Blockade the A-Un Gate!

Around the village the young ninja unwind, playing card games and catching up, though Denki wanders past his friends too lost in thought to hear them call. In the Hokage's office, Konohamaru and Mugino brief the leadership, the Fifth and Sixth Hokage among them, on their fight with Victor and Deepa, who schemed to raise a new God Tree and feast on its chakra fruit. At Naruto's direction, Sai combed through Victor's facility and turned up research on the same markings tied to Shojoji, pointing to both men as agents of Kara. Worse, the enemy already knew Naruto's classified role in defeating Momoshiki.

The recovered notes keep circling the word vessel, and the leaders are unsettled to learn the doctor behind the Fabrications had a hand in Victor's work. Kurotsuchi recalls that the man's body was never found and wonders whether Onoki was drawn in, while Hanabi suspects the boy was merely used for data. When Konohamaru remembers Victor's aware subordinates calling themselves Outers, Sai connects it to his mission with Sasuke in Amegakure and reasons that Kara hides itself behind scattered outside collaborators, raising the fear of spies within Konoha itself. The council weighs the villagers' safety against their freedom to come and go.

A lighter thread follows Denki, Metal Lee, and Iwabee floating a balloon over the Hokage Rock to test longer-range wireless signals, briefly reaching a friend near the border before the craft loses altitude. Naruto ultimately declines to seal the gates, choosing instead to overhaul the village's sensing network, wary that heavy traffic has already thinned out identity checks. Victor, reporting to Jigen, pins the failure on Deepa, insists no secrets leaked, and quietly resolves to seize Jigen's own vessel. The episode first aired in Japan on 29 November 2020.