The Leaf's Handsome Devil!

As Naruto fumes over his stalled progress, Sasuke's cursed seal advances to its second level and frees him from the coffin. The sight jolts Naruto out of his Nine-Tails rage, and he urges Sasuke to come home, insisting everyone in Konoha is waiting. Sasuke only answers with unhinged laughter and departs. When Naruto tries to give chase, Kimimaro blocks him and moves to kill him, but the newly recovered Rock Lee arrives just in time to intercept the strike. Lee tells Naruto to pursue Sasuke, reminding him of the vow he made to Sakura.

Lee and Kimimaro trade blows, though Kimimaro's mastery over his own bones frustrates Lee, who finds the taijutsu specialist reading his moves with ease. Early in the clash, Lee calls a pause to take his medicine, and Kimimaro allows it as Lee drains the bottle.

In Konoha, Guy hurries to the hospital to learn how Lee's surgery went, and Tsunade reports it succeeded, with training possible as soon as the next day. Then two aides burst in with news that Lee has vanished. Tsunade deduces he went to aid the Sasuke Recovery Team and, worse, took a bottle of sake in place of his medicine. Guy panics, explaining that even a sip leaves Lee wildly drunk and turns him into a devastating natural practitioner of the Drunken Fist. Back at the clearing, the inebriated Lee sinks into the Drunken Fist stance to face Kimimaro.

Sasuke's cursed seal reaches its second stage, and he rejects Naruto's plea to return, leaving for Orochimaru. Kimimaro moves to kill Naruto but is stopped by a recovered Rock Lee, who tells Naruto to chase Sasuke. Lee mistakenly drinks sake instead of medicine, triggering his instinctive Drunken Fist ability just as his duel with Kimimaro begins.

Episode one-hundred-twenty-three of the original Naruto series adapts chapters two-hundred-nine and two-hundred-ten within the Sasuke Recovery Mission arc. It premiered in Japan on February 23, 2005, and in English on December 15, 2007. The opening theme is Rhapsody of Youth and the ending is The First Time I Spoke With You. The episode introduces Lee's accidental Drunken Fist.