Chapter Summaries

Shinji defeated Kakashi in a staged taijutsu demonstration before taking Sasuke away, while hinting that Sasuke’s past had been arranged by someone and that Kakashi should not pursue the truth yet. Tobi enjoyed Kakashi’s humiliation and returned to the group with his familiar excuse about getting lost while taking a dump.

• Shinji beat Kakashi in front of Sasuke, then helped him up and told him that someone had already arranged everything for Sasuke.
• Sasuke said goodbye to Kakashi and left with Shinji, promising to return stronger.
• Shinji completed Obito’s bond mission, collected 10,000 Cursed Soul Points, and decided to save them to develop domains.
• Tobi watched Kakashi’s helplessness with satisfaction and decided his revenge was only beginning.
• Tobi rejoined the group claiming he had gotten lost while taking a dump, and Shinji told him to use a different excuse next time.

After Iwagakure’s defeat, the Five Great Shinobi Villages weighed cooperation against the cursed spirits while the Land of Demons became the site of a new bargain. A gray-haired woman offered Shanhu Mōryō’s soul in exchange for ten thousand human souls and information about the demon’s body.

• News of the Tsuchikage’s death spread, and the weakened Iwagakure secured support from Konoha and Kumogakure by offering gifts.
• The other great Shinobi Villages began discussing a united campaign against the cursed spirits, but disagreements over contributions and leadership stalled their plans.
• In the Land of Demons, Yomi broke Mōryō’s seal and found a gray-haired woman inside instead of the demon.
• The woman killed Yomi with a burst of lava and explained that Mōryō’s soul could provide Shanhu with a controllable body.
• The woman demanded ten thousand human souls from Shanhu in exchange for Mōryō’s soul and the location of its body, and Shanhu agreed.

Shanhu slaughtered villages to fill a purple stone with souls, while Shion sought help after foreseeing mass deaths. Shinji and his group arrived at Little Pigeon Pool and witnessed local thugs attacking four women, prompting Shinji to condemn them.

• Shanhu avoided the nearest village and massacred another, sending its souls into the purple stone to meet the gray-haired woman's demand.
• Shion woke from a vision of widespread death and decided to seek outside help, appealing to several great nations.
• Konoha sent an investigative squad, and massacres near the borders of the Land of Demons later prompted Iwagakure and Sunagakure to dispatch support squads.
• Shinji and his group stopped at Little Pigeon Pool, where they saw nine thugs harassing and beating four women.
• Shinji coldly declared that the attackers deserved to die.

Shinji killed the men who were assaulting four women in Little Pigeon Pool, healed the victims, and left with Sasuke. When hundreds of thugs tracked them down at a restaurant, Hidan went outside to fight them while Shinji and the others continued eating.

• Shinji killed nine members of the Sweetwater Nine-Headed Dragon gang after they attacked four women, then healed the women with Reverse Cursed Technique: Healing.
• The bystanders applauded Shinji, and Sasuke followed him as they left to find somewhere else to eat.
• Hundreds of armed thugs surrounded the shop where Shinji and his companions were eating.
• Shinji agreed to let Hidan sacrifice the thugs, provided they did not disturb his meal.
• Hidan took the Bloody Triple-Bladed Scythe from Tobi and cut through the crowd, leaving the ground covered in blood.

Hidan slaughtered the gang at Little Pigeon Pool, and Sasuke burned their bodies with Amaterasu, though Shinji knew more evil remained. Shanhu and Mr. Enemy then attacked a village to gather human souls, where a coalition of Ninja confronted them with heat-resistant puppets.

• Hidan killed the gang members at Little Pigeon Pool and completed his Sacrificial Ritual while Shinji watched.
• Shinji told Sasuke to burn the corpses with Amaterasu, and Sasuke incinerated them without letting the flames spread beyond the ritual pattern.
• Shanhu and Mr. Enemy agreed to gather enough human souls for a stone and avoid confronting the Ninja until Shanhu had a new body.
• Shanhu dropped into the village and burned nearby people, sending the villagers fleeing.
• Ninja from Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure arrived and surrounded Shanhu, while the Sunagakure team attacked with heat-resistant puppets.

Shanhu’s lava attacks devastated the village as the allied shinobi fought to stop him, and Namiashi Raidō wounded him with a lightning-fast sword strike. Shanhu then trapped the survivors in his domain, where guaranteed-hit lava pillars killed several shinobi, leaving Raidō to decide what to do next.

• Sunagakure puppeteers restrained Shanhu, but the allies’ attacks broke his Coral Reef defense and triggered a lava eruption that killed a Konoha ninja and an Iwagakure ninja.
• Namiashi Raidō sent Aoba Yamashiro to rescue villagers while the others continued fighting Shanhu.
• Shanhu destroyed the Sunagakure puppets with lava, and the Iwagakure Elite Ninja trapped him in a swamp so Namiashi Raidō could cut off his arm and damage his head.
• Shanhu opened Twofold Purgatorial Scorching River and killed a Sunagakure ninja, a Konoha ninja, and the Iwagakure Elite Ninja with guaranteed-hit lava pillars.
• Namiashi Raidō urged the remaining shinobi to keep moving and search for a pattern, then made a decision as Shanhu’s domain continued killing them.

Namiashi Raidō used his Deathless Slash against Shanhu, but his blade melted before he could kill him, and Shanhu slaughtered the remaining defenders and villagers. Aoba Yamashiro survived, rescued nearly a hundred villagers, and reported the attack to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who sent the account to Sunagakure and Iwagakure.

• Namiashi Raidō survived Shanhu's lava long enough to reach him, but his blade melted before he could strike Shanhu's third eye, and he burned to ash.
• Shanhu killed the remaining defenders and villagers, filled the Soul Stone with their souls, and left to complete his transaction.
• Aoba Yamashiro fled to carry word of the attack, then returned to the burning village and rescued nearly a hundred people before collapsing.
• Kakashi rescued Aoba Yamashiro and the others and brought them back to Konoha.
• Aoba Yamashiro insisted on reporting to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who recorded the incident and sent copies to Sunagakure and Iwagakure.

Shanhu learned that Shion could locate the monster’s sealed body, but she had fled, so he and Mr. Enemy headed for the Land of Swamps. In Konoha, Tsunade left to find Shion as Jiraiya prepared to become the next Hokage, while Shion was captured by traffickers.

• The purple soul stone told Shanhu that Shion knew where the monster’s body was sealed and could undo the seal, but Shanhu found that she had already fled.
• Mr. Enemy told Shanhu to go to the Land of Swamps and use the monster’s soul to sense the location of its body.
• Tsunade left Konoha with Shizune and Sakura Haruno to meet and assist Shion, while Jiraiya prepared to succeed Hiruzen Sarutobi as Hokage.
• Naruto continued Sage Mode and Nine-Tails training on Mount Myōboku, and Team 7’s three students trained under different mentors.
• Jiraiya sneaked into a women’s bathhouse and fled after being discovered, while Hiruzen Sarutobi watched a remote broadcast of the incident.
• Shion fled the Land of Demons but was drugged and captured by traffickers who planned to sell her and the other captives.

Silver Talisman Boss and his men staged a rescue to lure Shinji’s group into trusting them so they could capture them. Tamamo Hotaru intervened to protect the baby, and Silver Talisman Boss saw that their bait had worked.

• The blond reported that Shinji’s group included two women, a boy, and two pets, and Silver Talisman Boss decided to target them.
• Silver Talisman Boss disguised himself as a farmer with a woman and baby while the blond and his men pretended to attack them.
• The fake attackers knocked the woman down and sent the baby flying toward the group, where Tamamo Hotaru caught her.
• Silver Talisman Boss pretended to fight the blond to protect his family while his men beat him.
• Shinji watched the deception through the Eye of the Heavens and chose not to expose it immediately.
• Tamamo Hotaru told the attackers to stop, and Silver Talisman Boss recognized that she had taken the bait.

Tamamo Hotaru intervened when a gang threatened Boss Yinzha’s family, but the apparent victims’ performance concealed a scheme. After Bright Moon killed the gang’s fighters and captured their blond leader, he implicated Boss Yinzha, who denied knowing him.

• The blond taunted Tamamo Hotaru and tried to provoke her, while Boss Yinzha and the woman pretended to protect their family and urged her to flee.
• Tamamo Hotaru refused to leave, and Bright Moon grew to the size of a young calf, revealing itself as a Ninja Beast.
• Bright Moon bit off the blond’s arm and used Tamamo Style secret art: Moonlit Sharp Claws to kill his four men.
• Bright Moon pinned the blond before he could escape, and Tamamo Hotaru demanded to know who he worked for.
• The blond named Boss Yinzha as his boss, but Boss Yinzha denied knowing him and claimed the gang had targeted his family.

Tamamo Hotaru and Sasuke pursued Yinzha and uncovered his human-trafficking gang, rescuing the kidnapped women and children. After the gang was defeated, Shion introduced herself and learned their names.

• Bright Moon killed the blond man, and Shinji sent Sasuke and Tamamo Hotaru to follow Yinzha and the woman posing as a baby's mother.
• Yinzha returned to his gang and ordered everyone to flee, while Shion secretly loosened the cloth over her mouth.
• Sasuke and Tamamo Hotaru confronted the gang, and Sasuke quickly defeated its members.
• Shion revealed that Yinzha led the traffickers and that the baby's real mother was in the cart, prompting Yinzha and the woman to attack Tamamo Hotaru.
• Sasuke killed Yinzha and the woman with Chidori Sharp Spear, and Tamamo Hotaru freed the captives.
• Shion thanked Tamamo Hotaru and asked her and Sasuke for their names.

After Tamamo Hotaru brought the rescued women to Shinji, he agreed to escort them only after making her write an IOU. Shion asked him to take her to the Land of Birds, but he refused, leaving her to appeal to Tamamo Hotaru with a request to save the world.

• Some of the rescued women left on their own, while the mother who had found her child and Shion followed Tamamo Hotaru and Sasuke toward Shinji.
• Shinji demanded payment for escorting the women, so Tamamo Hotaru reluctantly wrote him an IOU.
• Shion asked Shinji to escort her separately to the Land of Birds, promising someone would pay him there.
• Shinji refused Shion's commission because it offered too little money for too much work and trouble.
• Shion told Tamamo Hotaru that she wanted to save the world and asked for her help, prompting Tamamo Hotaru to wonder if she had hit her head.

Shinji was tricked into accepting a second commission to escort Shion to the Land of Birds, while Shanhu located the shrine sealing the monster’s body in the Land of Swamps. Mr. Enemy’s attack revealed that the shrine’s barrier could be damaged, but he stopped before breaking it because he realized they could not open the seal that way.

• Tamamo Hotaru tricked Shinji into accepting two commissions with one IOU, and Shinji set a strict deadline for payment in the Land of Birds.
• Shinji and his group escorted the rescued women to Sunset Village, where the village chief agreed to shelter them, then set off toward the Land of Birds with Shion.
• The group encountered monsters and bandits on the road, and Sasuke dealt with the threats while Shinji kept Hidan from frightening their clients.
• Shanhu followed the connection between the monster’s soul and body to an ancient shrine in the Land of Swamps.
• Shanhu struck the shrine’s barrier with a Lava Fist, and Mr. Enemy’s Guixu made it ripple before he stopped, saying they could not open the seal that way.

Mr. Enemy stopped trying to destroy the demon’s seal by force and decided to find Shion, the only person who could open it safely. Shion realized she would be hunted, while Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura waited in the Land of Birds for their mission’s target.

• Mr. Enemy realized that breaking the seal by force could destroy the demon’s physical body, so he decided to return to the Land of Demons and find Shion.
• Shion sensed an attack on her father’s seal and told Tamamo Hotaru that the attackers had stopped because brute force would harm the demon.
• Shion explained that she alone could open the seal, and Tamamo Hotaru reassured her that Shinji’s group would protect her.
• Tsunade drank heavily at a tavern in the Land of Birds and drunkenly took liberties with Shizune and Sakura.
• Shizune explained that she had left a recognition code for their mission’s target, then helped Sakura escort Tsunade back to rest.

After Lord Ōsagi’s death, the Land of Birds debated whether Young Master Sagi or Kōmei should succeed him. Shinji’s group followed Shion’s contact code to an inn, where they learned her contact had vanished without paying, leaving them to cover the bill before they could get the message.

• The people of the Land of Birds mourned Lord Ōsagi and speculated about whether Young Master Sagi or Kōmei would become the next Daimyō.
• Shion followed the Konoha contact code and led Shinji’s group to an inn to ask for a message left for 'Miko.'
• The receptionist said the contact had been missing for two days and owed three days’ room fees, which had to be paid before she would share the message.
• Tamamo Hotaru tried to slip away, but Shinji stopped her and told Moqian to keep her from escaping.
• Shion asked Tamamo Hotaru for another loan and offered her mother’s bell as a pledge; Tamamo agreed to pay the inn bill.
• Shinji asked where Tamamo Hotaru had gotten the money, and she hurriedly put it on the counter without answering.

Shion’s group followed a paid message to a run-down inn, hoping to find the people connected to her debt. They found Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura in Room 201, leaving Shinji wondering if he could still get away before the reunion turned troublesome.

• Tamamo Hotaru admitted that her hidden savings were gone, and Shinji told Sasuke to handle the bills from then on.
• The receptionist accepted Shion’s payment, shared a message and directions, and Shion’s group left to search for the people she was seeking.
• Shinji warned Shion to pay him within three days or face consequences, and the group followed clues to an inn between the wealthy and poor districts.
• The innkeeper demanded another fee before directing them to Room 201, and Tamamo Hotaru spent her last banknotes to get the message.
• Hidan kicked down the door to Room 201, where the group found Tsunade asleep with liquor and Shizune and Sakura on the bed; Shinji thought there might still be time to leave.

Shinji demanded payment for escorting Shion, but Tsunade had no money and proposed paying double after they reached Konoha. Shinji refused to delay payment and threatened to stop Shion from leaving unless the debt was paid, leaving Tsunade and Shinji in a tense standoff.

• Shizune recognized Shinji and prepared Tsunade and Sakura to meet him and his group.
• Shion presented her token to Tsunade, who confirmed her identity and learned how she had reached them.
• Shion urgently asked Tsunade for money to pay Shinji within three days, but Tsunade said she had none.
• Tsunade offered to pay Shinji double once they reached Konoha, but Shinji refused to trust her after Shion had already broken her word.
• Shinji said Shion would not leave until the debt was paid, and Tsunade insisted on taking her anyway.

Tsunade negotiated Shion’s departure by promising Shinji two favors, then took Shion, Shizune, and Sakura toward the Inner City to raise travel money. Shion realized Tsunade had offered favors she did not expect Shinji to collect and was left regretting her trip into the outside world.

• Tsunade offered Shinji a favor for taking Shion, and they settled on two after haggling.
• Tsunade left with Shizune and Sakura, while Shinji destroyed Tamamo Hotaru’s IOU and warned her not to interfere again.
• Shinji paid the inn’s unpaid room charges after Tsunade left without settling the bill.
• Tsunade explained to Shizune that she planned to earn travel money in the Inner City before heading toward Konoha.
• Tsunade told Shion that her favors were effectively worthless because she expected to avoid Shinji for decades, leaving Shion dumbfounded.

Tsunade brought Sakura, Shion, and the others to the Daimyō's Mansion in the Land of Birds to request money for their mission, disguising the request as an urgent need to save the world. Sagi agreed to provide funds, but Kōmei interrupted and challenged his authority to give away the mansion's wealth.

• Tsunade told Sakura that they would borrow money from the Daimyō's Mansion in Konoha's name, and Sakura showed her the IOUs from Tsunade's gambling debts.
• Tsunade presented her mission papers to the mansion guards and asked to meet the person making decisions after the former Daimyō Ōsagi's death.
• Sagi received Tsunade and her companions, asked the others to leave, and listened as Tsunade described the mission as a threat to the world's survival.
• Tsunade asked Sagi to lend them money for lost supplies and equipment, and Sagi agreed to provide it without repayment.
• Kōmei entered the reception room and told Sagi he had no right to dispose of the mansion's wealth, accusing him of bringing disgrace upon Ōsagi.

Tsunade and her companions sought money from Young Master Sagi, but Kōmei and the monk Mōsō accused them of fraud. After Tsunade defeated Mōsō’s men, she forced him to reveal that he was a rogue ninja plotting to seize control of the Land of Birds.

• Kōmei interrupted Tsunade’s meeting with Sagi and mocked her request for money, but Sagi ordered Musashi to give her half of his savings.
• Tsunade tried to leave without taking the money, then accepted it as a commission to protect Sagi when Mōsō arrived with armed followers.
• Mōsō attacked Tsunade, and she punched him through a wall before defeating his followers with a single stomp that collapsed the building.
• Shizune and Sakura rescued Sagi and Kōmei, while Tsunade drove off the remaining attackers and confronted Mōsō.
• Tsunade threatened Mōsō, who confessed that he was a rogue ninja rather than a monk.