I guess this is the time when Naruto and team will head back to the village, given that they have no means of tracking Sasuke or have any idea as to where he might have been taken, whereas they will then hear the news of Jiriya's death and the secret behind Pain. Another possibility for Konan's opponent maybe GARA who knows. I have the feeling the sand people have trained pretty hard since the incident concerning their young Kazekage. One has to overcome his or her (former) weakness or liabilities one day (in Gara's case the Bijuu curse which took him under so much anguish and suffering) and find his true strength in himself, overcoming this curse and fight with all their heart. I mean, the sand people are definitely a vital partner for Konoha and moreover I don't think they haven't overheard about Konoha's doom and the hunt for the Eight-Tails-rapper who reminds me a little bit of Raven from Tekken 5 (Dark Resurrection) and Tekken 6, is obviously harder than the young silverhawks-team thought. During the battle Sasuke's goons had to help him out of trouble.

Yes, Gara and the Sand people. I haven't heard of them for a long time. Especially Gara must have gotten stronger during the time being. I mean, Konoha and the Sand people had an alliance with each other, if I remember correctly. I was just wondering why they didn't join the fight with Naruto and co. and protect the village from its latest Chaos.

Come on, I mean,... unless Gara has been restricted from working from his abilities, the sandf village could have lent them a hand. Naruto can create his own powers without help of the Kyubi by now,... so Gara must be able to do that. too.

Sai's objectives are and remain a mystery to Naruto and Sakura. He has to obey his treacherous Master to keep Naruto at bay...

Time will only tell what treachery and drama is gonna happen next...

So i am guessing that since Madara wanted Rinne Tensei, returning people back to life controling that hell creature, he is actually dead or maybe he just wants his old body back. He is not using a technique that bends time, his body is just not there, more like a technique which he is there but not, hard to explain. We will just have to see!

Naruto manages to calm down the Lightning squad agreeing to provide all information about Sasuke that he knows.

Madara's real body not really there. This must explain, why all Physical attacks went through his body, like in the time in which Team 7 and friends moved out on patrol to pursue Sasuke and briefly fought Madara for the first time... Another treacherous Genjutsu illusion type technique??

And besides... now the Sand people are on the move after several Manga Episodes. Let's see what they're going to do next

Naruto took a wooping for the team in the last chapter, also the other Hokages look pretty cool. The little one gives me the impression that he might be like Yoda XD.

Sasuke is emo, as always and everyone uses him to wipe their feet with.

Mandara has to be linked to Tobi in some way, since he used a space-time-warp jutsu, and we know every mangekyou sharingan is unique to every individual, and Kakashi already has it...so......you do the links;)

If Gaara will fight Sasuke, my money is on Kazekage:D. I really hate Sasuke

It seems like Naruto wanted to buy Sai and Sakura some time to escape. He planned to draw the Lighting warrior's attention only to him, so that his two friends can escape. He takes a beating out from them desperatly explaining them the consequences of hate and revenge to no avail as you can see...

Kage's are those the Leaders of each village, Lightning, Water, Fire, Wood or whatever else nation there is? I mean,... So there is not only Hokage and Kazekage, but also people like Mizukage and so on and so forth?

Anyhow,... the newly appointed Hokage Danzou in the mean time is planning to get the hands full of Kabuto, Orochimaru's assistant because he might have the kind of medicine that can heal his old wounds... If you remember, in his last confrontation with Naruto, Kabuto mentioned he has Orchimaru's Genes in him, so he could in other words survive or be resurrected should Sasuke be able to obtain his original body...

Could this be a comeback Orochimaru as well... Whatever business Danzou had with Orochimaru it must have been a treacherous one,...

Grymflame

Mandara has to be linked to Tobi in some way, since he used a space-time-warp jutsu, and we know every mangekyou sharingan is unique to every individual, and Kakashi already has it...so......you do the links;)

I thought tobi was madara lol

There's not much tactics either. Naruto is nothing like what it used to be like. But we'll just have to see the next ep.Personally i hate shippuden to death i can't believe the animation naruto fans have to put up with now omg gai's fight with the clone in ep 24 was created by a crack head my three year old nephew can come up with better animation than that wow hopefully who was originally in charge of the first part of the series starts to work on shippuden cause that anime needs serious help lol . As for Sasuke joining Akatsuki, never in a million years. He has been driven up to this point by Itachi, to gain power. Judging by his attitude, once that is out of his way he wouldn't submit to anyone. I think the fight with Itachi will answer a lot of those questions, there has to be a twist in that fight because what in the hell would Sasuke do if he was to just kill Itachi? Obviously he wouldn't just go back to Konohoa, and becoming a renegade without a purpose doesn't sound like something he would do either. Itachi will give him some other reason to fight, and that will either lead to him fighting Naruto or joining up with Naruto.Has it been officially stated that Pain serves Madara or is it just a speculation from the recent chapter where Tobi is asking Pain to do the job himself without fail? the thing is, against an enemy without doujutsu, Sharingan seems to be more superior than Rin'negan because it's genjtusu is very deadly if the user is very skilled as well wherein Rin'negan doesn't always focus on genjutsu and has more expansive abilities than just mere genjutsu. but if you really match Rin'negan against Sharingan, that way you can easily discern the difference.

it's not that Rin'negan is weaker than Sharingan, let's just say Madara has perfection in use of Sharingan wherein Pain is a lousy user of Rin'negan probably because he wants his enemy to realize the true meaning of pain and not to simply kill them.

The latest edition of Naruto Manga is out. Refusing to fight back Naruto is still being beaten up by the Lightning squad, until Sai interfered...

In the mean time Danzou, the 6th Hokage commands his troops to take a close watch on Naruto since he has the Kyuubi inside of him, and prevent him from leaving the village on his own.

When the Lightning squad went away on their mission Naruto has been brought to Kakashi and Yamato for treatment. There he tells them that he has met the spirit of his father and that his purpose is to talk to Raikage to forgive Sasuke...

Finally Danzou and his subordinates were on the way to conduct some business when they were ambushed. Danzou revealed his bandages and is about to relaese, guess what...

SPOILER (click to view)

A Shringan...

BTW,... I wonder what would happen if Sakura and Karin will meet for the first time, because both of them are in love with Sasuke. That would mean a Cat fight war á'la Grande...

This manga is getting a bit out of hand. I mean everyone has the sharingan now.Like Its becoming annoying. So lets just go with this, Danzo is using an advanced ninjutsu or possibly genjutsu that is Tobi, to keep track of the akatsuki. Madara may just be dead but since Danzo wants Kabuto that can mean one of a few things.

Danzo wants the Orochimaru genes from Kabuto to reborn him, so that Orochimaru can use reanimation to bring Madara back. And in exchange Orochimaru is give another chance at Sasuke's body becuase Tobi is leading him to the leaf village anyways.

When Sasuke reacjhes the village he will come across Sai, who is angry at him for letting Naruto take the beating for him. Sasuke fights Sai and lord behilds we find Sai with sharingan. Surprise surprise... Sasuke gets all "!" then it would revert back to the whole hokage thing.

Danzo gets close to recreating Orochimaru, but the other kage's interfere. Now its a battle between Madara, Danzo and all reinforcment Akatsuki vs the Kage's their best ninja and Naruto. Knowing Kishimoto they will fight to the verge of death, Naruto gives a speech, Kage's give Naruto their hats, madara takes off, and Now wat? Naruto becomes the Hokage or Grand Shien of the 5 Nations.

But hey this is just an idea. lol

Or, there is no Danzo but only Madara who impersonated as Tobi and Danzo to control the most powerful organization and to keep an eye to the most powerful village. since Kyyubi knows the existence of Madara through chakra and with what Yondaime told Naruto, he thinks that Madara is still alive.

the thing about Kabuto is, since Pain already used the revival technique, Madara's plan that might require that technique must be at stake right now. so he needs Kabuto who's been living along Orochimaru for the reason of knowing that technique to achieve immortality. though, i never thought Madara could be that low for wanting to have immortality but then again, who knows.

now, about Madara's intention.. could it still be the destruction of Konoha or the creation of a unified village?

And besides, Kabuto has mentioned to Naruto tha Orochimaru's Genes are still alive and residing in himself before he ran away. Orochimaru is a mysterious person who somehow has made himself inhuman like a white serpent or so which was his true bodyform during his experiments.

In the latest edition of Naruto Manga Nothing much going on, just the meeting between those Kages and their political dispute. And Gara is making an amusing start mentioning he doesn't give a damn about those old traditions like honors ...

In the mean time Sai reveals to Sakura what Naruto really feels about her...