It took a while, but Naruto’s finally back and we get some development along multiple fronts this week.

First off is the reappearance of Sasuke and Co., whom we find are still en-route to their unknown objective. Despite seemingly heading in a direction opposite that of the battlefield and all not being chakra sensory type ninja, they’re all stopped in their tracks by one thing—the emitting of Naruto’s immense chakra with the help of the Nine Tails. Some chills went down my back at this moment as I understood just how powerful Naruto has become and this is all we end up seeing of Sasuke and his group for the rest of the chapter, but I found it intriguing how Sasuke’s reaction was merely one of annoyance more than anything. I can’t quite explain it, but this reaction makes me feel like they (Naruto, Sasuke, and the other ninja) are going to end up coming to some kind of “resolution” of sorts—one where they toss aside all that’s happened in the past, but still ultimately requires a final (and probably fatal) fight between Naruto and Sasuke to really settle things.

Moving onward, Shikaku Nara’s plan finally starts unveiling itself, and it’s an interesting one at that. Making use of the Nine Tails ability and Naruto’s immense chakra, they’re actually able to distribute his chakra among the ninja army… leading not only to a healing of whatever injuries were present, but a complete replenishing of their power and a boost on top of it. Using this, Hinata gets yet another moment to shine as she stops the Ten Tails in its tracks with an incredibly basic technique, which is followed by the simultaneous use of the Nara clan’s shadow technique and Ino’s mind transfer to (seemingly) bind the Ten Tails completely.

In the end, Madara seems unfazed by it all for the most part (as usual), but it seems like even he was a bit amused at one point. As usual though, the real emotional one ends up being Obito, who continues spouting what pretty much ends up being rage at his own failures (and a continued denial of them and of the entire world). At this point his commentary isn’t anything special, but it’s starting to show that he’s in anything but stable emotionally, and it’ll likely either lead to his own or the Ten Tails downfall as a result. Still, despite the fact that it’s understandable how he ended up this way for the most part, it’s just sad to watch. It’s like all he’s doing now is trying desperately to rationalize the choices he has made in the face of an entire world of ninja that are rejecting his view, and there just aren’t many words to describe how far he’s fallen. Taking it to another level, it’s like Obito’s just literally asking them to either accept it so he can stay sane, or kill him off before he goes insane himself (although one could argue he already is).

Phew* That ended up being probably the longest Naruto post I’ve ever written, but it just shows what this chapter held within it. Considering the need to cover a lot of ground following the sudden two week hiatus, it was a pretty packed chapter, and in my opinion a fairly good one. Heck, I didn’t even end up talking about the emotional farewells from Shikaku and Yamanaka, whose ability to stay calm, be themselves, and trust their children to carry on—even in the face of certain death—gives us a great example of what great ninja are.

61 Comments

    1. Well, @sshole, did you happen to guess or predict that Naruto was going to be in full control with Kurama?
      Or Madara sending meteors?
      Or Kabuto going Dragon Sage Mode?

      This guy is just trying to get attention…just sad.

      OT: Naruto should start a chakra giving session…… He was like, “Here’s some chakra for you, you, and you!” I was laughing my butt off when I saw Madara and Obito’s faces. It was like, “Who’s the fodder now?”

      Michael
    2. To be honest, I find this to be more of an insane version of Ichigo Kurosaki’s power. While he is able to also transfer his energy to other people, it seems Naruto is able to do it on a more advanced level. I did find this quite promising since Kubo has always been under using Ichigo’s ability countless times while Naruto is always looking good in his manga.

      L002
  1. A nice chapter after the 2 week hiatus. I have to say that it was nice to see how Naruto alongside Kurama gave a boost to the Ino Shika Cho formation on the battlefield, which I never saw coming. And I can’t help but mention that everyone but Madara seems phased at the turn of events. Still pretending to be impressed. Lol

      1. I have a hunch that Sasuke will be the boss after he kills Madara.

        Though I really am worried about Konoha right now, Sasuke is there but is he there to kill? And why is Orochimaru being so obedient?

        L002
  2. Now that they showed it, I can’t wait until they finally reveal what sasuke is up to. Can’t wait til naruto vs sasuke fight. I will read it, and cast izanami on myself and read it again. lol, I think that’s how it works.

    inferno
  3. rule number 1 of shounen: when you’re making a comeback and the bad guy STILL looks unimpressed that means you’re up for another ass-woopin’ and you won’t see it coming.

    gawrshness
  4. it’s sad to watch Obito, like so many great villains, collapse mentally when he is about to achieve his goal. The master manipulator and Akatsuki mastermind is gone. Now what’s left of him but a plot device to facilitate Naruto’s growth towards his battle with Sasuke. I just hope the author gives him a good redemption story.

    Asd
    1. It is sad, but when you really think about it he never was the master manipulator, he was being led by the nose all along. I’m actually hoping we finally get a major villain that doesn’t repent at the end. Nobody’s born evil, but some people fall so far you can’t even try to redeem them without placing the world at risk (Hitler, Stalin, etc… monsters exist in real life). Seeing how Naruto reconciles this with his ideals would be interesting.

      Hochmeister
    2. Yeah, I wouldn’t call Obito a “great villain” at all. He’s basically a repeat mold of past opponents Naruto’s faced (Haku, Neji, Gaara, Nagato, etc) and will probably end up the same too, being “saved” by his pretty speeches (and a bit of a beatdown with Kurama’s chakra, as also the same with past opponents…*sigh*).

      @Hochmeister

      Madara himself is that villain really right now. He clearly doesn’t give a damn about Naruto’s words or ideals. Extremely powerful (even if he didn’t have Edo Tensei) even against an army, and even now doesn’t give a damn, lol. Clearly isn’t one to repent his actions as he believes he’s the one always right.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. Technically, even with Edo Tensei, Madara IS alive. The body may be artificial (made out of ash and earth), but it’s still his soul, his personality, his own self within it, so by destroying him, he’s still “killing” him.

        And that’s assuming he can do anything at all because, as I keep saying, unless there’s some cop out on Obito’s part in undoing Edo Tensei somehow, some magical new, convenient seal is discovered, or someone conveniently knows the Shiki Fujin, then no matter HOW powerful everyone becomes through Kurama’s chakra, and even if they manage to magically defeat the Jubi, Madara will still win simply because he can’t die and has unlimited chakra. (And that’s not including having a lifetime of real intense combat experience over most of the people there and his other abilities.)

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  5. “I’m placing the real neji right there” Oh Naruto, you and your corny speeches…i hope you have enough place “there” because by the looks of it,”there” is going to be filled at an exponential rate…

    Satyr
  6. Naruto you are speaking my language, which isn’t Japanese oddly enough. Screw this whole hypnosis thing and magic revivals. You never disappoint me, you accept consequences, and death but it never breaks you completely; except when Hinata died, but I can’t begrudge you for that.

    Spencer
  7. The plan was unexpected, though with hindsight all the elements leading up to it were there. It’ll be interesting to see what part 2 of the plan is. I doubt it will work though, there’s still one more transformation before Cell – er, Juubi reaches it’s perfect form.

    Obito’s really slipping mentally, the world just wont let him quietly slip into his dreamland! I have a suspicion that regardless of whether or not he gets TNJ’d he’ll end up sacrificing himself to make Madara mortal. It’s the most direct way to bring Edo-Madara down to a level where he can be defeated, and gets rid of Obito in the process.

    Kind of irritated how Sasuke &co. got all the way from Lightning country to Konoha in ~30 chapters and 1hr real time… remember when it took 3 days to get to Suna? But, if he can get to Konoha that fast, he can return before the battle ends…

    Hochmeister
  8. On a side note, I am foreseeing Madara betraying Obito, and here’s how.

    Madara will wait until Obito is mentally weakened by Naruto’s persistence and then will attempt to control Obito. Since both Madara and Obito are connected to the Ten Tails in order to control it, that means that there is a link between their minds and Madara knows this and will use Obito’s moment of weakness to force him to perform Rinne Tensei.

    Spencer
  9. Naruto gets to fight with Obito and it’ll be a long one since we haven’t seen Obito use his Rinnegan and also use the edo-tensei that He learned from Kabuto and not to mention the collection of sharingans He has in his hideouts. I’m guessing that Obito will use those sharingans He has in his hideouts to revive dead members of the uchiha clan to battle the shinobi alliance.

    On the other hand we have not seen Naruto’s power that He got from the tailed beasts and what they meant when they said that Naruto is the Sage of the Six Paths’…. So I predict that before we get to see a lot of expectations including Naruto’s battle with Sasuke, this war will be a long one.

    PS, we haven’t seen the five kage’s since Madara left them for dead.

    K C M
  10. *sigh* As I thought…another convenient rescue involving Kurama’s chakra…and now they’re suddenly able to hold back things the Jubi is throwing at them? Even with Kurama’s chakra (which I doubt is anywhere near even a fraction of Naruto’s levels), considering how powerful the Jubi is with so much more chakra at its disposal, even that shouldn’t be enough.

    I know I sound like a total downer lately, but Part 2 has been virtually nothing but one convenient power up/hax plot device after another since Kakuzu and Hidan.

    I felt better when Naruto began training in elemental chakra (even though I still personally feel it was something Jiraiya should’ve ALREADY taught him during their training) and developing the Rasenshuriken (even though it took giving Kakuzu the “moment of stupidity” device to allow it to succeed at 50%) because it came back to Naruto using his “own strength/power” rather than relying on Kurama’s chakra as a crutch (from his experience while in his uncontrolled 4-tailed rage state before). Even Sage Training (despite it being uber-rushed) seemed to be working out…until he actually fought Nagato…in which case, Kurama chakra to the “rescue” again…

    All this seems to be telling me is that, without Kurama and his chakra, especially against truly powerful and competent opponents, Naruto is weak and nothing. Cynical, but that’s what it’s been feeling like…

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. Well don’t forget, Madara without his Sharingan, Rinnegan, Hashirama’s cells, and monstrous chakra reserves would also be pretty powerless.

      I think it’s pretty much expected that a normal human, without any sort of power, would be pretty useless in a Shonen Manga. Don’t forget that.

      MarkBadong
      1. Except, as we know now, Naruto was not normal to begin with. Has Uzumaki blood flowing through his veins and, IIRC, it was said that Naruto’s OWN natural chakra reserves were far bigger than any normal shinobi to begin with without Kurama’s chakra boosting. Now it’s ALL about Kurama’s chakra.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  11. I’m not sure if the manga was translated correctly. I haven’t seen the raw version yet so I can’t tell. I’m sure sasuke is not annoyed, but most likely intrigued/interested/”Kinenateru.” I also didn’t like the fact that it was so easy to control the kyubii chakra. Makes it seem like anyone who can get a hold of the chakra can be superman; thus taking away the specialness of Naruto’s current state. Of course, you have to give Naruto huge credit for getting up to this point. Maybe the chakra is easier to control because the Nine Tail’s chakra is less evil. However, the chakra thing is temporary and unless they can beat the boss right away, the alliance has no chance. Hopefully they can pull it off.

    Silentrax
  12. And so, Naruto has grown to the point that his chakra resonates across the ninja world, Obito’s mental stability continues to down spiral dramatically, and Shikaku’s plan consists of Kurama giving handouts to the entire Shinobi Alliancce. Mixed feelings about this chapter but nice to have Naruto back at last.

    Shouko
  13. These recent chapters have been an emotional roller coaster ride for me..first Shikaku and Yamanaka, then Neji, then he brings Shikaku and Yamanaka back again with a flashback scene+Lee crying over Neji’s body…gosh the scene with Lee really killed me. I’m surprised at how calm Ten Ten and Gai are considering that they were part of the same team.

    Yukie
    1. Well Neji was Lee’s best friend and rival. Guy’s used to death in the field and Tenten, despite all shippers wishing otherwise, never showed more than friendly respect with Neji. I’m sure she’s hurt by his death, but she’s mature enough to hold her grief until everything is over. Neji meant more to Lee than to Tenten and Guy. Neji was his best friend, his rival, his ultimate goal. And that’s all gone.

      EmD
  14. The only thing I got from this chapter aside from the obvious performance enhancing youki given out by Naruto (and this chapter came out the moment lance armstrong admitted to doping huh? what are the chances lol) and the teme making a cameo is the fact that majority of the male characters of Naruto are whipped lol.. thank Shikaku for that tid bit lol.

    razz
    1. Considering they just lost their teammate (and a cast member since the start of Naruto), they should have a chance in the spotlight to show how much Neji meant to them. Then again we would see more Lee (who I can’t stand).

      Karmafan
  15. My only wish: Naruto giving his chakra to Guy and Lee and them opening the Gates to revenge Neji!! Just imagine the awesomeness…
    ___ ___
    / \ / \
    _ . . _
    \___/ \___/
    / — — \
    || ||
    || ||
    || ||

    GuyXLee
  16. Three weeks without Naruto after seeing an emotional yet amazing final image with him and Hinata powering up…and the first thing we see in 2013 is Sasuke still not giving a damn about the world. I used to be a real Sasuke fan back when the series began, but now I just find him annoying (or irrational at any rate). Still, things are getting really exciting, can’t wait to see what happens next week.

    Also, a prediction for the future, Naruto and the army will defeat the 10 tails and because it was due to a combined effort, Obito will finally see reason and will admit defeat, at which point Madara will likely disappear and the war will be finished. Whether it happens this way or not, I can’t see Naruto and Sasuke fighting in this arc.

    Celecia01
  17. I found it hilarious when Naruto started zipping around giving everyone high fives. When Kuruma told Naruto to put out some shadow clones I was expecting…so much…more…? But I guess this is okay too hahahahahahaha.

    Jello
  18. LOL of course Obito is pathetic : he’s just a coward who wants to rewrite reality because he lost ONE important person to him. And he’s facing an army who won’t back down, even after losing so many people already. This goes against everything he believes in and every choice he’s made for years. Honestly, it’s like he expects everyone to go along with his plan and turn on Naruto ‘because he says so’.

    I’m no big fan of the Uchiha, Sasuke in particular, but Obito is completely ridiculous. The worst thing is that I feel he’ll be yet another ‘victims’ of Naruto’s ‘I don’t go back on my word, it’s my ninja way’ speeches and redeem himself by bringing everyone back to life.

    On a side note, I was disappointed at the plan. Distribute Kurama’s chakra to everyone and power up their moves? That’s it? Now Kurama is once again reduced to a chakra battery. Also, it illustrates the trend that, ultimately, Naruto cannot do anything alone and will always need his friends, no matter how powerful he gets, a stark contrast to Sasuke’s almighty loner theme.

    weird d
    1. Which is why I made the post I made above about it.

      Throughout later Part 1 and earlier Part 2, Naruto was all about NOT relying on Kurama’s chakra and relying on his own, natural power and strength to do what he wants to do, hence developing the Rasenshuriken and whatnot. But it just seems like that he can’t truly do anything against actual, strong opponents without falling back on Kurama’s chakra all the time (he would’ve lost 99% of all his battles were it not for Kurama’s chakra kicking in). One can say the same about Sasuke and how he always seems to fail and look to be killed against stronger opponents if it weren’t for some kind of bailout by others even with the (Eternal)(Mangekyo) Sharingan.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
    2. Gotta disagree with you here. The way I understood it, what turned Obito bad was not Rin’s death, but the fact that Kakashi killed her after Obito almost sacrificed his life to save him and asked him to take care of Rin. It wasn’t Rin’s death, but the total destruction of his belief system by Kakashi combined with Madara’s manipulations that turned him evil. He’s by no means a perfect villain, but his motivations are nowhere near as shallow as you say.

      I also disagree with you and HalfDemonInuyasha about the Kuruma thing. I like the fact that Naruto has to rely on others to overcome the obstacles. Teamwork is a theme present since the very beginning that has been much neglected of late. Relying on Kuruma is different from before now that he’s a friend. Honestly, it’s a far more wholesome message than “big damn hero solos the big bad and saves the day.”

      Hochmeister
      1. I’d agree with you IF he was relying on other people like his teammates and friends and such on the outside which, up until this point, he’s rarely done. It’s been about Kurama’s chakra and him everyone else being told to stay out of it or circumstances made it just him. It’s like they preach about one thing, but we’re being shown something else throughout most of the story EXCEPT for the “last second” battles of the story with few exceptions in between.

        If the message is not consistently practiced throughout the story (only exceptions would be for character development, which is not really the case at all), then how can people really believe that message? We were shown “big damn hero solos the big bad and saves the day” A LOT more often.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      2. If I recall correctly the only person who told him not to rely on Kuruma’s chakra was Yamato, after he hit Sakura in four-tails mode. Other than that, nobody had any issues with him using it; heck Jiraiya tried to train him to use it and his parents made him a jinchuriki for the express purpose of using it! If you look back on the series, one of the sub-plots was Naruto coming to terms with being a jinchuriki and learning how to use Kuruma’s chakra, which was finally resolved in the fight with Madara.
        About the teamwork issue, not quite sure what you’re trying to say, but the only solo fights Naruto has had were with Gaara and Sasuke in part 1 (both of which he worked with a team to get there) and Pain in part 2. Kishi may not have screamed “teamwork” at us like he did in the wave arc, but all of Naruto’s fights were as a part of a team until the Pain arc. After that his hero complex developed too much and he started taking everything on himself… which was portrayed as a bad thing.

        Hochmeister
  19. I’m starting to wonder if this series will end with either Naruto’s death or the removal of Kurama from him? I mean giving his chakra to others on the battlefield and Sasuke sensing Naruto’s chakra from so far away are seriously god mode stuff. How do you bring Naruto back to normal (ego wise) when he can do that?

    Karmafan

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