Banquet Invitation

In Amegakure, Pain honours the defeated Jiraiya as a worthy foe and mourns his former teacher. As Zetsu rises from the water, Pain recalls that Madara charged him with capturing the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki. Black Zetsu, however, is drawn instead toward another clash brewing at the Valley of the End, where Tobi muses that Sasuke is shedding a snake's skin and will soon soar like a hawk.

Sasuke enters an Akatsuki hideout alone and drives his Chidori Sharp Spear through Itachi, only for the figure to scatter into crows and name the Uchiha Hideout as their true meeting ground. On the way there, Karin senses repeated traces of a single chakra signature, and a Naruto shadow clone ambushes the group before Sasuke destroys it. The clone's memories pass Sasuke's whereabouts to the real Naruto, whose team rushes out but runs straight into Tobi.

Kakashi notes that Tobi never appeared on Kabuto's list of Akatsuki, and Tobi shrugs it off as being a recent recruit. Fighting under Yamato's formation, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru strike at Tobi but cannot touch him, and even the Rasengan slips past. With his baffling evasive technique, Tobi lands a hit on every member while taking none himself. At the Uchiha Hideout, Kisame greets Sasuke's team and enforces Itachi's rule that only Sasuke may pass, prompting Suigetsu to challenge the swordsman while they wait.

Part of the Fated Battle Between Brothers arc, the episode threads together material from several manga chapters to set the stage for the reunion of Sasuke and Itachi. It introduces Tobi as a slippery new Akatsuki presence and revives the rivalry among wielders of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen's blades through Suigetsu and Kisame.