Naruto ch493

Clearly that bear up there is enjoying this a bit too much

「 493 – Dark Naruto 」With Naruto now face to face with the evil inside him, things are getting tricky as he starts phase one of operation “Befriend Kyuubi”. With the evil Naruto being an exact copy, will Naruto be able to cope fighting with a mirror?

Naruto「 ナルト 」

At least evil Naruto isn't as slow as the original

Chapter 493 – Dark Naruto
Read Online @ MANGASTREAM

Summary: Naruto is confused over his copy appearing out of the waterfall, as he didn’t remember making a bunshin copy of himself. The new Naruto reveals that he is actually a manifestation of the evil deep inside his heart. He is Naruto’s true self, one that had been keeping in touch with the Kyuubi inside him. Naruto recalls back his conversation at Myouboku mountain, where he was told that the kyuubi’s mass of hatred will always be able to connect with whatever evil that lurks inside him. This leads to a fight between the two, as Naruto is adamant that the evil Naruto was the impostor between the two.

Elsewhere, Bee is busy having some sparring sessions with the beasts of the island as he easily wrestles and defeats a giant panda. The Hachibi takes the chance to try and persuade Bee to help Naruto out, since he is a fellow jinchuuriki. While he doesn’t like the kyuubi, he sees a lot of potential in Naruto himself so it would be in their best interest to help him unleash his potential. Bee is still being hardheaded though, since he is still stubborn about helping Naruto out due to his disrespect of rap when they last met. Back at the waterfall, the Narutos are in a stalemate. Naruto takes the opportunity to create multiple bunshins but the evil clone also follows suit and conjures up his own army of bunshins. Back out in the real world, Yamato doesn’t get what is happening since Naruto is just sitting still in the same spot. Motoi explains that Naruto is facing himself inside his head and not long after, Naruto snaps out of his trance.

Naruto reveals that it’s much harder than he thought to defeat his evil self and he doesn’t see the match ending any time soon. Motoi states that he would need to overcome it though, if he wants to use the kyuubi’s power. Naruto thinks that Bee might be able to give him some tips but then remembers how well he was received previously. He then asks Motoi for some backstory on Bee’s past. Reluctant at first, Motoi reveals how Bee’s childhood was very difficult due to the prejudice and hatred he received from the village. Instead of sulking however, he was always trying to gain people’s approval. Motoi thinks that his brother the Raikage has helped him be proud of himself too. It is a common occurrence for the jinchuuriki to be related to the kage, in order to prevent any betrayals. It also acts as a guard for the kage having a strong comrade by his side. This leads to Bee wanting to better himself as a ninja, in order to help protect his brother.

He also adds that Bee completed the waterfall test in the blink of an eye, leading him to be considered a hero in the village. Naruto thinks Motoi should ask Bee to help him out since he respects him so much but Motoi declines since he once tried to kill Bee in the past. This shocks Yamato and Naruto and leads to Motoi explaining the incidents leading up to the event.

My Thoughts: I don’t know about you, but I thought this chapter was majorly mediocre. The whole evil clone thing has been played out in pretty much every other shounen manga out there (I think) so I was hoping for a semi-original take on the twist. Looks like I was wrong since it’s typically just the whole “evil within” jabber, this time with the addition of kyuubi-induced hate in the mix. How Naruto overcomes this will be interesting since I’m hoping for some wow factor or like a big epiphany moment when that happens. I don’t want no cheap as outcome, and hopefully it will be dealt with in a typical Naruto manner. Since Bee managed to defeat his evil self in the blink of an eye, I see Naruto defeating it as early as the end of the next chapter, or maybe a few pages into the one after. I don’t want this to drag out that long since it’s not really catching my attention.

Also, is it just me or is Motoi really boring? It may be his character design, I don’t know but something about him really rubs me the wrong way. At least now that he’s going into his own flashback scene, we’ll get to see more into his character. With his confession of a murder attempt on village idiot Bee, he’s slowly becoming more interesting since let’s face it, who wouldn’t wanna kill a more obnoxious version of Naruto at that hyperactive stage? That flashback panel of young Bee back in his cuter days brings about bad thoughts of an unloved child trying to get recognition in all the wrong ways. And him going through the teenage years learning rap? God that must have been annoying.

Young Bee aside, the last panel shows a rampaging Hachibi so I have a few ideas of how things played out. My guess is that the hachibi had something to do with killing a member of his family or something. Cliched as it may be, it serves as the only reason one would seek vengeance to that degree. And in typical jinchuuriki fashion, Bee somehow manages to touch his heart with a noble deed, leading to his current view of Bee as a cherished hero. Blah that was so cliched. I hope Kishi mixes things up better than me since that’s the limit of my creativity. Oh wait, maybe Bee accidentally killed someone dear to him while trying to master controlling the Hachibi? Or while on a rampage? And what’s with Bee cutting out Hachibi when he was about to reveal how bad Bee was as a kid? That probably could’ve answered everything. Also how about that bit where Bee gets cut off when he was about to say what Naruto was? Hmmmm.

Anyway, I doubt that the Kyuubi would be as easy to convince as the hachibi was, since I really don’t see him being all buddy-buddy with Naruto. His powers of persuasion are legendary but this is where the line is drawn. I think that in order to get the Kyuubi to cooperate, Naruto will need to sacrifice something big. Whatever that may be, I’m not too sure but I reallllllyyy can’t see Kyuubi being best buds after the crap he pulled in the past.

/ 2 Commentsleave a comment /

• Yi says:

  May 13, 2010

  I agree. I'm sick of this trope of defeating your materialized inner evil to gain control of your dark powers.

  And it seems the next chapters will be flashbacks to Bee's past. Not something I'm too excited about.
  .-= Yi´s last blog ..The Genre of Mayoi Neko Overrun is… Horror!? =-.

  Reply
  • Bass says:

    May 13, 2010

    I know right?

    And this whole flashback scene reeks of Kyuubi-destroying-Konoha. Here's hoping that I'm wrong. Wouldn't want another rehash.

    Reply