Headscratchers / Naruto Gaiden

• Shikamaru tells Naruto Sasuke doesn't have access to the latest technology or electricity to keep his phone charged. Did he forget a number of Sasuke's techniques utilize electricity?
  • The official translation has Shikamaru say that 80% of of the time Sasuke is in places where such technology won't work, so he doesn't bother with it.
• This Gaiden raises so many questions that by the end of its short run, it doesn't even answer fully or satisfactorily:
  • Shin and his clones are the epitome of this gaiden's headscratcher: Why was Shin obsessed with Itachi? Why does he take the Uchiha name despite not being one? Where did he get all those Sharingan eyes? How is he able to stay conscious with all those Sharingan eyes active? ^Expand  Danzo at least had Hashirama's DNA integrated into him to bolster his physical energy and Kakashi needed years of training just to master one or run the risk of exhaustion. Why is his "main" eye bloodshot and sewned open? What was up with that teleporting creature and why did it look like something Kaguya or Black Zetsu would use? How does the cloning process work when new Shins are born? How the hell can he talk normally when all his teeth have been sacrificed to create the Shin clones? The way Orochimaru talks about him (with a hint of amusement no less), did they part on good terms or did he escape? Why doesn't Shin copy Danzo and spam Izanagi when he's injured beyond repair the times he fought Sakura and Sasuke or when he gets betrayed by his clones? What is the point of having all those eyes if he's not going to do anything worthwhile with them all? What did Shin Jr. mean by Shin's eyes becoming "feeble and decrepit"? Did Shin even die from his wounds in the end or was he thrown in jail?
    • Who's to say Shin talks normally? Plus he's been without teeth for so long he's had time to adjust. On the last question, one of the Shin clones appears to state the original is dead after Sarada kills the the little teleporting creature.
  • When and why did Sasuke take a group picture with Taka? Why did Sakura use that picture to put in a makeshift family photo? Couldn't Sasuke take ten seconds to stand still and take a husband/wife picture together before setting off on his mission?
    • Given he was there when Sarada was born and he and Sakura traveled together they clearly had time for a photograph, one can only assume they just never bothered due to being out in the wilderness and such.
  • Why couldn't Sakura and Shizune just give Sarada a straight answer about who Karin was and the circumstances behind her birth? ^Spoiler  They didn't even have to explain and compromise Sasuke's "secret" mission. Sakura or Shizune could've just said, "Your father is on a top secret mission that involves protecting the world. This woman with the glasses is named Karin and she helped deliver you at an offsite base, hence why there are no birth records of you here. You wear glasses because your eyesight is bad and they were a gift from that woman. I had to use this picture because there was no other good picture of your Dad." Boom. Done. This roundabout way of finding out who Sarada's mother was only served to add unnecessary conflict and is considered by many to be a waste of time, time that could've gone into developing Boruto and his family or the rest of the new generation of kids. Simply wanting to find and meet with her estranged father would've also been enough reason to search for Sarada; it didn't need to come to all this family drama, especially if the author is not going to follow through with his "family doesn't stop at just blood" lesson.
    • Poor Communication Kills, for all their intelligence both Sasuke and Sakura seem to have severely messed up when it came to making sure Sarada understood things. Sakura even states she thought she had explained to Sarada enough, hence her surprise when Sarada runs off. As for Shizune, she does name the group in the photo as team Taka, but Sarada doesn't ask for her to elaborate.
  • How on earth did Sasuke reach the conclusion that a ninja created the White Zetsu Army in the first place to prepare for a "bigger" threat than Kaguya just from observing "remnants" of her? What is out there that is actually stronger than the Goddess of All Chakra?
    • It wasn't that the threat was stronger than Kaguya necessarily, just something that was a great enough power to concern her. As for where he got the idea, there were various hints. In the novel someone tells him that she sensed the Zetsu felt that there was another enemy to fight besides the shinobi, and much earlier Black Zetsu outright said Kaguya wanted to turn the human population into soldiers for her, which in Sasuke's mind begged the question of why someone as powerful as Kaguya would need soldiers.
  • Why does Boruto state that Naruto never spends any time with him when Naruto's shadow clones, essentially copies of the main body with the same personality, ^Expand  Orochimaru stated that Shin's clones are "superior" to Naruto's since each clone have their own unique personality does play and interact with him? Is he really that selfish? Does he not know that when a shadow clone disappears, its experience transfers back into the original?
    • The movie explains this a bit when Sasuke notices how clean Boruto's clothes are. Basically he had been doted on and spoiled so much early in life that he indeed had a very immature reaction to having to deal with shadow clones.
  • Are Naruto, Sasuke, and everyone else for that matter really that complacent in letting Orochimaru and Kabuto go about their businesses, despite the two of them committing acts such as nearly destroying Konoha and participating and aiding in the Fourth Shinobi World War with their Edo Tensei ninjas? Is stationing one aging ninja to keep guard 24/7 really enough? Is Naruto and Sasuke fine with letting Orochimaru and his methods of living forever (taking over an innocent person, mind and soul,) continue? Does it not bother them in the slightest? ^*  Sasuke especially should be more vocal about this, since it nearly happened to him!
    • It's possible that, having perfected the process of cloning, Orochimaru transfers himself into a freshly-grown clone that's not had time to develop a mind of its own. Much more efficient than going out to steal a new body (which Yamato would be there to see happening) as well as being safer since there'd be no risk of the victim successfully resisting the takeover the way Sasuke did. Alternatively having a Zetsu body may mean he doesn't have to transfer himself anymore at all (as Zetsu seem to be immortal if not killed).
    • Also, its established in the Sasuke novel that letting Orochimaru keep some degree of freedom was a compromise the shinobi nations agreed on to keep him available in case his abilities and knowledge were needed to help save the world again.
  • How does Kabuto run a legitimate orphanage, filled with innocent children that he must take care of, looking the way he does? ^Expand  Even Chocho noted that Orochimaru looked creepy and Kabuto arguably looks a bit more snakelike than his former master!
    • Well, being intimidating could be useful for a orphanage that can take in such powerful and dangerous orphans safely. And should it be an issue, Kabuto has regular looking people working for/with him.
  • What did Chouji's mission consist of that warranted him going into his powered up slim form?
    • All it would take is an enemy, group of enemies, or any dangerous circumstance that would benefit from him using up his excess fat. Since it's not as dangerous to use it anymore Chouji would use it in more situations than as a child.
  • Did Jugo ever get over his murderous impulses? Did he also stop following Sasuke around as his personal bodyguard and simply forget about his "promise" to watch over him for Kimimaro's sake?
  • Did Suigetsu give up on his dreams of obtaining the Seven Swordsman Swords and is merely content with being Orochimaru's lab assistant? ^Expand  A bad one at that, since he can't even tell if the DNA he's comparing with Sarada's belongs to Karin or not.
  • And finally, just what is the Scarlet Spring? ^Expand Is this just a metaphor for Sarada, the daughter of Haruno Sakura (Cherry Blossom of Spring), both of whom like to dress in red, reaching emotional maturity? Or is it something else entirely?
• How is Suigetsu knowledgeable enough to run a DNA comparison test, yet stupid enough to not know that a 100% match means that both samples are from the same person and not from a parent and his child?
  • The entire DNA test affair was flawed from the start, from the fact that Suigetsu used an unlabeled sample that he just assumed it belonged to Karin, that alone is enough to call the results into question. Also Orochimaru mentioned that his tests are used to determine if someone is related to another person, so Suigetsu only knew how to perform the test but not how to interpret the results, a match for him only meant a positive test.