Anime Overview: Naruto Shippuden Part 1

Naruto Shippuden 

   The sequel series/continuation to Naruto, Shippuden may be an example of how a series can honestly go on too long and drag itself out. Taking place 2 ½ years after the first series, Naruto Shippuden continues the story of Naruto and Sakura trying to save their friend Sasuke from Orochimaru and bring him home while Sasuke seeks power to kill his brother while at the same time, the group known as Akatsuki seeks to capture Naruto and others like him. What ensues is a rather well intended but flawed story that at times seems to forget what made the first series great.

-Rescue Gaara Arc-

   The first arc is probably the weakest just on the grounds that it takes a lot of time to get anywhere. Gaara, now the Kazekage has been kidnapped by Akatsuki and Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi go save him with the help of one of Suna’s elders, Chiyo.

   There is a lot of repetition going here and I feel that the first arc could have used a go over as to figure out what the focus was going to be. Gaara, Naruto, Sakura, Chiyo, and Akatsuki all get to shine but it drags on at times. It repeats a lot of what we have already seen and known just to let us know that our protagonists know them. We have entire episodes/chapters of Naruto and others talking about Jinchuriki and it’s nothing we don’t already know. The bell test was fun but took two episodes to cover just to reaffirm that Naruto and Sakura could still work together (though they never actually did before) and see how far they had progressed. Seeing Naruto back in Konoha and meeting Sakura was awesome but it feels like it should have happened on the way to Sunagakure because it takes a good while to get there.

      From a character standpoint, it’s really more about Gaara and Sakura. In the first series we never really got a good look inside Gaara’s head after the Chunin Exams. As he is having the life and Shukaku sapped out of him and throughout the whole arc we see how far Gaara has come as a character and what he wants and how he sees himself. With Sakura it feels like this arc was really trying to prove to us that she isn’t the same girl from 2 ½ years ago who couldn’t do anything to help. She is more outspoken and open with her feelings and her training with Tsunade has made her stronger as both a ninja and a person. She wants to bring Sasuke home and keep Naruto safe, it is noticeable how she is brought to tears as she finds out that if the Kyuubi is removed from Naruto he will die. Although it should be noted that now here character has gone from worrying about Sasuke to worrying about Naruto.

      Naruto doesn’t have much to do and he doesn’t really show how far he has come in terms of combat and by that I mean we don’t see much new from him. He seems to have grown up a bit but it is clear to see that Gaara’s kidnapping was personal to him and that he does have fears of letting him down. Naruto sees a lot of himself in Gaara and if he can’t save Gaara, he can’t save himself and he certainly can’t save Sasuke. This is seen in the genjutsu placed on him by Itachi where he is berated by illusions of his friends.

Akatsuki was interesting. We never really learn a lot about the group but in this appearance combined with what we saw in part one we get that they aren’t to be underestimated. Deidara and Sassori did a good job building on the tone Itachi and Kisame set, they are both really interesting characters. Kishimoto really put a lot of work into them and how they worked, they never just show up, when you see Akatsuki in this series you know something is going to happen.

       1.Chiyo mentions that Sakura’s skills at her age are greater than Tsunade’s at this time, this will be the only time for a while Sakura’s skills will be mentioned.

        2.As interesting as the fake Itachi and Kisame were, they really only existed to stop Gai and his team who only exist because the story said so. This method is never used again by anyone in the series. 

        
  3. By the timeskip, everyone in Naruto’s graduating class minus Sasuke has been promoted meaning Sakura passed the Chunin Exam. It’s never mentioned how since the exam is completed in teams of three but common sense would say that she joined up with Ino and Chouji since Shikamaru passed the first time

      4. Naruto uses a sealing scroll in combat for the first and only time here, we never know exactly what else Jiraiya taught Naruto other than using Kyuubi’s Chakra and Naruto’s skill set becomes pretty restricted like everyone else

       5. In an interview, Kishimoto said that the sand is now a part of Gaara so even without Shukaku he can still control it.Since we later learn things about his families abilities I kind of wonder if the sand to Gaara is like Mokuton for the First Hokage.

-Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission-

   This feels really like it could have been the first arc (and it doesn’t help that the anime chose to show a scene from this to actually start the series making the previous arc essentially a flashback). Using information acquired from Sassori, Naruto and Sakura go to meet an informant who has knowledge of Orochimaru which could lead to Sasuke. With Kakashi out of commission and still a teammate short, Tsunade has ANBU Captain Yamato and ROOT member Sai join them until further notice. This arc introduces us not only to Yamato and Sai but other forces that exist within Konoha, mainly Danzo. Danzo is an interesting character who once fought for the title of Hokage against the Third and is very much against the idea and policies Tsunade has set.

   Yamato and Sai are really interesting characters. Sai is a member of ROOT, a somewhat secret organization that undergoes missions of great secrecy (so their ANBU) but are not controlled by the Hokage but rather Danzo. Danzo’s intentions are never fully understood at this point but it’s clear that he cannot be trusted completely based on what he has done to Sai, a boy who seems to have trouble interacting with people. Yamato worked under Kakashi during his days in ANBU and he really is a fun character in his own right. This arc really had a strong start and I kind of feel this should have been first, especially with the Four Tailed arc and Danzo’s views on Naruto as a Jinchuriki. Four Tailed Naruto is probably what people remember most about this arc if not the intruige within the Leaf Village. There are a lot of singular moments that make this arc important over the story itself. We see that Naruto’s transformations can seriously harm him and others, that Yamato has the 1^st Hokage’s cells which enable him to use Mokuton and suppress the Kyuubi’s Chakra, that Sai is a spy for Danzo and had a plan with Orochimaru, that Sakura may have some strong feelings for Naruto and that Sasuke has progressed farther than Naruto as a ninja. Sasuke is resolute not to go back to Konoha and does not care what Orochimaru wants from him so long as he can kill Itachi.

I often feel this arc should have been the longer or bigger arc as opposed to the Rescue Gaara arc or if the two events could have been together. We could have Gaara being kidnapped by Orochimaru to keep him from Akatsuki and for his own experiments and Naruto and Sakura along with Yamato and Sai or if Yamato and Sai had been introduced earlier. Sai meeting with Orochimaru could have been done in the first arc, which still maintains Sai’s mystery and even more if Kabuto told Naruto and the others about Sai. The arc itself is good and had a lot of emotion that related more to where we left off in the first series.

·        1.In addition to Danzo, Homura and Koharu also seek to advise Tsunade on what to do about Naruto. They are seen earlier in the first series and approach Jiraya about being Hokage.

·        2. Yamato says he was chosen to lead the team because of his Mokuton abilities which can help him control Kyuubi’s Chakra. It’s a mystery as to why he wasn’t chosen to be Jounin sensei to Naruto since it seems Kakashi was chosen because he had the sharingan.

        3. Tsunade's necklace is revealed to be important in controlling Biju and Jinchurikis during the First Hokage’s time and Yamato uses it to enhance his own abilities to help Naruto.

        4.The scene with Sakura healing Naruto is famous with the fans as she laments on how she can only do small things for Naruto. Yamato telling her that it’s the strength of her feelings that matter and Sakura’s expression hints at something about her but before Yamato can elaborate Naruto awakes. NaruSaku fans have used this to prove that Sakura does love Naruto while others say it means that she just really cares about him.

        5. During his fight with Sasuke, Kyubbi manifests inside Naruto offering his Chakra and makes no attempts to hide his intentions to take over Naruto’s body. This is continuing the Chunin Exams angle where Naruto meets the Kyuubi. But this time Naruto is refusing the Chakra where before he demanded it.

          6. Sasuke shows that with his Sharingan, he can enter Naruto’s conscious and suppress Kyuubi’s Chakra and Kyuubi says it is due to his Sharingan and mentions Madara Uchiha. This seemed to just be a parallel refrence but it turns out this is going to be big deal (no it won’t).

7. Orochimaru says that in his four tailed state, Naruto is strong enough to kill him and in that state he almost killed Jiraiya. We could use this to assume that the Sannin are able to fight Jinchuriki up to a certain number of tales though this is speculation.

  8. Despite this arc bringing up the issue about a sort of power struggle between the council and Naruto, his four tailed transformation is never brought up again and Sai apparently never reported it to Danzo. The idea of the village being turned against Naruto and Tsunade would have been an interesting idea.

-Akatsuki Suppression Mission-

   THIS. This arc is possibly the first of the three arcs I really like and it may be because it feels like it is really playing off of the primary goals more. After the failure at the bridge, Kakashi decides to help Naruto create his own personal jutsu. While at the same time Team Asuma is preparing to attack against members of Akatsuki and what entails is a really good story that felt like a slight homage to Maes Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist. We get more of a look into Akatsuki as they take the Jinchuriki of the two tails Yugito Nii.

  I admit to not liking this story at the first go through but the more I looked and thought about it, it was really good. Tsunade actually creating a team to take down Akatsuki members really should have been a mini arc in itself and I wonder if Naruto knew about it. This arc also explains things about Asuma as a character though I don't think it was really warranted but there were subtle hints about his personal life, namely his relationship with Kurenai. But this story was primarily Shikamaru's as his mentor dies in front of him, the normally passive Shikamaru is now actively pursuing a goal and leads his team in avenging the death of their sensei.

 Naruto's role in the story is a bit downplayed and I liked that. He isn't involved in the mission against Akatsuki but instead is learning to make his own personal jutsu and I like training stories. We get a lot of information about elemental jutsu as well as form and shape manipulation and combination techniques. Seeing how far Naruto progresses in this one arc really does help but it does raise some questions about what he learned with Jiraiya.

  This arc gave us a lot of emotion from a character we never really knew in the manga and gave much needed screen time to Shikamaru and his team. I kind of felt that it should have incorporated Team Kurenai as well since we find out Kurenai is pregnant with Asuma's child and would also serve to show how far that team had progressed, but I can see why that didn't happen. The story itself is just too crowded with only two enemies in the form of Hidan and Kakuzu there was no way to get them all involved and because Team Kurenai is a tracking team, they would make it too easy. 

           1. Kakashi tells Naruto that the Rasengan was never finished because the 4th Hokage died before he could apply nature manipulation. He believes Naruto can finish the 4th Hokage's work, further hinting a connection between the two.

           2. In part 1, Kakashi tells Naruto that he would teach him Chidori if he learned a jutsu more powerful than it, it's not known what jutsu Naruto could have learned to learn Chidori but it seems Kakashi knew Jiraiya would teach him Rasengan or that he was planning to teach Naruto the Rasengan later. 

           3. Naruto never learning the secret about the Shadow Clones giving him their memories makes sense. Not only does he usually create a lot but he only does them in battle and without specific memories he'd have no reason to notice.

           4. With the creation of the Rasenshuriken, we ultimately see the full extent of Naruto's arsenal of jutsu, Rasengan and Shadow Clones.

           5. Asuma being the 3rd Hokage's son had been speculated for a while due to their faces, beards, and smoking habits.

           6. Asumas death motivating Shikamaru not only parallels Shikamaru's own failure during the Sasuke Retrieval Mission, but it is also a callback to Asuma mentioning Shikamaru needing proper motivation to be a better ninja. This arc is really that story taken to a higher level.

-Itachi Pursuit Mission-

So remember when this series was about Naruto and all the arcs had Naruto playing a significant role? Well that's done for now. With the Akatsuki Suppression Mission arc we will pretty much have a series of "Naruto Light" arcs, stories where Naruto isn't the protagonist of the arc and instead other characters take point while Naruto is still around doing stuff related to the plot. This works at times but doesn't because they never really dedicate any time to it as a whole. The Itachi Pursuit Mission is essentially a Sasuke arc where Sasuke leaves after absorbing Orochimaru during their own fight and creates his own team. It's an interesting story and I kind of felt that this would be how Sasuke's story would ultimately end, with him traveling with his new group as mercenary ninja.

Jugo, Suitgetsu, and Karin are all interesting characters in their own right. Suigetsu trained under the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and wants to collect all their swords. Karin is a girl in love with Sasuke but there seems to be more to her than meets the eyes, as she seems to have a really unique personality, going from professional to flirty on a dime. Finally, Jugo is the source of the Cursed Seal that Orochimaru used on Sasuke, the Sound Four, and Kimmimaro and wants to follow Sasuke because Kimmimaro was his friend and died getting Sasuke. Sasuke has sought them all out to create  a team called "Hebi" with the purpose of finding Itachi.

Once news reaches Konoha that Sasuke has defeated Orochimaru, Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Yamato, Kakashi, and Team Kurenai go on the search for Itachi because that is where Sasuke will go. This is where the story gets really interesting as both Naruto and Sasuke's teams cross paths in one form or another but don't know each other.

This arc was never really that interesting after Sasuke gets his team but there are some fun things going on, most notably Naruto meeting both Itachi and Kabuto. Kabuto tells Naruto of the new changes in his own life with Orochimaru dead and Itachi questions Naruto's resolve to save Sasuke should he pose a threat to the village and after hearing his response, he shoves a crow down Naruto's throat which made every reader freak out.

This arc is also where we are introduced fully to the character Tobi, Deidara's new partner after the death of Sassori. Tobi doesn't do anything in this arc other than annoy Deidara but he will soon become a major player in the series. Sasuke's fight with Deidara is interesting but was honestly better to watch than anything else. I kind of felt that this arc should have had more impact, what with Orochimaru presumed dead to the world and we never know exactly what that would mean or what happens to Otogakure without it's Kage.

       1. Sasuke tells Orochimaru that he won't kill those who have never wronged him but this will change as the series continues.

       2. Kabuto tells Naruto that he fused with Orochimaru's remains and that he is slightly battling for control. With Sasuke having absorbed Orochimaru and this, this means Orochimaru is in two places at once in one form or another.

      3. Tobi's identity and the leader of Akatsuki were two very disputed topics in fan communities. Both at one point were thought to be the 4th Hokage, and Tobi was believed to be either Danzo or Obito. The latter two were due to both of them having half their body crushed.

      4. Deidara's memories of Itachi slightly parallel Sasuke's fight with Orochimaru where Sasuke talks about how great the Uchiha Clan is and Deidara had issues with Itachi's seemingly elitist attitude.

      5. It's never known if Naruto told anyone about Itachi SHOVING A CROW DOWN HIS THROAT! Fans have long speculated that Itachi had a reason for killing his clan and joining Akatsuki and that he may be servicing some greater goal that requires Naruto.

     6. Karin is able to track people by their Chakra signature, this is the first time this ability is shown.

     7. Orochimaru has a flashback to his childhood where we see the graves of his parents. It seems all the best ninja's in this series have no parents. The death of his parents never really felt like a good reason for Orochimaru to be the way he is but it doesn't help that we never get inside his head.

     8. Naruto is able to use his clones to dispel Itachi's genjutsu, he doesn't have the skill to quickly stop his Chakra flow. This has always been a constant idea for Naruto, finding alternative ways to make things work for him and it shows how great a fighter he is, using his strengths to overcome weaknesses.

     9. Suigetsu tells a prisoner in Orochimaru's prisons to tell people that Sasuke has come to bring peace to the world. It's never known exactly why he did that, he may have just been teasing. The idea of Sasuke being some sort of hero was never a full idea.

                                     
                      -Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya-

So this series has always had a knack for good death scenes, whether it be Haku and Sarutobi in Naruto to Asuma's in Shippuden, Kishimoto has shown a talent for writing and drawing those scenes. The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya is a really popular arc among the fans, mainly because it says goodbye to fan favorite Jiraya the Toad Sage. Finding out where Akatsuki is based, Jiraiya heads to Amegakure where he uncovers not only the truth about Akatsuki's leader but also about the "Child of Prophecy" that Jiraiya had been searching for for the better part of his life.

I feel this arc is a bit stronger than the one dealing with Asuma where he died. I think it comes down to the fact that Jiraiya was an even more mysterious character who was more ingrained with the main story. Asuma was ultimately dragged into playing into an arc for Shikamaru where Jiraiya was already actively involved in uncovering Akatsuki to keep Naruto safe. It should be noted that in the anime, both Asuma and Jiraiya got information on their backstory but again, where Asuma's was designed to flesh him out before he died, Jiraiya's helped us understand him more and reinforced the Child of Prophecy.

This arc works because of how it works thematically. Jiraiya and Tsunade first talk about the past and then the future when Tsunade talks about potential Hokage candidates (Naruto and then Kakashi), then they talk about the present. Jiraiya does this on his own again when reaches Amegakure, making plans for the future while thinking of events in the past (the Kyuubi sealing). When he finds out that his former students Konan and Nagato (past) are in Akatsuki and plan to take Naruto (future), Jiraiya makes a decision that the Great Toad Sage said would shape the future of the ninja world (again, past and future). You don't directly notice it but it makes a lot of sense when you look at it. Everything about the fight is something I always liked about the original series, the idea of the past coming back into the ninja world. We find out that the bodies Nagato uses are all from people Jiraiya had fought in the past in his pursuit of finding the Child of Prophecy. Amongst the insurmountable odds Jiraiya realizes that Naruto is the Child of Prophecy and and in a last ditch effort he sacrifices himself to pass the news on to Konoha before dying.

      1. Jiraiya and Tsunade drop the names of Naruto's parents, Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. Jiraiya doesn't seem to instantly remember Kushina which could imply that they didn't know each other that well but it makes sense since she wasn't one of Jiraiya's students.

      2. Jiraiya and Tsunade have a rather intimate moment before he leaves where he mentions that men were not meant to pursue happiness and mentions that her rejections of him were good for her. While waiting for him to come back, Tsunade says that if he comes back she won't reject him anymore.

      3. Jiraiya begins to theorize that Madara Uchiha may have been behind the Kyuubi attack on the village and mentions Minato being a shrewd man, saying he wouldn't have sealed it within Naruto without good reason.

     4. Toad Sage Mode is Jiraiya's best weapon and according to Pain, Jiraiya would have won the fight if not for his Rinnegan and bodies. Combined with statements from Itachi and Kisame, it has been long argued that Jiraiya is the strongest of the Sannin.

      5. Hanzo, the previous head of Amegakure is the one who named Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru the Sannin because they were able to avoid being killed by him.

     6. Jiraiya is Naruto's godfather because he named him indirectly because Minato and Kushina wanted to name him after the lead character in his one non Make Out Paradise novels. This not only connects him to Naruto but also helps him realize that Naruto is the Child of Prophecy where before he thought it was Nagato.

    7. Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato are another parallel to Team 7. They serve as examples of what Team 7 could be if they had been completely broken down by the ninja world. One of them would die while the other two would become corrupted, twisted versions of who they once were.

                     Fated Battle Between Brothers

While I'm far from the biggest Uchiha fan, I do love how well this arc played against the death of Jiraiya, signaling a change in both Naruto and Sasuke's lives. While Sasuke goes to fight Itachi, Naruto is coming to terms with the death of his master and with some help from Shikamaru, pulls himself up and goes off to learn Senjutsu training under Fukusaku and Shima. Like Jiraiya, the fight is pretty much where this arc works and actually has more to do with Itachi than it does Sasuke until the end. Sasuke questions Itachi's reasons and who else helped him kill off the clan to which Itachi replies Madara Uchiha and that he plants to take Sasuke's Sharingan and implant it within his own. Ultimately the fight comes down to Itachi being able to control the fight despite Sasuke's best efforts and like Jiraiya, Itachi leaves everything to the person he trusts the most, in this case Sasuke. There is a lot of emotion in this fight and a lot of truths in this arc are revealed as well as more skills to show how broken the Sharingan really is. At the end of it, a broken down Sasuke is revealed the truth about Itachi, the Uchiha, Madara and the Leaf Village from Tobi who reveals himself to be Madara. With a tearful face at how much his brother really cared about him and how much he suffered, Sasuke and Team Hebi (renamed Team Hawk) Join Akatsuki and goes after the Eight Tails.

I admit that I liked the training arc substantially more than I did the fight, but that is due to my love of training arcs. Naruto learning Senjutsu was more enjoyable and did reveal a bit of information about Sage Mode. One issue I have with this series is that it drags it's actual story on and doesn't provide itself with much padding or fleshing out the world around it. There is a legitimate new world as well as a Uchiha hideout revealed with new characters and they are only glanced over for the most part as well as Naruto's grieving over Jiraiya. Fans were not entirely happy about Shikamaru getting Naruto back on his feet after Iruki failed and Naruto previously bit Tsunade's head off. As good as a job Shikamaru did, it feels that this may have been the only reason Asuma died. Sakura is also noticeably absent from her teammate's suffering. She's been with Naruto more than anyone in the village and the two had been growing closer as friends. Ultimately the Senjutsu training is awesome, especially when Fukusaku has Naruto read Jiraiya's book.

     1. Itachi reveals that implanting Sasuke's eyes within his own will end his blindness by making his Mangekyou Sharingan eternal. Itachi being blind was mentioned earlier during the mission to save Gaara. 

     2. Itachi used the fight not only to keep Sasuke safe but also to expel Orochimaru form his body, taking away the healing powers he gained but also removed the chance of Orochimaru taking over his mind/body. This is a parallel to Harry Potter losing the portion of Voldemort that was in him, as he lost his ability to speak parseltongue but kept Voldemort out of his head.

     3. Madara tells Sasuke about the planned Uchiha Coup that led to the Konoha Council sending Itachi to spy on them. He says that Itachi's only request was that Madara leave Konoha alone and that Danzo leave Sasuke be. It isn't known if anyone else knew about it (like Jiraiya or Tsunade), but we later find out that both Kakashi and Yamato are surprised.

     4. Naruto's training with Fukusaku resembles that of Luke Skywalker's training on Dagobah under Yoda. The Toad World looks like Dagobah and Fukusaku is short, green, and old as well as willing to hit people with a stick. Senjutsu is also about teaching Naruto to focus and achieve balance and focusing on using the energy of nature. Also, Naruto is preparing to fight the man who killed his Jiraiya, his master who also taught his father.

The first half of Shippuden is actually really good if a little off in some areas. It doesn't have the same flair that the first series had, nor does it have the same taste for characters. At this point we have new characters in the form of Sai, Yamato, Danzo Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo. Let's ignore the latter three and focus on the former three. Out of the three, and just looking at what they've done so far, I have to say that Sai is promising to be interesting. Due to Danzo's training, Sai is even more socially inept than Sasuke because he has no idea how to pick up on social ques or even how to interact with people. He really comes off as a sort of fusion of Sasuke and Gaara in that way and is another parallel to Naruto; what would Naruto become if he had been raised as an emotionless weapon? Danzo is still hard to figure out though at this point he is a rather quiet antagonist, it's hard to figure out what he wants other than to be Hokage but it does bring up the question as to why he wasn't chosen to be Hokage after Sarutobi's death over Tsunade. Yamato is by far the best of the three, he comes off as a sort of fusion of Iruka and Kakashi and does sort of feel like another version of Kakshi thematically: Jounin, former ANBU, has an ability that could be of use to his student. Yamato does however seem to be more hands on in the teaching of his students over Kakashi.

The other characters don't really impress much at this point though there is a lot of promise so far. Sakura is sadly dropped off after the failed mission at the bridge. Despite her strong start it seems Kishimoto has pushed her back further in favor of a wider plot for Naruto and Sasuke. It's a bit sad because people do tend to think she is useless but she isn't given much to do even internally. Sasuke's story honestly didn't start until about halfway through, with Itachi dead and having discovered the truth about him was interesting and the question of what he will do with himself and this knowledge is still up in the air. Shikamaru was an interesting one and I honestly didn't think he would just get an arc but he did and it made sense. I found it a bit sad that he got more time over Chouji and Ino, but he did give a good showing as a character. Naruto . . . . . . well it's a bit weird. He's clearly matured from who he was before but he doesn't seem to have progressed to the same skill level as Sakura and Sasuke or at least he doesn't feel like he has made the same progress as the other two, at least not until he gets his training with Kakashi. He has a lot of stuff to play off of in terms of Akatsuki who want to kidnap him and others like him as well as trying to get Sasuke back. The death of Jiraiya, like Sasuke, Naruto is about to start a new chapter in his life.

Story wise I kind of feel that the series could have taken some notes from the filler arcs or the previous series. It's all very straightforward which would be good but there is nothing else to help really flesh out the world. Naruto Shippuden really didn't have a lot of things to really push the events, they just kind of happened. An example would be how Orochimaru's invasion was used in tandem with the Chuunin Exams, multiple story points married together. The arcs are never that great from a story telling value, it's always the one story point each time.

Overall, the first half of Shippuden was interesting with a lot of good ideas but the story never has the same magnitude of it's predecessor. The characters never do as much and it relies too much on the filler arcs to flesh it's world out which I've never been a fan of myself. There is a filler arc where Naruto encounters the Jinchuriki of the Two Tails and it really should have been in the manga.

 Tune in next time when we will cover the second half, with Naruto vs. Pain, the Kage Summit, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff.

@Images are property of Viz Media, Masashi Kishimoto, and Shonen Jump