The Twelve Guardian Ninja Arc is the first filler arc in Naruto Shippuden. It takes place between the canon "Search for Sasuke" and "Hidan and Kakuzu" arcs.
Short Summary
A team of graverobbers is pillaging the tombs of the Twelve Guardian Ninja with the plan of using their power to assassinate the Hokage. In the middle of it all is a young monk called Sora in whom Naruto finds a kindred spirit. Asuma must also confront an old friend-turned-enemy from his past who is leading the raiders.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Kazuma takes advantage of Sora by placing Kuruma’s chakra into him as well as subjecting him to physical and verbal abuse.
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Naruto first flees from Fūka, he comments to himself about how she is too "easy" for him. Unknown to him though, Fūka appears directly behind him as he says this, and thus overhears him talking about her. She shows no anger or annoyance at this comment though, and instead leans seductively against Naruto's shoulder while giggling at his comment before continuing to flirt with him. However, given how she hides behind a faux romantic attitude, it is zig-zagged over how genuinely funny she found this remark about her.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Naruto does this with Fūka during their first fight two different times. But the tone during both moments is extremely different.
- The first time is mostly Played for Laughs. When Fūka has him pinned against the wall and is slowly leaning in to kiss him, Naruto shakes his head wildly trying to avoid her lips, begging her to stop and go away, and even after she claps his cheeks together, forcing him to hold still and pucker up, he is able to mumble out if they can talk about this first. The moment comes off as Naruto simply not wanting to kiss her even as she is throwing herself at him, and this is also before she reveals her Kiss of Death ability.
- The second time is more Played for Horror. At the end of their first fight, after Fūka reveals her more sadistic side by turning Naruto's legs to stone, she continues her faux flirtatious attitude by telling him in a fake romantic voice that now they can finally have a "nice hot kiss" together, before adding that she'll take his soul for it. Naruto, defeated and helpless against her, begs her to stay away from him, only for her to ignore his pleas and violently grab him by the shoulders to restrain him as he stares at her in horror.
- Awkward Kiss: Played With during Naruto and Fūka's first kiss. Fūka passionately kisses Naruto, intending to kill him with her Kiss of Death, but realizes after several seconds of kissing him that nothing is happening and the two of them stare at each other for a moment while giving confused groans. It turns out Naruto survived due to Fūka kissing one of his Shadow Clones, much to her anger.
- Berserk Button: Cutting or damaging Fūka's hair is one for her. She drops her seductive side when Naruto cuts only a small part of her hair and goes on about how it is "her life" and "most important feature" before trapping Naruto. This actually becomes justified when it turns out her hair really is her life force and the source of her powers.
- By the Hair: As soon as Naruto figures out that Fūka's hair is her weakness and that's why she is so protective of it, he takes advantage of a moment of inattentiveness on her part when she's too close to grab a handful of her hair and rip out a large chunk of it.
- Captive Date: Fūka plays with this towards Naruto at the end of their first fight. After she finally defeats him by using a paralysis jutsu to turn his legs to stone, therefore trapping him and making him unable to resist her advances, she seemingly loses all her anger towards him and resumes flirting with him, gently telling him that now that they are finally done fighting they can finally share a "nice hot kiss" together like she wanted them to, acting as if the two of them are lovers and the whole encounter they had together was one big romantic date. Ignoring Naruto's pleas to stay away from him, she then grabs him by the shoulders so he can't struggle and takes the time to act out a mock romantic moment with Naruto while knowing he is helpless against her now, cuddling him closely to her, forcing a Held Gaze between them while she holds him by his face, giggling at how "cute" he looks while he is glaring at her in defiance, and leaving their faces lingering only inches apart for several minutes. After she is done having "fun" with him, she finally decides to bring their "romantic moment" together to an end, softly whispering her jutsu to Naruto before puckering up and leaning forward, ending their "date" with a "goodnight kiss".
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The first fight between Naruto and Fūka is one in Fūka's favor. She spends most of the fight teasing Naruto and flirting with him, showing she doesn't consider him a threat, is able to avoid all his attacks easily, and surprises him by revealing she can use all five elemental style of jutsu. It eventually gets to the point where Naruto stops trying to fight her and just runs away from her as she continues to cycle through her elements while constantly appearing in front of him to cut him off. The only things that don't go the way she wants during the fight are when Naruto manages to steal a real kiss from her by tricking her into kissing one of his Shadow Clones, and then when he manages to get close enough to her to strike at her with his kunai. In the latter case she manages to dodge but he still cuts off a small part of her hair, resulting in the death of one of her bodies. All this ultimately does is anger Fūka though, and she stops messing around and uses a Deadly Gaze to trap Naruto by turning his legs to stone, preventing him from running away or resisting her anymore. Although she has pretty much already defeated Naruto by this point, she chooses to taunt him by dragging things out now that he is helpless against her. Naruto actually begs her to stay away from him, with her ignoring his desperate pleas and him only able to stare at her in horror as she violently restrains him. For the next several minutes, Fūka taunts Naruto by acting out a mock "romantic moment" with him, pretending the two of them are lovers and their entire fight was just Naruto treating her to "one big romantic date", with her "thanking him" by cuddling with him, holding him by the face so they can gaze into each other's eyes before giving him a "good night kiss". It is only thanks to a small miracle that Naruto survived.
- Dating Catwoman: When Sakura and Sai found Naruto and Fūka kissing, Sakura seemed to think this was the case, getting enraged at seeing Naruto kissing the enemy (not realizing Fūka was forcing the kiss on him). In reality it is averted between them. Despite Fūka's beauty and flirting, Naruto is not interested in her at all, and Fūka is not actually in love with him either, she is just interested in kissing him to drain him of his chakra.
- Deadly Gaze: Fūka demonstrates she has a paralysis jutsu that turns her victim's legs to stone by looking at them. She uses it on Naruto at the end of their first fight, going from a simple Death Glare to her eyes suddenly widening and her hair suddenly moving in the air on its own like snakes, making her seem similar to Medusa when using this technique.
- Death Glare: Fūka shoots several of these at Naruto. It starts with her getting annoyed at his resistance against her and tricking her, and then to show her sadistic side against him and anger when he damages her hair.
- Towards the end of her first fight with Naruto, she shoots him a bitter glare after he accidentally cuts off a small portion of her hair, while explaining how important it is to a woman like her and how it took her years to grow it so long. This then gets worse when she suddenly switches to her Deadly Gaze and uses her paralysis jutsu on him.
- She then finds herself on the receiving end of one of these from Naruto himself. As she has him trapped and acts out a mock romantic moment with him, cuddling him and forcing him to gaze into her eyes, Naruto defiantly glares at her even as their faces linger only inches apart. All this does is amuse Fūka though, with her letting out a small sadistic giggle at this, while giving Naruto a smug victorious smirk.
- Defiant Captive: Downplayed example with Naruto. When Fūka finally defeats and captures him, and makes it clear how she intends to kiss Naruto and take his soul, Naruto is left helpless and stares at her in horror and pleads with her to stay away from him. When they are next seen, Fūka is shown acting out a mock romantic moment with him by cuddling with Naruto, holding him by the face, and forcing a mocking Held Gaze between them. Naruto is helpless to resist any of Fūka's advancements on him as she acts like the two of them are lovers on a romantic date together, but he still glares at her in defiance as she holds him and their faces linger inches apart. However, he is still seen sweating with fear while doing this, and Fūka just giggles sadistically at him over his "cute" appearance while giving him a smug victorious smirk before leaning forward and planting a kiss on his lips unopposed.
- Disney Death: Kazuma is revealed to have faked his death during his uprising against Land of Fire. During his final stand against Asuma, this trope is subverted when Asuma kills Kazuma off for real.
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: A gender-reversed example with Fūka and Naruto, when she attempts to kiss him a few times even when he is unconscious.
- In their first fight, when she finds Naruto seemingly unconscious after she zaps him and washes him away, she dusts off his face and attempts to kiss him again. But it turns out to be another Shadow Clone and vanishes in a puff of smoke when she is inches apart from it.
- After knocking Naruto out in their second fight, she kisses him while he is unconscious. But she ends up taking too long and Naruto wakes up while she is kissing him without her noticing, and quickly figures out how to beat her.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted; Fūka initially starts with Tranquil Fury towards Naruto for cutting her hair, until she suddenly starts loudly screaming at him in the middle of her rant, and immobilizes him by turning his legs to stone, only to immediately calm down and smile lovingly at him while gently suggesting that the two of them should kiss and make up, acting like she has suddenly forgiven him for his actions. However, it is clear she is still furious and wants Naruto dead when she adds that as payment for the kiss she will take his soul, and as Naruto pleads with her to stay away from him, she ignores him and violently grabs him by the shoulders to stop him from struggling against her, and whispers for him to get ready. She just puts on a show of flirting with him as part of her sadistic side.
- Eat the Camera: When Fūka holds Naruto by his face after catching him, the screen changes to an Extreme Close-Up of her face as she leans in towards Naruto to kiss him, with the screen zooming in specifically on her lips as she whispers her jutsu to Naruto and puckers up. As her lips begin to take up the screen it slowly fades to black, before immediately cutting back to the previous angle to show her locking lips with Naruto.
- Faux Affably Evil:
- Furido seems like a nice guy at first, speaking fairly nice to Sora and offering him a baked potato he made. But when Sora questions his goal, and how it involves killing innocent people, just to kill everyone in the Hidden Leaf Village, he delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Sora. He is also willing to use his own child to further is own goals, such as unleashing the Nine-Tails.
- Fūka seems like a beautiful young woman and speaks gently to Naruto when they first meet, flirting with him and offering him a kiss. However, this all turns out to be an act to seduce him, and her kisses kill people by draining their chakra. When Naruto continues to get away from her and outsmart her, she slowly loses patience with him, stops flirting with him and calling him pet names, and reveals a more sadistic side to her by openly trying to torture and kill him.
- First Kiss: Briefly discussed between Naruto and Fūka. Once Naruto realizes that Fūka wants to make out with him he reacts with shock. Fūka takes this as shyness and asks him if he has had his first kiss yet. Naruto says he has had his first kiss, but admits with embarrassment that it was with a boy, referring to Sasuke but not mentioning that it was an Accidental Kiss.
- Forceful Kiss: When Naruto refuses Fūka's advancements and offer to kiss her, she instead forces a kiss on him so she can steal his chakra and body. She does this to him three different times, but none of them are completely successful for different reasons.
- In her first kiss, Fūka pins Naruto against the wall and claps his cheeks together to force him to stay still and pucker up. After making out with him for a few moments though, she realizes nothing has happened and Naruto reveals he tricked her into kissing one of his Shadow Clones.
- In an unsuccessful attempt, Fūka finds an unconscious Naruto, believing she has beaten him, and slowly lowers herself down on top of him to kiss him while he is knocked out. Before their lips can meet though, it is revealed this is another Shadow Clone and it disappears only inches away from her face like before.
- In her second kiss, Fūka manages to immobilize the real Naruto during their fight and successfully kisses him. She slowly begins draining his chakra during the kiss but ends up accidentally absorbing chakra from the Nine-Tails and can't handle it due to it being too "evil" and she shoves Naruto away, returning his chakra to him.
- Finally, in the last battle Fūka knocks out Naruto but remembers he has wind nature chakra and decides to stock up, lowering herself on top of him and kissing him while he's unconscious. She ends up spending too long fantasizing about having Naruto's vast power for herself and ends up drawing the kiss out too long instead of having it take effect immediately like before. This gives Naruto time to wake up, figure out her weakness, and break her kiss by violently pulling out her hair before she can start draining him.
- In her first kiss, Fūka pins Naruto against the wall and claps his cheeks together to force him to stay still and pucker up. After making out with him for a few moments though, she realizes nothing has happened and Naruto reveals he tricked her into kissing one of his Shadow Clones.
- Foreshadowing: During Naruto's first fight with Fūka, he manages to accidentally cut a small part of her hair off. Shorty after this, Fūka rapidly ages physically and turns to dust right in front of Naruto. When Fūka instantly reappears behind Naruto, looking perfectly fine, he wonders if she just used a substitution jutsu. There are clear hints that this wasn't a normal substitution though, such as Fūka's anger at Naruto for damaging her hair, the usual puff of smoke used in substitutions being absent, and Naruto not even landing a solid hit on Fūka to warrant the use of the jutsu. This is an early hint that Fūka's hair is the source of her powers.
- Hair Flip: Fūka does this several times, brushing a hand through her long hair both as a gesture when flirting and a way to calm herself when mad.
- Held Gaze: Two of these happen between Naruto and Fūka, but neither of them are the typical way the trope is normally romantically portrayed.
- The two have an accidental one that's Played for Laughs during their first kiss. When Fūka first pins Naruto against a wall, she stares down at him smirking, whispering to him she won't let him escape and is all hers now, before closing her eyes and lowering her head towards him for a kiss, and once she plants her lips against his Naruto shuts his own eyes from the shock. After Fūka makes out with Naruto for several seconds though, she peaks her eyes open to glance at him, only to discover he is completely unaffected by her kiss, and the two open their eyes as wide as they can, staring at each other awkwardly as Fūka continues the forced lip-lock while giving confused groans. This only lasts for a moment until Naruto vanishes in a puff of smoke, ending the kiss and revealing Naruto tricked Fūka into making out with one of his Shadow Clones.
- Fūka later intentionally pulls a dark variant of this with Naruto. Once she finally immobilizes him, she decides to have some fun with him, and so continues to flirt with him and pretend she has forgiven him for cutting her hair while happily declaring she wants the two of them to make up by sharing a "nice hot kiss" together. She takes a moment to cuddle with him, holding his face by his cheeks and chin and forcing him to look her in the eyes for presumably a few minutes with their faces lingering only inches apart from each other. Unlike the usual romantic implication this has though, Naruto just glares at her helplessly as he begins to sweat with fear, and Fūka giggles sadistically at his state while giving a smug victorious smirk. She does this just to mock Naruto over how helpless he is against her now, forcibly acting out a seemingly romantic gesture between them, as if they are lovers out on a date together, knowing there is nothing he can do to resist her advances. Fūka keeps her gaze locked on Naruto, even as she forcibly locks lips with him and slowly drains his chakra, making sure her kiss works on him this time.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Downplayed with Fūka during her first fight with Naruto. When she finds Naruto seemingly unconscious after she washed him away and zapped him, she checks on him by gently kicking him in the head to see if he responds. When he doesn't, she believes she has already defeated him and wonders if she overdid it against him a bit. However, when she lowers herself down to try to kiss him, it is revealed to be a Shadow Clone and disappears.
- Kiss Diss:
- When Fūka has Naruto pinned against a wall and slowly starts to lower her head towards Naruto for a kiss, Naruto shakes his head wildly, trying to avoid her incoming lips while begging her to stop and go away. This is defied by Fūka though, with her clapping her hands against Naruto's cheeks, forcing him to stay still and pucker up. Naruto is only able to mumble out one last plea to Fūka, which she ignores before she presses her lips against his in a passionate kiss.
- When Fūka believes she has defeated Naruto after zapping him while washing him away and finds his charred and unconscious body, she wipes the ash off his face and slowly lowers herself on top of him to attempt to kiss him again. But just as their faces are a few inches apart, "Naruto" disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing it to just be another Shadow Clone. The surprises Fūka enough for Naruto to try to launch a sneak attack against her, albeit a failed attempt.
- Naruto and Fūka both do this after she successfully kisses him. When she accidentally absorbs the Nine-Tails' chakra, she is unable to handle it due to it being "too evil" and screams in pain before shoving Naruto away. Immediately after this, Naruto himself wipes his lips in disgust, trying to get rid of the taste of Fūka's lips she left.
- Leave The Two Love Birds Alone: A much more villainous and Played for Horror example than usual. Once Sakura realizes that Fūka was forcing a Kiss of Death on Naruto, she tried to attack her while demanding she let Naruto go. But Fūka's teammates Fudō and Fuen arrived and stopped her, then trapped her and Sai to prevent them from interfering, thus allowing Fūka to continue her kiss with Naruto uninterrupted. Though thankfully shortly after this, Fūka ends it herself due to accidentally absorbing the Nine-Tails' chakra.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Furido is revealed to be Kazuma (Sora’s Father).
- Missing Mom: Kazuma/Furido was Sora’s father whom he mentions several times. However It’s unknown who Sora’s mother was as she never made an appearance nor was she mentioned by any of the characters.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Fūka invades Naruto's personal space throughout their encounters, especially while flirting with him. This includes licking his cheek, pinning him against a wall, clapping his cheeks together to hold him still and force him to pucker up for a kiss, cuddling him after capturing him and holding him by the face to force him to look her in the eyes, and even laying on top of him and kissing him while he's unconscious.
- Not Good with Rejection: When Naruto refuses Fūka's initial offer to share a kiss with her, she is surprised and a bit saddened that he actually rejected her. When she catches up to him shortly afterwards, she tells him that he can never refuse a woman. When he survives her first kiss and proceeds to mock her attempt, she says that now he has ticked her off.
- The Not-So-Harmless Punishment: After Fūka traps Naruto by turning his legs to stone with a Deadly Gaze after exclaiming he will pay for cutting her hair, she then seems to calm down and gently suggests that the two of them finally share a kiss together. Instead of this being because she has instantly forgiven him for this apparently high slant against her and wants to make up with him, she ominously says that once they kiss his soul will be hers.
- Not What It Looks Like: Sakura and Sai arrive to notice Naruto and Fūka kissing. Sakura is outraged at this and yells at Naruto for kissing the enemy, not realizing that Fūka is forcing the kiss on him. Sai however realizes that something is wrong, and he and Sakura quickly realize that Fūka's kiss is doing something to Naruto.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Fūka pins Naruto against a wall before kissing him for the first time she whispers to him that he can't escape and is hers, emphasizing each word.
- Right Behind Me: When Naruto first runs away from Fūka after she offers to make out with him, he stops once he believes he has escaped her, and comments to himself on how she is "way too easy" for his liking. He is unaware that as he is saying this though, Fūka appears from the wall directly behind him using a jutsu and overhears him talking to himself about her. She quickly makes her presence known by giggling at him and leaning seductively against his shoulder.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Growing up Sora overheard his fellow monks speak Ill of his father. These Monks claimed that Kazuma deserved to be slain in battle during his rebellion against Kohana. The Monks were right in that Kazuma was too dangerous to be left alive but wrong in that Kazuma was killed that day. In reality Kazuma survived and continued with his plans under the Alias "Furido".
- Spanner in the Works: Naruto manages to survive Fūka's Kiss of Death thanks to her accidentally absorbing the Nine-Tails' chakra, and she finds it "too evil" for her to handle.
- Squish the Cheeks: Fūka does this to Naruto during their first encounter. While leaning towards him for a kiss, Naruto shakes his head wildly trying to avoid her incoming lips and begging her to stop and go away, only for her to put an end to his resistance by simply clapping her hands against his cheeks, holding him still and forcing him to pucker up. She keeps holding him like that as she makes out with him.
- Suddenly Shouting: When Fūka gets mad at Naruto for cutting her hair, she initially keeps her voice at a calm Tranquil Fury level. As she slowly approaches him though, she suddenly starts screaming that he will pay for it, right as she activates a paralysis jutsu that turns his legs to stone.Fūka: You have damaged a woman's most important feature, and now YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR IT!
- "Take That!" Kiss: Fūka spends her fights with Naruto trying to kiss him so she can drain him of his chakra. She tries to kiss him after pinning him, trapping him, and knocking him out.
- The biggest one for her is during their second kiss, when after Fūka traps Naruto by turning his legs to stone she takes the time to continue flirting with him and say that as payment for their kiss she will take his soul before cuddling with him and making him look her in the eyes. She essentially turns her fight with Naruto into a Captive Date and acts out a mock romantic moment with him just to taunt him over how helpless he is against her now. Even while Naruto is sweating from fear with their faces inches apart, Fūka just giggles to herself before leaning forward and locking lips with Naruto, with a look of victory present in her eyes.
- Ironically, Naruto actually managed to do this to her when she first kissed him. Naruto tricked her into kissing one of his Shadow Clones, which not only let him survive but since Naruto can share the experience his clone feels he was able to feel what a kiss with Fūka was like, essentially stealing a real kiss from her, and mockingly blows her a kiss himself while saying it actually wasn't bad, much to her anger.
- Taken for Granite: When Fūka is enraged at Naruto for cutting her hair, she uses a paralysis jutsu on him that turns his legs to stone, preventing him from avoiding her any longer and putting him at her mercy. During the jutsu her hair begins to move in the air on its own like snakes making her seem like Medusa. Naruto's legs return to normal once Fūka is done kissing him.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: When Fūka drains Naruto's chakra from him via a kiss, she eventually accidentally absorbs the chakra of the Nine-Tails. Unable to handle this "evil chakra", she screams and pushes Naruto away, cutting off the connection and returning the stolen chakra to him.
- Tranquil Fury: Fūka goes ballistic when Naruto cuts her hair and uses a paralysis jutsu to turn his legs to stone, trapping him. After this, she seems to calm down, and suggests she and Naruto share a kiss while smiling happily at him and speaking gently, before darkly adding that as payment for it she will take his soul and grabbing his shoulders so he won't struggle.
- Traumatic Haircut: Exaggerated with Fūka. She is very protective of her hair and becomes enraged if any damage comes to it, even Naruto accidentally cutting off a small portion of it. Then it is revealed it is essentially a Soul Jar for her and any damage, no matter how small, causes her to lose one of her alternate bodies and chakra, justifying her anger and protectiveness of it. When Naruto realizes this, he purposely yanks out a huge chunk of her hair, damaging her so much she reveals her true monstrous form.
- Villain Ball: Fūka grabs it during her second fight with Naruto. After she knocks him out and has him at her mercy she could have finished him off anyway she wanted to, but upon remembering his chakra is wind natured she decided to kiss him once again to stalk up. Normally this would be sound reasoning, but two things end up making her fall into this troupe:
- One: She already kissed him in her previous fight and tried to drain his chakra, but failed because she ended up absorbing the chakra from the Nine-tails too and couldn't handle the "evil chakra." Apparently she completely forgot about this incident and thought this time would be different.
- Two: After locking lips with her unconscious enemy she fantasizes about having all his incredible power for herself and draws the kiss out longer than usual instead of having the effect begin almost instantly like in their last fight. Because of this, Naruto eventually wakes up during the kiss without her noticing and quickly figures out how to beat her. So her taking her time led to her own defeat and death.
- Villainous Face Hold: When Fūka tries to kiss Naruto the first time, he shakes his head wildly to try to avoid her, only for her to clap his cheeks together, forcing him to hold still and pucker up. Later, after she catches him, she takes a moment to cuddle with him, gently holds him by his face and chin, forcing him to look her in the eyes in a mocking Held Gaze while giving a smug victorious smirk and sadistic giggle. She keeps holding him like this as she forces another deep kiss on him and drains him of his chakra.
- You Taste Delicious: When Fūka first encounters Naruto, she surprises him by licking him on the cheek instead of attacking him like he was expecting. She claims she can taste his chakra is wind natured and decides to add him to her "collection".
- Your Soul Is Mine!: After Fūka successfully traps Naruto, she tells him it is time for the two of them to have a "nice hot kiss" together, but says that as payment for the kiss she'll take his soul.
