The Ultimate

Shira takes up Lee's challenge for a one-on-one match, and the two trade ferocious blows on remarkably even footing. Watching closely, Neji judges that Lee will absorb the greater punishment because Shira's build far outclasses his own. Sensing the gap, Lee reaches for the Eight Gates but finds them sealed off; Shira has struck his tenketsu and choked his chakra flow. Shifting to a soundless style of striking, Shira piles on the pressure until Lee, drawing on a past training session with Guy, begins to read and turn aside the incoming attacks.

Once Shira releases his tenketsu, Lee opens the Eight Gates anew. Shira answers with the Seven Heavens Breathing Method, a self-devised counterpart to the gates that expands his lung capacity and lifts his strikes to a higher tier. The clash levels out again until Lee pulls ahead by opening the Fifth Gate of Limit, and the exchange ends in his win. Elsewhere, Gaara learns from his people that Kegon and Yōrō are actually jōnin in disguise. Ordering the news kept quiet, he turns his Third Eye on Team Fū, but Fū spots the sand construct at once and forces him to dismiss it, leaving Gaara to grasp the truth about the kunoichi.

Lee and Shira fight a full taijutsu duel that Lee ultimately wins. Shira temporarily seals Lee's tenketsu to block the Eight Gates, then unveils his Seven Heavens Breathing Method. Lee opens the Fifth Gate of Limit to secure victory. Gaara discovers Kegon and Yōrō are disguised jōnin and, while spying on Team Fū, realizes Fū is a jinchūriki when she detects his Third Eye.

The episode is part of the anime-original In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths arc, spotlighting Lee's growth and introducing Shira's unique breathing technique. It airs under the opening Silhouette and the ending Spinning World. Shira's Seven Heavens Breathing Method stands as his personal parallel to the Eight Gates.