Naruto Vol. 10
- ISBN
- 9781421502403
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 184
- Chapters
- 82–90
- Anime
- Season 2 (2nd Stage) ep. 36–83
The book where Naruto acquires the teacher he keeps, and where the preliminaries finally end. Chapters 82 to 90 open on Rock Lee against Gaara of the Sand, run the bracket out to its end in 'The Preliminaries... Completed!!', and then give every finalist a month to prepare. Kakashi takes Sasuke. Naruto is turned down and sent to find someone else, and the someone else is Jiraiya, who arrives in the closing chapter of a volume otherwise spent on a tournament. What that month produces is what Vols. 11 and 12 are made of. It is also the point where the run stops being a bracket and becomes training and politics for a while. Viz lists 184 pages at $11.99, and 3-in-1 book 4 opens here with Vols. 11 and 12.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Chapter 84 is named for the genius of hard work, and the volume is an argument against its own chapter title. Rock Lee has built everything on speed and strength; against Gaara he opens the Fifth Gate and lands the Hidden Lotus, which is everything he has, and it does not get through the sand. Gaara breaks his body after he is already unable to move, and the match is stopped to prevent the rest of it. Lee wins the reader and loses the fight. A shonen series is not obliged to settle that question against effort, and this one settles it in the tenth book, on the character who is nothing but effort. The remainder is bracket and logistics: the finalists are drawn, a month is given, Kakashi has already committed to Sasuke, and Naruto is left to find a teacher and finds Jiraiya. Whether Sasuke's own match happens at all is a question Vol. 12 opens and does not close.
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