Past Arc: The Locus of Konoha

The Konoha History Arc is the fourth filler arc from Part II of the series. This arc is shown as multiple flashbacks from different characters, such as Iruka remembering the time he first met Naruto and Kakashi remembering when he was appointed as leader of Team 7 from his perspective.

Summary
After Naruto defeated Pain, Iruka, along with Suzume and Daikoku Funeno approach the ruins of the Ninja Academy to salvage things for class. They split up and Iruka sees the destroyed academy, remembering his first teaching days.

The Third Hokage appoints Iruka to be Naruto's teacher. At first he refuses but then accepts. The next day, Naruto pulls a prank on Iruka but instead of scolding him, Iruka tells Naruto sit in his seat, remembering the advice given to him from Daikoku. When seeing Naruto being bullied by the other students because of his failed attempts to be better than Sasuke, Iruka tells them not to bother a kid like him. The next day, Naruto learns that Sasuke is the only surviving member of the Uchiha Clan. After class, Naruto wants to join Hibachi and his friends in their "test of courage" though Hibachi. Naruto pranks them later in the night by dressing up as a fox demon. Hearing them say they saw a fox demon, Iruka runs to the Konoha grave site and learns it's Naruto. Naruto sees Iruka giving him the look everyone in the village gives him and runs away, never wanting to return to the Academy again. The day after, Iruka notices Naruto is absent in class. After being denied to be seen by the Third Hokage, Iruka sits in the park where he meets Kakashi and discusses his issues of being Naruto's teacher. Kakashi remembers when after his mission with him, Iruka decides to become an instructor at the Academy to pass the Will of Fire to the next generation.

Hibachi and his friends decide to let Naruto in their group if he would do there test of courage. Hibachi was told by his father that in the hills, there are corpses left by enemy ninja. Naruto agrees to get an item from a corpse in the hills. Hibachi tells his friends that there are still enemy ninja in the hills after Naruto left.

When Iruka sees that Naruto is absent in class, Hibachi says he hasn't seen him, but Shikamaru Nara, having heard of his trick, tells Iruka who runs out the classroom to find Naruto. Remembering Suzume tellng him of the enemy ninja, Iruka tries to find Naruto before the enemy ninja find him. Elsewhere, Kakashi hears from Shikamaru and Chōji that Iruka went to look for Naruto in the hills.

Iruka finds Naruto and tries to get him to go back to the Academy but Naruto refuses and tells him that he doesn't understand him. Naruto gets away from Iruka by using the Sexy Technique and finds a kunai with a paper on it. Three enemy ninja approach Naruto, demanding that they give him the kunai but he refuses, having them result to get it by force. Naruto tries to surprsie them with the Sexy Technique but it has no effect on the ninja as they are women. Naruto escapes from them and runs into Iruka who tries to escape the kunoichi while at the same time protect Naruto. The both of them are saved by the arrival of Kakashi who easily defeats the kunoichi.

Iruka gives the Third Hokage the paper that the kunoichi after which was a paper of the village's patrol network. Iruka then thanks the Third for making him Naruto's teacher which made him remember why he became a teacher. After class, Iruka tells Naruto from then on, he will be upfront with him. Iruka tells Naruto of the Will of Fire which makes the Third Hokage strong and protect everyone. Naruto decides that he will become Hokage someday so everyone would respect and look up to him and Iruka's flashback ends. When Naruto and Sakura go get water for the comatose Tsunade, Kakashi has a flashback of when he was appointed as the leader of Team 7. He watches Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, seeing Naruto and Sasuke's constant competition and remembers what Minato said to him about teamwork. Meanwhile, Koharu and Homura discuss with Hiruzen of his decision of having Naruto outside village and being put in the same team as Sasuke. Danzō listens in on their discussion and thinks Hiruzen put Naruto and Sasuke in the same team due to the Uchiha being able to control the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox with the Sharingan. After noticing Sakura depressed, Naruto tries to pick a fight with Sasuke though all his techniques are no use against Sasuke. Sasuke easily beats Naruto and the members of Team 7 decide to go meet their squad leader. Kakashi's flashback ends and decides that he will have to be the one to stop Sasuke.

Episodes