Episode 18 - The Weapon Known As Shinobi

No recaps! We start with Inari running his little heart out, set to join Naruto and the others on the bridge. He sensibly takes the time to try and rally the villagers first, but the first guy he asks, Giichi, doesn't want any part of it. Inari's rediscovered his fighting spirit, but that's not exactly widespread in this village that won't. Inari doesn't take the rejection well, now re-determined to live by his step-dad's ideals. Giichi's wife calls him on the carpet for not going. Inari's attempt at forming an angry mob have less than successful results, as apparently all the heroes in the village are either small children or ninjas from Hidden Leaf.

It's back to Kakashi and Zabuza, and I once again mark out a little in my heart for the adorable Ninja Dogs. Kakashi goes over Zabuza's botched coup, and we're back to Zabuza abou to get fried by Kakashi's awesome Lightning Blade Chakra attack. The interesting thing is Zabuza really is as idealistic as Kakashi, his ideals are just horrible and violent and amoral. Speaking of ideals, Haku's still on Naruto about killing him for failing Zabuza. Naruto laments the fact, if only things were different, they might've been friends. He goes for his kunai holster and charges at Haku, and the latter looks disturbingly content. Oh, hey! Sakura and Tazuna. They catch a glimpse of Kakashi and Zabuza, though they're not sure which is which, unable to see that one of them is covered in canines. Haku suddenly blocks Naruto before he can finish the femmey tracker, and then vanishes. Kakashi goes to hit the Lightning Blade and SUBSTITUTION! Haku took the blow meant for Zabuza, and he took all of it. Everything goes silent. Brutal.

Inari's ready to go to the bridge himself, and is armoring up, complete with a pot for a helmet and a cute little crossbow. Tsunami wants to stop him, of course, but Inari's doing it for everybody - himself, his dad, the whole village. Fortunately, everybody in the village finally found a pair and is outside to meet him. On the bridge, Naruto turns to notice Haku having taken Kakashi's blow. Haku's done his job, and Zabuza moves to take them both at once, and this is feasible since Kakashi's hand is stuck inside Haku's body. Harsh. Kakashi still manages to dodge, Haku not managing to weigh the Copy Ninja down. Sakura takes the time to ask about Sasuke, and it's all Naruto can do not to break down crying. Tazuna offers to go with Sakura, in a nice moment. She takes Sasuke lacerated and corpsified about as well as you might imagine, though Tazuna tells her she doesn't need to hold back, this is a time to grieve. Sakura starts in about how she aced all the tests at Ninja Academy, memorized all the rules, and all of that, and Rule #25 is to never show emotion, always hold back. With that, she breaks down and I'm nursing a punch in the gut.

So that the show's viewing audience won't have to be put on anti-depressants, we cut back to Kakashi and Zabuza. Some adorable Ninja Dogs would cheer me right up, but I don't think it's meant to be. Zabuza looks and acts like he's on his last legs, and Kakashi just looks pissed. He blocks Kakashi's charge with an awesome offhanded backfist, and then follows it up with another. Kakashi ducks a slash, appearing behind the Mist Demon with his hand on his throat. Kakashi's other hand is busy with a pair of kunai that'll soon find a new home in Zabuza's corpse. Zabuza tries to take Kakashi with him, so Kakashi plants a knife in his arm and backsprings away. It's now Gato shows up to inspect the proceedings, and he brought the Army of 10,000 Vagrant Ronin with him. Whew.

Next Episode: Haku's dead. Zabuza's a bastard.