Well, I loved the episode.

I mean, okay, it was mostly flashbacks, and the rehashed flashbacks in the beginning of the first episode sucked, but the other flashbacks were answering a shit-ton of questions about the series. Who is Madara, what does he do, why did Itachi REALLY spare Sasuke, eternal sharingan, why the Nine-tails attacked Konoha...

And wtf that was outta NOWHERE! it was almost a throwaway comment. "Oh btw the Mangekyou also controls the Ninetails." BWUH!?

Two questions this raised for me though.

1. If the Eternal Sharingan is so badass, how the hell did the first ever defeat Madara. From what they've shown so far, he had wood powers. That's cool and all, but it's no Sharingan. I guess if Madara was relying on controlling the Nine-tails, and the First also had the power to tame the Nine-tails, but those two powers just seem to cancel each other out. How did he not just get his ass beat one-one-one with Madara?

2. What does Madara want with Itachi and Sasuke? And why did he want the Uchiha clan wiped out. I have a theory. Since they got the Magekyou for killing their best friend, and the Eternal for taking their brothers eyes, I'm wondering if, after failing twice to conquer Konoha, if Madara is trying to gain another powerup. Like he has a theory that if he steals another set of Eternal Sharingan's it'll give him even more powerful eyes, so he's hoping one of them will emerge with it after this battle.

But yeah, I liked all the backstory even more than I liked the actually fighting.

Quote Originally Posted by Kraco
One thing I never understood is how there are no dead birds left behind when Itachi's bird clone is revealed. The body has suffered damage so surely the damage should sometimes hit one of the birds making up the fake body. Like in this episode a whole arm was sawn off, yet all the birds miraculously survived.
I was under the impression that the bird clones are entirely Genjutsu, so there's nothing to kill. And even if they aren't Genjutsu, they'd be summoned, which means they'd just poof away if you stabbed one.