Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 331)

Gold Knight · Nov 17, 2006

Time for some musing!

Yo, everybody! First time I'm posting a Comments in the Naruto section instead of Scrapbooks! I think it's for the best, though - after all, it's Naruto I'm reviewing. In case you've never seen my reviews before, I've been doing them at Mangahelpers since last spring, and even longer at Naruto Forums (since almost the beginning of Part 2), although, unfortunately, I've lost these ones. But hope ya enjoy the ones I've posted here since chapter 300! (Man, that's 32 Naruto reviews so far... where has the time gone?)

I also did Bleach and One Piece for a time, but unfortunately couldn't keep it up. I came very close to losing all my energy doing all three at one point. However, good news, Djudge, White Silver, Garaku, and Gignator21, and perhaps more to come (hint hint), have taken over reviewing these ones! Be sure to check out their stuff sometimes! (In the Reviews boards of either the Bleach or OP sections.)

That being said, if anybody here wants to review the latest Naruto chapter as well, be my guest! I absolutely don't mind sharing the board at all.

Well, onward with the credits for this review! Many thanks to Osakagaeri formerly known as Nihongaeri, Yoshitsune, p1noypr1de, HisshouBuraiKen, and brucelee for their translations this week. Also, LadySonia (formerly known as Yume) for her Edited Manga that I'll be using for this edition, and NarutoBuzz for the header. And finally most of all, to Touch for getting us the RAW in the first place! And finally, I'd like to say thanks to everybody who've supported my Comments for so long. You all rock.

Well, here goes. Feel free to comment. And in case you don't know, today is the first year's anniversary of Mangahelpers' existence, so have a good one all! Cheers! Or maybe I should say DATTEBAYO!!! :XD

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 331: Team 10 Sets Out...!! * * *

Busted!

1. Whoops, Caught! Heh, for a split second there, I saw Shikamaru and his team as a bunch of preadolescent kids with their hands caught in the cookie jar - especially Chouji!

Well, I had expected them to perhaps meet somebody on the way out of town, but I didn't expect a direct confrontation with the Godaime herself. Shizune, maybe. Or even Kakashi (who's done it before with Sasuke.) But not Tsunade! Guess the Fifth really does look out for her kids now.

Makes sense that somebody at least would be watching them carefully, though. Team 10 just lost their sensei after all, and Shikamaru in particular had been in the thick of the battle which had killed his teacher. The Leaf nins would have been absolute idiots to think they'd have no thoughts of getting revenge at all.

Excuses, excuses...

As for Shikamaru's feeble excuse about why they were setting out without permission - heh! Yeah, he was just trying to talk his way out of that one.

But his mention that the 18 Teams were still searching for the Akatsuki at least put my mind at ease about something that had been bothering me since last week. I didn't want to see Konoha suddenly quit their search for Hidan and Kakuzu just to pay their respects at a funeral, even if it is Asuma's. That would have defeated the point of sending the teams out in the first place. So it's good that they're keeping up the pressure on the Akatsuki.

Sidenote: And, what, another chapter without a cover? Wow. Even if we did get a nice one last week, this makes eight out of the last ten weeks that Kishimoto didn't give us a cover. Our colorists must be bored out of their minds!

Too troublesome to not kick Hidan's butt at least once, eh?

2. A Different Mindset. When you think of Shikamaru, what comes to your mind first about him? When we were introduced to this kid, all he would do was complain, right? Always mumbling about having to do something that he believed was a pain in the neck. He did it throughout the Chuunin Exams, but redeemed himself by being such a super strategist.

Well, that hasn't changed much. Except for one thing.

Now Shikamaru considers it troublesome to leave jobs unfinished. Now that's something I CAN admire - and it's a nice, subtle change to his personality that I think will now eventually lead him to jounin status.\

Another question I want to ask all you guys, though. What is the difference between Team 10 leaving with revenge in mind and Sasuke leaving with the hope of killing Itachi?

Not a whole lot, in my opinion. I think Team 10 would have left regardless of whatever decision the Godaime made. But I think the key difference is that I don't think Team 10 would have completely abandoned their loyalty to Konohagakure in setting out to find their enemy. Sasuke, on the other hand, was completely obsessed with Itachi and determined to defeat him no matter what the consequences - the Leaf be damned.

Still an interesting comparison, though...!

Let's all start a temple for Asuma!

3. Ummm... Okay. Of all the characters in the Narutoverse, the last one I'd have expected to say stuff like "the smoke seems to be protecting us," was Shikamaru! I don't blame Tsunade for thinking that they were all off their rocker, heh.

I mean, I knew the smoking was Shikamaru's way of coping with Asuma's death, but I didn't expect it to be the source of their confidence going against the Akasuki. Though I can understand the sentiment, I'm still very surprised that Shikamaru actually took an impractical approach towards the whole situation.

Guess it just goes to show how Asuma's death affected them all, though - and just for that exact reason, I think the Godaime was absolutely right to have stopped them. I agree with her, I don't think Team 10 was being very rational at all here.

One thing I did like, though. Looks like Robotic Red was right. Shikamaru does seem to be planning to quit smoking when the mission's over. Whew.

Tsunade must really not like Kakashi right now...!

4. Kakashi to the Rescue...! Well, so Kakashi (assuming it is him) did turn out to be the one to intercept Team 10 and join them. I had a feeling that would be the case, for some reason.'

Just have to say, the idea of Kakashi and Shikamaru together has always been something I wanted to see. How would these two geniuses work with each other, for example? I've always kind of wondered about how all the teams would do if they happened to have different senseis. So this is a truly intriguing turn of events to me.

Assuming it is Kakashi, of course. For more on why it might not be him, see the next comment

Two more things before we move on, though. The Godaime was obviously very displeased that Kakashi butted in and vouched his availability for supervising Team 10, and I don't blame her. It's not the first time they've butted heads - Kakashi also ignored her orders when he went off in search of Sasuke and Naruto. You know, that wasn't too different from what Team 10 was doing here. I wonder sometimes if Tsunade feels like nobody is listening to her. I don't think people still obey her as instanteously as they did the Third. In a way, how the Fifth deals with all these situations is as interesting as the action - she's also similarly developing as a character as the rest of them!

And finally, why in the world does Team 10 need a fourth member, though? They're all chuunins now, with Shikamaru himself, at least once, having led a squad on a dangerous mission, and together they're as formidable as any team, simply because they complement each other's abilities to perfection. Half the time, I'd be willing to bet that Asuma didn't even feel like he had to help them out on missions. Although I can understand it if Tsunade was trying to use that as an excuse to stop them from going off on what she perceived as a "suicide mission."

Hmmm...?

5. Wait, Is It Really Kakashi...? A member first brought it up in the Naruto Spoiler Discussion, but at the time I thought it wasn't going to be the case. But now, after seeing this particular exchange between Shikamaru and Kakashi, I can't help but feel like he was right.

Is Kakashi in actuality a disguised Naruto pretending to be his sensei in the hopes of accompanying Team 10? Could Naruto have been affected enough by Konohamaru's tears that he wanted to take care of his uncle's killer for him?

And if not, how do you explain the bandages on his hands? And why would Kakashi abruptly change the subject instead of explaining his injury when Ino asked him?

But if it IS Naruto - how in the world, I ask you guys, did Tsunade not suspect anything? Why didn't she ask Kakashi about the injury? As well as Naruto?

Guess we'll find out in the coming chapters.

If it IS Naruto, though, he's definitely getting better as a ninja! And Tsunade must be getting senile.

All's going according to plan so far...! Fu fu fu.

6. How's the Akatsuki Doing? Looks like they're finished with the Sanbi (which just seemed to disappear entirely - must've been completely absorbed by the "Anima" statue") and are now moving on to Yugito, or the Nibi.

Just wanted to point out that it looks as if they HAVEN'T caught all the bijuu except Naruto yet, though, despite what Kakuzu said a while ago. The "Anima" statue only has five "eyes" from what we can tell, including the Sanbi. With the Nibi to go. That'd make "six" which leaves them three more to go, including Naruto's Kyuubi, which I'm going to assume would be the central eye.

So looks like the Akatsuki still has some work yet to do. And they're still not going to concentrate all their efforts on capturing Naruto just yet, I think.

And also, it must have been exactly three days since Asuma died, because they're now moving on to Yugito - or is it sooner than they expected? Either way, if Yugito is to be rescued like I believe she will be, Team 10 better move, and fast.

Morino Ibiki is a scary SOB...!

7. Interrogation Time...! Hey, cool. It's Ibiki doing what he does best.

Didn't expect that, but I loved it. So Konohagakure did catch "Dr. Evil" and put him in the hands of the best interrogator we know in the series - Morino Ibiki! Great way to re-introduce the character, who's best known for his memorable part in the first exam of the Chuunin Exams. And it's a good way of continuing the search for Hidan and Kakuzu.

Suddenly, finding the Akatsuki doesn't seem as daunting a challenge anymore with Ibiki on the case, huh! Be prepared for some pain, Dr. Evil!

Gotta give Kishimoto some credit for starting to bring back all his old minor characters. About time ^_^

Hidan and Kakuzu are dead, they just don't know it yet.

8. What's the Plan? Well, I'm not surprised that Kakashi (if it is him) deferred to Shikamaru on the plan. It was his call to leave in the first place, after all.

Now, what's the plan all about? Must be all about Hidan. I don't think they're prepared enough to face Kakuzu to know exactly how to defend against him yet.

That, and you guys also happen to be the leading characters of the series...

9. Another Reinforcement Team - Guess Who? Well, in case Kakashi doesn't turn out to be Naruto, we now know that we'll still definitely get some Team 7 action as well. Hopefully it doesn't take away from Team 10's time in the spotlight, though.

Of course, that's just assuming that Naruto, if he's still training, gets his new jutsu perfected in time. But I'm sure he will. And I'm going to guess that Yamato will be along as the sensei if the new Team 7 catches up with Team 10.

And just a prediction here, but I think Yamato is eventually going to be Asuma's replacement as Team 10's sensei. We'll see, though.

Make it so!

10. Even More Back-Up? And if that wasn't enough, it looks as though another team may be deployed to back up Team 10 as well. Could it be... Kurenai's team?

Although I would be absolutely shocked if Tsunade had Kurenai in mind, considering more than even Team 10, Kurenai is probably emotionally out of sorts right now. Of course, though, Kurenai could also be the only person to snap Team 10 out of their depression, especially if they see her in a calm state. Who knows?

But either way, I do think her team is going to be involved as well, now. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata all have waited a long time to be back in the spotlight, as well. I'll tell ya, what - this storyarc has all the makings of being an epic Naruto battle!

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars. Fun chapter. A lot of dialogue to let us know what's going on in everybody's minds. Story's getting more interesting, and Kishimoto also gives us something to guess about (Kakashi). Only reason it didn't get a 5 is because it's a prelude - nothing action wise going on.

Predictions: We'll find out if Kakashi is really Kakashi, and they might meet up with Ibiki.

Credits: Thanks to our translators, and LadySonia and NarutoBuzz for their scans.

Have fun discussing the chapter!

Time for some popcorn...!
Comment!