The Next Step.Kakashi reveals that the Rasengan is an incomplete jutsu as he is not able to combine his own elemental chakra affinity into it, just as its creator, the Fourth Hokage could not do. He then presumes that Naruto might be the first one to be able to do so. Naruto's training increases his stress to the point that the Nine-Tails almost manifests before Yamato manages to suppress it entirely. Meanwhile, Asuma sends word to the other teams about the Akatsuki’s location and proceeds on. Kakuzu eventually reaches the checkpoint and exchanges Chiriku's corpse, explaining to a concerned collector that there is a reason why he and Hidan are partners.