Naruto Chapter 546 – The 4th Kazekage was a Dumbass

Post Author: Bob

Hello everyone, chapter 546 this week and we’re finally getting back to one of the battles I had hoped Kishi would devote a good bit of time covering. With so much going on at the other warfronts these last few chapters; I was afraid Kishi may neglect the epic Gaara and Onoki versus the four dead kages fight. With the conclusion of Kakashi versus the remaining Seven Swordsmen kind of left hanging, I was afraid Kishi would gloss over this fight in order to devote more coverage to Naruto. This chapter proves that we’re getting a good ol’ kage brawl fest that makes you salivate just thinking about it.

But let’s start elsewhere first. The kekkei genkai user Toroi from the Hidden Cloud introduced at the beginning was interesting but his fighting style isn’t all that imaginative. But his appearance erases the previous notion that only those of the Sand may possess magnet element bloodline limits. Before Toroi, the only other magnet user we know was the 3rd Kazekage. It could have been that a clan of magnet element users joined Hidden Cloud long ago, much like how clans like the Nara and Hyuuga are allied with Konoha. But knowing the Cloud’s history of stealing other village’s kekkei genkai users, it wouldn’t surprise me if they stole this bloodline from the Sand somehow.
Naruto shows up to crush Toroi before he can show off some of his more dangerous abilities, but I’m not that disappointed since he was just fighting small fries to begin with. My concern though is that Naruto will try to place hero all over the battlefield and interfere with great fights like the one happening on Gaara’s front before they even get much momentum going. Still even with an army behind them, I think Gaara and Onoki will have a very hard time against the quartet of immortal kages – especially after it’s been shown that members of that team can counter their own powers very effectively. But what differentiates a great battle from just a good battle is the struggle of the protagonists, and it’s just fun watching the Gaara keeping his cool in battle even against stacked odds. My feeling is that Naruto will need to come in and lend a hand eventually, I just want it to be later than sooner to at least give Gaara and Onoki their fair shot at the monsters standing in front of them.
The dead kages team was pretty well thought-out combination to pit against Gaara and Onoki. Gaara’s father and Onoki’s sensei are prefect counters against any Dust or Sand element attacks through at them, while the former Mizukage and Raikage can be a hard-hitting offensive dual if they combine their elemental attacks. I wouldn’t mind if KB instead of Naruto showed up to at least counter the former Raikage’s powers and make the fight more balanced rather than have Naruto show up and completely tip the scales towards the Alliance’s favor. Then again, maybe I’m giving Naruto’s new form too much credit.
That’s about all my mine observations/thoughts this week. Here’s some other minor things I noticed:
– Kabuto’s surprised face, I didn’t know he had one
– Like father like son: Gaara’s dad’s eyes also has those black rings appear around them whenever he uses elemental powers. I had thought for Gaara that it was a remnant of being Shukaku’s host, but perhaps it’s bloodline.
– Okay, so why the heck was Hidden Sand so poor and weak militarily if their previous kazekage can literally pull gold dust from out of the ground? They should have been the wealthiest hidden village in history!