Chapter Summaries

Hexia and the surviving civilians were rescued when Qi Luo’s Holy Knights arrived, but the battle had devastated the Holy Light forces. Li Ming used his power to grant fallen warriors new life as Light Spirits, and Hexia was reunited with his squadmates.

• Hexia prepared to leave the barrier, but the civilians encouraged him to keep fighting until Qi Luo’s Holy Knights crushed the rats and rescued them.
• Qi Luo honored the fallen Seventh Holy Light Cleric Mixed Squad, while Commander Rich ordered an investigation into the deadly rat disaster.
• Li Ming learned of the believers’ deaths and sent Holy Light across the sky, promising to bring the fallen home.
• Hexia mourned his dead teammates as Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan departed for Amegakure.
• Crystals formed where the Holy Light Clerics had fallen, and their dead warriors emerged as Light Spirits.
• Hexia recognized nine of his teammates among the Light Spirits, and Captain Oli urged him to lead the squad well.

Rich arranged for newly reborn Light Spirits to return to their teammates while ordering an investigation into a child-sacrifice ritual that implicated the local nobles. As the Holy Church arrested nobles in the east, Hanzō questioned Yahiko about the Church and watched the Akatsuki, leaving Yahiko defending peaceful communication despite his admiration for the clerics.

• Anting overwhelmed the Light Spirits with affection until Rich explained they were fallen comrades reborn through Holy Light, and she apologized for treating them disrespectfully.
• Rich learned that investigators had found a cruel altar ritual and children's remains, then ordered the Holy Light Clerics to arrest every noble still in the city.
• A panicked noble informed the Daimyo that the Holy Church had arrested the eastern nobles, prompting him to send word to Hanzō.
• Hanzō learned of the arrests, ordered Hakai to watch the Akatsuki, and summoned Yahiko and his companions.
• Yahiko told Hanzō that the Holy Light Clerics were devoted but extreme, and reaffirmed his belief that peace required communication rather than violence.

Yahiko and the Akatsuki accepted Hanzō’s mission to investigate the Holy Church, while Qingyu suspected Hanzō’s praise concealed a trap. On their journey to Corona City, Yahiko’s group encountered the Holy Church’s modern rail system and was escorted toward the station by a cleric.

• Hanzō praised the Akatsuki, assigned them to investigate the Holy Church, and promised them a role in peaceful exchanges between three nations.
• Qingyu warned Yahiko that Hanzō’s approval seemed suspicious, but Yahiko and the others celebrated their new mission.
• Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, and five Akatsuki members set out to learn why the Holy Church had arrested more than fifty nobles, including a duke.
• The group arrived in the Holy Church’s territory, where a local man explained railcars after pushing them clear of the tracks.
• At the town gate, Yahiko showed the cleric Hanzō’s credentials, and the cleric arranged for them to travel to Corona City with Holy Church warriors.

Yahiko and his companions traveled with Holy Light clerics to Corona City, where they witnessed the grieving families of fallen soldiers reunite with the dead reborn as Light Spirits. At dinner, Axel explained that nobles across the east had been arrested for sacrificing children to summon the rat plague, and Yahiko learned how widespread their crimes were.

• A Holy Light cleric escorted Yahiko, Konan, and their companions to the station, where they boarded a military train with Commander Crolil and his regiment.
• At Corona City, Axel welcomed the returning clerics and introduced their fallen comrades reborn as Light Spirits to grieving families.
• Axel greeted Yahiko, and they reunited before he invited Yahiko and the others to a barbecue restaurant.
• Yahiko asked Axel why the Holy Church had arrested nobles across the east, and Axel explained that they had sacrificed more than a thousand children to an evil god, summoning the rat plague.
• Axel insisted that the mass arrests showed how deeply the eastern nobles were implicated, and he angrily recalled the children who had been sacrificed.

Yahiko and Axel argued over the Holy Church’s decision to execute nobles and their families, and the Akatsuki departed on bad terms. After seeing the condemned nobles’ crimes recorded publicly, Yahiko and Konan began to understand the Church’s harsh judgment as a chorus rang through the square.

• Yahiko questioned Axel about the Holy Church’s punishment of the nobles and their families, and they argued until Konan intervened and the friends parted angrily.
• Nagato suggested that the Holy Light Clerics’ commoner origins explained their ruthless opposition to nobles.
• The next day, Rich announced the death sentences of more than fifty nobles involved in the Evil Cult’s rituals, and the Holy Flame executed them.
• Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato read the nobles’ criminal records and learned of their horrific abuses, leaving Yahiko unable to defend them.
• A passionate chorus began singing across the square.

Yahiko’s Akatsuki team returned to Amegakure after learning about the Holy Church, while Axel and Mina’s feelings for each other came to light. The Land of Rain’s Daimyo, faced with the cultists’ growing power, ordered a noble to seek help from the Land of Water.

• Yahiko ended the Akatsuki team’s visit to the Holy Church’s territory and led them back to report to Hanzō.
• Axel reflected sadly that he and his former friends would soon become opponents, while Mina worried about his well-being.
• Ria and Meli teased Mina until she admitted she liked Axel, then Mina fled from the afternoon tea.
• Yahiko reported the Holy Church’s activities to Hanzō, who refused to intervene against it because its victims included innocent children.
• The Land of Rain’s Daimyo blamed his nobles for the cultists’ advance and ordered one of them to ask the Land of Water’s Daimyo for help.

The Holy Church rebuilt the Land of Rain and expanded its influence through the Dawn Merchant Association, while Ria arranged to establish churches in the Land of Wind. In Amegakure, Hanzō ordered the Daimyo’s death after having him dragged away.

• Holy Light Clerics and local residents cleared rubble and rebuilt the Land of Rain into new cities as the Holy Church took control of nearly every city.
• Reilly proposed expanding the Dawn Merchant Association into other nations through local merchant branches, and Ria approved the plan as a way to reduce hostility and place intelligence agents.
• Ria agreed to establish churches in the Land of Wind, confident that the Holy Church could withstand opposition from Sunagakure and other great nations.
• Ria gave Reilly tea prepared by Meli to slow his aging, and Reilly set out to negotiate with the Daimyo of the Land of Wind.
• Hanzō had two Rain Ninja drag away the weeping Daimyo, then ordered Hakai to make his death painless.

Will and the Holy Church secured the Land of Wind Daimyo’s support, while his daughter Fengsha decided to join the Church to gain power. In Sunagakure, the Third Kazekage ordered Chiyo to investigate the Church, though he privately resented her over her dead son and daughter-in-law.

• Will met the Land of Wind Daimyo, who praised the Holy Church and welcomed its aid in the country.
• After leaving the residence, Will joked and roughhoused with his team while Reilly watched.
• Fengsha warned her father that the Holy Church might be another threat, then declared she wanted to join it and gain power for their household.
• The Daimyo accepted Fengsha’s decision, and she promised to lead the Land of Wind toward strength.
• In Sunagakure, the Third Kazekage asked Chiyo about the Church after she warned that its members were powerful, then ordered her to send ninja squads to test them.
• The Third Kazekage privately blamed Chiyo for holding a grudge over her son and daughter-in-law’s deaths.

Fengsha crossed into the slums and saw the suffering hidden beyond the river, then witnessed Will defend a child from a samurai. Watching Will comfort the child left her questioning what she had believed about her people.

• Will and the Holy Light Clerics rejected the Daimyo’s luxurious church, sold its gold statue, and established themselves in the slums.
• Fengsha arrived at the dismantled church, learned the clerics had crossed the river, and followed them despite her father’s warning.
• Fengsha saw the slum residents’ poverty and learned that the samurai regarded them as less than human.
• Will stopped a samurai from attacking a child, struck him, and comforted the frightened child.
• Fengsha watched Will care for the child and felt as though she had seen a beam of light.

Fengsha insisted on pursuing her dream of joining the Holy Church, and Will agreed she could attempt its trials. After reuniting with his teammates, Will heard that the slums faced a severe water shortage and prepared to investigate.

• Fengsha asked Will to let her become a Holy Light Cleric, and he warned her that the work meant hardship and humility.
• Fengsha cut her skirt into shorts, discarded her shoes, and followed Will to prove her determination; Will lent her his shoes and retrieved her golden heels.
• Will said Fengsha could become a companion if she passed the trials of the Holy Light, and introduced her to his teammates.
• Will's teammate reported that more than two hundred thousand people in the slums had fewer than ten working wells and were barred from drawing water from the guarded river.
• Will rebuked the clerics for looking down on Fengsha, and they apologized to her before the team set out to investigate the water shortage.

Will and the Holy Light Clerics began helping the people of the oasis by planning wells and a school, while Fengsha stayed with Will. After Sand shinobi attacked them, Will defeated them brutally, leaving Fengsha shaken but determined to become a warrior like him.

• Will and the Holy Light Clerics decided to dig wells and open a school for street children, and Will rented a house after haggling with its landlord.
• Fengsha followed Will to get food because she had no money, while the Daimyo learned she had gone to the slums and ordered samurai to protect her in secret.
• Sand shinobi ambushed Will and Fengsha as they ate, but Will used spells to disable them.
• Will refused to spare the captured shinobi and burned one to ash after the ninja would not reveal who sent them.
• Fengsha praised Will and said she wanted to become a warrior like him, then lowered her head as Will told her the Holy Church showed no mercy to enemies.

Nameless learned that the Daimyo refused to let the ninja village investigate the deaths of three squads. In the Land of Rain, Ria arranged a shopping outing that brought Axel and Mina closer, and Axel agreed to keep moving forward with her despite his devotion to the Holy Light’s unfinished mission.

• An Anbu Ninja told Nameless that all three squads had been killed without being able to fight back, and Nameless learned that the Daimyo had forbidden him from getting involved.
• Ria dragged a reluctant Axel shopping with Meli and Mina, where Axel was surprised by Mina’s appearance in ordinary clothes.
• Mina asked why the Holy Church did not absorb nearby small countries, and Ria explained that they should join willingly rather than be invaded.
• Ria and Meli left Axel and Mina alone, and Mina took Axel’s hand as they walked together.
• Mina confessed that she liked Axel, and Axel said he wanted to keep walking forward with her even as he devoted himself to the Holy Light’s mission.

Meli and Ria watched Mina and Axel leave together, while the Third sent Jiraiya and Minato on a mission to investigate the Holy Light Church in the Land of Rain. Traveling with a merchant caravan, Jiraiya and Minato heard how the Land of Rain had become prosperous and safe, and Minato resolved to help make Konoha a happy place too.

• Meli and Ria were relieved that Mina had taken the first step with Axel, and Ria looked forward to welcoming another member of the family.
• The Third assigned Jiraiya and his team to investigate the Holy Light Church, and Jiraiya chose Minato to accompany him on a caravan escort mission to the Land of Rain.
• Jiraiya and Minato met the merchant Li Yu at Konoha's gates and set out with the caravan, which planned to stop in the Land of Grass to pick up a group of people.
• Li Yu and the other merchants described the Land of Rain's medical care, compulsory education, residence permits, and systems for public safety.
• Minato admired the support offered to children in the Land of Rain, and Jiraiya encouraged him to help make Konoha a happy place.

As Jiraiya and Minato traveled with Li Yu’s caravan into the Land of Grass, they met Hexia’s Holy Light Cleric team and learned about their discipline and beliefs. Xiao Yu spoke with Minato about the Church’s hopes for the Land of Rain, leaving Minato eager to visit it.

• Li Yu reunited with Hexia and her team in the Land of Grass, where Meizi and Oli argued over Hexia’s strict leadership and Xiao Yu’s injury.
• Hexia avoided taking sides between the two Light Spirits, and Li Yu agreed to depart with the caravan immediately.
• Jiraiya and Minato observed the Holy Light Clerics’ disciplined but warm manner and judged most of them inexperienced.
• Xiao Yu told Jiraiya and Minato that he wanted to see Konoha and explained that the Church hoped to build an earthly paradise through shared responsibility and faith.
• Minato praised Xiao Yu’s god as special, and Xiao Yu said Minato’s visit to the Land of Rain would not disappoint him.

Jiraiya and Minato entered the transformed Land of Rain and saw how the Holy Church’s rule had reshaped the country. They left with questions about the future of ninjas as Uncle Li Yu explained that more families were choosing the Holy Church School over ninja training.

• Jiraiya and Minato marveled at the Land of Rain’s advanced cities and watched Xiao Yu’s squad admire a Sky Carrier.
• Meizi and Oli playfully tussled until Hexia caught them, and Xiao Yu explained that the Light Spirits were former Holy Light Clerics given new life.
• Hexia took her squad to board a Railcar, while Uncle Li Yu continued traveling with Jiraiya and Minato.
• Uncle Li Yu told Jiraiya that the Holy Church had unified the Land of Rain five years earlier and that Hanzō’s Amegakure had survived by avoiding trouble.
• Uncle Li Yu explained that families increasingly sent their children to Holy Church School instead of training them as ninjas, leaving Jiraiya and Minato to silently question the ninja profession’s future.

Danzo persuaded Ōnoki to attack the prosperous Land of Rain, but the Holy Church mobilized overwhelming forces to defend it. Ōnoki narrowly survived an aerospace carrier’s attack and realized the Land of Earth could not fight such a war.

• Minato and Jiraiya returned to the Land of Fire, where Hiruzen chose to preserve the peace while Danzo arranged for the Land of Earth to target the Land of Rain.
• Ōnoki agreed to cooperate with Danzo, expecting the Land of Earth to claim the largest share, while Danzo accepted because he believed Konoha would still benefit.
• After Stone shinobi gathered at the border, Bishop Ria ordered Commander Axel to repel any incursion, and Hanzō told Yahiko that the Holy Church now controlled the country’s war decisions.
• Ōnoki discovered more than twenty thousand Rain forces, enormous warships, and artillery assembled at the border, then dodged their attacks in the air.
• Axel ordered an aerospace carrier to fire at Ōnoki, who escaped the beam and its explosion but cursed Danzo after seeing the massive crater and fleet overhead.

After Ōnoki withdrew his forces, the Land of Rain demanded that the Land of Earth permit Holy Church embassies and missionary work as the price of peace. A show of the Church’s military power forced the Land of Earth to sign, while Danzo recognized the Land of Rain as a formidable threat to Konoha.

• Ōnoki ordered the Stone shinobi to retreat and seek diplomatic talks, and Axel reported their withdrawal to Ria.
• After reading the battle report, Ria agreed to negotiations only if the Holy Church could establish an embassy and preach in the Land of Earth.
• The Land of Earth’s envoy rejected the terms, but the Holy Light Clerics refused to back down and left the negotiations.
• Ōnoki saw the Church’s military exercises, including thousands of knights and the landing of Holy Light No. 1, and realized the Land of Earth could not withstand its forces.
• The Stone shinobi envoy signed the agreement the next day, and the negotiation team’s captain explained that the Land of Earth had yielded because the Church was stronger.
• Danzo learned that the Land of Earth had surrendered and concluded that the Land of Rain had become a formidable enemy beside Konoha.

The major nations’ renewed expansion triggered the Third Shinobi World War, while the Holy Church prepared to protect civilians and exploit the conflict. Obito was crushed during a mission and presumed dead, but he awoke in Madara’s care.

• Bishop Ria ordered the Holy Light Churches to protect civilians and prepare to unite smaller nations during the coming war.
• A Kumogakure team discussed the Holy Church’s retaliation against ninja who harmed civilians and continued its investigation in the Land of Bears.
• Sunagakure blamed Konoha for its Kage’s disappearance, and the Lands of Earth and Lightning joined the resulting conflict against Konoha, beginning the Third Shinobi World War.
• Madara ordered Black Zetsu to act against a target as soon as possible, while Obito pushed Kakashi out of the way of a falling boulder and was pinned beneath it.
• Kakashi received Obito’s Sharingan and fought the Stone shinobi until Minato arrived; Kakashi reported that Obito had died, and Minato led Kakashi and Rin onward.
• Obito awoke beside an old white-haired man, whom he thanked and promised to repay.

As the Third Shinobi World War intensified, Bishop Ria prepared the Holy Church and the Land of Rain to intervene against attacks on civilians. In the Land of Wind, Fengsha confronted her father over the nobles’ oppression of commoners, and after he killed himself, she resurrected him and refused to let him abandon her.

• Bishop Ria ordered the Five Great Military Districts to prepare for war and warned the Four Great Nations to stop harming civilians.
• Third Raikage A rejected the Holy Church’s demand, while Ōnoki worried that the Land of Rain’s intervention would leave the Land of Earth fighting on two fronts.
• Fengsha arrested nobles and urged her father, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind, to give up his unjust power and embrace the holy light.
• The Daimyo accepted Fengsha’s resolve but killed himself, believing he would become a burden to his daughter.
• Will reminded Fengsha that, as a level 30 High Priest, she could use Basic Resurrection, and she brought her father back to life.
• Fengsha scolded her father for trying to leave her, while Will quietly left the Daimyo’s Residence and the Daimyo tried to comfort his crying daughter.

Shishu led the Fifth Legion into the Land of Wind to take over its defense, where locals welcomed the Holy Light troops. Sasori became obsessed with their Sky Carrier, but the clerics subdued him and took him into the army for discipline.

• Shishu received orders to enter the Land of Wind and instructed his troops to protect civilians and uphold Holy Light's reputation.
• Farmers and villagers welcomed the advancing clerics, who thanked them and continued onward after the people cleared the road.
• Sasori spotted the Sky Carrier, decided it was the perfect work of art, and rushed toward the troops to claim it.
• A Holy Light Cleric subdued Sasori with the Holy Light Sealing Jutsu and declared him a reserve member of the regiment.
• Merlin silenced Sasori's curses with a Silence Spell while the commander told the troops to teach him how to behave.