And no, the post title isn’t in reference to Kakashi pulling out his Sharingan in the anime spoiler-free image above. The real “hax” is Kabuto’s seemingly endless number of famous ninjas that he keeps pulling out of his coffins. This time, it’s the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. He had already tipped the scale in his favor by powering up his undead summons too, with the use of Orochimaru’s chakra found in Anko. The sight of a bruised and battered Kakashi after going toe-to-toe against Zabuza seemed to suggest as much anyway, plus the various other Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limit) users that laid waste to his group. In terms of giving off a sense of a very scrambled effort from a bunch of ninjas who aren’t up to snuff for war, this chapter did impeccably in that regard and left me thinking that a lot of them should just stay back and not get in the way of the veteran Jounin. The last thing Kakashi’s division needs are medical ninjas like Sakura working overtime to try and save lives. Amidst the slaughter, the one thing that was worth taking away is how talking to the resurrected ninjas isn’t going to be enough to release them from the technique.

This actually comes as a bit of a surprise to me, since I was expecting it to be the means of dealing with the numerous emotion-filled battles battles to come. Now that it’s gone with Kabuto strengthening his control over all his pawns, I’m curious as to what will become of those. Even for former enemies such as Zabuza and Haku, the psychological effect has already been shown to work to a certain degree, which had me to looking forward to what happens for those who are up against ninjas once considered friends or more. I gather it would’ve been similar to when Hiruzen had to fight the First and Second Hokage, except without the chiseled resolve that comes with age and being a Kage, so I’ll be slightly disappointed if everyone becomes mindless tools without any resemblance of their former selves. Whatever the case, this raises a much more interesting question on how to defeat these immortal ninjas, short of some sacrificial sealing technique such as the Shiki Fuujin. Even if there were willing sacrifices, it’s not exactly like it’s a low rank ability that anyone can perform either. The outcome of this latest battle will hopefully address that in some way, because I don’t have many ideas in mind based on what we know about the technique. I guess there’s always Kakashi’s Kamui technique to warp them off to another dimension, but even if that does work, some planning is in order on how to deal with the rest of Kabuto’s ninjas. I suspect he’s still withholding the true weakness behind Edo Tensei, which should turn the tide whenever it’s discovered.

With all that going on, I had completely forgotten about what became of Juugo and Suigetsu. At the moment, it seems like their brief appearance in this chapter was more to emphasize that the broken Kubikiri Houchou, a.k.a. Decapitating Carving Knife, found its way back into Zabuza’s hands, but it did also hint at some further development on the Team Taka (Hawk) side of things. Sasuke we know still in the recovery process after getting Itachi’s eyes transplanted, whereas Karin is in Konoha’s custody after she was sacrificed in his fight against Danzou. I don’t doubt they’ll all have a prominent role to play later on, but which side it’ll be on is the real question.

42 Comments

      1. Jesus, how did you people handle it when Sasuke was the main character for over a year? Your idiot ninja has been gone for wow, what…2 chapters? Let’s give some other, better characters their time in the spotlight.

        dragon tattoo
      2. Look, its not that I hate Naruto- rather, I find him entertaining at times- but I kind of think the plot is moving at its general pace. The character of Naruto has been very well explored, and the author, having thrown every imaginable situation at the boy, is letting the character rest, if only for a while. Meanwhile, fans are clamoring for more. The manga may be titled Naruto, but I like how Naruto is not the center of the universe anymore…

        Or at least, its moving away from that mindset.

        Zero
    1. Thats the point, sasuke gets a year, and once agin naruto the name of the manga gets shunned for a weak arc on immortal ninjas and a swarm of zetsu. Its not my fault u like gay emo characters and i dont. Bring back naruto, or have the more interesting ninjas fight at least. Bored as hell with this current pairings. The sai group was more interesting

      darkloco
    1. Oda already used with the blast ability hundreds of chapters ago at the beginning of the Baroque works arc. It made a lot more sense in the One Piece universe than it did in this one.

      SOSAnimeBoy
    1. that would make a really good side story 😀 i mean we don’t no alot about these seven swordman and why Suigetsu is collecting them…
      hehe when he see all the seven swordman are back their their ‘swords’ i’m wondering how his going to react 😛 OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!

      lookinawsome
    1. and they Kabuto will just resummon them or if they do hit one with it its not going to be easy to get an entire body in the hole because it will just rejenrate the rest of the body and Kakashi has yet to suck an entire person in to kumui

      Clinton
    1. remember it their soul that important and not their body, to seal them away with nature chakra it stilll only doing damage to their body they can still regernate and come back again

      lookinawsome
  1. I guess Naruto really is at the end of the adventure huh? I’ve always wondered about the seven swordsmen of Kirigakure, it’s good to know that the earlier myths are the first of the loose ends to be tied.

    Jaden
  2. My god… =_= Seems like most people complain and complain abt the mangas being this and mangas being that.. You guys think you can do a better job? Go ahead, tell me once you’ve become as famous as Kishi or something

    gcsasuke
  3. What I’m curious about is how they will solve this in the anime. In the year filler filled Naruto (Not shippuuden) they introduced one of the seven swordsman which off course does not resemble even one them shown now in the manga. So now what, uh it was fake or something. Don’t the author and the anime makers discuss shit before they start making horrible fillers as in: are you going to introduce those characters in the future? would be wise to do so.

    TyKH
    1. they don’t have any problem in the anime, because the manga said that does swordsmen are the previous gen, which mean they are all already dead, the seven swordsmen of the mist is a passable title from one to another.

      Novocaine
  4. Thats the point, sasuke gets a year, and once agin naruto the name of the manga gets shunned for a weak arc on immortal ninjas and a swarm of zetsu. Its not my fault u like gay emo characters and i dont. Bring back naruto, or have the more interesting ninjas fight at least. Bored as hell with this current pairings. The sai group was more interesting.

    darkloco
    1. Naruto has not got shunned he appeared a 2 chapters ago and you hate it already Sasuke has been go for a long time so be happy about that

      we have only seen a chapter and seeing some good fights should be cool

      Clinton
  5. Well if this really is Kishi’s last story arc, it is only fair that he finish off all that he started.

    I’ve always wondered about the Seven Swordsmen, I hope this isn’t too short, but at the same time, not too long haha.

    invAZN
  6. “I guess there’s always Kakashi’s Kamui technique to warp them off to another dimension, but even if that does work, some planning is in order on how to deal with the rest of Kabuto’s ninjas.”

    The other problems would be…

    1.) As far as we can tell, Kakashi can only use it on one target at a time and not a whole group at once. (Not unless they get SO grouped together that they ALL get sucked in.)

    2.) Each use takes A LOT of chakra to use, even if he is fresh. Usually by the time he starts using it, it’s when he has no other option (and he tends to test out almost anything he can before then, which also contributes to loss of chakra) or as a last resort.

    3.) Even if he succeeded in using it, Madara could always turn things right back around by locating them and warping them right back or something, thus making it all for naught.

    Anyway, as mentioned, I am also glad that the story, for now, isn’t SO focused on Naruto OR Sasuke and will hopefully give others a chance to shine in the spotlight and show off some more moves outside of anime-exclusive fillers and whatnot. I think people can survive a few chapters without Naruto and/or Sasuke hogging the limelight and getting all the big power-ups and everything.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  7. I want someone to answer this question has Sasuke actually ever killed anyone directly.
    I wonder if it will affect the plot later on. i mean he didnt kill naruto or Itachi and Danzo he keeps missing coincidence?

    BLACKWINGS89
    1. No he has never killed anyone of importance in the series as he often spares them (the 1000 ninjas) or coincidences happens, or the opponent got a disease(Itacehi) or suicides(Deidara). He may have killed some chakra samurais that were redshirts anyway. Btw Naruto has never killed anyone either. Bakuman the manga brought up an interesting point regarding shonen manga: Often you will never see shonen heroes kill anyone at all, only knocks the villain out after a morality speech.

      PS! Naruto never killed Kakuzu, Kakashi did. Point proven.

      semtex
  8. still there too many enenimes then the ninjas (only including those that we know) have a feeling that Garra team will show up… since the division of long range are taking out the zeutz zombies so what Garra team doing then??

    lookinawsome

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