Recaps

Captain Tonbo studied neurology while serving in the pursuit force, and Konoha’s propaganda made him famous as the village restored its institutions. Sasuke worried Tonbo would die pursuing Itachi, while Itachi joined Akatsuki and accepted an assassination mission in the Land of Birds.

• Captain Tonbo hid in Konoha Hospital and studied neurology and Yin Release to develop his jutsu.
• Tenyu and Maki heard villagers praising their father and decided to promote Ichiraku Ramen to earn more pocket money.
• Sasuke heard that Captain Tonbo was leading the pursuit force, feared he would be killed by Itachi, and resolved to grow stronger; Naruto challenged him as he passed by.
• Konoha’s propaganda suppressed the fallout from the Uchiha massacre, Root shinobi joined village forces, and the Military Police Force was reinstated under a Hyuga Jōnin.
• Zetsu warned Itachi that Captain Tonbo was leading the pursuit force, but Itachi said he knew Tonbo would not come after him.
• Zetsu assigned Itachi and Jūzō Biwa to assassinate a guarded noble in the Land of Birds.

Tobitake Tonbo trained his young children at sea while testing the first step of a powerful new ninjutsu. At the Ninja Academy, Kiba Inuzuka and Sasuke battled as their classmates watched.

• Tobitake Tonbo had Tenyu and Maki surf enormous waves as part of their training, with a summoned whale ready to rescue them if they fell.
• Tobitake Tonbo tested his new nerve-based technique on a piece of wood and assessed its research potential and combat flaws.
• Tenyu fell into the sea again while Tobitake Tonbo checked on him.
• At the Ninja Academy, Sasuke used Shuriken and the Great Fireball Technique against Kiba, who dodged his attacks with the Four Legs Technique.
• Kiba tricked Sasuke with Clone Technique and used a Kunai tied with Shiso to wrap him up.

Kiba defeated Sasuke in another spar, then challenged Naruto’s ideas about becoming Hokage while Naruto claimed he had developed a new technique. At the Academy, Tobitake Tonbo teased Guy and Kakashi about their lack of girlfriends before deciding to give the students a lecture.

• Iruka declared Kiba the winner after Sasuke escaped his restraint and recognized how Kiba had blocked his Sharingan’s view.
• Kiba taunted Naruto for being lazy, while Hinata defended Naruto’s hard work and Naruto bragged about a new ninjutsu.
• Kiba told Naruto that Hokage needed theoretical knowledge, but Naruto insisted strength mattered more.
• Shikamaru surrendered his match against Choji, prompting Iruka to consider new ways to motivate the students.
• Tobitake Tonbo joked with Guy and Kakashi about their marriage prospects, then decided to apply to lecture the students.

Tobitake Tonbo visited the Ninja Academy to answer the fifth-year students’ questions, encouraging them to study and pursue their ambitions. The session ended when Rock Lee asked whether someone who could not use ninjutsu could become an outstanding ninja.

• The students discussed Tobitake Tonbo’s visit, while Rock Lee hoped to ask whether a person unable to use ninjutsu could become a great ninja and Neji attended without interest.
• Tobitake Tonbo entered the classroom, impressing the students with his intimidating presence and chakra; he withdrew his defensive ninjutsu after sensing Neji’s Byakugan.
• Tobitake Tonbo began the Q&A session and told a student who wanted to become Hokage to study hard and grow stronger.
• Tobitake Tonbo answered the students’ questions about romance and flying, affirming their curiosity and keeping their enthusiasm alive.
• Rock Lee introduced himself and asked Tobitake Tonbo whether someone who could not use ninjutsu could become an outstanding ninja.

At the Ninja Academy, Tobitake Tonbo answered Rock Lee’s doubts about becoming a ninja without ninjutsu by telling a story of a Taijutsu fighter who saved his country. The other students dismissed it as fiction, but Tobitake told them that believing in miracles could make them candidates to become outstanding ninjas.

• Rock Lee asked Tobitake Tonbo whether someone who could not use ninjutsu could still become an outstanding ninja, while Hyuga Neji insisted that fate could not be changed.
• Tobitake Tonbo told the class about Nameless, who took up Milong’s name and developed the Eight Extremes Heaven Taijutsu technique to defeat the Black Flag Group and save the Land of Stars.
• The students and Neji rejected the account as an implausible story, leaving Rock Lee discouraged.
• Tobitake Tonbo said that believing in miracles was itself a step toward becoming an outstanding ninja, regardless of one’s potential to use ninjutsu.

Tobitake Tonbo encouraged his students to believe in miracles and cited Might Guy as proof that hard work in Taijutsu could produce an outstanding ninja. When Neji asked whether fate could be changed, Tonbo offered two competing views and said people could choose their own course through their will and efforts.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi heard Tobitake Tonbo’s words about miracles and left with a satisfied smile.
• Tobitake Tonbo told Rock Lee and the class that Konoha’s Blue Beast had become an outstanding Jōnin through Taijutsu and hard work, while stressing the importance of studying.
• Tenten asked how to become a powerful female ninja like Tsunade, and Tobitake Tonbo told the girls to believe in miracles and work hard.
• Neji asked whether fate could be changed, and Tobitake Tonbo acknowledged the limits of effort but said the future could also be decided by personal will and hard work.

Jiraiya learned from Gamamaru that a beneficial variable had appeared in the Shinobi World, while Orochimaru prepared a perfected technique and Akatsuki searched for him. In Konoha, Tobitake Tenyu and Tobitake Maki used lessons from their father’s manual to get out of dishwashing, as Tobitake Tosei offered to take their place.

• Gamamaru told Jiraiya that a new variable had made the Child of Prophecy’s path smoother and warned him not to be affected by it.
• Orochimaru heard news from a blue python, trusted it for now, and waited for an opportunity to use his perfected technique.
• Pain asked Akatsuki’s members and Zetsu for news of Orochimaru, but they had been unable to find him.
• At Ichiraku Ramen, Tenyu and Maki complained about washing dishes while Teuchi credited the restaurant’s popularity to his cooking.
• Tenyu and Maki used what Maki had learned from Tobitake Tonbo’s Ninja Essential Manual to persuade their mother and grandfather to let them rest.
• Tobitake Tosei took over the chores, while Tenyu decided to study the manual and use its lessons on his father.

Tobitake Tonbo used a chakra-transmission technique to help his father, Tobitake Tosei, relearn ninjutsu and practice one-handed hand seals. The training continued as Tonbo struggled to process and transmit his father’s insights.

• Tobitake Tosei asked Tobitake Tonbo to teach him one-handed hand seals, and Tonbo agreed.
• Tobitake Tonbo took Tosei, Tenyu, and Maki to a mountain peak, where he gave the children chakra-control training.
• Tobitake Tonbo placed a mark on Tosei and set up barriers to transmit insights while Tosei recalled and practiced ninjutsu.
• Tobitake Tosei began forming one-handed hand seals as memories and ideas flooded his mind.
• Tobitake Tonbo strained to process Tosei’s developing insights and send them back into his mind.

Tobitake Tonbo caught Jiraiya peeping at women in a Konoha hot spring and used his Genjutsu to distract him before heading to work. On the way to the Analysis Division, Tonbo wondered whether his actions had changed events enough to bring Jiraiya back to Konoha early.

• Tobitake Tonbo found Jiraiya peeping at the hot spring and introduced himself as a Konoha Jōnin Captain.
• Tonbo shouted that a peeping tom was on the roof, and Jiraiya escaped as a toad while Tonbo followed.
• Jiraiya tried to trade a volume of Icha Icha Paradise for Tonbo’s Genjutsu, but Tonbo refused and exposed him again when Jiraiya grabbed him.
• Tonbo used Blissful World on Jiraiya, then left while Jiraiya remained excited by the illusions.
• Tonbo headed to the Analysis Division and considered whether his actions, or those of Itachi or Orochimaru, had changed the course of events.

Jiraiya returned to Konoha to investigate a variable in the Great Toad Sage’s prophecy, and Hiruzen briefed him on Amegakure’s Rinnegan-wielding leader and a clandestine organization. Meanwhile, Tobitake Tonbo reviewed intelligence about Gato’s costly conflict with the Land of Hot Water, including a cult involving Hidan.

• Jiraiya told Hiruzen that the Great Toad Sage had prophesied a variable in the Child of Prophecy’s path and asked for help investigating it.
• Hiruzen described Amegakure’s leader, who called himself God and possessed the Rinnegan, and a clandestine organization active in neighboring countries.
• Hiruzen explained that Tobitake Tonbo had gathered intelligence on Amegakure and escaped a fight with its leader by setting a trap.
• Jiraiya wondered whether Nagato or the Akatsuki could be connected to the prophecy’s variable.
• Tobitake Tonbo reviewed reports that Gato had regained control of the Land of Waves’ port after a costly conflict with a Land of Hot Water company whose hired shinobi included cult-linked immortals.

Tonbo reviewed his intelligence network’s reports, noticed signs that the Land of Lightning was developing Scientific Ninja Tools, and trained Tosei, Tenyu, and Maki. Jiraiya then asked Tonbo for intelligence about Amegakure, the Rinnegan, and a space-time ninja, and Tonbo agreed to help him assess the enemy.

• Tonbo reviewed reports from his personal intelligence network and concluded that the Land of Lightning had begun developing Scientific Ninja Tools.
• Tosei successfully used the Great Fireball Technique, and Tonbo moved him on to practicing the Eye-Painting Hand while Tenyu and Maki trained their concentration.
• Jiraiya summoned Tonbo above Kage Rock and asked him about Amegakure, the Rinnegan’s abilities, and an unknown ninja who used space-time ninjutsu.
• Jiraiya said he wanted to gauge the suspected Nagato’s strength, and Tonbo agreed to give him a basic understanding of the enemy.

Tobitake Tonbo sparred with Jiraiya, using Genjutsu and other techniques to overwhelm him until Jiraiya surrendered. Jiraiya wondered whether Tonbo’s methods could counter the Rinnegan, while Tonbo regretted not getting to test more of his techniques.

• Jiraiya introduced himself with an extravagant speech, and Tobitake Tonbo answered with his own dramatic persona and Conqueror’s Haki.
• Tobitake Tonbo used Genjutsu to create falling cherry blossoms, and Jiraiya dispelled it after admitting Tonbo had outdone him with his lines.
• Jiraiya summoned Iron-Arm Toad, and Tobitake Tonbo created a Genjutsu ape to fight it while he attacked Jiraiya with painful and itchy Genjutsu.
• Jiraiya broke free, dodged Tonbo’s punch and underground grab, then counterattacked with shuriken that Tonbo blocked with an Earth-Style Wall.
• Tobitake Tonbo trapped Jiraiya in the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, prompting Jiraiya to surrender before Tonbo revealed his trump card.

Tobitake Tonbo discussed Pain’s abilities with Jiraiya, then later teased Asuma during his date with Kurenai. At the Ninja Academy, Naruto failed his Three-Body Technique assessment while his classmates passed.

• Tobitake Tonbo explained his battle strategy and Unlimited Void to Jiraiya, who decided to avoid confronting Pain until he had more information and preparation.
• Jiraiya tried to trade ninjutsu for Tobitake Tonbo’s Genjutsu, but Tobitake Tonbo refused and vanished.
• Asuma returned to Konoha and went to a barbecue restaurant with Kurenai, where Tobitake Tonbo teased him before leaving with Tenyu and Maki to see a movie.
• Naruto failed the Three-Body Technique assessment again, while Sasuke, Kiba, and the other students passed.

Tobitake Tonbo brought Tenyu and Maki to enroll at the Ninja Academy, where they met Hiruzen Sarutobi and Konohamaru. Later, Tonbo completed the first phase of Contact Evolution and began planning its next phase.

• Tobitake Tonbo and Ayame brought Tenyu and Maki to the Ninja Academy for enrollment.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived with Konohamaru, who argued with Tenyu and Maki before Tonbo made them apologize.
• The children entered the academy as their parents watched, and Tonbo reflected that Naruto would graduate the following year and the Fourth World War was approaching.
• At the Analysis Division, Tobitake Tonbo used Contact Evolution on a Kumogakure ninja's corpse and absorbed useful bodily information through the Second-Generation Heart of Steel.
• Tobitake Tonbo declared the technique's first complete phase successful and prepared to develop its second phase as a way to evolve his physique and increase his chakra.

Tobitake Tonbo used his new Contact Evolution technique to strengthen his vitality, then told Ayame he would share the conditioning once he confirmed it was safe. Later, Might Guy asked him to teach Rock Lee, Hyuga Neji, and Tenten skills beyond Taijutsu.

• Tobitake Tonbo used Contact Evolution on a Kumogakure ninja corpse to absorb vitality-related information and accelerate his body's evolution.
• Tobitake Tonbo ate an expensive Special Soldier Pill to replenish the nutrients his evolving body consumed.
• Ayame noticed Tobitake Tonbo's improved appearance and increased appetite, and he promised to condition her after checking for side effects.
• Might Guy showed Tobitake Tonbo his newly formed Genin team—Rock Lee, Hyuga Neji, and Tenten—training together.
• Might Guy asked Tobitake Tonbo to teach his students something beyond Taijutsu so they could become more well-rounded.

Tobitake Tonbo offered to teach Guy’s disciples a new training technique, both to help develop their abilities and to test his latest Genjutsu. Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee returned to the training ground with extra clothes, where they found Guy and Tonbo waiting beside a house-sized flying eagle.

• Tobitake Tonbo told Guy he had developed a new technique and asked the disciples to bring extra clothes, claiming he wanted to protect them from overtraining.
• Guy interrupted Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee’s workout and told them Tonbo would teach them something new.
• Tenten, Rock Lee, and Neji each returned home to prepare clothes, wondering what kind of training Tonbo had planned.
• Neji noticed that Tonbo’s chakra had grown much stronger since they had last met, though he had little expectation of learning much from him.
• Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee returned to the training ground, where Guy and Tonbo waited beside a gigantic flying eagle.

Tobitake Tonbo took Guy and his students into the sky for training, then a strange bird attacked their flying eagle. The chapter left Neji dangling from Tobitake Tonbo’s grip as the attack disrupted the group.

• Tobitake Tonbo carried Guy, Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten aboard a giant eagle and flew them above Konoha.
• Rock Lee, Tenten, and Guy trembled at the height, while Neji remained calm.
• Tobitake Tonbo proposed dropping the students from the sky and catching them to train them to overcome fear, and all four agreed to continue.
• The eagle flew past forests, mountains, and rivers as Guy steadied Rock Lee and Tenten against the wind.
• A strange five-legged bird attacked with a sonic boom, unsteadying the group and knocking Neji off the eagle’s back.
• Tobitake Tonbo caught Neji by the ankle and remarked that flying higher frightened them while flying lower weakened their vigilance.

Tobitake Tonbo subdued a strange bird with Genjutsu and brought Team Guy to a dangerous stretch of sea for training. As the team practiced surfing through violent waves with a whale rescuing them, Tonbo began studying the bird’s sound-wave organs through Contact Evolution.

• Tobitake Tonbo trapped the strange bird in a Genjutsu and offered it as a possible summoning beast, but Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten declined.
• Tobitake Tonbo brought Team Guy over a dark, stormy sea and assigned them to surf across the waves to develop their control, stamina, focus, and courage.
• Guy tried the exercise first but was overturned by a wave, and a whale pushed him back to the surface.
• Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji took turns attempting the exercise as the whale repeatedly rescued them from the violent water.
• Tobitake Tonbo used Contact Evolution on the strange bird and began absorbing and examining its organs, especially the ones that emitted sound waves.

Tobitake Tonbo examined Team Guy and gathered data on their bodies, while Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee reflected on his dangerous training. At home, Tonbo dealt with his children after they fought Konohamaru, and the team began considering tools to overcome their weaknesses.

• Tobitake Tonbo analyzed Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji, noting Tenten’s unusual talents and the Byakugan’s complex structure.
• At the Ninja Academy, Tenyu and Maki argued with Zhanbu Du about his bandages, while Konohamaru planned to humiliate them.
• Ayame confronted Tobitake Tonbo after Tenyu and Maki beat up Konohamaru, and Tonbo advised them to avoid being discovered when they pulled pranks or fought.
• Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji discussed the dangers of Tonbo’s deep-sea and high-altitude training, and Tenten proposed developing ninja tools to handle those environments.
• Guy encouraged Tenten’s idea, noting that tools made by one member could cover weaknesses for the whole team.

Tobitake Tonbo began Thousand Slashes Training for Team Guy, trapping the students in a realistic battlefield Genjutsu where they repeatedly fought simulated ninja. After collecting their physical data, he planned to use the training as a graduation gift for future Academy students.

• Tobitake Tonbo arrived at Training Ground 77 and told Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji that their new training would go beyond the ninja fundamentals they had practiced.
• Tobitake Tonbo placed six talisman-bound Kunai around the field and activated Genjutsu: Battlefield Simulation, causing the three students to collapse into the illusion.
• Neji awakened in a simulated forest, fought an Iwagakure ninja, and was killed by an Explosive Tag before the Genjutsu reset him.
• Neji realized that the battlefield was an illusion but could not detect it with his Byakugan, while Tobitake Tonbo explained that the simulation concealed itself from the eye.
• Tobitake Tonbo revealed that the training simulated repeated battles, including bodily memories, and planned to use it for future Academy graduates while collecting their physical data.

Tobitake Tonbo put Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji through a month of deadly battlefield simulations, while Guy observed and corrected their combat mistakes. After the training ended, the three felt greatly improved, though they owed Tonbo for the costly pills he supplied.

• Rock Lee repeatedly died in varied traps and ambushes, gradually learning to anticipate attacks and apply his academy training.
• Tenten fought through dangerous weapon and poison traps in the simulation and cursed Tonbo’s torturous training method.
• Tobitake Tonbo maintained the Genjutsu battlefield while giving the trainees Soldier Pills, and Guy watched their fights and pointed out mistakes.
• Tonbo warned Guy that mental fatigue limited how often they could train and told him the trainees would repay the cost of the pills through missions.
• After a month of weekly sessions, the battlefield simulation ended; Tenten paid her debt, Neji took on a debt to repay gradually, and Rock Lee sought more missions.

Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee continued developing their skills while the Barrier Team completed the Illusory Sealing Chains technique. Tonbo was freed from the task of improving the barrier, and Guy prepared to teach his team a powerful technique.

• Neji defeated Hinata in a spar, and Hiashi noticed how much Neji's strength and combat experience had improved.
• Tenten showed her father the Rapid Lasso, a ninja tool she had designed, and explained its limits and her plans to improve it.
• Rock Lee asked Guy if Team Guy could take the Chunin Exams, but Guy said they first needed to learn his ultimate technique.
• The Barrier Team tested the Illusory Sealing Chains inside the Reversed Golden Bell and completed the technique.
• Tonbo learned that the finished barrier could use the Barrier Team's remaining chakra to seal one enemy inside it.

Konohamaru was driven to study harder after the Tenyu Squad called him weak, while Hiruzen Sarutobi noticed Naruto's Chakra control problem. Zhanbu Du met his idol Tobitake Tonbo and received a sword signed with Tonbo's name.

• Konohamaru challenged Tenyu, Maki, and Zhanbu Du, but they dismissed him and his friends as weak and unworthy opponents.
• Konohamaru vowed to study hard and defeat the Tenyu Squad, then asked Ebisu to teach him shuriken throwing.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Konohamaru's progress and saw that Naruto's failed Clone Technique came from poor Chakra control caused by the Nine-Tails.
• Zhanbu Du asked Tobitake Tonbo to sign his sword, and Tonbo engraved his name into its hilt.

Tobitake Tonbo brought Tenyu, Maki, and Zhanbu Du to visit Yakumo Kurama, then sensed that Ido was becoming more active as Yakumo’s disappearance drew near. He revealed to Yakumo that she was fictional and promised to record her memories and body information so he could try to bring her back, leaving her shaken but with a faint hope.

• Tobitake Tonbo brought Tenyu, Maki, and Zhanbu Du to Seeing Hill Manor, where Yakumo Kurama welcomed them and befriended Du.
• Tobitake Tonbo sensed Ido struggling against its seal and concluded that Yakumo’s heightened Genjutsu period meant her disappearance was approaching.
• After the children enjoyed a meal and an outing with Yakumo, Tobitake Tonbo sent them away with a clone and returned to speak with her.
• Tobitake Tonbo told Yakumo Kurama that she was a fictional character, and she wept as Ido surged against its seal.
• Tobitake Tonbo reassured Yakumo that her thoughts made her a real person and said he would record her memories and bodily information to try to bring her back.

Tobitake Tonbo extracted Yakumo Kurama’s memories and sealed part of her tissue before erasing her memories of what happened. As he continued growing stronger, he was appointed chief examiner for Konoha’s Chunin Ninja Exams, drawing the attention of Kabuto and the Academy students.

• Tobitake Tonbo bound Ido, extracted Yakumo Kurama’s memories, sealed away some of her tissue, and then sealed her memories of the incident.
• Tobitake Tonbo’s body, chakra, and research ability continued to improve as he grew stronger.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi appointed Tobitake Tonbo chief examiner for Konoha’s independent Chunin Ninja Exams and told him to set the rules without going easy on candidates.
• Genin discussed the exams, while Kabuto considered gathering intelligence on Tobitake Tonbo for Orochimaru’s plans.
• At the Ninja Academy, Ino and Sakura fought over Sasuke, Naruto resented his popularity, and Shikamaru reminded him that Kiba and Akamaru were popular too.