Chapter Summaries

Nagato welcomed Orochimaru and Kabuto to Amegakure and showed them the vast underground laboratory he had built for their research. Kabuto began setting up the recovered equipment and ended by summoning it throughout the facility.

• Nagato greeted Orochimaru and Kabuto after they returned from recovering experimental equipment, then led them and Konan underground.
• Nagato showed Orochimaru and Kabuto the enormous hidden laboratory, which Konan explained Nagato had built with extensive security, air circulation, and power systems.
• Konan told Orochimaru that Nagato intended the laboratory to support his independent research as well as work for Nagato.
• Kabuto summoned scrolls containing recovered equipment and spent two hours carefully arranging them around the facility.
• Kabuto performed a mass scroll summoning to complete the laboratory’s foundation-laying ceremony.

Orochimaru explained the careful process needed to grow Nagato’s second body and urged him to rest so his blood would support the embryo. Nagato agreed to leave Konan to her training, while Konan secretly used a broken Black Rod to draw on his chakra; three months passed.

• Orochimaru told Nagato that his second body would be grown in a cultivation chamber and that his blood and good health would support the embryo until an artificial placenta was ready.
• Konan offered to supply the experiment and told Nagato she had chosen to continue practicing the Night Netherworld Spider Lily technique alone.
• Nagato agreed to let Konan train without him for the next three months, asking her to wake him if she felt unwell.
• After Nagato fell asleep, Konan stabbed her arm with a broken Black Rod and used his chakra to keep herself going through her training.
• Three months passed.

Nagato and Orochimaru discovered that the Rinnegan’s Outer Path could synchronize Nagato’s consciousness with a living body in a vegetative state, which gave them a way to create Nagato’s second body. As the embryo continued to grow, Nagato named him Kaede.

• Konan watched Nagato’s second-body embryo grow in its incubation chamber as Orochimaru completed Nagato’s blood draw.
• Orochimaru found that Nagato could use the Six Paths Technique to synchronize his consciousness with a brain-damaged man, who later died naturally after escaping Nagato’s control.
• Orochimaru suspected the phenomenon came from the Rinnegan’s Outer Path Power, and a second test subject who was not in a vegetative state could not become Pain.
• Nagato and Orochimaru decided to make the second body a living person born in a vegetative state and synchronize its consciousness with Nagato at birth.
• Konan asked Nagato to name the embryo, and Nagato chose the name Kaede.

Orochimaru and Kabuto connected Kaede to an artificial placenta, allowing Nagato and Konan to wait for his birth. Orochimaru then offered Nagato a catalyst and revealed that Nagato carried dormant Senju Power, leaving Nagato stunned by his Senju ancestry and its potential.

• Orochimaru explained Kaede’s name and sent Kabuto to connect the embryo to an artificial placenta in a sterile chamber.
• Konan asked whether the placenta would end Nagato’s need to provide Kaede with blood, and Orochimaru assured her it would supply the nutrients the embryo needed.
• Nagato urged Orochimaru and Kabuto to rest aboveground, then Orochimaru offered him purified Hashirama Artificial Body Cells as a gift.
• Orochimaru clarified that the cells were a catalyst to awaken Nagato’s dormant Senju Power, not a transplant.
• Orochimaru revealed that his analysis showed Nagato possessed both Uzumaki Power and Senju Power, and described several ways Nagato could use the awakened power.

Nagato accepted Orochimaru's injection after Konan warned him of the risks, and he gave her a scroll containing a contingency in case Orochimaru betrayed him. The injection caused no immediate changes, and the chapter ended with Kabuto reporting that Kaede's placental connection surgery had succeeded.

• Konan privately urged Nagato not to accept Orochimaru's experiment because the injection could put his life at risk.
• Nagato decided to proceed and entrusted Konan with a scroll containing a contingency plan against Orochimaru.
• Orochimaru injected Nagato near the Black Rods, but Nagato felt no immediate change.
• Orochimaru explained that the power he had induced would need an opportunity to erupt.
• Kabuto emerged from the sterile room and reported that Kaede's placental connection surgery had succeeded.
• Nagato put an arm around Orochimaru and Kabuto and offered to reward them that night.

Nagato brought Orochimaru and Kabuto to an Amegakure bathhouse, where Konan introduced them as honored guests and met the innkeeper expecting a child named Ajisai. In the men’s bath, Nagato tried to get closer to Kabuto by offering to scrub his back, but Orochimaru’s suggestion led him to summon Pain A instead.

• Nagato took Orochimaru and Kabuto to an inn with a large bathhouse in southern Amegakure.
• Konan arrived with Pain Rin and identified the three men as guests invited by Pain, prompting the innkeeper to welcome them.
• The innkeeper told Konan that she and her late husband had planned to name their child Forget-Me-Not if it was a boy or Ajisai if it was a girl, and Pain Rin predicted the child would be Ajisai.
• Konan paid the innkeeper one hundred thousand ryō to reserve the bathhouse, and the innkeeper closed the inn to other guests.
• Nagato offered to scrub Kabuto’s back, but Orochimaru redirected him to scrub Orochimaru’s back instead.
• Nagato summoned Pain A to scrub Kabuto’s back, leaving Kabuto distressed in the men’s bath.

Pain Rin explained her plan to master the Blood Demon Mara forbidden technique and revealed that Nagato needed Yin Release chakra, which he could obtain through Kakuzu’s Earth Grudge Fear. As Konan collapsed in the bath, Pain Rin leaped to help her.

• Pain Rin told Konan that she wanted to refine the Six Paths of Pain and improve Nagato’s original body.
• Pain Rin explained that Blood Demon Mara could recreate Kekkei Genkai by combining all seven chakra nature transformations, but Nagato lacked Yin Release.
• Pain Rin concluded that Nagato needed a Yin Release chakra pathway and identified Kakuzu’s Earth Grudge Fear as the way to obtain one.
• Konan said Amegakure had enough money for its ninja but was short on funds for Orochimaru’s experimental base.
• Konan’s vision suddenly doubled, and she collapsed as her bathing bucket crashed to the floor.
• Pain Rin tore off her blindfold and leaped from the bath toward Konan.

Nagato healed Konan after she collapsed, then ordered Orochimaru to use Impure World Reincarnation to revive someone. As Root infiltrators were hunted in Amegakure, Orochimaru completed the jutsu, and the revived figure appeared among Root’s forces outside the village.

• Pain Rin found Konan collapsed in the bath, healed her injuries, and Nagato carried her back to her room.
• Root captains sent two members to infiltrate Amegakure and investigate Hanzo’s silence.
• Deva Path Yahiko asked Orochimaru to revive someone with Impure World Reincarnation and supplied a vial of blood.
• Human Path Yujie captured one Root infiltrator for information, while Kakupai delivered the other as the ritual’s living sacrifice.
• Orochimaru performed Impure World Reincarnation, and Pain A appeared among the assembled Root forces outside Amegakure.

Pain Yahiko revived Kakuzu with the Impure World Reincarnation and recruited him to manage Amegakure’s finances by threatening to uncover his hidden fortune. Kakuzu agreed to hand over forty percent of the profits, and Pain Yahiko then asked him for the Earth Grudge Fear Jutsu scroll.

• Kakuzu recognized Pain Yahiko as the man who killed him and realized Orochimaru had revived him with the Impure World Reincarnation.
• Pain Yahiko revealed that he had taken over Amegakure and killed Hanzo, whose body had been discarded despite Kakuzu’s concern over its bounty.
• Kakuzu recognized Kakupai as his own preserved corpse and deduced that Pain Yahiko and the others were controlled bodies.
• Pain Yahiko asked Kakuzu to become Amegakure’s chief financial steward, but Kakuzu refused to work for someone else.
• Human Path Yujie arrived with a Root member’s corpse, and Orochimaru restrained Kakuzu while Yujie threatened to read his mind and find his hidden fortune.
• Kakuzu bargained for forty percent of the yearly profits and agreed, after which Pain Yahiko requested the Earth Grudge Fear Jutsu scroll.

Pain A annihilated Danzo’s Root squads outside Amegakure, then received intelligence from White Zetsu Number 18 about Obito, Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Jiraiya. Nagato began worrying that Jiraiya might uncover the truth about Pain’s Rinnegan, and turned his attention to Konan.

• Ren Yin and Xin Chou ordered Root’s remaining members to retreat while they tried to hold off Pain A.
• Pain A broke free of Ren Yin’s earth-and-water prison, killed him, and then killed Xin Chou after using the Asura Heavenly Punishment Cannon to kill the fleeing Root members.
• White Zetsu Number 18 revealed that Obito knew Nagato had taken control of Amegakure and suspected he had sheltered Orochimaru and Kabuto.
• Number 18 reported that Jiraiya had returned to Konoha earlier than expected, prompting Nagato to wonder whether Jiraiya could connect Pain’s Rinnegan to him.
• Nagato set aside his concerns and began asking Konan a question.

Nagato discovered that Konan had been using Black Rods to keep herself awake and tried to find a safer solution. After arranging for Orochimaru to develop medication, he gave Konan a Black Rod navel ring, and the two shared a shy, romantic exchange.

• Nagato confronted Konan after Pain Rin discovered puncture marks on her arm, and Konan agreed to stop stabbing herself with Black Rods.
• Nagato asked Orochimaru to develop medication to suppress Konan's sleepiness, and Orochimaru estimated it would take a month.
• Nagato gave Konan a Black Rod navel ring as a safer temporary alternative, and Konan said she liked it.
• Konan mentioned wanting a lip piercing, and Nagato told her he thought her face was already flawless.
• Konan decided not to get a lip piercing.

Konan and Pain A told Kakuzu that Amegakure was nearly out of money, but the recovered Konoha Root corpses offered a way to raise funds. Kakuzu identified the bodies as valuable bounties and agreed to help finance the village, while Nagato planned to replace Pain's Human Path.

• Konan visited Kakuzu as he complained about Amegakure's spending, and she corrected him that only 1.4 million ryo remained after another 200,000 ryo went to dinner and bathing.
• Pain A arrived and told Kakuzu that Nagato had dealt with Konoha Root members outside the village, prompting Kakuzu to rush to the morgue.
• Kakuzu explained that Danzo's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal authenticated Root members for bounties of five million ryo each.
• Kakuzu verified 71 Root corpses worth 355 million ryo, but Konan reserved 200 million for Amegakure's next six months of living expenses.
• Pain A agreed to Kakuzu's request not to see Yujie again, and Nagato privately planned to replace Pain's Human Path.

Nagato tested whether Impure World Reincarnation could be used to create Pain and learned that the method only worked under special conditions involving former Jinchuriki and the Demonic Statue. He then planned to retrieve Mu’s preserved corpse from beneath Iwagakure, while postponing his own pursuit of Senjutsu.

• Nagato discovered that Impure World Reincarnation could not generally create Six Paths of Pain, and explained that Obito’s version depended on former Jinchuriki and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
• Pain A told Orochimaru that he wanted Mu as the Human Path because Mu’s abilities would complement it, but reincarnated bodies could not be made into Pain.
• Orochimaru revealed that Mu’s corpse was preserved in a pyramid burial a hundred meters underground beneath Iwagakure, and that Senjutsu could help retrieve it without alerting anyone.
• Nagato decided to postpone learning Senjutsu because he still needed to strengthen his own power and feared leaving Amegakure while Obito’s suspicions and Jiraiya’s return posed risks.
• Pain A announced that he would go to Iwagakure himself and free Mu from the pyramid.

Pain Rin and Pain A traveled into the Land of Earth, using relay towers to extend Nagato’s control over the Paths. In Konoha, Minato and Kushina chose the name Naruto with Jiraiya’s blessing, then Minato told Jiraiya he believed Nagato’s Rinnegan had appeared during the recent attack.

• Pain Rin and Pain A rode the Yata Crow northwest from Amegakure while Konan and Nagato discussed the mission and Nagato’s relay technology.
• Pain A activated a Chakra Signal Relay Tower on a mountain, and the pair installed more towers on their journey into the Land of Earth.
• Minato praised Jiraiya’s novel and asked to name his unborn child after its protagonist; Jiraiya agreed to the name Naruto.
• Minato and Jiraiya discussed the attack on Konoha, and Minato said he doubted Orochimaru was responsible.
• Minato told Jiraiya that he recognized the Rinnegan in the attacker as matching Nagato’s eyes, startling Jiraiya.

Jiraiya learned that an attacker with the Rinnegan had struck Konoha and considered whether his former disciple Nagato was involved, though he believed someone else might have taken Nagato’s eyes. After receiving Minato’s intelligence and Flying Thunder God kunai, Jiraiya set out for Amegakure to investigate what happened to Nagato and the others.

• Jiraiya reacted with disbelief when Minato said Nagato might be connected to the attack on Konoha, then considered that Nagato’s Rinnegan might have been stolen and used by someone else.
• Minato gave Jiraiya a scroll detailing the attacker’s abilities, and Jiraiya prepared to leave despite Minato’s invitation to stay.
• Jiraiya joked with Minato about peeping and gave him a copy of his new Icha Icha Paradise book before encouraging him to develop his own Sage Mode.
• Jiraiya read Minato’s intelligence outside Konoha and found a Flying Thunder God kunai and a message promising Minato would come to his aid if needed.
• Jiraiya took the kunai and headed toward the western border of the Fire Country to investigate the events in Amegakure.

Pain A and Pain Rin split up to trigger the seals on two tombs in the Land of Earth, while Ōnoki dismissed news that the Third Raikage’s grave had been robbed. Their simultaneous actions set off a roar from Lord Mu’s tomb, alerting Iwagakure.

• The Yata Crow reached the Land of Earth, and Pain Rin studied Orochimaru’s map of the real and decoy tombs.
• Pain A and Pain Rin split up, with Pain Rin heading toward the tomb near Iwagakure inside the concealed Chameleon.
• Ōnoki played with baby Kurotsuchi until her eyes turned into the Uzumaki Clan crest, then Kitsuchi reported that the Third Raikage’s grave had been robbed and A had lost an arm.
• Pain A and Pain Rin simultaneously tore the sealing talismans from the two tombs.
• A rumble shook Iwagakure, and someone identified its source as Lord Mu’s tomb.

Jiraiya infiltrated Amegakure to investigate the attack on Konoha and Nagato’s Rinnegan, but Nagato and Konan recognized him and let him gather information. After learning that Hanzo’s rule had fallen and that Pain and an Angel now led the village, Jiraiya began to suspect the Angel was Konan, while Nagato sent a body to deal with him.

• Jiraiya entered Amegakure, and Nagato recognized his chakra and told Konan to track him without revealing herself.
• Jiraiya mistakenly concluded that Orochimaru had taken Nagato’s Rinnegan and launched the attack on Konoha, then entered Rain Paradise to gather intelligence.
• Konan reported that Jiraiya had gone to Rain Paradise, and Nagato let him enjoy himself while a clone monitored him.
• After leaving Rain Paradise, Jiraiya learned that Hanzo’s rule had ended and that Lord Pain and an Angel now led Amegakure.
• Jiraiya suspected the Angel might be Konan, while Nagato said Pain A and Pain Rin had begun their operation at Undying River and dispatched a body to handle Jiraiya.

Pain Rin and Pain A pursued Lord Mu’s corpse while Ōnoki’s forces ambushed them, and Nagato’s group confronted Jiraiya in Amegakure. Obito arrived at the tower and told Nagato that Jiraiya had infiltrated the village.

• Pain Rin summoned the Hell Crab in the Hidden Stone tomb, where Kiba’s fire melted two wax decoys before Chameleon escaped with her and a corpse of Lord Mu (tentative).
• Haku’s Explosion Release failed to stop the summoned beasts, while Pain A obtained another corpse of Lord Mu (tentative) and was trapped between earthen mountains by Ōnoki and Kitsuchi.
• Ōnoki prepared to strike Pain A with Dust Release, but Pain Rin summoned a countermeasure as the attack swept toward them.
• Pain’s Preta Path ambushed Jiraiya in Amegakure and drained his chakra, but vanished before Jiraiya could be captured; Jiraiya escaped into a pipe and prepared to summon the two great sages.
• Nagato ordered Konan to take Kakuzu to the underground experimental base and alert Orochimaru and Kabuto when Obito arrived through Kamui.
• Obito told Nagato that Jiraiya had infiltrated Amegakure and said he had come to share intelligence uncovered by White Zetsu.

Pain Rin and the others escaped Ōnoki after destroying his defenses and exploiting his hesitation, while Nagato kept his true strength hidden from Obito. Nagato invited Obito to witness the force he planned to send against Jiraiya, revealing Kakupai.

• Pain Rin’s group brought Lord Mu’s corpses aboard the Yata Crow as Ōnoki and Kitsuchi tried to stop them, but Pain A and the Preta Path blocked their attacks.
• Ōnoki pursued the Yata Crow with Roshi and Han, but Yamagata absorbed his chakra-created rock fist before Ōnoki trapped him and erased him with Dust Release.
• Ōnoki hesitated to fire Dust Release at the fleeing Yata Crow, allowing Pain Rin’s group to escape after Pain A repelled Roshi and Han.
• Nagato decided not to recall Pain A and Pain Rin in front of Obito and told him Jiraiya had invaded Amegakure.
• Obito asked what force Nagato would deploy against Jiraiya, and Kakupai emerged from the darkness.

Nagato and Obito discussed their uneasy alliance as Jiraiya investigated the Rinnegan and confronted Kakupai in Amegakure. The battle continued under the observation of Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Kakuzu, who learned Nagato had mastered Kakuzu’s technique.

• Nagato told Obito he had let go of his resentment over Yahiko’s death but would wait until the end of his mourning year to officially join forces.
• Nagato used the Telescope Technique to show Obito Jiraiya confronting Pain.
• Jiraiya summoned Sage Fukasaku and Sage Shima and explained that he had infiltrated Amegakure to investigate Nagato’s Rinnegan.
• Jiraiya attacked Kakupai with Sage Art: Toad Oil Flame Bullet, and Kakupai countered with Fire Release: Head Moulder.
• Orochimaru explained that Nagato had learned Earth Grudge Fear and combined his own understanding with Kakuzu’s abilities, prompting Kakuzu to complain that Nagato had never properly hosted him.