Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• The Ancient Kingdom of Kucha is destroyed in a massive explosion. Jiraiya and Konan escape by being summoned away in a giant frog, then emerge in the Gobi Desert.
• Jiraiya suspects the masked man who triggered the explosion was Amado, Kara’s chief scientist. He wonders why Amado would destroy a valuable facility so readily.
• In an alternate-dimension control room, Amado watches the escape through Mirror Drones. He explains that the facility is no longer needed: future knowledge revealed that Kawaki and Code—not cloned products—are the intended Vessels.
• Delta contacts Amado, furious about the explosion and the loss of the Kucha facility. Amado dismisses her concerns and reminds her that her mission is to eliminate Jiraiya and Konan.
• Delta admits she has wandered off course while investigating the enormous trees. Amado panics and orders her to stop, suggesting the trees’ source is important or dangerous.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiraiya remains analytical under pressure, inferring Amado’s identity and questioning the logic behind the facility’s destruction.
• Konan is shaken by the enemy’s decisiveness and asks Jiraiya to explain the mysterious voice heard before the blast.
• Amado appears calculating and informed, willing to sacrifice an obsolete facility to protect or advance his plans. His composure breaks when Delta reveals what she is doing.
• Delta is impulsive and easily distracted, but fiercely concerned about Kara’s resources and Jigen’s reaction. Her loud, confrontational exchanges with Amado highlight their strained working relationship.

Significant themes

• The cost of changing plans: Future knowledge makes the cloning facility expendable, despite the resources invested in it.
• Secrecy and control: Amado directs events remotely, while the characters try to interpret hidden motives and unseen commands.
• Recklessness versus calculation: Delta’s curiosity contrasts sharply with Amado’s strategic focus.

Key plot points

• Delta angrily threatens Amado after he scolds her for investigating mysterious trees instead of following orders.
• Amado warns that Kara’s missions must come first and gives Delta permission to explore once the assignment is complete. She reluctantly agrees.
• Privately, Amado plans to put Delta into sleep mode after the mission to prevent further trouble.
• Jiraiya and Konan reach a wooded mountain area. Jiraiya sends an intelligence scroll toward Blue Moon Island using a mechanical bird, and Konan notes that space-time ninjutsu would make communication easier.
• When they discuss what to do next, Jiraiya jokes about visiting a hot spring and finding a beautiful woman. Konan dismisses the idea—then an explosion interrupts them.

Character developments and interactions

• Delta is powerful, curious, rebellious, and resentful of being controlled. She accepts Amado’s bargain only reluctantly and threatens him if he breaks it.
• Amado alternates between placating Delta and asserting control. Though he presents the deal as a compromise, he secretly intends to disable her afterward.
• Jiraiya remains lighthearted, using humor even amid serious work; Konan is practical and unimpressed by his flirtatious joke. Their discussion also shows their reliance on slow, indirect communication.

Significant themes

• Duty versus personal desire: Delta’s investigation conflicts with her assigned mission, while Jiraiya’s joking wish for leisure contrasts with their work.
• Control and autonomy: Amado treats Delta as both a daughter and a dangerous tool, while Delta fiercely resists being managed.
• Communication and distance: The need to physically send intelligence highlights the limits of the group’s coordination.

Plot points and events

• Delta crashes into the ground in front of Jiraiya and Konan, causing widespread damage. Jiraiya recognizes her from Kara intelligence as a powerful artificial human—and a clone of Amado’s daughter, Akebi.
• Delta identifies Jiraiya and Konan as her targets and taunts them. Jiraiya keeps her talking while Konan prepares a trap.
• Konan triggers a modified Explosive Flame Formation. When Delta dodges the initial tags, Konan uses paper to catch her boot and bind her.
• Amado watches through mirror drones and urgently warns Delta to remove the tags. Konan’s trap combines explosive tags with the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags, producing a prolonged barrage of explosions.
• Delta survives by cutting off her trapped leg at the last moment. She regenerates a replacement, then prepares to attack in earnest.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiraiya recognizes Delta’s threat and warns Konan that she is formidable, despite joking flirtatiously to distract her.
• Konan demonstrates tactical skill and confidence in her upgraded trap, but acknowledges Delta’s quick reaction and resilience.
• Delta shifts from playful taunting to open fury after nearly being destroyed, revealing both her arrogance and adaptability.
• Amado, observing remotely, shows grave concern for Delta’s survival and understands the danger of Konan’s technique.

Significant themes

• Human ingenuity versus engineered power: Konan’s carefully devised technique nearly defeats Delta’s advanced body.
• Adaptation and survival: Delta escapes by sacrificing a limb and regenerating it.
• Deception and teamwork: Jiraiya’s banter creates an opening for Konan’s planned attack.

Plot points and events

• Delta attacks Jiraiya with powerful, fast strikes. Jiraiya catches her punch and counters, but discovers her body is exceptionally hard and resilient.
• Delta tears off Jiraiya’s hand after he grabs her throat. A Wood Dragon grows from the severed arm, made possible by Hashirama-cell modifications, and binds and wounds her. Konan surrounds Delta with explosive tags.
• Delta reveals a hidden mechanism that creates a gale, scattering the tags and breaking the restraints. She then extends her leg through Jiraiya’s abdomen, gravely injuring him.
• Konan moves to evacuate Jiraiya, but he knocks her unconscious rather than let her sacrifice herself. He then calls out to Amado Sanzu, revealing that he has recognized the drone watching the fight and knows of Amado’s role in the attack. Delta reacts angrily and charges, but an order over her earpiece tells her to stand down.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiraiya shows tactical resourcefulness and toughness, using a Hashirama-cell-enhanced arm as a trap. Once badly wounded, he still tries to protect Konan and uses his final leverage to confront Amado.
• Delta proves far more dangerous than her restraints initially suggest, combining strength, extendable limbs, and concealed technology. Her contempt for emotional displays gives way to alarm when Jiraiya mentions Jigen and Amado.
• Konan demonstrates loyalty and resolve, refusing to abandon her teacher. Jiraiya’s decision to incapacitate her underscores his determination to keep her from dying for him.
• Jiraiya and Delta taunt and assess one another throughout the fight; Delta ultimately gains the advantage through surprise. Jiraiya and Konan’s exchange centers on sacrifice and protection, while Jiraiya and Amado are brought into direct confrontation through the hidden drone.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and loyalty: Konan is prepared to give her life for Jiraiya, while he acts to prevent it.
• Technology versus skill: Delta’s engineered body and concealed mechanisms challenge Jiraiya’s experience and tactics.
• Hidden agendas and revelation: The drone and Jiraiya’s knowledge of Jigen expose a larger plan behind the encounter, ending the chapter on a sudden command that halts Delta.

Plot and events

• Delta pauses just before finishing off the badly wounded Jiraiya, following Amado’s order to put her headset on speaker.
• Jiraiya, who has been operating with Konan near Kucha and lacks much of the wider situation’s intelligence, realizes Amado may be directing Kara’s actions. He offers a deal, hoping to buy time and save Konan.
• He tells Amado that Sasuke and his forces are not enemies, and reveals that he knows Amado’s surname and deepest motive: bringing back his deceased daughter, Akebi.
• Jiraiya offers Amado help resurrecting Akebi in exchange for changing sides. Delta overhears and becomes furious, recognizing that Jigen is Isshiki and accusing Amado of considering betrayal.
• Amado says he was not wavering, but asks whether it is right to make a promise one cannot keep. He sees through Jiraiya’s offer as a desperate lie: Jiraiya despises Amado’s willingness to sacrifice others and cannot promise that Sasuke’s forces will support him.
• Amado then asks whether Jiraiya has completed the emergency repair to his abdominal wound. Jiraiya’s alarm suggests that his precarious condition may soon determine the outcome.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiraiya uses an improvised bargain to protect Konan, shifting from guarded probing to candid disclosure when he realizes Amado knows more than expected. His physical weakness contrasts with his determination, but Amado exposes the moral and practical flaws in his offer.
• Amado demonstrates sharp insight into Jiraiya’s motives and moral limits. His grief over Akebi remains central, yet his final question hints that he is also assessing whether Jiraiya can survive.
• Delta is impatient and fiercely loyal to Jigen/Isshiki, interpreting Amado’s pause as possible treachery and pressing to kill Jiraiya.
• Their exchange is a tense contest of leverage: Jiraiya appeals to Amado’s grief, Amado dissects the deception, and Delta threatens to end the negotiation by force.

Significant themes

• Desperation and bargaining: Jiraiya risks a false promise as his last chance to save Konan.
• Conscience versus survival: He must act against his own judgment of Amado to protect someone he cares about.
• Grief and selfishness: Amado’s desire to resurrect Akebi is both deeply human and tied to harmful choices.
• Knowledge as power: Amado’s ability to read Jiraiya’s motives gives him control in a conversation that initially seemed like a possible opening for negotiation.

Key plot points

• Jiraiya attacks Delta with a Sage Art: Hotei Rasengan, but her newly installed Scientific Eye absorbs it.
• Carrying the wounded Konan, Jiraiya uses Frog Kata to strike Delta, then traps her with an Underworld Swamp, a collapsing rock toad, and a Wood Release forest.
• Delta escapes by blasting through the trap with an Air Cannon from concealed back-mounted weapons. Exhausted and unable to fight back, Jiraiya prepares to die protecting Konan.
• Nagato suddenly arrives and reveals that the battle—and Jiraiya’s story—will continue. He activates a mysterious power that lets him use the Rinnegan alongside a Mangekyō Sharingan, then readies Almighty Push against Delta.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiraiya proves resourceful, chaining techniques together despite his injuries and Konan’s weight. When his plan fails, he accepts the danger but puts his duty as Konan’s teacher ahead of his own survival.
• Delta displays both formidable technology and a volatile temper. Though trapped and humiliated, she survives and retaliates with her hidden Air Cannon.
• Konan remains injured and dependent on Jiraiya’s protection throughout the fight.
• Nagato reappears at Jiraiya’s moment of defeat, renewing their connection and stepping in to face Delta. His altered eyes and abilities surprise Jiraiya.
• Amado, observing remotely, admires Jiraiya but reveals that Delta’s recently installed mechanism—and the Air Cannon—were intended to ensure her survival.

Significant themes

• Ingenuity versus technological power: Jiraiya’s carefully combined techniques nearly defeat Delta, but her advanced absorption and weaponry overturn his advantage.
• Duty and sacrifice: Jiraiya keeps protecting Konan even when he has no strength left.
• Hope and reunion: Nagato’s unexpected return transforms an apparent final defeat into a new beginning for Jiraiya.

Plot points and events

• Delta attacks Nagato with a point-blank strike, but he repels her with Shinra Tensei. Amado identifies the technique and explains its five-second interval—and a further weakness.
• Acting on Amado’s advice, Delta charges again, threatening Jiraiya and Konan to force Nagato to use the technique. She anchors her feet deep in the ground and resists the repulsion, briefly turning its force back on Nagato.
• Nagato escalates to Super Shinra Tensei, which breaks Delta’s legs and hurls her across the landscape, devastating the surrounding terrain. Her condition remains uncertain.
• After the fight, Jiraiya praises Nagato and forgives him for his past. Nagato is finally able to face his past without shame.
• Nagato explains that Tobirama intercepted a message-bearing mechanical bird and brought the information to Blue Moon Island, prompting Orochimaru to organize a rescue. Nagato arrived first; the other reinforcements soon appear in the form of Orochimaru’s “Artificial Human Samui Unit-01,” introduced with a dramatic, explosive entrance.

Character developments and interactions

• Delta shows toughness and aggression, but relies on Amado’s tactical guidance to counter Nagato’s ability. Her mechanical body allows her to survive the first blast and alter her stance to resist the next.
• Nagato demonstrates greater control and tactical flexibility with his powers. His respectful exchange with Jiraiya reveals lingering guilt, which Jiraiya’s forgiveness finally eases.
• Jiraiya remains protective of his companions and offers Nagato compassionate guidance rather than dwelling on old mistakes.
• Amado supports Delta remotely by explaining the technique and advising her on its weakness. Nagato, Jiraiya, and Konan face Delta together, while Nagato later shares the rescue news with Jiraiya.

Significant themes

• Forgiveness and moving forward: Jiraiya reframes Nagato’s past as part of the path that shaped him, allowing Nagato to accept his present self.
• Strategy versus brute force: Delta’s physical power is formidable, but understanding an opponent’s abilities is crucial; Nagato counters her adaptation by increasing the technique’s force.
• Technology and artificial life: Delta and Samui Unit-01 embody the extraordinary—and unsettling—results of Orochimaru’s artificial-human experiments.

Plot points and events

• Delta is furious that Amado failed to warn her that Nagato’s maximum-power Shinra Tensei would be so devastating. Amado explains that the technique now has a cooldown of at least five minutes, leaving Nagato temporarily without that powerful defense.
• Delta’s damaged body repairs itself. At Amado’s request, she releases her true body: a small drone holding her memories and consciousness. As long as it survives, she can be restored in a new clone body.
• Nagato senses Delta’s return. Jiraiya carries the injured Konan away, while Nagato chooses to stay and test his revived body against Delta.
• Nagato reflects on his resolve to avoid being revived through Impure World Reincarnation again. He wants to become a Celestial Ninja and join the coming final battle. After losing his original Rinnegan, he joined Itachi’s shikigami retinue and gained a blessing that grants him the powers of the Rinnegan and Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Delta attacks with clawed weapons and foot boosters. Believing Nagato’s repulsion ability is unavailable and that he is still physically impaired, she charges him.
• Nagato dodges her strike with his Sharingan and reveals that he is no longer a cripple. He counters by reaching for her with the Human Path.

Character developments

• Nagato is newly driven to grow stronger and reclaim agency in life. He sees his restored, living body as a chance to fight with genuine feeling—and to participate in the final battle.
• Delta remains aggressive and overconfident, but her near-defeat has damaged both her body and her pride. Her drone-based survival system is revealed.
• Jiraiya prioritizes Konan’s safety and trusts Nagato to judge whether to continue or retreat.
• Amado supplies tactical information and monitors the fight remotely, though Delta resents his failure to warn her sooner.

Significant themes

• Life, sensation, and agency: Nagato values a living body because it lets him feel combat and experience life, unlike his emotionally numb Impure World Reincarnation body.
• Reinvention and ambition: Losing his Rinnegan does not end Nagato’s progress; he chooses a new path and remains determined to exceed his limits.
• Technology and survival: Delta’s consciousness can outlast her body through her core drone, blurring the line between person and machine.
• Tactical adaptation: The cooldown of Shinra Tensei changes the balance of the fight, while both sides reassess what the other can do.

Character interactions

• Delta angrily confronts Amado over his incomplete warning; he responds with an explanation of Nagato’s cooldown and instructions for her next move.
• Jiraiya removes Konan from danger, and Nagato willingly remains behind to test himself.
• Delta taunts Nagato as a cripple, but he overturns her assumption by dodging her attack and launching a counter.

Plot points and events

• Delta attacks Nagato at close range, but he counters with his Asura Path armor, restraining her and forming a chakra-energy cannon aimed at her head.
• Delta absorbs the cannon’s energy through her Scientific Eye. Nagato observes that it can absorb chakra-based projectiles, but apparently not chakra directly from a person.
• Nagato uses the Preta Path to drain the chakra Delta has stored in her eye and redirect it back into the cannon, disabling her absorption advantage.
• He reveals that he knows Delta’s true body is a drone overhead and threatens to destroy it, frightening her because she believes that would end her identity.
• Amado tells Delta to claim she is about to use a devastating “Destructive Laser.” Nagato, warned by Jiraiya that this future attack can kill even highly regenerative opponents, tears off his armor and retreats.
• Realizing the threat was a bluff, Nagato praises the unseen strategist who exploited their incomplete information.
• Amado privately decides to make a larger incident: he plans to let Delta be captured so he can use her as a hostage and create a plausible reason to turn against Jigen.

Character developments and interactions

• Nagato demonstrates quick tactical adaptation, combining Asura and Preta Path abilities to counter Delta’s eye. He also shows caution when faced with an attack he has been warned could be fatal.
• Delta shifts from confidence to panic as Nagato neutralizes her abilities and threatens her drone. She is left confused about Amado’s instructions and motives.
• Amado reveals himself as a calculating manipulator. He uses future intelligence to exploit Nagato’s caution and is willing to sacrifice Delta’s safety to advance his plan.
• The encounter becomes a contest of knowledge as much as power: Nagato reads Delta’s technology, while Amado turns Nagato’s limited information against him.

Significant themes

• Information as a weapon: Amado wins the exchange through a carefully timed bluff rather than force.
• Identity and survival: Delta fears that destroying her drone would end the continuity of her self, even if another body could be made.
• Technology versus shinobi power: Delta’s Scientific Eye is formidable, but Nagato’s ability to absorb and manipulate chakra provides a direct counter.
• Manipulation and sacrifice: Amado treats Delta as a means to achieve his larger objective, framing betrayal as necessary strategy.

Key plot points and events

• Amado warns Delta that Nagato is much stronger than their outdated intelligence suggested and urges her to escape. Delta, furious at his apparent betrayal, destroys her earpiece before he can use a voice command to shut her down.
• Amado hopes Nagato’s side will capture Delta rather than kill her, but realizes he has lost control of her.
• Nagato observes Delta’s outburst and recognizes that she has fallen out with whoever was directing her.
• Delta resumes the fight, using rocket-assisted leaps and rapid, spear-like leg attacks to bombard Nagato from above. He dodges, but the assault puts him under growing pressure.
• Nagato uses smoke and flash bombs to obscure her vision, then feigns being impaled with a Substitution Technique. He follows with a mechanical-arm attack, but Delta blocks it and appears to strike him in return.
• The apparent Nagato proves to be a clone, and the discarded mechanical arm transforms into the real Nagato. Frustrated by his repeated tricks, Delta attacks recklessly and in a straight line.
• Nagato evades her strike, completes hand seals, and hits her in the chest with a Summoning Technique.

Character developments

• Delta rejects escape and defies Amado, choosing pride and combat over survival. Although she adapts her tactics and uses the drone’s vision, repeated deceptions make her increasingly angry and impulsive.
• Nagato remains composed, studies Delta’s methods, and uses basic ninja techniques strategically to counter her superior physical power.
• Amado reveals that his information is outdated and that he cannot manage the battle directly. His attempt to preserve Delta by arranging for her capture also shows a conflicted, paternal attitude toward his creation.

Significant themes

• Power versus technique: Delta relies on overwhelming strength, speed, and technology; Nagato counters with timing, perception, and foundational ninja skills.
• Control and independence: Delta’s destruction of her earpiece breaks Amado’s hold over her, but her newfound defiance also leaves her without guidance.
• Anger as a weakness: Delta’s frustration repeatedly disrupts her judgment, allowing Nagato to exploit her predictable attacks.
• Deception and adaptation: Substitution, cloning, transformation, and misdirection let Nagato turn Delta’s confidence in her raw power against her.

Character interactions

• Amado urges Delta to flee and considers shutting her down; Delta responds with insults and destroys their communication link.
• Nagato quietly analyzes Delta’s behavior and warns her that continuing the fight is unwise.
• During combat, Nagato’s calm feints contrast with Delta’s taunts and mounting fury, culminating in his successful counterattack.

Key plot points and events

• Nagato seriously wounds Delta, causing her cloned body to bleed and leaving her unable to fight effectively. He offers her a chance to surrender, explaining that he was told not to kill her unless necessary.
• Humiliated by the thought that she is being spared, Delta orders her drone—housing her real self—to flee and activates a self-destruct mechanism in her body. She threatens to devastate everything within fifty kilometers.
• Nagato realizes Delta is delaying the detonation so her real self can escape the blast. He threatens to destroy the drone unless she stops the sequence, and his countdown forces her to deactivate it.
• Nagato then decides to destroy Delta’s dangerous cloned body and capture the drone instead. Before his laser can hit her, Artificial Human Samui Unit-01 intervenes, breaking the attack into points of light with a powerful Six Paths Yin–Yang technique.
• Nagato uses an enhanced Banshō Ten’in to pull the fleeing drone back. Delta collapses, then questions why Samui saved her. Samui offers no explanation and instead kisses her.

Character developments and interactions

• Delta shifts from wounded defiance to desperate coercion, but her self-preservation ultimately outweighs her pride: she stops the self-destruct when Nagato threatens her true self. She is left confused and resentful after Samui’s unexpected rescue.
• Nagato remains controlled and strategic, reading Delta’s plan and exploiting her attachment to the drone. He is prepared to sacrifice the clone to secure the real Delta, but Samui’s intervention changes the outcome.
• Samui reveals a formidable new ability and an enigmatic, provocative attitude. Her rescue of Delta is unexplained, and her forceful kiss leaves their relationship unclear.
• The central exchanges are confrontational: Nagato and Delta bargain through threats, while Samui and Delta’s first encounter is marked by Delta’s irritation and Samui’s teasing dominance.

Significant themes

• Pride versus survival: Delta resents being spared, yet chooses survival when her true self is threatened.
• Strategy and leverage: Nagato wins control of the crisis by spotting the delay and targeting what Delta values most.
• Technology and power: The chapter contrasts Delta’s destructive engineered body with Samui’s advanced ability to neutralize an attack.
• Uncertainty and shifting loyalties: Samui’s unexplained intervention—and the intimacy that follows—raises questions about her motives.

Key plot points and events

• After Delta’s capture and Kara’s experimental base in Kucha is destroyed, Amado reports the losses to Jigen, Kara’s leader and Isshiki’s temporary Vessel.
• Jigen initially treats the destroyed base as a recoverable expense. He is startled only when Amado reveals that Delta—his daughter—was captured during the attack.
• Amado explains that Nagato, Jiraiya’s student, defeated Delta using the Rinnegan.
• Jigen recalls Nagato as the child Madara chose to help bring about the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Amado then reveals that the Infinite Tsukuyomi has already been cast, and that nearly five people in the present shinobi world have awakened the Rinnegan.
• The news shocks Jigen, who realizes that the world has changed dramatically while he remained focused on his own plans.

Character developments

• Amado begins as a grief-stricken, bitter subordinate, but his distress is partly deliberate: he is trying to provoke Jigen into action. He knows Jigen’s self-interest and plans to lay groundwork before confronting him with the larger upheaval.
• Jigen/Isshiki appears calm and detached, viewing the base’s destruction as a financial setback. Delta’s capture briefly unsettles him, but the revelation about the Infinite Tsukuyomi and multiple Rinnegan users truly shakes his confidence.
• Jiraiya is framed as a catalyst for change—an influential figure whose impact exceeds his standing in Isshiki’s eyes. His student Nagato has already demonstrated that influence through his victory over Delta.

Significant themes

• Change and disruption: Jiraiya is described as a “star of change,” and the altered state of the world threatens Isshiki’s long-standing assumptions.
• Power and perspective: Isshiki dismisses most shinobi powers as insignificant, yet events prove that the shinobi world has developed beyond what he expected.
• Personal stakes versus cold ambition: Amado’s concern for Delta contrasts with Jigen’s focus on his Vessel, the Ten-Tails, and harvesting a Chakra Fruit.
• Information as leverage: Amado uses carefully chosen revelations to overcome Jigen’s usual indifference.

Character interactions

• Jigen offers Amado a sympathetic, almost friendly hearing, calling him his favorite subordinate; Amado uses the opening to report the destruction.
• Amado presses Jigen emotionally by emphasizing Delta’s capture, then strategically challenges his outdated understanding of the world.
• Jigen responds with questions and attempts to contextualize the events through his knowledge of Madara, Nagato, and the Rinnegan, but the scale of the changes leaves him visibly stunned.

Plot points and events

• Jigen, an Ōtsutsuki using the name One-Inch Monk, surveys the Land of Wind and confirms that the God Tree is carrying out the Infinite Tsukuyomi. He reasons that Kaguya remains sealed in the moon and wonders what has become of Black Zetsu.
• He uses Kāma to open a space portal and arrives at Mount Myōboku, asking to see its elder, Gamamaru. He claims to be an old friend, but Gamamaru refuses to meet him.
• The three Great Toad Wrestlers—Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro—try to turn Jigen away. When he threatens them, they attack, drawing on Mount Myōboku’s powerful senjutsu chakra.
• Jigen easily counters them: he blasts apart Gamabunta’s water attack with Divine Air Strike, then uses Sukunahikona to shrink their weapons and makes them reappear, striking the toads in the eyes. He warns Gamamaru that he will destroy the gates unless the elder comes out.
• Inside the Hall of Longevity, Fukasaku and Shima urge Gamamaru to summon Sasuke. Gamamaru refuses, explaining that Sasuke cannot defeat Jigen and that Jigen is fated to die in three days, when he will pass on power through a white Kāma. Gamamaru ultimately agrees to meet him, identifying him as Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.

Character developments and interactions

• Jigen/Isshiki is composed and courteous at first, but reveals a ruthless, overwhelming power when challenged. He presents himself as an old acquaintance of Gamamaru and insists he wants information about the upheavals in the Shinobi World.
• Gamabunta is wary of Jigen and tries to manage the confrontation, while Gamaken and Gamahiro are more openly defiant. The trio’s confidence in their home-ground advantage collapses when Jigen defeats them with ease.
• Gamamaru remains cautious and strategic. Though concerned for the younger toads, he knows a confrontation would be futile and chooses to speak with Jigen, trusting that the toads’ inability to lie will make their account credible.
• Fukasaku and Shima fear for Mount Myōboku’s inhabitants and look to Sasuke as a possible defender, but Gamamaru’s prophecy rules that option out.

Significant themes

• Power and helplessness: Mount Myōboku’s natural advantages and the toads’ combined attack are no match for Isshiki’s abilities.
• Courtesy versus coercion: Isshiki speaks politely but uses force when denied access, making his “courtesy” feel like a prelude to violence.
• Fate and sacrifice: Gamamaru’s prophecy fixes the timing of Isshiki’s death and foreshadows the transfer of Kāma and the rise of a future Celestial Ninja.
• Hidden history and identity: Isshiki’s alias, his connection to the Ōtsutsuki, and his knowledge of the Infinite Tsukuyomi connect present events to ancient forces.

Plot points and events

• Jigen visits the Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru, at Mount Myōboku. He recalls the land’s original inhabitants—now largely displaced or extinct—and argues that he once protected their ancestors by not reporting them to the Ōtsutsuki.
• Jigen asks Gamamaru to repay that supposed debt by helping him. Gamamaru agrees to consult the ancient Fate-Seeking Incense, which causes anyone who lies during the consultation to suffer karmic backlash.
• Jigen asks who caused the recent, unusual changes in the shinobi world. Gamamaru identifies Sasuke Uchiha.
• Gamamaru explains that Sasuke is Indra’s latest reincarnation and that Naruto Uzumaki, born the same year, is Asura’s latest. Jigen recognizes their importance but focuses on whether Sasuke can serve as his Kāma vessel.
• Gamamaru answers that Sasuke cannot. Jigen accepts this and loses interest in him, unaware that Sasuke could bear the Kāma physically but would never allow it to fully unfreeze.

Character developments and interactions

• Jigen approaches Gamamaru with polite familiarity and presents his request as repayment of an old debt. He is pragmatic: once Sasuke seems unsuitable as a vessel, Sasuke’s role in the world’s upheaval matters less to him.
• Gamamaru cooperates while carefully limiting what he reveals. Though bound to answer truthfully, he gives only the result of Jigen’s question, not the full explanation.
• Fukasaku and Shima initially react with caution, then carry out Gamamaru’s order to prepare the incense.

Significant themes

• Debt, responsibility, and self-serving history: Jigen frames past events as a favor that obligates Gamamaru, though his account of their shared history is plainly meant to secure help.
• Truth versus completeness: The incense guarantees honesty, but Gamamaru demonstrates that a truthful answer can still be incomplete.
• Fate and reincarnation: Sasuke and Naruto continue the cycle of Indra and Asura, while Jigen’s search for a vessel places personal ambition alongside these larger patterns.

Plot points and events

• Jigen considers the threat posed by the shinobi world’s Six Paths wielders. He distinguishes “entry-level” wielders from a hypothetical “Six Paths Complete Body,” which would require original-owner Rinnegan in both eyes, Ten-Tails-enhanced Six Paths Senjutsu, and mastery of Yin–Yang Release.
• Though Jigen believes no one currently meets those conditions, he remains uneasy that Sasuke Uchiha’s sudden advances might involve an Ōtsutsuki influence or a hidden connection to Jigen’s clan.
• The Great Toad Sage explains that many shinobi clans descend from Ōtsutsuki ancestors, but confirms no outsider has taken over or influenced Sasuke. He also rules out other Rinnegan wielders and cloning technology as possible sources of a suitable Vessel.
• Jigen concludes that Amado’s theories were likely wrong and decides not to rebuild Kara’s destroyed base in the Ancient Kingdom of Kucha. He still worries that Jiraiya’s appearance there and Delta’s capture could expose Kara.
• Near the end of the divination, Jigen asks whether anyone in the shinobi world could serve as his Vessel. Gamamaru says yes—but then forgets who Jigen is and what he asked. As the incense burns out, the sage is just about to reveal the identity.

Character developments and interactions

• Jigen shifts from cautious assessment to relief, then back to anxiety over Kara’s exposure and his need for a Vessel. His fear of higher-ranking Ōtsutsuki figures helps explain why he seeks reassurance from Gamamaru.
• Gamamaru provides serious answers but is distractible and senile, undercutting the gravity of the prophecy. His lapse creates a comic cliffhanger.
• Jigen presses Gamamaru for concise answers, while the sage’s rambling and memory loss frustrate him. Fukasaku and Shima also react with alarm to Gamamaru’s confusion.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Even formidable abilities offer little security when Jigen’s body is damaged and his survival depends on finding a Vessel.
• Uncertainty and control: Jigen tries to eliminate every possibility, but unanswered questions—and Gamamaru’s failing memory—leave him exposed to uncertainty.
• Lineage and legacy: The Ōtsutsuki ancestry of major shinobi clans connects the shinobi world to Jigen’s home and its history.
• Dark humor and suspense: The sage’s dementia turns a critical revelation into an absurd interruption, ending the chapter on a cliffhanger.

Plot points and events

• Sasuke releases the Infinite Tsukuyomi at the Valley of the End. The Divine Expansive World Bloom and its binding vines wither away, and people across the five nations wake.
• The awakened population realizes they all experienced the same vivid dream: the world was destroyed by Ōtsutsuki Yae, and they witnessed events through Sasuke Uchiha’s eyes. Their shared experience leaves them unsure whether the dream was merely imagined or a warning of real danger.
• The world’s ordinary activity effectively pauses as people wait for their leaders and ninja authorities to respond.
• Tobirama appears to greet Sasuke. He criticizes Sasuke for involving the entire world, but Sasuke explains that he hopes the experience might reveal one of the Ten Celestial Ninja among people previously overlooked.
• Sasuke thanks the predecessors whose contributions shaped him, then returns to Blue Moon Island with Tobirama, intending to welcome its newcomers.
• At Mount Myōboku, Jigen questions Gamamaru about the information he received through the Fate-Seeking Incense. Gamamaru says his debt is repaid and refuses to explain his method. Jigen accepts the boundary, then leaves with a useful lead: Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin and Jiraiya’s teacher.

Character developments and interactions

• Sasuke shows a pragmatic willingness to unsettle the world for even a tiny chance of finding a future ally. He also displays unexpected gratitude toward the previous generation.
• Tobirama remains blunt and skeptical, challenging Sasuke’s choices, but ultimately recognizes his determination and accompanies him.
• Jigen shifts from disbelief to focused investigation. He apologizes to Gamamaru for pressing him and acts on the information he has gained.
• Gamamaru firmly maintains his independence, offering Jigen guidance while refusing further explanation or involvement.

Significant themes

• Shared reality and uncertainty: The dream feels like lived experience, leaving people unable to dismiss it as fiction.
• The cost of hope: Sasuke accepts widespread fear and disruption for the possibility of discovering one valuable person.
• Generational legacy: Sasuke acknowledges that he is shaped by those who came before him.
• Boundaries and obligations: Gamamaru considers his debt settled, while Jigen must decide how to use the guidance without demanding more.

Key plot points and events

• At Kara headquarters, Jigen returns and tells Amado he has more or less confirmed something. Rather than answer Amado’s question about Delta, he orders him to gather everything he knows about Orochimaru, saying he will retrieve both Orochimaru and Delta.
• Amado suspects Jigen may have learned the truth about Sasuke’s time-traveling past. He worries this could undermine the pledge of allegiance he is preparing for the Sasuke faction, but decides that confronting Jigen is not his concern.
• On Blue Moon Island, Sasuke meets the five founding Kage, revived through Rinne Rebirth. The Kage inspect him, noting his resemblance to Izuna as well as the distinctive Rinnegan in his right eye. Sasuke confirms that he revived them.
• The Kage trade teasing stories about one another, revealing their long familiarity and irreverent humor. The lighthearted exchange ends when the First Raikage, A, suddenly attacks Sasuke.
• Sasuke blocks A’s powerful punch. A explains that he is testing Sasuke’s physical ability and boasts of defeating and capturing Uchiha opponents in the past.
• Sasuke recognizes that A’s lightning is generated by a technique that gathers natural energy and converts it into Lightning Release. A challenges him to withstand his full strength, and Sasuke accepts, eager to fight seriously again.

Character developments

• Amado grows more anxious about Jigen’s knowledge and the risks to his political maneuvering, but maintains a calculating, self-protective outlook.
• Jigen remains inscrutable. His interest in Orochimaru, alongside his plan to retrieve Delta, suggests he is pursuing a larger objective.
• Sasuke is composed and observant, quickly identifying the nature of A’s technique. A’s taunt awakens his appetite for a serious battle.
• A is shown as physically formidable and cunning, using a sudden attack and provocation to test Sasuke rather than relying on brute force alone.
• The founding Kage come across as powerful but playful and familiar with one another, with old rivalries and friendships surfacing through their banter.

Significant themes

• Hidden knowledge and political maneuvering: Amado worries that Jigen’s discoveries could disrupt his plans.
• Legacy and history: The revived Kage confront the present through their memories of past conflicts and successors.
• Testing strength and reputation: A challenges Sasuke’s abilities while invoking the history of Uchiha who fell to him.
• Humor alongside danger: The Kage’s bawdy teasing contrasts sharply with A’s abrupt attack and the serious fight that is about to begin.

Character interactions

• Amado tries to learn Jigen’s intentions, but Jigen gives him little reassurance and instead assigns him the task of researching Orochimaru.
• The founding Kage joke at Ishikawa’s expense, drawing on stories passed down through their successors; Ishikawa reacts indignantly while Reto enjoys the spectacle.
• A confronts Sasuke with a sudden punch and a provocative account of his past victories over Uchiha. Sasuke responds calmly, blocks him, analyzes his technique, and accepts the challenge.

Plot points and events

• Sasuke dodges the Raikage’s Thunder God Fist by combining Shinra Tensei’s directed repulsion with Body Flicker, astonishing the onlookers.
• He uses Universal Pull with Chidori to drag the Raikage into a piercing strike. The Raikage survives by transforming his body into Lightning Substance, which traps Sasuke’s hand.
• The Raikage unleashes Thunder Beast Descends, absorbing ambient energy to grow into a gigantic Lightning Beast and driving Sasuke into a deep crater with a devastating dive.
• Hashirama insists Sasuke is unharmed. The crater reveals him protected by a skeletal Susanoo reinforced with Shikotsumyaku. Though the Raikage breaks one bone, Sasuke responds by growing Earth Grudge Fear tendrils around the defense, setting up his counterattack.

Character developments and interactions

• Sasuke demonstrates precise control, tactical creativity, and restraint: he uses ordinary Lightning Release in the spar and avoids the Raikage’s vital organs. He also adapts his defenses when the Raikage’s attack proves powerful enough to crack a Susanoo bone.
• The Raikage reveals a formidable defensive transformation and a spectacular high-powered technique, earning Hashirama’s respect. He is nevertheless surprised by Sasuke’s unusual abilities and resilience.
• Hashirama calmly interprets Sasuke’s techniques and reassures the observers, comparing the Raikage’s skill with that of legendary fighters.
• Suigetsu and Ishikawa react with disbelief and question Hashirama’s priorities when he discusses taijutsu history rather than Sasuke’s safety. Suigetsu also seizes on Hashirama’s reference to a “previous life.”
• The chapter’s exchanges frame the fight as both a technical contest between powerful fighters and a spectacle watched by a commentary-filled audience.

Significant themes

• Adaptation and technique over sheer scale: Sasuke combines abilities creatively, while Hashirama argues that effectiveness now matters more than enormous defenses such as Complete Body Susanoo.
• Power and legacy: The Raikage’s reputation as a top taijutsu fighter is set beside Might Guy’s later achievement, linking the present contest to the history of exceptional fighters.
• Restraint amid overwhelming strength: Though both combatants display destructive power, Sasuke deliberately holds back and avoids a potentially fatal strike.

Key plot points and events

• A escapes Sasuke’s unconventional Susanoo by turning into a bolt of lightning. Sasuke’s Susanoo is an expanding, free-form mass of bones and tentacles rather than a humanoid armor.
• Orochimaru and Itachi observe from a nearby hill. They note that Sasuke’s control over his eye power and ability to shape his Susanoo have advanced since the Konoha Wasteland battle.
• Sasuke challenges A to reveal his strongest taijutsu. A demonstrates Quake Release, sending vibrations through the ground that crack Sasuke’s bone defenses, though they hold.
• A explains that he can make the technique far more powerful by combining Quake Release with lightning and taijutsu amplification.
• The other Kage admit they had intended to join the fight but leave A to represent them. A reveals that they wanted to test Sasuke after hearing of his deeds, and that his youth made them hesitate to attack together.
• A activates five Energy-Gathering Rings and transforms into a gigantic Thunder God form. Combining lightning with Quake Release, he launches his ultimate attack, Great Shockwave, warning that it will leave him bedridden for a week.

Character developments and interactions

• Sasuke displays growing mastery of his ocular power and an unusually adaptable Susanoo. He remains confident and welcomes the chance to face all the Kage.
• A shifts from testing Sasuke to committing fully to the fight, revealing a costly, self-sacrificing ultimate technique. He also acknowledges Sasuke’s courage and accomplishments.
• Orochimaru and Itachi watch with admiration; Itachi expresses pride in Sasuke’s progress.
• Reto, Byakuren, and Ishikawa defer to A, partly joking that his strength leaves them little room to fight. Hashirama warmly endorses A as a formidable warrior.

Significant themes

• Growth and recognition: Sasuke’s abilities have evolved, and even legendary leaders acknowledge his courage.
• Power and its cost: A’s ultimate technique is immensely destructive but exacts a severe physical toll.
• Respect across generations: The encounter is framed as a test and exchange between an older generation of Kage and a young, exceptional fighter.
• Adaptability in combat: Sasuke’s fluid Susanoo and A’s layered combination of techniques show how creativity and technique can challenge formidable defenses.

Key plot points and events

• The Raikage attacks Sasuke with Great Shockwave, combining Quake Release and Lightning Release to create vibrations that immobilize and devastate his target.
• Sasuke avoids using his ultimate Rinnegan technique, instead testing a new ability: Yomotsu Quick-Absorption Gate. It redirects the attack’s physical and chakra effects into space-time, leaving him unharmed.
• After the Raikage admits Great Shockwave is his strongest move, Sasuke defeats him with a Byakugan-enhanced Pressure Point Strike.
• The other first-generation Kage agree to end the sparring, acknowledging Sasuke’s overwhelming strength. Reto then reveals he secretly trapped Sasuke in an invisible poison-gas barrier.
• Sasuke had anticipated Reto’s treachery and placed him under Sharingan genjutsu. Susanoo seizes Reto’s heart shadow, and Sasuke remarks that the burden of a century is heavy.

Character developments

• Sasuke demonstrates both technical ingenuity and restraint: he tests a developing space-time technique rather than relying on his most powerful weapon. He also shows that his confidence does not make him careless about deception.
• The Raikage is astonished by Sasuke’s defense and ultimately accepts defeat.
• Reto proves willing to use underhanded tactics, but is outmaneuvered by Sasuke’s genjutsu and recognizes Sasuke’s superiority.
• The other Kage acknowledge the gap between their abilities and Sasuke’s, seeing themselves as witnesses rather than contenders against the coming catastrophe.

Significant themes

• Power and ingenuity: Sasuke’s victory comes not just from strength, but from developing a novel counter to an otherwise nearly unavoidable attack.
• Restraint and fair competition: He avoids using his ultimate dōjutsu against the Raikage during a friendly spar.
• The limits of human strength: The Kage accept that they have reached their limits and cannot become the “Celestial Ninja” Sasuke describes.
• Deception and vigilance: Reto’s poison trap underscores that strength alone cannot guard against every threat; Sasuke’s foresight and genjutsu turn the trick against him.
• Age and burden: Sasuke’s closing remark frames Reto’s long life—and perhaps the weight of his accumulated experience—as a heavy burden.

Character interactions

• Sasuke and the Raikage exchange a serious test of abilities, ending with the Raikage’s defeat and grudging respect.
• Hashirama and the other Kage discuss Sasuke’s strength and agree that continuing the spar would be pointless.
• Reto attempts to catch Sasuke off guard with poison gas, but Sasuke reveals he had already placed him under genjutsu, reversing the confrontation.