While there are undoubtedly shounen fans who don’t care for the sappier moments in Naruto, I actually found the reunion between him and his mother rather sweet. For one, it’s cute how he takes after his mom for the goofier side of things, such as her “dattebane” variation of his slang and declaration to become Hokage in the past. The story’s already hinted at how he takes after her more than his father, so it was pretty cool seeing the two of them get along really well. In addition to the touchy first meeting he’s ever had with his mother, it was nice to learn a bit about her and Minato’s past together. I’d say the whole bit about Kushina not liking her red hair was a somewhat cheesy means for her to fall in love with Minato, but in all honesty it worked really well given the brevity of the flashback. There is still a Nine-Tail demon fox not too far away from where they’re chitchatting and reminiscing about the past after all.

Other than that, I have to say that Naruto’s still quite a dork when it comes to complimenting his mom on her looks and giggling like an idiot after finding out how she fell in love with his dad. His comedic take on everything almost ruined the mood, but at the same time showed us the loud personality he’s best known for. I can only imagine how this scene will look animated, as I’d probably get a bit teary-eyed seeing the two of them hug if the music leading up to it set the mood really well. Given how nicely this all played out, I’m actually willing to overlook how convenient it is that Kushina’s chakra was used to help form Naruto’s seal at some point. Sure it makes sense, but without any precedence or foreshadowing that that may be the case, it just comes off as something that could have been written in at any point — such as right now. For all we know, Jiraiya might have left something in Naruto as well while he was training him, so it would feel the same if his chakra-embedded self showed up later on.

As for my post title, “yellow + red = orange” is of course in reference to Naruto’s horrible choice of color to wear as a ninja.

69 Comments

  1. I must say, it was one of the best chapters out there. I really wanted Kushina to be seen by Naruto, and it happened in a good way, and to me, it defo wasnt a forced entry of her by mangaka. Also i liked Kushina a lot, wish we could see a gaiden or something…her Sakura style with some more feminism is nice.

    raklaron
  2. This was one of the best chapters ever!!! Very sweet on the heart. I don’t think Naruto’s immaturity messed up the mood. As a matter of fact, it is what I’d expect Naruto to say seeing that she is a cutie and he has been without the knowledge of his origins ALL of his life.. But if I had a chance to meet the author, I’d ask him why did everyone keep Naruto’s origins from him? The 3rd, Jiyira, Tsuade, Iruka, Kakashi.. EVERYONE??? WHY!!! Knowing who you come from gives you internal strength and fortitude (as it has done when it was finally made plain that the 4th was Naruto’s dad..) I can’t quite understand what it did for the story for Naruto to not have this knowledge..

    animeE
    1. I think it’s his immaturity that makes it hard for people to simply trust him with the knowledge that his father was the 4th Hokage. I mean, remember the beginning of the manga in which Naruto declares he wants to be the next Hokage? During that period, people didn’t see him as merely his father’s child… but as the container of the Nine tails. Nobody trusted him. But now, in comparison to before, people have faith in Naruto. This is kinda a step forward for him in achieving his goal of being the next Hokage. (in my honest opinion)

      core
      1. This is partially my point. Naruto never knew where he came from. I personally think it was a great injustice. Even thinking about it makes me angry because Naruto came from two the greatest Ninjas in the story-line. He has the 9-tails fox in him. Why weren’t they training him and focusing him like you can see Bee was being focused and trained?

        animeE
  3. Great ep!! Love your site Divine, been here for a while now. Any chance you will pick up the Reborn! Manga? A review from that would be cool here!! Cheers from Puerto Rico!!!

    BX Shinigami
    1. Glad to hear you like the site, all the way from Puerto Rico. 🙂

      Unfortunately, I have no plans to pick up any more manga at this point, as the main focus of the site has always been on new anime.

  4. I love how the Kyubi recognized her chakra. Perhaps it’s the opposite of the Uchiha DARKNESS, so Kushina had some control over it in the past, like Madara did. It would explain why Naruto and Sasuke have such different kinds of chakra according to Karin.

    Shad_Phoenix
      1. Remember that Orange=Red+Yellow which was a clothing color dependent on hair color so Hinata and Naruto would be Blue+Yellow=Green (Oh god Rock Lee). And Sakura and Naruto would be … A very light orange?

        Koroshiya
  5. I was actually hoping that you (Divine) would use the Bloody Habanero as the picture this week. It looks epic considering she was like 11 at the time. But when Minato rescued Kushina while standing on top of the tree would have been nice as well. Such a DAWWW chapter. So deprived with crappy plots that is plaguing the mangakas

    Cherubium
    1. A just remembered, if Naruto and the Kyuubi get along then this can solve the sage mode issue.

      IE: When Naruto is in combat, the Kyuubi can just gather sage chakra so Naruto won’t have to rely on clones and others while becoming the Orange death or something like that. Well since Sage Chakra makes a person stronger as it goes by, Naruto and the Kyuubi would be easily Hokage or Sennin level and if Kushina had a Gekkai Genkai then that would be haxxing.

      Cherubium
  6. Has nobody notice the parallels between naruto’s mother (with same style hair as sakara) and father’s story and the naruto and sakara’s. It seems like naruto could be one big gesture way from winner her heart.

    theInnocent
  7. that was the stupidest reason to explain HIS choice of clothes, especially as he had no idea what his parents looked like. Naruto is the biggest clone of Goku with a carefree personality and orange suit to boot. I liked the fact he finally got to meet his mom as well. It would be even better if she was still alive and just linked to Naruto from afar. I wonder if Naruto inherited her chakra ability to make those chains apart of his arsenal Spinning Chain Rasengan…yeah that would be awesome

    Cain
  8. I gotta say, I understand Kushina’s hatred of her red hair. I’ve got red hair myself and I endured a bunch of teasing including “fox hunts” where the kids on the playground would chase me until I either hid somewhere or beat them up. Her falling in love with Minato since he liked her hair /was/ a bit cheesy, but I could forgive that since they were young and kids fall in love if someone gives them their favorite pencil.

    This was one of the best chapters still.

  9. It’s a joke. No one here believes that he chose to wear an orange jumpsuit because it’s a mix of the colours of his parents hair (despite the fact he never met them). It’s funny because orange is such a conspicuous colour for a ninja.

  10. Anyone mind telling me how this site gets the scanlations? I go on onemanga and mangafox and they update it late, so if anyone could tell how they get the releases so quick and what site they read it on, thanks.

    narutard
      1. hmmm I don’t know japanese myself, but I’ve heard mangastream has bad translation. Anyone mind confirming that? And if so, any better sites where I can download the manga on the first day it comes out?

        narutard
      2. There is no other scanlation this fast. And about the trasnlation.. you can just confirm it if you compare the MangaStream scanlation with the SleepyFan one (for example). Though there is a chance that SleepyFan is the wrong one. All I can say is that I didn’t find anything in it that was incomprehensible, so I don’t think they are worse than any other group.

        viral
  11. Well it looks like we got to know more about Kushina, it looks like I guessed right about humor being involved. I can’t beleive Naruto thought Kushina was the ” Nine-tail’s true form”, I guess Naruto is always a slow starter. It will be interesting how more of Kushina’s past would appear in the anime and how the Fox knows who Kushina is.

    code fanboy
    1. You’re not going to get a kid with orange hair when you combine red+blond hair- just doesn’t work that way. An orange suit is the closest he’s gonna get and it’s just a coincidence.

      You-tachi
  12. let just stop the training a make a MINATO chornicles Arc ok?

    mmmm now that he was talking about love with his mon may he reminds.. u know that girl that tried to save his life afther saying that she love him?

    Secsuey
  13. I don’t see how you can say there’s no precedence for her chakra being used in the seal. Naruto has just now met his mother, where else could she have been if she wasn’t around for any of his childhood?

    And he doesn’t have orange hair because that’s not how hair works, you take a hair color from a parent (usually) you rarely have some completely different mix in between their colors.

    Eaglestrike
  14. Im sorry to any Kushina fan, but i didnt like this chapter, we are in the middle of the Naruto vs Nine tails fight she appears out of nowhere to talk about how she met Minato, thats just random, at least i would like to know how she died

    Guille
  15. It was really cute how she fell in love with Minato. But honestly, I wish Naruto would pick up Minato’s fashion sense lol.

    Also, while reading the chapter it made me think about how different Naruto’s life might have been had it not been for Madara and the Kyuubi. Really a shame.

    Suzuku
  16. Nah, My assumption kushina chakra is a Bloodline limits just like Hyuuga with Byakugan, Uchiha with Sharingan and Naruto will Inherit this chakra to Control nine tails but I still Expect naruto will inherit his Father Shunshin no jutsu

    Tama
  17. It was good but now is have some questions.
    1) what was so special about the mothers chakra that another village tried to kidnap her?
    2) Did the special chakra get passed down to naruto or did it skip his generation?
    3) If he does have this special chakra will it play a significant role in the upcoming fights?

    Otaku ESA
  18. Another hint from Kishimoto on how will be the final pair on this story. I mean: Kushina has a tsundere personality, like a certain pink-haired girl (no, it’s not Hinata), long hair and probably green eyes too. And Minato it’s exactly like Naruto. Isn’t this obvious? KushiMina = NaruSaku in the end. Poor NaruHina fans has tried to deny this fact saying that Kushina is Sakura’s mother and Sakura and Naruto are sister and brother. Yeah, sure…unfortunately for those people, Sakura’s mother is still alive and Sakura is 7 months older than Naruto. This chapter was really good…not only for the NaruSaku’s boost, but for Naruto’s touching reunion with his mom. But it’s getting complicated…how Kushina is inside in Naruto when she had to give birth to Naruto with Kyuubi’s sealed in him??? o_O Oh well…let’s see the next chapters…i think Kyuubi’s saga will end in 500. ^^

    Mario
  19. soooo much power up for naruto… unlike other shounen main characters naruto actually starts using his brain when he fights… large amount of chakra + kyuubi + sage mode + brain :/ … now waiting for an event to let him somehow acquire a bloodline limit like kakashi… he couldve stolen rinnegan off pain :/ damnit!

    N0216332
  20. As a series, I feel Naruto’s two strongest points are when it gets into its political backstabbing and intrigue, and during its earnest, honest emotional moments. It’s nice to see a lot of that lately, since its third-strongest point (creative and intelligent combat) has kinda fallen to the wayside since the timeskip, and it’s all about who can explode their chakra harder.

    Anonymooo
  21. OK wait, did Naruto just find out who his father and mother is? I don’t read the manga (I know, don’t yell at me), but in the Anime Naruto has no idea who is parents are, when does he find out who is father is?

    btoast
    1. He finds out during his fight against Pain after he is trapped by Chibaku Tensei and is losing his mind to the Kyuubi. The anime should hit this point in about 2-3 episodes so you won’t have to wait too much longer to see it. And Naruto just found out who his mother is this chapter.

      Suzuku
  22. Good review, I didn’t like this chapter much, but it’s growing on me. I suppose any back story about Minato, and Kushina, will make the overall story better. I just didn’t like Naruto’s reactions, but I guess he’s just being himself. As I get older, I seem to expect more out of my favorite manga’s, and the characters. With these long going stories, it’s better to be patient about it. After all, these characters develop a lot slower than we do. In my opinion, this chapter’s kind of cheesy, but it’s not going to make me stop reading Naruto. I guess I was expecting a different method to introduce Kushina.

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