Twilight

Jiraiya steps into Tsunade's office with news that he has pinned down Pain, the head of the Akatsuki. She moves to send a strike force, but he urges patience and suggests they talk it through over a drink. Far off, the Eight Man Squad trails Sasuke by Kiba's nose as the young Uchiha rests from his wounds. Karin, out gathering supplies, feels the chakra of the approaching ninja and their hounds and alerts him. Reasoning that so large a party must be a Konoha unit rather than the two-man cells the Akatsuki favour, Sasuke orders Hebi to relocate, and Karin has Jugo fasten scraps of Sasuke's clothing to birds to scatter his scent and throw off the tracking dogs.

Over sake, Jiraiya describes Amegakure as an isolated village boxed in among the Lands of Earth, Wind, and Fire, long used as a battlefield and swollen with refugees, its seclusion hiding a civil war that left half the village under Pain's control. Tsunade frets about him going in alone, but he reminds her he is one of the legendary Sannin. In the forest, Naruto scatters shadow clones to relocate Sasuke's faded trail and instead runs into Itachi, who claims he only wants to talk; when Naruto lunges, Itachi traps him in the Demonic Illusion: Mirage Crow and departs, and Naruto keeps the meeting secret from the others. As Jiraiya readies to leave Konoha, the two elders spar over Naruto's future, and Jiraiya finally admits the boy reminds him of his student Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, whom he thought of as a son, making Naruto a grandson by extension. Tsunade adds that Naruto favours his father in looks but takes after his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, in temperament.

This installment openly names Naruto's parents as Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki. In a change from the manga, the anime shows Tsunade weeping as she watches Jiraiya set off, warning him to beware of Root. Episode 126 of Naruto: Shippuden is part of the Itachi Pursuit Mission arc and adapts chapters 365 through 367, airing 10 September 2009 in Japan and 10 April 2012 in English. The opening is Light of a Firefly and the ending is My Answer.