Chapter Summaries

The Eight-Tails introduced the Shadow Organization to the other tailed beasts, while the One-Tail and Nine-Tails dismissed its offer and argued over their circumstances. After the Nine-Tails asked Kagami Uchiha about Xihuo, Kagami reported that Xihuo might be targeting the Nine-Tails.

• The Eight-Tails told the tailed beasts that Xihuo offered them safety in the Shadow Organization’s territory, and the One-Tail mocked the offer before arguing with the Nine-Tails.
• The One-Tail and Nine-Tails left the meeting, and the Eight-Tails encouraged the Nine-Tails to meet Xihuo when he visited Konoha.
• The Nine-Tails asked Kagami Uchiha about Xihuo, and Kagami questioned him about how he had learned of the visit.
• The Nine-Tails explained that the Eight-Tails had told him, then described their meeting to Kagami.
• Kagami sent a confidential letter to the Hokage reporting that Xihuo might be targeting the Nine-Tails.

Konoha prepared for the Shadow Organization’s visit while Xihuo arranged extravagant gifts and disguised the Eight-Tails as a human so he could come along. With both sides ready for the meeting, a pitch-black figure stirred beneath the calm surface.

• Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura judged an attempt to seize the Nine-Tails unlikely but ordered increased security after reviewing Kagami Uchiha’s information.
• Xihuo finalized the Shadow Organization’s visit preparations and secretly transferred Kakuzu’s savings to fund extravagant gifts for Konoha.
• Watanabe Ichiro considered how to bring the Eight-Tails into Konoha without alarming its leaders and created a Wood Release Clone concealed with a Sealing Jutsu Formula.
• The Eight-Tails changed his mind about visiting after seeing Watanabe Ichiro use Wood Release, but Watanabe Ichiro sealed him inside a human disguise anyway.
• Watanabe Ichiro reshaped the Eight-Tails’ disguise and named him Demon as the Shadow Organization prepared to depart.
• Both sides readied themselves for the meeting as a pitch-black figure slowly turned.

Black Zetsu prepared to unleash the Nine-Tails on Konoha while Watanabe Ichiro was interrupted by friends seeking to comfort him. He let them crowd around him and fell asleep, unaware that danger was gathering outside the village.

• Black Zetsu watched people die in a ritual and ordered his followers to target Konoha, planning to release the Nine-Tails.
• Hatake Sakumo, Chidori Cloud, Tsunade, and Dan Katō came to Watanabe Ichiro's door, hoping to use Mito Uzumaki's advice to help him.
• Watanabe Ichiro tried to shut the group out, but Hatake Sakumo wedged his hand in the door and apologized loudly until Ichiro let everyone inside.
• Chidori Cloud explained that Mito Uzumaki had told them to spend time with Ichiro, and Tsunade asked to hug him.
• Watanabe Ichiro allowed the four to cuddle against him, relaxed, and fell asleep.

Jiraiya overcame the illusions haunting him and achieved Sage Mode on Mount Myōboku, but Leaf Dragon’s warning about death left him troubled. After returning to Konoha, Jiraiya learned about Leaf Dragon’s condition and was told to visit him at Root.

• Jiraiya rejected illusions of his younger self and Tsunade, then confronted the memory of Leaf Dragon’s death and the fear of losing him.
• Jiraiya pushed past Leaf Dragon’s warning about death and completed his Sage Mode training despite nearly turning to stone.
• Sage Shima congratulated Jiraiya, who left Mount Myōboku to return to Konoha and rest.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Jiraiya about Leaf Dragon’s breakdown, treatment, and the information Mito Uzumaki had provided about his scars.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi directed Jiraiya to visit Leaf Dragon at Root, and Jiraiya accepted while gripping Leaf Dragon’s crystal.

Jiraiya visited Leaf Dragon in Root’s quarters and found him sleeping among friends who had gathered to comfort him. Seeing their care helped Jiraiya attain Perfect Sage Mode, and he ended the visit quietly beside Leaf Dragon, finding comfort in his steady breathing.

• Jiraiya reached Leaf Dragon’s quarters with Hiruzen Sarutobi’s authorization and found Chidori Cloud guarding the door.
• Jiraiya saw Tsunade, Dan Katō, Hatake Sakumo, and others resting beside Leaf Dragon as he slept.
• Jiraiya reflected on their companionship and attained Perfect Sage Mode without any frog-like transformation.
• Chidori Cloud woke the others, and Tsunade and Dan Katō greeted Jiraiya before everyone left to give him privacy.
• Jiraiya stood beside the sleeping Leaf Dragon and found a sense of salvation in his steady breaths.

Kagami Uchiha mistook Hatake Sakumo and the others leaving Leaf Dragon’s room for evidence of scandal and decided to warn Momoka and report to Lord Danzo. In the Root lounge, Jiraiya told Watanabe Ichiro he had mastered Sage Mode, then sank into guilt over his past; Ichiro asked him to stay and let him use Jiraiya as a cushion, leaving Jiraiya happy and Ichiro eager to escape Konoha.

• Kagami Uchiha saw Hatake Sakumo and the others leave Leaf Dragon’s room and wrongly suspected Leaf Dragon of having scandalous tastes.
• Jiraiya resisted touching the sleeping Watanabe Ichiro, but Ichiro leaned against his hand and woke up.
• Jiraiya told Watanabe Ichiro that he had mastered Sage Mode and had come to share the news.
• Jiraiya grew gloomy as he blamed himself for Watanabe Ichiro’s old injury and his own failure to ask how Ichiro had faked his death.
• Watanabe Ichiro asked Jiraiya to sit beside him so he could use him as a cushion, and Jiraiya’s happiness returned.
• Watanabe Ichiro resolved to leave Konoha after enduring the emotional turmoil around him.

Xihuo led the Shadow Organization on its first official visit to Konoha, where Shimura Danzō and Hatake Sakumo welcomed the delegation. After presenting Gyuki as his eccentric younger brother and explaining the organization’s protective purpose, Xihuo continued toward the village until Gyuki sensed something unpleasant in the nearby woods.

• Shimura Danzō welcomed Xihuo outside Konoha and escorted him toward the village with Hatake Sakumo and their shinobi.
• Xihuo let his diplomatic subordinate handle the conversation and introduced the restless Gyuki as his younger brother, Demon, who had suffered a head injury.
• Gyuki crawled around on all fours, while Xihuo explained that he had founded the Shadow Organization to protect his brother and other children.
• Shimura Danzō remained wary of Xihuo, while Hatake Sakumo admired him and felt grateful that he had saved Lord Hiruzen.
• Gyuki stopped on the road, warned Watanabe Ichiro that something nasty was nearby, and pointed toward the woods.

As Konoha’s delegation and the Shadow Organization investigated a disturbance, Xihuo claimed Black Zetsu was behind it and revealed the attackers were Jashin Cult members. Xihuo then manifested a Susanoo, leaving Shimura Danzō stunned.

• Unfamiliar noises from the woods put Hatake Sakumo’s ANBU and Root forces on guard around Shimura Danzō and Xihuo.
• Xihuo interrupted Shimura Danzō’s explanation and declared that Black Zetsu, the Shadow Organization’s mortal enemy, had come for them.
• Shimura Danzō questioned Xihuo about the alleged feud, but Xihuo said it involved his younger brother and deferred the rest until the meeting.
• Black-clad Jashin Cult attackers emerged from the woods and clashed with Hatake Sakumo’s search team without producing detectable chakra.
• Xihuo stepped forward and manifested a skeletal Susanoo, shocking Shimura Danzō.

Xihuo arrived with the Eight-Tails and used Susanoo to defeat the Jashin Cult members who had been fighting Hatake Sakumo and Konoha’s forces. After the battle, the wounded ninja was sent to Konoha’s Medical Department, while the Eight-Tails sensed that the bite had left him carrying the cultists’ repulsive aura.

• Xihuo arrived on the battlefield in Susanoo and crushed a Jashin Cult member, allowing Hatake Sakumo to recognize the reinforcements.
• Hatake Sakumo ordered his squad to retreat and clear the battlefield while Xihuo rapidly defeated the cultists.
• Hatake Sakumo sent the teammate who had been bitten to Konoha’s Medical Department and returned to Shimura Danzō.
• Shimura Danzō wondered whether Xihuo was Uchiha Kagami, sent out by Uchiha Ichiro to establish the Shadow Organization.
• Xihuo crushed the last Jashin Cult member, then withdrew Susanoo and told the Eight-Tails he was fine.
• The Eight-Tails sensed the cultists’ aura on the wounded ninja and wondered whether he was still human.

Shimura Danzō suspected Xihuo was Uchiha Kagami and prepared to return to Konoha to confirm his identity, while Xihuo privately warned the Eight-Tails about filthy things in the village. The chapter then shifted to a comic extra in which Hiruzen exposed a recording of Danzō crying under the covers, prompting Danzō to trigger a seal at his birthday gathering before the narration revealed it was a joke.

• Shimura Danzō inferred that Xihuo might be Uchiha Kagami and decided to return to Konoha to confirm his identity and learn his intentions.
• Xihuo teased the Eight-Tails about eating a corpse, then silently asked whether Konoha had filthy things and received a nod.
• In an extra scene, Shimura Danzō hid under his covers and cried after arguing with Hiruzen, while Watanabe Ichiro secretly recorded him.
• Hiruzen played the recording during another argument, and Shimura Danzō realized he had been bugged.
• Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, Hatake Sakumo, and several younger shinobi entered with a birthday cake as Danzō activated the Reverse Four Symbols Seal.
• The narration claimed the Black Barrier wiped out Konoha's high command, then clarified that it was only a joke.

Watanabe Ichiro completed a tailed-beast chakra sealing formula, then learned that Black Zetsu had brought the Jashin Cult’s parasitic, undying creatures to Konoha. Jiraiya came to Root with a Hokage order demanding that Leaf Dragon go to Mount Myōboku, and Ichiro reluctantly obeyed.

• Watanabe Ichiro finished refining a sealing formula that absorbed and stored tailed-beast chakra.
• The Consciousness Clone told Watanabe Ichiro that Black Zetsu had brought zombie-like creatures from the Jashin Cult into Konoha.
• Watanabe Ichiro deduced that Black Zetsu planned to exploit the Jashin Cult’s remote killing techniques and decided to steal the plan for himself.
• Jiraiya asked Leaf Dragon to go to Mount Myōboku, claiming Sage Shima was ill and that Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted him hidden from the Shadow Organization.
• Watanabe Ichiro challenged Jiraiya’s explanation, and Jiraiya revealed a written Hokage order.
• Jiraiya ordered Root ninja Leaf Dragon to obey, and Watanabe Ichiro agreed.

Jiraiya’s attempt to make Leaf Dragon obey him shattered the seal that had restored Leaf Dragon’s emotions, leaving him kneeling as a hollow, compliant Root ninja. Jiraiya remembered how he had manipulated Leaf Dragon’s trauma and feared he had destroyed the person he cared about, but Leaf Dragon only asked for orders.

• A gust slammed the archive-room window as Jiraiya’s appointment order and Leaf Dragon’s acceptance were drowned out by the crash.
• Leaf Dragon’s emotional turmoil broke the Sealing Jutsu Formula, and the Cursed Seals faded from his body.
• Leaf Dragon knelt before Jiraiya in a posture of absolute submission and offered to receive his orders.
• Jiraiya remembered forcing Leaf Dragon to leave Konoha for Mount Myōboku by exploiting his trauma and recognized that his actions had twisted Leaf Dragon’s will.
• Jiraiya called to Leaf Dragon, but Leaf Dragon showed no recognition and asked him for orders.

Jiraiya sensed a Jashin Cult attack near Konoha, but a hidden observer exploited his trauma over Leaf Dragon to ensnare him in a Genjutsu. After Tsunade brought him back to himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him written permission to take Leaf Dragon to Mount Myōboku.

• Jiraiya used Sage Mode to detect Jashin Cult members gathering outside Konoha and warned Hiruzen Sarutobi that Danzo and the others were fighting them.
• Jiraiya noticed a hidden figure in the forest, met its gaze, and fell under a Genjutsu that reopened his memories of Leaf Dragon’s death.
• Tsunade woke Jiraiya from the illusion, and he urged her to stay close to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Jiraiya explained the danger to Hiruzen Sarutobi and asked for an order to take Leaf Dragon to Mount Myōboku.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Jiraiya the written order, choosing to protect him despite Konoha’s need for Leaf Dragon as a medical ninja.

Under Black Zetsu’s Genjutsu, Jiraiya became convinced that saving Leaf Dragon justified any means and used the Hokage’s Written Order to command him. Jiraiya broke free and realized he had destroyed Leaf Dragon’s will, leaving him kneeling and obedient as thunder sounded overhead.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Jiraiya the Hokage’s Written Order and stayed behind to oversee the danger in Konoha.
• Jiraiya hurried to Leaf Dragon while Black Zetsu’s Genjutsu urged him to kill or control him, exploiting Jiraiya’s fear of losing the people he loved.
• Jiraiya chose to use the Written Order and told Leaf Dragon, “Obey my orders!”
• The order completed one of Black Zetsu’s missions and weakened the Genjutsu, allowing Jiraiya to regain control and remember what he had done.
• Leaf Dragon knelt and said, “Please give me your orders,” and Jiraiya stood frozen as thunder cracked.

Black Zetsu possessed Leaf Dragon and used a genjutsu to crush Jiraiya’s will, then left with Leaf Dragon after threatening to kill him. Jiraiya recorded what he knew for Konoha, left Leaf Dragon’s Crystal Stone behind, and took his own life.

• Black Zetsu possessed Leaf Dragon and attacked Jiraiya, reinforcing a genjutsu that filled him with despair.
• Black Zetsu threatened to cut Leaf Dragon’s throat, stopped Jiraiya from pursuing him, and left with Leaf Dragon.
• Jiraiya carved an ANBU cipher on the wall with the intelligence he had gathered about the enemy.
• Jiraiya removed Leaf Dragon’s Crystal Stone and left it on the table for Konoha.
• Jiraiya stabbed himself through the heart, completing Black Zetsu’s genjutsu.

Watanabe Ichiro healed the comatose Jiraiya after Black Zetsu’s attempt to manipulate him, then followed Black Zetsu as he tried to recruit the Nine-Tails. Black Zetsu failed to persuade the fox and turned his thoughts to obtaining a child with Uchiha and Senju blood.

• Watanabe Ichiro used the Crystal Stone to heal Jiraiya’s injuries and left him asleep after comforting him.
• Black Zetsu equipped the Leaf Dragon Disguise with multiple restraints and ordered him to stand by.
• Watanabe Ichiro followed Black Zetsu to the Nine-Tails, who refused to help destroy Konoha.
• Black Zetsu abandoned his plan to release the Nine-Tails and thought about obtaining offspring from the Uchiha and Senju clans.
• The Nine-Tails sneezed toward Kagami Uchiha, who wondered whether Momoka was thinking about him.

Xihuo and Konoha’s leaders discovered signs of Jashin Cult infiltrators across the village and divided forces to investigate the threatened compounds and hospital. As Konoha’s rainy night began, Kagami Uchiha stayed sheltered with the Nine-Tails, unaware of the crisis unfolding outside.

• At Konoha’s Medical Department, Tsunade treated a bitten ninja whose unexplained pain and trembling stopped as strange runes appeared on his face and he lunged at her.
• Outside Konoha, Xihuo released the Eight-Tails and escorted Shimura Danzō and the Shadow Organization toward the village.
• Xihuo told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Demon could sense the strange corruption, and the Eight-Tails identified the hospital, Uchiha Clan Compound, Senju Clan Compound, and Uzumaki clan compound.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, Xihuo, and other Konoha leaders divided their teams to investigate the four locations as rain fell over the village.
• Kagami Uchiha took shelter against the Nine-Tails’ fur and offered to share his lunchbox, while the Nine-Tails tolerated his company.

Xihuo and Konoha’s forces discovered Jashin Cult members abducting children from the Uchiha orphanage, and Xihuo pursued them toward Black Zetsu’s hiding place. Black Zetsu escaped, but Xihuo rescued the children and killed the abductors, leaving his main body to confront Black Zetsu later.

• Shimura Danzō and Xihuo found unconscious children being stuffed into sacks at the Uchiha orphanage by three Jashin Cult members.
• Xihuo handed Eight-Tails to Shimura Danzō, activated his orange-red Susanoo, and chased the abductors as they fled with children strapped to their backs.
• Black Zetsu recognized the Susanoo, realized Xihuo was the threat he had overlooked, and fled with Leaf Dragon.
• Xihuo used [Netherworld] to seize the area, killed the Jashin Cult members and their parasitic entities, and rescued the children.
• Xihuo watched the direction Black Zetsu had fled and anticipated that his main body would welcome him later.

Xihuo rescued the Uchiha children and concealed his identity from Shimura Danzō, while Tsunade defeated an infected ninja at Konoha Hospital. When Senju Toka went missing in the rain and the Nine-Tails sensed she was dying, Kagami Uchiha released his restraints and set out with the Nine-Tails to find her.

• Xihuo comforted the rescued Uchiha children, and a child knocked off his mask, briefly revealing his face to Shimura Danzō before he covered it again.
• Shimura Danzō and Xihuo left the children with the Uchiha and hurried to reinforce another battlefield.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi found Tsunade overpowering an infected ninja and sealing him with a scroll from Mito Uzumaki.
• Senju Toka packed food for Kagami Uchiha and the Nine-Tails, then went out into the heavy rain and encountered several furtive figures.
• Kagami Uchiha sensed that something was wrong, and the Nine-Tails told him Senju Toka was dying.
• Kagami Uchiha released the Nine-Tails' restraints, climbed onto his back, and vowed to kill whoever had harmed Senju Toka.

Kagami Uchiha found Senju Toka gravely wounded and accused Shimura Danzō of betraying Konoha, but the Nine-Tails healed her by entering her body. Senju Toka survived as the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and appeared in the tailed beasts’ mental world.

• Kagami Uchiha rode the Nine-Tails to the Senju Clan Compound and followed a trail of blood to a damaged gate.
• Kagami Uchiha found Senju Toka wounded beside Shimura Danzō, Xihuo, and another unfamiliar figure, and demanded to know what had happened.
• Shimura Danzō and Xihuo explained that Jashin Cult followers had wounded Senju Toka and that they had come to help.
• The Nine-Tails entered Senju Toka’s wound, healed her, and made her the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
• The Eight-Tails mocked the Nine-Tails in the mental world, where Senju Toka appeared, confused about where she was.