Naruto Chapter 384: Two Roads Diverge

Summary: Sasuke and Itachi fight with taijutsu and genjutsu. Throughout the fight, Sasuke says he has a question for Itachi.

SnowyOwl Says:

I haven't been this excited about a chapter in a while! The chapter didn't engage me at first because the taijutsu sequences were confusing and a bit mundane, but once the strategy kicked in it was an adrenaline rush to the finish. I'd like to see this animated to clear up what was going on at the start, and hear Sasuke cuss out his brother. Oh yes.

If you're a regular reader, you know I'm not a Sasuke fan, but I gotta give him props once again for looking cool and thinking ahead. First using the Chidori as the bait to get Itachi to jump and then striking the other Itachi when the first was revealed as an illusion. The first illusion readers could smell a mile away, but I feared Sasuke would fall for it again in the heat of the moment. Glad to see the boy can learn. And check out his crazy-face. There is absolutely no doubt or regret in his mission.

Now, the question is how many layers of illusions are there? It seems highly improbable that Kishimoto dragged out Jiraiya and Pain's confrontation over a month and the Uchiha confrontation, which he's been building up to since the beginning of the series, would end in one chapter. There will be at least a flashback (I hope) from Itachi's point of view.And I just wanted to comment on the intensity of the latter half of the chapter. The layout worked well, the content and execution of the panels were well chosen to enhance key moments - great use of sound effects and a feeling of suspended time in all the right places. And the dialogue: OMG. I almost want to see this live-action.

What's the question!?!

Witherwing writes:

Oh man! The second half of this chapter was CRAZY! I do have to admit that my favorite part was the non dialogue though. Let me recap some of the highlights:
Thwack
Swip
Grab
Swsh
Push
Tink
Fwish
Wobble
Squeeze
Sshooom
Slice
Yank
CRASH!

I hope that they're saying these thinks out loud as it happens.

I agree with Snowyowl. I don't think that the anticipated confrontation can be finished in one chapter. But then again, we all remember the Sasuke-Orochimaru fight. ::facepalm::

Now Sasuke will finally get to ask Itachi, "why do you have those funny marks under your eyes?"

Naruto Chapter 383: The Epilogue, and the...

Summary: Jiraiya, having encoded the true identity of Pain on his summon, sinks under water and is satisfied with the circumstances of his death. Meanwhile, Team Konoha prepares to confront Tobi while Sasuke confronts Itachi.

SnowyOwl Says:

[Of Jiraiya]
I'm really glad Jiraiya was able to die a noble death and that his summon actually got away in time so he did not die in vain. The feeling of floating gently down into the water was executed nicely and was...peaceful. Thank you for your spirit and adding depth and motion to the series. I hope you'll get acknowledged and a grander send-off later in the series.

[Of Team Konoha]
Nice. No beating around the bush, just ready to fight. I'm used to be super-amused by Tobi's speech patterns, but again, knowing that Madara* is under the mask (or some incarnation of Madara - I haven't let go of the Mad Tobito theory yet) makes me so nervous. What are you playing at Tobi?! Loved the page where every character had a line - Kiba bringing up the fact that Shino missed out during the Rescue Sasuke arc (and rubbing it in) and Sai observing more bonds (poor boy must be so confused) - yay!

[Of the Uchihas]
Ooo! Nice one-liner from Itachi ("Let's see how good your eye-sight is"). And here we go. I'm not sure if this is THE confrontation, or another tease, but I have a feeling that Itachi really does have something to tell Sasuke (in other words, Kishimoto has a plot point for the readers) live or die. It pains me to say it, but I'm betting that Sasuke's the one coming out on the other end when all is said and done between those two.

Naruto Chapter 382: His Real Decision

Summary: Jiraiya is mortally wounded, but inspired by Naruto fighting spirit and the memory that the Fourth wanted Naruto to be like Jiraiya, Jiraiya wills himself to write Pain's true identity on his toad summon as his last act.

SnowyOwl Says:

A moment of silence for the Great Jiraiya-sensei.

.
.
.

I know it's not confirmed, but if Jiraiya is revived in some way after that noble and bittersweet send-off, that would just be cruel. He was always one of my favorite characters for his complexity, a truly good-hearted person who could never quite win.

The flash-back was lovely, a quiet domestic moment between two legends and my already anxious heart was tugged hard learning that Jiraiya was Naruto's god-father. It adds so much more depth and insight into Jiraiya's motivations and interactions with Naruto in previous chapters. The tragedy for me is that this whole time Naruto had family and never knew - and Jiraiya was never acknowledged by Naruto as family (that honor is reserved for Iruka an Sasuke) even though Jiraiya could arguably have given him the most.

May you find peace in death and honor in your legacy.

Naruto Chapter 381: His True Identity

Summary: Jiraiya realizes that all of Pain's bodies resemble people Jiraiya had known in the past. He dismisses his frog summons and decides to leave his barrier in a suicidal attempt to confirm Pain's true identity.

SnowyOwl Says:

Jiraiya is a piece of fried dead meat. All manga tropes point to his demise: the parting conversation with Tsunade and her lingering thoughts and dim hopes, the build up of the rin'negan's power, his own resolution to risk it all -- how can he NOT die after making that kind of heroic declaration? He'd lose face if he didn't sacrifice himself. But I'm putting my bets on him finding a way to communicate what he finds out and it finding a way to Tsunade.

This chapter gave us a really nice twist. It seems to imply that Pain is a concept (heh. wordplay). That is, Pain is not an individual, but perhaps would manifest differently to different people. Jiraiya's confronting him, thus he appears to Jiraiya as people from his past. Perhaps a very elaborate genjutsu to disarm the opponent.

Or, Pain just has real beef with Jiraiya and decided to hunt down people Jiraiya knew in preparation for this day. Man, that would be screwed up.

I only had a small moment of annoyance with this chapter: of course we didn't really see this coming: all these 'past' characters had never been introduced before (like when first!Team Jiraiya was intro'd) but the presence of Yahiko saved it.

Naruto Chapter 380: That Face

Summary: Jiraiya is confused about Yahiko and Nagato's relationship to Pain's identity. Team Hebi encounters Kisame and only allows Sasuke to pass to meet Itachi. Team Kakashi meets Tobi.

SnowyOwl Says:

So much to love about this chapter, especially the fact that the plot finally seems to be moving along.

First, Pain. See! Yahiko isn't really dead dead, and my feeling that Nagato had somehow inherited Yahiko's philosophy actually panned out (sort of). I'm still not sure which way it went: did Nagato 'absorb' Yahiko, or did Yahiko 'absorb' Nagato. Or was it possibily mutual such that if Jiraiya asked 'where's Yahiko?' Pain would have answered 'he died a long time ago.' This is by far the most intriguing part of the whole Jiraiya/Pain arc.

Team Hebi next. An even more exciting than Sasuke meeting Itachi is Suigetsu meeting Kisame. I was positively giddy when they met up because I could imagine how giddy (in the masculine sense) Sui was. Friendly opponents: what a breath of fresh air from all the do-or-die matches going on.

Team KakashiiiiNooooObiTobito! Good-boy!Tobi is back, but now his easy-going, immature attitude has an air of malice now that we know he is also something completely different. Is it an act or is it a dual personality? I'm hoping for the latter and betting on the former. And he *is* a phaser!

Sakura: Another freak. Why does this happen every time we try to find Sasuke-kun? Figured out you're in a serialized work of fiction yet?

Itachi: *sits regally* Sasuke, what do your chibi-eyes see?
Sasuke: I keel you dead!
Itachi: *is disappointed*

Come on Sasuke, you know if Itachi is asking you that question there's something much more important than your revenge at hand. Think outside the box please?

Naruto Chapter 379: Jiraiya's Decision

Summary: Jiraiya capture Pain and his clones and kills the three Pains. In reality, Pain evaded death and summons six 'Pains' (including the ones Jiraiya believed he killed). Jiraiya has an epiphany about the truth about Pain.

SnowyOwl Says:

It wasn't hard to guess that Pain hadn't actually died - he and/or Jiraiya had not explained/had a flashback about the nature of his existence yet! Death by giant stone kunai is too unspectacular for Pain.

There were a few panels I found interesting to look at: I really liked confused!Pain and Pains-in-block-of-Jello. The big warrior frogs were a treat too; I hadn't seen that level of detail in a while and echoes patterns from Nibi (Two-Tails) and Sai's paintings.

And OMG did Jiraiya just lose an arm? I think that just sealed his fate: I highly doubt that Kishimoto is going to let a one-armed ninja to exist in his world. What is he going to do? Go home to Tsunade and have her fix it? Or get her sympathy and retire? Six Pains against a one-armed man and two bickering frogs - this does not bode well. All I can hope for is that Jiraiya leaves a message, or a curse, or a lesson that affects Pain (even if he won't admit it) and moves the plot along.

Here's hoping...

Witherwing Writes:

Sorry for being dead the last 2 months but finals are rolling around again. I promise to do better in January. If you're interested I added my two cent's into the chapters below. Well more like one cent. It's not that much.

Man, that narrator again on the fist pannel. Because of that, you new that Jiraiya didn't win. He didn't get to ask 'what are you.'

I was having fun pulling a few Star Wars parallels. First there was the fact that Pein is Anakin and Jiraiya is Qi Gon. He thinks his pupil will bring balance to the force and his will, only on the side of EVIL! Then Jiraiya got his arm chopped of and I was like no way! Of course Qi Gon didn't get his arm chopped off but a lot of other people did.

All that fighting and pulling out the best moves and nothing happend. Pein doesn't even have a flesh wound. I'm just waiting for Tsunade to come to his rescue or better yet...Itachi. Okay, so I have no proof for that remark put what a plot twist, huh.

Naruto Chapter 378: One-on-One

Summary: Jiraiya and the frog summons execute a plan to obscure the vision of all but one of 'Pain.' (read 378 here)

SnowyOwl Says:

Sorry for the late update. I didn't realize I skipped this chapter until now, which speaks to how engaging the story has been the last couple of weeks. Still not so impressed by hermit-mode. As a former choral singer, it was slightly annoying reading through the frogs' excuses about singing together; they've had years to coordinate - I was jaded from the start that these summons were really worthy of Jiraiya.

Witherwing Writes:

So after being Pein's teacher for 3 years, Jiraiya still has no idea what Pein is capible of. Hm.... what was he doing during that time?

Well it's good to know that he can figure it out quickly.

Ah the narrator: Certain victory lies ahead. And with that Jiraiya's fate is sealed.