Episode Summaries

Ino notices that Naruto has yet to stand up after using his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken and rushes over to heal him. Kakashi notes that by successfully mastering what he was unable to do, Naruto had finally surpassed him. He then jumps down into the impact crater created by Naruto and kills the defeated Kakuzu with his Chidori. Team 7 and Team Asuma then return to Konoha to report to Tsunade, with Kakashi having brought back Kakuzu's corpse. Tsunade orders everyone to take a few days off to rest but places Naruto at the Konoha Hospital to have his arm wounds checked out.

On their way back home, Shikamaru decides to stop by at Asuma's grave, placing his lighter there. Kurenai is also there, and he tells Kurenai that Asuma was the best role model he ever had, and that he would like to be the same for their child, revealing Kurenai to be pregnant. Shikamaru then returns home, where he plays shōgi with his father Shikaku, with the former claiming that the latter is better at it than Asuma. While playing, Shikamaru asks his father if he knows who the "king" of Konoha is, and tells him that Asuma told him that it was the next generation of shinobi, who would bear the burden of the village's safety on their shoulders.

After examining Kakuzu's corpse, Tsunade has Shizune summon Kakashi and Yamato to the coroner's office, where she tells them that Rasenshuriken is more like a poison, working on a microscopic level to cause cellular damage. She explains that Kakuzu's entire Chakra Pathway System had been severed and that Naruto has the same injuries to his right arm, albeit to a lesser degree. Tsunade adds that damage done to the cellular level cannot be treated by her medical ninjutsu and thus labels the technique a kinjutsu, asking Kakashi to make sure that Naruto understands that he is never to use the technique again, while Yamato muses that such a powerful technique does come with the associated risks.

At the hospital, Naruto thanks Sakura for taking care of him, although she attempts to convince him not to use the Rasenshuriken anymore unless as a last resort. He fails to understand why, claiming that she could heal his arm every time after, but she reminds him that even her medical ninjutsu can only heal so much. Naruto, however, adds that he prefers the path they are on right now, where the two of them are working together and getting powerful in order to catch up to Sasuke.

Elsewhere, Sasuke prepares his Chidori in front of dummy targets, although by partially activating his Cursed Seal of Heaven, he is able to slice the heads of the dummies without striking them physically with his Chidori. At the same time, Kabuto notifies Orochimaru that Naruto and his team had managed to kill both Hidan and Kakuzu, with Orochimaru being appreciative of the fact that they had spared Naruto's team after all and hoping that Naruto continues to thin the Akatsuki's ranks even further, going as far as mocking the Akatsuki for having lost two members in the same fight. However, he is also aware that they are in possession of the Two-Tails and thus asks Kabuto to fetch a woman named Guren for him, much to Kabuto's dismay.

Kabuto heads out to fetch Guren, a Crystal Release user, who attempts to strike at Kabuto using her Crystal Release: Crystal Needles as well as Crystal: Hexagonal Shuriken: Wild Dance. Kabuto uses his Chakra Scalpel to cut the hexagonal shuriken while berating Guren for attacking him; Guren, nonetheless, states that she believed it was an intruder and that if Kabuto was defeated by her attack, then he would not be worthy to be the right hand man of Orochimaru.