Zabuza's Blade

Long ago, Sasuke had promised the imprisoned Suigetsu Hōzuki that he would set him loose one day. Now, with Orochimaru dead, Sasuke honors that vow and releases him from his water tank, naming him the first recruit for a team he is assembling alongside Karin of the Southern Hideout and Jūgo of the Northern Hideout. Suigetsu shows little interest at first, then agrees on one condition: that Sasuke help him track down Kubikiribōchō, the great sword once wielded by Zabuza Momochi of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, since it was Sasuke's old squad that brought Zabuza down.

The pair travel to the Land of Waves, where Sasuke notes the span is named the Great Naruto Bridge and drifts through memories of his first clash with Zabuza. Reaching Zabuza's grave, they discover the blade Kakashi had buried there is gone. Villagers at a restaurant point them to Tazuna, the bridge builder, but he and his grandson Inari have left for the Land of Lightning; a worker reveals the sword now belongs to a crooked boss named Tenzen Daikoku. Sasuke infiltrates Tenzen's castle by night, poses as Suigetsu, and bluffs about an incoming army of tens of thousands to rattle him.

With a rival faction already pressing Tenzen, Sasuke wagers Suigetsu they can rout the warlord's men without any killing. Suigetsu is cut in half by Tenzen's bodyguard, who wields Kubikiribōchō, but his Hydrification Technique lets him reform, and his Water Release: Great Water Arm Technique wrenches the blade free. Sasuke talks him out of executing Tenzen, and as they leave, Suigetsu realizes the entire ambush was staged so Sasuke could gauge his power. The group then heads to Karin at the Southern Hideout, where she suddenly senses a terrifying chakra nearby. The episode adapts chapters 346 and 347.