The Best Episodes Directed By Masaaki Kumagai

Minato is forced to use his Flying Raijin jutsu and leave his wife Kushina behind to save their newborn son, Naruto, from a masked assailant.

Having absorbed the chakras of all nine Tailed Beasts, the Gedo Statue begins its transformation into Ten Tails. Naruto, Killer Bee, Kakashi, and Guy try to destroy the Gedo Statue but are stopped by the masked man.

Jiraiya realizes that the six Pains are all ninja he's met before. Putting various pieces of information together, Jiraiya figures out Pain's true identity, but Pain doesn't intend to allow Jiraiya to leave with that information alive. Elsewhere, the fated meeting between Itachi and Sasuke arrives, and Sasuke foresees Itachi's death.

Ten Tails is on the brink of its final transformation and begins to form a massive Tailed Beast Bomb.

Naruto's past, thoughts, and feelings flow into the consciousness of every shinobi, unifying their hearts.

Naruto and the Allied Shinobi Forces successfully extract the Tailed Beasts from Obito. Only Madara remains, and Naruto heads out to tackle this foe.

Before Naruto and Sasuke can attempt to seal Kaguya away, she transports Sasuke into a different Time-Space. Obito realizes that Kaguya’s ability to travel through Time-Space is similar to Kakashi’s and his own Visual Prowess. Obito and Sakura team up and begin the search for Sasuke.

Kankuro’s commando unit enters enemy territory to set up a stronghold for the Allied Shinobi Forces. They are immediately ambushed by the Akatsuki’s own commando unit comprised of the reanimated Deidara and Sasori.

The Allied Shinobi Forces begin their onslaught against Obito and Madara. But Ten Tails suddenly transforms and hurls powerful Tailed Beast Bombs toward distant towns.

Pain confronts Tsunade and questions her about Naruto's whereabouts. Tsunade argues with Pain about his motives, but Pain soon gets the info he needs from another source. Before preparing to depart, Pain unleashes a devastating attack on the village! Meanwhile, Naruto prepares to return to the Leaf Village, but he may be too late.

Sakura destroys the Third Kazekage puppet thanks to a secret antidote she had taken.

Teams Kakashi and Guy take a short rest. Granny Chiyo watches Naruto dozing off and is reminded of Sasori as a child. The pursuit resumes, and when Chiyo wonders why Naruto puts such effort into...

After failing to bring back Sasuke, the Leaf ninja start heading back to the Hidden Leaf Village. Tsunade, however, sends Katsuyu to inform them that the barrier of Mount Katsunagi of the Tsuchigumo Clan, which holds a powerful forbidden jutsu, is broken. While Kakashi and Team 8 head back to the Leaf Village, Team 7, lead by Yamato, must check out what events are taking place.

A group of Allied Shinobi, including Omoi and Maki of the Sand, battle against several reanimated enemies. Maki recognizes one of them as Pakura, her former master who was a Sand Village hero.

The reborn Team Kakashi continues to investigate the recent attack by Kabuto and the reincarnated shinobi when Naruto gets swallowed by a giant snake, but manages to escape using shadow clones, and accidentally ingests snakes that were present in the pond which Kabuto uses to summon Hidan.

Naruto and Killer Bee face off against the masked man originally thought to be Madara Uchiha, in addition to the reanimated Jinchuriki. Naruto is shocked when he recognizes one of the Jinchuriki.

The Five Kage are outmatched by the real Madara Uchiha’s devastating attacks. Just when Third Tsuchikage Ohnoki is about to give up, he remembers the words of the previous Tsuchikage.

While pursuing Orochimaru, Kakashi wanders into a village inhabited by the Iburi Clan, a group of people with the unique ability to turn into smoke. Kakashi is soon captured and learns that the villagers all serve under Orochimaru.