Naruto should've Abolished his own Hokage Dream

[Bad Touch Yakushi]

As much as I love the 'Road to Peace' direction that engulfed the series in the late-game, it doesn't gel smoothly with the original premise of the Naruto series. Mainly that Naruto's 'ninja way' contradicts his other childhood realisation that he wanted to become Hokage. An institutionalised, childish dream. Yet later we learn that the entire idea of the ninja world is the problem, not the villains it creates.

"Then eventually the world will have no need for ninja. A world where they are not needed is the true end-game to peace. Sorry to steal your dream from you." - Shikamaru (Hiden)

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Shippuden should've ended in Naruto realising this and abolishing the need for village segregation and leaders based on power. His first step to defeating Black Zetsu's cycle of hatred would've been by destroying the militarised ninja system as every ninja from Zabuza, Kawaki, Itachi and Shikamaru has stated in the past. The only way to escape the generational cycle is to destroy the institution.

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Just by being born into Black Zetsu's world and enrolling into the academy you further his agenda and the only correct way to defeat a plan above eras is to undo all his work, not further it by becoming 7th Hokage. Naruto and Sasuke have just prolonged the BZ/Kaguya problem by sealing it away, when these two are gone- there will be more conflict and strife.

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It might have been more mature and made more sense for closure if Naruto embraced it's Part 1 naivety and showed true character development. Much like how the Part 1 'Hard Work' motif was discarded as reincarnations and Sages started to appear.
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Tl;dr: The 'Road to Peace' motivation of Shippuden seems poorly mixed with the childhood dreams of Part 1. This would've been great if they had used this naivety to deliver an ending that shocked readers and showed true 'bigger man' growth from Naruto. ​

 

[Genocide]

well kishi didnt want him to

 

[Bad Touch Yakushi]

well kishi didnt want him to

Well, Kishimoto contradicts his own themes very often then.

Hard work VS Power-ups & Reincarnations
New generation surpasses the old VS Ootsutsuki Lore
Become Hokage! VS The system is evil

 

[HyuugaHeir]

Sometimes, I feel like Shikamaru should have become Hokage whilst Naruto finding something more than being a Hokage.

Naruto dreamed of becoming Hokage to become acknowledged by the villagers. It was his mantra until Itachi corrected this thinking of his. After the big (bad aftertaste) reveal of BZ along with the original purpose of chakra, the abolishment of this ninja system didnt sound like a farfetched direction for the ending and that was why I sympathized with Sasuke's revolution in some ways. But then, it got me thinking where does it leave Naruto. In the grand scheme of things, being the Hokage was his dream, however trivial or monumental that dream has been to him. I appreciate Naruto's contrast to Obito and also the reappearance of the previous Hokage to reinforce or remind the essence of being Hokage. It was a good thing Naruto found the true meaning to his "Hokage."

All being said, with Boruto's plot and characterization for Naruto, I feel like his being Hokage doesn't size up to what he has learned thus far.

 

[-Punk-]

They shouldn't have emphasized the word peace that much cause in the end "peace" took their jobs lol.

 

[Sagebee]

Hokage as a position isn't one solely based on power the people have to accept you as the leader and it also requires for you to actually be a good leader aswell.

 

[InfiniteMugen]

The NV is very based on power tho, someone needs to lead or you have too much internal conflict in villages, or that's my take at least

 

[Chikombo]

I think u misread the entire manga, Black Zetsu doesn't own shinobi, Naruto made it clear that the history of shinobi doesn't belong to him, your not a bad person just cus you are a ninja. You can't blame the system for individuals flaws thats a poor excuse taking away the blame from them. There was some peace. I don't think it would be smart to give up on being a ninja if others would be ninjas then they would just take over. And it's not like you need ninjas to do bad things Madara said people did bad things before ninjas even existed. They are moving towards a more modern world where you don't need ninjas, it's becoming more of a mythological phenomenon but that's something important to people, it's like how the old traditions of samurais in japan were conflicted with the new industrialization, there is something admirable about the old ways even though they seem trivial now.
I don't know about the whole cycle of hatred and prophesy and all but after Kaguya was defeated there seemed to have been peace.

 

[patrickscott]

I'm glad someone finally realized that Naruto was never meant to become Hokage because he would just continue the cycle of destruction of Konoha.

Again

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and again

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and again

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[Umari Senju]

I agree OP. Naruto's main purpose of being Hokage was to be acknowledged and that happened when he beat Pain.

I was kind of hoping he'd evolve past the Hokage thing or at least become Hokage and declare the end of that title. Sasuke may have lost the battle of ideals but he wasn't wrong. The Ninja system needs to end for any change to take place.

Though I feel this is where Boruto and his gen come in. Perhaps through Boruto both Sasuke and Naruto's ideal will come to full realization:

An end to the Ninja system and a new era of true lasting peace.

 

[Bad Touch Yakushi]

Sometimes, I feel like Shikamaru should have become Hokage whilst Naruto finding something more than being a Hokage.

Naruto dreamed of becoming Hokage to become acknowledged by the villagers. It was his mantra until Itachi corrected this thinking of his. After the big (bad aftertaste) reveal of BZ along with the original purpose of chakra, the abolishment of this ninja system didnt sound like a farfetched direction for the ending and that was why I sympathized with Sasuke's revolution in some ways. But then, it got me thinking where does it leave Naruto. In the grand scheme of things, being the Hokage was his dream, however trivial or monumental that dream has been to him. I appreciate Naruto's contrast to Obito and also the reappearance of the previous Hokage to reinforce or remind the essence of being Hokage. It was a good thing Naruto found the true meaning to his "Hokage."

All being said, with Boruto's plot and characterization for Naruto, I feel like his being Hokage doesn't size up to what he has learned thus far.

Give Naruto a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann ending, a wandering hermit. Jiraiya flashbacks.

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Because here's the thing. If Sasuke was the one who stayed in the Leaf and settled down whilst Naruto wandered the world (maybe even keep Hinata dead from the Pain arc) this would actually suit them muuuuch better and show how far they've come.

 

[Bad Touch Yakushi]

Hokage as a position isn't one solely based on power the people have to accept you as the leader and it also requires for you to actually be a good leader aswell.

Still operating within a Black Goo monster's framework.

 

[Bad Touch Yakushi]

I think u misread the entire manga, Black Zetsu doesn't own shinobi, Naruto made it clear that the history of shinobi doesn't belong to him, your not a bad person just cus you are a ninja. You can't blame the system for individuals flaws thats a poor excuse taking away the blame from them. There was some peace. I don't think it would be smart to give up on being a ninja if others would be ninjas then they would just take over. And it's not like you need ninjas to do bad things Madara said people did bad things before ninjas even existed. They are moving towards a more modern world where you don't need ninjas, it's becoming more of a mythological phenomenon but that's something important to people, it's like how the old traditions of samurais in japan were conflicted with the new industrialization, there is something admirable about the old ways even though they seem trivial now.
I don't know about the whole cycle of hatred and prophesy and all but after Kaguya was defeated there seemed to have been peace.

Well there's your 'peace'.

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The problem with the ninja world is institutional at it's foundation, poisoned even before Hashirama invented the village. Naruto and Sasuke merely sealed away Kaguya and passed the BZ problem onto another generation. A very temporary win. All the novels, Ootsutsuki, Oro clones and Kawaki disprove this.

Say I misread it if you like, why does every other intellectual ninja around Naruto from Shikamaru to Itachi confirm this way of thinking? Nothing Black Zetsu has done since the Hamura/Hagoromo days and nothing post chapter-699 has disproved this.

 

[HyuugaHeir]

Give Naruto a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann ending, a wandering hermit. Jiraiya flashbacks.

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Because here's the thing. If Sasuke was the one who stayed in the Leaf and settled down whilst Naruto wandered the world (maybe even keep Hinata dead from the Pain arc) this would actually suit them muuuuch better and show how far they've come.

It seems polarising for the both of them but it works for me. The Ninja world would have been very different.

 

[Bad Touch Yakushi]

The NV is very based on power tho, someone needs to lead or you have too much internal conflict in villages, or that's my take at least

A sheer power based rule can only result in war though. It's pretty primeval and what Naruto/Hagoromo/Jiraiya were fighting. The Ninja Alliance is the real victory and Shikamaru in that quote said it best. I don't know why it was Shikamaru who got this series-making line though and not the main character...?

This militarised world was bad according to BZ/itachi/shikamaru/naruto etc. The alliance new world is very rooted in financial and scientific gains. Basically just our own world.

 

[Ansatsuken]

Did I miss out many things here?

 

[Avani]

I disagree. Naruto simply understood that peace is a status that needs to be maintained or achieve back through hard work and efforts not a permanent trophy. But that's no reason to drop ones individual ambition they worked hard for to achieve.

You are basically asking that he should not have matured enough to realize the limitations and still work within those boundaries to better his world.

A volcano, a tusnami any natural calamity or some crazy alien force may attack to morrow but because of such a fear of it, sane people do not stop living their lives in the mean time. They equip themselves to deal with the problems better but they still deserve a right to live their basic life doing things they wanted to.

 

[awesomeseimei]

Honestly, part of me was hoping that Naruto would end on a bittersweet note with there being no need for ninja anymore (or even everyone somehow losing chakra, though that was far-fetched). Didn't some novel actually deal with ninja struggling to cope with peaceful life and taking drugs?

While I don't personally have a problem with Naruto becoming Hokage, I feel like Kishi didn't develop the conflict with the ninja system in general well enough. He made references to it here and there but the issue was never resolved in a satisfying manner. Like, back in the beginning, those "Shinobi Rules" were brought up and Naruto disliked them, but did he actually change them? Or did everyone just stopped caring?

 

[Avani]

those "Shinobi Rules" were brought up and Naruto disliked them, but did he actually change them?

There are only a few known rules:

Rule #04. "A shinobi must always put the mission first."
Rule #25. "A shinobi must never show their tears."
Rule #??. "A shinobi must see the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings."
Rule #??. "A shinobi must follow their commander's instructions."
Rule #??. "A shinobi must prepare before it is too late to."
Rule #??. "A shinobi must never show any weakness.

.......

......


Two known "most basics of basics for a shinobi" are:

Always watch your back.
Always be two steps ahead of the enemy.

Jiraya stated that the three prohibitions for a shinobi are:

Alcohol
Women
Money (However, it is observed that he himself neglected them).

I don't remember where he said about disliking these particular rules but really these are pretty basic instructions that mostly need to be followed in all the armed forces( except Jiraiya ones which are moe related with general ethics). What would you changed these rules to?

 

[InfiniteMugen]

A sheer power based rule can only result in war though. It's pretty primeval and what Naruto/Hagoromo/Jiraiya were fighting. The Ninja Alliance is the real victory and Shikamaru in that quote said it best. I don't know why it was Shikamaru who got this series-making line though and not the main character...?

This militarised world was bad according to BZ/itachi/shikamaru/naruto etc. The alliance new world is very rooted in financial and scientific gains. Basically just our own world.

Think about that tho, if it's like our world more proof that peace just doesn't work, imagine if people irl could use chakra or jutsus... peace would be the LAST thing to happen