Sakura's Resolve

Traveling toward the Samurai Bridge with Lee, Kiba, and Sai, Sakura abruptly halts the group. She presses Kiba for Sasuke's precise whereabouts, then moves to knock her teammates out with sleep bombs. Sai, who had already guessed her intent, seizes her arms and reveals that he warned Kakashi, now racing to head off her assassination attempt. Kiba, sensing Sai's double-dealing, lunges with Passing Fang, only to be trapped by ink serpents. Sakura provokes Lee into joining the attack, then hurls three sleep bombs to drop everyone. Meanwhile, Sai's ink copy delivers word of her actions to Kakashi before fading.

On the road, Sakura sinks into memory. She recalls the girlhood infatuation that made her thrilled to land on Team 7 beside Sasuke, and admits she never truly understood the person underneath. She remembers the Forest of Death, where Orochimaru's mark drove him to shatter Zaku's arms before she could stop the assault on Dosu. She had confessed that watching him in agony was more than she could bear, and he shrugged her off. She replays his duel with Naruto, their Rasengan and Chidori canceled by Kakashi's intervention, and his choice to leave the village for Orochimaru's power. Even her tearful offer to follow him and share his revenge earned only the cold reply that he found her annoying and that his road was that of an avenger.

The memories harden her purpose: she resolves to be the one who ends Sasuke. At the bridge itself, Madara and Sasuke survey the wreckage left by Danzo's Reverse Four Symbols Sealing. Madara warps Danzo's body away, vows to claim Shisui's Sharingan, and warns Sasuke that overusing the Mangekyo will cost him his sight, urging rest before Konoha. He also advises finishing Karin, who knows too much. As Sasuke charges his Chidori over her, Karin longs for the smile he once gave her after the Lion Combo saved her at the Chunin Exams. Sakura halts the strike, declaring that she has walked away from the village and wants to stand at his side. The episode adapts chapters 481 and 482.