The Fourth's Legacy!!

Aware that Naruto is the prize Itachi and Kisame have come for, Kakashi flashes back to a warning Jiraiya once gave him. The Sannin had explained that he intended to keep watch over the boy, worried that a shadowy group known as Akatsuki would eventually hunt the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox bound inside him. Piecing this together, Kakashi presses Itachi to admit his membership. Furious that his enemy has this knowledge, Itachi orders Kisame to seize him.

The swordsman lunges, but Guy bursts onto the scene and knocks him back before any harm lands. Judging the situation no longer worth the trouble, Itachi withdraws and takes Kisame with him. In another part of the story, Jiraiya works to recruit Naruto for the hunt to locate Tsunade. The offer means nothing to the boy until Jiraiya dangles a technique said to surpass Sasuke's Chidori, and Naruto immediately agrees, setting off from Konoha at his teacher's side.

Kakashi recalls Jiraiya's earlier confession that he had taken on the role of Naruto's guardian against Akatsuki. Kakashi openly names the organisation to Itachi, provoking an order for his capture. Guy's arrival forces the two intruders to retreat rather than press the fight.

Jiraiya secures Naruto's cooperation for the search by promising to teach him something stronger than the Chidori, and the pair depart the village together.

This installment, titled after the Fourth Hokage's inheritance, belongs to the Search for Tsunade arc and appeared in volume 16. Viz Media published it under the name The Fourth Hokage's Legacy!! It ran in Japan in issue 47 of 2002.