Naruto, I can always count on you to distract me.
Nyrgh. Stressed out, trying not to feel too much like a failure after several bad interviews and other miscellaneous discouragements on the job front. Truthfully, real life has not left me in much of a mood for dealing with things in the online realm. I need to find a way to balance this out once and for all, because I hate constantly feeling like I have to choose between one or the other. I'm active online, my real life is nonexistent. Vice-versa and the opposite happens, especially now that I'm out of school. How the hell do other people manage it? Worst of all, I have responsibilities in both, so there's always guilt when I let something slip.
Sigh. But enough emo ramblings; having caught up with Naruto, I'm going to attempt to put together The Big Picture, which others have no doubt already done better than I will. But hey, Kishimoto's finally revealing the major plot points that he's been sitting on for years, and, well. Still a Narutard.
So this is how it currently looks to me:
80-odd years ago, Uchiha Madara and the Shodai Hokage duke it out for unknown reasons at the Valley of the End (and Madara is supposedly killed, but we all know how that worked out). Now, what really interests me is the fact that if what Jiraiya said is true, Minato was able to summon Kyuubi. And more interestingly still, we know that the Shodai possessed the unique ability to suppress Kyuubi's power--or at least, Yamato can suppress it in Naruto. Now this coincidence really makes me wonder exactly what went down in this battle. But I digress.
15 years ago, Kyuubi no Youko attacks Konoha. Jiraiya speculates that the attack may not have been a coincidence and that Kyuubi may in fact have been set loose by someone, but the only person he knows to have been capable of this was Uchiha Madara. Regarding Madara's age, it's possible he's really freaking old (hence the mask?), or that he's developed a technique similar to Orochimaru's, making him relatively immortal. At any rate, the attack is stopped by Namikaze Minato, who seals Kyuubi's power inside Naruto--but not before splitting it into two halves, and giving Naruto access to the light/yang half for unknown reasons. What's more, Jiraiya believes Minato intended for Naruto to one day use the "key" he left behind to unlock the rest of Kyuubi's power. I'm still not clear on what exactly that means, but it does seem clear that Minato knew there was unfinished business left to be dealt with, and he was banking on Naruto to finish what he started.
Sometime at least 10 years ago, Akatsuki is founded. While we still don't know the details of this, we can speculate based on what we know about Pein and Madara. First of all, while it seems that most if not all of the other Akatsuki members (except for Konan) believe that Pein is the brains behind the operation, Pein actually takes commands from Madara. This leads me to believe that Operation Monopoly may not actually be Akatsuki's true goal. Let's say that Uchiha Madara, at some point in his ninja wanderings, comes across a young man who likes to slaughter the leader of the Hidden Rain Village (who had previously made a habit of intimidating such up-and-coming ninja as, oh, the Sannin) for kicks in his spare time. Hello, says Madara to himself, I smell potential here. So he enlists Pein to create a group called the Akatsuki and set out to abduct the nine bijuu so they can use them to create a monopoly on war and thus control the world lol super-awesome master plan. Is it really a coincidence that Kyuubi is one of those nine? Stay tuned.
7 years ago, Uchiha Itachi, already a member of Akatsuki at the time, kills every other member of his clan except his little brother. The reasons behind this have yet to be satisfactorily explained, but could it have something to do with the strange Uchiha connection to Kyuubi? Madara was able to release him, and Sasuke was able to suppress him the first time he saw Naruto in Part 2. Maybe Madara wanted the clan gone so that no one could potentially interfere with his plan (as Shodai had perhaps done before)? This might also shed some light on why Itachi left Sasuke behind and has been so intent on making him grow stronger--is he maybe trying to stop Madara in his own weird way? Since he's almost definitely the only Akatsuki other than Konan and Pein who knows about him (three MS users and all that).
3 years ago, Itachi encounters both Naruto and Sasuke again and is eventually chased off by Jiraiya. Oddly enough, even though common sense would dictate that kidnapping Naruto before he trains with the Sannin for three years and gets more powerful is a good idea, Itachi declares that Naruto isn't a threat for the time being, and leaves him alone.
Which brings us to the present. Several interesting things to note: One, Kyuubi has confirmed Madara's connection to him by comparing his "sinister" chakra to Sasuke's. Two, it seems that Pein has been reassigned to capture Naruto, rather than Itachi. And three, the Hunt for Itachi arc has suddenly and inexplicably been tied to this whole thing with Jiraiya, Madara, Pein, and the crapload of backstory we've suddenly been blessed with. Either this last is random, or Kishimoto has decided to put the Sasuke vs. Itachi and Jiraiya vs. Pein battles side-by-side (or so it looks like) for a reason. Meaning this is all connected.
My guess? Madara has something up his sleeve even worse than the Dreaded Monopoly Plan, and is using the rest of Akatsuki as a convenient means of acquiring Kyuubi, whom he's already tried to unleash twice before. Itachi knows of this plan and has secretly been conspiring to stop it (I'm not a fan of the "Itachi has been good all along!!1" theories, but I'll still admit that if Kishi's track record of redeeming villains is anything to go by, it stands a good chance of happening). And Minato found out about it as well but was unable to stop it, which is why he chose to seal Kyuubi away into his son.
So if I'm right, the end of this arc will culminate in (a possibly defeated?) Itachi revealing the truth about Madara's plan to Sasuke (and perhaps Naruto as well if he crashes the party), while we simultaneously see preparations for the final stages of that plan being put into action on the Madara/Pein/Jiraiya side. Leaving us with the perfect set up for what may be the final arc of the series.
Of course, it's likely that I'm not even remotely right, but hey, with conspiracies being revealed left and right, this is all building up to something big.
[/ramblings and speculation]
Sigh. But enough emo ramblings; having caught up with Naruto, I'm going to attempt to put together The Big Picture, which others have no doubt already done better than I will. But hey, Kishimoto's finally revealing the major plot points that he's been sitting on for years, and, well. Still a Narutard.
So this is how it currently looks to me:
80-odd years ago, Uchiha Madara and the Shodai Hokage duke it out for unknown reasons at the Valley of the End (and Madara is supposedly killed, but we all know how that worked out). Now, what really interests me is the fact that if what Jiraiya said is true, Minato was able to summon Kyuubi. And more interestingly still, we know that the Shodai possessed the unique ability to suppress Kyuubi's power--or at least, Yamato can suppress it in Naruto. Now this coincidence really makes me wonder exactly what went down in this battle. But I digress.
15 years ago, Kyuubi no Youko attacks Konoha. Jiraiya speculates that the attack may not have been a coincidence and that Kyuubi may in fact have been set loose by someone, but the only person he knows to have been capable of this was Uchiha Madara. Regarding Madara's age, it's possible he's really freaking old (hence the mask?), or that he's developed a technique similar to Orochimaru's, making him relatively immortal. At any rate, the attack is stopped by Namikaze Minato, who seals Kyuubi's power inside Naruto--but not before splitting it into two halves, and giving Naruto access to the light/yang half for unknown reasons. What's more, Jiraiya believes Minato intended for Naruto to one day use the "key" he left behind to unlock the rest of Kyuubi's power. I'm still not clear on what exactly that means, but it does seem clear that Minato knew there was unfinished business left to be dealt with, and he was banking on Naruto to finish what he started.
Sometime at least 10 years ago, Akatsuki is founded. While we still don't know the details of this, we can speculate based on what we know about Pein and Madara. First of all, while it seems that most if not all of the other Akatsuki members (except for Konan) believe that Pein is the brains behind the operation, Pein actually takes commands from Madara. This leads me to believe that Operation Monopoly may not actually be Akatsuki's true goal. Let's say that Uchiha Madara, at some point in his ninja wanderings, comes across a young man who likes to slaughter the leader of the Hidden Rain Village (who had previously made a habit of intimidating such up-and-coming ninja as, oh, the Sannin) for kicks in his spare time. Hello, says Madara to himself, I smell potential here. So he enlists Pein to create a group called the Akatsuki and set out to abduct the nine bijuu so they can use them to create a monopoly on war and thus control the world lol super-awesome master plan. Is it really a coincidence that Kyuubi is one of those nine? Stay tuned.
7 years ago, Uchiha Itachi, already a member of Akatsuki at the time, kills every other member of his clan except his little brother. The reasons behind this have yet to be satisfactorily explained, but could it have something to do with the strange Uchiha connection to Kyuubi? Madara was able to release him, and Sasuke was able to suppress him the first time he saw Naruto in Part 2. Maybe Madara wanted the clan gone so that no one could potentially interfere with his plan (as Shodai had perhaps done before)? This might also shed some light on why Itachi left Sasuke behind and has been so intent on making him grow stronger--is he maybe trying to stop Madara in his own weird way? Since he's almost definitely the only Akatsuki other than Konan and Pein who knows about him (three MS users and all that).
3 years ago, Itachi encounters both Naruto and Sasuke again and is eventually chased off by Jiraiya. Oddly enough, even though common sense would dictate that kidnapping Naruto before he trains with the Sannin for three years and gets more powerful is a good idea, Itachi declares that Naruto isn't a threat for the time being, and leaves him alone.
Which brings us to the present. Several interesting things to note: One, Kyuubi has confirmed Madara's connection to him by comparing his "sinister" chakra to Sasuke's. Two, it seems that Pein has been reassigned to capture Naruto, rather than Itachi. And three, the Hunt for Itachi arc has suddenly and inexplicably been tied to this whole thing with Jiraiya, Madara, Pein, and the crapload of backstory we've suddenly been blessed with. Either this last is random, or Kishimoto has decided to put the Sasuke vs. Itachi and Jiraiya vs. Pein battles side-by-side (or so it looks like) for a reason. Meaning this is all connected.
My guess? Madara has something up his sleeve even worse than the Dreaded Monopoly Plan, and is using the rest of Akatsuki as a convenient means of acquiring Kyuubi, whom he's already tried to unleash twice before. Itachi knows of this plan and has secretly been conspiring to stop it (I'm not a fan of the "Itachi has been good all along!!1" theories, but I'll still admit that if Kishi's track record of redeeming villains is anything to go by, it stands a good chance of happening). And Minato found out about it as well but was unable to stop it, which is why he chose to seal Kyuubi away into his son.
So if I'm right, the end of this arc will culminate in (a possibly defeated?) Itachi revealing the truth about Madara's plan to Sasuke (and perhaps Naruto as well if he crashes the party), while we simultaneously see preparations for the final stages of that plan being put into action on the Madara/Pein/Jiraiya side. Leaving us with the perfect set up for what may be the final arc of the series.
Of course, it's likely that I'm not even remotely right, but hey, with conspiracies being revealed left and right, this is all building up to something big.
[/ramblings and speculation]