Search for Tsunade

The Search for Tsunade arc spans from chapters 139 to 171 of the manga and episodes 81 to 100 of the Naruto anime. The beginning of the arc is sometimes called the "Return of Itachi arc".

Return of Itachi
After Naruto defeats Gaara, helping save the village from destruction, Jiraiya is approached by Konoha's village elders and they ask Jiraiya to become the new Hokage but he respectfully declines the offer. Feeling that if he couldn't stop the Third Hokage from getting killed he doesn't deserve the title, instead he offers to find his former teammate and fellow Sannin, Tsunade and ask her to be Hokage. But, then Jiraiya asks for one condition that he gets to take Naruto for extra training and for his protection. Jiraiya then approaches Naruto at the Ichiraku Ramen shop and asks him to accompany him on his journey, at first Naruto refuses but the only way he was able to convince Naruto to go with is by telling Naruto that he could teach him a new jutsu stronger than Sasuke's Chidori. Naruto quickly agrees and sets out on the journey with him. The reason Jiraiya wanted to take him on his journey was so he could protect Naruto from the Akatsuki, an organization that is after the demon fox and the rest of the Tailed Beasts. Jiraiya wanted to make Naruto strong enough, so he could fight on his own against Akatsuki eventually.

However, not everything goes according to plan. Two strangers in black garb examine the damage to the village from a distance arriving shortly after Jiraiya and Naruto's departure looking for Naruto. Kakashi, waiting for Sasuke to have lunch, runs into Asuma and Kurenai in the middle of the village, of which they notice the two strangers drinking tea nearby overhearing the Jonin's conversation about Naruto's departure with Jiraiya. These two strangers start heading out of the village when they encounter Asuma and Kurenai.

The pair then introduce themselves one by one as the large one introduces himself as Kisame Hoshigaki, a missing-nin from Kirigakure. And the other more menacing one introduces himself as Itachi Uchiha and after a short battle they learn they are no match for these powerful adversaries but then in the last moment Kakashi arrives to assist in the battle. Kisame eagerly attempts to fight Kakashi but Itachi wants to take care of Kakashi. Itachi is so fast that the Jonin couldn't see him forming any hand signs and a battle of jutsu initiates afterwards. Itachi then activates his Mangekyo Sharingan and Kakashi is caught in Itachi's genjutsu: Tsukuyomi.

Tsukuyomi, or “Nightmare Realm”, shows Kakashi tied to a plank of wood levitating over an endless ocean then Itachi appears in front of him and starts to stab Kakashi with a sword. Then seemingly more clones appear of Itachi with their own swords and start to stab Kakashi over and over again into what appears to be three days but in actuality only one second has passed. With Kakashi incapacitated Kisame charges at the Jonin, Asuma and Kurenai are now helpless until Might Guy appears in a spectacular fashion kicking Kisame away. Kisame is about to engage a counterattack but Itachi declares that this fight has gone on long enough and that they are not here to start a war and then vanish.

Naruto and Jiraiya make a stop at a post-station a short distance away from the village. While Kakashi is in the hospital the Jonin are discussing why Itachi would come back to the village until figuring out he was after Naruto during which Sasuke walks in asking what happened to Kakashi. Inadvertently, Sasuke learns that Itachi came back to the village and was looking for Naruto. Sasuke hurries around the village, to Naruto's apartment, and the Ramen shop where he learns that Naruto left with Jiraiya and that they stopped at the post-station outside the village. Sasuke starts to run towards the station when Jiraiya eyes a beautiful woman and tells Naruto to go back to the hotel room and practice his jutsu while Jiraiya took the woman out on a date. Sasuke reaches the post-station but not before Itachi and Kisame find him first they force Naruto out into the hallway and right before Itachi and Kisame take Naruto away Sasuke appears behind Itachi. Sasuke stares down Itachi intensely and Kisame notices how much Sasuke and Itachi look alike to which Kisame asks who he is and Itachi replies "He's my younger brother" and Sasuke activates his Chidori and declares "I lived my life like you told me to, I've resented you, and hated you, now I am going to kill you" and Sasuke charges at Itachi. But, Itachi stops Sasuke's Chidori and breaks Sasuke's wrist soon after this Jiraiya appears after being temporarily fooled by Itachi placing a genjutsu on the woman Jiraiya took out.

As Kisame holds off the recently returned Jiraiya, Sasuke is nearly beaten to death, and Itachi uses his Mangekyo Sharingan to injure Sasuke mentally using Tsukuyomi. Finally intervening, Jiraiya uses his Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Trap to force Itachi and Kisame to flee via Amaterasu. When Naruto and Jiraiya tend to Sasuke, Might Guy appears to take Sasuke back to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Later, Jiraiya tells Naruto that the Akatsuki are after the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit inside Naruto. Naruto understands that he must become stronger, so he could protect himself and the people he cares about and Naruto and Jiraiya resume their search for Tsunade.

Search for Tsunade
The search for Tsunade leads Naruto and Jiraiya to Tanzaku City. At the same time, Orochimaru and Kabuto also look for Tsunade so that she can heal Orochimaru's arms. While Jiraiya prowls the town "looking for information" (or hitting on young ladies), Naruto practices the three steps required for learning the move that is stronger than Chidori, the Rasengan. The first step emphasizes rotation, practiced by trying to pop a water balloon. The second step is power, practiced by exploding a rubber ball. The third step emphasizes control, and the power and rotation in the first two steps must be used at 100%, while maintaining the ball of chakra inside a regular balloon without popping the balloon. When Naruto finishes the first two steps, Jiraiya finally finds out that Tsunade is at Tanzaku City, and they head out, with Naruto working on the third step on the journey.

When Jiraiya and Naruto finally get to Tanzaku City, Orochimaru had reached Tsunade first. Orochimaru offered Tsunade an exchange: heal Orochimaru's arms, and Orochimaru will bring Tsunade's little brother and lover back using Summoning: Impure World Resurrection. However, Tsunade must provide two human sacrifices. Orochimaru extends his deadline for her decision to a week, and leaves her.

That night, Jiraiya and Naruto go to a bar to eat and find out information about Tsunade, only to find Tsunade herself there, along with her assistant, Shizune. However, she declines Jiraiya's offer to become the Fifth Hokage, saying that only fools would want the title of Hokage. This irritates Naruto greatly, and Naruto and Tsunade head outside to "fight". Tsunade easily handles Naruto using only one finger, but when Naruto declares that it is his dream to become Hokage, Tsunade immediately sees the connection between Naruto and her brother and lover. Her reverie leaves Tsunade open, and Naruto takes the opportunity to try to use Rasengan on her, though it was incomplete. Upon seeing the Rasengan, Tsunade makes a bet with him; if he can master Rasengan in a week, she will give him the necklace of the First Hokage. If he loses, she confiscates his frog wallet and all its contents. Naruto accepts after learning the value of the necklace, and goes to train. Shizune is surprised that Tsunade uses the necklace in a bet, since the people that Tsunade tried to give it to (her brother and her lover) both died horribly the next day. Shizune explains this, and Naruto toughens his resolve to get it, not returning to the hotel at all for six days. On the sixth day, Shizune finds Naruto unconscious and brings him back, and Naruto recovers after just a night's sleep because of the demon fox's chakra. That night Orochimaru dispatches Kabuto to assassinate Shizune to avoid any interference in his plan and Shizune tries to stop Tsunade from going to meet Orochimaru only to get knocked out by Tsunade.

Naruto wakes up the next day to find out from Shizune that Tsunade is going to meet with Orochimaru, then Jiraiya arrives revealing that Tsunade had drugged his sake the previous night. Unaware that Kabuto has observed them and is surprised to find both Naruto and Jiraiya there, he chooses to retreat just as the three rush to find her. Tsunade arrives and attempts to secretly kill Orochimaru with her medical jutsu only to be stopped by Kabuto himself revealing her attentions as he is also a medical ninja. Alerting Orochimaru that Jiraiya is nearby the two lure Tsunade to an open grass field to buy some time to capture Tsunade. Though at first she is able to hold Kabuto off, Kabuto is able to get the upperhand by exploiting Tsunade's hemophobia (fear of blood). That is when Jiraiya, Naruto, and Shizune arrive in time to stop Kabuto from killing Tsunade.

While Jiraiya tries his best to hold off Orochimaru despite his handicap of being unable to fully control his chakra due to Tsunade's potion, Naruto and Shizune try to protect Tsunade. Kabuto knocks out Shizune and proceeds to attack Tsunade, but Naruto gets in the way. Infuriated, Kabuto pummels Naruto, all the while telling Naruto that he was only a ninja by luck and that he could never dream of being on the same level as Sasuke. This only fuels Naruto's resolve, and when Kabuto charges with a kunai, Naruto allows his hand to get impaled by the weapon, effectively trapping Kabuto in position. He then uses a shadow clone to mold chakra into his free hand, and hits Kabuto with a fully formed Rasengan, which shocks both Tsunade and Orochimaru. The Rasengan was so powerful that even with Kabuto's excellent regeneration ability, there was still too much damage for Kabuto to repair. However, prior to getting hit by the Rasengan, Kabuto had severed Naruto's arteries leading to the heart, so Naruto would die soon.

Touched by Naruto's resolution, Tsunade vows to heal Naruto (he can't recover himself because the demon fox's chakra cannot be used if the heart's arteries are cut). Tsunade is able to heal Naruto, but Orochimaru realizes that Naruto has become too powerful, and his only chance to kill Naruto would be right now. Orochimaru lunges at Naruto with the Kusanagi sword, but Tsunade uses her body to shield Naruto multiple times. When Orochimaru questions her actions, she tells Orochimaru that it is because Naruto would be the future Hokage, and then determinedly announcing, "And from today onwards, I too will bet my life to protect the Leaf, because I am the Fifth Hokage!" Tsunade finally overcomes her hemophobia.

Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru all use Summoning Technique, and they summon Katsuyu the slug, Gamabunta the toad, and Manda the snake, respectively. After a short battle between the summoned beasts, Tsunade is able to drive Gamabunta's sword down on Manda's mouth, thereby pinning him to the ground. Since Manda cannot move anymore, he leaves. Tsunade then proceeds to beat up Orochimaru with her monstrous strength. Orochimaru admits that this plan failed, but warns Tsunade that he can still revive his arms using another technique, and then leaves with Kabuto.

Tsunade then puts her necklace on Naruto, saying that just once more, she wants to believe. When Naruto comes back around, the fight is over, and Gamabunta and Katsuyu are gone. Upon hearing that Tsunade has now accepted the title of Fifth Hokage, Naruto proceeds to run down the reasons why she wasn't a good choice (and there were quite a few). Annoyed, Tsunade once again challenges Naruto to a fight outside. And once again, she handles Naruto with ease, but instead of flicking him away with a finger, she symbolically plants a kiss on his forehead, like she did with Nawaki and Dan when she gave them the necklace, telling him to "be a good man", and (thinking to herself) an excellent Hokage. With that, Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya and Naruto head back to Konoha.

Upon their return, Naruto hears that the village of Konoha must continue their missions. Iruka explains to Naruto (over a cup of ramen, of course) that they must not show other villages that they are weak, so they do as many missions as they did before Orochimaru's invasion, even though their strength has been cut in half.

Tsunade is known as a great medical ninja, and she heals Sasuke and Kakashi of their ailments received during the fight with Itachi. She sees Lee (who was badly injured during his fight with Gaara in the Chunin Exam preliminary rounds) after persistent nagging from many characters, and tells him that he should discontinue being a ninja. There are fragments of bone in his spine, and the one operation that can be done (and also can only be done by her) has a 50% chance of either curing him or killing him.

Konohamaru, grandson of the Third Hokage, becomes upset at the thought of a new Hokage, especially a girl, and shows his anger by lashing out at his friends (including Naruto) and locking himself in Tsunade's new office. While this occurs, Tsunade is introduced to the large amount of work required of a Hokage, and is reluctant at first, but finds herself oddly interested in Lee's case. Konohamaru's friends, Moegi and Udon, along with Naruto, try to find ways to let Konohamaru out, since he set a lot of obstacles that lead to Tsunade's new office. Tsunade, who was looking for a book in her new office, successfully got in, destroying all of Konohamaru's obstacles with her mighty strength. Naruto and Konohamaru are walking down the street and they overhear Shizune talking to Tsunade, and they hear the Fifth Hokage state her concern and her motivation to help Lee. This convinces Konohamaru that Tsunade really is a good replacement for his grandfather.

Just minutes before Tsunade is inaugurated as the Fifth Hokage in front of the villagers, Shizune stumbles upon an open book on Tsunade's desk. It shows a series of mathematical equations surrounding a chart of a body. "50%" is written and crossed out, followed by an arrow pointing to a circle, which contains "58%", and Shizune can only smile.