Chapter Summaries

The Nameless Deity welcomed the troublesome monkey into his travels with Imu, then gave him the name Joy Boy and a straw hat after he asked for both. The three continued exploring the ancient world together, while the Shinobi World watched and wondered what had become of the deity.

• Imu objected to the Nameless Deity bringing the monkey along, but the deity ignored the protests and let the excited monkey join them.
• The Nameless Deity, Imu, and the monkey traveled across the ancient world searching for Outworld Demons, while viewers in the Shinobi World debated the monkey’s future and Naruto sympathized with him.
• The monkey asked the Nameless Deity for a name, and the deity named him Joy Boy.
• Joy Boy asked for a hat like Imu’s crown, argued with Imu about whether he would treasure it, and received a plain straw hat from the Nameless Deity.

Joy Boy challenged Imu after asking the god to teach him how to become stronger, but the god did not intervene or explain their refusal. After countless years traveling with the god, Joy Boy grew gentle and steady, while the god gazed toward the heavens with a trace of loneliness.

• Joy Boy suspected Imu might betray him, and Imu knocked him onto the grass before easily fending off his attempts to fight back.
• Joy Boy pleaded with the god to teach him how to become stronger, but the god only smiled and did not teach him.
• The Sky Screen paused, and people across the Shinobi World debated Joy Boy's future strength and the possibility that willpower was his path.
• After countless years traveling with the god and witnessing human life, Joy Boy shed his reckless ways and became gentle and tolerant.
• The god looked beyond the clouds and stars from a verdant mountain, their voice carrying a trace of loneliness.

After defeating the Outworld Evil Gods, the god prepared to leave the world and entrusted its future to Imu and Joy Boy. He granted Joy Boy the power of happiness and gave Imu the Divine Reversal Dominion, which could control time and all things and grant immortality.

• The god declared that all Outworld Evil Gods and remaining threats had been eliminated, then told Imu and Joy Boy he was leaving the world in their care.
• Imu and Joy Boy begged to accompany the god, but he explained they were too weak to survive the storms beyond the world.
• The god entrusted Imu with protecting the world and praised Joy Boy for bringing warmth and joy to its people.
• The god gave Joy Boy the power of happiness, which grew through the goodwill and prayers of others and could eventually grant him eternal life.
• The god gave Imu the Divine Reversal Dominion, a Secret Technique that could control time and all things and free Imu from life and death.

Imu and Joy Boy swore to protect the world after the god granted them different forms of immortality and departed. Watching the Sky Screen, the Shinobi World debated their powers and grew envious of Imu’s apparent advantages, while many wondered if Imu was still alive in the Pocket World.

• Imu and Joy Boy promised the god they would support each other and protect the world, with Joy Boy overseeing joy and vitality and Imu guarding its laws.
• The Shinobi World watched the god leave and concluded that the god had departed for other worlds beyond the heavens.
• Ninjas debated Joy Boy’s power, recognizing that it could grow through goodwill and prayer but depended on living beings’ happiness.
• Observers judged Imu’s Divine Reversal Dominion and immortality more formidable because they seemed self-sufficient and suited to enduring across ages.
• People feared Imu’s patience and scheming, speculated that Imu might still be alive in the Pocket World, and coveted the divine opportunities.

Tsunade, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Jiraiya discussed Imu’s hidden immortality and the Shinobi World’s peril, concluding that the world had to grow stronger before Imu or other ancient powers returned. Meanwhile, Orochimaru became obsessed with Imu’s Divine Reversal Dominion and resolved to study the immortal being.

• Tsunade warned that Imu still watched the Shinobi World from a hidden Pocket World and might someday return to reclaim the world it had sworn to protect.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi said Imu would likely keep hiding and use the Celestial Dragons to infiltrate the Shinobi World until it could settle matters in one decisive move.
• Jiraiya warned that humans could not outlast immortal enemies like Imu and Hara, so the Shinobi World needed to build its power quickly.
• Tsunade named the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, the Will of Fire, human bonds, and Joy Boy’s legacy as the Shinobi World’s remaining hopes, while Hiruzen Sarutobi said Joy Boy’s power had withered amid the world’s hatred and suffering.
• Orochimaru speculated that sorrow, pain, fear, and despair might offer another path to immortality, but decided Imu’s Divine Reversal Dominion was more perfect.
• Orochimaru became consumed with anticipation and urged Imu to appear so he could study it.

After Imu remained on the sacred mountain to study Divine Reversal Dominion and await the god’s return, Joy Boy set out to travel the world, helping others and gathering companions. As Joy Boy’s kindness and power made him famous, he told his friends at a feast that he had once followed a god and helped defeat the evil beings left in the world.

• Orochimaru became obsessed with capturing Imu and studying Imu’s divine power and immortality.
• Imu stayed on the sacred mountain, devoted to mastering Divine Reversal Dominion and guarding the world until the god returned.
• Joy Boy left the mountain alone to explore the world and help those in need.
• Joy Boy gathered kindhearted companions, and the gratitude of living beings caused his strength to grow.
• Joy Boy became renowned across the ancient continent as the mighty Straw Hat and held a lively gathering with his companions.
• At the feast, Joy Boy told his friends that he had once followed a god and helped clear evil beings from the world.

At a banquet, Joy Boy revealed that a god had taken him in and blessed him, prompting his companions to found an organization under his leadership. He named it the Holy Knights, while observers in the Shinobi World predicted that Joy Boy and Imu were destined to clash.

• Joy Boy accidentally revealed that he had followed a god, then explained that the god had taken him in when he was young and blessed him with power.
• Joy Boy refused to reveal the god’s identity or whereabouts when his companions pressed him for details.
• An elderly warrior proposed that they establish an organization to spread the god’s will and protect the common people.
• Joy Boy agreed to lead the organization and said he would carry on the god’s kindness by protecting the world.
• Joy Boy named the organization the Holy Knights.
• Observers in the Shinobi World debated the risks of Joy Boy’s growing power and fame, and an old man declared that Joy Boy and Imu were destined to oppose each other.

The Holy Knights expanded rapidly across the Ancient Continent, but growing arrogance and clashes with hereditary nobles pushed them toward war. After nobles ambushed and killed seven Knights, Joy Boy vowed revenge and ordered an investigation, leaving the ancient world on the brink of a continent-wide conflict.

• The Holy Knights gained members and influence across the Ancient Continent, while some grew arrogant and came into conflict with powerful nobles.
• Nobles secretly hunted Knights who defended common people, killing several in ambushes.
• Wounded Knights told Joy Boy that seven of their brothers had been killed, and Joy Boy vowed to avenge them.
• Joy Boy ordered the Knights to identify and punish the nobles and killers responsible, and the Knights prepared for war.
• Viewers of the Sky Screen reacted in shock as elders predicted that the Knights and the old noble powers would inevitably clash.

Joy Boy led the Holy Knights against the hereditary nobles responsible for killing their comrades and defeated them, believing justice had been served. Unbeknownst to him, some Knights began looting and slaughtering innocents, turning the victory into a catastrophe.

• The Holy Knights discovered that hereditary nobles had orchestrated the ambushes that killed their comrades.
• Joy Boy declared that everyone was equal and rallied the Knights to punish the nobles and avenge the fallen.
• The nobles' private troops attacked Joy Boy and the Knights as they approached the nobles' main city.
• Joy Boy and the Knights overwhelmed the private troops and killed the nobles responsible for the conflict.
• Joy Boy ordered a retreat, but corrupted Knights ignored him and looted, burned, and attacked innocent residents throughout the city.

After the Great Kingdom branded Joy Boy and the Holy Knights as traitors, Joy Boy led a revolt that gained strength as they liberated oppressed people and conquered nearly a third of the Ancient Continent. The Sky Screen then revealed a hidden laboratory beneath the royal palace, hinting at the kingdom’s secret weapon.

• The Great Kingdom’s king declared the Holy Knights rebels, issued wanted notices, and spread slander against Joy Boy and his followers.
• Joy Boy, enraged by the attacks on his god and the Knights’ ideals, led the Holy Knights into war against the Great Kingdom.
• Joy Boy grew stronger through people’s gratitude and prayers as the Knights freed slaves, protected civilians, and gained support from commoners and the oppressed.
• The Holy Knights defeated the kingdom’s armies and seized nearly a third of the Ancient Continent.
• The Sky Screen revealed a concealed laboratory beneath the Great Kingdom’s royal palace, filled with strange instruments, vessels, and unknown life-forms.

The Sky Screen revealed that the Great Kingdom had spent more than a century developing ancient technology and experimenting with a dead Winged God's remains. Its king learned that the latest test subjects had successfully inherited divine power, giving the kingdom a weapon to crush its enemies and challenge the gods.

• People in the Shinobi World marveled at the ancient laboratory's technology, while Orochimaru and other shinobi realized their civilization had regressed.
• The king arrived at the laboratory and asked Dr. Henry whether the final experiment had succeeded.
• Dr. Henry explained that the Great Kingdom's ancestors had recovered a Winged God's remains and pursued a century-long program of human experimentation.
• Dr. Henry reported that the perfected test subjects could fly, wield divine fire, move at extraordinary speed, and withstand ordinary weapons.
• The king celebrated the success and declared that the Great Kingdom would use its new divine power to defeat its enemies and heretics.

The Great Kingdom completed its deification experiments, transforming the royal family into a powerful lineage with wings, divine fire, and enhanced speed and durability. The king accepted that mortals could not attain the gods’ command over natural laws, but declared his royal family the world’s only Divine Race.

• The king ordered Doctor Henry to begin the perfected deification transplants for the royal family.
• The royal family completed the modifications and gained black wings, extraordinary speed and durability, and the ability to wield divine fire.
• The king underwent the transformation himself and marveled at his newfound power.
• Doctor Henry explained that science could replicate divine physical traits but could never reproduce a true god’s command over the laws of heaven and earth.
• Doctor Henry assured the king that the deified bloodline would pass its powers to future generations, and the king proclaimed his family the Divine Race.

The king killed Dr. Henry and ordered the slaughter of everyone involved in the divine transformation experiment to keep its power exclusive to the royal family. As the transformed royals declared themselves the world's only gods, viewers in the Shinobi World feared that Joy Boy and his ordinary followers faced a desperate battle.

• The king pierced Dr. Henry's heart, explaining that Henry was too dangerous to leave alive and that divine power must belong to the royal family alone.
• The transformed royal family members massacred the researchers, workers, and surviving test subjects in the underground laboratory.
• The king ordered Dr. Henry buried, then proclaimed that the royal family would rule the world as its only gods.
• Hundreds of transformed royals roared their allegiance, while people across the Shinobi World watched the bloody scene on the Sky Screen.
• The Shinobi World viewers realized that Joy Boy was unaware of the royal family's transformation and worried that his ordinary followers would be slaughtered if they fought.

Orochimaru became obsessed with the possibility of studying the fallen Winged God as the Great Kingdom’s royal family completed their transformation into false gods. As Joy Boy and the Holy Knights celebrated another victory, seventeen winged royals appeared over the captured city, and Joy Boy demanded to know who they were.

• Orochimaru concluded that human methods could imitate a god’s body but not divine laws, and he longed to study the fallen Winged God’s remains.
• The Great Kingdom’s royal family finished transforming hundreds of its members into winged false-god warriors and silenced everyone who knew the truth.
• The Holy Knights captured another royal city, and its members celebrated while believing the Great Kingdom was nearing its downfall.
• Joy Boy sensed a powerful, hostile presence and looked up as seventeen figures descended over the city.
• The Knights recognized the newcomers as members of the Great Kingdom’s royal family, now bearing black wings and divine power.
• Joy Boy stepped forward and demanded that the winged royals identify themselves and explain their purpose.

Joy Boy and the uprising faced the Great Kingdom’s sixth prince and sixteen other black-winged members of the Divine Race. The Divine Race slaughtered the resistance, and Joy Boy attacked the sixth prince in fury.

• The sixth prince mocked Joy Boy and the rebels, then ordered the seventeen black-winged figures to kill everyone.
• The Divine Race warriors used their speed, strength, and Divine Fire to overwhelm the Knights and resistance fighters.
• The uprising suffered catastrophic casualties as weapons failed against the Divine Race and the rebels’ morale collapsed.
• Joy Boy watched his companions and the people who had joined the uprising die, then charged the sixth prince with a powerful punch.

Joy Boy battled the sixth prince while the divine warriors massacred his followers, then ordered everyone to retreat as he stayed behind to cover them. The retreat began, and the sixth prince could no longer hold Joy Boy back.

• Joy Boy struck the sixth prince with a powerful punch, but the prince rose with his divine body intact.
• The sixth prince demanded Joy Boy surrender his god-given power in exchange for sparing his followers, and Joy Boy refused.
• The sixth prince kept Joy Boy from reaching the battlefield while the other sixteen divine warriors intensified their massacre.
• Joy Boy ordered the Knights, rebel soldiers, and civilians to retreat while he held off the divine warriors.
• The survivors fled as Joy Boy attacked the sixth prince until his weakening resistance could no longer pin him down.

Joy Boy helped the survivors escape, rejected the sixth prince’s offer to join the Divine Race, and fled the battlefield. The sixth prince ordered a realm-wide purge, and the Holy Knights fell into a desperate retreat as the Shinobi World watched the defeat unfold.

• The sixth prince was driven back by Joy Boy, allowing Knights, rebels, and civilians to break through the encirclement and flee.
• The sixth prince and Divine Race warriors offered Joy Boy status and glory if he submitted, but Joy Boy reaffirmed his commitment to kindness, justice, protection, and equality.
• Joy Boy left the battlefield, and the sixth prince vowed that he would eventually submit after witnessing the destruction of everything he protected.
• The sixth prince ordered the Divine Race to hunt down every rebel and anyone who had defied the royal family, beginning a bloody purge across the realm.
• The Divine Race swept across the Ancient Continent, forcing the Holy Knights into repeated defeats and a desperate fight for survival.
• The Shinobi World watched the defeat and discussed Joy Boy’s likely future growth, Imu’s possible role, and the coming transformation of the conflict.

After the Divine Race crushed the Holy Knights and imposed tyrannical rule, Joy Boy announced that he had developed a new way for ordinary people to grow stronger by tempering the body through the mind and turning willpower into strength. He left his hidden mountain base to consult someone at the sacred mountain, where Imu had spent years cultivating and watching the world’s upheaval.

• The Divine Race seized control of the ancient world, hunted the Holy Knights and rebels, and drove Joy Boy and the surviving Knights into hiding.
• The Knights despaired over the Divine Race’s godlike powers and asked Joy Boy whether they could become stronger too.
• Joy Boy revealed his new cultivation path based on willpower, while warning that it was incomplete and telling the Knights to stay concealed.
• Joy Boy arranged for the survivors to remain in hiding and set out for the sacred mountain to seek advice.
• Imu continued studying Divine Reversal Dominion and cultivating on the mountain, having watched Joy Boy’s rise and the Knights’ defeat.

Joy Boy returned to the sacred mountain and asked Imu to help refine his method for turning will into power so ordinary people could grow strong. Imu agreed after learning that the Divine Race had claimed the name of gods, though its anger was focused on that blasphemy rather than the suffering below.

• Joy Boy returned to the sacred mountain and asked Imu for help after recounting the war and the Great Kingdom’s creation of a Divine Race.
• Imu declared that the mortals who called themselves gods had to die, leaving Joy Boy stunned by Imu’s priorities.
• Joy Boy explained his belief that conviction and the desire to protect others could turn will into fighting strength.
• Joy Boy asked Imu to help complete a cultivation method that could let ordinary people gain power through their own will.
• Imu expressed surprise at Joy Boy’s insight and agreed to review his ideas.

Joy Boy and Imu completed a cultivation system called Haki, which Joy Boy hoped would help his people turn the tide. Joy Boy left to teach it to his companions, while Imu revealed its cold hostility and resolve to stop him.

• Joy Boy shared all his theories about cultivating will with Imu, who helped him refine the method as they worked together for countless days and nights.
• Viewers watching the Sky Screen realized that Imu was secretly mastering Joy Boy’s ideas, while Joy Boy remained unaware of the danger.
• Joy Boy and Imu completed Haki, a power that strengthened the body and let will manifest as pressure, heightened senses, and forceful attacks.
• Joy Boy named the new power Haki, thanked Imu, and left the sacred mountain to teach it to his surviving companions.
• After Joy Boy was gone, Imu revealed its contempt for him and vowed that mortals who claimed a god’s name must die.