I am sad that the waterfall of truth episode ended so soon. Felt the sudden realisation of truth by Naruto to be too quick.
Meeting Kushina was unexpected but getting to know the entire story was not at all expected.
Loved the cross over between Kushina and Mommy Uchiha . Loved baby Itachi.
Cannot wrap up my head round the idea of using a lady as a jinchuriki and then letting her experience something that is definitely a recipe for disaster.
The writer kind of tried to explain why Naruto was chosen.

Didnot like the dialogue in which the father stresses on the woman to at least give him a grandchild before she does something reckless.
Maybe I am too immatured to accept the basic evolutionary need as of now. ( )

Few people do training story arcs like Masashi Kishimoto. Sure, for the longest time it seemed like Yoshihiro Togashi of Yu Yu Hakusho fame was the shonen manga-ka most (in)famous for his training arcs, which were usually very long and very multi-layered, but recently Kishimoto has shown us what he can really do with some age-old genre tropes, and what comes out of all of this is volume fifty-three of Naruto, in which Naruto fights himself and then fights inside himself, only to find some unexpected assistance from a character I did not expect to see return any time soon. This volume is not so much the birth of Naruto – though it is that too – as much as the rebirth of Naruto, in which he embraces who he truly is and uses it to his own advantage in some incredible character growth that is much needed after what seemed like volumes of the young man struggling with his own self-identity. In short, if you are a fan of the series' title orange-clad character, this is a volume of Naruto to marvel and enjoy and possible get a bit teary over.

You can read the rest of my lengthy (spoiler-filled!) review over at Nagareboshi Reviews! ( )

So this entire sequence was awesome. Not only do we have an epic battle with himself, but Naruto is taking on his demon as a one-on-one battle... sort of.

I always wondered what his mother was like, and even more so, I wanted to know about the full circumstances of the demon fox's sealing and Naruto's parent's deaths. So much pathos. I loved it. ( )

I loved the waterfall of truth sequence. We all have a bit of negativity hidden in our hearts, be it anger, resentment, hatred, ego, etc. This volume taught me that accepting and acknowledging that ugly part is important to eradicate it.

Full manga review at https://anushanarasimhan.com/2015/12/19/naruto-manga-review/ ( )

Okay, so this volume is blatantly emotionally manipulative, what with Minato and Kushina tearfully fighting over which one of them will have to die, and Minato leaving a mortally wounded Kushina with newborn Naruto so she could have a little more time with him. And it totally worked on me. I cried.

I think this was Kushina's first appearance in the series, and I had been looking forward to it for a long time. Naruto's excitement over hearing his mom say “You know” just like him was adorable, and I kind of wish I could have gotten to see more happy Kushina, Minato, and Naruto, even though that would have meant delaying the story. While this volume was technically about Naruto training to fully control Nine Tails (which happened way faster than I expected – I guess even Kishimoto was feeling impatient), it was really about Naruto and his family, and I very much enjoyed that.

Which isn't to say that this volume was perfect. I didn't like that young Kushina went from wanting to be the next Hokage to wanting to be the wife of the Fourth Hokage. Her “we fell in love because he rescued me” story was lame. And I found the whole story about pregnancy and childbirth weakening the seal binding Nine Tails to be frustrating. If that were the case, then why would any girls ever be made into jinchuriki?

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )