A never-give-up blow! Dance of the Seedling Fern

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A never-give-up blow! Dance of the Seedling Fern
Premiere date:	30 March 2005
Episode Length:	24.5 minutes
Episode Code:	127
Episode Airdate:	30 March 2005
Manga Arc:	Sasuke Retrieval

A never-give-up blow! Dance of the Seedling Fern (Japanese: 執念の一撃！早蕨の舞, - Shūnen no ichigeki Sawarabi no Mai) is episode 127 of the anime series Naruto. The episode's storyline is from the Sasuke Retrieval manga arc.

[edit] Plot

Kimimaro, whose appearance has changed and grown long hair, brown skin, more bones, a spiked tail, and spikes on his back like a stegosaurus, easily breaks through most of Gaara's defences with his immense strength at Level Two. Lee attacks Kimimaro but he would have been killed by a tail flick if Gaara hadn't used Shield of Sand. Kimimaro grows out his spinal cord and uses it as a sword/whip and wraps it around him. Gaara uses his sand to envelop himself to protect himself from the spike and Kimimaro makes a giant bone drill hardened to maximum but coughs blood up from some reason.

Meanwhile, back at Orochimaru's place, Orochimaru asks how much longer will Kimimaro will last and Kabuto regrets that he will last a bit longer but if he had the clan's medical history it could be different and tells Orochimaru that he has found out the reason why he is the sole survivor of his clan. Kabuto calls them a brainless clan that likes to fight and calls them stupid fools that are in a hurry to die. Then he says that only Kimimaro had the bloodline limit to grow bones, that's why his own clan was scared of him and confined him.

Kimimaro tries to break through the Shield of Shukaku but the drill doesn't get very far before breaking into tiny fragments and a crater only about 2 feet wide and 6 inches deep. Kimimaro sees a flashback where he is first given the Seal of Earth and Orochimaru tells him that he has high expectations for him and we see the now deceased Sound Four. Kimimaro asks them whether they will obey him or he will kill him. Sakon gets pissed and all of the Sound Four jump on Kimimaro but Kimimaro beats them all within a matter of seconds and mocks them that they can only do so little even though there are four of them and again gives them choice of obeying or dying. Back in the present Gaara tries to use his quicksand in the shape of a whirlpool in an attempt to drown Kimimaro.

Gaara: "You will sink 200 meters underground and be held there. With the pressure of sand glued to your body. You won't even be able to move a finger."

However, Kimimaro returns to attack with Dance of the Seedling Fern, causing a forest of bones to erupt from the ground.

Luckily, Gaara uses Sand to elevate Lee and himself above the attack. After flashing back to a scene when they are about to plan to annihilate Konoha, him coughing blood when Orochimaru takes the face off a sound-nin, Orochimaru killing the Kazekage of Sand then telling Kimimaro that it is all thanks to him, him having to be in a hospital bed all the time and crying from no use, remebering when Orochimaru telling him that there might be no point in living but if he continues to live he might find some interesting things, just like how he found the flower, just like how Orochimaru found him, him receiving the Earth Seal; thinking he can't fail now, Kimimaro emerges from the bones to land the killing blow on an exhausted Gaara - but suddenly and unexpectedly, he stops.

We a little bit away, a flower similar to the one Kimimaro first found, then some drops of blood fall on it, the flower loses all of its petals suddenly and dying, along with blood all over Kimimaro's body. Later, when Gaara and Lee rest by a tree, Gaara comments on how he completely lost. Lee objects, saying that Guy-sensei told him that luck is a skill, to which Gaara responds by calling Guy a meddling fool. Lee tells Gaara that although he is grateful to him for saving his life, he should not talk about Guy like that. Gaara thinks that Kimimaro is similar to Naruto. Gaara comments on Kimimaro's dedication to Orochimaru afterwards, saying that loneliness is more powerful than the goodness or wickedness of the people anyone cares about. No one can defeat loneliness, no matter how strong he may be.

We see Naruto following Sasuke on a statue of two warriors facing each other with a waterfall between.

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