Naruto 699 & 700 review

Well it's the end of an era isn't it? Naruto just released it's final 2 chapters and this will be my final review for the manga. I hope you all enjoyed reading them as much as I did writing them, I only wish I had started doing it sooner.
Anyways chapter 699 begins with Naruto and Sasuke still in the valley of the end, still bleeding I assume as well, if someone cut off an arm you'd think there would be a lot more blood than a weird batman-shaped-logo heart but that's all Kishi shows, another really amazing thing is how the hands from the two statues apparently both broke and did the shinobi symbol for friendship, I like it when authors show symbolism and all that but it's really taking it too far when two statues somehow entangle in such a way after being destroyed that they represent peace, with two rivals right on top of them, Kishi is a bit heavy handed here.

This is very likely to happen.

Finally Kakashi and Sakura find them and team 7 is reunited with the team collectively suffering from 2 mortal wounds, multiple eye transplants, enough chakra usage to power Japan for ten years and more emotional trauma than 700 chapters could cover. Sasuke doesn't even greet Sakura when he sees her and just apologizes when she starts healing him. Firstly why is she healing their arms? they have been bleeding for more than a day without dying so you'd think they would be fine and secondly when Sakura asks Sasuke what he is sorry for he must have realized the list was too long to answer " for always being rude to yo- erm no for leaving you behind while I went to Orochima- no wait damn, I'm sorry for trying to kill you 3 times? Yeah I'll start with that one"

Sakura for her part cries and calls him an idiot, I'm called an idiot for forgetting to empty the dishwasher, Sasuke is called an idiot for multiple attempted murders, I'm seriously seeing a double standard here.

Yeap team 7 is finally reunited, Kakashi, Sakura, Lefty and Righty are all together again and we see the remainder of the chapter from Sasuke's point of view, how he understands the feeling of brotherhood between him and Naruto, how they were lonely kids in a bad world. During this time Darui frees Samui and her brother and while this is a happy ending for the manga I was bothered by this since 1) it's never been stated how anyone can escape the Gourd 2) That same gourd was fed to the Gedo Mazo statue, if Darui could just unseal them then why didn't he do so from the start? Maybe it's because Tenten was using some sort of scroll to summon them back but they should still be dead.

Sasuke continues his train of though on how Naruto has the same will as his family and they unseal Kurama, again it feels all too "forgiving" this chapter as I would expect Kurama to completely whoop his uchiha ass after what he did. Kurama has developed a lot in the war but he is still the nine tailed demon fox, not a puppy who forgives whoever wronged him.

Neji's funeral is shown which is always sad, poor Neji was the only rookie casualty in the war and that's very sad to see

Woohoo! Kakashi is the sixth, I knew that would happen considering how he was praised so many times for his leadership in the war, Kakashi is personally my favorite character and I always assumed he would become Hokage at some point, it's late but it finally happened in the end. Kakashi also sees Sasuke when he goes off on his journey to see the world, personally again I feel like this is all too easy for Sasuke. He did change in the end and become a better person but regretting your sins doesn't erase them, Sasuke attacked 5 kages, tried to kidnap the 8 tails, joined akatsuki and murdered many samurai and he just walks away from it all.... seems crazy to me.

Even after his second death Senju DNA still solves problems, it's how Righty and Lefty get their arms back. Sakura wants to go with Sasuke and he just shuts her down cold, he gives her enourmas forehead a tap with his fingers which is probably far easier to do than enduring months of being with her. He also thanks her again which is similar to how he left her in part 1.

699 ends with Naruto returning the headband he scratched in their first fight, reminding Sasuke that he is a ninja of Konoha and now begins the epilogue

Chapter 700: Epilogue time

Chapter 700 begins with a scene at the academy, class is over and the lecturer is Shino...yeah I barely remember who he is either, I think he fought Kankurou once and then faded into oblivion and now he shows up 600 chapters after he was relevant and somehow we're supposed to care. 

A student stands up and he's blonde, blue eyes and he has spiky hairs, I hope you like spoilers because he is Naruto's son! (hater's gonna hate). He invites his classmates to come see him do an awesome prank, more foreshadowing if you ask me really and someone who looks a bit lazy and is called Shikada tells him not to, are you ready for spoilers round 2? you'd better be because I think the second kid is Shikimaru's son!.

We see a young version of Sai (seriously? are all the kids wearing exactly as their parents?) and we also see a fat black girl, this was the hardest guess from me to be honest so props to whoever was able to guess her parents, she leaves the group and goes with Anko who is now slightly less attractive courtesy of eating an elephant's weight of dangos.

Hinata is visiting Neji's grave with her daughter who has whiskers, yeah tough guess on who her dad is and she mentions wanting to go with her brother as well. 

All we see of Lee

Lee is training with his son, roughly 3400 pushups so still beginner workouts I guess, Kishi doesn't even bother with Lee and we don't know who he marries or if that even is his son (I assume it is), I assume it's Tenten due to the next panel being about her and how she laments that the world is too peaceful now, don't you miss the days when half the world killed the other half? good times, good times...

Shikada reaches home and greets his mom Temari, another plot twist nobody saw coming, we also see adult Gaara and Kankurou and all they do is literally say "hi" and "we got to go". Why even show them if we aren't told of anything they are doing right now?

Kiba is flirting with some girl along with Akamaru, but more importantly we learn the identity of the young black girl, it's Karui and Chouji, remember how much chemistry those 2 had in all their scenes together? yeah me neither so I wonder where this pairing came from.

We see Asuma's child who is a girl, Kishi always mentioned wanting to make the baby a girl and she is going to see Kakashi and Gai. Those two are busy reminiscing about old times and their first fight, it is a bit sad to see Gai with a broken leg and knowing it won't even heal but I bet he can whip everyone's ass while sitting in that wheelchair. 

The previous Kages also get together and man does Oonoki look old now, it's also sad to see him that fragile and knowing he will probably die soon, he did mention something about a bad back once. Bee is meditating under a waterfall and thinks about visiting Naruto sometimes. 

Times have changed in Konoha, they even have laptops now which we see Naruto using while he talks to Shikimaru, I like how Shikimaru kept his word about how an idiot Hokage needs a smart adviser like the Hashirama had Tobirama so does Naruto have Shikimaru. 

Naruto goes to his son and tells him to clean up his mess immediately, remember when a similar blonde haired kid in an orange jumper did the same thing? this scene was surprisingly nostalgic and it's too similar to the first episode of Naruto.....damn it..

Iruka shows up and explains how Bolt just wants time with his dad and he gets his attention with pranks, again this is too similar to the start of the manga. Naruto explains how everyone in the village is his family and he can't always be with Bolt and tells him to be patient.

During all this time we see a black haired girl with glasses follow Bolt around during his day, she goes to her house and tells her mom (Sakura had the sex?!) that boys are stupid but that's how girls say they love someone in Mangas. Sasuke who is coming home draws his sword when he hears Sakura yelling. Well at least he's "reviving" the Uchiha clan now.

The Kages all meet together and we see who is who now, Darui is the 6th Raikage, a position well earned after he defeated the gold and silver brothers. Choujuro is the sixth Mizukage but I think it's only because we have so few characters from that village. Oonoki's granddaughter is the 4th Tchukage and Gaara is still the fifth of his land and they are all gathered to start the meeting that will make Naruto the 7th Hokage.

Shit.

Damn it.

It's over now and god I did not think I'd feel this way, what the hell I've made fun a ton of times of Naruto and now I am feeling nostalgic like this? it's not even the ending that is making me sad, honestly the ending is just acceptable, it's the fact that Naruto is done and there will never be another Naruto chapter ever. It's... I can't describe it but I am glad I was able to at least become a part of the community by writing a little every chapter. It's been a great experience for me and I'm grateful to every reader who ever came to this blog, I hope you enjoyed the ending of Naruto even though it's incredibly bittersweet. Thank you all for your comments and support.