The End of Tears

Riding the second stage of his Cursed Seal of Heaven, Sasuke mocks Naruto and boasts that defeat is not in his future. The taunt only fuels Naruto, who rushes in, and the collision throws up a wall of dust. From within it a huge wing unfurls from Sasuke's spine, swatting the strike aside and hurling Naruto back over the river.

A second wing rips his shirt open, and Sasuke doubles over in pain. He recalls being warned by Sakon never to hold the fully released seal for long, aware that his flesh will rot if he lingers in the form, so he resolves to end things quickly. Across the water Naruto finds his left arm dead at his side, the strain of the Nine-Tailed Fox cloak now written on his own body.

Naming the Valley of the End the ideal ground for their reckoning, Sasuke lets a montage of their past wash over the fight: the birth of Team 7, his own early superiority, Naruto's stubborn climb, the jealousy that followed, and the rooftop clash that set them here. Seeing Itachi's twisted eyes in his mind, Sasuke gathers a third Chidori, and Naruto answers with a Demon Fox Rasengan formed by his one working hand. The lightning swells into a Flapping Chidori, and both boys throw everything forward at once. Blue and crimson chakra fold together into a black sphere. In the last heartbeat Sasuke drives a fist into Naruto's chest rather than run him through, and Naruto merely grazes the metal of his headband.

The light fades to show Naruto flat on the ground, unconscious, with Sasuke standing over him as the victor. Sunlight breaks the clouds, then vanishes, and the scratched forehead protector slips from Sasuke's head and drops to the earth, marking his break from Konoha. Rain begins to fall as a stab of pain buckles him to his knees.

Sasuke wins the fight but spares Naruto's life, punching him rather than impaling him with the Chidori. His loosened headband falling to the ground signals that he has cut his ties to the village. When Kakashi finally reaches the valley Sasuke is already gone, and he lifts Naruto onto his back, apologising for arriving too late. Walking into the forest, Sasuke rejects Itachi's demand that he murder his closest friend to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, vowing to gain strength on his own terms. Naruto stirs awake, proof that he was left alive, while a strange figure cloaked in Akatsuki colours rises from the ground and remarks that events have grown interesting.

The installment closes the Sasuke Recovery Mission arc and adapts chapters 231 through 235 of the manga. A flashback sequence revisits the pair forming the Seal of Reconciliation as children, underscoring the friendship the battle severs. Kakashi and Pakkun linger to reflect on the grim symbolism of the two fighting at the very site named the Valley of the End, comparing the ninja world's endless conflicts to a river that never stops flowing. The episode aired in Japan on May 11, 2005.