A fight as old as time.

What They Say:
Naruto wakes up and encounters the legendary shinobi, the Sage of Six Paths. He reveals to Naruto that he is the reincarnation of his son, Ashura, and that Sasuke is the reincarnation of Indra, Ashura’s older brother.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The series is again in that weird phase where when it brings back the title character it comes across as feeling very out of place in a way. With Naruto having been sidelined off and on throughout the show, you do get used to those larger segments where it doesn’t focus on him and then it takes a little acclimation to get back on track. The problem that also comes into play is that once he’s back, he’s not always back for long so you get hesitant in investing too much in his presence. With him talking with the Sage of Six Paths in the current state he’s in, it’s all about some minor exposition and stage setting for what’s to come. Which works well and you don’t even mind the brief flashback in the prologue about how he’s going after Sasuke back in the day and how everyone else pushed back and rallied in their own ways to him.

One aspect of the show that was tied to it as time went on was the larger scale of events unfolding in the world. That has had some really interesting and intriguing backstory episodes along the way, dealing with the previous generation and their elders, but we’ve also had nods that things go back much further than that as well. That’s reinforced here as we get the dual imagery and plainly spoken dialogue of how Naruto has some of Indra in him, the son of the Sage, while Sasuke has the other brother Indra in him. This provides more of the overall nature of their relationship in a way but becomes problematic because they have to resist being labeled as carrying on an ages old fight while still having that muddying up the waters. It’s a familiar story tactic to be sure, but it’s one that I’m not sure really fits well here as it seems to serve to detract from the initial rivalry that existed between Naruto and Sasuke and forces them to cast off the rivalry of others in order to deal with their own issues – which may not even really be their own.

Setting this all up as a kind of referendum on how the future should go with the two sides now being powered up by Indra and Ashura, the second half begins to focus on the outside world itself as Madara now gets himself back on track to fight against what Guy’s doing, making for some good moments of real power being tossed around and utilized here. Though there’s a minor bit of flashback in the midst of it, most of what we get ehre is about moving the tension up again with the face off against Madara. Guy really, really gets to shine here with his power level and it’s the kind of highly impressive piece that puts him on a whole other level than one might think. Enough so that it even surprises Madara some, which is a given since his fight can’t be an easy one all around.

In Summary:
Though I knew for some time that there’s larger element to the fight that’s going on, this episode puts it in full and plain view that Naruto and Sasuke as essentially avatars of a much longer storyline that’s in place. That’s not exactly a bad thing, but it removes some of the momentum and personalization of it all because even though they have their own issues, it’s hard to separate how much of it is actually drawn from those that they’re incarnations of. It’s a tried and true storytelling practice and it creates its own set of drama and excitement, but it’s one that I think does harm for the most part when it comes to these two characters and their very long and complicated history. It’s a solidly done episode, one where Guy’s moments are the highlight for me, but it’s also starting to leave me hollow inside.

Grade: B

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.