Land of Rice Fields Investigation Mission

Covering episodes 136 through 141, this anime-original arc follows the Sasuke Recovery Mission and precedes the Mizuki Tracking Mission. Barely healed from his clash with Sasuke, Naruto sets out again to reach his friend, this time under Jiraiya's wing and aimed at gathering intelligence on Orochimaru.

Still recovering, Naruto teams with Sakura for another push to bring Sasuke home. Just before they slip past Konoha's border, Jiraiya intercepts them and spares the pair from being branded rogue by folding them into his own information-gathering mission on Sasuke and Orochimaru. The road carries them into the Land of Rice Fields, home turf of Otogakure. After Jiraiya's lecherous habits sink a few attempts at scouting, the group meets a young Fuma clan kunoichi named Sasame, who is desperate to trace her cousin Arashi and the many relatives who vanished with him. The team tangles with three Fuma members and narrowly slips away, after which Jiraiya returns bearing intelligence from clan survivors who saw through Orochimaru's deceit.

Jiraiya explains that Orochimaru courts clans across the land purely to harvest their secret techniques. Once the three Fuma fighters are beaten a second time, Sasame guides the team to Orochimaru's current lair. Splitting up inside the maze of corridors, Naruto finds Sakura squaring off against Kabuto. His Rasengan lands, but he then falls victim to a technique that strikes at his heart. Saved by Sakura and Sasame, the group realizes the Kabuto before them was actually the Fuma member Kagero in disguise.

The team soon locates Arashi, whom one of Orochimaru's unstable techniques had fused with two clansmen and driven to madness. Working together, Naruto, Sasame, and Sakura pull his mind back from the brink. As the hideout crumbles around them, Arashi reveals that Sasuke remains safe for the moment, though Orochimaru is bending every effort toward shaping him into a flawless future vessel. With the Fuma clan freed from Orochimaru's grip, Naruto and his companions make their way back to Konoha.