The Naruto series by Masashi Kishimoto continues with its 18th arc, Birth of the Ten-Tails’ Jinchūriki. The war only continues to escalate now that foe and enemy alike join forces to stop the incarnated Madara Uchiha.
Birth of the Ten-Tails’ Jinchūriki Arc
The Birth of the Ten-Tails’ Jinchūriki arc spans from chapters 640 to 677, or more specifically, volumes 67 to 70.
Review
I rate this arc 3 out of 5 stars: ⭐⭐⭐
The war is as intense as anyone would expect it to be. Characters are fighting for their lives and for their right to free will. Madara Uchiha, however, is relentless and seems to show no willingness to end his barrage of attacks. My 3-star review of this arc is due to Kishimoto’s negligence of the concept of war. In other words, he didn’t take much risks with his major characters. Other things that deterred me from giving the arc a higher rating is the mangaka’s unwillingness to expand on characters that have had major roles, such as Sakura and Kabuto.
The Writing
One thing that I give Kishimoto credit for is his writing consistency. The story is paced well and the revelations of certain information, like the history of the Sage of Six Paths, is somewhat eased into the story. The themes tend to contradict themselves, though, but it’s easy to overlook things like that.
My thoughts on the characters and specific points of the arc
Turning the tides of the war: highly idealistic
I don’t expect the war to be realistic in a shōnen series like this one, but the idea that Naruto can do everything is what makes the war arcs a waste of time. But don’t get me wrong—I love the action. I just don’t think that making Naruto do everything is necessary. I also don’t think that making him this near-perfect and all-powerful figure is good writing. What’s the point of medic ninja if Naruto could heal everyone? What’s the point of fighting if Naruto does most of the work anyway? I hate to say this, but Kishimoto leaves so much to be desired.
Talk-no-jutsu is an overused story trope
I know that its necessary for Naruto’s growth, but it’s a contradiction to gain peace through diplomacy only after beating up the opponent. It’s a funny detail that makes me question how many other contradictions there are in the series that I completely missed.
Obito and Rin
Obito’s love for Rin is bitter-sweet. I just don’t know how to feel about her death and his misunderstanding of her death being his motivation to ruin people’s lives. Like, my guy, calm down for a sec.
Madara Uchiha
I just don’t like that he was included in this battle. Orochimaru should have been the final villain as he posed a huge threat to all the villages for his illegal experiments and terroristic threats.
On another note, Madara betraying Obito is at least a great addition to the story. Although I don’t like Madara’s involvement in the war, I’m at least interested in his betrayal. It adds to the cycle of manipulation that plagues the characters of the story. It’s also interesting that such a battle-hungry character like Madara could also crave peace as much as everyone else. It’s just like Madara says:
“Hashirama’s nation building bore a paradox. People desire peace… and yet, on the other hand, crave conflict as well.”
Madara to Tobirama on the Infinite Tsukuyomi
Vol. 69, Ch. 661
Human and Bijū relations
In this arc, there’s a scene where Gaara speaks to Shukaku, the one-tailed beast, about fighting together as equals instead of being used by each other. If there’s anything that I really loved about the war arc, it’s that Kishimoto mends the beasts’ wounds. In other previous posts, I talked about the Jinchūriki being seen as only weapons and not as people. And it’s also true that the Bijū were never considered to be separate entities of their hosts, so both the person and the beast would be identified as one, a monster. I love that the tailed beasts are mending their relationships with humans because they have a common goal.
Karin and Sakura’s parallels
The scenes where Naruto and Sasuke are at the brink of death show what these Sakura and Karin are capable of. Sakura desperately performs CPR on Naruto while Karin awakens the chakra chains that were used in the Uzumaki clan. However, I have mixed feelings about Karin’s continued obsession for a guy who nearly killed her and discarded her. Karin as a parallel to Sakura is interesting and something that I’ve seen fans of the series discuss. The idea is that Karin’s obsession should be seen as a contrast to Sakura’s genuine love for Sasuke. Karin is compulsive and often finds ways to get Sasuke alone with her. Her state of mind reminds me of Sakura’s when Sakura was a child; her head was filled with thoughts about Sasuke and she didn’t seem to have a desire to improve herself until the Chūnin Exams.
Karin is childish and creepy when it comes to sasuke. I don’t know if this is what Kishimoto intended with her character, but I will say that if it was, it’s a rocky way to promote Sakura’s growth.
Kabuto’s resolve
In an interesting twist, Kabuto joins the alliance by helping Sasuke heal from his near-fatal injuries. He claims that he’s no longer seeking to absorb Sasuke. He also seems uninterested in following in Orochimaru’s footsteps. His plans have simply changed after escaping Itachi’s jutsu. Seeing how quickly Kabuto has come to his senses makes me wish that Kishimoto paid more attention to his development. I wish it didn’t happen out of sight, though I could understand the pacing issues it would have created for this arc.
Guy’s sacrifice wasn’t really a big sacrifice
But I guess this depends on how you look at it. I know that he doesn’t die from using the Gate of Death, but he does seem to lose his ability to walk. However, writing-wise, I think that Guy should have died. The only major character who has died so far in the war was Neji (not counting Ino and Shikamaru’s fathers), and his sacrifice was used as a stepping stone for Naruto’s resolve. Now here’s Guy, who was willing to put his life on the line to buy the alliance some time. His death would have been heart-wrenching, but it would have been more riveting because he’s such a beloved character.
Not to mention that Rock Lee comments that he wouldn’t lament Guy’s sacrifice because “any compassion or sorrow would be an afront” (Vol. 70, Ch. 669).
Kishimoto didn’t take many risks in this arc, which is unfortunate because it’s about war and how meaningless deaths are in pursuit of peace.
Reincarnations
Naruto is the reincarnation of Ashura and Sasuke is the reincarnation of Indra. Ashura and Indra are the sons of the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki. I find this addition to the story’s lore fascinating. But I’m also not too keen on the idea of making both Sasuke and Naruto even more special than they were a couple of chapters prior to the information drop. But I guess that this detail is necessary to push the cycle of conflict that has been mentioned since the Five Kage Summit Arc.
Sakura as a potential reflection of Kakashi’s teachings
A detail that almost slopped from my mind is that Sakura’s very unlike Naruto and Sasuke. She can be kind and compassionate, but she can also be ruthless. Of Team 7, Sakura is most like Kakashi, who has a near-perfect balance of idealistic shinobi traits and his humanity. I briefly talk about this in my review of the Five Kage Summit Arc:
The main trio are hinted to be mirrors of their teachers and representatives of Kakashi’s teachings. Sasuke and Naruto don’t actually abide by Kakashi’s teachings, but what about Sakura? It would have been interesting to see someone like Sakura apply Kakashi and Tsunade’s more cruel sentiments in her work. Kishimoto could have explored the shinobi principles through Sakura, a people-pleaser. She could have been a character with more substance, someone who would feel conflicted of the reality she lives and the idealism that her friend, Naruto, strives to create. Having two characters—Sasuke and Naruto—choose their own paths by neglecting the expectations that are imposed on them could have been countered by Sakura’s principles if Kishimoto cared enough to give her any.
Revisiting the Shinobi World: The Five Kage Summit Arc
In the 70th volume of the series, Sakura is unsure of Obito’s intentions. She’s not like Naruto, who is friendly with everyone. She’s also not like Sasuke, who is dismissive of others. Sakura approaches with caution; she knows that he’s not trustworthy due to his recent history with the Akatsuki. Something about this detail makes me very impressed with Kishimoto. I appreciate every time he adds something new about Sakura that has nothing to do with the boys. I just wish that Kishimoto expanded on these aspects of her character.
Sakura the side-lined character
Kishimoto had implied that Sakura is not strong enough to stand on equal footing with Sasuke and Naruto. But after being nearly killed by Madara, she had to be saved by Sasuke. After Madara had made the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Sasuke barricaded the team under his Susanoo to prevent the effects of Madara’s jutsu. However, Sasuke suggests that he and Naruto are the only ones capable of fighting against Madara. He ignores Kakashi and Sakura and speaks only to Naruto. He insists that if the two of them “are done in, it’s all over” *Vol. 70, Ch. 677). It’s a shame that Kishimoto chooses to weaken Sakura again after her incredible display of her abilities in the previous chapters.
A 3-star rating doesn’t mean that I didn’t like what I read. (You can look at my rating scale here.) I do think that there are a lot of things that Kishimoto does well, such as the art, the action, and continuation of some of the more important themes. I don’t talk about such themes in this post because I’ve mentioned them so many times in my past posts. However, some include the relations of the Jinchūriki and the Bijū, manipulation (as an extension of the cycle of hatred), and love and friendship. While my criticisms of the series may seem harsh, I really do love and appreciate the series.
The next arc of the series is the Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes Arc, which consists of volumes 70 to 72, or chapters 678 to 700. These chapters feature the battle between Team 7 and Kaguya, Naruto and Sasuke’s final battle, and the series finale. I’m so excited to have gotten to this point of the story! I can’t wait to share my thoughts on the final arc.
Until my next post,
Cassandra D. 🌙
Moonlit Media Room 
will you read boruto when you finish with naruto?
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I plan on it 🙂
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