Recaps

Araki advanced his swordsmanship while navigating Zabuza’s deadly graduation exam and Kirigakure’s reforms. After graduating, he and Zabuza joined Kisame’s team and began training in ninjutsu during their first mission.

• Araki defeated Zabuza in their match with My Style: Five-Star Rending, then trained with Asuna and gained her sword techniques.
• Araki mastered water-treading, met Himura Kenshin in the Consciousness Space, and learned to counter his sword chime technique.
• Karatachi Yagura recruited Zabuza to kill their classmates during the graduation exam, while Araki refused to join the killings and used Dragon Cry Flash to incapacitate challengers.
• Zabuza killed the candidates in Group A, and Ueno Seiseki reported that every candidate in Group B was already dead.
• Karatachi Yagura and Elder Genji won support to abolish the deadly graduation exam, and Araki advanced to Sword Heart Initial Clarity after absorbing Himura Kenshin.
• Araki and Zabuza graduated and joined Kisame Hoshigaki’s squad, where Kisame tested their abilities and recommended ninjutsu for them to learn.
• Araki chose Gale Palm, Water Replacement, and Body Flicker, then practiced Body Flicker during the team’s D-rank Black Sea Sturgeon mission.
• Kisame caught the Black Sea Sturgeon, and Araki mastered Water Replacement before altering Gale Palm’s seals to produce a gust that Kisame suspected was Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.

Araki sharpened his wind-based swordsmanship while Kisame Squad completed dangerous missions, uncovered Orochimaru’s experiments, and reported Konoha’s amphibious-soldier project to the Third Mizukage. The Mizukage chose to seek an alliance with Kumogakure, and Yagura recruited Kaguya Black Bone for the mission.

• Araki and Zabuza trained under Kisame, then escorted Bando to Seven Grass Island, where Araki honed his wind-sensing and Zabuza learned to cross Hell Valley’s toxic gas.
• Araki, Zabuza, and Kisame fought off pirates, raided their hideout, and Araki bought the chakra-conducting Wind Blade: Piercer, which he renamed the Wind Sword.
• Araki continued challenging Yasuo and developed Slash Wave: New Moon, while Zabuza sought help from Yagura and Chukichi to develop his unusual sensory abilities.
• Kisame Squad investigated attacks near Mysterious Island, discovered Amachi’s human-fish experiments, and fought Orochimaru before retreating with evidence from the laboratory.
• Araki, Kisame, and Zabuza reported Konoha’s amphibious-soldier research to the Third Mizukage, who upgraded their mission to S-rank and ordered Yagura to seek Kumogakure’s support.
• Yagura and Hozuki Sengetsu planned to propose joint Chunin Exams to Kumogakure, and Yagura recruited Kaguya Black Bone to join their mission.

Karatachi Yagura’s delegation traveled to Kumogakure for negotiations and a genin exchange, where Araki and Kaguya Black Bone won their matches. After a Konoha-backed assassination attempt and tense exam negotiations, Kakuzu attacked the Mist delegation over a bounty on Yagura and Sengetsu.

• Zabuza, Araki, and Kaguya Black Bone sparred before the delegation sailed for the Land of Lightning, where Black Bone lost to Araki and declared him his big brother.
• The Third Raikage welcomed the Kirigakure delegation, and the villages agreed to a genin exchange match while debating a joint Chunin Exam with Iwagakure.
• Kaguya Black Bone defeated Toroi, while Araki beat Samui and Darui in succession at Cloud-Thunder Gorge.
• Yakushi Nonō passed Danzo’s assassination order to Nakamura Yato and activated Konoha spies in Kumogakure.
• At the Thunder Pool, Takei, Nakamura, and Miki attacked Araki’s group and were killed, while Killer B rescued the unconscious Kaguya Black Bone.
• The Third Raikage ordered an investigation into the attack, and Yagura and Hozuki Sengetsu considered using it to gain leverage in the exam negotiations.
• Yagura accepted the Chunin Exam date three months away after securing favorable rules, and Samui told Araki she admired him before hugging him.
• Kakuzu emerged before the Kirigakure delegation, announced the fifty-million-ryo bounty on Yagura and Sengetsu, and attacked with False Darkness as Araki raised a Wind Wall.

Araki and the Mist Village fought Hatake Sakumo’s team during a mission that exposed Konoha’s covert actions and left the Six-Tails’ Jinchuriki dying. As the villages prepared for war, Araki joined the Anbu’s new Hawk Squad and advanced his sword technique.

• Kakuzu fought Karatachi Yagura’s group and Root, killing several Root operatives before the Mist shinobi captured three survivors and exposed Konoha’s unauthorized attack.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō debated Konoha’s response as Hatake Sakumo was sent to investigate a joint Chunin Exam and later ordered to retrieve the captured Root shinobi.
• Hatake Sakumo infiltrated the Mist Anbu base, killed Blood Fang, and fought Raiga Kurosuki’s forces while Araki captured Aburame Shihui.
• The Six-Tails broke free and attacked Kirigakure, where Karatachi Yagura and others restrained it, but the Third Mizukage ordered its seal released and Utakata made its new Jinchuriki.
• Hatake Sakumo exchanged Blood Fang’s head for Aburame Shihui and escaped, while Araki learned the Six-Tails’ rampage had devastated the surrounding area.
• The Third Mizukage planned retaliation against Konoha, and Karatachi Yagura recruited Kisame, Araki, Zabuza, and Kaguya Black Bone into the Anbu.
• Karatachi Yagura established the Hawk Squad, gave its members codenames, and assigned them to hunt rogue ninjas in the Land of the Moon.
• Araki defeated Yasuo in the Consciousness Space, completed the Wind-Slaying Sword Technique, and named its extended sword force Gale Blade.