Source: Wikipedia
“The Tactician’s Intent”
“The episode starts with the group talking at Mousou’s house. After that, they discuss that Koumei, the village strategist and the son’s potential rival for succession, may be behind the Noroimusha. To prove this, they attempt to visit the new feudal lord, Sagi, at a lake where he holds his lost memories of his sister, Toki. The group protects the feudal lord from assassins and pursues the Noroimusha to its meeting with Koumei, where, after it is defeated, it is revealed that it and the previous Noroimusha were two different individuals. The group finds evidence that Koumei may have been behind the second Noroimusha’s appearance, and Koumei is arrested.”
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Analysis
The following analysis will examine how certain aspects of the mystery were resolved. It will also examine other crucial details.
The episode starts with the group talking at Mousou’s house. Mousou begged the genin to eliminate these harmful rumours about the cursed warrior immediately. In other words, Neji, Tenten, and Naruto are their only hope to solve this mystery.
After that, they discuss that Koumei, the village strategist and the son’s potential rival for succession, may be behind the Noroimusha. Chishima and the Genin are at a restaurant where they order chicken wings. While they were eating, they discussed who could be responsible for the cursed warrior tactics. Lord Koumei’s name came up, and they learned that he didn’t approve of the current feudal lord succeeding him. Moreover, Neji said that the cursed warrior visiting his place might have been a way to deflect suspicion. Although their suspicions make sense, they can’t charge him without any proof, so they find ways to gather evidence that will prove Lord Koumei’s involvement.
To prove this, they attempt to visit the new feudal lord, Sagi, at a lake where he holds his lost memories of his sister, Toki. Chishima and the genin hide under the grass, waiting for Lord Sagi to arrive. While they are waiting for him, Chishima starts reflecting on his childhood memories with the feudal lord. He said, “Back when we were children, Lord Sagi would always come here to play with his little sister, Lady Toki. I figured he might come around today with his attendance if we’re lucky.” After some time, Lord Sagi arrives with his entourage. Naruto wonders what he is doing, just sitting there. Chishima responds by saying, “Thinking back to happier days, probably. His memories of Lady Toki are the only thing that could comfort my lord’s heart, and even that comfort is fleeting.” Chishima has known Lord Sagi since they were childhood friends. It explains why he is worried about his well-being and feels sympathetic about his situation since he not only lost his father but also his twin sister.
The group protects the feudal lord from assassins. Before the assassins arrived, Neji could sense something was not right, so he activated his Byakugan to see any potential danger. It turns out the assassins were hiding underwater and were waiting for the right time to hurt Lord Sagi. When the enemies toss their shurikens at the feudal lord, Neji deflects their attacks using his various kunai. Moreover, Neji, Tenten, and Naruto used taijutsu to stop their attacks. After they realise that they lost the battle, the assassins retreat as they go underwater. When Naruto wants to pursue them, Neji stops him because the assassins set off a paper bomb in the water. That was a close one; otherwise, Naruto would have died.
After defeating the assassins, a dialogue takes place among them with the feudal lord. In this dialogue, we get to understand the nature of the friendship between Chishima and Lord Sagi.
Chishima: Lord Sagi, are you all right?
Lord Sagi: Yes, I am unhurt.
Chishima smiles: I’m glad. Lord Sagi, it’s my great pleasure to introduce these ninjas from the Hidden Leaf Village; they have come to our land to figure out the identity of the cursed warrior.
Lord Sagi: They shouldn’t have bothered. Let me guess, this was Mousou’s idea, wasn’t it?
Chishima: Yes, because he feared for your life, Lord Sagi, and with very good reason. If these three hadn’t been here, then
Lord Sagi interrupts: Hold your tongue.
Chishima: Forgive me
Tense music plays in the background with a mix of Japanese guitar as Naruto starts confronting the feudal lord.
Naruto yells: Wait just a second, don’t you realise how dedicated this guy is, you don’t know how he feels! Chishima cares about you even if you don’t, and this mission, man, we’re working for peanuts, but the Hidden Leaf Village agreed to send us cause this guy is such a loyal friend!
Lord Sagi: I don’t require his help. How very annoying.
Naruto (furious): What did you say?!
Lord Sagi: That friendship is now consigned to the past. I have become a feudal lord, but he remains a page now and forever. I have risen to great heights; I can no longer see him.
Naruto (furious): You are dissing friendship! Go ahead, you big snob, and say it again; I dare you!
Naruto wanted to hit the feudal lord, but Neji and Tenten held him back. Chishima has a disappointed look on his face while the feudal lord leaves. Afterwards, the tense music stops playing in the background.
From the dialogue, it is evident that their friendship has become strained on the part of the feudal lord, who treats his friend like he were worthless. Naruto is empathetic towards others' feelings, as he is willing to hit the feudal lord for discouraging his friendship with Chishima. Moreover, it is sort of reminiscent of Naruto’s encounter with Sasuke, where he is worried about Sasuke and wants to bring him back; however, Sasuke is still with Orochimaru. It may be another reason why he was so bothered by the feudal lord’s rudeness towards Chishima. It sort of reminds him of his failure to bring Sasuke back and how Sasuke doesn’t care about staying in the village with his comrades. Therefore, we can say that the friendship between Chishima and Lord Sagi is parallel to the friendship between Naruto and Sasuke.
Furthermore, despite the hurtful words from the feudal lord, Chishima said to the genin, “Please try to find it in your hearts to forgive him.” He went on to say, “Sagi never used to act like this before, but then his father and little sister died one after another. It was then that his heart grew cold. I understand.” This is also like Sasuke’s situation in the sense that he grew cold since he not only lost his family but the entire Uchiha clan. Compared to the feudal lord, Sasuke’s situation is much worse, and it’s no wonder that he is the way he is now: he is cold and only interested in pursuing power so that he can kill Itachi Uchiha. In the same way, Chishima believes that Sagi will return to his old self someday, and Naruto believes that Sasuke will return to his old self someday.
This is how they concluded that Lord Koumei is somehow involved in assassinating the current feudal lord. When the feudal lord left, they noticed a strange shuriken on the ground that was used to attack Lord Sagi. Ominous music starts to play in the background as they realise that it has an odd shape, and Chishima recognises it. Neji asked him if the weapon was familiar to him, and Chishima responded by saying, “Yes, there are no ninjas in the land of birds, but some of the guardsmen are receiving special training.” It’s the type of weapon those people would use. Moreover, when Tenten asked who commands the guardsmen, Chishima said it was Lord Koumei, and that’s how they seemingly found out about his involvement.
... and pursues the Noroimusha to its meeting with Koumei, where, after it is defeated, it is revealed that it and the previous Noroimusha were two different individuals. It is sunset when the Genin are hiding in the small building where they encounter the cursed warrior. Neji breaks down how Lord Koumei is involved by saying, “Used the cursed warrior persona to confuse the public, thus creating a rift between Lord Sagi and Mousou. Koumei’s original gimmick was to divide and conquer, but their relationship endured. By Mousou summoning us here, Koumei knew this would all soon come to light, pushing him to try and assassinate Lord Sagi.” As a result, Neji said they needed to find evidence to prove their theory. So, when Koumei meets with the cursed warrior at a temple, Neji activates his Byakugan to see if there’s any sign of human life in the cursed warrior’s armour. It appears there’s someone in there, and before he can tell his comrades, Naruto decides to ambush Koumei and the cursed warrior.
Dramatic music plays in the background as the cursed warrior starts attacking the genin while Koumei retreats.
First, Neji tossed his kunai at the cursed warrior, but his attacks were ineffective. Second, Tenten put some paper bombs on his helmet, but her attacks were ineffective. In response to their attacks, the cursed warrior used his sword to form a whirlwind surrounding him. Taking advantage of the genin being unable to see his attacks, he throws various shuriken shadow clones at them. To deflect his attacks, Neji activates his 8 trigrams: Palm Rotation. While facing this threat, Neji told his comrades that the cursed warrior was not a ghost but a ninja. Moreover, they also found out that his shuriken matched the shuriken that targeted Lord Sagi. So, to find out what is going on, they need him alive.
The genin came up with a brilliant strategy to defeat the cursed warrior. First, Tenten distracts the ninja by throwing her ninja tools at the whirlwind. Second, while the cursed warrior is focused on Tenten, Naruto ambushes him from the ground and punches his jaw, which is the same technique Naruto used when he punched Neji during the Chunin exams. Due to Naruto’s attack, the whirlwind stopped, and finally, to finish this fight, Neji activated his jutsu, Gentle Fist Art, 8 trigrams: 64 palms, and started hitting the cursed warrior until he was eventually defeated. Afterwards, when they were about to remove his mask, purple smoke started emanating from the mask, followed by green residue on the ground. When they saw this, Neji said it was impossible because he could have sworn that he detected human life in the armour. This leaves them with some questions that are yet to be answered.
The group finds evidence that Koumei may have been behind the second Noroimusha’s appearance, and Koumei is arrested. Koumei gets arrested by various guards who say to him, “Lord Koumei, we’ve confiscated a suit of white armour and several guardsmen's shuriken from a storeroom within your residence. The cursed warrior incident and the assassination attempt against Lord Sagi were both orchestrated by one man, and you’re the prime suspect. We’re bringing you in. Will you go quietly?” Koumei responded by saying, “I have no choice.” After his arrest, Tenten remarked that those guardsmen didn’t waste time since they only contacted Lord Mousou about an hour ago. Neji responded by saying, “It was different. Tonight’s cursed warrior was different; there was an energy inside from a living, breathing human.” In other words, there isn’t one of them, but two. This means that the feudal lord could still be in danger. Who is the second cursed warrior? We are left in suspense until we watch the next episode.
The lesson from this episode is that some may become cold because of certain circumstances they faced in life, just like how Lord Sagi was rude to his friend Chishima because he lost his father and sister. Moreover, Sasuke only changed for the worse because of the circumstances he faced when Itachi killed the whole Uchiha clan.
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