Top 10 Naruto Moments: #4 and #3

Just today and tomorrow remains! Find out what we thought of two pivotal plot points involving the Uchiha brothers!

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Yesterday, we got over the hump of the countdown, so we’re in the home stretch! We are prepared for the greatest moments in Naruto! To be fair, any of the top 4 could have been number one, and for good reason. Today is dedicated to the brothers Uchiha. In at number four, is the culmination to Sasuke’s journey since Itachi ravaged the Uchiha clan.

#4: Sasuke Finally Confronts Itachi!

Naruto Shippuden Episodes 135 – 138

Yesterday, I touched on Itachi’s debut, and how much of a badass he was. Again, he gets tea, smack dab in the middle of the village that wants to arrest him. That’s not the only entity that wants him. Sasuke’s sole motive in life is to restore his clan and kill the person responsible for it almost dying off. That’s his brother, Itachi.

When we first meet Itachi, the fight between him and Sasuke can be best described as embarassing for Sasuke. Here’s why:

To show the growth in Sasuke, we have this:

The festivities start in 134, right after the death of Jiraiya. Sasuke gets his wish, and runs into one of Itachi’s clones. That clone tells him to come to an Uchiha hideout. In 135, he makes it, and it turns into the best drawn fight I have seen in a very long time. They continue in a battle of 1-up, with Sasuke thinking he got the upper hand with his sword going through the stone chair, and Itachi’s abdomen. You get what you think is a full on shuriken hailstorm, but it was a battle of genjutsu (mind control techniques). Eventually, Sasuke gets caught by Itachi shadow clones. Itachi says this was all a ploy to get Sasuke’s eyes to restore his vision. He takes Sasuke’s eyes, and reveals that this has been more genjutsu, specifically Tsukuyomi.

Sasuke has to break free, and the cursed mark is used to do it. That spikes the user’s chakra, and transforms them into something that resembles a demon. They both used their fireball techniques on the roof of the hideout, with Sasuke having as slight advantage. That was, until Itachi used Amateratsu. That burnt off Sasuke’s curse mark wings, and left Sasuke laying on the ground. Itachi moved in, but saw Sasuke shed his skin like a snake, thanks to Orochimaru’s training. The real Sasuke fell back down into the building, reading his next new technique,  Great Dragon Fire. It missed most of Itachi, but caught his arm. The heat in the technique caused it to rain, and had residual chakra that Sasuke can use. He charge up for his final attack, Kirin. That is literally a giant lightning dragon that is a one shot technique.

Sasuke scored a direct hit, but Itachi somehow got back up. He used the final technique from the Mangenkyo Sharingan, Susanoo. With Susanoo, it pulled out a legendary sword, The Sword of Totsuka. Giant Snakes then appeared out of Sasuke’s body, revealing Orochimaru and a bunch of giant snakes. The Sword of Totsuka sealed Orochimaru in an eternal dream, and sealed the remnants of the snakes in the sake jar that sheathed the sword. Sasuke attacked Itachi with futility, because all of his attacks were deflected by the Yata Mirror. He starts walking towards Sasuke, and as he reaches Sasuke, he pokes his forehead like he did when they were younger. Itachi then dies of exhaustion.

Sasuke held his own for most of the fight, pushing Itachi well past his limits. This served a dual purpose, because it also gave Itachi an opportunity to tell Sasuke the truth behind the death of his clan, saying it was Danzo tasked him, and Madara who helped for the sake of saving Sasuke. This was the fight where Itachi went from badass to a tragic badass.  Itachi did everything he could for the village, and had hoped Sasuke would go back to the village to help Naruto defeat the oncoming threat. However, it got Sasuke over the top and ready to take on a Jinchuriki. It also thrusted him into the “arms” of Tobi, who later reveals himself to be Madara. The first time I watched this fight, I was watching slack-jawed. I was in awe with how well the manga translated to animation. Me typing about it doesn’t do the fight justice. Just watch the fight on Hulu. There were very little, if any interjections from the other stories, and it focused on one of the fights the fans have waited the entire series to see.

Respect has to be given to the voice actors, Sasuke’s Yuri Lowenthal and Itachi’s Crispin Freeman. There was a chemistry between the two that not many would have been able to bring to this rivalry. This was the second big fight Sasuke was in, let’s take a look at the first!

#3: Sasuke and Naruto fight!

Naruto Episodes 107 and 108, and 127-134

So, we’ve seen the growth of Sasuke going through Shippuden, but how does he get out of Naruto’s grip so he can get that growth? Well, he just kicks the living shit out of Naruto!

The rivalry started out as a harmless rivalry, just two kids scuffling.

During the course of their frenemy-ship, they grew to respect one another, a lot. Naruto even considers Sasuke a brother. Sasuke always felt that he was superior to Naruto, but saw how he is coming into his role of a fantastic ninja.

However, Sasuke’s attitude takes a sharp 180 when Naruto defeats Gaara, and Itachi was there to “kidnap” Naruto. After the first encounter with Itachi, Sasuke is laid up in a hospital from the injuries he got. Sasuke just got fed up with it, and goaded Naruto into a fight on to of the hospital. The fight was innocent enough, until they break out their ultimate moves. Naruto charges up his Rasengan, while Sasuke loads up his Chidori. Sakura tries to stop them, and almost got hit by both, until Kakashi redirects their attacks into different water tanks. Sasuke brags that his hole was bigger, and Naruto walks off. Later on, Kakashi shows him that while one end was a tiny hole, the entire back end of the tank was blown out. This drives Sasuke nuts.

Sasuke was then contacted by Orochimaru’s Sound Ninja 4, who talk Sasuke into going with them back to Orochimaru in an urn that will give his cursed mark a second level. Choji, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto after them, with one taking on one each of the Sound Ninja. Naruto almost gets had by Kimimaro, except Lee takes over. Sasuke is done with the urn, so he goes off to Orochimaru, with Naruto in pursuit. Naruto finally catches up to Sasuke, who has no intent to listen to Naruto, or go back with him.

Naruto has the weight of a promise to bring Sasuke back for Sakura, so he does everything he has to so Sasuke comes back. That doesn’t work out exactly as planned, however. The new cursed mark, paired up with the Sharingan, made Naruto out to be a rag doll at times. But Naruto held his own for a bit.  Naruto uses the One Tail version of the Fox Demon Cloak, greatly increasing his speed and power. After taking a bit of a beating,  Sasuke powers up fully with the second version of  the Curse Mark.

The final attack left Naruto unconscious, and Sasuke able to walk away. Sasuke then drops his headband on Naruto and walks away, leaving Naruto for dead.

This fight could have been number one for the sheer fact that it set up the entirety of Shippuden. Unfortunately, the impact was deafened a lot because of the 80 episodes of filler garbage that came between this and the beginning of the second series. The impact of this was in full force in the manga, though. Over the course of  28 episodes, you see how much it meant to Sasuke to be the strongest possible and to have the ability to beat any enemy at any given time. Naruto sees this, and even calls him out on it, saying he passed by Sasuke. And of course, Sasuke is incensed by this. So, in theory, Naruto caused him to leave. Way to go, knucklehead.

This fight gives a small glimpse into what is in store with Sasuke and Naruto, because Naruto only had one tail. He is the vessel for the Nine-Tails, and had only one tail shown here during the fight. Also, at the end of Naruto, Sasuke only had the Sharingan, and barely acquainted with the curse mark. Only his time with Orochimaru could only benefit him, even with Orochimaru’s agenda to take his body.

With that said, we have two moments left on my list of unforgettable moments! Tune in tomorrow, because we get to see the two different outcomes to one very specific scenario. Want a hint? The Akatsuki is involved in both.