Land of Waves Arc

The Land of Waves arc is from Part I of the series that spans from chapters 9 to 33 of the manga and episodes 6 to 19 of the Naruto anime. It is the first major arc of the series.

Summary
While Genin are normally assigned D-Rank missions, Naruto insists on doing something more exciting and the Third Hokage agrees to send them on a C-Rank mission to escort Tazuna, a master bridge builder. During their mission, the team is attacked by two enemy Chunin, something that is not supposed to happen on C-Rank missions, and Naruto panics and freezes. Sasuke, however, deals with the attackers quite efficiently and rubs it in to Naruto by calling him a "scaredy-cat."

After the attack, Naruto bled out the poison he received by stabbing his wound with a kunai. Afterwards, he swore upon his pain that he would never freeze up up and leave his friends to fend for themselves again.

Kakashi then tells Naruto that if he looses any more blood, he will die. Naruto started to panic, but Kakashi told Naruto to let him take a look at it. Kakashi is about to treat the wound when he sees that it's already healing. Kakashi then theorizes that this could be a power given to Naruto because of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Tazuna then explains the real mission: the Land of Waves has been taken over by a shipping magnate called "Gato," and the only way to revitalize the economy is by building a bridge to the mainland that can bypass Gato's shipping monopoly. However, Gato does not want that to happen, and uses shinobi gangs to get what he wants. And Tazuna did not have enough money to pay Konoha for a mission that would usually be A-Rank, or S-Rank. Team 7 decides to support and protect the bridge-building efforts that have been thwarted thus far.

Next, the team is challenged by Zabuza Momochi, who is one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, from Kirigakure. Early in the battle, Kakashi is trapped in Zabuza's Water Prison Technique and unable to continue fighting. Left to fend for himself, Naruto attempts to run, but feels the pain in his left hand and remembers his earlier vow. In another defining point in Naruto and Team 7's development, Naruto conceives a plan to release Kakashi, with little apparent communication between the two, executes it perfectly. Kakashi, free again, demonstrates the abilities of the Sharingan, defeating Zabuza with both physical and psychological attacks. Though Zabuza should have been killed by Kakashi, he was saved by Haku, who was so skilled with needles that he made it seem as though Zabuza had died, and pretended to be an assassin trying to kill Zabuza.

Once they have reached the Land of Waves, Team 7 undergoes chakra training, and this becomes another point of rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke, as they constantly challenge themselves to try to outdo each other, but instead end up helping and motivating each other to succeed.

Meanwhile in Tazuna's house, Tazuna explains about his grandson, Inari. Inari's father died before he knew him, but he met a traveling fisherman named Kaiza, who became a father figure for him. Kaiza taught Inari what it is like to become a man, trying to protect someone that is precious to him. Kaiza showed this to Inari when he tried to save the country from becoming flooded. When Gato came in to take over the country, he killed Kaiza, the countries hero, to break the spirit of the country. Ever since then, Inari became a sad and angry boy, who hoped for little optimism. Eventually, he even derides Naruto for winning against Gato's men, until he learned that Naruto dealt the same type of tragic past, but finally learned how to deal with it.

Eventually, Zabuza and Haku return to make a do or die battle on the unfinished bridge, with some experience as to how they should handle the Konoha ninjas. Back at Tazuna's house, Inari and his mother, Tsunami, were attacked by Gato's men. That's when Inari follows the lesson Kaiza taught him to protect his precious people. With the help of Naruto, Inari defeats Gato's men. Back in the bridge, Haku reveals his Demonic Ice Mirrors jutsu, and completely overpowers Sasuke. Naruto joins the fight and through his own ignorance and impulsiveness gets himself trapped in Haku's jutsu, and is immediately placed at Haku's mercy.

During the course of the fight Sasuke awakens his Sharingan and saves Naruto by sacrificing himself. Naruto asks him why he did it and Sasuke just replied: “How should I know? My body just moved by itself.” Sasuke then appears to die with three needles in his neck. Meanwhile, Zabuza is focused on finding a way to kill Kakashi, despite his Sharingan.

Naruto's "hidden power" is revealed after he believed Haku killed Sasuke. Naruto loses control and is consumed by the demon fox's chakra. Its power is so immense that the chakra is visible. All of Naruto's wounds heal near-instantaneously, and Naruto's appearance changes; his eyes become red and slitted like a fox, his "whiskers" deepen, his fingernails grow long like claws and his canine teeth become sharper. He completely overwhelms his enemy with this power and speed.

With the demon fox power that Naruto used, he proved to be too powerful for Haku. Seeing that he was unable to help Zabuza, Haku asked Naruto to kill him. Naruto protested and initially refused, but then decided to honor his request. However, Haku then noticed that Zabuza was in danger from Kakashi, so he stopped Naruto's attack and ran away to save Zabuza. Zabuza was being dominated by Kakashi, who used a Summoning Technique to immobilize him using his tracking dogs. As Kakashi was about to stab Zabuza with his Lightning Blade, Haku realized that Zabuza was in mortal danger and ran to save Zabuza by standing between Kakashi and him. Thus Kakashi stabbed Haku, Kakashi's hand going completely through Haku's heart. Everyone realizes now that Haku is dead. At first, Zabuza has no change in emotion and praises Haku as a good tool.

As the battle draws to an end, Gato arrives with his gang of hired thugs. He tells Zabuza that he never intended to pay him, even if Zabuza finished the mission. Gato then kicks Haku. This infuriates Naruto as he cries for Haku's death and says to Zabuza that Haku really cared about him and that he would die for him (which he did). Moved by Naruto’s words, Zabuza confesses that he cared deeply about Haku and he begins to cry. With this realization, Zabuza asks Naruto if he can borrow one of his kunai. Naruto tosses one to him, and with the memories of Haku fresh in his mind, Zabuza grabs the kunai in his mouth (his arms broken by Kakashi’s dogs) and rushes to kill Gato. Gato runs behind his miniature army, but Zabuza rushes past all of them, killing many on the way, and eventually reaches Gato. The Demon of the Hidden Mist then decapitates him. Zabuza then stands still and gets stabbed in the back by the remaining henchmen. After a brief moment, Sasuke wakes up from the near-death state Haku put him in. The shinobi gangs are then chased away, by Naruto and Kakashi producing many shadow clones and with the help of the villagers led by Inari, standing up for themselves. Zabuza's last request to Kakashi is to be put next to Haku. After Naruto witnessed what happened to Haku and Zabuza, he decides to become a ninja through his own way, and defy the belief that ninja are merely tools of their villages. After the team departs Tazuna decides to name the newly completed bridge the "Great Naruto Bridge."