The Beast Within

Loose and staggering, Lee fights in a style so erratic that Kimimaro cannot read him. Every strike Kimimaro throws is turned aside or answered, and Lee even sells wild bits of theater, sprawling as if asleep before landing a blow with his eyes shut. Once Kimimaro recognizes that the boy is drunk and moving at real speed through the Drunken Fist, he calls on his kekkei genkai to break the spell. A bone slices Lee across the face, and the pain snaps him back to sobriety.

Deeper in the woods, Shikamaru's Shadow-Neck Binding Technique weakens as his chakra empties. He thinks back to the Konoha Crush, when a similar collapse nearly finished him until Asuma stepped in, and now, certain no rescuer is coming, he braces for the end. Nearby, Kiba drags the injured Akamaru out of the river to hide, but Sakon masks his own scent using Kiba's coat and corners the pair. The sobered Lee, meanwhile, decides to hit harder, opening the First of the Eight Gates for a Front Lotus, though Kimimaro packs his bones dense enough to soak the kick. When Kimimaro tries to bore his bones into Lee, a wall of sand blocks them and knocks Lee clear, then softens his landing. Kimimaro demands to know who has interfered, and Lee is astonished to see Gaara. Wind slams into Tayuya just as she moves to finish Shikamaru, courtesy of Temari, and Kankuro uses Karasu to intercept Sakon's killing blow against Kiba. The three Sand siblings declare themselves allies of the Leaf and ready themselves to fight beside the shinobi they once opposed.

Kimimaro forces Lee out of his Drunken Fist by wounding his face with bone. Lee opens the First Gate and attempts a Front Lotus, but Gaara arrives to shield him. Temari and Kankuro reach Shikamaru and Kiba in time to stop Tayuya and Sakon, and the Sand Siblings formally join the Leaf's rescue effort against the Sound Four.

Part of the Sasuke Recovery Mission arc, the episode adapts chapters 211 and 212. It debuted in Japan on March 2, 2005, and in English on December 22, 2007. The opening theme is Rhapsody of Youth and the ending theme is The First Time I Spoke With You.