#wave arc

[madaras-tits]

Haku and Zabuza are the most underrated Naruto characters in my opinion. They're the main villains of what I find to be the best arc, and they perfectly showcase most of the problems in the shinobi system, even though they're just two characters;

Haku is a child soldier, and putting children on the battlefield is something that we'll see repeatedly referenced, critiziced or by some characters justified throughout the entire series. It's a great introduction to one of the moral dilemmas that run throughout all of Naruto.

Haku also shows off how you end up when you follow Kakashi's words of "Shinobis are tools" (which kakashi probably doesn't agree with himself, but that's for another post). Haku was so desperate to be needed and to be a tool in that sense, that he didn't mind dying for the sake of being needed. Haku fully embraces Kakashi's words, and does so to the extreme. Haku shows, that despite what Kakashi said isn't morally right, since nobody should be a tool, it is still true. In the shinobi world, you work for someone, you are to abide by your village.

Speaking of that, Zabuza is also a great example of what happens when you don't abide by the village.

In Naruto, most characters who aren't villains will never criticize the state, and the second a character does go against the village, they are seen as the enemy. It showcases how little autonomy you have as a Ninja. Once you're a shinobi, you've no right to fight for your own good, you're only to fight for your villages wellbeing. This is later, and more blatantly, showcased with Sakumo.

The last thing I want to include, is that Haku and Zabuza are the first time another reoccurring theme appears; They aren't really that evil when you take their motivations into consideration. This can be seen with almost every naruto villain. Most of their intentions are never evil. As a matter of fact, most villains' intentions are good. I mean, was Haku, an orphaned child, really evil for wanting someone who he could follow and help? Of course, he killed for Zabuza, but other Shinobis also kill for their village, so what's the difference? There is a lot to say about Kishimoto writing every character who goes against the village to be hyperviolent, but I already made a post on that.

There is probably so much more to say on this, but this post is already super long. At the end of the day, I really love the wave arc and Zabuza and Haku, and people really underestimate how great their writing was. This post also excludes a lot of the masterfully placed foreshadowing in that arc. That'll be another post though.

[rishitaasblog]

Day 17 of iconic naruto memes

[numbuh-7-knd]

Random Naruto AU musings/fanfic ideas incoming:

OK so, I was listening to Naruto theme songs in my room via speaker to drown out the sounds of my mother/housemate having a private appointment downstairs via zoom. (As you do)

And I started to think of how Asuma's death kind of represented a turning point where the konaha 12 are not kids anymore, things are getting serious, main ensemble members are drying, ect.

And I thought, the other thing like that in the original series was the death of the third homage. Exept even that didn't hit as hard because he was old and stuff. Then I realized one big opportunity lost with his death: the person was likely to maybe someday tell Naruto the truth of his parents, especially since he's the one who made it classified in the first place.

Here's where the AU comes in: I was trying to think of scenarios in which the third would have allowed Naruto to know about his parents during the time before the thirds death, and had a thought: there's a bunch of fics out there of Wave having some connection to hidden Whirlpool village, Uzushio, either neighbors or even that they were protected by/allied with Uzushio before the village destruction.

So what if, during the wave arc, Tazuna and the other villagers reacted when they heard Naruto's last name, being overjoyed to hear that at least one Uzumaki survived. Being hush hush about it because they don't want Gato to know because having an Uzumaki present threatens his standing.

Eventually they get Naruto alone with some of the older villagers who express their relief and exitment that there are still surviving Uzumaki after the destruction of Uzushio.

Naruto is so confused, poor kid. These old people are almost acting like he's some long lost relative or something, something about his last name, the destruction of some place called Uzushio? And what's this about asking about his family? Are all these old people senile and mistaking him for someone else?

The villagers confirm his last name is Uzumaki, and that they are talking about his clans home village of Uzushio, which was destroyed during the last war. What do you mean you've never heard of it? Is your ancestral homeland surely your parents would have mentioned it.

And then they learn that he's an orphan left all alone in the world, nothing of his family save his name and the symbol on his back. He tries so suggest that maybe he's not related to those Uzumaki, only to be rebuffed by a team of geriatrics, each pointing out some innocuous feature they swear is an Uzumaki trait, from his speech pattern and large amount of Chakra, to his ears and his chin.

By the end a group of Wave villagers old enough to remember Uzushio in its prime have mentally adopted Naruto and started telling him stories of Uzushio and the Uzumaki Clan, even trying to determine who he might be related to.

Eventually an old woman remembers a friend of hers, who's daughter was sent away to Konoha years before the attack, to be a Konoha ninja. they figure that must have been his mother, and naruto puts together that he was born around the same time as the nine tails attack of the village and they come to the conclusion that his mother probably died in the attack, weakened from childbirth, maybe even dying to protect her baby, and that he must not have had a dad in the picture for him not to be claimed afterwards.

Maybe they even introduce him to a village elder who's actually an Uzumaki and married into Wave decades ago, even long before the attack, and as she took her husband's name and wasn't a ninja, no one caught on. Maybe it Turns out to be his great aunt or something.

I'm imaging the bridge being named something representing the return of the Uzumaki clan.

Also, when the missions over and is time to return to Konoha, the entire village of Wave tries to fight for custody, especially his Great Aunt, who insists on accompanying them back to Konoha to interrogate the Hokage as to her grand nephew's treatment.

Maybe his newly found great aunt or distant cousin decides to move to Konoha, maybe with a bunch of her kids and grandkids giving Naruto a bunch of cousins. Or maybe he just gains a single elderly Uzumaki refugee from Wave.

I feel like Sasuke would be pretty mad/offended on narutos behalf over having the knowledge of his family hidden from him, since at least Sasuke has his memories and his clans belongings.

It'd be pretty funny if however many Uzumakis end up in the village, they all more or less adopt Sasuke as well as Naruto.

[nocontextgroupchat]

[w-ebstarr]

Does anyone know what the body of water beneath the Great Naruto Bridge (the one in Naruto, not the real life one) in the Wave Arc is classified as? I can't figure out if it's part of the ocean or just a really big lake.

[naykeed]

zabuza & haku / shape of my heart

[egophiliac]

You can’t pick Lilia for this. But who is your other favorite short character in Twst?

I like the angry little king boy 🌹

[sol-insidious]

Post-Episode 5 reaction

[sleepy-edits]

[duusheen]

It’s been a while since Pandora last heard from her family, and suddenly, her mom texted her. Her mom… someone Pandora knows doesn’t care about her at all. A part of her is disappointed it wasn’t her dad, but on the other hand… Pandora didn’t expect Hope to be the one inviting her to the wedding, and that small gesture alone was enough to make her heart ache 💔

[spiritsonic]

So during the Phantom Rider arc, despite Jet growing increasingly jealous of Surge stealing the spotlight, they surprisingly never have a direct confrontation or interaction with each other in the arc. Why is that?

For Phantom Riders, there was a LOT of ground to cover in a short amount of time. While I would have very much liked to dig into Jet's envy of Surge's rising star, Sonic's perspective was more important. The intent was that after seeing Surge be lauded for fending off the Phantom, Jet would work even harder to do the same.

Overall, while I'm pretty happy with how the many different characters' stories were intertwined, I think the Babylon Rogues suffered the most. It was the right move to include them in the arc, but they still deserve to have a focus story that really lets the three of them shine.

Big milestone stories like this one require the inclusion of a large cast, but that means that inevitably, someone will get the short end of the stick.

[linggluu]

this isn't the time for theatrics dude

[sasunarualways]

[narutostale]

...OH... just realizing...a bit trauma there Kakashi 💀

[sketching-shark]

For as much as I've already gushed about how Journey to the West really stands out as a great work of literature, given the current state of popular "redemption arcs" it really can't be said enough how awesome it is that the og classic makes it impossible to ignore the various crimes of all the pilgrims and why they needed to go on a redemption journey in the first place.

Like it contrast to your typical broody jerks where the plot bends over backwards to pretend their various war crimes and all their victims don't matter, actually, just look at what JTTW gives us. You have a murder monkey who reminds us that he loves killing people every other chapter. You got a literal and metaphorical pig man who freely admits to eating a ton of people in addition to committing sexual harassment. You got a giant cannibal who also ate countless people and even wears a lot of their skulls as his own personal goth necklace. You got a dragon who may or may not have committed arson in addition to trying to eat at least one other guy. Even the holy monk went out of his way to get some guys tortured to death. They all explicitly suck in such fun and interesting ways even while trying their best, and THAT'S a good part of what makes their story so fun and satisfying to read.

[naykeed]

wip. was struggling with lighting here but figure out it now. cant wait to finish this. those two😭