Blackjack612's Review of Naruto 567: The Jinchūriki of Konoha

[blackjack612]

Welcome all to another Naruto review and boy have we got a great chapter. Last week's issue was slight, though entertaining. Yet this week Kishimoto gives us 19 pages of well illustrated action, twists, humor, and movement on the character, thematic, and plot development. Before we unpack all this goodness, let's take a look at the results from the last poll, where I asked which development from the last chapter was the most surprising. Hands down the voters were most surprised by Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy's dynamic entry. Now for the chapter review...

Blackjack 612's Review of Naruto 567: The Jinchūriki of Konoha
As always, images in this review are credited to mangastream/binktopia.


Unexpected Guests

The chapter opens with a colored first page showing a nonchalant Sasuke entering the battlefield, joining the fray far later than then other major players. Afterwords, we get a fully colored double-page chapter cover showing the jinchūriki standing in solidarity. They're all dressed in the same garb and each wears a forehead protector bearing the character for the number of tails the beast they're hosting has. The chapter then segues to Suigetsu and Jugo travelling through the forest towards Orochimaru's hideout. Jugo worries about how his lost comrades are faring. Suigetsu, though, intimates that Sasuke and Karin are probably enjoying their time alone in romantic bliss and that he's looking forward to interrupting the (not at all) would-be lovers. It's strange that Kishimoto is bringing us back to these two. Really, there role ended when Sasuke escaped the Raikage, and with the major players engaged in the war, who could they run into at Orochimaru's hideout? More importantly for them, though, is that they seem completely unaware that they are accessories to a rogue nin wanted for assassinating a Hokage candidate and conspiring with war criminals. And if they do run into Sasuke, who's to say he won't dispatch of them then and there, no longer having a use for the two now that he possesses an Eternal Mangeykō Sharingan.

Five-Tailed Blitz

After the obligatory reunion banter, Naruto shares what he knows about Tobi's abilities. This naturally goes over Guy's head, but Kakashi catches on pretty quickly. This is cut short when the Five-Tails goes on a rampage, seemingly headed for our heroes. Guy breaks the coral on Naruto's back so that he can escape the oncoming beast, but the Five-Tails real target is Tobi. It seems Tobi lost control of the beasts when he was attacked by Kakashi and Guy. Still, he gets the beast back in control quickly using a chain technique similar to the one Naruto used to pin down the Kyūbi back when they fought last. Tobi then reverts the Five-Tails back to the tailed-beast cloak state.

The display makes the Eight-Tails angry as he has to watch one of his own have its agency and emotions disregarded like that. But the Kyūbi points out that the Tailed-Beasts have always been treated as pets by the shinobi.The Kyūbi says that B and the Eight-Tails are the only exception to that rule as they work together in harmony, then tells the Eight-Tails that he should be able to finish this quickly since he's the second strongest going by number of tails (which the Eight-Tails reveals isn't how that actually works). Naruto and B are amused that the beasts can communicate with each other and are arguing, but since only they can hear that side of the argument Kakashi thinks the pair of them are goofing off.

A Keen Eye

Kakashi and Guy waste no time in testing the abilities of Tobi's path. Their plan is to first discover which Path ability each can use so that they can properly counter it. They soon discover that Tobi isn't wasting chakra on any of those abilities. He knows that they've already seen those techniques and developed counters, and besides, it takes an enormous amount of chakra to control the tailed-beast. Tobi isn't worried that they've deduced all this though, because he's still got some powerful cards on the table. He releases the full tailed-beast forms of the Six-Tails and Four-Tails and they promptly destroy the the patch of area the fight is taking place on. As the chapter ends, the Six-Tails is cornering Guy and Kakashi with a dangerous looking liquid and Four-Tails, having tossed the Eight-Tails elsewhere, is about to make a snack of our Naruto. How will Naruto escape this predicament sense he's run so low on chakra already? And is there anything the Kyūbi can do to help?

The Tamed Beast

Naruto is knocked outof Kyūbi-chakra mode and his first impulse is to create clones to deal with the multiple threat. B warns him against this tactic fearing that the Kyūbi would absorb all of Naruto's chakra. Yet, as the Eight-Tails points out, the Kyūbi stopped doing that some time ago, which is the only reason Naruto's not in critical condition from using so much chakra. Despite its protestations otherwise, the Kyūbi had gradually come around on how he views Naruto, perhaps having said it best when he claimed Naruto was a far better alternative to being controlled by Madara.

I literally have no complaints about this chapter's art, though that should come as no surprise. Aside from a few missteps here and there, Kishimoto has been in top form since this war began. Even this late in the game he's still able to create original imagery the likes of which we haven't seen before and his cinematic sense of storytelling only continues to improve. But don't take my word for it. Let's let the art speak for itself.

Cinematic storytelling aside, Kishimoto also has a keen eye for composition, often choosing angles that are striking to look at and that reframe the way we focus on a scene. Take the above panel, for example. The high camera angle focuses on the way Sasuke handles his sword, highlighting the precision of his movement and how gracefully easy he makes sheathing his sword seem.

The tailed-beast designs also continue to impress. In my opinion, the stand out design was Four-tails who more than any of the other tailed-beasts embodies the physicality and ferociousness of a wild animal.

This was an excellent chapter all around. It wasn't just lengthy. There was a colored page and a colored cover and plenty of meat to its bones. Kakashi and Guy got to show off their skills fighting boldly against multiple jinchūriki who were wearing tailed-beasts cloaks. Tobi remained firmly in control of the battle even when it looked like he might lose control of his beasts. The tailed beasts and jinchūriki's got plenty of character development and Tobi's treatment of the Five-tails hit upon the theme of how shinobi treat their tailed beasts and summoned animals. And there was plot movement on multiple fronts.

Perhaps the biggest plot development was that the Kyūbi seems to implicitly accept Naruto as a host even if it can't bring itself to explicitly tell Naruto that he's not so bad compared to most shinobi. So much so that your enjoyment of this chapter, and the direction of this mini-arc and the arc in which Itachi was revived, will likely hinge on how believable you think the Kyūbi's transition from pure hatred to bewildered appreciation of Naruto was carried out. Personally, I think it was excellently handled given how the change occurs gradually. Most of all, I like how the end result is this understated moment in which the Kyūbi decided to help out his host and that we as readers don't notice this until well after the fact. Overall, this was an excellent chapter with nary a misstep to be found, which is why Naruto 567 The Jinchūriki of Konoha gets that rarest of scores that I've given out but once because it exceeds expectations about what an excellent chapter of Naruto can deliver, a ...

6 out of 5

Predictions

My predictions for this week didn't exactly pan out (still no Sakura yet), and while Tobi remained the dominant force in this fight Kakashi and Guy weren't completely overwhelmed.

Next week, I predict that we'll see a full Kyūbi transformation, but rather than going on a wild rampage, the Kyūbi will be fighting to protect Naruto and maybe get a little revenge one of the jerks whos treated like a pet. Expect a tailed-beast against tailed-beast that should quickly spiral out of control as Tobi has to release more jinchūriki into full on tailed-beast mode to handle the Eight-Tails, Kyūbi, and Konoha's Green Beast Might Guy.

I also have some updated long term predictions about where things are headed:

1. Itachi is heading to Kabuto at Orochimaru's hideout. Perhaps Jugo and Suigetsu will help their old ally out.
2. Kabuto will defeat Itachi, perhaps going full on Orochimaru and thus letting Oro get revenge.
3. Sasuke will show up and angrily dispatch Kabuto, releasing the other Edo Tensei summons including...
4. Madara Uchiha who puts up a good fight but is ultimately unable to defeat the Five Kage who also can't defeat Madara due to his Edo Tensei regeneration.
5. although, it'd be nice if they could defeat him and for Tsunade to get that moment with Dan that's been waiting to happen.
6. Tobi will eventually revive the Jubi.
7. Sasuke will use his abilities to help break the genjutsu giving Naruto another shot to take Tobi down and allowing Sasuke vengeance against the man partially responsible (in more than one way) for the Uchiha massacre.
8. Afterwards, Sasuke and Naruto have their fated battle and of course, Naruto redeems Sasuke.

Thanks for sticking around, space shinobi. Now excuse me while I try to act a bit tough...

Stray Observations

• "I can't be sitting around while one of my Team 7 students is overdoing it out here."
• "Now you start sympathizing? The shinobi have always treated us as pets."
• "I'm going to sleep."
• "I'm not good with faces. They all look the same to me..!!"
• Unnecessary warning of the chapter: "Make sure you don't make contact with that, Guy!"

One Line Reviews

• I know I said last time that this section was a one off, but after thinking about it, I've decided to make this a regular fixture for a number of reasons. First, this space will provide a place to keep users apprised of what's going on in other titles and perhaps encourage them to check out something they wouldn't normally read. Secondly, Naruto is one of the so-called 'Big Three' manga and so is often compared to its contemperaries BLEACH and One Piece. They share a lot of similarities. All share a popularity helped by appealing to both younger fans (with standard genre trappings) and older readers (by not fearing to go to dark places and have to the characters grow with the reader). Each is populated by large casts, an expansive world, and a deeper underlying mythology that is gradually revealed as the story progresses. And each title is to a degree focused on the meaning of power and the each has a strong focus on war. Of course, each title uses war to highlight different thematic issues (something I covered in my reviewer's review)
• BLEACH: Is this really the end? This arc might have burned short and sweet (much more so than I predicted) but boy if it didn't burn brightly at the close. I could have done with more backstory but enough of it's been teased that I'll be satisfied if this is how the Lost Shinigami Representative arc ends.
• One Piece: This chapter is a can't miss since loose plot threads are tied up, tidbits of mythology are dumped, promising developments arise, and our erstwhile heroes get back to worrying about the only thing that should matter to a pirate: treasure!

[mattiaildivino]

thank you Black, the point which I paid more attention to was the mark: even a 6 out of 5,man you are becoming too generous . eheh,of course you are right,the drawing was hella good and the story itself was good as well.

[Afi]

Thanx for review as always pleasure to read.one thing came to my mind after your review is that Juugo and Suigetsu heads out to Orochimaru hideout..where Kabuto might be at the moment(not sure what plot story it would have)it just flashed through my mind,

[mattiaildivino]

oh,I forgot to say why I voted the 2nd option. I think kishimoto is doing a good job,but(thinking positively) he can still improve,then the best is never reached !

[anthonyz]

Great review as always!

[mattiaildivino]

now that I think about it,some weeks ago we were talking about the fact that 200 chapters ago there were those great and full-of-revelations chapters. that is 363(pain and konan),364 (tobi supposed to be madara and with the sharingan), 367(naruto's parents,and minato's name). this chapter might have been great because kishi wanted to celebrate chapter 367.