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The first main arc of Naruto begins as you are introduced to a world dominated by Ninjas. These ninjas have their own hidden villages around the entirety of the world, and story begins in the hidden leaf village of Konoha. According to their history, the hidden village was once terrorized by the Nine-tailed Fox, a beast that threatened the actual existence of their village. The ninjas did their best to fight against it, but its power was far too immense. Many were injured, and even more have died. Just when there seemed to be no hope, their leader the 4th Hokage appears. He seals the beast inside a baby using a forbidden justu at the cost of his own life. The baby's name is Naruto Uzumaki. In this arc Naruto is in his preteens possibly 11 to 13 years old. He grew up alone with no parents, and a lot of the people were wary of him due to the fact that the nine-tailed beast is sealed inside of him. Not that they don't have a reason since he was a trouble maker to begin with; he even vandalized the statues of the Hokage’s. The majority of his life was spent in isolation, and his trouble-making efforts are a struggle for attention. As the arc progresses he finds friends and develops bonds even amongst his enemies as he tries to pursue his dream of being Hokage. The main arc is divided into several mini-arcs.
Naruto English Sub Episodes
Naruto Shippuden >
Naruto episode 220
Naruto episode 219
Naruto episode 218
Naruto episode 217
Naruto episode 216
Naruto episode 214 - 215
Naruto episode 213
Naruto episode 212
Naruto episode 211
Naruto episode 210
Naruto episode 209
Naruto episode 208
Naruto episode 207
Naruto episode 206
Naruto episode 1 - 205
Introduction
The first division of this arc is from episodes 1 to 5 which constitutes The Introduction of the 3 supporting characters of Naruto. First would be Sasuke Uchiha, a descendant of the massacred Uchiha clan and is driven by his vengeance. Sakura Haruno, a pink-haired girl to whom Naruto has a crush on. Unfortunately she is obsessed on Sasuke, and to make things worse she finds Naruto annoying. Their instructor Kakashi is a Jounin level ninja, is the one who gave them the Genin exam and leads team 7.
The Land of Waves
The 2nd division of this arc, from episode 6 to 19 The Land of the Waves, starts when team 7 gets its first mission as Genin ninjas. They are given a C ranked mission since they are fresh from the academy. The objective is to escort the bridge builder of the Land of the Waves to his hometown safely. However, it is soon revealed that the mission is actually an A rank level as they find out that the builder lied in order to afford assistance. His village was poor, and the bridge is the only way for them to regain their economy, but an illegal syndicate with ninja operatives is preventing them from doing so. Despite this, team 7 decides to escort him anyways. Soon they encounter a rouge ninja named Zabuza Momochi. They fight to the death until Zabuza is in the brink of defeat. However, as Zabuza is about to lose to Kakashi, Haku, his loyal subordinate (who looks like a girl), disguises himself as a tracker ninja and tricks teams 7 into believing that he killed Zabuza himself. He adds, in order to preserve the secret of his hidden village in the Mist, he must be the one to take and dispose of Zabuza’s body. Team 7 lets him go, but soon finds out that they have been tricked. Kakashi knows that Zabuza would reinitiate an attack in the future so he decides to train Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura on Chakra control. On their second encounter Sasuke learns his first level Sharingan while fighting Haku along with Naruto. As the chaos ensues Naruto loses control of himself after witnessing what he thought to be Sasuke’s death. Naruto’s rage explodes and releases some of the nine-tailed fox's sealed power. Never-before-seen amount of Chakra envelops his body as his eyes burn like the flames of hell itself. Moving with incredible speed, he punishes Haku like a relentless beast. Zabuza on the other hand experiences a realization when Haku dies and decides to kill the leader of syndicate. Sasuke regains consciousness, and team 7 lets out a sigh a relief. To the return the favor the mob syndicate kills him by multiple sword punctures to his back (yes just like bullfighting). However, the mob was neutralized as the people of the Land of Waves decide to fight back.
The Chunin Exams
The third division of this arc would be The Chunin Exams ranging from episode 20 to episode 67. Before the actual exam, Naruto's team encounters participants from the village hidden in the sand. The characters Gaara, the mysterious sand ninja, Lee, the Taichi expert, and Neji, a byakugan user are first introduced. Soon the exam begins with a written test. Testing their mental capabilities, it is nerve-racking. Surprisingly Naruto and his teammates pass this test and moves on to the second part of the Chunin exam to the Forest of Death. Here they are given five consecutive days to survive and collect an earth scroll and a heaven scroll. Those who succeed to reach the tower in time will pass the test. The exam begins with an uneasy aura of danger lurking in the air. As the exam progresses this danger becomes apparent as Naruto and his team encounters Orochimaru disguised as a Genin participant. He overwhelms Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura single handedly with his above-Jounin-level prowess. But there is something evil about him. Sasuke acquires the second level of his Sharingan, and Naruto once again summons strength from the beast inside of him, but Orochimaru still manages to give Sasuke the curse mark and escape. Orochimaru claims this mark will drive Sasuke to seek him for power. An exam official, a Jounin, finds out about this security breach, and tries to kill Orochimaru. This attempt backfires and the Jounin ends up critically injured. On the other hand, Sasuke and Naruto lies passed out from the fight with Orochimaru. The only one left conscious, Sakura is forced to stand and endure the attacks of sound ninjas trying to kill them. Sakura, who usually never goes to the front line, easily becomes trampled by the sound ninjas. Just when it seemed like there is no hope, Lee (who has some crush on her) comes in and helps. He bombards the sound ninjas with amazing Taichi techniques and incredible agility, but their number and unusual techniques manages to trash him. Once again they are in the midst of defeat. Watching in the bushes is Sakura’s rival, Ino, and her teammates. It came to a point that even they felt the need to intervene. However, it is not their best day, once again they are in the brink of defeat. But their luck changes as Lee’s teammates, Neji and Ten-Ten, find him beaten up, and vows to avenge him. However, before Neji moves a single step, a monster awakens. It is Sasuke. The curse mark magnifies his power dramatically, and the Chakra is so dense, a dark aura can be seen enveloping him. Within a few seconds he crushes the enemy to their defeat. The sound ninjas retreat, and leave their scroll to acknowledge their defeat. Moving to other situations in the Forest of Death, Kiba Hinata and Shino witness first-hand the terrifying brutality of Gaara, the sand ninja. They see him squeeze two exam participants to their deaths using his sand, and come close to being killed themselves. The scene shifts back to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura who are looking for a heaven scroll. They encounter Kabuto who helps them with the mission, and defeat their stalkers. Eventually they reach the tower, and the Chunin exam heads to a conclusion. Due to the unusually high number of people who passed, the 3rd Hokage orders they have a sudden death elimination round immediately. Kabuto mysteriously steps down. The elimination round begins as they are paired with their designated opponents. The proctor announces the first match is between Youri and Sasuke. The fight tempted Sasuke to release the curse seal, but manages to win with his own skills. Kakashi not wanting to take any chance seals the curse right after the fight. The next fight is between Zaku and Shino. While everyone is busy with the fight, Kakashi had an encounter with Orochimaru. It’s a brief, but intense meeting, and Kakashi manages to hold his ground. Going back to the fight, Shino wins with ease. The next fight is paired between Kankouro and Mizumi with which Kankouro wins. Soon after was a close fight between Sakura and Ino. As a matter of fact it was so close that it resulted in a draw. Soon after is the Temari against Ten-Ten match. Having a brutal conclusion, Temari relentlessly attacks Ten-Ten until she is unconscious. Next up is Shikamaru and Tsuchi. Shikamaru displays amazing quick thinking skills in this match, and wins. Extremely impatient, Naruto finally gets his turn matched up against Kiba with Akamaru. Here he displays a different kind of student that his classmates usually see when he was in school. Their fight was extremely violent and explosive. Naruto permanently shifts the tides of battle with a fart to Kiba’s face which was devastating to Kiba with animal-like sense of smell. Using his clone jutsus and a technique he learned from an earlier match up, Naruto defeats Kiba with damaging downward kick. Kiba is left unconscious and Naruto wins. Continuing with the elimination rounds the proctor announces that the next fight is between the two Byakugan experts, Hinata and Neji. It is an opposite of the Naruto and Kiba fight focusing on efficient chakra inhibiting techniques rather than pummeling the sense out of each other with brute force. Despite her greatest efforts, Hinata is defeated by the much talented Neji. Just when you think it won't get better the next fight is between Gaara, the sand ninja, and Lee, the Taichi expert. Despite everyone's grappling fear of Gaara, Lee attacks him with no visible hesitation. When the fight initiates Lee displays his amazing Taichi skills, but none of them were useful because Gaara’s blocks his attacks effortlessly with sand. As the fight seemed to be on Gaara’s side, Master Gai yells out to Lee that he can now remove his weights. He removes them and instantly moves forth with amazing speed and manages to finally hurt Gaara. Gaara strikes back with brutal force and uses his sand as an armor to defend against Lees physical attacks. Determined to win, Lee decides to open up to his fifth Chakra gate. It’s been said that anyone who manages to open up to eight gates gains the ability to overwhelm even a Hokage. However, the higher the gate level, the more strain it puts on the body and a person uses the eighth gate dies. Filled with incredible power, Lee bombards Gaara with unseen power. Unfortunately his last blow was rendered useless when Gaara's sand saves him at the last second cushioning his decent. Lee faints from extreme exhaustion. With barely enough energy to move, Gaara summons up the last ounces of his strength to inflict massive damage to Lee's left arm and leg. Lee is down and unable to run. Gaara proceeds to use Sand Coffin on Lee (squeeze to death with sand), but Master Gai interjects and blocks Gaara's sand. Lee automatically is disqualified due to his Master’s intervention, but he lost anyways. The only remaining pair is Chouji and Dosu. The two hit it off, but eventually Dosu easily beats Choji. Meanwhile as Sasuke was in the hospital getting treated from all his injuries, Kabuto, revealed as a spy from the sound village, tries to assassinate the unconscious Sasuke. Kakashi intercepts his plan him and captures him, but his escape tactics were better than Kakashi expected breaking through the glass window (if only they had bullet proof glass). The preliminary rounds were over and the final Chunin exams are on its way. The remaining participants are Sasuke, Shino, Kankouro, Temari, Neji, Naruto, Gaara and Dosu. They were given a month to prepare, so Naruto asks Kakashi to train him. Unfortunately Kakashi is already training Sasuke, so he recommends Ebizu to Naruto. Having a bad opinion of Ebizu based on their previous meeting, Naruto declines Kakashi's recommendation. As a revolt Naruto runs away, and Ebizu chases after him. In this chase Naruto stumbles upon a frog hermit peeking at bathing women. Ebizu, Naruto and the frog hermit gets wrapped up in an argument and eventually resulted in Ebizu getting knocked out. Naruto demands the frog hermit train him. The hermit declines at first but eventually agrees. Their first exercise was walking on water. Naruto succeeded on learning this technique. On the preceding days the frog-hermit, otherwise known as Jiraya, teaches Naruto to tap into his red nine-tailed chakra to summon frogs. Naruto succeeds and even manages to summon the biggest frog, Gamabunta. While everyone is busy training for the final Chunin exam, Orochimaru is plotting to crush Konoha. A couple more days and the final exams arrive. The first opponents are Naruto and Neji. Armed with his newly learned technique of tapping into his red chakra, Naruto renders Neji's chakra suppression techniques useless. Naruto wins, and all the people, who used to look at him as this useless trouble making ninja, sees him differently now. As the matches go on there seems to be an odd anticipation for Sasuke, who still hasn't come back from his training. The next match is scheduled between him and Gaara, but Sasuke still hasn't arrived. His match has been delayed a couple of times already as requested by the "Kazekage” of the sand village, who is actually Orochimaru in disguise waiting for the write time to strike. Just when Sasuke is about to be disqualified, him and Kakashi arrive in a swirl of leaves out of no where (speaking of grand entrance). The battle begins. They had an explosive exchange, and Gaara was losing. He soon molded an egg-like contraption seemingly trying to hide from Sasuke, but actually he is preparing to transform into Shukaku. Wielding his newly acquired technique, Chidori, Sasuke drills a hole through the shell and severely injures Gaara. For some odd reason Sasuke saw a monster inside of that shell, and it grabs his hand. It was a terrifying sight. Gaara was slowly being taken over by the beast Shukaku. Little did they know that Orochimaru's plans for Konoha's demise are already initiating. Kabuto performs a sleep inducing jutsu on everyone and ninjas from the village of the sound and village of the sand begin to emerge from hiding. Only high level ninjas like Kakashi, Gai, etc. are able to avoid this Genjutsu. The walls of Konoha are breached by two gigantic snakes summoned by the invaders, and everything erupts into chaos.
Konoha's Invasion
The 4th division of this arc is Konoha's Invasion ranging from episode 68 to 80. Gaara is injured and Shukaku’s struggle to emerge from inside of him leaves him immobilized. His siblings, Kankouro and Temari, take him and escape from the scene. Orochimaru, disguised as the Kazekage, initiates his plan and begins to fight with the 3rd Hokage. Their walls are breached and there are enemies everywhere, but somehow they have prepared for this kind of situation and evacuated the civilians while effectively neutralizing the invading forces. Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura and Kakashi’s pet dog are sent to chase after Gaara and his siblings. Despite persistent efforts to slow them down they eventually manage to catch up with Gaara. This time Sasuke releases the curse seal in attempt to beat Gaara, but fails. Gaara takes Sakura as hostage, and provokes Naruto’s latent power. Using his vast reserves of chakra, Naruto summons thousands of shadow clones literally slamming Gaara to the ground. This in turn provokes Gaara and loses control of himself releasing Shukaku, the beast of the sand. Trees are uprooted and the ground shakes as the colossal beast enters into existence. Going back to the fight between Orochimaru and the 3rd Hokage, their fight has come to a stand-off. The Hokage has been stabbed and Orochimaru's soul is being pulled out of his body by the Hokage's forbidden jutsu. Either way, the Hokage will lose his life because the forbidden jutsu requires the user to sacrifice his life. Going back to heated of battle, Naruto finally manages to summon the gigantic toad, Gamabunta, once again. Sasuke is shocked as he witnesses Naruto’s incredible improvement. The battle between the two mammoths, Shukaku against Gamabunta, erupts. It was a very close battle. Using a joint transformation jutsu, the Gamabunta and Naruto fuse into image of the nine tailed fox and use its claws to grab a hold of Shukaku. Naruto jumps on to Shukaku (the transformation ends) and tries to wake Gaara up. Gaara wakes up and uses sand coffin Naruto. Using his tongue, the giant toad protects Naruto from being squeezed to death. Naruto manages to break free and head butts Gaara. This blow makes Shukaku fade into lifeless ash. However, the fight went on between Naruto and Gaara. It was an explosive battle. Driven by his will to save Sakura, Naruto finally defeats Gaara and everyone is finally safe. Or are they? The 3rd Hokage was unable to take Orochimarus entire soul. As a desperate attempt to stop Orochimaru from spreading desturction he cuts the arms of Orochimaru's soul rendering him unable to use Jutsu. Sadly the Hokage died. The chaos finally subsides and the invaders retreat. Konoha is in ruins, and left with no leader. Everyone mourns for the death of the Hokage as they try to repair what was damaged by the invasion.
The Return of Itachi
The 5th division of this arc is The Return of Itachi ranging from episodes 81 to 85. Konoha is still suffering from the after effects of the attempted invasion. The citizens of Konoha, having lost property and loves ones, are feeling a little under the weather. The village was in need of a new leader, and Jiraya is given a request to search for Tsunade, the next Hokage. It may seem that the worst is over, but little did they know that the Akatsuki, a group far more dangerous than Orochimaru, are lurking around. There is two of them including Itachi, Sasuke's cursed brother who murdered their entire clan with is own hands, and Kisame, a swordsman of the mist. The two of them are confronted by three Jounins including Kakashi. It is Itachi's Sharingan against Kakashi’s. A fight breaks lose and Itachi uses his feared Mangekyo on Kakashi. A single attack from the Mangekyo would make an instant seem eternity, as the target becomes psychologically tortured endlessly until they are suspended in a state of coma. They seem to be losing, until the coolest Jounin arrives. Master Gai, a man who had been practicing to counter Kakashi’s Sharingan, saves them from Itachi’s Mangekyo. The two Akatsukis retreat to avoid unnecessary attention, their primary target is not there, so there is no need to stay any longer. Kakashi faints and suspended in a state of coma. A few days later Naruto and Jiraya departs from Konoha in search of Tsunade. It wasn't long until Itachi and Kisame make their move to capture Naruto for the beast that is inside of him. Fortunately Jiraya catches up in time and gives them a piece of his summoning skills. It is technically two against one since Naruto was no match for them. Fresh from a long search for Naruto, it was to Sasuke’s surprise to see his wretched brother right in front of him. Sasuke’s unimaginable hate takes over him. He pours out all his power and attacks Itachi with his Chidori, but Itachi simply brushes it aside to the wall. Sasuke continues to attack Itachi with everything he has got, but he can’t even connect a single punch. With no mercy even for his own brother, Itachi attacks Sasuke with his Mangekyo. Sasuke becomes immobilized and unresponsive. Immediately Itachi proceeds to pummel the life out of Sasuke against the wall. Jiraya summons a toad's stomach (where do they get these ideas) covering the walls of the corridor with flesh. He uses it to save Sasuke from Itachi. This time its Jiraya’s turn to attack, He initiates to crush the two Akatsukis, but Itachi manages to blast through the stomach. Seeing the remains the black flame Itachi used to escape, Jiraya states that the stomach he summoned is that of a fire breathing frog. Just what kind of Jutsu could he have used?
The Search for Tsunade
The next division of this arc would be The Search for Tsunade ranging from episodes 86 to 100. After the whole confrontation with the Akatsuki, Sasuke was left in a state of coma just as like Kakashi. Naruto and Jiraya have more reason to search for Tsunade so they waste no time and immediately start to move. At the same time, Jiraya teaches Naruto to use a new technique called the Rasengan. It’s a technique invented by the 4th Hokage, the same Hokage that banished the nine tailed fox. The first part is bursting water balloons using his chakra, and he learns it after just a couple of tries. The next is popping rubber balls with his chakra which proves to be harder than it seems and takes Naruto a couple weeks of continues trail and error to learn it. The third stage of training is the hardest; Naruto is given an air balloon this time. Jiraya explains that in order to master this technique, Naruto must be able to exert the same force of chakra he used to blow the balloons and balls, but while concentrating it on a small area in the shape of that air balloon. Jiraya knows that this stage takes a very long time, so he tells Naruto to continue with his training as they move along. Little did they know, Orochimaru has already made contact with Tsunade and is negotiating with her to heal his arms in exchange for the revival of his brother and lover. She is the only person alive with the skills to heal something so severe. It is a tempting offer that Tsunade cannot simply dismiss. Soon Jiraya finds Tsunade and informs her that she is the next Hokage. She declines, and Naruto gets really angry to hear that someone like her gets chosen to be a Hokage. Thinking Tsunade is not the right person for the job, Naruto challenges her to a fight. For the first time, Naruto witnesses lady Tsunade’s incredible strength and easily gets beaten. She finds out about Naruto's attempt to master the Rasengan and mocks his ability to accomplish such a high level technique. Even the Hokage took four years to master it. Angered by Tsunade’s underestimation, Naruto bets that he can master it in three days. Tsunade finds this hilarious, and replies he can’t master it even in a week. She bets that if he does, she will give him her necklace. The bet is on. They go back to their individual struggles as Naruto tries to master the Rasengan, and at the same time Tsunade tries to decide whether to choose being a Hokage or the revival of her loved ones. Jiraya and Shizune, Tsunades assistant, knows about this, and they can not help but wory that Tsunade might cooperate with Orochimaru. On the day of the meeting, Tsunade drugs Jiraya, and knocks out Shizune to prevent them from interfering. It is the appointed time and Tsunade meets with Orochimaru pretending to heal his arms. In actuality she is gathering chakra to kill Orochimaru. At the last moment, Orochimaru’s assistant Kabuto, who is a medical ninja, comes in time to intercept and save Orochimaru. Tsunade wants them dead, so she summons up her legendary brute force and tries to dispose of them. The chase is on. The chase ends up in a vast grassland, and that is where the battle of the three legendary Sanins, Jiraya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, commences. Orochimaru with the help of Kabuto summons Manda a giant snake, Tsunade summons Kitsui a giant slug, and Jiraya summons Gamabunta, a giant frog. The battle ensues and the earth rumbles as the three giants flatten the ground beneath them. As tension rose the more violent the fight becomes. In this battle Naruto manages to master the Rasengan using a clone justsu to assist him and defeats Kabuto. Orochimaru is eventually defeated as well, and they are forced to retreat. Tsunade honors her bet to Naruto and gives him her necklace. After returning to the village Tsunade heals Kakashi and Sasuke, but was unsure of Lee’s condition. His injuries from his fight with Gaara so severe, it can prevent him from ninja training forever. Tsunade tells him that she can operate on him, but the chances of success are very slim. Eventually Tsunade was appointed the new Hokage of the hidden village of the leaf.
The Unmasking of Kakashi
The next division of this arc is The Unmasking of Kakashi. It is only episode 101 and is an attempt of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura to unmask KaKashi. They tried different methods such as spying on Kakashi and trying to trick him, but they failed. When Kakashi found out that they were curious, he tells them that should have just asked, so he pulls downs his mask and reveals that under his mask was another mask. What a drag eh.
The next division was the first filler arc in the series ranging from episodes 102 to 106. This was the first mission of the Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura without Kakashi since Konoha was short of ninjas and they need to keep accepting missions. Here they help Ibiki Morino's younger brother, Idate Morino, win a race with very high stakes, and learned he is more than the coward he thought he was. It also reinforces Sasuke's hate for Naruto in the next sections.
Sasuke's Retrieval
The next division was Sasuke's Retrieval ranging from episode 107 to 135. Sasuke just recovered from the injuries he got from the previous mission with Idate Morino. His body has healed, but his mind is in chaos. After witnessing the staggering amount of improvement of his rival, he starts to contain envy against Naruto. He challenges him to a fight. Unlike their usual childish arguments, they start to exchange spiteful words at each other until it was too much to hold and a fight erupts. They are evenly matched. Blinded by anger they both power-up their strongest techniques; Sasuke’s Chidori against Naruto’s Rasengan. Just when they are about to seriously hurt each other Kakashi enters and tosses both of them aside. Him and Sakura try to extinguish the flaming tempers of the two, but it was no use. Sasuke walks off. Soon Orochimaru’s “Sound Four” arrives in Konoha and persuades Sasuke that Orochimaru can give him immense power. Orochimaru’s prophecy is coming true. Sasuke resists at first but eventually gives in when he experiences first hand the power of the “Sound Four” given by Orochimaru. He goes with them and says goodbye to Sakura, but not without knocking her out (touché’). The word spreads and Tsunade summons Shikamaru who is now a Chunin. Since all of the ninjas are busy completing missions, Konoha is shorthanded and has very little options on who to dispatch. However, Tsunade believes that with Shikamaru’s ingenious thinking capabilities, the rescue mission can be carried out successfully by a group of Genins. He begins to assemble his team and picks Chouji, Kiba, Naruto,and Neji. Meanwhile Lee has decided to take the risky operation and was on his way to a full recovery, so he cannot join them. On their way out Sakura wants to join, but is impeded by Shikamaru. She will only endanger the whole group. Compelled to ease Sakura, Naruto promises her that he will bring Sasuke back no matter what. While all of this is happening, the Sound Four is in the process of explaining to Sasuke that in order to get stronger he needs to be put in a near-death state and sealed within a special tomb. Willing to do anything for power, Sasuke agrees. The chase is on. Still unaware they are being tailed by Shikamaru’s group, the Sound Four runs into two Konoha Jounins, They manage to defeat the two, but had to use a huge amount of their energy, so they decide to rest. In this time the Konoha Five catches up to them. Unfortunately the Sound Four had set down a trap within a trap within a trap. They outsmarted the genius Shikamaru and manage to capture the Konoha five inside a hollowed earth jutsu by Jiroubou. The situation seems hopeless due to the fact that the walls regenerate even if they try to damage it. Through amazing team work and Shikamaru’s critical thinking skills they find a weak spot in the barrier and concentrate their attacks on that spot until they break free. Feeling confident, they all attack Jiroubou with all they have, but he proves to be a very strong opponent. Not wanting to lose track of Sasuke’s trail, Chouji volunteers to stay back and hold off Jiroubou. He uses specialized pills to override his chakra production and becomes insanely strong…and big. He goes through the green pill, a yellow pill, and the dangerous red pill. Going from green to red puts tremendous stress on the body of the user up to the point of death. He eventually defeats the enemy after using the red pill. Since he used up all of his chakra reserves, he breaks down and falls down not to move again. The chase then proceeds as each of them is left behind to deal with an enemy letting the rest of the team keep track of the trail. Neji, and Kidoumaru, a web ninja, dukes it out. It was a winning fight for Neji until Kidoumaru uses his level two curse release. Barely alive, Neji manages to finally kill him. Following this was Kiba and Akamaru against Sakon and Akon. Next to fight is Konoha five’s leader Shikamaru against Tayuya, the flute ninja. Finally Naruto fights Kimmimaru, the original container wanted by Orochimaru who contracted a disease giving him little time to live and unfit to be a container. Each of them in their own respective fight, all of our heroes are paired up against a designated enemy. Kimmimaru sent by Orochimaru to ensure Sasuke’s arrival is proving to more than Naruto can handle. Their fights occur simultaneously pushing all of their power and skills to the limits, but it is futile. The enemies’ curse release is too much to handle. As the fight was raging, Sasuke wakes up from his near-state. He has changed. He doesn’t help Naruto, and even runs away towards Orochimaru’s lair. Fortunately Lee arrives to take on Kimmimaru letting Naruto run after Sasuke. However, they were fighting a losing battle. Luck strikes as reinforcements from the sand village join in to help them. Gaara helps Lee against Kimmimaru, Temari helps Shikimaru against Tayuya, and Kankouro and his puppets help Kiba and Akamaru against Akon and Sakon. They are all easily defeated by the allies except for Kimmimaru who is even able to survive Gaara’s sand burial technique. Their fight is the most intense of them all. Kimmimaru just won’t die. Displaying his full power, he materializes towering spikes of bones from the ground turning the entire forest into a death trap. Using floating sand, Gaara takes Lee and himself up to the sky away from harms way. In the blink of an eye Kimmimaru sprouts out from one of the bones spikes behind Gaara and is about to deliver a deathly strike, but his time was up, his sickness takes the remaining life inside of Kimmimaru and he dies at that moment. Meanwhile Naruto has finally caught up with Sasuke. He finds out the unsettling truth that Sasuke does not want to come back to Konoha. Tempers flare as their unfinished fight is continued. Sasuke has made up his mind that he will endure anything, even the pain of leaving his friends behind, to attain great power. Power he will use to kill his wretched brother, Itachi. In order to gain this power, he needs to attain the Mangekyo Sharingan. However, a condition needs to be met. Sasuke would have to kill Naruto, his best friend, by his own hands. At the same time Kakashi is on his way to them. He is worried this won’t be as minor as their last argument. The rivals face off in a successive wave of powerful exchanges. The fight escalates to the point that Sasuke uses his Chidori to burn a hole through Naruto’s chest. It is over. There is no way for an ordinary man to survive such a severe wound. But Naruto isn’t an ordinary man. The nine-tailed fox lends him power and his wound heals in a matter of seconds. Before Sasuke had time to react, Naruto comes at him at full force and lays him down with a barrage of powerful attacks. This is the point where Sasuke masters his third level Sharingan, and easily predicts Naruto’s attacks. As the fight goes on, the red aura takes over Naruto’s actions that even Sasuke’s Sharingan can not predict. Sasuke has no choice, but to do the 2nd release of the curse. Slowly he evolves into the image of a demon with wings that resemble enormous hands. The battle is about to end. Just like their last fight, Sasuke powers up his Chidori while Naruto generates a Rasengan. They face off in a head to head collision of pure energy. Generated by the collision of concentrated power, an immense explosion of black energy envelops the place. It is over, and Naruto is unconscious. Kakashi finally arrives seeing Naruto lying on ground. Sasuke was no where to be found. Even though he decided to run away he changed his mind about killing Naruto. He said to himself that he will acquire great power his own way, not the same way his brother did. The first main arc of Naruto comes to an end as Naruto is brought back to Konoha where he heals his wounds. Everyone in his team is rescued and manages to survive. Naruto feels he has failed Sakura for breaking his promise, but Sakura says it’s ok. Looking through the hospital window, Jiraya with Gamabunta visits Naruto and tells him that once he has healed, they will be training for three years in order to get stronger to save Sasuke. Naruto enthusiastically accepts. Little did they know, the Akatsuki members are meeting up in a dark cave for the first time in seven years since Orochimaru’s detachment from the group. The leader speaks about obtaining all the jinchuuriki including Naruto’s nine tailed fox.