Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-31278419-20170331010234/@comment-4961229-20170426180328

Thekillman wrote: I'm not blaming you. But in most of people's breakdowns it wasn't hard for me to see what they liked about it, since most people (myself included) tend to take out as much of what they hate while doubling down on what they liked. In your case, i couldn't figure out what drew you to it (and what you would want to emphasize), especially since a number of things you mentioned were fairly core to the series, like the complicated naruto-sasuke relation.

I mean, i don't disagree about stuff like the Jiraiya training (although considering other people's troubles with Naruto, it must've taken a hell of a lot of effort just to get some strategy in Naruto's head). I never stop being baffled that it took 330 chapters to discuss something as fundamental as a nature release (and explaining the nature of the KKG, despite being introduced in one of the first arcs). I'm not picking a bone with your question; I'm just stating where I'm coming from.

My post was already a Great Wall of Text. If I would've included all that stuff, it would've turned into an event horizon from which there was no escape.

I could've been satisfied with Naruto & Sasuke's relationship if it had been displayed like Madara's and Hashirama's. As it is, it just didn't make any sense at all. I doubt it would hurt the manga to have it be more realistic like Kishi has shown he's capable of. I've always seen it as a mutual understanding. They were too stubborn to admit that they were similar, but deep down they were aware of each other's pain and shared a connection that they hated to admit existed. I don't think Kishimoto intended it to be a friendship the way you mean it. I'm sorry, but this is just unbelievable. Naruto is built on the notion of the power of friendship. Kishi clearly intended for this to be the case. Everything Naruto did after Sasuke left the village would've been impossible to explain without this friendship nonsense. That's why people complain. There was no friendship on panel. If the characters in the story actually behaved as if "they were aware of each other's pain and shared a connection that they hated to admit existed" instead of some imaginary friendship that was never shown, then absolutely nobody would be complaining about this. Do you realize that on some of the forums I've been on people were actually cheering when the suspect translation came out (I think it was from the same people that gave us Sai saying, "Shit's about to get real.") that had Naruto saying, "if we fight, we'll both die" and Sasuke blurted out, "What... What the fuck is wrong with you?!?" That doesn't happen when the author doesn't have characters running around doing things that don't make sense.