Naruto Did Not Change the World - A Critique
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- ah, the shinobi world.
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what are your thoughts?
Fw this, but Naruto DID change all of these.
The Kage united against the Otsusuki. The only Jinchurriki that still exist are ones bonded to tailed beasts by mutual consent. Otherwise, the tailed beats roam around with free will.
The Chunin Exams now exist to celebrate the new generation and commemorate the unison of the 5 nations.
When the fuedal lords attempt to initiate war over something insignificant, Naruto checks them and prevents war.
The mission rank system was overhauled to put genin in appropriate, low-risk missions.
A pessimistic and harsh look at it, and there are very valid points, but to expect Naruto, or any one single person to change human desires on a mass scale like that is unrealistic. I think we should accept we can only do so much, and be happy with the positive impacts we have, instead on focusing on what could have been
@@andrebrown4387 To be fair, genins were always supposed to be in low-risk missions. Naruto's team just constantly got roped into A-rank missions because nobody wants to read about chasing cats.
But yeah, the fact that the Chunin Exams are so bloodless now reflects how even more experienced ninjas aren't expected to bleed for their country till their last drop.
Naruto just didn’t want anymore bloodshed. Forcing to world to change and toppling the systems would’ve likely led to more bloodshed. As nobles wouldn’t just agree to end war and the system that got them their wealth in the first place.
I think Naruto simply wanted the world to change peacefully, which is naive to think that it could’ve worked. There has to be force in order for change to happen.
The closest thing that they could’ve done is intimidation to secure a peace. But that would only last until their deaths or until the world nobles found a way to usurp their power.
Damn I'm glad I got into the naruto series and for loving the story and characters alot but after watching this video, it makes me change how I see this series. anyway, this was a great, well-made video.😊
If your entire world order is dependent on a singular strong man to ensure peace then you changed nothing. The cycle of pain continues.
True
@@yonglightning8907 one for all is gone though
@ssj4rit that doens't mean there won't be a villain of equal measure in the future.
Trueee. It just seems so inefficient to have your most powerful (willing) guy be the one who has to lead. First off, what is the village supposed to do during times when the hokage has to be away fighting the big bads? If their leader is off fighting, then who’s in charge of commanding the rest. Most wars arent won by just one guy. Also, having your most powerful person being in charge just fluctuates the notion that power is everything and things like ethics, education, management skills, communication skills, all that doesnt matter as long as you can blast things. The just screams of a bad political structure that can easily lead to a plethora of horrible problems.
@ssj4rit and the latest chapter is about how getting rid of all for one and shigaraki will do nothing to stop others from turning and that the best we can do is hope and try to make sure it doesn't happen. This is how spinners' story ends by making a book telling the story of shigaraki and how destruction is all he wanted, but he cared for others. Something nobody else did which we even see from the old lady being interviewed was the same from his backstory that didn't do anything thinking the hero's would eventually.
He DID change the world.... physically.
Craters.... lots and lots of craters...
LMAO
ts made me giggle
For whatever reason I instinctively read that in GrandLineReview's voice
Naruto making craters like he's a Creeper
Climate change and hurricanes even
It always made me sad when we see the Rain Village in such a sad state in Boruto when Naruto promised Nagato to make the world a better place.
Isn’t that filler
@@3arlthegoat Damn, was it? It's confusing to tell at times.
@@3arlthegoat All Boruto is canon.
@@ThePowerLovernope that’s not true. There’s anime canon, manga canon (which are both properly considered canon but the manga doesn’t have the time to delve into things as much as the anime because it’s a monthly release) and filler. The school stuff is all anime canon for example, because it’s taken from light novels.
@@piercingheaven5038 Proof that the canons are different?
The real reason the world wasn't changed was because it wouldn't be marketable and you can't make another series with something like that.
Not to mention the fact that he didn't actually want to change the world lol. He just wanted to be Hokage. Being the next president doesn't change the world. It's just you stepping into an already created seat of power, to basically continue doing what the last guy did, just from your own personal political point of view. Being Hokage is no different. Naruto becoming Hokage was never going to change the Ninja world. It's no different than thinking voting in a new president is going to somehow change the world, when it never does, it never has, and it never will. But if you completely and entirely get rid of the presidency and even the idea of a presidency, if you overthrow the government(s), you're actually changing something. Whether it's for the better or for the worst, that's up for you to decide, but it's actual change. For example, what Sasuke was going to do at the end of Shippuden, when he uttered the word "Revolution", was actually going to change the Ninja world. Whether folks agree with the change or not, it would have at least been actual change.
Well, I mean Boruto is about beings from other planets. It's not like a war between humans anymore. On the surface yes but all in service of the Ototsuki
@@ShangaelThunda222that’s not how the story phrases it. The child of prophecy, the empathetic one, Naruto making constant statement on how he’ll bring world peace and change things….
Sorry bro that’s just a cope.
@@ShangaelThunda222Agree with the revolution that were brought by Sasuke would actually change something, but I can’t agree with his ideal either. His view is too selfish and greedy
you are completelly right@@ShangaelThunda222
You can really tell that Kishimoto really, *REALLY* tried to backtrack on just how immensely fucked the world of Naruto is by trying to collectively pin the blame on Obito/Madara with the whole "Oh they were just pulling everyone's strings in the background teehee". The Chunin exams being massively toned down after the first one we ever see is also further proof. The man just had no idea how to follow through with a world so thoroughly corrupt and merciless.
Yep, it's kinda sad to see early Naruto and how it seemed to really want to make a comment on peace by having it's characters in such a fucked up society, a shame how he dropped the ball there
Its cowardice, Kishi didn't want to deal with the implications of his own creation, so he swept it under the rug. A common problem amongst Shounen and Shounen like media.
I think that’s why Kishimoto wanted to pack up after the Pain arc, which was concluded weakly through an empty promise that never came into fruition. The solution to the problems in the Naruto universe was an overhaul of the system, but Kishimoto did not want to depict revolutionaries positively, as heroes. Nothing against the guy personally, but he’s either a neocon, a coward, or both.
@NotDaveGahan probably a neocon, combined with Jump directives not wanting stories about revolutions, One piece had to do a lot of heavy lifting to get away with it
@@NotDaveGahanLet's not bring politics into this. Also, not all revolutionaries are actually trying to change things for the better. Look at how much worse off the people of Russia and China were after Lenin and Mao, respectively.
It always bothered me how the people who shunned Naruto so shamelessly changed their tune without even so much as an apology as soon as he saved their bacon. Never felt like that was ever properly addressed.
Same energy as the people who shamed Kakashi's dad into committing suicide for saving his friends instead of finishing the mission and how they switched up immediately into "Will of Fire! We must protect our comrades!" and the same elders that supported Konoha's most heinous shit turned around and used Kakashi's reputation/name to put him up as Sixth Hokage.
Instead of that ovation, a proper apology would have been much better as we can see in the waterfall scene , he STILL resents those people. Konoha villagers were shameless ... Naruto remaining unattended and destroying people's property didn't help the situation ( imagine leaving a walking nuke without a guard, not even putting the orphans in an orphanage).
@@subratanandy2142 Worse still, they let that walking nuke roam around foraging for food and then wonder why he can barely handle anything that isn't a physical task and ACTIVELY picked on him for it.
Most people's opinion on Naruto changed after he won the fight against Pain. That was the primary point of that arc as well - finding out if peace can ever truly be reached. Also, the will of fire is more than just "Protect you're comrades." It's to pass on your legacy to someone else even if you die, or to spread the ambition of peace(Jiraiya sensei's book) to others. Even after the pain fight some didn't like him, but overall he became much more known as the hero of the hidden leaf. Sure they flipped like a book, but they already paid the price due to their whole village being destroyed.
Man that exactly what i hated abt Naruto..it like when Gon constantly search for his father although i understand he is a kid but i feel annoyed since his father clearly doesnt care that much abt his kid
This is why I feel like Sasuke had the best character development in Shippuden. I always laugh when viewers hear Sasukes plan for revolution and the only thing they say is “omg Itachi wouldn’t want you to do this you’re so selfish”. Meanwhile Sasuke has so much love and respect for his brother that he planned to become the enemy of the world so hopefully people won’t have to go through the type of pain that Itachi went through. His plan was created with Itachi in mind the entire time. It’s also ironic that a lot of viewers can empathize with Itachi and they can see the nuance and context of his situation but with Sasuke all of that’s out the window and he’s just “edgy”. Sasuke got enough power to change the world and he was willing to sacrifice his happiness so that everyone else could be happy. Whether it would’ve worked or not is up for debate but at least he actually gave a fuck and wanted to try.
I don't understand why people are so oblivious to terms and how they can interlink. Yes, be wanted a revolution, he still wanted to be the one in power, although he wanted revolution, he was totalitarian. Wanted to murder every power figure, even those who were shown to be good, take full control, meaning no democracy involved, and change an entire system, rooted into people, to one where you have to do as he says or you are basically dead. Revolution means nothing when the purpose is to achieve a totalitarian state. Wanting all the power for yourself and killing any rivals is essentially selfish. He wanted "the good for others" without consulting the "others" about their beliefs, just imposing his views. Everyone seems to love Naruto, everyone seems to adore the policies implemented by Naruto, he procured to fix the clan system, such as the Hyuga, give kids a choice to what they want, being a ninja or something completely different, decreased exponentially the violence on the Chunin exams. Naruto did a far better job than anything Sasuke would of ever done, someone with severe ego issues, hatred, biased, psychopathic tendencies, and willing to murder his friends.
This
fr, people need to start using their critical thinking skills.
I think it has to do more with the fact that Sasuke's intentions were poorly communicated, partly due to the fact that a lot of the nuance of the message of Naruto that was preached in the first part is lost in the chaos of the War arc itself. If I'm being completely honest, I completely forgot about the systems that are discussed in the video long before the timeskip. I think the series suffers from its longevity in a way that dilutes some of the original ideas and themes Kishimoto was trying to convey at the beginning. Which is honestly understandable, but still disappointing nonetheless.
I have been saying this for years. Sasuke was attempting to actually destroy the oppression and colonizer institution. Sometimes resistance isn't pretty. I really couldn't stand Naruto after the Pain arc. Just the self righteous preachiness from Naruto was really bothered me coming from an indigenous person myself.
I didn't expect Sage's Rain to teach us about military industrial complex, but here we are
He’s a fucking liar
I'm really glad he made this video because I notice this issue long ago and wondered why nobody addressed it?
Man, Pain was right all along.
Sasuke was right.
Madara was right.
Their economy is driven by war! Now imagine when war is over. Htf are they going to get money? 😂
The idiots don’t know how to do business without killing people
A lot of people say sasuke is just a edgy teenager. Those same people would have clinical depression and ptsd for the rest of their lives if they suffered 10% of sasuke's grief. It would literally psychologically break
them. His pain enough to turn anyone inhuman at heart that gives 0 fu&ks about the world. At least he tried to change the system. Tried to make the world is a better place.
Make the word a better place by becoming a totalitarian leader? Who displayed psychopathic tendencies? And murders those who disagree?
@@V---Llol ignore him
@@V---Lyou cryin 😂
@@tricktreat688Even though he's actually right.
This comment was written by a edgy teenager.
I remember reading the series when it was coming out. I remember someone on Tumblr being upset at the ending and being confused on why. Wasn't the goal for the series for Naruto to become the Hokage? I didn't realize at the time that the whole story of Naruto was condemning the ninja system as a whole and that the Hokage was the symbol of that system. I didnt realize that by having Naruto become Hokage without changing anything, the mistakes of the ninja world will continue on. I truly love Kishimoto for bringing Naruto in my life, but after all these years of growing up and living my own life and seeing the world, I think I've outgrown this series. I'm a little bit sad, but happy with the memories i have with this series.
Naruto did change the world fundamentally, he just didn't create a utopia. I don't think the story would be interesting if he had
Facts. Love the series, but it has not aged well in any capacity. Be its thematic messaging, utilization of women, and storytelling.
@@NoName-xc6cg He really didn’t though. He brought Peace, but not change. The village elders that fostered the Uchiha massacre, and all of the systemic problems are still in play. Naruto as Hokage is still sending the younger generation, and by extension his children, out on missions to die for this system. The concept of ROGUE NINJA is STILL A THING despite all 5 villages being united apparently.
The status quo of Naruto still remains in Boruto, save for a few things like the Tailed Beasts having some kind of autonomy. Naruto being the Hokage and doing nothing about it isn’t a good thing. We’re not expecting a Utopian society, but Naruto doesn’t need to create a Utopia to want to change the system.
Yeah the older you get, the more realize that to an extent, Sasuke was right. Naruto is just reinforcing the very same system of government that made him and other people suffer
@@CarnageRulez469 You realize abolishing the system is only going to create more rogue ninjas, right? Let's say a bunch of rouge ninjas group together and are now terrorizing some village in the outskirts. What do you do? You can't rely on Naruto and Sasuke to solve every single problem, that's not a long term solution.
This kind've sums up a lot of my feelings about Naruto. Part 1 of Naruto, especially in the first half, did an amazing job of laying out how corrupt and downright evil the shinobi system really is. It indoctrinates these children, teaching them to chase this dream of becoming powerful ninja for the sake of their village; a village which literally doesn't give a damn if they live or die; a village that will demand everything of them. Their lives, their ideals, and even their very own children are all fair game to this village. Naruto's very existence demonstrates this. Minato, who clearly loved his son with all of his heart, still chose to condemn him to a life of hell for the sake of the village. His father stuck a demon inside of him and left him without a single soul to care for him, because that's what ninjas do. Kushina's dying wish was for Hiruzen to watch over Naruto, but for Hiruzen, Naruto was always just an expendable resource. Oh yeah, he liked Naruto, sure; he probably even cared about the kid, to some extent. But at the end of the day, Hiruzen was a ninja, and Naruto was just a weapon for the sake of the village; nothing more.
That's profound. That's HEAVY! Part 1 Naruto was dark; it didn't pull its punches at all, and that's exactly why it left such an impact on early readers.
The thing about Shippuden is that it did cover some of the darkness of this world, but right out the gate we can see that it doesn't do so with nearly as much potency or care for Kishimoto's original narrative. Naruto just decided "I'll find an answer to peace" and he never did; not really. Sure, he got the other nations to fight together, but at the end of the day, ninja still exist because hidden villages still need their soldiers to die so they can line their pockets.
A much more satisfying answer would've been if Naruto and Sasuke met in the middle. Naruto of all people should have understood exactly where Sasuke was coming from when he proposed the idea of revolution. They should have fought still, but because Sasuke's idea of revolution was tainted by his own hatred. Naruto fighting Sasuke should've been so that Sasuke could understand that he was his ally, and that Naruto wanted to help him do it RIGHT; not by slaughtering more people and becoming an enemy of the world, but by creating a golden standard of what the world should look like and fighting every step of the way to make sure that people didn't deviate from what was right. As opposed to Madara who fought to realize his own selfish ambitions, Naruto and Sasuke would've been fighting to protect each and every person's individual freedoms and right to find happiness for themselves.
Bravo, bravo.....
I think while writing these moments the author was more concerned with pulling heartstrings than the consequences they would have in the narrative as a whole
This video made realize that morality is twisted in the world of naruto
I ain't reading allat
If you watch boruto youll see why this whole comment is wrong. Escept the uchiha stuff that was always a horrible retcon.
The villages no longer just rely on "sending kids to die" since there is no more wars.
The villages also rely more technology now, you can see with all the huge skyscrapers and labs konoha has. Not just profit from sending kids to die. Not mention most missions the shinobi are sent on are regular missions to stop thieves or retireve a item. Atleast in canon.
And last, can you blane them for keeping the shinobi system? When you know you have literally have kaguyas clan looming to attack and obliterate the world. No shit you have to stay on alert and keep up your defense.
I feel like the decay of Naruto's morals starts when Hiruzen is portrayed as loving everyone in the village, right before the finals of the Chunnin Exams. After that, the Leaf becomes a living contradiction. While it's a harsh place full of prejudice against their own people, it's also a loving place where everyone is happy to die for the sake of others. Both those realities are shown during the end of the arc, and the author doesn't seem to notice it.
The more time passes, the more the shows tries to make it seem like the system is actually good, but there are some bad people in it. It's apparent how so many things, from the Uchiha massacre, to Naruto's poor living conditions, to many other terrible things are all on Danzou's hands. He became the scapegoat to excuse the evil in the system, and after he is dead, there's nothing really to fix in the Leaf anymore.
Sure, let's forget how the Hyuga are still using pretty much a slave system, or how children are sent to dangerous places for the sake of profit because the economy is based on war. What matters is that big bad guys got defeated.
I'm talking only about your first paragraph here. Both those things are obsarvable in real life though. In my country, for example, we are proud to represent the country at international events, and are proud of anyone who represent us positively, but within the country, you have the various ethnic groups who don't like one another. You see yourselves as one when you have a common foe, it's only normal. It's the same thing that happened when all the 5 villages came together.
Love can save the world but can't change it so true madrara was right the shnobi system is hell end 33 proves it
@@dytgyfgyffuh243Bra naruto literally changed the shinobi aliens
I think while writing Kishimoto thought more about the emotional impact these moments would have on the reader than the consequences they would have in the overall narrative
@@MotherFucker1984 Hiruzen did love everyone in the village but village is mindset is to sacrifice the minority for the majority the ninja system was a necessary evil for a time if a village was caught laking they could be wiped out like the Uzumaki so everyone had to be hard in this soldier esk mentality us vs the world but know naruto brought peace between nations it's slowly stopped happening and ninja are less likely to die
What the ending of Naruto exposed is that Kishimoto is great at coming up with concepts, but often falls short on following through. Naruto was made to see and hate the flaws of the Shinobi world but changed little. Kishimoto spent way too much time focusing on the emotional connections, fights, and world building and not enough time actually resolving all the big issues the series went out of it's way to bring up.
Because a story about political bs would warrant more investment than a story with characters you actually learn about and connect to...
@@Zac_Frost political bs...? Kishimoto went out of his way to make the politics of the Shinobi world a major focal point in literally every saga. To not resolve those issues is the equivalent of bringing up something you're upset about in an argument multiple times and then refusing to discuss a solution. It's dumb.
@cygnusprime6728 you clearly didn't get the point of my comment.
There's nothing wrong with politics into a story. What I was getting at was focusing on it over characters whose arcs you get invested in. If your plot of 5 out of 5 stars, but the characters are 1 out of 5, then no one is going to read it. Look at the Star Wars prequels. Big on plot and politics, but the characters were barely even paper thin and uninteresting.
And the ending of Naruto shows that the change will be reform rather than revolution. Revolution is often faster, but it's much bloodier and almost never leads to change for the better.
Reform takes time, and lots of it. It won't take the in universe 16 years to magically fix everything that was wrong in the first place.
@@Zac_Frost he doesn't need to focus on the politics over the characters. Kishimoto can dedicate literally just a few pages or fuck, even a few panels to actually resolve the themes and political messages he spent dozens of chapters elaborating on. Stop acting like that's impossible lol
@cygnusprime6728 I'm not acting like it's impossible. I'm just saying if it was realistic, they'd show it taking time. They do even discuss a lot if the changes that have been made since Naruto took over. The Chunin Exams are less bloody and brutal, and the Hyuga no longer brand the branch family. Those are two huge systemic changes that, you guessed it, were discussed.
I don't know why you're so hostile and aggressive here.
People say that the Hokage was powerless to stop the Hyuuga to exploit their own. I say he had all the power on his hands. All it took was one ultimatum:
"Either stop enslaving children, or get the fuck out of my village. Good luck surviving out there without a village backing you up when every other village under the sun wants to gouge out your eyes."
Except for the fact that the Hyuuga Clan are the second strongest clan in the hidden leaf and make a a good portion of the military might of the leaf
@@danteagyei2773 Konoha had no quams eradicating the strongest clan they had because of racist superstitions that can't even be conclusively proven. Why they have problems with kicking out the Hyuga is beyond me.
@@danteagyei2773 If the Leaf's willing to mollywhop the Uchiha clan, at that point they for sure would be ok with sending the Hyuga out on their way😂.
@KurouShiro6000 This is incorrect. The Uchiha Massacre was mostly greenlit by danzo behind the back of the council of elders and the homage (basically anyone in position of real political power aside from himself o think). Konoha DID have problems with losing the Uchiha. Danzo just didn't care and thus konoha lost them anyway.
So yeah. They'd have issues losing the hyuga clan.
You can draw a direct comparision between this and the freeing of slaves in amarica, witch lead to the civil war, but I don’t think any one(intiligence) wuld say that was bad
Your critique hits hard, but it's realistic. It examines the shinobi world, asking, 'Has peace really been achieved?' The echoes of violence from the shinobi system scream a definite 'NO!'. It could gives us an interesting plot idea for Boruto. Maybe Boruto could be the true revolutionary to dismantle the status quo and their system, ending the cycle of violence being perpetuated. Anyway, great video! Thanks for putting so much effort into it. Keep up the awesome work!
idk if u like fan fiction look up a story called “the new dawn” very good story
This video completely misunderstands that story. It was never about destroying the ninja system and they addressed that plot line with Obito's character. Being a ninja is about not giving up and passing on the will of fire. You are supposed to make changes for a better future. Revolution was not the goal. Sasuke's idea would only yield the same results as Itachi. It's like people never read naruto and just reinterpret things that don't make sense in the context of the story
Naruto literally brings a more peaceful world where the new gen don't go on dangerous mission. This video is not good
@@Bjjboxing And how are you suppose to do that by repeating the same mistakes your formers had done over and over and over again? Sounds like the definition of insanity to me.
@@Bjjboxing there's still child soldiers, there's still chunin exams, there's still a power contest between the nations through those things. what really actually changed in the world after Naruto became hokage? because Boruto shows, not a whole lot.
@@MegamanStarforce2010 You are making stuff up. Konohamaru and kids his age do not fight in the war so you are just wrong. The exams are completely different so you are wrong again. Actually watch the show
Also can we just take a second to appreciate how much of a piece of shit the Third Hokage actually was. Neji and the side branch of the Hyuuga clan getting curse marks that turn them into slaves, and he does nothing. Naruto, a child who happened to have a demon fox sealed inside him WHILE HE HAD NO WAY TO OBJECT TO IT, AND WASN'T EVEN AWARE OF IT DURING HIS CHILDHOOD, is hated and shunned by the village, and forced to live in a extremely poor condition, yet the Third Hokage does nothing, despite him literally being the son of the deceased Fourth Hokage. Itachi was just forced to kill his ENTIRE FAMILY just to protect his brother, yet..... no action? Like I refuse to believe the Third Hokage was THIS POWERLESS! I just refuse. Sure, he might not be able to singlehandedly change everything, but he could at the very least try doing a bit more than he actually did.
Although I don't think there are any innocent people here, at least as far as the upper echelons of the leaf village are concerned, I mean again, just look at how the Second Hogake talked about the Uchiha, lol.
Agreed
See what you’re saying just isn’t the case when it comes to Naruto. I’ve always believed that the third Hokage did everything he did because he believed it was the best thing for Naruto.
Instead of having Naruto be seen as a hero, who saved the village, he issued a decree that no one would tell the truth about what happened to him in hopes that this would cause Naruto to make genuine real connections with other people. You can’t forget that the man himself has always had flaws, and he was never the best father to his two children and constantly got into arguments with his own son. We can see a little of these issues that can come from being born inside of someone else’s shadow from Konohamaru himself who struggle to find his own identity, and to get people to see him for who he really was outside of being the grandson of the Hokage.
The third Hokage in my opinion didn’t trust himself to be able to be a good father figure to Naruto, since he already failed with his own children, and instead did the best thing for Naruto, by giving him the opportunity to make genuine friends without any preestablished expectations placed on him. Let’s not forget that the third Hokage simply issued a decree that no one would tell the boy about the circumstances of his birth, but it was the angry villagers who instead twisted that decree and told their children that he was a demon and to not play with him.
The third Hokage, like any great character in fiction is just a a man like the rest of us who at the end of the day believed he was making the right decisions which is why I’ll always respect the character.
Eh....people say that but the Third Hokage isn't that bad. What was he supposed to do? That was for the clan themselves to fix...should he really interfere in that kind of stuff? He tries to protect Naruto but he can't force people to like him. Again...no Hiruzen tried to talk and negotiate with Fugaku. He wasn't powerless. He tried to do a lot though.
Yes madrara was right the shnobi system is hell end 33 proves it
The situation with the Hyuuga was a clan tradition for who knows how long, and Hiruzen forcing the Hyuuga to put a stop to a tradition would make others form an idea that he would interfere with the traditions of other clans.
This would be the fault of Danzo, as he leaked the information that Naruto was the Jinchuuriki when Naruto was 4, because he saw that tensions were rising between the citizens and the Uchiha, so he created a scapegoat in Naruto. Hiruzen himself gave Naruto an apartment that was bigger than Kakashi's.
The Massacre is one of Hiruzens worst points, as all he did to Danzo was remove him from his position and made him disband root (Which he never did) He was in talks with the Uchiha for about a year after Shisuis death though, which would've been when tensions were the highest, even if they didn't go anywhere you can't say he didn't try. But by time Itachi massacred the clan they had already planned a coup. Realistically all Hiruzen could've done at that point would be keeping the children/non-combatants alive.
I find it strange that more people don't chastise Itachi and Hiruzen for the Uchiha massacre. Killing off thousands of your own citizens sounds like the actions of a despot. In fact, it flies in the face of the Will of Fire and the founding principles of the village.
Hiruzen was against it. It was Danzo who was all for it. The problem is that Hiruzen lacked the connection to the Uchiha clan that Minato had. Because of this, his attempts at peace came short, especially since the other elders lacked the same sentiments, and Danzo was covertly trying to sabotage it.
I agree with you about Itachi, though he's an interesting case. He tried to fix all the village's problems by preventing the civil war, and while it stopped the civil war, it ultimately failed, with all his plans falling apart after his death. People don't chastise him because we understand how he reached that conclusion, but not everyone realizes how bad his plans all fell apart.
My main concern with Hiruzen is his lack of backbone. Danzo and the elders had been causing trouble for years, and I cannot fathom Danzo still having a job after Naruto's secret leaked. Hiruzen comes across as a coward when he kept the disagreement with Fugaku secret, covers up the massacre by burning Itachi, and never punished Danzo.
Yea especially when people praise it even itachi himself said it was a terrible thing to do and if he could do it again he’d of done it differently
This is a stretch but they probably look at it like the bombs dropped during the war. Massacre that no one condemns the United States for.
Bro they were gonna kill hidden leaf civilians the uchiha was planning a coup they were gonna have fugaku control kurama and destroy the village
This was so beautifully written. Naruto tried his entire life to save sasuke when in reality what he should have done was to ensure that there would never need to be ANOTHER SASUKE. OR Another pain or another nagato or another obito. This is where he failed. He accepted the status quo. Instead of becoming the great progressive he became a great conservative. A person who saved the world and with it its institutions instead of toppling them.
If he toppled them, it would've gone right back to the waring states era. That didn't need to happen, instead there's stability between all 5 great nations, and because of the work both he and Kakashi (when he was Hokage) had done, the elemental nations and everyone living in them have been in a time of peace for awhile and Naruto was still working toward true peace. He can't be everywhere nor can he save everyone, but he was working towards it alongside the other villages and his own village too.
@@windghost2it's the system that's the problem reformism is a lie
Isn't 'progressive' exactly what that'd make him? Progressives are not revolutionaries, the core of progressivism is taking over and using the power of the system to change the world. The argument in this video is basically a revolutionary critique of progressivism - when the system is this evil it needs to be overthrown and none of the good you can do with having control over it can outweigh the horrors it creates simply through its everyday functioning. I think this is just what you get when mainstream progressives write these kinds of fantasy stories - the same thing happened with Harry Potter, where we get shown how horrifying the wizarding world is and then Harry becomes a wizard cop. BNHA is another shounen anime example of child soldiers being groomed to become the next generation of enforcers for a messed-up totalitarian dystopia and this being treated as good and normal.
Progressive writers who don't have a strong grasp of politics often want to tell stories where the hero takes his place in the power structure and reforms a corrupt society, but then they accidentally demonstrate that power structure is inherently unjust and impossible to reform, and leave all the actual reforming offscreen, to be implied in the epilogue at best.
He really didn't fail or accept that, he is still working towards doing that. He didn't become a conservative, he is trying to achieve change. Not all of the institutions need to change but he is trying to change some of them.
@@Jdudec367 The core message of Naruto is reform over revolution. The message is revolutionaries are just promising you utopia but they really want to enslave you. I would still say this anime is not good viewing for kids impressionable youth but it is a good case study in Japanese fascist propaganda. I wonder if kishimoto tried to undermine this message by making his villains very cool and likable, by putting a lot of truth in them. No doubt a show like this was designed. All shows are designed as propaganda. We must be like ninjas and see the world as deception
This is why Sasuke is my favorite character. Only realistic reactions to the world they live in. He knew it needed a reset.
The Orphans had the only realistic idea.. See how the rain village is different from all the villages.
i dont think Sauske has had the capacity nor the willingness to actually follow through his harebrained 'plan' lol. He was just angry because of how konoha treated his clan and specifically his bee-loved brother and he concluded that the ninja world must go. Konoha bad = World bad. And even so he probably didn't think about resetting the shinobi power UNTIL after Hagoromo offered him godlike powers. In conclusion, he was drunk on his powers. Naruto might be stupid, but atleast he's consistent and stuck to his ideals.
@@fdevaa Naruto had no ideas...
@@fdevaa Because there was no ideal but the will of fire. Naruto had also been treated like shit and even thought to get revenge because his inner darkness told him the hypocrisy of the village, but Naruto accepted it because it was simply the easier path and he's been brainwashed to follow the system that treated jinchurikis like him shit for centuries. Remember how Gaara literally got assassination attempts?
Take off your glasses. Sasuke was right. People just think he's wrong because he's willing to kill people for it. But you would all give kakashi and itachi a pass because they're willing to do it for Konoha.
@@lapplandkun9273yes I agree I think that the problem is that the show is biased towards the hidden leaf village and will of fire that no matter what crime they do or how many people they kill their always the good ones in the story because their the home of naruto who is the hero of the story
When you said that Naruto should hate the world I remember that someone said something about an interview in which supposedly Kishimoto said Sasuke was the real representation of a ninja while Naruto is the fantastical interpretation of one
Pretty much. I swear people are so weak and keep making excuses because they wank Naruto as a MC or he's their favorite character, and thus not prone to criticism. They seriously only care about his goal as hokage than helping other people
Even though Naruto is now Hokage they say "change is hard" and they completely ignore the fact that Naruto himself made promises but didnt deliver
He promised to change the Hyuuga clan for Neji, he’s not shown to have done anything.
He promised Nagato to break the cycle of hatred, and find peace. He’s not shown to make any changes to the system which thrives on conflicts and breeds hatred. He’s not done anything for the smaller villages, they’re not even included in the Kages meeting in Gaiden. They continue to be marginalized by the big power just like in Nagato’s time.
He has not done anything about Orochimaru who killed many innocents in his experiments except keeping an eye on him. His approach is to deal with threats as they come, he’s not interested in addressing root cause or breaking any cycle. That's a terrible way of handling things, and that's no different from Hiruzen. Hiruzen did the exact same. He allowed Danzo to run ROOT, he allowed Orochimaru to live instead of putting resources into finding and killing him off the bat or rescuing people orochimaru abducted, tortured, or experimented. Naruto even acted friendly with him in Boruto proving he doesn't have a shred of morality in him.
He’s kept the uchiha massacre under the rug. Again, he’s not interested in facing up to truths and learning from history. He even said “cold hard facts don’t matter, only feelings matter”.
Naruto is the Hokage, Child of Prophecy, the person Neji, Jiraya, Nagato and Konan put their faith in; he’s the character who should bring resolution to these plot points and themes, and he didn’t.
Most of these defenders argue “we don’t know, the changes could be off panel”. This is pathetic, it’s like saying “just because the defeat of the villains wasn’t shown doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, the fights and defeat was off panel!”. Why shouldn’t the defeat of the source of evil and tragedies in this series be shown on panel?
The series started off the same and ended the same. Really? What lives did naruto even change for the better? Sasuke is a Konoha dog who thinks his clan is better off dead. Everyone else committed suicide or accepted death because Naruto talk no jutsu them into saying he was right.
@@lapplandkun9273I agree with you. Naruto (the character) fans sometimes are quiet rabid imo. Some of them are clearly too self-inserted themselves into him
I agree with your "the conflicts can be solved off panel" argument. If it's not properly addressed then it's a bad storytelling
I like Naruto because of the potential he had, but I truly feel like kishimoto dropped the ball because his potential never got fulfilled.
Truth be told, shippuden needed to spend much less time outside the Leaf village and a lot more time inside it for all the promises naruto made to actually come true.
And the supporting characters needed to be way more important than they turned out to be.
Sasuke's story needed less screen time, too, because naruto had bigger and worse things to focus on than bringing Sasuke back to konoha, especially before he knew about the truth behind the uchiha massacre.
From a writing perspective, even though Sasuke is the deuteragonist, his story needed less screen time because naruto, as the protagonist, needed to be much more proactive and dynamic.
But I see this sort if failure to thrive a lot, and I think the cause is actually the real author being afraid to go off script and genuinely do something bold. So much of latter shippuden feels like a safe choice, and then of course they jump the shark and it's too confusing to even really care.
Naruto didn't need to end with him completely dismantling the ninja system. But like you said, there were some clear goals that the author should have tried to make it clear he was working on. The hyuuga. The uchiha. Rain village. The bijuu. Peace with other villages. The general exploitation of children as child soldiers. The general lack of human rights and the casual acceptance of human death amongst colleagues.
The thing is, informally, Naruto had already started to inspire change on some of these topics. So why didn't kishimoto go all the way and show us that Naruto was starting to change things officially, even if he ended the story without showing us all the changes? Well, I think it's because he didn't find Naruto as interesting as some of his other characters, and thus spent less time on his plot lines and development. And because changing the structure of his world now that he'd built it into a mostly coherent universe would be hard and scary.
It made the ending really unsatisfying. It felt like being betrayed by your hero in real time. The audience knew naruto could do better, and had been waiting to see it. And the ending and especially boruto made it clear we'd never see that.
Watching part 1 of Naruto is so eye opening to all the retcons in Shippuden. Iruka is the one who saved Naruto when everyone else isolated him. Yet the show pretends like Jiraiya was important to him.
Though they have a nice moment together on the Turtle Island.
It's not like Naruto doesn't give a damn about him. :)
All of Naruto's teachers were important to him. Jiraiya essentially taught him all of the important ninja stuff including the Rasengan. Don't forget that they spent 3 years together. That's a long time
Naruto didn't learn anything in the academy jiraiya had to teach him from the very basics.... jiraiya taught him all about the ninja world and also passed on his dream of finding the answer to hatred.
Yea idk what Part 1 you watched then cause if you think Jiraiya wasn’t important to Naruto then lmao
If anything the biggest retcon of Shippudden is acting as if Iruka was a father figure when if anyone was a father figure it was most definitely Jiraiya
Yeah it is kind of weird how Naruto was prophesied to be this radical and revolutionary figure and yet he really did not change anything. Sure he saved a lot of people from their own inner darkness like Neji and Sasuke, he proved instrumental in winning the war and saving the world, and he ultimately achieved his dream of becoming Hokage. Yet he did very little if anything to actually bring the kind of change necessary to truly make the world a better and more peaceful place.
Sure, the world following the war seems to mostly be at peace but how long will that last especially once the generations old enough to remember the war begin to die out? No matter how many people Naruto managed to save on a personal level from their own darkness, so long as the institutional problems remain unaddressed, more people just like them will be created and many of them will not have a Naruto to pull them back from the brink. True change, that brings a true improvement to the human condition and brings about a greater level of peace requires more than just love, it requires political, economic, and social justice reform. For all his virtues, Naruto was just not well suited to provide the latter three.
This is where I think a lot of heroes, particularly in anime fall short and Naruto is a great example. Sure such characters are great at stopping whatever demon, alien, mad-god, or whatever happens to be threatening to destroy/conquer the world and we love them for their heroic spirit and goodness. But how do you solve problems like institutions that have created a situation where the most powerful people in your society have not just their economic well being but their very identities tied to war? That is not a problem that can be solved by punching out a demon, alien, mad-god, and so forth.
Part of the issue is that most of these heroes are usually not particularly intelligent, at least outside of a fight. Thus they tend to not even ask let alone try to come up with reforms to try to restructure or replace the institutions governing their society or world to promote peace and stability over war. An even bigger issue sadly stems from what is commonly their greatest strength or at the very least what makes so many love them so dearly, their compassion.
The thing about societal reform regardless if it is on the local, national, or global level is that there will always be opposition even if literally everybody at least on paper agrees that reform is necessary. For some it is due to honest disagreement about what form those reforms should take, for many it would be because the status quo benefits them in some way, and for others it is simple fear as such reforms in their eyes upend what they see as the natural order of things. Most of the first group can be worked with through political compromise, at least some of the second group can be bought over so long as you can offer them something to benefit them, and very few if any of the third category can be brought over. Many of these people, particularly in that 3rd group, will take their opposition beyond mere political dissent such as by holding a peaceful protest outside of a legislative assembly but attempt to prevent such reforms by force which brings me back to point about how compassion gets in the way.
Can you imagine Naruto or many other heroes like him being willing to kill or to give the orders that will kill thousands if not tens of thousands of people in order to see needed reforms implemented? Given that Naruto did not kill a single person as far as I can remember in the series, I find it hard to believe he could make those kind of cold blooded choices and if he did, I suspect it would destroy him more than anything he experienced throughout the series. And of course if he did start engaging is such behavior he would run into a serious risk of turning into another Danzo.
Heroes like Naruto are great at saving people on an individual level and stopping existential threats like Kaguya. But they just are not equipped to handle institutional problems that prevent real improvement in the quality of life for the survivors. Those kind of problems usually require people who are more cerebral and willing to make deeply unpleasant choices for the greater good.
Fantastic explanation. It's amazing, I can't believe how you were able to write that long and that good. Thanks for the analysis.
Kishimoto himself said that naruto is too naive and idealistic he thinks that friendship can solve every problem
Love can save the world but can't change it so true madrara was right the shnobi system is hell end 33 proves it
Incredible analysis
"True change, that brings a true improvement to the human condition and brings about a greater level of peace requires more than just love, it requires political, economic, and social justice reform." All of that fundamentally requires _better people._ That's why the entire narrative harps on the "problem of hatred" instead of "reform". It's the flaw in Sasuke's ambition to become the focal point of hatred, as well.
Pain was honestly the true villian because he was the only person to challenge naruto's philosophy and I feel like a lot of the fandom forgets why it was important that Pain did what he did
Pain would have made things better through.
He just failed because his dreams got twisted & he simply lacked enough power to influence the change.
It’s honestly astonishing how bad reality is in Naruto
If someone made a Naruto Iceberg.
Then the stupidity of the 3rd Hokage is worthy of a spot in all the depths!
That’s just how crazy his rule was!
It was the worst political situation ever:
• Kakashi’s father was shunned & forced to commit suicide.
• Uzumaki clan almost went extinct. Honestly, Uzumaki blood is definitely extinct now.
• Everyone was literally doing human experiments.
• Children were traumatized & forced to either follow the system or kill them selves.
• Madara abandoned his people. He left them to die, just because he could not change society.
• Everyone enjoyed bullying outcasts.
• Senju were definitely racist against Uchiha people.
• Tailed beasts who are = to nuclear bombs were tortured by society.
• Nations kept inventing ways to go to war with one another.
• Economy driven by war.
• Evryone is worth only if they bring benefits.
• Strength is valued more then anything.
• Etc.
I just don’t care anymore.
Madara should have succeeded. His idea was better then anything. I would support him definitely if I ever reincarnate there!
I still remember that Naruto promised that he would change the Hyuga system as the first thing when he became Hokage. Did he?
Yes, according to hinata’s father the hyuga changed thanks to his influence
He did. There's an episode in Boruto where Hisashi and Naruto talk in length about it.
Yeah he actually did. They stopped with the curse mark system and it’s more of a family now than just a clan with branches/levels
No, it was never changed. Nothing has been shown the lesser branch are unmarked and treated as equals, because the Boruto series goes out of its way....to never mention or show a lower branch member. 🤷 Baseless and phoney lip service means nothing. The hyuuga are still doing the same crap.
@@opaluni if they eliminated branches ,then they can't show you a lower branch family member. Due to you know, that not being a thing that exists anymore. If you want them to show you someone with a curse mark to prove they don't do curse marks anymore you're never going to be satisfied
I believe Naruto was thematically consistent with itself for the first half. From the Land of Waves Arc to the Pain Arc, it was shown that the Shinobi system is cruel - or, more precisely, the idea behind it was good but the reality of being a shinobi was cruel. The Shinobi were meant to protect the village, but they had to do so by killing and sacrificing themselves for the system, both figuratively and literally. The Wil of Fire provided unity within Konoha, but robbed people of their freedom. Peace was redeemed by deaths of many innocent people. And after his confrontation with Pain, Naruto must have known that the shinobi system is broken, if he did not realize it sooner.
In the first half of the series, one of the main themes of Naruto is that necessary evil should not exist and frienship together with emphaty can change everything. Naruto as a character symbolized this idea. Communication and forgiveness is always the key, not violence. It may be an idealized, unrealistic idea in real life, but it is an idea certainly worth thinking about, and it could work in a fictional story like Naruto.
But from the War Arc, the seriesseems to have changed its moral code. Itachi was seen as a great shinobi and a hero because he put his clan first, and Hashirama praised him for his actions. Hashirama himself wanted to create a great place for living in Konoha, but he created a system that was not perfect at all. Hiruzen turned up to be an asshole, but Naruto still admired him (he likely did not now about Hiruzen´s faults but Hiruzen was still shown to be a hero). And the 4th great war itself cost many lives. Suddently, necessary evil is acceptable, or the seires makes it look so.
Naruto did contribute to making a better world. The five villages are were allies for the first time in history, and they were working together to maintain peace. Naruto did make the world a better place, or the world at least became a better place because of him. At least temporatily. But the system was never changed. I don´t think Naruto would change the system completely, since he grew in it and he found his ninja way. And ninja are still needed to protect the village. But the system needed to be changed. A single volume dedicated to Naruto changing the system should be enough, or at least a panel of him and the other Kage promising to do so.
I know that Naruto was primarily targeted towards teenage boys and that it was always primarily a battle shonen. But it was the focus on morality that elevated Naruto above other shonen. And Kishimoto´s writing did not live up to what it could have been in the end.
Sorry for a shorter essay :-). A great video indeed!
I agree with so much of this. The story towards the end really sweeps under the rug the true problem with Zabuza and Haku, who are really the secret faces of the ninja world: the adults are Bred to have blood on their hands, yet hide their true intentions and emotions, and the children wear their heart on their sleeve, but can't abide by their own ideals or feelings because of what is expected of them. Very real and life-like view of the ninja world. However, I would disagree that tye beginning was consistent with its own themes. What followed was typical Shonen anime. The chunin exams doesn't expand or reiterate or resolve anything that was learned at the end of the land of waves arc. The children are called to lay down their lives for the glory of the village and they do it without so much as a disagreement. Which is consistent with their immaturity, but it never gets resolved. Naruto spends the rest of part 1 deadly focused on strength and power. Which is why I'd say that the true theme of the Land of Waves arc was, "to who should I swear loyalty?" Naruto questions whether becoming strong means becoming like Zabuza, to which his answer becomes never going back on his word and never giving up. Which doesn't really answer the true question posed by Zabuza and Haku: what is the answer to a system that creates such heartlessness and tragedy everywhere? It answers Naruto's question to himself: does gaining strength in the ninja world equal only heartache and more loneliness and hatred and violence? Naruto answers that it is not so in his case. Naruto's goal was never to change the world, but to achieve what he desired for his own life through his own means and morals. This is why Pain is such a stumblingblock to him. He's never considered the question, so he has no answer. Its why eventually, his only answer is to do exactly what Pain described. Find a common enemy, gather everyone against them, fight them, and win. The end of the otsusuki would be the end of the Ninja World, because then, they'd have no common enemy to defeat.
This is exactly why I think Naruto as a series isn't nearly as great as it could have been. It never actually answers the question of the worlds darkness. Naruto just becomes hokage and the series continues with Boruto. At best the peace between villages will last for Naruto's and Sasuke's life times.
It's a shame - under a more competent writer, it could've been on the level of stuff like AOT, Berserk, and FMA. The crazy part is that it's still pretty damn close
This video made realize that morality is twisted in the world of naruto and sasuke was right about revolution
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 He was 90% right and 10% wrong. But that 10% was enough to invalidate EVERYTHING.
@@zeinmets3550 AOT is trash too
One thing I didn’t like about boruto was that literally sasuke and Naruto were the strongest by a mile and the only reason peace lasted is because no one can oppose them. That’s not right to me, Naruto should’ve changed the world but he never did. He quite literally was just an unopposed force
Naruto and Sasuke being OP thus peace lasted is only your PRECONCEPTION. Literally no arc, event, conversations that were shown that Kages are scared and only cooperate because they can't beat them.
Ask yourself....what caused the past wars? Chiyo said that possession of Tailed Beast mostly caused it. Do they still have a problem about Tailed Beast? NOT ANYMORE
or How about that they maintain just the cooperation built in during 4th great ninja war and expand on that?
Didn't he also smirk at the idea of the other kage disagreeing with his handling of Kawaki, as if they would have any ability to stop him? He may be thinking nicer than most of his predecessors, but he is still egotistical somewhere.
@@valeriansage that was barely built upon because boruto jumps to aliens no one gives a damn about instead of continuing the political/societal issues of the ninja world. It was a waste because nothing even was truly fixed and instead of maybe doing stuff with that, otsutski go brrrr
@@motherplayer crazy to think Naruto knows how much stronger he is and how he can exploit it, obviously it never would but doesn’t help the narrative. Could’ve nerfed them so easily too after their final battle and losing their arms just say it took a large toll on their strength so they’re stronger than everyone else but not so much overwhelmingly stronger they can’t be opposed
Goofy … You can’t “change the world” 🤡 You can only help and inspire *INDIVIDIUALS* to *CHOOSE* to change and grow. You sound about 12 years old 😂👋
He had the chance to destroy it, but an adult story about fixing the Shinobi World and the fallouts from the imperialists that control and sponsor them (the nobles that hire them would not like this change) sells less than Boruto: Naruto for the next generation.
Except this DOES get addressed in the books and in Boruto.
Is this another poor attempt at hating on Boruto? What you said is literally explored in Boruto and in the light novels
Bro it's like people just make stuff up to hate on naruto and Boruto
@@verx3900ppl don't read the novels
@@whateverwhatever4476that’s… their loss??
This reminds me of a quote from Gojo Satoru from Jujutsu Kaisen. Especially when you said that Naruto encouraged the system that would destroy the next wave of children.
*“I’m gonna reset this crappy Jujutsu world. It’d be easy to kill everyone who’s in charge. But someone else would just take their place. Nothing would change. And it’s not as if people approve of massacres anyway… So that’s why I’m turning to education. I need strong and intelligent allies. I need to foster them.”*
Spoilers for JJK Manga:
Man, JJK feels so much like Naruto but with some changes. Like, Gege thought what if we could make it better.
But with how things went after Shibuya, it just felt like Gege gave up halfway. It makes me quite sad.
Basically he's a left wing socialist professor raising the revolutionists of tomorrow 😂
@@jms855 hes giga based yeah
Then Gege fucks up and has the higher ups be offscreened because hehe bad guys dead for no reason. Funny how literally killing them adds nothing to the plot.😂 Did Gege do it to fuck with us? To prove the point that killing them won't cause change to happen? Or did he just fumble I don't know.
@@jjba_goat i dont think we need to see it, so its offscreened
Naruto Perspective is so Optimistic, unknowingly he posesses similiar traits and mindset as a politician. The Problem is always the same as any other politician, is that not in the idea, but the application.
I remember finding your channel 6 years ago because I was obsessed with pain and would always look for videos about him and you had just put one out. I said this guys super underrated and your channel has grown so much!
I think the story of Jiraya answers the question. The man with the phylosophy to end the circle of hatred, acted by leaving the village for many years trying to make the world a better place by his own. Sure he still did some missions for the leaf and had many bonds and connections there but I think it's only natural in a world with such high regard to nationalism.
After trying to have students to change the world (and actually doing really well with nagato konan and yahiko) but (in my opinion) failing with minato who was just like most of the shinobi world a cold killer for the village.
At the end, the most impactful thing Jiraya did was his final student Naruto. Naruto didn't end the villages system, but world peace is a good achevment
Naruto didn't end the system in place, but because of him and others from his generation, the ninja world has been stable since the last great ninja war and has been making a lot of advancements towards peace. And Naruto has given the next generation a chance to be something other than a ninja if they wanted to, but most importantly, he's given Boruto's generation and the generations after him a chance to have hope in making a better world for everyone.
One where there won't ever be a Madara, Pain or Obito born from the cruelty of being a tool ever again. He's given them something to strive towards, and I believe more than anything that's something to have faith in. And unfortunately that's what Sage and everyone else missed.
@@windghost2so basically naruto should just shove that issue over to the next generation instead of doing his job as HOKAGE and deal with it himself😂
@@endgame6782 He's only one man, and he can't resolve everything. All I'm saying is that he did change the world for the better and while it wasn't a permanent change, it provides something to strive towards for future generations.
And he was still working towards peace before Kawaki sealed him, he and the other kage's were doing that together, no other generation of kage's before Naruto's did that and they've done a great job so far.
And I don't believe he's "shoving" towards Boruto's generation as well as future ones, he's still working towards it himself after all. He gave them something hopeful to look forward to, something to strive towards and it's a path to a better future and that's better than dreading the future due to the cycle of hatred.
@@windghost2 except naruto is the one who made the claim that he'll change it all himself - he said so multiple times throughout the series, because he saw first hand the negative impact that the shinobi system has on people; a system he has continued to support since winning the 4th shinobi war. In the real world, one person can't change the world; however naruto isn't even close to a normal person - he's the literal reincarnation of a demigod and son of a deity, not to mention the most powerful ninja in the whole series. The only other rival to his power is his BEST friend; they have more than enough power and support to get rid of the shinobi system.
Naruto was full of crap anyway, he said he'd help the rain village to make up for the pain that konoha put them through; still hasn't done it. What has he actually done that the 1st hokage didn't?? Cos Hashirama also claimed that he'd put an end to the suffering after the war with the Uchiha yet was in charge of a system that weaponized children. The peace naruto has achieved is temporary, just like the first hokage; as soon as he and sasuke die, the cycle will repeat.
@@endgame6782 Your right about Naruto saying that he’d change everything, but remember what Itachi told him? He said don’t try to shoulder everything alone or else he’ll end up becoming like Madara and himself, Itachi took on a terrible burden alone and look where it got him, dead and used by someone else.
My point is after that conversation with Itachi and then working alongside others in the war, Naruto knew the best way forward was working with other villages and creating a long lasting alliance between the great nations and finally helping out the smaller ones.
And rain is fine, Naruto did help out the village after he became Hokage.
And while yes he does continue to support the shinobi system, because of his efforts and others in creating stability for the shinobi world, the elemental nations as a whole has changed for the better.
People can openly vacation in any village, they don’t need to worry about being attacked by rouge ninja, and while you can still be a ninja, there are other professions that someone can pursue other than being a shinobi, there’s no animosity between the villages anymore since they’ve entered an alliance.
Even the chi in exams have changed, back in Naruto’s time it
Like all of that is possible because of Naruto and the people who’ve helped him.
Of course there’s still more to do and progress to be made and that’s ok, it just means there’s more ways to work towards true peace and have something to hope for.
I don’t think Naruto understood what it meant to be hokage and I’m glad this video finally taps into the world system in Naruto
U never read the series
This has to be the best video I've ever watched on Naruto... It brought me to tears... I don't know what to say. With this video, you've defined everything that anybody ever needed to know about the core of this series, and why Shippuden and its end didn't live up to.
Saving the world is only a temporary state. The nations united to defeat a common enemy: Madara Uchiha.
But as Sasuke said there will be war again
Yup, Naruto only brought peace for his lifetime and maybe for a century after his death at best. With the ninja system still in place, new people will fill those same evil roles and the cycle will begin once again.
Love can save the world but can't change it so true madrara was right the shnobi system is hell end 33 proves it
@@alexmartin6561 That's not because of the ninja system. That would happen in _any_ world-- the real world doesn't even entertain the feudalistic mercenary system that the world of Naruto entertains, and we still have similar problems.
@@alexmartin6561so because he didn’t solve peace he didn’t change the world?? Peace Is something we strive our best towards. No one man can achieve everlasting peace.
@@alexmartin6561Oh no, you are correct! He only achieved world peace and world alliance for his entire lifetime and 100 years more, dam! How can Naruto be so inefficient to achieve peace for only 100+ years!!
I still feel really bad for Neji, he was right all along... it's all about destiny, I thought the show was gonna go in a direction to prove him wrong not right. I kind of really don't like the ending, it's so contradictory. Naruto didn't change the system, and he only saved the world because he was destined to.
I feel a lot of shonene MCs don't change the world they mostly fight to keep the status quote to keep things the same, more so defending than changing
Yes like ichigo from bleach
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 can't really blame Ichigo because he doesn't come from there. He sees something is wrong but even in the human world things are wrong so he accepts some of those wrong doings and does his best to help whenever he can. Even some captains don't know how deep the corruption goes
@@erenja3ger871 the thing is that naruto and bleach and one piece have one thing in common that is croupt system naruto has the shnobi system being croupt and cruel bleach have the soul society system being croupt one piece have the world government system being croupt the villains of these anime were created for the croupt system of thier world dragon ball doesn't have croupt system it simply good vs evil
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 Ichigo's goal has been to protect his friends and family. And those guys are from Earth and Soul Society. Unlike Naruto whose goal was to be hokage and change the world.
@@keshavshivhare7177 yes but I know but I am saying that shonen heros don't change the croupt system dragon ball doesn't have a croupt system the villains in dragon are evil for the sake of being evil but naruto bleach and one piece have croupt system that created thier villains luffy is the only one that fight against his world croupt system being the world government
Finally someone put how I feel about this series into words, thank you for the wonderful video.
Been saying this since the manga ended and every time I say it I end up getting into an argument. Kishimoto dropped the ball HARD
This is easily the most black pill deconstruction of the Naruto universe…
One that isn’t wrong because it’s reflected in a way of our own real world
There's a black pill now? What's the difference between the black pill and the red pill?
It's not that Naruto didn't change the world, it's that the writer didn't allow him to so he could set up boruto. Naruto and Sasuke would have been more than capable of implementing real change, but Kishimoto wanted to go back to a world with the same problems because he is one dimensional in his thinking and all his plots have to be the same, all his villains have to be same so no real change can happen or there will be no story.
This proves you haven't even read Boruto
@@PrimalIncentive He doesn't even know that Boruto wasn't written by Kishimoto for the longest time.
The way I see it, naruto represents that you can’t always change the world, but you can change yourself. In a cold world he chose to be warm hearted, and reach out to those with lives like him (gaara for example). In doing so, he made friends in other nations that came in clutch when the world needed unity. Most of the villains seemed to share Sage’s sentiment of tearing down the system (pain, obito, etc) , but by giving into anger and hatred, the system had already corrupted them into monsters. Don’t lose your way while in the darkness!
Naruto didn't change anything, just became another tool for the system. Was he really the child of prophecy. 🤔
True, and it's funny how that whole "Children of prophecy" ended up proving Neji's thesis in the Chunin Exam right. Naruto WAS pre-destined to become hokage... but sadly that didn't mean Naruto would actually change the world. Because as powerful and influential as Naruto may be, it's impossible to change an entire society trough individualistic actions. One person or a few isn't enough to change the world, what you need is a whole collective fighting for said goal, and the changes need to be systemic, not individual.
@@costelinha1867Pain, Madara and Sasuke were ready to change the world, Naruto is actually a moderate
He did. There are books between Boruto and Naruto that have this entire premise.
The problem with will of fire is that if do not agree with you simply have a different opinion or a different ideology than your brand as evill by the hidden leaf village simply because you have different opinion do you see how crazy it is
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 That's good point you make. To me the will of fire seems like propaganda.
There are no shortcuts. The lasting change needs time, because it's not only the system that needs to be changed, but also the mentality of the people. Naruto has to change the way people think, prove that his ideas work instead of forcing the change on them. The forced change would likely create conflicts, it would be fragile.
It's pretty easy to imagine one of the villages still training children to be the shinobi and using it as an advantage (it would be something like strongly reducing military budget in our world while other countries do not do this). It seems like the change in the series is being gradually introduced - for example the chunnin exam was much safer (and boring, lol), the whole Boruto series shows it.
Stepping forward despite the hardships and never giving up - this is Naruto. Even if he dies, his will is going to be passed down to next generations and that's the real change he has already made. Fortunately, Naruto is still alive and we might be able to see how much he's going to achieve.
There's also this thing with ninja tools, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a catalyst for making shinobi system better in the story. For me the themes of Naruto are still kept, it still makes sense. Even though I don't like Boruto series too much, this aspect of it is fine in my opinion.
“Niggas talk about change and working within the system to achieve that
The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try
To change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system
It's the system that will eventually change you”
- immortal technique
A feudal system where children are trained to be killers. Naruto wanting to change that is way more interesting than super powerful villains.
Naruto didn't want to change that. He supported the will of fire. Wanted to be hokage.
It was the villains who wanted a different world.
Thank you for making this video, and I'm happy someone finally talked about this. I was frustrated that Naruto himself wasn't frustrated, and it would be so satisfying hearing him talk about all this injustice and how the people who demonized and ridiculed him only now care. It would be satisfying seeing the ashamed look on the people who shunned all older now.
I’d say that the world isn’t fundamentally different, but made better within reason. Technology has developed, international hostility is at an all time low and relations are actually the best they’ve ever been, and there are far fewer conflicts. The only reason things are the way they are in Boruto, is because Kishimoto simply didn’t want to radically change the format of his shonen battle manga. Within the boundaries of it still being a battle shonen to entice new fans and keep legacy fans, the world has improved quite a bit and is much more empathetic and humane thanks to Naruto’s influence.
Talk of hating the village system and wanting to throw it all away, is too extreme, too foundational. And is out of character. The waterfall scene is proof of his character qualities, meaning that he does indeed feel hate and negative emotions, but chooses to transform that into love and understanding. The series shows that you can’t hate someone who understands your pain, but you also can’t hate someone who comes at you with nothing but love.
Agreed. Radical positive change just doesn't happen with radical violence. Those strides are made incrementally over time in a stable system where people feel safe and can survive and thrive.
My thoughts exactly :)
It's really reform vs. revolution. Revolution is quicker, bloodier, and usually not for the better, while reform takes time and usually makes things much better. It won't happen over just 16 years, though. (The amount of Canon time between the end of Naruto and the start of Boruto.)
@@RemyEFrancis Except those themes are now fuck all with how Boruto is progressing. Aliens ruined whatever potential Boruto had exploring this, where Naruto lays the foundation, and Boruto is the one to continue carrying this out, making it a generational sort of legacy. You also forget that the warring states and villages fought for centuries. They likely tried similar solutions but realized they weren't doing anything different or changing it. Hashirama even stated that Madara may have had a point and been right.
Boruto literally doesn't care about reformation and neither the next generation and it sucks
You are so real for this i am watching and rewatching this because it sums up so many of my feelings about naruto all the way back when I read it for the first time in middle school. I read all the way up to Pain and dropped it because it wasn’t what I thought it would be, even if that sounds like a common complaint from a disgruntled fan. This video essay reaches into the soul, even if it is about cartoon ninja. Thank you for sharing
I think my main problem with this video is the omission of how Naruto did in fact change the world and the fact you clearly have a difference of opinion to his method but like Naruto did in his talk with pain you can’t guarantee your opinion/method would genuinely work considering the biggest roadblock regarding the change needed in question is human nature and how aspects of it simply cannot change permanently. Along with how the realisation of the futility of this can drive one mad.
I also think you forget how this also factors in how Naruto’s decision in stopping sasuke at the end of the series due to this. He didn’t want him to lose himself in chasing a frankly unattainable goal by committing an act which is significantly fuelled by hatred even though his hatred was justified. He wanted to reform the world through communication and love and that’s what he is still trying to do so that next generation can see the true long term benefit in such virtues.
People do not change easily no matter the method in our world how many still subscribe and even then enforce the evil ways of the past to attack, gain or try to be superior to others despite how clearly wrong it is.
Yes Naruto and Sasuke could have started a revolution through might but not only could they fail to effectively fully stamp out what they mean to in their attempt to do so as rarely does forceable change, change human nature but when they are gone. Who is to say regression wouldn’t start, who’s to say their methods of revolution couldn’t be easily twisted and perverted by those who seek a return to how things were leading back to square one.
At the end of the day whether Naruto’s current reform will work long term they way he believes is question I genuinely think could be applied to any potential revolution he would do through might.
Only difference is Naruto’s choice for me given all he said and done is consistent with his character and to say he was failed due to that seems way off to me.
Sasuke, Obito, and Madara ended up following the philosophy of "the ends justify the means." Naruto followed a framework that the means justify the ends. It's a difference of a process focused method rather than an ends focused method. Naruto only wanted peace through cooperation. All other means to achieve peace are considered fake because they were achieved through fear, violence, subterfuge, etc. Cooperation and love were the only legit way to achieve peace, all other ways were shortcuts that wouldn't be real and wouldn't last
@@grillmaster95 yep and we all saw how the Uchiha way doesn't work, only Naruto's way
It truly pains me that the creator of the show had soo many good concepts rarely explored by shonen manga but never had the balls or finesse to truly explore them or use it’s main character to contemplate their position within such problematic world
It's not like mankind's nature will become magically peaceful if you collapse the institution either. There *has* been substantial changes after the war, the nations are heavily demilitarized, they have their own U.N. that welcomes smaller nations, and technology has advanced greatly due to less resources used to assassinate each other. I barely consider Boruto canon, but if you look at it's chunin exam, you can see substantial differences from Naruto's chunin exam, indicating the level of violence expected from children to be greatly decreased.
Ultimately, Naruto is someone who believes you can make a bad system better rather than tearing it down and rebuilding from scratch. Whether you agree with that is up to you.
Thank you, i dont know why it is so hard for people to understand that even getting rid off the shinobi système ain’t gonna magically fix human nature. Individuals who are self serving by nature like the Gato would just have their ways without none to oppose them.
This is a good counterpoint. Well said
@@ninshu6paths659naurto basically did nagto plan to get peace
Reform vs. revolution, basically. Revolutions are faster, much bloodier, and rarely end up working for the better. Reform takes time and energy, and usually does actually make a positive change.
Real world example: the last 100 years of American history vs the Socialist revolution in Russia.
In the last 100 years of American history, we've made insane strides for the better in many ways. Women have more rights here than any other part of the world now, though they still complain about things. There's no racial segregation anymore, though woke idiots are trying to bring it back.
After the rise of Socialism in Russia, there was more poverty, hunger, and class disparity than when a literal ruling King was in charge, even though Socialism supposedly promises total social equality for all and the disbanding of social classes.
Kinda long winded, but you see what I mean.
@@Zac_Frost.
It's pretty clear that the Shinobi system is the core villain, it isn't a matter of interpretation, rather it is part of Kishimoto's intended message. I say that because he makes this point explicit multiple times. It's Madara's, Nagato's and Obito's whole reason for doing what they did. I'll quote Minato here: "as long as the Shinobi system exists, it will create more people like Pain", Jiraiya and his book about the hero named Naruto who refuses to give up trying to solve the curse of hatred the world is subjected to is also a good example. As the video itself states, it's the conclusion Sasuke himself ends up coming to before losing to Naruto.
So Kishimoto didn't shy away from acknowledging the problem. As to why Naruto and Sasuke didn't follow through, any combination of the following might be true:
1: Kishimoto was pressed to end the series by chapter 700, so he had to rush the ending;
2: Shounen jump needed some kind of Shinobi to still exist because they wanted to make a ninja media sequel with Naruto's son;
3: As a Shounen Jump employee, Kishimoto may have refrained from going all in with the Shinobi system critique because Japan is a conservative country with conservative institutions. When Sasuke talks about a revolution, he is portrayed as the bad guy (of course, also because his means were villainous and part of his reasons were selfish, linked to his trauma, which he overcomes thanks to Naruto). I don't know if that was a reason in this case, but I know that it was for other mangakas, the more invested of which managed to work around these pressures for conformity, passing the message without losing their livelihoods;
*Kishimoto may have failed to come up with a solution. Nagato's alternative was cruel and temporary. Madara's solution was wrong in the sense that it violates people's free will/turns them into mind slaves and is a a virtual, escapist peace, not a real, material one. Sasuke wanted to do a revolution and become the world's dictator. If you're going to reform or destroy a corrupt and failed system, what are you going to replace it with? We don't have the answer to this question in the real world, nobody should expect Kishimoto to have it.
Going off of Naruto's discussion with Nagato, he outright didn't have a direct solution to the problem Nagato was trying to solve. Nagato ceded his quest for peace to Naruto because he came to believe in Naruto's optimism, that he could achieve something good without constantly terrorizing the world into a submissive peace.
@@seg162 As another person commented, Kishimoto presents the solution through Hashirama, Naruto and Hagoromo himself: ninshu. Love and mutual understanding is what can make possible for two people to truly understand each other. If you don't know the pain the other person went through and that motivates their actions, have empathy, seek understanding, try to relate and feel their suffering yourself. Love/empathy is the solution to achieve peace.
The only problem is that you can't implement that for large groups in a consistent way and in long term.
Besides that, we also don't have a viable solution IRL, so how can you expect Naruto/Kishimoto to come up with one? All we can do is to try our best and do what we can with the means we have.
However, even though Naruto's solution may not be viable in a national level, much less worldwide, it can be beneficial on an individual level. It's the same thing with Buddhism and the good aspects of Christianity, or secular philosophy, psychology etc.
K thanks at least someone acknowledges that Sasuke was fucking right in his idea of revolution at the end of the series...like damn naruto you can still realize your dream and help your friend realize his in the same go
Every village treat their own shinobi like monsters, tools for war and they never ever changed even in the Boruto era. To me I think Naruto should have hated Konoha ALOT MORE
Madrara was right end 33 proves it the shnobi system is hell
They don't in the Boruto era.
Boruto literally has entire arcs to how that's not the case lol. Sumire who was weaponized by her father was taken in and loved by the village. Her situation parallels Naruto's yet the world's reaction was completely different
sadly bro have no emotional intelligence do you really think people will be good to naruto he literally had fox inside him that cuz destruction of their village
This video made realize that morality is twisted in the world of naruto
Naruto is technically the villwin in a sense.
He beat up everyone who wanted change convincing them of a hope without merit with nothing but a promise.
Its like telling a depressed person "Hey dont be sad. It'l be better"
Along with punching the evil out of them lol
Then you just leave them to do whatever.
You basically gave them hope but no solution.
Sage, thank you for loving Naruto so much as a series, that you're not only willing to talk about its good points, but also its darker, sinister and contradictory ones. I like that you point out the shinobi world isn't magically better because of Naruto's actions, even though Kishimoto and the series wants us to believe that Naruto single-handedly as a "messiah" ended the curse of the Shinobi world. Naruto in some ways changed and strayed from his initial values and goals like Hashirama did.
I love your content. I always go back to your videos to remember and refresh my knowledge of Naruto and its lore and themes.
This really makes you understand why Kawaki wants to end the shin obi world. Plzz do a video on him
Idk while I agree with what you said about the fundamental issues with the shinobi world I feel like you’re not giving enough credit to how much the world truly has changed in the new era. The conflicts between nations have all but come to a complete stop and it’s explicitly shown that there is less a need for ninja now then there ever was. Virtually all the conflicts in Boruto have come from those outside the shinobi system rather than those from it. If Boruto was a series where this was actually still a prominent issue I’d agree but ever piece of evidence paints a different picture
Oh shit someone else who watched/read more than some out of context clips💀. Crazy what happens when you give the story a chance
@@andrebrown4387 non fans flock more to negative Naruto video essay sadly pretending they give a sh**
Yeah certainly the world changes after the war. There's peace now which is great. I wonder what will happen in a couple more generations if the handful of peaceful gods of destruction, who keep everything in check, disappear from the world that has continuously trained young people for violence. Turning a wheel looks like change in the moment, but eventually it just cylcles around again unless the whole thing is broken or replaced.
@@valeriansage It's really upsetting.
Why I don't like Naruto as a character Being so happy go lucky Because in the end he truly just changes nothing This World is corrupt to the very core and his blind optimism will never truly change it.
Question but do you think he still is even Boruto?
@smashcodes By the time of boruto Naruto has matured greatly I may have Not made this clear but I don't dislike Naruto I just dislike how optimistic he can be Cause there's a point where it's just plain stupidity.
@@thejokerz9751 yeah I agree.
Honestly, I would've prefered if Naruto realized the burden of being a Hokage and the rotten world he lives in. He would've realized that he cannnot change things alone and needs the help of his friends to overcone this system. Now that woukd be great
@milky8471 That would have been so good To see in the story
I had to comment because I love this video for once someone talks about how Naruto wasn't outraged with what his village has done to people. He talks a big game about everyone else and their self hatred, and their desire for war. But he is never radicalized enough to strive for true change, only change in the people not the institute.
The Uzumaki clan in Uzushio got slaughtered while Konoha sat by and did nothing and only exploited them for their high chakra reserves and ability to host Kurama, and Naruto didn't give a single fuck. He lost his whole culture and peers because of Konoha: Karin and Nagato don't count.
@@ultimamage3 There's so much unexplored lore in Naruto. I'm sure he doesn't even know about Uzushio
Because out of fear, no one wants to start smoke with the 1st and 2nd strongest humans on the planet,then they got orchi and kabuto and etc etc lol
As an avid Obito-Sensei (fanfic by Ser Serendipity) reader, this is where I think Sakura could have been truly special as a character. Because she comes from a clanless, civilian background, and because the issue with Indra and Asura (and their descendants) is that they failed to achieve reconciliation because in order for descendants of one to rule, descendants of the other must be subjugated (under the shinobi system), it follows that for Naruto and Sasuke to truly CHANGE the world, they would have to give up on domination and accept equality with people outside of their clans and kin-and unlike with previous generations of Asura/Indra descendants, with this one there is a third person who can function as the bridge between the two, that being Sakura (and because she DOESN’T come from a clan, she doesn’t carry the baggage of generational hatred in the same way and follows a more individualistic life path due to coming from a nuclear family). I think Naruto should have ended with the main character gaining the title of Hokage, then as his first and last action as Hokage, have the title abolished, declare a new system of civilian rule and representative democracy, and watch Sakura be elected as the first president of the new Republic of Allied Shinobi Villages (both Naruto and Sasuke refuse to run for the new office).
Its true, Naruto didn't actually do anything. 😅 He wasn't the one to Unite the world. The world only did that because they had a common enemy. And the true peace that came after was only possible because the Great Nations had formed a profound bond of comraderie and respect within themselves and Naruto didn't spark that. It was actually Garra. Naruto swooped in and saved the day, but c'mon. What radical change did he create?
Naruto saved Gaara several times.
Naruto inspired Gaara.
Naruto inspired Tsunade.
Naruto changed the Raikage's mind.
Most of the important characters who changed, or influenced things in some way for the positive, were changed by Naruto's inspiration.
Gaara was a murdering monster who only loved himself, he later became somebody who loved others and wanted to protect the world because of Naruto.
Pain and madaras speech might sound like the goofy bad guy evil plan until you actually go through life to see for yourself
You're correct, Naruto did not change the world
But he made everyone he met believe it could be.
Yet didn't do much of anything to actually enable change to be made. Hope without the ability to do anything with it is meaningless.
@@StonedHunter I don't think you guys even watch the show. He started an alliance with the other great nations. Made a path for people in the land of rain to leave their village. Relation between the great nations are peaceful to the point where people go on vacations to other villages. Things like the chunin exams are not death traps. You guys have to watching with your eyes closed
@@StonedHunterhope is still critical in taking the step forward. Now we watch as the story continues to grow in Boruto.
True politician
Naruto would be great for a Pyramide Scheme haha
Changing the world is almost impossible.
You can't save everyone, not everyone wants to be saved, not everyone wants to change or forcing change sometimes can lead to more problems.
Hard disagree.
@@zacharybosley1935 explain
@@mandalorianhunter1 changing the world "alone" is almost impossible.
@@zacharybosley1935that didnt really counter any of his points
@@masterodst1 they always do that, coming in trying to disagree only to give a weak rebuttal or none at all
Very interesting perspective I never thought of it from the angle of naruto should have been more angry at the leaf. The dynamic between naruto and sasuke are truly amazing Because of how they choose to go about things
Changing how the system is at its base is the right way to go however sasukes way would have continued the cycle
He should have been more angry at the leaf? He WAS. He learned to let that anger go. That was the point.
Moral of the story,”Naruto wasn’t radical enough.”
The whole show is basically Madara and Hashirama both being correct
In my opinion, naruto's choice was to try and change the world in a different way, Pain, Obito, Madara and Sasuke all wanted change trough violence, which as the series shown only creates more violence, so essentially if Naruto did what Sasuke wanted, he would be no different than Madara and Pain. So Naruto trying to change the system through politics and diplomacy was a different approach that seemingly no one has yet tried. I'm not saying it is more effective or that the change will be ever lasting, but Boruto anime/manga has shown that his approach has made things a *little* better.
And another thing is, I believe the lust for power and continuous conflict is one of the core properties of all humanity, so as long as humanity exists, there will be conflict and wars.
In the en I believe Naruto's solution is temporary as you said, but he managed to make that change without spilling more blood than necessary.
You do realize that the fourth shinobi war was stated to have happened regardless if madara had declared war or not. Shikamaru literally even stated that if another nation killed sasuke, the Leaf would've responded with hostility, then another village would've taken advantage of both of them. None of the villages pre kage summit were allies, minus Leaf and Sand. All of them were hostile to each other because of the Akatsuki or otherwise (Raikage's actions of kidnapping Hinata)
Madara and Obito had nothing to do with it. Also, you seriously didn't think diplomacy was an option in hashirama's time? He tried it only to make things worse.
@@lapplandkun9273 that is true, we quite literally seen how everyone was hostile to each other pre-gaara speech, and madara/obito ware the sole reason they started cooperating. Despite that, Naruto chose the option where the most amount of people survive, instead of sasuke who tried to kill the kage and every other important shinobi.
Tbh, I forgot about Hashirama but i would say he created a nice power balance which kinda de-escalated the global conflict, although temporarily - you can compare the bijuu to real life nuclear weapons, each side has them, yet no one uses them because then others would use them too and you would get the end of the world.
I always thought that the story should have ended more ambiguously. The ideas behind changing the world were very complex and deserved more than just one definite answer. An anime can end that way and still be good. In fact, it would have been more parallel to the real world. You could see becoming apart of the system like Naruto did as doing nothing. Like in this video, you could also see the idea of burning the system down like Sasuke as going to far. Its all very subjective. Without the Kaguya plot line, i think Madaras plan to basically put the world to sleep should have still left an impression on everyone. Not saying that it was the right choice, but it was worth considering.
He kinda did tho. The world was starkly different after the war than before. The shinobi of the great nations at the start of the war weekend pretty disunited and brought up things from the past as justifications for not fighting alongside one another but Gaara brought them together. And this only happened because of the love and compassion that Naruto showed him. The nations had a common enemy during the war, sure, but if that was all that was holding them together, then they would’ve gone back to the way things were before. That generation of kage recognized that something needed to change for the sake of the ninja world. They didn’t revolutionize anything because there was no need; they were already in power. They realized cooperating with one another was more beneficial than the way they were doing things and would breed less war and conflict. The current generation of kage aren’t too great at it, as Shikamaru seems fixated on trying to flex on the other villages, but eliminating the systems they had in place would’ve been fruitless. Even if you don’t have shinobi, you still have people, and people who have a great deal of power at that.
What Naruto sought to do was change the shinobi world for the better by breaking the cycle of hatred. He was largely successful at that through his actions before, during, and after the war. Hating the system which brought him misery would only contribute to the cycle of hatred. What was he supposed to do? Kill villagers? The Hokage? Every shinobi in the village? The world? Guess what, this is what Gaara basically wanted. He explicitly would state he wanted to kill everyone in the world. Naruto saw that Gaara was basically him but without an Iruka, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, etc. Naruto doesn’t hate the world the way Gaara did because he had people around him who didn’t hate him, and in fact loved him.
While it’s true that he didn’t end all conflict or the source of it, it’s unfair to expect that he should’ve been able to, revolutionary or not. The source of conflict is people, specifically the evil in people. Naruto can change the hearts and minds of those he meets and speaks with, but he can’t meet every single person for all time. The peace he helped bring the world is temporary and fragile, and he well knows that. So to say that he failed to change the world is not only silly, but objectively wrong. He changed the world, but he can’t change the people of the world permanently. And eliminating the systems which brought about his and others’ misery would only lead to other kinds of misery for other people. While the shinobi village system was flawed, it largely achieved its objective: keep kids from dying young. True, this wasn’t always the case, but the system allowed for peace to be more prevalent (that’s why the prior period was called the “warring states” period) so that kids could grow up and hone their skills. For all his faults, Tobirama created the ninja academy for kids to learn and the chunin exams for ninjas to test and grow their skills against other ninjas.
So, to make an extremely long comment fairly short, Naruto did change the world and he shouldn’t have hated the system because, while flawed, it created the ability for progress to be made over time.
Easily the best comment here. 👏🏻
This is a pretty good summary of what I was thinking as well
So, to make an extremely long comment fairly short , Naruto didn't change the world . Naruto did what the 1st hokage did have temporary peace the moment he died that ended the peace (started 1st ninja war ) the peace will least as long as naruto live . after that same old same old ( that is the flaw of that system ).
@@shantoakter3124Boruto TBV is literal proof that this is wrong lmao
Negative.
I have always had this feeling that even though i love this anime so much, that something was missing that was there in the beggining. Og naruto had this dark theme about the cruelty of the system that was unfortunately later on neglected and forgotten about in shippuden. Thats why i always liked Sasuke and understood his idea for revolution, he acknowledged that in order to prevent future generations from going trought the pain ans suffering that his brother, his clan, Naruto, and himself went trough, he needed to change the system. What a masterpiece of a video
Thank you! Great video, you out into words what I always felt while watching Naruto
I honestly completely agree but I think this kind of thing reflects a lot on the real world. Our world is full of institutions and media that explores and criticicis that is only really allowed to go so far before it's shut down. We don't get to see these conversations on a mass scale cause that might actually incite the general people to some kind of action.
Nah I disagree with the he did nothing statement at the end, and you said it already Naruto did change the world. He helped the world to be better with open communication and lessen conflict between them. But you can’t truly have world peace utopia because people will always seek control and want things to go their way.
Exactly, he did change the world but he can’t make a perfect world ofc
And there was no real nation vs nation wars or any need to make hardened ninja to fight each other and spies to get over the other nation, this is shown in the pussy version of the Chunin Exams that Boruto has that is nowhere near as cutthroat or serious as it was in the past.
The only threats in the world were rouge ninja, new/old groups trying to cause shit like Kara, the aliens, and other random shit.
Isn't it damaging that by becoming Hokage, he is simply repeating the cycle?
Exactly lostsouls, it’s mad random shit and rouges keeping the fight up. Now we did see the cloud village with a mass Weapon of destruction in the last movie but everyone was mad at him for still keeping secret weapons so it’s changed not perfect but still
@@Mayhamsdead it’s one of those you try to change the system from the inside. It’s that argument. Like you don’t like police? Instead of protesting and mass rioting against them you become one and rise to the top and change the system through internal policy. It’s slow but enough people joining in can change things.
@@Mayhamsdead I don’t see how as it is tbh
He’s trying to fix the world without destroying it and restarting so it’s kinda needed for him to be a leader but he has peace with the nations.
Sasuke said it best the world united to fight the cause at hand. Once that happens more wars will happen. There will always be conflict.
Idk, the world was largely at peace for decades thanks to Naruto's efforts with him and Kakashi being the Hokage. The only threats that come from his reign are alien powerful beings and those who worship them, which speaks volumes about the work that Naruto and his comrades have done. The main villains aren't your Pain, Obito or Madara (the ones that loathe the system and its problems that stem from it) anymore.
To be fair, the main reason the world was at peace is because Naruto was effectively holding the world hostage. All the villages have lost a great amount of fighting force after the war and Naruto is literally the strongest person on the planet with the second strongest being his best friend. Fighting a war is pointless because Naruto can just jump in and solo the army. While Naruto definitely made improvements to the system (The Hyuga clan doesn't use the curse marks anymore, children have a choice if they want to become shinobi and are shown other careers) the system is still in place and ready for corruption. Even without alien threats as soon as Naruto and Sasuke died war was likely inevitable. And this isn't even speculation, in one of Shikamaru's light novels, and all the light novels are canon, the Land of Stone Daimyo wanted the Stone to pull out of an alliance and start warring again because that's what Shinobi are supposed to do. If someone wanted to pull this with Naruto in the picture enforcing peace the future of the world wasn't looking good past his life.
@@bdf1006I saw someone else comment this, saying “his peace will die with him,” but this makes no sense. Naruto’s been canonically “dead” (everyone thinks he is) for 3 whole years and the allied Shinobi forces are still standing strong. There’s still no international conflict under Shikamaru’s reign as Hokage.
Not only did they lose Naruto, but Himawari, the strongest Hyuga alive. They also lost Sasuke, the shadow Hokage. They also lost the Karma-bearing Boruto. The leaf is giga weak and could be strongarmed by any of the great nations, but they haven’t been. Naruto’s peace lives on without him.
@@piercingheaven5038 That's because we are in the same situation as the 4th Great War. There is a common enemy that everyone is fighting. If there wasn't an alien threat to deal with war would be happening soon if not already
@@piercingheaven5038there will be just wait
That's the fallacy... They wouldn't even write about how it can fall apart. Now that Kurama is gone , I wonder why other countries are remaining silent.
Naruto is a liberal pretty much, he’ll play lip service to social justice issues but I’ll ultimately uphold the status quo
Naruto is ironically what they like to call "Copanada". All the talk about changing the system is ultimately thrown out in favor of defending the status quo because ultimately the heroes are purely reactionary for the sake of defenithe established order which is enforced by propaganda.
I've finally found someone with the same opinions as myself when it comes to Naruto's ending. Thank you so much.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like this. Naruto’s ending didn’t come about because of anything Naruto did, but the actions of everyone else. Nagato, Obito, Madara, Sasuke. All of these characters were doing things to try to change the Shinobi system. They realized how flawed the system was and actually tried to do something about it. Naruto didn’t do anything himself. The peace that he acquired came about due to the actions of other people. Madara/Obito started the war and that was what got all the villages to cooperate. Naruto himself did nothing to contribute to that. All he did was beat up the bad guy. I guess you can say that he was inspiring and unifying the alliance, but it doesn’t mean anything when they were all already working together and when the alliance didn’t even contribute anything to the fight. He wasn’t faced with the moral conflicts of two villages who both had very justifiable reasons to attack each other. He didn’t convince the Kage or the enemy village shinobi to stop fighting in wars and work together. Everyone else did that, and he got the credit for no reason.
Even after the war, Naruto still doesn’t change anything as Hokage. He’s still promoting and training child soldiers, which is especially weird because you shouldn’t need Shinobi anymore now that most of the fighting and warfare around the world has slowed down. We also could have seen Naruto fight against and convince the people who were still trying to start conflict with the alliance that their actions were wrong during the Last era but we never see him do that. He just punches and beats up a guy on the moon, gets his girl, and gets married. Sasuke’s actually exploring the world and helping track down and stop criminals in his light novel/anime episodes.
Love can save the world but can't change it so true madrara was right the shnobi system is hell end 33 proves
Okay u clearly didn’t read the series cuz Naruto is quite literally the catalyst for ALL of change that happened. Naruto did change the world, just not in the way it mattered the most.
While I agree with a lot of this, I do also believe it’s looking at it from a very superficial perspective. Ever since the Pain arc, Naruto has been very open with the fact that he doesn’t believe he has a definitive answer for peace. And I feel that’s part of the misconception.
One of the few things I respect about Kishimoto’s writing is his perspective on conflict. Wars just kinda happen, and the average person can’t really do anything about it. And those who claim to have the answer to peace are depicted as the villains. Meanwhile, Naruto’s answer is simply to have faith that one day people will see reason, and that faith in people is strong enough to where other people start believing Naruto’s dream.
I don’t believe Naruto was ever supposed to find world peace, that just doesn’t fall in line with how Kishimoto wrote conflict. However, he did create stability, and made things better enough to where future generations can *hopefully* make it better.
And what a load of bullshit this is. Countries cannot go to war without the support of the people. Even in medieval times peasantry rebelled regularly due to harsh treatment because of the strain of wars. Naruto said he WILL bring peace. He promised that several times. And he didn't kept his promise. I doubt Kishimoto meant Naruto to be a nationalistic propaganda but with all the will of fire nonsense it came out like one.
Thank you
Since when was it Naruto's goal to change the world? These people make up something that isn't there and get angry about it. Mind you this is a battle shounen, sure it's got deep themes, but it's mostly about battles. People just want to feel smarter imo so they make up something the series never claimed to do.
@@berilsevvalbekret772what? Give him time, it’s only been ten years and he’s given major change. Wtf
@@claymusicoff5663he doesn't change anything.
He merely always wanted to be acknowledged by the system and never chang it
@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hlhe did. Education, technology, the dynamic between the villages, all have been changed by and because of Naruto. Just read.
“Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement”.
Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Dogmatism And ‘Freedom of Criticism’” (1902)
Sauske was trying to use the Zero Requiem strategy from Code Geass. It was definitely a smart way to get the world on the same page.🤔
I really like this video. I think the ideas of how the bureaucracy of the shinobi world is presented is really amazing and really makes you rethink the Leaf as a system who are not only partaking in the bureaucracy but are some of the biggest perpetrators of it. moreover the effects of bureaucracy in the shinobi world such as how shinobi view themselves or their value of life is important.
I think what is important to note for me is the ideas of heroism and the ideas of self-fulfilment or value based within being a ninja that Naruto and all the characters have. it is status that goes beyond ideas of social or monetary gain but also the self-esteem of being the perfect shinobi - to be a hero. that is what Naruto chased, naively: he didn’t think of how a good shinobi is quantified in this world and that is exemplified by his interactions with Haku and Zabuza as you’ve demonstrated. and I think that is the fault of him
but how can you fault a kid in a world of bureaucracy that values him based only within his skill and value as a ninja, that heroism isn’t needed from the village - the power is
thanks for the video. really cool thoughts and ideas
Excited for this one tbh
Naruto did not change the world, but he definitely made a step to the right direction and it's up to the next generation to follow it through.
Just like what President Funny Valentine said, you need to be the one who took the napkin first, and Naruto's the one who took the first step so the rest can follow him.
Actually Hashirama was one who took the first step in establishing Konoha. While he didn't achieve his goal of uniting all the countries in his lifetime or solving all problems, he paved the way for people like Naruto to take the second step.
@@Vietmac1993 yes that's the point, Hashirama took the napkin first in his era by creating one nation one village system, then naruto took the napkin in his era by uniting 5 great nation through his action.
funny valentine is arguably one of the worst leaders to use as an example of someone working towards good world progress... the guy would literally have doomed the rest of the world to misery if it wasnt for johnny and gyro. i thought araki made it clear how vile his imperialistic plan and outlook really was but i guess his charisma is blinding.
If Naruto were to make true lasting change, to shatter the system that has hurt so many, he would most likely have to control everything.
Would his friends stand aside for him, would he believe it is the only way?
And what would you have had Naruto do? Conquer the world and rule with an iron fist? Forcibly take away the autonomy of others so they wouldn't be able to engage in war again? Not only are these not long-term solutions -all they communicate to the people you conquer is that they'd be in charge if they could kill you-, but it isn't how Naruto wanted to create change.
Naruto wanted to do good by being the change he wanted to see. As Hokage, he continually pushed for demilitarization for all nations, and invested in technology that would eventually make the child soldiers of previous generations obsolete even if war did break out again.
I refuse to believe that the only way to change the world is to tear society down to its building blocks and start over. All you accomplish by doing so is making everyone in the world hate you and taking away the benefits of all the systems you dismantled without adequate replacements. By taking down all of the shinobi villages, the entire military structure of the world powers would fall apart and bandits would appear everywhere with the opportunity.
Tell that to the modern world
Yeah it's like the youtube man wanted Naruto to be an Anikin or Eren Jeager kind of character
@@Alduinhead No? he wanted Naruto to do what he said he was going to do. Imagine a story where he tries to fix problems over time and with as little bloodshed as possible.
Not some maniac like Eren Jeager who slaughtered nearly the entire world because he couldn't get his dick wet.
I found some of his points valid but it just seems like he wants an edgy Naruto to get revenge at the world. When that just won't work. Even if it does work for a bit it's not going to be a permanent change.
Yall saying Naruto didn’t change anything but will also say Boruto next gen is soft he definitely changed the time and stop injustices when he can
I would argue there has been change, Naruto is a benevolent leader who despite being one of the strongest shinobi in existence, seeks to establish friendly relations with all its neighbors & political rivals which has allowed a generation to grow up in peace with major economic growth coming as a result of the stability brought by his administration.
I agree that the incentive structures that allow for worst abuses should be abolished. However, the shinobi world needs to culturally shift away from the ideals of violence & cold war politicking being a viable solution to problems.
Naruto's more peaceful transition into a new era rather than utilizing violence ultimately grants more legitimacy to his ideals rather than being another warlord/hokage as raw strength is rejected to create a new era. Progress will be slow but will be easier to sustain for future generations who will try to prevent any backsliding into self-destructive shinobi conflict.
My favorite youtuber back with more heavy thoughts 🤩
Idk this made me love the character of Naruto more. He's not perfect and truly got swept up into becoming a guy everyone can finally look up too, letting it all get to his head. I wonder if in Boruto he will truly reflect on his actions and what he should've done to really protect the next generation.
Naruto, the self made hypocrite
Oh yes the video that ends the reputation of Naruto.
Absolutely amazing video, thank you.
wow i never even thought of the story like that and now i have i agree with you
Did you play out the scenario? How exactly do you get rid of the leaf village… without destroying the other villages? How do you do that without more conflict and war?