Chapter Summaries

Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura restrained Sasori and dyed his red hair black, but he retaliated by summoning the Third Kazekage puppet. Pain stopped the fight and sent the puppet flying, while Sanryo began planning her next step toward secretly leaving the base.

• Uzumaki Sanryo bound Sasori with her Adamantine Sealing Chains, and she and Yakura dyed his hair black as Nagato watched.
• After Sanryo released him, Sasori summoned the Third Kazekage puppet and threatened revenge.
• Pain intervened and used Shinra Tensei to launch the puppet into the sky, warning Sasori not to try again.
• Sasori left to retrieve his puppet, and Sanryo celebrated completing the first step of her plan before resolving to find a chance to leave the base.

Kisame and Jūzō Biwa brought Danzō to the Land of Rain, where Pain recognized him and decided he could not be allowed to live. Danzō offered to join the organization in exchange for sharing Konoha intelligence, but Pain questioned him about the Sharingan in his eye.

• Kisame and Jūzō Biwa returned to the base with Danzō, while Uzumaki Sanryo recognized him as a former Konoha Elder.
• Kakuzu told Pain that Danzō was likely defeated by Orochimaru and urged the organization to execute him before he uncovered its secrets.
• Pain agreed that Danzō should not be kept, and the members gathered to meet the captured Konoha Elder.
• Danzō was relieved when the assembled members initially seemed not to recognize him, but Pain identified him as Konoha's former wartime commander.
• Danzō offered to join the organization and provide intelligence on Konoha, but Pain demanded to know how he had obtained the Sharingan in his eye.

Pain captured Danzō, took his last Sharingan, and stopped him from using the Reverse Four Symbols Seal. Uzumaki Sanryo sealed Danzō’s chakra, but warned the Akatsuki that his death would still trigger the seal, leaving them unable to kill him at their base.

• Danzō recounted his grudge against Uchiha Qingfeng, and Pain ended the conversation by using Universal Pull to seize him.
• Pain gouged out Danzō’s remaining Sharingan, leaving him unable to use Izanagi.
• Danzō tried to activate the Reverse Four Symbols Seal and take the Akatsuki Organization down with him.
• Uzumaki Sanryo restrained Danzō with Adamantine Sealing Chains and sealed his chakra with several techniques.
• Sanryo explained that Danzō’s death would still trigger the Reverse Four Symbols Seal, while Danzō recognized her name.

Pain imprisoned Danzō after Danzō realized that Uzumaki Sanryo and Uchiha Qingfeng were connected to the Akatsuki. In the Leaf Village, Qingfeng shared a meal with his friends and asked Inuzuka Hana about Bear Two.

• Danzō recognized Pain’s emerald eyes and guessed that Uzumaki Sanryo, Uchiha Qingfeng, and possibly Orochimaru were tied to the Akatsuki.
• Pain offered Danzō a Kunai to kill himself, but Danzō dropped it and was ordered imprisoned in a place with no important objects nearby.
• Qingfeng ate at home with Itachi, Konan, Anko, and the others, while Anko tried to make him pay for their cooking.
• Qingfeng asked Inuzuka Hana about Bear Two, and she explained that he mostly ate and slept and might take a long time to become a Summoning Beast.

Minato Namikaze negotiated with the Fourth Raikage over Cloud Village’s proposed Chunin Exams, seeking to avoid war while insisting the exams be held in Leaf Village. He began preparing Konoha’s genin and warned his advisors that war could still follow if Cloud Village judged the village weak.

• The Fourth Raikage prepared to attack Konoha, but Cloud Village’s elders and advisors stopped him and urged caution.
• Cloud Village invited Konoha’s genin to take part in the Chunin Exams, hoping to assess Konoha’s strength and draw its shinobi into Cloud Village.
• Minato Namikaze agreed to joint exams only if they were held in Leaf Village, while privately hoping to negotiate a safer location.
• Minato rejected the idea of entering chunin in the exams and chose Uchiha Qingfeng, Uchiha Itachi, and Yamato as potential participants.
• Minato summoned the two senior advisors, assigned them preparations, and told them Konoha must show strength because war could begin after the exams.

Uchiha Qingfeng visited Mount Myōboku to check on his Shadow Clones’ Sage Mode training, but Sage Fukasaku insisted that he train in person. After several failed attempts to balance Natural Energy, Fukasaku urged Qingfeng to stop watching and join in.

• Uchiha Qingfeng arrived at Mount Myōboku, where Sage Fukasaku scolded him for leaving four Shadow Clones to train for so long, and Qingfeng dispelled them before they could finish complaining.
• Qingfeng learned that the Shadow Clones had made substantial progress but had not mastered Sage Mode, and Sage Fukasaku told him to stay and train himself.
• Qingfeng summoned four new Shadow Clones to demonstrate their progress, and they sensed Natural Energy without the earlier aids but absorbed too much and began to petrify.
• Sage Fukasaku struck the Shadow Clones with his stone staff, and Qingfeng dispelled them and summoned replacements.
• After several rounds of training failed to produce Sage Mode, Sage Fukasaku asked why Qingfeng’s original body was still only watching.

Uchiha Qingfeng explained to his friends that his frequent absences came from training for Sage Mode at Mount Myōboku. Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze learned that the other villages would attend the Chunin Exams in Konoha and began preparing to host them.

• Inuzuka Hana, Anko, Konan, and Uchiha Itachi questioned Qingfeng about his daily disappearances, and he said he was training.
• Qingfeng revealed that he traveled to Mount Myōboku to train Sage Mode with Shadow Clones, and Uchiha Itachi explained the sacred lands and Sage Mode to the others.
• Qingfeng warned that Sage Mode training was dangerous and admitted he might need to keep traveling for days or years before mastering it.
• Minato Namikaze received Kumogakure's agreement to hold the Chunin Exams in Konoha and learned the other villages had been invited.
• Minato recognized that the visiting villages would be assessing Konoha and decided to make the exams grand while preparing quickly.

Minato prepared Konoha for the joint Chunin Exams while choosing candidates and managing the Land of Fire daimyo’s plans to attend. In Hidden Mist, Genshi refused to send a delegation, while Kimimaro’s determination to continue the Kaguya Clan’s bloodline began attracting other clans’ interest.

• Minato accepted requests from smaller villages to join the Chunin Exams, set the exam date, and learned that the Land of Fire daimyo intended to attend.
• Minato selected Uchiha Qingfeng, Uchiha Itachi, and Yamato for one team and searched for candidates to fill a second team.
• Mei Terumi urged Genshi to let Hidden Mist attend, but Genshi refused because the village was too weak and the gathering would be dangerous.
• Mei Terumi recalled how Kimimaro began asking women to bear his children so he could preserve the Kaguya Clan and spread its bloodline.
• Hidden Mist clans took an interest in Kimimaro and began preparing potential wives for him while he continued approaching women on the street.

The Fourth Raikage selected two formidable teams for the joint Chunin Exams, while Rasa and Chiyo decided Sunagakure would stay out. Ōnoki chose Deidara, Black Earth, and Akatsuchi to represent Iwagakure, leaving the villages’ plans for the exams in motion.

• The Fourth Raikage chose Darui, C, and Yugito Nii as one team, and Samui, Omoi, and Karui as another, to demonstrate Kumogakure’s strength at Konoha.
• Rasa reviewed Sunagakure’s weak genin roster and considered declining the joint Chunin Exams.
• Chiyo told Rasa that the Land of Water would not participate, and Rasa agreed to withdraw Sunagakure as well.
• Chiyo rejected Rasa’s idea of sending someone merely to show their faces and advised him to focus on village stability and the economy.
• Rasa and Chiyo decided to decline the invitation on the grounds that Sunagakure had recently held its own Chunin Exams.
• Ōnoki decided to bring Deidara, Black Earth, and Akatsuchi to Konoha after another explosion reminded him of Deidara’s disruptive behavior.

Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura failed repeatedly to sneak out of the Akatsuki base, so they accepted a mission from Pain to escort River Country genin to Konoha for the Joint Chunin Exams. They left for River Country, where the chapter ends as they arrive at the Daimyo's Mansion to meet the genin.

• Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura tried eight escape routes from the base but Pain kept appearing ahead of them.
• Uzumaki Sanryo asked Pain to let them leave, and he assigned them a mission escorting River Country genin to Konoha and back.
• Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura accepted the mission and packed supplies to disguise their hair before departing.
• The pair traveled through River Country toward its capital, planning to meet the genin before continuing to Konoha.
• Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura arrived at the Daimyo's Mansion in River Country.

Minato Namikaze told Uchiha Qingfeng and Uchiha Itachi that they had been registered for the first Joint Chunin Exams, which would begin in three days. Qingfeng learned that the Land of Water and the Land of Wind would not participate, and Minato also allowed Anko and the other girls to enter as a team.

• Minato arrived while Qingfeng and his friends were eating and announced that Qingfeng and Itachi had been registered for the Joint Chunin Exams with Yamato.
• Minato explained that a looming conflict with the Land of Lightning had been redirected into the exams after Hyuga Hiashi killed Kumogakure envoys.
• Qingfeng panicked at the thought that Mei Terumi might attend and recognize him, but Minato said the Land of Water and the Land of Wind would not participate.
• Minato said the exams would begin in three days, and Qingfeng left Itachi to carry the team's hopes of winning.
• Anko asked if she and the other girls could compete, and Minato allowed them to participate while warning them to surrender if they faced teams from the Land of Lightning or the Land of Earth.

Uchiha Qingfeng watched the foreign teams arriving for the joint Chunin Exams while Minato Namikaze sent Shisui Uchiha to investigate the missing daimyo. At the Daimyo’s Mansion, the daimyo was trapped by Kazuma’s rebellion and relied on Asuma, Jiriku, and four Guardians to protect him.

• Uchiha Qingfeng observed the arriving exam teams with Uchiha Itachi, Yamato, and four young ladies, and dismissed the small-country teams as weaklings.
• Minato Namikaze worried that the daimyo had gone missing and sent Shisui Uchiha alone to the Daimyo’s Mansion.
• Shisui Uchiha accepted the mission, pleased that relations between Konoha and the Uchiha had improved, while Danzō remained imprisoned in the Land of Rain.
• The daimyo hid in a room as Kazuma and his followers rebelled, seeking to remove him and deny Leaf Village’s authority.
• Asuma Sarutobi and Jiriku guarded the daimyo, while Jiriku persuaded Kitako, Nanwu, Xitu, and Dongmao to join their defense.

Asuma and Jiriku planned to protect the Daimyo from Kazuma by luring the attackers into a trap, while the Daimyo disguised himself as a servant and escaped. Kazuma’s spies reported that the palace seemed nearly undefended, so Kazuma decided to attack that night.

• Asuma, Jiriku, and Kitako discussed how to protect the Daimyo and learned that the Lightning Style Four Brothers’ forbidden technique required all four of them to prepare it together.
• The Daimyo agreed to disguise himself as a servant and escape while Asuma posed as his double and waited at the palace gates.
• The Daimyo publicly declared that he would stand with the palace before changing clothes and slipping away with the servants.
• Asuma stayed behind as the fake Daimyo with Jiriku and the remaining guardian ninja while Kazuma’s spies watched the palace.
• Kazuma heard that the Daimyo, Asuma, and Jiriku remained in the palace and ordered his people to attack that night.

Asuma and Jiriku confronted Kazuma’s faction at the palace after the daimyo secretly escaped to a hidden shelter. Their battle began with Kazuma trying to destroy the palace, and Asuma interrupted his next attack before he could strike again.

• The disguised daimyo hid in a shelter while the Lightning Style Four Brothers prepared to activate their forbidden technique if fighting broke out.
• Asuma and Jiriku waited at the palace as Kazuma’s group arrived and demanded the daimyo’s submission.
• Asuma revealed his identity and refused Kazuma’s offer, then he and Jiriku faced the five attackers while Kazuma rushed toward the palace.
• Jiriku used Raigo: Thousand-Armed Kill to hold off five opponents, while Asuma attacked Kazuma with extended Chakra Blade swords.
• Kazuma’s Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld shook the palace but failed to bring it down, and Asuma stopped him from forming Hand Seals for another attack.

Asuma and Jiriku fought Kazuma and his men while the Lightning Style Four Brothers prepared a devastating forbidden technique. The attack destroyed the palace but spared the relocated daimyo, and Kazuma escaped after Asuma exposed the deception.

• Asuma pressed Kazuma with his Chakra Blades while Jiriku struggled to hold off five attackers with Wrathful Vajra.
• The Lightning Style Four Brothers unleashed a forbidden technique that erased the palace and killed Kazuma's five companions.
• Jiriku collapsed from exhaustion, while Asuma and Kazuma stared at the devastation.
• Kazuma realized the daimyo had been moved in advance and grew furious as Asuma resumed their fight.
• Kazuma used Earth Style to escape after Asuma wounded him again without striking a vital spot.

Uchiha Qingfeng watched the Stone Village delegation arrive for the Chunin Exams and briefed Itachi on the genin accompanying Ōnoki. When Deidara tried to use explosive clay near Leaf Village’s gate, Qingfeng stopped him with Sharingan genjutsu and seized the clay.

• Uchiha Qingfeng brought Itachi to watch the village gate and identified Ōnoki, Akatsuchi, Deidara, and Kurotsuchi as the Stone Village delegation.
• Qingfeng told Itachi about the Stone genin’s abilities and warned him that Kurotsuchi was the one to watch most closely.
• Minato Namikaze welcomed Ōnoki, who mocked him, and Minato retorted by recalling his ability to fight multiple opponents alone.
• Kurotsuchi and Deidara came to observe the gate, and Deidara put explosive clay in his mouth after being startled by Qingfeng’s group.
• Qingfeng trapped Deidara in a Sharingan genjutsu, grabbed him, and poured the explosive clay from his mouth while Kurotsuchi held back.

After Qingfeng stopped Deidara from causing an explosion, the Leaf and Stone ninjas introduced themselves and discussed the upcoming Chunin Exams. Kurotsuchi grew suspicious of how Qingfeng knew about Deidara’s Explosive Clay, while Deidara resolved to train his left eye to challenge the Sharingan; then more visitors arrived from the Land of Lightning.

• Qingfeng released Deidara from the Sharingan’s control and explained that the genjutsu had frightened him, while Kurotsuchi urged Deidara to calm down.
• Anko challenged Qingfeng and Itachi about their presence, and Itachi explained that they had come to observe their opponents before the Chunin Exams.
• Kurotsuchi introduced herself and Deidara to Itachi and Qingfeng, then exchanged polite words with the Leaf ninjas.
• Deidara focused on Qingfeng and decided to train his left eye so he could someday contend with the Sharingan.
• Kurotsuchi wondered how Qingfeng had known about Explosive Clay and suspected that Konoha had spies in Stone Village.
• Qingfeng noticed more people arriving and recognized them as visitors from the Land of Lightning.

The Fourth Raikage arrived in Konoha with Kumogakure’s Chunin Exam team, and Qingfeng identified their fighters for Itachi. The discovery that Yugito Nii, a near-perfect Two-Tails Jinchuriki, was among them left Qingfeng wondering whether Itachi could win and Kurotsuchi questioning the rules.

• The Fourth Raikage arrived with six Kumogakure Ninja and exchanged greetings with Minato Namikaze.
• Qingfeng identified Darui and dismissed the other Kumogakure participants as no match for Itachi.
• Qingfeng told Itachi he planned to surrender because becoming a Chunin would be boring and bring unwanted duties.
• Qingfeng recognized Yugito Nii as the near-perfect Two-Tails Jinchuriki, prompting Kurotsuchi to take Deidara and consult the Tsuchikage about the rules.
• Qingfeng asked Itachi whether he could defeat a Jinchuriki, and Itachi admitted he did not know.

Uchiha Qingfeng worried about facing the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii, and was startled when Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura arrived with the Land of Rivers team. Minato Namikaze warned Qingfeng and the other Leaf Village representatives that losing could lead to war, then demonstrated the Space-Time Barrier, a one-use technique that could teleport objects.

• Uzumaki Qingfeng saw that Kurotsuchi and Deidara had left, then spotted Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura arriving at Leaf Village with the Land of Rivers team.
• Minato Namikaze summoned Qingfeng and Itachi, told them that the Land of Lightning's team included the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, and warned that a loss could trigger war.
• Qingfeng said they could surrender if they could not win, but Minato insisted they give their best effort and explained that Chunin promotion depended on overall performance, not rankings.
• Minato asked whether Qingfeng could use Flying Thunder God to transfer others and whether he knew the Space-Time Barrier.
• Minato took Qingfeng to Hokage Rock and demonstrated how the Space-Time Barrier teleported a stone when it crossed the spatial formula.

Qingfeng trained with Minato Namikaze to learn a space-time barrier that could redirect the Two-Tails’ attacks, while Kushina and the Sealing Team prepared sealing scrolls as a backup. Meanwhile, Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura found Qingfeng’s home and arrived there, unaware that Qingfeng was away training with Minato.

• Qingfeng asked whether he could use the space-time technique to send a Chunin Exams opponent out of the arena, and Minato Namikaze warned him not to humiliate the Land of Lightning.
• Minato Namikaze began teaching Qingfeng the space-time barrier, while Kushina and the Sealing Team prepared scrolls containing sealing jutsu.
• Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura set out to find Qingfeng’s home and decided to ask for directions at Ichiraku Ramen.
• The sisters asked Ichiraku Uncle where the veterinarian lived, and he directed them to the Pharmacy on Commercial Street.
• Uzumaki Sanryo and Yakura reached the Pharmacy while Qingfeng continued training atop Hokage Rock with Minato Namikaze.