Naruto 503

After forcing Madara to retreat, Minato sets his sights on stopping the fox.

Gamabunta rides the nine-tails in the 203rd Giant Toad Rodeo competition.

Summary:
Minato hits Madara in the back with the Raesangan and uses the opportunity to put his mark on Madara's body. Madara recovers and tries to back away, but Minato teleports right in front of him (using the mark he planted). Minato wounds Madara on the left arm with his kunai and then hits Madara with a contract seal and thus severs the link between Madara and the demon fox. Madara decides that a strategic retreat is in order, but he promises Minato that he'll make the world bow to his will before teleporting away.

Meanwhile at the edge of Konoha, shinobis led by the Third are trying to drive the demon fox back, and in the midst of the battle Iruka's parents are injured. Iruka wants to be with his parents, but his father tells him to get away. Elsewhere, the juvenile ninjas of the village are rounded up and placed inside a barrier for their safety. Back at the village outskirts, the fox prepares to fire another chakra ball, but Minato arrives and summons Gamabunta to hold down the fox so that Minato gather enough chakra to teleport the fox away. Seconds later, Minato and the fox are transported out of the village to where Kushina. Kushina uses her remaining chakra to tie down the demon fox and is prepared to drag the fox back into herself and die in order to save both Minato and Naruto. However, Minato has another idea where he will seal half of the fox's powers and himself away with a Dead Demon Seal and seal the remaining half and Kushina's last bit of chakra into Naruto. Minato believes in Jiraiya's theory that a great conflict will soon arise in the world and thinks that Naruto may be the destined savior. As the Third arrives, Minato begins to perform the Dead Demon Seal.

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So this is the chapter with the big answers: it explains why both Minato and Kushina are sealed inside of Naruto. For such an important piece of the story, I didn't find this chapter too compelling. That action was good, but my main beef with this chapter is that it didn't convey enough sense of urgency. Maybe it's just me, but it should be a really really desperate situation for Minato to arrive at the conclusion that he should put both his life and his wife's life away to seal the fox inside his newborn son, but near the end of the chapter Minato and Kushina had the fox handled for the moment with help not far away. It certainly didn't help that Madara retreated rather quickly, although I was expecting the guy to retreat once Minato landed a good shot on him. I guess you could say Minato was looking at the "big picture" and wanted Naruto to have the tools to save the world.

Anyways, the next chapter will probably be the conclusions to Kushina's story. All that's left is for Minato to perform the seal and that should be about it.