D(eranged)

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How it ended.

And while I also think those are interesting, narratively speaking, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things what these characters think, if Naruto isn’t allowed to be critical of the same system. We would basically just get more Sasukes. Like Naruto’s opinion is the only one that truly matter narratively speaking wise since he is the protagonist and other characters getting to be critical if he is not are basically going to either get the villain treatment (talk no jutsu and death) or the Sasuke treatmeant (talk no jutsu and blind loyalty to the state). And don’t get me wrong I like all of these metas and think they are very interesting, but other characters being critical of the system wouldn’t really amount to anything systemic change wise, if Naruto is not allowed to participate in it.

The biggest issue with how the whole “anti shinobi system”/ shinobi system critique “plot” in the manga was handled, is that Naruto wasn’t allowed to be more critical of the system. I think it makes very little sense that this wasn’t the direction Kishimoto developed Naruto in after the Pain arc. It was the perfect opportunity for Kishimoto. Because up to this point Naruto has interacted with lots of characters that have been hurt by the system and it all sort of culminates with the Pain arc, since this is sort of were Naruto is confronted with it the hardest. Particularly with Nagato (and Konan), but also his dad (like Minato basically tells Naruto that the ninja system kinda sucks). Naruto meeting his dad also gave Naruto room to scream out his frustrations with being made a jinchuriki and Naruto finding out it was his own dad who sealed the kyubi into him should have given Naruto a lot of complicated feelings that should have culminated into a proper critique of the ninja system from Naruto.

I wanted to add I think the biggest challenge to Naruto challenging the shinobi system is that, past a certain point, there's nothing outside of it.

Like, we start out with hints of an outside world- civilians, the daimyo, the yakuza, samurai, corporations, etc.- and none of it is drawn in much detail, but there is a sense that ninja are one component of a bigger system, and we're just seeing things through the eyes of a sheltered and slightly incurious middle schooler. We don't know much about politics because Naruto doesn't care about it, etc.

bc the truth of the matter is that Itachi killed his clan or else the village would fall to civil war. but from the audience stand point, that’s fucking bullshit. you had a catastrophic event happen six years earlier that did not result in anyone doing anything to you and for some reason the elders think Konoha would’ve been destabilized by a group of people who didn’t even fully agree with each other. the idea that that would cause a civil war is absurd. But people who take it at face value turn around and hate Sasuke because he “wasn’t honoring their sacrifice”. The Uchiha clan did not willingly sacrifice themselves. Like at MOST sasuke is wrong for trying to murder ppl largely (if not completely) uninvolved for vengeance/his idea of justice. Why should Sasuke accept how his family was sacrificed against their will?

or people will hate sasuke bc he’s a criminal. who fucking cares. orochimaru wasn’t a criminal until he got caught doing some shit with danzo. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was using war orphans for his experiments before then. like being “rogue” does not make anyone evil?? now him joining akatsuki and trying to get killer b killed for his vengeance is bad, yeah, but this is a world that uses child soldiers for entertainment. being a felon (the jail scene in the anime was filler, so I’m not sure if sasuke is actually a felon) or a terrorist, is like. not the end of the world?

Danzo also hated the Uchihas so much he genocided them, but his main goal was Konoha’s protection and unification? He has a dedicated shadow organization for kidnapping clan children and instead of putting the Uchiha children in the shadow organization that he has complete control of to indoctrinate them and rebuild the Uchiha clan in his image, he just slaughters them? He slaughters the clan that has the easiest time controlling your human nuke? I am not an evil military dictator, or an evil military dictator wannabe, but I’d like to think I’d be smarter than this if I was.

Then you have Minato. At face value, Minato made Naruto a jinchuuriki because it was the only option. Not only was it not the only option, but he was pretty forthcoming about doing it for bijuu balance or else Konoha would be trampled. I’m still confused on how anyone would know whether or not Konoha had a jinchuuriki. Like if Minato sealed Kurama in himself or Kushina, how would the other nations possibly know if they have their human nuke war deterrent? It’s not like they’re parading around their jinchuuriki or giving away their identities to talk about whose is better. At least. I fucking hope not.

And like okay, what happens if that fails though???? Like if you have a jinchuuriki and they still decide to invade you, are they gonna use baby Naruto as a nuke? Is his life not in danger? Are they just holding Naruto up like it’s the fucking lion king and going “don’t move or the baby fucks you up”? And also, the masked man who just took control of the most powerful tailed beast is still out there, you don’t know his identity, and now you’ve sealed the tailed beast in your newborn before orphaning him. You painted the biggest target on your kid’s back and this man could waltz right into Konoha, snatch him, and release the seal at any point. If Naruto was meant to be the child of prophecy, then wouldn’t that happen naturally without your input? Would it not make more sense to take the demon fox to your grave, since you’d rather die than raise a kid by yourself? There are so many variables here. I do not understand. But Minato is the genius. Not the audience. So we take it at face value and say minato woulda been the best father in the series bc he somehow had no choice. Moving on.

Some of the narrative choices are really weird politically and in terms of fights.

Jiraiya took Naruto on a training trip outside of the village to learn how to use his human nuke abilities to defend himself and the village. That’s. Fine. This is great, at face value. But the people Naruto has to defend himself from are S-rank rogue ninjas who are specifically picked to counter bijuus. The only Akatsuki members we’ve encountered are Kisame, a ninja whose sword eats mass amounts of chakra, and Itachi, the guy from the clan that can control the nine tailed fox. which is inside Naruto. Would it not make more sense to teach him other techniques so he wouldn’t be so easily countered? Hell, even the genjutsu training didn’t really do anything for Naruto when it mattered. But yay yippee yay training trip yayyyyy

Mind you, the trip is just so they can loosen Naruto’s seal and tighten it again, something which definitely won’t make him worse at all. Has nothing to do with several outbursts he has later. Nope. Not at all. I’m convinced they had him leave the village so he wouldn’t be a danger to others, but I’m the audience and therefore I’m not allowed to have a brain. Sorry guys :/.

And then Naruto comes back from the training trip. Now, I absolutely adore the Kazekage rescue arc for a few reasons that I won’t get into here, but why are we sending Naruto—a jinchuuriki for those just joining the lecture—to go after the Akatsuki who had been capturing jinchuurikis left and right. Who are also hunting him. Do we like Naruto? Do we want Naruto alive? Do we want Naruto to achieve his dream? What are we doing here. Why are we doing it. I don’t understand.

Fine, Naruto reasonably loses control over Gaara’s dead body. Later starts going on about the plight of jinchuuriki and how much all you bitches suck. Good for him. Too bad he’s not allowed to apply that same empathy and sadness to himself. He goes home. All is well. And then they have him go after a guy who knows orochimaru. Who Naruto very famously likes and loves!He adores Orochimaru didn’t you know! Oh look at him go! He just wants to playfully bite into his neck and potentially blow his body to smithereens bc he likes manipulating children. Adorable! Awwwwwww!

Naruto loses control again. Now I’m not a military dictator. I know that sounds like something a military dictator would say, but remember! you’re the audience and you don’t have a brain! But this is perhaps a moment that would have me reconsidering sending this child on missions. Any mission, really, but especially missions regarding Sasuke. Or anyone he remotely cares about, because I need my human nuke who I emotionally abused to be categorically Like That care about very much to not fly off the handle when shit gets real. We probably should have worked on the unresolved trauma thing while he was on the training trip, but that probably would have led to him wanting nothing to do with us. Besides, he seems fine so we’re never gonna address it ourselves. I’m gonna have him stay home and train.

Oh, the training has his shadow clones randomly getting possessed bc his seal, which was already loosening every year and also when he’s under emotional distress, was intentionally loosened even more over the years bc we taught him to be dependent on it? Damn. That sucks.

Well, we’re gonna send him after the Akatsuki again!

I do not understand. I do not understand. ​this village runs on the will of fire and they think gasoline is gonna save them. the politics is hopes and dreams but it gives me fucking nightmares.