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Given enough time, it’s inevitable that the older generation gives way to the younger generation. A new wind blows so to speak—and that’s really the gist of what we’ve been getting here throughout this fight. In many ways, the fact that Orochimaru doesn’t seem to be plotting anything aside from just seeing what Sasuke ends up doing is just the latest of such examples, and it’s exceptionally notable how many of the supposed “older” ninja are really starting to take a back seat now. Of course, it’s like that quote—you gotta go out with a bang—and it seems like the return of the Kages will make sure that they won’t just let the new generation hog all the fun.
Either way, the general feeling I get this week is just how odd it was to see Orochimaru actually helping out rather than threatening to tear the world apart. But I suppose at this point, his dialogue just says it all. He’s already tried and failed his fair share of times and it looks like there’s nothing like dying half a dozen+ times to finally get the message through that you’re probably better off doing something else (heh).
As it turns out, that something else is merely observing Sasuke—who’s really setting himself up to play a big part in the remainder of the fight and the post-fight developments as well. As we see this week with his take no prisoners approach toward the Bijuu, he seems more than content to erase all traces of what he considers an antiquated system, and it’s something that seems likely to be the catalyst that leads to the inevitable fight between him and Naruto. Interestingly enough, that fight’s likely to also decide the next Hokage as well—assuming all things go according to plan—and it’ll be interesting to see that develop… even though it’s probably a given who’s going to win at this point.
And well, generally it was a solid chapter this week. We get some answers as to what the other guys under Orochimaru are up to, how the current generation’s Kages are doing (phew* Tsunade was in terrible shape), and we see Kakashi delivering the potential finishing blow to Obito as well. There’s a lot going on along multiple plot points now, and it’s really starting to hammer in just how “close” we are towards some resolutions regarding these points. Admittedly, some of the material recently has been a tad hit and miss, but at the whole “you’re abnormal” banter between Orochimaru and Co. was actually kind of entertaining despite it making it so that not much else happened as a result. With that said though, I reckon that’s pretty much it for this chapter… and I guess I’ll catch ya guys back next week.
Oh Sakura…Let’s put a smile on that FAAAACCEEEE!!…Seriously, that’s not a very attractive smile…it’s a bit creepy…looks like she’s about to find out the hard way that not everything is cut and dry with Sasuke’s return.
I thought that I was the only one that noticed, that smile on her face makes Her look like an old woman.
Dude, that is the whole point of that smile. What she is saying and how she truly feels about Sasuke is too different. It’s not supposed to look sincere or bright and cheerful or anything.
I know very well that the smile is not supposed to be cheerful or sincere my point is that Sakura is in total denial especially when the subject matter is anything that concerns Sasuke misbehaving , She’s better off not smiling at all and go with a sad face or do what she does best and that’s cry a river for Sasuke but now that she’s slipped into denial she comes up with a face that looks like a caricature. Sai and Naruto are good at fake smiles and She should have learnt from them how to put on fake smiles.
Sakura: Feels good…
Well….
Orochimaru has an odd sense of humor.
Tsunade should’ve been dead.
Sakura is still in denial.
Sasuke is still emo. (Burn It down)
Naruto is still Naruto.
Kakashi won’t die.
Naruto won’t end soon.
Kishimoto: Trolololololololol
Trololololol would be Sasuke becoming Hokage after defeating Naruto. Lol.
And yet, I bet that’s actually what happens (that or mutual destruction). Kishi’s dickish enough to do it.
He won’t care after all – at that point, he’ll be so close to the end he won’t care if he offends the fanbase.
Haha. Yes, that would be quite the twist.
I wouldnt even be mad if that happened. I’d just laugh out loud at how many people that are probably pissed at that.
Now I kinda hope we get a troll ending heh.
I can just see it now:
“Hey guys,it doesn’t matter what crimes you’re guilty off or how unprepared you are to become the leader of a large ninja village.All that matters is for you to be the strongest person around and defeat all your competition!Legit fact.”
Unless trying to avoid spoilers, I think you missed a major point this chapter. When Sai asks Sakura about how she feels in regards to Sasuke’s return to their side, she forces a fake smile, obviously still skeptical about his intentions. I’m hoping this means she isn’t blinded by her stupid childhood infatuation anymore, as this would be a HUGE step to show how much she has matured.
Shikamaru seems to feel something is off with Sasuke too, and we even got a reaction from Hashirama too. Sasuke probably has some ulterior goal in mind, most likely a return the tyrannical, militaristic rule his clan is known for, all for what he sees as the greater good.
Honestly, I hope this is the case… his 180 turn felt so out of nowhere, and this will him and Naruto a real reason the settle their differences.
Well, the big thing is there’s a lot you could construe from that. I touched upon it lightly in terms of Sasuke setting himself up with the whole bijuu toasting thing, but I figured I’d hold off on really going into it until this topic is inevitably revisited in a few chapters, as it’s hard to really confirm or deny whether or not there’s a concrete maturation there from Sakura at this moment or not. The same goes for what exactly Sasuke could be planning as well. Generally it’s a sure thing he’s not to be trusted completely, but it’s to be determined what exactly you should be distrusting him about.
I think the whole thing goes down to the fact that Sasuke knows that countless wars were fought for the control over the tailed beasts and he wants to do away with that. Of course Naruto is not going to be ok with that since 1.) they are living creatures and 2.) he has fist bumped all of them lol. But all in all I think Sasuke is also afraid of the power the beasts contain. I mean not to far back all of Sasuke’s group felt Naruto’s immense chakra all the way in Konoha. Also he is always wanting to be superior to Naruto so there is a little alpha male showing there as well.
^Speaking the tailed beasts…to honest it was a real turn off for me when it showed them to be nice
guyscreatures.Most of the menace that they had kind of went down the drain after that.This. Too many people are missing too much of this. The foreshadowing has been going on for awhile that Sasuke has something planned.
I suddenly had a strange thought that Sasuke is going to go the full emo mile and try to nobly sacrifice or kill himself somehow. After he’s heard Hashirama’s story and interpretation of the Uchiha. It’ll be some crap about fully finishing his brother’s mission and how the Uchiha bloodline should end with him blah blah. Then he’ll fight Naruto with the idea of letting Naruto kill him, and “If you don’t kill me I’ll kill you”, and it’ll suddenly be that scene between Hashirama and Madara all over. But everyone steps in to prevent history repeating itself. Naruto becomes hokage, Sasuke takes over ANBU and Sakura spends the rest of her life raising cats.
I hope Kishi has something better up his sleeve, but I can’t think of anything Kishi could do now for Sasuke’s emo to come full circle. Destroying Konoha was sooooo 5 chapters ago.
Tsunade torn in half. Wow, didn’t expect that.
That happened a while back actually, after Madara owned all 5 Kages.
that happened like half a year ago.
I only remember Tsunade getting impaled by a giant tree trunk…geez, the woman’s been through a lot. And hell, isn’t she over 50? Almost 60?
Way to pop in Sai, and reveal mind boggling information. You mean to tell me Sasuke can’t be trusted? WHAT!??!?? Everybody, we have new detective in town, he was formerly part of Team 7, a spy for Danzo, and his name… is Sai.
For some reason this chapter was completely funny to me. One of the translations had Sasuke making a serious speech. Then he suddenly gets interrupted by the Juubi.
“Damn, he got rid of the burning part!” hahahahaha that captain obvious statement had me laughing real hard.
Orochimaru comedy panels were hilarious. I never wouldv’e expected that from him.
In essence, Orochimaru is correct about people changing. We have Orochimaru turning into a comedian and Sakura becoming creepier than Orochimaru. Who wouldv’e thought that? lol
SasukexOrochimaru…?
My mind is not prepared.
Sai can tell that Sakura is lying since she that smile says it all. This chapter shows the difference in both Karin and Sakura. While Karin willing to go on with Sasuke on anything he does, Sakura is realizing that he’s the Sasuke that can’t really be trusted. She always has a fake smile when she tries to convinced people what she saying it true. She doesn’t believe her own words.
Damn Sakura, that face was totally derpy. My eyes!
While the humor was hilarious, this chapter kinda showcased what’s wrong right now. After bolting through the reunion with Sasuke and the edo-Kage’s there’s the painfully drawn out part with Orochimaru and Tsunade, and the mood whiplashes between humor (starring creepy clown Orochimaru frightening children), drama, humor, team 7 angst (thanks again Sai!), Tsunade’s ass, then an impaled Kakashi. This is probably far more fatal for Kakashi than Obito, who is immune to large holes in the torso.
The most interesting part was the little spat between Sasuke and Naruto. It seems that Sasuke wants to remake the shinobi world in his image (remind you of anyone? cough*Danzo*cough), but how killing the biju fits in I’m not sure. They never were a big part of Hashirama’s story, or the Uchiha clan’s fall, and how does he expect to kill them when they’ll just come back later? We’ll see where this develops, but hopefully he’ll be able to convince someone in the alliance to his point of view before the series turns into everyone vs. Taka.
Yeah. The pacing was just terrible in this chapter.
In terms of Orochimaru, we can’t forget that, as far as we know, Orochimaru was never about taking over and/or destroying the world in any way. He’s sole obsessions being obtaining true immortality (so far, all we’ve seen are temporary kinds, like Hidan’s Jashin religion, or imitations like Madara’s Edo Tensei self or Orochimaru’s methods) and learning/mastering every jutsu in existence. Of course, that’s not to say he actually CARES what happens to the world in the process, or who does it or why so long as they don’t interfere with him and his goals.
And, as noted, Sakura WANTS to believe Sasuke has somehow come around, but given her more recent experiences and development, and especially unlike Karin (unless Kishi surprises us by showing that she’s only acting this way as her way of killing him with his guard down), she can tell that Sasuke hasn’t at least fully changed, much less for the better and anyone with any senses, like Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hashirama, can see/feel it too.
Sasuke’s wanting to destroy the system is basically another show of how he and Naruto, like Hashirama and Madara were, are the same, yet opposite. They both want the same goal of ending the old shinobi system, but whereas Naruto wants to do it by somehow uniting everyone under “true peace”, Sasuke seems like he would rather just completely wipe it all out and start over from scratch under, obviously, his own dictatorial terms.
What you said now just made me realize something and that mysterious something is this, what if Sasuke is really trying to surprise us all with His plans or reasons for becoming Hokage. We know what Tobi/Obito and Madara’s diabolical plans for the ninja world are, we also knew back then what Nagato’s plan for the ninja world was(when He was pain). What if Sasuke has a plan for the ninja world as well that may be shocking to everyone after all by His own admission He wants to end this antiquated system and form a new one. What could this new system be if it’s not the moon eye’s plan like Madara’s and Obito’s then I’m guessing that it will be just as astonishing.
I knew that Sasuke was on the verge of flip flopping again just like that guy that lost the last u.s presidential election He’ll switch positions to get what He wants. The interesting thing is that Naruto, Sai, Jugo and even Shikamaru(maybe others too except Ino) are not buying this born again façade that Sasuke was displaying and Hashirama has begun notice that Sasuke’s intentions weren’t what He thought it was and as for Sakura, She’s in the state of denial and that might make her go mad with that fake ugly smile, seriously she needs to take some fake smile lessons from Sai because that look on her face is pathetic.
“I prefer to watch.”
That still makes you a pervert, Orochimaru.
I get upset when characters I like die, but not one kage dead? This plot armor is getting ridiculous. I expected them all to survive, but I hoped at least one would die.
And finally some character development and rational mature thinking on Sakura’s part. Took long enough
So far, the only ones to actually die and STAY dead (excluding Edo Tensei, flashbacks, filler arcs, and movies) since the story began that I can remember off the top of my head…
Zabuza
Haku
Zaku
Dosu
Kin
Hiruzen
Jirobo
Kidomaru
Tayuya
Sakon
Ukon
Kimimaro
Sasori
Chiyo
Asuma
Kakuzu
Deidara
Jiraiya
Itachi
Nagato
Danzo
Konan
Yugito
Yagura
Roshi
Han
Utakata
Fu
Neji
…and I guess we can assume, by now, Hidan SHOULD be dead given no nutrients and no killing done by him), and Shikaku and Inoichi are probably dead too.
Surprise surprise (not), a majority are antagonists while the few protagonists that actually died and stayed dead feel like they serve more as motivation boosters than anything…
Feel free to add any I might’ve missed (again, excluding Edo Tensei, flashbacks, fillers, and movies).
Um antagonists don’t get plot armor. So we’re looking at what, 4 comfirmed good guy deaths in 635 chapters? Jiraiya, Itachi, Asuma and Chiyo. I doubt very much Neji is staying dead.
This is an all out war and so far Neji died, maybe.
Agreed, if we’re counting actual protagonists, there’s very few that stay dead. Then again, it is a Shounen.
But don’t forget Ino and Shikamaru’s dad’s. I’m willing to bet they will stay dead.
Hence, why I sarcastically said, “surprise, surprise (not)”, lol.
Simply BECAUSE of the fact that it seems only the antagonists truly die and stay dead due to lack of plot armor (unless they’re THE main antagonist in some way), yet protagonists constantly get plot-armor and/or are actually resurrected somehow, making their “deaths” meaningless.
Even if the antagonist turns “good” via Talk no Jutsu shortly before they die, nope, usually too-little-too-late in that regard (Haku, Zabuza, Nagato, etc).
Yeah it’s a massive problem with Shounen series. Though I was hoping, since this is an all out war, there would be some deaths. So far, since the war started, the only on screen “death” we saw is Neji. I suppose the people at HQ could be dead to, but we don’t know for sure considering the flying Raijin and other various forms of teleportation exist.
Really, one of the previous Kage should of died. I’m thinking either Ohnoki or Tsunade because no way was Gaara going to die, who cares if the Mizukage dies(in terms of characters within the manga caring) and the Raikage wouldn’t make a good martyr. Tsunade would of been impactful for all the main characters, being Konoha shinobi, and Ohnoki would of been a good martyr since he was known as “the great fence sitter” and him giving his life for a cause would of been meaningful.
The Raikage would make for an AWESOME heroic death though. Probably going down while ripping the Bijuu’s flesh to shreds with his bare hands while trying to reach its hearth to crush it, surrounded by lightning, roaring “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM???!???!” in the process.
And yeah, that was a Gurren Lagann reference. The Raikage is out of place in a series as emo as Naruto.
Never thought I’d see the day when Orochimaru interacts with his apprentices/test subjects like they’re all in a crazy family sitcom.
He could be the All Bundy of his own “family”.
Oroichimaru trollin with his snake skills, Sakura making her own troll face, and Kishi still won’t let the audience see Tsunade’s real elderly form ;/
Maybe her intended elderly form is so ugly that even Kishi won’t draw it. 😀
Or maybe Kishi can’t draw an elderly woman of Tsunade’s size.
That Orochimaru trolling with that snake neck pose while threatening Suigetsu and Karen had me laughing for no reason.
Looks like some slight tension is arising between Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto wants to save the tailed beats, Sasuke wants to burn them down so no more jinchuriki’s will happen. Make sense for a better future, but still cruel.
I was really expecting Tsunade to be really dead. After being torn in half, that should be instant death. Her death would have paved way for a new Hokage quite easily… But no. We get a Kishimoto deus ex machina moment.
She was torn apart at the waist which means all her vital organs are still pretty much intact. A terrible injury, but it doesn’t have to mean the end. Believe it or not, there are plenty of people living in the world living without the rest of their lower body because for a variety of unfortunate reasons.
Faith in Kishi restored. Just two chapters ago, we all thought that Naruto and Sasuke may just have a friendly battle for Hokage that Sasuke wouldn’t get anyway (since a per-requisite is that the people of the village have to acknowledge you). The foreshadowing for the final Naruto vs Sasuke fight in this chapter is perfect and deliciously ironic. Sasuke killed Danzou, and now he’s becoming more and more like him – he wants to protect the village but he has his own warped perspective on how things should be.
For the first time in a long time, I’m actually enjoying Sasuke’s character.
I find it odd that characters like Orochimaru have supposedly ‘switched sides’ (as it were) so suddenly when the entire series (pre-shippuden and all) they’ve been being set up as antagonists. Still, without him Tsunade and the others might not have been so lucky. As for the battle, it can’t last too much longer. Once the Kages arrive it will literally be the whole cast (barring Yamato, who has yet to be rescued…just saying) against Madara and the Ten Tails.
On another note regarding Sasuke, I feel that we’ll have a repeat of Madara. After the battle he will return to the Leaf for a while but, like Madara, be unhappy with the way life is and it will eventually lead to a final showdown between him and Naruto. I think I’d enjoy that more than a fight for Hokage as, although that would be a nice ending too, the series has been building up to a final battle with those two and I’m not sure a friendly fight for the title (regardless of whether or not they go all out) is too soft a way to settle things. Still, looking forward to next week!
Nope, no repeat this time, that’s the whole point of Naruto being different than all before hime. Talk-no-jutsu!
Yo seriously where the hell is Yamato? Did Kishi just forget about him? lolol. Rescue him already. And Anko too.
I would also like to see members of the Uchiha Clan revived so that they can participate in this war and I wonder if it is Obito or Orochimaru or even Madara Uchiha who revives them.
I still wonder how/why no one in-universe (and a lot in terms of readers) never seem to question just why/how the Senju Clan seemed to all but die out, yet the Uchiha Clan flourished ever since Konoha’s founding.
Hell, why not just bring BOTH Clans back with Edo Tensei? lol
It has been said that the members of the Senju Clan are not really identified by what kind of jutsu they possess or any specific trait like a kekkei genkai they were known as the Senju of the forrest and can master any kind of technique or jutsu and unlike any other clan that can only master one technique, the Senjus can master a thousand techniques and as pointed out that they can not be identified by any kind of technique like the Nara Clan(shadow mimicking technique) or the Yamanaka Clan(mind transfer technique) etc and they have no kekkei genkai like their rivals Uchiha Clan(sharingan) or the Hyuuga Clan(byakugan) etc. therefore they can not be identified by any specific traits except by their last names.
It has also been said that members of the Senju Clan disbanded and formed into smaller Clans and I say this because we have not known the names of the smaller Clans that are Senju descents but I suspect that some of the Senju Clan members that disbanded may have taken their favorite jutsus to form a Clan that are most proficient in that particular kind of jutsu and maybe some of those disbanded clans could be the Nara Clan, Akimichi Clan, Sarutobi Clan or even the Yamanaka Clan(However, I’m doubtful because this claim can cause a lot of inconsistensies).
Any way I’m with you in the sense that they can revive both members of the Uchiha Clan and members of the Senju Clan members that have died so that they can participate in the war but unlike when they were alive(when they fought as enemies) they would be forced to become allies to fight the five great nations.
As much as I love Tsunade (for spoiling Naruto rotten for 3 years as Kage) she and Oonoki should be dead and maybe Ay. IDK why i feel this way but 2 kages need to die right now to add more to the story, but don’t kill Gaara or Mei (too young = rage fans after death). Tsunade being split in half would’ve been an epic, although tragic way to go for her and I’d prefer it.
Any of you get the case of eye rolls when Kakashi uses his raikiri? For an assassination jutsu it has a horrible “on panel” success rate. I know as a plot device it shouldnt have to kill every time, but I really hope it works here.
Not to mention, considering it’s (both the Chidori and Raikiri) an “assassination” jutsu, its qualities sort of make it really bad for actual assassination, much less normal combat. Only way it seems to ever be able to land a hit is if the opponent is immobile and/or taken by surprise.
Otherwise, it’s very bright and very loud so it won’t be hard to miss unless you’re quite a distance away, creates tunnel vision, so it’s useless without the Sharingan or something, you need to have the speed to be able to move fast enough to get the strike in, you have to make the killing blow on your first run or you’re wide open to a counterattack, and it’s constantly using and expelling chakra, making it a very limited weapon to use, and that’s if the user were at full power.
If there’s anything we learned to expect in Naruto is that the bigger,flashier & louder it is,the better.Hell,a ninja is supposed to be someone who operates in the shadows.The only ones I ever considered true ninjas in Naruto were the Anbu ones.
Assassinations, and assassination attempts, usually tend to take their targets by surprise. I mean you wouldn’t have much luck getting hired as an assassin if it were otherwise.
The characters dont really act like Ninjas, heck personally Zabuza was the most Ninja of all as he actually was famous for killing people evebn before they noticed (the silent killing techniche)
If, in the future, I had to rank each chapter of Naruto, I’d probably put this somewhere above the half-way point. When you take context out of how Kishi is doing the overall plot, and see this chapter by itself, I’d say its fairly good. A nice bit of humor, development, info thrown out, and characters showing themselves within the situation (even if we don’t agree with it). The only obvious things, Orochi not acting like himself (which is needed, with how Kishi wants to force the plot that he wants), and that last page cut to Kakashi/Obito with no forewarning, is what detracts. But even that can be said to just be a poor rushed cliffhanger to boost next-chapter viewership. It gets the job done for its demographic, totally standard in the industry.
I say this relative to the many obvious straight chapters with little happening and redundant scenes or talk. At least this chapter gives stuff to talk about, even if that talk is probably criticism. To me, a bad chapter is better than a bland one in rank (try remembering specific chapter of Bleach last year, its pretty hard for me), though obviously I’d rather have neither.
I’m a bit confused by the way most of the readers here are reading the Sakura panels. Why are folks saying that she’s in denial? Isn’t the whole point of the fake smile being produced here a reference to Sai’s initial interactions with Sakura where he learns that her fake smiles are intentionally deceptive? i.e. she’s not in denial, she’s intentionally putting on a face to conceal her more genuine intentions. In this case, it’s her continued suspicion of Sasuke. If she were in denial, there would be no need for a fake smile and no need to allude to the earlier chapters about the significance of said smiles.
So, it does seem to be evidence of her character maturation. Her fake smiling is dramatizing her capacity to reflect about Sasuke’s moral character in a less naive, dumb way and the inner turmoil she feels at feeling simultaneously elated with his return and her inability to feel at ease with it, knowing as she does that he can’t be trusted. That’s why the smile betrays the fact that she is intentionally lying about her trusting Sasuke but doesn’t want to show it.
It always seems to happen that whenever there is a slightly nice dramatic touch to the manga (and they are a bit rare I would be the first to admit), the modest subtlety of the dramatic moment flies over the head of readers. So bizarre.
It was an interesting chapter, also Kishi has been switching small moments between Hinata and Sakura on some of tghe las chapter mostly to apeal Hinata or Sakura fans.
The thing i didnt like its that Sasuke is willing to kill the tail beast and strangly enough i think alot of people may agree to do it, but what the series has actually showed is that the tail beasts aswell as their Jinchuriki are the actual victims of the system