Naruto Chapter 489 – Madara’s Past (AKA you’ve just been Bob’d)

Post Author: Bob

Hello fellow Narutards, sorry for missing out on posting last chapter, I was really up to my neck with work and tests, and it didn’t help that my computer had a near meltdown. To make up for it this week, I’ll be doing the summary and analysis of chapter 489 extra early! I’m working off raw managa scans and spoiler translations, so some of it may be a bit rough ;p
This week’s chapter comes as a mixed blessing, really. The good news is that it delivers a piece of information Naruto fans have been waiting to read for quite a while: The revelation of Madara’s ‘true identity‘. The bad news comes from the real life news that our hard-working author, Mr. Kishimoto, has perhaps worked a little too hard in the new year and has fallen ill. The message left on his personal blog reported that he collapsed in his home studio and had to be checked in to the hospital for two days; supposedly, it was from exhaustion and stress. The post goes on the say that although the next chapter will be released on time, the manga may go on a short hiatus (a month maybe?) as Kishi will take some time off to recuperate and gather new material. There’s been posts on some Japanese fan sites that say Kishi has actually been stressing over the future direction of the Naruto manga for months now because publishers have been complaining about sagging sales. He might have pushed himself too much in recent weeks while trying to come up with ideas to bring new elements to re-energize the story. We’ll keep you posted as more news comes out about how long Kishi plans to stall future Naruto chapters.
This question has been raging on in the Naruto fan community ever since the Tobi character was first introduced. The rumor mill has produced a lot of theories, a lot which have been crushed due to recent revelations in the manga. But who knew that one of those rumors would actually hit the bull’s eye. Truth be told, I always thought that the Tobi = Obito theory to be a little too far fetched considering the evidence for it just doesn’t hold much water, but this chapter certainly proved me wrong. Because Sasuke has taken another major step in becoming his obedient pawn by obtaining the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, Madara took the opportunity to explain the true nature of his body to him. It seems that after being defeated by the First Hokage, Madara lost his physical body and only managed to keep his spiritual essence in tact with his Mangekyou ability. But without a body, his soul would eventually wither away so Madara needed to possess others in order to survive, namely those of the Uchiha bloodline. This also gave Madara the opportunity to spy on Konoha from within and he also began spreading the idea of a coup amongst some key members of the clan, including Sasuke’s father. However, possessing adult bodies was taking a strain on Madara and he needed a more permanent vessel for himself in order to utilize more of his EMS abilities — this is where Obito Uchiha came in. Obito, it seems, was actually a descendant from Madara’s brother, so his body was more compatible to Madara as a close blood relative. However, Madara could not possess Obito until his Sharingan powers were awakened and so he influenced officials to place Obito on a frontline squad during the Great Ninja War to force his Sharingan to activate earlier than it would. Of course after reading Kakashi Gaiden, we all know what happened to Obito. Madara retrieved Obito’s crushed body afterwards, brought it back to his secret hideout and was able to save his remaining Sharingan. Although the body was badly scarred, Madara found it a willing host to his spirit and begin training it to fully use his MS abilities. This is where Madara’s tale stops, but he does hint that he still possessed some of Obito’s memories and may use it to his advantage to influence Kakashi in the future. I don’t know what Madara is really plotting, but I can’t wait to see the day when Kakashi discovers what truly happened to his old friend.

The rest of this chapter showed off only a few elements for the other plotlines, so I won’t spend much time talking about it. With Tsunade now awakened, it seems that Konoha will fully step up its efforts as a member of the alliance. Sai, surprisingly has managed to convince most of Roots to support the Hokage. Karin revealed that she will fully cooperate with Konoha against Madara’s plans, but what really surprised me was the hints that she may have taken a strong liking to Naruto. Talk about a fast rebound relationship, this girl certainly doesn’t waste time. I always thought that she went for the “bad boys”, but maybe she’s just attracted to people with strong chakra. With Karin being a more aggressive gal, I can certainly see some tension building up in the future between her, Sakura and Hinata.

Okay, that’s it for this week. Sorry for the poor pics but the quality of the raws is always bad, so I’ll put up more when good scans come around.