Recaps

Yamato’s group discovered that the Jashin Cult had taken control of the Land of Hot Water’s ruling clans and planned to rescue two imprisoned clans before their execution. Tōga Hongshi transformed into a giant flying dog and carried the group toward Divine Hot Water City, where a confrontation awaited.

• At the border checkpoint, Yamato learned that the Jashin Cult had infiltrated three clans and that Suikyū Nanashō and Tansan Shizuto were to be executed the next day.
• Yamato used a prepared Jashin necklace and claimed the group wanted to introduce the cult to Konoha, persuading the guards to let them enter.
• Yamato said they needed to rescue the Water Ball Clan and the Carbonic Acid Clan before the execution, and Hongshi agreed to take the group to Divine Hot Water City.
• Hongshi transformed into an enormous white demon dog, and the group climbed onto his back as he flew toward the city.
• Yamato warned the group to prepare for a possible battle, while Hongshi and Konohamaru encouraged Ahao by asking him to cook oden.

In Divine Hot Water City, the Jashin Cult prepared to boil the Water Ball and Carbonic Acid clans alive, but Hongshi and Yamato’s group interrupted the ritual. Hongshi redirected the cultists’ self-inflicted wounds to wild boars, and Yamato began testing the power of their masks.

• Iō Orochi ordered the prisoners led by Suikyū Nanashō and Tansan Shizuka to embrace Jashin or be thrown into the boiling oil, but both clan heads refused.
• Hongshi fell into the pot of hot oil, and Yamato, Xiao Daocao, Hanabi Hyuga, Konohamaru, and Ahao landed nearby unnoticed.
• Iō Orochi ordered his cultists to attack Hongshi, then had them use Death Controlling Possessed Blood to stab themselves.
• Hongshi transferred the cultists’ injuries to wild boars in the Land of the Moon, leaving the cultists unharmed.
• Yamato and the others activated their masks, entered Sage Mode, and used Sage Art: Great Four-Pillar Prison Technique.

Yamato and the others fought Iō Orochi’s cultists while trying to rescue the captive clanspeople, but their numbers gradually overwhelmed the Konoha team. As the cultists prepared to sacrifice Hongshi in a blazing oil cauldron, a dragon-shaped figure emerged from the flames and declared itself the embodiment of power.

• Hongshi boosted Yamato and the others with chakra and raised a wooden cage around the cultists, while Iō Orochi ordered his followers to attack and his bathrobes set the oil cauldron ablaze.
• Konohamaru, Yamato, and Hanabi Hyuga used shuriken wires, a wooden ox, and lightning to disarm the cultists and pull weapons away from the captive clanspeople, but the prisoners remained numb from their torture.
• Xiao Daocao blocked a barrage of weapons with Splitting Void and struck the cultists with lightning and white fire, while Konohamaru and Yamato helped protect her.
• The cultists regrouped and pressed the Konoha team back as Konohamaru’s clones vanished and Xiao Daocao exhausted her senjutsu chakra.
• Iō Orochi’s bathrobes heated the oil cauldron until it glowed red, then a dragon-shaped silhouette rose from the flames and proclaimed, "I! Am the embodiment of power!"

Tōga Hongshi used a giant black dragon transformation and healing chakra to turn the battle in Divine Hot Water City, then helped secure an alliance between the Land of Hot Water and Konoha. The Black Dragon Legion was founded with Deathwing as its spiritual leader.

• Hongshi appeared as a giant black dragon, broke Yamato's Wood Release cage, and threw Iō Orochi and the other two Great Bathrobes into the burning oil cauldron.
• Hanabi Hyuga freed the clanspeople, and Hongshi urged them to join the Black Dragon Legion while secretly healing them and restoring their chakra.
• The clanspeople defeated the cultists, and Iō Orochi and the other Great Bathrobes surrendered after Yamato lifted them from the cauldron.
• Yamato and Konohamaru explained that Deathwing was Hongshi's transformation, but Suikyū Nanashō and Tansan Shizuka agreed to keep the story and form an alliance with Konoha.
• The Black Dragon Legion was established in the Land of Hot Water with Deathwing as its spiritual leader.

After returning from the Land of Hot Water, Tōga Hongshi faced Tsunade’s anger over the country joining the Black Dragon Legion and Konoha’s alliance plans. The Hokage and several revived Hokage then questioned him about sharing his new senjutsu with the Blade Ninja Village.

• Tōga Hongshi rallied the Land of Hot Water’s residents to join the Black Dragon Legion and destroy the Jashin Cult as Yamato’s team watched uneasily.
• Half a month later, Tsunade berated Yamato and Tōga Hongshi because the Land of Hot Water had joined Konoha’s alliance and disrupted Danzo’s plans.
• Tsunade sent Yamato to prepare for Konoha High Command’s intelligence analysis, while Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō stayed behind to speak with Tōga Hongshi.
• Neji, Sakura, and Naruto joined the meeting, and Tobirama Senju took control of Neji to question Tōga Hongshi alongside the other Hokage.
• Neji asked why the Blade Ninja Village knew Tōga Hongshi’s newly created senjutsu, warning that outsiders could develop counters to Konoha’s techniques.

Neji assessed the growing threat from Iwagakure and debated Konoha’s response with the other Hokage. The meeting ended with Konoha choosing to invest in chakra ninja tools while Hongshi asked for his storefront to be arranged.

• Hongshi claimed he was the Nuclear Ninja Village’s grand elder, but the Hokage dismissed the claim before Tobirama credited his work securing allies and let his earlier conduct go.
• Neji identified Iwagakure as Konoha’s greatest danger and proposed sending Monkey, Danzo, Jiraiya, and Hongshi to the Land of Rain amid fears that Hiruko would ally with the Rock Ninja.
• Hongshi argued that Iwagakure could not take Amegakure because its leader, Pain, was stronger than Hanzo, and Danzo warned that invading could backfire.
• Minato proposed waiting while Konoha improved its strength and equipped its fighters with chakra ninja tools.
• Neji ordered five thousand sets of chakra ninja tools and a technology team to learn their manufacture from the Blade Ninja Village, while Hongshi asked for his storefront arrangements.

The Hokage agreed to pursue a technology-driven revolution, and Hongshi explained the Sage of Six Paths’ treasured tools while encouraging Tenten to grow stronger. Hongshi and Tenten reached Nuclear Ninja Village’s remote Konoha shop, where a little girl played with its chakra ninja tools.

• The Hokage provisionally accepted Minato Namikaze’s plan to launch a revolution, while Tobirama focused Konoha’s preparations on Iwagakure.
• Tenten told Hongshi that her training had stalled, but refused his wriggling shark-dolphin meat and agreed to hear about his senjutsu.
• Hongshi described the five treasured tools of the Sage of Six Paths, including the Bashosen and the Amber Purifying Pot, and said the pot was in Kumogakure.
• Hongshi urged Tenten to believe in herself and praised chakra ninja tools, including a twenty-meter chakra mech he had seen in Blade Ninja Village.
• Hongshi and Tenten found the remote Big Ivan Ninja Tools shop, where a little girl played with chakra weapons and dreamed of getting a Barrett.

Tenten bought every weapon in the Big Ivan Ninja Tool Shop, then tested a Chakra Barrett and Gatling in the Forest of Death. Kakashi watched the Gatling tear through a swarm of beasts and bugs and eagerly asked to buy chakra equipment.

• Tenten spent twenty billion ryo buying all the ninja tools in the Big Ivan Ninja Tool Shop, while Kajika accepted a Hokage scroll to deliver to the Nuclear Shadow.
• Tenten and Hongshi went to the Forest of Death, where Tenten shot Hongshi between the eyebrows with the Chakra Barrett, leaving him unharmed.
• Bloodsucking bugs and other beasts charged at the group, and Kakashi arrived as they swarmed over Hongshi.
• Tenten fired the Chakra Blue Fire Gatling into the bugs, shredding them and the trees behind them before she ran out of chakra.
• Kakashi abandoned his warning about relying on ninja tools and asked to buy three Chakra Furnaces and other equipment, including Xiao Daocao's Wind Release Kunai.

Kakashi tested Kamui against Hongshi’s Shadow Clone, destroying it only after Xiao Daocao supplied senjutsu chakra. Hongshi then told Kakashi that Obito might still be alive and helped him send a grenade-carrying clone into the Kamui Dimension to investigate.

• Kakashi used Kamui repeatedly against Hongshi’s Shadow Clone, but the clone’s power warped space and resisted the technique.
• Xiao Daocao lent Kakashi her senjutsu chakra, allowing him to use Kamui strongly enough to disperse Hongshi’s clone.
• Hongshi healed Kakashi and told him that Obito might still be alive, suggesting Kakashi use Kamui to verify it.
• Hongshi gave Kakashi a chakra grenade and supplied him with chakra as Kakashi sent a Shadow Clone holding it into the Kamui Dimension.

Kakashi’s shadow clone encountered Obito in the Kamui Dimension and learned that Akatsuki planned to attack the ninja villages and capture their jinchūriki. Back in the Forest of Death, Kakashi resolved to get stronger to save Obito, but accidentally ate tiger shark meat and underwent a strange transformation with Hongshi’s help.

• Obito revealed to Kakashi’s shadow clone that Akatsuki would attack the ninja villages and had already begun targeting their jinchūriki, with Konoha’s Nine-Tails Jinchūriki saved for last.
• Obito stabbed Kakashi’s clone, which vanished and left a chakra grenade at Obito’s feet.
• Kakashi received the clone’s memories and realized Obito was alive, then asked Hongshi to make him stronger.
• Kakashi snatched and swallowed the tiger shark meat before Hongshi could finish explaining its risks, and he collapsed while bleeding from all seven orifices.
• Hongshi used Sage Art: Creation Rebirth to help the meat fuse with Kakashi, giving him Hashirama Cells and letting him deactivate his Sharingan freely.
• Kakashi woke transformed into a shark, and he called out to the fleeing Hongshi while using Kamui.

Pain gathered the Akatsuki to assign missions for capturing tailed beasts and preparing for war, while warning them about Hongshi and the newly emerged Nuclear Ninja Village. The members dispersed to carry out their orders, with the next meeting set for thirty days later.

• Pain summoned the Akatsuki members through Formless Clones and announced that the organization would begin capturing tailed beasts.
• Pain assigned Hidan and Kakuzu to hunt high-bounty ninja, and sent Kisame and Uchiha Itachi after the Four-Tails in Iwagakure.
• Pain warned the Akatsuki that Hongshi was a tailed-beast-class threat and that they should avoid fighting him without intelligence.
• Zetsu warned the group about Nuclear Ninja Village and its growing strength, while Pain ordered Sasori and Deidara to destroy Blade Ninja Village and capture Gaara.
• Pain sent Zetsu to find Hiruko and supply him with super beastmen, then ended the meeting and scheduled the next one for thirty days later.

Hongshi opened a rice shop that drew customers with its meat stew and recruited the retired Maruboshi Kosuke as a chef. Hiruzen Sarutobi then told Hongshi that the Akatsuki had begun moving and assigned him to protect Sakura and Naruto, while revealing that Konoha knew about his secrets.

• Hongshi advertised the shop before dawn, and the aroma of Inakusa's grandfather's meat stew brought customers inside.
• Gyokucha sent Hongshi out of the crowded shop, where he met Maruboshi Kosuke and Hiruzen Sarutobi.
• Kosuke said Tobirama had retired him, then agreed to work as a chef and entrusted Konoha's protection to Hongshi.
• Hiruzen told Hongshi that the Akatsuki was targeting Tailed Beast Jinchūriki and that Hongshi should protect Sakura and Naruto.
• Hiruzen revealed that Konoha knew Hongshi had captured the Three-Tails and reminded him to teach Sakura and Naruto Nuclear Ninja Style Senjutsu.

Hongshi took Naruto, Sakura, and Xiao Daocao on a journey to Nuclear Ninja Village, despite initially pointing them toward the wrong destination. At the village, he welcomed the First, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki, then invited the Three-Tails and Nine-Tails to come out.

• Xiao Daocao gave Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu meat stew while they guarded Konoha Gate, and they eagerly ate it.
• Hongshi told Naruto, Sakura, and Xiao Daocao they were going to Nuclear Ninja Village, though Sakura pointed out he was pointing toward the Land of Hot Water.
• Hongshi used a formula ring to transport Naruto and Sakura, while Tobirama Senju summoned Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu to the Forest of Death.
• Hongshi arrived with the group at Nuclear Ninja Village, which had grown to five hundred residents and stood behind twelve powerful barriers.
• The First, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki emerged from their seals, and Hongshi welcomed them to the village before calling for the Three-Tails and Nine-Tails.

Hongshi brought Naruto, Sakura, and the Tailed Beasts to the Nuclear Ninja Village to train in perfect Tailed Beast Transformation. Sakura succeeded on her first attempt, while Naruto failed, and Hongshi summoned Yunxiu for Xiao Daocao’s turn.

• Hongshi shrank the Three-Tails and Nine-Tails and revealed that the Nuclear Ninja Village’s leaders already knew he had founded it.
• Shirofukuji welcomed Hongshi and the others, and Hongshi led them to the village training ground to teach Naruto and Sakura.
• Hongshi repaired the training ground’s barrier after his Ninjutsu and Taijutsu clones nearly broke it during their fight.
• Nine-Tails lent Naruto chakra, but Naruto transformed into a little fox instead of achieving Tailed Beast Mode.
• Sakura used Three-Tails’ chakra to achieve Tailed Beast Mode on her first attempt.
• Hongshi called Yunxiu out of Xiao Daocao’s bracelet, and Nine-Tails reacted to her terrifying chakra.