Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 311)

[Gold Knight]

Hey again! I'm going to do this one relatively early on, because I probably won't have any time to do it next week, and I did like this chapter a lot that I wanted to give my thoughts on it sooner rather than much later on.

Feel free to comment, but please remember that it might take me a while to read your responses and answer. I can guarantee that I'll get around to it, though. Thanks for reading in advance!

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 311: Nickname * * *

1. Stupid Sharingan. Well, this was a pretty appropriate cover for what was going to be a pretty quiet chapter. Seeing Kakashi in his hospital bed and growing antsy to get out made me think of all the times he's had to rest after over-exerting himself using the Sharingan. It's been about three times now, ya know? Once during the Wave Country Mission, once after fighting with Itachi (though that was more due to facing the dreaded Mangekyou Sharingan), and now, after saving everybody from Deidara's suicide bomber clone.

Some people say that Kakashi isn't getting much air time because he's such an elite ninja, but I think Kishimoto does a very good job of giving him limitations so that he's not TOO ridiculously powerful. But I'm starting to wonder how much Kakashi will actually use his Sharingan from now on, because it's becoming pretty obvious that he should only use it when there's no other choice. Too bad the enemies probably won't get any less powerful from here on.

2. Don't Forget to Bow, Sai. That was pretty interesting to see Sai cooped up in a corner of a library and reading up on social advice from the Japanese's perspective. I'm not sure how I feel about honorific suffixes being actually effective in "closing the distance between minds" because of their tendency to generalize people into separate categories (kinda like if I called a guy a 'kid' and the kid kept calling me 'sir' all the time), though I do like the concept of nicknames and pet names. But anyway, it's cool to see Sai trying to be a gentleman. I can kinda see him working as a waiter or butler, actually, but I'm not getting my hopes too high...

3. Why Am I Not Surprised? ...to see Sakura coming into a library. Yeah, that's probably the one place that I'd go if I wanted to run into Sakura - I wonder if Naruto will ever figure it out an arrange a "coincedental meeting" and impressing her with something he just read in a book. Anyway, it's nice to see that Kishimoto hasn't forgotten Sakura's roots as a bookworm.

I WAS surprised, though, to see Sakura back in her old outfit - although it makes sense as Sakura does want to remain ostensibly feminine. Still, wouldn't she have moved on to a different fashion after all this time? Oh well. You know, without her headband and dressed in that retrospective outfit, she really hasn't changed all that much over the last two years. Strange how a new look can really make all the difference.

4. Ooohh, He's Nervous. Considering that Kakashi is one of my absolute favorite characters (along with Naruto and Shikamaru) in the series, I loved it when Sai showed obvious apprehension here in meeting THE most kick-ass, elite jounin in Kono- such a cool customer. *Ahem*

5. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. Well, one thing's for sure, nobody will accuse Naruto of losing focus on an objective once he's got his mind set towards accomplishing it. I do like that he's so dedicated to bringing his friend and former rival back to the forces of good, but I kinda want Naruto to forget it every now and then, or at least push it to the back of his mind. His current thinking is becoming a little too one-dimensional for my tastes.

6. Now THAT'S More Like It. I think Kishimoto read my mind there. I liked that Naruto hadn't completely forgotten about his feelings for Sakura. Actually, that was a pretty smart move on his part, to have them both visit Kakashi together. Not bad at all. Too bad Sai ruined his plans, huh. (Yes, Hinata, you're still in the game... for another day at least.)

7. Challenge of a Different Sort. It's strange, isn't it, how it really does take more courage to open up to people than it does to fight somebody - even to the death.

But, already, Sai's surpassed Sasuke there, with his efforts here. It's almost as if Sai is supposed to reflect what Sasuke could've been like. Sai's definitely going to get a boost in popularity if he keeps this up, but I hope he still doesn't forget to take charge every now and then. He's still probably the best shinobi in that group. Still, if Sai, Sakura and Naruto gets a good enough camaraderie going, they may end up having better teamwork together than Sasuke ever had with them.

8. Good Try, Buddy... Say, Sai. You already took this route before, with insulting nicknames, haven't you learned anything? XD

Though, it was sweet to see Sakura, who had been insulting Naruto practically the entire time they were talking here, get some of her own medicine. I wonder if that's why Sai did it. Even Sakura's gotta admit that she wasn't a very good one to observe for social grace at that point. Oh well, Sai'll learn soon enough... either that, or he won't live very long, and neither will Naruto. XD

9. Long Time No See, Sensei! Kakashi! Huzzah! Well, I guess we were all misled last chapter to think that Yamato would be the sensei for a while, but it looks like Kakashi will be around as well, too. Granted, he's still sitting in his bed, but hey, to me, even when he was on crutches, he was STILL cool, ya know? (Standing upside-down on a tree branch might've had something to do with that, though...) I hope we'll be seeing more of him for a while.

And why didn't I ever think about Kabuto drugging Sasuke up? He probably wouldn't have thought anything of it, drugs were pretty much considered an acceptable tool to almost everybody in Konohagakure and especially to a certain coughing supervisor (may his soul rest in peace...) and besides, Sasuke probably doesn't give a damn if he dies of cancer or something later on as long as he kills Itachi first. That was good thinking by Tsunade. Maybe Sakura can figure out something to counter that. Or... will she end up using drugs herself? That'd be interesting.

10. Surpassing Kakashi. Say again? Whoa, now THAT surprises me, for Kakashi to readily admit that Naruto may get stronger than even him in this training session. Now THAT makes for some intrigue. What sort of training is it that it could do that? I have no idea, but I can't wait to find out. Kishimoto is at his best writing when his characters are training, in my honest opinion.

One hint we got is that this particular training is something only Naruto can do, so I'm betting it has something with his Bunshin ability. Not the Kyuubi, though. I don't think Kakashi would ever encourage Naruto to draw on his bijuu like Jiraiya seemingly did during the last 2 years and half, because they've all learned their lesson there, and Yamato warned Naruto against doing that. I'm beginning to think that Jiraiya wasn't all that great a teacher, so I'm glad to see Kakashi finally take Naruto under his wing and start actually personally training him. It's been a long time coming.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm glad to see Kishimoto lay off the drama for a while, and just concentrate on life in Konohagakure for a while. After two long fighting arcs, it's a welcome relief. Even the readers need to rest, too! And the chapter was pretty good for characterization purposes.

Predictions: Looks like we're due for our third training arc in the series. I actually think Yamato will do more of the supervising than Kakashi at first, then Kakashi will come along at a later time to do it himself. I also think Tsunade will be training Sakura at the same time too, since Kishimoto hinted through Kakashi's words to Sakura that she needed more training herself. And finally, I think this particular training will require the help of other shinobi. At least that is my hope, because I'd like to see how the other teams are doing.

Okay, I won't be seeing you guys for a while, but I'll be back in July. Until then, be safe and have fun reading further chapters of Naruto! I'll be posting Comments for all the chapters I miss when I get back.

[shinwei]

I don't think Kishimoto is fully exploring Naruto's options here. He's just giving him more and more training without even really showing the results of his last 2.5+ years of training. Where's the "Hey, Sasuke, let's go take on Itachi together?" offer? "Itachi's after me, not Orochimaru, if you stick with me you're bound to come face to face with him! If you're not strong enough, we'll just use some Kakashi-team style teamwork!"

[Gold Knight]

I don't think Kishimoto is fully exploring Naruto's options here. He's just giving him more and more training without even really showing the results of his last 2.5+ years of training. Where's the "Hey, Sasuke, let's go take on Itachi together?" offer? "Itachi's after me, not Orochimaru, if you stick with me you're bound to come face to face with him! If you're not strong enough, we'll just use some Kakashi-team style teamwork!"

The problem of showing the results of the last 2.5+ training is that I think Jiraiya did not fully understand how harmful using the Kyuubi's power could have been to Naruto. When he did, it was too late. He was severely injured to the point of almost dying, and it probably took him a while to recover and go back to training Naruto. By the time he was able to, he probably didn't know where to go from there. And Jiraiya also ended up telling Naruto "not to use that," probably meaning that most of the training probably went to waste (although at least they now know the Kyuubi isn't the way to go now, plus Naruto can still harness the power of two-tailed Kyuubi before he completely loses it.)

The "Hey, Sasuke, let's go take on Itachi together?" offer is a very good point, tho. I agree there. But then that would be too easy, I guess.

[Daniee]

That would be a pretty pointless offer...Sasuke has made it very clear that he doesn't want anything to do with bonds, teamwork, or anything of the sort, and Naruto knows that he just can't talk Sasuke out of this.

Anyway, nice comments as always, GK =)
You read my mind on Sai being what Sasuke could've been at the beginning of the series. That's one reason I like him and why I think he makes a great member of the team.

[Gold Knight]

That would be a pretty pointless offer...Sasuke has made it very clear that he doesn't want anything to do with bonds, teamwork, or anything of the sort, and Naruto knows that he just can't talk Sasuke out of this.

The weird thing is he'd rather have bonds/teamwork with Orochimaru in order to defeat Itachi rather than with his own friends. What's the difference, really? Aside from the fact that Sasuke would probably survive with Naruto and Sakura, whereas with Orochimaru he's probably going to lose his body.

The only rationale I see is that Sasuke simply does not trust Naruto and Sakura to help him accomplish his goal. He considers them distractions. Because Orochimaru shares the same goal with him, he's not as much a distraction. Naruto and Sakura are gonna have to convince him that they'll help him more than Orochimaru. The only way to do that, I suppose, is by showing him that they can indeed focus on an objective for a long time until they accomplish it, and that's to save Sasuke. Which might be what Kishimoto is doing here.

Anyway, nice comments as always, GK =)
You read my mind on Sai being what Sasuke could've been at the beginning of the series. That's one reason I like him and why I think he makes a great member of the team.

Thanks. ^^

[conan]

glad you did this GN, the chapter confused me a bit, and the disscussion thread for this chapter is even more confusing, I agree with you about sai, he actually seems like a small child learning when it comes to communicating although he is an excellent fighter, I think sasuke is like that too, I also have to say that everyone changed there regular clothing weve seen on them lately not just sakura, last thing is I predicted the training to be in hiraishin no jutsu, I have my reasons which are, one how powerful kakashi mentioned this training would be, two is that the point they concentrated on when discussing sasuke is speed, three is that naruto is the only one suited for this method, three is arguable but you could see what I mean.
well I hope we hear from you soon, if not good luck anyway with your moving.

[Gold Knight]

^ I've always thought that Bunshin + Hirashin no Jutsu would definitely mean God status for Naruto.

But if Kakashi knows it, then it must require more chakra than he's got, which might explain why Yondaime had been the only one to be able to do it. Otherwise Kakashi would have used it before now, I think.

Good theory, be fun if that's what's going to happen.

EDIT: And your comment on everybody else also wearing their "old outfits / something different" just made me wonder if Kishimoto is trying to re-capture some of the "charm" he had in Part 1. He can't make the characters kids again, but he can put them in old clothings. Not sure, tho. But, it's obvious everybody's off-duty here, and I guess that's what's going on.

[conan]

wow that was fast, any way I was just saying what came to mind, but whatever it is I am guessing we will get the whole technical details like we did in the rasengan training, it is one of the things I like in naruto which is the technicalities.

by the way the thing about jiraiya, first naruto's training was good, it lifted his level alltogether, when he came back he was able to keep up with kakashi in the bell exam and that was very different from the first bell exam, the difference is huge, the reason it didnt seem so is that naruto's opponents are the worst there is in the naruto world, and now what kakashi is suggesting is insanely powerful, it doesnt mean jiraiya did a bad job, also the reason kakashi is teaching it to naruto is what happened on their mission, I would guess such power wouldnt be given to a fifteen year old genin, its pushing naruto to his limits too I guess, we should also commend jiraiya on what he was able to find out about naruto and kyubi becuase seriously who else except akatsuki would like to find out, his foundings were used in the mission to get gara, by giving kakashi that paper seal also in the latest mission his information was essential in choosing yamato for that mission.

[Gold Knight]

True, I might be a little too quick to say that Jiraiya wasn't all that great a teacher. After all, I'm not sure Kakashi would have thought of dropping Naruto into a 300-feet chasm in order for him to unlock his potential, nor be willing to do something so extreme as that ^^

And Jiraiya didn't know about the dangers of the Kyuubi beforehand either, I'm sure. How could he? The only way was to find out, and he did that. But he had certainly done more with Naruto than Kakashi at this point: he's taught Naruto the summoning skill, the Rasengan, and how to go up to 4-Tails in case of an emergency. And you're right, Naruto has gotten faster and better at controlling his Bunshins.

Still, the ol' Pervert Sennin taught very differently from Kakashi. We'll see what Kakashi does with Naruto, but I'm betting it'll be a very different style that Naruto needs to experience as well.

Well, that's it for me for tonight - I need some sleep. See you guys later

[shinwei]

It never occurred to me that Jiraiya would be the kind of person to give up on training and teaching Naruto new techniques just from a little Kyuubi setback. Even with the setback, it just seems really really weird to me that Naruto doesn't have a single new technique at all - he still has to use bunshins to do the Rasengan too! I'd be pretty damn disappointed if all those three years did for Naruto is allow more tails to emerge from Naruto, it just seems way too unlikely.

Also, at this point it no longer makes any sense for Sasuke to stay with Orochimaru. I mean, it's not like Orochimaru is gonna go Itachi-hunting one day with Sasuke. If he stays with Naruto instead, that's like a sure-fire way to encounter his older brother. I'm seriously hoping for some Naruto-Sasuke teamwork fights too, because that would just be totally awesome.

[CheckMate]

I've always thought that Bunshin + Hirashin no Jutsu would definitely mean God status for Naruto.

how about combine those 2 with Rasengan? it would be pretty amazing

and jiraiya.. he produced the yellow flash.
couldnt think any better than that actually

[destinator]

Yeah finally your 10 comments <3 I love it =) Btw will you write the 10 comments also for the chapters you missed while moving when you come back?

[spactaa]

"how about combine those 2 with Rasengan? it would be pretty amazing"

It reminds me a move of yondaime in naruto 3 ps2 lol.

Ps:We need an explanation from jiraya it's true, cause I can't really figure what naruto learned these past 2 years exept this perfect rasengan and the genjutsu counter that doesn't work at high level.

[Dragonzair]

7. Challenge of a Different Sort. It's strange, isn't it, how it really does take more courage to open up to people than it does to fight somebody - even to the death.

But, already, Sai's surpassed Sasuke there, with his efforts here. It's almost as if Sai is supposed to reflect what Sasuke could've been like. Sai's definitely going to get a boost in popularity if he keeps this up, but I hope he still doesn't forget to take charge every now and then. He's still probably the best shinobi in that group. Still, if Sai, Sakura and Naruto gets a good enough camaraderie going, they may end up having better teamwork together than Sasuke ever had with them.

And training arc would be so luffly <3 IF only they'd show snippets of other characters.

GJ, Ken-chan. ^^

[Raine_Joybringer]

^_^ Good comments, as always! I think that you're right about Sai's role in the team and how he is a replacement for what Sasuke could have been (I'm such a Sai fangirl now...). I've enjoyed the slow down in pace as well, with the summer clothing and that. You can't have a ninja in the same old thing everyday.

I'm hoping we'll see the improvment in other ninja as well during this. It'd be about time we get to see what Hinata can do!