I think we all love what-if scenarios. They are a start to some of the most heated debates and give insight to an anime’s components that have created their worth. Fortunately for us, Naruto has got some what-if scenarios that are worth discussing and today we have 3 for you to take home and speculate amongst whomever.
I think we all love what-if scenarios. They are a start to some of the most heated debates and give insight to an anime’s components that have created their worth. Fortunately for us, Naruto has got some what-if scenarios that are worth discussing and today we have 3 for you to take home and speculate amongst whomever.
1. If the Sasuke Retrieval Arc Team was reformed
In the “Sasuke Retrieval Arc” or the “Sound Ninja Four Arc” as I like to call it, Shikamaru, the only Chunin amongst the Konoha 11 was responsible for forming a team of the remaining Genin in the village to get Sasuke back as most of the other higher ranked ninja were needed elsewhere or on missions. As we know, the team he selected consisted of himself, Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru, Choji and Neji, but don’t you ever think to yourself, was there anyone else he could have brought to replace any of the current team members, and if he brought any of the other people would the results have been different? Looking at the Konoha 11 who weren’t on the mission or at least initially, we have Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Hinata, Shino and Rock Lee. Many would argue that Shino and Rock Lee would have been the only fighters worth bringing along because they were skilled and could bring something unique to the team e.g Shino with his bug abilities, I.Q and tracking, and Rock Lee being the Taijutsu specialist adept in fighting ninja who use ninjutsu and visual techniques. In a scenario where Shino was actually available and Rock Lee was recovered in time to depart with them rather than show up late game, who would you pick to bring along initially and who would you swap out from the original team? The way this arc was designed it seemed that each of the sound ninja that the Genin faced were perfect opponents for eachother but likely bringing someone different along might even change which of the four that the Genin end up fighting first if you think about it. There’s a lot of ways this could go as well as a lot of what-if battles that may be touched upon in later posts.
2. What if the Chunin Exams were uninterrupted
How many anime tournaments can you name that weren’t interrupted? Most of us by now have been conditioned to anticipate the thing that is going to interrupt and bring along a new threat for the cast in the tournament we’re watching, but a part of us will always be curious about who the final victor would have been. One of the end results many of us wanted to see was who would have actually won the Chunin Exams. The five participants remaining from what the anime left us with were Naruto after beating Neji, Temari after a Shikamaru Forfeit, Shino after a Kankuro forfeit and Sasuke vs Gaara whose battle was still in progress. Before we can get to the final four onward, we must determine who would win in the Sasuke vs Gaara fight and under what conditions. It was shown that Gaara after transforming to an extent was able to knock out Sasuke who proved to be no match afterwards due to the pain of the curse mark kicking in but seemed to have the advantage in the tournament. Considering Gaara’s transformation was in the early stages before unleashing Shukaku, it is likely that the tournament organizers and other Jounin would have disqualified him for the safety of the village since he wasn’t able to display much control over the transformation. If we go by this assumption it would leave us with a final four of Naruto, Shino, Sasuke and Temari. Based on a translation of the bracket in episode 60, the following fights would have been Temari vs Shino, and Naruto vs Sasuke. Since this is only a what-if scenario, I won’t go too much into who would win but these fights would be very interesting and also considering that the two main rivals are unusually fighting in the semi-final round rather than the final round. How do you think the rest of the tournament would have played out?
3. What if in the Hiruzen vs Orochimaru fight, Minato was reanimated
In the Third Hokage’s battle on the rooftop against Orochimaru, Orochimaru unexpectedly used reanimation jutsu in an attempt to summon the three former Hokage; Hashirama, Tobirama and Minato. The Third Hokage Hiruzen was only able to stop Minato from being reanimated and was left to fight Hashirama and Tobirama in a 2v1 with Orochimaru assisting his puppets as well. There could be several reasons as to why Hiruzen only stopped Minato from being revived but what if Minato was one of the Hokage in addition to either Hashirama or Tobirama that Hiruzen couldn’t stop from being reanimated? This what-if scenario introduces a potentially different playstyle and strategy from Hiruzen considering that Minato fights differently from any of the Hokage, prioritizing speed, teleportation and quick finishes. It then becomes a debate on whether Hiruzen can handle the Fourth Hokage and the Second or First Hokage in the current state he was in. This is another interesting Scenario to think about and depending on the outcome, might have put more respect on Hiruzen’s name.
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