As the Infinite Tsukuyomi gets under way, it’s off to lala land for virtually everyone on the planet, and there’s a kind of charm to a chapter that ends up playing out the way it does. Because although in some ways it’s a cruel teaser to fans of certain pairings, it’s also a nice montage demonstrating the many hopes, dreams, and desires of the cast. In the end, everyone has their own brand of what they’d believe to be the ideal future—though some may be more realistic about it than others—and it’s a notion that rekindles the debate of whether or not it’d necessarily be a bad thing to live in a world such as the one produced by Madara.

Granted, the debate isn’t quite as strong for that now that everyone’s clearly united against him in this universe—and the unity makes it so it’s not exactly a bad world to live in—but it’s still an interesting topic to ponder about in terms of a philosophical context. That said, I won’t go repeating the same debate of many chapters ago, so I won’t go further on this subject—which leaves us with what’s generally another in a line of expected happenings: the rise of Kaguya’s will and the “betrayal of Madara” that occurs shortly after.

With Madara seemingly powerless against this sudden and literal backstabbing, the question does subsequently become, what exactly happens now? After all, we know what Madara had in store for everyone—a forced brand of “false” peace” that he arguably succeeded in doing for the most part. We know that Kaguya also achieved a similar brand of peace by using her powers to end all wars and lead as an undisputed god-like figure. In many ways, Madara’s successfully duplicated her feat in a slightly different manner, and it makes you wonder what Kaguya’s planning to do now that she’s back and in the driver’s seat. Is she going to just rule over things again as she did before? Or is she now of the view that there’s no saving a humanity that ultimately responded in part by weaponizing chakra? And doesn’t this mean that she was actually the one behind everything, including Madara?

Definitely a lot of questions to say the least, and generally it’s a chapter that’s both interesting and potentially disturbing in regards to future developmental direction as well, as I can see how we might just end up with Madara coming back and sealing Kaguya instead—which is something a fair amount of people probably wouldn’t want to see. In the end though, I guess it’s a give and take, as I’m quite sure a fair amount of people enjoyed the bit where Sasuke’s busy telling everyone that they’re useless… Guess we’ll see how things end up.

42 Comments

  1. After all that time theorising how Madara was going to get defeated, ie Naruto and Sasuke pull off some killer combo, Tenten does the impossible, Yamato brings a miracle, I wonder if it’s ok for me to feel slightly cheated.

    ShanHaxx
  2. Seeing everyone’s ideal world was really interesting. All of them made me laugh, apart from Gaara’s. I was thoroughly moved that he wished he could have had a better relationship with his family as a child, as well as knowing Naruto earlier too.

    Daniel
    1. It really showed that, despite everything they had been through, that the rookies are still young teenagers.

      Some of the dreams still based on childhood dreams (Hinata, Ino, and Lee with their crushes fawning over them) or based on the pain of other (more recent) events as if what had happened never did happen (Shikamaru with Asuma alive being married to Kurenai and with their baby, or Tsunade with Dan, Nawaki, and Jiraiya still alive and Orochimaru never having left).

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  3. Wow, Madara is seriously cursed to be literally stabbed by the back, and then be caught by surprise. The first time was by Hashirama, where their dual ended with Madara being stabbed and then be shocked. Then the second is now Black Zetsu, who has Hashirama’s cells which leads to even bigger irony in so many ways. I find it amazing how the plot twist keeps on growing.

    As for the dreams of Ino, Lee, and Kiba…… -_- seems very predictable. But Orochimaru? What are his dreams is my biggest wonder?

    L002
  4. For once Sasauke being an asshole yielded something positive.
    “Kakashi you’re the same as Sakura now. Shut up.”
    Its been so long since I laughed reading Naruto.

    livevoid
  5. I have a dream that one day the Shinobi World will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Shinobi are created equal.” I have a dream, that everyone will be trapped in my Genjutsu, so that I can rule the world happily ever after. I have a dream,
    it’s called the Infinite Tsukiyomi.

    Madara Uchiha
  6. I guess this should have been expected. I mean Madara was mentioned several times over the course of the manga until bam, he pops up as final boss. Next thing we know kishimoto starts delving more into history. We learn about reincarnation and ultimate god-like Kaguya who started everything then bam, she pops up as true boss to bring things full circle. I don’t really consider this a plot-twist in hindsight. Since the sage of six path was somewhat still alive it was only natural to assume that his mother who is more powerful might still be around. Everyone just chose to ignore that fact. The question is what is Kaguya’s purpose now. She might want to capitalize on what Madara has accomplished and use him to truly resurrect herself. Kaguya might also find Madara’s endgame unimaginative and has her own vision of true peace.

    Cass0
  7. So Nagato was being used by Obito, who was being used by Madara, who now is revealed was being used by Kaguya, i wonder when will they reveal that Kaguya is being used by Tenten

    Lulu
  8. You know, when you liken the situation in Naruto to the real world somehow it just doesn’t look like such a bad idea to everyone into a dream land of their own so that nothing ever really goes wrong in the real world but the bottom line of that is the fact that it’s not real, and as Naruto puts it, it’s a lie which is a way to simply run away from the troubles of the real world rather than trying to achieve the dream land in reality. Maybe the ideal world is impossible to make but striving to create one is what will make the world a better place.

    gawrshness
  9. I had a feeling it would be either Kaguya or a sudden appearance by Hagaromo’s unnamed brother.

    I did start having a feeling that Kaguya may have actually been a more malevolent being who could’ve gone about things like Nagato intended and used her power to forcefully end all the wars and then use fear and intimidation to “keep the peace”, given she was the only person in the world who possessed that power until Hagaromo was born.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  10. Did anyone find the portrayal of the women’s dreams really sexist? Besides Ten Ten, everyone is just dreaming about falling in love/getting married. Women have other dreams ya know.

    WhatTha
    1. I won’t say thats exactly true, the guys have similar dreams too (Chouji for example and Shikamaru if you consider him a tsun in that situation). its more accurate to say that what most of the dreams have in common is perhaps just simply to be with their loved ones, dead or alive. its the same thing most people wish for in real life.

      HazeItr
    2. Not to the point where I’d quickly say “sexist” but I do agree that there’s unfortunate implications behind the fact that most of the girls are simply portrayed in a romantic love life/situation in comparison to the guys where there’s a whole variety in the way that their dreams are being showcased. I think it’s a bit ignorant to just write off what you’re saying too, as what you’re saying does hold some truth in terms of the way that the girls’ aspirations are portrayed.

      ronri
  11. Ughhh I get that Kaguya was gonna be factored into the picture sooner or later, but doing it like this? All of my NOPE. If Madara turns out to be ANOTHER derivation of Obito’s role then he’d seriously lose points with me as an antagonist. At least with Pain/Nagato, sure he was being “used all along”, but his plans and ambitions were of his own (a great allegory to war deterrence if anyone needs reminding) and when he had the villain spotlight, no one was there to upstage him. The fact that both Obito and Madara shared the same goal (Moon’s Eye Plan) only to be betrayed by a “bigger bad” is just becoming a pointless retread. Seriously, couldn’t Madara be his own thing while fulfilling the prophetic role of Kaguya, instead of say of…. I don’t know, literally being upstaged by Kaguya herself, which removes any form of subtlety at all??? Ughhh….

    ronri
  12. Tenten’s dream is for her teammates to be normal enough for her not to remark anything about it, and even then Dream-Neji is like “You sure this is it?”

    While Shino’s dream is to be the lord of the fly species terrifying enough to come from right out of “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.”

    ….Good god, now I’m wondering if he can communicate and control the Ohm?

    But c’mon; Kiba’s dream makes for a strong case for him as Hokage. I would vote for a dog holiday or two in his reign.

    The Truth is in the Axe
  13. *Direct pierce through his heart*
    *Surprised that he cannot move around*

    Me:*facepalm*

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    ……………………………..,

    Lone Wanderer
  14. It was an interesting chapter, some dreams well were weird and i bet if Sakura wa caught her would be her being with Sasuke or like Ino Sauke fighting for her but with Naruto instead of Sai.

    I say Hinata was ok since well we know what she always wanted and Neji being there was a bonus, Gaara’s was also good and how his life would have been diferent Shikamaru was 50-50 i give him the thing with Asuma and his dad but then complaining. The rest felt childish and while i do give credit to Tsunadi wanting a better life for herself i think of all the dream she is the one who cant let go at the past.

    For Kaguya, well the only thing that shocked me was how it happend since in the chapter were Madara fused with the tree it was pretty much forshadwing this, heck this reminds me of what happend in the first lords of shadow game near the end

    Oscar
  15. I admit it was fun seeing Sasuke go all “Kakashi you’re the same as Sakura now. Shut up.”. Granted,Kakashi would be more useful than either him or Naruto if this wasn’t a shounen series filled to the brim with power ups. I also liked seeing everyone’s dreams.

    As for the rest,well…inb4 Madara turn’s into Obito v2. That might be a good thing though as the series can’t take itself seriously anyway so it might as well try to make people laugh.

    MgMaster

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