Naruto Best and Worst Arc

[Knyght]

Which arcs do you think were the best, which do you think were the worst and why?

Part 1: Introduction, Land of Waves, Chuunin Exam, Invasion of Konoha, Search for Tsunade and the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

Part 2: Kazekage Rescue, Sasuke and Sai, Hidan and Kakuzu, Itachi Pursuit, Invasion of Pain, Five Kage Summit, Confining the Jinchuuriki, Shinobi World War, Ten Tails Revival and the Final Arc.

 

[H-Man]

When does Final Arc start?

 

[Knyght]

The moment Naruto has Kurama ripped out of him and the Ten Tails Revival starts just after the Edo Tensei is released, to parrot Narutopedia.

 

[Vikraal]

I think Itachi's first appearance and Jiraya vs Pain deserve their own Arc.
There is also Tsunade Arc.

For Battles:
I would go for Kakashi vs Zabuza[Land of waves] and Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai vs Itachi[Post-Invasion], Itachi vs Sasuke[Itachi Pursuit] as the best, as it was probably the last time we actually saw a actual Ninja Battle, and maybe Sasuke vs Danzo[Kage Sumit Arc]. Tobito vs Root agents deserver a reckoning too.

Sasuke vs Naruto's Fist Battle is also the best at manga end, especially Naruto's Surprise Punch.

 

[Altered Nova]

The Shinobi World War arc was probably my least liked arc, because it powered up Edo Tensei to such absurd levels that it absolutely warped the entire plot, and Obito finally mobilizes his army of White Zetsu which was revealed in the previous arc. Both of which seem to have been done solely because Kishimoto realized that he'd just allied all the ninja in the world and they didn't have anyone to fight except for the one S-rank Akatsuki member left and the bijuu he'd captured, and those weren't gonna cut it.

Both plot devices were handled rather poorly in my opinion. (oh hey turns out Edo Tensei can be used thousands of times with literally no downside and the jutsu also generates infinite chakra from nowhere to power all those zombies! Also Madara has been cloning Zetsu in his basement for decades for no real reason, but they were actually created by Kaguya a thousand years ago and Madara was just an idiot being tricked by Black Zetsu!)

Also not a fan of the Hidan and Kakuzu arc because they took the most teamwork oriented team in Konoha and turned them into Team Shikamaru and His Cheerleaders. Also one of the most ridiculously convenient plot devices in the manga - despite the fact that Hidan and Kakuzu chose the battlefield (Team 10 tracked them down by possessing a hawk and ambushed them where they were found), there just happened to be a trap filled forest within a few minutes running distance which Shikamaru could use to defeat Hidan. Wow how lucky Hidan and Kakuzu just happened to be walking by the Nara Clan Forest when Team 10 tracked them down! Frankly it makes Sasuke's Great Snake Escape look downright reasonable in comparison.

 

[jakkuzarippa]

Gotta agree with Nova on this one. Anything from the 4th War and after was pure garbage, a huge reason being the power creep and almost Kubo-like introduction of a bunch of new characters which were just not that interesting. Also, it felt very forced. Hell, the Arrancar War and Summit War were done way better than this.


And to be fair, Shikamaru is weak. Oh sure, tactical genius, super IQ, "would make a great Hokage" (lol, ok Temari...)

But sometimes, knowing about the Titan does nothing to stop the Titan's Hammer from crushing you.

So the only route was to pair him against the shittiest Akatsuki (imo) and asspull just the right conditions for a dominant victory, while turning the other 2 into bait/redshirts. Kishi couldn't give him a huge physical/power boost, since he'd be pretty much be the most OP character outside of God-tiers like Kaguya and the transmigrants.

 

[Cynical Kyle]

Every arc after Pein was one big, bad blurry mess to me when forced to stand on their own narrative merits. External factors such as outraged fans sperging across net made some events feel better than they would be if examined on their own. Naruto's pseudo-homoerotic asphyxia regarding Sasuke, Danzo, Obito & Madara being behind pretty much every bad thing and Kishimoto's final trolling are probably best examples of that.

Best single arc would be Invasion of Pain despite the absolutely retarded deus ex machina at the end. Until that point it had everything- action, drama, hero forced to confront the dilemma his ideal poses, plot moving forward. To me at least series would've been lot better if Resurrection ex Machina hadn't happened and Naruto would've been forced to deal with disconnect between his pacifistic ideals and sorry state of Konoha that their rivals plan to exploit. Naruto achieved his dream too easily with convenient supervillain to rally people against, I'd rather have seen him struggling to end the feuds that existed with Iwa and Kumo in more realistic fashion and changing the system hard way instead of cop-out we got.

 

[TC_Hazard]

Let's see...

Best: Sasuke Retrieval, Shinobi World War Arc, Wave, Pain

Worst: Kazekage Rescue and Final Arc.

 

[Altered Nova]

Best single arc would be Invasion of Pain despite the absolutely retarded deus ex machina at the end. Until that point it had everything- action, drama, hero forced to confront the dilemma his ideal poses, plot moving forward. To me at least series would've been lot better if Resurrection ex Machina hadn't happened and Naruto would've been forced to deal with disconnect between his pacifistic ideals and sorry state of Konoha that their rivals plan to exploit. Naruto achieved his dream too easily with convenient supervillain to rally people against, I'd rather have seen him struggling to end the feuds that existed with Iwa and Kumo in more realistic fashion and changing the system hard way instead of cop-out we got.

I always felt a much better ending to that arc would have been if Nagato's resurrection jutsu could only revive one person and was a guaranteed suicide jutsu. And after Naruto redeemed him, Nagato used it to bring back just Jiraiya.

But that couldn't happen because Kishimoto couldn't bear to actually kill off a bunch of main characters for real. No they all get to come back a few chapters later, and Naruto gets to have his "show mercy to the guy who murdered my friends and end the cycle of hatred and revenge" cake and eat it too by not having to actually deal with the consequences of so many of his important people staying dead. How convenient that he gets to prove he's Ninja Jesus and not have to actually sacrifice anything for it!

 

[nixofcyzerra]

If he was going to do that, then he wouldn't have been able to have Kakashi die. Kakashi's been in the top three for every single character popularity poll save two, and he came fourth in one of those, and joint eighth in the other. His editors would have strung him up by his testicles, and he probably would have lost a lot of readers.

 

[jakkuzarippa]

But why though? Maybe its just me, but I've never felt particular like or dislike of him. Even in part 1 when people were dogpiling him for the whole Sasuke-favoritism crap, I was pretty ambivalent towards him. He did what he thought was best based on what he knew at the time. It wasn't necessarily the right choice or the "nice" thing do do, but that's how I've always seen Kakashi's character. Primarily acting on logic, but still factoring people/emotions into it. Basically, a sane and waaay dialed down Danzo. Which is what Obito's sacrifice taught him.

Sure, he's pretty cool, the whole aloof and mysterious thing with a dash of deadpan sarcasm and "do-the-right-thing" guidance at key moments. But his greatest claim to fame is always something other than his vaunted genius, be it another clan's doujutsu or his legendary sensei or father. I have no particular feeling towards him being Rokudaime. It feels even more of a "holding-the-seat" than Tsunade's reign. But then again, we got what, half a chapter depicting him as Hokage? Maybe the upcoming movie will shed some light and give him some strong Hokage cred.


Also, Sasuke retrieval arc was probably one of my favorites. The matchups, the tension, the action. Only arc in Shippuden I'd say I truly enjoyed was the Pein/Konoha arc, but it was cheapened by how it ended, as many have already said.

 

[Cynical Kyle]

Best single arc would be Invasion of Pain despite the absolutely retarded deus ex machina at the end. Until that point it had everything- action, drama, hero forced to confront the dilemma his ideal poses, plot moving forward. To me at least series would've been lot better if Resurrection ex Machina hadn't happened and Naruto would've been forced to deal with disconnect between his pacifistic ideals and sorry state of Konoha that their rivals plan to exploit. Naruto achieved his dream too easily with convenient supervillain to rally people against, I'd rather have seen him struggling to end the feuds that existed with Iwa and Kumo in more realistic fashion and changing the system hard way instead of cop-out we got.

I always felt a much better ending to that arc would have been if Nagato's resurrection jutsu could only revive one person and was a guaranteed suicide jutsu. And after Naruto redeemed him, Nagato used it to bring back just Jiraiya.

But that couldn't happen because Kishimoto couldn't bear to actually kill off a bunch of main characters for real. No they all get to come back a few chapters later, and Naruto gets to have his "show mercy to the guy who murdered my friends and end the cycle of hatred and revenge" cake and eat it too by not having to actually deal with the consequences of so many of his important people staying dead. How convenient that he gets to prove he's Ninja Jesus and not have to actually sacrifice anything for it!

Showing mercy to Pein wasn't bad in itself and I disagree with resurrecting Jiraiya since his body was somewhere in Rain at that point, presumably outside of Nagato's ress range. Then again it's so absurdly bullshit as it is that range could be non-issue. On the other hand I agree that ensuing deus ex-conflict resolution was atrocious and robbed the series of end it deserved. Becoming Ninja Jesus should be lot harder and costlier than manga depicted.

 

[goldenarms]

Best single arc would be Invasion of Pain despite the absolutely retarded deus ex machina at the end. Until that point it had everything- action, drama, hero forced to confront the dilemma his ideal poses, plot moving forward. To me at least series would've been lot better if Resurrection ex Machina hadn't happened and Naruto would've been forced to deal with disconnect between his pacifistic ideals and sorry state of Konoha that their rivals plan to exploit. Naruto achieved his dream too easily with convenient supervillain to rally people against, I'd rather have seen him struggling to end the feuds that existed with Iwa and Kumo in more realistic fashion and changing the system hard way instead of cop-out we got.

I always felt a much better ending to that arc would have been if Nagato's resurrection jutsu could only revive one person and was a guaranteed suicide jutsu. And after Naruto redeemed him, Nagato used it to bring back just Jiraiya.

But that couldn't happen because Kishimoto couldn't bear to actually kill off a bunch of main characters for real. No they all get to come back a few chapters later, and Naruto gets to have his "show mercy to the guy who murdered my friends and end the cycle of hatred and revenge" cake and eat it too by not having to actually deal with the consequences of so many of his important people staying dead. How convenient that he gets to prove he's Ninja Jesus and not have to actually sacrifice anything for it!

Showing mercy to Pein wasn't bad in itself and I disagree with resurrecting Jiraiya since his body was somewhere in Rain at that point, presumably outside of Nagato's ress range. Then again it's so absurdly bullshit as it is that range could be non-issue. On the other hand I agree that ensuing deus ex-conflict resolution was atrocious and robbed the series of end it deserved. Becoming Ninja Jesus should be lot harder and costlier than manga depicted.

Maybe, but then again, it's not like Naruto knew that Nagato could do such a thing. Also, it was only by becoming Ninja Jesus that the people killed during the Pain Invasion could have been resurrected in the first place. I personally do not feel the story was robbed of "the end it deserved" unless you're referring to Kakashi being made the Sixth/Seventh (translation is a bit weird with that one) Hokage, then Naruto. Within the analogy, Naruto as Ninja Jesus performed a miracle -- he returned one who was dead to life with but a word. It just so happens that the effect is multiplied by a thousand, as he can become a thousand Ninja Jesuses at once. :snigger:

 

[nixofcyzerra]

goldenarms had a point. Maybe it would have been better if there had been a panel or two where Naruto acknowledged that not killing Pain would probably anger those who had survived the attack on Konoha, and showed that he was willing to face whatever consequences there would be from his decision.

 

[13ry4n]

It's more that ultimately there were no consequences. The village got fucked and we pay lip service to it being rebuilt and then hit the reset button.

 

[AJ_Katon]

Best: Pretty much all of part 1. Those arcs set the stage so well and executed their fights well within range of what could happen.

Fights:
Rock Lee vs.: The Lee fights showcased the best of a "determinator even if it kills me" battles I've ever seen.

Naruto vs Gaara: the first showing Jinch. vs Jinchi. Not only a poignant mirror of what Naruto could've become but set his ideal to protect the precious ones. It previewed what possibly fights between Bijuu or Chakra monsters were to come.

Sasuke Retrieval: A great showcase of battles with different abilities, tactics, and beliefs.

Worst: Pretty much all of Part II except for the Pein Arc and Sasuke vs Itachi.

Notable: I will always despise the Sasuke and Sai arc for Sasuke curbstomp of everyone. Sakura froze and did nothing. Naruto tried to talk things out despite previous moments showing that would fail horribly. Yamato...just a horrible matchup.

Thank god Ninjastorm fixed that.

 

[13ry4n]

I loathed the Sasuke vs Itachi fight because I could not take it seriously with the bullshit genjutsu flying around. "Ha ha! I've defeated you!" "Nu-uh! You were trapped in a illusion!""Grr, then I will make it rain lightening!""Not if I use my everything proof shield!"

 

[TC_Hazard]

Notable: I will always despise the Sasuke and Sai arc for Sasuke curbstomp of everyone. Sakura froze and did nothing. Naruto tried to talk things out despite previous moments showing that would fail horribly. Yamato...just a horrible matchup.

Being fair here, Naruto was out of chakra, Sakura was Kyuubi poisoned, and Yamato notes he had hoped to avoid getting serious due to the presence of Naruto and Sakura. Of course then Oro stops things; so Yamato never had the chance to get serious.

 

[AJ_Katon]

Notable: I will always despise the Sasuke and Sai arc for Sasuke curbstomp of everyone. Sakura froze and did nothing. Naruto tried to talk things out despite previous moments showing that would fail horribly. Yamato...just a horrible matchup.

Being fair here, Naruto was out of chakra, Sakura was Kyuubi poisoned, and Yamato notes he had hoped to avoid getting serious due to the presence of Naruto and Sakura. Of course then Oro stops things; so Yamato never had the chance to get serious.

Yeah. But I just felt like it could've been better.

Btw were Orochi and the rest gonna pull out as soon as Sai got to the base and did his thing? If not, Naruto and co could've used that time recover and stuff.

I'm only asking.

 

[TC_Hazard]

Yeah. But I just felt like it could've been better.

Btw were Orochi and the rest gonna pull out as soon as Sai got to the base and did his thing? If not, Naruto and co could've used that time recover and stuff.

I'm only asking.

They did as well as could be expected by fighting in that condition.

As for Orochimaru, well, the Leaf already knew of his hideout so he probably didn't care for it anymore. It's not like he's lacking in secret labs.

 

[Altered Nova]

I loathed the Sasuke vs Itachi fight because I could not take it seriously with the bullshit genjutsu flying around. "Ha ha! I've defeated you!" "Nu-uh! You were trapped in a illusion!""Grr, then I will make it rain lightening!""Not if I use my everything proof shield!"

I really liked that fight as I read it, but it's kind of ruined in hindsight now that we know Itachi could have ended the fight in five seconds if he wanted to and he only let it drag on for so long because his real goal was to force Orochimaru out of the cursed seal so he could get rid of him and then throw the fight to Sasuke. Also Itachi's sudden convenient case of terminal plotitis disease was quite annoying.

 

[AJ_Katon]

I loathed the Sasuke vs Itachi fight because I could not take it seriously with the bullshit genjutsu flying around. "Ha ha! I've defeated you!" "Nu-uh! You were trapped in a illusion!""Grr, then I will make it rain lightening!""Not if I use my everything proof shield!"

I really liked that fight as I read it, but it's kind of ruined in hindsight now that we know Itachi could have ended the fight in five seconds if he wanted to and he only let it drag on for so long because his real goal was to force Orochimaru out of the cursed seal so he could get rid of him and then throw the fight to Sasuke. Also Itachi's sudden convenient case of terminal plotitis disease was quite annoying.

An actual explanation for that would've been nice.

Here some examples:

-Itachi was not as thorough with Orochimaru as he thought. He would never know the poison injected in his blood until it had run its course. Was it the stray kunai that managed to cut him? Or was there some spread on the ones he caught? Perhaps something in the food? No one will ever know.

And as for those who believed he feared the Uchiha slayer? Well it was not a complete lie. So why not let that be the story.

There was always those little truths within truths...

-Obito was no fool. Itachi could be useful but only for so long. Better to leave something to get rid of him. Something that would take time to build upon. It did not matter to Tobi how long. Just that it was done.

-There was a reason Danzo was feared. Always in the shadows. Always working from the inside. When Itachi was attached to his Root detail, it was simple enough to get him in a moment of weakness. One seal appliance later and the trap was set. The Uchiha were not to be trusted and letting the strongest among them would be foolish.

There. Not great but something to consider. No plotitis. Just failsafes from enemies that have been a slow burn in the making.

 

[13ry4n]

Obito was no fool

Okay stop!

 

[AJ_Katon]

Obito was no fool

Okay stop!

Okay maybe that was too much credit. Maybe Black Zetsu set it up.

 

[Vikraal]

Thinking on how Itachi removed Orochimaru, I have to wonder how sasuke is alive.

Unless Orochimaru's cocktail was just a cellular cancer, it should have been part of every cell and dna strand. Sasuke should have died of overwhelming cellular cuts and tears, or in a coma or well...he is insane after that.