10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 348

Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 348

Akatsuki Shippuuden concludes. The ninja world will know Pain.

We see Hanzo extend a welcome to Akatsuki, but only to lower their guard, and set up a betrayal and ambush with the Leaf Village's black ops squad, led by Danzo. Adding a wrinkle to the set of events, Akatsuki had an idealistic source within ANBU warning them that a group had crossed their border. Madara/Obito wants to make sure that Nagato feels the pain of loss and betrayal, so he actively stops the Akatsuki members rushing to Yahiko's and Nagato's meeting with Hanzo.

The ambush is well prepared. Holding Kanon as a hostage, Hanzo wants to force Nagato to kill the Akatsuki leader Yahiko. Yahiko forces the blade on himself, and Hanzo orders his squad and the Leaf ANBU under Danzo to finish the rest off. Nagato explodes in rage, rescuing Kanon first, and then summoning the Gedo Statue. Using the Rinnegan, he yanks the souls of his enemies right out of their bodies, and only Danzo and Hanzo escape. Controlling this power leaves Nagato spent and withered.

Back at the Hidden Rain base, after agreeing with Madara/Obito's plan to rid the world of pain, we see Nagato, Kanon, and Yahiko's body as they appeared later in the story. Nagato explains that since Yahiko has always been the leader, he will still be the face of Akatsuki. The ninja world will know him as Pain.

In these 3 episodes of Akatsuki Shippuuden, Jiraiya's question of how they ended up this way has been answered in detail. How the enmity with Hanzo began, their hatred of the Hidden Leaf because of Danzo's goal to sign no peace treaties with the other ninja nations, and even why Nagato took on the name Pain. That's nice and all, but it's still filler, and we'll have even more next week with chibi Kakashi. Kakashi was such a serious downer badass before the deaths of Obito and Rin, so it would be nice to see how he turned into the nonchalant badass we're first introduced to. Kakashi Shippuuden starts next week.