Recaps

Chiba reorganized Konoha’s departments and reassigned the village’s clans to duties suited to their abilities, securing their loyalty while stripping the old leadership of influence. After assigning the former ruling clans to lesser posts, he called forward the commoner Jonin Fujiwara Takeshi and recognized his battlefield record.

• Chiba placed Aburame Shibi in charge of Konoha’s intelligence and interrogation departments and its covert agents.
• Chiba dismantled the Police Department, assigned the Uchiha to internal security and emergency response, and gave the Hyuga responsibility for border patrol.
• Chiba assigned the Inuzuka, Kurama, and Gekko clans to reconnaissance, genjutsu, and assassination duties, respectively.
• Chiba assigned the Sarutobi to wall construction, academy instruction, and logistics; he sent the Shimura to clear nearby danger zones and the Utatane and Mitokado to archive and cemetery work.
• Chiba called forward Fujiwara Takeshi and praised his Lightning Release and his record of holding off four Mist Ninjas during the Third Shinobi World War.

Chiba reorganized Konoha’s leadership, ordered Root’s members dealt with, and began fulfilling his promises as Hokage. He announced that Uzumaki Naruto’s identity as Minato Namikaze’s son would be made public and that Naruto would receive the estate withheld from his parents.

• Chiba appointed Fujiwara Takeshi to reform the Ninja Academy’s practical combat courses and warned the leaders against abusing their authority.
• Shikaku Nara urged the clans to remain cautious, while Fugaku Uchiha praised Chiba’s vision and the Uchiha’s new security authority.
• Kakashi Hatake reported that Root members had been screened, with cooperative members absorbed into the Anbu and diehard loyalists returned to their clans under supervision.
• Kakashi gave Chiba Danzo’s secret files, including records of experiments and assassinations, and Chiba told Kakashi to rest before a meeting.
• Chiba told Konoha’s senior officials to reveal that Uzumaki Naruto was Minato Namikaze’s son, return the estate withheld from Naruto’s parents, and publicly explain the role of a Jinchuriki.

Chiba announced reforms to reveal Naruto's identity, clear Hatake Sakumo's name, and repay stolen shinobi pensions, while ordering a hard line toward Kumogakure's delegation. The village learned of the announcements and reacted with shock, anger, and gratitude.

• Chiba publicly declared Uzumaki Naruto the son of Minato Namikaze and ordered Konoha to stop calling Jinchuriki the Demon Fox.
• Chiba revealed that Shimura Danzō had orchestrated Hatake Sakumo's death and ordered Shikaku Nara to clear Sakumo's name.
• Chiba ordered an investigation into withheld war pensions and directed that the missing money be repaid using the Sarutobi and Shimura families' assets.
• Hyuga Hiashi informed Chiba that Kumogakure's envoys had entered the Land of Fire to seek a ceasefire, and Chiba instructed Shikaku to negotiate firmly.
• Anbu posted Chiba's announcements in Konoha's Central Plaza, where villagers condemned Danzō and celebrated the repayment of the pensions.

Naruto experienced the villagers’ sudden kindness after the Fifth Hokage’s notice condemned calling him the Demon Fox, and realized Chiba had told him the truth about being a hero’s child. Across Konoha, Kakashi saw his father’s name cleared and Chiba’s reforms bringing justice and aid to ordinary people.

• The dango shop proprietress apologized to Naruto and gave him sweets, while a vegetable seller and other villagers offered him food and a new coat.
• Naruto accepted the villagers’ gifts and wept as he realized they no longer treated him as a monster.
• At the Memorial Stone, villagers apologized for condemning the White Fang, and Kakashi felt renewed loyalty to Chiba after his father’s innocence was restored.
• Might Guy found Kakashi and said he wanted to join the Anbu, but Kakashi told him the Fifth Hokage had assigned him to train the Genin in taijutsu.
• Two Anbu delivered an elderly couple their son’s full unpaid war pension, with interest, by order of the Fifth Hokage.
• Chiba’s payments and reforms won the support of Konoha’s common people, who were ready to defend him from anyone who criticized him.

Shikaku Nara held firm against Kumogakure’s delegation, and Qianye ordered surveillance and lethal action if they caused trouble. After failing to extort Konoha, Toroi’s team planned to steal a Byakugan from the Hyuga Main Branch during a banquet.

• Toroi insulted Konoha and demanded to meet the Fifth Hokage, but Shikaku Nara insisted he negotiate with him and threatened to send the delegation away if they refused.
• Toroi backed down and followed Shikaku Nara to the conference room to discuss the ceasefire.
• Shikaku Nara reported the hostile negotiations to Qianye, who ordered Kakashi to have the Anbu watch the delegation and arrest or kill them if they acted out of line.
• Toroi and the Kumogakure Jonin concluded that their plan to extort Konoha had failed under Qianye’s leadership.
• Toroi chose the Hyuga Byakugan as their target and planned to steal it from a Main Branch member after the ceasefire banquet.

Chiba learned that Toroi and the Kumogakure delegation planned to steal the Hyuga Clan’s Byakugan, so he ordered the Hyuga guards to kill any intruders on the spot. After Toroi signed Konoha’s costly ceasefire agreement, his ninjas used the banquet as cover and began leaving one by one to infiltrate the Hyuga Compound.

• Shisui Uchiha reported that Toroi’s Kumogakure team planned to infiltrate the Hyuga Main Branch Compound and steal the Byakugan.
• Chiba ordered Hyuga Hiashi to lower the guards’ vigilance and kill any Kumogakure ninja who entered the compound.
• Toroi signed Shikaku Nara’s ceasefire agreement despite its large compensation demands, while privately planning to steal the Byakugan that night.
• Konoha’s villagers celebrated the agreement as Kumogakure ninjas listened angrily from Yakiniku Q.
• At the truce banquet, Toroi and more than a dozen Kumogakure ninjas used drinking and illness as excuses to leave the hall one by one.

Konoha trapped and killed the Kumogakure ninja who infiltrated the Hyuga Compound, then sent their corpses and the ceasefire agreement back to Kumogakure as an insult. Enraged, Fourth Raikage A ordered Kumogakure’s forces to invade the Land of Fire and destroy Konoha.

• Toroi led more than a dozen Kumogakure ninja into the Hyuga Compound to abduct Hyuga Hanabi, but Hyuga Hiashi and Konoha’s forces ambushed them.
• Kakashi killed Toroi, and the ambush wiped out every Kumogakure ninja without Konoha casualties.
• Senju Qianye ordered the corpses and ceasefire agreement sent to Kumogakure, intending to provoke the Raikage.
• Fourth Raikage A received the corpses and an insulting message demanding his head in exchange for the Byakugan.
• Despite Mabui and Dodai urging caution, Fourth Raikage A ordered Kumogakure’s combat units to the Land of Fire border and vowed to raze Konoha.

After Kumogakure’s army advanced toward the Land of Fire, Chiba ordered Konoha’s clans to prepare to capture prisoners while he went alone to confront the Raikage and the Eight-Tails. Tsunade trusted Chiba to win, while the other great villages chose to watch the conflict from the sidelines.

• Shikaku Nara reported that Raikage A and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki were leading more than five thousand Kumogakure shinobi toward Konoha’s border.
• Chiba summoned the clan heads and ordered them to form a POW Detention Unit, saying he would face the Raikage and the Eight-Tails while they captured the surviving Kumogakure shinobi.
• Chiba silenced Hyuga Hiashi’s objection with his chakra and left for the battlefield alone.
• Shizune told Tsunade about the invasion, but Tsunade said Chiba’s Wood Style would defeat Kumogakure.
• Ōnoki decided Iwagakure would not intervene, and Kirigakure and Sunagakure also chose to wait and see how the battle unfolded.

Qianye arrived alone at the Land of Fire border to face a Kumogakure invasion and overwhelmed its forces with Wood Style and superior taijutsu. After defeating Raikage A, he used a Wood Dragon to restrain the Eight-Tails, which began losing its chakra.

• Raikage A led five thousand Kumogakure troops in an assault on Konoha's border garrison and demanded that Konoha hand over its Fifth Hokage.
• Qianye descended between the armies, scattering the front ranks and reassuring the Konoha defenders.
• Qianye used Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence to block the Kumogakure attack and bind over a thousand ninja in vines.
• Raikage A charged Qianye with Lariat, but Qianye struck his elbow with Strength of a Hundred and sent him crashing into a hill.
• Killer B transformed into the Eight-Tails, and Qianye summoned a Wood Dragon that coiled around it and began draining its chakra.

Chiba defeated Killer B and the Raikage with his Wood Style and Sage Art, then led Konoha to a decisive victory over Kumogakure. With the enemy leaders and survivors captured, he looked ahead to the upheaval the battle’s news would bring across the Ninja World.

• Killer B and the Eight-Tails launched a massive Tailed Beast Bomb at Chiba, but his Wood Golem caught it and forced it back into the Eight-Tails, knocking Killer B unconscious.
• The battered Raikage charged Chiba again, so Chiba entered Sage Mode and summoned the giant Buddha with True Several Thousand Hands.
• Chiba’s wooden fists devastated the battlefield, leaving the Raikage, Killer B, and thousands of Kumogakure ninja dead, wounded, or unconscious.
• Shikaku Nara, Fugaku Uchiha, and Konoha’s prisoner collection unit arrived and saw the destruction.
• Chiba ordered the Konoha ninja to bind the Raikage, Killer B, and the surviving Kumogakure forces, securing Konoha’s victory in less than half an hour.

Chiba crushed Kumogakure’s invading army and rejected calls to annex the Land of Lightning, choosing instead to demand ransom and negotiate. The chapter ended with Kumogakure’s leaders learning of the defeat and receiving a bloodstained message from Konoha.

• Shikaku Nara reported that Chiba had devastated Kumogakure’s 5,300-man army, leaving the Raikage and Killer B gravely wounded and hundreds of prisoners.
• Fugaku Uchiha and Hyuga Hiashi urged Chiba to invade the Land of Lightning, but Chiba argued that Konoha lacked the manpower and resources to govern it.
• Chiba ordered Shikaku Nara to negotiate for Kumogakure’s treasury, ransom the Raikage, Killer B, and the prisoners, and have Fugaku assist him.
• Chiba threatened to kill the Raikage and sell Killer B to rival villages if Kumogakure refused to pay, then departed after ordering the battlefield cleared.
• A messenger told Dodai and Kumogakure’s leaders that Chiba had wiped out the invading force with one strike, while Mabui warned that the village could not withstand a Konoha advance.
• Mabui opened a bloodstained scroll delivered by hawk and reacted with anger, humiliation, and helplessness.

Kumogakure debated Konoha’s ransom demand, and Yugito Nii volunteered to negotiate. As Chiba’s victory over Kumogakure’s army spread, former Konoha elders feared his power while Ōnoki ordered Iwagakure to avoid provoking Konoha.

• Mabui told Dodai that Konoha demanded ten billion ryo and Kumogakure’s secret Lightning Release scrolls or it would kill the hostages.
• Yugito Nii offered to travel to Konoha with the village’s available cash and negotiate for the Raikage and Eight-Tails.
• Konoha’s civilians and ninja celebrated Chiba’s destruction of Kumogakure’s five-thousand-man army and capture of the Raikage and Eight-Tails.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen reassured Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura that Chiba had spared them and told them to avoid any moves against him.
• Ōnoki ordered Iwagakure to pull its border patrols back fifty li and warned his people not to provoke Konoha.

After Senju Qianye’s overwhelming strength became known, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and Obito’s group reconsidered their plans against Konoha. At Konoha’s border camp, Shikaku Nara demanded a ransom from Yugito Nii for the captured Raikage and Killer B, then offered Kumogakure’s chakra mines to cover the shortfall.

• Rasa ordered Sunagakure to withdraw its spies and end actions against Konoha, then arranged gifts for the Fifth Hokage’s inauguration.
• Yagura forbade Kirigakure personnel from approaching the Land of Fire and ordered the execution of anyone who provoked Konoha shinobi.
• Obito and Black Zetsu discussed Senju Qianye’s power and decided they could not provoke Konoha for now.
• Yugito Nii confronted Shikaku Nara and demanded that Konoha release the captive Raikage and Killer B.
• Shikaku demanded ten billion ryo and Kumogakure’s Lightning Release secrets, then proposed that Kumogakure surrender chakra mines to cover the four-billion-ryo shortfall.

Yugito Nii accepted Kumogakure’s defeat and handed over a vast settlement to Konoha. Back in the village, Chiba ordered all the cash used to improve shinobi benefits, while Fugaku Uchiha and his family praised the Fifth Hokage’s leadership.

• Yugito Nii signed the surrender terms, agreeing to pay six billion ryo, hand over two Chakra Ore mines and ten high-ranking Lightning Release Scrolls, and return A and Killer B.
• Shikaku Nara and Fugaku Uchiha brought Kumogakure’s compensation to Konoha, and Chiba ordered the six billion ryo placed in a fund for shinobi mission rewards and pensions.
• Fugaku Uchiha returned home and found Itachi Uchiha training Sasuke Uchiha in the courtyard.
• Fugaku Uchiha told Itachi Uchiha that Chiba would use all the compensation to improve shinobi benefits, and Itachi agreed that the Fifth Hokage was different from the previous leaders.
• Fugaku Uchiha told Itachi Uchiha to take Sasuke Uchiha to the Ninja Academy when it opened in half a month.

At the Ninja Academy opening ceremony, Fifth Hokage Chiba rejected the traditional Will of Fire speech and urged students to focus on survival and their strengths. He announced stricter graduation standards that required mastery of basic techniques, combat skills, and at least one C-Rank Ninjutsu or taijutsu.

• Naruto arrived at the Ninja Academy with Kakashi, where he and Sasuke exchanged insults after meeting for the first time.
• Chiba appeared at the opening ceremony, and Naruto excitedly greeted him.
• Chiba told the students that they had come to learn how to kill and urged them to develop their strengths to survive and defeat enemies.
• Chiba announced revised graduation standards requiring proficient use of all three Three Body Technique techniques and comprehensive combat skills.
• Chiba added that students would have to master at least one C-Rank Ninjutsu or taijutsu before graduating.

Chiba imposed tougher Ninja Academy graduation standards, then addressed Iruka’s objection by opening every C-Rank Ninjutsu in Konoha’s library to registered ninjas and Academy students. The civilians cheered the policy, while Kakashi recognized that it would win them to Chiba’s side.

• Chiba told the parents and principal that students who failed the new graduation standards could repeat years or leave the Academy, insisting he would rather they fail than die as unprepared ninja.
• Iruka argued that students could not reasonably learn C-Rank Ninjutsu because teachers lacked the resources to teach techniques for every Chakra nature.
• Chiba agreed with Iruka and announced that all C-Rank Ninjutsu in Konoha’s library would be freely available to registered ninjas and Academy students.
• Civilian ninja, parents, and teachers celebrated Chiba’s decision, while the Major Clan heads saw little reason to oppose access to common techniques.
• Kakashi realized that Chiba’s policy would earn the loyalty of Konoha’s Civilian Ninja.

Chiba announced a ninjutsu exchange system and presented Konoha’s clan leaders with a catalog of powerful techniques, allowing them to remove only genuine clan secrets. He revealed that mission rewards would soon include Merit Points, which any ninja could save to exchange for B-Rank and A-Rank ninjutsu.

• Chiba promised that Konoha would soon make B-Rank and A-Rank ninjutsu available through a new exchange system.
• At a meeting with the clan heads, Chiba presented a catalog of more than a hundred B-Rank and dozens of A-Rank techniques, including some clan-associated jutsu.
• Chiba let the clans cross out genuine secrets from the catalog and warned them against falsely claiming techniques as clan inheritances.
• Fugaku Uchiha left the advanced Fire Release techniques untouched, while Hyuga Hiashi confirmed the catalog held no Gentle Fist secrets; the other clan leaders made only a few removals.
• Shikaku Nara asked how the exchange would work, and Chiba announced that mission rewards would include Merit Points that any ninja could use to obtain powerful ninjutsu.

Chiba established a Merit Point system that rewarded missions and village service, winning the Major Clans’ support while placing S-Rank ninjutsu exchanges under his personal approval. After the meeting, he checked on Kakashi’s Anbu reforms and encouraged Naruto to work toward becoming Hokage.

• Chiba announced that Merit Points would reward missions and that exchanging for S-Rank ninjutsu would require his personal approval.
• Shikaku Nara asked how village personnel tied to official posts would earn Merit Points, and Chiba promised fixed monthly salaries and year-end bonuses based on performance.
• Chiba tasked Shikaku with drafting the Merit Point regulations within three days, then ended the meeting as the clan heads respectfully watched him leave.
• Chiba reflected that the system would earn the loyalty of Civilian Ninja and clan ninja while allowing him to control Konoha through rewards with little real cost.
• Kakashi reported that Shisui Uchiha had cooperated and arranged for Uchiha elites to join the Anbu, which was now under Chiba’s control.
• Naruto declared that he would learn powerful ninjutsu, earn Merit Points, and become Hokage, and Chiba encouraged him to work hard.

Senju Qianye’s reforms drove Konoha’s civilian ninjas to train intensely after he opened access to C-Rank ninjutsu. He then announced a Merit Point System that let ninjas earn rewards through missions and exchange them for advanced techniques and other supplies.

• Ito and other civilian ninjas trained desperately with newly available C-Rank ninjutsu at Konoha’s public training grounds.
• Kakashi reported that the crowded grounds had caused more than three hundred ninjas to collapse from Chakra exhaustion, and Qianye ordered free Military Ration Pills for them.
• Qianye told Kakashi that Konoha lacked ambition more than combat power and hinted that Shikaku Nara’s Merit Points plan would transform the village.
• Three days later, Qianye announced mission-based Merit Points and a public exchange system for B-Rank through S-Rank techniques and other items from the Konoha Treasury.

Chiba’s Merit Point exchange system drove Konoha’s ninja to scramble for missions of every rank. The Mission Hall’s accumulated jobs were quickly claimed, leaving even D-Rank chores in fierce demand.

• Ninja flooded the Mission Hall after Chiba made advanced techniques and other rare rewards available through Merit Points.
• Shisui asked whether Forbidden Techniques would be exchangeable, and Chiba explained that S-Rank techniques still required his approval.
• Might Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai competed for A-Rank missions, while Jonin soon claimed all the available jobs of that rank.
• Genma Shiranui and other Jonin swept up B-Rank missions, putting veteran Chunin under pressure as clan ninja also joined the competition.
• Ito tried to claim a C-Rank mission, but Uchiha Tekka took it first, and the crowd rapidly cleared the remaining C-Rank jobs.
• With the higher-ranked boards empty, Chunin and Special Jonin rushed to claim D-Rank chores, squeezing Genin to the edges of the hall.

Jiraiya returned to Konoha and told Sarutobi Hiruzen why he had held back from challenging Senju Qianye after witnessing Qianye defeat Kumogakure’s army. He urged Hiruzen to stop opposing the new Hokage, whose Merit Points system had brought new life to the village.

• Asuma took three B-Rank Missions for Merit Points and rebuked Sarutobi clansmen who complained about having to compete for work.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen reflected on how Senju Qianye’s Merit Points system had dismantled clan privilege and pushed the Sarutobi Clan to earn resources through missions.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen sensed someone on the roof and invited Jiraiya down, and the former master and student reunited in the courtyard.
• Jiraiya explained that he had considered attacking Qianye but investigated Danzo’s dealings and recognized Hiruzen’s responsibility for allowing them.
• Jiraiya recounted how Qianye had defeated five thousand Kumogakure troops, including the Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, with Sage Art Wood Release: Several Thousand Hands.
• Jiraiya urged Sarutobi Hiruzen not to oppose Qianye, saying Konoha was alive and that Qianye was better suited to be Hokage.

After confirming that Sarutobi Hiruzen had given up resisting Qianye, Jiraiya walked through a transformed Konoha and saw Naruto living openly and happily under Kakashi’s care. Moved by the change, Jiraiya headed to join them for ramen.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen told Jiraiya he had surrendered the clan’s assets and would not risk fighting Qianye, then sent him away.
• Jiraiya saw ninja from different backgrounds eagerly taking missions and earning Merit Points, including Uchiha Police members completing a cat-catching task.
• Near the Ninja Academy, Jiraiya saw Kakashi walking Naruto home and heard Naruto excitedly talk about learning chakra extraction and getting ramen.
• Kakashi noticed Jiraiya watching them, while Naruto innocently asked who the white-haired man was.
• Jiraiya, overwhelmed to see Naruto welcomed in public, called out to Kakashi and invited himself to ramen.

Jiraiya saw how much Konoha had changed under Fifth Hokage Senju Qianye and left Naruto with renewed hope for the village. Six years later, Konoha had become powerful and prosperous, and Chiba learned that Naruto and Sasuke’s class was about to take its graduation examination.

• Jiraiya met Naruto and saw that villagers treated him kindly in Konoha.
• Kakashi explained that Senju Qianye’s laws protected Naruto and that Konoha had changed under the Fifth Hokage.
• Jiraiya encouraged Naruto’s dream of surpassing every Hokage before leaving Konoha.
• Over the next six years, Mei Terumi became Fifth Mizukage and reformed Kirigakure, while the other great ninja villages avoided provoking Konoha.
• Shikaku Nara reported that Konoha’s ninja ranks and villagers’ living standards had grown dramatically under Chiba’s Merit Points system and public ninjutsu policies.
• Chiba learned that Naruto and Sasuke’s class would take the Ninja Academy graduation examination in two days.

Fifth Hokage Chiba rejected early graduation for young students and reflected on how much stronger he had become over six years. He prepared to attend Naruto and Sasuke’s graduation exam in two days, while his Sage Mode brought him close to the Six Paths level.

• Shikaku Nara asked Chiba whether gifted students should graduate early, and Chiba forbade sending children under twelve to the battlefield.
• Chiba thought about Naruto’s happier childhood and Sasuke’s life in an intact Uchiha Clan, then scheduled a visit to their graduation exam in two days.
• Chiba checked his abilities and recalled that six annual system draws had produced no god-tier rewards.
• Chiba assessed his peak Super Kage strength and demonstrated Sage Mode, which had advanced to the edge of the Six Paths level.
• Chiba considered how easily he could defeat Nagato, Obito, and Black Zetsu, then turned his gaze toward the moon.

Konoha’s sixth-year students began their graduation examination as the village gathered to see the results of Chiba’s reforms. Naruto stunned the crowd with his Shadow Clone Technique, and the first test ended with only a few students failing.

• Fugaku Uchiha, Hyuga Hiashi, and other clan heads gathered outside the Academy and praised their children ahead of the examination.
• Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha argued over who would take first place while Sakura Haruno tried to stop them from fighting.
• Chiba appeared before the students, silenced the crowd, and ordered the examination to begin.
• Mizuki announced the Three Body Technique test, and Sakura Haruno impressed him with flawless technique and Chakra control.
• Sasuke Uchiha created three clones without hand seals, while Naruto filled half the training grounds with Shadow Clones and astonished the crowd.
• Mizuki passed most students but marked the few habitual truants who failed with an X.