Settling A Hinata Observation:

[Honord Sage]

The same people who say Naruto was not responding to Hinata are the same if Naruto tells Hinata face to face that He loves Her too. They instantly go into denial because their world just collapse on them.

 

[Aim64C]

Ur under the assumption that Hinata "Naruto-Kun" is in a different time-frame then everyone being sucked into the genjustu. When its obvious that everyone was being wrapped up at the same time. Just because panels began focusing on Hinata's thoughts, doesn't mean that she was the only spark of "sensation" that caused Naruto to react. Considering that the sensation as a whole happened at the same time. Which is much more likely that is what Naruto's reaction was too.

This is precisely why I lectured you on reading comprehension.

Simultaneous events can be arranged in any particular order and be chronologically consistent. The ordering is chosen by the author for a deliberate reason.

This is what I mean by realizing that the events aren't real. You keep prattling on about how "things should be" without realizing that it is what Kishimoto intends it to be.

Your logic is flawed mainly because Naruto has shown no type of external cognitive perception, as such if he somehow knew Hinata screamed out his name, he would have know mentally that Sakura was alright when she was stabbed, and he would know the inner workings of Sasuke dark intentions, he wouldn't be unaware of what was happening outside. The only logical conclusion is that, the massive sensation of the whole world being taken up into this genjustu alerted Naruto's senses.

The problem with your reasoning is that the next chapter opens with the completion of IT. Further, simultaneous events in Naruto are rarely illustrated completely unbroken. For an example of this, see:

You must be registered for see links

,

You must be registered for see links

, and many other examples of simultaneous events and stories that play out with multiple interruptions, occasionally within the same page.

If Kishimoto were intending to show Naruto's reaction to IT on the whole, this:

You must be registered for see links

, would have been a good place to insert it, and more consistent with how Kishimoto typically displays Simultaneity.

Instead, we get a protracted affair where everyone is hypnotized, then Madara uses a jutsu to summon the tree to ensnare everyone. Of all the characters possible, Kishimoto cuts to Hinata's perspective (giving many the impression that she's one of the few resisting - though it's hard to tell since she's the only one we actually 'hear from' during her falling under IT).

After which, we see Naruto's reaction.

Mangapanda's Page 15 could have gone into Page 11's spot (shifting everything else to the next higher page) and been just as, if not more effective, at conveying simultaneity as well as drama. It is the order I would have chosen were I not trying to make a point.

You say Kishi has been predictable in her symbolic nature of being besides Naruto, also makes no sense. In retrospect, they've been nothing but random, at least after the Pain Arch. Almost fan service in nature, randomly picking spots for her to contribute without overall effecting the manga's main story line. Just like with the Hyuga in general, did Kishi making Kaygua have the Byakugan even change the storyline a little, no, he could have made Kaygua a aburame member and still got the same effect.

Except that I predicted Kaguya would wield the Byakugan - and not for simple explanations of: "because Kakashi said there was a rumor."

For starters, you have to understand a bit about the religious/spiritual history of Japan - which had a long history of ancestor and nature worship prior to the more standardized views coined under Shintoism. Contact with the Chinese mainland brought very heavy Taoist influences into everything, and many of the ideas of Taoism blended almost perfectly with the ideas of Buddhism (that were already making their way east through Asia).

The God Tree - or the Kodama known as Wakunochi-no-kami, is a concept that predates even Shintoism and was later incorporated into it. In the Izu island chain, Aogashima was home to a group of people who worshiped the Japanese cedar tree, no doubt the influence for the Uzumaki Clan.

You must be registered for see links

The Uzumaki represent the Pre-Shinto beliefs that were often shamanistic and brazen, involving ceremonial masks, blood catalysts, scrolls written with allegedly magical words or power, etc.

Kaguya, no doubt, is a reference to The Bamboo Cutter that is about an old woodsman who finds an infant girl inside of a glowing bamboo stalk (often cited as one of the oldest works of science-fiction). Turns out, Kaguya was a space alien from the moon (or the stars - depending upon which version you're reading), and her people (there were more of them) eventually came to take her back home - where they placed a Hagoromo (feathered cloak - often worn by Buddhist "angels") over her shoulders and she instantly forgot her concerns for the people of the planet after becoming immortal.

Of course, what led me to begin all of that research is the Hyuuga ties to Taoism and the way in which Naruto structures conflicts and solutions specifically around many Taoist conundrums. Neji's tale is all about the conundrum of destiny within Taoism. The very concept of "Don't try to save the world by yourself, Naruto" is one of the very cruxes of Taoist wisdom and teaching. The very concept of: "Nothing is done, yet nothing is undone" was developed as advice to Chinese emperors after Taoist philosophers noticed that the less emperors did to try to solve the problems of their people, the better off the emperors' districts were (they were Libertarians before it was cool).

Anyway - the symbols on Naruto and Sasuke's hands are Taoist symbols for the moon. Naruto's, in particular, is the symbol for "Return." The Eight Trigrams seal is the progression of Yin/Yang through the eight elements - the structure of the seal implies heavy Taoist influence (in fact, the whole yin/yang concept is Taoism, as is the Five Elements system occasionally evoked - which applies more to Taoist medicine) - yet it is clearly stated to be an Uzumaki technique (and the 'extreme' nature of it would certainly support that assertion).

The Hyuuga were always intended to be important and part of the story. Nothing Kishimoto has done in regards to this has been random. Kaguya was meant to have the Byakugan - representing the spread of Taoism into the nature-worshipping regions of Japan. Taoism gave system and structure to a set of legends, tales, and traditions. It took "the legend of mystical rocks that pull metal" and combined it with "theories of physical forces" to produce a refined theory of magnetism and magnetic induction (as a relative comparison).

Buddhism was seen as a sort of 'secondary' Taoism, or "Taoism of life experience." This is why the Rinnegan - representing the Six Paths - or Six Phases - of life, is so tied into concepts of human suffering. The Buddhist Cycle of Human Suffering describes the transitions that people make through various parts of their life, and also describes the natural rise and fall of empires/societies. Naruto's confrontation with Nagato was specifically in regards to how to bring about the end of suffering. Nagato insisted that he could interrupt the cycle through his own actions - to engineer the cycle by introducing destruction and loss.

Madara/Obito insisted it could end if the "heaven" phase could be suspended indefinitely by depriving everyone of the freedom to exit it.

Hagoromo insisted it could be ended if everyone were given access to a power that was not their own (though it's not clear that he truly wished to bring an end to human suffering - any sage with a lick of sense would know precisely what people would do with unnatural power).

Kishimoto is not random. He has a tendency to get in a rush to insert ideas he's had in his head since the series began, and the result is less than a natural-feeling transition... but a lot of this is stuff that he's had in mind for quite some time. The first 100 chapters or so flows very well and introduces new concepts without it feeling like the author is jerking the plot around. 500 chapters later, he's run out of buffer to build up intricate detail. He's still got so many ideas to introduce and so little plot time to do it - which is why we're seeing a complete break-down of "physics" within Naruto. I'm sure if Kishimoto had put the series on hiatus for a year or so following the destruction of the Leaf to think things through, we would have a much more natural feeling plot with fewer "I'm going to pull stupid amounts of energy out of my butt after 36 hours of non-stop fighting." In other words - he would have had a manga with far more consequences to the characters and better pacing - just as it was in the original series (where people took a week to heal from battles that brought them near death).

And I would take reading comprehension over again, because you are over analyzing and filtering specific writing mechanics to fit your needs, its easy to take a notion and warp into any secular process involving Hinata and making her more important then she actually is.

*shrug* I know you are, but what am I?

Its been 2 years since my college interpreting literature, I have BS in Psych.

Am I supposed to be impressed, or something?

If you had a letter of recommendation from a college instructor who actually did something notable in his/her life, I might be intrigued. Otherwise, I'm dealing with someone who doesn't know the difference between two, to, and too.

I've been in charge of enough college graduates to consider having a degree a negative indicator of intellectual capacity.

But from what I have seen in Kishi's work, and this is where you are overanalyzing, is that Kishi is very up front with his intent, he has no vague subtle indications, there all up front subtle indications. Such for example Sasuke, Kishi "intent" to show the reader that Sasuke is still dark, his subtle hints of Sakura's fake smile, Sai's lack of trust, Sasuke "let them burn comment" aren't vague, there up front subtle indications, and thats the way Kishi operates.

And where has that analysis gotten you?

You insist that his plot decisions are random - yet I can clearly show you how they are planned and fit within well defined themes. While my 'model' is somewhat incomplete, it has already been useful in predicting events within Naruto.

Your degree means nothing in the real world. Your ability and illustrations thereof are what are important. You and 60,000,000 other people whose names will never be known to history have the degree you claim to share with them.

You can spend hours, creating underling pretexts and interconnecting subtle cues and make a fantastic argument that Hinata role is more paramount then it actually is. But the cold hard truth is, all those final conclusions don't exist within in Kishi's work, they probably don't even exist within Kishi's mind. Kishi solid story is only this underlining cycle of hatred, and how Naruto and Sasuke are evolved, everything else is just small threads of side stories to interlock those.

The problem is that you fail to consider your cultural blindness.

Well, that and what you consider "subtle" is what most people I bother to interact with consider 'blatantly obvious.' So there's a clear difference in caliber, here.

Anyway - Kishimoto uses many subjects that are common within Japanese culture and history. What you would call some "subtle religious hint" is what would be akin to The Justice League naming a new villain "Judas" or a fortress "The Alamo."

Basically, if you grew up in Japan and have the capacity to feed yourself, you will get it.

I'm sorry, but you people try to make Hinata more then she actually is, and to me, that ruins her character.

So, under your "model" of this series' production... Kishimoto is just sitting there, saying: "Okay, so Sasuke and Naruto are making sweet love under Susano'o's shielding... oh, yeah... Naruto should be concerned about those side characters... let's see... oh, I'll actually draw what's going on outside Susano'o, since I'm not writing Yaoi....

So... hypnosis... we'll just make the edos immune to it, why the hell not... and tree roots ensnare, just like the Sage was talking about - Rinnegan, he's important.... um.... Mei hasn't had panel time in a while..... oh, and this will be hot - a hypnotized Hinata getting wrapped in bondage - the fan boys will love that. ... Okay, now for Naruto's reaction to all of this."

....

What if I told you...

Susano'o was planned to be the counter to Tsukuyomi?

Susano'o is the god of tempestuous seas, brother to the goddess Amaterasu and god Tsukuyomi. (On a side note - Susano'o slayed the eight-headed serpent: Yamata-no-Orochi...). Anyway - Susano'o is also known as the God of Yomi - the "dead world" - or the "Edo" world.

This is why Edo Tensei is not affected by Infinite Tsukuyomi...

Though the overall mechanics of Tsukuyomi are best described here (along with an alternative story regarding the origins of the Three Divines in Shinto cosmology):

You must be registered for see links

Both of them work in explaining the failure of IT upon both Susano'o and Edo Tensei.

I'm not going to claim to have predicted that - because I didn't bother to apply that side of the logic beforehand - but it is consistent with the idea that Kishimoto does actually plan things out, rather than chooses stuff on the fly to work randomly - with only Naruto and Sasuke being of consequence.

Taoism lies at the base of the series and outlines most of the major mechanics and dynamics of the series. Which is why Kaguya had the Byakugan (aside from the simple fact that she did not utilize ninjutsu - but another power, entirely, upon her arrival. There is another group that utilizes chakra without ever being depicted utilizing ninjutsu.... can't recall their name...)

But, it's okay.

Time will tell. You'll holler "fan service" - or "Kishimoto is being random" - but what can you expect from a system of fools certifying people with too little experience to realize their own foolishness?

 

[jkranites]

This is precisely why I lectured you on reading comprehension.

Simultaneous events can be arranged in any particular order and be chronologically consistent. The ordering is chosen by the author for a deliberate reason.

This is what I mean by realizing that the events aren't real. You keep prattling on about how "things should be" without realizing that it is what Kishimoto intends it to be.



The problem with your reasoning is that the next chapter opens with the completion of IT. Further, simultaneous events in Naruto are rarely illustrated completely unbroken. For an example of this, see:

You must be registered for see links

,

You must be registered for see links

, and many other examples of simultaneous events and stories that play out with multiple interruptions, occasionally within the same page.

If Kishimoto were intending to show Naruto's reaction to IT on the whole, this:

You must be registered for see links

, would have been a good place to insert it, and more consistent with how Kishimoto typically displays Simultaneity.

Instead, we get a protracted affair where everyone is hypnotized, then Madara uses a jutsu to summon the tree to ensnare everyone. Of all the characters possible, Kishimoto cuts to Hinata's perspective (giving many the impression that she's one of the few resisting - though it's hard to tell since she's the only one we actually 'hear from' during her falling under IT).

After which, we see Naruto's reaction.

Mangapanda's Page 15 could have gone into Page 11's spot (shifting everything else to the next higher page) and been just as, if not more effective, at conveying simultaneity as well as drama. It is the order I would have chosen were I not trying to make a point.



Except that I predicted Kaguya would wield the Byakugan - and not for simple explanations of: "because Kakashi said there was a rumor."

For starters, you have to understand a bit about the religious/spiritual history of Japan - which had a long history of ancestor and nature worship prior to the more standardized views coined under Shintoism. Contact with the Chinese mainland brought very heavy Taoist influences into everything, and many of the ideas of Taoism blended almost perfectly with the ideas of Buddhism (that were already making their way east through Asia).

The God Tree - or the Kodama known as Wakunochi-no-kami, is a concept that predates even Shintoism and was later incorporated into it. In the Izu island chain, Aogashima was home to a group of people who worshiped the Japanese cedar tree, no doubt the influence for the Uzumaki Clan.

You must be registered for see links

The Uzumaki represent the Pre-Shinto beliefs that were often shamanistic and brazen, involving ceremonial masks, blood catalysts, scrolls written with allegedly magical words or power, etc.

Kaguya, no doubt, is a reference to The Bamboo Cutter that is about an old woodsman who finds an infant girl inside of a glowing bamboo stalk (often cited as one of the oldest works of science-fiction). Turns out, Kaguya was a space alien from the moon (or the stars - depending upon which version you're reading), and her people (there were more of them) eventually came to take her back home - where they placed a Hagoromo (feathered cloak - often worn by Buddhist "angels") over her shoulders and she instantly forgot her concerns for the people of the planet after becoming immortal.

Of course, what led me to begin all of that research is the Hyuuga ties to Taoism and the way in which Naruto structures conflicts and solutions specifically around many Taoist conundrums. Neji's tale is all about the conundrum of destiny within Taoism. The very concept of "Don't try to save the world by yourself, Naruto" is one of the very cruxes of Taoist wisdom and teaching. The very concept of: "Nothing is done, yet nothing is undone" was developed as advice to Chinese emperors after Taoist philosophers noticed that the less emperors did to try to solve the problems of their people, the better off the emperors' districts were (they were Libertarians before it was cool).

Anyway - the symbols on Naruto and Sasuke's hands are Taoist symbols for the moon. Naruto's, in particular, is the symbol for "Return." The Eight Trigrams seal is the progression of Yin/Yang through the eight elements - the structure of the seal implies heavy Taoist influence (in fact, the whole yin/yang concept is Taoism, as is the Five Elements system occasionally evoked - which applies more to Taoist medicine) - yet it is clearly stated to be an Uzumaki technique (and the 'extreme' nature of it would certainly support that assertion).

The Hyuuga were always intended to be important and part of the story. Nothing Kishimoto has done in regards to this has been random. Kaguya was meant to have the Byakugan - representing the spread of Taoism into the nature-worshipping regions of Japan. Taoism gave system and structure to a set of legends, tales, and traditions. It took "the legend of mystical rocks that pull metal" and combined it with "theories of physical forces" to produce a refined theory of magnetism and magnetic induction (as a relative comparison).

Buddhism was seen as a sort of 'secondary' Taoism, or "Taoism of life experience." This is why the Rinnegan - representing the Six Paths - or Six Phases - of life, is so tied into concepts of human suffering. The Buddhist Cycle of Human Suffering describes the transitions that people make through various parts of their life, and also describes the natural rise and fall of empires/societies. Naruto's confrontation with Nagato was specifically in regards to how to bring about the end of suffering. Nagato insisted that he could interrupt the cycle through his own actions - to engineer the cycle by introducing destruction and loss.

Madara/Obito insisted it could end if the "heaven" phase could be suspended indefinitely by depriving everyone of the freedom to exit it.

Hagoromo insisted it could be ended if everyone were given access to a power that was not their own (though it's not clear that he truly wished to bring an end to human suffering - any sage with a lick of sense would know precisely what people would do with unnatural power).

Kishimoto is not random. He has a tendency to get in a rush to insert ideas he's had in his head since the series began, and the result is less than a natural-feeling transition... but a lot of this is stuff that he's had in mind for quite some time. The first 100 chapters or so flows very well and introduces new concepts without it feeling like the author is jerking the plot around. 500 chapters later, he's run out of buffer to build up intricate detail. He's still got so many ideas to introduce and so little plot time to do it - which is why we're seeing a complete break-down of "physics" within Naruto. I'm sure if Kishimoto had put the series on hiatus for a year or so following the destruction of the Leaf to think things through, we would have a much more natural feeling plot with fewer "I'm going to pull stupid amounts of energy out of my butt after 36 hours of non-stop fighting." In other words - he would have had a manga with far more consequences to the characters and better pacing - just as it was in the original series (where people took a week to heal from battles that brought them near death).



*shrug* I know you are, but what am I?



Am I supposed to be impressed, or something?

If you had a letter of recommendation from a college instructor who actually did something notable in his/her life, I might be intrigued. Otherwise, I'm dealing with someone who doesn't know the difference between two, to, and too.

I've been in charge of enough college graduates to consider having a degree a negative indicator of intellectual capacity.



And where has that analysis gotten you?

You insist that his plot decisions are random - yet I can clearly show you how they are planned and fit within well defined themes. While my 'model' is somewhat incomplete, it has already been useful in predicting events within Naruto.

Your degree means nothing in the real world. Your ability and illustrations thereof are what are important. You and 60,000,000 other people whose names will never be known to history have the degree you claim to share with them.



The problem is that you fail to consider your cultural blindness.

Well, that and what you consider "subtle" is what most people I bother to interact with consider 'blatantly obvious.' So there's a clear difference in caliber, here.

Anyway - Kishimoto uses many subjects that are common within Japanese culture and history. What you would call some "subtle religious hint" is what would be akin to The Justice League naming a new villain "Judas" or a fortress "The Alamo."

Basically, if you grew up in Japan and have the capacity to feed yourself, you will get it.



So, under your "model" of this series' production... Kishimoto is just sitting there, saying: "Okay, so Sasuke and Naruto are making sweet love under Susano'o's shielding... oh, yeah... Naruto should be concerned about those side characters... let's see... oh, I'll actually draw what's going on outside Susano'o, since I'm not writing Yaoi....

So... hypnosis... we'll just make the edos immune to it, why the hell not... and tree roots ensnare, just like the Sage was talking about - Rinnegan, he's important.... um.... Mei hasn't had panel time in a while..... oh, and this will be hot - a hypnotized Hinata getting wrapped in bondage - the fan boys will love that. ... Okay, now for Naruto's reaction to all of this."

....

What if I told you...

Susano'o was planned to be the counter to Tsukuyomi?

Susano'o is the god of tempestuous seas, brother to the goddess Amaterasu and god Tsukuyomi. (On a side note - Susano'o slayed the eight-headed serpent: Yamata-no-Orochi...). Anyway - Susano'o is also known as the God of Yomi - the "dead world" - or the "Edo" world.

This is why Edo Tensei is not affected by Infinite Tsukuyomi...

Though the overall mechanics of Tsukuyomi are best described here (along with an alternative story regarding the origins of the Three Divines in Shinto cosmology):

You must be registered for see links

Both of them work in explaining the failure of IT upon both Susano'o and Edo Tensei.

I'm not going to claim to have predicted that - because I didn't bother to apply that side of the logic beforehand - but it is consistent with the idea that Kishimoto does actually plan things out, rather than chooses stuff on the fly to work randomly - with only Naruto and Sasuke being of consequence.

Taoism lies at the base of the series and outlines most of the major mechanics and dynamics of the series. Which is why Kaguya had the Byakugan (aside from the simple fact that she did not utilize ninjutsu - but another power, entirely, upon her arrival. There is another group that utilizes chakra without ever being depicted utilizing ninjutsu.... can't recall their name...)

But, it's okay.

Time will tell. You'll holler "fan service" - or "Kishimoto is being random" - but what can you expect from a system of fools certifying people with too little experience to realize their own foolishness?

Heh all that Wall of Text, does not change the fact she is a side character and based on how the story is going, she is irrelevant. Now that can change if she busts out and starts being part of the Central story than what you say could happen.

It seems though that Kishi less he changes the story is focused on T7, and everything else is a side show. Than again he is the author so he can do whatever he wants lol

BTW are you a marine?

 

[Aim64C]

Heh all that Wall of Text, does not change the fact she is a side character and based on how the story is going, she is irrelevant. Now that can change if she busts out and starts being part of the Central story than what you say could happen.

And yet, where would Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura be were it not for the irrelevant side-show?

You must be registered for see images

A demolecularized crater.

Why didn't it happen?

Spoiler

You must be registered for see images

Oh.

The people who weren't important.

Funny thing, too. There's Hinata, again. The useless, unimportant fan service, making it possible for the day to be saved.

It's like there is... some kind of... pattern. Like... like maybe there is some force... some... sentience... guiding the events in Naruto. Like there might be a meaning to it all...

But, no, that couldn't be. I mean... it's not like other pointless side characters turn out to be important. Like how Obito was just there to give Kakashi a sharingan and make Kakashi less of a pretentious douche. Black Zetsu was just there for comic relief against white zetsu. Obviously, Madara is the only one important since he's got a Sharingan.

Oh.

It seems though that Kishi less he changes the story is focused on T7, and everything else is a side show. Than again he is the author so he can do whatever he wants lol

This is the problem, no one actually takes the time to understand things.

Why is Naruto popular? Because it has teenage mutant ninja wizards depicted in ball-numbing action sequences of ever escalating power that are entirely counter-productive to the development of tension.

Tsukuyomi could have easily been a more limited technique and it only would have needed to involve a more specialized region - a "venus fly trap" - that allowed the author to explore, in detail, a smaller cast of characters more intricately and intuitively. No one would need to be "fodder" and you could keep the diverse array of asymmetric abilities that keep all characters as equally valuable assets of the team in their own way.

Kishimoto has taken a huge amount of influence from "A Journey to the West" and a wide range of other classic dramas and re-written them (admittedly falling prey to the ball-numbing action trap). Most of Naruto's fans would not even begin to have the patients for such stories, let alone have the capability to comprehend their meaning outside of some weird tale about a monkey, pig, and skeleton-thing.

Even worse is that no one bothers to read into the soul of the author. You don't write a story from behind a wall. When you write a story, you reveal a lot about what is important to you, how you think, how you prioritize information, how you view other people, and how well you can emulate the behavior and thoughts of others. You reveal your knowledge of the world (or lack of it), your experiences in life, your experiences with people...

Writing a story (even in the context of a comic) isn't as simple as scripting a fight scene and contriving some way to get the characters from breakfast to beheadings. While you can do that to some degree - take off in a random direction - you must have an idea of where you want to go, the things you want to say, etc. Otherwise, why are you writing it?

And that's the bottom line. Story telling is an art. Not just in being able to enthrall an audience, but being able to express your views so clearly that you can take someone with little experience or knowledge of a subject and send them away with a more complete understanding of it than they could have ever gotten from a text book. It's being able to reach through the boundaries of simple mechanical explanations and illustrating lessons, themes, concepts, and sentiments in a way that people can inherently understand - because they are in 'your' world, seeing through 'your' eyes.

It's a very intimate form of self-expression.

Which is why Hinata is written much in the manner as Kishimoto views his wife. The relationship between Naruto and Hinata is an artistic representation of how Kishimoto views his relationship with his wife. It's not a "how we met" story of any variety - the events 'don't matter' - it's the context behind the interaction.

BTW are you a marine?

Prior Navy. That uniform is one worn by the "brown water" Navy - Seabees, Riverines, SWCC and Special Warfare. My contracted job role was as an avionics technician - but they weren't really using many of us for anything, so I went ahead and decided to ground-pound with a security unit for a while.

Then I realized that my interests and the military's structure are diverging. I believe in a lean and efficient military with leadership that actually has a clue about leadership. The "You will comply with what I say" mentality has taken over via the course of a bunch of blow-hards who think they are shit hot because some bean counter decided they needed to swell the ranks of their rate/MOS by 200% and promoted anyone who knew how to spell their name properly.

While there is a time and a place to elicit compliance - I'm about to personally go rip my brother's command (now he IS a marine) a new one. The Marines have a bad habit of making ninteen year old kids think they know something about life and mentorship. That worked back when the Marines were soaking bullets in Vietnam and the people who survived more than three months were forced to figure out a few things about life. It doesn't work so well, now, where they basically become an egotistical tyrant with no self control.

While the Marines have done a better job of resisting the erosion of values and leadership that the other branches have been consumed by, they have endangered themselves by granting far too much authority to the lower and less experienced ranks while swaying increasingly toward coercive management. It's beginning to create a micro-political structure within each command that undermines the principles of the Marine Corps - just as it has been doing in other branches of the service.

A lot of good men are going to die due to the incompetence that has taken hold of our military. There are a lot of people who are just there to collect a pay check or see their job as to make their superior happy (as opposed to uphold the Oath of Service and the values/creed of their branch).

It's a shame, really.

Though, to be honest, we are still better than many other military forces on the planet. Throughout the middle east, the army is as much political as it is anything else. Officers are selected and favored based upon family lineage/wealth as opposed to actual aptitude for command. They basically institutionalize the things that are unraveling our military.

So, I decided it was best to not re-enlist. Not to mention, I really enjoy being able to drive across the country on a weekend without having to ask permission to leave a boundary. There is no one calling me to constantly hound about some stupid list of stuff that, if not done, will result in fissures in the earth from which demons spring forth. I can visit another country without worrying about NCIS getting their panties in a bunch because I had dinner with a foreign girl and didn't tell them.

Granted - much of that is all a reasonable sacrifice to be in the military - you can't be on your own program every time you want to be. But when some idiot gets drunk, is caught at the gate, and the CO decides to prevent anyone from going anywhere or doing anything ("Fun/happiness is secured.") ... all because of one chronic bag of poop who would be fired in a real job... it becomes obvious that some college graduate with shinies on his collar thinks you're as dumb (or dumber) than that guy. Supposedly most of the fatal wounds to officers are in the back... not sure if that is true, though.

Oh - I can also keep a firearm in my home. Boggled the hell out of my mind that I'm entrusted with equipment worth more than most people will ever sum in their entire life's earnings, could leak valuable intel leading to the loss of incredibly valuable strategic assets... yet I can't be trusted with a firearm because I might shoot one of the other six thousand trained, armed killers on base with me. Oh - I signed an NDA - that will keep me from ever saying anything that jeopardizes national security, intentionally or unintentionally. Obviously an armed military base is the bigger security concern.

Don't get me wrong - I'm glad for the experience and how I was able to grow as a person in the military, and I worked with some of the best people out there. But even in my short eight years with it - I saw a lot of changes indicating a progressive failure of a system that has lost its way.

There again, I'm rambling. I like to do that a lot. Doesn't help that I type as fast as I think. Or... it does... but only for the purpose of creating more text.

 

[Natsu5]

^ Well Said Aim64C. It's clear to me, that with this series, you have to look beneath the face value, and really delve deep into the root of the manga. Kishi is not just writing these scenes just to waste time, there is a meaning behind it all. Some sort of message, and I believe you are onto the right idea.