Chapter Summaries

The Akatsuki Organization left the Artisan Ninja Village after completing its mission and resolved to report the powerful Dawn Organization at its headquarters. That night, former conservative members of the Artisan Ninja Village met to discuss how to fund the village’s recovery.

• The four Akatsuki Organization members decided to leave the four ninja tools for Iwagakure without revealing how they worked.
• Sasori considered turning the four bodies into puppets but ultimately left them behind.
• The Akatsuki Organization members headed for Amegakure to report the Dawn Organization, whose existence and power had caught their attention.
• As night fell, former conservative members of the Artisan Ninja Village gathered to discuss the funding needed to restore the village.

The Daimyo’s Estate agreed to provide substantial financial support to the Artisan Ninja Village, and its elders debated how to rebuild the village. Their discussion was interrupted when five members of the Dawn Organization arrived, led by Wu Zhu.

• The Daimyo’s Estate’s financial support for the Artisan Ninja Village was settled.
• The village’s elders argued over its future plans and layout.
• Five black-robed figures approached the elders’ residence while the village’s conservative faction was away restoring order.
• The elders noticed the visitors in the courtyard and recognized them as members of Hinata’s powerful group.
• Wu Zhu stepped forward and asked whether the elders minded their visit.

Wu Zhu negotiated with the Artisan Ninja Village for high-quality ninja tools, offering to take suitable stock in exchange for their help against the Tailed Beast. The village elders agreed to bring weapons from their stores, and Hinata grew curious about what else they might be offering.

• Wu Zhu asked whether the Artisan Ninja Village could supply a small quantity of extremely high-quality ninja tools, and the leading elder said they could forge them later or provide existing stock for free.
• Wu Zhu declined the free offer and proposed taking any suitable weapons they found, or waiting until the village resolved its current troubles if nothing fit their needs.
• One elder appeared ready to object, but another stopped him, and the village elders agreed to fetch weapons from their stores.
• The leading elder spoke privately to two elders, who looked shocked and reluctant before leaving to retrieve the items.
• Hinata wondered whether the generous elder was offering something valuable, briefly considering a Kusanagi Sword as a joke.

An elder from the Artisan Ninja Village brought a Sealing Scroll containing the village’s stock of Chakra-conducting weapons. The weapons were revealed to fill the room, though the hundred or so items represented only a small portion of the village’s annual production.

• An elder from the Artisan Ninja Village reluctantly placed a Sealing Scroll on the table.
• Wu Zhu asked whether the scroll held the entire stock and clarified that they needed weapons capable of transmitting at least seventy percent of Chakra.
• A representative of the Artisan Ninja Village boasted that nearly all the weapons exceeded that standard and described the difficulty of forging them.
• The elder formed hand seals and activated the Sealing Scroll, filling the room with more than a hundred weapons.
• Hinata and the others were stunned by the quantity, then realized it was only a small fraction of the village’s yearly output.

Hinata, Wu Zhu, and the others negotiated with the Artisan Ninja Village to select some of its Chakra-conducting weapons. They took a small selection, including sword-like tools, kunai, a hammer, and a controllable kunai-like weapon.

• Wu Zhu suggested that the group choose some weapons instead of taking them all from the Artisan Ninja Village.
• The village elders relaxed when Wu Zhu promised they would not take every weapon.
• Wu Zhu and the others selected weapons, mostly favoring sword-like tools.
• Hinata took all the sword-type ninja tools and Chakra Kunai.
• Hinata also chose a black hammer and special steel wire, while Wu Zhu took a controllable kunai-like item.

Hinata and her companions selected eighteen ninja tools from the Artisan Ninja Village as compensation, then prepared to leave. Elder Ku stopped them and asked whether they were interested in something else, leaving his offer unrevealed.

• Winter Rain took a suit of armor and a shield, Mizuki Rei took an iron staff, and Kurama Mutsu chose an unusual brush that conducted only seventy percent of Chakra.
• Hinata and the others selected eighteen ninja tools and stopped before taking more, hoping to preserve the possibility of a long-term partnership with the Artisan Ninja Village.
• Wu Zhu thanked the village for the weapons, and an elder packed the chosen tools away.
• Elder Ku called Hinata and her companions back and asked whether they were interested in one more thing.
• Hinata asked Elder Ku what the mysterious offer was.

Elder Ku revealed that the Artisan Ninja Village had kept a Kusanagi Sword called Ziyuan sealed away for years because they could not understand it. He presented it to Hinata and explained the village’s long attachment to the weapon.

• Elder Ku brought out a second Sealing Scroll and said the village could no longer keep the mysterious weapon gathering dust.
• The Artisan Ninja Village elders objected, but Elder Ku insisted that the sword should not remain there when they could not understand it.
• Elder Ku unsealed the scroll and revealed a dark-purple-bladed rapier called Ziyuan.
• Elder Ku confirmed that Ziyuan was a Kusanagi Sword and said it belonged to a set whose other weapons he could not locate.
• Elder Ku recalled the artisans’ failed efforts to understand Ziyuan and spoke of the sword with the sorrow of someone saying farewell to a child.

Hinata learned that Ziyuan was a Kusanagi Sword and waited for Elder Ku to recover before discussing it further. Later, Hinata and her group arrived at a barren valley armed with weapons, and she carried Ziyuan.

• Hinata wondered what special ability Ziyuan possessed and noted that the Kusanagi Sword's sharpness alone made it valuable.
• Elder Ku's account moved the other elders, who felt helpless as craftsmen before the weapon.
• At night, Hinata and her group arrived in a silent, barren valley that they had not deliberately chosen.
• Hinata signaled the group to stop and held the over-a-meter-long Ziyuan in her hand.

Hinata practiced revealing Ziyuan’s true qualities and unleashed its power in a secluded corner. After the purple lions destroyed a small mountain, she withdrew the sword and looked ahead.

• Hinata went to a secluded corner to test what Elder Ku had taught her about Ziyuan.
• Hinata drew Ziyuan and repeatedly swung it downward.
• Ziyuan began glowing purple, then released a lion-like creature with each swing.
• Hinata sent a growing multitude of purple lions charging into a small mountain, causing repeated explosions.
• Hinata withdrew Ziyuan, rubbed her numb right hand, and looked ahead.

Hinata tested the Kusanagi Sword and considered its strengths, then discussed its exchange for the Chakra Armor blueprints with her companions. They decided to return to their base.

• Hinata tested the Kusanagi Sword and judged that its power was modest, though it used little Chakra and offered protection in her normal state.
• Kurama Mutsu called the sword weak and wondered why Elder Ku had given it away.
• Wu Zhu pointed out that the Artisan Ninja Village had received the Chakra Armor blueprints from Snow Bird in exchange.
• Hinata said the group had planned to give the blueprints to the village anyway, hoping to obtain usable Chakra Armor.
• Winter Rain asked what they should do next, and Hinata decided they would return to their base.

Hinata explained that Itachi Uchiha had used the Two-Tails to divert attention and prevent the incident from igniting a wider war, while paving the way for Sasuke. Hinata and the others left the Four Heavenly Phenomena to Akatsuki and decided to head back.

• Hinata said the incident would no longer affect her group, even if the ninja world was thrown into turmoil.
• Hinata understood that Itachi Uchiha had used the Two-Tails to draw the villages’ anger away from one another and avert a war.
• Hinata reasoned that Itachi’s actions were meant to pave the way for Sasuke, as his feelings for Konoha had faded.
• Hinata and the others accepted that Akatsuki might capture the Four Heavenly Phenomena and chose not to search for them.
• Hinata and the others decided to head back from their far-northern location.

Kakashi received a message from Konoha in a border town in the Land of Wind and planned to tell Naruto and the others about their next mission. Meanwhile, Kumogakure struggled with the losses and damage to its honor caused by the incident, while the Four Heavenly Phenomena remained missing.

• Kakashi read a letter from Konoha that established the general outline of the next mission.
• Kakashi noted the tense relationship between Naruto, Gaara, and their traveling companions and decided to brief the group the next day.
• Kumogakure suffered manpower losses and Yugito was seriously injured in the incident.
• Kumogakure searched extensively for the Four Heavenly Phenomena but found no trace of them.

The major ninja villages issued a public bounty on the Four Heavenly Phenomena while secretly searching for the Dawn Organization, but their investigation yielded little. Tsunade suspected Kirigakure, while Kumogakure and Iwagakure began to suspect Konoha.

• The major ninja villages issued a bounty on the Four Heavenly Phenomena as cover for their search for Dawn.
• The villages gathered only scraps of information and began to wonder whether Dawn was backed by one of the Great Ninja Villages.
• Tsunade focused her suspicions on Kirigakure because one Dawn member wielded Ice Style.
• Kumogakure and Iwagakure suspected Konoha of secretly cultivating Dawn-level shinobi within its Anbu.

Other hidden villages grew increasingly wary of Konoha, suspecting it was concealing a powerful force and possibly hiding the truth about Orochimaru and Hiruzen. The next morning, Naruto woke in a border town in the Land of Wind and began his morning routine.

• Dawn believed Konoha might have formed a separate force using powerful orphans from fallen clans.
• Other hidden villages connected the Dawn Organization's traces to Konoha and feared that the weakened village was hiding its strength.
• The villages speculated that Orochimaru's defection was a cover and that Hiruzen might have gone into hiding.
• The next morning, Naruto woke on a tatami in a border town in the Land of Wind and headed to the washroom.

Naruto, Sakura, and Neji learned that the Sunagakure team had left and that their mission had succeeded. Kakashi told them to continue to Hoshigakure without him while he handled a separate mission alone.

• Naruto and Sakura met in the morning and joined Kakashi and Neji for breakfast.
• Naruto and Sakura asked where the Sunagakure ninja was, and Neji explained that the four visitors had returned home early that morning.
• Naruto complained that he had not gotten to fight the Sand Ninja.
• Sakura asked whether the mission was over and whether they could return to Konoha, but Kakashi said they had orders to go to Hoshigakure in the Land of Bears.
• Neji asked whether Kakashi would accompany them, and Kakashi said he had a special mission to complete alone.

After Neji Hyuga, Sakura Haruno, and Uzumaki Naruto departed, Kakashi prepared to carry out his own mission. Days later, Pain and the Akatsuki Organization heard the team’s report about the Dawn Organization, and Zetsu returned from scouting it.

• Kakashi watched Neji Hyuga, Sakura Haruno, and Uzumaki Naruto leave, then said he would carry out his mission.
• Pain led a meeting in Amegakure after four Akatsuki members returned from the Artisan Ninja Village.
• Konan concealed her shock when she learned the Dawn Organization included a Paper Release user and a powerful leader.
• Pain was surprised by reports that the suspected leader could suppress a tailed beast and command the wind and rain.
• Zetsu emerged from underground after scouting the Dawn Organization, and Konan asked how it had gone.

Zetsu reported that Dawn had reached an agreement with the Artisan Ninja Village and that he had lost track of them after following them for days. Alarmed that Dawn might know everything about the Akatsuki Organization, Konan and Nagato decided they needed to discuss meeting that person.

• Zetsu told the Akatsuki Organization that Dawn had returned to the Artisan Ninja Village and reached an agreement with them.
• Zetsu said he had monitored Dawn from afar but eventually lost track of them, suspecting they had known he was following them.
• The Akatsuki members realized Dawn might have gathered extensive intelligence about their organization, making Konan and Nagato feel urgency.
• Konan and Nagato decided to discuss meeting that person.
• Pain dismissed the others and announced the organization would issue no immediate missions so they could rest.

After the Akatsuki members departed, Nagato and Konan decided to demand an explanation from the mysterious person connected to Dawn. Dawn remained impossible to trace, and Nagato still believed its leader was powerful.

• Itachi and Kisame left the meeting, followed by Sasori and Deidara, who disagreed about what made art beautiful.
• Zetsu wondered why the Akatsuki members had poor relationships, then decided to reassure Nagato and Konan.
• Nagato told Konan that Dawn's situation was complicated and that they needed to speak with the person behind it.
• Konan said Zetsu would understand what to do, and Nagato agreed as they waited.
• The major ninja villages suspected Dawn was a hidden agency, but Nagato and Konan doubted that because their informants had found no trace of it.

Hinata’s group reached the Land of Bears, where she felt uneasy about Hell Valley, but the system issued a mission to obtain an item in Hoshigakure that did not belong to this world. With failure threatening to erase her, Hinata considered the mission’s stakes and the item she vaguely remembered.

• After the incident, Konan and Nagato grew agitated as they considered how difficult Dawn was to investigate.
• Hinata’s group surveyed Hell Valley in the Land of Bears, and Hinata ordered them to leave as soon as possible because the place made her uncomfortable.
• The system issued Hinata a mission to obtain an item in Hoshigakure, offering two special character generation opportunities and 30,000 Reward Points.
• Hinata realized that failing the mission could erase her because she had fewer than 20,000 Reward Points, and she recalled that she had some impression of the item.

Hinata set out for Hoshigakure, confident the mission would be simple and eager to meet its Star Shadow. Meanwhile, Sakura, Naruto, and Neji arrived at the village, whose isolation and weak standing had kept it safe from the Great Ninja Villages.

• Hinata recalled Hoshigakure's history, including Third Hoshikage's murder and Natsuhi's attempts to steal the meteorite.
• Hinata decided to visit Hoshigakure and meet the Star Shadow.
• Sakura, Naruto, and Neji arrived at a cliff outside Hoshigakure for their first visit.
• The narration noted that Hoshigakure's remote location and harsh surroundings had helped protect it from the Great Ninja Villages.