Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 332)

[Gold Knight]

Woo hoo! Let's have some fun!

To borrow a popular expression by a character in another manga: YA-HA! It's always fun to have a chapter come out where it's so easy to find things to talk about. Makes reviewing so much easier, and more fun to boot. Not that it's ever really been work for me in the case of Naruto chapters, but ya know. This was a nice chapter.

We have a new Naruto reviewer here, it seems, so everybody be sure to check out Raine Joybringer's editorial as well! It's always nice to have more than one perspective, so if anybody would like to do their own reviews too, like I said last week, you're more than welcome to do so.

I'd also like to recognize the translators' effort here at the MH community for their hard work on coming around early and trying to turn in quick and accurate scripts. We have some translators here who've been with us for an awfully long time, so I really hope you guys don't take them for granted. The Naruto community is one of the luckiest in all of the manga fangroups for having such a large group of dedicated translators, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. If you would like to show your gratitude to these guys, be sure to drop in their respective translation threads and post.

Thursday, Moridin found the RAW for us, so thanks to him as well. And some gratitude also to Cez's very nicely-done MQ scanlation, which I'll be using for this review, and to Fuzzy for helping me with the header. That was taken from the SJ volume cover, in case any of you were wondering. And finally, Fnuckale for cleaning some of the images after I posted the review.

Well, it's time for the Comments to get started! As always, if any of you want to put in your own thoughts as well, post away.

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 332: Shikamaru's Battle!! * * *

See ya later!

1. Farewell to a Tyke. First things first! As I do every week when there's a cover present, I start by commenting on that. This week we actually get a colored double spread, and it's a height comparison between the two Narutos of the series - the 12-year old kid we came to know so well at the beginning of the story, and the more mature fifteen-year old version whose adventures we're currently following now in Part 2. They're both about to slap hands, as though one is passing the baton to the other.

You know what, they're basically doing that here.

Yeah, at first, the double spread didn't seem all that impressive. But when one takes in account that this chapter also had an important announcement and confirmation that all fans of the anime had been waiting for months to hear - that Part 2 of the manga would soon be animated in the spring! - this cover was more than understandable.

This news means that we're almost at the point where we're pretty much done with 12-year old Naruto in everything - the manga, the anime, and the games! Basically, the 12-year old kid's about to - finally - become a memory.

So yeah, it's a farewell of sorts that I think Kishimoto's doing here, so all things considered, I actually liked the double spread in the end. We did get a very nice colored Akatsuki double spread last volume, so we probably shouldn't complain too much about the gentle simplicity of this scene.

Time to make 'em pay!

2. Ready and Rarin' to Go. Not much to say here. A really odd scene to see Team 10 alongside Kakashi! Seems like he's a bit excited to be working with this group, though.

That is, if it's him. There's some evidence here that seems to imply that it really is our silver-haired jounin, though - he talked, thought, and behaved much like Kakashi always did. So if Kishimoto is purposely trying to mislead us all in thinking he's really Kakashi when he's not, he's doing a good job so far.

Of course, the bandaged hand still isn't explained here... so feel free to remain suspicious for now if you want.

Shikamaru's action of taking the cigarette and mashing it with his hand, gave him another cool point for me. Something tells me that little phase of his is already over, although I wouldn't be surprised if he smoked one more time in Asuma's memory after it's all said and done.

Well, fooey.

3. So Much for That. Okay, so Kishimoto goes ahead and killed off yet another character - Yugito - after all. I had predicted for weeks that the Nibi jinchuuriki would eventually be saved, but that pretty much just went down the drain when the Akatsuki successfully extracted the Nibi out of her. Well, damn.

Somehow I can't help but feel like we've been cheated of a character who I think would have been interesting to have gotten to know, but at the same time I have to applaud Kishimoto for just getting on with the plot - especially in keeping the Akatsuki as dangerous as ever - and also in surprising us all here. I know I wasn't the only fan who believed Yugito would be rescued at some point.

And to think that I had just recently complained as of last week that Part 2 had not been as unpredictable as the first 240 chapters of the series. Once again, it's almost as if Kishimoto's reading our comments and responded in kind. I guess sometimes we should be careful of what we wish for!

Boy, they need to audition for the Three Stooges...!

4. Akatsuki as Comedy Relief... Who Knew? Alright, alright, I know I said a few chapters ago that I despised Hidan. But I can't deny that he's been one of the most entertaining villains in the series - especially when exchanging snappy patter with his partner in crime, Kakuzu!

Man, that page was funny - especially when an unimpressed Itachi went "..." on the whole bunch of 'em. He's definitely a good straight man for that group!

Anyway, we learned something here about Deidara. His arms have, apparently, been sewed back on by Kakuzu in much the same matter as Hidan's head was, so that's no longer a question. But what I AM wondering is how Deidara regained his other arm that he lost against Gaara in their first battle. Was it both arms that he's gotten back, or just one? Or perhaps, did Deidara actually make for himself a cybernetic left arm?

And I wonder if Deidara's actually as immortal as Hidan, because Dei certainly didn't show much concern about losing his limbs. Maybe a different sort of immortality, though. They all seem to have a common interest in achieving everlasting life. Perhaps Orochimaru experimented on all of them? Well, he couldn't have experimented on Hidan, since he's new to the gang and was after Orochimaru's time with them, but perhaps others continued his research. And if they ever lose Kakuzu, will they all start to worry? Seems like our money-grubber's actually also the healer of the group, in a sense. Who would have thunk it?

Also, Deidara has begrudgingly decided to respect Naruto, no doubt for being the main cause of the close call he had with being nearly captured or killed a while ago by the Leafs. Another convert to the Church of Naruto - but this time, it's still an enemy. Interesting that the Akatsuki may not underestimate Naruto anymore, though Hidan obviously doesn't buy it. Heh.

Overall I do like that the Akatsuki, for an organization of elite backstabbers (I say that since they all betrayed their countries, I'm assuming), turned out to be so human and flawed. Most writers forget that about their major antagonists and try to depict them all as being seemingly invincible, cold, and calculating (we did get that in Itachi, though) but in the end they can't all be like that - would be boring!

Made too much sense to argue, huh, Hidan? XD

5. Taking Precautionary Measures...! I don't blame Kakuzu AT ALL for wanting to go a different route to Konoha and not listening to Hidan! I wouldn't want 100 angry Leaf shinobis jumping out of the trees and throwing kunai's at my ass while I'm merrily whistling and walking down the road, either!

Another very amusing exchange between these two... I never really expected so much dialogue between two Akatsuki members at any point in the series, but I'm glad Kishimoto introduced these two. I have a feeling that he's only doing these scenes just because at least one of them will probably be killed soon enough, though, and the partnership will be at an end. So, have a good laugh and enjoy, this will probably be the last such scene we'll see for a while.

I think it'll be Hidan, but who knows, it could be Kakuzu.

And in some ways, I almost feel like Hidan's kind of the Naruto of the Akatsuki group. He's certainly not all that bright, either, and as aggressive as they can possibly get about going into battle, especially with people who he feels like disrespected him. And Kakuzu's almost like Sasuke, always serious and focused on the task at hand, but not shy about making comments that he knows would make Hidan irate. Heh.

Ino's been practicing her peeping ability! Watch out Sasuke!

6. Whoa, Bird's-Eye View! Okay, why didn't I ever think of that being a nice side advantage of Ino's 'Mind-Body Switch' jutsu? Nice! Now Ino can actually be a birdbrain! (That was a joke, don't get angry. >.>)

Looks like Ino's turned into the Neji of Team 10 with that trick. So we can add scouting to her growing list of abilities - remember, we found out a while ago she could heal, as well. I do like that Kishimoto's given all these kids several more facets to their abilities. Shows that they did improve over the last two years with their training. And I've got to think that Ino must have worked very hard if she's able to control the body of a bird. She would have had to learn how to fly with wings! How long did THAT take her?

And every team does need a very good reconnaissance agent. Hell, if you think about it - Kurenai's team actually has three scouts! Kiba, with his sense of smell, Hinata with her Byakugan, and Shino with his information-gathering bugs. It's about time Team 10 got one of their own!

Hope we see more from Ino in the upcoming battle. I'm curious to see if there's a way for her to use her ability without being dependent on other people at all. Would also be interesting, too, if she's able to use Hidan's immortality to their advantage and take control of his body in order to take out Kakuzu.

(At the same time, she can still feel the pain, though, so that might not be a good idea, either... if Hidan lost a limb while Ino was in control, would her own body's arm become useless, for example? So maybe she should just go with Kakuzu instead to take out Hidan.)

Creepy scene, huh?

7. And the Setting Is... Cool, a big ol' primordial forest for the upcoming battle.

Guess it's as good a time as any to mention that while I do have a few issues with Kishimoto's writing at the moment, I'm loving his art as much as ever. I've heard some readers say that the art seems to have significantly improved over the past few chapters, but I never thought it went on a decline. One of the main attractions of the series to me has always been the art, and that hasn't changed. I did think that Kishimoto had a bit of a struggle at the beginning of Part 2 where drawing Naruto was concerned, but I think he got past that quite a while ago. I don't blame him for taking a while to get used to illustrating and perfecting a grown-up version of Naruto.

But I must admit that I love it whenever Kishimoto throws in backgrounds such as the eerie old trees we're seeing here. Sets just the right mood for the grudge match coming up!

Though I'm not surprised that Hidan and Kakuzu had their guard up against Shikamaru's sneaking shadow. If I had been moseying through an environment like that where nearly all the trees seemed like they would turn hostile at any moment, my neck hair would have been standing on end, too!

Aww, Hidan's concerned about Kakuzu.

8. A Hardy Fellow...? We're starting to get an idea of what Kakuzu's abilities entail now, aren't we?

After having to deflect a thrown kunai with an attached exploding tag with his palm, we find out that Kakuzu had to alter the density of his arm to avoid being injured. Specifically, turning it much harder, perhaps like steel? That'd be my guess. That would explain how he was able to effortlessly punch through the impervious gates of the Fire Temple a while ago. Not exactly the same thing as Tsunade's and Sakura's strength-increasing chakra control, as I'm assuming Kakuzu had to experiment on his own body a bit to have acquired that hardening ability, so it's different enough to suit me just fine.

Good move on Shikamaru's part to cut Hidan's rope to his scythe, too. That also effectively takes out the possibility that he'd be able to activate his voodoo jutsu for the moment, which I didn't really want to see again right now, anyway.

Kagemane no Jutsu... and you didn't even know it!

9. Rooted to the Shadows...! Oh, man, I should have seen that one coming. Well, looks like Shikamaru didn't learn wind manipulation after all - I guess that would have been awfully too soon for him to do something like that.

Very clever of Kishimoto to have used Asuma's lesson about the chakra blades as foreshadowing (no pun intended) for this battle.

Looks like Shikamaru injected these nice weapons with his shadow-manipulating chakra in order to be able to freeze people by throwing the blades at their shadows. He really did luck up in inheriting these! These are SOOO useful! Best of all, he has the smarts to be able to catch his enemies off-guard with these ALL the time, as he just demonstrated here.

Now he can attack independently of his Kagemane jutsu when it's in effect. That just tripled his formidability in my opinion! A knight with flexible moves, indeed! Wonder how long the time limit is going to be on this jutsu, though.

If looks could kill...!

10. Hidan and Kakuzu are in Deep... Deep, Deep Trouble. Something tells me Shikamaru's not done here by a long shot. At this point I'd be shocked if either one got out of the battle alive!

I definitely never want to get on Shikamaru's bad side.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars. This was one of these Naruto chapters where it was a no-brainer for me to give it a perfect five-star rating, for having the full dish of revelations, characterization, comedy, drama, action, strategy, and Kishimoto's usual outstanding art. I didn't expect Shikamaru's team to engage Hidan and Kakuzu in battle so soon, which is pretty unusual. There's usually so much more build-up to a fight in this series. I'm thinking it's more because Kishimoto doesn't want to spend a lot of time on this fight and wants to get back to Naruto ASAP, which is just fine with me. Let's just have fun watching how Shikamaru's plan unfolds and enjoy the show!

Predictions: Ino will probably take control of at least one of the Akatsuki members, and Chouji might deal the finishing move on Hidan. Also, this can count as my Crackhead Theory of the Week (which I haven't done in a while) but I think Chouji has the ability to also enlarge any weapons that he might be carrying. Since Tsunade did make plans to send back-ups, I'm sure the fight will start to turn in the Akatsuki's favor at some point, especially since we haven't seen Kakuzu in action quite yet. But I also wouldn't be surprised if the back-ups arrive just in time to see Team 10 winning the fight, or close to it.

Credits: Thanks to Cez for the MQ scan, Moridin for the RAW, Fuzzy for the header, Fnuckale for some of the cleans, and our translators here again. And your support, as always.

Yeah, these guys are morons, eh...!
Comment, please!

[mugen]

good coments man
going to check others as well
dattebayo

[weixiaobao]

1st- I dunno if anybody like me sad about kid Narutard going away.

2nd- the bandaged hand had not yet explained, but if I remember correctly, Kakashi using as an excuse that Naruto don't need him any more (maybe bc he injured by naruto). I knew people are happy bc Shika put away his cig, for how long, who know, but cig is pretty addicting.

3rd- I dun even think that the leaf knew about Yugito's missing, but I may be wrong.

4th- Kakuzu = med nin?

5th- I dun think either Hidan or Kakuzu will die. the only akatsuki die so far, he die bc he want to die (i guess Satori saw it coming and yet not dodge). About the revenge thing, during the 1st arc, why didn't the female nin (forgot her name) came to kill the guy from sand and ended revenge. In fact, her boyfriend's murderer still walking around safe and sound. But if someone going to die it would be Hidan, since immortal character die at the end.

6th- in 4 men team, there is one medical ninja- so maybe all the girls are med nin.

7th- Some people said the art in Naruto is bad, I can understand that and I am most disagree.

8th ....
9th ....

10th .... According to what I knew about Shika, he probably will gave up on revenge. But if he indeed will kill someone here. Shika will not going to be Shika anymore.

Prediction: I think they are a bit 6 or 7 mi close to the akatsuki hideout so the akatsuki may got reinforcement maybe we got to see Tobi in action

Great Review like always, I think I read rurmor that there is supposed to be no GK's naruto comments this week. But glad it just a rumor.

[ibra87]

Yes, I am really happy that the anime is soon going to get over the fillers and on to Part 2. Perhaps now we'll get to see Kakashi Gaiden animated and Kakashi's training with the two (Sakura And Naruto). And I know that some people here will be happy to hear Yondaime's voice too.

And now I am really confused about Kakashi. Is it him or Naruto? Deidara told Hidan to look out for Naruto. Does that mean that it's Naruto in disguise or that Naruto is on his way? If it's N in disguise then he would surely be the village's idiot for ruining Shikamaru's plan that was intended for Kakashi.
But if he is on his way I wonder how many days have passed? In last chapter when Shikamaru took off, the leader was talking about sealing the Nibi and now he's done, that means 3 days have passed (or what?). Also, Tsunade gave Naruto 24 hours to complete his jutsu, and for someone to more or less master wind manipulation in less than 1 day, master his jutsu in 24 hours will be no problem. That makes me think he is on his way now to Shikamaru and company. Maybe he'll come when Shikamaru is finally going to be defeated again (for some reason I don't think someone like Shikamaru could be Akatsuki, even with Kakashi's help). I would definitely like to see Sai in action again.

And hearing from Deidara was cool though. I am also relieved to see that he's acknowledged Naruto's strength, now it's Hidan's turn. Besides, I have a feeling that if Hidan gets killed by Naruto, then it's probably Kakuzu's fault. Remember his promise to Hidan?

After seeing how Ino improved, beeing able to control birds and all, I am curious about how the others did too. Shikamaru can do the awesome shuriken shadow imitate technique too, what more has he been hiding up till now? I wonder.
I wish I could see more from Neji though. In my opinion he showed us nothing new in part 2, nor did Lee (or TenTen if you count her as one >_>). Also, what kind of creepy technique did Shino invent this time?

Hidan worrying about Kakuzu was totally off the line. Where did the cold-hearted censor-hole go? Maybe Hidan wasn't as horrible as we thought.

That's all, really nice to read your great comments on such an awesome chapter. It's nice to have a 5 stars chap. once in a while, isn't it?

[bax]

Okay.. good comments

And three more Bijyuus to go? Or is that I missed something. 2 unknown Bijyuus + Shukaku + Nibi + Sanbi = 5 Bijyuus. So, it should be four more. I'm so tired right now, maybe my mind got messed up.

But I'm against Kishi on one thing though (unless he's planning otherwise). I don't see any good reason why he should kill off Yugito after he introduced her to us. As the current situation, I just view it as a tepping stone to show off Hidan and Kakuzu's strength.

And I like the way you point out on Shikamaru's plan. Yeah, it's a clever one from Kishi. I guess, the first part of the plan is to remove Hidan's main weapon and seperate both of them. I believe without his immortal jutsu, Kakashi is better than Hidan. The problem now is Kakuzu. We don't get to see his ability much except the tentacles. Yeah, on the coming chapters, I can imagine Kakuzu will take center stage.

And as the finale of the chapter, yeah, Shikamaru looks like he knows how to do things right this time. You just can see through his eyes I guess, Kakashi will make the final blow in this plan. Now, Shikamaru has just "evolved" his Kagemane to a higher level. I like the way Kishi develops Shikamaru ^_^ Now, it would be nicer if Chouji and Ino show us more growth.

[Ayah]

Finally, a Naruto chapter which I whole-heartedly enjoyed in a long time I doubt the manga's 7th anniversary had anything to do about it except for the color spread, but it does explain the explosion of announcements from the anime to gaming. I want to comment of the header image, by the way When you look at SJ #52's cover from afar or thumbnail-size, you'd think it's Naruto and a kage bunshin. Upon closer inspection, one would realize that the other Naruto (not depicted in the header) is the anime version of the character in his timejump form! I'd say the anime version is the kage bunshin because the manga came out first! If it were another character, the intent would be obvious: putting 2 versions of the same character side-by-side. I guess with associating Naruto and kage bunshin, you can fool people with that cover.

1. I originally thought that this spread was bland, but it has grown on me now. I also thought that Kishimoto may have drawn this because, like I mentioned before, his manga is turning 7 years old so he was probably showing how much the protagonist has grown from a mischievous kid to a mischievous teen. I also want to note that Kishimoto decided to reveal Naruto's current height now instead of the next databook, whenever that would come out. Naruto is taller than me! When we finally found out that the announcement is true plus an upcoming game featuring timejump characters, a timejump movie and corresponding merchandise, that's when we realize that the timejump is catching up to the rest. All of our excitement over this probably overshadowed the fact that the younger Naruto will become a thing of nostalgia. It was good that you thought of this spread as a turnover. I want to squish that kid! Naruto may be the same person but there are some things that we tend to associate more to a certain age he's in. Indeed, Naruto is growing up.

2. Last chapter, I was questioning whether the Kakashi with Team 10 is the man himself. This chapter made me lean towards him being the real deal a bit, but I'm still open to other possibilities.

3. I shall quote myself for this:

I cannot say that I am a fan of Yugito because we knew too little of her. However, I am disappointed that she was put to waste. With the attention given to her, one would expect that she would have a bigger role but Kishimoto decided to surprise the readers with the Nibi's sealing. I knew I complained in Gold Knight's 331 Ten Comments that the mangaka should have been more subtle in foreshadowings, especially of death. Well, look at the irony! At the most, I wish Yugito still has a role to play, even if posthumously. I am not saying that I want her to return as ghost; more like a passing thought when Konoha learns of her fate and discusses it to Kumo (Hidden Cloud). The other way could also work. Hey, Konoha-Kumo relations sound like an interesting topic to me because of the whole Hyuuga affair in the past. Back on topic, I really wonder why Kishimoto continued to draw her after her capture. Fanservice? I am also curious of the remaining bijuu and their jinchuuriki, if any.

4. I miss the bantering between Akatsuki members This is one thing I like about this series - villains whom the mangaka could use to crack a joke or two without decreasing their intimidating nature. At least Akatsuki has a colorful cast of members with their varied personalities to keep things interesting. Should have figured about Deidara's arms when Kakuzu sew back Hidan's head, yet that doesn't answer where the other arm came from. We had Itachi filling in info about Naruto to Sasori and Deidara in the Rescue Gaara Arc, and now Deidara is the one giving out the warning about Naruto on Kakuzu and Hidan. Hmm... Naruto's getting recognition.

5. Hidan sure is cocky if he wanted to go to Konoha via the old route they took. Head chopped off? Presto, it's back on his neck all thanks to Kakuzu! He really is a rash fellow, kind of like a certain orange-clad shinobi. If wondering how an encounter between Deidara and Ino would turn out is not enough, you could also wonder how an encounter between Naruto and Hidan would turn out. That is, if Team 10 + Kakashi doesn't kill Hidan first.

6. It's good that Kishimoto has been coming up with alternate uses to techniques that were already introduced, more specifically for spying purposes. First, the kage bunshin no jutsu and now, shintenshin no jutsu. The ability to transfer to minds to even animals makes shintenshin even more useful now. I don't want to predict who among Hidan and Kakuzu would she switch minds to. Possibly both, though I have no idea in which order she would go.

7. I never thought I'd see scenery like that in the Country of Fire; that is if they were there already. Would have been creepier had it been night.

8. Kakuzu's "hardened arm" line reminded me of Sasori He doesn't look like he activated a jutsu to achieve that effect so he looks like another case of someone who experimented/operated himself to be what he is now. While this doesn't bother me, I hope he's the last person who could do a similar effect. Everyone else who would get it has to be treated by someone like him for me not to complain on repetition.

9. Here's another quote of mine in response:

I like fights with Shikamaru in it so this really pleased me despite my worry a couple of chapters ago. Wait, Shika is not fighting a girl! Kagemane shuriken no jutsu is a brilliant technique because it removes one handicap of his during battle. I usually skim through discussion and predictions, but I believe nobody predicted the move Shika intended to do with the chakra blades.

10. I predict Hidan would not survive this fight. I think Kakuzu is likely to escape, but only because we know less of what he could do than Hidan.

That's all I could say

[kiddo7]

one more thing GK,
About Ino using shintenshin on animals, Could it be thatrather than taking over the entire mind and body of the bird and therefore needing to know how to fly, Ino refined her jutsu to the point where she can make herself somthing more of a "guest" in the mind of the bird? THis way the bird would still be in control of its own body but she would be able to experiance everything it is experiancing. I find that this would be an even more usefull spying technic because noone would ever know they are being spyed on not even the person under the jutsu. You catch my drift?

[Raine_Joybringer]

1. It’ll be sad to see this baton passed on to the new series and the old one become a memory. It’s saddening, yet it’s a time to be happy though. To me, part 1 seemed almost like a prelude to something even greater, which we are seeing now. I almost wonder if we’ll even be seeing a third series at some time in the future.

2. I’d be extremely surprised if we found out that wasn’t Kakashi... I never thought that it could be someone else. Now you’ve made me suspicious! Though, I had figured that the bandaged hand had come from training against Naruto’s new jutsu- perhaps even another Rasengan vs Chidori type thing to test it...?

I do hope Shikamaru gets off the cigarettes. It isn’t a good look for him, I gotta admit. And there’s always something I wondered- this being the ninja world, wouldn’t it be a bad idea to smoke? Cigarette smoke can be rather strong, so isn’t there the possibility a ninja could smell him coming? That’s always worried me.

3. ;_; Yugitoooooo!! Oh Kishimoto, why’d you go and do that to me? I thought she was so awesome and inspiring!

4. Hehe, I did enjoy that witty banter. It’s just so great to see comedy out of people that are supposed to be so evil and ‘I’m powerful, fear me!’.

I’m also glad that we finally found out about Deidara’s arm/s... (?) It sure was confusing for a while. But I think that the reason why Deidara wasn’t so concerned was because he’s just so used to being a ninja. Also, someone with a tendency to blow stuff up, they’d be used to seeing a lot of body parts by themselves.

5. I think we’ll be seeing one of them dying soon. Of course, we could also again end up with the Headless Hidan scene, though this time Hidan won’t get his body back. It’d be hilarious in a way, even more so if Kakuzu had to drag his head around everywhere again. XD

6. Ino’s ability is just awesome. I remember talking to people who said it was lame. Well, it’s not that lame now- it’s one of the handiest things I’ve ever seen! As long as her original body doesn’t get hurt, of course... or the one she’s in. That’s interesting what you said about the possibility of Ino taking over Hidan. I have doubts she’d be able to though because Hidan’s mind would be disturbing at best...

7. I love this forest. For some reason, it reminds me of ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’. It’s just awesome.

8. Kakuzu’s abilities are far different from anything we’ve seen in the series up to now. There seems to be a lot of possibilities with him that we’ve yet to see. I wonder to what extent Kakuzu’s skin can harden? Would he be able to survive much larger explosions than that? Hm, actually, he seems a little like Gaara if you think about it. It’s almost like his sand amour.

9. Yup! I agree with you there! Now Shikamaru is able to help out in the battle alongside Chouji (who would have been doing most of the taking out in the first place), and Ino (who I’m not quite sure about... we’ve still gotta see how she can do in a fight).

10. Gooooo Shikamaru!

Awesome comments again this week, GK!

[SilveryShadows]

Height chart, good reference for drawers? For comparison between 12 and 15 year-old Naruto. (Since we don't know how tall the others are, so can't compare with them.)

Deidara has two arms now? Must've missed that.. Anyways, it could be made out of clay? Not explosive clay, just clay.. Hand with mouth, one would wonder how...

Well, since InoShikaCho all seem to learn techniques from their dads, maybe Ino knows that techinique her dad used.. (It's difficult to make a good point when I don't even remember the jutsu's name) So instead of 'possessing' an Akatsuki member, she can turn them against eachother and have Kakuzu and Hidan kill eachother off?

Maybe I'm seeing things, but the first time I saw Kakuzu's arm taking the explosive, I thought the explosive blasted part of his arm off.. (Then reformed..?) But I don't suppose that makes much sense.

Not too much to theorize about. I can't think up much anyways.

Good chapter. Excellent review as always.

Edit: (Remembered something else to comment on)
The Sasuke&Naruto and Hidan&Kakuzu comparison is intersting. Goes to show that Naruto is full of parallels within itself. Mainly character or relationship(as in interaction between two people. Not pairings.) parallels. Although this one not as clear/outright obvious as other ones(methinks).

The more 'ambitious' one tends to desert the other.. (Sasuke, Orochimaru). Otherwise, the other one... dies? or maybe sacrifices is a better term? (Obito).

I can't think of more examples. But if we can go with the pattern (if it can even be counted as one) then methinks Hidan is doomed. You know Kakuzu won't leave (leave where?), so.. Maybe Hidan dies to save Kakuzu?

[Raseru]

Whooo! Great comments as always, GK. Now, I'm confused, why has no-one else mentioned the fact that Hidan called Deidara, Deidara-chan? At first it thought it was a translation error. At first, I also thought that Deidara was a guy. Could someone clear this up for me?

Keep up the good work!

[ibra87]

Whooo! Great comments as always, GK. Now, I'm confused, why has no-one else mentioned the fact that Hidan called Deidara, Deidara-chan? At first it thought it was a translation error. At first, I also thought that Deidara was a guy. Could someone clear this up for me?

Keep up the good work!

As far as I know, he's making fun of him. You know, like calling a man a sissy.

[Robotic Red]

Hidan worrying about Kakuzu was totally off the line. Where did the cold-hearted censor-hole go? Maybe Hidan wasn't as horrible as we thought.

I don't think it's quite that complicated.

If Kakuzu gets killed, who's going to sew his head (and everything else) back on when Shikamaru gets through with him? :P

[kiddo7]

Whooo! Great comments as always, GK. Now, I'm confused, why has no-one else mentioned the fact that Hidan called Deidara, Deidara-chan? At first it thought it was a translation error. At first, I also thought that Deidara was a guy. Could someone clear this up for me?

Keep up the good work!

Well I hear that in special cases guy can have the honorific "chan" attached to their names too (ask one of our awesome translators for more information). So Hidan calling Deidara "chan" does not necessarily tell us more about his gender.

[WinterLion]

Great comments as always. Thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

Firstly I wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading this chapter. After the disappointment of the last dozen or more chapters (in my view), this was a refreshing change, and I hope the story picks up from here.

A few comments in no particular order...

What I really want to know is what was that thing that Shika gave Kakashi and asked him to "use it when there's an opening." It looks to me like the needle thing that Sakura used to inject the antidote for the venom when fighting against Sasori, except without the part that held the liquid. But that doesn't make much sense... If Shika was planning on using poison on one of them, it just wouldn't work without the poison. Or is Shika thinking of extracting some blood from Hidan since that's what he uses to bind himself to his opponent for his jutsu? Just a thought that occurred to me.

The part about this chapter that disappointed me was that the Nibi was killed. While I'm not a Yugito fan (I don't know enough about her to be a fan), I did want to learn more about her. Kishi showed us just enough of her to peak our interest and what to find out more and then he goes and kills her. >_< That's probably my only complaint about this chapter.

I really enjoyed watching Shika's plan unfold this time, but you know there's more. There has to be. If the battle ends like this I'm going to be really disappointed in Kishi. While Shika's plan was good, it's just too simple, and we didn't get to see any of the others in action. Even though I really wouldn't like it to this way, Ino's part in Shika's plan could be just as the scout. But that still leaves Chouji and Kakashi. And Shika specifically modified his plan once Kakashi joined the group. So there has to be more.

I never thought about the time limit issue for Shika's new jutsu, but that's a great point. The chakra blades can't keep emitting chakra indefinitely... at least I don't think so. So there has to be some kind of time limit. Maybe that's where the others come in. I don't see how else Hidan and/or Kakuzu would be able to escape this Kagemane Shuriken no Jutsu.

Whooo! Great comments as always, GK. Now, I'm confused, why has no-one else mentioned the fact that Hidan called Deidara, Deidara-chan? At first it thought it was a translation error. At first, I also thought that Deidara was a guy. Could someone clear this up for me?

Keep up the good work!

Well I hear that in special cases guy can have the honorific "chan" attached to their names too (ask one of our awesome translators for more information). So Hidan calling Deidara "chan" does not necessarily tell us more about his gender.

Adding a "chan" to a guy's name is like calling them "cute" or "sweet." While not technically an insult, for someone in Akatsuki, you can bet it is.

[Raseru]

OK thanks for clarifying that for me. I really appreciate it.

Lol, using "chan" to insult an Akatsuki member , you're arrogant as always, Hidan.