Naruto Chapter 408: Fukasaku's Proposal
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!
posted by serenphoria @ 11:40 PM
9 Comments
9 Comments:
But Suigetsu does it behind Sasuke's back. He comes off as cowardly. He's a bully to anyone weaker than him, but a nice lackey around Sasuke. He'll probably die in this fight along with Karin and Juugo.
Although Sui is a 1,000 times better than Juugo. Juugo might be Kishimoto's worst character in a looong time. He is not attractive, just blah. Karin at least has a personality. Shiho has her Shika love. Hidan and Kakuzu were cool. But Juugo has nothing going on.
@anon
Wow, that was quick! I absolutely respect your opinion, but I'd like to clarify that when I said Suigetsu 'called out' that Sasuke's not the sh*t, I meant that it's the first time Kishimoto explicitly expressed that through a character to us, the readers. That in itself is refreshing since Kishi is thought to be a complete Sasuke lover himself.
And to respond to your claim that Suigetsu's just a cowardly bully, I'd point out that Suigetsu made it clear in the beginning and throughout that he's tagging along for the sword (getting want he wants) and for lack of anything else better to do - I don't think he ever pretends to be undyingly loyal to Sasuke nor has he ever brown-nosed. Not saying what he was thinking out loud was tactful, not cowardly. No matter what the motivation, they are teammates and allies, and in the workplace, or in any other group environment where you've agreed to work together, you can't always say what your think to keep the team functional.
Personally, I feel that Suigetsu has the most mature attitude towards teamwork - he's got his opinions and doesn't take orders for the sake of being subservient, but he has shown self-restraint (albeit grudgingly at times) because it makes sense for the team and what they are trying to accomplish. He might selfishly want to murder for his own pleasure, but dead people don't make good informants.
Karin most definitely does not work for the benefit of the team, but for her blind infatuation with Sasuke. Juugo, I think is more the mindless lackey - I think anyone in the leadership role could command him and he'd follow. Sui would be the only one on the team (besides Sasuke) that exercises independent thought, reason, and self-restraint when needed. (and we can all argue whether Sasuke has any independent thoughts!)
Sorry for the long reply!
I'm afraid I'm nothing like so deep in thought about this chapter as the rest of you. My first thoughts were: "Well, at least you can't see Sasuke's outfit anymore." That alone is a reason for a party. Then I broke out into laughter because he WINKED the guy's secrets out of him. He WINKED at him, and showed him an (outdated!) atomic symbol. HA HA! YOUR SECRETS ARE MINE, PUNY HUMAN! YOU MUST FILL OUT ALL OF MY ELECTRON SHELL CONFIGURATION DIAGRAMS TO ESCAPE! HA HA HA!!! Then off he trotted with the rest of the Brady Bunch. But at least Sui's soul's his own. Yay, Sui! (And Kishimoto, so help me, Sasuke had better get taken down SEVERAL pegs. Itachi's thorough thrashing wasn't enough. Sasuke needs to eat more dirt for the good of his fictional soul. Emo twit.)
Does anyone else think it would be soooo awesome if instead of using his "seven bladed sword" (so, what, he fights with a septehedral prism?) he just pulls out a revolver and busts a cap in everyone? ANTICLIMAX! (Oh, and I snickered at Rambo's swearing. Pick a swear word and go with it, honey. It sounds stupid as it is.)
Naruto's gonna train SOME MORE? Good grief, hasn't anyone tried to train him with practical experience? He just said he didn't have time to waste, and he's trotting off to Toad Camp? That having been said, at least he LISTENED when the old people told him that Pein would wipe the floor with his intestines if he went after him now. But then, he's going to get trained like Jiraya. I really hate to point this out, but, fat lot of good that did Jiraya.
Hooray for lunch breaks!
'The solitary genius. The boy once resisted, but eventually learned this pain is just a part of his life'
Whoa D:
Man, I don't know how to feel about Sasuke. Sometimes I just wanna hug the boy and on other times I wanna punch some sense into that stupid head of his...
As it stands, I think only Naruto would be able to pull both of those off. Though it does make me wonder what Sasuke's fate would be if Naruto just gave up on him like any sane person would have done years ago.
I never thought I'd see Sasuke sporting an Akatsuki coat. And he sure wastes no time using those new eyes of his, huh? (Itachi, did this so much better than you! I want him back D:)
Yeah, Sui is definitely the best guy in team 'Hawk'. Juugo is Hitsugaya's psycho older brother and Karin's... well, I'd like to think she's more than 'old Sakura on crack'. She worked for Orochimaru after all... what I really want to know is what she did to Sasuke when he was unconscious. She didn't rape him, right? Right?
You bring up some good points about the new Jinchuuriki that I never thought about. I like the fact that he's an adult as well, and I'm hoping he'll be the one to school these upstart youngsters. I like the idea that he'll join, but not really as a part of the team. More like an observer, only pitching in when he feels like it. Kinda like Hiko Seijuro from Rurouni Kenshin (one of my favorite characters of all time :D). Also the eight tailed beast is a Kracken? That would be awesome.
I think my face mirrored Sakura's when Naruto said 'avenge'. While no where near Sasuke, I hope that Sakura will take the time to talk to Naruto about this. I think she'll be the one who needs more reassurance than him, actually... and I really want to see more interaction between those two that doesn't end up with Sakura beating Naruto down. For some reason NaruSaku is really warming up to me these days :o
Frog-key-thing, Itachi-crow and now sage training. I'd like to think that things are finally looking up for Naruto. Maybe he'll even get a new wardrobe too! I'm hoping for something totally awesome like this. Since Kishi seems incapable of drawing cool clothes, though, I really doubt this, but I can dream.
@serenphoria
Thank you for your response. You made me rethink Sui. The problem is that clearly Kishi was telling the truth when he said he didn't want to do anything with Sasuke's underlings and was even forced to show their fight(which should be this one).
Everyone of them has had poor characterization. Juugo is a non-entity begging to be killed off. Karin is a one-note joke. Shiho in a few chapters was a more interesting fangirl than Karin.
Suigetsu probably suffers more than anyone by being attached to Sasuke. It totally stifles his character. On one hand he does seem to not like Sasuke and have some independent thought. But with limited development, it's still hard for me to see beyond him being a lackey or just cheap hired muscle doing Sasuke's bidding. He is just following power. A far cry from Zabuza who went his own way.
Considering how badly we need an amazing jinchuuriki, I wouldn't be surprised if Juugo, Karin, and Sui were all sacrificed to show the 8-tails power. Sasuke walking out of there with all his gang intact, would destroy the last shred of credibility the biju have. We don't need Team Taka anymore, so it makes sense to end it right here and free Sasuke of any team.
@anon
Whoa, you came back, even though you probably don't get the email notification of updates! That's awesome, thanks for participating!
>Sasuke walking out of there with all his gang intact, would destroy the last shred of credibility the biju have.
True, true, and also a point I didn't think about. Maybe Rambo can blast Sui off Team Rocket-style and Suigetsu can star in his own spin-off! (yes.)
But I'm not certain that this will be your typical biju vs. akatsuki battle since Kishi is taking the time to give the biju/jinchuuriki a personality. We'll see.
@taters
>Does anyone else think it would be soooo awesome if instead of using his "seven bladed sword" (so, what, he fights with a septehedral prism?) he just pulls out a revolver and busts a cap in everyone?
Oh god yes. That's so Indiana Jones.
@Jedi
>I never thought I'd see Sasuke sporting an Akatsuki coat. And he sure wastes no time using those new eyes of his, huh?
I forgot to comment on that! I like the collar-down look (or do they get hoodies?) Nice visual statement of allies-but-not-actual-akatsuki.
The eyes though...did I miss it? When did he get it? It seems different from what Itachi gave him. A gift from Madara? Anyway, I don't like it. The eyes, strange to say, seems to lack character. People will wear regular Sharingan contacts, but not this one. There's no history behind it, or hard work, and thus, little value to me as a reader.
@Serenphoria
'The eyes though... did I miss it? Where did he get it?'
Those new eyes (which I thought looked kinda like a kaleidoscope, fittingly enough) are Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan, which he got from killing Itachi.
Itachi implanted Amaterasu in Sasuke's eye with the forehead poke as a last ditch effort to keep Madara away from him (explained here). At first I thought Sasuke had used Tsukuyomi on the poor guy, but it didn't look like he'd been through three days of hell. So maybe the Mangekyou gives everyone has a unique ability?
Kakashi: Rips through time and space, just by squinting.
Itachi: Three gods of Japan at your command.
Madara: You can't kill me I'm invincible!
Sasuke: Jedi Mind Trick.
With the added bonus of Kyuubi control for everyone!
Hopefully Kishi will give an actual explanation for the Mangekyou in later chapters.
P.S. OH GOD I MISSPELLED KRAKEN! *SHAME*
LOL, Jedi Mind Trick.
These are not the bijuu you're looking for.
These are NOT the bijuu you're looking for!
Goddammit, LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR YOUR STUPID BIJUU!
I love Jedi Mind Trick. Even without loving Jedi, I love Jedi Mind Trick.
Yeah, the Mind Trick is obviously the best ability ever granted to a Mangekyou user, huh? :D
Actually, I'm really starting to think that the Uchiha clan is comprised entirely out of Sith. I mean, Sasuke uses force lightning, Itachi and his 'only your hatred can destroy me.' speech and Madara's first class manipulations...
I wonder if they have cookies?
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