Recaps

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.

Sasori marched with the Holy Light Clerics and began to feel curious about the people’s trust in them, then became captivated by their mecha. Meanwhile, Ye Cang took charge of Sunagakure as the Holy Church surrounded the village and deployed two Holy Mecha against its defenders.

• Tai'a spoke with Sasori about family, death, and the Holy Light, while Sasori rejected his beliefs.
• Villagers welcomed the Holy Light Clerics with food, and Sasori wondered why they were not afraid of the troops.
• Chiyo and the elders debated who should become Kazekage before a Sand shinobi reported that the cult had taken control of the Land of Wind and surrounded Sunagakure.
• Chiyo urged Ye Cang, appointed Fourth Kazekage in the crisis, to protect the village as the Sand shinobi prepared to fight the Holy Church.
• Shishu ordered Holy Mecha Fourteen and Fifteen into battle, and the two mecha struck the village’s puppet forces.
• Sasori admired the mecha and told Tai'a he would pilot one someday, even if he had to give up chakra.

The Holy Light Mecha devastated the Sand puppet unit and overpowered Pakura, prompting Chiyo to release Karura as Shukaku. The Holy Knight Corps sealed Shukaku with the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, leaving Karura unconscious and in custody as Shishu challenged the Sand shinobi to keep fighting.

• The Holy Light Mecha blocked the puppet unit's attacks and destroyed its puppets, forcing the commander to order a retreat.
• Pakura attacked the mecha with Scorch Release and Lava Release, but its shields repelled her techniques and its laser cannons grievously injured her.
• At Pakura's request, Chiyo called on Karura, who released Shukaku to fight the mecha.
• The mecha's laser blasts damaged the village wall, and Shishu ordered the mecha to withdraw and the Holy Knight Corps to activate the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation.
• Shukaku's attacks vanished near the formation, and its eight gates drained his chakra and restored Karura to human form.
• Shishu ordered the Holy Knight Corps to take the unconscious Karura into custody and challenged Chiyo and the Sand shinobi to continue fighting.

Shishu demanded Sunagakure’s submission after Holy Light took control of the Land of Wind, and Ye Cang agreed to the Church’s oversight after reading its principles. The village accepted the arrangement, though the chapter left its new order still to be established.

• Shishu showed Chiyo a scroll revealing that the Daimyo had handed the Land of Wind to outsiders and urged Sunagakure to stop resisting.
• Ye Cang rebuked Elder Shaye for demanding a hopeless fight, and Chiyo killed Shaye when he refused to surrender.
• Shishu ordered Chiba to heal Ye Cang with the Greater Healing Technique, astonishing the wounded Kazekage-designate and Chiyo.
• Shishu explained that ninja would keep governing their village but lose legal privileges and submit to the Holy Church’s oversight and Judgment Hall.
• Ye Cang read Holy Lightism and agreed to accept Holy Light’s full oversight, while Hexia welcomed his decision.

Axel led the Holy Light Clerics toward the Three Nations battlefield and ordered them to protect civilians and punish ninja who committed atrocities. Rich’s forces rescued a woman and her children from Land of Lightning ninja, but they could not save her murdered husband.

• Axel briefed the legion commanders and sent the army toward the war zone, ordering them to prioritize civilian safety and rescue.
• An intelligence officer spotted Land of Lightning ninja threatening a woman and her children, and Rich dispatched the Fifteenth Legion to intervene.
• The Holy Light Clerics shielded the family, killed the attackers, and burned away their bodies.
• The legion commander defeated Leizhe, the ninja leader, and learned that the woman's husband could not be resurrected.
• The commander promised the woman that the Holy Church would stay and make life better, while the Holy Light Clerics regretted arriving too late.

The Holy Light Church entered the war between the Lands of Fire and Lightning, prompting the nations to reassess their plans. Rich demanded that the Land of Lightning withdraw from the Land of Fields, while Minato pulled Konoha's forces back and left the Raikage facing the church.

• Raikage A learned that Holy Light Church forces had entered the Land of Fields and ordered Blue B to prepare for battle, while Jiraiya and Minato discussed the growing threat.
• After receiving reports of the church's enormous army, the leaders of the Lands of Lightning, Fire, and Earth held meetings and adopted different plans for dealing with it.
• Minato led five thousand Konoha ninja against Raikage A and Blue B, fighting them until the Holy Light Clerics arrived and stopped the battlefield's combatants.
• Rich accused Raikage A's forces of atrocities and demanded that the Land of Lightning leave the Land of Fields, while Minato offered peace talks and agreed to withdraw Konoha's ninja.
• Raikage A refused to retreat, and Minato's forces left the battlefield as Rich prepared to confront the Land of Lightning.

Rich and the Holy Light Clerics annihilated the Cloud shinobi force, killing Raikage A and capturing Blue B. Minato watched the overwhelming victory and wondered whether the age of shinobi was ending.

• Rich offered Raikage A a chance to withdraw, but A ordered the Cloud shinobi to attack.
• Rich’s forces bombarded the advancing Cloud shinobi with cannon fire, killing most of them and leaving A with only a few survivors.
• Rich blocked A’s Four-Fingered Thrust with his Invincible Holy Shield, then used Holy Sword Judgment to pin and behead him.
• Blue B transformed and attacked the Holy Knights, but their captains knocked him down while the Priests bound him with Chains of Light and restored him to human form.
• The Holy Light Clerics killed or captured eight thousand Cloud shinobi, including their Kage and jinchūriki, while Minato watched in stunned silence.

After the Holy Church destroyed the Land of Lightning’s forces and captured Blue B, Axel’s army arrived at the Earth-Fire battlefield to negotiate with the Land of Earth and Konoha. The chapter left the leaders gathered for talks, wary of the Holy Church’s strength.

• Ōnoki learned that the Holy Church had killed the Third Raikage, captured Blue B, and wiped out eight thousand Cloud shinobi, and he prepared to welcome its forces.
• Axel and Mina discussed using the victory to make the Land of Lightning open its borders to Holy Light Clerics rather than occupying it outright.
• Minato told Jiraiya and Orochimaru that the Holy Church had overwhelmed the Land of Lightning, prompting them to hurry to meet its army.
• Axel halted the Holy Light Clerics before the Earth and Fire forces and led twenty Legion Commanders forward to negotiate.
• Ōnoki and Minato greeted Axel, and the leaders agreed to wait while the Holy Church set up a temporary meeting room.

Axel defended the Holy Church’s intervention in the war by showing evidence of the Three Nations’ harm to civilians and the Clerics’ aid to refugees. The Land of Earth agreed to withdraw, the Land of Fire agreed in principle pending the Hokage’s approval, and Axel announced that the Church would confront the Land of Lightning.

• Axel explained that the Holy Church had intervened to protect civilians, then showed footage of villages destroyed and people brutalized by Ninja.
• Axel played footage of Holy Light Clerics helping civilians, repairing homes, and feeding and sheltering refugees, moving Minato and silencing Ōnoki.
• Ōnoki agreed that the Land of Earth would withdraw unconditionally, and Minato said the Land of Fire would end the war under the Church’s mediation.
• Axel proposed that the three nations establish embassies in one another’s countries, and the Land of Earth accepted while Minato said he needed the Hokage’s approval.
• Minato asked about the Land of Lightning, and Axel said the Holy Church would visit and punish it for its actions in the war.

After the Land of Lightning’s forces were devastated, A became the Fourth Raikage and prepared Kumogakure for an approaching army led by Axel and Rich. The Holy Light Clerics stopped outside the village and used their cannons to blast away the surrounding mountains, leaving the Cloud shinobi stunned.

• Ōnoki worried that the Holy Church’s growing influence could make the Land of Earth a target, while Minato, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru discussed opening embassies with the Land of Rain.
• Axel and Rich joined their forces and marched toward the Land of Lightning as A learned that the Third Raikage had died and Kumogakure’s forces had been nearly wiped out.
• A and Killer B vowed to avenge their father, but the elders appointed A as the Fourth Raikage, and he promised to protect the village.
• After receiving the Daimyo’s warning that an army was advancing, A ordered every available shinobi, including academy students, to prepare Kumogakure’s defenses.
• Axel ordered the Holy Light Clerics to fire their cannons at the mountains around Kumogakure, and their bombardment reduced them to vast craters.

After bombarding Kumogakure, Axel confronted Raikage A with evidence of Cloud shinobi atrocities and demanded terms to prevent another war. A accepted the Holy Church’s conditions under Axel’s overwhelming pressure.

• A gathered Kumogakure’s remaining elite and led negotiations with Axel, while Killer B insisted on accompanying him.
• Axel showed A and Killer B photographs of Cloud shinobi looting, assaulting civilians, and torturing them, leaving both brothers shaken.
• Axel challenged A to consider the families of the civilians killed by Cloud shinobi, and A stopped defending their actions.
• Axel announced that the war was over and demanded that the Land of Lightning accept Holy Church monitors and allow affiliated churches to preach.
• Axel threatened to designate the Land of Lightning an evil nation and pressed the Cloud delegation with his power until A agreed to the terms.

Axel and Rich celebrated their return while Kumogakure and Konoha reckoned with the end of the Third Shinobi World War and the Holy Church’s growing influence. As Konoha prepared to accept an embassy, Madara ordered Black Zetsu to move ahead with their plans in Kirigakure and told Obito his time to repay him had come.

• Axel and Rich celebrated their comradeship, while the Holy Light Cleric commanders praised Axel and Bishop Ria.
• A and Killer B reflected on Kumogakure’s wrongdoing, and A ordered that Ninja who slaughtered civilians be punished without mercy.
• Minato reported the war’s end to the Third Generation and recommended accepting the Land of Rain’s embassy proposal.
• Danzo, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and the Third Generation agreed to place the Holy Church’s embassy in the Newly Allotted Uchiha District and leave the matter to Minato.
• Danzo told Orochimaru he would continue supporting his experiments, while Orochimaru abandoned thoughts of becoming Hokage for the pursuit of immortality.
• Black Zetsu told Madara the war had ended and that Kirigakure was ready; Madara ordered him to proceed and told Obito it was time to repay his debt.

After Rin’s death, Obito embraced Madara’s plan to create a dream world and traveled to the Land of Rain to recruit Nagato. He found a prosperous country where Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato rejected his claims, leaving Obito determined to make Nagato experience pain.

• Obito slaughtered the Mist Ninja after witnessing Rin’s death, then agreed to learn Madara’s plan for the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
• Madara passed the plan and Yin Release Ninjutsu to Obito before dying, and Obito set out with Black Zetsu for the Land of Rain.
• Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato discussed how the Holy Church had transformed the Land of Rain and given Ninja peaceful work.
• Obito and Black Zetsu struggled against the Land of Rain’s security forces, which detected and pursued them as hostile intruders.
• Obito approached Nagato and tried to persuade him that he was destined to bring peace, but Yahiko rejected his claims and led the others away.
• Obito watched them leave and concluded that Nagato’s innocence would persist until he experienced pain.

Obito and Black Zetsu escaped the Holy Light Clerics and headed for Amegakure, while Captain Shiyu learned from Yahiko that one suspect had Uchiha eyes and sought Nagato. The incident reached Konoha, where Hiruzen ordered an inquiry and questioned whether allowing the Holy Church into the village had been wise.

• Obito and Black Zetsu fled the cave with Kamui and decided to wait in Amegakure, while Shiyu’s squad followed their trail.
• Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan encountered Captain Shiyu and told him the suspects had Uchiha eyes and had tried to recruit Nagato.
• Shiyu sent word to Holy Church headquarters and arranged for a Silver Moon Priest to treat the abducted villagers.
• An Anbu Ninja delivered the Holy Church’s diplomatic complaint to Hiruzen, who ordered an investigation into Uchiha who had recently left Konoha.
• Hiruzen asked about the Holy Church’s activities in the village and privately considered having Minato take over soon.

Obito and Black Zetsu framed the Akatsuki for murdering Hanzō’s confidants, worsening tensions between Hanzō and Yahiko’s group. Hanzō summoned Qingyu and asked him to bring Yahiko alone the next morning, while concealing his hostile intentions.

• Obito and Black Zetsu decided to kill Hanzō’s aides and blame the Akatsuki to provoke a conflict.
• Obito killed Kanzō and the other Rain Ninja, then used genjutsu to make Gui Chun believe and claim the Akatsuki were responsible.
• Gui Chun reported the killings to Hanzō, who inspected the bodies and ordered Hakai to summon Qingyu.
• Hanzō asked Qingyu about Yahiko and claimed he wanted to pass the Kage position to him.
• Qingyu agreed to bring Yahiko alone the next morning and left excited, unaware of Hanzō’s growing hostility.

Hanzō lured Yahiko away with a false promise and ambushed Akatsuki, while Obito attacked the group and clashed with the Holy Light Clerics Legion. Obito was severely wounded by their combined techniques but used Kamui to evade the finishing strike.

• Yahiko and Akatsuki celebrated after Qingyu reported that Hanzō would make Yahiko Rain Shadow.
• Yahiko and Qingyu found Hanzō absent from the Rain Shadow Building, while Hanzō ambushed Akatsuki and captured Konan.
• Nagato escaped to warn Yahiko, who sent Qingyu to gather reinforcements and rushed with Nagato to rescue Konan.
• Obito attacked Qingyu and the Akatsuki members, but the Holy Light Clerics Legion shielded them and confronted him.
• The clerics forced Obito out of his subspace and a Holy Knight cut him in two, but Obito used Kamui to evade the next strike.