Naruto: manga volumes 12-13

[rachelmanija]

I need to stop reading this late at night. There is no such thing as "just a chapter or two."



I am chronically unable to follow intrigue-y plots, and am additionally hampered by the clunky translation and the difficulty of flipping back while reading scans. So can someone help me out here, either by explaining things that have already been revealed, and/or by telling me that I'm not supposed to know something yet?

So the Sand Village trio were supposed to get up to the semi-finals, but it was irrelevant if they won, because they were actually supposed to infiltrate... but infiltrate what? The semi-finals themselves? Or were they supposed to do something afterward? How was participating in the tests supposed to achieve their goals?

Why did the catsuit guy concede? What exactly went wrong during the Gaara/Sauke bout, other than Gaara completely flipping his lid? Was Gaara supposed to kill Sasuke?

The rest is mostly squee:

Kakashi and Sasuke's late entrance in a flurry of leaves was so cool!

Shikamaru and Temari continue to be interesting, and I loved the contrast between Shikamaru's nonchalant concession and the typical shounen "I WILL CONTINUE FIGHTING EVEN IF MY LEGS FLY OFF!" (Surprisingly, that is a verbatim quote not from Fullmetal Alchemist, where it would make sense, but from the Bleach anime.)

Gaara is even more insane than I had thought, and I already thought he was insane. That Norman Bates-like talking to his mother about feeding her blood, and the mega-creepy thing where his ninja buddies (um, if that's an appropriate word) were talking about how being wounded in the "cocoon" interrupted his "metamorphosis" was... mega-creepy. Also, he seems to be a big potential liability to his own side if in addition to the typical berserker trait of potentially killing his teammates, he's also prone to going catatonic or whatever the hell was going on and having to be dragged off like a sack of sand.

I loved Naruto telling Neji that when he becomes Hokage, he will change the Hyouga. It was just so Naruto. Also, Neji is an asshole. I get where he's coming from now, but he's still an asshole.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I've forgotten most of the details, but I can say that at least some of your questions will be answered in future chapters. I also wouldn't expect any plot logic more than your typical shounen manga has. :D You haven't gotten to the backstory stuff on the Sand yet.

I've got page 47 done, but Photobucket is being a bitch, so it'll be up later. I STILL HATE ROSEBUSHES.

This arc was where I lost respect for Kakashi - tossing over Naruto, who really, desperately needed a very very good teacher, for the I Am More Special Than You Uchiha kid that had the celebrity. It's pretty much luck that Naruto ran into Jiraiya, IIRC.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That second paragraph was supposed to be at the end, where the abrupt change of subject wouldn't cause quite to much whiplash. I should learn to type things in order, instead of as I think of them.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I had assumed that Kakashi had, for Sekrit Ninja Reasons, stuck Naruto with Whatsisface but arranged for Jiraiya to take over, although now that I think of it, there is no actual textual evidence for that other than that it seemed awfully coincidental for the perfect tutor for Naruto to randomly squash the lame one with his FROG THE SIZE OF TEXAS and take over.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Nope, no evidence whatsoever that Kakashi arranged that, other than Kishimoto realizing that the way he set it up, Naruto really couldn't have been taught anything by Kakashi, I think. :)

[octopedingenue]

This arc was where I lost respect for Kakashi - tossing over Naruto, who really, desperately needed a very very good teacher, for the I Am More Special Than You Uchiha kid that had the celebrity. It's pretty much luck that Naruto ran into Jiraiya, IIRC.

I still have deep Kakashi character love while recognizing his personal flaw in pretty much screwing over his entire team by not giving enough attention to Naruto and Sakura. But even though it's really more a matter of character interpretation rather than fact, I think Kakashi had good intentions for good spoilery reasons in focusing so much on Sasuke (obligatory Uchiha angst(tm), gaiden, etc.). Still, blah blah regrets, good intentions, road to hell, all that. IIRC, Kakashi had never let a team pass before he decided to take up with Team 7; he's done team playing and leading in the past, but in some ways he's as inexperienced in it as his kids are, especially as a teacher. (Insert obligatory ninja angst(tm) here.)