Naruto and the Old Soldier

With the village slowly recovering after Pain's attack, an elderly man named Kosuke Maruboshi looks toward the monument and drifts back to a mission from years earlier. Following the Konoha Crush, a captain named Hayama assembled a four-man squad to guard the Land of Fire's border against raiders targeting the weakened village, pairing the jonin Tekuno with two genin, Naruto and Kosuke. Though Kosuke had held genin rank for over half a century, he proved his worth by cooking and by sensing approaching enemies, and he mentioned having once served beside the Second and Third Hokage, Jiraiya, and Sakumo, each of whom eventually eclipsed him.

When Iwagakure shinobi struck, Hayama met them with his Vacuum Sword while Tekuno slowed them using explosive tags. Naruto's shadow clones failed to hold the enemy back, and as an Iwa-nin nearly killed him, Kosuke intervened with his Leaf-Style Willow to cut the attacker down. Kosuke then recalled the shame that kept him a genin: he had once sacrificed comrades chasing a promotion, and refused to rise further despite the Third Hokage urging him toward jonin.

Cornered by an Iwa kunoichi, Kosuke turned aside her Earth Release with a wall of water and grew furious on learning she had knowingly spent genin lives, treating their deaths as their duty. She, in turn, was stunned to find that he and Naruto were only genin themselves. As she moved to finish him, Naruto blocked her path, declaring that he would never abandon a comrade because he intended to become Hokage. The words echoed a promise the Fourth Hokage had once made to Kosuke while bandaging his leg, and steeled his resolve. He overwhelmed the kunoichi with his Water Dragon Bullet, quietly noting how much Naruto resembled his father.

The episode is an anime-original entry set during the Land of Fire reconstruction, framing its whole story as Kosuke's flashback. In the present day, Tekuno tries to convince skeptical villagers that his tale of serving alongside Konoha's new hero is genuine, while Kosuke closes his memories with a smile toward Minato's carved face, silently telling the late Hokage he would be proud of his son.