The Forest of Death plot line isn't going as I would have preferred (I was hoping for a
more traditional, Hunger Games-type contest), but it has gotten a lot more complicated.
Anko, one of the Konohagakure Academy's proctors, finds three dead bodies, minus faces, and surmises it's the work of the immortality-seeking Orochimaru. She takes off in pursuit of him.
Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto have lost consciousness after a fight over one of the
sacred scrolls with an enemy ninja, leaving Sakura to defend them from the threat of
Team Dosu. Sakura becomes a stronger character here, and the Sakura-smitten Rock Lee also comes to her defense.
This is a jam-packed volume and it ups the ante on the complexity of Naruto's world
and the ever-widening past connections of so many characters involved in it. Masashi
Kishimoto's art is expressive and beautiful, as always, and in this volume he highlights
some of his artist assistants.
