Source: Wikipedia
“Encounter! The Boy with a Star’s Name”
“Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee are assigned to a mission to protect the star belonging to the Hidden Village of Star. When Naruto hears of the star’s special chakra-enhancing power, he decides he too must go along because of his assumption that Orochimaru may be involved. Naruto convinces Tsunade to allow him to join Team Guy’s mission by bribing her with an expensive treat. Naruto and Team Guy encounter Sumaru of the Hidden Village of Star, who guides them past the poison gases surrounding the village after demonstrating techniques with a strange purple chakra. The Konoha genin meets with the substitute Hoshikage, Akahoshi, who explains Hidden Star’s desire to become one of the five hidden villages. Sumaru expresses his desire to become the first true Hoshikage of Hidden Star, which intrigues Naruto, who rushes off after Sumaru in the direction of the place where the village’s star is held. Naruto and Sumaru see someone fleeing from the building containing the star, and Naruto runs off in pursuit. Sumaru discovers that the star has been stolen and chases after the thief. The thief manages to escape from Naruto, and it is revealed that (s)he was using techniques exclusive to those who had star training, meaning they were once a member of the Star Village.”
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Analysis
The following episode was premised on the theme of ambition and self-improvement in the sense that there was a similarity between Naruto and Sumaru. Moreover, there was a situational irony where what happened was the opposite of what was expected or appropriate. Lastly, there was a hint of foreshadowing. There are so many details brought out, as I will show in my analysis.
Right, since foreshadowing refers to how the use of clues hints at what will happen later in the plot, at the start of the episode, there was a hint of foreshadowing. The episode starts by showing the shooting star that landed in the Star Village. When it lands in the village, the star explodes and destroys everything in its path, and as a result, it leaves a huge hole in the area. This is the same area where the training building is located and the same place where star ninjas train and immerse themselves in the star’s chakra, as will be revealed later. Therefore, showing the shooting star at the beginning of the episode keeps the audience curious to understand what will happen next in the plot.
After we are shown the shooting star landing in the star village, a bird sent by the star village flies in the sky and lands in the leaf village. When the bird reached the Hokage’s office, it knocked on Tsunade’s window, and when Tsunade noticed a hidden note on its leg, that’s when she knew she had gotten a security mission request from the Star Village, where they wanted the leaf ninja to guard the star they possess. Tsunade called Shizune to come to her office and informed her of Star Village’s security mission request. Moreover, through Tsunade, we get some details about the Star Village. For instance, she said to Shizune, “It’s a relatively small place, but they are proud people, and they have caused a lot of headaches in the past.” Already, we are curious to understand what sort of headaches they caused in the past. Afterwards, after learning about this, Shizune asked Tsunade if she was planning to take the job, and Tsunade said that she couldn’t simply disregard it because that village has something very special, which is the star.
Therefore, the star acts as a symbol that stands both for itself in terms of helping the star village and for something beyond itself, which is how its speciality attracts enemies who want the power for their selfish intentions. From the onset, the episode got interesting enough for one to continue watching the rest of the plot.
Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee are assigned to a mission to protect the star belonging to the Hidden Village of Star. When Naruto hears of the star’s special chakra-enhancing power, he decides he too must go along because of his assumption that Orochimaru may be involved. Naruto convinces Tsunade to allow him to join Team Guy’s mission by bribing her with an expensive treat.
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Use of exposition in a dialogue between Sakura and Naruto
Exposition refers to background information on characters and events necessary for understanding the story. So, when it comes to the dialogue between Naruto and Sakura, Sakura gives background information about the Star Village and the events that happened. While Tsunade finished briefing Shizune about the star village, Naruto and Sakura sat outside having lunch. As they eat, Sakura informs Naruto about the mission assigned to Neji’s squad.
Sakura: Anyway, apparently, they decided to form a three-man squad with Neji as team leader.
Naruto: But the village hidden in the stars is a full-on Shinobi village, isn’t it? Why do they need us? Can’t they use their ninjas to handle security themselves?
Sakura: Mmm, well, sometimes a smaller village will strengthen relations by coordinating with its allies militarily, and in this case, since their village is smaller than most, they probably don’t have enough ninjas to protect it.
Naruto: Oh, but why is a place that tiny being attacked?
Sakura: You don’t know? It all started 200 years ago when a shooting star hit the village.
Naruto (shocked and almost choking on his food): You mean like a star in the sky, not like a throwing star, right?
Sakura: Yep, and according to legend, the star contains a mysterious power that can affect the chakra.
Naruto laughs: Hahahahaha, what a ridiculous story. First off, there is no way a star ever just dropped out of the sky and hit the Earth.
Sakura: Mmm, it happened. Why do you think the village has been targeted by foreign Shinobi several times already?
Naruto was shocked. What? This isn’t the first time.
[Aside] Naruto said in his mind, Mysterious power, huh? It sounds like something Orochimaru would want to get his hands on.
Naruto stood up and said, Okay, it looks like I will be going with them.
Sakura, while seated: What? You can’t; the three-man squad has already been chosen.
Naruto: Yeah, but I have an ace up my sleeve.
The use of exposition in the dialogue helped us understand more about the Star Village. Although the Star Village is full-on, they requested help from the Leaf Village because they are small villages. Plus, as Sakura said, they also probably wanted to strengthen relations by coordinating with their allies; after all, when a village has allies to help, it helps tighten up security. Moreover, as asserted by Sakura, since the village had already been targeted by foreign Shinobi several times, they had to enlist help from foreigners, which is the Leaf Village.
Therefore, Sakura played an important role in helping one understand Star Village’s predicament better. Ultimately, Naruto’s assumption that Orochimaru might try to get his hands on the star is spot on since Orochimaru is all about looking for power that would help him get stronger. This leaves one with the question: Is Orochimaru going to show himself at the Star Village? Only time will tell. Also, when Naruto said he had an ace up his sleeve, that’s when he decided to bribe Tsunade so that he could go on a mission with Neji’s team.
Naruto’s bribe works along the way; Neji’s team runs into the woods, where Naruto eventually shows up. It got them confused about why Naruto was attending this mission. While Neji’s team contemplates this, at the Hokage’s office, Shizune arrives to inform Tsunade that Naruto joined up with Neji’s team. In response to Shizune’s information, Tsunade, looking out the window, gave the excuse that she added him to the mission at the last minute because he and Neji’s team did well at the Kadabame gold mine, where they defeated Raiga. Moreover, she said that while he’s gone, she can relax. What happened next was that when she was giving her excuse, she was eating all the time, which caused her to choke on her food. Shizune ran to help, and she noticed that Tsunade was eating a rare roasted chestnut bean jelly with gold leaf candy. Shizune put two and two together, and Tsunade changed the lineup of an established squad on a whim for a bribe, which was food.
Naruto and Team Guy encounter Sumaru of the Hidden Village of Star, who guides them past the poison gases surrounding the village after demonstrating techniques with a strange purple chakra.
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Naruto’s first encounter with Sumaru
When Naruto reached the Star village, he came across a village canyon that, in appearance, looked abandoned and lifeless. It has a poisonous yellow gas surrounding the area. However, Naruto didn’t know about the poisonous gas, so he proceeded to come close to the canyon, where he encountered some traps. Sumaru, wearing a face mask to protect himself from the yellow gas, appears. He shoots an arrow in Naruto’s direction, where he is targeting a tree.
Afterwards, he jumps on top of the rope and runs on top of it, heading in Naruto’s direction. When he got close to Naruto, he reacted by tossing various kunai at him; however, Naruto’s attacks were ineffective. Sumaru activated his jutsu called Ninja Art: Kujaku Protection to block Naruto’s attacks. In other words, he blocked Naruto’s kunai with his purple chakra. When Naruto realised his kunai attacks were ineffective, he activated his Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, but Sumaru defeated the clones with his purple chakra. With Sumaru still having a purple chakra immersed in his body, his purple chakra grew bigger. Before the fight with Naruto could proceed any further, Neji’s team showed up to stop the fight. Sumaru only fought with Naruto because he wasn’t aware that he was from the Leaf Village, so he removed his face mask to reveal his identity.
Neji showed Naruto the yellow poisonous gas surrounding the area and told him, “The border canyon of the land of bears is externally filled with poison gas. The fog acts as a barrier against foreign invaders.” In other words, Sumaru saved his life. If Naruto had come across the poisonous gas, he would have perished; hence, Naruto’s recklessness almost cost him his life. Instead of Naruto being thankful, he gets annoyed by saying, “Whatever, I didn’t need his help.” Sumaru responds unbothered, saying, “I didn’t have to help you, you know. I could have just stood there watching while you perished.” A moment of silence takes place between them, where they both give each other a stank eye.
Afterwards, Sumaru leads the genin safely to the Star Village. Sumaru’s encounter with Naruto showed how he has power due to the star. The star is the reason why the star village has gained a reputation for being a fine Shinobi; if they lose it, who knows what would happen to their honour as a village?
The Konoha genin meets with the substitute Hoshikage, Akahoshi, who explains Hidden Star’s desire to become one of the Five main Hidden Villages. Sumaru expresses his desire to become the first true Hoshikage of Hidden Star, which intrigues Naruto, who rushes off after Sumaru in the direction of the place where the village’s star is held. Akahoshi gave a reason why he serves as deputy Hoshikage. A dialogue takes place among them, where he says:
Akahoshi: The third Hoshikage passed on quite suddenly a year ago, so at present the village finds itself without a true leader.
Neji: But I thought only leaders of the five great hidden villages could be called Kage?
Naruto: Yeah!
Before Akahoshi could say anything further, Sumaru interrupted by saying,
Sumaru: That makes no difference. The people of this village are no inferior to anyone. We may be small, but someday this village will rival those of the five great lands, and when that day comes, I will be Hoshikage
After Naruto heard this, he was impressed, but Akahoshi wasn’t thrilled that he interrupted him, so he said to Sumaru:
Akahoshi: Be quiet! Return to your training at once.
Sumaru leaves the room, and after some time, Naruto follows him.
The dialogue shows the similarity between Naruto and Sumaru. Sumaru seems to be working hard as a shinobi and has hope that one day his land will rival those of the five great lands, where one day he will become Hoshikage. Naruto has the same dream of being a kage; he is working hard as well as a shinobi, and he has hope that one day he will become a Hokage at the Leaf Village. Both have the ambition to become kage in their villages, respectively; hence, the theme of ambition and self-improvement is applied here.
Naruto’s ambition to become Hokage runs deep in his veins, and over various episodes, we have witnessed his improvement. For instance, he has mastered the multi-shadow clone jutsu and the Rasengan, and he has even mastered summoning Gamabunta, the huge toad. His self-improvement will take him far in achieving his dream, and it is safe to assume that Sumaru has been working hard to become a fine shinobi so that one day he will become the Hoshikage.
Moreover, as soon as Naruto and Sumaru left the room, Akahoshi continued to speak to Neji’s team.
Akahoshi: Where was I? Yes, as you correctly pointed out, the shinobi of our land are not qualified to even have a kage. However, we possess a star that the Kage of the five great hidden villages covered. Someday, we’ll harness the power of the star, and our village will at last be able to sit on a sixth kage.
Neji: So, your enemies have been trying to get that star?
Akahoshi: That’s right. Our scouting team managed to get some useful intelligence.
The dialogue above just highlighted why the Star Village sought security from the Leaf Village. Enemies have been trying to get the star, and they don’t plan to stop until they get it. Since he said his scouting team managed to get some useful intelligence, he seemingly took some measures to protect the star.
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The element of ambition and self-improvement between Naruto and Sumaru
After Sumaru left the Hoshikage’s residence, he went outside the woods, where Naruto managed to catch up to him. As they walk together in the woods, he tells Naruto that his name is derived from the name of a star and that everyone in his village has a name that is associated with a certain star. After some time, Sumaru got annoyed and asked Naruto what he wanted from him because, usually, foreigners are all trying to get to their stars. Moreover, foreigners think that if they can get their power, they can rise above the other hidden villages. This supports the notion that Sumaru’s chakra is infused by the power of the star. Despite Sumaru being sceptical about Naruto because he is a foreigner, he will later realise that Naruto doesn’t care about that and that he is like him since Naruto’s dream is also to become a kage. Afterwards, Naruto gets even more curious about the star when a dialogue takes place between them:
Naruto: If someone else has the star, wouldn’t they have the same chakra as you do?
Sumaru retorts: No! The more power you draw from it, the more work and skill you need to control it.
Naruto: Yeah, but
Sumaru: And that’s what I’m going to do—nothing but hard work. I will become the Hoshikage.
Naruto (impressed): Great! I can’t wait to work with you.
Sumaru (confused): huh?
Naruto: Because I’m going to become Hokage in my village, too.
Sumaru (indifferent): You know, you’re kind of weird.
Naruto: You think? Hahahahaha
The dialogue above shows how deeply their ambition of becoming a kage runs within their veins. Both are improving themselves and have high hopes of becoming Kage one day; hence, the element of ambition and self-improvement runs deep between the two of them, even if their personalities are different. Naruto is the jolly one, while Sumaru is always serious.
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An intruder steals the star.
While they finished having a conversation, an intruder invaded the training area where the star was enshrined. The strange intruder was wearing a face mask that protected him or herself from the poisonous gas. When the intruder entered the training building, he knocked out all the ninjas that were there, infusing themselves with the star’s chakra, and proceeded to take the star and head out.
While this happened, Sumaru and Naruto were walking around the area where Sumaru was showing Naruto the training area where the star was enshrined. When Naruto asked if he could see it, Sumaru was still sceptical about him because Naruto was a foreigner. He said that no one from a foreign land is allowed, so he can’t leave the leaf ninja with something so sacred. Naruto then pointed out that Sumaru is paranoid because Star Village is the one who even hired them for security in the first place. If they don’t trust the Leaf Village, why did they call the Leaf Village in the first place? It doesn’t make sense to Naruto that Sumaru remained sceptical. This further highlights the star’s importance in strengthening the village; if they lose it, it can weaken the village’s strength.
Naruto and Sumaru see someone fleeing from the building containing the star, and Naruto runs off in pursuit. Sumaru discovers that the star has been stolen and chases after the thief. While Naruto pursued the thief, Sumaru stayed behind to check on his friends in the training building. When he discovered that his friends were unconscious, he woke one of them, named Hokuto, with a purple chakra from his fingertips. Hagato wakes up and tells him what happened, so when he realises that the star is missing, he runs off as well in pursuit of the thief.
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Naruto’s encounter with the star thief
Action music plays in the background with a mix of Japanese flutes as Naruto finally catches up with the thief. While Naruto was pursuing the thief around the area, he tossed various kunai at the enemy, but the thief dodged them and eventually stood on a pole around the area. While the thief was standing on the pole. Naruto activated his Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. However, the thief activated Ninja Art: Kujaku, which is like Sumaru’s Ninja technique. The thief is infused with purple chakra, and to take the jutsu to another level, the thief says the word “beast.” Afterwards, the purple chakra grew enormous, and it formed into a beast, defeating Naruto’s shadow clones.
After witnessing the thief’s technique, the rest of the shadow clones tossed their shuriken jutsu at the thief, but their attacks were ineffective. In other words, it was futile, so five shadow clones proceeded in the thief’s direction and wrapped themselves around the thief while the other four shadow clones ran towards the thief and planned to use their technique: clone body slam. The real Naruto, who was with the shadow clone preparing the body slam, jumps forward in the air and prepares to hit the thief. However, the thief could still use their purple chakra even though the shadow clones were wrapped around his or her body. Due to the purple chakra, Naruto ends up getting hit by it, which hits him and slams him to the ground, where he hits his head. Since the real Naruto got injured, the rest of the shadow clones have disappeared.
Moreover, after realising that Naruto is weak, the thief proceeds to turn his or her purple chakra into two beasts. When the thief said the word “synthesis,” the two infused beast chakras formed into one big beast targeting Naruto. Naruto was in danger until Sumaru was halfway running on his way to reach the battle. While Sumaru was on his way, the thief saw him, and it seemed at that moment that the thief knew Sumaru. So, the thief switched the infused beast’s purple chakra into two forms of purple chakra wings. As a result, the star thief flies away and retreats. Through Naruto’s encounter with the star thief, it seems the thief is very skilled as a shinobi, which makes one wonder who that star thief is.
The thief manages to escape from Naruto, and it is revealed that (s)he was using techniques exclusive to those who had star training, meaning they were once a member of the Star Village. Tense music was playing in the background after Sumaru realised that the star thief used a ninja technique like his. He also noted that the star thief who used the exclusive techniques could only be from the star village.
Towards the end of the episode, Naruto makes a promise with a determined look on his face, saying to Sumaru, “Listen to me; I’m the one who let him get away, and I’m going to be the one who gets that star back. I swear.” Indeed, one can expect that Naruto will fulfil his promise since he never gives up until he fulfils his promise; hence, he is a promise keeper.
This situation with the star thief helps one realise that this is a situational irony. Situational irony is when what happens is the opposite of what is expected; hence, in this case, it was expected that the star would be stolen by foreign enemies, yet what happened is that the star thief happens to be one from the Star Village. This leaves the episode in suspense and leaves the audience anxious about what will happen next. Who is the star thief? What is his or her reason for stealing the star? Is there more to the story? These questions will be revealed after some episodes.
The lesson from this episode is that one will meet someone similar to their ambitions, just like Sumaru met Naruto, who also has the desire to become a Kage, even though their personalities are so different.
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and then Add to home screen.