Naruto Shippuden Episode 35

[Abdula]

Just to add my two cents. The villages are part of countries, specifically they are the primary military force of a country, the country is ruled by the feudal lord. So while the hokage may be able to make decisions about what missions ninjas take she is not the leader and there is a council of elders above her who make decisions. Tsunade is more of a general her mission is to protect and do what is in the village’s best interest but the village is there to protect the country so while she may be able to make some military decisions she is not involved in the politics.

I think the difference between ANBU and regular ninja though is that while all missions are assigned to ninja by the Hokage, ANBU missions don't necessarily have to be justified, or even reported, to the council since they may not always be in line with the public face of the villiage. Things like assassinations and infiltrations are probably not suited to be talked about in open council.

Yeah, that would be the difference, the anbu perform covert missions that the hokage would not necessarily want the public or the other villages to know about.

[Yukimura]

Does anyone remember if Narutoverse countries also maintain regular militaries in addition to ninja villages? I know Ninja villages are seen as infinitely more useful than regular military training camps, but in this world did they completely give up on using huge armies of relatively unskilled fighters or are they just not brought up much in the anime?

[Abdula]

I think they do although I'm not basing this on anything. The ninja villages although they have elite fighters don't have the sheer numbers that would be necessary to launch a full scale assault on another country or sustain a long term war. There were a few references in some filler crap but nothing conclusive. Orochimaru mentioned something like that in his flashback with Kimimaro. There must be a large military force separate from a ninja village though because not only would a country be defenseless if a village was destroyed like the leaf was but there must be some insurance policy if a village was to attempt to secede or attack the countries leaders. Zabuza and Kisame had both supposedly attempted to kill the feudal lord before, in fact the entire mist village seems insubordinate, so I think there is a large military outside of the village.

I think we haven't seen any thing about that because the ninjas seldom travel outside the villages and the great wars are over, and since the show is so heavily focused on the villages them selves I think it has just been neglected. This is all just speculation though.

[Uberbaka]

Sorry Kraco, but that is wrong. Several types of Schitzophrenia include symptoms of lacking empathy and emotions and it can come from other kinds of psychological or physical stress/injury. The exact term for it is called Alexithymia.

(The lack of empathy part would be the one that makes a person unable to know how anything would affect anyone else and what faces to make in any given situation)

Lack of emotions is real, imagining how it "feels" is probably close to impossible for normal people, but it happens.

Take autistic people as a different example.. People with autism have social impairments and often lack the intuition about others that many people take for granted, these which you say you have to be an idiot to not understand. (No, I'm not saying he's autistic... Just an example of how the brain -can- work)
</psychology lecture>

[Kraco]

Fine, you might be right, and I'm certainly no expert at psychology... But I still can't personally imagine it. And from my point of view Sai certainly doesn't appear to be a person without emotions, but a person with supressed emotions and either a somewhat twisted personality or a highly calculative nature (goes along with suppressed emotions) with a as of yet unrevealed plan.

[Abdula]

Well I don't have to imagine what it is like, its not so much that you don't have emotions but that you don't experience them the way a 'normal' person would. Sai doesn't have a twisted personality and his calculative nature could just be a defensive mechanism he has to protect himself. Besides having a calculative nature is a good thing, I mean he is a ninja. He has also obviously gone through some intense emotional training and conditioning. Anyway just felt I should comment on this because I have that problem and I can assure you that I have no idea what people find offensive and it is a very difficult thing if you don't have experience with socializing especially with a diverse group of people.

As for Danzou, I seriously think someone needs to assassinate that old geezer. He tried to build his own division of ANBU until it fell apart, which is kinda like making a mini army within an army. (possibility of rebellion?)
Not to mention, he kept calling Tsunade as Hime(Princess) Tsunade, rather than saying Hokage or just Tsunade. Its basically implying that he doesn't see her fit as a hokage, especially since he used to compete for that chair so desperately.

I don't know why you would want him assassinated, sure he has his own division of anbu but he hasn't done anything that particularly threatens the position of the hokage or the well being of the village so there is no just cause in killing him. He didn't imply that she isn't fit for the position of hokage as a matter a fact I don't think he has a problem with that or he would've had some objections back when it was first suggested. If he has his own division of the anbu, and the village elders obviously hold him in such high regard, and he is such a cold, calculating militaristic person if he didn't want Tsunade to be hokage she most definitely wouldn't have been.

Secondly calling Tsunade Hime is not disrespectful, it is obviously something she was called when she was young because she is the granddaughter of the first thus earning her the status of princess. Others have addressed Tsunade as Hime in the past including Jiraiya of all people. Danzou is her elder, he was competing for the position of hokage against her teacher so to him she is a little girl, so while some might find addressing the Hokage like that to be disrespectful in his case it isn't.

[Kraco]

I have that problem and I can assure you that I have no idea what people find offensive and it is a very difficult thing if you don't have experience with socializing especially with a diverse group of people.

You are lying if you say you don't know if calling a guy a dickless wussy is or a girl an ugly bitch is offensive. I could buy something far more subtle, even accidentally, or more slight but not those ones.

You know, people with impaired emotions can fake emotions and learn how to read and manipulate them nevertheless. And from the point of view of an outside observer, there's no difference or such a person might even seem far more pleasant and friendly like is the case with certain types psychopaths (until the psychopath no longer finds you useful at which point he will discard you without a second thought due to those impaired emotions).

And I never said Sai would be a bad ninja. I just said he does have emotions, no matter how hidden behind walls, and he knew what he was doing when he said those things.

[Abdula]

I don't know about Sakura he seemed genuine there but of course he was intentionally insulting Naruto he doesn't seem to respect him at all not that he has any reason to yet. I think the first words most other ninjas say to Naruto is usually an insult, Neji, Gaara, Kiba and Sasuke are perfect examples.

[Buffalobiian]

On the lack of emotions part and all, I don't see Sai insulting Danzou or his teacher. Whatever problems/attitude he has, it's selective. We'll see what he says to Yamato.

[poopdeville]

Aye Abdula, you need to get out of the house some. I stayed home from work today since I was sick, and found you arguing in every Naruto thread I read.

Regarding Sai, there is essentially no basis to form an opinion about him. He started off on the wrong foot. Big deal.

[Abdula]

I guess that depends on what you definition of arguing is besides what else is there to do on this forum anyway. I don't know about getting out of the house more because that wouldn't affect the amount of time I spend on the forums because it isn't much.

There isn't much we know about Sai but if we all just waited until we did know something then there wouldn't be much to post in the Naruto thread would there. Every one starts of on the wrong foot would Naruto, well atleast most of the ninjas he meets because he is the complete opposite of what one would expect a ninja to be.

I want to see Sai in action his fighting style is quite unique the closest thing we have seen to it is deidara but his "art" was completely different.