Naruto Vol. 23
- ISBN
- 9781421518596
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 200–208
- Anime
- Season 3 (3rd Stage) ep. 84–131
Three fights start here and none of them finish, which makes this the least self-contained book in the run. Chapters 200 to 208 split the retrieval team for the last time: Kiba takes Sakon and Ukon, Shikamaru takes Tayuya, and Naruto is stopped by Kimimaro, a former member of the Sound Four sent to do what the four could not. Everyone on the Konoha side is losing when the book ends. This is the middle of the middle, and the honest description is that it is the slowest part of an arc made of seven volumes of consecutive one-on-one duels. It is not the reason to buy the run. Season 3 covers it, and does not run out until chapter 225. Viz does not state which standard volumes its 3-in-1 books after the sixth contain.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Everyone on the Konoha side loses here, and that is deliberate, but it is also why it is hard to read on its own. Kiba is put against two opponents and cannot find a target. Shikamaru, who wins by thinking, cannot get ahead of Tayuya. Naruto is held where he stands by Kimimaro, who is not one of the four and does not need to be. Kishimoto separates the team precisely so that nobody can be rescued, which makes the arc's shape honest and its middle volume thin: three fights, three reversals against the heroes, no resolutions. What the book accomplishes is that Sasuke gets away. Everything else is holding. The rescues arrive in Vol. 24, and they arrive from outside the village, which is the return the Chunin Exam arc set up. Read the two books together, or the ending of this one reads as failure with nothing after it.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links on this page are affiliate links, which cost you nothing extra. They never influence what appears on this site or what the commentary says about it.