Guys, let me start off by saying that I have really been on board with a majority of the things Kishimoto has done with the ending of Naruto thus far. You guys have witnessed me speak praise about the ending, talking about the ending with Madara "bringing things full circle". But these last two chapters have made it impossible for me to continue to stay on board with what Kishimoto is doing any longer. The worst part about it is, he had such a good ending in place that made perfect sense within the boundaries of the story, and just took it and threw it all right out the window. All of the progression we have had built up towards the end of the series has been destroyed by these past two chapters in specific.
Unlike some people, I have really been a fan of the way Kishimoto was handling the ending to Naruto. Everything that was being done had purpose. I know some people specifically whom were not fans of the introduction to all of the stuff dealing with the Sage of Six Paths, but as I stated in some earlier articles I felt that it was a necessary plot thread that needed to be tied together in the ending of the story. It made perfect sense too, especially in regards to the fact that towards the very beginning of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, we began to head towards a mythical ending dealing with the Sage by involving the legendary Juubi into the mix. These were necessary pieces of the story that couldn't be ignored. So Madara, being the only person to awaken the Rinnegan through natural means (kinda) and the only person to read the full contents of the tablet in the Uchiha hideout, was the perfect choice to be the main antagonist of the series. Not only was he a myth in and of himself to the shinobi world similar to that of Hashirama, but he was the only person to come in contact with the Sage's power. So ever since Madara gained the power of the Sage of Six Paths, it was a point in the story that still made sense towards a logical ending. However, all of that, like much of the rest of the series thus far, has been thrown right out the window.
It only took me about 10 pages into this chapter before I had to stop to take a break due to the sheer amount of backtracking and just straight up bullshit. That's all there is to it. Usually I am more eloquent in my choice of words when writing, but this chapter was so bad that I'm just going to call it how it is. First off, this chapter continues to expand on the shock of last chapter when Black Zetsu turns on Madara. That was just the beginning and it only got worse from there. We learn that Black Zetsu was not Madara's will as we had initially thought but was instead that of Kaguya's and has been manipulating Madara this entire time. If I remember correctly, Black Zetsu wasn't even manifested until Madara had recruited Obito to do his bidding. So in what context could Black Zetsu possibly have been manipulating Madara if he didn't even exist until right before Madara's death? It is entirely possible that Black Zetsu was present the whole time inside of Madara before being given a physical presence, but we just can't confirm that fact at this point in time because we simply don't know if this is true or not. Now don't get me wrong, I love unpredictability and plot twists of this magnitude, when they are executed correctly. Black Zetsu back stabbing Madara (literally, right through the heart) was one of those things that seemed to be done to more or less drag out the ending of the story.
We have been foreshadowed throughout the entirety of Naruto that Madara was going to be the main villain. As much as I favor Tobi/Obito as the main antagonist, the second he was hiding under the alias of Madara Uchiha it was clear who the true villain of this series was. Everything about Madara being the final villain made sense and was executed nicely up until now. What was the point of not only deliberately making Madara the main villain to reach the very end and not only dispose of him in favor of another villain, but to literally one shot kill him and reduce him to nothing more than a pawn? Nothing about it makes sense. There was a point in those first 10 pages of the chapter when Black Zetsu started referring to the things Kaguya had done where I thought that Kishimoto was literally about to make Black Zetsu the main villain as opposed to reviving Kaguya. The manner in which he was speaking made it appear as though Black Zetsu wasn't just the vessel for Kaguya but just the remnants of her spirit left behind. That would've been a whole different rant entirely had that been the case.
After this, we are revealed another shocking revelation that I'm calling bullshit on and that deals with the other form of Zetsu which is the White Zetsus. You're really going to tell me, that after 600 odd something chapters of telling us that White Zetsus were created from Hashirama's cells that all of a sudden in actuality White Zetsus are the result of people being cast under the Infinite Tsukoyomi? Really Kishimoto? I've come to expect those types of mediocre, convoluted plot twists from Tite Kubo, but I thought you were better than that. This doesn't account for the fact that Madara had been pumping out White Zetsus using Hashirama's DNA or that Obito and Kabuto were able to use Yamato to mass produce White Zetsus for the war. Either you forgot that fact or you think that we're just too stupid to put two and two together. It just doesn't work that way. I heard the argument that it is possible that Madara found a means to produce the White Zetsu's using Hashirama's DNA and the Gedo Mazo but you can't have it both ways. We're basically starting from scratch here in saying that the White Zetsu are actually what becomes of those cast under the Infinite Tsukoyomi because there was nothing in those first 678 chapters to support that claim and there is no way to spin how Obito and Madara were able to mass produce them if this were the case. Keep in mind people, I've written a full page worth of complaints and I haven't even started yet on Kaguya's revival.
After taking a break after those first 10 chapters to type out my complaints in a message to a friend, I figured it was time to continue the chapter with no further expectations for this chapter to be salvaged. The more I read from this chapter the worse it got. After those first 10 pages I proceeded to continuously message my friend as I gutted out the rest of the chapter. Shortly after the point I stopped to take a break, Madara and Black Zetsu both disappear and we are left with none other than the Rabbit (Demon) Goddess herself, Kaguya Ootsutsuki. I had no problem with the introduction of her character because it expanded on the origins of the Juubi, the Sage of Six Paths and chakra but in no way shape or form does it make any sense for her to be the main antagonist of the series. Unlike Madara, she had no ties or connections to anything that was occurring in the present world. It would have made more sense for Madara to be the inheritor of her will and power and to battle the reincarnations of Asura and Indra in Naruto and Sasuke who possessed Hagoromo's power. The torch needs to be passed and let the current characters resolve their own issues in order for the world to progress forward towards true peace. Madara represented all the things wrong with the current shinobi world and also represented that obstacle that Sasuke and Naruto were going to have to overcome to break the cycle of hatred. Kaguya's presence as the main villain attributes nothing to the overall ending of the story. I was fully on board with Kishimoto's decision to introduce the Sage's history and the history of how everything we've come to know in this series has come to be, but Kaguya coming back offers nothing towards providing closure at the end of this series.
The worst part of Kaguya being the main villain, is we literally know nothing about her. The only thing we know is that she was the first human to use chakra and cast Infinite Tsukoyomi before in order to stop the fighting. It's obvious that her character is designed to want true peace as opposed to having an inherent evil agenda which is another thing that doesn't make sense. From what we were told, her intentions are pure to bring about peace, yet her methods were very forceful and brought about an era where humans weaponized chakra, which is the problem we are dealing with today. Everything from her power, to her motives in reviving herself, to why she is the main antagonist are all unknowns. At this stage of the story, we need clarity on all of these facts which is what we had with Madara to a good extent. Now all of that has been tossed aside and we are again starting from scratch.
Speaking about Kaguya's abilities, we may not know a whole lot about what she is capable of, but one thing is for sure, there is no way in hell Sasuke and Naruto are touching this bitch in combat. Kishimoto once said that he had no idea how he was going to kill off Madara because he was too powerful, so not only did he make Madara overpowered to the extreme, but he then has him killed off in favor of a villain who not only one shot killed him but also dwarfs him in comparison to their power level. To put things into perspective about how overpowered Kaguya is in comparison to Sasuke and Naruto, it would be like sending Naruto and Sasuke from part 1 in to fight Pain. This is with Hagoromo's power mind you. She even calls them out on their bullshit that they currently are only even at the level they are because they possess Hagoromo's power. These guys weren't even on Madara's level once he obtained both of his Rinnegan, and this bitch one shot him before she was even revived. There is no way they are disposing of her through Sasuke and Naruto playing the heroes here. This brings me to my final point.
Does anyone remember a few chapters back when Tenten realized she was in possession of the Sage's magical tools and that they could be helpful in this fight? Yeah well that happened and that's clear as day foreshadowing for how they're going to dispose of Kaguya. As much bullshit as Kishimoto has pulled out of his ass recently, this is the only for sure thing I can say about the ending of Naruto anymore. Those tools are going to be critical in the end of it all. They are going to have to use them to dispose of Kaguya because their power alone won't do it. This leads me to believe that the ending will go one of two ways. They are either going to A) be forced to use the Sage's tools and work together as a team to distract Kaguya and seal her away for good or the more likely scenario because it is almost to cliche to not happen B) they work together to seal up Kaguya, which they will accomplish. Our heroes will think everything is over, the world is saved and then bam! Kaguya is still alive, their attempt to seal her fails and it looks like all hope is lost when Naruto goes Super Saiyan 5 in order to stop Kaguya. Either way, it's complete bullshit. I can't help but feel betrayed at this point because I feel like everything that has been built up for over 600 chapters was all bullshit and is completely irrelevant to the story. It feels as though if someone wanted the gist of Naruto, all they would have to do is read these last 40 chapters and even half of the information in those is bullshit and lies.
