Chapter Summaries

Sasuke used evidence of the Council of Elders’ hoarded supplies to persuade fourteen Kumogakure prisoners to return and expose the deception, sparking unrest on the front line. While Darui struggled to contain the dispute, Sasuke led Konoha’s elite troops through a gap in Kumogakure’s defenses.

• Sasuke showed Kumogakure prisoners invoices and memory records proving that the Council of Elders had diverted supplies from the front and prepared an escape route, then offered them a choice between remaining captive or returning with the evidence.
• Takahashi Makoto and thirteen other Kumogakure Shinobi returned to the front, where their records fueled demands to inspect the elders’ warehouse and disputes between Darui’s forces and the wounded soldiers’ supporters.
• Darui tried to seal the records and control the unrest, but the evidence spread among the Shinobi, several companies stopped accepting combat assignments, and clashes broke out near the warehouse.
• Sasuke ordered Konoha’s elite troops to leave camp at night and pass through a gap in the western minefield while the main force stayed behind to suggest that negotiations continued.
• Neji and Kakashi helped the first lightly equipped unit evade a sentry, and Konoha’s troops entered the Land of Lightning’s defensive lines.

Sasuke led Konoha’s light force in a covert raid that captured a Kumogakure fortress while recording its internal disputes and protecting the wounded. The force continued toward a major town, where a courier warned that three thousand civilians were beneath a Lightning Release Barrier.

• Sasuke assigned the Hyuga, Nara, ANBU, and Uchiha teams to disable the fortress defenses, while Yamada Naoto recorded the operation.
• Neji identified wounded soldiers behind the inner gate, and Shikaku wrote surrender terms that persuaded a captured guard to open it.
• Kakashi and Neji subdued the defenders, while Sasuke confronted a Kumogakure Jonin who had tried to block the wounded soldiers’ escape.
• Takahashi Makoto challenged the garrison over the Soldier Pills, and several Kumogakure shinobi laid down their weapons rather than fight for the elders’ warehouse.
• Sasuke left a sealing squad to guard the prisoners and sent the main force onward while the captured fortress continued broadcasting fake help requests.
• Before dawn, Sasuke’s force reached a major town, where a courier delivered Darui’s warning that three thousand civilians were beneath a Lightning Release Barrier.

Sasuke’s forces captured three strongholds, exposed the Kumogakure elders’ seizure of civilian supplies, and dismantled the hidden sentries guarding the Heavenly Lightning Array. Sasuke shattered its three known cores, but a fourth, unlisted core beneath the Raikage Building threatened the assault on Kumogakure.

• Neji confirmed that Darui’s warning about civilians beneath the first city’s barrier was a delay tactic, and Sasuke used the military order to expose Kumogakure’s planned retreat.
• Kakashi captured the operator rigging the first city’s warehouses with Explosive Tags, while Konoha secured the warehouses and recorded evidence of Kumogakure’s actions against civilians.
• Sasuke’s force intercepted the elders’ private army at the second stronghold, verified that its convoy held stolen supplies, and seized ledgers bearing three elders’ private seals.
• The garrison at the second stronghold agreed to disarm under three-way supervision, and the third stronghold surrendered its weapons and warehouse records.
• Neji, Kakashi, Guy, and the ANBU neutralized the hidden sentries around the Heavenly Lightning Array without alerting its cores.
• Sasuke used Amaterasu to burn the array’s three known cores, but Darui learned that an unlisted fourth core lay beneath the Raikage Building.

Sasuke and Konoha forces seized control of Kumogakure after Darui and A stopped the Council of Elders from detonating explosive-laced lightning lines through civilian areas. A signed the surrender, but Sasuke then presented a separate New Lightning-Leaf Treaty, whose first clause enraged him.

• Neji discovered that the Council of Elders had wired explosive tags into Kumogakure’s evacuation zones, and Sasuke severed the Heavenly Lightning Array’s connections while Konoha exposed the elders’ seals.
• Darui defied the elders’ overseers, opened the gate under a provisional rescue agreement, and let the Konoha Sealing Squad enter Kumogakure.
• A confronted the elders, while Sasuke and his allies disabled the main array core and diverted its stored lightning away from the residential district.
• After Konoha took control of Kumogakure’s strongholds and military facilities, A ordered his troops to cease resistance and signed the instrument of surrender.
• Sasuke presented A with the New Lightning-Leaf Treaty, and A smashed the Raikage Seal against the steps after reading its first clause.

Sasuke forced A to negotiate Konoha’s surrender terms under public scrutiny, exposing a Kumogakure elder’s theft of lightning-iron and demanding territory, compensation, and secret jutsu. The talks ended with A charging Sasuke rather than agreeing to hand over the Lightning Release Armor scrolls.

• A challenged Konoha’s treaty demands and insisted on verifying Kumogakure’s civilians and property, while Sasuke opened the negotiations to the other villages and the Land of Lightning’s Daimyo’s Residence.
• Sasuke showed the assembled witnesses that Konoha had protected residential areas and recorded the handling of Kumogakure’s wounded and supplies.
• Sasuke exposed an elder’s secret sale of lightning-iron using ledgers and extracted memories; when the elder offered to identify other thieves, Sasuke severed his hand, and A ordered Darui not to intervene.
• Shikaku demanded that Kumogakure cede the northern mining area and pay ten billion ryo in compensation, and A disputed the terms.
• Sasuke demanded Kumogakure hand over the Lightning Release Armor scrolls, and A charged at him after refusing.

Sasuke subdued Raikage A after A attacked him during Kumogakure’s surrender negotiations, then demonstrated his power by cutting the mountaintop off Raikage Mountain. With Kumogakure’s leaders urging him to protect the village and Killer B asking him to stop fighting, A returned to the treaty table, where he hesitated over signing.

• A attacked Sasuke during the surrender negotiations, and Sasuke restrained him while Shikaku recorded the breach of the armistice.
• Darui and other Kumogakure shinobi held back from intervening as Sasuke and the other nations warned A against restarting the war.
• A charged Sasuke again, but Susanoo captured him and sliced the mountaintop off Raikage Mountain to demonstrate the cost of continued resistance.
• Dodai, Darui, and Killer Bee's aide urged A to surrender, while A kicked the corrupt elder down the steps and ordered his arrest.
• A demanded to see Killer B before signing, and B urged him to stop fighting and save the village's people.
• A returned to the treaty table and took a new pen, but hesitated to sign as he asked Sasuke what else Kumogakure would have to do.

Sasuke and Konoha secured Kumogakure’s surrender through the New Lightning-Leaf Treaty, and A publicly apologized for Kumogakure’s crimes against the Hyuga. As the Konoha forces withdrew, Sasuke received a message from Tsunade asking whether Konoha still needed a Hokage.

• A signed and stamped the treaty, including reparations, territorial withdrawal, and a three-party monitoring seal for Killer B.
• Hiashi and Neji presented evidence of Kumogakure’s research on Hizashi’s remains, and A apologized on Kumogakure’s behalf.
• A agreed to suspend officials involved in the case, return Hizashi’s belongings, destroy the records, and compensate the Hyuga families.
• Konoha confiscated and inventoried military supplies and private funds, then began withdrawing its army under the treaty.
• Neji thanked Sasuke for his help, and Sasuke told him to keep the debt on record.
• Kakashi gave Sasuke a message from Tsunade asking to discuss whether Konoha still needed a Hokage.

Sasuke returned to Konoha after defeating Kumogakure, organized war spoils and compensation for the fallen and wounded, and presented the peace treaty to the villagers. As Tsunade wondered whether Konoha still needed a Hokage, the Daimyo’s envoy appointed Sasuke Shinobi World Regent, granting him authority to bypass her in wartime affairs.

• Sasuke ordered the returning army to enter Konoha openly and prioritized payments from Kumogakure’s private treasury for the families of fallen shinobi, disabled shinobi, and war orphans.
• Naruto welcomed Sasuke and learned that Konoha had lost thirteen shinobi and suffered forty-seven heavily injured; Neji returned Hizashi’s forehead protector to Hiashi and reported Kumogakure’s apology.
• Sasuke announced the New Lightning-Leaf Treaty, its terms, and the compensation plan to the villagers, while Tsunade watched and recognized that the people were cheering for him.
• Yamazaki Masanari delivered the Daimyo’s decree appointing Sasuke Shinobi World Regent and granting him authority to bypass the Hokage in wartime military and political affairs.

Sasuke accepted the Daimyō’s appointment as Regent and used it to demand more military funding while Tsunade challenged his growing control over Konoha. After proposing wartime consolidation of clan resources, Sasuke prepared laws that would place military and political authority under a new High Command, leaving the Hokage’s role diminished.

• Tsunade questioned the Daimyō’s decree naming Sasuke Regent, but Sasuke accepted it and demanded a thirty-percent increase in Konoha’s military budget.
• Shikaku presented an estimate of revenue from Kumogakure’s reparations and the lightning mines, and Yamazaki Masanari sealed an acknowledgment of receipt.
• At the victory banquet, Sasuke removed the raised platform from his chair and heard clan leaders offer personnel and support while Tsunade argued for more medical funding.
• Sasuke announced that he would propose a Resource Consolidation Act to register and allocate clans’ wartime resources according to their contributions.
• In a secret meeting, Sasuke directed Shikaku to draft a High Command structure that would review military and political orders, then handed him a form titled the Chakra Resource Nationalization Act.

Sasuke secured clan support for a centralized Supreme High Command by trading military funding and positions for registered resource access while protecting clans’ core techniques. Tsunade lost authority over Konoha’s military and finances, then secretly sent Jiraiya a letter, which a Hyuga guard reported to Neji.

• Hiashi, the Inuzuka, and the Aburame negotiated protections and positions in exchange for registering resources, and the other clans followed with their own conditions.
• Kakashi presented records of financial abuses and backed open accounts, while Shikaku described oversight measures and resource allocation rules.
• The clans signed the bill, and Sasuke was elected commander of the newly established Supreme High Command with thirty-seven votes and two abstentions.
• Tsunade objected to the centralization and broke the conference table, but Sasuke ordered resource registration and old supply accounts to proceed.
• Tsunade sent Jiraiya an unregistered secret letter using her personal seal, and a Hyuga guard spotted it and alerted Neji.

Tsunade rallied former Sarutobi allies and retired ANBU to challenge Sasuke's control of hospital medicine and budgets with the Medical Resource Unified Allocation Act. Sasuke approved her emergency meeting request while arranging for it to be recorded and all submitted evidence authenticated.

• Neji reported Tsunade's private-stamp letter to Jiraiya, and Sasuke let it pass while ordering cuts to specialized medicine and suspending hospital budget approvals.
• Tsunade received Jiraiya's reply and drafted the Medical Resource Unified Allocation Act to restore the Medical Department's authority over medicine and hospital budgets.
• Tsunade recruited Kenji Sarutobi and retired ANBU, including Seiya Sarutobi, to support the bill and gather records of hospital supply shortages.
• Neji reported Tsunade's allies and plans to Sasuke, who approved their records request and prepared to record the meeting while allowing her to call it.
• Tsunade submitted an emergency meeting request and received a rubbing of a draft military fund transfer; Sasuke authorized the meeting, while the acknowledgment required evidence authentication and recording.

Sasuke and the Joint Law Enforcement Department stopped Jiraiya from entering Konoha and exposed his irregular use of intelligence funds. Jiraiya was stripped of his Konoha status and left the country, while Sasuke prepared to announce a High Command reorganization.

• Sasuke's unit blocked Jiraiya's summoning and surrounded him at the border, citing his armed group's checkpoint violations and damage to the sealed door.
• Sasuke and Shikaku presented records showing that Jiraiya had reimbursed personal travel and entertainment expenses as intelligence costs, prompting several of his followers to surrender their weapons.
• The Joint Law Enforcement Department suspended Jiraiya's ninja status and access rights under the Wartime Safety Regulations, and Sasuke ordered him to leave within one shichen.
• Five of Jiraiya's seven former subordinates laid down their weapons, and Jiraiya crossed the border after Sasuke warned him not to return to Konoha-controlled territory.
• Sasuke signed the disposition record and ordered notice of the High Command Reorganization Assembly, saying Konoha would learn whose orders it followed.

Sasuke formalized Konoha’s High Command restructuring and secured oaths from the clans, ANBU, and shinobi under the Will of Sasuke. As the assembly ended, a secret message from the Akatsuki warned that they had come for the Nine-Tails.

• Tsunade challenged Sasuke’s removal of the Will of Fire from military orders, but he told her the assembly and restructuring already had the necessary approvals.
• Shikaku announced the High Command’s authority over defense, intelligence, ANBU, finances, and wartime personnel affairs, and the clans swore allegiance while retaining negotiated protections and review rights.
• Kakashi reorganized ANBU into the High Command Special Operations Unit, with new procedures for registering, reviewing, and authorizing missions.
• Naruto recited the Will of Sasuke, which protected civilians and comrades and allowed shinobi to refuse unregistered secret-massacre orders or challenge unlawful commands.
• Neji presented the Joint Law Enforcement Department’s oversight rules, and Fugaku surrendered the old Military Police seal as the Uchiha accepted joint governance.
• Tsunade stamped the restructuring documents, then Neji delivered Sasuke an Akatsuki message bearing a bloodstained Konoha Forehead Protector and the warning, “Nine-Tails. We've come to take him.”

Sasuke prepared Konoha for an Akatsuki assault while investigating signs that Obito was probing Itachi’s sealed eye. Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain toward Konoha, and the chapter ended as one Pain body reached the village’s outer barrier.

• Sasuke ordered reconnaissance, reinforced Konoha’s defenses, and sent Naruto to learn the underground shelter routes under Fugaku’s protection.
• Neji identified the delivered Forehead Protector as belonging to a missing border patrol shinobi, and Sasuke withdrew fixed perimeter posts while Kakashi and Guy led a reconnaissance team.
• Sasuke moved Itachi to a sealed underground chamber and disguised the weakening seal around his eye to lure Obito into making contact.
• Nagato and Obito agreed to attack Konoha, with Pain tasked with suppressing its main forces while Obito targeted Naruto and Itachi’s Mangekyo.
• Sasuke ordered a full alert after the Malice Perception Scroll detected danger from the Land of Rain, and the Heavenly Net showed six chakra sources approaching before its high-altitude Array Discs went dark.
• The first Pain body landed atop a barrier pillar on Konoha’s outskirts.

As Pain’s Six Paths breached Konoha’s barrier, Sasuke ordered civilians evacuated and defenders withdrawn while High Command tracked the attackers and prepared layered traps. The Paths entered the village, and Sasuke waited for all six to reach the first trap network before triggering it.

• The Deva Path destroyed three concealed outposts with Shinra Tensei, and Sasuke ordered border defenders to retreat to Konoha’s second defensive line.
• Sasuke issued an evacuation order, while Neji detained Kenji Sarutobi for obstructing civilians and inciting unrest.
• Hyuga surveillance detected unidentified spores moving through underground pipes, and Sasuke ordered the guards to mark them while secretly opening a passage for the intruder.
• The Six Paths entered Konoha and attacked empty buildings as High Command measured their abilities and prepared traps across the village.
• Sasuke ordered the combat personnel to withdraw and told them to wait until all six Paths entered the first explosive network before detonating it.

Konoha used the Akatsuki’s attack on Sunagakure and its invasion of Konoha to expose the organization’s crimes and funding while gathering intelligence on Pain’s Six Paths. As the public turned against the Akatsuki, Sasuke prepared to exploit what the defense had learned and bait Obito toward Naruto’s disclosed location.

• Tsunade received Sunagakure’s report that the Akatsuki had abducted Gaara, and Sasuke arranged medical aid and flying ninja beasts while refusing to divert Konoha’s defenders.
• Sasuke secured Sunagakure’s attack records and broadcast the assaults, the Akatsuki’s declaration, and Kakuzu’s ledger to the public water mirrors.
• Sasuke publicly designated the Akatsuki a transnational armed criminal organization, challenged Pain over the ledger’s assassination commissions, and revoked Pain’s speaking privileges.
• Sasuke broadcast evidence that Kenji Sarutobi had obstructed civilian evacuation, and law enforcement escorted Kenji away after detaining him.
• Konoha’s command analyzed the Six Paths as they dismantled sensing tags, identifying Asura Path’s mechanical weapons and relaying tactical guidance to the defenders.
• Neji reported that Obito had changed routes toward Root’s former base, so Sasuke ordered a warning-tag gap opened as bait near Naruto’s disclosed placement site.

Sasuke exposed how Hanzō, Danzo, and Obito had manipulated Nagato and Yahiko’s deaths, then confronted Nagato and Konan over Nagato’s crimes. Nagato used Rinne Rebirth to revive Konoha’s fallen shinobi and died, leaving Sasuke to take his Rinnegan.

• Sasuke revealed evidence and a vision showing Hanzō, Danzo, and Obito had arranged Yahiko’s death and steered Nagato toward war.
• Sasuke offered terms to spare Amegakure’s residents and retain its autonomy, while Konan tried to defend Nagato and Nagato refused to surrender.
• Obito appeared to take Nagato’s Rinnegan, but Sasuke blocked him with Amaterasu and challenged him over his role in Yahiko’s death.
• Nagato began using Rinne Rebirth to revive the people killed in Konoha, despite Konan’s pleas and knowing the jutsu would kill him.
• After Nagato died, Sasuke took his Rinnegan, while the revived shinobi began breathing again among Konoha’s ruins.

After Nagato died saving Konoha’s casualties, Sasuke seized the Rinnegan, forced Konan to submit to an investigation, and publicly announced Konoha’s handling of the attack. The Rinnegan then opened inside its sealed Culture Dish, and Nagato’s voice revealed that it did not belong to him.

• Sasuke restrained Konan and gave her a choice between surrendering to Konoha’s investigation or allowing Konoha to take control of Amegakure’s defense.
• Sasuke publicly confirmed Nagato’s death, Konoha’s restored casualty count, and the High Command’s custody of the Rinnegan.
• Naruto asked that Nagato’s name appear on both the Crime Archive and the Resurrection List, and Sasuke agreed to record the case and evidence publicly.
• Sasuke removed Nagato’s Rinnegan and sealed it in a Culture Dish while Konan vowed to protect Amegakure.
• Sasuke told Naruto that Obito had taken the body buried at the discovered coordinates and would make it stand again.
• The Rinnegan opened inside the Culture Dish, and Nagato’s voice told Sasuke that the eyes did not belong to him.

Sasuke sealed and removed Nagato’s Rinnegan, forcing Konan to accept Konoha’s takeover of Amegakure in exchange for preserving its internal management. As Black Zetsu warned that the eyes would bring new enemies, Nagato’s unfinished message revealed that their true master was in Konoha.

• Nagato’s voice said the Rinnegan did not belong to him, but Sasuke sealed the eyes and argued that Nagato’s power did not erase his responsibility for the deaths he caused.
• Konan threatened to destroy the Hollow Tree, but Sasuke explained that his seals would kill Nagato first and presented terms for Amegakure’s surrender to Konoha.
• Konan signed the agreement, and Sasuke removed Nagato’s Rinnegan while Konan promised to protect Amegakure.
• Sasuke ordered the Sealing Squad to secure the eyes and agreed to give Nagato a grave and keep his corpse off public display.
• Black Zetsu warned Sasuke that taking the Rinnegan would summon enemies, and Nagato’s unfinished message revealed that their true master was in Konoha.

Sasuke forced Konan to sign an agreement placing Amegakure under Konoha’s supervision while preserving its local administration, and arranged for Nagato’s death and the terms to be made public. As Sasuke took the Rinnegan back to Konoha, an unknown voice warned that eyes beneath Konoha were watching him, and an Uchiha insignia appeared on the seal.

• Sasuke told Konan that Nagato’s chakra message identified the true master of the Rinnegan as being in Konoha, then insisted Nagato’s body be taken for safekeeping and funeral rites.
• Sasuke used a Water Mirror to reveal Amegakure and ordered Nagato’s death announced, then presented Konan with terms for Konoha’s supervision of the village.
• Konan signed the agreement after Sasuke arranged to publish its full text and ordered Nagato’s crimes and final rescue act recorded separately.
• Sasuke arranged Konan’s escorted interrogation about Akatsuki’s funding, personnel, and operations, and she agreed to cooperate to protect Amegakure’s agreement.
• The Rinnegan broke free inside its Culture Dish and an unfamiliar voice warned Sasuke that eyes beneath Konoha were watching him.
• Sasuke covered the Culture Dish with black flames and picked it up after the Rinnegan closed, while an Uchiha clan insignia surfaced on the seal.