Homecoming

The episode opens on a dream in which Naruto, Sakura, and a stranger search a dim underground corridor for Sasuke, finding him perched above them at the tunnel's mouth. Confronted about why he spared Naruto at the Valley of the End, Sasuke recalls Itachi's words about the Mangekyo Sharingan and says he refused to gain power that way. He then drapes an arm around Naruto and mocks his Hokage dream before drawing his blade to kill him. The Nine-Tailed Fox offers Naruto its strength if he will loosen the seal, but Sasuke intrudes on the vision, glimpsing the beast within and remarking that Naruto's power flows from it, even likening Sasuke to Madara Uchiha before Sasuke dispels the fox and denies knowing that name.

In the present, Team Ebisu chases a runaway cat through Konoha, and Teuchi of Ichiraku Ramen mistakes Konohamaru for Naruto before catching himself. Craving a harder assignment, Konohamaru plants himself on the floor and proclaims himself the future Seventh Hokage, insisting the sixth seat belongs to Naruto, which startles Iruka, Tsunade, and Ebisu. Tsunade notes how much the boy resembles Naruto, and Shizune adds that Naruto and Jiraiya should be returning from their journey any day now.

At that very moment Naruto and Jiraiya step through the village gate, recognized instantly by the guards. Naruto scales a tower to announce that Konoha has not changed a bit, save for Tsunade's face now carved into the Hokage Rock. Sakura and Konohamaru race to find him, and Sakura marvels at how much taller and more mature he seems, until she asks whether she looks like a woman now and he bluntly says she looks the same, sparking her temper.

When Konohamaru shows off his Sexy Technique, Naruto scolds him for it, briefly convincing Sakura he has grown up, before he reveals an even more elaborate version of the jutsu and earns a punch that sends him crashing through concrete. Jiraiya realizes with alarm that Tsunade has shaped Sakura into a second version of herself. The three then report to Tsunade, who is eager to see what Naruto has learned and reveals she has arranged an opponent for him and Sakura, having kept Naruto off missions so he would be at his peak. As Naruto wonders who it could be, the door opens and he gasps.

This is the premiere episode of Naruto: Shippuden, part of the Kazekage Rescue Mission arc and drawn from chapter 245. It aired in Japan on February 15, 2007, as part of an hour-long special with the second episode, and in English on October 28, 2009. The opening dream marks the first post-time-skip meeting between Naruto and Sasuke, though their true reunion does not come until Shippuden episode 51, and Konohamaru's cat-capture mirrors an early Team 7 assignment. The opening theme is Hero's Come Back!! and the ending theme is Shooting Star.