Manga / Naruto (Manga)

With every historical moment comes a time where one must say farewell. In the case of the Kage summoned from the land beyond to help with the war, this was that time. With Kaguya now “sealed and defeated” (so we think), this week becomes a farewell, a culmination ceremony, and a celebration. It’s a farewell to the legendary figures from the past as the dawn of a new age arises, a culmination ceremony representative of our once fledgling Shinobi’s respective (and successful) journeys to the top, and a celebration of not only all the efforts given by all sides, but of the times shared by long time friends, family, and former rivals. Most importantly, it was a celebration of the manga’s namesake—of Naruto’s birthday—and it couldn’t be more fitting coming at a time like this.

Regardless of how you felt about the previous chapter, this was a heart-warming one in more ways than one, and it was great to see one final conversation between Minato + Naruto, and to an extent Hashirama and Madara. Time, especially in the Naruto universe, tends to make it so things find a way to work out in some way or form here, and this was a proper, literal passing of the torch previously denied due to the machinations of Kaguya. The question of course remains, is this really the end? And honestly I don’t know what to say here. The fact that there’s no announcement means there’s more chapters left, which has me thinking if there isn’t one final twist here to be had. Or maybe, it’ll just be the concluding chapters to demonstrate in detail what’ll happen from this point forward, perhaps the Sasuke v. Naruto fight we expected way back when? Guess we’ll see, but I don’t know about pulling any massive twists now that we’ve gotten this chapter…

45 Comments

  1. A nice chapter, though like you said, I don’t foresee any twists in the next couple of chapters. Really, after all the time spent on the climax of the war, I think now is a good place to close the book on this arc and move on to whatever is planned for a conclusion. I spent a long time believing that Naruto and Sasuke’s battle should end this series, and be it as enemies or friends I think it is the only real way for things to truly conclude.

    Celecia01
    Reply

      1. I’ve felt for a while that if Naruto and Sasuke do fight it will be as friends again and not as enemies considering the changing of events. Sasuke will still probably be punished for his crimes but it will be much less severe considering he helped save the world and what not. Then after its all said and done, the village will be just as Hashriama and Madara wished for. HalfDemonInuyasha had an awesome bring up on the discussion on Mangastream about Naruto and Sasuke’s fight as well and it could potentially not happen at all. Also my last thing was that Naruto said the next time Naruto and Sasuke fought they would die together. Technically both of their hearts stopped at the same time while they were fighting (albeit not with each other), then they both met the sage. We never learned what Sasuke said, but I feel like if he was still full of malice and contempt he wouldn’t have gotten his part of the power. Of course this is all speculation and I could be completely wrong but trying to figure out what will happen is all a part of the mystery is it not?

        Zero
        Reply

      2. 2 things still bug me:
        1) what happened to all the people trapped in the infinite tsukuyomi?
        2)what happened to Hagoromo’s brother, did he not have any descendants?, did he give his power to his brother, because somehow the Sage has both the power of the Sun and the Moon? rather suspicious.

        SouthSky
        Reply

  2. I guess this was better than the hugely anticlimactic battle of last chapter.

    I was enjoying the final fight much more when Madara was the villain. Kaguya came out of nowhere with Black Zetsu as surprise Big Bad and it almost looked like it took no sweat for Naruto and co. to defeat her. A hugely unnecessary boss fight.

    Now I wonder, if next chapter is the final one. I mean, what else is there to tell now? A brief Hokage selection arc? Or a timeskip showing Naruto in 2 years time?

    EamonX
    Reply

    1. “hugely unnecessary boss fight”
      Indeed, to be frank it felt as if everything has been watered down than expected. I had a chill when four powerful zombies were summoned, seriously had hoped Hashirama had more spotlight time. But, during the final boss, they had little time to show their stuff. And sadly, Orochimaru hadn’t shown much of his recent role of being “the good guy.”

      L002
      Reply

  3. To be honest, I had hoped I get to see more Hashirama and Tsunade; it would be a good time for the grandpa to tell his granddaughter to quit gambling.

    And Naruto……HINATA IS THE ONE FOR YOU!!!!!! Damn, at least tell your dad that before he goes to heaven.

    L002
    Reply

  4. Despite coming to terms with his brother’s death and sacrifice… despite being accepted back by his former teammates after betraying/attempting to kill them… despite defeating the biggest baddie in the known universe and saving the entire world… despite standing less than 20 feet away from Naruto as he gushes over how great his friends are…

    Sasuke still manages to look like a pissed off asshole.

    *sigh* I hope a freaking Zetsu explodes out of his chest as a last lolwtf from the bad guys.

    SBC
    Reply

  8. Like the initial Obito farewell chapter, by itself, this chapter was very good and heart-warming and is definitely a good way to have ended things.

    …but also like the initial Obito farewell chapter, a lot of its strength feels redundant considering a lot of the crap leading up to it.

    Not to mention stuff not answered or anything like what was the point of trolling Hagaromo’s tools like they’d play some huge role? What were the four Hokages told they had to do by Hagaromo before that made it look like they’d be playing some big role to assist Naruto and Sasuke from the home dimension? What was the special jutsu or whatever Hashirama supposedly taught Sasuke? And so on…
    .
    .
    .
    .

    And for those expecting some big Naruto vs. Sasuke death clash to happen, Manga Stream actually brought up a good point on why it won’t/shouldn’t happen:
    .
    .
    “Since the beginning of the series, Naruto spread messages against hatred and war. You could notice it already in the first episode, when Naruto declares his wish to be Hokage and prove himself in the eyes of the villagers who hate him, and later on when Iruka accepts Naruto as a human being and not a monster that killed his parents.

    During the pre-Shippuden part, these kind of messages keep popping up in some occasions. For example, Naruto’s speech in the Zabuza arc in attempt to explain that ninjas are people with emotions and not just tools of war. But the important thing for this discussion is; the message of the manga was never a main key element in the plot itself at that time.

    The focus changed during the Shippuden part, and the message of the series became the main topic of the story. You could see it clearly in the Pain arc and Nagato’s ideology of “The Cycle of Revenge”. The manga’s message, brought to the readers by Naruto, is that hatred and war can be stopped if people choose to cease violence. In this particular case – not killing Nagato and avenging the death of his beloved sensei. Eventually, Naruto beats Nagato by the infamous “Let’s Talk no Jutsu” which most of the readers feel uneasy with.

    Now, let’s discuss recent events. Since Sasuke’s defection from Konoha, the readers expected the manga to end with a final clash to the death between him and Naruto, who both were presented as eternal rivals since their bromance in episode 3.

    But it’s not going to happen.

    Why is that? Mainly, because it will contradict the entire message of the manga. This turn of events was hinted since Hashirama’s story about the founding of Konoha with Madara in hope to stop the blood spilling between the clans, and became even clearer by Naruto’s and Sasuke’s recent conversation with the Six Paths – in order to achieve peace, the endless fight between Senju and Uchiha must stop. Naruto and Sasuke fighting to the death now would only mean that nothing has changed.

    So here lies the conflict: What should a writer do – fulfill the readers’ expectations or stick to his message to the end, whether the readers like it or not?”

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. Indeed, this time Obito had died for real. It’s a shame this marks the end of Kakashi of the Sharingan. I really would have liked had Kakashi kept such a god-like power, I mean if he can easily destroy mountains, like Madara, then he can easily be like the “Zero tailed White Fang.”

      On the side note, there are so many things left unresolved. First is what are the Tailed Beast going to do, I find it inappropriate as to seal them again.

      Then what of Sasuke, obviously he will be pardoned but ……Hokage seems to be a rather rough goal.

      Then Orochimaru. Will he also return to the Leaf as he starts turning in a new leaf?

      Finally is Hinata, will Naruto finally say “Hinata, I love you, please go out with me.” Because I would find it tragic if Hinata woke up from her rather sweet dream.

      L002
      Reply

      1. Naruto will at least have to keep Sasuke from trying to destroy them given that’s what he believes will help end the current shinobi system.

        As I said in previous chapters, “realistically”, Naruto and Sasuke are not really good Hokage candidates at the moment besides sheer power (and charisma in Naruto’s case). Mentally, they’re still far too immature and naive about many things. I wouldn’t see them really being full Kage material for several years at best.

        Orochimaru wasn’t really turning over a new leaf so much as he just found Sasuke choosing his path “more interesting” at the moment. He still said, as soon as he was revived by Sasuke, that he wanted his body.

        And Naruto and Hinata…only fanfiction material unless, for some reason, Kishi decides to dedicate 20+ chapters solely to Naruto and Hinata hanging out and getting to know one another beyond the surface. Otherwise there’s just no way for them to realistically and believably get together. Even if Kishi threw in a “ten years later” time skip and they were shown to be together, it would not be satisfying or believable because we wouldn’t get to see any of that development happen.

        It would be like how Digimon 01 and 02 made Tai and Sora look like the more obvious couple, only for the last part of 02 to the end having Sora somehow end up with Yamato/Matt. It was so out of nowhere and unbelievable that even the VAs (both Japanese and English) didn’t like it and really questioned it out of confusion simply because Tai and Sora were so much more developed throughout the series.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

      2. Down-voted twice already with no rebuttals? The fanboys are emerging, lol. >=)

        Such people can’t seem to look at the bigger picture. How many words have actually been exchanged between Naruto and Hinata throughout the entire story (excluding anime original fillers)? What do the two REALLY know about each other besides what they have seen on the surface? Just because Hinata confessed, that doesn’t automatically mean she and Naruto are “meant to be” (they have yet to even be reminded of that event again) and it takes more than “looking cute/sweet together” or just being nice to make a good pairing.

        Don’t get me wrong, I don’t personally hate Hinata OR the pairing (in fanfics, where authors are able to completely develop it from the ground up), but I’m asking people what real development has really happened between them to make the pairing believable much less satisfactory if it were to suddenly happen? A confession made with the belief that they were doing to die (making it more like a deathbed confession where they believe they won’t have to face the results of it) and then never revisiting it at all like it never happened isn’t very good evidence.

        People like to bash Sakura because of how she was throughout Part 1 despite the major changes she has gone through since then, acting like she hasn’t changed at all when, out of all the rookies, she’s probably the one who has changed the most outside of more power, yet show a few panels of her thinking about anything regarding Sasuke (that people have completely misinterpreted) and that instantly means she’s still fangirling over him and/or that they’re “meant to be” (in a bad way)?

        Wouldn’t that mean Hinata is still fangirling over Naruto? I mean, the only real difference between her and Sakura in Part 1 over their crushes was that Sakura was loud about it whereas Hinata was quiet. Otherwise, they were fawning over boys they knew next to nothing about nor could understand. The big difference in this case now is that Sakura had seen how Sasuke is and also understands Naruto much more than before and has tried to help him emotionally. Seems hypocritical to give a pass to Hinata but not to Sakura, despite people liking one but not the other.

        What does Hinata done? If anything, the way she confessed only made things worse (and it’s not like Naruto getting so pissed off wouldn’t have happened if anyone else were in Hinata’s position, having been “killed” right in front of him by Nagato and Naruto being unable to stop it) and almost resulted in Konoha’s complete destruction with Naruto almost releasing (that half of) Kurama from the seal were it not for the magic hax of the seal allowing Minato to stop Naruto. Hinata didn’t even know Naruto was a Jinchuriki until at least Nagato’s invasion if not until the war itself whereas Sakura learned about it right at the beginning of Shippuden during the Rescue Gaara arc.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

      3. Oh thanks, and Digimon aahhh, old childhood memories. But still, even if Kishi as a low aptitude to make romance, he did made Hinata confess saying “Naruto, I love you.” And we just saw how Kishi spared a page where Minato said “happy birthday Naruto.” So Kishi should at least spare a page where Naruto says “Hinata, I love you as well, so lets get married.” I mean, is it too much to ask!!!!

        L002
        Reply

      4. Sorry to be off topic but damn… Digimon. Takeru and Hikari all over again. Btw there’s supposed to be a new Digimon series that will come out sometime in 2015. The main characters will be the children from Digimon 01 (Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Mimi, T.K, Hikari, etc). I’m not entirely sure if the children from 02 will make an appearance.

        The Story You Don't Know
        Reply

    2. You do realize both Naruto and Sasuke want to be hokage. Naruto is the obvious candidate,but I’m certain something will come about with Sasuke assisting with Madara and crap. They are both powerful ninjas. It may be suggested the best way to determine who will succeed KAKASHI as the 7th Hokage will be a final tournament of sorts. The tournament makes since to me because it was a very high point for the series and hopefully Kishimoto wants to go out with a bang/nostalgic note. It wouldn’t be a fight to the death of course but I’m certain they would still go all out.

      Cass0
      Reply

      1. Read it more closely. “Death match”. A lot of people believe that Naruto will end up following through to fight Sasuke and “die along with him”. Fighting each other out of hatred or anything like that would destroy the whole purpose of Shippuden’s message and simply keep making history repeat itself.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

    2. Hmmmmmm Naruto can
      – fly,
      – has all the tail beast in him (at least partially),
      – has the Gudoudama behind his back
      – and two sticks

      Sasuke meanwhile
      – has one Rinnegan on his right eye…

      Right, this will surely be an even match.

      Ryuu
      Reply

  12. Aww it was too good to be true. Those sharingan eyes were just a loan.
    We just need to see all the other characters one more time before the time skip! 😛
    I’ll miss Minato R.I.P.

    random viewer
    Reply

  14. FYI: nobody seems to have mentioned this but Naruto and Sasuke are both still gennin, neither one of them has passed the chunnin exams so I’d expect that fun little issue to come up when deciding who will succeed Kakashi as Hokaga. Also Sasuke will be fine because besides saving the world and all the truth about Itachi will be revealed I’m sure and I have to ask this, besides being a missing ninja what were Sasuke’s crimes? He killed his brother (who was wanted at the time and…….anyone else, well Danso but he was kinda evil…..Killer Bee…..nope that was a fake……yeah see. But yeah back to what I said before both Naruto and Sasuke are both Gennin still, kinda funny when you think about it.

    DarkRios III
    Reply

    2. “I have to ask this, besides being a missing ninja what were Sasuke’s crimes? He killed his brother (who was wanted at the time and…….anyone else, well Danso but he was kinda evil…..Killer Bee…..nope that was a fake……yeah see. But yeah back to what I said before both Naruto and Sasuke are both Gennin still, kinda funny when you think about it.”

      Danzo’s actions were known and even endorsed, if reluctantly in Hiruzen’s case (I doubt he DIDN’T know about his general shadowy actions), by the higher-ups, so Sasuke still technically assassinated a “Kage” and Konoha official. Danzo’s ROOT is equivalent to the type of “extra Special Ops”, the types whose missions and results aren’t even put on the books, so if they’re captured or killed, there’s no way to directly trace them back to their home country and allowing plausible deniability.

      In terms of Bee, Sasuke was still acting in the service of a now-internationally wanted criminal organization. He may have failed in his task at actually capturing Bee, but that doesn’t change his intent or the fact that, again, he was directly and knowingly assisting Akatsuki in criminal actions.

      As said, he also attacked the Kage Summit and tried to kill ALL the Kage there while also killing numerous samurai from the Land of Iron. Again, just because he failed (sans Danzo), that doesn’t change the fact that he still made the attempt.

      That would be like trying to assassinate a major leader(s) (or kidnapping their relatives, in Bee’s case) in the name of a criminal organization, but failing and getting caught. You can’t say that just because you failed, you can’t be severely punished.

      And you do remember that Gai’s sensei was a Genin right? “The Eternal Genin”, a fully grown man.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

  16. I hope theres no more twists. This would be a very good spot to end the story. I can see the series going for a few more chapters to show an epilogue of sort to show what happened to every major character/players in the series. What happens to all the other Kages still alive, is there peace between the different countries, did Naruto or Kakashi become Hokage, and more.

    Even if the war is over I can still see the series going for a few months to wrap up any lose ends with a final comedic arc.

    YanDaMan
    Reply

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