Naruto Shippuden Episode 34

[Abdula]

Seriously, I wonder what she would be like without Shizune, oh yeah right, she would sleep, drink and gamble all the time. I know thats why she keeps her around its pretty obvious, Shizune is am ok character, I just wish she would do some more. I can't imagine that she would want to do Tsunade's boring administrative work for the rest of her life, we know she is a capable ninja so I want to see her fight.

Shizune definitely went over Tsunade's head doesn't seem to be the first time it happened either. I was wondering the same thing about Danzou, hope he doesn't fall into obscurity the same way Ibiki did, I certainly wanted to see him have a serious battle.

[DarthEnderX]

I also just noticed that Sai is basically wearing almost the same outfit as Ino.

The string is for sling-shotting the kunai into his hand, as you see him do when he approaches sai.

Oh.

[Yukimura]

Fact Checked Speculation > Memory Backed Speculation.

Shizune is Dan's (Tsunade's BF) niece. Dan's sister (probably Shizune's mother) died in the war (and he was possibly taking care of her after this). When Dan later died and Tsunade left the village she took Shizune with her as her apprentice, they traveled together until Tsunade came back to the villiage to become Hokage.

I don't think it's all that strange for an orphan to work for the person who looked after them, raised them, and trained them after their family was killed. Such a person might even feel a debt of honor to that person for taking care of them and thus put up with their bullshit attitude out of gratitude for what they did *cough* Haku *cough*.

But I guess that's exactly what a tool isn't it? A person willing to give up their own desires and aspirations in order to server the desires of the person who was there for them at a miserable time in their life and took care of them.

[Abdula]

But I guess that's exactly what a tool isn't it? A person willing to give up their own desires and aspirations in order to server the desires of the person who was there for them at a miserable time in their life and took care of them.

No, a tool is someone who has no other desires or aspirations other than to serve someone else. Big difference.

Shizune is Dan's (Tsunade's BF) niece. Dan's sister (probably Shizune's mother) died in the war (and he was possibly taking care of her after this). When Dan later died and Tsunade left the village she took Shizune with her as her apprentice, they traveled together until Tsunade came back to the villiage to become Hokage.

As far as I know this was only mentioned in the english dub so I don't consider to be a part of the official canon, although it is a sufficient explanation.

[Kraco]

Still, I can't imagine Tsunade would ever had with any seriousness told Shizune that she owes Tsunade so much she can't leave even if she wants. So, basically I don't think my "memory backed speculation" as such was that far off the mark, other than for the gratitude factor, but in all honestly a decent person would feel some gratitude in any case if personally taught by the best professional in the world.

Thus, I think she's a bit different kind of a tool. Like I said earlier, perhaps a person whose ambition is not to be any kind of figurehead but somebody who supports such a figurehead. I think the way we are thinking here in the West, always very individualistically, might even thwart from realising that unless you think a little out of the box. And especially with this series that's so filled by people aiming to be the best and the strongest. Or she might be too big a coward to leave Tsunade to try out her own wings fully. It's kind of easy to get used to the current situation especially if you don't hate it.

In short, she might not have had any lofty desires of her own to begin with that she would have needed to sacrifice.

[Abdula]

In short, she might not have had any lofty desires of her own to begin with that she would have needed to sacrifice.

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprising but most of the leaf ninja don't. The only ones who have had any great ambitions like Orochimaru and Itachi have left the village. The only reason Sasuke is so ambitious is because of Itachi and Naruto wants to be hokage because he was an outcast as a child, and the only other really ambitious character I can think of is Konohamaru and he just wants to be a hokage like his grandfather was. The leaf village seems like it was always a laid back place, that is why the mist ninja and the sand ninja looked down upon them so much even Oro and Itachi hated the village for that same reason.

[Yukimura]

As far as I know this was only mentioned in the english dub so I don't consider to be a part of the official canon, although it is a sufficient explanation.

You should take a look at:
Naruto Anime - Episode 90 [ANBU-AonE sub] 3 min and 26 seconds in or
Naruto Manga - Volume 18 Chapter 154 Page 5 Panel 4

Though if you don't want to waste the time you can just trust that I have done this and am not making up my facts out of thin air.

@Kraco my comment wasn't directed at you. I neglected to add in an @Abdula but it was directed at him since I felt he was either ignoring or ignorant of the Shizune-Dan-Tsunade relationship.

[Abdula]

That why I said as far as I know, I didn't think you were making it up out of thin air I just don't remember it being mentioned that is all. Shizune's backstory is not something I'm interested in so its not something I would remember.

[DarthEnderX]

I thought a tool was a synonym for douchebag...

[Psyke]

also, i couldn't help but wonder where Danzou got all his injuries from... Probably in one of Konoha's wars? He looks like one tough motehrfucker.

He was competing with The Third for the place of the Hokage right? That's gotta make him pretty strong, although we don't know how many years he's been out of action.

[DarthEnderX]

He was competing with The Third for the place of the Hokage right? That's gotta make him pretty strong, although we don't know how many years he's been out of action.

Yeah, you'd think that if he was competing for the position of Hokage that they would have made him Hokage after Jiraiya turned them down.

It's like, you know how the rest of the Naruto world is all badass ninjas and Konoha is a bunch of Lawful Good pussies? This guy strikes me as the kind of guy that wants Konoha to be more cutthroat.

Of course, I'm totally talking out of my ass because the guy has bearly said two words so far.

[masamuneehs]

one thing that Tsunade mentioned is that Danzou led a hard-line faction during the Third Hokage's era, but that that faction had collapsed... DB's very questionable translations say that, although Danzou was able to found the Root division of ANBU (which he commanded): "Root has been disbanded, and he (Danzou) has already fallen into disgrace".

Now, regardless of the confusion about Root being disbanded or not (i mean, they just said that Sai is from Root, and so you imagine it's not entirely disbanded...) this pretty clearly implies that Danzou's power and political reputation in Konoha is less now than what it once was. So, considering this, it seems Danzou didn't have the support to be seriously considered for Hokage after the Third died...

I don't really know... but Tsunade's reference to Danzou's hard-line party losing power and him being "in disgrace" makes me wonder if his downfall might have had something to do with the important events in Konoha history that we know of (the Uchiha massacre, the war against the Sand, the war against the Thunder, Orochimaru's defection).

[Buffalobiian]

Was he really competing against the Third? DB's subs say that he lead a party that was against the Third's policies, making him something like our opposition leader, but it doesn't say he was in anyway strong enough to compete for the title Hokage. Shikamaru shows his wit again, he didn't waste any time. While it looked like they were observing Naruto's fight, he sent out his shadow to assist.

I didn't notice Sai's clothing much at all really. It's mostly in the ED that I tend to, and even then it's not making an impact anymore. This pissing Naruto off part, it's just as when Team Kakashi first started out, only difference being Sakura was drooling over Sasuke.

[Assertn]

What? Shizune's a tool now? She's the main disciple of the Hokage. I think that is a pretty decent accomplishment in of itself. Besides, Sakura also holds respect and obedience towards Tsunade, so its not just Shizune.

I think the real tools are those two chuunin that always get stuck doing bitch work like carrying boxes around or sitting and watching the main Konoha entrance.

Edit: Was it just me, or did it seem like a few major points about Danzou had been left out of the anime?

[Kraco]

What? Shizune's a tool now? She's the main disciple of the Hokage. I think that is a pretty decent accomplishment in of itself. Besides, Sakura also holds respect and obedience towards Tsunade, so its not just Shizune

Shizune has been following Tsunade since forever. During all those lousy gambling years. So, you could say she has beem tying her destiny to that of Tsunade no matter what she did. Thus, you can say she's a genuine minion.

Sakura, however, is not tied to Tsunade in that sense. She's just learning medical skills from her. Other than that she's like any other chuunin around: Doing missions, living her own life, belonging to a team (that does not contain Tsunade).

And those comedic paper carrying chuunin are even less connected to her. They are regular Konoha ninja who happen to be assigned to such a work. No doubt it's only a temporary period of their career.

[Buffalobiian]

Are we mixing up "tool" here with "follower/student/disciple"? I'm taking tool here to mean someone who's being used, without using the other person in return. The latter case is called co-operation. Sakura may indeed belong to her own team, but I would imagine her life in the past 2.5 years to be training and serving Tsunade, much as Shizune might have done earlier in her life. Only now her job is closer to that of an attendant, and given her relationship with Tsunade (you can call it her uncle's fiancee if you ignore the master/disciple one), and we haven't been told of any other family members, it's only natural that she follow her around, and assist/criticize her not unlike how a sibling would.

edit: tool implies that the person is a pawn. Used for a greater purpose, and completely dispensable. The "master" of that tool most likely has no emotional connections to he/her, and feels no shame in using that person to do whatever task the master desires. I don't think this quite fits the Tsunade/Shizune scenario.

Haku could have indeed be considered a classic example of a tool, if it wasn't for the last part where Zabuto cries, though he indeed didn't feel any shame when he was USING him, it was only after his death and some Naruto-talk that he felt guilty/moved.

edit 2: or maybe the three sound ninjas Orochimaru used in the Chuunin exam. I doubt he had any feelings for them really.

[fifafreak18]

Am i the only one that noticed you could seethe top of Sai's thighs at the end of the ep? I didn't mind his look before because they covered his entire lower body and most of his upper but they cut off about 6 inches of his clothes at the end.

In the Shizune case, i think she showed enough independence from Tsunade to not be considered a tool, besides the council or whatever shizune is the only person that can talk to her casually (besides naruto who has no respect for authority anyways).

[Abdula]

Danzou was indeed competing for the position of third Hokage against Sarutobi, DB did a very bad job with the translation as usual. I don't think root has been disbanded or that Danzou has fallen into disgrace because if that had happened they wouldn't regard him so highly and be looking to him to make such important decisions regarding Naruto and Konoha. I think the reasons he didn't become hokage after Sarutobi died is for one, if he was competing for the position of the third and Sarutobi was in his 70's i believe when he died that would mean that Danzou would be in his 70's aswell, so he is just too old. The other reason would be that he has obviously sustained a lot of injuries in that past as you can clearly see from his appearance so I doubt he would be able to do much in terms of combat.


Since you all seem to be defending Shizune I guess I should talk about her too. I don't think "tool" was the best word to use to describe her as it has a very loose interpretation.I think she is a very capable ninja as I have said before I just want her to do something so I can have a reason to like her, because for the most part she is just a pencil pusher, although she does lead a supposedly very strong squad and she did perform some serious medical jutsus at the end of the Sasuke retrieval arc.

@ fifafreak18: I think you're to only one who was staring at sai's exposed skin enough to notice.

@Kraco: I hope you are not talking about the two ninjas I think you're talking about because they are way too bad ass to even be considered tools.

[Kraco]

@Kraco: I hope you are not talking about the two ninjas I think you're talking about because they are way too bad ass to even be considered tools.

Eh? Maybe you should read again what I wrote...

[Assertn]

Danzou was indeed competing for the position of third Hokage against Sarutobi, DB did a very bad job with the translation as usual. I don't think root has been disbanded or that Danzou has fallen into disgrace because if that had happened they wouldn't regard him so highly and be looking to him to make such important decisions regarding Naruto and Konoha. I think the reasons he didn't become hokage after Sarutobi died is for one, if he was competing for the position of the third and Sarutobi was in his 70's i believe when he died that would mean that Danzou would be in his 70's aswell, so he is just too old. The other reason would be that he has obviously sustained a lot of injuries in that past as you can clearly see from his appearance so I doubt he would be able to do much in terms of combat.

Yes, Danzou did compete for the position of Hokage against Sarutobi, and was expecting the position after Sarutobi died. I believe he was the military strategist of the Hokage council, but he tended to have a more aggressive personality, which is why he wasn't favored as a candidate. Also, roots was indeed disbanded.

I think these are all the details that somehow disappeared in this episode