"Will of Fire" ....?

nat · Sep 22, 2008

"Will of Fire": the will of heroes or the most twisted excuse for power?

Ever since the beginning of the manga, we were taught this life philosphy. As you all know, it started with the foundation of Konoha and passed through the many generations.

On a theoretical and ideal level it works. Believe in your country and make it grow with your sweat and blood, so far so good. It inspired many to do great things, Yondaime sacrificed himself, Asuma died understanding the importance of future generations, Sandaime inspired many warriors with his principles. Konoha grew older and stronger.

What's my deal then?

Many evil doings were justified by the "will of fire", referring to Konoha itself.

To take it on a practical level, many still see it as an ideal; example, Naruto and his will to never give up, which is amazing but he is somewhat naive when it comes to issues of friends, authority and power.

He was never corrupted by it, his teacher fled Konoha beacuse of different issues. Jiriya embraced the will of fire as it was origianally intended. Not the Elders and (maybe) Danzo's vision of the "will". Tsunade still blocks them when it comes to Naruto, so he wasn't exposed to the "dark side of the will" yet.

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In the first part we saw Konoha as the prime village, so everything is good and ideal there. Iruka and his happy-go-lucky classes and so on.
But the more we read into that world, we see that Konoha is not so 'just'. It has shady organizations and institutions, many horrible things that were did during Sandaime "the peaceful"s reign. While he refused violence as much as he could, he hands were twisted by another power to agree to these crimes; the Uchiha massacre, Naruto's messed up life, Neji's father and so on....

Minato's sacrifice was remembered only to the extent that he saved the village, while his son and heir was made a social Pariah. The hero became an outcast because he had no one strong enough to protect him. Sasuke was spared because Itachi had dirt on the Elders and danzo. If it were only for the deal with Sandaime, Sasuke would be RIP by now.

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My opinion is that Kishimoto is showing us the true face of Konoha. By that I mean that he has begun to explore the many different layers of Konoha, not just Konoha the place of heroes and justice but the dark and shady groups.

The other part of the ruling body.

For me, Konoha has shown great hypocrisy in its choices. Many Shinobi were already screwed by them. And still those same Shinobi are the ones who defend Konoha. Madara, most accuse him of lying, showed us a face of Konoha that we would never have imagined.

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So to summarize everything I said - "the will of fire"; is it a cheesy excuse to make us believe in a twisted way of life or is it truly something good?

For me, it is all crap and Konoha should burn to the ground

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Teaching kids the will to go on is excellent, but forcing their hands to kill their kin and friends is not.
Raising them as monsters and then using them as pawns while promoting justice is pathetic, at least the bloody mist does not hide behind a mask of hypocrism, it makes monsters and is pround of it. Suna makes double crossing merceneries and doesn't deny it.

I am interested in what people think. I know that I said some strong stuff but some people agree with (No-to-the-"will of fire") for many reasons, like cheesy plot writing, anime commercialism that exaggerates and makes the most simple idea into a drama fest...

What do you think?

Ps; I should have made a poll....I forgot before, and somehow I can't do it now -___-;

The Adamant Dragon · Sep 22, 2008