5/10 stars
Not bad, but uneven. While Naruto's training is interesting, and Kishimoto laboriously sets up his pieces for a confrontation, the dramatic and the supposedly funny scenes don't mesh well: the juxtaposition is just too big. Also, it's another volume with lots of explanations about chakra and its flow that I feel I really could've been spared. I guess I'm hooked on the mystery of Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraya and I've grown to like Naruto (and even Sasuke, sigh) too much to get overly irritated with Kishimoto's meandering, bumbling narrative, but not as blind as not to see this for what it is: a filler volume.
It's ok, but far from the best.