Naruto Chapter 397

[deadlydreamx]

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[Y]

A bunch of pages of Sasuke sitting up in bed breathing heavily and two revelations: Sasuke now has the Mangekyou Sharingan and Uchiha Itachi had good intentions all along. I hope no one is surprised by either of these at this point.

[bagandscalpel]

Leave it to Sasuke to fuck up the anticipated revealing of Tobi's identity, way to go.

[rockmanj]

I guess the hunch that Itachi really was a good guy was correct (much to a lot of people's chagrin, I suppose.) I just wonder how he transferred the mangekyou to Sasuke just by touching his forehead...

[Tobydelaroka]

I really wanted to believe Itachi is a good guy... but what if Tobi is lying? Just another conspiracy theory to use Sasuke bla bla bla... Kyuubi is bad... and go kill Naruto.
Tobi had the same scar like Naruto?
Aww no Naruto next week? damn it! so much puzzle...
k going to sleep.

[Tenbatsu]

So this means sasuke got all itachis mangekyou teqs?.. Does that mean he got susano...? And if he activates his own mangekyou will it automaticly become an eternal since it got itachis "eye powers" ?

[iMUSTbeTHEdevil]

Finally confirmation that Itachi wasnt as bad as we thought. I am sure that everyone knew that there was some other motive to him killing everyone. But I dont think that I mind the "protecting Sasuke" thing. I could be that after learning about how dangerous his clan could be Itachi wanted to kill them to make sure that they never took over and to make sure that they didnt slaughter one another for eyes. So he stepped in a killed them all. Kinda noble I guess...

[Raven]

Why am I not surprised that we still didn't see Tobi's face. And Itachi a good guy? Doesn't surprise me either. I smell a Snape-like flashback coming on.

[RyougaZell]

Lame.
Just a stupid excuse to make Sasuke even more powerful.
If transferring ones technique was that easily, any Shinobi could become a Kage.

[Psyke]

Itachi = good guy = sucks.

[Yukimura]

Well Itachi actually having an ulterior motive isn't really a surprise I just hope the story of why is good.

What I find much more interesting is:
Madara's face had similar whisker like lines on it like Naruto's does. It takes effort to draw three lines on a face which leads me to believe they were put there for a reason. We know the Yin chakra of the Kyubii went to Naruto and the Yang chakra is somewhere else. I may be misremembering and it's the case that only the Yin chakra that is able to mix with Naruto's at the moment and that key unlocks the Yang chakra which is also in him, in which case this next theory is moot though. However, if the Yang chakra is somewhere other than Naruto then I think it's possible Madara could have managed to get his hands on it from wherever the Fourth decided to stuff it and make himself a Jinchuuriki.

And begrudgingly, Saskuke's sharingan status is an interesting mystery as well. How did Itachi do it? Tobi is infinitely cool and collected so he didn't let his surprise phase him, but his comments seem to indicate he really didn't know Itachi could have transfered his abilities to Sasuke. If he didn't know it could be done at all how does he know Sasuke got all of the Mangekyou abilities Itachi has instead of just an anti-Sharingan Amaterasu.

[Assertn]

I had mentioned before (I believe it was in irc though), that there were only really 3 realistic outcomes to the sasuke vs itachi fight...

1. Nobody wins and both retreat (lame)
2. Someone interferes with the fight and Itachi sacrifices himself
3. Sasuke kills Itachi but Itachi ends up being good

What obviously could NEVER happen, however...

1. Sasuke is killed by Itachi
2. Sasuke kills Itachi and Itachi is bad

The reason why Itachi cannot both be evil and be killed at the hands of Sasuke is because that would mark the end of Sasuke's purpose in the series. Just as Kakashi said a long while back, if Sasuke's revenge is complete, then he will have nothing more to live for. We also know that Kishimoto has big plans for Sasuke this year, so his role cannot be concluded so soon.

No doubt Itachi's death will be a scar that will probably follow Sasuke for the rest of his life (which I'm still kind of surprised Kishi gave him so soon), but this could also fuel a newfound hatred that motivates him for the rest of the series.

[Uchiha Barles]

I knew somewhere deep inside this was going to happen. Itachi being a good guy that is. I also thought I was going to hate it. But I didn't, because of the last page. Madara put it in a way that just succeeds in making Itachi seem like the most tragic, misunderstood person in the series. Without knowing anything about what actually makes him "not so bad", we seem to KNOW that his decision to walk the path he did was made, knowing that he would die, without anyone ever understanding, including the one he cared for most. How...epic. This writer has some skill.

Oh, and this is pretty funny:

Tobi: "Somehow, at the last second, he transfered all his eye techniques into you."

Sasuke: "...That makes no sense..."

Yes, this is the second time the series that even the characters are realizing the world they exist in makes no fucking sense. Explain how Itachi lost already!

[Sapphire]

RIP Itachi.
MY EYESSSSS~!!!!

I'm still crying inside at the forehead tap.

I can already tell Sasuke is going crazy by the way he goes haa... haa.. huu.. hee all the time.

haa. huu....huu.

Maybe the next chapter will explain why Itachi joined Akatsuki. (And why is Tobi telling Sasuke this) Overall I think the execution of how things went down is going really well. Yaay for Sasuke being all satisfied for like 3 hours, and having his hopes crushed later! I'm surprised Itachi did this for Kohona, I would have thought he would only do it for his brother, but I still think it's amazing what he did. (And apparently the only one who thinks so)

[Idealistic]

Itachi = good guy = sucks.

Yeah...

However, this will just play a bigger role in Kakashi's warning to Sasuke about revenge. Not only is it wrong, but now we find out that Itachi himself was never to be blamed. Sooooo Sasuke just owned himself.

So umm... Was Madara controlling Itachi or what? It's kind of a bunch of bs to say Itachi was good after those horrible evil-ish things he's said to Sasuke and the whole story about obtaining the MS.

[February]

Wow..this is a serious deep twist. I was suspicious of Itachi being a good guy but I never dared to second think it.

I agree with how Itachi transferring all his eye power to Sasuke at the last moment with the poke is really lame but oh well. I am still confused as to why Sasuke only has 1 sharingan.

Itachi wanted to protect Sasuke maybe because he saw potential in Sasuke to kill Madara? No, it must be deeper than that...
Anyhow, If Itachi did want to protect Sasuke, I have no clue why he had to fight him

[Mhalador]

Itachi only used one eye to use amaterasu, so chances are the mangekyou only activated in one eye for Sasuke because that was all that was needed. Though it's weird because Itachi used his right eye to cast it and Sasuke's used the left eye. There was some speculation that the Mangekyou techniques were tied to a specific eye but meh.

[Kusanagi]

What I find much more interesting is:
Madara's face had similar whisker like lines on it like Naruto's does. It takes effort to draw three lines on a face which leads me to believe they were put there for a reason. We know the Yin chakra of the Kyubii went to Naruto and the Yang chakra is somewhere else. I may be misremembering and it's the case that only the Yin chakra that is able to mix with Naruto's at the moment and that key unlocks the Yang chakra which is also in him, in which case this next theory is moot though. However, if the Yang chakra is somewhere other than Naruto then I think it's possible Madara could have managed to get his hands on it from wherever the Fourth decided to stuff it and make himself a Jinchuuriki.

I think I read somewhere that Madara was responsible for the Kyuubi attacking Konoha resulting in the Fourth sealing the Kyuubi in Naruto?? I could be wrong though. But if my memory doesn't suck and that actually did happen, it's possible that Naruto only has the Yin chakra because Madara kept the Yang chakra when he sent the Kyuubi. I could be wrong thought, don't really remember where I read that.

Also I think Itachi told Naruto everything a few chapters ago when they had a conversation that was left out. So Naruto probably knows everything now and in a couple of chapters Naruto will have a MS that Itachi gave him or some other badass power.

I still think Sasuke will be Madara's bitch and the end of the manga will be Naruto vs Sasuke.

[Sidnne]

I guess the hunch that Itachi really was a good guy was correct (much to a lot of people's chagrin, I suppose.) I just wonder how he transferred the mangekyou to Sasuke just by touching his forehead...

I'm trying to think back to the chapter, without actually going back to look at it, but I seem to remember the blood running down from Sasuke's forehead and into his eye. Did that happen or am I imagining it? If that happened, that could explain it.

What I find much more interesting is:
Madara's face had similar whisker like lines on it like Naruto's does. It takes effort to draw three lines on a face which leads me to believe they were put there for a reason. We know the Yin chakra of the Kyubii went to Naruto and the Yang chakra is somewhere else. I may be misremembering and it's the case that only the Yin chakra that is able to mix with Naruto's at the moment and that key unlocks the Yang chakra which is also in him, in which case this next theory is moot though. However, if the Yang chakra is somewhere other than Naruto then I think it's possible Madara could have managed to get his hands on it from wherever the Fourth decided to stuff it and make himself a Jinchuuriki.

Those don't really look like whisker lines to me. They have a fleshy depth to them and appear to be more like wrinkles or scars.

Also I think Itachi told Naruto everything a few chapters ago when they had a conversation that was left out. So Naruto probably knows everything now and in a couple of chapters Naruto will have a MS that Itachi gave him or some other badass power.

That's right. I had forgotten all about that. We still never found out what Itachi said to Naruto. That's bound to raise a few questions now too.

[DB_Hunter]

Interesting chapter. I suspected all along that Itachi was a good guy, and I think I'm one of the few people who is glad that he has proven to have been so. I agree its a bit lame that managed to transfer his MS to Sasuke by just a tap. One thing is clear now though, and that is that throughout the fight Itachi never intended to harm Sasuke, and that is why Sasuke didn't get owned right from the start. Why Itachi decided to get killed by Sasuke, that remains to be seen.

Does anyone have an explaination as to how, after getting hit by Amaterasu, Madara just calmly walks back from the darkness with no damage after a brief struggle? And can someone point out the chapters where Itachi spoke to Naruto in secret? As I remember it were they not interuppted when Itachi detected the arrival of Sasuke? I don't think Itachi actually managed to tell Naruto what he wanted, and that was one of the reason why Naruto was chasing Itachi as well.

I'm still holding out that Itachi is alive somehow. I know its a very bleak prospect now, but his death was just too sudden. Unless Madara gives a convincing explaination as to why Itachi literally just dropped dead, I'm thinking he is in some sort of trance or something.