Episode 16 — Naruto hugs Samehada

The strongest clue: impossible memory

The main evidence that something is wrong, is actually a little detail. Did you spot it?

In chapter 501, we see a young Itachi comforting baby Sasuke. This certainly did happen at some point, but the problem is, what we’re watching is supposed to be Kushina’s (and maybe Minato’s) flashback. And neither of them was anywhere near Sasuke at this moment.

So, how would Kushina know what Itachi was doing at that moment, while Obito was extracting the Kyūbi from her?

A memory can be emotional. A memory can be biased. But a memory should still belong to the person remembering it.

So we can already tell this flashback is not merely Kushina’s memories. It is a constructed story for Naruto, which we should investigate.

Chapter 501: we, too, can feel something ominous.

The “Madara” conclusion

Our next discrepancy happens in chapter 502. Did you spot it?

After witnessing Kamui, Minato quickly concludes that the masked man is Madara. When we first read that scene, we had no choice but to accept this reasoning, as we had no idea what abilities the real Madara possessed. It could seem a bit surprising that Minato would think so quickly of a man supposed to have died decades before Minato was even born, but we couldn’t prove it was a discrepancy.

Retrospectively, however, after reading the whole novel, Minato’s reasoning doesn’t make any sense. During the war, we get to see the real Madara in action, and while his ninjutsu répertoire is impressive, he doesn’t have any ability remotely similar to Kamui. Generally speaking, his fighting style isn’t anything like the masked man’s.

If the masked man had used, for example, a Perfect Susanoo, then Minato’s conclusion, while still surprising, would be understandable. “Kamui means Madara”, on the other hand, is clearly a discrepancy.

The flashback gives Naruto the answer the plot currently wants him to have, rather than an answer Minato should have genuinely thought of.

Chapter 502. Madara does not, in fact, use teleportation techniques.

Minato’s two accounts

Our next discrepancy is the battle itself.

In chapter 440, during the Pain battle, Naruto met his father in his mind. This Minato presented the masked man as terrifying: someone who saw through his moves and will bring calamity.

The problem is, Kushina’s flashback completely contradicts this first recount. In chapter 502, Obito does not see through Minato’s moves. It’s quite the opposite: Obito gets smashed in half a chapter, loses control over the Kyūbi, and runs away his tail between his legs.

In the flashback, Minato is the one who saw through the masked man’s moves. The two accounts are irreconcilable.

It is also worth noting that in the flashback, Minato believed the masked man might be Madara, but in chapter 440, he didn’t mention it to Naruto. He didn’t even mention the masked man was a Sharingan user. This is a minor discrepancy: why wouldn’t Minato share such an important information?

Minato’s strange decision.

In the flashback, Minato decides to sacrifice his life and seal half of the Kyūbi into Naruto, trusting his newborn son to one day stop the masked man.

That is strategically strange, especially after witnessing the rest of the flashback.

Minato has just defeated the masked man, proving he is Konoha’s best answer to Kamui. Even better: Minato has managed to mark the masked man with Hiraishin, meaning that, should Obito attack Konoha again, Minato would start the battle with a huge advantage. So if anyone should stay alive to face the masked man again, it is Minato. Instead, Minato willingly dies, and bets everything on his newborn son.

This discrepancy could have a surface explanation. Minato is a young father living through the best and worst night of his life: Naruto’s birth, Kushina’s abduction, the Kyūbi’s rampage, and Kushina’s death. Under those circumstances, we could forgive him for making an emotional, irrational decision.

But Minato’s decision perfectly fits the flashback’s pattern, as we are about to see.

Chapter 503. A rematch would be even easier for Minato.

Minato’s sacrifice, chapter 504.

The emotional tailoring

Let’s step a step back from specific discrepancies, and look at the bigger picture. Kushina’s flashback seems tailored to be as emotional and heartwarming as possible for Naruto. What does Naruto learn from this flashback?

Naruto's and Sasuke's mothers were friends.

Naruto’s parents loved him, and loved each other.

Naruto’s mother was awesome. Even after giving birth and getting the Kyūbi extracted from her — which would have killed any other woman —, she still had enough strength to protect Naruto.

Naruto’s father was awesome: not even the masked man was a match for him.

As powerful as Minato was, he still trusted Naruto more than he trusted himself, and decided to sacrifice his life to give Naruto the best chance to save Konoha later.

The Kyūbi inside Naruto is not a curse, but the power his father entrusted to him.

Throughout the flashback, Naruto also gets to see people he personally cares about: Iruka, Gai, Kakashi, Sasuke… And as an added bonus, he gets to see a procedure as to how to counter Kamui.

Naruto’s conclusion, chapter 504.

The suspect list

If the flashback is constructed, then Naruto never actually met his mother in that scene. Someone impersonated Kushina in Naruto’s mind.

The culprit must be someone capable of suppressing a Bijū’s chakra, with access to Naruto at that moment, skilled in genjutsu, and with enough knowledge of Naruto and Obito to make the flashback believable and emotional.

The room gives us a short suspect list, as there only were four characters.

Naruto, the target.

Yamato, who was trying, and failing, to suppress the Kyūbi from the outside.

Bee, Naruto’s mentor, who lacks the motive, the abilities, and the knowledge.

Samehada.

Samehada was physically present. She is a genjutsu user. She has a motive. And suppressing the Kyūbi would have been trivial for her: draining a Bijū’s chakra is the ability she is known for.

The suspect list collapses to Samehada. Naruto never met his mother on the island. Samehada was impersonating Kushina.

Chapter 498: Yamato and Bee forgot someone else was in the room…

What Samehada gains

Samehada gains several things from the Kushina operation:

First, she helps Naruto tame the Kyūbi. With this, Naruto gains his “negative emotion sensing” ability, which will soon make him realise a war is ongoing, and draw him to the battlefield where Samehada needs him.

This sensing will also allow Naruto to detect Kisame. At first glance, why Samehada would want that may not be obvious, but we will understand her plan in the next episode.

With the Kyūbi, Naruto will become powerful enough to fight Obito. Samehada will need Obito to lose eventually, so that Madara may be revived.

In the flashback, with Minato’s example, Naruto also got a good example as to how he can counter Kamui.

The flashback painted Obito as the main antagonist. So Naruto is more likely to go after him first, rather than Edo Madara.

After this emotional flashback, Naruto is in a trusting mood. He will be less likely to question Kushina’s timely appearance, or to notice what she is doing (see next point), or to distrust Samehada herself later on.

Impersonating Kushina, Samehada gains access to Naruto’s inner world. And Naruto is not alone there: Itachi’s Kotoamatsukami crow is also inside him. This will be crucial later on.

Everything is going as planned. (Chapter 505.)

Conclusion — the horror reveal

On the surface, Naruto’s hug with Kushina is one of the warmest images in the novel. In the hidden plot, it is the most terrifying — but also the most satisfying if you are a Samehada fan, which you should be by now.

Naruto thinks he is hugging his mother. He is, in fact, hugging Samehada, who is planning to use him to get the Jūbi’s chakra, and then kill him along with rest of humanity.

The emotion is real for Naruto. That is exactly why the deception succeeds.

In this scene, Samehada is tampering with the Kotoamatsukami inside Naruto, but Naruto is too emotional, too busy crying and hugging her, to notice what is happening.

In the next episode, we will see how Samehada takes advantage of Naruto’s mindset to quickly gain his trust as she start possessing Bee. Until then, let us appreciate this beautiful hug. Look at the little smirk on Samehada’s face. She knows she has won.

The most intense panel in the novel: Naruto hugging Samehada, who is planning to kill him. (Chapter 498.)