Naruto Vol. 32
- ISBN
- 9781421519449
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 184
- Chapters
- 281–289
- Anime
- Season 1: Kazekage Rescue 「風影奪還の章」 ep. 1–32; Season 2: Long-Awaited Reunion 「遥かなる再会の章」 ep. 33–53
Shippuden's first season ends on the first chapter of this book, which makes it the most awkward seam in the series so far. Chapters 281 to 289 rebuild Team Kakashi with two new members appointed by two people with opposed reasons, then send it to meet a spy. A viewer who finished season 1 has seen exactly one chapter here and starts at chapter 282. Season 2, episodes 33 to 53, then covers chapters 282 to 310, which runs one chapter into Vol. 35. Nobody stops at a volume boundary in this stretch, in either medium: the book opens on an arc's last chapter and closes in the middle of a conversation. Viz lists this one at 184 pages, the shortest volume in Part II, at the same $11.99 as every other.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
This is a staffing volume, and who does the staffing is the interesting part. Team Kakashi loses its captain to a hospital bed and gains two members from opposed quarters: Sai, placed by Danzo Shimura of the village council, who fears the Akatsuki will come for the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed in Naruto and wants his own hand on the problem, and Yamato, placed by Tsunade to supervise the first appointment. The reconstituted Team 7 is therefore a compromise between two people who do not trust one another, with the original third member as the objective. Chapter 285 is titled after Danzo's organization, the Foundation. Sai is written as emotionally absent and Naruto refuses to work with him, which is the friction the next two volumes run on. The book ends with Orochimaru walking into the meeting with Kabuto. An arc opens in this volume’s last chapter and the previous season ended in its first, which is why the seam here cuts badly in both directions.
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