10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 349

Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 349

Kakashi Shippuuden begins. Kakashi can't get over Rin's and Obito's deaths. Minato becomes the 4th Hokage over the objections of Danzo. Kakashi joins the Hokage's personal ANBU squad.

Filler Shippuuden, uh, I mean, Kakashi Shippuuden begins with Kakashi having trouble forgiving himself over Rin's and Obito's deaths. His other classmates notice his moodiness, and Guy especially wants to help his Eternal Rival. That same slow walk with his hands in pockets is how we first saw Kakashi when Naruto began. The Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Stone have just agreed to a peace treaty, mainly on the strength of the Yellow Flash foiling a 1000 strong invasion force all by himself. Danzo does not want to agree to this treaty because it doesn't force the Stone to pay reparations. Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage, is not full of vengeance, and we see the same arguments over forgiving deaths in the ninja world. He decides to take responsibility by stepping down as Hokage.

The feudal lord is still the same funny guy we've seen before, and the ninjas need to have a special committee to decide on the next Hokage. Danzo wants Orochimaru, but Sarutobi objects because, as his former teacher, he has seen a dark motivation and greed behind his sharp eyes. He nominates Minato, the Yellow Flash. All the counselors and the feudal lord perk up at a nickname. There's a slight inconsistency to a minor objection over Minato, that he's the pupil of Jiraiya, who was the pupil of Sarutobi, as if there's some undue favoritism there. They don't seem to care that Orochimaru was also Sarutobi's pupil, or maybe they all think his days under Danzo's ANBU carry more influence.

Minato is chosen as the 4th Hokage, which makes Kushina happy, even though she thought at first that his meeting with Sarutobi was to get another scolding. It's fun to see Naruto's character reflected in both of his parents. Danzo tells Orochimaru the news, and expects Minato to be Sarutobi's puppet, as if he expected Orochimaru to be his own puppet.

Meanwhile, we see that Kakashi has discovered that his Sharingan makes him able to use his Chidori lightning attack, because he can now see his opponents' attacks as quickly as the lightning attack moves him around. The Sharingan has given him the defense he needed to use the high offensive attack. However, in his first mission where he wants to use this technique, his psychological trauma of using it on Rin blocks him, and we see the first of his many hospital stays from using up too much chakra.

Minato asks Kakashi to join his personal ANBU squad. ANBU is shorthand for Assassination and Tactical Special Squad, basically the Black Ops force. Hopefully we'll see how he meets Tenzo, aka Yamato, which would be a good nod to the manga readers, because I have a feeling we're going to be seeing him very soon over there. Next week will be another retelling of the events of Naruto's birth, and all the other players in it besides Obito/Madara.