Chapter Summaries

Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi, and Ino returned to their own era after traveling through time, while Minato learned that Akatsuki had captured Gaara and struggled to choose a rescue team. Naruto's return to Konoha interrupted Minato's plans, and he ordered Naruto to come see him at once.

• Naruto brought Hinata, Kakashi, and Ino safely out of the Dragon Vein at the Rōran Ruins, and they headed for Konoha.
• Naruto recalled their meeting with Asura and Indra in the past as he looked forward to eating at Ichiraku Ramen.
• Minato received an urgent report that Akatsuki had captured Gaara and considered sending Sasuke or the older Ino-Shika-Cho to help Sunagakure.
• A ninja told Minato that Naruto and Kakashi had returned, and Minato learned Naruto was at Ichiraku Ramen.
• Minato sent for Naruto, who complained that he had only just returned and could not eat his ramen in peace.

Naruto and his companions returned to Konoha to discover that two years had passed, and Naruto insisted on rescuing Gaara after learning Akatsuki had captured him. Minato approved the mission after Kushina agreed, and Team 7 prepared to depart.

• Minato reunited with Naruto and the others, who were shocked to learn that two years had passed in Konoha while they were away.
• Naruto learned that Akatsuki had kidnapped Gaara and insisted that he be allowed to rescue his friend.
• Minato initially refused, but agreed to assign Naruto the mission if Kushina approved.
• Kakashi told Minato that he and Naruto had traveled to the Ninja World of a thousand years ago with Asura and the Great Toad Sage.
• Naruto returned with Kushina's approval, and Minato assigned Team 7 an S-rank mission to rescue Gaara.

Naruto led Team 7 toward Sunagakure to rescue Gaara while planning to let Akatsuki’s threat help force the shinobi world toward lasting peace. As the team neared the village, Hinata spotted a sandstorm ahead.

• Naruto recalled that Gaara had died during Akatsuki’s first attack in his previous life and resolved to save him without preventing Akatsuki from capturing the One-Tail.
• Naruto reasoned that a powerful threat was necessary to unite the shinobi world, and believed Akatsuki, Madara, and Kaguya could help bring about peace.
• Sasuke asked Naruto about his journey to the era of the Shinobi Sect, and Kakashi answered his questions about meeting Asura.
• Hinata spotted the Land of Wind’s desert and warned the others that a sandstorm lay ahead.

Naruto destroyed a massive sandstorm with a Truth-Seeking Orb Rasenshuriken so his team could hurry toward Gaara. In Sunagakure, Chiyo told Temari and Baki that Kankuro could not be saved.

• Hinata spotted a massive sandstorm, and Kakashi proposed sheltering in a rocky cave while it passed.
• Naruto refused to wait and used a Truth-Seeking Orb Rasenshuriken to obliterate the sandstorm, then led Kakashi and Sasuke onward.
• Temari and Baki asked Chiyo whether she could save the poisoned Kankuro.
• Chiyo told Temari and Baki that Kankuro could not be saved.

Naruto arrived with Konoha’s team and miraculously cured Kankuro of the poison that had nearly killed him. With Kankuro recovered, Naruto prepared to rescue Gaara, but Temari insisted on joining the mission.

• A Sunagakure messenger announced that Konoha’s ninja had arrived while Temari grieved over Kankuro and Gaara’s situation.
• Naruto rushed in and touched Kankuro, prompting Chiyo to warn him not to interfere with the patient.
• Kankuro woke up fully recovered, and Chiyo realized Naruto had eliminated the poison and restored much of his stamina.
• Kankuro thanked Naruto and said he wanted to help rescue Gaara, but Naruto told him to leave the rescue to him and Kakashi.
• Temari stopped Naruto and insisted that she would accompany them to rescue Gaara.

Naruto led the rescue team to an Akatsuki base in the Land of Rivers, where Gaara’s One-Tail chakra was being extracted. Akatsuki decided to stall Naruto’s group for three minutes so Pain could finish sealing.

• Temari and Kankuro entrusted Gaara’s rescue to Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, Hinata, and Chiyo.
• Naruto said he knew an Akatsuki base in the Land of Rivers and led the group there using memories from his previous life.
• After a day of travel, Naruto’s group reached the base while Akatsuki extracted Shukaku’s chakra from Gaara.
• Black Zetsu detected Naruto’s approaching group, and Akatsuki members worried that Naruto could stop the extraction.
• Pain said he would handle the sealing in three minutes, and Kisame told Danzo to help stall the rescue team.

Naruto and his allies encountered Kisame and Danzo in the Land of Rivers, only to discover they were Shapeshifting Clones sent to delay them. Naruto quickly defeated Kisame, but Danzo’s clone ensnared him with a chakra-draining Wood Style technique.

• Naruto sensed Gaara’s presence as he and Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata hurried through the Land of Rivers.
• Naruto’s group encountered Kisame and Danzo, who exchanged hostile remarks with Chiyo.
• Kakashi warned that Kisame was stalling, and Naruto revealed that both opponents were Shapeshifting Clones.
• Naruto struck Kisame with a Rasengan, disrupting the clone’s chakra and defeating him.
• Naruto hit Danzo’s Wood Clone with a Rasengan, but Danzo’s clone transformed into a giant tree and bound Naruto with chakra-absorbing vines.

Naruto and his allies reached the Akatsuki base as Nagato rapidly extracted Shukaku’s chakra, killing Gaara. Naruto tried to recover Gaara, but Deidara seized him while Sasori fought back, leaving Naruto facing the two Akatsuki members.

• Naruto broke free of the vines, defeated Danzo's Shapeshifting Clone, and led the others toward the Akatsuki base.
• Nagato strengthened his phantom with power gained from the moon and greatly accelerated the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's extraction of Shukaku's chakra.
• The statue drained the last of Shukaku's chakra, and Gaara's corpse fell as Nagato's phantom weakened.
• Naruto and four others smashed into the base, prompting Nagato to end the meeting and order Deidara and Sasori to withdraw.
• Sasori blocked Naruto's attempt to retrieve Gaara while Deidara grabbed him, and Naruto shattered Sasori's Hiruko shell.
• Sasori refused Naruto's offer to surrender, and Deidara raised his hand and shouted, “Detonate!”

Naruto tried to revive Gaara with Yang Style while Chiyo confronted her grandson Sasori. The chapter ended as Sasori summoned the Third and Fourth Kazekage puppets to face Chiyo’s own puppets.

• Deidara attacked Naruto with clay centipedes, then escaped on a clay bird while Sasori stayed behind.
• Naruto began using Yang Style to nurture the faint spark of life remaining in Gaara, and Sasuke, Kakashi, and Hinata pursued Deidara.
• Chiyo confronted Sasori over his crimes, including killing the Third Kazekage and Fourth Kazekage, and summoned their puppets.
• Sasori summoned the Third and Fourth Kazekage puppets to fight Chiyo.

Chiyo and Sasori battled with their puppets while Naruto Uzumaki continued trying to revive Gaara. After Sasori’s iron sand disabled Chiyo’s first puppets, she summoned the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets and renewed the fight.

• Chiyo and Sasori clashed with Father, Mother, and the Third and Fourth Kazekage puppets.
• Sasori used iron sand and gold dust to destroy Chiyo’s shield and rust her puppets.
• Naruto Uzumaki offered to help, but Chiyo told him to focus on saving Gaara.
• Chiyo summoned the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets and controlled them with chakra threads.
• Chiyo sent one of the ten puppets to attack, and Sasori met it with the Third Kazekage puppet.

Sasori fought Chiyo’s puppets while Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata pursued Deidara. Kakashi used Mangekyō Sharingan to bring Deidara down, and Sasuke confronted him in the forest, where Deidara refused to betray Akatsuki by revealing Danzo’s location.

• Sasori used the Fourth Kazekage’s gold dust and his other puppets to defend against Chiyo’s coordinated attacks.
• Kakashi awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan’s Kamui and tore Deidara’s clay bird apart, forcing him to fall and flee into the forest.
• Hinata located Deidara, and Sasuke, Kakashi, and Hinata pursued him.
• Sasuke attacked Deidara with a Great Fireball Technique and demanded Danzo’s location in exchange for sparing him.
• Deidara said he disliked Danzo but refused to betray his Akatsuki comrades.

Sasuke, Kakashi, and Hinata fought Deidara after he refused to reveal Danzo’s whereabouts. Deidara’s chakra surged as he prepared to self-destruct, leaving the others facing an imminent explosion.

• Deidara refused to tell Sasuke where Danzo was and attacked him with explosive clay.
• Sasuke used Amaterasu, but Deidara discarded his burning cloak and sent clay dolls to attack.
• Deidara’s clay dolls exploded around Sasuke, who survived inside Susanoo’s Skeleton Ribs.
• Kakashi and Hinata arrived; Kakashi struck Deidara’s earth clone, and Hinata exposed his hiding place with her Byakugan.
• Sasuke attacked Deidara with Chidori Stream, forcing him to raise multiple Earth Formation Walls.
• Hinata sensed Deidara’s chakra expanding, and Kakashi warned that Deidara was about to self-destruct.

Sasori and Chiyo fought with their puppets while Naruto Uzumaki continued using Yang Style to revive Gaara. Chiyo destroyed both Kazekage puppets and revealed she had turned her own body into a puppet, while Gaara began to stir.

• Sasori used the Third Kazekage and Fourth Kazekage puppets to attack Chiyo with Iron Sand and Gold Dust, but her Chikamatsu Ten Puppets blocked them.
• Sasori sent poison from the Third Kazekage puppet toward Chiyo, and she used Sanbo Kyukai to suck away the poison gas.
• Chiyo baited the Fourth Kazekage puppet into range and destroyed it with Explosive Tags.
• The Third Kazekage puppet attacked Chiyo, but her four-bladed chakra knives pinned and shattered it.
• Sasori claimed his shuriken had poisoned Chiyo, but she shook them from her arm and revealed she had turned her body into a puppet.
• Naruto Uzumaki kept using Yang Style on Gaara, whose life began to return as he groaned faintly.

Naruto saved Gaara, but Sasori unveiled a powerful puppet modeled after the Sage of Six Paths and overwhelmed Chiyo’s puppets. Chiyo faced the puppet’s next attack as Naruto watched, while the puppet’s taijutsu and Yin-Yang Release made it a threat to anyone below the Six Paths Level.

• Naruto used Yang Release chakra to stabilize Gaara and then prepared to help Chiyo fight Sasori.
• Chiyo insisted that Naruto protect Gaara and let her handle Sasori alone.
• Sasori summoned a puppet resembling the Sage of Six Paths, which he said he had found inside the moon and identified as Otsutsuki Hamura’s masterpiece.
• The puppet destroyed four of Chiyo’s Chikamatsu Ten Puppets with a punch and a kick, then appeared in front of her and struck.
• The puppet’s fist crashed toward Chiyo as its combat style and immense power were revealed.

Naruto protected Chiyo and fought Sasori’s Sage of Six Paths puppet, while explaining that he no longer believed understanding alone could redeem those who had caused harm. He struck the puppet with a Rasenshuriken, but it survived by using Yin-Yang Release.

• Naruto arrived in time to block the Sage of Six Paths puppet’s attack on Chiyo, then sent Chiyo to look after Gaara.
• Naruto asked Sasori about his past and dreams, but Sasori said he had severed his ties with the world by turning himself into a puppet.
• Naruto and the Sage of Six Paths puppet clashed at high speed, and Naruto reflected on how his views on redemption and punishment had changed.
• Naruto restrained the puppet with the Nine-Tails Binding Technique and hit it with a Rasenshuriken.
• The cave collapsed, but the puppet survived by blocking Naruto’s Rasenshuriken with Yin-Yang Release.

Naruto overpowered Sasori’s Sage of Six Paths Puppet and left Sasori to face Chiyo while he went to help Sasuke and the others. After Deidara’s apparent self-destruction, Hinata detected that the enemy’s chakra remained, revealing that the one who exploded was not the real body.

• Naruto attacked Sasori, but the Sage of Six Paths Puppet blocked his Rasengan and struck back with Yin Release lightning.
• Naruto used a Shadow Clone to evade the lightning, sealed the Sage Puppet, and battered it with Spiralling Serial Spheres.
• Naruto destroyed the Sage Puppet with a Nine-Tails Rasenshuriken, then left Sasori to Chiyo and departed with a Shadow Clone carrying Gaara.
• Deidara’s self-destruction blasted through the forest, but Kakashi, Hinata, and Sasuke escaped the worst of it.
• Hinata used her Byakugan to detect that the enemy’s chakra remained, and Kakashi realized the one who exploded was not the real body.

Deidara was cornered by Sasuke, Kakashi, and Hinata after refusing to reveal Danzo’s location, and their attacks badly wounded him. With no escape left, he began gathering chakra and clay to self-destruct.

• Sasuke drove Deidara from the burning forest and, with Kakashi and Hinata, blocked his escape routes before asking where Danzo was hiding.
• After Deidara refused to answer, Sasuke attacked with Susanoo and Amaterasu, while Kakashi followed with Lightning Blade and Kamui.
• Kakashi’s Kamui tore off Deidara’s right arm, and Sasuke’s Amaterasu burned his left arm.
• Deidara swallowed the last of his clay and poured chakra into it, prompting Kakashi to warn that Deidara was about to self-destruct.

Naruto and his allies survived Deidara’s massive explosion, rescued Gaara, and returned to Sunagakure after Chiyo killed Sasori. Later, Chiyo died peacefully, while Akatsuki mourned the loss of Sasori and Deidara and resolved to accelerate its plans to capture the Tailed Beasts.

• Deidara detonated himself, but Naruto’s Nine-Tails chakra shielded Sasuke, Kakashi, and Hinata from the blast.
• Naruto told Sasuke that Gaara had been revived with Chiyo’s help, and the group returned to the cave where they found Sasori dead and Chiyo exhausted.
• Chiyo departed for Sunagakure with the others, and they reunited with Kankuro and the rescue party on the way.
• Gaara welcomed Naruto and his allies as honored guests, while Chiyo later returned to her secluded home and died peacefully three months afterward.
• Naruto left Sunagakure after a week, and Gaara thanked him before seeing him off.
• Deva Path told Akatsuki that Sasori and Deidara had died, warned them to avoid Naruto, and urged them to speed up capturing the Tailed Beasts.

After Naruto and his team returned to Konoha, Minato promoted Naruto and Hinata to Jonin while Akatsuki accelerated its Tailed Beast hunts. Kisame and Danzo set out to capture the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, but their hostility left them poised to act separately.

• Minato praised Naruto and his team for killing Sasori and Deidara, promoted Naruto and Hinata to Jonin, and decided to ask Jiraiya to investigate Akatsuki.
• Akatsuki deployed its teams to capture Tailed Beasts, with Nagato sending the Deva Path on missions using stored Rinnegan chakra.
• Kisame mocked Danzo as they traveled through the Land of Lightning, and Danzo briefly considered killing him before they continued toward the Two-Tails Jinchuriki.
• Kisame and Danzo prepared an ambush for the returning Two-Tails Jinchuriki, while Danzo warned that he would not help Kisame if he ran into danger.

Akatsuki captured several Tailed Beasts in coordinated attacks, while Naruto enjoyed his return to Konoha and Minato received alarming intelligence about the captures. Minato asked Jiraiya and Tsunade to investigate a suspected Akatsuki base in the Land of Rain.

• Kakuzu captured the Five-Tails, while Obito and Zetsu secured the Three-Tails in the Land of Water.
• Naruto woke at home, shared breakfast with Minato and Kushina, then headed toward the Uchiha district to visit Sasuke.
• Minato learned Akatsuki had captured the Two-Tails, Four-Tails, and Five-Tails, and asked an Anbu ninja to summon Kakashi and gather information on other Jinchuriki.
• Jiraiya and Tsunade arrived at the Hokage Office Building, and Jiraiya read Minato's report about Akatsuki's captures.
• Minato asked Jiraiya and Tsunade to travel to the Land of Rain and investigate a suspected Akatsuki base.