Logan Kinch’s Reviews > Naruto, Vol. 07: The Path You Should Tread > Status Update

Temari and Kankuro are clearly afraid of Gaara but Gaara does agree to finish the exam to lessen the risk to their safety. I always thought their relationship development was rushed but looking back it seems he does care for them much to his dismay.

Great introduction fir Gaara, the sand coffin is a classic example of Kishimoto’s surprisingly dark panels

I honestly love Sakura punching Naruto when he teased Lee. I think Sakura and Lee’s relationship is horribly underrated, Lee respects Sakura’s boundaries completely and Sakura deeply respects Lee’s strength and character.

Tenten saying that “if Lee had faced those guys by himself with no distractions, he could’ve taken them” is interesting, I don’t know if the anime included this because I always found it unrealistic that Lee lost to the sound ninja when he almost beat Gaara who later killed one of the sound ninja so I like getting this extra context.

Sakura lying about protecting Sasuke, Naruto, and Lee, paired with Ino saying “We’d be dead without her and Sasuke” show significant character development.

Crazy development for Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship, Sasuke breaking a guys arms because he hurt Sakura was rather intense, both showing his gradual fall from grace and their romantic relationship later in the series.

I think Neji and Tenten’s introduction is very well done, they came off as rather intimidating but in this volume it’s clear that they really care for Lee, also contrasting the sound ninja. I think this volume is really showing the camaraderie amongst the leaf ninja and his that makes them stand out in the shinobi world.

We are seeing great character development for ino-shika-cho, stepping in to protect team seven and Lee when the odds are so against them really show his much they are willing to sacrifice for their leaf comrades. In contrast the sound ninja don’t hesitate to critically injure a teammate just to get an advantage over their opponent.