Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 336)

Gold Knight · Dec 21, 2006

Let's see some blood splatterin'!

Heya, hope y'all enjoyed the early RAW. We sure didn't have to wait very long this week. I was working on a Chevalier review today too, but didn't expect this chapter to be out so soon, so decided to stop that and get this one out of the way. Expect that one sometimes this weekend in the Seinen Manga area, though, if you're interested.

I'll just keep the intro short this time and get to the credits, not much to say anyway. But I am back to full activity, so I'll try to make my responses quicker this time around. And I'd like to say in advance that I hope you all have a great Christmas or Hanukkah and get everything you wanted. ^^

Thanks to manji for finding and posting the RAW, brucelee, NJT, and hisshouburaiken for the early translations, and our many Edited Manga groups here for releasing their MQs quickly. I'll be using some of Yume's scan as well as Hakabakashii's scan for the images in this review.

Speaking of which, the Comments may be short this time, but that's probably more due to it being an action-oriented chapter than anything else. If you find more to talk about, by all means mention them. As last week's discussion proved, I don't always catch everything.

Hope you enjoy and feel free to discuss and comment.

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 336: Reverse Predicament...! * * *

Shikamaru: Certified Athletic Trainer? Work it, Hidan!

1. Divide and Conquer? Going to assume that Shikamaru wanted to get out of the area with Hidan so that there was no possibility of interference from Kakuzu's creatures. Don't blame Kakuzu for being incredulous though - an one-on-one battle with Hidan is almost certainly suicide in most cases.

Still, I'm a bit surprised that Kakuzu didn't call out to him "remember, sonny, don't get yourself killed!" again. Heh.

He fought the freakin' First? No wonder he has so many stitches...

2. Ah, The Good Ol' Days... Ah, it's the classic "villain ranting" scene. Where the bad guy looks straight into the eyes of the heroes and starts trash talking about how he's going to kick their collective butt to the other end of the Five Lands. That usually means, though, the exact opposite is about to happen.

But gotta give Kakuzu credit. Saying that he fought the First Hokage - Yamato's predecessor - and surviving and living on is no mean feat. I don't blame Team 10 for being momentarily awestruck at hearing that, even Kakashi was stunned for a second. Talk about instant psychological intimidation. But at the same time I don't know if Kakuzu actually fared all that well. Might be much ado about nothing. Sure, so he fought Shodai - but look at him now! Maybe that's why Kakashi thought Kakuzu was immortal, because how the heck did he get away from Shodai alive? Hah.

But having lived so long - even though he admitted he wasn't immortal - it still gave him a definite advantage in that he's accumulated so much battle experience. I mean, I didn't expect him to be possibly the oldest member of the Akatsuki, but if we're to believe him here, he's like two times older than Orochimaru and Sasori. And still packs a mean punch for such an old geezer...!

(Guess now we know why he hides his face, though. Probably all wrinkles and deteriorated right now...!)

However, the fact that Kakuzu said that "nobody's immortal" seems to imply that Hidan isn't either. That might be confirmation right there that Hidan CAN die. Just have to figure out his Achilles' Heel...

It's all in the wrist...!

3. Penned...! Okay, how in the world did Shikamaru throw all these explosive tags all around them once they were alone without setting them off himself? Somebody explain this to me. Also, he was already concentrating his Kagemane on Hidan, right? So... what the heck?

Although the idea is ingenious since Shikamaru can always easily re-attach his Kagemane to Hidan as a result of any explosions. Talk about a net of shadows. I just want to know how he threw the kunais so fast, and where he was hiding 'em. Must've been running in circles tossing them everywhere. I'm amazed Hidan didn't get a bit dizzy.

Somebody mentioned last week that Shikamaru seemed to no longer have to "hold a pose" to make the Kagemane work. After seeing a feat like this, it makes me wonder why, too.

You're MINE!!! Fufu!

4. Oh No! It's Skeletor Again! Pretty obvious which scene in this chapter that Kishimoto worked on drawing the most!

He did a good job here, though, as Hidan looked the creepiest I've seen him so far. Also, nice touch with all the explosive tags in the background. This one should be fun for the colorists to tackle.

Now that we know that Hidan's immortality isn't related to his "voodoo appearance" (since he didn't care that he was caught in Kakuzu's attacks) the blood that he partakes of another person would seem to be the only reason his body turns skeletal. It's just a side-effect of his "voodoo jutsu," I guess... (I wonder if we're ever going to get a name for that ghastly jutsu...)

Man, they're full of hot air.

5. Say Hello to My Little Friend! Well, I had predicted last week that we'd see Kakuzu again somewhere along the way because I saw a lot of potential in how he could combine his attacks, and I thought Kishimoto would save that for later.

But hey, looks like Kishimoto's already making the most out of Kakuzu's attacks right now! I'm starting to think we may be seeing Kakuzu's demise very soon after all.

Anyway, so Kakuzu combined the katon and futon creatures in order to project a firestorm. Pretty impressive. Guess Kakuzu wouldn't need Naruto's help in order to power up his fireballs, huh.

HEY! Anybody got a binoculars... crap, too late.

6. Now You See Me, Now You Don't...! Figures. Just when Kakashi finally used something other than a Raikiri or the Sharingan in battle, it also involved a bit of a tease as he actually pulled his mask down in order to perform the jutsu.

But Kishimoto purposefully drew him from faraway so that we couldn't glimpse his face. That devil dog!

Although this isn't the first time we've seen Kakashi use water, it's the first that we've seen him use a suiton technique similar to the ones Nidaime and Kisame used. And here I thought that was a Hokage-level jutsu. Maybe it was a lesser version, though.

You heartless monster! ...Er, maybe not "heartless"...

7. Have a Heart, Man! Alright, I don't USUALLY like it when Kakashi is being slammed to the ground by anybody, but I've got to admit Kakuzu was just plain bad-ass this page. Grabbing ahold of Kakashi in the air and just throwing him to the ground, and then going straight for the kill like nobody's business.

I've also got to think that Kishimoto figured that the Kakashi fans might not like this scene, so had our greedy Akatsuki seem more formidable by relating his battle with the Shodai. Then there's the experience that he probably accumulated through all these decades. Though it wouldn't probably have mattered to me - I already figured any one of the Akatsuki were going to be absolute monsters to take on one-on-one, even for Kakashi.

What ARE Ino and Chouji doing anyway? I'm extremely disappointed in them right now that they didn't even move to help Kakashi out.

When they get back to Konohagakure - if they do - Shikamaru better head right to Tsunade's office and give an heart-felt apology about nearly going off with his team without a fourth member. They would have all been screwed by now if it hadn't been for Kakashi being there.

Paaaaain.... YUMMY!

8. No Prelude to Death...? I'm a bit surprised - no, make that VERY shocked - that Hidan went for an instant kill, without even taunting or demeaning Shikamaru.

I expected Hidan to toy around with Shikamaru at least, and that's why I feel a bit like his plan (as it would be revealed shortly) had a high risk associated with it. I mean, pretend as much as Shikamaru wants to, if Hidan had bothered to even look at whether Shikamaru was coughing up blood or not, he would have quickly figured something was amiss.

Not to mention that Kakuzu had Kakashi on the ropes almost immediately, so the plan had to go in effect almost instanteously.

So no matter how you look it any way, Shikamaru and Kakashi were extremely lucky here.

H-h-heartburn!

9. In the Nick of Time...! Man, and Kakuzu was just ABOUT to pierce Kakashi's chest and pull his heart out, too.

Of course, maybe it was just a bunshin. But I personally would hate to see it being one here, because it'd be seen as a bit too much of a plot device.

A little comedic to see Kakuzu suddenly being attacked by Hidan, even indirectly, though. Looks like we were right in our prediction about the vial, eh? Probably a little too easily predictable, though, but whatever. Shikamaru must be pretty deft of hand to have made Hidan taste Kakuzu's blood instead of his own - though we did see his cheek bloody though. I'm a little bit confused there, I have to admit.

Either way, I don't think Kakuzu's done here, though. If he was a normal being, he would have just keeled over and died right on the spot. Hidan's stake went RIGHT through his heart. And I'd wager that it wouldn't have been the first time Kakuzu's felt the effects of Hidan's voodoo jutsu, either - they definitely seem to have fought each other in the past.

I've got to think either it's because Kakuzu's creatures are still part of his body and carrying hearts of their own that he's still alive right now, and he'll have to absorb one of them right now to live any longer, and he will. But at the same time I think his body might be paralyzed enough right now that Kakashi can get away from his tendrils.

If I were Kakashi right now, it would be the perfect opportunity to strike with a jutsu to the head, though, while Kakuzu was so badly distracted.

Your ass is grass, Hidan...!

10. Curtains Time for Hidan? Of course we knew Shikamaru wasn't just going to let the information that Asuma had sacrificed himself to obtain for battling these guys go to waste. We knew that.

I did like how Hidan seemed to almost sense something was a little strange and becoming nervous there though. Or maybe he's just feeling a murderous aura from Shikamaru...!

Still, wonder how exactly Shikamaru is going to fight Hidan, though. I've got to think these explosive tags will come in handy for his Kagemane, but he's going to have to rip Hidan apart to pieces if he wants to stop him for good.

Stay tuned for next week, I guess...!

EDIT: Bonus Comment!

Hey, is that Makeup?

11. Shikamaru's Bag of Tricks! Totally missed this on my first writing of the Comments, thanks to Glasskatana for spotting it.

There's no way Kishimoto didn't draw that panel without it being significant. The way Shikamaru fell seems to indicate that he did it on purpose so that his bag would quietly spill its contents, making it easy for him to sneakily reach for them while he was still lying on the ground, just in case Hidan happened to be looking at him.

Are they more containers? Will Shikamaru be trying to get some of Hidan's own blood now, in order to have him taste it by accident and having him subsequently kill himself without meaning to? I've got to think that's coming up now...

RATING: 4 of 5 - Initially I didn't like this chapter at all, but upon rereading it I actually didn't mind it so much anymore. I had thought at first that it would have been a better rating if Chapters 335-336 were one chapter instead of two. The action would have been much more substantial, at least, but now I realize there probably wasn't enough space either way to cover all the "plan." There were still some flaws with this one, though, particularly concerning Shikamaru's plan being so risky and based on incredible reflexes and luck. I'm a little surprised that he was that desperate.

Predictions: I think we'll be seeing a battle rage between Shikamaru and Hidan while Kakuzu gets away from Kakashi and get a heart from one of his creatures to survive. I'm HOPING we'll see some action from Chouji and Ino in the meanwhile, possibly to take out a creature's "mask" while Kakuzu's still unsteady on his foot.

Credits: Thanks to Hakabakashii's MQ Edited Manga, Manji for the RAW, and our translators here. And thank you ALL for your support - and especially putting up with all my heart-related puns! But wait, don't go breathing a sigh of relief, there's ONE more...!

Ouch. My heart bleeds for you, man.
Comment! XD

Rurouni Gio · Dec 21, 2006