198: ANBU's Hopelessness! Naruto's Memory!

Naruto is questioned by the ANBU as to what Gennou and he talked about when they first met at Ichiraku. The ANBU started monitoring Gennou for the past two weeks so they only need what occurred before then. Naruto doesn't remember anything so they put him under reverse hypnosis to pull from his latent memories. The lead ANBU in a beige robe performs the seals for Jigyaku no jutsu (time reversal technique). Naruto falls asleep as they count back to the day he met with the old carpenter. After Naruto trained in the woods, he ran to Ichiraku for lunch and saw Gennou outside the restaurant, wondering if he should go in. Naruto knows he's not from Konoha since he doesn't know about Ichiraku. They sit together to eat. Naruto finishes first but he's still hungry so the old man gives him the rest of his noodles.
Meanwhile Neji is with Lee at the Southern Gate and Hinata is with Tenten at the hospital checking the buildings with their byakugan. Kiba notes that the smokescreen also included scent removal. Shino is suspicious that there wasn't a second escape plan. Ino and Sakura go to check out the body, but the medic nin are busy putting the corpse back together since the entire body was covered in exploding notes. Ino decides to wait outside while Sakura observes the process.

Naruto continues talking about ramen and then how Gennou showed him a picture of his grandson who is about Naruto's age and who looks like him. Gennou mentions treasure hunting with his grandson. Naruto sees a scar on Gennou's hand. Gennou says that he had cut himself with a saw. The ANBU decide to release Naruto as there were no clues. Another ANBU shows up with a message from Tsunade.

Shikamaru meets with Neji's and Hinata's teams at the dango restuarant. They report nothing unusual in the buildings. Shikamaru thinks there is no need to pretend to be a carpenter just to steal the blueprints. They visit the locations where Gennou worked and visited. Shikamaru sends Hinata's team to support Ino and Sakura and Neji's team to support Kiba and Shino. Shizune shows up with message for Shikamaru to see Tsunade.

Tsunade tells Shikamaru the Hidden Waterfall Village is undergoing what appears to be war preparations but claiming it's a large training exercise. She points out their past method of training has been to give orders to invade other countries. Gennou was in Waterfall before he arrived in Konoha so there may be a connection. She sent the shinobi in that vicinity to the border to intercept an invasion and orders Shikamaru to the border but he says he doesn't see the need to go.

Meanwhile Naruto loiters outside of Ichiraku, thinking how Gennou never finished his ramen.

Shikamaru notes that a mere ten genin and a single chuunin won't make much difference. Gennou's everyday activities were mundane. He was an average carpenter, plain, didn't stand out, never made any big mistakes, no one had a grudge against him or admired him, and if he disappeared, everyone would be oblivious. Gennou had a thin shaodow of existence, a fine technique worthy of being in a shinobi textbook. But even trivial actions would make the ANBU mark such a great shinobi and though he was able to avoid detection by the ANBU for so long, they were eventaully able to catch up with him. For being an expert in traps he had a pathetic end. Shikamaru thinks the situation is proceeding as Gennou had planned. Giving away his identity and dying in front of the ANBU was all part of his plan. He probably calculated that Tsunade would send all the shinobi to watch the Hidden Waterfall Village. But Tsunade thinks they may be collaborating with Waterfall Village but orders Shikamaru to continue investigating Gennou.

Shikamaru, Choji and Naruto go through more construction records. The head carpenter still can't find the old letter of recommendation. Shikamaru wonders if someone from that family died and why didn't Gennou just destroy his own letter of recommendation, why did he destroy only the old letter.

Neji, Lee, Kiba, Shino, and Tenten visit the site of the explosion. Tenten notices that the back of a tree is burnt. Neji agrees that exploding notes would not leave burn marks like that. Tenten notes there must have been two explosions for the trees to have been burnt like that. Lee says the ANBU reported Gennou had explosive notes around his body. Shino points out no one saw the exact moment of explosion since the ANBU hid for protection. Tenten notices more burn marks on the backs of other trees. She thinks the exploding notes went off on the surrounding trees then was a large explosion in the center and if you have short intervals between each explosion then they would look like one big explosion. Neji notes that something like that has to be planned in advance. Shino suggests what if Gennou was leading the ANBU rather than being chased.

Sakura calls Ino and Hinata in. Ino notices the corpse's hand is not that of a carpenter. From helping out in the flower shop, she can tell the occupation from a person's hand. The corpse's hand is too clean for a carpenter or shinobi trap user. Hinata uses her byakugan and notes that there is no build up of the chakra network, meaning that the person was not a ninja.

Kotetsu reports to Gai that the front lines of the Hidden Waterfall will arrive at the border shortly, but the Konoha troops are not ready.

Shikamaru asks the head carpenter if the Academy received a payment last month. He says it was for maintenance construction. But Shikamaru says there are no plans for it, they're missing. Naruto goes outside after hearing a commotion. A bird flies overheard and drops scrolls.

Kotetus reports again saying the Waterfall troops retreated - they really were just training exercises.

Shikamaru opens a scroll dropped by the bird - it's the construction blueprints in code.

Review: Still quite good. More interesting developments and most of the genin get to show off how smart (or not) they are.

Notes:

Jigyaku no jutsu = time reversal technique

Neji checks out: Konoha Library, Ninja Academy, Reservoir, Exam Location, Competition Rounds, Konoha Official Proceedings Area, Main Gate, Konoha Town Office

Hinata checks out: Central Command Post Tower, Power Plant, Konoha Hospital, Substation, Jounin Dorms, Medicinal Preparation Location (and possibly 2 unknown)

Thoughts:

Tenten was suposed to go with Hinata to support Ino and Sakura but she ended up with the guys. Shikamaru seems sexist in his division of labor.

Hidden Waterfall Village is now more portrayed more aggressively than in the past episodes.