Episode 10 - The Forest of Chakra

We open to Kakashi camped out in bed, all tuckered out from using the Sharingan. Kakashi apologizes for being a badass, but he is forgiven, and goes into detail about how Tracker Ninjas are the clean-up crews of the shinobi world. They don't even leave a corpse. Zabuza's corpse, however, is alive and well as the Fake Tracker Ninja watches him sit up and pull the needles out of his neck. He takes her mask off, and STILL A GIRL. Only not. Like Kakashi, Zabuza's pretty exhausted, but promises the next time Sharingan's not going to save anybody.

Back at Tazuna's house, Kakashi's ninja sense tingles like mad. I wonder what about? They go over the inconsistencies in the Tracker Ninja's method of operation - why would he take the body, why would he use medical needles on Zabuza, etc. Kakashi figures this means Zabuza's still alive and kicking, which freaks out Naruto and Company. Naruto gets over it quick, because Our Hero wants a rematch. Kakashi decides to get them ready with some more training. Sakura complains that even [i]with[/i] training, they're no match for the Rogue Mist Ninja, but Kakashi points out that they've all grown. And it's true! Sakura has gotten better at... the... thing. A small child with a Greek fisherman's cap enters and proclaims them all worm food, automatically being more defeatist than Sakura. Naruto proclaims himself a super hero who's going to be an awesome ninja, which I myself did at 12. The kid, Inari, follows the wisdom of The Stranglers and says 'no more heroes anymore.' Naruto stomps upstairs to give the kid a piece of his mind, and finds the kid bawling over a picture, which puts a damper on things.

Training time! We get a refresher course on Chakra from Sakura, who is the only one who paid attention in class. There's two kinds - the kind your body makes and the kind you get from training. Naruto gets his, I will speculate, from the Demon Fox inside his stomach. Sasuke, being Demon Fox free as far as I know, I would think just gets his from his body. Is being an awesome ninja genetic? None of the kids know a darn thing about using Chakra, despite being able to breathe fire and make Shadow Clones and whatnot. Kakashi says they have to learn to regulate, and it's difficult, intensive training. Of the tree-climbing kind. Ah, but this is ninja tree-climbing, which means you can't use your hands or those cool climbing claws. You've gotta use your Chakra to Spider-Man your way up the trunk. If they can master this harder-than-it-looks trick, they can master anything. The kids focus, Naruto automatically assuming he'll get the furthest because he's grown the most. He gets a step and a half before landing on his head. Hee. Sasuke gets 3/4ths of the way up the tree, cratering the bark before he's got to vault off. Sakura... makes it all the way? What's this? Our girl being the best at something? If only it'd last. Kakashi amusingly twists the knife on Sasuke and Naruto, but inner-monologues that they've got way more potential than Sakura.

We jump to Zabuza's bedroom, where Boss Gato and his thugs, who look like hip-hop ronin, barge in to mock Zabuza for getting his tail kicked. Fake Tracker Ninja isn't having any of that, making Gato's goons look like rank NPCs. His (HER) name is Haku, and they briefly ruminate that's it not time to supplant Gato, but I hope they do. The thought of an intercontinental shipping concern run by evil ninja is awesome.

Squad Seven's training again, with both the boys getting higher and higher, Naruto once again continuing on his path to multiple concussions. They're all pretty tired at this point, even Sakura. Wait, didn't she already ace this excercise? Practice makes perfect, I guess. All those blows to the head must have jarred loose some common sense in Naruto, as he actually goes to ask Sakura's help. Nice, Naruto. Kakashi looks forward to Naruto hitting his potential as we end the episode.