"Kunoichi Rumble: The Rivals Get Serious!" and "The Ultimate Battle: Cha!" pits Sakara against her life-long rival Ino. Both kunoichi (female ninja) have vowed never to lose to the other one again, and both are determined to stick to that vow. Across these two episodes, we see flashbacks to when the two characters were friends and a time when Sakara looked up to Ino. This is one fierce battle and once the two take off their kid gloves, you get to see some amazing action, including Ino's Mind-Body Switch Jutsu.
"Killer Kunoichi and a Shaky Shikamaru" has a couple of battles in it. One such rumble faces the sand ninja, Temari against Rock Lee's team mate, Tenten in another kunoichi versus kunoichi match. The other major event in this episode has Shikamaru going up against one of the remaining sound ninja. How is Shikamaru suppose to win when the enemy has already seen his Shadow Possession Jutsu in the Forest of Death?
And finally, one of the matches we have been waiting for, Naruto's preliminary fight, well the first part of it anyway. In "Akamaru Unleashed: Who's Top Dog Now?" Naruto is paired up against Kiba and his ninja dog Akamaru. This fight is just one of the many that shows Naruto's skills are always growing (especially in the heat of battle). As Kiba remembers the young, hyperactive kid's time in the academy, he thinks this will be an easy win. But as Naruto pulls off some amazing jutsus (including a combination substitution and illusion jutsu), he will show Kiba just how far he has come since those school days. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, Kiba and Akamaru seem to have backed our orange-haired hero into a corner and we will have to wait for the next volume before we see exactly how it turns out.
The batch of episodes in The Ultimate Battle: Cha! is all about kunoichi action. Some of it is kunoichi on kunoichi, and some of it is just plane vanilla kunoichi versus shin-obi, but it's all good. This volume does a great job in showing that just because they are girls, they are just as deadly and powerful as the guys and you should never take a scorned-woman lightly.
