Recaps

The Akatsuki ambushed Itachi and Ryōta, but Lin Ze returned, killed Black Zetsu, and helped defeat the attackers at great cost. With Ryōta dead and Nagato’s forces scattered, Lin Ze turned toward seeking a way to save Ryōta as the great villages began responding to his power.

• Obito lured Lin Ze to the Land of Demons and offered to revive Rei Uesugi, but Lin Ze rejected the Eye of the Moon Plan and returned to Peach Paradise while sending his soul toward the Land of Water.
• Itachi and Ryōta split up to confront the Akatsuki, with Lin Ze’s body sealed in Ryōta’s scroll, and both were surrounded by attackers.
• Ryōta fought Pain’s forces with help from the White Snake Sage, Tagitsuhime, and summoned snakes, but Black Zetsu used Kotoamatsukami to stop him from using Time-Reversal Trace and killed him.
• Lin Ze emerged from Ryōta’s scroll, pursued Black Zetsu, killed him, and recovered Ryōta’s Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Genbu betrayed Nagato and removed his right Rinnegan, while Nagato and Konan escaped and Hiruko tried to seize Nagato’s remaining eye.
• Lin Ze and his allies defeated Uchiha Hikari and the remaining Paths of Pain, while Itachi killed Sasori and Shinnō and let Kisame and White Tiger escape.
• Lin Ze sealed Hikari in life support and resolved to investigate the Ryūmyaku for a way to save Ryōta, while the surviving Akatsuki put its plan on hold and began regrouping.
• The major Ninja Villages learned of Lin Ze’s power and devastation, and Konoha, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure each took steps to approach Dragon Release Village or address past ties to Lin Ze.

Lin Ze established ties with the Five Great Shinobi Villages while Dragon Release Village’s young ninja competed in Konoha, where Naruto’s sealed memories nearly returned. As Akatsuki regrouped and began hunting tailed beasts, Lin Ze tested the Ryūmyaku and then turned to investigate Hiruko’s renewed experiments.

• Mei Terumi and the Fourth Raikage sent diplomatic overtures to Dragon Release Village, and Lin Ze accepted Konoha’s proposal while promising to protect it from destruction once.
• Lin Ze used the Soul-Devouring Spirit Refinement Technique on twelve men tied to the destruction of Uzumaki survivors, then searched for Obito’s group and investigated the Ryūmyaku at Roran.
• Miyamoto Ichirō selected Kimimaro, Haku, Karin, Jūgo, and Sasuke for the Joint Chunin Ninja Exams and appointed Itachi as their leader.
• Naruto encountered Itachi and Sasuke in Konoha, causing his memory seal to weaken, so Tsunade and Jiraiya arranged for the Yamanaka Clan to reinforce it.
• Sasuke defeated Neji, Kimimaro defeated Gaara, and Haku defeated Naruto after using Ryūchi Cave Sage Art, and Naruto’s memories began resurfacing when he clasped hands with Sasuke, but Jiraiya and Shino Yamanaka sealed them again.
• Obito joined Nagato and Konan to restart the Eye of the Moon Plan, recruited Orochimaru, Deidara, Zabuza Momochi, and Hidan, and sent teams to capture tailed beasts.
• Lin Ze tested the Ryūmyaku with Ryōta’s Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and opened a space-time vortex, but stopped when he could not determine where it led.
• Lin Ze investigated Hiruko at Mount Sumeru and found five captives whose bloodline abilities Hiruko planned to fuse into himself.

Lin Ze stopped Hiruko’s unstable Chimera experiment and prepared Kimimaro to become a miniature Ten-Tails jinchūriki, while Obito’s schemes triggered Naruto’s return to his Uchiha family and a devastating escape from Konoha. As the Five Kage gathered, attacks and abductions across the nations were blamed on Dragon Release Village, leaving the Kage united behind an ultimatum to Lin Ze.

• Lin Ze suppressed Hiruko’s Demon Bud, took his Chimera research, and began planning a mini Ten-Tails for Kimimaro while learning that Itachi’s illness was incurable by modern ninjutsu.
• Obito recruited the Fourth Raikage and worked with Black Zetsu to turn Toneri against Lin Ze, then arranged for Naruto to learn about his sealed Uchiha past.
• Naruto regained his memories and rampaged through Konoha, so Itachi fought the village’s defenders and escaped with Naruto after unleashing his enormous Perfect Susanoo.
• Itachi reunited Naruto with Mikoto, Izumi, and Sasuke, then revealed that Obito had orchestrated the Uchiha massacre and controlled the Nine-Tails during the attack on Konoha.
• Konoha and the other villages reported missing jinchūriki and ninja, while the Fourth Raikage secretly cooperated with Obito and planned to turn the Kage against Lin Ze.
• Lin Ze placed Dragon Release Village and Ascension Island on high alert and went to the Five Kage Summit, where the Kage presented reports of abductions and blamed Dragon Release Village.
• The Kage concluded that every tailed beast except the Three-Tails had been captured and agreed to issue Lin Ze a joint ultimatum at a meeting in three days.

Lin Ze fought the Five Kage while Obito’s forces attacked Ascension Island, capturing Yugito Nii and Killer B and setting the Ten-Tails plan in motion. As the villages mobilized for the moon, Lin Ze defeated Toneri and went to investigate the far side while the allied armies raced toward the Earth-Moon Passage.

• Lin Ze attended the Five Kage Summit, rejected accusations that Dragon Release Village had taken the tailed beasts, and fought the leaders and Pain after the Fourth Raikage summoned him.
• Obito and Kumogakure invaded Ascension Island with reanimated shinobi, while Lin Ze was trapped behind a barrier at the summit and learned of the attack through Chinchilla.
• Lin Ze defeated Pain and killed the Fourth Raikage, but Obito escaped with Yugito Nii and Killer B, prompting Lin Ze to place Dragon Release Village on full alert.
• Lin Ze linked the Sharingan theft and Hanabi Hyuga’s abduction to Hiruko and Toneri, then ordered the villages to prepare for an assault on the moon.
• Obito and Black Zetsu gathered tailed-beast chakra and betrayed Nagato, who died holding them back so Konan could escape with the Rinnegan taken from him.
• Lin Ze reached the moon, rescued Hizashi from Toneri, and defeated Toneri after learning that the Mysterious Person had warned him about Lin Ze.
• Lin Ze sent Toneri to learn the truth from Hamura Otsutsuki’s soul and flew toward the chakra-blocked craters on the far side of the moon.
• Tsunade, Miyamoto Ichirō, and other leaders rushed their forces toward the Earth-Moon Passage as Hizashi continued toward the palace and Naruto’s group followed behind.