Summary
The Raikage still stands in Naruto and Bee’s way, while Tsunade finally swaps her opinion and decides to let them pass. The Raikage talks with Bee about their past and status, while Bee overpowers the Raikage with his Lariat, stating that his brother is what keeps him going as a Jinchuuriki. Naruto chimes in and takes on the responsibility of being the world’s saviour, reaching speeds of the Hiraishin no Jutsu and dodging a punch sent at the Raikage’s fastest speed.
Impression
A fairly slow-paced episode this week, and though I’m impatient for the show to advance towards the current manga events, I do appreciate that it’s better than blazing through everything at the speed of a bullet train. One thing that they spent lots of time building up on was the Raikage’s reasons for secluding Bee and Naruto, as well as his previous restrictions on Bee. The death of the Raikage’s father probably hit him hard, and as Bee was the only precious person left to him, the Raikage went to many lengths to keep him within the village. Clearly he’s being far too overprotective though, because as a shinobi, you’re constantly risking your life anyway, and that risk increases even more with Bee being a Jinchuuriki. The “something” that Bee eventually finds to fill the hole in his heart is the Raikage, and so amidst all the brofists it was a symbolic moment to see Bee’s Lariat overpower the Raikage’s one, whose chakra armour and speed levels have been said to be amongst the best of shinobi. Likewise, Naruto’s “flash-like” movement was almost entirely reminiscent of all that time ago, when A and Bee attacked Minato, who dodged A’s speed.
I agree with Naruto’s mention that his parents were not failures. They were far from it, and nobly sacrificed themselves to save Konoha from the Kyuubi, entrusting their will to Naruto as it’s Naruto that will address the problem of the masked man Tobi and his plans. Minato had actually planned his really carefully, so props to him for managing to forsee the issue for far back. Naruto’s two suns and the relevation that his parents did in fact love him (as well as his latent desire to bring back Sasuke) are what is important to him, and has filled the gap in is heart as a Jinchuuriki. It’s a very shounen-like concept, but it works nonetheless. Naruto is most likely the Child of Prophecy – or perhaps there are multiple children, all who play a part in saving the world: Nagato, Minato and now Naruto.
Naruto being able to see through the Zetsu transformations is literally a godsend. Now, with his Kage Bunshin it’s possible for him to visit all the areas and weed out the White Zetsu with Bee’s help. We won’t get it yet, though, as we’re going back into a one-episode filler next week. It’s concerning a fight with Kakashi though, so perhaps I’ll find it exciting enough to want to blog it.