The fighting between Naruto, Bee, Gai and Kakashi continues in this weeks chapter but more focus is given to the strengthening of bonds. This may not be another strong action packed chapter that we would like to normally see from Naruto but it is one that will serve as a grand pivotal point in the current arc and possibly future arcs.

Synopsis:

So not much to say for this week except that:

1. Kakashi and Guy struggle with the tailed beasts, but somehow manage to hold of the first wave of the attacks.

2. Naruto is swallowed up by the 4 tailed beast (it's name is revealed to be Son Goku).

3. The 9 tails still contemplates his relationships with previous humans (Madara, Hashirama, Kushina etc.) and his current host.

4. Inside Son Goku, Naruto is now talking with him in a chained state and they continue to discuss the tailed beasts hatred towards humans.

So in fact Naruto is now deepening his ties with not only the 9 tails (who is apparently called Kurama) but with Son Goku and possibly all of the remaining tailed beasts in future chapters. It does seem to be the case that Kurama is actually getting closer to letting Naruto in emotionally and actually helping him out with the current battle and the war.

As the chapter ends with Son Goku telling Naruto that he will help out if he manages to free him from his chains.

Thoughts:

It's nice to get a break from just a stream of action, but to have two chapters in a row where the focus is on just character development does get a bit anti-climactic and boring. That being said, it might not be a bad idea to get the chapters that have no action and all character development done and out of the way before the action resumes again at a much faster pace.

All we can do is wait for the next chapter and see how the story progresses to judge whether the choice made by Kishimoto-sensei was the best choice.