Naruto Shippuuden Episode 39

[Narasho]

I had suspected Kabuto would be the spy, but I never suspected he would be a double agent or that Orochimaru himself would show up. Thinking back on the 2nd season of Naruto, around episode 51 or thereabouts, during the 2nd Chuunin exam when Kabuto was told to retrieve Sasuke for Orochimaru, I recall Orochimaru having second thoughts after sending him. Seems to me he suspected Kabuto had ill intentions toward him, and was considering double crossing him. Well, apparently not so.

[Kraco]

Back then he had already removed Sasori's little geass. However, you have to remember they are both villains: Orochimaru and Kabuto, so some amount of distrust is quite essential to basic survival. If you are a backstabbing bastard yourself, the natural way of thinking is that everybody else is as well.

[Abdula]

However, you have to remember they are both villains: Orochimaru and Kabuto, so some amount of distrust is quite essential to basic survival. If you are a backstabbing bastard yourself, the natural way of thinking is that everybody else is as well.

I like that Kraco.

Anyway, nice episode good animation. Sai's mice and that snake following Orochimaru were especially well done. Very nice pacing really built up the suspense and tension for next week.

It's interesting, not even Kabuto or Zetsu have ever seen Sasori's real body. I wonder who has, besides the ones we know.

I don't think many people have ever seen Sasori's real body. He said the that the last time he was pushed far enough to actually have to use it was when he first joined Akatsuki, which I'm assuming was around twenty years ago when he first left the village. So I don't think anyone other than the earliest members of Akatsuki know what he really looks like. Maybe just Oro, because he is the oldest member we've seen so far and whoever created Akatsuki in the first place.

I like this scenario because it begs the question: How would this scenario have played out if it was really Sasori that was there instead of Yamato? Who would win if a fight broke out?

I definitely think Oro and Kabuto would have won. They seemed to have had this all planned out so I don't think there would've been any chance of them losing. Kabuto's first blow would have destroyed his puppet and since Orochimaru was Sasori's partner in Akatsuki I think he would have already seen most if not all of Sasori's tricks.

The only X factor would have been whether Sasori brought Deidara with him which I don't think he would have because not only does he not trust anyone but I don't think anyone else in Akatsuki knew about Kabuto being a spy or their scheduled rendezvous. Oro's confidence leads me to believe that he knew that Sasori always acts on his own which is why they planned an ambush in the first place.

Plus if anyone in Akatsuki had known about the rendezvous they certainly would've shown up because not only would it have given them an opportunity to get information on Oro and possibly capture and kill him but they would have gotten another shot at capturing Naruto as well.

Next weeks episode should be epic. Naruto is already freaking out and I don't know why but it should provide good entertainment. We should also get to see what Sai and Yamato can do. I don't expect anything from Kabuto since he doesn't seem to actually like combat much, and being a medical ninja I guess he justs avoids it as much as possible. The big thing for me is finally getting to see Oro in action again, he is without a doubt my favorite character in the show and it'll be nice to see what he can really do because last time we saw him fight he was armless.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't think it was a trick question, Kabuto really thought he was attacking Sasori if I remember correctly.

I find that really hard to figure out. Kabuto indeed thought he was attacking Sasori, so Yamato's disguise wasn't broken, and we can probably assume the item he's looking for question wasn't fake. But if it's not, and if it's his reward for five years of spying, why doesn't he wait to get it before attacking Sasori?

I can only think of two reasons, though I don't like either personally:

a) He thinks he can retrieve it from Sasori's corpse when they're done with him.

b) Whatever he needed, Oro gave him. (that just sounded kinda bad...)

[Assertn]

Whatever item Kabuto was expecting to get from Sasori was, I'm pretty sure it would be some sort of tool Kabuto could use to facilitate his recon mission that Sasori had previously assigned to him, which is apparently finding the secret to Oro's body-switch technique. In which case, Kabuto wouldn't really have an interest in the item.

[ASSpirine]

The beginning was already great, all those mice. Great way for scouting the area.
Great animation too, and just strectching this in one epsidoe was a great thing, we got a little pace, but just slow enough to make us very excited. Never expected Oro would be there.

When Kabuto made his chakra scalpel I was thinking, how is he gonna attack Oro with that... Only physical?? And then the backstabbing began :P

Also, this brings me back to a discussion earlier on, is Yamato somehow related to the first? Thus, also Tsunade (and the reason she trusts him so much). I have a feeling he is.

[redcat]

Kabuto prolly asked Sasori for an item as a bluff to see if he was real. He might have expected the real sasori to ask wtf he was talking about.

[Xyrox]

@ redcat:
Then why did Kabuto ask if it was Sasori's real body? As stated before, he probably thought he actually attacked Sasori.

I loved this episode. Damn. Almost yelled "No, don't end yet!" after the three had been called out.

[Uberbaka]

I thought kabuto was "interrupted" before he could reply anyway. So it doesn't really matter if it was a trick question or not since there wasn't time for a reply.

Kabuto thought it was Sasori.

Good episode, they're starting to get it right now since the gaara revival episode and next episode should be awesome =]

[Kraco]

A trick question wouldn't have even made any sense. As it is, the question made Yamato wary because he thought his disguise started to be more or less compromised and if it had been the real Sasori, he would have thought Kabuto is up to something. Both cases not good for Kabuto's plan to make a surprise strike, because it's easier to hit a relaxed (relatively speaking, I doubt these guys are ever that relaxed) target than one that is suspicious.

So, it had to be a legit question by my logic.

[Abdula]

It most certainly was because up until Oro told him that Yamato wasn't the real Sasori he was operating under the impression that it was. Anyway I think we'll get some answers about Yamato in the next episode. I'm looking forward to some Oro vs Naruto action because you know thats what its going to come down to.

[Munsu]

Or a rematch between Kabuto and Naruto.

[Abdula]

Naruto would easily over power Kabuto. They should all be gunning for Orochimaru though like let Sakura and Sai handle Kabuto and Naruto and Yamtato go after Orochimaru. I know thats now how the teams are organized but that would be the best plan of attack. If Naruto freaks out like he did last time and starts going Kyuubi then everyone else just has to back off for their own good.

[uhicha neji]

Let's see if Naruto's rage for Orochimaru can hold up. Judging from the last few seconds we saw him in the episode, I wouldn't bet on it should be a great episode, can't wait!

[Abdula]

What do you mean you wouldn't bet on it. He flinches every time Oro or Sasuke are mentioned and he blames Oro for Sasuke leaving the village instead of blaming Sasuke. In naruto's convoluted view of things Oro kidnapped Sasuke hence the need to rescue him. So there is no lack of hatred for Orochimaru in Naruto. I remember how he reacted when he learnt that Oro was the one to kill the third and Tsunade and Jiraiya weren't hunting him down.

[February]

To the previous question as to what would have happened if the real sasori came,
I am sure he would have brought Deidara, knowing how powerful Orochimaru is. Oro and Sasori have worked together for a long time, I bet they would know what kind of tricks and jutsus the other one uses...so if anything, the real match outcome should be weighed as who is the stronger one between kabuto and Deidara. And for my opinion, Deidara should be able to overpower Kabuto.

Also, I had no idea to think that Sasori might be interested in Orochimaru's body transfer jutsu. Because Sasori uses human puppets for bodies anyway so I really don't see why he would need one. I thought that he just planted a spy in there to find out Orochimaru's plans or location but I guess finding out such an important jutsu like that is plausible.

[Assertn]

It could also be to find a weakness to exploit in oro's containers.

[Abdula]

Actually I already explained why I think Deidara wouldn't be there, I think you should read that and his personality has alot to do with it. I don't think the Akatsuki members are always together, they all have their own goals and they just work together to complete their mission objectives. Sasori was obviously doing this without Akatsuki's knowledge, I don't think they knew about him having spies in the Sand either, well ofcourse they did but not because he told them but because he was from the village. The Akatsuki operate independent of each other they just come together to capture and extract the Bijuu because that is part of some common goal.

Secondly Sasori wasn't going to be expecting Orochimaru to be there because he certainly didn't know that Oro had broken his hold on Kabuto. I don't think he was expecting anyone in the sand village to break his jutsu so he of course wasn't expecting anyone else to show up when he went there. He also didn't help Deidara at all during that mission he just got him into the village it was all him after that. Akatsuki don't help each other or care if each other dies, they are villains remember so I'm guessing if you aren't strong enough to defend yourself then they won't care about you. They certainly didn't care that Sasori had died.

Thirdly I don't think it would have mattered if Deidara was there because Oro should easily have been able to deal with Sasori and Deidara by himself. We've seen all of Sasori tricks and he most certainly should have known them since he had already seen Sasori's real body. Kabuto would have destroyed his puppet with his first attack and then it would be easy for them attack his one weak spot. Oro's goal is to learn every single jutsu in existence so there is no way Sasori would know all his tricks since I assume he is constantly learning new techniques. That is why he said he was thankful for Kabuto in the first place since he helps him with his experiments. Sasori's main weapon was poison and I highly doubt that would've worked on Oro and his other jutsu's weren't anything too difficult to deal with. I mean he did get beat by Sakura and an old woman.

He wanted to know the secrets of Orochimaru's transfer jutsu so he could kill him, Akatsuki is supposed to be hunting him down so they could kill him because he left the organization. So knowing how his jutsu works is of the utmost importance because it would be futile to try and kill him if you know that he had learned an immortality jutsu but you don't know its limitations.

And yes Deidara and most of the other ninjas should easily be able to over power Kabuto. Hell naruto did it in part one but Kabuto is a medical ninja power isn't his strength. His strength is skill and analytical ability together with his knowledge of jutsu and his regeneration abilities that is what makes him difficult to deal with.

[Crash]

Also, I had no idea to think that Sasori might be interested in Orochimaru's body transfer jutsu. Because Sasori uses human puppets for bodies anyway so I really don't see why he would need one. I thought that he just planted a spy in there to find out Orochimaru's plans or location but I guess finding out such an important jutsu like that is plausible.

Sasori had to put a physical piece of himself into those puppets though, his heart to be exact. That physical part of him would naturally still age and eventually die. It's likely he wanted to learn the technique so that he could transfer into a new body and then plant the heart of that new body into his puppet again.

[masamuneehs]

one of the smartest and most carefully crafted manga chapters does not disappoint in the animation. Tricks and turns and mindfucks in my shounen fest?

Kabuto <3

Sai's mice were great. I also like seeing how Yamato transformed into Sasori and Sakura helping him mimic his voice and speech. Orochimaru showing up is one of those 'WTFBBQ?' moments that makes you glad you've sat through a relatively crappy sequel series.

I think Oro and Kabuto would have beaten Sasori. Maybe Sasori wouldn't have gotten his puppet owned like Yamato did, but I think Orochimaru would have really tested his limits, and Kabuto just might have been able to somehow neutralize the poision... Well, just my opinion...