ARC OF NARUTO: THE BOY WHO GREW WITH NOTHING

A Brief introduction to naruto shippuden

“Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the ‘Hokage,’ the leader of his village.” This is the most basic introduction that you get when you search up Naruto on the web. And, again this is yet another of those stories that require much fame and respect than people give it credit for. A complete bowl of action, comedy, drama and reality that hits everyone differently and in a manner that one can only imagine. Whether you are heart-broken by an ex-lover or have been backstabbed by your friend, this is that one anime which you can come back to and relate to at all times. It helps you to get the answer that may at times prove to be a challenge when your mind is in a haze and shackled by all the insecurities and problems of the world. To understand the true meaning of the phrase, “the boy who earned everything when he was born with nothing and the boy who will go on to nothing when he was born with everything” we recommend that you pay close attention to this article.

As we know the five great powerful countries, the ‘Land of Earth,’ the ‘Land of Wind,’ the ‘Land of Lightning,’ the ‘Land of Water’ and the ‘Land of Fire’ named respectively are those that are rules over by the monarchs and are protected by those ninja warriors that have honed and developed their skills in the elemental power section. And our protagonist, Naruto is the one that is a fellow ninja from the Land of Fire. He just like the rest was a youth that was born with a gifted raw talent that would make him an incredibly talented fighter but due his chaotic and dark past he is someone who was made to be an outcast with the inclusion of being orphaned inside the village at the very young age. Losing his mother, ‘Kushina Uzumaki’ to an attack by the rebellious ninja group when she was giving birth to Naruto and with the sacrifice by his father, ‘Minato Namikaze’ while he tried to stop the ‘Nine Tailed Fox’ from destroying everything, Naruto came face to face with the reality of this world in a tender age where all infants usually lie down and feed off their mother’s breasts. It was with the sealed portion of the beast inside Naruto along with this tragic backstory that made Naruto the kid who came from nothing and eventually made his way to earn everything.

But wait, then what about the boy who will succumb to nothing when he grew up with everything? That is possibly the first thought that might strike you. That is the story arc of ‘Boruto Uzumaki’, a ninja kid, the son of Naruto who grew up with all the love, affection and luxury that was missing when his father walked his steps as a youth. He is someone who owns a family, home and loved ones but takes down a path where he will lose everything that is dear to him. And that in-fact is the prime reason as to why this plot and story of ‘Naruto Shippuden’ makes for a perfect fit to watch this anime at any given point in time. It gives you a wonderful story mixed with tragedy, frustration, revenge, friendship, love and betrayal. An arc so unique and different from the rest that it will make relate to your daily life situation in one way or the other.

As our story progress, we see some really big and small changes that just gives heart to it making it more fun and interesting for the later phase of it. And within those changes, the primary is the inclusion of spread-sheet of characters that take shape throughout the anime. As said in the interviews and conferences, Masashi Kishimoto looked to other ‘Shonen’ manga as influences for his work and tried to make his characters unique, while basing the story on Japanese culture. It was done so that each character had a team of its own and an aptitude where he/she mastered in a particular skill while being the black sheep of the class in another. This particular focus on the development of each character certainly makes the anime worthwhile and a piece of Drama that just helps the anime to progress as we move on from one scene to another. It goes on to put focus and light on a single character as a whole and give credit to their mastery over a skill above everyone else, making them just as much of a team’s part then just a side character or a supporting character.

And again, to aim on the characters’ development he introduces villains in his story that act as a counterpoint for this characters’ moral values and give a clear illustration of them growing up from youths to teens and adults. And that is just what brings us to our next point, about why Naruto Shippuden is so famous and how did it get to a level that it currently stands in.

Aside from the incredible story that we get from it, the anime is particularly famous for one reason alone and that is the inclusion of one character that gives more heart and depth. And that character is none other than preternaturally talented, ‘Sasuke Uchiha.’ His inclusion to the anime actually gives us the option to view the anime from two separate perspectives and helps to put our mind at ease when we think as to what would’ve happened if Naruto had chosen a path that his dear friend chose. As we learn from the growing friendship between Naruto and Sasuke, we see that Sasuke is a person who is equally driven by the same dark and tragic past like Naruto, where the entirety of his clan including his family was massacred by his own older brother ‘Itachi.’ With the inclusion of Sasuke in the Shippuden we see just how the similar story of our main protagonist is, and get the answers to the questions as to what would happen if Naruto was to ever walk on this same path. In time that Naruto sent off to have his talents crafted at ninja academy, we learn how Sasuke was too compared to his older brother, and it tormented him in the same way Sasuke’s gifts bothered Naruto. This part of the anime just gives more feel to the story arc as we see two incredible ninja warriors, who have the same goal on mind but different ways to approach them.

Through their bonding as friends along with ‘Sakura’, ‘Hinata’ and teachers like ‘Kakashi’ and ‘Jiraya’ we see how the character of Naruto and the other develop along the way. Of course, each of them lacks in a way compared to the other and never quite up to that one skill like the rest hold, for example the excellence of Sasuke in his lightning skill mastery and Sakura’s excellence in her field of medicine give us an important take about how Masashi Kishimoto developed an anime where each character ranked higher than the other in a single skill. It again goes on to give importance to those that want to excel in that area and that is something that the writer depicts beautifully through the training course and events that take place in the anime.

Through some research and searching through the web you may find out that Kishimoto made use of the Chinese zodiac tradition, which had a long-standing presence in Japan; the zodiac hand signs originate from this. And it is this factor of the anime that helps it to stand out from the rest. It gives it an originality and a print that is totally new and creative to the world of anime. From studying the basic hand-signs and traditionally connecting them to the practices of the Chinese Zodiac helps the ninjas in the anime look more realistic and logical. It also adds its own print in the anime as each set of hand signs have an originality to them and give the anime a presence and field of its own. An engraving so powerful and impressive that you can now know of a person’s taste in Naruto Shippuden if you see them air signing a bunch of flashy hand signs or doing their little Naruto run. It is just a small and basic factor in the anime that really helps to make the anime stand and leave a mark of its own in the world of anime with a legendary blue tick that copying this factor from it would mean plagiarism. This sense of originality and research actually makes the anime all the more worthwhile as it goes on to prove us that it is a story that is well thought out and will not bore you to death in any way possible.

Yes, though we agree that it is an anime with over 700+ episodes, we still stand by our words as this is definitely an anime that will not bore you in any way possible. As it not only gives light and justice to traditional Chinese Zodiac but also to the teaching of Buddha in its early and later phase. One may fail to believe it but as it so happens the anime adapts the teaching of Buddha in the earlier and later phase of it. It is at the times when Naruto trains under Jiraya and Tsunade and learns about all the ethics and basics of life and at the later phase when he grows up to become a married man who then passes on these teachings in a spin-off version of Naruto to his children. It is this rustic involvement of the teaching of Buddhism that gives credit to Naruto Shippuden for having a plot that is considerate and chronological.

To conclude we present to you a thought and feeling of our own that will help you grasp the essence of what we are trying to mean by this article. ‘No one should ever play with a person who watches anime, never should they play with the feelings of those that have been a shut-in for life. For those that have watched anime and are obsessed with the fake reality created by writers have experienced loneliness and feelings of heart-break, agony and pain that can only be sought out in dreams and books. A pain so on point and filled with hate that it brings goosebumps to those that that become a bystander to it. And possibly that is the only reason that the said is bound to be true, “A person who watches anime is the most romantic person you can find in this world, for they have lived through the pain that one can only hope to imagine.”

Naruto is an anime that not only is popular due to its fine animation and story but because it teaches us the essence of what it means to be human and love a person with all our heart as we see the story of the kid that fought his pain and misery with a smile so bright and real that it brings shame to those that confront the same troubles with a dull heart and a grey-empty mind.