The Four-Corner Sealing Barrier

The Orochimaru Search Team breaks into its three units. Shizune's group starts constructing the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier, while Yamato and Kakashi lead the push against Team Guren. Lee sulks over missing the chance to face a Crystal Release wielder, but Kiba reassures him that Guren's subordinates are dangerous in their own right. Tenten joins in as Lee reviews the enemies' habits, chiefly their heavy use of a smokescreen.

Traveling with Kakashi's squad, Naruto realizes Shino and Sai have never actually met and awkwardly introduces them. He describes Sai as a former Anbu who is odd, always buried in a book, yet a skilled artist and fighter, then sums up Shino as simply Shino. Sai surprises Naruto by rattling off details about Shino, from his lineage as Shibi Aburame's son to his insect-controlling talents, which leaves Shino stung that a stranger knows him better than an old teammate. Elsewhere, Guren wrestles with her devotion to Orochimaru against her feelings for Yūkimaru and resolves to finish the Konoha shinobi before settling her grudge with Kabuto.

The barrier falters when Ino cannot hold her chakra steady, but encouragement from Sakura and the memory of Sakura once struggling the same way steadies her resolve. In the field, Kigiri surfaces from the water and Yamato pins him with Wood Release for Lee to strike, only for the captured figure to prove a Smoke Clone. The real Kigiri blankets Lee in a smokescreen, yet Lee senses Kihō through the haze, batters him, and uses the Shadow of the Dancing Leaf to hurl him back into the water. Tenten then unleashes Twin Rising Dragons on the enemies trapped in the smoke, and an indignant Kiba tracks the group with Akamaru's Dynamic Marking before scattering them with Fang Passing Fang.

With those subordinates handled, Yamato's team moves to reinforce Kakashi. Sai explains he stayed on Team Kakashi precisely to protect his comrades, having learned the worth of friendship. Gozu ambushes the group, Naruto's harsh words about Yūkimaru being treated as a tool provoke Guren into a countered attack, and Shino, having built up his chakra while watching, rises and releases his insects.

The episode carries the same name as the sealing technique featured in it, part of the anime-original Three-Tails' Appearance arc. Sai's arc from detached operative to a shinobi who values his teammates is a recurring thread in these chapters.