Source: Wikipedia
“A Fierce Battle of Rolling Thunder!”
“Fukusuke continues to celebrate with women and food when Aoi warns him that he might be celebrating prematurely. Naruto Uzumaki, carrying Idate, ascends the long flight of stairs to the Modoroki Shrine. Idate grabs the orb and heads out on his own two feet, but they are soon confronted by Aoi, waiting with Tobirama’s sword of Raijin that he had Idate steal for him. Both Naruto’s Rasengan and Sasuke’s Chidori are repelled by the sword, though the latter can crack it slightly.”
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Analysis
Fukusuke continues to celebrate with women and food when Aoi warns him that he might be celebrating prematurely. Fukusuke is the other opponent from the Wagarashi clan who is participating in the race. Thanks to Aoi’s warning, Fukusuke prepares for the race. The music then starts playing in the background.
Naruto Uzumaki, carrying Idate, ascends the long flight of stairs to the Modoroki Shrine. From this quotation, the setting is the Modoroki shrine. There is visual imagery of the stairs, which Idate has called “The Spirit Breaker.” So when they arrived, Naruto was still carrying Idati on his back as he started to run up the stairs. Therefore, when it comes to a challenge, Naruto always finds the energy to do it. It’s one of the reasons why he’s a unique ninja. Moreover, when the villagers from the Wasabi clan heard that Idate was back in the race, they informed Jirocho. After hearing about this, Jirocho maintained his faith in his student that he would win the race, which shows that he is a good master towards Idate. Therefore, it means that the entire episode serves as the introduction from the point where Fusuke starts preparing for the race until Jirocho maintains his faith in Idate. It gave the audience a glimpse of what was going to happen later in the episode.
There is another important piece of information to consider. In the episode, Idate has a flashback about the Chunin exam, where his brother Ibiki was the facilitator. Before the flashback takes place, Idate asks Naruto if he ever got the 10th question during the Chunin exams. However, it is different from the one Naruto had. In the flashback, the tenth question was about Genin, who had to compete with their teammates. Whoever gets the lowest mark fails. Moreover, the one who fails will never participate in the chunin exams again; the person will remain a genius for life. Therefore, this was a difficult decision to make, and it got even more difficult. For instance, if one of the team members quits, all team members are disqualified. Moreover, if they all quit, they would be able to take the Chunin exam again. So, some asked one of their teammates to remain behind because the ninja with the lowest grade would never be allowed to be a ninja again.
However, despite making the decision, the test proved to be complicated, to the extent that there was a twist in Ibiki’s exam. The ones who chose to remain behind (the ones with lower grades) have failed the exam because being a ninja is all about looking after your teammates, no matter what. The fact that they even considered sacrificing one of their teammates goes against everything about being a ninja. From my perspective, Ibiki used this tactic because, to become a ninja, you have to analyse deeply into someone’s bluff; otherwise, they could be taken advantage of, just like Idate when Aoi tricked him into stealing from the Hidden Leaf Village.
Meanwhile, in the flashback, Idate asked his brother why he failed. In response, Ibiki said that he would never be a ninja, and Idate had to figure out why he was not good enough. The way it seems, Idate still doesn’t know what Ibiki meant, which might be revealed later in various episodes.
Idate is now back in reality, and he decides to win the race on his own after Naruto has helped him climb the stairs to the Modoroki Shrine.
Idate grabs the orb and heads out on his own two feet, but they are soon confronted by Aoi, waiting with Tobirama’s sword of Raijin that he had Idate steal for him. A lot has happened in this quotation. In this quotation, dramatic music starts playing in the background. There is a shift in scenes. For instance, the scenes have changed from the Modoroki Shrine to the bridge, where Fukusuke is starting to prepare for the race. Aoi arrives to stop Idate from passing through the bridge. So when Idate arrives, he is stopped by Aoi, who uses Tobirama’s sword of Raijin. The sword is also known as the blade of the thunder spirit. It is important to take note that Tobirama is the second Hokage who came up with the idea of this sword; hence, Tobirama, in a way, played a part in this episode.
Meanwhile, Aoi cuts the line of the bridge so that Idate won’t be able to pass. At that moment, Idate is in danger since dramatic music still plays in the background until there is a shift in the music. In other words, the music has changed from being dramatic to a sense of victory music with a mix of electric guitar, which signifies Naruto’s arrival to save Idate. Therefore, there is now a lot of action taking place. For instance, Naruto activates his Shadow Clone Jutsu so that he can use the Rasengan. At this moment, the music shifts to a Japanese flute playing in the background, which signifies the battle between Aoi and Naruto. In other words, it’s a battle between the blade of the Thunder Spirit and the Rasengan. The blade has the upper hand because it can cut through anything, including the chakra. This proves that the second Hokage, Tobirama, was very smart to come up with this type of sword. Moreover, this scene compels the audience to know more about him, which will be revealed in the other anime, “Naruto Shippuden.”
Meanwhile, during the battle between Aoi and Naruto, Aoi uses a sort of umbrella that has needles to defeat Naruto. Aoi has the upper hand; hence, the music changes to an electric guitar to signify Aoi’s presence. Aoi is now focusing on Idate, and he begins taunting him, saying to Idate, “Only a weakling depends on others,” hence why Aoi is selfish and a loner. Therefore, Aoi plays an important part in this episode because his words compelled Idate to have another flashback.
In the flashback, the setting takes place in a forest where Idate is following Aoi to the Hidden Rain Village. However, Idate is captured by Anbu and his brother, Ibiki, while Aoi leaves Idate. After some time, Aoi came back with backup so that he could capture Idate and Ibiki. The scene now takes place in a cabin located in the forest. In the cabin, Idate and Ibiki are tied by ropes, and Aoi tortures Ibiki using Tobirama’s sword of Raijin. Aoi tortures him because he wants to know what the forbidden scroll says. As a result of Aoi’s actions, dramatic music plays in the background as Aoi threatens to kill Idate if Ibiki doesn’t give him what he wants. Therefore, there is a threatening atmosphere.
Despite Aoi’s efforts to force Ibiki to reveal the secrets of the forbidden scroll, Ibiki says that Aoi can do whatever he wants with his brother. Ibiki also said these words to Aoi: “Better be a dead pawn than a traitor; you’re a sorry excuse for a man.” Afterwards, Ibiki headbutts him, and Aoi lands on the vase, which has damaged his eyes. At that moment, Ibiki managed to save his brother and told him to run away. Afterwards, Ibiki used his spit to start a fire because he specialises in fire technique jutsu. Meanwhile, Idate ran away, and to conclude the flashback. That’s when he witnessed the fire from afar.
Aoi has proved to be an important character because, so far, the audience knows the significance of the fire in Idate’s memories. They are all connected to his brother, Ibiki. Moreover, Aoi gives another important piece of information: Ibiki managed to get the forbidden scroll without telling Aoi what he wanted to know. From my point of view, Ibiki proves to be courageous since he risked his life to save his village and his brother at the same time. Moreover, he cares about his brother, and lastly, he proves to be a fine shinobi who would risk his life for the sake of the village. In other words, he has the will of fire: the need to protect his village.
Both Naruto’s Rasengan and Sasuke’s Chidori are repelled by the sword, though the latter can crack it slightly. While dramatic music is still playing in the background, Aoi is planning to kill Idate using the sword. However, before he can do anything, he is stopped by Sakura and Sasuke. As a result, dramatic music stops playing to signify their presence. Afterwards, Sasuke activates his Chidori to stop Aoi. As a result, dramatic music starts playing again in the background to signify a face-off between Aoi and Sasuke, which is The Blade of Thunder Spirit versus The Chidori. The blade proves itself once again to be stronger than the Chidori as it is repelled by the sword hence there is an intense atmosphere. What makes this moment intense are Aoi’s words towards Sasuke. He said something that triggered Sasuke to remember Itachi. He said, “I always heard the last of the great Uchiha clan was a hopeless loss unworthy of his family name.” These words are almost identical to what Itachi said about Sasuke being a weakling. As a result, Sasuke was defeated by Aoi at this time. To support this, dramatic music stops playing in the background.
Dramatic music starts playing again when Sasuke rises and says to Aoi that he should take back what he said. Sasuke is angry to the extent that he attempts to use his Chidori again. At that moment, this shows that Sasuke’s hatred for Itachi runs deep because he got triggered by Aoi’s words. It further foreshadows that his hatred will be used later in the plot. Meanwhile, instead of taking heed of Sasuke’s words, Aoi just throws him onto the bridge using the blade. To make matters worse, the bridge was already loose because Aoi had already cut the ropes. This makes the scene even more intense as Sakura attempts to save Sasuke. However, the scene ends when Aoi cuts the last rope, which causes Sasuke and Sakura to fall off the bridge. After witnessing what happened, Naruto yells, “No, Sakura!”
What will happen in the next episode? Will Sasuke and Sakura survive the fall? If they do survive, what will they do? What will happen to Idate and Naruto? Find out in the next analysis.
The lesson from this episode is that one should manage their hatred; otherwise, it could be used against them, as was evident when Aoi defeated Sasuke. Aoi’s words triggered Sasuke’s hatred for Itachi.
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