But how do we stop Nagato from using the technique? I mean, I think it’s easy to explain his death in that AU (died from chakra exhaustion) but getting rid of Talk no Jutsu (or at least making it seem reasonable and having it actually make sense) sounds hard. Why is Kishi like this?

fineillsignup:

(This is a follow-up to an ask I answered a week ago.)

Naruto’s Talk no Jutsu to Nagato is unsatisfying because Kishimoto didn’t have an answer to how Naruto was going to change the shinobi system and protect the little countries, leading to how Kishimoto didn’t make Naruto change the shinobi system and protect the little countries.

Sasuke vs. Naruto ended up being “bad idea” vs “no ideas” and the “happy ending” is that “no ideas” won. Konan and Neji were conveniently killed off and the plot lines they represented never brought up again.

As for why Kishi is like this, I can only make conjecture from his interviews. He’s never seemed like a person who had a strong artistic vision and message, but rather a person who sought to be adaptable to the market and to please. And he wrote the plot and developed the world as he went. And he started the manga as a young man (26) struggling to make it in a toxic environment, but ended the manga as a huge success… in an equally toxic environment. Young mangaka and animators in Japan are still working the same crazy hours; it’s hard not to draw comparisons to Naruto and Sasuke’s adulthood and fatherhood, and the post-Naruto Kishimoto emphasis that children need to forgive busy (Naruto), absent (Sasuke), and even abusive (Snakebert) fathers unconditionally.

Geez I want a shower after thinking about that.