Episode Summaries

As Hidan finishes his Jashin ritual, Zetsu arrives to take the unconscious Yugito Nii back to the Akatsuki base. Zetsu berates them for taking their time, which Hidan blames on his partner Kakuzu, who is often performing side deals. Kakuzu states that as the one in charge of Akatsuki's finances, money is the most important thing in life, and claims that he only agreed to be Hidan's partner when he was told that religion could be profitable. As Zetsu leaves with Yugito, Hidan and Kakuzu set off towards the Land of Fire to find themselves another jinchūriki.

Back in Konoha, Naruto is discharged from the hospital and is ready to resume his training. When Yamato and Kakashi ask him to review over what he learned so far, Naruto uses his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to create shadow clones and has them all perform the leaf cutting technique. However, he faints after he dispels all of them and gains their cumulative fatigue.

Kakuzu goes on a detour and brings Hidan to the Fire Temple while searching for the Land of Fire's jinchūriki. Using his Earth Release: Earth Spear, Kakuzu breaks down the Sealed Iron Wall of the temple. Inside, the monks alert Chiriku about the Akatsuki's invasion. Kakuzu recognises Chiriku as a monk who possesses the Gift of the Hermit Group's chakra and has a 30 million bounty on his head. Kakuzu and Hidan go for the attack, but Chiriku uses his Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder, the ultimate technique of the Fire Temple, to block and counter all of their attacks. As Chiriku promises them a funeral, Hidan is outraged at the idea of his funeral rites being presided over by another religion, and receives Kakuzu's blessing to kill Chiriku, although he stipulates that Chiriku be recognisable at the end in order to claim the bounty. The notion of killing humans for money is found despicable by Hidan, but he nonetheless charges at Chiriku with his Triple-Bladed Scythe.

As Naruto wakes up, Kakashi explains that the next stage would be to complete his nature transformation by converting his chakra into wind and stopping the flow of a waterfall. Yamato uses his Wood Release to fashion a bridge; using his shadow clones, Naruto stands on the bridge and attempts to slice the flow of the waterfall, recalling Asuma's advice. Unbeknownst to him, both Sai and Sakura are witnessing his training from the woods.

At the Fire Temple, Hidan is finishing his Jashin ritual, having killed Chiriku and nearly every other monk, save for Sentoki, who decides to report the massacre to Konoha. Kakuzu takes Chiriku's body before Hidan could finish his ritual and heads to the Land of Fire Bounty Station to claim his 30 million. Hidan takes his Retractable Spear out of his torso, grimacing in pain, as he follows Kakuzu.

Back at the waterfall, Yamato is in place using his Wood Release: Foo Dog Heads to suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra, should it ever leak. Kakashi is lying on a wooden bench fashioned by Yamato, reading his Icha Icha book. Naruto asks for a shortcut, even asking to create more shadow clones, but Kakashi tells him that there isn't any more space left on the bridge to create shadow clones. Yamato tells Naruto that he has exceeded their expectations, as it would normally take one six months to master leaf cutting while he perfected it in mere hours. Kakashi adds that even Sasuke took a few days to undergo his nature transformation so he could convert his chakra into lightning in order to use Chidori. Naruto states that Sasuke is the very person he needs to catch up to; grabbing wind of Naruto's determination, Kakashi instructs Yamato to create two more waterfalls and extend the bridge, allowing Naruto to create more multiple shadow clones in order to accelerate his training.