12 KiB
[RT][FF] Naruto. The Need to Become Stronger, Chapter 28: Words and Wisdom
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Author: u/Sophronius The Need to Become Stronger*
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URL: https://needtobecomestronger.wordpress.com/2017/12/09/chapter-28/
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Score: 35
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Created: 2017-12-09T14:25:13
Post:
Comments:
u/sicutumbo [+14] (4 hours later)
In a village with Tsunade in the medical division, genuinely trying to make someone quit being a ninja actually is worse than beating someone half to death. There's also the element of Naruto's words being unnecessary. Nobody believed that Naruto actually wanted to kill Lee, and misjudging an attack in a moment of anger is bad but understandable. When Naruto continually used his words throughout the fight to break Lee's confidence in being a ninja at all, especially combined with his previous record of attempting to get Hinata to quit, it makes everyone think his intentions are geninely hostile and underhanded. And that is worse than any sparring accident, because accidents can be mitigated through training, while hostility towards your friends and allies can't.
u/CaseyAshford [+7] (6 hours later)
I agree with what you are saying but am still a bit disapointed that Neji and Tenten were not more specifically angry at Naruto for the disrespect he showed their Sensei.
It seems like it would make sense for them to care deeply about their sensei even if they are not willing to consciously admit it given the crucial role he plays in their lives.
u/None [+5] (8 hours later)
they know Naruto didn't mean anything he said and they dont care what he said, but rather what kind of effect his words had on Lee.
u/Sophronius [+4] The Need to Become Stronger (a day later)
Honestly I think you're a little too hung up about the authority thing. Sure, they're basically in feudal Japan which has a culture that is very much about respecting your elders. And if Naruto publicly insulted someone like Danzo, there certainly would be consequences (though it would also look bad to care too much about the opinion of a mere genin). However, what Naruto said was A) in a world of ninjas who are all about ruthless pragmatism, B) during a tournament which explicitly encouraged cheating, and C) about Maito Gai, a man who cares so little about anyone's opinion that he decided to wear a green jumpsuit one day and never looked back.
Frankly, if Neji and Tenten stopped to think for 2 seconds, they'd realize that trying to shield Lee from criticism is the absolute last thing he'd want. In fact he explicitly said to Naruto during the fight that he did not want him to hold back as "nothing is more painful than being pitied by your peers". And Neji in particular has no business telling Naruto not to be rude, IMO.
But of course, Naruto has that special aura of obnoxiousness that makes it impossible to agree with him even when he's right :P
u/None [+5] (22 hours later)
Just a quick question; how many other options are for there ninja, except for front-line battle/other dangerous jobs? Does the whole ninja weapon development division we saw in Boruto exist yet, if seals are so useful in this universe? Because with Tsunade still heading the medical division I can really see how that would greatly contribute to making Konoha one of the strongest villages (better medics mean more ninjas make it home, where they can continue training and gathering strength).
And at the same time, in a world where all the greatest, seemingly OP techniques are based on an essential trick, a division of chakra users specialized in developing/deciphering those tricks for other ninja to use would seem like a pretty great force multiplier for any ninja village. And, given Naruto's personality (how he's always wondering about new techniques/thinking about why people don't use more techniques for peace time benefits), it seems to be the perfect thing he would think of starting up / be a bit pressured to join if it already exists and his ingenuity became more common knowledge.
Plus it could kinda work as character development, given his recent actions. He keeps telling people to try less hard or just even quit, yet doesn't seem to be very aware/have much respect for people who do decide to leave the frontlines and do something else with their ability to use chakra. I don't see why Sakura deciding to become a medic should be seen as quitting; it's a highly demanding, necessary job that someone needs to do, and she could be very good at it. Sure her leaving the team is sad, but still.
And maybe, in a rational world, Naruto might learn that he doesn't have to do everything himself, and that might do better if he made the village stronger, rather than just gathered personal strength himself.
But still I'll admit that a story about a support ninja would be kind of boring, unless Naruto still got into danger by venturing out looking for ideas / techniques to decipher.
u/Sophronius [+5] The Need to Become Stronger (a day later)
I think I cut it from the final edit for the sake of pacing (like 90% of my worldbuilding) but originally I had a scene where Kakashi explained how paranoia was holding the ninja world back. I.e. the strength of a ninja lies in their secrets, which stops them from sharing techniques and working together to find out how it all works. There is research but it is mainly done in Anbu and by a few individuals like the Sannin who again don't share their findings with anyone, which results in having to invent the wheel from scratch each time. And since it's only been a 100 years since the founding of the Village and most people have been fighting nonstop during that time, it's not hard to see why there is still a lot of low hanging fruit to pluck.
I am definitely planning to have Naruto adress and take advantage of this in the future.
u/kaukamieli [+4] (a day later)
Open Source Ninjutsu? ;)
u/None [+2] (a day later)
Wait but would that mean that the ANBU are doing research? So that joining ANBU is less of a loyalty thing but also a bit of a tradeoff: you can either do really dangerous missions and gain access to all the techniques they've developed, or you can do normal missions and work it out by yourself?
And also does this mean that the gap between ordinary ninja and ANBU is widening overtime, as ANBU do more and more research they don't share? Or is the academy material revised / enough jonin sensei picked from ANBU often enough, to maintain a certain constant gap in ability that sets ANBU apart?
And would the first village to abolish secrets really get dramatically more powerful, or would that advantage really only last gmail the first captured chunin/jonin?
u/Sophronius [+2] The Need to Become Stronger (a day later)
The thing about ninjas is that their abilities vary enormously, and you simply can't teach everyone the shadow clone technique for example. So carefully matching students with compatible teachers makes a great deal of sense. What sets the Anbu apart however is not their power level, but that they operate much more like swat teams in that they go looking for ninjas with certain incredibly valuable talents like sensing and put them together in squads. And yes, because they report directly to the Hokage there is a much higher trust level which lets them gather and share techniques so that even a group of chunin level ninjas can take on Jonin level opponents (see hunter ninjas vs zabuza at the end of act 2).
Basically what makes the Anbu so frightening in NTBS is... Teamwork.
Edit: So yes, it would be a big advantage if the clans were all to share their techniques, but it wouldn't scale as well as you might think, as bloodline abilities etc could not be copied, and it would be a huge security risk, which is why only the Hokage knows most of the secrets, and it is mainly the Anbu (or rather the intel division under Inoichi) that does research.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
Wait (sorry, I know I say that a lot) do you mean that the current Hokage (the Professor) knows most of the secrets, that Hokage's, on election, are taught the secrets (making them stronger), or that prospective Kage's are expected to have already figured out most of the secrets floating around their village by the time they're even considered for the job (like how Naruto figured out Explosive Release, but scaled up)?
u/Sophronius [+3] The Need to Become Stronger (a day later)
Yes.
...
Okay, serious answer: The current Hokage figured out a ton of stuff in his ~40 years in office, partly because he's simply spent a lot of time in doing so and partly because the clans are much more willing to part with secrets to the leader of their village than to their rivals. One can easily imagine them sitting across the table and going, "fine, I'll give you access to our ancient Nara medical herbs book if you finally tell us about techniques X, Y and Z". With conditions about not revealing that kind of thing to anybody else, of course.
And yes, it's expected of any budding Hokage to already to be strong enough to win respect and fend off assassination attempts, and in NTBS the fastest way to do that is by acquiring secret knowledge. Or by bluffing and pretending to be stronger than you really are. Deception is the name of the game, basically.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
thanks! I like it :)
u/JulianWyvern [+4] Wayward Wanderer (26 minutes later)
Huh...soooo
Naruto has Deidara-style "Explosion Release"?
u/jaghataikhan [+3] Primarch of the White Scars (2 hours later)
Yeah, they reminded me of itachi s explosive clones myself
u/Sophronius [+6] The Need to Become Stronger (4 hours later)
Good eye, both of you. Yep, that was definitely what I had in mind when I cave Naruto that seal - that plus the fact that it made sense, of course.
The general idea behind NTBS is that all the most powerful BS techniques in canon actually have rational explanations behind them. Nobody is just randomly capable of beating an army like Madara in canon, they just use trickery and lies to make people think so. So in fact bloodline limits like "explosion release" actually turn out to be achieved with seals in this case, and it's not hard to see how explosive clones follow from the same principle.
If you check back on the Itachi fight scenes in this story, you can even tell that he's using this ability throughout - which of course implies that Itachi is at least as smart as Naruto is. :>
u/avret [+3] SDHS rationalist (9 hours later)
...so around when are we going to start seeing Hidan?
u/Bigandmighty [+4] (4 days later)
How is this series, should I start it? Or can someone give me a summary please?
u/Sophronius [+3] The Need to Become Stronger (7 days later)
Since you're unlikely to get any replies at this point, and my own opinion is not objective, I'll just quote the most common phrases from the reviews I received:
"Your technical writing is incredible"
"I don't like any of the characters"
"Excellent pacing and plot"
"Naruto is not smart enough to be the MC"
"Amazing characterisation"
"Too similar to canon"
"Your action scenes are the best I've ever read"It's still not entirely objective of course since I'm selecting the quotes, but hopefully that gives you an indication of what to expect.
As for the plot, it's mostly character driven, based on the question of what would happen differently if all the important characters pursued their goals in a rational way. For example, NTBS Naruto does not want to be hokage, but instead tries to end the conflict in the world by understanding and breaking the way ninjutsu works. And the villain does not have cheap insta-win powers and so has to be smart and act from the shadows, a bit like in HPMOR.
u/Bigandmighty [+3] (7 days later)
Thanks dad