The Cursed Puppet

Slipping onto an alternate path to carry their scrolls toward the central building and dodge an ambush, Team Asuma is halted when Sakura suddenly collapses from the ceaseless chakra drain of maintaining her Strength of a Hundred Seal. A memory of training under Tsunade rouses her just as Team Saya blocks their way. Saya declares she wants Ino and Sakura for herself and leaves her teammates Mamushi and Sana to handle Chōji.

Saya's Puppet Imitation Technique proves fearsome, letting her worm into Ino's mind and take full command by using a strand of Ino's hair in her doll. She then abandons Ino's body and turns the same trick on a hugely enlarged Chōji when he seizes her teammates. With Chōji reduced to her pawn, Ino uses the Mind Body Switch Technique to enter his mind and force the enemy kunoichi out, while Sakura, unable to fuel her seal and fight at once, scrambles to find a way to handle her controlled friend. Elsewhere, at Orochimaru's hideout, Sasuke frees Suigetsu from confinement with a hidden aim of gauging his and Karin's abilities, then joins Karin to retrieve him. In the end Suigetsu is reduced to a gelatinous state after Karin snares him with her Tight Binding Golden Chain Technique.

Sakura collapses from the strain of her Strength of a Hundred Seal before recovering. Team Saya ambushes Team Asuma, with Saya claiming Ino and Sakura for herself. Saya's Puppet Imitation Technique commandeers first Ino, then a gigantic Chōji, and Ino counters by using the Mind Body Switch Technique to invade Chōji's mind. At Orochimaru's lair, Sasuke tests Suigetsu and Karin, and Karin subdues Suigetsu with her Tight Binding Golden Chain Technique.

This is episode 408 of Naruto: Shippuden, part of the anime-original In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths storyline. It aired in Japan on April 16, 2015, and in English on October 10, 2017. The opening theme is Wind and the ending theme is A Promise That Doesn't Need Words.