Events are starting to come to a head.
Creative Staff
Story: Masashi Kishimoto
Art: Masashi Kishimoto
Translation/Adaptation: Mari Morimoto/Joel Enos
What They Say
With Itachi having stopped Kabuto, it’s time for the Edotensei warriors to finally be returned to the afterlife! This means that Itachi’s time on earth will also be coming to an end. How will Sasuke deal with losing his brother once again? And what dark tricks does Madara have up his sleeve?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having neutralized Katubo’s power, Itachi is able to reverse the Edotensei jutsu and release the spirits of the undead back to the afterlife. While this is effective in ending the conflict in most places, Madara is able to block that reversal for himself and remain in his body, now ostensibly with an unending amount of power. But even knowing the truth of his brother’s life and death, Sasuke’s desire for revenge on Konoha has only strengthened. At the same time, Naruto and his allies are faced with the impending resurrection of Ten Tails, but in order to do that, they need to get past a man in a spiral mask who has the ability to phase out of a solid state and let attacks go straight through him.
In the last volume, I got the strong impression that Naruto was building up to a climax/major moment of sorts. This volume only reinforces that idea as it seems like all of the various plot threads are starting to come together. What is interesting is that it feels like we might be nearing the ultimate conclusion of Naruto, and not just one of many high points. Sasuke is still searching for the complete truth about his brother and his clan, but his conflict with Naruto and Konoha appear to be rapidly arriving, and Medara’s plans will likely see him opposing Naruto and/or Sasuke sooner rather than later. And with Naruto firmly in control of Nine Tails, it appears that it is only a matter of time before he is able to achieve his own ambitions.
In Summary
It appears that Naruto is starting to ramp up to some sort of inevitable climax. Whether it is the conflict that sees the long running series come to an end or not is still to be seen, though all of the pieces seem to be falling into place for it. Things continue to move at a breakneck pace throughout this volume as it’s starting to tie up all of the loose threads. We might still have a ways to go to get to the end, but it does feel like we’re getting there. Recommended.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 6th, 2013
MSRP: $9.99
