Recaps

Reborn in Konoha with the Hogyoku and Kyoka Suigetsu, Sosuke trained to protect those he cared about and drew the attention of Danzo. After joining Root, he began a mission with Shimura Kazumi and faced a bandit force, unaware that enemy ninjas were waiting for an opening.

• Central 46 sentenced Sosuke Aizen to Muken for treason, and he vowed to return to Seireitei after admitting that Urahara had outmaneuvered him.
• The Hogyoku revealed that it had brought Sosuke to the Naruto world, while Kyoka Suigetsu awakened within him and granted him Complete Hypnosis.
• Sosuke used Kyoka Suigetsu to defeat Uchiha Tokino, then trained in Kido and befriended Might Duy, defending Duy when others mocked his Taijutsu.
• After Sosuke challenged Morino-sensei and defeated him, the Third Hokage chose Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya as his students, while Might Duy graduated as a Genin.
• Sosuke defeated four Root operatives sent to seize him, and Danzo later recruited him by offering protection and a chance to surpass Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Sosuke joined Root under the code name Aizen and set out with Shimura Kazumi on a mission to eliminate bandits near the border.
• Sosuke and Shimura Kazumi reached the abandoned village, where he drew the bandits out and began killing them as Shimura Kazumi watched.
• Enemy ninjas prepared to attack Sosuke once his movements faltered.

Sosuke strengthened himself through the Hogyoku and the Eight Inner Gates while navigating Danzo’s schemes and leading a mission to protect Shijimi Tamako. After Pupil died in an ambush, Sosuke returned to Konoha, where Might Duy joined Shimura Kazumi’s team and prepared to spar with him.

• Sosuke killed the Sand bandits with Shimura Kazumi, returned to Konoha, and learned that his mission would be kept off the record.
• The Hogyoku drained Sosuke’s chakra, then helped him permanently open the first two Inner Gates and recover from his injuries.
• Sosuke trained with Might Duy, taught him Hakuda, and agreed to exchange those techniques for the Eight Gates manual.
• Danzo recruited Sosuke into a three-person Root team with Shackle and Pupil, then assigned them to protect Princess Tamako in the Royal Capital.
• Sosuke defeated Tamako’s samurai and trained her in the Slash Path while Shackle and Pupil taught her Taijutsu and ninjutsu.
• Rock Ninjas ambushed the group on the way to the Daimyo Mansion, killed Pupil, and were defeated by Sosuke as he protected Tamako and Shackle.
• Sosuke delivered Tamako safely to the Daimyo Mansion, gave her training instructions, and returned to Konoha while Danzo continued pursuing power.
• The Hogyoku permanently opened Sosuke’s Gate of Life, and Shimura Kazumi welcomed Might Duy onto her team before arranging a spar between him and Sosuke.

Sosuke and the other Genin took the Chunin Exams, where two Amegakure shinobi attacked and killed examinees. Sosuke defeated one attacker, captured the other, and the exams continued after Hiruzen chose to avoid war with Amegakure.

• Sosuke and Might Duy trained through a year of missions before joining the Chunin Exams, where Sosuke subdued Okamoto and helped his companions pass the written test.
• The examinees entered the Forest of Death, while Hiruzen and Danzo learned that powerful intruders had entered and ordered efforts to protect the candidates.
• Sosuke saved Uchiha Sakuya from a giant bear, while Might Duy and Tsunade fought Ukokui and Chigui, who revealed that they were not ordinary exam candidates.
• Ukokui and Chigui overwhelmed the Konoha fighters until Sosuke arrived, killed Ukokui, and captured Chigui for questioning.
• Sosuke kept Chigui in custody as Hyuga Minato joined his team, and the injured survivors learned that everyone present had passed the second exam.
• Interrogators linked the attackers to Amegakure, but Hiruzen rejected calls for retaliation and ordered the exams to continue.
• Kagami Uchiha confronted Hiruzen, who asked the Uchiha Clan to secure the exams at a new venue, and Tsunade led Sosuke and the others into the tower.

Sosuke manipulated events around Tamako and the Mitai Clan to provoke a war between Konoha and Amegakure, while secretly eliminating Danzo’s Root forces and strengthening his allies. The arc ended with Konoha preparing for war as Tsunade and Jiraiya suspected someone inside the village was operating in Amegakure.

• Hiruzen moved the Chunin exam’s third stage into Konoha, where Sosuke defeated Uchiha Tokino and intervened to protect the arena during Jiraiya’s match.
• Shijimi Tamako told Sosuke that her father planned to marry her to Mitai Shichisuke, and Sosuke promised to support her choice.
• Sosuke and his companions attacked the Mitai estate, killed its people and a Guardian Ninja, then left Tamako to claim the marriage and pursue power.
• Sosuke’s schemes helped frame Amegakure for attacks, and Konoha declared war after Amegakure and Sunagakure were blamed for escalating violence.
• Sosuke used the Hogyoku to modify Sakuya so she could use his Kido, while he and Kyoka Suigetsu grew closer.
• Shino and Inuzuka O discovered a ravine filled with mutilated Konoha ninja as Sosuke and Minato destroyed Root hideouts.
• Sosuke urged Minato to become his blade, then traveled with him and Tokino toward the Land of Wind.
• Jiraiya told Tsunade that Amegakure had spies and traitors despite Konoha Anbu’s failure to place agents there, leaving them to wonder who in Konoha was operating secretly.