As Neji, Shikamaru, Chōji, Kiba, and Akamaru regroup to assess their situation, on the other side their friends frantically try to figure out what is wrong with them. Realizing that they are all still alive but left in a form of suspended animation with weak pulses and lethargic chakra flow, Shino and Ino do what they can to keep their comrades' chakra flowing, while requesting word be sent to HQ about the situation. Elsewhere, within the barrier erected by the Sound Four, the Konoha shinobi battle it out once again for their lives. News soon reaches Ino and Shino from Inoichi that their comrades are in something akin to a genjutsu state and that the only way to save them is to locate and recall their souls somehow although not even the sensory barrier at HQ is able to locate their souls. Elsewhere as Naruto rushes towards his friends' location, he encounters a group of shinobi, and takes out a transformed White Zetsu Army clone. After affirming that there were no more enemies in the group, Naruto moves on as there were no shinobi from the Communications Team there. Despite the fact, however, that the Konoha shinobi seem to have the upper hand in their battle against the Sound Four, their enemies regroup and tell them that their efforts are futile against immortals and then informs them that even if somehow they are defeated, there will be no escaping from the barrier; leaving the Konoha shinobi with two seemingly no-win options: die by their hands within the barrier or wait until their bodies in the real world eventually give out, and die regardless.