With this episode begins the arc of Pain's assault to Konoha. Starts showing the village in peace, Udon and Moegi eating some snacks, Kotetsu playing cards with teammates, a little girl walking with ther grandmother. Outside the gates, shinobi guards run watching and looking for possible threats, and eveything seems normal. But when they turn to report, Tendo Pain appears (the one who looks like Yahiko), and kills them all. Then, the other five arrive (now the invoker defeated by Jiraiya was replaced), plus Konan, so Tendo Pain divides them in two teams. The distraction will be the invoker, the one who absorbs and the one with weapons. The rest of them, are going to search for Naruto, including Konan. To enter the village and the barrier, the invoker breaks through and once inside, invokes the others. And so, the attack begins. Meanwhile, Shizune is analyzing the black metal bars extracted from the dead invoker Pain's body. She crushes a piece in dust to watch it with a microscope, and then, she notices that receives chakra, right when the other Pains enter the village. She realizes that the black metal bars are like receptors of chakra of high frequency, so rushes to tell Tsunade. On the interrogatory department, Ibiki and others are watching the process: Inoichi is inside the prisoner's mind, trying to find out what he knows about Pain and Amegakure. There are a lot of barriers, but eventually he manages to get to the brain, where is the information he needs. Anyway, when giant creatures appear and panics spread among the villagers, Ino (who was with Choji), goes to warn her father. In the Intelligence department, Shikamaru, Shiho and Sakura were discussing what they knew so far about Pain, and the message Jiraiya left. Sakura dismissed the idea of gen jutsu, while Shikamaru thought how Akatsuki has odd unexpected abilities, like Hidan had. Sakura thinks they must advance on the mystery before Naruto returns from his training. Suddenly, they hear the noise from the assault, and go to defend the village. Sakura defeats a creature and saves the little girl and her grandmother. She heals her, while Iruka arrives and updates her about the attack. Tsunade has been already warned. Sakura comforts the little girl, who takes her hand, by saying that the Hokage with them. Then, Iruka sends Sakura to the hospital, as there are many injured people. At the office, Tsunade hears each report and realizes that Akatsuki is attacking the village. The Pain team who looks for Naruto doesn't find any answer in the shinobi they ask, but kill each one they find. In the meantime, at Mount Myoboku, after another meal with Shima, Fukasaku tells Naruto the disadvantages of Sage mode. On battle, it lasts only five minutes (how bad), and requires him to stay quiet to gather the natual energy, hence, he has to be protected or be away from the enemy. He also says that he can fuse with him like he did with Jiraiya in order to compensate that disadvantage (while one fights, the other gathers natural energy).
The arc of Pain's assault started very well. Showing the peace at the beginning in contrast to the panic would spread later was a great idea. Seeing Pain disturb such peace, killing anyone he crosses path with, really makes him the opposite of what Jiraiya wanted for him. He is a cruel, ruthless villain, looks like soulless. The progress of Inoichi and especially Shizune finally has promising results. Especially Shizune's. It becomes clear, the real Pain sends chakra through the black metal bars to each body to control them at the same time. Inoichi will find his answers two episodes later, by learning that the questioned shinobi used to take dead bodies to the higher tower in Amegakure, which Konan received. The puzzle begins to come together. Then, I liked the scene with Sakura and Iruka, helping the villagers. They are both really selfless persons on these situations, like Naruto. The moment when Sakura comforted the little girl was cute, she's a very different person from the one in earlier episodes of Naruto. Showing Iruka on these situations tell that he plays well his role as chunin, he focuses on helping people, instead of fighting. About Naruto, Sage Mode has a tedious disadvantage. The five minutes limit it's a strange drag for the protagonist. Besides, he won't be able to fuse with Fukasaku like Jiraiya did, given the Kyuubi. Overall, it was a very good episode, entertaining, with drama, an evil serious villain. But there's a long way to go yet.
The arc of Pain's assault started very well. Showing the peace at the beginning in contrast to the panic would spread later was a great idea. Seeing Pain disturb such peace, killing anyone he crosses path with, really makes him the opposite of what Jiraiya wanted for him. He is a cruel, ruthless villain, looks like soulless. The progress of Inoichi and especially Shizune finally has promising results. Especially Shizune's. It becomes clear, the real Pain sends chakra through the black metal bars to each body to control them at the same time. Inoichi will find his answers two episodes later, by learning that the questioned shinobi used to take dead bodies to the higher tower in Amegakure, which Konan received. The puzzle begins to come together. Then, I liked the scene with Sakura and Iruka, helping the villagers. They are both really selfless persons on these situations, like Naruto. The moment when Sakura comforted the little girl was cute, she's a very different person from the one in earlier episodes of Naruto. Showing Iruka on these situations tell that he plays well his role as chunin, he focuses on helping people, instead of fighting. About Naruto, Sage Mode has a tedious disadvantage. The five minutes limit it's a strange drag for the protagonist. Besides, he won't be able to fuse with Fukasaku like Jiraiya did, given the Kyuubi. Overall, it was a very good episode, entertaining, with drama, an evil serious villain. But there's a long way to go yet.
