What do you think drives each Shinobi the most?

Those I consider as the most committed Shinobis, I classify them according to 1)their ideals, 2)their personal dreams and 3)their devotion to the people they love.

1) Itachi, Hashirama, Madara, Hiruzen. All of them fought for what they consider to be the "greater good". Itachi did the terrible things he did to avoid a massive damage (civil war) to Konoha by destroying his own clan.
Hashirama and Madara had the ambition to unify clans which were former enemies through a village system, but things went wrong because of some circumstances we all know.
Hiruzen, despite his mistakes, showed his attachment to peace and entrusted the "Will of Fire" to the next generations.

2) Naruto, Obito, Orochimaru. Naruto worked hard to achieve his childhood dream: becoming Hokage. Although Obito's dream was also to become Hokage, I am still asking myself if being with Rin was not even a bigger dream for him given how he reacted after her death and how his will and his goals afterwards revolved around her.
Orochimaru, despite his horrible experiments, seemed to have the dream of changing something until he saw in Sasuke the one who would bring the wind of change. Anyway, he is like a self-made-man always trying to improve his knowledge and discovering new Jutsus.

3) Hinata, Sakura, Konan. Regarding Hinata and Sakura, I think I don't have to say much about their devotion towards the ones they love (Naruto and Sasuke). Their devotion towards them was something to be seen throughout the manga that denying this fact would be absolutely ridiculous.
Well, Konan was also an awesome character. Very caring for the ones she loved, Yahiko (romantically) and Nagato (sister-brother type of love). She remained by their side all along even when they were no more, she tried to defend their honor with all her might. I will never forget her fight against Obito, which was (imo) one of the most epic of the series.

Sorry people, there are so much interesting characters which could fit to the list but I'm quite exhausted now, it's late and I'm sure I forgot about others. Anyway, the way the characters were chosen was done in my own paradigm but you could have other paradigms and other characters. The most important is on what you base your choice when it comes to one or more committed Shinobi in the Narutoverse.

EDIT: The title of this thread has been modified (thanks Yamasaki Akaiko for the help). However, the content of the first post remained the same (aside this add), as changing the content of a first post, can lead to misunderstandings. Anyway, the characters mentioned above were listed according to what spoke to me the most when it comes to their commitment as Shinobi.

I think they're all committed and I don't consider some more committed than others. If you weren't committed then you'd quit because their lifestyle is not great at all.

The only time a lack of commitment is even relevant is basically when they were in the academy or just started as genin when they didn't really know what they were getting into as far as what it means to be a ninja. Their trials once they really started taking missions that truly involved life and death is what started opening their eyes to the reality of their job. If they didn't quit then, they were committed.

I don't like qualifying "more" or "most" because the characters in the series did not get equal amounts of fleshing out. Some got practically none (Tenten) while some were fleshed out usually for joking purposes only (Kiba). I don't think they're less committed than those who we got to have more done with their characters.

BTW, Orochimaru's dream involved becoming immortal (constant body transfers to stay "young") so that he could learn forever among other things. He comes across as having a fear of death and old age (different from Tsunade's) basically that I think started when he became an orphan at a young age.

Yamasaki Akaiko wrote:I think they're all committed and I don't consider some more committed than others. If you weren't committed then you'd quit because their lifestyle is not great at all.

The only time a lack of commitment is even relevant is basically when they were in the academy or just started as genin when they didn't really know what they were getting into as far as what it means to be a ninja. Their trials once they really started taking missions that truly involved life and death is what started opening their eyes to the reality of their job. If they didn't quit then, they were committed.

I don't like qualifying "more" or "most" because the characters in the series did not get equal amounts of fleshing out. Some got practically none (Tenten) while some were fleshed out usually for joking purposes only (Kiba). I don't think they're less committed than those who we got to have more done with their characters.

BTW, Orochimaru's dream involved becoming immortal (constant body transfers to stay "young") so that he could learn forever among other things. He comes across as having a fear of death and old age (different from Tsunade's) basically that I think started when he became an orphan at a young age.

Actually, you are right to say that they are all committed. This is also true that the characters did not get the equal amount of fleshing out. For the ones, who got some or more time of fleshing out according to what I felt while reading the story, I tried to classify them in 3 categories (although more could be found).

Btw, I could have put Hakku's devotion to Zabuza in the 3rd one too.

To the bolded: True, Orochimaru's dream is also linked to his fear of death but I still don't know if all his experiments served this purpose solely. He wanted to get the knowledge of all existing Jutsus and to develop new ones, which makes me see him as the "mad" scientist of the series.

Anyway, I'm still not satisfied with the thread's title. If you had a better one, I'd be glad to change it.

Perhaps a more inclusive title is what do you think drives each shinobi the most? Maybe that would work.

Yamasaki Akaiko wrote:Perhaps a more inclusive title is what do you think drives each shinobi the most? Maybe that would work.

Thanks Yamasaki! I'll proceed the change.

Awww... this topic hasn't gone very far. Alright, let's add some controversy to it then ;p

Naruto = To not be lonely
Sasuke = To avenge his family's honor from Itachi -> To honor Itachi
Sakura = Sasuke
Kakashi = Naruto, Sasuke, & Sakura
Sai = Naruto
Yamato = Konoha
Hinata = Naruto
Kiba = Akamaru and dogs in general
Shino = Insects
Kurenai = Her daughter, Mirai
Shikamaru = Konoha's future
Ino = Sakura
Chouji = Being worthy as a clan head
Asuma = His daughter, Mirai (**wonders if he knew it was going to be a girl when he died**)
Lee = Being a successful taijutsu-only ninja
Tenten = Being a successful ninja
Neji = Hyuuga clan's future
Gai = Lee
Kankuro = Gaara
Temari = Shikamaru
Tsunade = Naruto
Jiraiya = Naruto
Itachi = Sasuke
Obito = Rin
Madara = Defeating Hashirama
Hashirama = Village System
Minato = Kushina
Kushina = Minato & Naruto
Killer Bee = Rapping

I think that's enough characters to possibly start some discussion. I'll add more if there's no discussion though. ;p

^Great! That's a cool and efficient way to express it. I think I will follow your example. Two more characters:

- Tobirama = creating Jutsus (this is an assumption based on the famous Jutsus he created).

- Konohamaru = developing the Sexy No Jutsu (joking), surpassing his grandpa Hiruzen (more serious).