Naruto fans everywhere are surely in for another treat from this episode. Because team seven is finally back together! We can recall from the previous episode that big surprises for everyone were in order. The hokage joins the battle against the Ten-tailed beast. As of that moment, this was the main priority and not Madara. Then, Sasuke, along with Jugo arrives in the scene and everyone is shocked. Even more so as he announces his new goal: To be the Hokage! Sasuke prepares for battle alongside the allied Shinobi forces and Konoha. What an epic reunion!
If you are like me, who follows the story of Naruto, the
young ninja boy who went after his wayward friend and rival, Sasuke, this is
something to be really anticipated! Many years during the run of the whole
Naruto series revolved around this story and it seems like it is finally coming
to fruition. (This is apart from Naruto’s dream to be a Hokage.)
I will now proceed to give more details and possibly
spoilers with regards to this episode and even the later episodes. All views
that are expressed here are all my own and do not represent opinions of any
entity, organization, whatsoever with which I have been, am now or will be
affiliated.
Now, as I have said earlier, many surprises were revealed on
the previous episodes which made this arc particularly exciting. We are coming
to the near end of the anime after all. Which meant the fight scenes are bound
to be exciting and worth the wait. Naruto is partly an action-themed Anime
after all. Which made it one of the top popular anime of its time. The
development of the story from comedy, drama, and action never failed. Even more
so for this episode. On the said episode, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are united
to take a stand against Madara and his forces. It is only right that the team
seven will be the ones to personally take down the main antagonist of the
anime. All the ninja history of this anime is pointing to him. (Later on,
though, there will be a bigger antagonist but that’s not what we’ll be focusing
on right now.) What I am talking about is the hype on the team being reunited.
Another satisfying point here is one of the main team’s individual character
growth. For instance, Sakura’s highlight. Many people may debate over her being
in the team in terms of power and usefulness. A lot of people like her, but a
lot of people happen to dislike her too. More often than not is because of her
personality and that many do deem her as “useless.” But in this episode, that
is evidently not the case. As the new team seven battles the multiplied nine
tail beasts, Sakura was highlighted as she flashed back to the past with
regards to trying her best to be as strong as her team mates. From her Chuunin
exams and training with the fifth Hokage Tsunade regarding medical ninjutsu, it
is evident that Sakura really has grown. It is a given that both Naruto and
Sasuke are the main rivals and that they are the main characters but it just
goes to show that Masashi Kishimoto really has plans for her character
development. From being the protected “weak” girl, here comes the student of
the fifth Hokage, ready to show everyone what she learned from years of hard
training, missions and battles. Yes, even in the beginning of Shippuden, her
great physical strength and wide knowledge of medical ninjutsu was already
shown even. It massively contradicts the” uselessness” other people claim. All
her life, wanting to be in line with her team mates, and being the one to help
them instead of being the damsel in distress is finally coming true. As the
battle ensues, Sakura finds herself ready for one of the most powerful medical
ninjutsu that only fewcould do – The one hundred healing mark or also known as
the strength of a hundred seal. Apparently, Sakura has unlocked this ability
too! Shizune, Tsunade’s assistant, even claims that she could not achieve the
said ninjutsu! What’s even more great is how Hashirama acknowledged Sakura’s
strength as she unlocked this and he witnessed it too. He even said that
Sakura’s strength might have surpassed Tsunade’s! And that’s coming from
Tsunade’s own grandfather! This technique really is something. It’s actually a
jutsu that is known to be the pinnacle of chakra control and passed down to
only those capable of it. According to Shizune, it takes years to completely
fill the right amount of chakra and great control to do it at the same time. It’s
a technique that creates a rhombus-shaped seal usually on the forehead as
chakra is stored over a long time. Once the seal is ready, the user can perform
techniques without wasting any energy. That is, if you can master the control
for it. In later episodes, she’ll even use the said technique to summon Katsuyu
to assist in her healing of all the other people of the allied shinobi forces remotely.
That’s how impressive it was. Yes, it was Sakura’s time to shine this time. Sakura
became as confident as her mentor. A little bit cheeky even, to say that she
didn’t need to use her medical ninjutsu in keeping a youthful appearance, as
opposed to what Tsunade does. She later even jokes to both the surprised Naruto
and Sasuke that she might snatch the hokage’s title. You go girl!
Some minor highlights are that other teams from Konoha were
fired up in seeing the new and stronger team seven. It seems that even Sai has
taken notice of this and felt that he too is actually part of team seven. He
tried to attack one of the beast’s clones but failed in doing so but still was
helped by Naruto. The episode ends in a really interesting punch as the team
seven used the summoning technique, mirroring the great legendary sannin. It
seems as if they were the new generation sannin! It’s to be expected that there
will be more action in the next episode because they literally ended in such a
manner. It was a cliffhanger and would make you want to watch the next episode
immediately. Overall, I think it was
satisfying to see team seven united once again and ready to kick butt. I think
the inclusion of Sakura’s growth was also a nice touch because she is actually
one of my favorite characters in the whole series. It was a nice touch of
feminism and girl power coming from a Shonen anime.
Note: This is one of my handwritten review that I submitted last Nov. 18, 2020 to Aniradio+ for my anime reviewer application. Unfortunately out of a rough estimate of 2,400 applicants, I am not one of the 20 who were chosen.
Copyright
Star Ashley Cruz
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