Chapter Summaries

Uchiha Ran fought off Hidden Sand puppets, survived a poisoned strike with Fire Substitution, and infiltrated the ground to attack their hidden masters. The chapter ended with Ran killing a puppet master underground with Chidori.

• Hidden Sand puppet masters sent their puppets after Uchiha Ran, while Konoha Chunin raised an Earth-Style Wall and covered him with attacks.
• Uchiha Ran used Wind Style shuriken to destroy puppet joints and sever their chakra threads, exposing the puppet masters' position underground.
• A Scorpion Puppet struck Uchiha Ran with its poisoned tail, but his body transformed into fiery sparks through Fire Substitution and blasted the puppet at close range.
• Uchiha Ran used Earth Style to slip underground and tracked the hidden puppet masters with his Sharingan.
• Uchiha Ran charged through the underground space with Chidori and pierced a puppet master's heart.

Uchiha Ran killed four Hidden Sand puppeteers underground, then faced veteran puppeteer Chahachiro on the battlefield. Chahachiro’s combined poison attack caught Ran in a desperate evasion as the poisonous mist threatened nearby Chunin.

• Uchiha Ran ambushed and killed the four Hidden Sand puppeteers controlling the underground puppets.
• Uchiha Ran returned to the surface and assessed the battle, where Orochimaru and Manda held off hundreds of Hidden Sand ninja while Baiyun Zaojian’s team fought deeper in the camp.
• Uchiha Ran dodged an iron-net trap and poison needles, then identified the veteran puppeteer Chahachiro and his puppets, Ibuse and Black Ant.
• Chahachiro sent Ibuse’s poison needles and Black Ant’s toxic mist at Uchiha Ran and the nearby Chunin.
• Uchiha Ran evaded most of the needles but was grazed several times as the poisonous mist closed in on him and the Chunin.

Uchiha Ran endured the poison and destroyed Chahachiro’s Salamander Puppet with Chidori, but the venom left him barely able to stand. His Chunin subordinates arrived after Orochimaru signaled a retreat, forcing Chahachiro to abandon his chance to kill Ran.

• Uchiha Ran used fireballs guided by his Sharingan to disrupt the puppeteer’s control and cripple the Scorpion Puppet.
• Uchiha Ran evaded Ibuse’s pincers and tail, then pierced its exposed core with Chidori and destroyed it.
• Uchiha Ran’s poison wounds overwhelmed him, and Chahachiro prepared to attack with the Black Ant Puppet and summon another puppet.
• Uchiha Ran’s Chunin subordinates broke through the poison mist, struck the Black Ant Puppet with Wind and Fire Release, and shielded their captain.
• After hearing that Orochimaru had signaled a retreat, Chahachiro judged that killing Uchiha Ran had become too risky.

Uchiha Ran was poisoned during Konoha’s raid on the Hidden Sand camp as the force began its retreat, while Orochimaru held off the pursuers with a massive snake summoning. The survivors returned to the frontline camp, where Tsunade and Shikaku learned the raid’s results and casualties as Ran was rushed for treatment.

• Chahachiro retreated into the poisonous fog, and Uchiha Ran took his last detox pill before ordering the Konoha forces to withdraw.
• Baiyun Zaojian’s squad broke through, while Manda fought its way back and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
• Orochimaru killed three pursuing Sand ninja with Hidden Shadow Snake Hands and summoned a vast swarm of snakes to block the pursuit.
• An ANBU reported that Konoha had destroyed three Hidden Sand logistics nodes and inflicted over three hundred casualties, while losing twenty Chunin and fifteen Jonin.
• Shikaku received the report as Uchiha Ran was rushed unconscious to the medical squad and Orochimaru returned safely; Tsunade struggled with the blood-soaked atmosphere.

Orochimaru asked Tsunade to treat Uchiha Ran and other shinobi poisoned during a battle with the Hidden Sand. Despite her hemophobia, Tsunade extracted the poison, made an antidote, and began treating the wounded.

• Orochimaru returned from the rear-guard mission and told Tsunade that Uchiha Ran was critically injured and poisoned.
• Orochimaru asked Tsunade to help Ran, saying the Uchiha had unique potential and would be a shame to lose.
• Tsunade went to the medical base and learned that eleven shinobi had been poisoned by a new Hidden Sand toxin.
• Tsunade used the Extraction of Delicate Illness technique to remove poison from Ran and prepared a medicinal antidote.
• Tsunade ordered the medical corps to give the antidote to the poisoned shinobi and began treating the other wounded.

After Tsunade saved Uchiha Ran from poison, he awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan while recovering in a guarded tent and discovered its soul-related abilities. A sudden emergency assembly stirred the camp, leaving Ran alert and wondering what had happened.

• Tsunade neutralized the poison in the other victims, and Uchiha Tetsuka, Uchiha Daosui, and Uchiha Inada moved the unconscious Uchiha Ran to a guarded tent.
• At midnight, Uchiha Ran jolted awake as his Mangekyō Sharingan emerged and unleashed a wave of spiritual power.
• Uchiha Ran concluded that desperation to survive had awakened his eyes and learned that Jizo God summoned souls while Tenman Tenjin suppressed and protected souls.
• Uchiha Ran hid his Mangekyō Sharingan when an emergency assembly was called, and Uchiha Inada and Uchiha Daosui woke to the camp’s sudden activity.

Orochimaru ordered Konoha’s main army to march immediately to Mount Kikyo after Hidden Sand launched a devastating surprise assault. Uchiha Ran learned that his squad would stay behind to fight Hidden Sand’s southern forces, and pretended to resent missing the main battle while secretly welcoming the chance to seek revenge.

• Orochimaru and Shikaku Nara learned that Chiyo and Ebizo had led over three thousand Hidden Sand shinobi in an assault that breached Mount Kikyo’s first three defensive lines and seriously injured Shinku Yuhi.
• Shikaku Nara reported that Inoichi’s thousand-man advance force had gone ahead and needed to hold Hidden Sand for three days until Konoha’s main army arrived.
• Orochimaru ordered the five-thousand-strong main army to break camp and march through the night, assigning the clans duties for reconnaissance, trap removal, and counter-ambushes.
• Orochimaru assigned Baiyun Zaojian, Uchiha Ran’s squad, and a thousand garrison troops to stop Hidden Sand’s southern forces while the main army marched to Mount Kikyo.
• Uchiha Ran acted furious about being left behind, while Uchiha Daosui, Uchiha Inada, and Tetsuka encouraged him by pointing out that the southern forces might include the puppeteer who had poisoned him.

Uchiha Ran welcomed an assignment away from the main battlefield and joined his team in vowing to settle their grudge against a Hidden Sand puppeteer. At Mount Kikyo, Rasa learned that Konoha’s reinforcements and elite commanders were disrupting Hidden Sand’s advances, leaving the war’s outcome uncertain.

• Uchiha Ran pretended to accept his teammates’ encouragement and vowed to personally kill the Hidden Sand puppeteer, while privately feeling relieved to avoid the main battlefield.
• Jonin Baiyun Zaojian ordered Uchiha Ran’s team to help eliminate Hidden Sand forces harassing Konoha’s southern supply lines.
• Orochimaru led five thousand Konoha ninja out toward Mount Kikyo under the cover of night.
• Ebizo reported that Konoha reinforcements led by Inoichi Yamanaka were approaching, Jiraiya had stalled Pakura’s force, and Orochimaru’s attack had badly damaged Baki’s unit.
• Rasa worried that Konoha’s response was erasing Hidden Sand’s advantage, while Granny Chiyo quietly lamented that she had never settled her debt with Hatake Sakumo.

Rasa challenged Chiyo and Ebizo’s order to retreat from Mount Kikyo, but Chiyo explained that Hidden Sand lacked the troops to hold the mountain and faced threats on multiple fronts. She planned to lure Iwagakure into the war by making Konoha appear weak, then ordered Rasa to spread misleading intelligence and Yekura to move Hidden Sand’s forces toward Mount Kikyo.

• Rasa argued that Hidden Sand should commit every unit and take Mount Kikyo, but Chiyo warned that Konoha could easily retake it and punish their scattered forces.
• Ebizo reported that Hidden Sand could spare few more troops because five thousand were guarding the northern Land of Wind against Iwagakure, while eight thousand were already on the Land of Fire front.
• Chiyo explained that Hidden Sand’s retreat would keep it from becoming a shield for other villages, and that drawing Iwagakure into the conflict could prompt the other great villages to follow.
• Chiyo ordered Rasa to use Sand Bee to leak plausible intelligence that Konoha’s forces were weakened and its rear exposed, especially to Iwagakure.
• Chiyo ordered Yekura to abandon the Land of Rain defensive line and rapidly move her main force toward Mount Kikyo, making Hidden Sand’s commitment appear total.

Rasa carried out Chiyo and Ebizo’s plan to lure Ōnoki into attacking through the Land of Rain while Hidden Sand intensified its assault on Mount Kikyo. Chiyo assigned Rasa to lead a dawn strike against Konoha’s command headquarters and medical camp.

• Chiyo explained that withdrawing Pakura’s forces from the Land of Rain and spreading false intelligence would make Ōnoki believe Hidden Sand had committed all its strength to Mount Kikyo.
• Rasa ordered Yura to spread the intelligence through Sand Bee and instructed Pakura to abandon her defensive line and hurry to Mount Kikyo.
• Rasa privately concluded that his achievements and the absence of strong rivals made him certain to become the Fourth Kazekage.
• Chiyo ordered a powerful feint at dawn and tasked Rasa with leading an elite team around Konoha’s flank to destroy its command headquarters and medical camp.
• Rasa accepted the assignment and vowed to crush the command center and kill Shinku Yuhi, while Ebizo ensured the orders were relayed throughout Hidden Sand.

Uchiha Ran ambushed a Hidden Sand harassment squad in the southern forests of the Land of Rivers and defeated its Jonin. He left the squad incapacitated, with the Jonin unconscious on the ground.

• A Hidden Sand Jonin briefed his squad on an ambush against a Konoha medical supply convoy before Uchiha Ran appeared and startled them.
• Uchiha Ran evaded the Jonin’s Wind Release attack, dived underground, and struck three Hidden Sand Chunin from behind with a Gale One-Sword Slash.
• The Jonin attacked with wind-enhanced shuriken and kunai, but Uchiha Ran dodged them and ensnared him in the Gakō genjutsu.
• The Jonin broke free of the genjutsu, but Uchiha Ran struck him in the abdomen and knocked him unconscious.

Uchiha Ran captured Hidden Sand ninja for rewards and returned toward Konoha, while Rasa launched a fierce assault on Konoha's defenses at Mount Kikyo. Rasa's Gold Dust Burial shattered the third line, forcing Konoha's survivors to fall back toward their fourth line of defense.

• Uchiha Ran bound the unconscious Hidden Sand captives and headed back toward Konoha's encirclement force.
• Rasa led a thousand Hidden Sand elites in the Second Kikyo Mountain Battle and unleashed Gold Dust Burial against Konoha's position.
• Konoha's Earth Style ninja raised layered walls, but Rasa's gold dust shattered the first defenses and battered the reinforced barriers.
• Konoha's Fire Style squad disrupted the Gold Dust Torrent long enough for surviving ninja to retreat toward the fourth line of defense.
• Rasa's attack tore apart Konoha's third line of defense, leaving the position in ruins.

Hidden Sand broke through Konoha’s defenses at Mount Kikyo with Wind Release, puppets, and poison, pushing the defenders toward defeat. As Rasa watched the battle, Shinku Yuhi emerged beneath him and trapped him with the Headhunter Jutsu.

• Rasa ordered the Hidden Sand forces to attack, and their Wind Release squad opened a breach in Konoha’s earthen wall.
• Hidden Sand ninja and poison-equipped puppets overwhelmed the Konoha defenders, inflicting heavy casualties and expanding their foothold.
• Rasa watched from a sand dune as Konoha’s defense faltered and the scarred Jonin searched for Shinku Yuhi’s squad.
• Konoha’s elite Jonin attacked Rasa’s position, but he blocked their assault with a wall of gold dust.
• Shinku Yuhi surfaced beneath Rasa and used Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu to drag him into the sand, leaving only his head and neck exposed.

Rasa nearly crushed Shinku Yuhi and the Konoha assault squad with Magnet Release, but Inoichi Yamanaka interrupted him long enough for them to escape. Inoichi's thousand reinforcements then struck Hidden Sand's flank, disrupting Rasa's attack.

• Shinku Yuhi trapped Rasa in a genjutsu, but the apparent target turned out to be a Sand Clone.
• Rasa unleashed Magnet Release: Gold Dust Great Burial, trapping Shinku Yuhi and the Konoha assault squad beneath four enormous golden hands.
• Inoichi Yamanaka arrived with a thousand Konoha reinforcements and used the Mind Body Switch Technique to halt Rasa's chakra and gold-dust attack.
• Shinku Yuhi led the Konoha squad to safety as Rasa broke free and Inoichi collapsed from the strain.
• Inoichi ordered the reinforcements to attack Hidden Sand's flank, throwing its formation into chaos and disrupting Rasa's assault.

After Hidden Sand retreated from Mount Kikyo, Konoha’s defenders held the line and reported their costly victory. The news prompted Hidden Stone, Hidden Cloud, and Hidden Mist to prepare moves against Konoha, while Hidden Mist envoys secretly headed for Sand Village.

• Rasa ordered Hidden Sand to retreat from Mount Kikyo and used a golden barrier to shield its withdrawal.
• Shinku Yuhi and Inoichi Yamanaka saw that Konoha had held the defensive line, and Inoichi directed relief efforts and sent news of the victory to Leaf Village.
• Onoki ordered Todokoro to mobilize forces toward the Land of Grass and pressure Hanzo to side with Hidden Stone against Konoha.
• The Third Raikage ordered troops to reinforce the Land of Hot Water border and scout Konoha’s defenses.
• The Third Mizukage ordered Hozuki Mugetsu and Suikazan Fuguki to expand Hidden Mist’s presence and probe Konoha’s eastern coast.
• A delegation of Hidden Mist envoys secretly departed for Sand Village.

Hiruzen ordered Konoha to mobilize for a wider war after the battle at Mount Kikyo exposed the village’s weakness. On the Land of Rivers front, Baki’s dwindling Hidden Sand force struggled to evade Konoha’s relentless attacks and planned to lure Uchiha Ran’s squad into a trap.

• Hiruzen ordered Danzo to activate Root’s intelligence network and told Koharu and Homura to mobilize reserves, reinforce Mount Kikyo, and raise border defenses.
• The battle at Mount Kikyo emboldened the other great ninja villages, threatening to spread the war across the continent.
• Baki learned that another Hidden Sand squad had gone missing, leaving fewer than three hundred soldiers in his southern army.
• Hidden Sand captains blamed Konoha’s reconnaissance and Uchiha Ran’s squad for their losses, noting that Ran had captured nearly a hundred of their ninjas.
• Baki decided to set bait and destroy Uchiha Ran’s squad, though his guerrilla tactics had repeatedly been outmatched by Ran’s team and Konoha’s larger forces.

Sunagakure issued an S-rank kill order on Uchiha Ran after his squad captured more than a hundred Hidden Sand ninja, and Baki's men devised a canyon ambush to eliminate him. They chose Chahachiro as bait, though he feared a direct confrontation with Ran.

• Uchiha Ran's squad captured five more Hidden Sand ninja alive, pushing its total above one hundred and earning Ran growing fame and rewards.
• Sunagakure's leaders condemned the captures and issued an S-rank kill order on Uchiha Ran, with a ten-million-ryo black-market bounty on his head.
• Baki gathered his men and heard a plan to trap Ran's squad in Gale-Splitting Gorge by collapsing its cliffs.
• The Hidden Sand jonin chose Chahachiro as bait, arguing that Ran would pursue him because they had fought before.
• Chahachiro recalled Ran's speed, swordsmanship, and Sharingan perception and feared he would lose in a direct duel.

Baki ordered Chahachiro and the Hidden Sand shinobi to carry out a mission to kill Uchiha Ran, while Ran sensed a brief threat but found no attacker. Days later, after analyzing the widening war and predicting moves by Hidden Cloud and Hidden Mist, Ran was summoned by Baiyun Zaojian for an important combat mission.

• Baki ordered Operation Poison Fang to begin and demanded that Uchiha Ran's head be brought back to Hidden Sand.
• Uchiha Daosui, Uchiha Daotian, and Uchiha Tetsuka counted their earnings while Ran slept, then formed a guard around him when he woke with a sense of danger.
• Ran's team discussed the growing conflict as Iwagakure advanced through the Land of Grass and Hidden Grass sided with it.
• Ran predicted that Hidden Cloud might move into the Land of Fields and that Hidden Mist would launch probes and ambushes.
• Nara Shikaso told Ran that Baiyun Zaojian had summoned him to the main camp command center for an important combat mission.

Baiyun Zaojian briefed Konoha’s jonin captains on Iwagakure’s offensive and Kumogakure’s expansion into the Land of Fields, while warning that Amegakure could also become a threat. He ordered the Land of Rivers forces to defeat Hidden Sand quickly so they could reinforce the Land of Rain and prepare for the widening war.

• Baiyun Zaojian reported that Iwagakure’s main force had crossed into the Land of Grass and clashed with Kunugi Mokume’s eight-thousand-strong force.
• Baiyun Zaojian revealed that Kumogakure had seized large areas of the Land of Fields and that the Third Hokage expected it to declare war on Konoha.
• Baiyun Zaojian announced that Jiraiya and one thousand shinobi would transfer from the Land of Rain to organize a defense in the Land of Fields.
• Baiyun Zaojian warned that Hanzo’s Amegakure might side with Iwagakure or attack Konoha if it saw an opportunity.
• Baiyun Zaojian ordered the Land of Rivers camp to defeat Hidden Sand swiftly and send five hundred shinobi to reinforce the Land of Rain after Jiraiya departed.

Baiyun Zaojian planned a dawn assault on Hidden Sand's defenses at Broken-Spine Valley, while Uchiha Ran took a detachment to hunt down Chahachiro's puppeteers at Gale-Splitting Gorge. The attack began with Konoha's feints drawing Hidden Sand's attention as Baiyun's main force charged the valley entrance.

• Baiyun Zaojian ordered the main force to attack Broken-Spine Valley while two elite companies launched feints on the surrounding high ground.
• Uchiha Ran volunteered to lead his squad against Chahachiro's puppeteer unit, and Baiyun assigned him twenty experienced Chunin as support.
• Ran told Tekka, Inasui, and Daotian to prepare supplies, spending ten million ryo on Explosive Tags, medical supplies, and antidotes.
• At dawn, Konoha's two feint forces attacked the ridges, drawing Hidden Sand's attention away from the valley entrance.
• Baiyun Zaojian led Konoha's main force in an assault on the central entrance, prompting a Hidden Sand ninja to send a warning to Baki.