Sasuke and Sakura’s journey to the Land of Redaku for a cure to the disease that is plaguing Naruto which has ties to Sage of Six Paths has taken quite a turn. Specifically, we’ve seen Sasuke and Sakura get involved in a deeper political corruption scandal as the director of the Astronomy Research Institute, Zansūru, has used the Endo Tensei jutsu using fossils to resurrect dinosaurs. Let’s see what ties this has to the Sage of Six Paths and Land of Redaku with Naruto: Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust Chapter 7 Part 1.
CREATIVE TEAM
Original Story Writers: Masashi Kishimoto and Jun Esaka
Manga Writer & Artist: Shingo Kimura
SYNOPSIS
As they head back to the Astronomy Research Institute Sasuke notices several dragons (which are actually Pterodactyl but with the lack of knowledge on dinosaurs Sasuke and Sakura identify them as a form of dragons) leaving the area and tell Sakura to find Zansūru while he deals with the dragons.
Suddenly Zansūru riding a dragon appears in front of Sasuke. Sasuke says that the Endo Tensei (also known as Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation) Zansūru used is forbidden. Zansūru shows a lack of familiarity with Endo Tensei, leading Sasuke to suspect a different Jutsu was used.
Sasuke then puts together that Zansūru is working with the Prime Minister to use the dragons to take over the Land of Redaku. Sasuke tries to use his Sharingan to try using force against Zansūru but doesn’t work due to Zansūru lack of chakra. This leads Sasuke to realize Zansūru didn’t revive the dragons.
Meno suddenly attacks Sasuke from behind while he was thinking about Zansūru plot. Forced to fight Meno off Sasuke lets Zansūru escape.
Taking in all he saw Sasuke shows sympathy with Meno’s situation of being taken from his peaceful afterlife. After healing Meno’s burn from the Fire Jutsu he used on him earlier Sasuke sends some of his chakra through Meno’s mouth. Sasuke then uses Genjutsu to fully calm Meno down and turn the raptor friendly.
Back at Astronomy Research Institute, all the prisoners are being attacked by the “dragons” (which are Spinosaurus). End of chapter.
REVIEW
Naruto: Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust continues to deliver by taking our leads out of their comfort zone. The introduction of Naruto Universe’s version of dinosaurs, which are consistently referred to as versions of dragons, is another example of that. From the moment the Pterodactyl appears in the opening panel of Chapter 7, we see that Sasuke and Sakura are in full response mode.
Through it all, we see how quickly Sasuke and Sakura are to have faith in each other. With how chaotic things are getting Masashi Kishimoto, Jun Esaka, and Shingo Kimura show the strength in the couple is the trust Sasuke and Sakura have. There is no big discussion about how they need to split up. Both know each other’s strengths and immediately understand how to best split up.
The efficiency that Sasuke and Sakura’s work makes how Zansūru throws them off their game with his reveals work even more. With Sasuke in particular we continue to see how because his whole mindset is based on how the ninja world works that he is thrown off by the non-ninja tactics Zansūru seems to employ. We see how Sasuke is left stunned by his Sharingan not working on Zansūru because of his opponent’s lack of chakra. That revelation makes it so Sasuke becomes much more susceptible to an opening for Meno to attack him and Zansūru to escape.
This in turn makes Zansūru a much more effective villain. His plot to take over the Land of Redaku along with the Prime Minister is a very basic bad-guy plot. Even the way he is acting shows that Zansūru is still not showing more layers than the one-note villain he was from the first impression he gave. That said, it’s in Zansūru being more of a comic book villain rather than a typical Naruto villain that makes him work. Because to Sasuke this is a type of villain he’s not used to facing leading to moments where Sasuke unintentionally leaves himself open when trying to assess the situation he is in.
The clash with Meno does a good job of showing how far Sasuke is when it comes to his approach to taking down opponents. Rather than simply killing or knocking out Meno we see that Sasuke sympathizes with the resurrected dinosaur. This show of compassion made the method that Sasuke showed a better character moment than him simply using jutsu to look badass. The combination of using his own chakra and the Sharigan also opens up how Sasuke and Sakura can overcome the plot Zansūru and Land of Redaku’s Prime Minister.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Masashi Kishimoto, Jun Esaka, and Shingo Kimura delivered a solid first part to Naruto: Sasuke’s Story – The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust Chapter 7. The confrontation between Sasuke and Zansūru along with how the Sasuke vs Meno fight went down worked well to progress the story. Now with the full villain plot in action, Sasuke and Sakura are positioned to be the ultimate heroes that they’ve been developed to be over the course of this story.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
