Naruto 382 - 392

[timepiececlock]

chapter 382

Jeraiya is the biggest failure of a godfather ever. Letting your godson be raised as a loveless orphan who turns into a deliquent--- that's the exact opposite of a Godparent's job. Failure on all counts.

Knowing how many people utterly failed Naruto in his childhood (Jeraiya, Sarutobi, the village at large, his mother's relatives) makes the fact that he turned out okay all the more amazing.

I guess Jeraiya out for the count, then.

383

It occurs to me that if Orochimaru and Jeraiya just died, then
a) Tsunade might die soon too
or
b) Tsunade will last much, much longer, which follows my theory that Sakura will also outlive Naruto and Sasuke, and be tied to the village.


385

I decided long ago that most of the ninja stuff in Naruto doesn't make sense, or follow any logical continuity. This view hasn't disappointed me yet.

386

So the only reason that Itachi left Sasuke alive to grow stronger was to keep him as livestock for a ninja organ transplant? I bet, even after all the crap his brother has done, Sasuke's actually going to be upset. He thought it was for some epic confrontation of justice, didn't he?

Seeing Itachi with CRAZY FACE is pretty good, though.

I've decided I like Sasuke a lot better when he's not in Konoha. I hope he never goes back. If he goes back, and Naruto tries to reform him, it'll just remind me of all the reasons I don't like the bastard. Right now I can ignore those and focus on watching him execute his vengeance.

391

This fight is a succession of "Why are you smiling?" / "I'm not left handed EITHER! BWAHAHA!" over and over again

Comments

[mildmay.livejournal.com]

Jiraiya was full of fail. I mean. I like him. But WOW. Full. Of. Fail.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Yes, he was.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Knowing how many people utterly failed Naruto in his childhood (Jeraiya, Sarutobi, the village at large, his mother's relatives) makes the fact that he turned out okay all the more amazing.

It really does, doesn't it?

I think the fatal flaw with orphan stories like Naruto (and Harry Potter suffers from this too, although Remus actually has a much better excuse.) is that when you start to meet people who knew his parents and loved him, the miserable, early life really starts to seem criminally neglectful.

It occurs to me that if Orochimaru and Jeraiya just died, then
a) Tsunade might die soon too
or
b) Tsunade will last much, much longer, which follows my theory that Sakura will also outlive Naruto and Sasuke, and be tied to the village.

I think the answer is both. First, Orochimaru is only mostly dead right now (since he's in Kabuto), but I do think that by the end there will have been a clean sweep on the Sannin. And I would not be surprised at all if Sakura outlives (certainly) Sasuke, and possibly Naruto as well.

Bascially, for Naruto, I have two futures in my head: the happy one that I think the mangaka is going to do, where whatever happens to Sasuke happens (and either he has a kid or another Uchiha appears) and Naruto becomes Hokage and lives to a ripe old age, as does Sakura, and my really depressing fanfic-only ending where both Naruto and Sasuke dies, and Sakura is left to live on and protect the village.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I've had other people comment recently who agree that whatever Jeraiya's good points are, he is a total failure on many levels. A complete and utter failure, to be given the most precious responsibility possible (a human life) and not even fuck it up, but actually NOT SHOW UP AT ALL.

I definitely agree with you about the orphans thing. With Harry it seemed taken to the point of ridiculousness too.

My mental canon/fanon ending is somewhere between yours.

I think Sasuke will die young, either before the manga ends or, if he gets "saved", then before he's thirty. He might have kids, but chances are he won't live to really raise them.

I think Naruto will become Hokage in his twenties and he will last a while-- maybe twenty years. But he will die early, and he'll die when he's only in his 40s... young, especially considering the age of Sarutobi or the Sannin. He'll get to enjoy life but he'll pick the wrong fight one day.

Sakura will live to be freaking 108 or something.

Kakashi will also live long enough to grow old. That's the ultimate irony for a character like him-- he doesn't just keep going when others die, but he survives much, much longer than even the standard ninja He reaches old age, real old age, and no matter how many people die, he just can't or won't. (except Sakura, who outlives him by a good 5-10 years.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Kakashi will also live long enough to grow old. That's the ultimate irony for a character like him-- he doesn't just keep going when others die, but he survives much, much longer than even the standard ninja He reaches old age, real old age, and no matter how many people die, he just can't or won't. (except Sakura, who outlives him by a good 5-10 years.)

Yes. That's really Kakashi's tradegy right there, is that no matter what happens, he's always going to have to continue living on, and one reason that Sakura is a good match for her, because she's the same in that way.

There was a Harry/Ginny fic that stuck in my mind, where they were at someone else's wedding and talking about promises, and Ginny says that she would promise something meaningful - she's promise to outlive him, which struck me as just exactly what Harry would want.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

What's odd is that with the exception of the Fourth and possibly Tsunade, the Hokages of the past must have been in the job for decades. I thought the village was at least 100 years old.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

*nods*

I think that's true. I mean, the third was old enough to be Hokage, resign, and then take the job again.