“Gold and silver coins may be worth more than copper coins. But pool them together, and copper will have an equal or greater value.”
Summary
Kinkaku wrecks havoc on the battlefield in his tailed beast form, and Darui has the Kohaku no Johei sent to him – the pot used to seal the Hachibi. However, Kinkaku is perfectly aware of the pot’s abilities, and thus is prepared to counter it’s effects. The Allied forces hold out until Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji turn up, and watch as they perform a perfect Ino-Shika-Cho combo and defeat Kinkaku. As the Allied shinobi celebrate their victory, Kakuzu appears, followed by Sarutobi Asuma.
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Impression
We’ve seen it before, so it’s less impressive, but the Ino-Shika-Cho formation seems to be a tried and true method of taking down enemies. It’s been used in the past and all, and is a little too convenient, but you can’t deny its a classic method that the show uses for bad guys to be defeated. I have a higher opinion of Chouji and Ino now as well (Shikamaru was always a genius in my books) though they’re still using their one-trick pony jutsu’s that they were introduced with. Even if it’s stronger, for something like that to be beating a powerhouse like Kinkaku is a bit over the top – but even so, at least there aren’t any ridiculous power gaps when new enemies are shown like in other shounen anime or manga.
Naruto has always been a show about themes like bonds, surpassing the previous generation and creating new legends, not completely unlike a certain idol show from last season. Because of that, introducing a plot twist at this point in time, as well as having only the main characters actually do some damage (notice how all the adult jounin and just ninja in general were only told to “throw their kunais”) is a classic plot turn, as is Asuma finally meeting Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji on the battlefield. Seeing as they’ve fought Kakuzu before, it’d be slightly boring to have them redo a previous battle, so I guess it’s fated that Asuma is now being forced to fight his students to the death, even beyond the grave. Anyone can tell that it’ll be harder than the battle with Kinkaku, as well as the psychological factor coming in, as they were once Asuma’s little genin.
I never knew Kinkaku killed the Second Hokage. It’s fitting that he ended up sealed in the Kohaku no Johei, a container for the Hachibi, while in tailed form. It’s not surprising that as a prodigy and rumoured descendant of the Rikudou Sennin, people like him and his brother get all arrogant, which is why I liked Darui’s analogy at the end that many copper coins can be worth as much as a gold or a silver one.
Shikamaru’s whole shogi analogy has come back, and we’ve finished one fight and are going straight on to the next! Or…not. Welcome back…to filler land.
Okay, admittedly this “Road to Sakura” doesn’t look all bad, but it’s still a filler, and we were in the middle of a war for goodness sakes. How they can shamelessly call it a special episode I have no idea, but we’ll see how long this goes on for. I’m on vacation and all, so it’s probably a good time for me to hiatus from Naruto for a while, as per usual when fillers arrive.