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.