by Nekomata-sensei » Wed May 06, 2009 1:02 am
Several details I'd like to make points on.
First, Naruto being the 4th's son. You have to remember several details, the 4th isn't the only blond haired blue eyed ninja in Konoha, and there are probably three times as many civilians with the same sort of looks. Also, it is implied the 4th's name wasn't very well known, and not very many knew him personally, maybe were assigned missions during the brief time he was Hokage, but not knew him personally. It is also implied he didn't actually marry Kushina and kept their relationship secret for her own and Naruto's protection.
On top of that, even if he had been married to her, I suspect there is a good chance the 4th would have taken her name, because he is noted to be an orphan commoner of no ninja heritage, while Kushina's name Uzumaki is closely connected to the name of both her previous country and village, which strongly implies it is probably a noble ninja clan, and it is likely either a samurai clan or a ninja clan, that may have had some form of ruling power in the past, possibly even on par with a Diyamo or Shogun, except for a smaller country, so the 4th would probably marry into her family rather than the other way around.
Of course some people, like Itachi, seem to have known, or at least was referencing Naruto being the Kyuubi vessel, and at at least Jiraiya and Tsunade knew, but it isn't confirmed if the 3rd actually knew who Naruto's father was, nor Kakashi. By rough guess, Kakashi might have been in ANBU at the time and had some pretty severe problems since Oibito's death, despite being one of the 4th's students, the 4th might not have trusted him with the information about having a secret girlfriend and son. On top of this, Jiraiya has important duties outside the village and isn't well suited to raising a kid, plus Jiraiya dragging Naruto around at a younger age would have made Naruto more of a target in a less well guarded place, as despite Jiraiya's power and traveling around, he is in no way as safe as being inside Konoha itself, and Konoha somehow _did_ manage to keep Naruto being the Kyuubi vessel secret from the other 4 great ninja villages, which says something about their security. If they could keep that secret when most of the adult _civilians_ in Konoha know Naruto's identity as the Kyuubi vessel, keeping the fact that Kushina had a relationship with the 4th secret was probably child's play, not to mention that it is questionable the number of people who actually knew about Kushina, since people don't bring up Naruto's mother, and she may have been one of many refugees from allied countries escaping to Konoha during those times. Naruto also looks similar enough to Kushina ignoring hair and eye color that just about anyone he could have inherited hair and eye color from could have been his father, including someone from outside Konoha, or someone who wasn't a ninja. A connection to Jiraiya on the other hand would have people immediately suspicious and make Naruto a target right away if he was seen traveling around with him before he could even defend himself at all, and since Jiraiya was known to be the 4th's teacher and Naruto is very similar looking to the 4th, that certainly would have drawn connections, particularly if Jiraiya was openly his godfather and even without that, a ninja trained by Jiraiya is likely to become quite the legend if they live, making Naruto a prime target. Plus Jiraiya is just busy with his spying duties for Konoha outside the village, and other than that, is partly retired with his own hobbies, and as much as the 4th and Kushina liked Jiraiya, I doubt they would have asked him to raise Naruto for them in case of their deaths, since Kushina wouldn't have wanted him to become a super pervert and Minato knows Jiraiya can protect Naruto better by keeping an eye on Konoha's enemies away from Naruto.
As for Naruto's age and failing 3 times at the academy, my guess is that there were either early chances to graduate with several months of remedial classes, or they may have staggered the specific tests. For instance, Lee is incapable of ninjutsu or genjutsu, and has messed up chakra or something, but he still managed to pass based on getting a great score on taijutsu tests. Naruto's final testing day may have only involved the shown ninjutsu demonstrations and perhaps paper test, and it may be that he failed three tests, but he might have passed more, perhaps he failed tracking, taijutsu, and ninja theory, but got passing scores on tool use, traps, stealth, and evasion (thanks to his pranking expertise), and he needs to pass the final ninjutsu exam to barely make an overall passing grade. This would cause Naruto to remain with his age group.
The other possibility is a sliding scale of when you can graduate, being able to take graduation tests early if you have the talent would help explain cases like Kakashi and Itachi. Naruto, being particularly eager, may have taken the test early several times, but failed the early attempts, and is now taking the test for his own age group's standard graduation, and staying any further would be more like remedial special courses or something, and likely embarrassing. Sasuke may have taken similar early test attempts in order to compete with his image of Itachi, or he may have waited in hopes of focusing on personal training or something related to his sharingan, and wanting to be able to use it properly before graduating or something, or thinking he'd have more time for personal training if he continued at the academy rather than starting on missions. Lee's team may have all been ones to take the test a year early, Neji being a genius Hyuuga with clan training, Tenten being a weaponry expert, and Lee being a particularly motivated hard worker who may have found out about the potential to wind up on Gai's team if he graduated that year and was working crazy hard in everything else to make up for his lack in ninjutsu and genjutsu ability, and knew Gai was a nice taijutsu expert who believed in him.
Even if Kakashi knew about Naruto, he is still pretty messed up psychologically if he is still imitating Oibito's lateness by the time he starts teaching team 7, and I doubt the 3rd would have let him adopt him, plus it brings some similar dangers as if Jiraiya was caring for him, and Kakashi was busy with lots of constant high level missions and a particularly valuable ninja. For all we know, Kakashi may have also been commanding a group of ANBU that secretly watched over Naruto from distance to protect him from people driven mad by grief over the Kyuubi or other sorts of enemies that might have targeted him for his parentage or something and keeping an eye out in case there is a problem with the seal, it wouldn't be surprising if Tenzou, for instance, had a lot of time spent watching out for Naruto from afar, or at least keeping track of his chakra signature or something, or at least lived in a place nearby Naruto's apartment to be close by in case there is trouble. Even if Kakashi wanted to care for Naruto, with his various issues, as well as the age he was at when Naruto was orphaned, the 3rd might not have allowed it.
In addition, I wouldn't be surprised if the 3rd was made Naruto's guardian in case of the death of his parents, as the 4th might not have expected the 3rd to become Hokage again in the event of his death, but for someone like Jiraiya or Tsunade or some other younger legend to take over, since the 3rd had already retired, and the 3rd was probably trusted by the 4th. The 3rd probably avoided telling Naruto his father's identity for fear with his personality that he'd brag about it or tell people to try and get them to like him, as it needed to remain as secret as possible for Naruto's protection, or he wanted to avoid Naruto growing up with similar troubles Asuma or Konohamaru might have had, and it may have even been a request of the 4th, and later on he may have waited after Naruto found out about being the Kyuubi vessel because of the painful idea that his own father had sealed it in him might have been a bit of an overload and wanted to wait till Naruto was more comfortable with the idea and had matured some more, then he died during the invasion before ever getting around to it. I can imagine that he may have wanted to wait till Naruto made chuunin or jounin or turned 16 or something before telling him about it. Particularly if he kept the Kyuubi vessel thing secret for so long.
Also, I'd like to note that while Naruto may largely eat ramen and cereal, that seems more related to not knowing how to take care of himself properly that not being able to afford anything better, particularly since he seems to have a relatively nice apartment and that plant collection, and likely spent a good amount of money on pranking supplies or gimmicky ninja stuff or childish frivolities, and might not have known how to properly spend his money, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's actually living off money left to him by his parents that the 3rd is managing for him and giving him an allowance of sorts for getting food and various other things he needs, but paying things like Naruto's rent and utilities for him.
"Health, Learning & Virtue will ensure your happiness; they will give you a quiet conscience, private esteem & public honor." Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)
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