Chapter Summaries

After Jinin Akebino died, Kirigakure retreated, but Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru cornered Suikazan Fuguki at the coast. Fuguki surrendered to become a prisoner of war, while Amamiya Maki used the chaos to subdue a stranded Kirigakure Special Jōnin.

• Orochimaru left Jinin Akebino's corpse as Suikazan Fuguki ordered Kirigakure's forces to retreat under the Hidden Mist Technique.
• Amamiya Maki consumed Chunin chakra fragments, then ambushed and subdued an injured Kirigakure Special Jōnin in the mist.
• Jiraiya and Orochimaru pursued Fuguki, while Tsunade blocked his route to the coast and knocked Samehada from his grasp.
• Tsunade argued that Fuguki's intelligence made him more valuable alive, and Fuguki surrendered in exchange for medical care.
• Orochimaru bound Fuguki as the mist dissipated and the Konoha forces secured their gains.

After the allied forces were routed, the Sannin captured Suikazan Fuguki, and Maki earned fourth place in battle merits for his kills behind enemy lines. On the return to Konoha, Maki reviewed his weaknesses and decided he would need Orochimaru’s help to obtain Hashirama Cells before pursuing Kamui.

• The allied forces fled with heavy losses as Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru secured the battlefield, where Suikazan Fuguki was bound and Jinin Akebino lay dead.
• Jiraiya learned that six-year-old Maki had killed five Chunin and one Special Jōnin, while Orochimaru explained Maki’s exceptional ability to apply what he learned.
• Tsunade awarded the Sannin equal credit for capturing Suikazan Fuguki and ranked Maki fourth in battle merits for crippling Kirigakure’s command structure.
• On the journey back, Maki reviewed his performance and recognized that he lacked reliable ranged attacks, a way to escape Jonin-level opponents, and enough chakra for high-level combat.
• Maki rejected redeeming Kamui without protection from its side effects and resolved to seek Hashirama Cells through Orochimaru when the right opportunity arose.

After the battle in the Land of Whirlpools, Amamiya Maki persuaded Tsunade to promote the Konoha Sannin in the public account of their victory while keeping his own achievements obscure. Konoha and the Uzumaki Clan agreed to reinforce their alliance, and Maki received the captured Ninja Blades to study before deciding he wanted Tobirama Senju's Sword of the Thunder God.

• Tsunade questioned Amamiya Maki about his tactics behind enemy lines, and he asked her to keep his identity out of Konoha's public battle report.
• Amamiya Maki suggested promoting Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru as the Konoha Sannin, and Tsunade agreed to discuss a unified message with them.
• Tsunade and Takehaya Uzumaki agreed that Konoha would reinforce Uzushio Village's barrier and that the Uzumaki Clan would send six exchange students to Konoha within six months.
• Tsunade assigned the captured Samehada, Nuibari, and Kabutowari to Amamiya Maki for research, and he used his ability to gain fragments from the blades.
• On the return journey, Amamiya Maki decided to ask Orochimaru about obtaining Tobirama Senju's Sword of the Thunder God.

Amamiya Maki sought permission to borrow Tobirama Senju’s sealed Sword of the Thunder God, arguing that the relic should be used rather than left forgotten in storage. Hatake Sakumo eventually entrusted him with the sword, while Maki gained beginner-level White Fang Swordsmanship and faced the challenge of undoing the blade’s seals.

• Amamiya Maki asked Tsunade to help him borrow the Sword of the Thunder God, and she explained that the relic required approval from Hatake Sakumo and the Hokage’s office.
• Orochimaru and Jiraiya signed recommendations for Maki, but Hatake Sakumo rejected the request despite Hiruzen Sarutobi’s formal approval.
• Maki confronted Hatake Sakumo and argued that keeping the sword sealed away dishonored its purpose as a weapon.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi backed Maki’s argument, and Hatake Sakumo opened the storage cabinet and lent him the Sword of the Thunder God.
• Maki’s words inflicted mental pressure on Hatake Sakumo, earning him fifty White Fang Swordsmanship fragments, which he combined to unlock the beginner level.
• Maki examined the sword’s intricate seals and realized that undoing them would be difficult, though he believed he could rely on his connections.

Uzumaki Ashina signed an agreement with Konoha that sent six young Uzumaki to Konoha in exchange for defensive and technical support, while securing a safety guarantee for the students. After their failed assault on Uzushio, Kumogakure and Kirigakure counted their losses, blamed one another over leaked intelligence, and made plans for their next moves.

• Ashina accepted Konoha's educational exchange proposal after adding a clause requiring compensation if any exchange student was harmed, and the elders signed the agreement.
• Ashina revealed that the Second Elder's talented twelve-year-old son was among the first exchange students, and admitted that Konoha's help had been driven by its own interests.
• Dodai reported the losses from the failed assault to the Third Raikage, who blamed Kirigakure for leaking the operation's route and ordered an intelligence overhaul.
• The Third Raikage agreed to wait for the Land of Rain conflict to weaken both Konoha and Hanzō before choosing a side.
• The Third Mizukage ordered a diplomat to negotiate for Kirigakure's captured ninja and weapons, and gave the Konoha Sannin the highest intelligence priority.

Amamiya Maki returned to Konoha after the Land of Whirlpools victory and became the center of attention at the Ninja Academy, where he calmly silenced Nara Shikao and discussed a potential battlefield partnership with Minato Namikaze. Kushina Uzumaki then confronted Maki about Uchiha Fugaku getting close to Mikoto, leaving her explanation for the nickname “Uchiha Hachimi” unfinished.

• The Hokage's Office spread edited reports of the Konoha Sannin's victory while omitting Amamiya Maki, and Yakushi Nonō told Maki she had heard about his battlefield feats.
• Amamiya Maki arrived at the Ninja Academy, where Nara Shikao challenged his accomplishments, but Maki intimidated him into retreating.
• Minato Namikaze praised Maki's battlefield performance, and Maki outlined how Minato's Flying Thunder God and his own Shadow Clones could complement each other in combat.
• Kushina Uzumaki sought out Maki and complained that Uchiha Fugaku was spending time with Mikoto, calling him “Uchiha Hachimi.”

Kushina attacked Fugaku because she thought he was taking Mikoto away from her, but learned he had been trying to win Mikoto’s affection and agreed to stop pursuing her. Later, Maki suspected Danzo had pressured the Uchiha into distancing Mikoto from Kushina and promised to investigate, while Kushina agreed to help him study the Sword of the Thunder God’s seals.

• Kushina attacked Fugaku in disguise, revealed her identity, and accused him of getting too close to Mikoto.
• Fugaku explained that the clan elders had urged him to pursue Mikoto, but she had defeated him and told him to give up unless he could beat her.
• Kushina made Fugaku promise to stop accepting Mikoto’s lunches and help, then mockingly renamed him Uchiha Hachimi.
• Maki reasoned that Danzo might have influenced the Uchiha to separate Mikoto from Kushina and told Kushina to continue going to school as usual while he handled the matter.
• Kushina offered to help Maki with sealing jutsu, and they arranged to examine the Sword of the Thunder God at Minato’s house.

Amamiya Maki, Kushina Uzumaki, and Minato Namikaze accidentally unsealed the Sword of the Thunder God and uncovered Tobirama Senju’s message about protecting others. The next morning, six Uzumaki exchange students arrived in Konoha, and Kushina greeted them as clansmen she had never known.

• Kushina Uzumaki realized the Sword of the Thunder God’s aging seal was close to failing, while Minato Namikaze discovered its hidden Flying Thunder God marker was the intended key.
• Amamiya Maki accidentally knocked the case off the table, breaking the seal and releasing the sword’s dormant lightning chakra.
• Minato Namikaze inferred how Tobirama Senju’s Flying Thunder God differed from his own, then tested adjustments as Jiraiya watched.
• Kushina Uzumaki and Tsunade found Tobirama’s message that the sword was meant to protect those behind its wielder, not to slaughter.
• Six Uzumaki exchange students arrived in Konoha, and Kushina Uzumaki welcomed them before Amamiya Maki noticed Uzumaki Kōmei resembled Karin.

As war drew Konoha’s strongest ninja to the front, Maki stayed behind to support Kushina during Lady Mito’s decline. He cleared up Uchiha Mikoto’s mistaken belief that Minato was his girlfriend, learned why clan pressure had strained Mikoto’s friendship with Kushina, and accepted Mikoto’s challenge to fight.

• The Third refused Maki’s request to go to the front, explaining that Kushina needed him nearby during the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki succession.
• Mikoto approached Maki, mistakenly thinking Minato was his blond girlfriend, and learned that Minato was a boy and Maki’s teammate.
• Mikoto explained that the Uchiha doves had pressured her to distance herself from Kushina, and Maki inferred that others were driving the divide between the clan’s factions.
• Mikoto said she wanted to get stronger rather than keep bowing her head, and Maki praised her for not relying on the Sharingan.
• Mikoto challenged Maki to fight, and Maki accepted after using pressure points to advance his lightning release chakra nature transformation to beginner level.

Amamiya Maki defeated Uchiha Mikoto by using mist, shadow clones, and decoys to exhaust her before disarming her with a kunai. Mikoto revealed that she was heading to the Land of Rain with the younger Uchiha, and Maki warned her to survive the battlefield.

• Maki spent 400 pressure points to learn Lightning Blade before reaching the training ground where Mikoto awaited him with her Two-Tomoe Sharingan activated.
• Maki concealed himself with Hidden Mist Technique and used shadow clones, Lightning Blade, and the Sword of the Thunder God to draw out Mikoto's attacks and wear down her stamina and chakra.
• Maki surrounded Mikoto with twenty clones carrying Rasengan, then appeared behind her and ended the battle with an ordinary kunai against her neck.
• Mikoto admitted defeat and said the Uchiha clan was sending its younger generation to the Land of Rain for combat experience.
• Maki warned Mikoto about the dangers of the battlefield, predicted her Sharingan might gain another tomoe, and gained 200 pressure points and ten Phoenix Flower Jutsu fragments.

Maki prepared to stand by Kushina during the transfer of the Nine-Tails, as Konoha’s worsening war situation and Mito’s declining health brought the ceremony near. The transfer began with Mito’s death and the Nine-Tails’ chakra surging toward Kushina, leaving Maki poised to help her endure it.

• Mito taught Maki how to temper the Sword of the Thunder God and asked whom he intended to protect with it.
• Over the next year, Maki, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina trained together while Konoha struggled against Hanzō, Sunagakure, and enemy spies.
• Tsunade returned to Konoha and told Maki that Mito was near death and wanted to see him and Kushina.
• Mito warned Maki that he had to stay beside Kushina when the seal failed, and he promised he was ready to face the Nine-Tails’ hatred.
• Maki reassured Kushina before the ceremony, and she resolved to overcome the Nine-Tails and coexist with it.
• During the transfer ceremony, Mito’s sealing array released the Nine-Tails’ chakra; Mito stopped breathing as Kushina faced the torrent.

Amamiya Maki fought off Kumogakure kidnappers who had targeted Kushina, while Minato Namikaze arrived and severely wounded their Jonin leader. Maki reunited with the real Kushina in the mist as the battle continued.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Tsunade about Mito Uzumaki's death, and Tsunade asked him to keep the funeral simple.
• Kushina restrained one disguised Kumogakure Chunin while Amamiya Maki defeated two others with Water Release and Chidori Stream.
• A Kumogakure Jonin ambushed Maki, and Maki used mist and Shadow Clones to fight him while discovering that the Kushina beside him was an impostor.
• Maki's clones wounded the impostor, and Minato Namikaze used Flying Thunder God to appear beside the Jonin and sever his arm with a Chakra Blade.
• Maki found the real Kushina in the mist and confirmed her identity, then she complained that he had tested her.

Maki negotiated with Kurama to protect Kushina, and the Nine-Tails helped her create a devastating new Rasengan technique. After Kushina used Spiraling Ring to destroy half the Camphor Tree Forest and defeat the Kumogakure Jonin, Minato asked whether she could use the jutsu again.

• Kushina carried the numb-legged Maki away from the battlefield while Minato continued fighting the one-armed Kumogakure Jonin.
• Maki opened a small gap in Kushina's seal and entered its inner space to ask the Nine-Tails to protect her.
• Maki called the Nine-Tails Kurama and offered him a temporary body in exchange for his help, and Kurama agreed to cooperate.
• Kurama added his chakra to Kushina's Rasengan, turning it into the black sphere Maki named Spiraling Ring.
• Kushina hurled Spiraling Ring toward the Kumogakure Jonin, and its blast destroyed half the Camphor Tree Forest and left the Jonin captured by Minato.
• Minato returned with the captive and asked Kushina whether she could use Spiraling Ring again.

Maki received permission to join the Land of Rain front, and Minato and Nonō formed a squad with him. After Kushina gave Maki an emergency chakra seal, the three left Konoha for the Land of Rain, with Maki keeping their mission behind enemy lines secret.

• Maki persuaded Hiruzen Sarutobi to send him to the Land of Rain front to infiltrate behind enemy lines.
• Minato volunteered to accompany Maki, and Nonō joined them as their medical ninja despite Maki warning her about the risks.
• Minato planned Flying Thunder God coordinates while Nonō prepared medical supplies and briefed the squad on treating battlefield injuries.
• Kushina gave Maki a hidden chakra-sealing formula that would provide an emergency refill and made him promise not to die.
• Maki, Minato, and Nonō departed Konoha for the Land of Rain, and Maki withheld their exact plan from his companions.

Maki, Minato, and Nonō infiltrated the Land of Iron under samurai disguises and defeated a bandit gang to obtain stolen armor, identity papers, and a patrol map. Maki took the identity of Hayato Satomi, and the team prepared to enter the Land of Rain and target Hanzō's supply network.

• Maki sent Minato and Nonō to hide outside a border town while he gathered intelligence and learned the bandits' stronghold was an abandoned mine north of town.
• Minato marked the mine with Flying Thunder God markers, and the team attacked, defeating the bandits and capturing their leader.
• Maki found identity papers for Hayato Satomi, while Minato found three sets of samurai armor and matching papers.
• The team disguised themselves as a Land of Iron patrol squad, and Maki explained that he would pose as the absent Hayato Satomi.
• Minato studied the patrol map and planned a route through a checkpoint into the Land of Rain, using Flying Thunder God to reach the rear of Hanzō's supply line.

Disguised as Hayato Satomi, Maki entered the Land of Iron and attended an emergency military conference where Mifune warned that Hanzō’s forces threatened the border. Maki recognized that the conference’s concern about impostors applied to him and chose to approach the issue proactively.

• Maki used Hayato Satomi’s identity to pass a border patrol inspection while Minato searched Satomi’s residence for background information.
• Minato returned with Mifune’s summons for all border patrol captains to attend an emergency conference in the Iron Country Capital.
• Maki traveled to the capital and passed the city registration using Satomi’s identity.
• Mifune reported Amegakure scouts and infiltrators near the border, warning that Hanzō could turn the Land of Iron into a supply line.
• Maki realized the conference’s discussion of impostors concerned his own infiltration and decided to raise the issue during the meeting.
• After the conference, Maki exchanged a brief, expressionless glance with a Second Squad member as the samurai dispersed.

Maki sought a Land of Iron identity to infiltrate behind Hanzō's forces and disrupt their supply line. Mifune granted him authentic papers and a border pass, leaving Maki prepared to travel as a samurai patrol captain.

• Mifune recognized that Maki was a Konoha shinobi and questioned him privately about his purpose in the Land of Iron.
• Maki explained that he needed to cross the Land of Iron to reach Amegakure and sever the supply line supporting Hanzō's forces.
• Mifune warned that helping Maki could threaten the Land of Iron's neutrality, but Maki argued that Hanzō would threaten the country once he defeated Konoha.
• Mifune acknowledged that Hanzō's scouts and defecting samurai had already reached the Land of Iron's borders and that poison gas could overwhelm his forces.
• Mifune issued Maki authentic identity papers naming him Hayato Satomi, captain of the Third Border Patrol Squad, along with a signed border pass.

Maki, Minato, and Nonō planned to recruit refugees to smuggle inactive Explosive Tags into Hanzō’s supply stations, then traveled through the devastated Land of Rain. They helped a wounded old man and his grandchildren, and Maki showed the boy his sword before turning to Hayato Satomi’s identity papers.

• Maki proposed trading food and shelter to refugees for carrying and hiding Explosive Tags at Hanzō’s relay stations, and Minato approved the plan.
• The three traveled inland and saw deserted villages, ruined fields, and grain requisition notices threatening civilians who missed their quotas.
• Nonō found an elderly man with a rotting leg in an abandoned house and healed him with the Mystical Palm Technique.
• Maki told the old man that he could survive in the Land of Iron, and Nonō gave him Soldier Pills to share with his hidden grandchildren.
• The old man brought his young grandson and granddaughter out of the cellar, and Maki showed the boy his sword.
• Maki sheathed his sword, retrieved Hayato Satomi’s identity papers, and turned to the identification photograph.

Maki established a refugee base and recruited civilians to hide explosive tags near Amegakure’s supply station, but canceled the plan after learning their desperation. He admitted to Minato that he was a Konoha ninja, and Minato defended the attack as a necessary sacrifice.

• Maki turned the deserted village into a base while Nonō prepared shelter and Minato brought grain from Konoha.
• Maki offered porridge to refugees in exchange for delivering concealed explosive tags near Amegakure’s supply station, and many accepted.
• A red-haired woman recognized Minato as a Konoha ninja and revealed that the refugees had nowhere left to go.
• Maki admitted that he was Amamiya Maki, a Konoha ninja, and the woman asked about his plan while expressing her hatred of Konoha and Hanzō.
• Maki canceled the explosive-tag plan and told Minato that continuing it would sacrifice civilians; Minato insisted that such sacrifices were necessary for a shinobi.

Maki founded the Great Love Society as a refuge where civilians could live and work without serving any warring faction, and Minato helped gather supplies and enforce its rules. The settlement grew to more than a hundred people, including Amegakure deserters who surrendered their weapons and joined the farm work.

• Maki canceled the plan involving the refugees, declared that the abandoned village would become the Great Love Society, and promised equal treatment, food for work, no conscription, and no taxes for now.
• A-Tie chose to stay and help organize survival efforts, while Nonō prepared homes and Minato brought seeds, tools, and rice from the Land of Iron.
• Refugees from two nearby villages and five craftsmen arrived, and Maki assigned the craftsmen to make farm tools and repair houses.
• A group of Amegakure deserters arrived, surrendered their weapons, and agreed to work the fields under Maki's rules.
• Minato confronted the deserters who complained about farming, warned them against breaking the Society's rules, and they returned to work the next morning.
• The Great Love Society's population passed one hundred, and its crude entrance sign was replaced with a flag reading, "Great love for all!"