Naruto Anime Analysis

Season 3: Episode 102

Source: Wikipedia,
"Mission: Help an Old Friend in the Land of Tea."

"Team 7, without Kakashi, is given a mission to protect a young man, Idate, during his foot race against a rival clan that will settle the feud between the two. Idate, however, has a strong distaste for ninjas. At the start of the race, he runs off in the wrong direction, confusing everyone."

Analysis

The episode starts with mysterious ninjas who say, "They are almost at the Leaf Village." Therefore, the episode has introduced us to new characters who seem to come from the Land of Tea. We are left with questions such as, Who are these ninjas, and why are they travelling to Hidden Leaf Village? All of these questions make one curious, which compels the audience to continue watching the episode.

Moreover, as these mysterious ninjas were travelling, they noticed one of them was missing, whose name was Idate. The episode has introduced another new character. The fact that we know the name of the character means that he is going to play an important part in the episode. As the episode progresses, one will find out Idate's role in this episode. Meanwhile, the mysterious ninjas are being attacked by an unknown enemy. Who is the enemy? Why were the ninjas from the Land of Tea attached? The episode has brought out a sense of mystery and action, which is a good thing because it helps build up the storyline.

Team 7, without Kakashi, is given a mission to protect a young man, Idate, during his foot race against a rival clan that will settle the feud between the two. Idate, however, has a strong distaste for ninjas. Team 7 is given a mission to protect Idate, whom they meet first in a restaurant. At the restaurant, they became aware of Idate's true strength, which is speed. Idate is very skilled, to the extent that Sasuke has also taken notice of Idate's strength.

The following information is from the fandom website known as Narutopedia. It gives information about why Team 7 has to protect Idate. It stated that Team 7 (without Kakashi) is given a mission to protect a young man, Idate, during his foot race against a rival clan that will settle the feud between the two. They are known as the Wasabi family and the Wagarashi family. Idate, however, has a strong distaste for ninjas and always ends up arguing with Naruto. Just like the Wasabi clan hired ninjas to protect their runner, the Wagarashi clan did the same. Therefore, Team 7 has to protect Idate from the rival clan, the Wagarashi clan. Winning this race means that the Wasabi clan will be free from the Wagarashi clan (the enemy). Therefore, the point of the race is to finally restore the power of the village to the Wasabi clan.

At the start of the race, he runs off in the wrong direction, confusing everyone. Idate, however, is going in the wrong direction. Everyone is confused because Idate must do everything in his power to win the race since it will help the Wasabi clan. Why did Idate go in the wrong direction? The answer will be revealed in the next episode.