Naruto Vol. 18
- ISBN
- 9781421516530
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 154–162
- Anime
- Season 3 (3rd Stage) ep. 84–131
Of the twenty-seven books in Part I, this is the one that moves least, and that is worth knowing before paying for it. Chapters 154 to 162 are conversations and a waiting period: Orochimaru makes Tsunade an offer and gives her a week, Jiraiya and Naruto find her and offer her the Hokage title instead, she refuses and insults the office, and she bets Naruto that he cannot finish a technique before the week is out, a bet he takes. Then he trains. Nothing here is settled, and the book is a hinge between two arcs rather than a part of either. The anime is well inside season 3 here, and does not reach chapter 225 until seven volumes later. Every standard volume costs $11.99, and this is the one that gives the least for it.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
What the volume does is build Tsunade, and it does that well enough to justify existing without justifying a separate purchase. Orochimaru offers to revive her dead brother and her dead lover in exchange for healing his arms, and the offer works on her, which is the first time the series uses grief as a lever rather than as a motive. Her answer to being offered the Hokage title is to insult the man who just died holding it, and Naruto attacks her for it with a technique he cannot yet finish. The bet comes out of that. The book closes with Tsunade walking to her meeting with Orochimaru after Naruto appears to have failed, and it is arranged so that the reader expects her to accept. She does not, and the reversal is the first chapter of Vol. 19. These two volumes are one story with a spine in the middle, and only one of them stands up alone.
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