#Konoha is made to look nice and wholesome in comparision to other places

[hedgehogcryptid]

More Naruto rants

So, I’ve (stupidly, just now) realized that the reason I’m so fixated on Zabuza’s arc is because I got to see it like three times on TV before my country had enough spanish dub chapters to get on with the rest of the plot. So I got atached, is the one that gets me more nostalgic, and it’s the one I remember best. I also got time to properly process it before the more cult-ish bullshit started. And I thought the rest of the series would go a bit like that arc with, you know, ninja mercenaries who work for money in a world that sees them as tools but where they have their own ambitions and reasons and goals of a more or less normal human scale. The part where Gato arrives and the antagonism between Zabuza and Kakashi instantly ends when money is no longer on the table shaped a lot of my expectations for the future of the series (that I couldn’t articulate back when I was twelve, so I’m doing it now).

For starters, Gato is a fucking civilian. A rich fuck who does business and buys killers-for-hire. That’s how the system suposedly works. Where do the civilians go after the chunin exams? Where do the jobs go? Where does the money come from without them? I expected to see Naruto, with his newly decided path, clash with the system he lives in. I expected his elders (with the exception of Iruka and Kakashi) to try and coax him into the “right” path. Something along the lines of “I understand your feelings but that’s what must be done to keep the village running”. And Naruto finding ways to circunvent his orders, to find the loopholes that let him get away with it. Even if it’s just “I got the important thing done, what do you care if I didn’t kill those people?“. I didnt want to see him spare a genocidal megalomaniac but a fellow ninja who’s doing his own side of the job. Wouldn’t “If you kill my friends I’ll kill you, but if you’re done trying not only will I leave you go but I’ll defend you against my partners” be a lot more interesting and give nice posibilities for the future? Would the spared person take advantage of his kindness and fuck him over? Would they apreciate the gesture and start thinking that things can change? Would they “pay it forward” and spare someone that didn’t necesarily need to be killed? And if they did fuck him over despite his kindness, how would naruto justify his actions to his superiors? Would he be conflicted about his choices or would he be steadfast in his beliefs regardless of other people’s actions?

But with the way canon progresses after that first set up Naruto is not changing the system, he’s getting privileges. He can do what he wants because people in power like him. Veteran shinobi would have reason to hate him (”this upstart rookie gets to decide to go chasing an enemy of the state to save him while I have to bust my ass in bloody trenches to make ends meet?”)

I know the talk-no-jutsu is a joke but it’s somewhat accurate. He’s all talk. He never risked getting consecuences for his chosen path, mostly because Kishimoto made a good job making us forget we were watching mercenaries. If the world building wasn’t all kinds of wonky then at some point Naruto’s choices would’ve put him at odds with the people in power, and I don’t just mean the obviously corrupt ones. But Naruto wormed his way into their hearts for some reason and because of that they made exceptions for him, but no one is shown making significant changes to the context they live in. And about that context: they start by saying “shinobi are tools“, and sure, that’s true. But in the first arc they are tools for the people in power, who are not the five kages. The people in power are the people with money and the people who rule the countries. The Kages are just the top brass of the military, who get paid by the people in power. But later, shinobi start being tools for other shinobi with more grandiose ideas and the civilians pretty much disapear unless it’s to fill the background in cities. Their power structures lose all significance and relevance.

And because Naruto is never faced with the posibility of actual, structural, systemic concecuences to his own person then his choices lose a lot of weight. He spares the genocidal megalomaniac, the dude resurrects everyone and then dies. Everything works in the end. And no one gets on Naruto’s case about how you can’t expect all your enemies to die for you. In a military world that doesn’t make much sense, no matter how well everything worked out. The situation would be a lot more interesting if Nagato hadn’t died, and instead left to keep taking care of his war-ravaged homeland. If the super strong enemy we didn’t even defeated walks away, can we really trust he won’t have another change of heart? He seems plenty fickle, after all (he resurrected on a whim all the people he sprent the last couple hours killing. That sounds fucked up). And Naruto would have to defend him, because no way in hell will I believe that everyone in konoha would decide to let a threat of that level be. Not with the word of a sixteen year old pseudo-rebel as the only guarantee.

I wanted to see Naruto garnering support from his peers. Some would be easier than others. Hinata was on his corner from the get go. With the right conversation he’d get Neji too. Rock Lee is a ball of sunshine who’s been belittled more or less constantly, he’d be all up for it too. Sakura comes from a civilian background (if I’m not mistaken) so she is somewhat shocked at the way the world works. She didn’t get it drilled into her the same way others did. It wouldn’t be easy for her, and with some help and prompting she’d be okay with changing it.

And Sasuke. You wouldn’t even need to change his storyline too much, just get rid of the part where Kaguya had a hand in the destiny of the world, in planting misleading information. Get rid of the suposed reincarnation cycle that takes away the importance of personal choices. Basically, get rid of all the alien subplot. You’re still left with a boy who’s been wronged in all posible ways by his countrymen and government. You don’t need Kaguya’s bullshit scheme to make the shit in Konoha look horrible. They do that on their own.

You’d get Naruto finding out about Danzo (who’s covered in stolen eyes from fellow villagers, WTF) and Root, about the Uchiha masacre. He’d get angry on Sasuke’s behalf, and Sai’s, and Zabuza’s even (killing your friends as a test? Naruto knows that doesn’t lead anywhere good). And wheter Sasuke had left the village or not they would be both in the same side for this. If Naruto had been convincing people of the inherent corruption of the system then that would become an all out rebellion and upheaval of the government (instead of the assassination of one dubious character).

That would tie in with the renegade thing (are they “missing-nin” in english?). How many of them are labelled criminals for doing terrible things and how many are because of disagreements with their governments? How many are turned into scape-goats and then exiled? How many people who do terrible things keep living as respected members of their communities just because their interests align with the interests of those in power?

......and I’ve run out of steam but, long story short, I’ve always felt cheated at the what if’s