Naruto Vol. 57
- ISBN
- 9781421543062
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 535–544
- Anime
- Season 12: 九尾掌握と因果なる邂逅の章 (Nine-Tails and the War begins) ep. 243–275; Season 13: 忍刀七人衆の章 / 力-Chikara- (Seven Swordsmen) ep. 276–295
Season 12 of Shippuden ends at chapter 535, the first chapter in this book, which makes it the hardest volume in the run to arrive at correctly. Episode 274 adapts chapter 534, the last chapter of the previous book, and episode 275 adapts chapter 535 here; season 13 then opens at chapter 536. A viewer who has finished season 12 therefore starts at the second chapter of this volume. Getting the boundary wrong by two chapters sends a reader back into the previous book, which they have already watched end to end. Chapters 535 to 544 are the night between two days of fighting: Naruto and Killer Bee leave the island, Madara helps himself to what is on the battlefield, and both armies stop to count.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Iruka is the one posted to keep Naruto on the island, which is the series putting its first teacher in the way of its last arc, and chapter 535 is named for him. He does not manage it, and the argument he loses is the volume's subject: the plan was to hide the two remaining hosts, and the plan does not survive either of them finding out there is a war on. The Raikage and Tsunade intercept them in person and lose the same argument for the same reason. Tsunade's decision to rely on Naruto's strength instead is the formal handover of the war to the character it is named after. Madara interrupts the fighting to take the Gold and Silver Brothers' chakra, and then night falls on two armies that have each lost half their strength. Chapter 543 is titled 'Truer Words'.
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