Chapter Summaries

Uchiha Ran's squad reached Gale-Splitting Gorge after cutting through scattered Hidden Sand patrols, and a captive revealed that Chahachiro was stationed deep inside. Suspecting a trap, Ran ordered his squad to hold the entrance while he entered alone to scout.

• Uchiha Ran's squad defeated several Hidden Sand patrols with little resistance, making the Chunin suspect the route was deliberately open.
• Uchiha Ran used genjutsu to interrogate a captured Sand Chunin, who said Chahachiro was deep inside Gale-Splitting Gorge with more than a dozen puppeteers and no ambush.
• Chahachiro chose to keep his forces in the gorge rather than reinforce Baki, intending to surround and kill Uchiha Ran's squad before joining the battle.
• Uchiha Ran recognized Gale-Splitting Gorge as a likely ambush site and stopped his eager subordinates from charging in.
• Uchiha Ran ordered Tekka, Inasui, and Inada to guard the entrance with the Chunin while he went into the gorge alone to scout.

Uchiha Ran entered Gale-Splitting Gorge alone and triggered a carefully prepared Hidden Sand ambush. The Hidden Sand shinobi believed their attack had killed him, but Ran had used Susanoo and his Diving skill to protect himself.

• Uchiha Ran ordered his comrades to stay behind and entered the gorge alone, where he evaded poisoned needles and killed a Hidden Sand sentry.
• Chahachiro watched Ran through a miniature puppet and ordered the Hidden Sand shinobi to begin their attack.
• Uchiha Ran spotted a concealed sealing trap, but Explosive Tags collapsed both exits as poison mist and a barrage of weapons closed in.
• Uchiha Ran raised an Earth Flow Rampart, then formed Susanoo to defend himself while preparing and activating his Diving skill.
• The Hidden Sand shinobi saw what appeared to be Ran's body beneath the attack's wreckage and celebrated his death as Chahachiro emerged to claim victory.

Uchiha Ran used a corpse rigged with Explosive Tags to devastate the Hidden Sand ambush, then emerged from underground and killed Chahachiro. The surviving ninja rallied and launched a coordinated wind attack, which was bearing down on Ran as the chapter ended.

• A Hidden Sand sensory ninja approached Uchiha Ran’s apparent corpse, triggering an enormous explosion of concealed Explosive Tags that killed and injured nearby ninja.
• Uchiha Ran emerged from the ground beside the wounded Chahachiro and beheaded him with Wave Break, Harvest.
• The surviving Hidden Sand ninja panicked, but several jonin restored order and organized an attack on Ran.
• More than thirty Hidden Sand ninja combined three Wind Release techniques into a massive wind pillar aimed at Ran.
• The scar-faced jonin’s cruel smile froze as the wind pillar reached the spot where Ran had stood.

Uchiha Ran revealed his Mangekyō Sharingan and used Susanoo to withstand the Hidden Sand shinobi’s combined Wind Style attack. He unleashed Susanoo’s Third Stage and began crushing the trapped forces, leaving them unable to restrain him with their Earth Style cage.

• Uchiha Ran summoned Susanoo to shield himself from the Hidden Sand shinobi’s combined Wind Style attack.
• Uchiha Ran revealed his Mangekyō Sharingan and transformed Susanoo into its Third Stage, smashing apart the wind pillar.
• Uchiha Ran swept Susanoo’s arm through the Hidden Sand shinobi and then smashed another group into a crater.
• The scar-faced jonin ordered the survivors to trap Susanoo with Earth Style and attack its weak points with Wind Style.
• Uchiha Ran drew Susanoo’s greatsword and cleaved through the earthen cage.

Uchiha Ran overwhelmed the Sand ninja with Susanoo, forcing most of them to surrender before attacking their commander. After Uchiha Tetsuka and the others broke through the canyon barrier and rubble, they entered to find the canyon filled with corpses.

• Uchiha Ran smashed through the Sand ninja’s stone prison and deflected their Wind Release attacks with Susanoo.
• Uchiha Ran demanded that the Sand ninja surrender or die, and most of them dropped their weapons and knelt.
• The scarred Jonin refused to surrender, so Uchiha Ran brought Susanoo’s fist down on him.
• Uchiha Daosui broke the barrier outside the canyon, and Uchiha Tetsuka and the others cleared the rubble with Earth Release.
• Uchiha Tetsuka and the Chunin entered the canyon and found corpses scattered across it.

Uchiha Ran’s squad found him unconscious amid the devastation of the canyon and rushed him back to camp. After they left, his Shadow Clone led thirty-six mind-controlled Sand ninja toward a hidden location as the real Uchiha Ran prepared his convincing cover story.

• Tekka and Inasui found Uchiha Ran alive but gravely injured and suffering from severe chakra exhaustion.
• Uchiha Daosui ordered the Chunin to form a defensive formation and carry Uchiha Ran toward the main camp.
• Thirty-six Sand ninja emerged from a cave under the lingering control of Uchiha Ran’s Sharingan.
• Shadow Ran complained about having to control the Sand ninja from a distance while carrying out the Ember Plan.
• Uchiha Ran ordered the Sand ninja to follow Shadow Ran, then cut and dirtied himself to make his injuries look genuine.

Shadow Ran led thirty-six genjutsu-controlled Hidden Sand ninja toward Akina Mountain while Uchiha Ran was carried out of the canyon as if unconscious. After Konoha defeated Sunagakure's main force at Broken-Spine Valley, Baiyun Zaojian learned that over a hundred Hidden Sand elites had been sent to ambush Uchiha Ran's squad and feared they had been wiped out.

• Shadow Ran set off for Akina Mountain with thirty-six disguised Hidden Sand ninja under genjutsu control.
• Tekka, Inasui, and the others carried the exhausted Uchiha Ran out of the canyon.
• Baiyun Zaojian received a report that Konoha had crushed Sunagakure's force, though Baki and roughly fifteen Chunin had escaped.
• Baiyun Zaojian ordered the wounded treated, defenses strengthened, and prisoners interrogated about the missing Hidden Sand ninja.
• A Nara Special Jonin revealed that over a hundred Hidden Sand elites had been sent to Gale-Splitting Gorge specifically to kill Uchiha Ran and his squad.
• Baiyun Zaojian realized Uchiha Ran's squad had faced a massive ambush and feared few, if any, had survived.

After Uchiha Ran single-handedly defeated an elite Hidden Sand force in Gale-Splitting Gorge, Konoha’s commanders confirmed his feat and rushed to save him. News of his victory spread across the battlefield and back to Konoha, where Hiruzen Sarutobi publicized it as a source of morale and pride.

• Shiranui Yano reported that Uchiha Ran had survived an ambush in Gale-Splitting Gorge after defeating more than a hundred Hidden Sand ninja.
• Baiyun Zaojian doubted the report until a Nara Jonin confirmed that the canyon held more than sixty Hidden Sand corpses and that Ran had killed nearly all of them alone.
• Baiyun Zaojian ordered Konoha’s best medical ninja to spare no cost in saving Ran, calling him a hero who had saved the battle.
• Konoha ninja spread the story of Ran’s victory across the battlefield, and intelligence networks relayed it to the Land of Fire.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi rejected Shimura Danzō’s attempt to suppress the news and publicized Ran’s achievement throughout Konoha.
• Uchiha Clan members celebrated Ran’s fame, while radical faction members began clamoring to join the battlefield.

Uchiha Ran’s victory over Sunagakure damaged its standing and made him a major target across the ninja world. After Tsunade treated him, the chapter turned to the history of the Land of Grass and its rise and decline.

• Sunagakure’s leaders discussed Uchiha Ran’s impact, and Ebizo suggested making peace with Konoha, but his sister refused.
• The four great ninja villages ordered investigations into Uchiha Ran and raised his bounty from fifteen million to fifty million ryo.
• Tsunade treated Uchiha Ran with help from Katsuyu, and the medical unit reported that he was out of danger but needed three months to recover.
• Tsunade ordered the medics to give Uchiha Ran the best care and monitor him closely.
• The chapter recounted how the Land of Grass rose through cavalry conquests before ninja warfare weakened it and reduced it to a small nation.
• The Grass Village established the Grass Hidden Corps and recovered the Box of Ultimate Bliss, which the narration identified as a box the Sage of Six Paths had used to seal a monster.

The chapter explains how Hidden Grass survived by adapting to the great nations while its homeland became a battlefield between Konoha and Iwagakure. At Konoha’s Northwestern Border Defense Force camp, Mokume Koto reviewed Shin nosuke Sarutobi’s reports and learned that Iwagakure’s growing attacks were threatening their front lines and supply routes.

• Hidden Grass’s history of opportunism, intelligence dealing, and ninjutsu theft left it powerless as Konoha and Iwagakure fought across the Land of Grass.
• Mokume Koto, a veteran Elite Jonin and commander of Konoha’s Northwestern Border Defense Force, worried about the worsening situation.
• Shin nosuke Sarutobi reported that Konoha’s forces had fought Iwagakure’s three-thousand-man vanguard for a month before withdrawing near Hozuki Castle.
• Shin nosuke said reconnaissance had found Iwagakure’s Explosion Release Corps, suggesting that Iwagakure’s main force was preparing a general offensive.
• Mokume reported that Iwagakure’s harassment had increased, and that attacks on supply lines had cost Konoha more than a hundred personnel in the past month, with nearly three hundred killed or wounded overall.