Chapter Summaries

• Ōnoki’s Dust Release strikes Madara’s Susanoo, dissolving its hand and part of his body. Madara dodges the beam, but it still destroys half his body before he regenerates completely.
• Tsunade recognizes Hashirama’s face on Madara’s chest and realizes it may explain how he can use Wood Release. She confronts Madara proudly as Hashirama’s granddaughter and Konoha’s Hokage. Madara regards her with wistful curiosity, privately judging her strength against Hashirama’s.
• Madara acknowledges Ōnoki’s growth, telling him, “You’ve gotten stronger.”
• The Fourth Raikage attacks Susanoo, driven by grief and anger after sending his father back to the afterlife. His punch cracks the armor, but Madara dismisses his strength and ends the exchange.
• Madara unleashes Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees. The spreading roots force the Raikage and the other fighters—Tsunade, Gaara, Mei, Ōnoki, and Naruto—to retreat.
• Ning Xue seizes the opening created by the battlefield-wide attack. From within the Ice Binding Armor Prison, he prepares and fires Ice Release: Arrow of the Extreme North, aiming to catch Madara while he is distracted.
  Character developments and interactions: Ōnoki proves his attack can penetrate Madara’s defenses and earns Madara’s respect. Tsunade’s pride in her grandfather contrasts with Madara’s private disappointment that she does not match Hashirama’s remembered strength. The Raikage channels grief over his father into a direct but unsuccessful assault, while Ning Xue emerges as a patient strategist, waiting for the right moment to strike.
  Themes: The chapter highlights the burden of legacy, the contrast between inherited reputation and personal strength, and the struggle to exploit brief openings against an overwhelming opponent.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Five Kage appear to freeze Madara’s Susanoo with Ning Xue’s explosive ice seed, then move to seal it. The frozen figure is revealed to be a clone: the real Madara rises elsewhere and catches them off guard.
• Madara’s Susanoo strikes from underground, badly wounding Tsunade, Raikage A, Mei, and Gaara. Tsunade heals herself and shares chakra to treat the others, while Ōnoki escapes injury. A Naruto clone is cut apart.
• Madara mocks the Kage’s ideals and creates thirty-six Wood Clones, each wielding a Susanoo. The Kage fight back—Tsunade smashes armor, the Raikage attacks with speed, Gaara uses sand, Mei uses Lava Release, and Ōnoki uses Dust Release—but the Susanoo recover faster than they can be destroyed.
• A Naruto clone arrives with Sage chakra and attacks Madara with an Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan. Madara absorbs it with the Rinnegan’s Preta Path, then destroys the clone.
• Ning Xue uses a massive Sage Art: Water Syrup Spider Web to bind and gather the thirty-six Susanoo. Tsunade and the Raikage pull the web tight, allowing Ōnoki to erase the trapped giants with his Boundary Severance Technique.
• Madara acknowledges the group’s strength but escalates the battle by summoning his hundred-meter Perfect Susanoo. Ning Xue responds by pouring all his chakra into his Ice Giant, which grows to the same height.

Character developments and interactions

• The Five Kage endure heavy injuries but continue fighting, showing resolve and cooperation despite Madara’s overwhelming power. Tsunade’s healing also makes her a support for the wounded Raikage and Mei.
• Ning Xue demonstrates battlefield strategy and leadership: his web gives the Kage a chance to combine their abilities, and he prepares to meet Madara’s ultimate giant with his own.
• Ōnoki spends nearly all his remaining chakra on the decisive attack, while Tsunade and Raikage physically hold the web in place.
• Naruto’s clone sacrifices its gathered Sage chakra in a direct attack, but Madara’s absorption ability renders it ineffective.
• Madara remains contemptuous of the Kage’s ideals, but the destruction of his thirty-six Susanoo earns a brief, grudging acknowledgment.
• The central cooperation is between Ning Xue, Tsunade, Raikage A, and Ōnoki: Ning Xue binds the enemies, the two strong fighters constrain them, and Ōnoki finishes them.

Significant themes

• Cooperation against overwhelming force: The Kage succeed against the thirty-six Susanoo only by combining their distinct abilities.
• Endurance and sacrifice: The fighters keep going despite injuries, exhaustion, and dwindling chakra.
• Power versus ideals: Madara dismisses the Kage’s talk of family, peace, and protecting the world, while they insist that the future belongs to the living.
• Escalation and resilience: Each apparent victory is met by a greater threat, culminating in Ning Xue’s decision to confront Madara’s Perfect Susanoo directly.

Naruto and his allies prepared to attack Obito after learning that Madara had overwhelmed the Five Kage. In the cave, Sasuke's group joined Ning Xue's clone against Kabuto, who summoned his final Impure World Reincarnation.

• Naruto told Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Might Guy that Madara was too strong for the Five Kage, then created three Shadow Clones and charged Obito with Rasengan.
• Jiraiya advanced to support Naruto while Kakashi enlisted Killer B to launch him into the air, where he aimed his Mangekyō Sharingan at Obito.
• Ning Xue's Mōryō clone fought Kabuto in the cave, but Kabuto's healing and senjutsu-powered attacks put the clone under pressure.
• Sasuke struck Kabuto with Chidori Sharp Spear, severing his arm, then entered the cave with Itachi, Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo.
• Sasuke demanded to know Madara's location, and Kabuto summoned a large coffin, calling its occupant his final Impure World Reincarnation.

Yakushi Kabuto confronted Sasuke, Ning Xue, and Itachi while controlling an Impure World Reincarnation version of Orochimaru. He explained how he had used soul fragments to revive Orochimaru and declared that he had surpassed him and become a dragon.

• Orochimaru emerged from a coffin as an emotionless shell controlled by Yakushi Kabuto, alarming Suigetsu, Karin, Jugo, and Ning Xue.
• Kabuto declared that he had surpassed Orochimaru, while Itachi vowed to end his Impure World Reincarnation.
• Kabuto recounted his failure to reincarnate Orochimaru conventionally and explained that an ally helped him gather soul fragments for a special method.
• Kabuto claimed he had become a dragon and glimpsed the Sage of Six Paths' power, citing Madara Uchiha fighting Ning Xue's original body as proof.
• Kabuto announced that the world no longer needed Orochimaru and declared that it needed him instead.

Yakushi Kabuto revived Orochimaru with Impure World Reincarnation and claimed he had surpassed him, but Orochimaru exposed Kabuto’s imitation and insecurity. Kabuto suppressed Orochimaru’s will and left him an empty puppet as Suigetsu laughed at the exchange.

• Yakushi Kabuto used a talisman kunai to awaken Orochimaru, who recognized that he had been revived through Impure World Reincarnation.
• Kabuto boasted that he had surpassed Orochimaru and revealed that Madara Uchiha was fighting the Five Kage with power Kabuto had given him.
• Orochimaru told Kabuto that he was still imitating others and was only a collection of borrowed parts, provoking Kabuto’s anger.
• Orochimaru addressed Sasuke and remarked that he should have devoured him earlier, while Sasuke watched in silence.
• Yakushi Kabuto drove another talisman kunai into Orochimaru’s head, stripping away his will and turning him into an empty puppet.
• Suigetsu laughed and whispered to Ning Xue that Kabuto had lost his temper after failing to win an argument with Orochimaru.

Yakushi Kabuto revealed that he had combined several clans’ abilities and attacked the group with Sage Art: White Rage Technique. Ning Xue and Uchiha Itachi shielded their allies, but the technique blinded and deafened everyone while cracking the brothers’ Susanoo.

• Yakushi Kabuto attacked Suigetsu with white snakes, and Ning Xue and Karin discovered that Kabuto had incorporated abilities from Suigetsu’s, Jugo’s, and Karin’s clans.
• Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi attacked the vanished Yakushi Kabuto and Orochimaru, but both enemies regenerated after being struck.
• Jugo and Suigetsu repeatedly smashed Orochimaru apart, only for a new version of him to emerge from each remaining fragment.
• Yakushi Kabuto healed from Itachi’s attack and praised Sasuke’s allies before using Sage Art: White Rage Technique.
• Ning Xue enclosed Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo in an ice prison while Itachi shielded Sasuke, but the technique’s light and sound disrupted everyone and cracked both Susanoo.

Yakushi Kabuto used Sage Mode to attack Sasuke through the White Rage Technique’s blinding light and sound, but Itachi and Ning Xue intervened. Kabuto evaded Ning Xue’s Ice Burst and faced him with a taunt.

• Kabuto shut off his senses against the White Rage Technique and charged Sasuke, shattering his Susanoo with a bone-spiked strike.
• Sasuke activated his Cursed Seal and shielded himself with its hand-shaped wings as Kabuto bit into them.
• Itachi swung Susanoo’s arm at Kabuto, who sensed the attack and leaped clear.
• Ning Xue predicted Kabuto’s landing and hit the spot with an Ice Burst flower seed.
• Kabuto shed the skin on his feet to escape the ice crystals, then told Ning Xue that both the original and the clone disgusted him.

Ning Xue, Sasuke, Jugo, and Suigetsu fought Yakushi Kabuto and his controlled Orochimaru in the cavern, but Kabuto used Inorganic Reincarnation to turn the cave against them. Uchiha Itachi ordered the group to destroy the cavern, and their combined attacks brought down its central support as Orochimaru’s body watched from a cave opening.

• Ning Xue, Jugo, and Suigetsu charged Yakushi Kabuto as Sasuke restored his Susanoo, but Kabuto used Inorganic Reincarnation to make the cavern shift and attack them with living stalactites.
• Kabuto sent his controlled Orochimaru to strike Sasuke with Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, but Sasuke cut the snakes apart with his lightning-coated Kusanagi Sword.
• Ning Xue warned Sasuke about Kabuto’s underground attack, and Sasuke evaded it and set Kabuto’s hands ablaze with Amaterasu.
• Kabuto shed his burning body to escape, then dodged Suigetsu’s Kubikiribōchō before Jugo punched him into a cavern wall; Itachi’s Susanoo also knocked Orochimaru away.
• Uchiha Itachi ordered the others to destroy the cavern, and Itachi, Sasuke, and Ning Xue struck its central support pillar together, triggering a collapse that forced Kabuto to retreat.
• Orochimaru’s controlled body stood in a cave opening as a strange gleam flashed in its hollow eyes.