Chapter Summaries

Naruto and Shikamaru searched the abandoned Fire Temple and discovered graves belonging to four members of the Land of Fire's Twelve Guardian Ninja. Meanwhile, Kakashi and Asuma questioned the revived Beizi, who denied involvement in the Fire Temple's disappearance but refused to explain his condition.

• Kakashi and Asuma questioned Kitashita and the samurai squad while Naruto and Shikamaru searched the temple.
• Shikamaru stopped Naruto from using Shadow Clones carelessly and showed him graves that appeared to have been tended until at least a week earlier.
• Shikamaru identified four gravestones as belonging to Beizi, Nango, Saito, and Tōu of the Land of Fire's Twelve Guardian Ninja.
• Beizi woke and admitted Naruto had defeated him before he could see the attack.
• Beizi refused to answer questions about who controlled or summoned him, but denied involvement in Chiriku and the Fire Temple members' disappearance.

Naruto and the others concluded that the new Daimyo was likely connected to Beizi’s resurrection and decided to investigate him in the Land of Fire. After Naruto transported Beizi and the samurai to Konoha, Kurama woke and sensed his own presence outside.

• Kakashi, Asuma, Shikamaru, and Naruto compared the clues and noted that Beizi’s resurrection and the Fire Temple disappearances might be separate incidents.
• Shikamaru reasoned that the new Daimyo was suspicious, and Naruto decided the team should go investigate him.
• Naruto used the Flying Thunder God Technique to transport Beizi and the samurai away from the Fire Temple, sending the samurai to a cell in Konoha.
• Kurama woke inside Naruto and wondered why he could sense his own presence outside.

Naruto learned from Kurama that someone at the Fire Temple carried some of his chakra, offering a lead in the disappearances, but Kurama fell asleep before he could help track it. As Naruto, Kakashi, Asuma, and Shikamaru continued toward the Daimyo Mansion, he also explained that he had contacted nearly all the remaining jinchūriki and planned to invite them to Konoha.

• Kurama woke and told Naruto that someone at the Fire Temple carried some of his chakra, which Naruto passed on to Kakashi, Asuma, and Shikamaru as a possible lead.
• Asuma sent Naruto and Shikamaru to investigate the missing Fire Temple members while he and Kakashi headed for the Daimyo Mansion, but Kurama fell asleep again before helping Naruto track the presence.
• The narration explained that Kurama had been sleeping to avoid Naruto's meetings and paperwork, though he occasionally woke to check Naruto's progress in locating the remaining jinchūriki and tailed beasts.
• Kakashi estimated that the group would reach the Daimyo Mansion that afternoon, and Asuma checked that Shikamaru's team assignment was covered while they handled the mission.
• Naruto told Asuma that he had contacted all the remaining jinchūriki except Kumogakure's Eight-Tails and had planned to travel to the Land of Lightning before the Fire Temple mission arose.

Kabuto searched a vast battlefield for Madara Uchiha’s remains so he could use Impure World Reincarnation, while reflecting on his place in the Reshape Organization. He detected a hollow space underground, where a terrified boy was fleeing a pale aura that red chakra kept at bay.

• A boy ran blindly through a dark cavern, remembering Master Chiriku, Master Chen Ming, and Master Luo Ze before recalling their deaths and panicking.
• A pale aura followed the boy and nearly reached him, but flashes of red chakra forced it to keep its distance.
• Kabuto dug through graves with a shovel because he had nearly exhausted his chakra while searching for a suitable body to revive Madara Uchiha.
• Kabuto reflected on his loyalty to Orochimaru and how the Leader’s mission had kept him too busy to dwell on his own identity.
• Kabuto probed the battlefield with Earth Release and noticed a hollow space underground.

Kakashi, Asuma, Naruto, and Shikamaru were screened at the remodeled Daimyo Mansion, where hidden observers monitored them. Mu Mu Zengsheng secretly sought their help against an impostor Daimyo, and the chapter ended as a samurai confronting him suddenly became unable to move.

• Kakashi and Asuma noticed the mansion's unusual security while Naruto and Shikamaru waited in a guest room.
• Hidden watchers above the room listened to the Konoha team's conversation and discussed their orders to monitor a special target.
• Mu Mu Zengsheng arrived, greeted Naruto enthusiastically, and slipped something into his hand as Kakashi signaled and quietly left.
• Asuma recognized Mu Mu's fear, while Mu Mu tried to hint that he needed help and the servants and guards reacted nervously to his arrival.
• Mu Mu's thoughts revealed that the new Daimyo was likely an impostor who had purged opponents and forced officials into submission.
• Samurai arrived to take Mu Mu away, but their leader suddenly stiffened and found he could no longer move.

Shikamaru immobilized a samurai at the Daimyo Mansion while Naruto accompanied Mu Mu Zengsheng to confront the new Daimyo. The Daimyo revealed his plan to destroy Konoha and attacked Naruto, sending him crashing into a wall.

• Shikamaru used the Shadow Imitation Technique to immobilize a samurai as guards gathered around him and Mu Mu Zengsheng.
• The new Daimyo told a dark monster that he planned to seize control of the Daimyo Mansion and march on Konoha.
• Naruto entered the new Daimyo's hall with Mu Mu Zengsheng and sensed multiple kinds of chakra inside the Daimyo.
• The new Daimyo mistook Mu Mu Zengsheng for a betrayer, grew into a giant, and kicked Naruto into a wall.

Naruto fought the Fake Daimyo, whose immense strength and strange chakra suggested he was linked to a tailed beast. The Fake Daimyo revealed that a masked creature called the Zero-Tails was inside him.

• Naruto survived the Fake Daimyo’s attack and kicked him into a wall, but the Fake Daimyo emerged unharmed.
• The Fake Daimyo offered Naruto a chance to serve him, then unleashed a powerful blue aura and challenged him to fight.
• Mu Mu Zengsheng panicked, yelled for help, and passed out after falling headfirst to the floor.
• Naruto activated Fox Sage Mode and fought the Fake Daimyo while studying the strange chakra flowing through his body.
• Naruto asked if the Fake Daimyo was the Eight-Tails’ jinchūriki, but the Fake Daimyo said he was close and identified the creature inside him as the Zero-Tails.

Naruto fought the Fake Daimyo and Zero-Tails, then revealed True Six Paths Mode after being driven into a dangerous corner. He defeated their combined attack, but Zero-Tails misunderstood his intentions just as Shikamaru arrived.

• Naruto recognized Zero-Tails emerging from the Fake Daimyo and tried to wake Kurama while fighting them.
• The Fake Daimyo and Zero-Tails coordinated a punch and dark chakra sphere that overwhelmed Naruto's Fox Sage Mode.
• Asuma and Shikamaru fought the mansion guards while Kakashi dealt with enemies above them, and an explosion shook the mansion.
• Naruto entered True Six Paths Mode, summoned Truth-Seeking Orbs, and pierced both the Fake Daimyo and Zero-Tails with one.
• Naruto reassured the wounded Zero-Tails, which mistook his concern for lust, and Shikamaru arrived.

Asuma and Kakashi defeated the guards at the Daimyo Mansion and discovered that Kazuma, a former Guardian Ninja, had been impersonating the new Daimyo, who was already dead. Naruto’s clone reported the crisis to Jiraiya, who called for Minato after recalling his plan to weaken the Daimyo’s power.

• Asuma and Kakashi finished subduing the guards, including revived former Guardian Ninja, while one woman escaped.
• Kazuma was thrown from the mansion during Naruto’s fight, and Asuma identified him as the former leader of the Radicals among the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
• Naruto’s clone returned to Konoha and told Jiraiya that Kazuma had impersonated the new Daimyo and that the real Daimyo had been dead for days.
• Naruto used Flying Thunder God to fetch Minato after Jiraiya asked him to come.
• Jiraiya recalled Minato’s plan to strip the Daimyo of real power and free the Land of Fire from its aristocratic system.

Minato explained to Jiraiya his plan to make Konoha an independent power by separating ninja villages from the nations that funded them, beginning with the removal of the Land of Fire's daimyo from public life. He also revealed his fear that future generations would fight over the tailed beasts, and the chapter ended with him seeking to make Konoha a home the Nine-Tails would accept.

• Minato told Jiraiya he wanted to separate ninja villages from their nations and establish independent trade, using the daimyo's disappearance to show people how little they depended on him.
• Minato explained that he would keep the capital's bureaucracy running, let the people choose a new daimyo with limited power, and give Konoha time to develop before announcing its new position at a Shinobi World Conference.
• Minato told Jiraiya he worried that the tailed beasts' endless lives and growing strength would eventually provoke a hidden struggle to capture them.
• Jiraiya supported Minato, who notified Itachi and the Third and began negotiations with powers that had reached out to Konoha.
• Minato's goal remained to make Konoha an independent, welcoming home that the Nine-Tails would accept.

Naruto and the others uncovered Kazuma’s impersonation of the daimyo and found the real daimyo incapacitated, prompting Konoha to form an investigation team. Minato and Kakashi discussed Konoha’s response while Naruto and Shikamaru considered how to pursue the unresolved Fire Temple disappearance.

• Naruto told Jiraiya and Minato that Kazuma, a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, had impersonated the daimyo, and Minato explained that the Zero-Tails was born from people’s negative emotions.
• Minato sent a Shadow Clone to investigate Kurama’s unusual sleep, while Jiraiya arranged for the Interrogation Department to question the resurrected Guardian Ninja.
• Naruto and the others questioned the captured Zero-Tails, and Minato confirmed that the real daimyo had been reduced to a mindless state by genjutsu.
• Minato organized Kakashi into an investigation team and rejected Kakashi’s suggestion to take control of the Land of Fire, arguing that Konoha needed to preserve its impartiality.
• Naruto and Shikamaru discussed using Kurama to locate someone connected to the Fire Temple, but worried that the badly injured Kazuma might know more and could be dangerous if he recovered.

Shikamaru suspected the Zero-Tails was a chakra lifeform, and the Nine-Tails healed the wound Naruto had left on it. The Nine-Tails reflected on how chakra lifeforms could divide their chakra and consciousness, then recalled its own research into chakra and the question it had once asked Naruto.

• Naruto called over the healed Zero-Tails after Shikamaru asked about it.
• The Nine-Tails explained that the Truth-Seeking Orb had erased part of the Zero-Tails' chakra body and lifespan, then treated its wound.
• The Nine-Tails recalled how it had survived being divided and sealed in two places, and compared this with Minato's self-aware chakra inside Naruto.
• The Nine-Tails wondered whether ninja could divide chakra and create life, then described how its chakra research led to Baryon Mode.
• The Nine-Tails said it had learned human chakra techniques from Minato Namikaze and reproduced them in this life.
• The Nine-Tails remembered asking Naruto whether chakra lifeforms needed to eat, then began recalling a question it had once asked Naruto, the Seventh.

Naruto and Kurama discussed whether chakra lifeforms could reproduce, and Kurama’s curiosity led him to research their biology with Minato’s help, allowing him to heal the Zero-Tails. After Naruto asked how Kazuma had become so powerful, the Zero-Tails revealed that its master had given him power.

• Kurama asked Naruto about human reproduction and wondered why tailed beasts and other chakra lifeforms could not produce offspring, embarrassing Naruto by admitting he had watched Naruto and Hinata.
• Kurama later researched chakra lifeforms with Minato as his research subject and learned how to repair the damage Yin-Yang Release had inflicted on the Zero-Tails.
• Kurama healed the Zero-Tails, then recognized it as an unofficial tailed beast after scolding it for acting spineless.
• Naruto asked the Zero-Tails how Kazuma had grown so powerful, and it said Kazuma had received power from its master.
• Kurama’s presence made the Zero-Tails hesitate after it realized it had let its master’s existence slip.

Naruto and Nine-Tails questioned Zero-Tails about his mysterious master, while Kabuto and Sora searched for an exit from an underground trap filled with monstrous former monks. The monster pursued them, and Kabuto suspected Sora held the key to escaping.

• Zero-Tails said he did not know his master's name and explained that the master had told him to follow Kazuma and help him.
• Nine-Tails beat Zero-Tails for rambling and demanded that he reveal where his master was.
• Kabuto dragged Sora through the underground battlefield but found the exit sealed behind a solid rock wall.
• A grotesque monster made from the missing Fire Temple monks attacked Kabuto and consumed the chakra snakes he summoned.
• The monster spoke of its master's orders and vanished as Kabuto fled with Sora, suspecting that Sora's survival and the monks' behavior concealed a way out.

Kabuto hid from the monster with Sora, but an unseen force overwhelmed him and exposed their hiding place. Sora’s red chakra let him hold off the monster, and the masked leader appeared beside Kabuto to ask what had happened.

• Kabuto concealed himself and Sora with his genjutsu, then discovered the monster was pursuing them and that his ring could not contact the leader.
• An unseen presence filled Kabuto with paralyzing terror, causing him to drop the genjutsu and reveal their location to the approaching monster.
• Sora transformed under the influence of red chakra and charged the monster, fighting it on equal footing.
• Kabuto realized the terror had been caused by a jutsu and recovered when its effect suddenly ended.
• The masked leader appeared beside Kabuto, boosted Sora so the fight would continue, and asked Kabuto what had happened.

Kabuto reported the underground monsters to the leader of Reshape, who left him to handle the crisis while investigating a revived figure. In Qianyu Village, Naruto questioned a local about strange disappearances and followed him to an empty house, where he noticed the village’s unsettling silence.

• Kabuto told the leader of Reshape about the underground cavern, the trapped boy, and the monsters, and the leader left him behind to investigate.
• The leader of Reshape found a clean, empty cavern and concluded that the revived figure had awakened early and was hiding his incomplete recovery.
• An old man warned Naruto about a haunted battlefield near Qianyu Village, and Naruto asked about villagers who had gone missing and returned.
• Naruto recalled that his modified Flying Thunder God technique let him travel within a marked area, making him the only one able to reach the village quickly.
• The old man led Naruto to a house, and Naruto asked why they had seen no one else in the village.

Naruto investigated an empty village whose residents were linked to the suspected God of Ōtsutsuki, while Minato and Tobirama prepared to join him. He entered a house that tried to transport him to another dimension, escaped, and killed the old man who had led him there.

• Naruto sensed that the old man guiding him through the village had no soul or life, despite appearing human.
• Kurama warned Naruto that the village might be connected to the God of Ōtsutsuki, and Minato prepared to send support with Tobirama.
• Naruto opened the house door and recognized that its strange power was trying to pull him into another dimension.
• Naruto let the trap pull him inside, then returned through the doorway and realized the house had devoured the villagers and previous visitors.
• Naruto killed the old man with a Mini Spiral Bullet.

Naruto entered a living, corpse-filled alternate dimension and confirmed that it contained the Nine-Tails’ chakra. After restraining a grotesque creature made from villagers’ bodies, he headed deeper into the dimension, hoping Tobirama and his father could find a way to save them.

• Naruto returned to the hidden space and recognized it as an alternate dimension where the Nine-Tails could sense his missing chakra.
• Naruto saw a monster assembled from human body parts charge at him and restrained it with Adamantine Sealing Chains.
• Naruto sensed life energy and overwhelming negative emotions in the creature and decided to keep it alive until Tobirama and his father arrived.
• The Nine-Tails sensed another concentration of its chakra and a person overwhelmed by negative emotions deeper inside the dimension.
• Naruto secured the monster with his chains and set off toward the source of the chakra.

Kushina invited Karin to become her disciple and taught her and Naruto the Uzumaki Clan’s Adamantine Sealing Chains. After Naruto mastered the technique, Kushina took Karin out of Konoha and headed for the Land of the Sea to search for Summoning Island.

• Kushina decided to teach Naruto and Karin Adamantine Sealing Chains, a rare Uzumaki sealing jutsu that depended on skill in sealing techniques.
• Kushina told Minato she wanted to take Karin as her disciple because she understood Karin’s painful history with the Uzumaki name, and Minato advised her to let Karin choose freely.
• Kushina asked Karin to become her disciple, and Karin eagerly agreed so she could study with Kushina and spend more time near Sasuke.
• Naruto returned to Konoha for Kushina’s lesson, learned Adamantine Sealing Chains, and left after Kushina confirmed he had mastered it.
• Kushina took Karin out of Konoha and headed for the Land of the Sea to search for Summoning Island.

Naruto captured six immortal monsters with Adamantine Sealing Chains and joined the battle against another creature. Kabuto recognized him and wondered whether the Reshape Organization’s leader could defeat him.

• Naruto bound a humanoid monster in Adamantine Sealing Chains and dragged it through the cave.
• Kabuto and Sora struggled against a many-armed monster that resisted their attacks.
• Naruto appeared beside Kabuto, knocked aside his Mystical Palm Technique, and immobilized him.
• Naruto handed Kabuto six chain-bound monsters and entered the fight.
• Kabuto recognized Naruto and considered warning the Reshape Organization’s leader to retreat.