Chapter Summaries

Naruto confronted Minato over a false belief that his father had offered Kushina to Hatake Ziyan, while Danzo manipulated the encounter to turn Naruto against his family. After Kushina arrived and Danzo claimed she and Minato had conspired to influence Ziyan, Naruto broke down in doubt.

• Naruto threatened Minato, accusing him of offering Kushina to Hatake Ziyan, while Ziyan watched from the shadows.
• Danzo revealed himself and told Minato that he had allied with Sunagakure and the other three great villages to attack Konoha.
• Naruto rejected Danzo's attempt to redirect his revenge toward Ziyan, but agreed to hear Danzo's account before deciding Minato's fate.
• Danzo knocked Minato unconscious, but Kushina arrived and struck Danzo before Naruto could question him.
• Naruto threatened Minato with a kunai, then formed a Rasenshuriken when Minato escaped to Kushina's side.
• Danzo claimed Minato and Kushina had conspired to manipulate Ziyan into training Konoha's talent, and Naruto wept as he questioned his mother.

Naruto turned against Kushina after Danzo convinced him she was lying, but Hatake Ziyan intervened before Naruto’s attack could harm her. Sasuke arrived and fought Danzo, who escaped after using Baku to distract him.

• Naruto rejected Kushina’s explanation and prepared to attack her, while Kushina threatened to die rather than let him kill Minato.
• Hatake Ziyan used Wind Queen's Strange Gate to freeze the attack and move Kushina and Minato out of harm’s way.
• Danzo tried to retreat, but Sasuke blocked his escape and defended himself with Susanoo against Danzo’s Vacuum Barrage.
• Danzo summoned Baku, whose suction began breaking down Sasuke’s Susanoo, and Sasuke countered with Great Fire Annihilation.
• Baku disappeared after swallowing Sasuke’s flames, but Danzo escaped while Sasuke searched through the smoke.

Sasuke returned to find Kushina tending to an unconscious Minato, while Naruto was missing, and went after him. Hatake Ziyan confronted the fleeing Danzo, fought the mysterious being possessing him, and destroyed its soul before burying Danzo's body.

• Sasuke found Kushina holding the unconscious Minato, and she ordered him to bring Naruto back by any means necessary.
• Sasuke set off after Naruto, while Hatake Ziyan went to intercept Danzo.
• Hatake Ziyan struck Danzo with his sword, but Danzo remained standing and spoke as though possessed by a mysterious being.
• Hatake Ziyan fought the possessed Danzo, then used his soul power to confront the being after it left Danzo's body.
• Hatake Ziyan annihilated the being's soul with one slash and buried Danzo's corpse beneath the earth.

After destroying a Soul Body, Hatake Ziyan drew the interest of a mysterious Byakugan-wielding man who vowed to meet him. At the Valley of the End, Sasuke and Naruto fought over Naruto’s refusal to return to Konoha, and the battle continued as Sasuke exhausted his Susanoo.

• Hatake Ziyan destroyed the Soul Body, causing a Byakugan-wielding man in a remote cabin to bleed and decide to confront him.
• Sasuke caught Naruto at the Valley of the End and urged him to return to Konoha, but Naruto refused and sought greater power to settle the score for his and his mother’s suffering.
• Sasuke and Naruto exchanged attacks in their Susanoo and Nine-Tails forms, then fought with taijutsu and ninjutsu, destroying the statues of Madara and Hashirama.
• Sasuke struck Naruto with Chidori Sharp Spear, but Naruto used a Shadow Clone feint to land a Rasengan; their ensuing Chidori Stream left both temporarily immobilized.
• Sasuke used Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi against Naruto, who evaded the flames with multiple Shadow Clones.
• Sasuke’s final Susanoo assault failed to overpower Naruto’s Nine-Tails, and their crossbow bolt and Tailed Beast Bomb collided in a massive explosion.

Naruto and Sasuke exhausted themselves in a battle that ended without a winner, while invaders gained ground in Konoha and Kakashi captured Rasa. Kushina prepared to undo the seal on a corpse, but Hatake Ziyan warned her that doing so the usual way would reinforce it and endanger the children.

• Naruto dodged Sasuke's Amaterasu arrow but lost flesh from his arm, while Sasuke's vision and chakra ran low.
• Naruto and Sasuke's final attacks missed each other, and Naruto left for Konoha; Sasuke collapsed and passed out.
• Gaara, Baki, and Hidden Shadow Village ninja attacked Konoha's four entrances and gained the upper hand as Rasa exhausted his chakra and Kakashi captured him.
• After confirming Minato was safe, Kushina inspected the corpse Sasuke had sealed and identified the Reverse Four Symbols Seal.
• Hatake Ziyan stopped Kushina from undoing the seal and pointed out hidden formulas that would have caused her attempt to reinforce it.

Hatake Ziyan released the Konoha children trapped inside the Tower of Death, and they helped drive off the invaders during Danzo and the Four-Nation Alliance’s failed attack on Konoha. Ten days later, Minato’s leaders approved promotions for five genin and designated his son Naruto an SS-Rank missing-nin, ordering a team to capture him alive if possible.

• Hatake Ziyan released the sealed Tower of Death and the ten trapped Konoha children, then left Kushina to protect Minato.
• Shikamaru organized the rescued children into teams, and they helped defeat the invaders; Rock Lee subdued Gaara, while Shikamaru captured Guren.
• The Konoha Crush Plan failed, and Konoha demanded compensation from the four nations to avert war.
• Ten days later, Minato proposed promoting Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji, and Rock Lee to chunin, and the leaders agreed.
• Minato designated Naruto an SS-Rank missing-nin and ordered Shisui, Itachi, and Obito to capture him alive if possible, with permission to kill him if necessary.

Minato Namikaze weighed Konoha’s response to the Four Great Ninja Villages’ attack as Hatake Ziyan warned that a hidden organization was behind the ambushes. Konoha chose to demand reparations from Sunagakure while Hatake Ziyan left to confront the organization’s leader in Amegakure.

• Minato Namikaze proposed demanding reparations from the Four Great Ninja Villages, but Shikaku warned that Konoha’s injuries made war dangerous.
• Hatake Ziyan revealed that the hidden organization had infiltrators across the villages and that its leader had briefly fought him through Danzo before Hatake Ziyan killed him.
• Hatake Ziyan announced that he was leaving Konoha to pursue the organization, and advised the village to make an example of Sunagakure.
• Minato Namikaze decided to demand one billion from Sunagakure while refusing to release the Fourth Kazekage and the other prisoners.
• Hatake Ziyan left Konoha with Yan and headed toward Amegakure.

Hatake Ziyan and Yan traveled to Amegakure after receiving a delayed request for help, only to find Nagato using Yahiko as his Deva Path. Konan explained that Yahiko had died years earlier while defending the Akatsuki, and Ziyan discovered that the messenger who had carried the plea had somehow taken years to reach him without changing appearance.

• Hatake Ziyan and Yan found the Akatsuki's former base abandoned and headed to Amegakure.
• Yan detected powerful chakra in the village's rain as Hatake Ziyan entered and made for the central tower.
• Hatake Ziyan confronted Nagato's Deva Path Yahiko and asked why Nagato had turned Yahiko into a body.
• Konan said Yahiko had died defending the Akatsuki after an attack in the Land of Rain, and Nagato had used the Rinnegan to drive the attackers away.
• Hatake Ziyan said he had received the request only days earlier, and Konan confirmed the messenger's appearance matched the man she had sent years ago.
• Hatake Ziyan insisted he had not lied and questioned how the messenger could have taken years to arrive without aging.

Hatake Ziyan confronted Nagato over taking Amegakure and breaking his promise, then overpowered him when he attacked. As Kakuzu recognized Ziyan’s enormous bounty, Hidan arrogantly charged at him to make a sacrifice.

• Hatake Ziyan questioned Nagato and Konan about taking over Amegakure and recruiting powerful fighters, but Nagato tried to stop Konan from answering.
• Hatake Ziyan exposed Nagato hiding behind a wall and defeated him by turning his Shinra Tensei against him, then threatened him into stopping Deva Path Pain.
• Nagato admitted he had broken his promise because Hanzō and mysterious attackers had slaughtered Akatsuki and killed Yahiko, leaving Hatake Ziyan without an immediate reply.
• Four or five Akatsuki members arrived, and Kakuzu recognized Hatake Ziyan as a man with a five-billion bounty whom nobody could kill.
• Hidan ignored Kakuzu’s warning and charged at Hatake Ziyan, declaring that he would sacrifice him to Lord Jashin.

Hatake Ziyan killed Hidan by shattering his soul, then confronted Nagato about his plans to gather the tailed beasts and revive the Ten-Tails. He warned Nagato that a masked man had deceived him and that Nagato lacked the power to control the Ten-Tails.

• Nagato used Shinra Tensei to stop Hidan from attacking Hatake Ziyan, and Kakuzu identified Ziyan as the Blood-Colored Swordsman who had once overwhelmed Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.
• Hatake Ziyan struck Hidan into a wall, then revealed that Hidan had died because his soul was shattered.
• Hatake Ziyan told Kakuzu and the other three newcomers to leave, and they quickly obeyed.
• Hatake Ziyan correctly guessed that Nagato intended to gather the nine tailed beasts and revive the Ten-Tails, and Nagato was shocked that he knew.
• Hatake Ziyan told Nagato that a masked man had lied to him and warned that Nagato lacked the power to control the Ten-Tails.

Hatake Ziyan warned Nagato against working with the masked man, then returned to the Land of Iron and gathered its strongest warriors to expose a spy. He left the crowd waiting to see whether the spy would step forward.

• Hatake Ziyan gave Konan a Jade Talisman for emergencies and urged Nagato to reconsider his plan, but Nagato decided to continue pursuing the Ten-Tails.
• Nagato told Konan they would wait before collecting tailed beasts because they were not yet strong enough to face Konoha and the other villages.
• Hatake Ziyan returned to the Hatake Clan compound in the Land of Iron, where Hatake Yuichi reported the clan's growth and the country's improving order under Mifune.
• Hatake Ziyan told Yan he had returned to find members of Yan's organization and investigate its mysterious leader.
• Hatake Ziyan gathered everyone in the Land of Iron with Swordmaster-level strength or higher and announced that a spy from a mysterious organization was among them.
• Hatake Ziyan asked the spy to step forward voluntarily and promised not to kill them.

Hatake Ziyan exposed two master swordsmen as spies and identified Elder Koichi as their leader in the Land of Iron. Koichi confessed to serving the enemy and died by suicide, while Hatake Ziyan knocked out the two swordsmen.

• Hatake Ziyan threatened the gathered people, then pulled two master swordsmen from the crowd and accused them of being spies.
• Hatake Ziyan explained that a jutsu formula placed on the men’s souls had revealed their connection to an organization he encountered in Konoha.
• The two swordsmen looked toward Elder Koichi, who admitted that an enemy leader had recruited him after an Uchiha squad wiped out his unit.
• Koichi confessed that he had passed along information about the Hatake Clan and the Land of Iron and recruited two talented people to access the building’s secrets.
• Hatake Ziyan spared Koichi, but Koichi stabbed himself with a blade hidden in his cane, and Hatake Ziyan knocked out the two swordsmen.

Hatake Ziyan questioned Yan about the purpose of the secret organization recruiting powerful spies, then traveled to Takigakure and found it destroyed. After burying the village, he set out for Stone Ninja Village, unconcerned about provoking a war.

• Hatake Ziyan ordered everyone to keep silent about what had happened and questioned Yan about the organization’s goals.
• Yan told Hatake Ziyan that his superiors had forbidden him from seeking a high-ranking position in Konoha.
• Hatake Ziyan announced that he would investigate the Ninja Villages and left the Land of Iron the next morning.
• Hatake Ziyan and Yan found Takigakure destroyed with no survivors, and Hatake Ziyan suspected Nagato might have acted early.
• Hatake Ziyan buried the remains of Takigakure and chose Stone Ninja Village as their next destination.

Hatake Ziyan reached the Stone Ninja Village to investigate a battle, but Ōnoki attacked him after Yao’s group identified him as their leader. A broadcast made Hatake Ziyan appear to confess to destroying Takigakure and plotting against the Stone Ninja Village, leaving him to accuse Yan and the others of framing him.

• Hatake Ziyan and Yan saw fighting inside the Stone Ninja Village, but Yan left instead of following Hatake Ziyan to investigate.
• Hatake Ziyan interrupted the battle, and Yao’s group knelt and addressed him as their leader.
• Ōnoki ordered an attack with Dust Release, but Hatake Ziyan survived and recognized Ōnoki.
• A screen broadcast edited lines of Hatake Ziyan’s conversation to make it seem he had destroyed Takigakure and intended to destroy the Stone Ninja Village.
• Hatake Ziyan realized Yan had set him up, and Yao claimed Hatake Ziyan had ordered the attack.
• Hatake Ziyan killed Yao and told Ōnoki that the group was slandering him.

Hatake Ziyan confronted Ōnoki over the attack attributed to him, then proved his strength with a slash that cut through the Stone Ninja Village without causing casualties. Ōnoki agreed to hear him out, but their attempt to investigate the Hidden Organization stalled when Yao’s body changed into someone else.

• Ōnoki demanded evidence from Hatake Ziyan, while the village’s higher-ups urged him to attack.
• Hatake Ziyan challenged Ōnoki to fight, then unleashed a Sword Aura that broke through Dust Release and layers of Earth Release defenses.
• Ōnoki escaped with the Substitution Technique as Hatake Ziyan’s slash carved a channel through the village; no civilians were harmed because they had been evacuated.
• Ōnoki accepted that Hatake Ziyan had not sent the attackers and asked what he had learned about the Hidden Organization.
• Hatake Ziyan tried to search Yao’s memories, but Yao’s corpse changed appearance, prompting the villagers to suspect Hatake Ziyan again.

Hatake Ziyan left the Stone Ninja Village as rumors blamed him for destroying villages and the nations convened a Shinobi World Conference to stop him. While he secluded himself and grew stronger, Black Zetsu manipulated the Mizukage into proposing that the villages revive the Ten-Tails to fight him.

• Hatake Ziyan identified Yao’s transformation as the Shapeshifting Technique, warned Ōnoki to alert the other villages, and refused to stay in the Stone Ninja Village.
• Rumors spread that Hatake Ziyan had destroyed Takigakure and planned to destroy the Hidden Cloud Village, prompting the nations to denounce him and call a Shinobi World Conference.
• Hatake Ziyan secluded himself for a month, advanced his Simplified Pangu Visualization Method to the peak of the ninth image, and resumed traveling toward the Hidden Cloud Village.
• Black Zetsu persuaded Uchiha Shin, who controlled the Third Mizukage, to promote reviving the Ten-Tails as a way to oppose Hatake Ziyan.
• At the Shinobi World Conference, the Mizukage proposed combining the nine tailed beasts and making a powerful ninja the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, leaving the assembled leaders to consider who would wield that power.

Minato Namikaze and the other Kage agreed to seek the Rinnegan wielder and choose a Ten-Tails Jinchuriki to help defeat Hatake Ziyan. Minato then traveled to Amegakure with five companions, where Konan greeted them.

• The Mizukage revealed that Jiraiya had taught the wielder of the Rinnegan, and Minato Namikaze agreed to ask his teacher about it.
• The Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Minato Namikaze argued over who should become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki until Yagura urged them to recruit the Rinnegan wielder first.
• Minato Namikaze secured Konoha's first chance to negotiate with the Rinnegan wielder and led the assembled Kage in agreeing to work together against Hatake Ziyan.
• After questioning Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze set out for Amegakure with three Uchiha from the First Generation Konoha 12, Nawaki, and Guy.
• Nagato detected the six visitors, and Deva Path Pain sent Konan to welcome them.
• Konan met Minato Namikaze and his companions in Amegakure and asked who they were and why they had come.

Minato visited Amegakure to recruit Nagato and Konan for the plan to resurrect the Ten-Tails and fight Hatake Ziyan. Pain agreed to go to Konoha and discuss terms, where the village representatives began negotiating while Jiraiya struggled to understand why Deva Path Pain looked like Yahiko.

• Minato met Konan and learned that Pain led Amegakure after Hanzō's death.
• Minato explained the Ten-Tails plan to Deva Path Pain, who warned that extracting tailed beasts would kill their jinchūriki and asked what he would receive for helping.
• Minato invited Pain to Konoha to discuss his demands, and Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain ahead with Kakuzu and the others.
• Minato convened another Shinobi World Conference, where Jiraiya mistook Deva Path Pain for Yahiko and asked where Nagato was.
• The Raikage urged Pain to begin merging the tailed beasts, while the Tsuchikage objected that the villages had not settled the Ten-Tails jinchūriki or Pain's demands.

At the Kage meeting, Deva Path Pain insisted that only he could become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and defeat Hatake Ziyan, while the other leaders questioned his motives. After he left, Minato Namikaze called for a vote on whether to trust him or refuse his offer.

• Deva Path Pain said only he could control the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, and Minato Namikaze proposed a village tournament to choose the candidate.
• The Raikage and other leaders rejected Minato's proposal, while Deva Path Pain warned that they could not create the jinchuriki without him.
• Deva Path Pain explained that the leaders could either accept his offer, let him leave, or try to take his Rinnegan, then began leaving the meeting.
• The Fourth Raikage attacked Deva Path Pain, but Preta Path absorbed the chakra from his strike and forced him out of Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
• Minato Namikaze stopped the fight, and Deva Path Pain left after warning the leaders that he had good relations with Hatake Ziyan.
• The Tsuchikage questioned Deva Path Pain's trustworthiness, and Minato Namikaze called for a vote on whether to accept his offer.

The Five Kage agreed to make Deva Path Pain the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, but Ōnoki argued they should first unite against Hatake Ziyan. When Yagura proposed using the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu to summon powerful ancestors, Orochimaru offered to perform it himself.

• Minato Namikaze secured approval for Deva Path Pain to become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, while the Raikage challenged him and nearly sparked a fight.
• Ōnoki calmed Minato Namikaze and the Raikage, arguing they should work together against Hatake Ziyan before fighting over control of the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
• Minato Namikaze ended the meeting and prepared to discuss the plan with Deva Path Pain, but Yagura stopped him to ask about the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu.
• Yagura urged Konoha to use the forbidden jutsu to summon Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, and the other leaders demanded that Minato Namikaze reveal it.
• Orochimaru offered to perform the jutsu himself and warned the leaders not to attempt it without him, leaving them to consider his proposal.