Quote:
Originally Posted by Fukitsu Naruto
-In general I agree that Naruto can become his own master, as far as training and creating his own style of fighting is concerned. However, that was not what I meant by "guiding figure". Even if he creates the most powerful jutsu ever to be witnessed in the Narutoverse he is still a human being. And like all human beings, there are going to be times where he will feel lost and unable to find an answer for his questions. This chapter proved that. Although his combat prowess has increased at an amazing rate he is still a 15-year old kid. This means that he can be affected by the various attrocities that exist in the world. Look at his reaction to Pain's story and questions, he is clearly not ready to be thinking about the world's troubles, much less how to solve them.
-This is why I said that Naruto needs a guiding hand now. He has learned that, although Pain had killed those close to him, he is really acting out the nature of the world that brought him up. Pain himself has admitted that the kind of punishment he brought down upon Konoha is the same as the one Naruto is trying to bring down upon him. Naruto at the moment is the he same as Shinji Ikari from Evangelion during the last 2 episodes of the series. He doesn't know what is the correct answer to Pain's question and it clearly is a difficult answer to find. After all, how would a 15-year old know how to expel hatered, sorrow and war from the world? This is why he needs guidence and if the series holds true to its initial themes, it will be his friends that allow him to reach that answer.
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Guiding figures can only go so far in the series. Specifically, just look at Sasuke. Not only does he have some of the worst guidance counselors (one tried to posses his body, another brutally mind-fucked him, and the last has been the mastermind of Konoha's destruction since its inception), but he just sucks at taking advice in general (considering that he completely rejects any and all good advice that he receives). But, on the reverse side, we have pre-Narutorized Gaara, that solely lived for his own existence, never taking advice from anyone.
So, both extremes are bad.
Naruto, on the other hand, receives advice and then formulates his own opinion (one such example of this is found in the Gaara v Naruto fight, in which Naruto ponders over the advice handed down to him from Haku, and is able to establish his own opinion after analyzing Haku's words). And, in my opinion, Naruto has already received ample advice to formulate his own response to Pain (anyone that thinks that Kishimoto is actually going to provide an answer to the age old problem of hate is completely crazy and should be locked away. The best we can hope for is a
Tales of Symphonia style ending in which Llyod has no idea how to defeat the world's prejudices, but he decides to continue fighting anyway.), the only thing holding him back is the same type of indecision that nearly cost him his life in the Gaara fight.