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Arc Overview's

Part 1

1 - Introduction

The introduction arc consist's of episodes 1-5 in the anime and chapters 1-8 of the manga. During this arc we are introduced to several key character's such as Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi (Squad 7). We are also introduced to a few important side characters aswell (like Iruka).

The arc starts with Naruto, a lonley orphan, with no friends or remaining familly, defacing the Hokages face's on the Hokage monument. Naruto is under achieving at the ninja academy, he is constantly mucking around, and can't even get to grips with creating a single standard bunshin (clone). During transformation class he uses his homemade technique, Oiroke no Jutsu (sexy jutsu), which doesn't go down well. Naruto is then tricked by Mizuki to steal the forbidden scroll of seals, with Mizuki telling him it was ok to do so and it will help him pass his Genin exam and become a real ninja. Naruto steals the scroll and runs off into the forest while various ninja are out looking for him. By the time Naruto is caught however he has learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu) and Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Justu (Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu). Iruka tries to reason with Naruto to get the scroll back, however Mizuki appears and reveals that naruto has the 9 Tailed Kyuubi (9 Tailed Demon Fox) sealed within him. Mizuki throws a giant shuriken at naruto but Iruka intercepts it, getting himself stabbed in the back. Naruto uses the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and beats the hell out of Mizuki. The next time we see Naruto he has passed his Genin exam and is awaiting the arival of their squad leader Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi is late (as always) a he proceed's to asking them each a little bit about them selves. Naruto exclaims he's going to be "The best Hokage the village has ever had." so th whole village will look up to him. After this descussion they then proceedto the bell training, on hearing that Kakashi has never passed anyone, Iruka is worried Naruto is going to fail. Kakashi teaches Squad 7 a very valuable lesson in teamwork and thus passing them when they dis-obey him and feed Naruto when he's tied to a tree stump and isn't allowed to eat, when Sasuke realises that it will hinder the squad if naruto isn't fed.

2 - The Land of Waves Arc

 The Land of Waves arc runs from episode 9 -33 and manga issues 6 - 19. This is the first C-Rank mission that Squad 7 were to undertake, but it quickly became apparent that the mission was a A/S-Rank as they were attacked by 2 Chunin from another village. Naruto buckled in fear, whilst Sasuke relished the challenge and dealt with the unknown attackers quite efficiently. After the fight was over he made fun a Naruto because he froze in fear. Naruto became poisoned during the fight so he stabbed himself with a kunai knife to bleed out the poison and made a blood oath that he wouldn't just stand by and let every one else do the fighting for him. Kakashi bluntly told Naruto if he lost any more blood from the stab wound he would die. Naruto panicked and when Kakshi looked at the wound and noticed it was healing already, he had an idea that it was a power Naruto had from being the 9 Tails vessel.

  Tazuna, the client who is also a bridge builder explained (after some interrogation from Kakashi) about the land of waves crisis. That a man name "Gato" a shipping tycoon, had taken control of the Land of Waves. The land of waves was in an economical crisis due to Gato's shipping system and the only way to get out of it is to build a bridge to the mainland. However Gato was not happy about this plan to build a bridge and he did not want this to happen as it would his shipping monopoly. Gato used hired ninja gangs to get what he wanted. Tazuna didn't have enough money and couldn't pay for the services of squad 7 for an A/S - Rank mission. Kakashi however elected to keep the team on the mission over over-see the construction of the bridge. During the Journey, Squad 7 are confornted by a Jonin Level missing nin named Momochi Zabuza who was hired by Gato. He is one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and uses the Executioners Blade. A fight broke out quickly, shortly into the fight Kakashi revealed he had the Sharingan in his left eye. Kakashi freaked Zabuza out by copying all the hand seals Zabuza was making, at the exact same time as him. Kakashi was finally caught in Zabuza's Water Prison Jutsu. The rest of the squad, who were all genin were left to fend for themselve's. Naruto attempted to run away but then (painfully) due to his wound he remembered the oath he made earlier and stayed to fight. During this fight was the turning point for Naruto and Sasuke's teamwork as they managed to conjure up a plan to release Kakashi from Zabuza's water prison with out speaking to each other. Kakashi finally defeated Zabuza with an onslaught of physical and mental attacks. Just as Kakashi was about to kill Zabuza, Haku appeared and hit Zabuza with a senbon thus making Zabuza feign death whilst he was posing as an assasin from Kirigakure sent to capture Zabuza.

 During the mission Squad 7 under went chakra training. Sakura excelled in this as she was the first to climb her tree. Naruto and Sasuke however spurred each other on without knowing it whilst competing against each other to get to the top of the tree.
 Eventually, Zabuza and Haku returned to make a do or die battle on the unfinished bridge, with some idea of how they should handle the Konoha ninjas. Back at Tazuna's house, Inari and his mother, Tsunami, were attacked by Gato's men. That was when Inari followed the lesson Kaiza had taught him to protect his precious people. With the help of Naruto, Inari defeated Gato's men. Back at the bridge, Haku revealed his Demonic Ice Mirrors jutsu, and completely overpowered Sasuke. Naruto joined the fight and, through his own ignorance and impulsiveness, got himself trapped in Haku's jutsu, and was immediately placed at Haku's mercy.
 During the course of the fight, Sasuke awakened his Sharingan, and saved Naruto by sacrificing himself. Naruto asked him why he had done it, to Sasuke simply replied, “How should I know? My body just moved by itself.” Sasuke then appeared to die, with three needles in his neck. Meanwhile, Zabuza was focused on finding a way to kill Kakashi, despite his Sharingan.

 Naruto's "hidden power" was revealed after he believed Haku had killed Sasuke. Naruto lost control, and was consumed by the demon fox's chakra. Its power was so immense that the chakra was visible. All of Naruto's wounds healed near-instantaneously, and Naruto's appearance changed; his eyes became red and slitted like a fox, his "whiskers" deepened, his fingernails grew long like claws and his canine teeth became sharper. He completely overwhelmed his enemy with his new-found power and speed.

 With the demon fox power that Naruto used, he proved to be too powerful for Haku. Seeing that he was unable to help Zabuza, Haku asked Naruto to kill him. Naruto protested and initially refused, but then decided to honor his request. However, Haku then noticed that Zabuza was in danger from Kakashi, so he stopped Naruto's attack and ran away to save Zabuza. Zabuza was being dominated by Kakashi, who used a Summoning Technique to immobilize him using his tracking dogs. As Kakashi was about to stab Zabuza with his Lightning Blade, Haku realized that Zabuza was in mortal danger, and ran to save Zabuza by standing between Kakashi and him. Thus Kakashi stabbed Haku, Kakashi's hand completely impaling through Haku's heart. Everyone realized that Haku was dead. At first, Zabuza had no change in emotion, and praised Haku as a good tool.

 As the battle drew to an end, however, Gato arrived with his gang of hired thugs. He told Zabuza that he had never intended to pay him, even if Zabuza had finished the mission. Gato then kicked Haku's dead body. This infuriated Naruto as he wept for Haku's death, and told Zabuza that Haku had really cared about him, and that he would die for him (which he had done). Moved by Naruto’s words, Zabuza confessed that he had cared deeply about Haku, and he began to cry. With this realization, Zabuza asked Naruto if he could borrow one of his kunai. Naruto tossed one to him, and, with the memories of Haku fresh in his mind, Zabuza grabbed the kunai in his mouth (his arms broken by Kakashi’s dogs) and rushed to kill Gato. Gato ran behind his miniature army, but Zabuza rushed past all of them, killing many on the way, and eventually reached Gato. The Demon of the Hidden Mist then decapitated him. Zabuza then stood still and was stabbed in the back by the remaining henchmen. After a brief moment, Sasuke woke up from the near-death state Haku had put him in. The shinobi gangs were then chased away by Naruto and Kakashi producing many shadow clones, and with the help of the villagers led by Inari, finally standing up for themselves. Zabuza's last request to Kakashi was to be laid next to Haku. After Naruto witnessed what had happened to Haku and Zabuza, he decided to become a ninja through his own way, and to defy the belief that ninja are merely tools of their villages. After the team departed, Tazuna decided to name the newly completed bridge the "Great Naruto Bridge".

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