Naruto’s version of a Prison Break storyline continues as now Sasuke has been joined by his wife, Sakura, in his mission to find information about the Sage of Six Paths in order to save Naruto. While searching for the information Sasuke and Sakura have become more involved in the secrets behind the prison. How the secrets behind the prison tie back to the Sage of Six Paths makes the entire Prison Break mystery of this story even bigger. Now let’s see what is going on next with Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust Chapter 4.
CREATIVE TEAM
Original Story: Masashi Kishimoto and Jun Esaka
Manga Story: Shingo Kimura
Translation: Mr. Underhill
Lettering: Snir Ahron
SYNOPSIS
At the Astronomy Research Institute’s library Sasuke speaks with a library attendant named Penzila about an astronomy book about dragon fossils at the institute. As they talk Sasuke learns that the other astronomy book on polar particles is located in the basement that prisoners aren’t allowed in.
Sakura (who has infiltrated the prison as a doctor) appears and asks about the astronomy book but Penzila is unwilling to give the information for fear of execution. Sakura then suggests gambling for the key to the basement.
As Penzila accepts gambling over a game of Hoshinarabe Sasuke is concerned when Sakura mentions she is Tsunade’s apprentice.
Sakura and Penzila end up tying in five straight games of Hoshinarabe. After so many games Penzila loses interest in continuing and just gives Sakura the basement key.
Later that night, when they meet in the library Sasuke remembers Gigi mentioning the tradition of married people wearing rings and uses his Earth Style ninjutsu to create a ring for Sakura to wear.
While making their way to the basement Sakura detects another secret basement accessible from Director Zansūru’s office.
Ignoring this for now Sasuke and Sakura arrive at the basement where they discover a book linked to the Sage of Six Paths with images similar what is on Hoshinarabe cards. Believing that the drawing correlate to different constellations Sakura says she can finish piecing everything together in two days.
Two days later, Sakura finishes her investigation and gives Sasuke the information she found with a message to meet up the next day in the library. End of chapter.
REVIEW
Adding Sakura to Naruto: Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust is by far the best move Masashi Kishimoto, Jun Esaka, and Shingo Kimura have made for this series. Something that stood out in the first two chapters is that Sasuke could only carry the story alone for so long. There needed to be another equal that wasn’t just Director Zansūru as the antagonist. That is where Sakura has stepped up and we see her importance to driving the story forward with Naruto: Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust Chapter 4.
Throughout this fourth chapter of Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust you can see how there would be a darker turn with Sasuke if he continued on his own. Sasuke mentioning using Genjutsu to get what they need is an example of that. Sakura shows Sasuke there are other methods than just using ninjutsu in darker ways.
Overall, we see that Sakura is able to help ground Sasuke because he has that equal to bounce ideas off of. Which in turn makes the mission much smoother as they actually dig into finding answers rather than force everything like Sasuke was starting to do with his actions before Sakura appeared. This in turn gives Kishimoto, Esaka, and Kimura a chance to show Sasuke and Sakura simply interacting and working with each other in a trusting way.
The chapter also does a good job at highlighting both Sasuke and Sakura as individuals. We see that with Sasuke’s sharp eyes are more than just because he has the Sharingan. There are things he notices that maybe even Sakura doesn’t pick up on like how he questions specific art in the astronomy book. But since he isn’t someone to just come out and say what he is questioning Sasuke wants to be sure about a possibly theory. It all goes back to the start of the chapter with how we see Sasuke maintain a calm demeanor even he is getting leads from Penzila.
On Sakura’s side we finally getting the chance to actually dive into her character as a co-lead. Kishimoto, Esaka, and Kimura certainly use this chance to spotlight Sakura’s training under Tsunade. We of course know her medical ninjutsu but here we also see that Sakura picked up some of Tsunade’s gambling habits as well. But unlike her mentor Sakura actually learned how to use what she learned about gambling to not lose. This along with Sakura showing her own detection skills when finding the director’s secret room was great character development.
Speaking of the prison’s director, where Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust Chapter 4 drops the ball is having Zansūru be MIA in the story. As a brand new character Zansūru has built up very little credibility as an antagonist you are worried about Sasuke and Sakura continuing to take on. With how little Zansūru has been developed he is being positioned as no more than a plot device to extend the story rather than a character adding to the Naruto world. That lack of development is hurting the overall story in Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust from reaching the next level.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Naruto: Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust Chapter 4 is a great spotlight on the Sasuke and Sakura pairing. Even as the antagonist, or lack thereof, has been a disappointment it was just fun to see Sasuke and Sakura working together on a mission. Masashi Kishimoto, Jun Esaka, Shingo Kimura were able to showcase how far Sasuke and Sakura have come as individuals and pairing.
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10
