Naruto does a great job with real-life themes but fails miserably when it comes to justice and many criminals get off scot-free.
What set the Naruto franchise apart was that, despite being a shonen set in a fantasy ninja world, the themes it tackled were rooted in the real world. However, under one specific aspect, the franchise failed to deliver, and the world it created some out as fundamentally broken and unjust.
Naruto explored many themes such as friendship with Naruto’s unwavering dedication to Sasuke, discrimination with Gaara being isolated due to the Tailed Beast in him, hard work, and many others. The show incorporates these themes very well and adds depth to the characters and storyline as a whole. However, when it came to justice in the traditional sense, Kishimoto’s story included many examples where this was ignored in favor of advancing the story.
There are quite a few instances where justice in the Naruto world was simply not delivered. Many people lost their lives due to the actions of one or more villains, and not one of them was brought to justice. The most notorious example is Orochimaru. Orochimaru was the first main villain in the show. He was originally a hero of Konoha and earned the nickname “Legendary Sannin” together with Jiraiya and Tsunade. His thirst for knowledge was one of his redeeming qualities and propelled him to the top of the ninja hierarchy. However, it all went downhill when his quest for knowledge became insatiable, and he dabbled in forbidden techniques.
Since the beginning of the series, Orochimaru has committed innumerable despicable acts. He experimented on human beings, sometimes children, and discarded them when he saw fit. He attacked the Hidden Leaf village, killing many ninja and even the Third Hokage. His actions can only be classified as war crimes, and yet not only he never faced the consequences, but he received a full pardon in the end. Orochimaru even attended Naruto’s wedding like nothing had ever happened, sitting close to the families of the shinobi he killed. Orochimaru did help Konoha, applying his knowledge to good, but that can’t erase his crimes.
Like his master Orochimaru, Kabuto was also a heinous villain. He followed in the footsteps of his teacher and also conducted experiments on humans. However, his crimes are much larger than Orochimaru’s. He revived many dead ninja and controlled them to fight for Obito’s side. It’s not a stretch to say that without Kabuto’s soldiers, the war wouldn’t be as devastating as it was, and it would have been easily won. He was also granted a pardon and received amnesty in order to reintegrate back into society despite everything he did. All the people whose lives he was responsible for never got justice.
The Murder Of The Uchiha Was The Worst Act Of Injustice
Besides these two obvious cases, there are other instances where the lines of justice and injustice were blurred. The extermination of the Uchiha clan comes to mind. The case of Itachi Uchiha and the murder of his fellow clansmen is one of the most complex topics in anime. There are many justifications for his actions but at the end of the day, what he committed was genocide and there’s no way to justify such an action. However, he was hailed as a hero for putting the village above his clan. He killed many innocent civilians who had nothing to do with village politics and yet it was all swept under the rug.
If Itachi’s actions were to be justified and pardoned, then the blame should at least fall in the lap of the Konoha elders, who ordered the massacre, Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, and Danzo Shimura. As advisors to the Hokage and members of the Konoha Coucil, they were aware of the situation with the Uchiha and ordered Itachi to kill all the members of the Uchiha clan. They tried to justify this by saying it was to maintain the village’s and the residents’ peace. However, the Uchiha were citizens of the village too. Because of their actions, many innocent villagers died under the guise of peace. While Danzo got his deliverance from Sasuke, Koharu and Homura never paid for their sins.
