L'art pour l'art

Chapter 146

... and his arms.

Chapter 147

Naruto is introduced to a very unique kind of stranger danger.

Chapter 148

Naruto watches his teammate/rival/sexual identity crisis get beaten up and immediately swears retribution. He is more motivated by defending a friend than by protecting himself from the threat to his own life.

Chapter 149

Further proof that no one so far has taken the time to take Naruto aside an inform him what exactly the kyuubi is and what it means to be its vessel. In chapter 1, Naruto was violently informed that he is a jinchuuriki and then he received virtually no further guidance.

They just let this traumatized 12-year-old tough things out.

Chapter 150

Naruto has never been to a street fair or festival before. Potentially because, in Konoha, he would not have been welcomed.

Naruto, who grew up in poverty, has been diligently saving his salary from his missions (at least one which almost ended deadly), is promptly relieved of said money by his godfather/sensei and instead only given a measly allowance. Like, that is the definition of financial abuse.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya loses his own checkbook, which is found by Naruto, revealing that he actually has plenty of money. Nevertheless, out of the goodness of his heart, Naruto decides to spend the rest of his allowance to buy a snack for Jiraiya.

Jiraiya, potentially due to losing his own money, decides to spend all of Naruto's on booze and sex workers. In spite of the fact that Naruto had two formidable Akatsuki members after him like five minutes ago, Jiraiya once more felt like was okay to go get drunk and chase skirts.

Chapter 151

Jirayai leaves Naruto alone yet again, apparently at the outskirts of town where he would be even more vulnerable. Could Naruto not have trained in their room just as easily??

While Jiraiya later claims he stayed out late gathering intel, it is implied that he went drinking and whoring again.

Chaper 152

The next day, Jiraiya leaves again, calls Naruto a baby for wanting more help, and then demands to be paid for his efforts. Naruto appears to be training day and night, without supervision, until he is completely exhausted and in pain. If an Akatsuki member happened to stroll by, he'd be toast.

Naruto picks up food for them and, seeing a father with his son, looks extremely emotionally exhausted. Like, this isn't simple envy. He looks absolutely starved for any kind of affection.

Yet, when he asks Jiraiya to at least share the meal with him, Jiraiya callously turns him down. Naruto IMMEDIATELY masks his disappointment with an happy-go-lucky attitude. This reaction to rejection is so ingrained in him and, as we learned in from his conversation with Hinata, he is absolutely aware that he is doing it as a defense mechanism.

He then once more trains well into the night.

Chapter 129

Instead of running headlong into battle, Naruto again recognizes the danger they are in and tries to get the others to run.

Chapter 132

Naruto once again notes the similarities between himself and Gaara. However, instead of merely focusing on the loneliness or the monster vessel aspect, we learn for the first time that, even at an early age, Naruto hated the people of the village.

He hated them when he didn't know why he was being hated, and he hated them more after he learned the truth.

Iruka is the primary reason why he didn't go darkside. And we don't know exactly when Iruka started being nice to him and inviting Naruto to ramen; however, we have plenty of evidence that Iruka was frequently still a hardass in class. We also know that Team 7 only really entered Naruto's life within maybe the past half year or so.

"Even though I had the demon fox inside of me and people looked at me coldly, I got used to it." he says, which is absolutely heart-breaking. And even worse, it's been only since very recently that "it's okay for me to be alive, to exist."

He isn't even speaking of love here, which is what Gaara's narrative is focused on. Gaara's father of course actively sent assassins after him, which Naruto at least was spared from. But even so, Naruto doesn't necessarily expect love and care from his precious people. He just wants an indirect confirmation that he is deserves to live.

Naruto gets absolutely pummeled by Gaara, mainly in order to distract him from Sasuke and Sakura. Then, in spite of his earlier fear and caution, he resolves to potentially dying in the fight.

Chapter 134

Konoha has a legal drinking age, but not a minimum "become a soldier to die for the financial benefit of your nation" age.

Chapter 138

The village, at least in Naruto's perception, constantly ganged up on him, completely shunning him. Children were instructed not to talk to him. He was called a freak and also "stinky". The latter may just be a typically creative kid's insult; however, it might also be indicative that Naruto, due to living alone, actually had or has poor hygiene.

He has previously mentioned not brushing his teeth in the morning when they had to meet early for training, causing Sakura's disgust. Considering he doesn't have the means to take care of himself in terms of proper nutrition and his apartment is always a mess, he also wouldn't have the means or knowledge to take care of his personal hygiene.

Naruto describes loneliness as a "pit" which he was saved from by his precious people whom he loves. Is it really a surprise that Naruto latched on to Sasuke to such a degree, especially with the understanding that Sasuke was caught in his own pit?

Chapter 143

It's confirmed that Jiraiya has not been back in Konoha for several years, but it's unlikely that it was the whole twelve years of Naruto's life. However, while he decides to now take Naruto on as a student, mostly due to the looming threat of Akatsuki, he does not seem to view Naruto as being his particular responsibility, despite being his godfather.

He also praises the Sandaime for making Naruto Kakashi' his's student and claims that Naruto has been "well looked after."

Has he, though? I mean, really? The only one who has been looking after Naruto is Iruka, and even that is a recent development. Both Kakashi and Hiruzen have acknowledged, to other people, how shitty Naruto's life has been. Yet did never did anything to remedy the situation.

Naruto IMMEDIATELY latched on to Team 7, even though most of the time they are not particularly nice to him either. Couldn't Kakashi have checked in on him at least one a week or something??

Jiraiya wants to take Naruto on a trip. Instead of straight-up telling him they are looking for Tsunade, i.e. the next Hokage, he implies he is trying to do "research" for his new book. Naruto, who has already seen what kind of research Jiraiya's writing includes is understandably skeptical.

Naruto also expresses resentment over the fact that Kakashi is apparently favoring Sasuke

Chapter 144

Jiraiya is annoyed Naruto keeps calling him Pervy Sage, even though he only introduced himself by name mere seconds ago.

Jiraiya reveals the Yondaime was his student. He does not tell Naruto that the Yondaime was his father.

What even is the reason at this point? If originally it was meant to "protect Naruto from his father's enemies" or whatever, how does keeping Naruto himself in the dark help? If the decision was made by the Sandaime, the old man is dead now, so why stick with the rule? And Naruto already has people after him because of the kyuubi, so what's the difference?

Merely being told that he is a little like the Fourth Hokage obviously means a whole lot to Naruto. Yet he is denied not just the knowledge of Minato but also of Kushina and therefore Uzushio.

Hiruzen, Jiraiya and Kakashi regularly refer to how much Minato meant to them, how they want to protect his legacy, etc. But none of that ever includes properly taking care of Naruto.

Despite the constant lectures about secrecy etc, Konoha nin will just randomly blurt out important intel, with no care for who might hear.

Also, despite everyone knowing that Sasuke would likely be triggered by the mention of Itachi, no one actually goes after him, allowing him to leave the village and throw himself into a fight he can only lose.

They really want the Uchiha to die out, huh?

Jiraiya immediately falls for Itachi's ploy and abandons Naruto at the first sight of a pretty lady. He does not care that Naruto is upset about this, does not inform him that there are dangerous people after him and does not instruct him to be cautious or set up traps, merely handing him the room key.

So, because Naruto is not aware of any danger, he simply opens the door when Itachi knocks.

Naruto wasn't well looked after before, and he certainly isn't being well looked after now...