Naruto Naruto Canon Tweaks
- Thread starter Knyght
- Start date
That's not what it was about... why don't people ever get this?
Look, much like Naruto is not about hard work beating genius, Naruto never really denies you do have a lot in life.
In fact Naruto is particularly brutal in this regard. People get different cards and some cards from the get-go are better than others. That's life.
Neji's card was Branch Family Member. That's never going to change. Neji never had control over that.
Neji decided that totally sucked.
Naruto told him it didn't have to.
Basically, you're born with certain things, what you do with them is up to you. Kind of like how Naruto was the reincarnation of Ashura and chose not to continue the conflict instead of continuing it.
Look, much like Naruto is not about hard work beating genius, Naruto never really denies you do have a lot in life.
In fact Naruto is particularly brutal in this regard. People get different cards and some cards from the get-go are better than others. That's life.
Neji's card was Branch Family Member. That's never going to change. Neji never had control over that.
Neji decided that totally sucked.
Naruto told him it didn't have to.
Basically, you're born with certain things, what you do with them is up to you. Kind of like how Naruto was the reincarnation of Ashura and chose not to continue the conflict instead of continuing it.
Naruto isn't about hard work generally speaking, but that particular fight definitely had that subtext, what with the 1 panel lee flashback about hard work, and naruto's percieved status as a loser vs natural talent. And Neji was right: hard work didn't win the fight for Naruto, having an advantage given to him from birth did.
And we'll have to disagree about the destiny thing. Most of the subtext of that fight seemed to be immutable fate vs. change. The fight even ends with narration about the power to change destiny, at least in the translation i just looked at.
And we'll have to disagree about the destiny thing. Most of the subtext of that fight seemed to be immutable fate vs. change. The fight even ends with narration about the power to change destiny, at least in the translation i just looked at.
Naruto wasn't going against his fate by choosing not to continue the conflict. If Hashirama is any indication, all of the Asura reincarnations have probably tried their damndest to end the conflict. Naruto is just the first to succeed at convincing the Indra incarnation to go along with it (and not change his mind later).
And that's true. I think the message might have rung a little truer if Naruto wasn't given quite as many advantages, but it's a small thing. All I want is a tiny conversation with Neji calling him gently on it, cause even with the destiny, the natural and unnatural gifts, and the nepotism contributing to him becoming Hokage and winning the last fight, he's probably still the best guy for the job, at least as far as inspiring people goes.
And Hashirama ultimately went "Fuck Madara, I"m going to keep my village at peace."
Seriously, continuing the conflict was the norm else it wouldn't have, you know, continued.
That's because you paid too much attention to Neji's and not enough to Naruto.
Destiny is Neji's convenient buzzword. That's pretty much it. It's a way for Neji to arrogantly decide what is and what is not possible. Naruto even points out how much of a hypocrite Neji is.
The real point of the fight is that Neji and Naruto are both born with brands (Seals) they really had no control over. Neji loses because he never surpassed the whole Branch member thing. Naruto wins because he made the best out of having an all-powerful Demon fox inside of him.
So in that sense, yes, you are in charge of your life. At the same time, nothing Naruto or Neji do is going to change the circumstances they were born into. That part is totally set.
Seriously, continuing the conflict was the norm else it wouldn't have, you know, continued.
That's because you paid too much attention to Neji's and not enough to Naruto.
Destiny is Neji's convenient buzzword. That's pretty much it. It's a way for Neji to arrogantly decide what is and what is not possible. Naruto even points out how much of a hypocrite Neji is.
The real point of the fight is that Neji and Naruto are both born with brands (Seals) they really had no control over. Neji loses because he never surpassed the whole Branch member thing. Naruto wins because he made the best out of having an all-powerful Demon fox inside of him.
So in that sense, yes, you are in charge of your life. At the same time, nothing Naruto or Neji do is going to change the circumstances they were born into. That part is totally set.
Hashirama wasn't the child of prophecy foretold to end the eternal conflict though. Neither were any of those other saps. The only reason the conflict was the norm wasn't because they chose to continue it, it was because they were unable to end it. Hashirama's solution was to give everybody nukes, which didn't work. Naruto, as the child of prophecy was the only one to think of disarmament.
And as for me paying too much attention to Neji, Naruto is the only who says screw destiny at the end.
But beyond that, you've got to understand that his moral high ground about dealing with the shitty fate you're dealt with isn't much of a high ground when fate had him set to become the most powerful political and revolutionary figure since the original sage. It'd be like the heir to a fortune telling random poor people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Perhaps it's good advice, but still makes most people go "what the hell dude?"
So even if you're right about the interpretation of the fight, it still comes across as awkward given later revelations.
And as for me paying too much attention to Neji, Naruto is the only who says screw destiny at the end.
But beyond that, you've got to understand that his moral high ground about dealing with the shitty fate you're dealt with isn't much of a high ground when fate had him set to become the most powerful political and revolutionary figure since the original sage. It'd be like the heir to a fortune telling random poor people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Perhaps it's good advice, but still makes most people go "what the hell dude?"
So even if you're right about the interpretation of the fight, it still comes across as awkward given later revelations.
If Naruto hadn't been who he was, then he wouldn't have been able to bond with Kurama, meaning the latter would have remained a double-edged sword. Or Naruto would have just died, when Kurama snacked up all his chakra, as he really didn't hold back with his initial KCM. If he'd been a fatalistic dick like Neji was, I doubt he'd ever have been able to win the loyalty of the other Tailed Beasts.
Also, Naruto (or Naruto and Nagato) were prophesied to be either save or destroy the world, so you can't really claim that Naruto was destined to save the world.
So I guess by the end of the manga you could say that Naruto had Aces in his hand, but it was due to him being who he was, and his own efforts, that he drew them in the first place.
Also, Naruto (or Naruto and Nagato) were prophesied to be either save or destroy the world, so you can't really claim that Naruto was destined to save the world.
So I guess by the end of the manga you could say that Naruto had Aces in his hand, but it was due to him being who he was, and his own efforts, that he drew them in the first place.
Had he spend less time doing speeches and more time knocking Naruto out after he had cut him off from most of his chakra, Naruto wouldn't have the time to use Kurama and wouldn't have won.
So yeah, Neji could have won that fight.
@nixofcyzerra: Pretty much. Honestly, people hear the word prophesy and completely miss the context. Hell, not even the Sage knew how things were going to turn out and he was apparently pals with Super Old Prophet Toad.
So yeah, Neji could have won that fight.
@nixofcyzerra: Pretty much. Honestly, people hear the word prophesy and completely miss the context. Hell, not even the Sage knew how things were going to turn out and he was apparently pals with Super Old Prophet Toad.
I'd argue that Neji probably could have beaten Naruto in that fight, actually. He could have just knocked Naruto unconscious before he could tap into Kurama's power. Instead, Neji disabled Naruto's chakra flow, and then started ranting at him. He tried to turn his fight with Naruto into a battle of ideology, and paid the price for it.
Edit: Ninja'd in a thread about Ninjas. Ninception!
Edit: Ninja'd in a thread about Ninjas. Ninception!
What? No, Neji wasn't Goku giving Frieza time to power up to 100%. He was arguably more Frieza offing Krillin in front of Goku, i.e, going out of the way to rub his opponent's weakness/helplessness in their face, only to be unpleasantly surprised when the supposedly defeated enemy reveals hidden reserves of power and proceeds to kick his ass.
Tweak the prophecies and reincarnations out of existence, I would.
But anyway...
Sasuke, Madara and Indra would all have Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi as their MS jutsu. Sasuke would fight in exactly the same way except he controls Amaterasu with the same eye that he casts it with and his Sharingan Genjutsu would be a weaker Tsukuyomi. No such thing as "Blaze Release" or "Kagutsuchi".
Absorbing Orochimaru wouldn't grant Sasuke any abilities he didn't already have. His snake summons (with the tattoo) and all his snake-style jutsu would have been skills that he'd have learned during the time skip. After the battle against Deidara, he would have been healed by Karin rather than the ambiguous "power of the White Snake" and he'd continue to use those jutsu after his battle with Itachi.
But anyway...
Sasuke, Madara and Indra would all have Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi as their MS jutsu. Sasuke would fight in exactly the same way except he controls Amaterasu with the same eye that he casts it with and his Sharingan Genjutsu would be a weaker Tsukuyomi. No such thing as "Blaze Release" or "Kagutsuchi".
Absorbing Orochimaru wouldn't grant Sasuke any abilities he didn't already have. His snake summons (with the tattoo) and all his snake-style jutsu would have been skills that he'd have learned during the time skip. After the battle against Deidara, he would have been healed by Karin rather than the ambiguous "power of the White Snake" and he'd continue to use those jutsu after his battle with Itachi.
