Chapter Summaries

Neji watched Hashirama’s Thousand-Armed Statue clash with Reto’s Crimson Sky Puppet, while the battle between the giants reached a stalemate. As the ordinary ninja became the battlefield’s focus, Neji turned his attention to the struggling Konoha forces and prepared to fight.

• Hashirama’s Thousand-Armed Statue battered Reto’s Crimson Sky Puppet, but the puppet dodged its attacks and struck back with chakra cannons and a massive energy beam.
• Hashirama used Wood Release techniques and Divine Gates against the puppet, while the two giants continued trading devastating blows without either gaining the advantage.
• The ongoing collisions injured Reto and strained Hashirama, turning their clash into a battle of attrition.
• Neji assessed the Sand Shinobi’s powerful puppets and concluded that their forces were keeping Konoha from collapsing despite Konoha’s higher overall ninja quality.
• Neji smashed several purple Jonin puppets with Wandering Dragon: Star Shatter and prepared to join the fight in earnest.

Neji overwhelmed the Allied Forces with his advanced Hyuga techniques, then activated Perfect Sage Mode when three Shadow Rank fighters cornered him. He annihilated hundreds of enemies with Sage Art: Wandering Dragon: Sea-Covering, leaving both armies stunned by his power.

• Neji shattered Sand Village puppets and Jonin with his Hyuga techniques, drawing the attention of both armies and the Hyuga Clan head.
• Neji reflected attacks from five Shadow Rank puppets, then destroyed them with Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms and Wandering Dragon: Sea-Covering.
• Three Shadow Rank fighters attacked Neji, and Tuyuan smashed him into a rock wall with Heavy Rock Fist.
• Neji activated Sage Mode and used Sage Art: Wandering Dragon: Sea-Covering to erase hundreds of people from the battlefield.
• Tobirama and the Hyuga Clan head watched in stunned fear as Neji revealed the power of Perfect Sage Mode.

Neji devastated the Sand-Earth Allied Army, and Konoha’s forces seized the opening to counterattack. As Neji pursued the retreating Sand Shinobi, he discovered a hidden azure machine beneath the battlefield and warned everyone to fall back.

• Neji killed or crippled the Shadow Rank elders with Sage Chakra attacks, while Tuyuan escaped and the Allied Shinobi Forces suffered heavy losses.
• Tobirama and Konoha’s clan forces exploited the enemy’s disarray, breaking through their formations and forcing the Sand-Earth Allied Army to retreat.
• Tobirama ordered Neji to pursue the fleeing troops, and Neji cut down enemies along their retreat route.
• Neji confronted the Sand Shinobi commander, but his attack struck a giant steel palm hiding an azure machine underground.
• Neji realized the machine had evaded his Byakugan, stopped pursuing the commander, and shouted for everyone to fall back.

Neji used Sage Art: Yama to withstand the Cangming Puppet Mech’s attack and disable its main cannon. He then destroyed the mech with Sage Art: Yama Arrow, but his Sage Mode ended from exhaustion.

• Neji warned the Konoha forces to retreat as the Cangming Puppet Mech opened fire.
• Neji summoned Sage Art: Yama, which absorbed the mech’s Chakra blast while several Konoha ninja died in the backlash.
• Neji tore the mech’s main cannon from its chest, but the mech flew out of reach and continued attacking.
• Neji manifested the God-Hunting Bow and fired Sage Art: Yama Arrow, piercing the mech’s reactor and bringing it down.
• The Konoha ninja cheered as Yama dispersed, and Neji lost Sage Mode.

After Neji destroyed the Cangming Puppet Mech, Konoha routed the Allied Shinobi Forces and withdrew to rebuild its defenses. Neji recovered enough to join Hashirama against Reto’s Crimson Sky Puppet, just as a blue figure appeared to challenge Reto.

• Konoha’s shinobi counterattacked after Neji brought down the Cangming Puppet Mech, then pursued the Allied Shinobi Forces for a hundred miles before Tobirama ordered a withdrawal.
• Neji meditated to replenish his Qi and watched Hashirama’s life force weaken as Reto’s Crimson Sky Puppet overwhelmed the Wood Dragon.
• Neji returned to the battlefield and joined Hashirama atop the Wood Golem, saying they needed to drive Reto back.
• Reto attacked Hashirama and Neji with a giant chakra-coated chain sword and vowed to destroy Konoha.
• A blue figure streaked across the sky and roared at Reto for trying to destroy Konoha without asking him.

Madara arrived on the battlefield and blasted Reto’s Crimson Sky Puppet away, but its AT Field held. As Madara and Hashirama argued over how to end the war, Neji noticed Reto’s exhaustion and helped Hashirama summon a larger swarm of Sage Art Wood Dragons, leaving Reto wavering between fighting and retreating.

• Madara descended in his Great Tengu Susanoo and struck the Crimson Sky Puppet, shattering its chest armor and hurling it thousands of meters, but its shield remained intact.
• Neji recognized the puppet’s defense as an AT Field and reasoned that a Truth-Seeking Orb might be able to break it.
• Hashirama asked Madara about the eastern front, and Madara said he had destroyed another puppet and killed the old Raikage before coming to help.
• Reto and Madara traded taunts as Hashirama urged them to stop fighting and negotiate, but Madara insisted that negotiation meant defeating the enemy.
• Neji saw that Reto was exhausted from controlling the puppet and poured Sage Chakra into the Wood Golem, enabling Hashirama to summon six more Wood Dragons.
• The twelve Sage Chakra-infused Wood Dragons pressured the Crimson Sky Puppet’s shield, and Reto’s resolve faltered as he considered retreating.

Reto escaped with the Crimson Sky Puppet after Hashirama’s strength gave out, and Neji realized the time-space rejection was making it harder for him to stay and return home with Tsunade. Madara confronted Neji about the Ninja World’s hidden truths, just as Hashirama and Tobirama arrived.

• Reto overloaded the Crimson Sky Puppet’s thrusters and fled, while Hashirama collapsed from the strain of his battle with Madara.
• Neji used Sage Chakra to restore Hashirama’s body, and Madara ordered Konoha’s forces to treat the wounded, scout the border, and advance their defensive line.
• Neji connected Reto’s talk of the Apocalypse Puppet to the AT Field and Dragon Vein Chakra, and resolved to master Yin-Yang Release.
• Neji healed Tsunade’s wounds but found that time-space rejection was distancing him from natural energy and threatening his ability to remain in this world or return home with Xiao Xi.
• Madara entered Neji’s tent to question him about the Ninja World’s hidden truths, and Hashirama arrived with Tobirama.

Neji explained that Truth-Seeking Orbs required Six Paths Sage Art and all chakra natures, while Hashirama and Madara attempted to combine their powers to create one. Their attempt failed, and the chapter left Hashirama and Tobirama looking toward Madara after Neji proposed a path to Six Paths power.

• Madara, Hashirama, Tobirama, and Neji discussed combining Yin and Yang Release to reach Six Paths power and defeat Reto’s puppet.
• Neji described Truth-Seeking Orbs as Yin-Yang Release creations capable of destroying matter, energy, and souls.
• Hashirama and Madara combined their chakra and formed an unstable, illusory sphere before Neji’s barrier separated them and the attempt exploded.
• Neji considered how others had gained Six Paths power and concluded that capturing all the Tailed Beasts was not necessary.
• Neji proposed that anyone with every chakra nature could cultivate Six Paths Sage Art and condense Truth-Seeking Orbs, prompting Hashirama and Tobirama to look at Madara.

Hashirama used All Creation to heal Tsunade’s soul and awaken her in the parallel timeline. After learning how she arrived there, Tsunade questioned the nature of power and duty as Neji suggested she might become Hokage when they returned.

• Hashirama restored Tsunade’s soul and chakra pathways with All Creation, but the healing left withered patterns on his fingers.
• Tsunade awoke and recognized Hashirama and Tobirama as her grandfathers from another timeline.
• Tsunade saw Madara and prepared to fight until Neji explained that this Madara belonged to a different timeline.
• Neji recounted what had happened since he arrived, and Tsunade was relieved that Madara had been managing his role as Hokage.
• Neji suggested Tsunade could become Hokage after returning, and Tsunade reflected on whether power could corrupt a person.

Tsunade and Neji settled into the camp, where Hashirama’s playful gambling and Sage Chakra tea gave way to a quiet conversation about grief and living. Hashirama urged Tsunade to care for herself, while Neji left them alone to talk.

• Tsunade praised her grandfather’s All Creation and joked with Neji as they walked through camp.
• Hashirama gambled with the camp’s ninjas, and Tsunade tried to join in until Neji stopped her.
• Tsunade pressed Neji about battle spoils, and he lied that Tobirama had taken the Chakra Metal and energy cores for research.
• Hashirama served Tsunade and Neji tea made from leaves nourished with Sage Chakra, then spoke to Tsunade about grief and the pain of living.
• Tsunade admitted she had tried to numb her growing pains with alcohol, and Hashirama urged her to live well and love herself.
• Neji quietly left the tent so Tsunade and Hashirama could continue their conversation in private.

Hashirama taught Neji and Tsunade his Spirit Visualization Method, a genjutsu for strengthening the mind by having the spiritual body experience an illusory lifetime. Neji began forming an illusion from memories of his previous life.

• Hashirama explained that his Sage Mode balanced natural energy by containing and releasing it, and said genjutsu could gradually strengthen mental power.
• Hashirama introduced the Spirit Visualization Method, which sealed the spiritual body's memories so it could live through an illusion while the caster observed from a distance.
• Hashirama warned Neji and Tsunade to sever the spiritual body's emotions and memories, then sent each of them a seed for an illusion realm.
• Neji activated the jade mirror in his Sea of Consciousness, and his memories of his previous life began appearing within it.

Neji emerged from the illusion with a new understanding of Dao Rhyme that clarified his path toward Foundation Establishment, while Tsunade also awakened with renewed resolve. Hashirama learned that Sand Village had sent more reconnaissance puppets across the border and revealed he had found a way to condense a Truth-Seeking Orb, summoning Madara for the next day.

• Neji discovered that an unseverable memory fragment contained insight into Dao Rhyme and the threshold of Foundation Establishment, then fused it into his consciousness.
• Neji sensed the world's laws and saw the conversion between Qi and chakra more clearly after his True Self returned.
• Tsunade awakened from the illusion with a clear, resolute determination, and Neji thanked Hashirama for teaching them the Visualization Method.
• Tobirama reported that a third wave of Sand Village reconnaissance puppets had crossed the border, and Hashirama ordered the defenses strengthened and the puppets destroyed.
• Hashirama told Tobirama he had found a way to condense a Truth-Seeking Orb and asked him to summon Madara for the next day.

Hashirama proposed giving Madara his Yang Release so Madara could complete his chakra attributes and awaken the Truth-Seeking Orbs. Madara awakened the Rinnegan, but Hashirama continued the procedure, leaving him in intense pain.

• Tobirama sealed the tent to block information from reaching the outside.
• Hashirama explained that a single person needed complete chakra attributes to create stable Truth-Seeking Orbs and chose Madara as the candidate.
• Hashirama began transferring his Yang Release to Madara, while Tobirama maintained the barrier around the tent.
• Madara endured the clash between Hashirama's Yang Release and his ocular power as Hashirama invoked All Creation: Yang God.
• Madara's Mangekyo pattern shattered and reformed into the Rinnegan.
• Hashirama insisted the transformation continue, and Madara's body began to swell as the burning sensation intensified.

Hashirama used his remaining strength to help Madara awaken a prototype Truth-Seeking Orb, giving him three days to master the power. Hashirama then died in the Konoha camp after entrusting Madara to protect the village and giving Tsunade Wood Release, while Neji saw his soul descend into the earth.

• Hashirama and Madara combined Yin and Yang Release to form a Truth-Seeking Orb Prototype, and Madara said he needed three days to control it fully.
• Hashirama urged Madara to protect the village and pass on the Will of Fire, and Madara left to stabilize his new power.
• Hashirama's life force faded despite Neji's offer to help, and he told Tsunade and Tobirama not to grieve.
• Hashirama gave Tsunade a golden speck of power that granted her Wood Release before his body vanished into motes of light.
• Neji saw Hashirama's soul become a streak of light and sink deep into the earth as Tsunade mourned him.

Tsunade awakened Wood Release and Sage Mode after receiving Hashirama’s power, strengthening Konoha’s camp with a forest and defenses. Neji warned her against overusing Sage Mode, and they modified her Yin Seal to store Sage Chakra for the coming battle against Reto’s puppet machines.

• Tsunade’s chakra and cells transformed as Hashirama’s power awakened Wood Release within her.
• Neji contained the surging natural energy while Tsunade controlled it and created a forest inside the tent.
• Tobirama recognized that Tsunade had inherited his brother’s will, while trees formed defenses around the camp.
• Tsunade tested her new strength and learned from Neji that she had reached Transcendent Shadow Rank, but he urged her to stop using Sage Mode recklessly.
• Neji proposed charging a modified Yin Seal with Sage Chakra, and Tsunade created a golden lotus rune and asked him to proceed.

Neji helped Tsunade transform her Yin Seal into the Sage Art Yin Seal, allowing her to enter Perfect Sage Mode and wield Hashirama’s Wood Release techniques. They planned to use the Wood Golem to sustain her power against Reto, estimating they could endure for a day.

• Neji infused Tsunade’s Yin Seal with Sage Chakra until it formed a seven-petaled Golden Lotus Mark.
• Tsunade released the Sage Art Yin Seal and entered Perfect Sage Mode, manifesting a wooden crown and immense life energy.
• Tsunade tested Hashirama’s Wood Release techniques, including Advent of a World of Trees, Wood Dragon Technique, and True Several Thousand Hands.
• Tsunade said Perfect Sage Mode felt natural to control and could last about two hours at Big Brother’s fighting intensity.
• Neji proposed using the Wood Golem to replenish Tsunade’s Sage Chakra during battle, and Tsunade agreed to the plan to hold out against Reto for a day.

With Hashirama and Madara unavailable, Tsunade and Neji faced Reto’s advancing Sand forces and confronted his Apocalypse Puppet. Tsunade’s defenses struggled to withstand the Star-Destroying Cannon as Neji helped sustain her chakra.

• A patrol ninja reported that more than a thousand Sand puppets and the Sand Ninja Alliance were approaching, while Neji judged that Madara needed six more hours to stabilize.
• Tobirama ordered the army to assemble and assigned the clans their positions as Tsunade and Neji headed beyond the defensive line.
• Reto arrived in the Apocalypse Puppet and challenged Hashirama, so Tsunade used Wood Release to create a giant Thousand-Armed Statue.
• Tsunade’s Top Transformed Buddha battered the Apocalypse Puppet, but Reto flew out of reach and charged the Star-Destroying Cannon.
• Tsunade summoned Tenfold Rashomon to block the cannon, but the beam destroyed six gates, so she raised a Tree Formation Wall while Neji fed chakra into the Wood Golem.

Tsunade and Neji survived Reto’s Star-Destroying Cannon by combining their chakra and defenses, then counterattacked with the Thousand-Star Spear. Their assault destroyed a Crimson Sky Puppet, but Reto vowed to use all his remaining Energy Crystals to wipe out Konoha.

• Tsunade and Neji angled the Tree Formation Walls and used the Thousand-Armed Statue’s shield and arms to exhaust and deflect the Star-Destroying Cannon.
• Neji replenished Tsunade’s Sage Chakra, allowing the Dharma Form to stabilize after the cannon’s energy beam collapsed.
• Tsunade and Neji launched the Thousand-Star Spear at Reto’s Apocalypse Puppet, forcing its energy shield to retreat under the barrage.
• Tsunade and Neji pierced a Crimson Sky Puppet’s chest armor with a colossal spear, causing its energy furnace and Energy Crystals to explode.
• Reto ordered his forces to use every Energy Crystal they had collected over the past year to destroy Konoha.

Neji and Tsunade fought the Apocalypse Puppet’s Star-Destroying Cannon with their armored Great Buddha until Madara arrived and stopped the attack. Madara destroyed the puppet and killed Reto, while the uncontrolled Apocalypse Puppet began to fall.

• Neji and Tsunade combined their chakra to create the Armored Cosmic Yama and battled the Star-Destroying Cannon, risking their lives to withstand its barrage.
• Neji used Yama’s Great Wings to shield the Dharma Form as its armor and crystal began to break apart.
• Madara Uchiha arrived with Six Paths Power and used a Truth-Seeking Orb to annihilate the cannon’s energy beam.
• Madara drove the Truth-Seeking Orb into the Apocalypse Puppet, shattered its defenses, and seized Reto before he could make the puppet explode.
• Madara crushed Reto’s neck and erased his body with the Truth-Seeking Orb, leaving the uncontrolled Apocalypse Puppet to fall.

After Neji and Tsunade vanished from the restored battlefield, Neji awoke in the Pure Land and met the Sage of Six Paths, who revealed that Neji was a soul from another world. The Sage thanked him for saving the time-space and began to address the mystery of Reto's power.

• The Dragon Vein escaped the Apocalypse Puppet, returned to the earth veins, and revived the war-torn battlefield.
• Neji and Tsunade turned translucent and vanished, despite Madara's attempt to stabilize Neji with Six Paths Power.
• Neji awoke in a starry realm above a blue planet and found that his body and chakra had changed.
• The Sage of Six Paths appeared and identified the realm as the resting place of souls, then thanked Neji for protecting the time-space.
• Neji asked why Reto had been so powerful, and the Sage said Neji was a soul from another world, not a version of Hyuga Neji from a parallel time-space.