The last couple of episodes served as more of a back story for Sasuke. They helped put into perspective exactly what Sasuke is fighting for and why. This episode serves as the same for Naruto. This episode puts into perspective what Naruto is fighting for and just how much Sasuke means to him. With some great emotional scenes this episode is one of the best we've had in a long time.
It was great to go back to the leaf village at the start of this episode with Kakashi catching up on everything including Tsunade sending a team to bring Sasuke back. When Kakashi hears this he's immediately worried and thinks that Naruto and Sasuke could possibly kill each other. We see him summon a pack of hounds to sniff out their scents and go after them himself. It always great to see Kakashi and it looks like we'll be seeing more of him eventually as he follows the trail. It was also amazing that it's only been two days since Sasuke took off for Orochimaru, because it feels like it's been so much longer for us.
Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto are still going at it with Naruto still not going his hardest, but staying alive. We get to see round two of the Chidori vs. the Rasengan which ends up being a draw. Sasuke is fairly surprised that the Rasengan is just as powerful as his Chidori as both moves end up canceling each other out. It seems to make him more angry just the thought that Naruto's skill could be equal to his if not better. Sasuke gives off the impression that he's enjoying all of this, but we can see that this is far more of an emotional toil on Naruto. He's having a hard time figuring out how his best friend could all of a sudden try to kill him.
This episode focuses a lot on Naruto and Sasuke's friendship through the years from Naruto's point of view. There was truly some great dialogue mixed with the flashbacks. Naruto explaining that he was happy that he finally had somebody who was like him, but was always afraid to approach him is something that he himself seems to be realizing at the time that he's thinking about it. It was also great to see signs of maturity in Naruto who can now acknowledge that he was immature when he was younger and that deep inside he really wanted to be like him. Sasuke also admits that Naruto was his closest friend.
These scenes really must be watched to get the full emotional impact of them. It was really just great hearing Naruto's feelings. It shows just how far Naruto has come along and that he's much more mature. Naruto explaining Sasuke and his rivalry/friendship made perfect sense. I said last review that it seemed hard to buy into that Naruto and Sasuke were best friends. Well, I take that back. This episode just goes to show you that friendships work in different ways. Naruto and Sasuke may have not seemed like best friends on the outside, but to them they've always been best friends.
It wasn't just the flashbacks that drove the point home, but it was the great dialogue and the emotion that comes from the dialogue. By the end of this episode you're really into this battle and you feel the emotion from Naruto of betrayal, confusion and sadness.
Sasuke gears up for another Chidori and this time it's a hit. Naruto seemed down and out until the Nine-tails fox Chakra was used and completely healed Naruto of his wounds. The most interesting think about this scene was the fact that Sasuke hasn't seen Naruto use the nine-tails fox Chakra which would seem unbelievable since Naruto has been traveling with him for so long, but still true. Sasuke's reaction was priceless and for the first time possibly ever in this show Sasuke seemed genuinely scared.
This was just a great episode. It wasn't the all out brawl we were hoping for, but it was just as effective on a different level. The emotional and storytelling elements were just really well done. I'm sure it's really getting annoying hearing this, but this episode really looked great graphically and actually better then the last couple of episodes. Sasuke and Naruto scenes on water are captured beautifully and watching Naruto get knocked into the water and climb out like the water is solid is a great scene. The facial expressions emotionally were on point and just looked top notch as if you were watching a Naruto movie.
Next episode looks to be an extremely exciting one as Naruto is going to go all out. Naruto said he would break every bone in Sasuke's body if it means keeping him away from Orochimaru (Wouldn't you want a friend who would do that for you?) and we get the feeling he actually means it. Can Kakashi get to the two before one ends up dead or really hurt? Hopefully not, it would be a shame to rob us of anymore action. This was pretty much a flawless episode that really had us totally into it.
