The Curry of Life Arc is the fifth filler arc in the original Naruto anime and the fourth of the Post-Sasuke Retrieval filler arcs.
Short Summary
Team Guy and Naruto are sent to the Katabami Gold Mine in the Land of Rivers to rid the locals of the Kurosuki Family, a gang of ruffians led by a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist. They are aided by an old woman, Sanshō, with her special "Curry of Life", which Lee holds in high regards.
Long Summary
On a stormy day in the Land of Rivers, a funeral is being held by a group in dark cloaks. The leader of these men is weeping profusely at the loss of the "departed", Kanpachi, who is banging on the coffin begging to be released to no avail. The madman smiles as he weeps, fondly remembering the day he took Kanpachi's prized watch and smashed it to pieces, also recalling that the poor man only laughed despite the belonging being an heirloom from his father. A trio of miners watching this from afar is horrified by the group's depravity and one of them, Rokusuke, desires to rescue Kanpachi from his fate but the other two, Hachidai and Sangorō, insist that they can do nothing and that their only hope is to get help from Konohagakure. While traversing the cliffsides overlooking a river, a bolt of lightning sends the men plummeting into the drink. When Rokusuke awakens, he finds himself and the others on the back of Naruto Uzumaki while he's walking on the water near Konoha. A relieved Rokusuke falls asleep as Naruto passes Rock Lee training with heavyweights.Tsunade, who's been having a particularly rough day, is informed of the miners' arrival in the village and informs Might Guy that his students will be the ones to go to the Land of Rivers and root out the Kurosuki Family, the gang of ruffians that were holding the funeral. They took over the Katabami Gold Mine from the land's government and have been monopolizing the minerals for their own purposes through their leader, Raiga Kurosuki, who happens to be a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Naruto is called in with the genin from Guy's team and assigns them the mission, but Naruto has no desire to partake while considering the mission beneath him. He wants to get back to his training and trying to find Sasuke Uchiha. Tsunade angrily grabs the boy by the scruff of his neck and tells him off for his insubordination, rightfully pointing out that he's in no position to refuse after he forced his way onto the Bikōchū mission plus the Mizuki incident. Threatening to send Naruto back to the academy if he gives any more lip, she assigns Neji Hyūga as the team's leader in hopes that he can "tame the untamable". Neji reluctantly agrees with his wording only serving to anger the Hokage further, resulting in her throwing her chair out the window and onto Izumo's head. Before he departs for his own mission, Guy confirms with Tsunade about the Kurosuki Family's leader Raiga, having heard a rumor about his connection to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
At Ichiraku Ramen, Lee informs Naruto about his teacher's info about Raiga, of which Naruto isn't familiar with. A flabbergasted Lee spells out to the latter that he had run-ins with two of their members before, Zabuza Momochi and Kisame Hoshigaki, and that Kisame is partnered with Itachi Uchiha, who Sasuke wants revenge on. Therefore, going to Katabami Mine and interrogating Raiga on this connection may be the key to picking up the younger Uchiha's trail again. Naruto isn't completely convinced since he finds Guy to be an unreliable source, much to Lee's irritation, but decides to go along with it since he doesn't have any better ideas. As the four leave Konoha along with the miners, Lee points out that he knows a curry shop where they can set up a base for the mission, much to Tenten's confusion. While having a rest, Hachidai and Sangorō take amusement with Lee and Naruto's training methods whereas Rokusuke wants to hurry back as soon as possible to rescue the buried Kanpachi but his fellow miners tell him that there's no way that Kanpachi has survived for so long without sustenance.
A while later, the group arrives at the Curry of Life shop on the outskirts of Katabumi, which makes Lee recall his first meeting with the owner, an elderly woman named Sanshō, and how her cooking saved his life. During a marathon run with Guy shortly after becoming a genin, both Lee and his sensei fell asleep while still running. Guy continued his sleep-run whereas Lee collapsed in front of the curry shop, leaving Sanshō worried about the boy's health. She had her son, Karashi, prepare a plate of ultra-spicy curry and fed it to Lee, but it didn't work. A determined Karashi made a stronger dose of the curry and gave it to the younger boy, the sheer spiciness of the dish finally awakening him. The rest of the group finds this story unbelievable, especially when they experience the Curry of Life firsthand, and find it brutally hot. Noting that Karashi is absent, Sanshō reveals to Lee that her son left the shop months ago to join the Kurosuki Family in order to become a stronger man. Lee gains a ferocious determination and asks Neji to incorporate the rescue of Karashi into their current mission, to which the Hyūga agrees. That night, while the genin are mapping a strategy, Rokusuke runs off on his own to rescue the long-dead Kanpachi. It does not take long for the Kurosuki underlings to capture the hapless man.
The team heads out the next morning and see what the Kurosuki Family has made of the Katabami. They force the villagers to mine ore containing the gold they desire and one elderly individual ends up dropping his finds. Before they can reproach the old man, Lee goes in and defeats all four Kurosukis much to Naruto's relief. Sukeza, the old man in question, is horrified at what Lee has done and orders the Konoha ninja to knock him out, or else the remaining Kurosukis blame him for the attack and give him a funeral. Just then a gong is rung signaling the time for a funeral, but not Sukeza's. Upon being brought in, Raiga decided to arrange for Rokusuke's funeral as a consequence for his and his fellow miners' initial escape. The Konoha team also hears the gruesome reality of the funerals in that the "deceased" is actually buried alive while Raiga tearfully eulogizes all the good times they had while the victim was "alive". As Raiga reminisces about the good times with Rokusuke, a small voice from within the swordsman's robes pipes up, wondering if they will have a good funeral when they die. Raiga quickly hushes this individual saying that they will never die and that the former doesn't need a funeral to remember the good times that they've shared. The "good boy" as Raiga calls him senses the approach of Naruto and the others, of whom the latter eagerly anticipates.
After confirming Rokusuke's still being alive, via Neji's Byakugan, the genin go on the attack and manage to beat down most of the Kurosuki Family grunts. One of them hides away behind a gravestone before Lee goes in for the kill, but just as quickly stops himself when he sees who it is. The cowardly grunt is Karashi who says that he joined out of admiration for Raiga's deposition of the government officials imposing high taxes on the Katabami Mine. An unimpressed Naruto and Lee call him out on joining a group as despicable and disrespecting of life as the Kurosukis and making his mother worried, but Karashi tells them off saying that staying at the curry shop only made him weak and pathetic whereas joining the Kurosuki Family made him a part of something bigger. Lee punches the former curry chef square in the face and reminds the latter of when the Curry of Life he made saving the former's life, and how it taught Lee that devoting yourself to a goal can help change the world. Lee's words seem to sink in and Karashi apologizes for his choices, but they're interrupted by a still trapped Rokusuke who is begging to be freed from the coffin. Upon being released, Rokusuke offers his own apologies for going off on his own and that he just wanted to help his late friend Kanpachi against all odds.
All of a sudden, Neji senses bloodlust emanating from atop a cliff, believing it to be Raiga. Karashi and Rokusuke are sent away while the Konoha team goes to confront Raiga, but when the group reaches the summit, they find no sign of him. Raiga uses his Hidden Mist Jutsu to cloud the genins' vision with even Neji's Byakugan being unable to fully penetrate it. The hidden boy on Raiga's person, Ranmaru, confirms the Byakugan but assures his partner that Neji can't pinpoint them and that his powers are greater. Raiga tells the child that he won't be holding a funeral for the Konoha ninja since they're strangers to him and it wouldn't bring any happy memories if he did. He begins attacking with his Lightning Fang jutsu but Ranmaru tells him that the genin are still alive. Surely enough, they hide in some shrubbery while Neji detects several enemies hidden in the mist. The team goes on the offensive only to find no trace of any opponents with Lee getting caught on a stone jutting from the cliffside. Raiga fires a Lightning Bomb and manages to hit them all directly, but it still doesn’t kill them. Lee suddenly begins attacking him while still unconscious, giving Ranmaru some trouble in reading the boy's movements. Neji and the others regain consciousness just in time for Lee to cause Ranmaru, hidden away in a bag, to get separated from Raiga, much to his horror. Naruto than kicks the swordsman away just in time for Lee to awaken from his sleepfighting. The blonde boy questions Raiga on his connection to Kisame and Zabuza, only for Raiga to angrily say that he despises them and he doesn’t feel like reminiscing, resuming his assault. Naruto’s shadow clones begin to wear Raiga's chakra down, so the Kiri ninja decides to bury Naruto with a rockslide only for Naruto to avoid it and counter with his Rasengan. Ranmaru shouts for him to stop but it’s too late; the Rasengan makes contact and sends Raiga spiraling off the cliff, burying him up to his arms.
Neji and Tenten examine the bag that Ranmaru is in and find that the boy is producing a type of dust that causes his enemies to hallucinate chakra networks of beings that don’t really exist. This dust also hid his presence from the Byakugan which is why Neji couldn’t detect him before. Upon being revealed to his enemies, Ranmaru explains how he and Raiga came to meet. In the Land of Water, Ranmaru was a sickly child with no family and only had his fellow villagers bringing him food so that he wouldn't starve. His dōjutsu allowed him to see beyond his hut and spy on the day to day lives of the people, such as seeing one man injure himself with a sickle while tending to his crops. When said man brought the boy his provisions, the latter let it slip that he knew of the injury by asking if it was okay, which spooked the farmer (as no one but him had visited Ranmaru since the day before the cut) and led to his kekkei genkai being exposed. The villagers stopped bringing him food afterward and took instead of throwing rocks at his hut and telling him he was a monster. Ranmaru became lonely and wished to die until the day Raiga, who was a Kirigakure ANBU back then, came to the village while trying to pinpoint a spy said to have originated from it. Raiga found his way to Ranmaru's hut after slaughtering most of the villagers and planned on killing the boy next until the latter stated that he would be happy if the swordsman ended his life. Ranmaru could sense a kindred spirit in Raiga, mainly that both of them were sad and lonely people who felt that they had no purpose in life. Thus, the boy offered his life to the swordsman, hoping that in exchange he would find some validation for his existence. Instead, Raiga took Ranmaru in and made the child his eyes and ears, while the man would be Ranmaru's hands and feet. This allowed Raiga to secure a position within the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Through each other, they found their reason for living and Ranmaru saw more of the world through his travels with Raiga. From the moment of their meeting, they were one.
With Raiga dead, Ranmaru feels that he has no reason to remain alive himself and asks for the Konoha-nin to kill him, thus fulfilling their assigned mission. This reminds Naruto of Haku and his partnership with Zabuza long ago, leaving him trying to talk the child out of it. Neji, however, points out that their mission to drive out the Kurosuki Family still needs to be fulfilled and that Ranmaru on his own poses no threat to the miners. They tie him up in a small hut just to be safe and to ensure that he doesn't attempt suicide. Heading down towards the village, they see Karashi has taken Rokusuke and the other miners hostage and attempts an ambush with the surviving Kurosukis starting an avalanche. The genin use a mix of Naruto’s shadow clones and transformation jutsu to trick the senior Kurosukis and defeat them. Lee intercedes before the angry miners can attack Karashi and tells them he will take full responsibility for the boy's actions in exchange for letting him go back to the Curry of Life shop and making the titular curry. Sukeza concedes that Karashi was just a bottom level lackey who never directly harmed any of the villagers and allows Lee and Sanshō to handle him. The team returns to the hut they left Ranmaru at and tries to convince him to live for himself, saying that Raiga was just using him to commit evil deeds. While the child admits that he likely was being used, he still feels empty without his partner and can’t go on. At this, Lee and Naruto decide to let him try the Curry of Life to rejuvenate his body. After confirming Raiga's death via Byakugan, they make their way back. Ranmaru, however, can see something that makes him smile which Neji does not notice.
Upon their return to the Curry of Life shop, Hachidai and Sangorō return home and Karashi apologizes for his choices to which he proves by eating his mom's Punishment Curry. During a meal, Naruto questions Ranmaru about Raiga's relationships with the other Seven Ninja Swordsmen, but the boy knows nothing beyond Kisame's name and face. Lee meanwhile subjects Karashi to a brutal training regimen that the older boy just can’t keep up with. When he has time alone with Ranmaru, however, the latter reveals that Raiga is in fact still alive. Karashi carries Ranmaru back to where Raiga is buried and the boy, despite only being able to crawl, makes his way over to the fallen madman. He begs his partner to come back to life and transfers his chakra into Raiga's body saying he doesn’t want to have a funeral for him before his strength gives out. Raiga soon bursts from the rubble just in time to see Ranmaru lying supposedly dead in front of him. He accuses Karashi of killing his beloved partner until Karashi "clears up" the misunderstanding by blaming the group from Konoha on the boy's death. Tenten, who had just arrived on the scene in time for Raiga's rebirth, challenges him to a fight while mistaking the situation. While at first able to hold her own against her opponent, including knocking one of his swords away, Raiga is able to defeat her by shattering her staff with his remaining sword and blasting her. He then turns his wrath on Karashi and demands that he bring the remaining Konoha ninja to him by nightfall, otherwise he'll kill both his former underling as well as his mother. Tenten regains consciousness after the Kurosukis leave and discovers that Ranmaru is still alive, carrying him back to the cabin that they entrapped him in before.
Karashi returns to Sanshō and the others as they're fortifying the Curry of Life shop from the coming storm. The young man lying that Tenten fell from a cliff while she was training him during which a bolt of lightning struck (in reality it came from Raiga after he was revived). With some apprehension from Neji, he along with Lee and Naruto head off to help Tenten while Karashi stays behind and begs Sanshō to run away with him so that Raiga won't come back to kill them as well. In the meantime, Ranmaru's condition begins to deteriorate despite Tenten's best efforts and she decides to bring him back to Sanshō. The other three grow suspicious of Karashi's story and realize that he must've been threatened and went back to his Kurosuki Family ways. Surely enough, their suspicions are confirmed that Raiga is still alive and this time, he has a new method of attack. Now his Lightning Release techniques are employing actual lightning instead of channeling his chakra into the element, making him even more dangerous. Naruto and Neji's attempt to get close enough to fight Raiga directly fails due to the real lightning's unpredictability, leaving Lee to battle on his own. Back at the Curry of Life shop, Karashi's deception is exposed upon Tenten's return, earning him admonishment from his mother. Despite his insistence that they flee, Tenten will not abandon Ranmaru and neither will Sanshō. As the older woman begins making a new batch of the Curry of Life, Karashi thinks back to the time he first met Lee and how he was inspired by the genin. The former Kurosuki notices that Ranmaru won't eat his mother's curry, and upon tasting said curry, he notices the spices weren't blended properly before mixing in some more, showing that he never forgot the Curry of Life recipe, much to Sanshō's joy. Ranmaru eats the improved curry and is revitalized, finally feeling what it means to live without dependence on another. He tells Tenten that he wants Raiga to eat it too.
Lee isn't making any headway in his fight with Raiga, despite being able to land a few hits on him. Impressed with the boy's tenacity, Raiga asks why he goes so far to fight a battle he can't win, to which Lee replies that it's his Ninja Way to become so strong that Guy can smile at him with pride. Raiga muses that if his sensei loves him so much, maybe he'll give Lee a funeral. The battle concludes as Raiga uses a Dragon Tornado to send Lee flying off the cliff. Tenten and the Curry of Life staff hurry to the battlefield with the curry in tow to help their downed comrades. They find Lee along the way and give him some of the curries while Tenten and Karashi hurry off to get the curry to Naruto and Neji respectively. Lee and Naruto are revived but Neji can't stomach the spiciness and remains unconscious. Lee loves it so much that he eats the entire vat, not realizing that alcohol became mixed in when Karashi accidentally knocked a bottle of red wine into the concoction. Needless to say, Lee is intoxicated. Ranmaru instead goes and talks to Raiga, who is overjoyed to see his companion alive and well, all while Tenten fills Naruto up to speed on the situation. Raiga has a genjutsu cast on him by his partner in order to lure the lunatic over a cliff so the two of them can die together. Before this can be accomplished, the now drunk Lee returns and challenges Raiga once more. A dumbfounded Raiga gets annoyed and starts blasting at Lee but can't touch him before the inebriated genin boy lands a kick on Raiga and sends Ranmaru over the cliff, much to the former's horror. Naruto manages to save Ranmaru and brings him back up, with the boy now defending an unconscious Lee. He asks that Raiga try the Curry of Life to feel like he's no longer alone and for him to stop hurting people. Now incredulous, Raiga can't handle that Ranmaru has begun to evolve away from him and shouts that he has to give his beloved partner a funeral. Naruto calls him out for this and blocks his Thunder Armor attack with shadow clones, saying that Ranmaru has true friends now and that he'd be better off laughing with them than crying at the world with Raiga. When Naruto asks him again about any connections to Kisame, Raiga once more says that he hates him along with all the other Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He changes the subject and pitifully states that Ranmaru was the only true friend he ever had, but now that the boy has others who care about him, he doesn't need Raiga to protect him and that they can never be as one again. Raiga explodes and accuses Ranmaru of being ungrateful for all he's done for him and that he'll be getting a funeral, after all, blasting the shadow clones apart but missing five clones that kick, headbutt, and punch the Thunder of the Hidden Mist over the cliff. As Raiga falls, he thinks to himself that Ranmaru is finally free before calling on the lightning to give him a funeral worth remembering. The summoned bolt proceeds to obliterate the man and Raiga Kurosuki is no more.
Sometime later, Ranmaru is living with Sanshō and Karashi as an apprentice in the Curry of Life shop. Naruto and Team Guy are ready to depart back to Konoha when Sanshō offers them a batch of curry for the road. This time the sauce is deep crimson that nobody bar Lee wants to try. Neji and Naruto are forced to drag the bushy-browed ninja away from the shop and back home with Tenten falling close behind. Thus the Katabami Gold Mine is safe and the mission is completed at last.
The Cury of Life Arc has the following tropes:
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: While Guy confirming Raiga's identity here makes sense
with the later flashback in the manga, the former states only that he heard a rumor about the latter's history in the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, not that he had a personal encounter with Raiga himself. You'd think that such an important part of Guy's history, namely the incident that got his father killed, would amount to more than just saying he'd heard a rumor.- Ranmaru confirms Neji's theory that Raiga was able to join the Seven Swordsmen after finding the former and using his unique kekkei genkai to help secure a position in the group, yet Guy's flashback later shows that Raiga was already an established member when Guy's team encountered him and his fellow swordsmen. Ranmaru can only be twelve at best, so there's no way he could've been around for that.
- Raiga is depicted as an ANBU when meeting Ranmaru for the first time, but his databook entry released years later specifies his canon rank as a jōnin. He's shown to be using Kiba during his ANBU days which infers that they've always been his or that they didn't exist prior to him...which is discredited in Boruto which explains that all the weapons have been around since the days of the First Mizukage.
- When Raiga kills himself, he's still holding Kiba and the swords are gone when he is vaporized, indicating that they were lost with him. They turn up seemingly no worse for wear later when Ameyuri is shown wielding them.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Surprisingly, Raiga can elicit this feeling in his last moments, saying that Ranmaru was his only friend, and it's implied that he couldn't find other friends among his Seven Ninja Swordsmen peers. His last thoughts towards Ranmaru are that he's finally free before he uses the lightning to incinerate himself.
- All There in the Manual: Hachidai and Sangorō are only named in the credits. Same thing for Sukeza; the elderly miner.
- Ax-Crazy: Raiga Kurosuki. A sane man certainly wouldn't go around trying to blast twelve to thirteen-year-old kids with lightning and threaten to kill a defenseless elderly woman based on the vaguest circumstantial evidence that her son might have had some hand in his Morality Pet's supposed death. Not that he was any better beforehand with the burying people alive thing.
- Badass and Child Duo: Raiga Kurosuki and Ranmaru.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Katabami miners are liberated from the Kurosuki Family and Karashi is taking steps to overcome his cowardice and genuinely grow as a man. Slightly more bitter in Ranmaru's case, as he loses Raiga, the first person who genuinely cared for him, and now he must find his own reason for existing while working as an apprentice chef.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Raiga doesn't usually hate his victims, he just thinks that funerals are the best way to see the good in people.
- Brick Joke: A scream can be heard when Tsunade throws her chair out of her office. Later, as Lee drags Naruto off to explain about their mission, Izumo and Kotetsu are seen hauling the chair back upstairs with the former being shown with a bloody lump.note Kotetsu: Just be happy it wasn't a desk.
- Buried Alive: Raiga's preferred method of dealing with anyone who crosses him.
- Call-Back: Zabuza Momochi and Kisame Hoshigaki are brought up when Lee is trying to sell their mission to Naruto. Haku also comes to mind when Naruto hears Ranmaru begging to be killed for no longer having a purpose in life.
- The Cameo: Anko Mitarashi shows up briefly in the Hokage Office to confirm a bodyguard mission's success but accidentally ends up eating Tsunade's lunch, leaving only one dumpling left.
- Sakura appears briefly healing a bird, showing that she is coming along in her training.
- Grandma Sanshō briefly pops up in a future episode where Guy and Lee's imposters show up in Konoha to obtain its secrets.
- Canon Immigrant: Raiga makes a non-speaking appearance in the manga WAY down the line in the final arc during Guy's flashback to the days of his late father. Said father succeeded in killing four of Raiga's fellow Swordsmen of the Mist before he along with the surviving two swordsmen escaped. Its shown later on in the anime of Boruto that Raiga had a biological daughter, Buntan, whom he abandoned without ever learning of her birth. In spite of this, she resents Naruto for the role he played in her father's death and that combined with her mother's abuse, claiming that she was worthless like Raiga, shapes in her into a depraved radical.
- Kiba (Raiga's swords) was integrated into the manga being wielded by a different, more current, member of the Seven Mist Swordsman before Raiga's cameo in the Fourth Shinobi World War storyline.
- Cool Old Lady: Grandma Sanshō to Lee and, to a lesser extent, the other Konoha genin.
- Disappeared Dad: No mention of Karashi's father is made and it appears that it's always been just him and his mom.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: This arc has several:
- Raiga's prominent lips, long hair, and soft facial features give this vibe, though his deep voice makes it less likely to be confused.
- Ranmaru is a downplayed example in comparison with Haku. He's voiced by a woman and has fairly androgynous features, but never mistaken for a girl in-universe. Justified in that he's still a child.
- Karashi can be mistaken for such in the Japanese version given his voice actor's performance along with his long ponytail and blue eyes. Averted in the dub which gave him an obvious masculine voice.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Kiba has no tsuba here whereas the manga would add some with the anime following suit. Also, the weapon is shown to be attachable which never happens again after this arc.
- Eyes Always Shut: Sangorō except when he tastes the Curry of Life.
- Fire-Breathing Diner: The Curry of Life shop is a subversion; it may be spicy to the point of being inedible, but (most) of those who eat it find themselves revigorated by the spices and other ingredients. Not everyone can stomach it though, as Neji proves both times he's fed it. The crimson batch that Sanshō makes at the end nobody (except Lee) wants to try, not even Naruto who beforehand admitted to liking the last kind.
- Freudian Excuse: Karashi was bullied frequently in his younger days and wanted to become a strong man. When he saw a dedicated Lee still running laps in his sleep, it inspired him to act by joining the Kurosuki Family. Too bad that Raiga, and possibly the more senior disciples in the group, are much worse than any bully could ever be.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Raiga is an interesting case; while he is given a backstory and has enough personality traits to make him fairly memorable for a Filler Villain, the specifics for his taking over Katabami are left mostly vague (apparently the Land of Rivers' government were overtaxing the miners there and Raiga overthrew them some time prior, but this angle isn't followed up on) and he notably refuses to say anything about his reasons for hating his fellow Seven Mist Swordsmen.
- It's All My Fault: Lee feels responsible for inadvertently causing Karashi to fall in with the Kurosuki Family and takes responsibility to reform him instead of leaving him at the mercy of the angry miners.
- Sanshō feels the same for pushing her son too hard while he was being bullied.
- Mistaken for Murderer: Raiga briefly accuses Karashi of killing Ranmaru when he's revived. While he does clear himself by claiming it was the Konoha team, Raiga becomes increasingly Bad Boss towards him after the fact.
- Morality Pet: Ranmaru to Raiga just like Haku to Zabuza before them.
- Non-Action Guy: Ranmaru uses his bloodline dōjutsu to guide Raiga while the latter does the physical work.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Raiga notably lacks the sharp teeth that all the other Seven Mist Swordsmen seem to have. Whether this changed upon his inclusion in the manga is unknown since he doesn't speak there nor in the anime version of said scene.
- Noodle Incident: As described in Generic Doomsday Villain, we're only given a vague explanation as to why Raiga enslaved the mine and his reasons for why he defected from Kirigakure and grew to despise his fellow Swordsmen of the Mist remains unanswered.
- Older Than They Look: Assuming this arc is still canon with Shippuden and Boruto, Raiga seemingly hasn't aged all that much in the days since his encounter with Guy's genin team. No age is given for him in the databook. Keep in mind that Guy was likely between six and ten when his team encountered the Mist Swordsmen.
- Odd Name Out: All of the other Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist have their surname given after a type of produce (Momochi means "peach soil", Hoshigaki means "dried persimmon", etc.), but Raiga's, Kurosuki, translates to "black spade", not fitting the theme. That said, spades are used for planting and cultivating crops.
- Rage Breaking Point: Tsunade explodes after when Neji tells her that he'd rather not take on Naruto (but does so out of respect), causing her to throw her chair out the window and injuring Izumo. An offhand comment by Kotetsu suggests that this has become a common occurrence since Tsunade took office. Considering she had to deal with Anko eating most of her lunch and Guy's usual over-the-top antics, it's understandable why'd she'd be on edge.
- Something We Forgot: Lee and the others are busy tearing into Karashi for joining with the Kurosukis that they forget about Rokusuke being trapped in a coffin until he starts banging for help. They let him out and he's spared the fate of Kanpachi.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Kanpachi is buried alive for days with no air, let alone food and water. Hachidai rightfully points out that there was no chance of him being alive upon their return to the mine, but Rokusuke strikes off on his own in a fruitless attempt to rescue his friend...only to be caught by the Kurosukis and almost suffer the same fate.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Karashi attempts to sell out Team Guy twice despite Lee's efforts to redeem him. It isn't until after Tenten returns with a near-dead Ranmaru that he realizes how badly he screwed up.
- Unreliable Expositor: Naruto doesn't find Guy's information on Raiga, that he's a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, very trustworthy much to Lee contention. To be fair neither does Tenten. Fortunately or rather unfortunately for them, Guy's source about Raiga's strength proved to be entirely correct.
- The Unreveal: It's never revealed why Raiga hates the other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. The most he says is that he wants them all dead but refuses to elaborate. Given the history of the "Blood Mist Village", however, and the effects it had on Zabuza's psyche, that might be a strong indicator. Also, there's the implication that Raiga wanted to befriend the other swordsmen but none of them would take.
