Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 329)

[Gold Knight]

Fear teh AL...!!!

Sorry for taking so long to post my Naruto Comments this time around. I'm still wanting to usually do them on RAW Day, but honestly I needed the break (hence why I stopped doing Bleach and OP Comments), and I also knew that there wasn't a chapter this upcoming week, so... and it didn't help matters that my PC didn't want to cooperate with me the last couple of days, either! Felt for awhile that the Akatsuki was trying to delay my Comments or something!

Just a big FYI here for any Bleach fans, good news though, Djudge, known for his great translations of Bleach chapters, has come to the rescue and voluntarily decided to pick up doing Bleach reviews on a weekly basis and will be posting them in the Scrapbooks main section! So, be sure to check them out and give the man some love - he sure deserves it for all that he's contributed to the Bleach community the past year!

Now for the credits - many thanks to the Touch and Eagle for providing us the RAWs (which I used for some of the images), to all our moderators for doing the work last week (especially Ayah), all our translators for their usual great work, and to Fnuckale for cleaning a few of the images that you'll see here. The majority of the grey images are from NarutoBuzz's MQ scanlation.

Anyway, enjoy and feel free to comment and discuss!

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 329: That Goal...!!! * * *

NARUTO SMASH!

1. Kyuubified Clones!?? Hn... no wonder Yamato had his work cut out for him in making sure that the Kyuubi didn't get loose! If the nine-tailed fox could take over not only the genuine article but ANY of the bunshins - that's a massive headache right there!

At least the ANBU agent seems more than capable of handling the situation. Now the question that REALLY pops to mind about this scene though... what must Naruto be feeling as he's staring at one of his clones quickly becoming berserked and Kyuubified? What a strange sensation that must be!

We know already that he definitely showed obvious fear, as he didn't take too long to start calling for help from Yamato. And I don't blame him - he's worked so hard throughout his childhood to prove himself to others as a dependable and trustworthy shinobi of the Leaf, and that could all be ruined in an instant if the Kyuubi had his way and gleefully created another scene of massive destruction in the heart of the village. Can you imagine Naruto being an outcast AGAIN?

Hey, remember the very first time we all saw Naruto access the red chakra of the Kyuubi and use it against a completely off-guard Haku? Cool scene, wasn't it?

One of my favorite scenes ever - but that was then, when we all felt that the Kyuubi was going to be a powerful weapon in Naruto's hands. Now it's becoming more and more apparent that Kishimoto is trying to make it more of a dangerous curse meant to be feared, even by Naruto himself, and I think this scene is meant to try to persuade the readers to feel the same way as well.

Looks like Naruto really will have to learn how to deal with his enemies without relying on the Kyuubi so much, or else...! In a way, it also means Naruto will have to be more in control of his temper, as well. Are we going to see him struggle with his emotions more often now, especially when news of Asuma's death comes around...?

Oh well, I'll grade you C+ for effort...

2. One Day of Fruitless Labor. 200 Kage Bunshins training over a day leading to about 4,800 hours of training according to Kakashi's math, and what do we have so far? Nothing!

Good thing Naruto wasn't already pressured to use this jutsu against the Akatsuki after all, I suppose...

I thought that he would have already mastered it by now but simply didn't have the time or energy to head over to save Asuma's team, as some people had guessed. Turns out he hadn't even finished his training.

Who needs Byakugan?

3. Doing the Impossible...! You know what, if the implications of this scene means what I think it does, then I'll be very disappointed. I had predicted a few chapters ago that all it would require for Naruto to do in order to master the merging of the wind element with his Rasengan would be to use a third bunshin as support. Looks like that may be the case, as Kakashi did demonstrate to Naruto just how "looking right and left" simulateously CAN be possible...! But so, so predictable...

If so, I can understand Naruto taking so long to come to realizing that was the key, since it's pretty well-established that he's not the brightest bulb around. But for Kakashi to actually be clueless about how exactly Naruto could do the merge until he heard Naruto complain about that being the problem... ouch.

Well, sometimes I suppose a genius can miss things that are right under their nose, too... at least Kakashi immediately realized the solution right away, eh?

I pity the kids who go trick and treating to these guys...!

4. Sealing the Sanbi...! I still haven't really gotten over that scene of the Akatsuki's "summoned beast" sucking the life out of another bijuu! And this time, it's not even a jinchuuriki - it's the beast itself! Now that's showing some serious power and guts right there - although I guess most of them ARE holograms and wouldn't be affected if the monster suddenly woke up and went on a rampage. Still, I wonder how the heck Deidara and Tobi managed to keep the Sanbi unconscious the entire time they carried it to whatever lair they're all at right now.

Crackhead Theory: I'm not sure if somebody has already guessed this or not, but I now believe that the Akatuski rings are exactly how they conjure their own holograms in order to all appear in the same place so that they can do the sealing together. That's why they're so important.

That would mean the loss of Orochimaru's ring keeps them from having a possible tenth member appear with them at these rituals. If this is the case, then one way to stop the Akatsuki would be to get possession of all these rings. That way, even if they aren't killed to the last, they would still have even more difficulty carrying out their plans.

These naughty Akatsuki, sedating an innocent girl like that...

5. A Role Still to Play? I really do believe that Kishimoto purposely had the Akatsuki capture BOTH the Sanbi and Yugito at the same time exactly so that would give Konohagakure (who else?) plenty of time to actually save the latter from their clutches.

Gaara, when the Akatsuki captured him and worked on extracting the Shukaku from him, struggled for, I would guess, about two days and nights at least before he finally gave up the ghost - er, bijuu. That means even when the Akatsuki DO get to Yugito, which won't be for another three days, she'd probably still be alive for at least two more days even while they're extracting the Nibi out of her. That's five days and I do think somebody will come to interrupt the ceremony by then.

Another thing we learned too here - apparently Hidan and Kakuzu didn't have to go very far after capturing Yugito to drop her off at the new lair, and were quickly on their way to the Fire Temple afterwards. That tells me right there that the lair is probably between the Lightning Country (where Yugito was captured) and the Fire Country.

There are two countries in-between if you look at the map of Naruto's world, so that'll be something new if we'red headed to either one.

EDIT: Ibra87 reminded me that Zetsu actually came and took Yugito for Hidan and Kakuzu, my bad. But still should probably be close by... but I guess it's not quite as certain still.

Who wouldn't?

6. Justifications of Battle. Not too surprised at all that the Akatsuki Leader would seemingly have the most trouble dealing with Hidan, who definitely seems the most volatile member of the bunch!

Although I can understand why Hidan would be irrirated - he obviously believed that Leaf shinobi were heretics for not directly worshipping Jashinism, and the leader for a moment made it seem irrelevant since everybody for the most part, even Konohagakure, worshipped battle anyway!

An interesting sidenote is that we learned that the Akatsuki Leader seems to know quite a bit about the ways and teachings of Konohagakure, judging by his words here about their religious beliefs. That would seem to strongly imply that he may have ties to the Fire Country after all. No - I don't believe that he's Yondaime at all, but could he possibly be a relative? Naruto's uncle? Heh. That might be a nice way to shed some light on his origins. They certainly have the same spiky hair style it seems...!

Fu fu fu...

7. Hidan's a Young Padawan...! Well, one thing we learned for sure here - Hidan, before Tobi, was the latest member of the Akatsuki. And I now firmly believe that he joined the organization AFTER Part One, to replace somebody who was probably killed trying to capture a bijuu or jinchuuriki (which would explain why the first Akatsuki double-spread looks a bit outdated now).

Like I've said in the past, I wouldn't be surprised if casualties were something of a frequent occurence for these guys.

And finally, just have to say, I love the Akatsuki Leader's personality so far. We already suspected that he had something of a twisted sense of humor when he chuckled at Sasori's complaints back in chapter 260. I think it's pretty much confirmed now that he does tend to have a little fun every now and then at the expense of even other Akatsuki members. Which makes me wonder - just how powerful IS he, to be the ringleader of THIS merry bunch, and not to be too afraid to slightly push their buttons every now and then?

And he's probably trying his best to hold back too, because he doesn't want to jeopardize their plans, after all, by having more people rebel on them like Orochimaru did. Although I bet ol' Oro got along with this particular guy just fine...

...uh, oh, bitter ninjas, that can't be good.

8. Living Only to Fight. Gotta admit, the Akatsuki leader's plan is pretty clever all things considered. But we'll get to that in a minute.

If the Leader is correct and the smaller countries are cutting expenses because they can't afford to have shinobi in times of peacetime as well, no wonder we're seeing a majority of rogue members from the smaller countries and villages in the organization as well. You know, I was somewhat skeptical on why exactly an organization such as the Akatsuki wouldn't try to recruit more shinobi from just the Five Lands, since these countries would obviously have even more powerful people, and these ones would also be the most difficult to defeat and would require even more reconnaissance than the smaller countries.

I had initially thought that maybe they needed representatives from each country to make the ritual work, but now we know they're just getting more people to work for them from the countries that are about to, or already have, entirely given up the "shinobi business." Makes a world of sense, if you ask me...

Sounds like fun...!

9. The Plan...! Well, I said I'd give my opinions of AL's plans, so here it is. I think it's a solid, good plan, especially considering that they seemingly have an abundance of "abandoned shinobi" who would be willing to work for them. Let's do a quick rundown of it.

First step, which Kakuzu no doubt is having fun with, is of course earning the money in order to make the economical takeover possible. I'm somewhat surprised Kakuzu didn't bother to explain the whole plan to Hidan in order to make him understand why they were going on these little side expeditions. That would have probably helped...

Second step, is to take advantage of all the displaced shinobi willing to work for them and create a true mercenary organization that wouldn't hold any allegiance to any of the countries, but rather work for everybody. That would make the smaller countries happy as they wouldn't have to fund them at all, and take business away from the larger villages.

Third step, when they're ready to do so, they would secretly create world wars with the use of the bijuus they've stolen, and create total chaos. Since they would be in control of all the pieces - they'd be able to manipulate events to the point where they would work on demolishing and collapsing all the larger countries.

The only problem with all this, though, is it's going to take a pretty long while to put the real plan in action. I wonder if they'll be stopped before even getting to the second step. Still, it's a pretty logical plan for a villain organization, and diabolical enough to suit my tastes, so I have no problems with it.

And even though it may seem as if the Akatsuki are still years away from really getting down to business on their plan, things will still get pretty desperate for our heroes if they manage to capture all the bijuus. If they ever got Kyuubi in addition to the others, the chances of stopping them will probably be pretty low. Naruto and company better move, and fast...!

World, watch out! AL is coming!

10. Global Domination...! And of course, the true goal of Akatsuki - conquering the world. Somewhat cliche, but I like it. They've sure got all the cards, so why not?

Additionally, I sort of like finally having a villain in the Naruto series who's crazy enough to have big dreams of grandeur as well as the total confidence to attempt to take over the world.

Compare that to the other villains we've had in the series: we've had Orochimaru who doesn't really care about being a leader anymore, but just pursuing his own personal quest of collecting all the jutsus for himself, and becoming immortal. Although he has fun whenever there's chaos involved, he really could care less about getting too involved, I think.

We've had Itachi, who seems to only care about improving himself. Actually, ALL the Akatsuki seem like natural born soldiers, except for the leader himself. But a world with AL as the President... brrr! XD

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars. I liked the chapter quite a bit when I first read it, but while doing Comments on it, I have to admit it was kind of underwhelming as Naruto chapters usually go. We didn't really have any HUGE revelations here, although finding out the Akatsuki did plan to conquer the world was fun. But aside from that, it's mostly just teases without much story development, so I'd have to give this one an average rating.

Predictions: Most likely we will see Naruto finish his training, and news of Asuma's death hitting town, and Kurenai's reactions. I thought we'd get the latter with this chapter, but I suppose it's taking them a while to get back to the village. I had hoped that we wouldn't see Naruto achieve his ultimate jutsu until he was in actual battle, though...

Credits: Thanks to Winterlion, Fnuckale, NarutoBuzz, Touch, Eagle, and Ayah, once again.

Have fun discussing the chapter - we still won't have another Naruto chapter for one more week. I'll be sure to get my next Comments out on RAW Day, though.

Is this AL's future queen? Comment! <3

[weixiaobao]

Wow! thanks!
Although I am quite disappointed at their plan (it is not quite that smart)
Like you said it could be stop at the second step.
And is it just me or the AL's future queen look like (dead) Haku?

[ibra87]

After all these days, I am happy to read your comments (now that we don't have any Naruto Chapter anyway). It's kinda refreshing. I agree with most of your points. Here some of the stuff I would like to comment on:

1) That was my thought too when I first saw it. It would be disappointing if he just made an extra clone and let it do the job. The first time he did it for the Rasengan it was brilliant, but now it's getting kinda.... blah. Remember that time where Kakashi talked about the training for Naruto? Everybody was thinking "time freezing" with Kakashi's MS and so, and it turned out to be a kage bunshin training (which I by the way like). So there's still hope.

And this got me thinking.. if each clone can get kyuubified, and the kyuubi has unlimited energu, and Naruto learns his technique = the legion of doom with 200 Kyuubified narutos that would basically dominate ANY country. Naruto would die afterwards though.

Oh and you talked about the 3rd bunshin, but judging from the pics, it seems like naruto can do the technique with just one clone now? (wasn't it the Odama rasengan that needed 2 bunshin?)

2) Damn, seems like he wasn't coming for Asuma after all :S Me and my stupid predictions. It seems however that Naruto can't use more than 200 bunshins at the same time! Assuming that he needed as much time as Kakashi was talking about (with 1000 bunshin) it would mean at least 5 weeks! But if I know Naruto well he'll probably do it within one week or even the next two days, especially that he has figured something out.

3)Kakashi wasn't with Naruto when he learned the rasengan... nor when he did it. Only this one time where he did the Odama Rasengan. So it's not THAT disappointing that he didn't figure it out. Not even Jiraiya did (or else he would have told Naruto when he was training him for Rasengan).

5) They didn't drop Yugito at the lair! the cannibal came and took her >_> (as far as i can remember)

7) Why must one of the Akatsuki have to be gone after part 1? Orochimaru was gone, so they recruited Hidan, then Sasori died so they recruited Tobi... Or am I missing something?

10) Good to see you agree with the very few people including me who don't think World Domination is a stupid thing. And I am happy Kishi didn't make it sound stupid.

That's all. It's was really a pleasure reading through your 10 comments.

[glasskatana]

Alright. I've been waiting for these. Do you feel nice and rested GKsr?

As usual, I'll comment more later.

[Daniee]

I kinda like your idea of Yugito being rescued. There's no one in the cave in person this time and AL can't use Shoten no Jutsu this time either, as they have no spare sacrifices. Which makes me think...what if he created a fake Hidan with that handy jutsu, would it be immortal as well?

What'd you think of that final AL two-page spread? I though it was absolutely awesome @_@ I share your same interest in that guy. Kishimoto deserves a week off because it must have taken him forever to draw that.

[yeste]

Nice comments GK! Let’s see if I can add something…

3. Doing the Impossible...! You know what, if the implications of this scene means what I think it does, then I'll be very disappointed. I had predicted a few chapters ago that all it would require for Naruto to do in order to master the merging of the wind element with his Rasengan would be to use a third bunshin as support. Looks like that may be the case, as Kakashi did demonstrate to Naruto just how "looking right and left" simulateously CAN be possible...! But so, so predictable...

This is the part where I agree with you 100%!!! Sorry to say, but this was the most disappointing moment in this chapter ( if it turns out like this! )… I remember the talk about how Naruto still uses his clone to make the Rasengan somewhere, and I must say that I was really disappointed by that alone, ‘cause if you really think about it after all that alleged two and a half years of training he still can’t do it without help, and that’s his best technique (!?!!), then this will have no sense at all!!! No matter if it is a S-ranked jutsu, or higher! If he needs that much work in creating a jutsu, I can tell that that jutsu will be absolutely useless in combat ( unless he learns that sweet sweet fujin no ??? teleporting technique that the Fourth used ). I mean really!!! The toying with the main character like this can be too much… He gets to have the better jutsus, but he’s too clumsy to use them properly!!! I didn’t see Sasuke having any help with that flowing Chidori of his… Not like Oro had to hold his sword, Kabuto his… whatever… while he was trying to look left and right…

Naaahhh… Sorry if I went a bit overboard there, but that’s just how I feel about this… disappointed… Kind of expected more… after all that pulling out the wind chakra, looks like he’ll wrap it in no time…

That would mean the loss of Orochimaru's ring keeps them from having a possible tenth member appear with them at these rituals. If this is the case, then one way to stop the Akatsuki would be to get possession of all these rings. That way, even if they aren't killed to the last, they would still have even more difficulty carrying out their plans.

Hmmm…. Nice theory, but I wonder if Oro can listen on them with his ring ( I am assuming that he still has it… ).

Another thing we learned too here - apparently Hidan and Kakuzu didn't have to go very far after capturing Yugito to drop her off at the new lair, and were quickly on their way to the Fire Temple afterwards. That tells me right there that the lair is probably between the Lightning Country (where Yugito was captured) and the Fire Country.

This was nice to point out as well!!! But I wonder if maybe Zetsu too over the transport of the Yugito… With his teleporting abilities ( that still aren’t proven or explained, but yeah, I’m relaying on them ). But then I wonder once more, if that was the case, then why didn’t he did the same thing for the other one… Not much sense, but a small maybe, maybe?

9. The Plan...! Well, I said I'd give my opinions of AL's plans, so here it is. I think it's a solid, good plan, especially considering that they seemingly have an abundance of "abandoned shinobi" who would be willing to work for them. Let's do a quick rundown of it.

Ah, the plan!!! Well I certainly was way more satisfied after hearing the whole plan!!! When it was announced in the spoiler that it actually was “ World domination!!!”, well, it did felt somewhat weak… But, I waited a bit, and have to say that it does have a lot of sense… It isn’t the best plan ever, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t expect that, and I don’t think no one else did… So, I’m quite satisfied…



As always GK, thanks for the review!!! Nice one!!! Didn’t want to spam in other threads, so I’ll just add this here… Thanks for deciding to keep up doing Naruto reviews!!! And I’m sorry that I hadn’t got to read any of the OP ones… ( I just caught up with the series this week, so I’m sure I’ll check them out at some point ).

[sure_shot]

7) Why must one of the Akatsuki have to be gone after part 1? Orochimaru was gone, so they recruited Hidan, then Sasori died so they recruited Tobi... Or am I missing something?

Deidara replaced Oro
Tobi replaced Sasori
So Hidan must have replaced Kakazu's former partner (that he probably killed).

[Luckas]

It's always a pleasure reading your comments, GK. I hope you solved your pc problems.

1. Interesting points. Personally I like the Kyubi and the fact it powers Naruto, so, maybe because of my preference, I don't think Kyubi is only a curse for Naruto and he must stop to use it. But from when Kishimoto introduced the concept of the windy rasengan I fear he started lacking originality, so I will not be surprised by that.

3. That would be truly disappointing, I hope Kishimoto will surprise us.

4. That's an interesting theory and it could be coherent with Naruto world and his rules.

5. I think it was Zetsu who transported the Nibi to the Akatsuki base. And about a future role for Yugito, I don't know there are already so many characters in Naruto and Kishimoto already introduced Yamato and Sai after the timeskip, maybe he is just toying with us

6. That's a good catch and if I remember well "Al"'s words are very similar to those of the Third Hokage. That could start a lot of speculations.

7.

7. Hidan's a Young Padawan...!
Although I bet ol' Oro got along with this particular guy just fine...

Funnier comment

8. I agree with you, altough I thought it was a "plot no jutsu" to add a little variety in the manga, instead this is very logical.

9. I'm not very fond ot this plan for world domination, I'm not against the idea to control all the world and I don't think it is banal. But I believe there is a huge gap between creating a mercenary organization which get work from small countries and steal some assignement from the big 5 countries and gain the power to evolve from a small hindrance to a real danger for the whole world. Maybe the control of all bijus could make this plan possible, but this poses a question: if the bijus could unleash so much power why they weren't carefully checked or at least why the sudden disappareance of them didn't produce a warning. That is why I don't love this plan.

[WinterLion]

Great comments as always. Enjoyed reading them... I know I have some comments to make, but I'm a little too tired to think (or type) straight, so I'll hold off on that until later. But I wanted to drop in here and say thanks for job well done first.

[Strangehat]

Great comments GK. ._. Good to see you well rested, though I will miss your OP and Bleach comments, tho I am sure Djudge will do an awesome job on Bleach.

I'm still giggly about Naruto freaking out. "Wha! Another guy's going crazy!! C_C_"

As a black-robe-red-cloud fan I am totally jazzed by this chapter, as it confirms and puts to rest a lot of the speculation surrounding the organization. The fact that Akatsuki wants to keep their overhead low by keeping to small numbers is a hilarious idea to me, but it makes sense and explains why a lot of the Akatsuki seem to be specialists in some given field or another as opposed to have a lot of 'generally good' shinobi like Kakashi.

Also, Hidan being new makes sense for me. Early silhouette matching was giving me fits. Kakuzu's still up in the air in the original grouping, but he could still be the Giant Akatsuki, or the miner-looking fellow on the right.

However, there wasn't a lot we weren't already able to guess in the chapter as you noted, and 'taking over the world' is an /expected/ goal for the Akatsuki (their evil actions and words don't make a whole lot of sense otherwise) so I'll just comment on Leader's plan.

<i>He is planning to punch the world with economics.</i> Awesome.

[kiddo7]

Once again, great job Goldy.
this was one most entertaining read, I do not feel like i have anything of value to add, but even so, your comments round out each chapter so well, that i just do not feel content until I have read them.
THank you for your work. And do not push yourself to hard.

[white silver]

[b][font=verdana][color=green][size=1]For some reason, I really like this chapter. The AL is being very true to the essence of ninja. He not only wants to conquer the world but he wants to show what "ninjas" are worth for: dark, cold-blooded, empty hearted assassins working for money. Naruto is being very "the 3 ninjas kick-back/teenage mutant ninja turtles" which really kinda destroys the whole concept of Ninja. But all the more makes the whole ninja-thing quite interesting.


Like I said before, the Leader is very stern with his words (which makes him really really cool and dangerous), especially to rebellious guys like Hidan. "YOU WILL DO THE TASKS PROVIDED BY AKATSUKI (whether-you-like-it-or-not, even-if-it-defies-the-teachings-of-Jashin" tone in his voice) ignoring the blissfulness of Hidan's commentary (swear words).


At one point of view, the AL would be considered the greatest hero in Ninja history. After all, he is right about Ninjas providing services and money to their respective countries/villages. People like Sandaime may reduce the number of well-bred ninjas, if they only look for peace (not shooting him down of course). And eventually if all Kages were like him, ninjas may be nothing more than providing"LEARN THE NINJA ARTS GYM, $200 A MONTH". (Take a look at the whole concept in the Martial arts World and you'll see exactly what I mean. Tools for war now becomes Wu-shu and Olympic sport event, and only a few dedicated to the practice of self-defence and urban survival skills) I think this is what the AL is trying to avoid! Anyways good comments GK.

*I might re-consider doing the top ten comments for One Piece*!

[Raine_Joybringer]

Can't speak much on this chapter (got assignments as well), but I gotta say I really do admire AL (and Kishimoto) for creating such a well-thought through plan! I absolutely love it when people think about political implications and not just about the power struggle. <3

And you know, I really do believe the female(?) member is somehow related more to AL than being just in the Akatsuki. It's possible she's his wife/girlfriend. Remember that Kishimoto said that he wanted to have some more romance in the series. You never know- this could be a part of it. It's rare to see a romantic pairing between villains that doesn't involve someone being manipulated in there somewhere.

Anyway, loved this chapter, though if only for the awesome plan.

[Gold Knight]

Thanks all for commenting!

Wow! thanks!
Although I am quite disappointed at their plan (it is not quite that smart)
Like you said it could be stop at the second step.
And is it just me or the AL's future queen look like (dead) Haku?

A bit! But I expect a woman... Kishimoto has also said in an interview that one of the Akatsuki would be female, so this one should be.

After all these days, I am happy to read your comments (now that we don't have any Naruto Chapter anyway). It's kinda refreshing. I agree with most of your points. Here some of the stuff I would like to comment on:

1) That was my thought too when I first saw it. It would be disappointing if he just made an extra clone and let it do the job. The first time he did it for the Rasengan it was brilliant, but now it's getting kinda.... blah. Remember that time where Kakashi talked about the training for Naruto? Everybody was thinking "time freezing" with Kakashi's MS and so, and it turned out to be a kage bunshin training (which I by the way like). So there's still hope.

And this got me thinking.. if each clone can get kyuubified, and the kyuubi has unlimited energu, and Naruto learns his technique = the legion of doom with 200 Kyuubified narutos that would basically dominate ANY country. Naruto would die afterwards though.

He definitely could be a bigger powerhouse somewhere down the line.

Oh and you talked about the 3rd bunshin, but judging from the pics, it seems like naruto can do the technique with just one clone now? (wasn't it the Odama rasengan that needed 2 bunshin?)

Yeah, I think the percentage may be lower that Naruto successfully completes a Rasengan with just himself, so that he uses another clone in order to better his chances. That's why I think we see him sometimes doing it by himself, and sometimes with a clone to help out. But after all that training, I bet that he might've gotten to the point where he now can do a Rasengan more easily himself. I didn't think of that when I did these comments, though!

3)Kakashi wasn't with Naruto when he learned the rasengan... nor when he did it. Only this one time where he did the Odama Rasengan. So it's not THAT disappointing that he didn't figure it out. Not even Jiraiya did (or else he would have told Naruto when he was training him for Rasengan).

I suppose Kakashi wouldn't be thinking along the same lines as Naruto in how they individually learned the Rasengan, so good point.

5) They didn't drop Yugito at the lair! the cannibal came and took her >_> (as far as i can remember)

Just goes to show you that I probably need to reread the last volume again, heh. Thanks for pointing that out and correcting me, I've edited my Comments.

7) Why must one of the Akatsuki have to be gone after part 1? Orochimaru was gone, so they recruited Hidan, then Sasori died so they recruited Tobi... Or am I missing something?

Two of the Akatsuki that we originally saw in that double spread looks a lot different from Hidan and Kakuzu. If that was Hidan talking to Itachi, for example, he sure sounded a lot more mellow and soft-spoken than he is now, and he had a different hairstyle. And if the big guy was Kakuzu, then he's lost some weight...! I know Sasori (in his scorpion puppet), Deidara (hanging from the ceiling and saying ...yeah), Itachi, Kisame, the AL, Zetsu, and the woman Akatsuki were present in that double spread though - they all have the right outlines.

10) Good to see you agree with the very few people including me who don't think World Domination is a stupid thing. And I am happy Kishi didn't make it sound stupid.

Not at all, no. I like villains with high aspirations

Alright. I've been waiting for these. Do you feel nice and rested GKsr?

As usual, I'll comment more later.

I'm fine, but my PC isn't

I actually still had trouble typing the rest of my Comments out yesterday, the PC froze about three times. Seems to be doing alright now, though...

I kinda like your idea of Yugito being rescued. There's no one in the cave in person this time and AL can't use Shoten no Jutsu this time either, as they have no spare sacrifices. Which makes me think...what if he created a fake Hidan with that handy jutsu, would it be immortal as well?

I thought, actually, that Deidara and Tobi were both present at that cave, but now that I look again, they do look like holograms too. Hm... well, I don't blame them, they probably didn't want to be in that cave in case the Sanbi went berserk.

Well, the AL can still do his Shoten no Jutsu, I think, because Itachi and Kisame weren't at the lair the last time they were used either. He only needs the underlings to be there (in the last case, these two underlings of Sasori's were probably present somewhere around the lair).

And I'll bet no about Hidan's "Shoten no Jutsu" clone being immortal as well - as Itachi and Kisame said, these "clones" copy their abilities only to a certain limit, and I doubt that would cover the immortality part... but that's an interesting thought...

What'd you think of that final AL two-page spread? I though it was absolutely awesome @_@ I share your same interest in that guy. Kishimoto deserves a week off because it must have taken him forever to draw that.

Yeah, Kishimoto's been knocking himself out lately with these cityscapes. I agree that he probably did need a break after that, heh.

Hmmm…. Nice theory, but I wonder if Oro can listen on them with his ring ( I am assuming that he still has it… ).

I thought about that too. It's very possible he could, but it might also reveal his whereabouts too somehow. AL did seem to be able to telepathically come in contact with Hidan and Kakuzu, after all. Probably works both ways.

9. I'm not very fond ot this plan for world domination, I'm not against the idea to control all the world and I don't think it is banal. But I believe there is a huge gap between creating a mercenary organization which get work from small countries and steal some assignement from the big 5 countries and gain the power to evolve from a small hindrance to a real danger for the whole world. Maybe the control of all bijus could make this plan possible, but this poses a question: if the bijus could unleash so much power why they weren't carefully checked or at least why the sudden disappareance of them didn't produce a warning. That is why I don't love this plan.

Well, you have to admit that the Akatsuki always gave off the impression that they were trying to do something big, and world domination would definitely qualify. And I don't think anybody really pays much attention to the disappearance of jinchuuriki and bijuu, because they're so hated for the most part. And they could also probably gain some shinobi from the Five Countries through this plan, as well... that's where "taking the business away" from these lands come in.

But essentially the Akatsuki need most of if not all the bijuus in order to even make the plan work, so we really don't have to think too deeply on the whole plan right now. The main thing we just needed to know is that AL did have a plan to control the world with the bijuus, so that sets the tone for the rest of the story.

Great comments as always. Enjoyed reading them... I know I have some comments to make, but I'm a little too tired to think (or type) straight, so I'll hold off on that until later. But I wanted to drop in here and say thanks for job well done first.

Thank YOU for translating the chapter!

Also, Hidan being new makes sense for me. Early silhouette matching was giving me fits. Kakuzu's still up in the air in the original grouping, but he could still be the Giant Akatsuki, or the miner-looking fellow on the right.

However, there wasn't a lot we weren't already able to guess in the chapter as you noted, and 'taking over the world' is an /expected/ goal for the Akatsuki (their evil actions and words don't make a whole lot of sense otherwise) so I'll just comment on Leader's plan.

<i>He is planning to punch the world with economics.</i> Awesome.

Yeah, that's one heck of a mighty punch, if he manages to pull it off. Good to see you still coming around Strangehat

Once again, great job Goldy.
this was one most entertaining read, I do not feel like i have anything of value to add, but even so, your comments round out each chapter so well, that i just do not feel content until I have read them.
THank you for your work. And do not push yourself to hard.

Thanks! I should definitely have an easier time now that I'm just doing Naruto again Don't worry about me too much.

At one point of view, the AL would be considered the greatest hero in Ninja history. After all, he is right about Ninjas providing services and money to their respective countries/villages. People like Sandaime may reduce the number of well-bred ninjas, if they only look for peace (not shooting him down of course). And eventually if all Kages were like him, ninjas may be nothing more than providing"LEARN THE NINJA ARTS GYM, $200 A MONTH". (Take a look at the whole concept in the Martial arts World and you'll see exactly what I mean. Tools for war now becomes Wu-shu and Olympic sport event, and only a few dedicated to the practice of self-defence and urban survival skills) I think this is what the AL is trying to avoid! Anyways good comments GK.

The thing is Sandaime's shinobi work to keep the peace, and AL wants to destroy that peace. Depending on your point of view, AL would only be a "hero" to one side, and that's the bloodthristy, battle-hungry warmongers. Not to mention that the AL fully intends to take control of the world and do whatever he wants with it with his bijuu "trump card." It's kinda Rurouni Kenshin-like in a way though, I agree.

And you know, I really do believe the female(?) member is somehow related more to AL than being just in the Akatsuki. It's possible she's his wife/girlfriend. Remember that Kishimoto said that he wanted to have some more romance in the series. You never know- this could be a part of it. It's rare to see a romantic pairing between villains that doesn't involve someone being manipulated in there somewhere.

Rare, but very entertaining, if done right, I think.

[bax]

Nice one GK.

I wanna to comment back some of those comments, but at the present time, I'm really busy with my PC after reformating it.
And ofcourse trying to hold down Winny's craziness abuses on me in my thread

I'll drop by later