The Summoning Technique: Wisdom of the Toad Sage!
As sleeps, Ebisu finishes speaking with and leaves the Sannin to be Naruto's instructor. Meanwhile, at Kikyō Castle, is sitting on a statue looking at the full moon when Dosu arrives. Dosu is stunned to see Gaara awake and reveals that he intended to kill the Suna shinobi in his sleep so that he could fight in the finals. As Gaara is awake, Dosu wonders whether his sound abilities can best Gaara's sand abilities. Gaara remarks that "he" yearns for blood during a full moon and transforms into a monstrous state, which terrifies Dosu; Gaara then lunges at Dosu and kills him before reverting back to his normal form.
The incident is observed by Gaara's sensei Baki as well as , and Baki asks Kabuto whether Gaara killing an Oto-nin will be an issue since Suna and Oto are working together to destroy Konoha. Their conversation is overheard by Hayate Gekkō, although both Kabuto and Baki are aware of Hayate's eavesdropping. Giving the Otogakure plans for the Konoha Crush to Baki, Kabuto offers to take out Hayate, but Baki declines, insisting that he would handle it himself. As Hayate tries to escape so that he can inform the , his path is intercepted by Baki. Hayate unleashes his Dance of the Crescent Moon technique to strike down Baki, although Baki is not severely wounded by it. Grabbing Hayate's sword, Baki informs Hayate that a sword made of hard substance can be stopped, but that a sword made of wind cannot. As Hayate finds himself unable to remove his sword and retreat, Baki uses his Blade of Wind to kill Hayate.
In the morning, Naruto and Jiraiya head to the river, where Naruto wishes to learn the new technique that Jiraiya promised him, but Jiraiya tells him that he needs to be able to access the red chakra (belonging to the Nine-Tailed Fox). Since Naruto cannot draw on the red chakra on command, Jiraiya suggests that he empty his regular blue chakra, which Naruto does so by using his Shadow Clone Technique and then his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. As Naruto is exhausted after fighting off his clones, Jiraiya informs Naruto that the technique he will be teaching Naruto is the Summoning Technique. Biting his thumb to get blood, Jiraiya summons a toad beneath him. The toad, carrying a scroll, passes the scroll onto Naruto, and Jiraiya informs him that it is a summoning contract that will allow him to summon toads; he then instructs Naruto to sign his name and leave his fingerprints with his own blood, which Naruto does so. Using his blood along with the appropriate hand signs, Naruto performs the Summoning Technique but manages to summon only a tadpole, much to Jiraiya's disappointment.
Later, Hayate's corpse is found by a group of Konoha Anbu, and Yūgao Uzuki wonders what happened to Hayate.
