Naruto Shippuden Box Set 17 is a two-disc that contains Episodes 206 through 218 of Naruto Shippuden. The first disc contains seven episodes, and the second disc includes six episodes and the set’s special features.

Naruto Shippuden Box Set 17
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Format: DVD
Release Date: January 14, 2014

This set sees Sakura trying to tell Naruto that she loves him and has given up on Sasuke for good, but he doesn’t believe her. Sakura, along with Kiba, Lee, and Sai, leave to find Sasuke in order to kill him. Sakura, however, uses a sleeping gas to put the others to sleep so she can go after Sasuke herself.

Meanwhile, one of Sai’s clones talks to Naruto and tells him about Sakura’s intentions to kill Sasuke herself to free Naruto of his burden. Kakashi decides to try to stop Sakura on his own and instructs Yamato and Naruto to return to the village. Naruto, however, sneaks away from Yamato.

Danzo is heading back to the village after fleeing from the Five Kage Summit, and Madara transports Sasuke and Karin to fight against Danzo. A major battle takes place between Sasuke and Danzo, ending with Sasuke having the upper hand. As part of this, he also attacks Karin, who Danzo is using as a human shield.

As Sasuke is about to finish off Karin, Sakura arrives. Sakura claims she’s abandoned the Hidden Leaf Village, and Sasuke tells her to prove her loyalty by killing Karin. Kakashi arrives on the scene just as it seems that Sasuke is going to kill Sakura, but Naruto arrives in the nick of time. Sasuke and Nartuo have a confrontation before Madara takes Sasuke away.

Killer Bee also has a confrontation with Kisame. The Raikage arrives during the battle, and together, he and Killer Bee decapitate Kisame. Before that, though, Kisame’s sword Samehada seems to favor Bee’s chakra. Bee claims the sword as a spoil of war, but it turns out there’s more to Samehada than what Bee believes.

These episodes also see the various Hidden Villages preparing for the Fourth Great Ninja War.

The episodes in this set are very important for progressing the overall story, and because of events that happen, it creates a lot of changes for the Naruto universe. There were about three or four episodes in this set that, while they included some occasional progression the story, tended to be “clip shows” more than anything else. I can’t truly call those particular episodes “filler” because if you skip them, you will miss important pieces of information that help to progress the story. When watching these episodes, expect to see the scene of Sakura trying to keep Sasuke from leaving the Hidden Leaf Village during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc several times.

By the end of the episodes in this set, it’s obvious that the forthcoming Fourth Great Ninja War is going to be a major story arc.

When it comes to the DVD set itself, there are six bonus features included. The first is “Storyboards,” which contains three pages from Episode 209 and three pages from Episode 211. The “Art Gallery” contains 10 pages of line art of various characters that appear in the set.

There’s an “Omake” section included, even though there were only two omake that appeared within the 13 episodes included on the set.

“Clean Opening/Ending” includes three versions of each: a version without any text, a version with English subtitles, and a version with Romaji subtitles. The English credits are also available.

“More From VIZ Media” includes links to a lot of trailers for properties that VIZ Media was promoting at the time this DVD set was released.

Even with the episodes that tended to feel more like clip shows, this set is still worth it to Naruto fans in order to see how the series continues to progress. The confrontations between Sasuke and Danzo and Sasuke and Naruto are definitely worth watching. This set should really be in the anime collection of anyone who considers themselves a fan of the Naruto franchise.

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