Thank You

Beaten back by Minato, Tobi vows to press on with his dream of ruling the world before teleporting away, leaving the Nine-Tails to tear through Konoha now that the Sharingan no longer commands it. Young Iruka begs to stay and fight beside his parents, but they have him carried to safety, his father insisting it is a parent's role to shield their child, and moments later both are slain. Nearby, Shinku Yuhi keeps the younger ninja from throwing themselves into the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack and reminds his daughter Kurenai that she is a woman as well as a shinobi, wishing only that she one day raise a child to carry the Will of Fire.

The Third Hokage summons Monkey King: Enma, shapes him into an adamantine staff, and drives the fox beyond the village walls. When the beast readies a Tailed Beast Ball, Minato calls down Gamabunta from above to pin it, then uses his space-time technique to shift himself and the fox even farther out. As the ball erupts, Minato escapes and returns with Kushina and the infant Naruto. Kushina binds the fox with her Adamantine Sealing Chains and pleads for Minato to seal it back inside her so it will die with her, buying time before it can revive. She grieves that she will never watch Naruto grow.

Minato refuses to let her go alone. He chooses the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, sealing half the fox's chakra into Naruto and the rest into himself, knowing the technique will claim his own life. Kushina protests, unwilling to leave their son orphaned and burdened as a jinchuriki, but Minato answers that a father must die for his child, that Konoha needs a jinchuriki to hold the balance, and that he believes Naruto is the prophesied child Jiraiya foresaw, destined to stop Tobi. He also preserves a portion of Kushina's chakra within the seal so she can meet Naruto once he is grown. Erecting a barrier, Minato summons the shinigami to draw out the fox's Yin chakra, and when the beast lunges to kill the baby, both parents take the claw through their bodies. Minato entrusts Gerotora with the seal's key for Jiraiya as Kushina gives Naruto her last words, watched helplessly by the Third and two Anbu outside the barrier. Minato completes the sealing, and the couple dies together. Back in the present, Kushina finishes her story, apologizing for the life she left him, and Naruto tells her he does not resent the parents who gave everything for him. Weeping, she embraces him, thanks him for making her and Minato into parents, and gently fades away.

Tobi retreats after his defeat, leaving the freed Nine-Tails to rampage through Konoha, and Iruka's parents die protecting him. The Third Hokage forces the fox from the village while Minato and Kushina confront it. Kushina restrains the beast with her chains, and Minato uses the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to split the fox's chakra between himself and the newborn Naruto. Both parents shield the baby from the fox's claw and die completing the seal. In the present, Kushina thanks Naruto and fades away.

This is the 249th episode of Naruto: Shippuden, part of the Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown arc and adapting chapters 503 and 504 of the manga. It aired in Japan on 9 February 2012 and in English on 5 July 2014. The opening theme is Newsong and the ending theme is By My Side.