Manga / Naruto (Manga)

The shady man doing unspeakable things to Sasuke… turns out to be Kabuto after all—at least, physically. As it turns out, he’s mentally anything but the Kabuto we used to know, and it looks like Itachi’s Izanami ended working out quite well. It’s a tad bit on the corny side —IT’S PIERCED DEEP INTO MY OWN HEART—and it isn’t exactly the most unpredictable of developments, but the important thing is that it fits in the grand scheme of things, and I’m alright with that. Because as Kabuto said himself, both him and Obito are trying to make amends in their own (ironic) ways, and it’s a situation that ends up intriguing to see from a developmental standpoint—even if some of us may not have liked how we ended up here in the first place. I mean, who would’ve thunk that we’d see both Naruto and Sasuke killed, then ultimately revived by someone they’ve considered an enemy for most of the series?

All things considered, things continue to come full circle in a variety of ways, and it also demonstrates itself in the reappearance of both Gai and Rock Lee too. Noticeably missing from a fair amount of the action recently, their return means that we’re officially rotating back to some of the first people we were introduced to way back when, and it plays well into the whole general atmosphere. The Kakashi x Gai pairing, the Obito x Kakashi x Minato grouping, and even the Orochimaru x Kabuto x Sasuke reunion… everything’s linking back to the way they were originally (or were at some point)—something that is extremely fitting considering it’s “nearly the end” (I say this arc-wise) of the series.

Ultimately, it’s actually a pretty interesting chapter when you think about it in hindsight. It wasn’t quite as interesting upon first glance, but things are working out quite nicely despite the occasional developmental issues present throughout the war. Looking forward, what can I say? Gai’s rocking out his best technique, and we may be seeing the beginnings of what could be the valiant sacrifice that buys enough time for Naruto, Sasuke, and everyone else to get back into the picture. BEHOLD THE BEAST.

34 Comments

  4. So the two big things with me are:

    a) What was the damn point of Kabuto way back when giving Naruto that book regarding Akatsuki’s weaknesses, when it never made an impact against all the Akatsuki members Naruto fought, and

    b) What was the point of the timeskip in the first place, other than to level up the protagonists who have ultimately ruined Madara’s plans?

    Jacked
    Reply

    1. Pretty clear that Naruto vs. Sasuke is going to be reminiscent of the 2 successors of the Rikudo Sennin; Sasuke with the “eyes and chakra” and Naruto with the “body and spirit”.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

  11. So far, one point that shows how dangerous Madara is; everybody who has died so far has stayed dead (Obito came close, but thankfully, Madara halted that).

    I always feel that, even with shonen anime, when it comes to such high stakes like right now, if a person dies and is magically revived by some deus ex machina (ala Nagato and the Rinne Tensei), especially if that person died doing something heroic and/or meaningful and such (like Kakashi using up the last of his chakra in saving Chouji to allow him to escape and pass on what they were able to learn thus far on Nagato’s abilities, or like how Gai probably will next chapter), then it really cheapens their death and the possible heroic act that caused their death in the first place. Like it makes you wonder what the point of having them die in the first place was.

    So I’m actually hoping that when all is said and done, those that died during this whole war stay dead and aren’t magically revived.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

  14. I lol’ed when Gai asked “Where’s Tenten?”. I thought: “That’s the joke.” But really, i actually want to see tenten in action, probably some combo with Lee and Gai, that would be epic!

    Xignal
    Reply

  15. I say this fight is far from over because we are dealing with Madara Uchiha, the guy who single handedly defeated the five Kages like they were little children and now He’s in the Six Paths Sage’s form. He is literally invincible I don’t care if Gai uses all the colours of the rainbow to fight Madara Uchiha, He(Gai) would never beat Madara because it’s unreal,
    Let’s be frank and fair here now that Madara has the Power of the Six Paths Sage nothing can stop Him, as a matter of fact He can implement His moon eye plan and no one in the world can stop Him as far as I’m concerned so therefore if He is to be stopped then it would be someone or some people combined together that is of equal grounds to Him but right now there is none.

    K C M
    Reply

    1. I don’t think the 8 gates actually have an “origin” so to speak, but were discovered. The 8 gates were just there. They limit the use of chakra in everyone and limit the brains potential. I think the gates were discovered when someone randomly brought about the power through sheer force, then the practice started, thus becoming the 8 gates we have today, as lazy as that theory sounds.

      swordhack4
      Reply

      1. At the least, I’d guess that they could’ve also originated from the Rikudo Sennin and his teaching of chakra, given the Eight Gates are about the eight points of the body that regulate chakra flow (and who better to teach how to open them then the present source of chakra in the world), coupled with the difficulty in learning how to open even just one point, much less all eight. (So far, only Gai, Lee, and Kakashi have shown to know how to do it, in Konoha anyway, with Gai able to open all eight, of course, Lee up to five, and Kakashi opening one. I don’t really see the movies as completely canon, so I don’t count Shinno, especially given he merely claimed to be able to open all eight gates without consequence with his abilities and dark chakra, but never actually does so.)

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

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