Demon Desert Survival

Before the trial begins, Shira makes a personal promise to honor Gaara by carrying every Suna squad through to a pass, determined to match the trust placed in him. Rock Lee and his teammates work out a plan of their own for handling the rival groups they expect to meet inside. When the starting signal sounds, the genin scatter into the sands, while Asuma and Kurenai openly wonder why the Sand village has barred Konoha observers from following into the desert itself.

Elsewhere, Guy receives word from Tsunade that assassins targeting the Kazekage are already in motion, and he is ordered to keep Gaara safe. The trial and the looming threat run in parallel, setting the stage for Team Guy to prove itself against opponents who rely far more on illusion than on brute strength.

Deep in the sands, Neji grows confused when his search turns up none of the other teams, then realizes an illusion woven from cactus has been fooling him. Shaking off the trick, his Byakugan finally locates a Sand squad, and combat breaks out. Team Shira intervenes to give Team Goji a window to slip away, and Sen presses the advantage by dropping Team Guy back under a genjutsu, unraveling Neji's careful strategy.

After sending two allied Suna teams to seize a scroll from the others, Shira and his comrades are turned on and surrounded by the very shinobi they trusted. Team Guy arrives to pull them out of the trap. Pressed on why Shira behaves as he does, Sen discloses that he became a shinobi only a short while ago. Struck that someone of such heart came to the path so late, Lee decides the two of them are cut from the same cloth, since neither man has any gift for ninjutsu or illusion.

The episode is the 399th of the Naruto: Shippuden anime and belongs to the anime-original storyline In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths. It first aired in Japan on February 12, 2015, with the English broadcast following on June 27, 2017. The opening theme is Silhouette and the closing theme is Spinning World.