Well, this chapter started out with a lot of explaining things that had been shown over the course of the manga, but never directly explained to the characters. It feels slightly repetitive, but it's necessary to make the characters aware of situations that the readers know about, like Madara using the Senju limbs, etc.
I liked that they briefly touched on Madara using the hatred to manipulate Nagato & Sasuke. The focus on ensuring that the readers don't just have to rely on the clues left over the last ~200+ chapters is good because it's pointing towards the conclusion of the main series of events. Hopefully that means that Sasuke'll be showing his new-eyed face soon, though, given the current lineup, it'll be interesting to see where he crops up into the grand scheme of things.
Despite the warning, I think that Naruto will end up talking to Madara at some point, because I can't see him
not doing it. Even though he knows that Madara's different from his opponents, I don't think he'd be himself if he didn't insist on finding out what makes Madara tick. I also don't really like the idea of a pure black and white hero/villian, especially when it's been so successful at showing the continual shades of grey throughout the series. I'll hold judgement on that until it comes to the fight, because like Itachi, Kisame, Nagato, and any number of the other villians in the series, it's always what you learn about them
right at the end that completes the picture.
As for the main content of the chapter:
It's not too surprising that Madara's anticipating the attack, especially because he's been very carefully planning it for YEARS. It's a little bit overly-repeated that the army is 'immortal' but I think it's a fair precedent to let Naruto go all out on an enemy however he wants without holding back like he would with a human opponent.
I'd always assumed that Naruto's ability to manipulate multiple 'virtual' limbs was going to make him pretty crazy powerful, but I'm glad to see that they got really creative with it, and didn't just use them like we'd seen in his Crazed-Biju forms. The Multi-Rasengan Barrage was rather standard, but a well executed use of having lots of arms and demonstrating control with them. The Rasengan Vacuum was a modification of the previous technique, and it's a smart application by just grabbing the opponent and slamming them into the Rasengan rather than worrying about hitting them directly. The Mini-Rasen-Shuriken was easily my favorite demonstration of his control of virtual limbs, because it shows his degree of precise control in that form, and it basically sets expectations really high when seeing him in a full out brawl, rather than just taking out the trash with White Zetsus.
Seeing the Zetsus being properly defeated and referting to tree-form, like Danzou's discarded arm was really interesting. It's a good way to know that they're dead, and it makes me wonder if that'll happen to Madara when he's defeated, since he's been using the Senju DNA for his own body. I also liked that they fuse together into a Venus Flytrap-type form that hasn't been seen in a while, but hopefully they'll see them get more aggressive soon.
I'm most curious how long he'll be able to sustain in his current form with that many clones. Since it's basically an application of the same Kyubi-type power he's been using, it's not surprising to see him use clones, unlike with his Sage Mode, but I can only assume that the demand will be pretty intense on his physical self, since the Chakra drain will end up being enormous. I'd be willing to bet that Madara's going to attempt to wear him down that way, and attack when he's weak. Then he'll only have the summoned Frog & Bee to defend him from the rather substantial force headed his way.
That being said, Naruto's focus is taking care of the clones, but there are still the Edo Tensei troops out there as well, and I'm hoping that this is providing an intentional break from Naruto and Bee to get back to some of the other combat situations, like the 7 Swordsmen, etc.
EDIT:
I also just noticed that Gedo Mazo's body looks like it was formed from trees that have all been cut off. I bet that's going to hold some kind of significance later on, because this chapter we learned that Naruto's chakra has a strong influence on stimulating the growth of Mokuton elements. I'm wondering now if Gedo Mazo's technique to instantly kill people could be reversed if the power controlling him were coming from a life source, rather than draining the life of whoever it was linked to. Either way, this gives a REALLY interesting possibility for Madara & Naruto's battle.
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