Land of Waves Arc

The Land of Waves arc is from Part I of the series, and 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 insisted on doing something more exciting. The Third Hokage agreed to send them on a C-Rank mission to escort Tazuna, a master bridge-builder. During their mission, the team was attacked by two enemy Chunin, something that did not usually happen on C-Rank missions, and Naruto froze in fear. Sasuke, however, dealt with the attackers quite efficiently, and rubbed it in Naruto's face afterwards 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 and leave his friends to fend for themselves again.

Kakashi then told Naruto that, despite it being a very honorable action, if he lost any more blood then he would die. Naruto started to panic, but Kakashi told Naruto to let him take a look at it. Kakashi was about to treat the wound when he saw that it was already healing. Kakashi then theorized that this could be a power given to Naruto by the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Tazuna then explained the real mission: the Land of Waves had been taken over by a shipping magnate called "Gato", and the only way to revitalize the economy was by building a bridge to the mainland that could bypass Gato's shipping monopoly. However, Gato did not want that to happen, and used shinobi gangs to get what he wanted. Also, Tazuna did not have enough money to pay Konoha for a mission that would usually be A-Rank or S-Rank. Team 7 decided to support and protect the bridge-building efforts that had been thwarted thus far.

Next, the team was challenged by Zabuza Momochi, who was one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist from Kirigakure. Soon after the battle began, Kakashi was trapped in Zabuza's Water Prison Technique, and was therefore unable to continue fighting. Left to fend for himself, Naruto attempted to run away, but felt the pain in his left hand and remembered his earlier vow. In another defining point in Naruto and Team 7's development, Naruto conceived a plan with Sasuke to release Kakashi, with little apparent communication between the two, and executed it perfectly. Kakashi, free again, demonstrated the abilities of the Sharingan, defeating Zabuza with both physical and psychological attacks. Although 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 posed as an assassin sent to kill Zabuza.

Once they had reached the Land of Waves, Team 7 underwent chakra training. This became another point of rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke, as they constantly challenged themselves to try to outdo the other, but instead ended up helping and motivating each other to succeed.

Meanwhile, in Tazuna's house, Tazuna explained about his grandson, Inari. Inari's father had died before he knew him, but he had met a travelling fisherman named Kaiza who had become a father figure for him. Kaiza taught Inari what it was like to become a man, trying to protect someone who was 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 had killed Kaiza, the country's hero, to break the spirit of the country. Ever since then, Inari had become a sad and angry boy, who had little optimism. He even derided Naruto for winning against Gato's men, until he learned that Naruto had had to put up with the same sort of tragic past, but had finally learned how to deal with it.

Eventually, Zabuza and Haku returned to make a do or die battle on the unfinished bridge, with some idea of how they should handle the Konoha ninjas. Back at Tazuna's house, Inari and his mother, Tsunami, were attacked by Gato's men. That was when Inari followed the lesson Kaiza had taught him to protect his precious people. With the help of Naruto, Inari defeated Gato's men. Back at the bridge, Haku revealed his Demonic Ice Mirrors jutsu, and completely overpowered Sasuke. Naruto joined the fight and, through his own ignorance and impulsiveness, got himself trapped in Haku's jutsu, and was immediately placed at Haku's mercy.

During the course of the fight, Sasuke awakened his Sharingan, and saved Naruto by sacrificing himself. Naruto asked him why he had done it, to Sasuke simply replied, “How should I know? My body just moved by itself.” Sasuke then appeared to die, with three needles in his neck. Meanwhile, Zabuza was focused on finding a way to kill Kakashi, despite his Sharingan.

Naruto's "hidden power" was revealed after he believed Haku had killed Sasuke. Naruto lost control, and was consumed by the demon fox's chakra. Its power was so immense that the chakra was visible. All of Naruto's wounds healed near-instantaneously, and Naruto's appearance changed; his eyes became red and slitted like a fox, his "whiskers" deepened, his fingernails grew long like claws and his canine teeth became sharper. He completely overwhelmed his enemy with his new-found 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 completely impaling through Haku's heart. Everyone realized that Haku was dead. At first, Zabuza had no change in emotion, and praised Haku as a good tool.

As the battle drew to an end, however, Gato arrived with his gang of hired thugs. He told Zabuza that he had never intended to pay him, even if Zabuza had finished the mission. Gato then kicked Haku's dead body. This infuriated Naruto as he wept for Haku's death, and told Zabuza that Haku had really cared about him, and that he would die for him (which he had done). Moved by Naruto’s words, Zabuza confessed that he had cared deeply about Haku, and he began to cry. With this realization, Zabuza asked Naruto if he could borrow one of his kunai. Naruto tossed one to him, and, with the memories of Haku fresh in his mind, Zabuza grabbed the kunai in his mouth (his arms broken by Kakashi’s dogs) and rushed to kill Gato. Gato ran behind his miniature army, but Zabuza rushed past all of them, killing many on the way, and eventually reached Gato. The Demon of the Hidden Mist then decapitated him. Zabuza then stood still and was stabbed in the back by the remaining henchmen. After a brief moment, Sasuke woke up from the near-death state Haku had put him in. The shinobi gangs were then chased away by Naruto and Kakashi producing many shadow clones, and with the help of the villagers led by Inari, finally standing up for themselves. Zabuza's last request to Kakashi was to be laid next to Haku. After Naruto witnessed what had happened to Haku and Zabuza, he decided to become a ninja through his own way, and to defy the belief that ninja are merely tools of their villages. After the team departed, Tazuna decided to name the newly completed bridge the "Great Naruto Bridge".