Chapter Summaries

Jiraiya confronted Hiruzen Sarutobi over Minato and Naruto’s disappearance and condemned his rule and treatment of the Uchiha Clan. After smashing the Hokage’s desk, Jiraiya left to find his godson in the Hidden Stone Village.

• Jiraiya forced his way into the Hokage's office and demanded that Hiruzen Sarutobi explain where Minato and Naruto had gone.
• Hiruzen blamed Minato's departure on the Uchiha Clan and defended Danzō's actions, but Jiraiya rejected his account.
• Jiraiya accused Hiruzen of sacrificing Hizashi Hyuga and White Fang to protect his own authority and criticized his use of Root.
• Jiraiya smashed the Hokage's desk with a chakra-enhanced punch, leaving Hiruzen on the floor as the Anbu held back.
• Jiraiya refused to help Hiruzen clean up the village's problems and announced he would go to the Hidden Stone Village to find his godson.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi drove Orochimaru from Leaf Village to divert scrutiny from the village’s scandals, Orochimaru fled to the Valley of the End, where Uchiha Yoru confronted him. Yoru offered Orochimaru a scroll and said he had come to bring him the truth.

• Danzō showed Hiruzen Sarutobi evidence of Orochimaru’s human experiments and urged him to deal with the fallout.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi led Anbu to raid Orochimaru’s laboratory, but Orochimaru escaped after suffering serious injuries.
• Orochimaru reached the Valley of the End and planned to travel to the Land of Rice Fields to establish Sound Village.
• Uchiha Yoru appeared atop Madara Uchiha’s statue, and Orochimaru attacked him with venomous snakes.
• Yoru destroyed the snakes with chakra pressure, offered Orochimaru a scroll, and said he had come to bring him the truth.

Yoru used advanced scientific plans to recruit Orochimaru, offering him a fully equipped laboratory and unlimited research resources in Iwagakure. Orochimaru accepted the offer by kneeling before Yoru and asking what he had to do.

• Yoru sent Orochimaru a scroll detailing technologies for Hashirama cell fusion, cloning, and other scientific advances.
• Orochimaru was stunned by the scroll’s ideas for chakra batteries, explosive-tag weapons, and hand-seal-free armor.
• Yoru offered Orochimaru hundreds more technologies and promised him a lavish laboratory and access to Ōtsutsuki ruins in Iwagakure.
• Orochimaru knelt before Yoru and asked what price he needed to pay.
• Yoru told Orochimaru to join his research department and promised unlimited funding and materials.

Uchiha Yoru established a lavish research institute in Hidden Stone Village and recruited Orochimaru to develop a safe Wood Release gene serum. After two weeks of work, Orochimaru succeeded and declared Hidden Stone Village the true holy land of science.

• Yoru brought Orochimaru to Ōnoki, suppressed the Tsuchikage's suspicion, and led Orochimaru to his new laboratory.
• Yoru showed Orochimaru the advanced institute and introduced Kakuzu as Hidden Stone Village's chief financial officer, who provided a billion ryō in research funding.
• Yoru gave Orochimaru Hashirama's cell sample and ordered him to create a safe gene fusion serum, then slapped him for proposing to steal Sasuke's body.
• Orochimaru embraced the cloning research, spent the next half month working in the laboratory, and successfully produced a stable Wood Release cell serum.
• Orochimaru praised Hidden Stone Village as a holy land of science and condemned Leaf Village for wasting his life.

Black Zetsu discovered that Uchiha Yoru had disrupted its plans, as the Uchiha Clan, Minato, and Orochimaru had all defected to the Hidden Stone Village. It decided to make Obito test Yoru and retrieve the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.

• White Zetsu brought Black Zetsu intelligence reports showing that the Uchiha Clan had defected to the Hidden Stone Village and that Danzō had failed to stop them.
• Black Zetsu learned that Minato had survived the Nine-Tails incident and defected to the Stone Village with the newborn jinchūriki.
• Black Zetsu read that Orochimaru had left the Leaf Village to lead the Stone Village's Supreme Scientific Research Institute.
• Black Zetsu traced the upheavals to Uchiha Yoru, a previously insignificant genin who had torn apart the Death God and swayed Ōnoki.
• Black Zetsu learned that Obito was hiding in the Kamui dimension and decided to send him to test Yoru and take back the Nine-Tails brat.

Obito infiltrated the Hidden Stone Village to steal Naruto, but Uchiha Yoru and Minato Namikaze ambushed him. Yoru stopped Obito from escaping with Kamui and prepared to question him.

• Obito bypassed the Hidden Stone Village’s sensory barrier and found four-year-old Naruto asleep at the academy’s training grounds.
• As Obito began using Kamui to take Naruto, Yoru revealed that he had been waiting for him.
• Yoru exposed Obito’s Madara disguise and called Minato out of the shadows.
• Minato confronted Obito over the Nine-Tails attack, and Obito realized he had walked into a trap.
• Obito tried to escape with Kamui, but Yoru interfered with the space around him and stopped him.
• Yoru appeared behind Obito, restrained him, and asked which leg he would leave behind as his admission fee.

Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Yoru trapped Obito and stopped him from escaping with Kamui. After Minato struck him with a Super Big Ball Rasengan, Yoru prepared to remove his mask.

• Obito recognized Minato and tried to escape through Kamui.
• Minato teleported above Obito and brought down a Super Big Ball Rasengan.
• Yoru froze the space around Obito, stopping Kamui before he could become intangible.
• Minato's Rasengan smashed into Obito and threw him into a crater.
• Yoru grabbed Obito's spiral mask and prepared to tear it off.

Uchiha Yoru and Minato overwhelmed Obito at the training ground, but Obito used Izanagi to survive Minato’s attack and escaped through Kamui. Yoru stopped Minato from pursuing him, deciding to let Obito go for now.

• Minato struck Obito with a Super Big Ball Rasengan, while Yoru taunted him at the edge of the crater.
• Obito unleashed Wood Release spikes, but Yoru shattered them with a Susanoo arm and blocked Obito’s Kamui.
• Minato teleported to Obito and slashed his throat, but Obito used Izanagi to turn his death into an illusion at the cost of his left Sharingan.
• Obito reappeared nearby, badly injured, and opened a small Kamui rift to escape.
• Yoru stopped Minato from interrupting Obito’s escape and said there was no need to chase him.

Obito returned to the cave gravely wounded and reported that Minato was alive and Uchiha Yoru had trapped him by freezing space. Black Zetsu began to suspect that Yoru was an Ōtsutsuki ancestor who had come to the Shinobi World.

• White Zetsu emerged in the cave and wondered why Obito had not returned with the child yet.
• Obito was thrown from a Kamui tear, badly injured and pleading for help, and Black Zetsu used Yin-Yang Release chakra to keep him alive.
• Obito told Black Zetsu and White Zetsu that Minato was alive and stronger than during the Nine-Tails' Attack.
• Obito said Uchiha Yoru had frozen the space around him and stopped Kamui, forcing him to use Izanagi to survive.
• Black Zetsu recalled Yoru's recent feats and wondered whether he was an Ōtsutsuki ancestor reincarnated.

After defeating Obito, Uchiha Yoru proposed a five-year modernization plan to make Iwagakure the dominant power in the Shinobi World. The chapter ended with Ōnoki and the gathered leaders pledging the village’s resources to his ambition to unite the world under Stone Village.

• Ōnoki reflected on the defeat of Obito and felt secure with Uchiha Yoru and Minato Namikaze protecting Iwagakure.
• Yoru convened Iwagakure’s leaders and announced the Stone Village Five-Year Modernized Military Plan.
• Orochimaru demonstrated a Chakra-powered repeating crossbow that let even a genin unleash firepower comparable to a B-rank Fire Release.
• Yoru tasked Minato with developing a large-scale teleportation array for rapid deployments across the Shinobi World.
• Kakuzu revealed plans to manipulate food and iron ore markets around Leaf Village and other client nations.
• Ōnoki gave Yoru access to Iwagakure’s resources, and Yoru declared that Stone Village would become the Shinobi World’s sole overlord.

Ōnoki reinjured his back while showing off at Iwagakure’s new factory, and Uchiha Yoru arrived with a Hashirama Cells repair injection. Ōnoki accepted the treatment after Yoru warned that Kitsuchi could succeed him, leaving Yoru administering the shot and insisting the Tsuchikage stay alive and keep working.

• Ōnoki lifted a massive boulder at the factory construction site and injured his back.
• Iwagakure’s medical team diagnosed Ōnoki with a herniated lumbar disc, bone spurs, and nerve compression, and suggested he retire.
• Uchiha Yoru entered Ōnoki’s hospital room with Orochimaru’s Hashirama Cells repair fluid.
• Yoru threatened to have Kitsuchi succeed Ōnoki, so Ōnoki agreed to take the injection.
• Yoru injected the repair fluid between Ōnoki’s fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae and told him to stay alive and keep working.

Yoru’s medicine restored Ōnoki to youthful strength, and Ōnoki demonstrated his enhanced Dust Release by erasing a mountain. As the news spread across the Five Great Nations, Hiruzen Sarutobi realized Konoha had little chance against Iwagakure’s growing power.

• Yoru injected Ōnoki with medicine made from Hashirama Cells, painfully rebuilding his body and restoring his youth.
• Ōnoki regained his strength, broke through the hospital window, and tested his renewed body at an abandoned testing ground.
• Ōnoki used Dust Release to erase a mountain, stunning Kitsuchi, and thanked Yoru for restoring him.
• Reports of Ōnoki’s return to his prime spread across the Five Great Nations, alarming Rasa, Mei Terumi, and A.
• Hiruzen learned Orochimaru had given Ōnoki the medicine and feared Konoha could not stand against Iwagakure’s formidable forces.

Yoru taught Iwagakure taijutsu instructors a safer, modified version of the Eight Gates Released Formation, and Ōnoki made it mandatory training for the village. Months later, three Iwagakure genin used the Body Tempering Art to overpower rogue ninja during a border patrol.

• Yoru told Ōnoki that Iwagakure needed to improve its ordinary ninja’s taijutsu and survival chances.
• Yoru demonstrated the Eight Gates Released Formation by destroying a hundred-ton boulder with one punch.
• Yoru distributed scrolls for the safer Stone Village Body Tempering Art, which could open only the first three gates.
• Ōnoki ordered every Iwagakure ninja to learn the art and begin daily physical training.
• Months later, an Iwagakure patrol of three genin was ambushed by four rogue ninja in a canyon.
• The veteran and two rookies opened their gates, and the veteran killed the rogue ninja leader before they charged the others.

Might Guy and a Leaf Village Anbu team witnessed three Stone Village genin use the Eight Gates Released Formation to defeat four rogue chunin-level ninjas. Guy mistook the technique’s spread in Iwagakure for a sign of kindred youthful spirit, while the Anbu captain realized it posed a military disaster and prepared to report it.

• Might Guy and the Anbu watched three Stone Village genin open the first two gates and defeat four rogue ninjas with one punch each.
• Might Guy wept with joy, believing Iwagakure had inherited his youthful taijutsu ideals.
• Guy tried to rush down and meet the genin, but the Anbu captain and two subordinates restrained him and knocked him unconscious.
• The Anbu captain feared that Iwagakure had made the Leaf’s forbidden technique commonplace and recorded what they had seen.
• The Anbu captain ordered the team to return to the village immediately and called the situation a catastrophe for the Leaf.

Konoha faced a severe budget crisis, and Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted Danzo’s plan to cut shinobi pay and death benefits to preserve Root. An Iwagakure recruiter then offered Konoha ninja lavish incentives to defect, leaving the tavern crowd considering the offer.

• The finance minister told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Konoha’s mission income had collapsed as clients chose Iwagakure’s cheaper, more efficient services.
• Danzo demanded that Root’s funding remain untouched and proposed halving death benefits and cutting ordinary chunin and genin mission pay.
• Hiruzen accepted Danzo’s cuts despite knowing they would worsen the village’s troubles.
• Asuma Sarutobi complained in a tavern that his team’s pay had been reduced and fallen teammates’ death benefits halved, while Kurenai Yūhi warned him to keep quiet.
• A traveling merchant presented Iwagakure’s recruitment offer, including a bonus, a house, doubled mission pay, full death benefits, and possible Gene Enhancement Serum.
• A Konoha chunin asked his companion whether they should defect to Iwagakure.

Orochimaru successfully mass-produced a serum made from Hashirama’s cells, and Uchiha Yoru ordered its first doses distributed to Iwagakure’s elite. After hearing that Orochimaru might also create an obedient army of Wood Release users from White Zetsu, Yoru headed to the Uchiha meeting hall to test the serum on the clan.

• Orochimaru showed Yoru cloned Hashirama cells and unveiled a serum that most ninjas with chunin-level chakra could safely use to enhance their physical abilities, chakra reserves, and recovery.
• Yoru ordered the first batch issued to the Uchiha Clan’s elite, Kitsuchi’s Demolition Corps, and Iwagakure’s jonin-level leaders, then told Orochimaru to lower the compatibility threshold to genin level.
• Orochimaru reported that White Zetsu cells combined Hashirama’s cells with an older genetic fragment and suggested he could eventually create stronger White Zetsu and an army of obedient Wood Release users.
• Yoru took serum to the Uchiha meeting hall, intending to test it on the three-tomoe Sharingan users gathered there.

Yoru gave Fugaku and the Uchiha elders a serum made from the First's cells, promising it could awaken their Mangekyō Sharingan and prevent blindness. After enduring the painful transformation, the elders awakened Mangekyō, and Fugaku pledged the Uchiha Clan's loyalty to Yoru.

• Yoru told Fugaku and the clan elders that the Basic Sage Body Gene Serum could overcome their bloodline limits and prevent Mangekyō-related blindness.
• The elders and Fugaku injected the serum, suffering intense pain as Yang Release chakra transformed their bodies.
• The first elder awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and more than a dozen elders followed, their ocular power strengthened without losing their sight.
• Fugaku awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and formed a massive orange-red Susanoo.
• Fugaku knelt before Yoru and declared that the Uchiha Clan would be the sharpest blade in his hand.

Sasuke struggled to keep up with Naruto and resented being treated as less talented, until Yoru explained that the Sharingan could awaken through the desire to protect rather than hatred. Yoru tested Sasuke with a Tsukuyomi illusion, and Sasuke awakened his Sharingan after believing he had sacrificed himself for Naruto.

• Sasuke fought Orochimaru's three combat puppets and was saved when Naruto blocked them with Earth Release.
• Naruto showed Sasuke his progress in Wind Release, and Sasuke grew jealous of the praise Naruto received from Yoru.
• Yoru told Sasuke that the Sharingan could awaken through a powerful desire to protect someone, then asked whether Sasuke had anyone he would risk his life for.
• Yoru trapped Sasuke and Naruto in a Tsukuyomi illusion and made Sasuke believe that puppets had killed him after he shielded Naruto.
• Sasuke's fierce protective feelings and competitive spirit awakened his Sharingan, revealing two tomoe in his eyes.

Yoru began teaching Naruto Senjutsu at a waterfall near Iwagakure, guiding him to absorb Natural Energy directly. Naruto achieved a perfect fusion and Sage Markings, leaving Mount Myōboku’s Fukasaku and Shima stunned as they watched.

• Naruto admired Sasuke’s newly awakened Sharingan and demanded a special technique from Yoru.
• Yoru took Naruto to a secluded waterfall and began teaching him Senjutsu.
• Yoru guided Natural Energy into Naruto and helped him blend it with his chakra.
• Fukasaku and Shima detected the immense Natural Energy being absorbed and watched Naruto on their crystal ball.
• Naruto opened his eyes with Perfect Cross-Star Pupils and Sage Markings, shocking Fukasaku and Shima.

Sage Fukasaku and Sage Shima warned Gamamaru that Naruto had mastered Sage Mode under the guidance of an Uchiha. When Gamamaru checked the prophecy, it saw a new future in which an Iwagakure steel army slaughtered the allied shinobi forces under the rule of the black-cloaked man, and it declared that someone had broken fate.

• Sage Fukasaku saw Naruto's Sage Mode markings in the crystal ball and panicked when he realized an Uchiha was guiding him.
• Sage Fukasaku and Sage Shima rushed to the Great Toad Sage and told Gamamaru that Naruto had mastered Sage Mode without visiting Mount Myōboku.
• Gamamaru checked the future and first saw the familiar prophecy of Naruto bringing peace to the shinobi world.
• The prophecy shattered, revealing an Iwagakure army using advanced weapons to massacre the allied shinobi forces beneath a black-cloaked ruler.
• Gamamaru vomited blood and cried out that a monster outside the threads of fate had forcibly changed the world's future.