Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 341)

**Gold Knight** · February 08, 2007 12:58 AM

Play nice, kids!

Well, well. Not often I get to do a Comments so early in the week (maybe that'll give me some free time to review something else too.) This was a fairly quick Naruto chapter too - part of the reason I decided to do this one sooner rather than later. Not really much to say, but a fun chapter nevertheless and here goes anyhow.

Thanks to Mister9 for getting us the early MQ RAW and all our translators and scanlation groups for getting to work immediately. Thanks to auxiva who released a MQ/HQ version of the chapter just in time for this review. Also I'm grateful for Dynamic Dragon cleaning the colored doublespread, it makes for an awesome header. (I usually don't use covers - even colored ones - as the header, but this time I'll make an exception.)

Oh, and thanks to all that congratulated me for breaking the 10,000 post count xD Appreciate it, heh. I don't generally make a big deal of post count anymore, but I guess that's a big one, huh!

Feel free to comment on anything. ^^

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 341: The Results of the Training...!! * * *

Tender reunions between long-lost friends sure gives you a nice, fuzzy feeling on the inside, doesn't it?

1. Gods of Fury! Feels nice to start off commenting on a cover again, even though it's colored and I actually used it for my header as well (no better choice, really.) Though I do hope we'll be getting some black and white ones coming soon after this one, I'm sure our colorists are getting pretty restless! (But from the looks of the preview for next week, it's color again...!)

Well, anyway, Kishimoto decided to give us a sign of things still to come in the series, huh! I'm sure all Sasuke fans are thrilled with this colored doublespread - especially since he doesn't appear all that often anymore in the story, and we get his official colors, which aren't all that bad at all. I also don't really expect a meeting between these two to come anytime soon though, so it's just as well that Kishimoto gave us a little taste of it here to sate our appetite. One thing's for sure, though, Naruto is one step closer to Sasuke after this arc.

I personally liked the old-fashioned mythological references Kishimoto used to draw the background here in order to depict Sasuke as a "god of lightning" and Naruto as a "god of wind." Nice touch to put a little more intensity into their rivalry. It also gives us a little bit of an insight into Kishimoto's mind as far as what he compares Naruto and Sasuke to in the myths he obviously researches all the time - and it also clearly says that these two will probably be back to being on equal basis again whenever they meet again.

Any way you look at it, it's obvious that whenever they clash again, they'll be fighting with more than just the Rasengan and Chidori.

Man, Kakuzu's such a tako!

2. Kakuzu's Final Form...!? Man, how many kinds of transformations does Kakuzu have, eh? It's like the end of a Final Fantasy game, when the final villain shapeshifts about umpteen times before the hero finally knocks him out for good!

So here Kakuzu takes on the shape and form of almost a huge tarantula with a human body at the center. With eight tentacles looking like they now can crush opponents just as easily as capture them. So much for the theory last week that Kakuzu might not have been able to concentrate on using more than just one extended appendage at any one time.

I'm not sure another design for Kakuzu's already monstrous figure was necessary though, but I'm sure Kishimoto did it because he didn't want Kakuzu to look like he was just standing around waiting for Naruto to come and attack him again.

So what is up with all this black stuff coming out of his body? I'm thinking Kakuzu probably has a bloodline limit much like Kimimaro's, only this one deals with tendons rather than bones. And they can apparently regenerate themselves pretty easily, so he can extend them as far as he wants.

As for his zombie-like appearance, his original body have probably gone through several stages of decomposition as a result of his old age, so Kakuzu didn't see much reason not to experiment with it in order to allow easier passage for his "tendrils" in order to come out in a fight, as we're seeing here...!

Almost tripped himself there...!

3. Attention to Background Detail... Check! Not much to say about Naruto doing the Kagebunshin again, really. Seems to be his usual initative move before every attack now. But here, before we get to all the exciting action, I'd just like to point out that I really appreciated that Kishimoto remembered all the little pesky background details even as he's doing Naruto's exciting moment. Makes it all feel more realistic for me - even though it could be a detail that could have been easily overlooked.

Take, for instance, Yamato's wooden attack that's now lying on the ground, and you can see where it impaled the cliff where Kakuzu dodged it in a previous chapter. I probably would have forgotten all about that, but still, the fact that Naruto and his bunshins here are having to think about leaping over it in order to reach Kakuzu really strikes a chord of realism with me.

I've always liked mangas that paid attention to background details for that reason.

Able to leap annoying bunshins in a single bound...!

4. Jumpin' Jackrabbits! Okay, this time Kakuzu's strategy is to ignore the bunshins completely - by hurdling himself over them, no less! - and get to the Naruto with the RasenShuriken immediately. Well, that's what he should have done the last time, but I suppose his form wasn't really capable of "jumping" into the air as high as his current form seemed to be able to - hence the sudden transformation for this particular round.

But at the same time I can't help but wonder, were these Naruto bunshins REALLY that tough to avoid for an Akatsuki even without the usage of tentacles to propel himself up into the air to thirty feet above the ground? Hmpf...

Of course, that Kakuzu didn't prepare himself for such a strategy the last time seemed to show that he was clearly just overconfident and not expecting an attack from behind that time.

Lucky for Ino she's not the one being attacked...! Tentacles, ya know...!

5. Strikin' Hard. Even so, Kakuzu still seemed to be pretty full of himself again with this change of strategy. I mean, what's with his idea of "crushing" the RasenShuriken?

Wouldn't his primary goal technically be to get the hell away from it? I would have thought he'd have thought to use his masks in this instance to get rid of Naruto without putting him at risk whatsoever. Only reason I can think of that he didn't do that would be to make sure that he didn't somehow lose Naruto from his line of sight in a resulting cloud of evaporating smoke.

Fooled him once, shame on you... fool him twice, shame on him, eh?

6. Duped Again! Well, how about this? Naruto out-smarted Kakuzu - an Akatsuki - twice in a row! This time he mixed up his own original self with the incoming bunshins and had a decoy bunshin stay behind with an apparently fake RasenShuriken - to be locked in by Kakuzu, of course, and fool him in thinking it was the original that he was attacking! And then while he's caught off guard - yep, gotcha!

Seem familiar to you? Yeah, that's right - this should be an easy one for all you Narutards! Remember when Naruto used the exact same trick against Neji in the Chunnin Exams? Hey, if it works, why not use it again? Sometimes the oldest tricks in the book are the best ones!

ZAPPP!! How's that for a defibrillator!

7. Getting to the Heart of the Matter...! I'll just comment on the initial effect of the RasenShuriken here. Doesn't actually really seem to that different from a typical Rasengan, to be honest. Yes, we saw it sink into his backside, edges and all, but aside from that we didn't see much new... aside from the force of the impact itself, of course.

It does seem to have hit Kakuzu with a much greater force than Kabuto was by Naruto's Rasengan earlier in the series, at least.

How's that for going out with a bang?

8. Big Bang! We do have to remember that Naruto's RasenShuriken is still a only partially-complete jutsu, I guess. Either way, we did get more spectacular results this time. First we saw Kakuzu being violently propelled forward, and then the RasenShuriken inside his body seemed to collapse in on itself and blew up Kakuzu in even more grand fashion! Woo! So that's what caused the crater.

Definitely sweet to see Naruto finally hit him with it this time, and get to see everything that came with it in these eight pages! Even if it meant more action and less story this time around, but I didn't really mind. I had actually thought that we wouldn't get to see the actual after-effects until the next chapter, that Kishimoto would tease us with a point-blank RasenShuriken to Kakuzu's chest at the end of this one.

I'm glad that I was mistaken, though.

Well, it WAS bright...!

9. The Limits of Sharingan? One casual observation from this chapter that's sure to be discussed aplenty is Kakashi's thought on not being able to "see" the hits of the RasenShuriken with his special ability, that is, of course, the Sharingan. Meaning Naruto's jutsu must definitely have moved at blinding speed!

Does this mean that Sasuke will have a similar difficulty when facing off against Naruto now? One thing's for sure, now Naruto has a move that he can be able to catch Sasuke off guard without having to depend on the Kyuubi to increase his overall speed and strength anymore.

Consider yourself pwned, Kakuzu!

10. Sweet Victory...! Well, isn't Naruto satisfied and content now? He actually took an Akatsuki out - all by himself! It probably wouldn't have even mattered if Kakuzu had still had all his five hearts - it looks as though that move would have taken them all out. (Of course it would be a different story if Kakuzu hadn't kept all three hearts close at hand - too bad for him!) Anyway, I predicted this would happen - I'm really amazed that many readers were disappointed by Naruto "missing the mark" last chapter. I knew it was just going to lead to something like this. I think Naruto's proved himself, don't you?

So is Kakuzu dead? I tend to think so. We saw the two masks crumble into nothingness, so that means two hearts are most likely taken out. We saw Naruto's RasenShuriken strike to the very core of Kakuzu's body, where I assume his heart was. So I'm thinking the same happened to his last remaining heart. Yeah, he's dead.

Somewhat a shame, though. I had expected more of Kakuzu, but he seemed to be too rash in his actions, a little too slow to react, and not overly bright at all after all. Actually, at this point, I would rank Sasori as being stronger than either Kakuzu or Hidan - he certainly showed more toughness and wits than either of these two. No wonder Deidara had such respect for Sasori compared to the other Akatsuki. But for pure entertainment, these two were certainly fun to see work together. Well, too bad it's all over now.

What will the Akatsuki do now? They're not going to be too terribly pleased, now that Hidan and Kakuzu are both down. I'll be curious to find out what happens next for sure.

RATING: 4 of 5 - Although it was fun to see Naruto finally achieve victory, there was precious little to chew on in this chapter besides watching his jutsu in action. There wasn't much story and we saw an old trick at work again. We saw an almost anticlimatic end to an Akatsuki member, even though he clearly bared his fangs enough times already. So while it's still a cool chapter, short and sweet, just not enough new stuff to deserve a 5. Cool colored doublespread, though.

Predictions: Picking up the pieces? I'm sure we'll see a little reunion between Team 10 and Team 7. Probably a look at the Akatsuki to see what they're doing.

Don't talk with your mouth full!
Thoughts? Comment away!

**glasskatana** · February 08, 2007 01:11 AM

WOOHOO first post!

Nice comments. Will comment more later. For now...sleep. Need...sleep.

**manu** · February 08, 2007 01:38 AM

Not to be a party pooper but Naruto's obvious exhaustion could have led to a very bad defeat if he didn't have backup. As far was we know Kakuzu's hearts can move on there own correct? Also he's intial strategy is to have them away from his body. So really a one hit KO would have been kinda useless to the Kakuzu that has 5 hearts. When he had lost two from ShikaxKaka he felt the need to put his hearts in his body which lead to him becoming one big target. Anyways thats just my analysis of the new jutsu and how it could have failed... horribly... early on.

**goofy_man** · February 08, 2007 01:59 AM

Quote:

Lucky for Ino she's not the one being attacked...! Tentacles, ya know...!

I guarantee that Rule 34 will be in effect within the next few weeks in regards to that statement...... >_>

Thanks for the comments so quickly, GK!

The only sad thing about this is that now we have to finally say goodbye to "Masochistic Pyschopath Naruto" (Hidan) and "Sasuke the Tentacle Master" (Kakuzu).......I liked this pair.....both badass and funny at the same time. A very well-thought out duo of villains.....shame to see them go already.....

**CupofDice** · February 08, 2007 03:24 AM

Pretty sweet chapter, and I guess the last chapter makes more sense now since Kishi didn't want to carry on this fight too long, and yet didn't want Naruto to win in just one chapter. A bit sad to see Kakuza go, but he looked pretty cool dying

. A lot cooler than Hidan's end, and more merciful. He should feel lucky he didn't kill Kakashi, or Naruto would have had to find a punishment matching Hidan's. Also pretty cool how he looked like an old Itachi, especially on that 7th pic above with the three bunshins behind him.

Anyway I liked how Kishi has pulled off Naruto's power up. A lot of authors/mangakas make the annoying mistake of making them too powerful, and here we have Naruto killing a 100% legit Akatsuki member, but one who was weakened a bit and overconfident (even if that didn't fit with what we knew of Kakuza

), plus the new jutsu is only 50% which puts a nice limit on his power. Also nice that Naruto has finally killed someone (in the manga), and not some cheap kill like that sand ninja Itachi was fighting through. Hopefully there are lots of ninja fights in his future without the need for more and more ultra powerful (I'm talking more powerful than AL) type characters.

Me- 4/5 I'm cool with the fighting ending in this chapter, but wished there were a few more pages of strategy. 'That jutsu' kicked ass though and my fanboyness can't wait to read the next chapter to see the reactions

.

**La_Muerte** · February 08, 2007 03:44 AM

to me i dotn think kakuzu is dead, cause as u said he may be a bloodline type of person, i mean it doesnt look like hes completely dead his tentacles are still out, hes probably got no body hes just that black goo with skin on top, i mean if hes still alive im thinking its barely, enough to try to extract some information and if hes dead o well

**ophidial** · February 08, 2007 05:12 AM

wow cool, early comments though i think for the
first time i actually think less of the chapter than you did...
last week i was on the naruto shouldn't kill in one week side of things
so having naruto do it so easily in this chapter doesn't really sit to well...
the jutsu was bloody cool though!!

though i guess in the end the fact that kakazu was probably less than
3/5 of his full strength makes it somewhat better. i think in the end kishi
probably decided to make this battle short because the next sasuke arc is
coming soon and he doesn't two big naruto fights in close succession.

**Raseru** · February 08, 2007 05:21 AM

Great and early comments, GK!

I think your rating suited the chapter. Despite the super-cool action, I think there could've been something more.

Since Naruto and Sakura have both killed and Akatsuki (assuming that Kakuzu is dead), do you think that we'll see Sasuke soon... and that he might kill another one? Maybe not Itachi yet though...

Oh well, great comments as always. ^^

**Lillim** · February 08, 2007 05:50 AM

Great comments

I want to point out just a few things that you might find interesting. It was not really the same old game with the Bunshins like in the Neji fight because
-Naruto changed the Position during the making of the Bunshins (probably behind the smoke because even Kakashi and the others didn't know it seemed)
-with just 3 Bunshins (that meens he didn't make 3000 Bunshins, so to mix up the real Naruto would be a lot harder)
- one Bunshins (the one Kakuzu thinks is the real one) mimices the handseal of KB (it's important for me because of that I always knew who the real one was and here Naruto let a KB mimic it)

Also because the question why Kakuzu attackes the one with the Rasenshuriken ("it could have killed him through the contact" etc) and why he didn't kill the KB
- because of my observation with the switching and mimicing of the KB I really understand that he was so overconfident (not to forget, though he has big experience, a KB user like Naruto is rare... usually few people use them and afterwards have nearly no Chakra/stamina etc)
- Killing the KB could bring him again in the situation like last time and there is also Yamatos wood ^^ lying around (--> perfect for a sneack attack because it blocks the view)
- Killing the real one=no KB and also even when it wasn't the real one...Rasenshuriken seems to be a "big" attack, using a lot of Chakra etc, Naruto came to the fight already exhausted (more or less^^) so Kakuzu could also think that no way in hell he could make ANOTHER one
- Kakuzu charged himself up with chakra in this form, Kakashi said to get ready for Narutos attack. I don't really know what that means or what effects it could have but it could be a reason why he attacked just the "real" one

I think that was all ..I hope I didn't bother you ^^ Really appreciate the works of all here.

**Muk** · February 08, 2007 05:51 AM

i got a comment for your statement why kakuzu didn't use his elemental jutsu on the fake rasen shuriken naruto. probably he wanted him alive or somewhat alive so he used tentalce yaoi action trying to restrain the "original" naruto.

**Luckas** · February 08, 2007 07:22 AM

I just reread the Naruto chapter and I really didn't get where the real Naruto switched with the kage bunshins and to what hits Kakashi is refering. I'm very confused about this.

**Raine_Joybringer** · February 08, 2007 07:33 AM

*covers her eyes before she replies*

Oh geez, you're quick this week. I'd probably have mine ready, but I haven't even downloaded the chapter yet (stupid dial-up has been acting up on me this week).

But I'll get around to reading them soon I hope! :/ Though I have work all day tomorrow...

**Robotic Red** · February 08, 2007 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by Luckas

I just reread the Naruto chapter and I really didn't get where the real Naruto switched with the kage bunshins and to what hits Kakashi is refering. I'm very confused about this.

The real Naruto went with the two clones from the very beginning. The one who used the first Rasen Shuriken WAS a clone. While Kakuzu's attention was focused on the clone with Rasen Shuriken, the REAL Naruto was making another one behind Kakuzu.

Also, the "hits" probably refers to how many blows were delivered to Kakuzu from the Rasen Shuriken. So many at such a high speed that not even the Sharingan could keep up.

**juUnior** · February 08, 2007 07:58 AM

Really amazing speedy review GK

For me chapter also would be for 4 on a 1-5 scale, and I reale really liked tha color cover page. It's fantastic. Kishimoto did again great chapter, no more to say