387 :D

[runespoor]

:DDDDDDDD

:D

*happyhappyhappy*

Okay, now things are going to be interesting. As far as I'm concerned, this fight is the best thing to happen in the manga since er... a while... for a variety of reasons I'm not going to dwell about (but mostly have to do with the 'Uchiha = genjutsu masters' and 'Sasuke can has facial expressions!' themes) but this? Yeah yeah, cheap cliffhanger, can just as easily be genjutsu yadda yadda, but I don't care.

The chapter was great. How much more references to past events can you get? And everything was done so naturally, like it was just any other move. Flashbacks = NOT NEEDED. Everyone remembers Itachi walling Sasuke back in tome 17. (sidenote: the forehead poking move will never be the same again.) The thing with the shuriken <3.

Maybe it's because I read on the computer screen, but I thought some pages/images could've been more 'dynamic'. Then again, it's only a continuation of the contrast between how fast Itachi and Sasuke have repeatedly been shown to be, and how still/composed they show themselves (particularly Itachi, of course).

I'll be happy no matter the outcome.

Blind/missing-an-eye Sasuke would make Kakashi relevant again, not to mention screw him over severely re: not being good enough to beat Itachi. Again. And, if the last page was intended as misdirection and Sasuke jerked away, then it'll show that Sasuke has indeed moved beyond the thirteen-year-old boy who fucked his life over because his brother told him to, and that'd be great too.

None of which answer the question why Itachi seems not to mind that he's not going to get the Mangekyou with Sasuke's eyes. Also, I want to know more about how much every other Uchiha, and especially the boys' parents, knew about the Mangekyou/let's tear one's sibling's eyes out thing.

Comments

[loveroftheflame.livejournal.com]

Best chapter in quite some time! I am anxious to see how this is resolved.


Then maybe we can get back to Neji and his secret forbidden love for Hinata. lol!

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

I know! I was squealing in front of my screen like the Queen of Stupid.

Now, if Kishiomoto is mean, he's going to go back to the others. No wait, that wouldn't be mean, I want to know about how their fights are resolved as well...

Please. You think they're waiting for the spotlight to come back to them again? Those Hyuuga, they've learnt the virtue of discretion.

[fujiko1601.livejournal.com]

Manga is really getting interesting. It's a fight I actually want to see. It's been at least a year.

Flashbacks = NOT NEEDED. Everyone remembers Itachi walling Sasuke back in tome 17.
Want to bet that they flashback in Shippuuden? And another flashback for forehead poking.

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

Something like that for me as well. I mean, the fights never were what hooked me up and I'm usually more of the school of 'dammit, end this fight already, so we can get back to the story', but this one is, you know. Special.

Oh, they'll flashback everything in the anime. Several times. Each second they can take from a past episode is a second that's already done.

And maybe they'll even get away with Sasuke watching Itachi doing the shuriken trick. :P

[fujiko1601.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot the shuuriken trick. And maybe Sasuke deciding to go after Itachi and Itachi killing the clan and... I'm going to shut up now.

[ant-power.livejournal.com]

This fight has me in a constant state of hyperactivity. It took me like three days to recover from the last chapter.

I'll also be happy either way. I'd like to see how Sasuke deals with being blind/one-eyed, and if Itachi beats him again it will basically show him that the whole running off to Orochimaru was a big fat waste of time, and I'd like to see where he would go from there. But I'd like to see Sasuke win for a change as well.

It is driving me nuts that Itachi is trying to get the eyes even though Sasuke doesn't have the Mangekyou, and it's really making me lean toward this all being genjutsu and Itachi having some other nefarious purpose other than the eyes. Because if it is genjustu, then it'd be stupid to fake him out going for the eyes if that's his real purpose. (Did that make any sense at all?)

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

I'll also be happy either way. I'd like to see how Sasuke deals with being blind/one-eyed, and if Itachi beats him again it will basically show him that the whole running off to Orochimaru was a big fat waste of time, and I'd like to see where he would go from there. But I'd like to see Sasuke win for a change as well.

That's exactly it. In a way I feel like I (and most fans) are waiting/expecting for Sasuke to get retribution on leaving - because that was Wrong, and thus he is to be Punished. Actually, I think that's the main reason why people were so ticked off when Sasuke did away with Orochimaru, because he didn't need saving after all. (The Damsel in Distress position as a punishment - discuss.)

Because if it is genjustu, then it'd be stupid to fake him out going for the eyes if that's his real purpose.

Unless he's going for the 'you couldn't see through my genjutsu little brother you suck' approach. Always a possibility. Getting stale, though.

[ant-power.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wasn't so bothered about him beating Orochimaru (even if it was maybe a little too easy), I thought it was a fair enough way to tie that thread up, but I do think there needs to be a point where Sasuke realises he's made the wrong choice. Though, I think that Naruto needs to be involved in that realisation somehow, because after all, that's what Naruto does.

I suppose if Naruto somehow manages to save Sasuke at this point, that would work, both as a punishment for damsel-in-distress!Sasuke, and to show Sasuke that Naruto has become stronger than him without screwing over his friends, etc. I mean, it's going to have to be something much bigger than Naruto giving a heartfelt speech to bring Sasuke back to Team Konoha, and I'm kind of married to the idea that he will come back at some point.

I guess the other possibility is for Sasuke to somehow come out of this with his eyes in tact and to then decide he needs the Mangekyou to beat Itachi after all, to go after Naruto, and things go from there, but I don't really see that happening.

Not that I'm totally discounting the fact that Sasuke may still beat Itachi. Maybe he'll end up beating him and taking Itachi's eyes.

LOL, I'm totally rambling. I think this arc is short-circuiting my brain :P

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

And about Orochimaru, we can't forget that we still have Kabuchimaru running around. I wonder how Kishi is going to bring him back, now that Sasuke is finished with Orochimaru. Up until that point, the plot in Naruto was actually very 'together', but with Kabuchimaru on one part and Itachi/Madara one the other, and Sasuke being no longer linked to Kabuchimaru, that'll be a little harder. Unless Orochimaru takes over Kabuto and begins running after Sasuke/tries to have revenge over him, which I guess is always possible.

I mean, it's going to have to be something much bigger than Naruto giving a heartfelt speech to bring Sasuke back to Team Konoha

On the one hand, I agree. On the other, we can't forget that apparently Sasuke was never going to submit to Orochimaru's contracts, so he may have planned all along that 1)he'd go to Orochimaru 2)he'd kill Itachi 3)he'd come back to Konoha. I... sort of hope it isn't the case, because that seems such a cold decision. It's hard to believe that he'd have been ready to kill Naruto if he hadn't been envisaging dying to kill Itachi.

No, I tend to think that at the time he left he really didn't intend on coming back to Konoha ever (score one for the 'dying as he kills Itachi' side) and that he slowly changed his mind about dying in the years he spent with Orochimaru. I like to think it's the fact that he was trying to kill his best friend that made him think; before leaving Konoha (in a highly disturbed state of mind, might I add) he tries to kill Naruto. When we see him again after the time-skip, he is saving himself for Itachi actively avoids killing anyone.

All that rambling to say I can't see Sasuke following Itachi's good advice again. *LOL, wishful thinking*

Maybe he'll end up beating him and taking Itachi's eyes.

DDDD: DO NOT WANT. plz Sasuke don't become your brother. rly. It's one thing to kill Itachi, another to steal his eyes omg. Plus, it'd bring to mind the Kakashi-Obito eye parallel and argh no Itachi =/= Sasuke's Obito.

I'd love it if he destroyed Itachi's eyes, though.

I rambled more. fanonish rambling is of the good, don't be sorry!

[ant-power.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it would be good if the Kabuchimaru thing tied in with everything else. Maybe he still wants Sasuke's body, after all I can't imagine it would be fun sharing Kabuto's body for an extended period. But yeah, I'm at a bit of a loss as to where it's going.

I agree that Sasuke probably never thought past killing Itachi. He was such a mess at the time he left, he probably wasn't thinking much about anything at all. Even at this point, though he says he plans on killing Madara after Itachi, I don't think he's going a long-term plan after his revenge.

I like the fact that Sasuke avoids killing people. I mean, really, he doesn't have much to be redeemed/punished for. Leaving Konoha was obviously a big no-no, but I think in an overall moralistic sort of way, the only thing he's really done wrong was trying to kill Naruto. Apart from that, his actions have always been fairly justifiable. I think if I was a mixed-up 12 year old kid, I might have done the same thing, you know? I guess what I mean is that I don't think Sasuke will ever be 'the bad guy'. LOL, I have no idea where I'm going with this :P

I don't think he will follow Itachi's advice again. He didn't kill Naruto, and now that he knows that Itachi was doing it all for Sasuke's eyes, you'd hope that he would realise that the Itachi Way is sort of the Crazy Way, and that he'll never really benefit from it.

It would be awesome if he destroyed Itachi's eyes! I don't think he will take them because the only reason he needed the MS was to kill Itachi, and he made the decision at the VotE that he would do it his own way, which imo is the best thing Sasuke ever did. I loved that for the first time he actually broke away from the Great Itachi Plan. There's hope for the boy yet!

Yay, rambling :P