The Trap Master Arc is the thirteenth filler arc in the original Naruto anime and the twelfth of the Post-Sasuke Retrieval filler arcs.
Short Summary
The Konoha 11 must pool all their skills together in order to save their village from destruction. An elderly shinobi from a long-gone village, Gennō, leaves behind an intricate series of traps and deceptions which pushes Naruto and his friends to their intellectual limits.
Tropes:
- The Cameo: Shibuki and Takigakure get a small, but important one, running a training mission which Konoha takes as a veil for an invasion, which sends numerous shinobi out of the village at a crucial point to guard against a possible attack.
- Handicapped Badass: Gennō in a nutshell, he’s both older than Tsunade and deadly ill with not many months left to live, but he still manages to outsmart the Leaf ANBU and a troop of shinobi, which includes Shikamaru. He also manages to keep up with Rock Lee in close combat.
- Last of His Kind: Gennō is the last surviving shinobi of his village after it got annihilated during a war while he was off infiltrating Konoha and planting his bombs.
- Old Soldier: Again, Gennō, he’s been active since Tsunade was young, and he's still kicking.
- Properly Paranoid: Tsunade has this reaction to Takigakure's training exercise, as in the past, Takigakure has used this excuse to conceal invasions of other countries.
- Trap Master: The name of the Arc and Gennō’s epithet, he planted bombs across Konoha decades ago, waiting for the right time to detonate them.
- Treasure Hunt Episode: Subverted, this is essentially what the arc is about from Gennō's perspective, as he has disabled all the bombs he placed around the village because he changed his mind. The Genin and Village still thinks they must find numerous hidden bombs and stop an old bomber bent on revenge.
- You Remind Me of X: The reason Gennō changed his mind about bombing Konoha was that Naruto reminded him of his deceased son, whom Genno coincidentally used to take treasure hunting.
