Chapter Summaries

Karatachi Yagura began sealing the Three-Tails into himself, while Makoto Uchiha emerged from hiding after Madara’s death and claimed his name. In Konoha, Chihane and Orochimaru tested a working refrigerator as their village’s technological advances continued.

• Karatachi Yagura reached the prepared clearing, where the Sealing Squad began the ritual to make him the Three-Tails’ jinchūriki.
• Madara released Makoto Uchiha from the cave, then died after pulling free of the tubes sustaining him; Makoto left with Black Zetsu and declared himself Madara Uchiha.
• Blue B trained the Fourth Raikage A and Killer B against Gyuki, then sent them away to devise a strategy for their next training session.
• Blue B worried that Kumogakure was unprepared for Konoha’s growing power and decided to invite the other village Kage to discuss their response.
• Chihane and Orochimaru tested a refrigerator that cooled to -10°C, following their earlier work bringing electric lights to Konoha.

Chihane supported Orochimaru’s pursuit of immortality and his plan to resurrect Tobirama Senju as a research partner. Orochimaru successfully summoned Tobirama, who immediately sensed that Chihane was far more dangerous than he appeared.

• Orochimaru told Chihane he was ending their work on inventions to resume his research into immortality.
• Chihane reflected on his plan to protect his loved ones and gradually unify the Shinobi World through prosperity rather than force alone.
• Orochimaru revealed that he wanted to use the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu to bring back Tobirama Senju, and Chihane gave him his support.
• Orochimaru performed the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu in a hidden chamber, and Tobirama Senju emerged from the coffin.
• Tobirama assessed Orochimaru and Chihane, then felt an instinctive warning about the seemingly harmless silver-haired boy.

Orochimaru persuaded Tobirama Senju to join his research into the soul and immortality, and the two began experimenting together. Back at the Hatake Clan, Chihane continued training before learning that Uchiha Mikoto was pregnant with another child, prompting him to wonder whether Naruto would also soon be born.

• Tobirama Senju learned Orochimaru was Konoha's Fourth Hokage and heard his proposal to investigate immortality through the soul.
• Orochimaru showed Tobirama Senju his laboratory and experiments, and Tobirama accepted his invitation to collaborate.
• Chihane returned to the Hatake Clan and continued his intense physical training while Chiriku followed his demanding routine.
• Kakashi told Chihane that Uchiha Mikoto was pregnant after Uchiha Itachi had shared the news during training.
• Chihane wondered whether Sasuke's impending birth meant Naruto would soon be born as well.

Chihane chose Kabuto Yakushi from Konoha Orphanage to assist Orochimaru with research, persuading him to go by offering him a salary and allowing him to return home each night. He left Kabuto in Orochimaru's Laboratory, where Orochimaru and Tobirama Senju were investigating the weight change that occurred when a person died.

• Chihane decided to find Orochimaru a young research assistant and visited Konoha Orphanage, run by Yakushi Nonō.
• Yakushi Nonō explained that the withdrawn child she had named Kabuto Yakushi had been found injured and suffering from amnesia.
• Chihane chose Kabuto, but Kabuto refused to leave the orphanage until Chihane offered him pay to help support it and permission to sleep there each night.
• Orochimaru and Tobirama Senju observed a death-row prisoner's body weight change at the moment of death and prepared to study his soul with Impure World Reincarnation.
• Chihane brought Kabuto to Orochimaru's Laboratory, and Orochimaru agreed to take him on after his experiment was finished.

Konoha’s leaders agreed to send a team to Kirigakure’s Chunin Ninja Exams, with Chihane and Hiruzen Sarutobi set to lead them. After the meeting, Chihane went to find Chiriku and instead came across Kakashi fighting Uchiha Itachi.

• Minato Namikaze reported that the other four major villages had exchanged secret letters and that Karatachi Yagura had become the Three-Tails’ Jinchūriki and purged Kirigakure.
• Orochimaru and the other leaders agreed that Konoha would participate in the exams to demonstrate its strength.
• Chihane recommended Maruboshi Kosuke, Chiriku, and Might Guy as candidates, while Uchiha Fugaku recommended Uchiha Jitou, Uchiha Fengwei, and Uchiha Zhanan.
• Chihane volunteered to lead the team, and Orochimaru asked Hiruzen Sarutobi to accompany him because Orochimaru’s immortality research had reached a critical stage.
• Chihane went to Back Mountain to tell Chiriku the news but found Kakashi fighting Uchiha Itachi instead.

Chihane watched Kakashi fight Uchiha Itachi and saw the young prodigy fall for Kakashi’s Genjutsu. Kakashi ended the battle with Thousand Years of Death, sending Itachi flying, while Chihane hurried away with Little Anko.

• Chihane climbed a tree and watched Little Anko cheer for Kakashi while Itachi fought him.
• Itachi attacked Kakashi with sixteen shuriken, but Kakashi blocked them with an earthen wall.
• Itachi awakened his Two-Tomoe Sharingan and rushed Kakashi, unknowingly fighting a Genjutsu while striking empty air.
• Chihane realized Kakashi was preparing Thousand Years of Death and covered Little Anko’s eyes.
• Kakashi used Thousand Years of Death on Itachi, who screamed and flew out of sight.
• Kakashi asked when Chihane had arrived, and Chihane left the woods carrying Little Anko.

Chihane learned that Kushina was pregnant, then went to the Uchiha compound to resolve the conflict over Itachi and bring him into training. Uchiha Fugaku accepted Chihane’s explanation and entrusted Itachi to him, while noticing how much Chiriku had grown.

• Minato told Chihane that Kushina was pregnant and asked for time off to be with her.
• Chihane planned intensive training for Chiriku, Might Guy, and Itachi before the Chunin Exams, then learned Itachi was at the Uchiha compound.
• Chihane met Uchiha Fugaku, who said Itachi had admitted his own fault and that Kakashi had been justified in intervening.
• Uchiha Fugaku called Itachi out, urged him to learn from Chihane, and handed him over for training.
• As Chihane left with Itachi and Chiriku, Uchiha Fugaku sensed that Chiriku had become strong enough to pose a danger.

Chihane took Chiriku, Might Guy, and Itachi to a training clearing and demonstrated how to focus physical strength into a single point. After effortlessly splitting a massive boulder with a knife-hand strike, he set the three of them a month-long goal of learning to concentrate their power.

• Chihane brought Chiriku, Might Guy, and Itachi to a clearing where he had arranged rocks and wooden posts for training.
• Chiriku shattered a huge boulder with one punch, astonishing Itachi.
• Chihane challenged Chiriku to hit his chest, then blocked the punch with one hand without moving.
• Chihane explained that Chiriku wasted most of his strength by failing to control and focus it.
• Chihane split a five- or six-meter boulder with a knife-hand strike and assigned the others a month to learn to concentrate their strength.

After seeing Chihane split a rock, Itachi begged to learn taijutsu, and Chihane assigned him a demanding paper-punching exercise. Chihane also ordered Chiriku and Might Guy to carve rocks into likenesses of themselves, leaving Chiriku bruised and Guy obediently at work.

• Itachi asked Chihane to teach him after witnessing his strength, and said he wanted to train in taijutsu instead of throwing shuriken.
• Itachi called Chiriku an uncle, so Chiriku hit him and angrily revealed that he was only sixteen.
• Chihane showed Itachi how to punch through a thousand sheets of paper on a wooden post, and Itachi began practicing.
• Chihane ordered Chiriku and Might Guy to carve the rocks into their own likenesses, and struck Chiriku when he objected.
• Might Guy began carving and realized Chiriku's punishment of Itachi had resembled Chihane's usual treatment of Chiriku.

Itachi returned home injured after training with Chihane and vowed to become as strong as his senior brother, earning Fugaku’s approval. Two weeks later, Might Guy fought Chiriku at the Back Mountain training ground, where Chiriku countered Guy’s Fifth Gate attack with a substitution and struck back.

• Itachi arrived at the Uchiha compound with blood-soaked bandages, and Mikoto rushed to comfort him.
• Itachi told Fugaku that he understood true strength and vowed to become as strong as Chihane; Fugaku praised him.
• Two weeks later, Might Guy fought Chiriku while Itachi watched, but Guy’s speed and attacks failed to overcome Chiriku.
• Guy opened the Fifth Gate and kicked Chiriku, only for Chiriku to evade the attack with the Substitution Technique.
• Chiriku appeared behind Guy and brought a powerful fist down toward his head.

Chihane taught Might Guy and Chiriku to find the breath of all things so they could cut through steel, while Itachi joined their lesson. He assigned them to break iron targets with their fists and left Itachi back at his own training.

• Chihane stopped Chiriku and Might Guy's sparring, judged Chiriku ready for the next stage, and led them to an iron target.
• Chihane explained that sensing the breath of all things revealed weak points, then split an iron target with his fingers and scattered the clouds with a sword slash.
• Chihane told Chiriku, Might Guy, and Itachi to punch iron targets until they could shatter steel with their fists.
• Chiriku asked for a shortcut, and Chihane suggested fighting stronger opponents in life-or-death battles.
• Chiriku, Might Guy, and Itachi all began punching iron targets, so Chihane grabbed Itachi and sent him back to his paper target.

Chihane led six Genin from Konoha to Kirigakure for the Chunin Ninja Exams, encouraging Obito Uchiha to reclaim his dream of becoming Hokage along the way. After a disastrous hot spring stop, the group arrived in Kirigakure, where a Mist Ninja recognized Chihane and nervously tried to restrain his rude companion.

• At Konoha's gates, Chihane greeted Obito warmly, but Obito addressed him formally and said his dream of becoming Hokage had been childish.
• Chihane challenged Obito to stop bowing to rules and keep pursuing his ambitions, prompting Obito to reaffirm his dream and awaken his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
• Chihane led the six Genin on a leisurely trip toward Kirigakure and stopped with them at a hot spring inn.
• After Chiriku contaminated the spring, Chihane and the others chased him through the inn, destroying the hot spring in the process.
• At Kirigakure's gates, a tall Mist Ninja recognized Chihane and tried to stop his companion from insulting the arriving Konoha delegation.

Chihane confronted Ōnoki at the Chunin Ninja Exams and overwhelmed the allied Kage with his Conqueror’s Haki before Hiruzen defused the standoff. While Chihane remained in Kirigakure, Makoto Uchiha returned to Konoha, believing his archenemy was away.

• Chihane’s aura clash with Ōnoki drew Blue B, Karatachi Yagura, Akatsuchi, and Rasa into a united effort to resist him.
• Chihane unleashed his Conqueror’s Haki and drove Ōnoki and the other four Kage back, stunning the arena.
• Hiruzen stepped between Chihane and the Kage to end the confrontation and start the exams.
• Chihane reflected on his plan with Orochimaru to grow Konoha’s population, prosperity, and influence before absorbing other powers.
• Makoto Uchiha returned to Konoha after learning that Chihane had gone to Kirigakure, and he declared his return while naming Chihane as his only threat.

Makoto Uchiha began pursuing the power to revive his father and learned that Konoha’s Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was pregnant, while the Chunin Ninja Exams began in Kirigakure. The chapter ended with Obito Uchiha confronting Makoto after seeing him kill an ANBU ninja.

• Makoto Uchiha resolved to become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and set out to gather information about Konoha while Chihane was away.
• Karatachi Yagura opened the Chunin Ninja Exams in Kirigakure, where candidates from the other villages watched Konoha’s team and Zabuza Momochi singled out Chiriku as a worthy opponent.
• Chiriku and Might Guy answered the written exam with reckless, unconventional responses, while Maruboshi Kosuke knew the material.
• The Mist Ninja examiners gave Chiriku’s paper a passing score because Karatachi Yagura had ordered that every Konoha ninja pass the first stage.
• Makoto Uchiha used his Mangekyō Sharingan to extract information from an ANBU ninja and learned that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was pregnant.
• Obito Uchiha arrived in the alley and demanded to know who Makoto was and why he had killed the ANBU ninja.

Makoto Uchiha captured Obito Uchiha and tried to recruit him, but Obito awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and Susanoo while being drained by Makoto’s vines. Makoto escaped, and Minato Namikaze arrived to find evidence that appeared to implicate Obito in an ANBU ninja’s murder.

• Makoto Uchiha trapped Obito with Wood Release and a Mangekyō genjutsu, then claimed to be Madara Uchiha and offered to help him awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Obito pretended to accept Makoto’s offer, but his attempted escape failed when Makoto’s genjutsu returned him to the vines.
• Makoto revealed himself as Obito’s old classmate and began draining his blood, but Obito’s resolve to live sparked the awakening of his Mangekyō Sharingan and Susanoo.
• Makoto fled through a black-hole-like portal as Obito’s Susanoo drew Konoha’s ninja to the scene.
• Uchiha Fugaku and Minato Namikaze arrived, and Minato found that the ANBU ninja had been killed by suffocation, with the evidence pointing to Obito.

Orochimaru ordered Obito Uchiha taken for medical treatment and assigned Minato Namikaze to investigate the ANBU ninja’s death. In Kirigakure, Chihane accompanied Konoha’s six genin into the seven-day deserted-island survival exam, where the other villages’ candidates planned to target them.

• Orochimaru heard Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Fugaku’s accounts, then had Obito Uchiha taken to the medical room and tasked Minato with investigating.
• The written exam results showed that all six Konoha genin and every candidate from the Five Great Shinobi Villages had passed, while genin from the smaller villages had been eliminated.
• A Mist jonin examiner announced that the second stage required candidates to survive seven days on a deserted island with scarce food and water.
• Chihane and the village leaders accompanied the candidates by ship to the island, where the examiner declared the exam had no rules and began the stage.
• After the exam began, candidates from the Four Great Shinobi Villages eyed Konoha’s six genin and decided to secure resources first before attacking them later.

Maruboshi Kosuke led Konoha’s six Genin toward the island’s summit to find water and a campsite, while an Iwa force launched an ambush. As an Uchiha shinobi was trapped by three attackers, a powerful fighter intervened and defeated them.

• Maruboshi Kosuke promised to guide Chiriku, Might Guy, and the three Uchiha shinobi through the wilderness and led them toward the island’s highest peak.
• More than twenty Iwa shinobi prepared an ambush, following Ōnoki’s order to kill every Konoha shinobi on the island.
• Three Iwa shinobi attacked an Uchiha shinobi with shuriken, an Earth-Style Wall, and Yellow Spring Swamp, trapping his legs.
• A fighter shouted “Welcoming Approach: Senju Kill” and battered all three Iwa shinobi into the ground.

Chiriku rescued Maruboshi Kosuke and three Uchiha genin from Iwa Shinobi, then helped the group reach a cliff top and set out for a resource-rich valley. There, Kirigakure and Kumogakure ninja fought over the best place to camp, unaware of the danger approaching.

• Chiriku killed the Iwa Shinobi who had trapped a Uchiha genin, impressing the three Uchiha members into acknowledging his strength.
• Maruboshi Kosuke began showing the group how to climb the island's cliff, but Chiriku hauled him to the summit with a vine.
• Chiriku pulled up the three Uchiha genin while Might Guy directed them, and Maruboshi Kosuke pointed out a river and valley suitable for camp.
• Maruboshi Kosuke led the group toward the valley before sunset.
• Kirigakure and Kumogakure ninja argued over control of the valley, each refusing to yield despite their shared mission to kill Konoha's six genin.

Zabuza’s Mist Ninja fought Darui’s Cloud Ninja for control of the valley, but Darui defeated Zabuza and drove off the surviving Mist Ninja. Baki led the struggling Sand Ninja toward the battle, while Chihane watched from the ship and anticipated more trouble for Karatachi Yagura’s village.

• Zabuza challenged Darui and the Cloud Ninja, then started a battle between the Mist and Cloud groups.
• Darui flooded the valley with Water Release and electrocuted Zabuza and most of the Mist Ninja with Lightning Release.
• The surviving Mist Ninja fled after Darui offered to let them go.
• Baki learned that ninja were fighting nearby and led the sick, exhausted Sand Ninja toward the valley to support their allies.
• Chihane watched the island with Observation Haki and exchanged uneasy looks with Karatachi Yagura as trouble gathered again.

Darui’s Cloud Ninja trapped Baki’s Sand Ninja and prepared to attack Chiriku’s Konoha group, but Maruboshi Kosuke revealed his strength by killing more than ten Cloud Ninja with genjutsu and swordsmanship. Darui attacked Kosuke, and Chiriku joined the fight, leaving Darui under a barrage of golden fists.

• Darui’s Cloud Ninja confronted Baki and the Sand Ninja at the valley entrance, and Baki realized they intended to attack rather than help them.
• Darui and Baki prepared to strike each other, but Chiriku arrived with the Konoha ninja, prompting both leaders to target them first.
• Darui sent the Cloud Ninja after the Konoha group, and most of them charged at Maruboshi Kosuke, whom they assumed was weak.
• Maruboshi Kosuke used Konoha Style: Willow to ensnare and kill more than ten Cloud Ninja while Darui and the others watched in shock.
• Darui fired Storm Release: Laser Circus at Kosuke, who dodged the lasers, and Chiriku struck Darui with Welcoming Approach: Senju Kill.