Recaps

Araki arrived at Kumogakure’s Joint Chunin Exams opening ceremony and confronted two Iwagakure jonin after Mahiru mocked him. He killed Mahiru with a new lightning technique and launched the attack at Hikō, then prepared to teleport as the Lightning Pellet passed him.

• Araki lost to Sasaki Kojiro’s Swallow Reversal in the Consciousness Space, though he dodged its first strike.
• Two days later, Araki’s group arrived at the Cloud-Lightning Tower for the Joint Chunin Exams opening ceremony, and Araki noticed the tower’s unusual response to lightning.
• Mahiru taunted Araki, and Hikō tried to stop Araki from reaching him, but Araki used Wind Instant Body Technique to slip past Hikō.
• Araki fired a Lightning Pellet through Mahiru’s Earth Release: Hardening Technique, killing him and sending the projectile toward Hikō.
• Hikō dodged the Lightning Pellet, and Araki activated Stellar Restoration as it passed him.

Araki defeated Iwagakure jonin Hikō and Mahiru, then let Dodai believe his teleportation technique was the Flying Thunder God Technique. He left Dodai convinced that Kumogakure could pursue the technique, while planning to use the misunderstanding to his advantage.

• Araki teleported behind Hikō with [Stellar Restoration] and paralyzed him with a lightning strike while Mahiru lay unconscious.
• Dodai and the Kumogakure ninja mistook Araki’s teleportation for the Second Hokage’s Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Araki told the medical ninja that Hikō was merely shocked numb and Mahiru had only suffered a flesh wound, then went to meet Dodai.
• Dodai asked Araki whether he had used the Flying Thunder God Technique, and Araki denied it while calling the move Kirigakure’s “Flying Water God Technique.”
• Araki decided to exploit Kumogakure’s mistaken belief, reasoning that the Flying Thunder God Technique would be difficult for them to learn even if they sought it.

At the Joint Chunin Exams, the Third Raikage learned that Araki had defeated Iwagakure's jonin, while Dodai explained the first round's rules. At sea, Kisame and Mist Village's forces launched a massive water technique at Konoha's fleet.

• The Third Raikage arrived at the Cloud-Lightning Tower and learned that Araki had injured Hikō and Mahiru from Iwagakure.
• Dodai explained the chunin qualities being tested and announced a first round in which examinees searched the tower for answers, with a score of fifty needed to advance.
• Jiraiya monitored Mist Village's approaching force as Tokuma Hyuga reported that eight powerful chakra signatures were closing in on Konoha's flagship.
• Tokuma warned that enormous chakra was gathering around Konoha's fleet, while Kisame and the Mist Village ninjas formed hand seals.
• Kisame and the Mist Village forces slammed their hands onto the sea and unleashed the Super Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.

Kisame Hoshigaki unleashed a colossal wave against Konoha’s warship, and Jiraiya stayed behind as the injured and other ninja evacuated. As the Akimichi Clan sacrificed themselves to weaken the tide, Jiraiya resolved to enter the Sage Realm.

• Kisame Hoshigaki summoned a towering sea surge that battered Konoha’s warship, and Oyashiro En calmly watched an injured ninja fall overboard.
• Jiraiya summoned a group of toads and ordered the ninja to evacuate before staying behind to erect five Earth Style Walls against the wave.
• Akimichi Todome and five other Akimichi jonin returned to help Jiraiya, swallowed secret pills, and charged the wave with the Human Bullet Tank technique.
• Akimichi Todome and the other Akimichi clansmen used their Red Chili Pills and Butterfly Mode to strike the wave, sacrificing themselves as they cut a fissure through it.
• Jiraiya summoned Fukasaku and Shima and announced that he would enter the Sage Realm.

Jiraiya risked his life to cultivate Sage Mode on the battlefield as a tsunami threatened his comrades. He succeeded with help from Fukasaku and Shima, then joined them to unleash Sage Art: Goemon against the wave.

• Jiraiya assured Fukasaku and Shima that he would not die easily, then began meditating on the water while the Akimichi Clan charged ahead.
• Hozuki Sengetsu and Kaguya Steel Bone watched Jiraiya from behind the tide and wondered why he was meditating during battle.
• Driven by his desire to protect his comrades, Jiraiya overcame his barrier and entered an imperfect Sage Mode.
• Fukasaku and Shima congratulated Jiraiya on his success, and he asked them to help stop the tsunami.
• Jiraiya, Fukasaku, and Shima combined oil, fire, and wind to unleash Sage Art: Goemon.

Jiraiya blocked the Mist Village’s tsunami with Sage Mode, but he had too little chakra to keep fighting, so Konoha retreated toward an island as Hozuki Sengetsu pursued them by clam boats. At the Chunin Exams, Mei Terumi and Zabuza recognized that Shi’s sensing ability could let Cloud Village claim every answer, and Zabuza moved to stop him.

• Jiraiya used oil, fire, and Fukasaku’s wind to halt the weakened tsunami, then accepted Fukasaku’s warning that he needed to retreat.
• Gamabunta refused to turn back for the Konoha ninja, explaining that Jiraiya probably could not use his powerful technique again while the Mist could repeat its attack.
• Hozuki Sengetsu summoned more than a thousand clams and led the Mist forces in pursuit, while Kisame Hoshigaki stayed behind with the exhausted genin.
• During the Chunin Exams’ first test, Shi used sensory techniques to locate answers and sent Liu and Zang to retrieve them.
• Mei Terumi realized Shi could search the entire examination area and deprive other teams of answers, so Zabuza headed toward him despite Hua Bing’s warning that fighting was forbidden.

Shi drew Zabuza’s attention after finding six answers and boasting that no one could make him stop. Zabuza used Ghostly Aura to knock Shi unconscious, while Katsuchi kept Deidara from setting off explosives during the tense standoff.

• Dodai asked Araki about Shi’s performance, then learned that Araki considered Zabuza his disciple.
• Shi ignored Dodai’s cautious plan and used the first exam to test Mist Village’s team, prompting Zabuza to approach him.
• Shi dismissed Zabuza’s request to stop searching for answers, and Zabuza’s Ghostly Aura made Shi collapse.
• Liu and Zang confronted Zabuza as Deidara prepared explosives, but Katsuchi persuaded him to put them away.
• Katsuchi recalled that Hikō had assigned him to watch Deidara and contain his explosives with Lava Release.

Zabuza defeated Shi with an apparent genjutsu, but both denied fighting after Kumogakure chose to protect them and Sharan was restrained for protesting. Meanwhile, Jiraiya’s battered forces regrouped on Bluefish Island and learned the devastating scale of Konoha’s losses, leaving him swearing vengeance on Mist Village.

• Nagato recognized that vengeful spirits around Zabuza had overwhelmed Shi, while Yahiko prepared to report Zabuza for breaking the rules.
• Dodai held back the examiners, and Shi denied that a fight had happened after regaining his feet with his teacher’s encouragement.
• Zabuza and Shi both denied fighting, so the examiners dismissed Sharan’s accusation; Maki bound Sharan after he continued protesting.
• Pakura swallowed her anger over Sunagakure’s humiliation and resolved to defer to her Kazekage’s plans.
• Jiraiya’s forces reached Bluefish Island, where Nara Shikaku reported heavy losses among Konoha’s clans and said Yamanaka Inoichi remained in emergency treatment.
• Jiraiya blamed Mist Village for the casualties and vowed that Konoha and Mist Village could not coexist.

After Jiraiya’s defeat at Bluefish Island, Orochimaru, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Shimura Danzō debated how to send reinforcements and counter Kirigakure’s sea tactics. Orochimaru agreed to consider limited Wood Release cell tests on two villagers, leaving Hiruzen to review their files as Konoha’s crisis grew urgent.

• Kaguya Steel Bone asked Hozuki Sengetsu to let him attack Konoha again, but Sengetsu ordered him to stop and said Kirigakure had already exposed Konoha’s weakness.
• Jiraiya requested reinforcements, accepted responsibility for the defeat, detailed Kirigakure’s methods, and asked for Tsunade to treat the wounded.
• Orochimaru told Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō that Jiraiya had failed, and they read his report about Kirigakure’s dangerous sharks and combined Water Release.
• Shimura Danzō proposed building ships with Wood Release and revealed that he and Orochimaru had been researching it, including experiments using people with compatible bloodlines.
• Orochimaru proposed low-concentration skin tests and showed Hiruzen files on Haruno Mebuki and Kazamatsuri Masaki, whose Senju ancestry and chakra natures might make them compatible with Wood Release.

Orochimaru arranged an experiment to awaken Wood Release in Haruno Mebuki and Kazamatsuri Masaki, then decided how to reinforce Jiraiya against Mist Village. The chapter ended with Sarutobi Shinnosuke assigned to lead a joint Sarutobi and Shimura force of one thousand ninja.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen questioned whether Haruno Mebuki was worth involving in the Wood Release experiment, but Orochimaru argued that the pair might awaken the Senju Bloodline.
• Orochimaru summoned Haruno Mebuki and Kazamatsuri Masaki, explained the experiment, and secured their consent to begin the next day.
• Orochimaru and Sarutobi Hiruzen discussed Jiraiya's need for reinforcements and considered countering Mist Village's combined Water Release with Konoha's Fire and Wind Release.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen suggested mobilizing the Uchiha Clan, but Orochimaru reserved them for other battles, and Shimura Danzō urged the Sarutobi and Shimura Clans to cooperate.
• Orochimaru ordered Sarutobi Shinnosuke to lead one thousand ninja from the Sarutobi and Shimura Clans to reinforce Jiraiya.

Kazamatsuri Masaki visited the Senju Residence to pray for success in the Wood Release Awakening Experiment, and Tsunade learned of the plan and confronted Orochimaru. After discovering the experiment was intended to help protect Jiraiya, Tsunade volunteered to undergo it herself as the last direct descendant of the Senju Clan.

• Kazamatsuri Masaki asked Tsunade for permission to pay respects to the First Hokage at the Senju Residence, and she sent Shizune to guide him to the Ancestral Hall.
• Kazamatsuri Masaki prayed for the First Hokage to bless his Wood Release experiment, and Tsunade overheard him and demanded to know what the experiment was.
• Tsunade stormed into the Hokage Office and attacked Orochimaru until he revealed that the experiment was meant to help counter Kirigakure's ship-destruction tactics and save Jiraiya.
• Orochimaru told Tsunade that Kazamatsuri Masaki had been selected for his bloodline and water-and-earth chakra natures, and denied using the First Hokage's corpse for the experiment.
• Tsunade offered to undergo the experiment herself, arguing that she was more compatible as the last direct descendant of the Senju Clan.

After the first exam, Araki invited Sasori to lunch and discussed his vision for automated puppets. Sasori was intrigued by the idea of controlling vast numbers of puppets, and the chapter left him considering whether it was possible.

• The Third Raikage left the exam hall, and genin teams began submitting their papers while some candidates bought answers without interference from the proctors.
• Araki saw Mei Terumi, Zabuza, and the others submit their papers, then said goodbye to Dodai and left.
• Araki invited Sasori to eat ramen, and Sasori broke away from Pakura to go with him despite her protests.
• Araki explained that automated puppets needed a way to store chakra and follow long sequences of instructions, while Sasori said rare ores could store chakra but would prevent mass production.
• Araki described a future in which one puppeteer controlled thousands of puppets, and Sasori wondered aloud whether such a thing was possible.

Araki encouraged Sasori’s plan to make puppets use ninjutsu and Kekkei Genkai, then proposed that Sasori develop Human Puppets using ninja corpses. Sasori embraced the idea, and Araki invited him to move his laboratory to Kirigakure, offering Konoha casualties as research materials.

• Sasori shared his idea that puppets should use ninjutsu and combine multiple Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques.
• Araki recognized Sasori’s potential in Human Puppet research and encouraged him to develop the technique.
• Sasori admitted that his ideas had been rejected in Sunagakure, but agreed with Araki that ninja could be used to make puppets.
• Araki invited Sasori to move his laboratory to Kirigakure and offered him the corpses of Konoha Kekkei Genkai ninja as experimental materials.

Araki invited Sasori to Kirigakure to research Konoha ninja corpses, and Sasori eagerly considered the opportunity despite worrying that the Third Kazekage would object. After the first Joint Chunin Exam ended, the genin boarded a ship for the second round on Turtle Island, where Yahiko asked whether they would be able to find food.

• Sasori welcomed Araki’s offer to let him conduct Human Puppet research in Kirigakure, where he could work without Chiyo’s supervision and have access to corpses.
• Araki reasoned that Sasori’s puppets could help Kirigakure compensate for its small ninja population, but he and Sasori worried that the Third Kazekage would refuse the plan.
• The first examination ended with one hundred teams passing, and Pakura wedged herself between Araki and Sasori aboard the ship carrying the genin to Turtle Island.
• Dodai announced that the second examination would take place on Turtle Island and directed the genin to ask their chief examiner about its rules.
• Yahiko asked Dodai whether the genin could find food on the island, and Dodai said they could eat its plants and animals if they were capable.

Killer B explained the second Chunin Exam on Turtle Island, where teams had to find two kinds of tokens and bring them to the Waterfall of Truth. When the test began, Deidara took off on a clay bird, only for four girls to reveal their own flying abilities.

• Killer B welcomed the examinees to Turtle Island and announced that teams needed to collect both a lightning token and a water token, then deliver them to the Waterfall of Truth.
• Killer B said there were only thirty or forty tokens for one hundred teams, prompting the genin to realize that most of them would be eliminated.
• Katsuchi warned Deidara that revealing his ability to fly could expose a valuable advantage, but Deidara made a clay bird anyway.
• Natsuhi asked whether her team should fly to search for tokens, and Hotarubi pointed out that Akahoshi could not fly.
• Killer B began the second test, and Deidara and his teammates soared away on a clay bird.
• Four girls simultaneously took to the sky using different winged abilities, leaving Deidara's smile frozen.

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.