Chapter Summaries

Kakuzu and Yuroketsu assessed the difficult war against Kumogakure and Hidden Mist Village as Konoha faced attacks from Hidden Sand Village and new uncertainty over Iwagakure. The chapter ended with Yayoi’s army deep in the Land of Lightning, plundering occupied territory while continuing to advance.

• Kakuzu and Yuroketsu returned from fighting the Second Raikage and discussed their strained position, Kumogakure’s internal divisions, and the threat posed by Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
• Yuroketsu reported that Hidden Sand Village had attacked the Land of Fire, forcing Konoha to divert reinforcements from the front against Kumogakure and Hidden Mist Village.
• Tobirama and Konoha’s Jonin discussed a counteroffensive before an Anbu ninja reported that about one thousand Iwagakure ninja were active in the Land of Grass.
• Tobirama explained that General Oda had warned him Iwagakure would hold combat exercises in the Land of Grass, and said he had stationed forces in the northwest as a precaution.
• Yayoi’s three-thousand-strong army captured territory in the Land of Lightning, seized resources, dismantled local administration, and gathered supplies for the Land of Night.

Yayoi used the winter weather and a network of chakra-powered puppet forces to secure the Land of Lightning while monitoring the difficult allied campaign against the Hidden Cloud Village. After reading Tobirama's request for Explosive Tags and complaints about Sunagakure's puppet attacks, Yayoi weighed how much aid Konoha needed and concluded that the Hidden Cloud Village's forces might be divided.

• Yayoi accelerated the Land of Night's sweep through the Land of Lightning, taking advantage of the winter conditions that favored its samurai.
• Yayoi converted Maple City into an operational center and used chakra extracted from Hidden Cloud prisoners to control fifteen hundred Mass-Produced Ghost Puppets across the surrounding region.
• Yayoi reviewed reports that the allied forces were struggling against the Hidden Cloud Village in the Hot Water and Frost Countries, while Konoha also faced attacks from the Hidden Sand Village in the Land of Rain and the Land of Rivers.
• A Special Assault Department messenger delivered Tobirama's scroll, which greeted Yayoi, requested a large supply of Explosive Tags, and complained about Sunagakure's self-destructing puppets that had killed Konoha ninja.
• Yayoi dismissed Tobirama's blame over the puppet attacks and considered how many Explosive Tags the Land of Night could spare for Konoha.
• Yayoi inferred that the Hidden Cloud Village's war faction could not fully unite and considered making bolder moves in the Land of Lightning.

Yotsuki Kōmon’s officers assessed the Land of Night’s forces and planned further reconnaissance, while Izayoi received Konoha reinforcements led by Sarutobi Hiruzen. After several days of preparation, Izayoi’s team set out to stop Hidden Cloud and Hidden Mist Anbu from attacking another supply line, but a Storm Release ninja blocked their route.

• Hidden Cloud jonin reported that more than two thousand Land of Night troops had entered the Land of Lightning and discussed Komurasaki’s abilities and the growing numbers of Puppet Samurai.
• Yotsuki Kōmon urged the scouting squads to search for chakra convergence points that might control the puppets remotely.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, and Kagami Uchiha arrived to support Izayoi’s Special Assault Department, and Izayoi assigned them to Hatake Shinjiro’s squad.
• After several days of training, Izayoi led a team of eleven jonin to stop Hidden Cloud and Hidden Mist Anbu from further damaging a supply line.
• A Storm Release ninja and more than a dozen Hidden Cloud Anbu ambushed Izayoi’s team, and Izayoi’s Earth and Water Release barriers weakened the incoming blue rays before the team evaded them.

Izayoi and the others attacked Kapui’s Hidden Cloud Anbu, while Izayoi fought Kapui through the steam and Smoke. Kapui unleashed a close-range Storm Release attack, but the chapter ended with Izayoi protected by a square crimson barrier.

• Hatake Shinjiro warned Hiruzen and the others not to underestimate Kapui and assigned them opponents while Izayoi engaged him.
• Izayoi opened the battle with Great Fire Annihilation, and Kapui’s Anbu countered it with Water Release before both sides charged through the steam and Smoke.
• Izayoi and Kapui exchanged sword strikes, with her Sharingan and Wind Release helping her withstand his attacks.
• Kapui retreated and fired Laser Circus, but Izayoi read the beams’ paths and dodged them as they exploded around her.
• Kapui unleashed Thunderclap Flash at close range, and the blast struck Izayoi before its dust cleared to reveal a square crimson barrier in front of her.

Izayoi’s forces drove back the Hidden Cloud Anbu, while the wider war continued to devastate smaller countries and fuel the Land of Night’s resource seizure in the Land of Lightning. Doichi patrolled the sea with his newly assembled team, and the chapter ended by hinting that a well-connected noblewoman had arranged Uchiha Megumi’s assignment.

• Izayoi blocked Kapui’s Storm Release attack with the Uchiha Flame Formation, and Konoha reinforcements joined her as the Hidden Cloud Anbu regrouped.
• Kapui withdrew with the surviving Hidden Cloud Anbu, and Izayoi ordered her allies to pursue them.
• The chapter described the stalled front-line battles, the assassination of Amegakure’s leader, and the great villages’ continued exploitation of smaller countries.
• The Land of Night reinforced its captured island base and shipped resources from the Land of Lightning back home.
• Doichi, newly promoted to Jonin, patrolled the sea with Mifune, Shiraishi Aotori, Uchiha Megumi, and Aburame Jūjirō.
• The chapter revealed that a well-connected noblewoman from the Land of Night had arranged Uchiha Megumi’s assignment.

Doichi’s patrol squad encountered a Hidden Cloud force led by A, and Doichi’s devastating Gentle Fist attacks reduced the enemy ranks before he met A head-on. The chapter ended with both fighters injured after their techniques collided and began destroying the island.

• Doichi led Mifune, Aburame Jūjirō, Shiraishi Aotori, and Uchiha Megumi farther north on patrol and detected a Hidden Cloud squad nearby.
• Doichi’s squad reached an island and found four enemies charging through its forest, including a sensory ninja.
• Doichi unleashed Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Divine Air Echoes, destroying the forest and leaving six Hidden Cloud ninja standing.
• A revealed himself as the enemy leader, activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode, and charged Doichi with a finger-thrust attack.
• Doichi met A’s attack with Gentle Fist: Sky-Rending Divine Light Cannon, and their collision shattered the island and left both men bleeding and badly shaken.

Doichi drove off 'A' after their clash left both unable to secure a decisive victory. As Doichi’s team resumed its patrol, he explained how he had developed the unfinished Sky-Rending Divine Light Cannon and vowed to perfect it for their next encounter.

• Doichi and 'A' exchanged powerful attacks, leaving 'A' with chakra-disrupting injuries and Doichi’s right arm numb.
• 'A' abandoned the fight and retreated with the Hidden Cloud Village ninja, promising to settle the score another time.
• Shiraishi Aotori treated Doichi’s arm, and Mifune and the others discussed the strength of the next Third Raikage.
• Doichi said he would perfect the Sky-Rending Divine Light Cannon and defeat 'A' in their next battle.
• As Doichi led the team onward, he explained that the technique grew from an unfinished Ninjutsu in Yayoi’s collection and inspiration from Uncle Seven-Tails’s Tailed-Beast Bomb.

A returned to the Hidden Cloud Village camp and told Tazbi that Oda Doichi, the Land of Night general’s young heir, had fought him alone and injured him with Gentle Fist. Tazbi questioned whether Hidden Cloud Village could win the war, and A admitted he did not know.

• A reflected on how the Hyuga Clan’s Variant Gentle Fist had overcome his Lightning Release Chakra Mode and resolved to improve his Hell Stab and internal defenses.
• A met the injured Tazbi, who said Yaya had wounded him while he scouted the Land of Night’s forces.
• A told Tazbi that he had encountered a hidden expert during his mission.
• A identified the expert as Oda Doichi, the Land of Night general’s eldest legitimate son and heir.
• A said Doichi had fought him alone, blocked his Lightning Release assault, and injured him with Gentle Fist.
• Tazbi asked whether Hidden Cloud Village would win the war, and A replied that he did not know.

Aoi and Rinko maintained the General's Residence while Yayoi and Irori were away, weighing whether to send reinforcements to the Land of Hot Water front. Meanwhile, the war settled into a stalemate, and Kumogakure struggled against the Land of Night's fortified forces and effective guerrilla units.

• Aoi and Rinko finished their government work and discussed the pressure on the Land of Hot Water front, deciding not to send help without an explicit request.
• Small countries secretly supported the Land of Night after Kumogakure retreated into the Land of Lightning and began its campaign there.
• Yotsuki Kōmon and Kumogakure's other leaders hesitated to counterattack because they lacked accurate intelligence about the Land of Night's forces.
• Kumogakure discovered that its small guerrilla units gained almost no advantage against the Land of Night's ninja and samurai.

Hidden Cloud Village's leaders discussed the Land of Night's forbidden drugs, Komurasaki's attacks, and Yayoi's ability to heal wounded fighters, while A warned that their losses were becoming dangerous. Yayoi suspected Hidden Cloud was hiding its intentions and decided to bring Chōmei to the front as he continued preparing for a decisive strike.

• Hidden Cloud jonin argued that the Land of Night used forbidden drugs and Komurasaki's invisible assaults to inflict heavy losses on their squads.
• A warned the conference that the Land of Night's casualty rate was low because Yayoi could heal gravely wounded fighters and return them to battle.
• A Hidden Cloud jonin proposed an idea for countering the Land of Night, though the chapter did not reveal his plan.
• Yayoi studied reports showing Hidden Cloud had maintained its guerrilla tactics despite its casualties and considered whether it was preparing to counterattack or withdraw.
• Yayoi decided to bring Chōmei to the front and continued keeping forces in reserve to guard against possible betrayal by allied villages.

A agreed to test whether the Hidden Cloud Village’s Heavenly Transfer Technique could transport a living person, and Robui successfully sent him to a distant outer camp. After medical ninja confirmed A had only superficial injuries, Yotsuki Kōmon prepared to discuss how to use the breakthrough against the Land of Night.

• Yotsuki Kōmon ordered Robui to use the Heavenly Transfer Technique on A despite the risk that the transfer could tear him apart.
• A activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode and allowed Robui to transport him without resisting the technique.
• A arrived at a Hidden Cloud Village outer camp, where medical ninja examined him and confirmed the transfer had caused only superficial injuries.
• A told Yotsuki Kōmon that he could still use his full strength but suffered stiffness and nausea after landing.
• Yotsuki Kōmon left A to rest and returned with the Jonin to discuss their next plan against the Land of Night.

Yayoi oversaw the Land of Night’s defenses as the Hidden Cloud Village’s next-generation 'A' suddenly appeared in their rear, destroyed two squads, and fled at extraordinary speed. Suspecting that 'A' had used a technique capable of transporting supplies as well as people, Yayoi realized it could explain the missing supply route to the Hidden Cloud Village’s army in the Land of Frost.

• Yotsuki Kōmon rejected a risky raid on the Land of Night’s homeland after Robui warned that transporting 'A' too far with the Heavenly Transfer Technique could endanger him, and ordered a counterattack against the Hidden Cloud Village’s main force in the Land of Lightning.
• Yayoi inspected the Obelisk Tower’s modified Sensory Water Sphere, which helped sensory ninja and puppet masters monitor the battlefield and control the Land of Night’s Puppet Samurai.
• A sensory ninja reported that 'A' had wiped out two Land of Night squads in under a minute after crossing the front line and moving more than a hundred kilometers at astonishing speed.
• Yayoi ordered puppet units to intercept 'A', but 'A' fled south before Yayoi could send Irori and Tsuchigumo after him.
• Yayoi suspected that 'A' was testing a technique that could transport supplies, explaining why the Land of Night had never found the Hidden Cloud Village’s supply route to the Land of Frost.

A returned safely from the Land of Night’s occupied territory and reported on its defenses, remote puppet-control devices, and combat medicines. As Hidden Cloud Village struggled to plan a counteroffensive, Kōmon announced that Kapui would arrive from the Land of Frost to help counter Komurasaki.

• A returned to Hidden Cloud Village’s defensive zone without encountering an ambush, and the village’s high-ranking Jonin convened a war meeting.
• A reported that the area where he had landed was weakly defended, that square stone spires might control puppets, and that the Land of Night used three types of combat medicine.
• The Jonin learned that the medicines could boost strength, produce Tailed-Beast Chakra, and heal injuries, but concluded they could not help break the current deadlock quickly.
• Kōmon announced that Raikage had agreed to send Kapui from the Land of Frost to assist the counteroffensive, with Kinkaku and Ginkaku no longer expected to interfere.
• The Hidden Cloud Jonin welcomed Kapui’s arrival, hoping his Storm Release and sensory abilities would help them stop Komurasaki.

Yayoi reorganized the Land of Night’s defenses while allowing A to keep probing and destroying decoy targets so Hidden Cloud Village would believe it had found weaknesses. By December, his attacks had shifted toward supply ships, and Yayoi’s commanders anticipated that Hidden Cloud Village’s long-awaited offensive was near.

• Yayoi replaced small patrol squads with companies and assigned puppet forces to wilderness patrols after A’s first airborne attack killed nearly ten people.
• A returned to the Land of Night and destroyed exposed Obelisk Towers, but Yayoi let him escape and ordered the nearest company to repair the decoy signal towers.
• Yayoi and his staff kept hidden backup receivers intact while pretending they could not stop A, hoping to draw out the larger force behind Hidden Cloud Village’s probing.
• Over the next two or three months, A attacked western ports and destroyed several cargo ships, while Hidden Cloud Village concluded that the Land of Night was shifting troops toward the ports.
• Yayoi and Irori convened a strategy meeting in Maple City, where the commanders discussed whether Hidden Cloud Village was preparing an offensive or would continue harassing them through A.

Kapui returned from the Land of Frost to support Hidden Cloud Village’s counteroffensive against the Land of Night and learned that Komurasaki’s abilities had crippled their operations. Confident that his sensory skills and combat abilities could restrain her, he prepared for the coming battle.

• Kapui arrived at the Hidden Cloud Village camp and asked Kōmon and the other Jonin why their forces had achieved so little against the Land of Night.
• Kōmon briefed Kapui on Komurasaki, whose hypnosis, Taijutsu, and invisibility had caused heavy casualties and made Hidden Cloud’s investigations dangerous.
• Kapui learned that the Second Raikage had also sent him to win over Kōmon’s faction and separate it from Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
• Kapui agreed that his role in the counteroffensive was to restrain Komurasaki and concluded that his sensory abilities would let him handle her.

Komurasaki, Yaya, and Kicho faced separate Hidden Cloud Village attacks as the village launched a major counteroffensive against the Land of Night. The battle left Kicho under pressure from Kōmon and Yugito until Tsuchigumo erupted from underground to attack them.

• Komurasaki evaded Kapui’s Storm Release: Laser Circus, but Kapui sensed her real position and attacked again.
• Tazbi confronted Yaya in a partial Tailed Beast transformation while more than three thousand Hidden Cloud Village ninjas assaulted the Land of Night’s front line.
• Kōmon and Yugito attacked Kicho together as part of the Hidden Cloud plan to break through before A, fighting deep in enemy territory, ran out of strength.
• Kicho repelled Kōmon and Yugito’s first assault with Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven but struggled to withstand their continuing attacks.
• A sensory ninja warned Kōmon and Yugito to move, and Tsuchigumo burst out of the ground and charged at them.

Yayoi and Tsuchigumo arrived to reinforce the Land of Night’s forces, turning the battle against Hidden Cloud Village as Irori fought off their Storm Release squad. Meanwhile, A was trapped in a barrier and faced with thousands of Puppet Samurai, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Yayoi and Tsuchigumo reached the snowfield after Komurasaki’s message, and Tsuchigumo’s attack cut down Hidden Cloud Village ninja.
• Irori used Ice Release to suppress the Hidden Cloud Village force until ten Storm Release Jonin attacked her with Laser Circus.
• A realized the Land of Night had lured him into a trap after Puppet Samurai ambushed him and four Jonin sealed him inside a Four Violet Flames Battle Formation.
• Flying Kite and the Land of Night ninja sent five hundred Puppet Samurai into the barrier to fight A.
• The Land of Night ninja revealed thirty-five more summoning scrolls, and A understood that they could unleash thousands of puppets against him.

A was trapped in a barrier and overwhelmed by waves of explosive, poison-spewing Puppet Samurai. Meanwhile, Komurasaki summoned a gigantic Red Spider Lily against Kapui, revealing a power absent from Hidden Cloud Village’s intelligence as she prepared to fight at full strength.

• A struggled against hundreds of Puppet Samurai that swarmed and self-destructed around him inside the barrier.
• The Puppet Samurai released purple poison gas, and Flying Kite ordered another five hundred puppets into the sealed battlefield.
• Komurasaki appeared before Kapui unharmed, while Kapui resolved to delay her even at the cost of his life.
• Komurasaki bit her finger and used Summoning Jutsu instead of the sleep-inducing Genjutsu Kapui expected.
• A gigantic Red Spider Lily appeared in the snowy forest, with Komurasaki standing among its petals.

Komurasaki trapped Kapui in her Manju Flower Illusion Realm and battled him as he fought to delay her for the Raikage’s sake. She ultimately killed him and dispelled the Genjutsu, leaving his body amid the snow and Red Spider Lily petals.

• Komurasaki’s crimson mist engulfed Kapui and trapped him in the Manju Flower Illusion Realm, where the petals drained his chakra and life.
• Kapui resolved to give his life for the village and attacked Komurasaki with Storm Release: Thunderclap Flash.
• Komurasaki blocked Kapui’s attack, then avoided his desperate assault while the Genjutsu made him fight illusions.
• Komurasaki struck Kapui down with her Chakra Blade, and he died believing he had won.
• Komurasaki dispelled the Genjutsu barrier, and the Red Spider Lily vanished in white smoke.

Yayoi, Irori, and Tsuchigumo joined Land of Night's battle against Hidden Cloud Village, forcing the Cloud forces to retreat. The pursuit continued across the Land of Lightning, where the Hidden Cloud ninjas struggled to escape the overwhelming assault.

• After Yayoi and the reinforcements arrived, Kōmon, Tazbi, Yugito, and other Hidden Cloud leaders signaled a withdrawal when they recognized their counteroffensive had failed.
• Hidden Cloud ninjas used Lightning Release and Storm Release techniques to cover their retreat, but Tsuchigumo broke through their formation.
• Yayoi's Netherworld Orbs swallowed the Tailed-Beast Bombs fired by the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails Jinchūriki, then returned to her carrying the sealed Chakra.
• Tsuchigumo charged through the retreating forces while Irori blocked escape routes with Ice Release, and Kicho and Yaya attacked from the flanks.
• Yaya entered her Heavenly Flash Comet state and suppressed Tazbi and Yugito, while Kicho used Byakugan Chakra Mode to harass the Hidden Cloud forces.