Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation

Covering chapters 516 through 559 across volumes 55 to 59, this phase adapts to a long run of Naruto: Shippuden episodes, from 261 onward with several stand-alone stories woven in between. Its focus is the battlefield struggle against Kabuto Yakushi's reanimated army as the Fourth Shinobi World War begins. The storyline enters from the Countdown and hands off to the Climax, tracing how the five allied nations meet an enemy that cannot simply be killed.

The opening skirmish sees the Surprise Attack Division fight comrades puppeteered by a resurrected Sasori and stuffed with Deidara's explosives, until Kankuro's team learns that freeing a reincarnated soul severs its binding. On another front the previous Seven Ninja Swordsmen return alongside Zabuza and Haku, and Kakashi's Third Division devises ways to trap and seal them despite the mindless killing they are forced to commit. At the coast, Darui outwits the treacherous Gold and Silver Brothers and their Sage relics, sealing them one by one, while Team Asuma steels itself to put down its own reincarnated mentor and Mifune finally settles his old rivalry with Hanzo.

Back on the Island Turtle, Naruto senses the fox chakra loose in the war and forces his way past his guardians once Iruka confesses the truth, with Killer B following to protect him. The Raikage and Tsunade move to bar the two hosts from the front, but B overpowers his brother and Naruto proves he can dodge the Raikage's fastest strike, earning passage. Scattering shadow clones to expose the White Zetsu impostors infiltrating the ranks, Naruto and B then meet Nagato and a controlled Itachi. A hidden crow triggers Kotoamatsukami to free Itachi, who turns Amaterasu on Nagato and, with the two hosts' help, seals him with the Totsuka blade before leaving to end the reincarnation at its source.

Deep in the Land of Lightning, the Second Tsuchikage Mu summons three more deceased leaders to overwhelm the Fourth Division. Gaara faces his own father and, after learning the truth about his mother's love, seals him before turning his attention elsewhere. Naruto helps bring down Mu with a planetary strike, and by studying how the Eight-Tails once wounded the Third Raikage, he goads that resilient foe into impaling himself. Gaara alone outlasts the Second Mizukage's exploding clone by fusing gold dust to its body, closing out the sealing of the reanimated Kage.

At the Mountains' Graveyard, Sasuke recovers from surgery and burns away his White Zetsu minder, revealing the newly awakened Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. On the battlefield, a half-sealed Mu forces out his final effort and summons Kabuto's ultimate weapon: a coffin whose lid bursts open under sheer pressure to reveal the genuine, living-era Madara Uchiha, setting the stage for the war's deadliest stretch.