Watching a battle between two ninjas who can manipulate space-time had me wondering if it was going to be come down to whoever blinked first. It’s kind of scary to think that Madara’s abilities are so powerful that even the likes of The Fourth Hokage are quick to acknowledge them as being superior to his own. We’re talking about one hell of a genius ninja here and one of the best to ever come out of Konoha after all. As such, I have some difficulty picturing how Naruto’s going to deal with Madara in the present when his father was even sweating a bit in the face of him. Perhaps Naruto’s inability (or negligence I should say) to discern exactly how powerful his opponent will prove to be the difference maker, since his recklessness has worked out pretty well for him in the past. Being somewhat dumb and careless has its advantages, as it saves him from ever feeling intimidated regardless of whoever he’s up against. It’s his forte in a way, which only seems to work because his survivability is absolutely ridiculous compared to everyone else’s. He’s definitely an “act first and think later” kind of guy, and a ninja full of surprises for that very reason.

I gather there’s much more to follow from Minato and Madara’s battle even after the former was able to land a Rasengan by teleporting a matter of inches, but the brevity of their first exchange didn’t take away from the epic proportions of it one bit. I saw it as something along the lines of two extremely skilled samurai squaring off and deciding the outcome of the fight in one clash. From a broader perspective, it simply looks like it came down to a matter of who’s faster, but it’s hard to see it as just that when I take into consideration exactly who we’re dealing with. The two of them could probably go at it for hours and a victor would never be decided, so an unsaid agreement to end things with a single exchange is a pretty big thing in my eyes. Of course, I’d love to see more of Minato’s abilities, so hopefully he’ll provide some action fan-service with a flashier display next time. I haven’t forgot about Sarutobi and the insane amount of jutsu he has at his repertoire either. It was pretty cool when he unleashed so many different techniques during his final battle against Orochimaru, so I’m curious to see what The Third did against the Kyuubi when he was younger. The next chapter should be pretty awesome on both fronts.

31 Comments

  1. Im going to have to a assume that naruto will combined the normal, sage, and tailed beast chakras he has into one super fighting form. They hinted something along those lines when he subdued the fox. Its the only way i can think of that he would stand a chance. Just overpower with a stupid amount of chakra has been his winning strategy so far dosnt seem like he would change that much toward the end.

    will
      1. I’d say it’s a lot less overpowered as compared to, say, putting your opponents into a near unbreakable illusion by looking at them, setting people on fire with a fire that can’t be extinguished by looking that, taming the ninetails by looking at them, infiltrating their minds by looking at them etc etc etc.

  2. Minato is the man!

    Chapter very interesting. Minato is very powerful indeed. Does justice to the title of Hokage. If one day Naruto learn the techniques that his father wore it, he will be very overpower (despite it already being).

    Thiagao do Brasil manolo
  3. OMG this chapter is Cool and Minato has many techniques on his sleeves…
    despite his recklesnes and lack analytical abilities, Naruto quick thinking and deception skills during battle is extremely high as we can see naruto can beat neji, kakuzu and Pain though his tactics always involved with kagebunshin also overpowered chakra
    But Damnn in the end i still expect him to inherit his father techniques…

    Tama
  4. Minato is definitely the sort of guy who looks ahead several turns. This is evident of his careful placing of his shurikens so he could use Thunder God in a variety of ways. I predict that while Minato will lose the fight it will be because of an unknown jutsu of Madara’s. However I think that he would leave this knowledge with Kushina, inside of Naruto. We know that Madara is powerful enough to control Kyubbi, but its not a permanent thing, Minato has confirmed this. Now Naruto has done something that no one else has, completely subdued and assimilated the Nine Tails. So think about it now.

    Naruto has:
    1.) The blood of the strongest Hokage ever (Minato)
    2.) The blood of the clan that beat the Uchiha and almost killed Madara (Senju via Kushina)
    3.) The chakra and power of the strongest bijuu (Kyuubi)
    4.) The training of the ultimate and biggest chakra type (Senjutsu)

    If Naruto can harness all those traits into one he will become a sage, if not tap into the power of the Sage of the Six Paths.

    Tikal
    1. 2.) The blood of the clan that beat the Uchiha and almost killed Madara (Senju via Kushina)

      Kushina wasn’t blood related to the Senju, but to someone who married into the Senju (Uzumaki Mito). So Naruto and Tsunade would probably distantly related through the Uzumaki clan; Naruto doesn’t have any Senju heritage. Still, Kushina’s got a remarkable heritage herself, given the Uzumaki’s tendency towards vast chakra reserves, longevity, and history of sealing techniques there were key to defeating Madara.

      michiko
      1. But the Uzumaki clan is confirmed as distant relatives of the people of the forest who are descendant of the Senju. So the sages body was a large part of the uzumaki’s longevity proving that kushina, and naruto, are members of the senju blood line.

        Chris
    2. Don’t forget Naruto also has some, if not a hell lot of itachi’s chakras sealed away inside of (though I wonder how is this going to work out)…

      also if you remember what kakashi told naruto about elemental chakras you can come to the assumption that naruto can learn another element type if he wants to (most jounin have two elements in their control) and if you take kakashi as a stand point, a ninja can actually control all elements at least to an extent, and with Narutos uniqe mass kagabunsihn ability, well, you can only dream…

      Novocaine
  5. I’m really beginning to believe that the jutsu Naruto is going to learn has something to do with Hiraishin, because otherwise I don’t see how he’s going to be able to touch Madara even with the Kyuubi’s power. If Hiraishin was incomplete, which seems likely since I’d imagine that Minato wanted to be able to teleport without the use of a seal, then Minato would have definitely left it for Naruto to complete, although I wonder who has the formula for it. Either way, it seems like Naruto’s next training session will definitely have something to do with seals.

    Suzuku
  6. Mandara… he is the Prototype. Orochimaru just copied his “Soul Transfer” technique

    And Mandara’s actual body… *Hint* Kakashi’s mission with his Squad, where some got crushed of a Stone… He gave up his Left Eye, for Kakashi… What Mandara hides…

    Oh, this is no Spoiler. This is just “shoots” into the Blue

    Germanguy
  7. I liked that Minato was presented in a very contrasting manner than Naruto, as a thinker opposed to his wife and son. I think that Naruto has already begun to learn time-space jutsu’s under Jiraya, but will now perfect it with Kushina’s help.

    Albino Troll
  8. I still say the key to beating Madara is in the power of the Uchiha. If you all remember back to the last time Itachi talked to Naruto he gave him some of his power, I’m assuming it will be used in some way, shape or form when he fights Sasuke. My prediction is this power will cast a pre-preformed Genjutsu of Itachi’s where he will talk to Sasuke and convince him to give up his hatred.

    Inevitably creating a 2 on 1 battle with Sasuke and Naruto fighting Madara and since the series is called Naruto, I gather Sasuke will ultimately sacrifice his eyes to somehow counteract Madara’s Space-Time Jutsu

    Hyjinx
      1. Interesting theories! I never really thought about Sasuke sacrificing his life at the end (I really deplore his character even with all the agony in his past). I always thought Naruto would end up dying and that Sasuke might somehow become Hokage in Naruto’s stead, as a tribute to having finally changed and in a sense “living for his friend.” But maybe I’ve just been really oblivious or romantic in that way…either way, it’ll be a sad day when Naruto ends…

        Windaerie
  9. The reason I say he’ll sacrifice his eyes rather then his life is because he’ll make the decision to give up the power that he hurt so many people to obtain, since his whole journey was about obtaining power at all costs. I doubt he’ll die against Naruto because of how closely they’ve been tied, both down to their ancestors and the friendship of their mothers.

    I also think that Naruto wont sacrifice himself simply because first Minato did, then the third and most recently jiraiya and it would piss me off if naruto didn’t break the cycle since so far all of them were Master/Student starting all the way back to the first who fought madara.

    Hyjinx
  10. The chapter itself is more for pure entertainment. I loved watching Guy and Kakashi talking and the old joke of Janken, even if Kishimoto has never hinted that the two would be in town the day of the attack on the village of the Leaf by Kyuubi, if this was mentioned, excuse me, but do not remember. It is strange to see these familiar characters participating in this event in history since there at the beginning of the manga, no one account right as it happened or even who has witnessed such an attack. I hope to see Jiraiya in flashback, does he participate? There have been mention of him in that event to many chapters and sagas ago, no?

    And the nostalgia to see the Third Hokage there with that gun that looks more like a giant bat magic. I hope he makes the invocation of that overall the auxílicou in the fight against Orochimaru. Alias already mentioned that two of the three sannins at this point in history as is everyone? Orochimaru was already a villain? Tsunade had already left the village? Ai ai, these flashbacks so give me a lump in my head.

    I enjoyed seeing the father of Naruto fighting, very intelligent and with teleport abilities super sharp. He teleporting the ball’s energy hitting Madara and Kyuubi was sensational! I do not know if I wait until the last frame of Madara there is an illusion (sharingan, right?) Or if you believe in small and quick defeat, sincerely Kishimoto closed the chapter very well this week, which is not always hit it in my opinion. Like how the 4th uses the teleport abilities as he quickly assessed the best way to get Madara, alias even the conclusion that the guy is Madara was nice. Can be Obito? I do not know, after all the adult Kakashi is already there, right? So no doubt it was. The conspiracy theories surrounding the real identity of Tobi never leave me decided on the real identity of the man.

    But is this the manga has to have fun too, not just cram the readers with revelations and new information every week, sometimes it’s good off the brain and enjoy at will. The exchange of blows between Madara and the 4th was a fitting phenomenal that had not seen in naruto so long, I hope the fight will extend for one more chapter and I want to see what the old folks of Konoha will do to seal the Kyuubi again and seal so the fate of the little Naruto.

    The only thing I’m thinking is that if Kishimoto even want to show the Kyuubi destroying or trying to destroy Konoha with his full power, and these characters met in battle, I think I scratched off my list the possibility of this happening in future series, after all, would become middle Deja Vu. I know some will say that if that happens the Naruto dies and such, but it’s comics, for everything has a way. Would not surprise me one event where he lost to Naruto Kyuubi and still survive. Gaara got, ok that circumstances were different and blah blah blah … but in the comics world nothing is impossible.

    Oops, before I forget to comment, damn, it was Itachi that Sasuke was there holding the previous chapter. I did not notice! I thought it was her mother. Finally, it is premature to assume anything. But I said, it would be great to see Madara meeting with Itachi at this point in history. Maybe it does not, after all is a flashback narrated by Kushina and how could she know that? I do not see how.

    Anyway, next week more breaking stick in Naruto! Kick ass Minato!

    T.A.C MG BH

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