Source: Wikipedia
“Hoshikage, The Buried Truth”
“Akahoshi says that the mission for the Konoha Shinobi is over, but Neji says that, as the star has not been recovered, the mission will go on. Neji, Lee, and Tenten reveal the truth about Akahoshi to the trainees. Naruto awakens and hears about Natsuhi and her husband seeing the horrors of the star training and trying to steal the star. After they were caught, the Third Hoshikage agreed to end the star training if they left the village and watched from afar to prevent it from resuming. Natsuhi and her husband accepted, asking the Hoshikage to tell Sumaru that they had died. Akahoshi tracks down the star and reveals that he assassinated the Hoshikage to resume the star training. He fights Natsuhi and absorbs his subordinates’ chakra to grow stronger, but Naruto’s teammates and the star trainees arrive.”
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Analysis
The relevance of the title of the episode is relevant in the sense that we finally know about Akahoshi’s evil secret. As supported by my possible explanation in Season 4: Episode 179, I was right to assume that Akahoshi was the one who killed the third hoshikage because he was an obstacle in terms of blocking Akahoshi’s selfish ambitions. Moreover, from the title of the episode, the element of death is also present. Throughout the episode, everyone starts to realise that Akahoshi is nothing but a villain.
Akahoshi says that the mission for the Konoha Shinobi is over, but Neji says that, as the star has not been recovered, the mission will go on. At the start of the episode, tense music started playing in the background. After Neji witnessed the fall of Naruto off the cliff, he ran close to the edge of the Valley of Death to check for any sign of Naruto. So, he activated his Byakugan, but he could not see any trace of Naruto or the shinobi, Natsuhi. Afterwards, Neji asked Akahoshi why he hit Naruto, and Akahoshi just gave an excuse that it was an accident and that it was a tragic loss since Naruto was the first one to defeat the ninja art of kujaku. As a result, he “thanked” Neji, and that’s when he said the mission for the Leaf Shinobi was over. Moreover, when Neji noted that the star had not been recovered, Akahoshi explained that the Star Village would handle it. Afterwards, Akahoshi leaves with his men, while Neji stays behind, watching them leave.
Despite Akahoshi’s attempt to kill Natsuhi and hurt Naruto, they both survived. They are at Natsuhi’s hideout, taking shelter in her cave. When Naruto fell off the cliff, Natsuhi saved him by using her purple chakra and then proceeded to use her purple chakra to form wings. Afterwards, she flew away and got out of that poisonous gas. As they proceeded to converse with each other, that’s when Naruto found out that she was Sumaru’s mother.
Meanwhile, when Akahoshi and his men got back to the residence, they found out that Sumaru was gone and knew that the leaf shinobi had taken him. Therefore, they made plans to silence them permanently once they got the star back. Once they silence them, they plan to lie to the Leaf Village that the genin died while trying to fulfil a mission. Moreover, to find the star, Akahoshi said that he had burned Natsuhi’s chakra in his memory, and he would follow the remnant trail of her chakra that would lead them straight to the star. His plans are not going to work because the need to pursue power at the expense of others always ends up not working out.
Neji, Lee, and Tenten reveal the truth about Akahoshi to the trainees. While Neji was telling them about what happened to Naruto, Tenten and Lee appeared with Sumaru. Moreover, after Neji’s team informed the trainees about Akahoshi and how he kidnapped Sumaru, Neji pointed out that the shinobi who took the star was the only one who could explain what was going on. Therefore, their next step was to find the shinobi in the forest, in the land of bears. Neji’s team and trainees leave, while they leave Mizura behind to rest since his chakra was weakened from the star training.
At the valley of death, Akahoshi and his men are walking on a rope to the other side, the forest of the land of bears. When they reached their destination, they removed their masks. Akahoshi tracked Natsuhi’s remnants of chakra with his purple eyes, and they eventually managed to track the location of the star. They plan to go to the gravesite of Natsuhi’s late husband.
Naruto awakens and hears about Natsuhi and her husband seeing the horrors of the star training and trying to steal the star. After they were caught, the Third Hoshikage agreed to end the star training if they left the village and watched from afar to prevent it from resuming. Natsuhi and her husband accepted, asking the Hoshikage to tell Sumaru that they had died. This happened 10 years ago when Natsuhi and her husband, Hotarubi, stole the star during the night and planned to run away with it. In the forest, however, they were cornered by a lead unit of tracking shinobi. After some time, that’s when the third Hoshikage appeared and shared the same concerns he had about the star training and asked them to leave the village and watch from afar to prevent the star training from resuming. So, before they left, Hotarubi removed his purple necklace and passed it to his wife, who then gave it to the third hoshikage with the star. At that moment, that’s when they asked the Hoshikage to tell Sumaru that they had died.
Yet, it wasn’t long before, as soon as Natsuhi and Hotarubi left the star village, Hotarubi sadly passed away from the effects of star training. To make matters worse, the same thing could very well happen to her; hence, we see the element of death. It makes one think that Akahoshi is crazy to continue star training even though he knows it has deadly effects. Instead of thinking that it is not worth it to die over the star training, he still insists on pushing the star training. He is not even thinking about the potential damage that it could do to his village and him as well if he continues! He lacks common sense; hence, the pursuit of power is like a drug to him. In other words, he is a static character. He doesn’t change, and he refuses to grow much in the story because of his need to fulfil his selfish ambitions.
Moreover, Natsuhi also told Naruto that Akahoshi was the one who kidnapped Sumaru. It’s a good thing that Sumaru was saved by Tenten and Rock Lee, which she and Naruto will find out in the next episode. Immediately after Natsuhi finished telling Naruto about Akahoshi’s selfish ambitions, Akahoshi and his men arrived at the forest of the land of bears, where they were getting close to the late Hotarubi’s grave. Natsuhi could sense their presence with her chakra, so she and Naruto headed out to where they were.
Akahoshi tracks down the star and reveals that he assassinated the Hoshikage to resume the star training. He fights Natsuhi and absorbs his subordinates’ chakra to grow stronger, but Naruto’s teammates and the star trainees arrive. When Akahoshi and his men arrived at the grave of Hotarubi, they realised that Natushi had sealed the entrance with a boulder. While they figure out how to break the entrance, Naruto appears in the air with multi-shadow clones. He wanted to use the same technique he used to punch Natsuhi. So, triumph music starts to play in the background with a mix of Japanese guitar and Japanese flute. When the shadow clones landed on the ground, Akahoshi and his men were shocked to see that Naruto was still alive. So, Akahoshi activated his Ninja Art: Kujaku Beast to destroy the shadow clones. While he destroyed all the shadow clones with his jutsu, the real Naruto appeared while he knelt on the ground. When he wanted to punch him in the jaw, Akahoshi dodged the attack by jumping upward in the air. He knew that Naruto would use the same trick, so while in the air, he activated his ninja art: Kujaku Beast. Before his jutsu could harm Naruto, Natsuhi overpowered his jutsu using her ninja art: the kujaku beast. As he landed on the ground and realised that it was Natsuhi, a dialogue took place:
Akahoshi (annoyed): So, Natsuhi, you’re still alive as well, I see.
Natsuhi: Akahoshi, I ask you one more time to reconsider. Stop the star training once and for all, and let the young people go, and I will leave you and the village in peace forever.
Ominous music plays in the background, and in that moment, he reveals the truth behind the death of the third Hoshikage.
Akahoshi: Ha! Thank you, but no. You’re just as blind as that stubborn old man, the third Hoshikage; he wouldn’t listen to reason either. He refused to understand that the star training was essential to keeping our village strong and prosperous.
Afterwards, we are shown a memory of how he killed the Hoshikage. Akahoshi and his men went to his residence during the night, where there was one lit candle. When the third hostage refused to resume star training, each of them stabbed him with a kunai. At that moment, Akahoshi said to the third Hoshikage, “Now go and sleep with your ancestors; your journey is at an end; leave it to the next generation to give this village the power to rival the five great hidden villages.” After that, he laughed wickedly while the kage passed out and died. After hearing the story, Naruto said:
Naruto (furious): You monster, you got this whole village believing in you, and you don’t care if they leave or die! Mizura is in the hospital because of you; he may not survive!
Akahoshi (unbothered): Greatness cannot be achieved without some sacrifice; it’s for the village, and a true Shinobi understands that.
Naruto (yells): For the village? No, it isn’t; it’s for you, for you and some crazy dream of glory you got inside your head!
Afterwards, Naruto prepared to attack Akahoshi, but he was stopped by Natsuhi, who blocked his way.
Natsuhi: It’s not your fight; stay out of it; this is our village affair.
Naruto: But-
Natsuhi: Just stay back.
Thereafter, Natsuhi activates her Ninja Art: Kujaku Beast. At that moment, Akahoshi instructed his men to activate their Kujaku Beast technique and absorb or swallow their chakra to grow stronger. Due to their chakra being absorbed, they passed out. Absorbing their chakra gave Akahoshi a great advantage since his Kujaku Beast Chakra is evenly matched to Natsuhi’s Kujaku Beast Chakra.
The dialogue just shows the external conflict between Natsuhi and Akahoshi and how Akahoshi remains adamant about pursuing his selfish ambitions. He is willing to risk people’s lives in the village just to fulfil his dream of having the village strong and prosperous. Yet he fails to realise how it can be prosperous if most of the lives are at risk of dying from star training. It makes one realise why the Star Village is a small village, which is due to the star training. Akahoshi had implied that the village is weak, yet he is too blind to see that it’s because of the star; his massive desire to seek power no matter what will lead to his downfall soon.
In the next episode, it is going to be a battle between two Kujaku Beast Chakra. Moreover, while Akahoshi and Natsuhi face each other with their ninja technique, Neji’s team and Sumaru, accompanied by the trainees, are on their way. What will happen next? All of this will happen in the next episode.
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and then Add to home screen.