There's been a good deal of back and forth over Madara's current power, but I would bet money that he's easily the strongest Uchiha and possibly the strongest character currently.

Sasuke may have finally gotten the MS, but from Madara's interactions with the other Akatsuki and Sasuke along with his revealed abilities, I don't see how the old man isn't incredibly powerful.

Sasuke is a very good shinobi, but without the MS he's still not in the highest tier of fighters. I'm not even sure if you can say he is with the MS. If he abuses the MS then he'll just be an Itachi clone, and frankly I don't want that.

In my mind the final villain candidates are Madara and Nagato. No one else really comes close.

 

As I haven't actually seen Madara do anything 'sides teleport a bit, I'm not sure.

If he isn't, he will be soon though. Has to be an epic Naruto/Sasuke fight.

 

I'd say Madara still takes that spot. But I suppose it's entirely possible, given Sasuke's treatment throughout the series, that that'll change soon.

 

This is pure speculation, something that keeps rolling around in my head but I'd be interested in what you guys think.

One of Pain's bodies was confirmed dead before it became a 'path' of Pain. If the sixth paths of Pain were all really dead before before this transformation, I wonder if Zetsu's role as hunter-nin; collecting the dead Akatsuki and their belongings to protect the organisation's secrets has an ulterior motive.

I'm wondering if Zetsu's collecting dead Akatsuki for the creation of a new 'Sixth Paths of Pain', one comprised of the S-ranked ninja's who died in Akatsuki's service.

Don't forget Jiraiya as well.

Makes sense to me but it's Kisihi's world after all.

 

I've actually been expecting Jiraiya's body to turn up sooner or later, though I reckon it'll be at a major battle against Naruto...

 

Frankly I don't think that we'll be seeing another incarnation of Pain past the current six.

Yahiko's body is clearly important to Nagato. Once it's gone and Pain is destroyed you can bet Nagato will come out himself and we'll finally get to see what the Rinnegan is really all about.

As far as saving the Akatsuki bodies...

Zetsu eats the bodies we've seen him taking care of.

The actually bodies of Pain aren't any better or worse than Akatsuki members.

The Akatsuki were powerful because of their abilities and ninjutsu - not because they were inherently faster or stronger than an average high level ninja. Deidara had his clay, Kakuzu had his Jiongu, Sasori had his puppets, Orochimaru had his freaky experimental body, Hidan had his ritual.

Using their corpses for the Pain Rikudou wouldn't add anything to Pain's effectiveness because he wouldn't be able to use their jutsu from what we know. They can only use the Realm techniques.

Jiriaya's corpse won't be showing up either.

What would the point of that be other than to rile up Naruto? The kid is already pissed off enough as it is, he doesn't need more incentive to destroy Pain.

Once Naruto overcomes the Pain Rikudou we won't be seeing it again because it won't be effective against Nagato's target.

 

I'll go with Howdy on this one. Its already getting to the point where the confrontations start and the "world will be destroyed by villain or saved by Naruto" theme is being foreshadowed rather heavily. There's no more time left for Kishi to play games with the characters.

Though I wouldn't put it past Kishimoto to have Kabuchimaru use Edo Tensei to summon the Yondaime and Jiraiya if/when he faces Naruto.

 

^^That would actually be fairly awesome...Even if Naruto would get RAPED.

 

I'm actually wondering what'd happen if Naruto used Shiki Fuujin in such a situation. Would he be able to get away alive if he gave up the Kyuubi's soul to the Shinigami along with the soul of the target? After all, the Kyuubi's soul is linked to his - it might count for the necessary sacrifice he needs to make.

EDIT: Here are some of the spoiler pics for this week's episode -

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/5200/786660fv5.jpg
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/8494/790450vf7.jpg[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif]
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3566/793250ac4.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/103/796530mv9.jpg

[/FONT]http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/6715/467690xv5xn5.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6191/520140oh2.jpg

The translation for the last pic for those interested -

Spoiler

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif]The images of Jiraiya and Minato at Naruto's back is likely how Tsunade is seeing Naruto.
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif]Naruto says, "Having the Hokage of Konoha come out to fight guys like this...Granny, go and drink some tea."
Tsunade just says "Naruto..."
Sakura says, "What just happened? I can't see from this distance."
Hiashi says, "Its incredible. He took one one of the Pain's in an instant."
Sakura thinks "Naruto, you..."
Gamabunta says something, the text is very difficult to read but I think it goes something like "Hey Gramps, doesn't think make you think of those two guys in the past?"[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif]
[/FONT][/FONT]

 

Okay 430 is up on onemanga now, but for those of you who can't handle reading out of focus or grainy as fuck scans, probably should wait for a better release.

All in all, I'm waiting for the next chapters with glee. :awesome

Edit: Naruto's coat and Toad soldiers are legit!

 

I was surprised that it was outright stated that Naruto's surpassed both Jiraiya and Minato this chapter...guess that toad training really pays off. Makes some sense though I guess, he does have to contend with a guy that just trampled over his village, though there mustn't have been all that much of a difference between HM Jiraiya and Minato if that's the case.

Meh

I just want a good fight for once.

 

RIP Mr Roboto... Again.

Looks like we're gonna have a good chapter later this week.

 

I am looking forward to a huge brawl as well. I wonder how the sage techniques mesh with kyuubi's chakra or if they even can. I would think kyuubi's power is similar to the sage stuff on some level as they are both natural forces.

 

Kyuubi's chakra is just the regular old ninja kind, despite what some fanfiction might tell you.

It's the reason why the jinchuuriki can sense it and manipulate it, and why it can exist within their bodies as part of their chakra systems.

Natural energy is a bit different in that normally humans can't sense or manipulate it at all.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the manga Naruto learns to super-charge his senjutsu by combining natural energy with his massive Kyuubi chakra instead of simply balancing his normal chakra with it.

 

I think it would would be more of him using a fusion of the three to gain all benefits and none of the drawbacks. For instance, using a Sage!Kyuubi!Human!chakra would enhance his body past it's litmits, but the corrosive nature of Kyuubi's chakra would be counterbalance by the invulnurability of Sage chakra.

 

Ah, I am sure that will pop up at some point in time. With the natural energy, I thought it was just essentially the same energy type as Naruto's or Kyuubi's chakra, just that its source was from the natural world. He uses it on a similar principal as his own for the most part it seems, but thats just my assumption.

 

If you motherfuckers havn't seen the new chapter of Naruto, I suggest you do so now.

Here.

 

After years of the frogs not being used, they came back with a vengeance. Bunta even picked on that poor doggy.

Edit:The fight is far from over though. Did anyone else notice hell realm stayed behind? It was probably how the other realms kept getting healed after Jiraiya took them out, and Pein must be planning more of the same here.

 

Pwnage by Naruto and Company . . . finally!

Any side bets on us getting to see the new move next chapter or not?

 

Lawl at "Naruto erupts". Next chapter better not be so one-sided or this shit's going to get boring fast.