The Artist Returns

"The Artist Returns"edit
芸術家再び­ (Geijutsuka Futatabi)
Episode data
Previous	"The Super Secret S-Rank Mission"
Episode	Naruto: Shippūden #255 (Watch Online)
Next	"Assemble! Allied Shinobi Forces!"
Arc	Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
Manga	Naruto Chapter #513, Naruto Chapter #514
Music
Opening	"Newsong"
Ending	"By My Side"
Air dates
Japanese	March 22, 2012
English	August 16, 2014
Debut
Characters
Manda II
Jutsu
Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique Rock Clone Technique Water Release: Water Trumpet Wood Release: Nativity of a Sea of Trees Wood Release: Wood Spikes Ring

"The Artist Returns" (芸術家再び, Geijutsuka Futatabi) is episode 255 of the Naruto: Shippūden anime.

Synopsis

Deidara detonates his clay bird, but only destroys a rock clone; the real Ōnoki is out of range with Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi by his side. Kurotsuchi greets Deidara warmly while Akatsuchi wonders how Deidara is alive, while Ōnoki explains that it is Orochimaru's Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation technique. Meanwhile, Manda II, a genetically enhanced clone of the original Manda, swims through the water and kills the giant squid guarding the Island Turtle. Kabuto remarks that Manda II has found the island and flies off, controlling Deidara, who protests as he is not in control over his own body.

Manda II bites one of the turtle's flippers as Deidara detonates a clay jellyfish underneath the turtle, flipping it over. As the turtle flips, Yamato uses his Wood Release: Nativity of a Sea of Trees technique to create a forest to save them. Naruto decides to check out the situation on the surface, but is dissuaded by Yamato and Aoba, who stress the importance of his S-rank mission and how he must prioritise that. Yamato, Aoba, and Motoi head to the surface where they encounter Kabuto. Deidara is tasked with fighting off Ōnoki and Akatsuchi, while Kurotsuchi engages in combat against Kabuto. She uses her Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique in conjugation with Water Release: Water Trumpet to create a quick-drying cement to hold him in place. Yamato uses Wood Release: Wood Spikes Ring to hold Kabuto in place as Aoba heads off to extract intelligence from him, but Kabuto discards his body using the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique and emerges out of his mouth as a serpentine snake, causing Aoba to fall into the cement while he swallows Yamato whole.

Deidara and Ōnoki duel over the air, with the former attempting to kill the Tsuchikage using his C4 while the latter prepares to counter it with his Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique. However, Deidara is swiftly recalled by Kabuto, who slithers into Manda II's nostril and dispels them back to the Mountains' Graveyard. Ōnoki frees Aoba, pondering whether Yamato was the intended target all along and warns them that Yamato can easily be interrogated due to Madara Uchiha's visual prowess. Back at the hideout, Kabuto delivers Yamato to Tobi and Zetsu. Tobi is irritated as Kabuto did not retrieve the Eight and Nine-Tails like he was assigned, but Kabuto justifies his decisions by claiming that Yamato is Naruto's guardian and thus would hold valuable information, while also adding that using Yamato's Wood Release, he could improve both Zetsu and the White Zetsu Army. Tobi tells him to speed the process, revealing the Rinnegan eye he had transplanted from Nagato's corpse and telling Kabuto that the eye is craving for war.

Credits

Role	Seiyū			English Voice Actor
	English	Japanese	Rōmaji
Naruto Uzumaki	Junko Takeuchi	竹内 順子	Takeuchi Junko	Maile Flanagan
Yamato	Rikiya Koyama	小山 力也	Koyama Rikiya	Matthew Mercer
Aoba Yamashiro	Kenjiro Tsuda	津田 健次郎	Tsuda Kenjirō	Wally Wingert
Might Guy	Masashi Ebara	江原 正士	Ebara Masashi	Skip Stellrecht
Killer B	Hisao Egawa	江川 央生	Egawa Hisao	Catero Colbert
Motoi	Daichi Endo	遠藤 大智	Endō Daichi	John DeMita
Third Tsuchikage: Ōnoki	Tomomichi Nishimura	西村 知道	Nishimura Tomomichi	Steve Blum
Akatsuchi	Kenta Miyake	三宅 健太	Miyake Kenta	Kyle Hebert
Kurotsuchi	Hana Takeda	武田 華	Takeda Hana	Laura Bailey
Madara Uchiha	Naoya Uchida	内田 直哉	Uchida Naoya	Neil Kaplan
Kabuto Yakushi	Nobutoshi Kanna	神奈 延年	Kanna Nobutoshi	Henry Dittman
Deidara	Katsuhiko Kawamoto	川本 克彦	Kawamoto Katsuhiko	Roger Craig Smith
Rock Lee	Yoichi Masukawa	増川 洋一	Masukawa Yōichi	Brian Donovan
Neji Hyūga	Koichi Tochika	遠近 孝一	Tōchika Kōichi	Steve Staley
Tenten	Yukari Tamura	田村 ゆかり	Tamura Yukari	Danielle Judovits