Something i noticed

[loussi-leb-ru.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone
In the anime i remember that they said that Naruto failed the Genin exam 3 times that means he was 3 years in the academy then how come in the chunin exam he didn't even recognize anyone on Gai's team especially since i don't think that Lee would have ignored Naruto if he saw him sitting on the swing alone. Any ideas, theories?

Comments

[forthelulz90.livejournal.com]

And why are Sasuke and Sakura the same age as him? That would imply that they failed 3 times too. Unless they have lots of tests in really quick succession...

[forthelulz90.livejournal.com]

haha, sorry for answering your question with another question. But it's an issue that's been on my mind recently.

[loussi-leb-ru.livejournal.com]

It sure start raising question because failing three times and being the same age as everyoen is weird i only noticed this when i started reading time travel though.

[loussi-leb-ru.livejournal.com]

Still doesn't make sense since after the graduation he had to stay and that mean repeating the year if it wasn't for the stunt Mizuki pulled.

[selenia-actimel.livejournal.com]

In my school system, you can flunk Math on 7th and 8th grade and still pass. If you flunk on 9th grade (when you leave for High School) you fail, and have to repeat the year.

So it's possible for him to have failed the clone test three times without getting set back a year or two :)

[senior-witch.livejournal.com]

Erm, we had a discussion about plotholes some "posts" ago here (http://community.livejournal.com/chuunin/5538184.html?view=65830024). I think that this is one.

[loussi-leb-ru.livejournal.com]

Acctually this post mostly discuss the Uchiha hair style.

[senior-witch.livejournal.com]

That's true.

I just wanted to say that I think that the question of why Naruto is the same age as Sasuke and Sakura even though he passed the academy exam only in his third attempt is one of the plotholes of the manga.

[loussi-leb-ru.livejournal.com]

Yup though i think it can be explained by the fact that maybe the Sandaime wanted Naruto to direct his energy toward something other than pranking or maybe learn to defend himself so he enrolled him in the academy early it was soemthign that happened with geniuses so why not with dead-lasts.

[senior-witch.livejournal.com]

Thanks. will change it.

[omizu.livejournal.com]

This is only if we're basing the assumption that there's only one class at a time.

That wouldn't make sense to have only 9 people in a graduating class, especially in a city the size of Leaf.

[shadedheart95.livejournal.com]

Yeah...if you reread the 1st volume, there are about...15+ people in the 'graduates' room that just dissapear when you get past that scene...my personal theroy is that in all of fire country, there are probably 1 or 2 other places that you could be taught to be a ninja, outside of the main villiage itself (the regesteration number for the chuunin exams made me think of that...seriously, the number was above sixty for their country, and I would think that more people would know each other in a community like that.)

[omizu.livejournal.com]

Plus the fact that it seems as though some of the larger clan families tend to train their young internally.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

Doesn't Kakashi say though that only three teams will pass? I only noticed this on a recent reading.It actually doesn't make that much sense either because... what if more than three teams pass whatever "test" or evalution the jounin-sensei has for them.

I think that Kishimoto, like JK Rowling, is not that strong in math.

[loussi-leb-ru.livejournal.com]

It was kinda implied that there was only one ninja academy in the Leaf village.

[aubreywitch.livejournal.com]

Hm, IDK. In the first chapter it's called the "graduation" exam and Iruka says that Naruto has failed it twice. We know he technically failed the third time but then his little stunt with Mizuki and learning Kage Bunshin caused Iruka to reverse the ruling to a pass which then allowed Naruto to finally graduate.

It's possible that Naruto was enrolled earlier than all the rest of the rookie nine (since Itachi and Kakashi graduated at such young ages--they either were enrolled super young or sped through the program) but that doesn't really made sense to me. For one, Sasuke should have graduated at a younger age by that logic and two... it's just weird that everyone in all the other teams are the same ages, lol. So it seems like it's more the norm for ninja to start at the same age and finish the course through the same number of years.

I think it's a plot hole, lol. Personally I would have been happy if Naruto were a year or two older. <3 He's immature enough that it wouldn't have mattered rofl

Aaaand I dunno why I'm rambling about this to you. Something about the exam affecting his final grade/rank rather than graduation made me go back and look. XD

[aubreywitch.livejournal.com]

I first thought about it when he met Lee and co during the Chuunin exam. But then I was like .... oh well, lol.

It's something that Kishi made up during the first and third chapters of the series. If you've seen the pilot chapter then you know at that point he was wasn't tied to any one idea (except for the nine tails). It's not surprising to me that he abandoned anything that didn't work for him or had just written it in passing. :3

But YES. And to, I don't know, ASK who his mother was? lol He finally found out his dad was yondaime and doesn't even bother to inquire about the woman who bore him :P

[rinnychan.livejournal.com]

That's because a woman's place is in the kitchen and Naruto knows it. So he doesn't bother to ask cause she doesn't matter. =P

[aubreywitch.livejournal.com]

http://www.onemanga.com/Naruto/1/15/

lol @ Naruto's face in that next to last panel XD

[ladygizarme.livejournal.com]

I've wondered about this as well. Like some other people mentioned, maybe it was just about him failing the clone exam, and not the whole year. And it only makes sense that there's more than one class at the Academy, really.

However, I've also had this thought: not only are Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and the rest of the rookies the same age (and Lee's team is one year older), but there are some people that graduate sooner. Itachi and Kakashi, for example. Whether or not it's actually a pretty big plothole in Kishimoto's continuity, I prefer to think of it this way, just for my sanity's sake:

Perhaps Academy students are given the option of "testing out" to graduate every year (or, even, at several points during the year). Not everyone would necessarily have to take the test, but I think Naruto is the impatient sort that would try to become a real ninja as soon as possible.

The logistics of the whole situation still boggles and irritates me from time to time--after all, it seems like every one in every team we've been shown so far are always the same ages--but thinking of it like that helps a bit.

[sam-shell.livejournal.com]

That solution is definitely in character for Naruto. I'd buy it :)

[loussi-leb-ru.livejournal.com]

Bur you forgot that he is sharing a class with Sasuke the rookie of the year if such an option was possible am sure Sasuke wouldn't have missed it to graduate early like Itachi.

[jaded-priceless.livejournal.com]

My guess is that there are multiple graduation ceremonies per year since only so many will pass and a genin team only has to complete 8 missions http://www.onemanga.com/Naruto/34/19/ before they can take the chuunin exams which are held twice a year.

Based on what we've seen so far I feel safe saying graduation and advancement depends more on skill than age since it says of the 27 graduates only 9 will be chosen to become genin and the rest will be sent back to the Academy. http://www.onemanga.com/Naruto/4/11/. Then are those like Kakashi and Itachi who graduated before the average child even begins ninja academy.

At times when you see the Academy and village it seems so huge that it's plausible Naruto never crossed paths with Neji, Tenten and Lee since Sasuke and Neji didn't know each other either. http://www.onemanga.com/Naruto/36/17/

[rose-in-shadow.livejournal.com]

At times when you see the Academy and village it seems so huge that it's plausible Naruto never crossed paths with Neji, Tenten and Lee since Sasuke and Neji didn't know each other either.

It's also possible that Naruto simply doesn't remember them. After all, he didn't recognize Shino after the timeskip.

That being said, I like the explanation of there being multiple graduations throughout the year and that being based on skill rather than a set group of class requirements. That makes the most sense. Otherwise, how else would people like Kakashi, Gai, and Itachi graduate at such a young age?

Also, Naruto being an orphan, he was probably in the academy at a very young age if only to give him something to do. If so, he had multiple opportunities to fail his graduation test before Sakura and Sasuke came along.

[senyum.livejournal.com]

Back in the Valley of the End flashbacks Sasuke is complaining about not being able to graduate early and his mum says something along the lines of "things are different now~"

So I assume people aren't allowed to graduate early anymore? D:

If Naruto started two years before he was supposed to, then after two years was transfered into the class with everyone his age it would work~ Maybe they started Naruto early just to keep him out of trouble :|
Although I think it's more like Kishimoto just forgot xD

[rose-in-shadow.livejournal.com]

Hehe. You're probably right. I think someone mentioned it above, but maybe Kishimoto like JK Rowling doesn't have the best record when it comes to math... That is pretty much proven by the Kakashi Gaiden opening too, which places it, what, 10 years before Shippuden? LOL

[sam-shell.livejournal.com]

of the 27 graduates only 9 will be chosen to become genin and the rest will be sent back to the Academy.
Although, this doesn't really make sense - Kakashi's exam was hardly quantitative. What if 4 teams "understood teamwork"? Do you pick the 3 that "got it" the most (and how would you determine that)? Do you pick the ones that "got it" the quickest? Do the ones that succeeded in capturing bells get preference over the ones that didn't? Do they still pass 3 teams if less than 3 teams "understood it"? If more than 3 teams capture bells, does the pass get taken away for some even though it was promised beforehand?

[jaded-priceless.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I've been wondering about as well. It doesn't make sense to just send some back unless that additional pressure is part of the test like in the Chuunin exams. They don't tell the students they pass or fail as a team only that 2/3 will be sent back so it's likely some will be selfish. I'm also not sure if all of the Jounin administer the bell test or if they use different methods. Kakashi did because that's what the Fourth, Jiraiya, and the Third used. Who knows what methods students with different teachers use.

I've been wondering what happened to the ones who were sent back? We don't see Sakura's bullies anymore or the kids who teased Lee and Naruto.

[sam-shell.livejournal.com]

Yes, it could have been another lie to set up the scenario, similar to how they were told one person would automatically fail due to a lack of a third bell. But it happened to turn out that 9 people were made genin...coincidence?

Who knows what methods students with different teachers use.
The ones that don't pass can then blame it on the lack of standardization :)

what happened to the ones who were sent back?
Huh, I forgot about those guys. I guess they are in the same place as the rest of the Chuunin applicants and the all the nameless Konoha jounin we saw at the beginning of test #1. Still ninja-ing, but not cool enough for screen time...

[kenshiki-kun.livejournal.com]

I think it was because the writers were to freakin lazy to think it through all the way and actually incorporate the personalities of the characters into the story-line.

[sam-shell.livejournal.com]

Was it ever stated that each attempt was separated by one year? Maybe they allowed him to retake the test the next day.

[umino.livejournal.com]

Kishimoto sucks at timelines ;_;.

But I still love the guy<3.