Naruto Vol. 25
- ISBN
- 9781421518619
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 218–226
- Anime
- Season 3 (3rd Stage) ep. 84–131; Season 4 (4th Stage) ep. 132–179
A book the original anime splits almost at its back cover: eight of its nine chapters belong to one season and the ninth opens the next. Chapters 218 to 226 put Naruto and Sasuke in the same place with nothing left to say to each other, then hand most of their length to Sasuke's childhood. Season 3 of the original series, episodes 84 to 131, stops at chapter 225, the eighth chapter here. Season 4 opens at chapter 226, the last one, and episode 132 takes its title from that chapter. A viewer who finished season 3 therefore starts one chapter from the end of this book and needs the next volume with it. Viz lists 192 pages at $11.99, and this is among the last three volumes inside Box Set 1, which Viz describes only as all 27 volumes.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Most of the book is a flashback, and it is the one the series has been withholding since Sasuke was introduced. His childhood is a sequence of near misses at his family's recognition, all of which goes to Itachi instead, and the short stretch where it finally comes to him ends with Itachi killing the clan in a night. What Itachi leaves behind is not only a survivor: it is an instruction, to pursue power and nothing else, and a specification, that the Mangekyo Sharingan is bought by killing your closest friend. Chapter 226 is where Sasuke applies the specification to Naruto. The structural cost is worth naming. The series spends nine chapters converting a rival into a case study, and it works, because every later argument about whether Sasuke can be retrieved dates from this book rather than from anything he does after it. Season 3 stops one chapter short of the decision, which is why episode 132 hands it to the next season to open with.
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