Recaps

Orochimaru held off Kinkaku’s forces while the great nations expanded the war, and the four Toyotomi children fought Hanzō before confronting the costs of their powers. As Rōran strengthened its position, Ryukōshi brought displaced Uzumaki clanspeople toward their new home.

• Kinkaku marched twenty thousand Kumogakure troops to the Valley of the End, where Orochimaru’s three thousand Konoha soldiers fought them and survived behind a sealing barrier at heavy cost.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi secured Iwagakure’s supplies and personnel while keeping its troops out of direct combat, and Orochimaru used the pause to care for the wounded and bury the dead.
• Kinkaku formed an alliance with Kirigakure and Amegakure, and the three villages attacked smaller countries as Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to open a three-front war.
• Kumogakure invaded the Land of Fire, prompting Hiruzen Sarutobi to send Hatake Sakumo and Jiraiya north with sixty thousand soldiers.
• Ryukōshi, Jin Zhiyin, Yōsa, and Chengkong fought Hanzō in the Golden Forest, and Hanzō ended the battle without declaring a victor and named them the Four Toyotomi Heroes.
• Toyotomi Yinglang examined the children and explained that their fused powers caused Ryukōshi’s rage and Jin Zhiyin’s bodily changes and memory loss, while Chengkong remained unable to explain himself to Jin Zhiyin.
• Yōsa showed Pakura Rōran’s growing army of puppets, and Rōran’s leaders later decided to shelter the scattered Uzumaki and sent their Relief Stations to locate them.
• Ryukōshi persuaded six Uzumaki clanspeople to leave their camp for Rōran, promising they had family there and explaining that Toyotomi Jinsyokuin’s powers came at a price.

Jiefang confronted Mito and Konoha over the Uzumaki Clan’s treatment, and Kushina chose to leave with him as the Toyotomi Clan fought their way out. The rescued Uzumaki settled in Rōran while the Toyotomi expanded their alliances and developed a new inherited bloodline.

• Jiefang and other Uzumaki learned of Konoha’s secret transfer of clan members to the Vine Division and traveled to Konoha to see Kushina.
• Jiefang accused Kushina and Mito of betraying the Uzumaki Clan, challenged Mito to explain herself, and told Kushina she would become a Jinchūriki.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi and Konoha forces surrounded Jiefang and Kushina, but the Toyotomi Clan arrived and clashed with them as Kushina weighed whether to leave.
• Kushina chose to leave Konoha with Jiefang, while Ryukōshi, Jin Zhiyin, Chengkong, and Yōsa stayed behind to hold off Hiruzen’s forces.
• Chengkong’s platinum Susanoo dispersed Mito’s Tailed Beast Bomb over Konoha, and the Toyotomi Clan withdrew through Yōsa’s Gold Dust passage.
• The Uzumaki settled in Rōran and condemned Mito, while Minato questioned whether his choices had been shaped by others and Kushina learned that her counterpart would remain safe and avoid becoming a Jinchūriki.
• Toyotomi Yinglang showed Kushina and Jilan Naruto’s future timeline, and Jilan argued that Naruto and Minato had missed chances to reshape the shinobi world.
• The Toyotomi and Uzumaki began arranging marriage alliances, and Toyotomi Yinglang developed the Aoki Eternal Life Gene from Jin Zhiyin’s altered genes for inheritance and clan expansion.