Manga Naruto Manga [Warning: Spoilers]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]You're welcome. Just remember, folks. I'm a martyr. I'm doing all this for you. And the lulz.[/FONT]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Alright, so we've established that Fukusaku is indeed that Toad version of Yoda, which means when Naruto goes to lift the giant rock by himself, you know, after doing the whole dying thing, we're going to get the "Do or do not, there is not try" speech.

God this was a waste of a chapter.[/SIZE]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Methinks this chapter is a little overshadowed by the irritation that has come before. You can't have action and/or major plot revelations in every weekly edition. Frankly I'm glad to see the series' title character actually [i]doing something[/i].[/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]Methinks this chapter is a little overshadowed by the irritation that has come before. You can't have action and/or major plot revelations in every weekly edition. Frankly I'm glad to see the series' title character actually [i]doing something[/i].[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]A fair point, although the fact that Naruto's training page-time is going to be split yet again with another fight for Sasuke does lead one to wonder if we could possible get a break from Sharingan-shenanigans for even a few chapters.

As for getting action and major plot revelations every week, I don't think anyone is asking for that, what most of us simply want is to be able to come back here and say that yes, the latest chapter actually had decent plot to it and was most importantly worth reading. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering, just well written, hell I'd even take a couple of crap chapters every once in a while if the overall stuff was good.

Bleach, for instance as it's the other manga I read regularly does not seem to suffer from this same problem, at least, not nearly as often.[/SIZE]

[Sekusen]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]A fair point, although the fact that Naruto's training page-time is going to be split yet again with another fight for Sasuke does lead one to wonder if we could possible get a break from Sharingan-shenanigans for even a few chapters.

As for getting action and major plot revelations every week, I don't think anyone is asking for that, what most of us simply want is to be able to come back here and say that yes, the latest chapter actually had decent plot to it and was most importantly worth reading. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering, just well written, hell I'd even take a couple of crap chapters every once in a while if the overall stuff was good.

Bleach, for instance as it's the other manga I read regularly does not seem to suffer from this same problem, at least, not nearly as often.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

You said it :O

[Solo Tremaine]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE=1]As for getting action and major plot revelations every week, I don't think anyone is asking for that, what most of us simply want is to be able to come back here and say that yes, the latest chapter actually had decent plot to it and was most importantly worth reading. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering, just well written, hell I'd even take a couple of crap chapters every once in a while if the overall stuff was good. [/SIZE][/quote][COLOR=#503F86]Yeah, that's fair enough. The problem with something like Naruto is that the plot is separated into rather isolated patches, with different lines moving at different paces the whole time. The only time in the entire series since Zabuza where everything's been focused on one thread alone was when Sasuke was being taken by Orochimaru's Sound Four, more or less. Now, with Naruto very much in a 'Oh bugger, I need to spend months training again' state and Sasuke in a 'OMGZ LOLOLO I GOTS MAGENKYO CAN I HAS KONOHA PLZ' state, it's definitely becoming unbalanced. I guess I want Naruto to hurry up and beat the crap out of Sasuke's arse. I'm glad to see he's actually being given the chance to improve again now.

Kakashi being relegated to a secondary character isn't really fair either, considering how much he's done for the series with relatively little character development overall. I really want to see more of him.

I'm disappointed they showed comparatively little of Naruto's anguish over Jiraiya, too.[/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]Yeah, that's fair enough. The problem with something like Naruto is that the plot is separated into rather isolated patches, with different lines moving at different paces the whole time. The only time in the entire series since Zabuza where everything's been focused on one thread alone was when Sasuke was being taken by Orochimaru's Sound Four, more or less. Now, with Naruto very much in a 'Oh bugger, I need to spend months training again' state and Sasuke in a 'OMGZ LOLOLO I GOTS MAGENKYO CAN I HAS KONOHA PLZ' state, it's definitely becoming unbalanced. I guess I want Naruto to hurry up and beat the crap out of Sasuke's arse. I'm glad to see he's actually being given the chance to improve again now.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]Agreed, perhaps the problem is that the "Sasuke situation" has continued on too long at this point and it's really pushed aside any other plots that might have developed.

I mean originally the plot seemed fairly grounded in reality, where yes, ninja were a lot more powerful than regular humans because they manipulated their chakra, but couldn't reached DBZ power-levels unless certain death came afterwards i.e. Gai and Lee's Eight Gates techniques, or Minato and Sarutobi's Demon Sealing Technique.

Even the now God-like Sharingan wasn't complete hax when it was introduced, Zabuza proved that fairly conclusively, and Chiyo gave tips about fighting the regular Sharingan as well, proving it wasn't unbeatable if the opponent was skilled enough. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]Kakashi being relegated to a secondary character isn't really fair either, considering how much he's done for the series with relatively little character development overall. I really want to see more of him.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]I think the problem with Kakashi is simply level. When he was introduced, Kakashi, bluntly, was the ****, but he was the **** to his three green Genin students who to be honest looked like they'd have trouble tying their hitae to their head. Then we saw Orochimaru, who Kakashi knew he couldn't beat, then Jiraiya, same again. Then we saw Sarutobi, the Hokage fight against Orochimaru and his two predecessors and still only lose because of his age, suddenly Kakashi wasn't looking so cool. Repeat with Tsunade and Akatsuki as desired.

Kakashi is probably the only realistic ninja left in the series, he has Mangekyou, but is left bed-ridden for a few days after using it. He knows over a thousand techniques, but his relatively limited chakra supply prevents him from blitzing opponents left and right. He created the Raikiri/Chidori, but didn't transform it into a Kaiten rip-off or electro-sword of Kusanagi as his student did.

All that said, I'd definitely like to see some more character development for him, not necessarily training, as then we'd move further into DBZ territory, but some more page-time of his thoughts would be nice.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]I'm disappointed they showed comparatively little of Naruto's anguish over Jiraiya, too.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thought that. The same could be said, perhaps even more so for Tsunade who shows minimal grief now over Jiraiya's death.[/SIZE]

[Magus]

[COLOR="Navy"]Hm. While I'm not entirely against seeing the sharingan, I am tired of seeing Sasuke, but at the same time I'd take seeing Sasuke over Naruto anyday.

Anyway. So the 8 tails is a bee? Did I read that right? (It's after 1:30am here, and I had only 4-5 hours of sleep, and my eyes do tend to trick me a lot when sleepy.) Also, does the 8 tails have a split personality or something?

Maybe it's just me and my hate against Naruto, and I know it's only like stage 1 on his training, but this frog training is on the lame side whereas, I was actually intrigued when Kakashi when training him. Not because of me being a fan of Kakashi, but I found everything about Naruto trying to come up with his own jutsu interesting. This whole thing with natural energy is just really unappealing.[/COLOR]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Ace's Chapter Recap

Chapter 410

The chapter starts with Sasuke going over battle tactics with Team Hawk. He tells Karin to watch his back. Seriously, dude? Now it's as if you want to get she-raped. Anyway, after that there's a decent-looking color spread of a bunch of dead guys plus Naruto and Kakashi.

Cut back to Sasuke's fight. Suigetsu rushes the 8-tails Jinchuuriki and gets uber pwned instantly. Back to Naruto, we learn that he doesn't really have to die. He just has to hold still. If he can do that and learn to control nature's flow of chakra without some weird oil, he'll be home free. If not, he'll turn into a frog. Of course, taking into account our zero's attention span, let's just say I predict a lot of bad Yaoi fanfictions involving Sasuke turning Naruto into a handsome prince in our future. Anyway, apparently what Gamachiki meant was he might have to 'die' as a human. Thanks for being less vague, jerk.

Meanwhile, back on the funny farm, Juugo's out like a light. Oh, and the black guy raps. See, that's not insulting or stereotypical at all. Totally cool, Kishi. All black people do that. It's fine.

Cut back to Naruto, apparently for kicks and giggles. Naruto does his typical "you can't deter me because I'm a moron!" speech and the training begins.

Cut back to Sasuke (make up ya friggin' mind, Kishi,) and we see that everyone is somehow surprised that he mashed up The Hulk and Waterboy. Sasuke moves in, no doubt to unload a clip of nuclear shenanigans right in the 8-tails' face. End chapter.


Phenom: I don't think he's really a bee. That was just one of the mad rhymes he was bustin'. And it seems a bit too early to call any personality at all on the guy, though who can say if Kishi knows what a personality is anymore.[/FONT]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Aceburner'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Naruto does his typical "you can't deter me because I'm a moron!" speech and the training begins.[/FONT][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]Probably the funniest and yet most apt statement ever made about Naruto training.

Anyway Ace pretty much summed up a lot of my thoughts on the chapter a lot more entertainingly than I could have. Asking Naruto to stand still and control his chakra for five seconds might as well be asking Sasuke to give up his quest for revenge against, well whoever he's avenging at that moment. Seriously, chakra control from the kid with a demon sealed inside him, who's chakra leaks out and mixes with Naruto's own ?

As for the Toad to Prince yaoi, for the love of God Ace, don't give the fangirls ideas.

Moving on to Hawkastuki, seeing Suigestu get his sword stopped bare-handed again before getting owned was definitely nice. As for Juugo, well apparently he's important enough as a character to get two frames showing his surprise at being owned. God knows how Sasuke is going to avoid looking like a haxxor when he beats him in two moves.[/SIZE]

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]As for the Toad to Prince yaoi, for the love of God Ace, don't give the fangirls ideas.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

Too la~ate! Fanfiction.net, here I come!!!:animesmil

But once again, I am very happy that I didn't read that ch., 'cause from what it sounds like in Ace's recap, it would've been a waste of my time. And I hate rap...

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='chibi-master']Too la~ate! Fanfiction.net, here I come!!!:animesmil[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]*prepares Reigun*

Put the pen down, Chibi. You ought to be ashamed. Poor ol' Fanfiction.net is already plagued with too much nonsensical smut as it is. In fact, I hear Hitler was a NaruSaku shipper. You don't want to be like Hitler, do you?

No, but sorry about that, Gavin. I couldn't resist the obvious joke.[/FONT]

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Aceburner'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]*prepares Reigun*

Put the pen down, Chibi. You ought to be ashamed. Poor ol' Fanfiction.net is already plagued with too much nonsensical smut as it is. In fact, I hear Hitler was a NaruSaku shipper. You don't want to be like Hitler, do you?[/FONT][/QUOTE]

Umm...Naruto came [I][B]after[/B][/I] Hitler's time, right? And I will not stop! It would be against the SasuNaru codes to let a chance like this slip! And if not Fanfiction.net, then DeviantArt!!! Maybe I'll draw Naruto in a frog suit and Sasuke in a princess' frilly pink dress...*evil smirk*

[Gavin]

[quote name='chibi-master']Umm...Naruto came [I][B]after[/B][/I] Hitler's time, right? And I will not stop! It would be against the SasuNaru codes to let a chance like this slip! And if not Fanfiction.net, then DeviantArt!!! Maybe I'll draw Naruto in a frog suit and Sasuke in a princess' frilly pink dress...*evil smirk*[/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]You see Ace, with the garden-variety rabid yaoi fangirl, you have to shoot without warning and without hesitation. They may look human, sound human, hell, even bleed like a human, but don't be fooled, they're not, and you're doing the world a great favour with every one of them you kill. If you don't, stuff like this happens.

On that note. *Vapourises Chibi with Amaterasu*[/SIZE]

[chibi-master]

*protects self with ItachixKisame doodle*

Anyway, I was curious about the whole frog oil thing, so I skimmed throught the chapter...I still don't get how the oil helped. At all. Was it because I skimmed through? Can someone explain this to me?:confused:

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503f86]The frogs are blatantly just old hippies trying to get Naruto onto questionable substances. I bet it's Methylated Spirits.[/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Unquantifiable awesomeness.

[IMG]http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3686/hawkfailom7.jpg[/IMG][/SIZE]

[Haku877]

[quote name='chibi-master']*protects self with ItachixKisame doodle*

Anyway, I was curious about the whole frog oil thing, so I skimmed throught the chapter...I still don't get how the oil helped. At all. Was it because I skimmed through? Can someone explain this to me?:confused:[/QUOTE]

Basically, The oil help draw in The Nature Energy, Making it easier to train.

[/seriousness]

Yes, skipping it may be part of the problem. Skipping is for little girls. and people who cut class.

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Ace's chapter recap

Chapter 411

Chapter opens with Sasuke approaching 8-Tails, who appears to be throwin' up gang signs. Juugo is standing again for some reason. Oh, so is Suigetsu. Before the actual fight, they spend about 3 pages whining about how they have to sit through the guy's rapping. Nevermind the fact that you both just got your butts handed to you, that rapping is just too friggin' annoying!

Sasuke turns his arm into a sword. Oh, I guess he's just drawing it. Lame. Would've made him 13% less fail if he turned his arm into a sword. He says he wants to test and see if the tailed beasts are really all that. Yo, your arch rival is one! This idiot doesn't pay attention to anything! Oh, and Karen is once again fangasming over every bit of clichè dialogue issuing from Mary Suechiha's mouth. And then she badmouths the black guy. This woman has all the class of Tacky the Penguin.

Sasuke swings. Battle begins. It's a swordfight, so there's not much to see. There is, however, one thing I found both informative and hilarious that can only be conveyed through a picture:

[CENTER][IMG]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n72/Aceburner85/Naruto411page08-OneManga_1217564048.png[/IMG]
Zabuza's sword is made of cardboard. Commence epic laughter.[/CENTER]

Anyway, Sasuke proceeds to epically fail as 8-Tails dodges while writing down lyrics for his mad rhymes which he will probably proceed to bust later. Sasuke, meanwhile, returns Suigetsu's sword. 8-Tails suddenly busts out his own blades. Suigetsu yells to Sasuke, warning him that this foe is both skilled with a blade and no ordinary ninja.

[SIZE="4"][B][I][U]THANK YOU, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS.[/U][/I][/B][/SIZE]

8-Tails basically turns himself into a sawblade at this point. Sasuke has to bust out his shenanigans so his pale, pasty cave skin doesn't get all scarred and no longer smooth. Icky. Anyway, he activates his Chidori sword at this point. Somehow, 8-Tails manages to block it to everyone's surprise and my amusement. He then drops a famous line. "I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!"

Get it? 'Cuz he's black. And he's the "Killer Bee."

On the plus side, this last page seems to depict Sasuke with several swords in several vital areas. I probably shouldn't get my hopes up, though.[/FONT]

[chibi-master]

ZOMG!!!:o A cardboard Zabuza sword!!! I wonder if it cuts through rice paper!!! *shot*:animedepr

[Magus]

I'm have mixed opinions about this chapter. On one hand I thought the chapter was actually pretty decent. The 8 tails is an interesting character. Although, Kishimoto should've left the rapping alone.

On the other hand, it really looks like Kishimoto is regretting killing off Itachi. It looks as if he's trying to turn Sasuke into another Itachi, and he's not doing so good in the process.

Since Sasuke no longer has the curse mark, I wonder if that made him weaker? I don't recall him ever needing to make hand signs for the chidori since the beginning of the time leap.

Instead of dragging this out so much, I think I would've preferred that Pein fight the 8 tails just to get the Sasuke vs Naruto fight over that much quicker.

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Like Ace, after seeing Sasuke being turned into a human pin-cushion by the Eight-tails I'm trying not to get my hopes up that we may actually see Sasuke lose a fight. That said, he's not brought out that Hax-Mangekyou of his yet so I wouldn't rule out a victory yet, but then the Hachibi hasn't used his Jinchuuriki powers either.

As for the chapter itself, overall it wasn't bad, though the rap aspect is being pushed a little perhaps. Anyway I think I'll just leave the summarising to Ace, his are much funnier anyway and cover everything I was going to say.[/SIZE]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Ace's chapter recap

Chapter 412

The first page is chock full of mirth and glee. It would seem Sasuke is finally about to stop breathing! For real this time, too! I guess I don't need to read the rest of the chapter. I've seen enough. I'll just check the next page to make sure nothing can save him noDAMMIT SUIGETSU.

So yeah, his killer blow is blocked by Water Boy. Apparently he's going to have to get out of there fast because Mr. B is a lightning-type pokeymanz. 8-Tails nearly cuts through Zabuza's sword before Saucekay sends his chidori coursing through it. The Incredible Hulk comes up from behind with a Juugo PAWWWNCH which actually makes contact for once. Karin drags Sasuke out of the line of fire and Suigetsu breaks one of 8-Tails' swords.

After this, there's a page of action so odd that I can't seem to decipher for the life of me and Karen removing swords from Sasuke's fading body. She then pulls up her sleeve and...

The hell?

Is this really happening?

Do I HAVE to explain what's going on here?

Ugh, fine. There's bite marks all over Karin's arm. She tells Sasuke to bite her arm. DON'T DO IT, MAN! YOU'RE ONLY GIVING HER WHAT SHE WANTS! Anyway, the idiot takes the bait. Suddenly, he's fully healed and ready to continue the fight. Don't make a mistake and assume this makes her useful, though. She's still just girl Sasuke in glasses. But now with a sick masochism fetish.

Anyway, I love this next quote of Suigetsu's.

"To be honest, he's insanely strong. Forget about trying not to kill him, we've gotta fight to kill! Then we should be able to defeat him without killing him."

Wow. That logic is so incredibly wrong that it somehow makes sense. The fact that all this only happened in the first seven pages is very annoying to me. I didn't know Kishi could fit that much bullcrap into less than half of a chapter.

Thankfully, now we return to Naruto. We can watch him sit perfectly still and almost turn into a frog multiple times. Anyway, he decides to create some clones so he can finish training faster. Only three, though, since Fukusaku can't keep up with more than that. Eventually, Naruto gets so beat up that Fukusaku hits him accidentally, or so he says. I think he's just enjoying beating on the kid. But hey, I would, too.

Fukusaku tells Naruto that the only reason he can even attempt to master the Sage Techniques is because he, like Jiraya, is both high in stamina and [strike]an utter moron[/strike] doesn't give up. Then the training continues.

Back to Sasuke's fight. Okay, I have no idea what on earth is going on or who's fighting who or anything. 8-Tails hides and makes plans to get home and get boozed off his Heinekin, but is located by Ugly the Slut through magic or something. I really don't care anymore. Sasuke (and I can only tell it's Sasuke because it has black hair and isn't wearing glasses and I don't think Sai wears Akatsuki robes) lunges in the general direction of Karin's finger and 8-Tails prepares "Number 8." What is "Number 8?" I don't know. Nor do I care. Screw this crap, I'm gonna go read One Piece.[/FONT]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Ugh, Ace's summary covers most of what I was going to say about this chapter. Yet again we've seen Sasuke dodge dying through some new deus ex machina. I mean seriously, remember when Sasuke had to recover after nearly dying against Deidara ? Did Karen display this miraculous healing power then ? Nope ? Didn't think so. Drop the hax Kishi, this **** got old a long time ago.

As for Naruto, does anyone else buy Fukusaku's explanation of why Naruto and Jiraiya are the only two who could learn how to use Sage chakra ? Because I'm seriously not. Massive chakra supplies and guts ? Please. I mean really, what is Naruto going to get out of this ? Sure, Sage chakra, but what will it lead to ? A newer, more destructive Rasengan to replace the Rasen-Shuriken ? Do any of his teachers, seriously, any of them think that teaching the kid a few new moves might be a good idea ?

I mean seriously, his three major opponents coming up, Pein, Madara and Sasuke all have huge libraries of techniques at their disposal. I wouldn't even like to guess at how many techniques Madara has picked up in his century or so of life, Kakashi is what thirty and has over a thousand ? So some new uber chakra is meant to level the playing-field ? I don't think so. The way things are going, Naruto has a snowball's chance in Hell of winning against any of them.

Maybe, just maybe, this new Sage chakra will give him greater control over his Bijuu chakra, or maybe it'll make his Kage Bunshins stronger against damage so as to mimic Pein's extra bodies. I don't know, all I know is that with only three shadow clones to speed up the training, Naruto might've been as well off to go apprentice under the 8-Tails and learn to control the Kyuubi.

Overall, this chapter failed big-time.[/SIZE]

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Aceburner'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Ace's chapter recap

Chapter 412

The first page is chock full of mirth and glee. It would seem Sasuke is finally about to stop breathing! For real this time, too! I guess I don't need to read the rest of the chapt er. I've seen enough. I'll just check the next page to make sure nothing can save him noDAMMIT SUIGETSU.[/FONT][/QUOTE]

WTF?! NOOOOOOOOO!!!:animecry: GYAAAH!!! SUIGETSU, YOU F***ING TURD!!! THE WORLD WAS GONNA BE HAPPY AND YOU JUST, GRRRRR......:flaming:

And Karin...you're just a pervert...(Of all the characters to choose from, she has a fetish for SASUKE! No, not just a fetish for Sasuke, but a fetish for Sasuke biting her arm...)

And Ace, you said her arm was [I]covered[/I] in bites! Who knows how many brain-dead boys she has lured into that trick!

Karin: Oh, look! You have a scrape! How terrible! Here, bite my arm!
Victim: I've heard [I]that[/I] line before!