Also, remember we are still using the skill chart for reference as to some of the conclusions. Okay? OK.

* Pain must be ridiculously powerful, maybe the strongest ninja in the Naruto universe.

First lets lay the facts. Jiraiya was among the top ninja of the Naruto world and overall on par with such a complete ninja of the level of Itachi who is a genius Uchiha and owner of a Mangekyou Sharingan. (Remember that Jiraiya was one of the few that Itachi showed concern to fight against)

Now with those facts in mind let us note the following main points:

1. Pain man- handled Jiraiya even before revealing his “Six Paths of Pain” (Jiraiya was able to sustain himself without being completely dominated only for a while) and then smacked him around with summonings, taijutsu, ninjutsu and some weird genjutsu towards the end.

1. Then there was the part that was not shown in between, where the 6 avatars of Pain attacked Jiraiya.It ended with Jiraiya only being able to trap one of them and loosing the ability to sustain Sage Mode anymore.

Even after knowing all this…

Given that Jiraiya pushed him so hard so as to make Pain reveal his secret… Pain’s abilities are far beyond an S-class ninja. This just means that Pain must be on some level comparable to that of Rikkudou Sennin (the sage who created ninjutsu) or even superior. I mean we know that Nagato (Pain’s “real name”) was able to control and use all of the 5 elemental chakras by the age of 7, yet we did not see him even use one of them during his fight with Jiraiya… nor do we know if he has the capacity of fusing them to make Mokuton and/or Hyouton like elemental techniques, given he has the eyes of the person who helped the first ninjas understand how to use them.

Then there’s facts like him finishing a whole civil war, by himself! Murdering the leader of the Hidden Rain Village (who even the Legendary Sannin had in upmost regards as a very powerful opponent) and all his allies and family, and has a technique in which he has complete awareness of all that happens in the radius of the whole village and to an unknown limit, it’s surroundings.

Pain’s techniques, experience and personal resume are probably as or even far greater then those of Madara. Pain may not have controlled the Kyuubi nor have a Mangekyo Sharingan, but he has the eyes and intelligence of the man who created the ninja world and all in it! He can control all the natural elements, can use all type of techniques and even separate into different bodies. He has an omniscient ability that far exceeds the Byakugan and is more penetrative and incisive than the Sharingan

* Note: The Sharingan and Byakugan are a derivation of the the Rinnegan. *

No doubt that by the present chapter (424), 6 Pain’s are very troublesome to handle even for an elite ninja as Kakashi and other Jonin and Chunin of Konoha… I can only wonder what the original body is capable of, I’m guessing it’s not friendly.

A true feeling of fear and desperation will come, to any mortal who dares challenge a god.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Databooks are a common class of books published by many mangas (specially long running ones) in which the creative team of that manga put out vital and/or non-vital statistics concerning characters, events, backgrounds, consequences, abilities and plot-lines for the respective title.

Now these scans are all in Japanese so tough luck on getting all the facts, specially if you don’t know Kanji… what user Agrias did provide so kindly was an understanding to what the following graphic stands for: (Click to enlarge)

Skill Chart

**Note: The embedded skill chart was edited by me, but using the information provided in the image’s description.

The basic rule by how this class of chart works is simple: the more the color area covers, while pointing towards one specific attribute, the more skillful the character is at that particular attribute.

Some characters stats are still a mystery, given that they have not made a move or the real extent of their abilities are unknown ’til this moment, and on the other side, some characters may have not yet shown their skills to the fullest capacity.

Among the data I was able to see, I came to some conclusions:

Tobi was saying the truth, Itachi was stronger than Sasuke and let him win.

I’m not saying that Itachi is stronger in the sense of physical strength, but as the overall ninja he was superior to Sasuke in almost every aspect. So I will have to give this one to Tobi’s side of the story as it is now basically a fact in reference to these stats. So, the way Sasuke won was by having an edge over Itachi (Itachi’s illness) and by Itachi not really going “all out” from the beginning by having orchestrated the end result to go in favor of Sasuke. This last statement explains why Itachi was very close to killing Sasuke like 10 times before exhausting (and didnt kill him). He also expelled Orochimaru out of Sasuke, that too, in such a way where Sasuke didn’t perceive it…all because of his blind hatred towards Itachi at the time.

It’s true that Sasuke Uchiha’s stamina is just a bit above Itachi’s but it’s not known if the creative team was counting on this pre or post loss of the Cursed Heaven Seal and/or a partition of Sasuke’s M. Sharingan. Also, its fair to mention that Itachi’s stamina was seriously affected by the continuous use of the M. Sharingan and how just using it once, drained alot out of him; not to mention the life threatening illness he had succumbed to, for who knows how much time.

Either way, without the M.S. and not at full power, Itachi was more than capable to handle Kakashi and Naruto through Pain’s Shapeshifting Jutsu. Which tells a lot about his overall strength

**Update: One point I failed to mention regarding Itachi’s stamina was that before his fight with Sasuke he gave some of his power to Uzumaki Naruto. So that could have properly drained him of energy or overall lower his stats to some degree.

Wish one of them had a white robe on, to tell apart the Yondaime Hokage.

Looks cool and can even relate to some at a “childhood reminiscence” level. None the less pretty cool, although that could change depending on who’s point of view.

Credits go to John W. DeFeo, or at least thats who appeared when I clicked on the banner.

And now, on with the review.

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I finally got to see what this Oka Hachirou is able to do in that last chapter (ch. 269), this guy or girl is no joke. Although its not as he/she doesn’t have a sense of humor… as it will be seen a little later on in ch. 270.

Going back to ch. 269 again for a bit, the more I see this guy fight (although I’ve only seen him/her fight the Minotaur-Spider Nurarihyon) he/she reminds me so much of Kurono Kei. They both have that straight foward style of fighting and both go on from being calm to a “fighting frenzy” state of mind as soon as the adrenaline hits their bodies. Just watching him/her on top of the Minotaur-Spider Nurarihyon and beating the crap out of it… took me back to the Buddhist Temple Mission.

(I wanna say the 3rd mission? – 1st Stage of the manga. More or less.)

You know what, I´ll start refering to Oka Hachirou refer to Oka Hachirou as a “SHE” since I suspect its the same person from the cover of ch. 268 and how that lady is nobody seen yet in the manga. (Then again I might be wrong… now that I look close, she could be Reika.)

OK. So its come down to the final showoff, what’s left of the Osaka and the Tokio team watch from a distance as Oka is ready to make his move against… “Nurari”?

Note 1: Wow?!, Oku Hiroya finally gave that thing a name. Although it really came out of nowhere… unless it’s more of a general term or title given to the alien by the Gantzers. Oh, speaking about names… isn’t weird that this badass Oka character has a very similar name to Oku, which is the author’s name. Hmmm… maybe the author is trying to specify something there or wants to/compensate some how by becoming that character. Who knows?)

At this point all I can wonder is: “What is Reika feeling?” Specially since her stand of not interfering has gone just as bad as if they had done something, like Katou, and tried to have saved some lives instead of just watching all that carnage go by. Maybe this could affect Reika’s condition as leader. Truth be told, Reika should have known by now that when Gantz wants you to fight… you fight.

Oka is now the only hope, if he fails then everything and everyone gets wiped out. Just before the fight gets to start off it was intresting to note some features regarding Oka and his suit or armor in this case. I’m pretty sure she’s not that big. This new suit just might be more of a Gundam suit type of armor; something really huge but is piloted by a regular human being. I mean, if even a Gantz suit is able to expand itself, it’s not possible to make someone using it super huge, have their arms reach almost to the ground while standing up and basically make the Gantzer look gorilla-ish. Also if you look at her knees… its not joint together like that of a person’s knees in a regular Gantz suit. Its something more bolted or artificial/robot-esque in appearance and structure.

Well, after all that BS I randomly notice, the fight starts fullway and as anyone might hvae guessed “Nurari” started of with a some sorta Telekinisis/Psychic Blast/Crush. *_*

Note 2: This “Nurari” dude, pretty much somekinda mutant giant Diclonius type of creature, huh? (Read or Watch Elfen Lied)

Oka’s suit quickly shows that it is strong, very strong and can withstand Nurari’s PsyBlast with minimun or no damage at all; but from that it shows that its not just all muscle and enhances Oka’s speed to an incredible level, letting Oka land a good blow at Nurari without letting Nurari even react to her presence.

What is most amuzing during this chapter is how funny and light hearted Oka Hachirou turned out to be beneath that huge armor, even when being in a life and death situation. So at one moment she goes on and says: “Bring it on, anytime… ANYWHERE!!” I just smiled because it’s these little moments where the Gantz manga goes from a straight up from Seinen (Mature) genre to a lighter Action/Shounen one and I get this feeling as if I were reading Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc.. Oka keeps talking about how he used to play ping pong when he used to be in grade school… as she’s uppercutting “Nurari”‘s; at this point I was thinking to myself: “This guys is most probably an Otaku” . I wasn’t quite sure at the time and was hoping for some confirmation of sorts over the next few chapters (I hope more will be seen of those who are left of the Osaka Team). I’m glad to write I didn’t have to wait weeks for reassessment, because Oka later confirms how she is taking “online Karate classes”. Of course I went: “Yup, denfinetly Otaku…” XD.

All of the sudden we have “Nurari” dead and taken out by one single friggin human being, a powerful Gantzer but none the less one single person… I mean the most badass, ruthless S.O.B. Gantz Team (shown to date) wasn’t able to lay a scratch on it; not even those who had compleated the game over 2 times each. Can you imagine what kind of mess this “Nurari” character must be for those 3 guys, who brought the Nurarihyon aliens into submission basically by themselves, who must have seen all sorts of other mess and survided it. Add to that the caliber of expertise and the advanced weapons they obtained for clearing the game so many time… It still amazes me how tough these Nurarihyons were.

With this thing dead all thats left to say is: “Is the mission really over?” I don’t think so specially since I’m seeing Katou looking at this as his opportunity to revive Kurono Kei.

Note 3: Maybe this is a way the author might be telling us this is Kurono’s chance to come back intro the fold. Kinda like foreshadowing. Maybe not.

Plus hasn’t this thing done 3 transformations already and had it’s head blown off and was able to keep on going? I might be wrong but I think thier are maybe a few chapters left on this whole Osaka-Tokyo crossover.

Note 4: Thinking back on Oka fighting “Nurari”, somethings came to mind:

• The way she speaks lightheartedly while kicking ass, reminds me alot of Dante from the Devil May Cry series of videogames; more specifically DMC3 Dante. (It worthy to note that Gantz manga is filled with all kinds of pop-culture reference from in and outside Japan.)

• When Oka speaks of learning Karate online, it could be considered somthing of a reference to The Karate Kid (1980′s movie) and how the main character was trying to learn Karate from a textbook. So both are similar in aproach and circumstances but a bit more updated.

• Those tubes coming out of Oka’s suit work to give this menacing look, just at it worked in the form of dreadlocks for aka The Predator and the those of its same race in the movie series AVP (Alien Vs Predator).

-o-

Chapter 270

Welcome to WEastFellows’ First review of Naruto Manga.Gamers don’t just game after all they also have other interests, Manga and Anime being one of those other things we here at WEFellows like.

Expect to hear Rants on what things happened in the latest chapter and also maybe some predictions of things that might happen in the future!

So let get on with the Reviews! Up first is SM2099 with a detailed review what all things happened, and then its the Reeteshifier ranting out about what could possibly happen afterwards.

SM2099′s PoV:

Hmm… I don’t think there was a better way to start this feature on the WEastGamers’ blog. Truly these types of events make me want to believe that there could be a higher power out there trying to guide us to into a better direction for the best… that part of that guidance is brought to us this week in the form of the Naruto manga, chapter 397.

We’ve finally finished the twist and turns, technique after technique and last resort after last resort, fatal conclusion that was one of the hardest and prolonged battles in the Naruto universe… Uchiha Sasuke vs. Uchiha Itachi. Probably one of the most intense battles up there with Naruto vs. Sasuke (Valley of The End/Sasuke Retrieval Arc) or the memorable Jiraiya vs. Pain. With chapter 397, the psyche of the going plot thickens and just make a huge 360º change for far out places up to now of a speculative nature.

So 397 starts out with Tobi/Uchiha Madara’s “real” face revealing to Sasuke. ONLY to get turned down as soon as he rapidly becomes engulfed in black flames. A close shot to Sasuke´s left eye reveals the presences of the Magenkyo Sharingan. As Tobi/Madara survives this surprise attack, he explains that this was Itachi’s gift to Sasuke?… to protect him? In the beginning I taught that maybe Itachi was trying to curse Sasuke, but Tobi’s anwser could be true, although this must be backed up by the explanation of who Itachi was in the next chapter of the manga (chapter 398).

*Intresting to note, Sasuke’s Magenkyo Sharingan,is exactly the same as Itachi’s. One of the features that distinguishes the M.S. is that, unlike the Sharingan, it’s shape does change from user to user as evidence by the variation in each of M.S. users.

So it could be said the in a certain way, Sasuke is pretty much **** if he over uses the M.S.. since Itachi didn’t have the chance to perfect the M.S. with Sasuke´s eyes nor has Sasuke awoken the M.S..”

Of course from this moment on, Sasuke has become a complete mess and a million doubts and questions must have begun arising in his head. To the point where he shuts Tobi/Madara up angrily. Make me wonder what kind of things must he be thinking at the time. He basically just killed what he had considered his worst enemy, The Joker to his Batman, etc.. Plus, he really wasn’t feeling bad about committing fratricide, now with Tobi/Madara’s words (which he says are the “truth”).

All that happened in this chapter just keeps me thinking: So now what?, Itachi was faking it good? Wow! He was pretty convincing with the whole torturing Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke with Tsukuyomi and that little killing the Uchiha clan (remains to be confirmed at this point of the manga) massacre that took place some time ago.

Can’t really say anything else but just in a huge expectations (two weeks from now!) for the next chapter to come out and maybe start getting some friggin answers out of this Tobi/Madara guy. One thing is for sure, Naruto manga has stop being just black and white and has started to look all shades of grey. Next chapter will be great!

Except if Tobi/Madara confuses his personality, then goes and says: “Psyke!”, then all the buildup for chapter 398 will have sucked and become a terrible letdown. Let’s hope not

Reeteshifier’s PoV:

Wow, SM pretty much summed up what I had to say.The whole chapter was filled with images and images for most of the pages, and only the last two pages had something important to say, and BOY was it important.Those two pages made this chapter possibly one of the best ones in the past few chapters.

It totally gives you the feeling that you dont know anything now, and HAVE to read more to completely understand what is happening.

I felt really sad for Itachi and it already made me think of Itachi as a super awesome great Hero.but man, why did he do all those things? What was the reason for all these secret works?

Also ,what I am still wondering is, HOW is Madara so young even now, does it mean he has multiple hearts like that other guy who fought with the First Hokage? or maybe some other way to achieve immortality? Or is “Madara” a title given to the Best of the Uchiha’s

But a discussion I had with SM makes me really think, could this be the same person who was an Uchiha but was never good at anything? could this be the other person who has only ONE Sharingan?

But if he is so.. then WHY? why did such a good person (with a name reverse of TOBI) get so bad? what happened to him?

Man, I just want to read more of it, and of all the times, it had to come during the time when its a week holiday for all Mangas.

But oh well, lets keep theorizing and see if what we are thinking is the right thing when the next chapter comes!

-o-

Chapter 397