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Is there a reason why almost all Naruto villains end up having very good excuses for becoming villains and start being seen as fighting for a different cause as opposed to just being the bad guys who need to be killed? What I mean by this question is that, why do Naruto "villains" never play the role of the standardized "bad guy", but instead introduce a new and different struggle from their point of view? Instead of having one clear person to hate and criticize their actions, you end up with two very different view points, never a good vs evil kind of situation, but more of a clash of opinions.

Gao
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Beha
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    Author's preference? I don't think there's one, objective answer to this. – Cattua Oct 15 '13 at 20:48
  • That's just a sort of writing style (and sometimes considered the mark of a good writer, depending on what you're looking for). – kuwaly Oct 15 '13 at 21:17
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    It gives more life to the character. Who would be happy if Itachi just murdered his people for no reason? And to understand Pain, you need to his backstory, which could justifies his actions – TAAPSogeking Oct 16 '13 at 02:17
  • @TAAPSogeking Obito pretty much decided to screw the whole world over because Rin died. – krikara Oct 16 '13 at 06:19
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    @krikara I am afraid you haven't understood Obito's motivations for the Tsuki no Me Keikaku, if that is what you think. – Masked Man Oct 22 '13 at 14:48
  • Kishimoto-sama draws a lot of inspiration from real life into his story, and turns out this is how the so-called bad guys in real life are! – Masked Man Oct 22 '13 at 14:49
  • @Happy I think it is pretty safe to say Rin was the trigger. If Rin didn't die, I doubt Obito would have ever returned to Madara and proceeded with the Eye of the Moon plan. – krikara Oct 22 '13 at 15:03
  • Just to clarify - Obito witnessed Rin's death, then desired to create a perfect world under infinite tsukuyomi. Obito might think he is doing the world justice, but in reality, he is really just screwing over the world. He is essentially declaring war on the whole world and intending to kill anyone necessary just to make one big illusion. Rin's death is the only motivation that comes to mind. I don't consider his desire for an ideal world to be a motivation because that would be redundant as the Tsuki no Me Keikaku itself uses infinite tsukuyomi to create the ideal world. – krikara Oct 22 '13 at 15:22
  • @krikara Rin's death was the trigger. However, the main motivation comes from the realization that the ninja system only creates a world of hatred, pain and suffering. In one chapter, he explicitly states that he doesn't blame Kakashi for Rin's death, and even goes to say that he did not start the world war only for Rin's death. If that were what he wanted, he could have easily revived Rin alone using Nagato's Rinne Tensei and be done with it. His motivation is to rid the world of the suffering that he experienced and sees others experience. – Masked Man Oct 22 '13 at 15:26
  • If you go through the manga once again, starting from about the time his identity is revealed, you will notice what I mean. – Masked Man Oct 22 '13 at 15:28
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    Yeah, I understand what you're saying and do recall him saying it wasn't only over Rin's death. I just grouped the trigger and motivation together. Trigger : Rin's death, Motivation : End the pain and suffering in the world, Solution : Create an ideal world. – krikara Oct 22 '13 at 15:53

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because bad guys never own up to their actions but instead try and justify their actions as being just, take this example

bad guy tries to destroy the world

bad guy: humanity has been slowly killing the planet for eons

hero: but that give you no right to destroy it

bad guy: if you saw a man dying from causes beyond his control and there was no hope in saving him, would you not want to end his life and ease his suffering?

hero: and what about all the innocent people living in the world

bad guy: is anyone truly innocent, every human uses technology that harms the planet, they know what they are doing is hurting the planet are doing yet do nothing top change but instead leave it to their leaders to make the change who instead squabble amongst themselves and when one takes the initiative others fear of their separation from the collective and brand them as evil and wage war at them harming the planet more

hero: but humans can change

bad guy: correct but only to save your own skin and never for the sake of the planet that sustains your destructive nature at the cost of it's own health

so in Naruto where the villains explain their actions and it seems as a conflict of opinion it's still just your standardized bad guy trying to explain that his actions are right and the good guy has no right in stopping him

Memor-X
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  • Good point. But this is not limited to naruto. – Mark Oct 17 '13 at 02:07
  • Maybe because aside from true evil, say Hitler/Stalin/Pol Pot, there are a lot of villains who are not quite true evil. Good/Evil can be defined by a HUGE gray area. Also, what is Right or Correct is just a matter of point of view. I'll bring Gundam into the mix as it is a great example, Neo Zeon is seen as the bad guy most of the time(only want independence), even though the Federation(so called good guys) pulls a whole lot of what would be considered war crimes over the course of the Universal Century) – NZKshatriya Dec 05 '16 at 17:06