Naruto's Counterattack: Never Give In!

When Sasuke decides to hand their scroll to Shiore in hopes of buying the team's safety, Naruto arrives, drives a fist into his face, and rejects the plan outright, taking the scroll for himself. He throws himself against Shiore and the snakes, but the fight goes badly and he is battered. On the verge of being swallowed whole, Naruto reaches into the Nine-Tails' chakra and drops the snake with a single punch. Shiore uses the creature to slam him into a tree and then turns it on Sasuke, only for Naruto to charge in, shield his teammate, and taunt him as a baby, throwing back the very words Sasuke had once used on him after their clash with the Demon Brothers.

Recognizing Naruto as the fox's host, the enemy applies a Five Elements Seal that severs his link to that chakra and knocks him out cold, then flings him aside. Sakura catches him before he hits the ground and rounds on the frozen Sasuke, chastising him for his cowardice. Her scolding stirs a memory of Itachi, and the reminder floods Sasuke with fresh determination as he readies himself to face the Kusa shinobi. Elsewhere, Anko discovers the real Shiore and his teammates lying dead with their faces stripped away, and she knows at once whose handiwork it is.

This entry belongs to the Chunin Exams storyline and adapts material from the manga's forty-eighth and forty-ninth chapters. The faceless corpses Anko finds confirm that the disguised Shiore is Orochimaru in disguise, tying the Forest of Death ordeal directly to her former teacher.