Search for Tsunade Arc: The Rasengan and the Fifth Hokage

Konoha Without a Hokage

Orochimaru's invasion leaves Konoha bled dry. The Third Hokage died sealing his former student's arms, the village has lost its leader and part of its senior ranks. The arc opens on that vacuum of power, in episode 81, aired in Japan on April 28, 2004.

The village's two advisors, Koharu and Homura, offer the post to Jiraiya. He flatly refuses and puts forward another name: Tsunade, granddaughter of the First Hokage and the finest medical ninja in the shinobi world. He sets one condition for leaving, taking Naruto with him. The pretext is training; the real reason is that the Akatsuki has just made its move.

Because Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki have entered the village. Episode 82, from May 5, 2004, pits Kakashi against Itachi: the Tsukuyomi sends him to the hospital with seventy-two hours of mental torture compressed into an instant. Sasuke catches up with his brother in episode 84, on May 19, and throws a Chidori at him that never reaches its target. Episode 85 leaves him broken, forced back into the massacre of his clan. Only the arrival of Jiraiya puts the two Akatsuki members to flight.

The arc runs twenty episodes, from 81 to 100, up to September 8, 2004. It adapts chapters 139 to 171 of the manga, that is volumes 16 to 19. It is Naruto's first long journey outside Konoha, without his team, guided by a single master.

Learning the Rasengan

The training begins in episode 86, on June 2, 2004. Jiraiya pulls out a technique that is not his own: the Rasengan, developed by the Fourth Hokage over three years of work. It requires no hand signs. Everything rests on spinning and compressing chakra in the palm, which makes it unreadable to a Sharingan.

Jiraiya breaks the training down into three stages. The first fits inside a water balloon: bursting it by spinning the liquid in several directions at once, with chakra alone. That is episode 87, from June 9, 2004, and the lesson is about rotation.

The second stage swaps the water for an air-filled rubber ball, far tougher: it is no longer about spinning, but about densifying. Episode 88, from June 16, 2004, takes Naruto there. That leaves the third, the most thankless: sealing the sphere inside a thin balloon without bursting it. Rotation, power and containment at the same time. That is where he gets stuck.

The solution he finds is anything but academic. Naruto creates a clone and hands it the rotation while he supplies the power. The method is an admission of weakness in chakra control, and he will keep it all the way into Shippuden. The technique is only completed in the middle of a fight, in episode 94, aired on August 4, 2004, when it slams into the stomach of Kabuto.

The Duel of the Legendary Sannin

Orochimaru reaches Tanzaku before them. Episode 89, from June 23, 2004, stages his offer. Both his arms hang useless: the Third sealed the souls inside them with the Reaper Death Seal, which bars him from all ninjutsu. The deal is simple. Let her give him his arms back, and he will bring back from the dead her little brother Nawaki and her lover Dan Kato. She has a week to answer.

Naruto and Jiraiya find her in the same place in episode 90, on July 7, 2004. The meeting goes badly: Tsunade calls the title of Hokage idiocy, Naruto lunges at her, she neutralizes him with a single finger. Out of that comes the bet of episode 91, aired on July 14. One week to master the Rasengan, the First Hokage's necklace against all the boy's money.

That necklace is the knot of the character. Tsunade had given it to Nawaki for his twelfth birthday; he died in battle the next day. She then passed it on to Dan, who died in her arms as she was trying to heal him. Since then, the sight of blood freezes her — a hemophobia that Kabuto will coldly exploit by cutting open his own skin.

The meeting turns into a fight. Tsunade drugs Jiraiya in episode 92, on July 21, to go there alone, then refuses and attacks in episode 93, on July 28. After Naruto's Rasengan, Kabuto pierces his heart with a chakra scalpel; Tsunade patches him up and ties the necklace around his neck. She then releases her Creation Rebirth, a cellular rejuvenation paid for in years of life. Episodes 95 and 96, both aired on August 11, 2004, let loose the three summons: Gamabunta, Manda and Katsuyu. Orochimaru flees, his arms still dead.

Tsunade's Investiture

Episode 97, from August 18, 2004, serves as a breather before the return. The real turning point comes in episode 98, on August 25. Tsunade walks into the Konoha hospital and heals Sasuke and Kakashi, both trapped in the aftereffects of the Tsukuyomi. Then she examines Rock Lee.

The verdict is brutal. The boy's spine and bones are too badly damaged: she puts the odds of a successful operation at 50 % and advises him to give up the ninja profession. The first medical decision of her term is therefore a negative one.

Episode 99, from September 1, 2004, settles the question of legitimacy. Konohamaru barricades the Hokage's office to stop anyone from replacing his grandfather. Tsunade forces her way through by defusing every one of his traps, and he finally gives in on one condition: that the Third not be erased. That is the Will of Fire passed on through a scene of a stubborn kid.

Episode 100, aired on September 8, 2004, closes the arc. Might Guy promises Lee he will die with him if the operation fails; Lee accepts, and Tsunade raises the odds to 58 %. The investiture ceremony follows. Tsunade becomes the Fifth Hokage, the first woman to hold the office, and Konoha has a leader again.

Summary Table

FAQ

• How many episodes does the Search for Tsunade arc run?
  Twenty, from 81 to 100 of the first series, aired in Japan between April 28 and September 8, 2004. On the manga side, that corresponds to chapters 139 to 171, that is volumes 16 to 19.
• In which episode does Naruto pull off the Rasengan?
  In episode 94, aired on August 4, 2004, in the middle of the fight against Kabuto. The training had begun eight episodes earlier, in episode 86 from June 2, 2004, and breaks down into three stages: rotation, power, containment.
• Why is Orochimaru looking for Tsunade?
  The Third Hokage sealed the souls of his two arms during the invasion of Konoha, with the Reaper Death Seal. Deprived of ninjutsu, Orochimaru promises her he will resurrect her brother Nawaki and her lover Dan Kato if she agrees to heal him.
• Why is Tsunade paralyzed by blood?
  She lost Nawaki in battle, then Dan, who died in her arms as she was trying to save him. Since then, the mere sight of blood freezes her. Kabuto uses that against her by deliberately cutting himself during the clash at Tanzaku.
• Does the arc contain filler episodes?
  Almost none: the bulk of the arc follows the manga step by step. Episode 97, from August 18, 2004, is the only real lull, and the non-canon episodes take over right afterward, starting with 101, aired on September 15, 2004.

In summary

Twenty episodes to change scale. The Search for Tsunade pulls Naruto out of the school setting of the Chunin Exams and drops him into an adult story: a beheaded village, three former teammates who have become, one a rogue ninja, another a wandering sage, the third a woman hiding in gambling and drink. Naruto comes away with his first A-rank technique and a necklace that has already buried two bearers. Konoha comes away with a Hokage who did not want the job. And the Akatsuki takes on its first real face there, that of Itachi, which will weigh on all the rest of the series.