Recaps

Tobirama Senju confined Hiruzen Sarutobi after exposing the persecution of the Senju Clan, and Konoha’s political upheaval spread across the ninja world. After learning of Tobirama’s resurrection and strength, Akatsuki suspended missions involving Konoha and focused on preparing for its final plan.

• Tobirama Senju confronted Hiruzen Sarutobi over the Senju Clan’s persecution, and Hiruzen blamed Danzo for abducting civilians as Wood Release test subjects.
• Tobirama Senju spared Hiruzen but confined him to his home under ANBU watch, ending the old generation’s rule in Konoha.
• News of Tobirama’s resurrection and Konoha’s upheaval spread through the ninja world, prompting other factions to avoid provoking Konoha and send envoys to investigate.
• Pain gathered Akatsuki, and Zetsu reported that Tobirama had killed Danzo and resumed the Hokage position.
• Pain ordered Akatsuki to suspend missions concerning Konoha, investigate the village, and concentrate on gathering funds for their final plan.

After Sunagakure’s elders debated how to avoid Konoha’s retaliation, Chiyo proposed peace talks to recover Gaara. Tobirama learned of the offer, then encountered Sasuke Uchiha and received a mission to prevent him from defecting.

• Chiyo and Ebizo urged Sunagakure’s elders to seek peace with Konoha, while hardliners threatened to ally with Iwagakure if Tobirama demanded too much.
• Shikaku told Tobirama that Chiyo planned to send envoys in half a month and offer compensation to reclaim Gaara.
• Tobirama left Shikaku with the Hokage’s paperwork and walked through the rebuilt streets of Konoha.
• Tobirama spotted Sasuke Uchiha and received a mission to prevent Sasuke from defecting, with Sage Mode as the reward.

Tobirama Senju ordered Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki to join Kakashi Hatake’s ANBU and arranged for them to spar. After the daimyo offered to fund military action against Sunagakure, Tobirama accepted the support and sent his envoy back to the capital.

• Tobirama Senju had ANBU arrange for Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki to join Kakashi Hatake’s ANBU and encouraged them to spar.
• Tobirama Senju returned to the Hokage Building after villagers greeted him throughout Konoha.
• Saito Shizumo told Tobirama Senju he was returning to the capital and revealed that the daimyo would cover the cost of military action against Sunagakure.
• Tobirama Senju thanked the daimyo through Saito Shizumo and arranged a ninja escort for his departure.

Tobirama Senju tested the Sage Mode he had gained as a reward for Sasuke Uchiha joining ANBU, discovering that it greatly enhanced his ninjutsu. After his Sage Art: Wood Release created a vast forest and exhausted his senjutsu chakra, he told the investigating Konoha ninja not to spread what they had seen.

• Tobirama Senju used Sage Mode to fire an enormous Flame Bullet that incinerated a corridor through the forest.
• Tobirama Senju tested Sage Art: Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence, causing a huge forest to erupt and a tremor to shake Konoha.
• Tobirama Senju's Sage Mode deactivated after the technique nearly exhausted his senjutsu chakra.
• Konoha ninja found Tobirama Senju and asked about the disturbance, and he explained that he had lost control while practicing.
• Tobirama Senju told the ninja to keep his Wood Release demonstration secret, then vanished.

Tobirama prepared for peace talks with Sunagakure after learning he did not need to take the Jinchuriki to gather the Tailed Beasts. Ebizo arrived in Konoha hoping to negotiate over the Konoha Crush Plan, while weighing Sunagakure’s poverty against the possibility of war.

• Tobirama visited Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro in prison, then asked Naruto to counsel Gaara.
• Tobirama learned that gathering the Tailed Beasts did not require collecting their Jinchuriki, though Sunagakure was unlikely to surrender its own.
• An ANBU ninja told Tobirama that Ebizo had arrived as Sunagakure’s peace envoy, and Tobirama ordered the delegation taken to the reception hall.
• Ebizo and the Sunagakure delegation saw Konoha’s prosperity and considered their village’s financial hardship and the possibility of joining Iwagakure against Konoha.
• Kakashi Hatake received the delegation, and Ebizo berated the younger Sunagakure members before following Kakashi into the reception hall.

Tobirama Senju heard Sunagakure’s peace offer but made Konoha’s forgiveness conditional on keeping Gaara in Konoha for training. The talks ended with Sunagakure facing that demand as the price of peace and a possible renewed alliance.

• Tobirama Senju asked Ebizo how Sunagakure would settle the Konoha Crush Plan.
• Ebizo blamed Orochimaru for deceiving Sunagakure, apologized, and offered five hundred million ryō plus thirty percent of Sunagakure’s mission income for ten years.
• Tobirama Senju reacted indifferently to the offer, prompting a Sand ninja to ask what Sunagakure had to pay for Konoha’s forgiveness.
• Tobirama Senju accepted the terms and offered to return the captured Sand ninja, but demanded that Gaara remain in Konoha for instruction as a condition of peace.
• Ebizo’s delegation rejected the demand, declaring that it was impossible.

Tobirama Senju rejected Sunagakure’s peace plea unless it surrendered the One-Tail Jinchūriki, deliberately provoking Ebizo into declaring war. A new system mission tasked Tobirama with crushing Sunagakure, and he ordered the Sand envoys seized.

• Ebizo rejected Tobirama Senju’s demand to hand over Sunagakure’s One-Tail Jinchūriki and accused him of obstructing peace talks.
• Ebizo realized Tobirama Senju wanted Sunagakure to start a war so Konoha could attack.
• Tobirama Senju received a system mission to lead Konoha to crush Sunagakure on the frontal battlefield, with doubled mental and natural energy as the reward.
• Ebizo declared that Sunagakure and Konoha would go to war if Tobirama kept the Jinchūriki, and Tobirama calmly agreed.
• Tobirama Senju ordered his people to seize Ebizo and the other Sand envoys.

Tobirama Senju ordered Konoha ANBU to seize Ebizo and the Sunagakure envoys, turning the failed peace talks into an apparent declaration of war. After the people of Konoha rallied behind him, he announced that they would go to war with Sunagakure in three days.

• Tobirama Senju ordered Kakashi Hatake and the ANBU to arrest Ebizo and the five accompanying Sand ninja.
• The ANBU subdued the Sunagakure envoys, and Ebizo accused Tobirama Senju of starting the Fourth Shinobi World War.
• Konoha's residents assumed Tobirama Senju was seeking revenge for the Konoha Crush Plan and admired his defiance.
• Tobirama Senju ordered Shikaku Nara to send the captives to the interrogation room for the Intelligence Division.
• Tobirama Senju addressed Konoha and announced that its ninja would go to war with Sunagakure in three days.

Konoha celebrated Tobirama Senju’s decision to go to war with Sunagakure, and news of the conflict spread through the shinobi world. Sunagakure’s leaders debated how to face Konoha and its immortal Hokage, but had not found a way to counter him.

• Konoha’s people and shinobi rallied behind Tobirama Senju after he detained Sunagakure’s envoys and declared war would begin in three days.
• Hyuga Hiashi learned of the declaration and welcomed Tobirama’s forceful response, recalling his brother Hizashi’s death.
• Spies carried news of the coming war to other villages, whose Kage questioned Tobirama’s decision and worried that the conflict could spread.
• Granny Chiyo learned that Konoha had detained her younger brother Ebizo and five other envoys, while Sunagakure’s elders focused on the threat of war.
• A Sunagakure elder warned that Tobirama’s Impure World Reincarnation made him immortal and that his Flying Thunder God Technique could let him appear anywhere on the battlefield.
• Sunagakure’s Elder Council struggled to find a way to restrain Tobirama Senju.

Granny Chiyo devised a plan for Sunagakure to avoid direct battles with Tobirama Senju and relocate its people and supplies before the war. In Otogakure, Orochimaru’s failing body forced him to seek a new vessel, but he rejected Kimimaro and chose Guren instead.

• Granny Chiyo urged Sunagakure to withdraw from the Land of Rivers, fight in the desert with guerrilla tactics, and relocate the village’s population and supplies.
• Sunagakure’s elders approved Chiyo’s plan, and the village began preparing for war.
• Kabuto Yakushi warned Orochimaru that his body was near collapse and needed replacing.
• Kimimaro offered to become Orochimaru’s vessel, but Orochimaru rejected him because he could not cure Kimimaro’s Bloodline Disease.
• Orochimaru ordered Kabuto Yakushi to bring Guren so he could use her body as his vessel.

With war approaching, Tobirama Senju learned that Hoshigakure needed help against Akahoshi and agreed to intervene after hearing what the village could offer. He realized Hoshigakure’s airborne ninja might help Konoha counter Sunagakure, then left to deal with the crisis.

• Tobirama Senju considered how Konoha could defeat Sunagakure while minimizing casualties, and inferred that the Sand planned to wage guerrilla warfare in the Land of Wind.
• Shikaku Nara told Tobirama Senju that three envoys from Hoshigakure had arrived, apparently desperate to ask for help.
• The injured Star ninja begged Tobirama Senju to save Hoshigakure from Akahoshi and offered the Mysterious Peacock Method and their village’s allegiance.
• A young Star ninja said Hoshigakure had roughly a thousand ninja and around forty who could fly using the Mysterious Peacock Method.
• Tobirama Senju saw how the Star ninja could help counter Sunagakure, told the envoys to remain in Konoha, and vanished to handle Hoshigakure’s problem.

Tobirama Senju killed Akahoshi and secured Hoshigakure's agreement to join Konoha. He then planned to use Hoshigakure's flying ninja to counter Sunagakure's guerrilla tactics, bringing forty-three of them to Konoha as the three-day deadline approached.

• Tobirama Senju killed Akahoshi and learned that Hoshigakure's remaining civilians and ninja had evacuated to safety.
• Tobirama Senju told Hokuto that Hoshigakure had to join Konoha, then ordered the refugees to join as well.
• Tobirama Senju convened Konoha's leaders and proposed using Hoshigakure's Mysterious Peacock Method to launch aerial attacks against Sunagakure.
• Tobirama Senju brought Hoshigakure's newly chosen leader to Konoha, signed an agreement for the village to join, and had the leader attend the meeting.
• Tobirama Senju brought forty-three Star ninja capable of flight to Konoha to prepare for the bombing plan.

Tobirama Senju’s trap annihilated a Sunagakure night-raiding force before it could harm Konoha’s camp. With the attackers wiped out, Konoha’s troops cleaned up and prepared to rest while remaining ready for battle.

• Torifu Akimichi ordered Konoha’s three thousand ninja to rest at their border camp, while Tobirama Senju prepared a trap for the approaching Sand ninja.
• A force of three hundred Sunagakure elites crept toward the camp to harass Konoha, but discovered Explosive Tags hidden across the ground and trees.
• The Explosive Tags detonated in a chain reaction, killing most of the raiders and leaving only a dozen Jonin-level captains able to fight.
• The survivors tried to flee and report that Konoha had learned their tactics, but found Konoha ninja waiting in the forest.
• Konoha ninja combined Wind and Fire Release to kill the remaining Sand ninja and burn a wide clearing.
• A Konoha commander ordered some ninja to clean up the battlefield and sent the rest back to rest and prepare for another fight.

Tobirama Senju’s ambushes devastated Sunagakure’s forces, and he prepared to use the newly relocated Star Clan to help end the war. The chapter left the Star ninja ready to follow his orders as they joined Konoha’s campaign.

• Konoha’s traps and desert skirmishes inflicted heavy losses on Sunagakure while Konoha suffered comparatively few casualties.
• Torifu Akimichi told Tobirama Senju that the ninja and civilians of Hoshigakure had relocated to Konoha and that the Star ninja were ready to join the war.
• Tobirama Senju ordered Shikaku Nara to send Hoshigakure’s Jonin to the battlefield so his plan to bomb Sunagakure could begin.
• Forty-three Star ninja pledged themselves to Konoha, and their leader declared that Hoshigakure would become Konoha’s Star Clan.
• Tobirama Senju welcomed the Star Clan and told them their aid could help end the war with minimal losses.

Tobirama Senju ordered a nighttime air raid on the Sand ninja camp, using the Star Clan’s flying ninja to drop Explosive Tags. The attack began as the Sand ninja watched the bomb-laden kunai fall toward their camp.

• Tobirama Senju ordered forty-three Star Clan ninja to carry Konoha Jonin over the Sand positions and destroy their facilities with Explosive Tags.
• Tobirama Senju told the Konoha Jonin to protect the Star Clan members during the raid.
• Sunagakure Jonin complained about their losses and discussed Elder Chiyo’s failed strategy and her request for Iwagakure’s aid.
• Night watch Genin spotted a flock of strange birds approaching the Sand camp, followed by paper tied to kunai falling from the sky.
• Sand ninja recognized the falling papers as Explosive Tags and shouted that the camp was under attack.

Konoha’s air raid devastated the Sand camps, and Chiyo rallied the survivors to counter the attack. Might Guy opened the Seventh Gate and unleashed Daytime Tiger at Chiyo’s main camp, leaving the Sand ninjas scrambling to defend themselves as it struck.

• Konoha’s explosive tags rained down on Sunagakure’s camps, setting them ablaze and killing or injuring many Sand ninjas.
• Chiyo used her puppets to shield some survivors and ordered Wind Release users to attack the airborne Star ninjas.
• Might Guy jumped from a Star ninja’s back, opened the Seventh Gate, and fired Daytime Tiger to scatter the gales and strike the camp.
• Chiyo summoned Chikamatsu’s Ten Puppets and used Ten Treasures Suction Crush while urging the Sand ninjas to raise defensive barriers.
• Daytime Tiger crashed into the ground, and its shockwave engulfed Chiyo’s camp.

After Might Guy's Daytime Tiger devastated Sunagakure's main camp, Chiyo awoke to learn the village had lost most of its forces and faced surrender or continued defeat. As she struggled to decide, Konoha's forces arrived again.

• Might Guy ordered the Star ninja to return to the main camp and report the attack to Lord Hokage.
• The Daytime Tiger broke through Sunagakure's defenses, killing at least half the ninja at the main camp and leaving Chiyo unconscious.
• Sunagakure's elders told Chiyo that the village had suffered at least three thousand casualties and could field fewer than five thousand fighters.
• Chiyo learned Konoha had lost fewer than a hundred ninja and considered whether to surrender or seek Iwagakure's help.
• A Sunagakure elder urged Chiyo to surrender before the village was destroyed, and she asked for time to think.
• Terrified cries announced that Konoha's people had arrived again.

After Konoha’s renewed air raid devastated Sunagakure’s camp, Chiyo ordered the village to surrender. Chiyo and two elders met Tobirama Senju at Konoha’s camp, where Chiyo studied the revived Hokage’s younger brother.

• Konoha and Star Clan ninja launched another air raid on Sunagakure, dropping Explosive Tags on the camp.
• Chiyo weighed the attack against Sunagakure’s heavy casualties and chose to surrender to Konoha.
• Sunagakure’s elders announced the surrender, and the Konoha Jonin leading the raid sent a team to land while he returned to report to Lord Hokage.
• Konoha’s army learned of the surrender and accepted it after Chiyo and Sunagakure’s Elder Council arrived at their camp.
• Chiyo and two Sunagakure elders sat across from Tobirama Senju, while Might Guy and Kakashi Hatake sat beside him.

After Sunagakure’s defeat, Chiyo negotiated with Tobirama Senju for the village’s surrender. She agreed to Konoha’s demands, leaving Sunagakure bound to pay heavily, accept Konoha troops on its borders, and give up the One-Tail Jinchūriki.

• Chiyo offered Sunagakure’s surrender, arguing that conquering the Land of Wind would cost Konoha more than it gained.
• Tobirama Senju demanded two billion ryo in compensation and the right to station troops along the borders of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind.
• Tobirama Senju also demanded that the One-Tail Jinchūriki remain in Konoha forever, threatening to continue the war if Sunagakure refused.
• After several minutes of hesitation, Chiyo agreed to all of Tobirama Senju’s terms.

Chiyo accepted Tobirama Senju’s terms, ending Sunagakure’s defeat and earning Tobirama a surge of power. Kept in Konoha while his siblings returned to Sunagakure, Gaara began to see a place for himself among Naruto and Sasuke.

• Chiyo agreed to Tobirama Senju’s terms to preserve Sunagakure, and Tobirama received doubled mental and natural energy as his mission was completed.
• Tobirama’s strengthened presence caused Chiyo to faint, and he ordered Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy to collect Sunagakure’s compensation supplies.
• Two days later, Konoha’s villagers celebrated the victory as the ninja returned with cartloads of supplies, while the Star ninja boasted about their flying techniques.
• Tobirama sent the detained Sand ninja, including Temari and Kankuro, back to Sunagakure but kept Gaara in Konoha.
• Naruto Uzumaki invited Gaara to train with him and Sasuke Uchiha, and Gaara began looking forward to life in Konoha as Gaara of Konoha.

Sunagakure chose Temari as its next Kazekage while Chiyo secretly planned to seek Sasori’s help against Konoha, and Konoha’s victory alarmed the other villages. In the Land of Rain, Orochimaru offered Akatsuki a partnership and revealed that Itachi Uchiha was Konoha’s spy within the organization.

• Chiyo declared Temari the candidate for Fifth Kazekage, intending to use her as a controllable figurehead while she sought Sasori and his organization’s power against Konoha.
• Konoha’s seven-day victory over Sunagakure and its occupation of part of the Land of Wind alarmed the shinobi world, especially villages that feared Tobirama Senju would seize their tailed beasts.
• Mei Terumi stayed wary of Konoha because the Sharingan had controlled the Fourth Mizukage, though she kept the matter quiet to protect Kirigakure’s reputation.
• In the Land of Rain, Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi met Sasori, Konan, and Pain, and Orochimaru voiced his interest in Itachi Uchiha’s Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Orochimaru offered Akatsuki cooperation against Konoha and revealed that Itachi Uchiha was Konoha’s spy inside the organization.

Orochimaru offered Pain a way to restrain Tobirama Senju in exchange for Itachi Uchiha, and they agreed to cooperate. As their plan to hunt Itachi began, Itachi carried out a mission with Kisame Hoshigaki while worrying about Sasuke Uchiha’s safety in Konoha.

• Orochimaru showed Pain a scroll proving Itachi Uchiha had passed Akatsuki intelligence to Konoha and proposed a deal for Itachi.
• Orochimaru used Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu to summon Rasa and claimed the technique could produce enough Kage Level fighters to hold back Tobirama Senju.
• Pain agreed to let Orochimaru have Itachi Uchiha and to cooperate against Konoha, while reserving final say over the use of Impure World Reincarnation.
• Sasori of the Red Sands asked for Itachi’s corpse after his death, and Orochimaru agreed because he wanted only Itachi’s Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki carried out a mercenary mission, while Itachi worried about Sasuke Uchiha and considered returning to Konoha.

Itachi was lured toward the Land of Rice Paddies under the pretense of hunting Orochimaru, but he suspected an ambush and prepared for it. When Sasori and the others attacked, Itachi detonated a clone around Hiruko, leaving the battle's outcome unknown.

• Sasori told Itachi that the Akatsuki had located the injured Orochimaru and ordered him to join the hunt, then led him toward the Land of Rice Paddies.
• As they approached a massive waterfall, Itachi grew suspicious and pretended to contact Pain to confirm the mission.
• When Sasori waited for him to approach, Itachi unleashed a barrage of shuriken, but Sasori deflected them with Hiruko's iron tail.
• The Deva Path and other attackers emerged from the waterfall, surrounding Itachi with suction, snakes, and paper shuriken.
• As the Deva Path dragged Itachi toward Hiruko's poisoned tail, Itachi used Clone Great Explosion, engulfing Hiruko in a massive blast.

Uchiha Itachi fought Orochimaru and the Six Paths of Pain, using his Mangekyō Sharingan to counter their attacks. He summoned Susanoo to block their assault, while Orochimaru urged the others to keep attacking because Itachi was nearly exhausted.

• Uchiha Itachi's Shadow Clone exploded, destroying Sasori's Hiruko shell and revealing Sasori's Human Puppet body.
• Uchiha Itachi burned Orochimaru's giant pythons with a Great Fireball and dodged the Asura Path's missiles.
• Uchiha Itachi used Amaterasu to bring down the Animal Path's Three-Headed Hellhound and Giant Bird, then charged toward Orochimaru.
• Orochimaru concealed himself with Hiding in Mist Technique and used Crystal Release: Crystal Shuriken to stop Uchiha Itachi from approaching.
• The Deva Path and the others attacked Uchiha Itachi, who summoned Susanoo to block them with its chakra sword and shield.
• Orochimaru urged the others to continue attacking, believing Uchiha Itachi was nearly exhausted.

Itachi endured the Six Paths of Pain, Orochimaru, Konan, and Sasori’s attacks with his Susanoo while planning an escape. He launched a feint at Sasori, then redirected the Yasaka Beads toward the exposed Naraka Path.

• Itachi used Amaterasu to burn the Animal Path’s summoned beasts and gained a brief moment to recover.
• Nagato realized the Yata Mirror reflected most energy attacks and concluded that a stronger Shinra Tensei could break Itachi’s Susanoo.
• Itachi assessed his opponents and chose the Naraka Path as his target, suspecting that it was important and vulnerable.
• Itachi’s Yasaka Beads destroyed Sasori’s puppets and flew toward Sasori’s chest core, prompting Sasori to defend himself with the Third Kazekage’s Iron Sand.
• The other fighters moved to intercept the attack, leaving the Naraka Path exposed, and Itachi abruptly redirected the Yasaka Beads toward it.