When it comes to surprising people on the battlefield, Naruto’s bread-and-butter Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is the most obvious possibility. Still, it didn’t occur to me that he’d leave a clone (or his true self) inside Son Goku just to push the controlling rod out. With his other self busting out his Kyuubi form, it felt like we were in store for a brute force “yank-that-shit-out” turning point. All the build-up toward it from Kurama about Naruto “doing what he does best” suggested as much anyway, since our orange jumpsuit hero is best known for going wherever his emotions take him and thinking about it afterward. In hindsight, this surprise development does show that Naruto’s vastly grown as a ninja by thinking several steps ahead.

The only thing that kind of throws me in for a whirl is the fact that one instance of Naruto is in Kyuubi form while the other is in Sennin Mode (a.k.a. Sage Mode) — two techniques that supposedly couldn’t be combined, similar to Dragon Ball Z Son Goku’s attunement with nature via the Genki Dama (a.k.a. Spirit Bomb) and his own fiery Super Saiyajin form (barring the anime original stuff that Goku pulled in the 7th movie against Super Android 13). I realize the restriction probably doesn’t apply since Naruto and his clone are completely separate entities, but the fact that he can be in both forms at the same time does open up the possibility that he can combine their respective techniques. This is but a mere observation though, as I really can’t see this coming up as a plot point in the future.

As for the flashbacks, some may argue that it’s a waste of pages to show that many scenes, but I actually liked the emphasis they provided. They also covered some of my favorite scenes that got me hooked into the anime to begin with, such as Naruto’s very first S-rank mission. For those still watching the anime, those scenes will undoubtedly be even better with the music to bring out all the emotions behind them, whereas for manga-only readers like myself, it builds up anticipation toward what all those feelings will culminate to next chapter.

41 Comments

  1. Are you sure about the contradiction between Super Saiyan and Genki Dama? I think he went Super Saiyan when he fired the Genki Dama at Boo back then when he defeated him. I think it’s more like he can’t combine Super Saiyan and Kaio-ken, but whatever.
    The “twist” at the end of the chapter came just as unexpected to me. I just wonder what’s going to happen next.

    virox
    1. Yeah, Super Saiyan is too “chaotic” to tune into nature. When Goku turned Super Saiyan against Buu, he was only pushing the Genki Dama back. He created it in his normal form.

      See the wiki page I linked for the technique.

    2. To form a Spirit Bomb, your mind has to be calm and still. You must try to become one with nature, the planet, the whole universe. Originally, to transform into a Super Saiyan, our heroes had to be extremely angry or recall the original experience/original anger and these thoughts are naturally during the transformation (of course, this may not hold true towards the end of the series where everyone is transforming all whilly-nilly). So to have all this anger swirling around would make becoming calm and one with nature impossible. Notice that against Kid Buu, Goku only transforms into his Super Saiyan form after he had already gathered the energy for the Spirit Bomb.

    3. ****The only thing that kind of throws me in for a whirl is the fact that one instance of Naruto is in Kyuubi form while the other is in Sennin Mode (a.k.a. Sage Mode) — two techniques that supposedly couldn’t be combined,****

      The techniques can be combined. go back to when naruto had a talk with nagato.

      The technique that cannot be combined is when grandpa sage tries to gather sage chakra on naruto’s shoulder.

      Pump
  2. “two techniques that supposedly couldn’t be combined, similar to Dragon Ball Z Son Goku’s attunement with nature via the Genki Dama (a.k.a. Spirit Bomb) and his own fiery Super Saiyajin form”

    Wow you still remember this? Divine confirmed for king of bros forever (Like if it wasn’t like that already :p)

    Rockmanshii
  3. Hey, that was a cool movie. I wish they could have shown Androids 10-12, though…

    Oh yeah, this is a Naruto post. FRIENDSHIP WINS THE DAY, EVEN IF IT’S A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF CHAKRA IN THE SHAPE OF A HIDEOUS MONSTER!

    Da5id
  4. Kurama smiled! Well actually he grinned, but I ain’t complaining cause he and Naruto are gonna be BFFs soon! And it seems like Tobi is in for a surprise, so sad that we can’t actually see the shocked look on his face though.

    gawrshness
  5. I wonder if he’s really going to be able to free Son Goku, at least in this battle. I imagined that they would fight it out, something would happen that would let Madara suck up Bee, leaving Naruto all on his own, where he does his best work (and would make for a more suspenseful storyline).

  6. Sage mode and fox chakra already has been shown combined back when Naruto had the talk with Pain where he had the +_+ eyes.

    I think what you are referring to is the fact that Ma and Pa couldn’t fuse with Naruto because of the presence of the Kyuubi.

    Cream
    1. I think that was more of his anger springing up while in Sage Form, which came in the form of Kyuubi energy while he was talking to Pain. He didn’t actually use Kyuubi abilities while in Sage Mode, so I don’t think the forms can actually be combined.

      Da5id
    2. I think Cream is correct here. Back when Naruto confronted Nagato after his battle with the final Pain, he was shown with eyes that reflected both Sage-mode and Kyuubi chakra influence (thus making the +_+ eyes, haha). Naruto couldn’t fuse with Ma and Pa because of Kyuubi’s rejection of them, which just means they can’t channel natural energy for him, hence necessitating his use of a shadow clone to do this for him. It’s never been explicitly said he cannot use both forms at once. If he hasn’t so far, I think it’s probably because he just needs more practice controlling one or the other (that and Kishimoto needs to save something for the Sasuke end-all fight).

      Random
    3. After reading this chapter i (and assumedly tobi too) feel like i just got trolled by narutos tactics…. never thought i would say that…

      ps I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again

      What has become of Taicho Wood!? T_T

      defunkt_bots
    1. I don’t think so, and I hope Kishimoto adresses that, whether if it’s by explaining exactly why not he can’t do it, or by combining the two modes when a big, badass battle calls for it…

      Justinnnnnn
      1. Thanks, forgot what you wrote by the time i was finished with the comments. Personally though i think a combination would be pointless because i can’t see sage mode adding much to kyuubi mode. Think of what would have happened in the naruto vs. pain battle if he had his current powers.

        Evil In7en7
  7. Kudos to Kishimoto for making Naruto use Frog Fist instead of the usual Rasengan. Even though an energy ball smashed at Son Goku’s flesh would be pretty cool-looking…Glad Naruto used something else other than Shadow Clones, Rasengan, Kyuubi Chakra or all of these combined in all sorts of ways…

    I’m never dissapointed reading Naruto these days. Thanks Divine too for the (as usual) early posts!

    Justinnnnnn
  8. Oh Please! Masashi! IF your out there listining to your fans! Make it stop! Just make it all go away! Someone discovers the atom bomb jutsu, just something to end this nightmare of doom! 😛 just kidding, there just isn’t any hope of this ending anytime soon huh?

  9. Erm, I think these two modes *could* be used by different instances of Naruto (true self + another clone(s)). Remember when Naruto defeated the Third Raikage in his Sage Mode? There’s another clone(s) (or maybe true self) running around in Kyuubi mode. 🙂

    Lone_Wanderer.

    Lone_Wanderer
  10. Goku from DBZ clearly was able to do Genki Dama (Spirit Bomb) in SSJ form as evident when he finished off Kid Buu in the finale of the original manga series. I suspect after Goku’s training in Hyperbolic Chamber for Cell’s game, he was able to maintain his peaceful nature in SSJ form (one of his main objectives during that period of training).

    LK
  11. He’s done it before I thought? kyuubi mode was with Bee still traveling or fighting with Itachi against revived pain, while Sage mode naruto was out and about, fighting that lightening kage..

    or was that after the itachi team up?

    I thought both versions was out before, and they never said it couldn’t be done at same time…

    sage mode just takes more time to gather chakra

    acesoldia
  12. @Divine: the reason why Naruto can’t do sage mode and Kyuubi mode together is because Kyuubi rejects it. Similar to why Naruto cannot have grandpa an grandma froggies on his shoulders to gather nature energy. But if Kyuubi becomes more forgiving and lenient, it may be possible to combine Sage + Froggies + Tailed Beast modes.

    deafvader
    1. The only thing that kind of throws me in for a whirl is the fact that one instance of Naruto is in Kyuubi form while the other is in Sennin Mode (a.k.a. Sage Mode) — two techniques that supposedly couldn’t be combined,

      the techniques can be combined. go back to when naruto had a talk with nagato.
      the technique that cannot be combined is when grandpa sage tries to gather sage chakra on naruto’s shoulder.

      Pump

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