2006 Panini/Inkworks Naruto: Ninja Ranks

I hit the Dollar Tree up recently for a few packs to post here. This is one of those packs.

How about some shonen anime cash cow to enjoy after a hard day's work? This is Naruto: Ninja Ranks, released in what appears to be the first half of 2006 by Panini and Inkworks. There be inserts: 9 "Ninja Warriors" (1:7 packs), and 6 each of "Friends and Foes" and "Super Deformed" die-cuts (both 1:11 packs). The cards:

Zabuza- The first serious antagonist of the series.
Kakashi- Fearless leader of Naruto's team.
Gaara, Temari, Kankura- Former major antagonists, got better.
Second Exam Survivors- Ah yes, the "throw the ridiculously powerful children in the woods to fight over a limited number of MacGuffins and see how many make it out alive" exam. We had to do the same thing to pass 7th grade. #Memories
Kakashi Super Deformed Die-Cut- Woohoo, chibi score! It scans poorly cuz it's foilboard, but it looks nice in person. There is a design in all that darkness somewheres.

Kinda reminds of the Atomic Refractor rookies in this year's topps Finest football, except less "atomic" and more "adorable". Also, the book he's reading is called Makeout Paradise.

The back:

Other characters also appearing in this set, with one sentence character profiles.

Shino- The bug guy, if memory serves.
Kakashi/Zabuza- Kakashi hot pack! Kakashi busting out the Sharingan Eye against Zabuza in this one.
Shikamaru- My anime counterpart. Brilliant-but-lazy indeed. May have kinda-sorta love interest in Temari. Still waiting for my intelligent, butt-kicking hottie...
Gaara- The baddest of the above trio: a violent, anti-social sociopath. Got better thanks to Naruto and went on to become leader of his people. Thus is the power of Naruto.

And that is all for this post. I like Naruto, so I might collect these. I made it through without randomly shouting "BELIEVE IT~!" even once. Good for me.

BELIEVE IT~! ;)