Naruto is a hard-working inspirational character, a thread:

Let's get the obvious out of the way, yes he is the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails, but as were Mito and Kushina, and they never reached the heights that Naruto did. Madara even controlled the beast, and got defeated by Hashirama. Naruto had half of Kurama.

Why is that? It's cause of many reasons, main ones being Naruto's determination, ideals, values, compassion, belief, but also hard work.

Yes, the Nine Tails did give him a higher ceiling and potential, along with his chakra reserves due to being born as an Uzumaki, but all of that would've gone to waste if it weren't for Naruto's choices and hard working attitude. Having potential does not negate your struggles.

With that said, many like to point that Naruto was wrong, and how Neji's views were correct. Neji claimed a person can't change his fate or destiny, that they can't reach certain heights by just working hard, and that Naruto was a failure and will stay as such. He was wrong.

Many use the example of Rock Lee, in comparison to Naruto as proof of that, and the fact Neji died protecting Hinata, which i'll get to later on. People claim Rock Lee could never be as great of a ninja like Naruto or Sasuke cause he wasn't "fated or granted huge power."

First off, Rock Lee's character and his message, is hard work, perseverance. Naruto's character message IN PART is that as well, but not just that. A big part of Naruto's character is CONNECTIONS, which TIES into his POWER and relationship with Kurama, as well as others.

Secondly,Rock Lee is ABLE to reach heights that many others who posses Ninjutsu are unable to. That's thanks to the potential he has in unlocking the 8 gates, not just the final one, that would put him beyond 90% of the characters. And all of them are achievable through hard work

Neji looked down upon Lee, but Lee was potentially stronger than Neji himself. And if he were to reach Might Guy's greatness, another person without Ninjutsu, it would not be even in question. Might Guy DEMOLISHED a literal deity of the verse, with his Eight Gates.

Going back to Naruto, there's whole arcs and moments where he trained and his grit and determination showed. It feels tedious to mention all of the time he did, cause there's so many but for now i'll concentrate on the Neji fight. Many say Naruto "asspulled" his way to a win.

This is shortsightedness at its finest. Naruto literally had a mini arc and preparation leading up to the Neji fight. He was working with Jiraiya, who drained Naruto's own chakra on purpose, so he could tap into the Nine Tails power. Something which proved obviously vs Neji.

Neji's fighting style blocks your chakra points, leaving you with basically nothing, so the fact Jiraiya taught Naruto to tap into the Nine Tails power in such a manner was a great gameplan. Naruto RISKED HIS OWN LIFE, getting thrown off a cliff, just to tap into said power.

He got thrown off a cliff, and easily could've died, Kurama didn't have to help Naruto, just like he didn't have to many other times, as we learn later on, Kurama is chakra, and if the host dies, he'd just regenerate somewhere else after a period of time.

The reason Kurama did, was cause Naruto forced him to, Naruto showed him his determination and effort, which made Kurama gain a little bit of respect for Naruto at the time. He learned how to tap into that power, but when he does the same vs Neji, now it's an asspull?

This falls into the message i was talking about, Naruto's connections, and how not everything should be done ALONE, but that doesn't mean CONNECTIONS don't take time, effort or hard work. This was one of the earliest examples of how Naruto's actions and effort impacted Kurama.

I had to explain that fight, as many like to complain about it. Going back to the overall point, although Naruto as a result of having higher potential than most, having the nine tails power isn't for everyone, and it brought much more hardships than your typical ninja as well.

Naruto was shunned, without any parents, lived alone, was a target of terrorist organisation and many others who were power hungry.

And for some reason people only like to concentrate on the gains he had as a result of overcoming those hardships. That is incredibly unfair.

Naruto's attitude, dedication, drive, determination, and hard work that i've mentioned so many times now, helped him overcome those hardships and reap benefits of that potential. And all of that is INSPIRING.

People love to go on about how the Nine tails helped him, but like to forget how manipulative Kurama was, how he wanted to take over his body, even going so far to blast a BIJUU Bomb at Naruto himself, how he hurt Sakura, how he almost killed Jiraiya during training.

People ignore that, but concentrate on the times Kurama did overcome Naruto against his will. The interesting thing about that is, besides the Haku fight, every other time Naruto went berserk he was in a worse position afterwards.

He lost against Sasuke, Deidara escaped, Orochimaru was toying with him and got away and Pain was about to have him sealed inside a Chibaku Tensei. Funny how things work.

And even after somewhat of a control over Kurama's power, and achieving the KCM mode, Kurama was LITERALLY stealing Naruto's own chakra, EVERY SINGLE TIME Naruto went into that mode. Wasn't the only instance of Kurama being a nuisance for Naruto.

During his sage mode training, Kurama hindered him there as well. So for most of the positive gains Naruto got, there was just as many if not more negatives he had to overcome. Which brings me to my next point.

The Child of Prophecy stuff. Naruto's decisions and work ethic lead him to be in a position to be able to take on that title. The Great Toad sage LITERALLY says that Jiraiya would have a student with the power to save or DESTROY the world or bring a revolution.

That in itself is not pre determined, but rather choice and decision based. Jiraiya was told that it will be his actions that will determine which path this student takes. And while dying, Jiraiya remembered Naruto, and made a choice to NOT GIVE UP, cause that was how NARUTO was.

Naruto's work ethic, determination, hard work and will to never give up made Jiraiya NOT GIVE UP. That is a direct proof, that Naruto's choices and decisions clearly impacted things differently. If Naruto was a lazy prick and did nothing, you think all would've been good? Exactly

Here's the best part about it. After fight when Naruto forgives Nagato, and decides to go against revenge, THE GREAT TOAD SAGE, WHO FORETOLD ALL OF THIS, said that the "Child of Prophecy" was not one person, but rather NARUTO and NAGATO TOGETHER. TOGETHER they brought revolution

I'm honestly amazed at how many people missed this part. Naruto never claimed he was the Child of Prophecy, Naruto never accepted as being as such,Naruto just figuratively took that title as he wanted to inherit Jiraiya's wishes and ideals and bring a positive change to the world

That was regarding that, another point people like to make about Neji, is how he died protecting the main branch like he was destined to. Answer to this is pretty simple. he didn't die protecting Hinata cause he was destined to, but because he CHOSE TO, JUST LIKE HIS FATHER DID.

Going back to the Neji fight, Naruto hit Neji right on the nail, he called out Neji for actively trying to change his own destiny. After the fight Naruto altered Neji's outlook on the whole thing, and Neji became more accepting of Hinata and her side of the family.

And in the end Neji ended up willingly sacrificing himself for Hinata,thanks to Naruto changing him. If Naruto didn't win, Neji would've never changed or gave his life the way he did. At his death he himself says how he now understands his father's freedom in the decision he made

And to close it off, the Sage of Six Paths mode. If you try and use this power against Naruto, as some kind of point, it's understandable but in essence wrong. The power ITSELF was a result of Hagoromo's choice, based off of his feelings and responses given by Naruto and Sasuke.

Hagoromo in the past decided to grant his power to only one of his sons. This time he himself decided to split the power between the two, in hope that would not result in chaos as it did the last time. Unluckily for him Sasuke had other ideas and the same happened.

Bringing me to the point of Naruto being Asura's "reincarnation". Reincarnations in Naruto are not your typical reincarnations, as in the soul continuing to live on in a different body. In the Naruto verse, the chakra of Asura and Indra continued to linger around different people

And IT IS JUST THAT. Chakra. Nothing more. Naruto never received any direct benefits from having Asura's chakra. No power. No abillities. Never even saw or interacted with him. Only thing Naruto and Asura had in common was their hard working attitude and connections.

Asura made connections with others, much like Naruto, and that was the true source of Asura's strength, as said by Sage of Six Paths himself.

This brings me to another fault people have against Naruto. They like to say "son of the fourth Hokage" as if that means anything. Naruto didn't inherit any kind of passed down abilities from EITHER of his parents, the Sage LITERALLY says it himself.

Only thing Naruto had was large chakra reserves, which was a trait of the Uzumaki clan, much like the Sharingan in the Uchiha clan. So Asura and Naruto were both dunces, who lacked skill, but had potential and a very prominent hard working attitude.

Within the fact the two brothers were fated to go on fighting forever, and that their "reincarnates" were to be pitted against one another thanks to Zetsu, lays the biggest proof of Naruto defying fate and not adhering to it.

As Naruto so intently said, and Kishimoto through extenesion, he is NOT Asura, and Sasuke is NOT Indra, he proved it as well. Naruto along with Sasuke directly ended this feud for all times, by Naruto getting rid of the Zetsu, and them reconciling.

This thread was long, and it could go longer, as Kishimoto quite purposefully implemented such philosophical and multi faceted topic, but unfortunately some people missed key and subtle components. Neji at face value seems right, but at a deeper look at it, it's not all like that

I hope this thread helped some people notice these small details, or at least have a different outlook on things before trying to disregard Naruto's struggles. And if not, well i can't do anything about it. Naruto inspired and saved many people's lives, and rightly so.