From what I can tell, it was a grazing hit.
Every other Rasengan KO we've seen has been a centre of mass direct hit.
I will point out that even Minato's Rasengan didn't KO him, and he's had sixteen years since then to improve.
Now if it had been an FRS....

 

Kinda makes you wonder why it was not. Or better yet, that small bijuudama we saw in the previous chapter. A hit from either would likely have been instantly fatal. Now Tobi knows they have a way to hurt him, and will be on his guard, so the trick will be harder to repeat.

 

easy: kakashi will explain the trick and tobi will just come up with a more powerful hax jutsu.

that barrier looked kind of OP as well i think. the 8 tails punch should wreck anything but susaano or somehting along those lines and tobi pulled that just out of his ass without any preparation.

 

When you have giant, chakra-using animals as a possible enemy, it's understandable that there'd be some high-level techniques to counter them.

 

no, i rather think this is just one more example of the dragonballization that naruto has been going through. remember when orochimaru summoned this gate thing to block 4 tailed naruto? that was a cool move that looked like it took effort. not just: uchiha barrier no jutsu.

 

The only difference between how Tobi and Orochimaru did their respective technique was that the latter bit his thumbs first. Your comments make no sense.

Plus Tobi appears to be an S-rank ninja who's been around for god knows how long, and his life's ambition revolves around the use of giant monsters. It's not surprising that he has jutsu for situations like these.

 

I have to agree. No ninjutsu barrier should be strong enough to effortlessly repel a hit like that from the second most powerful of the bijuu. There have been some really powerful techniques used throughout this series, but they were always given plenty of build-up and a decent explanation. I personally would really appreciate a bit more of an explanation for why it's so incredibly powerful.

Anyway, all I have to say about the latest chapters is that I'm terribly relieved that Kabuto's mass Edo Tensei is finished. Talk about a shitty plot device. Madara surviving gets my full approval, though. He's just about the only character left who could give Naruto a beat-down. Hopefully he stomps and kills a few of the kages now. If none of them die, I'm calling bullshit. Madara has the strongest combination of kekkei genkai in the world, regenerates from all injuries (even death blows) almost instantaneously, and has unlimited chakra. There's no realistic way he could lose. Also, the fact that he's free from Kabuto's control means he's now able to pursue his own ambitions, which I'm curious to learn about.

 

i would say tobi is doing a pretty fine job at that himself at the moment. naruto really hasn´t had his big moment yet in this war. he did beat the 3rd raikage, that has been it so far. nagato has been dealt with by itachi and without kakashi, gai and bee to help him tobi would have already beaten him easily. we´ll have to see what kishi has in store for his titular character.

 

Being saved by Sasuke, what else? It's obvious at this point that Kishimoto is angling to make this a Sharingan-is-the-only-solution-to-the-Sharingan manga these days, proof particular being Kakashi's Kamui as the key to finally damaging Tobi.

 

I have seen here somewhere theory, about Nawaki Senju being Tobi. What do you think about other Senju, I have in mind Tobirama Senju. He was known for time-space ninjutsu and also segregating/hating Uchiha, so helping in killing them can be understood. I know he should have white hair, but maybe they are dyed? We didn't really see his death by Kumo squad.

 

But we saw him summoned with Impure World Reincarnation, so unless he somehow splitted his soul in Voldemort's style, it can't be him. And if it's possible then the theory about Tobi being Madara's second half is more plausible than Tobirama willingly working with him as was suggested in the story.

 

There would also be no need for Tobi to ask Kabuto to explain Edo Tensei to him. I think that Tobi is a legit Uchiha on some level. That he wears the symbol on his back - which is purely cosmetic - lends this some credence for me.

 

Why shouldn't a ninjutsu barrier from the ultimate villain be strong enough to repel a really strong punch? It's only the Hachibi, and it's clear to me that the higher calibre ninja; Minato, Sandaime Raikage, Yondaime Kazekage, and so on and so forth, are able to match or exceed the strength of the bijuu of their respective villages. Why can't Tobi repel a punch? It's just a punch. A concentrated chakra blast is a totally different story; that's what Orochimaru's Rashoumon gates "repelled"...

But this is just a punch. The guy's face mask is strong enough to take a head on collision with Kyuubi-fied Naruto, who can crush boulders with his fingers...you should expect an actual chakra using jutsu to be outrageous.

 

True enough. The problem for me with Tobi is that he has so many hax abilities and basically none of them have really been explained or justified adequately. There's nothing really concrete about his character. He's just a random Gary Stu villain who goes around doing mildly evil stuff for no apparent reason, except some hokey scheme to hypnotise everyone, which I doubt is really his ultimate motive. Hopefully the revelation of his true identity will help to substantiate why he's so powerful.

 

New chapter is up with plenty of explanation about Tobi's ability - It still casts doubt whether he's actually Obito or simply took his eye:

http://www.mangahere.com/manga/naruto/v60/c597/

 

Took Obito's eye.
Called it.

Now I wanna see a fic where Obito survived Kannabi bridge instead of Kakashi; that jutsu would be scary.

 

Seems like it.

But now I'm not so sure he's even an Uchiha, despite wearing their symbol.

Still waiting to see the big reveal.

Now that we know that neither of his current eyes are his own, the notion that he is Izuna becomes far more likely. However, I still like to think that he's from an older generation than the Madara/Hashirama one based on his extensive knowledge of, well, everything.

 

I'm fairly sure he's Uchiha.
Given the hints we've gotten that he and Madara are/were in cahoots, that's a pretty safe bet.
His performance against Minato, though makes him of an older generation than pretty much everyone alive excepting the Tsuchikage.
Izuna or an OC is where I'd put my money.
One of the Sage's children as an outside bet.

 

Izuna is definitely the lead suspect. With the Obito Eye, since (according to a timeline that someone put together) Obito died somewhere around a year before Tobi attacked Konoha. During that year, the recipient of that eye would have to adjust to its use, evolve it from two tomoe to three, then to Mangekyou, then master its power to a level that it can be used to take on a man with an SS-class flee-on-sight order AND genjutsu the Kyuubi into submission. In one year. Probably immensely easier if you've already had a Sharingan that was fully evolved to Mangekyou at one point.

That said, the body of Izuna was shown and he was pronounced dead, and if it was him that means that (assuming the body was a fake and he's been alive the whole time) Izuna has been walking around for approx. 70 years without eyes before stumbling across the body of one insignificant Uchiha child under a rockpile in a random part of an active warzone. I'm almost wondering if Izuna was resurrected sometime during the Third Shinobi War and given the Sharingan. But that would mean that there is ANOTHER big bad. Ahh, goddamn Epilectic Trees.

 

Note that Izuna wasn't necessarily wandering around blind, just without Sharingan eyes.
If he is the culprit, it would be a relatively trivial affair to jack some random shinobi for their normal eyes and use those until he obtained Sharingan replacements.
It would also help explain why he has a warehouse full of spare eyes; having lost his eyes once, he is going out of his way to avoid repeating the experience.