[Manga] Naruto Chapter 616 Discussion Thread

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Ulquiorra

Just watch. Karin will also still be in love with Sasuke. But at least Karin and Sakura actually spent time with Sasuke and talked to him. Ino is just a joke.

I don't know, Karin seemed pretty done with him. Ino and Sakura always seemed to hold out hope for him, be it as a returning friend or, more recently, a returning love interest. Karin said he could go to hell for all she cared.

[gibits]

Originally Posted by Ulquiorra

A NaruHina attack would have imploded the fandom. We've seen enough of Hinata as main heroine.

At least Super Ino-Shika-Cho makes some sense if they are following Shikaku's plan. What doesn't make sense is why Madara just doesn't kill Shikamaru now? You know, the guy leading the effort to hold the most powerful thing that ever existed? You kill him and the Juubi is free. But I am sure Madara will make a bored joke instead. And he wonders why he always loses.

Ino-Shinka-cho is all they EVER do. Like Madara said its predictable. I personally think its played out and a bit redundant. Doesn't being retrained by Chouji and being retrained by shadows the same thing? I never got why this was such a brilliant strategy.
They didn't kill Shinkamaru because he is just one Nara doing the binding. Also they had to use talk no jutsu on the alliance.

Just watch. Karin will also still be in love with Sasuke. But at least Karin and Sakura actually spent time with Sasuke and talked to him. Ino is just a joke.

Girls tend to like bad boys though, so maybe Kishi does know women better than you give him credit for. Stabbing them through the gut is one of the baddest things you can do so it's no wonder Karin wOuld still be in love with him.

[Artful Dodger]

Overreacting going on as usual... Sasuke was indeed a love interest for Ino, and under the context of what her father was telling her in that particular panel (yes, a part I Sasuke that Ino liked was shown in one panel of the flashback along with other part I characters), I don't see any big deal. There were multiple characters shown, as there was obviously a point being made which involved her feelings towards certain friends in her life, but of course all of this goes out the window and its all "stupid" because Sasuke happens to be in one of the panels.

[Ero-Senn1n]

Originally Posted by Ulquiorra

At least Super Ino-Shika-Cho makes some sense if they are following Shikaku's plan. What doesn't make sense is why Madara just doesn't kill Shikamaru now? You know, the guy leading the effort to hold the most powerful thing that ever existed? You kill him and the Juubi is free.

This chapter was only the 1st part of Shikaku's plan, Shikamaru doesn't take any particularly important part right now in the plan since he is only one of the guys who uses the shadow binding jutsu. And even powered up as they are now they'll probably last less than a minute so the 2nd part of the plan has to be executed soon. My guess is that the second part of the plan won't be particularly smart, it'll just be to attack the 2 guys controlling the 10-tails but this time powered up by the kyuubi's chakra. But there was an important part in Shikaku's speech, he left Shikamaru to think of a better plan if his fails, which obviously will fail, so Shikamaru will probably play an important role in making a new plan to help Naruto when this plan fails.

[gibits]

Originally Posted by Artful Dodger

Overreacting going on as usual... Sasuke was indeed a love interest for Ino, and under the context of what her father was telling her in that particular panel (yes, a part I Sasuke that Ino liked was shown in one panel of the flashback along with other part I characters), I don't see any big deal. There were multiple characters shown, as there was obviously a point being made which involved her feelings towards certain friends in her life, but of course all of this goes out the window and its all "stupid" because Sasuke happens to be in one of the panels.

Sasuke showing up in her flashbacks is stupid because he has no idea she exists. I can't even name one interaction between them in part 1. This was supposed to be a deep moment for her and some guy whom she has no interaction with is taking up her attention while her father is about to die.
Ino's father is probaly turning in his grave knowing that while he was dying, his daughter was daydreaming about some war criminal.

[Artful Dodger]

You're all hilarious, she didn't transition us into a Sasuke documentary. She had a brief retrospect of her past and Sasuke showed up in a single panel as her main love interest back then, under context of the narration. There were multiple people “taking up her attention”, its really not that big a deal.

[Endscape]

I have to agree with Artful Dodger here, Sasuke showing up was just an afterthought, the main theme there was Inochi being proud of how Ino stood up for her friends.

[Ero-Senn1n]

Originally Posted by Artful Dodger

You're all hilarious, she didn't transition us into a Sasuke documentary. She had a brief retrospect of her past and Sasuke showed up in a single panel as her main love interest back then, under context of the narration. There were multiple people “taking up her attention”, its really not that big a deal.

The main reason for complaints is really simple: Kishimoto is trying to reinforce Sasuke's presence in the story and his bonds with other characters so hard that it becomes unnatural. He's overdoing it, things simply do not connect naturally, it feels forced. Of course if Sasuke is your favourite character you probably won't feel it being forced, so the whole thing is subjective.

[gibits]

Originally Posted by Ero-Senn1n

The main reason for complaints is really simple: Kishimoto is trying to reinforce Sasuke's presence in the story and his bonds with other characters so hard that it becomes unnatural. He's overdoing it, things simply do not connect naturally, it feels forced. Of course if Sasuke is your favourite character you probably won't feel it being forced, so the whole thing is subjective.

Yes, exactly this. It is oversold. Showing her and Sakura or her teammates seems natural because we know they have history together. Hell even showing Sai would be more realistic since they had a brief exchange.

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by Ero-Senn1n

The main reason for complaints is really simple: Kishimoto is trying to reinforce Sasuke's presence in the story and his bonds with other characters so hard that it becomes unnatural. He's overdoing it, things simply do not connect naturally, it feels forced. Of course if Sasuke is your favourite character you probably won't feel it being forced, so the whole thing is subjective.

I find Sasuke to be a sad joke, a pathetic caricature of himself and a textbook example of what happen to a character when its author doesn't really know what to do with it but Artful Dodger is right. You're, as usual, both completely overreacting like all the time Sasuke appears in the story.
It's perfectly natural and in character for Ino to have a fleeting thought about Sasuke when being talked about love since he was her love interest. Hell only a few weeks ago in the story she was shown sobbing when the rookies decided that they had to find and kill him.

As far as Kyubi powered InoShikaCho, of course that's what they did. That was patently obvious since the beginning. If you thought that Shikaku's plan was some kind of NaruHina combo double kicks of love you must realize that it was out of sheer fandom wet dream fantasy and not something in the cards.

[itachi-san314]

^agreed

Originally Posted by gibits

This was supposed to be a deep moment for her and some guy whom she has no interaction with is taking up her attention while her father is about to die.

she spent a large part of her childhood fantasizing about him. they were in the same class together at the academy and she was jealous that sakura got to be on his team. only a few years have passed since he left the village. sure, he doesn't care about her, but that doesnt mean he doesnt occupy a lot of her thoughts. it's a crush. it's one sided and immature but it happens all the time irl. honestly i barely even noticed that panel and had to go back to see what you all were complaining about. i think it's fine frankly. a fellow ninja leaving the village is a big deal, especially when its the guy she's been crushing on for years and years. of course she would still think about him. like hunter said, she was just recently crying over him

[gibits]

I guess I'm the only one that wants to see something from team Asuma other than the old Ino-Shinka-Cho combo? That is all they ever do. Was there really a need to see it yet again? When we see Shinkamaru's individual fights we get a real glimpse of his genius. When we see Chouji in his lone fights we get to see real strength. But put them together and they become a one trick pony. This was the best the great Nara tacticians could think of in their last moments?
I'm with Madara on this: so predictable.

Originally Posted by itachi-san314

^agreed
she spent a large part of her childhood fantasizing about him. they were in the same class together at the academy and she was jealous that sakura got to be on his team. only a few years have passed since he left the village. sure, he doesn't care about her, but that doesnt mean he doesnt occupy a lot of her thoughts. it's a crush. it's one sided and immature but it happens all the time irl. honestly i barely even noticed that panel and had to go back to see what you all were complaining about. i think it's fine frankly. a fellow ninja leaving the village is a big deal, especially when its the guy she's been crushing on for years and years. of course she would still think about him. like hunter said, she was just recently crying over him

Alright I guess I can kind of see that as reasonable. I still think its stupid, but not out of character.

[Mad Pierrot]

Sasuke wasn't even named in that one line and he wasn't even the point. Don't make such deal abotu it.

Though I don't know what is he doing in Konoha.

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by gibits

I guess I'm the only one that wants to see something from team Asuma other than the old Ino-Shinka-Cho combo? That is all they ever do. Was there really a need to see it yet again?

Make no mistake, I agree with you that it's boring (and ultimately won't even work anyhow). I'm just saying there is a reason everybody predicted that it was going to happen, it was the only thing that made sense really (and by that I don't mean logically speaking because there's no way a few Nara could bind the Juubi even with some chakra from the Kyubi).

Originally Posted by amaterasu4

Though I don't know what is he doing in Konoha.

He's going to a cemetery to have Oro revive a few of his kin in order to ask them some questions and insult them for hurting Itachi's feelings when he murdered them all. I'm not kidding, I'm pretty sure they will even apologize for it.

[james0246]

^It's still an incomplete Jyuubi, and frankly I think Madara (and maybe Tobi) is just playing around with the army. Especially considering the extreme moves we already know Madara is capable of (many of which could destroy the army entirely). So, it's not about whether a Kyuubi-charged Ino-Shika-Cho would work, but whether Madara would allow them the effort.

[Hunter]

Even incomplete the Juubi dwarfs the Kyubi by several orders of magnitude, Naruto tried to sense its chakra in sage mode a few chapters ago and realized it simply couldn't be done, it was just too colossal to get any sense of it. The Kyubi itself shouldn't be able to do that so a few humans with some portion of his chakra? It should be impossible... But then as I've often said, the impossible is only marginally less likely than the normal in a shounen world.

That said you're right that Madara isn't particularly trying at the moment, he said to Obito he'd let him do his thing for a while since he has to placate Obito in order to be revived.

[Artimus_Prime]

1. yes the inoshikacho combo is predictable but its not the end of Nara's plan i dont think...some form of taijutsu should be next. i would like it if some how the kages were involved. I mean a kurama charged dust jutsu from oonoki should be somewhat disabling??

2. i like the idea of oro and sasuke heading to a cemetery, but I wonder where they would get the living sacrifices for and Edo tensei of any kind...

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Artimus_Prime

2. i like the idea of oro and sasuke heading to a cemetery, but I wonder where they would get the living sacrifices for and Edo tensei of any kind...

Karin and what's their names, Team Hawk. If their stupid enough to follow Sasuke...well, enough said.

[Hunter]

I'd love that to happen but it's unlikely, Sasuke's hands must remain technically clean.
If they're here to ET a few corpses I'd guess some Root ninja could attack them. Murdering the two Kage advisers to raise a couple of Uchiha would poetic justice too.

[itachi-san314]

i agree that it's possible for sasuke to want to revive his father and/or some other uchiha, but does he need orochimaru to do that? didn't he just learn how to do ET himself from itachi? and ET doesn't seem like a big enough payoff to be the secret of the scroll. i think it has to be something more unique which is why i think it has to do with the death god