I am incredibly pleased with the new chapter, the panel above made my day as an Uchiha bros fan. But yes, chapter 578 was pretty awesome yet again as Naruto is going through one of it’s best patches of form in Shippuden.
Last week set up brilliantly with Sasuke appearing behind Itachi right when he came across Kabuto, and this week we get to see what happens because of that. I was surprised Kabuto was so forthcoming with revealing to Sasuke about the bargain he had made with Tobi, even going as far as to comment on his delight that his prize would present itself to him of it’s own accord. Kabuto actually goes in to some detail apparently to explain things to Sasuke, but this is done off panel so that we get to see more of Madara vs the 5 Kage’s battle.
Speaking of which, last week we saw Madara being badass and him impaling Tsunade through the chest, and with the new chapter we find out she is still alive and has even been able to heal herself. I think it was pretty obvious this would be the case, it never really looked likely that Tsunade was going to go out like that, but it did at least get to show us her healing powers. Yet again I couldn’t help but like the way Madara was acting towards the Kage, at one point Onoki tries his jutsu again on Madara and says that one of his attacks was able to graze him once before, but Madara calls him senile and says that he let himself be hit on purpose just so that everyone could see Hashirama’s face embedded in him.
Basically long story short, the Kage so far still haven’t been able to do anything of real note to Madara, and Madara himself is still quick to mock them and is full of arrogance. Before I move on from that fight however, I do want to give a special mention to the scenes with the Kage telling Madara that the very fact they have to go 5 on 1 against him shows how much they respect his power, and that he shouldn’t think of them as cowards because of it. Then Madara pulls off the badass move of saying he doesn’t consider them cowards, while then performing a multiple Mokuton clone jutsu and telling the Kage basically what they had just said to him eg; it’s only because he respects their power so much that he is going 5 on 1 (having now made loads of clones to outnumber the Kage and fighting them individually with each set of clones). This I feel was typical Madara and was such a slap in the face to the Kage who were actually being sincere when they said it to him, I just can’t help but love the sheer cockiness and arrogance Madara displays.
We then get to move back on to Sasuke, Itachi and Kabuto. Kabuto has finished explaining things to Sasuke, and even tries to encourage Sasuke to work with him instead so that together they can both defeat Itachi. Kabuto says that they both had the same master and mentions how Itachi massacred the Uchiha clan, and basically just trying to convince Sasuke that working with him was the right way to go. Sasuke answers the question of who’s side he is on though when he throws some shuriken at Kabuto, although they are blocked. Sasuke asks Itachi why he stopped them, and Itachi tells him that they can’t kill Kabuto or else the Edo Tensei will never come to an end. Itachi reveals his plan to stop Edo Tensei, that being he would place Kabuto under Tsukuyomi and while he was under his control, he would force him to reveal the secrets of Edo Tensei and then stop the Jutsu.
Kabuto pretty much laughs it off and says about how it won’t necessarily be as easy for the plan to work as Itachi thinks, and claims that there is no kind of weakness or flaw to the jutsu. Itachi though says that there is a flaw to every jutsu, and then delivers a badass line by saying that the flaw to Kabuto’s Edo Tensei is Itachi himself. The expression on Itachi’s face in that panel was brilliant and the line was delivered perfectly, it stood out as one of the chapter’s highlights because of the sheer badass and awesomeness it projected. In the end, Itachi asks Sasuke to work together with him to defeat Kabuto without killing him, and promises him that if he will do that then he will talk to Sasuke about whatever he wants afterwards. Then came my favourite part of the chapter, with Sasuke agreeing to help but saying to Itachi that for all these years Itachi would never keep his promises, and said that for once please just keep your promise this time. Well the answer was good from Itachi too, but you can see his response in the panel at the top of this review.
That pretty much sums up the chapter, and I have to say I loved reading it. We will finally get to see Sasuke and Itachi work together as a team, something fans of the Uchiha bros have pretty much always wanted. I can’t even imagine how great it’s going to be seeing the two of them working together at last, and I honestly don’t have a clue how Kabuto is going to have any hopes of stopping them. My only guess is that maybe now the Kage are going to be busy dealing with the Mokuton Madara clones, Kabuto might summon the real Madara to his location so that he can help against Itachi and Sasuke. If Itachi and Sasuke do end up taking on Madara, it has the potential to be the most amazing fight ever seen in Naruto, so I am almost hoping that is what will happen. Even if it doesn’t though, the sheer fact Itachi and Sasuke are going to be teaming up means that the fight is going to be amazing and something special.
I also want to give a quick mention to the fact at first Sasuke was unsure if Kabuto was Orochimaru, as from a distance they obviously look rather similar. I thought that was a pretty nice touch and it goes to show just how far Kabuto has come and what lengths he has gone to so that he can achieve his goals. I was also surprised because it seemed to me like Sasuke was also genuinely a bit worried when he first thought it was Orochimaru, I know it was mostly shock, but I could definitely sense some worry too which was surprising considering how much stronger Sasuke himself has grown since the days he knew and worked with Orochimaru.
But overall this was yet another excellent chapter of Naruto, and once more I am left desperately wanting to read the next chapter to find out what happens next.
Posted by Tokyo Mao 
Tokyo Gazette 