Recaps

Uchiha Yao forced Mei Terumi to choose between accepting Kirigakure’s merger into Konoha and watching her comrades and village be destroyed. Mei agreed to lead the Konoha Mist Division, and Yao brought her back to the underground cavern to meet the rebels.

• Uchiha Yao offered Mei Terumi leadership of the Konoha Mist Division in exchange for her loyalty and Kirigakure’s submission to Konoha.
• Uchiha Yao used a genjutsu to show Mei visions of him destroying her comrades’ cavern and leveling Kirigakure if she refused.
• Mei Terumi agreed to Yao’s terms so Ao, Chojuro, and the others could survive.
• Uchiha Yao declared Mei the head of the Konoha Mist Division, made an unwanted advance, and grabbed her wrist.
• Uchiha Yao transported Mei Terumi back to the underground cavern to meet her comrades.

Uchiha Yao forced Mei Terumi to disband the Hidden Mist resistance by showing her followers an illusion of the village’s destruction. Mei agreed to take him to Genji and asked to speak with the stubborn elder first.

• Ao, Chojuro, and the rebel ninja prepared to attack when Uchiha Yao and Mei Terumi returned, but Mei ordered them to stand down and announced the resistance force was disbanded.
• Mei told her followers that they had no chance against Uchiha Yao and could only submit or perish.
• When a scar-faced ninja charged at him, Uchiha Yao’s glance left the man screaming and clawing at himself until he passed out.
• Uchiha Yao trapped the others in an illusion where Universal Pull erased the Hidden Mist Village, shattering their resolve.
• Uchiha Yao asked Mei to take him to Genji, and she agreed.
• At Genji’s residence, Mei asked Uchiha Yao to let her explain the situation to the elder first; he granted her half an hour.

Mei Terumi told Genji that Uchiha Yao demanded Kirigakure merge into Konoha and was far too powerful to resist. After learning that Konoha had conquered Sunagakure, Genji was left devastated and uncertain as Kirigakure faced the same fate.

• Mei Terumi told Genji that Uchiha Yao had come to Kirigakure and demanded that the village merge into Konoha.
• Genji ordered Mei to gather Kirigakure's fighters and kill Yao, but Mei said Yao had defeated her, Ao, and Chojuro with ease.
• Mei described how Yao had split the sea and warned that he could destroy Kirigakure with the same power.
• Mei revealed that Konoha had conquered Sunagakure, killed Rasa and its elders, and taken the survivors as prisoners.
• Genji collapsed onto his cushion, realizing Kirigakure's isolation had left it unaware of the changing world.

Genji and Mei Terumi agreed to submit Hidden Mist Village to Uchiha Yao as Konoha’s Mist Division, on the condition that he remove Yagura and help Mei become Fifth Mizukage. Yao ordered them to prepare a coup in two days and announced that he would stay at Mei’s home while they made preparations.

• Genji decided Hidden Mist Village would accept Yao’s terms if he helped remove Yagura, and he ordered spies to verify reports about Sunagakure.
• Genji and Mei Terumi emerged from the residence and bowed deeply to welcome Yao.
• Genji formally agreed that Hidden Mist Village would merge into Konoha as the Mist Division, then asked Yao to help Mei take power from Yagura.
• Yao agreed to eliminate Yagura and gave Mei two days to contact the trusted jonin and clan heads before the coup.
• Yao said he would stay at Mei’s home, and Genji accepted the arrangement on her behalf.

Mei Terumi and her allies launched a coup to take control of Hidden Mist Village, while Uchiha Yao advanced on the Mizukage Building. Elsewhere, Obito accepted Black Zetsu’s proposal to work with Orochimaru against Uchiha Yao and planned to use Yagura to test his strength.

• Mei Terumi and Ao secretly contacted Genji’s list, and more than eighty percent agreed to join the coup.
• Mei Terumi reported that the rebels were ready, and she and Uchiha Yao set out for the Mizukage Building as violence spread across the village.
• Chojuro led rebels in an assault on the ANBU headquarters while other coup forces struck Yagura’s loyalists.
• Uchiha Yao used genjutsu to incapacitate the guards outside the Mizukage Building and entered with Mei Terumi.
• Black Zetsu warned Obito that he could not defeat Uchiha Yao directly and suggested cooperating with Orochimaru and possibly reviving Madara through Impure World Reincarnation.
• Obito agreed to abandon Hidden Mist Village for now but planned to use Yagura to test Uchiha Yao’s strength before leaving.

Nagato learned that Uchiha Yao had killed Sasori and that Deidara had joined Konoha, while Obito triggered Yagura’s Three-Tails transformation in Kirigakure. Uchiha Yao relocated the berserk beast to an uninhabited desert, where it unleashed a devastating Tailed Beast Ball.

• Konan told Nagato that Sasori had been killed by Uchiha Yao and Deidara had defected to Konoha.
• Obito used his Mangekyō Sharingan to make the Three-Tails inside Yagura go berserk.
• The Three-Tails destroyed the Mizukage Building and began charging a Tailed Beast Ball as Mei Terumi begged Uchiha Yao to move the battle away from the village.
• Uchiha Yao decided that Yagura should die and considered making Kurenai Yuhi the Three-Tails’ next Jinchuriki.
• Uchiha Yao used Heavenly Might to transport himself and the Three-Tails from Kirigakure to a remote desert in the Land of Wind.
• The Three-Tails fired its Tailed Beast Ball, blasting a vast crater into the desert.

Uchiha Yao defeated the Three-Tails, freed Yagura from Obito’s genjutsu, and brought him to Konoha, where Yao declared that Kirigakure would merge into Konoha. He summoned Kurenai Yuhi to give her the Three-Tails as a gift and began planning how to make her control it.

• Obito lost track of Yao and the Three-Tails after they were teleported away, and vowed to make Yao pay.
• Yao used his Perfect Susanoo to overwhelm the Three-Tails’ Tailed Beast Ball and leave Isobu near death.
• Yao broke the genjutsu controlling Yagura, who regained his senses and grieved over the crimes he had committed as Mizukage.
• Yao told Yagura that Kirigakure would merge into Konoha, then restrained him with genjutsu and took him to the Hokage’s office.
• Yao ordered an ANBU ninja to bring Kurenai Yuhi and decided he would forcibly suppress the Three-Tails’ will so she could control it.
• Kurenai arrived, and Yao identified Yagura as the Fourth Mizukage and the Three-Tails’ Jinchuriki, calling him her gift.

Uchiha Yao extracted Isobu from the unconscious Yagura and sealed the Three-Tails inside Kurenai Yuhi, promising to help her become a perfect Jinchuriki. In Kurenai Yuhi’s spiritual world, Uchiha Yao negotiated a limited freedom for Isobu, which agreed to the terms.

• Uchiha Yao reassured Kurenai Yuhi that he would protect her and make her a perfect Jinchuriki, and she agreed to receive the Three-Tails.
• Uchiha Yao used his Rinnegan to extract Isobu’s Chakra from Yagura and suppress Isobu’s resistance.
• Uchiha Yao guided the Three-Tails Chakra into Kurenai Yuhi and helped her form a seal that let the Chakra fuse with her own.
• Uchiha Yao instructed Kurenai Yuhi to meet Isobu in her spiritual world and familiarize herself with its power.
• Uchiha Yao offered Isobu permission to create an avatar that could travel within one hundred meters of Kurenai Yuhi, and Isobu accepted.

Uchiha Yao returned to Kirigakure with Yagura’s body after Kurenai Yuhi received the Three-Tails, and Mei Terumi succeeded as the Fifth Mizukage. Mei announced that Kirigakure would merge into Konoha, provoking outrage among the village’s leaders.

• Kurenai Yuhi left with the miniature Three-Tails, and Uchiha Yao sealed Yagura’s corpse and returned to Kirigakure.
• Uchiha Yao gave Yagura’s body to Mei Terumi, who said she would become Mizukage and propose merging Kirigakure into Konoha.
• Uchiha Obito learned that Yagura was dead and the Three-Tails had been taken, then left to seek Orochimaru and his Impure World Reincarnation.
• With Genji’s support, Mei Terumi succeeded as the Fifth Mizukage and announced the end of the Blood Mist Era.
• Mei Terumi declared that Kirigakure would merge into Konoha as the Mist Division, and the gathered leaders erupted in protest.

Uchiha Yao confronted Hidden Mist Village leaders who rejected Mei Terumi’s plan to submit to Konoha, then used overwhelming force to crush the dissenters and destroy the roof of the Mizukage Building. He flew outside Kirigakure, intent on making the entire village fear resistance, as its ninjas and civilians looked up at him.

• Kirishima Jin, Suiren Kenji, and other leaders denounced Mei Terumi for agreeing to submit to Konoha, while Genji tried to quiet them.
• Uchiha Yao appeared and challenged anyone who opposed him, and Mei Terumi identified him as Konoha’s Fifth Hokage and the man who had captured the rampaging Three-Tails.
• Kirishima Jin, Suiren Kenji, and several jonin refused to yield, so Uchiha Yao struck them down with Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
• Uchiha Yao used Shinra Tensei to blast away the roof and several floors of the Mizukage Building, then hovered outside Kirigakure.
• Uchiha Yao resolved to make the village fear resistance as its ninjas and civilians looked toward him.

Uchiha Yao intimidated the Hidden Mist Village into surrender with an enormous, empowered Perfect Susanoo and a devastating demonstration of its power. Mei Terumi and the village leaders accepted Konoha’s terms, and the village was ordered to become the Mist Division and relocate to the Land of Fire.

• Uchiha Yao formed a six-hundred-and-fifty-meter Perfect Susanoo, terrifying Hidden Mist ninjas and civilians into submission.
• Mei Terumi, Genji, Kirishima Jin, Suiren Kenji, and the other Hidden Mist leaders knelt and agreed to Konoha’s conditions to spare the village.
• Uchiha Yao fired a Susanoo Collapsing Sphere into a distant forest, obliterating it and leaving an enormous crater while the blast damaged the Hidden Mist Village.
• Uchiha Yao declared that the Hidden Mist Village would become the Mist Division, subordinate to Konoha, and ordered its people to relocate near Konoha.
• Mei Terumi and Genji pledged full cooperation, and Uchiha Yao vanished through a space vortex.

Mei Terumi enforced Uchiha Yao’s orders in Hidden Mist Village as it prepared to relocate and become Konoha’s Mist Division. Back in Konoha, Uchiha Yao assigned Tsunade and Shikaku Nara to oversee the resettlement, while Shikaku warned that the village lacked room for the influx.

• Mei Terumi ordered Hidden Mist Village to treat its villagers, assess losses, and relocate to Konoha, executing anyone who resisted.
• Mei Terumi stripped Kirishima Jin, Suiren Kenji, and the other defeated leaders of their positions and confiscated half their clan assets, sparing their lives.
• Uchiha Yao returned to Konoha and told Tsunade that Hidden Mist Village had agreed to merge into Konoha as the Mist Division.
• Uchiha Yao put Tsunade in charge of receiving, resettling, screening, and reorganizing Hidden Mist shinobi and civilians.
• Uchiha Yao ordered Shikaku Nara to plan a resettlement area and prepare a detailed reception proposal within three days.
• Shikaku Nara warned that Konoha lacked enough space and temporary housing for the thousands arriving from Hidden Mist Village.

Uchiha Yao resolved the problem of housing Kirigakure’s people by using Wood Release to build temporary homes outside Konoha. After the wooden settlement was completed with little effort, he left with Kurenai Yuhi while Isobu withdrew in alarm at Yao’s power.

• Shikaku Nara warned Uchiha Yao that relocating Kirigakure’s population would strain resources and risk conflict with local residents.
• Uchiha Yao proposed using Wood Release to build temporary housing, and Shikaku Nara organized the relocation and assigned Konoha’s Logistics Department and combat squads to support it.
• Shikaku Nara announced that Kirigakure would be incorporated into Konoha as the Konoha Mist Division and ordered preparations for relocating its shinobi and civilians.
• Uchiha Yao used Wood Release: House of Several Pillars Technique to raise rows of wooden homes in the designated area outside Konoha.
• Kurenai Yuhi worried about Uchiha Yao’s chakra, but he reassured her and left with her while Isobu retreated from his shoulder in shock.

Doyu exposed Toda and his fellow Sand Village loyalists’ plan to escape, and Konoha executed the plotters before the prisoners. Konoha then made Doyu a Leaf ninja and head of the Sand Village Rehabilitation Department, offering other overseers a path to naturalization.

• Doyu learned from an informant that Toda and his group planned to use hidden Explosive Tags to cause an escape during the guard change.
• Doyu reported the conspiracy to the Konoha Police Force, which assembled the prisoners and seized the plotters.
• An Uchiha Jonin announced that the three plotters would be executed, and the Police Force beheaded them in front of the prisoners.
• The Uchiha Jonin gave Doyu a Konoha forehead protector, recognized her as a Hidden Leaf Chunin, and appointed her head of the Sand Village Rehabilitation Department.
• The Uchiha Jonin announced that overseers could apply to a new Naturalization Assessment Department for Konoha ninja status.

Gaara, whose mind had begun to stabilize after Uchiha Yao reforged his seal, wandered through the Uchiha compound and met Naruto. Naruto recognized Gaara’s loneliness and offered to be his friend, leaving Gaara stunned by the unfamiliar invitation.

• Gaara ate the food delivered to his room and left to walk around the Uchiha compound.
• Gaara watched Uchiha children practice shuriken throwing and remembered his lonely childhood in Sunagakure.
• Naruto approached Gaara, introduced himself as a fellow Jinchuriki, and ignored the sand spears Gaara raised against him.
• Naruto described Gaara’s isolation and offered him friendship, causing Gaara’s sand spears to collapse as he stared at Naruto’s hand.

Naruto offered Gaara friendship and shared his own painful childhood, while Temari watched Gaara accept his kindness without lashing out. Uchiha Yao lifted Gaara and Temari’s confinement and ordered them to join Naruto’s class at the Ninja Academy, where they were to report the next morning.

• Naruto told Gaara about his lonely childhood and declared that he would be Gaara’s first friend, offering him Ichiraku chashu.
• Temari secretly watched Naruto approach Gaara and was surprised when Gaara did not attack him.
• Uchiha Yao received a report on Gaara and the Sand Village prisoners, then ordered Uchiha Kenji to lift Gaara and Temari’s confinement.
• Uchiha Yao ordered Gaara and Temari to enroll in the Ninja Academy and join Naruto’s class.
• Uchiha Kenji informed Gaara and Temari that they were free and had to report to the academy the next morning, leaving them stunned.

Gaara and Temari joined the Konoha Ninja Academy, where Naruto and the other students treated Gaara as a peer. At Uchiha Yao's home, Gaara learned that Shukaku had been completely sealed and thanked Yao for giving him a chance to live an ordinary life in Konoha.

• Temari accompanied Gaara to the academy and worried that he might hurt Konoha's students if he went berserk.
• Iruka introduced Temari and Gaara as transfer students, and Naruto welcomed Gaara and brought him to sit with the class.
• Naruto invited Gaara and Temari to Uchiha Yao's home, and Gaara accepted despite Temari's nervousness.
• Uchiha Yao told Gaara that he had completely sealed Shukaku and that no one in Konoha would treat him as a monster or weapon.
• Gaara thanked Uchiha Yao, and Temari bowed and promised that they would follow Konoha's rules and settle in.

A and Ōnoki gathered in the Land of Iron with representatives from other villages to discuss Uchiha Yao and Konoha’s growing power. Ōnoki warned that unless the villages united, Konoha could annex them next.

• A arrived in the Land of Iron with Darui and Shi, then traded insults with Ōnoki until Mifune led them to the meeting hall.
• A and Ōnoki privately agreed to make the alliance succeed despite their hostility.
• Representatives from smaller villages and Konan of Amegakure arrived for the meeting.
• Ōnoki accused Uchiha Yao of destroying Hidden Sand, controlling the Land of Fire’s daimyo, and expanding Konoha’s power.
• A and Ōnoki urged the gathered villages to unite, warning that they could be Konoha’s next targets.

Ōnoki and the Fourth Raikage forced the smaller ninja villages to join their alliance against Konoha, threatening to destroy any village that refused. Konan agreed on Amegakure’s behalf, secretly intending to use the alliance for Akatsuki’s plans, as Ōnoki began a thirty-count ultimatum for the remaining villages.

• Ōnoki proposed a Ninja Alliance to unite the villages against Konoha.
• The Fourth Raikage threatened to wipe out any village that refused to join, and Ōnoki backed his ultimatum.
• Konan announced that Amegakure would join the alliance, surprising Ōnoki and the Raikage.
• Konan’s agreement served Akatsuki’s plans to restrain Konoha, gain time, and gather intelligence on the Jinchuriki.
• Ōnoki gave the remaining village representatives thirty counts to decide, while the Raikage crackled with lightning beside him.

Ōnoki pressured Mifune into bringing the Land of Iron into the alliance by warning that Uchiha Yao would threaten the country and Mifune’s family. With the alliance formed, Ōnoki’s bid to become supreme commander sparked a furious clash with the Raikage.

• Representatives of Kusagakure, Takigakure, and other small villages agreed to join the alliance after threats from the Raikage and Ōnoki.
• Mifune refused Ōnoki’s invitation, citing the Land of Iron’s longstanding neutrality.
• Ōnoki told Mifune that Uchiha Yao had killed the Land of Fire and Land of Wind Daimyo and purged nobles, making neutrality no protection for the Land of Iron.
• Mifune agreed to join the alliance and called for Kurosawa as he rose with his hand on his sword.
• Ōnoki proposed himself as supreme commander, but the Raikage mocked his age and challenged his fitness to lead.
• Ōnoki and the Raikage traded insults until the Raikage’s lightning chakra crackled as he threatened Ōnoki.

Raikage A and Tsuchikage Ōnoki nearly fought over leadership of the alliance until Mifune proposed making A the supreme commander and Ōnoki his deputy. Both accepted, and Mifune declared the Ninja Alliance established.

• A and Ōnoki argued over who should lead the alliance and prepared to fight.
• Mifune intervened and praised A's battlefield strength and Ōnoki's experience and strategic judgment.
• Mifune proposed A as supreme commander and Ōnoki as deputy commander, assigning them responsibility for the front lines and strategic support.
• A accepted the proposal, and Ōnoki agreed to serve as deputy commander for the sake of opposing Konoha.
• Mifune declared the Ninja Alliance established.

Ōnoki laid out an alliance strategy to attack Konoha from two fronts, while Uchiha Yao learned of the plan and dismissed the coalition as rabble. The chapter ended with Yao telling Tsunade that Konoha also needed time.

• Ōnoki proposed two war zones and ordered allied forces, including Iwagakure and smaller villages, to assemble on the eastern front in the Land of Grass.
• Ōnoki assigned Kumogakure to lead the northern front, with the Land of Iron, Takigakure, and the Land of Frost supporting it, and A departed to mobilize troops.
• An ANBU ninja delivered intelligence about the alliance to Uchiha Yao in Konoha's Hokage's Office.
• Uchiha Yao told Tsunade about the alliance and its pincer plan, then dismissed the coalition as rabble.
• Tsunade warned Uchiha Yao not to underestimate the Raikage and Tsuchikage, and Yao replied that Konoha needed time.

Uchiha Yao explained how Konoha would absorb Sunagakure and Kirigakure by rotating their shinobi through controlled border clashes and assigning them missions. In Kirigakure, Mei Terumi and her subordinates learned about Sunagakure’s destruction and the alliance forming against Konoha, and felt relieved they had chosen to submit.

• Uchiha Yao told Tsunade that Konoha needed time to absorb its new territory and that the alliance was too divided to launch a confident attack.
• Uchiha Yao ordered ANBU and the Intelligence Department to track the alliance and directed border troops to provoke small, controlled clashes.
• Uchiha Yao planned to rotate Sunagakure and Kirigakure shinobi into border battles alongside Konoha forces, then give them missions and paid work to speed their integration.
• Mei Terumi received scouts who reported that Uchiha Yao had destroyed Sunagakure and incorporated the Land of Wind and Land of Rivers into Konoha.
• Mei Terumi and Ao learned that Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and several smaller villages had formed an alliance with the Land of Iron, but they felt relieved that Kirigakure had chosen to submit to Konoha.

Mei Terumi led the first group of Hidden Mist villagers and ninja to Konoha, where Tsunade welcomed them and assured Ao that Konoha would not pursue his Byakugan. The newcomers were then shown Sand Village prisoners laboring at a construction site, leaving them fearful about how Konoha would treat them.

• A Konoha logistics team arrived in Kirigakure, and Mei Terumi prepared a first group of one thousand villagers and ninja to relocate to Konoha.
• Tsunade and Konoha High Command welcomed Mei Terumi, Ao, and the first group at Konoha's gates.
• Tsunade told Ao that Konoha would not pursue the Byakugan, while Hyuga Hiashi suppressed his urge to attack Ao after recalling Uchiha Yao's instructions.
• Konoha ninja led the Hidden Mist group through the prosperous village and toward a settlement area on its outskirts.
• The Hidden Mist group saw captured Sand Village ninja forced to labor at a construction site and feared they would suffer the same fate.

Uchiha Yao arranged for the Hyuga Clan and Kirigakure’s Mist Division to combine their scouting and assassination skills, while Mei Terumi secured aid for her people. Meanwhile, Uchiha Obito arrived at Orochimaru’s hidden base intending to teach him a lesson.

• Mei Terumi reported that more than 1,200 Kirigakure civilians and ninja had settled in Konoha, and Uchiha Yao approved her request for supplies and financial assistance.
• Uchiha Yao ordered Hyuga Hiashi to send 300 elite members to coordinate with the Mist Division, pairing the Byakugan’s perception with Kirigakure’s assassination techniques.
• Hyuga Hiashi and Mei Terumi agreed to prevent friction between their forces and carry out Uchiha Yao’s orders.
• Uchiha Obito arrived at Orochimaru’s underground base in the Land of Fields after Black Zetsu reported Orochimaru’s location.
• Uchiha Obito declared that he intended to teach Orochimaru a lasting lesson and began twisting space before himself.