Recaps

Deidara and Kurotsuchi built Iwagakure into a prosperous village while resisting Kumogakure’s alliance and its plans for war. As tensions rose, they began investigating Ōnoki’s secret experiment, which he believed would protect the village.

• Deidara proposed to Kurotsuchi, who accepted, and Ōnoki reluctantly blessed their marriage after seeing her happiness.
• Ōnoki ordered Kitsuchi to bring Deidara home through persuasion, while the other Kage and Akatsuki members reacted to the visions of the future.
• The Canopy Screen revealed Deidara’s prosperous, futuristic Iwagakure, and Sasori later explained how he had become a Digital Life and demonstrated the Mark III armor.
• Deidara learned that Hidan had rebuilt the Jashinist Cult and that Kakuzu had become an assassination teacher, then named Sasori’s projected card game Yu-Gi-Oh.
• Samui proposed an alliance against Konoha, but Deidara rejected it and Kurotsuchi arranged arms trade and technical exchanges to preserve relations with Kumogakure.
• Ōnoki watched Deidara choose Konoha over Kumogakure and decided to prepare a powerful hidden defense for Iwagakure.
• The Kage debated the threat Naruto posed, while Obito planned to exploit Orochimaru’s coming attack on Konoha and Orochimaru agreed to pursue the Dog Talisman.
• Deidara and Kurotsuchi confronted Ōnoki over his secret experiment, then planned to monitor him and search for his hidden laboratory, but Ōnoki defended his actions and warned that Kumogakure threatened Iwagakure.

Ōnoki’s experiment produced a powerful Naruto clone who sought to remake the world, drawing Sasuke into a fight that ended with the clone sealed. The crisis exposed a wider alien threat and left the villages reconsidering their power, while Iwagakure embraced a surprising future as Battle City.

• Ōnoki’s Naruto-derived Land of Earth Person awakened violently, and Deidara destroyed the escaping clones before the real one emerged from the laboratory ruins.
• The Land of Earth Person regenerated after Deidara’s devastating attack, overwhelmed Deidara, Ōnoki, and Kurotsuchi, then retreated when Deidara threatened to use his chest mouth.
• Orochimaru and his allies killed Rasa and set plans in motion for the Chunin Exams, while the Land of Earth Person later learned that Jiraiya’s influence had shaped Naruto’s peaceful outlook.
• The Land of Earth Person discovered Orochimaru’s plan to signal alien civilizations, launched the signal from Hidden Stone Village, and proposed joining forces with Sasuke to kill Naruto.
• Sasuke rejected the Land of Earth Person’s offer, defeated him with Senbonzakura and Amaterasu, and sealed him with Planetary Devastation after recalling his bond with Naruto.
• Sasuke warned Orochimaru against another incident and resolved to change his future, while Naruto celebrated the footage of Sasuke’s return to Konoha and defeat of the clone.
• The villages reassessed their dependence on Naruto and Konoha as Pain, the Raikage, Mei, and others considered the danger posed by powerful shinobi and unknown civilizations.
• Ōnoki used a trap card to defeat Haimā at Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Iwagakure later became Battle City as Deidara lost a duel to Sasori and vowed to practice.

Deidara and the other Kage prepared Iwagakure for attacks by alien monsters while Naruto brought Konoha’s young shinobi to the village. Bakura’s Shadow Game threatened Boruto and exposed a danger beyond Sasori’s Yu-Gi-Oh! system, so Naruto agreed to escort the children back to Konoha as Iwagakure braced for what might come.

• A giant beast attacked Iwagakure, and Deidara destroyed it before ordering an investigation, when more adapted monsters appeared, he and Sasori fought them and discovered evidence that aliens had brought them to the world.
• Naruto and Sasuke arranged for Konoha’s young shinobi to visit Iwagakure during an emergency Five Kage Summit, where Naruto urged the nations to unite against the Otsutsuki Clan and Deidara accepted the burden of protecting the village.
• Boruto lost a duel to Haimā, then ran from Naruto when his father tried to comfort him, and the Nine-Tails offered to help Naruto understand how to be a father.
• Bakura trapped Boruto in a Shadow Game, defeated him, and demanded Sasuke’s Millennium Key in exchange for his life, but a Red-Eyes Black Dragon apparition shielded Boruto from the darkness claiming his soul.
• Boruto refused to hand over the key and returned to face Bakura with Haimā, who challenged him to a duel, and a golden pillar appeared, and Bakura restored Boruto before disappearing.
• Naruto, Sasuke, and Deidara learned that the cult wanted Sasuke’s key and had named Boruto and Haimā as sacrifices, and Sasori concluded that an unknown power had corrupted the Yu-Gi-Oh! system.
• Naruto agreed to escort Boruto, Haimā, Klee, and Iwagakure’s other promising young people to Konoha while Sasuke returned to help Deidara defend Iwagakure.

Orochimaru and his allies attacked Konoha, but Hiruzen and the village’s defenders repelled the invasion at great cost. After Hiruzen’s funeral and the aftermath of the attack, Naruto and Sasuke faced a new threat gathering outside Iwagakure.

• Haimā asked Sumire why Konoha had pardoned Orochimaru, and Sumire explained how he had helped defeat Obito Uchiha and Nine Nether.
• Naraka recruited Danzō into a plot against Konoha, while Sasuke fought Gaara in the Chunin Ninja Exams and pierced his sand defense.
• Orochimaru revealed himself during the invasion, trapping Hiruzen inside a barrier as Sound Ninja summoned demons and cursed spirits to attack Konoha.
• Konoha’s defenders battled the invaders while Tsunade healed the wounded, Jiraiya held the line, and Naruto returned to help Sasuke and Sakura confront Gaara.
• Naruto reached Gaara through Shukaku’s sand defenses and persuaded him to reject Shukaku, ending their fight and establishing a friendship.
• Obito tried to kill Naruto, but Sasuke, Gaara, Kakashi, and Might Guy protected him as Sunagakure learned Orochimaru had impersonated and killed its Kazekage.
• Hiruzen used the Reaper Death Seal against Orochimaru’s allies and sacrificed his soul to seal the Dog Talisman’s power before dying, and Konoha defeated the remaining attackers.
• After Hiruzen’s funeral, Tsunade took control of Root and Danzō began turning into a tree, and Jiraiya departed to hunt Orochimaru as a new strike team formed against the monsters outside Iwagakure.