After discovering a kunai knife with a secret message on it, Naruto winds up being pursued by three kunoichi from the Hidden Waterfall Village. Iruka mangaes to find him, but when the situation grows worse, Kakashi appears to save them both.

Back before Rock Lee had his surgery, Naruto, after donning the suit given to him by Guy, set out on a mission with Sakura and Ino to obtain a special flower which was a necessary ingredient for Lee's medicine. When Naruto picked one of the flowers, however, he had to face a strange technique that had taken on the form of Gaara.

Karui decides to get information about Sasuke from Naruto by any means necessary. When Naruto refuses to sell Sasuke out, Karui takes out her frustration upon the former. Meanwhile, Danzo prepares for the Kage Summit, and determines to keep Naruto confined to the Leaf Village.

Sasuke uses Susano'o to slip past Gaara and the Raikage and heads towards Danzo. Just as the latter is within Sasuke's grasp, however, the Mizukage stands in his way.

Given the day off, Sai spends it strolling the village and drawing. He initially encounters three children that he at first finds it difficult to interact with but later realises that two of them remind him of his team-mates Naruto and Sakura. He has several flashbacks of their time together and the bonds they share. In the end he uses the doors of a destroyed house and paints a mural of Team 7 along with Sasuke holding hands.

Minato is forced to use his Flying Raijin jutsu and leave his wife Kushina behind to save their newborn son, Naruto, from a masked assailant.

Tobi heads to Hidden Rain Village to retrieve Nagato's Rinnegan. Konan, now a former member of Akatsuki, recollects her past until Tobi arrives. Tobi asks Konan where is Nagato's Rinnegan and Konan replies that it is not located in the village. Their battle started and Tobi tells Konan that he encouraged Yahiko to form Akatsuki and he gave the Rinnegan to Nagato. Konan transforms into thousands of pieces of paper to self-destruct against Tobi, yet it fails and both survives. Konan unleashes a powerful paper technique that looks like a sea of paper beneath their feet.

The legendary Ama no Hoko imbues the Nine Tails’ clone with enough power to destroy the world. Naruto is overcome by its immense power and lies unconscious.

The reanimated shinobi appearing before Gaara and Ohnoki is revealed to be none other than Madara Uchiha himself…which raises the question of who the masked man claiming to be Madara really is.

After the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, Obito finds himself inside the hidden lair of Madara Uchiha, who saved the young shinobi’s life. There, Obito works to rehabilitate his injured body in the hopes of being reunited with Kakashi and Rin.

While pursuing Orochimaru, Kakashi wanders into a village inhabited by the Iburi Clan, a group of people with the unique ability to turn into smoke. Kakashi is soon captured and learns that the villagers all serve under Orochimaru.

Hiruzen relieves Kakashi of his ANBU duties and assigns him a new position as a Jonin Leader. Reflecting on his past mistakes, Kakashi decides to use the same test that Minato once used to measure one’s teamwork.

Kakashi holds on to the hope that Obito can return to being the young man that he remembers. But Obito has abandoned the present as well as the memories of his friends and is determined to end the world!

Sasuke leaves the village in order to obtain power from Orochimaru. Naruto and his friends learn that Sasuke is in danger and decide to go after him. To keep this a secret, only Naruto and Shikamaru set out on this mission, but on the way the duo are accosted by masked ANBU shinobi!

Naruto and Sasuke have both become such high-level shinobi that each knows exactly what the other is thinking just by exchanging attacks. Despite knowing how Naruto feels, Sasuke is determined to cut him down.

Naruto and Sasuke have both become such high-level shinobi that each knows exactly what the other is thinking just by exchanging attacks. Despite knowing how Naruto feels, Sasuke is determined to cut him down.