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[GaimeGuy]

The reason why he was never revealed to be who he was to the rest of the village never really made sense to me.

His name was Uzumaki

 

[Imperfected]

Kishimoto definitely should've spent some time clarifying how exactly Naruto was raised from infanthood to child though, it's a weird hole in his backstory.

I'm telling you, man: raccoons. Like an urban version of the raised by wolves trope.

 

[theWB27]

Im tired of repeating myself, the series explicitly showed that Jiraiya and Kakashi DID NOT have the same values and mindset as would be befitting of a "typical ninja" for their time period. They aren't aliens, we've seen them feel and react like normal empathetic human beings in every other circumstance that's in line with their characters except when it comes to Naruto's upbringing.

I already talked about how Asuma is in completely different circumstances from Naruto. They are not the same so stop trying to conflate the two, and once again we don't even know if they had a relationship

You don't see why Jiraiya shouldn't attempt to at least acknowledge Naruto exists for over 12 years? You can't understand why a kid's godfather(and he's the one who came up with being Naruto's godfather) shouldn't completely ignore him for 12 years as he's getting shit on in the village.......ok pal. He doesn't need to be paying visits, he doesn't need to visit once, send the kid a fucking letter. And when you finally come back, don't ignore him again to go spying on naked women.


Jiraiya actually HAS the key for the seal, like on his person, he didn't it give away or anything, he's the one who was given the responsibility by Minato and he ended up finally doing something when he meets Naruto by complete chance. What was Sarutobi going to do for the seal? oh yeah nothing cause he doesn't have the key.

Once again you are completely ignoring how they both were written because they DID have a lot of empathy. You think a man who takes in 3 random orphans for 3 years doesn't have a lot of empathy? Another man who realized the value of putting your friends over the mission and dedicates his life to living by that code, who tries as hard as he possibly can to steer a bad apple(Sasuke) away from revenge, doesn't have enough empathy to see how his beloved dead mentor's son is doing even once? Can't nod at him down the street? He gets all depressed over Minato's death and then goes "lol fuck that kid"? You're portraying them like they're nothing more cold hearted assassins when the series goes out of its way to show that they aren't.

You act like im asking for the world when all that was needed was some minor acknowledgment of existence.

Kakashi and Jiraiya back then were simply not written as if they had a close connection with Minato and knew about Naruto the entire time, that's it. Kishi came up with all that backstory later and now looking back at things all of it doesn't fit that well unless you do a bunch of mental gymnastics and force it.

If no one's answer is good enough for you you should probably work on accepting that what you got is what you have to work with.

Never forget the Neji was right the whole time!

About destiny? I thought he was wrong.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Never forget the Neji was right the whole time!

 

[Trojita]

Never forget the Neji was right the whole time!

lol yep.

 

[SoulUnison]

I like how we're constantly reminded that Naruto was completely alone and miserable while growing up but then they keep giving us flashbacks showing he was pretty close to several of his classmates and hung out and played with them fairly often. At the very least it seems like Shikamaru and Chouji were always totally decent to him, Kiba seems to have been OK, and Hinata was always Hinata-ing.

But yeah, it's poorly explained/reasoned.
Kushina was the previous 9 Tails host and the village seemed to love her at best and, at worst, saw her as "just another person."
Also, people obviously knew her maiden name was Uzumaki, and the Uzumakis are kind of a big deal, having their crest as a standard part of Konoha's basic military uniform, yet nobody ever said a thing to Naruto nor did he ever try to learn more about the clan he shared a name with?

The whole thing's a major contrivance that doesn't hold up under pressure, but it made for a decent start to a shounen manga.

 

[NHarmonic.]

Never forget the Neji was right the whole time!

Yeah, he was.

Way to fuck up the central themes of your work, kishi.

 

[rambis]

.

Kakashi and Jiraiya back then were simply not written as if they had a close connection with Minato and knew about Naruto the entire time, that's it. Kishi came up with all that backstory later and now looking back at things all of it doesn't fit that well unless you do a bunch of mental gymnastics and force it.

Ehh it was established very early in the series that Kakashi was a student of the forth and jiraya teaching minato.

As far as "being close", no they werent close because they werent written to be despite the connections.

 

[4 is a cutie]

Never forget the Neji was right the whole time!

Kishi was so mad Neji proved him wrong that he gave him a cheap death

 

[Trojita]

Yeah, he was.

Way to fuck up the central themes of your work, kishi.

kek

 

[Imperfected]

I like how we're constantly reminded that Naruto was completely alone and miserable while growing up but then they keep giving us flashbacks showing he was pretty close to several of his classmates and hung out and played with them fairly often. At the very least it seems like Shikamaru and Chouji were always totally decent to him, Kiba seems to have been OK, and Hinata was always Hinata-ing.

The central theme of Naruto world is that you have to choose between having a family, having friends, or looking cool.

Unless you're Shikamaru.

 

[rambis]

I like how we're constantly reminded that Naruto was completely alone and miserable while growing up but then they keep giving us flashbacks showing he was pretty close to several of his classmates and hung out and played with them fairly often. At the very least it seems like Shikamaru and Chouji were always totally decent to him, Kiba seems to have been OK, and Hinata was always Hinata-ing.

But yeah, it's poorly explained/reasoned.
Kushina was the previous 9 Tails host and the village seemed to love her at best and, at worst, saw her as "just another person."
Also, people obviously knew her maiden name was Uzumaki, and the Uzumakis are kind of a big deal, having their crest as a standard part of Konoha's basic military uniform, yet nobody ever said a thing to Naruto nor did he ever try to learn more about the clan he shared a name with?

The whole thing's a major contrivance that doesn't hold up under pressure, but it made for a decent start to a shounen manga.

She was "feared" because she always beat up the boys. She spoke of a rough childhood when she grew up. And also the obvious difference between the times they carried the nine tails is a massive attack on the village that destroyed alot.

 

[captainpat]

I like how we're constantly reminded that Naruto was completely alone and miserable while growing up but then they keep giving us flashbacks showing he was pretty close to several of his classmates and hung out and played with them fairly often. At the very least it seems like Shikamaru and Chouji were always totally decent to him, Kiba seems to have been OK, and Hinata was always Hinata-ing.

There were a couple of instances of villagers being shit to him as a child and it's not like his friends a replacement of a loving family.

 

[Riposte]

I don't remember the father theory popping up until we got a good picture of the 4th and saw he had blonde hair. That was a bit after the beginning.

 

[obijkenobi]

Ramen shop owner was the real MVP

 

[brinstar]

But yeah, it's poorly explained/reasoned.
Kushina was the previous 9 Tails host and the village seemed to love her at best and, at worst, saw her as "just another person."

No one knew Kushina had the nine tails inside her except top brass in Konoha

 

[Daingurse]

I got hung up on this too after finishing Naruto. The way Naruto was treated in the beginning of the series makes no sense considering his lineage. It's like they wanted to create a hateful Jinchuriki. They are so lucky Naruto turned out the way he did. It's not even funny lol.

 

[Erigu]

His name was Uzumaki

And somehow, despite that clan being important enough to the village's history that its crest is on their uniforms, nobody ever made the connection, and Naruto never heard "hey, that's an interesting name you've got there".
In fact, if you really wanted to keep the identity of the kid's parents a secret (for some reason, as that didn't seem to be an issue for, say, Konohamaru), you probably shouldn't have given him his mother's family name in the first place. But hey, it worked anyway because bad writing is bad.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

because they both loved and were very close to the 4th and like any normal human being some part of those feelings would extend to the son he left behind after his tragic and sudden death? because Jiraiya was made his goddamn godfather? Because the 4th's dying wish was for his son to be regarded as a hero? Guess the 3rd probably told Jiraiya and Kakashi his actual wish was for them ignore Naruto for as long as possible.

That's not the "world revolving around Naruto" this is 2 people and normal human empathetic actions. You act like I want them to personally raise the kid like if he was their own, no, the problem is they don't even acknowledge his existence.

actually, they might be resentful of naruto (not naruto's fault) for taking the 4th away. He was killed in the same day he was born. It's common to hold that kind of belief albeit misguided.

 

[GaimeGuy]

I like how we're constantly reminded that Naruto was completely alone and miserable while growing up but then they keep giving us flashbacks showing he was pretty close to several of his classmates and hung out and played with them fairly often. At the very least it seems like Shikamaru and Chouji were always totally decent to him, Kiba seems to have been OK, and Hinata was always Hinata-ing.

But yeah, it's poorly explained/reasoned.
Kushina was the previous 9 Tails host and the village seemed to love her at best and, at worst, saw her as "just another person."
Also, people obviously knew her maiden name was Uzumaki, and the Uzumakis are kind of a big deal, having their crest as a standard part of Konoha's basic military uniform, yet nobody ever said a thing to Naruto nor did he ever try to learn more about the clan he shared a name with?

The whole thing's a major contrivance that doesn't hold up under pressure, but it made for a decent start to a shounen manga.

All the filler flashbacks depict naruto, shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto as a band of misfits, with Shikamaru as his lazy best friend, choji just following shikamaru, and kiba being a troublemaker like Naruto. And Naruto even comes off as a bit of a loner rather than an outcast.

 

[Karsticles]

I got hung up on this too after finishing Naruto. The way Naruto was treated in the beginning of the series makes no sense considering his lineage. It's like they wanted to create a hateful Jinchuriki. They are so lucky Naruto turned out the way he did. It's not even funny lol.

Wasn't it fear?

 

[Crimsonlink]

LOL This reminds me of the fanfics I used to read for Naruto. Literally edgelord Naruto every single one of them about how all the darkness he holds in his heart and how he is secretly a badass/smart and hates the village. I mostly enjoyed them for all the Sakura bashing though. Ahh to be a teen again.

Also screw you guys that are saying Bleach origins doesn't make sense. If there is one thing Kubo didn't mess up, its that at the very least. There is a perfectly good explanation for each of his powers.

Spoiler

Dad is Shinigami, Mom is Quincy infected with Hollow virus that infected Ichigo. = Ichigo with Shinigami/Hollow/Quincy powers. Fullbring was an offshoot of his Hollow powers.

 

[Replicant]

I feel as far as shonen heroes go, Naruto is treated like shit by his own author. There were times when I felt that Kishimoto was more interested in writing Sasuke and wondered why he didn't just call the series Sasuke.

It did help prevent Naruto from being a Gary Stu. But at the same time it annoys me that he sometimes is ignored to focus on Sasuke.

 

[FStubbs]

And somehow, despite that clan being important enough to the village's history that its crest is on their uniforms, nobody ever made the connection, and Naruto never heard "hey, that's an interesting name you've got there".
In fact, if you really wanted to keep the identity of the kid's parents a secret (for some reason, as that didn't seem to be an issue for, say, Konohamaru), you probably shouldn't have given him his mother's family name in the first place. But hey, it worked anyway because bad writing is bad.

How well known was Kushina? If she wasn't, maybe they thought Naruto was a random kid who had the Jinchuriki sealed in him, and then the "Uzumaki" name was given to him as a default because of the village history - and the fact that the actual Uzumaki clan was scattered/dead at this point.

Actually - Karin (crazed Sasuke fangirl) was an Uzumaki too, wasn't she? Despite being ostensibly family, I don't think she and Naruto ever actually interacted.

 

[Crimsonlink]

I feel as far as shonen heroes go, Naruto is treated like shit by his own author. There were times when I felt that Kishimoto was more interested in writing Sasuke and wondered why he didn't just call the series Sasuke.

It did help prevent Naruto from being a Gary Stu. But at the same time it annoys me that he sometimes is ignored to focus on Sasuke.

Naruto became Ninja Jesus which was literally a Gary Stu at the end. Everyone believed in him and loved him at the end. He got Sasuke pardoned and married the hottest girl of his class unless you liked the only other 2 notable girls more.

Naruto was treated pretty bad by Kishi no doubt but he made up for it past the Controlling Kurama arc where he finally met his parents and it was all uphill from that point on.

Poor Kushina, never revived for the final war where even her husband was brought back thanks to Deus Ex Machina Uzamaki mask BS.

 

[GaimeGuy]

How well known was Kushina? If she wasn't, maybe they thought Naruto was a random kid who had the Jinchuriki sealed in him, and then the "Uzumaki" name was given to him as a default because of the village history - and the fact that the actual Uzumaki clan was scattered/dead at this point.

Actually - Karin (crazed Sasuke fangirl) was an Uzumaki too, wasn't she? Despite being ostensibly family, I don't think she and Naruto ever actually interacted.

Karin and Nagato were both Uzumakis. Red hair implies Uzumaki lineage in Naruto.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Well, look at this way. A lot of people loved Obama, but they might treat his hypothetical son like shit if he had a giant ass demon fox that destroyed multiple countries in the past inside of him.

Lineage doesn't mean much when you consider what Naruto has inside of him. Not to mention the fact that he initially seemed inept and acted like a brat.

I'm not justifying the villagers' behavior, but their seemingly fickle nature isn't as far-fetched as you might think. It's not perfect storytelling, but it's not too much of a reach either (don't forget that this is supposed to be analogous to feudal Japan in many ways, too, which, like many past societies, was very superstitious and often callous towards those who are different)

I think the weirder part is Kakashi being trained by the fourth and not really transferring any of that into how he interacts with Naruto... at all. So I fully agree with OP on that note.

 

[Erigu]

How well known was Kushina?

Well, she was the Hokage's wife...

If she wasn't, maybe they thought Naruto was a random kid who had the Jinchuriki sealed in him, and then the "Uzumaki" name was given to him as a default because of the village history - and the fact that the actual Uzumaki clan was scattered/dead at this point.

Er... Yeah, if they don't have a problem assuming the village's leaders would paint a target on some random orphan's forehead by giving him the name of a clan that's been hunted down to near extinction because of the unique abilities of their members...
No matter how you cut it...

 

[Zoe]

The 4th connection was obvious from the very beginning.

The Uzumaki clan is what feels like an asspull. It completely undermines the hard-work theme of Part 1.

 

[HStallion]

My eyeballs are better than your eyeballs because I took this other guys eyeballs after he'd mastered his eyeballs. Oh shit! This guys eyeballs are even more eyeballier than mine!

 

[psynergylover]

Kishi was so mad Neji proved him wrong that he gave him a cheap death

LMAO!!!

 

[Frozenprince]

Man fuck Kishi for what he did to Neji. Nobody BUT him dies.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Even with all that, I still do love the majority of the story and of course there is pound for pound the single coolest move I have ever seen.

So cool that the entire battle system of a popular game seems to be centered around such a technique.

Man fuck Kishi for what he did to Neji. Nobody BUT him dies.

I never see resurrected either, him and Jirayia perm-death!

 

[WrenchNinja]

The thing that bothers me the most about Naruto's beginning is the fact that they specifically said that he's failed his genin exams multiple times and has been held back and yet he's still the same age as the rest of his class

 

[Trojita]

The thing that bothers me the most about Naruto's beginning is the fact that they specifically said that he's failed his genin exams multiple times and has been held back and yet he's still the same age as the rest of his class

Ninja class takes a week.

 

[Mega]

For the same reason there's a story trope where fathers often treat their kids like crap when the mom dies in childbirth.

Weirdest trope in fictional media. Any father IRL would love his baby as the last living vestige of his wife. The hatred thing is so backwards.

I agree the Naruto makes no sense. Yeah, orphans are disliked sometimes, but were talking about bastards and the homeless. Naruto was the living baby boy of their beloved leader. The neglect, shunning, outright disgust... none of it was explained and none of it adds up!

 

[theWB27]

The thing that bothers me the most about Naruto's beginning is the fact that they specifically said that he's failed his genin exams multiple times and has been held back and yet he's still the same age as the rest of his class

Idk why but out of all the nonsense people don't like this is the first time I've heard this and the first time its actually bothered me.

 

[Crimsonlink]

The thing that bothers me the most about Naruto's beginning is the fact that they specifically said that he's failed his genin exams multiple times and has been held back and yet he's still the same age as the rest of his class

The little brat always talked about being Hokage and yet his ninja knowledge was non-existent. Always irritated me about Naruto. Like make him dumb if you want but he should know how to do his damn dream job.

Makes me think Shikamaru is probably the real Hokage and Naruto is just the puppet.

It also pisses me off how we never got to see anyone get the promotion to Jonin. Chunnin exams are a thing but what happens for Jonins?

 

[Style]

- They kept it secret that he was the 4th Hokage's son
- Let everyone and their mother know he was the Nine-tail's host which made him hunted
- Give him the last name Uzumaki painting a big target on him

Yeah, they were pretty horrible towards him. Most of this honestly just comes up to "the plot was still being worked on" for the beginning though. Also, excuse the 3rd Hokage's actions as much as you want, but there's no denying that he let a whole village systemically bully the 4th's son to the point of traumatizing him.

I'll let Jiraiya get a pass though. The entire point of his character arc was that he neglected everything and most of the bad things that happened was even a consequence of his neglect.

- He turned down the Hokage title which lead to his pupil taking it and dying later
- He turned a blind eye to his two team mates; one of them defected on the city and turned in to a super villain and the other turned to an alcoholic gambler
- He spent time with 3 orphans in a war zone, then left them to die. He could at least had brought them back to Konoha. The worst organization on earth was created because of this
- He never helped his godchild Naruto or contacted him. Think about it, he left Naruto with the 3rd, a man who would be way too busy to raise a child, when he himself didn't have anything to do. If he at least called and asked how Naruto was doing he'd know everyone was doing psychological terror on Naruto and do something about it.

Figuring out who Pain was and sending the last coded message was his redemption.

 

[Aizen.S.Kennedy]

My eyeballs are better than your eyeballs because I took this other guys eyeballs after he'd mastered his eyeballs. Oh shit! This guys eyeballs are even more eyeballier than mine!

This is like 3/8ths of the entire series lmao.

Edit: stop shitting on bleach ppl. It didn't make mistakes on this level until the very last arc and mostly due to it being rushed by a mangaka with failing health.

 

[Daingurse]

My eyeballs are better than your eyeballs because I took this other guys eyeballs after he'd mastered his eyeballs. Oh shit! This guys eyeballs are even more eyeballier than mine!

It's all about that visual prowess .

 

[Erigu]

Figuring out who Pain was and sending the last coded message was his redemption.

... If we don't dwell on the fact there was really no reason at all for him to use a code in the first place, and Konoha very nearly failed to decipher the thing.

 

[Tinfoilhatsron]

I love how of all the manipulating bastards playing 4D chess, not fucking one of them decided to befriend a boy with a literal nuke inside of him. Naruto was so starved for attention, aka the reason he started doing the fucking pranks in the first place or 'acted like a brat', that anyone who'd be nice to him would gain Jesus status in his eyes. Fucking no one thought of controlling him this way? Even before the pranks, just take of him so you can do ninja hypnosis or something, for fuck's sake.

 

[Crimsonlink]

I love how of all the manipulating bastards playing 4D chess, not fucking one of them decided to befriend a boy with a literal nuke inside of him. Naruto was so starved for attention, aka the reason he started doing the fucking pranks in the first place or 'acted like a brat', that anyone who'd be nice to him would gain Jesus status in his eyes. Fucking no one thought of controlling him this way? Even before the pranks, just take of him so you can do ninja hypnosis or something, for fuck's sake.

It always makes me laugh at how hard Danzo fucked up because he hated his soldiers having emotions which screwed him over. If there was one person I'm really glad Sasuke killed it was that old bag of bones.

 

[Imperfected]

The thing that bothers me the most about Naruto's beginning is the fact that they specifically said that he's failed his genin exams multiple times and has been held back and yet he's still the same age as the rest of his class

He's actually a weird old midget pretending to still be a high school kid so no one arrests him for his "pranks" like spying on the women's onsen or changing into a girl and turning tricks.

 

[KimiNewt]

I love how of all the manipulating bastards playing 4D chess, not fucking one of them decided to befriend a boy with a literal nuke inside of him. Naruto was so starved for attention, aka the reason he started doing the fucking pranks in the first place or 'acted like a brat', that anyone who'd be nice to him would gain Jesus status in his eyes. Fucking no one thought of controlling him this way? Even before the pranks, just take of him so you can do ninja hypnosis or something, for fuck's sake.

Well, that's sorta what the villain in episode 1 did-- up until a point, anyway.

 

[Joni]

You know who was terrible, Tsunade. She lost her brother and feels so bad about that, but she never comes back to see the last survivor of her clan. Well, that she knows of. She doesn't know about Karin or Nagato.

 

[Bowl0l]

You know who was terrible, Tsunade. She lost her brother and feels so bad about that, but she never comes back to see the last survivor of her clan. Well, that she knows of. She doesn't know about Karin or Nagato.

Tsunade's main clan is the Senju. Probably didn't know about her parents or grandmother just like all of us until the plot demands it.

 

[bjork]

In the most perfect of perfect world's, Naruto's father would've been

Spoiler

Aizen

 

[Bagu]

Having a summoning contract means the animals in question can summon you as well.

What was keeping Jiraiya from have a pair of toads that, when one was summoned, the other could use the instant Portal Well to Konoha that they have and reverse summon him so he can be a cool old guy in Naruto's life for like ten minutes a week.