It was only two chapters ago that I said Naruto will probably make an immediate impact on the battlefield and it looks like the stage has just been set for that. The difference is, I was thinking it would be the Kages who Gaara and Oonoki have been stalling and not Itachi and Pain. I did mention how Pain could probably be considered Kage level+ though, so it’s funny how he face-to-face with Naruto again. It’ll be interesting to see what they have to say to one another (if anything), but it’s actually Itachi whom I’m most curious about.

It’s been quite a while since Sasuke killed his older brother, and even longer since Itachi supposedly left Naruto with “something”, so I gather he’ll have some things to say to Naruto about Sasuke. Even if it’s something along the lines of, “Please stop Sasuke”, it would be a pretty significant “milestone” toward Naruto and Sasuke’s inevitable showdown. Seeing as Itachi was intent on taking his sacrifice for Konoha to his grave and never intended to kill his younger brother, there’s always the possibility that he’ll ask Naruto to save Sasuke from being used by Madara. It does seem unlikely because of Itachi’s sense of duty, so I get the feeling that he’s going to ask Naruto to rid the world of the Uchihas altogether (i.e. Sasuke and Madara).

As for Gaara and his father, if someone had told me that Gaara was going to break down in tears this week, I would’ve told them that they’re crazy. As I expressed last week, I was hoping that Gaara’s father would redeem himself in death, but I figured it was going to involve a lengthy and emotionally difficult battle. In that sense, the sudden sealing came off a bit anticlimactic, even though I do feel it was a much more meaningful way of going about it. Gaara learns the truth about how he was loved and his father repents for his mistakes. The only thing I found a bit odd was the other Kages break free of Gaara’s sand, leaving the former Kazekage as the only one who was sealed (or so it seemed).

I presume Kishimoto wanted to illustrate an epic battle for those readers eagerly awaiting one, but so far it doesn’t look like anything more than a lot of cannon fodder being plowed through. With Oonoki dealing with Muu, there doesn’t really seem to be anyone to fight the former Raikage and Mizukage either. I like Temari as much as the next person, but I can’t picture her contending with two Kages — even if they give away their weaknesses. Maybe the cannon fodder won’t just be cannon fodder after all. Strength in numbers?

29 Comments

  1. well this was a nice chapter !!

    i really was starting to think that kabuto was slipping on the zombie control ^_^”

    * glad to see the kages are not going to stand still and be sealed *

    it would be nice to see nagato & itachi power up naruto & bee some how…i’m like bee never trains…it’s always naruto >_<"

  2. Gaara was the focus of the battle until Naruto came into the picture. I’m a little disappointed with the fight between Gaara and his dad; I mean I wanted more than an emotional reunion of their past memories but a real full-throttle battle. Oh well, I got to see another side of Gaara. I hope next chapter will have more than what this offered. I think Nagato and Itachi will talk about their motives in this war and explain to Naruto what’s been going on in his absence up til now.

    Pikachu
  3. Wow Garra goes from shedding one tear at the summit, to balling on the battlefield. They so have to show that scene in the opening of Naruto Shippuden when they get to that season. (but no more scenes of Sakura crying, she is getting on my nerves)

    Otaku_Brawler
  4. I wonder why artists try to fit

    1:Exposition
    2:Rising Action
    3:Climax
    4:Falling action
    5:Resolution
    In two chapters of manga…

    Its like writing a short story with two paragraphs of dialogue and expecting it pull on the heart strings of the readers.

    I like the revisiting of characters, but at least spread it out. Sprinkle some different Point of views in there, a battle here, a speech there, from different people on different battle grounds so it feels like more than one singular event is happening the jump back at the climax of different battles. Rather then stick with the one battle for two or three weeks and 85% of that “battle” was flash backs. “sigh”

    Will
  5. Isn’t ‘strength in numbers’ the very definition of cannon fodder?

    But as I said before, the cannon fodder is probably very well aware of their role in this battle. And besides, you only have to get lucky once and suddenly the Kages might be distracted.

    SpacyRicochet
      1. It can’t be a Kekkei Genkai because Gaara didn’t inherit it from his clan. His ability to control sand seems to be a remnant from when he had the One-Tail in him, and his absolute defence is due to his mothers love…somehow…

        Sekai
      2. ahh see, i thought his absolute defence was just something he taught himself, the control of the sand was from the one tales. but if that was the case when it was taken from him i thought he shud have just lost that ability. and in turn turns out his greatest strength wasnt from the one tails it was from his mums love (awwwh!)
        either way his mum forming in the sand behind was cool. could be very nice animated

        sheenzu
  6. Im not sure if this has been mentioned before, but doesn’t it bother anyone the Kages still retain control over their mouth muscles and are able to speak, despite the full body control of the Edo Tensei+charms combo?

    It just bothers me how the whole Edo Tensei jutsu fails to keep its pawn`s mouth shut, when it make them do crazy jutsus.

    Kentaiyoshimi
  7. A very emotional chapter. Though it’s anticlimatic how easily the Gaara’s dad was sealed, he was always one of the weaker Kage’s anyway (since Orochimaru finished him off so easily). I hope we finally find out what Itachi put inside Naruto!

    Sekai
  8. I was a bit upset that the fight between Gaara and his father didn’t last very long, but it was nice to see some emotions gathering among them. And when Gaara cried omg. The end was very surprising and I can’t wait to see what happens next. My mouth was just wide open at the end. It’ll be interesting if Itachi was the one to talk some sense into Sasuke, that is if he doesn’t die that quickly.

    Valerie

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