Naruto Chapter 604 Breakdown: Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a plotkai through my eye?

Greetings one and all and welcome to yet another weekly Naruto manga breakdown. However, before I start the breakdown, I’d first like to inform everyone that we have an awesome new author who will be covering the Naruto anime breakdown, and that author is none other than Ajd, who graciously volunteered to fill the role. Please show your support by reading and commenting on his breakdown when you all have a chance so we can get that section back to full speed.

*Click here to read the breakdown!*

Moving onto the latest chapter itself, well, all I can really say about it is that it was a real heart-breaker…

He may look like a soft-serve, but what he’s about to serve is anything but soft. @__@

Okay, I lied. In truth, I can say a lot more about it, though if I were to be completely honest, most of the chapter was just a build-up to the rather climactic ending. Even still, there were quite a few details worth noting for those who payed attention, a few of which I am going to mention here.

Firstly, I’d like to say that the colour pages were a nice little addition to the chapter as a whole. Although the celebration for the 600th chapter of Naruto is a little bit late (by four chapters, to be precise), I suppose this is a case of “better late than never.” In particular, I liked the page showing the contrast between the older and younger Obito, where the older version almost seems to be standing under the pressure of the forlorn and perhaps even judgmental stares of his former peers, which stands in stark contrast to his younger years where he was once part of a greater whole.

Where there were once accepting smiles, there are now only weary frowns. Where there were once unity among friends, there is now only disparity.

In a sense, you could say that this contrast reflects someone who underwent a significant change regarding his outlook on the world as a whole (well done captain obvious), after all, to abandon all that you once knew and loved must have taken quite a traumatic event indeed, which is most certainly hinted at in this chapter.

But in the moments leading up to this potentially life-changing event, we are given other visual clues that may or may not hold any amount of significant meaning in the story as a whole. The first one I noticed was the similarities between how Obito looked while wearing Spiral Face’s body and how Zetsu looked when white and black Zetsu were still merged together – or as Naruto calls them, Aloe Vera.

So that means that if you apply Zetsu daily, you too can have beautiful, healthy skin. @__@

I’m not sure if this visual similarity was intentional or not, but it may serve as a clue that gives us some indication of where black Zetsu came from and how he might be related to Obito directly.

It’s also at this point in the chapter that Obito decides to leave his former underground prison, while giving Madara his regards for saving him and saying that he wouldn’t be back. Madara, however, assures him otherwise, which makes me question whether or not Madara knew precisely what was about to happen to Obito, or if it was simply a case where his own already bleak outlook on the world assured him that it was simply a matter of time before some form of tragedy occurred that would open Obito’s eyes.

Back massages? Oh… you mean… back massages… <_<

Either way, Obito decides to ignore Madara’s warning and so makes his merry way to where Kakashi and Rin are. This, unfortunately, is where the chapter falls into the realm of lethargy, with no truly meaningful dialogue to help hold any particular degree of interest in what was happening at the time. The only remotely interesting things that did occur between the time Obito left his cave and the time he arrived at his destination was that we got to see a few explosions that hinted at a large battle occurring and a moment where Obito seems to share some form of vision with Kakashi’s left eye.

Breast implants: You’re doing it wrong…

I found this revelation particularly interesting, because it makes me wonder whether or not there have been other instances since this moment where Obito has shared his vision with Kakashi – who has his left eye – or whether he has learned to link their vision at will. No doubt such a skill would be useful for the purposes of spying or even in battle, and it may even go as far as explaining how Obito managed to stop Kakashi’s Kamui when he tried to rip Gedo Moza’s head off (by taking direct control of the eye and deactivating the technique himself).

An even more interesting topic would be whether or not this ability could work the other way around. Perhaps Kakashi could use it to see what Obito sees and thus give him a way to predict our counter Obito’s techniques. It may be Kakashi’s only trump card for defeating someone who would otherwise be considered a particularly overwhelming foe.

All these observations aside, we all know the real meat of this chapter was found in the last spread, and that everything else I’ve said up until this points is just a desperate attempt by me to make this breakdown seem much longer than it should have been, a fact that you, the readers, are completely unaware of. So, here it is!

The real reason Obito hates the world, as Reflex puts it, is because Kakashi stole Rin’s heart before he could.

And so we arrive at a moment that has shocked many a WRA member, a moment where mountains came crashing down and where oceans were frozen over. It was a moment where a single, unanimous thought vaulted through all of our minds…

Everyone’s minds: “Wth?”

Okay… so maybe not everyone. I’m sure when Super saw this he went “Hell yeah! That’s my boy Kakashi!” but for us normal people… oh wait I don’t think there’s anyone like that here. <_<

Now the only question remaining is, “why?” Why did Kakashi kill Rin? Although there are a multitude of possible explanations that I am sure many of us could come up with that may shed some light on this strange phenomenon, first I think we need to take a really good look at what little evidence has been presented to us.

If we observe the screen above, the first thing we should notice is that Kakashi is in fact crying in his left eye, the same eye we first saw him crying from when Obito was left dying under a boulder. This tells us that he is most likely well aware of what has happened and knows full well that he has just killed Rin. The real question, however, is whether or not he was aware of it only after it had already happened or whether he was aware of what he was doing beforehand. The latter option would no doubt have far-reaching implications.

This also brings up a few other questions, such as where the Mist ninja that Kakashi and Rin were meant to be battling had disappeared to and why a battle for survival ended up becoming what could be perceived as murder in cold blood. I personally don’t feel that Kakashi willingly killed Rin though and there’s one particular page from a few chapters ago that supports this sentiment.

I swear it wasn’t me! She just fell onto my Chidori I tell you! T___T

If Obito saw Kakashi kill Rin right in front of his very eyes, then why did he say “you let Rin die” rather than saying “you killed Rin?” Is it because Obito is already aware of the fact that the circumstances behind Rin’s death were far more complicated than they originally appeared at first glance? Perhaps Obito has already since become aware of the truth behind the matter and knows that Rin’s death is not technically Kakashi’s fault, but that he still blames him in the sense that Kakashi still wasn’t able to protect her as he had promised. This also makes me wonder if Obito is aware of foul play on Madara’s part, which might also explain why Obito seemed reluctant to bring Madara back in the first place.

In fact, if you look back a few chapters, when Kabuto first summoned Madara using Edo Tensei, Obito not only seemed shocked by it, but he also called Kabuto a madman.

All of these inconsistencies leave us with quite the mystery on our hands, but if I had to hazard a few guesses as to what has actually happened, they would be as follows.

1: It’s possible that Kakashi was ordered or tricked into killing Rin by Konoha’s higher-ups in a similar manner to how Kabuto was tricked into killing his “Mother.” Perhaps Rin knew too much information about something and thus, was considered a liability that needed to be dealt with. This might also explain why Obito was more than happy to let Sasuke exact his revenge on Konoha’s elders and may even by why he told Sasuke about Itachi’s story in the first place. It would also go a long way in explaining why he attacked Konoha with Kurama under his control.

2: Madara may have been using white Zetsu clones to match Kakashi’s and Rin’s features and chakra to fool Obito into believing that Kakashi killed Rin. If Obito later discovered this plot, it may explain why he was reluctant about sticking to the plan whereby Madara was meant to be resurrected.

3: If we consider that killing someone close to you may be the only way to awaken the MS, then there is a possibility that Rin willingly asked Kakashi to kill her so that he could acquire the power needed to defeat their foes. Perhaps Konoha as a whole was at risk and desperate measures were needed to save the lives of many at the cost of one person.

4: There is, of course, the possibility that Kakashi was simply unaware of what he was doing, perhaps even thanks to a mist technique that trapped him in some sort of illusion and made him believe Rin was an enemy. This seems unlikely to me though because Kakashi has the Sharingan at this time and thus, should be able to see through genjutsu.

Unfortunately, that’s about as much writing as my mind will allow for at this point in time, because I’m sure if I come up with any more theories about what happened in this chapter, my brain will implode in a rather spectacular fashion.

With that in mind, here is last week’s bubbliton contest winner.

Thelaughingwiseman: I’ve just started playing Borderlands 2! :3

So have I… so have I.

And here is this week’s Bubbliton.

*Insert possible caption here.*

Yes, that’s right, I put the bubble in there myself, because I don’t think we could possibly use any other page for the bubbliton contest this week other than this one. It just wouldn’t be right.

In any case, you can use the bubble for either Kakashi or Rin (even though it’s pointing more towards Rin) or, in extreme cases, even for both if you feel it works better. Just have fun as always.

See you in the comments! ^ ^

~ by Tenrai Senshi on October 9, 2012.