Chapter Summaries

Master of Open Stratagems urged the prisoners to escape Hozuki Castle, but Granny Chiyo explained that Mujo’s Fire Release: Heavenly Prison would ignite them if they left his control. After regaining his composure, Master of Open Stratagems steadied the prisoners and began to present a solution.

• Master of Open Stratagems told the rogue ninja prisoners to find a way out, but they stayed still and watched him uneasily.
• Granny Chiyo explained that Mujo’s Fire Release: Heavenly Prison sealed chakra and planted restrictions that would set prisoners ablaze if they escaped his control.
• Master of Open Stratagems worried that he too carried a restriction and doubted whether the Soulwood Casket could resurrect NPCs if they died.
• Granny Chiyo rebuked Master of Open Stratagems for letting his anxiety show and urged him to steady the prisoners as their leader.
• Master of Open Stratagems apologized to everyone, regained his composure, and announced that he had a way to handle the danger.

Master of Open Stratagems persuaded Granny Chiyo to capture the injured Mujo, hoping to lift their restrictions and learn where Gaara was. While Granny Chiyo went after Mujo, Master of Open Stratagems led the Hidden Jun Village players in holding off Hozuki Castle’s elite guards as the siege pressed from outside.

• Mujo taunted the trapped group from within Hozuki Castle before Ghost Lantern Guards poured out to attack them.
• Master of Open Stratagems proposed capturing Mujo, who had placed their restrictions, and argued that his injuries and knowledge of Gaara made him their best target.
• Granny Chiyo agreed to pursue Mujo while Master of Open Stratagems directed his summoned players to hold back the guards.
• The elite Ghost Lantern Guards clashed with the less-disciplined Hidden Jun Village players, whose fearlessness kept them fighting despite heavy losses.

Master of Open Stratagems used the Soulwood Casket to revive Hozuki Prison rogue ninja, whose restored freedom and renewed morale let them push back the Ghost Lantern Guards. Meanwhile, Mujo used Fire Release: Great Fire Heavenly Prison to hold off the Allied Shinobi Forces at one section of Hozuki Castle’s walls, but enemy troops captured other sections and forced him to rush between threats.

• Master of Open Stratagems watched as the Soulwood Casket revived a fallen rogue ninja, who discovered that the Fire Release: Heavenly Prison restriction on his chakra was gone.
• The revived rogue ninja and other prisoners fought fiercely, and some fled while Master of Open Stratagems let them go; their assault broke the Ghost Lantern Guards’ morale and pushed them back.
• Mujo unleashed Fire Release: Great Fire Heavenly Prison from his crimson arm, sealing the chakra of Allied Shinobi Forces members who were struck by its chains.
• The Allied Shinobi Forces gave up attacking Mujo’s heavily defended wall section and occupied other, weaker sections of Hozuki Castle’s walls.
• Mujo rushed between threatened sections to reinforce them, leaving the main battlements in danger whenever he departed.

Mujo triggered the restrictions implanted in the allied soldiers, engulfing them in flames, but the backlash left him badly injured. Granny Chiyo confronted him for Gaara’s location, and the Akatsuki’s Immortal Duo arrived as she blocked Mujo from escaping.

• Mujo ignited the restrictions within the allied soldiers, forcing the besieging troops to retreat while suffering severe injuries from the backlash.
• Granny Chiyo and the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets ambushed Mujo and demanded to know where Gaara was.
• Mujo fought Granny Chiyo while warning that Akatsuki would face trouble if he died.
• Hidan and Kakuzu arrived, mocked Mujo, and took over the fight as Mujo tried to leave.
• Granny Chiyo blocked Mujo’s path and insisted he reveal Gaara’s location.

Hidan challenged Granny Chiyo for Gaara’s whereabouts, but her puppets’ light shield severed his head and sliced his body apart without harming him. The chapter left Hidan in pieces, still displaying his strange immortality.

• Hidan leaped onto the battlements, ordered Mujo to leave, and offered to reveal Gaara’s whereabouts if Granny Chiyo defeated him.
• Granny Chiyo accepted, and Hidan attacked her with his Triple-Bladed Scythe.
• Granny Chiyo used the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets to trap Hidan in a Mechanical Light Shield.
• The contracting shield caught Hidan by the neck and severed his head, but he remained alive and taunted Granny Chiyo.
• Granny Chiyo reshaped the shield into cutting fragments that sliced Hidan’s body into pieces, yet no blood flowed and he remained unharmed.

Granny Chiyo’s Mechanical Light Shield Block sliced Hidan apart, but she was shocked when he remained alive and Kakuzu revealed his body was made resilient by Earth Grudge Fear. Kakuzu reassembled Hidan, leaving both men ready to continue facing Granny Chiyo.

• Granny Chiyo used the Mechanical Light Shield Block to cut Hidan into pieces, but his body parts kept moving and his head continued to speak.
• Kakuzu picked up Hidan’s head and walked toward Granny Chiyo, while the pair argued over Hidan’s repair fee.
• Granny Chiyo attacked Kakuzu with ten threads, but Kakuzu kept advancing as his limbs and torso twisted and tore apart.
• Kakuzu’s black strands restored his damaged body, and Hidan explained that the strands were called Earth Grudge Fear before Kakuzu silenced him.
• Kakuzu used Earth Grudge Fear to gather and stitch Hidan’s body back together, then reattached his head to his neck.

Hidan and Granny Chiyo fought fiercely on the city wall, with Hidan’s regenerative power and strength countering her puppet techniques. The battle continued as Hidan was blasted backward and hurled the broken pieces of his scythe at the retreating Granny Chiyo.

• Hidan recovered from his injuries, retrieved his Triple-Bladed Scythe, and attacked Granny Chiyo, whose puppet hands caught its blades.
• Granny Chiyo sent chakra threads at Hidan, but he blocked them with a pitch-black staff and twisted the threads around it.
• Granny Chiyo controlled the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets with one hand while Hidan pulled her toward him with his weapons.
• Granny Chiyo let go of Hidan’s scythe and evaded his pull, then commanded the puppets to slash him with ten chakra blades.
• Hidan used his staff to recover from a backward fall, but the chakra blades sent him flying and broke his Triple-Bladed Scythe.
• While flying backward, Hidan twisted his body and launched the broken scythe blades and its chained shaft at the retreating Granny Chiyo.

Hidan used the Triple-Bladed Scythe and a barrage of fragments to overwhelm Granny Chiyo’s puppet formation, then cut her cheek and obtained her blood. He activated Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood, leaving the outcome of the curse unresolved.

• Granny Chiyo summoned a vast puppet formation to intercept Hidan and the Triple-Bladed Scythe.
• Hidan accelerated the scythe into the formation, then shattered its broken blades into fragments that pierced the puppets.
• Hidan sent a fragment through Granny Chiyo’s defenses and scratched her cheek.
• Hidan reassembled the scythe, revealed that he had targeted Granny Chiyo’s blood, and licked the blood from its blade.
• Hidan invoked Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood.

Hidan used his blood curse technique to fatally wound Granny Chiyo, who detonated her puppets and brought down part of Hozuki Castle's battlements. The Allied Shinobi Forces stormed through the breach, and Kakuzu uncovered Hidan beneath the rubble.

• Hidan performed his ritual and stabbed himself with a long black rod, causing Granny Chiyo to suffer the same wound through the blood he had taken from her.
• Granny Chiyo activated her puppets' self-destruct technique, engulfing herself and Hidan in an explosion that demolished part of Hozuki Castle's battlements.
• The Allied Shinobi Forces charged through the breach as the Ghost Lantern Guards fled and the battle turned into a rout.
• Kakuzu let the forces enter the castle, then used Earth Grudge Fear to uncover Hidan beneath the rubble.
• Hidan, with the rod still embedded in his chest, asked Kakuzu why he had let the forces into the castle.

Kakuzu repaired Hidan after Hidan’s fight with Granny Chiyo, while Hidan waited out the weakened period caused by his Curse Technique. Raijin and Hidden Jun Village’s elite Jonin seized the chance to attack the Immortal Duo, ending the chapter as Raijin summoned a lightning strike and an enormous bird from the storm clouds.

• Kakuzu stitched Hidan’s wounds and removed the black rod from his chest while Hidan recovered from his weakened period.
• Kakuzu guarded Hidan as he explained the limitations of Hidan’s Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood.
• Raijin and the Hidden Jun Village Jonin hid nearby and waited for Hidan to become vulnerable, knowing they could not help Granny Chiyo while Kakuzu guarded him.
• Raijin leaped from hiding with his metal hammer as dark rain clouds gathered overhead.
• Raijin’s attack began with a massive bolt of lightning and an enormous bird descending from the clouds.

Raijin and Azure Bird: Thunderclap battled Kakuzu while Hidan lay helpless, and Raijin urged the allied forces at Hozuki Castle to eliminate the Immortal Duo and prepare a retreat. San Feng joined the fight to test his Five Elements Talismans against Kakuzu, opening with the Zhurong and Gonggong Talismans.

• Raijin rode Azure Bird: Thunderclap into the air and struck Kakuzu with Lightning Release: Thunder Strike, but Kakuzu blocked it with Wind Release: Pressure Damage.
• Azure Bird: Thunderclap attacked with purple flames combining lightning and fire, and Kakuzu countered with Fire Release: Searing Migraine and Wind Release: Pressure Damage.
• Raijin warned the fighters to attack the Immortal Duo while cautioning the allied forces at Hozuki Castle not to advance too far and to clear a path of retreat.
• San Feng charged onto the battlefield with Windwalking Talismans on his feet and challenged Kakuzu with his Five Elements Talismans.
• San Feng activated the Zhurong Talisman and the Gonggong Talisman, and the Zhurong Talisman produced more than a dozen fireballs.

Daoist Master Sanfeng tested his Five Elements Talismans against Kakuzu, who protected Hidan and survived two powerful attacks with Ninjutsu. Sanfeng then unleashed a stack of weaker talismans, and Kakuzu began destroying them with greater ease.

• Daoist Master Sanfeng attacked Kakuzu and Hidan with a Zhurong Talisman and a Gonggong Talisman, creating a formation of explosive fireballs and a surging flood.
• Kakuzu encased himself and Hidan in a hardened shell with Earth Release: Earth Spear and shielded them from the flames with Water Release: Water Curtain.
• The talismans battered the Immortal Duo, shifting Hidan but leaving him within the ritual circle, while Kakuzu held his ground.
• Daoist Master Sanfeng excitedly pulled out a thick stack of talismans and began hurling them at Kakuzu as he studied their effects.
• Kakuzu realized the new talismans were weaker than the first two and calmly destroyed them one after another.

Daoist Master Sanfeng tested his Cursed Seal art against Kakuzu while Corpse Bearer and Bullfighting Master attacked Kakuzu's main body. Raijin spotted One Sword Opens Heaven approaching the rear and joined the assault from above as Kakuzu struggled to handle the pressure.

• Corpse Bearer and Bullfighting Master arrived and agreed to slow Kakuzu while Daoist Master Sanfeng tested his Cursed Seal art.
• Kakuzu separated two Earth Grudge Fear creatures from his shoulders to block them, and Daoist Master Sanfeng transformed with a Vermilion Bird phantom to attack the creatures.
• Raijin recognized the Vermilion Bird phantom from Azure Bird: Thunderclap's reaction, spotted One Sword Opens Heaven sneaking toward the battlefield, and dived down with his hammer.
• Daoist Master Sanfeng's Vermilion Bird phantom traded wind and fire attacks with Kakuzu's creatures while Corpse Bearer and Bullfighting Master advanced on Kakuzu.
• Kakuzu launched his detached arms at them, but their Eight Trigrams Palm attacks restricted the fists and left Kakuzu scrambling.

Kakuzu used Earth Grudge Fear to push Corpse Bearer's duo away, but they activated the Eight Gates Released Formation and closed in again. Kakuzu revealed his full strength and unleashed a combined Fire and Wind Release attack as San Feng and the two Jonin prepared their counterattacks.

• Kakuzu sent Earth Grudge Fear tentacles bursting from the ground to drive Corpse Bearer's duo away from him.
• Corpse Bearer opened six gates and Bullfighting Master opened five, then they used their speed and attacks to overcome the tentacles and approach Kakuzu.
• Kakuzu tore off his robe, revealed the masks and Earth Grudge Fear covering his body, and merged two masked creatures into a larger one.
• Kakuzu declared that all enemies he acknowledged must die, then used Combined Ninjutsu: Flame Wind Turbulence to unleash a sea of flames.
• San Feng strengthened his Vermilion Bird phantom and countered with fierce winds and flames while One Sword Opens Heaven and Raijin launched their attacks from behind.

Raijin exposed Kakuzu’s five hearts and focused his attack on the incapacitated Hidan, while Kakuzu rushed to stop him. Kakuzu used his Lightning Release heart as a shield, but Raijin and Azure Bird: Thunderclap destroyed it, leaving Kakuzu badly wounded.

• Raijin warned his companions that Kakuzu’s five masked Earth Grudge Fear forms held the hearts sustaining his life.
• Kakuzu charged at Raijin, who ignored him and continued his attack on Hidan.
• Kakuzu used his severed arm and Earth Grudge Fear tendrils to retrieve the Lightning Release masked creature and throw it in Raijin’s path.
• Raijin’s lightning struck the creature, which absorbed the attack and swelled to several times its size.
• Azure Bird: Thunderclap struck the overfilled creature with a purple-flame lightning sphere, vaporizing it and its heart.
• Kakuzu suffered the heart’s destruction and spat black blood as he charged.

Kakuzu used Earth Grudge Fear to restrain Raijin and Azure Bird: Thunderclap while preparing his Heart Seizure technique. Raijin’s allies rushed to help, but they were occupied fighting Kakuzu’s masked creatures and could not stop him.

• Kakuzu launched Earth Grudge Fear tendrils at Raijin and Azure Bird: Thunderclap to hold them in place.
• Raijin struck the tendrils with lightning and hurled a lightning spear at Kakuzu while Azure Bird: Thunderclap fired electrified feathers and struggled to break free.
• Kakuzu ignored the incoming attacks and maintained his restraint on Raijin as he recited an unknown ninjutsu incantation.
• Corpse Bearer and Bullfighting Master rushed toward Kakuzu, but Raijin and Azure Bird: Thunderclap were already bound.
• Daoist Master Sanfeng fought a fused wind- and fire-mask creature while One Sword Opens Heaven faced two masked creatures, leaving them unable to help as Kakuzu unleashed his secret technique.

Kakuzu killed Raijin with a ranged Heart Extraction technique, then taunted the furious Hidden Jun Village Jonin as they attacked him. The four focused on Kakuzu after seeing Raijin’s stolen heart turned into an Earth Grudge Fear creature.

• Kakuzu used Secret Technique: Heart Extraction to tear out Raijin’s heart, and Raijin warned the others that Kakuzu’s strength would return before dying.
• The Corpse Bearer duo drew their Tetanus Blade and attacked Kakuzu, while the other Jonin saw his injuries and Raijin’s heart incorporated into an Earth Grudge Fear creature.
• Kakuzu repaired his broken body with Earth Grudge Fear and mocked the four Jonin to provoke them and buy Hidan time to recover.
• Daoist Master Sanfeng and One Sword Opens Heaven abandoned their opponents and charged at Kakuzu, joining the Corpse Bearer duo and the fourth Jonin in their assault.

Kakuzu fused his lightning-based Earth Grudge Fear creature with the wind-and-fire creature and unleashed a devastating attack against Corpse Bearer and the others. Meanwhile, Mujo pushed Master of Open Stratagems’s force back into Hozuki Castle’s prison area, where Granny Chiyo emerged from the Soulwood Casket.

• Kakuzu drew Corpse Bearer and the other three away from Hidan while buying time for Hidan to recover.
• Kakuzu merged the lightning-based creature with the wind-and-fire creature, then charged an attack called Earth Grudge Fear: Ultimate Shot.
• Corpse Bearer and the others fled as Kakuzu’s attack engulfed the island’s cliffs in a pillar of light.
• Mujo used Fire Release: Heavenly Prison to turn the battle against Master of Open Stratagems and drive his force back into the prison area.
• Master of Open Stratagems set down the Soulwood Casket, and Granny Chiyo climbed out, complaining that he had left her inside too long.

Granny Chiyo joined the battle inside Hozuki Castle and targeted the injured Mujo, the lord of Hozuki Castle, after learning he was preventing the breakout. Mujo tried to provoke her into a trap, but she charged through his guards and attacked him with the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets, leaving him warning her not to force a fight to the death.

• Granny Chiyo set out for the front, but the Master of Open Stratagems persuaded her to help break the trapped fighters out first.
• The Master of Open Stratagems pointed out Mujo, the lord of Hozuki Castle, who was holding the Ghost Lantern Guards’ formation together.
• Mujo spotted Granny Chiyo and decided to stall for time rather than face her while injured.
• Mujo provoked Granny Chiyo, but she rushed through the guards behind a barrier formed by the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets.
• Granny Chiyo’s attack caught Mujo off guard, and he barely defended himself before warning her not to force a fight to the death.

Granny Chiyo fought Mujo, who tried to stop her by claiming he held Sunagakure's future successors hostage. When Mujo's captives were brought in, Chiyo saw Kankuro and Temari but not Gaara, and continued attacking as Mujo prepared to retaliate.

• Granny Chiyo stopped attacking when Mujo claimed he knew where Gaara was, and Mujo used the pause to demand an apology and her departure.
• Granny Chiyo charged Mujo when he refused to reveal Gaara's location, forcing him to order his subordinates to bring out his captives.
• Mujo's guards brought Naruto Uzumaki, Kankuro, Temari, and other youths, all bound by Fire Release: Heavenly Prison.
• Granny Chiyo spotted Kankuro and Temari but failed to find Gaara, so she resumed her assault despite Mujo's threats.
• Mujo said Chiyo had forced his hand and put his remaining thumb to his mouth.