Ep 194: Bizarre! The Haunted Ghost Castle

An important lady is being transported when clouds gather above. One of her men suggests taking shelter. Mist suddenly surrounds them and then a bright light appears and engulfs them. The people disappear and the palanquin is destroyed.

Tsunade informs Hinata, Naruto and Kiba that Lady Kaio from Honey Country was heading back to her own country, Red Bean Country, but she never arrived. Her people found her belongings and carriage ripped apart on a ridge. She says Naruto aside, Hinata's Byakugan, combined with Kiba’s and Akamaru's sense of smell, is perfect for this mission. Naruto gets offended, but Hinata says he has good points, but when Naruto asks her to tell them to Tsunade, she can't think of any. Naruto then asks if there are ghosts on this mission. Tsunade insists there are no such as ghosts. The location is Kubisaki Ridge and Naruto starts to freak out because kubi means neck and he has a bad feeling about it. Tsunade yells at him to stop whining and the team abruptly leaves. Shizune asks Tsunade if Kubisaki Ridge is near the Kubisaki Country with the ruins of the Kubisaki Clan's castle that was destroyed 50 years ago. Tsunade says there are castle ruins everywhere and teases Shizune for being like Naruto.

The team arrives at a crossroads sign pointing to Kubisaki Ridge and another town. It starts to rain so they hurry to the ridge. They see the castle and decide to take shelter there. Naruto is scared of entering especially when the doors open and shut by themselves. They see a light on but no one’s around. Akamaru runs into a room where dinner has been set up. Naruto sees a portrait of a scary looking old man in armor who they assume was the feudal lord. Naruto sees the eyes shift to look at him and freaks out again. Hinata notices there are 7 place settings, the same number of people missing from Honey Country.

They split up, against Naruto's wishes, to search the castle. Naruto comes upon a scary look armor suit, then runs away into a hall with more scare armor suits. One of them opens an eye and Naruto runs off screaming for his teammates. Kiba and Akamaru smell something human and enter an empty room. The ceiling comes down and a scroll attacks them and the floor undulates. A mouth appears in the wall and comes toward them.

Hinata enters the library and finds a scroll of the Kubisaki Castle log over 50 years old. The castle was surrounded by the enemy, the citizens killed, and those remaining in the city were either half alive or dead. The lord of the castle resolved to remain a phantom bearing a grudge within the castle and devour every person inside and destroy everything. Those who enter this castle which bears the sign of Kubisaki Kouza will be devoured. Hinata hears something. Books and scrolls fall on top of her and a set of shelves block her way. A portrait of the lord drops in front of her and his arms reach out to grab her.

Meanwhile the lord also appears to come out of his portrait to attack Naruto. He throws an kunai with an explosive tag and runs away but is blocked by a huge set of teeth. The ground undulates and he gets swallowed up.

The team find themselves in the cellar or dungeon area. Hinata reports what she found. Naruto stumbles over another set of armor with a dead body. It’s different from Kubisaki’s armor and is probably the enemy’s. They also find a number of bodies with the armor of Kurosaki. Then they find the body of Kubisaki Kouza himself on a podium. The body melts in front of them giving off a powerful odor. Hinata uses her byakugan and sees chakra running throughout the walls. Then the wall starts to move and turn fleshy. Hinata uses her jyuuken technique to hit the wall but she’s pushed back. Naruto notes that he's seen something like this before, the stomach of a summoned frog. Kiba notes the smell is stomach acid. Hinata thinks the lord summoned something before he lost the castle and it was big enough to swallow the entire castle. They were swallowed as soon as they entered the castle. They hear a scream and find the people they're looking for being sucked into the walls. The team tries to pull them out to no avail.

Kiba uses Gatsuuga with Akamaru and they manage to drill a hole in the ceiling and the team jumps back to the main floor. A voice greets them and says it is Shiromari and it’s following Kouza's orders and he will devour everything. Tentacles shoot out from a door. Kiba suggests to look for the contract. Hinata uses her byakugan and spies the scroll above them. Suddenly the tentacles withdraw as the figure of Kouza appears. The team follows him up the stairs into a room where the scroll is. The room starts to change again. Naruto unfurls a large scroll and it seems the summoning is a lizard of some sort. He cuts up the scroll and the floor moves and throws him against the wall. Naruto anchors himself with a kunai and Hinata suggests hitting it there. H uses a thrown rasengan to create a hole. The three are sucked out into the open. The creature and the castle disppaear, leaving behind the people from Honey/Red Bean. The team ponders how the ghost helped them and how he probably wanted to release the summoned creature after so many years.

Review:

A pretty good episode. No interference from new characters and using a summoning as a haunted house was quite original

Notes:

Lady Kaio

Honey Country

Red Bean Country

Kubisaki Ridge

Kubisaki Country

Shiromari = the lizard

Thoughts:

How long does it take to digest someone? Those people were probably there for a few days already.