Noblesse Oblige.

Shinji finally releases the true form of his zanpakutou and it is cool as hell =]. However, the scanlators called this form a Bankai, even though I am pretty sure it's his Shikai. Sakanade has an interesting ability of instigating Opposite Day. Basically everything is flipped: front is back, left is right, etc. Dynamically, the direction in which one looks and the direction of an attack is inverted as well. Shinji manages to land a hit on Aizen, but Aizen quickly accustomizes and reciprocates Shinji with a slash of his own. We should note that this is the first time anyone has drawn blood from Aizen. The only other notable attack is when Urahara sliced off his armband. Right after Aizen saw through Shinji's ability, Ichigo crashes through the Gargantua and attempts to end Aizen in one blow from his blind spot. However, Aizen planned safeguards against this and Ichigo's attack was futile. Ichigo now no longer had the element of surprise, and Aizen challenges Ichigo to attack him head on in Hollow form. Ichigo abides and shoots a Getsuga Tenshou at Aizen. Aizen effortlessly flashsteps behind Ichigo and starts taunting him. Komamura intervenes Aizen's provocation and tells Ichigo that he and the other captains will protect him from Aizen's zanpakutou release so that Ichigo can find a way to defeat him.

Labels: Bleach, Manga

With Karin analyzing Sasuke's fight against Danzo we find out that Danzo used neither a kage bunshin or genjutsu to evade Sasuke's attack. To find out Danzo's powers, Sasuke continues to probe at him with all out attacks such as Susanoo, Amaterasu, and Tsukiyomi. However after seemingly being destroyed by each of the jutsus, Danzo reappears unharmed shortly after. Karin continues to ascertain that what Danzo is doing is not genjustu - or at least one that she can detect. Danzo manages to catch Sasuke with a binding curse, but his taunting of Sasuke and Itachi pissed Sasuke off. Sasuke proceeds to upgrade his Susanoo through his anger, and it now has a ethereal bow and arrow. With this intensified assault, Danzo is forced to reveal another one of his secrets - that he collaborated with Orochimaru to have the Shodaime's genes implanted into his arm. Since Danzo has both Senju blood and Uchiha Sharingans, Madara notes he will have enormous control over Tailed Beasts, specifically the Kyuubi. This means Danzo is also after Naruto. Finally after Sasuke's relentless blows, Madara recognizes Danzo's jutsu as the forbidden Uchiha jutsu Izanagi.

Considering Karin's constant observation of the fight, I thought she would be the one to figure out Danzo's secret. Instead, she gets kicked aside by Danzo with no effort and Madara ends up explaining he knows the jutsu, which makes me ask why didn't he recognize or speak up about it right away. In addition, other than Danzo's sporadic plummets in chakra levels, we didn't need Karin's comments to see that the closing of the Sharingans is crucial to his jutsu.

As for abilities, Sasuke revealed that he made a new contract with a hawk for his Kuchiyose no Jutsu. His Kuchiyose tends to mirror the name of his group: Hebi - snakes, Taka - hawk. Danzo showed that not only can he utilize Futon jutsu, but also Mokuton from Senju blood and Kekkei Genkai Sharingan from Uchiha eyes. Finally to reiterate the obvious, Izanagi involves the closing of the Sharingan eyes, drops in chakra level, and the "illusion" that the user dies from an attack but instead escaping unharmed. We still can't be positive the order in which this happens, because in manga there is no concept of time gaps. As a result, the closing of the Sharingans could be an initiator of the jutsu, or an after effect of using the ability. Similarly, the changes in chakra might indicate that using the skill drops the chakra and closing the Sharingan restores the chakra. Finally, it should be noted that after an eye has been closed, Danzo has yet to reopen them.

Labels: Manga, Naruto