Recaps

Nagato recruited Orochimaru to help him gain power and launched an assault on Konoha to obtain Uchiha blood samples and stolen scroll pages. The attack left Kakashi and Guy injured, Minato pursuing the Pains, and Itachi facing Nagato’s offer concerning his unborn brother Sasuke.

• Nagato and Konan recruited Sasori’s help to find Orochimaru, then Nagato persuaded Orochimaru to pursue the risky XYZ Plan and gave him a White Zetsu to study.
• Nagato and Konan entered the Fire Country, where Nagato used Mizuki’s body as a temporary Pain and Konan killed Dingmao of Root to secure two more vessels.
• Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain into Konoha during the rain, where Obito confronted Pain Rin and Kakashi and Might Guy fought the invading Pains.
• Pain Rin incapacitated Kakashi, the Asura Path battled Might Guy, and Obito carried Kakashi away as the invaders continued through Konoha.
• Shikaku, Inoichi, and Choza discovered that the Human Path could absorb their techniques, while Minato confronted it after the Scroll of Seals was stolen.
• Minato recovered most of the stolen scroll but lost several pages, then pursued Pain Rin with Bunta until Nagato used Breakpoint Resumption to rescue her.
• The Naraka Path infiltrated the Uchiha compound and escaped toward the shrine, while the Deva Path confronted Itachi and collected his blood.
• The Deva Path asked Itachi whether he wanted Nagato to take care of his unborn brother Sasuke, leaving Itachi alarmed.

Nagato and Konan gathered blood and bodies to expand the Paths of Pain, while Konoha and the Uchiha investigated the attacks. Nagato’s plan to obtain Obito’s blood and Hashirama cells led to Kabuto’s dangerous mission, which ended with Obito heading for Orochimaru’s base.

• Pain attacked Itachi and Mikoto to collect blood for Sasuke, then withdrew after Konoha defeated his other Paths.
• Minato refused Danzo’s attempt to claim the invaders’ bodies, and Nagato revived the surviving Paths before leaving Konoha.
• Fugaku and Shisui fought Nagato’s six Paths at Kikyo Mountain, but Nagato defeated them and warned Shisui to keep the encounter secret.
• Nagato and Konan attacked the Hidden Cloud funeral, captured Darui, Samui, and C, and made the Third Raikage into Pain A.
• Minato briefed Konoha’s leaders on the invasion as Konan trained in Night Netherworld Spider Lily and Nagato prepared a plan against Obito.
• Orochimaru helped Nagato capture and reprogram a White Zetsu, and Nagato sent White Zetsu Number 0 and Number 1 to obtain Hashirama cells.
• Obito caught Kabuto searching Kannabi Bridge for his blood, interrogated and killed him, but Kabuto revived with Izanagi and escaped with the blood scroll.
• Kabuto killed Number One to protect Nagato’s involvement, and Nagato summoned him away as Obito raced toward Orochimaru’s base.

Nagato and Konan defeated Hanzo, took control of Amegakure, and built a hidden laboratory to develop Nagato’s second body, Kaede. As Nagato strengthened his organization and sent Pain A toward Iwagakure, Jiraiya learned that the attacker at Konoha had the Rinnegan and set out to investigate Amegakure.

• Nagato fled Obito’s attack with Konan and Orochimaru, then resolved to take Amegakure from Hanzo while Konan traveled separately with Pain Rin.
• Pain Rin and Konan encountered Kakuzu, and Nagato’s Paths defeated him and made him the temporary Naraka Path before Nagato’s forces entered Amegakure.
• Hanzo fought Nagato’s Paths and summoned creatures, but Nagato’s forces overcame him, and Hanzo asked Nagato to lead Amegakure before he died.
• Nagato eliminated Hanzo’s associates, declared Pain a god through Konan, and captured Darui, Samui, and C as candidates for Amegakure’s future Three Ninja.
• Nagato and Orochimaru established a hidden laboratory, grew a second body named Kaede, and tested how Nagato’s consciousness could synchronize with a living body.
• Orochimaru injected Nagato with purified Hashirama Artificial Body Cells, while Konan trained alone and later collapsed from exhaustion after using Black Rods to sustain herself.
• Orochimaru revived Kakuzu with Impure World Reincarnation, and Kakuzu agreed to serve as Amegakure’s financial steward in exchange for forty percent of yearly profits.
• Nagato learned that Jiraiya had returned to Konoha, dealt with Root infiltrators, and used the bounty on their corpses to fund Amegakure while considering a replacement for Pain’s Human Path.
• Pain A and Pain Rin departed for Iwagakure to retrieve Mu, while Minato told Jiraiya that the attacker at Konoha had the Rinnegan matching Nagato’s eyes.
• Jiraiya considered that Nagato’s Rinnegan might have been stolen, received Minato’s intelligence, and headed toward the western border of the Fire Country to investigate Amegakure.

Nagato’s forces recovered Mu’s divided bodies and expanded their ranks while Minato confronted Nagato over Pain’s attacks and heard how Danzo helped cause Yahiko’s death. Nagato and Konan grew closer as Nagato pursued a new chakra pathway through Hiruzen, leaving their plans—and a shocking book—unresolved.

• Pain A and Pain Rin raided Mu’s tombs, escaped Ōnoki’s pursuit with the recovered corpses, and Nagato later turned the two identical Mu bodies into Pain-Mu.
• Jiraiya confronted Nagato’s Paths in Amegakure, learned that Yahiko was dead, and was rescued by Minato, who traced a Black Rod to Nagato.
• Minato persuaded Nagato to talk, and Nagato revealed that Danzo had joined Hanzo in ambushing Akatsuki and causing Yahiko’s death.
• Nagato told White Zetsu that he would wait seven months before cooperating with Madara, then celebrated Yahiko with Konan and revealed Obito’s identity to her.
• Pain Rin captured Darui, Samui, and C, and the three accepted service under Nagato after Darui agreed to save his companions.
• Pain A formed the Thunder God squad under Darui and sent it to protect a pregnant red-haired woman in the Land of Grass.
• Nagato and Orochimaru discussed taking an Yin Release chakra pathway from Hiruzen, with Orochimaru deciding that his response would reveal his true feelings toward his former teacher.
• Nagato and Konan shared homemade porridge, and Konan showed him a suspicious orange-covered book that shocked him.