Naruto's Growth

Naruto's growth gets measured against an Akatsuki. Chasing Deidara across the sky to reclaim Gaara's body, Naruto fights with the timeskip's gifts — bigger Rasengan, sharper tactics, a fury that edges toward the fox — while Kakashi works to keep him from losing himself. The episode is the arc's thesis on Naruto specifically: two and a half years stronger, but still driven by the same refusal to let a friend be taken. Deidara, impressed and alarmed, learns that the Nine-Tails' host is not the easy capture the Akatsuki expected.