Naruto 399
*sighs* I could not, for the life of me, find a raw version of this chapter. And believe me, I looked. I'm sure it's out there - hello, scanlation is out, therefore the chapter must exist - but I don't know where I'd find it.
And new Weekly Jumps don't arrive in Akita until several days after publication. Yay, living in a backwater.
On the other hand, there's not much to do with this chapter save wait and see...
...because it's hard to know for sure where this is going.
Ultimately, the balance rests on Madara, and we simply don't know enough about him. It's certainly easy to say that he's lying in order to manipulate Sasuke against Konoha. But what if he isn't...?
Because Madara's story doesn't clash with what we do know about what happened. Secret clan meetings, conferences in the dark of night... and I'm willing to bet that part of "Itachi's hell" will end up being that he was used as a double-spy. There were several comments made about the importance of Itachi's position to the Uchiha clan, after all.
And we have no proof that Madara did or did not send Kyuubi against Konoha, or that the leadership did or did not interpret this as an Uchiha attack. It does make you wonder why they didn't try calling on the supposed ability of the Uchiha to control Kyuubi. Or maybe they did, and it didn't work? (Does it take a mangekyou to actually pull that off?) But thinking back on what Kyuubi says, there in Sasuke's mind... かつてのうちはマダラ/the past Uchiha Madara. かつて... hm. Hang on a sec, I want to look that up, because the only way I've ever seen it used is... Hm. Thought so. "過去のある時。昔。以前。前に。/A time in the past. Long ago. Before." In other words, かつての means "the former" or "once" (as in, once and future king). Which is consistent with the way I've heard it in the past - used when talking about something of the past that does not continue to the present. The first thing that springs to mind is Black Cat, where Train is often referred to as "the former Black Cat" - meaning he was, but is no longer.
So, Kyuubi's statement implies that to Kyuubi, Madara is a figure of the past. The distant past. It does not strike me as a phrase that would be used if Madara had been the one to control Kyuubi and make him attack. *pauses* Unless Madara was "Tobi" even then... but that doesn't seem to be the case. Tobi is a cover, he still seems to think of himself as Madara. And since Kyuubi was talking about power levels... yeah. I'd say the implication here is that Madara did not send Kyuubi on that attack.
Which raises the possibility that it was a 'natural disaster' substantially.
On the other hand... is Madara's story consistent with, say, the reactions when Itachi killed his friend? (...of course, given the way he was speaking against the clan, if there was a coup in the planning, I could see similar reactions happening.) What about Sasuke's father's parting statement about "don't follow your brother any more"?
As for the more ancient history... *shrugs* I'd say it seems plausible. We've had evidence, and more than plenty, that past attitudes carried over from wartime color the actions of the shinobi now. Saying that there was tension between two former enemies who'd allied does seem a logical progression.
And - if we assume that Madara's version is true and his brother really did volunteer for the transfer - then yeah. I can see how Madara would be bitter about having his brother's sacrifice apparently be for nothing. But it does make me wonder, because Itachi claimed that Madara discovered that particular ability. And how could his brother have volunteered if they didn't know it was possible?
But I had to laugh a little bit. Maybe "Tobi" isn't as much of an act as I thought. The dark and mysterious founder of the Uchiha as a bit of a whiner... that's kinda funny.
And new Weekly Jumps don't arrive in Akita until several days after publication. Yay, living in a backwater.
On the other hand, there's not much to do with this chapter save wait and see...
...because it's hard to know for sure where this is going.
Ultimately, the balance rests on Madara, and we simply don't know enough about him. It's certainly easy to say that he's lying in order to manipulate Sasuke against Konoha. But what if he isn't...?
Because Madara's story doesn't clash with what we do know about what happened. Secret clan meetings, conferences in the dark of night... and I'm willing to bet that part of "Itachi's hell" will end up being that he was used as a double-spy. There were several comments made about the importance of Itachi's position to the Uchiha clan, after all.
And we have no proof that Madara did or did not send Kyuubi against Konoha, or that the leadership did or did not interpret this as an Uchiha attack. It does make you wonder why they didn't try calling on the supposed ability of the Uchiha to control Kyuubi. Or maybe they did, and it didn't work? (Does it take a mangekyou to actually pull that off?) But thinking back on what Kyuubi says, there in Sasuke's mind... かつてのうちはマダラ/the past Uchiha Madara. かつて... hm. Hang on a sec, I want to look that up, because the only way I've ever seen it used is... Hm. Thought so. "過去のある時。昔。以前。前に。/A time in the past. Long ago. Before." In other words, かつての means "the former" or "once" (as in, once and future king). Which is consistent with the way I've heard it in the past - used when talking about something of the past that does not continue to the present. The first thing that springs to mind is Black Cat, where Train is often referred to as "the former Black Cat" - meaning he was, but is no longer.
So, Kyuubi's statement implies that to Kyuubi, Madara is a figure of the past. The distant past. It does not strike me as a phrase that would be used if Madara had been the one to control Kyuubi and make him attack. *pauses* Unless Madara was "Tobi" even then... but that doesn't seem to be the case. Tobi is a cover, he still seems to think of himself as Madara. And since Kyuubi was talking about power levels... yeah. I'd say the implication here is that Madara did not send Kyuubi on that attack.
Which raises the possibility that it was a 'natural disaster' substantially.
On the other hand... is Madara's story consistent with, say, the reactions when Itachi killed his friend? (...of course, given the way he was speaking against the clan, if there was a coup in the planning, I could see similar reactions happening.) What about Sasuke's father's parting statement about "don't follow your brother any more"?
As for the more ancient history... *shrugs* I'd say it seems plausible. We've had evidence, and more than plenty, that past attitudes carried over from wartime color the actions of the shinobi now. Saying that there was tension between two former enemies who'd allied does seem a logical progression.
And - if we assume that Madara's version is true and his brother really did volunteer for the transfer - then yeah. I can see how Madara would be bitter about having his brother's sacrifice apparently be for nothing. But it does make me wonder, because Itachi claimed that Madara discovered that particular ability. And how could his brother have volunteered if they didn't know it was possible?
But I had to laugh a little bit. Maybe "Tobi" isn't as much of an act as I thought. The dark and mysterious founder of the Uchiha as a bit of a whiner... that's kinda funny.