La Quatrième Grande Guerre Ninja : le guide

The Fourth Great Ninja War: The Complete Guide

4523 words | Reading time: 23 min

UniverseAllied Shinobi ForcesFinal Arc

For the first time, the five villages fight on the same side. The Allied Shinobi Forces, backed by the Land of Iron, face Tobi's Akatsuki, Kabuto and his armies, under the supreme command of the Fourth Raikage, with Gaara over the field forces. At stake: capturing Naruto and Killer Bee, reviving the Ten-Tails and triggering the Infinite Tsukuyomi of the Eye of the Moon Plan. The guide walks through the major twists - Tobi unmasked, Kabuto stopped by Itachi, Madara as jinchuriki - all the way to the Kaguya twist.

The final conflict in Naruto, where the five villages unite for the first time: here is the guide to the Fourth Great Ninja War, from the Allied Shinobi Forces to the final twist.

Contents

The Allied Shinobi Forces

The Alliance is not born of a treaty but of a refusal. At the Five Kage Summit, the five Kage and Mifune, leader of the Land of Iron, unanimously refuse to hand over to Tobi the last two jinchuriki, Killer Bee and Naruto. The declaration of war follows immediately. The Fifth Kazekage, the Fifth Mizukage, the Fourth Raikage, the Third Tsuchikage and Mifune then decide to pool all of their resources: this is the birth of the Allied Shinobi Forces, a coalition of five hidden villages and one samurai nation.

The coalition only becomes official after political ratification: the daimyo of the Five Great Nations approve the agreement and transfer full authority to their hidden villages, and the Fifth Hokage joins the Alliance. The unanimity is only apparent, however. The daimyo of the Land of Water shows extreme reluctance: in his eyes, the agreement gives shinobi an even greater power, whatever the need to stand up to the Akatsuki's terrorism.

The friction is internal as well. The Fifth Hokage at first disapproves of the decision to hide the jinchuriki instead of making them the main force of the war, and most likely goes along with it only out of the need for a united front; between ninja from different villages, old grudges escalate into arguments, up until the speech by Gaara. On the other side, the Akatsuki is down to two members, Tobi and Zetsu: its military strength lies essentially in an army of White Zetsu clones and in the shinobi that Kabuto Yakushi reanimates to flesh it out.

A camp set at the foot of rocky cliffs: dozens of ninja in very different outfits and colors move between the tents, the awnings and the crates of equipment.
One camp for many different uniforms: the union of the five great villages as it looks on the ground.

Nine Divisions and One Shared Headband: The Architecture of the Alliance

The Alliance fields roughly 80,000 shinobi and samurai (chapter 512, page 7) against the 100,000 clones of the White Zetsu Army. These forces are split into nine divisions that group fighters by skill affinity. Five of them form the Great Combat Regiment (戦闘大連隊, Sentō Dairentai), sorted by striking range: the First, mid-range, under Darui; the Second, close combat, under Kitsuchi; the Third, short to mid-range, under Kakashi Hatake, with Ensui Nara as platoon leader; the Fourth, long range, under Gaara, supported by Shikamaru Nara; the Fifth, special operations, under Mifune.

Added to these are four support divisions, each led by a captain (隊長, taichō): Surprise Attack entrusted to Kankuro, Logistical and Medical Support to Shizune, Intelligence to Inoichi Yamanaka and Sensor to Ao. On the fringes of the setup, the daimyo are placed under the guard of a protection squad led by Mei Terumi. Finally, inside each division, two specialized cells: a Sealing Team (封印班, Fūinhan), tasked with sealing the reanimated, and a Communications Team (連絡班, Renrakuhan) that keeps the link with headquarters.

The unity also has a material expression. At the Fifth Mizukage's suggestion, the five villages merge their intelligence services into a single, separate organization, in order to optimize the processing and sharing of information; the Third Tsuchikage himself consents without hesitation, despite his past reservations. Mifune, for his part, designs a headband bearing only the kanji 忍, "shinobi". They all wear it instead of their village headband, while most keep their village uniform.

Rear view of five widely spaced figures on reddish earth, each standing in front of a huge compact column of thousands of tightly packed silhouettes; the five columns are separated by strips of pale ground.
Five divisions, five leaders: the Great Combat Regiment brings together Mifune, Kakashi Hatake, Gaara, Kitsuchi and Darui at the head of the Alliance's roughly 80,000 shinobi and samurai.

The Command Structure

The Raikage and Gaara do not hold the same position, and the chain of command has four levels. It is Mifune who proposes that the Fourth Raikage be Supreme Commander (大権, Taiken) of the Alliance, and the other Kage accept. Below him, apparently as second, stands the Staff Officer (参謀, Sanbō), a logistics and support post that also covers the rear medical units: it is held by Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage (chapter 541, page 7, panel 6, and Naruto Quiz Book, page 62).

Gaara occupies the third level: he is Regiment Commander (連隊長, Rentaichō) of the Great Combat Regiment, that is, of the five combat divisions taken together. Each of them has its own commander (部隊長, butaichō) and can, internally, be assigned platoon leaders (小隊長, kotaichō), according to the Jin no Sho (Naruto databook), page 210. Outside this org chart, Shikaku Nara is named chief strategist and remains at headquarters, where he designs attack plans, counterattacks, defensive maneuvers and fallback solutions.

One detail matters: the title of commander is not passed down. As Gaara's right hand, Shikamaru Nara is only acting commander (代理, dairi) of the Fourth Division, never its commander in title. The hierarchy is not absolute either: when Naruto and Killer Bee give their guards the slip, the Raikage judges it preferable to kill Naruto for insubordination, but no other Kage sanctions that decision; Tsunade opposes it, and the Raikage ends up acknowledging his defeat against Naruto and letting them through.

Around a round table, in a glass-walled room, an older dark-skinned man with white hair and beard, bare-chested under a white cape, sits facing a young red-haired man in a burgundy tunic; several attendants stand behind them.
The Kage council: it is at this table that the roles at the head of the Alliance are shared out.

The Eye of the Moon Plan

The Akatsuki's campaign objective is not a territory: it is two people. Tobi needs the jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails (Hachibi) and of the Nine-Tails (Kyubi) to complete the Eye of the Moon Plan, and from his declaration of war onward he announces that he will use against the ninja world the seven tailed beasts already captured. The entire Allied strategy follows from this: find Naruto and Killer Bee before the enemy does, put them somewhere safe, and if need be keep them far from the battlefield.

The mechanism of the plan itself belongs to the article devoted to it. Let us keep in mind here its two military consequences. The first is the restoration of the Ten-Tails, which Tobi ends up hastening in the middle of the battle. The second is a scheduling constraint: even once the beast is back, one has to wait for the moon to be in position to trigger the Infinite Tsukuyomi - and Madara and Obito alike use the interval to methodically eliminate the opposition.

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A giant red moon fills the sky, marked with concentric circles and nine black commas; a figure with long white hair, seen from behind, floats in front of it.
The moon turned into an eye: the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the endpoint of the plan.

October 8 to 10: The Timeline of the Three Days

The scale of the conflict contrasts with its length: this world war fits into three days. It begins on October 8 and ends on the 10th, with the Alliance's complete victory, the collapse of the Akatsuki and the sealing of the Ten-Tails (chapter 691). Editorially, the story occupies the manga's last four arcs, chapters 516 to 699, preceded by a preparation arc, "Countdown" (chapters 484 to 515) - which makes it the longest event in the series.

Day one. The infiltration squad of Anko Mitarashi is captured at the Mountains' Graveyard, but one of its members manages to pass the intelligence on to headquarters. The Surprise Attack Division captures Deidara and sends Sasori and Shin Uchiha back to the afterlife. Kitsuchi and Kurotsuchi dig up some 20,000 Zetsu on the border of the Land of Frost. Darui faces the Gold and Silver Brothers on the northwest coast of the Land of Lightning. The day closes on the summoning of the Gedo Mazo (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path) by Tobi, who decimates the Allied ranks and leaves with the Benihisago and the Kohaku no Johei.

Night one: each side loses half of its numbers, 40,000 Allies and 50,000 Zetsu left in the fight (chapter 537, page 15). Day two: Naruto and Killer Bee win the right to fight, the Fourth Division seals the Third Raikage, the Second Mizukage, the Fourth Kazekage and one half of Mu, Itachi seals Nagato, the Izanami traps Kabuto - forcing him to lift the Edo Tensei (Reanimation Jutsu) - and the Ten-Tails is revived. Night two: headquarters destroyed, Obito then Madara as jinchuriki, the last charge of Might Guy with the Eight Inner Gates, and the triggering of the Infinite Tsukuyomi; the sealing of Kaguya closes the conflict on the 10th.

A countless army runs forward across a beige desert plain lined with tall rocky spires; two fighters out in front run far ahead, one in a dark cape, the other in red with a gourd on his back.
Day one: the First and the Fourth Division set off, Darui and Gaara in the lead. The war begins on October 8 and ends on the 10th.

The Night of the False Allies: The Zetsu Infiltration

The maneuver is simple and it works. During the first day's fighting, White Zetsu clones take chakra from Allied shinobi. When night falls, they take on their appearance through the Substitution Technique specific to White Zetsu, more complete than the ordinary Transformation Technique: since it also copies their chakra, the sensors can no longer tell them apart. They then methodically murder the isolated and the wounded all across the battlefield. The Alliance suspects itself without the slightest proof, and vigilance is not enough to prevent further deaths.

A named case is worth more than a generality. Exhausted by the war of attrition waged on the border of the Land of Frost, Neji Hyuga has part of his chakra absorbed by a Zetsu before pushing it back; that Zetsu then takes his face, enters the Logistical and Medical Support Division and kills five medical ninja there. Precautions did exist: the medical compound has only one entrance, guarded by two members of the Akimichi clan, and the chakra of each person entering is cross-checked with headquarters.

It is Sakura Haruno who understands what is happening. Shikaku draws from it the only possible counter: the Negative Emotions Sensing that Naruto has just acquired with his mastery of Kurama's chakra, duplicated by his clones on every front at once. The irony is documented: Tobi already knew of this ability from the intelligence of Kisame, who had stayed hidden inside Samehada near Killer Bee, and the infiltration was aimed precisely at drawing Naruto out of his hiding place. Captured and then dead by his own hand, Kisame had all the same transmitted the approximate position of the turtle island through a summoned shark.

Under an ocher canvas tent, a figure dressed in black seen from behind, long black hair tied up and a wide khaki belt, spreads both arms to either side and strikes at the same time two men in light blue coats and white headbands, who grimace and topple backward, hands open.
A White Zetsu clone transformed into an ally cuts down two medical ninja under a treatment tent: the infiltration strikes the Alliance from within.

The Destruction of Headquarters and Shikaku's Last Plan

The Alliance's headquarters stands southeast of Kumogakure, on the east coast of the Land of Lightning (chapter 515, page 11). There you find the Kage and two technical setups. Inoichi Yamanaka, connected with two other members of his division to a giant version of the Chakra Transmission Communication Device, carries his telepathy to the entire army. Ao and four other sensors hold the Sensing Barrier, which covers the entire battlefield. Shikaku Nara sits there as chief strategist.

Mabui, the Raikage's assistant, owes her post to her Heavenly Transfer Technique, which moves matter at the speed of light (chapter 529, page 7): it is through her that the Kohaku no Johei reaches the front to seal Kinkaku. When the Ten-Tails reaches its second form, Madara and Obito have it fire a Tailed Beast Bomb at headquarters (chapter 613, pages 11 to 14). Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Mabui and Kussaku die there, Kumogakure is almost entirely leveled, and Ao is the only known survivor, with his left arm and leg amputated.

Destroying headquarters was meant to deprive the Alliance of its coordination, but Shikaku has time to issue the Allied Shinobi Forces Technique (manga 612, anime 363), which assigns a role to each village. Kumogakure blinds the opponent with a flash of lightning then raises a cloud of dust with Storm Release (Ranton); Sunagakure manipulates that dust with Wind Release; the Aburame and the ninja of Kirigakure scramble its senses with insects and mist; Iwagakure opens a crater with Earth Release (Doton), the Lava Release (Yoton) users pour quicklime mixed with Kirigakure's water into it, and the Sarutobi clan bakes it with Fire Release (Katon) to set the Ten-Tails in concrete. The immobilization does not last.

Overhead view of a vast circular room: a large golden disc on the floor, ringed by a band of handwritten characters and four ideograms inscribed in circles, carries at its center an enormous pale green translucent sphere crossed by concentric waves; tiny figures, a meeting table on a blue rug and a scroll rack occupy the perimeter, between two thick pillars.
The Alliance's headquarters, southeast of Kumogakure: the Kage and Shikaku Nara sit there, and this is the place the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb will level.

The Major Twists

Tobi's mask does not fall by accident. Naruto, Killer Bee, Kakashi and Might Guy fail against him for a long time, until they notice the link between his intangibility and Kakashi's Kamui; exploiting that link, they land an attack and shatter the mask, revealing Obito Uchiha. Shortly before, alerted to Kabuto's defeat, Tobi had hastened the Ten-Tails' revival by pouring into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path the sealed Gold and Silver Brothers - carriers of residual Nine-Tails chakra - and a tentacle of the Eight-Tails.

Itachi does not "stop" Kabuto right away. He is first freed from Kabuto's control by the Kotoamatsukami that he had implanted on Naruto before his death; he then seals Nagato with his Susanoo, goes back up to the Mountains' Graveyard - his brother joins him on the way - and locks Kabuto inside the endless loop of the Izanami. Defeated, Kabuto is forced by genjutsu to lift the Impure World Reincarnation, which sends Itachi himself and all the other reanimated - Madara excepted - back to the afterlife.

Madara, for his part, does not become a jinchuriki at that moment. When Kabuto is defeated and his soul begins to rise, he breaks his own contract with the technique and thereby gains an immortal body: he leaves the five Kage at death's door and joins Obito. His true resurrection will come later, wrested from Obito by Black Zetsu, and he will only take the Ten-Tails into himself after resealing the tailed beasts in the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

A gray mask shatters around a head of spiky black hair, seen from behind, while an orange blast erupts on the right.
The mask broken mid-fight: the revelation that puts a face on the leader of the Akatsuki.

The Final Twist: Kaguya

Final plot twist: Black Zetsu, which had housed the will of Kaguya Otsutsuki ever since its creation, betrays Madara. Once the Infinite Tsukuyomi is cast over the world, it leaves Obito's body, moves into Madara's, takes control of it and turns him into Kaguya. She immediately carries into one of her dimensions the four shinobi that Sasuke's protection has shielded from the genjutsu - Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura - as well as Obito's body, which Black Zetsu has just left, intending to eliminate them there.

Obito dies there shielding them from Kaguya's attacks, and his spirit then lends Kakashi a double Mangekyo Sharingan. The conclusion belongs to those the Sage of the Six Paths endowed with his power. Naruto and Sasuke, to whom Hagoromo entrusted a share of the Yin and Yang powers of the Six Paths, end up surrounding her; a punch from Sakura keeps her from fleeing long enough for them to trigger the seal. The tailed beasts are extracted from her body, Madara is spat back out of it, and she is locked away with Black Zetsu inside a Six Paths Chibaku Tensei, itself trapped in another dimension.

A pale figure with two horns and a red eye in the middle of her forehead, wearing a long white robe with dark patterns, spreads her arms; her white hair fans out and debris floats around her.
Kaguya brought back to life: the threat that appears once Madara is out of the way.

What the Anime Adds to the War

The device is openly acknowledged: the anime deliberately increases the number of reanimated shinobi, in order to stretch out the war arcs and give the conflict the density of a real war. The result is a series of confrontations the manga does not contain. The Sound Four come back to take revenge on the team that retrieved Sasuke and trap the souls of their targets (episodes 303 to 305). Hayate Gekko is sent to steal the scroll where the Alliance stores the bodies carrying kekkei genkai, facing his former partner Yugao Uzuki and Sakura (307-308).

The list goes on. Tatewaki is calmed when Naruto tells him the fate of Shu and Chiyo (309-310). Yota appears on three fronts at once, two of them transformed Zetsu (313-315). The squad of Torune, tasked with unsealing Toroi and the Third Raikage, is stopped by Shino Aburame (316-317). Blue B, Killer Bee's predecessor as jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails, is reanimated to test him (318). Omoi leaves his post to rescue the Water Assault Unit, which he finds already fallen, and only crushes the Zetsu with the reinforcement unit dispatched by headquarters (320). The anime finally slips Chen into the ambush in the Land of Hot Water.

Two divergences deserve to be set apart from the canon. The manga makes the control of the Nine-Tails an unforeseen consequence of putting Naruto out of harm's way, whereas the anime credits Tsunade with intending training with Killer Bee from the start. The game goes further: in the story mode of Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Tobi, Madara and Kabuto retreat before the Ten-Tails' revival and the Alliance wins there, the rest not yet having been published at the time of development. One confusion, finally: the "Fourth Ninja War" declared by Hiruko in the third Naruto Shippuden movie is another conflict, prevented by the Konoha 11.

In the dead of night in a dark forest, two swordsmen are locked together, blades crossed right in front of their faces: one, seen from the front, has pale skin, marked dark circles and a dark cloth forehead protector with a metal plate; the other, seen from behind, has long purple hair and an olive vest.
Hayate Gekko, sent to steal the Alliance's scroll, has to cross blades with his former partner Yugao Uzuki (episodes 307-308): a confrontation the anime adds and the manga does not contain.

After the War: The Shinobi Union and Its Grudges

The Alliance is not dissolved: it becomes the Shinobi Union. Where the wartime coalition brought together only the Five Great Nations and the Land of Iron, the Union opens up to any hidden village wishing to join - Amegakure, Kusagakure -, which speeds up reconstruction and removes war over resources. It accepts clients' missions and builds its teams by drawing on all member nations; a representative from each village is stationed in each of the others.

The effect of demilitarization is measurable: technology advances fast enough for a modern metropolis to grow above the Hokage Rock, in Konoha (chapter 700). But peace has its losers, and they can be named one by one. Hidari and Ashimaru, deprived of a career, become mercenary ninja. Kido Tsumiki causes minor security incidents so that the Anbu budget is not cut back. A group of shinobi from Kirigakure finds the peace insulting and wants to give the village back its reputation as the Village of the Bloody Mist.

Three trajectories carry it further. Ao, hailed as a hero but disabled since the attack on headquarters, convinces himself that his life no longer has a purpose and joins Kara. Victor, whom the anime counts among the members of the Alliance, loses an eye and a leg there, steals a fragment of the dead God Tree and sets up a pharmaceutical front to recreate a Chakra Fruit. Boro founds a cult, preaching that he lived through the Infinite Tsukuyomi as a salvation, and accuses the Alliance of having undone it out of selfishness. Iwagakure, according to the Boruto anime, suffered a direct Akatsuki attack during the war that took it years to recover from (episode 86).

Overhead view of a council chamber with stone walls decorated with spiral motifs: eight delegates in all different outfits sit around a large horseshoe-shaped table with a golden top, sheets of paper laid in front of each; at the back, one person sits behind a raised desk and a standing man in a green vest, hair tied up in a ponytail, holds a clipboard.
The Shinobi Union in session: the wartime Alliance was not dissolved, it now accepts clients' missions and builds its teams from all member nations.

Summary Table

Aspect Details
Belligerents Allied Shinobi Forces (5 villages + Land of Iron) against Tobi/Obito's Akatsuki, Kabuto and his armies
Command Supreme commander: the Fourth Raikage; field forces: Gaara
At stake Capture Naruto and Killer Bee, revive the Ten-Tails, launch the Infinite Tsukuyomi
Twists Tobi = Obito; Kabuto stopped by Itachi; Madara jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails
Final twist Black Zetsu betrays Madara → Kaguya returns, sealed by Naruto and Sasuke

FAQ

  • Who fights in the Fourth Great Ninja War?
    The Allied Shinobi Forces (the five villages united with the Land of Iron) against the Akatsuki led by "Madara"/Tobi (in reality Obito), backed by Kabuto, his army of reanimated shinobi and the White Zetsu clones.
  • Who leads the Allied Shinobi Forces?
    The Fourth Raikage is its supreme commander; Gaara commands the field forces. The two roles are often confused.
  • Why does this war break out?
    Because of the Eye of the Moon Plan: capture Naruto and Killer Bee to revive the Ten-Tails, then launch the Infinite Tsukuyomi in order to enslave humanity.
  • Is the Ten-Tails the fusion of the nine tailed beasts?
    No, it is the other way around: the Ten-Tails is the primordial beast born of Kaguya, and the nine tailed beasts came from its chakra. Reviving it means gathering the tailed beasts back into the Gedo Mazo.
  • Who is the true final enemy?
    Kaguya Otsutsuki. After being betrayed by Black Zetsu, Madara serves as her vessel: it is Kaguya, not Madara, who is the ultimate opponent, sealed by Naruto and Sasuke.

In summary

The peak of the entire saga, the Fourth Great Ninja War brings together every character, every power and every secret in Naruto - right up to the revelation of the goddess who was hiding behind it all.

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