Prologue: Land of Waves

Known in the anime as the Land of Waves Escort Mission, this is the first arc of Part I and the true starting point of the series. It spans the manga's opening four volumes, chapters 1 to 33, along with episodes 1 to 19 of the Naruto anime. The arc establishes Team 7 and follows the squad through its first major assignment before giving way to the Chunin Exams.

Twelve years after the Nine-Tailed Fox was sealed into a newborn at the cost of the Fourth Hokage's life, that child, Naruto, is a failing Academy student shunned by his village. Tricked by the traitor Mizuki into stealing a forbidden scroll, Naruto instead learns the truth of the fox within him and masters the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to save his teacher Iruka, at last earning his headband. He is then placed with Sasuke and Sakura under Kakashi, who passes them only once they grasp that abandoning a comrade is worse than breaking any rule.

The team takes what looks like a routine escort for the bridge-builder Tazuna, but the job proves far deadlier, drawing the shipping tyrant Gato's hired killers. After surviving the Demon Brothers, they face Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from the Hidden Mist, whom Kakashi barely subdues before a masked figure spirits the body away. Suspecting Zabuza still lives, Kakashi drills the genin in chakra control by having them climb trees, while Naruto inspires Tazuna's despairing grandson Inari to believe in heroes again.

Zabuza returns for a rematch on the unfinished bridge, and his ally Haku traps Sasuke and Naruto inside a dome of ice mirrors. Believing Sasuke slain, Naruto draws on the Nine-Tails' chakra for the first time and overwhelms Haku, yet spares him. When Gato betrays the dying Zabuza and defiles Haku's corpse, Zabuza cuts a bloody path to kill Gato before falling beside his companion, and the two are buried together.

With Gato gone, his leaderless thugs are driven off by Inari and the villagers, who have finally found the nerve to defend their home. The bridge is completed and named the Great Naruto Bridge in honor of the spark Naruto lit in the town. Team 7 heads home, their bonds tempered, as the series turns toward the Chunin Exams.