Recaps

Hoshi advanced from mastering new sword techniques to leading Konoha’s campaign against Iwagakure, exposing Danzo’s schemes and destroying enemy units. The arc ended with Konoha’s raid opening a major battle while Sunagakure joined the fighting on its own front.

• Hoshi defeated Hiruzen in a sword battle, reached Master-level Swordsmanship, and drew Dance of the Startled Swan, a skill that let him move through obstacles and return to Sword Shadows.
• Hoshi took Kugetsu as a disciple alongside Minato and Kushina, and Hiruzen established the Genius Class Project.
• Hoshi proposed training medically gifted students as medical ninjas, then left for the Land of Rain with Tsunade and a large force of Konoha ninjas.
• Hoshi tracked down and killed all twenty members of Iwagakure’s Earth-Tunneling Unit, prompting Ōnoki to send Lava and the Explosion Release Unit to the front.
• Hoshi exposed a guard working for Danzo and revealed that he had concealed Lava’s presence, then prepared Konoha for a night raid on Iwagakure’s camp.
• Hoshi set the Explosion Release Unit’s camp ablaze and signaled Konoha to attack, while Lava organized Iwagakure’s forces for battle.
• Hoshi identified the apparent sword-wielding figures as afterimages and directed Konoha’s opening attack against Iwagakure’s weakened left flank, killing hundreds.
• Orochimaru ambushed a Sunagakure relief unit, and Chiyo and Ebizo committed Sunagakure’s full army, beginning fighting on that front.

Hayate Hoshi led Konoha through victories over Iwagakure and sought a Kusanagi Sword for Kagetsu, while Ōnoki maneuvered Rōshi into an attack on the Konoha camp. Hoshi wounded the transformed Four-Tails, and Ōnoki sealed it back into Rōshi before retreating with him as Konoha celebrated.

• Kagetsu overcame her hesitation in battle, and Hoshi killed Jianhe and the remaining members of the Explosion Release Unit before routing Iwagakure’s forces.
• Hoshi withdrew after the battle, and the casualty report credited him with killing around twenty Jonin while Minato and Kagetsu earned praise for their victories.
• Ōnoki learned of Iwagakure’s losses and Rōshi’s escape, then arranged to use Rōshi’s Lava Style in an assault on Konoha’s camp.
• Hoshi took Kagetsu to the Underground Black Market, killed Black Mist, and gave her the Tenburyu Sword.
• Ōnoki and Rōshi attacked the Konoha camp, where Ōnoki’s Dust Release devastated the grounds and Hoshi resolved to confront them.
• Hoshi fought Rōshi and wounded him, but the Four-Tails broke free, transformed, and unleashed magma across the battlefield.
• Hoshi opened the Sixth Gate and used Water Breathing techniques to wound the Four-Tails, which began forming a Tailed Beast Bomb.
• Ōnoki disrupted the Tailed Beast Bomb and sealed the weakened Four-Tails back into Rōshi, then escaped with him after Hoshi’s ambush injured both men.

As the war shifted from Iwagakure to Sunagakure, Hoshi helped Kagetsu confront her buried memories and took command of Konoha’s front. Chiyo lured Hoshi into an ambush through Minato, but he rescued his disciple and began fighting her Ten Puppets.

• The Third Raikage breached Iwagakure’s defenses, but Ōnoki returned and drove Kumogakure’s forces away before rallying the devastated village.
• Dan and Hoshi helped Kagetsu face her sealed memories, defeat her Inner Demon, and awaken her Three Tomoe Sharingan.
• Hoshi joined Tsunade and Sakumo at the Sunagakure Front, then took command after Sakumo returned to Konoha and captured Rain Mine Town.
• Chiyo sent a hundred Sunagakure ninja to ambush Hoshi, using Minato and his squad as bait to draw him out.
• After Chiyo captured Minato, Hoshi rescued him by severing Chiyo’s puppet arm and cutting through the attacking Sunagakure ninja.
• Chiyo summoned Chikamatsu’s Ten Puppets, and Hoshi destroyed several before escaping the range of her White Secret Technique: Three Treasures Suction Destruction.

Hoshi broke Sunagakure’s forces, defeated Ryunosuke, and secured its surrender, while Danzo began experimenting with Hashirama Cells and abducted Nawaki. As Hoshi prepared to return to Konoha, Kōhei and Sakumo worked to get word to him about Danzo’s actions.

• Hoshi’s attack devastated Chiyo’s forces, and Chiyo and Ebizo returned to Sunagakure after losing hundreds of soldiers.
• Hoshi and Nonō coordinated a revolt inside Sunagakure’s camp, allowing Konoha to rout the defenders and drive them into the Land of Wind.
• Hoshi defeated Ryunosuke in battle, and Bunpuku offered Sunagakure’s surrender while Chiyo proposed turning the gravely injured Kazekage into a human puppet.
• Hoshi’s victory made him famous as Konoha Military God, while Danzo secretly began Hashirama Cell experiments under Hiruko’s supervision.
• During stalled peace talks, Hoshi grew wary and sent Senju Kōhei back to Konoha to investigate unusual activity.
• Danzo abducted Nawaki and used his cells to develop a Hashirama Cell treatment that avoided Arborification in an initial test subject.
• Hiruzen searched for Nawaki as Danzo obstructed Kōhei’s messages, prompting Kōhei and other Senju to find Sakumo and break through Root’s blockade.
• Sakumo rushed toward the Land of Wind to warn Hoshi, while both Hoshi and Danzo received reports of the other’s movements as Hoshi headed back to Konoha.