Mystery of Pain

On Mount Myōboku, Naruto voices his worry that Akatsuki might strike Konoha simply to flush him out. Fukasaku reassures him it will not come to that, and that even if it did, the messenger toad Kōsuke would warn the village. He then moves Naruto on to the last step of wielding Sage Mode in combat: perching on his shoulder so the two can fight as one. Back in Konoha, Danzō gathers his Root operatives and orders them underground for the duration of the coming attack, refusing to lend any aid because the crisis stands to hand him the Hokage title, and any deaths, he reasons, are worthwhile sacrifices.

Inoichi keeps probing Yūdachi's memories and uncovers a scene in which Yūdachi and Ryūsui hand a corpse to Konan for delivery to Pain. Moments later the interrogation headquarters is torn open by Pain's Animal Path, who summons a giant rhino, and Inoichi realises she is the very body from the memory. He escapes with Ino and Shizune under Katsuyu's protection, while Shizune puzzles over how this Pain can still summon when Jiraiya supposedly killed the one who could. Ibiki and the others move to bring the Animal Path down, but she conjures a giant ox, a multi-headed dog, and a snake-tailed chameleon, and the Anbu's attempt to fell the dog only leaves it rampaging on.

Ibiki pins the rhino with his Iron Maiden summon, binds the Animal Path, and calls up a torture chamber to wring information from her, only to find her flesh as cold and lifeless as a corpse. She slips her shackles with ease, promises Ibiki he will learn what true pain is, and uses her own stomach as a gateway to summon a giant drill-beaked bird. The Anbu's renewed assault on the multi-headed dog fails yet again, and the rhino tears loose from the Iron Maiden. Far away on Mount Myōboku, Fukasaku's attempt to merge with Naruto is thrown off when the Nine-Tailed Fox rejects him, leaving Naruto to seek another way to draw in natural energy while fighting.