In all honesty, I think Madara’s battle with the 5 Kage is one of the best fights in Naruto. Each and every time I see it I believe it more and more, I can’t remember a chapter that wasn’t awesome when that battle had a decent amount of panel time, and this week was no different.
Last week we saw Tsunade make a little speech about the Will of Fire she inherited from Hashirama, and so it was always likely she was going to land a few hits on Madara and do some damage. What Madara did though was excellent. Just when Tsunade lands a big blow on him and Gaara seals him, Madara suddenly appears from underground and impales Tsunade. Madara of course had used Hashirama’s Mokuton clone technique, and then commented on the fact that nobody had ever been able to see through the technique except for himself back when Hashirama used to use it, and that was because of his eye powers.
Aside from Madara’s typical badassery, we also get to see Tsunade’s former boyfriend Dan talking with Choji’s father, and he is unsurprisingly shocked when he is told Tsunade managed to become Hokage. When he learns about Madara and the Kage’s battle though, he flat out tells Choji’s dad that the only person who could possibly stop Madara is Hashirama himself, and says that the only way anyone can stop Madara now is if they get the person using Edo Tensei to release the jutsu.
This actually leads to the end of the chapter, where Itachi tries to distract Sasuke with his crows, while Itachi himself then finally meets up with Kabuto. Kabuto laughs though and says luck is finally on his side since if anyone kills him then the Edo Tensei would never end, as the only way to stop the jutsu is if he cancels it himself. Then right in the last panel, we see the outline of Sasuke standing behind Itachi, with Itachi basically thinking “damn, shit’s about to get serious” thanks to the arrival of his brother.
The chapter was brilliant, there is no other word for it. Madara vs the 5 Kage was excellent as always, and I loved the Mokuton clone part. Madara got hyped even more in this chapter thanks to Dan, and Kabuto is basically having a laugh because he knows his life is safe. I am really looking forward now though to the triangle of Itachi, Sasuke and Kabuto. Sasuke is going to go batshit insane, I honestly can’t see anything else happening right now. Itachi’s reaction to Sasuke’s arrival alone is enough to convince me he believes that Sasuke is going to rage first and ask questions later, and so has made his job more difficult.
Truth be told I think Kabuto is a fool if he thinks he is safe now, whether he believes his life or his jutsu will be ok then he is sadly mistaken. If Sasuke doesn’t go batshit insane and fight like hell against him, then I see no reason why Itachi wouldn’t be able to place Kabuto under some sort of strong Genjutsu that forced him to cancel Edo Tensei. I can’t wait to find out what happens next, as Kishimoto has done a fantastic job with Naruto these past few weeks. Just when you think Naruto is getting boring, Kishimoto springs out a month’s worth of brilliant chapters to get you hooked again. Just a brilliant, brilliant chapter, and I find myself wanting to read it more and more with every passing week.
