Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25626003-20150728002625/@comment-26518343-20150730150008

UnstoppableUchiha wrote: This is something that irks me: that the student always surpasses the teacher -- even if the teacher is a living legend! -- and they do it when they're 15-16 years old.

The Sannin and Team 7 are a great illustration. The Sannin were regarded as unusually powerful and intelligent shinobi, and yet each of their students seem to do bigger and greater things than their teachers in no time. It usually goes something like this: "GASP. I hadn't realized [student] had progressed so far under [teacher]... in fact, with that kind of chakra control and power, they may be even MORE powerful than [teacher]!" Yeah, maybe ten years down the road, but why are mid-teen shinobi becoming greater than their masters?!

I know what it is; it isn't interesting to see a student train beneath a teacher unless, one day, we witness them go beyond their teacher. This storytelling trope will be responsible for at least one incomprehensibly powerful shinobi down the line... Naruto<Boruto<Son<Grandson<Great-Grandson... that Great-Grandson ("GASP I hadn't realized [Great-Grandson] had progressed so far... they may be even MORE powerful than [Grandson]!") will most likely be a deity, capable of the Just Freaking Die Jutsu, by which they just breathe in and out and win battles.

Not a whole lot of consistency to this idea either. Two ninja from a current generation surpass every ninja from the last couple of generations within 2 years.

Meanwhile every generation between Madara/Hashirama's & Naruto/Sasuke's actually got WORSE than the one before it. People like Izumo, Kotetsu, Ibiki, Hayate, Genma, Ebisu, Anko, Iruka and Kurenai represented the absolute pits of "evolution" when they should have been monsters if every generation eventually surpasses the last one and they came multiple generations after Madara, etc.