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Old 2004-05-17, 04:05   Link #1
EbonySeraphim
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Purpose and Motivations of a Ninja[manga]

Every once in a while I decide to start threads too. In general I have a question of psuedo-fact and another on opinion. The one about fact will be much shorter to ask so I'll present that one first.

In the Water Country chapter of Naruto, Zabuza goes out saying that the ninja is just a tool. The implication is that they serve their purpose and it doesn't matter if they die serving their purpose. Kakashi affirms this truth and agrees that even though Haku's death was horrible, it was one that he wanted to have that served the greatest benefit to Zabuza in the end. Additionally, during the Chuunin exam the first examiner talks about a ninja accepting dangerous missions where death lurks around the corner, and that they have to be prepared to see their comrades die or die themselves - in spite of all of that, they should still be able to carry out their mission(well...not the self-dying part). Basically the first examiner's words were affirming the same ideas that Zabuza said. The conflict comes in with Naruto's whole approach. Being someone who always wants to protect his nakama(family-friends), he strikes me as someone who is very non-acceptant of a friend's death. I don't think he would be someone who would remember the mission or keep his cool in the event of a friends death, but yet people see this as his source of strength and Sarutobi said that this is when a ninja really shines and shows off their true strength.

Maybe this is a Leaf vs Mist ideal conflict or something, but basically the question is which ideal is the one to be followed by ninja? Gain emotional attactment to your nakama and forget the mission to save them, or let them die and do your duty? I know it seems that the emotional attachment idea seems to be more correct, but I also note that it has been presented to us in the anime more recently where as the duty and mission idea was presented much earlier.

The next question is a matter of opinion in what makes a ninja stronger. The way I'm going to present this arguement is kind of one-sided and leading you to my opinon ^_^ Let's see if you can figure out which one my opinion is.

I actually created this post because as I was writing a reply in another thread and it reminded me of something I wanted to start for a while now. Here is that information as a introduction to the subject:
Quote:
Originally Posted by EbonySeraphim
I don't know if you watch Kenshin, but for the first part of the story before Kenshin fought Shishio, he was an incomplete fighter. Kenshin was an extremely strong fighter with excellent abilities, and had great motivation to protect those around him. But he had a problem of the hitokiri(assassin) poking out and taking control of him in certain times when he was near death. For that problem, he went to his master again(Hiko Seijuro). During the training his master had to teach him his ougi(succession technique) by threatening Kenshin's life himself. In the process of Hiko Seijuro's approach, Kenshin thought he was going to die and for a moment wondered why he was scared of death. He tried to forcively tell himself that he wasn't afraid of death and was ready to die, and stood strong against his master - basically the hitokiri was acceptant of death. Of course then Kenshin's master went all out and definitely put Kenshin in a situation where he[Kenshin] would die. It was in this process that Kenshin realized he was afraid of death because he wanted to live and that is what he should fight for, and never leave his gaurd down. With this realization and motivation in mind, it allowed Kenshin to perform his succession technique - Ama Kakeru Ryu Hirameki. Why is this important? The act of sacrificing is taken a little too lightly. Basically, standing in front of a bullet is the easy way to save a person from dying, but it shouldn't be done if there are other ways to save both you and the person being protected. Only in the most dire, last ditch, effort situations should someone be so willing to just die for a cause. Otherwise, most likely their death will go in vain and they will have not served their purpose.
I added new text in the middle there and underlined it, just so you know. I also fixed grammar towards the end but the statements are pretty much in tact. Extending the Kenshin story further, Kenshin was an incomplete fighter before his ougi. Sure he was pretty strong generally, and even more so when protecting his friends. However, any battle brought directly to him would result in his lack of effort or lack of motivation on his part, allowing room for a serious enemy to possibly capitalize permanently. The frame of mind needed for his ougi was one that would never fail in a life or death situation. Basically, the speed and power of his ougi was dangerous even to himself and was something that if he even thought of not surviving, he couldn't do it. That is why it was necessary for Kenshin to realize the value of his own life. After he came to the realization, Kenshin could use his ougi without fail and at max strength anytime he needed.

Naruto again presents ideals relatively opposite of this. He basically thinks (and shows) that the strongest abilites come when protecting the ones close to you. In fact, Gaara's character was shown to be not as strong because he thought more akin to Kenshin post-succcession technique. Gaara constantly said that he loved only himself, and that he would not be erased from the world. He was fighting for his survival as he has led a life where attempts were constantly made to kill him. I think the problem with this ideal isn't the fact that Gaara is fighting for himself, but is the fact that he has other problems - like killing too often, and being insensitive to those around him. It is easy to think that Gaara's conviction was wrong because of the other problems he had, but with the Kenshin approach to fighting for one's self in mind, is it really the "wrong" approach?

I'd also like to add that a big reason for fighting for one's self in Kenshin was because of the problem of having no one to protect. When Kenshin fought to protect others, often it was a clear cut situation for him where he wouldn't show any leniency towards the enemy and fight much more motivated. That is all well and good, but in the last episode of the first (Tsuikohen - Trust/Betrayal) OVA, he was put in a situation where he had no one to love or protect. Kenshin was in his weakest moment and was about to be killed. If he had his succession technique training before then, he wouldn't have had a problem fighting in the same situation. His motivations would still be as strong and he could never be seperated from himself. I'd also like to add that when Kenshin realized that he had to fight for himself, this was something on top of protecting loved ones. He did not forget about his family, but now he additionally had placed value on his own life in order to never die even when alone.

In Naruto's world, Kenshin's approach (fighting for one's self) might seem to be useless, but for solo missions, or missions that require you to continue even if your nakama dies, it would probably be the stronger one to carry out the mission and survive. It actually still entails the idea that you will try with great effort to protect those you care about, but assures that when the first person(you) are threatened, you will always be able to fight at maximum level to survive. With Naruto's approach, the level of protection on your nakama may be higher, but when they die and the mindset is lost, you probably wont think straight enough to carry out the mission and survive. [Keeping in mind Naruto is the only one who would really snap and all of sudden become more powerful. Other ninja's don't have such a wildcard] Only once has Naruto ever done something spectacular to protect himself - that was falling off of the cliff and summoning Gamabunta. Other than that, he has shown on multiple occasions, the lack of ability to protect himself and others had to save him (in one case costing Sasuke a lot). Assuming Naruto doesn't have someone to protect him, I can generally infer that he would pretty useless at defending himself against a real threat.

The general question is - what would make a stronger ninja: one who fights at maximum ability for himself with the love for others in mind? Or one who fights at maximum ability only for others?

I added a mini-poll with more options on the matter. I wouldn't be surprised of this thread has a small audience as I posted way to much information as usual.
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