Summary: Sasuke and team goes to find the eight-tails. The Konoha gang suspects Jiraiya's message is about Pain's identity, but results are inconclusive; they await information from the autopsy. Naruto is offered to train with Fukasaku.
Serenphoria Says: [The Good] 1. A new character at last! Finally, it looks like a jinchuuriki that's not Gaara or Naruto gets some personality. I always felt the other tailed beasts got shafted of panel time. They really teased us with Nibi - I wanted to see more of her. Meh. We'll see what Rambo brings to the table.
Okay, in all seriousness, I think that the eight-tail jinchuuriki can offer some interesting contrast to the cast. Here's a battle-hardened ADULT that seems to have some Western influence in the character design. If he gets a chance to be develop, he could represent a very different kind of life philosophy than has been explored thus far in the Narutoverse. The fact that Sasuke's group is hunting him gives me a little hope that maybe the new guy will be spared (and join them! hohoho!)
2. A non-Sasuke-lover at last! Shika did it indirectly, but Sui, I think, is the first of Sasuke's peers to call out what a pain-in-the-@ss he is. It was a moment where it almost felt like a breach of the fourth wall and a character was acknowledging Sasuke's Gary Stu powers! Any regular reader here knows I love Sui, but now I have another reason to love him more - finally someone not struck blind by Sasuke's god-like existence.
3. Ah, the Student-Teacher Bond! Not that I doubted that Naruto and Jiraiya shared a bond, but I always have this fear that Naruto isn't sensitive enough to recognize it and it's a one-way relationship. Becoming an avenger is not necessarily a good thing
*cough*Sasuke*cough* but I love that he feels strong enough to be thusly motivated (I had a bit of an Ed-Maes moment there).
[The Bad] Well, annoying anyway.1)
Worst code-breakers ever: Who reports to a superior with ONE interpretation of a code? I mean, at least reference that you tried other ideas. And Tsunade and the toads just accepted it! Which mean Kishi is telling us it's right, but still! Not believable at all. Maybe Kishi was trying to avoid the readers becoming bored with theories, but again, he could have quickly referenced that they tried other things.
2) Blandest personality ever: Juugo had potential, but he's coming off as such a shallow character.
I like it here because I feel like I can control my impulses? When was bloodlust associated with a place? (He better be in a familiar place and have some history with it or something!). I don't know why his one line in half a year irks me so much. Maybe because it seems like such a waste of space - it's like everyone else had a character driven line and Kishi thought,
oh no! I forgot to give Juugo any sort of depth! It was like he was totally in his own world. (It may also be my impatience with characters with childlike dispositions)
3) Another Training Sequence: Naruto's off to power up, again. Any bets on whether or not Naruto gets to USE his new skills more than once? Please let the boy advance already!
