You really don't have any manners do you, child?
When you address someone who's higher-ranking than you...
it's common courtesy to show your face.
He's covered with wounds...
Looks like it's over...
Naruto!
The Secret of the Battle!
All right... I'll listen to you.
To tell the truth,
ever since the Destruction of the Leaf incident,
Danzo has been yearning...
for an opportunity to come in contact with you, Lord Orochimaru.
His wounds are slow to heal...
Up to now,
Naruto has always been a fast healer using the Nine-Tailed Chakra...
Naruto, being in the Nine-Tail's state ...
At first glance, it appears that he is being protected
by the Nine-tail's Cloak created by the Chakra...
But in actuality,
his body is continuing to suffer damage from the Nine-tail's Cloak
After the fourth tail formed,
his body, wrapped in the Nine-Tail's Cloak, grew bloodied...
and he thrashed about despite suffering serious injuries.
The fourth tail that Jiraiya was talking about...
I wouldn't have imagined that it would be as powerful as this...
Captain Yamato...
That Jutsu that stopped Naruto earlier on...
Would you teach me that Jutsu...?
That's not possible...
The only person in the Leaf Village who can use that Jutsu is me,
since I inherited the First Hokage's cells.
What that Jutsu does is forcibly suppress the Nine-Tail's Chakra...
It's impossible for someone without that special power to use it.
My power, which is just an experimental copy,
is certainly not on the same level as the First Hokage's original.
What Naruto has hanging around his neck is something
that belonged to the First Hokage...
It's a Chakra crystal that only resonates
to the First Hokage's Chakra.
With that necklace, one can control a Jinchuriki's Chakra.
It is said that this power is the very reason
that the First Hokage became the Hokage.
And it's also the reason that
I was chosen to be the Captain of this team...
It's always like this...
All I can ever do for Naruto...
are the smallest things.
It's not important whether the things you do are large or small.
What's important...
is the magnitude of the feelings you have for Naruto.
Sakura... I can tell that when I look at you.
You truly...
S-Sakura...
Owww!
Naruto...!
What happened to me...?
I was chasing that jerk Orochimaru... and then...
And then, what did I do after that?
Hey, Sakura...
Huh?
Why are you crying, Sakura?
I just got something in my eyes...
That acid-tongued Sai said something abusive to you again, right?
Like, "You're ugly!"
Or, "You're Herculean!"
That jerk!
Sai hasn't called me Herculean...!
R-Really?
Don't make up stuff... You jerk!
By the way... Captain Yamato...
Where's Sai?
That's everything that Danzo asked me to convey.
That's extremely interesting...
And...about that story...
Why should I believe it?
What's going on here?
Just calm down...Kabuto.
That child is going to be one of our subordinates starting today.
Can you trust...this guy...?
Look inside that envelope.
It's for you, from Danzo.
This is...
What does it say?
Kabuto, let go of that child
We're taking that child along with us.
Sai...was it?
Shall we go then...?
Just as I thought...
Captain Yamato?
Sai is...
Wait a moment...
The bridge...
I did plant one on him back at the hot springs, just in case...
Oh well. I'll continue the pursuit as is.
I might not look it,
but pursuit is actually one of my strong points.
Captain Yamato...
Oh yeah...
Right now, Sai is...
traveling together with Orochimaru.
Together with...?
What does that mean?
Both of you follow me.
The earth is still soft.
The bridge is busted...
and this place is in such an awful state...
What the heck...happened?
Don't you remember?
So it's just as Master Jiraiya said, huh...?
His anger becomes the trigger...
And as the number of Fox Spirit tails he grew increased,
he maintained consciousness up until the third tail.
But by the fourth tail, he had lost all rationality...
and was controlled by destructive impulses.
Come to think of it...
why was I unconscious?
You were unconscious because you got creamed by Orochimaru.
Are you serious?! Damn!
Sai's things are scattered all over the place...
But why is this here...?
A picture book... This looks interesting...
Hey, can I take a look at it along the way?
No, you can't... It's not finished yet...
and I never hand it over to anyone as a matter of policy.
Because this belonged to my elder brother.
Sai valued this picture book...
But despite that, here it is in a place like this.
If he had to leave something so valuable behind,
it demonstrates that he was in a tense state in front of Orochimaru.
You seem to know that as if you witnessed it yourself.
Until earlier on...
I placed my Wood Clone here, and was in communication with it,
using the wireless radio implanted here.
What happened to Sai?
After Sai's...conversation with Orochimaru,
he went away with Orochimaru and Kabuto.
What does that mean?!
What did they talk about?
They were talking a distance away...
so I couldn't make out the conversation.
I wonder what they were talking about?
He might have been kidnapped and taken away.
No, it seems that he approached Orochimaru of his own volition...
and handed him something.
It was just like he was trying to cozy up to Orochimaru...
W-Wait a minute!
Even a disgusting guy like him wouldn't betray us, would he?
No, there is a possibility...
A long time ago,
he competed with the late Sarutobi Sensei...
over the position of the Third Hokage.
Unlike the Third Hokage,
he's the leader of a hard-line military faction...
based on rigid logic... and is Sai's superior.
He hates me because...
I'm the granddaughter of the First Hokage...
as well as a student of the Third Hokage who was moderate...
Captain Yamato, do you know a person named Danzo...?
Yes, I know him.
Who is...that guy?
A man from the Hawk Faction who in the past opposed the Third Hokage.
He's Sai's boss...
And an old gramps who doesn't think well of the Third Hokage's will.
Danzo may be using Sai to make some kind of move.
It's possible that...
Sai may have been given a mission...
by Danzo that is separate from ours...
There is a possibility that he was charged...
with some kind of top-secret mission...
So he's just using our mission...
in order to make contact with Orochimaru?!
That's the gist of it.
This may sound like an over-the-top theory...
but it is not outside the realm of possibility...so listen carefully.
Danzo...
may be trying to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village!
Lord Orochimaru...
I already know that, Kabuto.
It looks like we're being followed.
I wonder whether we're simply being followed...
or whether that guy, Sai, is a conspirator.
Are you suspecting him?
After all, I don't trust him yet.
Well, whatever the case, we can't split up right now.
In other words...
we may need a corpse, right, Kabuto?
Next time: "The Consequences of Betrayal"