Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-8284722-20141222195100/@comment-8284722-20150110061828

Hey guys. I also wanted to go over something regarding goals. I notice a lot of you said that the goals must be achieved in every way, shape, and form originally planned. However, that's simply not the case.

You see, when you set out on a goal, things don't ALWAYS go exactly how you plan them to. There's going to be some adjustments, and in Naruto that was shown to great potential with some characters and not so much with others. In the end, no ending is flawless. There's always a big ol' hiccup that is acceptable to characters and changes who they are as people. The Dark Knight may have defeated the Joker, but he had to brand himself a criminal to prevent the ousting of Two-Face. Ed and Al may have set out to restore their bodies, but in the end, only Al was restored, and Ed even lost his alchemy. And then there are those many sad endings to so many other franchises... In the end, what Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and even Kakashi said does not automatically show every ounce of what's going to happen. Eren Yeager might never go outside Wall Maria. The Straw Hat Pirates may never get the One Piece. In relation to Naruto, Sakura could've not gained Sasuke's acknowledgement. Sasuke could've never avenged his clan. And like it or not, Naruto could've never become Hokage (okay, okay, calm down Internet; let me explain). For each of the three, the goals were meant to change, but it wasn't as emphasized in the ending as if was meant to be. Naruto was meant to gain the villagers' acknowledgement, but then he shifted his focus to protecting his loved ones, redeeming Sasuke, and achieving world peace. So Kishi had the acknowledgement thing almost five years before he became Hokage (which was essentially a step to getting all of these goals), shifting his focus to Naruto's development, and eventually playing it off well. Sasuke's the complicated one. He was meant to avenge his clan by killing Itachi, but then it went in a million other directions. His goal was ultimately not fully realized, and though he accepted that and tried to rebuild, his is clearly the most effective because he didn't do all he was planning to do such as destroy Konoha and take over the world. It ended up a bit of a puzzle, though it's hardly anything to truly raise an eyebrow about. Sakura, meanwhile, is different. Her goal was to get Sasuke's acknowledgement, which was initially to sleep with him (she better not have had these thoughts at age 12, lol), but then later evolved into wanting to see the family known as Team 7 again. It becomes questionable as to what Sakura did for this. After all, if it's HER goal to make Sasuke acknowledge her, then why did Naruto do all the dirty work - like, for every single human to ever walk the Earth (with the possible exception of Itachi) and the only one to never sway from that? Eventually, I think it should've been evolved more, so that's why I'm doing what I'm doing; that's hardly anything to argue about. And lastly Kakashi - okay, he had no goal. But then he got the goal to be the Sixth Hokage. Did anyone see that coming? Nope. And while it was rushed a bit... who's going to argue with that evolution?

Just remember: goals change. They're not linear in the slightest. Roads wind, whether they're made of yellow bricks or just plain asphalt. The only thing you need to know about them is that both you and the rest of the world lay those bricks in your path. Together, we construct each other's futures. And it doesn't always go the way initially put on the blueprint. Remember that.