Connecting Hearts

Naruto keeps grinding through coordination practice with Gamatatsu as Gamakichi and Jiraiya watch, and after hours of effort he nearly collapses before Jiraiya hands him a popsicle. Jiraiya remarks that everyone can see how hard the boy trains, though what baffles them is how he sustains it; Naruto answers that quitting is not in him and that imagining what Sasuke would think keeps him going, then passes out against Jiraiya's back. A bird soon brings news of Akatsuki, and Jiraiya sets off at once, leaving the toad brothers to finish the training and see Naruto safely back to Konoha.

In her office, Tsunade hands the mysterious crystal to Shizune for study, following Kakashi's instructions. On the road, Yūkimaru glimpses Naruto in the valley below but walks on when Kabuto reminds him Orochimaru is waiting. Team 8 stalls when Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru can catch no enemy scent, and Hinata's Byakugan finds only a circling bat. Shino realizes one of his insects survived contact with the foe and gained immunity to Crystal Release, so he plans to breed a resistant swarm, none of them noticing the bat slip away.

Guren's followers wait for her return, and Rinji invites the solitary Gozu, a survivor of a past massacre, to join them fully; on patrol Rinji lets a bat read his surroundings through ultrasonic waves and sends it off with a message. Back in the village, Naruto stops Konohamaru from flaunting a new Sexy Technique on a crowded street, treats him to ramen, and summons the toad brothers to show off, only to be deflated when neither Gamatatsu nor Gamakichi can use Water Release. The scene of Naruto dozing against Jiraiya recreates the cover of manga volume 42.