Then who’s the man…behind the mask?!
Summary
Naruto’s clones arrive on each battlefield, working with the Allied forces to take down the hidden Zetsu. Back with Gaara’s group, Kabuto uses Mu to reanimate another shinobi, who destroys the box from the inside and walks over to the edge of the cliff. The Allied forces realize with shock that the new arrival is none other than Uchiha Madara,
Impression
Finally, we’re back! At long last, we’ve finally climbed out of Naruto’s classic filler hell – and hopefully this lasts for more than a couple episodes this time. I’m pretty sure there’s quite a lot of manga material to plough through by now. Even this week’s massive revelation occurred over a year ago in the manga – it’s time for Studio Pierrot to stop being lazy.
The last time I watched an episode (quite some time ago) Naruto and Killer Bee were jumping through the trees. Today, they were still jumping through the trees. The entire situation is similar to how I remember – Kakashi and Gai are fighting the Seven Swordsmen, Team 9 and Neji are still having trouble with these Zetsu clones, and Gaara’s group are still standing there looking pleased with themselves. The Allied forces would have definitely found themselves in deep trouble had Naruto not turned up – people like Sakura were very sympathetic to those two “hurt shinobi” who turned out to be white Zetsu. The entire thing feels a bit pointless and dragged out, to be honest. While the Zetsu issue is a significant problem, I don’t think it was necessary to play out Naruto’s arrival in minute detail and jump around to all of the groups, showing him helping them out. It was nice to see him help Hinata though 😀 +1 for NaruHina yet again! Also, why do the Zetsus even become trees when they die?
So. The chances are, you’ve either been spoiled by the OP (if you’ve been watching the fillers), you read the manga or someone else spoiled it for you, because it was almost anti-climactic seeing Madara casually step out of a Edo Tensei box. Yes, not the Rinne Tensei, as he’d expected. That’s the thing “that brat” Nagato used to revive all the Konoha villagers at the end of the Pain Invasion arc. We knew Mu had survived, but to see Madara is evidently a terrible shock to all the shinobi present – because his prowess has easily gone down in legend as the most powerful Uchiha alive, with only Hashirama able to stand up to his might. Also, that means he’s not the guy in the mask. I wonder who he could possibly be? Notice I’ve always taken care to call him “Tobi”, ever since the manga revelation. Poor guy’s probably not going to be happy at Kabuto revealing this secret so easily. There’s power in a name, after all.
