Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25319479-20170820141651/@comment-5085906-20170821190014

Ncduru wrote: Cool ending to a truly trash arc. I seriously can't think of much good that came out of this arc. I'll give Kara the benefit of the doubt before we lambaste them. Curse mark info is coming, finally True, the arc in and of itself was pretty disappointing. I think the main problem I have with it is that it seems like the writers made it with no clear purpose in their minds. They wanted to make Shojoji this formidable villain that could pose an issue for Team 7, but halfway through they changed their minds and decided to make him this neon sign that's supposed to point out to the next arc. Some plot points seem to be abandoned - the Bank robbery and the Hozuki castle "Air Force One" scenario for example have no clear explanation as of this Chapter (though there could be an explanation for them in the subsequent Chapters) while Shojoji's corpse clone jutsu, which I think is fairly interesting, has not been dwelled upon that much.

Let's contrast this arc with the first Naruto arc and arguably one of the most memorable among the fandom - we had Zabuza whose most defining jutsu was the Mist one and his Silent Killing. In that one arc, we find out about Kakashi's eye and the fact that Kakashi can't detect Zabuza with his Sharingan due to the mist being made of chakra. It was a relatively small piece of information at that point, but in hindsight that little info gave us a foothold with which we can base future 'what if' scenarios. Shojoji's corpse clone technique is famous enough to have gained the moniker Shojoji of the Corpse Clone meaning he's quite skilled with it. It's also a unique ability as we haven't seen anyone absorb another person's memory by eating it - but asides from these feats that I mentioned, we didn't get anything else. Can a wielder of one of the three great dojutsu see through that technique? What are it's weaknesses? Is there more to it? I mean, the guy was trying to pass himself off as The Daimyo's son. I doubt you can do that with a normal substitution jutsu so the Corpse Clone oughta have been something good.

Of course, this was also a missed opportunity to introduce adult Konohamaru. As a Naruto fan, I would have loved to see him jump in at a critical moment and just wipe the floor with Shojoji considering he's supposed to have grown into an awesome Jonin.

At this point, I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed for the anime to expand more on these aborted plot points. This is one of those rare cases where I'm putting more faith in the anime adaptation than the source material.