Ashwathama's uproarious laughter stirs up all the bottled up emotions of Drupada. Drupada's life mission has been the death of Drona. He is now defiant, bitter and sarcastic. He berates the Pandavas; he regrets being on the side of Pandavas in a war where they are not only loved by their adversaries like Drona and Bhishma who would never think of killing them, but are also protected by divine boons. It is his family that is caught in this web and have to pay with their lives. He turns to Krishna for an answer.
Krishna reassures Drupada that his sacrifices would not go waste. He turns to the Pandavas and extracts the promise that they would treat Drona as their foe who wouldn't be shown any mercy. Drupada is now convinced that Pandavas would treat Drona as their adversary and not hesitate to kill him.
Duryodhana is livid with rage that Drona's mission of bringing Yudhishtra as a hostage is not successful. He demands to know why, despite Susharma's luring Arjuna away from Yudhishtra, Drona is unable to deliver his promise. He alleges that Drona's affection for the Pandavas is the only reason for the failure. Ashwathama is stung by Duryodhana's unfair criticism of his father. Karna offers to kill Arjuna, but Kripacharya declares it as impossible. Drona intervenes to explain. Arjuna has fought with Shiva and obtained divine weapons; he is no less than Drona himself in valour. This irritates Duryodhana and Karna. Drona says it is his duty as a Commander-in-Chief to assess the enemy's strength and that's what he has done. He reaffirms his resolve to capture Yudhistra in the absense of Arjuna to protect him.
Drupada is now charged with renewed energy. Armed with the promises that the Pandavas have made, he meets Drona and verbally assaults him. 
His intention seems to be to provoke Drona and make him treat the Pandavas as enemies so that his mission of slaying Drona is accomplished. He reveals to Drona of the Pandavas' resolve to kill him. This has the desired effect on Drona, who now says he will have no qualms about vanquishing Yudhishtra.
Drona calls for a special meeting with all the commanders and explains that he plans to organise them in a chakravyuha formation. He explains his strategy of beginning the day with padma-vyuha till Arjuna is inveigled into a far-away place, and then reorganize the troops afterwards into chakra vyuha. Since only Arjuna knows how to enter, fight and exit from the Chakravyuha, he should not be present on the battle field. King Susharma once again offers to draw Arjuna far away by challenging him to fight with him and his army of Samsaktakas (also referred as Samsaptakas).
Drona also expalins that quite likely someone from the Pandava army would attempt to penetrate into the Chakravyuha and get caught in it. They would get killed easily. Drona also explains that he would signal the time for trasition from Padmavyuha into Chakravyuha by sending a shaft skyward that would spin spirally like a wheel. The Kaurava army should quickly reorganize themselves, leaving the Pandavas confused.
Drona also explains how the warriors should reposition themselves. Duryodhana would remain at the center of the vyuha and Drona would station himself at its entrance and attack the enemies. He wants an able warrior who can prevent other warriors from entering the vyuha so that they could isolate the one who has entered the vyuha. The king of Sindu, Jayadratha, Dushala's husband, comes forward enthusiastically. He tells them how he was waiting for such an opportunity to take revenge on the Pandavas for having humiliated him by shaving his head. After being dishonored this way, Jayadratha had performed penances to Shiva to obtain the boon that he would remain invincible in war for any one day of his choice. Drona agrees that this is the perfect opportunity to make use of the boon.
Draupadi and Subhadra apply tilak to Abhimanyu and bless him with success. Abhimanyu looks for Uttara to take leave of her as well. 
Uttara feels giddy for a moment and faints. Draupadi examines her and declares her pregnant. Everybody is very happy. As Abhimanyu gets ready to step out, he trips and the crown on his head falls off. Subhadra and Uttara consider it as an ill omen and do not want Abhimanyu to take part in the war that day. Abhimanyu refuses to stay put; he says his uncle Yudhishtra needs him most at this time. Arjuna bleses his son and tells the women not to worry.
Sanjaya describes the scene of the battle field on the thirteenth day. He reports that the Kaurvas have aligned themselves along the lines of padma vyuha and the Pandavas have answered it with chandra vyuha. Sanjaya observes that the Pandavas seem baffled by the kauravas' choice of padma vyuha.
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