Episode 1 — Tutorial

First discrepancies

Our first minor discrepancy happens when Hiruzen fails to catch Naruto after the latter stole the scroll. Naruto is not even a Genin yet; he shouldn’t be able to escape from the Hokage.

So Naruto does escape into the forest in order to study the forbidden scroll. He manages to learn its first technique, Kage Bunshin, but is eventually found by Iruka.

This is our second discrepancy. Konoha’s ranks include elite ninjas, such as the ANBU and Jōnin, some of which specialise in sensing and tracking a target. How would Iruka, a mere academy instructor, outperform Konoha’s elite sensors and find Naruto before them?

A bit later, Mizuki joins and scene and attacks Iruka. A battle ensues, meaning noise is being made, chakra is being used… But still, no one shows up. What are Konoha’s sensors doing?

Hiruzen failing to catch Naruto.

Iruka finding Naruto before anyone else.

More discrepancies

Our two remaining discrepancies involve Mizuki himself.

Let’s start with the minor one. Near the end of the chapter, Naruto uses his new Kage Bunshin to surround Mizuki with clones. Mizuki panics, and is defeated without even attempting to defend himself. In later chapters, we are shown that, while Kage Bunshin is a great technique for Naruto, just making clones is not sufficient to bridge the gap against stronger opponents.

Mizuki is supposed to be a competent academy instructor. Him losing to Naruto, without putting up any semblance of fight, is not consistent.

But there is an even stronger discrepancy with Mizuki: his plan didn’t make sense to begin with.

We are told that he was planning to obtain “limitless power” from the scroll. The problem is, a forbidden technique that would turn an academy instructor into a Kage-level ninja, just does not exist in Naruto. That’s not how the Naruto combat system works.

Learning a couple of forbidden techniques might have made Mizuki marginally stronger, assuming he would be capable of using them, but it wouldn’t have changed his general skill level. Even if he had somehow managed to take the scroll, he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish much with it.

The coïncidence

Did you find the coïncidence in chapter 1?

The coïncidence is, Kage Bunshin. When Naruto opens the scroll, the first technique he comes across is Kage Bunshin — which, in itself, is a bit underwhelming, for a scroll supposed to be so dangerous that the Hokage himself was guarding it.

So, Kage Bunshin it is. It is a useful technique, but with a drawback: when you use it, your chakra is evenly divided between yourself and your clones, making it impractical for most ninjas.

Naruto, being the Kyūbi Jinchūriki, is an exception. He doesn’t really risk running out of chakra, because he can always tap into the Kyūbi to refill himself. So in his case, Kage Bunshin is a particularly useful technique, as he can use it liberally.

Kage Bunshin will remain Naruto’s trademark technique throughout the entire novel, all the way to Obito’s war. Now, what were the odds that the forbidden scroll would happen to contain, on its very first page, the one technique Naruto needed the most? Kage Bunshin would have been of little use to Mizuki, but it was perfect for Naruto.

Years later, here against Madara in chapter 561, Naruto still makes good use of Kage Bunshin.

The character’s goal

So, we have more than enough discrepancies to find a hidden plot. But we still need a character’s goal. Can you find the character who benefits from chapter 1 events?

Fittingly for a tutorial, the character we’re looking for is Hiruzen, an iconic teacher both in-universe and for the reader.

At the start of the chapter, Naruto is a strategic problem for Konoha. On paper, he should be one of the village’s greatest assets, since he is the Kyūbi Jinchūriki and the Fourth Hokage’s son. In practice, Naruto is lonely, alienated, weak, and more interested in pranks than training.

By the end of chapter 1, both problems are fixed:

Naruto learns Kage Bunshin, the technique that becomes the foundation of his fighting style. It doesn’t make him a powerhouse just yet, but it’s a good start.

Even more importantly, Naruto forms a deep bound with Iruka. Iruka risked his life to protect him; Naruto defeated Mizuki to save Iruka. The two of them are now friends, and Naruto’s loyalty for his teacher will translate into loyalty for Konoha as a whole.

Naruto’s friendship with Iruka.

Naruto learnt his trademark technique.

The hidden plot

With that, we have unlocked our first hidden plot:

Mizuki never was the villain in chapter 1. He was acting under Hiruzen’s orders the entire time.

Hiruzen and Mizuki arranged for Naruto to steal a Kage Bunshin scroll, as they knew Naruto would be more motivated to learn it this way than in an academy class.

Mizuki then acted as a villain in order to give Iruka and Naruto a chance to bound by saving each other’s life. Once Naruto used his new Kage Bunshin, Mizuki lost the fight on purpose, allowing Naruto to save the day.

Mizuki’s mission was a complete success. After this stage incident, Naruto is ready to join Kakashi’s team and become an actual ninja.

Afterwards, Mizuki likely was promoted, which would explain why we do not see him again.

Conclusion

In the introduction, we promised that this walkthrough would make Naruto less convoluted, not more. Hiruzen’s tutorial is a perfect example.

The official story asks us to believe that:

Hiruzen failed to stop Naruto.

Iruka conveniently found him first.

No one else intervened.

An academy instructor couldn’t defend himself from a student’s clones.

Mizuki had a vague and implausible plan.

The forbidden scroll happened to open on the exact technique Naruto needed, rather than on a genuinely dangerous and forbidden technique.

We would need to “suspend our disbelief” quite a bit to accept all of this. The hidden explanation is much simpler, and makes the plot logical:

Hiruzen staged a controlled crisis to make Naruto learn Kage Bunshin and bind him emotionally to Iruka and Konoha.

With our hidden plot, we only need to accept that Hiruzen and Mizuki were competent. Our methodology is therefore validated.

Hiruzen still has a few concepts to teach us, before we can move on to our next quest. We shall meet Hiruzen again in the next episode.