Naruto Chapter 556 – The Power of No-Eyebrows

Post Author: Bob Hey guys, chapter 556 this week. With the defeat of the zombie Raikage last chapter by Naruto’s hand, we move on to the last of the four Edo Tensei summoned kages still standing – the 2nd Mizukage. I’m really enjoying these battles so far and like how Kishi has devoted time to each kage’s battle and given us a little history into each of them during their respective fights. I know some might wish for these battles to progress a little faster because they want to see the showdown with Madara and Sasuke, but I think the pacing is perfect as it is. Besides, it’s a rare chance for us to learn about the people who ruled the Naruverse in the past and have a peek at what the ninja world was like back then – at least for me, I find it all very interesting.

This chapter was really one for Gaara and the Tsuchikage to show off their powers and teamwork without interference from Naruto. Even though Naruto is the main character, I do tire to see him try to dip his fingers into every fight possible on the battlefield. I know he means well, but not only Naruto has improved their powers since the time skip; let the other characters have a little space to show off their new skills, Naruto doesn’t need to be in every fight just to further emphasize how he’s the hero of this war.

The Second Mizukage has been quite a funny character since he was introduced, but with him playing the role of the group’s joker, none of the characters or us readers took him very seriously in terms of the danger factor on the battlefield. But as Gaara stated in this chapter, you cannot judge an opponent by their appearance and Mizukage may very well be the strongest of the undead kages sent to this battlefield. Mizukage was an equal rival to Muu in his day, and if Muu was considered one of the most powerful shinobi in his era, then where does that put the man who could fight him head-to-head? So far the Mizukage has been able to keep two high level kages and their supporting army at bay while suffering no damage to himself, that’s pretty impressive. As well, he has a very synergetic combo of techniques and abilities that delivers offence attacks while maintaining a powerful defensive posture. Even after he kept telling his opponents what he weaknesses and secrets are, nobody could lay a finger on him. The clam’s genjutsu extends over the entire battlefield to hide his location while the Mizukage’s water/slime abilities allows him to nullify attempts by attackers to break that illusion.

If Gaara wasn’t such an expert on understanding defensive tactics himself, this would have been a terrible matchup for him. I really enjoyed seeing him and the Tsuchikage working side-by-side to pull through in this battle despite their handicap of entering this fight right after the exhausting encounter against the Raikage. And even though the Mizukage was almost bored with the level of his opponents at the beginning of the battle, I think he’s finally turned around and began to understand just how much of a challenge Gaara and Tsuchikage can put up. He states near the end of the chapter how much he is starting to enjoy this fight before switching to his new technique: Jokey Boy. It makes me wonder whether at this point it is Kabuto still giving the orders or is Mizukage actually fighting of his own will because he is enjoying this so much. Jokey Boy (which sounds very odd), looks like it turns the Mizukage into a vapor phase, and allows him to pull off some very powerful explosions. Tsuchikage says it was a technique developed by Muu’s ancestors, which leads me to believe it is an Earth element technique – which is odd then for a water specialist like the Mizuakge to possess. Then again, the Mizukage also used a water gun technique belonging to the Hozuki clan, so maybe he is just a specialist at master’s the secret jutsus of other ninja clans? Nevertheless, if this new technique is based on “infinite explosions”, we might be seeing a fight very similar to the one between Gaara and Deidara.