Chapter Summaries

After absorbing nearly all of Hashirama Senju’s cells, Araki gained Wood Release techniques and unleashed a frightening surge of power inside the Hokage’s office building. The resulting blast and pressure overwhelmed the Third, Danzo, and the assembled Konoha Jonin.

• Araki absorbed the Hashirama cells stored in the Hokage’s office building and experienced fragments of Hashirama Senju’s memories and techniques.
• Araki realized he had absorbed about 98 percent of Hashirama’s cells, while the remaining portion stood between him and mastering senjutsu.
• Araki sensed where the remaining two percent of Hashirama’s cells were and released a far stronger chakra, cracking the office building’s floor and lifting rubble.
• An explosion erupted behind the Hokage’s office building, pushing the Third, Danzo, and the Jonin outward as immense pressure forced them to lower their heads.

After absorbing the Hashirama Cells and causing a terrifying chakra disturbance in the Hokage's office, Araki returned home and urged Kushina to visit Uzushiogakure immediately because he sensed danger there. They left Konoha together without permission and headed toward Kushina's hometown.

• Araki absorbed the Hashirama Cells, unleashed overwhelming chakra that made people float, and left the Hokage's office as the pressure vanished.
• Araki returned home and told Kushina he wanted to visit Uzushiogakure, saying he feared something might happen to it.
• Kushina agreed to go with Araki, and he rejected telling Minato or Jiraiya-sensei before they left.
• Araki reassured Kushina that their departure would not make them missing-nin because the Chunin Ninja Exams were still ongoing.
• Araki and Kushina walked out through Konoha's main gate without being stopped and continued along the road away from the village.

Araki detected Black Zetsu watching him, dragged him out of a tree with a Wood Clone, and left him suspecting Araki was a reincarnation of Asura’s Chakra. Black Zetsu asked who Araki was, but the Wood Clone answered with an embrace.

• Araki sensed someone following him and told the watcher to come out, while Kushina could not detect anyone nearby.
• Black Zetsu realized Araki might have seen him and tried to retreat into a tree.
• Araki used a Wood Clone to seize Black Zetsu and pull him from the trunk, then mocked him for misunderstanding the command.
• Black Zetsu recognized the Wood Release technique and suspected Araki was a reincarnation of Asura’s Chakra.
• Black Zetsu asked Araki’s Wood Clone who he was, and the clone embraced him instead of answering.

Araki sealed Black Zetsu in a wooden cage and stored it in a scroll while Kushina questioned his advanced Uzumaki sealing techniques. Araki revealed that Mito Uzumaki had taught him the techniques, and Kushina doubted his claim that he had only just learned them.

• Araki approached Black Zetsu's completed wooden seal with Kushina and formed an advanced sealing formula on a scroll using his chakra.
• Araki sealed the wooden cage containing Black Zetsu inside the scroll, then stored the scroll in a talisman.
• Araki told Kushina he had postponed dealing with Black Zetsu until after their visit to Uzushiogakure and said he would teach her the sealing techniques later.
• Araki searched his memories and identified Mito Uzumaki as the person who taught him the Uzumaki sealing technique.
• Kushina accused Araki of making a fool of her by letting her teach him to make Explosive Tags, and Araki insisted he had only just learned the techniques.
• Kushina looked at Araki doubtfully when he repeated that he had only just learned them.

While traveling through the woods, Araki explained his supposed memories from Hashirama Senju’s cells to Kushina, who guessed that he had gained Wood Release. Araki confirmed that he was a Wood Release ninja, leaving Kushina stunned and uncertain whether to believe him.

• Kushina asked Araki how he had learned the unfamiliar Sealing Jutsu, and he said Tsunade’s medicine had brought back memory fragments after they returned to Konoha.
• Araki told Kushina that the pills contained Hashirama Senju’s cells and that the cells had given him abilities and memories from the First Hokage.
• Kushina connected the Hashirama cells to the wooden cage Araki had made and asked whether he was a Wood Release ninja.
• Araki confirmed that he could use Wood Release, despite Kushina first trying to dismiss her own guess.
• Kushina questioned whether Araki was serious or lying, and Araki stopped on a branch without giving her a clear answer.

Araki used Wood Release and the Spirit Transformation Technique to enter Kushina’s sealed space with her, where he discovered that Nine-Tails was cowering in its cage. Nine-Tails recognized Hashirama Senju’s presence in Araki’s soul and feared him, while Kushina remained baffled by what was happening.

• Araki bound Kushina with Wood Release, formed a Wood Locking Wall around them, and sent his soul into her body with the Spirit Transformation Technique.
• Araki and Kushina appeared in the sealed corridor, and Araki explained that he had entered by using the Spirit Transformation Technique and his knowledge of sealing.
• Araki led Kushina toward Nine-Tails’ cage, noting that he could not remain in the sealed space for long without endangering their bodies.
• Kushina saw Nine-Tails curled up and trembling in the far corner of its cage, unlike its usual ferocious self.
• Nine-Tails recognized Araki’s soul and sensed Hashirama Senju’s presence within it, causing it to cower in fear.

Araki met Nine-Tails inside Kushina’s seal and admitted that he had used Wood Release to subdue him during Kushina’s rampage at the Land of Fire border. After leaving the seal space, Araki explained that earlier pills had helped him gain Wood Release, while Kushina learned she was the only person in Konoha he had told besides Tsunade-sensei.

• Araki summoned Nine-Tails to the seal’s gate and stroked his muzzle, while Nine-Tails cowered before Araki’s Hashirama Senju-like aura.
• Kushina asked whether Araki had intervened when she lost control, and Araki said he had restrained Nine-Tails with Wood Release and persuaded him to return to her body.
• Nine-Tails confirmed Araki’s account, and Araki ended their spiritualized visit before Kushina could ask more questions inside the seal space.
• As they walked through the woods, Araki sensed that something might happen in Uzushiogakure and suspected a connection to the Hashirama Cells in his body.
• Kushina questioned how Araki had used Wood Release before receiving his latest pill, and Araki explained that he had taken other pills before and had a high concentration of Hashirama Cells.
• Araki told Kushina that only she and Tsunade-sensei knew about his Wood Release, and asked her not to tell Tsunade-sensei that he had confided in her.

Araki and Kushina reached Uzushiogakure, where Kushina hesitated before returning to her hometown. The gate guards recognized her as Kushina Uzumaki and let her and Araki into the village while remaining wary.

• Minato told Jiraiya that Araki and Kushina had been missing for two days, and Jiraiya reasoned that Kumogakure had not captured them.
• Jiraiya learned that Kumogakure's envoys had arrived and concluded Araki and Kushina were likely safe because the envoys were still pressuring Konoha.
• Araki and Kushina reached the southeastern border of the Land of Fire, where Kushina worried about facing the people and changes in her hometown.
• Araki urged Kushina onward because he sensed something urgent was happening in Uzushiogakure, and they continued toward the village.
• Two Uzushiogakure guards stopped Araki and Kushina at the gate, recognized Kushina Uzumaki, and escorted them inside while asking why she had returned.

Araki and Kushina reached Uzushiogakure, where an explosion critically injured the village chief before Araki could meet him. Araki insisted he could save the chief as a medical-nin, but the village’s ninja doubted him.

• Araki asked to meet Uzushiogakure’s village chief, but the gate guard hesitated to take him there.
• An explosion struck the chief’s workplace, and Araki hurried there with Kushina and the guard.
• Araki found the building charred and learned the chief had suffered devastating chest injuries and was losing blood.
• Araki said the chief was still alive and offered to save him, claiming he was a medical-nin.
• The Uzushiogakure ninja questioned Araki’s claim because their own medical-nin believed the chief could not be saved.

Araki began treating the gravely wounded Uzushiogakure village chief after Kushina persuaded the clan’s ninja to let him try. As Araki’s healing connected him with the chief, he was pulled into a strange space and came face-to-face with Hagoromo Otsutsuki.

• Araki asked the Uzushiogakure ninja to take him to the village chief so he could save him.
• Kushina vouched for Araki as Tsunade’s medical-nin and urged the clan to let him try, so the ninja stepped aside.
• Araki reached the village chief and displayed powerful Mystical Palm Technique, convincing the onlookers that he had exceptional skill.
• Araki ordered the ninja to guard him, then used the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique and Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth-Strength of a Hundred Technique to repair the chief’s injuries.
• After nearly half an hour of treatment, Araki lost control of his body and entered a strange space as the village chief opened his eyes.
• Araki found Hagoromo Otsutsuki floating before him and wondered how he had encountered the Sage of Six Paths.

Araki recovered his memories as Hashirama Senju, awakened the Rinnegan, and sealed Madara Uchiha and Indra’s chakra within himself to end their reincarnation cycle. He planned to return to Konoha with Kushina and call a Five Kage Summit to redistribute the tailed beasts; the closing remarks then shifted to an unrelated esports match between VC and AE.

• The Sage of Six Paths restored Araki’s memories and explained how Hashirama Senju had sealed Indra’s chakra in a necklace for his reincarnation to find.
• Araki understood that he was Asura’s reincarnation and vowed to seal Indra within himself to end their cycle.
• Araki returned to Uzushiogakure with the Rinnegan, summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and sealed Madara Uchiha and the statue inside his body.
• Araki told Kushina they could return to Konoha and said he would call a Five Kage Summit to redistribute the tailed beasts.
• In the closing remarks, Lao Wang planned an outside split onto A during a technical pause, while Daodiaoren urged AE to take risks because their economy was strained.

Zongjian led ae through a decisive attack on A, clearing the defense and securing vc’s match point in the Major grand final. The score reached 15-14, and lucky watched the crowd celebrate the opposing team.

• Daodiaoren pushed under the outside silo with ae’s AK-47, hoping to catch vc off guard.
• Zongjian used his teammates’ utility to advance onto main, spotted Daodiaoren, and killed him for the opening pick.
• Zongjian and his teammates overwhelmed the A-site defenders, with Zongjian killing sama and bug while Xiao Gui and niko helped clear the site.
• Zongjian’s kills secured the round and gave vc match point at 15-14.
• Zongjian celebrated with his arms spread as Lao Wang cheered, while lucky grimaced at the crowd’s reaction.

VC won the championship after s1mple killed lucky through the smoke in the final round. Mengde relived memories of the team's journey as the crowd cheered and his teammates turned to him.

• VC reached match point first, leaving AE with a broken economy and lucky holding the team's only rifle.
• Wang Yuning led VC's aggressive attack, and Zongjian killed k35 before sama was taken out.
• lucky traded Zongjian, while s1mple killed bug and Daodiaoren after Lao Wang fell.
• NiKo planted for main as lucky circled through ramp, and s1mple shot him through the smoke.
• Mengde remembered the teammates who had joined and left VC before realizing that the team had won the championship.