Sasuke and his team head for the northern hideout to recruit their next member, Jugo. On the way, Karin explains that the northern hideout is a site for conducting horrific human experiments. A ninja with abnormal homicidal impulses, Jugo is the sole carrier of the enzyme necessary to create Orochimaru's curse mark...

"More than ten years ago, the rule of the Five Great Shinobi Nations was destabilized, throwing the world into a conflict later to be known as the Third Great Ninja War. The future Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze assigns young Kakashi, Obito of the Uchiha clan, and Rin, a medical ninja, on a mission to Kannabi Bridge..."