Top Ninja Tournement: Part 1!!

Hey everyone!  It’s paintheclown here with a contest idea! (Bob: If you don’t like this idea, then delete this post)  But, anyways, I would like to see who’s the Shannaro Community’s favorite ninja in all of the Naruverse!  So, If you would like to participate, please select a character from the poll below.  But, before you do that, make sure you understand the rules…

1. You may only vote once.  So, make sure you be careful when picking…
2. If your favorite character isn’t up there, please pick your next favorite…
3. And, last but not least, don’t get all upset if your favorite character doesn’t get into the Top 10… (I know this one doesn’t make much sense.  but, just roll with it…)

So, happy voting!! ^(^_^)^

By the way, the contest ends 11/22/09.  If you vote after that date, your vote will not count!

Also, there are 55 characters on this poll, so look at everyone of them to make the right decision.  Your favorite character may be close to the bottom…

Ja,

paintheclown

Naruto Chapter 471 – Octopus Eats Sharks?

Post Author: Bob

Well, after enduring a slew of dialogue-heavy chapters over the last few weeks, we finally get to the full blown fight many of us were hoping to see. It’s Kisame vs. Killerbee, the shark vs. the octopus, water vs. lightning. Many people have been throwing about predictions on who will win this battle, but as for me, I think the jury’s out on this one.

Kisame has bagged at least one other Bijuu single-handedly in the past, so we know the guy’s got the skills to back up that big grin on his face. But Killerbee is not your typical Jinchuuriki. From his fight against Sasuke and team, we saw that Killerbee has an almost symbiotic relationship with his Bijuu — they fully work as a team; something we haven’t seen in other Jinchuurikis including Naruto. Yet Killerbee relies too much on pure offensive tactics, he’s used to charging his opponent at full power and literally decimating them in one attack. Kisame, on the other hand, is counting on this because every drop of chakra Samehada can absorb from Killerbee will make him even stronger. But everything has its limits, and even Samehada can’t absorb all that Bijuu chakra all at once. To win this fight, Killerbee needs to exploit this and try to finish the fight quickly because every failed attack on his part will just end up helping Kisame. In short, the longer this fight draws out, the more likely that victory will favor Kisame.

This chapter offered some new insights into the extents of both Killerbee and Kisame’s abilities, some amazing and others just plain weird. I was kinda surprised when I saw Killerbee just casually put his finger in his mouth and have ink on it when he pulled it out. It’s not the first precedence of a Jinchuuriki showing an ability or trait of their Bijuu’s animal type: Naruto has been know to burrow as efficiently as a fox at times (remember his fight versus Neji?). At first, I thought that the ink ability was pretty useless (what’s Killerbee going to do, spit it in Kisame’s face?), but now that Kisame has submerged their battlefield in a water dome, the ink might actually be effective to provide some cover for Killerbee just like it does for real octopi in the wild. I wonder if Killerbee is going to manifest any other octopus-like abilities? Maybe fit his body into a small bottle or have suction cups on his arms, Lol. I was also surprised when Killerbee said that octopus eat sharks. Turns out it’s true… to an extent because sharks are also known to eat octopi — it really depends on who is bigger and stronger. And I think that this speaks a lot about the outcome of this battle.

This chapter also confirmed that Naruto’s various stages of Bijuu transformation are not just unique to him alone. Killerbee has shown this when he undergoes a similar transformation to Naruto’s where a skeleton is formed overtop the already transformed body. Notice that Killerbee used this state more effectively because he actually used the horned skull of the bull to gore both Samehada and Kisame as he charged. As well, Killerbee’s real body does not appear to be damaged at all after reverting back from the transformation. In the aftermath of Naruto’s battle versus Orochimaru where he went four-tails, it was discovered that the transformation was eating away at his body. Killerbee’s speed of transformation and lack of any side effects afterwards speaks volumes about the benefits of cooperation between host and Bijuu — if Naruto can master this aspect of his power along with his sage mode, he’d be unbeatable.

Kisame’s sword was also quite something to behold, we were told about it’s chakra absorbing powers way back when this guy first appeared in part one, but it’s not until now that we’ve seen just how it works. In short, Samehada eats up an opponent’s chakra, even Bijuu chakra, and turns it into energy and stamina for Kisame to use. Samehada is a chakra-pig, it eats and eats and eats, growing fatter the more it absorbs. But having such a sword is also dangerous as it will probably still need to feed off chakra even when not in battle. Since Kisame always seems to carry Samehada with him, it can only be assumed that he is constantly feeding it his own chakra to satisfy its hunger. How anyone other than a Jinchuuriki can pull this off is astonishing, and hints that Kisame is a force to be reckoned with even without his sword. But why bother using your own chakra all the time when you can use your enemy’s? Samehada’s ability to regenerate Kisame’s wounds using the chakra it absorbed is pretty impressive and is the perfect compliment to Kisame’s already impressive offensive abilities. To this end, Kisame is the ultimate endurance fighter, the stronger his opponent the stronger he is, the longer the fight the stronger he becomes. Killerbee’s only chance for an early victory up to now was to separate Kisame from his sword, but now that shark face has revealed the incredible ability to fuse with his Samehada, things aren’t looking too good for the rapping ninja.

Before I finish, I guess I should mention the bit between Ao and Fuu in the forest. Something about this battle between these monosyllabic ninja just doesn’t interest me anymore. It’s probably because neither character has been developed in the least since they were introduced and now are taking up precious pages for a private one-on-one battle. Truthfully, I just don’t care who wins or loses since I’m completely indifferent to both characters. What I will comment on is that it’s pretty darn amazing that two paper tags (worn as earrings no less) can stop a kunai; yeah, I know it’s probably supposed to be some mental ward to prevent Ao’s body from hurting his Byakugan, but it still looks pretty silly. The suicide-last-second-body-switch thing is a pretty gutsy move, and good job Ao for trying to psyche Fuu out. I wonder if someone like Ino has the balls (metaphorically) to pull off something like this.

Naruto Chapter 470 – The Shark versus the Bee

Post Author: Bob

Naruto 470 is another great chapter, I think the story is going at a nice pace and it was nice that Kishi is now devoting more screen time for Kisame and Killerbee’s battle. I’m not quite sure what is going on in Sakura’s mind right now, but she’s clearly intent on finishing this business between Naruto, Sasuke and herself one way or another. If the others are smart, they’ll keep a close eye on her and stop her from doing anything reckless like she’s planning to. On the other hand, if she is able to track down Sasuke, it would be an interesting reunion.
I was expecting one of two reactions from Sakura after Naruto basically shot her down last chapter. She would either revert to her weaker self and start crying or lean on her stronger self and become confrontational. Sakura reacted in the latter way and I think it’s a lot more realistic. Even if it was mostly lies, she did drag herself all the way here to talk to Naruto, so I understand why she’d be pretty pissed when Naruto pretty much pulled the rug from underneath her feet. Now if this was Naruto say three years ago, I bet he would react to Sakura’s scorn like a little puppy and obediently follow her back to Konoha. Good thing Naruto has grown wiser and understands what’s really going on beneath the surface. Naruto understands that he is not just saving Sasuke for Sakura, but also saving him from himself. Too bad Naruto can’t tell his friends what Madara revealed about what really happened to the Uchiha clan, but I can see why Kakashi is cautious about spreading such information around. There might be some serious political upheavals if it was revealed that Konoha ordered the slaughter of one of its own clans.
It looks like even though her “confession” plan failed, Sakura is far from giving up. Sakura tells Kiba to help her track down Sasuke, which is doubtful to succeed at the moment since Sasuke is in Madara’s dimension right now. The expression on Sakura’s face as she turns away from Naruto indicates she feels very guilty about setting Naruto on this painful quest, and plans to make everything right again by any means possible. However, I’m not quite sure what she plans on doing even if she finds Sasuke. 1. She may try to convince Sasuke to come back herself, but this is doomed to fail as Sasuke has fallen even deeper to the dark side; 2. She plans on killing/incapacitate Sasuke and bring him back by force herself, this is even less likely to succeed and probably end up with she and her teammates dead; 3. If Sakura’s love for Sasuke is blind enough, she may join Sasuke’s side and actively help him — this is probably the least likely scenario as Sakura is not that naïve anymore. Hopefully if Lee, Sai or Kiba have any backbone in them, they’ll convince Sakura to be reasonable and give up trying to find Sasuke herself. A confusing bit on page 7 shows what looks like a clone of Sai spying on Sakura and the others as they walk away. I don’t know why Sai needs a clone to spy on Sakura when he’s standing right by her; maybe he’ll use it to inform Naruto about Sakura’s crazy plan?
The short scene with the Tsuchikage and his men was interesting. Looks like Gaara’s words actually got to the old man’s heart, lol, reminds me of how Naruto’s words rubbed off on Gaara. I originally thought that the Tsuchikage might be the one to abuse the new alliance to his own benefit, but if he’s willing to change his ways then maybe this alliance thing has a chance after all.
The fun bit in this chapter is of course the Killerbee vs. Kisame fight. As expected, Punta ends up with a first round KO, but at least Kisame spared the raccoon’s life. The enka ninja guy goes at Kisame with his giant axe, but it doesn’t look like he has anything special up his sleeves to tip the balance of the battle. I chuckled when Killerbee threw that pencil at Kisame and nearly created a new hole in the shark man’s skull. Kisame says the piercing power of Killerbee’s lightning chakra is greater than that of wind chakra, and could have killed him if it made contact. Kisame stopped grinning now that he realizes that this jinchuuriki is very much capable of killing him if he‘s reckless. Seconds later, Killerbee almost does finish off Kisame in the opening moments of this fight with a lightning fast pincer manoeuvre, but Samehada’s chakra absorbing powers saves fish dude’s ass. Nevertheless, Killerbee manages to draw first blood, and I think it’s the first time that I’ve seen Kisame actually bleeding from a fight. But I wonder what Killerbee will do now that he’s chakra-based abilities, including his Bijuu cloak, are being nullified. Samehada is probably the ideal anti-Bijuu weapon since the thing that makes all tailed beasts most terrifying is their immense chakra (also, notice that the unwrapped Samehada has a mouth). Although Killerbee is fast and fairly strong, I doubt he can beat Kisame using just plain taijutsu alone. Maybe a full Bijuu transformation is in order?

Oh and one funny thing I noticed is that like Kisame’s fight with Guy, Killerbee can’t seem to remember his opponent’s name either Poor Kisame gets no respect.

Invent-A-Jutsu Contest

This is a contest to see who can create the most ORIGINAL jutsu. Powerful or weak jutsu won’t get special consideration, though generally powerful jutsu that aren’t “I-win-no-matter-what Jutsu” are better than things like the “Tie-tying jutsu” that ties a tie for the user (hey it could be used to strangle the opponent, god only knows how much I hate those things).

The rules are simple:

1. NO plagarism: this is not a new idea, other sites have had a few and it’s fairly easy to find them with google.

2. NO perverted jutsu: This is fairly self explanitory, there will be a consequence for violators.

3. No more than three jutsu submisions

4. No submisions after november 16

5. Be as original as possible, try to cut into new territory instead of just saying “Big fire jutsu #99″

 

Here is one of my jutsu as an example:

Kazegan (wind eye): This Doujutsu technique allows the user to see and analyize air currents, weather patterns, and such with ease. Giving them access to high ranked wind jutsu with ease. This combined with their high levels of wind natured chakra make them experts in this element. They specialize in channeling their wind chakra into objects such as swords, kunai, and even leaves to use as cutting weapons.

Naruto Chapter 469 – Sakura on the Rebound

Post Author: Bob

Hi folks, miss me? That two week lapse seemed like forever, but Naruto chapter 469 is out so let’s get at it. I was quite impressed Kishi managed to cram four separate scenes into one chapter, it’s not an easy thing to do I assure you but Kishi must be keen to keep the reader’s attention on all fronts. Of course, as the title of this chapter (Sakura’s Confession) implies, Sakura steals the show with her Oh-so-bold statements to Naruto. But although I get what she’s trying to do, I have to say that in the end she’s just digging a bigger hole for herself. And I’m not just saying this as a bona fide HinataxNaruto supporter — Sakura’s whole “confession” of love just seemed so very artificial that even someone as dense as Naruto picked up on it.

I don’t want the Sakura business stealing this entire blog post, so let’s talk about the other parts of this chapter first. First off, Kisame vs. Killerbee barely progressed at all – it only received a one-page treatment in 469, but can anyone say Ponta-burgers? That darn racoon (it’s a tanuki, technically) is going to get himself killed charging someone as insanely strong as Kisame. Maybe if Ponta gets pwned, the so-called enka-ninja will get serious and show Kisame his moves.

Well, it looks like my speculation about Ao being in league with Danzo was just that, speculation. Too bad, it would have made for a pretty interesting plot twist. Right now, I have no idea what Danzo might be planning because surely he must do something soon or be voted out of office as the shortest lived Hokage. But before that he has Fuu deal with the pest following them. Fuu’s little mind transfer trap was pretty ingenious, I can’t honestly think of anyone being able to avoid something like that unless they knew exactly what kind of trap it was. Even though Ao falls for the trap, he does seem to know what kind of jutsu it is and calls it a cursed seal variant of the mind transfer technique. What’s with Ao, he seems to be able to identify any kind of jutsu thrown at him, is he some kind of walking ninjutsu encyclopaedia?

Anyways, the jutsu in question is undoubtedly based on the Yamanaka clan’s version. I wouldn’t be so surprised if Fuu himself has some Yamanaka blood in him. My question is: couldn’t have Ino have learned something like this instead of her lame version that requires the target to remain for the mind transfer to succeed? Now that Fuu has Ao exactly where he wants him, I wonder what he will do with Ao’s body. Danzo ordered Fuu to retrieve Ao’s Byakugan, but I doubt he can just gouge it out. My guess is that the old rule about the mind transfer jutsu still holds true: that any harm done to Ao’s body will be done to Fuu’s body as well. These kind of fights that rely on pure tactics reminds me a lot of Shikamaru’s old battles. I hope we have more of these in the future, they’re very entertaining.

As for the talk between the kages on the new alliance, I don’t have too much to say. I was more leaning towards Gaara as the new leader; and maybe even the Mizukage. I did find Mifune’s argument for the Raikage’s nomination kind of flawed. Sure he is a lot calmer now that he knows Killerbee’s safe, but what happens if his brother is in danger again (like right now)? I just don’t know how stable a guy is when he’s willing to sacrifice his left arm to beat a ninja with a chip on his shoulder who happens to be 20 yeas younger than him. As for the Tsuchikage, all I have to say is that he and Danzo must have been cut from the same cloth, but at least he is willing to concede for now.

And now for the meat of this chapter. I wasn’t expecting Sakura to just confess outright when she first finds Naruto, and in front of everyone too. That should be the first clue that something isn’t right here. I’m no idealistic romantic, but I feel that the first confession of love between two people should be just that: between two people and nobody else. You have all the time to advertise it to the world later on: dates, engagements, weddings; so there’s no need to make a big deal of it here. Also, Sakura is kind of cornering Naruto here and forcing him to respond to her in front of their friends and peers. This tells me she didn’t really think this through before coming here, and instead is doing this in a desperate attempt to fix the guilt she feels for making Naruto promise to bring Sasuke back to her. This whole “confession” feels like it was more for her own benefit than Naruto’s, like she’s trying to convince herself to get over Sasuke. And besides, why bring up your ex so much while trying to make a love confession? That just totally ruins the mood. I’m glad Naruto picked up on this — no way is he going to play second fiddle to Sasuke when Sakura is clearly not over him yet. Sakura is confused right now and letting her emotions getting the better of her judgment. I would say she was just trying to set things right with Naruto by having a rebound relationship, but was there even a relationship between she and Sasuke in the first place other than a one-sided one? I could go on with this, but I’ll leave it there. I still do think Sakura definetly has some genuine affection for Naruto, but this “forced” confession was not the right way of expressing those feelings. I was really hoping for a more genuine moment from Sakura, but she let me down here   Here’s hoping she comes clean and speak more from her heart in chapter 470.

BTW, loved Rock Lee’s reaction on page 9, but why is Yamato reacting like that?? Lol @ Kakashi’s expression throughout the whole scene: total indifference – he must have a lot experience with the ladies ;p