Parting

Taking up the Sound Four's proposal, Sasuke assumes command of their squad. In the Leaf, Shikamaru brings Naruto word of Sasuke's desertion and enlists him for the retrieval effort alongside Neji, Choji and Kiba. On the way to Otogakure, Sakon and Ukon feed Sasuke a Mind Awakening Pill to push the Cursed Seal of Heaven toward its second stage, a process that seals him inside a barrel in suspended animation for the trip to Orochimaru.

Naruto finally overtakes them where the Valley of the End roars, begging Sasuke to come home, but his old friend only sneers, unmoved that the whole team gambled their lives. Naruto remembers Choji standing against Jirobo and Neji dueling Kidomaru so the others could press on. After Kimimaro snatches the barrel and flees, Shikamaru stays to fight Tayuya and sends Naruto ahead; Sasuke bursts from the barrier laughing at his new strength and runs, and Rock Lee arrives just in time to hold off Kimimaro.

Recalling the sacrifices of his comrades, Naruto slams a fist into Sasuke's face, only to grasp that his friend now aims to kill him and claim the Mangekyo Sharingan. Their first clash of Chidori and Rasengan flings them apart, and Sasuke, stunned that his strike was turned aside, drives a second cursed-seal-charged Chidori through Naruto's right lung. The Nine-Tails' chakra then surges through Naruto, letting him overpower and pin Sasuke, who screams that Naruto could never grasp his pain, having never known parents or siblings. Naruto answers that, true as that is, Sasuke has become the closest thing to a brother he has ever had, and he fights to protect that bond. Accepting him as an equal, Sasuke ties on his forehead protector and drops into his seal's second stage, wings spreading as his skin darkens, and the two hurl an empowered Chidori and Rasengan together as the recovery team is rescued elsewhere.

Sasuke wins the exchange and leaves Naruto senseless, yet chooses to spare him, resolving to gain strength on his own terms. He continues on to Otogakure to demand power from Orochimaru, while Kakashi and Pakkun find the beaten Naruto and carry him back, and Naruto, aware he has failed, silently apologises to Sakura. Episode 260 of Naruto: Shippuden is a tenth-anniversary retrospective that compresses the Sasuke Recovery Mission and its Valley of the End finale. It first aired in Japan on 26 April 2012 and in English on 20 September 2014, with the opening theme Assault Rock and the ending theme Cascade.