This week, we finally get a shift back to the battle proper—no more flashbacks, no drama, just actual serious fighting. And it’s just what the doctor ordered. Following quite a few chapters of flashbacks, we’re finally going back up the roller coaster that is Naruto, as Kishimoto kicks things back into high gear and leaves us with quite a few things to discuss.

First and foremost, the combination of Kakashi, Naruto, and the Nine Tails versus Obito. Combining with the Nine Tails’ ability to control its chakra and distribute it to others when necessary, we have Kakashi now freely able to utilize his Kamui technique and appear in and out of the alternate dimension at will. With Naruto piling on the attack from the main dimension and Kakashi hitting whatever body part appears in the other, they’re finally able to deal some consistent (and brutal) hits on Obito. Suffice to say, the term “it’s about time!” comes to mind, as Obito’s time-space jitsu is finally overcome—and with a rather straight forward method too. I have to admit I didn’t see this exploitation coming (even though I should’ve), but it just goes to show not only how well the group works together, but also how Kishimoto obviously plans at least some of the events in the series well ahead of time. And as a result of this forethought, well, things just make so much sense. They’re not the most spectacular or exciting of tactics/explanations, but the important part is they’re not nonsensical, which is pretty much all I’m asking for.

Moving on, another thing I have to mention was the random insertions of priceless comedic moments throughout the chapter. I mean, how about that headbutt? Just Naruto being Naruto all the way. And that toss of Kakashi at Obito? That reaction picture from above just tells all. What can I say? It’s just nice having some light-hearted moments (and well implemented ones) from time to time, where the creator just doesn’t hesitate to have some fun. It’s a whole other aspect, but these days people just seem too serious (both viewers and the industry itself), and it’s nice just seeing that despite this, Kishimoto hasn’t lost some of his sense of humor and that he still remembers to include some of the traits from the Naruto we knew from the start of the series.

Last but definitely not the least is the awakening of the ten-tails… which was also an interesting twist. I had anticipated this development at some point in time, but from the looks of it, it looks like we’ll be continuing this fight for quite a while. The previous prediction was that at some point, the battle would be halted or diverted to something else (say, Sasuke)… but with every passing chapter, it seems more and more unlikely. Part of me is starting to wonder if it’ll develop in such a way where Sasuke just ends up joining the fight, influenced by some information he learns from whoever he was going to visit a few chapters back. Following the defeat of Obito (presuming this is the case), we’d then get a discussion on the events up until his reappearance being discussed in a later chapter…? Then perhaps one last fight between Naruto and Sasuke to end things…? Not quite sure at the moment, but it’s just a theory that just popped up into my head after reading this chapter. Either way, I guess we’ll see. A fairly enjoyable chapter to say the least.

68 Comments

      1. It’s hard to say. By definition of “die” then I can assume you mean live happily later in life as the Hokage. To be honest, that is why I love anime and manga. Unlike those out dated Marvel comics, that have really predictable plots of the hero winning or choosing not killing the always evil villain, the anime and manga world always have an unpredictable plot. Anime like Code Geass took an unexpected turn when Lelouch, the main character, was killed. Then there is 666 Satan manga, made by Kishimoto’s little brother where the main character was given a rather unhappy fate that most fans would consider dead. In this manga, Asuma had died so who says there won’t be the death of another main character.

        L002
      2. I gotta agree with Da5id too; a lot of the manga IS pretty predictable. Yes, there were a few surprise moments here or there, but not THAT many compared to the WHOLE story, and even among those surprises, some of them don’t really impact as much as they should/could have (like Obito being Tobi and all) or even feel like they matter that much at all in the long-run. Like Nagato being an Uzumaki for instance. That discovery never went anywhere, so what’s the point?

        HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. even with the laggy back story that doesnt bother to explain much about why kakashi did that, i still call BS on obito really being tobi during the 4th kage fight, and so many other things.

      Izu42
  1. Finally we get to see the ten-tails but i wonder what animal it will be, the one tail is a racoon, the two tails is a cat, the three tails is a turtoise, the four tails is a monkey, the five tails is a horse(and a dolphin), the six tails is a slug, the seven tails is a bee, the eight tails is an ox and the nine tails is a fox. so what is the ten tails.

    K C M
    1. I don’t understand why you double posted with the same subject, lol.
      I think you have some misguided expectations. It’s pretty much established that the ten tails is more of a monster than an animal, giving Kishimoto much flexibility (and leeway) in portraying it. It can probably shapeshift and do other monster shit.

    1. Well, when you consider he was being fed Kurama’s chakra (willingly) and knowing a bunch of its properties, it’s no surprise; healing being one of them as we’ve seen with Naruto.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. Yes I know he got revived by the ninetails chakra, But even before that his wounds are healed. even the giant tears in his jacket are gone. Chapter 608 page 11
        i’ll just blame it to inconsistent whriting..

        Sjeng
  2. Nice chapter.
    The Kyubi comedic parts were quite fun. He’s been great since he partnered with Naruto.
    As for the Ten Tails… The Bijju Bomb is made of chakra, right ? So instead of destroying the Ten Tails, Gyuki and Kurama gave him what he needed to awaken. Ironic…
    I agrre with you Zephyr, Sasuke might have a role in the upcoming chapters. IMO, Madara and Obito have a high chance of casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Sasuke, meeting we_don’t_know_who and having his eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, could be the one who would stop the Infinite Tsukuyomi, or at least free Naruto and a few others from it, and then the fight to take down the Ten Tails, Madara and Obito could begin/resume.

    Shin
  3. What if Naruto Shippuden ends this week or ends by the end of the year and progresses to a third part by next year. Remember this series is currently a two part series with Naruto and Naruto Shippuden as the first part and second part respectively, therefore what if the series advances toward a third part where Naruto and his peers grow from teenagers to young men and women( young adults ) they will become senseis and jonins and they will get to train their own kids, Shikamaru will train Asuma’s child as promised and Naruto will be closer to becoming Hokage and perhaps teach Konohamaru sage techniques etc.

    K C M
    1. To be honest, before the war, I would have loved to see this because it could have wrapped up the life of Naruto in a memorable way (we would have been able to see him go basically through life). However, at this point I think that too much has happened for there to be another series. With these things, the basic idea is that the threat gets bigger and bigger as the arcs go on, and after Obito, Madara and the Ninja War, I don’t think things could escalate to a believable level.

      That said, after all is said and done, I do feel that if Naruto (and or Sasuke) survive their fated battle, showing readers how Naruto has turned out with a time skip right at the very end just to wrap everything up nicely (so we can see whether he became Hokage, married Sakura/ Hinata or whatever.) Just my thoughts though!

      Celecia01
  4. I laughed at this picture too, it was just so funny in the middle of a serious moment. Also glad to see Kakashi is continuing to fight despite how he feels, that’s the Kakashi we all know and love. Anyway, the 10 tails just adds another obstacle for Naruto and co. to overcome when they honestly seem to be struggling with everything already in place. I do have a couple of points to make on this chapter:

    1) Why is Madara simply chilling out while Naruto and Kakashi turn the tables on Obito. I imagined he was a typical bad guy in as much as he doesn’t care if his subordinates die, but seriously, I thought he was nicer than that.
    2) Before the Obito fight, everyone (ninja army) were running towards the final battle, so it is possible in my opinion that the joint army will arrive and attempt to help deal with the 10 tails, leaving Naruto and co to continue as they are, albeit to no avail.
    3) Finally, I still believe that Sasuke and Orochimaru will be the key to ending this as nothing else in play at the moment can stop Madara and the 10 tails. If this is the case, I have a prediction:

    Madara will fuse with the 10 tails, rampage and what not, but in the end they will defeat him by sealing the 10 tails, somehow bypassing the immortality of the Edo Tensei. Right now, that is the thing I expect to happen the most.

    Celecia01
    1. Especially when you consider that, despite missing most of Gyuki’s and Kurama’s chakra, the Juubi’s power will still be completely and overwhelmingly powerful (30+ tails I’d say).

      I mean, ANY of the individual Biju alone are more than enough to give even most of the strongest shinobi a run for their money, but all 7 total ones plus a fraction of 8 and 9? Not a chance. The only actual Biju to be caught by the likes of Akatsuki even was just the Sanbi and that was by Obito, as “Tobi”, who most likely forcefully tamed it with his Sharingan, thus no actual fight happened. All the others were Jinchuriki simply able to “change into” them in using their chakra, but that’s still pretty different from the actual Biju itself, I think. And as powerful as Madara has shown to be recently, I doubt even he’s anywhere near as powerful as the original Rikudo Sennin, so I doubt he, much less Obito, could hope to become the Jubi’s Jinchuriki without it destroying them from the inside.

      The original Rikudo Sennin more than likely had an epic battle just to weaken the Jubi enough just to seal it away (and most likely required a VERY powerful seal that would probably make even the Shiki Fujin look like child’s play), but even then, the seal could only hold it until his death, upon which the Jubi would’ve been released again, so making the Rikudo Sennin take even MORE steps in splitting its chakra into the 9 individual Biju AND sealing its body away. I wouldn’t be surprised if even him “splitting” his power and chakra between the 2 successors was part of a way to keep the Jubi from being revived given the emphasis on only becoming a “true” Sennin if you had Senju and Uchiha DNA.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. You know, about 100 chapters ago I never would have imagined power levels in Naruto would escalate so much. I would have laughed down anyone who said that they would, because this is unbelievable.

        Celecia01
      2. I could see it coming as soon as Sage Training came into play. Considering how effortlessly Sasuke was able to own him and the others earlier on (with NO Curse Seal use either and easy suppression of Kurama’s chakra), I knew it was going to take A LOT more than just another bigger, stronger Rasengan-style technique to beat him (why they kept playing it up to be enough, I don’t know). Then, to add to that, Sasuke then awakens the Mangekyo Sharingan AND soon shows to be able to use its techniques (at least Amaterasu, thanks to Itachi implanting his ocular powers), so by this point, we knew that if Naruto were to fight Sasuke again, he’d get totally owned.

        So to “balance” them again, Naruto was now given Sage Training (and despite only doing it for a month at best, somehow far surpasses Jiraiya at it; even with 3 Kage Bunshin, it should’ve taken up to a year just to get to where Jiraiya was at). But then Naruto “beat” Nagato (I still say he didn’t truly beat him himself; it was, again, Kurama’s chakra that helped weaken him considerable plus “moment of stupidity”, like with Kakuzu, that allowed Naruto the victory), so I knew it was going to make Sasuke look “weaker” now (considering the speed and brute power it showed).

        So of course Kishi had to make Sasuke stronger to keep it “balanced”, so now he’s suddenly able to spew out Amaterasu and Susano’o (up to the 2nd stage completely before blindness kicked in) and somehow not die from chakra exhaustion quickly from maintaining them continuously for minutes even though there’s now no Curse Seal to force out extra chakra for him. But, of course, he couldn’t just forget all the talk about the side effects, so Sasuke goes blind and gets Itachi’s eyes and then gets the Eternal Mangekyo.

        Go back to Naruto, who gets not one, but TWO new Kurama cloaks to use, the 2nd being, obviously, FAR more powerful. Chances are that whatever Sasuke and Orochimaru find IS going to make Sasuke a lot stronger to be able to, again, “balance” with Naruto.

        The problem I have is that they do it so much for the two of them, but NOT for anyone else (for very long anyway), so it starts to make everyone else look almost pointless to have anymore…

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      3. doubt it how Sasuke gonna owned naruto at this point? they prob more on a equal footing. knowing sasuke he prob just spam sasuno like before just without going blind and naruto prob just dodge them and if he is able 2 suppression 9 tail chakra wouldnt madara or obito done it by now? and about Sasuke was able to effortlessly own him u remember how badly he gotten when u went into 4 tail mode when he fought Orochimaru he could barely walk even with all that healing from sakura

        lol
      4. 1.) I doubt they’re on equal footing right now. We still haven’t seen anything unique about the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in terms of abilities. All it has been up to this point is simply a Mangekyo Sharingan without any of the downsides of going blind from using it or its techniques. However, Sasuke himself still has a chakra limit too, so while he may be able to use them more, he still has MUCH less than Naruto, especially with Kurama behind him. And as we saw, even the 3rd stage of Susano’o can be bypassed, broken, etc, as the 5 Kage had shown us and chances are that Naruto IS that powerful in terms of brute force and, as we saw before with the first new Kurama cloak, is also capable of moving just as fast, if not faster than A, the Raikage, and now he’s even stronger and faster than that with the 2nd one.

        2.) In terms of why Obito or Madara didn’t suppress Kurama at all before. The basic idea of drama. There are tons of times in many stories where you can ask, “Why didn’t do when they could’ve, but never did?”. It’s all for simply making battles more dramatic, more drawn out, etc to make them more exciting. If they were ended so easily all the time, people would lose interest quickly.

        3.) As I brought up a few chapters ago, even if Naruto were at full power then, he was WEAK at the start of Part 2 as it is compared to Sasuke and other enemies, thus he had to be rush haxed powered up to be able to actually fight anyone to compensate for his lack of practically everything else (obviously not a tactician, has a very small arsenal of jutsu to use, reckless, etc).

        What did Naruto have in his arsenal at that point that Sasuke hasn’t seen before in one form or another? He had nothing but a bigger (Odama) Rasengan (the same as the normal, just a bit bigger and more powerful) and access to more of Kurama’s chakra (of which he could barely keep 3 tails under control), but as we saw, Sasuke could easily suppress Kurama’s chakra with the Sharingan, so that’s already negated before the fight even started, leaving Naruto with nothing but practically repeats of what he’s already used against him before while Sasuke had an expanded arsenal of Chidori-based moves in different forms, far better control of his Sharingan AND the Curse Seal Level 2, and was obviously FAR faster than before too.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  5. Finally, a chapter I have no real (big) problems with at all. Just the usual “Kurama chakra to the rescue” irk.

    Naruto pointed out what I did last chapter; Obito may try to act all nihilistic on the outside, but that’s all it is, an act. (Especially with how he keeps emphasizing Kakashi as “trash”. If he really didn’t care, why keep calling him that if only to keep reminded them of Rin’s death and all?)

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  6. The 10 is finally here but inside the Gedo Mazou statue, not sure how I feel about that. It is also incomplete having only little of the 8 and 9 tails chakra. All this will play in the factor of defeating the ten tails.Madara will succeed with casting tsukiyomi, but naruto will break free either by words from dream world Jiraiya, Minato, and Kushina or by his way of ninja. I get the feeling whatever Sasuke is up to will allow him to gain Rinnegan and end tsukiyomi on the world.Hopefully once Madara is sealed via Shinigami (the only way to stop him at this point). We’ll get the Naruto vs Sasuke finale which will be seriously watered down after all that Madara has done.

    GroundZero613
    1. Sasuke couldn’t get the Rinnegan unless he gets Hashirama’s DNA in him.

      Same with Naruto unless he gets Uchiha DNA in him (already having Hashirama’s as the Uzumaki are, even if distantly, related to the Senju).

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  7. Soooooooo why is it that the great Kakashi did not use a weapon when he was hitting Obito at point blank range that just seemed really stupid I mean He could have ended that side of the battle in just 1 or 2 attacks but Nooooooo ‘I’m Kakashi and I just got Kurama’s chakra so ofcourse I don’t think of just doing one freaking chidori or atleast use a knife.’ For the rest nice chapter

    Tonameki
  8. Obito’s character sure has deteriorated, but I guess that’s something I just as easily could have said about the past 3 or so chapters.

    Definitely going to give the chapter to Kurama for that gag, which was quite hilarious. Also felt a hint of old Naruto nostalgia when that happened. And speaking of Kurama, as much as I laughed inside at that bit, it really does make me ponder his character. A personality like that can’t help but contrast with his literal portrayal of being evil this whole time in the series, and damn, has it been a long time. It’s not stark enough of a contrast to make me say something like, “Oh, what the hell, Kurama has this likeability to him all of a sudden when he’s been this brooding, sinister demon spirit up until now? That doesn’t make a lick of sense.” Kishimoto did in fact shine some light about him being misunderstood and influenced by other things and whatnot. In retrospect, I would say Kishimoto really could have made Naruto and Kurama’s conciliation much more impacting, something alone the lines of the great ol’ Gaara vs. Naruto. Leaving behind shonen stereotypes, I’m not even sure I can expect something that meaningful out of Kishimoto anymore. With all said and done, don’t have any complaints really, just an improving thought.

    Lastly, I feel like the intended twists are piling up too messily. The ten tails being unleashed after the chakra bomb rejuvenating it instead of killing it was just severely nonphenomenal. It was just a kind of “you done goof’d” moment. Four points for Madara not giving a fuck though. i hope Guy gets to shine in this fight too.

    1. I gotta agree on Kurama’s HUGE shift in character.

      If he had developed this way little by little since his first meeting with Naruto all the way up to that point, I could totally believe the change. But to have him change SO much because of Madara being a common foe along with a couple flashback memories? Not so much. I mean, even as recently as Naruto’s training to control his chakra, he STILL was portrayed as the same “evil” being that we’ve known since early on who wanted nothing more than to shred him apart.

      It’s the same kind of feeling I got with the whole WTF shift in Nagato’s character after a pretty Naruto-speech when confronted by Naruto after his “loss”, despite spending most of his life completely dedicated to his beliefs and the will to follow through with them. Such sudden 180s just irk me.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  9. No other anime series has ever given me the idea that the author planned major plot twists way in advance like Naruto does. Its like from day 1 of episode 1 the author planned alot of this shit. Compare the 3 sanin to Kikashi’s team. Jirayah/Naruto, Tsunade/Sakura, and Orochimaru/Sasuke each pretty much lived the same life. You just don’t stumble onto something like that. There are so many examples of things fitting together so well over the course of Naruto that it must have been planned for the most part.

    Bleach also does this to a certain point (Dad being a Soul Society captain and Mom apparently a Quincy). Bleach does not seem as well planned out in advance as Naruto does though. Alot of Kubo’s plot development seems to come from out of his ass on the spur of the moment but both authors must have some sort of a chronological timeline planned out for how they want to end their series and how they plan on getting there.

    Karmafan
    1. Eh, a bit of it doesn’t really feel planned. Some of it feels a bit rushed, underdeveloped, and so on. The whole “generation overlap” bit is also used a lot in stories, so it’s nothing really that big.

      And, as I brought up a few chapters ago, you can’t even REALLY overlap the Kakashi/Sannin/Team 7 teams besides just the very basics (having a “goofy dead last”, a “genius”, and “girl with a crush on the genius”). Otherwise, each individual member is VERY different from their “predecessor” when you delve deeper, and Kakashi made that exact same mistake with Team 7; he went about seeing them as a complete overlap of his own team simply because those basics made them pretty similar (himself to Sasuke, Rin to Sakura, and Obito to Naruto) while all but ignoring their individual personalities, backgrounds, personal problems, etc until it was too late.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  10. Heh, I echo other comments when I say that the irony of the 10 Tails being fed enough chakra by Naruto and Bee was pretty well played.

    Sasuke is undoubtedly going to have a role in helping here. I can feel it.

    PM63
  11. wouldnt be funny if Sasuke end up being the jinchuriki or whatever is spelled for body vessel of the ten tails? heck he can already be there with the ten tails and we can get an explanation later.

    Ten Tail Sasuke Vs Nine Tail Naruto, i can see that happening

    Arky
  12. Oh, well. Obito got some “warning” punches, that his “shape-shift” not working anymore with these 2. He must get rid of Kakashi now. Because he is now a real threat for Obito. or he dont Send Kakashi not anymore into his “Dimension Cage”.

    I would loved to see Kakashi used more then “just” punches at that time. But hey, its a Story to told. Not Win in “2 Secs” fight. (i mean Kakashis “lightning attack” trough Obitos “flesh” in his Demension = fatal Wound = Game Over)

    So, he still play on 2 Battlefields.

    Germanguy
  13. Finally, a chapter that was not as disappointing as the past few. At least they got the story going again this time. Still, it’s hard to not to wonder where did Sasuke go? There are so much plot holes left to answer. Damn, I guess this series will keep on expanding the same way dragon ball did.

    Jigeharu
  14. This was a surprisingly clever battle tactic and I really enjoyed the knowledge that Kishimoto had such forethought in place from so long ago in the series.

    The humor, too, was unexpected but delivered in the best way. It still showed a shadow of the Nine Tails’ unstable mentality, like, “What the hell are you doing?! We just talked about this~!” Only to give way to his intelligence and control over his considerable power.

    I hope there are more chapters like this one.

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