Five Kage Summit (Arc)

This storyline occupies chapters 454 through 483 of the manga, gathered into volumes 49 to 51, and runs from episode 197 to 214 of Naruto: Shippuden. The printed version arrives from Pain's Assault, while the animated one follows a retrospective look at Konoha's past; both continuities then advance into the Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown. Its backbone is a rare diplomatic gathering held in the neutral Land of Iron, where the Fourth Raikage calls his fellow leaders together to coordinate against the syndicate stalking the tailed beast hosts.

Trailing Team Samui thanks to Yamato's hidden markers, Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato reach the Land of Iron, where Naruto pleads with the Raikage to call off the hunt for Sasuke and is coldly rebuffed. Meanwhile Danzo, ambushed on the road, unveils a bloodshot Sharingan beneath his bandages and slaughters his attackers. Mifune, the samurai leader of the host nation, opens the council, but the leaders swiftly turn on one another over old grievances, with the Raikage accusing each village of having enabled Akatsuki's rise.

Ao's Byakugan exposes Danzo secretly wielding Shisui Uchiha's eye to steer Mifune's vote, just as a white Zetsu bursts in warning that Sasuke has arrived. Outside, the young Uchiha cuts down the samurai guards but finds the Kage far tougher than expected; the Raikage shatters his incomplete Susanoo at the cost of an arm before Gaara intervenes to reason with him. Elsewhere Tobi tells Naruto of Itachi's hidden sacrifice and frames a coming clash between Senju will and Uchiha hatred as unavoidable. After spiriting Sasuke away, Tobi recounts the Sage of Six Paths and the Ten-Tails, lays out his Eye of the Moon Plan, and demands the two remaining hosts. When the leaders refuse, he proclaims the Fourth Shinobi World War, and the five nations forge an unprecedented alliance with the Raikage voted its commander.

Having staged his own abduction to slip away from guard duty, Killer B is cornered by Kisame Hoshigaki, who feeds Samehada with the host's chakra and nearly finishes him before the Raikage arrives; together the brothers decapitate the swordsman with a paired lightning technique. In parallel, Sasuke confronts Danzo, who defends himself with ten implanted Sharingan and the forbidden Izanagi, yet a feigned weakness lets Sasuke run him through, killing him even after he tries to seal his attacker away and destroys Shisui's eye.

Sakura offers Naruto a false confession of love and begs him to abandon Sasuke, but he sees through it. A shadow left by Sai reveals that the Konoha 11 have resolved to kill Sasuke themselves to prevent a wider conflict, and a shattered Sakura sets out to end her old teammate. Gaara and his siblings brief the group on the war and the decision to elevate Kakashi toward the office of Hokage. In the end Sakura declares she will defect to Sasuke's side, only for him to test her by ordering Karin's death; her hesitation exposes the lie, and Kakashi appears just in time to shield her and face his fallen student.