Naruto Did Not Change the World - A Critique 

what are your thoughts?

If your entire world order is dependent on a singular strong man to ensure peace then you changed nothing. The cycle of pain continues.

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.

He DID change the world.... physically. Craters.... lots and lots of craters...

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.

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.

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.

I didn't expect Sage's Rain to teach us about military industrial complex, but here we are

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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."

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

This is why Sasuke is my favorite character. Only realistic reactions to the world they live in. He knew it needed a reset.

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

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 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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

I still remember that Naruto promised that he would change the Hyuga system as the first thing when he became Hokage. Did he?

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

“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

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 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

Finally someone put how I feel about this series into words, thank you for the wonderful video.

Moral of the story,”Naruto wasn’t radical enough.”

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.”*

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.

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.

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.

Naruto didn't change anything, just became another tool for the system. Was he really the child of prophecy. 🤔

This really makes you understand why Kawaki wants to end the shin obi world. Plzz do a video on him

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

Pain and madaras speech might sound like the goofy bad guy evil plan until you actually go through life to see for yourself

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.

You're correct, Naruto did not change the world But he made everyone he met believe it could be.

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.

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

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

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

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

A feudal system where children are trained to be killers. Naruto wanting to change that is way more interesting than super powerful villains.

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.

The whole show is basically Madara and Hashirama both being correct

When Hashirama was alive, the shinobi world was at peace, but when he died, the nations were at war three times. Naruto and Sasuke are at the top of the world, but when they are gone, then history repeats itself once again. This is just as Madara said, "Power is not will, power is those that can make things happen".

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.

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.

Thank you! Great video, you out into words what I always felt while watching Naruto

I've finally found someone with the same opinions as myself when it comes to Naruto's ending. Thank you so much.

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.

Naruto is a liberal pretty much, he’ll play lip service to social justice issues but I’ll ultimately uphold the status quo

Narutos "peace" is just domination through violence.

“Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement”. Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Dogmatism And ‘Freedom of Criticism’” (1902)

Absolutely fantastic video. I definitely agree Naruto and Sasuke should've ended the shinobi world.

The villagers “accepting” Naruto had got to be the cheapest moment in anime history

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).

What bothers me is how many people will walk away from this video and see no connections between the shinobi system and our modern capitalism.

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.

The peace Naruto brought will only be temporary. Once the generations that were there during the 4th GSW are gone or out of power, the new leaders will forget the real reasons for peace. And as soon as someone tries something, the cycle of hatred begins again.

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.

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.

Naruto only will keep the peace as long as he lives. Once he’s gone, humanity will go right back into killing each other for ambition and power. It’s a never ending cycle unfortunately.

Naruto dream wasn't to change the shinobi world. His exact dream was to be hokage. That's the reason why even after knowing the prophecy he couldn't start a revolution

This was very well done. If you do what if videos I'd love to see how you'd explore this idea of Naruto and Sasuke working to fix the systems.

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?

if sasuke was weak in power then he would've been treated like naruto. Literally.

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.

Yep, from the beginning Naruto was not interested in changing the world he just wanted to be accepted and validated.

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

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.

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 never viewed it like this, Naruto is the only one who won’t choose vengeance/war/revolution to try and change the world. He chose not to hate his nation for the the way they treated him, by living peacefully he showed what real change looks like by actually putting his money where his mouth was.

People praise Naruto as the greatest anime of all time, but they dont even understand the story and world they love so much. I personally have it as my 3rd favorite, but these are the things i always knew but could never put into words the way u did.

I f*cking hate how the pressure for creating a sequel story (Boruto) ruined the ending of Naruto, by sidestepping Madara over Kaguya, and not having Hokage Naruto do sny meaningful change in the world. Sasuke and Kawaki are 100% right.

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

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.

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.

This makes u think the shinobi world isn’t too different from the real world