Chapter Summaries

Yahiko offered his life to Hanzo the Salamander in exchange for the civilians’ safety, but Konan revealed that Ryōken was nearby. Ryōken arrived and overwhelmed Hanzo with his sword intent, leaving the demigod shaken as he confronted him over threatening his students.

• Hanzo the Salamander killed Gao Yi, and Yahiko offered to die and disband Akatsuki if Hanzo spared the valley’s civilians.
• Konan warned Hanzo that Ryōken might learn of his actions, but Hanzo claimed he could still kill Yahiko and Konan.
• Ryōken arrived, and his sword intent made Hanzo and the Rain Ninja freeze in fear.
• Yahiko joyfully greeted his teacher and learned that Konan had known Ryōken was there since the previous night.
• Ryōken asked Hanzo whether he dared lay a hand on his students, then spoke of a swordsman’s need to press forward without hesitation, leaving Hanzo shaken.

Ryōken tested Hanzo the Salamander’s conviction in a duel and defeated him, earning Hanzo’s respect and preventing a battle between the Rain Ninja and Akatsuki. Yahiko greeted Ryōken as his teacher, and Ryōken recognized how much he had matured.

• Ryōken asked Hanzo the Salamander to show his conviction, and Hanzo answered by unleashing his Flash technique.
• Hanzo and Ryōken clashed with a sickle and a branch as the watching Rain Ninja and Akatsuki members looked on.
• Ryōken ended the duel with a powerful thrust that damaged Hanzo’s sickle and forced him to stagger back bleeding.
• Hanzo thanked Ryōken for sparing his life and tried to bow as his disciple, but Ryōken stopped him and told him late bloomers could still achieve greatness.
• Konan joked that Hanzo was now her fellow disciple and should greet his senior sister, while both groups relaxed as the threat of battle passed.
• Yahiko greeted Ryōken as his teacher, and Ryōken remarked that Yahiko had grown up.

Ryōken showed Yahiko that his power could bring peace by cutting away the clouds over the Land of Rain and flooding it with sunlight. He led the Akatsuki to Amegakure with Hanzo, while Yahiko began to see strength as the key to protecting peace.

• Hanzo invited the Akatsuki to move to Amegakure and offered Yahiko help, then Ryōken promised to show him what peace meant.
• Ryōken drew Starry Night and sliced away the dark clouds over the Land of Rain, revealing sunlight across a vast region.
• Yahiko and Hanzo marveled at Ryōken’s power, and Ryōken declared that the sunlight was peace.
• Konan organized the Akatsuki to depart for Amegakure, where Hanzo’s Rain Ninja escorted the group without incident.
• Yahiko reflected that overwhelming strength could protect peace and resolved to become stronger.
• The Rain Ninja and civilians in Amegakure stared in disbelief as Hanzo respectfully led the way for Ryōken.

Ryōken’s arrival brought peace and new privileges to the Land of Rain, while Danzo urged Hiruzen Sarutobi to control him. During his stay in Amegakure, Ryōken considered his soul research and rescued Konan when her paper wings failed in the rain, then showed her how he could fly.

• Hanzo the Salamander spread news of Ryōken’s arrival, and Ryōken warned him not to do so again.
• Foreign ninjas withdrew from the Land of Rain, and merchants from the country received unusually favorable treatment.
• Danzo urged Hiruzen Sarutobi to bring Ryōken under Konoha’s control, but Hiruzen stayed silent.
• Ryōken considered using the Meteorite of Hoshigakure as a source of natural chakra for his soul research.
• Konan flew with paper wings until the rain soaked them, and Ryōken caught her before she hit the ground.
• Ryōken lifted Konan with a whirlwind, and she excitedly asked him to teach her how to fly.

Ryōken brought Konan and Yahiko to Hoshigakure to take its dangerous meteorite, the Star. At the village’s border, Yahiko protected the group from an ambush, but Aka ordered the Star Ninja to attack them with the Mysterious Peacock Method.

• Ryōken agreed to bring Konan and Yahiko along on his trip to Hoshigakure, and trained Yahiko with the Added-Weight Rock Technique during their journey.
• Ryōken explained that he intended to take Hoshigakure’s Star because its power was too dangerous for the village to control.
• Yahiko detected a hidden ninja near Hoshigakure’s border and struck him with Water Dragon Bullet Technique.
• Yahiko blocked the Star Ninja’s shuriken with Water Wall as more than a dozen ninjas surrounded the group.
• After a Star Ninja blamed them for the dead scout and accused them of seeking the Star, Aka ordered his forces to attack with the Mysterious Peacock Method.

Ryōken reached Hoshigakure with Konan and Yahiko after effortlessly defeating the Star Ninja’s attack and demanding the meteorite. The Third Hoshikage agreed to give it to him and led the group to the village, where the meteorite had first been found.

• Ryōken sliced through the Star Ninja’s violet-claw attack with one sword strike, cutting down the forests on both sides and terrifying Aka.
• Aka recognized Ryōken and led him toward the Third Hoshikage, who arrived with several dozen ninja.
• Ryōken said he had come for the Star, and the Third Hoshikage agreed to give up the meteorite.
• Akahoshi protested, but Aka slapped him and explained who Ryōken was; Ryōken dismissed the boy’s insolence.
• The Third Hoshikage led Ryōken, Konan, and Yahiko to Hoshigakure, built inside the crater where the First Hoshikage had found the meteorite.

Ryōken examined Hoshigakure’s harmful Meteorite and healed Hotaruboshi of the injuries it had caused. He said he would stay in Hoshigakure for a while and approached the Meteorite, intending to claim its power.

• The Third Hoshikage brought Ryōken into the building housing the Meteorite and explained its chakra-amplifying power and danger.
• Natsuhiboshi recognized Ryōken and blushed, while Hotaruboshi objected when the Third Hoshikage announced that Ryōken would take the Meteorite.
• Ryōken touched Hotaruboshi and used pale blue chakra to heal the damage the Meteorite had caused him.
• Natsuhiboshi let go of Ryōken and scolded Hotaruboshi for embarrassing her in front of him.
• Ryōken told the Third Hoshikage he would remain in Hoshigakure for a while, then walked toward the Meteorite.

Ryōken used the meteorite to refine the Ten-Tails' chakra, awakening Kaguya Otsutsuki's will inside it. After his Nascent Sword Soul shattered her will, Kaguya realized an outsider had interfered and began to reconsider her plans.

• Ryōken examined the meteorite and decided to refine it using his soul power, despite the risks.
• Ryōken separated the Ten-Tails' chakra into physical and spiritual energy, awakening a powerful will within the meteorite.
• Kaguya Otsutsuki confronted Ryōken in his soul sea, but his Nascent Sword Soul suppressed her and he identified her.
• Ryōken destroyed Kaguya's will, allowing him to continue refining the meteorite's chakra.
• Kaguya Otsutsuki awoke in Genesis Egg Space and concluded that Ryōken was a young outsider with a Sword Soul, then resolved to proceed more cautiously and cursed Black Zetsu's inefficiency.

Ryōken refined the Ten-Tails chakra from the meteorite, strengthening his body and soul, then prepared to leave Hoshigakure. He gave the village a scroll of ninjutsu and departed with Yahiko, while Natsuhiboshi promised to visit him in the future.

• Ryōken absorbed the meteorite’s Ten-Tails chakra, refining his body and gradually strengthening his Nascent Sword Soul.
• Konan told Ryōken that Natsuhiboshi and Hotaruboshi had come to visit again.
• Ryōken gave Hotaruboshi a ninjutsu scroll for Hoshigakure and reassured Natsuhiboshi that she could visit him.
• Natsuhiboshi and Hotaruboshi called after Ryōken as he left Hoshigakure with Yahiko, then Ryōken used the Added-Weight Rock Technique on Yahiko.
• The Third Hoshikage found several B-rank techniques and the hand-sign-free Rasengan in the scroll, and urged Natsuhiboshi to keep her promise to visit Ryōken.

Ryōken traveled with Konan and Yahiko in a merchant caravan while they explored the world. Their journey was interrupted when Ryōken suddenly flew toward Konoha in a rage, leaving Konan and Yahiko behind with Old Hett.

• Konan persuaded Ryōken to join a merchant caravan, and she and Yahiko dressed in costumes they had taken from a theater troupe.
• Ryōken's group traveled with the caravan for two months, and Yahiko became less impulsive while Konan grew more playful.
• At a busy town in the Land of Fire, merchants gathered to buy Avarosa goods, including fur coats, weapons, armor, and special rice seeds.
• Yahiko went to speak with Old Hett when a furious roar shook the town and Ryōken sped away, destroying houses along his path.
• Konan told Yahiko that Ryōken had ordered them to stay, and she suspected something had happened in Konoha.
• Old Hett learned that the black-clad traveler was Konan and Yahiko's teacher and marveled at Ryōken's strength.

Danzo led Root in an attempt to seize Hiwa at Ryōken’s courtyard, but Wind Dragon intervened and was bound by a sealing technique. Wind Dragon summoned the Dragon Clan Covenant, awakening three powerful beings as time and space froze.

• Hiwa waited for Ryōken in his courtyard until Danzo and Root sealed off the area and surrounded her.
• Danzo explained his belief that Root protected Konoha from the shadows and prepared to control Hiwa.
• Wind Dragon unleashed a dragon breath that destroyed the courtyard and forced Danzo to flee, but Root sealed Wind Dragon with Cosmos Sealing.
• Wind Dragon chanted the Dragon Clan Covenant, awakening three enormous creatures across the ninja world.
• Heaven and earth froze, halting the golden chains as a supreme presence seemed to look upon the scene.

After the dragons rescued Hiwa from Danzo’s seal, they healed her body but discovered that her soul was wounded and she remained unconscious. To contain Danzo and the Root ninjas, the dragons cast Sky Locking Realm, while Konoha’s strongest attacks failed to break through it.

• Xiao Feng used the Dragon Clan Covenant to summon three dragons, and together they broke him free from Danzo’s seal.
• Xiao Feng urged the dragons to heal Hiwa, whose severe injuries stabilized under the Water Dragon’s Holy Healing Art, though she did not awaken because her soul had been wounded.
• The Wind Dragon urged the others to capture Danzo and the Root ninjas for Ryōken, and the four dragons cast Sky Locking Realm to trap them.
• Root ninjas found that they could not escape the gray mist or use Earth Release techniques to break it.
• Tsunade’s Super Strength punch and Hiruzen Sarutobi’s Fire Dragon Bullet Technique failed to disturb the mist as Konoha’s ninjas gathered.

The Sage of Six Paths briefly investigated the strange power over Konoha, then Ryōken arrived and confronted the village. After learning Hiwa was unconscious from a soul injury, Ryōken used a trace of his own soul energy in an attempt to awaken her.

• The Sage of Six Paths examined the gray sphere over Konoha, judged it no immediate threat, and vanished after noticing Kushina and considering the young man he could not see through.
• Ryōken appeared over Konoha, and his icy sword intent silenced the gathered villagers as Tsunade and Hatake Sakumo watched in conflict.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu that he would handle Ryōken if the conflict could not be resolved, and urged them to protect Konoha.
• Ryōken cleaved through the gray mist barrier and reached Hiwa on Wind Dragon’s back, where her soul injury had left her unconscious.
• Wind Dragon said a legendary mage’s waking potion might revive Hiwa, so Ryōken instead fed a trace of his god-level soul energy into her mind.

Ryōken stabilized Hiwa's sleeping soul with spiritual energy, then turned his fury on Danzo for harming his people. He wounded Danzo and cut down Root ninjas, while Danzo hoped the gray mist would disperse and let him escape under Konoha's protection.

• Ryōken fed spiritual energy into Hiwa's soul until it absorbed the energy and her condition stabilized.
• Ryōken resolved to punish Danzo for harming his people and severed Danzo's arm before he could finish speaking.
• Root ninjas attacked Ryōken with a barrage of ninjutsu, but he shattered their techniques and earthen barriers with a single sword strike.
• Ryōken's Sword Qi killed Root ninjas and struck the ground, churning the gray mist as Danzo hoped it would disperse.

Ryōken annihilated Danzo’s Sealing Team and tormented their souls with Soul Flame before confronting Danzo. Danzo revealed the Sharingan implanted in his body and detonated himself, shattering the remaining Sky Locking Realm barrier.

• Ryōken’s Soul Seal shattered the Sealing Team’s golden chains, killed the seven Root ninja, and pulled their souls from their bodies.
• Ryōken burned the souls with purple Soul Flame until they scattered into ashes, then turned his attention to Danzo.
• Ryōken erased the Root ninja who charged him and threatened to burn Danzo for thousands of years.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi tried to stop Ryōken, but Danzo revealed the Sharingan in his right eye and arm, including Kagami Uchiha’s eye.
• Danzo admitted that he had taken Kagami Uchiha’s eye and blamed Ryōken before detonating himself, creating a huge crater and breaking the Sky Locking Realm’s remaining power.

Ryōken exposed Danzo’s use of Izanagi and destroyed him, but Danzo revived by sacrificing two Sharingan and taunted Ryōken about Hiwa Hyuga being his weakness. Danzo remained alive, and the Konoha ninja witnessed the forbidden technique firsthand.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his hands and fell silent after Danzo’s actions toward Kagami Uchiha were exposed.
• Danzo used Izanagi to escape underground and prepared to flee to Root, but Ryōken’s voice revealed that he knew the technique.
• Ryōken split open the earth, forcing Danzo back to the surface, where Danzo gave up trying to escape.
• Danzo claimed he had nothing to say and suggested Ryōken would approve of his principles, but Ryōken called him a rat and struck him into powder.
• Danzo revived at the same spot after Izanagi consumed two Sharingan, then taunted Ryōken that Hiwa Hyuga was his weakness.
• Uchiha Fugaku restrained himself from confronting Danzo as the Konoha ninja reacted in alarm to the revival.

Danzo summoned the Shinigami with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to kill Ryōken, who studied the connection to the world beyond reality. Ryōken pierced the Shinigami’s hand and the space behind it, revealing a glimpse of what might be Pure Land Paradise.

• Danzo summoned the Uzumaki Clan’s Shinigami Mask and began performing the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, resolved to die fighting Ryōken.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted Danzo’s decision and promised to bury him in Konoha Cemetery.
• Danzo summoned a powerful Shinigami, and Ryōken used his soul power to examine its connection to another world.
• As the Shinigami reached for Ryōken’s soul, Ryōken struck with concentrated sword intent and pierced its palm and the space behind it.
• A strange world appeared through the breach, prompting the Konoha ninjas to wonder whether it was Pure Land Paradise.

Danzo empowered the Death God with Sharingan energy, allowing it to battle Ryōken with strength drawn from Pure Land Paradise. Ryōken seized Danzo’s soul and tormented him, while Hashirama Cells burst from Danzo’s corpse and grew into a towering tree.

• Danzo sacrificed the Sharingan in his right arm, strengthening the Death God and summoning a massive purple scythe.
• The Death God claimed Danzo, but Ryōken attacked it and clashed with its scythe and soul shield.
• The Sharingan in Danzo’s right eye exploded, and the Death God began pulling his soul from his body.
• Ryōken used purple flames to seize Danzo’s soul, then tormented him while Tsunade and Hatake Sakumo watched.
• With Danzo’s soul extracted and his Sharingan gone, the Hashirama Cells erupted from his corpse and grew into a towering tree.

After exposing Danzo’s Wood Release experiments, Ryōken sealed the flame tormenting Danzo and formed an Equal Contract with the Shinigami, which he believed was the world’s newly awakened consciousness. Ryōken entered Pure Land Paradise with Hiwa, and Tsunade followed just before the passage closed, leaving Hatake Sakumo and Hiruzen Sarutobi to secure the battlefield and face the aftermath.

• Konoha’s ninjas saw Wood Release growing from Danzo’s corpse, and Tsunade suspected he had stolen Hashirama Senju’s body for experiments while questioning how much Hiruzen Sarutobi knew.
• Ryōken ignored Danzo’s pleas for death and sealed the flame that was tormenting him into a scroll.
• Ryōken approached the Shinigami without malice and formed an Equal Contract with it, recognizing its consciousness as possibly belonging to the world itself.
• As the passage to Pure Land Paradise closed, Ryōken took Hiwa inside, while Tsunade rushed through after him.
• Hatake Sakumo directed the battlefield cleanup and had the ghostly domain sealed, while Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the village to keep the news secret and reassure its citizens.

Ryōken brought the injured Hiwa to Pure Land Paradise with Tsunade, hoping to find something that could help Hiwa recover. As they approached the center of the underworld, they came upon Hashirama and Tobirama Senju amid a battle between undead, and the gathered souls feared Ryōken’s group.

• Tsunade followed Ryōken into Pure Land Paradise, where he said Hiwa’s injuries had stabilized but she might not wake soon.
• Ryōken sensed a powerful aura near the Purple Moon and set off toward the center of the underworld with Hiwa and Tsunade.
• Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju watched their undead forces clash with the First Raikage’s army, whose souls fought to evolve and survive.
• Ryōken’s group approached the battlefield, and Hashirama and Tobirama recognized Tsunade among the newcomers with physical bodies.
• The First Raikage withdrew with his troops, leaving Hashirama’s side to face Ryōken’s group in silence.