Anti Hiruzen Sarutobi - Tumblr Posts

Hiruzen Sarutobi... or the character that confuses me the most. I don't know what to make of him. Let me explay you why.

When we're introduced to him, he's pretty old, wise and powerful. He even seens nice. He is amused by Naruto's antics. You want to sympathise with him. And honestly why not ? There are things that infuriate me during the chunin exams (the fact it even exists). Then you have his ending. It's executed very well. I did find it badass. You see his regrets, his weaknesses (with Orochimaru), his summon clearly tells him he's weak or pathetic (I can't remember the world) but he does the sacrifice. You can see it's very difficult for him, he struggles a lot. During the chunin exams, we get to see how scary Orochimaru is. Everything is made to show that Hiruzen was very powerful in his days and became weak with getting old. But still, he does his best and makes the sacrifice with the hope of a better future. Plus the fight between Gaara and Naruto does a great work as a parallel of this one.

It's actually interesting to see that even if Hiruzen can be powerful and brave, he can be very weak and a coward in so many ways. You do see it with Orochimaru, but also with how he let Danzo do whatever he wants, and how he let the villagers and everyone in Konoha treats Naruto like shit. It doesn't show him in a positive way obviously, but it makes him interesting, even human I'd say. But I have a main beef with him or the way he's written.

I think his role is never properly adressed in everything that went wrong in Konoha. Danzo and Orochimaru are treated as the villains they are. The narrative put the blame on Danzo for the Uchiha massacre - as it needed. But it kind of forgets Hiruzen in the process.

Sasuke, when he ressurects the kages with Orochimaru's help, questions him. And he's fucking right to do it. Why did the hokage let the massacre happen ? We're said that Danzo ordered the massacre and manipulated Itachi in doing it. But what about Hiruzen ? We get to learn that he wanted a diplomatic solution, but never had the occasion to find it. Is it because he didn't really bother or because Danzo didn't take his decision in consideration ? Probably a bit of both. But why did Danzo have such power in the first place ? Because Hiruzen is a coward. That's it. But the narrative doesn't really blame him, as if he's supposed to be the good "guy". We even have Minato put the blame on himself. And I was like "what ?". Minato has faults, that's not the subject. But the massacre happened because Hiruzen didn't do his job (protecting his villagers). I would have prefered if Hiruzen was clearly blamed for it. And it's actually insulting for Sasuke who is just there to be honest.

I'd like to add Hiruzen letting Danzo do everything he wanted (like having his fucking army) did cause problems to other problems. Kabuto and Sai come to mind.

I want to talk about Naruto. It's never (but really never) adressed that Hiruzen failed Naruto. The boy was ostracised because he was the host of Kurama... and what did Hiruzen do ? I'm not saying he should have adopted him... but he could have done more (like finding him a family). And the secret was obviously revealed, or no adult would know Naruto had Kurama sealed in him. Hiruzen was the one with the power there, he could have done something more. Well, what really bothers me is the fact that it's not said that Hiruzen failed to keep his promise and to protect Naruto, the jinchuriki of his village. Naruto never had the opportunity to do. He's angry against the villagers, but never the hokage. And I do find it weird. The narrative could have so easily done it. It would have even been better for Naruto's dream.

He wants to be hokage to protect his friends, and his village. That's great. But imagine if Naruto said something like "I will find ways to be better than Hiruzen. I don't want the children to be treated like they were during his time". It could have been a parallel to his resolve at the ending of Zabuza arc when he says he wants to find his nindo and be the ninja he wants (not the other way around). It's badly written, but do you get the message ?

Anyway... I do believe Hiruzen could be a great character if he wasn't praised so much in the manga. And I hope I made my opinion clear with this post.

Hot take: the real reason the 3rd hokage teamed up Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi is so Sasuke would master his sharingan and take control of Kurama.

There was never any expectation for Naruto to control the nine tails chakra, or they would have spent some time training or preparing him before Naruto (by sheer coincidence and through his own insistance, cause his teacher was prioritizing Sasuke) stumbled onto Jiraiya.

- Naruto only finding out he's a Jinchuriki by complete accident, cause the Hokage forbade anyone to tell him

- Naruto finding out in a totally unforseen event by his father that Kurama being placed in him was supposed to make him a hero, and not as a curse or punishment like he was always lead to believe

Naruto was only ever meant to be the vessel. Should he lose the reigns on Kurama or not cooperate with the leaf, then Sasuke can just take over.

Kakashi was the only one who could teach Sasuke how to use the sharingan, which is why he was specifically assigned to this team.

Even hotter take: Itachi explicitly instructed Sasuke to kill his best friend in order to activate the mangekyou sharingan and face him. Which would have inevitably been one of Sasuke's teammates, as this boy was left with nothing else.

The third hokage (Danzo and the elders by proxy, cause the old man can't make a decision by himself clearly) definitely knows this. He definitely knows how the sharingan works and how it elevates through extreme emotion, more often by killing a loved one.

Naruto was set up like a pig for slaughter. If it wasn't for Sasuke himself refusing to follow in his brother's footsteps and removing himself from the influence of the leaf village, that would have been the path we ended up facing. If it wasn't for Jiraiya, Naruto would never have begun to access his or Kurama's chakra and just ended up swallowed up by it when he inevitably and unknowingly lost control like with Haku. If it wasn't for Tsunade banging on desks and vouching for Naruto, he would've been locked inside the leaf out of 'protection' from the Akatsuki. If it wasn't for Naruto proving his worth and proving himself indispensible it absolutely would've been Danzo taking over Sasuke's place in controling the nine-tails as soon as his eyes opened.