Hunt for Uchiha

Team Yamato would later be called into Tsunade's office where Jiraiya informed that Sasuke has killed Orochimaru. With joy, Naruto expects Sasuke to return to Konoha on his own, but Tsunade and Jiraiya tells him thats not the case. Naruto then asks Tsunade to form a team to hunt down Itachi Uchiha for a single purpose; Sasuke is after Itachi, if Konoha captures Itachi, Sasuke would have no choice but return home. Tsunade assigns Team Yamato, Kakashi, and the members of Team 8; Hinata, Shino, and Kiba to hunt down Itachi.

While searching, Naruto, Yamato, and Hinata were found by Kabuto. Kabuto tells them how without Orochimaru, he was left without a leader and has since made a resolve to make himself stronger. But to achieve this, Kabuto implanted Orochimaru's remains into his own body. Kabuto left the group vowing he would return to kill Naruto once he takes care of Orchimaru's killer. After this, the 8-man squad heard and followed a large explosion and went to investigate. Kiba informed them that Sasuke was there at that explosion and he could follow his scent. Unfortunantly, Karin sensed them coming and attempted to lead them off the trail by using Sasuke's old clothes and scatter them in different directions. Naruto used his Shadow Clone Technique to follow the scents, only to find Itachi. Naruto attacked Itachi, who only wanted to talk. Itachi asked Naruto why he cared so much about Sasuke to which Naruto explained that Sasuke was like a brother to him and he would be a much better brother to him than he (Itachi) could ever be. To this response, Itachi gave a rare smile (possibly because of what he had already sacrificed to protect Sasuke). Naruto again tried to attack him but was quickly caught in his genjutsu. Once again regrouping with the squad, one of Naruto's shadow clones was destroyed when Sasuke plowed through it, once again leading them to Sasuke's trail. While still following Sasuke the squad runs into Tobi, who taunts them playfully until Naruto attempts to attack him with a Rasengan. Instead, Naruto phases straight through Tobi. He is then apart of the battle group as they tried several different formations to take down Tobi, but all failed, leaving Shino to use his clans secret techniques to handle him. Tobi retreats when he hears of Itachi's death. Naruto's team rushes to the battlefield, to find Sasuke's scent mixed with the scent of the Akatsuki, and none of them present.

It was later revealed by Itachi that he had transfered some of his power to Naruto before he died. It is suspected he did this because he anticipated Sasuke's attack on Konoha. To what extent these powers have been granted is unknown.