Chibaku Tensei

Believing Hinata slain, Naruto erupts into his four-tailed cloak, and the Nine-Tails hurls a twister and torn earth at Pain, who deflects the storm with Shinra Tensei but still takes a blow and is buried. As Pain frees himself, the transformation deepens to six tails and a bony frame, and he tears open the ground to expose the water below. The beast unleashes Continuous Tailed Beast Balls, exploiting the gap in Pain's repulsion to land hits, then rips away and destroys the First Hokage's Necklace meant to rein in its chakra.

Watching through his Byakugan, Kō warns Sakura that Naruto has lost control, prompting a village evacuation with Katsuyu's help. Far off, Yamato abandons his hunt for Kabuto when a kanji sears onto his palm, signaling the crisis, and rushes back toward Konoha. Pain flees the pursuing beast, shielding himself as best he can, until Nagato judges the Deva Path close enough to act.

Drawing the earth upward, Nagato forms a moon-like orb that swallows the six-tailed Naruto, the strain leaving him bleeding. The captive beast forces out an eighth tail and starts to break free. Within his mind, a defeated Naruto nearly yields to the fox's promise of power and moves to tear off the seal, only for the Fourth Hokage to appear, banish the fox's grip, and call his son by name.

Naruto advances from four tails to six and then eight as his fury mounts, destroying the First Hokage's Necklace that had suppressed the Nine-Tails' chakra. Nagato deploys Chibaku Tensei, forming a massive sphere that captures the beast at the cost of his own bleeding. Yamato, alerted by a kanji burning onto his hand, quits his mission to return to Konoha. As Naruto begins to release the seal under the fox's influence, the Fourth Hokage intervenes inside his subconscious and stops him.

This installment belongs to the Pain's Assault arc and covers three source chapters. It also marked the point where Neon Alley caught up to the North American home releases and began premiering the English dub of Naruto: Shippuden.