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We almost got a fight, but there was realistically no way we’d have back to back clashes of this scale. They do have to milk this manga for all its worth after all. Be that as it may, there were a lot of small tidbits that made this chapter more worthwhile than it initially seemed. First off is Sakura realizing that the best thing she can do to help both Naruto and Sasuke is to not meddle in their affairs. i.e. GTFO. I’ve longed for the moment something sensible came out of that emotionally-blinded thick skull of hers, but it still took some hundred odd chapters too many for it to happen.
Next, we have Sasuke stating that he wants to renew his eyes by taking Itachi’s, which I figure Madara harvested from the corpse right after that fight ended. Doing so would of course make Sasuke’s Mangekyou Sharingan eternal, a process that apparently doesn’t just transplant Itachi’s eyes to replace his own, but fuses with them. To be quite honest, I remember Madara talking about taking his own brother’s eyes to make his eternal Mangekyou, but I don’t really recall specific mention about the eyes fusing together. In any case, Sasuke going for the infinitely spammable Amaterasu/Susanoo doesn’t too bold well for Naruto. Let’s hope Naruto can spam Rasen-Shurikens by the time they actually fight.
The third major revelation of course is the survival of Kisame. (Was there really ever any doubt?) However, I do find the whole explanation of him hiding in Samehada for infiltration purposes a bit preposterous, much like a lot of the explanations in this manga as of late. Also, we’re supposed to believe that Zetsu did a replacement swap with Kisame during the fight in the floating water prison. i.e. The short period between here and here. While I’ll give Kishimoto the benefit of the doubt for thinking that far ahead (~16 weeks), it still comes off as something he came up with after the fact. I’d say it’s comparable to Dragon Ball Z, when we found out Cell was still alive after Goku teleported him off to King Kai‘s planet to blow up. The whole explanation behind Cell’s survival was kind of random and out of the blue, with no real precedence for it leading up to that point.
Aside from the above, we have Karin seemingly switching sides like I was suspecting/hoping for a while now. She’s not a terribly useful character, but if I had to choose between seeing her midriff or Sai’s, the choice would be obvious. (To all you jokers out there, no it’s not Sai!) There’s also Orochi-Kabuto making an appearance already. I figured he would be a key character in the next arc, but it looks like he’s going to interfere with everyone before this Madara/10-tails one is over.
Kishimoto has been thinking much farther ahead than 16 weeks. I believe he had a pretty detailed outline of the entire story done by the end of the chunin arc in part 1. If you go back and re-read you can really see all the set up he’s building into the story for part 2.
wow it would’ve been what? sasuke’s fourth round? (raikage, other kages, danzou, naruto)
Orochi-Kabuto! I didn’t realize it until now, but I’ve really missed Oro’s snakes.
Divine: There’s a chapter where you see Madara and his brother pre-eyerippy. They have different Sharingans. After the transplant, their designs overlap in Madara’s current MS.
@Divine
I would not even mind having Karin replacing Sakura.
Jaxavier – even if you can see the outline if the re-read that doesn’t mean that it actually exists. There are many possible, and actually more likely, reasons for it ranging from accidental happenings to him actually adapting part 2 to fit earlier events.
I honestly thought you were talking about Sai *smirks*
“a bit preposterous”……..dude?..this is NARUTO, a story in which “NINJAS” *and i use the word loosely* wear DAY GLOW orange jumpsuits.
So what’s Orochi-Kabuto gonna do now? I doubt he can overpower Madara or Sasuke in any way. Also, has Orochimaru completely taken over Kabuto since Kabuto did mention how Orochimaru was trying to take over his will and it’s been ages since we’ve last seen him.
BTW, Where the f*ck are the other two Taka members Suigetsu and Jugo?
Lol at kabuto”time to get moving”, it’s about time he hasn’t done anything since he fused with orochimaru .
well… kisame being alive was no surprise 2 me…cmon he just died coz hes head just got chopped off?????…
well hopefully Itachi’s gift to Naruto, whatever it is, will be able to counter the EMS.
I actually like Karin. She makes some great facial expressions when its time for a good comedy spot and she can heal and sense Chakra. I hope she gets a place to get revenge on “emoboy” for what he did to her. Maybe even somehow help Naruto to defeat “emoboy”.
As horribly frustrating as it is to keep up with this manga, I have to admit I’m pretty excited at how epic things are becoming. Team 7 reuniting, another Ninja world war, Kabuto coming back, and the remaining Akatsuki. Looks good!
divine has a midriff fetish? just kidding. ^^;
LMAO Its like you channeled my thoughts with the Title and pretty much everything you said about Sakura! she is so USELESS.. how can a kunoichi suck so hard? (giggity) I was praying (in vain once again) that Sasuke would have killed her.. It would be great if Hinata could replace her.. shes not that powerful but she is useful and she goes hard for Naruto.
Also
I knew that there was NO WAY Sasuke was gonna keep his vow not to use his bro’s eyes. Especially after all that Susanoo spamming. Cant wait to see wat Orichi-Kabuto has up his sleeves… probably snakes… alot of them.
If Sakura is going to GTFO, I don’t see Karin having any place in a Sasuke-Naruto fight.
That darn Sakura. What does she have going for her? Besides the super strength and the ability to heal anything, I mean. Silly kunoichi. She also has ovaries, and this is shonen manga.
As much as I like Kabuto, he’ll ultimately fall into complete Orochimaru-ness. It’s a shame. He looks terrible nowadays as well.
stupid how can taking the eyes of someone that already went blind make you more powerful. Kishimoto just isnt thinking is he. I am also glad that Sakura has openly said what everyone has known for years that she is utterly and hopelessly useless. I wonder what Karin is going to tell Suigetsu and Jugo. Plus Sasuke just found his ace in the hole..the poison tipped kunai and Naruto will go down because he doesnt know how to DODGE ATTACKS AT ALL.
I KNEW IT! No one stays dead in this damn manga! And now I don’t know if Emosuke will die in the end as well… wtb Naruto ending.
You mean you think there’s going to be another arc after the Madara/10-tails one? I kind of doubt that.
@Kyzel
Except Sarutobi, Hayate, Jiriaya, Orochimaru, Danzo, the fourth Kazekage, Zabuza, Haku, everbody from the sound vllage etc.
@abe
If you’ve been fucking paying attention, Itachi wasn’t blind when he had died never was Madara’s brother when he gained his eyes
Dear divine. Did you drop tegami bachi?
I reaaaaally do not feel like finishing the show. So i would love if you would go through that hell for me 🙂
@Shad P:
I know they changed, but never noticed they seem to overlap. Kudos to your attention to detail.
@Banzemanga:
I was leaning towards that myself, but got slammed for suggesting it before. >_>
@Inuyashagirl234:
I set myself up for it. -_-;
@BROOKLYN otaku:
I tried to not make it sound so bad, but you know I share those sentiments.
@fullmetalQAF:
I think a lot of people are in the same boat. Even the ones who complain about it on a weekly basis keep coming back!
@pierce:
Not too far fetched, as you can’t beat a sexy stomach IMHO.
@Kira-chan:
I really don’t see management allowing this manga to end anytime soon when it’s still really popular in Japan.
@outcast:
My apologies for not making it more clear. I probably should’ve done a mini post to give a status update, but I’ve actually stopped coverage on Tegami Bachi even though I’m still following it. The last few episodes have been good though, so I suggest you quickly get through the fillers to see them!
I did make brief mention of it in my last Naruto post, stating:
“For anyone wondering, I’ve decided to drop coverage of Letter Bee after falling behind. I’m still actively following the series and quite thrilled about Inoue Marina being in it, the story getting back on track about Gauche, and the announcement of a second season coming this fall, but don’t feel compelled enough to write about it on a regular basis.”
“management” does not control Kishimoto to that specific of a degree. He’s stated numerous times that Naruto is coming to an end soon, even writing about it to some detail in the last few tankoubons that were released in Japan. I can’t believe someone would actually be able to miss the clear writing on the wall with the latest developments in the manga, but I’ve been surprised by anime fans before. Personally, I’m seeing this last “Ninja War” storyline as the culmination of the story, with–as Kishimoto has stated the final fight will be–the last fight being between Naruto and Sasuke.
@divine ah i must have missed that. I’m not really following naruto manga. I came to look you up here to find you. And i did 🙂
I will try to pick up letter bee again. But much damage has been done and the prospect of an inconclusive ending with a long s2 filled with fillers again makes me cautious. Thanks again though for blogging what you blog.