Homecoming (episode)

is episode 1 of the Naruto: Shippūden anime. It and episode 2 were originally aired together as an hour-long premiere special.

Synopsis
The episode begins with Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato searching for Sasuke in Orochimaru's lair. There is a huge explosion, destroying a large are of the lair. Naruto and Sakura reunite with Sasuke before he tries to kill Naruto. As Sasuke swings his sword to stab Naruto in the back, the screen goes white and the intro sequence begins. After that, everything has shifted back to when Naruto returned to the village after his two and a half year long training journey.

The squad of Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon are seen scampering out of a forest in Konoha, chasing a cat. Konohamaru runs into Teuchi, the owner of the Ichiraku ramen restaurant. Teuchi calls out "Naruto!", only to find himself next to Konohamaru. The cat finds himself in an alley, yet it is subdued after a short bout with Konohamaru. They report to Ebisu, their sensei. Unfortunately, as Ebisu tells his squad back at the Hokage tower, they are still lacking in strength and ability. As Naruto had in the past, Konohamaru demands a higher ranked mission. The genin promises that he will become the Seventh Hokage, because he is totally convinced that Naruto will be the Sixth.

Meanwhile, Naruto returns to Konoha, and finds that it hasn't changed much since the beginning of his training with Jiraiya, except that Tsunade's face had been added to the Hokage monument. Sakura and the others soon spot him, and while Sakura notes Naruto's change, Naruto blatantly tells her that she hasn't changed one bit, making her slightly angry. Konohamaru meets up with them, performing the Sexy Technique nearly perfectly. Naruto says he will not do that again because he's no longer a kid. Sakura thinks that Naruto has matured but when he reveals he has perfected it, it caused Sakura to give him a powerful punch, courtesy of her training under Tsunade, and verbally assaults him for almost not having changed one bit. And Naruto thinks "As I thought, Sakura-chan hasn't changed a bit, if possible, shes gotten even fiercer." And Sakura shouts at him. At the Hokage tower, Naruto catches up with Tsunade, who wishes to see how much he's learned by putting him up against a certain opponent who hasn't been given missions in a while. Before the name of the opponent can be given, the door to the office opens and the episode ends.

Trivia

 * The cat that Team Ebisu captures is Tora, the same cat that Squad 7 captured in the pre-Shippuden series. Also, the beginning dialog between the two teams are almost identical when first talking about their target.
 * Tora scratches both Naruto and Konohamaru's faces when he is caught.
 * Both Konohamaru and Naruto react and speak the same dialog when both teams return Tora to his owner. They then react the same way when given their next mission.