Naruto has arrived at Ichiraku Ramen and sees that it hasn’t changed one bit. He takes a big whiff of the ramen and enters the shop, saying hi to the old man (Teuchi). The old man welcomes his customer and realizes it is Naruto. Naruto asks him if he remembers him and the old man says he could never forget him. Ayame stops chopping and tells Naruto he has gotten so big. The old man asks Naruto what he wants to eat and if he is hungry. Naruto says he is starving and the old man says it’ll be his treat. Naruto is happy but then hears a voice telling him, no it’ll be my treat. Naruto turns around to see Iruka, who tells him he knew he would be at Ichiraku’s. Naruto greets Iruka and Iruka asks him where Sakura is. Naruto looks down and says to himself that if he knew Iruka was going to pay he would’ve brought Sakura.

At another restaurant, Sakura sits alone eating. Sakura says to herself that perhaps she should’ve let Naruto treat her to ramen, even if she would’ve paid for half. Sakura smiles, finishing her bowl of Anmitsu, and then asking for another serving.

The blinding light and smoke clears from Deidara’s specialty to reveal a large amount of sand above the village. The villagers look up to see that Gaara has used his sand to shield the village. Baki says nothing less is to be expected of the Kazekage.

Gaara breaths heavily, after shielding the village. Deidara raises his fingers to perform a jutsu and says he is within range. A clay bird appears in the opening in Gaara’s absolute defense, exploding on Deidara’s command.

Kankuro yells out Gaara’s name while the villagers are shocked.

The smoke clears and we see a patch of sand where the explosion occurred.

A sand ninja says that the Kazekage did it and is amazed. Baki says to himself that Gaara’s absolute defense can’t be defeated so easily. A sand ninja appears behind Baki and informs him that attack preparations are complete. Baki tells the ninja to fire on his command.

Massive bows begin taking aim at Deidara.

Deidara tells Gaara that he thought his special sand would guard him right away. Inside his absolute defense, Gaara continues to breathe heavily. Deidara then says it was all a part of the plan. Gaara notices small holes appearing in his absolute defense with small clay spiders coming out of them. Deidara tells Gaara that he may have managed to crush his left hand but he took the opportunity to eat some of his sand and mix it with his clay, releasing the tiny spiders back into the sand. Deidara then tells Gaara the second he used his sand to guard himself it was over, just like he planned. The clay spiders come out of the holes completely and an expression of shock appears on Gaara’s face. Deidara raises his fingers,

“Art is…”-Deidara

“Shi-”-Gaara

“…a blast!”-Deidara

The clay spiders explode inside of Gaara’s absolute defense.

The old man gives Naruto a bowl of ramen, telling him it is an extra-large special order of it. Naruto gulps and says he dreamed of the ramen during his training. The old man tells him to eat up and Naruto does so. Iruka looks at Naruto and thinks back to the time Naruto asked to wear his forehead protector and the time he told Naruto he had grown a lot. Iruka thinks to himself that Naruto has grown a lot. Naruto says Ichiraku’s ramen is the best and the old man agrees. Naruto then says there is one thing he is disappointed about. The old man gets angry and tells Naruto that he thought he would treat him to ramen since it had been such a long time and he is going to complain about it? Naruto tells him that’s not what he meant and goes on to say that the next time Iruka treated him to ramen was when he had became a chuunin. Naruto says he is the only genin in his age group left and then sighs. Iruka tells him not to worry about it because he was directly trained by Jiraiya. Naruto says that is true and that Jiraiya worked him so hard that the forehead protector Iruka gave him fell apart, as well as his clothes. Iruka says that thanks to the training he should be very strong now and he should be happy about that. Naruto replies that he is one step closer to becoming hokage and that Gaara has already become Kazekage. Iruka says Gaara is kind of special. Naruto asks what special has to do with it and explains that Gaara must’ve worked very hard to be accepted by everyone.

Gaara’s absolute defense begins falling apart.

Baki wonders what happened.

Deidara laughs as he watches the sand fall away.

Kankuro yells out Gaara’s name.

In the hokage’s office, Shizune asks Tsunade if she has already decided Team Kakashi’s first mission. Tsunade says that Naruto and Sakura have done nothing but training for the past two and a half years so she is going to work them so hard so they make up time. She then notices a mission while going through a mission book and asks Shizune about a VIP escort mission in Rice Country (B-Rank). Shizune begins flipping through a mission book and says that since it has been a while for Naruto that perhaps a simpler mission would be better. Shizune eventually finds one. Tsunade looks at it to see it is a D-Rank mission, walking dogs. Tsunade tells Shizune that Sakura is a chunin and Naruto is much stronger now so she can’t make them take the mission. Shizune tells Tsunade that sending Naruto out with the Kyuubi inside would be dangerous. Tsunade replies that is the reason Kakashi is with them. Shizune says she understands and continues to try and prove her point. Tsunade shoves a piece of paper in her face and says that at the very least she has prepared a mission and won’t allow anything less. Shizune reads it aloud. It is a Coastal transport convoy, C-Rank. Tsunade says Naruto will still be angry because it is so easy.

Naruto sneezes, bumping an egg out of a bowl and to the ground. Naruto picks it up and apologizes to the old man. The old man says not to worry about it and Naruto says what a waste. (Naruto sneezed because Tsunade was talking about him. When Naruto looks at the egg, the shell is falling away-representing Gaara’s absolute defense falling away.)

Baki says it is impossible for Gaara’s absolute defense to fail and Kankuro wonders what Deidara did.

Deidara tells Gaara that if he set off an explosion in close range then he would use his sand to crush his arm so quickly to guard himself. Larger chunks of sand begin falling away from Gaara’s absolute defense. Deidara tells Gaara that explosive was his last bomb and in order to get in close enough, he had to create an opening, which his specialty provided. We see a flashback of Gaara moving sand to cover the village, and Deidara releasing a clay bird. Most of the sand has now fallen away from Gaara, revealing him to be unconscious with cracked skin (his last defense). Deidara decides to fetch Gaara. Gaara wakes up and Deidara moves back. Gaara closes his fist and the sand above the village begins moving towards the outskirts.

Baki wonders what is happening and Kankuro explains that Gaara is using the last of his power to move the sand away from the village so that it won’t be damaged.

Deidara says to himself this is to be expected of the Kazekage but it would be easier to just let it all fall.

Baki asks what the sand ninja are doing and tells them they must protect the Kazekage. Baki orders them to attack Deidara. The giant bows begin firing at Deidara.

Deidara laughs as the arrows fly at him and begins dodging. Deidara tells them their attacks are pointless. The ninja begin shooting arrows with explosive tags on them. Deidara, thinking they are normal arrows, says it is still pointless. The arrows begin exploding, surprising Deidara. Deidara sees that they planned ahead and says to his self that if he keeps Sasori waiting any longer he will be mad.

On the outskirts of the village, Sasori watches the explosions and wonders how long Deidara will keep him waiting.

Gaara continues moving the sand away from the village.

The villagers cheer their Kazekage on.

Arrows continue exploding around Deidara.

Kankuro tells Gaara that he only has a little farther to go.

Gaara pushes the sand out of the village completely, and then releases it.

The villagers cheer.

Gaara passes out, and the rest of his sand falls away from his body.

Iruka tells Naruto that it is his turn to give it his all. Naruto says Gaara is the Kazekage and he is still a genin. Iruka tells him that he is sure his training with Jiraiya wasn’t in vain. Iruka points out that he and Sakura even managed to steal the bells from Kakashi. Naruto says that was easier than he thought it would be and that he might even be stronger that Iruka. Iruka says he isn’t going to lose just yet. Naruto says there is only one way to find out and then finishes his ramen off. Iruka says that tomorrow Naruto will be a member of Team Kakashi so he needs to do his best. Naruto says he is going to be the future hokage so he won’t let Gaara out do him.

Gaara begins falling to the ground.

Kankuro rushes forward to help Gaara. Baki orders some sand ninja to rescue the Kazekage.

Deidara makes his way to Gaara’s falling body, saying not killing Gaara was even harder than he thought.

The villagers are shocked to see Deidara going for Gaara.

Deidara’s bird’s tail catches Gaara. Deidara says mission accomplished and makes his way towards Sasori.