History Fridge / Naruto

* I hasn't actually read the most recent chapters of ''{{Naruto}}'', but all the talk surrounding it made me come to a revelation about the backstory of Pain/Nagato. The biggest complaints involved the idea that he hadn't gone through enough to justify the kind of heartless murderer he became. While this made sense, another point was made a few chapters later: [[spoiler:he can perform what amounts to Mass Raise Dead, and it's implied somewhere that he could possibly do it without dying]]. After thinking it over, Pain's character suddenly made a lot more sense. [[spoiler:He knew he could bring back the people he killed in his attacks (whether or not he actually did), and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity knowing this led to him becoming disillusioned with life and death, caring less and less about his own murders.]] This was only compounded by his already-pretty-traumatic childhood.]] So...not quite WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds yet, but no longer a ''[[CompleteMonster Complete]]'' [[CompleteMonster Monster]]. - @/ShotgunNinja
** [[spoiler: The massive property damage]] was ''what Pain was aiming for in the first place''. He was basically [[spoiler: shoving them all aside so he could break all their stuff.]] He doesn't really "get" people, but it's in a much more sympathetic way than other "KillEmAll, [[KnifeNut choppy choppy chop]]!" villains since he was just being petty, and [[spoiler: didn't do anything he might see as permanent]]. This makes it even better if you've already had the initial FridgeBrilliance[=/=]FridgeLogic [[NowWhat one-two punch]] a lot of fans seem to have had. -@/JET73L
** After re-reading the Pain fight, I finally understood how Naruto convinced him. It was mainly because Pain ''wasn't sure himself.'' His plan was a self admitted short-term solution that would just repeat endlessly. So, everytime he fought someone who said they were fighting for peace, he asked, "What's your plan?" When no one could answer, he continued on his way. Naruto reminded him of who he was, and just how far he had fallen in his efforts for peace. He saw in Naruto that maybe this is the one who could continue on and find a better way to peace than his own. This was someone who's beleif was unshakeable and who would keep going. A fellow pupil who could continue on, even considering all the pain he had suffered till now. So, he did the best he could to help his fellow pupil by [[spoiler: bringing the people of Konoha back to life.]]
** It used to bug me that the Senju Clan, despite being the ultimate clan with near invincibility, just seemed to have disappeared over the past century and that no one even took notice of it. Then it occurred to me that over time the Senju Clan would have been whittled away little by little because they would always be the ones who were sent on the extremely dangerous missions (and consequently would be the first to suffer casualties) and of course no one would pay much attention to a slow trickling from a large pool of water until it was nearly empty. --@/{{ipdf3}}
** For a ''very'' long time I just thought Neji vs. Kidomaru was just supposedly to be a cool fight, but then I realized it was more than that: it was the ultimate culmination of Neji's story. Ever since [[DefeatMeansFriendship he lost to Naruto]] and learned of his father's true fate he decide that people ''aren't'' limited to the what's decided for them at birth. Kidomaru was beating him by exploiting the Byakugan's blind spot--its inherent flaw. While [[NietzscheWannabe the old Neji]] would have given in when faced with such an obstacle, the new Neji didn't, and ''won'', thus proving his new beliefs to be true. --@/{{thatother1dude}}
*** Two more came to mean about the end of the "Hunt for the 8-Tails" Arc.\\
First, I wondered how Killer Bee [[spoiler:avoided having his fake body discovered as a disguised tentacle]] and I remembered [[spoiler:Karin (the team sensor) was knocked unconscious... ''by Killer Bee'']]. So basically, he [[spoiler:ensured his XanatosGambit by deliberately trying to kill/disable the one he knew was most likely to see through it (him knowing about her abilities [[ChekhovsGun was demonstrated in a scene where he identified her as a "sensor-type"]]) and the attack itself would also distract them as he switched places with the tentacle]].\\
The second was about how Sasuke stated [[spoiler:he didn't need the 8-Tails to destroy the Leaf Village because he had "a new power" that would be enough]]. This was confused me as I though he meant something yet introduced, until I realized he was just talking about [[spoiler:Amaterasu, the power he just used. He was trying to destroy a village that had wooden buildings and he had ''inextinguishable fire that burns continuously for a week'']]. His "[[KillItWithFire plan]]" became so much clearer, and if it weren't for [[spoiler:the village already being destroyed and Madara stopping him]] he could have [[spoiler:killed an ''assload'' of people]]. --@/{{thatother1dude}}
** I don't think this would have actually worked though, considering [[spoiler: the Amaterasu fire can be captured and sealed.]] Not that Sasuke necessarily knew that.
** Susanoo is the "new power" he unlocked at the end of that fight since its knowledge appears to the Mangekyo Sharingan bearer when he awakens the power in both his eyes, as Sasuke later confirmed in his fight versus the Raikage and his team. Another hint was that he mentioned after the Bee fight that had "something he wanted to try", which turned out to be combining Amaterasu to Susanoo's rib cage.
*** Yet another bit was with the idea of the Byakugan having a blind-spot. The basic idea of the Byakugan is just human vision of a much greater abiliy, including panoramic vision. The blind spot is behind the neck and extends at a low angle--the exact spot where it's practically impossible for a regular person to see by turning their head. So it's not vision in every direction as once it's vision in ''every direction you can already look'' at once. -- @/{{thatother1dude}}
** A lot of people are upset at how absurd [[spoiler:Madara's instumentality plan]] is, but for me that was the point: Madara is dangerous because he is completely insane a la The Joker, but is aware of it enough to hide it until it no longer matters!
** The first Hokage in {{Naruto}} has the power to manipulate wood and trees... and the village where most of the characters are from is the Hidden Leaf Village. Of course, it is surrounded by a forest, but ''still'' the name bothered me, especially when most of the other villages specialized in jutsus related to their village locations. -- @/{{Gallows}}
** In {{Naruto}}, the emphasis on teamwork and D-Rank missions make absolutely no sense given that ninja seem entirely oriented toward one on one combat. However, then I realized that the ninja system is actually a Super Registration Act, and those things are meant to STOP them from becoming mindless soldiers by giving them a strong sense of loyalty, civic duty, and balance with civilian life. Also, despite what is seen, excluding prodigies, most ninja are NOT likely to be child soldiers, as they probably stick to D\C missions for most of their life, meaning that they are less "super-soldier" and more "social worker/militia". If this system wasn't used, the Naruto world would be like the Marvel universe, except even a weak super would be able to terrorize non-supers. -- {{@/Wodan46}}
** Not only did Naruto give Pain the same speech the main character of Jiraiya's book gave his opponent, but he also did so with a modified version of the character's tactic (the character used a smoke bomb, tricked the enemy into attacking a clone, then took him by surprise. Naruto's plan involved more layers of deception) -- @/{{Rampulus}}
** YourMilageMayVary on this one, but I was initially pissed as hell when Sasuke apparently [[spoiler:throws his newly found-and-bonded-with team Taka to the wolves for the sake of persuing Danzo]], and it seemed a bit too much like his situation with Team 7. But then I did a little research - Sasuke is trapped in his own cycle; he's mirroring the patterns seen in some abused/traumatised children. Long story short, they make friends but then seem to do everything possible to drive them away, and then hate themselves for it, then eventually make new friends and do the same again! I wasn't expecting something like that from Naruto, of all manga - Shiruvi
*** Helps emphasize the idea of it being a cycle when you realize Taka is really similar to Team 7. There's the oddball maverick in [[spoiler:Naruto/Suigetsu,]] the obsessive fangirl who beats up the quirky one [[spoiler:Sakura/Karin,]] and the strange but also logical one [[spoiler:Kakashi/Jugo]]. He's not only in the cycle mentoned by the previous troper, he's trying to give himself another chance with the same kind of friends he ditched before.
** After going over the Wave Country arc several times (the manga especially), I totally facepalmed when I realised that Gato, who broke Khaiza's "two arms" and cut off his head has his head ripped off by a man who can't use his arms. In a weird, sick kinda way, Zabuza was, unintentionally, totally avenging Khaiza. -Sobek
** Naruto failed his academy exam three times because the test was always the clone jutsu. Why would the test be the same simple jutsu so many times in a row? Because Mizuki was setting up his plan to have Naruto steal the scroll, of course.
*** Mizuki briefly suggests that Iruka pass Naruto on this anyway, although if you think about it, it was probably part of the plan to make him seem sympathetic compared to the stricter Iruka.
** I initially thought Danzo's downfall was overly quick, but realized later that it was essentially inevitable considering who Danzo is. He started out as the leader of a covert operations unit whose followers considered themselves to be his tools and [[spoiler:had a mind control eye]]. While these are considerable resources at his disposal, he's also used to getting his way rather than having to negotiate or gain approval, which is especially noteworthy in that he states that even if Mifune might have made him head of the alliance if [[spoiler:he hadn't used mind control]], he couldn't take that chance. The scene where he kills the Hannya-masked assassins initially seemed to merely be a way to show off his powers, but it also showed that he's made quite a few enemies, [[spoiler:and his role in the Uchiha massacre leads to his death at Sasuke's hands]]. Say what you will about some of the decisions Naruto has made recently, but he's certainly far better at [[MagneticHero swaying people to his side]], [[DefeatMeansFriendship even former enemies]] and this shows that Danzo's pragmatic (and thus typically assumed to be more effective) approach actually doesn't work when trying to unite the world or maintain peace. -@/{{Rampulus}}
** Naruto always seemed to put a massive emphasis on the idea of the prodigy or genius. Characters like Neji and Sasuke were considered Genius' while the other characters like Lee, Sakura and Naruto were labeled as failures. At first I thought it was just sort of a {{Dumb is Good}} situation until Lee was called a genius by Kakashi for being able to open the gates. It was then that I realized that one of Naruto's morals is that everyone is a genius or very talented at something. They just have to figure out what it is and how to use it to it's full potential. -{{@/Wind Weaver19}}
** People always like to point out that [[HighlyVisibleNinja Naruto's stupid for wearing bright orange]]. He certainly appears to have an unexplainable attraction to the colour. Turns out, as pointed out in chapter 498, [[spoiler: he's the spawn of Konoha's "Yellow Flash" and "The Bloody Habanero"; red and yellow makes orange.]]
*** Why would an aspiring ninja wear orange in the first place? Because Naruto isn't concerned with being invisible, but with being ''seen'', or in other words acknowledged by the villagers who shun him. What better way to be noticed than to wear traffic-cone orange? - koolkame
*** A note on that. Most if not all of the ninja wear fairly bright colored (orange, pink, etc) or 'normal' clothing for their area. People keep complaining, wondering 'what kind of ninja wears bright colors?' Answer: a good one. Being able to conceal yourself and move stealthily REGARDLESS of what you're wearing is part of what makes them good ninja. Like girls that normally fight crime in high heels. It seems ridiculous, but it's a sign of how good they are at what they do.
** In chapter 499 we saw Naruto using both Sage Mode and Tayjuu Kage Bushin simultaneously, and at the end of the Pain Fight proper makes sense. [[spoiler: Naruto, since he was no longer restricted by absorbing Natural Energy via the two other clones, transferred his Sage Mode into nearly a 1000 clones, and disguised them as rocks all the while under the smoke screen he made to land the Shadow Rasenshuriken. When he was out of Sage Mode, he caught Pain completely off guard with his thousand clones.]] Thus, explaining why, and how broken Naruto is if he doesn't have to absorb Natural Energy.
** The nine-tailed fox yelling that Naruto has [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry made him angry]] is actually quite an interesting admission if you consider that for the most part, the Nine-Tailed Fox has pushed Naruto into drawing out more and more of its power when he's highly upset (taunting him while he's losing against Sasuke for being weak and promising to destroy everything that hurts him after [[spoiler:Hinata is seemingly killed]]). Naruto only manages to resist him while he's calm enough to do so, as he comes up with the idea of demanding chakra "rent" when desperate but otherwise with enough presence of mind to think about what he must do. In this case, not only is Naruto calm, but he's actually managing to make the Nine-Tailed fox lose its temper, and realizing this upsets the fox even more and leads to quite the VillainousBreakdown that's a nice step toward Naruto dominating the fox rather than living in fear of it (which is why I hoped he would control the power, rather than just suppress it like Yamato told him to) - @/{{Rampulus}}.
** At the end of part I, Naruto was carried by Kakashi back to Konoha, after the failed Sasuke Retrieval Mission, and is feeling depressed at not being able to bring back Sasuke, and is still regarded poorly by the rest of the village. The second time Kakashi carries him back to Konoha, he's treated as a hero. - {{@/aurana}}
** When it was revealed that Naruto was not the first Jinchuriki, I thought that it was stupid for everyone to hate Naruto because the previous ones worked as well. A few hours later the FridgeBrilliance hit: the Kyuubi was released from the previous Jinchuriki, so it's reasonable for the villagers to think that the seal could break a second time.
*** And that's assuming they weren't outright lied to by say, Danzo. Given that Danzo has been acting as a subversive this whole time just to feed his twisted self-importance and usurp Hiruzen's (and later Tsunade's) position as Hokage, it wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that Danzo spread lies amongst the population about what exactly Minato did before Hiruzen shut down discussion of the topic.
*** Actually, only very few people knew that Kushina and Mito were [[SealedEvilInACan Jinchuriki]] in Konoha, mostly the elders and Hokage.
** The Akatsuki cloaks have become sort of like this. Before they die, all the members either remove their cloaks or have them forcibly removed/ damaged. The only member who actually dies with their cloak on and intact is Konan, the only original member left, who at the time was fighting for the Akatsuki's original ideal of peace. All other members fought for their own reasons, and Nagato aspirations to peace were warped beyond recognition. After this, none of the remaining members wear the uniform. Konan's death actually signals the end of Akatsuki.~ Catt
*** Considering what Konan wears beneath the Akatsuki cloak (a semi-transparent backless shirt, according to the databook), Kishimoto-sama probably thought it fit to let her keep it on to protect her modesty. Though you could argue that it was he who chose what she wears in the first place.
** I always assumed that the AirplaneArms run was simply RuleofCool, but thinking about it, many if not all of the ninja are moving very, very fast and they're usually doing it as a series of accelerations and decelerations by essentially jumping and landing. Ever tried to move your arms forward in a sports car just as someone floors it?~ @/BlackSam
*** Actually, no. How/what is it like?
* Why does Nagato repeatedly neglect Konan's warnings and spam attacks that are CastFromLifeSpan? Because he's an Uzumaki, gifted with an exceedingly long life span. If Kushina's life force was strong enough to withstand having a Bijuu extracted, which was unambiguously shown to be fatal in all other cases, it speaks volumes about why Nagato would sacrifice several years of his own life so cavalierly. To wit, CastFromLifeSpan techniques aren't a DesperationAttack for him; they are his standard combat techniques! Even maintaining the HiveMind drains his lifespan, but it's so long and durable that he doesn't care!
* The complete fridge brilliance of Naruto's name just hit as I was writing up a mock seafood menu for a class. Narutomaki/naruto uzumaki is a type of food, namely, fish cakes with a characteristic orange swirl, commonly used in udon. There is a type of udon known as ninja udon, so named because all the good stuff, meat, veg, etc. is hidden in the noodles. If you put narutomaki in a ninja udon, all point is lost, as the visual appeal is lost once it's hidden. So if you're going to use it, you put it on top, while all the real "ninja" is actually hidden. Naruto is a HighlyVisibleNinja because, if you can't see him, there's no point in using him rather than generic ninja #5.
* Rather minor example, BUT, when Karin first shows up, she's an annoying FanGirl. Everybody hated her. Now go back to part one. Enter Sakura. She was an annoying FanGirl, and everybody hated her. Which is in line with the other moment of FridgeBrilliance regarding Sasuke, albeit indirectly. To wit: Karin is more than likely an intentional echo of Sakura.
* Kabuto's return and role as part of a BigBadDuumvirate with Madara caught me off guard at first. I mean, we all knew he was coming back (he's after all, a former disciple of Orochimaru's who has a rivalry with Naruto and wants revenge against Sasuke) but I was expecting some petty revenge plot, not an elevation into a DangerouslyGenreSavvy ClassicVillain. It works and its justified, but I wondered where it was going. And then I realised this: one of the major themes of this series is the young generation surpassing the old. Almost every major villain they've fought has either had ties to the past and previous generations, been angsty kid like Sasuke, or, like Deidara and Hidan, no connection to the main cast whatsoever. Kabuto's 23, has very personal rivalries with Naruto and Sasuke, and is shaping up to be serious contender for the BigBad role, all while coming off as an archetypal villain. Kabuto is to villainy as Naruto is to heroism: he's the new blood that keeps the ball rolling and surpasses his predecessors. The fact that he's allied with [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Madara]] only serves to hammer that point home.
* The Chuunin exams actually work in a way similar to some Martial arts tests - at least when it came to the tournament part. It wasn't about winning - it was about showing the judges what you were made of. Winning the fights only meant you had a better chance to show them your moves. Of course, granted this was mentioned that they wouldn't ''have'' to win to become Chuunin since there was the likleyhood that ''none'' of the combatants became Chuunin.
** Can you call it fridge brilliance when it was stated in series?
* A rather minor one but in chapter 539 You are made to belive that the man with a bandaged arm is the culprit, but if you look closley when the culprit is aproching the first medic he is pulling the curtain away with his left hand, the one in bandages. A hint that he wasn't the killer.
* There's always been some flak on the fact that one of the series' themes is that a hard working fool can overcome a genius is undercut by the fact that Naruto not only has a hateful super-demon power at his disposal, but is also descended from uber-powerful warriors. However, when you think about, before Naruto got serious about his training, he was nothing more than an obnoxious brat who could only aggrivate people with his antics. Once he started working his butt off, things began to improve. And the reason he didn't look so impressive after the timeskip was that he was mostly relying on the Kyuubi, which reduced his overall effectiveness. The moral isn't hard work can overcome genius, it's that your natural gifts can only take you so far, and that there's always room for improvement.
* When we are presented with the ideals of the Sage's of the Six Paths sons -- the older believed peace could be achieved through strength, while the younger believed love is the key to peace -- they appear as awfully simplistic and clichéd. But if you think about it, both the Sage and his sons are half-legendary figures that lived hundreds of years ago. It's entirely possible that whatever agendas the brothers had, they were eventually washed down to BlackAndWhiteMorality through the generations.\\
Also, the brothers' conflict may be one possible explanation for Madara's "conquer the world just because" plan. By uniting the world under his genjutsu, he will prove that the older brother (and ancestor of Uchiha clan) was right. -- {{@/StyxD}}
** Given that Madara says that Naruto represents the younger brother's ideals, Naruto could beat him and still prove him right if Naruto can't figure out a way to save Sasuke from himself and the allied forces.
* Sasuke's insane. This isn't a bashing or anything don't get me wrong, he's been my favorite character for the longest time and I'm kinda annoyed about what happened to him recently with all the out of character stuff that's happened to him recently. But when you think about it, Sasuke's entire life up to this point had been to kill itachi for his murder of their perfect clan. but now, he knows that itachi was the good guy or at least more so and his clan was the bad guy. for the longest time Sasuke's been like Batman, but now it's like as if Batman woke up one day and learned that his parents were supervillains and the guy who killed them was the equivalent to D.C.'s Jesus. of course he would have snapped given that he always had anger issues and wasn't very stable to begin with.
* I realized why there hasn't been much Naruto/Hinata interaction even after Hinata's confession during the Pain arc; Naruto knows he may have to die in order to acheive peace and he doesn't want to have any regrets when doing it. So he's intentionally distancing himself from those he cares about. This especially hits home after Naruto decides if he can't Talk no Jutsu Sauske into stopping his revenge, he will take him down with him. - tclittle
** Besides that, he's an emotional basket case. He wouldn't know what to say to her.
* This is a bit of fridge horror: Orochimaru is sealed away by the Totsuka Sword, which is wielded by Itachi's Susanoo, and it is said to trap souls into a ''eternity of drunken-dreams''. So far as we know he cannot escape. But when Itachi dies, Susanoo subsequently disappates away, presumably with the sword. Because Susanoo possesses the Totsuki Sword, and assuming it disappeared as well, does Orochimaru die as well? Or remained sealed for eternity with no hopes of escape? Or is he simply just wiped from existance?
** If he's in a drunken state, he probably wouldn't care.
** Orochimaru has not been revived by Kabuto, implying his soul is in fact still sealed away.
** The sword still exists within Itachi's Mangekyou. He used it to seal Nagato after being revived.
* This entire show is an example of FridgeHorror. Its a story about a group of secretive military villages that indoctrinate and train children to kill each other in a ForeverWar, [[MoodWhiplash with fart jokes]].
* Four can be prenounced as "Shi" in Japanese. Shisui's Mangekyou is four-pronged.
* Gaara once appears to call Shukaku "Mother". Turns out that Gaara has been protected by Karura's will instead of Shukaku, so he did call the right thing "Mother" after all.
* Shisui's eye. His Sharigan as the ability to mind control people. He gave Itachi the order to "protect Konoha," in other words could have been ITACHI WAS MIND CONTROLLED. When he was tasked with assassinating his clan he probably didn't do it of his own will entirely...
* I had sometimes wondered why Naruto's always having new Rasengans used during the movies. I mean, yeah it's a versatile technique, but why was it so easy to make it so much stronger. That's when I remembered the Wind Release: Rasengan. The Fourth Hokage had designed the Rasengan in mind to use TWO chakras in making it. He wasn't able to add the second chakra to it before he died. Thus, the reason the Rasengan seems to absorb other outside energies easily is because it's got the room for it! - Drakohahn
* Why did Izuna need to be blinded to restore Madara's eyesight? Why didn't they just swap eyes? That could explain why "Madara" seems sympathetic to Sasuke, the younger brother.

* Why did Izuna need to be blinded to restore Madara's eyesight? Why didn't they just swap eyes? Maybe they did...
** That would explain why "Madara" is seemingly sympathetic to Sasuke, the younger brother.

* Why did Izuna need to be blinded to restore Madara's eyesight? Couldn't they have just swapped eyes? Maybe they did!
** That would explain why "Madara" is seemingly sympathetic to Sasuke, the younger brother...

* Why did Izuna need to be blinded to restore Madara's eyesight? Couldn't they have just swapped eyes?
** Maybe they did!

* I had sometimes wondered why Naruto's always having new Rasengans used during the movies. I mean, yeah it's a versatile technique, but why was it so easy to make it so much stronger. That's when I remembered the Wind Release: Rasengan. The Fourth Hokage had designed the Rasengan in mind to use TWO chakras in making it. He wasn't able to add the second chakra to it before he died. Thus, the reason the Rasengan seems to absorb other outside energies easily is because it's got the room for it! - Drakohahn

* Shisui's eye. His Sharigan as the ability to mind control people. He gave Itachi the order to "protect Konoha," in other words could have been ITACHI WAS MIND CONTROLLED. When he was tasked with assassinating his clan he probably didn't do it of his own will entirely...

* Gaara once appears to call Shukaku "Mother". Turns out that Gaara has been protected by Karura's will instead of Shukaku, so he did call the right thing "Mother" after all.

* This entire show is an example of FridgeHorror. Its a story about a group of secretive military villages that indoctrinate and train children to kill each other in a ForeverWar, [[MoodWhiplash with fart jokes]].

** Orochimaru has not been revived by Kabuto, implying his soul is in fact still sealed away.

** If he's in a drunken state, he probably wouldn't care.

* This is a bit of fridge horror: Orochimaru is sealed away by the Totsuka Sword, which is wielded by Itachi's Susanoo, and it is said to trap souls into a ''eternity of drunken-dreams''. So far as we know he cannot escape. But when Itachi dies, Susanoo subsequently disappates away, presumably with the sword. Because Susanoo possesses the Totsuki Sword, and assuming it disappeared as well, does Orochimaru die as well? Or remained sealed for eternity with no hopes of escape? Or is he simply just wiped from existance?

** Besides that, he's an emotional basket case. He wouldn't know what to say to her.

* I realized why there hasn't been much Naruto/Hinata interaction even after Hinata's confession during the Pain arc; Naruto knows he may have to die in order to acheive peace and he doesn't want to have any regrets when doing it. So he's intentionally distancing himself from those he cares about. This especially hits home after Naruto decides if he can't Talk no Jutsu Sauske into stopping his revenge, he will take him down with him. - tclittle

* Sasuke's insane. This isn't a bashing or anything don't get me wrong, he's been my favorite character for the longest time and I'm kinda annoyed about what happened to him recently with all the out of character stuff that's happened to him recently. But when you think about it, Sasuke's entire life up to this point had been to kill itachi for his murder of their perfect clan. but now, he knows that itachi was the good guy or at least more so and his clan was the bad guy. for the longest time Sasuke's been like Batman, but now it's like as if Batman woke up one day and learned that his parents were supervillains and the guy who killed them was the equivalent to D.C.'s Jesus. of course he would have snapped given that he always had anger issues and wasn't very stable to begin with.

Also, the brothers' conflict may be one possible explanation for Madara's "conquer the world just because" plan. By uniting the world under his genjutsu, he will prove that the older brother (and ancestor of Uchiha clan) was right. -- {{@/StyxD}}

* There's always been some flak on the fact that one of the series' themes is that a hard working fool can overcome a genius is undercut by the fact that Naruto not only has a hateful super-demon power at his disposal, but is also descended from uber-powerful warriors. However, when you think about, before Naruto got serious about his training, he was nothing more than an obnoxious brat who could only aggrivate people with his antics. Once he started working his butt off, things began to improve. And the reason he didn't look so impressive after the timeskip was that he was mostly relying on the Kyuubi, which reduced his overall effectiveness. The moral isn't hard work can overcome genius, it's that your natural gifts can only take you so far, and that there's always room for improvement.

* A rather minor one but in chapter 539 You are made to belive that the man with a bandaged arm is the culprit, but if you look closley when the culprit is aproching the first medic he is pulling the curtain away with his left hand, the one in bandages. A hint that he wasn't the killer.

** Can you call it fridge brilliance when it was stated in series?

* The Chuunin exams actually work in a way similar to some Martial arts tests - at least when it came to the tournament part. It wasn't about winning - it was about showing the judges what you were made of. Winning the fights only meant you had a better chance to show them your moves. Of course, granted this was mentioned that they wouldn't ''have'' to win to become Chuunin since there was the likleyhood that ''none'' of the combatants became Chuunin.

* Kabuto's return and role as part of a BigBadDuumvirate with Madara caught me off guard at first. I mean, we all knew he was coming back (he's after all, a former disciple of Orochimaru's who has a rivalry with Naruto and wants revenge against Sasuke) but I was expecting some petty revenge plot, not an elevation into a DangerouslyGenreSavvy ClassicVillain. It works and its justified, but I wondered where it was going. And then I realised this: one of the major themes of this series is the young generation surpassing the old. Almost every major villain they've fought has either had ties to the past and previous generations, been angsty kid like Sasuke, or, like Deidara and Hidan, no connection to the main cast whatsoever. Kabuto's 23, has very personal rivalries with Naruto and Sasuke, and is shaping up to be serious contender for the BigBad role, all while coming off as an archetypal villain. Kabuto is to villainy as Naruto is to heroism: he's the new blood that keeps the ball rolling and surpasses his predecessors. The fact that he's allied with [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Madara]] only serves to hammer that point home.

* Rather minor example, BUT, when Karin first shows up, she's an annoying FanGirl. Everybody hated her. Now go back to part one. Enter Sakura. She was an annoying FanGirl, and everybody hated her. Which is in line with the other moment of FridgeBrilliance regarding Sasuke, albeit indirectly. To wit: Karin is more than likely an intentional echo of Sakura.

* The complete fridge brilliance of Naruto's name just hit as I was writing up a mock seafood menu for a class. Narutomaki/naruto uzumaki is a type of food, namely, fish cakes with a characteristic orange swirl, commonly used in udon. There is a type of udon known as ninja udon, so named because all the good stuff, meat, veg, etc. is hidden in the noodles. If you put narutomaki in a ninja udon, all point is lost, as the visual appeal is lost once it's hidden. So if you're going to use it, you put it on top, while all the real "ninja" is actually hidden. Naruto is a HighlyVisibleNinja because, if you can't see him, there's no point in using him rather than generic ninja #5.

* Why does Nagato repeatedly neglect Konan's warnings and spam attacks that are CastFromLifeSpan? Because he's an Uzumaki, gifted with an exceedingly long life span. If Kushina's life force was strong enough to withstand having a Bijuu extracted, which was unambiguously shown to be fatal in all other cases, it speaks volumes about why Nagato would sacrifice several years of his own life so cavalierly. To wit, CastFromLifeSpan techniques aren't a DesperationAttack for him; they are his standard combat techniques! Even maintaining the HiveMind drains his lifespan, but it's so long and durable that he doesn't care!

** I always assumed that the AirplaneArms run was simply RuleofCool, but thinking about it, many if not all of the ninja are moving very, very fast and they're usually doing it as a series of accelerations and decelerations by essentially jumping and landing. Ever tried to move your arms forward in a sports car just as someone floors it?~ @/BlackSam