Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 339)

Gold Knight · Jan 29, 2007

Looks like somebody said "you and exactly WHAT army?" You don't exactly wanna say that to Naruto.

Well, at least this week I managed to get my Comments out a few more days in advance of the next chapter! XD I had hoped that we would get a better RAW sooner so that I could have gotten to work on either Friday or Saturday, but it wasn't to be. But better late than never, I guess. Maybe next time I'll be able to get to it early.

Thanks to Touch for finding the camshot RAW and also pharaoe, natan and kingsenol who all got us the more decent RAW. For translations, Hisshou and p1noypr1de both did a cool job. Furthermore, I also want to appreciate Fnuckale, Aviv, and des for helping us have such beautiful images to work with. Honestly, guys - it helped me stay much more inspired to do a Comments. I suppose I've just gotten used to seeing my review with some visuals, heh. Give all these guys some applause, they all did a good job.

Also, be sure to check out Raine's Wrap Up for Chapter 339, everybody! I'm hoping that she'll do more. <3

Okay, as the resident emperor of Mangahelpers, NJT, would say, "off we go." Comment on anything you want guys.

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 339: A New Jutsu...! * * *

From lazy punk to God. That's a pretty big leap.

1. The Wrath of Shikamaru. Starting off, I just loved the first five pages of the chapter. Somehow it just felt... right. Shikamaru with Hidan's fate in his hands and the kid decides to firmly tighten his grip rather than consider mercy at all. That scene of Hidan's head lying on the bottom of the pit looking way up at Shikamaru was classic.

I have a feeling this is exactly why Kishimoto decided to design Hidan's character as one that would be unlikeable, loud, and generally annoying. No one was shocked that Shikamaru, I think, was so offended by him to the extent that he would abandon his usually carefree attitude in order to do something so merciless. Heck, ya know, if I had somebody constantly screaming at me that I'd be condemned to purgatory for all time, I'd kick his butt, too. More so if he killed anybody I ever cared about. I don't blame Shikamaru.

At the same time, though, I don't think he was very pleased about having to do such a thing, but somebody had to do it. Forget revenge. Hidan threatened Konohagakure. Shikamaru's job was to defend it. I'm not a big proponent of capital punishment, but in his world, I believe that he did the right thing.

Incidentally, yeah, I know Hisshouburaiken translated Shikamaru's line as, "And you? Your "Lord Jashin" is nothing, and you're pathetic - the only one bringing down vengeance ...is me!" Somehow I just liked p1noy's translation better, though. "Right now, your god isn't that pathetic Jashin-sama or whoever... it's me..." Just seemed more bad-ass to me. Either way, we got what he meant.

That is, Hidan, in his madness, was so blind to the fact that he was just sealing his own doom by provoking Shikamaru with his inane screaming. Jashin-sama wasn't who Hidan wanted to pray to at the time.

I really wonder when, or if, Kishimoto will ever develop another character in the Naruto series as well as he's done with Shikamaru. He's done a magnificent job with Shikamaru: the best, the absolute best, developed character in the whole series. Even readers who don't normally like the series are crazy about this kid. If only Kishimoto would focus on the other supporting cast the same way, as well as Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. It's almost overkill with Shikamaru now.

But I've got to think Kishimoto plans an extremely vital role for Shikamaru at some point in the series for concentrating so much on him. It's already obvious that Shikamaru is being slowly groomed to be an amazing leader. A future ANBU leader, perhaps? Wouldn't be surprising to me if at the end of the series, Naruto finally seemed to be on the verge of Hokagedom, and Shikamaru comes into the room with a Hokage hat on, saying to Naruto, "too late... I'm already Hokage! So troublesome. Hey, Naruto... I got a mission for you. Get me some cigs." Heh.

Sorry, I already took a religion studies class.

2. What God? At that moment that the rocks were falling on Hidan's cursing face, I doubt that if there was such a god as Jashin-sama that he'd even care about saving Hidan at that moment - his follower had been so thoroughly out-witted and beaten by a chuunin of Konohagakure that Jashin was probably disgusted with him at the time.

But I don't think Jashin-sama exists, at least as an actual god. Yeah, I know, there's some theories out there that say that Shikamaru will have to deal with Jashin at some point. I don't think so, though.

I believe that Hidan was probably brain-washed by his village - whatever it was - in believing in an imaginary deity that bestowed amazing powers on him. I believe Jashin-sama was probably somebody like Orochimaru, who gave most of his followers "curse seals" that would have likely seemed to some as divine gifts. And Hidan could have been just like Kimimaro - remember the bone guy that Gaara fought? Kimimaro was so impressed with Orochimaru and his ideals that he believed that the guy was something alike a god, I think. Kabuto acts like that sometimes, too. Maybe we'll see Jashin at some point, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's just another Orochimaru. And that is why I don't think we will ever see him. We already have an Orochimaru. So Jashin will become just a sidenote to the story, I think, unfortunately, and it seems that Hidan's former village and history will be shrouded in mystery for a while yet.

I'm also starting to suspect that Hidan's 'immortality' was likely some sort of bloodline limit that we haven't heard too much about yet, and the voodoo jutsu is just a form of kinjutsu that he learned from his village. Well, just my thoughts. Hopefully the next Databook will shed some new light on Hidan's background.

So what will happen to Hidan now that he's buried under rock? Will Zetsu come to his rescue? At this point, I'd be more tempted to believe that Zetsu will come along hunting for Hidan's ring, come across him, and eat him. Yup. Eat him. He's a cannibal after all, seemingly, and seeing a bloody pile of body parts would probably be too hard to resist for him - even if the head's still talking. Wonder if he'd cause indigestion, though. XD

Oh, somebody who overly relies on bunshins...? That can only be Naruto!

3. He's Quick. Whaddaya know. I was right. Kakuzu didn't realize it was the Nine-Tails standing in front of him last chapter, and it also didn't take him too long to realize that he was the Kyuubi.

But I had thought that Naruto's "demonic" eyes would be a give-away, but it looks as though Naruto's usage of Kage Bunshin was enough to let Kakuzu know it was him. Deidara must have told the Akatsuki about all the Narutos that were punching the living snot out of his clay bunshin while they camped out at the cave together.

Just a sidenote - how Kakuzu can still talk while his mouth is choked with black spaghetti, I'll never know.

And don't forget the ability to spit out black spaghetti, Kakashi.

4. A Briefing, Lovely. Well, Kishimoto will never be accused of leaving his readers in the dark as what's going on in case they missed the previous chapter, that's for sure.

Still, ugh. You know Kishimoto just did this page to draw out the chapter again. We already knew everything that Kakashi was going to tell Yamato. I suppose, though, that we probably had to be aware that Naruto understood the situation and his enemy so that we wouldn't be surprised if he was able to counterattack or trick Kakuzu later on when they battled. I'm just glad the briefing only lasted a page.

And I guess Kakuzu must be pretty unique in his ability to be able to manipulate all the elements. If Yamato had never seen Kakashi so beaten up before, and came to the conclusion that Kakuzu's elemental mastery was the reason for that, I guess I could probably believe that Kakuzu did manage to fight a good battle with the Shodai now.

So would anybody care to theorize just how many elemental manipulations Shodai knew? How did that fight go? Hmm...

Did he really...?

5. Still Reckless? Maybe... What a familiar sight, eh? Naruto charging head-first into battle. Well, yeah, technically it's his bunshins, but regardless. I suppose he wouldn't be too much of a surprising ninja if he wasn't so spontaneous in taking action, though. And the real surprise this time, I think, is that Naruto actually had a plan beforehand - unlike the old days.

Hope you guys don't mind if I digress a bit here.

When I first read the RAW, I had first thought that, "gee, just how much discipline Naruto learned in these two years that he trained with Jiraiya? Granted, the ol' pervert-sannin wasn't exactly the most prudent guy ever, considering he pushed Naruto off a cliff once. But you'd think that he'd know that Naruto needed to learn some restraint at least!

And if Naruto had needed even further training AFTER the timeleap, what exactly was so good about Jiraiya taking him under his wing, other than keeping him hidden from all the Akatsuki? Naruto didn't learn to be any more careful (attacked Sasori and then Deidara instantly); he didn't learn how to work with a team (Kakashi had to stop him from going after Deidara without a plan); he didn't learn how to control himself better (Four Tails) - yup, I'm agreeing with people now that his second training period with Jiraiya was simply a big, fat waste of time. Only thing I've seen Naruto do better before his most recent training was momentarily dispell Itachi's illusions (although not to the extent that he was able to defeat Itachi anyway) and his Rasengan got a little bigger.

Jiraiya must have been misguided in that he thought that Naruto's strength would come from his association with the Kyuubi, much like Ral does with Grado in Blue Dragon. (If you haven't been reading that lately, it's pretty good.) Guess he found out he was wrong.

Well, in one sense, it's kind of cool, though. When was the last time you saw a protagonist of a manga series train, and the whole training period turns out to be almost completely ineffective? Now there's a story twist that's not seen too often in any shonen manga I ever read.

I don't think Kishimoto meant for Naruto to be Goku right away, you know?"

But anyway, back to what actually happened here.

As we'll find out in the next comment, Naruto actually had a plan. But what I'm trying to say here is that in only a matter of days, I actually think Kakashi and Yamato were the best senseis that Naruto ever had. He's actually thinking before a battle here.

But boy, I was under a mistaken impression when I first read the RAW without a translation. I was just like, "Man, Naruto's just the same all over again!" Heh.

What the heck are you doing, Naruto...?

6. Feelin' Kakuzu Out? Alright, onward to Naruto's plan. I've heard people saying that they didn't understand why Naruto's bunshins gave him any experience whatsoever - they were immediately defeated, right? How does racing in with heads full of steam and then being blown up like balloons help Naruto come to any kind of conclusion about how to best approach Kakuzu?

Well, I tend to agree with them that the tactic didn't seem useful - 50%. First, I think Naruto still gains the knowledge of how fast Kakuzu acted in order to strike at any one of his bodies. I don't even really think it has anything to do with being able to experience through the mind and eyes of a bunshin.

It's just watching them move, as well as Kakuzu himself. It's like in any sport, if you're on the sideline and you learn the weaknesses and strengths of any player, you can better analyze how you can play against them when you move to the field. Except Naruto has a distinct advantage in that he can send himself over to be the crash test dummy, for lack of a better word.

But the thing is... in this situation, Kakuzu may not even have to be moving at his top speed to take care of the bunshins. It could have just been a slap to them. So right now, if Naruto moved to initiate real combat himself, I'd still be pretty worried about him - three bunshins acting as decoys or not.

But I can appreciate the fact that at the very least Naruto is planning out his strategy, as I said before. But he's no Shikamaru, either.

Oh good, my hand's still attached.

7. Rasengan Duel! Now we know what happened to Kakashi's hand, eh? He actually did lose to Naruto in a duel.

Only thing I'm perplexed about in that battle is why Kakashi felt so confident that he wouldn't lose the use of his hand going up against Naruto's prototypical "Futon Rasengan!" Wouldn't he have already known that it was going to be a bit dangerous just by the look of Naruto's Rasengan? Well, I suppose it was the only way to test the strength of the new Rasengan versus the old Rasengan, but Kakashi sure took one for the kid.

Still, wow. Didn't we just recently see that wind manipulation could practically cut through rock, that is, if Asuma wished it so. Hmm. And hey, how about this: remember Naruto did have a bigger Rasengan (Oodama Rasengan)? Wasn't his Rasengan already more evolved than Kakashi to begin with? So maybe it's even stronger now, and would have defeated Kakashi's Rasengan (which looked normal) regardless. But what exactly did upgrading it to Futon Rasengan accomplish? Was the test even a success? Well, I suppose you could tell by the shape of Naruto's Rasengan that it had apparently changed, at least - why didn't Kakashi just go along with that and told him to try his new Rasengan on a tree (or better yet, the side of a Yamato-created cliff) and see how it affected it as opposed to the old? Would have a bit less risky.

I'm thinking that if Naruto's Futon Rasengan had been at full strength, it would have actually cut through all the cells in Kakashi's hand. Woo. Well, at least we know now that Sasuke had better improve on his Chidori too, besides Nagashi, if he were to go against Naruto in another Rasengan-Chidori clash, if he doesn't want his hand completely cut off.

Ugh... but I gotta say, I've had my fill of that already, back at the end of Part One. I hope that doesn't happen again, but it probably will.

Guess they have the same barber. But we already knew that.

8. Back to the Past...! Not much to say here, I'm sure most readers here have already said "ZOMG! Yondy's just GOTTA be Naruto's daddy!" But still a nice panel regardless, because it showed what Naruto could be, if he worked hard enough. But boy, I wonder if Kakashi's just woozy after being hit by that Futon Rasengan. From what I know of Yondaime's personality so far, I know he's not in the slightest similar to Naruto besides appearance. But I suppose that's all it takes - and a desire to be the best.

Hmm. Well, maybe Yondy and Naruto had one other thing in common - just pure speculation here - but they may have both cared even about their enemies and to make strange friends out of nowhere. That's pretty important if one wanted to be a leader of a country and keep good relationships with other lands, after all. (Of course, Yondy may have also scared everybody with his techniques into wanting to work with him, too, heh.)

Anyway, Yondaime may have had a different, diplomatic approach - if it wasn't intimidation - but I wouldn't be surprised if he had the same effect on others that Naruto so often does. Well, anyway, pretty picture, let's move on. ^^;

Make my day, punk.

9. Still Got Them Eyes. Ok, so it's probably obvious that Naruto's still drawing on the Kyuubi chakra, by his eyes here. But we all figured that Naruto had decided to stop relying on the Kyuubi, right? After the way he blew off the ol' demon fox the last time they talked, I'm not exactly expecting the little demon inside him to be so cooperative next time, either.

So, what's going on, then? I think it's just that whenever Naruto really gets serious about something, his chakra automatically gets mixed up with the Kyuubi's inside him, and so hence the eyes. Or maybe he's also seemingly doing a powerful jutsu at the moment, and that might have used up all the original chakra he had, and he has his own little share of the Kyuubi's chakra that he can also channel.

Maybe this will be interesting down the line, to see if Naruto will be able to channel more of the Kyuubi's chakra regardless of their disagreements. Guess we'll have to watch and see!

I HAVE THE POWER!

10. Let's Play Frisbee...! Okay, so here's the big moment. The revelation of Naruto's new technique. And it's... RasenShuriken! Heh.

Wonder if it's a long-range attack now... can he even throw that thing, and what's the speed for it? I guess we'll find out next chapter. I know some people are probably tired of hearing the comparisons to DBZ so I won't go into that too much, heh. Well, maybe I will. DBZ didn't really enter my mind when I saw the jutsu, but I never did watch that show. I think the move in its own design and shape is unique enough in its own right anyway, regardless of the pose - which I think was meant to just be another tribute. After all, Kishimoto was a fan of DBZ. As long as he doesn't too many storyarcs in a similar fashion to DBZ, I'm not going to dwell too much over it.

I also heard another observation, that Naruto's jutsu wasn't too much different from Jio's O-Part in 666 Satan - the manga that Kishimoto's brother, Seishi, does. Well, about that - I guess maybe you'd just have to chalk it up to them being twin brothers and having very similar storytelling styles. Again, not really something I'll worry too much about. I like Naruto's new jutsu, and I'm interested at the moment in seeing how it works.

So, I know some people are disappointed that the chapter didn't have Naruto already attacking Kakuzu with the new jutsu. But I think people have to realize that this was for the most part supposed to be a transitional chapter from Shikamaru's struggle to Naruto's own fight. I'll admit I want a faster pace, too, but I can understand why Kishimoto waited until next week. The revelation of Naruto's jutsu was a big moment itself, and it's not even complete, according to Yamato, either. Wonder what the complete jutsu would look like!

RATING: 4 of 5 - Initially I didn't like the chapter too much, but after re-reading it afterward, with Edited Mangas, I did like it. It's not too bad. Loved the beginning of the chapter, and was confused about Naruto's battle at first, but then again I was reading the RAW without a translation at the time. And I do like the look of Naruto's new jutsu. I'm really hoping it's long-range. The slow pace, though, is what puts this chapter at a 4. It was also a pretty fast read.

Predictions: Hopefully Naruto will throw that sucker. Maybe behead at least one of Kakuzu's "masks."

Credits: Thanks to... well, I already mentioned them all in the beginning, I'm not even sure why I do a Credits at the end. But thanks guys, again.

Yup, I taught Naruto everything he knows!...
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Fnuckale · Jan 29, 2007