Naruto Vol. 34
- ISBN
- 9781421520025
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 300–309
- Anime
- Season 2: 遥かなる再会の章 (Long-Awaited Reunion) ep. 33–53
Naruto and Sasuke are in the same room for the first time since the end of Part I, and chapter 306 is titled 'The Reunion...!!'. Chapters 300 to 309 spend their first half on Sai, the teammate nobody wanted, and on the orders he was actually given, then let the search find what it has been looking for since chapter 281, 'The Search for Sasuke!!'. The turn is in what the meeting does to the premise. Part I ended with one attempt to bring Sasuke home by force, and everything in Part II so far has been arranged to set up a second one. This book runs it. What it settles about any future attempt is why the rest of the series is shaped the way it is, and it belongs in the section below rather than here. Shippuden covers these chapters inside season 2, episodes 33 to 53. 192 pages, $11.99 at list.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Sasuke overwhelms the assembled team without effort. Naruto refuses the Nine Tails, and Sasuke enters his mind and suppresses it regardless; Yamato, Sakura and Sai are no more use than he is. He then declines to kill them, not because anything Naruto said reached him but because Orochimaru and Kabuto argue that a living Konoha is useful against the Akatsuki. That is the register change, and it is colder than the one at the end of Part I. The first failure was a fight Naruto nearly won. This is not a fight. From here, retrieval is not a problem that more strength solves, which is the fact the remaining volumes are built on. Sai carries the other half of the book: his standing orders were to kill Sasuke, he asks Naruto to explain what a bond is, changes his own mission on the answer, and takes Kabuto prisoner on the way. Both threads end with the mission failed, for the second time and for a different reason.
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