26March2010; 2:30am
I just want to share something from the Naruto series that inspired me and really touched my heart and in some ways, motivated me to do greater things.
Every friday I'm always excited for my all time favorite anime--Naruto. A close friend of mine (who was very clever in calculus) back in college introduced me to this very interesting Japanese creation. I was hooked and since then, Friday has become a Naruto Day.
I have followed every episode of the anime. Since the birth of Naruto to the time he first entered the ninja academy in their village. I’ve been fascinated by his love and deep attachment to his friends and his dreams of becoming the next Hokage (the Ninja Leader of their country). Now, he is a grown-up.
This week’s heart-pounding episodes of Naruto Shippuden are 152 and 153. Here, Naruto learned that his favorite teacher, whom he calls Jiraiya Sensei, died in a battle against his own ex-student named Nagato (a bad guy who wants to rule the world). It was a heartbreaking news for a student who spend his colorful growing-up years with his beloved teacher. And so Naruto just kept mourning and crying and was so depressed.
While he was sleeping a wise ninja named Shikamaru woke him up and told him he needed his help in order to decode the last message (an encryption) left by Jiraiya before he died in the hands of Nagato. They took a walk towards the hospital where Asuma’s pregnant wife, Kurenai (a brilliant genjutsu user) was having a maternity stay. Like Naruto, Shikamaru also lost his precious teacher (sensei in Japanese), Asuma, and he always visits Kurenai because his teacher entrusted Kurenai’s child to him to be his future student.
As they walked away from the hospital, after visiting Kurenai, Naruto looked somber and Shikamaru (wanting to cheer him up) just felt the sadness and pain inside him. So he started encouraging Naruto. As Shikamaru was having a deep talk with naruto, the following lines really inspired me and caught my attention:
“So don’t you think it’s about time for us to step-up? Time for us to become the ones who entrust. It’s a pain but we can’t keep complaining.”
“You will eventually be one treating to ramen (Naruto’s mentors always treated him to a ramen to reward him), and you’ll be called Naruto Sensie or something. We can’t stay brats forever… if we wanna become super cool ninja like Asuma and Lord Jiraiya, that is.”
I realized, for me to do greater things for God’s glory, I need to step-up, stop complaining and stop acting like a brat.
I hope this one inspired you too. :)
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