Revealing himself, Orochimaru takes the Third Hokage hostage as the Sound Four creates a barrier to allow them to fight without interruption. Meanwhile, invading Sound and Sand ninja infiltrate Konoha, and battles begin breaking out across the village. Kankuro and Temari carry Gaara from the village so that he can recover, and Sasuke in pursuit [...]

Episode 66: Sasuke’s enhanced speed and taijutsu skills enable him to bypass Gaara’s sand-based defenses with ease. Determined to kill Sasuke, Gaara, retreats inside a sphere of sand and begins to transform.
Episode 67:To break through Gaara’s defense, Sasuke uses his new jutsu, Chidori. With it, Sasuke is able to pierce Gaara’s shield, stopping his transformation. [...]

With Sasuke and Gaara’s match needing to start, the Third Hokage sets a time limit for Sasuke to arrive. Sasuke arrives at the last minute with Kakashi Hatake. Meanwhile, Gaara kills a pair of ninjas who are attempting to fix the match on his way to enter the arena.

Though initially unwilling, Shikamaru fights Temari because he refuses to lose to a girl. Shikamaru quickly studies the arena and its elements and comes up with a plan. Despite this, Temari has seen Shikamaru’s primary attack in action and knows how it works. However, Shikamaru’s strategies enable him to capture Temari with his jutsu, but [...]

When Neji is taken away to recover, his uncle tries to tell Neji of the truth of his father’s death, saying that he had given up his life to save his brother, not a member of the main house. Neji is unbelieving, but his reading his father’s final letter and seeing his uncle bowing for [...]

Determined to prove Neji wrong, Naruto draws on the demon fox’s strength, surprising many of the older ninja present for his ability to use the fox’s chakra. Naruto manages to defeat Neji through the use of a shadow clone as a decoy. After telling Neji to stop putting so much faith in fate, Naruto is [...]

Naruto creates more shadow clones, and this time manages to sneak up on Neji. Before he can land a blow, Neji uses a powerful defensive technique, then takes the opportunity to block Naruto’s chakra in the ensuing confusion. Even though he can no longer fight, Naruto refuses to give up, and berates Neji over how [...]

Naruto begins his match with Neji Hyuga, who Naruto promised to defeat a month earlier during the preliminaries. Since taijutsu proves ineffective, Naruto creates a large number of shadow clones. Though Neji is able to destroy them all, Naruto creates more.

On the day of the finals, Naruto makes his way to the arena. Along the way, he encounters and converses with Hinata Hyuga. Hinata reassures him of his talents, removing any doubts he had about the finals. Naruto thanks Hinata and goes on his way. As he gets closer to the arena, Naruto meets Konohamaru, [...]

When Naruto awakens, he finds Shikamaru Nara sitting by his bed, bringing him a basket of fruit. The two locate Gaara elsewhere in the hospital and halt his attempt to assassinate Rock Lee. Gaara explains that his reason for existing is to kill everyone, and reveals that he, like Naruto, was alone for much of [...]