Pursuers

A band of Suna shinobi loses its quarry just as Deidara soars overhead on his clay dragon and wipes them out with a single figure. Watching from a distance, Zetsu debates Deidara's temperament with itself, and the bomber soon lands among Hidan and Kakuzu, the latter salvaging a fairly intact corpse before they move on together. In another clash, Naruto tears the mask from the Root fighter facing him and finds Anko underneath.

Shikamaru grasps that the enemy's aim is to see Sasuke safely to Orochimaru, so he orders the group to break off and keep after him. Rock Lee lingers to slow the Root pursuers, sheds his weights, and opens the fifth of the Eight Gates. Elsewhere the Akatsuki members regroup with Sasori, who defuses a brewing quarrel; Hidan is reminded of the Hizashi affair and the notion that the organisation exists partly because of Deidara, blamed for the blast that razed a village and killed Yahiko. Vowing to make Konoha feel his pain, Nagato turns Yahiko's body into the Deva Path. As Tenten stays behind to stall another operative, Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru run on toward the waiting Orochimaru.

The episode is part of the Jiraiya Shinobi Handbook: The Tale of Naruto the Hero arc, an alternate retelling. It first aired in Japan on 21 January 2016 and in English on 28 August 2018, opening with LINE and closing with Such You, Such Me.