The seriousness of Naruto’s story is often interspersed with sheer silliness, but it all serves a purpose, propelling the young superhero forward on his path of adventure and growth.
After meeting Konohamaru, the annoying and aggressive grandson of the village Hokage, Naruto shows no mercy and punches him before heading out the door. Seeking to become the village’s next great ninja master, the Fifth Hokage, the boy becomes a follower of Naruto, trying at first to remain hidden, but his efforts are ludicrously inadequate. He quickly learns to respect the older and somewhat wise Naruto, and decides that he should become a student of the new graduate.
We are then presented with information about the ninja’s power source, a substance Naruto incorrectly identifies as chatorameaning brown tiger. His young student is confused, imagining a big brown cat, then correcting his teacher, revealing that the word is actually chakra. Naruto covers up his mistake by telling the boy to “Shut up. Good ninjas call it Chatora.” So we learn that chakra it is the energy you use to execute a technique. It is the internal energy of the body and spirit that can be accumulated through experience and training. When you mix training and experience, a seal is formed and the technique can be executed. It was Konohamaru who quoted this to his new master, as Naruto was unfamiliar with the actual definition, even though his abilities were highly advanced.
Given this knowledge, the two young students begin a training exercise, Naruto teaching his very young charge the silly and sexy “temptation” technique. The older Naruto is able to transform into a very beautiful girl, while the younger boy’s efforts result in a fat ugly witch. The combination of comedy and the logic behind the ninja lifestyle leads Naruto to take the boy to various places that are not very suitable for a boy his age. They go to a bookstore that sells girly magazines so they can “research pheromones.” After the owner kicks them out, they head to the women’s dressing room where they transform into girls before entering. Once again, they are thrown off, and Naruto takes a beating in the process. Here, we are introduced to the issue of Naruto being an older boy with a developing interest in girls, which will lead to complications in the upcoming episodes.
When the younger boy’s guardian, an elite ninja master, finally catches up with them, he’s upset that Naruto should be teaching the Third Hokage’s grandson so much nonsense. “Young master, you’ll only get dumber and dumber if you stick with Naruto.”
A showdown then ensues, but unlike the more serious and damaging fight from the previous episode when Naruto earned the right to graduate by defeating a dangerous rival, the fight is much more comedic. Naruto surprises everyone by executing a combination of his Shadow Replication Technique (which produces a hundred copies of himself) and his Temptation Technique, transforming all of his duplicates into sexy women who finally subdue the distracted elite master. Witnessing this conflict in his crystal ball, the Third Hokage can only sadly conclude, “He did another stupid technique. Sure I’ll fool myself, probably.”
When the two young students are separated, they both realize that they have parallel ambitions to become great Ninjas and achieve wide recognition. By now, this light-hearted vision of the two immature students, much like the blind leading the blind, has introduced us to a variety of Ninja principles, attitudes, techniques, and resources, the most important of all being the power that might reside. within all of us. Known here as “chakra,” the substance has been mentioned in many fantasy and science fiction works, including Star Wars, where it is referred to as “The Force.” Here it is much more complex, although we are reminded of the growth of the youthful hero, Luke Skywalker, every time we meet Uzumaki Naruto.
