Well, everybody is calling 99 a filler ep. I have to disagree. I've seen people post anything from "Yet another pointless filler" to "just some more crap about Konohamaru." When I read the posts, I was thinking that the only reason I would get it is to make sure that my collection is complete. Then, I had the nerve to watch it, and here's what I have to say about it.

I think alot of people have simply come to expect action from Naruto. What you're finding in 99 is pure character development. If there were only action all of the time,some character developing a new technique, building tension, or leading up to action, I would be more than happy to stick the dreaded DBZ logo on it and drop all of the episodes, delete them from my hard drive, and look for the next anime that hasn't seen a US release. It's because of episodes like this that I consider Naruto to be a quality anime.

Let's see what we have going on here. First of all, Konohamaru is having problems letting go of his grandfather. For most of his life, the Third was the only parent figure he had. Of course he's going to have problems letting go of that. He also fears that the village is going to forget him, so he locks up the Third's room. Second, we have Rock Lee trying to make a decision of his further career as a Ninja. A person who's devoted his life to being equal to people like Sasuke without the ability to use chakra, of course this is important. And then, over all of this, you have the new Hokage trying to adjust to her new role. She's been around for a long time with scars of her own just looking out for herself, and now she's adjusting to being responsible for the whole village.

I'll say this. I don't think anybody who calls this episode crap would be able to say that they liked Neon Genesis Evangelion, since it was rifled with episodes like this.

Just my $0.02, probably worth less.