Invincibility!

Hurray for another Thursday! Am I the only one who vaguely fears that the end of the world will occur before the manga comes to an end? Probably.

*-*Spoilers for Chapter 322*-*

Things seem to be moving again.

Asuma has implied that his giving up smoking may have nothing to do with Chiriku. Perhaps it's about Sandaime, or maybe Kurenai's pregnant. Whatever it is, it's going to have some significance to the story.

Kakuzu admitted to the ugly, filler-looking guy in the bounty station that of all of his partners, Hidan is the only one he hasn't killed in a fit of rage. He leaves the reason for this unclear. Though it is clarified soon after, in Hidan's scene.

Admitting faults of character is always a difficult thing.
I respect you, Kakuzu.

Meanwhile, Naruto tried desperately to incorporate Wind chakra into his Rasengan. Exhausted, (but very determined) he pushed himself too far, and ended up sprouting Kyuubi tails at an alarming rate. He was an inch from four when Yamato used his power to suppress the Kyuubi, knocking Naruto unconscious. Yamato is having as much trouble as Naruto in this training, as the strain of holding back the Kyuubi's instincts is becoming more difficult.

Hidan sat on the steps outside the bounty station, bemoaning his now smelly clothes. Quite suddenly he was attacked by Asuma. Swinging his scythe, he deflected the kunai, and prepared to destroy Asuma. Shikamaru, however, prevented him from moving with his Kagemane no jutsu.

Leaving Hidan open to attack from both Kotetsu Hagane (guy with bandaged nose) and Izumo Kamizuki (guy with emo hair-cut), who stabbed him from either side.

Yay for the supporting Chuunins! Who will no doubt be the first to be pwned!

Asuma, displaying the obligatory "Yay-The-Bad-Guy's-Dead!" attitude, immediately told the others to locate Kakuzu. Talking with such an obscene amount of confidence that one would assume he takes down two members of Akatsuki in twenty seconds every day before breakfast. He will no doubt appear suitably astonished in the next chapter, when we get to see the team's horrified reaction to Hidan's invincibility! Muahahahahaaa!

It is official. I love this man!

Okay, I have absolutely nothing against Asuma. But to tell you the truth, I'd much rather see Hidan and Kakuzu come out victorious, and am fairly certain they will. I love Akatsuki so much, I don't want any of them to die. Goddamn you, Kishi, for making your villains so darn alluring!

*-*End of Spoilers*-*

I heard that fillers will be ending in October, when a particularly long episode is set to air. Though I refuse to get my hopes up about this, and would not at all be surprised if fillers carried on into the 2300s. In fact, I was considering getting my body cryonically frozen, only to be awoken when the Kakashi Gaiden begins.

Yes, I am heinously pessimistic.

Short on SasuNaru smuttage? Look no further! Here's a link to mynullnostalgia's SasuNaruSasu Fan Recs. It's a very large list of many, many SasuNaru fanfics. It's a lot more extensive than my own rec list, which I really ought to update again soon...

This week I was linked to a cute Japanese fansite - peewee - which has some very good Deidara and ItaNaru fanart. Enjoy!

Must be going now, I've got a new DVD to watch - The Cat Returns. It's a cute and somewhat random movie.