It’s been over a decade since Masashi Kishimoto put down his pen on the original run, but Naruto Shippuden manga chapter 700 remains one of the most polarizing, nostalgic, and debated finales in the history of Shonen Jump. Some people hated the "shipping" wars results. Others cried because the orange-clad underdog finally got his face on the mountain. Honestly, looking back at it now through a 2026 lens, the chapter feels less like an ending and more like a time capsule of an era when weekly manga releases defined the internet's pulse.
Naruto won. He’s the Seventh Hokage. He has a family. But the chapter does way more than just hand out trophies.
The Full-Color Leap into the Future
The first thing you noticed if you were reading back in November 2014 was the color. Kishimoto didn’t just give us a few lead pages; the entire finale was in full color. It was vibrant. It felt expensive. It felt earned.
The story skips ahead about fifteen years. The war is a memory. The world is industrialized. You see skyscrapers behind the Hokage Rock and Naruto is sitting in an office buried under a mountain of paperwork. It’s a bit of a "be careful what you wish for" moment. He wanted the title, and now he’s a middle-aged bureaucrat trying to keep the peace in a world that’s moving faster than he is.
What's wild is how much technology changed. In Naruto Shippuden manga chapter 700, we see a modern Konoha. There are laptops. There are handheld gaming consoles. It was Kishimoto's way of saying the era of the shinobi—at least the gritty, war-torn version we knew—was officially over.
The Next Generation Sneak Peek
Most of the chapter serves as a "where are they now" montage, but it focuses heavily on the kids. We meet Boruto, Sarada, Shikadai, and the rest of the class. It’s basically a mirror of the original Team 7 dynamics but shuffled.
Boruto Uzumaki is a brat. Let’s be real. He’s defacing the Hokage monument just like his dad did in Chapter 1. But the context is different. Naruto did it because he was lonely and wanted someone—anyone—to look at him. Boruto does it because his dad is too busy being looked at by everyone else. It’s a subtle bit of character writing that people often overlook when they’re complaining about Boruto’s attitude in the sequel series.
Relationships and the "Great Shipping War"
If you were on Tumblr or Reddit the day Naruto Shippuden manga chapter 700 leaked, you remember the chaos. The "ships" were finally canonized, and it wasn't quiet.
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Naruto and Hinata. Sasuke and Sakura. Shikamaru and Temari. Sai and Ino.
For some fans, Sakura ending up with Sasuke felt like a slap in the face after everything he’d done. But Kishimoto leaned into the idea of "Atonement." Sasuke isn’t even in the village for most of the chapter. He’s out wandering the world, a shadow protector. It fits his character, even if it makes for a pretty lonely domestic life for Sakura.
Then you have the Hinata pairing. It was the culmination of a decade of buildup that really peaked during the Pain arc. By the time we get to chapter 700, they have two kids, Boruto and Himawari. Seeing Naruto as a father is surreal. This is the kid who used to eat expired ramen alone in a dark apartment. Now he’s complaining about his son’s behavior to Iruka-sensei.
Why the Modern Konoha Setting Matters
A lot of fans felt the sudden jump to computers and skyscrapers was jarring. Ninja with iPads? It felt wrong to some. But look at the real-world timeline Kishimoto was working with. He spent 15 years writing this. In 1999, when Naruto started, we weren't all carrying smartphones. By 2014, the world was unrecognizable.
The industrialization of Konoha in Naruto Shippuden manga chapter 700 represents the "Peace" Naruto fought for. War stalls progress. Peace accelerates it. The presence of a laptop on Naruto’s desk is the ultimate proof that the Great Shinobi War actually changed things. It’s a meta-commentary on our own world, too.
The Symbolism of the Final Panels
The chapter ends on a high note, literally. We see the Five Kage meeting—Gaara, Darui, Chojuro, Kurotsuchi, and Naruto. They look older. Some look tired. But they aren't fighting.
The very last panel isn't a fight. It's not a cliffhanger. It’s a shot of Naruto’s Hokage cloak from the back as he looks out over the village. It mirrors the iconic shots of the Fourth Hokage, Minato. The cycle is complete. The orphan is the father of the village.
It’s worth noting that Kishimoto didn’t give us a big "The End" in the traditional sense. He gave us a "To Be Continued" in spirit, which eventually led to the Boruto series. But even if you ignore the sequel, chapter 700 stands as a solid, emotional bookmark.
Common Misconceptions About the Ending
People often think chapter 700 was the very last piece of Naruto content Kishimoto worked on. Not true. He followed it up with Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring, a mini-series that actually explains a lot of the gaps between the war and the finale.
Another big one: "Naruto's dream was to be Hokage, so the ending is perfect."
Kinda.
But if you look closely at the dialogue in Naruto Shippuden manga chapter 700, Naruto doesn't actually seem "happy" in the way we expected. He’s exhausted. He’s stressed. The dream wasn't a destination; it was a responsibility. That's a much more "adult" takeaway than most Shonen series dare to give.
How to Revisit Chapter 700 Today
If you're going back to reread it, don't just look at the kids. Look at the backgrounds. Look at the way the village has expanded into the surrounding forests.
- Check the gravestones. There are subtle nods to those lost in the war, specifically Neji.
- Look at Kurama. We get a brief shot of the Nine-Tails sleeping. He’s at peace too. No longer a weapon, just a grumpy roommate.
- Observe the statues. The Hokage Rock now includes Kakashi (the Sixth) and Naruto (the Seventh).
Naruto Shippuden manga chapter 700 isn't just a list of who married whom. It's a study in transition. It’s about what happens after the "Chosen One" saves the world and has to figure out how to live in it.
To get the most out of the experience, read it alongside The Last: Naruto the Movie. That film bridges the gap between chapter 699 and 700, explaining how Naruto and Hinata actually got together. Then, go back and look at the first chapter of the original series. The visual parallels Kishimoto draws between the two are staggering and show a level of long-term planning that most mangaka can only dream of.
Stop viewing it as the end of a story and start viewing it as the start of a legacy. That’s the only way the technological shifts and the "dad-bod" Naruto designs actually make sense. It’s a masterpiece of closure, even with its flaws.