Master and Student

Shiranami forces Hotaru to trigger the forbidden Fury technique, and the resulting detonation catches both Naruto and Utakata. Once Naruto comes around, he rouses Utakata, who shuts Shiranami down with his soap bubble jutsu. By now Hotaru's body is drinking in enormous quantities of chakra and natural energy. Realizing the sealed power has slipped past anyone's control and could level the settlement, Shiranami bolts, with Naruto giving chase. Utakata channels the strength of the Six-Tails to rein in the swelling chakra, reaches Hotaru through a spiritual connection, and takes the blast into himself unharmed, stripping the seal from her in the process.

With calm restored to the village, Utakata agrees to take Hotaru on as his student, and she is overjoyed to call him her teacher. As Team 7 travels home, Naruto reflects that he is happy she has found a mentor, and admits he feels the absence of his own, Jiraiya. Utakata leaves Hotaru waiting in the meadow where the two first crossed paths, intending to seek out the Kirigakure hunter-nin for their blessing before he begins her training. Instead of finding them, he spots a blood-stained Anbu mask and comes face to face with the Six Paths of Pain. Pain's Asura Path pins him with a barrage of missiles and buries him beneath a cliff. Dying, Utakata releases a stream of bubbles drifting toward the meadow, where Hotaru still waits for a master who will never come back.

Naruto reacts with disbelief when Shiranami admits to killing his own father in his pursuit of the Fury technique, even though Shiranami had already confessed as much during the preceding episode.