And here comes the wave of Sasuke-centric chapters. It’s kind of interesting to see what Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu are up to, the first of whom is already planning an escape from Konoha, but I couldn’t help but question the timing of this chapter. Yes, there was some good foreshadowing with Orochimaru’s hidden research that likely serves as Kabuto’s trump card against Tobi; however, learning about it now kind of disrupts the high tension of Naruto vs. Tobi and Five Kages vs. Madara battles.

On the plus side, this chapter does set things up for an eventual reunion between Sasuke and Itachi, where I hope to see Itachi reason with his younger brother and make him realize that destroying Konoha would just counteract the sacrifice he made to protect it. The more I think about it, the more curious I am to see how Sasuke will react, because I can actually picture the revenge-crazed Uchiha feeling little remorse about fighting the resurrected Itachi. I am however hoping that Sasuke will be drawn into a fight very reluctantly instead — due to the self-cast genjutsu on Itachi to protect Konoha (that was originally intended for Sasuke) — as it wouldn’t really reflect well on his character if he has no problem fighting Itachi when he’s supposedly taking revenge for him now. Any remaining compassion I have towards Sasuke’s character would pretty much go out the window if he didn’t hesitate at all, and I don’t even dislike his character as much as some other people do.

Incidentally, this latest development does seem to further sidetrack the fact that Itachi presumably went off to find Kabuto and put a stop to his Edo Tensei technique. There’s some inherent suspense on whether he’ll be able to get past Sasuke in order to do so, seeing as the latter’s newly transplanted eyes have taken him to a whole other level, so I’m starting to wonder if this encounter was the goal all along. Sasuke will get in the way of Itachi , while the Kages will likely have their hands full against a resurrected Madara.

54 Comments

  1. Itachi literally LET sasuke win their last fight and still scared the piss out of him. Honestly I don’t think anything they do now will trump their last fight and will instead just diminish the characters. Which is a shame. While I hate sasuke I have always liked Itachi.

    Bijyu
    1. I don’t think it’d diminish the characters. The purpose of them meeting up this time around would not be the fight itself. Like you said, we’ve pretty much seen it before (although Sasuke undoubtedly has a lot more moves now). The focus would instead be more on the story development that would naturally come with a reunion between Itachi and Sasuke. Like Divine said, Sasuke is supposedly trying to avenge Itachi. What’s he going to do when Itachi tells him this is not what he should be doing?

    2. Here’s a question. Why did Itachi mind-fuck Sasuke in the first place? He made Sasuke wallow in hatred… Of course he’s going to go bat-shit crazy and do the one thing that Itachi doesn’t want him to do.

      Itachi. You’re the King of Idiots.

      Jared Drake
      1. I actually kinda agree with you. Once Itachi’s past was revealed, one of the first things that came to mind was “what was the point in mind-f*ing Sasuke that badly?” How did he not realize that that would mess him up even more? Not only that, but Itachi’s words are basically what drove Sasuke to betray Konoha and seek out greater power in the first place. Well, I guess it could just be that Itachi overestimated Sasuke’s mental stability.

        Rondo
      2. I can only guess that either…

        1.) The story may have meant to go in a different direction, but Kishi changed things around.

        2.) Itachi, kind of like Kakashi, may have been a great shinobi, but an utterly crappy teacher. After all, they don’t go hand-in-hand. As we see, Itachi’s real wish for Sasuke to use his anger and hatred to focus and become stronger in a more justified role. Instead, it backfired and Sasuke became a second Madara/Orochimaru because his 8-year old mind completely took Itachi’s words literally and thus the wrong way.

        Like Itachi talking about the “same eyes” was really more about wanting Sasuke to see past the clan and embrace peace more than power like he had done, but Sasuke took it literally as the Mangekyo Sharingan.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. It’s not even that anymore.

      Ever since his fight with Itachi and learning the truth about the Uchiha Clan, it’s all been a warped mixture of his own pride (“The Uchiha are the best. Fact.”) and and a twisted attempt to justify what happened (“The Uchiha were being oppressed! They deserved more power and everyone wanted to keep them down!”) resulting in total denial over the fact that the Uchiha Clan were simply power-hungry bastards and that his whole life had been a total lie with Itachi NOT being the total evil murderer he had spent the last few years believing and training to kill and it’s only been getting worse.

      I doubt Itachi will be able to get through to Sasuke at this point and will have to accept the fact that Sasuke is really beyond saving anymore. Hell, he even took precautions in the case of such things happening like with Shisui’s Mangekyo Sharingan, but now that’s out the window which leaves removing Sasuke completely as the only viable option left. That won’t stop Itachi from trying most likely, but given how Sasuke is now, Sasuke will simply keep trying to use twisted justifications for his actions.

      Frankly, Sasuke really doesn’t seem any different than before; just spamming Susano’o and Amaterasu like usual. The only difference now being that he doesn’t have to worry about going blind using them anymore. As far as we know, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan is just a Mangekyo Sharingan that doesn’t make the user go blind at all. We have yet to see it doing anything unique to itself over a single Mangekyo Sharingan, even when Madara used it (as he just went straight to the Rinnegan afterwards which has been showing exactly WHY it’s superior to even the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan compared to Nagato’s use of it).

      In terms of the fight, I’d see the Eternal Mangekyo, outside of any further hax by Kishimoto to make Sasuke suddenly better, being Sasuke’s only real reason to be able to stand “evenly” with Itachi, but Itachi not only has his skills and abilities from when he was alive (and all at 100% this time, not hampered by any illnesses), but also, despite not being under its total control anymore, the properties of the Edo Tensei behind him, thus meaning that he can’t die either, but only sealed away, so only a lucky hit from the Totsuka no Tsurugi of Sasuke’s Susano’o will be able to beat him, which I’m sure will end up happening considering what’s been going on lately.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. Sasuke is going to get the Rinnegan. He’s also gonna take a fatal blow.

        Naruto is going to lose his eye/s.

        Then Sasuke will have Sakura transfer the doujutsu to Naruto.

        True Story.

        Jared Drake
      2. Watch them BOTH get the Rinnegan in the end…Sasuke through the eyes and Naruto through being a direct descendant of the Rikudo Sennin from the looks of things…

        Given what’s been going on, I also would not be surprised if, during the Naruto/Sasuke fight or whatever big bad Naruto fights, Kakashi intervenes and suddenly reveals a Rinnegan in his left eye and, even if just one single time (due to amount of chakra), uses Shinra Tensei or something to save Naruto and give him the opening he needs to win. I mean, come on, they gave Kakashi a Mangekyo Sharingan and have yet to explain how/when he got it either. What’s to stop them from giving him a Rinnegan, even if just 1 time? lol

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      3. …wow, that pretty much sums it up perfectly.

        Yeah, considering Sasuke has to stay crazy evil until his fight with Naruto, Itachi is likely to just give him some sort of a fight and a few wise words that won’t be brought up again until the end of the final fight with Naruto. Itachi, you are a good brother.

        Da5id
      4. Definite agree on that last comment you said Da5id. Itachi won’t get through Sasuke’s skull at the moment, given Sasuke must have the intent to kill Naruto when they fight…And only when he is redeemed and defeated will Itachi’s words echo in his mind and make sense to him…

        …And then he’ll probably cry (lol).

      5. Yeah, people saying Sasuke should end up killed…I still like to believe that he won’t die, but will end up blinded somehow, whether it be by literally losing his eyes somehow or somehow overloading them or something that makes them useless.

        After all, going blind, as we saw with Madara and then Sasuke a bit, was a fate WORSE than death for Uchiha with minds like them, who’s whole life is pretty much revolving around the power of their eyes. To lose it all like that while still living is the best kind of justice for them I think.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  2. Interesting chapter and a much slower-paced one too. It’s nice to have these breaks every now and then between such huge battles. Personally, I like what Kishimoto did by interrupting Naruto’s fight in the very middle of it.

    There’s a lot of stuff happening at the same time, and I couldn’t be better with it. We get to see different stuff from different points of view too: particularly the little dialogues the Zetsu had this chapter.

    -The original Zetsu is *gasp* dead! The only remaining Akatsuki member is Tobi.
    -Zetsus are also apparently on the move. “Naruto’s comrades are all hurrying to his side. We must hurry.” It’s nice to know these cannon fodder have a plan, as weak as it may be. It’s a huge difference from having mute, nameless bad guys attack the good guys.

    Also, I couldn’t care less for Sasuke’s reaction when he meets and has a discussion with Itachi. Basically, I’d be cool with any of both possible scenarios:
    -Sasuke goes psycho and attacks him without hesitation? Cool–That’s an even more f*cked up good guy who went down the path of hate ala Shounen. The more extreme, the more entertaining IMO.
    -He feels remorse and now hesitates what to do? Uhh…Cool too I guess. It’d be a break from his usual hate rampage, and it’d finally give us a more sentimental, human side of Sasuke we rarely see. If Itachi is the one who finally wins in an argument with Sasuke, that’d be the real winner. That brat needs to be slapped into reality for once!

    Still, I did dislike the oh-so-random event that Suigetsu all of a sudden has uber-level intel that could “change/control the flow of this war”. It seems unfair and way too deus-ex-machina all over it. To me, it seems like a lame excuse to grant more ‘power’ to Sasuke: we all know that intel will end up in Sasuke’s hands. I’d much rather see smart Sasuke cause a big impact in the war with witty actions (his actual power level is more than enough to accomplish this). He’d be the badass, one-man-army X factor that neither Tobi nor the Allied Shinobi Forces predicted would have such a big impact in the flow and plans of battle. That’d be better than being given a cool scroll with neat tips that spells out victory for him.
    Suigetsu and Jugo’s interaction was funny, though…

    1. Zetsu’s dead, but there are Zetsu’s on the move?

      Sorry, I’ve just considered all the clones as Zetsu. He’ll be dead when they all are.

      Speaking of which, you would think that Zetsu being explained off as a clone of the 1st Hokage would be taken badly, but…I guess people just don’t care. I would’ve liked to know why the original had two halves, but I guess it’s not important.

      Da5id
      1. Yeah, they’re all their “own being” and not a bunch of drones controlled by a “hive mind” (original Zetsu).

        In terms of the white and black halves, I figured that, based off of the whole “gaining Hashirama’s power” tidbits and all, it was some experimental attempt by “Tobi” to merge Senju and Uchiha blood together in some way; Senju being the white (“good”) half and the Uchiha the black (“evil”). It also looks that way given all the pure white Zetsu were spawned purely by cells from Hashirama alone it looked like.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      2. Huh, that’s an interesting thought I never saw Inuyasha, regarding the explanation of the white and blood of Zetsu. It definetly makes sense…And maybe it’s fact given that they may have already stated it in the manga; but, at least in my case, I find the whole Hashirama and Madara’s DNA topic so cloudy and messy that I’m willing to put up with anything that comes from that topic. “DNA transplants you say? Oh okay, that explains everything then”.

  3. I was thinking that Sasuke is beyond saving at this point. I know a lot of people already said that in the chapters before this one a long time ago. But the part where he is just going to kill everyone, staring with Naruto, just pounded the nail all the way (in a more definite tone). I feel the author is just going to tease us with some hope in turning Sasuke good again before plunging us into the start of the despair cycle again.

    random viewer
  4. Anyone else imagine that Itachi will just talk to Sasuke? By that I mean Itachi will tell him that Naruto will set him straight since Itachi seems to have placed a great deal of faith in Naruto’s ability to reform Sasuke.

    schwegburt
    1. How can someone even say something this ignorant after this chapter? The very fact that Kishimoto is having Sasuke go to the trouble of “keeping his promise” with Naruto is a clear indication that he WILL be saved.

      To spell it out for you: He will not kill any Konoha Shinobi before he fights Naruto. e.g., he will not kill any Konoha Shinobi because Naruto will win their next fight and save him. If he doesn’t kill any good guys (Konoha) he is obviously being set up to be redeemed.

      GladOsegOIsntTheAuthor
  5. So glad Karin was faking the “fangirl-over-Sasuke” scene. If she was still like that after what Sasuke has done to her, I would have smacked her. I can’t say I like her aggressiveness much but at least she’s a smart woman and is busting out of that prison anytime soon now.

    As for Sasuke, the only thing I like in this chapter is probably how he still keeps his promise with Naruto and will not kill any “Konoha” shinobi. Though I secretly won’t mind if he did actually.

    Yoruhime
  6. if Itachi and Sasuke do cross paths I can see Sasuke having gone passed the point of no return so far in that he will make excuses like Itachi being a genjutsu entirely, or being mind controlled or something just so he can fight.

    gawrshness
  7. Is there anyone else that finds the whole story with Sasuke stupid? I can’t stand him or his whole group. I even hate them more than Orochimaru and whatever the hell Kabuto is. When you compare Sasuke and Orochimaru to whoever the hell Tobi is, you can really see how pathetic they are. Sasuke is a stupid nutjob who:

    1) Somehow escaped the fight with Deidara (seriously he pulled that out of his ass)
    2) Only beat Danzo because he was healed
    3) Only beat Bee because he was healed.
    4) All of his now useful abilities are only because of Itachi

    Kishimoto needs to hurry up and end Sasuke and Orochimaru. Those two are just lame as hell when you think about how crazy strong Tobi is. :/

    OtsegO
    1. I think you’re just pulling crap outta your ass. I’m not a fan of Sasuke either, but I’m not going to manipulate the events and outcome of his fights to further hate him

      1) Sasuke’s fight with Deidare was completely his win. Deidare blew himself up. And why? Because that was his only alternative. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything else, that Sasuke would either kill him, or torture him until he told him where Itachi was left. Manda was Sasuke’s summoning too, which means Sasuke had chakra left at the end of his fight with Deidare.

      2) We don’t know if Sasuke could have used the Chidori spear after being healed. Danzo was just as injured as him and he was able to get up and use chakra.

      3) Sasuke beating Bee was completely cheap. I agree with that. He went into the fight, full power, and had to be healed during the fight twice to continue going on with it.

      4) Sasuke’s Mangekyou is just as legit as Itachi’s. If you’re going to use that argument, then essentially all of Itachi’s techniques are because of Madara, and that sounds retarded.

      AsianDisaster
    1. WTF? Do you not read the manga or something? They post the character popularity polls on the first page when they happen. Sasuke WON the two before the previous one and he came in second in the last one.

      GladOsegOIsntTheAuthor
  8. I think Orochimaru’s research might be Sasuke’s potential level-up tool for his fight with Naruto, because I cannot imagine any other way he’s going to measure up against the current Naruto.

    Yukie
    1. That’s what I’ve been thinking too…whenever one ends up getting some hax power-up (usually without even fully exploring the previous one ~_~), the other has to get some hax power-up quickly after them to keep up.

      Sasuke gets the Sharingan.

      Naruto taps into Kyuubi’s/Kurama’s power.

      Sasuke gets the Chidori.

      Naruto gets the Rasengan.

      Sasuke gets the Curse Seal LV2.

      Naruto taps into MORE of Kyuubi’s/Kurama’s power.

      Sasuke owns Naruto and co. in their first encounter after 3 years.

      Naruto Kage Bunshin spams and gets the (50%) Rasenshuriken.

      Sasuke gets the Mangekyo Sharingan

      Naruto gets Sage Mode.

      Sasuke gets the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

      Naruto gets upgraded Biju Cloak and MORE of Kyuubi’s/Kurama’s power.

      …so Sasuke will probably get some new hax power-up from whatever Suigetsu found and then Naruto will get something after that probably.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  9. I think even if sasuke is as powerful as he is now, I don’t think Sasuke learned to much with his susanoo he got it quickly and got the new eyes quickly. I think Itachi has many many more tricks up his sleeve, I do think Itachi will lose the fight even if it pains me to say that but he will put up one hell of a fight to let us see how much sasuke would of lost by if tach was at full strength.

    Ryan
  10. Itachi will probably use that 666 flame jutsu he used on nagato….dnt know how strong that is but im pretty sure since he didn’t use it on sasuke the 1st time he will this time seein as it was a last minute hax to give itach one more power boost in the series…jus sayin give that it has x amount of strentgh it might make up of a more intresting battle if he does fights with itachi

    shininguri

Leave a Reply to Da5id Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *