Naruto ch503

What might have been

「 503 – Minato’s Dead Demon Seal 」Minato finally connects an attack on Madara, as the rasengan fully digs into Madaras arm. Is this the opening he needs to return to the village or is Madara still toying with him?

Naruto「 ナルト 」

Oh snap!

Chapter 503 – Minato’s Dead Demon Seal
Read Online @ MANGASTREAM

First thing’s first. The color page for this chapter was a pretty awesome idea, since it is somewhat ironic to show what life would have been if Madara didn’t decide to have fun and attempt to destroy Konoha and the whole Uzumaki family. Seems like Naruto would still be the same troublemaker he’s always been and Minato seems like the pretty laid-back and casual dad. Like any typical shounen parents, the mother wears the pants in the family so Kushinas hair going ninetails was a good pointer to that, since she has the personality to dominate as well as still being the kyuubi jinchuuriki in this alternate reality. While I would have personally preferred an epic Minato/Kyuubi/Kushina/Madara spread instead, it was still awesome and it was nice to see what might have been.

As for the chapter itself, it was a relief to see that this wasn’t another one of the Uchihas infamous mindfuck genjutsus, as Minato actually successfully connected with Madaras arm. Since it only takes a millisecond for Madara to realize his failure, he was able to teleport his way out of further harm but the damage was done thankfully. The interesting thing to note in this scene however was the gooey substance that Madaras released after the attack. This was actually shown back in the Sasuke/Danzou fight, where Madara pulls off his arm when it was infected by bugs. Clearly this is the same exact body he has in the present day, which means that it’s another one of Zetsus creations. This gives credence to the idea that he is a shell of his former self, since technically his current body is merely a stopgap solution (much like Orochimarus need to change bodies every so often)

Konohas class of 50 years ago

Since he isn’t really in his actual body, he probably isn’t able to use his full powers hence the need for the whole Moon Eye plan. While there have been speculation about Zetsu being the real villain here, or that Madara is a fake and all that, I’ll just leave that for another day since it will probably take a while to explain all those theories. What I’m trying to say here is that what Madara was able to accomplish with this shell is pretty devastating, since he managed to cause so much havoc in such a short time. The fact that he got the brunt of a full rasengan (one that looks much bigger than Narutos base rasengan) and is still in one piece is amazing (not to mention fighting Minato while controlling the kyuubi at the same time).

That’s not to say that what Minato achieved in this same period isn’t as amazing though. In fact, I thought it was a much bigger feat than Madara, since Madara had the advantage of a surprise attack and years of planning, while Minato had to react accordingly on the fly. Although he hasn’t really shown a large arsenal of ninjutsu, the fact that he has been casually spamming all sorts of insane jutsu, seals and summons also shows that he has a pretty large chakra pool as well. Everything he did up to the point where he makes THE decision was all expected of him, but then things turn for the worse

The true five star frog spash

While I don’t really condone the fact that he threw his life away even though he had the option to stay and support his son, I do understand that emotions were at an all-time high and he had to make the best decision possible while Kushina was still alive. Seeing a beloved person die can get the best of anyone, let alone a very young couple who were right on the cusp of starting their new lives as a family. This got to the usually calm and composed Minato and after hearing Kushinas regret of not being able to see her son grown up, Minato took the honorable route and decided to grant her wish, even though the consequences were really severe in terms of Narutos upbringing. Seeing Minato so out of character to the point of crying and not being able to form proper sentences was pretty well done I reckon, since it was very emotional and you really sense the tragedy behind all this. He was looking at the bigger picture, after considering the fact that he believes Madara will be a larger threat in the future, and that Kushinas death would mean nothing, as the Kyuubi would return, possibly to Madaras open arms all the while weakening Konohas military strength. I personally was hoping for an epic battle where the Kyuubi pushes Minato right to the limits with no choice but to seal it into Naruto, but I will still happily settle for this.

The whole child of prophecy aspect also made its way in, and Minato fully believed that Naruto was the key to saving the world. It may be a bit of a stretch at the time, but it’s nice to see that the faith they had in their son will be fully justified. I did chuckle though since because of their decision, Naruto could have turned out totally different. Without certain events, he could have been exactly like the Uchiha. Luckily for them though, Naruto is as stubborn as Kushina and as noble as Minato.

No need for words

Speaking of Kushina, she was as much of a hero to the village as Minato was. The amount of torture she must have been put through in the past few chapters show what a strong character she is, an exact mirror of what Naruto is now. Seeing her still holding on at the end, while also still being able to subdue the Kyuubi long enough for Minato to finish it off was just incredible. It makes me think why they didn’t make her a statue to go alongside Minato as well.  She sure as hell deserves it (along with the accolade of being my new favorite kunoichi in the manga)

As for other things of interest in the chapter, it was awesome to see Sarutobi holding his own against the Kyuubi (albeit with the help of the entire village). Seeing him there defending his home turf along with the same ninjas he served with under the Niidaime was awesome, even though Danzou was nowhere to be found. Another nice bonus was seeing other members of the current jounins in their genin days, as Kurenai, Iruka and Asuma also made their cameos in this chapter. Asuma minus the beard just didn’t seem right though.

Thank god they have Iruka to steer him right

A glaring omission from this whole invasion flashback however is the Uchiha. Except for Itachi, Sasuke and of course Madara, there are no Uchiha to be found at all during this whole debacle. What kind of police force are they? Of course, you could argue that they’re busy with menial police tasks like helping civilians and such but as an elite family, you would think that they would have shown up at some point in the flashback. Hell, Sarutobis team had an Uchiha and even he didn’t show up in that panel. With the kyuubi going in full rage mode clearly advertising the sharingan in their eyes, it’s no wonder that the Konoha top brass suspected them of masterminding this whole operation.

Anywho, this flashback is now on the final stretch since the next chapter will probably just show the seal being done, as well as Narutos reaction and Kushinas farewell. Personally I really liked this chapter, even though some of the events had me scratching my head. After letting it simmer a bit however, I began to understand some of the things that went through Minatos mind so it’s not as jarring to me as before (leaving Naruto all alone was still wrong though. Guess he assumed that Sarutobi would have told everyone about the events. Chalk that up to Sarutobi making a mistake since he chose to keep it to himself). While the past few chapters have been all sorts of awesome, as well as having its fair share of emotional moments, I think the next chapter might be just as tragic, what with Naruto having to come to terms with all this. It’s been a great couple of weeks for Naruto and with Bleach throwing the towel in for the past few, I hope Kishi keeps this up.

/ 4 Commentsleave a comment /

• Kabitzin says:

  July 24, 2010

  Man, Sarutobi's retirement really didn't work out so well…

  If Naruto survives, isn't he a shoe-in for Hokage? He's got the accomplishments and the pedigree, and Gaara made it so there's precedent. Being a Jinchuuriki is trendy again!

  Reply
  • TJ says:

    July 24, 2010

    Once you are Hokage, you're Hokage 4 Life. There might be newer and younger ones, but when shit hits the fan you are still expected to kick ass and protect the village.

    Reply
    • Bass says:

      July 24, 2010

      I thought Sarutobi did a great job, even though we didn’t see much of it. Not the retirement he planned but like TJ said, it’s a lifelong job. Clearly he is still pretty up to it haha

      Naruto will probably be the next one, although how far away that is we don’t know since Tsunade is still kicking it. Who knows, Kakashi might be the stopgap kage?

      Reply
• Kyokai says:

  July 26, 2010

  Naruto has really gone many notches up for me. These flashback chapters have been epic to say the least. It was not easy to fully portray the characters of Minato and Kushina in such few chapters still Kishi did a tremendous job in showing their emotions and the tough decisions they took for the well-being of their child. I dunno why Sarutobi didn't tell Naruto about his parents– ahh, Mindukse–but yeah, thank god for Iruka and Kakashi to get him on a right path.

  Reply