Chapter 8 (Sasuke Retsuden)

Summary
Because Zansūru seems to have been aware of Sakura's involvement, something only Jiji would know, Sasuke guesses that the two are working together. When Sasuke returns to the Astronomy Research Institute, he quickly saves a group of prisoners from a revived dragon and instructs Menō to protect them while they escape. As Menō departs with the prisoners, Sasuke sees the last of the Institute's buildings collapsing. Fearful that Sakura may have been inside, Sasuke tries to sense her location, but can detect nothing.
 * Part 1

Sakura wakes up to find herself pinned beneath rubble. Unable to free herself, she tries to gather some chakra, but cannot because of Jiji's poison and soon loses consciousness. When she wakes up again, she discovers that she has already been rescued by Sasuke, who is in the process of healing her. She tries to thank him, but he insists that she focus on recovering.

Zansūru joins Jiji atop the Titan and basks in the fruition of his plans at long last. He thanks Jiji for his help and instructs him to deliver the dragon army to the Land of Redaku's Prime Minister once he's finished killing all of the prisoners. Jiji reminds him to keep his promise, which Zansūru assures him he will: as soon as he's dealt with Sasuke, he'll locate the body of Jiji's dead lover. As they talk, they notice Ganno trying to escape from a dragon. Before the dragon is able to kill him, it is attacked by Menō. Zansūru is surprised by this and Jiji realizes that Menō is no loner under his control; they guess this to be Sasuke's doing. Although Menō is able to defeat a number of dragons one-on-one, he is soon surrounded and the other dragons begin to attack. They are repelled by Sasuke's Susanoo.

Since they're outnumbered, Sasuke suggests to Menō that they try to escape. Menō is unwilling to do that, so Sasuke advises that they instead keep their distance from the other dragons and wait for an opening. This works, and Sasuke and Menō behead the initial group of attacking dragons; Sasuke immediately restrains their bodies and heads so that they can't regenerate. When a larger dragon appears, one that Zansūru identifies as an adult version of Menō, Zansūru assumes Menō will stand no chance against it. Jiji doubts this, explaining that reincarnated dragons grow stronger from the chakra of those who control them, which for Menō is now Sasuke. Menō is indeed able to overpower the larger dragon, frustrating Zansūru.
 * Part 2

Zansūru and Jiji notice Sakura destroying the Institute's perimeter wall. Zansūru instructs Jiji to deal with her while he handles Sasuke. Jiji goes after her on a flying dragon, but Sakura begins running from the Institute, forcing Jiji to pursue. Meanwhile, Zansūru has all the other revived dragons converge on Sasuke and Menō.

Trivia

 * The second part of this chapter was released on Japanese release::March 26, 2023.