This week on Naruto, the flashbacks continue and the answers keep on comin’. And as it turns out, Madara’s method of saving Obito included the use of a Hashirama clone, which are quite similar indeed to Zetsu and his clones. It’s not exactly a Zetsu clone as people predicted before hand, but it is close enough for the most part, as it does seem like the Zetsu clones are more advanced versions of the bodies we see being created, and Obito may have even served as a sample from which to complete them. Notably though, Madara also sneaks in a comment about how Obito should have been killed, but that his body “seemed to have just slipped away.” And it’s interesting because it doesn’t seem like Madara had that much to do with Obito surviving the initial rockfall, suggesting that some of the time/space techniques may have been inherent in him to begin with, awakening along with his sharingan at the time rather than being taught/learnt from Madara himself…

Moving on, perhaps the most interesting part of the chapter is actually how determined Obito was to leave and return to the Leaf Village. I had expected some resistance to Madara’s nonsense spouting about making a world of “winners” and what not, but to see him literally crawling around in an attempt to get out… it was quite something. YEAH FOR THE BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP. Sadly though, it seems like there was just no way for him to leave where he was for awhile, nor was there the chance anyone would find him there either. I’m not sure if Kishimoto’ll continue off from here next week, but either way, it’s pretty obvious at this point that Obito’s inability to escape ultimately plays a big part in him accepting Madara’s philosophy and plan, as it’s pretty hard not to when you’re sitting there for a long period of time listening to the same thing over and over. And if he could detect outside chakra after a while, it’s not implausible that he ultimately sensed the death of Rin at a later point, but could do nothing about… further leading to him going down the path he does.

Either way, the explanations are shaping up pretty nicely, and more importantly, they’re viable ones (well, as viable as they can be in a shounen). And you just gotta give some props to Kishimoto, as he manages to actually give a decent explanation to something many considered pretty much impossible at one point. And with that, I’ll be lookin’ forward to the next chapters as always, and I hope to catch ya guys back here next week.

77 Comments

  1. Obito will be stuck with madara until he recovers, which im sure it’ll be years. and when he does he goes out to see kakashi and rin, rin was already dead by that time. As we’ve seen how emo can a uchiha kid be, he’ll turn all emo and accepts madara’s ideal way of thinking and goes along with his plan.

    Destiny-
  2. Something else interesting is that Madara says he gave his own eyes to someone else. We also know Madara had Rinnegan before he died. Tobi, under the guise of Madara, said he was the one that gave Nagato his Rinnegan. So it may be that Madara gave his Rinnegan to Nagato when he was a child (and thus doesn’t have them in his old body) because he knew Nagato would able to use them to use the Outer Path Resurrection and bring Madara back, which we all know was his original plan all long.

    1. Yes you are correct. As pointed out by people last week, it is impossible for Obito to have given Nagato the Rinnegan as he wasn’t even born yet. Therefore, we can conclude that Rinnegan lied to Konan when he said he was the one who gave Nagato his eyes (but he was masquerading as Madara at the time so not entirely a lie in some sense).

      And yes, the objective was for Obito to groom Nagato to the point he would be able to use the Resurrection jutsu on Madara.

      But it appears, as Madara noted last week, that Obito has his own plans – or at least made personal changes to Madara’s plan. Obito did say that Nagato using the Resurrection jutsu was supposed to be saved for him (and not Madara). It appears that the appearence of Edo-Madara has become an annoyance to Obito.

      EamonX
  3. All the trolls out there don’t know how much planning and work i did with Naruto… you think i would just throw a plot twist with nothing backing it up?? “Why the f*ck is Tobi Obito?” “Wtf… plot hole!” “Wtf if Kishimoto can’t explain this i’m quitting naruto”… Bitch please!

    Read the next chapters of Naruto you futile humans… 😀

    Kishimoto
    1. lmao. Well it’s not that Obito being Tobi was a plothole – it’s just that it was easily predicted by pretty much anyone that we gave Kishi the benefit of the doubt that Tobi isn’t Obito.

      EamonX
    2. Giving something a couple chapters explanation when it’s this huge a plot point DOES NOT MAKE IT A GOOD RESOLUTION.

      Remember when Kishi knew how to do PROPER PACING OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?

      Da5id
      1. Gaining the Eternal Mangekyo requires you to transplant the eyes of a blood sibling (also with a Mangekyo last I saw) as your own, so as mentioned, Madara is basically using Izuna’s eyes, but with twice the power as it has his own power coursing through them as well like Sasuke is actually carrying Itachi’s eyes now.

        However, I doubt Madara simply went back to using his original eyes as they had already gone blind.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      2. Madara lost the light in his eyes, that why his brother gave him his eyes. I don’t think even Madara knew he would get a power up from it. Izuna just wanted ensure the Uchia clan remained strong and knew he wasn’t up to the task.

        Tez
      3. Yes, Madara obtained Izuna’s eyes when his own eyes lost its sight.

        However, during his final fight with Hashirama, he awakened the Rinnegan shortly before he ‘lost.’ We were led to believe that Madara died after his battle with Hashirama but that isn’t the case. Madara survived but he did eventually die hundreds of years later.

        The most likely reason he gave away his Rinnegan eyes to Nagato is because of his old age and that he can’t even survive without some special chakra injected to him 24/7.

        The plan was for him to die and get resurrected by Nagato in his young state. He eventually obtained this but through a different method – Edo Tensei.

        EamonX
      4. I was under the impression that to obtain the Eternal Mangekyo you’d have to fuse two pairs of Mangekyo’s. Though it’s all speculation as we haven’t seen exactly what happens to the Mangekyo to transform it anyway.

        Sekai
      5. Well, the whole bit of Izuna “giving” him his eyes still seems a bit farfetched when you consider he mentions how they were always competing with eachother coupled with his own lust for power and all.

        Also, it was not hundreds of years. (The way they talk about the history makes it seem like it though.) It hasn’t even been one hundred years since his fight with Hashirama. Only about 80-90 years or so at the most when you consider Onoki’s age (older than Hiruzen after all).

        HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. I belief that it’s more like wearing a living body suite rather then high speed growth since we just show Tobi’s body with face mask in this chapter and the chest open as if you could put Obito inside of it like Sasori and his puppet.

      tasa
  4. YEY!

    Why Madara was sill alive? Check.
    How Obito lived? Check.
    Obito’s 180 degree turn in personality. Checking.
    Obito being too young to give Negato the Rinnegan. Checked.
    Why the constant use of Kamui without killing himself. Check.
    Those white parts and goo in Tobi’s arm. Check.
    High speed healing. Check.
    Being able to control the Rinnegan and having tons of chakra. Checked.
    Zetsu. Checking.

    A lot of questions were answered in this chapter. GJ Kishi! Great and acceptable explanations or answers to my questions. Thank you.
    Looking forward to next week and the upcoming chapters. :))

    SinTei
    1. Still a really bad place to put it in the story. He could’ve just as easily put this stuff throughout the series and not crammed it all in in the middle of the final fight of a giant war.

      He also could have just avoided the whole Tobi thing to begin with and introduced him as Obito. At least then it wouldn’t seem so contrived.

      Da5id
      1. Yeah, but the thing about good mysteries is that:

        1. They have outcomes that aren’t as simple as an anagram.
        2. They don’t hint at the reveal only a couple chapters before it happens.
        3. They don’t use characters that the main characters weren’t even aware existed. Madara was a legend, but Obito? I doubt even Itachi or Sasuke had ever heard of him before Akatsuki, assuming they ever found out his identity.

        Seriously, Obito and Rin were brought up on only 2 occasions: Kakashi Gaiden and when Kakashi thought he was going to die when fighting Pain. When we did get to see them as characters we learned this about them:

        Obito:
        -An Uchiha who gave his Sharingan to Kakashi
        -Taught him to treasure friends over regulations
        -Had crush on Rin

        Rin:
        -Medical Ninja
        -Had a crush on Kakashi

        Beyond that, there is nothing we learn to give us any reason to care about them. For flashback characters, this is fine. But now we’re expected to believe that the relationship between these three, which has only been touched upon ONCE in the entire story before now, is what dragged all these characters into the main conflict? Or that this could somehow lead to a plot to mind control the entire world using Biju?

        They could have revealed literally anyone to be Tobi, given it a few chapters of expository flashbacks, and it would have made just as much sense as making it Obito.

        Da5id
      2. 1) The word “simple” should also have the phrase “your mileage may vary”
        2) The first time we see tobi we are told that as a joke he is “a good boy”, his mask with only a right socket hole looks like Kakashi’s kamui, his justsu looks like kakashi’s kamui, he knew that kakashi’s kamui would not work on him. Then we had the multiple times were we see that he does not bleed like a human should. We had lots of clues way before this arc it is just that people were in a state of denial like most naruto theories tend to do.
        3) We heard about Obito before akatsuki before Itachi showed up in the series as the first member to be seen in chapter 138. It is in that chapter were we get the reason why Kakashi is always late for missions and that it was related to Obito.

        The reason why we should care about Obito is because he is the third version of Naruto’s what he could have become. Gaara was what Naruto could of become had no one been there to give him friendship as a tail beast host. Nagato is what Naruto could become when he tries to make the world into a better place with the teachings of the same teacher and realize that it is easier said than done, trying to create peace without the use of mass violence. Finally Obito who’s personality engine is the same as naruto. Hard headed, never gives up, kind but also arrogant towards his rival and has a crush on a girl who likes a guy who is better than Obito. Also as a bonus Kakashi now has the opportunity to recover from the mental wound that he received because he could not keep his promise to Obito.

        Of course once again your mileage may vary here. I can see that you don’t care about Obito at all unlike me. But if you like Kakashi know that he as the opportunity to recover now that Obito is alive and he will now have a chance to talk to him.

        tasa
      3. 1. The anagram was his name without the first O. That’s why everyone figured it out it was him the moment he came on panel.
        2. Obito was never referred to as a “good boy”, so how would any one link that to Obito exactly? And why claim to be Madara in the first place if it wasn’t going to matter in the first place? And “not bleed like a human”? How does that prove anything?
        3. I just read the chapter and Obito was brought up for all of one panel. Again, the way he was built up there was fine for a flashback character, not one who was supposed to be the main antagonist.

        I’ll give you Gaara, but it was YAHIKO who was supposed to the one with parallels to Naruto, not Nagato. And besides that, there are already WAY TOO MANY Naruto clones in this story (excluding the ones he makes himself). Konohamaru, Haku, Gaara, Jaraiya, Nawaki, Yahiko, and Obito from the flashback. The parallel for Gaara and Haku was that they were ostracized for their power and that’s why they weren’t as upbeat as Naruto. Jaraiya taught his father and Konohamaru is like his pupil, so of course they’re a lot alike.

        Nawaki and Yahiko were meant to be people similar people to Naruto in Tsunade’s and Nagato’s past so that when they meet Naruto, they remember that person from their past. And so was Obito…until a few weeks ago. Like I said, flashback characters are only meant to have a small role in establishing another characters personality and backstory. To bring back one to be the main antagonist, when the character has only been established to develop one character (Kakashi).

        “Oh, but maybe this could be an opportunity for some Kakashi character development!”

        Listen, you were the writer and you had a character who had been there from the beginning of the story, why would you START character development IN THE FINAL BATTLE OF THE STORY?

        I gotta say, Rin must have been a hell of a person if her death started a whole war.

        Da5id
  5. Plot summary:

    Madara: Dude, wake up.

    Obito: WHAT THE CRAP WHERE AM I.

    M: You’re alive, I don’t know how though, or how you got here.

    O: Oh may god…I gotta tell my friends!

    M: No, you’re gonna be my evil sidekick.

    O: Er…I was actually thinking of just getting back to my friends.

    M: Huh, wuzzat? Yes, you’re right. The world is far to unfair because winners make losers and people fight all the time. It’s very sad, I know. Wanna see my eye whole?

    O: KAKASHI, RIN, GET ME OUT OF HERE. THIS OLD GUY WON’T STOP INEXPLICABLY RAMBLING.

    6 chapters later…

    Obito: Those bastards left me to rot down here…So I’ll become the hero Konoha deserves…but not the one it needs. It’s complicated, but it’s really cool once you think about it.

    Da5id
  6. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Obito having been almost crushed to death at a place so conveniently located above or around Madara’s hideout seems a bit forced and too convenient to be plausible, just for the sake of having them cross each other’s destinies.

    MarkBadong
  7. Here we go for yet another 5-10 chapters of flashback about yet another Uchiha’s fall into hatred. Because Naruto is all about the *poor* Uchiha clan and how the world is against them. Yippee (sarcasm)

    weird d
      1. Animation studios are usually just as in the dark as everyone else. Rarely does the mangaka fully collaborate with the anime adaptation. There may be some correspondence and whatnot, but for the most part, they are separate entities.

        Jello
  8. Can somebody help me figure out just how many times did both obito and Madara changed their eyes?

    Here’s what I’m sure of: Back from the very beginning, Madara had his original eyes and then he got his brother’s eyes. Also, Obito had his original eyes, then he gave one to Kashashi and at the time he fought Konan and his mask broke, we saw him having the sharingan in both of his eyes.

    So what happened?

    Madara awakened the rinnengan before the flashback time and gave his eyes to Nagato, then got just one spare sharingan, leaving him as he is in this chapter. Afterwards (speculation:) he probably gave this spare sharingan of his to Obito before he died and that’s why we saw Obito having 2 sharingans back when he fought Konan…Sooo does that mean he lied pretty much about everything he said he did, posing as Madara?

    Ceasar
    1. Well, I’m sure that Obito kept the left Sharingan eye hidden behind the mask solely to use for Izanagi (at least assuming he learns of it from Madara). By keeping that eye always “in darkness” (not seeing through the mask), completely sacrificing it to use for Izanagi would have no real consequence for him as there was never any “light” seen through it.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  9. I think I know where the story is going from here, Obito will leave Madara to go and see his friends but he( obito ) will find out that Rin has been killed by danzo and his root foundation because Rin knew one of their too many secrets that must be kept hidden at all cost and since the root foundation has done so many evil things for the village Obito will hate the root and the hidden leaf village for the death of the girl he loves and he will blame Kakashi for failing to protect Rin and will accuse him of getting famous at the expense of his friends(of course without revealing himself to anyone) then he will return to Madara in secret and begin helping him in his evil plot to rule the world.

    K C M
    1. As far as we know, Madara is the first and only (until Sasuke) to have ever awakened anything like the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan at the time. I doubt he or anyone knew of its existence until it actually appeared. Chances are that he took (the whole thing of Izuna willingly “giving” his eyes to Madara still seems like a stretch) Izuna’s eyes simply to be able to see again (even if temporarily given Izuna also had the Mangekyo and would’ve gone blind eventually too) and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was just a lucky result.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  10. At the end of Naruto, I think we’ll discover that everything has just been one, long FLASHBACK! They seem to be the heart and soul of the managa/anime anyway and there is undoubtedly a flashback for everything.

    Celecia01
  11. The thing that bothers me the most about this is how the 4th reasoned that only Madara could have space-time jutsu surpassing him and the 2nd (and control the kyuubi), while nothing in Madara’s techniques seem to relate to space-time jutsu. It doesn’t seem like him to be making ungrounded claims like that. I mean, for someone as famous as Madara, some of his techniques should’ve been well-known like the 1st’s mokuton techniques were.

    chewyli
  12. Anyone else irritated by how Obito thinks it’s all about protecting Rin? Yeah, I know he liked her, but it’s like he thinks she’s totally helpless with the way he’s going with “Then Kakashi and I will be able to protect Rin!”

    chiharu
  13. Wait, is everyone missing the fact that in the flashback Madara was connected to what appears to be the same Gedo Mazou statue that was in the basement of Tobito’s hideout in the current timeline? So, does that mean that Tobito created his hideout in the same place that he supposedly died, symbolizing his rebirth as a different person? If so, then wtf are those gigantic bones at that hideout that were obviously not there when Obito-Kakashi battled the Stone ninjas?

    SOSAnimeBoy
  14. Yo Da5id.. y u gotta be hating on Kishi’s explanation that Tobi = Obito.. Honestly it isn’t a bad explanation, and you probably just want to justify your previous essays on “THERE IS NO WAY TOBI = OBITO”

    Questions answered this chapter:
    1) How Obito survived
    2) Nagato’s Rinnegan
    3) How Madara is around
    4) Why Tobi dressed up as Madara and went ape-shit
    etc.
    There are definitely alot more questions that are out there, these are just a few.
    How many more questions can you possibly have? and How many answers can Kishi possibly dish out in 15 pages? Gotta be realistic here.

    Pear
    1. They’re already justified. It’s a poor twist and a complete misuse of a character.

      You know what’s not realistic about this? Expecting to shove all the answers into one flashback when he could’ve been doing it in small doses throughout the entire story and just said Obito was alive to begin with.

      His backstory is just a combination of Pain’s and Itachi’s and we’ve already covered those with much better characters which we had far more time to get to know. Pain’s backstory and character got a two whole arcs to cover, even if it had a poor ending. Itachi’s backstory and character has gotten several arcs worth of development, even after he died. Obito’s has had Kakashi Gaiden which was 300 chapters and seven years ago, and then this new flashback. Those are facts.

      No matter what the explanation for his turn to evil is, it will not be good one because of how it has been forced to be rushed out all at once in the climax of the story when it should’ve been done over the past seven years. If this is accepted that easily, it makes me think that Kishimoto could have come up with ANY explanation for this and people would’ve eaten it up. Am I wrong?

      Da5id
    2. On top of everything, it’s yet ANOTHER Uchiha backstory.

      We’ve gotten so much stuff on the Uchiha and seeing more and more Sharingan abilities ever since Sasuke vs. Itachi, 218 chapters ago, yet we still know jack about the Senju or the Uzumaki; one supposed to be a Clan as powerful as the Uchiha, and the other being powerful in their own right that people actively went out to destroy them and, of course, is the family line of our MC.

      As far as we know, Hashirama was the only Senju capable of using the Mokuton and Tobirama was capable of time-space ninjutsu and was the creator of Edo Tensei, so what about all the others? All we got on the Uzumaki being they usually have red hair, have long natural life spans, have “special chakra”, and were proficient in Fuinjutsu/Sealing Techniques.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  15. To consider this plot twist as a success, would be a mistake. Good mystery is considered good, because in the end it flows in it’s own logic, it is not forced after revelation. And despite being true to it it’s logic it also stays a mystery until the revelation.
    Here.. ahem… first of all, mystery was non-existant, since huge chunk of fandom madly stood by Obito-Tobi theory for years, basing it on vague speculations and anagram. There was no reason to believe that Obito is Tobi, and the fact that Kishi can twist and force his universe to justify it, just proves, that he could put anyone behind the mask with the same success at least. He could put grown Sasuke from the future, 120yo Madara, his brother, sage of six paths, juubi, Hashirama, Orochimaru and etc, and construct a satisfactory explanation through flashback. It does not add much reason to it.

    And from all these characters he chose the most dull in terms of development. Imagine how fun could it be if Tobi was Hashirama plan clone, who decided to work with Madara. It would be like grand simbolism, if the founder of will of fire would turn into darkness. As for Obito, i always said that his sole purpose was to resolve one of the biggest mysteries of manga in the beginning. How did Kakashi get sharingan. That’s all, it was a huge mystery and then it was resolved. Beyond that Kishi never thought to bring Rin and Obito for huge character developements.

    Arri-att

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