Naruto 637 Discussion: Become Hokage & Get All The Bitches… or Become Judas

“Fuck. Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, and fuck! Fuck, fuck, and bugger! Bugger, bugger, buggerty, buggerty, buggerty, fuck, fuck, arse! Balls! Balls, fuck, fucketty, shit, shit, willy! Willy, shit, fuck, and tits.” Let’s begin breaking down this chapter.

Obito becomes the main and most powerful villain of the series

For obvious reasons, this has become a reality. I’m very disappointed, like many of you, because I not only failed to predict Obito’s imminent death but also have to behold such a horrible plot twist. Obito himself becomes the Jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails. Come on now, how can you possibly pull this shit after suffering (and somehow surviving) a fatal Raikiri blow to your most vital thoracic organs, being controlled by Madara Fucking Uchiha’s chakra for his revival, and getting your upper torso sliced by your own badass sensei, the 4th Hokage? It ain’t make no fucking sense. You’d think that sealing the Juubi, far larger and more powerful than any of its constituent beasts, into a human body would take a major sacrifice/effort/chakra reserve/health/amount of time by the jutsu performer. Not only that, but you also have to take into account the sometimes uncertain compatibility of the host for the beast. Let’s fucking rationalize:

-Obito’s willpower to revive Rin in his fantasy world (which makes me wonder, why didn’t he force Nagato to revive her with the Rinnegan to begin with).
-Obito’s half Senju and half Uchiha body is compatible with the Juubi and genetically comparable to the Sage of the Six Paths
-Obito’s Rinnegan has, somehow, the power to facilitate the process (???)
-Obito had planned this all along, perhaps a long time before this war or even Akatsuki and had prepared for such an occasion

In light of Obito’s injuries, it is very unbelievable that he could have the strength and stamina to fight Madara’s control, without the latter noticing the resistance. It is very much unbelievable that Madara would lose to such a punk far below his level and Hashirama’s, a punk beaten by Kakashi in a sparring match. He wasn’t dead after Minato sliced him??? Fuck it. Let’s move on.

All of this leaves us with the reality that Obito is now the most powerful villain and ninja in the series. A punk ass motherfucker who is just an emotional wreck over a 13-year-old girl named Rin who didn’t give a rat’s ass about him, that was only a teammate, never actually a close friend (or a friend at all, IMO). I understand the depression and adverse reactions of other villains, and even protagonists, in the series, who suffered serious losses/tragedies in their lives (Kakashi: father’s suicide, Orochimaru: parents’ death, Naruto: orphan and rejected by village, Sasuke: clan’s extermination by his brother, Madara: brother’s death and clan’s rejection, Zabuza: atrocities of Mizukage, etc.). To me this guy is just a 29 or 30-year-old pedophile who was never suited to become a ninja, who could only masturbate to a flat-chested chick despite hanging around a fully-grown hottie like Konan. This guy could never move on. And somehow this idiot is now the most powerful being on earth.

I don’t know how they will take him down. Maybe a Madara/Hashirama/Kages truce partnership as some suggested? My sense is that Obito is going first kill all the shinobi right then and there, no hesitation. If such is the case, the only way out for everyone would be Minato’s Flying Thunder God technique. Minato could teleport Obito/Juubi to another part of the world, wherever he’s got his mark far away from the shinobi and other peoples. His mark is already on Obito (which we learned is permanent, fucking badass), so this punk can’t really escape immortal Edo Tensei Minato. I wonder whether the Juubi minions have also disappeared along with the main body and were sucked into Obito’s body. I wonder what’s gonna happen to Kakashi, who almost got himself killed for nothing, if he isn’t gonna die (he has to see his sensei again), in the alternate dimension. Anyway, we’ll see.

Sad Minato

The 4th Hokage experienced what appears to be the curse of the greatest lineage of ninja squads in Konoha’s history. One of his former students came out twisted and rotten. Tobirama, Danzo. Hiruzen, Orochimaru. Jiraiya, Nagato. Kakashi, Sasuke. Minato, Obito. Regardless of his feelings and to test out his assumption, Minato quickly “flies” to attack and discover that the masked man he had fought years ago was his supposedly deceased student Obito. What I admire about Minato, furthering his badassery, is that he coolly makes the decision to execute a former friend for the greater good. And he does so fatally, without hesitation, as brutal as possible in the moment, even to the surprise of the usually nonchalant Sasuke Uchiha. However, his effort was useless in the end. The funny note of the chapter is Minato’s obscene, I thought, recommendation to Obito: we’ll become Hokage and get all the bitches.

Minor Points

-Hiruzen was the only former Hokage that didn’t make any clones. He wasn’t even shown at all in the chapter. I think he might be up to something, such as waxing Enma’s diamond-rod, if you know what I mean. Seriously, he might be up to something.

-What are the clones made by Tobirama doing? Where did they go?

-What is Madara Uchiha going to do now? I find it hard to believe that he doesn’t have something up his sleeve. He doesn’t look frustrated at all. Maybe he just wants to enjoy the destruction Obito will cause, or he doesn’t think Obito will survive being the host of the Juubi. I don’t know. I guess he is just relieved to know that now he can fight Hashirama to his heart’s content and for eternity.

-Pain/Six Paths rods beating Sasuke’s Susanoo arrow??? WTF. How is this even possible? I expected some minor deflection, but not such a stout block of the attack. Why didn’t Sasuke use his long-distance Chidori or Amaterasu?

-Naruto’s bickering at Sasuke??? That was completely unnecessary (it’s Naruto, tell me about it). Of course, Sasuke would take off to quickly attack Obito and prevent everybody’s demise from happening. I wonder if Naruto wants to turn Obito into a good guy, the killer of Neji and numerous other shinobi. Naruto, this is no orphan Nagato from war-stricken Amegakure. This is a punk MOFO. And this would be the slim chance for Sasuke’s Hokage candidacy. Whenever it is needed most, Naruto will try to reason with the villain at the expense of countless shinobi fodder, while Sasuke will coldly do what he must and take out the threats permanently. The shinobi will look down upon Naruto for his forgiving attitude and hail Sasuke for taking immediate action. I think that’s how it could go down. But KiSHITmoto does whatever he wants.

-My Fellow Judas: Does this foreshadow Sasuke is still a traitor?

-Naruto’s words at the end of the chapter suggest that he might have known about Obito’s intentions all along because he could sense them in Tailed Beast mode. How long ago did he know about that, we might not know. But I certainly hope that he didn’t know a while back, when it would have been crucial to tell everyone what just took place in this Rin-fapping chapter. I’m not liking both the main protagonist and the, I guess, official main antagonist of the series. Obito “Punk Pussy” Uchiha.

Take it easy, folks.

Naruto 636 Discussion: When You Sell Your Soul to the Devil

Hi, folks! It’s been a while… Graduate chem studies are such a killer. I apologize for remaining distant from reading and trying to write reviews, but given the lackluster chapters we’ve had over the last months, I wanted to say a few things. Since I’m so busy, please bear with me. I won’t be as exquisite as I’ve been before. I will be using a lot of bullet-point headings and focusing on ideas sort of stream-of-consciousness. But this time, I will actually be writing more consistently, but again, with minimized, bordering on shitty, quality. I think that because we authors happen to be so busy, having several not-so-comprehensive reviews with different perspectives would be more beneficial and entertaining for discussion. This would make Shannaro!!! adopt more of a sports website format, having different analyses of a football match.

-Kakashi fatally impales Obito

This outcome was quite unexpected. There was the slight feeling that with Kishi’s recent shitty writing, especially with Sasuke’s and Oro’s and maybe Kabuto’s change for good, Obito was going to turn into a “good boy” like Tobi would say of himself and somehow go against Madara and join the Shinobi Alliance. However, the most unexpected outcome resulted. Kakashi, who can be considered outclassed by Obito in chakra, Hashimara cells, and eye prowess, beat his former childhood friend using taijutsu and sparring. It makes you wonder why Obito didn’t use any of his special techniques to kill a more limited yet smarter Kakashi. Since most of Kishi’s writing today is bullshit, we can only rationalize what happened:
-Obito was too chakra drained from controlling the Tailed Beasts and the Juubi, using his MS and Rinnegan techniques, fighting Naruto, Killer Bee, Might Guy, and Kakashi.
-Obito couldn’t use his time-space warp technique in the alternate dimension because it would expose the warped part of his body to the real world where it could be prone to attack. You could say that he would then send part of his body to where the Juubi is, but it makes you wonder if he could have just sent that part of the body elsewhere he knew it would be safe. Not enough is known about the technique and its use in the alternate dimension.
-Obito is not very smart and tactical, which we already knew. He was used to avoid hand-to-hand combat, and Kakashi cornered him at the one thing the latter was currently superior at.
-Obito was distracted by emotional drama, the pending Moon’s Eye Plan, scared by how Madara would deal with him eventually, and just shocked that he had been cornered like that by his childhood rival.

-Obito must be dead for sure

Obito will not make it out of this. If he does, Kishi will just keep shitting loads on his once-upon-a-time masterpiece. There was no genjutsu in this instance. The blow by Kakashi’s Raikiri-infused kunai strike was clearly fatal. Kakashi pierced straight through his heart. Damn, more like he totally obliterated his heart and part of his lungs and shit. Why the fuck is Obito still able to talk and teleport, I’ll never know. He teleported right on top of the Juubi (I think, in that area at least), but he couldn’t move at all from the blow… in his last minutes already.

–Madara’s plan all along…

Madara is bored out of his fucking mind ’cause Hashirama ain’t coming around to fight him, and then, notices that Obito is about to die and has to use him to get revived with the Rinnegan. What I wonder is why he needs a living person to revive him when he has the Rinnegan in his current Edo Tensei state. Again, Kishi doesn’t explain that kinda shit (actually, see comment #3 by nss7). Like we saw with Nagato, this would kill Obito especially in his condition. The interesting thing here to note is the well-thought-out fail-safe that Madara planned since he commissioned young Obito with his Moon’s Eye Plan and revival. He had left Obito not only with a Black Zetsu that carried his personality and life force with him, but Madara had also left a part of himself in Obito’s half Zetsu body. Ignoring the Edo Tensei for a moment, this would eventually force Obito to revive Madara if things looked like they would fall through. And that’s what happened. As far as how exactly this would have been activated without Madara’s being present, we will never know. Madara was cold-blooded. Of course, if you sell your soul to the devil for power or for whatever cause, he will come around one day to ask for his share. We’ve all sensed this would happen eventually. Especially in light of how much this Obito kid has fucked it up for Madara. Kudos to Madara for taking out that whiny motherfucker the way he deserves. So fucking annoying.

-Kakashi’s fate

I find it hard to believe that Kakashi was impaled fatally by Obito’s “Pain” rod. He was impaled on the side, and as long as he can get treated, he will be fine. And that’s the question… How the hell is he gonna get back to the real world? Does he have enough chakra to warp himself back? Will his sensei Minato somehow teleport himself into that dimension and get him out? Reverse Kuchiyose with his dogs? Will Obito think of him in his very last breath and bring him back to get back at Madara? I have not a fucking clue.

I did like Kakashi’s monologue. And I think it applies to all relationships and, say, death of loved ones, even those who have hurt us. He have to treasure and remember these people for all of the good times we had with them and their special positive attributes, and not let them be tarnished by all bad and nasty in their lives. I think it also shows maturity to let go of these people, when their current selves are different, evil, unchangeable. Kakashi did what Naruto is not willing to do with Sasuke: kill his best friend. Sometimes you wish you could get back with your old girlfriend you loved so much, but you really can’t go back with someone who has cheated on you, changed, and affected the people closest to you. You have to let go, and do what you must. Hashirama is the prime example of someone who couldn’t take out his friend soon enough to prevent the grotesque aftermath of the Uchiha clan.

-Last week’s pet peeve: making sense of Sasuke’s decision to burn down the Juubi and most of the Tailed Beasts

I know a lot of people were completely pissed at Sasuke for acting like an Emo kid again by uttering that he wanted to burn down the Juubi and all the beasts therein contained. Naruto is opposed to this for obvious reasons. The thing we are ignoring, though, is that Naruto and Killer Bee are the only ones that understand what the bond between a Bijuu and a Jinchuuriki is like and actually got to know the Tailed Beasts as the “gentle” souls that they actually are. Everybody else, Sasuke included, know the Tailed Beasts as the worst tragedies that their villages have had over the centuries, because of their destruction and fight between villages over the possession of these beasts. Many shinobi (fathers and mothers of children), Jinchuuriki, and civilians suffered because of the Tailed Beasts’ rage for not being treated as something other than weapons of war. Thus, it should be far more reasonable to side with Sasuke in this matter because, ignoring what Naruto and Killer Bee know, he is aware of the history of the beasts and knows that most of the shinobi in the Alliance would like those fucking monsters dead. It’s perfectly reasonable to want such a potential danger permanently destroyed. I think Sasuke is trying to be like Tobirama, trying to be the bad cop for the greater good. Naruto is just trying to be friends with everyone and make one big, happy family.

As far as what Sasuke’s actual plan might be, I’m gonna make a wild guess and say he will exterminate all shinobi from the face of the earth in order to get rid of the system that has caused so much hatred and pain. There ain’t no better moment to do it than now when he has practically all of them in one place within Amaterasu’s reach. Just saying. With Kishi the way he has been lately, anything is possible.

Take it easy, folks.

Naruto Chapter 597: The Secret Behind the Space-Time Ninjutsu

Hola, mis queridos Narutardos!!!  After an unexpected manga break last week, we are compensated with a similarly unexpected early release.  Pardon me if I butcher this and the near-future reviews; I recently enrolled in graduate school for the physical chemistry program in Madrid.  You know I’m a high school teacher, but I’m fed up with teaching little brats.  Thus, I’ve decided to become a college professor, for which I need a master’s degree or a doctorate.  So yeah…  Don’t worry, folks; I’ll post something every week, even if it’s sh*tty.

This was an awesome and partially revealing chapter, except for Naruto’s super cliché speech towards the end.  It’s cool and all that Kurama is helping Naruto, but they need Kakashi in order to cause Tobi any damage.  Right now winning the battle is not a matter of raw power and sheer strong will, but of calm and coldly calculated strategy.  But I digress…  Let’s jump into the juicy.

I know, I know…  I kinda nailed it on the Hatake Space-Time Ninjutsu Theory.  Give me the f*cking Nobel Prize in Manga.  Nah, I was just a helluva lucky bastard.  A lot of you guys had already thought the same anyway.  Instead of regurgitating the entire working principle of Tobi’s jutsu in the last review, allow me to make these amendments:

• Tobi’s body is indeed warped to another dimension when he used his Space-Time technique.  However, only the parts of his body that overlap with an object (attack, material, ground, etc.) are sent to another dimension.  This is especially useful for avoiding pregnancies, if you know what I mean.
• Since only  the overlapped parts of his body are sent to another dimension, his consciousness remains in the real dimension (whatever that is).  In other words, if they want a Kamui-warped attack to be fatal, they must overlap with a delicate part of Tobi’s body (no, I didn’t mean ‘that’ part)–the thoracic cavity, neck, and unmasked head perhaps.
• The relative position of the attack when warped matters and must be with respect to the general area of the “intangible” overlapped region of Tobi’s body…  All that to say…  The attack must be close to the overlapped body in order to cause damage.
• The reason why Kamui-warped objects interact with Tobi’s warped body parts is because they share the same alternate dimension.  The reason why they share the same dimension is not that all space-time techniques share the same alternate dimension.  Rather, the reason is that, as it was strongly implied but not explicitly stated (there should be no doubt, though), Kakashi’s and Tobi’s techniques belong to same set of eyes–Obito’s Sharingan.
• The theory does not exactly elucidate the inner workings of all space-time ninjutsu.  Rather, it specifically explains the powers and principles behind Obito’s set of Sharingan eyes.

Before people jump to conclusions about Tobi’s identity, let me make something clear.  We still do not know for sure that Tobi is Obito.  No such thing was ever mentioned in this chapter, even if it appears to be implied.  When we finally learn the truth, we will be willing to accept whatever Tobi’s identity turns out to be.  Until then, Tobi is not Obito because of the timeline issues.  What we know for sure now is that Tobi’s right eye is Obito’s Sharingan.  This would make sense given the previously stated facts about the space-time technique.  Plus, although minimally important, if Tobi is a non-Uchiha that transplanted Obito’s eye, then it would make sense for his eye to be always activated.  How do we know it’s Obito’s right eye?  It’s the only eye that could share dimensions with Kakashi’s, not to mention that Obito would be the only Uchiha involved in the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.  How did his eye survive the collapsing cave?  I’m as baffled as you are.  I have no f*cking clue.

Now, let’s analyze the Sharingan.  We have observed Itachi and Sasuke using different techniques with each Mangekyo Sharingan.  Itachi uses Amaterasu with his right eye and Tsukuyomi with his left eye.  Sasuke uses Amaterasu with his left eye and Tsukuyomi with his right eye.  Basically, each Mangekyo Sharingan eye has a technique of its own.  While the connection between these two techniques is not as evident as that between Obito’s eyes, it is reasonable for Obito’s eyes to be similar in principle and still be different techniques.

Done with such a slightly quaint preface, I will say that I’m intrigued as to how or why Tobi obtained Obito’s eye.  I get it’s a Sharingan.  If I saw one myself, I’d pick it up and put it in my forehead to look like motherf*cking Tien Shinhan from Dragon Ball.  Out of all the Sharingan Tobi could have obtained in history, I wonder why he decided to pick Obito’s and test it and use it up until now.  He didn’t know the Sharingan’s great potential yet…  or maybe he did if a young Kakashi used the Sharingan with exemplary skill to become the Hero of Sharingan (besides the basic abilities it grants the user).  All of this is really foggy, so I don’t know.

If you wanna get technical, Tobi did say that he got the eye during the Battle of the Kannabi Bridge where Kakashi was made hero.  During the battle of the bridge.  Of the bridge.  If you remember Kakashi Gaiden, Kakashi obtained his Sharingan not during the Battle of the Bridge, but when he and Obito were trying to rescue Rin.  It was after that bittersweet fight that Minato, Rin, and Kakashi moved on to the bridge and destroyed it–the original mission.  And I believe this was the place where Kakashi would have done something marvelous and heroic to be hailed as he was by Konoha, for there was no glory in Rin’s rescue.  Whether spying the battle or disguised as an enemy, Tobi would have then been a witness to Obito’s Sharingan.  Knowing that a non-Uchiha Kakashi wielded it so mightly (I don’t know how much at this point, pretty much in the test-drive period), Tobi may have become interested in the Sharingan and inferred that the other Sharingan was lying around somewhere.  It also seems likely that Tobi was observing them all along, thus learning about their personalities, especially Kakashi’s.  Otherwise, I wonder if there’s a connection between people using an eye from one set of Sharingan eyes.  Again, I don’t know.  Help me out.  And Kakashi, because he is hyperventilating.

I could go on and on with speculations, but I would like to hear you guys.  As far as Naruto’s speech, bleh.  Not worth talking about.  Same old story.  At least I like the continued involvement of the Nine Tails.  But why is Kakashi hyperventilating…?  Due to his guilt or because he knows who Tobi is?  Sh*t.  I don’t know.  Tobi is Obito…  f*ck me, right?  Sorry, kids.  I’m a little drunk.

Last week’s comments recap:
I will just touch on the Second Hokage-being-Tobi hypothesis.  First, it does not make sense because he was Hashirama’s brother, which makes him an enemy of the Uchiha, or at least an enemy of what their leader Madara stood for.  Hell, Tobirama Senju created the Konoha Military Police Force to keep the Uchiha in check–not dead.  Secondly, while he created the Edo Tensei, it is unclear whether he knew what Madara knew about undoing the technique.  Finally, Tobirama was resurrected by Orochimaru to fight the Third Hokage.  Sarutobi sealed away both Hashirama and Tobirama’s souls with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.  Thus, Tobirama couldn’t have been brought back (unless he had cursed-bit some mofo Oro-style, but we know by timeline extrapolation that Tobi was already active during that time).

Naruto Chapter 596: One Jutsu

Hey, fellow shinobi.  This is my second chapter review, which I am very motivated to write after reading your comments on last week’s post.  This chapter was truly epic, truly memorable.  Once again, Kakashi makes the show.  This character, in my opinion, is the most pivotal in this manga due to his many contributions during and outside of battle.  Kakashi’s brilliant analytical thinking saved Konoha from Pain by testing the limit of his attractive force powers, which ultimately helped Naruto defeat him.  Now, it appears that his analysis of Tobi’s jutsu might lead our heroes to victory.

Last week, we were overcome with bewilderment when we saw that Naruto’s Nine-Tails-mode punch had only made a scratch on Tobi’s mask.  As it turns out, Kakashi asserts that the damage does not correspond to Naruto’s punch and rather seems to have been made by a sharp object.  Now, that makes sense.  Right as he starts deliberating, Bee goes batsh*t crazy to get to the Gedo Mazo, only to be impeded by Tobi’s barrier (“Uchiha Kaenjin”… hmm… Uchiha…).  The barrier burns Bee’s beast-mode hand, and for a moment, I thought, “Sh*t, AMATERASU!”  Thankfully, the fire is put out, and the hand is cool and ready for the team’s next movement.  At this point, attacking the Mazo is out of the question.

Kakashi proceeds to explain his hypothesis.  You know he’s up to something clever and awesome.  What I found interesting is that he said that he has “never heard of Kamui being stopped.”  Unless the translation distorted his utterance, this suggests that Kamui is a technique that people have known about over time, meaning other Sharingan users may have used it as well.  I wonder if Kakashi has read the Uchiha stone tablet.  Before I try to break down the connection between Kamui and Tobi’s space-time ninjutsu, let me continue to analyze the narrative.

Bee sends Kakashi, Naruto, and Gai flying in such a fashion that reminds me of the Powerpuff Girls for some reason (uh… three different hair colors?).  Gai demolishes a huge rock with his kickass nunchucks, fakes to aim for Tobi, and tries to surprise him from behind with a silly taunt.  Tobi grabs the nunchucks, starts to absorb them, and Naruto in Nine-Tails mode attempts to strike him with his Rasengan.  I feel kinda sad about the apparent fate of Gai’s nunchucks.  Anyway, Tobi becomes intangible once again.  Naruto’s Rasengan disappears, which it is later revealed that Kakashi sent it away with Kamui.  Tobi does not perceive that, and seconds later, sh*t happens.  Kaboom.  Tobi’s right arm is damaged (man, really… only his right arm?!).  Tobi then realizes that what happened to his mask earlier was caused by Kakashi’s lightning-infused kunai that had been sucked away by Kamui.  Finally, Kakashi proves his hypothesis and states the theory behind Tobi’s intangibility and space-time migration–both are not separate techniques, but one jutsu.

Let’s analyze Kakashi’s theory behind Tobi’s technique and its connection with his Kamui.  Please follow my bullet-point progression of thoughts.

• We know that Kakashi’s Kamui sends stuff away to another dimension, and so far, we have not seen it bring anything back.
• Remember that Kakashi had sent away his kunai to save Naruto when Tobi kicked it in his direction after it had phased through his body.  Whether Kakashi tried to test his hypothesis at that point is not clear.
• At first, Kakashi is puzzled and does not know that his kunai scratched Tobi’s mask.  This means that he did not purposefully throw his kunai at Tobi at the time of Naruto’s punch, nor bring it back from another dimension.
• Then, as far as we know, his Kamui can only send stuff away to another dimension.  This brings up this question: How the hell did a kunai in another dimension hit Tobi?
• Before we answer the former, let’s answer this question: Did Naruto miss hitting Tobi because the latter narrowly dodged the punch by a few millimeters or because Tobi was intangible?
• Everybody thought Naruto laid a punch on Tobi’s mask, which suggests that they did not see Tobi dodging it in a way.  In addition, if the kunai was able to damage the mask, the super-powered punch should have caused visible damage as well.  It can be thusly inferred that Tobi was intangible.
• If the kunai caused the scratch at the time of Naruto’s punch, during which Tobi was intangible, it means that the kunai in another dimension was able to interact with Tobi’s body, which was supposedly present and intangible in the real dimension.
• The new Hatake space-time migration theory states that intangibility and space-time teleportation (of living beings, objects, and self) are connected and produced by the same and only one space-time jutsu.  A corollary to this theory is that both ramifications of the jutsu differ only in its application and share the same alternate dimension.
• Given the evidence in this chapter, it is safe to conclude that Kakashi’s Kamui and Tobi’s space-time ninjutsu share the same alternate dimension where they send objects away.  Perhaps all space-time techniques share that same dimension.
• If Kakashi sends stuff to the same dimension (in this case, the kunai and Naruto’s Rasengan), then how does Tobi get hit?  The theory assumes that Tobi’s body is warped to the alternate dimension when it becomes intangible and therefore interacts with anything found in such dimension.
• In other words, Tobi’s body does not become intangible; it simply goes to another dimension while projecting its image in the real dimension.
• Thus, when Kakashi sends the attacks away with Kamui, they interact with Tobi’s body in the alternate dimension.  Tobi’s surprised reaction implies that while his body is away, his consciousness remains in the real dimension.
• Kakashi seems to have no control on the trajectory of the attacks, so that makes me wonder if anything that goes into that dimension will always hit Tobi on random parts of his body when it becomes “intangible.”
• The theory does not quite explain why the Mazo’s head was not absorbed, except that while Kakashi was absorbing it, Tobi was sending the head back to real dimension or maybe closing the alternate dimension.

Now, I’m just wondering what kind of strategy Naruto, Kakashi, Gai, and Bee will implement based on this theory.  The only thing I can predict about it is that Kakashi will keep using his Kamui, which makes me very afraid for his life.  An amazing idea would be using Kamui on a Tailed-Beast bomb in order to hit Tobi’s warped body with fatal outcome in the alternate dimension.  Maybe send one of Naruto’s shadow clones to bitch-slap Tobi’s warped body?  However, Tobi knows that his jutsu has been analyzed correctly.  How will he respond?  Is Tobi using an advanced version of Kamui?  I have no idea, so, in Kakashi’s words, help me out.

Thanks for reading this review.  I would like to hear your thoughts on the comment section below.  Itadakimasu.

Last week’s comments recap:
Orochimaru’s preference for Sasuke’s body over those of other shinobi is something we do not understand completely (other than the obvious Sharingan and Uchiha body benefits).  We have yet to learn from the events that will follow.  Also, non-Uchiha Sharingan wielders have been able to cast genjutsu with their eyes.  Kakashi did cast genjutsu with his Sharingan on the Root ANBU spying on Naruto, and Danzo used Shisui’s Sharingan to cast genjutsu on Mifune during the Five Kage Summit.  Lastly, based on Kishi’s latest interview, we know that Tobi and Madara know each other and have some sort of relation.  Thus, I think we can say with a high degree of confidence that Tobi is not Obito.

Naruto Chapter 595: Fissure

We have been on an emotional roller coaster in the last few weeks with Kishi.  Yes, damn you, Kishi.  Let’s not hate on the author, as he might pull one of his mind-freaking twists in Naruto’s future.  And then we will all be thankful and understand what’s going on right now (“I see what you did there, Kishi, hehe…”).  Before I commence my rant as the Third Blogkage (Bob -> Sylloge -> Me), let me introduce myself.  My name is…well, you don’t really care what my real name is (Disclaimer: I’m not Madara or Tobi).  For you, I’m Mister_Sensei, a chemistry teacher from Spain.  Hola.  I have been following this website for years and have collaborated a few times with posts.  Those who have been here long enough may remember me as a playboy, potty mouth, pervert, and philanthropist.  I apologize for offending anybody on this site, because I know I have.   So much for my introduction…  I hope you enjoy my reviews so that I can enjoy your comments. (click the photos below for gallery view)  😛

Since many a chapter has gone by without being reviewed, allow me to recall the highlights from the previous two chapters.

• Chapter 593: Sasuke revives Orochimaru from Anku’s cursed seal in usual nasty fashion.  Just back in the world, Oro does not falter to express his continued pedo/homophilic interest in Sasuke.  His Die-Hard-ness posits the idea that Oro is a much bigger boss than we think.  Who knows everything and where are they gonna meet such individual or entity?  A lot of wild theories out there.  Nothing concrete can be inferred yet.  At least it’s made clear that Sasuke is still a bad boy and, at the same time, proves himself everybody’s pushover once again.  Will Sasuke discover how to obtain the Rinnegan?
• Chapter 594: The Gedo Mazo eats the Gold and Silver Brothers and a piece of Eight-Tails sushi and consequently starts undergoing its transformation into the Ten-Tails.  Tobi reveals that he only needs a piece of the chakra of  the remaining bijuu in order to revive the Ten-Tails.  Furthermore, he states that the Ten-Tails (as if it wasn’t a helluva deal) is only a stepping stone to achieve his Moon’s Eye plan.  This raises this one question: Why didn’t Tobi start the revival a long time ago, if the full power of the Ten-Tails was never imperative for the success of his plan?  He may have wasted too much time trying to fight Naruto and company.  But in his pride, he thought dealing with the remaining jinchuriki was gonna be a piece of cake.  Hell no.

Now, let’s deal with the current pressing issues.  The effin’ Ten-Tails is about to emerge!  Kurama’s talk had pretty much suggested that if the Ten-Tails is allowed to reform, sh*t will get real.  I honestly don’t think anyone in the contemporary Naruto universe would be able to manhandle such a beast.  However, there is still the possibility that somehow Naruto’s new friendship with the bijuus would have an effect on the personality of the Progenitor.  Or for the believers in a united Naruto-Sasuke combo, their joined forces, eyes and will of the Sage of the Six Paths, would be able to control it.  This speculation could hold if Naruto’s link to the Senju clan could be confirmed more directly and if Sasuke becomes a “good” boy.  I have a feeling that the real Madara will come to poop Tobi’s party.  This would be an interesting encounter with much to reveal.  It has to take place.  Wondering how immortal Madara’s power would measure up to the Ten-Tails…

Attempting to prevent the worst case scenario from coming to fruition, Naruto, Kakashi, Guy, and Bee struggle to get their hands on the ever slippery and elusive Tobi.  This was a nice tactical battle against Tobi.  Naruto charges forward with a plan in mind (quite relieving), Kakashi stands back with Eight-Tails-mode Bee to analyze the situation, and Guy whips out his cool nunchucks.  I gotta give it to Guy.  His usual dim-witted and clumsy comic relief  was absent in this chapter.  While he didn’t show his spades of raw physical power, he showed some serious, classy, perfectly and timely executed movements, especially with his nun-chucks.  I love when Guy has such a badass-itude.  I must note something about Tobi’s gunbai (war fan): it is a kickass weapon.  It’s capable of deflecting a Nine-Tails-mode Rasengan, cutting rocks, serving as a shield/sword…  Geez…  I want a damn fan like that one.

At the center of the strategy lies division general Kakashi, who tries to use his powerful Mangekyou Sharingan.  I’m a hardcore Kakashi fan, and as such, I must admit every time he uses his last resort jutsu, I get worried.  He had been fighting the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, used his lightning jutsu God knows how many times, sustained a nearly fatal abdominal wound, made shadow clones, and fought the bijuu in humanoid form face to face, let alone his prolonged Sharingan wielding throughout this war.  He certainly has been drained of a lot of chakra.  I wonder how long he can keep it up.  His assessment of the situation was correct: take out the Mazo by the head with his inescapable Kamui.  Nonetheless, it couldn’t be that easy, classic in manga.  Tobi seems to have done something to counter the time-space warp.  This brings us back to a previous Tobi-Kakashi encounter when the former told the latter using Kamui on him would be ineffective.  I believe it most likely has to do with the particular time-space ability of Tobi’s Sharingan, not the Mazo.  By the looks of it, Kakashi has an idea of who Tobi is.

After a masterful intervention by Kakashi with his Raikiri kunai and Kamui, Naruto manages to lay a punch on Tobi’s materialized face.  Much to the Konoha trio’s dismay, Naruto’s Nine-Tails-mode strike does nothing more than leave a slight fissure on Tobi’s mask.  If you all recall Naruto’s accidental head-to-head collision with Tobi,  Tobi had mentioned that his mask was made of materials suited for war. What the hell is that sh*t made of?!  And why is Tobi so resilient to physical attacks?  The recent accounts imply that Tobi has a very strong reason to conceal his identity.  Should the mask be dismantled, perhaps they can crack a strategy against Tobi based on his actual identity.  I think this current battle will lead to the discovery of his identity.  But now, what do we do about the emerging Ten-Tails?

The recent events have resurrected a much debated and formerly rejected theory: Tobi is Obito.  After what has been happening, it would be unfair to dismiss all the Obito allegations in light of the apparent implications.  To be fair with everybody, let me break down both schools of thought.  First, I will give you some chronology.

1. First Shinobi World War:  The Five Great Nations take serious damage.  The First Hokage tried to balance the power among the nations by dividing the bijuu.  Unfortunately, each nation’s greed for more bijuu power precipitated the war.  The known characters involved in the conflict are the Second Hokage (KIA–killed in action) and his young promise shinobi squad, comprised of Sarutobi, Danzo, Kagami Uchiha, Torifu Akimichi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane.  Sarutobi is named the Third Hokage.
2. Second Shinobi World War:  The young Sannin–Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru–fight against the atrocious Hanzo who spares their lives.  It is during this time that Jiraiya meets and trains Nagato and company in war-torn Amegakure.  Sakumo Hatake makes himself the famous Konoha’s White Fang.  Tsunade’s brother and her lover Dan are both killed during this war, yet she rises to fame as the best medical ninja.
3. Third Shinobi World War:  This is the time when the Kakashi Gaiden series takes place.  Minato Kamikaze becomes Konoha’s new hero–the Yellow Flash.  He leads a team of preteen shinobi, Kakashi, Obito Uchiha, and Rin.  And we all know the story.  Itachi is affected by the war and grows to loathe it.  An orphan Kabuto is found on the battlefield and taken into an orphanage.  Also during this time, Yahiko founds Akatsuki with Nagato and Konan and leads the resistance against the still lingering Hanzo.  Danzo assists Hanzo against Akatsuki.  Yahiko sacrifices himself for his friends.  And Pain is born.
4. Fourth Shinobi World War:  The current.  No need to write about it.

• There’s one event I want to mention, which might be pre-Fourth War.  That is the rule of the Fourth Mizukage under Tobi’s control.  During this time, Kirigakure was known as the Bloody Mist.  A very young Zabuza Momochi emerged as a vicious killer and grew up wanting to overthrow the Mizukage at all costs.  It is unclear whether this spell belongs in the Third Shinobi War.  If Zabuza has the same age as Kakashi, the answer would be yes, and this may have started to take place sometime between the Second and Third Wars.

As it is far easier to refute arguments than support them, let me start by saying that believing that Tobi is Obito would be incorrect because this assumption does not match the aforementioned chronology.  Why the mismatch?  It seems reasonable to assume that Tobi must have met/known/come from Madara.  It is still unknown how long Madara lived after his skirmish against Hashirama before the First War.  Since Tobi told Konan he had given the Rinnegan to Nagato, who had such eyes when he met Jiraiya during the Second War, the possibility of Tobi-Obito could be ruled out.  Obito was not born yet and maybe was too young to act as a major villain (bitch please, you must have never washed his sh*t*y diapers…).  However, we don’t know whether Tobi speaks of his actions as his own or on behalf of Madara.  Still, Tobi’s encyclopedic wealth of knowledge suggests he’s been around for a long time and knows his shinobi history very well.  Furthermore, we know that Obito’s right eye was crushed by a boulder, possibly beyond repair.  Half of his body was already butcher’s ground beef, and the rest became so as well after the cave collapsed.  Madara must have lived long enough (up to freaking Kakashi Gaiden) to meet Obito or find his body.  Unlikely.  Plus, if the Bloody Mist chronology assumption is right, Tobi was already around going about his business before and/or during Obito’s short tenure with Team Minato.  Above all else, if I were to pick an Uchiha from the entire clan, I would get myself some real badass, like an almost KIA Uchiha that could be deemed deceased by Konoha.   Obito’s Sharingan potential was also completely unknown at the time.  I’m sure more reasons to refute this theory can be regurgitated the more you dig in the old manga.   One more, isn’t it really unbelievable that Obito would have outgrown Kakashi and the others and almost outperformed the Fourth Hokage if he was Tobi during the Nine-Tails attack?  Talk about some serious Zetsu steroids.

Now, the underlying dissonance proves to be the fact that Tobi appears to know Kakashi and Guy.  We don’t know yet in what capacity. Not only does it seem like Tobi knew and followed them over the years, but also it is implied that both Kakashi and Guy have seen his face before.  Some people have been saying that Tobi says Guy does not remember faces because he saw his battle against Kisame through his Zetsu camcorder.  Stemming from Zetsu’s recording ability, the possibility that Tobi has been observing people’s movements through the years proves very appealing.  What a voyeur if you ask me.  Anyhow, the issue is that the only familiar Uchiha that could have known Kakashi (very closely) and Guy was Obito.  Kakashi’s expressions and unfinished thoughts give us a sense of personal familiarity with Tobi.  Moreover, we see that Kakashi’s Kamui is countered with what appears to be another jutsu of some sort.  If Sasuke’s and Tobi’s quenching of Amaterasu flames has told us anything, we could say that Kamui was countered by means of Tobi’s Sharingan, believing the thesis that Sharingan cancels samel-level Sharingan.  The wild hypothesis that has been proposed lately is that the technique of a unique set of Sharingans can only be countered by the same eyes, such as Sasuke putting out his own flames (but then you wonder about Tobi and Itachi’s Amaterasu trap).  Thus, if this is true, only Obito’s right eye could effectively negate the effects of his left eye in Kakashi’s possession.  I don’t really know.  Should this be true, Kishi better provide sufficient explanation.  And Obito, man…  what a sh*t*y friend.  Kakashi would have wasted his years in regret and sorrow for his friend.

My opinion:  If it is indeed an Uchiha we know, I think this would be Kagami Uchiha from the Second Hokage’s team.  He would fit the timeline.  However, if he was still alive before the Uchiha massacre, he would have been as old as Sarutobi.  I don’t know how that would justify any relationship with youngsters like Kakashi and Guy back then.  In addition, he has not been a major player in Naruto.  We don’t know anything else about him.  But he fits the timeline, and coupled with Zetsu-camcorder, he may have been able to follow people’s actions closely.  In the end, doesn’t Tobi want to control people with Tsukuyomi?

Sorry for the long review.  It is my first one, and I thought it’d be nice to tackle long-talked-about theories.  I know everybody has been longing for a review.  See ya ’round!  Itadakimasu.