The Search Mission

Tsunade keeps turning the pages of Jiraiya's newest volume, its story unfolding inside the grand illusion. Troubled by a rash of disappearances, Minato questions a wounded genin whose only surviving memory is of Ageha butterflies, then shares that fragment with Tsunade. He assembles a quartet of Konoha teams and lays out the assignment with one firm condition: any missing comrade they happen to locate is to be reported home at once rather than pulled from danger on the spot. Shikamaru reads the pattern almost instantly, recognizing that the more seasoned fighters are the ones being singled out.

Pausing along their route, Team 7 catches sight of the drifting Shinobi Ageha, and Naruto races off after them while Sasuke gives chase to drag him back. Far from the road, an unseen attacker triggers a jutsu that yanks jonin commanders down into the soil, leaving behind only the Flying Thunder God Kunai that Minato had entrusted to each of them. Just before Guy is snatched away, Neji senses a current of chakra moving below ground, one that fades the moment his teacher vanishes. Piecing this together, Shikamaru concludes the same fate has claimed the other units and elects to hold position until Team 8, the sharpest trackers available, can regroup with him.

While hunting for Team 8, Naruto and his squad collide with Hidan, who slices Naruto open, harvests a sample of his blood, and turns it against him through a cursed ritual and his retractable spear. In a separate clash, Team 10 finds itself ambushed by Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. The episode belongs to the Jiraiya Shinobi Handbook arc that recasts Naruto as its central hero. It first aired in Japan on October 8, 2015, with the English broadcast following on May 1, 2018.