Source: Wikipedia
“Bounty Hunter from the Wilderness”
“Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba accept what they believe will be an easy mission to catch a crook. Upon arriving at the thief’s last known location, however, they learn that another bounty hunter is pursuing the thief and that the thief is a skilled ninja. The bounty hunter is wounded in the battle, and Naruto’s group takes him to safety but discovers that he, too, is a wanted criminal.”
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Analysis
The following analysis will demonstrate how the mission evolved from being straightforward to becoming complicated. Therefore, the theme of appearance versus reality is evident in this episode.
Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba accept what they believe will be an easy mission to catch a crook. At the Hokage’s office, Tsunade provided details about the mission. She said to the genin, “Your mission is to capture this man, Gosunkugi, also known as the Nail. He stole the Misogi Tea Jar owned by the Land of Tea’s feudal lord. He’s keeping his head low, hiding somewhere in the Land of Stone, we believe.” At first, their mission seemed easy since they only needed to capture the crook. However, there is more to Gosunkugi than being a mere thief, as will be revealed later.
Upon arriving at the thief’s last known location, however, they learn that another bounty hunter is pursuing the thief and that the thief is a skilled ninja. As they arrive at a small town, ominous music starts to play in the background. Crows were flying everywhere, which symbolised that something unusual was about to happen. Moreover, everyone is staring at the genin with an indifferent look on their faces. As the Genin proceeded further into town, they encountered numerous wanted posters featuring Gosunkugi’s face, and apparently, a reward of three million yen was offered. It makes one wonder why a mere thief has a bounty that is around three million; this proves that there is more to the mission than just capturing a mere thief. After realising the bounty, the genin decides to ask the locals at a tavern about what is going on.
Thereafter, the genin arrive at the tavern, and they run into an altercation with the customers where one of them wants to steal Naruto’s money. Naruto fights back but then realises that they are outnumbered. Luckily, they are saved by a mysterious bounty hunter. Afterwards, he leaves the tavern, and before he can go any further, Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata follow him. As a result, the bounty hunter introduced himself as Sazanami and told the Genin what he does for a living.
He also explains what a bounty hunter does by saying, “Sometimes people put out a reward on the bad guys who are too tough to catch for free. Bounty hunters round up those bad guys and earn a reward, or a bounty; it’s the same thing.” Moreover, when Naruto showed him the picture of Gosunkugi, Sazanami said that he was no ordinary thief. This is evident in his words when he said, “Boy, that man is a hardened killer; he’s murdered dozens of people for the sake of robbing their corpses; they don’t get anything worse than this fella.” When hearing this, the Genin are perplexed and shocked, as Hinata speculates that the feudal lord who was paying for this mission probably didn’t know who Gosunkugi was. Therefore, in appearance, the feudal lord thought that he was just a mere thief; however, Gosunkungi is a hardened killer. This means that the mission has gotten complicated; hence, the theme of appearance versus reality is evident in this scene.
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Sazanami’s strength as a shinobi
After learning about this information from Sazanami, the Genin introduced themselves and told him about the mission, for which Sazanami seemingly decided to buy food for them. When they stop along a path outside of town, they realise that it is a trap set by Sazanami. Creepy music plays in the background as Sazunami says to them, “This is the end of the line. You kids are going to die out here.” He wants to kill them because Gosunkugi is his prey, so he’s not going to hand him over to them or anyone else. In other words, he doesn’t want any opposition to stand in his way and finds it easier to just kill them.
Therefore, a battle takes place between Sazanami and the genin. First, he targets Hinata and holds his sword to her throat. When he notices that Kiba is ready to attack him, he knocks her out and ends up unconscious. Second, Kiba used Beast Mimicry Jutsu, but he knocked him out and ended up unconscious. Third, Akamaru tries to go after him, but he’s also knocked out and ends up unconscious. Last, Naruto activates his Shadow Clone Jutsu, but he ends up being knocked out as well and ends up unconscious. At this moment, it shows that Sazanami’s skills are unmatched, and the genin were nowhere close to defeating him since he has more experience as a shinobi.
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Sazanami’s interaction with Gosunkugi
After defeating the genin, Sazanami heads out to look for Gosunkugi in the small town. As he reaches his destination, he finds Gozunkugi and his guards passing through the small town while it is night. Therefore, Sazanami resorted to hiding in the shadows and then followed him, waiting for an opportunity to attack him. Meanwhile, the genin woke up and figured that Sazanami had skipped town, so Akamaru led the way to where Sazanami could be located. Furthermore, while following Gosunkugi, Sazanami believed that he had the upper hand until he was faced by the guards. He said to them, “I’m hunting bigger game, but I don’t see him.” After finishing his statement, Gosunkugi arrives, and a dialogue takes place between them.
Gosunkugi: Quiet, you opportunistic hyena
Sazanami: I waited a long time for you to make your move.
Gosunkugi: Unfortunately, I have an important task that needs attention. Time is money, so let’s kill you as cheaply as possible.
Afterwards, Gosunkugi threw nails into the ground, and they disappeared underground. He then activates his jutsu, the torpedo nail. When Sazanami attempts to go after him, the nails stab both of his feet. Thereafter, Gosunkugi unleashes the various nails from underground and targets Sazanami. As a result, he is injured, and Gosunkugi instructs his guards to finish him off. However, before they could finish him off, the genin arrived on time. Naruto activates his Shadow Clone Jutsu, and due to this, Gosunkugi and his troops retreat. Before Naruto can leave to chase them, Sazanami stops him by warning him not to chase after them. The Genin noticed that his injuries were serious and asked him if he was okay. He warns them not to go after Gosunkugi because he’s too strong for those three. Afterwards, he passes out and ends up unconscious.
The dialogue reveals that Sazanami’s motive is personal, as he said he waited a long time for Gosunkugi to make his move. It means he has been waiting for years to just defeat Gosunkugi. There is a story behind Sazanami’s motive, which will be revealed in the next episode.
The bounty hunter is wounded in the battle, and Naruto’s group takes him to safety but discovers that he, too, is a wanted criminal. While they were attending to his injuries, an intruder arrived looking for Sazunami and noticed that he was unconscious. While surveying the area, he ends up getting beaten up by Naruto and Kiba. Naruto realises that he’s the same guy from the tavern who was sitting on a chair.
When the intruder retreated, he dropped a wanted flier that had Sazanami’s face on it. Kiba reads out the contents of the flier, which says, “This fugitive who calls himself Tokichi is a murderer known to have killed a family of three. He has a bird-shaped birthmark on his chest.” The mission has gotten even more complicated since there’s a bounty on a bounty hunter. Therefore, in appearance, they were supposed to deal with one criminal; however, they probably must deal with two criminals; hence, the theme of appearance versus reality is evident here. Is the Genin dealing with a dangerous man, or is there more to the story? This will be revealed in the next episode.
The lesson from this episode is that looks can be deceiving; not everything is what it seems, as was evident when the Genin thought it would be an easy mission, only to find out it was a complicated one.
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