My theory on the manga's short term future

[Nuts]

I don't think any of the genins are going to die. The reason I believe this is because thematically Naruto is not a dark manga. It's a lighthearted coming of age story centering on a ninja boy and his fellow classmates. Think about it, how many well-developed "good" characters have died? The 3rd Hokage. How many well developed villians? Haku and Zabuza. The only reason the aforementioned characters died is because their narrative purposes were fufilled. This whole one-on-one fight sequence fits the "anime battle format" perfectly. Each of our heroes are getting seperated, they fight a losing battle, but eventually win by the skin of their teeth. They are made to look like they are going to die, but the audience later gets some scene showing our heroes being healed moments before they bite the big one.

[Elessar]

Sure, 5 genin taking out 4 sounds that almost killed two jounins. Sure.

Sasuke's betrayal resulting in Choji's death and Skiamaru having to take responsibility for his death also has a narrative purpose in developing the characters. The world isn't nice with many many cute little thingies running around.

If Choji survives the story progress is somewhat around 0. There is no need for a second death of Neji or Kiba, but I regard choji's as mandatory.

[Come Come Paradise]

neji could use the kidoumaru's weapons against him...i think
kidoumaru should lose cuz if he doesn't he's gonna catch up and prolly fight another genin or so and i don't think kishimoto is gonna show all of kidoumaru's moves again and such and we won't be able to see tayuya and sakon in action

[kAi]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Noonan)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>or maybe now that Neji has a hold on the chakra line he&#39;ll just go into a rapid series of Kaiten spins and reel the spider into himself ..... </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

i think this would be a great way to get kidoumaru right up to him and suprise him...

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Elessar)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>If Choji survives the story progress is somewhat around 0. There is no need for a second death of Neji or Kiba, but I regard choji&#39;s as mandatory. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

i agree i think one death out of them is enough...and that is to be chouji
not neji...
As we only know little of chouji it would be better to get rid of him now.

[Nuts]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Elessar @ Dec 10 2003, 01:59 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Sure, 5 genin taking out 4 sounds that almost killed two jounins. Sure.

Sasuke&#39;s betrayal resulting in Choji&#39;s death and Skiamaru having to take responsibility for his death also has a narrative purpose in developing the characters. The world isn&#39;t nice with many many cute little thingies running around.

If Choji survives the story progress is somewhat around 0. There is no need for a second death of Neji or Kiba, but I regard choji&#39;s as mandatory. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
You give great supporting evidence as to why some of the characters might die, and I whole heartedly agree with you. The genins are seriously outmatched and it looks like not all of them are going to come back, but I still don&#39;t think that&#39;s going to happen. Reason: I don&#39;t think Kishimoto has the balls to kill off one of his young &quot;hero&quot; characters. Yes, Haku was young, but he was a villian. The 3rd Hokage was a hero, but he was old. Keep in mind Kishimoto is writing for a Japanese audience and one thing I notice is that they hate to see their heroes die (unlike us here in the US who love to see our heroes go out in a blaze of glory).

[Winged Dancer]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Gabriel Angelfire &#064; Dec 7 2003, 02:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>The people that I know that watch Naruto either dont like Sasuke for what he did or they always hated him from the begining. That includes girls to, well i only know 8 girls that watches and read the manga though.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
Another girl here who also dislikes Sasuke pretty much. I don&#39;t hate him only because I know that the show, frankly, needs him for some drama to take place. On the other hand, I highly dislike him and hope Naruto will kick his ass at some point ^^

However, such ass-kicking will not happen now. Even if Naruto fights Sasuke, at some point (whether Naruto is winning or losing) the fight will be stopped by either Orochimaru or Kabuto, who will take Sasuke away.

Regarding the other, lets remember that Shizune (Tsunade&#39;s lieutenant or second in charge) is close, along with other three jounins. I&#39;m sure that they were following the Sound Nins to a distance just to see what did they want to do - it&#39;ll be a matter of time before they find dead?Chouji, Severlywounded&#33;Neji and so forth.

SO my theory is;
Shikamaru leaves, fights, kills and almost dies,
Kiba leaves, fights, kills almost dies,
Naruto and Sasuke fight,
Orochimaru and/or Kabuto appear and take Sasuke away,
Naruto goes back, finds Kiba, drags Kiba back, finds Shikamaru, drags Shikamaru back,
Jouning team finds Naruto and the other two, they already have Neji and Chouji with them.
Shizune says that mostly everyone&#39;s condition is critical, they hurry back to Konoha, everybody ends up in the hospital except Naruto, who only spends one night there.
Lee gets his operation,
Naruto finds Sakura. He apologizes for not bringing Sasuke back, but promises he will do so one day - soon, of course.
Sakura cries, hugs Naruto.
End of Story Arc&#33; Introduce new storyline&#33;

[Chi Chi]

Don&#39;t think Orochimaru would appear. He would get wiped out. Naruto just has to summon Gama Bunta and we can say, bye bye Orochimaru.

[Nuts]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Winged Dancer @ Dec 10 2003, 12:16 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> [QUOTE=Gabriel Angelfire,Dec 7 2003, 02:51 AM]
Regarding the other, lets remember that Shizune (Tsunade&#39;s lieutenant or second in charge) is close, along with other three jounins. I&#39;m sure that they were following the Sound Nins to a distance just to see what did they want to do - it&#39;ll be a matter of time before they find dead?Chouji, Severlywounded&#33;Neji and so forth.

SO my theory is;
Shikamaru leaves, fights, kills and almost dies,
Kiba leaves, fights, kills almost dies,
Naruto and Sasuke fight,
Orochimaru and/or Kabuto appear and take Sasuke away,
Naruto goes back, finds Kiba, drags Kiba back, finds Shikamaru, drags Shikamaru back,
Jouning team finds Naruto and the other two, they already have Neji and Chouji with them.
Shizune says that mostly everyone&#39;s condition is critical, they hurry back to Konoha, everybody ends up in the hospital except Naruto, who only spends one night there.
Lee gets his operation,
Naruto finds Sakura. He apologizes for not bringing Sasuke back, but promises he will do so one day - soon, of course.
Sakura cries, hugs Naruto.
End of Story Arc&#33; Introduce new storyline&#33; </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
That&#39;s the way I see it too. Everybody *almost* dies, but someone saves them. Hey, can you see into the future?

[Winged Dancer]

Perhaps. I&#39;m not telling you&#33; Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.

Anyway, I don&#39;t think Orochimaru could be wiped just by Gamabunta. He&#39;d escape, and besides, he wouldn&#39;t be alone - Kabuto _has_ to be there. Oro just doesn&#39;t go on his own since he got his arms sealed.

Well, my main point is that I don&#39;t think all of the genins will die. Perhaps only Chouji, but not all the others. Medical ninjas are capable of doing almost the impossible, so I don&#39;t see why must the genins die.

I know I can&#39;t see the future or anything, but I bet we&#39;ll have at least one shot of Shizune thinking/saying something like &quot;His condition is terrible... we have to get him to Konoha soon or he&#39;ll die.&quot; while analyzing either Chouji or Neji... or Kiba or Shikamaru, since they are going to end up pretty beaten up too.

[PatternGhost]

Hmm... predictions&#33;

Chouji: Most likely dead. I think the butterfly and Shikamaru&#39;s reacton to it seal the deal there, and it serves a purpose in the story. OTOH, the series is, depsite its reminders of this being a pretty harsh world, fairly light-hearted. The Third just bought it, so it may not be time for another character death so soon, as those seem to be pretty well spaced out. Near-death may be good enough. If he does live, though, I&#39;ll consider the butterfly thing a bit of cheap trick.

Neji: Not likely to die. If Neji dies, that&#39;s a huge failure for Naruto, because Neji has repeatedly embraced Naruto&#39;s philosphy in this arc. He&#39;s going to do something unexpected (and hopefully less obvious than either yanking spiderguy out of the trees or sending chakra up the line) and pull off a victory. He&#39;ll probably collapse after that and be unable to continue. The story will probably show what happens to the rest of the gang, and not cut back to Neji&#39;s fate until the second Leaf team catches up to him. He&#39;ll be in for some down time, for sure. I&#39;m hoping at some point for him to develop a better relationship with Hinata, and to give her the help with her skills that her father wouldn&#39;t because he was too impatient to deal with his non-genius daughter. Hinata with confidence could be quite scary. And if she ever wants to have a romance with Naruto, she&#39;s going to need some assertiveness to keep him in line.

When the group catches up with the remaining two Sound nins, I think it won&#39;t go to one on one fights. After they lose half of their team, they&#39;re going to take things more seriously, and settle in for a serious fight. So, it&#39;ll be Shikamaru, Naruto, and Kiba verus the remaining Sound nins. I think the foul-mouthed female will end up being the matchup with Shikamaru in the smarts department, and the transvestite matched up with Naruto and Kiba in the power department. Since we don&#39;t know much about the powers of the last two Sounds, it&#39;s tough to call, but I&#39;m thinking Kiba will be taken out fairly early in the fight, with serious injuries. If Shikamaru doesn&#39;t use his shadow bind jutsu so Naruto can take out someone with his Kamehameha, I&#39;ll be a little disappointed. Something like that could get them to go into curse seal level two, which is bound to happen. Without one of Naruto&#39;s power moves combined with Shikamaru&#39;s strategy, I don&#39;t think they pose much of a threat, and seeing these guys at stage two seems to be the theme.

Sasuke: I predict...he stays in the barrel. I also predict an escape for the barrel.

Long term predictions:

I think Orochimaru may be Naruto&#39;s biggest personal battle. No matter what Naruto pulls out, he just refuses to acknowledge him, and beating an acknowledgement out of guys like that is what Naruto lives for. Something of the same could be said for Kabuto, but I think he&#39;ll live on past Orochimaru as an enemy.

The Sand genins: I think we&#39;ll see a lot more of these three in the future, probably near the end of the Orochimaru story arc. Gaara seems like he&#39;ll be the ultimate challenge to Naruto&#39;s philosphy, and not quite so easy as Neji to convert to his line of thinking, if it&#39;s even possible. Temari seems like an interesting character, and although she has a pretty wide mean streak doesn&#39;t seem to be completely evil. She has some potential as an ally of the Naruto gang. Kankuro will probably be along for the ride if there is any alliance, but grudgingly at best. As allies or enemies, these three will be back, because Gaara&#39;s story definately isn&#39;t over.

Naruto becoming Hokage: I predict that at Naruto&#39;s current level of wisdom, it will take approximately 19,458 more chapters for him to reach Hokage. Guess they intend it to be a long-running series.

[Chi Chi]

Gaara has already changed. The &#39;Thanks&#39; he said to Temari and Kankuro are a sign of that. He changed. I think he&#39;ll make a kameo reapparance after the Shuusaki is sealed better as Kazekage to help Naruto.

[PatternGhost]

I agree that the &quot;thanks&quot; was a sign of change. Good point. Of course, Sasuke said thanks to Sakura too, which was a sign of change, but then headed off to Orochimaru. It could be both of them have a bit more work. But you&#39;re right, he had won a significant part of the battle with Gaara already.

[AlbinoFury]

I think you guys are way too optimistic about sasuke hopping out of that bucket ready to fight for two reasons; just because it gives him the ability to go curse seal 2 he wont necessarily be able to just do it right outta the bucket. More importantly though remember how badly fubared the process put him in, they have to get him to orochimaru or he might die, its incredibly optimistic to think hes gonna pop out all healthy powered up and ready to fight. Other than that craploads of possibilities are available, they just better not kill neji or ill be hella pissed, they spent all that time developing his character for nothing if they kill him, they can kill chouji for all i care though, he had his cool moment, but he wasnt a key character, kinda like a krillin.

[newport]

it would suck in the long run......if naruto,sakura, sasuke were the only genins that survive later on

[Nine Tailed Demon]

in 143 jiraiya said the real chuunin exams are soon, maybe that&#39;ll happen...

[Insomniac]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Don&#39;t think Orochimaru would appear. He would get wiped out. Naruto just has to summon Gama Bunta and we can say, bye bye Orochimaru. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

Orochimaru has his snake and is alot more powerful then Naruto, he can just seal him up again.

for those that said that its unbelievable that the genins are beating the sound nins after they beat 2 jounins - the sound nins all went level 2 to beat those jounins, and the jounins were out numbered.
If the sound nins had just stopped as a team they would have easily taken out the genin team (which is why they&#39;re probably making it 1vs1 to make it more believable)
also the sound nins are tired from fighting the jounins.

[Chi Chi]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Insomniac @ Dec 21 2003, 08:33 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> </div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Don&#39;t think Orochimaru would appear. He would get wiped out. Naruto just has to summon Gama Bunta and we can say, bye bye Orochimaru. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

Orochimaru has his snake and is alot more powerful then Naruto, he can just seal him up again.

for those that said that its unbelievable that the genins are beating the sound nins after they beat 2 jounins - the sound nins all went level 2 to beat those jounins, and the jounins were out numbered.
If the sound nins had just stopped as a team they would have easily taken out the genin team (which is why they&#39;re probably making it 1vs1 to make it more believable)
also the sound nins are tired from fighting the jounins. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
Orochimaru&#39;s arms are still sealed.

[Insomniac]

not for long