Source: Wikipedia
“The Death of Naruto”
“The episode starts with Neji, Tenten, and Kakashi staring at a grave. As they head back, they throw off a pursuer with a replacement, but are being shadowed by another. Koumei is about to be forced to commit seppuku, but the Noroimusha saves him. Shortly afterwards, it is revealed that Naruto disguised himself as the Noroimusha. Kakashi fights Nagare, who uses moves copied from another ninja. Naruto, Neji, and Tenten discover that the identity of the Noroimusha is the feudal lord himself, who seeks to kill Mousou to avenge his father.”
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Analysis
There’s an unfolding of events throughout the episode. In my previous analysis, some questions were left unanswered:
Will Naruto survive?
What will happen to Chishima, who is still hiding underwater while breathing oxygen from a stick? Will he survive and inform Genin about the recent development?
Neji senses something poisonous inside Owashi’s body. Was he assassinated? Who poisoned Owashi? Was it Koumei, or was it someone else? If it were someone else, why would Koumei admit to a crime he didn’t commit?
Why would Mousou meet with the Watari ninja, who attempted to assassinate the current feudal lord, Lord Sagi? Did he mean to kill the feudal lord, or was there more story?
If Koumei is already in jail for killing Lord Owashi, why is Sagi still seeking vengeance?
Will anyone in the village find out that Lord Sagi was the second cursed warrior?
Most of these questions will be answered, so buckle up because there are so many details to be unravelled.
The episode starts with Neji, Tenten, and Kakashi staring at a grave. Ominous music plays in the background while they are staring at a grave. In this scene, Kakashi is still insistent that they finish their mission at the Land of Birds. He also said, “Sacrifice is an unaffordable part of the Shinobi way. Now then, let’s get back to the leaf village.” Afterwards, they seemingly leave to go back to their village.
As they leave, it turns out that the two Watari Ninjas are spying on them, and a dialogue takes place between the two of them:
First Watari Ninja: Do you believe they are heading back to their village, Nagare?
Nagare: It could be.
First Watari Ninja: Mmmm, the one in a mask who joined them later worries me.
Nagare: If you want me to follow them, I will.
First Watari Ninja: No, leave that to me; go on and report back.
Nagare: Right
At Mousou’s house, Nagare informed Mousou of the recent development while he sat on the ceiling.
Mousou: What do you have to report?
Nagare: The two younger ones, along with the tall one in a mask, have all been seen crossing the border. They appear to be headed back to the Hidden Leaf Village.
Mousou: Very good, and Lord Sagi has taken care of their companion, that persistent little pest who snuck into the palace. Very good indeed.
Nagari leaves
The two dialogues make one wonder if Mousou has something to hide. Hiring a ninja to make sure they leave their village seems a bit extra. It’s not like they were the ones who committed the crime to infiltrate the feudal lord’s residence; it was just Naruto. Moreover, when he says that Lord Sagi took care of the persistent little pest, which is Naruto, it sounds a bit fishy. It means that Naruto is close to finding out who the second cursed warrior is, and somehow, Mousou knows who it is.
As they head back, they throw off a pursuer with a replacement, but are being shadowed by another. When the first Watari ninja pursued them, he saw Kakashi, Tenten, and Neji fighting over food at a tree. He found it suspicious, so he threw his shuriken at them and found out it was Substitution Jutsu, where it was monkeys all along. Of course, Kakashi would never abandon Naruto because, in Season 1: Episode 5, he said to Team 7, “While a ninja who breaks the rules is scum, those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.” If he had abandoned his pupil, Naruto, he would have been a hypocrite, so it’s no surprise that they are going back to the Land of Birds to save Naruto.
Koumei is about to be forced to commit seppuku, but the Noroimusha saves him. It’s the day of Koumei’s execution. The guards took him from his cell, tied him up, and led him outside, where he would be executed. Mousou reads out his crime written on a scroll, where you will see a dialogue taking place between him and Koumei.
Mousou: A verdict has been reached, Lord Koumei. Betraying your position as a chief technician to our late Lord Owashi, you conspired in his assassination as well as the murder of his daughter, Lady Toki. Furthermore, you and your subordinates were responsible for manufacturing the apparition known as the cursed warrior, your purpose being to spread panic among our people and undermine the authority of Lord Sagi, and you served his the role of feudal lord of the Land of Birds. You are a traitor. Lord Koumei, you’re commanded to take your own life!
Lord Koumei laughs. So that’s it, Mousou; I see it all now. You’ve sprung your trap, haven’t you?!
Mousou: I’m disappointed, Koumei. If you’re a warrior, then at least die like one! Help him to carry out his sentence.
The guards: My lord!
Before Koumei prepares to stab himself in the stomach, he says in his mind, “So this is the end.” When he was about to stab himself, purple smoke or mist surrounded the area. Mousou instructs the executioners to kill Mousou, but they are stopped and attacked by the cursed warrior. The cursed warrior then flies away. Meanwhile, the other guards were Neji, Tenten, and Kakashi, who used Substitution Jutsu. When they saw the cursed warrior leaving, they followed him.
From the dialogue, Koumei knew that Mousou had set him up, as is evident in his words, “You’ve sprung your trap, haven’t you?!” This means that Mousou has something to hide, which will be revealed later.
Meanwhile, when Kakashi, Neji, and Tenten were pursuing the cursed warrior who was using the huge kite to fly, Kakashi said to the genin, “I’m going on ahead; there’s something I need to check out; you two stay on his tail, got it?” Neji and Tenten respond by saying, “Got it.” When the cursed warrior reached his destination, Neji and Tenten realised that the cursed warrior was with Koumei. They assume Koumei is involved in this, but he stops them by saying, “No wait, please; it’s you two from the other night. That night, I was trying to find out the identity of the cursed warrior, too. I thought I might know who it was, you see.” Due to Koumei’s words, we learn that he was just caught at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was trying to find out about the identity of the cursed warrior. Therefore, it is safe to assume that when the guards found the cursed warrior armour at his residence, it might have been Mousou who planted it there to set him up; hence, during the execution, Koumei said, “You’ve sprung your trap, haven’t you?!”
Despite hearing Koumei’s words, Tenten and Neji were about to attack him and the cursed warrior. When the cursed warrior realises what is about to happen, he panics, and without saying anything, he signals them to stop. Kakashi arrives and eventually tells Neji and Tenten to let it go. Kakashi also instructed Tenten and Neji to go with Koumei and the cursed warrior, so they left where the cursed warrior would lead them to the feudal lord’s residence. Slowly but surely, they will find out about the identity of the cursed warrior.
Meanwhile, when they left, Kakashi could sense that he was being followed. Since the intruder refused to reveal himself, Kakashi summoned Pakkun to sniff out the intruder. Pakkun finds him, and it turns out it was Nagare who disguised himself as part of a rock. Kakashi is proven to be a skilled ninja who can sense when he is followed. This also means that he knew he was being followed when he seemingly left to go back to the village, hence why he and his team came back to save Naruto.
Shortly afterwards, it is revealed that Naruto disguised himself as the Noroimusha. When the cursed warrior led them to the feudal lord’s royal residence, that’s when Naruto revealed his identity. Tenten was the only one left in the dark since Neji had already suspected it was Naruto for a while. Neji also asserted that he and Kakashi knew they were being followed by two shinobi when they seemingly left to go back to the village, and that Kakashi instructed them not to react so that they could go back to the Land of Birds. Neji also knew that they were being followed by the second shinobi (Nagare) when they arrived at the abandoned temple. This shows that Neji is also a skilled ninja who is somehow closer to being in the same league as Kakashi. This is why he was picked as team leader because of his ability to sense danger from a distance.
After Neji finished explaining, Lord Koumei seemed to pass out due to his injuries. He has these injuries due to Mousou’s persistence in squeezing a confession out of him. Therefore, the confession was made under duress; hence, that’s why he admitted to the crime he didn’t commit. He was tired of the constant beatings he got, so his confession should have been inadmissible to use as evidence. Mousou is proven to be ruthless, as he is willing to frame an innocent man to cover his tracks. Meanwhile, after realising Koumei’s injuries, the genin head inside the royal residence, where Naruto and Sagi will explain everything.
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The battle between Kakashi and Nagare
Kakashi fights Nagare, who uses moves copied from another ninja. For instance, when Nagare tossed his shuriken, Kakashi tossed his kunai at the same time. While they were fighting, Pakkun arrived to bite Nagare’s hand, and Nagare tossed Pakkun in the air. Afterwards, he activated his jutsu, Universal Assimilation Jutsu. When Pakkun bites his neck, he hurts his teeth because Nagare’s neck is made of hard rock. The reason is that, as noted by Kakashi, his body took on the physical properties of a rock.
Thereafter, Nagare forms himself into a huge boulder. As a result, Kakashi told Pakkun to take off and leave, so now it’s Kakashi versus Nagare. When Nagare formed himself into a huge boulder, he crushed Kakashi with his jutsu Assimilation Rock Tank; however, instead of crushing Kakashi, he crushed a shadow clone. Meanwhile, Kakashi had inserted a paper bomb on Nagare’s back, which exploded. However, Nagare is alive, as is evident when he uses his jutsu: Assimilation rock shower at Kakashi, where various rock pieces hit Kakashi.
Nagare also gave brief details about his clan: “We are nomadic shinobi with no home of our own; we wander from village to village, stealing jutsu and adapting them for our purposes. Some jutsu you might even recognise.” After saying this, he activates his jutsu, Assimilation Sand Coffin, which is like Gaara’s technique. While Kakashi activated his Sharingan and dodged his attack, Nagare proceeded to further his jutsu: Assimilation Sand Funeral. Kakashi is dealing with a shinobi with hidden techniques. What will happen next? This will be revealed in the next episode.
Naruto, Neji, and Tenten discover that the identity of the Noroimusha is that of the feudal lord himself, who seeks to kill Mousou to avenge his father. At the feudal lord’s residence, a dialogue takes place where we learn about Chishima’s well-being and Mousou’s responsibility in killing Sagi’s father, Lord Owashi, and his sister, Lady Toki.
Naruto: Sagi, we’ve got company, but first, what’s the news on our friend Chishima?
Sagi: Recovering well. His life is not in danger. He’s sleeping now; he’s being looked after in a special quarter of the palace.
Sagi said to Koumei, Koumei, forgive me for our misunderstanding.
Koumei (kneels): My lord, I’m the one who seeks forgiveness.
Sagi: Chishima, it was he who risked his life to make me see the truth.
Naruto: I was there.
When Sagi was sentencing Naruto to his death, Chishima appeared while limping due to his shuriken wounds and told Sagi everything.
Chishima: Lord Sagi
Lord Sagi: Chishima
Naruto: What happened?! Those are shuriken wounds.
Lord Sagi: I’ll summon a doctor at once.
Chishima grabs hold of his hand. Lord Sagi, you must listen. Your enemy, the one who betrayed you, is Lord Mousou.
Lord Sagi: You’re sure?
Chishima: Yes, Mousou’s the one who murdered Lord Owashi, your father, and your sister, Toki. He had his assassins use these shurikens of the palace guards to commit the crime to implicate Lord Koumei. I suspect that Lord Koumei had somehow discovered Mousou’s plan. Lord Sagi, you must hurry; you’ve got to call off Lord Koumei’s execution.
When Chishima passes out, Sagi holds him and puts Chishima’s arms on his shoulders.
Naruto: He’s right; there’s no time to lose.
Lord Sagi: No, that is something I cannot do.
Naruto: What do you mean you can’t?!
Lord Sagi: It would mean revealing to Lord Mousou that I know the truth about him, and I wouldn’t get my revenge.
Naruto yells: You’re saying you would sacrifice an innocent guy for the sake of your stupid revenge!
Lord Sagi: I have no choice but for Lord Koumei to be guarded by an army of soldiers. We could never save him by doing anything less than starting a civil war.
Naruto: If I go alone, I could save Lord Koumei by myself, so do you have any problem with that?
Chishima: Lord Sagi...
Lord Sagi: Do as you please
From the dialogue, we can see the importance of Chishima’s role in this episode. Thanks to him, lord Sagi knows who is the real murderer responsible for his father and sister’s deaths. It is Mousou himself. Moreover, we see lord Sagi’s similarity to Sasuke once again since he is driven by revenge and won’t rest until the person who caused his suffering is severely punished, which is the same way Sasuke won’t rest to find power to kill Itachi Uchiha for killing his parents and the entire clan. As the dialogue proceeds, lord Sagi mentions his part as the cursed warrior, and how, when lord koumei came across the cursed warrior, it wasn’t lord Sagi.
Lord Sagi: I played the part of the cursed warrior in hopes of discovering who was behind the assassinations, but I achieved exactly the opposite. Instead of finding the real traitor, understand that I was used by Mousou as a tool to implicate you.
Lord Koumei: For my part, I was sure the apparition I met in my room was you, so I went to the abandoned temple where witnesses had seen it coming and going. At the temple, I encountered the cursed warrior again.
Lord Sagi: Yes, but that cursed warrior was not me; it was most likely something of Mousou’s devising.
Naruto: Exactly, probably one of his henchmen; it was all part of the old man’s trap.
Lord Koumei: Mousou, it’s clear that his fiendish plan was first to dispose of me and then gain control of the Land of Birds by disposing of Lord Sagi.
Naruto: All the time playing the good guy, I can’t wait to get my hands on him!
Lord Sagi: No, Naruto, you’ve done well. However, from this point on, I act alone.
Naruto: But what do you mean?
Lord Sagi: Understand, I must settle this myself. Until I have done this, my heart is as broken as this watch. We are both stuck forever in the past.
The last part of the dialogue shows that the other cursed warrior could have been Mousou’s henchman. Moreover, the reason why Mousou killed Sagi’s father and his sister is that he wants to gain control of the land of birds, which means that Sagi is still in great danger. Yet, Sagi doesn’t care about that; he still seeks vengeance to the extent that he wants to act alone to punish Mousou. Sagi is Sasuke through and through. Their similarities are visible throughout this dialogue. The desire to punish the ones who caused their suffering runs deep.
The episode ends, and we will see in the next episode if Sagi will act alone to punish Mousou or if the genin will assist him.
This episode has answered some of the questions I mentioned in the previous analysis:
Will Naruto survive? Naruto survived through the disguise of the cursed warrior and managed to save Lord Koumei from being executed.
What will happen to Chishima, who is still hiding underwater while breathing oxygen from a stick? Will he survive and inform the Genin about the recent development? – Chishima did survive, and he is recuperating at the royal residence. He even managed to inform Sagi and Naruto about Mousou’s involvement in the killing of his father and his sister.
Neji sense something poisonous inside Owashi’s body. Was he assassinated? Who poisoned Owashi? Was it Koumei or was it someone else? If it were someone else, why would Koumei admit to a crime he didn’t commit? – Indeed, lord Owashi was assassinated by Mousou because he wanted to gain control of the Land of Birds. Moreover, Koumei was only admitted under duress. Mousou was persistent in getting a confession out of him to the extent that he kept hitting lord Koumei, and Koumei admitted to the crime because he wanted the beatings to stop.
Why would Mousou meet with the Watari ninja who attempted to assassinate the current feudal lord, lord Sagi? Did he mean to kill the feudal lord, or was there more story? – Koumei was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and all he wanted to do was to find out the secret identity of the cursed warrior.
If Koumei is already in jail for killing Lord Owashi, why is Sagi still seeking vengeance? Probably Sagi was seeking vengeance because he wanted to punish the murderer himself, or deep inside of him, he wasn’t sure if Koumei was responsible for his father and sister’s deaths.
Will anyone in the village find out that Lord Sagi was the second cursed warrior? This question will be revealed in the next episode.
The lesson from this episode can be derived from Kakashi’s words in Season 1: Episode 5, where he said to Team 7, “While a ninja who breaks the rules is scum, those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.” This is evident when he goes back with his team to save Naruto.
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and then Add to home screen.