Noblesse Oblige.

The sages at Myouboku Mountain decides that it is time to pass on the key to the Kyuubi's power to Naruto himself. They reverse summon Naruto to Myouboku and brings him before the Great Toad Sage. The Elder tells him he will meet an octopus and then battle a young man with great power in his eyes. Naruto was stumped by the octopus prophecy but knew immediately the Elder was referring to Sasuke. Naruto says he knows this and is prepared for everything that's going to happen. The Elder continues that he foresaw the transfer of the key to the Fourth's seal to Naruto as well. Thus, Gamatora opens himself up so Naruto can take possession of the key.

Meanwhile at Madara's hideout, he is confronted by Kabuto. Madara saw him as a traitor to Akatsuki and jumps to engage him in combat. However, Kabuto does Kuchiyose Edo Tensei (Impure World Ressurection) to summon Nagato, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, and Itachi and that halted Madara in his tracks. Kabuto claims he has surpassed even Orochimaru and the Second Hokage, who were the other users of this jutsu. He explains that he did not meet to fight, but rather join forces with Madara. Madara remains skeptical and asks him what he wants. Kabuto says he wants Sasuke, so he can learn the pure, unaltered truth about ninjutsu. Madara attempts to refuse but Kabuto summons one more casket, whose inhabitant was blocked from view. However, it seems whoever this is was surprising or strong enough to evoke a concerned response from Madara. After this demonstration Madara agrees to Kabuto's terms with the condition that he will only hand over Sasuke after the war.

Back at Myouboku, the sages tell Naruto that the Kyuubi within him has two components: the mind and the chakra. The chakra is the enormous reservoir of chakra hidden beneath Naruto's own chakra while the mind is the thing that makes Naruto go out of control and transform gradually into the Kyuubi. Every time Naruto wishes to draw upon the Kyuubi chakra, he can't help but draw some of the mind out with it. Naruto's goal in attaining more power is to draw out the Kyuubi chakra while filtering out the Kyuubi's mind filled with hate. The key would enable him to unlock the full potential; however, if the Kyuubi's mind overcomes Naruto's then it will get released from the seal and take over Naruto.

It is now up to Naruto to decide if he wants to take the key. Naruto thinks back to his prior decision to not use the Kyubi's power anymore because every time it has hurt his friends in the process. However, he realizes that to beat Sasuke, he will need the Kyubi's chakra. It turns out the octopus prophecy is tied to Naruto gaining control over the Kyubi, so Naruto leaves to find the octopus.

Meanwhile, Kumogakure is spearheading the military plans and attack tactics. Unfortunately, Kisame has infiltrated their confidential meetings because everyone thinks he is Kirabi's new weapon. While Kisame's mission is to capture Kirabi, he convenient also acts as a super spy in this circumstance for Akatsuki. Raikage calls a meeting with the other Kages. At the meeting, they first agreed to set up a sharing of intelligence system. Next, the issue of the Jinchuuriki was brought up. Everyone except Tsunade and Raikage opted to have the Hachibi and Kyubi hidden, instead of using them to complement the military attack strength. Tsunade concede to the majority and Raikage offers a secret island of Kumogakure where he and Kirabi train. This is bad because Kisame has infiltrated them and will be on the island with Naruto and Kirabi.

It turns out the Kages didn't have to hide Naruto on the island; he was already on his way to the island due to the octopus prophecy. Naruto is accompanied by Yamato, who can help keep him under control if he loses it. Their ship is attacked by a giant squid, and they are saved by Kirabi in his Hachibi form. Naruto is excited to have finally met the octopus.

Labels: Manga, Naruto

For the ability to counter the strongest Zanpakutou, Wonderweiss lost language, knowledge, memory, and even reason. Thus with this advantage Wonderweiss charges at Yamamoto. However, he failed to realize Yamamoto is  not reliant on his Zanpakutou, as he is physically powerful as well. With one punch, Yamamoto sends Wonderweiss flying and he tells Aizen he is the strongest shinigami in the last 1000 years. He shunpos to Aizen and attempts to uppercut him, but Wonderweiss intercepts. It turns out that one punch isn't enough to defeat Wonderweiss, so Yamamoto prepares to deal some serious damage. Wonderweiss makes many attempts to attack Yamamoto, but to avail. Yamamoto breaks off all his limbs and ends it with a double punch. Yamamoto tells Aizen it was cruel to strip away Wonderweiss's feelings, and Aizen responds that Yamamoto has taken his words too lightly, which caused him to overlook something. Wonderweiss's ability allowed him to seal Ryujin Jakka's flames, but those flames must be stored somewhere. It turns out they were stored in Wonderweiss's body, and now that his body has been shattered from Yamamoto's attack, all of Yamamoto's flames that were released earlier will explode at the same time. Yamamoto quickly realizes and runs to contain the explosion. Yamamoto succeeds in limiting the magnitude of the explosion so that only things in the barrier were blown up. However, this was at the cost of his body and stamina. Aizen steps in for the kill but Yamamoto has one last trick up his sleeve. He does Ittou Kasou, which is a self sacrificial Hadou that blows up the user's own body. Aizen realizes this attempt to finish him off and manages to dodge with minor injury. As he exits the smoke from the explosion he collides into a full powered Getsuga Tenshou from a Hollowfied Ichigo.

The attack damaged Aizen severely and Ichigo tries another to finish him off. But since Aizen is no longer caught off guard, he dodges the attack and smacks it away with his bare hands. Aizen tells Ichigo he missed his chance to kill him and then shows him the wound, which is rapidly being reconstructed. Aizen reveals he is unharmed because he has merged with the Hougyoku, and then proceeds to acclaim how Ichigo's reiatsu was well developed .. just like he planned. Ichigo remains shocked as Aizen tells him that everything from his meeting with Rukia to his battle with Ulquiorra was played in the palm of his hand. Ichigo refuses to believe him and Aizen manages to convince him. Ichigo asks why Aizen chose him and Aizen says that he has been aware of Ichigo since he was born, because Ichigo is half human - half shinigami.

Just at that moment, Ichigo's father Isshin appears between them. Ichigo is surprised and Isshin takes this time to headbutt him. He then grabs Ichigo and shunpos to a great distance away from Aizen and puts up a reiatsu masking barrier. While they are safe Isshin tells Ichigo he will explain everything, but Ichigo says he doesn't need to know - not until he finds out why his dad has hid this from him. However, for the time being, he does not want to trample on Isshin's feelings, and tells him he is fine not knowing anything. Back on Aizen's side, he notes that Gin has been watching and not fighting for a long time. Gin explains there was no need for him to intervene as Aizen is strong enough by himself. Just as he finished speaking, Ichigo strikes at him from behind. Gin blocks and tells Ichigo it has been a long time since they fought and he will go all out by finally releasing his Bankai. At the same time, Isshin cuts the building they were standing on in half, to separate Gin and Aizen, and begins attacking Aizen. At the flick of his finger, he manages to send Aizen flying through couple buildings.

Thoughts: I have two concerns with what happened. The first thing I want to say is that Yamamoto is dead ... without ever revealing his Bankai. >_< Usually when characters power up they tend to get healed, or their current woulds are negligible because they are stronger. Yamamoto had already defeated Wonderweiss so now there was nothing to counter his fire-based Bankai. Maybe I am just not fully grasping the gravity of the explosion and Yamamoto was already on the verge of death to shield it. The second thing that caught my attention was Isshin's strength. Yamamoto has just stated he was the strongest shinigami in 1000 years, but now Isshin is pretty much kicking Aizen's ass (by appearance, but there's a good chance he has never seen Aizen's Shikai either.) whereas Yamamoto died in the process. He looks around Kyoraku's age, but we haven't seen him in the flashback chapters so I guess maybe he is the generation before. Hopefully all will come to be explained soon.

Labels: Bleach, Manga