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Continuing off from last week, we get the long awaited (it’s been a painful week!) discussion between all of the past Hokage and Sasuke (and Co.)… and it’s both a mixture of the expected and unexpected.
As expected, part of Sasuke’s inquiries are indeed about the Uchiha clan—specifically about Itachi and the orders he was given by the Third Hokage. We (and Sasuke) finally get solid confirmation of the fact that Itachi was intentionally sent on a mission to eliminate the Uchiha, which was then linked with the a planned branding of him as a traitor in order to insert him as a spy in Akatsuki. By now, most of the above was already known before hand (or at least heavily hinted at), but darn, it’s still quite ridiculous how much they asked him to do and how willing he was to throw away virtually everything for the village. Truly a “dark knight” if there’s ever been one.
Unexpectedly though, we got a lot more than I ever expected this chapter, as we got some pretty priceless banter between each generation’s respective Hokages. Seeing the shock at there actually being a Fourth (and Fifth Hokage—IT’S YOUR GRAND DAUGHTER! NO WAY!) from the one considered akin to a God… phew* Just great stuff. It’s amazing how different each of the Hokages were though, and words just can’t quite express the amount of awesomeness in that one scene with them all. In addition, there was that very intriguing reveal about how the Sharingan gets more powerful the more emotional the Uchiha gets, and how as a result they would all inevitably embark along a “cursed path.” At that point, I was just like “WELL, THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING” and I gotta say, Kishimoto deserves some props for suddenly pulling this reveal out there and giving some actual reason for all the things the certain Uchiha have done through the years—things many had merely previous attributed to emoness or just bad character personality/development. Now that we know it’s actually a psychological ailment… it really changes the whole perspective behind it all.
In the end though, perhaps the biggest surprise was in the exclamation that Orochimaru actually has no intent to use the Hokages in battle at all. Arguably, that was the first thought I had when they were revived last chapter (and I’m slightly bummed that it doesn’t look like they’ll be fighting in any capacity), but I guess it just shows that Sasuke just doesn’t really give that much of a damn about the other fight ongoing at the moment. Given his final question about the legacy of the village and the purpose of the Shinobi… and what the possible answers could be though… and I can’t blame him. To say the least, the next chapter and the answer to that question could possibly turn everything as we know it upside down. Next week certainly can’t come soon enough at this rate!
Ohhhhh loveeee now it all makes sense derp
So Sasuke got his eyes because of bromance?
Nah, he got it just because he is emo.
Nadester you are incorrect and the second is the greatest character in the history of naruto. Fantastic chapter
Sasukes excuse for a war with Konoha: “I’m not a bad guy, I’m just a guy with too much love“
This was actually a really good chapter. I wonder what Sasuke will do now.
This explaination clearly puts the fault on the Uchiha clan (being Emo and trying to take over the leaf) and paves the road for Naruto to one day flip Sasuke back to the good side. After hearing the hokage’s views I can clearly see why they did it and why Itachi turned on his own clan and eliminated them.
Itachi should one day be revealed as one of the leaf’s greatest heroes.
Yea I understand that but there’s always the “OMG I’M SO ANGRY AND THESE EYES CONTROL ME NAO” route 😉
As much as I would like to see Itachi be remembered as a hero of Konoha, I doubt that will happen. Itachi’s dying wish was for the Uchiha to be seen as a proud clan, and died a villain to keep that wish strong.
I have a feeling that the truth WILL get out somehow, but I don’t actually see how Kishi will go about that. It would be very interesting to see, but that’s just a wish at the back of my mind.
With all that said, I respect the fact that Sasuke wants to here the truth from them, and find his own way, (Since he was pretty much a puppet to anyone and everyone that spoke good words of power, or sly words of lies to him)
And if he doesn’t change completely, I hope it opens up a path for Naruto to get to him this time.
I was thoroughly entertained, wish some other shonen could make non-action chapters so good. . .
I haven’t had a chapter surprise me like that in a while.
True that, I just lost all respect for the First Hokage. He was like a completely different man compared to what I expected of him.
Did you expect him to not have a personality?
But the first Hokage is the funniest one among them. It may also imply that Harishima is a bad gambler since he did teach his granddaughter Tsunade, and she’s a terrible gambler most of the time.
619 chapter into the series, and we finally get confirmation that all Uchiha’s are super EMO’s.
that’s not REYlly a MYSTERIO to me.. no? okay 🙁
Huh, I guess this explains why Mangekyou Sharingan only activates when you kill your closest friend. Since the Sharingan is activated through loss, it would make sense that an even greater loss would initiate its next stage. It would probably also activate if that friend were killed in front of you, like it did for Obito, but the only sure fire way would be doing the dirty work yourself.
Well that, and taking their eyeballs for an no risk-Mangekyou Sharingan. It now makes sense why Tsunade gambles (Mindblown)
So the secret to great Uchiha power…. is inconsolable grief. Explains so much. And yet, you’d think it’d be more of a detriment than a gain; surely there are more emotionally healthier ways to channel it?
Also, just how rad is Hashirama? Too rad to stay too dead.
Someone noticed on facebook that Sasuke has his own Mangekyou Sharingan, when he should have Itachi’s, because he has his eyes now. Is it error?
And also if I understand corectly Tobirama don’t like Uchihas, because when they love someone too much and then lose him/her, they’re making lose themselves in despair, right? Sasuke has got Sharingan, because he was afraid that he might lose Naruto? And later, because he lost his brother? But why he improved his sharingan during fight with Naruto at the valley of the end? He didn’t lose anyone then or it’s just shows how much Naruto is important to him?
No, Sasuke achieved Sharingan WAYY before that. He achieved it after the massacre. Remember when Itachi was about to leave, Sasuke who was crying, awakened it and attacked Itachi, who of course dodged. Greater pain was brought about since his brother’s death, and then he achieved Mangekyo Sharingan. Since then his hatred and pain increased which made it stronger slowly. (I believe that was the only reason he was able to beat Danzo. The Sharingan got stronger over the course of the match.)
As for the completion of the perfect Sharingan during the Valley of the End, Sasuke thought of Naruto as a best friend, but he chose hatred, and severed ties with him at that same moment. So his Sharingan became complete and gained more power. It’s not a death, but it can be considered a great loss, considering how close they became.
Oh, I totally forgot about that! Thanks for answer 😉 And I agree about Danzo ( this made me think that maybe he lost to Hachibi, because he wasn’t in mood to fight with him too much )
Darth Vader MUCH?!
@Shirocat
I think that’s why Sasuke was able to “defeat” Killer Bee also. He was somehow more respectable at that fight, because he still had a heart for his teammates. When he saw Taka, fatigued, and remembered how they risked everything for him in the fight, it made him remember what he gave up on, (that being Team 7), and he probably gained Amaterasu from that “pain” too.
It may have been just a regular power up since gaining the MS, or it also could’ve been gained at that moment as well.
This is why I love this chapter so much now, all the “out of nowhere” events by Sasuke’s power can all be related to what we were told my Tobirama. Kishi really put thought into this part!
Every Uchiha has their own Mangekyo Sharingan style (from those we’ve seen). I think you might mean when Sasuke got the ETERNAL Mangekyo Sharingan, in which case, he DOES have Itachi’s Mangekyo mixed in like Madara has his own plus Izuna’s intermingled.
Only Sasuke’s and Shisui’s normal Mangekyos seems to be unique to others, which was still a “3-sided” pattern, like a more fancy 3-tomoe Sharingan as we see with Itachi, Kakashi/Obito, Madara, and Izuna. Sasuke has essentially a 6-sided one (atom-shaped and all) while Shisui had 4 points on his.
But the question I have, is why is Sasuke’s original Mangekyou there? I’ve seen it time and time before after his recovery from the transplant. Can he go from Mangekyou to Eternal Manegkyou at will?
When Sasuke got Itachi’s eyes transplanted, he obtained the eternal mangekyou. Its design is a combination of Itachi’s and Sasuke’s mangekyous, resulting in this:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120713002020/naruto/es/images/4/42/Sasuke_Mangekyo_Sharingan_Eterno.jpg
As you can see the “starry” white part comes from Sasuke’s mangekyou, and the center shuriken-styled black part comes from Itachi’s mangekyou. The same happened to Madara when he transplanted his brother’s eyes.
That I know. I’ve seen it, and I understand it. But what I don’t understand is how he can still use his regular Mangekyou. I was led to believe once its an EMS, everytime its activated it will be an EMS. But it wasn’t explained that he can still use his regular mangekyou at will.
I thought since he got the transplant, he’s MS would’ve transformed and permanently become the EMS. I just didn’t know he could still use his regular MS as much as he wanted.
He used EMS in battle vs the Zetsu’s and Kabuto, but used the MS for display after the battle with Kabuto, and here.
2 possibilities: a) it’s a drawing mistake b) it may be possible that he can switch bewteen normal sharingan, mangekyou and eternal mangekyou at will. Itachi could switch between normal and mangekyou, thus it is plausible; but we have no confirmation as the only other user of EMS is Madara.
Even though it feels as the explanatio is incomplete, it does answer a few questions.
But it raises also a interesting question besides the one he posed Hashirama and the one he might ask Minato.
If their sharingan comes from their emotional state, why seal their source of power as the uchiha did?
After all, if they got stronger depending on the emotions they feel then why try to seal their love since they might get stronger that way than with hate.
What I got from the chapter was that the Uchiha has inheritable biological traits that would twist the emotional power into something more negative. Forgetting the word use, “love” and “hate” as a psychological thing would mean that someone has a very strong attachment towards a subject, whether it’s a negative or a positive trait. Also, so far the “love” that I’ve seen by Uchiha people is more on the “whackadoodle” kind of love than, say, Kakashi? Though, Itachi seems to be the sole exception.
Most of them where probably whackadoodle with their love like Sasuke yes, but Shizuna and Itachi are the most prominent ones who didn’t go all evil from what we know of them.
It also made me think of a rather funny contradiction with that explanation.
The more hate they carried with them the stronger they got according to Tobirama, which is easily to believe with Madara and Obito while Itachi didn’t had so much hate in him while still being as strong as he ended up with his sharingan and other techniques.
However, damrod, what makes Itachi different is that he still has someone to love- Sasuke. And I think that this sole family bond with Sasuke superseded whatever feelings he had for his family. He was able to be as great as he wanted to be because he was doing everything for Sasuke’s protection, and that might even include slaying his entire family to do it. It may have even been the only thing he could do at the time where, since Sasuke back then was also the least culpable in the Uchiha coup, and so Itachi took the chance to save him only.
Which would mean he gained his strength not from hatred as the other Uchiha like Tobirama said but used his love for his little brother to get as strong as he got.
But it doesn’t answer the question as to why seal it up besides the danger of losing it like Obito did.
I think it’s more like Itachi got his power from the despair of having to kill his entire clan, but prevented his power from going out of control because of his love for his brother.Basically he probably had a lot of hate and despair in him to give him power, but his love for his brother kept him from going insane or get consumed by that hatred.Plus, it was mentioned consistently that Itachi had insane amount of talent and skill from birth, even for a Uchiha.
I think Shadowalker got it. Itachi’s immense natural talent became greater from the combined loss and trauma in exterminating his family, but he was able to keep in check- both in mind and body- by pinning his hopes on Sasuke.
Now the real question to be had is this: where can Sasuke go from here? Would knowing the truth actually benefit something for him, maybe even for good? I personally think that chance is slim, given that he was really into his power trip after slaying Danzo. He’s got to have some sort of retribution given for some of his actions throughout Shippuden.
So basically, Uchihas are psychologically prone to emo-ness and their doujutsu powers are fueled by emo-ness. Which means if Sasuke were to listen to a bit more Linkin Park, he could become the most power Uchiha of all existence.
There was some stuff I liked a lot in this chapter, namely the interactions between the Hokages, especially Hashirama and Tobirama. Both were very different personality wise from what I expected, but Hashirama’s Naruto-ness and Tobirama’s… darker personality as well as the good cop/bad cop atmosphere they projected were most enjoyable.
However, the reveal about the Uchiha was an extremely poor move on Kishimoto’s part. The fact that the Mangekyo Sharringan emerges when an Uchiha looses a loved one is no surprise, but Tobirama’s revelation that the Uchiha have what is essentially a hereditary biological/psychological mental illness is. It does explain Sasuke, Itachi, and Obito’s psychopathic behavior after they got their Mangekyo Sharringans, but it’s a very bad plot device for the following reasons.
First of all, it’s not a very relatable issue, in fact it almost feels like a cop out. A good villain becomes evil for reasons we can understand, even relate to. Unless you have a mental illness, “they became evil because their brains were wired wrong” isn’t something you can easily emphasize with. Now, the driving force behind all the main villains (except Orochimaru) is a mental illness. Compare this to previous villains such as Nagato (desire for world peace), Danzo (nationailsm), Pt. I Sasuke (Revenge), heck even Hidan and Kakuze have more relatable motivations than the Uchiha now. Dealing with loss and other negative emotions has been a constant theme in the manga, but dealing with mental issues has not, and feels disjointed from the earlier parts of the Manga.
The second problem with this is that it justifies Tobiramas opinion of the Uchiha. The reason racism and bigotry are so wrong is that there are no significant differences between the races; we’re all equal humans. Having the Uchiha be “incapable of dealing with loss” is uncomfortably similar to the old Victorian lunacy that “Blacks/Asians/Native Americans/Polynesians are inherently dumber/more servile/inferior to whites,” except that in this case the Uchiha really are different from normal humans. Not sure what sort of a message Kishimoto is trying to send here, but it doesn’t seem to be very… wholesome and opens up a whole new can of worms. How do you deal with what is literally a cursed clan? The sad fact is that in the end Tobirama was right; an Uchiha (Obito) proved incapable of dealing with loss, went insane, and now half the ninja world is dead.
Speaking of Tobirama, I still don’t get why he made the Uchiha Military Police and exactly how that backfired into the revolt. It was shown that he didn’t trust the Uchiha, but if so why did he put them in a permanent position of authority? It’s like putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank. The best I can come up with is that it was an effort at “Realpolitik;” by giving them a position of power they’d be more invested in the village’s success, and it’s also possible that he hoped that enduring the @$#%! cops have to deal with would help them learn emotional control. Whatever the case, it didn’t seem to be intended to “oppress” the Uchiha, and worked well enough until after the Kyuubi attack, when relations broke down. Speaking of, I still don’t get how the clan thought they had a chance in hell of controlling the leaf all by themselves, or how “The village dislikes us” translates into “take it over… then they’ll love us!” The entire Uchiha coup sub-plot just doesn’t make much sense. Guess it was more Uchiha mental issues.
Well, you make some interesting points.
But the way I see it, I feel like the mental illness is still a far better thing than the non-explanation we had before. A fair amount of people had gotten to a point where it seems like the Uchiha were merely “emo” peeps that would go nuts just for the sake of being emo or something. At least this gives them some actual explanation as to why. I don’t feel like something has to be relatable for it to be “good plot device” — and that it is actually good because it shakes the foundational beliefs we’ve been assuming all along. Now it all makes sense just how wise Itachi was, as well as emphasize even further the sacrifice he made and the things the second Hokage had to deal with during his years in charge. In the end, I believe it actually fits in quite well in the context of forgiveness — that you can’t really fault them for what happened and what they’ve done and it brings up an interesting question of “What exactly would you do if given a cursed clan like this to deal with or… what would you do if you have a small part of the population that are mentally ill, but present a grave threat to the overall society? At what point do you draw the line between doing something and considering that inhumane or humane?”
So the second Hokage basically had to make a tough choice. Inevitably, the Uchiha as a clan would ultimately go down the cursed path and revolt against the system — because when all else fails and you have no one else to hate for something bad that happens, humans will blame the institution, that which we call the system. So what do you do? Do you just eradicate them to prevent the threat you know is coming? No. It’d be impossible for people at the time to consider such a thing, especially with a clan with such influence and history. So what the Second Hokage did was pretty much the strategically best thing. The Uchiha were innately gifted for police enforcement, so what he ended up doing was utilize their abilities for the best of the community — give them the sense that they were doing something meaningful while the village received tangible benefits, while simultaneously separating them out of the village in case actual elimination was needed. Of course, it did backfire slightly because the autonomy and outside village location actually made it so their emotions were sped further along faster, but one could argue it was a sound plan at first. In addition, one can argue giving them a position of power would arguably lessen the likelihood they’d revolt, because they already held such high status.
Ultimately, the general situation managed to stay stable as a result for an entire generation… which is arguably much better than just eliminating them to begin with. The end result is the same, but the Second Hokage showed a lot of restraint by kind of giving them a leash. Arguably, this can be interpreted as there being a proper way to treat those that are mentally ill, and I feel like it ends up being quite the interesting and complex plot device as a result. In the end though, I do see where you’re coming from. It’s both a good and a bad plot device — depending on your perspective.
I can see where you’re coming from, but aren’t we forgetting something here when we say it’s a mental illness.I mean after experiencing a great loss it’s not considered strange for a normal human being to turn to a destructive and depraved path – not always but not that rare either.Only difference is Uchiha gain more power from that, by their eyes which mirror their feelings, so if I take that literally the issue isn’t that they are more emo or mentally unstable than normal humans, but the fact they gain more power from it.
Consider an alternative if you remove the element of Sharingan from the Uchiha would their actions/behavior be considered beyond being relate-able for a normal human being.
Hmm. I guess “mental illness” isn’t the best way to put it. General disposition towards acting that way I guess would be better.
This whole discussion is great, but Hochmeister, the poor decision wouldn’t be to include mental illness as part of the problem of the Uchiha’s history. It’d be to introduce a mental/physical explanation, and then finding a way to either cure it all away or to be exploited to increase power levels to an absurd extent.
Rather than a mental illness or predisposed condition, I think the chapter aimed more at discussing the dichotomy between two different kinds of love. On the one hand, we have the Senjuu and their descendants, whose love is pure and unrestricted, whether it is friend or foe, they try to maintain harmony and balance (as proven by Sarutobi, Jiraiya, Minato and Naruto). On the other hand, we have the obsessive love of the Uchihas, although it is love indeed, it derives into fear and anger, because as Tobirama said, when they experience emotional situations involving their loved ones, a huge power arouses from their eyes. In an attempt to preserve that love from any danger, they become more and more powerful, up to a point where they are consumed by this feeling of power. This reminds me of Yoda’s phrase in the Phantom Menace: “the fear of loss is the path to the dark side, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering”.
@Zephyr: It does raise some interesting ethical issues, but I still feel that it’s being used as a blanket way to explain all the Uchiha’s problems at once. Up to now I was under the impression that Madara, Sasuke, and Obito were evil for different reasons. Madara seemed to be a warmonger (a bit like the Major in Hellsing) who didn’t want to stop fighting, and couldn’t stand loosing. Sasuke’s the most confusing of the bunch, I get that Itach’s treatment made him angry at Konoha, but not his deranged behavior during the Kage summit arc. As for Obito, I was under the impression that it was not just that Rin died, but that Kakashi killed her that really shoved him over the edge. Kakashi effectively shattered all his ideals when he stabbed Rin, which left him vulnerable to Madara’s plan. Yeah, Tobirama’s explanation works as well, perhaps better, in explaining why they all went off the deep end, but I don’t like how it fits all the Uchiha into the same mold.
@shadowalker, SouthSky: I re-read the chapter, and you’re right, Tobirama’s explanation is a bit more ambiguous than straight up “mental illness.” However, I’m almost certain that he was saying that there’s something special about the Sharringan that turns the Uchiha dark. He stated that activating it would invariably cause them to follow a “depraved” path, and that he had seen it happen multiple times. Also, the fact that Hashirama didn’t contradict him on this point, despite arguing with him about everything else he said about the Uchiha tells me that he agrees that there’s something sinister about the Uchiha that causes them to go nuts. It also fits extremely well with the events of the Kage summit arc. Remember how right after Sasuke got his Mangekyo Karin started noting that his chakra was “darker,” and as he started going even crazier during that arc, culminating in stabbing her (when earlier he had done his best to protect his team), continual emphasis was placed on his “dark” chakra. Heck, Kyuubi said even before he got his MS that his chakra was “more sinister” than his own. I guess the ambiguity is whether the dark chakra is simply a by-product of their hatred, or does it inflame their hatred? Perhaps it’s more like a feedback loop; the Uchiha activates his MS, then when he’s using it in anger the “dark” chakra makes him angrier, making the chakra “darker,” until they’re completely nuts. The gist of the chapter though seems to be that the Uchiha have emotional problems beyond non-Uchiha, that their clan is, after all, “cursed.”
@The Truth is in the Axe: That would be poor indeed.
The Uchiha aren’t a race of people. They are a family of related people. If a mental disease is inheritable then it isn’t racist or stereotyping to assume that many members of a family has that disease. Its just genetics. There is something similar in the real world where certain types of Jewish people are more likely to have Tay-Sachs disease and the british royal family is more likely to have Haemophilia.
Goood chapter. Really liked all the fun banter between the Kages, as well as the interesting history.
I still wonder if the Hokage’s couldn’t just override the Edo Tensei, like Madara. I would enjoy seeing what results from that.
At least Tobirama can do that too since he made the jutsu in the first place.
Hashirama and Hiruzen might be able too, although i doubt that Minato knows how without some kind of explanation.
Considering his plan with Naruto and the Nine-Tails it wouldn’t be strange if Minato has something up his sleeve, he’s a bit like Itachi in that aspect.
This does explain alot to me. Before Tobi’s identity was revealed, I really couldn’t believe that it might be Obito (the guy was practically Naruto with black hair in terms of personality. His words are still remembered by Kakashi. So I really couldn’t understand how seeing Rin(?) die twisted him so much. I’m sure he’s seen tons of people die beforehand since there was a war then and he even still believed in his friends while he was trapped with Madara). I really couldn’t see how he didn’t ask for an explanation afterward. But seeing as how going crazy is basically inevitable after losing someone they love, I guess I could accept it now.
But readin this chapter really hammers in the fact that Itachi was so bada$$. Him dying was such a waste. He’s given up so much for the village and noone will ever know. 🙁
I don’t really see him dying as a “waste” just because people will never know. There are something’s in life that should remain in the dark. I think what would actually make his death a waste would be the village knowing. That would mean he died for nothing.
Trying to keep the legacy of the Uchiha alive, only for it to be damaged after his death. That’s the true waste. Its sad, but its the best way.
The important thing is that the village is safe and the Uchiha are remembered as a proud part of Konoha. Itachi could care less about having a title like Hero of Konoha branded on him, that’s what I know.
Remember what Shisui taught him? “Self-sacrifice….a nameless shinobi who protects peace from the shadows.”
So when I said he wouldn’t accept that title of hero, is because of that quote. Itachi, a true shinobi, that’s how he should be seen. A true shinobi and a hero are 2 different things.
A true shinobi is as Shisui described. A hero is someone who people respect and look to for guidance and comfort. Naruto can fit that category.
Tobirama talking shit lol he doesn’t give a fuck that Sasuke is standing right there
What a pimp.
Madara’s reaction faces.
Normal: ‘_’
Amused: ‘_’
Surprised: ‘_’
Impressed: ‘_’
Annoyed: ‘_’
Upon learning of Hashirama’s revival: ♥_♥
Would probably be hilarious to see Madara or Obito going all lovestruck over one of the four kages and their strength.
“but I guess it just shows that Sasuke just doesn’t really give that much of a damn about the other fight ongoing at the moment. ”
I think it’s funny that you said that, considering that “other fight ongoing” is the final decisive fight between the entire ninja world and two people trying to end it.
This chapter surprised me in a good way. Can’t wait for next week’s answers!
I love this chapter, it was great. 1st Hokage was funny as hell, 2nd Hokage was sorta like Danzo.
I think it would be a waste to not have the Hokages into battle though. Hopefully after everything Sasuke wants to know is answered Orochimaru will just let the Hokages be and let them go join the fray on their own will. I think the fans deserve some of the best fanservice this manga can offer right now.
Sooo for the Uchiha… being emo == MOARPOWEEEERRRR!!!
Since it was Tobirama that created Edo Tensei shouldn’t he be able to release himself from it.
So Uchiha had EMO functions hidden in their brains all this time… Oh’ kay.
So um guys…whatever the hell happened to Yamato!? Ever since getting kidnapped he just kinda vanished.
correct me guys…
he’s a vessel used by obito or kabuto for creating the juubi?
Yamato’s still stuck inside Hashirama’s clone, deep down in Madara’s creepy cave of creepiness – http://images.wikia.com/naruto/images/c/c5/Yamato_fused_with_Hashirama%27s_living_clone.png
or, as the Net likes to put it: http://memecrunch.com/meme/8H8F/r-i-p-yamato-s-ass/image.png
Damn, I didn’t even notice that Yamato was missing… Gotta reread the entire ninja war arc now…
I don’t think it’s mental illness so much as selective pressure towards harmful patterns of thought and action. It’s the development of a culture.
Think of it in terms of memetic evolution. Uchiha that give in to negative emotions gain corresponding power. The worse their mental state, the greater their power. The ones that go completely insane don’t gain any political power, of course, but the ones that do gain power do it by their strength, and they are almost certainly emotionally unstable. They, in turn, teach the next generation. Even assuming that each generation has a few people like Itachi, who gain great power without breaking down emotionally, the Uchiha as a population will still grow towards mental instability.
That’s how the Uchiha “sealed away love”: Not by becoming incapable of it, not by drugs or by jutsu or by physical evolution*, but by developing a culture that strangles it, because being mentally healthy makes them measurably weaker. It’s the result of positive reinforcement for uncontrollable hatred and grief and no such reinforcement for love and forgiveness and healing. That sort of memetic development is the same reason cultures tend to gravitate towards the same set of laws.
And, in retrospect, it explains a great deal about their feuding with the Senju. How do you expect a clan of people without any ability to deal with grief to stop a cycle of revenge?
* That said, there will be evolutionary pressure towards mental illness eventually, since that’s a sure source of the emotional instability that makes Uchiha strong. Evolution takes many generations, though, so it wouldn’t happen quickly, and by the time it was a factor the culture would already be established. It would also be a little like the sickle cell gene, though — since it acts both positively and negatively to selective pressure (SCA/SCD but also malaria resistance for sickle cell, the tendency to murder your family but also power! for Uchiha mental instability), it won’t reach universal prevalence among the population. Sickle cell is about 25% among relevant populations, for example — certainly a relevant subsection, but not universal.
Now, i would like to know Madara’s side of the story. What did he loose to activate is sharingan? What was his rationale for wanting to change the world?
And then i am wondering what is inside Oroshimaru’s head? What his real objective is? Destroying the leaf village was a stepping stone for his objective. Right now, it seems that such objective is partially fulfilled since he doesn’t care about the state of the village.
Kishi just went Star Wars with this chapter.I mean, Star Wars references were already well embedded within since the beginning, but this chapter literally went Star Wars with the “When they lose loved ones they go down the cursed path” stuff the Third was talking about.
The Sharingan represents the dark side!
Best part about the chapter was definitely the banter between the Hokages.
I’m just waiting for Minato to ask Sasuke about Naruto. I don’t think Sasuke knows his ex-teammates parentage yet. The shock of him learning that would be awesome.
I’m anticipating in the next chapter that the fact Madara has been revived via Edo Tensei will come up. The four hokage will reel and be like “something has to be done” and Sasuke will say “nah, Naruto will do with Madara and Tobi” with complete confidence. At which point the 3rd and 4th hokage will be surprised and proud to hear that hes become so powerful to be able to deal with Madara. Then Sasuke will break up their banter with a statement like “then I’m going to kill Naruto” and dismiss the hokage from Edo Tensei.
Great chapter…though not as heart-poundingly awesome as last chapter. And yeah more Hokage banter. When this finally makes it to the anime it should be great.
If Naruto and Minato don’t get to meet at some point and Minato just gets sealed away again without interacting with Naruto/anyone else I will lose my mind. Naruto deserves a chance to see his dad, and I will be so irritated if it doesn’t happen.
I would like know if Minato currently has Kurama’s yin chakra, because if so I could imagine a scenario where he goes/ends up on the battlefield and gives it back to Naruto/Kurama somehow to help them at a crucial moment in battle.
Sasuke : First Hokage, let me ask u. How big was ur wife’s boobs? To be having a grandaughter like tsunade.
First : Well~~~ of course its very enorm-
Second : BROTHER !
First : What ?! A young uchiha wants to know how my wife was, nothing is wrong with that 🙁
Fourth : *curious* Third, can it be bigger then kushina’s?
Third : FOURTH ! Stop it.
Orochimaru : ……
Everyone : *Stares at orochimaru*
Orochimaru : Fine… Edo Tensei !
Everyone : ….M-M-M-MELON…
Still waiting on that Byakugan explanation and where it fits in with everything Kishimoto.
Now that you mention it, did they ever get some kind of explanation besides how their eye techniques work?
Zephyr, you say that the hokages may not join the ongoing battles. Really? I think once Orochimaru spills the beans that Madara’s been revived, they’re going to want to join in the battle.
And seeing how technically Orochimaru and Obito are not on the same side, I don’t see how Orochimaru will prevent them.
Or I could just be wrong.
I, for one, am expecting a reunion between Minato and Naruto for the comedic meeting similar to the one when Kurama was resealed during the Pain invasion.
So basically, the Uchiha Clan are/were the Hulks of the Shinobi world (don’t make them emo… you wouldn’t like them when they’re emo)
Wonder if Kishimoto came up with that when he first created the series, or did he create that after reading all the 1001+ emo jokes of Sasuke on the Internet? ^^
I quite like the First, he’s got a bit of a Jiraiya vibe going on, unlike his jerk of a brother – Tobi(rama) is a bad boy >.<
On the First, I'd love to see how he'd react when finding out not only about the flower-clone Madara made, but Yamato as well
Whether Team Kage will see some action on the battlefield.. welp, that's up to Orochimaru aka Hand of Kishimoto, since even if they tried to make a run (unless they incapacitate him) all he would have to do is cancel the Jutsu… unless Tobirama can undo the seal in time.
Speaking of Seals – so the Shiki Fūjin was connected to the Uzumaki Clan. One thought on it though – if opening the stomach released all souls, shouldn't there have been more then just Orochi's arms + 4 Kages (and Kurama's Yin Energy), or did the mask give Orochimaru precise control as to what was allowed to leave?
if Late Hokaages will going to help the others,i prefer that when they already in desperate situation
i think Minato already know about the current situation because he once said he saw everything inside Naruto
Plotholes: Why didn’t Orochimaru release the seal earlier?
Why couldn’t Tobirama release themselves from “Edo Tensei”
What exactly is the difference between Kabuto’s and Orochimaru’s “Edo Tensei”
Was there no Shinobi left in the village? I mean Seriously? Arent there renegade
Shinobi, bandits and the like running around? What ever happened to “Let’s attack
while theyre busy with the war?”
Born an Uchiha = destined to be an emo
so is i the only one thinking the uciha clan gets it’s power from the ten tales?
We need more chapter like this. I would rather see them having a good conversation than fighting to death.
lols at all the emo comments .. sigh .. but i guess that’s how the internet rolls these days, once a meme is made it sticks no matter what logical explanations are given to debunk it XD
The way i see it is that the Uchiha are more “invested” or obsessive in their love, i wouldn’t call a mental illness or just “being emo”, there are entire groups of people in real life how are know to be more hot-blooded and tend to express their love in a similar fashion to he Uchiha due to both cultural, weather as well as heredity/genetics .. like most of the Mediterranean cultures .. Italians, Egyptians, Libyans, .. etc etc are known to be hot-blooded and tend to act rashly whether they are expressing love or hatred.
Either way, it was a blast to the all the different Hokage getting to know each other, it was both entertaining/funny and also fleshed their characters in many ways, the one who really surprised me wasn’t the first Hokage and his funny antics .. but rather Orochimaru, he seems to have changed a great deal .. he blamed the 2nd for creating a powerful jutsu .. doesn’t seem interested in destroying Konoha anymore (when he could simply use the four hokages to do that and no one will stop him) and seems to have even given up on stealing Sasuke’s body .. he seems very composed and reasonable … so i really wonder if he is being super-sly here or he really changed .. and if he changed .. what’s his goal exactly now .. he just can’t be helping Sasuke for no reason !!?