The Last One

Chino admits she meant to loose her exploding humans on Sasuke and Konoha to avenge the clan the Uchiha drove into the Valley of Hell, though her plans shifted after Iō's dying words steered Sasuke toward Fūshin. She explains that Chinoike jutsu runs on blood, and the iron-rich lake makes her stronger, then raises a many-headed blood dragon. Sasuke lops off every head with his electrified sword. When she wounds him, she uses the Ketsuryūgan to show him becoming an exploding human, but Sasuke recognizes the genjutsu is his own Sharingan, and the illusion of her dragon collapses beneath him.

Chino confesses she envied Sasuke for always having people who loved him, which stirs his memories of Naruto and Sakura. She asks why he still defends Konoha, and doubts the world he describes could ever be real, begging him to kill her. A battered Fūshin arrives and refuses to let him reach her, but Chino pleads with him not to fight, admitting she wishes she had never befriended him so she could still hate, and that she now longs to see Sasuke's world.

In Konoha, Sakura finishes purging the foreign chakra from the exploding humans with Hinata's help. In prison, Kakashi tells Chino, Fūshin, and Karyū that the Mizukage seeks their custody, and Mei arrives with Chōjūrō offering them a chance to atone by aiding Kirigakure. At the Coliseum, Sasuke fights every shinobi to win their freedom, and after his victory the Raikage's party disputes jurisdiction with Kakashi. Meanwhile En Oyashiro, having slipped arrest, meets Orochimaru and reveals himself as Chino's father and the clan's killer, wielding the Ketsuryūgan and enlisting Sasuke to halt her. A message from Naruto likening Sasuke to the Konoha Police Force revives thoughts of Itachi, and Sasuke considers it may be time to visit home.

Sasuke destroys Chino's blood dragon and turns her Ketsuryūgan illusion back with the Sharingan. Chino surrenders and asks to see Sasuke's world rather than die. Kakashi imprisons the trio, and Mei offers them redemption through Kirigakure. Sasuke wins their freedom at the Coliseum. En Oyashiro is exposed as Chino's father and the clan's murderer, having conspired with Orochimaru to stop her, and Sasuke decides to consider returning to Konoha.

Episode four-hundred-eighty-eight of Naruto: Shippūden concludes the Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise arc. Its Japanese debut was January 5, 2017, followed by an English release on June 11, 2019. The opening theme is Empty Heart and the ending is Departure Song. Sasuke's memory of wanting to join the Police Force alongside Itachi frames his eventual thoughts of home.