Recently Read: Naruto, Vol. 13

 

After a relatively quiet volume (for Naruto), Vol. 13 explodes with action and tension.
It starts with one of the grandest entrances in all of comics, as Kakashi and Sakura
mysteriously return to the Chunin exams. Before the match between Sakura and the psychopathic Gaara begins, Naruto and Shikamaru are innocent bystanders to Gaara slaughtering two toughs who ask him to throw his bout for Lords betting on the matches. 

Finally, after several volumes of suspense, Sakura and Gaara's match begins, but isn't completed before Orochimaru's well-planned civil war begins and the life of the fourth Hokage and the safety of all of Konoha is in jeopardy. This is superior and amazing storytelling by the great author and artist Masashi Kishimoto. 

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Recently Read: Naruto, Vol. 7: The Path You Should Tread

Another action-packed and suspenseful read as our trio of Chunin Exam takers, Team 7, try to stay alive and thrive in the Forest of Death. Helping and thwarting them are various students in groups of three, all with their own elaborate character designs, talents and motives. As with the last volume, you may need a scorecard to keep track!

The volume begins with Naruto and Sasuke still in a coma. Meanwhile, tokubetsu jōnin Anko Mitarashi makes her way to the central tower where she and an assistant see on video footage that a very powerful genin team completed their goals in an astonishingly short time.

A note mentions that this was the first volume of Naruto created entirely digitally. Fortunately, the art looks no different to my eyes; it looks as organic, hand-drawn and beautiful as ever.

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Recently Read: Naruto Book 5: The Challengers

The centerpiece of Naruto Book Five: The Challengers is a 110-page exam sequence; our ninja-in-training heroes Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke take the Chûnin Exams, in order to become full-fledged shinobi. This could be the most suspenseful exam sequence in comics, where the rules may be designed to be subverted, the room is monitored by a wall of over-lookers, alliances are made, and psychological pressure is intrinsic to the test.

A second, Hunger Games-like test taking place in the Forest of Death is set up and continues into Book Six

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