____________//INFO: THE STORY: EPISODES 70 - 79 ♥

 
 _____//EPISODE 70

We see Sasuke rushing through the trees after the three Sand ninjas and then Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru and Pakkun hot on his tail. Pakkun smells eight, no nine, guys chasing after THEM so the four "man" team must hurry. In the end, Shikamaru decides it is up to him to create a diversion to give Sakura, Naruto and Pakkun time to catch up. Considering Sakura was the smartest student who graduated, she sure listened intently to Shikamaru's explanation of an ambush. Sakura doubted him a little before leaving, but she need not have worried as he had help from Asuma in beating u the bad guys.

 _____//EPISODE 71

After a bunch of.. interesting jumps, Sasuke easily avoids all the traps set by the Sand. Sakura hears the explosions and wonders if he is okay and Naruto assures her that he is (SasuNaru!). At the end of the episode, Sasuke has caught up and acts really over-confident, but I guess he might have reason to.

 _____//EPISODE 72

Naruto, Sakura and Pakkun are still running and Pakkun suddenly stops. He... uses the same shampoo as Sakura! Sakura is distraught :P Kankurou and Gaara leave whilst Temari battles it out with Sasuke. (By the by, I love how a bunch of birds fly past as he considers the chidori). Sasuke uses mythical fire flower and traps Temari in a ring of fire. He then uses the amazing fireball but she retaliates with her sickling winds, making him jump back and slip on some sand she placed there earlier. She attacks with two/three kunai and he falls to the ground, only to turn into a trunk of wood with an exploding tag on it. Needless to say, Temari is hit and Sasuke leaves her behind and continues his chase. (Andand, I looove the Hokage's speech at the end about Konoha being a big family *mush*)

 _____//EPISODE 73

And so, Sasuke catches up to Kankurou and Gaara about 75% into this episode. Temari, however, has also caught up but this time Kankurou is the one to stay and fight whilst Temari flees with Gaara. At the same time, Naruto and Sakura are soo close. Pakkun smells.. something that's not human :O! Unfortunately for Sasuke, he is deprived of a fight as Shino shows up and offers to fight Kankurou, considering he was meant to during the third part. Both boys seem so confident. >_>

 _____//EPISODE 74

Sakura and Naruto have to take a longer route to bypass Shino and Kankurou's fight. At the same time, Sasuke has caught up with Gaara and Temari (by the by, Sasuke seems to have gotten less badly drawn during this cat and mouse hunt). Whilst Gaara is rambling, Sasuke has a flashback to the month-long training period when Gaara showed up in the mountains. Gaara asks why Sasuke seeks power and claims they both have the same eyes that seek power and are filled with hate and murderous intent, they are similar and Sasuke is his prey.. Gaara then begins to unleash the monster within, Shukaku, the eye of which Sasuke knows all too well. (I like to think there is a brief SasuShino moment here). For now, all Sasuke can do is dodge the attacks.

 _____//EPISODE 75

Sasuke jumps out from behind the tree only to get a whole through his body. A second Sasuke throws kunai at Gaara/demon only to have the thrown back. Both Sasukes are merely replications. Gaara goes crazy and kills a few trees whilst Sasuke is still in hiding. He thinks back to that day when Gaara appeared during the training when he asked Gaara why he was so obsessed with him. To this, Gaara replies that Sasuke have eyes that know true solitude and eyes that know loneliness is this world's worst kind of pain. Gaara repeats about them having the same eyes and that Sasuke has eyes that are itching to kill the one that put him in this hell. He tells Sasuke that he wants a battle of the death, so the winner can confirm his existence so that he can see if he is stronger than the one the murderous eyes are directed at.

Gaara the half-demon taunts Sasuke for awhile as Sasuke thinks about Itachi and how only Sasuke is left and he must avenge the clan. With this decision, Sasuke charges up the chidori and they charge at each other. To Temari's suprise, Sasuke is able to rip through the demon arm using this attack, but even so, Gaara is pretty much unharmed and being able to actually feel pain during a battle only makes him more excited. Sasuke has some strange unreadable look on his face. The demon arm is regenerated and a second arm/tail sprouts out from the gourd, allowing Gaara to launch himself at Sasuke at great speed. Being unable to use the chidori, he uses a fire element attack but this fails.

A flashback to his training allows Kakashi to tell us that Sasuke should not use the chidori more than twice a day, otherwise the consequences could be dire as his chakra is used up, due to the consumption of using both a technique and sharingan at the same time. As Sasuke sits and ponders, Gaara taunts him calling him weak and all those things that Sasuke doesn't like to be called. Getting fed up, with the image of Itachi in his mind once more, Sasuke jumps Gaara, using the chidori for the third time this day. After the attack, they both land on opposite branches, back to back, standing still for th longest of time to create tension. Gaara's demon arm breaks off. A view at Sasuke enables us to see the curse seal marks have come back and whilst Gaara grows a new arm, Sasuke falls to the ground unable to move. Gaara uses this opportunity to attack Sasuke but he is stopped by a kick from the orange-suited Naruto. Sakura flies in to tend to Sasuke.

 _____//EPISODE 76 [♥]

Sakura notices the marks of the curse seal and recognises them immediately as Sasuke strains to get up. Sakura knows they need to get Sasuke out of there as fast as possible and Sasuke thinks back to Kakashi's warning. Apparently, his chakra has now gone down to zero due to using the chidori forefully and due to the curse seal, this will not have any positive effects and there is a chance he will stop improving and so, Itachi will never be defeated. Naruto thinks about Gaara's previous intentions of death and shouts that they are going to run, but it is too late for Gaara has already launched himself at Sasuke.

We then see Gaara's point of view as he rushes towards Sasuke who is still lying on the tree and unable to move. Suddenly, Sakura jumps in front of him, reminiscent of when Sasuke jumped in front of her on their first out-of-Konoha mission whilst Naruto can only stand and watch. This action brings back memories to Gaara and he becomes angry, shooting out and extending his demon arm, pinning Sakura to a tree and rendering her unconcious (actually, he strengthens his grip later and she screams so..). Gaara doesn't understand why anyone would risk their life for another and then we are treated to a glance at Gaara's sad childhood.

 _____//EPISODE 77

After beating Naruto a bit, Gaara mocks him by saying that he is weak because he fights for another (but we all know the moral of the story is that you become strong when you fight for someone else). Naruto challenges this and from, Gaara gets images of Sakura protecting Sasuke and of his uncle, Yashamaru, protecting other children, which only make him angrier and more determined to fight. The grip on Sakura gets tighter and Naruto desperately wants to save her and "minna".

It turns out the grip on Sakura will not be broken unless Shukaku is defeated and over time, the grip will become more constricted and could result in taking her life. Shukaku begins to turn into the "perfect" monster. There is a beautiful scene where Naruto thinks back to his own childhood and how he was spurned for having the nine-tails fox within him but now he has found people who acknowledge him. Naruto somehow has a sudden rush of power and determination whilst Sasuke lies there saying "Naruto". How SasuNaru :P

 _____//FOURTH OPENING: GO!!!

Having heard this song before, I was really looking forward to the new opening and I am not dissatisfied. But ooh, Sasuke gets to be seen first and then it's Sakura with Kakashi. Whatever could this mean? Sasuke is.. going to the darkside! I think team seven look really cute with their little swipes and spins before, er, becoming one with the background. And the SasuSaku references are back :P

Okay, there is only one but that nevertheless, it is there and that's what counts. It is about one minute into the song with Sasuke facing the left holding the "windmill shuriken" and Sakura facing the right with a couple of regular shuriken in one hand and a kunai in the other (and some people I can't make out running in the background). There is also a nice shot of Sasuke not looking like Sasuke powering up the "chidori". Again, he is separated from the rest of team seven, another hint as to his fall into darkness?

 _____// FIFTH CLOSING: IMA MADE NANDO MO

I adore this new ending song too! It fits Naruto so well (I think of it as "Wind" without the Engrish and more rocky). Nothing SasuSaku, just good old Konoha friendship and allegiance. <3 <3

 _____//EPISODE 78 [♥]

Naruto made some kickass moves in this episode, w00t. Even so, he only got one initial hit (thousand years of pain!) and is thrown back by Shukaku. Sasuke somehow managed to move and breaks Naruto's fall. Sasuke, with the curse seal marks all over him, turns to Naruto and says "You better rescue Sakura no matter what." How SasuSaku was that! He believes in Naruto and tells him to run with her once she is free. He steps up, intending to buy them some time as he sees this as a step towards getting Itachi.

Sasuke says that he has lost everything once and he never wants to see an important friend die in front of him again. IMPORTANT friend. See, Sasuke has feelings AND he has accepted team seven. Naruto understands the importance of protecting someone and chakra begins to rush out of him. Now the real fun begins :D! Unfortunately for Sasuke, he can only watch in amazement at this new Naruto. The true Shukaku finally appears... and the big showdown between Naruto and Gaara begins.

 _____//EPISODE 79

Aaaah~ a beautiful episode where we see all the ninja of Konoha fighting against the Sand ;-; <3 Oh yeah, and Naruto becomes supaa-strong and stops Gaara (with a headbutt, as in his thoughts a few episodes back).

Episodes 60 - 69 / Episodes 80 - 99