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Chunin Exams were definitely the greatest thing.

Probably my favorite arc in all of Naruto. I love how tactical the Chunin exams are and the Forest of Death definitely has some of the most chilling moments in franchise history. Part 1 Orochimaru is so damn creepy.

The Zabuza arc, the Forest of Death, and the Sasuke Retrieval arc are most likely my 3 favorite arcs in all of Naruto, period.

So glad to hear someone talking about Sakura's fight in the Forest of Death which was so memorable to me when I first watched the show! The moment where Sakura cuts off her long hair to escape from them grabbing it was supposed to be that big character defining moment that would make her a badass. It was mentioned several times that she only had long hair because Sasuke likes long hair and just in general women cutting their hair is often symbolic of liberation so this was meant to be that liberating moment for her. Glad that went totally went somewhere :)

100% agree. That sht was like Hunger Games, but good and with diverse characters that you care for.

This true as kid i only watch up to 3rd death then came back was still impressed but missed the gritty and struggle of the chunin exam. The risk anyone can die any moment to you’ll die when villain very strong and need emotions

My favorite fights in anime are typically "sniper duels". Two carefully prepared combatants trying to outfox the other. The loud spectacles in the latter parts were cool, but i much prefer what the Chuunin Exams promised.

Forest of Death was good but I'd say peak Naruto is the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. That's the arc where boys became men.

For years I have this exact thoughts, of really loving the whole series, but FEELING something else for the early Naruto especially this arc, And this guy pops on my KZfaq algorithm and says everything I ever felt in the most accurate way. Well put video I absolutely agree with you.

You saw multiple villages competing, real stakes and threats from foreign foes with unique tactics and techniques, team work and rules for survival set up, manipulation and strategizing, Sasuke using the tree climbing technique's balance part to catch and levitate a kunai with his sandal then throwing it, stakes and violent threats, actual damage that had lasting effects, a great introduction of a villain and showing the power difference of even a talented beginner vs a master at the top, different designs and people where the written exams had many different people you never ever see again only typical ninjas and anbu and they really showed desperation. Though maybe Sasuke freaking out at a snake was a little much honestly. Wish these elements was in the war as you said, we never see any wild deadly animals again, and none set up by Akatsuki when they know they're coming. Or when the Zetzu army perfectly disguise as the others, why not instead of everyone childishly staying in a naughty circle instead be forced to spread out. And it becomes the forest of death with deception and illusion. Unable to tell who is friend or foe. Instead they just wait for deux ex Naruto to solve everything conveniently.

Only time it felt like a “ninja” show

It's sad to think an anime series that went on for so long had its peak so long ago. Zabuza and Chuunin shiken were Naruto's peak in terms of storytelling Also I miss the time when Anbu was actually a force to be feared, not some steppingstone for everyone

I'm in episode 220 something of Boruto and I randomly thought about the sound ninja, I wish they'd have expanded on the sound jutsu... that shit was so unique and powerful.

Damn, when you put it like that, I definitely have to rewatch it (haven't seen it in a decade)

NGL, I thought Sakura would be some sort of trap genius because of that stunt she pulled during the Forest of Death arc.

tbh, yeah, I agree. The tacticality of early naurto is something I strongly missed as time went on during my binge through all of non-filler naruto and shippuden over the course of a month or two. The stakes and tone of this compared to the war arc (to continue your example) are strongly different, and although I still love the war arc (up to *that* moment, at least), it's an almost entirely different kind of love than that of the early stuff. Good video, I love your analysis!

07:52 thank u for reminding me how creepy Orochimaru used to be!

The Chunnin Exam Arc definitely set the tone and made Naruto way different than the shounens that came before it or published alongside with it. Also it's much better in the manga cuz it's harsher.

I miss when battles were more strategic and difficult, and they needed to use their smarts or wit to win. The later naruto was just about powerful balls of light and although epic did take a bit of the excitement out of it.. and also the fact we didn't see naruto loose many battles, meaning in the end I always knew he'd win. Idk the war arc was so long winded I skipped till the end and the ending felt kinda a let down? Maybe because the stakes were so high and unrealistic I couldn't relate or feel too much tension?

The chunin exams is up there with the first sasuke retrieval arc for me as peak naruto

Hot take but the chunin exams is when naruto peaks. The thesis of hard work v talent is shown the best in this arc in 4 separate characters. Lee v gara where gara stomps. Then neji v naruto where naruto just barely makes it. And then we get naruto v gara where once again hrd work beats the talent that is gara and this time on a more even field since they are both jinxhuriki. After this... we see more and more naruto relying more on the gifts he was given and not the hardwork he needs to hone. And there are for sure moments where we see him working hard. For example attemping to infuse nature chakra into his rasengan. But we eventually learn so much about him that all his hard work and shit becomes meaningless. He was always meant to be great. He was always meant to be special. And the once strong ideals of hardwork v god given talent literally become god given talent v better god given talent and its upsetting.

The forest of death was more war than anyone saw in the Madara vs. Alliance war.

Its just ridiculous that the main characters end up being gods and the tactical nature of the ninja are irrelevant. Why show a thought out fight when Naruto can go Kyubi mode and completely destroy the competition. In Boruto, they tried to nerf sasuke fighting Urashiki and everybody hated it. The reason why we love specific moments like Sasuke vs Bee or team 10 vs Hidan and kakazu is that it returns to its roots. Boruto has its moments too : Boruto vs Ao. Nothing beats Naruto part 1.

This arc is truly great but pain arc.. that was the time when naruto made my heart beating really fast and palms sweating. Jiraya died and naruto was the only one who could defeat pain. Everybody was desperate and there was no hope and then naruto finally appered to save the village. There were a lot of badass moments of naruto when we see him not as a boy but as a Man who is capable to do everything to save his friends. For me that arc is special, cause Naruto was recognized by village, met his father and became a real hero. He finally achieved his goal

I’m so glad someone finally talks about this honestly this was such a good ark and was so gritty sometimes it feels like naruto is more about the jutsu rather then a desperate battle to survive not saying it’s not cuz it is but honestly it just feels a lot more real

I get what you mean about the Zabuza arc, the arc is great ,but it's so self contented that it almost feels like the perfect filler arc.

My favorite arcs are the Pain arc, Chunin exams, the five kage summit

I remember being a kid seeing this for the first time, it gave me chills.

I love Sakura in the Forest of Death arc. She doesn't have a Sharingan or Kurama, she's just a normal person. When both the prodigy and the tireless one are down, she holds her own. She has her tactical brain, great chakra control and a kunai. That's all, and in a forest full of enemies she just refuses to give up. That's a real ninja right there.

Amazing video

Orochimaru's entrance scarred me..I think I was a fifth grader. I was watching Naruto alone and I remember feeling the creepiness of it. Geez.

This is facts. I never watched Naruto like that, though the Chunin exams was the game changer. The fact that it was a forreal life or death situation for everyone. It changed the vibe of the show, literally just the show saying that death is still a thing, though the best moment was when Ochimaru made Sasuke and Sakura see their own deaths, in the most smooth, and cold way I've seen possible. Like fuck, the damn Kuana stabs em, then they just wake up like. "the Fuck?"

I feel Naruto (The 1st one) as a series is overall what Naruto Shippuden should have build upon rather than tear apart. Even the strongest Ninjas in Naruto like Jiraiya, Itachi, Kisame, Garaa, Orochimaru, etc. all looked like they could be taken down through intelligence and smart play. As the series moved on, it felt like that wasn't the case anymore.

I always liked this arc but didn't remember much. This video really just made me wanna re-watch it.

I agree, and the entire chuunin exam arc was peak Naruto.

What a beautiful ode to this era. Just before you mentioned Shikamaru VS Hidan, I was thinking about how continually dark the setting was in the Forest of Death. There was a brief moment of light when they went fishing along a river, but the rest was in shadow and we unconsciously loved it. I don’t agree that it was Peak, but it was unique, and I do love the Chunin exams in Boruto, though they were more rushed. The Chunin Exams in the Sand village at some point, I remember was nice, but less satisfying, probably because they took less care for it, but it’s hard to choose a Peak time in Naruto. What always strikes me as a personal Peak is when Sasuke comes back, and begins a rampage, along with beginning his own team and so many other things. The story all of a sudden just disregards and forgets ENTIRELY about Naruto when Sasuke kills Orochimaru->Kills Itatchi->Attacks Killer Bee->Attacks 5 Kage Summit->Kills Danzo->Kills Dedara. For me, this is what I always remember as the Peak, but everything is so far from Peak, only because every peak is part of a Mountain range, rather than a stand alone Mount Everest.

I’m really irritated I didn’t catch this video until way later. The chuunin exams were literally some of my favorite episodes. I Remember bursting into class and yelling “OMG DID YOU SEE THAT NEW NARUTO EPISODE??!! OMG ITS SO LIT!!!” Meanwhile my friends just stare at me, unblinkingly and roll their eyes while saying “no..but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me anyw-“ Me: DID YOU SEE THE TEST!! THATS HOW I WANNA CHEAT! *MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI AND IM GONNA BE HOKAGE* The hype..was so fucking real for me. Damn I was lame as hell looking back but I wouldn’t change SHIT

Yeah this arc was top tier.

Very good point around 2:44. The power scaling deff felt like it was going in another direction originally before a lot of the combat was based around open field power vs power

Bru I agreed with your title. I didn't even need the video XD

TACTICAL FIGHTS AND HAND TO HAND COMBAT > GOD BATTLES.... simple

One of my favorite things about thus section is his inspiration. He listed in the beginning of one of the volumes he was inspired to take this darker and more covert path to this section after learning and researching about American military special ops

Some spoilers for Bleach, Naruto and D.Gray-Man below You're spot on with how great Naruto is at establishing the sense of scope in the chuunin exams and I feel like the peak of the franchise was the rescue Sasuke arc. The safety blanket was fully removed for and would put the stakes of the chuunin exam into reality. However, the 6 layers of fakeout deaths in that arc universally made all the fans I know lose a lot of investment in the show, then it was filler and power up arcs back to back pretty much and I only know a couple of diehards who stuck around long enough for Shippuden to release (even I gave up and went to the manga, I haven't seen any animated Naruto since that money ninja episode). After all the power up arcs it's hard to feel a sense of dread because the characters are stronger and need to show off their new toys. The akatsuki were still pretty scary, but they squandered that too by having a time skip. Bleach also had a great setup early on, but dropped what was cool about it and rapidly lost scope too. Bleach sits at the opposite end of Naruto though. Bleach was always flashy and hyped up their villains to compensate, but failed to deliver on any long term consequences or threat. Soul Society is established to be barely capable of facing Hueco Mundo if it organized, but low and behold their strongest lord doesn't last 2 panels against captains that lost to fresh-bankai Ichigo not long ago. The captain victories never felt deserved, the humans were always more interesting and they got utterly sidelined after Soul Society arc. The only shounen from that era which had a long runtime and kept the same sense of scope throughout was D.Gray-Man. DGM has the same blueprint as the other two, but by establishing how difficult defeating the enemy is, by showing how even weak versions of the enemy can screw up veterans and by reserving the scope of how big a threat the main bad guys are, it was able to not only keep the sense of scope, but also pull the rug out from under you when it felt like the characters had hit their Shippuden stage. Up until I saw the Chimera Ant Arc, no other series in anime had made the protagonists feel so small in that moment as DGM does. It's absolutely criminal Bleach got to live long enough to create the fullring arc whilst DGM petered off into HxH levels of hiatus. Thanks again for the video, it was nice to get me thinking about some old series again.

Excellent video!

You are so right. The death forest, the written exam, the 1v1s are so good. I really enjoyed the earlier bridge building arc but having no prior history with Naruto I had no idea what I was in for. Suffice to say I was blown away. It is just great.

Most definetley. When we understood the naruto magic system on a semi-deep level and agreed to its bendy rules but saw every character act creativeley with it it was pure bliss. The tensión build and release through a mix of unexpected powers and clever strategy made for an awesome and enjoyable experience; but as the solutions became more and more just a power-up the show lost its charm. Sure, the worldbuilding despite quite odd and nonsensical still FELT good and many charaters were treated greatly but to me at least the appeal was completley lost. As you mention, several of the latter ecenes and moments are good; but nowhere near to the excitement that the show delivered early on.

Whole Naruto was good i could feel the tension

+Kato Will you do a video analysis on the Sasuke Retrieval Arc?

Personally for me, the best would be the pain arc, still not god level strength (which I’m actually glad the scaling went out of wack😂) but it was dark he killed narutos master he learns sage mode and nagatos words changed naruto and it meant a lot, I could explain better if I didn’t just wake up😂

sasuke getting his curse mark is probably my favorite part of all of naruto

You just told me how to write the war in my fanfic.

My first ever chapter of Naruto that I read in SJ as it released was right as Naruto was about to open his scroll in the forest. I didnt get the intro, but I got a very very strong introduction to the series. I didn't expect how much emotion I'd feel rewatching this.

I feel like this sort of thing happens in a lot of shows where they set up the premise what this super cool world and profession will be like, but then they quickly decide to shake up the premise to make it even more over the top, not realizing they took away time from the audience seeing what they what they initially got invested in.

I like your style bro. Just gained a subscriber 👍🏽

For me one of the problems is that just after The Search for Tsunade there is immediately Sasuke Recovery Mission. It would have taken 1 other mission arc before Chunin Exams and at least 1 mission after The Search for Tsunade to build the relationships between the characters of team 7 and between team 7 and the other members of genin 12.

YES! Been saying the same thing for years: Tactical Mid to Close Combat was the best in OG Naruto, before SHippuden made everything about who had the most OP Kamehameha (usually EYE/god) power. People's first snap response is usually "Shippuden has Tactical fights." i mean.. yeah, not saying it didnt have ANY ... just saying most fights were all about OP Dojutsu. it also has a lot of 'powers' derived from literal reincarnated God's for a majority of the series, but i think Boruto takes that way further to a degree i can't complain too much about Shippuden lol also has the Susano'o which is what truly was the pivotal point for me upon my first watch... i was like..."wait, is that like, an actual physical power? its not just some cool art direction flare? ...oh now its shooting exploding arrows.." not saying it isn't cool... its just NHOTHING like the original nitty gritty ninja tool fights. Still love it.. just point out the difference and how they have a certain 'detachment' upon viewing, and how there is something to be said about it... but this vid has it!

Fam this is exactly wat I wanted to see in Boruto: The next generation.

I think actually tournament fights was peak naruto no question, but you make some great points.

The Forest of Death, Chunin Exams and Sasuke Retrieval Arcs are by far my favourite from the Entire Franchise, especially from Part One Naruto, from Shippuden I was liking alot The First Shippuden Arc where Early Shippuden/Hebi Sasuke was very Badass, Unique Authentic, especially the confrontation between The Uchiha Brothers that we anticipate it from the very beginning of the Series.. also the Pain Arc was very solid... 🤷🏻‍♂️☯️👌

The beggining of Naruto is the best!!

Its peak Naruto because that's when it resembled hunter x hunter the most

it was the last time they felt like ninjas doing ninja things

After Shippuden, I forgot how menacing and terrifying Orochimaru actually was lol

Ok you have me agreed to this As far as tension and stakes go , I think this really is the best arc of naruto But honestly to me the sasuke retrieval arc and the pain assault arc are still the most emotionally rich stories ever told in naruto I’ve always loved the conflicts between naruto and sasuke and the retrieval arc was a big reason as to why They both have similar yet opposite views on life and the world around them and bcz of it there is inevitable conflict , which ended up being one hell of a rollercoaster to experience. The pain arc is the moment naruto grew up , losing his sensei the only father figure he had, the one who killed him was nagato who had a confused yet believable mindset , naruto changes that and willingly takes the responsibility and burden of ending the cycle of hatred (a core theme of even early naruto made more evident by several backstories) he finally gets accepted , all his journey up till now , all the hard work , this is where it all pays off. I’ll never forget these stories as they are one of the bests in the shonen genre itself and one of my personal favourites

Can we get more talks like this? We need an entire decade of philosophy about this series.

Chunin Exam is pretty good…from what I recall back in 2009….hidden mist village was amazing too …

I can't agree I'm sorry :/ Naruto went down after the pain arc imo.

That entire cycle of hatred is EVERYTHING wrong with Naruto!

Cannot agree more with this.

I like the series as a whole, but Part I was great. Part II the power scaling became DBZ like.

Even when I was 17 I always preferred 1 season. Forest of death was great, Zabuza arc was great, I can rewatch it all now when I'm 25

More like Peak Fiction

For me, every arc till pain arc was peak Naruto I wonder how people assume that Naruto shippuden is Power scaling. Up to pein arc, everything was correctly scaled. It's after Madara that it gets DBZ. Even then, the battles were strategic!.

Does anyone remember when sakura was supposed to be a straight A student who can strategize

I hated that they didn't show the forest of death again in shippuden, such a scary place and cool also

Chuunic arc is the best arc, debate me

Hiruzen death ,sasuke retrival, Akatsuki introduction , naruto v Sasuke... peak NARUTO

The chunin exam is not only the best arc in Naruto but one of the best in all of manga. I do unfortunately think Naruto never quite captures that magic again.

Naruto and Sasuke vs Orochimaru in Forest of Death was the SHIIIIT🔥

my fav naruto arc is the 1v1 fights, especially rock lee vs gaara.

What is that music playing in the background?

It’s sad to know that when anything hype in Boruto happens, it involves Naruto and Sasuke- it’s irritating too.

For me. Peak Naruto is the Sasuke retrieval arc.

In the original chunin exams hinata's team kills another team before the episode was over

Why do you sound like Razbuten

So, what you're saying is that Naruto taught people lies about ninjas? Cause there are plenty of words that define warriors. Ninja is not one of them. Nor should it be.

It showcased everybody abilities

Even I’m a complete narutard I completely agree

Finally someone else said it

Your newest video is blocked in my country :(

Pain arc by far is peak naruto I just feel like chunin exams was too long and drawn out.

Chunin exam arc is peak Naruto, I wouldn't say forest part in particular is highlight. Naruto Vs gaara is peak.

Chunin exam was some good stuff

Much agreeed

I thought I was the only who has forest of death #1

Idk about “PEAK” Naruto, but i really enjoy the 1st half of the forest of death in particular. Climaxing with Orochimaru vs Sasuke. I would say peak naruto is when the truth of Itachi is revealed and then is followed by Naruto vs Pain.

peak naruto was when he clapped hinata's cheeks son!

I agree

Yea, Shippuden is just full of hype moment, new character, bigger stake etc, but in terms of story telling, the OG is way better.