Recaps

Ria organized the Holy Light Clerics to improve livelihoods and build an intelligence network, prioritizing relief, schools, clinics, roads, and housing over the Level Three Holy Church. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan witnessed the faction’s work and, as they prepared to leave for Amegakure, Yahiko resolved not to lose to Axel.

• Ria announced that wars between nations would likely end in two years and assigned Reilly to establish an intelligence department.
• Ria redirected workers from the Level Three Holy Church to provide relief and build schools, clinics, waterworks, and roads, ordering clerics to suppress grain price gouging.
• Holy Light Clerics began relief and construction work, and Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan learned from an elderly man about the new housing, medical care, and punishment of grain merchants.
• Yahiko and his friends admitted that they understood why ninja were hated after recalling their past, then encountered Axel and Shishu hauling stone for road repairs.
• Yahiko told Axel that he and his friends were leaving for Amegakure, then silently resolved not to lose to him.

Reilly organized Corona City’s merchants into a Holy Church-backed association to sell its factory goods and gather supplies and intelligence. In Konoha, Hiruzen rejected Danzo’s plan to seize the association’s manufacturing methods, so Danzo sent intelligence about the Church of the Holy Light to Hanzō.

• Ria tasked Reilly with forming a merchant association, trading the Church’s goods, and gathering food, materials, and intelligence in exchange for military support.
• Reilly recruited Corona City’s merchants and showed them the Holy Church’s factories, persuading them to join under a ten-percent tax and agree to gather intelligence through their businesses.
• The Third Hokage learned that the Dawn Merchant Association’s goods were selling well in Konoha and ordered the Anbu to keep watching it.
• Danzo urged Hiruzen to seize the association’s manufacturing methods, but Hiruzen refused, prioritizing the war and Konoha’s reputation.
• Danzo returned to Root and ordered Aburame to take intelligence about the Church of the Holy Light to Hanzō.

Hanzō led Amegakure’s depleted forces toward Corona City to crush the Holy Church, while Ria assembled its troops to defend the city and assert the Church’s control over the Land of Rain. Five legions gathered as the people rallied behind them, leaving the confrontation with Hanzō still to come.

• After receiving intelligence about unrest in the Land of Rain, Hanzō ordered Hakai to assemble Amegakure’s Ninja and marched toward Corona City.
• Ria reviewed the merchant association’s paperwork while Meli prepared to make lunch, until Mina reported that Hanzō and a large force were approaching.
• Ria ordered the Holy Light Clerics to assemble, and Meli abandoned her plans to cook.
• The city’s residents cheered for the Holy Light Clerics as they gathered in organized ranks at the Holy Church.
• Ria watched from the Level Three Holy Church as commanders reported the assembly of five legions, including the First Knight Legion and Fifth Mixed Special Operations Legion.

Ria rallied the Holy Light Clerics to defend Corona City as Hanzō led his ninja forces through the prosperous lands surrounding it. After Hanzō and Ria exchanged challenges outside the city walls, both sides prepared to settle the conflict by force.

• Ria rallied the Holy Light Clerics, who marched to their assigned posts to defend the city.
• Hanzō and his ninja were astonished by the restored farmland and fortified towns, but abandoned their advance through the smaller settlements after defensive devices cost them men.
• Silver Flower confirmed that Hanzō’s forces had moved on, while Yi Yong lamented missing his chance to fight and vowed to train harder.
• Hanzō reached the expanded Corona City, summoned Ibuse, and rode toward its walls while his forces prepared siege equipment.
• Ria stopped the defenders from attacking as Hanzō confronted her, and they traded accusations before agreeing to let their strength decide the battle.

Ria’s forces repelled Hanzō’s assault on Corona City with their barrier, artillery, and Holy Knights, while priests dispelled his poison. After heavy losses, Hanzō and Ria discussed the Holy Church’s ambitions in the Land of Rain, leaving open the possibility of negotiation.

• Hanzō ordered the Rain Ninja to attack Corona City, but the barrier blocked their rocks and the city’s artillery destroyed their catapults.
• Ria’s gunners killed or wounded many Rain Ninja as their ninjutsu battered the barrier, and she ordered the gates opened for a counterattack.
• Axel led the Holy Knights in formations that crushed and trapped the Rain Ninja, but Hanzō released poison that forced the knights to retreat.
• Ria directed the priests to clear the poison with the Greater Purification Technique, and more than half of Hanzō’s ninja had been lost by the time his forces regrouped.
• Hanzō asked Ria what the Holy Church wanted, and she said it sought to establish a prosperous nation and could coexist with Amegakure if it did not obstruct the Church.
• Ria rejected the idea that the Daimyo were rightful rulers, while Hanzō objected that the Church’s actions would split the Land of Rain.

Ria forced Hanzō to negotiate after demonstrating her overwhelming power, then proposed that the Holy Church would help strengthen Amegakure in exchange for his cooperation. Hanzō agreed to review a written pact and follow Ria to the Holy Light Hall to sign it, hoping to learn more about the Church’s faith.

• Ria blasted the forest with an attack powerful enough to break Hanzō’s resolve, then welcomed him and his ninja into the city.
• At the Meeting Room, Hanzō challenged the Holy Church, and Ria used her oppressive aura to make him hear her proposal respectfully.
• Ria asked Hanzō to keep the Land of Rain’s Daimyo occupied while the Holy Church liberated half the country over the next two years.
• Ria offered the Holy Church’s support to Amegakure at twice the level of the Daimyo’s annual aid, and promised a formal agreement witnessed by the Holy Light.
• Hanzō accepted the printed agreement and agreed to go with Ria to the Holy Light Hall, secretly hoping to gather intelligence.

Ria brought Hanzō and his subordinates before Li Ming, where the Holy Light’s presence overwhelmed them with awe. After Ria and Hanzō signed an agreement, Li Ming explained that he had come to the world as the keeper of hope and bearer of light.

• Hanzō followed Ria to meet the Evil God, while Ria briefly frightened him and his subordinates with a supernatural sensation.
• Ria led Hanzō into the temple, where the Holy Light’s radiance cleared their minds and moved them to join the worshippers’ salute.
• Li Ming returned to his Sub-body in response to Ria’s summons and witnessed the agreement between the Holy Church and Hanzō.
• Ria signed the agreement as Artoria, Archbishop of the Holy Church, and Hanzō signed it as Kage of Amegakure.
• Hanzō asked why Li Ming had descended into the world, and Li Ming identified himself as the keeper of hope and bearer of light.

Hanzō turned away from the Land of Fire and Danzo after his encounter with Ria’s Holy Church, while Madara decided to confront the group after learning they could threaten his plans. Holy Light warned Ria that Madara had entered their territory and sent her to face him.

• Hanzō told Qingyu and Hakai that he no longer needed the Land of Fire’s funding, and Danzo ordered Root to investigate the Holy Church after reading Hanzō’s reply.
• Black Zetsu informed Madara that Ria’s cultists had repelled Hanzō and that Nagato had reached Amegakure, so Madara set out to clear the way for Nagato.
• Ria finished her work and joined her siblings for dinner, but Mina arrived with a warning that a powerful enemy had entered their territory.
• Li Ming gave Ria a ball of light to guide her to the enemy and strengthen her skills if needed.
• Holy Light identified the enemy as Uchiha Madara, the Asura of the Ninja World and one of Konoha’s founders.

Madara tested the Holy Knights defending Miwei City and overwhelmed Ertai’s squad, who kept getting back up to protect the civilians. As Ertai was about to collapse, Bishop Ria arrived and caught him.

• Madara and Black Zetsu walked through prosperous Miwei City and saw Ertai’s Holy Knights gently direct a group of children toward the square.
• Madara challenged the Holy Knights, and Ertai ordered Qina to evacuate the civilians before his squad surrounded him.
• Madara defeated Ertai’s squad in a single exchange, but the injured knights repeatedly stood and continued fighting.
• Ertai told Madara that the knights protected the people because they hoped others would protect their own families in turn.
• Madara dismissed Ertai’s hope, but a voice from the sky answered him as Bishop Ria arrived and caught the unconscious Ertai.

Ria fought Madara on the plains and defeated him with her Holy Light powers, then killed the hidden Black Zetsu. She flew home, hoping some of Meli’s Octopus Balls were left.

• Ria healed the Holy Knights, sent them to restore order, and challenged Madara to fight outside the city.
• Ria and Madara exchanged attacks, but Ria resisted his Genjutsu and destroyed his meteor with the Super Trial Technique.
• Ria confronted Madara over the suffering caused by the powerful and declared that the oppressed would unite beneath the Holy Light.
• Madara summoned his Complete Body Susanoo, while Ria transformed into a giant armored figure and struck him down with her lance.
• Ria discovered Black Zetsu underground and killed him with a lance of light before flying home for Meli’s Octopus Balls.

After surviving a battle with Madara, Ria returned to her family and enjoyed a peaceful meal, while the Holy Church expanded its territory and improved life for its people. As refugees fled toward the Church’s lands, the Land of Rain’s nobles blocked their escape, leaving a starving mother and child trapped in despair.

• Madara survived Ria’s attack by using Izanagi, then decided to leave the Land of Rain for the Land of Water and ordered Black Zetsu to watch Nagato and the others.
• Ria returned to Corona City, reunited with Meli, Xiao Cao, and Xiao Shu, and shared a warm dinner with her family.
• The Holy Church developed its occupied cities by suppressing bandits and criminals, building infrastructure, and attracting people fleeing poorer regions.
• The Land of Rain’s Daimyo told his nobles that Hanzō had agreed to divide the country’s cities with the Holy Church, and the nobles resolved to punish fleeing commoners.
• A starving refugee mother fed her child blood from her wrist as samurai blocked the crowd’s route to the Holy Church’s territory and attacked those who resisted.
• The desperate refugees charged the samurai checkpoint, while the mother watched in despair as their path to safety remained blocked.

Ertai and the Holy Church intervened after nobles in the eastern Land of Rain massacred refugees fleeing a rat infestation. After Ertai’s forces captured Fuyu City, Aili resurrected a dead child, and the city’s survivors welcomed the Holy Light Clerics.

• Ertai learned that samurai in Fuyu City were killing refugees and mobilized his legion, while Bishop Ria ordered a large-scale relief effort.
• Ertai surrounded Fuyu City, broke through its gates with cannon fire, and captured the young viscount after his samurai fled.
• Qina’s search party found Lianhua and her child among the dead, and Priest Will discovered the child had only recently died.
• Aili used Basic Resurrection to bring Lianhua’s child back to life, and Lianhua thanked her and pledged herself to the Holy Light.
• Qina and her squad continued through the city as residents recognized the Holy Light Clerics and gathered to welcome them.

After Ertai punished the noble responsible for deaths in town, Holy Church forces arrived in the eastern Land of Rain to battle the rat swarms and begin rescuing survivors. Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato watched as the airships overwhelmed the rats and Holy Light Clerics descended to search nearby homes.

• Ertai apologized to the townspeople, then had the young noble burned with Holy Flame as the crowd demanded revenge.
• Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato struggled to defend the earl’s estate from the endless rat swarms, while the earl refused to let them retreat.
• As the three ninjas ran low on chakra, they spotted Holy Church airships arriving over the eastern Land of Rain.
• Holy Cantors stopped the rats with music, and Corps Commander Rich ordered the airships to attack swarms while avoiding residential areas.
• The airships destroyed much of the rat horde, then Holy Light Clerics descended and formed squads to search for survivors.
• Konan stared in disbelief at the Holy Church’s rescue operation.

Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan joined Oli’s Holy Light squad as it rescued villagers trapped beneath a boulder and brought them to a protected estate. After an airship delivered food and water, Konan wondered at the Holy Church’s knowledge, while the Priest prayed to the holy light.

• Yahiko introduced himself and his teammates to Oli, who invited them to accompany the 7th Mixed Squad on its rescue mission.
• Oli’s squad cleared the rats with coordinated attacks and found villagers sheltering in a cellar beneath a boulder.
• The Holy Knights rescued the survivors, and Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan helped kill rats that bit civilians along the way.
• Oli’s squad led the civilians to a nearby estate, set up a Holy Light Barrier, and requested emergency supplies from an airship.
• The airship dropped food and water, and the female Priest told Konan that the Holy Light had taught them their knowledge.

Oli and the Holy Light Clerics defended the rescued civilians from an overwhelming swarm of mutated rats while waiting for the main force. As the squad ran out of supplies, its members sacrificed themselves one by one, leaving Yahiko questioning whether he and his companions would someday show the same courage.

• The Holy Light Clerics rescued a baby, and a civilian woman fed him while Oli explained that children were their future.
• Oli ordered his team to defend the Barrier when an enormous swarm of mutated rats arrived, and artillery fire only drew more rats from underground.
• Commander Rich reported that the main force would take at least three hours to arrive, while the Airships ran out of Holy Light Bullets and the defenders exhausted their potions.
• Nagato urged Yahiko and Konan to retreat if the defenses failed, but Yahiko promised Oli they would hold out with the squad.
• Oli told the Holy Light Clerics to sacrifice themselves to protect the civilians, and Hexia agreed to survive and carry on the squad's legacy.
• Oli and the other Holy Light Clerics charged into the swarm and detonated themselves, while Konan watched in disbelief and Yahiko wondered whether they would one day risk their lives for their own way.

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.