Review: Naruto Manga 580: Brothers' Time

Chapter Summary

• Kabuto's mouth! 
• Kabuto proves to be a tough foe
• Fodder ninja Sasuke still hasn't moved from his spot since the battle began.
• Uchiha brothers reminisce about the good old days.

The Good:

Naruto 580 gives us another action packed chapter, and I loved it! The last chapter finished off with Kabuto casting his sage technique, and this chapter we got to see how kick ass the technique is. Although, it lasts a short time, it effectively disabled both Sasuke and Itachi for the duration of the jutsu, showing that we were heavily underestimating Kabuto ability (or highly over estimating Sasuke). Having Sasuke battle such an opponent while unable to recklessly spam his mangekyou techniques may allow him to mature emotionally and hopefully show us some fruits of his training lol. (Sasuke...training hard or hardly training.)



 

Mindblow!

Aside from watching Kabuto kick butt, did anyone else see his mouth when running towards Sasuke? Usually snakes dislocated their jaw when eating large foods. Could that mean Kabuto wants to eat Sasuke? I know it's silly, but maybe he's like Kirby and gains power by consumption. (Mind blown!)

Note: "The upper jaw connects to the lower jaw by the quadrate bone, which works like a double-jointed hinge so the lower jaw can dislocate, allowing the mouth to open as wide as 150 degrees."

I am also glad to see Itachi and Sasuke working so well together. In fact, we got to see a flashback of a younger Sasuke and Itachi teaming up to defeat a wild boar which paralleled with the current fight against kabuto. The difference being that this time Sasuke's arrow hits the target Kabuto, unlike the younger sasuke who completely misses the boar. This brotherly moment was sweet and is helping to show a more human side to Sasuke, in addition to helping us understand why losing his brother drove him to insanity.

The Bad:

Jeez! Sasuke has not moved an inch since the beginning of the battle! I realized his laziness had reached a new level when he chose to throw his sword at the beginning of the battle. Like seriously? It’s really disappointing to see how MS has really retarded Sasuke’s battle’s rather than enhance them.

My other beef with Sasuke is him looking useless around Itachi. After Kabuto used his sage art, Sasuke made no effort to regain composure, forcing itachi saving his butt again. Although the battle is early, his battle wits seem to degrade as Mangekyou upgrades. Sasuke really need to get a mentor willing to train him on his use of mangekyou and other fire related techniques because at the moment, Sasuke is like a child with a big gun.  

Note: It’s possible that Sasuke’s overuse of Susanoo may be used as some type of Symbolism. Susanoo may be acting like an emotional barrier for Sasuke (in addition to him sabotaging all his relationships). If this is true, then it's possible that after gaining closure from Itachi we may see a transformed Susanoo or change in Sasuke’s fighting style.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this chapter was great! I was slightly disappointed with Sasuke’s lackluster performance but feel certain that he will shine eventually. The brotherly relationship was really sweet and Sasuke’s change in attitude makes him a lot more likeable.

Score: 8/10