Recaps

Ruri’s team reached the front line, learned that about three hundred enemies remained, and devised a way to locate their hidden main force. They prepared to attack the fifty-person vanguard while letting a few survivors lead them back to the enemy.

• Ruri’s team observed the enemy vanguard and, after sneaking into the camp, reunited with Hizashi Hyuga, who explained that their forces had dwindled and the enemy’s main force remained hidden.
• Hizashi told Kakashi and the others that about three hundred enemies remained and that none were Jinchūriki or stronger than Special Jōnin, leading Ruri to judge that their group could defeat them.
• Ruri proposed attacking the fifty-person vanguard to draw out the enemy’s main force, and Kakashi approved the plan after the group rested and ate.
• Hizashi cooked a meal for the weary team, and Ruri encouraged him to reunite with Meiling and Neji after the mission.
• Ruri told Hizashi that the five children planned to attack the vanguard, and Hizashi objected to sending them into battle before accepting that Ruri could handle the enemies.
• Hizashi proposed killing most of the vanguard but leaving four or five alive to flee back to the main force, and Kakashi approved the plan.
• Kakashi told Ruri and the others to prepare to attack, reminding them to leave a few enemies alive to escape.

Kakashi, Ruri, Uchiha Itachi, Uzuki Yugao, and Yamato left Hizashi Hyuga’s camp to confront the enemy and find their main force. As the battle dwindled, Ruri and his companions used their skills against the remaining fighters, while Ruri faced another group of attackers.

• Kakashi and the others accepted Hizashi Hyuga’s signal flare and left camp to face the enemy, planning to leave a few opponents alive to reveal the main force’s location.
• After seeing the costly frontline battle, Kakashi arranged for the other fighters to withdraw, and Ruri proposed stalling the enemy until their drug-enhanced strength faded.
• Kakashi led the five fighters against the enemy force, whose captain mocked them for being young and outnumbered.
• Ruri killed several enemies and fought a powerful, drug-enhanced opponent, trapping him in ice before striking him with Eight Trigrams Palm: Two Hundred and Fifty-Six Palms.
• Ruri used a Shadow Clone to fool three approaching enemies, then taunted them after they struck the decoy.
• Uzuki Yugao created three shadow clones and killed four or five enemies who had assumed she was an easy target.
• Kakashi’s group defeated their opponents, leaving fewer than fifteen enemies while Ruri’s group remained unharmed.
• Three enemies charged Ruri with their weapons raised, and Ruri remarked that his opponents always attacked that way.

Ruri tricked three enemies into leading Kakashi’s team to their concealed main force, then reunited with his companions to plan an attack. The arc ended with Uzuki Yugao proposing that they split into a strong squad and a weak squad, with the stronger one aiding the weaker after its fight.

• Ruri incapacitated three enemies with Heavenly Spin, then pretended he planned to torture them so they would flee and seek their main force.
• Ruri baited the survivors into believing his group knew their numbers, while Kakashi’s team prepared to follow them and locate the enemy camp.
• The enemies escaped using substitutes, but Kakashi’s team tracked the real survivors to a remote hideout containing hundreds of enemies.
• Ruri killed the enemy who stayed behind, then waited beneath a tree while reflecting on his lonely college years and resolving to live differently.
• Kakashi and the others returned and told Ruri they had found the concealed camp, hidden among mountains beneath a huge rock.
• Ruri and his companions returned to Hizashi Hyuga’s camp and discussed how their smaller but stronger group could attack the enemy force.
• Ruri proposed provoking the enemy into attacking, but Hizashi warned that the plan was too dangerous, so Kakashi suggested splitting the team into two squads.
• Uzuki Yugao proposed making one squad strong and the other weak, with the stronger squad helping the weaker after defeating its own enemies.

Ruri and his squad rested while Hizashi Hyuga and Kakashi organized their attack, growing closer as they talked about family, training, and their hopes for the future. Kakashi and Hizashi returned with the plan unchanged, and the team prepared to set out in five minutes.

• Hizashi Hyuga approved Uzuki Yugao’s plan and told Ruri and the others to rest while he organized the attack.
• Ruri reflected on how Mei Ling Hyuga and Hizashi had raised him and resolved to care for them as his family.
• Ruri, Uchiha Itachi, Uzuki Yugao, Kakashi, and Yamato discussed training together, protecting one another, and their goals for the future.
• Ruri and his teammates joked about shopping, shared how they spent their free time, and agreed to go on a fishing trip together after the mission.
• Kakashi and Hizashi Hyuga returned to the tent and said a minor accident had delayed them.
• Kakashi confirmed that the attack plan had not changed and told the squad they would set out in five minutes.