Episode 17: The Death of Gaara!

Team Guy and Team Kakashi both finish their breaks and go on towards the Akatsuki lair. After noticing Naruto's agitation towards Gaara's capture, Kakashi explains to Chiyo that Naruto is himself a Jinchuriki. Chiyo then reveals that she was the one who sealed the One-Tailed Shukaku in Gaara, to protect Sunagakure. Meanwhile, Akatsuki finishes the sealing of Gaara's Tailed Beast, thereby killing him. Outside the base, Teams Guy and Kakashi arrive, prepared to break into the cave and retrieve Gaara.

Episode 16: The Secret of Jinchuriki

Kakashi and Guy's teams both figure out that their battles were only set-ups to delay them from rescuing Gaara. Chiyo goes on to explain that the Tailed Beasts' hosts were individuals burdened with the task of carrying the Beasts within them, such as Gaara and Naruto, and that if their Beast is removed, then they will die. As the two teams rest from their battles, the Akatsuki leader sends out Zetsu to dispose of Itachi and Kisame's clone's bodies.

Episode 15: The Secret Weapon is Called...

After the terrible visions that Itachi makes him suffer, Naruto is released from the genjutsu by Chiyo and Sakura. Distracted and immobilized by Kakashi's shadow clone, Itachi takes a direct hit from Naruto's Great Ball Rasengan. Meanwhile, Guy frees Neji, Rock Lee and Tenten after defeating Kisame. Later, the two Konoha teams find, to their surprise, that the two foes that they had defeated are neither Itachi or Kisame, but two entirely different people, who the Akatsuki leader had used to stall the Konoha teams using Itachi and Kisame's likenesses.

Episode 14: Naruto’s Growth

The battle between Guy and Kisame intensifies. Guy bring outs his nunchaku to compensate for Kisame's Samehada sword, but takes a beating from Kisame's Water Style Jutsu. After being submerged by Kisame's attacks, Guy resorts to opening up six of his Inner Gates, and defeats Kisame with the Morning Peacock technique. Meanwhile, Naruto realizes he is caught in a genjutsu that Itachi cast upon him, and recalls his training with Jiraiya to try to dispel Itachi's illusion on his own.

Episode 13: A Meeting With Destiny

The battle between Team Guy and Kisame begins, while Team Kakashi encounters Itachi. Kakashi warns his team of the danger of Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan, and reveals what he's discovered to be it's weakness. Guy's team is quickly contained by Kisame's powerful Water Style Jutsus, leaving Guy himself to fight Kisame alone. Kakashi leads the attack against Itachi with Naruto following close behind, but Naruto is shocked when the real Itachi explodes into a cloud and his allies morph into Itachi's clones.

Episode 12: The Retired Granny's Determination

Team Kakashi heads out to Akatsuki's hideout, along with Chiyo. On the way, Chiyo tells them about the nine Tailed Beasts in the world, two of which are sealed within Gaara and Naruto. Meanwhile, Kakashi's summon, Pakkun notices Team Guy's approach and informs them of the Akatsuki's lair positioned in the Land of Rivers. Zetsu, the Akatsuki spy, notices the two Konoha teams approaching, and informs the others. The Akatsuki leader then sends out Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha to delay Team Guy and Team Kakashi, respectively, to gain Akatsuki time to seal the One-Tailed Shukaku.

Episode 11: The Medical Ninja's Student

On reaching Sunagakure, Team Kakashi and Temari get informed of Kankuro's attack. Using the medical ninjutsu that she had learnt from Tsunade, Sakura manages to extract the poison from Kankuro and create an antidote. Afterwards, Kankuro gives Kakashi a piece of Sasori's clothing that he managed to get from him, allowing Kakashi's ninja dogs to track down the Akatsuki's whereabouts. Before heading out themselves, Kankuro asks Naruto to retrieve his brother, and Naruto acquiesces, stating with a smile that Gaara will have to owe him one later on.

Episode 10: Sealing Jutsu: Nine Phantom Dragons

Deidara and Sasori arrive at the secret Akatsuki hideout. The Akatsuki leader gathers the other members, using an astral projection technique, and they begin a three-day long jutsu to extract the One-Tailed Shukaku from Gaara and seal it in a giant statue. At Sunagakure, Kankuro's condition worsens and Chiyo claims that even her expertise is not enough to counteract Sasori's poison. At Konoha, Tsunade foresees the difficulty of Team Kakashi's mission and orders Team Guy to back them up.

Episode 9: The Jinchuriki's Tears

Kankuro is brought back to the village, but he is feeling the effects of Sasori's deadly poison. The village's medics are helpless in finding a cure. Baki decides to seek help from the village's elders, Chiyo and her brother, Ebizo. Meanwhile, Team Kakashi, on their way to Sunagakure, pick up Gaara's elder sister, Temari, after telling her of Gaara's kidnapping. They all continue towards the village, as Naruto sheds tears over the hard life that Gaara's had.

Episode 8: Team Kakashi Deployed

Kankuro's attacks are all nullified by Sasori's scorpion-like tail. He eventually pierces Kankuro with his tail, inflicting him with a slow-acting poison which would kill him in three days. Kankuro is puzzled at how easily Sasori countered his fighting style, to which Sasori responds by revealing to him his identity and reminds him that he was the designer of all of Kankuro's puppets. Meanwhile, an urgent plea for assistance that Sunagakure sent to Konoha arrives and is brought to Tsunade's attention. Acting immediately, she assigns Team Kakashi to backup Sunagakure.

Episode 7: Run, Kankuro

As Deidara carries an unconscious Gaara out of the village, Kankuro chases after them. At the village entrance, Kankuro discovers that all the guards there have already been killed. Upon catching up to Deidara and Sasori, Kankuro initiates his puppet techniques by summoning his the puppets: Crow, Black Ant, and Salamander. Sasori sees this as an opportunity to demonstrate his own skills, and he allows Deidara to go ahead so that he can battle Kankuro alone.

Episode 6: Mission Cleared

Deidara, determined to defeat Gaara and capture him, unleashes his C3 clay bomb on the village, causing a massive explosion. But Gaara is able to deflect the explosion in time by using his sand to create an enormous shield over the village. However, this leaves him open to a sudden surprise attack from Deidara, and he inadvertently uses sand that had been seeded with Deidara's clay, to defend himself. Deidara then detonates the clay-infested sand, knocking Gaara unconscious. Deidara then captures the falling Gaara and prepares to take him away.

Episode 5: The Kazekage Stands Tall

Gaara tries to trap Deidara with his sand, but the latter escapes, although his left arm gets crushed in the process. Because of this, Deidara plans to launch his C3 level clay bomb on the village itself. Kakashi, meanwhile, allows Naruto and Sakura to be placed on a team with him, by Tsunade, named Team Kakashi. As Deidara prepares his clay, Kankuro remembers Gaara's yearning to be someone's precious individual and friend, as Naruto had taught him. As Baki orders the village troops to stop firing, Deidara drops his C3 explosive down on the village and initiates the detonation.

Episode 4: The Jinchuriki of the Sand

Deidara tries to strike, but Gaara's sand manages to push him away. An aerial battle between the two ensues above Sunagakure. Meanwhile, Kankuro is alerted to the presence of Akatsuki in the village and he begins to mobilize the troops. In Konoha, Naruto and Sakura continue to fight against Kakashi, but are unable to get past Kakashi's barrage of elemental jutsu to get the bells from him. Later on, Naruto manages to trick Kakashi by pretending to ruin the ending of his new book; with Kakashi's ears covered and eyes closed, Naruto and Sakura get their bells and finish the test.

Episode 3: The Results of Training

Kakashi challenges Naruto and Sakura in a bell test, in which they must forcefully take from Kakashi two jingle bells using whatever means necessary. Sakura and Naruto both demonstrate their newly acquired skills. At Sunagakure, Deidara reveals his ability to create and manipulate exploding clay. He takes to the skies aboard a giant clay bird and begins his aerial assault on the village by lobbing exploding clay spiders onto the guards, instantly killing them. As soon as he makes it to the Kazekage building, however, he finds Gaara there waiting for him.

Episode 2: The Akatsuki Makes Its Move

Naruto learns that all of his friends have advanced to Chunin rank and even beyond. Jiraiya tells Kakashi Hatake about Akatsuki's plan to capture all the Tailed Beasts, and that Naruto is in danger. Later, Kakashi gives Naruto and Sakura a test to see how far they had improved. Meanwhile, two Akatsuki members, Deidara and Sasori, arrive at the entrance of the Sunagakure to capture the One-Tailed Shukaku's host, Gaara. They discover that Yura, their sleeper agent, has already killed off the guards at the entrance of the village.

Episode 1: Homecoming

The episode begins with a preview of a later episode: Running through an underground hideout, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno are reunited with their former teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, and try to bring him back to Konoha, but Sasuke retaliates with a fight, ending with him suppressing the Nine-Tailed Fox within Naruto's subconscious.Then the episode begins as Naruto returns to Konoha after a two-and-a-half-year training journey with Jiraiya and is reunited with Sakura. They are then summoned to Tsunade's office for their first assignment.