The battle between Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura and the ninja from Hidden Village of Rain continues. Despite his wounds, Idate is determined to win the race.

After finishing their battle against Rain nin, Naruto and his group mates continue escorting Idate. Their journey comes to a halt when they arrive to a broken bridge. To make matters worse, they are attacked by Aoi Rokushou, an ex-Konoha village ninja, who wields a dangerously powerful weapon.

With Sasuke and Sakura trapped in a ledge below, Naruto must fight Aoi alone. Fortunately, Sasuke managed to weaken Aoi's powerful weapon. The chances for Idate to win the race are getting smaller by the minute. Can Naruto defeat Aoi in time?

We get an update on Konoha's recent events. Shikamaru has been promoted into Chuunin because of his amazing strategic abilities. Rock Lee is getting ready for the upcoming surgery. Sasuke is bitter because Naruto is becoming powerful enough to attract his brothers attention. Eventually he decides to settle the score with Naruto by challenging him to a duel.

The battle between Sasuke and Naruto is interrupted by Kakashi. Meanwhile, four Sound ninjas have entered Konoha village. Their intention is to convince Sasuke to become Orochimaru's ally. If that doesn't work, he's to be captured. Is the lure of more power enough to convince Sasuke to leave Konoha village, and his friends, behind?

A battle ensues between the four Sound nin and Sasuke. Despite giving it his all, Sasuke loses. His lack of power irritates him. It seems that he has set his mind into joining Orochimaru's side.

Even Sakura couldn’t convince Sasuke to stay. Since all the higher level ninjas are out on missions, it is up to Shikamaru to assemble as powerful a group for the rescue mission, as fast as he can.

The group of five consisting Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba, Chouji and Neji start their chase after Sasuke. Sasuke however has already found the four Sound ninjas. The Sound nin perform a ceremony in order to release Sasuke's full powers.

Our group catches up to the Sound nin. They are however trapped inside a seemingly unbreakable prison made of soil. No matter how hard they attack the wall, it keeps patching itself up. And to make matters worse, the walls seems to drain their energy!

After breaking out of the energy sucking prison, our rescue squad must face Jiroubou, whose huge strength causes them problems. The group decides that the smartest thing to do is to match power with power, so they leave Chouji behind to fight with Jiroubou.

Chouji is a lot more powerful than anyone would've thought. His friendship with Shikamaru acts as inspiration for him. He decides to use Akimichi- clan's secret weapon, special soldier pills, which give their user godlike strength. However, using them comes at a cost: If he takes all of them, he might very well die.

The chase continues without Chouji. Their attempts to attack the Sound nin fail once again, because they all get stuck on Kidoumaru’s chakra webs. The group decides that they should continue their chase as soon as possible. Neji, who thinks he has the best chances to defeat Kidoumaru, is the one to stay behind this time.

Neji’s Byakugan bloodline limit means trouble for Kidoumaru, forcing him to quickly morph into his more powerful form.

Neji continues his fight against Kidoumaru, who has already morphed into his most powerful, third form. Neji puts his life on the line to defeat Orochimaru’s subordinate. But will even that be enough?

Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba continue their chase after Sasuke and the two Sound ninjas. Meanwhile, Orochimaru is in terrible agony. It seems that Sasuke won’t be delivered to him in time for him to transfer into his body. Instead, his prisoners are forced to fight until there’s only one man standing. The winner will be the new body for Orochimaru to move in.

After a clever plan thought out by Shikamaru, our rescue group managed to snatch the barrel containing Sasuke. However, the Sound ninja catch up to them. After several incidents, our group splits up to fight their own, individual enemies. Shikamaru’s battle is against Tayuya while Kiba and Akamaru are forced to fight against Sakon. Naruto is left to chase an enemy they haven’t met before, Kimimaro, who stole the barrel containing Sasuke.

Each of the Konoha ninja are busy fighting their own enemies. Tayuya uses his flute to summon three powerful monsters, who instantly attack Shikamaru. Kiba and Akamaru are fighting against Sakon, who is revealed to have two heads: both his and his brothers.

Sakon seems to be too powerful an enemy for Kiba and Akamaru to handle. Kiba is forced to retreat. Shikamaru is trying to figure out a way to beat Tayuya and the three huge monsters she is controlling. Naruto's clones are no match for Kimimaro. Kimimaro reveals his powerful bloodline limit, the ability to control his bones.

Shikamaru's struggling to find a way to stop the monsters Tayuya is controlling. Finally, with his amazing strategic abilities, he is able to come up with a plan to stop her. But, Tayuya makes things harder for Shikamaru, when she morphs into her second state. Naruto's Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- clones can't seem to harm Kimimaro at all. Kiba is desperately trying to run away from Sakon.

Kimimaro is able to deflect Naruto's every attack with his bloodline limit. The seal in the barrel breaks and Sasuke emerges from inside. His transformation is complete. Now he can finally use the powers Orochimaru gave to him. Despite Naruto's attempts to change his mind, Sasuke continues his journey to Orochimaru's hideout. Just when it seems all hope is lost, an old friend comes to help Naruto in his battle against Kimimaro.

In his hurry, Rock Lee had grabbed a bottle containing wine instead of a bottle of water for his journey. Apparently, Lee is unbelievably sensitive to the effects alcohol. And when he is drunk, he becomes an unstoppable and fierce fighting machine. But even that isn’t enough to defeat Kimimaro in his second form. Both Shikamaru and Kiba are in trouble. Just when it seems nothing could save the Konoha ninja, they receive help from most surprising people.

The Sand ninja have arrived just in time to help their new allies. Temari quickly defeats tired Tayuya, while Kankurou uses his marionette puppet to kill Sakon, saving Kiba. But Gaara's battle against Kimimaro has only started.

The fight between Gaara of the Sand and Kimimaro starts. Quickly, Gaara manages to trap Kimimaro inside his Sand Coffin. But this powerful technique isn’t enough to defeat him. Gaara isn’t as easy an opponent as Kimimaro thought, and he is forced to transform into his second state. Between the fight scenes, it is revealed how Kimimaro came to join forces with Orochimaru.

Gaara is forced to use his most powerful attacks to fight equally with Kimimaro. It seems that even burying Kimimaro under hundreds of meters of sand won't stop him. More light is shed into Kimimaro's past.

Naruto finally catches up to Sasuke. No matter how hard Naruto tries, Sasuke’s mind won’t be changed. It’s now Naruto’s responsibility to take Sasuke back by force. Otherwise, the mission and the rescue group’s efforts would’ve been in vain.