Foreshadowing / Naruto

• There's a short-term one from the Chuunin Exams- one of the Sound Genin tries to ambush Gaara at night (it goes exactly as you'd expect), and upon finding him awake, asks him if he ever sleeps. When Naruto fights Gaara at the climax of the Konoha Invasion arc (which occurs directly after the Chuunin Exams), we find out that no, Gaara never does sleep, for very good reasons. It's part of the reason he's so Ax-Crazy.
• In chapter 91, Gaara casually mentions Shukaku is more blood thirsty during the full moon. Over 350 chapters later, it is revealed the body of the creature the Shukaku was born from is sealed in the moon.
• On the title page of chapter 24, Sasuke is standing in a badass pose with snakes surrounding him. Guess who he ends up working for later on?
• The Rain Ninja in the Chuunin Exams seemed unduly interested in Naruto and Gaara. Turns out, the Akatsuki are based out of the Rain Village, and they are after Jinchuuriki.
• A really realllyyy long-in-the-coming revelation: when Itachi confronts Sasuke after the Uchiha Massacre he tells him to read the tablet below the Naka Shrine in the Uchiha household. Sasuke does as told, but his eyes are always blackened out when he does so. Some 300 chapters later we find out that the tablet was created by the Sage of The Six Paths himself and can only be read (partially) by the Sharingan and more fully by the Mangekyou Sharingan and Rinnegan. The foreshadowing? Sasuke actually unlocked his Sharingan for the first time during the aforementioned confrontation with Itachi, but he also saw Itachi cry shortly after that and could not cope or understand that, and so he repressed the memory along with his knowledge of activating the Sharingan.
• During Kakashi's bell test early in the series, Kakashi places a kunai on Sasuke's neck and tells Sakura, "Kill Naruto or else Sasuke is going to die". Hundreds of chapters later the same scenario is played out again in the back story of a major villain (except that this time it was for real).
• Itachi's parting words to Sasuke: "When you have the same eyes as I, come to me." Originally he was talking about Sasuke acquiring the Mangekyou Sharingan eye power, but now Sasuke has Itachi's eyes transplanted on him and he runs into a resurrected Itachi.
• Also, there are many foreshadowing related with Tobi and his real personality. In particular:
  • In the Three-tails filler arc, before any of the manga original hints of his true persona, there is a brief moment where Tobi is by himself and takes notice of the conflict between the titular beast and the Leaf Shinobi, causing him to exclaim "Well, lookie here..." in an at the time uncharacteristically serious and sinister tone. The real kicker, which may have been lost on first viewing since this is still 50-something episodes (i.e. about a year at the time of airing) before he actually drops the funny persona, is that Tobi's private voice is not the voice he uses as "Madara" later on.
  • During the fight between Deidara and Sasuke, he acts all goofy as usual until he gets away from the fight and mentally explains Deidara's C4 technique in all its details for the readers. It's the first clear hint of his Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • There's also a case of foreshadowing by absence. He is never shown using the Mangekyou Sharingan, presumably because his eye doesn't have Madara's distinctive design, which in retrospect, was probably the strongest clue that he isn't actually Madara, then it was finally revealed in a Wham Shot showing it to be identical to Kakashi's Mangekyou... along the fact Zetsu kept calling him Tobi even after he started to claim he was Madara.
  • A blink and you'll miss it moment basically foreshadows who he is. Early in Shippuden, Kakashi used Kamui on Deidara and it took off the man's arm. Tobi shows up with the arm but we don't see how or where he got it. Then we learn that Tobi can make himself intangible using some kind of ability related to his Sharingan. Of course he'd have Deidara's arm, he can go to the world Kakashi sends stuff in when he uses Kamui because he's Obito, who has the other Sharingan.
  • Also at one point Kakashi attempts to use Kamui against Tobi, only for him dismissing it by saying "Don't bother, Kakashi, that technique doesn't work on me." Hundred chapters later we learn that the technique Kamui and Tobi's powers are connected, because Tobi is Obito Uchiha from whom Kakashi's Sharingan comes from.
  • When he partially reveals his face to Sasuke to expose his Sharingan, you see it looks wrinkled, so you assume he's an old man. You would be wrong. Those are actually the scars from where Obito's skin streched and deformed from the boulders smashing half his face.
  • Tobi's remark to Sasuke about understanding how confusing it is when "some weirdo takes you in and starts saying shocking things" suddenly makes sense when you realize that his second encounter with Sasuke paralleled how he met Madara.
  • In the same scene, he somehow survives being set afire by an Amaterasu trap set by Itachi. He reflects that it was a good thing he kept some secrets from Itachi. Also, later, we see a repository of Sharingan in his laboratory but why does he need these eyes if he does not use them? This hints that he has another eye and the secret which he kept from Itachi is Izanagi.
  • When speaking to Sasuke, his account of the warring clan era doesn't paint himself in a good light at all. Additionally, at the Kage Summit, he chuckles when the Kages accuse him of enacting the Assimilation Plot for the sake of his god complex. This turns out to be a hint of his Teeth-Clenched Teamwork with the real Madara.
  • Itachi reminded Naruto not to bear the weight of peace all by himself, or else he would become like Tobi. After it is revealed that he was actually Naruto's parallel in Team Minato, it suddenly makes a lot of sense.
  • When Naruto and Bee confront Tobi, he tries to persuade them to accept the Moon's Eye Plan by stating that anyone with a tailed beast sealed in them faces a life of despair. His witnessing of Rin's suicide due to having a tailed beast forced upon her led to the entire fiasco.
• Ever since Rock Lee and Guy introduced the eight inner gates and the lethal consequences of opening all of them people have been waiting to see it happen to one of them. Guy opened the last one in order to fight Madara, and his father Might Dai died from using Gate of Death against the original Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
• Also a very subtle one regarding the resurrection of Madara Uchiha during the Fourth Shinobi World War and his actual role in the plot: Namely that he was a puppet on the strings of Kaguya and Black Zetsu. His resurrection and how he raised to become the next Sage of the Six Paths and enact the Moon’s Eye Plan at first look like the carefully orchestrated scheme from a typical Chessmaster Manipulative Bastard... until you look at it closely and realize that it hinges on what at first seems like a complete accident: He never planned to come back through the Edo Tensei. If Kabuto had not found Madara’s corpse and resurrected him in order to blackmail Obito, Madara would have remained dead and his ambition would never have come to fruition, as Obito was planning to take the Moon’s Eye Plan for himself and never intended to bring back Madara in the first place. For such a manipulative Big Bad to enter the plot in such a coincidental way seems odd, hinting that his resurrection was actually arranged by somebody else.
  • When Tobi asks Kabuto how he was able to get ahold of a resurrected Madara, Kabuto simply replies that he had his methods without going into further detail. This plot point remained unexplained for the remainder of the series... until Black Zetsu revealed that it was the one who led Kabuto to where Madara's body was buried.
  • The first hint that there might be something suspicious about his resurrection happens during Hashirama’s recollection of their final battle. After defeating Madara, Hashirama briefly catches the glimpse of something or someone in the periphery. He also states that he suspects someone resurrected Madara. While Madara survived the battle in the Valley of the End through his own means, it’s later revealed that the presence that Hashirama saw was the Black Zetsu, who was observing the battle all along and later played a crucial role in Madara coming back to life the second time.
• While the revelation that Princess Kaguya was the real Final Boss did come out of nowhere, there was some foreshadowing that she was more sinister than we thought. For one, her violent tactics caused her to be feared as a demoness as opposed to the goddess like she was initially. Then an offhand comment reveals that she had used the Infinite Tsukuyomi once before. Also during Madara's fight with Naruto, a mysterious voice tells him to absorb the Shinju and when he does, we're treated to a black panel showing only a pair of Byakugan and a Rinne Sharingan eye. However, the most prevalent piece foreshadowing comes when Madara activates the genjutsu once again; her silhouette appears to overlook the landscape with a very visible and very startling Slasher Smile on her face. That was the most visible clue in that despite her good intentions, there was something off about her.
  • After its third transformation, Juubi senses chakra of Bijuu & Sage of Six Paths within Naruto, causing it to freak out. After that it charges a massive bijuudama in order to finish Naruto off. However, it does something unusual for a bijuu, forming a hand seal. This unexplained rage from an entity that was supposed to be devoid of any feeling as well as doing something a human does to control chakra was an indication about it being more than just what characters told about it till that point, which now fits with revelation about Kaguya's history.
• One subtle moment is in Part 1, when Itachi and Kisame are first introduced. After being hit with the Tsukuyomi, Kakashi wonders why Itachi is bothering to drag things out, and that Itachi could very easily land the killing blow on Kakashi if he so wanted. This foreshadows Itachi's hidden loyalty to Konoha. This is supported by Itachi's earlier statement to Asuma and Kurenai about preferring to avoid killing them, although Asuma finds it hard to believe due to Itachi's killing his own clan.
• Itachi advises Naruto not to shoulder the world's fate by himself, otherwise he would turn out like Madara. More than a hundred chapters later, Sasuke is revealed to be the direct reincarnation of Madara... and his ultimate goal is to shoulder the world's hatred by himself to bring lasting peace.
• Just before he dies, Asuma tells Shikamaru that one day he may become Hokage, fast-forward almost 20 years later and he's now taken the mantle of Eighth Hokage, after the disappearance and presumed death of Naruto.
• After Obito returned from watching Rin die at the hands of Kakashi and massacring the Mist ninja, Madara showed no surprise at his return and instead of consoling him, promptly made him his heir to the Eye of the Moon Plan. This foreshadows Madara being the one who was manipulating both Rin and the Hidden Mist, so that Obito would watch her die and lose all his idealistic spirit, moulding him to be his pawn.

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