The Forest of Chakra

Bedridden, Kakashi does the math out loud: hunter-nin destroy bodies on the spot, and senbon almost never kill. Zabuza is alive, the masked boy is his partner, and they have a week. The cure is tree climbing — chakra control drilled by walking up trunks with no hands — and the episode mines it for character: Sakura tops out first, the boys grind in furious rivalry, and Naruto swallows his pride to ask her for the trick. Below, Gato's deadline tightens around Tazuna's unfinished bridge.