Guys, gals and the rest of you...brace yourselves. You are not ready. No, seriously, if the last DVD set was intense, this one's insane. At long last, the main mystery at the heart of the whole Naruto storyline gets its payoff: the identity of the masked shinobi pulling all the strings. Some of you saw it coming. Some of you were caught off guard. But now...the truth of Madara Uchiha--the real one and the fake—comes into the light!

The first episodes resumes the ruinous rendezvous between reanimated Itachi, renegade Sasuke and resurrectionist reptilian Kabuto. Orochimaru's would-be successor wasn't satisfied reviving just about every legendary ninja on the planet, though, oooooh no, now he's had enough of his fake snake routine and undergone yet another mutation. Now he's a dragon!

Yet even as Kabuto brags about scaling up the conflict, this would-be cryptid creep experiences a small bout of nostalgia and gives us our first good look at his past. What we see then makes way too much sense: he was yet another kid who was twisted by a series of unfortunate events. Too bad Orochimaru also rolled his snake-eyes in the bespeckled youngster's direction and gambled on the long con. A few choice tragedies in Kabuto's life and voila--brand new partner in his quest for perfection!

Of course, that still leaves the present and Itachi hasn't called it quits. He seems to always have one more trick up his sleeve--like a good ninja should. 

Meanwhile, the battle between the Allied Forces and the two Madaras gets even worse as the real Madara's abilities further defy sense and reason, causing endless problems with those still left fighting him. 

And then... finally... FINALLY, the true mystery of the masked Madara-impersonator takes center stage when Naruto borrows the Nine Tails power to shatter his spiral mask for good. Yet the face beyond is both horribly altered and terrifyingly familiar...to Kakashi most of all! We then delve deep into his past and learn the truth about his life before the mask, the reason he is what he is, how the real Madara got his claws into him, and the pain that fuels his need to cast away the waking world for a dream. You have to wonder just how deep the roots of this madness go...

Since this collection involves has so much story going on, the action is pretty much nonstop. And it remains epic throughout even during the many flashbacks that explain so much of the current story. Scenes range from disturbing to hilarious to tragic and back again. For instance, Kabuto's meeting with Orichimaru is straight-up disturbing; there's a vial distilling blood in the background that just keeps dripping as they talk, and they're surrounded by tanks containing (hopefully) dead specimens that Orochimaru decided to pickle. Then there's a whole scene about the White Zetsu being curious about what it's like to have basic bodily functions. It's hilarious! And then the tears come out in almost the very next scene. It's a rollercoaster of emotions that'll have you all twisted up inside! 

Heck, we even get a look a how the masked "Tobi" recruited Nagato into Akatsuki; that's where we leave off with the finale, and we all know just how happily their story turned out!

Ugh, there's so much I want to talk about, yet these are THE keystone twists in the story. Just...watch the episodes. You will laugh a little, cry a lot, and probably need to take a walk outside to give yourself enough time to take it all in. Or maybe go to your local ramen shop and talk it out with the chef. Whatever it is you do to decompress, because this is some dense stuff! 

You can witness the greatest battle in ninja history by picking up DVD Set 27 available here! 

English & Japanese 2.0 Audio / English Subtitles
Episodes 336-348
Special Features: Storyboards, Art Gallery, Clean Opening/Ending, English Credits

by Chris Turner