I probably should’ve been more pumped up from Gaara’s speech that united all the ninjas under his command, but I’ve clearly gotten a lot more jaded and cynical over the years. It was one of those scenes that I know will have much more of an impact when it’s animated, in its attempt to get the reader excited about what’s coming up. In the pages of a weekly manga, I find the whole effect really depends on the mood of the reader coming in though, as there isn’t much in the way of voice acting nor music to set the tone. However, that’s not to say I didn’t feel it was well scripted for the series as a whole, seeing as it showed a side to Gaara that we haven’t really seen before.

While it’s no secret that he feels indebted to Naruto for saving him from being consumed by hatred, it’s like something else altogether to announce that to the ninja world. What’s more, he even went on to ask for everyone’s help protecting Naruto and the entire world, which the Gaara before would have never done. The first time he showed indication of turning a new leaf was back when he put his life on the line to protecting his village as its new Kazekage against Deidara. From then until now, he’s shown even more maturity, charisma, and most of all emotion, the last of which came as a bit of a surprise. Consequently, he sure did one heck of a job rallying the army and getting them to stop fighting amongst themselves by simply making everyone feel like their abilities are needed. With the army of Zetsu clones approaching from underground, we all know that it wasn’t just a leadership tactic to get everyone to cooperate either. Much like this fourth ninja war was made out to be last chapter, the casualties look like they’ll be plentiful as sheer numbers will be colliding head-on.

Other than Gaara’s big speech to further play up what a big deal this impending war is, the talks between Kabuto’s resurrected ninjas is definitely sparking my interest more on the sentimental and/or nostalgic match-ups we’ll likely see. Story-wise, I’m not expecting them to have too much more of a role than that, and instead, somewhat foresee Kabuto betraying Madara at some point. Given how he’s capable of keeping all the resurrected ninja under his control, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched believing that his improvements on the Zetsu army will allow him to take control of them as well. Whatever the case, Kabuto is definitely someone I’ll have my eye on as the battle unfolds, much like I will on Naruto when he finally figures out that there’s a war going on to protect him and Bee from Akatsuki. I can only see him charging head first into the front lines when that happens, but it should be pretty awesome now that he’s getting accustomed to controlling the Kyuubi’s chakra. Can you imagine the look on everyone’s faces when he reveals his new form and single-handedly changes the tides of the war? It should be good.

45 Comments

  1. I think that Naruto and Killer Bee will make their appearance now that Naruto has learned to control the Kyuubi’s power.
    I wonder if among the zombies there is the Third Hokage and Jiraiya as well.
    Their fights would be really worth seeing!

    Fai D Fluorite
  2. Gaara is as awesome as ever, he is not one of my fav characters for nothing after all ;), but I can understand your point when you comment that “amazed he can say that with a straight face” ^^; Maybe it will be indeed more impacting animated with some dramatic music with it or something, but on my side I think it wasn’t half bad in manga either ^^

    sherry
  3. Did anyone read the Blackest Night crossover in DC Comics? You know, when all the dead DC heroes and villains are brought back as zombies by death himself and forced to fight the still living characters that they had issues with?

    Yeah…I’m starting to see some similarities.

    da5id
  4. I guess.. Kabuto Gradually will lose his Control Over someone like Neji father, Asuma, Dan, Zabuza, Haku etc Since Those Zombies Will Come up with Plan and Establish Resistance movement to liberate themselves from Kabuto jutsu.

    tama
  5. So many options for great incoming fights!

    Personally I expect some of the dead ninjas to find a way to break out of the control. Most notably Itachi, i’d find it hard to believe he would be so easily controlled.

    Aecen
  6. I wonder if the Shinobi’s that die in this war will be resurected on spot on the the battlefield as MORE servants for Kabuto? It would make it just that much harder for Naruto’s side.

    Karmafan
  7. Edo Tensei…what a wonderful way to create at least 2 more years of manga. Unfortunately, it will be painful waiting to see the story, and even more painful to wait until it gets animated.

    Joe
  8. Gaara’s scene and speech seemed like Justin Bieber dressed up for the movie Braveheart -__-

    The whole united ninja front is just ridiculous idea. “yes yesterday we were plotting against each other and assassinating others bla bla, but now we decided that we are liek best friends”…sure.

    The whole zombie talk was just….filler? I fear this will lead to some stupid “zombies rebel” stuff. Zabuza, Sasori, everyone, felt so out of character.

    I guess this whole war just feels unrealistic. Its like gundam seed destiny or any other crap like that, where you have a light good and PEACEFUL good side vs the evil bad bad clone war army of hatred.

    If kishi did not fodderize the akatsuki, we coul dhave had a real war. You know, akatsuki manipulating one or two major countries into igniting a world war. Then we could have had(the actual samurai, not the gasmask-fodder) with ninjas NOT taking the front rows of the armies. This way we could have way more on various country politics between feudal lords. Heck even Naruto’s pacifism could have been added with Naruto and others trying to stop the war from starting( ican already imagine for example, Country of Sand shogun is killed, the palace is in flames and naruto, sakura and whatever else encounter madara/kabuto/whoeverelse there for few seconds., the bad guy just calmly standing among the turmoil) and trying to cease it.

    Sadly we got….this….digimon battle.

    UnknownVoice
    1. you just hate everything i doubt you could make a better story

      Sasori and Zabuza did not feel a bit out a Character and i liked Gaara’s speach

      its not like this peace is going to last forever its just a common enemy that the villages are uniting for after its over they will disband

      the Akatsuki are not fodder and about the war feeling unrealistic this is a manga about ninja’s that can shoot fire balls and summon huge animals while huge demon fox’s run around and i doubt its going to lead to any zombie rebel stuff when one voiced how he would not work for Kabuto he shut him up

      and its been weeks in our time and naruto’s worlds time when the shinobi alliance started and as you can tell all hard feelings are not gone

      honestly you just complain about every chapter

      clinton
    2. I agree with you man!!… everything you said!

      That gaara speech was fucking garbage!! Even i can come up with something better than what gaara said! He started talking about naruto.. 90prosent of the people there dont know naruto! thats not how you rally your troops!! You talk to them about courage and shit!

      and also.. the zombie gags… argh!! what a drag!!

      This was is unrealistic… whats also fun that the good ninjas in naruto almost never kill.. and now kishi has introduced madaras zetsu clones and zombie army… now the good guys can kill all they want without getting corrupt!!

      Kram Kamei
    3. UNREALISTIC. Really, now. The world-scale fight between ninjas that can control the elements, create clones of themselves, and summon animals from another dimension became UNREALISTIC when they threw zombies in? You, sir, need to take a chill pill. And quit making shit up just to criticize stuff for not going the way you wanted it to.

      da5id
      1. there’s a fantasy story and there’s children fairy tale story.

        Just because we have a world (which was somewhat realistic and toned down, pre dbz-part-two) of ninjas, it does not mean that the moral system can be simplified too.

        Heck, look at A Song of Ice and Fire book novels. The whole thing is set in fictional continent, with fictional races with gigantic ice wall up to the sky and magic. And yet the whole book series manage to be as thoughtful as “War and Peace” and as engaging as Sopranos tv show.

        Fantasy does not mean shallow plot, unrealistic character decisions and cliches. Thats not fantasy. thats bad writing.

        The reaction to Gaara’s “speech” was just as ridiculous as Pain’s conversion and suicide because of Naruto’s little speech.

        UnknownVoice
      2. just cause u like the idea of him resurrecting everyone who ever lived in the series, instead of using what people he has left and introducing a few new powerful power hungry allies as well. Doesnt mean we have to like it or buy it!! the resurrection jutsu is just plain stupid, especially the scale in which it is being used now. If it was 5 or even 8 people, i wouldnt complain. But everyone who died in history is back, thats ridiculous!! i dont care what you say to that. Aint good story and not good for setting up epic fights either!!
        We will just have to agree to disagree.

        darkloco
  9. I agree with UnknownVoice. This is just filler stuff for Kishimoto to drag out the manga for another year because of his employer Shonen Jump.

    People who says that this war or even this manga is realistic in any way has to watch more war movies. I also think that the speech was cheesy crap, nothing made sense when I read it. Come on you are like talking to shinobi’s NATO and you this is the best you can come up with?
    Yeah we killed and each others’ friends and relatives, buts thats A-OK because a kid and his cheesy speech said so. So lets join hands and forget decades of warefare. If only the real world worked like that!

    The recycling of Akatsuki and everyone is just a lame attempt of Kishi or a lazy one, not bothering to draw new people we can be interested (yes people can get interested in new characters, just look at the escorts of the kages in the 5 kage arc). I thought that mr.Madara-know-it-all had worked with this plan for 100 years, and this is the best he can come up with? You would have thought he had put more spies and infiltrators in each country. I am disappoint.

    And if people are this easily resurrected everytime someone die people might just not care anymore when people die. It takes all tension and emotions away because we can just say: Its oki he will be resurrected in 50 chapters. Its just bad writing and plot development.

    Clearly Kishimoto did not have a plan how to end Naruto right, and if he did Shonen Jump ruined his chances of making “Naruto” to a good manga, now its just medicore like most shonen stories.

    semtex
    1. totally agree with you. Kishi was just being lazy resurrecting all these other characters instead of making new ones. Cant believe one jutsu can ruin a whole manga, but kabutos dragonball zombie machine is just terrible plan and simple.

      darkloco
      1. You honestly want him to introduce loads and loads of new characters for the bad guys just for the final battle? There’d be almost no point, they’d be dead within 10 chapters without any backstory or development. THAT is bad storytelling.

        da5id
  10. Gaara is in naruto’s spotlight trying to unite the world a little early. Only naruto can deliver this kind of cheesy speech followed by everyone crying. Gaara’s speech will just leave everyone confused especially right after this they will meet their former allies as zombies. It will be pretty messed up.

    ssddsd
  11. You guys do realize that Naruto is destined to END the Shinobi/Ninja system, right? This is what Minato, Jiraiya, Nagato, and possibly Itachi wanted. Naruto is basically being setup to become the current era’s Rikudo Sennin and change the system.

    Gaara was the right person to give this speech because he is a former victim/tool at what brought this war about. Only he could give this speech since having the other Kages or someone from Kakashi’s era giving it, who ACCEPT the ninja system wouldn’t really make sense.

    Nagato, through Deva Pain, even shown this about Tsunade, who simply looked at it as something to be expected and even try to pull the victim role, saying the bigger villages suffered too. Though, that came from egos getting involved.

    When Naruto gives his speech eventually, it’ll be about eliminating the ninja system that is the source of the cycle of hatred like Minato told him.

    Mania Lyssa
  12. This was so awesome. I REALLY, really, Like Gaara now. He is like a mix of Sasuke and Naruto in one character or simply a Sasuke that worked, but his “journey” was really interesting. I used to hate him, now I love him (as a character). That’s the perfect example of a well written character IMO. This is what should have happened to Sasuke I guess. Instead he just fell, fell and became what I call “the worst character ever”. I wished Naruto and him joined forces to beat the crap out of the that author-protected-emo. But you know what? I can see from a mile away the death of Naruto and Sasuke receiving his redemption. Well, the future will say If I’m right or not.

    RyuGuitarFreak
  13. Eh, for all of Naruto’s power, he’s going to be completely blind-sided by the fact that ones like Asuma, Dan, Hizashi, Zabuza, Haku, and the dead Jinchuuriki are ones he’ll end up fighting against besides Kabuto, Madara, Sasuke, undead Akatsuki, and the Zetsu army.

    As I said a chapter or 2 ago, he’ll (and others like Shikamaru, Neji, Tsunade and others, assuming they encounter specific ones) most likely end up holding back far too much in favor of wanting to save them, which will more than likely end up costing him and/or others in the long-run somehow and, hopefully, be forced to see that he can’t and won’t be able to “save” absolutely everyone without casualties.

    Though, I have doubts, considering the power to mental development ratio he and Sasuke have had going on for them. Hell, it was just LUCK that Pain “miraculously” decides to turn good at the last second and revive everyone he killed in Konoha. I think they should’ve stayed dead to help teach Naruto a big lesson. >< (Which is why it felt SO good to see Naruto's naivety just shot down and crushed by E, the Raikage, when Naruto was all begging him to not kill Sasuke, despite everything he did.)

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  14. You guys are complaining way to much. You forget that this is a shonen manga filled to the brim with testostorone like every other manga that’s why we have games like DON battle arena and other stuff. Yes I agree there are some cheesy parts to this series but there are cheesy parts in every manga. And as for Gaara’s speech it was awesome to see one person unify other ninja villages with just his words to show for good character development and because of this the casulties will be dropped significantly because if the people hated each other then it would be a free for all instead of the sides being clearly visible.

    Zero

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