Gold Knight's Ten Comments (Naruto 414)

Gold Knight · Aug 29, 2008

Gather 'round and let's start, boys and girls! Wheee!

Here it is, Week Two of Gold Knight's improbable comeback to Naruto reviewing. I don't have much to say here... except that... damn, I'm absolutely glad that football (amefuto) season is FINALLY back here in America!

Yeah, I know that seemed like quite a random thing to say. Well, actually, due to not wanting to miss any of the important games on the weekends for this autumn, I'm actually more likely to try to get my reviews out by Saturday noon. Sometimes even as soon as Friday morning, like this one. So go on, rejoice with me, all!

YAY, FOOTBALL IS BACK!

Also, since I did mention the sport, I should mention that everybody should read Eyeshield 21, even if they don't know a thing about amefuto. It really is a neat manga with plenty of fun characters and story twists. And I know you guys will love the devilish Hiruma - I don't know anybody who doesn't. He's an absolutely magnificent character. And to boot, we have a resident translator here, Xophien, who is absolutely fantastic at keeping up weekly on it. Be sure to thank him for his ES21 translations when you get a chance, too.

Alright, you know the usual rule: don't be shy and let me know what you think! As before, I'll try to respond to everything but don't be surprised if I just can't find the time - but I will read all your posts.

Thanks again to Sleepy Fans for their quick Edited Manga and also Hisshou for the translation.

* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Naruto Chapter 414: Bull on the Rampage! * * *

Things are lookin' mightily grim!

1. Who's Got The Power!?? So, Karin finds the chakra levels of the Hachibi unbelievable, eh? No real surprise there, since we knew about Naruto's nearly bottomless supply of chakra provided by his own bijuu, the demonic Nine-Tails.

But ah, it does possibly lead to a few revelations that might be more than a little startling. First, consider all the people Karin has met before, and their chakras which she's likely evaluated with her special ability each time.

Her boss, Orochimaru, had his own monstrous chakra that once seemed to take the form of a gigantic and malevolent snake whenever he was about to consume the soul of a victim and take that person's body. His "killing intent" could freeze and unnerve any unfortunate opponent right in his tracks - even the experienced Kakashi.

Then there's the object of Karin's affections and the de facto leader of Team Taka, Sasuke, who had his own sinister chakra which even the Kyuubi respected and feared, and acknowledged that it rivaled that of the hated Uchiha Madara. (Thus, that also means the mysterious Tobi doesn't have as much chakra as the Hachibi, either.)

Look at the rest of the Taka team. Juugo is the apparent father of the curse seal and most likely has quite a bit of chakra himself, and Suigetsu seems to be a water elemental who's able to do amazing water-based jutsus almost on the level of Nidaime's - as we'd see in this chapter.

Speaking of suiton jutsus, there's also even Kisame who was known as the Akatsuki with the most limitless supply of chakra, and who could seemingly rival Nidaime himself by "throwing up" an entire sea. Team Taka, back then known as Hebi, had encountered him just before Sasuke's confrontation with Itachi.

Well, by Karin's exclamation of disbelief here, we now know that none of these people's chakra probably could stand up to the Hachibi's (and by association, probably the Kyuubi's as well) - that they're all possibly dwarfed by it. "Impossible chakra," as Karin said.

Interesting, huh?

Of course, there's always the possibility that people like Orochimaru and Kisame, in order to get around privately, had to learn how to suppress their auras so nobody would detect their presence.

But I'm guessing that doesn't work with Karin since she's so sensitive to chakra that she could detect it approaching her about thirty miles away. Useful ability, that. At least she probably knows when it's best to run away, or if it's possible to be able to stand and fight.

Still the worst rapper in the world.

2. Will The Real Hachibi Please Show Up? This is just speculation on my part, but I believe the Hachibi wouldn't be "rapping" here if he was in control. (Geez, sometimes I can't believe how puns in Japanese can be so corny!) So anyway, this probably means that "Killer-Bee" is still the dominant persona in that gigantic beast's head.

Again, just another speculative thought, but I noticed the bull bijuu's eyes were devoid of any pupils and completely white. Remember when Gaara first let Shukaku take over, that the Ichibi's eyes changed from dull and uncomprehending to an excited, bloodthirsty glare?

I'm gonna make a prediction here. We still haven't really seen Hachibi at its most devastating power. I'm going to guess that "Killer-Bee" is going to become a little worried about actually being able to win this battle at some point, and move over for his bijuu. At that point we'll probably see different eyes and quite a few frightening scenes of violence.

I... (pant) I sure just hope this isn't Detective Conan...

3. Gotta Pay the Piper. So it looks like Juugo is still a kid at heart, eh? Oh wait, he IS a kid again! Interesting side-effect of that curse seal skin transferal...

Well, one thing I do like a lot about Naruto and all the powerful techniques within the series is that there always seems to be a drawback for using some of the most cheap tricks. We learned that lesson pretty well early on in Part Two when Chiyo-baasma sacrificed her life, with the help of Naruto's chakra, in order to save Gaara's with her so-called Resurrection Technique.

There was also Itachi and the obvious penalties to his eyes for using Mangekyou Sharingan. Rock Lee and the punishment his body takes for opening the Gates.

Even Naruto has suffered from his own jutsus as well - Fuuton Rasenshuriken apparently destroys the cells inside his body beyond any kind of regeneration that the Kyuubi could provide. Though there doesn't seem to be a real price to using Kage no Bunshin yet, besides possibly undergoing dangerous experiences such as turning into a toad permanently during his current training at Myouboku Mountain.

Hell, maybe even Kimimaro himself may have suffered from his own immensely powerful clan bone-growing abilities. Could that have made him more prone to the illness that finally killed him...?

Anyway, back to Juugo being a kid again. I guess that drawback isn't too bad by comparison - basically, Juugo won't be able to drink beer again or put on the moves on a cute kunoichi anytime soon... but hey, he's still alive! Wonder if he'll stay de-aged for too long, though. I quite liked him as a tall young adult, so hopefully the side-effects will go away soon.

Suiton: Bitchslap no Jutsu!

4. That Guy's All Wet... Watching Suigetsu in action makes me wonder how he compares to Kisame and Nidaime. Initially, it looks like he's the most powerful water ninja of the three, since he seems to even turn into liquid himself.

Still, not sure if he's the same. Both Kisame and Nidaime were able to "create" water and spit a massive amount out from their mouths. Suigetsu instead seems to be entirely made of water and draw water all around him, but otherwise... Maybe he's like Pyro in the X-Men movie, only being able to manipulate the element but not to create it (in this case, water.)

If you guys will notice, it almost seemed like Suigetsu was drawing all the water from the nearby lake and using it to attack the Hachibi, giving him the supposed "advantage". Made me wonder if Suigetsu could have done the same if there hadn't been so much water around. Perhaps he'd only have his body to work with in that case?

It also makes me wonder if the sword-fighting really is just a hobby to him in the end. He doesn't seem to need Zabuza's cleaver - or does he? Does he sometimes run the risk of not being able to summon so much water, and have to defend himself more directly? But in that case, why should he, if swords could go through his body, though?

Or... is it just his preferred means of dealing a more swift death, instead of using water to perform a slower, agonizing death but possibly time-consuming? Drowned rats can still fight back sometimes... but when they're beheaded, that's it for them.

Oh well. Anyway, amusing to see Suigetsu take on the role of the "hero" here. Seems like he must have taken a fondness to the others after all. Bickering will do that, I guess.

Or maybe he just wants to make sure his ties to Akatsuki aren't severed so that he can get back at Kisame again...

Mamma Mia, that's some bad breath...!

5. This Again? Ho-Hum. Well, seems like we're seeing here that "Killer-Bee" in Hachibi mode pretty much can do anything that Naruto as "mini-Kyuubi" can do.

Including the very same compressed chakra-blast that once made Orochimaru look like a human ostrich with his head buried in the ground, ha.

Unlike Naruto back then, though, Hachibi here didn't swallow the little burst and then regurgitate it out as even a more destructive blast - but perhaps he didn't need to do that as he was already pretty much full size?

I'm somewhat disappointed though. The Shukaku seemed vastly different from the Kyuubi, especially with its command over sand. But so far, the Hachibi seems exactly the same. But perhaps it's got something to do with the number of tails - Hachibi has eight to Kyuubi's nine, so perhaps they're just the most similar in terms of firepower.

Or maybe Kishimoto's just saving up the most unique attacks to come from the Hachibi...

Some "break..."

6. Protein's Good For You! Eat Up! Just a quick and sponatenous thought here (since I really don't have much to say here)...

I was wondering if these lunches are actually helping Naruto in some capacity as far as speeding up his training. Note that Naruto seemed worn out from what must have been a full morning's worth of training already, especially when divided between four of his clones. You'd almost expect him to be too tired to go on, as he often was when training with Yamato and Kakashi. But then Fukusaku suggests a lunch break, and Naruto goes to eat the bugs. And then he's back and yeah... all ready to go again.

Seems like to me in Myouboku Mountain, there may be more to it being just a simple toad's idea of a delicious lunch... hey, there's already a lot more than what meets the eyes there.

You caught me, I'm a Transformers fan all right. Heh, movin' on...!

Dear God, what have I done? I taught a baka senjutsu!

7. A Temporary Solution...! Guess Naruto's getting better at this training thing. He learned the Rasengan in a week? Pffft, that was nuttin'!

But what good will learning senjutsu do? Sure, it'll temporarily give him strength and speed when he doesn't want to borrow power from the Kyuubi. But it almost seems much ado about nothing right now. He'll inevitably have to fall back on his bijuu again - and learn how to control it to do what he wants, just as Killer-Bee does. And he'll draw vastly more strength and speed from it than he could ever do from senjutsu, I bet.

Also, it certainly didn't help Jiraiya against Pain for very long. And I doubt he'll go as far as going into "sennin mode" with the older toads on his shoulders, either. So why is Kishimoto having Naruto go through this training?

There must be something more to come that Jiraiya couldn't master, but perhaps Naruto will himself. That's what I'm hoping for right now. Also, notice that Naruto couldn't really perform the feat of lifting the toad statue UNTIL he dipped his hand into the pool of specialized toad oil. Bam, after doing that, he's SuperNaruto! He'll have to don glasses and slick back his hair to hide his identity now.

Something tells me the training is still far from being over...

These mother-f***in' bastards!

8. What's Laurence Fishburne Doing Here? Well, I guess that should settle the question of why Kishimoto hasn't included "black ninjas" in the series. Two so far already in one arc. Seems like they all live in the Thunder Country, huhn... well, I guess they must live high in the mountains in the sun often up there.

Anyway, so we learn three very revealing things in just three panels here. We learn that "Killer-Bee" isn't very obedient of the Raikage (that's not too surprising after seeing his personality) since he's been told over and over not to transform into the Hachibi, but he obviously has frequently.

We learn his nickname, something else to call him by (I was getting tired of calling him Hachibi's host) but probably not his real full name yet. And finally, that the Cloud nins are aware that the Akatsuki kidnapped and captured Yugito, who was most likely more liked by the Raikage as an obedient weapon.

Now we know that if they are aware, Killer-Bee probably is, too, after hearing them calling themselves Akatsuki. Who knows, that might explain why he was so willing to kill them all. He might have immediately thought that they were the ones who took and probably killed Yugito - at least they were connected to the group that did...

Though I doubt that Hachibi had any affection for Yugito, because he still hasn't really said anything about her yet. But he knows his own life is at stake now.

Sup, Sasuke?

9. Amazing What a Little Nostalgia will Do. Well, seems like Sasuke finally remembered just how much Team 7 cared about him... and would have done exactly the same thing Team Taka did here, protect him. And that apparently triggered his MS...?

I still find it somewhat odd though. Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin may all have their own reasons for keeping Sasuke alive, some of them quite personal like Juugo's belief that Sasuke was the reincarnation of Kimimaro, but none of them really knows him like Team 7 did. Sasuke must have known that.

And yet, he remembered anyway the depths of the affection Team 7 had for him... and maybe even the affection he felt for them.

Could it be that, after Itachi died, Sasuke has been slowly returning to his "old self?" And it was just a slow progress... maybe hampered by Tobi, because of the vendetta against Konohagakure, but maybe he'll finally snap out of his depression and realize that he's doing the wrong thing soon?

I do think he's very depressed now... as opposed to being vengeful in the past. He may be very prone to changes of heart now.

Burn, baby, burn!

10. He's All Fired Up, Now...! First of all here, okay, let me just say that I guess I was completely wrong and I apologize for jumping to conclusions too quickly last week. I thought Sasuke was down and done for after last chapter. But obviously, he wasn't. I guess that was the most OBVIOUS prediction... but I just didn't want to believe it.

Like I said in my last review, I thought I would be terribly disgusted if he got back up and started fighting Hachibi again, but surprisingly enough, I wasn't really too bothered by it... maybe because of the fact that Sasuke apparently remembered what Team 7 meant to him because of his humiliation.

I DID give out a mighty, huge groan when I first saw the spoilers, though. But... I'll get over it.

So it appears that Sasuke will use Amaterasu for the first time next chapter. I can't help but wonder if it really will be as good as Itachi's though, the first try... after all, it took a while for little Sasuke to master Katon. Why should he be a master of the Mangekyou so soon?

But well, we'll see what happens.

RATING: 3.5 of 5 - Though I was disappointed by Sasuke getting back up, I can't deny that this was still a decent chapter regardless. Though Juugo's ability seems kind of Deus ex Machina - Kishimoto could have just as easily made it so that Karin gave Sasuke more of her own life force instead. I'm rather glad Kishimoto spared us that scenario. The only thing I was a bit iffy about is how quickly Sasuke seems to have accepted Team Taka as his friends and vice versa that he would think of Team 7, but oh well. He's still lucky that was the case, though!

PREDICTIONS: I suppose I should have gone with the most obvious prediction last week: Sasuke gets back up. At least I was right about us seeing more of Naruto. Next week I'm guessing it'll be all Sasuke vs Hachibi... and there is going to be another twist where Amaterasu definitely won't get the job done. Like, maybe the black fire burns a little bit of Hachibi, but he quickly regenerates that lost part back, since he is a bijuu, after all.

Well, Chapter 414 is out of the way now. Let me know what you think!

Yeah, reading my reviews will do that...!

Another mini-comment here. Suigetsu looks more like pudding than ever now to me. >_>

◆ T.D.A ◆ · Aug 29, 2008