Naruto, Volume 32 by Masashi Kishimoto

Though Sasuke has betrayed the Leaf village and the Fire nation he was born to by becoming part of his brother's plot for power, his former teammates Naruto and Sakura are determined to rescue and rehabilitate him. But with the former story of Gaara's capture and nearly losing his Jinchûruki, or animal spirit, other ninja want to keep Naruto safe, and the nine-tailed Fox Spirit inside him captured so that it cannot be loosed and used against them.

Tsunade, now Hokage, disagrees with this idea. She argues that the only way to keep Naruto safe is to keep him moving and deny the Akatsuki an easily-found target. If Naruto keeps moving, it makes him harder to find, and harder to ambush and attack. By doing so, she also keeps the Leaf Village itself safe from attacks by the Akatsuki. The elders disagree with her logic, but finally back down when she promises to defend the village with her own life if necessary.

Naruto is sent on another mission, along with fellow ninja Sakura. But with Sasuke gone and Kakashi injured, both of them are assigned new teammates to work with: The very disturbing ninja named Sai, who apparently feels no emotions at all, and resembles Sasuke more than a little in looks. But Sai is not his real name, and he is a plant by the Elders of the Council to keep an eye on Naruto. Neither Naruto nor Sakura like him, but can they trust him? And their new leader, Yamato, has another mission also: Assigned by Tsunade to lead, but also to keep Naruto safe and an eye on Sai, who Tsunade doesn't trust either.

But when their new mission is to uncover an Akatsuki spy in the Leaf Village, will Naruto's antagonism towards Sai jepoardize their mission?

In this volume, we get to see some more of the secrets of the Leaf Village, including a new group of Ninjas: The Foundations of Black Ops. While Ninjas in Japan were something like Super-spies traditionally, Naruto and his friends seem to spend more time fighting, and to be like warriors. While Black Ops ninjas seem to be more like the traditional ninja of history. They work on their own, alone, and seem to be more used for spying and impersonations. From what we get to see so far, anyway.

Here, the Ninjas of Konoha discover that some of their own are spies for the Akatsuki, which is disheartening for them, to say the least, since the spies are all trusted ninja. Sasuke is still being kept for use as his brother's new body, but being moved around between safe houses by the spies. Will Naruto and Sakura be able to rescue their friend and comrade, and will he still be their friend and comrade when they finally do find him? At this point, we have no idea, and unlike some Sasuke-lovers, I'm not sure he deserves it.

Rescue him, sure, because it will prevent his brother from becoming more powerful, but who nows what he'll be like now? He sure looked crazy-insane the last time we saw him, when he fought Naruto, but standards of manga mean he might not be salvageable when they actually do find him. And I don't have a problem with that. Sure, his character design might be gorgeous, but if he's still crazy insane, the value of that drops off sharply.

In any case, an excellent new volume from Naruto creator Kishimoto, one that raises as many questions as it answers, and which sets up the next big conflict that Konoha will be involved in. Can the Akatsuki be defeated, and Sasuke rescued? No idea, but the story and its tension keeps me reading.