Naruto x 699 and 700 Review: “Seal of Reconciliation” and “Naruto Uzumaki”
The two-part Naruto finale was released this week and I was impressed how Masashi Kishimoto was able to tie together a lot of loose threads in twenty pages and show the start of a new era in the last issue. The first part of the chapter was from Sasuke’s perspective and though I’m not the biggest fan of the character, I still found the manga very enjoyable. Everything made sense!
The opening panel of chapter 699 was one of the best things this week. Naruto and Sasuke had their final fight in the Valley of the End and by the end of their fight the huge statues were destroyed. What took me by surprise was that the broken hands of the statues ended up making the seal of reconciliation and thus, the title of the chapter. The seal marked the end of the decades old battle between the sons of The Sage of Six Paths. There’s a good chance statues of Naruto and Sasuke will now be built in The Valley of The End.
As predicted, Sakura came to rescue the gravely injured young ninjas. With each of them losing an arm and bleeding to death, Sakura was able to stabilize them. During the healing process Sasuke apologized to her and that was where the thing I dreaded occurred: SakuSasu officially becoming canon.
Now, I have nothing against Sakura and Sasuke becoming a couple. It was obvious from the recent chapters that the only thing stopping them from becoming a couple was Sasuke’s inability to love back. With the emotional baggage being carried by the two I was expecting more than a simple ‘I’m sorry’. I guess if Naruto can forgive Sasuke for trying to kill him, the Kage’s, and controlling the world, Sakura can forgive him for trying to kill her too.
The rest of the issue was about Sasuke realizing how important Naruto was to him and to the world. The two undid the Ultimate Tsukuyomi and everyone came out unharmed. Was I the only one who thought some part of the world’s population was going to turn into white zetsus? Even the two ninjas stuck in the Sage’s Gourd were released.
With Sasuke ending up with Sakura, the issue also showed Naruto being with Hinata. I know there are a lot of NaruSaku fans out there but as someone who looks at things with a critical eye and knows that shonen mangas follow a certain structure, NaruHina was the obvious plan the moment Hinata shared her first scene with Naruto. Without being Naruto’s love interest, Hinata doesn’t really have anything to give to the story. Nevertheless, regardless of the pairings Kishimoto made canon, our favorite ships will always live on in fan work.
Kakashi became Hokage and pardoned Sasuke Uchiha for his role in the war and undoing the Ultimate Genjutsu. With Naruto and the rest of Team 7 staying in the village, Sasuke decided to go on a journey around the world in order to look at things with a new outlook. The chapter also revealed how the two young ninjas will get back their arms. Turns out Tsunade will give them prosthetic arms made of Hashirama cells.
Chapter 700 “Naruto Uzamaki” was fully colored and served as an epilogue to the series with the main cast having grown up and becoming parents. It was good to see the next generation of ninjas and Naruto finally being a Hokage. I have a feeling that the major time-skip will be explained in The Last: Naruto the Movie.
What did you think of the Naruto manga finale? What are your thoughts about the original cast having kids of their own? Let us know!
Author: Farid-ul-Haq
Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.
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I’m going to pretend Naruto ended up 699 and 700 doesn’t exist. Why couldn’t we have an open ending where everyone could decide who ended up with who. SakuSasu always seem so one sided and its a terrible message to send out to younger viewers. Yeah I think I could come around to liking NaruHina but yet again we only saw her feelings and not Narutos. Did he just wake up one day and think I can’t have Sakura so let’s go for that person who once confessed to me. Hopefully the movie shows more from Naruto side. I would of loved to of seen NaruSaku happen as they had the most development and we actually saw it. We know the real love story of this whole manga was NaruSasu and don’t tell me these two wouldn’t of happen if one of them was female. Then again they would of had the same problem with SakuSasu. Kishi should just not write relationships. I even felt Naruto seem kind of a bad father with saying the village comes before his son. Like wtf? Same goes with Sasuke. I bet you only see him for the holidays. Yeah 700 felt OOC for me. Oh well. I will miss this manga but at the same time is glad it’s over. I’m disappointed on how it ended but I’m sure same people are happy with it. At the end of the day you can’t please everyone.
I agree with you….Sakura/Sasuke as a pairing is just wrong, especially the message it’s sending to readers. It’s like the ‘nice guy’ trope…you pin after someone long enough and you’ll get him or her in the end…but i guess Kishi tried to explain the relationship that the only reason Sasuke couldn’t love back was cos of his determination to cut out all bonds…after ‘reforming’ himself, he started to love Sakura…however, i would’ve prefered if Sakura hadn’t been such a cry baby about it and kind of stopped pinning after him…still love him, but not be so desperate etc…and yeah you are right, romantic relationships isn’t Kishi’s forte’….the only time he even tried to make something work was with Naruto/Sasuke….Im waiting for The Last Naruto the Movie to fill in the Naruto/Hinata blanks for me….and i guess the fact the main cast, especially Naruto, has changed so much will be talked about in Part 3 mini-series…Naruto becoming a better father, etc
So, what I learnt after reading these two chapters is that no matter how bad a guy treats you, mentally and physically, you will still end up marrying him? I get that Sasuke said sorry but for me as a big Sakura fan, I wish that they remained friends than give us all this fairytale BS. It would have been great to see them over the years develop a friendship and Sakura moving on. Could you imagine them trying to explain their bad history to their daughter? It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Actually the whole chapter 700 left a bad taste in my mouth. I just don’t understand what Masashi Kishimoto was thinking. I feel now I have to drop out of college/work and become a housewife and birth some kids while my husband goes off travelling. I think 699 could of been a great ending and sometimes it’s best not to tie everything up into a neat bow and leave some things to the readers imaginations.
I guess he showed the females as house wives cos the world has become too peaceful and the female went back to their roles…but then again, we’re only making an assessment by looking at one Sakura appearance…for all we know, she could be cleaning cos it was a holiday etc…and i kind of liked it…going by the episode Road to Sakura, she didn’t like being home, having parents, doing what was told to her..so she matured and started cleaning etc cos she wanted to…i will forgive Kishi if she shows Sakura cleaning house and ‘also’ going on very dangerous missions, and being the best medical ninja in the world…however, i would’ve liked to see Sasuke being home and stopping the boring ‘lone wolf’ thing…the fact that he missed his own family, i was expecting to see him being more close to his wife and daughter…maybe the ‘becoming a better dad’ thing would be one of the main points in the Part 3 mini series coming out next year.
http://shinosays.tumblr.com/post/101926955400/alright-ive-waited-long-enough-ive-gotten – everyone should read this. It pretty much sums up my feelings on these chapters.
I do agree with you…seeing Naruto, as well as Sasuke not being ‘good’ dads was kind of surprising for me, going by the experiences with family they both had in the past…maybe that will be the main plot in the mini-series coming out next year? the main cast seeing how much they have changed and being parents for their kids…who knows…fingers crossed…i have to have hope or else the finale had a lot of problems 🙂
i don’t understand why people say that everything is just not right..that was his story so it was him who should decide..i think sakura ending up with sasuke are a good thing..can you imagine, you love someone for so long with all your heart and you want to end up with someone else? I guess you just never being in a true love..no matter how much it hurts..your love and trust are the one that binds you.i think it is really fair how the last chapter turn out.Say if you really hate it why don’t you make your own story and make it a big hits like naruto then it yours to decide who end up with who.
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Eh, where did he/she exactly mention telling the author that? Duh.
Right here: “Say if you really hate it why don’t you make your own story and make it a big hits like naruto then it yours to decide who end up with who”
That’s telling my author to quit analyzing things. Also you should click on the “policies” link before signing off with “duh” again.
but plz don’t you forget naruto’s love to sakura and how he fought for it along the story,i feel like sorry for him.besides the manga is about naruto not sakura and we as fans ,we should aprociate his love.it is like the writer wants us to forget that love in just one episode,i’m sorry but it’s unfair.that changed a lot.i was realy dispointed..
so meaning of true love is to have no respect for yourself and keep pining over someone with no respect for you. yes, I now understand love.-__-
I’m really disappointed. i preffered the ending to be at ch 169. 700 it was a fan service, in my opinion. the only pair that was seen was sasunaru. Naruhina was…Just no. and sasusaku…Really? they woke up and thought that they need to produce heirs? i’m sorry, but… for me, it ended at 699. i don’t care about the movie and next series.
ch 699 should have been the ending and from this point on I’m done with naruto, I grew up with naruto since highschool and now he’s grown up and so am I and I’m not at all too keen on reading about the kids, I think that should be left for the younger generation
did sasuke ever got a prosthetic arm
I can understand the disappointments of some about SakuSasu,… But having that much time-lapse between the last two episode, I am pretty sure that Kishi can put down more logical story to back that up. I am also a NaruSaku fan, but sometimes, it is better to end up with someone who loves you that someone you love when that someone loves someone else… that way, you can have better chance of having a better relationship compared to the second scenario.
Totally agree with you ITACHI FAN….Kishi did explain NaruHina and NaruSaku in The Last: Naruto the Movie and tried to make fans understand the different kind of love Naruto feels for both Hinata and Sakura…We still don’t know anything about how Sakura and Sasuke came together during the time skip and Im looking forward to seeing that!