Shikamaru's Genius

Kakuzu gets the better of Kakashi and pins him, meaning to tear out a heart to replace one he has lost. Just then Hidan drives a blade through his own chest, and Shikamaru drops as if slain. Hidan taunts the fallen strategist and turns to aid his partner, only for Shikamaru to rise and swing at his neck, though the cut lands shallow. Clutching the wound, Hidan demands to know how the boy still lives, while across the field Kakuzu grips his chest, baffled that Kakashi somehow reached his heart.

Shikamaru and Kakashi lay out the scheme: everything hinged on tricking Hidan into performing his Jashin ritual with Kakuzu's blood. After Kakashi struck Kakuzu with the Lightning Blade, he drew the blood into a syringe and slipped it to Shikamaru, who dodged Hidan's slash and smeared the borrowed blood onto both the spear and his own cheek so Hidan would believe it his. Kakuzu collapses, seemingly dead. Team Asuma, however, still faces the three elemental masks; Choji's Super Open Hand Slap fails to crush them, and the Lightning Release mask slips into Kakuzu's body to revive him.

Part of the Akatsuki Suppression Mission arc and drawn from two manga chapters, the episode ends on a rescue. The restored Kakuzu merges his fire and wind masks to unleash the Strange Mask Exploding Flame at Kakashi, Choji, and Ino, but Team 7 intervenes, and Naruto pairs his Wind Release: Rasengan with Yamato's Water Release: Tearing Torrent to form a Typhoon Water Vortex that douses the blaze.