Chapter 7 (Sasuke Retsuden)

Racing back toward the Institute, Sasuke breaks off to chase the winged dragons streaming away and sends Sakura ahead to confront Zansuru. The warden instead rides one of the beasts down to meet him, and Sasuke warns that the forbidden revival technique carries consequences. Zansuru's blank reaction to the name convinces Sasuke a different jutsu is at work. When his Sharingan reveals how little chakra the warden holds, he concludes the man cannot be the one animating the dragons.

Meno lunges from behind, and rather than kill the creature Sasuke decides to claim it. He soothes the dragon, ices an old wound left unhealed, and lets his arm be bitten so he can sympathize with a soul torn from a peaceful afterlife. A genjutsu and a stream of his own chakra seal the bond, confirmed when Meno returns not to strike but to lick his injured arm.

Reaching the Institute, Sakura punches an escape route through an outer wall and searches room by room for the warden. The inmate Jiji directs her to the courtyard, then stabs her in the back with a blade carrying the same poison that once felled Sasuke. He lifts the polar particles from her, thanking her for locating them and revealing his true allegiance, and though she reminds him of his lost love Margo he kicks free without mercy. Jiji raises a colossal dragon called the Titan whose footfalls shake the structure apart, bids Sakura farewell from atop its head, and watches the building crumble over her.

The chapter released in two parts on Shonen Jump+, with the second half appearing on February 12, 2023. It sits within the second volume of the Sasuke Retsuden adaptation.