Reading
Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto Volumes 59-62
Post
contains spoilers for the above volumes of Naruto and the current
story arc as a whole.
Now
aligned with the tailed beasts and his fellow jinchûriki hosts more
than ever, Naruto impresses the Allied Shinobi Forces with his
newfound strength. But his comrades are not going to leave this final
battle with the forces of Tobi up to Naruto alone. As they rush to
assist their friend, Sasuke returns. And this time, he’s intent on
taking out Naruto once and for all.
(Source: Viz Media)
In
case you haven't been keeping up with the ongoing adventures of
Naruto Uzumaki and his ninja friends, here's a quick and dirty recap:
the entire ninja world is at war with Kabuto's zombie army, while
Madara/Tobi makes his own moves to put the world into a permanent
illusion via a devious genjutsu of his. Nothing is peaceful,
everything is in disarray, but good news, the kunai industry is
probably making a hell of a profit keeping everyone armed to the
teeth on both sides.
Having
unlocked his Sage powers while training with Killer Bee, Naruto has
blasted his way onto the battlefield and become a powerful assistance
for the allied forces. Meanwhile, Sasuke broods in the shadows,
getting ready to throw his weight around in this battle and destroy
Konoha once and for all. The allied forces already have their hands
full, however, since Kabuto's army of undead ninja include some
seriously strong powerhouses, such as Gaara's father and Madara
Uchiha.
We
are now in the sixty-plus numbered range of volumes for Naruto, and
this series has shown no signs of slowing down or losing focus.
Kishimoto knows exactly what he is doing with his precious shonen
baby and it shows. We're seeing all the various ninjas from the all
related villages doing what they do best, whether it is recon or
defense or healing, giving depth to a cast of characters that has
ballooned over the past twenty-thirty volumes like never before,
especially post-time skip.
For
a story arc that is a lot of fighting, there is an incredible amount
of character development, whether it's Naruto or any of the five sage
leaders, or even more antagonistic characters like Kabuto and Sasuke
and Itachi. War has turned part of the narrative very introspective,
forcing certain people to look deep inside themselves and reexamine
why they do the things they do. It ends up humanizing characters like
Kabuto, who so far has been a power-hungry ex-lackey with no real
back story or depth until we as readers get a revealing glimpse into
his childhood and the events that brought him into deep dark congress
with the pale-skinned snake ninja, Orochimaru, who even when he was
'good' looked like bad news.
We
also see an unlikely but opportune relationship grow between Naruto
and Kurama, the nine-tailed fox that lives within the young man's
body. Considering that most people would considering housing a biju
who has a history of violence in their body for their entire lives a
major imposition to say the least, the fact that Naruto and Kurama
have truly bonded is a surprise. Naruto respects Kurama, and vice
versa, and this relationship has only caused Naruto's abilities to
grow and expand, using the energy of the nine-tailed biju pretty
freely against Madara and Tobi.
There
is also the relationship between Killer Bee and his own biju, Gyuki,
which has been thoroughly explored in other volumes. It serves as a
good foil to the relationship between Naruto and Kurama, who have
only recently turned a symbiotic relationship into something more
beneficial for both of them. Also, it seems interesting that Killer
Bee has never asked Gyuki his name. It's a common trait among
Jinchuriki - that is, until Naruto comes along and, as usual, breaks
apart the standard quo.
Meanwhile,
we see a brotherly reunion as the reanimated body of Itachi meets up
with Sasuke and they end up forming an alliance against Kabuto, whose
Edotensei jutsu is keeping all the undead ninja alive and fighting
against their will. I don't know what hearing the truth about the
Uchiha massacre will do to Sasuke's will but it's clear that their
encounter has affected the young man. Plus, as Itachi knew all too
well, there's only one person on the planet who has the ability to
truly change Sasuke's heart - and that is Uzumaki Naruto.
I
found the fight scenes amazingly technical but not boring. Everything
made sense in the way various jutsus play off against each other,
keeping in mind that every ninja has their own unique style and that
each village manipulates their surroundings in different ways.
Although, I'm sometimes amused at the times that the scene will
quickly grind to a halt so Kakashi or some other mentor-type can
explain to his colleagues why a jutsu works in such a way or how two
random jutsus ended up matching so well. It's like there's a fight
scene and a lesson all in one!
I
also really liked the use of Naruto's doppelgangers to make himself
available across all fronts of the war, and the fact that his energy
levels are high enough to support such a draining jutsu for so long.
Through his shadow clones, readers are able to be kept abreast of all
battles going on between allied ninjas and Kabuto's army, following
all of Naruto's split selves in each fight. We were also able to
interact more with other allied ninja, like those in the healing
tents and fighters like Rock Lee and Hinata and Neji.
Naruto
is amazingly solid right now, knocking out volume after volume of
pure action and burning through plot at a decent pace. At the end of
volume sixty-two we see Naruto, alongside his Konoha colleagues,
taking on Tobi and his skillful eyes while the sages take on Madara,
who just refuses
to die a second time. Meanwhile, Orochimaru is back and apparently
has big plans for his ex-pupil, Sasuke, although at least the guy
isn't doing all the creepy tongue flicks he used to do.
Naruto is
taking the 'go big or go home' school of writing and running, and
doing a good job doing so. I don't know what this series is going to
look like when the fighting stops and the dust settles, but I'm
looking forward to seeing it.
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