I am surprised that this studio has been able to get away with going this long without a single canon episode. Well today that change! We return back to Naruto to finish the story and see it till the end.... I mean... We returned to Naruto to get back to the canon briefly and go back to fill- I mean, (canon backstory)..

This filler arc will focus all on Itachi and his backstory based off of a novel written a while ago. But instead of being smart and making this a separate show so people can get excited and interested, they drop it into the Naruto Shippuden anime...

We see a battle between the leaf village and sand village while Itachi watches the battle from afar. When the battle if over he makes his way through the battle fields and helps out a soldier who is killed instantly when he realizes that he was a ninja. His father tells him about how war is the real Shinobi world and that begins to form the way he thinks. 

We follow Iatchi's life as he trains and even finds out that he is going to have a younger brother. He shows some generic bullies how good he is at shurikens and we get a little hint at a mysterious character that I'm sure will show up. 

I think if we had more time to just focus on Iatchi's story they could've easily squeezed in more events. Getting back to the canon for a good chunk of the episode just so they can make it connect with this story isn't helping the fact that Naruto Shippuden has been dragged on longer than it should've been! I would've much preferred that these fillers be a separate show while the main show put on hiatus. That being said, I think that this Itachi story could have potential if they have a clear goal and focus for what they want the story to be.

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