Recaps

Ling uncovered the Sacred Lord’s operations in Kirigakure and the Netherworld Marsh, then traced the Crow’s Nest and helped destroy it. After Naruto returned, Team 7 found the Sacred Lord’s forces controlling the Land of Waves, and Ling began infiltrating the Black Tide Trading Company’s headquarters.

• Ling destroyed the crystal beneath the Undersea Ruins, rescued Terumi Amagasaki, and secured Mei Terumi’s cooperation against the Sacred Lord.
• Ling and Zabuza found the Ghost Ship, where Ling fought a controlled Kisame until Itachi intervened and warned Ling about the Sacred Lord, Danzo’s remnants, and Naruto.
• Ling led Yamato, Neji, and Shizune to the Netherworld Marsh, where they freed Kusagakure captives and Ling destroyed the black crystal altar before the Sacred Lord’s will appeared.
• Ling’s squad encountered Root ambushers, and Kakashi helped capture their leader as Konoha uncovered the alliance between Remnant Root and the Sacred Lord’s forces.
• Ling traced the Shadow Crow’s beacon to Silent Canyon, then joined Kakashi’s team in destroying the Crow’s Nest and recovering the Bone Staff and Twisted Necklace.
• Naruto returned from training with Jiraiya, and Kakashi assigned Ling, Naruto, and Sakura to escort a bridge expert to the Land of Waves.
• Team 7 learned that the Black Tide Trading Company had seized control of the Land of Waves and that Heize wielded purple lightning with powerful allies, including Thunderstorm.
• Kakashi sent Ling to infiltrate the company headquarters, and Ling swam across the bay under cover of night.

After Ling stopped the Sacred Lord’s descent, Tobirama sought Hashirama’s power to save him, while Akatsuki’s attack on Gaara exposed the threat to the tailed beasts. Ling recovered his senjutsu and prepared to leave Shikkotsu Forest as Kakuzu and Hidan confronted Roshi.

• Ling thwarted Heize’s summoning ritual with Tobirama’s help, but the effort gravely wounded him and Tobirama took him to Shikkotsu Forest to recover.
• Tsunade and Orochimaru helped Tobirama travel through Rōran’s Dragon Vein to meet Hashirama, who gave him a life-energy imprint that helped stabilize Ling.
• Ling awoke and discovered a silver rune leaking his memories to young Tobirama, but Tobirama broke the connection and warned that the future might change.
• After Akatsuki captured Gaara, Kakashi led a joint Konoha and Sunagakure team to rescue him, and Naruto destroyed the fungal forest’s core with a Rasenshuriken.
• The rescue team found that the Sacred Lord’s corruption had disrupted Shukaku’s extraction, and Shukaku warned the other tailed beasts that the Sacred Lord had marked them.
• Kurama, Gyuki, and other tailed beasts warned their Jinchūriki, while the villages strengthened security and Konoha and Sunagakure agreed to share intelligence.
• Ling restored his perception and control of natural energy, developed new Pure Water techniques, and resolved to leave Shikkotsu Forest as Kakuzu and Hidan fought Roshi.

Ling and the Purifying Karma unit confronted the contaminated tumor, rescued Utakata, and defeated Sasori, while the Sacred Lord’s power became an increasingly direct threat. Sasuke invoked that power to escape Deidara’s explosion and entered the Land of Rain seeking Itachi, as Ling’s team followed the spatial traces behind him.

• Ling returned to Konoha, formed the Purifying Karma unit with Yamato, and joined Tsunade’s efforts after the Akatsuki captured Roshi.
• Ling and his allies interrupted Itachi and Kisame’s attempt to capture Han, then used intelligence from Itachi to locate the contamination around Utakata and drive the Akatsuki away.
• Ling’s unit and Utakata destroyed the contamination core beneath the sea, and Ling and Naruto later combined purification and Sage Art to destroy the Aberrant Tumor Core, revealing the Sacred Lord’s eye.
• Ling, Kakashi, Yamato, Neji, and Ino rescued civilians from Sasori’s contaminated mist, then raided his workshop and Ling destroyed Sasori’s regenerative core.
• Sasuke killed Orochimaru, formed Team Hawk with Karin, Guren, and Jugo, and escaped Deidara’s C0 by using the Sacred Lord’s power through a forbidden spatial technique.
• Ling and Tsunade detected the dark spatial disturbance, while Sasuke suppressed the power with Indra’s chakra and followed Tobi’s lead toward the Land of Rain in search of Itachi.
• Tobirama linked the dark energy to Orochimaru’s forbidden research, and Tsunade sent Ling’s unit to the Land of Rain to investigate the power and watch the Akatsuki.
• Sasuke reached the Abandoned Temple area and sensed Itachi’s chakra as the dark power stirred, while Ling’s team followed faint spatial scars into the village.

Itachi saved Sasuke from the Sacred Lord’s corruption, but the brothers’ return to Konoha brought conflict over the sealed power and the truth of the Uchiha massacre. After the crystal broke and Sasuke fled, he embraced the darkness within him and refused to return to Konoha.

• Sasuke confronted Itachi at the Abandoned Temple, then Itachi fought him and used the Totsuka Blade to seal away the Sacred Lord’s power, taking a fatal-seeming strike to save his brother.
• Kakashi brought Itachi and Sasuke to Konoha, where Tsunade treated them and extracted the corruption from Itachi into a sealed chakra crystal.
• Kakashi showed Sasuke records of the Uchiha massacre, and Itachi later explained that he had accepted Danzō’s bargain to protect Sasuke and prevent civil war.
• As the elders moved to seize the crystal, Sasuke’s chakra resonated with its dark energy until the seal shattered, forcing Sasuke to flee the hospital.
• Tsunade secured the dark energy and won support to strip Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura of authority, while Sasuke escaped into the forest.
• Orochimaru’s remnant sensed Sasuke’s unstable power and sent a message that drew Black Shovel and his missing-nin toward him.
• Sasuke used the dark chakra to kill Black Shovel and his men, then fled into the forest as Konoha’s Anbu reported his refusal to return.