Confession (episode)

is episode 166 of the Naruto: Shippuden anime.

Synopsis
Naruto is still being pinned down by the Deva Path and is ready to take him away when Hinata appears to aid him. Naruto is not pleased by this at all and tells her to run as she is no match for the Deva Path. She stays and tells him that he's always been her inspiration. Hinata tells Naruto that she's not afraid at all to die protecting him, because she loves him, leaving Naruto speechless. As Hinata tries to break Pain's hold over Naruto, Deva Path engages her in battle. Hinata attempts to break Naruto free but is repelled by Shinra Tensei. After struggling to reach Naruto over and over, she decides to stand and fight, only to be overpowered every time. As the battle continues, Konoha shinobi start the hunt for Nagato. Nagato is weakened for a second and coughs blood, while Deva Path is hit by her, she takes the opportunity to try freeing Naruto once more, but is once more brutally repelled into the air and falls. Hinata flashes back to her childhood, where she wanted to be a great ninja like her parents. She sees a young Naruto shouting at everybody that he will become Hokage, and is told not to get involved with that boy for reasons unknown to her. She recalls running and knocking down some kid's ice cream, and the boy and his friends take her to the Ninja Academy to pick on her when she cries and attempts escape, but is caught. Naruto then arrives and tells them to stop but is punched by one of them. He rises and makes a failed attempt to make a clone. They laugh at him, and he attacks the boy and punches him. His friends pull him off and they jump him. Later, Hinata's guard arrives to chase them away, but against Hinata's will, they leave an unconscious Naruto on the ground. After the flashback, Hinata awakens to find Naruto calling her to see if she's alive, extremely frustrated. Then, she crawls towards Naruto with her remaining strength. Pain is puzzled by Hinata, who doggedly fought and protected Naruto despite her weaknesses, declaring it was her nindō as she just reaches Naruto. Through Shinra Tensei, she is hurled high up into the air and slammed hard into the ground, and is then stabbed and seemingly killed. Naruto is speechless and appears traumatised. Hinata's "death" triggered an explosion of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's power of the enraged Naruto, creating a powerful stream of the Nine Tails' chakra into the newly formed clouds.

Trivia

 * This episode heavily expands the scene from the manga. In the manga, Hinata only initiated the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists technique, but Pain stopped her from using her technique while she was running towards him. In the anime, she battles him for quite some time. She also made no attempt to remove the chakra receivers in the manga unlike in the anime. Instead, choosing a more direct approach in opting to try and force Pain away from the pinned Naruto and buy him some time.