Season 9 Episode 1

Kurenai's Decision: Squad 8 Left Behind

Aired Thursday 7:30 PM Unknown on TV Tokyo
out of 10
User Rating
80 votes

By Users

Episode Summary

When a mysterious girl paints a picture of Konoha, Naruto notices and realizes that the picture is under a stormy sky. He points out that the sky is clear, until clouds soon cover the sky. When the girl shows lightning striking the Hokage's place, it happens! The girl is soon apprehended by the ANBU, who tell Naruto that what he has seen is not important. Meanwhile, Kurenai announces that she is leaving Team 8! For what reasons has Kurenai decided to leave, and how are the current events involved?moreless

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  • Kurenai-Sensei Gets the Spotlight!

    (For Episodes 202-204)

    As a start for the new season, we get a new opening and ending. Both excellent as we see the crew in suits and stuff as if they were in high school or something. Gaara and Kankurou's especially. Naruto fights Lee and Neji in the opening credits too.

    Kurenai has decided that she has to leave behind Squad 8 to take care of a personal matter that now has become an issue for her. Naruto meets a talented artist that foretold the lightning strike of the Hokage Mansion. What is behind these acts? Who is this girl? Naruto gets in trouble with ANBU for sneaking, hehe, silly Naruto. Do not mess with these guys fox boy.

    Sakura also gets a mission too, she helps Team 8 along with Gai as a medic. Yay! And because this is a Genjutsu-based Arc, she's useful here as Naruto never learned to deal with this stuff and being Taijutsu-centric, hilarity ensues when he gets into trouble with Kurenai only to be woken by Akamaru ;) Good boy Akamaru x3 By the second and third episode, we learn about the girl Yakumo Kurama, who is a very talented genjutsu-user as we hear, but is sealed by Kurenai for what she says she was envious of her. But, can that really be true?

    Yakumo also gets attacked by her own clan members who were thought to be underground and dissipated. What can all this mean? What kind of ability does Yakumo have hidden within her? Why seal it? We won't find out until next week!moreless
  • An excellent start to the ninth season, with a filler arc dedicated to Kurenai.

    One of the main reasons why I liked this filler arc so much is because Kurenai is shown more in depth for the first time in the show. I think it's a great way to start Season 9, and the opening theme is just awesome.

    The episode starts with Naruto arriving back at Konoha from training, when he sees a mysterious, quiet girl painting a picture of it. Naruto sees that unlike the current sky, which is blue with thin wisps of clouds, the girl is painting a stormy sky over the Leaf Village. Suddenly, storm clouds gather over the village just like in the girl's painting! Even more startling, she paints a lightning bolt striking the Hokage's mansion in the picture, and the exact same thing then happens to the real mansion! Naruto is shocked by this, and while shinobi put out the fire the lightning caused, Naruto catches up to the girl who left after the lightning struck. The girl is then apprehended by ANBU, who tell Naruto to leave and not mention to anyone what he saw. Meanwhile, Kurenai announces that she is leaving Team 8!

    Could there be a possible connection to this mysterious girl, whose name is Yakumo, and Kurenai abandoning her role as Team 8's leader? And if so, what does it all mean? You'll have to watch the episode, and the rest of the arc, to find out!moreless
  • Kurenai becomes an active character

    Wow, usually Kurenai is just a background character that nobody realy cares about. But in this filler arc, she becomes a lead character. Naruto is coming home from a day of training and sees a pretty girl painting a picture of Konoha. He stops to watch her, and notices that there are clouds in her picture, but no clouds in the actual sky. And then the sky gets all cloudy and the girl draws Tsunade's house burning down and then Tsunade's actual house catches on fire!!! Naruto is slightly freaked, and then the ANBU come and capture the girl while shinobi put out the fire. Then Kurenai suddenly quits as Team 8's leader. She recalls training a girl named Yakumo, who is the painting girl, by the way. Then Naruto masquerades as Kurenai and sneaks into Yakumo's room, but is caught by the ANBU. Silly Naruto. :Pmoreless
  • Kurenai makes the decision to leave Team 8.

    Naruto is training by himself and comes across a girl painting a picture of the Hidden Leaf Village. She paints a picture of a storm coming over the village and Naruto notices that the sky is clear and all of a sudden, dark clouds form above. She then paints a lightning bolt striking the Hokage's residence and a bolt of lightning strikes the building. Naruto can't believe what he just witnessed. He runs after the girl and is stopped when two medical ninjas sedate her and an ANBU Black Ops ninja tells him to leave and not speak of this incident...moreless
  • Naruto spots a mysterious girl painting a picture of Konoha, and when she paints lightning striking the Hokage's mansion, it suddenly happens. The girl turns out to be Kurenai's old student with dangerous power and a need for revenge on Kurenai & Konoha.moreless

    I liked it, and though it wasn't my absolute fave episode it was pretty interesting (I might not think so highly of it if Kurenai wasn't so awesome however! :D). The only thing that I didn't like was that they spent too much time with things that weren't completely relevant to the plot, like Naruto sloothing for around like 20 minutes. The paintings were also a bit on the disturbing side :( but I think it's nice that they had an episode about Kurenai, who doesn't frequently have a large roll in many episodes, and it's also cool how it tells a bit more about the past of one of the lesser characters.moreless
Steven Jay Blum

Steven Jay Blum

ANBU Black Ops Member

Guest Star

Laura Bailey

Laura Bailey

Yakumo Kurama

Guest Star

Debi Mae West

Debi Mae West


Recurring Role

Megan Hollingshead

Megan Hollingshead

Shizune / Tonton

Recurring Role

Skip Stellrecht

Skip Stellrecht

Gai Maito (Might Guy)

Recurring Role

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions


  • TRIVIA (0)

  • QUOTES (14)


      Guy: Come on, that's not true.


    • Sakura: Naruto!
      Naruto: Oh, hey Sakura.
      Sakura: What are you doing here?

    • Naruto: Uh, sensei?
      Kurenai: Hm, Naruto.
      Kurenai: And?
      Kurenai: You ran up here to tell me that?
      Naruto: Huh? Why don't you?
      Naruto: Sensei?

      Shino: Have you got a plan?

    • (Naruto hears Akamaru barking)
      Naruto: Huh?
      Hinata: (In the distance) Kiba, calm down.
      Shino: All right, I said it's pointless.
      Kiba: I can't believe you'd say something like that!
      Naruto: Cool it, you guys.
      Hinata: Naruto!

      Kurenai: Yes, ma'am.

      (They cause the water to hit Tsunade)
      Leaf Ninja: Sorry, Lady Tsunade.


      Ninja: Right away!
      Both ninja: Suiton, Suishi no Jutsu!
      (Jutsu splashes Tsunade with water instead of the roof)
      Tsunade: Not on me you idiots! The roof!
      Ninja: Our sincerest apologies!
      Tsunade: Good! Keep at it!

      ~Japanese version

      (He notices a girl painting)
      Naruto: What is she doing? You're painting!

      ~Japanese version

    • Sakura: What's wrong?

      ~Japanese version


      ~Japanese version

  • NOTES (7)


  • 8:00 pm
    Caught on Camera With Nick Cannon Octane
  • 10:00 pm