Hello dear members and readers. It’s been 2 weeks since our last meeting, but as I’m back I’m proud that I can present you 2 great Naruto chapters, courtesy of Masashi Kishimoto and Mangastream. Kishimoto offers great material for Mangastream and the guys are doing their best to deliver quality and speed. Thanks a lot!
In chapter 483 we got Kakashi entering the scene to save Sakura from Sasuke’s backstab, so 3 members of the original Team 7 gathered. And what a great entrance that was, it totally brought some coolness, to compensate for Sakura’s disappointing performance. Naruto was also on his way to the gathering, so we expected some great strory development from that point. And I think we agree that we got what we wanted.
Arent’s these some nostalgic panels. From the time when the manga wasn’t so dark, and the themes weren’t so deep as now, we got 4 people: a teacher and 3 students who embarked on a journey to fulfill their dreams as ninjas. A never-ending surprise, a gloomy genius, a spoiled geek girl, and a seemingly easygoing teacher.
Throughout the story we managed to know them, to recognize their real qualities, and we got to enjoy the bonds that kept the team together.
Everything seemed united, but with tensions until the tension broke and the team members separated. They kept their own way of living, they kept their dreams, but there was a sense of failure they all had.
Let's see how things have turned out for these 4 by looking at these last two chapters.
This title foreshadows somehow, that the entire team will be assembled in the chapter, so Naruto’s entrance is to be expected.
As the team will be reunited what can we expect from their members. For start we know how the meeting between Sasuke and Sakura went. Sasuke is really blinded by hatred, and it seems like this hatred is pointed towards all non-Uchiha.
Kakashi stepped in so now it’s his moment to take some of the responsibility for Sasuke’s behaviour. As chapter 483 can be called Sakura’s moment, this chapter can be called Kakashi’s moment.
He is confronted by Sasuke who hates him as well, for having a sharingan as not part of the Uchiha so Sasuke charges up MS and we see Susanoo delivering to arrows towards Kakashi. As I mentioned in my last review, that judging by the pace we will know how much the battle will last, and by pace I meant Kakashi using his MS as well. Susanoo has a vrey powerful attack, so I guess Kakashi’s usage of MS is expected.
And there you go...
We see a serious look we the so familiar Sharingan. The arrows are gone, there’s a huge splash, and Sasuke recognizes MS in Kakashi’s technique. He mocks Kakashi, but the reply is worthy for a teacher. Kakashi tries once more to search for the feelings which he has from the time he spent in Konoha. Surprisingly the time spent in Konoha doesn’t mean much to Sasuke, in fact it just deepens his hatred for all the village including people who have no connection to the history which made him so miserable.
I think I didn’t name this chapter Kakashi’s moment for nothing. At the very last moment he still tries to teach, to correct the students mistake, to take him back to the right track. He probably knew that this try will fail, so the whole time he kept a serious face, a face which shows us that he is more than ready to fight and kill sasuke if it’s needed. That’s the true spirit of a shinobi, and that is true responsibility in a world where mistakes are paid with blood or ones life. Back then Tsunade and Jiraiya spoke about Kakashi being Hokage, and judging by war experience, overall ability I think they were right. Deserving this title from personality point of view was a bit unclear IMO, but in this chapter he showed us that he has the perfect conduct in a crisis like this. His resolve to kill Sasuke can be compared to the decision Danzou made. They both were in leading position, trying to manage the situation, and even if the conclusions were the same(Sasuke needs to die), Kakashi behaviour is more in the spirit of Konoha.
I think this is the character development Kishi offered us with just a few words, and facial expression, so I don’t think I’m reading too much in the panels. Though there are other people around who wanna mess with Kakashi’s moment.
And the first is Sasuke. After some insight to search for the remaining ties with Konoha, he found only irony, and superficial behaviour towards his clan, not respect like a clan powerful as Uchiha needs to enjoy. This triggers a new wave of hatred, which consumes him more, but makes him more powerful in the same moment. Notice the familiar forms? Itachi had the same Susanoo at least when it was completed, so my guess is that Susano’o is actually a spiritual being who can be accessed by MS. And since the base look differs from Itachi’s and the abilities as well, I notice that these spiritual beings when they are completed, they are the same which entitles them to be referred as a colective name. Whether this access is similar to summoning the Death God, or Susano’o is reflection of ones personality, reflection shaped by the powers of the MS, is unclear, so I leave the guessing to you people, because I’d rather wait for the explanation in this matter, if it will arrive.
Not far from the scene Karin notices the further change in the nature of Sasuke’s chakra, and remarks that is colder than ever. Why is Karin alive? Kakashi ordered Sakura to heal Karin in order to get inofrmation out of her after the battle, so Karin can thank her life to Sakura. Karin has good moments even if her contribution isn’t great, but she remarks the feelings of Sakura who is forced to heal the enemy, who supported Sasuke’s madness with fighting, in Karin’s case multiple resurections.
It’s not easy for Sakura, and I dare to say that her resolve is not as tough as she showed us. She notices the cold chakra, but she looks surprised, and that is because Sasuke’s sudden burst stopped in the very next moment. The bottomless pit of hatred finally reached its limit. The hatred itself may be endless, but the container which is Sasuke and his eyes are no match. I mentioned Sasuke being consumed by hatred, which in the same moment empowers him. There’s a law in Narutoverse, that there’s no technique without some kind of limitation, which is a good law, preserving somekind of balance. The balance has been reached and Sasuke lost his ability to maintain Susano’o. A technique which was born from an eye disappeared, so it’s okay to say that the eyes are to blame. We can notice that there’s no Sharingan, so the conclusion is clear. Sasuke is closer to being blind more than ever, and judging from the fact that after the first use of MS he couldn’t grab a glass, I think it’s safe to say, that he can barely see shapes now. Kakashi’s shape is washe away as well, and the look in his eyes and on his face show him as helpless. While I read this I remembered what Deidara said, that Sasuke is just lucky to be born with an eye like the Sharingan, and that he has no skill.
This panel quickly stopped my chain of thought, and I hoped that Sakura will really do something serious. But she failed, and Sasuke noticed her. The situation was indeed dangerous, and there was nobody who could interfere. Sakura obviously couldn’t, and Kakashi was left weak by the sudden use of his MS.
I think this can be called the chapter’s inner cliffhanger, a moment full of tension, which of course would lead to an obvious entry by a new character.
Looking back to this chapter as a whole I think it was great 9/10 and mostly because it was as I said Kakashi’s moment. Even if this moment was interrupted multiple times, the chapter is his. He received the greatest character development and which involved some really deep stuff. Sakura had her moment a chapter behind and now she tried again, with little chances of success, and Sasuke had a somewhat obvious powerup, granted with an interesting look, but these things were predictable or tiny, compared to the light Kakashi got.
I mentioned inner cliffhanger and what that involves...
Sakura is saved again, 2 times in one battle, which is not a great record as a shinobi, but for a shinobi of her class, it’s good that she is even alive.
Great entrance, great art, Naruto is keeping his head down and looks back to Sasuke, which gives him an air of coolness, furthermore he was an unexpected guest, but as they say:Heros make their entrance in the last moment right?
Great title and great cover text. It sums up the entire manga up to this moment. The feelings the background are similar, which draws them together, but the path each of them has chosen puts an entire world between them.
We readers are very different. One likes the diversity of the jutsus, one likes the worls which was created. Others like certain type of characters, others hate them. I think the majority are just letting themselves drawn into the story, but all in all nobody can deny the fact that the entire chain of events was about these two people.
Naruto had a journey of constant struggles, which culminated with the defeat of Pain, but he also reached his bottom limit when he passed out. This entire range of feelings, seemigly made him stronger in his resolve to keep the promise he did to Itachi.
Sasuke on the other hand also reached his peak by defeating his brother, but he certainly fell from that moment. The hatred consumed him, and he employed feelings starting from anger and insanity, and concluding in hatred and being emotionless.
From the looks of this chapter it’s not the end of the journey, but it’s for sure an essential stage, before the end unfolds.
So the story continues, with a great pace and bringing nice development. The pace is great because, the next moment after Naruto’s great entry, Kakashi takes the chance and attacks Sasuke. Great action, nice attitude from Kakashi-sensei.
Sasuke didn’t receive that much damage, so he is stormed by the usual lines by Naruto. He mentions the team, the fact that he knows the truth about Itachi, and most importantly again, that he understands him. This is a serious discussion and I think Naruto, even if he doesn’t look like a patient guy, could keep this going all day long. The problem is that Sasuke doesn’t have all day, and his insanity and derangedness are provoked again. First he replies that he is not a member of the team anymore, fact which is true. But calling Naruto an outsider, after calling Kakashi and outsider as well. This is where his blindness is taking action. In the fight at the Valley of the End, he seemed like he understood Naruto and why the bond exists, but now he achieved a level, where he doesn’t recognize(I won’t expect understanding), that other’s might just feel in the similar way he does.
He takes to name of the Uchiha to godly heights refering to others as stigma, a painful existence that didn’t allow Uchiha to survive. Killing Danzou made him drunk, at least so it seems, and heavy drinking can alter ones percetion of reality. Thinking that he cut Uchiha away from the corruption of the world, he doesn’t even realize, that this corruption is based on actions. And Sasuke’s actions....well they pull the Uchiha name more in the mud, from which they tried to get out, from which Itachi tried to protect Sasuke. Sasuke is contradiction walking.
Kakashi tries once again to take a stance, with more resolve than ever. All his gestures scream, „I wanna kill Sasuke”, and this is recognized by the others. Sakura tries to object, Naruto asks him if he will kill him, poor Karin comments things from Sasuke’s side. Or more correctly she just broke up with him. From her words I understand that there could’ve been forgiveness even after the murder attempt. I don’t even want to comment this...
What’s interesting is that Kakashi recognized Sakura’s kunai as a poisonous one, which is thanks to Shizune. Why is it interesting? Because he says afterwards, that Orochimaru most likely made Sasuke immune to such things, but my concern is Naruto. Kyuubi does recovery not antidotes, so it will be interesting if Kishi will remember this detail in the following chapters.
Things rapidly turn around, though and the events really backup the fact that this chapter is Naruto’s moment. He fires up a rasengan, unfortunately with the help of a clone, and he runs towards Sasuke, who already prepared his chidori.
The clash itself is a rip-off of the Valley of the End clash. Same whiteness, the two of them are standing in front of each other. Again Naruto starts his speech with the usual arguments to why he is similar to Sasuke. He is given to choices, but as we all know Naruto he always has a third option. Question is does he have the resolve to carry out his option? Seemingly he has it now. All the confusion from the great feeling after Pain’s defeat to the hyperventilation, made his spirit stronger. All things point to this. His thoughts while remembering Itachi and Gaara, his attitude towards Sasuke in the chapter, everything.
What’s another interesting line that Naruto has that it could’ve been easily the other way around. This supports the title of the chapter, so by them being close, the options they had were similar, and if it weren’t for Iruka and Team 7, then Naruto would be the avenger now. Brilliant material brought to us by Kishi, nice character development, and the panels suggest the same thing, not just the words. Notice the inverted positions before the clash? Very nice Kishi, much appreciated.
The third option raises good questions like, will Naruto join Sasuke. Why would he do that? The only explanation that I can think of is that Naruto will try to persuade Sasuke to make a team with him in hunting down Madara, which is not such a bad idea. Is Madara a common enemy? Knowing that Madara did help in the massacre and he did out of revenge, and further manipulation purposes it would be logical to assume that this is a probable development. But Sasuke just said that his enemy is Konoha, every single person in it. That doesn’t really include Madara.
I mentioned in an eariler review that if Sasuke will show some signs that he is not influence by Madara, than I will grant him the title of great villain. He is a bit far from that, even if the decision of destroying all Konoha is his idea, the direction was shown by Madara and he just loves to go in that way . So Sasuke being a great villain will occur if he will be the one to defeat Madara and nobody else.
But let’s just ignore Sasuke’s development, since it’s Naruto’s time to shine. I think everybody is looking forward to his third option, but unfortunately this is the end of the chapter.
Quick summary/OpinionsFirst of all great art. From Naruto’s great entrance to the little details like water on Kakashi’s face. Great work by Kishi from this point of view, and he plussed with a little nostalgy by showing the clash between Naruto and Sasuke, like the one at the end of part 1.Water everywhere, great splash, white background. I was thrilled.
People use the plot no jutsu frequently when describing certain characters. Plot and characters are in a strong relationship, so even if it looks like the plot didn’t move forward, the amount character development which was shown developed the plot as well. So basically great amount of plot jutsu for all characters...
As an action manga the fighting scenes were great, but were few I think. It wouldn’t have dragged down the dramtic moment the characters had, in contrary I think a more alert pace, could’ve rised the tension more, thus deepening the meaning of certain events, panels.
Flashback was present also, which is a good thing in my eyes, because it keeps the story together, and good cliffhangers are always welcome.
All in all thanks to the great quality delivered by the guys from Mangastream, I think the chapter deserves 9.5/10.
Predictions/want to happenAfter this much talk, I will keep this one short. I mentioned the moments of each character in order to deal with Sasuke and how was that put into chapters. Next chapter events could unfold in a way, that the conclusion will involve the whole team. So it will be a collective moment. Naruto will say his third option, and it will commented more or less by everybody, and actions will be taken in order to fulfill that third option. I don’t think tension will arise, even if Kakashi is so commited to kill Sasuke. He always had a good ear to what Naruto had to say. I think we can expect some fighting, and maybe Sasuke to be injured more, so if the poison from Naruto’s scratch will kick in, he will have the chance to retreat. Basically no Madara.
If U find this review too long, I apologize, I should’ve posted one last week, mea culpa. But time is not always our ally, so that’s it. For those who read this, many thanks, for those who didn’t at least enjoy these great chapters. Great to see, that the driving force of the manga is still Naruto.
Thanks for all the people who made possible the appearance of the chapter and this review possible. Buhbye!
