Naruto: Shippūden

After the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sasuke set off on a journey in order to atone for the sins he committed, and later to pursue the mystery of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Sasuke narrates how he once desired revenge against his brother, Itachi Uchiha, for murdering their clan and then against Konohagakure until he was stopped by his best friend, Naruto Uzumaki. In addition to seeking retribution for his sins, Sasuke seeks out to establish a new path so he can decide how he should protect the things most important to him

In the aftermath of the war, the five great nations are enjoying peace. Konoha and Kirigakure have recently introduced a new training course for rookie ninja, which the Mizukage contributes to Naruto's desire to have the nations cooperate and spread cultural knowledge. The Mizukage, while content with the friendly relations among the nations, is only upset that she is approaching the age where she is too late to get married. The Mizukage, Mei Terumī, is impressed with Chōjūrō's maturity and considers naming him as her successor. A Kirigakure ship about to enter the Land of Lightning until another boat mysterious veers to close and almost crashes into it until a mysterious person with red eyes attacks the occupants. Despite their efforts, the stranger easily defeats them. Kumogakure shinobi receive the ship and find that the stranger has placed the Kiri shinobi under genjutsu. They speculate that the stranger's red eyes is a dōjutsu and are attacked.

Sasuke is travelling near the Land of Water and reveals he has been travelling for a few years already, seeking atonement and to research the reason why Kaguya was creating a White Zetsu Army. Sasuke narrates how he returned to Konoha after the war, but left soon after to start his journey of observing things about the world he overlooked. Sasuke receives a message from the Sixth Hokage that more than a hundred Kiri and Kumo shinobi have disappeared and the villages are requesting Sasuke's help. He accepts and decides to go to the Land of Lightning. While in the Land of Hot Water, he finds a bamboo village that appears deserted but he discovers people hiding after using his Sharingan. He is then attacked by an elderly villager named Iou, who accuses Sasuke of being a member of the Dark Thunder Group. Sasuke easily disarms him. Chino and Nowaki diffuse the situation and apologise to Sasuke. Iou explains that the Dark Thunder Group is an organization of rogue ninjas who killed his daughter and seem to admire Sasuke, who is displeased that a criminal organisation is tarnishing his name. Iou, Chino, and Nowaki plead for Sasuke to stay so he can stop the Dark Thunder Group, which he initially rejects but then silently relents. The Dark Thunder Group learns of Sasuke's whereabouts and its leader, Karyū, decides to find Sasuke and kill him.

In Konoha, Kakashi becomes increasingly worried about the disappearances, despite the best attempts of Konoha, Kiri, and Kumo trying to solve the mystery. Kakashi reveals he chose Sasuke to investigate due to his Sharingan and Rinnegan being able to cast out genjutsu. Shizune, Sakura Haruno, Naruto and Sai come into his office to inform Kakashi that Sai has been in touch with Sasuke and there are no updates on the disappearances. Sakura reveals that she was doing some research and discovered that there have been other disappearances involving Konoha shinobi, including a regular patron of Ino Yamanaka's family named Tadaichi. They are alerted that intruders managed to enter the village and explosions are being set off, causing massive fires. Naruto, Sakura and Sai are joined with Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akimichi, and Ino, and they converse on what information they currently have. They find the Barrier Team ninja battling the intruders, and Ino recognises one of them as Tadaichi. Sakura also recognises the other intruders as the missing Konoha shinobi. Before they can engage in a fight, the intruders use an explosion to retreat and everyone suspects the missing shinobi were under a genjutsu. The missing shinobi explode due to the injuries received from Tadaichi's explosion. Aoba Yamashiro arrives to alert them that there are more intruders, revealed to be some of the missing Kiri and Kumo shinobi. Kirigakure evacuates its residents after learning of the situation in Konoha. In Kumogakure, Darui wants to bring Killer B for help but the Raikage refuses. As Naruto and the others battle the intruders, Naruto's wife, Hinata Uzumaki, comes to their aid and uses her Byakugan to see if the opponents are under a genjutsu, which she says it is unlikely. They suspect that a different type of chakra is controlling the opponents and they can't injure them or else they will explode. Naruto uses Shadow Clones to distract the opponents while Shikamaru uses his Shadow Imitation Jutsu and Hinata used her Gentle Fist to hit their chakra points and render them motionless. Aoba uses his sensory abilities to enter a Kiri shinobi's mind but is caught in a genjutsu trap, and Ino uses her Mind Body Switch Technique to save him, both passing out.