Naruto Chapter 534 – Falcon PUNCH!

Post Author: Bob

From the conclusion of last chapter, we had a pretty good idea how this battle was going to end. When Team Shikamaru first entered the battle with Asuma, I had assumed that Shikamaru was going to be the one who will land the final blow on Asuma – himself having the most personal connection to his mentor.  But I have to admit that letting Choji show off just what he can do when he puts his mind to it was a pretty nice way of ending it as well.  I think as fans of the Naruto manga, we’re naturally inclined to root for the underdog, and Chouji is the epitome of that.  It’s also nice to finally have some closure for Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji after suddenly losing Asuma many story arcs ago.  It may be a bit twisted, but what better way is there to demonstrate you’ve grown past your former mentor’s expectations than showing him first hand on the battlefield.  My only real concern is that Asuma was sealed rather than having his soul released from Kabuto’s control; hopefully his and the souls of the other sealed undead summons will be released when Kabuto is finally dealt with.

The Ino-Shika-Cho combo was flawlessly pulled off and Chouji even made his old man proud by pulling off one his clan’s elite techniques off so effortlessly.   Surprisingly, Chouji has even more tricks up his sleeve as he upgrades his technique even further and announces that he will end their battle once and for all.  I’m really curious as to what Chouji is planning to pull off as his techniques are usually brute force type attacks… picking off the white Zetsus and the remaining Edo Tensei summons  while avoiding inflicting friendly fire may be hard to pull off when you’re attacking with fists the size of buses.

The other person that surprised me this chapter was Ino when she did that dual body possession while backing up Shikamaru.  It’s a pretty cool feat since we’ve never seen the Inoichi clan’s technique work on multiple bodies before.  What’s also interesting is that Ino managed to possess dead bodies – I always had the notion that the mind body transfer technique only works on a body with a living soul.  This is the second time Ino has surprised me in two chapters, I don’t about you guys, but I’m actually starting to think she might actually be useful.

With the battle on the coastline essentially coming to a close, we’re finally moving back to Naruto.  I had actually began to forget what Naruto was actually up to since it’s been quite a while since we’ve heard anything about him.  Of course, Naruto is still training with Killer Bee inside the white training room inside the Jinchuuriki temple.  Although KB doesn’t say it, even he is impressed by the extent which Naruto’s powers have progressed.  Even though they are hundreds of miles from the frontlines, Naruto was still able to sense the dark Kyuubi chakra of the Gin/Kin brothers when they transformed.  To me, Naruto’s new chakra sensing ability is the most important power he has gained after gaining control of Kyuubi’s chakra.  I think of it as even superior to Sasuke’s Sharingans in terms of its ability to track others as you can trick the eyes with illusions but it would be near impossible to hid from Naruto’s new chakra sensing ability. What’s more, Naruto can even feel others by the true emotions lying in their hearts, and that’s one thing you can’t conceal with jutsus. If Naruto can attune his new speed and power with his reaction time and senses, he will be able to even surpass his father.

I found it funny KB didn’t lift a finger to try to stop Naruto when he ran out, but it looks like Tsunade put together a hand-picked group of guards to prevent Naruto from joining the war.  If it was just a bunch of goons, then Naruto would probably just knock them out in a jiff and push on, but Tsunade’s was cunning enough to throw Iruka into the team.  I still think Naruto will end up joining the war effort very soon, but it will be interesting to see what Iruka can say to try to stop him.