Far be it for me to tell people what to like.

Tastes differ. People look for different things in characters, connect with different things. In general, every reader is going to bring a different point of view to reading. I'll tell people their theories are faulty, that their interpretations aren't valid (because not all are, I'm sorry, but if you don't think Sasuke really went to Orochimaru even though it was shown just before the time skip, you're wrong) and I'll believe that--perhaps--you're reading comprehension is less than up to snuff.

So I'm not saying anyone is wrong.

I can't, however, cock my head and blatantly not get it. And I do.

It's been quite awhile since we had a Naruto rant, hasn't it? I think I'm due.



There are a few opinions I've come across time and again in this fandom, and I'm fairly sure that thus far, I've kept my ranting about them mostly consigned to AIM. What I'm thinking of now are three which often seem to go together, and when they don't, still seem to stem from the same underlying desire.

1) Naruto is becoming too overpowered because of the Kyuubi.
2) It's not fair that Naruto draw on the power of a demon.
3) I wish Naruto would be separated from the Kyuubi, so we could see what he could do with his own power.

All three of these reduce me to a stunned sort of "Who with the what then?" blank stare for a moment, normally followed by wondering if this person is for real. No, really. Are we reading the same series?

Starting with complaint Numbah One.

I haven't seen this weeks chapter yet. I gather some people have spoilers, and who knows, maybe it's out. It wasn't last I checked, but that was a few hours ago. Other than that, I am up to date in reading. It's possible I missed something. It's possible something was conveyed badly in scanlation--we all know it happens. It's possible (and, in fact, true) that I project my own expectations onto the story just as much as anyone else. But over powered? Bitch, please.

One of the things I appreciate about Naruto as a title is its sense of proportion. While not perfect by any means, it's still better than what you'll see in a lot of shounen series. Why? Because these are shows and manga aimed at preteen boys, and they like superheroes. They like big explosions. They like fighting and Gary Stus. It's what twelve year old boys are supposed to like. So, no shit a lot of series have just that. At least in Naruto, you can get nearly three hundred chapters, and for the most part, the kids are still weaker than they're teachers. If they aren't, they're the exceptions--like Itachi. You know what? Kakashi? Last we heard, still not as powerful as one of the Sannin. Orochimaru was only stronger than Sandaime because Sandaime was that far past his prime. As a rule, in Naruto, everyone is still not only behind their teacher, but significantly beneath them in terms of jutsu and experience which count right along with power.

Naruto has raw power. He's always had raw power. He probably always will have raw power, not only because of the Kyuubi in him, which is described as the ultimate source of chakra more or less by Jiraiya if I recall corrected, but because he's a shounen hero, and that's what they do. Yes, I know that is the run on sentence of death. It's 6:30am, and I'm ranting out of boredom. What do you expect? Post time skip, he can use more of it than he could before. He's still not using most of the Kyuubi's power, just more of it. In terms of how far he has to grow, well. There's nine tails. How many have we seen? Which leaves us how many before we have to move on to the mystical tenth tail of love and Ultimate Power? Exactly.

Beyond that, how well is he using it? How often is he winning fights? This is not DBZ. Planets are not being destroyed because someone is powering up. He's got power, and he seems to be controlling it too and extent better than he was. He's handling more or it, without a doubt. He's also losing control because of his anger, and making rash mistakes, and we've barely scratched what he's capable of at the moment, because we just haven't seen enough for me to confidently judge his growth.

He's still a genin, officially, and so far, we haven't seen anything that makes me think he ought to be ranked above chuunin now.

So... where is this overpowered view coming from? Other than the fact that, yes, the Kyuubi physically gives him the potential to have a ridiculous amount of power? I'm just not seeing it. And even if he were as powerful as the Kyuubi itself, that wouldn't make him necessarily disproportionately strong with regards to his enemies. Itachi told Kisame that he could probably defeat the Kyuubi if it escaped, though he'd die doing it.

Naruto is growing, but he's still no match for his enemies, let alone having to unlock a whole new level above what we'd formerly heard were the most terrifying of the terrifying.

Naruto is powerful, and he follows an archetype for powerful characters. That's his strength. I wouldn't hesitate to predict that that will continue to be his strength.

But in my book, no one is over powered until they are disproportionate to the setting as it was originally introduced, and he's a long way from that.

Numbah Two--wait, bitch, did you say fair?

I have a number of reactions to this. One of them being to wonder if we're in kindergarten again, and if being fair matters. Another is to wonder if these people think that Sasuke's playing fair, because he has a bloodlimit. Should he fight with out it? How about Neji? Should we blindfold all doujutsu users, and make Neji promise that he's not using Byakugan behind it because that wouldn't be fair? Drawing strength from the Kyuubi is no less fair than their advanced bloodlines. They were born with an advantage. Naruto was given and advantage (arguably) just after birth, and it changed his whole life. If you took it away, he wouldn't even know how to use his own chakra--unless, like Gaara, he keeps the same abilities, in which case, how is this more fair?

Unless everyone is Lee, nothing will be fair. The Naruto canon gives some people advantages over others, just like real life. Some people can overcome their disadvantages through hard work. Some people, even though they have advantages, work equally hard. No, it's not fair. It's fucking realistic. Some people find school work easier. Some people are stronger, or have faster reflexes, and some people are just more goddamn bloody minded than anyone else. And some people's advantages come with their own problems and prices.

Cope. If someone has a gift, there's no reason he shouldn't use it. There is even less reason if he's a ninja, and if that gift is his path toward his goals. The Kyuubi is what allows Naruto, as he is, to compete with people like Sasuke and Neji; that, and his sheer determination.

Which segues nicely into complaint Numbah Three.

Let's ignore the fact that, in a perfect world, Naruto would die if you seperated him from the Kyuubi, because those are the rules Kishimoto laid out. It's not a perfect world. I realize that Gaara is still alive, and I'm happy for it. Thrilled, even. But I don't want to see that happen twice. But that's my preference how things are handled.

No, let's address this "see his own powers" business.

What. The. Fuck.

No, really. How isn't the Kyuubi's power Naruto's? Looking back at what I said before, I am a firm believer that the Kyuubi's power is no less Naruto's than a bloodline is a clan member's. It's his power. He might not have worked to get it, but he's paid the price of it, and he's had to work hard to control it.

Naruto's life changed irrevocably when he became the vessel for a demon. Even if it were removed and he did live, he wouldn't get a blank slate. He wouldn't get to magically be the boy he might have been. Seriously, it cheapens all Naruto's done to grow if he want to know what he'd do as someone else, without the strengths and weaknesses he has. Could it happen? I have no say in that, but I sincerely hope it doesn't.

Personally, I want to see what Naruto can do with the Kyuubi. You know, that power he's been trying to control? The explosive chakra that allows him to create kage bunshin en mass, and yet made it difficult for him to preform a simple bunshin, because the Kyuubi's chakra is difficult to control? The techniques that Jiraiya started teaching him, and presumably continued to?

Did I get another version of the manga/anime canon? Was I misled when Jiraiya said not to focus as much on his weaknesses, because he could use his strength to overcome not molding chakra well? Yes, also presumably he should get better than that, but when we've been operating with one data set for nearly three hundred chapters, I would be fuckall pissed to have the world changed abruptly so we could "see Naruto's own power."

I cannot at this moment conceive of a way that this sort of plot development could be handled gracefully. It would change the rules of the whole game, and a lot of other changes would have to take place to make that feasible and maintain any kind of plot integrity.

His own power. Fuck me.

*sighs*

Like I said, people can want to see whatever they want. The only way in which I think less of them for wanting this is in that it seems to me that they don't really know what would make a good story from a craftsmanship standpoint. If they're curious what Naruto could do without the Kyuubi, or what the world of Naruto would be like if everyone were playing fair, that is their business. If they feel Naruto is becoming overpowered, then they obviously have different standards for judging.

But I reserve the right not to get it, and to bitch about not getting it at length.