Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-24142271-20140918120849/@comment-4271790-20140918200518

Back to the topic at hand, due to chapter 692, I now know what Sasuke meant by "cutting away the past" (and what Naruto's picture in the Team 7 snapshot being cut in half meant) in this episode. "The past" is the former and current Kage and the system they created, and he knew Naruto would eventually get in the way of his future plans for Revolution, and intended on doing two things: One -- to kill Naruto who would would get in his way of his plans to be Hokage (evidenced by Naruto's snapshot being cut in half and the end of chapter 692), and Two -- by "cutting away the past," Sasuke means killing the current Kage and eliminating the past system they created (also evidenced by chapter 692, by Sakura's remembering of Sasuke's statement in chapter 631 in the recent chapter, with him saying "All the Kages up until now, they created this situation," meaning the past/current system is what led to wars, following with, "So I'm going to become Hokage and change the village," or change the past/current system, to put it more accurately). He only saved Naruto from Obito knowing he'd try to take out Naruto later because he knew that Naruto was needed for the fight that is taking place in this episode (and the later chapters). Silly Naruto thinks Sasuke was saving him all those times because of what happened in the battle against Haku in Part I, LOL.