Naruto Vol. 17
- ISBN
- 9781421516523
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 145–153
- Anime
- Season 3 (3rd Stage) ep. 84–131
This is where Naruto begins learning the Rasengan, the technique he is still using deep into Part II. Chapters 145 to 153 open with Itachi and Kisame trying to collect him, put Sasuke in front of the brother who killed their clan, and then settle into a road trip: Jiraiya and Naruto going town to town looking for Tsunade, with training in between. Orochimaru is looking for her too, for a different reason. Season 3 of the anime starts at chapter 145, the first chapter here, so a viewer who stopped after season 2 starts at the front of this book, which is the tidiest entry point in Part I. This is the middle book of 3-in-1 number 6, the last 3-in-1 book whose contents Viz prints.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Two boys get their futures in the same nine chapters, and the series hands them opposite ones. Naruto gets a teacher, a technique taught in stages, and an adult who thinks he is worth the time. Sasuke gets Itachi, who takes him apart without difficulty; Jiraiya arriving is the only reason the encounter ends. Sasuke is sent back to Konoha to recover and spends the next four volumes deciding what to do about being that far behind, and what he decides drives the end of Part I and the opening of Part II. The Rasengan is the more durable debut of the two. It is the technique the series never retires, and this is one of the few places where the series shows a jutsu being built in stages instead of asserting that it works. Orochimaru is hunting Tsunade because his arms were sealed in Vol. 16, which is the thread that makes the next two books a race.
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