Source: Wikipedia
“A Past to Be Erased”
“When Menma is injured by one of the bandits, it is revealed that he was once one of them and that he was in the town during the attack. Despite this, Menma is willing to risk himself to help fight off the bandits and tells Naruto of the leader’s master plan to flood the town with a dam. After revealing that he lost his memory only for a very short time, Menma sacrifices his life to cause a rockslide to save the town. Naruto defeats the bandit leader and mourns Menma’s loss.”
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Analysis
To conclude the storyline, the episode presents a falling action when the events begin to resolve themselves and tension is released. It also ends in tragedy when Menma sacrifices his life to cause a rockslide to save the town. Other details will be revealed in the analysis.
When Menma is injured by one of the bandits, it is revealed that he was once one of them and that he was in the town during the attack. This is a continuation of the previous episode, when Nan said to the genin, “That mark, he’s in league with the people who attacked this village.” After hearing that Menma was part of the bandits, everyone was stunned. It happened around sunset, and Tenten wondered why the medic ninja from the leaf village didn’t say anything about the markings. To find out the truth, Neji activated his Byakugan to analyse the marking, and apparently, it seems this type of marking only appears on the body when it sweats. Therefore, it wasn’t necessarily a tattoo.
Nan wanted to kill Menma, but he got stopped by Neji, who gave him the excuse that he could have his revenge after Menma remembered who he was. Naruto was still adamant about protecting him, and Tenten said that if they restored his memories, they could use Menma as bait to get the bandits and save the village; hence, he had to be kept alive. After some time, Nan stitched up his wounds while the genin held Menma down, who was screaming in pain.
Around nighttime, Nan finished stitching up Menma’s and left the room. The room had a lamp, and while the genin was watching Menma, Naruto was saddened that he was a low-life bandit. Neji also said they will know everything once he starts to remember. Eventually, Menma woke up and asked if he was one of the bandits, but they told him to rest. After some time, Neji went out to look around the area, while Naruto and Tenten remained behind with Menma. When the lamp was off, Naruto and Tenten both fell asleep. Menma was awake, so he went outside with bandages around his torso. He wanted to finish building the wall and the drawbridge.
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Menma is almost attacked by the villagers.
When Menma finishes building the wall and the drawbridge despite his stab wounds, ominous music plays in the background. It symbolises that Menma is in danger. For instance, when he finished building the drawbridge, Fuki (the little girl) threw a stone at him, and then other villagers came to attack him. Menma ended up kneeling on the ground to protect himself. Luckily, Naruto arrived in time to save him. He said to the villagers that they didn’t know for certain that Menma was part of the bandits who attacked them. However, the villagers who were holding weapons were still adamant about attacking Menma. Eventually, ominous music stops playing in the background when Neji and Tenten come to the drawbridge. Since the genin were standing in their way, they threw stones at them. In response to these attacks, Menma told them to leave because he was willing to accept punishment for his actions, even if it meant being stoned to death. Menma feels a sense of regret for what he did to the village, especially having a hand in the deaths of Fuki’s parents, which makes the viewer respect him for being willing to take responsibility for his crimes.
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The arrival of the bandit leader Shiin and his bandits.
It is crucial to note that Shiin is the one who is responsible for destroying the town. He is also the one who infiltrated the Leaf Village. Therefore, since he and the bandits wanted to take gold from the mine in the mountain, they decided to come back and attack the villagers.
While the villagers were throwing stones at the Genin and Menma, suddenly, some arrows hit the drawbridge. When they were aware that it was the bandits, Menma told the genin to close the drawbridge so that the bandits couldn’t enter the village. Meanwhile, the bandits came running with intense speed, and they saw that the drawbridge was closing. Eventually, one of them entered, but then he got stoned and ended up falling to the ground. Shiin and his bandits even tried to use paper bombs, but they didn’t work. So, Shin instructed his men to be careful of the leaf ninja and find a way through the wall.
When they were trying to find a way through the wall, the villagers hid. Moreover, the genin told Menma to hide as well while they stayed behind to handle the bandits. Afterwards, Menma left while Ran took Fuki’s hand and ran to find a place to hide. Along the way, Fuki drops the necklace she got from her late father, which will compel her to get it back, as I will reveal later.
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Naruto, Neji and Tenten versus Shiin and his bandits.
Shiin and his bandits managed to break through the drawbridge. After some time, they seemingly disappeared from their sight. So, Neji activated his Byakugan and told his team that they were caught in a genjutsu—a sonic genjutsu. However, Shiin had already landed on a roof in one of the buildings and played a flute, causing their bodies to be paralysed. To make matters worse, other bandits appeared on the roof and tossed their kunai in their direction. Luckily, Menma countered the technique with his music ninjutsu when he played the ocarina flute. He was hiding behind a tree. As a result, the genin could move and block their attacks with their kunai. At that moment, Shiin knew it was Menma who did that and called him a traitor. After some time, the bandits who were on the roof went on the offensive to attack Tenten and Neji, who were on the ground. Naruto then decided to jump in the air to attack the bandit leader, Shiin. Eventually, Menma played his ocarina flute to increase Tenten and Neji’s chakra. As a result, Tenten defeated the bandits with her ninja tools, while Neji defeated the bandits using his rotation technique. Menma played a role in their success in defeating the bandits, which makes him an important character throughout the episode.
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Naruto’s attempt to defeat Shiin.
Action music plays in the background when Naruto activates his Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu to attack Shiin. In response, Shiin tossed his long red rope, which had a unique kunai attached to the end of it, to destroy the shadow clones. However, it was just a distraction for the real Naruto to take his flute from his pocket and break it. When Shiin realised that Naruto had broken his flute, he knew he couldn’t defeat Naruto, so he escaped while Naruto tried chasing after him. However, Naruto lost him. Where did Shiin go? This will be revealed later.
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Menma saves Fuki from being attacked by a bandit and helps her get her speech back.
After Menma finished helping the genin, he hid behind a tree, catching his breath. After some time, he saw the little girl Fuki running and picking up the necklace she had dropped, which once belonged to her late father. Suddenly, one of the bandits arrived to attack her, but he was stabbed by Menma in the back, which resulted in his death. Thereafter, Menma picked up the necklace that was on the ground and gave it to her. At that moment, she remembered how he gave her the necklace on the cliff where her late father died. She remembered how kind he was to save her, and as a result, she got her speech back when she warned him that a bandit was behind him, ready to attack. In response, Menma kicked the bandit in the stomach, which caused him to crash into one of the doors in a certain building. When he realised that Fuki had gotten her speech back, Menma told her, and in response, she thanked him. So, Menma told him to go back and hide with the others. When she left, Menma had a smile on his face and was relieved that she was safe. This moment is significant in showing that Menma was not a bad person. If a little girl can forgive him for having a hand in her parents’ death, then the other villagers will forgive him as well later.
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Menma told Naruto about Shiin’s plans to destroy the town.
Despite this, Menma is willing to risk himself to help fight off the bandits and tells Naruto of the leader’s master plan to flood the town with a dam.
When Fuki left, Naruto came to check on him and told him they had defeated the bandits. However, when Naruto mentioned that Shiin had gotten away, Menma was worried. He said, “He did? This is terrible. Now that Shiin knows the villagers haven’t fled the town, he will use his last resort. Way up at the upper end of the river, there’s a dam built to store an emergency reservoir of water. Even during an extended drought, the village would have plenty of water resources to draw from. He plans to blow the dam and sweep away the entire village with a giant flood.” After he mentioned Shiin’s plans to destroy the village, he said, “He doesn’t care as long as the mine is intact.” There is a threatening atmosphere when Shiin wants to flood the town with a dam. Menma has made it his mission to atone for his crimes by saving the town, so he then comes up with a solution when he says, “Mountains? Huh, that’s it! We need to move the mountains. Naruto, you've got to take me to the mine now.” Second, he said, “There should be a stash of paper bombs kept inside the mine.” Last, he said, “I’m going to blow up the entire mine; all that gravel and sand will fill up the valley. Maybe the flood waters can be stopped.” Immediately, they decided to go to the mine that was in the mountains.
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The emotional atmosphere is presented when Menma tells his story about his life as a bandit and decides to sacrifice his life to save the town.
After revealing that he lost his memory only for a very short time, Menma sacrifices his life to cause a rockslide to save the town. Since Menma still had bandages due to the stab wound he got from Shiin, Naruto carried him on his back as they ran up the cliff to go to the mine. Along the way, Menma tells Naruto the truth: he remembers everything about his past. Despite Naruto saying they should focus on stopping this flood, Menma still felt compelled to tell his story; hence, a dialogue took place:
Menma: No, this is something I’ve got to get off my chest. I lost both my parents when I was very little, and Shiin’s clan took me in and raised me. Even though they were a relatively small band of Shinobi in the land of rice patties, they made a name for themselves because of their strong will and determination. However, about a year ago, a new Shinobi village was founded in the land of rice patties, the village hidden in the sound. One by one, Shiin’s clan lost their most skilled ninja; they kept defecting over to the sound village. Before long, the feudal lord stopped hiring the clan altogether. Shiin was still the leader of the clan; he needed to provide for his men, so he set his sights on this village’s mine. The plan was just to scare the villagers and chase them off, but they resisted, and things turned out wrong. I wanted to escape. I tried to run, but... I’m one of them, a member of a clan full of criminals. It would have been better if I had fallen to my death. At least that ending would have been just one. The image of all those villagers dying at our hands was just too much. I wanted to forget every bit of it, and so, like a coward, I used a secret jutsu passed down through the clan that erased one’s memory. However, the jutsu didn’t work like it was supposed to; it didn’t last, and my vile memory came flooding back to me after only a few hours.
Doomy music was playing throughout when Menma told his story, and when Naruto heard that he could remember all this time, he was angry, as is shown below, when he stopped and raised his voice:
Naruto: Are you telling me you could remember this the whole time?
Menma (sad): I’m sorry.
Naruto (angry): You, get off me!
Thereafter, Naruto tossed him onto a tree and went on to say:
Naruto: I can’t believe you didn’t come clean and tell me the truth from the get-go! Your lies put a lot more people in danger!
Menma (sad): The truth was too shameful; I couldn’t let our clan’s sins be known.
Afterwards, Naruto went from being angry to being sympathetic.
Menma (regretful): Don’t you see, I wanted to stop Shiin’s group from wreaking any more havoc. That’s why I was pretending to have amnesia, so I could turn over a new page and protect the village. I needed help, and I thought that if I could bring the mighty leaf ninja here, you would be able to defeat them. I knew what Shiin was capable of, and I knew I couldn’t stand by and watch more innocent villagers die. Fate spared my life, and now my purpose is to save those people.
Doomy music stops playing in the background to symbolise that Menma wants to make amends for his crimes and has good intentions to save them.
Naruto: Your purpose?
Menma: Do you see now that I had to tell you those lies? I needed the help of the leaf ninja to stop Shiin from carrying out his final plan.
Menma gets up.
Menma: I was hoping to round them all up during their raid on the village earlier, but since I’ve come this far, I guess I will have to stop the flood.
He walked towards Naruto and gave him his ocarina.
Menma: Naruto, thank you; you’ll have to take care of Shiin for me. No matter what happens, you must stop him.
Naruto (confused and sad): Why are you giving me…
Emotional music plays in the background with a violin, acoustic guitar, Japanese flute, and a moderate piano sound. It signifies the end of Menma as he prepares to sacrifice his life to save the village.
Menma (smiles):...because this is goodbye. Somebody must set off the paper bombs inside the mine.
Naruto (shocked): What if you do that? There’s no way you’re going to
Menma (interrupts): Thanks to you and your friends, Naruto, my life is going to mean something.
Thereafter, Menma pushed Naruto off the cliff. Luckily, Naruto was holding onto a tree branch when he saw the explosion of the dam from a distance. Meanwhile, Menma was in the mine with the paper bombs. When he sets them off, his last words are, “So long, my friend Naruto.” As a result, the mine set off and stopped the dam flood by forming a rockslide. When Naruto, who was running in the woods, saw the rockslide, he said, “Menna, no!” He then mourns in disbelief with a loud voice, saying, “How could he? How could he just sacrifice himself? MENMA!!”
The dialogue and the actions Menma took to save the village presented an emotional atmosphere. Indeed, it proved that he was a round character who seemed like a real person who cared about the well-being of others. He even gave other details worth noting. First, Menma revealed that Shiin’s clan lost their most skilled ninja to the sound village. It is crucial to note that the sound village belongs to Orochimaru. In other words, Shiin lost his most skilled ninja to Orochimaru, which resulted in the feudal lord not hiring Shiin’s clan for their service. Therefore, it meant that Shiin had to find other ways to survive, hence why his men invaded the town because of their gold mine. Moreover, it is safe to assume that Orochimaru indirectly played a role in causing chaos between Shiin’s clan and the town that was destroyed by Shiin and his bandits. If Orochimaru hadn’t formed the Sound Village, Shiin wouldn’t have felt compelled to destroy the town. Since Orochimaru affected the livelihood of Shiin’s clan for his evil agenda, he proves once again to be the main antagonist of the anime series. He causes chaos wherever he goes.
Second, Menma revealed that he used a secret jutsu passed down through the clan that erased one’s memory. However, the jutsu didn’t work like it was supposed to. It didn’t last because the memories came back after only a few hours. This means that when he helps the village by cleaning Naruto’s room, helping the old people with their garden, and cleaning the mountain images, he is genuine. It wasn’t because he had amnesia but because he wanted to help, which again proves he is a round character who has empathy for others. Moreover, when he sees Fuki after the aftermath of the town, he feels empathetic about her situation, hence why he tries to be nice to her.
Third, Menma pretending to have amnesia at the Leaf Village proved he had a plan from the start. He wanted the leaf ninja to stop Shiin’s plan to destroy the town with a flood. He couldn’t stand by and watch the town get destroyed. However, when he heard from Naruto that Shiin had escaped, he felt compelled to risk his life to save the town. At that moment, when he died, one could see he was the type of character who cared about the well-being of others. He only joined Shiin’s clan because he had nowhere else to go after his parents died. Therefore, it is a tragedy that a good person died and that Naruto lost a friend he cared about. It makes the viewer sympathetic that, after Sasuke has left the village, Naruto loses another friend. It is a tragedy that presents a falling action when the events begin to resolve themselves, and tension is released when Naruto defeats Shiin.
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Naruto defeats the bandit leader, Shiin.
When Shiin realised that the rockslide had stopped the flood, he jumped out of the woods and retreated to the dam at the river. Shiin was trying to escape, but Naruto saw him from a distance and said, “That scum! You won’t get away!” Thereafter, Naruto activated his Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu when he and the six shadow clones ran to the dam on the river to chase Shiin. In response, Shiin used his long red rope with the unique kunai at the end to defeat the shadow clones. However, he was in for a shock when Naruto arrived with his shadow clone, activated the Rasengan and then defeated Shiin. Naruto’s determination to stop Shiin proves he is a dynamic character who continues to grow as a ninja, using strategy to defeat his enemies.
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The villagers realise that Menma was a good person who saved their town.
Peaceful music plays in the background with an acoustic guitar and Japanese flute. It symbolises peace within the town. In the morning, everyone was standing outside when Shiin and the bandits were tied up while sitting on the ground. At that moment, everyone was grateful for Menma’s sacrifice to save the town. Fuki said goodbye to Menma, and Nan said he owed him an apology since he was more focused on getting revenge without seeing the bigger picture. Naruto kept quiet because he was still devastated.
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Naruto has his last meal of ramen with Menma.
When it was set at the leaf village, Naruto was having a picnic outside at the Hokage headquarters. He had Menma’s ocarina in front of him and said, “Well, I promised you we would eat this ramen together, and I always keep my word.” Even after his death, Naruto still wanted to keep his promise to Menma about eating ramen that had menma in it. It makes one sympathetic to Naruto’s situation. Moreover, since the ramen had menma in it, it sort of symbolises that Menma is there with him, which means that whenever Naruto is going to eat ramen, he will always think of Menma. It’s sad to the extent that Shizune and Tsunade were hiding behind the tree, making sure he was okay; hence, a dialogue took place:
Shizune (worried): So, do you think he’s going to be alright?
Tsunade (calm): If I know Naruto, we only need to worry if he loses that appetite. Over time, he will get past this on his own.
Shizune (worried): But until then, he will probably think about losing his friend whenever he eats ramen.
Tsunade(calm): And that’s okay; bad memories stay with us forever; they even make us stronger. It’s how we grow as people.
Thereafter, there was a wind blowing, which seemed like Memna playing the ocarina flute.
The episode ends by showing the ocarina flute while Naruto finishes eating his ramen. He was crying and smiling, saying, “Man, that was so delicious,” and then in the sky, Naruto could see Menma playing the ocarina flute. At that moment, it was almost like he was watching over Naruto. Thereafter, Menma looks at Naruto with a smile on his face. In response, Naruto said, teary-eyed, “Bye, Menma.”
The lesson from this episode could be derived from Tsunade’s statement: “Bad memories stay with us forever; they even make us stronger. It’s how we grow as people.” For instance, Tsunade lost her little brother, Nawaki, and her lover, Dan. Though it was a painful experience, it made her stronger, which led to her becoming Hokage.
The second lesson from this episode is that terrible mistakes shouldn’t define one’s destiny. For instance, Menma having a hand in destroying the town was bad, but he died sacrificing his life for the town, which made him a good person with good intentions.
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and then Add to home screen.