Naruto Chapter 342: The King...!

SnowyOwl Says:

Some logistics first. I finally realized that this blog has little value-add to the casual surfer. No translations, or summaries, or downloads, just a lot of random thoughts from two bloggers, with the occasional (actually, quite consistant) comments from our regular, Taterbird (thanks!). So, a slight change of format: Behold! I give you ... the 2 (+/- 1) sentence summary! Meh, I find the author's commentary more engaging then the summaries anyway, but at least now there's a little more context. Changes will be rolling out to previous posts in the future.

Now for the end of the first arc Mendokuse has covered. Since WitherWing is AWOL due to real life, I'll make my entry extra lengthy to make up for it.

Summary: The Hidan/Kukazu arc comes to a close with both Akatsuki members defeated. Kakashi and Shikamaru comes to the understanding that the next generation must be protected at all costs, for they are destined to surpass the generations before it.

Comments: Lot's of random thoughts, so let's take them one by one:

1. Shikamaru's patronus. Um...what's with the deer? The vision of Asuma he saw, was it actually the deer coming as a surrogate for the surrogate father-figure? Just...weird.
2. Sai is still needs to work on people skills. And I quote: 'You must be much more capable than I was told." Compliment and insult all in one, what talent. Love that the comment was totally ignored.
3. The amazing Kakashi. How does Kakashi know what Sasuke looks like now? He's a gen-i-us, that's how.
4. The final blow. The kids still don't dirty their hands. Kakashi, the perfect shinobi, finishes the job. That's the second death he's taken from Naruto (see Haku). Shikamaru, of course, has now entered the realm of adulthood with his kill.
5. ZOMG Kuranai's actually pregnant! I was just joking back in chapter 330. Now the question is, were they actually married? Or just engaged? Asuma must have known, he was all contemplate-y and finally understanding his dad (that's Sandaime to us) and all. Which means he went to his death leaving behind a pregant woman?! Without saying goodbye?! Shika's still a chuvanist (he asked Kuranai if she should be walking when she's not even showing yet!) but you know, Shika? You're already cool in my book. You know he's going to end up the jounin sensei of Asuma Jr. in the epilogue (there goes my dream that he becomes Hokage).
6. Shogi lessons. So the next generation is king. Guess our predictions back in our first post (Ch. 316) did not come to fruition. Love that Shika Sr. totally whooped Shika Jr. in shogi. So maybe it wasn't that Shika was good at it, it was Asuma that was bad. But let's not disrespect the dead.
7. Sasuke makes a cameo. Oh yeah, he's still around. And he's still not up to Orochi's standards of ruthlessness. Which means he might be redeemable yet XD! But what's the point if Orochi's just going to take over the body anyway? It's got nothing to do with Sasuke's willingness to kill, does it?

Witherwing writes:

Oh man, real life stinks! But I take a break from it to update.

Kakashi's steal: Well from the looks of it, I don't think that Naruto was in the condition to deal the final blow. Though I think that Haku was an accident. And you can't possible know that Naruto had never killed anyone. I mean, his a ninja and sometimes they don't do very nice things to other ninjas. You just don't see it because the opponents aren't worth mentioning. Shikamaru too, he's done a lot of missions in his time. And technically, Hidan is still alive. :-p

Shika's coolness: I can just see him being one of the cool adults like Kakashi. There's still hope for his hokagedom. I mean the third was a sensei and hokage. Shikamaru can do it too..
Shika-dad: Maybe Shikamaru gets his smarts from his dad. (sidenote: did you notice that Shika-dad looks kinda like the third?)Saskuke's cameo: He's not killing people, there's still hope for him. I just can't help but have a Lord of the Rings moment here where Gimli was like 'he's got my axe imbedded in his nervous system!'