Chapter Summaries

Shohoku celebrated its 89-58 victory over Ryonan and received the Kanagawa tournament championship trophy. Kawamoto Kazuki won the MVP award, while he, Takenori Akagi, Kaede Rukawa, and Hanamichi Sakuragi made the All-Tournament Five, leaving Shohoku with four of the five spots.

• Shohoku defeated Ryonan by 31 points, and both teams celebrated or reflected on the result as the court was cleared for the ceremony.
• Kainan received the runner-up trophy, then Takenori Akagi accepted the championship trophy for Shohoku.
• Kawamoto Kazuki received the tournament MVP award.
• Shinichi Maki, Takenori Akagi, Kaede Rukawa, Hanamichi Sakuragi, and Kawamoto Kazuki were named to the All-Tournament Five.
• Hanamichi Sakuragi celebrated his selection, while Haruko Akagi watched him and reconsidered her feelings as she remembered Kawamoto's words about Sakuragi.

Kawamoto Kazuki asked Dr. Kitakura about the best American hospitals for treating heart disease, seeking options for his mother's care. He learned that the Cleveland Clinic was Dr. Kitakura's top recommendation and was left considering the distant possibility of taking his mother there.

• Kawamoto Kazuki met Dr. Kitakura while working at the convenience store, and they discussed Shohoku's championship and Kawamoto's MVP award.
• Kawamoto asked Dr. Kitakura which United States hospital was best for heart disease, and Dr. Kitakura recommended the Cleveland Clinic for complex congenital heart conditions.
• Dr. Kitakura gave Kawamoto his business card and explained that he had left Kanagawa General Hospital for Kitamura Private Clinic to practice with fewer institutional constraints.
• Dr. Kitakura offered to help Kawamoto with hospital contacts, specialists, costs, and procedures, and reminded him to care for his health and his mother's follow-up visits.
• After Dr. Kitakura left, Kawamoto studied the business card and gazed into the night, thinking of Cleveland.

Kawamoto gave Nozomi Takamiya a translated manuscript and urged him to adapt its ideas into a story of his own. Inspired by the manuscript, Takamiya began writing Naruto, opening with the Nine-Tails attack on the Hidden Leaf Village and Naruto's birth.

• Kawamoto gave Takamiya the translated manuscript and asked him to read it before meeting again.
• After reading through the night, Takamiya demanded to know what happened next, and Kawamoto challenged him to write the continuation himself.
• Kawamoto explained how Takamiya could adapt the story's ideas into a ninja setting, and Takamiya agreed to try.
• Takamiya went home, skipped the pachinko parlor, and began writing a story titled Naruto.
• Takamiya's opening depicted Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki during the Nine-Tails attack, Naruto's birth, and a masked figure discussing Madara Uchiha's plan.

Akagi announced that players who failed four subjects and their makeup exams would lose their eligibility for club activities and nationals, sending the Shohoku team into a panic. Kawamoto offered to take Sakuragi’s exams, and the chapter ended as Sakuragi wrote Kawamoto Kazuki’s name on his exam paper.

• Akagi told the team that final exams began in two days and warned that failing four subjects and the makeup exams would cost them their eligibility.
• Sakuragi begged Kawamoto to tutor him in all his subjects, but Kawamoto said he would take Sakuragi’s exams and have Sakuragi practice copying his handwriting.
• The day before the exams, Sakuragi swaggered around campus and taunted Rukawa, Nango, Miyagi, and Mitsui about his supposed academic confidence.
• On exam day, Sakuragi carefully wrote Kawamoto Kazuki’s name on his paper.

Kawamoto Kazuki joined Yoko Minamino on a three-day fishing trip, where their strength contest turned into a life-saving partnership during a sudden storm. After the boat returned, Kawamoto headed toward Heike with Boss Kobayashi and encountered Koichiro Nango and several motorcycles blocking the road.

• Boss Matsusaka introduced Kawamoto Kazuki to Yoko Minamino before the Matsusaka Maru sailed offshore.
• Kawamoto and Yoko Minamino competed to carry heavy fishing gear and baskets of fish, earning each other's attention.
• A sudden storm battered the boat, and Kawamoto kicked a sliding toolbox away from Boss Kobayashi.
• Kawamoto grabbed a snapped steel cable while Yoko Minamino secured it with spare rope, preventing further damage to the boat.
• After the storm, Yoko Minamino acknowledged Kawamoto's strength and became his friend; they exchanged phone numbers at the harbor.
• Kawamoto traveled toward Heike with Boss Kobayashi and saw Koichiro Nango and several motorcycles blocking the road.

Kawamoto Kazuki reunited with Kyosuke Masaki and persuaded the Racing Angels to start a daytime delivery business while keeping their nighttime rides. Two days later, exam results revealed that Kawamoto had scored zero in all seven subjects.

• Kawamoto recognized Kyosuke Masaki, and Kyosuke agreed to lend him bikes and invited him to join the Racing Angels.
• Kawamoto proposed that the Racing Angels earn money and pursue speed by making daytime deliveries under a separate business name.
• Kyosuke and the Racing Angels accepted Kawamoto’s plan, and Kyosuke put him in charge of their daytime operations.
• Kawamoto agreed to join the Racing Angels, while Kyosuke insisted that he also take part in nighttime gang activities.
• Two days later, exam results showed Kawamoto had scored zero in modern Japanese, mathematics, English, history, geography, biology, and physics.

Shohoku’s teachers discovered that Kawamoto Kazuki had scored zeros on every final exam, but assumed his papers were invalid and eagerly tried to protect his chance to play at nationals. When Akagi and the other basketball players asked for makeup exams, the teachers refused until Kawamoto spoke up for them, leaving the team stunned by his influence.

• Shohoku’s teachers discussed Kawamoto Kazuki’s seven zeroes and planned to replace his scores with perfect marks, believing he was an exceptional student who had been exhausted by work and basketball.
• Takenori Akagi, Kiminobu Kogure, Hisashi Mitsui, Ryota Miyagi, Kaede Rukawa, and Koichiro Nango asked the teachers for makeup exams after failing, while the teachers warmly fussed over Kawamoto and dismissed the others’ appeal.
• Mr. Matsumoto refused to grant the players makeup exams and told them to ask Principal Takeo Tanaka for an exception.
• Kawamoto asked the teachers to give his teammates another chance, and they promptly agreed to makeup exams with somewhat easier questions.
• The teachers discussed how to explain Kawamoto’s exam results to the principal, while the basketball players left the office stunned.

After the Shohoku Basketball Team passed their makeup exams, Kawamoto helped Nozomi Takamiya finish the first two volumes of Naruto and submitted them to Sanae Nakagawa for consideration. Nakagawa praised its potential and planned to recommend it for serialization, while Kawamoto then headed to Kyosuke Masaki's motorcycle warehouse to meet Kengo Murasame and the others.

• Takenori Akagi and Kiminobu Kogure's crash tutoring helped every Shohoku player pass the makeup exams, and summer vacation began.
• Nozomi Takamiya brought Kawamoto the first drafts of Naruto volumes one and two, and they spent the day revising the manuscripts together.
• Kawamoto submitted the Naruto manuscripts to Sanae Nakagawa, who read them and praised the story's potential for serialization in Weekly Shonen Sunday.
• Sanae Nakagawa agreed to discuss the manuscript with her editor-in-chief and recommend it to the Sunday editorial department.
• Kawamoto went to Kyosuke Masaki's motorcycle warehouse, where Kengo Murasame, Senichiro Nango, and the others had gathered.

Kawamoto introduced Flash Wind Express as a real delivery business that would sell speed and convenience to customers across Shonan. He laid out its target markets and explained how the group could turn people’s urgent needs and reluctance to spend time running errands into repeat business.

• Kawamoto warned the assembled bikers and former basketball players that the venture could fail, but nobody chose to leave.
• Kawamoto named the business Flash Wind Express and described its product as time, certainty, and reliable delivery rather than delivery itself.
• Kawamoto identified students, small business owners, tourists and residents, and office workers living alone as the service’s main customer groups.
• Kawamoto focused on office workers’ last-minute needs, proposing errands such as buying discounted beef or coffee, obtaining medicine through legal channels, and retrieving forgotten documents.
• Kawamoto argued that serving neighborhoods with predictable routines and urgent small needs would create repeat customers who paid to avoid the time and effort of running errands.

Kawamoto organized the preparations for Flash Wind Express, explaining how the group could serve customers who wanted everyday errands handled quickly. The group committed to opening within a week, though the business’s prospects remained uncertain.

• Kawamoto identified people living in studio apartments as a fourth customer category and told Kyosuke Masaki and Kengo Murasame how to serve tired office workers.
• Kawamoto laid out three preparation steps: secure a storefront, install a phone line, and distribute flyers.
• Kyosuke Masaki offered to arrange the phone installation through his contact at the telephone bureau, while Kawamoto agreed to answer calls at first.
• Kengo Murasame volunteered to have his brother’s printing shop design and print the flyers.
• Kawamoto assigned Nango and the other bikers to service the bikes and add Flash Wind Express decals and its phone number.
• Kawamoto set a one-week deadline for the storefront, phone, flyers, and bikes, and Kyosuke Masaki rallied the group to begin work.

Kyosuke Masaki and his friends opened Flash Wind Express and received a desperate first delivery: a contract had to reach Yokohama Airport before an international flight departed. Masaki raced off with the documents, and the chapter ended as the client’s phone rang at 9:00 a.m.

• Shohoku’s basketball team celebrated the gym’s renovation while Coach Anzai kept his role in the improvements quiet.
• Kyosuke Masaki and Kawamoto opened Flash Wind Express’s first storefront, installed a telephone, and distributed flyers around Heike.
• Koji Matsushita called Flash Wind Express and begged them to deliver a vital contract from Hiratsuka to Yokohama Airport before 9:20 a.m.
• Masaki took the documents from Matsushita and raced toward the airport on his Kawasaki Z2.
• Matsushita waited anxiously at his office until David’s temporary Japanese mobile number rang at 9:00 a.m.

Koichiro Nango delivered a birthday cake to Mika Sato on behalf of her boyfriend, who was stuck working late. He passed along the boyfriend’s heartfelt message, and the terrace fell silent in response.

• Koji Matsushita thanked Kawamoto for the urgent delivery that saved his contract and insisted on giving him extra money.
• A customer asked Kawamoto to collect a birthday cake in Heike and deliver it to Mika Sato in Yuigahama before seven.
• Koichiro Nango volunteered for the difficult delivery and picked up the three-tier cake just before the shop closed.
• Mika Sato began to lose hope that her boyfriend would remember her birthday as she waited with her friends.
• Nango arrived with the intact cake and told Mika that her boyfriend, Mr. Endo, was held up at work but had sent his wishes ahead.

Nango’s romantic cake delivery delighted Mika, while Flash Wind Express’s urgent jobs brought the crew strong earnings and a new sense of purpose. As the shop handled more evening requests, Sanae Nakagawa told Kawamoto that Weekly Shonen Sunday had approved the proposal and wanted to meet the next day.

• Nango delivered Endo’s birthday cake to Mika, and Chōji Takahashi later thanked him and gave him eighteen thousand yen.
• Kyosuke Masaki reflected on the crew’s new work, praised Nango, and rallied the riders to prioritize Flash Wind Express’s customers over racing.
• The crew accepted urgent requests for a Tokyo document and prescription cat food, and Masaki rode out to handle the deliveries.
• By evening, Kawamoto counted more than one and a half million yen in revenue, and A Zhe delivered limited-edition yokan to a customer who had forgotten his wedding anniversary.
• Sanae Nakagawa called Kawamoto to say Weekly Shonen Sunday had approved the proposal and asked him to bring his friend to discuss the details the next day.

Kawamoto and Takamiya secured a serialization deal for Naruto in Weekly Shonen Sunday's fiction section, and Takamiya prepared to write the next installment. The first issue featuring Naruto was released, and young manga reader Maeda Kenta began reading its opening despite his dislike of novels.

• Editor-in-chief Toyota praised Naruto's setting, characters, and writing, then offered Kawamoto and Takamiya a weekly serialization under conditions for pay, reader feedback, deadlines, and editorial approval.
• Takamiya accepted the terms with determination, and Toyota said the legal department would confirm the contract details.
• Outside the Shueisha building, Takamiya celebrated the serialization and pay while Kawamoto urged him to start writing the next volume.
• The following day, Maeda Kenta bought the latest Weekly Shonen Sunday and read his favorite manga before noticing Naruto in the fiction section.
• Though Kenta complained about the novel's length and title, he started reading its prologue about the calamity at the Hidden Leaf Village.

Kenta and readers across Japan became captivated by Naruto’s first installment and eagerly awaited the next issue. The story left them frustrated at the cliffhanger, while the Weekly Shonen Sunday editorial department faced a flood of calls.

• Kenta finished Naruto’s first installment, called the editorial department, and learned that the next part would come in a future weekly issue.
• Hirano Harunori read Naruto through the night and planned to buy the next issue of Sunday.
• Kinoshita Yumi was moved by Naruto and bought every copy of the latest Sunday issue at the bookstore.
• Readers across Japan embraced Naruto and recommended it to others, while the cliffhanger left them eager for more.
• The Weekly Shonen Sunday editorial department received a surge of calls, and staff asked Editor-in-Chief Toyota what to do about readers threatening to mail razor blades unless the next chapters were released.

Toyota Kameichi reacted to the overwhelming response to "Naruto" by ordering the magazine to prioritize it and personally seek more manuscripts. Meanwhile, Flash Wind Express expanded rapidly across Shonan and beyond, leaving Kyosuke Masaki to recognize the pride and purpose in the business.

• Toyota Kameichi saw that feedback for "Naruto" dominated reader responses and imagined its potential as a major multimedia franchise.
• Toyota Kameichi called an editorial meeting and ordered the magazine to give "Naruto" more pages and resources, while assigning an editor to focus on Nozomi Takamiya and Kawamoto Kazuki.
• Flash Wind Express moved into a larger warehouse in Hiratsuka and handled a flood of urgent deliveries across the region.
• Kyosuke Masaki and the other staff recruited and trained more riders as orders spread into Shizuoka and Tokyo.
• Kyosuke Masaki watched the busy dispatch center and felt pride in running a business that made his brothers needed and prosperous.
• An urgent engine roar approached the warehouse.

Toyota Kameichi rushed to Heike to urge Nozomi Takamiya to finish the next Naruto manuscripts, then celebrated Takamiya’s success with his parents. That evening, Kawamoto learned that Shohoku would travel to Shizuoka to play Jousei High School in three games.

• Toyota Kameichi arrived at Kawamoto’s warehouse and pressed Nozomi Takamiya for the rest of the Chunin Exams arc, promising to stay in Heike until it was finished.
• Toyota Kameichi visited the Takamiya family and told Nozomi’s parents that Naruto was a major hit and that their son could earn a fortune.
• Nozomi Takamiya felt embarrassed but warmed by his parents’ pride, while Dad Takamiya thanked Kawamoto for helping his son find his path.
• Kawamoto received a call from Takenori Akagi, who said Shohoku would play three games against Jousei High School in Shizuoka.
• Takenori Akagi told Kawamoto that the team would leave by Shinkansen the next morning, and Kawamoto agreed to join them later.

Shohoku fell behind Jousei by 13 points before Akagi sent Kawamoto into the game with five minutes remaining. Kawamoto immediately scored, stole the ball, and cut the deficit to three, then blocked Mikoshiba’s fadeaway as Shohoku’s comeback continued.

• Jousei built a 13-point lead as Yufune’s three-point shooting and Shohoku’s fatigue stalled Shohoku’s offense.
• With five minutes left and Mitsui exhausted, Akagi sent Kawamoto into the game.
• Kawamoto hit a three-pointer to make the score 91–96.
• Kawamoto stole the ball from Mikoshiba and finished a fast break with a one-handed dunk, narrowing the gap to three points.
• Kawamoto blocked Mikoshiba’s fadeaway jumper before it could reach the basket.

Kawamoto entered with Shohoku trailing Jousei and scored 43 points in five minutes, leading Shohoku to a 131:98 comeback victory. After the final whistle, Mikoshiba was left stunned by Kawamoto’s performance.

• Kawamoto blocked Mikoshiba’s hook shot, then scored a three to give Shohoku a 98:96 lead.
• Kawamoto added more baskets and steals as Shohoku’s lead grew, while Jousei rushed and missed its attacks.
• Kawamoto scored through contact for an and-one, extending Shohoku’s lead to 110:96 with 2:05 remaining.
• Kawamoto kept hitting threes until Shohoku defeated Jousei 131:98, completing a 43:2 run.
• Mikoshiba asked Kawamoto if he was even human, and Kawamoto replied that he was used to it.

Shohoku faced Jousei again after their afternoon game, and Akagi questioned whether the team was truly strong without Kawamoto carrying them. Mikoshiba challenged Kawamoto to play at full strength, but Kawamoto scored Shohoku’s first nine points before Jousei called a timeout.

• Mikoshiba blamed his afternoon loss on fatigue and vowed to shut Kawamoto down from the start of the rematch.
• Akagi reflected that Shohoku had struggled against Jousei for thirty-five minutes and worried the team relied too heavily on Kawamoto.
• Mikoshiba asked to guard Kawamoto for the entire game and requested that he show his full strength; Kawamoto agreed.
• Kawamoto opened the game with a post fadeaway, then scored with a Dream Shake layup, a drive, and a three-pointer.
• Jousei called a timeout as Mikoshiba struggled to contain Kawamoto, and the coach urged him to stay focused and deny easy shots.