Chapter Summaries

Danzo summoned Tobirama Senju before the Southern Army and used a prepared book of evidence to publicly accuse him of choosing Hiruzen Sarutobi and creating institutions that led to Konoha’s decline. Tobirama was bound by Orochimaru’s control technique and could only listen as Danzo began his public trial.

• Hashirama Senju questioned whether Konoha had truly fallen into crisis, while Danzo persuaded Orochimaru to summon and control Tobirama Senju.
• Danzo ordered Orochimaru to move the summoning to the Southern Army’s parade ground so he could confront Tobirama publicly.
• Orochimaru summoned Tobirama before the assembled army and clan representatives, binding his actions and preventing him from resisting or undoing the technique.
• Tobirama asked Danzo where he was, what had happened to Konoha, and why Hashirama had also been summoned.
• Danzo presented a book listing 732 alleged crimes by the Sarutobi Clan and accused Tobirama of causing Konoha’s division by choosing Hiruzen Sarutobi as his successor.

After Danzo’s public humiliation of the reanimated Hokage, Hashirama and Tobirama grieved over how Konoha had changed and how their successors had failed them. They resolved to investigate the village’s present crises before deciding what to do with their forced second lives.

• Danzo ended his public denunciation, ordered Orochimaru to reinforce his control over Hashirama and Tobirama, and had them taken to a sealed tent.
• Tobirama condemned Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Torifu Akimichi for failing Konoha, while recalling that Kagami Uchiha had died early.
• Hashirama realized that at least two more great wars had followed his death and questioned whether his efforts to build peace and found Konoha had been in vain.
• Tobirama urged Hashirama to set aside the question of right and wrong and investigate Sunagakure’s threat, Konoha’s factions, Danzo and Orochimaru’s plans, and the force that had enabled their summoning.
• Hashirama agreed that the brothers should first learn how Konoha had reached its current state.

Sunagakure’s armored army overwhelmed Konoha’s Southern Army until Hashirama Senju intervened with Wood Release, only to be countered by disciplined evasive tactics. Danzo responded by ordering mass conscription for Impure World Reincarnation and imposing a ruthless merit-based system, leaving Jiraiya questioning whether Danzo’s coercive methods had made Konoha’s forces more united than the Will of Fire ever had.

• Sunagakure’s armored assault teams tore through Konoha’s defensive lines, and Tobirama Senju recognized their strength, equipment, and coordination as unprecedented.
• Hashirama Senju used Wood Release to crush a squad and slow the advance, but Sunagakure’s troops dispersed, obstructed the wood golem, and continued their organized retreat.
• After the battle, Tobirama Senju contrasted Sunagakure’s discipline with Konoha’s division, while Hashirama Senju could only sigh.
• Danzo ordered Orochimaru to reincarnate powerful fighters and commanded Root to seize suitable sacrifices across the southern Land of Fire, while opening army resources and techniques to ninjas in exchange for merit.
• Jiraiya learned that Danzo’s coercive system had reduced infighting and improved coordination, and he struggled with doubts about the Will of Fire and his teacher’s path.

In the Southern Army Headquarters, Danzo planned to exploit Jiraiya’s and Tsunade’s loyalty and emotional attachments to draw them back into Konoha’s war against Sunagakure. He sent Orochimaru to find them, intending to use Hashirama’s reanimated presence to pressure Tsunade and guilt Jiraiya into joining the army before the next battle.

• Danzo asked Orochimaru where Jiraiya and Tsunade were and learned they might both be near Tanzaku Town.
• Danzo explained that threats or rewards would not win their genuine submission, so he would manipulate their sense of duty and emotional ties.
• Danzo ordered Orochimaru to bring the reanimated Hashirama to Tsunade and tell her that Konoha and her grandfather needed her medical skills.
• Danzo planned for Orochimaru to tell Jiraiya that Hashirama had returned to fight and that staying away would make him seem like a rogue ninja.
• Orochimaru agreed to carry out the plan, and Danzo demanded that the Sannin appear reunited under his command before the next battle.

Orochimaru forced Tsunade and Jiraiya to confront Konoha’s wartime crisis by invoking their responsibility to Hashirama Senju and the wounded. Tsunade agreed to join the southern front, while Jiraiya was left reeling from Orochimaru’s ultimatum.

• Hashirama Senju visited Tsunade and asked her to help the wounded Konoha ninja on the southern front.
• Orochimaru told Tsunade that Danzo had promised her control of the Southern Army’s medical resources, and she agreed to pack her medical supplies and follow him.
• Orochimaru found Jiraiya drinking in a tavern and revealed that Hashirama Senju had returned from the Pure Land to fight Sunagakure.
• When Jiraiya condemned Hashirama’s summoning, Orochimaru challenged him to either help Konoha or be remembered as a missing-nin.
• Jiraiya stood in the silent tavern, shaken and ashamed, as Orochimaru left and the choice of whether to follow remained before him.

Tsunade struggled to save the wounded at Konoha’s southern front while Jiraiya confronted the brutality of the war. Orochimaru explained Sunagakure’s invasion as a calculated bid for resources and revealed Sasori’s sweeping control of the village, leaving Jiraiya’s faith in mutual understanding shattered.

• Tsunade operated on a critically wounded young Konoha ninja while the field hospital overflowed with casualties.
• Jiraiya surveyed the battlefield and wondered why Konoha and Sunagakure could not understand one another instead of fighting.
• Orochimaru told Jiraiya that Sunagakure invaded to seize the Land of Fire’s resources and exploit Konoha’s political divisions and military weakness.
• Orochimaru revealed that Sasori of the Red Sands directed Sunagakure’s military transformation and held powerful posts across its government and forces.
• Tsunade read Root’s intelligence about Sasori, while Orochimaru hinted that an unknown figure stood behind his transformation and Sunagakure’s technological rise.
• Jiraiya watched the advancing enemy and lost his belief that understanding could bring peace.

Toyotomi Yinglang broke the ancestral shackle in his bloodline inside the chaotic spacetime tunnel, awakening the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and reaching Half-Step Six Paths. He mastered two new ocular techniques and manifested a Perfect Susanoo, then concealed his power and prepared to return to the Main World.

• Toyotomi Yinglang entered the spacetime tunnel to hide his breakthrough from surveillance and higher-level perception in the Main World.
• He shattered the bloodline shackle, transforming his Mangekyō into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and advancing to Half-Step Six Paths.
• Toyotomi Yinglang gained the ocular techniques [Boundary Judgment] and [Time Mark].
• He summoned a nearly hundred-meter Perfect Susanoo bearing his own face and wielding a massive sword.
• Toyotomi Yinglang dismissed the Susanoo and concealed the breakthrough’s fluctuations within the spacetime turbulence.

Toyotomi Yinglang secretly launched plans to alter Sunagakure’s chakra and soul frequencies while arranging grain shortages, locust outbreaks, and border conflicts across the Shinobi World. He expected these crises to ignite the First Shinobi World War by late Konoha Year 15 or spring of Year 16, well ahead of schedule.

• Toyotomi Yinglang ordered Sasori to add refined Chakra Seed Fragments to Sunagakure’s gene serum and ration pills, then distribute them across the village under strict secrecy.
• Toyotomi Yinglang’s agents began buying up grain from the Land of Fire and nearby regions and transporting it to the Great British Empire.
• Ninja squads planted genetically modified Desert King Locust eggs in outlying areas of the Land of Fire, Land of Rivers, and Land of Grass to prepare for future crop damage.
• Toyotomi Yinglang’s operatives stirred disputes over resources, water, and alleged cross-border attacks between several small nations.
• Toyotomi Yinglang predicted that the combined food crisis and border conflicts would bring the First Shinobi World War forward to late Konoha Year 15 or spring of Year 16.

Toyotomi Yinglang explained to Liuli how the feud between the Uchiha and Senju began with Indra and Asura, then outlined the succession and noble-title laws he intended to establish for the empire. Liuli was reassured by his resolve but remained uneasy about her own future, while a quiet ambition began to grow within her.

• Toyotomi Yinglang told Liuli that the Sage of Six Paths choosing Asura over Indra had begun a thousand-year conflict whose legacy shaped the Uchiha-Senju feud.
• Liuli asked whether Yinglang would favor one child over another, and Yinglang said he supported primogeniture and would not let personal affection govern the empire.
• Toyotomi Yinglang described a system in which princes received fiefs and noble titles fell by one rank each generation unless descendants earned their standing.
• Yinglang declared that only members of the Toyotomi House could hold kingships, while exceptional outsiders could be granted the Toyotomi name and its privileges.
• Yutian accepted the proposed laws and pledged his loyalty to Yinglang, while Liuli watched and felt an unfamiliar ambition emerge.

Toyotomi Yinglang trained Toyotomi Liuli to better control her Mangekyō Sharingan and gave Yutian the complete Dragon-Slaying Breathing Technique. He then defended the empire’s hierarchy and succession laws to Sakura Haruno, leaving her unable to refute his arguments even as she remained deeply unsettled.

• Toyotomi Yinglang guided Toyotomi Liuli in observing and controlling the patterns behind Reversal and Forceful Prohibition.
• Toyotomi Yinglang transmitted the Dragon-Slaying Breathing Technique and its combat methods to Yutian, who vowed to cultivate and serve the empire.
• Toyotomi Yinglang challenged Sakura Haruno’s belief that Konoha was more equal, citing its hidden class divisions and the Land of Fire’s use of slavery.
• Toyotomi Yinglang defended succession by the eldest legitimate son and the restriction of princely titles to the Toyotomi family as safeguards against instability and civil war.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that declining noble titles were meant to pressure each generation to serve the empire and preserve opportunities for social advancement.
• Sakura Haruno stood speechless and unsettled as Toyotomi Liuli and Yutian continued their cultivation inside the tower.

Sakura Haruno asked Toyotomi Yinglang about his attitude toward Konoha, and he revealed that he intended to let it endure and decay while extending his influence inside it. He predicted an early First Shinobi World War and Tobirama Senju’s death, leaving Sakura’s faith in Konoha and the Will of Fire shattered.

• Sakura Haruno asked Toyotomi Yinglang why he opposed Konoha, and he said Konoha’s leaders would eventually target the Toyotomi just as they had targeted the Uchiha.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said he would not destroy Konoha because an unseen protector would keep it alive, but he would watch it deteriorate through conflict and hypocrisy.
• Toyotomi Yinglang predicted the First Shinobi World War would begin at the end of Konoha Year 15 or the start of Year 16, with Tobirama Senju destined to die.
• Toyotomi Yinglang said he would exploit Tobirama Senju’s death to expand his influence within Konoha under Hiruzen Sarutobi’s leadership.
• Toyotomi Yinglang dismissed the Uchiha’s fate as their choice and compared his own separation from them favorably to Uchiha Itachi’s future clan massacre.
• Sakura Haruno slumped beside the railing as her remaining faith in Konoha, the Will of Fire, and the way of the ninja collapsed.

Toyotomi Yinglang explained the Great British Empire’s principles of equal rights and responsibilities and correcting incompetent leaders to Sakura Haruno. Sakura realized that the second principle might explain why the Toyotomi Clan broke away from the Uchiha, but she was left questioning everything she had believed.

• Sakura Haruno asked Toyotomi Yinglang what values held the Great British Empire together, and he gave her its National Instruction.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that people’s rights and benefits came with corresponding duties, while slaves could earn freedom through merit or exceptional service.
• He described how emperors, nobles, officials, and even fathers could be challenged or replaced when their incompetence harmed those under them.
• Toyotomi Yinglang argued that a son leaving an idiotic father could preserve the family line, and Sakura Haruno connected this reasoning to the Toyotomi Clan’s break from the Uchiha.
• Sakura Haruno looked over the Empire and its principles, unsure whether its cold logic or Konoha’s Will of Fire was more real or frightening.

Toyotomi Yinglang explained to Sakura Haruno why the Great British Empire restricted hereditary nobility, warning that unchecked noble growth and life extension could create a powerful, self-serving class. Sakura Haruno was left shaken by the ruler’s long-range plans and the empire’s unforgiving rules.

• Sakura Haruno asked Toyotomi Yinglang why the empire had only fourteen registered noble houses.
• Toyotomi Yinglang described how noble families could multiply across generations and overwhelm the empire with privileged heirs.
• Toyotomi Yinglang warned that life-extension methods could make nobles long-lived and drive them toward greater power, resources, and dangerous pursuits.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that nobles had to earn their status through service and merit or lose their positions and resources.
• Sakura Haruno stood dazed as she considered Toyotomi Yinglang’s meticulous plans for the empire and the harsh future they implied.

Toyotomi Yinglang explained to Sakura Haruno why the empire used many noble ranks and rewarded ordinary loyalty and hard work as well as exceptional achievement. Sakura left the observation deck shaken, realizing the empire’s cold practical logic was changing how she saw Konoha and the Will of Fire.

• Sakura Haruno questioned Toyotomi Yinglang about the many ranks in the peerage system, and he said fine distinctions allowed rewards to be controlled without exhausting titles, land, or money.
• Sakura asked whether ordinary people could become nobles through years of service, and Toyotomi Yinglang argued that loyal soldiers, officials, and captains deserved recognition even without extraordinary achievements.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that low-ranking titles and inheritance at a lower rank could honor hard work while limiting the long-term burden on the empire.
• Toyotomi Yinglang compared the empire’s reliance on ordinary workers and exceptional achievers to the clean and useful portions of toilet paper, arguing that both were necessary for the whole to function.
• Sakura Haruno was stunned by his reasoning and felt that the empire’s practical principles were steadily making it harder for her to return to her old beliefs in Konoha.

Toyotomi Yinglang told Sakura Haruno that Tobirama Senju’s integration plan could hide the Senju among Konoha’s population while leaving them vulnerable to Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō. Sakura was left shaken by his accusations and by the possibility that Konoha had exploited Senju descendants for battle and experiments.

• Toyotomi Yinglang received Yutian’s briefing that Tobirama Senju had launched a plan to disperse the Senju Clan, encourage intermarriage, and give up its concentrated clan compound.
• Sakura Haruno praised the plan as an example of the Will of Fire, but Toyotomi Yinglang warned that it could also strengthen Senju influence and conceal the clan from future threats.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that the Senju lacked an unmistakable identifying trait, so dispersal and surname changes could make their descendants difficult to identify.
• Toyotomi Yinglang accused Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō of exploiting the dispersed Senju, sending them into dangerous battles and using them as experimental subjects while the Sarutobi Clan gained power.
• Sakura Haruno struggled to accept Toyotomi Yinglang’s claims about the Third Hokage, and he concluded that Tobirama Senju had failed to give the dispersed clan sufficient protection.

Tobirama Senju announced the Senju Clan’s integration into Konoha while Toyotomi Yinglang revealed to Sakura Haruno a slow poison targeting the Uchiha and described his defenses against similar plots. Sakura realized that the Toyotomi Clan had secretly prepared antidote through its meals and water supply, leaving her unsettled by the hidden schemes surrounding Konoha.

• Tobirama Senju delivered a speech beneath Hokage Rock announcing the Senju Clan’s full integration into Konoha, while Hiruzen Sarutobi and other leaders showed their support.
• Toyotomi Yinglang showed Sakura Haruno a vial of poison found in water sources near the Uchiha Clan and explained how it could gradually weaken their chakra and talent.
• Sakura connected the poison to the Uchiha Clan’s eventual decline and massacre, then worried that the Toyotomi Clan might also be exposed.
• Toyotomi Yinglang explained that he had secured the Toyotomi water supply and secretly linked it to channels serving several other major clans as a deterrent against poisoning.
• Toyotomi Yinglang revealed that he had put antidote into the Toyotomi Clan’s meals and Martial Arts Hall lunches, and that he knew someone had poisoned the Hall’s well.
• Sakura understood that the boiled eggs and free meals carried the antidote, while Toyotomi Yinglang waited for the poisoners’ scheme to turn against them.

Sai manipulated Danzo with a fabricated account of Konoha’s future, pushing him toward seizing power, while Toyotomi Yinglang and Sasori began designing upgradeable battle armor in Sunagakure. Danzo ordered Sai to gather intelligence and planned to deal with the Otherworld Jinchūriki, as Sasori committed to building the first armor prototype.

• Sai told Danzo that Hiruzen would die during Orochimaru’s Konoha Crush and that Tsunade would become the Fifth Hokage.
• Sai claimed Danzo would be sidelined by the Sarutobi faction and lingering distrust over the Uchiha Clan Massacre, prompting Danzo to resolve to remove obstacles and take the Hokage position.
• Danzo ordered Sai to remain undercover, gather evidence and threat intelligence, and said he would personally handle the Otherworld Jinchūriki.
• Toyotomi Yinglang outlined battle armor requirements to Sasori, including mobility, vital-point and blast protection, resistance to ninjutsu and genjutsu, and upgradeable support systems.
• Sasori proposed materials and construction methods for the armor and pledged to create its first design prototype and test model.

Hiruzen Sarutobi celebrated another repelled Kumogakure assault, unaware that the Third Raikage was deliberately limiting his attacks to weaken Konoha from within. The Third Raikage sent A to maintain the staged battles and scout Sunagakure and Iwagakure.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi celebrated the latest retreat of Kumogakure's forces and ordered a victory feast for the Northern Army.
• A demanded to know why the Third Raikage was holding back against Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Third Raikage explained that killing him would unite Konoha and cost Kumogakure too many lives.
• The Third Raikage said Hiruzen Sarutobi's leadership and the unequal distribution of battlefield losses were already driving Konoha's other clans toward desertion.
• A understood that leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi in power would continue to erode Konoha, while the Third Raikage noted that Kumogakure had already seized resources around Frost and Hot Water.
• The Third Raikage ordered A to tell the troops to keep holding back and to send scouts to learn what Sunagakure and Iwagakure were doing.

The Jashin Cult spread through the war-torn Land of Rain by promising power through pain and madness, while Yahiko resolved to oppose it and pursue peace. Madara learned of Yahiko’s plans and intended to exploit his likely death to deepen Nagato’s hatred and advance the Eye of the Moon plan.

• The Jashin Cult recruited desperate people in the Land of Rain, and its believers gained evil power and combat abilities through pain, madness, and fervent faith.
• Yahiko read a report on the cult and decided Akatsuki should work with Hanzō to stop it and seek peace with the warring factions.
• Konan and Nagato listened as Yahiko proposed contacting Hanzō, Sunagakure, Konoha, and Jiraiya to pursue negotiations and protect civilians.
• White Zetsu secretly observed Yahiko’s conversation and reported his plans to Madara Uchiha.
• Madara dismissed Yahiko’s ideals and decided to let him negotiate, expecting his death to fuel Nagato’s hatred and support the Eye of the Moon plan.

Danzo learned that Nagato might possess the Rinnegan and plotted to seize it by manipulating Hanzō into targeting Akatsuki. He prepared to travel secretly to the Land of Rain with reanimated Tobirama Senju, Kagami Uchiha, and an elite Root squad.

• Danzo read a report describing Nagato’s eyes briefly showing circular ripples resembling the Rinnegan.
• Danzo decided to exploit Yahiko’s planned negotiations with Hanzō and arrange a secret meeting with Hanzō to plan Akatsuki’s elimination.
• Danzo ordered a Root ninja to prepare the trip and keep Jiraiya from learning about the plan.
• Danzo asked Orochimaru whether Tobirama Senju’s reanimated body was stable, then ordered Orochimaru to bring him to the Land of Rain.
• Danzo also ordered Orochimaru to prepare Kagami Uchiha’s reanimated body and equip an elite Root squad with chakra-suppression talismans and restraint tools.