Fridge Brilliance / Naruto

"Fridge" reactions are defined as happening post-viewing, as such Spoilers Off applies to this page.

---

General

• Danzo and Orochimaru were correct for seeing the third Hokage as power-hungry and using the fourth as his puppet. He was probably Hokage for over 30 years before retiring, and the Hokage that he picked to replace him was so young and inexperienced that Hiruzen would be able to manipulate him easily. After Minato died, Hiruzen should have only returned for a short time to pick a new leader but instead he stayed until his death 12 years later. He should have retired again due to his failure in the third shinobi world war. Fugaku or Tsunade would have made great Hokage but they were both old and wise enough to break away from his control.
• Orochimaru while not really trying to has done more to protect konoha than the second hokage.
  • Orochimaru has made a copy of the first hokage for a newer generation. Second hokage made it harder for the Uchiha to be liked by setting them up as police officers.
  • Second hokage made a terrible (as in sad and partly nightmare fuel) technique. In Orochimaru using said technique he stopped the hokages of the past from being used against the nations army. (As it was shown that Madara also knows how to use this technique saved himself from getting neutralized. It was always in the plans to for him to use this technique.)
  • The Seconds teaching style and harsh outlook shaped Danzo to be the way he is. While Orochimaru's teaching style developed ninja's like Sasuke Kabuto, and Anko. Ninja's that once they had their targets set right were uber powerful and helpful to the leaf. (granted you don't see anko and kabuto's accomplishments due to the timeskip and just being a support character.) they were all ninja's who did very well on missions.
• Why did Tobi infiltrated Akatsuki as a goof when he was in fact its leader? Because he feared Orochimaru knew about Madara's death and used obfuscating stupidity to keep the later from having a bargaining chip against Akatsuki. By pretending not to be an important member and leaving the leadership role to Pain, Tobi could continue with his plans without the threat of Orochimaru exposing him if he came out openly as Akatsuki's leader. Once Orochimaru kicked the bucket (at least temporarily), Tobi no longer had to worry about the later exposing his secret and could resume his role as Madara Uchiha.
• Kabuto is born on a leap year so using his birth as a reference you can find some answers in the time line if you are really that bored.
• This troper always wondered why removing a Tailed Beast automatically kills its human container, and then one day it occurred to me. In Part I, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene (in the Naruto vs. Neji battle) where Naruto's chakra network is viewed. Naruto's standard blue human chakra circulates throughout his body, but the Kyuubi shows up as a bright orange ball in the center, which then sends itself through the 'lines' of his chakra network when he calls upon it. The extraction ritual is basically tearing that chakra right out of the center of the host's body, basically ripping their chakra network to shreds. With this in mind, it makes it all that more impressive that Kushina was not only able to survive having this happen to her, but actually maintain consciousness and even fire off a barrier jutsu or two afterwards.
• Bright colors — red, orange, and yellow, all symbolize extreme power. Naruto, Minato, Kushina, Kurama, Sakura, Choji, Nagato/Pain (all of the Akatsuki, in fact), Gaara, and quite a few others are all extremely powerful. When someone has bright colors, extreme power will be manifested at some point.
  • With one known exception. Obito. He had the Sharingan and also wore orange goggles, and yet we have never seen him use anything more destructive than fairly basic fire attacks.
  • On the the subject of colours, think about what Naruto's parents are called — The Yellow Flash and the Red-Hot Habanero. And what do red and yellow make? Orange.
  • The correlation between bright colors (by which you probably mean warm colors) and extreme power is probably more a connection between color and personality.
• In the fourth or fifth chapter, Kakashi mentions that "Ninja who defy orders are scum, but ninja who abandon their comrades are even worse scum." Hundreds of chapters later, it is revealed that his father sacrificed the mission to save his friends. Not only that: the sentence above was first pronounced years before by Obito, when he was trying to convince Kakashi to come to Rin's rescue. Kakashi dismissed it at first, and this resulted in Obito's death.
• The idea presented during Naruto and Sasuke's famous clash that "high level ninja can read each other's minds when their fists collide." Not only is this referenced again in their meeting after Sasuke kills Danzo, but it goes back as far as the very first opening, where Naruto and Sasuke bump fists after they take down a group of bandits.
• It used to bug me that the Senju Clan, despite being the ultimate clan with near invincibility, just seemed to have disappeared over the past century and that no one even took notice of it. Then it occurred to me that over time the Senju Clan would have been whittled away little by little because they would always be the ones who were sent on the extremely dangerous missions (and consequently would be the first to suffer casualties) and of course no one would pay much attention to a slow trickling from a large pool of water until it was nearly empty. —ipdf3
  • But isn't Tsunade technically a Senju it was mentioned a few times when they first ran into her that her grandfather was the First Hokage (also side observation wouldn't her last name be Senju or was her mom a Senju Do they mention it in the Manga?)
• On the subject of Neji, why the heck didn't the Hyuuga clan, the second or third most powerful clan in Konoha, just kill the kidnappers instead of sacrificing one of their own?
  • Politics. Let's face it, the village was probably quite war-weary by this time. They hadn't recovered from the Third Great Ninja War before the Kyuubi attack, and then within a year or two, they're at war with Kumo, now without the Yellow Flash or a mature jinchūriki. Danzo is scheming all the while, trying to come up with some excuse to overthrow Hiruzen (it's quite possible that Danzo was involved in the kidnapping plot, which could have turned into a civil war, or other bad stuff). And why do we know so much about Asuma, but nothing about his brother, Konohamaru's father? Probably because he died in the war with Kumo. The Hyuuga were probably informed that if they attempted to resume the war over this, they would do so without the help of the village or worse. Wiping out the Hyuuga Clan would not be off the table for some of the elders.
  • And at any rate, the whole problem was perpetuated by the fact that the Hyuuga did indeed kill the kidnapper, which is why Kumo demanded blood in return in the first place. Given that that was incredibly arrogant, what bothers me is why Kumo didn't say anything after Konoha handed it Hizashi's body, since it would be obvious that the Hyuuga clan head was still alive and in charge.
    • Because they technically got what they asked for. They didn't call for the death or execution of Hiashi, they asked for his body, and they were given it when they were given Hizashi's dead body, as they were twins and exact genetic matches. Basically, they were outmaneuvered, and couldn't complain that their manipulative plan was outclassed by the Hyuuga's plan.
  • Because The Hidden Cloud didn't really care about the actual head of the Hyuuga Clan being alive — they wanted a Hyuuga corpse to try to take the Byakugan. They already got their body, and by the time they realized the dojutsu was permanently sealed, they could not call The Hidden Leaf out on this. Plus, considering that the Hyuuga Clan members look so similar (being family and all), it was easy to claim that it was just a new head.
  • This also ended up getting addressed in the Five Kage Summit arc. Yamato alludes to the Hyuuga Affair when speaking to the Raikage and reminds him that Konoha "swallowed its tears of blood" over Kumo's past betrayal to avoid a war, when they could have chosen instead to get even.
• Yet another bit was with the idea of the Byakugan having a blind-spot. The basic idea of the Byakugan is just human vision of a much greater ability, including panoramic vision. The blind spot is behind the neck and extends at a low angle — the exact spot where it's practically impossible for a regular person to see by turning their head. So it's not vision in every direction as once it's vision in every direction you can already look at once.
• A lot of people are upset at how absurd Madara's instumentality plan]] is, but for me that was the point: Madara is dangerous because he is completely insane a la The Joker, but is aware of it enough to hide it until it no longer matters!
• The first Hokage has the power to manipulate wood and trees... and the village where most of the characters are from is the Hidden Leaf Village. Of course, it is surrounded by a forest, but still the name bothered me, especially when most of the other villages specialized in jutsus related to their village locations.
• The emphasis on teamwork and D-Rank missions contradict how ninja seem entirely oriented toward one on one combat. However, the ninja system is actually a Super Registration Act, and those things are meant to STOP them from becoming mindless soldiers by giving them a strong sense of loyalty, civic duty, and balance with civilian life. Also, despite what is seen, excluding prodigies, most ninja are NOT likely to be child soldiers, as they probably stick to D\C missions for most of their life, meaning that they are less "super-soldier" and more "social worker/militia". If this system wasn't used, the Naruto world would be like the Marvel universe, except even a weak super would be able to terrorize non-supers. In Chapter 622, it's pretty much confirmed canon, we are shown just how bad Hashirama and Madara had it in their childhoods. So, the D/C rank missions are no doubt the solutions Hashirama created to solve the problems from the previous era, and prevent anymore needless deaths.
• While Konoha was scared to fight the Uchiha because they were scared that other villages would take advantage of the civil war, that's probably not just the only reason. The village would have lost the war. Think about it, a devastating war just ended and thousands of Uchiha probably awakened the Mangekyo sharingan. Think about it. an army of susano attacking the village.
• Why did Sasuke apparently throw his newly found-and-bonded-with team Taka to the wolves for the sake of persuing Danzo? Sasuke is trapped in his own cycle; he's mirroring the patterns seen in some abused/traumatised children.
• While Danzo's downfall was overly quick, it was essentially inevitable considering who Danzo is. He started out as the leader of a covert operations unit whose followers considered themselves to be his tools, and had a mind control eye. While these are considerable resources at his disposal, he's also used to getting his way rather than having to negotiate or gain approval, which is especially noteworthy in that he states that even if Mifune might have made him head of the alliance if he hadn't used mind control, he couldn't take that chance. The scene where he kills the Hannya-masked assassins initially seemed to merely be a way to show off his powers, but it also showed that he's made quite a few enemies, and his role in the Uchiha massacre leads to his death at Sasuke's hands. Say what you will about some of the decisions Naruto has made recently, but he's certainly far better at swaying people to his side, even former enemies, and this shows that Danzo's pragmatic (and thus typically assumed to be more effective) approach actually doesn't work when trying to unite the world or maintain peace.
• Naruto always seemed to put a massive emphasis on the idea of the prodigy or genius. Characters like Neji and Sasuke were considered geniuses, while other characters like Lee, Hinata, and Naruto were labeled as failures and were even called as such by both Neji (pre-Character Development) and Sasuke. One of Naruto's morals is that everyone is a genius or very talented at something. They just have to figure out what it is and how to use it to its full potential.
• People always like to point out that Naruto's reckless for wearing bright orange. He certainly appears to have an unexplained attraction to the colour. Turns out, as pointed out in Chapter 498, he's the child of Konoha's "Yellow Flash" and "The Bloody Habanero"; red and yellow makes orange.
• Another bit of brilliance regarding Naruto being his parents' son — Minato's techniques all employ melee and previously prepared transportation markings, whereas Naruto's mother, Kushina fully admits that she sucked at ninjutsu (besides the Uzumaki clan sealing techniques) right before she and Minato seal the Kyuubi inside Naruto. In short, neither of Naruto's parents were especially well-versed in ninjutsu, and this coupled with the fact that nobody wanted to personally train Naruto when he was younger kind of gives Naruto a really good reason for sucking at ninjutsu as a kid.
• The Nine-Tailed Fox yelling that Naruto has made him angry is actually quite an interesting admission if you consider that for the most part, the Nine-Tailed Fox has pushed Naruto into drawing out more and more of its power when he's highly upset (taunting him while he's losing against Sasuke for being weak and promising to destroy everything that hurts him after Hinata is seemingly killed). Naruto only manages to resist him while he's calm enough to do so, as he comes up with the idea of demanding chakra "rent" when desperate but otherwise with enough presence of mind to think about what he must do. In this case, not only is Naruto calm, but he's actually managing to make the Nine-Tailed Fox lose its temper, and realizing this upsets the fox even more and leads to quite the Villainous Breakdown that's a nice step toward Naruto dominating the fox rather than living in fear of it (which is why I hoped he would control the power, rather than just suppress it like Yamato told him to) — Rampulus.
• At the end of Part I, Naruto was carried by Kakashi back to Konoha, after the failed Sasuke Retrieval Mission, and is feeling depressed at not being able to bring back Sasuke, and is still regarded poorly by the rest of the village. The second time Kakashi carries him back to Konoha, he's treated as a hero. — aurana
• When it was revealed that Naruto was not the first jinchūriki, I thought that it was stupid for everyone to hate Naruto because the previous ones worked as well. A few hours later the Fridge Brilliance hit: the Kyuubi was released from the previous jinchūriki, so it's reasonable for the villagers to think that the seal could break a second time.
  • And that's assuming they weren't outright lied to by, say, Danzo. Given that Danzo has been acting as a subversive this whole time just to feed his twisted self-importance and usurp Hiruzen's (and later Tsunade's) position as Hokage, it wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that Danzo spread lies amongst the population about what exactly Minato did before Hiruzen shut down discussion of the topic.
  • Actually, only very few people knew that Kushina and Mito were jinchūriki in Konoha, mostly the elders and Hokage.
• The Akatsuki cloaks have become sort of like this. Before they die, all the members either remove their cloaks or have them forcibly removed/damaged. The only member who dies with their cloak on and intact is Konan, the only original member left, who at the time was fighting for the Akatsuki's original ideal of peace. All other members fought for their own reasons, and warped Nagato's aspirations to peace beyond recognition. After this, none of the remaining members wear the uniform. Konan's death actually signals the end of Akatsuki. ~ Catt
  • Considering what Konan wears beneath the Akatsuki cloak (a semi-transparent backless shirt, according to the databook), Kishimoto-sama probably thought it fit to let her keep it on to protect her modesty. Though you could argue that it was he who chose what she wears in the first place.
• I always assumed that the Airplane Arms run was simply Ruleof Cool, but thinking about it, many if not all of the ninja are moving very, very fast and they're usually doing it as a series of accelerations and decelerations by essentially jumping and landing. Ever tried to move your arms forward in a sports car just as someone floors it? ~ Black Sam
  • Actually, no. How/what is it like?
    • No personal experience, but via physics it would probably throw off your balance and make you crash into the headboard. So for ninjas the hands are for stablizing them so they don't smack face-first onto the ground, really. ~ Tropers/junikiree
    • its actually more a case off you get pushed back into the seat and the faster the acceleration the harder it is to move, so while the ninja are the ones accelerating themselves it would still be difficult to move there arms once they got up to speed.
  • And they're often doing it holding sharp kunai. Keeping their arms behind them when they run was probably part of their training to keep them from accidentally stabbing themselves in the face.
• Why does Nagato repeatedly neglect Konan's warnings and spam attacks that are Cast From Life Span? Because he's an Uzumaki, gifted with an exceedingly long life span. If Kushina's life force was strong enough to withstand having a bijuu extracted, which was unambiguously shown to be fatal in all other cases, it speaks volumes about why Nagato would sacrifice several years of his own life so cavalierly. To wit, Cast From Life Span techniques aren't a Desperation Attack for him; they are his standard combat techniques! Even maintaining the Hive Mind drains his lifespan, but it's so long and durable that he doesn't care!
• The complete fridge brilliance of Naruto's name just hit as I was writing up a mock seafood menu for a class. Narutomaki/naruto uzumaki is a type of food, namely, fish cakes with a characteristic orange swirl, commonly used in udon. There is a type of udon known as ninja udon, so named because all the good stuff, meat, veg, etc. is hidden in the noodles. If you put narutomaki in a ninja udon, all point is lost, as the visual appeal is lost once it's hidden. So if you're going to use it, you put it on top, while all the real "ninja" is actually hidden. Naruto is a Highly-Visible Ninja because, if you can't see him, there's no point in using him rather than generic ninja #5.
  • Actually Naruto is more of a Technicolor Ninja, he tends to deal with his problem head on and does not use stealth, but when he does he is shown to highly proficient with it here'safew examples from this wiki.

  Notable occasions of Naruto displaying stealth include

  • Breaking into the Hokage tower and stealing a top-secret document with only one person discovering him by accident.
  • Even more notable in that the one person was the Hokage himself and Naruto took him out of action with a Sexy No Jutsu. H
  • He took out the leader of his village and its most powerful ninja... why is he considered "dead last" again?
  • Successfully hiding a dozen clones of himself in a small room in such a manner that the best student of his year didn't notice them.
  • Evading the notice of Haku and Zabuza, experts at tracking opponents in a heavy mist, while attempting to link up with Sasuke.
  • Replacing a hostage held by Iruka, the man who knows all of Naruto's tricks and abilities.
  • Jossed, Naruto was named after Jiraiya's main character in his work The Gutsy Ninja and Jiraiya came up with the name while eating ramen.
  • How about his first act in the series? He goes to the Hokage faces, a monument visible from anywhere in the village... and he manages to deface all of them before people get there and start chasing him.
• Rather minor example, but when Karin first shows up, she's an annoying Fangirl. Everybody hated her. Now go back to Part I. Enter Sakura. She was an annoying Fangirl, and everybody hated her. Which is in line with the other moment of Fridge Brilliance regarding Sasuke, albeit indirectly. To wit: Karin is more than likely an intentional echo of Sakura.
• To many, Obito managing to use kamui to return from the afterlife to help Kakashi may seem like an Ass Pull given that his entire body was destroyed. However, chakra is composed of SPIRITUAL and physical energies. And given the fact that he now lives on as a spirit, he may be able to utilize that spiritual energy to kamui his way back into the mortal realm as a spirit, which can partly compensate as to how he could return from the afterlife and given. Still can't explain how he was able to manifest it in Kakashi though.
• Fridge Logic: A large majority of the fandom hates Sakura for the way she treated Naruto at the beginning of the series, but if you stop to think from her side, it makes total sense: the annoying class clown keeps c*ckblocking you from admiring your crush, and keeps pestering you for dates when all he's done is be an obnoxious, immature moron who keeps getting into fights with the cool, genius that you've got a crush on. Of course she's gonna treat him like crap at first, because he's done nothing but be a nuisance to her.
  • Agreed. Granted, Naruto is willing to protect her because they're teammates, but until they graduated and got into the real world there was no way she could know how "serious" he was ("serious" is emphasized here because, in the end, his one-sided shallow crush on her was actually not all that serious, and that was made blatantly clear in Chapter 469).
• Kabuto's return and role as part of a Big Bad Duumvirate with Madara caught me off guard at first. I mean, we all knew he was coming back (he's after all, a former disciple of Orochimaru's who has a rivalry with Naruto and wants revenge against Sasuke) but I was expecting some petty revenge plot, not an elevation into a Classic Villain. It works and its justified, but I wondered where it was going. And then I realised this: one of the major themes of this series is the young generation surpassing the old. Almost every major villain they've fought has either had ties to the past and previous generations, been angsty kid like Sasuke, or, like Deidara and Hidan, no connection to the main cast whatsoever. Kabuto's 23, has very personal rivalries with Naruto and Sasuke, and is shaping up to be serious contender for the Big Bad role, all while coming off as an archetypal villain. Kabuto is to villainy as Naruto is to heroism: he's the new blood that keeps the ball rolling and surpasses his predecessors. The fact that he's allied with Madara only serves to hammer that point home.
• There's always been some flak on the fact that one of the series' themes is that a hard-working fool can overcome a genius is undercut by the fact that Naruto not only has a hateful super-demon power at his disposal, but is also descended from uber-powerful warriors. However, when you think about, before Naruto got serious about his training, he was nothing more than an obnoxious brat who could only aggravate people with his antics. Once he started working his butt off, things began to improve. And the reason he didn't look so impressive after the Time Skip was that he was mostly relying on the Kyuubi, which reduced his overall effectiveness. The moral isn't hard work can overcome genius, it's that your natural gifts can only take you so far, and that there's always room for improvement.
  • This is also reinforced by Itachi's speech in Chapter 552. He was talking about how the Hokage is chosen by acknowledgement through one's effort and hard work.
• When we are presented with the ideals of the Sage's of the Six Paths sons — the older believed peace could be achieved through strength, while the younger believed love is the key to peace — they appear as awfully simplistic and clichéd. But if you think about it, both the Sage and his sons are half-legendary figures that lived hundreds of years ago. It's entirely possible that whatever agendas the brothers had, they were eventually washed down to Black-and-White Morality through the generations.
  Also, the brothers' conflict may be one possible explanation for Madara's "conquer the world just because" plan. By uniting the world under his genjutsu, he will prove that the older brother (and ancestor of Uchiha clan) was right. — StyxD
  • Considering what we see of 2nd Hokage Tobirama and his opinions, things definitely aren't that black and white.
  • Given that Madara says that Naruto represents the younger brother's ideals, Naruto could beat him and still prove him right if Naruto can't figure out a way to save Sasuke from himself and the allied forces.
• Sasuke's insane. This isn't a bashing or anything, don't get me wrong, he's been my favorite character for the longest time and I'm kinda annoyed about what happened to him recently with all the out of character stuff that's happened to him recently. But when you think about it, Sasuke's entire life up to this point had been to kill Itachi for his murder of their perfect clan. But now, he knows that Itachi was following orders and that his clan wasn't entirely good. For the longest time Sasuke's been like Batman, but now it's like as if Batman woke up one day and learned that his parents were mobsters and the guy who killed them was another (far less heroic) Batman. of course he would have snapped given that he always had anger issues and wasn't very stable to begin with.
  • Actually, there is very strong evidence that Sasuke is actually clinically insane, at least in his obsession to kill everyone. There is a mental condition called delusional disorder, and looking at the symptoms, they seem to have been written about Sasuke. I'll post a copy of the list from The Other Wiki below:
    1. The patient expresses an idea or belief with unusual persistence or force.
    2. That idea appears to exert an undue influence on the patient's life, and the way of life is often altered to an inexplicable extent.
    3. Despite his/her profound conviction, there is often a quality of secretiveness or suspicion when the patient is questioned about it.
    4. The individual tends to be humorless and oversensitive, especially about the belief.
    5. There is a quality of centrality: no matter how unlikely it is that these strange things are happening to him, the patient accepts them relatively unquestioningly.
    6. An attempt to contradict the belief is likely to arouse an inappropriately strong emotional reaction, often with irritability and hostility.
    7. The belief is, at the least, unlikely, and out of keeping with the patient's social, cultural and religious background.
    8. The patient is emotionally over-invested in the idea and it overwhelms other elements of their psyche.
    9. The delusion, if acted out, often leads to behaviors which are abnormal and/or out of character, although perhaps understandable in the light of the delusional beliefs.
    10. Individuals who know the patient observe that the belief and behavior are uncharacteristic and alien.
  • Looking at this, as well as Sasuke's recent OOC moments, we can almost certainly diagnose him as having Delusional Disorder.
  • While Sasuke is definitely suffering from some form of emotional/personality disorder, delusional disorder is a pretty poor pick, and the evidence for it is pretty weak. To break down the reasons why, using the list referenced above:
    1. The patient expresses an idea or belief with unusual persistence or force. Sasuke's beliefs are normal, natural reactions to the various tragic events in his life and his perception of them, from his conviction to getting revenge on Itachi to his turning on the Leaf and eventually wanting to reform the entire ninja world.
    2. That idea appears to exert an undue influence on the patient's life, and the way of life is often altered to an inexplicable extent. This is talking in context of a delusional idea that has no foundational basis in the real world. However, all of Sasuke's beliefs are firmly planted in reality and take into consideration real facts and information he has at that time. Sasuke's motivated and dedicated to revenge, which eventually turns into a desire to reform the world, and his focus and fixation on that are simply a result of his conviction.
    3. Despite his/her profound conviction, there is often a quality of secretiveness or suspicion when the patient is questioned about it. Sasuke never once tries to hide what it is he's after. From the very first chapter, he states his desire to kill Itachi. When Sasuke finds out the truth, and later attacks the Five Kage Summit, he states multiple times he wishes to destroy the Leaf. After he shows up during the war arc, he outright declares his desire to become Hokage, and later explains to Naruto EXACTLY what he intends to do to reform the ninja world.
    4. The individual tends to be humorless and oversensitive, especially about the belief. Sasuke's always been a consistently humorless character, as well as severely socially/emotionally stunted. Childhood trauma tends to do that. There's no specific focus on his beliefs or desires. He's just a dry character.
    5. There is a quality of centrality: no matter how unlikely it is that these strange things are happening to him, the patient accepts them relatively unquestioningly. Once again, the context of this is about an actual delusion, which Sasuke doesn't have. All his beliefs are real and centered around real facts. Every "strange" thing that happens to him actually happens to him.
    6. An attempt to contradict the belief is likely to arouse an inappropriately strong emotional reaction, often with irritability and hostility. I mean, this one's fair, but only because Sasuke is a character with strong conviction and motivation, not because he's delusional.
    7. The belief is, at the least, unlikely, and out of keeping with the patient's social, cultural and religious background. Sasuke's beliefs are, in order: Itachi is evil because he killed the entire Uchiha clan. Then the Leaf is evil because internal corruption and conflict forced Itachi to kill the entire Uchiha clan to prevent a coup. THEN the entire shinobi world is inherently flawed because the entire system lends itself to conflict and violence that breeds more revenge and violence and needs to be reformed. All of these beliefs are 100% understandable given the information Sasuke has at the time, the latter two are based in actual fact and multiple characters INCLUDING NARUTO agree that the world needs to be reformed, and it's only how Sasuke wishes to accomplish this that Naruto has a problem with.
    8. The patient is emotionally over-invested in the idea and it overwhelms other elements of their psyche. I really can't argue with this one, but once again, taking context into account, clearly this is just Sasuke being poorly adjusted due to other emotional instabilities, not delusion.
    9. The delusion, if acted out, often leads to behaviors which are abnormal and/or out of character, although perhaps understandable in the light of the delusional beliefs. Once again, Sasuke's not delusional. Everything he believes is grounded in either real events he witnessed or true information other people told him after the fact.
    10. Individuals who know the patient observe that the belief and behavior are uncharacteristic and alien. Literally the point of Naruto's desire to save Sasuke stems from a fundamental understanding that Sasuke is just misguided, not delusional. No one questions why Sasuke wants to kill his brother, or later why Sasuke wants to reform the world, it's only his methods for doing so that are called into question because they lean towards a fundamental conflict that is called into question MULTIPLE TIMES by MULTIPLE CHARACTERS throughout the series, particularly the last arcs. Delusional disorder describes a mental condition that stems from a fundamental lack of understanding of the real world. A breakdown in the ability to separate mental narratives from real life. Sasuke might not be the most mentally stable character, but everything he believes is grounded in the best information and knowledge he has at the time, and while his personal ways of handling and coping with the beliefs he holds is extreme and at times borders on downright radical, his ultimate conviction by the end of the series that the ninja world was fumdamentally flawed and needed to be changed was something that MULTIPLE CHARACTERS understood as fact and the conflict was merely born from the various ways each individual tried to "solve" this problem, with Naruto's idealist view ultimately coming out on top.
• I realized why there hasn't been much Naruto/Hinata interaction even after Hinata's confession during the Pain arc; Naruto knows he may have to die in order to achieve peace and he doesn't want to have any regrets when doing it. So he's intentionally distancing himself from those he cares about. This especially hits home after Naruto decides if he can't Talk no Jutsu Sasuke into stopping his revenge, he will take him down with him. — tclittle
  • Besides that, he's an emotional basket case. He wouldn't know what to say to her.
  • This is assuming Naruto has feelings for Hinata at all. It's quite possible Naruto doesn't feel anything for Hinata other than a strong friendship. Much to the dismay of NaruHina fans. In the entire series, Naruto has not shown or cause to even being in love with Hinata, but has shown to still have feelings for Sakura.
  • For all his talk of love, Naruto doesn't really have any experience with it, so its reasonable he'd be a bit wary.
  • As much as the fact irks me, I came to realize that Kishimoto probably limited their interaction intentionally—and came to accept the reasoning after that. Not only are there thousands upon thousands of NaruHina fans, even among the staff, as it stands right now, according to the popularity poll stats, Hinata by herself is an incredible enough character on her own and is currently the top ranking female character in the entire series, trumping even the female lead. Add to this the various deep hints the author drops us, like the Holding Hands scene, which only adds fuel to the fire. When you think about it, however, if she had any more attention than she already did, she would be a one-woman Spotlight-Stealing Squad, and would inadvertently take away too much of our attention away from the main plot.
    • Not to mention any more NaruHina treats we get will more than likely break the already Broken Base even more. If anything, we'll probably get closure on this issue at the very last chapter.
    • Close enough; we had to wait until The Last: Naruto the Movie, which is the canonical tale of how Naruto realized the true nature of his feelings for Hinata and how they became an Official Couple.
  • A lot of the above is Jossed. Specifically:
    • Naruto was never in love with Sakura; it was just a crush. A shallow and one-sided crush that he gradually but genuinely got over. It was a shallow crush because he only liked her for two reasons: 1) he thought she was pretty (which is incredibly superficial), and 2) as explained in The Last and as implied in Chapter 3, his crush on Sakura was more about his rivalry with Sasuke, whom Sakura always loved. Kishimoto himself explicitly stated that Sakura was his first crush, while Hinata is both his First Love and his only love.
    • Also, NaruSaku officially ended in Chapter 469, when Sakura gave her infamous fake love confession to Naruto. Naruto easily saw right through it, called her out for lying because he knew that she still loved Sasuke and would never love him romantically — which he confirmed to Sai in Chapter 474 — and then rejected her outright by telling her that he hates people who lie to themselves. Not once did he ever show any romantic feelings for her afterwards. Conversely, NaruHina started having more significant Ship Tease together beginning in the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc. Such moments include the "I can see it in your eyes" comment to each other in Chapter 559, Naruto not denying nor poking fun at Kiba's statement that he's "acting tough" in front of Hinata in Chapter 611, the Holding Hands moment (which is an incredibly romantic gesture in Japan) in Chapter 615, Naruto hearing Hinata mentally call out his name in despair when she's caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi and immediately trying to rush to her aid in Chapter 677, and then Naruto standing by Hinata's side during Neji's funeral in Chapter 699.
    • Also keep in mind that in Chapter 691, when Naruto was giving his tearful farewell to Minato and he got to the part about "finding a girl like [Kushina]", not once does he think about any girl, not even Sakura, and her personality closely resembles Kushina's. He also admits◊ that "Not everything Mom told me about went well, but! I did the best that I could!!" This came exactly ten chapters after Naruto told Kaguya that "A mother should be happy when her sons become independent!!" In retrospect, along with that quote, Naruto admitted all of that because he had long since gotten over his crush on Sakura. Moreover, despite wrongly thinking that Sakura was Naruto's girlfriend in Chapter 631, Minato smiles and accepts◊ that Naruto actually hasn't found the right girl yet.
    • Naruto is a Shipper on Deck for SasuSaku. This had been implied since Chapter 172, and it gradually became more obvious after Naruto rejected Sakura in Chapter 469 and then when Team 7 reunited in the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc, but Chapter 699 finally confirmed it, where Naruto has a genuinely warm smile on his face as he watches Sasuke sincerely apologize to Sakura for everything that he's put her through.
    • Finally, based on Sakura's knowing smile as she listened to Naruto deliriously calling out Hinata's name for three days after she "rejected" his first Love Confession in The Last, and Kiba cheerfully ribbing Naruto about "acting tough" in front of Hinata in Chapter 611 (as mentioned above), Naruto's feelings for Hinata have been teased ever since the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc, which was after Hinata's sincere Love Confession and Sakura's False Confession. It all lends credence to the implication that was given in The Last and possibly even Chapter 691, which is that Naruto had been in love with Hinata for quite some time; he just didn't realize it until he finally understood the concept of romantic love in The Last.
• Four can be prenounced as "Shi" in Japanese. Shisui's Mangekyou is four-pronged.
  • Also, Shisui commits suicide by jumping off a cliff into a river. "Shi" means "death" and "Sui" means "water."
• Gaara once appears to call Shukaku "Mother". Turns out that Gaara has been protected by Karura's will instead of Shukaku, so he did call the right thing "Mother" after all.
• Shisui's eye. His Sharigan as the ability to mind control people. He gave Itachi the order to "protect Konoha," in other words could have been ITACHI WAS MIND-CONTROLLED. When he was tasked with assassinating his clan he probably didn't do it of his own will entirely...
  • That was Itachi setting up Shisui's eye to give that order to Sasuke.
• Why did Izuna need to be blinded to restore Madara's eyesight? Why didn't they just swap eyes? That could explain why "Madara" seems sympathetic to Sasuke, the younger brother.
  • They might not have known at the time that the trade would work both ways. Madara was the first-as far as the brothers knew, Madara getting Izuna's eyes would be a normal eye transplant. By the time Madara recovered enough to use his new powers and notice a difference, his old eyes might not have been suitable for transplant-and besides, why would Izuna think to put a pair of useless eyes in his head?
  • ...Wouldn't that make him less sympathetic to Sasuke?
  • Remind me, did Izuna willingly give his eyes to Madara, or did Madara steal them?
    • We don't know. We only have Madara's word on the matter, and he's a confirmed liar. He says Izuna gave him his eyes willingly, but nothing he says can be trusted without corroborating evidence.
    • Actually, Word of God states that Izuna did in fact give them up willingly.
  • It is strongly hinted that the Eternal MS is a fusion of two sets of eyes, which takes it to a whole new level that removes the Blindness -factor by creating a new type of Sharingan. There are two pieces of evidence for this: First is that the EMS takes a combined physical appearance from both eye-sets used and the second is Susanoos seen during Itachi/Sasuke-fight and Itachi's story about Madara. Madara's Susanoo has two sets of eyes, while as Itachi's has only one, but has an empty slot for another pair of eyes. Swapping eyes on the other hand would be nothing more than a normal transplanted organ and as seen with Kakashi, his eye still goes blind as he uses his MS. It probably would not make a difference.
• The revelation that the Rinnegan is an evolution of the Sharingan is something Kishimoto has been setting up since, well, Orochimaru was introduced. The Rinnegan, not the Sharingan, is Orochimaru's and Kabuto's "truth behind ninjutsu". Why else would Orochimaru want both Sasuke's Uchiha bloodline and be experimenting with Hashirama Senju's cells? Everyone thought Orochimaru was after the Sharingan for its copying abilities, but he was actually after the Rinnegan, which grants control over all of the elemental chakra transformations, among numerous other abilities, or why wouldn't he just kill Sasuke and take his eyes? Orochimaru said Yamato resulted from an experiment to see if Hashirama's cells could be implanted into others, and that he wanted to run further experiments on him. Danzo showed that combining the Sharingan with Hashirama's cells could unlock power beyond either bloodline: the reality-warping Izanagi, the Sage of Six Path's trademark power, but in order to get the Rinnegan this troper thinks one needs to combine the Uchiha bloodline with that of the Senju, hence Orochimaru trying to possess Sasuke rather than just taking his eyes. Kabuto said he wanted a Zetsu, which are cloned from Hashirama, to run tests on, and even said to the real Madara that he and Orochimaru had come up with the theory that the Mangekyo could evolve into the Rinnegan provided the user's body had certain modifications (hinted to be the addition of Senju cells taken from either Tobi's clone of Hashirama, from Yamato, or from said Zetsu clone), and that Madara had validated it. Working from the fact that Madara unlocked the Rinnegan, it's more than likely Nagato's Rinnegan were Madara's, seeing as how he initially thought he'd been resurrected using Rinne Tensei rather than Edo Tensei.
• Itachi is the proof that the sage might have chosen poorly, he used power to prevent a civil war, yet the love for his little brother is going to cause a lot of headaches in the Shinobi world.
• The third mentioned place where you can learn Sage Mode, Shikkotsurin is likely the home of the Slug Sage. Now, besides Katsuyu, which other slug is well-known in the series? you guessed it, Saiken the Rokubi. During the Tsuchigumo Kinjutsu arc, what kind of jutsu did the villain use to try destroy a chunk of a large country? that's right, a Nature Chakra-powered jutsu. Who stopped it? Rokubi. By seemingly absorbing it. Coincidence? maybe, maybe not.
• In Part I (and repeated during the How We Got Here Clip Show in Shippuden Episode 260), Neji says that Naruto's eyes are better than his. In Part I, this is metaphorical, but by the War Arc, it has become literally true. Naruto's sensory powers and skills exceed that of an elite Hyuuga. The Hyuuga can see their enemies' chakra in every direction, save for a blind spot and a distance limit. Naruto's Kyuubi Sage Mode allows him to sense his friends and enemies with no blind spots and an unlimited range. The Gentle Fist style allows Hyuuga to defeat their enemies using only their fingertips, but Naruto's Kawazu Kumite can cripple an enemy WITHOUT MAKING CONTACT AT ALL.
• Sasuke was terrified at the prospect of Naruto overtaking him in Part I, fearing that he'd never be able to beat Itachi if Naruto surpassed him. But here's the thing: Sasuke knew nothing about Kurama until Part II (with a few sneak peaks at Naruto's raw power). Naruto was always stronger than Sasuke, even at the Academy. Sasuke kept beating Naruto in the sparring matches because for the time being, Sasuke's moderately strong, but incredibly skilled trumped Naruto's raw power completely devoid of any training.
• When it was revealed that Tobi (or whoever the hell he is) was not Madara, while surprising, there was actually a fairly significant clue that becomes much more obvious in retrospect. Namely, he never uses the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which the real Madara would have.
• Kushina's advice that Naruto should marry a girl like her caused a firestorm of Shipping Wars between NaruSaku and NaruHina fans, with both sides claiming it for their own. Why? Because Kushina's traits are a combination of those of Sakura and Hinata, specifically all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses. It may have been intended to mess with us, but it was definitely intended to make us think.
  • Confirmed for two reasons. First, Kushina's advice was indeed meant to mess with the shippers, as stated by Kishimoto himself. Second, both girls are similar to Kushina, but for different reasons:
    • In regards to personality, Sakura is similar to Kushina, but that's really the only major similarity they have, so it's Downplayed.
    • Hinata is also similar to Kushina, obviously not in personality — she actually matches Minato in personality — but because of the many life events that they both went through and from their mutual hobbies, which is how the Generation Xerox sets in:
    1. Both have unique hair colors that match their respective personalities. Kushina has red hair and is a Fiery Redhead. Hinata has dark blue hair and is a Shy Blue-Haired Girl.
    2. Both were kidnapped by Kumo ninja when they were younger because of the powers they possessed. For Kushina, it was because she was the host of the jinchūriki and thus had unique chakra. For Hinata, it was her Byakugan.
    3. Both fell in love with their husbands because their husbands are good men. Kushina initially thought Minato was a "flaky girl-boy" because of his kindness, but she realized she was in love with him specifically because he was a Nice Guy after he rescued her from the Kumo ninja. Hinata has always loved Naruto for being a Nice Guy, considering they first met when he rescued her from three bullies and, out of all his friends, she is the only one whom he always treats with respect and kindness, even more so after the Chunin Exams arc, because he's always nice to her whenever they're together and he never once berates her for anything.
    4. Both fell in love with their husbands because their husbands changed them for the better. In Chapter 498, Kushina's spirit tells Naruto that when she realized she was in love with Minato after he rescued her from the Kumo ninja, she had changed for the better because of him. In Chapter 437, when Hinata confesses her love to Naruto, she explains that some of the strongest reasons why she loves him is because his smile and determination saved her, and she has changed for the better because of him.
    5. Both attracted the attentions of their husbands because of their strength. Minato became smitten with Kushina after he realized she could fight off her bullies without any help. Naruto realizes that, just like him, Hinata is a Determinator despite being called a failure, fighting against stronger opponents like Neji and Pain and yet never giving up anyways, which causes him to think she's incredible in Chapter 80, and he sports a proud smile when he recalls how she defended him against Pain in Chapter 559.
    6. Both are Not Afraid to Die to protect Naruto because of their love for him, and they were attacked when they stood right in front of him. Kushina threw herself in front of the Nine-Tails so that its giant claw impaled her instead of Naruto, and then she grabbed the claw to physically stop it from reaching Naruto, before she finally died from completely bleeding out. Hinata almost died twice while trying to save Naruto — first when she threw herself in front of Naruto and stood up against Pain; second when she threw herself in front of Naruto to protect him from Obito's wooden stake, only for Neji to take the hit for her instead.
    7. Both were bullied as children because of a physical feature of theirs. For Kushina, it was her round face and red hair. For Hinata, it was her Byakugan eyes.
    8. As revealed in the Canon movie The Last: Naruto the Movie, both enjoy knitting scarves. Kushina knitted a green scarf, which was left in the care of the Third Hokage upon her death. Hinata knits a red scarf, which she hopes to give to Naruto (see #10 below).
    9. Both fell in love with their husbands in the same way: Rescue Romance. Kushina fell in love with Minato after he rescued her from the Kumo ninja who kidnapped her. Hinata fell in love with Naruto after he protected her from three bullies on the day they met.
    10. The Red String of Fate was utilized in both Rescue Romance scenarios. For Kushina, it was her long red hair. In Chapter 498, her spirit tells Naruto that her red hair led her to her One True Love, Minato, because he was the only rescuer who noticed that she had been leaving a trail of her hair. For Hinata, it was a red scarf. In The Last, a young Naruto let her keep his red scarf after he saved her from three bullies, who ruined the scarf. Since then, she has been wanting to give him her own handmade red scarf. When Naruto finally does receive it, it's in tatters due to Toneri Otsutsuki destroying it out of spite, but he wholeheartedly accepts it anyways and even tells Hinata, whom he now realizes is his One True Love, that he will cherish it forever.
    11. Both are considered very beautiful by their husbands partly because of their long flowing hair. Minato boldly complimented Kushina's long red hair when he rescued her from the Kumo ninja, and her hair reaches down to her ankles in the manga (only to her waist in the anime). As pointed out in several entries throughout these Fridge folders, Naruto, without realizing it, did show signs of reciprocating Hinata's feelings in Part II, beginning in the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc (specifically, Chapter 558), when her hair reaches down to her lower back, and then he wholeheartedly reciprocates her feelings in The Last, when her hair reaches down to her hips.
    12. Both are considered Supreme Chefs by their husbands, as shown by how much both men love their respective wives' cooking. According to the databooks, Minato's favorite food was Kushina's cooking. In Episode 12 of the Boruto anime, Naruto outright states that he prefers Hinata's home cooking rather than the cup noodles he's been eating at work lately.
    13. Both passed down their round face and eye shape to their sons. Kushina points out that Naruto inherited her facial features in Chapter 498. This post and Boruto's page on Narutopedia point out Hinata and Boruto's facial similarities.
    14. Both are considered really scary by their sons when they get mad. Naruto points this out about Kushina in Chapter 498. Boruto points this out about Hinata in the Boruto anime, specifically Episodes 1, 10, and 18.
  • So in the end, Naruto did marry a girl like Kushina; Hinata just has Minato's personality instead of Kushina's. He fell in love with and got Happily Married to the girl who has the best of both his parents' traits.
• The Byakugan seems to have been caught in Can't Catch Up territory due to lack of Deus ex Machina abilities right? When you sit and think about it, it's still the best doujutsu. Pain, fear, anger, and anguish aren't needed to activate it. Abuse of it doesn't lead to being blind or disillusionment with life. And finally it averts With Great Power Comes Great Insanity unlike the Sharingan or Rinnegan. Keep your obviously hax powers, I'll stick with 360 degree vision and my sanity thank you.
  • The Byakugan also has the power to see chakra with even greater clarity than the Sharingan can, which while useless on its own, has some interesting potential. A Mist ninja stole a Byakugan and used it to prove that the Fourth Mizukage was being mind controlled by the series Big Bad. Also, it can be used to avert genjutsu much like the Sharingan can.
  • It's not even so much Can't Catch Up, but rather that all of the surviving Sharingan users are super-elites. The run-of-the-mill Uchiha were probably considerably inferior to the average Hyuuga, and certainly to elite Byakugan users like Hiashi and Neji. They aren't over-hyped when they call themselves Konoha's strongest; it's just that they aren't able to compete with people who are on par with or superior to master jinchūrikis.
• No matter who Naruto ends up with (Hinata or Sakura) both people in that relationship will be happy. With NaruHina he'll give her courage and she'll be his voice of reason. With NaruSaku she'll learn to mellow out and learn to be determined and he'll be happy and have his impulsiveness dumbed down.
  • Jossed in one case, Confirmed in the other:
    • Kishimoto has repeatedly stated that all of the NaruSaku moments were deliberately written in to mess with the shippers, and that Sakura was never going to be Naruto's true love interest. Also, Sai points out to Sakura, in a brutally honest manner, that her begging Naruto to bring back Sasuke for her and Naruto's feelings for both her and Sasuke cause him a lot of pain◊, and then even Sakura admits that she causes Naruto the most pain◊ — making it patently clear that Sakura does not make Naruto happy. Lastly, NaruSaku officially ended in Chapter 469. Naruto outright rejects Sakura's infamous fake love confession by telling her that he hates people who lie to themselves, calls her out on her dishonesty because he knows she still loves Sasuke, which he confirms to Sai in Chapter 474, and then he breaks his promise to her◊ in Chapter 470 because he wants to rescue Sasuke not for her anymore, but for his own reasons now. As it turns out, Naruto himself has been dishonest about his own feelings for Sakura, because he never actually cared for her as anything more than a close friend or older sister.
    • Conversely, NaruHina is the Official Couple, it had been planned since the early stages of the manga, because Hinata was always going to be Naruto's true love interest, and they have continually been shown to be Happily Married. Even before they got together, Naruto constantly gave her courage since the Chunin Exams arc, while Hinata was the only one who motivated him to never give up during some of the most important battles in the series, such as his fights against Neji, Pain, and Obito. In their relationship, Hinata becomes the reason Naruto stops being so impulsive and self-destructive, because he now has someone to go to home to. This was first made apparent in Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding, where it is revealed that, ever since Naruto and Hinata became a couple, he actually boasted to Kiba and Shino that he started eating vegetables. Keep in mind that, according to the databooks, his least favorite food is "fresh/uncooked vegetables."
• The Ninja World is full of metaphors about the various nations of the world. If you think about it, the Five Great Villages each represent a major power in the world.
  • Konoha is Japan.
  • Iwa is China.
  • Kumo is America.
  • Kiri is the European Nations, or possibly Britain in particular.
  • Suna is the Middle Eastern Countries.
  • A few connections: The Iwa/Konoha rivalry mirrors the rivalry between Japan and China, and Minato Namikaze represents the kamikaze, or divine winds that destroyed Chinese forces when they were coming to attack Japan. Hizashi being given up to Kumo represents the Japanese having to surrender to the Americans after WWII. Mizu's civil war could be reminiscent of the conflict in Britain between England and Ireland (Mei, the leader of the rebellion, is a redhead after all.)
    • This analysis is really not consistent with history. For one, China has never invaded Japan, nor were Japan's kamikaze tactics ever used against it. How does Hizashi's sacrifice have anything to do with WWII? Hinata's abduction attempt was Kumo's ploy to gain access to one of Konoha's powerful dojutsu after Kumo lost to Konoha in a past war. These events don't line up with Japan and the US's history. As for Mizu, the conflict between England and Ireland could hardly be called a "civil war"; it was more of a brutal, sustained oppression on England's part. Certainly the interactions between the Hidden Villages are reminiscent of international relations in the real world, but they are not such an obvious transplantation of actual history.
    • You may want to revisit your Asian history. China did try to invade Japan, emphasis on try, however, a storm destroyed the Chinese fleet. The Japanese said the storm was from the gods protecting them and called it "kamikaze". It is that divine wind that they named the suicide tactics they used later, and it is that sort of storm ravaging a battlefield that Minato perfectly reflects.
    • Thought you are correct technically, you may want to look deeper into your Asian history. That invasion in which the "Chinese" fleet was sunk by the storm took place during the Yuan Dynasty... Which was founded and ruled by Kublai Khan.... The MONGOLIAN Emperor. It was the mongols who tried to invade Japan, not the Chinese.
    • I have to object to this. Although it was Kublai who ordered the invasion of japan the Mongols at that pont are essentialy assimilated with the Chinese population, with the majority of the invasion force consisting of Chinese and Korean troops.
  • There doesn't seem to be an Expy for Australia or New Zealand, which is a bit jarring if you've read aboutwhat the Japanese did to their citizens during WWII.
• If you look closer at Konoha as a representative of Japan, you have two "big" clans, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga. The Uchiha represented the Japanese' military power, while the Hyuuga represent their grace, poise, and honor. The Uchiha are wiped out, representing the loss of Japanese military control after WWII, while their still have the Hyuuga, showing they still have their honor and dignity.
  • The rise of the remaining Uchiha could be representative of militant feelings in Japan, and Naruto himself represents the ideal of peaceful coexistence that contrasts with militant nationalism. It also shows that focusing on military power will destroy a country, like the Uchiha are trying to do to Konoha.
  • Furthermore, the whittling down of the Uchiha and finally their extermination could represent the Honor Before Reason militarism that dominated Japan leading up to and throughout WWII. Japan lost the war at the Battle of Midway, but they kept fighting senselessly for another three years, and even after two atomic bombs, hardliners attempted a coup against the Emperor, which was put down. Had they succeeded, they would have been wiped out anyway in a bloody invasion by the United States and Soviet Union, and the Japanese people rendered nearly extinct by fighting to the last man rather than surrendering when faced with impossible odds. Putting down the coup by whatever means necessary was quite simply a matter of national survival for Imperial Japan.
    • Wow, this theory has a lot of chains in it. Following this logic, Hiruzen would be an analogue for Emperor Hirohito — a Reasonable Authority Figure who waited too long to address a problem and wound up losing control of the situation because he trusted his advisors or was simply naive. Hashirama becomes an analogue for the Meiji, while Madara represents those who clung to the old ways of the shogunate. Then, if you think of jinchūriki as being an analogue for nuclear weapons, you can think of the pragmatism of acknowledging that your enemy has two functioning nuclear weapons while your nuclear program is years away from developing a working bomb ^note Yes, Japan really did have a nuclear weapons program in WWII, but it was several years behind the Manhattan Project and certainly would never have resulted in a nuclear bomb in time to affect the outcome of the war.
• The sharingan allows one to copy and learn jutsu used by others instantly. This copy and memorizing ability may not be limited to jutsu. In fact, the mangekyou may be a product from the death of a comrade dying in front of their eyes being etched into their sharingan eyes, and thus in their minds.
  • Sasuke constantly revisits Itachi's death scene a moment before he awakens the mangekyou, which implies that he was witnessing it in full glory once again, prompting his eyes to evolve, which would otherwise have happened right as Itachi hit the floor.
  • Upon testing out Itachi's eyes, Sasuke states that the grave memories and horrible things Itachi has seen are burned on my retinas. This basically states that his sharingan memorized all the things he had witnessed before his death.
  • It is heavily implied that the Sharingan has some form of snapshot memory to aid the copying. Could the memories of blood and battle be why so many Uchiha were unstable?
• Given how much Madara has been built up as the ultimate ninja that 5 kage can't beat and how massively overpowered the Sharingan is, it bothered me for a long time that Hashirama was somehow at least equal to Madara. Until I realized that Hashirama could spam attacks with his Mokuton. It's already been stated that the Sharingan predicts how someone will move by tracking their muscles (though somehow it works on people wearing baggy jumpsuits), well wood doesn't have muscles. So, like Naruto's chakra arms, the Sharingan could see where the branches are at any given moment but not where they are going to be.
  • Also, keep this in mind: Madara did NOT have the Rinnegan, Mokuton, or an indestructible body with infinite chakra, so the kages aren't fighting the Madara who fought Hashirama, they're fighting a significantly more powerful Madara. It seems that nobody has thought of this fact yet... until you realise that none of them were there when he fought Hashirama, say they wouldn't know he didn't have those powers at that point.
  • Before Madara began using the Rinnegan and Wood Style, he would have been defeated by a combination of Gaara, Onoki, and one of Naruto's shadow clones. Madara as he was before "dying" would have also at one point been taken out by Tsunade all by herself. He only survived this due to having a Wood clone, which even he admitted. Finally, Rock Lee was powered up by Kurama's chakra recently and kicked Madara in half, which would have killed him if he weren't an Edo Tensei zombie.
    • Jossed on all counts. Hashirama was able to regularly contest Sharingan Madara in close-quarters. Madara makes it clear his full power was Perfect Susano'o, not any Rinnegan-related abilities, and both Madara and Dan emphasize no one in history could defeat Madara other than the (late) First Hokage. Not only does Hashirama defeat Madara even after the latter combined Perfect Susano'o and Kurama, it is also twice stated that Edo Tensei Hashirama was actually somewhat weaker than his prime living self; even then, he ties with Edo Tensei Rinnegan Madara (with some help from a Rasen Shuriken from Naruto). In fact, Edo Madara is ultimately stated to be weaker than his prime self even with his 'upgrades' - Kabuto, the one person who stated otherwise, was ignorant of the man's full power (as he ironically admitted earlier). Of course, Edo Madara does still have the infinite stamina and chakra that he lacked in life, your mileage may vary on just what difference that makes.
    • Ultimately, Madara makes it crystal clear he was merely playing with the Five Kages and all earlier opposition in the War, and once he finally brings out his full strength, the Kages all but admit they never had a chance from the start. They only survived as long as they did due to Madara being interested in indulging their little games (as he even describes their skirmish well into the fight), testing out his new (but ultimately inferior) abilities, and being weaker than his own prime.
  • In addition, the argument Sharingan is countered by Mokuton is odd given that Madara is a Katon user, Mokuton uses wood, and wood is highly flammable (Madara even uses this specific fact against the Kages).
    • Wood burns, but large quantities won't burn away instantly. Given that Wood Style is created via Water + Earth, it likely contains enough moisture not to incinerate easily except when specifically tailored otherwise.
• Why were the Uchiha so angry that the village was treating them horribly after the Kyuubi attacked? Not just because they suspected the Uchiha but because of the third shinobi world war. Who do you think were sent to the front lines? The most powerful clan the village had. After probably help win this war for the village then to be suspected of harming it, it's not hard to see why they were so angry.
  • Not just that, the Itachi novels also say Fugaku and the other Uchiha wanted to help Konoha by controlling Kurama using the Sharingan, but Danzo dissuaded Hiruzen from letting the Uchiha help due to believing one was already responsible for the attack in the first place. This angered the Uchiha, who nevertheless tried to prove their innocence by following orders...only to be suspected and segregated regardless.
• Why does Tobi hate being betrayed? Kakashi failed to protect Rin, which is the last promise Obito made with him. This equals betrayal to Obito, as Kakashi "betrayed" his last promise.
• Another related to Tobi. In Chapter 602, it is revealed that the massive chamber which contains both the Gedo Mazo and the Hashirama tree is a creation of Real!Madara. While Obito may have expanded his hideout from there, it is still the place where he fell after being crushed by the rocks. In other words, he has been unable to move past that incident mentally or physically after all this time.
• Why didn't Kakashi use the Mangekyo Sharingan if he had it since he was a kid? Because it probably would have killed him just using it once and he had no idea what it was. Think about during the Wave Arc how it wiped him out to use the Sharigan for a few minutes. The drain from Mangekyo would have certainly killed him if he tried to use it in combat without the proper reserves. Plus since Mangekyo is a dark secret of the Uchiha clan, it is very likely that Kakashi didn't know WHY his Sharigan had a second form until he fought Itachi Pre-Time Skip. Once he knew what it was he spent the next years getting to a place where it wouldnt' be dangerous to him to use it and figure out what the heck it did in the first place.
• A small one, but in Itachi's flashback when Danzo gave him the ultimatum they are between two statues of an Ashura and Indra, this was way before we found out these were the names of Hagoromo's sons!
• Neji's Heroic Sacrifice is a large step for him, not only in that he's giving his life for a member of the main family, but in that he's giving his life at all. After Lee's fight against Gaara, in which Lee's defeat and potential crippling were the result of the drawbacks of the Eight Gates techniques, Neji thinks to himself that a pawn who can only advance by sacrificing itself can never succeed. Here, not only does he shield Naruto and Hinata with his body, but he also reminds Naruto that his and Hinata's willingness to die for him are reasons he shouldn't give up.
  Neji: Father... I finally understand... the freedom of being able to choose your death... to protect your comrades.
  • Why did Neji die of all the characters? Because he's the only ninja from Konoha in Naruto's class that became a Jonin during the Time Skip! He has already gotten the highest rank he ever wanted!
• Why is Rock Lee's jumpsuit green? Because he's the "young leaf". Why are his legwarmers orange? Because he's standing on the fallen leaves (Gai sensei's sacrifice).
• Hinata seems to be taking in Naruto's Bijuu Mode Aura in Chapter 615, looking like she's powering up from the chakra. Why is this? Since Hyuga have two Kekkei Genkai as explained in Part I, the Hyuga have the Byakugan to see Tenketsu, the body's internal organs, and vast distances, but for Jyuken they need their secondary Kekkei Genkai which enables them to control every tenketsu in their body all at once and expel chakra from it. Now...whose to say the reverse isn't true, what if this Kekkei Genkai allows them to absorb another person's chakra and add it to their own. So Hinata may get a permanent power up after absorbing Naruto's Bijuu Mode chakra, possibly gaining her own Nine-Tailed Chakra Mode. Note, the effect was different than Kurama supercharging Kakashi since there was no visible effects as we can see here, which means that he only got a set amount of chakra he couldn't keep. Hinata though seems to be taking it in in this panel, since her hair is levitating and the chakra's surrounding her.
• Obito Uchiha's goals have gone through Motive Decay ever since he became Tobi. At first, he wanted to bring everybody into a perfect world, but over the years, he seems to talk more and more about wiping the world out entirely. Remember how Naruto used to go through personality changes whenever the Kyuubi's chakra took over? What if Tobi's Motive Decay is a result of his contact with Ten-Tails chakra? We know for a fact that he can't control that thing perfectly. Plus, even before the Ten-Tails was reborn, he was still in contact with its chakra via the Heretic Statue.
• For those of you who believe that Kishimoto was intending on Hinata being Naruto's main love interest from the beginning — which he has confirmed in several post-series interviews — there is one interesting point that does support this. At the start of the series, Naruto was loud, brash, obnoxious, full of himself, not nearly as good as he thought he was, and honestly rather dumb — a perfect example of an Idiot Hero. As a result, almost no one in Konoha thought anything of him or his abilities, Kyuubi aside. But he was still the protagonist of the series so we the readers got to see his good points — his courage, determination, loyalty, perseverance, stubbornness, and refusal to quit in the face of adversity. These are the very same traits that Hinata has always admired him for. In a sense, Hinata was the only character in the entire series perceptive enough to accept Naruto's flaws and appreciate his good points, the same way the reader is meant to. This is why she's the only character in the Konoha 11 who accepts and acknowledges him from the beginning.
• A lot of people were surprised at Hashirama's goofy personality, but Kishimoto was telling us the entire time through Zetsu. The serious black Zetsu has Madara's will and the goofy, fun loving white side has Hashirama's.
  • Also, the fact that while black Zetsu and white Zetsu may bicker, they do seem to get along well enough, and then a few chapters later we see that Hashirama and Madara started out as friends.
• Just before the Time Skip, Jiraiya informs Naruto that he is safe from the Akatsuki for about three years, but with no reason why. Later, it is revealed that when Kakashi killed Rin, she was the jinchūriki for Sanbi, the Three-Tails. It's been stated before that when a jinchūriki dies, the Tailed Beast within dies too but will be revived after a long period of time. Sanbi may not have been revived until near the end of the Time Skip, so there was no point for the Akatsuki to risk capturing the other Tailed Beasts yet when they would still be one short.
• Why are there personality swaps in Road to Ninja? Because it's a test-run of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and Obito wants to swap Rin's personality with one more to his liking.
• Why was Naruto able to transform into Sage Mode while running when it requires stillness? Because constant velocity motion is the same as stillness. The key is that the motion must be perfectly fluid, not subject to any bursts of speed, breaking or turns.
• Nagato's poor reaction to Yahiko's death always seemed a bit over-dramatic to me, but then Kishi revealed two important facts and suddenly it all made sense. The Rinnegan is a natural evolution of the Sharingan and that the Uchiha clan suffers from Love Makes You Crazy. Almost all of the Uchiha we've seen went insane because they lost a loved one. Nagato lost Yahiko and his Rinnegan responded to that loss just like a Sharingan.
• Kakashi's deplorable teaching method (or lack thereof rather) of letting his students figure things out without ever actually instructing them bothered me for years. Then it hit me: Kakashi is an inversion of the saying, "Those who can't do, teach." He was already a Jounin at the same age his students graduated. Most likely, he simply doesn't understand how someone could struggle with concepts he easily understands. For example, when Naruto begs Kakashi to teach him the Chidori, Kakashi gives an instruction along the lines of "Concentrate your chakra in your hand." He doesn't go beyond that because to him that's plenty of instruction.
  • A Real World example would be mathematical geniuses. They can't explain how to solve an equation because they solve it near instantly with a glance.
  • This illustrates a problem Naruto had throughout Part I. Even though he had a tremendous amount of natural talent and the most potential out of his entire class, he had never been properly taught. He had no difficulty learning to make Shadow Clones, but he struggled with the basics because nobody diagnosed his problems and took the time to teach him how to overcome them. Ironically, this indirectly led to Sasuke's defection, because he didn't realize that Naruto completely eclipsed him in terms of raw power the whole time, so he shouldn't be measuring himself against Naruto.
  • How Naruto teaches Konohamaru the Rasengan: "You have to GAHHHH it, then BAM it to burst it!" because no one taught him properly.
• This came to me while I was talking about revenge. I was told that "an eye for an eye..." (translation: revenge) "... makes the whole world go blind." So Sasuke, who is an Uchiha, causes "blindness", a side-effect of Sharingan...
• The databooks say that Orochimaru's favorite food is eggs, while his least favorite is anything cold. There are several species of snakes that eat eggs, and a snake cannot function in cold temperatures.
• The words of The Sage of Six Paths regarding one with no power relying on friends vs one with power standing alone reflects on Gaara and Tobi just as much as on Sasuke. The real difference between Naruto and Gaara in the beginning was their power levels. Gaara's invincibility and power made others afraid of him which is why he was alone. Because of his sand powers, he could take out his rage and frustration on people around him. Naruto on the other hand, had no real power back then. People hated him, but didn't fear him and he couldn't do anything about it but to keep on struggling to get acceptance. Because he had no power, he had no choice but to keep looking for friends. As for Obito, he was only able to pull his one man attempt to subjugate the world because of his new abilities. Without them, his Moon's Eye Plan would have been impossible and in fact he still needed the help of the Akatsuki to get most of the bijuu.
• The Hyuuga are taijutsu masters, and while they can use ninjutsu, they almost never do. Why? Because the Byakugan itself predates ninjutsu. As a result, they use techniques that not only predate ninjutsu, but have the ability to disable it, because they have known it from the beginning.
• Some people say that Kaguya's existence is an Ass Pull, but in fact, she has been foreshadowed since the Chunin Exams. Kakashi gave an introduction to the Byakugan by saying, "It is said that the Sharingan was derived from the Byakugan." We now know this to be true: Kaguya developed the Sharingan and the Rinnegan from the Byakugan.
  • Furthermore while Kaguya's character was incredibly rushed, it was hardly and Ass Pull, not only is the name from the clan Kimimaro comes from, but she was effectively foreshadowed when Pain explains how the Sage of Sixth Paths created the moon with a Planetary Devastation jutsu to seal a monster, though this could mean just the Ten-Tails since it was mentioned not long after, is really more an issue that Kishimoto didn't knew how to introduce Kaguya rather than not knowing how to defeat Madara.
• The revelation that the original Tailed Beast is actually the World Tree explains why Hashirama could handle Tailed Beasts relatively easily. Manipulating trees is his specialty, and all of the Tailed Beasts are the offspring of a tree.
• For as much of a threat that Kaguya is, it makes perfect sense why she is being pummeled by Naruto. Without Black Zetsu giving her advice, Kaguya has no experience in an actual fight ever since Hagoromo and Hamura sealed her. She may be theoretically all powerful, but she has no clue how to actually use that power effectively.
• Obito appears in his 13-year-old form in the afterlife because that's the last time he was entirely Obito. He's been part Zetsu ever since getting crushed by that rock.
• Naruto's strategy for landing a hit on Kaguya is exactly the same one he used during his fight with Neji for the Chunin Exam, (Which also was the first time he used this). He creates a clone that he tricks his opponent thinking that it's the real one, and both times its against a Byakugan user.
• During the Infinite Tsukiyomi Arc, Karin gets impaled by Zetsu. Suigetsu defends her with "Double Barrels" — using his fingers as water pistols, he blasts Zetsu's head off. When he first met Sasuke, he held a finger-gun to his head!
• Several instances in the manga demonstrate ninja like Kakashi, Danzo and C (after visiting Konoha) having intel on the Mangekyō Sharingan and it's jutsu like Amaterasu (what it looks like, etc). Strange because these ninja would probably never have seen a Mangekyō first hand before, but Itachi being loyal to Konoha would have been required to leave behind all the information on his jutsu before departing from the village after the Uchiha Massacre.
• How could the Three-Tails have been sealed inside of Rin? Conservation of Detail shows that, since Rin dies in Obito and Kakashi's flashbacks, the Sanbi must have been roaming free because it had regenerated from dying with Rin. Therefore one would be forced to assume that Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, died before Naruto was even born.
• "Sakura, I... I'm sorry... For everything up till now..." Why did Sasuke give his most sincere apology to Sakura? Because way back in the Forest of Death, Sakura was the first person who noticed Sasuke's beginning descent into darkness, and when Sasuke left the village, she was the first person who tried to stop him. Sakura has been trying to save Sasuke longer than anyone else.
• Each of the Uchiha who got the Mangekyo Sharingan also acquired a new ability from it based off their mental state at the time. Think about it:
  • Shisui wanted to change the hearts of people and got the ability to force them to change their mind in Kotoamatsukami.
  • Itachi wanted to hide his true self from others and got the Tsukuyomi, the ultimate genjutsu.
  • Sauske wanted to burn the world and got greater control over Amaterasu when he saved Karin from the flames.
  • Obito wanted to leave the pain and suffering of this world and got the ability to shift into a parallel dimension.
  • Rather than the Mangekyo, Madara awakened his Rinnegan when he was forgotten by the world, he believed reality was Hell, and what is inside of you, your conscience and dreams is Heaven. A true state of Limbo, the name of his jutsu.
• During their fight in the Chunin Exams finals, Naruto tells Neji he'll change the main/branch families of the Hyuga when he becomes Hokage. In The Last: Naruto the Movie and the epilogue, Naruto realizes his love for and gets Happily Married to Hinata, a direct heir to Hiashi, and does become Hokage, possessing both internal and political power to change the main/branch family status. Naruto not only saved Neji from the branch family curse, but may have also saved future generations as well.
• Some might be left scratching their heads as to how Boruto and Himawari inherit Naruto's whiskers when they're not jinchūriki and their grandmother and Mito Uzumaki never had them. Like their father, they've been exposed to Kurama's chakra since birth as opposed to later in life. Also the fact that they only have two makes sense considering how their exposure was weaker than Naruto's as Hinata is not Kurama's jinchūriki.
• To the great disappointment of Naruto/Sasuke and Naruto/Sakura shippers, Naruto/Hinata did not come out of the blue, and it really had been planned since the early stages of the manga, as Kishimoto has stated in several post-series interviews. Hinata's feelings became painfully obvious to everyone after the Invasion of Pain arc; Naruto, however, had some emotional growing up to do before he finally caught on. Here are some notable examples:
  • All of the kids in Konoha — including Sasuke and Sakura — treat Naruto as a nuisance at best, a part of the scenery at worst. Not Hinata: she's always polite and friendly to him. In turn, Naruto wholeheartedly reciprocates the friendship, openly cheering for her during her "fight" against Neji in the Chunin Exams preliminaries, vowing on her blood to defeat Neji in the finals, and even confiding in her that he's not sure he's not the failure everyone thinks he is. Note that this is the only time he ever willingly lets his guard down and expresses his self-doubt to anyone.
  • When it seems that Pain killed Hinata, Naruto flies into a rage of epic proportions. To give you some measure: every other time he used the Kyuubi's power, he grew the tails gradually, up to a maximum of four. This time, he went from zero to six tails in a blink. Then, he grows two more tails and almost releases the Kyuubi. Although Pain killed Jiraiya and Kakashi, destroyed Konoha, and then killed his frog-sensei, Naruto explicitly states here that he lost it only after he was Forced to Watch Pain attack Hinata.
  • Beginning in the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc, every conversation they have is either an echo of something she previously told him or incredibly heartwarming, and overall dripping with Unresolved Sexual Tension. He's clearly concerned about her, even though he can't explain why just yet.
  • Lastly, two of the central themes of the series revolve around how: 1) each generation mirrors the previous one to some degree, and 2) each of the Official Couples — past and future — embody Opposites Attract. Take a look at Naruto's parents. Kushina was a hyperactive loudmouth who somehow managed to find herself in trouble quite frequently (poor bullies), and she had a bad first impression of her husband before something happened that permanently changed their relationship for the better^note Kushina initially thought of Minato as a "flaky girl-boy," but then she fell in love with him when he rescued her from the Kumo ninjas that kidnapped her, and then he boldly complimented her red hair, which other children used as a reason to bully her. Naruto initially thought of Hinata as a "plain-looking, shy and dark weirdo girl," but then he began to see her in a much better light when he found out that she adopted his nindō and wished to be acknowledged and accepted by her family, who deemed her a failure because they mistook her kind, gentle personality for weakness. Minato was a quiet, thoughtful person who loved Kushina since they were children, and often tried to deal with his wife's outbursts. Sound familiar?
• Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you think about why exactly Shikamaru/Ino or Choji/Ino never would have been possible despite the many shippers. Each of them is the heir to their respective clan. The Ino-Shika-Cho combination is traditional and the strategies they use rely on each of their clans' respective secret techniques. If Ino married either Choji or Shikamaru, she'd either take their last names or they'd take hers depending on which has the highest standing. The child would most likely learn only the techniques of the clan with their family name, because it is traditional. So each would have to marry someone else in order to pass on their clan names, and thus their techniques. Temari, Sai, and Karui don't appear to be part of any clan, so of course they'd take their spouse's last name in all cases. Why? Because it's traditional and the trio is faithful to said tradition.
  • In addition, Temari is the sister of the Fifth Kazekage Gaara, giving Temari and Shikamaru's relationship a political advantage to both villages to help further strengthen their already strong alliance.
  • Given that Inojin uses drawing jutsu like his father, this doesn't seem likely.
• Regardless of who her real mother is, Sarada having "Shanarro!"/"Cha!" as a Verbal Tic is inevitable, since she's lived with Sakura her whole life. So even if Karin is her real mother, nurture overcomes nature.
  • Jossed. Sakura is Sarada's real mother.
• According to the anime, Naruto's Eight Trigrams Seal leaks out Kurama's chakra continuously. Combine this with the fact that only the Yang half (physical energy and vitality) was sealed into him, and you've got a better reason for why Naruto is so hyperactive.
• Itachi is paired with Kisame. Now, what do we know about these two? Itachi is a spy/spanner in the works against Atatsuki (and it's pretty much stated that Tobi/Obito knew about this) and Kisame is loyal to Atastuki to the point of dying for them at the beginning of the war. Kisame was almost certainly paired with Itachi to keep an eye on him!
• Naruto and Sasuke both get Foreshadowing to being reincarnations of Asura and Indra the sons of the Sage of Six Paths.
  • Due to his Uzumaki lineage, Naruto possesses a powerful life-force and physical energy, giving him an extreme longevity, stamina, and vitality. From this, he could survive the extraction of a Tailed Beast (albeit he was rendered unconscious and in a critical state). Naruto is also known for his greatly accelerated healing. Naruto has always demonstrated large chakra reserves, creating hundreds of multiple shadow clones at the age of 12, something not even common for high jounin level ninja. His lineage is part of the reason why he could synchronise with Kurama's chakra, this answers Yamato's thought as to why Naruto could enter the Four-Tailed Chakra Cloak and not die instantly. Being a reincarnation of Asura further reinforces his chakra prowess and physical energy.
  • During the Kage Summit, Karin remarked Sasuke's chakra had grown much darker than when using his cursed seal. When Sasuke met Kurama inside Naruto for the first time, the Nine-Tailed Fox told Sasuke he had a much darker chakra than his own just like Madara Uchiha, the previous reincarnation of Indra.
• Sasuke and Sakura's daughter, Sarada, is the embodiment of Team 7: She has Sasuke's eyes, Sakura's strength, and Naruto's dream.
  • Likewise, Naruto and Hinata's son, Boruto, has aspects of the three inheriting the will of the good Otsutsuki twins: he has Naruto's strength of will, Sasuke's talent and general attitude, and Hinata's willingness to support as well as her protective instinct.
• For as much as readers consider it an Ass Pull, Madara being able to use Susano'o without his eyes is actually a fantastic allusion to Shinto mythology. Remember, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susano'o were born when Izanagi washed his face. Amaterasu was born from the left eye, Tsukuyomi from the right. Susano'o was neither, he came from the nose. With that in mind, it makes sense that Susano'o is the one Mangekyo Sharingan dojutsu that doesn't require eyes to utilize after already being acquired.
  • The fact that Susano'o was usable without the need for eyes was also foreshadowed by via its usage by Madara and Sasuke post eye transplants. If the eyes were necessary, neither would be able to use it since they no longer had their original eyes.
• Hinata's name means "sunny place" or "towards the sun". Why is that meaningful? Hinata was always the one who comforted Naruto during some of the darkest moments of the series. Even though she is the yin to his yang^note "Yin" translates to "dark" or "shady side", while "Yang" translates to "light" or "sunny side", she is his "sun", the light that gave him strength and brought him hope whenever it seemed like he was going to drown in despair. That's partly why Naruto fell in love with her — she alone is enough to help take away all the pain he goes through.
  • Or, to be more precise, she helps him bear that pain and realize why it's important and why he doesn't have to face it alone.
• Given Tsunade's horrible luck with gambling, she considers it a bad omen if she wins. Before Jiraiya leaves on his mission to Amegakure, she bets him that he'll die on the mission. She wins her bet. What happens afterwards? Pain's assault and the destruction of Konoha.
• Despite much of the flak given toward Kaguya and her status as a Flat Character, it makes sense when you recall what happened. She consumed a fruit that more or less had the lifeforce of the planet and became a literal force of nature. Hell, she could be considered the embodiment of Mother Nature, especially in the aspect of ruthlessness. She lost her humanity, becoming more like a storm or force of nature with only remnants of her want for power left. Kaguya is one massive warning in regards to having power. She lost all empathy and connection to the people she was supposed to protect; she is DrunkWithPower taking to the extreme and horrifying conclusion.
• Naruto and Sasuke could have easily switched places. Both Naruto and Sasuke had lonely childhoods with only a mentor figure, Iruka and Itachi respectively, given them anything akin to real acknowledgement. However, there is one key difference in the two's backstory. How said mentor figure responded to their mentee at their most emotionally unstable.
  • In the case of Naruto he was emotionally shocked after he learned that he was the demon fox that terrorized the village and even killed Iruka's parents, as a result he is left wondering if it was just a lie. But what happens afterwards? He overhears Iruka telling Mizuki that while it might be possible for him to hate the fox he could NEVER hate the boy. The fact that Iruka didn't know that Naruto was nearby just reinforces the truth of his statement to Naruto.
  • Now let's review Sasuke's case. He comes home to find his entire family slaughtered and his brother having just finished the act of killing his parents. As a result Sasuke, like Naruto is left wondering if it was all a lie. Unlike Iruka, Itachi says it WAS all a lie. Then to drive the point home he mind rapes Sasuke by showing him his murder of the entire clan over and over again.
• A bit one, but why does Itachi have a different dub voice when he debuts in person vs when Sasuke briefly flashbacks? Because that is how Sasuke thinks Itachi sounds like now: a more sinister and evil voice than his real monotone.
• Why did Naruto and Sasuke marry Hinata and Sakura, respectively? Because they are Amazon Chasers towards their wives.
  • Naruto admits that he "never knew Hinata was this incredible" when he finds out that she adopted his nindō and he sees that she refuses to give up in her "fight" with Neji in Chapter 80, he reassures her that she is strong when she doubts herself and has a proud smile when he recalls how she defended him from Pain in Chapter 559, he sports another proud smile when he sees that she's leading his defense in Chapter 629, and he comments on her strength twice in The Last — first was when he's confused over Sakura's request to have him walk Hinata home, with his reasoning being that he feels no one in the village would dare mess with Hinata because she's "really strong"; second was in The Stinger, where he playfully warns Boruto and Himawari during their snowball fight that their mother is "super strong" when she gets serious.
  • In Chapter 632, Sasuke gives a rather flirty smirk◊ when Sakura first shows the power of her Yin Seal by demolishing a bunch of Ten-Tail clones in the War Arc. Later, when their daughter Sarada demonstrates a chakra-enhanced punch like her mother, Sasuke sports that same proud smirk.
• We all knew that Sasuke received the Rinnegan from accepting Indra's power from Hagoromo. But there was another factor contributing to this: Kabuto administered Hashirama's cells into Sasuke when the latter was severely wounded. Madara gained the Rinnegan after transplanting a sample of Hashirama's flesh into him. Therefore, Sasuke got the Rinnegan the same method as Madara!
• Ashura and Indra's reincarnations into Madara and Hashirama, and then Sasuke and Naruto, reflect the conflict between the two of them like Hagoromo says, but in both cases while their rivalry is present, their reincarnations do not start off in open conflict... they start off as friends as close as brothers, just as Ashura and Indra must have! And then as they grow older, their conflicting ideals and views on the world lead them to oppose one another, and their friendships are torn. Fridge Tearjerker comes when you realize that Hagoromo sees each generation as a reflection of his sons, first with them growing close and mirroring their past selves' earlier sibling relationship, and leading him to hope that maybe this time they can resolve their differences, only for outside circumstances to once again force them to fight one another.
• Naruto manga concluded with 700 Chapters, and Naruto Gaiden ended with 10 chapters. 700+10 = 710. Naruto’s name can mean 7(Na) and 10 (to), add 7 to 10 you get 17, which how old Naruto was in the final arc.
• During the Chunin written exam, Despite not completing any questions Naruto passed thanks to passing the tenth question. Naruto instinctively realize the first rule of information gathering cited by famous generals: "No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force." which shows that even if the rest of his comrades can provide them with solid information, the fact that first contact with the enemy will make the intel useless.
• The Hyuga clan is divided into a Main and a Branch family, why was Hinata or Hanabi never considered a Branch family member? Hiashi's brother was considered one from birth and Neji got his curse seal before he turned ten so why was Hanabi never given one or Hinata once she was passed over as Heiress in favor of her sister? Because they are girls. Only males can create a Branch family this is true even today when you look at the Japanese Imperial family. Only male members can create a cadet branch because female members give up all titles and positions when they get married and are no longer considered to be members of the royal family. The same is probably true for the Hyuga, women of the main family stay a part of the main family until they get married, even then their children would not be considered Hyuga branch family members but members of whatever family she married into.
• Kaguya and the first Infinite Tsukyomi in retrospect explain a great deal of oddities about the Naruto world, such as how small the human population seems to be. By casting the first Infinite Tsukyomi, she turned most of humanity into food for the Divine Tree, only freeing enough of them to keep humans from going extinct and enabling them to continue a few, relatively small societies. Said societies initially worshiped her as a goddess, but would come to fear her as a demon and face her destructive wrath on various ocassions. Not much is known of humanity before the first Infinite Tsukyomi, but having reduced humanity to only a fragment of its former population and having them settle near where she lived may explain why even a thousand years later the Naruto world's civilizations seem relatively geographically near to and similar to each other (all speaking mostly the same language for instance), as well as why there are never any mentions of societies outside of the ninja nations and samurai even existing in the current world (no talk of humans on distant continents for instance). The constant wars and very low life expectancy that characterized much of the history of the world Kaguya left behind would further stifle the low starting populations from growing and expanding. Thus even in the present humanity seems to live on only a small portion of the planet and consist of just five large nations (and various small ones) that can be reached within at most a few weeks of travel on foot (though admittedly ninja do travel faster than regular humans can on foot) and relatively small populations. Another sign of this is how the combined military of the great nations numbered a "mere" 80,000 troops, whereas in the real world it wasn't unheard of for armies to be far larger even in ancient times.
• Regarding sharing thoughts and feelings via chakra, one realizes this was actually foreshadowed way back at the end of part 1 when Sasuke talks about how when shinobi with enough skill fight they are able to communicate simply by physical contact. So it seems that this ability of chakra was fairly well known in the Naruto world as something those skilled in the use of chakra could do. It's just not until the end of Shippuden that we learn this was actually the primary intended purpose the Sage of Six Paths wanted for chakra rather than some side effect.

Introduction Arc

• Naruto failed his academy exam three times because the test was always the clone jutsu. Why would the test be the same simple jutsu so many times in a row? Because Mizuki was setting up his plan to have Naruto steal the scroll, of course.
  • Mizuki briefly suggests that Iruka pass Naruto on this anyway, although if you think about it, it was probably part of the plan to make him seem sympathetic compared to the stricter Iruka.
    • It makes perfect sense for the test to be the same simple jutsu. The clone jutsu is one of the staples of being a ninja and a basic skill. If a genin can't do that, how can you expect him to take on the more difficult aspects of shinobi training? Of course, it's only not applicable to Naruto because he learns the Shadow Clones, but he is a special case.
    • Actually that's Fridge Logic because Lee had passed despite not having the chakra capacity to perform Jutsu. Naruto failed because, his overall scores were low.
    • Although the above could be mitigated by two factors: First, is that Lee is clearly very intent on becoming a Jutsu-less ninja, so they may have designed a second test. Second, is that Might Guy is also a high ranking ninja, and he clearly is a master at taijutsu, so even if they don't normally have courses for taijutsu only, Might Guy may have them make an exception.
• Remember Kakashi's Ninja Test to steal the bells was designed to see if one person would sacrifice their goals for the good of the group? It gets a new meaning when you read Kakashi Gaiden and see Obito sacrifice his life to save Kakashi and Rin.
• Later in the series, we learn that whatever a shadow clone learns, Naruto learns. From the moment Naruto learns the shadow clone technique, he a) starts using it as his signature technique, featuring it in almost every battle and using it to spar against himself, and b) he starts improving in skill EXPONENTIALLY. Naruto isn't just getting stronger because he believes in himself/has friends. Remember how he managed to learn rasenshuriken hundreds of times faster than anyone else would have been able to? Think of how often he likes to make clones. He's been doing that unintentionally the ENTIRE SERIES. Naruto gained a lot more than an offensive attack when he learned how to make shadow clones. More than just Iruka's friendship, the Shadow Clone technique itself was the catalyst for his entire life changing.
  • It also hammers home just how untalented Naruto really is and the degree of dedication required to improve. He had to take literal lifetimes of experience to keep pace with other characters in the series.
• Its' no coincidence that Naruto and Sasuke both placed on Kakashi's team. Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son, and Kakashi, as his student, would naturally want to help train and raise him. Plus, they know a Sharingan can control the Kyuubi. Kakashi's basically a fail-safe to keep Naruto in line if he ever goes berserk. In fact, later during the Wave arc, when Naruto does flip out, Kakashi immediately neutralizes Zabuza and (although he doesn't get to that point), presumably was going to then use his Sharingan to suppress Naruto. On Sasuke's side, Kakashi is the only resident Sharingan wielder, and a former teammate to Obito. So, he's effectively the only one who can sufficiently train Sasuke.

Land of Waves Arc

• The only reason we know that Haku is a boy is because s/he tells Naruto this. Everything else about Haku (appearance, voice, effeminate mannerisms) even during childhood suggests a young girl. Realize that Haku recognized Naruto as the enemy and may not have wanted him to hold back when they would do battle later. Since even the viewers had a hard time with this, is it out of the question that Haku could have told a flat out lie? . "A ninja must see through deception," anyone?
• After going over the Wave Country arc several times (the manga especially), I totally facepalmed when I realised that Gato, who broke Kaiza's "two arms" and cut off his head has his head ripped off by a man who can't use his arms. In a weird, kinda sick way, Zabuza was, unintentionally, totally avenging Khaiza. -Sobek
• They probably didn't plan this far ahead, but it seemed to me that Kakashi took the Zabuza/Haku battle much more seriously after Haku jumped in front of his Lightning Cutter, basically committing suicide to protect Zabuza. Compare this to the earlier (but more recently revealed) death of Rin: suicide by Kakashi's Lightning Cutter in order to protect Konoha from the Tailed Beast inside her. Maybe the parallels shook the poor guy up.
• Zabuza and the Demon brothers were failed heroes of the Mist Ninja. In Zabuza's bingo book entry he was stated to be a dangerous killer who tried to assassinate the Mizukage. We find out later that the fourth Mizukage was controlled by Obito and possibly Madara Uchiha. Seeing that Kisame recognized Obito as the Mizukage and that he even revealed himself to kisame. We can tell first the Fourth Mizukage didn't start out as a controlled kage and that every attempt to kill the Mizukage was an attempt to free the village hidden in the mist from Obito's control. Meaning Kisame's master Zabuza the demon brothers all tried to save the village.
• During their second battle on the bridge, Kakashi is able to best Zabuza's mist technique with his ninja hounds because the scent of Kakashi's blood was on his blade from an earlier attack. Kakashi noted it was careless for Zabuza to allow an easy mistake. Later from Suigetsu, we learn the blade normally repairs itself from the iron content of blood. What was an easy mistake in their battle on Zabuza's part was simply Zabuza playing to his blade's strength, unaware that it cost him in that fight.

Chunin Exams Arc

• This arc makes it clear how out of their depth Team 7, especially Sakura, are when compared to their fellow competitors. More subtly, it makes the cause clear as well: the other teams have been more supported by their teachers and/or in general have better teamwork. Kakashi has (half-heartedly) taught Team 7 how to walk up trees, and nothing else. No Ninjutsu, no Taijutsu drills, nothing; more often than not, he pits the team against each other to motivate them, rather than actually try to teach them how to work together. The only reason why Naruto and Sasuke do at all well is because they have inherent powers (and in Sasuke's case, because he had Itachi's practice to model himself after). But if Naruto did not have the Nine Tails, and if Sasuke weren't an Uchiha, they would have likely been on the same level as Sakura, and Kakashi's lack of teaching would have stood out even more. As it was, because Naruto and Sasuke had their powers, Team 7 was able to more or less survive, and instead it looked like Sakura was just weak and unmotivated when compared to her teammates. Inadvertently, Sasuke and Naruto's powers helped to cover up for Kakashi's lack of teaching and Team 7's lack of teamwork as a whole.
• The Shukaku, and presumably the other Tailed Beasts tend to get antsy when a full moon rises. Guess where their chimera body is located.
• The Chunin Exams weren't really cut short after all-they just took the fight outside the ring. Gaara defeated Sasuke, at which point Naruto began fighting Gaara, which according to the bracket was supposed to be the first match of the second round. Shino got his fight with Kankuro, and it was a draw. Gaara's loss to Naruto, combined with the revelation that Orochimaru had murdered the Kazekage, led to Suna surrendering immediately, including Kankuro and Temari. So basically, Naruto won the Chunin exams, but didn't get promoted because no one with the necessary influence saw it and his victory was overshadowed by Hiruzen's death.
• Back in Part I, when Kabuto's glasses were knocked off, he looked pissed. Why? Because those were the glasses his mother gave him.
• Kakashi gives Naruto to Ebisu and they head to the hot springs, because that's where Jiraiya was.
• Why was that Rain ninja so obsessed with Team 7? Because he's under orders from Pain to secure the Kyuubi jinchūriki, or at least to identify him and survey his power. The Rain village has no more interest in these exams than do Sand or Sound, but their goals are different. Of course, neither the Hokage nor the proctors are aware that Rain is under the control of the Akatsuki, or that the Akatsuki is an international threat.
  • Looking even deeper into that theory, who were the only other featured Rain Ninja during the Chunin Exams? The Rain Ninja that Gaara killed! They could have been under similar orders to observe the One-Tailed, but Gaara killed them in the process!
• Which teams ends the second part first? Gaara's team and Team 8. Gaara's team success is easily explained by them getting a scroll early and Gaara's sheer power overwhelming any opposition, but Team 8 isn't apparently that superior... Except they are heavily geared toward recon missions and detecting dangers, and know Fire Country's fauna very well. Of course they were the first team to get a scroll (by simply standing in a specific place and wait for an enemy team to get neutralized by giant leeches) and arrived at the tower second: they were the one team trained specifically for such an occurrence, and the only reason they didn't arrive first was because they decided to let Gaara cool down.
• Sakura's flashback during her Academy days of remembering hearing a rumor that Sasuke was interested in girls with long hair makes perfect sense during the early part of the series. While all the girls of Sakura's class, including Sakura herself, started to grow out their hair to attract Sasuke's attention there is only one girl in that class that has had short hair throughout Part I, Hinata Hyuga! She probably hear about the rumor as well and kept her hair short as a way to prevent Sasuke from falling for her since she's attracted to Naruto, she only started growing her hair out once Sasuke defected from the Leaf village.
• Sasuke's Chidori was able to punch clean through Gaara's hardened sand shield, which proved impervious to his fists. In Part II, it's revealed that Earth Release is weak against Lightning Release.
  • While Gaara's control over Sand isn't an Earth Release, Shukaku's is, presumably being a Kekkei Genkei combination of Wind and Earth.
• Gaara was completely fixated on killing Sasuke to prove his existence, claiming him the only worthy person worth fighting, ignoring Kabuto and Neji as well as Naruto. We later find out that Uchiha Madara helped subdue and enslave all of the Tailed Beasts, Uchiha Indra cared more for power than he did his own step-siblings (said aforementioned Tailed Beasts), and that Sasuke is the reincarnation of both those people. Shukaku likely had a hand in Gaara focusing on Sasuke.
• During the first part of the exam, on the written test, Hinata offers Naruto to take a peek at her test, which Naruto ultimately declines fearing being disqualified. However, during the scene several test proctors do look at Naruto (meaning that they noticed) and take notes but they don't disqualify him. Why? The objective was to test information gathering skills, and Hinata voluntarily offering her help to Naruto would be seen as having an inside ally on the field; something that Jiraiya is shown to rely on heavily as he provides invaluable information to the Leaf Village.

Search for Tsunade Arc

• Shizune mentioned that Tsunade's necklace only acknowledged her and that anyone else who wore it would die within a day. Naruto has not died yet and has it for about three years. He is still alive. Guess who else had the necklace for a long time? Hashirama! So the first two people to survive the necklace became Hokage. So, this is Kishi's way of saying that Naruto will definitely become Hokage! This is reinforced by the fact that two other people who wanted to be Hokage wore it and died within 24 hours.
• When Itachi and Kisame try to capture Naruto pre-Time Skip, they attempt to keep Jiraiya out of the picture by using a woman under a genjutsu to hit on him as a distraction. Jiraiya detects the problem and comes running to Naruto's assistance. Since Itachi is loyal to Konoha, and may even have been working for Jiraiya, it's likely that the 'distraction attempt' was actually a warning, letting Jiraiya know that an attack was about to take place.
  • Additionally, it's revealed that Itachi's "visit" to the Leaf was directly related to the 3rd's death. As his boss was dead, and as Itachi still dearly loved Konoha and his brother, his visit was his way of telling Danzo "Don't forget, I'm still watching. Try anything, and I'm going to make you regret it". Considering Danzo didn't do anything major during part one, Tsunade was able to take the Hokage seat peacefully, and Naruto wasn't as heavily restricted as he was during Part II, it's obvious that Itachi's visit did exactly what it needed to do.
    • Because busting into Konoha, one-shotting their top two genjutsu experts, and openly announcing what you're after is such a good way to carry out the missions without drawing attention to the Akatsuki. Even if Itachi wasn't a true double agent, he was at least a subversive element inside the Akatsuki trying to prevent them from getting their hands on Naruto.
    • Actually, "Hi, we're the bad guys, tell us where the MacGuffin is; if you don't we'll either kill you or beat the crap out of you to show how strong we are." is a fairly classic way of introducing new villains. It was acknowledged in-universe that Itachi was well meaning but just made a horrible mess of things.
• The “Three Taboos” that Jiraiya warns Naruto against (money, women, and alcohol) actually pretty perfectly correspond to the three Sannin. Tsunade obviously has money issues and Jiraiya has a soft spot for the ladies. Alcohol wouldn’t seem to correspond to Orochimaru at first, but alcohol has actually been used in medicine for centuries, so being an Immortality Seeker, he probably has a large supply.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc

• For a very long time I just thought Neji vs. Kidomaru was just supposedly to be a cool fight, but then I realized it was more than that: it was the ultimate culmination of Neji's story. Ever since he lost to Naruto and learned of his father's true fate he decide that people aren't limited to the what's decided for them at birth. Kidomaru was beating him by exploiting the Byakugan's blind spot — its inherent flaw. While the old Neji would have given in when faced with such an obstacle, the new Neji didn't, and won, thus proving his new beliefs to be true. —thatother1dude
• Why did Kimimaro allow Rock Lee to drink his "medicine" when they were clearly in a fight to the death? Because Kimimaro knows what it's like to be dependent on medicine, and be helpless to the effects of illness. A moment of empathy.
• Making your bones denser than steel would cut off the circulation to your bone marrow. Could Kimimaro's illness have been Leukemia?
• Before the Sasuke Retrieval Arc kicks off proper, we get a quick scene of Neji training with the byakugan by counting the number of birds in his immediate area. He counts 7, but when Tenten interrupts and the birds fly off, there's 8. At first this just seems like Neji missed one, but it was actually subtle foreshadowing that the byakugan's perceptive abilities aren't perfect and that Neji has a blind spot.
• When Naruto finally catches up with Sasuke, they are both standing on the statues of two important shinobi: Naruto is standing on the statue of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and Sasuke is standing on the statue of the man who helped the First build the Leaf Village (who at that point was unnamed) Madara Uchiha. Naruto and Sasuke are reincarnations of Hashirama and Madara, and are standing on the statues of their previous incarnations.
• Shikamaru becoming Chunin shouldn’t have been a surprise, as he was the only one to demonstrate both excellent strategizing and good judgment. There was only one other fight that played out to completion in front of all the judges (Neji vs. Naruto), and neither one would make it based on their criteria:
  • While Neji was clearly skilled, there were a couple instances where he clearly had Naruto dead to rights but didn’t close the deal fast enough. Such would be unthinkable for a squad leader.
  • Naruto wins, sure, but Neji has him on the ropes for most of the fight and he only wins with a pretty risky strategy. Again, you wouldn’t want this from a group leader - what if he failed?
  • Shikamaru, meanwhile, clearly displays good judgment throughout his fight. He doesn’t attack Temari, who had the clear physical advantage, but instead finds a way to manipulate her into falling for his trap. Once he traps her, he realizes there’s no way to win, so he gives up. A strategic retreat is something you’d want a good squad leader to consider, so that’s why he made Chunin.

Rescue Gaara Arc

• When Naruto meets Sakura upon his return from training with Jiraiya, she asks if she looks more like a woman now, and Naruto replies that she's the same as ever. Naturally, Sakura is irritated by this, but the series has since demonstrated that Naruto was absolutely right. Sakura may have gotten stronger and matured physically, but emotionally she's still the same 13-year-old girl from the end of Part I. Making matters worse, she doesn't recognize this, which makes her dangerous, as so clearly demonstrated by her botched attempt to assassinate Sasuke.
  • Alternately, it could mean that he always found her attractive and that what he was saying is that she was as pretty as ever. The emotional maturity part makes sense, though considering Sakura is asking about her appearance, it's kinda meh.
• Tobi finding Deidara's arm. Kakashi sucked it up using Kamui, which means Obito didn't find it lying in the woods as he claimed, but inside the Kamui dimension when teleporting.
  • Kakashi didn't use Kamui on Deidara's entire arm, he only used it on his right elbow.

Sai and Sasuke Arc

• Naruto has a nightmare about getting caught peeking on all the females he knows, and all of them are very angry, except for Hinata, who is more embarrassed than angry. Now remember that this is Naruto's dream, and that Hinata still Cannot Spit It Out at this point. This is a clue that Naruto may not be as Oblivious to Love as he appears. Sure, he doesn't recognize the depth of Hinata's feelings at this point, but he is aware that she could never hate him, no matter what anybody else thought.
• During the confrontation with Sasuke, Naruto mentally talks to the Kyuubi, before Sasuke invades this — the Kyuubi has this to say: "-snip- and a chakra more ominous than my own." At first, you might interpret this as a statement that Sasuke's hatred outclasses even the Kyuubi, a malevolent mass of hatred... but then, after the reveal that Kurama is not malevolent, just merely misunderstood, the line almost borders on Foreshadowing in hindsight.
• After reading the epilogue and re-reading the manga, Chapters 296 to 299 of this arc actually make it quite clear that Naruto's one-sided shallow crush on Sakura is legitimately nothing more than just a crush that is not serious at all, especially in comparison to what happened in the Invasion of Pain arc, specifically from Chapters 437 to 441.
  • When Orochimaru goaded Naruto about Sasuke in this arc, Naruto gradually grew his tails until he reached his Four-Tailed state. When he was in that state, Sakura ran to him and begged him to stop, and he turned around and smacked her hard enough that he almost killed her. Then he didn't even remember that he attacked her, and then he barely reacted when Yamato told him about it later.
  • Conversely, when he thought Pain killed Hinata in the Invasion of Pain arc, Naruto instantly went to his Six-Tailed state, and the manga even highlighted this as Naruto feeling "seethed with the worst emotions he'd ever felt." Essentially, he got his worst Heroic BSoD ever, and this was only his first one (out of a total of four — see that entry in his character page). Even in his Six-Tailed state, even after he destroyed the First Hokage's necklace, even after he entered his Eight-Tailed state, Naruto managed to not harm Hinata, let alone nearly kill her or even outright kill her. He also crossed the Despair Event Horizon so badly that he completely lost his will to live, to the point where he was ready to release the Kyuubi. When Minato stopped him from ripping off the seal at the last second and then they talked, Minato strengthened the seal again, and Naruto reverted to normal, Katsuyu told him what happened when he was still in Kyuubi mode. Naruto immediately thought about Hinata and became worried that he might have killed her (and the other villagers) when he went berserk, and then he cried Manly Tears of Joy when he found out that Hinata was still alive. Later on in Chapter 490, he explicitly states here that being Forced to Watch Pain attack Hinata was what caused him to go berserk — clearly showing that he remembered what happened to be the trigger of his Unstoppable Rage (Hinata), even though he was in two higher Kyuubi-states. The deaths of Jiraiya, Kakashi, and his frog-sensei, and the destruction of Konoha, had nothing to do with Naruto's Unstoppable Rage; Hinata alone was the trigger. Her near-death established herself as Naruto's Living Emotional Crutch.
  • To further appreciate this comparison, in between the incident with Sakura in this arc and the incident with Hinata in the Invasion of Pain arc, Naruto's seal had gradually been weakening over time. Minato strengthened the seal after Naruto almost released the Kyuubi, and as stated above, the only reason Naruto nearly released the Kyuubi was because he saw Hinata get hurt. This means that, in a very dark way, had Hinata not tried to help Naruto, Naruto would not have gone berserk, which meant that he would not have been able to meet Minato — keep in mind that Minato planned for his spirit to visit Naruto specifically in case the Kyuubi ever gained that much influence over him — nor would Naruto have learned some enlightening information about his parents, why he was made a jinchūriki, and what he was meant to do. One would think that because the seal was very weak when Naruto went berserk, Six-Tailed and/or Eight-Tailed Kyuubi-Naruto would have definitely killed Hinata during his skirmish against Pain, which explains why he was so worried about her after Katsuyu told him what happened. In retrospect, the fact that Naruto managed to not harm Hinata any further or even come close to killing her when he was in his Six-Tailed and Eight-Tailed states and the seal was a lot weaker, unlike how he almost killed Sakura when he was just in his Four-Tailed state and the seal was a lot stronger, speaks volumes in the vast differences between his "feelings" for Sakura and, as was made clear from the Canon movie The Last onward, his underlying love for Hinata.

Hidan & Kakuzu Arc

• From a lot of people in the fandom, they say that Shikamaru killing Hidan created a Broken Aesop in the story; however I feel that not’s quiet true at all. To start with, Asuma never asked Shikamaru, Choji and Ino to get revenge for him, he asked them to “protect the next generation” aka protect Kurenai and her child but that saying could be easily misinterpreted by Shikamaru, Ino and Choji. Secondly in the battle with Hidan, we discovered that even with his head cut of Hidan could still talk and function without a body which means that Hidan could've been easily captured and interrogated, and in that case, Hidan really isn’t that much of threat in comparison to Kakuzu. Thirdly, Kakashi was only there so that he could protect them from doing something stupid, Shikamaru was the one ultimately in charge and he was the one that left Ino, Choji, and Kakashi alone with Kakuzu (who was arguably more dangerous than his partner) which was kinda reckless in some sense. Fourthly, I also find it weird that Asuma's ghost showed up when Shikamaru was about to kill Hidan, but it’s possible that this ghost was what Shikamaru “believed” Asuma wanted (much like how Sasuke believed that killing everyone in Konoha is what the Uchiha Clan wanted). Anyway, my major point that the Hidan and Kakuzu arc is one of the important arcs in the series and the reason is that if Shikamaru had captured Hidan (through decapitation) and gained information from him, every tragic event that happened afterwards could been avoided or stop for example
  • They could have learned where the Akatsuki bases were located, who the members were, and their associates and who was in charge of the organization. They would have then learned that the Akatsuki base was in the Hidden Rain Village and prepared for an invasion force earlier on and thus Jiraiya would still be alive and the attack on Konoha would have been avoided.
  • They would also have gained the knowledge of where Itachi and therefore Sasuke were and instead of running around in the Pursuit of Itachi arc. If they could have captured Itachi then they would have been able to learn the full truth about the Uchiha massacre. This would have also lent more (or less, depending on how you interpret the character) weight to Sasuke's goalhave.
  • Capturing Hidan would also have meant learning how many bijuu and jinchūriki were left and learning their locations and possibility helping them out or in the case of the bijuu either capturing it, sealing it away forever or straight out killing it. They could have also used this info to warn the other villages about their jinchūriki about to be taken (if they even cared or weren't too afraid to help him/her). But ultimately it would have completely stopped the Akatsuki's plan entirely or made things more difficult for them.
  • This would also mean no Fourth Great Shinobi War and no countless deaths of Shinobi including Neji, Shikamaru's dad (Shikamaru didn’t look happy now, huh?), and Ino's dad. This also means no resurrection of Madara or Kaguya.
  • In another sense, Shikamaru would actually be protecting the next generation
  • But instead Shikamaru took revenge on Hidan and this golden opportunity pretty much disappeared. The main reason that revenge is bad even if it’s controlled like Shikamaru or wild like Sasuke is because people who commit the act of revenge never consider the long term effects or other options and it also means that it screws everyone up later on (which kinda does) — Zany Hedgehog
• Asuma's last words to Ino are an encouragement to keep being the Team Mom he knows she can be to Shikamaru and Choji, and to never lose to Sakura in either ninjutsu or romance. At first, it seems that Ino only achieves the first part but, depending on your point of view, she actually achieves both goals. She doesn't become a top medical ninja, but she becomes the foremost expert in the Yamanaka clan's ninjutsu. Furthermore, the Epilogue shows her Happily Married to Sai. Sure, she she (initially) wanted, but considering that Sasuke spent most of his life as a married man away from his wife and child, it's debatable whether Sakura actually "won" at romance.

Itachi Pursuit Arc

• Okay, this is going to require bringing in some logic from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In Avatar, Iroh describes Lightning as being a part of Fire, instead of a separate element, referring to it as the cold-blooded fire. As of this arc, we have the Fire Style Jutsu-using Itachi (who is revealed to be loyal to the Leaf) fighting Sasuke (who has betrayed the Leaf, and does so even further after this arc), who now prefers to use Lightning Style Jutsu.
• A very small one, but when watching the Omake of Episode 121, at the beginning when everyone's done recording and leaving the studio, I found it Hilarious in Hindsight that Tobi just chills with Kakashi. Might be overthinking it, but was it Foreshadowing?

Invasion of Pain Arc

• I've noticed many people complain about the fact that Hinata, during her stand against Pain, didn't use the jutsu she created in the Bikochu Arc in either the manga or anime. But if you pay attention to her strategy, you'll realize that jutsu would have been useless anyway. For instance, that jutsu is predominantly a defensive jutsu meant to repel an attacker. When fighting Pain, Hinata was mainly focused on freeing Naruto. Which that would not have been well suited for. Her Twin Lion Fist jutsu on the other hand was the best jutsu for that kind of situation.
• Pain taunts Naruto, who is in the Six-Tailed state, asking if Naruto hates him and if he still believes that people can be able to truly understand one another. Only that Naruto, while indeed furious, is under a Heroic BSoD and Kurama's at the reins. However, given later developments, it turns out Kurama is legitimately pissed as Pain is mocking the ideals of Kurama's creator and father figure, the Sage of the Six Paths. To which he reacts by forcing more chakra through the failing seal to go into the Eight-Tailed state.
• The backstory of Pain/Nagato: The biggest complaints involved the idea that he hadn't gone through enough to justify the kind of heartless murderer he became. While this made sense, another point was made a few chapters later: he can perform what amounts to Mass Raise Dead, and it's implied somewhere that he could possibly do it without dying. Pain's character suddenly made a lot more sense. He knew he could bring back the people he killed in his attacks (whether or not he actually did), and knowing this led to him becoming disillusioned with life and death, caring less and less about his own murders. This was only compounded by his already-pretty-traumatic childhood.
• Not only did Naruto give Pain the same speech the main character of Jiraiya's book gave his opponent, but he also did so with a modified version of the character's tactic (the character used a smoke bomb, tricked the enemy into attacking a clone, then took him by surprise. Naruto's plan involved more layers of deception)
• This only really applies to the anime, but bear with me on this. I'm referring to the scene where Naruto has just heard Nagato's story and is about to give his answer. Naruto often brings up the parallels between himself and Sasuke. Sasuke's journey to being a villain began with him desiring revenge against Itachi above all else. When Naruto begins giving his answer to Nagato, in which he declares that he will not seek revenge, Itachi's theme song, Senya, starts playing in the background. At first I thought it was only because the soundtrack was a beautiful melody, but it took me a while to realize the significance of it.
• So we learn Naruto's birth was kept a secret from the village...this explains why they LITERALLY thought he was the demon fox in human form. To them a baby with no parents just appeared after the fox was sealed.
• The Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, ie what's used to revive everyone, may seem a Deus Ex Machina. However, several arcs ago, Lady Chiyo used a Reincarnation Jutsu to revive Gaara at the cost of her own life... this technique is a variant of the same Jutsu, except it's able to reach a wider range of people, due to the exceptional chakra reserves of the user (Pain, a man with a god complex who sent the Preta path corpse to absorb chakra while serving as a distraction).
• In retrospect, Chapters 450 and 451 foreshadowed the definitive NaruSaku Ship Sinking that came in Chapter 469 of the following arc. When Sakura ran up to Naruto and hugged him (after hitting him, naturally) for defeating Pain, Naruto did not hug her back. Then, in the following chapter, when Tazuna asked if there was a Love Triangle between Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, Naruto wholeheartedly rejected the notion by cheerfully saying, "Of course not!" He was already gradually getting over his one-sided shallow crush on her; it just took her infamous fake love confession for him to finally move on from her in the romantic sense.

Five Kage Summit Arc

• When Kakashi attempts to use Kamui on Tobi, the latter declares that this jutsu wouldn't affect him. It turns out that the dimension Tobi and Kakashi send things to with their respective sharingan are the same, which means Tobi could simply escape the dimension anyway.
• Why do Kakashi and Tobi use the same dimension with their sharingan powers? Because Kakashi received his sharingan from Tobi, aka Obito, so of course they would use the same one!
• The 2 main principles that Danzo enforced in his Root organization were, "a shinobi should never succumb to emotions" and "a shinobi should keep their mission above all else, including safety of comrades." Sasuke gave him a dose of his own medicine.
• Kishimoto stealthily ended the shipping war between Naruto/Sakura and Naruto/Hinata in this arc. After reading the epilogue and re-reading these chapters, it all becomes pretty clear:
  • First, there's Sakura's infamous fake love confession to Naruto in Chapter 469; he easily sees right through her, calls her out for lying, and rejects her outright by telling her that he hates people who lie to themselves. For the next couple of chapters, it was unclear if that was the result of Hinata's sincere Anguished Declaration of Love — keep in mind that Hinata confessed her love to Naruto before he was finally acknowledged by everyone in Konoha, which makes her Love Confession that much more genuine — or if he always knew, deep down, that Sakura would never see him as more than a friend. Naruto himself confirms that it was the latter in Chapter 474.
  • Second, the context of Sakura's fake confession reveals that, despite the downward spiral Sasuke is following (and the fact that he still hasn't hit the bottom), she's still in love with him. Naruto may have become a guy girls will chase, but Sasuke is the only guy Sakura loves with all of her heart.
  • Third, there's Naruto's promise to Sasuke: either he'll save him from revenge and bring him back to the Leaf or they'll both die; there's no middle ground. And Naruto always keeps his word. Therefore, unless Sasuke pulls a Redemption Equals Death, his fate is pretty much a Foregone Conclusion.
  • Finally, Sakura's reaction after Team 7's brief reunion with Sasuke clearly shows she's not going to have a change of heart: if she loves him after he tried to kill her twice, she will never love another. Her thoughts can be summed up as: "Thank you, Naruto, for believing he can still be saved".
• Many people complained about the apparent Retcon of Hiruzen's appointment as Hokage. But there's no such thing: in Part I, we view this as Hiruzen's flashback. This time, it's Danzo's. They are two different memories. Plus, it's doubtful Hiruzen would tell his classmates he's been groomed to be the next Hokage since he was a kid.

Confining The Jinchūriki Arc

• Just prior to the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, Kakashi notes that he feels "something strange". This is certainly to show that he is far more observant and just generally awesome than most other people... but it quickly becomes Fridge Brilliance when you remember that Kakashi has Obito's eye, and while he can't see through it — at least not yet — he certainly had to have felt Obito's immense effort controlling the bijuu with his remaining eye, especially since they were in such close proximity to one another that night.
• The S-Rank mission Tsunade came up with to confine Naruto in Paradise Island is, quite frankly, more than a little silly^note he's supposed to catalogue all the animals on the island; even the Leaf shinobi guarding him think so. And yet, he never doubts this for an instant. Why? Because it's an S-Rank mission from the Hokage. For years he's been trying to get recognized for his abilities; Tsunade knows this and hits his weak spot. To quote Flemeth: "We believe what we want to believe". Plus, it doesn't hurt that every time he gets suspicious, Bee throws some razzle-dazzle his way by showing him new Tailed Beast techniques.

Fourth Shinobi World War Arc

• A rather minor one but in Chapter 539: you are made to believe that the man with a bandaged arm is the culprit, but if you look closely, when the culprit is aproching the first medic, he is pulling the curtain away with his left hand, the one in bandages. A hint that he wasn't the killer.
• In Shippuden Episode 232, Hinata was shown disappointed over being passed over for the position as field commander for the Hyuuga clan, but frankly Hiashi was absolutely right, and Hinata was misinterpreting his decision. See, it's not that her father doesn't respect her or recognize the fact that she has gotten a lot stronger, it's that strength alone does not a commander make. He wasn't doubting her strength; he was doubting her fitness as a commander because of her bearing and judgment. Determination to win without regard for one's own safety is a laudable trait in an individual soldier or even a platoon commander, but a field grade officer can't be recklessly endangering her own life the way Hinata has on two separate occasions, because if the field officer is killed or incapacitated, the troops are sent into disarray. Her training has been entirely focused on improving her personal skills, and she has no command experience to speak of. Her inexperience, recklessness, and self-doubt was liable to get her subordinates killed.
• Kabuto plays a rather sophisticated psychological game with Tobi in Chapters 520 and 521. Tobi demands to know how to stop the Edo Tensei after Kabuto states that there are no significant detrimental aspects to the jutsu, upon which Kabuto states that it's as simple as using the sharingan to control him and then having him perform the dog, horse and tiger seals, in that order. When Itachi releases the jutsu in Chapter 588, we learn that the actual hand seal sequence is monkey, cow, tiger, dragon. By stating his inferiority to Tobi, the latter still doubted Kabuto, but felt no need to act, confident that he could stop him whenever he wanted. We later learn that Kabuto had his own version of sage mode to counter basic sharingan genjutsu.
  • Tobi might have been able to use Izanami, which wouldn't be illogical for someone of his calibre. Then again, Izanami forces one to accept their fate, which in Kabuto's case had nothing to do with unveiling the actual hand seal sequence to end the Edo Tensei. Even if Tobi did use it on Kabuto, he would have no immediate Sharingan at his disposal to learn the seals anyway.
• Kabuto indirectly reveals that the reason Orochimaru invented the Cursed Seals, was experimenting with Hashirama's cells, and wanted an Uchiha as a host was to awaken the Rinnegan and become the next Sage of Six Paths. The whole point of branding people with the Cursed Seals was to find a host that would be able to go into Snake Sage Mode, and while Hagoromo reveals that Oro's theory as to how to get the Rinnegan was flawed, if he'd successfully taken over Sasuke he would have been able to awaken the Rinnegan due to Hashirama being Asura's reincarnation and Sasuke being Indra's, and would have been able to use Sage Mode due to Sasuke being Cursed Seal-compatable.
• Guys, this “Bijuu Revival” plot hole isn’t really a plot hole at all and the answer is a really long but simple one.
  • First, the Kyuubi stated to that Naruto that if he dies, he dies too. Now why would the Kyuubi say that if all the bijuu could revive them after death? Because the simple truth is that they can’t. Think about the actions and behavior of the bijuu, they get hurt and even the Hachibi states that even they have feelings, to me this means if the bijuu could revive themselves then they wouldn’t care that host dies or if they get killed or even worst commit suicide. This would also make them useless militarily because even if of the villages could fit the right host, the bijuu would try to die in order to escape anyway they can. Yet the bijuu and Kyuubi all protect their host all the time and Kyuubi has always been trying to escape from Naruto’s body. This means that as long as they are connected to a host, they can die!
  • Secondly, the one who brought up this fact was Ay right? However, doesn’t anyone find that kinda sketchy? Ay has been characterized as a person who cares and looks out for his men, especially Killer Bee however he is also a bit of a hypocritic since denies a lot of incidents that the Hidden Cloud village were responsible in (Stealing ninjustu from other villages, abducting a young Hinata and Kushina, causing the death of Tobirama, the Second Hokage). He is also characterized as a person who gets really aggressive and stubborn when Killer Bee is in danger. Now considering that both Naruto and Killer Bee were at risk of being capture and killed, would it really be out of Ay’s character to Lie about the Kyuubi being able to revive in order to kill Naruto to save his brother, the world and keep the bijuu truce with the Hidden Leaf?
    • Think about his logic for a second, if that was true Tsunade or any other Hidden Leaf village shinobi would be justified in killing Killer Bee in order to stop the war, which of course Ay would outright refuse thus showing his hypocrisy and a flaw in his logic.
    • It also would contradicts what we have learned about Ay, Killer Bee, The Hachibi, and The Hidden Cloud Village. If the bijuu could revive themselves then both Ay and his father should have gone all out to kill the Hachibi thus saving more lives. In the case the Hidden Cloud, they could easily recover the Hachibi, thanks to those sacred treasures that they have. It also would contradict what Ay said about finding some who can control the bijuu rare a lie because the village would have plenty of time to strong people to become a jinchūriki.
  • Thirdly, the issue with Rin and her being the host Sanbi and the simple fact is that Rin didn’t have the Sanbi in her body in the first place! There are several reasons why
    • First off, it’s more likely that Madara mind controlled both Rin and the Hidden Mist Shinobi for his plan to turn Obito to the darkside. Madara made Rin act suicidal and say that she was carrying Sanbi in order to get Kakashi a reason to kill her. He also made the Hidden Mist say similar things confirm this.
    • Second, how could Madara capture the Sanbi in his current condition? He couldn’t and if he did, why does he Obito then?
    • Third, why would Madara risk losing a Tailed Beast that is needed for the Moon-Eye Plan in a gambit to get a kid on to his side? He wouldn’t, because killing the bijuu would stop the plan completely
    • Fourth, if the Sanbi was going to be revived somewhere else, why would it return to its captors? It wouldn’t because it never escaped (yet)
    • Fifthly why would Obito go to the Hidden Mist village if the beast isn’t there? Remember that Obito was pretty determined to get the plan started (talking to Nagito to get him on his side, attack the Hidden Leaf Village to get the Kyuubi). There is no beneficial reason to go the Hidden Mist Village (other than revenge but that’s just wasting time).
    • Sixth, if Yagura was suppose to be dead at this point then why is he still alive and as Third Mizukage? Obito doesn’t know Edo Tensei and if it was genjustu casting a illusion of Yagura then someone would have eventually noticed
  • It’s a stretch but here is what I believe really happen, Madara mind controls Rin and the Hidden Mist shinobi and makes them act and behave like they implanted Rin with the Sanbi and that it’s going to destroy the Hidden Leaf village, thus giving Kakashi a reason to kill Rin. Kakashi of refuses to kill to Rin and tries to save her some other way but Madara forces Rin to get stab by Kakashi Raikiri, thus setting off Obito’s berserk button and setting him up to the dark side. After failing to get the Kyuubi, Obito later travels to the Hidden Mist village in order to find other jinchūriki and discovers that the Sanbi is inside Yagura.
  • For those who are wondering about that this should have made Obito realize he was tricked by Madara, it’s really that this may give Obito more credit to his idea that this world is crap because he was pretty used much like most shinobi and that this world isn’t worth fighting for. Obito then puts a genjustu on Yagura fully controlling him but instead of extracting the Sanbi, Obito decides to get his revenge on the Hidden Mist village by becoming the Mizukage and turning the Hidden Mist village into the Bloody Mist village. After having his revenge and gaining Kisame as an ally, Obito decides to finally seal the Sanbi into Gedou statue however his revenge bites him on the butt when Zabuza, a shinobi that he created thanks to the graduation exam he placed, interrupts the sealing process and this is how the Sanbi managed to escape. For those who were wondering why Zabuza didn’t say anything about the event he saw, it’s likely that he was too focused on his own ambitions to care about what he saw or mention it to anyone.
  • With these three main points I made, one can argue that the bijuu in do die and the need to keep them alive in the case of both the heroes and villains is still valid. Therefore this isn’t a plothole. — Zany Hedgehog
• Latest chapters show that in the battle with Madara, Tsunade and Oonoki are the two left standing. At first, I'd thought that Mei, Gaara, and A were getting worfed. But then I realized that Oonoki personally fought Madara. Also, while Tsunade may not have fought Madara personally, its not unreasonable that knowledge of Madara's techniques abilities, etc. may have been passed down in her family! So of course these two would be able to adapt better to him!
• Chapter 593 has Sasuke reviving Orochimaru, but he was "sealed permanently" by Itachi with the Sword of Totsuka way back during Sasuke and Itachi's final fight. While this seems like another Kishimoto retcon-asspull that throws doubt on the ultimate sealing sword, Itachi really did seal Orochimaru at that time. It just wasn't the only Orochimaru left. In other words, Orochimaru has left a part of himself in every one of the curse seals he's ever created. And Sasuke would know how to execute the whole thing because he saw Orochimaru come out of his own curse seal in the first place.
  • Another thing that makes it less of an Asspull is that though Itachi had sealed Orochimaru, Sasuke now has Itachi's eyes transplanted in him.
• After Tobi is revealed to be Obito Uchiha, the latter attacks Naruto, Gai, and Kakashi with a powerful fire-breathing jutsu, further enhanced by his use of Kamui. This prompted fans to question why Obito never used such powerful fire jutsu in his other battles. However, what they forget is that as Tobi, Obito was practically always masked. Since the vast majority of Uchiha fire jutsu are launched from the mouth, this would have been quite impossible for Obito to do without unmasking himself in the process.
  • Although that doesn't stop Kakashi from using Fire Release through his mask.
• Why was Tobi able to keep up using his Sharingan very effortlessly and why he can spam his "teleportation" and "intangibility" jutsu? It is a Mangekyo Sharingan skill, the other, more powerful aspect of Kamui, Kakashi's "borrowed" Mangekyo Sharingan ability. The most likely reason why Obito has not experienced deteriorating eyesight and similar problems is that for one, he already shares Hashirama Senju's DNA via the modifications he got from Madara treating his damaged body. And we all know what crazy invincible attributes one gets from intermingling Uchiha and Senju DNA.
• In the Obito flashback Madara told Obito that a sharingan set is stronger than one that is alone, technically he was just talking about mangekyo, but Obito took it literally and went to slaughter an army of super nins because both his sharingan's were close by. Cut to the future and both Kakashi and Obito are in the same vicinity and Kakashi is spamming out attacks that shouldn't be possible. Why? because of unity
• The reason why Hidan wasn't revived along with the Akatsuki. If he was ET'ed, his jutsu would've been completely useless as he has no blood to draw his circle with.
  • Edo Tensei will bleed if blood is neseccary for techniques like the Kuchiyose no Jutsu.
  • The anime comes up with a creative way to circumvent this. Something Kishi probably never thought: using a particular MacGuffin, Kabuto replicates Hidan's DNA, reviving him completely with his blood.
    • To be honest, Hidan was kept alive in the manga for the sake of emphasizing his Fate Worse than Death. The anime just brought him back to gain a few more caps in Filler content.

• For a while, I was wondering exactly why Tobi trained Sasuke, when no aspect of the Moon's Eye plan really required Sasuke's participation. Then, after Tobi and Madara's conversation in 614, in which it is explained to the audience, that, while the two of them work together, they are not friends, it finally makes sense. Obito was never planning on reviving Madara in the first place! He was going to use Sasuke as the Juubi Jinchūriki instead, so that he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself to use Rinne Tensei, and so that he could control the Moon's Eye Plan without Madara's interference.
  • Well, seeing as how much trouble Tobi was having with Sasuke, that doesn't really work. Why would Obito hand Sasuke godhood? The way they were talking, it sounds like only Madara is really powerful enough to be capable of being the host of the Ten-Tails. Otherwise, Obito could just do it himself. That being said, thanks to Obito, Sasuke has the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Give him an infusion of Senju DNA, which Obito has an abundance of, and Sasuke would have the Rinnegan as well. It's possible that Obito was planning to manipulate Sasuke, who really knows nothing about what is going on, into unknowingly sacrificing himself to revive Madara. Yes, there would be risks to Sasuke getting the Rinnegan, which he wouldn't know anything about, but there are even more risks to giving him infinite raw chakra, which any ninja could figure out what to do with. Not a bad idea, really.
    • Sasuke being used as the sacrifice to bring back Madara explains why Tobi was so pissed about Danzo destroying Shisui's eye as it deprived him of a more reliable genjutsu to control Sasuke and why he only used one of Nagato's Rinnegan while trying to keep Sasuke safe during the war.
• Obito knew Rin several years ago, and he never got close enough that they were even romantically involved, despite his wishes to the contrary. How could Obito possibly think that he knew Rin well enough, everything that shaped who she was, to the point that he could create an exact clone of her in his infinite Tsukiyomi? He has the Rinnegan. He wouldn't even need to create a "clone" of Rin in his illusion: he could just summon the real person from the afterlife. True, reviving someone with the Rinnegan costs the user's own life, but if the user were drawing on the power of the Eldritch Abomination who created the universe.... they might be able to bend that rule a litte. For that matter, Obito wouldn't even need to revive Rin properly; simply channelling her soul via Hell Path would work. He only needs her mind to be drawn into the Tsukiyomi; it probably doesn't matter if that mind is stuck inside a living vessel or not.
• Back when details about the Uzumaki clan were first being revealed, it bothered me that they were wiped out because people were afraid of their sealing techniques. I mean come on, why the hell would people be afraid of sealing of all things? Then Chapter 618 comes out and you find out that the Uzumaki clan has somehow managed to bind the God of Death to a mask for their summoning convenience... Suddenly the idea that people were afraid of these guys makes perfect sense.
• During the First Hokage's flashback, when Madara first revealed his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and used Susanoo, I don't think I saw it having a face on the back of its head like it does now. Why? Because that's a Rinnegan power. When Pain and Kakashi fought, the Asura Path was able to generate two additional faces on its head. Now that Madara has the Rinnegan, he has expanded that power to his Susanoo.
• Why did Tobi manipulate the Hidden Mist into becoming the Bloody Mist? In Chapter 629 we find out that Rin was turned into a host for the Three-Tails to be use to destroy Konoha by having the seal break as soon as she was within it, which caused her to commit Suicide by Cop to avoid such a fate. Suddenly it was clear that Tobi didn't run Mist straight into the ground because it was helpful to his plans but to get back at them for putting Rin in that position.
• One of the manga's themes is that the next generation will surpass the previous, yet in this war the revived previous generation ninja are kicking their successors' asses. It seems a rejection of this concept... Except for a single thing: the older generation ninja are almost all war veterans with recently honed skills, while the current generation are either at their first large clash or have not been in a large battle in years (since at least the Third Secret War for Cloud and Rock ninja and the samurai, three years and something for Leaf and Sand shinobi, and between three and two years for Mist shinobi, as Yagura's death finally ended the continuous conflicts), and are relatively rusty in the kind of skills needed in this more pitched kind of combat.
• Why didn't Sasuke use Izanagi to negate Madara stabbing him in the heart? Because he knew it would be pointless since Madara would just negate it with Izanami, leaving Sasuke in just as grave condition and short an eye, an eye that he'll need in order to win this battle if someone does manage to heal him, or that his allies could use if he dies.
• Obito manages to steal pieces of the Shukaku and Eight-Tails' chakra from Madara. The two Tailed Beasts whose chakra that Naruto lacks.
• In Chapter 670, it was revealed that Kaguya Otsutsuki had both the Byakugan and the Sharingan. This is very fitting given her characterization as someone who maintains world peace through the use of force. With the Byakugan, Kaguya can likely see across absurd distances beyond what any Hyuuga in the present time is capable of, possibly anywhere in the world. The Sharingan was also noted by Kakashi (in the second bell test after the time-skip) to be able to read lips, meaning she'll also know what people say despite not being able to hear them. In addition, one panel in Chapter 670 also shows Kaguya creating huge lightning storms while standing from a distance within the safety of her palace, which implies that she is capable of creating such storms and/or other forms of natural disasters anywhere in the world. All of this put together and she then becomes the ultimate oppressive overlord, using her two Dojutsu to oversee the world for any threats to peace and then bringing down natural disasters to crush them before they can start.
• Naruto and Sasuke both come back to life and now sport the power of Rikudo. While it may seem like and Ass Pull so that the story can finish faster, it all makes sense when you consider the two men who revived them. Naruto knows Senjutsu and was revived by Obito, who has Dojutsu. Sasuke has Dojutsu and was revived by Kabuto, who has Senjutsu. By tapping into the life forces of beings that have all the powers they lack, Naruto and Sasuke were able to awaken the power of the Rikudo Sennin.
• When Sasuke and Naruto fought, Sasuke gained the third pinwheel when he told Naruto he would severing the bond between them. Since the Sharingan gives the person power the more traumatic of a experience they go through, Sasuke's sharingan advancing makes sense because he's declaring he's going to kill Naruto, the person he sees as his best friend and a brother like person. This means Tobirama's words about the Sharingan were true.
• Sakura getting Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Seal is actually foreshadowed early on in Part II. During her fight against Sasori after taking Sasori's stab wound, Sasori attempts to stab further. Sakura then starts using Healing Jutsu without hand-signs, something that is not possible without using your hands. Thus, it's not actually an Ass Pull.
• After reading the epilogue and re-reading the manga, Kiba cheerfully ribbing Naruto about "acting tough" in front of Hinata in Chapter 611/Shippuden Episode 363 actually did not come out of nowhere. Chapters 558 and 559/Shippuden Episode 321 were the first to confirm that Naruto does, in fact, put on a tough attitude in Hinata's presence, and, in retrospect, this was one of the first telling signs that Naruto was developing feelings for Hinata, without realizing it, since the middle of Part II, long before the events that took place in The Last: Naruto the Movie.
  • Chapters 558 and 559/Shippuden Episode 321:
    • When Hinata was about to be killed by the White Zetsu clones, Naruto jumped right in front of her and apologized to her for being late. Then, he had a confident smile on his face as he told her that "everything's all right now," because he was there. He kicked ass, and then he turned around and asked Hinata if she was all right. He didn't even bother to ask Kiba if he was all right, and he was sitting on Akamaru next to Hinata; Naruto was concerned only for Hinata's safety. Keep in mind that Naruto didn't need to ask Hinata if she was all right, because he clearly saw that she was unharmed. Simply seeing that she is all right is not enough for him; he has to hear it from her, the direct source, that she really is unharmed. Once she assured him that she was all right, he was satisfied. After what happened in the Invasion of Pain arc, it's no small wonder that Naruto became even more protective of Hinata than he already was.
    • When everyone was suspicious over Naruto's identity, because they weren't sure if he was the real Naruto or if he was another White Zetsu, Hinata vouched for him by telling the others that he was the real Naruto, because "you can tell by looking in his eyes." Kiba expressed his surprise over her observation. Keep in mind that her Byakugan was not activated when she said this. Then, when Hinata apologized to Naruto because everyone else was still suspicious of him, he smiled and basically reiterated that now that he was there, everything was all right. Inflection really was key here, especially when the anime adapted these chapters.
    • When Hinata believed that she was useless because Naruto ended up saving her when she's fighting in the war to protect him, Naruto sensed her negative emotions and reminded her that she had already saved him twice, and he told her that he couldn't let her keep doing that because "it's not cool." Hinata tried to lie and started to say that she wasn't actually worried, but Naruto reassured her of her strength based on the look in her eyes, and he proudly recalled how she defended him from Pain. Now remember that Naruto hates liars (he explicitly stated this when he outright rejected Sakura's infamous fake love confession in Chapter 469, which Kiba witnessed). Yet here, Naruto did not call out Hinata for trying to lie about how she felt; he encouraged her, with a smile on his face. Also, notice that Neji, Kiba, and Shino — three of the most important people in Hinata's life — witnessed this entire exchange, and they looked visibly stunned to watch Naruto effortlessly lift up Hinata's spirits.
  • Chapter 611/Shippuden Episode 363:
    • When the entire Alliance arrived to back up Naruto, Killer Bee, Kakashi and Might Guy, Hinata asked Naruto if he was all right. Naruto previously had a concentrated look on his face, but as soon as he heard her voice, he immediately smiled and assured her that he was all right. Right after that, Kiba and Shino arrived, and Kiba cheerfully said his line about Naruto "acting tough" in Hinata's presence. Remember that Kiba witnessed Naruto and Hinata's exchange in the aforementioned chapters/episode, when Naruto saved her. Kiba saw that Naruto was indeed acting tough in front of her, what with Naruto's "Now that I'm here, everything will be all right" attitude and encouraging her when she tried to lie rather than calling her out. Also remember that Kiba was present when Sakura delivered her fake love confession, and he had a Disapproving Look on his face the entire time she was blatantly lying to Naruto's face (although everyone else sported that same look too), and he tried to convince Sakura to tell Naruto the truth about why she lied to him (that the Konoha 11 has decided to kill the defected-Sasuke). Also remember that Kiba may be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but he genuinely has a Big Brother Instinct towards Hinata, so there is no way he would have dared to make such a teasing statement if he didn't think there was a mutual attraction between Naruto and Hinata. The fact that Naruto did not deny Kiba's statement, nor did he poke fun at it, proved that Kiba was right all along (especially given the events of The Last and the turnout of the epilogue).
  • Come to think of it, Naruto and Hinata's entire conversation in the aforementioned chapters/episode must have also tipped off to Neji that Naruto was returning Hinata's feelings without realizing it. This actually explains why, when he sacrificed his life for Naruto and Hinata in Chapter 614, he reminded Naruto that his life belonged not only to himself but specifically to Hinata as well, as she is willing to die for Naruto. — mouschilight

Final Arc

• The fact that Sasuke's entire endgame plan seemed to hinge on him becoming immortal always seemed a bit odd to me, but it suddenly made a lot more sense once I realized that he had Orochimaru of all people as an ally.
• Jiraiya was told by the grand toad sage, that he would raise a ninja that would either be a destroyer or a savior; we would label Naruto as the savior and Nagato as the destroyer. But the prophecy was one ninja and that ninja is Naruto. Naruto is obviously the savior of the ninja world but for a couple of hours he was also a destroyer. Once Naruto beat Obito he was given a thanks by Madara, this would lead on to the end of conscious thought of all living beings and where only the dead would walk and rise from the earth. The dead would also go on to summon Demons and the saviors of the world.
• When Naruto uses the Sexy Jutsu against Kaguya, Sakura is dumbfounded that he would try something like that against a god. It works perfectly, just as Naruto predicted. This could just be a joke by Kishimoto, or it could be a reference to mythology (especially Greek mythology, but others too). Come to think of it, of course Naruto would be an expert on those parts of mythology.
• Though Kaguya is claimed to be an Ass Pull (and honestly wasn't written in as well as could be) she does actually explain things: specifically, why do people have chakra? It's noteworthy that everyone only talks about how chakra works; origins of it aren't ever brought up. Through Kaguya and the story behind her and her sealing, the answer to it is finally revealed.
• Kaguya and her sons being aliens seems strange but then you remember who inspired Masashi Kishimoto: Akira Toriyama who's most famous work has a lot of superpowerful aliens.

Epilogue

• Sarada Uchiha. She's basically Kishimoto's way of saying "better luck this time" to the disappointed NaruSasu and NaruSaku shippers. Boruto being similar to his father makes sense in this regard too then.
  • Why is Sarada an only child? Because Sasuke wanted to end his clan's bloody history and Curse of Hatred. Had Sarada had a sibling, it's entirely possible that they would have been competitive, or otherwise found out about how to unlock the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan by killing one's sibling. Sasuke is continuing his family while making sure to leave the Curse of Hatred in the past.
• Madara is the reincarnation of Indra and he became the embodiment of Sage by injecting himself with the cells of the First Hokage, right? This mixes the two chakras together. Naruto is the reincarnation of Asura, like the First Hokage before him. And Sasuke is the reincarnation of Indra like Madara. If Boruto and Sarada were to become a couple...does that mean that their children will be the reincarnation of Sage himself?
  • Given that Boruto is also a direct descendant of Hamura (the Sage's brother) by way of his mother Hinata, a hypothetical child of Boruto and Sarada would actually be closer to Kaguya.

Movies

• In Bonds movie, Naruto mistakes Amaru's feelings for the Doctor as romantic, when in reality she thinks of him as her father. Why? Because he has never had an actual family and people were actively avoiding him for most of his childhood, so he's never had the opportunity to observe different forms of love and be able to discern them. Without the experience of observing husband/wife and parent/child relationships, his knowledge of love is limited to romance novels (which he isn't even interested in) and childhood crushes. It's the same reason he acts like an idiot around Sakura and awkward around Hinata — he doesn't know what he's doing and can't even correctly identify his own emotions. This also explains why he came up with an improbable scenario to explain why Kurenai was at the hospital when she was about six months pregnant — he didn't see any relationship, so he tried to come up with something that was plausible in his own mind. The one thing that stands out, however, is the Shipper on Deck scene with regard to Shikamaru/Temari. The only logical conclusion is that it's just that obvious. Sure, Shikamaru does that whole She Is Not My Girlfriend routine, but nobody believes him, not even Naruto.
• I had sometimes wondered why Naruto's always having new Rasengans used during the movies. I mean, yeah it's a versatile technique, but why was it so easy to make it so much stronger. That's when I remembered the Wind Release: Rasengan. The Fourth Hokage had designed the Rasengan in mind to use TWO chakras in making it. He wasn't able to add the second chakra to it before he died. Thus, the reason the Rasengan seems to absorb other outside energies easily is because it's got the room for it! — Drakohahn
• Road To Ninja has several pairs of personality swaps, but this doesn't seem to explain Kiba being a cat boy. Then you realize that he did have a personality swap with someone: Yugito.
• It was foreshadowed that Naruto, being the Chosen One, would bring about a radical change that would usher in peace in the ninja world. During the Kaguya fight, Black Zetsu reveals he's been manipulating the ninja world since Kaguya's sealing just to bring her back. When she was sealed again, Naruto threw BZ into the Chibaku Tensei, sealing him in a dimension only a few can access. That was the change that Naruto would bring, and possibly why the Kaguya fight happened at all.