Lo’ and behold. The landing of the vaunted combination attack of epic proportions… ends up dealing absolutely no damage whatsoever. Granted, we anticipated this outcome last week already, but it doesn’t quite change the fact that it’s still kind of ridiculous to actually see it happen. Combine that with the fact that even the Edo Tensei Hokage are now mortal in the face of Obito, and we’re talking about serious levels of “overpowered-ness” at this point.

With that said though, it’s quite interesting that this overpowered nature is actually balanced off by the revelation of an actual “weakness” to Sage techniques, and it’s admittedly one thing I didn’t exactly see coming considering how focused we’ve been on his Bijuu Mode and what not. Still, despite the surprising nature of this revelation, I found myself quite satisfied at the fact that Kishimoto actually bought it back in the first place, and at the fact that this weakness arguably demonstrates that it’s not necessarily about the raw power of the techniques you use to fight, but of the type of technique you use. Up until now, the types of different techniques have been noted quite a few times (along with their effectiveness in certain cases vs. others), but they haven’t quite gone that far with it besides the elemental attributes/combination attacks that’ve been done.

Essentially, Kishimoto hits two birds with one stone with this revelation (maybe three if you consider how it seems to set up the next chapter as well), and it ends up being a decent chapter overall despite having elements that may have put off some readers (in this and some of the previous chapters). Say what you will about the recent developments, but whether or not you’ve liked the recent chapters, you do have to admit Kishimoto’s shown that he’s still got something left in the tank in terms of how he’s still able to pull out some nice twists from time to time, and seems to be at least aware of some of the loose ends he’s left us hanging with from a little while back (even though it’s still questionable whether he’ll address them at some point).

EDIT: Just a note. Jump is on break for the week of the 11th.

52 Comments

      1. I still don’t get it why Senjutsu Rasengan damaged Obito? He still has Rinnengan with whom he could absorb Rasengan (Pain absorbed Rasenshuriken, which was made by Naruto in Senjutsu mode).

        Aldebaran
    1. Even if he does, I don’t see how it’d do much good considering Biju power hasn’t done any good thus far. Especially with Obito having over 3 times as much Biju power himself coupled with the Rinnegan and Sharingan, the latter of which can be used to suppress Kurama’s chakra in itself.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  1. So I’m guessing that Madara’s holding back the 1st Hokage because of because of Obito’s weakness to sage mode? Then again how would Madara know about the weakness in the first place?

    RX-78NT-1
    1. I think it’s kind of logical that sage mode is effective against the power of the Rikudou, so Madara could have deduced it after years fighting Hashirama (a sage mode user). As far as the story says, the Rikudou blended spiritual energy and physical energy to create chakra, that is yin and yang energy. Therefore, a sage mode user, which adds the energy of nature to the above mentioned mixture, creates a new type of chakra, so to speak.

      SouthSky
    1. As far as I remember, the only one that such a “rule” applies to is Naruto, and that’s only because of the workings of the Shiki Fuin. Otherwise, if a host dies, the Biju is simply released and reforms elsewhere after a period of time (we know this given the Sanbi/Three-Tailed Turtle) is still around after Rin’s AND Yagura’s deaths) given they’re not beings of the physical plane, but just chakra shaped as they are really.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. I think it was more to the idea that Madara knew about Obito’s senjutsu weakness, & Madara’s not going to let a senjutsu master like Hashirama save the day. Makes you wonder what Madara meant by yet to release his trump card.

      Techim
  2. Edo Tensei Hokage are now mortal in the face of Obito?
    Damn, the implied meanings give me mixed feelings..
    That probably means Third Hokage is dead again. 🙁
    Though at the same time it implies that its possible for the contractless Edo-Madara to be defeated too 🙂

    Techim
    1. I dont believe the third is dead, the first and second were hit as well but they came back. It wasn’t until Obito took complete control of the juubi, thats when the fourth was hit.

      rai
      1. The third definitely got hit in the face, but it was only the firsts wood clones that got destroyed. The second just blew himself up which is why he was able to regen. Same with madara when he brought down those two meteors. Which brings the question…what happened to the second tsuchikage, if I remember he split himself to escape being sealed, summoned madara, and then promptly disappeared from the story

        Alcren
    2. The Hokage are only vulnerable to Obito because he is using the jutsu cancelling technique,so Madara and Hasirama can knock lumps out of each other and be fine, but if Obito hits anyone else -screwed.

      I’d like to say the third is gone, but as I’ve not seen a ‘body’ and this is a shonen series, I’m guessing he’ll pop up again

      General Cox
    1. Yeah, Itachi had already forced Kabuto to undo Edo Tensei, which was when Madara used the technique to “take control of himself”. Everyone else that Kabuto had personally summoned with it would be gone now.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  3. I have a lot of respect for kishimoto keeping Naruto’s previous powers relevant. I figured he would forget all about sage mode after the Kyuubi chakra mode, but first the fight against the 3rd Raikage and now this. Most shonen do that, as soon as a new power is discovered, the old one is irrelevant.

    Zero Hour 17
  4. I give respect to Kishimoto for giving us Sennin Mode again despite the fact that there are stronger powers that the current Naruto has.

    I cannot help but think of the current Obito as somewhat similar to Aizen when he gained butterfly wings. LOL.

    Michael
  5. The action sequences were good, but I’m somewhat confused on how Obito used his biju bombs to counter the Enton Rasenshuriken. While they can apparently nullify any non-senjutsu technique, why didn’t Obito have any burn damage from the fire before he negated it? Furthermore, what about the wind damage from the Rasenshuriken that should have sliced him in half on a molecular level? Did all the wind chakra get absorbed to fuel the Amaterasu? In that case, the base Rasenshuriken would have been more effective since it would deal instantaneous damage instead of continual burn damage. Or it could be that Obito just regenerated any damage… I guess our menial common sense and logic really are beneath him!

    The character interactions were good again, Tobirama as usual was very entertaining. The interaction between Minato and Obito were good as well, Kishimoto’s really been trying to give Minato some character and make him seem less “perfect.”

    The revelation that sage mode can hurt Obito is both bad and good. On one hand we’ve got some idea of how Obito will be defeated. On the other though, it means that everyone except Naruto and Hashirama are completely useless against Obito, which implies that the rest of the alliance will continue to be useless. Hopefully I’m wrong and they won’t join the Yamato club.

    Two Kurama’s is… interesting. It seems like Minato actually created a second one when he split the original’s chakra. It obviously implies a future power boost for Naruto, but there are other implications. If splitting chakra and sealing it creates new biju, is that how the Sage created the tailed beasts from the Jubi? Were they all sealed from the start? If so, this could mean that Naruto will need to make more Jinchuriki to defeat the Jubi without killing it, which would be an interesting conundrum.

    Hochmeister
    1. Yeah, I wondered similar things myself.

      I guess he could’ve warped it away or something, like when he was taken by surprise when Itachi’s Amaterasu trap in Sasuke got him in the shoulder way back, yet he comes back with nothing and no sign of it actually having affected him much, if at all.

      I never really saw Minato as “perfect”. Far from it really, especially considering the things we see/learn from the previous Hokages. To me, the only notable things for him that seem to constantly be talked about now or before is the Hiraishin (which we learn was based off of techniques from Tobirama, so that kind of takes away a bit of the “wow” factor), the Rasengan (which feels redundant when you consider how quickly Naruto learned it, though, that’s balanced by how he didn’t have time to actually finish it), and sealing away Kurama with the Shiki Fuin (which, from what we’ve seen, was helped with by Kushina and the Uzumaki Clan sealing techniques which, again, takes away a bit of “wow” factor).

      I hope it actually gets explained just WHY Sage Mode happens to work compared to everything else. All I can guess is that it’s because Sage Mode uses “Natural” chakra, essentially nature in itself and, of course, nature long precedes the Rikudo Sennin and whatnot. The most that can really be done is manipulating it.

      And when you consider how the Rikudo Sennin created the nine original Biju from splitting the chakra of the Jubi, it’s not too surprising that Kurama’s Yang chakra gained a mind of its own after a period of time.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  6. Naruto’s senjutsu has always been what he turns to in the end. In the battle with Pain, he did not used the Kyuubi except for a short time and in the fight with the Raikage, he relied in senjutsu to deflect his power. The Sageliness of Senjutsu is what maked Naruto the true second coming of Ninja Jesus.

    Taiyo
    1. Technically in the fight vs Pain him and Kurama were still on bad terms so using Sage was his most powerful form he could control but I agree I like how Sage mode always seems to make a return.

      Moridin
  7. I thought this was quite a good chapter and I’ve been hard on it in recent weeks. I like how Senjutsu always seems to have a place unlike other Shonen shows that basically forget about their previous forms after a more powerful form arises Senjutsu always seems to have a place. Of course Senjutsu isn’t as powerful as Kurama Chakra mode but still I’m sure it’ll be interesting at least especially as Senjutsu basically allows oneness with nature and the sense that it provides.

    On a side note I totally forgot that the 4th had a Dark Kurama (or was that a reveal not sure) Chakra.

    Moridin
  8. Sage Mode YES!!! It’s just like Moridin said. I like how he brought back Sage Mode! In manga like DB, Kaioken was left behind for the more powerful SSJ, never to be heard from again after the Frieza Saga.

    I like to see that the “strongest” isn’t the most effective, but the “more efficient” deals the most damage. But now at this point, Naruto is the only one who can fight him while using the other three as back up, unless Tobirama has Sage Mode up his sleeve as well.

    If Sasuke still had the Curse Mark, I think he would be able to deal some damage too, because the curse mark IS a form of senjutsu.

    Also. I continue to love the humor Kishi continues to add XD, and Tobirama is just continuing to badmouth Naruto and Minato and Minato can’t even say shit XD

    swordhack4
    1. Actually, Kaio-ken was used ONCE after Frieza by Goku in the Other World tournament against Pikkon, but was also a total one-off as the “Super Kaio-ken”, simply powering himself up even more while using it as a SSj already. It also feels weird that we never see Yamcha, Tien, or Chiaotzu use it from their time training with King Kai.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  9. This chapter was a great imrpovement compared to the last, here Naruto finally shines again, personally i felt that Sakura and Sasuke took much of the spotlights after Sasuke and the Kage came ofcorse the kage aswell.

    The last chapter made me Naruto (at least to me) act really dumb, but this chapter made him look better.

    Another interesting thing is how Minato now feels guilt becauswe if he had found out the masked man was Obito then maybe Kushina would be alive and Naruto wouldt be the Jinchuriki.

    Well now the fact that Kuramas other half seemed to be councious in Minato, but this means Naruto is only half the jinchuriki? maks me wonder if Minato would release the other half

    Oscar
    1. Sasuke is fair given he, along with Naruto, have constantly had the spotlight for quite a while, ever since Sasuke vs. Itachi anyway. But to say Sakura took much of the spotlight? She hardly had ANY spotlight for quite a while until then, with only small snippets of her at times at most. Now she’s, once again, pushed to the background it seems.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. Well some parts switch between Sakura and Hinata but there’s one chapter that show how much Sakura learned from Tsunade so in her word Sasuke and Naruto now what her back

        Oscar
  10. I don’t follow Naruto that closely, just enough to know what is going on, but that was a nice unexpected move in a lot of shounen manga its “get stronger to near God like level” but using an earlier already strong power-up in place of your new 10-storie one that can blow a mountain was fun to see.

    iCards
  11. Well the only reason Kishimoto put Senjutsu as the only weakness to Ten-Tail mode is because we all want Kyuubi+Sage Mode. It’s been hinted since the Pain fight, and we have yet to see it.

    Shadow
  12. Yin-Kurama=Yang Kurama+Sage Mode=Perfecting the Jutsu, voila, Naruto is the Perfect Rikudo descendant whilst Sasuke hates him more and starts his own Akatsuki to mess up future generations!

    RainofPain
  13. I don’t get this site? Do you guys like Naruto? My answer is yes because you read it, and post about it. Yet, some of you bitch about it. Why???? It is just a story, written and drawn by a man! I happen to love it, both manga and anime. Seriously people, all the twists, power ups, ect…, have been handled pretty nicely considering the length of the manga. Things won’t make sense sometimes. I think Kishimoto has done a really good job at leaving holes, and more possibilities to come! The only thing I hate is having to wait a week to see what happens next. It’s so funny to see posts like, “no way Jiraiya can be Minato’s dad.” This is just an example, but how can that not be true? You don’t know, only the author knows. I guess this shows how good he is, because we are always left wondering, and making predictions. Everything and anything is possible based on his mind, and what he wants. I’ve seen some really good predictions, but it does not matter. Maybe he reads these sites and changes the story based on what we think is going to happen. Just like before we knew that Tobi was Obito. I mean come on. And people got so angry because it “was not possible” “Obito died”. Now we bitch about his power ups. Isn’t that part of what makes it so cool? Anyways, sorry such a long rant, and sorry to the true fans, but if you don’t like it, don’t read it. I for one will continue to read it, and no matter what, will love it. Unless Obito gets one more power up, I mean come on it is just not possible! Just kidding. My only hope is that Naruto picks Hinata, not Sakura.

    Tobi is a good boy

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