“Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring” is essential reading for fans of “Naruto”, especially if you grew up reading/watching Team 7 (Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura). Enjoyable, entertaining and recommended!
© 2015 Masashi Kishimoto. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring
STORY AND ART BY:Â Masashi Kishimoto
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: SHUEISHA, Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC/Shonen Jump Manga
RATED: T for Older Teen
RELEASE DATE: January 5, 2016
Naruto was a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. Then he channeled that energy into learning amazing ninja techniques and saving the world! Now Naruto has achieved his dream to become the greatest ninja in the village and his face sits atop the Hokage monument. But new troubles are bubbling up in Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring!
With the world now safe and the ninja villages working together, Naruto’s work as Hokage seems pretty mundane. Giving his son, Boruto, enough attention is the toughest task he has. But then Sasuke uncovers a conspiracy that may involve surviving members of the Uchiha clan. And at the same time, Sarada is beginning to have doubts about the truth of her origins.
Since the completion of the “Naruto” manga series and people getting a glimpse of life for Naruto after the Fourth Shinobi War and how a lot of our favorite characters have gone on to become parents, fans want to see more!
And with the series continuing on with Naruto’s son Boruto, “Naruto” creator Masashi Kishimoto wanted to create a manga featuring Naruto as the Seventh Hokage but instead of featuring life of Naruto, Hinata and kids, this time, to focus on Sasuke and Sakura’s child, Sarada.
And so, a storyline was created titled “Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring”.
The manga series focuses on Sarada Uchiha who sees the attention that other children her age get from their parents. Even though the children kind of have some problem with their parents, such as Boruto tired of his father being busy as a Hokage or Cho-Cho Akimichi having difficulties believing that her father is Choji and her mother is Karui, Sarada rather be in their position where their parents are there.
As Sarada has not really seen her father Sasuke, who has been away since she was a baby. And now Sarada is having difficulties believing that her parents are her real blood parents because she wears glasses. And to make things worse, when she looked at her family photo of her dad, she pulls out the entire photo which reveals Sasuke and his old partners, including Karin, who wears glasses, has dark hair and Sarada feels she looks exactly like her.
As Sarada tries to talk to various people about the photo she finds and wants to know who the woman is next to her father.
Meanwhile, Sasuke who is on a special mission has found a young man with the Uchiha symbol and also exhibiting a sharingan, which leaves Kakashi to believe he is an Uchiha survivor or Orochimaru’s lab rat.
Naruto decides that he will meet up with Sasuke before paying a visit to Orochimaru, but Naruto is unaware that Sarada has heard his conversation that he is visiting her father.
Along with Cho-Cho, the two follow Naruto in hopes that it will lead Sarada to her father. But while the trail Naruto, both are attacked by the mysterious young man with the Sharingan eyes.
Will Sarada find out the truth if Sasuke and Sakura are her real parents?
I absolutely enjoy these newer “Naruto” stories featuring the characters as adults and now, many of us following their children.
Before I begin my review, because of the focus on the next generation, for those who have not finished the manga series, probably will not want to read this manga yet, because there are a lot of spoilers. If possible, I recommend reading the final “Naruto” manga and watching “The Last Naruto the Movie” animated film, before reading “Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring”.
But I absolutely enjoyed this issue because of the relationships featured in the series but to see how the characters that we grew up with reading or watching, are now parents themselves.
For me, it’s hard to believe that I have followed the “Naruto” series since it was first released. Growing up with these characters as a college student, reading and watching when I got married and we had a child, to my child watching the series as he got older and now with my son as a teenager, a story of relationships but also another way of “Naruto” creator Masashi Kishimoto of passing the torch to another character.
“Boruto” had his own animated film, so Sarada receives a lot of focus in this manga. Frustrated of not having her father with them and being raised by Sakura for years, she dislikes the fact that her father has not come home to visit or be with them.
And she has so many questions in regards to her life, her glasses and why Karin (who we saw, always following Sasuke wherever he went in the manga and anime series) looks more like her. She’s a young person that has so many questions and feels everyone is avoiding it but most of all, she is reminiscent of Naruto when he was younger of not having a family and being envious of other children and their parents.
It’s an interesting contrast to Boruto, who almost is reminiscent to Sakura who was often bothered by her loving parents (which was more featured in the “Naruto Shippuden” filler episodes). But in this case, a rambunctious boy who also can’t stand his father not being there because he is the village’s Hokage.
As for “Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring”, it’s interesting to see the developments of Sarada’s quest to know more about her father and what happens when she confronts him. But also giving us more insight to how things have been between Sasuke and Sakura years later.
Overall, “Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring” is essential reading for fans of “Naruto”, especially if you grew up reading/watching Team 7 (Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura). Enjoyable, entertaining and recommended!