Chapter Summaries

Four young women flew toward the island with chakra or crystalline wings, drawing amazement from the shinobi aboard the ships. Araki defended their flight before the assembled jonin, while Natsuhiboshi’s Chakra Wings attracted particular interest from smaller villages seeking to study Hoshigakure’s Mysterious Peacock Method.

• The genin below mocked Deidara’s clay bird beside the four beautiful flyers, but Katsuchi and Da Yan reassured him that he could carry passengers, and Deidara proudly defended his art.
• Iwagakure’s Katsuchi and Da Yan recognized that flight might no longer be their village’s exclusive advantage.
• Hikō pointed to Hua Bing and Guren’s Ice Release and Crystal Release wings and suggested Mist Village had developed flight techniques, but Araki challenged him and declared that flying was not so inconvenient.
• Sasori took inspiration from Araki’s words and imagined designing flying puppets or mechanical wings for himself.
• Hikō redirected attention to Natsuhiboshi’s Mysterious Peacock Method, whose chakra wings impressed the watching jonin and drew interest from Kusagakure and Takigakure.
• A Kusagakure jonin decided to send word home so his village could investigate Hoshigakure’s Mysterious Peacock Method.

As the genin raced across Turtle Island for tokens, the chapter followed Hoshigakure’s desperate bid to gain recognition, the Mist Village’s hunting operation, and Yahiko and Nagato’s hunt for lunch. Yahiko and Nagato encountered a giant gorilla that dropped toward them.

• More than two hundred genin rushed onto Turtle Island, while Natsuhiboshi flew ahead and Hotarubi stayed with Akahoshi.
• The Third Hoshikage sent Hoshigakure to the Exams to attract attention, despite the Mysterious Peacock Method’s lethal risks and Akahoshi’s lack of skill.
• Zabuza and Mei Terumi sent their teams to track other genin as the Mist Village’s hunting operation began.
• Yahiko and Nagato searched for a wild beast so they could prepare lunch while Konan pursued a token.
• Yahiko and Nagato followed signs through the island’s lush vegetation until a giant gorilla roared and slammed down toward them.

Yahiko and Nagato defeated a giant gorilla on Turtle Island and prepared it as food before heading to help Konan. At the Green-Eyed Golden Eagle nest, Konan discovered Iwagakure ninjas arriving on a giant bird and dropping bombs.

• A giant gorilla attacked Yahiko and Nagato, but they fought back with water and lightning ninjutsu.
• Yahiko and Nagato subdued the gorilla, coated it in mud, buried it, and lit a fire to cook it.
• Konan found the Green-Eyed Golden Eagle nest but was blown away by the enormous birds and chose to seek another approach.
• Konan recognized a team of Iwagakure ninjas approaching on a white giant bird.
• The Iwagakure team scattered bird-shaped bombs over the nest as Konan watched.

Konan intercepted Deidara, Katsuchi, and Da Yan to keep them from reaching the token, but Deidara’s explosive clay and Katsuchi’s cement defense overwhelmed her. Deidara detonated two powerful clay hawks around Konan, leaving her engulfed in flames and smoke.

• Deidara’s clay birds attacked the Green-Eyed Golden Eagles, scattering the eagles and clearing the way toward the token.
• Konan revealed herself and used the Dance of the Shikigami to attack Deidara’s group with a barrage of paper weapons.
• Deidara’s explosive birds destroyed Konan’s weapons, while she hoped her chakra would outlast his supply of clay.
• Katsuchi stopped Deidara from using more clay and raised a cement wall with Lava Release to defend the giant bird.
• Deidara created two powerful clay hawks and detonated them near Konan after her paper attacks failed to break the wall.
• Konan shielded herself with her paper wings as the explosions engulfed her in smoke and flames.

On Turtle Island, genin faced giant beasts guarding the clearance tokens, and Guren defeated a Giant Brown Bear with her Crystal Release after her first attack barely hurt it. Meanwhile, Konan and Deidara remained locked in a stalemate above the Green-Eyed Golden Eagle's nest, beyond the cameras' view.

• Teams of genin used tactics to evade the giant beasts guarding their tokens, while Araki watched the broadcast aboard the ship.
• Guren was swatted away by a Giant Brown Bear, then used Crystal Shuriken to shear off its fur without seriously harming it.
• Guren made the bear slip on a crystal road, impaled it with a Cliff-Severing Sword, and trapped and shattered it inside crystal.
• Araki concluded the giant beasts were no match for Kirigakure's elite six-man group and stopped watching the broadcast.
• Konan re-formed from scattered paper after Deidara's explosions, while Deidara and Konan remained unable to overcome each other's defenses.

Konan stalled Deidara and the other Iwagakure shinobi until Yahiko and Nagato arrived, but Katsuchi attacked them and tried to trap them. Nagato defeated Da Yan with Shinra Tensei, leaving Iwagakure's jonin Hikō under pressure as the match was broadcast live.

• Katsuchi guessed Konan was waiting for her teammates and planned to capture them when they arrived.
• Yahiko and Nagato reached Konan, but Katsuchi used Lime Rain to cut off their reunion and leapt down with Da Yan to attack them.
• Katsuchi spread cement across the ground while Yahiko tried to counter it with Water Release, trapping Yahiko and Nagato in place.
• Da Yan struck at Nagato with Rock Fist, but Nagato repelled him with Shinra Tensei and sent him crashing through trees.
• Hikō watched the fight broadcast and grew angry as the other jonin discussed Nagato's strange technique.
• Araki's presence stopped Hikō from demanding that Amegakure's jonin intervene, so Hikō offered an Iwagakure reward to anyone who could identify Nagato's ninjutsu.

During the Chunin Exam, the watching jonin debated Nagato’s strange, hand-seal-free techniques and suspected he belonged to Konoha’s Hyuga Clan or Kirigakure’s Dark Release users. Nagato pulled Katsuchi toward him with an unknown power, while Araki considered the danger of taking Nagato and attracting Uchiha Madara’s attention.

• Suien and the other jonin speculated about Nagato’s hand-seal-free attack until Mui suggested it was the Hyuga Clan’s Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.
• Hikō accused Amegakure’s team of concealing a Konoha Hyuga, but Dodai rejected the claim for lack of proof and ordered everyone to keep watching.
• Katsuchi trapped Yahiko and Nagato in lime slurry, but Nagato used Banshō Ten'in to pull Katsuchi through the air toward him.
• The watching jonin struggled to explain Nagato’s powers, and Hikō concluded that Nagato was a Kirigakure ninja using Dark Release.
• Araki considered claiming Nagato for Kirigakure, then worried that taking him would draw Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu to the village.

Nagato used the Rinnegan to defeat Deidara and reveal his eyes to the assembled shinobi. Yahiko explained that Hanzo planned to use Nagato’s capture and the major nations’ rivalries to keep the Land of Rain out of the war.

• Araki stayed silent about Nagato’s supposed Dark Release while he weighed the suspicious circumstances of the Amegakure trio’s arrival.
• Mui stopped a Kusagakure jonin from provoking Araki and explained that Araki had defeated an Iwagakure jonin badly enough to send him to the hospital.
• Nagato used Banshō Ten'in to pull Deidara from the sky, absorbed the chakra he needed to detonate his clay, and let Konan bind him.
• Yahiko urged Nagato to reveal the Rinnegan, saying Hanzo intended to use the gathered nations and their mutual restraints to protect the Land of Rain.
• Nagato lifted his red bangs and exposed his ringed violet eyes to the watching shinobi.

Nagato revealed the Rinnegan during the broadcast, prompting Hikō to rally the visiting jonin against Kumogakure and prevent it from reaching him. As the standoff continued, Dodai sought Araki’s help, while Araki and Hikō worked together to delay Kumogakure’s contact with Nagato.

• Nagato revealed his ring-patterned eyes, and Dodai, Hikō, Araki, and Sasori recognized them as the Rinnegan.
• The broadcast cut out, and Dodai proposed sending Kumogakure ninja to inspect the signal, but Hikō accused him of trying to seize Nagato’s eyes.
• Hikō warned the smaller villages that Kumogakure might silence them, then persuaded the assembled jonin to remain together and watch Turtle Island.
• Dodai abandoned plans to inspect the island or return to Kumogakure, and he silently looked to Araki to deal with Hikō.
• Araki and Hikō maintained their standoff while delaying Kumogakure’s contact with Nagato, and Dodai’s expression improved as Hikō grew more worried.

Araki tried to keep Kumogakure from seizing Nagato’s Rinnegan while waiting for Uchiha Madara’s intervention. As tensions held on the ship, Madara learned that Nagato had exposed the eyes and sent White Zetsu and Obito to protect him.

• Hikō followed Araki’s plan to help prevent Kumogakure from taking the Rinnegan, while Araki reasoned that Hanzo had encouraged Nagato to reveal it and that Madara would intervene if Nagato was threatened.
• Araki, Sasori, and Pakura stood between Dodai’s Kumogakure ninja and Hikō’s group of jonin as the two sides watched each other warily aboard the ship.
• White Zetsu informed Uchiha Madara that Nagato’s Rinnegan had been discovered after Nagato lifted his hair during the Chunin Exams.
• Uchiha Madara concluded that Hanzo had likely told Nagato to reveal the eyes and ordered White Zetsu and Obito to go to the Land of Lightning and protect him.

Guren, Zabuza Momochi, and Kaguya Black Bone tracked down three Takigakure genin after they witnessed Black Bone’s deadly bone technique. Black Bone killed Liuxi and Shibu, leaving Kawajiro’s fate unresolved.

• Shibu, Liuxi, and Kawajiro fled after seeing Black Bone’s bone spikes impale a pack of giant wolves.
• Guren caught the Takigakure team between herself and Zabuza Momochi and Black Bone.
• Shibu blocked Guren’s crystal shuriken with a Water Formation Wall, but Black Bone attacked him with a bone blade and Five-Finger Piercing Bullets.
• Liuxi took Black Bone’s bone bullets in the back while protecting Shibu and died in his arms.
• Black Bone attacked Shibu from behind with Shikotsumyaku: King of Execution, piercing him with branching bone spikes.

Zabuza's team secured the Water Scroll and prepared to head for the Waterfall of Truth, while Mei Terumi's squad fought Hoshigakure's remaining fighters. Hua Bing used the water her teammates created to unleash a powerful Ice Release attack, leaving Natsuhiboshi and Hotarubi defeated and wondering if she had reached the highest realm of Ice Release.

• Kaguya Black Bone defeated Shibu, and Zabuza killed Takigakure's last genin before finding the Water Scroll on Liuxi and announcing that his team would head for the Waterfall of Truth.
• Hotarubi attacked Mei Terumi's squad with a chakra dragon, while Natsuhiboshi sent chakra whips at them and Ringo Ameyuri and Mei Terumi countered the assaults.
• Mei Terumi and Ringo Ameyuri created a large pool of water so Hua Bing could use Ice Release to freeze the battlefield.
• Hua Bing summoned an Ice Dragon from the ice and rode it into the sky, evading the attacks of Natsuhiboshi and Hotarubi.
• Hua Bing sent the Ice Dragon crashing through the pair's layered chakra shields, wounding them with ice shards and smashing them onto the ice.
• Hua Bing wondered whether her attack had reached the legendary highest realm of Ice Release, Frost Heaven.

The Third Raikage arrived at Turtle Island after learning that Nagato had revealed his Rinnegan, and chose to wait rather than disrupt the Chunin Exams. The second exam ended with all eighteen teams passing, and Killer B invited the genin to discover their true selves at the Waterfall of Truth.

• The Third Raikage arrived, heard Dodai explain the situation with Nagato, and decided to wait for Nagato to come out.
• Hikō withdrew into the crowd after the Third Raikage arrived, while Araki pretended not to notice his accusing looks.
• Killer B collected the teams' scrolls with Hachibi's chakra tentacles and announced that all fifty-two genin had passed the second exam.
• Killer B explained that the Waterfall of Truth reflected each person's hidden self, and a silver-haired Yugakure boy said he wanted to try it.

Killer B returned with more than fifty candidates who had passed the Waterfall of Truth, and the Third Raikage immediately tried to recruit Nagato as his right-hand man. Nagato refused to leave Amegakure, so the Raikage ordered him to remain in Kumogakure until Hanzo came to collect him and began gathering lightning around himself.

• Killer B brought more than fifty successful candidates back to the landing site, where the Third Raikage confronted Nagato.
• The Third Raikage offered Nagato a place in Kumogakure as his right-hand man, but Nagato refused because he was a ninja of Amegakure.
• The Third Raikage pointed out Nagato's red hair and suggested he was descended from the Uzumaki Clan, but Nagato did not know his own background and remained unmoved.
• The Third Raikage praised Nagato's lack of concern about surnames and declared that he belonged in Kumogakure, but Nagato again refused to leave Amegakure.
• The Third Raikage ordered Nagato to stay in Kumogakure until Hanzo came to collect him, then began to gather lightning around his body.

Nagato agreed to stay in Kumogakure after the Third Raikage tested him, and the Raikage and Dodai considered Hanzo’s proposal to support the Land of Rain. Before they could decide, Obito and White Zetsu attacked with Wood Release, revealing that Konoha’s people had arrived.

• The Third Raikage attacked Nagato with Lightning Release Chakra Mode, but Nagato countered with Shinra Tensei and then agreed to remain in Kumogakure temporarily.
• Nagato gave the Raikage Hanzo’s scroll, which outlined a betting agreement using Nagato as a wager on whether the Land of Rain could become the sixth great nation.
• The Third Raikage asked Dodai to review the terms, and they decided to return to the village and give Nagato an answer before the Chunin Exams ended.
• Obito and White Zetsu emerged from underground with Wood Release, raising a thorny wall between Nagato and the Raikage.
• The Third Raikage recognized the Wood Release as a sign that Konoha’s people had arrived, while Araki prepared to act beside Dodai.

Konoha's Wood Release user Obito attacked the gathering on Turtle Island, revealing a giant Buddha and unleashing a devastating five-element barrage. After the blast, Araki challenged the Third Raikage to charge Obito together, leaving their counterattack about to begin.

• Dodai recognized the wooden barrier as Konoha's Wood Release, and the Third Raikage's forces formed up to defend him.
• Araki protected Nagato's group and used Samehada to drain Obito's Diamond Wood attack, while provoking him by mocking Konoha's strength.
• Obito summoned a gigantic Wood Release Buddha and fired five elemental techniques from its masks, creating a huge explosion that devastated the surrounding area and threatened Kumogakure's personnel.
• Araki told the Third Raikage that Obito's barrage was ineffective at close range and challenged him to race to take Obito down.

Araki and the Third Raikage fought their way toward Obito’s giant wooden Buddha, dodging and breaking through its barrage of arms. Araki shattered Obito’s wooden encirclement with his Azure Dragon sword wave and reached the Buddha’s main body, where its five elemental masks began to open their mouths.

• The Third Raikage attacked with Four-Finger Nukite as Araki used Mind’s Eye: Self-Knowledge and Hoho to evade the wooden Buddha’s blows.
• Obito unleashed Wood Release: Thousand-Hand Murder, battering the battlefield with the Buddha’s countless fists.
• The Third Raikage drove through the attacks and advanced with Three-Finger Nukite, while Araki ran along the Buddha’s wooden arms and cut through those that surrounded him.
• The Third Raikage escalated to Two-Finger Nukite as Obito concentrated more attacks on Araki.
• Araki used Slash Wave: Azure Dragon to break through Obito’s wooden-arm encirclement, then drained chakra from the wooden paths with Samehada as he charged ahead.
• Araki reached the wooden Buddha’s main body, and its five elemental masks turned toward him and opened their mouths.

Araki countered Obito’s five-element barrage by absorbing its attacks with Samehada and using Shadow Clones to conceal his real position. He gathered the returning chakra from the clones and struck at the wooden Buddha’s head with an enormous, lightning-charged Samehada.

• Obito fired five elemental attacks from the masks atop his wooden Buddha, and Araki sent five apparent copies to meet them.
• Araki’s Shadow Clones absorbed the fire, water, wind, lightning, and earth techniques with Samehada’s Fivefold Devouring Slash.
• Obito fired a second barrage at the five figures, which revealed themselves as Shadow Clones by detonating and returning their chakra to Araki.
• Araki’s overflowing chakra exposed his position near the Buddha’s head, and he enlarged Samehada and swung it down at the wooden structure.

Araki defeated White Zetsu Obito’s Wood Golem and warned the Third Raikage that Konoha had used a method to trigger Tailed Beast rampages. The Third Raikage ordered Kumogakure’s forces to advance toward the Land of Fire’s border, escalating tensions between the villages.

• Araki cut Obito and the wooden Buddha in half, and the Third Raikage destroyed the Golem with One-Finger Nukite.
• White Zetsu helped Obito attach his head to a new body, while the two joked about Nagato watching them.
• Nagato warned Araki and the Third Raikage that the strange attacker might not be dead, and Araki said the man had not seemed human.
• Araki told the Third Raikage that Konoha had released the Six-Tails in Kirigakure by drugging its Jinchuriki and inducing a genjutsu.
• The Third Raikage connected the method to Blue B’s past rampage and ordered Dodai to move Kumogakure’s troops toward the Land of Fire border.

After Araki secured Kumogakure’s resolve to oppose Konoha, he sounded out Iwagakure’s position and learned its forces were mobilizing. Meanwhile, the Joint Chunin Exams continued with a new team arena format, while Obito and White Zetsu decided to report back after seeing Nagato was safe.

• Araki invited Hikō to discuss Iwagakure’s stance, and Hikō said the village had begun mobilizing for war and could enter the battlefield at any time.
• Killer B told Araki that he would join the Third Raikage as a front-line commander, and the two agreed to compete over defeating Konoha ninja.
• Dodai announced that the Joint Chunin Exams’ next stage would be team arena battles, with a revival challenge available to each defeated team.
• Obito and White Zetsu watched Nagato from underground, concluded Kumogakure posed no immediate threat to him, and decided to return and consult Lord Madara.