Ah, the Medicine of Youth

" Ah, the Medicine of Youth " ( ああ、青春の漢方丸 , Ā, Seishun no Kanpōgan ) is episode 186 of the Naruto: Shippūden anime.

## Synopsis [ ]

Lee visits Tsunade 's tent and gives Sakura a special medicine that Guy had prepared for her, citing that he would do anything to help the comatose Hokage as it was she who healed Lee when no one else could; Lee and Sakura reminisce back to when Lee was severely injured and had difficulty recuperating.

After Naruto carelessly drank the last of Lee's special medicine, he vowed to go to retrieve the Jofuku Flowers needed to make the medicine. Despite being assigned to a mission with Ino and Sakura, Naruto decided to abandon the mission and find the flowers instead. Dressing up in the green jumpsuit that Guy had given him, Naruto set off towards the Jofuku Forest , only to discover that his assigned mission was coincidentally to go into that very forest and deliver a message to a woman who lives there.

As they began their journey, Sakura mused how Lee had lost his optimism and Ino berated Naruto for giving him false hope that he may successfully recover. Naruto responded that ever since he witnessed Lee trying to continue his fight with Gaara despite losing consciousness , he knew Lee never gave up, and thus he would always give Lee hope that he would someday recover. As they made their way to the forest, Naruto located the Jofuku flower, which Ino was surprised glowed in different colours. After making a jab at Ino for not knowing about the flower despite being a florist, Naruto plucked the flower, only to be attacked by an apparition of Gaara. Naruto channelled his inner taijutsu and emulated Lee's moves, but his blows were blocked by the apparition's Sand Armour . Resorting to ninjutsu , Naruto used his Naruto Uzumaki Combo to defeat the apparition and finished it off with his Rasengan , destroying it.

Furofuki , the woman who lived by the forest, accepted the letter the team was assigned to deliver, which was a request from Guy to haul back the Jofuku flowers to Konoha (revealing that Naruto's self-appointed quest was the very mission he was assigned); she also explained that the Gaara they saw was a protective element emitted by the flowers, which took on the image of the archenemy of whomever plucked the flower. Back in the village, Guy told Lee that the medicine he made was made from the sweat, tears and love of himself and the three who procured the ingredients. After discovering that Sakura was on the team, he stated that he would eat a hundred per day since Sakura's love was infused in the medicine, while Guy performed a thousand push-ups as moral support.

## Trivia [ ]

- When Naruto plucks the Jofuku flower, it scans his mind and takes on the appearance of his archenemy, taking on the image of Gaara. However, the apparition is seen to be wearing Gaara's outfit from the end of Part I. Since this episode takes place before the Sasuke Recovery Mission , Naruto had not seen Gaara's new outfit yet and thus the apparition should have shown him wearing his older outfit, which he had worn during the Chūnin Exams .

## Credits [ ]