Naruto Chapter 301 Review

Author: Masashi Kishimoto
Scanslated by Naruto Bunshin Scanslation Team

[SPOILER HEAVY]

This week Naruto, Sakura and Yamato start their pursuit of Sai, Orochimaru and Kabuto, and, they hope, Sasuke as a consequence. Sakura and Naruto decide that they'll really save Sasuke this time and Sai has an interesting conversation with Sasuke.

Much like 300, this is another narrative-heavy chapter. We witness that Sai isn’t impervious to Sasuke's Sharingan (now demonstrating a headfeck-like ability strikingly similar to Itachi's), regardless of his supposed lack of emotion. Sasuke also thinks Sai is a bit of a pleb and initially discounts him, until talk of Naruto rouses his interest. Sasuke seems to lower his guard for a moment but ultimately reels off the same old "whinge whinge, I want to kill my real brother", gives us a nice silhouetted surl and disappears, without giving us a proper look to his older self. Orochimaru hands Kabuto a packet of information on the ANBU serving under Tsunade, requesting he make a bingo book (databook) on each. The reason for this beyond the obvious isn't made clear, but it goes a nice way of reminding us of Orochi's grander plans and also shows Kabuto that Konoha aren't messing around, Yamato being the real deal.

Yamato reveals his 'other job' as a drug dealer, scoring Saruka and Naruto some pretty wicked pills . . . but sadly they aren't disco biscuits; rather a means of surveillance if the party gets split up. Yamato also reveals his potential for being a date-rapist, explaining that he slipped a pill in Sai's food during the massive feast they had before the mission. This clears up the confusion over how he was able to track them so accurately and also enforces the distinct lack of trust Konoha have for Sai. I'd love to see what the fan community do with some of these panels, though. The scene almost demands a spoofing.

We aren't given much more insight to Sai's motivations or his alliances this chapter, but I'm still sure he's motivated by personal reasons - more specifically his older brother. How this relates to the test subjects utilised by Kabuto and Orochi during their experiments we don't know, but it's certainly fair to assume there's a connection. Based on Kishimoto's penchant for parallels Sai's reasoning may even bare striking resemblance to Sasuke's vengeance crusade; or perhaps just a schmaltzy demonstration of brother-love that Sasuke and Naruto have fostered over the past year or so. Regardless, I hope this arc is given some more clarity soon. I enjoy exposition chapters, but too many in a row can be a little boring.

I have a worrying suspicion that Kishimoto might be setting up Sasuke to find his redemption in his acknowledgement of the family he has in Naruto and Sakura. And once he accepts this he won't have to kill his real brother, Itachi. Obviously, from my hardened 21-year-old perspective this would suck arse, but remember this is a comic for young boys and good examples need to be set. I know, I hate it when Moral Conscience gets in the way of a good bit of carnage, but we have to think of the children now and again. We wouldn't want to be raising a generation of vengeance-seeking psychos, after all. Cool as it would be.