Recaps

Itachi and Kisame targeted Naruto, forcing Jiraiya to protect him while Sasuke confronted his brother and was badly beaten. Tsunade returned to Konoha and prepared to take office as Fifth Hokage, while Hinata continued training and Danzo looked for a way to preserve Root’s influence.

• Homura and Koharu rejected Danzo as a candidate for Fifth Hokage, while Kakashi noticed Itachi and Kisame entering Konoha and began following them.
• Itachi and Kisame fought Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai, and Kakashi was hospitalized after confronting the Akatsuki pair.
• Jiraiya took Naruto out of Konoha to train him and introduced him to the Rasengan, while Sasuke followed them after learning Itachi was targeting Naruto.
• Itachi and Kisame confronted the group, and Itachi repeatedly defeated Sasuke before Jiraiya trapped the Akatsuki pair in the Toad Mouth Bind and they escaped.
• Jiraiya sealed Sasuke’s curse mark temporarily, then continued traveling with Naruto as Sakura and Might Guy returned Sasuke to Konoha.
• Hinata continued intense training in the Forest of Death and learned that Tsunade had returned to Konoha, while the clan leaders expected her to become Hokage.
• Danzo worried that Tsunade might investigate Root and cut its funding, then sought support from Homura and Koharu, who warned him to give up his Hokage ambitions.
• Jiraiya told Tsunade that a hidden organization of S-rank Rogue Ninja was targeting Naruto, and Tsunade arranged to officially succeed as Fifth Hokage in three days.

Tsunade took office as Fifth Hokage and moved to contain Danzo’s influence while assigning missions amid Konoha’s shortage of jonin. Hinata, Shikamaru, and Shino’s search for a snow ferret uncovered Heide’s destructive mobile fortress and the Gelel Stone, leaving Hinata suspicious of Captain Heyan.

• Tsunade rejected Danzo’s proposal to let the elders directly intervene in Hokage decisions, then took office and discussed Danzo’s threat with Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Choza Akimichi.
• Tsunade sent Team 7 to the Land of Tea and assigned Hinata, Shikamaru, and Shino to recover a snow ferret for a merchant caravan.
• Hinata, Shikamaru, and Shino encountered four chakra-less armored monsters while pursuing the person who had taken the ferret, and Shikamaru sent Shino to request reinforcements.
• Gaara and Kankuro pursued Heide’s mobile fortress, and Gaara killed Ranke after overcoming her Gelel Stone-powered transformations.
• Heide’s group recovered the snow ferret and continued through the Land of Rivers, destroying villages while pursuing its mission to end war.
• Hinata and Shikamaru found the merchant caravan, where Heyan lamented the missing ferret, and Hinata suspected he was concealing more than he admitted.

Shikamaru and Hinata uncovered Heyan’s hidden purpose as Heide’s fortress pursued the caravan, while Hinata secretly summoned Winter Rain. Heyan surrendered himself to protect his people, and the map he left behind led Shikamaru, Hinata, and Gaara to decide who would pursue the guarded secret.

• Hinata and Shikamaru questioned Heyan, who revealed that the caravan descended from an ancient empire and guarded a secret entrusted to them by the exiled Royal Family.
• Heyan moved the caravan toward the Land of Fire as Heide pursued them, and Hinata secretly summoned Winter Rain and sent her ahead to help later.
• Shikamaru, Hinata, and Heyan fled the approaching fortress, then joined forces with Gaara, who warned them that their enemy used no Chakra.
• Heyan split the caravan into groups, drew Heide’s forces toward himself, and left Shikamaru a handkerchief before the ninjas departed.
• Heyan surrendered to Heide and asked to see Nilu Gu, who reunited with him before he gave the group the route they sought.
• Nilu Gu leaped from Heyan to Timsi, while Heide arranged for Heyan to rest aboard the fortress.
• Gaara unfolded Heyan’s handkerchief to reveal a detailed map of the Land of Rivers, and Hinata insisted on joining Gaara in pursuing the secret.

Hinata and Gaara pursued Heide’s group into an underground ruin, where Hinata defeated Heide as he drew power from the mineral vein. Heyan then activated a formation that began pulling the unstable Chakra mass into a black void, while Winter Rain attempted to seal it.

• Hinata and Gaara scouted ahead, found Heide’s group, and used a sand clone to draw away the guards at the ruin’s entrance.
• Heyan led Heide, Camilla, Feng Wai, and Timsi into the underground ruin, where Hinata and Gaara confronted Camilla and Feng Wai.
• Hinata defeated Feng Wai with a reflected sonic attack, while Gaara buried Camilla beneath his sand.
• Winter Rain joined Hinata at the mineral vein, and Hinata chose to fight for it in her own name rather than as Konoha’s representative.
• Heide drew power from the vein, revealed that he had destroyed Timsi’s village and killed his parents, then attacked Hinata after blasting Timsi away.
• Hinata activated Tenseigan Chakra Mode and overwhelmed Heide, ultimately raining thousands of burning Truth-Seeking Orb swords down on him.
• Hinata escaped the collapsing underground area through a spatial rift as Heyan revealed his long-running plan and rushed to activate a formation with blood taken from Timsi.
• Heyan’s formation opened a black void that began pulling in the platform and Chakra mass, and Winter Rain used Paper Release, Ring Seal, to form a sphere around the Chakra.