Naruto's Favourite Pupil

Preparing for the Fourth Shinobi World War, Konohamaru drills alongside Udon and Moegi and polishes a new jutsu, Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning. When he asks Sakura how his team can contribute, she simply sets them to hauling and stacking supply crates. Wanting weightier work, Konohamaru storms off and seeks out Shikamaru, who poses a riddle about the King he is sworn to protect and hands him a stone shaped like a shogi piece marked with the character for king. Determined, Konohamaru marches to Tsunade for clearance to join the front lines, and she flatly refuses and throws him out.

Team Ebisu then crosses paths with Temari, who has come to deliver a message from Suna and to gauge Konoha's condition after Pain's attack. Konohamaru challenges her, boasting that he is Naruto's favorite pupil, but Temari's Sickle Weasel Technique easily scatters both his Ash Pile Burning and his shadow clones. Stung by her jab at Naruto, he lunges with a Rasengan, and only Shikamaru's Shadow Sewing Technique spares her from the blow.

Impressed that a boy his age has mastered such a technique, Temari tells Konohamaru he will grow into a fine shinobi and promises to report Konoha's rising generation to Gaara. Moegi reminds him that a genin's charge is to shield the village's children and elders, and Konohamaru realizes they are the King he was meant to protect, vowing to Shikamaru that he will one day contest Naruto for the title of Hokage. Hearing the outcome, Tsunade is reminded of her late brother Nawaki, whose looks and Hokage dreams so closely match the boy's, and she finds herself wondering how Naruto is faring.

The episode is part of the anime-original Paradise Life on a Boat run that fills the gap around Naruto's voyage. During Konohamaru's clash with Temari, Shikamaru's Shadow-Neck Binding Technique is animated to behave like his Shadow Sewing Technique, most likely a production oversight.