Naruto Anime Analysis (Season 5)

Season 5: Episode 201

Source: Wikipedia

"Multiple Traps! Countdown to Destruction"

"Naruto pursues Gennou to the mountains at the back of town and hears that he plans to detonate explosive tags there, burying Konoha in a massive rockslide. Before he can do so, Naruto's friends arrive, Hinata having informed them where he is going. They combine their efforts to prevent him from detonating tags and manage to save the village. Gennou dies after saying that he wanted his son to enjoy another scavenger hunt, and the group realises that while he had initially intended to destroy Konoha because Naruto reminded him of his son, he made his traps into a scavenger hunt. Hence, Konoha was in no real danger."

Analysis

First, the episode ends in tragedy when Gennou dies because he had no intention of destroying the Leaf Village. Instead, he was trying to recapture the feeling of treasure hunting with Naruto, a spitting image of his late son. Second, the episode highlighted the teamwork of the Genin. Last, an element of appearance versus reality showed situational irony. Other details will be mentioned in the analysis.

In the previous episode, Shikamaru told Ino and Choji that the paper bombs Gennou set out in the village were just a diversion. Therefore, Ino headed to the Hokage's office to inform Tsunade that the paper bombs were just a diversion. In response, Tsunade said that Gennou might be planning something else since he is the trap master.

Meanwhile, Choji and Shikamaru were hanging out on a rooftop that was close to Hokage Mountain. At that moment, Shikamaru noted that Gennou might have deliberately planned for all the shinobi that were at the hidden waterfall village to come back to the leaf village. Moreover, he looked at Hokage Mountain and realized that Gennou planted the paper bombs inside Hokage Mountain to destroy the village, so he made plans to let Tsunade know what was happening. However, before they could go, Kiba and Rock Lee arrived to tell Shikamaru and Choji that Might Guy and the rest of the Shinobi that were at the hidden water village had returned home. Afterwards, Hinata also arrived to let them know about Naruto's disappearance. Therefore, since there was no time to go to the Hokage's office, it was up to the genin to stop Gennou and save Naruto.

Naruto pursues Gennou to the mountains at the back of town and hears that he plans to detonate explosive tags there, burying Konoha in a massive rockslide. Gennou told Naruto that the paper bombs that were in the village were just a decoy. However, the paper bombs that were inside Hokage Mountain were real, and he planned to detonate explosive tags there, burying Konoha in a massive rockslide. It was a brilliant plan because, as Shikamaru said, no one would think of attacking the mountainside images. As a result, Naruto tries to stop Gennou, but Gennou says that even if he defeats him, the tracking advice will activate if Naruto leaves the mountain. Yet, Naruto still activated his Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu to stop him, which resulted in Gennou tossing his various kunai at his shadow clones and eventually stabbing Naruto's shoulder in the process. Despite being stuck in a sticky situation, Naruto had high hopes that his comrades would come to save him.

The Genin shows the value of teamwork.

Before he can do so, Naruto's friends arrive, Hinata having informed them where he is going. They combine their efforts to prevent him from detonating tags and manage to save the village. Victory music with a mix of drums plays in the background. Various tactics were used to stop Gennou:

1. First, when Gennou tossed his various kunai at Naruto, Kiba arrived with his fang-over-fang technique to block his attacks.

2. Second, Shino traps Gennou with his insect attack that covers Gennou's body, but Gennou uses a Substitution Jutsu to cause an explosion and switch just before being devoured by the insects.