Recaps

Sasori and Mukai fought an Amegakure ninja who imitated Hanzo of the Salamander and used a smaller poisonous salamander. Sasori’s puppet resisted the poison, but the Rain Ninja used a Water Clone and appeared behind him with a killing sickle strike as the salamander charged Mukai.

• Sasori mistook the summoned salamander for Hanzo, but Mukai identified it as an ordinary summon and blew its poison mist away with his mecha’s fans.
• Sasori sent the Great Rikishi Puppet to attack the salamander, while the Rain Ninja threw poisoned kunai and slashed the puppet with a venom-coated sickle.
• The Rain Ninja covered the puppet with poison mist, but Sasori’s puppet burst out unharmed and kicked him, revealing that it was a puppet.
• The Rain Ninja used a Water Clone to evade the puppet’s kick, while the salamander charged toward Mukai.
• The Rain Ninja emerged behind Sasori and swung his sickle at Sasori’s neck as the salamander’s poison mist thickened.

Mukai and Sasori stopped the attack on Moon Sake Town, then headed for the Saionji Clan’s territory to retaliate. In the north, Madara decided to intensify his manipulation of the nations and use the coming conflicts to accelerate Nagato’s growth.

• Mukai arrived beside Nagato, used a disguised Black Ant and a supercapacitor to kill the Amegakure ninja, and destroyed a hidden White Zetsu with Lightning Release.
• Mukai had Sasori inspect and seal the smaller Ibuse’s corpse, then asked Yahiko to strengthen Moon Sake Town’s defenses and set off with Sasori for the Saionji Clan’s territory.
• Yahiko wondered why people could not resolve their conflicts through discussion, while Nagato reminded him that the town would have been overrun if they had not resisted.
• Black Zetsu told Madara Uchiha that another White Zetsu watching Nagato had been eliminated, and Madara ordered indirect surveillance instead of sending more agents.
• Madara ordered White Zetsu to stir up conflict among the major nations, plant more agents around Hanzō, and foster bonds around Uchiha children so the resulting chaos could benefit his plans and Nagato’s Rinnegan.

Mukai ended his cooperation with Yahiko after Yahiko released Amegakure spies to demonstrate goodwill, leaving Nagato with Yahiko despite agreeing with Mukai. Meanwhile, Orochimaru learned that Mukai had hired him to frighten Obito and planned to repeat the prank.

• Obito chased Kakashi, was struck by a wooden stick wielded by Orochimaru's clone, and persuaded Rin to keep the incident secret.
• Obito awoke at the inn when a bloodstained kunai grazed his face and lodged in his pillow.
• Orochimaru examined cloned White Zetsu Cells, discovered traces of Hashirama Cells, and sent Mukai a scroll by messenger snake.
• Mukai confronted Yahiko for releasing Amegakure spies and argued that strength was needed to make Hanzo negotiate.
• Yahiko defended his choice as a step toward peace through understanding, so Mukai declared their cooperation suspended and said Konan would not join Yahiko's cause.
• Nagato chose to stay with Yahiko, while Mukai left with Sasori and told Nagato he could still seek help from Konan.

Mukai reassured Nagato that he respected his decision to stay with Yahiko, then set tasks for his allies and explained why he planned to take the Shukaku Trial. The next morning, Mukai and Sasori tested new construction machines at the fortress, including an electric truck and a tower crane.

• Nagato asked Mukai not to blame Yahiko and said he would remain beside him to pursue peace.
• Mukai explained his opposition to Hanzō’s agreement and promised Nagato that Konan and he would support him if he was in danger.
• Mukai assigned Sasori, Konan, and Pakura work on the puppet workshop, Sealing Jutsu, and cement production, then defended his plan to enter the Shukaku Trial.
• Mukai and Sasori tested an electric truck that carried more than twenty tons of Iron Sand to the smelting pool.
• Mukai and Sasori introduced a steel-beam machine equipped with motors, gears, and cables: a tower crane.

Mukai taught Sasori how to apply mechanical principles to Chakra Threads, while the new tower crane demonstrated how machines could amplify strength. As the oasis fortress construction accelerated, Mukai prepared to leave for Sunagakure to take part in the Shukaku Trial.

• Mukai explained lever arms, torque, pulleys, and gears to Sasori, who tested the models and hurried back to his workshop.
• Shisō and the Crow puppets completed the tower crane, which lifted cement slurry effortlessly and amazed the workers.
• Shisō questioned whether Taijutsu still mattered, and Mukai argued that martial arts and mecha could amplify one another; Shira and Shisō pledged to help teach others.
• Mukai, Shisō, and Shira vowed to grow stronger together and use their strength to bring peace to the Shinobi World.
• The second heavy-duty truck and fourth tower crane sped up construction of the oasis fortress, while Mukai prepared to travel to Sunagakure for the Shukaku Trial.

Mukai arrived at Sunagakure’s sealing temple to take part in the Shukaku Trial, where he planned to study the seals and test his compatibility with Shukaku. After the seven participants began the first stage, Hatake Sakumo questioned why Mukai was waiting when he already understood the composition of Tailed Beast Chakra.

• Chiyo explained to Mukai that the Fusa Clan remained influential and had entered the Shukaku Trial despite its past punishment.
• Elder Sasa challenged Mukai’s right to participate because his primary Chakra affinity was lightning, and Mukai demonstrated precise control of wind and earth Chakra.
• The Third Kazekage arrived with Rasa, ended the argument, and began the trial.
• Rasa led the seven participants into the first chamber and explained the Chakra-synchronization test around the sealed Shukaku Chakra.
• Mukai asked Komushi to replicate and analyze the surrounding seals, then said he already understood the composition of Shukaku’s Chakra.
• Hatake Sakumo asked Mukai why he was waiting to analyze Shukaku’s Chakra if he had already figured it out.

Mukai passed the Chakra analysis and prepared to use the sealing trial to carry out a larger plan with Sakumo, Dan, and Nawaki. While waiting for his turn, he provoked and beat Fusa Ruru, then watched as Rasa restored order and Fusa entered the trial with a modified Black Ant puppet.

• Mukai discussed his larger plan with Sakumo, Dan, and Nawaki, then passed the Chakra analysis by matching Shukaku's sand.
• Rasa explained that only three participants would advance after facing a sealed Shukaku arm, and Mukai drew the last slot.
• Fusa Ruru mocked Mukai and threatened him, so Mukai insulted the Fusa Clan and struck him with a paralyzing attack and a three-hit combo.
• Rasa restrained Fusa Ruru with Gold Dust and warned both boys to stop fighting or lose their places in the trial.
• The Sasa Clan boy entered second and lasted longer than the first participant, then Fusa Ruru entered third with a modified Black Ant puppet as a defensive shield.

Fusa Ruru endured Shukaku’s attacks with a steel Black Ant puppet and several ninja tools before a protective alms bowl triggered the sand arm’s sudden rampage. Rasa contained the danger and questioned Bunpuku, then reported the incident to the Third Kazekage, leaving the trial’s continuation undecided.

• Fusa Ruru protected himself inside the steel Black Ant puppet and attacked Shukaku’s arm with ninja tools and Wind and Earth Release techniques.
• Fusa Ruru threw a protective Evil-Sealing Alms Bowl at Shukaku’s arm, then used the Body Flicker Technique to request that Rasa stop the trial.
• Shukaku’s arm suddenly tripled in thickness, crushed the Black Ant puppet, and attacked Rasa, who retreated with Fusa Ruru behind a Gold Dust Barrier.
• Rasa bound Fusa Ruru and questioned Bunpuku, who said Shukaku was angry but that he and the seal were in good condition.
• Rasa reported the arm’s increased power to the Third Kazekage and asked whether the trial should continue.

Mukai entered the Shukaku trial despite the berserk sand arm and shattered it with his Hierarch Mecha. Rasa saw Mukai’s strength firsthand, and Mukai asked whether he still had to remain in the room for the trial’s time limit.

• The Third Kazekage agreed to continue the trial despite Shukaku’s berserk state, and Rasa warned the participants to protect themselves.
• Mukai ignored Fusa Ruru’s taunts, equipped his Hierarch Mecha, and entered the sealed trial room with Rasa.
• Mukai asked Rasa whether striking Shukaku’s arm would harm the Tailed Beast or its Jinchūriki, and Rasa said it would not.
• Mukai used a powered punch to smash Shukaku’s sand arm apart, shaking the reinforced room and forcing Rasa to brace the roof with Gold Dust.
• Rasa found Mukai unharmed amid the settling sand, and Mukai asked whether he still needed to wait out the trial time.

Mukai won the second Shukaku Trial and entered the final trial with Fusa Ruru and Sasa Tarō, where they faced Shukaku in a consciousness space. Meanwhile, Shimura Danzō and Hiruko discussed their plot against Sunagakure, as Shukaku reacted with shock to something in the trial.

• Rasa declared Mukai the winner after he smashed apart Shukaku's arm, then selected Mukai, Fusa Ruru, and Sasa Tarō for the final trial.
• The Third Kazekage and the elders entered the sealed prison, and Bunpuku began the trial by loosening part of his seal.
• Shukaku pulled the three candidates into his consciousness, where Mukai awoke in a dark expanse of sand and Shukaku approached him.
• Shimura Danzō questioned Hiruko about the plan to assassinate the Third Kazekage and kill the One-Tail Jinchuriki using poisoned Kaguya Clan bone blades and Evil-Sealing Alms Bowls.
• Danzō ordered Hiruko to intensify his Wood Release research, while Shukaku appeared in the consciousness space and exclaimed that something was impossible.

Fusa Yukimura and his allies assassinated the Third Kazekage and tried to seize control of Sunagakure, while Chiyo and Rasa fought back. The rebels escaped the sealed prison with Bunpuku caught in the attack, then challenged the village forces to keep resisting.

• Gold Dust Binding and the Fusa and Sasa elders poisoned the Third Kazekage, while Fusa Yukimura presented the daimyo’s order declaring himself acting Kazekage.
• The Third Kazekage entrusted the village to Chiyo before dying in Rasa’s arms, and Chiyo summoned her ten puppets to oppose the coup.
• Matsushiro Kazumasa attacked Chiyo but failed to penetrate her prototype armor, and the Chikamatsu puppets killed his body double.
• Fusa Yukimura’s faction attacked Bunpuku and tried to kill Mukai, who blocked Fusa Ruru’s strikes while apparently still in the consciousness trial.
• The rebels blasted a hole through the sealed prison and escaped into the desert, where Fusa Yukimura confronted Chiyo, Rasa, and the village forces beside two giant summoned beasts.

Chiyo and Rasa fought Fusa Yukimura’s allied forces, but Bunpuku was dead, Mukai was missing, and Magnet Release sand crippled Chiyo’s puppets. As Chiyo prepared a desperate attack with only six puppets left, a familiar voice arrived to help.

• Chiyo learned that Bunpuku was dead and Mukai was missing, then asked Rasa to stand with her against the Fusa traitors.
• Rasa refused to make peace, and he and Chiyo led the remaining clan elders in an attack on Fusa Yukimura’s forces.
• Chiyo rescued Rasa from the sandworm’s underground strike, and Rasa trapped part of it with Gold Dust before dodging the scorpion’s stinger.
• Chiyo explained that fine sand was jamming her puppets, while Fusa Ruru destroyed two of them and Fusa Yukimura revealed that Shukaku would eventually revive if killed.
• With only six puppets remaining, Chiyo prepared Three Treasures Suction Crush, but a familiar voice apologized for arriving late and used Summoning Technique.

Mukai and Shukaku crushed Fusa Yukimura’s rebellion and saved the Third Kazekage, then Chiyo learned the Land of Wind’s daimyo had backed the coup and was cutting off Sunagakure’s funding. Chiyo called Mukai and Sasori to attend an urgent Jonin meeting as the village faced a crisis.

• Mukai appeared atop a small Shukaku and offered the rebel clans one last chance to surrender.
• Fusa Yukimura sent a giant desert scorpion and giant sandworm to attack, and Shukaku crushed them after Mukai gave permission.
• Mukai and Shukaku fired five Thunderstorm Drilling Air Bullets, annihilating Fusa Yukimura’s clan elites and allies.
• Mukai asked Chiyo about the Third Kazekage, and she explained that the Fusa Clan had tried to replace him with the Land of Wind’s daimyo backing them.
• Ebizo gave Chiyo an intelligence scroll revealing that the daimyo was temporarily cutting off Sunagakure’s funding.
• Chiyo stopped Mukai from leaving and summoned him and Sasori to the Jonin meeting.

Mukai was promoted to Jonin alongside Sasori after subduing Shukaku, then recreated the Freedom Gundam in the consciousness space to fight the One-Tail. The battle continued as Shukaku launched a Sand Waterfall Funeral and Mukai answered with a missile storm.

• Chiyo asked Rasa to approve Mukai and Sasori’s promotions to Jonin, and Rasa agreed, citing Mukai’s command over Shukaku and record of high-rank missions.
• Chiyo asked how Mukai had subdued Shukaku, and Mukai joked that he had won him over with love and understanding.
• Shukaku recalled agreeing to Mukai’s summoning array and preparing to torment him during their consciousness-space trial.
• Mukai entered the consciousness space and asked Shukaku to teach him how to awaken Magnet Release, then formed a fifty-one-meter Freedom Gundam.
• Shukaku attacked with a Drilling Air Bullet, but the Freedom Gundam’s shield resisted it, prompting Mukai to taunt him.
• Shukaku unleashed Sand Waterfall Funeral, and Mukai fired a missile storm at the advancing wave of sand.

Mukai fought Shukaku inside the consciousness space using the Freedom Gundam until Shukaku surrendered, then considered making him a summoned beast. Komushi warned Mukai that someone was attacking his real body in the trial room.

• Mukai used the Freedom Gundam to overpower Shukaku with missiles and close-combat attacks, then let Komushi control the mecha to intercept Shukaku’s Wind Sand Barrage.
• Mukai struck Shukaku with a superman punch, leaving him badly weakened until Shukaku buried his head in the sand and refused to keep fighting.
• Mukai dismissed the Freedom Gundam and tried to coax Shukaku into fighting a red Zaku, but Shukaku would not get up.
• Hatake Sakumo suggested that Mukai make the subdued Shukaku his summoned beast, and Mukai asked Shukaku to sign a Summoning Contract.
• Komushi warned Mukai that someone was attacking his real body in the trial room.

Mukai secured Shukaku’s cooperation by rescuing him from dying with Bunpuku, then summoned him at the Oasis Workshop. The chapter ended with Mukai ordering Shukaku to dig a broad defensive trench outside the fortress.

• Mukai gave Shukaku the choice to submit or be destroyed, and Shukaku agreed to become his summon so he could survive and avenge Bunpuku.
• With Hatake Sakumo’s help, Mukai used Dan Katō’s Spirit Transformation Technique to implant a summoning formula in Shukaku’s mental world.
• Shukaku recovered in a sand dune and answered Mukai’s summons, compressing his body so he could pass through the summoning array.
• At the Oasis Workshop, Mukai told Konan, Sasori, Shisō, Pakura, and the others about the Shukaku Trial, while Sasori condemned the assassinated Third Kazekage for his past failures.
• Mukai successfully summoned Shukaku, who explained that the delay came from compressing his body because Mukai had supplied too little Chakra for a larger summoning.
• Mukai ordered Shukaku to dig a deep trench more than fifty meters wide north of the fortress, leaving a passage at its entrance.

Mukai returned to Sunagakure with Sasori and Pakura for a Jonin assembly after the Third Kazekage’s assassination, having revealed a new attraction-and-repulsion ability. Chiyo and Ebizo accused the Land of Wind’s daimyo and nobles of backing the coup, and the meeting ended with an angry challenge to the daimyo’s supposed sanctity.

• Shukaku dug two trenches around the oasis fortress with Magnet Release, while Mukai sensed the area and displayed a new ability that manipulated attraction and repulsion.
• Mukai, Sasori, and Pakura returned to Sunagakure, where Mukai and Sasori’s promotion to Special Jōnin drew no opposition.
• Chiyo told the assembled Jonin that the Fusa and Sasa clans had murdered the Third Kazekage and plotted a rebellion with the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Wind.
• Ebizo explained that the daimyo had supported the coup to preserve his control over Sunagakure and protect his financial interests.
• A conservative elder argued that Sunagakure could not oppose the daimyo, and an angry voice challenged the claim that he was a sacred figure worth protecting.

After Rasa condemned the Daimyo of the Land of Wind for plotting the Third Kazekage’s death, Chiyo and Mukai urged Sunagakure to fight back and take control of its future. Every Jonin supported the motion, and Chiyo formally declared war on the daimyo and the nobles.

• Rasa denounced the daimyo’s betrayal of the Third Kazekage and called his loyalty undeserved.
• Chiyo argued that Sunagakure had to resist the daimyo rather than wait to be weakened and destroyed.
• Chiyo presented Mukai’s achievements and Shukaku as proof that Sunagakure had the strength to fight.
• Mukai called for revenge and a new Land of Wind led by Sunagakure, while Pakura, Sasori, and Rasa stood with him.
• Every Jonin raised a hand in support of taking revenge on the daimyo.
• Chiyo formally declared war on the Daimyo of the Land of Wind and the nobles.

Mukai and Sunagakure’s Jonin prepared to retaliate against the Land of Wind’s nobles, while Daimyo Sukegawa Senki scrambled to recruit outside forces and defend his capital. As Sukegawa waited for help, a masked ninja appeared and asked about his bounty.

• Mukai took responsibility for attacking the Land of Wind’s capital, while Rasa prepared to help subdue the country’s nobles.
• Sunagakure’s Jonin squads left the village to strike at noble settlements, leaving Chiyo and Ebizo in charge.
• Daimyo Sukegawa Senki learned Sunagakure had united and was mobilizing under the slogan “Blood debts must be paid in blood!”
• Sukegawa ordered messages sent to Konoha and other lands for military aid, and offered a bounty to hire wandering ninja and missing-nin.
• A masked ninja wearing a slashed Takigakure Forehead Protector appeared in the darkness and asked Sukegawa whether he was hiring ninja.

Kakuzu attacked Mukai for the bounty on the Sand ninja, but Mukai’s mecha repelled his techniques and countered his close-range assaults. Kakuzu transformed into his Earth Grudge Fear ultimate form and launched a full attack on Mukai.

• Kakuzu accepted the Land of Wind Daimyo’s offer to kill the Sand ninja leaders for a bounty and confronted Mukai outside the castle.
• Mukai repelled Kakuzu’s Earth Grudge Fear tentacles and sent Sasori and Teacher Pakura to clear out the fortress.
• Kakuzu’s fire and lightning attacks failed against Mukai’s mecha, and Mukai offered to spare him if he surrendered.
• Kakuzu hardened his body and combined Wind Release with taijutsu, but Mukai repelled and struck him down.
• Kakuzu transformed into his Earth Grudge Fear ultimate form, rejected Mukai’s final offer to surrender, and attacked with his masks and tentacles.

Mukai destroyed Kakuzu with the Hierarch Mecha and joined Sasori and Pakura at the Daimyo’s castle, where the Four Violet Flames Formation blocked their attack. He shattered the formation by repeatedly ramming it with the mecha and summoned Shukaku as the battle against the Daimyo’s forces resumed.

• Mukai unleashed electricity from the Hierarch Mecha and reduced Kakuzu’s Earth Grudge Fear tentacles to ash, killing him.
• Mukai reached the Daimyo’s castle and found Sasori and Pakura unable to penetrate the Four Violet Flames Formation.
• The Daimyo and his retainers celebrated, believing the formation’s four chakra-fed anchors would hold until reinforcements arrived.
• Mukai used repulsive force to shield the Hierarch Mecha and built up speed, repeatedly ramming the formation with physical force.
• Mukai shattered the Four Violet Flames Formation, then summoned Shukaku and told Pakura to prepare a combined Ninjutsu.

Mukai and Pakura used a combined jutsu with Shukaku to destroy the Daimyo of the Land of Wind’s castle and avenge the Third Kazekage. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire refused to send aid, instead authorizing Konoha to act at the border and summoning Danzo.

• Shukaku, Mukai, and Pakura combined their jutsu into a superheated jet that shattered the Four Violet Flames Formation and engulfed the Daimyo of the Land of Wind’s castle.
• Mukai told Pakura to help clean up the battlefield, and she resolved to continue the revenge campaign.
• The Daimyo of the Land of Fire received the Wind daimyo’s appeal and dismissed his request for military or material support.
• The Daimyo of the Land of Fire offered only moral support and higher-interest loans from merchants.
• The Daimyo of the Land of Fire ordered Hiruzen Sarutobi to monitor the border and authorized him to seize mines and villages if necessary.
• The Daimyo of the Land of Fire summoned Danzo, crediting him with encouraging the Wind daimyo’s attempt to assassinate the Third Kazekage.

After the Land of Wind’s daimyo and Third Kazekage were gone, Mukai and Sunagakure began land reform, armed the village, and built border defenses. A blood-red message then reported that Hanzo and Konoha’s Root had killed Yahiko and his companions, while Amegakure forces occupied Moon Sake Town.

• The Daimyo of the Land of Fire ordered that the other nations be allowed to fight over the unfolding crisis.
• Mukai told Sasori that Sunagakure’s gains in the Land of Wind mattered more than the treasures lost in the burned castle.
• Sunagakure’s jonin removed the nobles, and the village began land reform while distributing weapons and equipment to its shinobi.
• Mukai took Pakura north, where Shukaku raised a sand wall and Mukai fused it into a solid barrier with Brilliance.
• Mukai received an urgent message that Hanzo and Konoha’s Root had killed Yahiko and his companions, and that Nagato had escaped while Amegakure occupied Moon Sake Town.

Hanzo of the Salamander mobilized Amegakure’s forces in Moon Sake Town for an invasion of the Land of Wind, hoping to conquer Sunagakure while it was leaderless. As the troops prepared to advance, Sasori arrived in the Improved Mountain God Mecha to block their route and challenge Hanzo.

• Hanzo of the Salamander rallied Amegakure’s ninja and ordered an all-out attack on Sunagakure, claiming the invasion would defend order and raise the Land of Rain.
• Amegakure deployed its Rain Tiger Assault Squad, Water Release and Earth Release forces, and poison-mist troops carrying Ibuse’s poison.
• Hanzo ordered his forces to destroy the border outposts and continue directly to Sunagakure, then demonstrated his power by cutting down a large tree.
• Sasori arrived outside Moon Sake Town in the Improved Mountain God Mecha and blocked the road to the Land of Wind’s border fortress.
• Sasori condemned Hanzo’s killing and looting and declared that he and his allies had helped Moon Sake Town.

Sasori used the Mountain God Mecha to attack Hanzo of the Salamander’s forces, but Hanzo countered with a series of powerful techniques and trapped the mecha in a mudslide. After the mecha’s devastating self-destruction, Sasori revealed a formation of thirty more puppets and began the next stage of the battle.

• The Mountain God Mecha crushed Rain Ninja and withstood an Explosive Tag and a Water Release attack, forcing Hanzo of the Salamander to confront Sasori.
• Sasori introduced himself and released Crow, Black Ant, and Twin-Blade Strongman from the mecha.
• Hanzo slashed the mecha, detonated an Explosive Tag Formation, and engulfed it in an Earth Flow River, while cutting apart Sasori’s three other puppets.
• Hanzo sent Rain Ninja to retrieve Sasori, but the trapped Mountain God Mecha erupted in a massive electrical self-destruction that killed dozens of Rain Ninja.
• Sasori unfurled a storage scroll, deployed thirty dual-blade puppets, and announced the Twin-Blade Strongman Formation.