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

''The path to peace is long and hard. Full of bloodshed, pain, and war. But one day, our efforts will pay off. One day, we will all stand together, and acknowledge each other as one family.'' -

Hi guys! Here it is: the final thread for my series of Naruto films. As such, this is based on the conclusion of the trilogy, Naruto: Shinobi World War. Here are the links to the other threads: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:155034 and http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:156262. Due to new updates, I suggest that everyone who reads this thread and wants to comment go to those links first, even if they already have, and comment on any of the three threads. Thanks in advance to all who have given me support and/or advice! So one more time, Ikuzo!

The film shall be based on Chapters 451-700 of the manga. However, due to heavy changes in tone and story, as well as overall quantity, none of the Naruto Project media - including The Last, the miniseries, and the stage play - will be adapted or recognized (to keep continuity) in the film universe. Before I continue with the story I wanted to dedicate one big paragraph to the themes due to their importance here. In a bit of irony, I'm going to go over a secondary theme first simply because I want to get it out of the way and not have to bother with it later. In fact, considering your reactions that I foretell will have a certain number of swear words, as well as potentially fanon content, I almost didn't put it here, but I find it essential for what comes later and knew I had to. The theme is... love. But not in the way that happened Post-Part II. Instead, Naruto and Sakura will be paired up and other pairings will be changing. At this point I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I'm just another cranky NS fan that is talking nonsense just to blow off steam, and now you're going to scroll straight down to the comments and badmouth me without even caring to read my explanation. Well guess what people? I. AM. NOT. There is a good reason for this. As I already mentioned, The Last won't be featured in the films. And as we all saw in The Last, Naruto came to fall in love with Hinata and understand her love. That won't be happening here. The Last can't go in because it feels anti-climatic and completely off-topic in comparison to the rest of the film. This film is all about a war, and the series was always meant to end with Naruto and Sasuke duking it out one last time. Without the extra development of NH, nothing really changes. As I saw on an Internet comment once, Hinata <3 Naruto who <3 Sakura who <3 Sasuke who is flat-out narcissistic (I just added that last part in, LOL). You might think that I could just continue on, plain-ignore The Last, and just have NH without anything else, but that's not the case. There are a variety of reasons why only Naruto and Sakura will be able to work in these films, including screentime, character development, the themes of spreading love and the next generation (you'll notice the links don't include Minato and Kushina), and the overall "international" (for lack of a better adjective) concept of love triangles and love in general. For the sake of space and fanon, I won't go into detail, but you can probably figure each of them out. You're probably thinking that these words come from me. But they don't. They come from Kishi himself. You've probably all read this interview before: http://www.saiyanisland.com/2014/11/kishimoto-sensei-speaks-after-narutos-finale/. As you can see clearly, Kishi specifically states that Naruto and Sasuke's final battle was always meant to be the conclusion. Not only that, but he also says that he never devoted enough energy to romance due to "difficulty" and "embarrassment". That's why The Last exists at all - to make NH have proper development. Without it, we have to go with what's in the manga. No otherworldly content, no creator's intentions, and no character popularity polls - just purely off of the source material. It would feel out of place for those who haven't read the manga/seen the movie and know what all happened. I'm sorry it has to come to this, but it does. I wouldn't worry though. The film can still be plenty amazing. For example: eleven years ago, when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King came out, and the books' last chapter "The Scorching of the Shire" was heavily edited over, there were some complaints, but the film is now regarded as the magnum opus of fantasy films in general and the best movie of the year (speaking of which, can't WAIT for The Battle of the Five Armies!). So no need to fret. If you prefer NH, just read the manga or watch the anime, for all I care! Plus, nothing else about the end changes (Naruto's Hokage and what not), and all the kids that we saw in 700 are appearing, although Boruto, Himawari, and Sarada have one different parent each. Anyways, with that rant over it, there's the primary themes - which, for the record, will swamp the aforementioned secondary theme and be the driving force of the film (unlike The Last, where the exact opposite happened). As you can tell by the title and content, this movie will be a war epic. The overarching theme is that the struggle for peace is a long and hard one full of pain and suffering, but if one was to persevere, they shall one day accomplish it, and one day everyone will be friends - something Naruto has wanted from day one, particularly after the Invasion of Pain. From my point of view, war is the quintessence of suffering - it causes illness, pain, loss, trauma, famine, greed, conquest, and of course, death. And since we have a war at our disposal, it's plenty easy to exploit this theme. With this in mind, the series will have a darker, bleaker, bloodier, and more realistic tone than the previous films. This is best since I write drama better than comedy. There will still be plenty of light-hearted scenes, though not as much as the others. A good comparison is the darker tone of Avengers: Age of Ultron in comparison to its predecessor despite keeping the sense of Whedon-humor (why can't Cap lift Mjolnir?).

Now for the story. As I already said, the story will cover Chapters 451-700. This essentially means that it will be covering more material than any of the other films (by 12 chapters). Despite this, it can actually be the most consise, since over 110 of those chapters were just one long action sequence. Additionally, everything really flows naturally without any black sheep or shifts in tone, so it will definitely be the most consistent out of all the films. Delving into the arcs, the film obviously starts with the Five Kage Summit Arc (yes, I am going off of our old arc names; it's easier for me so deal with it). I'm having some questions as to how to actually start the movie, since we don't have a "Welcome to Ninja World" prologue like the first film or a creepy flash-forward like the second. As of right now, I'm thinking of when Taka meets with Obito and Zetsu to talk about the Five Kage Summit; I could add some flashback moments to Taka fighting B here also. The rest of the arc will be pretty much the same, but also have some reordering to make it flow in chronological order. Also, Taka vs. the Kage will be shortened slightly and made more creepy and fast-paced for the sake of time. I also plan to add creepiness in Obito's "talk" with Naruto (where Naruto - after learning the truth of the Uchiha, which is referenced but not shown - tells Obito that he gave Nagato an incentive to find peace, which he intends to do to the rest of the world), certain moments of Sasuke vs. Danzo (primarily where Danzo reveals all of his Sharingan) and when Sakura and Kakashi reunite with Sasuke. There will be some cuts after Sasuke returns to the hideout and asks Obito for Itachi's eyes. For one, there's no poisoned kunai blackout; that was kinda pointless. Also, Kakashi becoming Hokage (almost) will probably not happen either. Later on, Naruto will tell the Konoha 11 about his encounter with Obito in order to show his trust in and companionship with them. After he reasons with them, Sakura comes up and tells them of Tsunade's recovery, as well as that she has summoned Naruto. Also here, I'm going to cut out Naruto's prophecy since all it did was say that Naruto was going to meet Gyuki and B. So then Naruto goes to meet with Tsunade, and is told to open a nearby closet. He does - and an avalanche of papers slam in into the wall. The papers happen to be countless letters of recommendation of Naruto to become jonin. Tsunade thus promotes Naruto to jonin (so that he can progress and show some symbolism as a leader in the war), and then assigns him his first S-rank mission, that being to seal the Nine-Tails with Yamato, whereupon he meets B. The rest of the Confining the Jinchuriki Arc is pretty much the same. However, I'll only briefly allude to Kushina's story of how she fell for Minato, adding more emphasis on the Nine-Tails' Attack on Konoha. For the Shinobi World War Arc, I do have something different in mind for when Naruto is about to leave the island. The confrontation between Iruka and Naruto will probably be slightly shorter. What's really different, though, is that Naruto will not receive his Konoha headband (which gets destroyed) but instead an Allied Shinobi Forces headband and a Konoha flak jacket. Wearing this shows his unity with all the troops. Most of the Allied Shinobi Forces vs. Reanimation battles will be greatly shortened, with the exception of the ones that truly mattered most, Naruto and B vs. Itachi and Nagato and the Kage vs. Madara. Of course, that's when we get into Naruto, B, Kakashi, and Guy vs. Obito and the Jinchuriki, which will be pretty much the same. Same goes for Sasuke and Itachi vs. Kabuto. Obito's flashbacks of his post-survival will be done in the narrated, fast-paced, and general fashion of the others. And that's when we get into the battle with the Ten-Tails. This'll be the moment when the film hits its most brutal and psychological moments, only qualmed by Naruto's determination. I plan to change the Neji's death scene slightly, in that Naruto will chastise Obito and show how comrades truly die using more universal rather than personal words, instead of Hinata telling Naruto. This is to show Naruto in a more idealistic, role model-like sense, and to show how one man can change the world and cause many to join a good cause, something that has long inspired me growing up with such figures as Martin Luther King Jr. But don't worry - the handhold will still happen, though for the sake of time it'll be shorter and be implemented a bit differently. Of course, then there's the Hashirama flashback and when the Hokage and Sasuke come to the battlefield. For Kakashi vs. Obito, I'll try to make it flow consistently by going straight from "I have a hole in my heart!" to the battle itself. I'll also try to put emphasis on when Naruto gives all of his memories to the troops, since that was so important yet so underestimated. I plan to have the visions of Obito as Hokage and the Talk no jutsu with Naruto somehow merge with each other for the sake of time as well as for effect. The battle with Madara will be quick and pretty much the same, although I also plan to have Naruto and Sasuke's conversations with Hagoromo going on as the battle rages on, not as Obito and Kabuto are about to heal them. Then comes the Yin and Yang. While the powers will be pretty much the same, I plan to make them look far more epic, if not omnipotent. The marks will also be on their non-dominant hands. Once the IT is initiated, I'm going to go ahead and skip everyone's visions because, seriously, they had no effect on the plot. When Team 7 confronts Madara, I'm going to change a few things. For one, it'll be Madara's intention from the start to have himself possessed by Kaguya and Black Zetsu. Also, while Kaguya's ultimate goal for a White Zetsu world is the same, the motives will be made more clear as being the same as Madara, Obito, and Akatsuki. The battle will be pretty much the same, with plenty of emotion at Obito's death. However, I plan to end it differently. In my version, Kaguya and Black Zetsu will die once they are sealed away. I have two possibilities on how this will happen; either they suffocate inside the satellite, or Naruto and/or Sasuke blows the satellite up with them inside using his/their powers. Naruto and Sasuke also keep their Yin and Yang powers, and use those powers for the rest of the film. And that's when we get into the final ten chapters of the legendary saga of Naruto. I could go into the changes I'm going to do for the final ten chapters, but instead I wanted to do something different. So... I wrote a loose script on it! Since it includes fanon material, I had to give it to the Naruto Fanon Wiki. Here's the link: http://narutofanon.wikia.com/wiki/User:Gemnist As you can see, it's mostly the same yet is dragged out more to make it more conclusive. I hope you all enjoy!!!

Then there's characters. There aren't that many to use since most of them had been introduced, but I'll go over the new ones. While most of the Kage will be the same, I do plan to change Danzo. I always saw Danzo as kind of a Hitler figure. Sure he didn't murder his own people, but he did have messed-up ways to gain power and was teetering on the edge of insanity. I'll try to emphasize his powerlust more, especially during his fight with Sasuke. B's going to be an interesting figure. This is an American product. B is obsessed with rap. Rap is an American product. While this isn't exactly the best kind of logic (well, at least it's better than the witch logic used in Monty Python...), this does leave open plenty of room for rap jokes. Saying I know nothing about rap would be an understatement, but using rap stereotypes via B will allow the film to connect more with the audience. For censorship reasons, this doesn't include race and gender stereotypes, but probably more on things such as creativity and understandability stereotypes. I'll also try to make B rhyme on literally every one of his lines - even if I end up going Dr. Seuss. Kurama and the Tailed Beasts will be the same at first, but will probably be a tad bit nicer to Naruto once they are redeemed by him. Kushina will be the same pretty much, though I'm currently thinking of a way for her to be shown as more of a loving figure and a role model. Obito unmasked will be mostly the same, but will probably be shown as someone without the ability to laugh or smile even at the points in the series when he does, only doing so after he is redeemed. Madara, meanwhile, will be shown as more of a diabolical figure and a legitimate supreme antagonist (even though the main antagonist of the franchise is, of course, Sasuke). I already went into the details regarding Kaguya, and you can see the minor changes (if any at all) to the Konoha 11 kids in the script, so that's about it.

Promotion is very key to this film, and despite it being the last one I have the clearest idea on how it will be done. I already have pretty big ideas for most of the promotion. For videos, this includes scripts for four mini-teasers similar to the ones used for Man of Steel, a full teaser trailer, and a full-blown trailer. I also have various ideas for movie posters. Both the scripts for the trailers and the basic description of the posters (I suck at drawing) will be made available along with the Ch. 691-700 script once I polish everything up. There are, as always, the dubbing of the openings and endings also, and you can see which ones get used in the script. For the accompanying short film, I have a pretty legit one: Naruto meeting his genin team four years before the epilogue, seeing their similarities, and then having a bell test. I plan to write a script for that short film also on the fanon wiki.

As a concluding note, if things don't go as planned and this can't be made into a film, I'd at least like to make these a series of novels. Either is fine, as long as I can get Naruto out to the next generations. The main reason I wanted these to be films is due to my pure disgust over the fact that, with the exception of DTV movies and The Simpsons Movie, there are practically no PG-13 or R-rated animated movies from America, and I would really like to spark interest in the topic, especially with films like The Wind Rises and Waltz with Bashir. With that, these threads are finally over. Now that you know everything, what are your concluding thoughts? Before you go ahead and comment, I want to make this clear: NO TALK ABOUT THE SHIPPING CHANGES. There are far more important things than that minor fact, and I am sick and tired of having people accuse me of it even before I put this up. If you wanna laugh at me and call me an idiot, say "I knew it!", give some glitzy SS comment, and/or just flat-out facepalm (by the way, I am referring to specific people with each of those; I'm not calling out names, but you know who you are), do it in the privacy of your own mind. I've already given my reasons, and I don't like repeating myself. In the unfortunately-likely event that one of you makes a shippy comment, I'm going to either respond and reprimand you, ignore you, or even report you if it gets out of hand. That's no joke; this isn't the place to talk about pairings. Other than that, feel free to comment on anything. Thanks so much for taking the time to read these threads, and I hope you all enjoy the eventual product. Sayonara! 