The Secret of Jinchūriki

Both Konoha squads realize the recent battle was staged purely to delay the rescue of Gaara. Chiyo sends a mechanical bird carrying word to her brother Ebizo about Yura, the man sacrificed to power Itachi's decoy, and warns that the enemy resorting to such a jutsu means the extraction has already started. Pressed by Sakura, she explains how tailed beasts were sealed inside chosen hosts so their might could be wielded, and how those hosts, the jinchuriki, perish once the creature is torn out. Sunagakure lost two such hosts of Shukaku before Gaara, both dying after the beast was removed. Sakura's anger at the practice falters the instant she recalls that Naruto shares the same burden.

In Suna, Kankuro drags himself from his sickbed to hear Chiyo's message and joins Baki at a council meeting, where Yura is confirmed as an Akatsuki spy who let Sasori and Deidara slip in unnoticed. Rather than wait for Gaara, the elders weigh naming a fresh Kazekage, reasoning that the village dreads the Shukaku within him and recalling how the theft of the powerful Third Kazekage once invited attacks from rival nations. Kankuro concedes their logic yet refuses to abandon his younger brother.

Noticing Naruto's pace has flagged from the toll of his Big Ball Rasengan, Kakashi calls a rest so the team can reach Gaara faster and at full strength, a choice Chiyo praises. Pakkun spots Guy suffering after opening the sixth gate, and when Guy collapses into a branch, Neji agrees his teacher has earned a pause following the Morning Peacock. At the Akatsuki lair, the leader praises Itachi and Kisame for the delay, deflects Sasori's claim to credit for his sacrificed subordinates, hears Itachi name the pursuers, and orders Zetsu to dispose of the corpses. The episode adapts chapter 261.