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After another multi-week break since the last chapter, Naruto’s finally back… albeit with a chapter that brings with it a lot of mixed feelings.
On one hand, it’s nice to see what exactly happened to Rin—who, as it turns out, intentionally impaled herself on Kakashi’s Raikiri—but at the same time, the context behind this revelation (and the actions during and after it), admittedly had me going a bit “Hmmm…” I mean, sure, the previous chapters had kind of hinted at the fact that Kakashi wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger on Obito should the chance arise… but actually seeing Kakashi try to talk Obito out of what he was doing still caught me a tad bit off guard—not only because he should know by now there’s no way talking will work (and even if it did, he’d never be spared by the ninja of other villages), but also because this would ultimately lead to a sequence where Obito pretty much impales himself on purpose. I know it fits in with the whole flashback regarding Rin, and to that end continues the cycle of repetition that we’ve seen many times in Naruto before… but at the same time, it just doesn’t feel right. After doing all he’s done, I just find it odd that he’d choose this moment to just kind of “give up.” Again, this is something that could be rationalized by Obito being Obito—you know, him basically being a kid that never really grew up/matured properly—but gosh darn, it’s still a bit hard to accept that things ended up this way (assuming Obito is actually going to be out of the picture soon).
Moving on though, the revelation of what happened to Rin ultimately postpones the return of the Hokage… whose help seems desperately needed. And well, while it’s not surprising at the least—considering how Madara’s just pretty much insanely overpowered at this point—I still kind of would’ve liked it if the Ninja Army actually did something worthwhile to challenge him as the embodiment of the future so to speak. Yes, they’ve finally kind of unified to protect Naruto now that he’s out of gas defending them… but it feels too little, too late at this point. Again, this development kind of fits in with the cyclical nature of Naruto and the fact that it seems like Kishimoto’s trying to make it so that the older generation will be the one that fixes the problems they caused so that the new generation can safely deal with their own… but it still feels like the Ninja Army has been drastically under-powered (and under-used) up until this point. Though… I do suppose that’s what happens when you have an enemy like Madara hanging around.
Ultimately, yeah… it’s a lot of mixed feelings this week. I guess after all these delays, I kind of expected a bit more from this chapter. It’s not to say that Kishimoto dropped the ball, but I do feel like he’s kind of let it fumble a bit from time to time recently. Moving on though, at least the Hokage should be making their appearance soon—and well, let’s just say if it’s done right, it’d easily overshadow any of the “Hmmmm” elements from this (and recent) chapters. Gosh darn it, they just can’t arrive soon enough!
Author’s Note: Admittedly, I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to be in the mood/have the time to post this—considering everything that’s happened in the past few weeks (and will happen in the coming days)—but well, here we are. I’d just like to say though… if there’s one thing I’ve learned recently, it’s that life is short. As such, be sure to cherish the friends and family that are close to you—because you just never know what life has in store.
I’m interested to see how many of you still hate Sasuke. Up vote for hate down vote for like
It’s not that I hate Sasuke, I just hate how whiny he became.
Sasuke cannot possibly be whinier than Naruto or Minato. Oh the crybabies.
What the heck does your comment have to do with this chapter?
Guess I’ll do the same: Since Diedara is a fundamental part of this chapter, Upvote if you still like him, downvote if not. Because, obviously this means people won’t downvote for different reasons.
It feels like they can’t really decide where to take Sasuke. Now, I’m not saying (yet) that Sasuke has turned “good”, but when you consider his sudden shift in attitude when, not THAT long ago, he looked like an even more insane psychopath after gaining the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and even declaring to undead Itachi that, after hearing his story, he hates the village even MORE than before, it just feels really forced, much like the sudden revelation of Rin’s death.
Perhaps, but we’re still left in the dark about Sasuke’s real intentions remember when Sasuke asks Orochimaru his true intentions for attacking the village and we never got a reply. Until we know that revelation of why Orochimaru went after the leaf we can’t really know or tell whether Sasuke’s intention is to protect or destroy the village or villages.
I hope Kishi doesn’t try to turn Naruto into a reincarnation of the Sage of the Six Paths and saves the world.
I’m personally more than satisfied with an ending where the combined strengths of the Four Hokages eventually weakens Madara and I’m good with Naruto giving the final blow.
Please, Kishimoto-san, I’ve really disliked the overpowered Naruto as of now. Let the Edo Hokages take the spotlight now.
I would’ve been fine with Naruto being as powerful as he was now IF…
1.) He started out a lot stronger than he was at the start of Part 2. You know, actually show progress from “training” under Jiraiya besides an uncontrollable 4-tailed state (which couldn’t even do anything to Orochimaru, so I doubt it would’ve done any good against the other members), and SLIGHT variations on things we’ve seen a lot before.
2.) They had him actually do more of the different types of training he had started, yet ditched to play hero. (Each of his training bits; elemental, Sage, and Kurama chakra all only ranged to a few days to a few weeks, never having actually finished ANY of them and the reason for each one was to run off to save the day.)
3.) Actually experience a lot more of “reality” (without hax revivals) to actually “deserve” his power-ups that made him so much stronger in such an insanely short period of time. The only ones being Jiraiya (which he never witnessed, only heard about), and Neji (which honestly didn’t feel like it “mattered” to me).
Sure, the Sharingan itself may have been shown to be more and more hax by itself, but at least it’s still “Sasuke’s” power and, unlike Kurama, not an entirely separate, sentient, power source that conveniently kicks in to save him. Not to mention that it’s been shown in Part 2 that he DID put serious efforts in his training during the 2 1/2 year time skip and it greatly shows with his re-encounter with Team 7. If anything, it’s been Sasuke who’s been having to face more and more “reality” than Naruto ever has so far.
At least with elemental training the few days was multiplied by 2000 which would give him about 5 years worth of experience.
First, he did master sage training, which Jiraiya himself wasn’t able to evident by having to fuse with the sage toads and his face starting to change into a frog. He also completely mastered the kyuubi chakra as much as anyone could while the bijuu was still fighting against him.
So Sasuke being born with the most overpowered kekei genkai means he deserves it more? Yeah, it’s not like Naruto needed to gain enough power of his own to control the Kyuubi chakra or anything right?
Also, I guess Naruto never knowing his parents and growing up alone, feared and ignored by everyone in the village to only gain a brother in Sasuke then lose him and a father/grandfather figure in Jiraiya then lose him, all while fighting against a monster that until recently was causing him as much harm as good isn’t enough reality hmm.
cof.. curse seal.
well…since this is shounen manga and Naruto is the main character
you better pray hard
So what if Naruto becomes a super ninja and kicks Madara’s ass, actually I would want Naruto to be the next Sage of the Six Paths and I am not fine with that kind of ending, this is not an american animated tv show, this is a Japanese Shounen Anime show, I’ve seen that kind of ending one too many times in a lot of shows and that was corny. Naruto is the main character and the titled character of the show, so the show is about him and his quest to become Hokage and change the ninja world and Naruto would need to be on the same level as the Sage of the Six Paths if He is to fight against Madara Uchiha and his rinnegan. Once again the name of the show is Naruto and not the Five Kages.
Kakashi: “You can still come back man…I mean you only unleashed the nine tails on leaf, got Minato and Kushina and a whole of Konoha shinobi killed…when on to kill Konan, arranged for Sasuke to kill Danzou, laughed when Sasuke impaled Karin, founded Akatsuki, and waged war on all nations that got over fifty thousand people killed, not to mention you summoned the Ten Tails and are trying to destroy the world so you can live in a dream world. Come on become a good guy again.”
At this point if Obito really is affected by talk no jutsu I don’t know man…and yet Kishi sensei seems to be showing an Obito that is in denial rather than outright insane.
I wonder if Obito really impaled himself on the Raikiri, or is it just a genjutsu he cast to illustrate his point.
If you look here, there was a close-up of his Sharingan right before that, which could be when the genjutsu was used.
good point, I mean it is technically impossible for someone to live without a heart.
Anyway, I am surprised that Rin as Isobu’s host. I guess that means that Yagura is younger than I thought.
My main questions are
1) Will Tsunade be helped by her long dead relatives? Or will she die?
2) Now that the ten-tails is “disconnected” from the two Uchiha, is it attacking people indiscriminately or does it think that Madara and Tobi are his allies. And will the Ten-Tails kill the two Uchiha before they gain control over the thing?
3) Is this the final form of the Ten-Tails?
4) What are the chances of Naruto regaining his energy?
5) If Madara uses Sussano on the Ten-Tails, how strong will it become?
6) Will Kakashi be the one to kill Obito?
Find out in the next action packed episode of Naruto Z
There are two possible explanations. The first is genjutsu as you said, but the other is that he doesn’t have a heart. Remember how zetsu said that he wouldn’t need to eat anymore? The implication is that the zetsu half Madara stitched on him made him more plant than human.
I was confused at the Obito part impaling himself. It seems like he was perfectly fine at the end, not bleeding through the mouth or anything that indicate he’s dying. Its like he’s trying to prove a point or something without actually dying for it, maybe I misinterpreted it.
Finally! Kakashi tore Obito a new Asshole… I mean Windhole.
So Obito is a hollow now? 😛
He becomes Ulquiorra… or vice versa not really sure…
Nah, not even close o.O! Ulquiorra isn’t a fagg0t :D!
Naruto sucks.
well, at least your honest.
Unless they’re a tsundere. It’s not like I want to read this manga!
The reason for Rin’s death almost feels… flat. Like they just tacked on that she got kidnapped to become a monster time bomb for the sake of making the situation seem extraordinary.
I also thought it weird that anytime they mentioned that Rin died, it was in the context of Obito’s “dying” request to Kakashi and how it wasn’t fulfilled. It’s not as if having a friend die by your hand isn’t upsetting enough as it is; they also have to add in a broken promise to it. Maybe it suggests more about Obito’s current state of mind and how far it’s gone from who he used to be?
And it makes a lot of what Obito’s done feel almost pointless with him revealing that he KNEW why Rin died and now turning it into like Naruto and saying it’s the system…
I’m hoping it’s just this one chapter, but I dunno. I’m getting this vibe that Obito is making it a lot more about him than it is to appeal to some sort of morality. If he really wanted to hurt Kakashi emotionally, he could just have pulled a “all your friends have died for you” clause with broken promises as a continuing sub-argument. Like, he can’t protect the living and honor the dead.
But then again, I thought it was weird that Kakashi doesn’t also say to Rin that he’s protecting her as a beloved friend to go along with the “keeping Obito’s promise to protect her.” Maybe it was implicitly stated, or maybe there was something lost in the translation. But overall, it’s really feeling more like Rin got turned into a prop, and that’s doing injustice to these three’s side-story where they went through a lot together and were influential to each other’s lives.
sasuke is still redeemable IMHO, but obito, i dont think so after all he has done to all the countries.
lol Oh Kishi, good thing i dont really care much for logic in this series anymore
They really love teasing the “Naruto as the next sage of six paths” thing and then immediately dropping it the next page…
He isn’t Ninja Jesus for nothing. Just like how Luffy is Pirate Jesus, Ichigo is ShinigamiHollowQuincyHumanFullBringerCheesecakeLonerStonerFuckerBarakOBama Jesus.
Ninja Army Jutsu! (That would have been a funnier title.) ^-_-^
He already did that like 30 chapters ago. Wasn’t it called the Wind Cutting jutsu?
Obito is always bad guy material for me, his redemption is not worthy for slightest…. Destroying konoha, akatsuki founder and summoned kyubii also kill his sensei otp
Man this week chapter kinda slow for me, i miss previous hokage team…
It almost feels like this chapter made in direct response to all the fans that kept bringing up just how stupid it was that Obito started the war over being unable to handle Rin’s death; by having him say it WASN’T because of that, and even saying he KNEW the reason why Rin was killed which really makes things seem all the more forced and confusing.
Now they’re taking the whole “Naruto gone wrong” foil even further with Obito essentially ALSO wanting to rid the world of the shinobi system.
why did the mist choose rin?
why did the mist shinobi want rin’s corpse?
My guesses are this:
1) They captured Rin before from some random battle and just decided she would be more useful to them alive as a temporary jinchuriki.
2) They wanted to get Isobu (the Sanbi) back.
Forgot to add to 1) a Trojan Horse.
About 2) the sanbi died with rin,so why still take her corpse?
Well, it (and Rin) have been dead at that point, since they were able to not only take it, but also put it into their 4th Mizukage. And then they lost it anyway because it was out in the wild when Obito found it again as Tobi.
Though that begs the question of why Madara didn’t have a Proto-Zetsu take her with them and keep Rin alive for THEIR plans. Then she could’ve been a villain and not a prop. Or at the very least, a more RELAVENT prop.
Wow, Kishi just keeps digging this hole deeper and deeper.
* might not have been dead
I don’t know.. remember that rin’s corpse is in konoha(her grave)
But Bijuu die if their host dies, don’t they? And the Mist Village definitely had Sanbi afterwards, so for all we know, that grave might be empty. Or the leaf got her body later during a random mission. Either way, this “twist” raises more questions than answers.
Uchihahaha!
Now where’s my rape face? Madara, Sasuke, and Itachi had one! 🙁
I love how they’re trying to make people care about Rin by randomly adding backstory that should’ve been given years ago, but still doesn’t give her any personality.
“Oh, you didn’t like that plain member of Kakashi and Obito’s team? Well did you know she sacrificed herself to save her friends? Oh wait, that’s what pretty much all flashback characters did that drove the bad guys to evil. But did you know that she was also THE JINCHURIKI OF SANBI? Wait, that doesn’t make any sense…”
that wasn’t back story for the sake of making you care for Rin, it was a backstory to give context to Obito’s decisions and the pretext for their altercation. Also how does it not make sense? Makes perfect sense to me, was during the war and the enemy had a plan to sneak a Bijuu into Konoha
Whoops…
I think what he’s saying is that, like what we already knew about Obito’s explanation for being evil, adding all of this about the Sanbi in is too little too late and frankly a bit random. We still don’t know anything about Rin personally, (and barely know Obito), so it makes it hard to care about either her as a character. And since she’s the catalyst for all of this, it makes it hard to care about Obito’s motivations. Which is disappointing, considering he is supposed to be the 2nd biggest threat in the story.
Maybe if we had an arc when Tobi and Deidara were looking for the Sanbi (that wasn’t filler) and somehow Rin’s involvement and death were brought up, that would be more relevant, but the final battle is just the worst place to bring it up.
Did anyone notice page 8 when there seems to be all of tailed beats coming out of Naruto (including the Ichibi, which we haven’t seen in awhile?) Do you think the 10 tails somehow saw an embodiment of the sage in Naruto, and got super pissed? Is that what that page is trying to display?
Lol the Hokages would probably pull a Yamamoto, i.e. powerful at the beginning but eventually owned by whatever wierd Yin Yang technique that Madara pulls out, paving the way for the final confrontation involving guess who, Naruto.
Thanks for taking time out to post your thoughts on Naruto, Zephyr. Good luck with everything that is being thrown your way, and our thoughts are with you!
Looks like someone lost big time while playing poker with Kakuzu.
For all the haters of this chapter, I for one thought it did the best it could with what was available. Some additional “Ummph” in the Rin/Kakashi/Obito had to be dealt with in just a few pages before the Hokage and Naruto save the day and end the series.
Could Kishi have done better when looking at the manga of Naruto as a whole? Absolutely. Sakura could have been a more main power-trained character like her teammates, Orochimaru could have extended a more natural course of manipulation, zombie jutsu giving old characters screen-time could have been executed better to feel less like an asspull to give an otherwise secondary character plot power, the village/hate/stupidity system cycle could have been more well-established, and the Jesus Naruto pulling a world-get-together-everyone-now-gets-along could feel more powerful and realistic if earned more across the series……
But you know what? That’s the past. And this is the present. Whats done is done, and unless Kishi wants another decade to totally rewrite all the negative aspects out, no amount of hate will put down that for what is laid out already, this was a fairly good chapter. It gives an ending to Obito’s backstory and fills up why he thought the way he did, instead of being in specific revenge to Kakashi or the Mist.
Is the logic and execution stupid when looked closely? Yes. But can you think of anything else to put without extending a chapter that fills that same place? Probably not, at least with a mangaka’s work schedule. If you haven’t noticed, its a damn ton of work just to physically make a chapter, let alone script and publish it weekly do to social, peer, and job pressure. Its clear he just wants done with this series and wants to move onto Mario or just some other ideas floating in his head. Hell, if you’ve seen the one-shot of Naruto, you’d see just what he initially had in mind for it, which was definitely not THIS Naruto.
So for all the haters, lay off, let the man make his mistakes, and put up with it. It baffles me how critical so many are, yet when I or another put that same pressure onto other series, we’re downvoted for not liking what the author is doing to the characters or plot, and told to read/watch something else if we don’t like it, even if its a long-runner we’ve invested in.
So, what you’re saying is…people should stifle their opinions unless they have something positive to say…because mistakes in the past should never be brought up again?
You know, that might be a bit easier to do if this chapter wasn’t all about rubbing the exact thing that pissed people off in their faces for 19 pages.
This might be hard to believe, but sometimes people critique things because they CARE about the story enough to not overlook these sorts of flaws.
Try to re-read what I wrote. You’re totally missing my points. I have critiqued things because I care, and that is why I got downvoted unless what I say is popular (been upvoted a lot too). I’m just stating the results of what happens when opinions are shown. I never said to stop the criticizing, only to accept that this is the fact of life and to suck it up because its not going to change at this point. I’m just voicing my own opinion of others (from my PoV) crybaby crap. “WHINE WHINE WHINE THIS SUCKS. KISHI IS RETARDED FOR DOING THIS.” Can you see how this would get old fast? I think I got the point after several posts. The points are already very obvious.
If this was still in the 20th chapter, I’d go all out, and I wouldn’t mind others doing it too. But if you haven’t noticed, I even criticized Naruto’s story in my own post. What I will criticize about you though is that you shouldn’t assume people (me) to not have the capacity of thinking other people could not do certain things. Your chain (leap) of logic is what I hate in exaggeration.
That is a fair point, it does get old pretty quick. I guess personally, I just want to make my own personal two cents about the matter as a fan.
I think what he’s saying is that, like what we already knew about Obito’s explanation for being evil, adding all of this about the Sanbi in is too little too late and frankly a bit random. We still don’t know anything about Rin personally, (and barely know Obito), so it makes it hard to care about either her as a character. And since she’s the catalyst for all of this, it makes it hard to care about Obito’s motivations. Which is disappointing, considering he is supposed to be the 2nd biggest threat in the story.
Maybe if we had an arc when Tobi and Deidara were looking for the Sanbi (that wasn’t filler) and somehow Rin’s involvement and death were brought up, that would be more relevant, but the final battle is just the worst place to bring it up.
At this point, its the ONLY place to bring it up. What other area is there left to show why Kakashi stabbed Rin, and Obito’s knowledge of it?
There is always the option of just leaving it alone. Sure, people are gonna whine, but they’d whine no matter what the given explanation at this point (as shown here when they actually tried to explain it.
Or they could release a side story interquel after the series is done, since they’ve done that in the manga so much already. There are plenty of options.
I doubt a side-story like that would gain positive reception, especially by this fanbase. And as we both agree, no matter what was done, it would be criticized heavily by this point. But this gets a bit off track. My own point was that it is not random, not that the event was bad or good. Two dudes, fight while giving back-and-forth talk about their backstory, maybe with a revelation thrown in. Tacked on? Yes. But not exactly random in a shounen series, especially near the end.
Well, yeah, there’s always going to be detractors to something, but that shouldn’t be enough to discourage a potential project.
And you at least gotta admit that the use of her as a host for Sanbi is pretty random. Especially since it just seems to raise more questions.
No, you’re confusing events. I’m saying the discussion itself is not random, not the content within that discussion.
Wait, so now people are mad that Obito didn’t start a world-wide Ninja war over a girl and his best friend?
I think it’s pretty obvious that the theme of Naruto is repetition and a cycle of sacrifices upon sacrifices, caused by the Ninja system that requires people to make unfair choices for the sake of the clan/village. Hashirama and Madara wanted to end it to protect their siblings, but failed, Kakashi unintentionally kills Rin due to the latter sacrificing herself for the village, Itachi turned on his own clan for the sake of the village, Jiraiya is forced to turn on his comrade because Orochimaru wanted to destroy the village, Yahiko sacrificed himself to protect his friends, etc.
In terms of Akatsuki, all of leading members believe that the world is unjust and, to phrase, “a joke”. Nagato thought there was no point in hope because something will eventually snuff it out, Madara thinks the world is one big joke and is only worth living in burning it down, and Obito thinks reality itself is some sadistic illusion that he believed can be denied by creating a whole new reality. His last lines should say enough that he didn’t become what he is by himself, but by the world itself, a world that forces Rin to sacrifice herself and forces him and Kakashi to watch it/carry it through.
I think it’s that the Obito explanation already had such little thought put into compared to other villains (Itachi, Nagato, even Madara, who got his backstory AFTER Obito), that their attempts to explain it just makes people who didn’t like it before even angrier. Obito’s Moral Event Horizon for the world was seeing Rin’s death, but then he says that it wasn’t because of that, it was because of the world that let her die. Now, remember that Rin has no character to get attached to so we can’t feel bad about her dying in a meaningful way. In addition, Obito’s turn to evil is defined by Rin’s death whether he admits it or not, and we haven’t seen him witness any other examples of humanity being awful. Plus there’s the fact that he keeps bringing it up which means he is clearly not over it. So his explanation falls flat because of that.
And people like Obito, Madara, Naruto, and others seem to think that just by getting rid of the ninja system, that things will suddenly be all better. In general, they seem to think that it was only due to the system that such bad things have happened (to them or others). Like everything that happened was all forced ala “fate” and whatnot. Yet, as we’ve been shown, most of the decisions made were made freely by such people like Itachi, Yahiko, Rin, etc.
I can agree that the system helped create such situations that resulted in such decisions being made by such people, but to think that by getting rid of the system will mean such situations will never happen again is just naive and foolish.
Lol, Naruto fails yet again. Can somebody just fucking kill Sasuke too? Please? TIA
Sasuke is going to steal the spotlight from Naruto when he starts fighting. It’s not that hard to steal the spotlight considering all Naruto has done is “protecting fodders” and “throwing a few lines of talk-no-jutsu in between”.
what’s taking the hokages so long to get there!?!?!
they’re taking quick tea breaks,that’s why
feels like a long time for us, but it’s probably been about 5 minutes within the manga
What a train wreck..
I hope you cheer up soon Zephyr.
Thanks.
Thanks for the author note, i was searching for distraccion beacause of a problem, but i find the answer i need it. also Thanks for the review!
I don’t know you but I read your posts regularly. Thank you and please take care.
united ninja army is pulling a Marauders shield and holding the line. they are protecting Naruto from a bad ending.Hold that Line.
Wait, I thought people were complaining how everything Obito has done will feel like a stupid move BECAUSE he doesn’t know about the context of Rin’s death? And yet here, when he finally explains that his motivations has evolved past the incident (despite taking root from Rin’s death), having fully delved into why he wants to recreate the world, people find it forced and think it’s just out of nowhere?
Personally, I greatly enjoyed it. It pretty much pushed away what could’ve been another “WHAT HAVE I DONE” situation, and Obito’s back-story had the weakest presentation that it could’ve amounted into a very half-hearted attempt at the tired shonen tradition of “converting” bad guys. Inverting that by actually having Obito say that he rejects Kakashi and Rin for failing to actualize his final wish and that they’re merely “impostors” in comparison to the “real” world he will create, is actually pretty damn impressive and cements the insanity of his role as a villain. Personally with that mentality, I wouldn’t want to see this guy redeemed simply because it seems so fitting, hell even he admits that there’s nothing else left in him for Kakashi to feel guilty about. Now let’s just hope that Kishi keeps at it, because he’s certainly handling the whole Rin/Kakashi affair a lot better than I expected him to.