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Show me the money beeyotch!
As of the posting of this Comments, I'm now officially 26 years old! Up another level, one more year of experience gained. I don't know whether to be happy or be somewhat nervous that I'm getting ever oh-so near being over the hill, but one thing's for sure - I'm still having fun writing these reviews! And hey, Kakashi used to be the same age too, prior to the time leap, so it must not be too bad! XD Anyway, here we go! ^^
Huge thanks to des for cleaning all the images for this weekend's edition and also to Fuzzy for helping me out a bit with the Kakuzu image you just saw ^^ And then a thanks to AK46 for the great coloring he did of the cover; I usually use the black and white version, but this time I couldn't resist.
Please enjoy and comment away when you have time.
* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 322: He Can't Be Killed...! * * *
1. Makin' the Most of Their Appearances...! Love it when very little-known characters get their share of the spotlight for a change. Actually, I was getting somewhat tired of Naruto covers. I remember being so excited that Kishimoto would bring back Izumo and Kotetsu for the first time in the series, two minor characters that caught my eye very early on in the series... no, I don't mean in the recent chapters! I meant when they came back the FIRST time - in order to witness Naruto's victory over Neji in the Third Exam! I hadn't expected them to be brought back at all! Of course, it was still only the briefest of appearances... then they'd show up again as Tsunade's personal assistants. All the same, just the fact that Kishimoto still remembers to occasionally give his minor characters some love showed me that he did care about the continuity of his own series, and all the details involved in keeping it interesting enough to feel, well, real.
And now, Izumo and Kotetsu are involved in a mission against the Akatsuki, and they get their own cover. Awesome! Now, where's Genma's cover... >.>
I'd heard that this cover sparked the imagination of a lot of colorists that had been kind of uninspired lately. Kishimoto definitely needs to pass the torch around to other characters as much as he can, especially if it'll produce colorings such as AK46's excellent work here.
One more thing I need to mention before I move on, though... I really didn't like the title of the chapter, though! "He Can't Be Killed?" Ah well. But I guess they can't all be perfect.
Asuma, the ever vigilant.
2. Time to Get Serious...! So Asuma didn't quit smoking because he was concerned for his friend, but rather because he knew just how strong the enemy was. Okay, that makes a little more sense as far as why Asuma would quit smoking for a while - his adrenaline's probably running pretty strong right now.
Guess that means Asuma takes after Kakashi a little bit (or is it the other way around?) - Kakashi stops reading his Icha Icha Paradise book as well when he's fighting opponents who clearly are challenging. Asuma probably didn't think anything of the Sound Nins that were chasing after Shikamaru and thus he sure wasn't going to let it interrupt his pleasure of smoking...! But these Akatsuki are definitely a different story.
But then, how does that explain when he stopped smoking for a while after Sandaime's death? Wasn't he mourning then, not worried about an opponent? Or maybe he felt that the village might have faced a few challenges while they tried to replace the Third Hokage with a new one? Tsunade hadn't been appointed the Godaime until Naruto and Jiraiya brought her back to the village, after all. Or maybe Shikamaru was just off base, and that was a completely different circumstance. Sandaime was Asuma's father, after all.
He probably doesn't realize just how right he was in warning his team to keep their guard up though! At least he was prepared to start with, I suppose. Hopefully the others listened, because Hidan and Kakuzu aren't going to be easily beaten at all...
Can't you just sense the sadness in his voice?
3. Poor Kakuzu. How depressing it must be for our greedy Kakuzu, who's probably snuffed out a thousand lives, not to be able to permanently get rid of Hidan - who he probably has about as much love for as he does charity organizations!
But at least he won't get in trouble with the Akatsuki leader too often for strangling new members of the Red Dawn to death, I suppose! Looks like our suspicions about Kakuzu wanting to kill Hidan last chapter weren't far off from the mark, though - he probably DID try in the past, but failed. I wonder if that ever puts a strain on their relationship.
Well, it probably doesn't help!
Must've been one crazy party.
4. Some Water, Please...! "Mass Kage Bunshin really does wear him out fast." A little bit of an understandment there, Kakashi-sensei! Naruto looks completely out of gas.
Well, I suppose that's what happens when you're trying to spread out your chakra to so many bunshins while trying to perform the Rasengan. I'm somewhat surprised that Naruto didn't end up having to try to experiment without the Kage Bunshin so far. I wonder if that's actually holding Naruto back somewhat, though, because he may be getting a little too complicant what with feeling that in using Kage Bunshin, all his problems would be solved just like that.
He may need a stronger dose of that "it's now-or-never" feeling that helps him improvise so well in crucial situations in order to finally make his ultimate jutsu.
Look, mom! We're ALL flying!
5. Not Quite What He Intended, But... Somewhat amusing that even a failure of working with the Rasengan and wind manipulation results into a kind of mini-cyclone anyway. Naruto may want to keep that in mind in case he ever needs to perform a diversion to buy himself some time. If an explosion of Rasengan can send all the Naruto bunshins into the air and sprawling on the ground everywhere, it's a good bet it'll do the same to Naruto's enemies as well.
Well, not that it might be such a good idea to use it so often, as it probably feels like a stronger version of a backlash from the force of holding a firing gun. Probably hurts. But it's something to think about, just in case...
Of course, I'm sure a concentrated blast of the Rasengan in whatever super-powered state it'll be in once Naruto completes the training will be even more lethal and dangerous. But Naruto may not want to kill his opponents every time.
Be one with the Rasengan, Naruto.
6. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try. Yeah, excuse me for all the Yoda quotes. XD But sometimes I just get the feeling Kakashi would be tempted to say the same to Naruto. Seems like trying to merge wind into the Rasengan is on a similar scale of trying to lift a starship out of a swampy lake with the power of the mind. But I suppose Naruto's working so hard, Kakashi doesn't have the heart.
I'm sure there are different translations for what Naruto thought about it, but I quite liked "This is like being told to look to the left when you are looking to the right." It obviously requires a tremendous amount of concentration just to do the Rasengan in the first place - containing a chaotic orb of chakra can't be easy. Then harnessing wind is very nearly the same thing. I'm not surprised at all that Naruto's having such a tough time here.
Fortunately, though, Naruto still has his bunshins. I'm wondering if he can't just have one bunshin do the Rasengan, and then he can incorporate wind into it. Same deal as how he managed to be able to learn the Rasengan so quickly and use it against Kabuto. Of course, he still has to learn how to do the Rasengan one-handed first - which may now be required of him now. He just has to realize it first. At least, that's what I think.
Now Naruto's REALLY getting mad.
7. Tantrum-Throwing Time! Frustration finally got the best of Naruto.
Or maybe, is it just that the Rasengan coupled with so much usage of the Kage Bunshin finally used up all of Naruto's natural chakra and that of the Kyuubi's started seeping into his veins to replace it?
Wouldn't be surprising, considering all that he's had to do over the course of two days for this training.
Four tails! Run for the hills!
Either way, I'm surprised at myself that I didn't predict last week that this would happen. Instead, I thought Naruto would ask for some more hints from his teachers, but obviously Kishimoto went for something a little different here.
Of course, our little troublemaker had already made some questions to Kakashi and Yamato regarding one part of his training, asking any more was probably too much for his pride to take anyway. Especially after Kakashi had just told him that he believed he had the makings of being even better than Yondaime.
And finally, yes, it let us get a glimpse of exactly what all these totem poles around Yamato were all about...!
Looks like they'll cause a splinter or two...
8. Yamato to the Rescue! You know Kakashi's distressed when he says "Tenzou!" right after Yamato had just told him not to call him that. Of course, after seeing what the Four-Tailed Naruto did to Jiraiya and then to Orochimaru, I don't blame Kakashi one bit.
Well, so now we know what these strange-looking totem poles were all about. They turned out to be somewhat cool, too, especially as their blocky teeth turned to awfully sharp fangs. Almost reminiscient of Orochimaru's snakes, except less revolting, I suppose. Looks like you can count this technique as another killer move for Yamato once they incorporate his character into the next Naruto fighting video game! Not that he hasn't exactly needed another one... of course, this ritual would probably be only effective against jinchuuriki, and Naruto in particular, but the designers probably won't care about that.
Something I'm still somewhat wondering about, though: why exactly were there burning embers on the top of each totem to start with - and why did they burn out when Yamato called them to action? Do they represent chakra officially flowing through the wood in order to move them? Hm...
Hidan: @*$#%!
9. Gotcha! Well, it's obvious Asuma won't be disappointed in the teamwork his guys just showed here. A little bit amusing that a newly formed squad of three chuunins ended up working so well together when Naruto's old Team 7 could break down so easily, although Shikamaru might have worked with Izumo and Kotetsu in the past. Tsunade did seem to have prepared all the squads quite well.
And I suppose they're all chuunins other than Asuma, meaning they're all professionals and know how to do their job. And of course you have to take Asuma's leadership and Shikamaru's power of strategy in account. With all that, no wonder Hidan was taken down so quickly!
Well, not that he actually went down...
Edit: I found it somewhat interesting that Izumo actually used Kotetsu's second sword for his own attack. I'd have imagined Kotetsu to be a master of two-weapon fighting, but maybe he was actually just carrying Izumo's weapon too. Perhaps because Izumo's usually so busy jotting down or reading his own notes... or maybe Kotetsu just wanted the second sword in order to look cooler and Izumo didn't care. XD
Aw... looks like he just stubbed a toe!
10. Undaunted...! Yep, Hidan's still kickin'. His expression here reminds me of a guy who was just disgusted by a dog that had tried to pee on a fire hydrant, missed, and hit his new shoes instead.
Looks like we'll be seeing Hidan in action soon enough, now. The whole chapter has been set up to bring us to this point and the realization that Hidan, of course, won't go down so easily. There's still something more to come - and Izumo and Kotetsu better watch out, because they are the closest to him. It's been a while since there's been a death of a Leaf ninja in the series. Hayate and Sandaime were the last ones. Izumo and Kotetsu's lives may be on the line here soon enough...!
There's been some talk of how it would be ridiculous if the series ended without an Akatuski member having ever killed a Konohagakure nin. This may be it right here... hope not, though. But I suppose we've all been so easily enamored with Kishimoto's secondary characters that we'd always feel bad whenever he'd actually go on and do something like that - must be tough for him, since I'm sure he'd like to do much more dramatic writing.
Crackhead Theory: I guess it's time for me to predict what Hidan's powers might consist of - I think he may actually switch places (or become) with a demonic entity (something I thought might happen with Zabuza, but didn't happen). Perhaps the "god of slaughter" he worships. In short, he'd be a summoner of sorts - but he uses a whole different method. More of a necromancer, maybe... and no, I'm not sure if he'll still be conscious of what's going on while the demon's going berserking around. Again, this is just a guess
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars. Good chapter but mostly concentrated around getting the action under way, and not much of anything else. I'm definitely expecting the next few chapters to be top notch, though. It'd be disappointing otherwise. We've been getting a lot of close to average chapters lately. I suppose it's better than them sucking, though.
Predictions: I actually don't think Hidan will be able to counterattack just yet. He's still trapped in Shikamaru's Kagemane jutsu, after all (unless he somehow manages to break out of it using sheer willpower, which could possibly happen). I think that Kakuzu will come up first and then have a little chat with Asuma. Mostly centering around how happy Kakuzu is to see Asuma so nearby so he can drag his dead carcass back down to Dr. Evil for some more "blood money," too.
Credits: Thanks to des for all his cleaned images! Also to all our translators here who helped us get an accurate script of the chapter. Thanks also to AK46 for his great coloring of the cover, and I must credit Fuzzy and Katy for their help and angry's Edited Manga for my first full reading experience. And finally a long overdue thanks to The Touch for doing a brilliant job getting the RAWs to us in the first place, and all our global moderators here who do great work in getting all the goodies set up for all of us to download quickly. Gives me more time to think about my reviews, so I really do appreciate it!
Hope you enjoyed, and looking forward to seeing what you think!
Now comment, or the totem will bite you! RAWR!
