Episode 41: Kankuro easily wins his battle against Misumi by tricking him into attacking his puppet Crow. Though Kankuro has Crow break Misumi's ribs, the opponent survives due to his ability to contort himself. The fourth match is between Sakura and Ino. After the two exchange insults, they have flash backs from when they were friends before Sakura was forced to end it after both learn that they each have a crush on Sasuke. Though Ino was restraining herself because of their past, she decides to follow Sakura's example and take the battle seriously.
Episode 42: Sakura and Ino are evenly matched. They both use illusion clone jutsu, chakra string jutsu and others. In a desperate move, Ino uses her Mind Transfer Jutsu to take control over Sakura's body and have her forfeit. But Naruto's cheering of Sakura allows her Inner Sakura to force Ino out of her body. The two girls having been pushed to their limits, Ino and Sakura decide to end the battle as they charge each other to land a powerful punch on each other. Though Sakura and Ino ended up being both eliminated after a double knockout, the ordeal did rekindle their friendship.
Episode 43: The next match is between Temari and Tenten. Tenten's weapon summonings are negated by Temari's wind-based attacks, and she is defeated. Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi are chosen for the next match. Although Kin ensnares Shikamaru in a genjutsu, he captures her in his Shadow Imitation Technique. He forces her to knock herself unconscious. The next combatants are randomized putting everyone into awaiting excitements and in the end are revealed to be Naruto and Kiba Inuzuka.
Episode 44: Kiba quickly embarrasses Naruto by sending him tumbling to the ground with one intense blow but he soon discovers that Naruto will not be taken down so easily. Kiba and his dog Akamaru continue to prove too much for Naruto. He uses his superior strength and speed to dominate the match. Consuming special military pills that enhance their chakra, Kiba and Akamaru use a combination of their speed and special signature Man-Beast Clone Jutsu to overwhelm Naruto.
Episode 45: As the battle continues, Naruto manages to trick Kiba into knocking Akamaru out. Despite this, Naruto is still at a disadvantage due to Kiba's pill-enhanced chakra as well as his superior strength and speed. Kiba proves to be too fast for Naruto to the point that Naruto doesn't even have time to perform any jutsu. Using his speed to get behind Naruto, Kiba is about to land a finishing blow. Before he can make contact, however, Naruto accidentally farts into his face, stopping him in his tracks. Due to Kiba's greatly enhanced sense of smell, he is overwhelmed by the odor as Naruto defeats him with by using his Shadow Clones in his own version of Sasuke's Lion Barrage: Uzumaki Barrage.
Episode 46: The next match is Hinata Hyuga against Neji Hyuga, who is revealed to be her cousin from the branch house of the Hyuga clan. Neji intimidates and berates his cousin, almost convincing her to forfeit. But Naruto's cheering stirs Hinata to fight her cousin in a duel using their clan's Gentle Fist style, which uses bursts of chakra to damage the opponent's internal organs.
Episode 47: Neji reveals that he had been toying with Hinata, and he disables her ability to use chakra with the Gentle Fist style. Hinata, inspired by Naruto, refuses to give up. She tells Neji that she believes that he is suffering more from fighting his destiny. Angered, Neji attempts a fatal blow, but four observing Jonin halt him. Hinata collapses into cardiac arrest shortly after, and Naruto vows to avenge her.
Episode 48: The next set of matchups is Rock Lee against Gaara. At first, Lee's Strong Fist taijutsu is ineffective against Gaara's wall of sand that automatically rises to protect him. Lee then removes the heavy leg weights he was wearing, drastically increasing his speed and allowing him to bypass Gaara's defense. Lee then uses his Primary Lotus, but only succeeds in destroying a clone made of sand.
Episode 49: Gaara reappears and attacks Lee, who is weakened from using his Primary Lotus again. Lee recovers by opening the Second Gate, shocking the Jonin observers in the audience. He then proceeds to open the third and fourth gates, shocking Gaara.
Episode 50: Lee's increased speed overwhelms Gaara's sand defenses. Lee opens the Fifth Gate and uses his most powerful attack, Hidden Lotus. Lee's power, accuracy, strength and speed increase outstandingly, allowing Lee to inflict extreme injuries on Garra with a 5th gate barrage of his. Unfortunately for Lee, Gaara survives by softening his fall with sand and uses his sand coffin to crush Lee's left arm and leg. Gaara moves his sand to finish Lee, but Guy blocks the final attack. Lee, though unconscious due to the pain and covered in blood, rises to continue the battle, his desire to win fueling his broken body. At the end of the match, Rock Lee is crippled to the extent that he is unable to fight again. Guy regrets teaching Lee such dangerous techniques, but vacates the ring for the final match between Choji Akimichi and Dosu Kinuta
Episode 51: Despite having formulated a strategy beforehand, Choji quickly loses to Dosu, concluding the preliminaries. The nine qualifying Genin are assigned opponents, and they are all allowed to leave for a month of training before the finals. Elsewhere, Kabuto prepares to kidnap Sasuke under Orochimaru's orders, but he is stopped by Kakashi and is forced to retreat. Naruto later meets with Kakashi in hopes of training with him, but is given Ebisu as a replacement.
Episode 52: Naruto reluctantly agrees to train under Ebisu, and Ebisu tries to teach Naruto how to walk on water. As Naruto practices, Ebisu catches an old man (later revealed to be Jiraiya) spying on a women's bathhouse. As Ebisu rushes to apprehend him, Jiraiya knocks him out with a single hit, leaving Naruto without a tutor.
Episode 53: After Jiraiya knocks out Ebisu, Naruto is left without a tutor. Naruto manages to convince Jiraiya to tutor him by using his Sexy Jutsu. While Jiraiya oversees Naruto's training, he quickly realizes that Naruto is the host of the Nine-Tails. Jiraiya unlocks the seal that Orochimaru had placed on Naruto in the forest, and Naruto quickly grasps the concept of walking on water. Afterwards, Jiraiya speaks with Naruto about his two kinds of chakra.
Episode 54: That night, having learned that he and his group were nothing more than tools for Orochimaru to test Sasuke, Dosu attempts to assassinate Gaara so he can ruin Orochimaru's plan by killing Sasuke during the finals. But Gaara quickly kills Dosu; this event is observed from a distance by Kabuto and the Hidden Sand Village's Jonin Baki as they confer about the planned invasion of Konohagakure by Sunagakure and Otogakure. When they find that their conversation was overheard by Hayate, Baki quickly murders him. The next day, Naruto resumes his training with Jiraiya. He signs a scroll that will allow him to summon toads. Upon trying to summon a toad, Naruto only manages to summon a tadpole.
Episode 55: Sakura visits the hospital to see Sasuke, but finds that Sasuke has left. While there, Sakura checks on Rock Lee. Despite the injuries that have taken away his hopes of becoming a ninja, Lee trains to regain his strength. The training causes him too much pain, and he passes out. Elsewhere, the many finalists continue their training, with Naruto finally managing to summon a tadpole with hind-legs. Sasuke, himself, is off training with Kakashi.
Episode 56: Jiraiya realizes that Naruto's training is taking too long, and decides to use drastic measures. Knowing that Naruto can only tap into the fox's chakra during life-or-death situations, Jiraiya takes Naruto to a local chasm and throws him in. Unable to stop himself from falling, Naruto enters his subconsciousness and meets the Nine Tails for the first time. Though the Nine Tails is hostile towards Naruto, he gives the boy a bit of his chakra out of self-interest. With the chakra, Naruto manages to summon a giant toad to stop his descent.
Episode 57: The giant toad, revealed to be named Gamabunta, is angry that he has been summoned in a pit and even angrier that Naruto is sitting on top of his head. Although Naruto informs Gamabunta that he summoned him, Gamabunta does not believe him. Determined to prove himself, Naruto rides atop Gamabunta's head until sunset, while Gamabunta tries to shake him off. Naruto falls shortly before sunset, but he earns Gamabunta's respect in the process. Gamabunta then takes Naruto to the hospital to rest.
Episode 58: When Naruto awakens, he finds Shikamaru Nara sitting by his bed, bringing him a basket of fruit. The two locate Gaara elsewhere in the hospital and halt his attempt to assassinate Rock Lee. Gaara explains that his reason for existing is to kill everyone, and reveals that he, like Naruto, was alone for much of his childhood, hated and feared by others for being a host of a tailed beast. Gaara prepares to kill Naruto and Shikamaru as well, but is stopped by the arrival of Might Guy, Lee's sensei, and leaves.
Episode 59: On the day of the finals, Naruto makes his way to the arena. Along the way, he encounters and converses with Hinata Hyuga. Hinata reassures him of his talents, removing any doubts he had about the finals. Naruto thanks Hinata and goes on his way. As he gets closer to the arena, Naruto meets Konohamaru, who tries to use a number of shortcuts to help Naruto get to the arena faster. The shortcuts end up being ineffective and time consuming, as a result, Naruto makes it to the stadium late but can still enter.
Episode 60: Naruto begins his match with Neji Hyuga, who Naruto promised to defeat a month earlier during the preliminaries. Since taijutsu proves ineffective, Naruto creates a large number of shadow clones. Though Neji is able to destroy them all, Naruto creates more.
Rating: 9/10(Average)
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