The New Three-Way Deadlock

Answering the twin problems Sai had raised, piercing the Ten-Tails' guard and tending the injured along the front, the three former teammates summon Gamakichi, Aoda, and Katsuyu in turn. Watching the trio work together, Hiruzen is struck by how much they echo the earlier balance of power among the Legendary Sannin. Naruto marvels at how much his toad has grown in both size and swagger before Gamakichi vaults over the beast's sentries and beats back their strikes.

While Sakura's slug spreads out to heal the wounded shinobi and Shizune quietly admires her strength, Sasuke carves a path through the guards with his own serpent summon and Susanoo. With a clear line to the Ten-Tails, he draws back an Amaterasu bow and arrow just as Naruto readies an oversized Rasenshuriken from above.

Naruto thinks back to his Rasenshuriken training, when he told Yamato that his bond with Sasuke works not because wind beats lightning but because his wind can amplify Sasuke's fire. Acting on that principle, his gale fans the black flames into a spiralling column of dark fire that slams into the Ten-Tails. As the combined technique lands, a tearful Sakura and their fellow classmates cheer the pair on.

The episode is part of the Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax arc and adapts chapters 634 and 635. A flashback showing Orochimaru nearly killing a wounded Jiraiya sits at odds with an earlier statement about Jiraiya's brushes with death, and Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan is briefly drawn with a red inner design rather than solid black.