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 332
Main
MenuCHAPTER 333 - Affinity
 With brilliant timing and
maneuvering, Shikamaru
was able to trap both Hidan and Kakuzu with his Shadow Bind
technique. Instead of admitting his own faults, Hidan yells
at Kakuzu for getting caught too because now they’re in a
really bad position. Shikamaru corrects Hidan and states that
according to his calculations, their battle is virtually over.A short distance away, Kakashi watches from hiding with his Sharingan at the scene unfolding. Now that both of his opponents are immobile, Shikamaru takes his time to carefully extend his shadow to Hidan and then removes the chakra blade from the ground with another shadow strand. Shikamaru states that he will not mistake  the
order of attack this time and forces Hidan
to pick up his scythe weapon. Hidan has no choice but to
obey, but swears that he will find and kill Shikamaru no matter what
happens to him. But Shikamaru doesn’t make Hidan
harm himself, and instead launches him at Kakuzu. But at the
last second before Hidan’s scythe is about to connect, Kakuzu
somehow manages to free himself from Shikamaru’s jutsu and
duck under Hidan’s blade. From where
Shikamaru’s chakra blade had
struck the ground, one of Kakuzu’s arms attached to a ball of
his black sinews suddenly appears from underground to remove
the
knife. Shikamaru realizes that Kakuzu must have released his
right arm to the ground during the confusion caused by his explosive
kunai earlier. Kakuzu retrieves and reattaches his
arm. He advises Shikamaru not to assume the battle is over
when he does not know the full extend of his opponent’s
powers. Kakuzu does admit that, unlike his tagalong partner,
Shikamaru is smart; but warns that even if he keeps analyzing the
battle, not everything will work out according to plan. Hidan
 becomes irritated that Kakuzu referred to him as
a tagalong, but before
he can say more, Shikamaru again uses him to continue the attack on
Kakuzu. Hidan is forced to swing his weapon wildly as he
charges Kakuzu. His partner has no choice but to retreat and
backs himself against a tree.Shikamaru has forced Kakuzu into a position right below where Choji is 
stationed; this is the moment Choji was waiting
for. He immediately leaps down and begins a technique called
Meat Bullet Needle Tank (Nikudan Hari Sensha) where he rolls into a
ball and begins spinning rapidly in the air creating a deadly ball of
spines. Just before Choji crashes down, Kakashi witnesses
with his Sharingan that Kakuzu had time to quickly form a hand seal.At the Konoha training grounds, a similar scene is unfolding as Naruto  advances closer to perfecting his new
jutsu. Yamato can’t believe his eyes as he surveys
the enormous crater created from Naruto’s last activation of
the new Rasengan. Naruto is proud of his accomplishment and
comments that with his new justu, he will be able to catch up to
Sasuke. Yamato jumps down into the crater and
tells Naruto
not to be too overconfident because he needs to be careful of
Sasuke’s Fire element attacks. Yamato pulls out a
scroll and draws a circular diagram to explain the relationship between
the five chakra elements. In short, it’s a
rock-paper-scissor type relationship where each element is strong
against one other element but is weak against another. For
example, Naruto’s Wind  element jutsu will be strong against
Lightning based techniques such as the Chidori. However, if
used against a fire element jutsu like a fireball, it may have the
adverse effect of increasing its strength. Yamato uses the
analogy of how wind can fan a fire to burn even stronger and that only
water can extinguish the flames. He warns Naruto that if he
uses a Wind based jutsu of the same level against one of
Sasuke’s Fire based jutsu, it will come back at Naruto as an
even stronger Fire element attack. Yamato tells Naruto he is
lucky he isn’t an Earth element user because he would have no
advantage over either Lightning or Fire. Naruto comments that
he really was compatible with Sasuke. Yamato thought he meant
how only his Wind can defeat Sasuke’s Lightning, but Naruto
says he meant that only he can help make a “fire”
even stronger.
Back in midst of battle, Choji is forced to
discontinue his attack and regroups next to Shikamaru. His
attack on Kakuzu confirms what Raido had observed during their first
encounter; Kakuzu can use a jutsu to harden his body. Kakuzu
congratulates Shikamaru on his analysis and confirms that with this
ability, no physical attack will work on him. Hidan
calls on Kakuzu to break Shikamaru’s jutsu so they can begin
their counter attack. However, before Kakuzu can even
respond, Kakashi’s Raikiri attack suddenly explodes through
his chest. Kakuzu is in disbelief that Kakashi had managed to get behind him without even a single presence. Using his Sharingan, Kakashi had witnessed that Kakuzu had quickly formed an Earth seal just before Choji crashed into him. That meant Kakuzu’s body hardening technique is an Earth element manipulation. And, of course, the only element that is strong against Earth is Lightning. Kakashi tells Kakuzu that unfortunately for him, their elements just weren’t compatible.
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Naruto Hurricane - Naruto manga volume 37 chapter 333 |
