It’s ironic for a ninja to be concerned about honor, except Hanzou’s a special case since he’s a former samurai. This chapter spent a fair bit of time fleshing out his character and emphasizing how he made Mifune in leader he is today, which more or less disproved my hunch a couple of weeks back about how their fight may be concluded quickly. Granted, it sure looked that way last chapter, until this latest one went and showed an unexpectedly noble side to Hanzou. Not something I was hoping would get a bit more attention, but it was a lot more interesting than I would’ve given it credit.

If there’s one thing that this fourth ninja war has really opened up, it’s a seemingly endless amount of battles without any sort break in between. It’s a war and everyone has to fight, so story build-up isn’t needed. In the case of relatively unknown characters such as Mifune and Hanzou, we’re supplemented with flashbacks to help offset that to a certain degree, whereas for Asuma we have years of history that speaks for itself, making it even easier. As seen in Chouji, an emotional fight is in store for the latter, but I admittedly found it funny how Asuma was doing exactly what I talked about last week — telling his former students how to beat him. While it’s likely to prevent the battles from being completely dry, I almost wanted to cast off the decision to leave the original personalities of the revived ninjas as an oversight on Kabuto’s part. It’s more amusing that way.

Be that as it may, I can’t say I quite understand Chouji’s hesitation towards attacking Asuma. It’s a different story if he was still alive and simply being controlled, but he’s dead and wants them to stop him so that he doesn’t harm the loved ones he left behind. Chouji would be doing him a huge favor by putting his soul to rest rather than letting Kabuto continue to use it as one of his pawns. Stupid emotions. They always get in the way! *sniff*

29 Comments

  1. I have to say, the war’s definitely fleshed out a lot of minor characters with very colorful histories.

    It’s a shame the story’ll inevitably take a nose dive in quality once the main character’s return to active duty in the plot…

    Da5id
      1. I heard the Bleach manga is awesome. idk where I heard/saw it from. I’m not sure If I can say the same thing to the low-budgeted anime which shows some inconsistencies in the storyline from time to time. to be honest with you guys, I never saw a scene in Bleach that makes my blood go pumpin. Bleach anime pales in comparison to naruto.

        Alec
      2. The problem with Bleach is that you hate it, and you know you hate it. But everyone else seems to love it. So much so that eventually you go back and read it, thinking that you missed something, but no, it still sucks, and everyone still loves it. Then you start to hate everyone for not even bothering to look at the other (more interesting) series out there.

        Jack Spicer
  2. Giving Hanzou this different side to his character was a nice touch, but with the amount of time Kishi was given to develop this, it wasn’t exactly a great execution. I would even say that it felt a bit disjointed or rushed but I can’t really blame Kishi. 2 chapters to develop a minor character is pretty hard on anyone so I can’t really complain.

    I hope Kishi didn’t completely forget about Kimimaro too, he’s such an awesome ninja and with the immortal body now, we won’t have to worry about his disease disrupting his fights. Seeing that he has already been given his time in the limelight though, this is high unlikely, which is sad >_<

    1. Yes i feel the same way about Kimimaro, he seemed a pretty interesting character if a little overpowered, seems the disease was needed to finish him off just like Itachi, we shall see how he’s dealt with now..

      X-T
  3. man naruto is starting to feel like OP ^_^ there just soo many great differnt story that i woudln’t mind reading the more in-depth story in another series then trying to compact it into like 2 mange chapter

    lookinawsome
    1. Naruto’s hard to take seriously after the Madara plan and the Gin/Kin mess.

      Sheesh, I didn’t realize people still swallowed whatever Kishi pumps out. A better comparison would be Naruto and Bleach.

      Luxorcist
      1. It’s not what’s wrong with the plan, but Kishi’s execution in revealing it. The moon was never made out to be uber important to the Narutoverse and the Ten-Tails was only mentioned in manga chapter 467, when Madara revealed his plan. Sure, it can be argued that it’s within the canon of having the next sequential tailed beast, but I call that lack of foreshadowing, while others might call it an asspull.

        Luxorcist
      2. I am going to combine the 9 tailed beats, to release a 10 tailed beast from the moon. then I will absorb its power, and project my sharingan as a power point of doom to force peace an everyone.
        Then just add in the generic “It is not peace if it is forced!” stock line, and this seemingly stupid reveal is actually elevated to stupid and cliche.

        derp...
  4. pretty good background for a character introduced in just a few chapters.
    really, chouji shouldnt have been hesitant. I would understand if he was only a bit, like holding back some strength, but saying “I cant do it” means he is too soft and emotional.

    amado
  5. While I like the touch is did to Hanzou’s history, I’m disappointed they did not show too much of his powers. Hardly seem like anyone that could’ve been hailed as a powerful shinobi.

    Gekokujou
      1. I know that, but at least show something that says “Hello, I’m a badass”. The summon he had didn’t do justice for me for some reason.

        I forgot to write this as well, but Chouji I’m saddened by the weakness in your heart. I’m expecting he pulls something exceptional so make up for it soon.

        Gekokujou
  6. In just one chapter I changed my opinion about Hanzo. I need to congratulate Kishi for that because I usually hate the draggin´with unimportant characters/stories. “OH! but the fullbring is such an interesting ability!” or something like that.

    I know that things could not end with just “Take this sensei! rest in peace!” but there should have been a better way to put drama.

    Lectro Volpi
  7. Now how did kabuto resurrect him with a poison pouch attached.

    Giving an evil dictator like him a good background story is a waste. He clearly didnt care about his comrades when negato killed them all. Just used them as shields and ran.

    sdbsjdb

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