A figure passes through the gates. It's an older Naruto, who has returned from a long training journey with Jiraiya. Naruto Uzumaki is back!

Naruto’s and Sakura’s combined skills force Kakashi to use his Sharingan right off the bat. Naruto masterfully unleashes his jutsu one after another.

Granny Chiyo and Sakura rescue Naruto from Itachi’s genjutsu. Without a moment’s delay, Kakashi begins a counterattack.

Teams Kakashi and Guy return home to Konoha. As Kakashi rests in the infirmary, Sakura tells Tsunade about the information Sasori gave her as a reward for defeating him. Sasori had a meeting scheduled with a spy from within Orochimaru's ranks in 10 days. 4 days have passed since Sakura received this information, and now Naruto and Sakura need to recruit a new team member to go and investigate. As Naruto searches Konoha for a willing recruit, he meets some of his old friends. Just as Choji agrees to help, Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto are attacked by a Konoha shinobi unknown to them, Sai.

Sai receives a chilling glare from Sasuke's Sharingan that frightens him. Sai gives Orochimaru a bundle with information about Konoha's ANBU. Yamato gives Sakura and Naruto seeds with his chakra that enables him to track them inside the lair, and reveals that he was able to track Sai because he put a seed in Sai's clothing and food during the visit to the hot springs. Kabuto locks Sai in a room, and the boy summons a bingo book from scrolls he carries. Yamato uses a jutsu to open a tunnel into Orochimaru's hideout, and he, Naruto and Sakura travel to Sai's room undetected.

Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato head out for a new mission near the Fire Temple. When the other party fails to show up at the rendezvous point, the team gets separated and Naruto stumbles upon one of the four hidden tombs they came to protect. Due to a misunderstanding, he fights one of the monks-in-training from the Fire Temple, Sora, who also uses wind chakra based techniques. After the confusion, the monks and Team Kakashi travel to the Fire Temple, and Naruto recognizes it from his nightmare.

With Konoha in complete darkness, the village struggles to defend against the four attackers who have sealed the entire village behind a barrier. The entire village is in a state of emergency. Asuma, commanded by Tsunade to follow Sora and Naruto, finally catches up to them. Asuma realizes that the four invaders plan to annihilate the entire village using the lightning powers of the corpses that they stole. The revelation shocks Sora. As Asuma leaves to help hold off the attackers, he instructs Naruto to continue pursuing Sora.

Team Asuma continues their battle with Akatsuki's Hiden and Kakuzu.

As Kakashi and the others continue to struggle against the Akatsuki duo, Kakuzu reveals that he has not one, but five hearts! In order to kill him, one must take out all five of his hearts. Meanwhile, Shikamaru decides to challenge Hidan alone, and forces him away from his partner.

Naruto runs into unexpected difficulties as he trains with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. While Kakashi's group searches for Guren and her gang, Yukimaru seems to develop interest in Naruto.

Upon encountering one another, Sasuke and Deidara engage in battle. After exchanging a few blows to test Sasuke’s strength, Deidara conjures up his specialty clay dragon and wages long-range attacks against Sasuke from high above. With Tobi’s backup support, the battle seems to be going to Deidara.

While the members of Team Hebi head towards Itachi's location, Jiraiya infiltrates the Hidden Rain Village in hopes of gathering information on the Akatsuki leader. Jiraiya captures two Rain ninja and interrogates them about Pain, but what he learns shocks even him.

As they continue their voyage towards the Land of Lightning, Naruto, Aoba, Guy and Yamato sail through a thick fog. To pass the time, Yamato tells Aoba and Naruto some ghost stories (much to Naruto's dislike).

During their battle against the White Zetsu, Shino’s beetles detect the presence of another enemy. Leaving the fight to Kiba and the others, Shino goes to investigate and finds Torune preparing to unleash his forbidden jutsu.

As a result of having the Nine Tails sealed inside of him, Naruto is feared and hated by the villagers. He trains all alone in the woods, but one day, a certain man appears and strikes up a conversation with Naruto. Elsewhere, in the Leaf Village, a celebration is held to mark Hinata's third birthday, where she meets Neji for the first time.

A young Gaara is hated by his father and isolated by his siblings, who play in the sandbox with Gaara until their father separates them. During dinner, Gaara asks his uncle about his mother and how to feel happy. His uncle replies that the moon makes him feel better when he is sad, and Gaara agrees that the moon makes him feel happy. A young Shikamaru is bored in class lectures and wants to sleep but is punished along with Naruto and Choji by Iruka for interrupting class. They bond as they stand in the hallway and later hang out after school. Shikamaru criticises Naruto for defending Hinata from bullies and the boys later laugh at Ino for getting rejected by Sasuke.

"The fourth Great Shinobi World War has ended. But Sasuke decides to continue his solitary journey—this time to atone for his sins. Meanwhile, back at the Leaf Village, there is a growing number of missing shinobi. As Kakashi—the sixth Hokage—and the others discuss these incidents, the Leaf is attacked by a mysterious group of shinobi."

Sasuke begins his own investigation into the incidents. He overcomes many dangers on his path to the truth. The Exploding Humans, the Ketsuryugan, the Chinoike Clan, and the Uchiha Clan—just how are they connected? Where does his journey lead? The mystery is about to be solved...

Naruto had once lived a lonely existence, ostracized by everyone. But Iruka's words and his very presence have supported Naruto to this day. As Naruto's wedding nears, Iruka begins to lose sight of what he was to Naruto, and is unsure of what to say for his message.