Impression
It’s been a while since we’ve had a good chunk of screen time for the fight between the Five Kage and Madara! Even so, it’s been clear beyond doubt for some time that Madara is way out of their league, and this only reinforced that. All the Kage really have is Oonoki’s strong will and a combination of team tactics – if Madara really wanted to end things quickly, he could have done so without much of a fuss. While I do find him extremely arrogant (as I do most Uchiha) in his case it’s all too true that he’s superior. Having an indestructible body and infinite chakra is just the icing on the cake – I don’t think it would have made much of a difference if he didn’t possess those qualities (I bet he ended up dying of old age or something). It’s not that the Five Kage are weak, it’s just that Madara is far too overpowered. For them, this week was pretty much them jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire – the clone Susanoos were bad enough, but that massive perfect Susanoo is just utterly ridiculous. A standard tree isn’t even as big as its foot! I don’t blame them for just standing there gawking at its size, or how it destroys a mountain just by swinging its sword. And sadly, I really do have to agree that they’ll probably have to redraw the maps after this war is over.
Sasuke’s played an increasingly antagonistic role in the series (threatening to kill Naruto and all that) so this tender, reflective side of him surprised me somewhat. With Itachi having successfully stopped the Edo Tensei, the first phase of the war is coming to a close – after all, with many of the Zetsu dead, the only real enemy left is Tobi. All the resurrected shinobi are departing… and of course, that means Itachi is too. He approached Sasuke in the exact same way as he did before he died ;_; It’s so great that he’s finally managed to have his honest talk with Itachi after years of lies and slander. This Sasuke is the Sasuke we see in all those Uchiha flashbacks of the past – who adored and admired his older brother unreservedly, up until the day of his “betrayal”. While Sasuke might still be hell bent on revenge, I hope this encounter has given him a bit of closure at least; and he’s also managed to understand the full story from Itachi himself. Although the coup was probably unavoidable, it seems like it was Danzo’s constant meddling and insistence that eventually had push come to shove – it was Danzo who stole Shisui’s right eye, and it was Danzo who approached Itachi was an ultimatum. Even though the Sandaime eventually conceded, I think it’s important to note that he tried to resolve it through negotiation first. So in many ways, Sasuke really did have a strong justification for going after (and killing) Danzo.