I liked this chapter. It’s by no means a perfect resolution, but I felt like it did give satisfactory closure to the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke, at least. I’m not going to argue with those of you who didn’t feel that way. These things are pretty subjective and personal. I just want to put my voice out there as a reader who felt like the chapter hit the right emotional notes. It worked for me.
I like the way it focused on the emotional, relational side of the boys ongoing conflict and their erstwhile friendship, and that it left alone (for now) the political and moral issues surrounding Sasuke’s departure from Konoha. Unlike some of the other commenters here, I didn’t read this chapter as suggesting that Naruto was all right and Sasuke was all wrong. I just saw it as both boys honestly explaining their side, with Sasuke giving a much more complete explanation of his motivations than ever before, one that (finally) makes sense, at least to me. That’s not to say that it makes sense of ALL Sasuke’s actions, because it doesn’t, and I’m still annoyed with some of his wilder deviations that mainly seemed to serve the plot rather than his character arc. But I can accept this chapter’s insight into Sasuke’s inner life, and I feel that it’s at least consistent with his part 1 characterization, which is about as good as I expected to get.
That said, I still would like to see the other moral and political issues addressed by the manga in a way that doesn’t give all the credit to Naruto or Konoha. My hope of the manga actually doing that in the remaining two chapters is pretty faint. Still, I’ll take what enjoyment I can get from the manga, and I did enjoy this chapter.
I like the way it focused on the emotional, relational side of the boys ongoing conflict and their erstwhile friendship, and that it left alone (for now) the political and moral issues surrounding Sasuke’s departure from Konoha. Unlike some of the other commenters here, I didn’t read this chapter as suggesting that Naruto was all right and Sasuke was all wrong. I just saw it as both boys honestly explaining their side, with Sasuke giving a much more complete explanation of his motivations than ever before, one that (finally) makes sense, at least to me. That’s not to say that it makes sense of ALL Sasuke’s actions, because it doesn’t, and I’m still annoyed with some of his wilder deviations that mainly seemed to serve the plot rather than his character arc. But I can accept this chapter’s insight into Sasuke’s inner life, and I feel that it’s at least consistent with his part 1 characterization, which is about as good as I expected to get.
That said, I still would like to see the other moral and political issues addressed by the manga in a way that doesn’t give all the credit to Naruto or Konoha. My hope of the manga actually doing that in the remaining two chapters is pretty faint. Still, I’ll take what enjoyment I can get from the manga, and I did enjoy this chapter.
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