Naruto Anime Analysis

Season 2: Episode 97

Source: Wikipedia
"Kidnapped! Naruto's Hot Spring Adventure!"

"On their way back to Konoha, the group takes a break at a hot spring town. Naruto learns that two ninja of the Akagi family cannot return home unless they collect Tsunade's debts and attempts to help them. Shizune, fearing that Tsunade's debts, if exposed, would jeopardize her chances of becoming Hokage, disguises herself as Tsunade to stop Naruto, but neither of them realizes that the debt has already been paid."

Analysis

This episode was focused mainly on Tsunade's debts. The Akagi family cannot return home unless they collect Tsunade's debts. Therefore, they follow Tsunade from a distance. In this episode, they try to take Tsunade's necklace, not knowing that Naruto is now the owner. Naruto beats them up, and they decide to tell him their side of the story. After hearing their story, Naruto feels sympathetic and decides to help them. Naruto is the type of person who's willing to help others, no matter what; hence, he is a round character who seems like a real person who cares about others. Moreover, he will make a good Hokage one day because one of the qualities of being a Hokage is being willing to help others and solve their problems. It explains why Naruto faked his kidnapping, even though it didn't work. 

Moreover, they resort to taking the suitcase, assuming there is money, but instead, it has a lot of I.O.U.s. However, they later find out that the debt was already paid to the Akagi family. This means that the Akagi family and Naruto wasted their time looking for the money, while Shizune wasted her time disguising herself as Tsunade. The episode was more like a rollercoaster filled with humour. There was no huge threat during their journey; hence, there was a calm atmosphere.

If you're wondering where Jiraiya was, well, he was at the hot springs looking for women. However, he didn't find women. He waited for a long time in the hot springs until he passed out. While he was passed out, the women came and screamed when Jiraiya didn't look like his normal self. Therefore, Jiraiya, in a way, also wasted his time at the hot springs.

The episode was calm, humorous, and entertaining, probably to lighten up the mood from the previous fight with Orochimaru and Kabuto, so it was definitely for entertainment.