The Green Ninja

*“All of my training to become the best ninja wasn't in preparation to become the Green Ninja. It was… to protect him.”*

— Kai

**The Green Ninja** is the tenth episode of the first season of *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu*. It aired on Cartoon Network on March 21, 2012 in the United States.

## Synopsis

*The ninjas are suspicious when Lord Garmadon moves in to help searching for his missing son - but realize they have to work together in their attempt to rescue Lloyd from the snakes.*

## Plot

During the night, Cole, Zane, and Jay are all outside on the deck of the *Destiny's Bounty*, each attacking the silhouette of what appears to be Lizaru. In the middle of the battle, Nya shines a light onto them and compliments their training skills, revealing the silhouette to be a training dummy.

Inside the *Bounty*, Kai secretly wears the Green Ninja suit while he tries out different catch phrases, looking in the mirror to see his teammates watching him from behind. Cole is quick to make fun of him for his silly actions and Kai explains to the others that he stumbled upon the suit when he was looking around Sensei Wu's room for any clues of who the Green Ninja could be. Zane reminds him that only the one who is destined to fulfill the role of the Green Ninja is allowed to wear it, to which Kai interrupts him saying that he was desperate to reach his True Potential like the others already had.

The ninja then abruptly stop their conversation when they hear the voice of Sensei Wu, who returned home from his journey, and the ninja (with the exception of Kai) rush out to greet him. Jay excitedly tells Sensei Wu of everything he missed, though when Kai comes out telling his Sensei that he is relieved of his safe return, suddenly Lord Garmadon shows himself from behind his brother. Kai's first instinct is to rush into battle, whereas Zane throws himself in front of Master Wu to protect him. Quickly, Sensei Wu orders Kai to stop, informing his students that Lord Garmadon will be staying with them for the purpose of rescuing Lloyd. The ninja argue, but Sensei Wu silences them. Lord Garmadon assures them that Sensei Wu's words are true, and the ninja begrudgingly agree to respect the wishes of both brothers.

At dawn, everyone meets up at the bridge to discuss the Fangblades. Sensei Wu dismisses Kai and Nya to prepare the deck and check the anchor in order to be ready for Serpentine activity. Afterward, as Jay decides to tell Sensei Wu the full story of the events during his absence, Kai admits to Nya that he does not trust Lord Garmadon. While they converse about the subject, Kai convinces himself that he will unlock his True Potential if he can stand up to Lord Garmadon.

During the Dark Lord's stay, he surprises the ninja by casually filing his teeth alongside them. Then at the dining room, Kai watches in disgust as Lord Garmadon eats a dish that Kai identifies as condensed evil. Jay and Nya are then relaxing in the video game room while they watch a romantic movie together, only for Lord Garmadon to disrupt it by changing the channel. Lord Garmadon is later seen "sunbathing" on the deck during a thunderstorm, and interrupting the ninja's sleep the following night with electricity.

Lord Garmadon proceeds to play video games in the video game room, Cole and Zane observing together from afar. Kai approaches them commenting that he's playing the game incorrectly, but Cole and Zane admit that Lord Garmadon is fascinating without his villainous intentions.

Meanwhile, in the Forest of Tranquility, the Falcon spots the Serpentine heading to the Fire Temple. Despite the footage being displayed on the screen in the bridge, Kai is too caught up in preparing himself for his future battle to see it. Upon hearing Sensei Wu speaking to Nya, Kai follows their voices down the hall to overhear his Sensei speaking of the possibility of Nya becoming the Green Ninja. Lord Garmadon confronts Kai about eavesdropping, which quickly results in the two declaring a fight. However, when they begin pushing each other, Nya rushes out to question them. Lord Garmadon informs her of Kai's snooping, though Kai is quick to change the subject when he asks her if she's the Green Ninja, to which she assures him otherwise, saying that she's content being the Samurai. Jay then appears at the door, alerting them that the Falcon has spotted the Serpentine.

They all hurry back to the bridge to watch the monitor, Nya noting that the Fire Temple looks unstable. Zane questions the whereabouts of their weapons and Kai realizes that Lord Garmadon is missing as well. The Red Ninja runs downstairs and finds Lord Garmadon with the four Golden Weapons in his possession. Immediately, they both spring into battle, with Kai closing the door as Nya comes by to investigate. Realizing that the door is locked, Cole breaks the door down using the powers of his True Potential, only to find Kai pinning Lord Garmadon to the ground as he declares himself the victor. Master Wu tells Kai that Lord Garmadon allowed himself to be defeated, revealing that he asked his brother to fetch the weapons and that he had no intention of using them himself.

*Destiny's Bounty* arrives at the Fire Temple and the group travels inside. They watch as the Serpentine dig for the Fangblade, Jay quickly pointing out Lloyd's location in a cage. Rattla uncovers the Fangpyre Fangblade, much to Pythor's pleasure. While Pythor gleefully gazes at the Fangblade, he notices the ninja in the reflection and orders the tribes to attack.

The ninja quickly fend them off, though as Pythor leaves the Temple, he commands Bytar and Chokun to drill holes in the walls to allow the rising lava to quicken. Jay announces that they must leave as the Temple is becoming unstable, but Lord Garmadon runs after the Serpentine in an attempt to retrieve his son. Seeing that Lloyd is causing the trouble, Pythor orders the Serpentine to get rid of the caged boy by dropping him to the landing below. Lord Garmadon continues to fight the Serpentine to get the cage, finally reaching it and pulling up his son before his cage could fully melt in the lava.

Kai then rushes up the steps in order to obtain the Fangblade, flinging the Sword of Fire at the Fangblade to impales it in the wall. A furious Pythor attempts to pull it out, but Skales alerts him that they must leave at once, Pythor complying as the lava shoots up at them. Everyone except for Kai meets up at the exit and Lloyd calls out to his missing teammate as Kai makes his way to the Fangblade. However, the ground beneath Lloyd breaks loose, causing him to fall down to the lava below. The group watches in horror as Lloyd stands on the sinking piece of land.

Meanwhile, Kai finally pulls his sword out of the wall, but the Fangblade falls down below, landing just above the lava. Kai tries to grab it but chooses to save Lloyd instead when the latter cries out for help. He grabs Lloyd and tries to escape, but they become surrounded by lava spewing into the air. Everyone else reaches the *Destiny's Bounty*, the entire team distressed as they see lava exploding out of the volcano. In the middle of their remorse, they suddenly see a fireball appear from the volcano, which floats toward the *Destiny's Bounty* to reveal Kai and Lloyd inside. Having unlocked his True Potential, Kai stands proudly, only to fall to the ground in exhaustion.

Later in the bridge, Lloyd reunites with his father, asking how he got four arms. Lord Garmadon genuinely thanks Kai for saving his son, and Zane asks Kai how he unlocked his True Potential. Kai explains that he realized he was training to be the best ninja not so he could *become* the Green Ninja, but rather to *protect* him.

Shocked, everyone looks to Lloyd and places the Golden Weapons in front of him, which causes the weapons to become suspended in the air, crackling with green lightning. Sensei Wu comes to the conclusion that Lloyd is indeed the destined Green Ninja, elaborating that the four ninja are supposed to protect the Golden Weapons as well as Lloyd. Lord Garmadon's joy is shattered when he realizes the implications, and Sensei Wu sadly confirms it: as the Chosen One, Lloyd will have to battle his own father for the fate of Ninjago. As everyone is speechless about the revelation and the events to come due to it, Jay questions what became of the Fangblade.

Back at the Fire Temple, as the Serpentine slither down the slopes of the volcano, Pythor spots the Fangblade in a lava flow. He carefully grabs it using his Staff, offhandedly throwing it to Spitta and Lizaru. As the Venomaris flail around with the burning-hot weapon, Pythor chuckles to himself because the Serpentine are now only one Fangblade away from reviving the Great Devourer.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Cole
* Falcon
* Garmadon
* Jay
* Kai
* Lloyd Garmadon
* Nya
* Pythor P. Chumsworth
* Skales
* Wu
* Zane

### Items

* Anacondrai Staff
* Fangpyre Fangblade
* Golden Weapons
	+ Nunchucks of Lightning
	+ Scythe of Quakes
	+ Shurikens of Ice
	+ Sword of Fire
* Condensed evil
* Staff of the First Spinjitzu Master
* Training dummy
* Underworld helmet

### Locations

* Ninjago
	+ Forest of Tranquility
	+ Volcano
		- Fire Temple

### Species

* Humans
* Nindroids
* Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
* Serpentine
	+ Anacondrai
	+ Constrictai
	+ Fangpyre
	+ Hypnobrai
	+ Venomari

## Trivia

* The episode title serves as somewhat of a misdirection, as the audience may assume that because Kai is the only ninja who has yet to unlock his True Potential, this episode will culminate with the revelation that Kai is the Green Ninja. Instead, the title refers to the revelation that Lloyd is the Green Ninja, and it also also refers to Kai's development from deluded belief and obsession that he is the Green Ninja to realizing his true purpose as a mentor and protector of the true Green Ninja.
* When Pythor hits the Fangblade at the end of the episode, he does it in the same style as when playing golf.

## Continuity

* This is the second time Cole uses his True Potential, the first being in "The Royal Blacksmiths".
* The events of "King of Shadows" are mentioned.
* The Golden Weapons emit green lightning when they identify Lloyd as the Green Ninja.
* This is the first *Ninjago* episode to have a major character say "This ends now" to a major villain. The other three episodes are "The Rise of the Great Devourer," "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master," and "The Hands of Time."
* The romance film from "Home" reappears in this episode. In the former episode, Zane interrupted the film by laughing, while in this episode, Garmadon interrupts it by changing the channel.
* The scene where the rock in the Fire Temple breaks and Lloyd is separated from the others is reversed in "The Last Hope", where a cliff breaks and everyone falls except Nya, allowing the Stone Army to capture her.
* The scene where Cole breaks down the door in the *Bounty* using his True Potential is later paralleled in "True Potential" when Cole breaks down a door in the *Bounty 2.0* using his Earth Punch so the ninja can stop Lloyd from fighting his father.
* This episode shares similarities with the later episode, "Into the Breach." In both episodes, Garmadon is a guest on the *Destiny's Bounty*, much to the ninja's dismay, and Kai makes the same look of keeping an eye on Garmadon.

## Errors

* Wu and Garmadon are like allies from the beginning of this episode, even though Garmadon seemed to turn on Wu toward the end of the previous episode.
* Sensei Wu claims that Jay told him that the Falcon was programmed; in actuality, Zane did.
* When Pythor tells the Constrictai to give the ninja "a parting gift," there are two Bytars and one Chokun. After they dig their first tunnel in the volcano, one of the Bytars has been replaced by another Chokun.
* When Kai throws the Sword of Fire at the Fangblade, he is seen closer to the hole where Pythor escapes through than he is the next time Kai appears onscreen.
* After Kai throws the Sword of Fire, Pythor is seen drawing the Sword of Fire instead of the Fangblade.
	+ He may simply be drawing the Sword of Fire to loosen the Fangblade from the rock.
		- Jay uses Wind attacks at one point during the battle in the Fire Temple. This was retconned with the introduction of Morro, with Tommy Andreasen later stating that this was a mistake.
		- During the Fire Temple battle before the Serpentine's retreat, Acidicus, Fangtom and Skalidor can be seen in the background, despite not being seen accompanying Pythor, Skales and the Serpentine supporting the pair during the Fangblade search in the previous two episodes.
		- Garmadon's mouth doesn't move when he says, "But my son!"
		- When Kai is rescuing Lloyd from the magma, he said "Ninja, go!" in Cole's voice.
		- When Wu returns a door can heard opening but Wu is outside the bounty in the next scene.
		- The ninja (minus Cole) were not wielding their weapon when they arrived at the Fire Temple, but after Nya notifies them that the temple is unstable they are until Wu tells them not to use them.