A Shirker's Call to Action: A Layabout No More!

Guided by Pakkun, Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru push through the forest under Kakashi's order to overtake Sasuke. The ninken senses nine Sound shinobi trailing the group and advises a trick: tread in their own footprints and leap into the branches so the trail seems to vanish. Recognizing that an ambush is unavoidable, Shikamaru offers to serve as bait, reasoning that his Shadow Imitation is built to pin enemies in place, and sends the others onward with Pakkun.

His technique snares eight of the pursuers, but Shikamaru suddenly recalls Pakkun's count of nine. The final Sound ninja hung deliberately behind the pack to keep the trap from closing on everyone, and with his chakra still depleted from his earlier bout with Temari, Shikamaru turns his thoughts to his own life and seems ready to accept death. Asuma then appears and cuts down the enemies with almost no effort, pulling his student out of danger.

Elsewhere in the woods, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara continue on, with Temari sensing that still more figures are closing in on them. Far away, the clash between the Third Hokage and the reincarnated First and Second Hokage, both puppeteered by Orochimaru, is on the verge of erupting.

Shikamaru volunteers as the decoy of the retrieval squad, trapping eight Sound ninja with his Shadow Imitation before realizing the ninth held back to spoil the ambush. Weakened and resigned to his fate, he is rescued when Asuma arrives and dispatches the attackers effortlessly. The episode also sets the stage for the Third Hokage's fatal confrontation with the reincarnated first two Hokage under Orochimaru's control.

Part of the Konoha Crush arc, the episode adapts manga chapters 118 and 119. It premiered in Japan on 11 February 2004 and in English on 20 January 2007. The opening theme is Turning Sadness Into Kindness and the ending theme is Alive. The episode leans into Shikamaru's trademark reluctance, framing his self-sacrifice as the moment the self-described slacker rises to the occasion.