Plot Introduction:
Current Akatsuki members: Konan, Zetsu, Pain, Hidan. The rest have all perished in battle (Deidara sacrificed himself in an explosion during the battle with Sasuke, Sasori was killed by Chiyo and Sakura and replaced by Obito, Itachi was killed by Sasuke, Hidan was buried underground by Shikamaru using explosive tags, and Kakuzu was defeated by Naruto and Kakashi). Jiraiya died in battle (against Pain). Before his death, Itachi helped awaken Sasuke's eyes, who now possesses the "six-pointed star" shaped Mangekyo Sharingan, and has stated his intention to attack the higher-ups of Konoha but does not wish to indiscriminately kill innocents.
The Sage of Deep Stream appears in Konoha, bringing news of Jiraiya's death and confirming Naruto as the "Child of Prophecy." The medical team and cipher squad are analyzing the information left behind by Jiraiya. After learning about Jiraiya's death, Naruto becomes dispirited. Shikamaru takes Naruto to visit Kurenai-sensei, who carries Asuma's child, to counsel Naruto and seek information regarding the decoding of the cipher.
Naruto deduces that the number "9" in the cipher "9, 31, 8, 106, 7, 207, 15" is not the numeral "9" but the katakana "タ", leading him to associate the numbers in the cipher with the page numbers from Jiraiya's book "Make-Out Tactics," concluding that the cipher might mean "no original body." Meanwhile, Akatsuki plans to attack Konoha to capture the Nine-Tails within Naruto, while Sasuke and his "Taka" group are tasked with capturing the Eight-Tails.
Since deciphering the cipher in detail will take a long time, the Sage of Deep Stream asks Naruto to follow him to Mount Myoboku for training in senjutsu (sage techniques). On the other hand, the "Taka" group, now wearing Akatsuki's red cloud uniforms, arrives in the Land of Lightning and locates the Eight-Tails. After a fierce battle, Sasuke uses the Amaterasu from his Mangekyo Sharingan to narrowly defeat the Eight-Tails, while Naruto completes his sage mode training and prepares to face off against Akatsuki...