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QUOTE (KungFuTruffle @ Jul 22 2010, 02:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
...Minato is hardly the genius he was heralded as, and the Kyuubi seemed rather pathetic, as well. I mean, it seems like it killed all of three people, those three being Iruka's parents, and Kurenai's father.
Even worse to me, Minato could have lived, but chose to die. Sealing the Kyuubi in Naruto wasn't his only option. I really don't like that man.
Even worse to me, Minato could have lived, but chose to die. Sealing the Kyuubi in Naruto wasn't his only option. I really don't like that man.
I don't know...being able to seriously wound Madara and disrupt his control of the Kyuubi in a few scant moments of battle was impressive to me. Not to mention that Minato redirected not one but two Kyuubi chakra attacks. The second one of which would have been extremely bad as the third panel on page 10 implied that Sarutobi was being taxed and seemingly unable to do anything about it. There was also plenty of destructive evidence in the panels as to how the battle was fairing.
If anything, I thought that Madara was less impressive by how quickly he retreated.
I remember when I first discovered your dislike for Minato and the more I thought on it, I could accept and even understand why you don't like him. Canon Sue arguments aside, it seems his biggest sin in your book was that he ultimately left Naruto on his own to a tragic childhood with little to no knowledge or resources. As I read this chapter and the subsequent comments on whether Minato was right or wrong in his decision, I can't help but feel completely bitter about the whole scenario.
I imagine that Naruto feels even worse about the whole thing. Not only he is hearing about the final moments of his mother and father but he also discovers that being a jinchuuriki was not the only option. That he didn't have to be completely alone growing up. That he didn't have to suffer with the stigma of having the Kyuubi sealed within him.
Was Minato's decision the wrong one? For Naruto solely, I believe it was for obvious reasons.
Strategically however, I think that you're short changing Minato choice. With the Kyuubi factoring so importantly into Madara's plans (such as he so vaguely revealed to Minato) allowing Kushina to die and temporarily incapacitate the Kyuubi was not ideal. Especially with the fact that it would revive free of a jinchuuriki with Madara lurking in the shadows.
The plan with both the Eight Trigrams seal and the Dead Demon seal gave Minato several advantages. There was an apparent trend that the Uzumaki of choice tended to be female (this of course could have merely been coincidence) and the potential of another opportunity for Madara to strike using similar circumstances would have been present with another female Jinchuuriki. If the trend was only a coincidence, Naruto at least allowed for that potential to be taken away. Given that he was the son of the current Jinchuuriki, he was always the most suitable replacement for Kushina on such short notice.
We then have, what I believe, is the most significant aspect of his plan that has been over looked. Using the Dead Demon seal, he seals away half of the Kyuubi's power - for good. Whatever Madara's purpose for the Kyuubi is, Minato has permanently cut down its power by half - and only because half its power was the maximum possible. With the Eight Trigrams seal, Minato incapacitates the Kyuubi indefinitely within Naruto and at the same time giving an incredible source of power to utilize in the future. Given his conviction that the child of prophecy that Jiraiya spoke of would be his son, Minato essentially gave Naruto the key to stopping Madara's plans.
Throw in the ability to give Kushina her dying wish, along with the notion that he himself would be able to see his son at some point in the future, Minato's suicidal choice is bit more palatable.
QUOTE (KungFuTruffle @ Jul 22 2010, 02:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
No, it wasn't. Sasuke has shown the ability to manipulate the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. Madara can most likely do the same. Sealing it away in Naruto was the worst decision he could have made.
Sasuke showed the ability to suppress the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. We didn't see Sasuke do much more than prevent Naruto from accessing the Kyuubi's power. It is not without merit that Madara would have a similar ability. However, if Madara could do more and actually manipulate the Kyuubi inside of Naruto, then he would have done so at numerous opportunities in the past. It would have been a simple matter of triggering the Kyuubi's chakra, let it take control of Naruto and then have him slaughter everything in his path on route to Akatsuki HQ.
Furthermore, Minato saw no evidence of any such ability to suppress or manipulate the Kyuubi's within its jinchuuriki. Madara's tactic to utilize Kushina's weakened state after child birth lends credit to this.
The splitting of the Kyuubi's chakra is significant. Jiraiya alluded to it in chapter 370 and I believe that along with the prophecy, it was key to the choice Minato made.
We could critique Minato further for not being powerful enough to completely destroy Madara with that Rasengan. If Madara had not escaped with his life, would it have turned out the same? I doubt it. It also begs the question, if Jiraiya had not mentioned the prophecy to Minato, would his choice have been the same?
It is interesting how Kishi decided to write in that there was another option. He could have just as easily wrote a battle between the Kyuubi and Minato; Minato realizing that he wouldn't be able to contain the Kyuubi; some dialogue between him and Kushina about how the Kyuubi can be resealed and then onward to the sealing sacrifice. There must be some significance as to why it was written that way.
Of course, the choice ended up terribly tragic for Naruto but given how the events have unfolded thus far and the role Naruto has taken for himself, it may prove justified. Still...the bitterness remains.
Edited by iwant2bnaruto, 22 July 2010 - 01:37 PM.
