A month has passed without any issues except now that they have gotten word that that 3 tails has been found Naruto continues his meditation training but his session is cut short by the arrival of Sakura, who arrives to drag him away as Team Yamato was waiting for him so they could depart. In the forest, Hinata uses her Byakugan to locate four chakra signatures in front of her, and quickly notices one from behind them. She warns the others as Gozu attacks from behind, using a partial multi-size technique to slam a giant fist towards Kakashi, who manages to block it. As Kakashi and Gozu whisk throughout the trees continuing their battle, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru are left to face the likes of Rinji, Kihō, Nurari and Kigiri. Not wanting to deal with Kigiri due to the mask on his face, Kiba has Akamaru transform into him as he attempts to hit Nurari with his Fang Passing Fang. Nurari is able to evade the technique as Kigiri uses his Destroying Smell Smoke Prison to create a thick smokescreen to rob Kiba and Akamaru of their sense of sight and smell.
Nurari attempts to finish the blinded Kiba off, but he is saved by Hinata, who tells Kiba to deal with the others as she deals with Nurari. Nurari is shocked when he realises that Hinata can see him, but is reassured when Hinata's Gentle Fist attacks are unable to harm him. In the meantime, Kakashi continues to fight against Gozu. Using a shadow clone to trick Gozu, Kakashi believes he has the upper hand, but Gozu is able to move at enhanced speed to elude the real Kakashi and proceeds to sneak up behind him and kick him with enough force to destroy a tree. Pushed to his limit, Kakashi is forced to use his Sharingan and manages to evade one of Gozu's attacks. He prepares a Lightning Cutter but finds himself unable to pinpoint an opening.
Using his Slime Suit, Nurari is able to avoid being stuck directly by Hinata's Gentle Fist and he proceeds to attack her. Before she can be finished off, she is saved by Kiba and Akamaru, who uses their Fang Passing Fang through the air and trees to create a windstorm to dispel the smokescreen. With his sense of smell and sight restored, Kiba proudly exclaims that he would be able to handle Nurari before being struck by poison gas emitted from Kihō's Wrist Launcher. Kiba berates himself for being stupid enough to forget that there are other enemies, but before Team Guren can finish the three off, Rinji senses something surrounding them. Deeming it dangerous, he orders the group to retreat. Kiba's confusion over the matter is absolved when he is greeted by Shino, who explains that he was casting a trap around them before Rinji's acute senses picked up on it. Kakashi also stumbles in on them; Kiba asks whether he dealt with Gozu and Kakashi states that he was unable to, although he managed to use his Lightning Cutter to give Gozu a serious arm wound.
Kakashi tells them that their fight is far from over and that their enemies are still out there; unbeknownst to him, the entire battle was being watched by Guren via a crystal ball, who is surprised that Kakashi the Copy Ninja was sent to pursue her. Meanwhile, Yūkimaru reminisces on memories of his motherIn Konoha, the crystallised bug is analysed and Tsunade confirms her suspicion to Shizune about Orochimaru's follower using Crystal Release, an ability thought to be non-existent. Team Yamato finds themselves lost as Kakashi had not left any trails or signs for them to follow; Sai creates an ink bird to fly above the perimeter to scout for any signs while Naruto excuses himself from the group on the pretence of relieving himself. However, once he finds himself secluded, he attempts to continue his training in secret until he notices a light mist settling in and spots Yūkimaru, the young boy he had met at the hot springs. Yūkimaru is cryptic, but after Naruto reaffirms that the people who are thinking about you is where your home is, Yūkimaru disappears, along with the mist. Sakura arrives, and believing that Naruto is lying about having encountered someone, ushers him off as Yamato had found one of Shino's bugs.
In the meantime, Guren berates her team for failing to dispose of their pursuers and launches her own plan. She proceeds to create a jade crystal dome that traps Team 8. Guren then produces a crystal mirror in order to create six jade crystal clones. Team 8, meanwhile, finds themselves lost in the woods as Shino's bugs are unable to locate the enemy, having lost their movement; to make matter worse, Hinata finds herself unable to effectively use her Byakugan to find their foes, as she can only see the images of her team refracted over and over again. Guren and her clones arrive to deal with Team 8, generating jade crystal blades from her forearms. Kakashi uncovers his Sharingan to give him an edge, but Guren reveals that her Crystal Release cannot be copied. Elsewhere, Hinata manages to defeat one of the clones with her Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, though she is encased within a jade crystal prison by another crystal clone. The other crystal clones stop their fight with their respective opponents in order to lure them into a clearing, where Guren warns them that should they interfere any further, the confined Hinata would disintegrate into shards.
On the outside, Team Yamato finds themselves unable to break through the crystal labyrinth. Using his ink bird, Sai notifies them that the dome is a kilometre in length with the top covered, and does not have any weak spots. Using his Wood Release: Great Forest Technique, Yamato attempts to penetrate through the labyrinth, only for the crystal to not respond; he attempts to create a tunnel, but finds out that the crystal is embedded underground as well. Confident that his new technique would do the trick, Naruto touches the dome and it resonates with his body some of it goes into his blood stream just like with Haku's Ice dome he then summons two foxes one can use water the other can use lightning surprising Sakura and Sai, with the latter asking when he had learned such an impressive technique. Infusing his wind chakra he uses the jutsu wind bullet the second kitsune uses the lightning bullet jutsu with Water Release: water bullet , the trio manage to create Storm Release: kitsune bomb which manages to destroy the crystal dome.
Naruto and Kitsune's cooperation ninjutsu manage to destroy Guren's jade crystal labyrinth. Team Yamato then arrives to provide reinforcements, and Naruto notices that Hinata has been encased in Guren's jade crystal. Kakashi warns Naruto not to be abrupt as Hinata would die if the crystal were to shatter; nonetheless, Naruto and Gamatatsu use their Wind Release: Kitsune bomb towards Guren, who crystallises it and fashions it into a crystal dragon. As she uses the crystal dragon to attack the Orochimaru Search Team, Sai uses his ink bird to distract Guren while Naruto has the kitsunes merge and swallow the crystal-confined Hinata in order to take away Guren's leverage. Guren destroys Sai's ink bird and attempts to direct her attack towards kitsune , who dispels himself to avoid the hit. The rest of the team also retreats, leaving Guren alone. Team Guren then arrives to provide Guren some personal reinforcement, and they set off back towards their base.
Outside the perimeter, Naruto has Kitsune slowly regurgitate Hinata, who nearly kills her when he is distracted by a an animal. Pakkun arrives and notifies the team that the analysis on Shino's bug revealed that even the bug's insides were crystallised. Realising the same fate has struck Hinata, Kakashi orders the group to escort Hinata back to Konoha, in hopes that Tsunade would be able to undo the damage. However, Hinata's crystal shatters, although Hinata survives. Hinata explains to the group that she began to emit chakra from all of her chakra points before she was crystallised, notifying Kakashi that Guren's Crystal Release is unable to crystallise chakra. Kakashi then tells them that since their team has enough members, they would now be splitting into two. He tasks Sai and Sakura with the responsibility of staying with Hinata until she recovers while the others try to pick up on their enemies trail once more. As the team sets off, with Pakkun, Gamatatsu and Gamakichi dispelling themselves, they are unaware that they have been spied on by Fuuka the entire time.
As Guren and her team return to their base, Yūkimaru is excited to see Guren return, and reveals to her that he had met a boy with a headband while she was gone. Realising that Yūkimaru had met Naruto by coincidence, Guren asks him to tell her where they had met so that she could track him; however, her endeavour is interrupted by the arrival of Kabuto, who is really Fuuka in a henge admonishes her for nearly losing Yūkimaru to Naruto, which would have foiled Orochimaru's plan. In the meantime, the rest of the search team continues to travel through the woods, with Naruto expressing his annoyance of avoiding bats. Shino proposes that they use the bats to find their enemies, as the bats are awaiting their detection before returning to their master. Although Naruto does not understand the plan, Kakashi asks him to create three shadow clones and have them run throughout the woods. Naruto complies, although he wonders why he did so as the bats have detected his clones. Kiba explains that once the bats detect his shadow clones, they would fly back to their master, and that the team would simply follow the bats to find their enemies' hideout. Kiba then proceeds to humiliate Naruto for his lower intelligence and berating him for being a Chunin while the other members are elite chunin and above , causing Naruto to emit a large cloud of flatulence in response towards Kiba and Akamaru.
Concurrently, Kabuto and Team Guren head towards the lake, where Kabuto, Yūkimaru, Guren and Gozu enter a canoe. Kabuto tasks the remaining members to remain on land and engage their pursuers while Gozu rows them out to the middle of the lake. Guren creates jade crystal hexagonal pillars while Kabuto proceeds to give Yūkimaru food pills in order to cause the latter to release his chakra; Guren protests that the pills could cause Yūkimaru's death, but is shot down when Kabuto remarks that he is merely following Orochimaru's plan. Gozu wonders what the plan is, and Guren and Kabuto reveal to him that they are summoning the Three-Tails.
In the woods, Rinji's bats report to him that there are more shinobi pursuing them. In order to thin the herd, he asks Kihō to use his Wrist Launcher to deploy a smokescreen. Before the group can dive into the smokescreen, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru detect a strong chakra coming from the lake. Kakashi notifies them that their goal is to head to the lake and thus sends Naruto on his own, relying on Naruto's adept survival capabilities and his unpredictable manoeuvers, while the others deal with Team Guren inside the smoke.
Yūkimaru passes out from overexertion while Kabuto orders Guren to restrain the Three-Tails. With Gozu providing reinforcement, Guren uses her Crystal Release: The Gods' Crossings Technique to repress the tailed beast, although to no avail. Eventually, Guren manages to trap the beast with her Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Wall Eighth Formation. Meanwhile, Naruto traipses through the fog and ends up falling off a cliff and plummeting into the water, leaving him to summon Gamatatsu and Gamakichi in order to save him. Riding on Gamatatsu, the trio wade through the water until they reach the encased beast, and Gamakichi fearfully notifies Naruto that it is none other than the Three-Tailed Turtle. Naruto also spots Yūkimaru and realises that Yūkimaru's "home" was Guren and Kabuto. As the Three-Tails makes contact with Naruto, it breaks out of its confines and begins its rampage.
Back on land, Guren's team prepares to ambush the search team from above when Hinata, using her Byakugan to spot them, warns them of the attack. She, along with Sakura and Sai, counter the ambush and force Team Guren to retreat. Kakashi senses something amiss as the Three-Tails begins its rampage and the smokescreen clears away, only to reveal a large body of water headed their way. In the lake, Guren attempts to strike the tailed beast but fails, and in an attempt to protect her, Yūkimaru unleashes his chakra once more in order to control and subdue the turtle. As both he and Guren fall into the water, Guren saves both of them. Yūkimaru then takes Guren's body to shore and promises her that this time it would be he who holds her hands.
As the Three-Tails retreats, the wave from his rampage sends Naruto towards the land. Separated from the others, he finds himself covered by a mist that induces genjutsu. Within the illusion, he sees Orochimaru asking Naruto to stop interfering with his plans and proceeds to begin his Living Corpse Reincarnation technique in order to take over Sasuke's body. Naruto forms a Rasengan in one hand and attempts to strike "Orochimaru" in the face, only to be stopped by Kakashi, as Naruto was about to strike Kiba. As the others regroup around him, Naruto reveals that the Three-Tails was the one rampaging on the lake. As this complicates matters for them, Kakashi has Pakkun go to Konoha in order to receive orders from Tsunade; in the meantime, they will simply wait. Naruto is impatient as he wishes to save Yūkimaru, but Kakashi does not allow him to go exploring on his own due to the fact that the illusionary mist, emitted by the Three-Tails, had nearly caused him to kill his own teammate.
Gozu swims to shore and meets up with the other members of Team Guren, but promptly leaves in order to find Guren. Elsewhere, Yūkimaru watches over Guren as she wakes up, and the latter is surprised to find out that he had done so. She expresses shock when he tells her that his home is with her, but quickly falls under the effects of a fever, caused by Kabuto's pills. She finds herself playing nurse for him once more, and thus, unable to regroup with the others.
Pakkun arrives in Konoha and relays Kakashi's information regarding the Three-Tails to Tsunade. Realising that the Akatsuki may soon arrive if word gets out, she decides that they must acquire the beast first and thus appoints Shizune, Ino, Rock Lee and Tenten to the Orochimaru Search Team. Ino and Shizune, along with Hinata and Sakura, are tasked with using their medical ninjutsu to deal with the fūinjutsu whilst Lee and Tenten are to take over Hinata and Sakura's combat duties.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Sakura are given patrol duty but the former shirks off by a cliff in order to contemplate on Yūkimaru's association with Orochimaru's followers. He tells Sakura that Jiraiya had told him that home is where the people who care about you are, and that as long as people are thinking about you, they would always have a home. Believing that he is talking about Sasuke, Sakura comforts him by saying that they will never forget or give up on him and thus Konoha shall always be his home. As she walks off to resume patrol duty, Naruto reaffirms that so long as he always thinks of Yūkimaru, then the latter's home would be anywhere but the village he currently serves as he can tell that only Tsunade Anko and Shizune actually care about him the rest only tolerate him , and thus sets off to find the boy.
As Naruto runs off to find Yūkimaru, Guren manages to spot him with her crystal ball and heads off to intercept him. Kiba, Akamaru and Sai arrive to relieve Sakura and Naruto of their patrol duty, only to find out that Naruto had gone AWOL. As Pakkun is busy leading Ino, Shizune, Rock Lee and Tenten to their location, Kakashi summons Bisuke, another ninken, and asks him to locate Naruto. He then tasks Kiba, Hinata and Shino with surveillance of their perimeter while Sai and Sakura are to provide aerial reconnaissance, telling them not to go off on their own and to work together.
Naruto is ambushed by Guren, and the former asks her about Yūkimaru. Believing that Naruto is after Yūkimaru due to his power to control the Three-Tails, Guren attempts to kill him. However, their bout is brought to a temporary standstill by the arrival of Yūkimaru, who thanks Naruto for his words of advice. Naruto blames himself for telling Yūkimaru that and thus attempts to rectify his mistake by asking him to come to leave all of this behind . Yūkimaru tells Naruto that Guren is nice to him and always protects him and thus she is his home; Naruto retorts that as she is one of Orochimaru's lackeys, he considers her to be just as bad as he is and that she must view Yūkimaru as merely a tool to meet her ends. Guren then attempts to flee with Yūkimaru as Naruto creates shadow clones to stop her. Guren is able to dispel the clones, and is saved by both Gozu and Yamato, the former saving Guren and Yūkimaru while the latter restrains Naruto with his Wood Release. The two jōnin admonish Naruto for leaving his team and disobeying orders while Yamato reminds him that Tsunade had trusted him to cooperate on the mission, a trust that was not given lightly.
Back at their hideout, Kabuto notifies Guren that there are more members to the Orochimaru Search Team and tells Guren that he plans to use Yūkimaru once more to restrain and control the Three-Tails, stating that Yūkimaru is merely a tool to help serve Orochimaru and that it is Yūkimaru's only reason for existing. As Guren threatens Kabuto and walks away, muttering about Yūkimaru's health, Rinji chides her by asking whether she cares for the boy, Guren says that she does and if he has a problem with it then she will gladly kill him to solve it.
As Naruto, Kakashi and Yamato head back to camp, Kakashi wonders why Team Guren would be bringing a young child with them. He surmises that Yūkimaru must possess a power to control the tailed beast, an assumption proved correct by Naruto, and he formulates a strategy to foil Orochimaru's plan by snatching the boy away from them. As they make their way back, Sakura jumps from Sai's ink bird and ambushes Naruto, pummelling him into the ground to teach him a lesson. As she finishes up, she tells them that Pakkun has returned with reinforcements, whom Naruto is excited to see once more as he always liked Pakkun but he dislikes everyone else on this mission.
Naruto is annoyed to see Lee once more, while Sakura and Ino resume their rivalry. Back at their hideout, Kabuto asks Yūkimaru if he would like to return to Orochimaru with him, but Yūkimaru refuses to come unless Guren accompanies him. Yūkimaru attempts to flee when Kabuto reminds him that he belongs to Orochimaru, prompting Kabuto to yank Yūkimaru around and slap him. Immediately after, Guren slashes at Kabuto with her crystals and warns Kabuto not to lay a finger on Yūkimaru again. As Kabuto leaves, Yūkimaru reminds Guren that he would like to be wherever she is, prompting her to run away with Yukimaru into the mist.
Outside, Gozu begins to question Rinji's loyalty towards Guren. Rinji reassures him that he would not betray Guren as he needs the money to help his ill-struck sister. However, Rinji turns out to be a spy working for Orochimaru, who was placed within the prison by Kabuto to spy on the other inmates and subsequently assigned to Team Guren to spy on Guren herself. Rinji tells Kabuto that he believes Guren is being distracted by Yūkimaru's well being and asks Kabuto if he may report to Orochimaru himself, wanting to prove his diligence. Kabuto relents, and Rinji joins up with Guren, albeit running into Gozu first. He sneaks up on Guren, who is contemplating Naruto's words about Orochimaru using people as tools and discarding them and finding herself worrying about Yūkimaru's fate. As she attempts to brush off her thoughts and focus on her mission, she is startled by Rinji's presence; the two prepare to formulate a strategy as the mist lifts, unaware that they are being watched by Yūkimaru who already was told that someone would try to hurt him by lying as she recorded their conversation that time and played it to Yukimaru.
Concurrently, the Konoha shinobi take refuge in their own hideout, a wooden house built by Yamato. After being debriefed by Yamato and Kakashi, Shizune notifies them that Tsunade's plan is for them to use fūinjutsu to seal the Three-Tails into another dimension. She places Hinata, Ino and Sakura under her command, forming a sub-team, that will focus on sealing the tailed beast and protecting Yūkimaru while the others deal with Guren and her team. Knowing that Shizune's team cannot protect the boy and seal the beast at the same time, Kakashi splits the other team into two as well, assigning Kiba, Akamaru, Lee and Tenten on Yamato's team as their guardians while he takes command of Naruto, Shino and Sai, who are to deal with Guren.
The Orochimaru Search Team split off into their three respective sub-teams; Shizune's team begin to erect their Four-Corner Sealing Barrier while Yamato and Kakashi's team head off to defeat Team Guren. Lee is dismayed as he is not on Kakashi's team, as he wanted to fight a Crystal Release user, but Kiba comforts him by telling him that her followers are pretty powerful on their own. With Tenten asking to join their conversation, he debriefs them on their attacks, including their reliance on a smokescreen.
As Kakashi's team heads towards the woods, Naruto picks up at the silence and stares between Shino and Sai. Realising that the two have never met before, he introduces one another; he tells Shino that Sai is a former member of the Anbu who is weird and reads books all the time, but who can also draw and fight really well. He then tells Sai that Shino is merely Shino. Sai reveals to Naruto that Shino is the son of Shibi Aburame, the head of the Aburame Clan, and that Shino himself has completed various missions successfully and possesses the ability to control parasitic insects. Naruto is surprised to know that Sai knows that much about Shino, but Shino is insulted that a complete stranger knows more about him than an old friend and comrade. Shino starts to tell Naruto about his favourite foods, likes and dislikes, but is shot down by Naruto, who tells Shino that he doesn't need to know such stuff in order to perform teamwork he just needs to know the ninja's skills and the enemy's that's it plus last he checked he had no friends or comrades.
Elsewhere, Guren is conflicted over her loyalty to Orochimaru and her caring for Yūkimaru. With Gozu by her side, she resolves to deal with the Konoha shinobi before dealing with Kabuto, whom she is vexed at. The sealing team begin their barrier but it collapses shortly after as Ino is unable to maintain her chakra control. After a few encouraging words from Sakura and recalling when Sakura had done the same thing years ago, Ino gets up and resolves to stick it through. Meanwhile, Kigiri appears out of the water, and Kiba identifies him as the smokescreen user. In order to prevent his tactic, Yamato restrains him with his Wood Release while Lee rushes to deliver a Leaf Whirlwind; however, the restrained Kigiri is revealed to be none other than a Smoke Clone. As the other members of Team Guren emerge from the water, the real Kigiri disperses a smokescreen that engulfs Lee. As Kihō awaits Rinji's orders, the latter merely states that he has other matters to attend to and disappears. Despite his sense of sight being robbed, Lee is able to sense Kihō's presence and manages to strike a few blows on him, before kicking him up into the air and using the Shadow of the Dancing Leaf to seismic toss him back into the water. With Lee safely out of the smokescreen, leaving only their enemies trapped within, Tenten unfurls her scrolls and strikes them with her Twin Rising Dragons, causing her to defeat them and nearly knock them out. Kiba, appalled and insulted that he had trouble taking on one when Lee and Tenten managed to easily take them down, rushes at them in order to regain his pride. Using Akamaru's Dynamic Marking to mark them with urine, he tracks them down through Kigiri's smokescreen and hits all three of them with his Fang Passing Fang, sending them flying away. With the cohorts having been dealt with, Yamato's team heads off to provide support and backup for Kakashi's.
Naruto and Guren become trapped inside the 3 tails they end up fighting clones of it but when they have a break Guren can tell that this boy deosn't really care about thse he's fightning beside maybe she can seduce him away from the village like she was planning to years ago when he was in the sound village Naruto says don't even think about it Guren I'm only playing along that I don't know you and that Kabuto is alive because it's what Orichimaru and Tsunade want me to do I have no clue what their plans are but I do know that it includes you becoming a mother figure to Yukimaru as they worried that you were too heartless for what they have in store for you she nods then asks how come I can sense the crystal style in your chakra Naruto says if the kekkai genkai is solid then I can copy it and add it to my DNA I can also use Snow style just like I absorbed wood style and I've copied Deidera's clay jutsu I can only copy one more style then I can't do it anymore.
Guren is shocked at what she just heard then asks does that mean that you can use Ice style as well Naruto says yes it does and no I won't be copying the bone style of the Kaguya clan it's more trouble than it's worth or the metal style of the Third Kazekage it also has it's own share of problems she asks what about the sand release of the current Kazekage Naruto says I thought about it but it takes too much chakra to use plus by the time I mastered it every other style that i absorbed would be pretty much pointless as most of my chakra would be used on sand it's why Gaara doesn't use any other jutsu other than genjutsu taijutsu and a weapon because using the sand without his biju juts drains his reserves way too much.
she nods then they escape the 3 tails they kill the other members of her team but she escapes with Yukimaru and they fail to seal away the 3 tails as akatsuki attack them even with Naruto they can't fight off Kisame Itachi Tobi and Zetsu at the same time not also along with Juzo Biwa so they flee back to the village it's a mission failure but actually Fuuka likes how things went other than Akatsuki everything went according to plan she meets up with Yukimaru and Guren kisses both of them and steals their lives along with their powers memories and knowledge all that's left of them is their clothes she did the same with Guren's team when the Leaf ninja weren't looking and simply had them fight against transformed clones the second the 3 tails appeared.
They make it back to the village and report everything that happened to Tsunade she gives them a week off then summons Anko to her office as well as having Shizune stay Tsunade seals it off when the two women are present then says it's almost time that he takes that mission and is lured away from the village can either of you think of a way to keep him here in the village Shizune says other than seduction nothing comes to mind Anko says same here Tsunade says I was hoping not to resort to that in order to keep her away from him but I guess that I have no choice then I will seduce Naruto to stay here they both nod then leave to set it up for her.