Naruto Vol. 21
- ISBN
- 9781421518558
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 216
- Chapters
- 181–190
- Anime
- Season 3 (3rd Stage) ep. 84–131
Ten chapters and 216 pages against the nine and 192 these books usually run, and the extra length goes on a departure and a chase. Chapters 181 to 190 have Sasuke leave for Orochimaru, Sakura fail to stop him, and Shikamaru put together a retrieval team of five with himself, newly promoted, the only one holding rank. The pursuit finds its structure at once: the Sound Four peel off one at a time and take one member of the team with them each, and the first of those pairings is Choji's. That structure runs to the end of Part I. The anime is inside season 3 throughout, four volumes short of where it stops. Viz does not state the contents of any 3-in-1 book after the sixth, so a buyer cannot confirm from the listing which one holds this volume.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Choji kills Jirobo. That is the change, and it is worth stating flatly. The series has killed before, and always an adult: Haku, Zabuza and Gato in Vol. 4, the Third Hokage in Vol. 16. The fights between the children ended in a surrender, a disqualification, an interruption or a conversion, and Gaara walked out of Vol. 16 alive and changed. This is the first duel one of them settles with a body. Kishimoto front-loads the cost so the fighting does not have to carry it. Sakura's confession is refused in the coldest scene the series has written to that point, and Sasuke leaves anyway, which means the retrieval team is chasing someone who has already declined to be retrieved. Naruto's promise to her is what the remaining six volumes of Part I are enforcing. Ten chapters and 216 pages instead of the usual nine and 192 put the departure and the first duel in the same book rather than splitting them, so this is the one book in the arc holding both a cause and a completed fight.
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