Quote:
Originally Posted by itachi-san314
but it is being an underdog. an underdog can win.
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Who said anything about an underdog losing? Underdogs win all the time, but they win after beating the odds. Naruto has almost always had the odds stacked in his favor (or at lest kept things equal). Even in the Neji fight the odds were frankly stacked in his favor (it was blindingly obvious that Naruto would be able to defeat Neji's most powerful technique) and he won not through hard work (per se), but determination and the Kyuubi (I personally never saw Naruto's triumph as hardwork vs. genius, but rather overwhelming power and determination vs. genius).
People may have not believed in him, even treated him like the fool he was/is, but he was never truly outclassed and could instantly switch the entire battle to his favor just by tapping into the powers given to him by the Kyuubi.
That is not to say that I don't believe that Kishimoto may have intended for Naruto to be considered an underdog (Kurenai's words during the Kiba fight show just how truly dumb she is), he just failed completely at the task.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunter
You're both right and wrong James. Naruto never was an underdog as far as we, the readers, knew because of everything you've said however he used to be an underdog as far as most of the characters were concerned because they didn't know any better. Although even then it hasn't been true since Naruto received a standing ovation after defeating Neji 516 chapters ago so that's real old news.
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It hasn't been true since Naruto defeated an experienced chuunin before he was even a genin. It hasn't been true since Naruto led a successful attack against an elite Jounin (not to mention defeating another supposedly Jounin-level opponent days later). It hasn't been true since Orochimaru signaled out Naruto's potential during the Chuunin Exam and attempted to limit his growth. Etc.
The character's refusal to acknowledge Naruto prowess has always been baffling and frankly reeks of Kishimoto purposely keeping the characters dumb for overly simplistic emotional moments (e.g. the standing ovation).