Naruto Chapter 482 – Turncoat Sakura?

Post Author: Bob

With the Danzo vs. Sasuke battle now behind us, the story finally seems to be moving along again in chapter 482. This chapter showed us progress in the story lines for all three members of the original team 7, and seems to hint that a meeting between Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke may occur some time in the near future. Meanwhile, Karin fans will be glad that she hasn’t kicked the bucket yet, but she may not have much time left as she has received the dreaded flashback, which is equivalent to getting the Grim Reaper’s calling card in the Naruto manga.

Undoubtedly, Sakura stole the spotlight in this chapter with her bombshell revelation of her “true” intentions to Sasuke at the cliffhanger ending. Some people are already jumping on the ‘Sakura-is-a-(profanity)’ bandwagon, but I don’t buy it. Lately, Sakura has been deceiving a lot of people, so I admit that one could make a case questioning what her true intentions actually are. But this isn’t the Sakura of part 1 anymore, she’s been battle hardened and gained more confidence in herself through Tsunade’s tough training – so I’d like to think that she’s grown out of her I’ll-do-anything-for-Sasuke-kun phase and has come to grips with reality. If you look back on her original intentions for forming her own team to track down Sasuke, her actions now are completely illogical. So the only natural explanation would be that she’s trying to deceive Sasuke in order to get closer to him so she can kill him while his guard down.

Sakura isn’t stupid, she knows full well she can’t take on Sasuke in a fair fight, especially with Kishi’s “Sasuke-can-not-die” rule in effect. Rather than relying on brute strength, I think Sakura is planning for a  more (dare I say) ninja-like approach to take him down – most likely a fatal medical jutsu or poison. But for that to work, Sakura needs to gain enough of Sasuke’s trust to get near him. Obviously, this would be pretty hard if she brought her team with her, so she’d have to incapacitate them first. Notice that Sakura didn’t exactly pick the smartest cookies in the Konoha 11 to come with her (Sai being the exception but he kind of forcibly came along), I‘m sure she wouldn’t have gotten away with her scheme if someone like Shikamaru was on the team.
Now that Sakura has come so far, the big question is whether the current Sasuke will accept her. Recent events indicate that Sasuke doesn’t place any value on teammates he considers excess baggage, new or old; so his decision to let Sakura join will hinge on 1. Whether he believes Sakura is telling the truth and 2. Whether he perceives Sakura as useful enough to him. Even if both criteria are met, I still doubt that Sasuke will really trust Sakura – but he might keep her around to provide healing. From the last page of this chapter, it seems that Sakura also realizes that the current Sasuke is no more than a cold-blooded killer. She’ll need to choose her words carefully in the next chapter or she might end up like Karin.
Ahhh.. poor Karin, it just doesn’t seem like Kishi is going to cut this girl any breaks. The flashback was quite interesting as we revisit a previously unknown event during the Chunin Exam where Sasuke rescues Karin (whose headband indicates she hails from the Grass Village). Sasuke probably completely forgot about that event when he met Karin again years later, which shows that he cared for her about as much back then as he does now.
On the other front, Naruto is finally back in business. And Yes, we finally get to see Naruto using sage mode again – that chakra tracing ability is pretty useful. I was impressed he was able to sneak out from under Yamato’s watch. To be able to carve a hole big enough for him to fit through in the floor with just his kunai and quietly enough as not to wake Yamato — that takes skill. However, this is Yamato we’re talking about, so it’s not inconceivable he planned for this scenario and had already planted something on Naruto to track him.
As for Madara, I don’t think he likes getting lip from Sasuke, but like Orochimaru he also sees Sasuke as a prized possession so he’ll put up with it, for now. After seeing page 13, it’s become clear that Madara’s true ambition is the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” Plan, and Sasuke’s eyes are like the limited edition out-of-print rare foil that comes only one per sealed box. Looks like Danzo got the last laugh on Madara and tore up Shisui’s Sharingan before Madara could lay his grubby hands on them. But you have to wonder why Madara needs all those eyes if he already has an Eternal Mangekyou Sharigan. Maybe what Itachi said about Mangekyou Sharingans going blind even applies to Madara, and the EMS story Madara told Sasuke was a lie.