History WMG / NarutoOpenOne

* Yahiko is the one related to Naruto. Nagato is not.

You mean the lack of ShapeshifterWeapons? Because they probably have other techniques that do the same thing but better, meaning Transformation Technique would serve as a basis for other, more advanced techniques.

* Most likely he will be the [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds woobie destroyer of worlds]] if that happens.

* I doubt it. I mean, Sasuke's repressed flashbacks (Itachi [[spoiler: sheds tears]]) make it pretty clear what is what. Besides, if they go and [[spoiler: make Itachi evil again]], it will be nothing less than the biggest [[Main/{{Asspull}} asspull]] Naruto ever performed.

**** Given that the internal damage of using Susanoo and the disease eating Itachi up from the inside means he's basically a ''walking corpse'' by the time he reaches Sasuke, I think of the "Tobi is lying" interpretation of that scene as Itachi knowing he's done for, and as his life flashes before his eyes, he takes pity on Sasuke and decides to use his last words to pretend to be a caring older brother one last time...while setting up a posthumous deathtrap for Madara.

4. Naruto's fighting could be divvied up into five styles, Shadow clones, summoning, Rasengan, Kyuubi power, and Sage mode. Rinnegan would make this six styles or SIX PATHS

** Main/GenreSavvy may also be involved in keeping our view limited. Well-developed fictional cities tend to be Main/{{Crapsack World}}s; the main characters have to ''live'' there, and would you look at [[Main/TheSimpsons Springfield]] or [[Main/DiscWorld Ankh-Morpork]] and say, "I want that for MY town!"?

*** Even better, what if Tobi is actually the spirit of the Sage of Six Paths son? (The one who founded Uchiha) and is the true big bad behind Madara?

* It's highly possible that he knew the Minato, as Kushina was friends with his mother (as shown in chapter 500). Of course doing the Math, Itachi was only 5 when Minato died, so he couldn't have known him that well.

If and when Sasuke returns to Konoha after finally getting sense beaten into him by Naruto, [[ReformedbutRejected it's doubtful that he'll get a warm welcome]] from the village he and his clan betrayed several times over. Meanwhile, it's been shown over and over again in the recent arc how much Konoha has come to accept Naruto and even admire him. So Sasuke will have to adjust to being an outcast after being the beloved prodigy while Naruto will adjust to life as the new golden boy of Konoha, perhaps facing some not-so-nice people in the process. Hopefully through {{Character Development}} both should come out the stronger for these changes.

* I think this is very likely, based on the pattern established throughout the generations. I read [[http://annwyd.livejournal.com/221279.html here]] that the team template is based off of a Toad-Slug-Snake pattern, where the toad is TheHero with a relatively lighthearted personality, the slug is TheHeart who keeps the team together, and the snake is the AntiHero who seeks power. We see this pattern with the Sannin (Toad = Jiraiya, Slug = Tsunade, Snake = Orochimaru), Kakashi's team (Toad = Obito, Slug = Rin, Snake = Kakashi), [[spoiler: Nagato's group (Toad = Yahiko, Slug = Konan, Snake = Nagato)]] and we don't know anything about Yondaime's team but Yondy is definitely Toad-like. In every single one of these instances the toad-type ends up dying in some sort of HeroicSacrifice. The parallels between Team 7 and the Sannin are very obvious. But maybe Team 7 will be the Combo Breaker.

Naruto will eventally gain his ambition, he will gain a girl that loves him but he will lose some one important probally sasuke, who is likely to die in some heroic sacerfise or a last battle. With Sasukes death one era will end and a new one will start.

** ... Er, Naruto doesn't love Hinata. Her confessing =/= instant OMFGLOVEYOUTOO from Naruto. Sure, he'll be thinking about the confession, but I doubt he'll return her feelings for a while, leaving time for Sakura to [[TakeALevelInBadass pull herself together]] and [[{{TengenToppaGurrenLagann}} kick reason to the curb]]!

Seriously, every time an evil person or organization has to collect things to power a weapon, it NEVER does what it's supposed to. It works fine right up until the last item is added, at which point it promptly changes from KillSat to [[ApocalypseHow Class 5 Apocalypse or greater.]] It'll either begin to explode, come to life and try to kill them, or set free an {{Eldritch Abomination}} to try to kill them.

This accounts for both interpretations of Madara's [[{{UnreliableNarrator}} truthfulness]].

* If he's telling the truth, Izuna could be influencing Sasuke to follow his big brothers orders, since he was unable to support him against the Senju takeover. This accounts for Sasuke's compliance with Madara's commands despite his hand in the massacre and being the root ([[{{IncrediblyLamePun}} sorry]]) cause of it. Also, if Izuna had actually taken over at some point, it would explain his bad tactics against KillerBee - unused to having a physical state, and rusting of skills. Plus they look so damn similar...

[[WMG: The newest arc will culminate in a follow-up {{Rescue Arc}} for Sasuke]]

** Chapter 450 works as evidence against NaruSaku simply because {{ValuesDissonence hugs are so much more significant in Japanese culture}}. Sakura hugs Naruto, and what does Naruto do? He just stands there, arms at his side, which is a rather awkward position. Embracing her would be easy to do, not to mention more comfortable, but he doesn't. So basically, Sakura made an overtly romantic gesture and Naruto ignored it.
*** Not to mention Sasuke/Naruto . . . don't look at me like that!

Haku at a young age was able to control water without handsigns, though his kekkei genkai was admittedly water-based, and was able to use "one-handed" signs. Hand-signs are a form of mental control that allow the shinobi to focus on the exact chakra channels used for ninjutsu. Very skilled shinobi should be able to control chakra without hand-signs, much like powerful wizards in {{Harry Potter}} are able use wordless and even wandless magic.

Sakura seems to be beginning to see how much she means to Naruto and exploring the possibility of how much Naruto in turn means to her. However, she also sees how much Hinata cares for Naruto and will therefore [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy step off to the side if Naruto chooses to pursue Hinata]]. Meanwhile, if Sasuke ever gets redeemed, he might come to understand how much his team, particularly Sakura, meant to him. However, [[WordOfGod Kishimoto]] explicitly stated that Sakura's feelings for Sasuke were a shallow crush and her dedication to him seems to be as a friend and former comrade rather than romantic. Therefore the very emotionally stunted and socially awkward Sasuke who has always been fawned over by women will be at a disadvantage in both his feelings and pursuit of Sakura. This {{Love Dodecahedron}} most likely will be resolved offscreen a la {{Dragonball}}.

* No really, since Naruto is TheMessiah it is only natural that he will be the sacrificial lamb and offer himself to die in other to end the cycle of hatred, after all, it has been implied by Yamato that the only way to end it is that one side to "give in" and swallow its tears. Oh and to complete the messianic attibutes he will then be resurrected from the dead. '''Naruto, the savior of the world!'''
** Alternatively, in a subversion of this, the Fox will be the thing that allows him to be ressurected. Are you a savior if you've been ressurected by one of the settings ultimate evils?

Basically confirmed in the latest chatper (464), when Sasuke calls his the Double Sharingan.

What's more, The Darkness is the [[{{SealedEvilInACan}} Statue]] that the Akatsuki are sealing the Biju into. The Darkness/Susanoo is something like Ruin from Brandon Sanderson's {{Mistborn}}: It's a massively powerful creature that was bound long, long ago. It's power was divided into the Bijuu and its consciousness was what the Sage of the Sixth Paths found that allowed him to understand how Chakra Works and create Ninja. The Spirit then possessed his younger son, explaning why the Uchiha are so insane. When Madara unlocked the Eternal Mangekyo, he became fully possessed by the Spirit, explaining his odd powers like Intangibility, his 'Sinister Eyes', and his ability to control the Bijou. He manipulated Pein and the Akatsuki into using the Statue with the promise of a powerful weapon, but instead is rebuilding his body. Sasuke, while being manipulated by The Darkness/Susanoo, is not fully possesed by it because does not have the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but the most recent changes in his character stem by unlocking the Double Mangekyo. His Chakra is 'darker' because he's being more heavily influenced, and he's weirder/has new powers for the same reason.

Not only is he planning to unleash the super-evil Juubi, but told Kakashi and company that he's planning to make himself a new body. The real answer is, he found the Juubi long ago and it told him how to get the Mangekyo, and then ate his mind when he did. It's also why he's still alive: He's the Juubi's consciousness.

* Given his more recent statement about taking Shisui's eye from Danzo's corpse, this seems like it might be true after all.

** I am getting so many ideas from this WMG it's not even funny. * Beggins doodling teen!Udon w/ creepy puppet.*

If the Jubi is as powerful and evil as has been implied, it can't have been wandering around. It had to have already been sealed before the Sage of Six Paths split and sealed it. The AfterTheEnd/Anachronistic Technology things we run into are the fall out of the last time it was free.

* The recent Jump Festa interview all but outright confirms this.

Come on, this is a shonen. Jiraiya stated that being rejected by Tsunade was what made him a man, which means he didn't need to "get" any girl period. In reality, accepting that she didn't want to be with him was what made him grow up and accept reality. We don't pity him for not getting the woman he wanted; instead, we admire how he handled it. It's becoming obvious that dedicating yourself to love or power/vengeance cannot guarantee real happiness. In reality, people have to look within for a meaning in life, and be strong enough to not use other people to give life meaning, whether by loving them or hating them. Naruto became much stronger and more mature when he accepted Sakura's love for Sasuke, and later didn't accept her appealingly fake confession. Hinata nicely illustrates being able to maturely (and powerfully) express one's love without any regrets, and then be able to let go and move on without hinging your sense of self worth on another person's feelings and actions when she maturely handled Naruto not returning her feelings and didn't really sit around waiting for him to do so. Meanwhile, Sakura is walking towards her death because she still loves Sasuke and [[ShootTheDog wants to spare him from a life of darkness]]. So, Naruto may be the first manga to ever portray AllLoveIsUnrequited in a life affirming and positive way.

** Dude, get real. If he actually liked her, he would've shown it by now. Same thing with Sakura towards Naruto and Sasuke towards Sakura. The idea of Naruto liking Hinata back is based purely on wishful thinking as opposed to obvious facts. The obvious facts, provided by explicit canon admission and WordOfGod, are these: Naruto loves Sakura. Sakura doesn't love Naruto back, and we have no reason to think she ever will; she still loves Sasuke. (who is only getting more evil and doesn't have romantic interest in anyone.) The words we're looking for are AllLoveIsUnrequited and NoHuggingNoKissing.

Well, according to the original myth Suusano'o encountered the Orochi after he was expelled from heaven, and killed it. Well, now ''Orochi''maru has been sealed inside of the Suusano'o, which we know is connected to the Juubi, which appears to be the Super-Evil of the Naruto verse. And most Super Evil things that show up without any explanation, like the Juubi, turn out to have been expelled from heaven. Now, we know Madara plans to reconstitute the Juubi, and that it seems to require the powers of the Sharingan to do it. Well, when he uses the Susanno in the reconstruction ritual it'll work, but ultimately rather than ending up with Madara in control of the Juubi, it'll be Orochimaru. TLDR: Eventually Orochimaru return in the form of a giant-robot-demon-god-snake by stealing Madara's Juubi reconstruction ritual.

The people who believe she does are, if memory serves, Naruto, Kakashi Sai, and Yamato. They're not exactly the poster children of balanced relationships.

Yeah, I think he gave him the Sussano'o.

* If it fails it may show how Sasuke has completely jumped off the [[Slippery Slope]] and has lost sight of his original goals if he completely ignores it.

** This is a terrible idea. It would come off as a giant, contrived AssPull to anyone who doesn't obsess over the romance. What would be the point of this? What would Naruto's feelings be based on considering how little he's actually interacted with her, and how he doesn't really make an effort to include her in his life? And, dude, it's Sasuke who Naruto's pretty much Naruto's most important person and who he related to best. Because, durr durr, wow, platonic/brotherly love can be deeper/more important than a romance. It's almost as if this manga were actually aimed at boys and not love-obsessed high school/college age women.

** Hopefully it's not [[BLeach an old man]]...[[supersecretspoiler: We've seen that before in shonen and it doesn't do nearly as much as some of Naruto's powers. Though it fits in with Shintoism well enough, I'd think it would have to do with creation - what Izanami (the goddess of creation, essentially) did before being killed... combined with the horror Izanami became. So basically Eldritch Abomination spawning is my vote.]]

* Aren't most ROOT members recruited long before they become Genin?

Now, let's think about ''their'' parents.

Numerous fanfics (which won't be named, mostly because I can't remember all of them) hypothesize about Minato's parents... Specifically, that when Jiraya said that 'You can send me the love letters later' bit Tsunade decided to take him up on it several years after Dan's death. Some say that she didn't take him up on that, and that she and Dan had... * ahem* before his death, and Minato was the result.

Now, ~100 years before the main story starts, Konoha formed. Other villages probably formed around then as well, including Uzukagure no Sato.

Uzu formed from several wandering ninja clans, including several powerful bloodline, with some Kayugas, some of whatever clan Haku's bloodline comes from, and, as some suspected for a while, people with teh ultimate hax that ''really'', more than Madara, hated the Senju (or, alternatively, Izuna's girlfriend ran off after swearing an oath of revenge on Maddy, taking her close family in the Uchiha clan with her).

Sixty years pass, and the people of Uzu basically decide that the best leaders are the people who are more hax than the rest, former Uchiha, whose hair now matches their activated bloodline, calling themselves Uzumaki due to their newfound mastery of water techniques.

Then he leaves with the rest of his team, never looking back as he continues on his self destructive path.

They meet, hit it off, and find themselves in a relationship several years later, during the big

''Now'' we can think about Minato's parentage. With either of the previously mentioned possibilities (Jiraya and Tsunade, Dan and Tsunade), we've Senju blooded person.

Now, logically, a child of ''theirs'' would be, say, ''IN-FRICKIN-SANELY STRONG'' and the closest thing to getting a Senju and Uchiha to have kids together.

Now, the reason behind Naruto's strength...

* Despite his ordering Kabuto around, Orochimaru never actually tried to kill Naruto. He just said, to paraphrase, 'this isn't something I want to deal with now' and threw him over his shoulder after making him useless in combat. He even stopped Sasuke from starting a fight. Thus, if this is true, he knows about Naruto's parents.

*** I think I've read several fanfics based on this. None of them were very good. This seems to point towards it being true, given the way the manga's going.

[[WMG: Karin is an Uzumaki.]]
She has red hair and Orochimaru was interested in her for some reason. Also, she has the ability to fully heal people by having them bite her, no matter how badly they are injured, while seeming to suffer no ill effects beyond having scars for every time she's been bitten. The ability to heal the mortally wounded without suffering any ill effects (and even enjoying it!) sounds like an ability a descendent of the Clan of Longevity would have.
* Confirmed!

* Perhaps he's the son of Onoki's daughter, and Yagura the Mizukage. Why else would he sprout all these nonsense about "eternal youth" (Yagura) and have a turtle summon (Yagura)? Now if he were also related to the kages of the 3 other villages...

You mean the lack of ShapeshifterWeapons? Because they probably have other tequniques that do the same thing but better, meaning Transformation Technique would serve as a basis for other, more advanced techniques.

**** Sasuke's flashback? False memory. I think the BigBad may have the power to literally screw with people's heads to a small degree. Sasuke believed it because he WANTED to believe it...pun not intended. As for Itachi...he wasn't telling the whole truth eithier.

4. Naruto's fighting could be divvied up into 5 styles, Shadow clones, summoning, Rasengan, Kyuubi power, and Sage mode. Rinnegan would make this 6 styles or 6 PATHS
* I respectfully disagree with ideas. I think that given blood relations between Nagato Uzumaki and Naruto Uzumaki, it's possible that Naruto simply inherted BloodLine Limit Rinnegan from Sage. However, it's possible that Nine-tails somehow surpressing Limit. Otherwise it's possible that Naruto indeed become that sort of badass.

** OR, the city is a gigantic Tardis that cannot be moved, because the owner, the 1st Hokage, had died, and he was the only one who knew how to use it. To answer the problem about his regenerations, he used them all up before he came there.

** Notice that, as Kakashi notes, only 1/3 of the teams who take the Genin Exam become Chunin (the Rookie 9 are the only Genin from Naruto's year). Since it sounds unlikely for the other two thirds to remain in the academy every year, it seems as though the less talented ninja candidates would drop out and work various jobs in the city.

**** The problem with these two is that if we look at both the Kages as a whole and the governments of the villages it doesn't seem like inteligence and wisdom are really all that important to being Hokage. Even if you accept that Danzo didn't exist pre-time skip the two top candidates for Hokage were a wandering pervert and a wandering alcoholic problem gambler? These were the people who were best suited to lead? With Kakashi sitting right there? Pretty much every Jonin sans Might Guy is better suited to lead if leadership is inteligence based and not ass kicking equals authority. More than that lets look at the others. There is no way that a sixteen year old until very recently axcrazy Gaara is the most inteligent, wisest, best strategist in his village. Off the top of my head Konkuro has shown more maturity and strategic thought. If the Raikage and Mizukage are even in the top ten most mature/inteligent people in their respective villages then I weep for their people as both have been shown to be mostly emotional. When you factor in the councils and the fact that the Kage clearly are not as much in charge as they are figure heads it kinda comes together. Naruto is a great candidate. He's clearly the strongest in the village and at this point by a considerable margin as he was able to defeat Pein who had pretty much curb stomped the village at that point. He loves his village more than anything (why you would want your leader to be someone who wanders the land and can't be bothered to be home is beyond me) and just by being him he's effectively formed, as a genin no less, an alliance with two separate villages. [[spoiler: Probably at least three at this point as I can't imagine the Raikage not being cool in the forseeable future.]] He's also world famous and for both his strength and compassion. Who's going to attack a village that's gaurded by or allied to Naruto?

* Alternatively, Tobi is the ghost of the real Madara (and Obito is in no way involved), who actally did die at the Valley of the End, but remains earthbound due to the power of the Eternal Mangekyo. This would explain why attacks just phased through him (that time/space jutsu explanation sounded awfully fishy) and his reason for capturing the bijuu: he's building himself a new body out of the most powerful beings in the world.

* This troper always assumed Sasuke would be the final villain, but the story would steadily build up to Naruto finally being forced to kill his first, best friend for the sake of the world.

* This troper respectfully disagrees with ideas. I think that given blood relations between Nagato Uzumaki and Naruto Uzumaki, it's possible that Naruto simply inherted BloodLine Limit Rinnegan from Sage. However, it's possible that Nine-tails somehow surpressing Limit. Otherwise it's possible that Naruto indeed become that sort of badass.

** This troper is holding out for him opting to teach at the ninja academy; he's good with kids, and he of all people knows what it's like to be failed by the school system.

**** Wrong. See ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2781399/1/Garden_of_Sanctuary Garden of Sanctuary]]'' (already recommended on this site, no less, though Sakura isn't mentioned in the rec) and its companion ''Medusa Javelin''. [[YamiVizzini This troper]] admittedly hadn't thought about it before, but these stories only prove you right about her.

This troper believes that he will learn a bunshin technique, and combine that with his Beast Mimicry Jutsu to create a new jutsu: Cerberus no jutsu (or some translation thereof. Proof: Cerberus was (in Greek and Roman mythology) a three headed dog. If Kiba and Akamaru alone were able to form that Two-Headed Wolf, a clone added to the mix would create a three headed wolf.

** The illness wasn't unexplained. It's because Sandaime pulled his soul's arms off c: It hurts to have your soul bleed. Although I'll admit I have no clue how switching bodies helped, but soul science isn't {{ThisTroper}}s field.

** This troper always just figured the handsigns weren't needed for consecutive uses of the same jutsu. Kinda like how you can always just hit the power button on a computer to turn it on, so long as you still have a power cable plugged in.

This troper does not claim ownership of the two ideas presented, as they came from another fan.

This troper believes that after learning about Madara Uchia's deceptions, he will atone for causing so much trouble among the hidden villages by seeking to take down the one responsible for a large part of the Uchiha's downtrodden reputation. He will desire to become the Hokage as a way to wipe the slate clean from the Uchiha's dark past; these actions may prompt him to let go of his hatred, have a reason to fight other than revenge, and possibly become a happier person.
* This troper sees it similar to the plan given in Nugar's fanfic ''People Lie'' - Sasuke will be the Hokage, while Naruto will rule all the Shinobi villages; in other words, Naruto will be Kage, and Sasuke will be his Ho :-)

** This troper is getting so many ideas from this WMG it's not even funny. * Beggins doodling teen!Udon w/ creepy puppet.*

** Either that, or something will cause him to go into the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremist]] route, which seems a far more likely outcome considering Naruto's [[TheMessiah character]]. In fact I'm calling it now, even with the Juubi defeated, its chakra would still break havoc in the world and leave enough negative effects to begin a decaying world situation a la [[GoldenSun ''Golden Sun'']].

Its power? [[NightmareFuelUnleaded I don't want]] [[EldritchAbomination to know...]] but whatever it is, it is the power Madara will have if he becomes "complete".

The Nine Tails will finally take complete control and threaten Konoha. This will lead to Sasuke finally being redeemed, as he fights to save his friend.

Kakashi was able to unlock his Mangekyō Sharingan after the time skip...after losing Sasuke, his protégé, to the dark side. I know the Uchiha think you can only acquire a Mangekyō Sharingan through the death of your closest person, but they've always had a flair for the melodramatic. Kakashi holds himself personally responsible for Sasuke's defection. He sees himself in Sasuke and was unable to save him. This is why Kakashi can keep using his Mangekyō Sharingan without going blind, because his powers aren't fueled by anger and hate. Kakashi will reveal this fact to Sasuke personally during the epic final showdown, thus proving that not all Mangekyō Sharingans are soaked in blood (which is something most Uchiha mistakenly believe is their curse).

Either [[spoiler:Madara]] is lying and [[spoiler:Itachi pulled off a Main/XanatosGambit to steal Sasuke's eyes]], or he's not and [[spoiler:Itachi pulled off a Xanatos Gambit to set Sasuke up to be the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan and be able to kill his enemy Madara]]. Which is true will be decided later. The reason for the two-week break between chapters was listed as "research" to see how the people reacted, and which will be proven or disproven later.

He tried to do this by attempting to get a child with Mokuton. When this failed, he went insane with fear and guilt over what he had done to accomplish it, and became the homicidal loonie we all know and love. Everything he did after was a XanatosGambit to get the Sharingan in a desperate attempt to be in a position to be of some help against Madara.

Think about it. Out of the four previous hokages, 100% have been killed by the Shinigami. Either Orochimaru pulled some serious Voldemort style cursing, or the curse on the position was preexisting, he XanatosRoulette-ed himself out of the position, but wasn't able to back out of the line of succession fast enough to avoid losing his arms.

[[WMG: Orochimaru being sealed in the Suusano'o is all part of his Xanatos Roulette for ultimate power.]]

[[WMG: Hiashi has been playing XanatosRoulette to get rid of the Caged Bird Seal]]
Since everybody else seems to be playing Xanatos Roulette lately, I posit the following theory: after Hizashi's death, Hiashi decided that protecting the Byakugan wasn't worth the hatred the Caged Bird Seal created. However, noblis oblige prevented him from speaking his mind. He needed a suitable successor to get rid of it. His original plan was to have a son, but that backfired in the worst way possible- his wife conceived another daughter and died giving birth to her. He then has to come up with a new plan to make sure that either Hinata or Hanabi will eliminate the CBS, and if they don't both agree, make sure the one who does takes over for him, all the while keeping his plan secret from the elders. To do this, he needs to make sure the chosen heiress is suitable, lest the elders rebel when she tries to change the system. While training under him, Hinata proves to be an abject failure; Hanabi does better, but she's not good enough to implement the change he needs. So, he turns his focus back to Hinata, but does so by putting her through all manner of emotional abuse to force her to get stronger, while at the same time teaching her to loathe the CBS system. Hiashi is fully aware of Hinata's feelings for Naruto, and not only does he secretly approve of them, but he's counting on Naruto's influence to make Hinata into a suitable successor.

Think about it- Danzo has been involved in all sorts of shady deals, and he's had a hand in pretty much every conflict we've seen so far. So I think Danzo contacted Kumo off the record and proposed a deal to help them kidnap Hinata in exchange for one of her eyes. This sets up one XanatosGambit after another. If the plan works, he gets a Byakugan and makes the Third look like a fool for trying to negotiate. If it fails, his hands are clean, while the Third still looks like a fool for trying to negotiate, and the next Xanatos Gambit is set up. He tells Kumo to demand Hiashi's corpse, and if it works, he gets the Byakugan, while if it fails, the war restarts and makes his case for becoming the next Hokage that much stronger. However, Danzo fully anticipates that they'll try to TakeAThirdOption and kill Hizashi to make peace without giving up the Byakugan. This creates all kinds of resentment in Neji, making him a perfect candidate for recruitment into ROOT, thus giving Danzo the best recruit since Itachi. This plan fails ONLY because [[SpannerInTheWorks Naruto]] defeated Neji before Neji was ready to become an ANBU, which would have taken another year or two, which was the one thing Danzo couldn't possibly predict.

** Given that Fu and Torune are members of clans who's techniques are taught, not inhereted, it seems it has both young orphans raised as part of the group (like Sai and Shin) and people Danzo found that were sympathetic to his goals.

* [[EstrogenBrigadeBait They had to brainwash her?]]

[[WMG:The newly introduced Swordsman of the Mist, Chojuro's Weapon is in fact [[EightBitTheater Sword-chucks, yo!]]]]

* He is the original ten tailed beast-or at least its mind...He even says he is just an empty shell of what he used to be-the Sage of six paths split up the Ten tails' chakra and his body was supposed to be sealed in the moon.Tobi is trying to get back all of his power and his body.This would explain him being angry at Nagato for using the Outer path claiming it was meant to be for him, and his claim that he gave the Rinnegan to Nagato in the first place.

* There isn't really any way Kishi can really pull off a satisfying ending for Sasuke without either ending him via heroic sacrifice on the basis that he has the power of plot no jutsu and is Kishi's pet character, or via Naruto. However Kishi chooses to do it, it will portray Sasuke in a somewhat positive light. Even if he goes down by Naruto's hands, he'll get some kind of cheesy montage with a big moral message stapled to the end about how revenge is really, really bad, kids.

[[WMG: Sasuke is being set up for a fall a la [[{{Berserk}} Griffith]], possibly helped along by Hawk being killed off by Madara for failing.]]
He's just failed at capturing the Eight-Tail, and I'm assuming he'll be pissed that Pain got to Konoha before him. This is all after god knows how many chapters of him being the Sue we all know and er, love, and such a huge setback might just be the start of a whole 'nother downwards slope. [[spoiler: Let's hope he stays away from [[NaughtyTentacles Sakura]]...]]
** Not only did he fail, but now not even the Cloud village knows where Killerbee is, which makes searching for him nearly impossible.
*** Unless that's what he wanted all along...

[[WMG:Alternately, Madara is dead, and Tobi stole his identity.]]
Have we seen any evidence that Tobi is Madara? Nobody has seen his face yet except Kisame, who also thinks he is/was a Mizukage; but for all we know, Tobi might have been using the same false identity during his time as Mizukage, too. Itachi is convinced that Tobi's Madara, but we don't know how he was persuaded. Minato thought he was Madara, but that might just have been him going "he's so badass, he ''must'' be Madara!" Tobi might just be using that name to get attention, and/or disguise his true intentions.

[[WMG: Tobi was a false front to get close to Deidara.]]
Madara wanted to keep Sasuke alive. He knew that Deidara would likely try to kill Sasuke if he met him. Tobi seemed like an idiot, so Deidara never suspected he was up to anything. From here, he could monitor the battle, see what Sasuke was like and what he was capable of, and intervene in the fight if Deidara got too close to winning. He may have been involved in Sasuke's improbable survival plan.

Here's how I theorize it will happen: when Tsunade comes out of her coma, it will be revealed that Danzo and ROOT will have forcibly taken over Konoha, and plans to assault Amegakure, on the pretext: "Pain destroyed our village, and led the Akatsuki. Retribution must be had for the pain they've caused us!" However, Tsunade, having used all of her chakra to protect the villagers, will be unable to fight back, or able to return to her former strength. So, without anyone knowing, she and Shizune (she'd only trust her with this mission) leave for Amegakure, before Danzo and ROOT do. Arriving at the Hidden Rain, she asks Konan if she could go to Nagato's body.

Now, assuming how much Nagato meant to Konan, and Amegakure, it wouldn't be too far-fetched that his body preserved. This also takes into assumption, that with Tsunade presumably being associated with Chiyo, she knows the One's Own Life Reincarnation jutsu. Seeing as how Nagato would be the strongest ninja in Amegakure, Tsunade would give her life to bring him back, as such, passing on the Will of Fire to a younger generation, so that Nagato could defend his home.
* If Tsunade brought back Nagato, though, wouldn't he bring her back to life in return? It shouldn't kill him if it's only one person and he's not as weak as he was when he initially used it.
** If anything, Naruto is going to be the one to show up and stomp all over Danzo and Root. Naruto more or less accepted Konan's pledge of loyalty, which is a big thing in his culture. If Danzo attacks, Naruto is bound to show up, especially given his newly-found dedication to stopping the cycle of revenge. I don't see Tsunade involving herself in this much even if she wakes up in time, however.

[[WMG:Kisame and Zetsu actually used to be a shark and a venus flytrap and Madara used the power of the Sanbi and Kyuubi, respectively, to make them human.]]
He no doubt had access to Sanbi during his tenure as the Mizukage and Kisame recognizing him implies that Kisame was around at the time. This explains both his looks, immense chakra and his immense dislike of shark fin soup. It’s also possible that Samehada was made from some part of the Sanbi’s body and “shark skin� is either a misnomer or application of RuleOfCool.
He also had access to the Kyuubi up until his attack on Konoha. In the meantime, he used it to create Zetsu to serve as his right hand man. This explains why his village of origin is never stated (when the Grass Village would be a perfect fit), why he’s been in on Madara’s secrets from the beginning, and why Madara trusts him so much.
** The shark skin thing is because of the little tooth like things sharks have instead of scales. Sameheda just has really big ones.

[[WMG: Sakura will confront and fight Sasuke]]
* And A) drag him back, or B) follow through the Konoha 11 decisions and [[spoiler: try to kill him]]. Either way this would be pure ''awesome''.
** Regardless of her true intentions, it's likely that Naruto will ''think'' she's trying to do B) and hurry to save Sasuke.

[[WMG: Madara ensured that Sasuke would win against Itachi.]]

Zetsu mentions that there's something off about Itachi before he dies - that he's fighting differently. Madara then tells Zetsu that he knew Sasuke would win. Sasuke - the one with the greater part of a decade's less experience; without the Mangekyou; without all the ANBU training... need I go on?

Madara should have had no idea that Sasuke would win - Orochimaru hid from Akatsuki and it's unlikely that Sasuke would have gotten much training for Kirin in afterward. And Itachi is likely Kage-level... so why should HE be the underdog?

Now I know that Zetsu said it was due to the Sharingan - lacking any other explanation, that's the only thing he could think of. But with Madara being a century (centuries?)-old immortal with a lifetime of pre-village training behind him, isn't it more likely (or at least more awesome - this IS WMG after all) that Madara ensured Sasuke's victory?

(PS. As to why he would do this, Sasuke has been shown to be really easy to manipulate. Also, were Itachi to win, he'd also have the Eternal Mangekyou... and that would be too much an issue.)
* Madara had to have known that Itachi was no longer taking his medicine to counteract the effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan and we know that he knew Itachi would never actually kill Sasuke. Itachi didn't want to win, so there's no way he could have won.
** This theory follows the theory that Madara was lying about Itachi's motivations... probably should have stated that.

** Pfft, Sasuke's a CreatorsPet. His death will be well deserved and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome glorious]].
*** Although he's a CreatorsPet, Sasuke can't be described simply as that; he is [[BaseBreaker The Base Breaker]], the SpotlightStealingSquad could have just been named Uchiha Syndrome. He even has a literal S.S.S in team Taka, and he's thoroughly discussed in tropes you have to have legions of fans to qualify for, when his fate will be decided the forum wars which will happen or as I'll call them the Uchiha Ragnarok will make trope history.
**** Sasuke's death won't be awesome, it'll be really depressing. Just because a character's unpopular doesn't mean their death can't be depressing, [[AlasPoorScrappy remember?]] But it won't necessarily be a bad (in terms of quality) part of the series.
***** Sorry, I wasn't being clear enough: what I was trying to say is that he also has many fans not just haters, and that when his story will end there will be a lot of complaints. Kishi can't please everybody. What will happen in the manga at the end of Sasuke's story I wasn't trying to predict.
***** Really Depressing is still awesome. He'll go out in an awesome and theoretically heartbreaking way that'll come off more as Narm and Large Ham.

[[WMG: Madara has an army of sleeper agents.]]
Yura was, from all perspective, a loyal member of the Sand Village, until the seal on his memories was removed. Then he was a loyal foot soldier for Akatsuki. Who knows how many of the other ninjas are like him? For all we know, one of the main characters could even be a sleeper agent.
* This seems very plausible; considering that Madara was once a Mizukage and Akatsuki was formed in Kirigakure, it's pretty logical that he has some people on the inside there working for him.

[[WMG:Madara can detect other eyes that can use Sharingan with his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.]]

[[WMG: Under Kakashi's mask is a [[spoiler: second Sharingan.]] ]]
[[spoiler: Now we can't even trust people who have bandages on other parts of their body to not have their sharingan! Clearly the people who saw what was under the mask were creepy in thinking a third eye was cool!]]
[[spoiler: We also can't trust people wearing clothes, cause they might just be covered in sharingan eyes.]]
* [[spoiler:Only ''one'' other Sharingan?]]

[[WMG: After the massacre Konoha decided to auction off their sudden supply of Sharingan.]]
Kakashi is the only one who openly has one because it was a gift. All of the characters over the age of twenty have one, but no one wanted to break the news to the tragically orphaned Sasuke and no one ever tells Naruto anything.
* This also explains why Danzo get's away with so much. [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Given how many eyes he has...]]

[[WMG: The Sharingan has nothing to do with eyes]]
In actuality the Uchiha simply discovered that the Sharingan magically appear after covering a body part with a bandage long enough. It appears most easily in the eye, and so all new born Uchiha have their eyes covered with a bandage for several weeks, and they get a Sharingan.

[[WMG: Among the several sudden alliances, the Leaf/Lightning Alliance will end badly]]
* Perhaps Hiashi Hyuuga will learn of it and, still remembering the incident with the foiled kidnapping attempt of Hinata, and his brother Hizashi's death because it, will make it known that he is against it. Violently against it. Raikage vs. Hiashi?
** This may also be a PoorCommunicationKills moment where we discover the Raikage was not in fact aware of all the details of the Hyuuga case, given that such an underhanded move is COMPLETELY out of character for him, and he has a scene with Hiashi and Neji that will tie into the recent theme of BREAKING chains of hatred and revenge rather than prolonging them.
*** During the meeting, the Raikage was visibly ticked when he learned that Ao had the byakugan. Implying that he wanted it. Either that or he was disgusted that The Mist had the magic eye that one of his high ranking jounin was killed over.
**** No, when he was screaming "You bastard" he was talking about '''Danzo''', not Ao since he just figured from what Ao said that he was mind-controlling Mifune, vindicating his angered claim that Danzo could not be trusted.

Alternatively, the 4th Raikage will either kill Sasuke or [[PoorCommunicationKills things]] [[NotWhatItLooksLike will]] [[MistakenForMurderer happen]] that make it look like he did. When Naruto, who is still holding out for hope of Sasuke being redeemed, comes onto the scene, he ''[[SuperpoweredEvilSide flips the fuck out]]'' and goes 7-Tails on the Raikage. This could possibly mean the end of "A", the ''[[FourIsDeath Fourth]]'' Raikage.

[[WMG: The Leaf Village (and possible the other ones) will turn out to be under attack by the time we see it again.]]
Since Naruto passed out, Yamato will probably go back to the village himself. This plus the fact that narrative ceasing to show anything from there is so that they won't find out Madara took the absense of the Kage from the village to unleash the tailed beasts on them.

[[WMG: The reason we've never seen Madara without his mask is because, like Danzo, he's covered his face with Sharingans.]]
Everything else that's been covered has had them under it. Why not his mask?
* If he had extra Sharingans they would be on the right (his left) of his face, since he [[http://www.mangatoshokan.com/read/Naruto/369/397/5 briefly partially removes his mask]] to confirm his identity.

[[WMG: Naruto's ability to sense people's chakra isn't a Sage Technique, it's a Kekkei Genkai]]
We know Naruto has lousy chakra control, so he tends to muscle his way through techniques rather than master them with precision. Perhaps that's what he's doing here- he always had the ability to sense chakra, but Sage Mode gives him the chakra needed to extend its range to a distance that is actually useful in combat or persuit. Now, who is the only other character we've seen who has the ability to positively identify someone out of sight by the target's chakra signature? That right, Karin, someone who looks suspiciously like Kushina. I submit that Karin is an Uzumaki- Kushina's niece.
* If Karin's power was genetic, why was she the only survivor when her village was burned down? Also, Shi, Ao, and Fu show that sensing chakra from long range is not an ability unique to one family, and the databooks says the technique Karin uses is ninjutsu (probably just something to help focus the power).
** Same reason that Rock Lee was able to trounce Sasuke when they sparred before the Chuunin Exams- knowing that something is coming and being able to stop it are two very different things. Indeed, such power can become a curse when you see the fate developing and know you are powerless to stop it.
*** But then how did Karin herself get away if just knowing they were coming wasn't enough?
**** How old is Karin again? 16 or so? Then there is always the possiblity that she isn't Kushina's ''niece'' and that the someone sent her to live there...
* See: [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4087763/1/Whirlpool_Country This Fic]]
* Torune, Shee and Inoichi also seem to be able to sense chakra.

[[WMG: Regardless of whether or not the above WMG is correct, Karin is an Uzumaki.]]

[[WMG: Konohamaru is working for Orochimaru.]]
Remember that "Yaoi no Jutsu" that he pulled on Sakura? How the hell would he know what post-Timeskip Sasuke looks like?
* Bingo book?
** I thought they only gave those to ANBU members.
*** Kono must obviously be part of the ANBU then.
*** Clearly. He can do the freaking Rasengan as a genin. After a SINGLE explanation and demonstration from Naruto. Who explained it POORLY. He's clearly hiding his potential.
* I doubt it would be hard to image. Post-TimeSkip Sasuke looks exactly like you'd expect him to if you only saw him when he has younger.
* The scene was [[RuleOfFunny played for laughs]]. Remember the MST3KMantra.

[[WMG: Pain's Gedo Rinne Tensei no Jutsu was more cruel than it seems on the surface]]
If you'll recall, Konoha is currently a pile of rubble. Anyone indoors when the gravity bomb hit is currently buried deep, most are probably crushed and deceased. Anyone whose remains is covered so in rubble was just brought back to life, only to die painfully as their body is crushed into a paste anew by the tons of rubble.
* While that's probably not what he was going for, Pain's dialogue seems to hint that he knows bringing everyone back to life will make their later deaths in battle all the more, well, painful. Also, Tsunade had already sent out her mystic slugs so they'd know where everyone is by now.
** It doesn't matter if they know where someone is, if civilian who doesn't work out has three thousand pounds of concrete chunks sitting on their chests, they ''will'' be crushed to death.
** The slugs also were meant to shield the ninja from Pain's Shinra Tensei technique, and most of the ninja were shown surviving with minor injuries, so it's possible that if Katsuyu were used on the dead ones, they would be able to revive safely without being buried alive.
*** I think it's more like "hey're revived while buried alive, but Katsuyu can bring them to the surface unharmed. In fact, I think that was how Saskura survived the big smashing in the first place.

[[WMG:It's going to be SHIKAMARU who winds up fighting the Mizukage]]
It fits. Shikamaru's long streak of having to fight strong-personalitied women was only really broken by his sensei's death and the need to avenge it (and the fact that the only female member of Akatsuki was needed for a HeelFaceTurn). There's GOING to be a brawl between the Kages and some of the Konoha villagers. It's inevitable.

It's actually scarily plausible: Shikamaru has some decidedly old-fashioned views about how women should be treated, and the Mizukage has some decidedly forward-thinking views about how sexism should be viewed. It also fits into his character growth: He's taken down a member of Akatsuki: That only really leaves a Kage, and Kishimoto likes Shikamaru too much NOT to include him in a few more major fights.

Calling IKnewIt rights on this on, right now.
* That whole thing about her being pissed that her bodyguard was being "sexist", really isn't an at all accurate translation. She got pissed because she (rather insanely) misinterpretted his statement that the other guard was being too weaked willed as saying she was old. [[{{Scanslation}} SleepyFans]] were trying to [[{{Woolseyism}} get that to work in English somewhat]], but it really ended up coming out the wrong way. Still, that fits the trend of "strong willed, aggresive, and even a little scary", perhaps even better.
** So she's basically a ChristmasCake with a lot of pent-up bitterness about it.
*** And I'm willing to bet that when Shikamaru wins, Temari's going to find herself competing against the Mizukage. Why? Because it seems the more strong-willed, aggressive, and a little scary they are, the more likely they are to go after him after losing to him. The only reason Tayuya and Kin didn't chase after Shikamaru is because working for Orochimaru tends to leave one with a bad case of dead.

[[WMG: Tsume's dog Kuromaru has a Sharingan Eye]]

It makes sense! Every other Konoha character shown who covers an eye with a patch has a sharingan eye, so why not Kuromaru? It'd make about as much sense as anything else happening in the manga right now.
* Sha-bark-ken?
** Does this mean that Tonbo (a Chunin who presides over the first part of the Chunin Exam and works on getting information out of the Rain ninja Jiriaya sent to Konoha who has bandages over both his eyes) has ''two'' Sharingan?
*** Yes... Because his full name is ''Uchiha'' Tonbo! He managed to escape the massacre, and decided to drop his last name and started wearing the bandages over his eyes to hide the truth! It will be revealed when Uchiha Tonbo removes his bandages and starts taking over the manga from WITHIN the village! with three Uchihas and two (confirmed) Sharingan borrowers, Naruto will become Tenten pt. 2!
** This theory implies that the Sharingan also exists in Suna; as far as I can recall, Baki's never removed that thing that covers half his face, INCLUDING AN EYE...
*** Danzou sold a Sharingan eye to Baki. I mean, if you can miss dozens of people being kidnapped by Orochimaru, or the fact someone strong enough to be Hokage (Danzou) disappears for a few days with a garrison of ANBU, and only Danzou coming home... What's one eye? Especially after a genocide on the level of the Uchiha Massacre. And, well, Kishimoto is trying too hard to make Danzou a bad guy while showing him to be a pretty damn good Hokage, so its not exactly out of the question.
** What about Naruto? His eye's covered in bandages as of the latest chapter.
** And it turns out that [[spoiler:Ao has a ''Byakugan'' behind his eyepatch]].

[[WMG: Madara was the previous Mizukage. While there, he fathered a girl.]]
That girl is the current Mizukage. A year or two before Zabuza's own genin exam, Madara entered into a pact with Danzo to destroy Konoha. Danzo helped Madara bring the Kyubi to Konohagakure that fateful night when Naruto was born. The price of this was that Danzo required a Sharingan eye, much like Kakashi. Medical ninja swapped his eye for her activated Sharingan.

The operation left her with a small scar, which is why she covers the eye she got from Danzo. It's not to keep her Sharingan from being active all the time... After all, she's an Uchiha. She can control it just fine. She just doesn't like the idea of people seeing the scar she has on her face.

The more I read that batch of crazy, the more it makes sense.

[[WMG: It's official. Anyone with a covered eye is hiding a stolen Sharingan, stolen Byakugan, or a stolen Rinnegan.]]

My bet is that the Mizukage is hiding a stolen Byakuringan, combining the Sharingan and the Byakugan into one cheesy ability. That, or she stole her daddy Madara's other eye, which is why he runs around with that one-eyed mask. He, of course, replaced his missing eye with a Byakugan.

** Well, we know what Naruto's gift from Itachi is now. When he removes those bandages from over his eye, it'll reveal that he now has Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. What it'll do once he reveals it, who knows? Sharingan changes powers depending on chapter.

* Does it mean that Dosu also had an implant? And we would NEVER find out? Kishimoto!!!!!!!!!!!! Will you ever stop tricking us!?!?

** No doubt he had a failed Sharingan or Byakugan. Orochimaru tried (and failed) to implant something, hence why the eye was covered. It was all a ploy to see if he could get the Sharingan or Byakugan for himself without having to hijack Sasuke's or Itachi's body.

* There have been too many showings of the Sharingan and Byakugan. I give the Mizukage enough credit to at least use a dojutsu from her country. (So what if it was only filler? Ranmaru's ''Akagan'' - for lack of an official name - kicked the crap out of the Konoha dojutsu. And the Rinnegan... I don't see that being something that more than one user at a time could have.)

[[WMG:Kushina Uzumaki is still alive]]
The fourth could have sent her away so that, if he failed to seal the Kyuubi, she would be safe. She may have believed that the village was destroyed, Giving her a bad case of {{Heroic BSOD}} that made her want to stay away from the village. Team 7 and friends will probably find her on the way to Sasuke.
** Alternatively, the Elders (or, at least, Danzo) sent her off to the former Land of Whirlpools in a sort of Ninja witness protection Program, and then told her that she had to stay there for Naruto's safety... or they blackmailed her.

[[WMG:Tobi is dead, and Madara stole his identity.]]
Tobi was killed by Deidara's [[FantasticNuke C0 jutsu]], an explosion like that would've either vaporized him or burn him beyond recognition. Madara didn't reveal himself until after Tobi died, he took advantage of Tobi's mysteriousness (nobody knew him that well anyway) to continue hiding. He didn't reveal himself to everybody at first, he wanted to gradually come out of the shadows. What better way to reveal yourself slowly than by disguising as somebody in order to hide in plain sight. Thanks to his sharringan, he is able to impersonate Tobi perfectly. Maybe Madara convinced Zetsu to let Tobi join Akatsuki, for this purpose.

[[WMG:"Madara" is lying about his own identity.]]
Madara has revealed himself. So... why is he still wearing the mask? The only logical conclusions are either that it's the source of all his powers, which would be inconvient and rather stupid, or that he's ''hiding his true identity.'' For all we know, he could be Izuna, or Shisui, or Obito!
* Or maybe it's because it makes him "more mysterious" and [[LazyArtist it's easier to draw]].
** Could be a fashion statement. He [[{{Motif}} knows all about the power of spirals and orange]].
** Or he could just be really disfigured (possibly from the fight at the Valley of the Ends) and just would rather people not see said disfigurement. In otherwords, he's vain, which is definitely in character for an Uchiha.
** This theory has been confirmed by recent chapters. The real Madara died a long time ago.

[[WMG:The Juubi has been manipulating Madara since the beginning.]]
This entire scenario reeks of SealedEvilInACan manipulating a bad guy to get out.

[[WMG:Madara's plan will backfire spectacularly and Naruto will have to become the Juubi jinchuriki in order to save the world.]]

[[WMG: Madara will succeed in his plan, but lose to Naruto.]]

[[WMG:Madara has already sent the Tailed Beasts after to attack the five major ninja villages]]
If he was planning on starting a war, now would be the best time to attack, as all of the world's biggest military powers are away from their armies.

[[WMG: Naruto will team up with the Kyuubi much like Killer Bee with the Hachibi to kill Madara]]

In a combination of various [=WMGs=] above, Naruto will get help from Killer Bee and either combine it with Sage mode and Itachi's gift to completely control the Kyuubi, or come to an agreement with the Kyuubi to defeat Uchiha Madara. Perhaps a combination. They both hate Madara more than anyone. Kyuubi would get controlled on his own. Naruto can't be directly controlled but can be put under a genjutsu with similar results. However, if Naruto learns how to stay sane while letting the Kyuubi's chakra out completely, and be in control of the Kyuubi as well, and the Kyuubi agrees to help him, well, Madara is pretty much doomed. Naruto would keep the technique that controls bijuu away from the Kyuubi, Kyuubi would disrupt any genjutsu placed on Naruto. Something to stop that space/time jutsu dodging and the mother of all Rasen Shurikens should do the rest.
*** sorta confirmed. Naruto and Killerbee have finally met for training.

[[WMG: Naruto will '[[TenchiSolution win]]', getting both current potental LoveInterests.]]
Remember, MostWritersAreMale, and Kishimoto is no exception.

* Think abou it. Itachi doesn't want to go through with his mission. In order to make Itachi mentally capable of killing both himself and the clan, Shisui used Kotoamatsukami (sp?) to FORCE him to go through with it. It explains Itachi's fanaticism in regards to protecting the village

[[WMG: [[FanNickname Kabutimaru]] will be the ultimate BigBad after the Akatsuki is defeated.]]

[WMG:None of the ships involving Team 7 will be resolved until Sasuke gets back]]

[[WMG: The multiple versions of the Rasengans in the movies actually make sense!]]

The Rasengan was incomplete because it lacked an infused affinity. While Naruto eventually succeded in adding his wind element to the technique and greatly increased its power, the reality is that the normal Rasengan can be infused with any secondary power source. The movies have Naruto do just that, thus explaining why the Rasengan is such a powerful and versatile technique.
* There's also the Demon Fox Rasengan, which Naruto uses at the end of his fight with Sasuke, which was published in the manga at some point after the first movie came out, which is another case of it having an external power source. It's unclear whether it was planned before the first movie came out, though. The Guts Rasengan in the fifth movie, however, seems to be Naruto merely doing the Rasengan many times.
** This isn't really a guess (Baring some of the odder versions that don't make sense for other reasons (IE: the Moon Rasengan)). The Rasengan is just Chakra with Shape manipulation. Theoretically Naruto can make one out of any source of Chakra that can be manipulated.

[[WMG: There is more to the Fourth Hokage's appearance than is let on]]
OK, so we see the Fourth appear in Naruto's mindscape/seal room to reveal his intent for Naruto to use the Kyuubi's power to kill Madara. That's great, but there's one problem: If this true ninja genius was really in the seal, that would mean he's been there the whole time... so why didn't he appear sooner? If he is as sealed into Naruto as the Kyuubi is (or at least enough of him to form a presence, he should have appeared when Kyuubi did, after Jiraiya shoved Naruto off the cliff. THREE YEARS AGO. If he had appeared at this time, he could have revealed all of this sooner, giving Naruto - and, by extension, Konoha - more time to prepare to vanquish their oldest enemy.

But he didn't.

He didn't show himself this first time, or even to stop Naruto from giving in to the Kyuubi before - at the Bridge of Heaven and Earth (and before you mention Yamato, Minato could not know him as he died before Yamato was found, let alone know that he could repress Kyuubi). Also, Sasuke's Sharingan was apparently advanced enough to see what lie within Naruto - but again, no Hokage stepped forth. So why did he only appear once? It could be that, as is said, he was only to step in at the last moment, but this seems... overly complex and out of place, given what is known of the Fuuinjutsu and Minato's plans. So then, how does this phantom appear?

There is an egregious event in the plot, one that seems to have yet to appear, despite the fact that Naruto would have had more than enough to have subconsciously activated it (what with his encounter with the top two Akatsuki): Itachi's 'crow', his gift to Naruto. It is established that, whether Madara is to be believed or not, Itachi clearly has intentions against the eternal Uchiha (as shown in the planted Amaterasu). Also, Itachi would be highly aware of many top-secret information, being the captain of ANBU and, likely, one of their most trusted agents; that and the uncanny similarity between the father and son would not lead one to believe that Itachi is unaware of who and what Naruto really is.

'''I submit the hypothesis that this phantom, indeed, is Itachi's gift''': that he gave Naruto (and thus Konoha) the knowledge of who the true enemy was; and also that he gave the weakening seal another level of defense, to keep Naruto from fully losing himself to Kyuubi, so as to evade capture by Akatsuki. (For why this makes sense, remember that the truly wild Bijuu are significantly weaker than the sealed ones), who in turn are weaker than the Jinchurriki become. To see this, picture the pre-time skip Ichibi fighting Shippuuden Gaara; while Gaara can gain more control of his power, Ichibi - like Sanbi - should be limited to his shown power.)

EDIT: Why did he choose to use the Yondaime as the gift's avatar? I would guess to obfuscate his involvement, or possibly so that Naruto could know who his father was and think well of him (an earlier theory posited that Itachi, while dying, pretended to be a caring older brother to Sasuke one last time - the whole poking his forehead bit - as he took pity on Sasuke in his last moments; Itachi seemed to know he was not long for this world. Perhaps this choice of incarnation served as an analogue to that act of pity)
* [[http://read.mangashare.com/Naruto/chapter-439/page016.html Minato didn't appear sooner because he designed the seal so that he wouldn't appear until Naruto reached the eight tailed state.]]
** the theory acknowledged the stated explanation - but the point of this is that ''it makes no sense to do that''. Disregarding the likelihood that such a mechanism would be harder to create in the seal (it seems more complex than a simple presence), it hinders Minato's objective of having Naruto master the Kyuubi's power and preparing to beat Madara. Someone with the apparent planning to put in a failsafe would be better served by simply having that sentience ''be'' there.

[[WMG: The series is being set up for a second TimeSkip.]]
Consider. The current story arc is currently in the middle of (spoiler-free description) killing alot of characters and destroying alot of real estate. The villain at the center of all this is, in the eyes of the Konoha ninjas, the BigBad of the entire series. Kabutimaru's status is currently unknown, though he has given information to Konoha regarding Akatsuki, of which there are only five members remaining (Pain, Paper Chick, Kisame, Tobi, and Plant Guy). If my prediction stands, Pain and Paper Chick will be killed by the end of the arc, leaving only two relatively minor members of Akatsuki on the roster, under the direction of Madara Uchiha. Konoha itself will [[spoiler: still be in ruins]] and work will need to be done in its recovery. To borrow from my own prediction elsewhere above, Tsunade will be dead, killed by Danzo, necessitating a new Hokage. Elsewhere, Kirabi has escaped from Sasuke and Team Hawk and departed for parts unknown, mostly likely requiring a long search to find him if Akatsuki still wants to extract the Eight-tailed Ox. The Raikage, having learned of Akatsuki's attack on his brother within his lands, has called for a grand summit of all the Kages to deal with the problem of Akatsuki once and for all. All of these events should require at least several months of in-universe time to play out before the story picks up again on the other side. After so many WhamEpisodes in the manga playing out back to back to back, a TimeSkip would also make for a convenient way to catch our breath.
* Konan won't be killed; she'll probably be left alojne and in despair, since Kishimoto ''loves'' to humiliate his female characters. Or worse: she might comclude she's as useless as Tenten and then, she kills herself with a paper cut.
** [[spoiler: Konan's dead.]]

[[WMG: Itachi was on Pain's side all along.]]
Itachi's childhood trauma from the ninja wars and Kyuubi attack caused him to slaughter his family and torment his brother in the name of peace. He is also one of the most powerful members of Akatsuki, but never seems to do anything counter-productive to their goals besides not outright killing any Konoha shinobi and failing to capture Naruto. While he was plotting against Madara, it is entirely possible that Itachi might have known Pain's goals and become a member of Akatsuki ''because he believed what Pain was doing was right.'' Crazy, I know, but it makes about as much sense as any other explanation of Itachi's motives.
* Except Itachi slaughtered the Uchiha because it was the choice that would lead to the least bloodshed and because the Uchiha were the guilty party. Pain's way would lead to the deaths of ''millions'' of innocent people, so even if it did put a temporary end to war while Pain was alive it would also mean the kind of mass suffering of innocents on a scale that even the Uchiha couldn't have caused, something Itachi would not support.

[[WMG: Team Hebi is gonna get a well-deserved ass-whuppin'.]]
This is more Wild Mass Hope than anything else, but I can't see it turning out any other way - Team Hebi were utterly curbstomped by Killer Bee, and now they're going up against:
* Naruto (who just trashed 6 S-Class Missing Nin, appears to have control of the Kyuubi, has Sage Mode, and still his Itachi-Crow and Kyuubi-Yang-Chakra powerups to reveal)
* Sakura (who's likely on par with Suigetsu and better than Karin, at least)
* Kakashi (a high-level Jounin, likely near-Kage level)
* The Cloud Hunter-Nin (clearly high-level fighters, and pupils of the guy who kicked Hebi's asses)
* Everyone else in Konoha (the Rookie 9, and every other Jounin, ANBU, and Chuunin around)
* Danzo and ROOT (the main target of the whole thing, with a Kage-level leader and multiple jounin, combat-ready and untouched by Pain)
** [[spoiler: Jossed. Sasuke has discarded the team, leaving Karin for dead only for her to be taken into custody, and with Suigetsu and Jugo being imprisoned by the samurai before making their escape.]]

[[WMG: The Fourth didn't [[spoiler: reseal the Fox.]]]]
In the latest chapter, the fourth apparently [[spoiler: reseals the 9 tail fox,]] saving everyone from an epic load of trouble. However, the entire thing was very journey to the centre of the mind - So while the Fourth was probably [[spoiler:their in Naruto's mind, he did not reforge the seal on Naruto's chest - Naruto did, subconsciously.]] This would make sense, and could have interesting implications later on in the series.

[[WMG: Killerbee/Kirabi will die and the Eight-Tails extracted.]]
Here's why. Heroes like Naruto tend to have inner fights a lot, and since he has the added bonus of actually having a literal inner demon, he will as well. A really, really big one. Which will occur as the Nine-Tails is being extracted so he can either resist the extraction and do what no one else has ever done or survive the extraction, again since it would be a one of a kind thing, all since thats the sort of hero character Naruto is. In order for the Nine-Tails to be sealed, unfortunately the Eight-Tails needs to be extracted which will kill everyone favourite rapping, Sasuke ass-kicking Jinchuriki, Killerbee/Kirabi. Make sense?
* You assume, of course, that Kirabi isn't awesome enough to do the same.
** Oh he is easily awesome enough to do it, meaning I beleive (see 'hope to hell') he will survive.
*** TooCoolToLive; if Kishimoto's smart enough, Kirabi will teach Naruto (or Sasuke) a lesson or two on how to be truly awesome. I know I've seen something like this before.
* Well, it appears that Naruto himself is going to help Killer Bee's students find him (them finding out they want to kill Sasuke for something he ''didn't actually do'' is probably part of the series's "revenge is pointless" theme), which will probably boost his survival rate. Anyway, since Madara sent Kisame after him, it will hopefully be a good fight regardless.
** UPDATE: Naruto ''isn't'' going after him, but scouts from his own village are... [[OhCrap while Kisame has already found him]]. At least this will probably be ''on-panel''.

[[WMG: Madara is a sort of "Chakra ghost" who replaced the actual Tobi.]]
Since it was revealed that Tobi was actually Madara, has he actually ''done'' anything? He's phased through every attack thrown at him, and never made an offensive move of his own. The reason? He can't, he's a ghost. He has a chakra presence, but he's really not there or capable of affecting the world. Tobi himself was real for the first part of the series (where he captured the 3-tails and was strangled by Deidara), but Madara needed a patsy and so Zetsu ate him.
* Notice his statement in chapter 453, "I can't believe Nagato used his Rinne Tensei like that. '''It's supposed to be for me.'''" There are only three reasons he would need that: he wants to bring someone else back to life, he thinks he might die in the near future, or he's already (un)dead and he wants to be alive again.
** Fourth possibility: [[spoiler: If the Mangekyou is made by killing your best friend and the eternal Mangekyou is made by stealing the Mangekyou of your brother, then maybe he's attempting to create an even higher form of the dojutsu; since he is really old, anyone close enough to him is probably dead, hence the need for Pain's resurrection techniques.]]

[[WMG: When Naruto meats the Mizukage in person, he's going to find out she wants revenge on him for Zabuza's death.]]
Zabuza was a relative of some sort. That, plus the fact he was one of the Seven Deadly Swordsmen made him believe he was strong enough to take on his older/younger sister, the Mizukage. The Mizukage is also demonstrably psychotic if her introduction and village's practice of having genin fight to the death are any indication. The fact it's called the Great ''Naruto'' Bridge will give Kakashi a pass on this... Leading to the inevitable, Naruto vs Mizukage battle.

Afterall, we know he probably won't fight the Tsuchikage (joke character)... and the Raikage is probably going to wind up fighting Sasuke, leaving Danzo (the Hokage) to fight either Anko, Sai, and/or Sakura.
* Considering Zabuza tried to assassinate either her or her predecessor I seriously doubt she'd be inclined to hold a grudge against Naruto. If anything she'd probably thank him for killing such a dangerous missing-nin. On the other hand, considering Naruto's dad slaughtered a whole bunch of the Tsuchikage's men during the last great war, he would probably be the one to attack Naruto. And don't write him just because he's a crochety old man. Chiyo was a tiny old lady and she was integral in taking on her grandson (an S-class missing-nin) and Sarutobi even well past his prime was able to defeat two Hokages and nearly kill Orochimaru.
** I never said her logic makes sense. Remember, I'm operating under the premise that her response to her bodyguard's encouragement to the young Swordsman was her being psychotic and not just her being angered by sexism. We may in the future discover that she's a perfectly normal individual and this was comic relief, but... Again, this is a village where kids are (or at least, were) required to duel to the death. She's gotta have some scars...
** There's also the question of how long she's been in office, as the practice of having kids fight to the death was ended ten years before the main plotline as a result of Zabuza's killing all the graduating class (thirteen years before her introduction).
*** From her comments, it seems Zabuza may have rebeled against Madara when he was the Mizukage, though he didn't know he was the anciet Uchiha. Since he was powerful enough to force Kakashi to use the Chidori, he was at least mid to high Jonin level.
*** And it seems as though she's not at all fond of what the Fourth Mizukage did, as she criticizes Ao for speaking fondly of the past and the days when it was the Village of Bloody Mist.
**** You're forgetting Yagura. Madara was the third Mizukage, not the Fourth. Unless Zabuza is far older than he appears to be, it's likely that the attempted Coup was against Yagura.
***** The second fanbook confirms it: Yagura was the Mizukage Zabuza rebelled against.
** Not to mention that Naruto DIDN'T KILL ZABUZA. Zabuza bled to death after being impaled by multiple weapons from Gato's mooks.
*** Everybody who wasn't there thinks Sasuke killed Zabuza when in fact Sasuke was knocked out and near death at the time.

[[WMG: The Shadow Duplication technique is incomplete]]
The extreme wimpiness of Naruto's shadow clones is entirely due to the fact he didn't get the remember the stolen scroll's technique correctly. Eventually, once he achieves his long-term leadership goal, he'll rediscover his predecessors' library, and learn the 'real' ultimate technique: Hokage Bunshin no Jutsu
* Some translations call Kakashi's lightning clone a "Lightning Shadow Clone Jutsu," so it's possible that the "Hokage Bunshin no Jutsu" will create shadow clones made out of fire.
** Its "Raiton Bushin", also most water style ninjas master "Mizu Bushin(no jutsu)". Naruto got the complete technic(Kage Bushin no jutsu). [[ConservationOfNinjitsu Its rather that each clones becomes more wimpy than the last]]. That likely means that something we already know:
*** Kage bushin is effective at a low number, and uses to much chakra to be effective in higher numbers, aka what we se in the series.
*** Mizu Bushin creates cheap clones, really cheap clones. [[AchillesHeel So long there enough water nearby...]] [[Mooks They are also a lot weaker.]]
*** Raiton bushin no jutsu, i works and is powerful. The catch? Still pops on hit, and uses massive amounts of mana.
**** With this we can speculate that Doton is a solid clone, medicore cost but solid. And some major disadvantage?
**** Katon might work, but it will last a short time. But likely not doable.
** I have an inkling there doesn't have to be a clone technique for every element. At the same time, let's not rule out bloodline limits! Haku recreated his own version with the ice mirrors where his real body became multiple bodies through instant reflection. But I don't think Sasuke can mix fire and lightning, sounds improbable.

[[WMG: Naruto is being subconsciously controlled by the Nine-Tails]]
Naruto is constantly in pursuit of more power. He doesn't just want to be a strong ninja, he wants to be the greatest of all ninjas. Not only that, but he considers Sasuke, the most dangerous and evil person in his class, to be his best friend. He befriended Gaara, who was the carrier of the one-tailed beast (and who, even after having it removed, was still a powerful person to be close to). On top of all this, Naruto, who knows using the ninetales' power too often will result in it controlling him, continues to rush headlong into dangerous situations. All of this suggests that the ninetales is constantly whispering in the back of Naruto's head, pushing him to be stronger, to put himself into dangerous situations, and to surround himself with the worst people in his world, who are the most likely to corrupt him.
* If that were true, then he would have killed Sasuke at The Valley of the End, and wouldn't love Sakura, who until Part 2 was a severe weakling.
** Naruto can't be fully controlled by the Nine-Tails, and won't do things contrary to his nature. He can -however- be "nudged" in a direction that is better for Nine. Besides... aren't leaving Sasuke alive and being in love with Sakura two things that would make him fight harder?
* Naruto could just happen to be a totally oblivious [[IdiotHero ninja]]. Although it could be some sort of personification of desire- to be wanted, to be powerful, that sort of thing. Very clever, Kishimoto-sama. I applaud you.

[[WMG: The Demon Spirits allowed themselves to be sealed to gain more power.]]
So far, all of the Demon Spirits introduced are based on creatures of Japanese mythology renowned for their trickery and cunning (the kitsune, the tanuki, the nekomata, etc.); many of them are also known to sap the strength of their victims. It's also well-known that their hosts can utilize the Demons' powers to a greater extent than the Demons could themselves. Thus, it's likely that the Demons ''allowed'' themselves to be captured and sealed so they can have a source of life energy to feed on and a host body to unlock their full potential with, making them (ironically) stronger than if they were left unsealed.
* As an extension, being extracted by Akatsuki is also part of their collective Main/XanatosGambit. Possibly, they intend to fuse together while in the statue to become a single unstoppable engine of destruction. This is a much cooler result than nine monstrously powerful demons being used as glorified marketing tools, and keeping nine demons all sealed inside the same statue ''can't'' be a good idea...
* A problem would be that the Nine-tails allows Naruto to use his power to defend himself against threats, potentially including Akatsuki. He ends up being saved from Akatsuki by Jiraiya or such, so this may not be a problem. And of course, there may be more then one statue, as Suna and Konoha would likely guard the one where Shukaku was sealed, since it would be idiotic to leave it by itself. They may just not know how to unseal it and don't want to break it incase Shukaku comes out rampaging.
** Not really a problem considering there hasn't really been single instance that this troper can think of where Naruto used the Kyuubi against an Akatsuki member (Oro doesn't count since he's no longer a member). And there is only one statue, Pain (and possibly Madara or others considering Pain wasn't there to seal the Hachibi) can just summon it to any location they need it and then send it back to wherever it comes from (notice that it's gone when Naruto and co. recover Gaara's body). Besides, if there was more than one statue, why would they worry about breaking it by putting the bijuu in it in the wrong order?
*** He used it against Deidara, as did Gaara. And the only one that was unsealed also fought back, so it's not just the hosts.
**** Maybe Three-Tails just isn't as smart as some of the others?
* Considering how the non-sealed Three-Tails was apparently quite stupid, and the rest of the Bijuu appear to be quite intelligent, perhaps they need to be sealed in order to retain their minds?
* [[spoiler: Very likely to be the case, as all the Tailed Beasts were revealed to once be a single, Ten-Tailed Beast.]]

[[WMG: Madara was [[{{IfYouKnowWhatIMean}} rejected]] by the First Hokage, and went a little Yandere.]]

** Pfft, Sasuke's a [[TheWesley Wesley]]. His death will be well deserved and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome glorious]].
*** Although he's a Wesley, Sasuke can't be described simply as that; he is [[BaseBreaker The Base Breaker]], the SpotlightStealingSquad could have just been named Uchiha Syndrome. He even has a literal S.S.S in team Taka, and he's thoroughly discussed in tropes you have to have legions of fans to qualify for, when his fate will be decided the forum wars which will happen or as I'll call them the Uchiha Ragnarok will make trope history.