashi standing close to Nara Dan and explained that Kakashi would be assigned to his team.
• Nara Dan asked about Minato's other students, learned they were Obito and Rin, and reassured Kakashi about the transfer.
• Jiraiya urged the Third Hokage to treat Nara Dan as a dangerous figure who would not submit to Konoha's leadership.
• The Third Hokage dismissed Jiraiya's alarm and declared that he could control the situation if Dan acted out of line.

The Third assigned Jiraiya and Minato to deter the Cloud Ninja while reserving the Sand Ninja front for Orochimaru and Nara Dan. He then appointed Dan and Tsunade to lead a new Taijutsu Research and Development Department, and Tsunade reconsidered after hearing its funding would match the Medical Department’s.

• The Third showed Jiraiya intelligence about Cloud Ninja attacks and assigned him and Minato to drive their forces back without a direct confrontation.
• Jiraiya tried to advocate for Orochimaru, but the Third said Orochimaru had his own assignment and that Nara Dan was better suited to the Sand Ninja front.
• The Third summoned Nara Dan and Tsunade and announced that they would lead a new Taijutsu Research and Development Department, with Dan as director and Tsunade as deputy director.
• Tsunade refused the deputy director position until the Third offered the department funding equal to the Medical Department’s, prompting her to fall silent.

The Third appointed Tsunade deputy director and Nara Dan head of Konoha’s new Taijutsu Development and Research Department, hoping to keep Dan close and draw Tsunade back into village affairs. As Dan sensed trouble from the Land of Wind, Chiyo rallied Sunagakure toward war against Konoha, while the injured Rasa feared Dan’s strength could destroy their village.

• Tsunade accepted the deputy director title after the Third promised she would have few duties and receive a department budget.
• Nara Dan accepted the department head position, and the Third instructed him to consult Tsunade rather than act alone.
• After leaving the Hokage Building, Tsunade questioned Dan’s motives, but he denied being involved in establishing the department.
• Nara Dan sensed something toward the Land of Wind as he headed home to train.
• Chiyo accused Konoha of Sunagakure’s losses and hardships, then urged the villagers and shinobi to fight to the death.
• Rasa recognized that Sunagakure’s anger could turn inward and feared Nara Dan’s power would be impossible to stop.

As war loomed between Sunagakure and Konoha, Chiyo summoned the imprisoned Jinchuriki Bunpuku to help the Sand Ninja face Nara Dan. Nara Dan welcomed the coming conflict while Ōnoki ordered Iwagakure’s army to move against the Cloud Ninja.

• Rasa recognized Sunagakure’s resource crisis as the underlying cause of the coming war, and Chiyo told him to recover because he was the village’s last hope.
• Chiyo visited Bunpuku, the long-imprisoned Jinchuriki, and asked him to help deal with one person; Bunpuku agreed to support Sunagakure.
• As the great nations felt war approaching, a Konoha Anbu summoned Nara Dan to the Hokage’s Jonin meeting.
• Nara Dan anticipated the Third Shinobi World War and believed Konoha’s victory was assured, while turning his attention toward the Otsutsuki and the Summoning Holy Land.
• Ōnoki dismissed Sunagakure’s weakness and ordered Iwagakure’s army to target the Cloud Ninja.

As the Third Great Ninja War began, the Third Hokage assigned Konoha’s forces to fronts against Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and Iwagakure. Nara Dan received command of the Land of Wind battlefield and noticed Orochimaru watching him at the Jonin meeting.

• The Third Raikage ordered Kumogakure’s troops to mobilize against Iwagakure while leaving Killer B and A near the Land of Fire border.
• The Third Mizukage learned that Nara Dan had defeated Pakura and sent the Seven Swordsmen toward the Land of Fire.
• The Third Hokage declared that war had begun and assigned Nara Dan to lead two thousand ninja on the Land of Wind front, with Tsunade as his second-in-command.
• The Third Hokage ordered Uchiha Fugaku to lead the Uchiha against Kirigakure and assigned Mimura Hamaki to watch the Land of Earth border.
• Nara Dan noticed that Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze were absent and exchanged interested looks with Orochimaru during the meeting.

As Konoha prepared for war, Nara Dan met Orochimaru, who recognized Dan’s pursuit of human evolution and proposed they work together. Dan declined for the moment and joined Tsunade and the troops assembling for the battlefield.

• After the Jonin Council meeting, Nara Dan walked through Konoha’s war-preparation bustle and encountered Orochimaru on a side road.
• Orochimaru studied Dan’s extraordinary body, judged him a fellow seeker of ways to surpass humanity, and asked to collaborate.
• Dan warned that surpassing humanity could mean losing its finest qualities, then told Orochimaru they might work together after the war and vanished with Body Flicker.
• Near Konoha, the troops mistook Dan’s sudden arrival for an enemy attack until Tsunade stopped them and identified him.
• Tsunade teased Dan about his growing reputation and urged him to lead Konoha’s shinobi to victory, and Dan accepted that responsibility.

Nara Dan led Konoha's forces toward the Sand Ninja while assessing the wider threats to the village and warning that Chiyo would target him. At camp, Uchiha Mikoto arrived to serve him tea, stirring jealousy in Hyuga Nana, before Ino Rinya spotted something that made him stop their patrol.

• Nara Dan ordered two thousand Konoha ninja to march, while Chiyo prepared six hundred Sand Ninja at the Land of Fire border and hoped her plan would succeed.
• As the army camped on its second day, Nara Dan and Nara Shikaku reviewed reports of Iwagakure, the Mist Ninja, and the Cloud Ninja mobilizing, and agreed Iwagakure posed a particular danger.
• Nara Dan warned that the Sand Ninja would likely target or restrain him, and Nara Shikaku cautioned him against arrogance.
• Uchiha Mikoto introduced herself as the woman Uchiha Fugaku had assigned to care for Nara Dan, and she began brewing tea in his tent.
• While patrolling, Hyuga Nana realized Mikoto was from the Uchiha and felt threatened by her closeness to Nara Dan.
• Ino Rinya spotted something in the distance and stopped the patrol.

Hyuga Nana spotted the Sand Ninja escorting Monk Bunpuku toward the camp, and Nara Dan realized they were preparing a Tailed Beast Bomb aimed at him. He redirected the bomb away from the Konoha army, but its blast and shockwave reached the camp as Tsunade ordered the shinobi to prepare defenses.

• Hyuga Nana and Ino Rinya warned Nara Dan and Tsunade that a Sand Ninja group was approaching with an enormous Chakra reaction.
• Nara Dan identified the threat as a Jinchuriki and realized it was too late to evacuate when he sensed a Tailed Beast Bomb forming.
• Nara Dan told Tsunade to gather Earth Style and Water Release users southeast of the camp, then flew toward the incoming bomb.
• Nara Dan used Sea Breaker to halt the Tailed Beast Bomb's charge briefly, then struck it aside and sent it toward a hill a kilometer southeast of the camp.
• Tsunade ordered the shinobi to release their Ninjutsu as the Tailed Beast Bomb detonated and its shockwave swept toward the camp.

Nara Dan deflected the One-Tail’s Tailed Beast Bomb and saved the gathered Konoha shinobi. He confronted Bunpuku, then faced Shukaku as the jinchuriki transformed.

• Nara Dan’s preparations and the Konoha shinobi’s combined Earth and Water techniques shielded the camp from the Tailed Beast Bomb’s blast.
• Tsunade and the Konoha shinobi realized they had survived, and they praised Nara Dan for deflecting the bomb.
• Nara Dan confronted Bunpuku, who apologized and offered to surrender, but Nara Dan punched him for firing at the shinobi.
• Bunpuku yielded control to Shukaku, and Shukaku dismissed the claim that Nara Dan was close to the God of Shinobi.
• Bunpuku used the Feigned Sleep Technique, allowing Shukaku to emerge in his monstrous form.

Nara Dan fought Shukaku after the One-Tail emerged, discovering that its sand body could recover from ordinary attacks by drawing on its vast Chakra. He finally severed the Chakra connections sustaining Shukaku’s form, leaving the Tailed Beast wounded and afraid.

• Shukaku emerged and attacked Nara Dan with Wind Release, but Nara Dan struck it hard enough to nearly break its body.
• Shukaku used sand-based attacks and feints, while Nara Dan evaded them and pulverized Shukaku’s body more than once.
• Nara Dan realized that Shukaku’s sand form was sustained by its Chakra and that simply shattering it could not defeat the Tailed Beast.
• Shukaku unleashed massive sandstorms and a vast sand wave, but Nara Dan crossed the sand sea and cut off one of its arms with God Severing.
• Shukaku recognized that Nara Dan had severed the Chakra connections in its body and became apprehensive.

Nara Dan used his Heavenly God State to overpower Shukaku, who detonated a Tailed Beast Bomb at close range. Tsunade pushed through the resulting blast and reached the battlefield, where the chapter left her facing the smoke-covered aftermath.

• Nara Dan struck Shukaku's true body with Divine Intent, forcing Shukaku to hide underground and attack with powerful wind techniques.
• Nara Dan entered his Perfect State, also called the Heavenly God State, and used a barrage of punches to tear through the sand and break Shukaku's shield.
• Shukaku formed a Tailed Beast Bomb in its mouth, and Nara Dan tried to strike it away before his instincts warned him of the danger.
• Shukaku detonated the Tailed Beast Bomb, sending a blinding blast and shock wave across the battlefield and toward the shinobi army.
• Tsunade ordered Hyuga Nana and Ino Rinya to watch the Sand Ninja forces, then used Body Flicker to reach the battlefield through the smoke.

Nara Dan and Shukaku survived a devastating close-range Tailed Beast Bomb and prepared to resume their fight. An aged voice called out, causing Shukaku to stop and recognize Bunpuku.

• Shukaku's point-blank Tailed Beast Bomb turned the battlefield into a scorching basin and badly injured Nara Dan, while Tsunade narrowly avoided collapsing from her Hemophobia.
• Nara Dan praised Shukaku's combat instincts and used stored energy to regrow some muscle, though he remained far from fully healed.
• Shukaku gathered another Tailed Beast Bomb, and Nara Dan declared that he would not fall for the same trick twice.
• Bunpuku's aged voice rang across the basin, and Shukaku let its Tailed Beast Bomb dissipate.

Nara Dan fought Shukaku until Fukumi ended the battle to protect others, then Fukumi died after warning Nara Dan about Elder Chiyo. Shukaku lost his will to fight and asked Nara Dan for his name, while Nara Dan reflected on his own fragile life and resolve to become a Long-lived Species.

• Fukumi rose from underground in Shukaku's sand and asked Nara Dan to stop fighting, explaining that his aging body could no longer withstand the Tailed Beast Chakra.
• Fukumi offered to take his own life to atone and pleaded with Nara Dan to prevent more innocent people from being hurt, but Nara Dan said neither of them could decide when war ended.
• Fukumi accepted that Nara Dan would not intervene in the world's fate, then warned him that Elder Chiyo would not let him go easily because he was badly injured.
• Fukumi told Shukaku not to let the Sand Ninja capture him again, then died, and Shukaku buried his body in sand.
• Nara Dan watched Fukumi's death and became more determined to pursue becoming a Long-lived Species, while Shukaku praised him and asked to know his name.

After Shukaku vanished, Dan studied the Tailed Beast’s undying Spiritual Light and considered how it enabled rebirth. Inspired by the discovery, he combined his body’s colorless force with Chakra, creating a new power as his Taijutsu Expert Entry began to change.

• Shukaku challenged Dan to survive until its rebirth, and Dan accepted while observing Shukaku’s disappearance.
• Dan sensed Shukaku’s Spiritual Light endure after its body, Chakra, and consciousness vanished, and theorized that the light allowed Tailed Beasts to absorb Natural Energy and be reborn.
• Dan connected the Spiritual Light to the Sage of Six Paths’ mastery of Yin-Yang Release and reflected on how bloodline advantages limited ordinary Ninja’s access to that path.
• Dan considered whether other energies within the human body could also reach an ultimate transformation, and his Taijutsu Expert Entry showed signs of deepening.
• Dan merged his colorless bodily force with blue Chakra, forming a new power as the words of his Entry began to change.

Nara Dan broke through to Void-Born Gang after understanding the nature of energy, gaining powerful new abilities and restoring his injuries. He told Tsunade that the One-Tail had vanished after its Jinchuriki chose to die, then eyed her with unsettling hunger.

• Nara Dan tested his new Gang Qi by cutting a boulder in half from a thousand meters away and recognized its strength and versatility.
• Nara Dan realized his old understanding of energy had held him back, advanced along the Taijutsu Expert path, and gained Flesh from Bone.
• Nara Dan saw that his Blood Energy Pillar, Copper Head Iron Bone, and Metal-Devouring Entries had merged into Taijutsu Expert, while his exhaustion and hunger remained.
• Tsunade asked about the battle, and Nara Dan said the One-Tail had disappeared because its Jinchuriki chose to die.
• Nara Dan reassured Tsunade that he was fine, then looked at her with a strange, hungry intensity that made her feel threatened.

Nara Dan discovered that assimilating the Metal-Devouring Entry had awakened an instinctive hunger for powerful genes, then learned Chiyo was advancing on his position with six hundred Sand Ninja. Chiyo believed Nara Dan was secretly weakened after defeating Shukaku and resolved to press the attack, though she began to question how much Sunagakure had sacrificed to fight him.

• Nara Dan realized his urge toward Tsunade was a hunger for the Otsutsuki genes in her body, suppressed the instinct, and used Gang Qi to help her recover.
• Hyuga Nana and Ino Rinya reported that Chiyo was approaching with six hundred Sand Ninja, and Nara Dan said they had come for him.
• Nara Dan spotted and destroyed a Sand Eye surveillance object, while a Sand sensory ninja reported that Shukaku's chakra signature had vanished and Nara Dan appeared uninjured.
• Chiyo heard that Tsunade was beside Nara Dan and assumed Tsunade had used Creation Rebirth to heal him, leaving both of them weakened.
• Chiyo convinced herself that attacking offered Sunagakure a chance for revenge or victory, then wondered whether her village had sacrificed so much because of one Nara Dan.

Chiyo prepared the Sand Ninja to face Nara Dan, hoping to exploit his pride and force him into a trap. After Tsunade warned him about his depleted Chakra, Nara Dan swallowed their Military Ration Pills, recovered seventy percent of his strength, and headed toward Chiyo, intrigued by the danger she posed.

• Chiyo ordered the Sand Ninja to prepare for battle and resolved to make sure Nara Dan did not survive the confrontation.
• Nara Dan recognized Chiyo's preparations as an attempt to provoke him, but chose to face the Sand Ninja because he wanted to test his upgraded power.
• Tsunade urged Nara Dan to retreat and offered to transfer her Chakra, but he refused because it would interfere with his Gang Qi.
• Nara Dan asked Hyuga Nana, Ino Rinya, and Tsunade for Military Ration Pills, then swallowed all of them despite Tsunade's warning about their potency.
• Nara Dan recovered seventy percent of his strength, sensed an unknown threat in Chiyo's preparations, and vanished toward her position.

Nara Dan confronted Chiyo, who trapped him and hundreds of Sand Ninja inside a powerful barrier before summoning the Sand Ninja’s colossal flying puppet, the Feathered Serpent God. The puppet rose into the air with Nara Dan still facing it.

• Nara Dan met Chiyo face-to-face and rejected her accusations that he had started the war or caused the Third Kazekage’s disappearance.
• Chiyo ordered the Sand Ninja to raise a powerful barrier around herself, Nara Dan, and the gathered puppeteers.
• Dozens of Sand Ninja used the Summoning Technique to bring forth the Feathered Serpent God, a gigantic puppet created by the Second Kazekage.
• Hundreds of puppeteers connected Chakra Threads to the puppet and made it rise nearly a hundred meters into the air.

Nara Dan fought the enormous Feathered Serpent God puppet, overcoming its aerial advantage and threatening the Sand Ninja puppet masters. Chiyo used Snake Treasure Absorption Collapse to draw him toward the puppet’s head, then prepared a secret technique called Snake Fall.

• Tsunade and the others spotted the Feathered Serpent God, and Hyuga Nana warned that its ability to fly made it a serious threat.
• Nara Dan leaped into the air and struck the Feathered Serpent God, disrupting it before realizing that over a hundred puppet masters kept it hovering and that the puppet could barely maneuver.
• Nara Dan used Wind-Riding Void Step to reach the puppet masters and battered their protective barrier with a rapid barrage of punches.
• Chiyo controlled the Feathered Serpent God’s tail to attack Nara Dan, but he dodged and returned above the puppet masters.
• Chiyo unleashed Snake Treasure Absorption Collapse, using the puppet’s suction to pull Nara Dan toward its head.
• As Nara Dan was drawn toward Chiyo, she announced the Feathered Serpent God’s Puppet Secret Technique: Snake Fall.

Nara Dan countered the Feathered Serpent God's explosive feathers with Gang Qi, then survived their massive blast behind an automatically forming barrier. After the Sand Ninja's ultimate weapon was destroyed, Chiyo learned that Nara Dan had grown stronger since fighting Shukaku.

• The Feathered Serpent God's wings shed tens of thousands of explosive feathers, which Snake Treasure Absorption Collapse swept toward Nara Dan.
• Nara Dan used an enormous Gang Qi hand to gather the feathers into a ball and detonated them at a safe distance.
• The blast melted the Feathered Serpent God and devastated its puppet masters, while Nara Dan's Diamond Indestructible Body automatically protected him.
• Nara Dan examined the ruined puppet, noted its enormous cost, and approached the soot-covered Chiyo.
• Chiyo asked whether Nara Dan had been injured fighting Shukaku, and he admitted he had healed afterward.
• Nara Dan told Chiyo that he had been weaker when he fought Shukaku and had since grown stronger.

Nara Dan used the Third Kazekage’s Human Puppet and Sasori’s likely capture to force Chiyo to reconsider her willingness to die. He revealed that he wanted Sunagakure kept stable and indirectly controlled, leaving Chiyo to understand that he intended to use her as a proxy.

• Nara Dan told Chiyo that dying was easy but living with her burdens was harder, then brought out a Human Puppet made from the Third Kazekage.
• Chiyo realized that Sasori had likely killed the Third Kazekage and that Nara Dan had both the puppet and possibly Sasori in his custody.
• Chiyo recognized that Nara Dan could expose her role in starting the war, ruining her reputation and her family’s standing in Sunagakure.
• Nara Dan explained that he wanted a stable, controllable Ninja World that could provide benefits, not to rule Sunagakure or pursue peace or domination.
• Chiyo concluded that Nara Dan wanted someone with influence to help control Sunagakure indirectly and called his thinking demonic.

Nara Dan defeated the Sand Ninja and secured Chiyo’s submission, then ordered Konoha to help with the aftermath and prepare a surrender treaty. He still sensed an unseen threat nearby, leaving the war unresolved.

• Chiyo asked about Sasori, and Nara Dan assured her that he was safe and well in Konoha.
• Chiyo accepted Nara Dan’s authority and told the defeated Sand Ninja to bear the consequences as they began tending to the wounded and clearing the battlefield.
• Nara Dan sensed that the danger was not over and speculated that Black Zetsu or Madara Uchiha might be waiting nearby.
• Tsunade and the others arrived, and Nara Dan ordered them to aid the Sand Ninja, collect the giant puppet, report to Konoha, and prepare a surrender treaty.

The Third and Danzo received reports of Nara Dan’s victories on the Land of Wind front and feared his growing power and influence. The Third rejected Danzo’s proposal to seize Dan’s abilities, then ordered Dan recalled to Konoha over alleged errors in a mission report while placing the Nara Clan grounds under surveillance.

• Nara Dan sensed an immense danger on the Sand Ninja battlefield, while a hidden figure watched him underground.
• The Third learned that Nara Dan had fought Shukaku, defeated the Sand Ninja’s airborne puppet, and captured Chiyo and hundreds of puppeteers.
• The Third worried that Dan’s battlefield feats would make him powerful enough to reshape Konoha, and Danzo urged him to bring Dan’s power under their control.
• The Third refused Danzo’s proposal, insisting that Konoha could not use such methods against one of its own ninja unless Dan defected.
• The Third ordered Yakushi Nonō taken into custody and recalled Nara Dan to Konoha to review his mission report and relinquish command to Tsunade.
• The Third sent elite Anbu to surveil the Nara Clan grounds and wondered how Dan would respond to the recall.

The Nara Clan Head prepared for Konoha’s suspicion after Nara Dan’s victory, while Uchiha Fugaku struggled against the Mist Ninja’s overwhelming assault. Konoha shinobi reached the devastated battlefield in the Land of Wind and saw the scale of Dan’s fight against the One-Tail and a giant puppet.

• The Nara Clan Head warned that Dan’s victory left the Nara Clan in danger, ordered its members to remain on the clan grounds, and prepared secret contact with Dan and battle readiness for clansmen outside the village.
• Minato Namikaze held his own against the Cloud Ninja’s AB Duo, while the Uchiha suffered heavy losses in the Land of Water because of the mist, Silent Killing Technique, and Water Release.
• Uchiha Fugaku learned that the Seven Mist Swordsmen had attacked the Uchiha flank and ordered the Third’s five hundred reinforcements to fight them, then secretly sent a request for help in another direction and placed the Uchiha’s survival in Mikoto’s hands.
• Konoha shinobi traveling through the Land of Wind found a vast basin, flattened terrain, smoke, and pools of lava-like fluid left by Nara Dan’s battle with the One-Tail and a giant puppet.
• A veteran Konoha shinobi compared Dan’s power with the Third’s past feats and recalled how the Third had earned the titles Professor and Shinobi Hero.

Konoha Ninja gathered around Nara Dan after his victory, while Tsunade reflected on his growing prestige and resolve. Hidden underground, Ōnoki and Kitsuchi realized how frighteningly powerful Nara Dan was and questioned whether to continue their plan to eliminate him.

• Konoha Ninja arrived at the wasteland and respectfully called out to Nara Dan as they gathered around him.
• Tsunade considered Nara Dan's strength, his growing reputation, and whether he had chosen his own path when he refused her offer to become his apprentice.
• Nara Dan silenced the gathered Ninja and challenged his hidden observers, whose minds wavered under the force of his will.
• Kitsuchi revealed himself as Ōnoki's son, and Ōnoki explained that Nara Dan's words had not been Genjutsu but sheer force of will.
• Ōnoki recalled coming to the battlefield to eliminate Nara Dan before Konoha gained a second Hashirama Senju, but admitted that Nara Dan had exceeded his expectations.
• Kitsuchi asked Ōnoki whether they should still carry out their plan.