Naruto Chapter 508 – Not so terrible after all…

Post Author: Bob

Oh shark dude, what a fitting end you committed yourself to, like the title of chapter 50 says, it’s a death befitting of a shinobi.  That’s not to say all good ninja should die in a explosion of blood and entrails, but for someone who has lived a life of violence, I can’t see a more appropriate end for Kisame.  Kisame’s sacrifice even made Naruto reconsider about the villain and the former members of Akatsuki; they may be bad guys, but even they are willing to put their life on the line for a cause they believe in.

Kisame remained loyal to the cause he believed in to the bitter end, going as far as destroying his own body to prevent the enemy  from gathering information and making sure his information is returned to Akatsuki even after his death.  During the flashback, Itachi said to Kisame that they do not know what kind of people they truly are until the moment before their deaths — well, I think Kisame proved his worth on that account; he could have saved his own hide by cooperating with his captors, but he fought on to the end to make sure he fulfilled his mission.  You can’t ask for a more honourable death than that for a shinobi.


The flashback to Itachi and Kisame’s first meeting was a nice touch, I just wished Kishi had also added other scenes showing them cooperating in battle or gaining each others’ respect while working together.  Maybe the anime will add some material to this when it is animated.  If you first think about it, Itachi and Kisame seems like a very bad matching: one is very cerebral and calm while the other relies on brute force and bloodlust.  If I had to bet money on this pair lasting more than a mission from the very beginning, I would have laughed and walked away.  But there is a similar quality between the two men that made their partnership work; Kisame thought it to be their common experience in slaughtering their own brethren, but Itachi knew better.  They did share a common background, but it was not the blood on their hands that linked them together.  Neither Kisame nor Itachi chose to be betrayers of their own kin and comrades, but were assigned that role by the villages they swore to protect.  They followed their orders but became outcasts in the eyes of the people they were meant to protect.  During their encounter, Kisame has already confessed that he sees himself as a terrible monster due to what he has done in the past, but Itachi offers some wise words — that they will only realize who they truly are before facing death.  Those words must have had a significant impact on Kisame’s outlook on life since they are the last words he remembers prior to his death.  Those words may seem insignificant to you or I, but to a man like Kisame who has the blood of so many people on his hands, those words may have given him hope for redemption.  Due to the environment he grew up in, Kisame was no doubt taught to be a monster and saw himself as nothing more than a merciless killer.  Itachi’s words may have given Kisame a wider perspective on why he is what he is and even given him a purpose of his own to believe in rather than mindlessly obeying others.  Kisame’s realization before his death that he is “not so terrible after all” is good evidence that he may have saw something better in himself and the life he led in the end.

Now with that out of the way, I’d just like to comment on how stupid the good guys handled the situation after Kisame’s death.  I know the group gathered here isn’t the brightest the ninja world has to offer, but considering that there’s jonins like Yamato, Gai and sunglasses-guy present, couldn’t one of them have yelled out “check for traps before opening the enemies’ scroll?”  Didn’t these guys take the Chunin Exam like everyone else?   Did they forget about the part about not tampering with the scroll you know nothing about – especially if it belongs to the enemy?  Now not only did they not capture Kisame alive, they also failed to prevent Akatsuki from getting all the data on their battle plans.  I’d like to see them explain this one to the kages.

Lastly, it’s really great to see Konan back again.  I would have thought she’d go into hiding after leaving Akatsuki rather than return to Amegakure where Madara is bound to find her.  And it seems Madara is not restricting himself to collecting only Sharingans, but also wants his hands on Nagato’s Rinnegans — what a greedy bastard.  I’m unsure how Konan will fare against Madara in a fight because it is an odd match-up, but seeing as it’s raining and their surrounded by water Konan may be at a disadvantage with her paper based jutsus.  There’s also the possibility that Madara could just cheat by warping in Sasuke and let him do the dirty work for him.  If Konan can escape this, she could join forces with Naruto and the others by providing Akatsuki secrets and even beneficial information about the Rinnegan, but the odds aren’t looking good for her at the moment.