I hoped that Konoha and it's dirty politics, and those of the Ninja world in general would eventually be shown for what they are; a defective system that might have some selfless heroes, but is based on simply a power struggle between internal and external factions.
I think we're supposed to be seeing Naruto as the solution. Kishi seems invested in Konoha in a way that other shounen writers aren't invested in their settings. For example in Bleach we have Soul Society where some people (Yoruichi, Urahara, the Vizards) have valid and justified reasons in addition to the bad apples like Aizen. Amestris in Full Metal Alchemist is still guilty of a genocide. Mustang and Hawkeye still had blood on their hands; atoning for those crimes and fighting against the regime responsible for them was their character arc; no secret Ishbalans emerged to handily massacre their people for the Amestrians. The closest you get to a Sasuke is Scar whose hatred for state alchemists is shown as a logical consequence of what he lost. In contrast you have Kishi presenting the massacre as a neccessary evil to the point where people on Naruto Forums honestly think that Danzo is a grey character even with that lovely arm of sharingan. I wish the second Hokage could have personally seen that.
The problem is human nature. Konoha was founded by Hashirama and Madara as a place where the Senju and Uchiha could live peacefully together with other clans; a few generations later one is murdered while the other seems to have mysteriously died out. A nation is won or lost in every generation.
Now I know the word to describe what I think of the manga: it's become scary. Danzou is grey, and Sasuke is completely crazy. What kind of moral judgement is that? But this is the way Kishimoto makes it appear.
I think we're supposed to be seeing Naruto as the solution. Kishi seems invested in Konoha in a way that other shounen writers aren't invested in their settings. For example in Bleach we have Soul Society where some people (Yoruichi, Urahara, the Vizards) have valid and justified reasons in addition to the bad apples like Aizen. Amestris in Full Metal Alchemist is still guilty of a genocide. Mustang and Hawkeye still had blood on their hands; atoning for those crimes and fighting against the regime responsible for them was their character arc; no secret Ishbalans emerged to handily massacre their people for the Amestrians. The closest you get to a Sasuke is Scar whose hatred for state alchemists is shown as a logical consequence of what he lost. In contrast you have Kishi presenting the massacre as a neccessary evil to the point where people on Naruto Forums honestly think that Danzo is a grey character even with that lovely arm of sharingan. I wish the second Hokage could have personally seen that.
The problem is human nature. Konoha was founded by Hashirama and Madara as a place where the Senju and Uchiha could live peacefully together with other clans; a few generations later one is murdered while the other seems to have mysteriously died out. A nation is won or lost in every generation.
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