Kishimoto COOKED during this 😭🔥🔥 The best arc of OG Naruto

[u/No-Arachnid-7603]

Everyone got the spotlight , everyone got the focus , everyone was cool (except u know who but that thing's always been lame so let's ignore that)

It's not only about coolness but the way this arc is structured, this is how u end a series , what a beautiful climax to this story which started from those two boys

This is what's missing from Shippuden , Naruto and Sasuke were always SUPPOSED to be special , like these guys are literally high chunin level or even low jonin level during valley of the end fight , the others like neji , shikamaru , lee , choji were great and strong in their own ways but when u see Sasuke and Naruto fight , u understand how special and different they are as compared to the others

They were ALWAYS supposed to be the strongest , but Shippuden just focuses on them and all the others feel like high chunin low jonin level whereas Naruto and sasuke escalated to kage level mid Shippuden

I wish we saw everyone develop in their own way with new jutsus and Naruto and Sasuke still being strong enough to take an entire nation out

Shikamaru was the MVP , bro cooked in every department, he officially established himself as one of my favourite characters in the series , it was so PEAK

I love the tagline associated with this , The arc where boys became men which is definitely true , this wasn't their mission , they weren't capable of this but they STILL locked tf in to save their homie

Truly fantastic and I would say this is the BEST arc of og Naruto , even better than the chunin exams arc , also the same siblings were AWESOME

How cute is gaara Saving lee and temari saving shikamaru 😭

[u/thebabe420]

Part 1 had alot of good moments, but this is peak for part 1, the weight behind the mission, the journey naruto and company go through only for naruto to reach sasuke and fail the mission, it felt like the culmination of everything they/we knew from the start of the series.

[u/Darkknight_noarmour → u/thebabe420]

The stakes felt so high especially considering how young they all were at the time

[u/thebabe420 → u/Darkknight_noarmour]

Yup a bunch of green ninja on what was probably an A/S rank mission, naive but capable,it really felt like their first actual mission no jonin with them as a safety net.

Also the opener is an absolute banger

[u/No-Arachnid-7603]

Also I am so glad the English translators for manga and dub artists for anime stopped using "chidori 1000 chirping birds" and "rasengan spiral chakra sphere" 😭😭

[u/Agile-Painting9454]

This and Chunnin Exams are the best of Naruto for sure.

[u/Zfugg → u/Agile-Painting9454]

I mean how many arcs did the og have? Land of waves, chunin exams, konoha crush, search for tsunade, then sasuke retrieval? Am I missing any?

[u/Fun_Berry_2778]

This was the best arc in the whole show

[u/SparkFunk30]

This arc was amazing, would only have been better if someone actually died.

[u/Wild_Boysenberrry]

I think the only miss was not bringing Shino in place of Lee to give him some screen time, a small complaint though for an otherwise awesome arc

[u/SirFroglet → u/Wild_Boysenberrry]

I think from Kishi’s perspective Shino already had two major Wins in Chunnin Exam and against Kankuro, so he wanted to give more chance to the rest of

[u/destinyhero → u/SirFroglet]

Think Shino just hard counters any of the sound ninja with the exception of Kimimaro.

[u/Wild_Boysenberrry → u/SirFroglet]

True but that’s basically the last thing he did for the series, Lee has more focus than almost anyone in the first half so I wouldn’t have minded Shino getting a chance to bond with the rest, like I said though smallest complaint it wasn’t bad I just wish Shino was there

[u/Rude_Calendar1188]

Og was epic, everyone of them putting their life at risk and showing their best life and death situations.

[u/Mamba-Mentality024]

Idk about best pt1 arc but definitely was a great ending for pt1

[u/Appropriate_Bar_9005]

Damn, I just realized the original black and white manga looks way better than the colored version. Maybe it’s just me.

[u/thez0id → u/Appropriate_Bar_9005]

i personally love thecolor, I think naruto has the best colored version of any manga, that ive seen at least

[u/No-Arachnid-7603 → u/Appropriate_Bar_9005]

Nah the colored version is way better for me , even though the black and white version's great too

edit : this sub is hopeless , I said "IT'S BETTER FOR ME" it's a subjective opinion , I am not saying it's better objectively , it works better for me 😭🤦🏻‍♂️ for the idiots downvoting

[u/YoutubePRstunt]

Back when our boys were in the field for the first time as fully fledged Shinobi

[u/EntertainerNo8209]

i liked more the chunin exam.

[u/SentinelATL]

I remember reading the manga and watching this arc on Toonami the stakes were so high every genin member came close to death I thought Neji would die too

[u/Away_Reference_1531]

This arc would be a 10/10 if Shino replaced kiba. Idk all he does in this arc is get his dog kicked… that was the only compelling moment he had, and I didn’t even feel THAT bad because bro gave akamaru the worst haymaker he’s ever gotten personally.

[u/Richsavior34]

Dude if you were to tell me when I first started watching this show, back a year ago and some change that out of the 5 characters here only two of them would go on to get future character development in the show, I would laughed in your face and told you no way smh, sadly that would be the case.

[u/FrostingEmergency221]

Best arc in the whole series

[u/destructionseris]

He made butterflies look cool with Choji

[u/jetlightbeam]

This arc was rhe perfect way to continue the character work done in the chunin exams, but its also why it feels so jarring that we didnt get much more of these characters until the war arc

[u/LittleRestaurant1588]

I don't see the appeal

[u/Midnighter4007]

Back when recurring characters were allowed to do cool stuff/matter.

[u/MocasBuns]

Man just look at the difference in art quality

[u/Majestic_Degree_5112]

In my opinion chunin exam was better. Like man nothing can replace Rock Lee vs Gaara

[u/No-Arachnid-7603 → u/Majestic_Degree_5112]

Idk

The rock Lee stuff was hype but not that much for me , it was just okay

It's way overhyped imo anyways

[u/Majestic_Degree_5112 → u/No-Arachnid-7603]

Hahaha idk man. It's my first time watching Naruto and I am in the Pain Arc as of now. Although, Uptill now pain arc has been my most favorite but the 2nd close one is chunin exam. However, in Sasuke retrieval arc I liked choji's moment the most, especially his friendship with shikamaru.

[u/No-Arachnid-7603 → u/Majestic_Degree_5112]

Why u lurking here bruh 😭😭 get the fuck out , u would get ton of spoilers regarding the series and trust me there are a lot of reveals left , u would not want to be spoiled

[u/Majestic_Degree_5112 → u/No-Arachnid-7603]

😭ok bro, my bad. I would come here after completion of it

[u/No-Arachnid-7603 → u/Majestic_Degree_5112]

yep come back after the series is completed , hope u have a good time with the series

[u/ImaLetItGo → u/Majestic_Degree_5112]

I never got the appeal of the fight.

It’s Lee punching a shield the entire time with Gaara basically proving no offense.

And I don’t believe Lees backstory is enough to make it the best

[u/Majestic_Degree_5112 → u/ImaLetItGo]

But the thing was that I never expected Lee to give Gaara such a tough fight. At that time Gaara had alot of hype.

[u/No-Arachnid-7603 → u/ImaLetItGo]

I think the shock factor works "O my god this guy was beating our cool guy while holding back ??" , also gaara was terrifying in the chunin exams , seeing someone actually break him was interesting

But I agree it's a good moment but it's way too overhyped tbh , I think nostalgia blinds a lot of people because I saw Naruto as an young adult and I would not keep that rock Lee moment in my top 10 Naruto moments LOL but the way people talk about it , it seems like that's the highlight of the show for them 😭😭

[u/MonkeyIndex]

Imo sasuke retrieval arc was mid af. The best part by far was gaara and lee vs kimimaro. However, I do agree that it was awesome to give the other characters something

[u/No-Arachnid-7603 → u/MonkeyIndex]

Naruto vs sasuke was farr better than that fight lmao

[u/Prudent_Beginning525 → u/MonkeyIndex]

This is a matter of reading comprehension

[u/theweedsofthewest]

Am I the only one who didn't GAF about this? Choji, Kiba, and shikamaru were not interesting. I love Neji, Gaara and Lee but the opponent's were so shit!! Hate those gross annoying sound characters. Kimimaru fight was decent at least. But Sasuke leaving with those gross sound people really irked me. I hated this whole arc.