Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown

The, known as in the anime, is an arc from Part II of the series. This arc sees the preparations for the Fourth Shinobi World War by all the warring parties. It spans through volumes 52 to 55, or more specifically, covers chapters 484 to 515 of the manga and episodes 215 to 222 in the Naruto: Shippūden anime, followed by the Paradise Life on a Boat, and later picks up from episodes 243 to 256. It is preceded by the Five Kage Summit and followed by the Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation.

Team 7 Reunites & Kabuto's Return
As Sasuke and Kakashi fight, the former's vision starts to fade away from overuse of the Mangekyō Sharingan. Sakura takes the chance and tried to kill Sasuke, but is unable to bring herself to do it. Sasuke then tried to kill her once again, but Naruto appeared and saved her. Naruto attempted to reason with Sasuke, who declared his way of reviving his clan, by destroying every possible link to it thus regaining their honour. Seeing Sasuke as a lost cause, Kakashi tried to send Sakura and Naruto away, but Naruto charged Sasuke both attacking with their signature techniques. In a moment of understanding after the collision, a similar effect seen after their battle at the Valley of the End, Sasuke gave Naruto a choice; be one of his victims or a hero for killing him. Naruto told him he would do neither. The blast sends Naruto and Sasuke backwards. Kakashi catches Naruto, while Sasuke is caught by Zetsu. Tobi teleports to Sasuke, while white Zetsu makes clones of himself to capture Naruto. Tobi tells Zetsu not to battle him and to go find Kisame. Naruto announces that he saw into Sasuke's heart, and they would both die if they fight again and be rid of the Uchiha and Nine-Tailed Fox.

After hearing Naruto's choice Sasuke merely says that he will not go back on the path he walks and that he will kill Naruto first. Naruto answers back saying that Sasuke still hasn't accepted him as an equal and Sasuke tells Tobi that they must talk. Tobi and Sasuke teleport back to Akatsuki's hideout where Sasuke asks Tobi for Itachi's eyes to be transplanted into him. Meanwhile, back at the bridge, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi get ready to leave after retrieving Karin, but Naruto passes out from the poison from Sakura's kunai that he got cut with from saving Sakura from Sasuke. Sakura gives Naruto the antidote and they set off back to Konoha. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the 'Kisame' who was killed during the fight with Killer B was actually a clone of Zetsu and that the real Kisame was alive and well. Back in Kumogakure, A, Killer B, and Team Samui return, Killer B has taken Samehada with Kisame inside the sword planning on infiltrating Kumogakure to retrieve the Eight-Tails. And in an unspecified location Kabuto is shown using Orochimaru's snake abilities to subdue a couple of ninja saying that he's getting used to his new powers and it is time to get things moving.

The Fifth Awakens
Returning to Kiba, Lee, Akamaru and Sai, Sakura and Naruto all go back to the village along with Kakashi and a weakened Karin. Upon return, the others tell Naruto that they want to fight Sasuke too and he can't fight him alone. Naruto disagrees and says he is the only one who is able to fight Sasuke and the only one that will, the others question him on what happened when he confronted Sasuke. Naruto says he will tell them when the time is right, and walks off to Ramen Ichiraku. With Danzō dead, the Village leaders have to decide on a new Sixth Hokage and vote Kakashi for the position saying that they think the Sunagakure will agree as well. The Fire Daimyō says "Kakashi Hatake, I now appoint you as…" but is cut off by an unknown shinobi, (Guy in the anime) running into the room and telling the Fire Daimyō that he had urgent news. Shizune then breaks out in tears as she sees Tsunade has survived and hugs her, thus removing the need for a Sixth Hokage.

At the same time, in their hideout, Sasuke is shown regaining consciousness again after the operation in which Itachi's eyes were implanted in him. Sasuke states he can feel Itachi's power flowing into him.

Preparing for the War
Tsunade, who has regained consciousness, is eating a tremendous amount of food to rebuild her chakra reserves. She is then greeted by Kakashi, who is relieved that she is all right, as it would have meant him becoming Hokage, and he feels he isn't cut out for it. Tsunade orders a meeting to make preparations for the coming war. Elsewhere, at the makeshift headquarters for the Interrogation Unit, Ibiki Morino prepares to interrogate Karin on information about Sasuke and Kabuto.

While on Mount Myōboku, the Great Toad Sage, Gerotora, Shima and Fukasaku are having a meeting about whether or not Jiraiya's request that Gerotora store himself within Naruto be honoured. The Great Sage says he has had a vision of Naruto's future, and requests to see him before he decides whether or not he should receive the key to his seal. Naruto is enjoying some ramen, when Sakura informs him of Tsunade's recovery; this leads to his next meal being declared "on the house". As he is about to eat, he is reverse summoned to Mount Myōboku, to receive the premonition; the Sage sees an animal island paradise, octopus tentacles and tells Naruto that he would meet a young man with powerful eyes. Naruto listens to what he has to say, and ultimately accepts whatever lies ahead for him.

Anko and her team have located a number of bodies, evidently victims of Kabuto. The fact that he just left them there and made no attempt to hide them leads the team to suspect a trap. Meanwhile, Kabuto has located Tobi, briefly shows of his new abilities, reincarnating Itachi, Deidara, Kakuzu, Sasori and Nagato, and offers an alliance with Tobi. Kabuto asks for Sasuke to test out his ninjutsu. Tobi asks if he refuses and Kabuto summons another casket with an unseen body, that shocks Tobi. Tobi then accepts the offer under the condition that Kabuto cannot be anywhere near Sasuke until the end of the war. Nearby, Anko and her team discover Kabuto has joined with Tobi and she wonders what his motives are and reports the news to Konoha.

Back at Mount Myōboku, Naruto signs the contract to the key, believing he is ready to control the Nine-Tails and Gerotora stores himself inside Naruto. Naruto asks the Great Toad Sage about where to find the octopus but only tells him he sees an island paradise. Fukasaku sends Naruto back to Ichiraku where two Konoha ninja ask for his autograph. At Kumogakure, the Fourth Raikage calls a short meeting with the other Kage.

The Confinement
Three days later, the Kage discuss the enemy's power and confining the jinchūriki. Tsunade is outraged by confining Naruto and B saying they would help greatly in the war though Gaara and Ōnoki talks her down telling her it was already decided and her sole opinion won't change anything. A says Naruto and B will be confined on an island in Kumogakure that he and B train at. In the anime, Tsunade privately meets with Raikage, requesting that B trains Naruto to control Nine-Tails, as she still believed that there may be a chance that the two will have to join the war and have them both ready should that happen, which A approved, which is also why he chose the island.

As Naruto, Yamato and other Konoha and Kumo ninja arrive at the island, a giant squid (who Naruto thinks is the octopus the Great Toad Sage spoke of) appears and grabs Naruto until he is saved by B in his full eight-tailed transformation. One Kumo ninja, Motoi greets them and guides them through the island. While guiding them through the island, they are confronted by King, a large gorilla that B has tamed. Motoi tells Naruto not only can he control the beasts on the island, but he can also control the Eight-Tails, learning B is also a jinchūriki.

Later, Naruto asks B if he can help him control the Nine-Tails and B refuses. Naruto tries a rap but messes it up by unintentionally insulting B and tries to fix it with the Harem Technique though B slams the door on Naruto. Naruto goes to Motoi to ask him how B trained to control the Eight-Tails and shows him to the "Falls of Truth", the first step of how B learned to control his tailed beast.

Nine-Tails Control Training
At the Falls of Truth, Motoi tells Naruto to sit in front of the waterfall and close his eyes when an evil version of Naruto appears from the waterfall. Dark Naruto begins to insult the real Naruto, stating that he's an impostor and insults him over the choices he's made, which angers Naruto. They fight but Naruto realises that they are both evenly matched so the battle ends in a tie.

When he wakes up and tells Motoi about his encounter with the Dark Naruto, Motoi tells him that he has to defeat Dark Naruto to control the Nine-Tails. Meanwhile, Killer B is fighting with some bears in a competition. Eight-Tails try to persuade him into helping Naruto but fails. Also, Motoi reveals something from his past: he once tried to kill B himself but failed. When Naruto and Yamato asks why, he begins to reveal about the Eight-Tails' bloody history. Long ago, Eight-Tails had several hosts, and each failed to control it. After each host lost control, the Eight-Tails had rampaged through Kumogakure several times. Each time it rampaged, the Third Raikage and other elite shinobi came to stop it, and sealed it inside a sealing jar. Each time the beast was resealed many shinobi would lose their lives, one of these was Motoi's father. Almost immediately after Killer B was chosen to be the new host, Motoi thought it was pointless and the beast would go on a rampage again. Because of his father's death, his hate of the Eight-Tails grew out of control and Motoi attempted to kill Killer B. He was quickly dispatched and Killer B stuck out his hand, for his customary fist bump. After which Motoi ran away not speaking to Killer B again.

After Motoi's story, Naruto goes off to think if all the villagers and his friends trust him. Suddenly Naruto hears Motoi being attacked by the giant squid which he mistakes for B again. Naruto and Yamato begin to assault the squid until B arrives again this time punching a hole through the squid. After being saved by B, Motoi tells B he tried to kill him years ago and B easily forgives him which brings tears to Motoi and they bump fists which causes Naruto to smile.

Later on, B thanks Naruto for helping Motoi and they become friends. B then becomes willing to teach Naruto how to control the Nine-Tails. They return to the Falls of Truth where Dark Naruto surfaces again noticing a change in Naruto. Naruto states he has faith in himself and hugs Dark Naruto which causes him to disappear into Naruto. With the darkness eliminated inside of him, B takes Naruto to a sacred place behind the waterfall where he will fight the Nine-Tails. They approach an entry box where Naruto activates a switch and opens a door to a large empty room.

Naruto approaches the Nine-Tails within his subconscious and removes the seal, thus releasing the beast. Naruto tries to use his chakra with the help of B to pull the Nine-Tails' chakra but it slices the Eight-Tails' tentacles and pulled away. It then realises Naruto is trying to take control of it. Naruto and the Nine-Tails begin their battle where the Nine-Tails fires a Tailed Beast Ball at Naruto. B uses the last of the Eight-Tails' power to block the attack and Naruto in Sage Mode uses the Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan on the Nine-Tails, though it blows it away with a roar. Naruto flips the Nine-Tails over and slams Wind Release: Rasenshuriken on it, giving him a chance to drain its chakra.

While taking its chakra, some of the Nine-Tails' hatred is pulled in, causing Dark Naruto to re-emerge. B notices the Nine-Tails' hatred is larger than he expected and Yamato tries to tame Naruto from the outside. The Nine-Tails tells to Naruto to disappear when suddenly Kushina appears and tells him he belongs "here", with her hand on her chest.

Kushina has Naruto guess who she is with Naruto claiming her to be the Nine-Tails' true form which causes Kushina to clobber him on the head. Kushina apologises to Naruto and he realises she is his mother and hugs her, causing Dark Naruto to disappear again. Outside Naruto, the transformation stops which surprises B and Yamato. Before Naruto begins asking his mother about her, Kushina chains up the Nine-Tails where it notices it's Kushina's chakra. Naruto asks Kushina how she and Minato fell in love which embarrasses her though she tells him any way.

When she first met Minato, she thought he looked like a wimp and wanted to be the first female Hokage. Other kids laughed at her because of this and also her face and hair features with the kids calling her tomato. She eventually got back at the kids, giving her the nickname, the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero". Kushina had a special chakra and was once kidnapped by Kumogakure because of this. Kushina left a trail of her hair that only Minato noticed. Naruto complements Kushina's hair which she states is the second time someone complemented her hair, the first time being Minato. Being the son of "Konoha's Yellow Flash" and the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero", Naruto gives himself the nickname, "Konoha's Orange Hokage".

Hearing his mother saying she loves him, Naruto releases himself from the Nine-Tails' hatred and resumes his battle, with Kushina holding the Nine-Tails with her Adamantine Sealing Chains. Naruto attacks the Nine-Tails with his Ultra-Many Spiralling Serial Spheres and Sage Art: Many Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheres and slams it with one more Rasenshuriken where successfully pulls out the Nine-Tails' chakra. Once its chakra was pulled away by Naruto, the Nine-Tails gathers chakra for one last attack, but is stopped by Naruto, who's seal, the Nine-Tails noted, reminded it of the Sage of the Six Paths. As Naruto resealed the Nine-Tails into a new seal, the Nine-Tails warned Naruto that it would not forget this.

After the Nine-Tails' defeat, Kushina says to Naruto she can see Minato again. Before going, she decides to tell Naruto the truth about the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack sixteen years ago: how, on the day of Naruto's birth, she and Minato gave their lives to make Naruto the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki in order to stop the masked man.

After the story, Kushina apologises to Naruto for forcing him to be the host of the Nine-Tails, and not being there to love him. Naruto expresses no bitterness, accepting the apology and says that he never blamed either of them, now finally understanding the love of a parent's towards their child, and is glad that he is their son. Kushina starts fading away, but before that hugs Naruto and thanks him for allowing her to be his mother, and for allowing Minato to be his father. With that, Naruto promises to eat, sleep and bathe well and that he will be cooler and stronger than his parents.

Kisame Discovered
As Naruto returns to the outside, B and Yamato learn of his success and Naruto demonstrates his new power to them. Naruto's new form gives him the ability to sense an evil presence around him which blows Kisame's cover. B is shocked to see Kisame alive and he explains how he survived. With Kisame outnumbered, he attempts to flee but is suddenly hit by a high-speed punch from Naruto who gets himself stuck in the wall in the process. While Yamato helps Naruto, B chases after Kisame.

At B's house, Guy, having heard of Naruto's training decided to go cheer him on, along with Motoi and Aoba Yamashiro. They arrive at the Falls of Truth and Guy confronts his darkness, due to a bet by Aoba, saying Guy is scared of his true self, which mocks him. Suddenly Kisame bursts from the waterfall and Guy mistakes him for being an insect and his true self. Guy then elbows Kisame into the side of the waterfall. Guy and Aoba mistaken Kisame for a blowfish but B tells them he is from Akatsuki. Samehada separates from Kisame who is in weak condition and runs to B. It bites on to B which restores Kisame's strength. Kisame continues to escape and Guy uses the Eight Gates and opens the Sixth Gate to pursue Kisame. B does a partial transformation with his arm to launch Guy towards Kisame's direction though becomes tired afterwards.

Guy summons Ningame in mid-air while losing momentum after being thrown by B, and uses his shell as a platform to jump towards Kisame. After Kisame summons a shark and he puts a scroll containing the information he gathered in its mouth. Kisame hides the summoned shark by creating a wave of sharks that confuses Guy. Guy uses Morning Peacock on the wave sharks but gets wiped out. Guy then opens the Seventh Gate and uses his Daytime Tiger against Kisame's Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique. Instead of the tiger being absorbed by the shark, it bursts through it and creates a huge explosion. Guy approaches the beaten Kisame with his scroll and explains to him why his technique wasn't absorbed. Daytime Tiger is a taijutsu technique made of the air pressure concentrated on a single point instead of chakra. Guy tells Kisame not to move. However, Kisame moves a single finger, prompting Guy to knock him unconscious with a punch to the stomach.

Guy returns to the others with Kisame where Aoba decides to extract intel from him. In a flashback of Kisame's, Kisame is sent on a mission where he must protect the Intelligence Squad but must importantly protect Kirigakure's secret code from Konoha ninja. Kisame and his group are attacked by a group of Konoha ninja led by Ibiki. Kisame kills his comrades, knowing they would reveal the code to the enemy. Kisame returns to his village and kills his master who was communicating with the enemy and claims Samehada. Yagura Karatachi, the Fourth Mizukage as well as the jinchūriki of the Three-Tails approaches Kisame, noticing his loyalty to the village. For killing fellow Kiri ninja, Kisame thinks his life is nothing but lies. From the shadows appears Tobi who is shown controlling Yagura. Tobi introduces himself and explains his Eye of the Moon Plan to Kisame where he wants to make a world of truth.

Not wanting Aoba to get any information from him, Kisame wakes himself up biting his tongue and breaks free of his restraints. Kisame puts himself inside the Water Prison Technique and summons three sharks. Remembering the time he first partnered with Itachi and what he said to him, Kisame makes his sharks eat him and he knows what he is at the time of his death. The others are shocked to see Kisame's surprising suicide. Despite being the enemy, Guy says he lived and died as a ninja and promises to never forget Kisame. Guy opens Kisame's scroll which activates a booby trap, trapping everyone in a dome of water with sharks while a shark with the scroll swims to the ocean.

Retrieving the Rinnegan
Elsewhere in Amegakure, Tobi confronts Konan, looking for Nagato's body to obtain his Rinnegan. Konan states she has been waiting for a chance to kill him and Tobi says he won't go easy on a former Akatsuki member. Tobi asks why she decided to betray Akatsuki, despite still wearing the uniform. Konan states that Akatsuki was created by Yahiko, and that its justice is not his, nor is Nagato's Rinnegan. Tobi simply mocks Konan, stating she is wrong as he inspired Yahiko to create Akatsuki and he gave Nagato the Rinnegan. Konan turns into paper and rushes at Tobi. Tobi then attempts to absorb her, when he realises that in her paper, many explosive tags are mixed in, creating a large explosion. Tobi survives, but loses his right arm and part of his mask. Konan, realising her suicide plan did not work, quickly calls on the massive amount of paper around the battlefield for another attack. Konan uses her ultimate technique, the Paper Person of God Technique to create an abyss and attempts to kill Tobi by placing six hundred billion explosive tags in it, which will continue to detonate for ten minutes. Since Tobi can only remain immaterial for five minutes, she believes this would be enough time to affect him.

Using Izanagi, however, Tobi is able to survive the blasts and impales Konan from behind with a pipe. He explains how he survived and Konan frees herself from the pipe. Amegakure's endless rain stops and produces a rainbow which shocks Tobi to see the endless rains of the village stop and spurs Konan on who believes it to be a sign of Nagato and Yahiko's will. Though Konan tries to attack again with her paper, Tobi, having become fed up with the delay in retrieving the Rinnegan, grabs her by the throat. He then places her under a genjutsu in an attempt to learn the whereabouts of the Rinnegan, stating that when the illusion ended, so would her life.

Afterwards, Tobi arrives at the grave site of Yahiko and Nagato, the latter of whom is teleported into Tobi's separate dimension. Meanwhile, Konan's body lays in the water. The flashback follows demonstrates a system Jiraiya used to verify the presence of intruders in the house where he lived with Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan. By flipping a card on the wall, a person could indicate whether or not they were at home. The red side indicates that the person is home and the white side with a frog head states that the person is away. Even after Jiraiya left, the three kept up with the "hop-in" card system. Eventually, their group becomes too large and they prepare to leave the house for good. Konan flips her card to the "away" side, but before Yahiko and Nagato get the opportunity to do so, they are ambushed by a group of enemy ninja and forced to flee through a secret escape route. Presently, the house is overgrown with vines and flowers on the inside. With the exception of Konan, all of the other frog cards, including Jiraiya's which growing vines had flipped, are still flipped to the red side, stating they are at home. As a bloodied sheet of paper flies off Konan's corpse, it lands on her "hop-in" card and covers it red.

The Final Preparations
Tobi appears before Kabuto, his arm restored, wearing a new mask resembling the eye of the Ten-Tails, his old Uchiha robes (replacing his Akatsuki uniform), and wielding a warfan. Kabuto mentions that Tobi went through a lot of trouble to obtain his new eye, to which Tobi replies that they were his to begin with. Zetsu informs him that Kisame succeeded delivering the information he had obtained. After hearing this, Tobi slams his war fan on the ground and states that it is time to go after the Nine-Tails. Kabuto decides to get Naruto and B instead in order to gain Tobi's trust and that Yamato is the interest of his experiments. Kabuto says he also knows Zetsu's secrets and says he could make him stronger. Tobi tells him he'll give him one Zetsu if he captures the Nine-Tails. He then takes Kabuto to the chamber that holds the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and shows him a mindless copy of Hashirama that Tobi created from his cells. He also shows him his army that is made of roughly 100,000 White Zetsu though at the cost of using the collected tailed beasts' chakra.

Back on the island, B was unable to chase after Kisame's shark and returns to the others. Motoi summons an owl to notify the Raikage that Akatsuki knows of their location. All the Kage receive the info and decide to send backup to the island that is actually a giant tortoise, which Ōnoki volunteers to be the backup. Kabuto leaves along with the undead Deidara on his clay owl to get the remaining jinchūriki. Ōnoki, Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi fly off to be the island's reinforcements while Kabuto sets off to the island as well. Kabuto inserts a tag in Deidara's head which gives him most of his will back. Kabuto is suddenly punched by Ōnoki which turns out to be a clay clone made by Deidara. The real Kabuto and Deidara are hiding in the clouds and Deidara sets off an explosion.

On the island, Naruto lines up all the animals in a cave for his "ecology survey" mission, still unaware of the war. The Ōnoki that Deidara blew up was actually a rock clone made by Akatsuchi. They are surprised that Deidara is still alive with Ōnoki being ashamed that Deidara is causing trouble even in death and that he lost to Sasuke. Deidara responds to this saying he killed Sasuke, unaware that he survived his suicide explosion. In the ocean, a giant snake of Kabuto's (his clone of Manda he calls Manda II) bites the island turtle's tail, which reveals its location with its screams of pain. Kabuto and Deidara head to the island with Ōnoki on their tail.

Manda II flips over the island turtle which Naruto thinks is an earthquake and Kabuto and Deidara land on the turtle. Kabuto leaves Deidara to handle Ōnoki while he finds Naruto and B. Ōnoki arrives, enraged and preparing a Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique. He is however stopped by Akatsuchi who states the power of the technique can blow up the island turtle. Deidara suddenly sends a clay bird towards them and sets it off but Akatsuchi protects him and Ōnoki with his rock golem. Kabuto learns from Manda II of Naruto's location and asks where inside the turtle.

Naruto decides to check what is causing the "earthquakes" but Yamato tells him only he can complete his mission which Naruto believes. Kurotsuchi notices Kabuto controlling Manda II and tries to stop him with Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique which Kabuto dodges. Yamato, Motoi and Aoba arrive to see to situation outside and both Yamato and Aoba are shocked to see Kabuto and how much he changed. They all work with Kurotsuchi to capture Kabuto and gather intel from him but Kabuto sheds into a snake-like form (similar to Orochimaru's true form) and swallows Yamato and makes a getaway into Manda II's nostril. Manda II is de-summoned along with Deidara saying it was starting to get fun just as he vanishes. Kabuto returns to Tobi's lair with Yamato, planning to use Yamato's Wood Release to strengthen the Zetsu army. Tobi tells him to hurry as his new left Rinnegan eye craves for battle.

Meanwhile, as Ōnoki, Akatsuchi, and Kurotsuchi relocate the island turtle to Kumogakure, Killer B keeps Naruto from leaving by having him undergo training to control his Nine-Tails chakra. Anko's scouting team sends information about Tobi's lair known as Mountains' Graveyard and the size of his army to the Allied Shinobi Forces. They ready their troops for battle as does Tobi and Kabuto who uses Yamato to strengthen the Zetsu. Kabuto increases the army's size by reincarnating the former Akatsuki members, previous jinchūriki, Kage and famous shinobi: Hizashi Hyūga, Dan Katō, Asuma Sarutobi, Hanzō, Chiyo, Kimimaro, Zabuza Momochi, Haku, Gari, Pakura, Chūkichi, Shin and Toroi as they march off to begin the war.