Chapter 3 (Sasuke Retsuden)

On Zansūru's orders, the guards beat Sasuke all day for his assault on Menō. He absorbs the punishment without retaliating, using the chance to lift a red cloth from one of them. Once his cellmates are asleep, he ties the cloth to his hand and slips out, trusting that it will make Menō treat him as authorised and leave him be. He soon meets another inmate whose own cloth was stolen by bullies, and he hands over his own so the man can get back safely, just as Menō appears.

Under the dragon's attack, Sasuke's genjutsu again does nothing, and he confirms that its earlier wounds have healed completely. A scratch to his cheek leaves his sight and movement failing, apparently from a local toxin coating its claws. He flees but collapses, only to be rescued by his wife Sakura, who has taken the post of prison doctor.

In the infirmary Sasuke worries about their daughter Sarada, but Sakura assures him she is safe and delivers a mission update. Drawing on Kakashi's research, she recounts that the Sage of Six Paths came to the Astronomy Research Institute centuries earlier and watched a meteorite streak overhead. Splitting the meteor yielded polar particles that cured him, and he hid the leftover particles in 'the sky that fell to earth'. Sakura believes locating that place could heal Naruto. Sasuke urges her to go home, wary of Menō's genjutsu immunity and Zansūru's plots, but she refuses to leave him without help.

Jiji then arrives for treatment, and Sasuke stays hidden until he reveals himself to stop the man from stroking Sakura's hair. Astonished to see Sasuke, Jiji is more astonished to learn the two are married, which Sakura explains as her only means of visiting, since the prison bars outsiders. Jiji accepts the logic and, back at the cell, promises to keep their secret. Asked where the polar particles might lie, he suggests the library's astronomical records and recommends consulting Penjira, who works there.

Sasuke uses a stolen red cloth to move safely past Menō, then gives it away and is poisoned by the dragon's claws. Sakura, now the prison doctor, rescues him and reveals the mission's goal: polar particles that once cured the Sage of Six Paths and could cure Naruto. Jiji learns of their marriage and points them toward the library and Penjira.

Chapter three of the Sasuke Retsuden manga advances the Heavenly Stardust storyline in volume one. It appeared on Shonen Jump Plus on November 20, 2022.