Naruto Shippuden Episode 168 UPD
"The Fourth Hokage"edit四代目火影 (Yondaime Hokage)Episode dataPrevious"Chibaku Tensei"EpisodeNaruto: Shippūden #168 (Watch Online)Next"The Two Students"ArcPain's AssaultMangaNaruto Chapter #439, Naruto Chapter #440, Naruto Chapter #441, Naruto Chapter #442MusicOpening"A World That Was Transparent"Ending"Transient Fireworks"Air datesJapanese July 15, 2010English March 16, 2013"The Fourth Hokage" (四代目火影, Yondaime Hokage) is episode 168 of the Naruto: Shippūden anime.
Naruto Shippuden Episode 168
In the previous episode, Naruto saw Hinata being killed in front of his eyes and loses control over himself. At the lowest point of his life, he decides to let the Nine-Tails take full control of him, and proceeds to remove the seal. As he is about to remove it, the Fourth Hokage appears in front of him and stops him from doing it.
A large chunk of the original stories in the Naruto series involved young students learning the skills they would need to be successful shinobi, including the endlessly quotable Naruto Uzumaki, but NarutoShippuden is where the stakes are raised. Most episodes involve life-or-death fights, and those stakes, not knowing if a beloved character would make it out alive, are part of what keeps the audience invested in the story. In addition to this, characters learn more, grow more, and have much more intricate fights in Naruto Shippuden. The best episodes of the series truly reflect the emotional growth of the main characters as well as showcase some of the coolest fighting in the franchise.
When Pain came to Konoha, it created a memorable arc. Not only did the series seemingly lose Kakashi, but Naruto appeared to be bested by a dangerous enemy. In this episode, Pain and Naruto come to something of a standstill as the former explains his motivations. While most of the episode in the long-running Naruto arc focuses on the talk between Naruto and Pain, other characters aren't completely abandoned. Shikamaru Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka have the B plot of the episode as they track down the real Pain while his Six Paths are otherwise occupied. Despite the episodes that feature mostly slow speeches, this one keeps the audience on the edge of their seat.
Because Naruto spent the bulk of his childhood being ostracized by his village and constantly having to prove himself as more than the nine-tailed fox inside of him, this episode could have acted as his happy ending. It lands among the best Naruto Shippuden episodes solely because Naruto is finally seen by the village the way he always wished: respected and as a hero. Naruto isn't just welcomed back to the village after he defeats Pain, he's carried around and cheered. It's a turning point for the way he was treated by others in the franchise.
Fans of Naruto fight sequences were in for a treat with the arc surrounding Pain. This episode is one of the best of Naruto Shippuden since it isn't just Naruto throwing whatever he has at an enemy or talking him to death, he actually gets to strategize a little. The episode is also a peek into how Naruto's mind works as he battles Pain and realizes just which of the Paths of Pain he needs to take out first. Even though he couldn't sustain Sage Mode throughout the episode, fans can't completely count him out.
This episode goes a long way toward making Itachi a fan favorite. Sasuke, after all, ends up defecting from Konoha and wanting revenge against the village he thinks betrayed his brother. This episode reveals the truth to Sasuke, however, that Itachi was protecting the village and his little brother all along. Itachi saying goodbye to his brother is heartbreaking for Sasuke, but it provides a big leap forward in the story for the audience and allows Itachi's character arc in Naruto to be better understood. Knowing the truth allows Sasuke to move on.
Flashback episodes became a big part of the Naruto franchise as it continued. Some of them clarified story ideas, while others were filler episodes meant to flesh out little-known characters. One of the best Naruto Shippuden episodes gives fans a look at just what happened the night Naruto was born. Focused on Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze's point of view during the night, the episode shows him getting Naruto to safety just after his birth and then battling a mysterious masked stranger. The audience knows that the masked stranger was Tobi, but Minato didn't, adding to the tension of the episode as he fights to save the village from someone who could control the nine-tailed fox.
Being dead doesn't stop Madara Uchiha from being stronger than nearly everyone else in the series. This episode allows fans to see just what he can do. Right in the middle of the Fourth Shinobi World War, a reanimated Madara Uchiha takes on the Fourth Division himself, and it cements Madara as one of the most powerful Naruto characters. Naruto doesn't have enough chakra left at this point in the fight to use the nine-tailed fox to fight him, so this means dozens of other shinobi go up against Madara instead - and lose. The fighting is intense and impressive to watch.
The entirety of the Naruto anime has a huge filler percentage which often takes away a lot from the enjoyment of the story. When it comes to the first part, the number of filler episodes is slightly fewer than that in Shippuden.
3. Naruto vs Pain is THE single greatest fight in this series so far. The anime team once again decided to add NO filler content and stuck directly to the manga, and in some instances just colored manga pages and threw it in, creating a feeling of awkwardness. Then in episode 168, the anime team made 5 seconds feel more like 5 minutes, in this instance the manga beats them. They could have made things move faster, perhaps making Naruto fail to get Pain in those 5 seconds more than he did in the manga, just to show how small that interval of weakness was, as well as showing the determination Naruto used to hook us on this manga. 041b061a72