"The Enemy: Ninja Dropouts"
It's a full moon over some unfamiliar town, dogs are barking at the moon and crickets are chirping. Some ninja looking people pop their heads out of a pool. They open a panel and sneak into a house, killing the occupants! Their leader laughs and they head for the nearby safe. The leaders asks one of them named Monju to take care of it. He uses piano wire and some hand signs to project a jutsu that slices the door off of the safe. The leader laughs again as they hear a kid crying and he doesn't want to deal with this shit so the big T. Hawk looking dude named Gantetsu volunteers to take care of it. He finds the kid crying in his bed. The leader orders the rest to torch the mansion, leaving no evidence behind. Gantetsu only looks at the kid as the fire rages behind him. Warning bells go off all across the town.
Back in the Hidden Leaf Tsunade enjoying herself watching a group of kids play after a hard day of paperwork. Shizune comes in with a last minute request that she promises is the last one of the day. Tsunade hates working when it is this hot out but it's a request from the police to help transport a prisoner. Tsunade wonders why they want the help of the Leaf, police do this sort of thing all the time but Shizune tells her to just read the request as it's a bit more complicated than that. Tsunade does think this could get tricky and Shizune reports that all Jonin are on S-Class missions and 9/10ths of the Chunin and Genin are unavailable as well. That just leaves...
Time for multi shadow clone jutsu! Lee is training with Naruto...about 30 of them in fact! Let's go bushy-brows! Who does, dodging left and right, deflecting kunai, using Leaf Hurricane to take out multiples. Naruto serves up more clones and Lee trades hits with them. Both of them are gassed after a moment and go for the mutual respect straight punch to end it all as Sakura comes up looking for them...as they cave in the sides of each other's faces. Sakura wants to know what these idiots were thinking as she patches them up, calling Naruto reckless for letting this happen. Lee apologizes but says that she's wrong and 100 versus 1 shadow clone battles are perfect for taijutsu training. It also helped to train Naruto. Sakura tells them to call it what they want but it still amounts to them beating the crap out of each other. Naruto and Lee agree that it is a guy thing and do the thumbs up shining smile. Sakura tells them to hurry up as they've got to see Lady Tsunade. Naruto asks what they've done wrong this time, Lee asks why us?
Ninja dropouts? Yeah, rogue shinobi who didn't finish their training and this particular group is a savage group of thieves. Using shinobi abilities to commit crimes, unforgivable! One of their members was caught yesterday in the Ogi Pass in the Land of Forests. She shows them the picture of the criminal, it's the big dude Gantetsu! Naruto says he doesn't really look like a ninja. They are going to transport him to the capital of the Land of Forests so they can potentially learn the whereabouts of the rest of the gang of ninja dropouts and put a stop to them. Obviously they will try and interfere. The police have assigned a full escort but their mission is to back them up. Fake Ninja versus real ninja. Tsunade calls them out by their full names and assigns them to the mission.
They arrive at their destination, this boat will be used to transport the prinsoner (seen above in the cage) because as Lee points out the only way to get from here to the capital is by boat up the river. Sakura points out the man in the cage when a corrections officer identifies the man in the cage. He asks if they are the Leaf shinobi assigned to the mission and introduces himself as Tsuzumi, the one in charge of the convoy. Naruto makes introductions, telling him to call Lee Bushy-Brows but the man is skeptical, these look young for ninja. Lee is mad at this but Naruto tells him not to worry, we might not look it but we're bona fide, dozen of missions, etc,etc. Lee says he will see when the time has come and Sakura tells him not to worry. The man isn't too concerned as his security team is full of experts but he'll be counting on them if that proves to be inadequate. All of the guards are dressed alike and Naruto slams them on a lack of fashion sense. The leader of these guards is Captain Todoroki , whom Tsuzumi introduces. The ninja introduce themselves but the captain doesn't seem to like ninja very much plus he thinks he has enough men. Tsuzumi says nothing doing, orders from above. The captain tells them if they want to help then stay out of his way, his men will do all the work.
Then he takes out his sword and vows by it...and the cute little fishy key chain he has. I'm sure this won't be a plot point or anything. Naruto doesn't think his sword is shit, he could snap it with one hand! Lee could do it with one finger! Sakura tells them to knock it off and apologizes for the boys. The captain tells them not to get seasick all over the deck. The Captain looks at Gantetsu with disgust and saying his name mentally. They lower the prisoner cage and all into the hold and set sail
for one piece! and they head out.
Naruto and the rest are bored on deck. They won't even let them see the prisoner, claims Naruto. They treat us like pests, says Lee. Naruto wants some action from the Ninja Dropouts so he can show to the captain just how strong he is but Sakura hopes they don't show up at all as their mission is just to escort this man, not show off. Naruto claims to be bored but Sakura says this is all part of the mission. Lee knows this is all part of the mission but Naruto is right, this is boring. Sakura...agrees with them! She's getting bored as well! They all sigh as the sun sets. But who is there in the bushes? Some kids looking menacingly at them! They have some instant ramen for dinner. Naruto is still griping about being treated like pests but Sakura and Lee enjoy the ramen a lot. Naruto wonders why they were asked to do this mission at all and decides to screw the rules, he's going to guard the prisoner anyways. Sakura says the captain will get mad but Naruto goes down to the hold anyways.
Gantetsu is in his cage not doing much when Naruto comes down. He thinks he really does look like a criminal when he notices Captain Todoroki standing at attention on the other side of the cage. He somehow didn't notice Naruto who goes to the ground. Naruto wonders what he is doing here when we get a FLASHBACK to tat faithful night!
He's the son of the family that was killed and older brother to the boy Gantetsu "took care of!" He cries out his name, Akio, but the ceiling collapses on all of them. He awakens from his waking nightmare and is visibly shaken. That's it! He looks at the fish and says he is finally going to avenge Akio. He draws his swords and gets his revengenance face on when Naruto tackles him, asking him what he was going to do just now and if he was out of his mind.
It's night now and the boat is passing by when a man who could only be a dropout starts up Ninja Art: Crimson Mud and sets his drill arm revving! He shoots it out and it makes a path through the mountain, making a tributary for the river. Sakura points out this fork in the river...not on any of her maps. The captain asks Naruto what he was doing here. Never mind that, what where you doing with that sword, going to use it on Gantetsu? The captain calls it ridiculous, talking about his mission. Naruto thinks that's good as no matter what he's done he still needs to be interrogated and given a fair trial. The captain is angry now calling Naruto a brat. He doesn't need interrogation, he did everything they say he did. Naruto is shook. Oh he did it, a lot of innocent people including kids died at his hands. He showed no mercy at all. Sakura and Lee are on the deck, worried they will be pulled in. Piano wire man is back, doing more piano wire hand signs Ninja Art: Link and Slay. A wire chakra laser beam bisects the ship, revealing the hold. Naruto and the Captain are shook. The bottom half follows the current while the top half floats down the regular path, separating Naruto from the other two. The ninja drop outs are here! They jump on the new deck and Naruto tells them not to move and to identify themselves. Shura, leader of the ninja dropouts. He has an umbrella, never good in the world of Naruto. The captain calls them scum but Shura wants them to hand the man over as he belongs to us. Naruto says that's not going to happen as the episode ends.
NEXT EPISODE: "The Bewildering Forest"