Focal Point: The Mark of the Leaf

In Otogakure, Orochimaru writhes in agony after the Third Hokage robbed his arms of their use, and he dispatches Kabuto to track down Tsunade, a legendary healer who might restore them. Once she is located, master and servant set off. Elsewhere, Naruto keeps stumbling over the second stage of his training until Jiraiya sketches a spiral on his palm to give him something to fix his effort on. Remembering a piece of childhood advice from Iruka about concentration, Naruto redraws the mark as a leaf and pours chakra into it.

The surge bursts the training balloon and flings Naruto backward hard enough to scrape a trench in the dirt before Jiraiya catches him, and the older ninja notes with surprise that the output actually scorched the boy's hands. Declaring the second stage cleared, Jiraiya deflects Naruto's eagerness to jump into the third, explaining they need to keep moving now that Tsunade's location is known. In another town, Tsunade, a notoriously unlucky gambler, suddenly hits a winning run and reads it as an omen of disaster. Her instinct proves right when she tries to leave with Shizune and Tonton and runs straight into Orochimaru and Kabuto, who greet her by summoning serpents and leveling a nearby castle.

The episode adapts chapters 152 through 154 and sits within the Search for Tsunade arc, marking the point where the hunt for the future Fifth Hokage finally brings the story's rival Sannin into the same city. It first aired in Japan on June 16, 2004, with the English broadcast following on May 19, 2007.