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Well darn, I gotta say I didn’t expect that coming. Granted, the signs were definitely there—the constant repetition of various cycles through the series’ length being one such sign—but I still didn’t expect Sasuke out of all people to just come waltzing in and saying he wants to be Hokage all of a sudden. To say it felt somewhat out of character feels like a bit of an understatement, and it’s something that I feel definitely could’ve been developed a bit better, considering the rather dramatic 180 his character has taken (and the fact that it’s insanity to expect people to just forgive him after all he’s done until this point).
In the end though, I guess it’s nothing particularly hard to accept—again, due to the nature of the series up until now—but it does leave a slightly… “sour” taste in the mouth after going through what would otherwise be considered a pretty epic chapter. Because when you got all four Hokage whooshing in the picture showing off their ridiculous skills, along with a nice chat between Minato and Naruto to get things going, there’s just nothing quite like it. Admittedly, I got a little case of the chills watching the latter’s interactions, and it’s a notion that really redeems this chapter for the most part—even if some of the culminating developments seemed a bit forced.
Either way though, the return of Sasuke and the reformation of Team 7 does bring an interesting new path of development from here on out—as the story really starts shifting in focus toward the future. Granted, Madara likely won’t let himself be finished off that easily, but with all four of the former Hokage present (and considering how quickly they locked down the Ten-Tails) I don’t see him lasting that long… which leaves us with what seems like the likely result of Naruto fighting Sasuke for the Hokage position to end things. Admittedly, it’s not a bad place to end—should it end there—and I see the other former Hokage (and Naruto himself) stepping in to help facilitate Sasuke’s return to the village in order to make these events possible. From there, it looks like it’ll be a pretty straight forward Naruto leading as Hokage with Sakura by his side ending—although I do find myself chuckling at the prospect of Sasuke somehow winning and becoming Hokage… heh.
In any case, the end really just… kind of snuck up on us there didn’t it? After looking like this fight would last quite a bit longer, it suddenly looks like it could all be over in a few chapters time, and it makes me wonder if Kishimoto isn’t under some kind of pressure to finish up the series before the year or something—which would definitely be a pity if true, although we’d probably never really get any real confirmation even if it is. I guess we just gotta continue savoring this while it lasts eh? Time sure flies…
What about Naruto’s dick move (i.e. saying Sakura is his girlfriend right in front of Hinata)?
I felt like punching Kishimoto when I read that.
WTH, decide which one already! Poor Hinata…
As someone who isn’t really pro-Sakura or Hinata (neutral), I don’t see it really as a dick move… because as nice as it would’ve been for Hinata to end up w/ Naruto, it was pretty obvious that was never going to happen (and it’s something I think that Hinata understood that herself).
The fact that she got a fair amount of screen time with this fight was theoretically a lot more than ever anticipated, and it’s something that I feel wraps up their “relationship” well enough as is, in the context that she got to fight beside the person she loved. Arguably, that was pretty much the best alternative that could’ve happened, considering how Naruto obviously didn’t feel the same. The basic thing is that Naruto has always had a thing for Sakura, Sakura has gradually realized her own feelings for him as well, and it’s pretty much the culmination of that development this week.
It is admittedly kind of a pity considering the quality interactions Hinata has had recently with Naruto compared to Sakura, but yeah, it’s just… going along the expected route set up a long time ago, and I don’t think you can really blame Kishimoto for doing that (especially considering how much of this series has focused on bringing things to their natural conclusion and repeating things from former generations).
But Sasuke is good again. Pretty much confirms SasuSaku for me
Do you really think that Naruto being together with Sakura would be a good thing?
– Remember how Sakura was begging Naruto while crying her eyes out to please bring Sasuke back.
– for how long Sakura loved Sasuke.
– how Naruto’s reaction was when Sakura came to him to say that she doesn’t care about Sasuke anymore and that she loves Naruto.
Especially now since she knows that Sasuke is back and not a villain anymore her feelings for him will return if they had ever vanished. A person is not able to forget feelings and I’m sure Kishimoto knows that.
I’m not saying that Naruto being together with Hinate is a better thing. But I think Naruto realized by now that she really does care for him. Well almost everybody knows.
Also I’m predicting that Sasuke will die at the end of the war. I’m sure something will happen to the edo tensei and the former hokages will vanish or something. Most probably Orochimaru will be the cause for that. He will probably try to transfer over to Sasukes body and Naruto will have to kill Sasukes body with Orochimaru inside controlling the body.
Orochimaru is a damn snake. There’s a reason for why Kishimoto decided on that.
Yep, you make a lot of sense, but still, not Naruto’s finest our.
Anyways, I hope Kishimoto changes his mind, or at least leave Naruto sucking his thumb while Sakura drops everything to go be with Sasuke, as normal.
Oh, and thanks for the reply 🙂
Cheers!
Not trying to be brash here, but have we been reading the same manga? If anything I would assert that the amount and kind of interaction would make that statement more appropriate for Hinata and Naruto. As bad as it sounds, developmentally no one is really setup to be together at the end of this except for a Naruto/Sasuke bromance.
There’s an easy way to see who might come out on top: Count the number of times Sakura punches Naruto vs the number of times Hinata says “Naruto-kun” – that seems to be the only meaningful interactions between the two pairs.
@ZeroHour17 – Highly doubtful eh. They’re at a point where there’s no way they can reconcile what’s happened over the past few years, and I don’t think Sasuke’s really planning to be with anyone in the first place.
@azrayl – It’s not about whether or not it’s a good thing or not. Lol. I’m just saying that the series has pretty much pushed Naruto x Sakura since the start. People might not like that that’s the case and again, like I said, it’s a pity Hinata likely won’t end up with him considering the quality interactions she’s had with him recently compared to Sakura, but it’s just something that was written in the books long ago, and Kishimoto’s merely following that script. I just don’t think he should be blamed for following through on what he obviously intended a while back, even if it’s not what a fair amount of people want as their ideal ending.
@7godeohs – Sakura had that moment a little while back where she was obviously starting to think more so about Naruto than Sasuke in the romantic way. Yes, it was a bit forced by the situation she was being thrust into, but it doesn’t change the fact that Sakura clearly wouldn’t mind being with Naruto and reciprocating the feelings she knows he has for her. It’s not the ideal relationship in terms of them both loving each other equally in the normal sense (Sakura after all, just shifted from Sasuke who left her to the nearest person closest to her), but you can’t deny this was still theoretically written in stone a long time ago, even if (again, I reiterate) it’s a pity that Hinata’s likely to be left out considering her interactions with Naruto in this final fight. In terms of Naruto, he’s obviously realized Hinata’s feelings, but I never got the impression that he was able to see her as more than a friend regardless. He’s pretty much had his eyes set only on Sakura from the beginning, and that’s pretty much why things are turning out the way they are.
Honestly, im glad that Naruto and Sakura has been confirmed as the hinata route would not have been coherent from a story-telling stand point. Hinata barely gets any screen time; and while i love her as a character and i find her feelings for Naruto are very genuine, it wouldnt have been believable from a narrative standpoint if she and naruto hooked up in the end. With barely any screen time and relationship development from Naruto and Hinata vs Naruto and Sakura, the hook up between Naruto and Hinata would have felt superficial and done just for the sake of it. Naruto and Sakura feel more conclusive because they have been developed with more screen time with each other and more interactions throughout the entire story. I mean seriously, they have been hinted at since PRE-TIME SKIP!!!…there was no other way it could have ended.
On a side note, I loved how Naruto just answered his dad’s questioning of their relationship; there was no over-exaggerated awkwardness or jubilation from his side, he just answered very maturely: “Yeah she is, more or less”. Naruto has really grown up. And for those that think there could be another switcheroo in the relationship now that Sasuke is seemingly back, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Minato has pretty much given Naruto and Sakura his blessings: “She reminds me so much of Kushina…take care of my son”. Yeah, it’s pretty much sealed.
@zephyr
You could even argue that even with Sasuke having left, Sakura could have still held on to her feelings for Sasuke and been stubborn about pursuing him through and through, but the story of Naruto has been more about just the development of Naruto and Sasuke into adults who have to be responsible for the future of their peers. Sakura has also gone through major character arcs, transforming herself from this once bratty, superficial girl who couldnt do anything else but rely on others, to growing up into a young woman who takes matters into her own hands and relies on her own strength. Following this series for as long as i have, i never really interpreted Sakura’s shift in feelings from Sasuke to Naruto as her just leaning onto the person closest to her, but rather her maturing on an emotional level. Throughout Shippuden, Sakura’s Character arcs have focused on how she has changed from that little girl from pre-time skip into who she is now. With the physical and mental maturity came her emotionally maturity as well. Sakura has matured from that little girl who had a crush on Sasuke; and although her crush for sasuke was very strong, at the end of the day it was still a crush.
Now that she is older, she realizes that it was a little girl’s crush and that she is no longer a little girl. With her emotionally maturity, comes the realization of who she truly loves and what it means to have strong feelings for someone romantically. She realizes that she loves Sasuke, but as family and as a valuable team member; the crush is gone and the one she desires romantically is Naruto. That is how i have interpreted Sakura’s coming of age throughout this long-ass story and it’s great to see it all finally come full circle in this chapter, something that was obvious to me that Kishimoto had planned all along. And yeah i agree with you, Kishimoto shouldn’t be shamed by his readers for doing what he wanted to do; A writer should always tell the story he/she wants to tell, not cater to the demands of the fans because that’s selling out.
@Zephyr When before now was the manga leading towards Sakura and Naruto ending up together. Could it have been the entire first half of the series where he kept saying he liked her and she ignored him? Was it when the same thing happened for the first half of Shippuden? Oh I know, it was when she made a fake confession and then turned around to prove she still had feelings for Sasuke since she couldn’t kill him, yeah, that must of been it.
The problem with Naru/Hina that a lot of fans seem to overlook (unknowingly or purposely) is that Hinata really DOESN’T know Naruto at all. All she knew about him is what virtually everyone else knew about him, and that’s just what they’ve seen on the surface without ever truly looking deeper or actually getting to know him, thinking they have him pinned, much like how no one else really truly understood Sasuke before. Even Kakashi really didn’t understand, simply overlapping himself with Sasuke and thinking themselves and their situations the same (and doing the same with Naruto and Obito, and Sakura and Rin). Sakura came to learn and understand more about Naruto in part 2 than Hinata ever had in the whole series, and Sakura actually had development in the relationship department with him (not ALL good, but that helps make it more believable).
Hinata idolizes Naruto for being more of a symbol to her of what she WANTS to be like; confident, not giving up, more open, etc. Really, it’s no different than Sakura’s schoolgirl crush on Sasuke during Part 1. The only real difference between them is that Sakura was open and loud about it while being more enticed by Sasuke’s looks and lone wolf attitude while Hinata was quiet and shy about her own while being more enticed by how Naruto acted on the outside. In the end, both of them were crushing based on superficial reasons without ever truly getting to know the object of their crush. Hinata’s confession and support with Neji’s death was really much more of a tease for the fanboys/girls of the pairing, yet so many people take it and what other very few moments Naruto has ever had with Hinata and try to make the argument that it’s some sort of definitive sign that they’re meant to be together without looking at the larger picture.
Sakura actually knows a lot more about Naruto personally (even learning of his Jinchuriki status during the Rescue Gaara Arc and realizing how little she really knew about him) including his deeper feelings about certain things like Sasuke. Even going so far as to put her own life at risk to try to kill Sasuke in order to take the burden off of Naruto’s shoulders and ease his internal pain about it while also wanting to help herself move on as well. Sure, she couldn’t bring herself to do it in the end due to her own emotions, but it doesn’t change the fact that she tried to do it for those reasons.
Hinata’s actions during Naruto’s fight with Nagato may seem “loving” and “noble”, but really, there wasn’t anything personal in it beyond her own feelings for Naruto, and her actions resulting in her “death” nearly caused the complete destruction of Konoha AND the people in it (with Naruto going 6 tails and coming mere inches from releasing Kurama were it not for magical deus ex machina seal properties), thus would’ve ended up making Tsunade AND Naruto’s actions pointless. And I can’t imagine what Naruto would do if such a thing happened, somehow managing to come back, and realizing what happened (everyone else dead, village entirely gone, etc at “his” hands). And no, Naruto getting pissed off and going 6 tails is NOT some sudden realization that he loved Hinata back. When you remember Naruto’s personality, chances are that such a result would’ve taken place if ANYONE had done what Hinata had done and “died” as a result, regardless of the reason.
In the end, Naru/Hina fans are free to like the pairing if they want, no problem there. But to try to make out the manga as it is, like it’s definitely going to happen, despite the obvious signs otherwise is foolish. Unless it actually happens with some sort of counter-confession or something from Naruto, the only way it will happen until then is through fanfiction that alters the canon story up to this point.
Hasn’t it been and always will ever be;
…their first meeting
…their first kiss
…their first breakup
Naruto X Sasuke
@HalfDemonInuyasha
I believe you are very unfair toward Hinata, we are of course all mostly biased when it comes to shipping one pairing or another but, with your post, you pretty much almost completely dismissed both her feelings and herself?
So, she doesn’t know him, she only like the surface he shows to the world and her feelings are nothing better than Sakura’ school crush: we are talking about the only person in the whole school at the time who gave a damn about him, who admired him and loved him, and who actually appreciated him and looked at the real him (at the Naruto who trained hard when everyone wasn’t looking), who was inspired by him when everyone else was ignoring him, mocking him or looking down on him or simply avoided him all together? And even though she is the shy type, she showed with her actions both her resolution and the strength of her feelings.
You are also pretty much mocking her sacrifice to protect him in the fight against Nagato and used a senseless and confusing line like “there wasn’t anything personal in it beyond her own feelings for Naruto”, so: her feelings for Naruto is not something personal then…? So what was that ‘personal’ thing she was supposed to have input in this battle to have a passing grade?
And really, seriously, I couldn’t believe the next line you wrote: “and her actions resulting in her “death” nearly caused the complete destruction of Konoha AND the people in it…etc”, so everything is her fault now? She is *also* a bringer of death and misfortune?
And after writing all this, in the last paragraph you add “In the end, Naru/Hina fans are free to like the pairing if they want, no problem there…etc”? W-O-W!
Come on!
No matter how biased you are, don’t walk all over the other party! I don’t know if you fooled yourself into thinking you were making a coherent and logical reasoning with your long post, but you certainly failed at it big time.
@sherry
Where did I ever say I DIDN’T like the pairing? I like it just fine, and read and enjoy plenty of fanfics involving the pairing.
All I’m doing is pointing out how fans are taking what few moments Naruto and Hinata ACTUALLY had together in the story itself and really overhyping them to be like it means they’re meant to be together in the story and make out everything Hinata did as some sort of saintly figure who can do no wrong. Seriously, after the confession and after Neji’s death, all the fanboys/girls were coming out all, “Naru/Hina forever!” and whatnot and when others try to point out otherwise using differing viewpoints, they get massive thumbs down on those comments for practically no other reason other than they don’t like people “not liking the pairing”.
Sure, Hinata saw a little more of Naruto under the outside, but did she ever try to act on it? Try to befriend him? Support him? Anything? No, she stood by and watched silently. Essentially, Naruto was a constant victim of bullying and Hinata was a silent bystander. Regardless of how she felt on the inside, she still did nothing for whatever reasons (like possibly being a victim again, like we saw she was) and really, being silent and essentially acting on the outside that nothing was wrong is the next step down from the being the bullies themselves.
You say I’m being unfair to Hinata, yet very few seem to have a problem with people endlessly bashing Sakura, despite her much greater character/relationship development compared to Hinata, who has remained relatively unchanged throughout the whole series and hasn’t had nearly as much involvement in things besides those few moments.
In the end, I’m really just playing devil’s advocate because it feels like very few here seem to (want to) see how Sakura developed and/or stand up for her own progress while Hinata gets endlessly praised/favored as if she’s done SO much more and can do no wrong whatsoever, like she has no flaws at all herself (or that whatever flaws she does have only make her cuter or something).
@HalfDemonInuyasha
It’s unfortunate but I disliked the first line of your post, it disappointed me, you don’t seem like a serious person to me: “Where did I ever say I DIDN’T like the pairing? I like it just fine, and read and enjoy plenty of fanfics involving the pairing. ” >> you wrote a long post in which you antagonized a character at every line, which you concluded with a message to HinataxNaruto fans which very much implied you weren’t part of them or anything close to it, and in this post, you CONTINUED antagonizing said character…anyone would naturally come to the conclusion you disliked to some extend the chara you are writing about, but of all the possible things to say, you started your answer with the childish line “Where did I ever say I DIDN’T like the pairing?”, inplying your post should have told us everything through your endless negative feedback, and that after all your criticizing, you can’t believe we didn’t reach the natural conclusion that we are supposed to get to: that you enjoy and like them just fine? REALLY?
Anyway, I do not ship this pairing enough to go into a argument about them, I also do not dislike Sakura, even though she doesn’t really interest me either, I also never read fanfics based on them, I only follow the manga.
I still think that your pejorative view of Hinata is exaggerated and justifying it by saying you’re only fending off the extreme fans of that pairing who get crazy each time there are in the same panel feels as frustrating as your first line.
As for SakuraxNaruto, it is and has always been a possibility; my feeling about this pairing can be resumed to a very simple question: what did Naruto like about Sakura? You said Sakura’s feeling for Sasuke was school crush level, but doesn’t that apply to Naruto’s case too?
It’s cliché I confess, but after all I was still more emotionally touched by the stereotype shy girl who at the start couldn’t even stand for herself (which is why your pointing out she didn’t side with him did not convince me: she couldn’t even do something about herself, expecting her to support others at that point of the story is foolish) but fought off her reserved and weaklish nature for the sake of being recognized by the people she loves, and kept on trying and consistently grow from part 1 to part 2 until getting to the actual arc.
In the end, what I’m really trying to say is that, with the way the story has gone, unless we suddenly get A LOT more decent development between them, then all we’ll get for a Naru/Hina ending is some asspull pairing that won’t have any real meaning to it except just to please the fans of that pairing, yet people seem to be more than pleased with Naru/Hina as it is because of so few moments that end just as suddenly as they appear with nothing panning out from them.
Hinata only really had a few notable moments in the whole story where she made herself stand out more (excluding anime filler material). But as soon as those moments are over, they’re not revisited, they’re not talked about after, not even alluded to, and she just goes right back to being how she was before that burst of strength, virtually unchanged. That’s not, at the least, meaningful development. Development usually involves some kind of long-lasting, changes, lessons learned, something whether they be good or bad. Hinata has momentary developments, but no real long-lasting ones (that Kishi bothered to show anyway), unlike Sakura, who went from crazy, obsessed fangirl to who she is now.
@HalfDemonInuyasha
Naruto being a shonen manga, and Kishimoto being who he is (meaning no good with romance scenes), I was never expecting some unbelievable shoujo like moment with confessions and such, though we did have some emotional moments in the manga, and that is why I believe the fans take the rare times such developments happen very seriously.
Which is why saying that there was not enough scenes between this and that character is not enough to dismiss the possibility they could end up together, or call it an asspull pairing.
The fact in itself he highlighted Hinata’s feelings so much while he could have completely ignored her all together since after all, in the plot story as a whole, she is hardly more important than any other friend of Naruto’s, *IS* significant. But it is also true their ‘moments’ always seemed very one sided because Naruto never actually answered her feelings in any way, but he did react by either going mad when she was hurt or going back on his feet after Neiji’s death. As of now, he definitely think or her a precious friend and together with Sakura, she is the girl he had the most contacts with even if far between, as for knowing if he has deeper feelings for her, only the future will tell.
The principal problem I have with your pov is your complete rejection of this pairing as something foolish and only possible in the realm of fanfics or doujins, while it might be a possibility in the reality of the series until future chapters reveal to us the thoughts of the main lead. The way you point your finger at the fans of that pairing like they are fools but, hey! they are free to ship them, even though it stupid! is upsetting.
I am sure Naruto will tell his Dad that Hinata is his real girlfriend. Naruto isn’t that cold.
I am amused by Madara’s first awkward moment after being revived. Making an evil face, only to be told by Hashirama “I’ll deal with you later,” and then later having his face freeze for a moment.
“Douchebag Sasuke”: It doesn’t matter what I did in the past and what you think of me, I will become Hokage. #Uchiha Logic
All: O.O!!!!! No Way! You were Evil!
Naruto: Cool Story Bro….. I will be the one to become Hokage.
Sakura: Let me decide to be useful for once now that my darling Sasuke is here!!! :DDD
…….Somwhere off into the distance……..
Orochimaru: Hahahahaha Foools… Everthing is going as I planned it (#Aizen). Thats a good boy Sasuke.
And with that, you sir are now green-commented.
All in all, I’d say this was actually one of the best chapters in awhile.
Kishimoto = epic trolling and I respect that.
If Naruto says that Sakura is his girlfriend ,then Sasuke should make Hinata hsi girlfriend because Sasuke and Hinata have powerrfull Doujutsu and their children will inherit both the power of the Sharingan and Byakugan together.
I can totally see it if it ends up with a NaruSaku ending. Them doujin artists are gonna have a field day with some NTR stories….
Therefore, for vanilla’s sake, I say stick to a NaruHina ending! It is what the majority would want anyway. 😀
MADARA: “HASHIRAMAAAAAA”
HASHIRAMA : ” ok bro, im taking jubii first”
MADARA: “ok, ill wait”
Best scene for this chapter XD
Sasuke: “i will become a hokage”
PPPPFFFFTTTT… go home sasuke you drunk
That’s so funny I forgot to laugh.
I knew it, Madara doesn’t care about the Eye of the Moon plan. He’d rather have a go with big brother Hashirama-Sama’s wood ;).
I like your assumptions of the ending. But i think even if Sasuke won, i can see it happening like in the past with Madara and Hashirama, or, in order to show that the present is different, both could become Hokage.
That could be a possibility as well, though now that you mention it, it feels possible that there’s another potential end result where Sasuke getting some kind of vital position like leading ANBU or something, as it’d kind of fit in with the whole Uchiha make good police thing from the by gone eras.
Wouldn’t repeating history by relegating the Uchiha to a police force be the worst thing Naruto could do?
I feel that this can happen too. I won’t be surprise, since Sasuke x Naruto competing for Hokage is like Madara x Hashirama competing for Hokage spot. I feel that Naruto’s theme has been “history repeats itself, but we must break the cycle and learn from the past to make the future better.” And certainly having Sasuke be a Hokage would fit the overall theme. Naruto has to be Hokage, because…it’s friggin’ Naruto.
Naruto will be the Hokage “everyone acknowledges.”
Sasuke will be the Hokage “everyone needs.” Because Sasuke will be able to make the hard decisions that Naruto probably won’t be able to do as Hokage.
Sakura will probably die in the battle, where Naruto cracks and can’t handle it. But Sasuke, being super emo already, isn’t inflicted all that much. So Sasuke will be the Hokage. A Hokage not Konaha deserves. But a Hokage Konoha needs. He is…
The Dark Hokage
*insert The Dark Knight theme*
Dark Hokage is kinda redundant because a Kage is the Shadow which Protects the Village.
Fluca, you said you want to punch Kishimoto, i say i want to kiss him! Naruto and Sakura FTW…it was only question of time, and seems she’ll show her real power in next chapters. Time to wake up Sakura-haters…dream is ended. NaruSaku forever! Hinata can return behind the scenes and that is her place. She got her time, now it’s time to return to reality. BTW: Minato also said that Hinata is like Kushina right? Ahahahah. Sorry guys, this is the reality. This chapter is EPIC!
I’m glad it pleased you 🙂
Looks like Kishimoto will be receiving a kiss and a punch then 🙂
Cheers!
Naruto is another example of the Oedipus complex, after all he is in love with a girl whose personality is similar to his mother.
because Naruto totally knew what his mother was like all this time.
Oh wait…
Minato is OP, as if he couldn’t get more ridiculous.
I agree, I used to think a flashing minato with rasengan is op. But now we have a flashing minato in kyuubi mode (so even faster) with a tail beast bomb PLUS umlimited chakra and HP. LOL gg
I call BS if they’ll just let Sasuke come back with a light tap on his shoulder. People need to remember that he attacked all the Kages.
Also the technique Minato and Jiraiya were working on was a tailed beast cloak?… well i ll buy that…
You know Gaara was kinda insane too and in the end …
And yet even if he was insane he wasn’t stupid enough to attack all 5Kages and Mifune plus their body guards.
Well in all actuality K, the Kages attacked Sasuke. Sasuke was only after Danzo. Sasuke never threw the first punch so he can call self defense in court. Not to mention he was coerced into taking on Bee by a very manipulative Tobi/Obito. He is an easily manipulated 16 year old after all. He has been everyone’s a little plaything from the age of like 8, starting from his brother, to Orochimaru, to Obito.
@Ace
Except Sasuke was already declared an internationally wanted criminal the moment he was seen as part of Akatsuki (by all rights, he should’ve been declared one as soon as defected from Konoha 3 years before) who was to be killed on sight, so really, there was nothing wrong with Sasuke being attacked, so self-defense wouldn’t work in this case. Especially since he illegally infiltrated a private meeting of the Kages with the intent of killing a (temporary) Kage. Regardless of the reason, Sasuke was the one completely in the wrong.
And Sasuke wasn’t a total puppet. We already saw he was more than capable of making his own choices when he tried to kill Orochimaru (with “nothing else to learn from him” which he seemed to have planned for a while) and Obito (for standing in his way of Konoha). So while Obito may have pointed him in their direction because of Danzo, Sasuke is still the one who chose to do it because it was convenient for him. He could’ve easily waited for Danzo after the meeting was over and still get the same we got after, but as the impatient, vengeance-filled person he was, he just had to take him out immediately and, if necessary, all the Kage if they got in his way.
@HalfDemonInuyasha
Technically he had no choice but to kill Orochimaru anyway, seeing as he wanted his body. I suspect in more ways than one.
He was also well aware of that fact since he first left. Like with Obito, Sasuke was under the assumption that HE was the one who was going to be using Orochimaru; milk his training and power-giving for all it’s worth before killing him before he can take his body.
Poor Sai, got kicked out of the “friend/teamzone”…
I actually feel worse for Yamato who has been captured for the past 100 chapters/2 years. So much for Part II Team Seven camaraderie.
I didn’t even notice or remember that he was missing until someone brought it up recently.
Where IS he by the way?
Zen sleeping with the hashirama tree…
While I find it kinda weak that Sasuke did a sudden 180, I found it kinda nice to see those 3 standing side by side after all these years. Haven’t seen that since the Chuunin exams like 10 years ago… Man I’ve been watching/reading this a long time….
So, the flames on Minato’s cape has finally catch him. Man he’s too fast, leaving the flames behind just like that.
That Sakura is my girlfriend statement caught me off guard. And made me mad. It was distasteful and just plain stupid. It makes Naruto seem more like a pimp than an indecisive adolescent. I feel Bad for Hinata. Where as Sakura has made it abundantly clear that she has the hots for Sasuke in many…. many episodes…
Not to mention she actually got raging mad at the coment
I once thought ‘the series will end with Naruto sacrificing himself to everyone’s indifference and Sasuke becoming Hokage to everyone’s joy’. Looks like this is heading more or less in this direction. Because we know Sasuke will be welcomed back, ‘cuz he’s Sasuke-f*cking-Uchiha-sama, and Kishimoto says so.
And Naruto, can’t you see Sakura will never see you as a romantic option, especially now that dark and broody is back?
This chapter doesn’t confirm NaruSaku hell for all I care this one was more of a prequel for a NaruSasu lol
The one thing that made Naruto cooler than his dad and Minato was like “Oh that? Yeah, I can do that too.”
The Hashirama and Madara scene… that was it. That scene will be as legendary as those two people.
It was the very scene that Madara was waiting for his entire undead life.
Wow, even Shino pulled off a facial expression at Sasuke’s declaration of protagonist usurpation.
Unlike (it seems) everyone else, I had no problems with Sasuke’s “360”. He’s been running around doing all this fucked up shit for years because he never really knew the truth. Now that he finally knows what went down he’s like, ‘fuck all these fools, ill just become hokage and fix shit myself’.
I expected it pretty much from the start. Sasuke was meant to parallel Madara for the better part of Shippuden, but with the theme of the whole manga being do things better than the last generation, I knew he would make the right choice to return to being good which is something Madara wasn’t able to do(maybe because his brother wasn’t around to bring him back from the brink of madness)
When you think about it, it seems like Naruto and Sasuke’s positions have been swapped. At the start of the story everyone was treating Sasuke as the genius and Naruto like the devil because Karuma, and therefore by extension Naruto, killed villagers. That’s probably why Naruto isn’t discounting Sasuke’s statement. Naruto recalls Itachi’s statement that you don’t get acknowledged because you’re hokage, you become hokage because the town acknowledges you. If Naruto can get the village to turn around, he sees Sasuke as being able to do the same.
“it suddenly looks like it could all be over in a few chapters time”
I doubt that, & hope not.
Personally, there’s still a lot of subplots yet to be resolved.
I’ll try to list them here, anyone helpful can correct me or add more.
Show Spoiler ▼
If Kishimoto would attempt to cover those & not leave an open ending, I guess there should be room for about at least 100 more chapters.
Show Spoiler ▼
Well, I meant that the battle itself looks like it will be wrapped up quite quickly considering the Hokage’s overpowered nature (even in the face of Madara). Considering that, Obito would be made short work of in that context as well.
In terms of many of the other aspects, they’re things I feel will be glanced over in a kind of exposition of some sort (or ignored entirely), which doesn’t take that long to do even with the weekly chapter release format. For instance, things like the fate of the Kages, the plans after the war, and the Edo Kages (which I feel will just leave after they feel their mission has been completed per the other edo tensei from chapters back) are all things that can be shown/explained in a few panels, and so on and so forth.
And as much as I would like it not to be rushed (even if from now till the end of the year has about another… 35ish chapters), it feels like things are being pushed toward their conclusions faster than they normally would (or at least, things are at a point where it’s impossible not to wrap it up quicker… as it would be quite ridiculous if the four Hokage can’t defeat Madara for like 10-20 chapters or something). Combine that with the fact that it’s been said even Bleach for instance has been pushed toward finishing, and it’s why I said what I said before. Again, I hope it’s not the case, but it’s just a feeling I’m getting for one reason or another.
Fair enough, I wouldn’t want any open ended plots left unfinished, but it’s a bit of an overstatement to suggest that to bring a proper end to Naruto, at least another 100 chapters is required.
Anyone who has ever watched Code Geass … Show Spoiler ▼
I do however hope that Naruto continues for a good while longer and I certainly hope that Kishi wraps up all the lose ends suggested throughout the comments, and hopefully brings to light some of the fast and surprising developments taken place over the last several chapters.
Leave it to Hashirama to turn an apocalyptic battle into a funny moment and leaving even Madara speechless.
and Sakura steals the spotlight while Hinata just stands there and looks…me sad…
Seriously, Hinata freggin supported him right when Madara tried to mindfuck Naruto after killing Neji!
I personally find neither Naruro nor Sasuke fitting for the role of Hokage.Kakashi would do a much better job(I believe Jiraya even mentioned something like that as well) followed by Shikamaru.
Naruto could probably be a Hokage in name only as he’s liked by most of the people and known as a hero but naive as hell – I could picture him as a puppet president,having his strings pulled by someone else.As for Sasuke,I’m trying to picture him in Danzou’s position but I’m having a hard time since he’s too much of a lone wolf and while I like those type of characters,they’re not the ones to be involved with anything remotely close to leadership + he acts too much on his emotions.
Ah hell,if they’ll manage to forgive Sasuke just like that then they should just do the same for Orochimaru & let him lead.He’s definitely THE most capable man for the position that’s still alive.
That’s pretty much what I ranted about on Naruto being Hokage a while back (and, as you said, Sasuke wouldn’t make a good one either). They definitely have the brute power to be Kages and may even have (get) the support of the people, but neither of them are really mentally prepared/capable of the position so, as you said, they could be pretty easily manipulated by others and/or will probably be pretty biased in their decision-making rather than thinking of what’s good for the village as a whole.
Like I don’t think Naruto giving light sentences (if any, depending on the circumstances) to most criminals for the sole reason of him believing they can be changed for the better (with Talk no Jutsu) would go over well for a lot of people (from Konoha OR other villages). At the same time, Sasuke has never had any real problem with throwing people under the bus if it betters his position or he sees them as no longer useful which, as said, wouldn’t make him much better than if Danzo were to be full Hokage.
Maybe in ten or so years, after more mental maturity and learning, but hardly anytime soon after the war is over.
i honestly expected another screenshot on this one 😀
While I don’t mind the idea of Sasuke turning and helping in general, I do wish it didn’t feel so rushed/forced. As I said before, Sasuke looked pretty damn insane after he got the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and even stated to Edo Itachi that, after hearing his story, it just makes him want to destroy Konoha even more. Then suddenly he’s all “seeking the truth” and turning to help, just like that? If there was a bit more development towards that part, I’d have no problem, but it just feels like the manga is being rushed to be finished now.
There’s also the fact that none of the other rookies sans Sakura (as she already knew since the Rescue Gaara Arc) and anyone else who didn’t know seemed to show any reaction to Naruto being the Jinchuriki of Kurama nor did anyone seem to react to his statement of Minato being his father (calling him dad right in front of everyone). It just irks me a bit that there’s nothing there. Another minor personal nitpick is how, as the story develops, a bunch of things come up that makes you wonder how they couldn’t have any real impact on earlier parts of the story (plot-holes essentially). Again, makes me feel the manga is being rushed to end for some reason, resulting in lesser quality of storytelling.
Just a small bit to add on “lack of reactions” that I feel stupid for forgetting; the fact that Kakashi clearly indicated to Naruto before that he KNEW Minato was Naruto’s father since the beginning, essentially meaning that he was never there for him at all while growing up (that we know of), and even when he became Team 7’s sensei, he hardly does anything for him.
With Naruto; no surprise, no anger, no disbelief. nothing.
OMG! I knew Sasuke was gonna declare “Hokage.” CALLED it! Back in Chapter 627…. I feel pretty happy. XD
Anyway. Best part of the chapter: First Hokage and Madara back at their ol’ banters for everyone to witness. And Madara’s expression when he got rejected is priceless!
Madara: HASSSHIIIRAAMMMAAAA!! It’s been a while…Brother!
First Hokage: YOU’RE SECOND IN LINE OF MY WORRIES!!!
Madara: >:D ….. Wut….
On the romance part there will be the birth of the sasu-hina. Sasuke will recreate his clan and his descendant will have an awesome Byaringan XD
I kind of find it odd that everyone thought Sasuke was cool when he did his first 180 and followed Orochimaru and now after it took the whole series for him to claw his way out from the manipulation of others he finally is making decisions on his own “which are in line with his original personality” people are mad cause there wasnt more chapters of his internal struggle… I dont know… I kinda think nearly 400 chapters is long enough for a single character’s internal struggle.
It’s amazing how as I was reading this chapter it felt like the end could not be anywhere close really during the flashbacks and the Hokage bro hang. Then this chapter happens and I feel even closer to the end then before.
what a brilliant chapter. seeing them together made me forget all the “wtf” moments i’ve had reading the past several chapters.
If Naruto and Sasuke did the DBZ Fusion Ha! dance they would become the sage of 6 paths…
what about the five kage that are still left in the “unknown” status…. I think that this story still has a bit of life left in it.
Lol Kishi wtf, Sakura is Naruto’s girlfriend? Then what the hell was the whole “Hinata hold handig in Biju mode, Neji dying and giving his blessing” type shit you had going on a few chapters ago?
Harem route^^
I really think that MK(the author) is not good at writing love plots or romantic scenes, the idea that Sasuke has almost every girl drooling over him is utterly ridiculous. Sakura almost gets killed twice and she acts like it never happened Karen gets stabbed almost gets killed and she also just pretends like it never happened as well, I can understand that they have a crush on him but if they act as if Sasuke can kill their mothers and it’s no big deal then this foolishness is not what I want to see.
PS. I really believe that Naruto should start opening up to Hinata or Sasuke might steal her away from him.
LMAO! Man!
Madara: Harashima!!!!
Harashima: *Points* Slow down bro, Juubi first, then you.
Madara: *Frozen in disbelief as if being rejected, still with his rape face*
I laughed so hard.
Guys… relax over the ‘Yeah she’s my girlfriend…!’ thing. I mean obviously kishi just threw that in for humor’s sake. It’s too early to jump the gun and say they’ll be together FOR GOOD. I’m more excited about seeing her kick ass next chapter. ABOUT FUCKING TIME, I CAN’T WAIT 😀
Pretty much, it was clearly a joke on Naruto’s part. I dont know why everyone’s taking it so seriously.
Some people haven’t heard about the concept of small talk.
Sasuke wanting to become Hokage is completely understandable and had plenty of build up. He even stated he wanted to change the village. So it’s not like his reasoning was subtle.
Yeah I also think it’s understandable from his POV – it sounded like he was sick of playing everyone else’s games and now wants to take matters into his own hands to fix everything himself.
If someone is definitly bring back to life again like pain did i’ll hang myself and drop that manga…
And oh, while they are bringing back the dead, where is Jiraiya?!? I miss him =(
Me too… I was hoping for a panel of the Sannin fighting together again as well as team 7. There’s always hope though… Perhaps Jiraiya’s body will be blown out of the water by the explosion and Orochimaru will bring him back!
Heh…just watch him come back, still missing an arm, having spent the entire time since fighting Nagato underwater where he “died”, hiding away inside the belly of a Toad Sumnmon to heal or something.
This chapter was… odd for several reasons.
First there was the resurrection of the pairing wars. There seems to be some issue with the translations, mangastream’s version “Ummmm, the thing is, I guess you could say that, if you’re splitting hairs” makes more sense to me than the MP version. Naruto flat out saying she was would be OOC, and a lie. Regardless of your stance on pairings it’s rather rude to say you’re in a relationship with someone when you’re not. Pretty sure it doesn’t really mean anything and is just a throwback to the “good old days” when team 7 was still together and Konohamaru asked the same question right before the Chunin exams(contrast Naruto’s reactions too…) but I really wish Kishi would stop screwing around and be consistent like another manga cough*FairyTail*cough. Then again, if he did a good chunk of the fanbase would probably walk out.
Then there was Minato getting Kyuubi chakra mode which really seemed like an asspull. Remember how the Sandiame had Hashirama, Tobirama and Orochimaru’s arms sealed in him with the same jutsu? Why did they all instantaneously unseal, but no the Kyuubi?
The big twist of course was Sasuke wanting to be Hokage. If I make myself forget psycho-Sasuke I can stomach it, but it’s pretty clear Kishi wasn’t sure what to do with Sasuke and is now backtracking as fast as possible from the evil version. The problems I have with this are virtually identical to my problems with his switch back to good; to sudden, doesn’t fit with his evil actions.
Lastly there’s Sakura saying that she’s going to “Unleash her true power!” All I can say is that this is pretty much her last chance to actually do something in a fight and not disappoint like usual. It’s nice that Kishi’s trying to make her badass, but why hasn’t she used this technique before? Smells like another asspull to make her look better.
About the only moments I unambiguously liked were Madara’s reunion with Hashirama and the final panel of team 7.
1.) Yeah, I never took what Naruto said that seriously and just thought back to that moment with Konohamaru too.
2.) The ONLY explanation I could accept right now, unless we get a damn good alternative (which seems doubtful), would be if Minato had actually sealed the other half of Kurama’s chakra with himself (essentially making a 4th Jinchuriki of Kurama, or 5th if you want to count Sora from the anime filler; can’t forget the out of nowhere, completely retconned asspull that was Ginkaku and Kinkaku after all) and THEN sealed within the Shinigami as something like a double layer of sealing. Otherwise, yeah, total asspull.
3.) Yeah, as said, I don’t mind the idea in general, but it just felt like Kishi skipped out on at least fifty or so chapters or something because it was only back in Chapter 574 (in terms of in-universe story, that’s not that long ago) that Sasuke first reveals his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Then just a couple chapters later, he’s reunited with Itachi and they fight Kabuto for 10 chapters, and Itachi undoes Edo Tensei and Sasuke declares that he hates Konoha and wants to destroy it even more. And now we’re suddenly at this point.
4.) Sadly, yeah. It seems like ever since Sasuke went blind and was “rescued” by Obito (when Sakura went to try to kill him herself for Naruto’s sake), Sakura was just made into another background character up until now.
Damn, and I had just managed to suppress all memories of Kinkaku and Ginkaku :'( It wouldn’t make sense for Minato to try and make himself and Jinchuriki though, he thought he’d be dead forever. He’s already wanked to 11, biju mode is simply overkill. Hell, I would have taken sage mode over this.
Agreed about Sasuke. It would have made more sense if Sasuke hadn’t gone quite so psycho or had shown some doubt after the Itachi reveal. He could even have done the same things, just with a different attitude and the current situation would be much more plausible. Worse yet, all those chapters of Naruto and Sakura angsting over Sasuke have just been completely trolled. It’s very anticlimactic when one of the central problems of the main protagonists is resolved with no effort on their part.
Yeah, if Sasuke had started acting like this shortly after his fight with Itachi, then it would make perfect sense. He could’ve easily have been more of an anti-hero; like him being the “Batman” to Naruto’s “Superman” goody-good persona (sort of like how Danzo was like that to Hiruzen in ways, though not as big on good intentions, of course). And agreed, Sasuke suddenly “coming around” as he is is making it seem like all the emotional development Naruto and Sakura went through, as well as a lot of the pain of others caused through him, was suddenly made entirely irrelevant.
What next? Is Orochimaru gonna suddenly turn out to actually be good the whole time and everything he did, like Itachi, was nothing but an act and apologize to undead Hiruzen and maybe even resurrect Jiraiya and head Tsunade to apologize too? =\
Sasuke hates what Konoha is, that’s why he stated, in plain fucking sight, that he wanted to change the village so fucked up shit like this war doesn’t occur again. You and Hochmeister need to pay attention to the manga.
You need to pay more attention to what we’re saying. We KNOW that Sasuke is saying that. What we’re saying is that he has only NOW started saying such things.
Before, he was STILL all about hating and destroying Konoha entirely out of his whole path of never-ending vengeance and wanting to make the village and its elders pay for “forcing” Itachi to destroy the Uchiha Clan under his whole Uchiha Clan victimization act, and yet it just suddenly jumps to Sasuke talking like this. There was very little, if any actual development that would make readers like us really believe that he came around. It was just WAY to sudden and way too forced, much like, as we said, Kishi jumped a bunch of chapters and/or just didn’t know where to take progressively darker, evil Sasuke and decided to just flip him back.
Naruto’s “girlfriend” comment wasnt meant to be taken literally as if they were actually dating. It was just to confirm that Naruto still only has eyes for Sakura and we actually see her not deny the idea of being his special someone. It was to pretty much confirm the parallel Naruto and Sakura have with Minato and Kushina….yeah its a done deal and we all just need to accept it as much as Hinata would have been a great wife for Naruto.
@DovahkiinGGGGG: But since when has Sasuke ever given a darn about others? The only people he ever cared about were his clan and his teams. As HDI said, the reasoning behind his decision makes sense, but Sasuke actually thinking like that doesn’t fit with his recent behavior.
sonicsenryaku: Gotta disagree with you here. First off, it doesn’t really make sense for Naruto to revert back to his earlier attitude after the events of Sakura’s fake confession. Furthermore, he’s the one who completely believes that Sakura is in love with Sasuke, who is now back and good. Based on his behavior near the end of part 1 and how hard he’s shipped SasuSaku I simply can’t see him trying to interfere with her feelings. I don’t agree with the NaruSaku = MinaKushi parallel argument for several reasons. Naruto’s personality is said by Tsunade to resemble Kushina’s, not Minato’s, and there’s no equivalent to Sasuke in the MinaKushi story. Basing a pairing about a rather shaky parallel is not a very sound argument. Even if Naruto were to keep chasing after Sakura, it takes two to make a relationship, and do you honestly think that after 600+ chapters of loving Sasuke that Sakura would change her mind right after he became good again?
“we actually see her not deny the idea of being his special someone”
Where the heck did you get this from? You can’t deny it much more strongly than that pissed expression and blow to the head which has been her response since part 1. Sakura’s reaction shows once again that even after Naruto’s become the biggest darn hero in the entire alliance she doesn’t have romantic feelings for him. The whole part strikes me as more along the lines of how my own dad would tease me about any female friends and try to insinuate that they were my “girlfriend.”
@hochmeister
The thing i have noticed is that most hinata fans take the few moments she’s had with Naruto and blow them out of proportion as if that means that they are gonna hook up in the end. As ive said many times, as much as i love Hinata, she and Naruto ending up together would not be believable from a narrative standpoint for the various reasons i have stated before. I like both pairings all the same but i also like my pairings to be believable (which is why I really dont mind the Naruto and Sakura pairing) and Naruto has liked Sakura since day one, not to mention that part of Sakura’s “confession” was suppose to be ambiguous; we werent suppose to know if she actually does have romantic feelings for Naruto or not, only to interpret it. You know what i think? I think we should just sit back, relax, and just wait for the upcoming chapters, enjoy the story, and see what Kishimoto has in store for his audience
@Hochmeister
And they already showed how assuming such loose parallels can backfire; right in Team 7 itself, with how Kakashi simply overlapped them with his old team (and other readers may also immediately overlap them with the Sannin too). Aside from basic personality traits (happier-seeming one, loner one, and the girl with a crush), they couldn’t be more different from eachother, but with Kakashi treating them as if it WERE his old team in different skin, he ended up completely failing to understand their own feelings on things, especially Sasuke; Kakashi may have been a cold, stickler of the rules loner because of his father’s suicide and the reactions to it, but he was never a kid who had a sibling kill the rest of his Clansman, including the parents, and then mindfuck him after and driven to be totally power-hungry.
@sonicsenryaku
Agreed, if my posts about it above are any indication.
@sonicsenryaku: When did I ever mention Hinata? All I’m saying is that you can’t mash Naruto and Sakura into the MinaKushi mold and that expecting Sakura’s feelings which have remained constant for Sasuke to suddenly change right after he turns good is unrealistic. And how was her fake confession to Naruto in any way ambiguous? It was pretty darn clear that she was lying because she felt guilty (for the wrong reasons I might add) and needed Naruto out of the way. Naruto called BS, everyone present thought it was BS, Sai outright told us she still loves Sasuke, and Sakura herself confirmed it when she couldn’t kill him and in the scene with love-letter nin during the war. After all that I just wouldn’t find a relationship between them believable without a hell of a lot more development. I could have if Sasuke had stayed evil and Kishi had given them some serious positive development, but definitely not now. We’ll see I suppose.
Man, this manga has gotten amusing for all the wrong reasons. The 180s, the twisting of the morals of the story, the cheesy dialogue. I don’t want to read it, but I want to know what Kishi does next to…play with our expectations.
By the way, I found that this manga is a great complement to watching Valvrave, double trainwreck Wednesdays 😛
This chapter didn’t live up to the storytelling bit, kishi forced a push in the sasuke change too much and too sudden, that he might be just hoping to drown it later with a cool epic fights and jutsu scenes. Well I guess with all the developments progressing upto the last chapter it was either this or sasuke being left out in the greatest battle ever (I just really hoped he made the comeback more believable and more interesting).
What sold me thischapter was page 7. 🙂
As a Hinata lover, I refuse to accept it just yet. Naruto x Hinata and Sakura x Sasuke could still happen.
Kishi is being way too vague on who he actually chooses (if anyone at all), giving Hinata development and then switching to Sakura.
This chapter cracked me up. I don’t know why, when Sasuke said he wanted to be Hokage just out no where I just burst
Sakura being close to useless for the most part of the war then suddenly winning. Not that I hate the character but Hinata deserves the win more for me.
Also, Sasuke being Hokage. Gold. A perfect example of an entertaining trainwreck.
Screw anything else, I wanna know what will happen when obito and/or kakashi return from the kamui dimension and see their good old minato sensei and all of the pieces slot in 100%
Okay Hinata practically almost died for Naruto’s sake. If that’s not love then i don’t what is!! Plus I don’t see sasusaku thing going on.
I predict the manga will end like S-Cry-Ed. Naruto and Sasuke will have a friendly fight and they never really show who the winner is.
Christ, I haven’t seen this much character derailment since Guilty Crown.
Okay, if anything proves that Sakura is brain-dead, it’s got to be that she had to ask Minato who he was when he has “4th Hokage” written in big letters on his cape.
*O-dama facepalm no jutsu*
when i saw sakura say she was part of team 7…those feels man. right in the feels.
but its gonna be interesting to see how people adapt to sasuke and his actions from here on out. i feel that although sakura and naruto trust sasuke, the others will take a while to help him out. and im predicting not sure if spoiler if its a prediction but…Show Spoiler ▼
Kubo:Kishi, you’re trolling your fanbase?….He..Took..My..Job!
I feel like aside from the Hokages showing up, everything else was just fanservice and trolling.
The time when Sakura tried to keep Naruto from going after Sasuke and lied to his face talking about how she loves him, I guess that just rolls off Naruto’s back so he just proclaims Sakura as his girlfriend automatically.Meanwhile, Sakura’s reaction is basically “yeah whatever”.
I never shipped anyone out of the big 3 , even in Hitman Reborn and Fairy Tail pretty much already has its own confirmed relationships lol.So I don’t care who Naruto ends up with.We’d probably get trolled anyways and Naruto ends up with that chick from the Lightning Village whose name I forget.
Then we have Sasuke who finally stopped whining, wants to be Hokage all of a sudden.I call bullshit on that.It’s to the point where it’s a case of Monkey See Monkey Do.Oh, Orochimaru wanted to destroy the Leaf, so I do too.Madara wanted to be Hokage, so I do too.
Ok. It’s official. Kishimoto has no idea how the fuck he wants to develop Sasuke’s character.
Lol Kishi started shipping wars in this chap, all fans are interprating chapter how they want. SasuSaku fans think that one word to each other means devoted love, NaruSaku that similarity Kushina and Sakura and not serious reply Naruto to Minato ( he could be just joking around, because he wasn’t even embarassed ) mean that they’re destined to be together and NaruHina fans still think that previous chapter and holding hands really means something and Naruto isn’t so cold to reject her like that. I’m not saying that no one is right, but guys don’t be so sure that your pairings is so canon after so not significant hints.
As for chapter I’m disappointed that Sasuke ignored Naruto, he didn’t even properly looked at him. I’m surprised that no one besides me wasn’t annoyed by it. Sakura and Naruto were always ‘Sasuke, Sasuke’, so at least this time, it could be other way… ;/
No indication of naruto and sakura, at all.
naruto with tsunade… trust me…
tsunade must be really good at bed, dan fucked her for years…
I see what you did there
On the issue of Hokage candidates, I think it’ll possibly be
Show Spoiler ▼
Shikamaru’s intelligence, strategic thinking, ability to think on his feet, being aware of the bigger picture/his surroundings, and so on while still being able to do relatively well all by himself (not “requiring” the assistance of Ino or Chouji to cover his weaknesses) is really why he was the only one among the Genin at the Chunin Exam finals to be made a Chunin at the time (making him one of the youngest to become one and one of the fastest having gotten it on his first try after less than a year of being a Genin). He also proved himself deserving of the position with his leadership prowess when made to go after Sasuke, despite the mission itself being a failure.
As I mention in a previous post, it’s really the lack of strategic thinking (making plans before battles), looking at the bigger picture, getting way too easily emotional(ly involved, which can lead to large bias in their decision-making, and so on), and simply being too mentally unprepared that, right now anyway, knocks Naruto and Sasuke out of the line to be Hokage (at least when you logically think about it and not what Kishi or fans may want to happen).
Shikamaru sometimes reminds me of Hachiman – though I suppose it should be the other way around 😛
Not quite for me. Hachiman is pretty much a total cynic, seeing the worst of pretty much everything. Shikamaru just finds it too “troublesome” to care either way outside of the more serious matters, lol.
Tunsedere Madara is awesome.
tsundere*
hashirama was made the 1st hokage years back,
maybe its time for an uchiha.
a hokage the village needs. but not the hokage the village deserves.
naruto? more like jiraiya. a wandering hermit 🙂
he could take on a student and the sensei-student cycle goes on.
and yeah. NARUTO AND SAKURA.
you never know how sweet and loving sakura could be.
id guess go for someone you love not someone who loves you back.
its like cheating on yourself.
shirocat naruhina fans are not mad because of the hand holding thing we are mad because what naruto had basically said to her at that moment he was excepting her feelings by saying hinata thank you its because you have been by my side all this time so i will never let this hand go taken from chap 615 which basically means naruto recognized she loves him with all her being and to us that girlfriend comment is basically a big slap to the face of an f-u by kishi.
Im just enjoying reading all the Green comments on the way down here 🙂
Sasuke listens to a story told by someone he just met, and then completely reverses his outlook on life. Hmmmmmmmmmm….sounds familiarrrrrrr….. -_-
Although, I must admit, the Madara/Hashirama moment was freaking hilarious.
To be fair, Sasuke knew about the first four Kages his entire life, so it stands to reason that to hear something like that from people he was told as a child were the most powerful people in existence, it would have at least some impact.
wait when did Minato gain Kyuubi Cloak form and why didn’t he use it against Tobi and Nine-Tails attack on the village?
As I mentioned above, I really don’t see how it’s possible unless he sealed the other half of Kurama’s chakra within himself along with sealing himself inside the Shinigami and making him another Kurama Jinchuriki essentially. (Which would explain why he didn’t use it against Obito back then, he just didn’t have it.)
If there’s no good explanation, then it’s a typical shonen style asspull.
So Minato learned Kyuubi Cloak while he trained with King Kai.
Too many asspulls in this chapter.
Sakura: Who are you?
Minato: I’m Minato Namikaze. Don’t worry.. Its not like my face has been plastered onto the Konoha mountain for the last decade you dumb fu**ing bi***.
This chapter personally was disapointing to me.
Sasuke wants to be Hokage now? maybe the previous 4 idiots would name him their succesor because he brought them together and ignore the fact that Naruto brought all 5 great villages together.
Also im a little Neutral on this and while i like NaruHina more that NaruSaku (personally i dislike Naruto being with any girl from canon), the coment that Naruto made that Sakura is his girlfriend actually semmed to piss Sakura off instead of making her feel glad.
People Mention that she know Naruto more that Hinata, personally the only person from Konoha that knows how Naruto is is Jiraiya and Sakura is in the same boat as Hinata heck Nagato, Itachi aswell as the Jinchuriki and tailed beast seem to know him more even though the interaction was really limited.
The thing that actually made me really disgusted is Minato comparing Sakura to Kushina, again im not saying this because im a fan of Hinata, im saying this because im a fan of Kushina.
Also for the NaruSaku fans, you seem to forget that despite Naruto loving her (which i have no idea how it started in the first place as only Hinatas feeling for Naruto have been actually explained) some chapter show that sakura actually loves Sasuke despite all he has done (and i think Ino too).
Also to Narufan, i have to agree, how the heck if she was the smartes student in her generation dosent know who the 4th hokage is and to add salt to the injury she thinks she stans in equal ground to Naruto and Sasuke who are stronger that her for miles, her streaght and healing dont compare to the streaght of this two, Naruto managed to defeat Pain who defeated the entire village almost alone aswell as fight agains 6 of the 9 tail beast, personally she is so full of her self
“Sasuke wants to be Hokage now? maybe the previous 4 idiots would name him their succesor because he brought them together and ignore the fact that Naruto brought all 5 great villages together.”
Technically, the villages were “together” since the Kage Summit. In some ways, one could say Sasuke, even if indirectly, was responsible for the outcome of the Summit with his attacking them and then Obito revealing the Jubi’s existence and whatnot, and even before the whole “backing behind Naruto” bit, the villages were already working quite well together, so I really think Naruto is given more credit than he deserves.
“People Mention that she know Naruto more that Hinata, personally the only person from Konoha that knows how Naruto is is Jiraiya and Sakura is in the same boat as Hinata heck Nagato, Itachi aswell as the Jinchuriki and tailed beast seem to know him more even though the interaction was really limited.”
Well, Sakura did learn about Naruto being a Jinchuriki during the Rescue Gaara Arc,making her realize how little she DID know of him, making her want to learn more, and also learned just how much he was really hurting about the whole issue with Sasuke, something no one else knew about, which is why she tried to make that confession; to get him to rescind the promise he made to her so he would stop putting such a huge burden on his shoulders and making himself suffer, and when that didn’t work, she went to try to kill Sasuke herself.
I don’t doubt Sakura still cares about Sasuke, but I haven’t really seen anything from Sakura herself (just Naruto assuming it) that indicates she (still) “loves” Sasuke in a romantic sense these days. Just because she couldn’t bring herself to land the killing blow doesn’t automatically mean she still loves him in that way, much like Naruto going 6-tails when Hinata “died” didn’t automatically mean he loved her.
“The thing that actually made me really disgusted is Minato comparing Sakura to Kushina, again im not saying this because im a fan of Hinata, im saying this because im a fan of Kushina.”
Yeah, as I mentioned in a previous post, the only things that are really comparable to past generations or other people is some personality traits, but not much else. Heck, we don’t even know that much about Kushina BESIDES her personality and a few of her own Uzumaki-based abilities (which we also know very little in-depth about).
“Also to Narufan, i have to agree, how the heck if she was the smartest student in her generation dosent know who the 4th hokage is and to add salt to the injury she thinks she stans in equal ground to Naruto and Sasuke who are stronger that her for miles, her streaght and healing dont compare to the streaght of this two, Naruto managed to defeat Pain who defeated the entire village almost alone aswell as fight agains 6 of the 9 tail beast, personally she is so full of her self”
Sakura was book-smart is all really (Part 1-wise), and that was from an academy during peacetime where, as I brought up before, was most likely very watered down compared to times of war in terms of the curriculum. (I mean, all they had to do to become Genin was get down 3 extremely basic jutsu and know about teamwork. I’m sure when it comes to villages like Iwa and Kumo, they had to do A LOT more to pass to become Genin during that same peacetime.)
Anyway, she knew more from reading than by actually seeing. From the looks of things, aside from the vague-looking face on the Hokage Monument, there didn’t seem to be a ton of actual images of Minato around the village (only really see one in the Hokage’s office, which I doubt kids would scrutinize). And when Minato sealed Kurama, Sakura was either not born just yet or just born recently, so she never would’ve seen him alive either, much less remember him if she did, so it’s really no surprise that the younger generation wouldn’t know (immediately) who Minato was when he appears. The only one they’d really recognize would be Hiruzen given he was the Hokage (again) when they were growing up and he made occasional visits into the village.
I also think it’s too soon to judge Sakura’s abilities for the upcoming fight. We only got a couple times of her fighting in Part 2 and they weren’t so bad, but all we got were basic things like Tsunade’s chakra-enhanced strength. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sakura has other medical jutsu up her sleeve and whatnot, and still is smart herself (she wouldn’t be a Chunin otherwise). It also doesn’t help that Naruto and Sasuke stole a majority of the spotlight after Team 7’s first re-encounter with eachother, and especially after post Kakuzu/Hidan (where they got tons of hax/rushed power-ups and all), thus we didn’t get much time involving Sakura actually getting decent page time for fighting, as well as all the other named characters (usually the cause for some anime-exclusive fillers). So while it’s obvious that she won’t nearly be as hugely powerful as Naruto and Sasuke, her abilities as a medic would still be very helpful in such a battle.
i gave you points for the first few, though for the sakura still loving sasuke she made it clear with that other shinobi from a diferent village confeced to her and she said she loved someone else, and we didnt see images of Naruto but of Sasuke.
And while i hate to admit it Naruto truly loves sakura but she dosent feel the same way whe now Hinatas love for Naruto developed from admiration to a cruch to love. For Sakura to Sasuke she whent from cruch to love and in hinatas case is explained and somewhat in sakura but Naruto just loves sakura out of the blue, if someone can tell me in which chapter and page he says he loves her without just says i love her and just that.
, also well for what i have seen Naruto and Sasuke were hardly trained bu Jiraiya and Orochimaru, like Sakura was by Tsunade. NAruto may have returned stronger but ididnt see nothing new in his arsenal and Sasuke implemented new styles mostly for his chidori and still i would say Sakura just wants to prove her self.
What I only got from your post is that you are a a butthurt NaruHina fan. Just because Hinata is in love with Naruto doesn’t mean Naruto would love her too. The purpose of Kishi in putting that scene with is to make clear that Naruto is still in love with Sakura and nothing else. Naruto is in love with Sakura but that is not to say Sakura reciprocates.
Are you replying to me or trying to reply to someone else?
If so, how am I indicating such a thing unless you merely skimmed my comment(s) and not actually read them. Otherwise, you’d see that I’m hardly a Naru/Hina fan (at least in terms of the canon story). I don’t mind the pairing in fanfiction, but I would have a big problem if it happened in the canon story without some very serious page time to Naruto and Hinata developing such a relationship, which doesn’t look like it’ll happen.
If not, my mistake and apologies, and you can disregard this, lol.
Lol. No, I was replying to Oscar not you.
you’ll probably find that next they are going to say that sakura has a seal hidden on her somewhere like tsunade or something and for minato I just figured that karuma’s other half was sealed inside him although wouldn’t that mean he has to take a load of bull shit from the half presumably in him?
Just wanted to tell ya all that Sasuke is back with the team seven or the village just because he wants to capture the 10 tail after all the hokages weaken that beast; and the he want to be the jinchuriki of the 10 tail.
But no matter how strong the evil gets, virtue always triumphs over.
LOL…Hashirama making Madara his b*itch!
I really liked the little interaction between Hashi and Madara.
The Hokages arrival was absolutelly badass.
Sasuke’s heel face turn is a shock and wasn’t properly prepared by Kishimoto but I still warmly welcome it for it seals the end of Naruto and Sakura’s endless angst who really has made their characters annoying to me during part 2.
SakuNaru more oor less canonized as expected.
And also, Sakura finally showing a bit late that she is deserving of all that neo sannin hype (unless Kishimotoo trolls us once again – hopefully not).
It was also nice to see the rookies being pissed off at Sasuke’s new resolution. Especially Kiba.