Naruto is one of the most popular anime and manga franchises of all time, telling the story of a young ninja aspiring to become the Hokage of his village. The series has a large ensemble cast of characters, shinobi clans, plot twists, backstories, and so on. The story begins with the narration of the events that took place in Konoha over a decade ago, when the titular character Naruto was born. Konoha was attacked by the legendary nine-tailed beast, resulting in numerous casualties. Even the Fourth Hokage lost his life in the battle with the monster. As a result, the villagers were hostile toward the nine-tailed beast. Before he died, the fourth Hokage sealed away the beast inside the body of an infant who was Naruto.
It was later revealed in the series that the heroic Fourth Hokage was Naruto’s father, Minato Namikaze. Naruto grew up without knowing anything about his parents. Though, that wasn’t the only tragedy after Minato’s death. If Minato had managed to survive and had been more prevelant throught Naruto, the series would’ve been quite different.
Naruto Wouldn’t Have Grown Up Alone
The reason why Naruto was ostracized by the villagers of the Hidden Leaf was that they directed their hatred toward the nine-tailed beast to the boy that had become its host. The beast not only took the lives of their loved ones, but also the life of their beloved Hokage. They taught their children not to mingle with the troublemaker without knowing that he was the son of the hero who died to protect the village. Naruto grew up without any blood relatives to protect him.
Though the Third Hokage took care of him when he was very young, his care was mostly financial. Hiruzen hid Naruto’s identity intending to protect him, but it ended up making the child’s life more miserable. He gave Naruto his mother’s surname, Uzumaki, so no one would find out that he was Minato’s son. Had Minato been alive, Nauto wouldn’t have had to suffer such extreme treatment. The sadness and loneliness of being ostracized remained with him for the rest of his life.
The Fate of the Uchiha Clan Could’ve Been Different
There’s no denying that the massacre of the Uchiha clan was the direct result of the mismanagement and poor leadership skills of the Third Hokage. Unlike the other Hokage, Hiruzen relied too much on the village elders for support in running the village. He gave them too much power, and the village ended up being controlled by them instead. One of the village elders, Danzo Shimura, abused many facets of power within the village. As long as he could create a path for himself to become the Hokage, he couldn’t care less what happens to everyone else.
He claimed that all his actions are for the sake of the village. Yet, he wouldn’t bat an eye about sacrificing the members of his village for his gains. He was the main reason the tragedy of the Uchiha clan took place. After mercilessly having the entire clan killed, he stole their powers for himself and used them to gain more strength. If Minato had been alive, he would never allow the village elders to have so much power. Itachi wouldn’t have been forced to kill his loved ones and sacrifice everything to save his younger brother’s life. Moreover, Sasuke wouldn’t have to live with the nightmare of losing his family at the hands of his elder brother whom he respected the most.
Kakashi Wouldn’t Have Had To Suffer Alone
For Kakashi, who had lost everything in his life, watching over Minato and his family was the only thing that kept him sane. He would hide in the shadows to protect Kushina while she was pregnant. After Minato and Kushina passed, Kakashi had no one else left he could care about. Minato was the last surviving member of his team, therefore, his death was a massive blow to Kakashi. By that time, Kakashi was already a member of the Anbu Black Ops. After the tragedy, he was simply living his life as a human weapon for Konoha.
Kakashi would purposely take one dangerous mission after another, killing every rival that came his way. His actions caught Hiruzen’s attention, who then decided to help Kakashi mingle in society again. He ordered Kakashi to take on a team of Genin as his mentees and go on missions with them. After Team 7 was formed, Kakashi finally broke out of his shell and found a purpose to live his life again. However, if Minato had never died, Kakashi wouldn’t have had to live the hellish nightmare during his time in the Anbu Black Ops. Kakashi also wouldn’t have had to carry on the weight of not being able to protect even a single person he cared about.
Root Would’ve Ceased to Exist
Root was a secret organization led by Danzo to carry out immoral deeds for the benefit of the Hidden Leaf Village. As the shinobi nations were constantly at war with one another, Konoha took extreme measures with the approval of the Third Hokage. Hiruzen would turn a blind eye to Danzo’s deeds as long as it would benefit them in any way. Hiruzen was too afraid to get his hands dirty, so left all the important decisions to Danzo, giving him more power than he was worth.
Minato’s time as a Hokage was rather short. Though he was a better leader than Hiruzen, the time he was in power was too short to fundamentally change the village and the way it operated. However, had he been alive and continued to work as the Hokage, he could have easily put an end to the secret organization. Instead of using underhanded methods and ruining the lives of innocent people, he would’ve found new ways to protect the village.
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