3.5/5
I have loved Gai since he first appeared doing that weird eye pose on the talking tortoise. To see him at the climax of his youth, I can't take it. He looks so damn perfect when he unleashes the red steam, his life's blood, to protect his most precious students and their future. His hair and eyebrows aflame with his power. A King from day 1. He deserved a cover. The fact that everyone else looks so sad when he's getting ready to make his ultimate move makes it all the sadder. This is the epitome of Gai's career, his life, his blessed youth and it's a sad moment despite the hype of it all. The story of his father whilst brief was very insightful. Gai is so devoted to his father's teachings because he had wavered from them in his own youth. He lost belief in his father and was embarrassed by him. But his father never gave up on himself and with Dai's death, he cemented in young Gai's head the true meaning of life and the path to eternal youth.
Why in the volume about Naruto's (and Sasuke's from one sword stab apparently) near death is there so much comedic nonsensensory? The white Zetsu clowning the shinobi forces, the white Zetsu insulting Madara, Team Gai's escapades on the way to the battlefield, Tobirama appearing to be spitting at Madara etc. "Black Zetsu's nickname is wicked tongue and we White Zetsu call ourselves wagging tongues."
The volume starts with the bijuu working together which was quite emotional when I think about how these are siblings who have been separated for probably centuries and they are fighting for their freedom which has long been denied to them. Unfortunately, now that Madara is back in his living body with one plundered rinnegan, it's not easy. The story of the monk which helps Shukaku decide to assist Gaara was very sweet. The tatoo transition, maybe there was a different path for those two. Sadly, all goes south as Madara, enhanced by Hashirama chakra and a real rinnegan in a living body, "collars" all of them, including Nine and Eight tails. He's so nasty to them.
Our beloved hero is near death! But Kurama imparts a plan to Gaara before he leaves to have the other half of him sealed into Naruto to keep him alive. Now, I have retrospectively always thought "why didn't Minato reseal Kurama inside Kushina?" I see in this volume that everyone, even Zetsu, believes that taking out a bijuu kills a jinchuuriki. So, I'm willing to accept that perhaps this loophole wasn't known. It's also only possible on Uzumaki's who have vast life forces. It is better to accept this than perhaps the real truth of Kishimoto's forgetful writing.
How can people still be perpetuating the false narrative that Sakura is useless when she is out here pumping the hero's heart by her own hand? She has done more than enough to beat this moniker she did rightfully deserve when she was younger. She's strong now, only some fans seem to deny this. The truly useless lot are the Gokage who are struggling with an essentially suped-up Yamato, even if they have lost chakra he's still not Madara level is he? And Hinata. If anyone's calling Sakura useless they need to extend that to her fairly. What was she running to do? She literally fell over for no reason. She's never been a character who was meant to grow. In each of her scenes she has played a role and played it well, usually to deliver emotional impact. When she's just standing there and not playing an active role, you can see she's got no other value. It's sad, but that's as far as Kishimoto's writing for females can go.
Madara gives his whole spiel about human conflict and peace, but he gives us a glimpse of what leads to future peace. The true nature of chakra and ninshu as a force to join people which allows them to read each other's hearts. He chose Kaguya's path, the heroes must choose the other (and I already know they do, having read the post-series works).
Madara's also still in his cult leader sh*t telling Obito he's Madara, Madara is a state of mind, Madara is the road to eternity and whatnot. But Obito's been on a journey, he knows himself now, he can no longer be manipulated by the likes of Madara. Obito takes what in his mind is probably his final stand, to fight by his rival and master to save the boy he's also put his hopes in. Kabuto has had a similar journey and is now back to save Sasuke but thankfully Suigetsu at least points out that he's still the reason this war's so bad in the first place. The way Madara kicks away Minato and the rasengan into Obito and Kakshi was actually quite cool.
The volume has multiple flashbacks: Minato and Kushina's worries about their child and vows to protect him because they are his father and mother respectively, Madara's drama, Team Minato's past and that little fight between Kakshi and Obito which gets interrupted by a little Gai. Foreshadowing the entrance, always on time, of our great bushy-browed hero.
Madara has obtained the unstoppable power of being an almost complete Ten-tails jinchuuriki, but is he really that special if the Blue Beast of Konoha doesn't even recognise him? He can't possibly be.