Chapter Summaries

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.

Pakura rejected the accusation that Sasori had killed the Third Kazekage and set off to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Sasori pursued Uchiha Shingen’s group until they used the Hiding in Mist Technique to escape his assault, leaving Zabuza to hunt Sasori in the fog.

• A Sunagakure genin argued that Sasori had motive to kill the Third Kazekage, but Pakura refused to believe him and pursued Sasori alone.
• Uchiha Shingen raised three Earth Walls to shield his group from Sasori’s Iron Sand Drizzle.
• Shicang, Zabuza, Kisame, and Mei Terumi used the Hiding in Mist Technique, disrupting Sasori’s senses and forcing him to stop attacking.
• Zabuza declared that the mist favored his Silent Killing Technique and vanished to attack Sasori, despite Uchiha Shingen questioning whether he could handle it.
• Shicang realized Zabuza was the only one who could guide them through the fog and asked Kisame and Mei Terumi why they had not stopped him.

Uchiha Shingen, Mei Terumi, Kisame, and Shicang waited for Zabuza to return, only for Sasori to ambush them with iron sand. Their defenses drove back the attack briefly, and Sasori revealed his puppet-like body as he prepared to fight them.

• Uchiha Shingen suggested waiting for the fog to disperse or for help to arrive while the group recovered their strength.
• Zabuza stumbled back wounded and poisoned, and Mei Terumi warned that he needed immediate treatment.
• Sasori launched an iron-sand attack from the fog, revealing that Zabuza had been used as bait.
• Uchiha Shingen blocked the iron sand briefly with Fire Release, and Kisame countered with a huge Water Release technique.
• Sasori exposed his puppet-like torso and challenged the group to fight.

Shisui reached Nara Shikaku and reported that Sasori had attacked his team and Uchiha Shingen had stayed behind to fight him. As Konoha mobilized to contain the crisis, Kakashi searched for Shingen and confronted Pakura, who struggled to believe Sasori had killed the Third Kazekage.

• Shisui collapsed after telling Nara Shikaku that Sasori had attacked his team and Shingen had lured him away alone.
• Nara Shikaku ordered the Chunin Ninja Exams suspended, the Forest of Death sealed, and reinforcements sent to support Shingen.
• Kakashi searched the forest for Shingen, finding battle sites marked by bloodstained iron sand and broken puppets.
• Kakashi encountered Pakura and demanded that she get out of his way so he could find Shingen.
• Pakura realized Kakashi believed Shingen had fought Sasori and denied that Sasori could have killed the Third Kazekage.

Pakura confronted Sasori and discovered he had turned the Third Kazekage into a human puppet, shattering her hopes that he was acting for Sunagakure. She attacked Sasori in grief and fury, while Kakashi and Uchiha Shingen argued after the battle.

• Kakashi left Pakura behind to follow the iron-sand trail, and Pakura eventually overcame her hesitation and followed him.
• Pakura found Sasori fighting with a human puppet made from the Third Kazekage and realized the truth about Sasori’s betrayal.
• Sasori called the Third Kazekage puppet his eternal art, and Pakura punched him with Scorch Release—Extremely Steaming Murder.
• Pakura cried and launched Water Dragon Bullets at Sasori, while the others paused to watch.
• Uchiha Shingen asked Kakashi about Pakura, and Kakashi explained that she had known Sasori before accusing Shingen of pretending to be helpless.

Sasori revealed that he had poisoned Pakura and could repair his own modified body, then sent his puppets after the remaining fighters. With reinforcements still far away, Uchiha Shingen charged Sasori while Kakashi and Yagura fought to hold back the increasingly dangerous puppets.

• Kakashi said Shisui had gone to seek reinforcements, and Uchiha Shingen teased Kakashi about his past view that comrades could be sacrificed for a mission.
• Sasori revealed that Pakura had been poisoned, and she collapsed as the poison weakened her.
• Sasori repaired his broken limbs with Chakra threads while Kisame and Mei Terumi lay wounded, leaving Uchiha Shingen, Karatachi Yagura, and Kakashi to face him.
• Uchiha Shingen charged toward Sasori as Kakashi blocked nearby puppets and Yagura used Water Iron Cannon—Four Seasons Rain to destroy many of them.
• The remaining puppets grew stronger and more agile, and a burly puppet blocked Uchiha Shingen's path with a massive greatsword.