"The Powerful Helper"
Tenten is disarming the paper bomb trap at the training center while Naruto remembers his old eating buddy. One down, thousands to go. Lee is relieved but Shino and Shikamaru aren't so sure, if Genno figured out they had disarmed the master one he probably has a backup plan to destroy the Leaf. Choji collapses his chip bag with a pop, nearly giving Naruto a heart attack. Neji is on lookout duty and so far no one has figured out what they are doing. Shikamaru orders the team to put the dummy back perfectly and also tells the students to continue their kunai practice as if nothing had happened but don't hit the bullseye. Good thing they suck, though the one in headgear claims he totally hit it yesterday.
Back at the Hokages office Shikamaru lays it out. Shizune wants to evacuate the village immediately but Shikmaru tells her she must be joking. If they started evacuating then Genno would know and he'd blow the village sky high. Naruto and the gang are searching for the paper bombs now and we'll see how they do. The 5th can only sigh.
Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru are searching the mean streets, Sakura is the one taking notes. He turns and starts digging, he found one! Twenty is with Shino an his bugs are hovering near a panel of a house. They extract the bomb from between the boards in a very nifty trick and she disarms it.
Naruto is teamed up with Hinata and has his head under a joint in the wall between two buildings. Does he have it yet? No, but he has a finger on it. Hinata urges him to be careful as a women shows up to scold them. Naruto tells her he dropped some money back there and she offers to come back later with a broom and grab it. He doesn't want it to go off...I mean he's really jonseing for some Ramen. Hinata agrees, he needs his ramen and the women understands the thirst for Ichiraku. The full Team ten are reporting to the Hokage, they need more men. Shizune says that the Genin are all that are left but Tsunade has some people in mind. They are old and lazy but they might be of some help...it's the Hokage council members, who bust in to give shit to Lady Tsunade, they are village elders here to give advice to the youngsters...not that you're wise enough to listen. Tsunade counters that they're not to infirm to sense when trouble is brewing and the old lady reminds her that she's not as young as she looks. Super burn. Tsunade calls her an old bag of bones but said old bag puts her back in her place. The old man finally speaks up (with Jett's voice no less) and asks where they want them to search. Team Ten meanwhile is impressed with how this old lady handled the Hokage, and possibly even a little scared.
Might Guy is on his way back to the village with all the power of youth. The two elders start their search while Tsunade watches them leave. She appreciates their help but man do they get on her nerves. Shizune thinks everything will be fine when Might Guy gets back but Shikamaru doesn't think it'll be that simple, how could one man plant so many bombs and when? There's more than meets the eye and they are overlooking something. The kids are back practicing their kunai throwing. Lee checks in with Neji on his lookout tree. The bomb disposal is going well but no sign of Genno. The two elders finally arrived at their location, the outskirts of town. Griping all the way. She's as much a slave driver as that Sarutobi bastard and there's nothing out here worth blowing up. The old lady remarks that 30 years ago the fancy new shopping district was to be built here and when she enters a nearby building she spots something. A paper bomb in one of the beams. She extracts it with a single hand sign Magneto style. They meet again in the Hokage's office. It's a slightly different paper bomb, though Choji can't tell the difference. This isn't uncommon to the old people in the room though, it's in fact very familiar, it's the old way to do it. Tsunade says that most of the ones they are finding use this old style. She also takes it to the map. The far away less populated buildings are full of older bombs while the crowded new residential buildings have only a handful. Why there, well, there was going to be a bustling shopping district there 30 years ago. Tsunade comes up with a hypothesis, this trap is 30 years old. Tsunade thinks it's ridiculous but Elder Jett says it's easy to overlook something when you're not looking for it and the other elder says that they were very well hidden and only those specifically looking with the Byakugan can find them easily. Ino wonders how Genno found out about the trap from thirty years ago when suddenly Shikamaru gets an idea and runs out.
Naruto and Hinata have finished with this sector when Hinata collapses against the wall. It's hard to use the Byakugan for this long, she needs a little rest. Naruto puts his hand on her forehead to check how she is. She feels feverish and is turning a bit red. Naruto tells her to wait there and rest while he delivers the goods to Tsunade. He passes by Ichiraku and remembers the old man. He then heads to the Hokage monument wondering if the old guy was looking up there for a reason. Naruto finds a paper bomb here...and OLD MAN GENNO. He can't let him leave now.
Team Ten is meeting with the foreman. Thirty years ago was back in his father's day but he remembers having to hire a bunch of new men for the expansion project. He doesn't know how complete his records are but Shikamaru wants anything. Ino doesn't get it but Shikamaru is worried about the recommendation letter, the old one. Shikamaru suspects Genno of stealing the letter, but why? He thinks he did it because the first letter was phony too! Genno used it himself thirty years ago to get hired here. The first one was a much better forgery though and while he wanted the second one to be discovered so his elaborate death trap would work. So he wanted them to find the fake but not find out that the trap was actually mainly set thirty years ago.
Naruto wants to know why the old man did it. The old man asks if he'd ever heard of the Heat Devil Village in the Land of Mountains. He was born there. Tsunade is having the same discussion with the village elders, her older Bingo book only states he was from the Land of Mountains, nothing about the Heat Devils. The elders continue that the village disappeared some time ago and not many records remain. Thirty years ago the Heat Devils and the Leaf were engaged in an endless war. One night they launched a sneak attack and with one strike turned the tide of war in their favor. Shikamaru also continues the story stating that three months later an armistice was signed, but what happened in those three months? Everyone expected a counterattack. The foreman finds his father's diary from that time period, he kept it faithfully and never missed a date. Shikamaru quickly finds an entry on the man from the Sand with a referral from a master carpenter who wasn't that great but they needed the help. A week after the attack, the man was Genno. Genno continues telling the story to Naruto. He was sent here to trap the entire village and set them off when the Heat Devil counterattack happened. He concentrated on the busiest spots and the ANBU weren't as dogged back then. It took him two and a half months to do it but at last he had set them all, only had to wait for his comrades...who never came. The warlord of the Heat Devil village died in a tragic accident and was replaced by a man who wanted peace, says Tsunade. Right then Genno stopped going to work, says Shikamaru. Genno tells Naruto that he returned to his village, awaiting for the peace to collapse and expecting to be sent back. Little did he know that he'd never be sent on any missions again, nor would any of his people. Elder Jett continues the story, two weeks after the peace was signed they were blindsided by the Village Hidden in the Veil and the Heat Devil village was destroyed. Shikamaru concludes the diary entry and Naruto asks why the old man is back what's the point of this, revengenance? Did someone send you? Nope, no one sent him.
Well, you see, it just seemed like such a waste. He didn't want to die without anyone knowing what he had done so he came back so they wouldn't go to waste. What a heel! Naruto can't believe it and thought he was just a friendly old man. He used Naruto for information. That lying jerk! He says he'll understand when he gets to be old. Naruto says he'll live a long time and never feel that way but after Genno springs this trap he'll know the true meaning of revengenance. Naruto cuts a promo about how all of his friends are disarming the bombs as we speak and there is no way this is going to happen. Genno laughs and asks Naruto if he thought his plan was just to blow them all up? A real shinobi can put them to use in other ways and is always thinking two or three moves ahead.
Lee comes over to meet with Shikamaru and company who have finished with the foreman. Lee wants to know what he should do about the academy students as they are getting tired. Shikamaru completely forgot about them and Ino gives him the business. Shikarmaru accepts this and says it's probably time for them to quit, don't want one of them hitting the target after all...when he realizes something. Why did such a careful man leave the detonation to pure chance? It doesn't make sense unless the paper bombs were nothing but another diversion!
NEXT EPISODE: "Multiple Traps! Countdown to Destruction"
BONUS:
