Naruto Shippuden Season 1

Kazekage Rescue

Season three of Naruto Shippuden (Part II of the manga by Masashi Kishimoto) aired from Feb. 15, 2007 to Oct, 25, 2007. It ran with a total of 32 episodes (1-32). Konoha’s youngsters are all teenagers now. Naruto returns home from his training with Jiraiya, having learned the Rasengan developed by the Fourth Hokage. Sakura is well-versed in the arts of medical jutsu thanks to Tsunade. Sasuke may just have surpassed the group in skills, training under Orochimaru. History, it seems, is about to repeat itself. The dreaded Akatsuki is on the move, and Gaara, an old friend, is the first of many targets.

The season has two opening themes and three ending themes.

1. Nobodyknows+’s “Hero’s Come Back!!” (ep. 1-30)
2. Long Shot Party’s “Distance” (ep. 31-32)
3. Homemade Kazoku’s “Nagareboshi” (流れ星〜Shooting Star〜) (ep. 1-18)
4. Alüto’s “Michi: to you all” (道〜to you all) (ep. 19-30)
5. Little by Little’s “Kimi Monogatari” (キミモノガタリ) (ep. 31-32)

Naruto Shippuden the Movie was released on Aug. 4, 2007. Naruto is assigned to protect the priest Shion who starts having visions of his death

NARUTO

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN

February 2007 • December 2007 • January 2008 • February 2008 • March 2008 • April 2008

FEBRUARY 2007

Feb. 15, 2007. ep. 1 & 2: Homecoming & The Akatsuki Makes It’s Move
Naruto Shippuden begins with Team 7 reuniting with Sasuke after a wild goose chase in an underground hideout. Naruto tries to bring Sasuke home, but he counterattacks and ends up suppressing Nine-Tailed Fox (kyuubi) within Naruto’s subconscious. (Season 1 begins where Season 2 ends)

Flashback to a few months earlier: Two and a half years have passed since Team 7 went their separate ways. Naruto returns to Konoha with Jiraiya after his training and is reunited with Sakura and his friends. Team 7, minus Sasuke, is summoned to Tsunade’s office for their first assignment. Kakashi will test their improvement.

Jiraiya returns with bad news: Akatsuki is on the move, planning on capturing all the Tailed Beasts, which means Naruto is in danger. Simultaneously, two Akatsuki members: Sasori and Deidara arrive at the Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, home to Gaara. Their mission is to capture One-Tailed Shukaku’s host, Gaara. Their double agent from the village has already cleared the entrance guards for them to enter.

Naruto

Naruto meets with his friends and realizes they have all advanced to Chunin rank. Even the lazy Shikamaru and over-achieving Neji have become jounins.

Nobodyknows+ – Hero’s Come Back

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Feb. 22, 2007. ep. 3 & 4: The Results of Training & The Jinchuuriki of the Sand
Kakashi’s challenge takes a page out of history – a bell test. Naruto and Sakura must retrieve the two bells from him by whatever means necessary. Sakura with her super-human strength, culminated from Tsunade’s training, cause a “small” deforestation. Naruto uses his newly acquired jutsu, the Rasengan. Kakashi is humbled by how far these children have come.

However, the students are still unable to surpass Kakashi sensei’s barrage of elemental jutsu. But, Naruto comes up with a plan. He pretends to tell Kakashi the ending of the new Icha-Icha novel (by Jiraiya), and Kakashi who didn’t want to know the ending, closes his ears and eyes, thereby giving the students a chance for a sneak attack.

In the Sand Village, Deidara begins aerial assault of the Sand Village atop his giant clay bird. His ability lies in creating and manipulating exploding clay. However, by the time he reaches the Kazekage building, Gaara is awaiting him. In the 2.5 years, Gaara succeeds his father by becoming the Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakura.

Gaara effectively dodges Deidara’s strikes with his sand. The village is put on high alert with the infiltration of the Akatsuki duo and Kankuro, Gaara’s older brother, mobilizes the troops.

Homemade Kazuko’s Nagare Boshi

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MARCH 2007

March 15, 2007. ep. 5: The Kazekage Stands Tall
Deidara looses his left arm when Gaara traps him in his sand. In Gaara’s effort to protect the village, Kankuro sees Gaara’s effort in being someone’s important and precious friend, as taught by Naruto. Enrage with a lost of a limb, Deidara launches his C3-level bomb on the village, which will result in a massive explosion.

Gaara of the Sand Village

With the recovery of the bells, Sakura and Naruto prove to be worthy opponents. Kakashi permits the placement of both Sakura and Naruto on his new team – called Team Kakashi.

March 29, 2007. ep. 6 & 7: Mission Cleared & Run, Kankuro
To prevent the detonation of the clay bomb, Gaara creates a colossal sand shield over the village to deflect the explosion. This, however, leaves him open to a surprise attack from Deidara. He then uses his sand, which, unbeknown to him, was mixed with Deidara’s clay, to defend himself. Deidara uses this opportunity to detonate the clay-infested sand, knocking Gaara unconscious. Deidara then scoops up and kidnaps the limp body of Gaara.

Gaara vs. Deidara

Kankuro gives chase to the departing Akatsuki team. When he reaches them, he initiates his puppet jutsu by summoning three of his puppets: Crow, Black Ant and Salamander. Sasori, who up till now has taken a back seat, told Deidara to leave the fighting to him.

APRIL 2007

April 12, 2007. ep. 8 & 9: Team Kakashi, Deployed & The Jinchuuriki’s Tears
Kankuro’s attacks are neutralized by Sasori’s scorpion-like tail, which eventually pierces him and injects him with a slow-acting poison. Unknown to Kankuro who doesn’t feel the effects of the poison, yet, the poison would kill him in three days. Kankuro is mystified by Sasori’s ability to counter his jutsus. Sasori then reminds Kankuro that he is the original designer of all of Kankuro’s puppets. With that, Sasori takes leave. The village ninjas finally catch up to Kankuro and convince him to return to the village, as the deadly poison finally takes effect.

Baki, a member of the Sand Village’s advisory council, seeks medical help from the village elders, Chiyo and her brother, Ebizo. Chiyo is the village’s poison and puppet expert. She and Ebizo are highly revered in the village and are known as the “Siblings.” Chiyo is also Sasori’s grandmother.

The plea of help from the Sand Village finally reaches Tsunade. She immediately dispatches the newly formed Team Kakashi. Team Kakashi bumps into Gaara’s elder sister, Temari, and tells her of the attack on her village and the eventually kidnapping of her younger brother. As they rush to the village, Naruto cries over the hard life Gaara had.

April 19, 2007. ep. 10: Sealing Jutsu: Nine Phantom Dragons
Deidara and Sasori return to Akatsuki hideout with their prize. Using an astral projection technique headed by Akatsuki’s leader, the group begins a three-day long extraction of the One-Tailed from Gaara and sealing in a giant statue.

Akatsuki

At the Sand Village, Kankuro is on the brink of death, with Chiyo unable to counteract Sasori’s poison.

Tsunade, foreseeing the direness of the situation, orders Team Guy to be Team Kakashi’s back up.

April 26, 2007. ep. 11: The Medical Ninja’s Student
Team Kakashi springs into action the moment they set foot into the Sand Village. With the medical ninjutsu that Tsunade trained her in, Sakura extracts the poison from Kankuro using a water bubble.

After Kankuro is healed, he gives Kakashi a piece of Sasori’s clothing, allowing Kakashi’s ninja dogs to track down the duo’s hideout. Before they leave, a weak Kankuro pleads for Naruto to rescue his younger brother. With a smile, Naruto accepts this difficult tasks willingly, saying that Gaara will have to owe him later.

MAY 2007

May 3, 2007. ep. 12: The Retired Granny’s Determination
Granny Chiyo, wanting to retrieve the kazekage, joins Team Kakashi towards Akatsuki’s hideout. While traveling, Chiyo tells the team about the Tailed Beasts of the world.

Team Guy finally reaches Team Kakashi. Pakkun informs the group that the hideout of the enemy is at the Land of Rivers.

Their presence is known by the enemy and Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi are sent to delay the Konoha ninjas from their extraction and sealing of One-Tailed Shukaku.

May 10, 2007. ep. 13: A Meeting With Destiny
Kisame, the shark boy, encounters Team Guy while, Itachi takes on Team Kakashi. Kisame contains Guy’s team with his powerful Water Style Jutsu, leaving Guy to fight it out with Kisame alone.

Meanwhile, Kakashi warns his team about Itachi’s Mengekyo Sharingan. Kakashi leads the attack with Naruto at his heels. Unfortunately, the real Itachi disappears into a cloud and morphs into his clone crows.

May 17, 2007. ep. 14: Naruto’s Growth
Guy proves to be no match for Kisame’s Water Style Jutsu even with his nunchaku. Drowning in Kisame’s attacks, Guy finally opens six of his Inner Gates. He defeats Kisame with the Morning Peacock technique.

Naruto is caught in Itachi’s genjutsu. Fortunately for him, Jiraiya had forewarned him about Itachi’s specialty and trained him to dispel Itachi’s illustion on his own.

May 24, 2007. ep. 15: The Secret Weapon is Called…
Chiyo and Sakura come to Naruto’s rescue after enduring the disturbing images from Itachi’s genjutsu. Kakashi’s clone then distracts and immobilizes Itachi, allowing Naruto to get a direct hit on Itachi with his Rasengan.

Guy releases Neji, Rock Lee and Tenten from their water entrapment. Both the teams realize that their opponents are not the true persons, but clones of Itachi and Kisame, used to stall the Konoha ninjas from rescuing Gaara.

May 31, 2007. ep. 16: The Secret of Jinchuuriki
Chiyo explains that the host (jinchuuriki) of the Tailed Beasts (bijuu) are burdened with the task of carrying them. Once the bijuus are forcibly removed from their jinchuuriki, the host will perish. While the teams take a breather from their battle to recoup their energy, Zetsu, the human fly trap is sent to dispose of Itachi and Kisame’s clone bodies.

JUNE 2007

June 7, 2007. ep. 17: The Death of Gaara!
Both the teams move on toward the hideout. Naruto is getting antsy and edgier as time passes. Curious, Chiyo asks Kakashi if Naruto is that good of a friend to Gaara. Kakashi divulges that Naruto is the jinchuuriki of kyuubi and understands what it is like to go through a life of loneliness. Chiyo then reveals that she was the one who sealed Shukaku in Gaara to protect the Sand Village.

Akatsuki drains the last of Shukaku’s chakra, thus killing Gaara. Team Kakashi and Guy eventually reach the hideout and prepare to break into the cave for Gaara.

June 21, 2007. ep. 18: Charge Tactic! Button Hook Entry
A barrier, generated by five forbidden tags in different spots, protects the cave from intruders. Using his Byakugan, Neji locates all five tags’ locations. Team Guy is sent to remove the tags, which disables the barrier, thus allowing Team Kakashi to enter the hideout.

The Akatsuki members end their astral projection technique and leave. Deidara and Sasori, who are there with their physical bodies, are ordered to take down the intruders.

JULY 2007

July 5, 2007. ep. 19: Traps Activate! Team Guy’s Enemy
With the tag seals removed from the cave’s barrier, Team Guy is each ambushed by their own exact clones.

In the Akatsuki den, Deidara reveals to Team Kakashi and Chiyo that Gaara is dead. Kakashi has to calm an already antagonized Naruto. Deidara however, ends up in an argument with Sasori, which climaxes with Deidara once again kidnapping Gaara’s body. Naruto and Kakashi give chase while Sakura and Chiyo remain behind to battle Sasori, who is later revealed as Chiyo’s grandson.

Alüto’s Michi – to you all!-

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July 19, 2007. ep. 20: Hiruko vs. Two Kunoichi

Sasori was once Sunagakure’s best puppeteers, but was forced to leave the village when he began making puppets out of humans. Sasori’s real body is hidden within his favorite puppet, Hiruko. The only way to kill him is to destroy this puppet. With this knowledge, Sakura and Chiyo, the two kunoichi (female ninjas) dodges Sasori’s poison attacks and wreck the puppet using Sakura’s strength. The true Sasori emerges from the ruins of the puppet.

Sasori & Deidara with Granny Chiyo & Sakura

Sasori & Deidara vs. Sakura, Gaara, Naruto & Kakashi

July 26, 2007. ep. 21: Sasori’s Real Face
The Sand Village ninjas, headed by Temari (Gaara’s elder sister) make their way towards the Land of Rivers. Ebizo, the village elder and sister to Chiyo, tells Kankuro and Temari that the strongest ninja of Sand Village was the Third Kazekage who mysteriously disappeared.

Sasori materializes from his ruined puppet looking exactly the same as the day he left the Sand Village 20 years ago. Unmasks, he brings out his first human puppet – much to Granny Chiyo’s surprise – the Third Kazekage. The Third Kazekage is decidedly more powerful and dangerous than Hiruko allowing Sasori to enmass Sakura in a plume of poison gas.

AUGUST 2007

Aug. 2, 2007. ep. 22 & 23: Chiyo’s Secret Skills & Father and Mother
Sakura escapes the poison gas by using an explosive scroll on herself. This forces Chiyo to summon Sasori’s mother and father puppets, which Sasori had modeled after his dead parents when he was a child. This was effective until Sasori uses the Third’s secret technique, having retain the chakra from the original body when it was alive: Iron Sand. The Iron Sand clogs the mother and father puppets, as well as Chiyo’s right puppet arm. Overwhelmed, Granny Chiyo uses Sakura as her puppet and dodges the Iron Sand techniques to approach Sasori for a close-range battle.

Out in the forest, Team Guy are still fighting their clones who are fast tiring out the real ones. Naruto and Kakashi, who are pursuing Deidara for Gaara’s body, manage to dodge his clay bombs.

Aug. 9, 2007. ep. 24: The Third Kazekage
Sakura fends off the Iron Sand pyramid and prism attacks, but causes a cave-in at the lair. Sasori then creates an orb of spiked iron and launches it toward Sakura. This hits Sakura and paralyzes her with poison. To end it all, Sasori attempts to give one last blow to a helpless Sakura, only to be attacked by Sakura. In one punch, Sakura destroys the Third Kazekage puppet.

Aug. 16, 2007. ep. 25: Three Minutes Between Life and Death
Sakura reveals that she had injected herself with an antidote to the poison prior to the battle. With another puppet lost, Sasori finally reveals the secret to his eternal youth: he had transformed himself into a human puppet. The only living part of him is his beating heart, making him that much more difficult to kill.

Deidara sees that Kakashi is protecting Naruto and tries to separate the duo. He creates a swarm of explosive clay crickets, which are directed towards Kakashi. Kakashi, knowing this, creates a shadow clone as a decoy. The crickets mistake the clone as the real one, and detonate upon contact. Kakashi reaches Naruto and comes up with a strategy to win this cat and mouse game.

Aug. 23, 2007. ep. 26: Puppet Fight: 10 vs. 100
Knowing that neither can destroy or overcome Sasori’s attacks, Chiyo summons the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu. Sasori jeers at the miserly 10 puppets, and counters with his 100 Puppet Manipulation Jutsu. The Ten Puppets are able to cut down the numbers on Sasori’s side as they are specifically designed to work together, a trait lacking in the 100 Puppets. Using a special chakra-sealing orb from Chiyo, Sakura tries to seal Sasori only to realize she attacked an empty vessel. Under the guise of the battle of the 100 puppets, Sasori secretly transferred his heart to another puppet and tries to attack Chiyo from behind.

Aug. 30, 2007. ep. 27: Impossible Dream
Sakura takes the poisoned stab in place of Chiyo, which gives Chiyo an opening to pierce Sasori’s heart with his parents’ puppets in the form of a hug. After Sasori is immobilized, Chiyo revives the near dead Sakura using her special Resurrection Technique.

Chiyo then advice Sakura, “Next time, save the people who are dear to you, not some old hag. You and I are very similar. There aren’t many girls as chivalrous as you around. You’ll surpass your teacher as a female ninja.” – naruto.wikia.com

With his last breath, Sasori tells Sakura that there is a scheduled meeting with one of his spies from Orochimaru’s camp.

Kakashi plans trap Deidara in his Mangekyo Sharingan.

SEPTEMBER 2007

Sept. 13, 2007. ep. 28: Beasts: Alive Again!
Team Guy hunkers down against their clones. As they get weaker and more exhausted, their clones remain as strong as when they first started. Lee realizes that they all need to be stronger to overcome “themselves.” Using their training with each other and their resolve to constantly become stronger, they finally overpower and eliminate their clones.

Sept. 27, 2007. ep. 29 & 30: Kakashi Enlightened! & Aesthetics of an Instant
Kakashi unveils his Mangekyo Sharingan, using an inter-dimensional warping technique called Kamui to pull Deidara in. Unfortunately, he warps only Deidara’s arm. While this is going on, Naruto separates Deidara from his clay bird while his clones retrieve Gaara’s limp body. Naruto attacks Deidara only to discover it is only a clay clone. Furious, Naruto’s Nine-Tailed Fox’s chakra emerges, transforming Naruto to a Two-Tail.

Kakashi – Mangekyou Sharingan

Kakashi, seeing a transformed Naruto, uses a seal that Jiraiya gave to him to suppress kyuubi. Team Guy finally catches up to Deidara using Neji’s Byakugan. Outnumbered, Deidara ingests his own clay to self-detonate but Kakashi uses Kamui to warp the explosion to a different dimension at the knick of time.

Chiyo and Sakura catches up with the rest and Sakura tries to bring Gaara back to life with her medical jutsu unsuccessfully. The team mourns for Gaara’s death, and Naruto bears the brunt of a lost friend, having promised Kankuro that Naruto will bring his brother home. Naruto blames Chiyo for Gaara’s death, since she was the one who sealed Shukaku within Gaara. He cries for his inability to save Sasuke and Gaara as well. To apologize for her past actions, Chiyo tries to revive Gaara with her Life-restoring Jutsu. However, after losing so much chakra in the fight with Sasori and having the revive an almost dead Sakura, she is unable to perform the jutsu.

OCTOBER 2007

Oct. 18, 2007. ep. 31: The Legacy
Naruto steps in, and gives her his chakra. The Sand Village ninjas arrive as Gaara is resurrected. Unbeknown to Sakura and Naruto, Chiyo gives her life to rescue Gaara – the hope and future of the Sand Village. With her dying breath, Chiyo leaves a final advice for the youngster of both the villages: let Konoha and Suna continue to work together even if they never have before.

(To Naruto) “I’m happy that someone like you has appeared in the world of shinobi that we foolish old people created. Everything I’ve ever done was a mistake. But now, at the end, it looks like I’ll finally be able to do the right thing. The Sand Village and Konoha.Their future will be much different than the way things were back in my day. That strange power of yours that Kakashi mentioned… That power will have a strong influence on the future. Become a Hokage like none before you.” – naruto.wikia.com

With that, Naruto changes an old woman’s narrow perspective of Konoha and the world. Gaara then asks his villagers to mourn for Granny Chiyo.

Oct. 25, 2007. ep. 32: Return of the Kazekage
Deidara is not dead. The kamikaze act was created by a clone, but he is definitely missing an arm, which has his Akatsuki ring attached to. Meanwhile, Zetsu and his new subordinate, Tobi, search for Sasori’s ring

Back at the Sand Village, the Konoha and Suna ninjas pay their last respects to Chiyo. Not really knowing how to bid a friend goodbye, Gaara, still able to manipulate the sand, uses some sand to guide Naruto’s hand in a hand shake.