Recaps

Naruto revealed the truth behind Itachi’s massacre to Sasuke, who awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and agreed to join Naruto’s purge of Konoha’s corrupt leadership. In Amegakure, Obito decided to strengthen Akatsuki and use the real Madara Uchiha to begin a Shinobi World War.

• Naruto gave Sasuke Root’s files and explained that Itachi had massacred the Uchiha under orders to spare Sasuke, prompting Sasuke to awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Naruto persuaded Sasuke to pursue a purge of Konoha’s corrupt leaders instead of destroying the village, and Sasuke accepted Itachi’s eyes and Naruto’s offer to work together.
• Sasuke confirmed that Itachi had left a backup plan for dealing with the masked man, while Naruto concluded that the man was likely his parents’ killer.
• Obito learned that Sasuke had returned to Konoha and judged Naruto a major threat to the Eye of the Moon Plan.
• Obito told Zetsu to pressure Nagato and ordered Kabuto Yakushi to accelerate Impure World Reincarnation so they could bring back the real Madara Uchiha and start a Shinobi World War.

Tsunade successfully transplanted Itachi Uchiha’s eyes into Sasuke, while Naruto revealed Konoha’s dark history to Kakashi and warned him to prepare for danger. Elsewhere, Kisame learned of Itachi’s death and reflected on his former partner’s final act.

• Tsunade removed Sasuke’s Mangekyō Sharingan and transplanted Itachi’s eyes, then said Sasuke needed at least a month to adapt.
• Naruto told Kakashi that Root’s records confirmed the truth about Itachi and urged him to become a new pillar of Konoha.
• Naruto warned Kakashi to increase security and hinted that someone Kakashi mourned might still be alive.
• Black-White Zetsu told Kisame that Itachi had died after fighting Sasuke.
• Kisame accepted the news and said Itachi’s death may have been a release from the burdens he had carried.

After Itachi’s death, Obito ordered Kisame and Pain to capture the Three-Tails by luring Yagura out of hiding with a staged threat against Kirigakure. At Yagura’s concealed refuge, he sensed danger approaching.

• Obito told Kisame that the Akatsuki would target Yagura, the former Mizukage and host of the Three-Tails.
• Pain and Kisame planned to spread a false rumor that Akatsuki intended to control Mei Terumi and restore Kirigakure’s Bloody Mist era, drawing Yagura out to protect the village.
• Pain assigned the Animal Path and Asura Path to help stage the attack and warned Kisame to capture Yagura alive.
• Kisame questioned whether Kabuto Yakushi could be trusted, and Pain replied that people were only useful pieces or sacrifices.
• At a hidden cavern near the Land of Water’s border, Yagura told Chōjūrō that he was no longer Mizukage and reflected on his guilt.
• Yagura sensed a familiar scent of blood approaching, while Isobu grew uneasy.

Kisame and Pain lured Yagura into the Forest of No Return and defeated him, capturing the Three-Tails. They left Chōjūrō alive to spread word of Akatsuki’s power.

• Yagura heard rumors that Mei Terumi had been controlled and rushed to Kirigakure after a dying ANBU claimed the masked man had returned.
• Black Zetsu and Kisame revealed that they had fabricated the rumors to lure Yagura, while Pain joined them in the Forest of No Return.
• Chōjūrō charged Kisame and was knocked unconscious, leaving Yagura to fight Kisame and Pain alone.
• Pain struck Yagura with his Rinnegan techniques, and Yagura transformed into the Three-Tails to continue the battle.
• Kisame used Samehada and the Water Prison Shark Dance Technique to drain the Three-Tails’ chakra and render Yagura unconscious.
• Pain and Kisame took Yagura away and spared Chōjūrō so he could tell others that Akatsuki had arrived.

Ōnoki faced pressure from Obito and Kabuto to ally with Akatsuki against Naruto Uzumaki, whose growing power threatened Iwagakure. After Kabuto revealed that the apparent end of the Spiritual Pollution was only temporary, Ōnoki backed down, leaving the alliance negotiations poised to continue.

• Ōnoki learned that Akatsuki had captured Yagura, the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, and felt relieved that Naruto had not obtained the beast.
• Obito appeared before Ōnoki, warned him that Sasuke had gained Itachi’s eyes and now served Naruto, and proposed an alliance against Naruto’s New Order.
• Kabuto revealed that the Spiritual Pollution had been paused, not cured, and threatened to reactivate its planted seeds among Iwagakure’s villagers and leaders.
• Ōnoki considered attacking Kabuto but feared the consequences of triggering the pollution, so he dispersed his Dust Release and sat down.

Ōnoki persuaded A to ally with Iwagakure and Kumogakure against Naruto, while Naruto launched a plan to arm neutral small nations and disrupt their enemies’ supply lines. The chapter ended with a boy in the Land of Grass killing an Iwagakure Jonin with a Konoha-made Bolter.

• Ōnoki urged A to join forces against Naruto, arguing that Konoha’s industrial weapons threatened the old balance of power.
• A agreed to fight alongside Ōnoki and consider working with Akatsuki, while they planned to build support by starting with smaller nations.
• Naruto ordered Nara Shikage to activate the Sparkfire Plan, offering weapons and industrial aid to small nations that signed a mutual defense agreement with Konoha.
• An Iwagakure advance squad entered a village in the Land of Grass to seize food and found a boy armed with a Konoha-made Defender Bolter.
• The boy fired at the Iwagakure Jonin and blasted a hole through his chest.

Kakuzu protected villagers who used a Defender to kill an Iwagakure Jonin, while Sato organized a rebellion in the Land of Grass around Wild Dog, whom he named Liao and identified as the true royal heir. Kusachiyo learned his claim to the throne was under attack as villagers and rebels gathered in the Black Forest to hear Sato explain exploitation and class.

• Kakuzu killed the three Iwagakure Chunin, collected the bounty on their bodies, and paid the boy who had killed the Jonin five hundred ryo after deductions.
• Sato told his student that guns were only tools and began seeking a legitimate heir to rally the people of the Land of Grass.
• Sato approached Wild Dog after his arena victory, showed him a photograph of his mother, and named him Liao.
• Kusachiyo learned that the villagers had fled to the Black Forest and ordered the Imperial Guard and Iwagakure forces to burn it down.
• A masked man gave Kusachiyo a report claiming he was not the previous Daimyō’s son and said copies had been posted across Kusanagi City.
• In the Black Forest, Sato addressed the gathered villagers and rebels while Liao held a Heavy Bolter engraved with “Gift of Freedom.”

Sato armed and trained the refugees in the Black Forest, giving them Defender Type I guns to fight the daimyo’s forces. When the Imperial Guard and Iwagakure ninja arrived, Liao led the Resistance Army’s ambush, and their gunfire tore through the attackers.

• Sato revealed crates of Defender Type I guns and ordered the refugees to train for three days under Liao’s leadership.
• Sato and Liao put the refugees through intense drills as Liao urged Skinny Monkey not to fear death.
• Liao sensed the approaching Imperial Guard and Iwagakure ninja and ordered the Resistance Army to form up.
• Earth Core led the attackers into the forest, where Liao and his comrades waited in concealed positions.
• Liao’s custom Heavy Bolter blasted through Earth Core’s Earth-Style Wall, and the Resistance Army opened fire on the attackers.

Liao and the refugees used firearms to defeat Earth Core and three other Iwagakure ninja, while Sato explained how cheap weapons had changed the balance of power. In Iwagakure, Ōnoki learned that Konoha’s weapons required paid keys and maintenance supplies, then ordered conventional forces to the Land of Grass and urged the Raikage to accelerate their plan.

• Liao led the refugees in a coordinated gun attack that killed Earth Core and the other Iwagakure ninja.
• Sato stripped equipment from the bodies and told the villagers that ninja lives were now as cheap as theirs.
• Liao ordered the villagers to hang a Chunin’s head at the forest entrance to provoke Iwagakure.
• Ōnoki learned that Iwagakure’s Konoha-made weapons were locked without paid technical support and specialized lubricant.
• Ōnoki ordered Kitsuchi to send conventional forces to the Land of Grass and told the Raikage to move their plan up.

Kitsuchi’s forces struggled against armed rebels in the Land of Grass as cheap firearms drained Iwagakure’s strength, while Kumogakure faced financial pressure and agreed to ally with the Akatsuki. Naruto answered the growing opposition by ordering food exports to the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning halted, leaving his rivals facing the threat of war on empty stomachs.

• Kitsuchi’s squad advanced through the rain and mud under rebel gunfire, and he blamed Naruto Uzumaki for putting the power to kill into civilians’ hands.
• Mabui told A that Kumogakure’s exports and military budget had suffered, and A accepted Ōnoki’s proposal for an early war and ordered contact with the Akatsuki.
• Shikage reported that Iwagakure’s advance had stalled and that Kumogakure was approaching the Akatsuki.
• Naruto told Shikage to let the enemy nations gather their forces rather than strike first.
• Naruto ordered Tazuna and the ports in the Land of Whirlpools to halt food exports to the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning.

Naruto Uzumaki’s trade blockade and black-market grain sales pushed Iwagakure and Kumogakure toward shortages, while Konoha’s supply cutoff also crippled Kumogakure’s ninja tools. Ōnoki pushed to hasten the war, and A recognized Naruto’s maneuver as vicious.

• A housewife in Iwagakure paid a steep price for a sack of old rice after grain prices rose and supplies dwindled.
• Ōnoki learned that food reserves would last only six months and that Naruto Uzumaki was selling grain to Iwagakure at ten times the usual price through the black market.
• Kitsuchi and Akatsuchi described how neighboring countries had halted exports, leaving Iwagakure with few alternatives.
• Ōnoki ordered his officials to contact the Raikage and press for an earlier war.
• Killer B complained about synthetic meat, and A revealed that Kumogakure faced food shortages and failing ninja tools after Konoha cut off supplies.
• A blamed Naruto Uzumaki for Kumogakure’s predicament.

Sato organized the refugees of the Land of Grass into an armed militia, rewarding their ambush of Earth Core and teaching them tactics and literacy as Iwagakure withdrew from the Black Forest. Naruto Uzumaki learned of their progress and warned that the Land of Grass could soon become the first battlefield of an early war.

• Sato explained the militia’s weapon rental and bounty rules, paid the ambush participants, and assigned Liao to train newcomers with Konoha Root’s tactical manual.
• Liao admitted he could not read, so Sato arranged for the refugees to study the manual and learn to read.
• Kitsuchi ordered Iwagakure’s squads to withdraw to the main camp after learning that the refugees were using traps and Defender rifles in guerrilla attacks.
• Liao studied crossfire tactics with a young refugee as Sato ordered the militia to keep training and prepare to defend their home.
• Nara Shikage reported the militia’s successes to Naruto Uzumaki, who told Sato to accelerate preparations and said the refugees needed a victory of their own.

Ōnoki and A agreed to start the war early as the Resistance Army in the Land of Grass threatened their forces and supplies. After Liao burned most of Iwagakure’s granary, Naruto learned Ōnoki might respond with an all-out offensive and said that was exactly what he wanted.

• Ōnoki ordered Iwagakure to contact A and begin the war early, and A agreed after learning Resistance Army fighters were attacking trade caravans with weapons designed against Lightning Release ninja.
• Sato advised Liao that his gun should protect people, and Liao rallied the refugees to burn Iwagakure’s granary.
• Kitsuchi received Ōnoki’s order to hold the camp for three days while Iwagakure and Kumogakure prepared a simultaneous offensive.
• Liao and fifty fighters used chakra interference devices to infiltrate the camp, kill a sensory ninja, and set the granary ablaze.
• Liao’s team drove back Iwagakure’s response with Heavy Bolter fire and escaped after burning more than seventy percent of the grain.
• Naruto learned of the granary’s destruction and welcomed the possibility that Ōnoki would launch an all-out offensive.

Kitsuchi and Darui led Iwagakure and Kumogakure forces in a devastating assault on the Resistance Army in the Land of Grass. Just as Sato and Liao were surrounded, Shikamaru and Tenten’s artillery intervened, breaking the attack and leaving the Resistance Army ready to counterstrike.

• Kitsuchi used the Mountain Soil Technique to send a massive earth tide through the Black Forest, burying Resistance Army fighters and cutting off their routes.
• Darui joined the assault, using Storm Release to kill Resistance Army soldiers as Liao and Sato tried to direct the defense.
• Kitsuchi demanded that Sato and Liao surrender, but Sato refused and contacted Shikamaru through an encrypted communicator.
• Shikamaru warned the Resistance Army to take cover as heavy shells fell from the sky and destroyed the Iwagakure formation supporting Kitsuchi’s technique.
• Tenten directed a barrage from Konoha’s Thunder God heavy howitzers, blasting the Iwagakure forces and forcing Darui to flee through the bombardment.
• After the attack shattered the enemy lines, Liao rallied the Resistance Army to seize the opening and fight back.

Konoha’s Peacekeeping Forces intervened to protect the Resistance Army and forced Iwagakure and Kumogakure to withdraw. Three days later, Sato reorganized the growing resistance into a force and began building a stronghold in the Land of Grass.

• Kitsuchi and Darui attacked the Resistance Army, but Yamato and Konoha’s Peacekeeping Forces arrived and declared the battlefield a humanitarian safe zone.
• Konoha’s medical ninja treated the wounded, and Kitsuchi ordered the Iwagakure and Kumogakure forces to withdraw.
• Sato stopped Liao from pursuing the retreating ninja and urged him to turn his anger into resolve rather than recklessness.
• Yamato gave Sato Naruto’s supply list and State-Building Outline, and Sato vowed that the Land of Grass would never bow its back.
• Three days later, refugees, farmers, and wandering samurai gathered at the Black Forest, where Sato organized them and raised a fortress under a flag bearing a crossed hammer and rifle.

Sato urged the Grass Country Resistance Army to unite behind a declaration of freedom as its influence grew. In Konoha, Tsunade rejected appeasing Iwagakure, and the clans backed her decision to prepare for war while keeping Naruto Uzumaki with Konoha.

• Liao reported that three more villages had joined the Resistance Army, and Sato warned that they needed a shared cause to keep the people united.
• Sato presented Liao with the Grass Country People's Declaration of Freedom as a banner for the movement.
• Shikaku Nara told Tsunade that Iwagakure and Kumogakure had allied and planned to isolate Konoha within three months.
• At an emergency meeting, Tsunade refused the elders’ proposal to make overtures to Ōnoki, warning that he would demand major concessions, possibly including Naruto Uzumaki.
• Ken Shimura argued that Konoha should fight rather than show weakness and declared that Naruto was still one of Konoha’s own.
• Hyuga Hiashi, Chōza Akimichi, and the other clan heads pledged their support, and Tsunade ordered Konoha to prepare for war.

Sato’s forces continued expanding their control of the Land of Grass as refugees defeated Kusachiyo’s Royal Guard, while Sato prepared an assembly to let controlled communities shape their future. In Konoha, Naruto ordered increased production of energy cores and faced the coming war against Iwagakure and Kumogakure, ending with Hinata bringing him dinner.

• A refugee patrol led by a young man ambushed four Royal Guard ninjas, killed them, and took their heads as military merit.
• Liao reported to Sato that twenty-two villages and towns were under their control and that Kusachiyo’s forces were deserting; Sato announced an assembly of local representatives.
• Naruto learned that energy-core production had improved and ordered mass production despite ore supply disruptions, while Ancient Iron reported that Sasuke’s Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan had stabilized.
• Naruto told the Arsenal’s worried craftsmen that the war against Iwagakure and Kumogakure was necessary for Konoha’s survival.
• Naruto considered the enemy’s ten thousand troops against Konoha’s six thousand at the village entrance, and Hinata arrived with a lunchbox for him.

Naruto and Hinata discussed their cause as the Akatsuki prepared to sabotage Konoha’s supply lines. After Kisame sank a cargo ship carrying vital materials, Naruto planned a response and called on Teacher Guy.

• Naruto and Hinata shared a meal at Konoha’s entrance and agreed that Naruto was trying to overturn the old order.
• Obito and Pain discussed the strained state of Iwagakure and Kumogakure, Kabuto Yakushi’s Impure World Reincarnation, and a plan for Kisame to attack Konoha’s maritime shipment.
• Sato ordered Liao to enforce the Resistance Army’s discipline rules against a rebellious wandering warrior.
• Deer Shadow reported that Kisame had intercepted the Land of Waves shipment, killing its Root guards and taking the rare metal needed for Konoha’s powered armor.
• Naruto rejected Sasuke’s offer to pursue Kisame and called on Teacher Guy to handle the maritime threat.

Naruto sent Might Guy to destroy Kisame’s attack on Konoha’s supply route, and Guy confronted Kisame at sea. Guy opened the Seventh Gate and Kisame trapped him in a massive sphere of water, leaving their fight underway.

• Naruto ordered Guy to eliminate Kisame and directed Konoha to activate its reserve stockpile and retaliate against Iwagakure and Kumogakure.
• Kisame and Kumogakure’s forces prepared to destroy a cargo of tungsten steel recovered from a wrecked ship.
• Samehada sensed danger as Guy raced across the sea and landed on the shipwreck.
• Guy opened the Seventh Gate and blasted away five attacking shinobi with a punch.
• Kisame engulfed the battlefield in a sphere of water, merged with Samehada, and launched a Great Shark Bullet at Guy.

Might Guy defeated Kisame with the non-chakra Daytime Tiger, while Naruto's forces used artillery and modern tactics to pressure Iwagakure. Kakashi's ANBU team called down Fire Rain on an Iwagakure demolition unit and moved in to confirm the results.

• Might Guy destroyed Kisame's Great Shark Bullet with Daytime Tiger, shattered Kisame's chest, and forced the surviving Kumogakure ninja to retreat.
• Jiraiya spoke with Naruto, who said Kisame had fled and ordered Jiraiya to hold the Bellflower Mountain defensive line rather than attack.
• Jiraiya ordered the Thunder God heavy cannons to aim at Iwagakure's positions and placed the line on first-level alert.
• Kakashi learned that Shū and the Iwagakure Demolition Corps were laying mines, then requested three-round Fire Rain artillery coverage.
• The artillery detonated the minefield and destroyed the demolition unit, and Kakashi led his ANBU team to inspect the crater.

Kakashi’s squad discovered that the dead Iwagakure commander Shū had been revived with an immortal body, and Kakashi trapped him in a concrete seal. Naruto recognized the reanimation jutsu and said the war had changed now that someone was turning the dead into weapons.

• Pakkun detected a faint life and chakra reaction beneath the rubble, and Kakashi’s ANBU uncovered Shū’s supposedly dead body.
• Shū revived, attacked an ANBU with Explosion Release, and regenerated from severe wounds as Kakashi recognized Tobirama Senju’s forbidden jutsu.
• Kakashi trapped Shū in a Portable Four Violet Flames Formation and immobilized him inside liquid nitrogen and hardened cement.
• Kakashi told Naruto that Shū had returned from the dead, and Naruto ordered him to bring the specimen back for Clan Head Ancient Iron to examine.
• Kakashi wondered whether Obito’s vision of a world without pain had led to the dead rising.

Naruto learned from Hiruzen how Impure World Reincarnation could be undone and revealed that he could invoke the Death God. At the Land of Grass front, he used that power to reclaim the souls of the undead army, while Obito, Kabuto, and Nagato recognized that their strategy had been broken and resolved to act faster.

• Naruto asked Hiruzen how to defeat Impure World Reincarnation bodies, and Hiruzen explained that powerful sealing, control-breaking genjutsu, or the Death God could end the technique.
• Naruto showed Hiruzen the Death God rune on his hand and announced that he would head to the battlefield in the Land of Grass.
• Naruto arrived at the Black Forest defensive line and used his power to return an attacking Impure World Reincarnation ninja's soul to the Pure Land.
• Naruto sent black chains through more than twenty undead ninjas, allowing the Resistance Army to counterattack the fleeing Iwagakure and Kumogakure forces.
• Nagato told Konan that the twenty-four Impure World Reincarnation bodies had vanished, and Obito and Kabuto realized Naruto had countered their undead army.

After Konoha sent the Resistance Army more supplies and honored Liao with a medal, he considered the danger of depending on Konoha while pledging to build a better future for the Land of Grass. Ayane tried to persuade him to accept Kusachiyo’s offer to become daimyo, but Liao rejected her and sent her back with a warning.

• Konoha delivered supplies, weapons, engineers, and medical shinobi to the Resistance Army, and Ibiki Morino awarded Liao a Defender Medal.
• Liao and Sato discussed whether Konoha’s aid would make the Resistance Army dependent, and Sato urged them to grow strong enough to stand alone.
• Liao told the soldiers he wanted the people of the Land of Grass to live with dignity rather than remain oppressed.
• Ayane visited Liao’s tent and revealed that Kusachiyo had sent her to kill him or win him over, offering him a chance to become the new daimyo.
• Liao refused Kusachiyo’s offer, told Ayane their paths had diverged, and ordered her to leave before he treated her as an enemy.

Kakashi defeated Darui by exploiting his techniques and Lightning Release Armor with Konoha’s technology, then spared him and urged him to warn the Raikage that Kumogakure had already lost. Back at the First Arsenal, Naruto and Sasuke learned that Darui was retreating and expected his defeat to weaken the Raikage’s resolve.

• Liao woke disappointed after the previous night, and Sato urged him to channel his frustration into fighting.
• Kakashi fought Darui, evading his Storm Release attacks and disrupting his Lightning Release Armor with a sonic device.
• Kakashi used White Fang II to defeat Darui’s Black Panther technique and wounded him, but chose not to kill him.
• Kakashi told Darui that Kumogakure had lost and warned him about the mines before Darui retreated.
• Sasuke reported Darui’s retreat to Naruto, who said Kakashi’s victory would shake the Raikage’s confidence.

After Black Rock City fell, Sato imposed harsh discipline on the rebels to stop them becoming the same kind of oppressors they had fought. Iwagakure assassins targeted Liao and Sato, but Neji and Hinata killed them from afar, leaving Sato aware that Naruto was directing events from behind the scenes.

• After the rebels looted and attacked civilians in Black Rock City, Sato ordered the Enforcer Squad to shoot the offenders and had seventeen soldiers executed for their crimes.
• Liao accepted Sato’s decision and began leading the army with greater discipline as they fortified the city against Iwagakure.
• Three invisible Iwagakure Jonin ambushed Liao, but Neji used a long-range anti-materiel rifle to kill them.
• Sayuri tried to poison and assassinate Sato, but Hinata shot her from a distant clock tower before she could strike.
• Sato realized that Naruto was the true player behind the rebellion and acknowledged that he needed Naruto’s power.