Miscalculation: A New Enemy Appears!

Fleeing from Sakon, Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba rely on Akamaru to lay explosive tags along the route. One blast catches Sakon, but he turns the trick around by pinning Akamaru beside another tag. Kiba leaps to shield his partner just as the paper ignites, and the detonation hurls Sakon, Kiba and Akamaru together over a cliff edge. In the moment that follows, Tayuya lunges after the two remaining ninja, only to freeze when Kimimaro materializes behind them. He boots the barrel holding Sasuke off its branch, recovers it in mid air, and scolds Tayuya for failing Orochimaru. Sparing her because a task still remains, he carries Sasuke off and orders her to finish Naruto and Shikamaru.

Determined not to lose Sasuke, the pair improvise a feint: both charge Tayuya, Shikamaru halts abruptly while Naruto vaults clean over her, and a Shadow Imitation Technique nearly snares her before she slips free. Naruto breaks away to pursue Kimimaro, his rage boiling up a surge of Nine-Tails chakra. Cornering the bone user in a clearing, he demands to know Orochimaru's purpose, and learns the Sannin covets Sasuke as a fresh vessel for his immortal soul. Furious, Naruto conjures a thousand shadow clones. Back among the trees, Tayuya taunts Shikamaru for supposedly spending teammates one by one, then summons three flute controlled giants, the Doki, as Sakon lands another kick on Kiba.

The installment falls within the Sasuke Recovery Mission arc and adapts chapters 200 through 202 of the manga. It first aired in Japan on January 19, 2005, with the English broadcast following on December 1, 2007. The opening theme is Rhapsody of Youth and the closing theme is The First Time I Spoke With You.