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Rating: C

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Naruto 87

June 11, 2004

Title: Willpower! Popping the Water Balloon!
Fansubbed by: Akusei

In order to master a new technique, Naruto is told to pop a water balloon using his chakra alone.

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While Naruto trains for three days, Jiraiya relaxes in town.

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Finally, Naruto discovers that the only way to pop the balloon is by careful chakra control.

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The End

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RATING: C

Whoa, it's a training episode! We haven't seen Naruto learn a new technique in quite a while, so it's quite exciting to see Naruto take his skills to the next level. Interestingly enough, Naruto last focused on maximizing power, but now it seems that he's working on finesse instead.

In any case, it's no surprise to see that Naruto's character develops as he masters another technique. Of course, Jiraiya's attitude to teaching is far different than, say, Iruka or Kakashi, but despite the outward incongruity, it's probable that the 'perverted hermit' is the best match for Naruto.

Aside from this, it's unusual to note that Jiraiya is teaching Naruto the trademark jutsu of the Fourth Konoha Kage -- in the past, people have noted that the Fourth Kage looks similar to Naruto, but judging from Naruto's quick ability to pick up such a hard technique, it seems that the similarities goes further than appearance alone.

It's also noteworthy to see that the Fourth's special technique doesn't require an initial hand seal -- this is rather weird, since according to narutofan.com, all high-level Genjutsu/Ninjitsu techniques require a hand seal combo to 'boot up'. To be sure, we've seen a few exceptions to this rule (i.e. Itachi invoked his mange-sharingan Genjutsu Tsukiomi / Illusionary Underworld Moon without a hand-seal, Haku invoked the wall of ice mirrors without a true hand-seal), but it seems that those are bloodline-limited techniques that can't be taught or copied.

Anyway, the next episode looks like a training episode too, so perhaps all of these questions will be answered then. Naruto, evolve already, for heaven's sake!

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