The Shinobi Unite

Tsunade and Jiraiya gather the Konoha 11 to share grave news: Sasuke has slain Orochimaru and thrown in with Akatsuki. Armed with intelligence on both, the young shinobi set out hoping to reclaim him before rival villages hunt him down for his ties to the group. Elsewhere, Sasori unveils a vast army of human puppets and debates with Sasuke how they should deal with the Leaf.

Kiba picks up Sasuke's scent and tracks it alongside Naruto and Sakura, only to stumble onto a gathering of Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu. Itachi then steps from the shadows before his brother, revealing that his death was a ruse, and questions Sasuke's aims before slipping away once more.

The rest of the Konoha 11 arrive to even the odds, splitting the enemy apart. Team Asuma takes on Hidan while Team Guy engages Kakuzu, Sasuke turns on his supposed allies by disarming Deidara's landmines, and Team Kurenai drives Deidara back as Zetsu withdraws. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura crack open the puppet Hiruko to expose Sasori, who answers by summoning reincarnated puppeteers, each commanding human puppets of their own.

Reinforcements from the Five Great Shinobi Countries pour in to occupy the puppet horde, leaving Sasori to Team Kakashi. Sakura wrecks his Third Kazekage puppet, prompting him to deploy far deadlier ones modeled on three fallen leaders: the Fourth Raikage, the Fifth Mizukage, and the Third Tsuchikage. The Tsuchikage puppet's Dust Release erases Aoda the instant Team Kakashi summons him, and Jiraiya arrives with Konan and Nagato to bolster the fight.

When the Mizukage puppet strikes at Sasuke with Lava Release, Itachi's Susanoo shields him and scolds him for insisting on fighting alone, spurring Sasuke to manifest his own. Nagato absorbs a Dust Release blast aimed at the others atop Gamakichi, Konan pins a puppet for Naruto to shatter, and Sasuke destroys the Raikage and Mizukage puppets. Sasori finally bares his own puppet body and floods the field with more, but Naruto and Sasuke annihilate them with Rasenshuriken and Kagutsuchi.

Episode 449 comes from the light-hearted Jiraiya Shinobi Handbook: The Tale of Naruto the Hero storyline, airing in Japan on 18 February 2016 and in English on 28 August 2018. It carries the opening LINE and the ending Such You, Such Me.

In the aftermath, Sasuke consents to return to Konoha, yet he refuses to call the others comrades again, declaring his intent to reshape the shinobi world on his own terms.