Sasuke Recovery Mission

The Sasuke Retrieval arc spans from chapters 172 to 238 of the manga and episodes 107 to 135 of the Naruto anime. It is the last arc of Part I of the manga. In the anime, the arc is followed by a series of uneventful, short arcs.

Summary
Naruto's influence on Sasuke, though profound, is powerless to prevent Sasuke from leaving his village and friends to receive training from Orochimaru. Sasuke's decision to leave is the result of a chain of events that rekindles his hatred for his brother and desire to avenge his clan. To do so, he must claim a great amount of power that becomes the center of his entire life.

Humiliated by Itachi's declaration that he is disappointingly weak and aware of the fact that Naruto may be his superior, Sasuke challenges Naruto to a fight when Naruto returns to Konoha. They engage in a heated duel on the rooftop of the hospital, where Naruto tells Sasuke that he never considered himself inferior to Sasuke. Kakashi leaps in to stop the fight just when Naruto and Sasuke are about to use their Rasengan and Chidori on each other, deflecting both their attacks into adjacent water towers. While Sasuke's Chidori makes a larger dent on the front of the tower than Naruto's Rasengan, Sasuke is shocked to find that the back of Naruto's water tank has been completely blown out by the power of his Rasengan. Sasuke realizes he may have lost the fight and received major injuries if Kakashi hadn't stopped the fight. This only makes Sasuke even angrier that Naruto is getting stronger by the day and could actually be able to defeat him in battle.

Ever since the Chunin exam and the fight against Gaara of the Sand, Sasuke felt that Naruto had been improving immensely. Naruto only wanted recognition from Sasuke, recognition that he really had gotten stronger. However, Sasuke would never recognize Naruto, because by doing so, he would also have to admit that he is weaker than him. Despite a lecture from Kakashi about the pointlessness of revenge, the appearance of Orochimaru's Sound Four with an offer of greater powers and yet another humiliating pummeling took Sasuke over the edge. Sasuke went to leave the village that night and was met up by Sakura, whom had tried to convince him to not leave Konoha.

During this conversation, a crying Sakura confessed her love to Sasuke and begged him not to leave the village. Once she realized that he was going to leave either way, she had offered to go with him to help him enact his revenge which he ultimately refused. As a last resort, Sakura threatened to scream and alert the village guards if Sasuke left, and finally, having hit a nerve, Sasuke moves from in front of Sakura to behind her in a flash of speed. He thanks her for everything she has done for him thus far before knocking her unconscious and laying her on a nearby bench before leaving the village.

Choji vs. Jirobo
A five-man squad is set up by Shikamaru, including himself, Kiba, Naruto, Choji, and Neji. They easily catch up to the Sound Four, who are escorting Sasuke to Orochimaru. Strategies are not used; rather, the team splits up. The same was on the part of the Sound Four: they dropped people one by one, and Choji ends up fighting Jirobo by himself. Using two of the secret pills of the Akimichi Clan, Choji is able to increase his chakra enough to keep from being defeated. In the end, he has to consume the red pepper pill which increases his chakra a hundredfold but leaves him in an extremely critical condition usually resulting to death. Taking the pill slims down his body as the excess calories were converted into butterfly wings of chakra. After getting back at Jirobo for eating the last chip and calling him fat, Choji puts all his chakra and power into his fist and kills Jirobo for insulting his best friend, Shikamaru.

Neji vs. Kidomaru
Next, Neji ends up fighting Kidomaru. Kidomaru has trouble at short range since Neji's Byakugan and Juken are too powerful to penetrate. Kidomaru ends up fighting from long-range, but the battle is locked in a stalemate until Kidomaru discovers a weakness of the Byakugan: it has a blind spot behind Neji's first thoracic vertebrae. Knowing that he will be hit in this area, Neji intentionally allows Kidomaru hit him with a powerful arrow, to which Kidomaru had affixed a chakra string to ensure accuracy. However, Neji uses the chakra string to use his Gentle Fist to damage Kidomaru's internal organs. Neji then catches up with Kidomaru, and uses his 8 Trigrams to close Kidomaru's tenketsu (chakra holes); Kidomaru dies shortly after. Neji is left in a critical state after the fight.

Kiba and Akamaru vs. Sakon and Ukon/Shikamaru vs. Tayuya
Shikamaru is matched up with Tayuya, while Kiba and Akamaru are with Sakon and Ukon. Kiba and Akamaru do an amazing tag team on Sakon, but Sakon splits with Ukon right before Kiba and Akamaru lay a devastating blow. Sakon and Ukon activate their cursed seal to level two, which are far too powerful for Kiba and Akamaru. Meanwhile, Shikamaru, despite all his prowess at strategy, simply cannot kill Tayuya because of her sheer force. He manages to use his Shadow Possession Jutsu on her three summons, but she quickly dispels them both. Then he catches her in his Shadow Possession Jutsu, then his Shadow Strangle Jutsu, while at the same time, Akamaru has gotten injured and Kiba will not leave him, and without Akamaru to do their combo's, Kiba and Akamaru are forced to run away (Kiba himself had to stab himself, in order to escape), and Shikamaru, for once, can't come up with any ideas to beat Tayuya, and is forced to keep his Shadow strangle jutsu on her. Finally, Shikamaru and Kiba are ready to accept their deaths. However, before the finishing strike can be executed, the Sand ninja arrive to help.

The Sand Arrives
Right before they die, they are aided by Temari and Kankuro respectively, who have been ordered to help the Konoha ninja. Kankuro's puppets are unaffected by Sakon and Ukon's ability to fuse with cells. When Sakon arrives, he attempts to do the same thing he almost did with Kiba, but Kankuro turns out to be his new puppet Kuroari (aka. the Black Ant) to injure Sakon, forcing them to fuse back and Ukon to take over. Kankuro then traps Sakon and Ukon inside his puppet Kuroari. Kankuro then uses Karasu to stab them through holes in Kuroari, and uses Karasu and Kuroari to do a devastating and deadly combo, Secret Black Move: Iron Maiden, killing the brothers. Meanwhile, since Tayuya uses sound, Temari's wind was a natural enemy. Temari uses her Wind Scythe Jutsu, which blows away Tayuya and cutting her flute in half. Shikamaru uses this time to tell Temari about Tayuya's strategies. After a while, Tayuya fixes her flute and is ready to kill Shikamaru and Temari, but Temari uses her Summoning Technique and uses the Summoning: Blade Dance which is able to kill Tayuya by destroying an entire tract of the forest, in which the sliced debris crushed the latter.

Kimimaro
Last, Kimimaro, who is stronger than all four of the Sound Four combined, comes to aid the escort mission. At first, he is faced with Naruto, but even Naruto's massive amounts of shadow clones prove to be no match for Kimimaro, whose taijutsu skills are more than a match for Naruto's superior numbers. Naruto even uses his Nine-Tailed Fox Chakra, and he is still losing. Rock Lee then comes to help Naruto, allowing Naruto to chase after Sasuke while Lee fights Kimimaro.

Both Lee and Kimimaro are taijutsu experts, but since Lee recently recovered from his surgery, he is not in top shape. Lee drinks some sake that he thought was medicine and becomes intoxicated, and fights with the Drunken Fist style. With this added unpredictability, Lee gains an upper hand against Kimimaro. However, he clearly has no idea what he is doing, who he is fighting, and why he feels so drunk. After a while, Kimimaro is forced to do his Dance of the Camellia, but Rock Lee then appears to be virtually invincible, and lays a devastating blow to Kimimaro. Seeing that there is no chance of him defeating Lee in his present state, Kimimaro uses his Cursed Seal Level One and overpowers Lee, manifesting his horrific ability to use his bones at will. Not only this, but Lee begins to sober-up. Lee would have been killed if Gaara had not arrived in time and used his sand to protect Lee.

Clearly, Kimimaro is at a disadvantage, since Gaara can block all physical attacks and Kimimaro can only use physical attacks. However, like the Sound Four, Kimimaro is able to get past Gaara's defense and offense by sheer force. Kimimaro's bones are so tough that they simply force their way through Gaara's sand. Even Sand Waterfall Funeral and other crushing forces can't bring down Kimimaro, as he creates a film of bone beneath his skin to protect himself. Kimimaro would have defeated and killed Gaara with his last attack, but just before Kimimaro could finish Gaara, his terminal illness ended his life.

Naruto vs. Sasuke
Naruto catches up to Sasuke and they do battle. Sasuke's Cursed Seal of Heaven, which had been powered up by a pill given to him by the Sound Four (this was why he was in the coffin), gives Sasuke inhuman strength, which he uses to reduce Naruto to almost rag-doll levels. Meanwhile, Sasuke recalls his experiences with Itachi and his parents up to the point of the Uchiha Clan Massacre. It is in these memories that the Mangekyo Sharingan and how Itachi obtained it (by killing his best friend, Shisui Uchiha) is revealed; it is also revealed that Itachi had encouraged Sasuke to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, the only way he could exact revenge on Itachi, by any means necessary, and this becomes Sasuke's motivation for killing Naruto, who he claims to be his best friend.

Back in Konoha, Kakashi Hatake, put up to speed on the situation, summons his ninken to track down Naruto and Sasuke, including Pakkun. Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke unleash the Rasengan and Chidori respectively, causing each other to fly backwards. Activating his Cursed Seal, Sasuke uses his enhanced speed and strength to overcome Naruto and strike him with a Chidori. Naruto manages to block the attack, but Sasuke, still intent on killing Naruto, tries to strangle Naruto, only to have himself thrown aside by a demon-fox powered opponent.

With his enhanced abilities, Naruto easily overwhelms Sasuke, and tries to reason with him, only to have Sasuke ultimately reject his efforts, though Sasuke finally admits they're fighting as equals. In this moment, Sasuke's Sharingan finally matures, enabling him to predict Naruto's movements and once again turn the tables. Upset by Naruto's persistence, Sasuke knocks him unconscious with Peregrine Falcon Drop. The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, probably to save itself, gives Naruto even more of its chakra, creating, for the first time, the second stage of Naruto's demon fox transformations, the one-tailed demon fox's cloak. With one arm of the cloak, Naruto unleashes powerful short and long-range attacks, which Sasuke, even with his Sharingan, cannot keep up with.

Feeling he has no choice, Sasuke increases his Cursed Seal of Heaven to Level 2, once again evening the playing field. Both Sasuke and Naruto realize the cost of their respective abilities at that point, but both decide that they have no other choice. Sasuke reveals that the location of their fight is the Valley of the End, and determined to end the battle, forces the use of a third Chidori. Naruto creates, using one hand, and the cloak's chakra as a shell, a purple Rasengan. Sasuke's Chidori, after a moment, warps into the Flapping Chidori. The two ninja collide their attacks; Sasuke, planning to punch Naruto in the heart, deliberately misses and targets the gut instead, while Naruto, referring to one of Sasuke's insults, scratches his headband. A black dome of energy forms around them, which eventually dissipates, revealing the two ninja as their current forms, and then as their childish forms, who hold hands and smile. When the dust settles, Sasuke comes out victorious.

Sasuke ponders whether to kill an unconscious Naruto, but decides to leave him alive in the end. Kakashi and Pakkun arrive; disappointed they were too late, Kakashi takes Naruto back to Konoha. At the same time, Sasuke decides to gain the power to kill Itachi his own way, through Orochimaru, as he walks off to Otogakure. It is then revealed that Akatsuki member, Zetsu, was watching the fight the whole time.

Ending
As Kakashi takes Naruto back to Konoha, several medic-nin appear to update him on the situation and to take care of Naruto "and Sasuke", which Kakashi deems unnecessary for obvious reasons in both cases. Neji and Choji both undergo intensive medical treatment; both are successfully healed, though Choji would have died if it wasn't for the Nara Clan's medical tome and Tsunade's medical prowess. Kiba and Akamaru heal from their moderate injuries, under the care of Hana. Shikamaru, with his only his finger injured, decides to end his ninja career, as he put his team's life in danger and his mission failed, but Shikaku convinces him to persevere. Sasuke is shown walking with Orochimaru and Kabuto in one of Orochimaru's lairs.

Shikamaru pays Naruto a visit in his room, while Sakura decides to visit Naruto "and Sasuke", only to be severely disappointed by Naruto's failure to bring Sasuke back, as she overheard Naruto and Shikamaru's conversation. Naruto, however, declares his promise to keep to his original promise, to which Sakura gratefully responds. After her visit to Naruto, Sakura, realizing how useless she had been in keeping Sasuke in Konoha, requests Tsunade to take her on as her apprentice, to which Tsunade consents. Naruto's next visitor is Jiraiya, who reveals that Orochimaru had already taken a body before Sasuke arrived (so he has to wait another three years to take another body) and tries to convince Naruto to give up on Sasuke, based on his similar experience with Orochimaru. Naruto, however, refuses to quit his efforts. Jiraiya, who figures it pointless to change Naruto's mind, decides to train Naruto for two-and-a-half years, to prepare Naruto for the Akatsuki, which Naruto readily accepts.

In the anime, Naruto is forced to remain in Konoha for a few months before setting out with Jiraiya. In the manga, he leaves as soon as he gets out of the hospital. Sakura also asks to become Tsunade's apprentice at a later point in the anime.