edit to break up this huge chunk of text. New sidescene post next.
I was rereading the frst manga chapters the other day, and suddenly realized that the fanon idea of Iruka having been a big brother/father figure for Naruto and the only person besides Sarutobi-sama and the ramen stand guy who treated him like a person instead of a walking ball of evil is almost certainly wrong. Up until Naruto fails the genin exam and Sandaime has a talk with Iruka, he's quite cutting in his speech, and drawn with the same 'cold eyes' as everyone else, then when we next see him just before Mizuki comes to finger Naruto for stealing the scroll, Iruka is thinking back to that conversation, and the fact that he only then learned that Naruto's life (and even more so, troublemaking and the lonliness behind it) paralelled his own to such an extent.
This makes his stand against Mizuki and announcement of accepting Naruto as a stufent he's proud to have taught into quite the change of heart, and much more significant as a turning point than it would otherwise be. It also makes the set up for my own version of the story even better, I think, and more likely that the Hokage himself would pull strings to get the kids assigned together if they are literally the only other freinds Naruto has ever had, besides what little attention he cqan spare the boy himself - though if I were making the descision based on IC knowledge, I'd probably still do it sicne they'd already formed a working, reasonably-close-to-balanced team with short, medium, and long range specialist students and a jounin eligible for sensei duties, whether I had a personal interest in one of them or not.
They're a bit heavy on taijutsu, with all three having a primary or secondary specialization in it, but since that's the foundation of combat anyway it's far from being a problem - it doesn't matter how many cool ninjutsu you know if you're not fast enoguh and don't have the stamina to pull them off, nor will genjutsu and book skills help you any when (not 'if,' there's always someone better) you meet someone who can break your best illusion and uses some technique you've never heard of... or for that matter, if youre trying to be stealthy around other ninja who will sense chakra being used, and have to take out a sentry or a mission target.
Come to think of it, I might put that rant in a character's mouth if the opportune moment comes up - maybe a flashback of early days training with Gai when Naruto comlains about only ever training in taijutsu, when that's Lee's specialty! I want to learn a cool ninjutsu, yeah! You're a jounin, right, you gotta know lots of cool ones. YEAH, YEAH! NINJUTSU!!
Of course, Gai will get him some fire moves, and something else for the event he has to fight someone strong against fire, like an ice shuriken maybe, but first, speech. Like SOMEONE said way back when the bunny was just a twinkle in several people's eyes, -no one- knows the basics like the fuzzy-brows.
- CD
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
I was rereading the frst manga chapters the other day, and suddenly realized that the fanon idea of Iruka having been a big brother/father figure for Naruto and the only person besides Sarutobi-sama and the ramen stand guy who treated him like a person instead of a walking ball of evil is almost certainly wrong. Up until Naruto fails the genin exam and Sandaime has a talk with Iruka, he's quite cutting in his speech, and drawn with the same 'cold eyes' as everyone else, then when we next see him just before Mizuki comes to finger Naruto for stealing the scroll, Iruka is thinking back to that conversation, and the fact that he only then learned that Naruto's life (and even more so, troublemaking and the lonliness behind it) paralelled his own to such an extent.
This makes his stand against Mizuki and announcement of accepting Naruto as a stufent he's proud to have taught into quite the change of heart, and much more significant as a turning point than it would otherwise be. It also makes the set up for my own version of the story even better, I think, and more likely that the Hokage himself would pull strings to get the kids assigned together if they are literally the only other freinds Naruto has ever had, besides what little attention he cqan spare the boy himself - though if I were making the descision based on IC knowledge, I'd probably still do it sicne they'd already formed a working, reasonably-close-to-balanced team with short, medium, and long range specialist students and a jounin eligible for sensei duties, whether I had a personal interest in one of them or not.
They're a bit heavy on taijutsu, with all three having a primary or secondary specialization in it, but since that's the foundation of combat anyway it's far from being a problem - it doesn't matter how many cool ninjutsu you know if you're not fast enoguh and don't have the stamina to pull them off, nor will genjutsu and book skills help you any when (not 'if,' there's always someone better) you meet someone who can break your best illusion and uses some technique you've never heard of... or for that matter, if youre trying to be stealthy around other ninja who will sense chakra being used, and have to take out a sentry or a mission target.
Come to think of it, I might put that rant in a character's mouth if the opportune moment comes up - maybe a flashback of early days training with Gai when Naruto comlains about only ever training in taijutsu, when that's Lee's specialty! I want to learn a cool ninjutsu, yeah! You're a jounin, right, you gotta know lots of cool ones. YEAH, YEAH! NINJUTSU!!
Of course, Gai will get him some fire moves, and something else for the event he has to fight someone strong against fire, like an ice shuriken maybe, but first, speech. Like SOMEONE said way back when the bunny was just a twinkle in several people's eyes, -no one- knows the basics like the fuzzy-brows.
- CD
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows