Run! The Curry of Life!

Raiga's lightning-rod strike leaves Naruto and Neji senseless and knocks Rock Lee off the pass entirely. Sanshō, Tenten, Karashi, and Ranmaru come across the fallen Lee and feed him the Curry of Life. His behaviour turns bizarre, and Sanshō recalls that a bottle of wine had tipped into the pot before they set out. The same dish is spooned into Neji and Naruto: it wakes Naruto and restores his fighting form, yet it does nothing for Neji.

Ranmaru heads back to Raiga claiming the four are dead, and with his outlook reshaped by the Leaf shinobi, he tries to steer Raiga off a cliff. The ruse collapses when a drunken Lee lunges at Raiga, who angrily swats him down. Naruto intervenes and shields Lee with shadow clones, though the flashing lightning tears them apart. When Ranmaru pleads for the fight to stop, Raiga rounds on him, accusing the boy of desertion. Naruto rejoins the battle and punches Raiga off a ledge, where Raiga chooses to end his own life, burning his body away with his lightning.

The episode resolves the arc on a quieter note: Ranmaru stays behind to train beside Karashi as an apprentice at the curry shop, and Naruto's team makes the trip home to Konoha. It first aired in Japan on 26 October 2005 and in English on 12 April 2008.