Recaps

After escaping the snowfield, Danzo prepared to seize power while Hiruzen Sarutobi waited anxiously for Tobirama Senju. Tobirama tricked Kinkaku and Ginkaku into believing he had died, but the brothers continued toward Kumogakure to claim power and destroy the Yotsuki Clan.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi led the group back toward Konoha as Danzo ran ahead, shaken by the events in the snowfield.
• Tobirama Senju used the Reaper Death Seal to make Kinkaku and Ginkaku believe he had died, then released the technique and collapsed in the snow.
• Kinkaku and Ginkaku fled, vowing to return to Kumogakure, claim the title of Third Raikage for the Hagoromo surname, and kill every member of the Yotsuki Clan.
• Danzo promised Kakuzu the position of Hokage Assistant if Danzo became Third Hokage, then prepared to make his move.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi reassured Mitokado Homura that Tobirama would be all right and privately wondered what Danzo was planning.

Toyotomi Yinglang used a fabricated missing clan member as a pretext to attack Sunagakure and seize control of the Land of Wind with Rōran. As Rōran prepared to march in three days, Shamon ordered the border defenses strengthened, suspecting that Sasha had allied with Toyotomi Yinglang.

• Toyotomi Yinglang told Toyotomi Liuli that Danzo was preparing a rebellion while Konoha and Kumogakure were in turmoil, and proposed attacking Sunagakure.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that he had invented Toyotomi Wuming and claimed Sunagakure had captured him, creating a justification for war and a plan for Rōran to occupy the Land of Wind.
• Toyotomi Yinglang ordered the Toyotomi Clan to prepare for war and told Liuli to inform Sasha that they would move in three days.
• Sasha ordered Rōran's army to prepare to enter the Land of Wind in three days, confident Sunagakure would be too occupied to stop them.
• Shamon learned that Rōran had assembled at least five thousand troops, including ninja, and ordered Sunagakure to reinforce its border defenses.

Danzo began a coup against Konoha after Tobirama Senju was declared dead, killing the Anbu loyal to Tobirama and attacking the Hokage Building with eight hundred Root Ninja. Hiruzen Sarutobi learned Danzo had disappeared as the assault began.

• Danzo assembled eight hundred Root Ninja and set out with two syringes of Asura's Cinders, intending to take control of Konoha.
• Danzo lured thirty Anbu into the woods and ordered Root Ninja to kill them because they had served Tobirama Senju.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi learned from Mitokado Homura that Danzo and Root had vanished and could not be found.
• Danzo arrived outside the Hokage Building with Root and Kakuzu, then ordered the coup to begin.
• Root Ninja stormed the Hokage Building, and Danzo killed a jonin who tried to stop him.

Danzo led Root’s coup against Konoha, claiming he alone could save the village, while Anbu and Root fought to the death. As Danzo confronted Hiruzen Sarutobi and prepared to kill him, Mito Uzumaki was stopped from reaching the Hokage Building by Senju and Uchiha clansmen who had sided with Danzo.

• Danzo declared that Tobirama Senju had betrayed him and ordered Uchiha Yaohui to deal with Kagami Uchiha, who possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.
• Mitokado Homura urged Hiruzen Sarutobi to flee, but Hiruzen refused to abandon his post as Hokage.
• Danzo confronted Hiruzen in the Hokage Building corridor and injected himself with Forbidden Drug: Asura's Cinders after Hiruzen refused to stand aside.
• Mito Uzumaki set out to help at the Hokage Building, but Senju clansmen blocked her, saying they had cooperated with Danzo to regain the clan's independence.
• Uchiha clansmen joined the Senju clansmen in holding Mito Uzumaki back, leaving her to lament that the two clans had become her enemies.

Tobirama Senju returned to the battlefield outside the Hokage Building and confronted Danzo, who summoned Hashirama Senju’s spirit to aid his coup. When Hashirama refused, Danzo forced him under control, and Hashirama unleashed Wood Release against the Hokage Building.

• Tobirama Senju arrived at the Hokage Building and found Danzo fighting Hiruzen Sarutobi while Anbu and Root forces battled across the area.
• Tobirama Senju saw Uchiha and Senju clansmen fighting for Danzo and demanded to know what was happening.
• Danzo summoned Hashirama Senju’s spirit and asked him to help remove Tobirama Senju and Hiruzen Sarutobi from power.
• Hashirama Senju refused to support Danzo, warning that his actions would destroy Konoha.
• Danzo used Forced Control to seize Hashirama Senju’s spirit, and Hashirama unleashed Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence toward the Hokage Building.

Mito Uzumaki fought to seal Hashirama Senju while Danzo’s forces pushed their assault across Konoha. The clan heads stayed neutral as the battle continued, with Kakuzu targeting Tobirama Senju and Danzo moving to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi.

• Mito Uzumaki used Adamantine Sealing Chains to defend against Hashirama Senju’s Wood Release while trying to seal him.
• Danzo ordered Kakuzu to kill Tobirama Senju and went to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Kakuzu confronted Tobirama Senju and attacked him for a promised payment of one hundred million ryo.
• Danzo charged at the wounded Hiruzen Sarutobi after Hiruzen refused to step aside.
• Danzo’s Root ninja summoned soul forms that drove Konoha’s defenders back and threatened to break their line.
• The Hyuga, Aburame, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clan heads chose to wait until the rebellion had a winner before supporting either side.

During Danzo’s rebellion in Konoha Year Twenty-Two, Yaohui killed Kagami, Mito sealed Hashirama’s spirit, and several Uchiha awakened their Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Danzo’s forces gained the advantage, but he still faced Hiruzen and Tobirama inside the Hokage Building.

• Yaohui fought Kagami, whose Mangekyō powers could negate damage, and killed him with his Perfect Susanoo.
• Mito used the Eight Trigrams Seal to seal Hashirama’s spirit after enduring his Wood Release attacks.
• Yaohui ordered the Uchiha to continue fighting and dismissed Kagami’s body as a traitor’s corpse.
• A dozen or so Uchiha clansmen awakened their Three-Tomoe Sharingan during the battle and charged toward the Hokage Building.
• Danzo assessed that victory was near and wondered how long Hiruzen and Tobirama could hold out.

Mito Uzumaki sealed the remaining spirit bodies while Anbu wiped out Root, and Konoha's clans sent forces to support Hiruzen Sarutobi. Cornered by the reinforcements, Danzo injected a second dose of Asura's Cinders and prepared to continue fighting.

• Mito Uzumaki used her Adamantine Sealing Chains to seal all the remaining spirit bodies, then collapsed from exhaustion.
• The Anbu captain and the surviving Anbu defeated Root at the cost of nearly ninety percent of their forces, then headed to support Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• The Anbu reinforcements attacked Danzo in the Hokage Building corridor, but Danzo stood back up after an explosive-tag blast.
• The Hyuga, Aburame, Inuzuka, and Ino-Shika-Cho clans sent forces to support the Hokage.
• Danzo refused to surrender and injected the second dose of Forbidden Drug: Asura's Cinders, vowing to show Konoha what a true Hokage was.

Danzo fought Tobirama Senju and Konoha’s clansmen, refusing to surrender even after they overwhelmed him. He died detonating his last Explosive Tag, while Kakuzu fled Konoha and Tobirama faced the village’s terrible losses.

• Danzo charged Tobirama Senju, and the two fought with blades and Ninjutsu on the steps of the Hokage Building.
• Danzo struck Tobirama Senju, but Tobirama pointed out that Danzo was surrounded as the great clans closed in.
• The Hyuga, Aburame, Inuzuka, and Akimichi clan heads attacked Danzo and brought him to the ground.
• Danzo refused to surrender and detonated his last Explosive Tag, losing an arm and suffering fatal injuries.
• Danzo died after telling Tobirama Senju that he had no regrets, and Kakuzu fled toward Konoha’s outskirts.
• Tobirama Senju told Hiruzen Sarutobi that Danzo had made a mistake and paid the price, then looked over Konoha’s devastation.

After Danzo's rebellion, Tobirama Senju learned the catastrophic losses Konoha had suffered, while Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki helped establish new leadership for the Senju and Uchiha clans. The chapter ended with Tobirama questioning whether Konoha could endure, as Mito assured him it could.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi reported that the rebellion had devastated Konoha's forces and clans, leaving the village's strength set back at least ten years.
• Hashirama Senju urged the surviving Senju to rebuild and recommended Uchiha Fushan as the Uchiha Clan's new leader.
• Uchiha Fushan accepted leadership and promised to guide the Uchiha Clan through the crisis, though some survivors remained resentful.
• Mito Uzumaki told Tobirama Senju that Hashirama had left Konoha's future in his hands.
• Tobirama admitted he hated Danzo but was more disappointed in his student, his own judgment, and Konoha; Mito said the village could continue because it still had people willing to sacrifice for it.

Tobirama Senju learned that Toyotomi Yinglang had helped the Toyotomi Clan conquer Sunagakure and that Rōran had annexed the Land of Wind. As Tobirama’s health failed, Toyotomi Yinglang predicted Konoha would never recover its former strength and looked toward a new era.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Tobirama Senju that the Toyotomi Clan had conquered Sunagakure and killed Shamon.
• Hiruzen explained that Queen Sasha had annexed the Land of Wind into Rōran and assigned the Toyotomi Clan to suppress resistance.
• Tobirama learned the Toyotomi Clan had accepted Rōran’s mission and made its own forehead protectors, then angrily challenged Yinglang’s claims about ninja principles.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Toyotomi Liuli that Tobirama would die that summer and Konoha would never be what it once was.
• Tobirama lay in the dark, wondering what Toyotomi Yinglang was trying to do.

Kinkaku seized power in Kumogakure and prepared for war while the injured Third Raikage A led the Yotsuki Clan remnants toward Konoha. Tobirama Senju agreed to meet them outside the village, uncertain whether taking them in could help Konoha survive.

• Kinkaku named himself Raikage, made Ginkaku his aide, and ordered Kumogakure to prepare for war.
• Third Raikage A led the Yotsuki Clan remnants toward Konoha and told them not to call him Raikage until Tobirama Senju died.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Tobirama that the Yotsuki Clan was approaching and that Third Raikage A wanted to see him.
• Tobirama agreed to meet Third Raikage A outside Konoha but said he did not know whether he would take in the clan.

Tobirama Senju agreed to let A and the Yotsuki Clan settle in Konoha under strict conditions as Konoha faced Uchiha unrest. Meanwhile, Toyotomi Yinglang arranged for Chiyo to lead Rōrangakure and planned to marry Sasha, who accepted and ordered preparations for the wedding.

• A told Tobirama Senju that Konoha needed allies, and Tobirama agreed to let the Yotsuki Clan stay if they submitted to Konoha and A stopped calling himself Raikage.
• A asked how much longer Tobirama Senju could hold on, and Tobirama replied that it would be long enough.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Toyotomi Liuli that Sunagakure would become Rōrangakure under Chiyo, while the former Land of Wind and neighboring territories would form the Country of Roran under Sasha.
• Toyotomi Yinglang ordered Liuli to arrange his wedding to Sasha and said he would support Sasha while making Rōran a vassal state of Great Britain.
• Sasha accepted Toyotomi Yinglang's marriage proposal and ordered her maid to prepare the wedding.

Toyotomi Yinglang married Sasha, Queen of Rōran, to secure his clan’s influence there while keeping his identity as emperor of the Great British Empire secret. In Konoha, Tobirama Senju warned Hiruzen Sarutobi that the Toyotomi Clan had become a ruling power beyond the reach of the village system, leaving Konoha with no clear response.

• Toyotomi Yinglang and Sasha married in the Palace of Rōran as members of the Toyotomi Clan and Sunagakure attended.
• On the Palace rooftop, Toyotomi Yinglang told Sasha he needed her and Rōran’s political power more than he loved her, and she accepted his explanation.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Sasha to conceal that he was emperor of the Great British Empire and present him only as the Toyotomi Clan’s head.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Tobirama Senju that Toyotomi Yinglang had married Sasha, and Tobirama recognized the marriage as a political shift for the Toyotomi Clan.
• Tobirama Senju explained that Rōran’s ruling family would soon bear the Toyotomi name and that the clan could rule a great nation outside Konoha’s system.
• Tobirama Senju fell silent, while Hiruzen Sarutobi sat beside his bed in despair over Konoha’s predicament.

Toyotomi Liuli and Senju Tsubaki gave birth to sons who were named heirs to the Empire and Toyotomi Clan. In Konoha, Tobirama Senju died after giving Hiruzen Sarutobi his final instructions, leaving Hiruzen to take up the role of Third Hokage and begin Konoha’s reconstruction.

• Toyotomi Liuli gave birth to Toyotomi Ryukōshi, whom Toyotomi Yinglang named Crown Prince and described as healthy and powerful.
• Senju Tsubaki gave birth to Toyotomi Jinsyokuin, whom she named heir to Wood Release and the future of the Toyotomi Clan.
• Tobirama Senju told Hiruzen Sarutobi to keep the Uchiha and Toyotomi in check, disperse the remaining Senju, and uphold the Will of Fire.
• Tobirama Senju died in Konoha Year Twenty-Two, and Hiruzen wept beside his bed.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi took up the Hokage’s role and ordered Konoha to begin reconstruction with every clan and ninja participating.

Toyotomi Yinglang told Tsunade why he had once considered reincarnating Tobirama Senju as an Uchiha, but decided Tobirama’s death during the Danzo rebellion was already punishment enough. As Konoha began rebuilding under Hiruzen Sarutobi, Yinglang questioned whether the village could still be the one Hashirama Senju had dreamed of.

• Tsunade asked Toyotomi Yinglang whether he still planned to let Tobirama Senju live again as an Uchiha, and he said he had abandoned the idea after the Danzo rebellion.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that he had once wanted Tobirama to experience the persecution and suspicion endured by the Uchiha, but believed Tobirama’s betrayal and lonely death were more tormenting.
• Tsunade said she no longer loved Konoha, and Toyotomi Yinglang comforted her by saying that a village she did not love could not hurt her.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Mitokado Homura that the Toyotomi Clan remained in Rōran on a mission from Queen Sasha, and ordered Konoha to begin rebuilding while awaiting their return.
• Alone in his study, Toyotomi Yinglang reflected on Konoha’s rebuilding and wondered whether the village had ever truly loved those who guarded it.

Toyotomi Yinglang returned to Konoha and began building the Toyotomi Clan’s influence through a Martial Arts Hall that would teach loyalty to the clan. Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi launched a religious reform of the Will of Fire, leaving Konoha’s ninja publicly pledging themselves to the new faith.

• Toyotomi Yinglang returned to Konoha with his clan and ordered Toyotomi Hiyoshi to establish a Martial Arts Hall that would train students in the Toyotomi Clan Family Creed.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told the clan’s leaders that the Hall would teach combat skills, chakra techniques, and loyalty to the Toyotomi Clan.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Mitokado Homura that Konoha needed the Toyotomi Clan’s strength and presented his plan to turn the Will of Fire into a religion.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi declared Tobirama Senju a god, the Will of Fire a doctrine, and Konoha’s ninja its faithful.
• Konoha’s ninja first responded hesitantly, then shouted their pledge to abide by the doctrine and protect Konoha.

After Danzo's rebellion weakened the Hokage faction, Konoha's clans opened private schools and pulled their children from the Ninja Academy. Toyotomi Yinglang expanded the Martial Arts Hall to recruit commoners and Rōran immigrants, aiming to make its students dependent on the Toyotomi Clan as Konoha's Hokage grew weaker.

• Mitokado Homura told Hiruzen Sarutobi that the clans had opened private schools and withdrawn their children from the Ninja Academy, so Hiruzen ordered free education and support for commoner recruits.
• The Hyuga clan head sent every Hyuga child to the clan school and dismissed the weakened Hokage's ability to object.
• The Aburame, Inuzuka, and Kurama clan heads each barred their children from the Ninja Academy and ordered them to study at their own schools.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Toyotomi Liuli that the Martial Arts Hall had given the Toyotomi Clan an early advantage and that its students would serve the clan rather than Konoha.
• Toyotomi Yinglang ordered the Martial Arts Hall to recruit Konoha commoners and Rōran immigrants, then give graduates priority for well-paid, low-risk Toyotomi Clan missions.
• Liuli asked how much longer Konoha could endure, and Toyotomi Yinglang replied that only the Sage of Six Paths knew.

At Konoha’s first all-clan meeting since Danzo’s Rebellion, Toyotomi Yinglang proposed dividing education into an Elite School for clan children and a Commoner School focused on ideological education. Hiruzen Sarutobi approved the reform, and Toyotomi Yinglang left intending to use the Elite School to strengthen his clan while the commoners became the Hokage faction’s soldiers.

• Toyotomi Yinglang argued that Konoha should prioritize training powerful fighters and divide its forces into top, middle, and bottom tiers.
• The clan heads considered how the proposed education reform could benefit their own children and clans.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi approved merging private schools with the Ninja Academy as the Elite School and establishing a separate Commoner School.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned practical combat to the Elite School curriculum and ideological education to the Commoner School curriculum.
• Toyotomi Hiyoshi asked why Toyotomi Yinglang had proposed the reform, and Toyotomi Yinglang said it would bring the Martial Arts Hall into the Elite School and strengthen the Toyotomi Clan.

Hiruzen Sarutobi launched Konoha’s education reform, dividing schooling into an Elite School for clan children and a Commoner School centered on faith in the Will of Fire. Toyotomi Yinglang viewed the reform as strengthening the major clans’ control, leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi as their conditional spokesman.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi signed the education reform plan, establishing separate Elite and Commoner Schools after explaining his strategy to Mitokado Homura.
• The major clan heads welcomed the Elite School, while the Ino-Shika-Cho leaders suspected Hiruzen Sarutobi had agreed because he needed their support.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted the Commoner School’s slower construction and ordered that it require only basic facilities and focus on ideological education.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi wrote Commoner School textbooks teaching the Will of Fire, martyrdom, and faith as the minimum graduation requirement.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Toyotomi Liuli that the reform would place the Toyotomi Clan in the Elite School while turning commoners into loyal cannon fodder.
• Toyotomi Yinglang concluded that the major clans controlled Konoha’s future and would replace Hiruzen Sarutobi if he ceased serving their interests.

Hiruzen Sarutobi opened Konoha’s Commoner School and Elite School, using lessons in the Will of Fire and bloodline tests to sort and recruit students. He ended the chapter convinced that Konoha’s future was in his hands.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi welcomed 320 children to the Commoner School and taught them the Will of Fire, promising top students a chance to enter the Elite School if they passed bloodline testing.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi explained that he would claim talented commoners as Sarutobi blood relatives, while students without bloodlines would remain at the Commoner School and later serve in logistics or as cannon fodder.
• The major clan heads praised the Elite School and discussed how its creation benefited their clans and the Sarutobi Clan.
• Mitokado Homura reported that seven Commoner School students had passed bloodline testing, with five identified as Senju and two as Uzumaki.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the seven students entered into the Sarutobi Clan’s genealogy and declared that their surname would be Sarutobi.

The Sage of Six Paths approved Toyotomi Yinglang’s happy education plan and sent opportunities to strengthen the other shinobi villages so Konoha would not dominate. In Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted the plan as a way to use the village’s many clans, while Yinglang predicted that the growing imbalance and village conflicts would make the Shinobi World more chaotic.

• The Sage of Six Paths assessed Konoha’s new schools and recognized Yinglang’s happy education plan as a way to cultivate both strong ninja and loyal believers.
• The Sage of Six Paths sent opportunities across the Shinobi World to strengthen other villages and preserve the balance that fueled the Pure Land’s harvest.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi refused Mitokado Homura’s suggestion to take advantage of Iwagakure’s weakness and said Konoha needed time to recover and train its children.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Mitokado Homura that happy education would maximize Konoha’s many clans and bloodlines, and admitted he relied on the Toyotomi Clan despite worrying about it.
• Toyotomi Yinglang predicted that the Sage of Six Paths would strengthen other villages, then reviewed the recent upheavals and concluded that the Shinobi World would grow more chaotic while Konoha rebuilt.

Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the Shimura Clan erased from Konoha’s records and Danzo’s name made taboo after Danzo’s rebellion. In the British Continent, Tsunade and Toyotomi Yinglang discussed how the victors had rewritten history, leaving the story with Tsunade quietly accepting his view.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Mitokado Homura he would erase the Shimura name and make Danzo’s name taboo, calling him “Group Burial.”
• Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the Shimura Clan removed from Konoha’s records and threatened traitor status for anyone who mentioned Danzo.
• Workers smashed the Shimura Clan’s stone monument, and their captain said history was written by the victors.
• Tsunade learned that Shimura had become “Slay Village” and Danzo “Group Burial,” and questioned Toyotomi Yinglang about the cruelty of erasing their names.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Tsunade that only victors could write history, and she said she understood.

Toyotomi Yinglang wrote a selective history textbook for the Martial Arts Hall, arguing that Konoha’s children needed only a simplified account of Danburial’s rebellion while his clan’s students should learn part of the truth. Meanwhile, stories of Yinglang’s rise as a live-in son-in-law spread among Konoha’s commoners, leaving his own life to serve as an example.

• Toyotomi Yinglang explained to Tsunade and Toyotomi Liuli that he was writing Konoha’s history to teach some truth without provoking Konoha or revealing intelligence.
• Liuli read Yinglang’s account of Danburial’s rebellion, which portrayed Danburial as evil and summarized the rebellion’s defeat and its consequences.
• Yinglang ordered the Martial Arts Hall to use his textbook and said its students needed to know at least part of the truth.
• Tsunade said she did not know which textbook Konoha’s children would believe, but Yinglang’s students would believe his.
• Konoha commoners discussed Yinglang’s rise from live-in son-in-law to clan head and royal consort, and one man considered encouraging his son to marry into a great clan.

Hiruzen Sarutobi declared Tobirama Senju a god and turned the Will of Fire into doctrine, ordering Konoha’s schools and clans to teach it. Toyotomi Yinglang told Tsunade that commoners would believe because they needed faith, while Tobirama himself had needed others to believe.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi told Mitokado Homura that Konoha needed faith and announced plans to teach the Will of Fire as doctrine in its schools.
• The Hyuga clan head and the Aburame clan head agreed to use the new textbook while requiring their children to study their clans’ own precepts and traditions.
• A Commoner School teacher taught children that martyrs reached the Pure Land and nonbelievers went to Hell, leaving him unsure whether they truly believed.
• Toyotomi Yinglang told Tsunade that the clan heads would not accept Hiruzen Sarutobi as a god, but powerless commoners would cling to faith.
• When Tsunade asked whether Tobirama Senju believed in the Will of Fire, Toyotomi Yinglang said he did not, but needed others to believe.