Kaima Capture Mission

The Land of the Sea Arc spans from episode 169 to 173 of the Naruto anime. This arc is preceded by the Land of Birds Arc and is followed by the Impostor Arc.

Summary
When Anko Mitarashi was assigned to escort a delivery ship and stop a sea monster mystery in the Land of the Sea, she was assigned with Naruto, Shino, and Ino as all other active ninja were unavailable. Upon arriving at the Land of the Sea, Naruto met a young girl with several bandages named Isaribi. Naruto was shocked to learn that much like him Isaribi was shunned from the society and treated as a monster. Naruto tried to befriend her, but she was too traumatised to embrace his kindness. Later when reaching the ship, Naruto and his team were attacked by Yoroi Akadō and Misumi Tsurugi from the Chūnin Exams. Naruto was knocked out and sunk to the ocean. Fortunately, he was saved by Isaribi. Meanwhile, after gathering information from the villagers, they found Isaribi after she transformed into a humanoid sea creature and prevented her from escaping. After catching up with his team, Naruto discovers the sea monster was actually Isaribi. Unfortunately, before they could figure things out, Yoroi appears and kidnaps Isaribi. Naruto's team is unable to follow as Anko mysteriously faints.

After Anko recovers, she reveals the truth about her past and this chain of islands. She tells her team that several years ago, Orochimaru used this place as a base to conduct many of his horrific experiments. He was responsible for the people mysteriously disappearing; kidnapping them and using them as lab rats. Isaribi was one of them. These actions also started the legend of people being captured by spirits. Determined to make Orochimaru pay, Naruto insisted on destroying the hidden lab. While Anko was able to guide them to the lab thanks to prior knowledge she had as Orochimaru's former apprentice, they were ambushed by the enemy. Naruto was shocked to learn that Isaribi was working with the people who turned her into a freak. She explained that all she cared about was becoming normal again, which Amachi, the lead scientist of the lab, promised he would do. Naruto tried to convince her that this was wrong and that he understood her pain since he too has been discriminated against but Isaribi refused to listen. She then retreated with Amachi to attack the cargo ship. Naruto was stopped from following by Misumi, but was able to defeat him with Ino's help. After escaping with his team from the crumbling lab as a result of the all the fighting inside, Naruto and his team went after Amachi and Isaribi. Naruto then found himself up against Isaribi, but eventually managed to make her understand what she was doing was wrong.

Soon after, Amachi went up against Naruto and revealed to have put himself through the same surgery as Isarabi but fully perfected. Initially, Naruto was completely overwhelmed, but by tapping into some of the Nine-Tail's chakra, Naruto quickly defeated Amachi. He soon after collapsed from exhaustion, but was saved again by Isaribi who was compelled to save him after realising Naruto really did understand her pain. Shortly after Naruto awoke, he and his team found themselves attacked by Amachi's spectral summoning. Naruto countered by summoning Gamabunta to help. Together, they were able to destroy it with an improvised fire release technique. After discovering that Amachi had no idea how to restore Isarabi to her previous form, Naruto offered Isaribi to come back with him to Konoha in hopes that Tsunade's superior medical prowess would be able to help her.

Episodes