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Looking back a few weeks ago, there was a news story with Kishimoto’s stating how the manga was beginning to hit its climax (and ending). And well, via these two chapters, it’s pretty clear that things are really starting to move toward that, as Kishimoto sets the ball rolling on every front.
And first off, the Madara vs. Kages front. Theoretically not much happens regarding this aspect, with most of it being bragging on Madara’s part about how everyone who has ever seen the Ultimate Susanoo has perished… but we do get a view of what he wants: The Tailed Beasts. I’m not quite sure at this point if he’s only after the Nine Tails or something to the extent of what Tobi’s been planning, but at the very least it gives us an answer to the question we all were wondering last chapter. Still, I find it a bit strange that he even needs to gather them, considering his unlimited chakra and pretty much godlike powers at this point—but I guess we’ll see the answer to that later. As expected, the Kages aren’t going to let him go without a fight though, and so comes what is pretty much a last stand from the Kages. I’m thinking there’ll probably be at least the death of the Tsuchikage at this point, if not more. Though that’ll most likely depend on…
…Sasuke, who gets most of the screen time these two chapters… probably to the chagrin of many viewers. Things along this front go pretty much as expected—in regards to the part I mentioned two weeks ago about Itachi having a major impact—until Kishimoto throws us quite a few curve balls. The first, involving the return of the remaining members of “Hawk” was something that was in the books for a bit, so it wasn’t quite that much of a curve… but it was a bit surprising to me to see them here at this point in time. Personally, I’m a bit neutral about their return though, as they never really made that big of an impact in the previous chapters in my view. The next curve comes in the reappearance of Anko, who some viewers were expecting at some point in time, as well as the fact she was still alive. But in the end, all these developments were only to fuel one thing…
…the return of Orochimaru, who gets revived by Sasuke of all people, in order to help him search for “certain people”. At this point, I’ve lost track of the amount of times he’s died and been revived, but it sure seems that he just magically finds his way into the plot somehow. Not that I’m complaining though, as it was always kind of interesting when the sly snake was messing around a bit. In any case, this is perhaps the biggest development in these two chapters, and love him or hate him, it seems like he’ll be back for at least a little bit. I reckon he’ll try and fail to take Sasuke’s body again at a later time, but at the very least it looks like he’ll help progress the plot a bit before that. The feeling I definitely get now though is Sasuke’s eventual decision to help the Kages and seal Madara, at which time the Kages would be either too weak or decide not to try and prosecute him. He’ll then be free to go assist…
…Naruto, who’s continuing his fight with Tobi. Not much happens here aside from Tobi starting to reveal his final card though and I reckon this fight is something that’ll be pushed slightly to the back until the Sasuke, Orochimaru, and Kage fronts are resolved. Regardless, I see Sasuke actually cooperating with Naruto at this point, and maybe dying for it. Though, the seemingly more like scenario is they both succeed in fighting off Tobi in the end, with massive losses in terms of the Kages and other Ninja, paving the way for Naruto’s ultimate succession to Hokage and one last fight between him and Sasuke to resolve things.
Looking forward, the finale of the Naruto manga’s starting to shape up, and well, I’m actually starting to dread the coming of the end a bit. Considering how long I’ve spent following this franchise, it’s a bit sad seeing announcements that it’s about to end. But at least for now, we’ll probably have another half a year of chapters to go through before that happens though, and I hope you’ll stick with me for the remainder of the series.
I apologize for the delay regarding last week’s chapter, as I was unable to find time during my travels to cover the manga. Regular coverage of the Naruto manga, as well as my other shows shall resume now that I’m back though, so look forward to it and thanks for reading!
Yeah Orochimaru was a shock, I am quite happy to have him, hadn’t been the same since he left.
this post is so late!!
Your mom!
(I’m so amture)
Orochimaru > Voldemort
Agreed. Orochimaru is just a fantastic character. The mad scientist is always fun to watch, specially when he is not left stuck in the background.
@Zephyr, how many times did Oro get revived exactly? In the fight against Itachi, Kabuto merging with some of Oro’s cells, and this one time. Not a lot I would say. 😛
In fact I was thinking about his skill to come back from deadsnakeland…
I think I felt cheated on the latest chapter. Why can’t the dead stay dead? >_>
In any case, this development will lead to more surprises, cliches, facepalms, and climaxes in the future so let’s see if this one will be worth it.
God. Dammit. Sasuke.
That is all.
-Really liked Orochimaru and Kabuto’s short moments in this chapter. Kabuto’s backstory wasn’t forgotten, fortunately.
As for Orochimaru…I can’t say I’m too happy to see him come back from the dead. After all this Edo tensei, seeing him cheat Death with his cursed seal seems way too cheap. If he was revived by Edo Tensei via hypnotized Kabuto, then it’d be logic (not really), but all this is way too sudden.
It’s not that bad though. I’m really curious as to who does Sasuke want to meet now. Who else is left? Edo Tensei brought them all back lol…Sage of the Six Paths, maybe. I thought until last week it’d be Tobi, but odds are he isn’t the right guy.
I’m still a bit upset about Juugo and Suigetsu’s attitude in all this. They’re Sasuke’s whores. It’s alright in Juugo’s case – he reveals now it’s because he thinks Sasuke acts as Kimimaro’s will. As for Suigetsu…Dude, how about asking Sasuke wth happened back in Hokage Summit. It just doesn’t fit in with Suigetsu’s rebellious nature.
I guess Naruto is preparing us for some big revelations; I’ll be expecting plenty of them now.
Wow Orochimaru back … and I dont think we saw any attempted Jutsu other than re-absorbing something from Kabuto …
Way I see it … Tobi is about to unleash teh transformed Gin / Kin Kaku brother that became the Mini/Clone Nine-Tails … He’s gonna try to merge it into the Giant Statue ( Geido Mazou ? ) to try to take control of all the Tailed-Beasts chakra.
The “Will” of the Tailed Beasts requires their true names which will summon the Ten-Tails( Jyuu Bi ? )
JyuuBi body is the Moon ??? So Naruto is gonna summon the Moon to fall on top of the Released Madara and crush him while Tobi is Shocked into Submission by Naruto’s Sennin and Nine-Tails Tails mode combined to create the Moon Sized RansenShurikenGan Barrage.
Sasuke will die trying to match Naruto’s growing power and slink away with tail between legs.
The End …
Next Chapter —> Naruto’s Son + daughter…. SonNaruto GirlNaruto? will be born between Naruto x Hinata … and Naruto x Sakura … the Eternal rivals … while Sasuke will kidnap some random girl … like Ino … and create SaTrunks …
DBZ to the rescue with the Plot line and final sinker … DB GT 😛
Please ! Put me under Izanami !!! Quickly!!! Before Naruto ends !!!!
Here Sasuke goes again…being indecisive and what not…. -_-
Let’s hope whatever decision he makes is for the better.
he can be easily controlled based on what others says to him, it seems that he doesnt have will of his own. IMHO sasuke is the worst main character in this manga.
This is an argument I have constantly made before; Sasuke has never lived his own life. As far back as we’ve been shown, his life has always been dictated based on his ego, on what others thought of him (like his father and Itachi) and is constantly just used by others (his father, Orochimaru, Tobi) while he deludes himself into (now) thinking that HE’S the one using THEM.
A majority of what he’s done up to this point has been based on the manipulations of others. His own father (by showing him the “love and respect” he wanted when Itachi was suspicious), Itachi (with his whole crappy “teaching” after the massacre), Orochimaru (promise of power to kill Itachi), and Tobi (“revenge” on Konoha). Even now, his actions are being based on what Orochimaru knew and not something he himself decided on his own.
Except, you know, he used them to increase at their expense and he has succeed so far.
Let it be known that I am already fully aware of these facts. 😛
They’re pretty obvious actually.
On a side note though, Itachi, for a fact has mostly made Sasuke into the character he is currently. That’s why I personally consider Itachi the best character in Naruto. Itachi has been the catalyst for Sasuke’s revenge and growth as a shinobi. Not only that, but Itachi has also directly and indirectly affected most of the Shinobi in story thus far.
This is just my opinion of course. 🙂
Can we just get to the fight with Naruto already? Enough Sasuke already.
This is too much! http://puu.sh/Hzsw
Let’s hope doujinshi fans won’t go crazy over this!
I don’t know why people are so negative about Sasuke. Apart from the fact that he’s a bit emo now and then, I really like him as a character. I just hope he drops the whole revenge against Konoha thing. The whole “I’m evil. Fear me!!” thing doesn’t work for him.
And I have to say I’m kinda glad Orochimaru is back. He’s an awesome villain. I really can’t get enough of him.
I expect a Valley of the End like battle for Naruto and Sasuke that will also become a landmark in history books in the shinobi world. Wouldn’t be bad imo, cliched as it seems.
Oh that wasn’t meant as reply to Kagutsuchi. Sorry :3
Orochimaru came back because he’s the arch nemesis in the Rock Lee Show and he has to show up in Naruto Shippuuden again. Just kidding.
I’d thumbs up for everyone who was shocked to see Orochimaru actually been revived as well.
I also agree that this chapter holds the possible turning point in Sasuke’s character and I look forward to the end of the Naruto series after an epic conclusion of some sort.
Ah Orochimaru! The only bad guy who isn’t emo in the Naruto universe xD for all of your deceit you were being missed!
“but it sure seems that he just magically finds his way into the plot somehow.”
orochimaru ex machina -_-
I am surprised you are talking about an end coming up, I actually had a completely opposite feeling when the word ‘journey’ came up in the last page with Sasuke and Orochimaru walking off, my thought was literally ‘ah…he found a way to extend Naruto once more with a new plot twist’, not that I am complaining mind you ^^
And well, like most people I am curious about what is happening on Naruto’s side, but Sasuke has been completely ignored for so many volumes that I’m fine with the focus being on him right now, we need to know a bit more about his side too.
it seemed a bit forced bringing arochimaru back but nevermind
i think what orochimaru took from kabuto was something he couldnt control because of his weak body. as stated by kabuto.
Show Spoiler ▼
I’m not sure why anyone is surprised at the return of Orochimaru. Personally I’ve screaming for years that it would happen. The blocks have all been laid out for quite some time about all the ways Orochimaru can come back.
Going back as far as the first time Sasuke received the Cursed Seal, we are told that the seal holds a small fraction of Orochimaru’s power. And that everytime you use the seal you are corrupted by his chakra that much more.
Then we find out that Orochimaru has been researching immortality so that he can learn every jutsu in the world.
He then has figured out how to transfer himself into other people bodies as the first step toward that.
Even though Orochi lost to Sasuke inside of his mind, he managed to come back through the cursed seal when Sasuke was fighting Itachi.
Kabuto then finds a way to merge Orochimaru’s cells into him, given him access to his attitude, powers and features, proof that shows how much is contained in his cells.
Kabuto then needs Anko to extract more or Orochi’s power from her seal.
—–
For years Kishi has been setting up the fact that Orochimaru is basically the boogeyman. He has set up so many ways for him to come back because mortality does in fact scare him. Soo…. welcome back Orochimaru, I look forward to you being the End Boss.
‘The people that know everything’
‘What was Itachi’
‘What was the village, our clan’
Plus Itachi stating that Sasuke might have been capable of changing his mom and dad, and changing the Uchiha.
All this seems to indicate to me that Sasuke might get Orochimaru to revive his dead parents. And since they’re traveling to a place Sasuke already knows, this could very well be his old house where his family lived before the massacre took place.
Yeah, I could see Orochimaru’s return a mile away. It was already foreshadowed quite a while ago with the white snake that slithers away after one “incarnation” of him was sealed away by Itachi’s Susano’o. Though, his mellow attitude overall is a bit strange (though his desire to take over Sasuke’s body remains intact).
Sadly, I have a feeling we’re going to be left cliffhanging while it returns to showing the 5 Kages vs. Madara and/or Naruto vs. Tobi for several chapters.
Sasuke wants to meet the Ichihara clan and I think the scroll is either a time traveling jutsu in which they can go back into the past or a jutsu that has something to do with reviving the uchiha clan in someway…
That’s my two cent into whats going to happen in the sasuke/orochimaru front
I pretty much had the same reaction as Suigetsu when Sasuke decided on reviving Orochimaru.
He’s probably the scariest villain in this entire manga. I still remember when I was in highschool I got so freaked out by him when he first appeared during the Chuunin exams. ><
Anyways, although I'm really looking forward to seeing Naruto's fight, I'm also hoping the series doesn't end too fast. It will be one less SJ manga on my reading list for me, and Reborn & Nuramago simply don't measure up to Naruto in terms of plot.
“No way but forward”?!
You used the phrase that’s practically synonymous with awesome Shounen moments to describe two chapters having to do with SASUKE?!
Double. You. Tea. Eff.
Well, I was thinking along the context that the manga’s almost over and moving on forward along all the fronts toward that, hence, no way but forward… because there’s very little sidetracks that are possible at this point.
Trollochimaru returns.
He comes back and all he has to say is that he wants Sasuke’s body? What a pedo, still.
I think the people sasuke is looking for is his dad. Sasuke heard only one side of the story and I think he wants to hear the other side, which his father would know most about
I have a fishy feelings its the third hokage ¬_¬ ofc I haven’t followed Naruto since 2009, and I’ve recently decided to rewatch all of it and I’m happy I did, but my lack of knowledge leads me to believe that the person who would know most would be the hokage. If Sasuke did want to revive his parents, I think he would have done it sooner lol
Anyway, I’m not really following the story just yet, so my answer is based on like assumptions :p @Episode 140 now xD..
Cheers,
M