#Naruto ch655: a nice ending to Naruto for the year. So many good, sad moments - and regret. #manga 

Related blog post: http://donkangoljones.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/naruto-ch655-a-nice-ending-to-naruto-for-the-year-so-many-good-sad-moments-and-regret-manga/

So this is the last chapter for the year. And it was a heavy one.
Obito is pretty much finished. Kakashi finally makes his way out of
the void to seal the deal, something Sasuke wasn't hesitant to try and
do himself, but it's Minato himself that stops his students from
killing themselves. And perhaps it makes a lot of sense. In a way,
Minato wasn't just the leader of the team, or the mentor, he was their
protector and dad. And even with his annointment as the 4th Hokage,
he still has a lot of regrets. Kakashi being the only member of the
group to survive in a sense being one of them. His Uchiha student
practically dies and comes back as the enemy of the world. And it
seems the whole team falls apart in the death of poor Rin. It's an
interesting situation in that it's an incredible and eerie parrallel
to Kakashi's own Team 7. They're pretty much the prequels to the
original Star Wars movies, in that they perfectly illustrate how
things can go incredibly wrong when you make decisions based on
emotion.

It sucks that in essence, when Obito questions Kakashi about how
Naruto has been so much more successful in his path, Kakashi basically
tells him that his will is stronger, and that it wins more support. I
can't imagine how it must feel to literally get a second chance at
life and to fail in your efforts and convictions right before the
finish line. Obito is fading away just enough to see the world move
on without him. Though it's not exactly over at the moment, he's
still alive, Madara is still haunting the battlegrounds and the evil
god tree is still standing.

The story continues, though it looks like Obito is done. And I'm a
little bit sad. He's actually shown himself to be a pretty good and
memorable character. He's been Naruto's "Shadow Link" the entire
series. For all the complaints about certain mangaka seemingly
pulling plot twists out of their butts. I thought Obito was very well
integrated throughout the entire story, enough so that I think it adds
to the depth and integrity of Part I, which despite my praise now is
still by far Naruto at its best.

I'm very much still glad that I'm following this series. And I think
this has been a worthwhile year of the series. Until next year fellow
Naruto fans.

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