Westleaf Staff
Many anime fans started their journey into the world of anime by watching Naruto. The naruto animated series is considered one of the best anime to this day. Let us give you a small recap of Naruto’s story to refresh your memory.
Naruto is a Japanese anime series based on the "Naruto" manga written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The story revolves around the life of a clumsy knucklehead ninja (Naruto) who has the Nine-Tails Fox sealed inside him. His passion for becoming Hokage of leaf village leads him to a world full of challenges and sacrifices while he finds true friends along the way.The Naruto series is expanded over the course of 5 seasons and 220 episodes in total.
Below are our Top 5 episodes of Naruto.
5. Assassin of the Moonlit Light
Assassin of the Moonlit Light is the 76th episode of Naruto. This episode features a battle between Sasuke and Gaara (Ninja of Sand Village). Gaara uses his powers to seal one tail beast (Shukaku) and dominates the battle while Sasuke gets injured heavily because of his use of curse seals (Placed by Orochimaru).
Just when Sasuke was about to be killed, Naruto and Sakura stepped in to save him. While Naruto was standing in fear of Gaara, he attacked Sasuke but Sakura managed to save Sasuke. By seeing the determination of Sakura, Gaara gets a flashback about his childhood, when he was talking to his uncle about the never-ending pain in his heart. His uncle (Yashamaru) explained that the wounds in the heart take the longest time to heal and the only way to cure them is love. After spending a long time with Yashamaru, Gaara made a deep bond with him.
However, a certain tragedy happened. One night Gaara was attacked by an assassin, as usual, his protective ability protected him and killed the assassin but despair fell upon him when he got to know the assassin was none other than his beloved uncle Yashamaru.
2. The Fifth Gate: A Splendid Ninja is Born
The Fifth Gate: A Splendid Ninja is Born is the 50th episode of the Naruto series. This episode features Rock Lee, a hidden leaf ninja who lacks the usual ninja skills like Genjutsu and Ninjutsu but he didn’t let his shortcomings affect him. Instead, he trained hard under Might Guy Sensei with great determination to become a Taijutsu master.
In his battle against Gaara in the Chunin exams, Gaara was dominating him with his protective sand. However, Lee unleashes the fifth gate and overwhelms Gaara’s protective sand with speed, and delivers the hidden lotus technique to finish him off but Gaara uses his sand to soften his fall and crushes Lee’s arm and leg.
Guy sensei steps in to save Lee. Although Lee was crushed, he still had not given up. Guy sensei wept because of Lee’s undying dedication.
The medical Ninja team announced the tragic news that Lee's injuries are so severe that they cannot be healed completely and he cannot continue his journey as a ninja. This moment was very emotional and pierced the hearts of anime fans.
Guy sensei leaves the battleground while blaming himself for Lee’s condition because he taught him these dangerous techniques.
3. The Demon in the Snow
The Demon in the Snow is the 19th episode of the Naruto series. This episode features the tragic end of rogue ninjas who have lived their whole life by following orders from criminal organizations.
The rogue ninja Zabuza and his apprentice ninja were defeated by Kakashi and Team 7 of the leaf village. The head of the organization Gato, who hired Zabuza, tells him that he was going to discard them after using them.
Gato kicks Haku’s dead body which causes the immobilized Zabuza to shed tears as Haku sacrificed his life for him. Zabuza grabs kunai in his teeth and rushes to kill Gato, even though the men of Gato stab him, Zabuza manages to kill Gato thus putting an end to his corruption.
Zabuza requests Kakashi to place him near Haku. It starts snowing while these rogue ninjas achieve their eternal peace.
Kakashi and Team 7 were impressed by the change of heart of Zabuza and Haku. They buried them in a peaceful place. The whole episode conveys the message that even the evilest people have some goodness left in them.
Team 7 completes its mission successfully and as a reward for Naruto's contribution to it, the lord of land waves names the bridge “The Great Naruto Bridge”.
2. A Plea From a Friend
A Plea From a Friend is the 133rd episode of Naruto. This episode features the deadly fight between Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto tries to stop Sasuke from going to Orochimaru, Sasuke refuses to do so and the two of them engage in a battle. Naruto tells Sasuke that he considered him as his friend and brother and he won’t let him break this bond.
Sasuke criticizes Naruto because he doesn’t know how much it hurts to lose a family. After all, Naruto was alone from the beginning. Naruto dominates the fight and pins down Sasuke against the mountain walls. Sasuke put on his forehead protector acknowledging Naruto as a rival and charging towards him with speed.
Sasuke’s Sharingan has been upgraded to level 3 and this time Sasuke dominates Naruto and beats the hell out of him. Naruto borrows power from the Nine Tails and a fox aura forms around him, he dashes towards Sasuke and attacks him with chakra-infused fists.
Sasuke releases his second curse seal thus attaining a disgusting form. Sasuke dashes towards Naruto claiming he is more powerful than him. The whole episode highlights the struggle of Naruto as he wishes to save his friend Sasuke from falling into the endless hell of revenge.
1. The End of Tears
The End of Tears is the 134th episode of the Naruto Series. This episode is the continuation of the fight between Naruto and Sasuke. Both of them are at their limit, Sasuke attacks Naruto with his chakra-infused wings, and as the two fight, they begin having flashbacks of their childhood and their days at the academy.
Sasuke utilizes all of his chakras in his final technique, Chidori. Meanwhile, Naruto uses all of his chakras in Rasengan. They both rush towards each other in the middle of Valley of End. Their fists clash with each other, and a massive shockwave is created. Naruto manages to scratch the forehead protector of Sasuke.
On the other hand, Sasuke punches him in the gut rather than killing him with Chidori. Naruto loses consciousness and Sasuke becomes victorious but he also sustains heavy damage.
After staring at Naruto for a while Sasuke leaves/ Kakashi finds Naruto and takes him back to the village.
In the episode finale, Sasuke is reminiscing about his brother Itachi who told him to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan by killing his best friend, however, Sasuke chooses to obtain the power his way.
The whole episode is quite emotional for anime fans as they witness the deadly battle between two best friends and praise the unbreakable bond between them.
