Naruto Vol. 4
- ISBN
- 9781591163589
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 184
- Chapters
- 28–36
- Anime
- Season 1 (1st Stage) ep. 1–35
The end of the first arc, and the cleanest place to stop in the opening dozen books. Chapters 28 to 36 finish the fight on the bridge that the previous book leaves hanging, and close the Land of Waves out in chapter 33. The last three chapters are a different thing altogether: Team 7 back in Konohagakure, Iruka against Kakashi over whether the three are ready for more, and the Chunin Exams entered. So the book ends on an opening rather than an ending, and a reader who wants one finished story can stop at chapter 33 and have it. At 184 pages this is among the shortest in the run and costs the same $11.99 as the 216-page Vol. 2. It opens 3-in-1 book 2 with Vols. 5 and 6.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Haku is what the arc is for. Naruto, running on the fox's chakra, overwhelms him, and then stops once the mask is off and the face under it belongs to a boy his own age. Haku dies anyway, and not at Naruto's hand: he steps into Kakashi's Lightning Blade to save Zabuza. Zabuza then spends the last of himself killing Gato, the employer, who arrives with hired men and an order to kill everyone standing on the bridge, Zabuza included. Both villains are mourned by the people who fought them, and the only party the arc condemns is the one who paid for it. Kishimoto does not do this again. From chapter 34 the series becomes a tournament, and a tournament cannot end like this. The Chunin Exams are entered in the closing chapters, and chapter 35, 'Iruka vs. Kakashi', is the only place in the book where anyone argues about whether Team 7 should be there at all.
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