Plot of Naruto II
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The plot of the second part of the manga Naruto, dubbed Naruto II by fans, revolves mainly around Uzumaki Naruto's and Haruno Sakura's new adventures and their search for Uchiha Sasuke after he left Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf Village) for Orochimaru's Otogakure (Hidden Sound Village). This follows a two and a half year time skip in the manga. This part of Naruto has not been animated yet.
Background
After his failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto learns that circumstances have granted him a 2 and a half-year window to prepare himself to face Orochimaru (who had to switch bodies prematurely and now has to wait 3 years before executing his original plan of transferring into Sasuke) and defend himself against additional kidnap attempts from the shady organization Akatsuki (who, according to Jiraiya's information sources and for reasons unknown, halt their plans to attempt capturing Naruto for three years). Naruto takes this opportunity to undergo intensive training under Jiraiya. At the same time, Sakura becomes Tsunade's apprentice and Sasuke trains under Orochimaru, meaning that all members of Team 7 are now training under one of the Densetsu no Sannin (The Legendary Three). After 3 months, Naruto heads off to train with Jiraiya.
When Naruto returns to the village two and a half years later, he finds out, much to his dismay, that he is the only one of his former-Genin social circle who hasn't passed the Chūnin Exam. During his absence, the rest have all become Chūnin. (Hyūga Neji, Temari and Kankurō have become Jōnin, and Gaara even became the Fifth Kazekage- it's unknown what rank Sasuke has reached in Hidden Sound), though in terms of strength and power, Naruto is much more powerful than any Genin or his friends with the help of his many high-level Jutsu, including Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Rasengan (now one handed). He has also learned to use a Kage Bunshin to create a more powerful version of Rasengan, the Odama Rasengan. Naruto has also become more cunning and stealthy (as noted by Kakashi), coming up with new ways to utilize his Kage Bunshin in combat. However, according to Tsunade, Naruto has begun to adopt a more perverted personality like that of Jiraiya.
It seems Naruto's feelings for Sakura have matured to a certain extent. They don't seem to be a child-like crush anymore. It seems they have had a very easy time communicating with each other, despite the nearly 3-year separation. They are capable of having a casual conversation together, and they seem to like spending time together. Also their teamwork has greatly improved, and they were able to pass Kakashi's bell test by actually getting the bells, albeit through the most unconventional means.
Rescue Gaara arc
Naruto has little time to wander the village and greet all his old friends, as the Hokage sends Team Kakashi on another mission, after learning that Gaara has been captured by the Akatsuki. This mission entails going to Sunagakure to assess the situation and assist in any rescue attempt, if necessary. Jiraiya's information sources indicate that Akatsuki has been growing impatient with their lack of success capturing Naruto. Thus this clash with Akatsuki seems to have been inevitable. The team leaves for Suna along with Temari, who had been staying at Konoha to organize another Chūnin Exam. While they are on the way to Suna, Naruto tells Sakura and Temari that he is the living container for the Kyūbi. Sakura finally seems to understand Naruto in many ways. She could understand why almost everyone hated him, excluded him, and why he was alone. After Sakura learned this information, she vowed to do everything she could to protect Naruto from being a victim of the Akatsuki.
At Sunagakure
When they arrive at Sunagakure, Team Kakashi comes across a wounded Kankurō, who was poisoned by the Akatsuki member Sasori when he attempted to chase after Gaara's kidnappers. Luckily, Sakura is able to cure the poison, demonstrating her new medical techniques. It is through a piece of Sasori's clothing found on one of Kankurō's puppets that Team Kakashi is able to track where Akatsuki took Gaara. During this layover in Suna, Team Kakashi meets Chiyo, an old ninja of renown in Suna as a poison specialist. She also happens to be the grandmother of Sasori. When Team Kakashi is about to leave Suna, heading towards Akatsuki's hideout to retrieve Gaara, Chiyo insists on tagging along. While this is happening, Tsunade decides to send Team Kakashi some backup in the form of Team Guy. They set out immediately to join Team Kakashi. En route to Suna, they come across Pakkun, who tells them that Team Kakashi is heading towards Akatsuki's hideout and they should adjust their course accordingly.As they approach Akatsuki's hideout, Team Kakashi is confronted by Itachi, while Team Guy fights Kisame. Although Naruto attempts to not get caught in one of Itachi's Genjutsu techniques by not looking into his eyes, Itachi catches him in one anyway by simply pointing a finger at him. Although Naruto learned how to dispel Genjutsu during his training with Jiraiya by stopping his chakra flow so that the genjutsu user could not control his senses using his own chakra, Naruto fails to do so since he doesn't have enough power to disrupt the technique. The genjutsu manifests itself as Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Gaara emerging from Naruto's body and taunting him, playing on his worries. As Naruto starts to become tearful during this emotional assault, Sakura and Chiyo break him out of the genjutsu by disrupting his chakra flow. Kakashi asks if Naruto is alright, telling him that it is time to get serious. After dodging a from Itachi, Kakashi sends a Kage Bunshin through the ground to attack Itachi. As this Kage Bunshin distracts Itachi, Kakashi, who had been hiding underground, orders Naruto to strike now. Naruto obeys by using a Ōdama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere) to take out both Itachi and Kakashi's bunshin. However, as Team Kakashi moves to examine the body, it is not that of Itachi, rather it is recognized by Chiyo to be Yūra, a member of Suna's advisory council, revealed to be a double agent in the employ of Akatsuki. A similar person is found by Team Guy after they defeat Kisame. It is later revealed that these two were used as body substitutes for the Akatsuki Leader's Shōten no Jutsu (Shapeshifting Technique).
The group surmises that this was just a delaying tactic to give Akatsuki enough time to draw the Shukaku out of Gaara. Chiyo reveals to the group that if Shukaku is fully extracted from Gaara, he will die. Sakura realized that the same goes for Naruto as well. As a result, she cried for him because she didn't want him to die. Naruto tells her not to worry because he'll save Gaara. Sakura tries to tell Naruto that it's him she's worried about, but he doesn't allow her to finish.
At the grotto where Gaara is being held, Teams Kakashi and Guy finally meet up. They figure out that a barrier jutsu seals off the entrance. Team Guy decides to remove the 4 seals protecting the cave, while Team Kakashi deals with Akatsuki. However, removing the seals triggers a trap, causing Team Guy to fight against their clones. Inside the cave, Naruto and Kakashi decide to confront Deidara, who had been the one who captured Gaara, while Chiyo and Sakura face Sasori. Deidara flies off on a clay bird with Gaara's body in its mouth, with Naruto and Kakashi in pursuit.
Fighting Sasori
Sakura and Chiyo fight Sasori. Sasori, Deidara's partner, is a Nukenin (Missing-nin) from Sunagakure (Hidden Sand), who had left the village 20 years ago. He was actually Akasuna no Sasori ("Sasori of the Red Sand"), a genius ninja and puppeteer, who designed all of Kankurō's puppets.Sasori "wears" his puppets and controls them from inside, thus eliminating the puppeteer's weakness of being a separate and exposed target. His favorite puppet is named 'Hiruko' (ヒルコ), according to Chiyo. Hiruko has a mechanical tail extending from the mouth of what appears to be a mask on his back, the left arm is something that appears to be a large studded projectile capable of firing shrapnel, and the clearly artificial mouth opens to reveal a projectile-firing device. What makes him even more frightening, however, was the fact that Sasori makes his puppets out of human bodies. So far, he has a collection of 298 hitokugutsu, (人傀儡, "person puppets") made out of human bodies. And to show this, after he was forced to abandon Hiruko, he summoned a hitokugutsu of the Third Kazekage. This puppet was made from the living body of the Kazekage, and thus is able to retain some traits and jutsu of the Kazekage while he was alive.
The truly frightening aspect of Sasori, however, was that his real body is actually as young as he was, and bishonen too. The secret of his youth is revealed after the Kazekage puppet is destroyed: he had made himself into a puppet. His stomach is now hollow, allowing a thick cable to be coiled and stored inside; the cable can act both as a stinger and a support for his body. On his back, a pair of arms, equipped with five large claws, is mounted, and on top of the spine is a scroll holder holding four scrolls, used to summon the puppets for his Aka Higi: Hyakki no Soen (Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets). Each of his hands now mounts a flamethrower nozzle. His right chest contains a hidden compartment, which can spin unknown numbers of chakra strings to control one hundred or more puppets. Over his heart is a large talisman that has the kanji 蠍 (Sasori, "Scorpion"). His puppet body can also be pieced back together after being splintered into multiple pieces; this is because the only part of him which is still truly "alive" (and thus able to control chakra) is his heart, located under the talisman. He can also easily transfer the talisman, and by extension himself, between puppets. (How he transfers his face/facial features, as depicted in the manga, is not explained.)
The talisman also proved to be his only weakness, as Chiyo used his mother's and father's puppets to stab him through this location in a manner similar to the hug that he desired. Interestingly, Chiyo seemed to believe that in the end Sasori had allowed himself to be killed - he saw the attack coming and chose not to react, and he died in a way similar to how his parent puppets used to embrace him. At the end of the battle, Chiyo, Sasori, and Sakura are all fatally wounded, but Chiyo uses a jutsu she originally developed for Sasori, "to give life to a lifeless puppet," to save Sakura's life. The jutsu takes the life of the user, but did not kill Chiyo (since Sakura was still alive).
Sasori's last words (as a reward to Sakura for defeating him) were that he has a spy in Orochimaru's ranks, whom he was supposed to meet with in Kusagakure in ten days.
Fighting Deidara
Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi chase after Deidara, after Kakashi activates his own version of the Mangekyō Sharingan. Kakashi uses it to remove Deidara's remaining arm, distracting him long enough for Naruto to sneak up to him and destroy his clay bird using a Rasengan, forcing Deidara to jump off of it. The clay bird gets decapitated, and Naruto's Kage Bunshins catch the head. A dead Gaara is inside. This enrages Naruto, sending a Kage Bunshin filled with Kyūbi chakra to attack Deidara, who attempted to get away since he no longer had any arms to perform jutsu with. The bunshin then performs another Kage Bunshin technique, forming 4 more bunshins to further pummel Deidara by slamming him into the ground, beating him, and using a Rasengan on him. However, this form of Deidara turns out only to be a Bunshin made of clay. The real Deidara had used a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) to get away from Naruto's attacks. Naruto, still enraged, starts to appear feral as two tails of chakra begin to form, causing the Kage Bunshin Naruto to experience a burning sensation in his stomach. Kakashi recognizes this as a bad sign and uses a special seal he received from Jiraiya to stop this transformation from proceeding any further and reverting Naruto back to his regular state.As the rest of Team Kakashi and Guy catch up with Naruto and Kakashi, Neji spots Deidara attempting to escape. Narrowly avoiding projectiles thrown at him by Tenten, Deidara moves to the remains of his bird and swallows some of the clay, creating a Jibaku Bunshin (Suicide Bombing Clone). Neji realizes the nature of the clone and directs everyone away quickly, fearing that everyone will not get away in time. However, as the dust settles, the Jibaku Bunshin is nowhere to be seen. Kakashi collapses, and explains that he used his Mangekyō Sharingan to send it to another dimension. With Naruto carrying Gaara's body, the two teams start to head back to Suna.
Epilogue
Stopping in a grassy field, Sakura checks Gaara and pronounces him as dead. Naruto grows very emotional at her pronouncement, lashing out verbally at Chiyo. As he begins to cry, Chiyo moves towards Gaara and uses a jutsu that will bring Gaara back to life at the expense of her own life. However, as she had already used this jutsu once to help Sakura as she was dying, she didn't have enough chakra left to complete the technique. After learning about what this jutsu can do, Naruto then lends her some of his chakra and she is able to revive Gaara at the cost of her own life. As Kakashi looks on with his Sharingan, Gaara is revived by Naruto as most of Sunagakure looks on.Back at the battleground, Deidara emerges from the ground, revealing his Jibaku Bunshin to be a diversion for him to escape. He goes off looking for his right arm that he lost due to Kakashi. He finds it and meets up with Zetsu and Tobi, a mysterious individual who wants to take Sasori's place in Akatsuki.
After paying their respects to Chiyo's grave and bidding Gaara farewell, Naruto returns to Konoha after this mission, along with his comrades.
Exposition
Unfortunately, Kakashi is still ailing from his overuse of his Mangekyō Sharingan and has to be carried back by Guy. When they arrive, Kakashi is confined in the hospital and is not able to lead Naruto and Sakura for the time being of his recovery. Naruto runs around his village to find a possible replacement. During this time, he meets up with Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Chōji, and Ino again. He is also introduced to Sai, who would be taking Sasuke's place.It is discovered that some of the village elders are worried about the possibility of Naruto being captured by Akatsuki. He is assigned to go on another mission with Sakura, the newly introduced Sai, a member of the now-defunct independent subdivision of the ANBU called 'Ne' (根, "Root"), and an ANBU codenamed Yamato acting as leader. They are to travel to the World Bridge in the Grass Country to meet Sasori's spy.
Grass Country arc
After Naruto and the rest of the team sets out for their new mission, a great amount of tension begins to build in the team, especially between Naruto and Sai. Naruto dislikes Sai, and his interactions with him are similar to his interactions with Sasuke from the beginning of the series. Sai even increases Naruto's hatred towards him by saying things about Sasuke being a traitor giving Sakura and Naruto great irritation towards him.
When they arrive at the World Bridge, Yamato goes to meet the spy inside a replica of Sasori's puppet Hiruko. The spy is revealed to be Kabuto, but he is apparently still loyal to Orochimaru. He destroys the puppet replica, revealing Yamato inside. Orochimaru then calls Sai, Sakura, and Naruto out, most likely with the intent to fight, saying that he wonders who is now stronger: Naruto or Sasuke. Naruto is so provoked by the mere mention of Sasuke that he goes into a three-tailed Kyūbi state almost straight away.
During the time skip, Jiraiya has apparently witnessed Naruto trigger a four-tailed Kyūbi and nearly lost his life in this encounter. With three tails, Naruto was still able to retain his own identity, but when he entered the four-tails version he began to lose the ability to distinguish friends from foes, instead letting Kyūbi's instinct control him. Also, while in four-tailed state his body begins to suffer severe damage from the external shield of chakra, while also being constantly healed by internal Kyūbi chakra. This process weakens his body, since the cells divide and work much more than regularly, reaching apoptosis faster. This is much like how Tsunade's the Sozo Saisei (Genesis Rebirth) decreases her lifespan. It is speculated by Jiraiya and Tsunade that the Fourth's seal is weakening.
While battling Orochimaru with three tails, Naruto caused extensive damage to the surrounding area and was able to land hits on Orochimaru. Orochimaru continues to taunt Naruto by talking about Sasuke as though he belongs to him, which causes Naruto to go into the four-tailed state. This is depicted in Naruto's mind by Naruto swimming through the bars of Kyūbi's cage and Kyūbi closing its hands around Naruto. In this state, Naruto resembles a black-colored fox, due to the manga being black and white. Most likely, he is red in color as he was in his battle with Sasuke. Perhaps, even a darker shade of red, as he's covered with what appears to be a mixture of Kyūbi's chakra and his own blood. During the battle with Orochimaru, Naruto's four-tailed state is shown to be extremely powerful. With one swipe of his hand, he can create a powerful shockwave (as noted by Yamato). He also has the ability to stretch his arms and attack from long distances. When Orochimaru grabs Naruto's arm with his own, he gets burns from the fire like chakra. Kyūbi-Naruto uses the four tails to concentrate his chakra into a dense dark ball.
Naruto eats the black chakra ball, and fires it out of his mouth. The immense energy forces Orochimaru to summon 3 of his Rashōmon demon gates to block the attacks. The demon gates however are no match for the attack and are shattered. When the dust clears, it appears that Orochimaru has been defeated, but in fact used the attack as a distraction to launch a sneak attack by burrowing his head underground and impaling Naruto with the sword, sending Naruto flying. However, even this attack does not harm Naruto. Kyūbi-Naruto grabs the extended Kusanagi and tosses it aside, sending Orochimaru flailing.
Meanwhile, Kabuto comments to Sakura and Yamato that it seems Naruto was so desperate to save Sasuke that he let himself turn into a monster. Tears in her eyes and overcome by emotion, Sakura runs towards Naruto, ignoring Yamato's warning and tries to calm Naruto down. Yamato quickly acts to protect her, using Mokuton Ninjutsu, but does not make it in time. Naruto uses his leftmost tail to swipe Sakura aside, cutting her arm in the process. Kabuto, seeing Sakura as another opposing force to Akatsuki, heals her arm, hoping that if she lives, she can kill another Akatsuki member. Yamato then proceeds to using a technique that appears to be a Jinchūriki-containing move called . A seal appears on Yamato's palm, which then, by a thick string of chakra, pierces Naruto's chest and forcefully reverts Naruto to his normal state.
Sakura and Yamato rush to Naruto's side and Sakura uses her medical skills to force the remainder of the Kyūbi chakra into remission. It is during this that Sakura asks Yamato if he can teach her Kakuan Nitten Suishu. However, Yamato explains that he cannot: this ability is genetically related, and Yamato could perform it because he was injected with First Hokage's genes (part of Orochimaru's experiment). Though Sakura is upset at the little she could do, Yamato states that it is the strength of her feelings for Naruto that matters most. Before he can expand on his point, Naruto awakens.
Meanwhile, Sai meets with Orochimaru, saying that he is a messenger from Danzō and not an enemy. After gaining favor with Orochimaru and Kabuto, the three leave to a secret hideout. This was spotted by Yamato though, and the team decides to pursue Sai.
When Naruto realizes that the bridge and certain parts of the forest have been leveled, he wondered what happened. Apparently, after he grew the fourth tail, he forgot everything after that. Sakura lies to Naruto in order to protect him from the truth for now.
The fight caused extensive damage to Naruto, so he had to rest a bit, while Sakura and Yamato went ahead. Naruto does catch up later when he is healed. At this point, Sakura's injury is shown when she falls out of a tree. Sakura lies to Naruto, saying Orochimaru did it, but Yamato calls Naruto aside and explains the truth. He also states that although relying on the strength of the Kyūbi might allow Naruto to rescue Sasuke faster, it is not Naruto's true strength and will hurt Naruto and all of his friends. Yamato tells Naruto that he is going to seal his Kyūbi chakra, but he will still help all of his friends, because his own chakra is his true strength. Naruto quickly agrees.
While Yamato and Naruto are discussing this, Sakura goes through Sai's belongings and finds his art book. She calls attention to this book and shows it to the rest of the team. The sketchbook contains mysterious drawings of Sai and his assumed older brother growing up and going through a gauntlet of enemies. On each subsequent page, Sai takes the weapons and armor of his previous opponent. The center pages, where the two brothers are supposed to meet, are unfinished. The left page is completely empty, probably because Sai's brother has died, where as the right page has an image of Sai in full ANBU attire, only without a face.
The team arrives at Orochimaru's hideout after Yamato's Moku Bunshin. Yamato reveals that he was able to track Sai through a seed created by one of his own Moku jutsus, which only reacts to his chakra. Sai had one hidden in his breakfast, and Yamato also gives Sakura and Naruto one each, to make sure they could find each other if lost. Yamato use an Earth element jutsu to get underneath the lair, then he uses some wood summoned from his fingers to exert pressure on a crack in the rock, creating an entranceway large enough for the group to enter.
Once inside, Yamato announces that they will track down Sai first. Sensing him through the seed, Yamato leads the team over to a room where Sai is being kept hostage. Using another wood jutsu to create a skeleton key, Yamato unlocks the room and they all enter. Sai tries to lie, but an accidental smile allows Naruto to call his bluff. Sai then states that his mission is a failure and confirms that Danzō is indeed planning another strike at Konoha. However he is also acting as a spy for Danzō, since Danzō knows as soon as Konoha is destroyed, Orochimaru will turn on him.
After they return to the surface, Naruto states that it's time to rescue Sasuke. However, Sai disapproves, saying that Sasuke does not see Naruto as a brother, and that Orochimaru is far too powerful for them. He also wonders why Naruto would go this far when he wasn't ordered to. Naruto replies that he had found a special bond between Sasuke and himself. Sasuke is the one person Naruto wanted to be acknowledged by, so he will fight Orochimaru with everything he has to get Sasuke back, even if it means sacrificing his life.
Before they can go, Kabuto shows up and frees Sai. Before the fight could progress far, Sai shocks everyone by helping Yamato immobilize Kabuto.
After his capture, Kabuto was forthcoming about information on the interior of the lair, but not Sasuke's actual location. Team Kakashi split up, with Naruto teaming with Sai and Sakura with Yamato, both teams in search of Sasuke. Inside the lair, Naruto, still tired from being in Kyūbi form, collapsed, and Sai suggested to rest; Naruto is notably less hostile towards Sai at this point. Sai begins to talk about his brother, who resembles Naruto a lot. However the small chat soon ends, as Orochimaru shows up.
Naruto tells Sai to find Sasuke while he holds off Orochimaru. As Yamato and Sakura arrive to back Naruto up, Orochimaru then tells Naruto that he won't kill him now, as Naruto could potentially help Orochimaru in the future by killing other members of Akatsuki. Orochimaru then retreats in order to locate Sai. Naruto tells Yamato and Sakura that they need to find Sai before Orochimaru did; However, Yamato looks into Sai's bag and finds a "Bingo Book" (a list of people who are tabbed for assassination) with Sasuke's name in it. Thus Naruto and Sakura realize that another part of Sai's original mission was to kill Sasuke, who had been listed by Danzō as an enemy of Konoha. Naruto is speechless, seeing that Sai had seemingly played him to perfection with his "fake smiling" act. The chapter later reveals that Sai wants to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, and wants to protect the bond between Naruto and Sasuke.
After exclaiming that Sai woke him up for "bonds", Sasuke and Sai have a brief exchange of jutsu, with Sasuke winning. Because of the force generated from the chakra of the jutsu, Sasuke's room's walls and ceiling caved outward, leaving Sai and Sasuke staring at each other for a moment. At this exact moment, Sakura spots Sai in the hallway and runs to him and would have probably punched him if not for Sasuke quietly saying Sakura's name, stopping her in her tracks. Naruto, in his weakened state, finally catches up amid heavily labored breathing. Seeing Sai and Sakura not moving and starring in the same direction leads Naruto to come face to face with Sasuke, staring directly in each other's eyes.
As Sasuke observes the new Team Kakashi from above, Sai explains to Naruto and Sakura that his desire to protect the bond between Naruto and Sasuke had overridden the mission that Danzō had given him. Sasuke then says that he has broken his bond of friendship with Naruto, and the only bond he has left was the bond of hatred he shared with Itachi. Sasuke left Naruto alive before on a whim; now, he will kill Naruto. Sasuke then shows off his new powers by moving down next to Naruto with blinding speed and tells Naruto that someone who dreams of becoming Hokage shouldn't risk it all by chasing after one man.As both Sai and Yamato move to try and protect Naruto, Sasuke shows them a new product of his training: Chidori Nagashi (One Thousand Birds Current), allowing him to project a Chidori-like effect from all over his body, both defensively and offensively. As Naruto and Sai lie stunned on the ground due to this jutsu, while Sasuke deals with Sakura and Yamato. Sakura realizes the nature of this jutsu, but still attempts to attack Sasuke with her monstrous strength, but is blocked by Yamato, who ended up impaled by the Kusanagi sword Sasuke was wielding. Sasuke then proceeds to flow the Chidori down the sword, effectively paralyzing Yamato. Sasuke looks down to see Naruto dragging himself over to him and Yamato. Naruto has partially transformed into the Kyūbi, with his eyes turning red and slit-like, his whisker-marks deepening, hair becomes spikier, and his fingernails turning into claws. Meanwhile, in Naruto's mind, he comes face to face with the demon fox Kyūbi, who implores him to use his Kyūbi power. When Naruto refuses, the demon scoffs, saying Naruto has always come to him in times of need and that Naruto is worthless without his power. Suddenly, Sasuke somehow also appears in front of the Kyūbi (stunning both Naruto and Kyūbi), and marvels at finally finding the source of Naruto's power. Sasuke can clearly see the Kyūbi inside Naruto and appears to be able to seal its power from within Naruto.
Kyūbi then remembers his past history with the Uchiha clan. And states how the Uchiha may possess chakra even more evil than his own "just like that Uchiha Madara".
As Sasuke represses the Kyūbi's chakra, the fox leaves him with a strange message:
"Don't kill Naruto, you would regret it."
Outside of Naruto's mind, Yamato manages to escape from Sasuke's hold and body-numbing Kusanagi sword by using a Mokuton jutsu to push it out of his wound. He quickly then tries to hold Sasuke in a Mokuton prison but Sasuke quickly breaks through and jumps on a nearby cliff rendering Yamato's jutsu useless.
Sasuke looks down on Team 7. Naruto yells out to Sasuke that Orochimaru is just using Sasuke for his body, to which Sasuke tells Naruto that if it helps to kill Itachi then he doesn't care. That neither he nor Orochimaru is powerful enough to defeat Itachi and he will do whatever it takes. Yamato then tells Naruto and Sakura that he didn't want to hurt Sasuke in front of them but he has no choice now and will "finish this". To which Sasuke also replies he will "finish this" as Sasuke begins to form hand seals for a certain jutsu.
Orochimaru returns just in time to stop Sasuke from performing a "certain jutsu" (we are left wondering what it is). Kabuto also tells Sasuke that letting the Konoha shinobi manage the other Akatsuki would make his revenge easier by 1%. Sasuke tells Kabuto that's a poor excuse to not kill Naruto. Sasuke then leaves with Orochimaru and Kabuto, leaving Naruto and his teammates alone. Naruto feels completely helpless and upset from the shallow encounter. He feels that once again he was powerless to stop Sasuke from leaving and begins to cry. The two of them are also clearly upset that Sasuke is no longer the same person they used to know. Sakura, with tears in her eyes, tells Naruto that feeling sorry for himself will not save Sasuke. She reminds him that she's still here and that together they will get stronger. Sai reminds the team that they still have about six months left to save Sasuke and that he'll join them with helping bring Sasuke back.
The team returns to Konoha to report what they discovered and learned on their mission to Tsunade. She asks what they plan to do now. Naruto responds by saying that they have not given up and will move forward. Pleased by this response, Tsunade assigns the team a new mission. Later Sai reports to Danzō, who is not pleased that Sai failed in his mission. Sai asks to remain with Team Kakashi and Danzō warns Sai that developing emotions will only lead to hatred and conflicts. Sai has flashbacks of recent events, ponders his own feelings, and realizes that he now has friends: signified by him finally putting a title ("Friends") on one of his pictures. Having reclaimed his emotions, he heads off with Naruto, Sakura, and Yamato to begin their new mission.
Preparing Naruto
Later, Naruto, Sakura and Sai are back in Konoha. Sai is working on improving his relationship skills with Naruto and Sakura. During this period, Naruto and the others visit Kakashi at the hospital to talk about Sasuke. Naruto admits that Sasuke may have become too strong for him. Sakura suspects that Sasuke's unnatural growth is the result of him learning forbidden jutsu or taking special drugs and experiments; with Kabuto's medical jutsu and history of bizarre experiments this seems very likely.Kakashi admits that because Sasuke has gotten strong, in order to be ready for him next time, they all have to work harder in becoming stronger than him. Kakashi reveals that he has come up with some special training that will greatly increase one's strength. He also quickly states that this training is specifically for Naruto, as he is the only one able to do it. If Naruto were to successfully complete the new training he will surpass even Kakashi. Naruto is shocked by this revelation. This training involves creating his own personal ultimate jutsu, one that can surpass the Rasengan. Kakashi states that it takes a lot of time to do this and that it can't be done quickly like a character in a story. Naruto protests that they don't have that kind of time. Kakashi says, however, that there is a way to 'speed up' the process.
Just when Kakashi was going to tell Naruto how, Team Asuma enters the room to visit them. While Asuma and Kakashi talk, Team 7 along with Chōji and Ino, go to the Yakiniku barbeque-house to get re-introduced to each other. Shikamaru is said to have left to help his father collect horns for medicine, a fact which Ino finds strange since he always attends meetings about their missions. Sai attempts to make friends by giving nicknames for the members of Asuma's team. He almost calls Chōji 'Fat', but is stopped by Naruto at the last second. Afraid of getting another bad reaction, Sai determines it's safer to call people the opposite of what he is thinking, so he calls Ino "Ms. Lovely" — promptly earning a beating from Sakura, whom he had called a 'Hag' earlier.
Elsewhere, two new Akatsuki, Hidan and Kakuzu, are chasing after the Nibi ('Two-Tailed') Jinchūriki. Hidan and Kakuzu corner Yugito , the Jinchūriki of the Nibi no Nekomata, who states that she allowed herself to be cornered so she could destroy them. As Hidan speaks of Jashin (his religion that believes in total annihilation.), to the annoyance of Kakuzu. Hidan then proceeds to ask Yugito to hold still so he can knock her out. Yugito is rather aggravated by his comment and transforms into her demon form, a large flaming cat and counter attacks. At the hospital Asuma is about to discuss something that is troubling him with Kakashi when Kurenai walks in. Asuma decides to talk with Kakashi later and leaves with Kurenai as Kakashi sits wondering what has Asuma so worried. Returning to the battle, Yugito has been defeated. As she hangs from a wall; pinned there by a kunai through her hands, Hidan is performing a bizarre religious ritual that seems to involve impaling himself through the chest with a stake. Kakuzu reminds him that they have one Jinchūriki target left, and that they need to head for the Fire Country. As the two bicker with each other over whether it is Kakuzu's love of money and Hidan's long rituals that are slowing the team down, Zetsu appears takes charge of the Nibi, ordering them to find their next target.
Subsequently, Hidan and Kakuzu invade a Fire Country Temple looking for more biju. A man called Chiriku, former bodyguard for the Fire country's nobility, is the head monk with a bingo book bounty of 3,000,000 ryou. On a training field back in Konoha, Kakashi begins to explain how Naruto will create his new jutsu. He must use two techniques; first he must 'alter the nature' and second 'alter the shape' of his chakra. He explains that Rasengan only requires Naruto to alter the shape of his chakra. To make a more powerful jutsu he must learn to alter the 'nature' of his chakra as well, explaining that Chidori is an example of altering the nature of chakra into an electric current. While this is happening, Asuma is seen standing at the grave of the Third Hokage and commenting on how he's beginning to understand what the Third had taught him. He's now glad he is a part of the Sarutobi Clan and thanks the Third for being a great father. At the Fire Temple, Hidan and Kakuzu have defeated the monk. While Hidan completes another ceremony, Kakuzu picks up the monk's corpse to collect the bounty and says that they need to proceed slowly since the Fire Country is so big. One lone monk managed to survive the massacre and makes plans to inform Konoha of the incident.
Kakashi explains that the shortcut involves Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique). Unlike an ordinary Bunshin clone (which is just an illusion), a Kage Bunshin clone is an actual 'physical' clone, and any experience it gains is passed back to the original. Naruto doesn't quite understand, so Kakashi decides to show him. Kakashi and Naruto both make Kage Bunshin clones and have them go off into the woods to play a game of rock-paper-scissors. When the Naruto clone disperses, Naruto suddenly obtains memories that he won the game. Kakashi asks Naruto if he finally understands, and Naruto says he never noticed that feature before and asks how this helps. Kakashi explains that for each clone involved in training, it will double the experience Naruto gains. In other words, with a thousand clones, Naruto could learn in a week what would take one ninja 20 years. Naruto asks Kakashi if that's why he's so strong, but he says no. Kage Bunshin evenly splits the user's chakra among the clones, and he simply doesn't have the stamina or chakra level that Naruto does. Kakashi says that Naruto has at least twice as much chakra as him, and if the Kyūbi's chakra is properly managed, it could ultimately be 100 times that. Another voice says that's why this training is perfect for Naruto. Yamato has arrived to help train Naruto by helping to restrain the Kyūbi.
Kakashi explains that there are five basic types of chakra — Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning and Earth. Each person’s chakra tends to be one of these types. Yamato explains that Uchiha chakra leans towards fire, while Kakashi explains that Chidori is an element of lightning. Kakashi says Naruto is a blank slate, and now he will help him discover his chakra's nature. He pulls out special cards treated to reveal one's elemental type; imbue some chakra into it, and it will react. The card will crumple if lightning, split if wind, burn if fire, turn to dust if earth, or become wet if water. Naruto takes the card, flows his chakra into it, and ... it splits! Kakashi says it's time to begin Wind Element training!
Trivia
- In the second official data book, Kishimoto, the creator of the manga, stated that he wants to put some romance in the second part of the series.
- The idea of having a time skip in the Naruto series may have been influenced by the Dragonball Manga. Because Dragonball Manga Volume 16 and Dragonball Manga Volume 17 (Dragonball Z Manga Volume 1 in the U.S.), has a time skip of several years into the future. It should be noted that Kishimoto is still a fan of the Dragonball Manga, and it has influenced several other parts of the series, such as the main characters.
- In a recent interview with Kishimoto, the creator of the Manga, in the U.S. Shonen Jump Magazine, he stated that he has a clear picture of how he will end Naruto. He also stated that it will be some time before he can even think about ending Naruto as well.
| Naruto | |
|---|---|
| Naruto universe | |
| Franchise: | Episode list | OVA list | Video game list | Media list |
| General: | Geography | Ninja ranks | Weapons |
| Plot: | Story arcs | Naruto I | Kakashi Gaiden | Naruto II |
| Movies: | | | |
| Jutsu: | Fūin jutsu | Genjutsu | Juin jutsu | Kekkei genkai | Ninjutsu | Taijutsu |
| Characters | |
| Main: | Uzumaki Naruto | Haruno Sakura | Uchiha Sasuke | Hatake Kakashi | Sai |
| Supporting: | Aburame Shino, Hyūga Hinata & Inuzuka Kiba (Team Kurenai) Akimichi Chōji, Nara Shikamaru & Yamanaka Ino (Team Asuma) Hyūga Neji, Rock Lee & Tenten (Team Guy) Gaara, Kankurō & Temari (Sand Siblings) |
| Adults: | Jiraiya and Tsunade (of the Legendary Three) | Third Hokage | Might Guy | Sarutobi Asuma | Yūhi Kurenai | Umino Iruka | Shizune | Yamato |
| Konoha-nin: | Genin | Chūnin | Jōnin |
| Enemies: | Momochi Zabuza and Haku | Orochimaru (of the Legendary Three), Yakushi Kabuto, and the Land of Sound | Akatsuki | Other enemies |
| Neutral/Other: | Bijū | Summons | Ichiraku Ramen Bar | Puppets |
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