Hello dear readers, and welcome to the weekly review of Naruto. This week Binktopia and Mangastream provided the chapter, but that's not a surprise. What's a surprise though that in this chapter there's no sign of Sasuke, but it's the somehow the continuation of last week's trend. He's missing so that people stop saying that he pulls out jutsus from his ass, so he's probably training. So let's give our best wishes for the hardworking people at Binktopia, Mangastream and to hardworking Sasuke as well.
Intriguing title what can I say. Last week we saw Naruto receiving the key from the frogs and he is left with the decision of tapping into Kyuubi's power or seal it completely. For the sake of the story we can predict that he will try to tap in the power, since there are opponents that will require the use of Kyuubi's power to defeat them.
So the choice is obvious I guess, the prediction of meeting an octopus is just reinforcing this thought, since Jinchuuriki cooperation is inevitable if the alliance hopes to defeat bijuu and strong shinobi.
Kishi's art is great when it comes to panoramas, or simply just drawing the outdoors. He offered us a great colored panorama last week, and I remember the fight between Sasuke and Danzou, when we had the opportunity to see the surroundings.
This time we see a bunch of animal remains, skeletons which are probably the victims of a war, or just a natural disaster. The reason why I think they are probably the remains of a war, because we know that in the shinobi world the use of huge animals is common matter, there are several shinobi able to perform summoning huge animals. Though summons disappear from the scene of battle, we can assume that this was once the base of animals, or a group of summonable creatures. Of course there are other possibilities as well, some that have no relation to the shinobi world.
Why I think though the skeletons are the remains of ninja battles? Well in the area there is a hideout, more precisely an Akatsuki hideout, and two of the most dangerous shinobi are meeting there.
The scenery is familiar since this is the way we said goodbye to the last chapter. Kabuto used Edo Tensei in order to convince Tobi that an alliance would be a good deal. Tobi is suspicious of all this and he questions Kabuto's reasons. But Kabuto is somebody who just comes to meet the Akatsuki leader without a plan.
The first interesting information he shares with us is that these 5 shinobi, who are without a doubt among the most powerful Akatsuki, are not the only pawns he's got, which means there is a possibility of reviving other lost characters, like ex-Kages and even Jinchuuriki. For example it would be a good move for Kabuto to summon Yagura so that he could once again gain control of Sanbi, but it's just a thought, and IMO not a very probable one.
The second interesting thing Kabuto shows us, is that he is able to leave Tobi no choice, but to accept Kabuto in his ranks. This is indeed something vey new, and unexpected.
If we watch the panels closely, we can see that Tobi's eye is drawn as usual, there's no surprise written all over his face, but if we watch the panel as a whole, we can see that the face itself is brought in to the foreground and it's enlarged a bit, which is a common technique to show a surprised reaction. Furthermore, the translation madman, which is pretty unusual for the word
kisama, is reinforcing the thought that Kabuto is in a check position towards Tobi. And if we talk about Tobi, or Madara, this moment raises the biggest question, at least in part 2 and manages to enter in the league of questions such as "Where is Kushina?" or "What's up with the second half of Kyuubi's chakra?"
:Who or what was in the coffin?
The opportunities from Rikudo Sennin, to the "real" Madara and the never dying Obito have the same probability at first glance.
I think Obito is out of question, I think he will only live through Kakashi's left eye as predicted by him, and Rikudo Sennin shouldn't be either since I don't see Madara recognizing him. Who would be then, somebody who can startle Madara to such extent? His brothers body, or his own body, but Shodai could surprise him as well, though judgin from the fact that he is surprised the Kabuto managed to get his hand on it, should exclude Shodai, since his cells or spirit should be available and was available for Orochimaru.
I hope it's somebody new and relevant to the story and to the questionsmarks regarding Madara's identity. This somehow points towards Izuna, and this is my favorite among the theories I've heard, and I admit that after I read the chapter Izuna was the first who popped in my mind. I'm not dismissing other possibilities like Madara's mom
, or Madara's real body, but I prefer this one.
But enough of the mysteries and let's just watch Kabuto a bit, who is becoming more and more like Orochimaru, even his facial expressions are very similar. Orochimaru's behaviour was discrete, yet evil, and Kishimoto gave him a feminine touch, both gesture and mimic-wise and regarding the manner of speech as well. Kabuto retains the same smile, the long hair, which emphasizes on the feminine traits.
The goal seems to be similar, the truth about ninjutsu is chased by Kabuto as well, so if this theme is brought back agains, maybe we will see a glimpse of this truth, maybe with the help of Madara or the Rinnegan, who knows?
What's sure thing though, is that Kabuto is put in a place where he can easily manipulate the outcome of the war, at least to influence the flow of information and forces in both sides.
Why both sides? Well he is trailed by Anko and it's revealed to us that they discover the hideout, so at this moment Anko is preparing to report her findings to Konoha, and this is not necessarily Anko's skill in finding people, more like Kabuto letting them to follow him.
One more thought about Kabuto and I'll get back to the chapter itself, since we didn't even reach the part what the title suggests. So I was thinking about Kabuto's goals and skills. The first thing I thought about is the network of spies he has. He wants Sasuke as he states in this chapter and he knows that Sasuke can be met through Madara. Not mentioning the fact that he managed to track down Madara, he was able to learn his name, which was only known to the people at the summit and the villages that were involved, so Kabuto must have spies in the villages, which is not a surprise, but he must have some spies in Akatsuki as well. How is this possible? Since the members haven't been in contact with Kabuto, I guess Akatsuki has more members besides the basic fighters and bijuu capturers. That somehow ensures that we will see some skirmishes, or at least the villages will locate these people and get out information from them. These people are not very powerful, but they can serve as spies, bountyhunters U name it.
But since these things should be explained at some point let's just wait them as they unfold, and let's head back to familiar grounds.
We are enriched with some information about Kyuubi and we are told that the chakra and the hatred are two separate things.But the Bijuu are mystical demons, and Kyuubi possesses mystical as well. The key frog explains us that Kyuubi explores the darkness of ones soul and feeds it to grow, so Kyuubi is not the one who literally takes over, it's more like a fuel. So it's concluded that Naruto needs to separate the mass of chakra from the mind, the consciousness of Kyuubi.
The art is great is something that I always appreciated and I'm not the only one, I guess.
Basically it's like this: Naruto needs to keep his soul clean of hatred, because Kyuubi exploits the darkness of ones soul. Though I can't imagine Naruto having absolutely no hatred, because some darkness is always there. This is a principle which is Asian, and seeing that Kishi emphasizes on balance, I guess Naruto will just have to keep his anger on a level that can be controlled.
It's interesting how Kishi managed to pull this of. He integrated the lack of hatred into Naruto's personality and way of ninja, and that exact lack of hatred will be sufficient to control the most powerful bijuu of the nine. This is great Naruto's character becomes more impressing from chapter to chapter, and I can't forget from where we got here. Remember the hyperventilation, "lame" Naruto and such. I'm sorry that many people don't recognize the elements of a building up a character, and that reaching the bottom in one's character is necessary in order to build a new base, and to develop upon that, of course without leaving behind the main traits which existed before.
But the plot itself is dictating the evolution of a character, so if Naruto will face something terrible, he will need to control himself, because if not:
I'm thinking if this war will include skirmishes, then Naruto will face the sight of victims, of dead people which won't be something very comforting, let's not even mention the death of someone dear, like Sakura. But I have faith in him, just like the 4th or Kakashi, but I'm interested in something. Naruto assumed his position as a vessel, he decided to stop running, and he is on his way to meet the octopus. This is what it's the most interesting thing IMO, since this will be one hell of a meeting, both in significance and humor. So how will it happen? Maybe at the meeting of the Alliance in a few days, or will it be a random meeting? I would like Naruto to set on a journey just like Jiraiya did, that would be awesome, and he would have time to exercise Sage Mode as well.
But speaking of Hachibi and the Joint Alliance, Kishi presents us the meeting in Kumo, showing everybody discussing tactics and strategy in fighting the enemy, except for Bee who is fighting with his inner talent...
And if someone couldn't read the signs that Naruto will meet Bee, than Kishi offers us the ultimate foreshadowing, Bee using
(da)-ttebayo. I almost fell of my chair when I read this, it was a nice touch for this interesting chapter.
Everything concludes with Raikage's order of meeting the Alliance in 3 days, and everybody is ready, except that they don't notice Kisame whose purpose in Kumo us revealed: to gather info on Kumo's military strength, which is a good idea since Kumo is known to have secretly armed itself during this peace time.
Quick summary/OpinionsAlmost perfect chapter: 9/10. And that's because the character development of Naruto is going smoothly making Naruto more and more impressive, not even mentioning Kabuto, who became a dangerous villain who can easily corner Madara. Very impressive.
The plot is moving as well, the Joint Alliance is heading for a meeting, Naruto's influence in the story is unfolding steadily, and even Kisame is expected to make his move, now that he is in the know. The plot is twisted a bit, with Anko's presence and that coffin inside which we couldn't look, so answers are given, but new mysteries are poured on us.
The art is great, the world of naruto is well shown with panoramas, and we even got the child-animation style(?)which gives the chapter a light feeling.
We got some memories as well, and humor by Bee, so even if there was no fighting everything is being set up really well, and the silence before the storm is slowly coming to an end.
Predictions/Want to happenI would like Konoha to receive info about Madara, I would like Kisame to make his move, and I would like Naruto to set off on his own on the journey to find the octopus.
But I don't think we'll see any of this instead it's about time to see Sasuke, then some Madara. So some further planning starring Madara and Kabuto, and EMS should be revealed. I think Karin will be the one, who will help Naruto in finding out who/what is the octopus, so Konoha should presented as well=>Naruto will return and not set off on his own.
That's all folks. Thank U for reading the review. I apologize for the length again, though this time I feel like I might left out some things. If so please feel free to point them out, if not then don' stop in commenting the review or the chapter.Enjoy the chapter, or try to peek in that coffin, maybe U'll spot something
.
Don't forget our providers, good work people.
Mata ne!
