Chapter Summaries

Baishi used Wood Release, Susanoo, and Lightning Release to destroy Nagato's Chibaku Tensei and save Konan. Nagato was left severely injured, while Konan's reverence for Baishi deepened into obsession.

• Baishi protected Konan from the boulders drawn toward Chibaku Tensei and summoned a Wooden Person with Wood Release.
• Baishi clad the Wooden Person in Susanoo armor, creating a monstrous warrior that began to distort Chibaku Tensei's gravity.
• Baishi formed a giant sword, charged it with Lightning Release, and cleaved through Chibaku Tensei's core.
• The meteor exploded and its gravitational field collapsed, sending the falling rocks crashing into the Sighing Poison Marsh.
• Konan's old faith was crushed as she became deeply reverent and obsessed with Baishi.
• Nagato's Black Receivers snapped, and he collapsed in his wheelchair, coughing blood and fragments of internal organs.

Baishi defeated the remaining Paths of Pain in the Sighing Poison Marsh, traced Nagato through the Black Receiver, and destroyed Deva Path Pain. He took Konan to Nagato’s secret chamber, where he confronted the crippled, defeated man.

• Baishi destroyed the Animal Path, Human Path, and Naraka Path with lightning, close combat, and Kamui.
• Baishi traced Nagato through Deva Path Pain’s Black Receiver, then snapped Deva Path Pain’s neck.
• Baishi forced Konan to accompany him through Kamui to the deepest part of the Steel Tower.
• Nagato, weakened and unable to move after losing the Six Paths of Pain, watched Baishi arrive with Konan.
• Baishi greeted Nagato with mockery as Nagato struggled to speak.

Baishi forced Nagato to surrender Akatsuki by offering to revive Yahiko, then discovered evidence that Black Zetsu had been nearby. Akatsuki became Baishi’s secret weapon, while the spatial trace on the Demonic Statue fragment pointed toward the Land of Wind.

• Baishi subdued Nagato and ordered Konan to tell him she was now Baishi’s private property.
• Konan urged Nagato to give up and live for Yahiko, and Nagato asked Baishi to kill him.
• Baishi offered to restore Nagato’s strength and let him revive Yahiko if Nagato handed over Akatsuki.
• Baishi healed Konan to prove his power, and Nagato surrendered the ring marked “Zero.”
• Baishi took control of Akatsuki and sensed Black Zetsu’s spatial trace on a fragment of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Baishi forced Nagato to keep Akatsuki as its public leader while reorganizing it into a covert force that killed opposition to Konoha. After tracing the missing Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to the Land of Wind, Baishi ordered Nagato to prepare Akatsuki for a hunt there.

• Baishi kept Nagato as Pain, ordered him to purge Akatsuki's weak members, and redirected the organization toward killing those who opposed Baishi's rule.
• Baishi made Konan promise to supervise Nagato as he reorganized Akatsuki.
• Baishi uncovered a fragment of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and used his Mangekyō Sharingan to trace its space-time trail to the Land of Wind.
• Baishi deduced that Black Zetsu had taken the statue toward Shukaku's sealing ground and destroyed the remaining fragment.
• Baishi gave Nagato three days to remove disobedient Akatsuki members, then ordered him to take the survivors to the Land of Wind to hunt Black Zetsu.

Nagato carried out Baishi’s purge of Akatsuki’s disobedient members and promoted Kisame, while Konan secretly reported the meeting to Baishi. The chapter ended with Nagato realizing Zetsu had vanished and could no longer be contacted.

• Nagato summoned Akatsuki’s members and used Pain to announce charges against missing-nin, killing those named on the List through Black Receivers.
• Pain warned the surviving members against resistance, then dismissed them and promoted Kisame to replace Sasori’s dead partner in the Land of Wind.
• Nagato ordered Kisame to find Sasori and help complete the organization’s mission, insisting that Sasori’s will was his own.
• Nagato coughed up blood after the meeting, while Konan secretly sent Baishi a report about the purge, Kisame, and the mission.
• Nagato noticed Zetsu had missed the meeting and discovered he could no longer reach him through Chakra perception.

Baishi drained Yugito Nii’s Two-Tails Chakra in Konoha’s underground prison to restore and strengthen himself. As he stopped before killing her, Matatabi sensed the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path within Baishi’s Chakra and recoiled in terror.

• Baishi entered the forbidden prison after confirming the Akatsuki purge was complete and found Yugito Nii chained inside.
• Baishi used Wood Release Vines to pierce Yugito’s Chakra points and siphon the Two-Tails’ Chakra.
• Matatabi erupted in a Chakra cloak, but Baishi suppressed it with his Mangekyō Sharingan and continued absorbing its Chakra.
• Yugito weakened to the brink of death and begged Baishi to kill her, but he kept draining her until her reserves were nearly spent.
• Matatabi suddenly trembled in fear after sensing the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path reflected within Baishi’s Chakra.

Baishi strengthened the seals in his underground secret room and activated the Life Script Simulator to find a way to control Sasori. The simulation showed Sasori completing the Third Kazekage puppet, ending as the puppet's eyes strangely began to move.

• Baishi drained Yugito's Two-Tails Chakra and ordered ANBU to keep her alive as a battery.
• Baishi reinforced his underground secret room with powerful sealing formulas to block detection and information leaks.
• Baishi activated the Life Script Simulator and targeted Sasori, paying a far greater Chakra cost than in previous simulations.
• Baishi's consciousness arrived in the Land of Wind and watched Sasori modify a captive Sunagakure ANBU beside the Third Kazekage Human Puppet.
• The simulation froze as Sasori raised a poisoned blade, and the Third Kazekage puppet's eyes began to move.

Baishi used the Simulator to uncover Sasori’s traumatic past and analyze the Third Kazekage puppet’s fatal weaknesses. As Sasori prepared to kill a captured Sunagakure ANBU, Baishi chose to intervene and planned to make Sasori fear him.

• Baishi reviewed Sasori’s memories and traced his obsession with eternal puppets to his fear of loss.
• Baishi scanned the Third Kazekage puppet and identified vulnerabilities in its seal and right-arm joint.
• Sasori praised the puppet’s eternal beauty and dismissed Rasa and Sunagakure’s elders.
• Sasori raised Hiruko’s poisoned stinger to kill the captured ANBU.
• Baishi chose to intervene before Sasori struck.

Baishi overwhelmed Sasori in his cavern, dismantling the Third Kazekage puppet and destroying the scroll containing Sasori’s hundred-puppet army. He subdued Sasori and began carving a Waning Moon Curse Mark into his living core, claiming Sasori’s art and eternity.

• Baishi appeared above Sasori’s cavern and declared that he had come to collect Sasori’s artwork.
• Baishi dismantled the Third Kazekage puppet’s Iron Sand attack and used Wood Release to seize and destroy the puppet.
• Baishi’s Wooden Fibers rotted the scroll holding Sasori’s hundred puppets before Sasori could summon them.
• Baishi immobilized Sasori, forced him to kneel, and reached through Hiruko’s shell to grasp Sasori’s living core.
• Baishi began engraving a Waning Moon Curse Mark into Sasori’s heart and claimed Sasori’s art and eternity.

After returning from the simulation, Baishi endured the painful real-world backlash of extracting the Puppet Core and survived as his Sage Body and Hashirama Cells rebuilt his Chakra pathways. He tested his newfound precision with invisible Chakra threads and wondered whether Black Zetsu could become an eternal puppet.

• Baishi returned from the simulation with severe spiritual backlash and received SSS-Rank rewards, including the Puppet Core, massive Chakra, and Sasori's poison resistance.
• Baishi extracted the Puppet Core, triggering a painful reconstruction of his Meridian system.
• Baishi's Sage Body vitality and Hashirama Cells repeatedly repaired his shattered Chakra pathways until the reconstruction ended.
• Baishi discovered that his Chakra control had become extraordinarily precise and formed a nearly invisible thread from his fingertip.
• Baishi used the thread to grind a speck of dust to nothing, then considered turning Black Zetsu into an eternal work of art.

Baishi prepared to leave Konoha for the Land of Wind to confront its hidden threats, while Kushina stayed behind to guard the village. Pakura pledged to help him take revenge on Sunagakure and revealed a secret passage into the Kazekage Building.

• Baishi returned to the Hokage Residence, where Kushina noticed his injuries and traces of another woman's Chakra.
• Baishi persuaded Kushina to remain in Konoha and protect it while he went on a mission, then replenished his Chakra through her.
• Baishi summoned Pakura and ordered her to prepare for their trip to the Land of Wind.
• Pakura vowed to destroy Sunagakure and kill Rasa at Baishi's command.
• Pakura told Baishi about a hidden underground passage that led to the lowest level of the Kazekage Building.

Black Zetsu recruited Yura to help him target the One-Tail and learned that Sunagakure was preparing to transfer Shukaku from the dying Bunpuku. He left Yura to gather details about the transfer, setting up an ambush.

• Black Zetsu met Yura at an oasis and exploited Yura's hatred of Rasa to recruit him.
• Black Zetsu implanted White Zetsu Cells in Yura, boosting his power and binding him to Black Zetsu.
• Black Zetsu ordered Yura to obtain information about Shukaku's seal, Jinchuriki, and the next transfer.
• Yura revealed that Bunpuku was near death and Rasa was secretly preparing to transfer the One-Tail.
• Black Zetsu recognized the transfer as an opportunity to ambush Shukaku and asked Yura how long Bunpuku could survive.

Rasa struggled to contain Sunagakure’s anger over the humiliating treaty with Konoha, while Chiyo forced the factions to hold together. The meeting ended in crisis when Chiyo coughed up blood and the seal on Bunpuku, the One-Tail’s jinchūriki, began to crack.

• Rasa brooded over the treaty’s harsh terms and the collapse of his authority in Sunagakure.
• Baki and other Radical Faction ninjas condemned Rasa and demanded that Sunagakure tear up the treaty and fight Konoha.
• Rasa used his Gold Dust to silence the protesters and warned that resisting Konoha would destroy the village.
• Chiyo threatened the radicals and restored order, insisting that Sunagakure needed unity.
• Chiyo suddenly coughed up blood, and an ANBU reported that the seal on Bunpuku had started to crack.

As Bunpuku’s life failed and Shukaku’s seal began to crack, Rasa secretly ordered the tailed beast transferred into his newborn son, Gaara, to prevent Sunagakure’s destruction. An unseen observer discovered the plan and vanished with the secret.

• An ANBU operative reported that Bunpuku was dying and the seal holding Shukaku had cracked, prompting Rasa to end the meeting and lock down the Kazekage Building.
• Rasa visited Bunpuku in the shrine and learned that Shukaku could break free before dawn.
• Rasa ordered a secret Tailed Beast Transfer Ritual and named his newborn son Gaara as the new vessel.
• A shadowy observer watched the secret preparations and disappeared, carrying knowledge of Rasa’s plan.

Baishi arrived at an oasis inn in the Land of Wind with Pakura and Konan, then seized the inn as a staging point for his plans against Sunagakure and Black Zetsu. As Konan set up a barrier, she detected an unknown chakra presence deep underground.

• Baishi, Pakura, and Konan crossed the desert and reached an inn on the route to Sunagakure.
• Baishi used his Sharingan to frighten the innkeeper into clearing the inn and sending its guests away.
• Baishi took the room overlooking the oasis and told Pakura to wait before making their move against Rasa and their other targets.
• Baishi planned to take Shukaku and Gaara while weakening Sunagakure and pursuing Black Zetsu.
• Konan's paper barrier encountered resistance underground, and she reported a faint chakra fluctuation beneath the inn to Baishi.

Baishi confronted Pakura about her lingering homesickness and forced her to reaffirm her loyalty before sending her to foment rebellion in Sunagakure. Pakura accepted a white mask and left the inn as Dark Moon, ready to serve as Baishi’s weapon against Rasa.

• Konan told Baishi that a strange, rule-like force underground had blocked her Paper Release from sensing it.
• Baishi accused Pakura of longing for the village that had betrayed her, then berated and struck her until she renounced her doubts and knelt to him.
• Baishi gave Pakura a white mask and ordered her to turn her former subordinates against Rasa before Baishi attacked Sunagakure.
• Pakura put on the mask, embraced the name Dark Moon, and left the inn to carry out Baishi’s orders.

Baishi received Akatsuki intelligence about Sasori of the Red Sands and learned that White Zetsu clones had gathered near him, leading him to suspect Black Zetsu was trying to recruit Sasori to capture the One-Tail. He ordered Konan to tell Nagato to keep the plan unchanged while closely monitoring Zetsu and discovering what he had promised Sasori.

• Konan gave Baishi intelligence from Nagato about Sasori's movements and a map marking Desolate Gorge as Sasori's likely workshop.
• Baishi read Konan's added warning that countless White Zetsu clone traces had appeared near Sasori's location.
• Konan explained that she added the warning because Nagato seemed ready to ignore information about Zetsu.
• Baishi suspected Black Zetsu was recruiting Sasori to help capture the One-Tail.
• Baishi ordered Konan to tell Nagato to continue the plan to capture the One-Tail with Sasori and Kisame, while watching Zetsu and finding out what he had promised Sasori.

Sasori perfected his Third Kazekage Puppet before White Zetsu tempted him with a chance to capture Shukaku and make him a Human Puppet. Sasori agreed to cooperate while secretly planning to turn White Zetsu into a specimen, as Baishi watched through his remote surveillance.

• Sasori tested the Third Kazekage Puppet's Iron Sand Shower on a captive and admired its precise control.
• White Zetsu emerged in Sasori's cavern and offered information about Sunagakure's plan to transfer Shukaku into Gaara.
• Baishi watched Sasori and White Zetsu through spores hidden in an Akatsuki ANBU corpse and recognized their conflicting schemes.
• White Zetsu promised Sasori Sunagakure's defenses and the transfer ritual's details in exchange for Shukaku's Chakra.
• Sasori agreed to work with White Zetsu but secretly resolved to capture him and turn him into a specimen.

Baishi watched Sasori accept Black Zetsu’s offer of cooperation and uncovered suspicious traces on the Sunagakure deployment map. He ordered Sasori to feign fanatical support and arranged to use the map to deepen Obito’s suspicions, but a Konoha sealing mark suggested another hidden player.

• Sasori agreed to cooperate with White Zetsu, who handed him a scroll containing Sunagakure’s defense deployment map.
• Baishi detected Orochimaru’s scent on the scroll and suspected a secret alliance between Orochimaru and Black Zetsu.
• Baishi told Konan to have Sasori act eager to help, then pass the unaltered map to Nagato so its scent could be magnified and leaked to Obito.
• Baishi noticed an ancient Konoha sealing mark on the scroll’s wax seal and wondered whether it had been left by the Third Hokage.

Baishi used his Mangekyō Sharingan and precise Chakra Threads to expose the cipher hidden in Sasori's map of Sunagakure's defenses. He uncovered Black Zetsu's plan to sacrifice the village's people and resolved to turn the coming disaster to his own advantage.

• Baishi spotted traces of Orochimaru and Konoha's Sarutobi clan on the Scroll given to Sasori by White Zetsu.
• Baishi used Chakra Threads to connect to his Wood Release Spore in Desolate Gorge and examine the Scroll in detail.
• Baishi decoded the map using a hidden Konoha ANBU encryption formula and discovered that it marked civilian and ninja targets as sacrificial offerings.
• Baishi realized Black Zetsu intended to trigger a Demonic Statue Fragment beneath Sunagakure during the Tailed Beast Transfer Ritual, draining the life force and souls of the village's people.
• Baishi welcomed the scheme as an opportunity to seize control of the Land of Wind and gathered Yang Release Chakra as he declared Rasa's time was up.