The Search for the Bikōchū Arc is the fourth filler arc in the original Naruto anime and the third of the Post-Sasuke Retrieval filler arcs.
Short Summary
Desperate for a lead on Sasuke's whereabouts, Naruto and Team 8 head out on a hunt for the Bikōchū, a beetle said to be able to track down a person's scent for miles around. While searching they come into conflict with the Kamizuru clan, a group of bug tamers from Iwagakure who want the Bikōchū themselves. Meanwhile, an insecure Hinata is desperate to prove herself a worthy ninja to her family and squadmates and learns a new form of Gentle Fist.
Long Summary
A short time after the Mizuki incident Team 8 goes to visit a still injured Kurenai in the Konoha Hospital. It turns out that Mizuki had no current information on Orochimaru's whereabouts leaving the trail cold. This doesn't sit well with Naruto who has been dogging Tsunade for the past several days to let him leave the village and dig up some leads on Sasuke. Tsunade, however, won't permit it since he needs to train with Jiraiya, forgetting that it was she who sent the pervy sage out on a mission in the first place. Hinata and Kiba feel bad for Naruto but don't see any way to track down Sasuke, only for Shino to reveal a possible method. He explains to Tsunade about the Bikōchū, a rare type of beetle that was used long ago by the Aburame clan as a tracker. After the Second Great Ninja War, the beetles' use was discontinued to allow the species to repopulate due to the deaths of so many. Their sense of smell was said to be greater than that of a ninken's and was responsible for many an espionage; any scent exposed to a freshly hatched female would cause that bug to track down the source for miles. Sasuke leaving most of his belongings behind when he defected guarantees a chance of exposing his scent to the beetle so he can be located. With that said, the chances of tracking a Bikōchū down are ten percent at best and with Konoha in dire straights, Tsunade is reluctant to send them off on a desperate lead. On the other hand with Kurenai still healing and having no current mission to fulfill, Tsunade decides to bet on the ten percent chance. Team 8 has the mission approved with Shino as the leader and is sent out...along with Naruto who was eavesdropping on the entire conversation. Tsunade makes it clear that if the mission fails, he must give up trying to find Sasuke for a while.
Upon their departure, Naruto butts heads with Shino over his leadership skills and accidentally eats a giant fruit that gives him diarrhea. He also causes Hinata some embarrassment after seeing her naked while practicing an unfamiliar jutsu near a waterfall. Thankfully for Hinata, it was evening when it happened, thus too dark for Naruto to recognize her, and he writes it off as a dream. The squad eventually comes to the environment that the Bikōchū is located in and they get to searching. Little do they realize that their arrival has not gone unnoticed by a group of Iwagakure ninja known as the Kamizuru clan. The Kamizuru used to be the rivals of the Aburame during the Second Great Ninja War but fell into decline after an attack on Konoha failed due to the latter getting wind of their ambush. The lead ninja, Suzumebachi, desires to use the Bikōchū for the good of her clan in order to track down a lost book that her grandfather, the First Tsuchikage, hid away before his death. With the forbidden techniques hidden in it, Suzumebachi believes that it will revitalize her clan's status. Along with her brothers, Kurobachi and Jibachi, she decides to wait for the Konoha ninja to find the Bikōchū and then take it from them. Kurobachi brings up the possibility that the children may not be able to find one since they themselves have had no luck searching for the past ten days, but this doesn't discourage Suzumebachi, who rationalizes that if they at least kill Shino (who is recognized as an Aburame) Iwa will give them some recognition.
Naruto proves less than competent when searching for the Bikōchū, even confusing it with a Goliath Beetle and a giant subspecies that turns out to be a maneater, nearly getting the team killed in the latter case. Shino, Kiba, and Hinata all quickly detect the Kamizuru clan nearby but decide not to make a move unless they do first. Naruto is kept in the dark so that he won't cause a ruckus and frighten off the beetle. Several days pass without finding a Bikōchū and Shino is worried about a coming storm which could mean the end of their chances to find the bug. Bikōchū quickly mature into the imago stage only a day after the larvae enter their chrysalis and it only occurs on days during the rainy season, so Shino's worries are justified. Hinata curses her uselessness as the storm hits and tries to focus her Byakugan on the insects but can't pick up anything that small. Upon remembering Naruto's words of determination from the Chūnin Exams, however, Hinata regains her confidence and with great focus, she is able to make out the insects and sees a Bikōchū. Naruto makes up for his less than stellar performance and captures the bug just as the storm lets up. The Bikōchū is female and lays her egg much to Shino and the others' delight.
The Kamizuru make their move by kidnapping Hinata when she's separated from her squad. They send the others a ransom note that demands the Bikōchū be turned over to them in exchange for Hinata, finally letting Naruto in on the know. By the time they get to where Hinata was last detected, there's nobody there besides some dead bees used to poison the girl, which tips Shino off to the Kamizuru clan's identity. Kiba wonders what they should do since they worked so hard to catch the Bikōchū while Naruto decides that even if they lose their chance to find Sasuke, it isn't worth abandoning Hinata to the enemy and they can always find another method to find the Uchiha boy. Shino, though, wonders if Hinata would accept that given that it was her idea to go on this mission in the first place, much to Naruto's surprise. While it was Shino who brought up the Bikōchū before, he and Kiba at first thought it was too much of a longshot and wanted to focus on missions that would be of direct benefit to Konoha. Hinata, however, insisted on taking the chance in order to bring back a valued comrade to the village, making it the first time she volunteered a mission as a shinobi. For that reason, Shino wants the assignment to be successful and decides to meet the Kamizuru at the trade-off point to get Hinata back and keep the Bikōchū out of the Iwa-nin's hands.
At the designated location Shino uses an insect clone and tries to pass off a goliath beetle as the Bikōchū. Kurobachi sees through it but is distracted long enough for the real Shino to attack the other Kamizuru and Kiba to get Hinata away. It turns out that "Hinata" and her kidnappers are wax clones made as a lead-in ambush to a swarm of bees. Most of the bees are clones too but real ones are in there containing a deadly venom. Shino is able to use his beetles to make a wall jutsu that eradicates the swarm just in time for the real Kamizuru clan to announce themselves to the Aburame boy. With both teams now knowing each other's identity, the Konoha team demands that the Kamizuru free Hinata for real, but the latter camp refuses since they (Konoha) didn't intend to surrender the Bikōchū and decide to just kill them and search for the bug later. Suzumebachi unleashes another bee swarm after the genin, this time setting them up with paper bombs to do some actual damage only for Shino and the others escape with a beetle clone jutsu. It's then revealed that Suzumebachi and Jibachi were wax clones and that Kurobachi was the only Kamizuru present. The Konoha team picks up Hinata's scent coming from a large beehive and seems to find her imprisoned in a cocoon made of honey but it turns out to be the real Suzumebachi in disguise, using Hinata's coat to throw off her scent (so Akamaru wouldn't notice it). The real Hinata is still wrapped in the honey under Jibachi's supervision alongside a river that leads to a cavernous waterfall. Before he departs with Kurobachi, Jibachi warns Hinata that if she makes any escape attempts his bee swarm will sever the rope keeping her from being swept into the current leading to the waterfall, which he says will result in her death. A desperate Hinata counts the number of bees around the rope at thirteen and realizes she'll have to get all of them at once to avoid being killed, but she's not confident in being able to hit small targets. Upon hearing Kiba's struggles and remembering Naruto's determination during his match against Neji, Hinata hardens her resolve and is able to kill twelve bees before missing the final one, which causes it to cut the rope and sends Hinata towards the cave.
Back at the hive, the other Konoha-nin become trapped after Suzumebachi blows the upper floor apart which leaves Kiba hanging on for dear life with the others dangling off his legs. The lower floor is infested with giant bee larvae that Suzumebachi promises to save them from if they tell her where the Bikōchū is hidden. They refuse and put up some resistance but it doesn't last long due to the larvae consuming their chakra with Kiba being the first to collapse. Making matters worse is the Queen Bee that Suzumebachi summons; a gigantic hornet that she threatens to feed them to if they won't cooperate. Naruto collapses too just as Shino throws some shuriken at the queen to no avail, with the giant spewing honey from its mouth. The boys are trapped in cocoons like Hinata and are left at the mercy of the Kamizuru clan just as Jibachi and Kurobachi arrive to inform their leader that the Bikōchū hasn't been found yet. At that moment Shino promises them that he'll reveal the Bikōchū's location if they return Hinata, but the Kamizuru mock the idea saying that they're in no position to do so after the initial deal's breakdown. On the other hand, Shino gives them an ultimatum that they really have no other options since they want the Bikōchū as badly as Konoha does and if they don't get the beetle before sunrise their mission will fail. The Kamizuru commiserate and decide to accept Shino's offer with the backup plan of killing Shino in order to get some of their statuses back.
Upon reaching the river, everyone is shocked to discover Hinata missing along with the cocoon with Jibachi surmising that she must have been pulled into the cavern by the current when attempting an escape. Naruto is furious and yells at Jibachi for killing Hinata which causes the bespectacled man to stomp on his head, mocking his anger as a sign of feelings for the Hyūga girl. With the deal having broken down, Suzumebachi decides to go with Plan B and kill Shino along with his friends; her rationale being that Konoha and Iwa have been enemies for generations and that is enough of an excuse to have them killed. Shino is about to cave and tell the bee users where the Bikōchū is hidden but Naruto shuts him up by saying that he'll avenge Hinata by tearing the Kamizuru himself much to Jibachi's anger. He snaps after Naruto gives him a glimpse of the Nine-Tailed Fox's anger and is about to kill Naruto before a paper bomb comes out of nowhere to knock the Iwa-nin back. It is revealed to have come from Hinata, having broken out from the cocoon at the last second before going over the waterfall. She resolutely challenges the Kamizuru and is assaulted by their bee jutsu just in time to unveil the ability she was practicing when Naruto saw her before. Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms is unleashed, blasting away all the bees with lasers of pure chakra. Naruto is astonished at what Hinata has learned while Shino explains that the Hinata he knew from the Chūnin Exams has grown up and developed her abilities all for her own Ninja Way as well as to gain the respect of the one she admires: Naruto. It's not long after explaining this that Shino and the others break free with the help of the former's insects, being trapped in the first place being his plan to guarantee their safety from being executed. When all of the bees are dead, the queen bee is summoned and manages to score a hit on Hinata, but she gets back up and faces the giant just as it comes in for the killing blow, her Trigrams knocking back the bee into the Kamizurus and ending the fight. Naruto catches her before she collapses, congratulating her on her jutsu and saving their lives, much to her joy.
Daybreak is close at hand as the genin head to the tree where they hid the Bikōchū, having used some Bug Repellent on the terrarium so that the Kamizuru's bees wouldn't get close. The beetle has entered its chrysalis phase and will emerge soon to sniff Sasuke's scent, but fate gives everyone a rude awakening. Suzumebachi returns having survived being almost crushed by the queen and is astonished that her bees were fooled a mere bug repellent. Having nothing left to lose, the now crazed kunoichi summons the queen again and is determined to avenge her brothers, along with her extended clan, by killing the genin as well as the Bikōchū if she must. Naruto won't let her stop them from getting Sasuke back and blows her away with the Rasengan. Unfortunately, the fallout from the Rasengan causes Sasuke's headband, which Naruto had been carrying around since the mission began, to go flying and be buried under a fallen tree. With the Bikōchū seconds away from emerging, Naruto hurriedly tries to get the headband and barely grasps it...before the strain of it all causes him to pass gas in the faces of his teammates...and on the Bikōchū. Smelling the flatulence the beetle is released by Shino and traces the scent, landing on Naruto's butt, much to the latter's horror. He begs Shino to make it sniff Sasuke's headband, only for the Aburame to irritably tell him that it's over.
Sakura is rightly furious at Naruto ruining the mission and chases him around Konoha once he returns, even getting some help from the Bikōchū when she temporarily loses him. Meanwhile, Shizune reports on the mission's failure to Tsunade, who feels for Hinata since it was the girl's recommendation that the mission would be undertaken. However, Hinata, while admitting to her mission's utter failure, happily tells her father that she is getting stronger and will work harder to ensure success the next time, to which Hiashi wishes her best of luck.
The Search for the Bikōchū Arc has the following tropes:
- Accidental Pervert: Subverted; Naruto sees a naked Hinata dancing on the water, but it's too dark to make out any details, let alone recognize her. Given that he doesn't mention her nudity to Kiba the next day, it's likely he didn't even notice. Oh, Naruto.
- Adaptation Expansion: The scene where Hinata muses to find something she's good at was in the manga at the beginning of the Sasuke Retrieval arc and was likely the inspiration for this storyline.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: The Kamizuru's relation to the First Tsuchikage, being his grandchildren, becomes irreconcilable with what we learn about that Tsuchikage's family later on in the manga. Specifically that in the manga version he also has a grandson who is already an elderly man in his late seventies by the time of the current story. That old man is also the third and current Tsuchikage with offspring of his own plus his offspring's offspring, so yeah. Not to mention that when the First Tsuchikage is shown in flashbacks, he is never mentioned to own a "Book of Secrets" that his anime descendants desire, let alone use any bee-related jutsu like Suzumebachi says here. His elderly appearance by the time his to-be-successor was less than ten in the manga also casts doubts on him having any other grandchildren, let alone ones that can only be in their mid-thirties tops.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Hinata, plus Shino to a lesser extent.
- All for Nothing: The Bikōchū is rendered useless thanks to Naruto farting on it when trying to retrieve Sasuke's headband under a tree. Sakura is PISSED.
- Animation Bump: The fourth and final episode is well-known for this.
- Beard of Evil: Kurobachi
- Bee Afraid: The Kamizuru clan utilizes them. The three have "hornet" (Bachi) in their names and Suzumebachi can summon a giant queen bee to attack.
- Berserk Button: Sakura's reaction to finding out that a fart ruined the mission is not pleasant.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies:
- One species of bugs residing in the forrest looks exactly like the Bikochu...except it's the size of rhino.
- Suzumebachi's ace summon is a giant queen bee.
- Big Damn Heroes: Hinata gets an epic one in the form of a freaking laser beams jutsu used to mow down a swarm of bees, plus knock back a kaiju-sized variety back at her attackers.
- Big "NO!": Naruto in the Japanese version gives one once he learns what scent the Bikōchū has imprinted on its nose. The dub changes it to a Big "WHY?!".
- Big "SHUT UP!": Suzumebachi's last spoken words.
- Bittersweet Ending: One random fart causes the Bikōchū mission to go up in smoke, leaving Naruto to face Sakura's wrath when he returns. On the bright side, Hinata was able to gain strength and won more approval from the boy she loves, plus her relationship with her father is improving.
- Butt-Monkey: Naruto throughout the arc, the least of which not being his Epic Fail that ruins the mission to track down Sasuke.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Aburame Bug Repellant is brought up by Shino at the beginning of the second episode but goes unused so as to not repel the Bikōchū during their search. It's revealed towards the end of the final episode that the Konoha-nin made use of the repellant for the terrarium that the beetle was hatching in so that Kamizuru's bees wouldn't find it while the former group was trying to get Hinata back.
- Death Glare: Naruto gives Jibachi one from the Nine-Tailed Fox which scares the Kamizuru so badly he jumps back at least ten feet.
- Determinator: Hinata takes form by always keeping Naruto in mind when in dire straights, the least not being when she's about to go over a waterfall.
- Disney Death: Hinata, bound up in a honey cocoon and trapped in a fierce current, goes over a waterfall a seemingly meets her maker, only to be revealed to have escaped at the last moment.
- Epic Fail: Two words: Naruto's butt.
- Foreshadowing: The Protective Eight Trigrams was hinted at when Hinata easily sidesteps Neji on her way out and shown in practice when Naruto unknowingly sees her by the waterfall.
- Forehead of Doom: Suzumebachi could give Sakura a run for her money.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Jibachi
- Gasshole: Could you have picked a worse time to cut loose, Naruto?
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the Land of Rice Fields and Mizuki Strikes Back arcs, this one isn't too frightening (unless you have insectophobia).
- Luminescent Blush: Hinata takes her blushing up to eleven, doing it roughly Once an Episode in this arc. When Naruto narrates how he saw a "really pretty girl at the waterfall" she goes strait to High-Pressure Emotion.
- Mr. Exposition: Shino is there to explain about the Bikōchū and other various insects the group encounters in this story.
- Nude Nature Dance: For some reason, Hinata decides to do some training in the nude.
- The Nose Knows: Whatever scent the Bikōchū is exposed to upon hatching will be tracked down regardless of distance. In this case; Naruto's butt due to some contrivances.
- Potty Emergency: Early on, Naruto gets diarrhea upon eating a giant fruit that wasn't safe to eat.
- It's Probably Nothing: Combined with Tempting Fate; Tsunade receives heads up about the Kamizuru clan at the start of the second episode but writes them off due to their decline. If only she'd remembered that her making a safe bet typically never ends well...and sure enough, the mission fails.
- Running Gag: Remember Naruto, Shino is leading the mission! Plus in the second episode, Naruto misidentifies different bugs as the Bikōchū.
- Shipper on Deck: Shino, of all people, is this when Hinata pulls off her awesome new jutsu. He's the one to tell Naruto about Hinata devoting all her training in order to earn the former's respect, along with that of her clan's and fellow ninjas'. Nothing romantic is confirmed, but it does get through to Naruto about how powerful Hinata has gotten since the Chūnin Exams.
- Spanner in the Works: The plot of the anime probably would have gone a bit differently if Suzumebachi hadn't come back to kill the Konoha genin, which led to Sasuke's headband flying away due to the Rasengan, and then to an epic fail of stinky proportions courtesy of Naruto.
- Supporting Protagonist: Once more, Naruto may have the honor of the final blow, but the focus is clearly on Hinata and her drive to become strong. Hell, it's partially Naruto's fault that the mission ends up a failure.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Naruto attempts to help Hinata when she gets smacked by the queen bee only to be held back and told by Shino to have faith in Hinata. Cue her knocking back the queen right into Suzumebachi's face.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Sakura at the end towards Naruto, who can't believe that it was a fart of all things that spoiled their chances to locate Sasuke.
- Took a Level in Badass: In one of the most famous filler instances, Hinata demonstrates Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms which effortlessly mows down the bee jutsu of the Kamizuru and even knocks back the enormous queen bee of Suzumebachi's. Video games would go on to feature the move as Hinata's standard attack and it would also appear in Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth. Not bad, girl.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Even if he's not a bug expert like Shino, Naruto should've been easily able to tell the difference between a cockroach and a Bikōchū from the photograph alone. He doesn't even notice the Kamizuru clan until after Hinata has been taken hostage and Shino spells it out for him. Compared to the last two arcs, it's quite the fall from grace.
- That's nothing to say of his eating an obviously unsafe fruit that gives him diarrhea and in the last episode when he farts on the Bikōchū that they risked their lives to protect (though to be fair, the latter WAS a rather unfortunate accident).
- Took a Level in Kindness: Hiashi while still strict shows that his pride in his daughter's abilities is growing by the end.
- Uncertain Doom: While her claims about avenging them indicate that Jibachi and Kurobachi were killed when the queen bee was sent flying into them, it's unclear if Suzumebachi herself was killed by Naruto's Rasengan or just knocked out. She appears alive in a later stand-alone episode in Konoha, but
that episode also had Sasuke appear in a background cameo despite his defection, so its canonicity is dubious. - Villainous Breakdown: Jibachi upon seeing Naruto's Nine-Tailed side. Suzumebachi has one after her initial defeat and resolves to kill Team 8 to avenge her brothers, even if it means killing the Bikōchū.
- Villain Respect: Suzumebachi finds it admirable that Hinata continues to push herself with training during the nights while hunting for the Bikōchū.
- Well Done Daughter Girl!: Part of Hinata's motivation comes from wanting to prove herself to her emotionally distant father.
- What Would Naruto Do?: Never give up, according to Hinata.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: The Squad stops to collect some edible fruits, but Shino warns them, that this particular fruit can grow gigantic, and those should be avoided, because they cause diarrhea. Kiba invokes the trope, and sure enough, when they turn around a moment later Naruto's already happily munching on one.
