Naruto Chapter 370: A Premonition

Summary: Jiraiya takes out the key to Naruto's seal, which had been stored in his body for safe keeping. He tells the summoning frog connected to the key to go to Naruto should anything happen to him and he reveals that Minato had split the Kyuubi's chakra in two and had only sealed the 'Yang' half in Naruto. Jiraiya also voices his suspicion that the Kyuubi attack on Konoha 16 years ago may have been a direct summon and that the founder of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara, had the ability to control the Kyuubi. (read 370 here)

SnowyOwl Says:

Homework Time! Checkout this LiveJournal post. It gives a pretty good breakdown of the Uchiha facts to date (and some theories to boot) so I don't have to.

Okay?

So with the reveal of Madara having had power to summon the Kyuubi and that Tobi is somehow connected to Madara or the idea of someone siccing the Kyuubi on Konoha 16 years ago, here's what I thought:

The lives of our major characters are much much more complex and closely tied than previously thought.

My conviction that Itachi has a much more complex motivation and greater future role than we were led to believe only grew stronger. Previously, Naruto's relationship with the Uchiha brothers seemed like a separate issue from Naruto's fate as the Kyuubi vessel. It's not uncommon to see the complaint that the series should be renamed 'Sasuke' or 'Uchiha.' Why was Sasuke and Itachi's past and present relationship given so much time and presented in a way that doesn't relate back to Naruto, the title character? Lately, I've been thinking that it's been one huge set up, and that ultimately, Itachi and Sasuke will play a huge role in Naruto's fate.

The direction we've been led to believe these past few years has been some combination of Sasuke with/without Naruto fight and kill/spare Itachi. However, with Itachi's cryptic reaction to news regarding his brother, his lackluster effort in actually capturing Naruto yet going out of his way to "talk" to him, his heretofore indifference to his brother and now sudden call to confront him...leads me to think that when Itachi said 'Let's end this," he was not referring to their one-sided feud at all. I think he's going to finally reveal to Sasuke his true intention and ask his little brother, who has/may have surpassed him, to help him accomplish his goals. Let's end this misunderstanding. Let's end Madara's reign of hate, let's end Tobi's maniacal scheme, let's throw a wrench in whoever-the-villian-is' plan by ridding/manipulating/saving the Kyuubi via his vessel. Let's end this.

Maybe.

(Come on, like either of the Uchiha brothers are going to die when the story is really starting to pick up?)

The fact that Jiraiya acknowledged the hole in his Madara theory (that Madara was alive several generations ago) is also telling. It is not likely that Tobi is Madara. However, this doesn't eliminate the possibility that Tobi is some incarnation of Madara, or someone who inherited Madara's abilities. This could be through blood, or like Yamato, through experimentation. I still feel the evidence supporting the Tobito theory is significant though and the fact that there is a history of soul-switching in the Naruto-verse (Orochimaru building off of existing research), it very well may turn out that Tobi is Obito possessed by Madara. I guess we can call him Mad Tobito.

Moving along. When the toad suggested the Minato was motivated to seal yang!Kyuubi in Naruto out of parental love, Jiraiya (a total softie) rejected it and said 'no, Minato had a GOOD reason.' So if not love, what about Naruto made him a strategic vessel? What could Yondy know about this child that gave his vision of the future the best chance to come true? According to Jiraiya, Minato seemed te base his actions on more practical, concrete facts and reason and not something vague like 'he's my son so I know he'll grow up to harness Kyuubi's power and use it for the good of the village.' What is it, Yondy!?!

Oh, and this chapter finally answered my question about the soul-sealing jutsu. I wondered why if the jutsu locked the sealed and the sealer in everlasting battle inside a shinigami, why was it necessary to seal Kyuubi in Naruto? Who is battling Yondy in the shinigami's belly? I guess the Yin half is...

I could say more, but this post is getting really long. Here's a little something to thank you all for coming back despite my delay in posting. Naruto the Abridged, episode 15 and 16! If you haven't seen the rest of the series, do yourself a favor and start at episode 1. Oh, and 16 references this. The fandom referencing the fandom (and I recognized it). Wow. On to the next chapter!