Random Naruto Plot Holes That Are Pretty Hard To Igno (15 items)

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  (#1) Why Did Hashirama & Tobirama Run Out Of Chakra?

  Reinaminated shinobi are supposed to have unlimited chakra. Why that's true isn't really clear, but whatever, that's the rule that canon laid down. This is later completely contradicted when Hashirama and Tobirama run out of chakra.

  This probably happened because having the former hokages at full capacity would make it difficult for Naruto and Sasuke to show off their skills, but they could have also not said that reincarnations never run out of chakra. 
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  (#2) Why Is Naruto The Same Age As Everyone Else?

  At the beginning of the series, we find out that Naruto failed the graduation exam at Ninja Academy three times. While it's never made clear exactly how the academy functions, it's reasonable to assume that he'd also have to retake a year of school.

  If that's the case, then why is he the same age as people who didn't have to retake a year, like Sasuke and Sakura. Logically, he should be around the same age he is in Shippuden at the start of the series. 
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  (#3) Why Didn't Anyone Know Who Naruto Was?

  Naruto was the son of Minato Namikaze, the leader of Konoha at the time. Minato was probably the most visible face in not just his village, but his entire country. His mother, Kushina Uzumaki, was not just the descended from a powerful clan with a long and storied history in Konoha, she also had the nine tailed fox sealed inside her. Every single person in Konoha had to know who they were - and every single person had to know who Naruto was.

  The fact that Naruto grew up having no idea about his storied lineage strains plausibility. Even if the higher-ups wanted him to grow up without knowing, the idea that a random villager wouldn't mention it is unbelievable. Did they use a mass genjutsu to make everyone forget or something? 
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  (#4) Why Is Naruto Left Alone So Often?

  Despite having a godfather who promised to care for him, Naruto is raised by ANBU members who check up on him occasionally. The closest thing he has to a parental figure is the hokage, who does little besides give him his living expenses and tell him to be a good boy, and Iruka, a teacher who doesn't get involved in his life until he's nearly a teenager. This would have destroyed his development - children who don't form meaningful bonds during their early years suffer from severe emotional and behavioral challenges later in life.

  But it's not just Naruto's health that would have suffered - it's also the village's safety. Naruto is bascially a walking bomb. If the Nine Tailed Fox escaped the seal before Naruto learned to contain it, there could have been a catastrophe that would threaten all of Konoha. What's more, Naruto could have easily been abducted and used for nefarious purposes.

  Letting a Tailed Beast fall into enemy hands is just about the worst thing that could possibly happen, so why is everyone so willing to risk it?
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  (#5) What Happened To Naruto's Healing Abilities?

  After Madara ripped Kakashi's sharingan out of his face, Naruto is able to heal the injury for seemingly no reason. He claims that he can heal small injuries.
  Having your eyeball ripped out is not a small injury. It's actually a pretty severe one. But that's not the weirdest thing about this. While healing is certainly an ability that exists within the world of Naruto, this particular character has never been shown to have a similar ability. Sure, he just got a bunch of new powers through his Yang transformation, but if healing was part of it, then why does he never use his healing abilities again? It seems like it just came up randomly
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  (#6) Team 10 Definitely Knew Each Other As Children

  Team 10 is made up of the heirs to the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans, who have been passing on specific jutsu that are meant to be used in tandem for generations. The close bond between the three families means that there is absolutely no way that Ino, Shikamaru and Choji didn't know each other since they were babies. 

  For some reason, though, the anime decided to depict Shikamaru and Choji meeting for the first time at age seven. While this isn't impossible, there would have to be a canon reason behind it for it to make any sense whatsoever, and there isn't. 
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  (#7) Nagato's Rinnegan Is Kind Of Ridiculous

  Just before Madara kicked the bucket, he acquired the Rinnegan, a powerful doujutsu that's capable of a wide range of incredible feats, including bringing people back to life. He decided to have those eyes implanted in a war orphan so that he could retrieve them after he came back to life. This decision was, to put it lightly, completely and totally bonkers.

  How did Madara know that Nagato wouldn't pass away before he could retrive the Rinnegan? How did he know he wouldn't defeat Obito and decline to have anything to do with his plans? How did he know he wouldn't lose the Rinnegan somehow? There were so many potential problems with this plan that it's hard to believe Madara even thought of it let alone implemented it sucessfully.
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  (#8) The Tailed Beast Seals' Weaknesses Could Be Avoided

  Considering how powerful the tailed beasts are, it's crucial that they not accidentally burst out of a person's body. Apparently, this is especially likely to happen during childbirth. Why, then, are the beasts so frequently sealed into the bodies of cis women? 

  It's great to have women in important roles, but it seems pretty irresponsible to seal a monster into the body of a female child who may want to have children one day - essentially putting herself and everyone else around her in danger should she choose that route. Why not exclusively seal the beast into people who can't get pregnant? 

  Also, is childbirth the only thing that causes this weakness? Presumably it's due to the extreme strain on the body, so what about severe illness or injury? In that case, why would anyone who had a Tailed Beast in their body become an active duty ninja? 
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  (#9) Yamato's Existence Opens Up Some Major Plot Holes

  After gaining Hashimaru's powers through a brutal experiment led by Orochimaru, Yamato joins Konoha's military and briefly partners with Kakashi in ANBU. His powers were so strong that he could use them to restrain the Nine Tailed Beast. Kakashi could also do this with his sharingan, but his abilities were limited because using the sharingan siphoned so much of his chakra. If he'd had Yamato to help him, Naruto could have mastered the Kyuubi in record time. 

  The reason behind this particular plot hole is obvious - it's unlikely Kishimoto had actually thought of Yamato at the beginning of the series. 
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  (#10) Madara Took A Major Risk With Obito

  Madara did a pretty good job of brainwashing Obito into agreeing with his Infinite Tsukuyomi plan. What he didn't do a good job with was giving Obito half a chance to get it done. He didn't give Obito any method of being resurrected if he lost his life - sure, Zetsu was keeping him alive, but Zetsu isn't an immortality charm, he's life support to make up for Obito's injuries.

  Also, Madara did nothing to ensure that his body would be somewhere Obito would find it. The person who got ahold of it was actually Kabuto, Orochimaru's mad scientist henchman. This means that it was basically hanging out in the middle of nowhere. Why didn't Madara think this through?
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  (#11) What Is Going On With Shadow Clones?

  At the beginning of the series, it's stated that nobody can graduate from Ninja Academy unless they can create a Shadow Clone. That's one of the reasons why Naruto failed three times. But elsewhere in the series, they say that Shadow Clones are a jounin level skill. Why, then, are twelve-year-olds who will be mostly expected to do odd jobs required to have mastered it? 

  Also, if it is a requirement, why was Rock Lee able to pass the exam? He can't use chakra effectively, so it's pretty much impossible that he'd ever have been able to successfully create a shadow clone. 
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  (#12) Why Doesn't Madara Attack Naruto & Sasuke While They're Under Infinite Tsukuyomi?

  When Madara successfully unleashes the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he puts everyone on Earth in an extremely vulnerable position - one where their bodies are totally open to attack as their minds exist in an illusory world. 

  Madara might be cocky, but he's not stupid. There is no reason why he wouldn't have used the opportunity to eliminate people who were obvious threats to him. Naruto and Sasuke had already made it clear that they were incredibly powerful, and while he may not have known about Naruto's capabilities, he certainly would have known about his own descendant's potential.

  He clearly has no qualms about taking lives, so why would he rest on his laurels instead of making sure he'd succeed? 
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  (#13) How Did No One Notice That Obito Was Clearly A Teenager?

  When Obito approached Yahiko and Konan under the guise of Madara, it's almost impossible to understand why they believed him. Madara is a historical figure who exists on a fixed timeline - meaning, even if he somehow found a way to skirt his original passing, he'd still be extremely old. Yes, there are some jutsu that can ameliorate that, but those jutsu don't replicate obvious signs of puberty.

  As a teenage boy, Obito's voice would crack. Obito would have acne. Obito would be rapidly getting taller. And that's not even including all the emotional changes that come with puberty. There's just no way that he could consistently pull off pretending to be an ancient old man without arousing any suspicions at all. 
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  (#14) What Was The Point Of The Akatsuki?

  The Akatsuki might be awesome, but their overall purpose is actually super unclear. While they were technically supposed to be helping Obito and Madara collect the Tailed Beasts, none of them actually accomplished anything close to that. Sure, they provided some of the most epic fights of the series, but in almost every case they were either destroyed or redeemed. 

  This wouldn't constitute a plot hole except for one thing: Obito already knew, before gathering them, that he was fully capable of collecting the Tailed Beasts on his own. Why put forth all that effort in not only recruiting the members but also setting up an elaborate ruse to keep them in action when he could have just handled it himself? 
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  (#15) Madara Should Still Be Under Edo Tensei's Control

  Madara is able to free himself from the control of Edo Tensei, aka the Reanimation jutsu. This jutsu was invented by Tobirama, one of Madara's most noteworthy enemies. There's no explanation as to how Madara got his hands on it.

  It's possible that he used genjutsu to force it out of one of Tobirama's allies or that he independently invented it himself, but considering how closely guarded a secret it must have been, that's not exactly a detail that can be left out. 

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