A New Squad! Two People and a Dog?!
Naruto multiplies ineffective force, Iruka multiplies faith in a false friendship, and Team 10 arrives with the different skills both fights need.
RaeRae Reacts
Episode 144 puts Naruto and Iruka in two fights they cannot win by repeating what worked before.
Naruto throws more bodies at Fujin and Raijin.
Iruka throws more faith at Mizuki.
Neither approach changes the person standing in front of them.
The brothers remain absurdly strong, and Mizuki finally admits that the friendship Iruka remembers was never friendship on his side.
By the time Naruto creates a Rasengan opening, a ruined lunch turns the brothers from distracted to murderous.
Team 10 arrives before they can finish him.
That entrance is not the victory yet.
It is the first sign that this mission might stop asking two people and a dog to solve every problem at once.
Naruto Cannot Punch Through This Problem
Naruto already learned that ordinary attacks do not hurt Fujin and Raijin.
He responds with Shadow Clones because numbers usually give him options.
Clones can surround an opponent, hide the original, create openings, and turn one angle of attack into twenty.
Against the brothers, multiplication mostly creates more targets to swat away.
Their strength does not require precision. A wide swing can erase several clones, and their durability allows them to ignore the hits that land.
Naruto is working hard.
He is not changing the equation.
That difference matters. Persistence is one of his best qualities, but persistence without adjustment can become free entertainment for an opponent who does not tire at the same rate.
The Clones Still Buy Time
The Shadow Clones are not useless.
They keep Fujin and Raijin occupied, prevent an immediate killing blow, and give Naruto enough movement to search for something better.
Buying time is a legitimate tactical result.
The mistake would be confusing delay with progress.
Naruto has limited chakra, while the brothers treat each vanished clone as another minor interruption between them and food. If the fight continues at this pace, Naruto runs out of bodies before they run out of patience.
He needs one attack capable of producing a different result.
That points him toward Rasengan.
The technique concentrates force instead of distributing it across a crowd.
Creating the opening is the difficult part.
Iruka Tries To Find the Old Mizuki
While Naruto struggles with the brothers, Iruka tries to speak to Mizuki.
He appeals to their shared history and searches for evidence that the person he knew still exists beneath the resentment.
That choice fits Iruka.
He understands what loneliness can do because he lived through it. He also knows that one person's decision to care can interrupt years of anger. His bond with Naruto proves it.
Iruka wants to believe the same kind of connection can reach Mizuki before the fight goes any further.
Compassion is not foolish here.
But compassion cannot force another person to value the relationship being offered.
Mizuki does not want recovery.
He wants Iruka to hear what their past meant to him.
Mizuki Says the Friendship Was a Strategy
Mizuki tells Iruka that his kindness was never what Iruka believed it was.
He wanted the Third Hokage's approval.
Staying near Iruka gave him access to the sympathy and attention surrounding a child who had lost his parents in the Nine-Tails attack.
Mizuki did not see another lonely boy and feel understood.
He saw competition.
Worse, he wanted Iruka to remain miserable and isolated. Iruka's pain made Mizuki feel closer to the recognition he thought he deserved.
That confession poisons every warm memory Iruka brought into the conversation.
Mizuki was not waiting for Iruka to save him.
He was waiting for Iruka to fail.
Shared Pain Did Not Produce Shared Character
Iruka and Mizuki both grew up wanting recognition.
The similarity ends at what they chose to do with that hunger.
Iruka became an instructor who notices the child acting out because no one sees him.
Mizuki became the instructor who exploits that child, sends him after a forbidden scroll, and plans to collect the reward after Naruto absorbs the danger.
Iruka turned pain into empathy.
Mizuki turned envy into entitlement.
The episode refuses the comfortable idea that a sad history automatically contains a good person waiting to return.
Background explains pressure.
It does not erase decisions.
Iruka can mourn the friendship he thought existed without pretending Mizuki's choices belong to someone else.
Iruka's Appeal Still Accomplishes Something
Mizuki rejects every attempt at reconciliation, but the conversation is not wasted.
Iruka learns the truth.
He no longer has to fight while protecting an imaginary earlier version of Mizuki. The man in front of him has clearly stated what he wanted and why he used their relationship.
That knowledge hurts, but it removes hesitation built on false hope.
Mizuki also loses the advantage of ambiguity.
He cannot alternate between former colleague and current attacker once he has admitted that the colleague was a performance.
The next exchange is not Iruka attacking an old friend.
It is Iruka defending himself and Naruto from a man who chose manipulation then and chooses violence now.
They prepare to fight again with nothing left to misunderstand.
Naruto Creates a Rasengan Opening
Naruto keeps sending Shadow Clones until the movement finally gives him room to form Rasengan.
This is the adjustment the fight demanded.
Rasengan focuses rotating chakra into one point and carries the kind of internal force that may get past raw durability. Naruto does not need to outmuscle both brothers for an entire battle if he can land one decisive technique.
He gets close.
Then food changes everything.
Fujin and Raijin's lunch is destroyed during the chaos.
Their simple priority, which Mizuki used to control them, becomes the reason Naruto's plan falls apart.
They stop treating him like an obstacle and start treating him like the person responsible for the worst possible crime.
Apparently the path from distracted to homicidal is one crushed meal.
Rasengan Hits the Wrong Targets
The brothers disrupt Naruto's attack and force the Rasengan into his own Shadow Clones.
The opening disappears.
Naruto spends the technique's concentrated force erasing the support structure he created for himself.
That reversal is especially nasty because the plan was finally sound.
He recognized that ordinary strikes failed, used clones to create time, and prepared a stronger answer.
Execution still matters.
An attack that cannot reach its target is only expensive chakra.
With the clones gone and the brothers furious, Naruto has very little space left. Fujin and Raijin no longer care about waiting for Mizuki's direction.
They prepare to kill him over the ruined food.
The Strong Trio Finally Arrives
Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino arrive before the brothers can finish Naruto.
The timing matters, but the composition matters more.
Naruto has spent the fight trying to solve two giant opponents by multiplying one fighting style.
Team 10 brings three different functions.
Shikamaru reads positions and controls movement.
Ino can attack the mind instead of the body.
Choji can meet size and force without pretending the brothers are ordinary targets.
Their strength is combination, not sameness.
The episode does not let them demonstrate the full formation yet. Their arrival simply changes Naruto's situation from isolated survival to possible teamwork.
After all the clones, the useful extra bodies are the ones who bring different skills.
The Title Has Two Answers
The title asks about a new squad made of two people and a dog.
Naruto, Iruka, and Pakkun have functioned that way during the pursuit. Pakkun tracked, Iruka brought experience with Mizuki, and Naruto supplied speed and direct power.
The ambush split that small unit across two fights it could not cover.
Team 10's entrance offers another answer.
They are an established three-person squad whose techniques are designed to interlock. Their presence may allow Naruto to stop wasting clones on the brothers and return to the pursuit that brought him here.
One improvised team found the enemy.
The next team may make it possible to divide the work intelligently.
That handoff belongs to the following episode.
What Changes After Episode 144
Naruto uses repeated Shadow Clone attacks to survive against Fujin and Raijin.
The clones buy time but cannot damage the brothers.
Iruka tries to appeal to the Mizuki he remembers.
Mizuki says his former kindness was motivated by envy and a desire for the Third Hokage's approval.
He admits that he wanted Iruka to remain miserable and isolated.
Iruka and Mizuki prepare to continue their fight without the illusion of friendship.
Naruto creates an opening for Rasengan.
The brothers' lunch is destroyed during the exchange.
They turn Naruto's Rasengan into his own Shadow Clones.
Fujin and Raijin prepare to kill him.
Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino arrive in time to intervene.
Team 10 has not used its new formation yet.
Naruto cannot punch through a problem built around durability
Fujin and Raijin absorb attacks that would stop ordinary opponents. Repeating force only spends chakra and keeps their attention on him. The matchup demands containment and redirection.
Shadow clones still create valuable time
The copies fail to injure the brothers, but they occupy space and delay pursuit. A technique can succeed at protection even when it does not produce a knockout.
Naruto’s role should be defined as holding, not winning
Clear objectives reduce reckless escalation. Buying minutes for Iruka, Pakkun, and reinforcements is a legitimate contribution rather than evidence Naruto lacked strength.
Iruka confronts a colleague who weaponized familiarity
Mizuki shared work, history, and apparent friendship with him. Facing betrayal again forces Iruka to distinguish the person he remembers from the danger acting now.
Iruka searches for the old Mizuki because connection once felt real
His appeal is not foolish. People often test whether shared memory can reopen moral choice. He must pair hope with defenses that protect him if the answer is no.
Mizuki claims friendship was only strategy
The statement may be cruelty, self-justification, or truth. Either way, it targets Iruka’s trust and tries to make care look humiliating.
Being deceived does not make Iruka’s capacity for trust a defect
Responsibility belongs to the person who exploited the relationship. Iruka can learn boundaries without becoming ashamed that he believed a colleague.
Shared pain did not produce shared character
Both men know loneliness and inadequate recognition. Iruka responded by protecting students. Mizuki pursued status through manipulation. Similar wounds do not dictate identical choices.
Context explains grievance without excusing harm
Mizuki may have felt overlooked or resentful. He still chose to endanger Naruto, betray Iruka, manipulate prisoners, and align himself with Orochimaru’s methods.
Iruka’s appeal still buys information and time
Conversation reveals Mizuki’s self-concept and keeps him engaged. De-escalation can be useful even when it does not achieve reconciliation.
Naruto creates a Rasengan opening through misdirection
He uses clones and timing to reach a target his ordinary strikes cannot move. Adaptation matters more than pride in one approach.
The brothers redirect the attack
Rasengan lands against the wrong bodies because Mizuki positioned them as shields. The move illustrates how leaders externalize danger onto people they control.
Fujin and Raijin are treated as equipment again
Mizuki values their durability and appetite only as usable traits. Their personhood disappears behind the function of blocking Naruto.
Nonlethal strategy should separate the brothers from the manipulator
If food and direction govern their choices, removing Mizuki’s access may reduce threat more effectively than trying to overpower both at once.
The strong trio arrives because Tsunade finally matches skills to need
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji bring coordination, mind techniques, and physical control. Reinforcement is strongest when capabilities answer the actual mechanism.
Team 10’s return carries the retrieval mission’s history
Choji and Shikamaru recently survived severe consequences. Redeployment should account for recovery instead of treating survival as immediate full readiness.
Ino-Shika-Cho is more than three individual techniques
The formation depends on trust, sequencing, and knowledge passed through families. Their strength comes from relationships practiced before the crisis.
The title’s dog is a teammate, not a punchline
Pakkun tracks, communicates, and helps organize pursuit. Counting him as part of a squad should mean including his judgment, safety, and recovery in mission planning.
Two people and a dog can be operationally complete
A squad’s value is not determined by how human its roster looks. Complementary skills and reliable communication matter more than a conventional headcount.
Iruka and Pakkun form another version of the title
The episode plays with shifting teams because crisis requires temporary alliances. Role clarity lets unfamiliar partners work without pretending long-established trust already exists.
Naruto must learn to hand off the fight
When matched reinforcements arrive, continuing from pride would waste their advantage. Leaving the brothers to Team 10 lets him pursue the objective only he and Pakkun are positioned to follow.
Handing off is leadership, not abandonment
Naruto can trust capable peers while communicating what he learned about durability and food control. A good transfer includes information, not merely departure.
Tsunade’s response is better because it is distributed
No single rescuer has to solve Mizuki, the brothers, injured jonin, and tracking. Multiple teams reduce the chance that one failure collapses every objective.
The handoff to Team 10 needs a full threat briefing
Naruto knows direct force failed, the brothers protect Mizuki, and food influences their behavior. Sharing those observations can prevent Team 10 from repeating his first attacks.
A handoff is complete when the receiving team understands the mechanism, condition of civilians and allies, and objective they are expected to hold.
Team 10 needs authority to disengage
Matched skills improve the odds, but Choji and Shikamaru recently returned from severe injury and trauma. If containment fails or their bodies show limits, they should be able to call for additional support without treating withdrawal as shame.
Readiness is not proven by ignoring recovery.
Ino’s technique creates special consent and safety concerns
Mind transfer places her consciousness inside another body while her own remains vulnerable. Using it against a manipulated opponent may be tactically justified, but teammates must protect both bodies and understand what happens if the connection is disrupted.
Control techniques require more responsibility, not less, because success enters another person’s autonomy directly.
Choji can redirect strength without being reduced to strength
His role may involve physically holding Raijin, yet his judgment and communication remain essential. After a mission where his body was treated as the final barrier, the team should avoid repeating the idea that Choji’s value lies in how much damage he can absorb.
Containment works through coordination, not one teammate becoming a wall.
Shikamaru’s leadership can practice what the retrieval mission taught
He can define roles, preserve an exit, monitor condition, and request help before every option collapses. Applying those lessons is stronger accountability than carrying private guilt.
The episode gives him a chance to lead with support already present rather than being abandoned to impossible staffing.
Pakkun needs a return and reporting plan
Tracking Mizuki with Naruto may move them farther from reinforcements. Pakkun should know when to break pursuit, how to signal location, and who receives his report if Naruto becomes injured or refuses to stop.
An animal partner should not carry every contingency alone.
Iruka’s goal must remain protection rather than emotional proof
He cannot make Mizuki validate their old friendship or admit regret. He can protect others, gather information, and offer one route away from further harm.
Letting go of the need for acknowledgment can make Iruka safer without requiring him to become indifferent.
The prison response should plan for return without recreating the same conditions
Recapture followed by identical food control and forced labor would rebuild the lever Mizuki used. Fujin and Raijin need individual assessment, stable nutrition, and supervision designed around their actual needs.
Containment that learns nothing merely schedules another emergency.
A new squad should mean a new distribution of risk
Team 10’s arrival matters because Naruto no longer has to be every answer at once. Shikamaru can coordinate, Ino can redirect, Choji can contain, and Pakkun can keep the pursuit connected to reliable tracking.
RaeRae’s full take
Episode 144 works when it stops asking Naruto to punch harder and lets reinforcement change the problem. His clones buy time. Team 10 arrives with techniques built for control. Pakkun carries tracking and communication as a real squad member.
Iruka’s confrontation hurts because Mizuki tries to make trust look foolish. I refuse that lesson. Iruka’s care shaped Naruto’s life. Mizuki exploiting care tells us who Mizuki chose to become, not that Iruka was wrong to believe relationships mattered.
The brothers remain dangerous and exploited at once. Separating them from Mizuki, meeting basic needs consistently, and using nonlethal containment is a better answer than treating manipulated bodies as targets somebody must finally hit hard enough.
RaeRae checkpoint: Pakkun is a squad member because he tracks, communicates, and makes decisions. Team structure should recognize the work and welfare of every partner, not only the humans.
RaeRae's Verdict
“A New Squad! Two People and a Dog?!” is really about the failure of repetition.
More clones do not make ordinary force effective against Fujin and Raijin.
More faith does not make Mizuki the friend Iruka hoped to recover.
Naruto eventually changes techniques.
Iruka eventually accepts Mizuki's confession for what it is.
Both shifts come too late to finish their fights inside this episode, but they clear away the wrong assumptions.
The best answer arrives as Team 10.
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji do not offer three copies of the same solution. They bring a formation built around different abilities doing different jobs.
Naruto spent the episode multiplying himself.
What he needed was a team.
Receipts and official routes
- Episode number and licensed title: Naruto Official Site.
- Japanese title, synopsis, and July 20, 2005 broadcast record: TV Tokyo.
- Streaming availability varies by region; use the licensed route maintained in the episode directory.