Naruto took up Pain’s philosophy and took all the credit
People often suggest that Naruto changed the world, didn’t conquer it; and in doing so, he proved Sasuke, Nagato, and Madara (even Obito) wrong, in that the world can be changed … one teeny-tiny step at a time (incrementalism is true progressiveism, obviously)—not through violence, but through love (?). Yet if you look at the end, Naruto tames all the beasts that can gather together in his consciousness (which is a meeting place for them) to lend him far more than just moral support; hosts one half of the Sage’s chakra; and not that long ago, he even had Kurama. By his side, a very toothless, yet equally (if not more) formidable, Samsara-eye wielder, Sasuke, rules with an iron fist—a man who holds complete dominion over life and death; hence, this is the Leaf whose fire and shadow are equally drunk on power—literally (Sage’s juice, people). Never in Leaf’s history has the power been as centralized as it’s now. By eliminating the Uchiha, in body and spirit, Leaf exists as a singular source of power, a juggernaut whose shadow is equally rancid, one that matches the fire’s will beat for beat. (Believe it or not, Leaf and its shadow have been lopsided before this—every single time!)
The world doesn’t attack because it’s changed its ways; it doesn’t because it fears the power Leaf has. Isn’t that what Pain had wanted, control the world through fear, make it submit, force it to change through absolute power? Looks like Naruto took a page straight out of Pain’s book, left Ame to rot, and paid tribute to his “friend” in spirit. Basically, what Naruto has done is that he’s turned himself into a pseudo-Gedō Mazō (as he’s the beasts’ meeting place and can get their chakra just through that) and beaten the Rinnegan eye owner to serve the system. Isn’t that simply Nagato: he was going to use the Gedō Mazō to eliminate the naysayers and he possessed the Rinnegan (granted, he was going to sync Sasuke to the Gedō Mazō, but he still controlled it to an extent)?
Naruto took Nagato’s entire philosophy, deconstructed it, and, instead of aiming for change (like Nagato wanted), he used it to maintain the system and make sure that it resisted change utterly. He’s, in the simplest terms, controlling the world through Power. Leaf now has absolute power, a complete control over life and death (through Rinnegan) and the most powerful WMD in the shape of the beasts that gather inside him. (As it is with all imperialistic states, Naruto centralized the power unlike Nagato’s quest to decentralize it from under these states’ control; he’s done what the Senju brothers did; he’s, in fact, taken it a step further by keeping the Rinnegan with himself, as well, something even the Senju brothers couldn’t accomplish with Madara.) Why does a discourse around “Naruto took the high road and changed the world by being less tyrannical” even exist when that absolute power Leaf has engenders absolute fear in people and that in turn keeps everyone in line? It turns out that the “child of prophecy” was one who’d win (it could’ve been Nagato, as well). That’s all. God, why does everything have to be spelled out for this fandom? History is written by the victors, after all.
vaporwave
blakekathryn
stormborns
