Recaps

The Third Mizukage sent Mei Terumi, Kisame, Zabuza, and Yagura to Konoha to pose as genin in the joint Chunin Exams and display Kirigakure’s strength. Meanwhile, Sunagakure struggled to respond to the Third Kazekage’s disappearance without revealing its vulnerability.

• Yagura captured Kisame and Zabuza with coral and brought them to the Mizukage Building.
• The Third Mizukage assigned Mei Terumi, Kisame, Zabuza, and Yagura to join the Chunin Exams as Kirigakure genin, with Shikura leading them.
• The Third Mizukage said he expected other villages, including Konoha, to send stronger ninja to compete as genin.
• Sunagakure learned that the Third Kazekage had vanished, and Ebizo suggested Sasori might be involved.
• Chiyo rejected the possibility that Sasori had attacked the Kazekage, while Ebizo asked how Sunagakure should answer Konoha’s exam invitation without exposing the disappearance.

Chiyo ordered Sunagakure to conceal the Third Kazekage’s disappearance, strengthen its defenses against the Land of Earth, and search for Scorpion. In Konoha, the Third Hokage and Orochimaru prepared for the Chunin Exams and discussed Orochimaru possibly taking Uchiha Shingen as a disciple, while Uchiha Shingen received his Genin appointment letter.

• Chiyo decided the joint Chunin Exams would proceed and sent Pakura to participate, while Ebizo agreed that the villages would not follow the rules.
• Chiyo ordered the Third Kazekage’s disappearance concealed, recalled Rasa from the front lines, and assigned half her guards to search for Scorpion.
• Orochimaru warned the Third Hokage that Kirigakure’s Karatachi Yagura was a Jonin disguised as a Genin, and the Third Hokage complained that Kirigakure was shameless.
• Orochimaru gave the Third Hokage the completed Genin files for Uchiha Shingen and two others, and the Third Hokage assigned Orochimaru to reinforce the Iwagakure front.
• The Third Hokage suggested that Orochimaru try taking Uchiha Shingen as a disciple, and Orochimaru accepted the idea.
• Uchiha Shingen sat beside a bookstore in South District 4 and examined his Genin appointment letter.

Uchiha Shingen trained for the upcoming Chunin Exams while reviewing Jiraiya’s manuscript, but his routine changed when he was reassigned from South District 4 to guard Konoha’s gates. He accepted the post after learning his benefits and hours would stay the same, and Shisui and Kakashi joined him as subordinates.

• Setsuna Uchiha mocked the genin appointment notice and blamed the Uchiha’s concern for saving face for their past defeats.
• Uchiha Shingen read Jiraiya’s manuscript and continued preparing for the Chunin Exams, training four Shadow Clones across several disciplines.
• Over half a month, Uchiha Shingen gained two attribute points and improved his ninja tool, sword, and combat skills.
• Uchiha Yakumi told Uchiha Shingen that the Patriarch had reassigned him to Konoha’s gates to study the Chunin Exam competitors.
• Uchiha Shingen accepted the reassignment after confirming his benefits and hours would remain unchanged, and Shisui and Kakashi agreed to serve under him.
• The next day, Uchiha Shingen, Shisui, and Kakashi began their new posts as Konoha’s gate guardians.

Kakashi, Shisui, and Uchiha Shingen guarded Konoha’s gate when Minato arrived with Obito and Rin, reuniting Team Minato. Their reunion was interrupted when Minato sensed a group approaching with unmistakable killing intent and suspected they were from Kirigakure.

• Kakashi criticized Uchiha Shingen for neglecting his gate-guard duty, while Shisui explained that Shingen’s experiences in the Police Force had made him wary of taking initiative.
• Obito teased Kakashi about being a Genin while he and Rin were Chunin, and Kakashi greeted Minato.
• Minato spoke with Uchiha Shingen and hoped Kakashi’s time around him would broaden Kakashi’s perspective.
• Minato sensed several figures approaching Konoha’s gate with heavy killing intent and suspected they were from Kirigakure.

Kirigakure’s squad, led by Yagura, confronted Konoha at its gates, but Uchiha Shingen recognized their challenge as a test rather than an attack. As the standoff eased, a newly arrived group of ninja shouted “White Fang,” abruptly changing the situation.

• Minato and Kakashi watched as Yagura, Zabuza, Kisame, and Mei Terumi arrived at Konoha’s gates and challenged the Konoha ninja with their killing intent.
• Yahiko and three Amegakure ninja arrived, but Yahiko chose to watch the standoff rather than intervene.
• Uchiha Shingen dismissed the threat as a test and said Kirigakure would not attack while the green-haired, purple-eyed Yagura was present.
• Yagura restrained Zabuza and warned him and Kisame that Uchiha Shingen, not Kakashi, was Konoha’s true trump card.
• Yagura’s squad withdrew its killing intent, but another group of ninja arrived and roared, “White Fang!”

Pakura attacked Kakashi with Scorch Release, but Uchiha Shingen stopped her with a blade at her throat before Kakashi could strike her with Lightning Release. The confrontation ended with Kakashi and Shingen exchanging remarks while Pakura remained at Shingen’s mercy.

• Pakura rushed Kakashi with a Scorch Release fireball, and the heat evaporated moisture around her.
• Kakashi blocked Pakura’s attack with Earth Release and retreated as both groups took fighting stances.
• Pakura unleashed Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder, splitting her fireball into six and filling the area with scorching wind.
• Uchiha Shingen vanished from his chair and appeared with his blade at Pakura’s throat, stopping her attack.
• Kakashi dispersed the Lightning Release gathering in his hand after Shingen warned him that killing Pakura would cause trouble.
• Kakashi complained that Shingen had waited to intervene, and Shingen explained he had acted to prevent Kakashi from killing her.

Uchiha Shingen ended the confrontation with Ye Cang, leaving the visiting genin wary of Konoha’s strength. Yahiko’s group entered Konoha, while a hooded figure recognized Shingen’s sword as Izuna’s keepsake.

• Uchiha Shingen sheathed his sword and ended the dispute with Ye Cang, warning that the fighting could continue once the Chunin Exams began but no one could die there.
• Kisame, Zabuza, Shicang, and Yagura discussed Uchiha Shingen and Kakashi’s abilities, while Yagura ordered Kisame and Zabuza to keep Mei Terumi away from men.
• Yahiko rejected his companions’ claims that Konoha had disguised Jonin as genin and urged them to learn from the strength of Konoha and Sunagakure’s genin.
• Yahiko’s group entered Konoha after he reflected on his complicated feelings toward the village and Jiraiya.
• A hooded figure watched Uchiha Shingen and recognized his sword as Izuna’s keepsake.

Madara entered Konoha with Sasori, whom he recruited after identifying him as the missing-nin who had killed the Third Kazekage. Uchiha Shingen sensed something unusual about Madara, then ended his shift as a group from Kumogakure appeared on the horizon.

• Madara discussed his failing body and his search for a successor with Black Zetsu, then noticed Uchiha Shingen watching him.
• Sasori, disguised as a Kusagakure Genin, bumped into Madara, who exposed his identity and recognized him as a dangerous fighter.
• Madara overwhelmed Sasori with his presence and invited him to work together; Sasori followed him through Konoha's gates.
• Uchiha Shingen told Minato he had sensed something strange, while Minato left with Obito and Rin after judging Shingen a leading contender in the exams.
• The commotion at Konoha's gates died down, and Shingen napped through the afternoon before packing up to leave work.
• Five Kumogakure shinobi appeared on the horizon, led by a burly, dark-skinned man with a short beard.

Uchiha Shingen and his comrades returned to Konoha after meeting the Kumogakure squad, while Setsuna Uchiha encountered the returned Madara at Naka Shrine. Madara revealed his interest in Shingen and provoked Setsuna into awakening the second form of his Susanoo before disappearing.

• Shingen, Shisui, and Kakashi joked about Yugito and Shingen's supposed romantic interest as they returned to Konoha.
• Setsuna went to Naka Shrine, where a hooded man revealed himself as Madara.
• Madara challenged Setsuna's faith in Konoha's peace and suggested that the village's system had only made wars more brutal.
• Setsuna realized Madara had come for Shingen and tried to defend him.
• Madara told Setsuna that Shingen's modest dream could produce powerful ocular abilities if it were destroyed.
• Setsuna awakened the second form of his Susanoo and attacked, but Madara vanished, challenging him to try to stop him.

Fugaku learned from Setsuna that Uchiha Madara had returned and was targeting Shingen, prompting him to report the warning to the Third Hokage. The village leaders reviewed the Uchiha’s urgent report, but Danzo doubted Madara remained a serious threat and questioned the Uchiha’s motives.

• Fugaku arrived at Naka Shrine and found Setsuna shaken after an encounter with Uchiha Madara.
• Setsuna warned Fugaku that Madara had come for Shingen and urged him to suspend the joint Chunin Exams so Shingen would not be harmed.
• Setsuna said Konoha could not defeat Madara and left the shrine in his wheelchair.
• Fugaku accepted that Setsuna’s warning was likely true and ordered Medicinal Flavor to prepare a report for the Third Hokage.
• Several hours later, the Third Hokage, Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu read the Uchiha’s report about Madara’s return.
• Danzo dismissed the threat because of Madara’s age and suggested the Uchiha might be acting suspiciously.

The Third Hokage prepared Konoha for Uchiha Madara’s possible return while refusing to disrupt the Joint Chunin Ninja Exams. At White Fang’s grave, Sasori learned Madara’s identity and chose to follow him; the next morning, Setsuna Uchiha summoned Uchiha Shingen.

• Danzo urged the Third Hokage to distrust the Uchiha, but the Third Hokage rejected his coup theory and ordered precautions against Madara targeting Kushina.
• The Third Hokage kept the Joint Chunin Ninja Exams underway, ordered Jonin recalled, and told Danzo to prepare an elite Root unit.
• Sasori visited White Fang’s grave and mocked the ninja system after learning his parents’ killer had died by suicide.
• Madara revealed that he wanted to correct the mistakes behind the ninja world’s wars, and Sasori followed him after stomping the flowers into the mud.
• Uchiha Shingen arrived for work the next morning, where Setsuna Uchiha beckoned him over and said he had something to give him.

Setsuna Uchiha warned Uchiha Shingen that a vanished monster was returning and gave him the secret ocular technique Izanagi to survive the Joint Chunin Ninja Exams. Shingen suspected Yugito might be a Jinchūriki, learned Izanagi’s cost, and prepared for the exams as his Fire Release improved.

• Setsuna Uchiha gave Uchiha Shingen a scroll containing Izanagi and warned that a monster was coming for him.
• Uchiha Shingen recalled Yugito’s familiar Chakra and wondered if Kumogakure had sent a Jinchūriki to Konoha.
• Uchiha Shingen read that Izanagi could turn unfavorable reality into a dream at the cost of permanently blinding one eye.
• Uchiha Shingen memorized Izanagi’s hand seals while his Shadow Clones intensified their training.
• Two days later, Uchiha Shingen had mastered the scroll’s contents and raised his Fire Release Mastery to Level 4 through training.

Uchiha Shingen assessed his improved abilities as the Joint Chunin Exams began in Konoha. At the exam hall, Madara entered under a false identity while Sasori showed interest in testing Shingen, and Yugito sensed that the Two-Tails feared Madara.

• Uchiha Shingen checked his status panel and concluded that his strengthened abilities could carry him through the coming battles.
• Uchiha Shingen, Kakashi, and Shisui went to Konoha Ninja Academy for the intelligence-gathering round of the Joint Chunin Exams.
• Sasori told Madara he wanted to test Uchiha Shingen and make him into a human puppet, while Madara expressed confidence that Shingen would survive.
• Madara used his power to make an examiner stamp his permit despite the photograph showing a different face.
• Yugito watched Madara enter the exam hall as the Two-Tails Matatabi curled fearfully inside her seal.

Yugito and the other village teams began Konoha’s Chunin Exams, where they discovered the written test used bizarre questions and was actually a test of intelligence gathering and transmission. Uchiha Shingen recognized Shiranui Genma among the examinees as a planted source of answers.

• The Two-Tails sensed Madara’s Chakra and panicked, but Yugito’s Iron Armor Seal converted its Chakra before anyone noticed; Samui sensed Yugito’s distress and checked on her.
• Yugito told Samui that Matatabi was terrified, then assessed the powerful competitors and regretted that Killer B had not joined their team.
• Yugito, Darui, and the other candidates entered the classroom and received a written test full of advanced questions that baffled them.
• Mei Terumi struggled with the test and blurted out that finding a man was less painful, drawing shocked looks from the other examinees.
• Uchiha Shingen realized the exam tested intelligence gathering and transmission, then spotted Shiranui Genma hiding answers on his paper.

Uchiha Shingen, Shisui, and Kakashi quickly completed the first Chunin Exam by copying answers, while the proctor revealed that the test was really judging examinees’ intelligence-gathering skills. Yagura and the Kirigakure team considered the exam and anticipated the next round in Konoha’s Forest of Death, where Zabuza threatened to eliminate the other contestants.

• Uchiha Shingen copied Shiranui Genma’s answers with his Sharingan, then left the classroom early alongside Shisui and Kakashi.
• An Amegakure genin accused Konoha of cheating, but Hyuga Yugai silenced the room with a kunai and explained that any method of obtaining the answers was allowed.
• The examinees used covert methods to gather answers, and Zabuza handed in his paper with five minutes remaining.
• Yagura explained to Mei Terumi, Zabuza, and Kisame that the exam tested intelligence gathering and that a hooded examinee had likely been planted to provide answers.
• Yagura sensed someone watching the Kirigakure team, while Zabuza and Kisame looked forward to the Forest of Death; Yagura told them to do as they pleased.

Uchiha Shingen reunited with former academy friends after the Chunin Exam, while the Third Hokage learned that Iwagakure’s Explosive Corps was near Konoha’s border and continued searching for Uchiha Madara. The chapter left Konoha preparing for a possible attack and considering whether Uchiha Madara’s true target was the Nine-Tails or Uchiha Shingen.

• Uchiha Shingen confronted Shiranui Genma over his conduct in the exam, and Genma warned him about dangerous candidates in the Chunin Exam.
• Namiashi Raidō, Might Guy, Kakashi, and Shisui joined Uchiha Shingen and Shiranui Genma, and the old friends caught up together.
• The Third Hokage watched Uchiha Shingen socializing and praised his ability to earn others’ recognition, while Utatane Koharu objected that an Uchiha could never become Hokage.
• The Third Hokage learned from Danzo that Orochimaru had reported major Iwagakure troop movements and signs of the Explosive Corps near Konoha’s border.
• The Third Hokage ordered Orochimaru to monitor Iwagakure and directed Konoha to prepare shelters and consider evacuating villagers while searching for Uchiha Madara.
• The Third Hokage proposed speaking with Uchiha Madara to learn whether he sought the Nine-Tails or Uchiha Shingen.

Uchiha Shingen, Kakashi, and Shisui entered the Forest of Death for the second Chunin Exam, which required each team to collect both Heaven and Earth Scrolls and reach the central watchtower before midnight. After Shingen won another Heaven Scroll, the team realized they had found no Earth Scrolls and wondered whether the scrolls held clues.

• Nara Shikaku announced the survival exam rules, and the candidates entered the Forest of Death to collect matching scrolls.
• Mei Terumi assessed the exam as a test of survival and marching ability, while Yagura urged her to become Mizukage if she wanted to change Kirigakure.
• Yagura's group received a Heaven Scroll, and Zabuza spoke of eliminating every opponent in the forest.
• Uchiha Shingen, Kakashi, and Shisui entered the forest with a Heaven Scroll, while a red-haired boy followed Shingen's team.
• Shingen used his Sharingan and blade to defeat a genin team and take another Heaven Scroll, leaving the opponents alive but unconscious.
• Kakashi and Shisui noted that the team had found four Heaven Scrolls but no Earth Scrolls, and Kakashi suggested the scrolls might contain clues.

Uchiha Shingen’s group discovered that the Heaven Scroll released knockout gas when opened, then faced Sasori of the Red Sands and his human puppets in the Forest of Death. As Sasori began summoning more puppets, Shingen struck his scroll with a crimson blade technique.

• Uchiha Shingen made a Genin open the Heaven Scroll, and the knockout gas inside rendered him unconscious.
• Kakashi and Shisui confirmed the scroll had changed into an Earth Scroll, completing the pair needed to reach the central watchtower.
• Sasori of the Red Sands ambushed the group with poisoned senbon and two modified Genin puppets.
• Kakashi and Shisui fought the puppets and realized their bodies were too hard to be human.
• Sasori opened a scroll to summon crimson puppets, but Uchiha Shingen’s Sword Leap Flame struck it and forced them back inside.

Uchiha Shingen fought Sasori, whose human puppets could use ninjutsu, while Madara watched and failed to summon the Nine-Tails. The battle left Shingen searching for Sasori’s real body as Madara decided to seek Kumogakure’s Two-Tails instead.

• Uchiha Shingen charged Sasori with Kotetsu, but Sasori bent his body unnaturally and retreated beyond reach.
• Sasori summoned three human puppets, including one bearing an Iwagakure forehead protector, and sent them to attack Shingen, Kakashi, and Shisui.
• Uchiha Shingen cut off a puppet’s arm, but it released a mass of hidden arms that pressed him back and forced him to seek Sasori’s real body.
• Kakashi noticed the pressure from his own human puppet had weakened and counterattacked with lightning chakra.
• Madara watched the fight from a distant tree, failed to summon the Nine-Tails, and chose Kumogakure’s Two-Tails as a substitute.

Uchiha Shingen and his team fought Sasori, whose three human puppets pressured them until Kakashi destroyed two with his Lightning Cutter. Shingen unleashed a massive fire attack and left the battlefield engulfed in a hundred-meter barrage, with Sasori's fate unclear.

• Uchiha Shingen struggled against Sasori's three coordinated human puppets and was enveloped in poisonous smoke.
• Kakashi used his Lightning Cutter to disable two puppets, surprising Sasori, who wanted to turn Kakashi's technique into a human puppet.
• Uchiha Shingen burned away the poisonous smoke and blasted Sasori's position with an enormous Great Fireball.
• Uchiha Shingen's four Shadow Clones launched a Great Fireball Multi-Barrage Technique across a hundred-meter radius, while Kakashi pulled Shisui away from the flames.

Uchiha Shingen recognized Sasori’s human puppet as the Third Kazekage and fled with Kakashi and Shisui, while Madara headed toward the central watchtower. As Sasori closed in, Shingen volunteered to draw him away so the others could report the danger to Konoha.

• Sasori emerged from a black iron-sand sphere beside a human puppet, and Kakashi recognized it as Sunagakure’s Third Kazekage.
• Shingen realized Sasori had turned the Third Kazekage into a puppet and fled with Kakashi and Shisui.
• Sasori pursued the three through the Forest of Death, while Madara went toward the central watchtower after sensing the Two-Tails.
• Kakashi proposed splitting up so he could lure Sasori away and Shingen and Shisui could alert Konoha.
• Shingen volunteered to lead Sasori away, suspecting that Sasori had come specifically for him.

Uchiha Shingen drew Sasori away so Kakashi and Shisui could escape and seek help, but they discovered the outpost had been sabotaged and its surveillance feed falsified. Kakashi left Shisui to get a warning to Konoha and raced after Shingen, determined to bring him back.

• Uchiha Shingen ordered Kakashi and Shisui to flee while he lured Sasori away alone.
• Kakashi and Shisui hurried to a nearby outpost to contact Konoha.
• Kakashi and Shisui found a Hyuga chunin dead inside the outpost and realized Sasori had likely attacked it.
• Shisui discovered the surveillance feed had been tampered with, leaving them unable to rely on the outpost to send a warning.
• Kakashi told Shisui to get word out of the exam grounds and vanished to bring Uchiha Shingen back.

Uchiha Shingen fled from Sasori and led him toward the Kirigakure team, which had been slaughtering other exam squads. The Kirigakure ninjas recognized the pursuer as Sunagakure’s Third Kazekage and fled as well, leaving Zabuza to curse their opponents’ shamelessness.

• Uchiha Shingen realized Sasori was still pursuing him and spotted the Kirigakure team ahead, deciding to draw Sasori toward them.
• Zabuza finished off the last Takigakure Genin as Kisame, Mei Terumi, and Yagura watched, and the team decided to stop hunting other squads.
• Shicang spotted Uchiha Shingen fleeing beneath a massive cloud of Iron Sand and suspected that Sunagakure had sent its Third Kazekage into the exam.
• Uchiha Shingen called out to the Kirigakure team to deal with Sasori, and Zabuza recognized the Third Kazekage from underground bounty posters.
• Yagura, Shicang, and the other Kirigakure ninja ran away, and Zabuza followed them as the Third Kazekage approached.

Uchiha Shingen and Shicang fled Sasori’s pursuit after learning that he had turned the Third Kazekage into a human puppet. They joined forces against the threat, but Sasori tracked their group and continued the hunt.

• Shicang questioned how the Third Kazekage could appear at Konoha’s Chunin Exams, and Uchiha Shingen revealed that their pursuer was a human puppet controlled by the Third Kazekage’s captor.
• Yagura realized the puppet’s existence could spark a war between Sunagakure and the other villages, while Shicang and Uchiha Shingen agreed to make Kumogakure and Sunagakure share the consequences.
• Mei Terumi warned Zabuza to keep his distance from Yagura because Yagura might betray him, but Zabuza defended his captain.
• Sasori unleashed Iron Sand Drizzle, and Shicang reflected the attack with Water Release—Water Mirror Technique, giving the group a chance to escape.
• Sasori used a red-haired puppet to sense the fleeing group and vowed to track them down within the examination site he controlled.

Pakura led her Sunagakure team toward the central watchtower while keeping their village’s crisis secret and avoiding unnecessary fights. After finding iron sand and human puppets at a devastated battlefield, she suspected Sasori had killed the Third Kazekage and brought his puppet to Konoha.

• Pakura rejected her subordinate’s suggestion to ambush other teams and reminded her group that their real mission was to hide Sunagakure’s weakness after Sasori and the Third Kazekage disappeared.
• Pakura led her team toward the watchtower, where they found a burned battlefield and iron sand still holding Chakra.
• Pakura ordered her team to search for the Kazekage, but they discovered three charred bodies nearby.
• A Sunagakure genin examined the bodies and identified them as human puppets containing Chakra structures and traces of human tissue.
• Pakura’s team connected the puppets to Sasori’s research and speculated that he had assassinated the Third Kazekage, turned him into a puppet, and fought Konoha’s ninjas.