#I have one post about sasuke regarding to naruto

[maoam]

Naruto has a good heart

So many people misunderstand Naruto's character. Let's look at some of the absurd claims;

"Naruto only wanted his face on the mountain, he wants people to worship him, his goal is selfish"

When Naruto made this goal for himself, he was younger than 12. As an orphan child who is ostracized from society, this was his way of trying to become liked, so he could become part of the society. Aside from hermits, most humans desire connections with other humans. It's normal. And Naruto being a child sees that the Hokage is someone who people approve, and becoming Hokage would be a sure way to have such connections. It makes sense for a child to rationalize it this way. People completely forget the context, many other characters also desired connections such as Haku, Kimimaro, Gaara etc. It's a common theme in the manga. Kishimoto wrote neglected children very believably. So to write this off as "Naruto just wants people to worship him like he's God, what a narcissist" is dishonest and poor reading comprehension.

Not to mention, Naruto's mentality changed pretty fast, and he wanted to become someone who saves and protects people, someone people could rely on.

Already in the first arc he had that desire to help others. He's always been a good boy. Eventhough Naruto was pissed off at Inari's comments and wanted to tell him off, he realized there's a deeper reason for Inari's cynicism. So he decided to help him instead of starting a fight.

In Part 2, Naruto's responsibilities grow massively, especially after the Pain arc. In the end, everyone ends up putting all the burdens on Naruto's shoulders. Everyone expects Naruto to protect them and basically do all the impossible things.

His goal to become a Hokage started out as a need for acknowledgement, yes. But his transformed drive to become Hokage and bear all the responsibility in Part 2 came from his need to fulfill everyone's expectations for him and also him thinking he owes to the people who support him.

It's not that Naruto never had any resentment for how everyone treated him. He just repressed it.

And in the end, he put it all aside, in order to become the hero for everyone. No I don't think it's entirely healthy. But it's not selfish that's for sure.

"Naruto is shallow, selfish etc."

Naruto was always grateful for the connections he was able to make and treasured them heavily. His relationship with Gaara gives even more insight to that.

Naruto acknowledges Gaara was alone for longer than him. How can you call him a narcissist? Naruto is shown to be upset at the fact Gaara was viewed as an undesirable and a tool.

He always had genuine empathy and care for others. To claim otherwise is just bizarre. He blames himself too a lot of times. Then there's his relationship with Sasuke.

Unlike certain Naruto stans who hate Sasuke, Naruto himself has enough empathy and humility to consider he could have ended up the same as Sasuke, if some things would have been slightly different.

A lot of people also complain about the way Naruto behaved in Vote1, eventhough that was Kishimoto's plan, Naruto was supposed to not understand Sasuke fully at that point (and still his behavior was understandable, considering Orochimaru is a predator who wanted to wear Sasuke's skin). Naruto himself acknowledges he didn't. Naruto always tried to use his own experiences to understand the world and others better.

"Naruto just projects onto people because he wants to talk about himself"

Actually no. Pain and Obito both projected onto him first, and told him they were similar, which is also why Obito wanted to convince Naruto to join him. Naruto responding to them and trying to show he understands them to a degree is not a crime. It's basic empathy. I don't think I will even bother explaining it further than this.

My point is, Naruto is a good boy/man. There's no need to twist him into a narcissistic sociopath just because you don't personally like him.

[narutouzumakiarchive]

Naruto, Sasuke, and Heart Symbolism

Sasuke got his 2nd tomoe because of Naruto.

Narrative Impact: Established Naruto as someone with unique importance to Sasuke outside of Team 7 and someone who could change his heart. Set up a subtle juxtaposition between Naruto and Itachi with regards to Sasuke ("I swore I wouldn't die... until I killed him... my older brother... thought the oath would save me... but... don't you dare die.") which established the tension that would have to be resolved in Sasuke's arc regarding whether he should solely follow in his brother's foorsteps or choose the comfort of his emotional connection with Naruto.

Naruto clutched at his chest above where his heart would be when he grieved over the loss of Sasuke. The mission wasn't the only priority that Naruto carried in his heart.

Narrative Impact: Established Sasuke as someone entrenched in Naruto's heart, despite Naruto's tsundere posturing. The first major instance of Naruto's feelings for Sasuke conflicting with what was expected of Naruto as a shinobi.

Kishimoto explicitly emphasized Sasuke looking at and reacting to Naruto 3 times with his heart beating in response, thus establishing a metonymic relationship in which Sasuke's heart beating represented Naruto having an effect on Sasuke's heart. Naruto was the only comrade Sasuke's heart beat for. When Sasuke finally decided to wholly reject Itachi's words, Sasuke's heart beat again, symbolizing Naruto connected to Sasuke's heart changing.

Narrative Impact: Reinforced Naruto as someone who had a significant effect on Sasuke's heart and foreshadowed Naruto being the one who would have an effect on Sasuke's heart post timeskip. Continued the Naruto vs. Itachi element in Sasuke's by having Sasuke reject Itachi's negative words as a result of Naruto's influence. Also built upon Sasuke being moved by Naruto's fortitude.

The aforementioned reading was confirmed when Orochimaru, who Kishimoto used frequently as a reliable exposition tool to comment on Sasuke's state of mind (see exhibit A) thinks about the moment Sasuke finally decided to fight Orochimaru and attributes this change to Naruto's impact.

Narrative Impact: Provided explicit proof of Naruto being a threat to people that desired to negatively control Sasuke. The first example of Kishimoto using Orochimaru to comment on Naruto and Sasuke's bond.

Naruto's heart beat in positive excitement when Sasuke explicitly acknowledged Naruto as a rival and equal.

Narrative Impact: Showed how crucial Sasuke's validation was to Naruto. Laid the groundwork for a crucial core motivation that Naruto mentioned in his rooftop fight with Sasuke, his inner monologue during VOTE 1, and his 5 Kage Summit reunion with Sasuke. This core motivation also helps undercut the idea that Naruto's desire to connect with Sasuke were solely rooted in altruism.

Gaara directly compared Naruto to Kimimaro, who stated that he would forever remain in Orochimaru's heart because he was not alone, which was obvious foreshadowing for Naruto and Sasuke's bond.

Narrative Impact: Highlighted Naruto's utter devotion to amd belief in Sasuke. Kishimoto's use of comparatives (the more precious your idol is to you... the harder you fight for him) in foreshadowing Naruto's feelings for Sasuke helped undercut the "Naruto would do what he did for anybody" argument. Kishimoto could have easily made Gaara say ("If someone is precious, you'll fight for him) and the core meaning would have more or less remained the same, but Kishimot was specific with his words. Sasuke was put in this role precisely because Naruto cared about Sasuke the most, along with Iruka.

Sasuke recognized Naruto as his closest friend and the one that he needed to kill in order to get the Magekyou Sharingan.

Narrative Impact: Reaffirmed Naruto's status as someone Sasuke had a unique bond that was bolstered by, but not limited to Team 7. Also used comparatives to situate Naruto at the top of the hierarchy of importance when it came to Sasuke's comrades. Kishimoto's choice to have Sasuke kill his closest friend over say, a close friend in general — which would give Sasuke another option besides Naruto — is telling.

Sasuke got his 3rd tomoe because of Naruto confessing the weight of his feelings.

Narrative Impact: Highlighted just how much Sasuke valued Naruto, and more specifically, hearing Naruto talks about how much Sasuke meant to him. Naruto provokes strong feelings in Sasuke.

Sasuke asked Naruto if he could read what was inside his heart (his deep inner feelings).

Narrative Impact: Established the "fighting as a means of communication" motif that repeatedly cropped up in Sasuke and Naruto's dynamic post timeskip.

When Naruto and Sasuke's jutsus clashed, a childhood dream of Sasuke and Naruto's arms being linked in the unison sign was shown.

Narrative Impact: I mean the pictures say it all. Despite the harshness and the violence, they truly did desire to connect with eachother deep down. Also showed how Naruto and Sasuke could coat the humanity out of eachother even in strong power forms that amplify aggression.

Naruto clutched his chest above where his heart would be when he saw a shooting star and then thought of Sasuke.

Narrative Impact: Built on visual motif of Naruto "clutching his heart" because of Sasuke. Reinforced Sasuke as Naruto's motivation and the one who gave him strength given that immediately after this scene, Naruto got up and successfully achieved his training goal. A moment further supported by Kishimoto using Kakashi to point out that Sasuke was Naruto's driving force.

Naruto clutched his chest above where his heart would be when having a panic attack over thought of Sasuke being killed.

Narrative Impact: Reinforced the heart clutching because of Sasuke motif that was established in Part 1. His devotion to Sasuke was not a matter of mere pragmatism and devotion to perceived ideals regarding what it took to be a Hokage, and it's bizarre that this is still an argument. Sasuke is someone who is deeply entrenched in Naruto's heart.

Naruto and Sasuke clashed fists, entered their shared mindscape, and Naruto opened up about how much Sasuke meant to him.

Narrative Impact: Visual imagery of Naruto and Sasuke reaching out to eachother connected with the dream Naruto and Sasuke held during VOTE 1 regarding their desire to emotionally connect with eachother (represented by them doing the unison symbol). Represented Naruto coming closer to Sasuke's heart. Displayed Naruto's emotional growth and maturity when he managed to speak aloud the words that he kept confined to his inner monologue in VOTE 1.

Naruto made a callback to what Sasuke asked him in VOTE 1, pointed to his chest above where his heart would be, and asked Sasuke if he could read what was inside his heart.

Narrative Impact: Naruto acknowledged himself and Sasuke as equals who would die if they faced the other which put a qrench in the plans of people who wanted Naruto to dominate Sasuke in battle. This scene also led to Naruto making a proposal that significantly resembled the structure of shinju (double suicide), (a concept that has great significance in Japanese and Western popular culture and is significantly linked to romantic love — hello Romeo and Juliet) a concept that was invoked by Omoi at the beginning of the volume that Naruto's proposal was in.

Tobirama confirmed that the transformation of the sharingan reflects the heart, reaffirming the importance of Naruto to Sasuke.

Narrative Impact: Debunked the claims of antis that Sasuke's sharingan transformations weren't tied to Sasuke's fear of losing Naruto. Established Naruto as someone who was a great love and reaffirmed the importance of Naruto and Sasuke's family to Sasuke's arc.

Bunpuku, the Shukaku host before Gaara, stated that people's hearts fundamentally wished to connect with and accept eachother, foreshadowing Naruto and Sasuke's reconciliation. This reading was reinforced by 1. Kishimoto repeating the "No distinction between man and beast" motif present in Bunpuku's statement through Kurama's confirmation that just like Naruto was the one and only for Sasuke, Naruto was the one and only for the tailed beasts (exhibit A) 2. The Sage of Six Paths indicating that the battle between Naruto and Sasuke would be a reclamation of love, which was linked to Bunpuku stating that love was a manifestation of accepting someone's true heart (exhibit B), and 3. The visual imagery of Naruto and Sasuke's blood connecting metaphorically representing their hands meeting and the realization of the dream that they held in their hearts during VOTE 1 to connect with eachother (exhibit C) [and this also indirectly reinforces the "No distinction between man and beast motif because the unison symbol between Naruto and Sasuke is similar to the fist bumps between Naruto and the tailed beasts (ie. Chapter 572)]

Narrative Impact: Provided the fact that contrary to the antis desires, Sasuke was never going to merrily kill Sasuke so that Sasuke could embody the political ideals people pushed onto him. His need to cut Naruto was a matter of duty and self harm rather than something that would make him genuinely happy.

The above analysis was also linked to Sasuke explicitly mentioning that the outcome of his reconciliation with Naruto was that their hearts could now connect in their shared feelings of pain and empathy for the other.

Narrative Impact: Wrapped up the subjects of The Heart and Pain that Kishimoto devoted attention to throughout the manga, most significantly through Naruto and Sasuke's bond. Explicitly established an intense and deep mutual level of intimacy, care and understanding in their bond that was hard fought but successfully achieved through hard work.

Madara explicitly confirmed ninshu, the means through which Naruto and Sasuke entered their unique mindscape to communicate with eachother, was a religion that was originally created by the Sage of Six Paths in order to enable people to understand eachother's hearts — a fact confirmed by the Sage himself.

Narrative Impact: Finally gave an explanation for Naruto and Sasuke's mindscape. Highlighted that even amidst violence there was a desire to understand eachother and be connected at it's core. Explicity linked Naruto and Sasuke's bond to a religion, something that was only previously implicitly hinted at (eg. Naruto sitting in front of a temple and thinking about Sasuke)

Sasuke told Naruto during VOTE 2 that they both knew eachother's hearts.

Narrative Impact: Represented the development of Naruto and Sasuke's bond. They no longer had to ask the other if they understood matters of the heart, because they developed to a point where the understood the motivations of the other. As Sasuke said, they were different from the two boys who fought at the final valley long ago.

Naruto and Sasuke connected in their shared mindscape, which reflects the heart, and Sasuke reaffirmed the fact that he needed to kill Naruto to fully be alone and Naruto recalled the words Sasuke said to him in VOTE 1.

Narrative Impact: Reinforced Naruto's level of signifance in Sasuke's heart and again solidified that Sasuke needed to cut off Naruto to achieve his goals and enter the hell of loneliness. It was a classic "perceived need" vs. want conflict.

Sasuke stated that Naruto kept coming closer to his heart all the time.

Narrative Impact: Helped bolster the arguments of SNS fans who pointed out the fact that it was Naruto who Sasuke was connected to post timsekip rather than Team 7. You'd think it would be obvious since Sasuke himself said Naruto was the only one he needed to cut off to be alone and he also stated he still considered Naruto to be his closest friend but the level of denial and refusal to engage with what the text presents is significant in this fandom. It was also significant that Sasuke mentioned Naruto (alone) came closer to his heart the whole time meaning the entire post timeskip.

Bonus: Kishimoto drew from the romantic philosophical tradition of shinju. Shinju originated as an outward expression of "what was in the heart" and was meant to be an expression of gay love but transformed into an expression of heterosexual love, which can be seen in the example of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's famous love suicide plays, the same Chikamatsu Monzaemon that Kishimoto has referenced explicitly in the manga.

Narrative Impact: From the repeated "what was in the heart" symbolism to the amputation of Naruto and Sasuke's arms to Naruto's proposal that resembled love suicide in the same volume where Omoi talked about shinju, the level of romantic references and coding escaped plausible deniability. At the very least, it established that Kishimoto was not ignorant about what he chose to put into his manga and the way he chose to portray Naruto and Sasuke's bond.

[adhdnojutsu]

"Stop making them gay"

The main reason a lot of male characters in Naruto didn't have a chance with each other despite being written like lovebirds, is because Shonen doesn't do "gay". Itachi was canonically more attached to Shisui than to Izumi and Naruto more to Sasuke than to Hinata, but Shonen insists to be traditionally masculine, and traditional masculinity rejects what it assumes of homosexuality minus its allowance for "manly tears" or flamboyant outfits. Instead, it exaggerates male friendships/brotherhood to a point that is far from credible and has to screech "no homo" as a constant disclaimer. The Naruto franchise may have started "low key shipping" SNS as a joke, but it's not a baseless one at all.

ShiIta are so similar to Romeo & Juliet, it's ridiculous. While they weren't from warring clans, they were loyal to warring entities and bound to be pitted against each other in the coup if it had gone down and Shisui been alive. The conflict between the Uchiha clan and Konoha was in the way of them being as close as they wanted to be, with Shisui being tasked to spy on Itachi and Itachi tasked to spy on the clan Shisui was loyal to, so they had to meet secretly. Ultimately, they were both sacrificed for peace and for what was left of their respective allegiances (Sasuke and Konoha).

Naruto stepped in repeatedly when Itachi was beating up Sasuke, but kept pushing Hinata to fight Neji against whom she clearly stood no chance and who was intending to kill her, because he is pathologically ready to disrespect Sasuke's wishes to save him, but projected his own, naive ideals onto Hinata with no regard for her life, just because it made HIM mad to watch. I mean, he was visibly shocked when Hinata confessed to him 16 years into their lives... She was never a priority in his life before The Last, and he probably would have equally lost it if Pain had beaten up Moegi that way, because he was already livid over Jiraiya, Kakashi, the village etc. and wasn't about to stand for one more friend getting killed by this terrorist. Hinata, at that time, meant little more to him than his other classmates, Sasuke did and always has. He literally asked her why she'd risk her life for him because he did not see or feel anything that would make that question redundant. Izumi wasn't mentioned once post-mortem except vaguely, by Obito, while Shisui's influence on Itachi, both ideological and emotional, is canon gospel. It's so great that I can't help but wonder if he used Kotoamatsukami on Itachi before giving him his remaining eye. "Friendship" and "brotherhood" are NOT "emotional co-dependency and self-destructive emulation". Neither is a healthy romantic relationship, but people in fiction more typically go insane over or sacrifice their authentic self for, (lost) romance than (lost) friendship or siblings.

There's also nothing platonic about stalking your "friend" to a point where he feels compelled to kill you while you're screaming that you're gonna break all of his bones if that's what it takes to keep him by your side. Nothing cute or sane either, mind you. Sasuke and Naruto are a lot like Sarah and Setsuna of Angel Sanctuary. Sure, they're meant to be siblings or sibling-like, but DAMN that's not a sibling-appropriate degree of obsession.

Shonen has a tendency to exaggerate the importance of bonds and convictions, but Kishimoto took it to a level that has licensing companies make jokes in the form of couple-coded merch or fan service scenes. Even if he didn't do it on purpose, he clearly did it on such a blatantly obvious level that you get shit like this:

[evilkitten3]

#i think mdr also doesnt rlly care abt younger ppl's opinions sdffggfds#he's like. old man shakes his fist at a cloud#he is so OLD and i think he believes that its part of why he must be right#like ... he has all this experience. he has lived an extensive life#tried and failed to make 'teamwork' (cooperation) work#so for him it is. it seems naive probably of naruto to believe that this would work#(it is notable tho that he SEES that the shinobi villages are cooperating. he mentions this Twice actually the other time is#right after his edo tensei resurrection. its the very first thing he remarks upon being faced w the alliance#that theyre all wearing the same headbands but they seem to be coming from different villages#this kind of .. does blow his mind. but its too late for him to take on a new ideology Now ^_^#he has to go thru with it. he's so smart and so sexy after all <3 he has to be right. and they must be wrong#bc he has lived and seen that any alliance will just fall apart at the end and so thats why theyre 'pathetic' at the end of the day anyway)#it is very funny tho i think asfgdfdgd#bc obt is like out there screaming and arguing with everyone. and mdr is like ummm who the fuck cares. LMAO#lets beat the shit out of each other and whomstever wins. that one's the one that has rights. and IS right w their ideology#i also do think its notable that team 7's 'teamwork' doesnt actually manage to bring him down BUT#their teamwork does lead to the defeat of kaguya. so. i feel like at the end of the day#u can still say that the teamwork/cooperation ideology is the winner here#bc they get to have a future and konoha continues to exist. whereas mdr fucking explodes and then dies. lmao#so the narrative does. still prove him wrong albeit indirectly

1000% true he only cares about opinions of the youth (hehe) when said youth can shatter his ribcage. and even then he's still more interested in getting kicked again

alternatively i think he might find it somewhat amusing that the way to get everyone to cooperate turned out to be. having them all be really really really about-to-shit-themselves scared of him (obito but that's that same thing as far as he's concerned). moreover, if the only time they can work together is when they have a common opponent, then as soon as that opponent is defeated (entirely hypothetical ofc bc he's perfect and about to become the second sage and can't be stopped ever) then they'll just. go back to fighting each other. which just proves his original point (it in fact does not, but since he never tells anyone anything there's no one who can point out the itty bitty teeny weeny gaping massive gloryhole flaws in his logic such as that. while they can't prove that that's not true. he also can't prove that it is.)

your logic concerning the narrative is technically correct but unfortunately madara operates on his own crazy caveman logic, and while team seven can do. basically jackshit to stop him, as soon as kaguya takes over, they manage to beat her, which i think madara could easily interpret as black zetsu sacrificing madara to bring back someone weaker than him (did kaguya survive maito gai? no. did she survive a living full-power hashirama? no (neither did madara but pointing that out will just make him hard again). as far as he cares, all kaguya did was show up, steal his body via black zetsu hax, and then get pummeled by three teenagers, some corpses, and obito's ex. all of whom tried and failed miserably to stop madara).

now, technically, madara is crazy so his own potential thoughts on All That should be irrelevant.... if that had been the final battle. but the final fight of the series is naruto vs sasuke, and whoever is stronger is the most correctest, ultimately just. proving madara's power-over-all stance to be the correct one (i guess you could argue that naruto worked with kurama? but. idk kurama still doesn't really have the ability to just. leave. so i would at the very least have an asterisk there, personally)

wait so, as the holders if the most and 2nd most insane naruto characters, what did madara and obito have to say about team 7 dynamics ??

As a past memeber of team 7 Obito's opinion doesn't count cause he thinks kakashi's gremlins are the only normal people in the world. I don't remember Madara saying anything on the dynamics of team 7 but I'm not an authority on the matter so I turn it over to my resident Madara Scholars @evilkitten3 and @narutoenjoyer5000

[yellowocaballero]

“I’m afraid I must call you out of retirement for a final mission.”

Cold ice shot through Tobi’s chest. Fuck.

Did he know? He couldn’t. If he knew, he wouldn’t show it like this. His visit with T&I would be a lot less cheerful, that’s for sure. Was he prodding Tobi, watching for his reaction? Did Sarutobi honestly think he’d slip up? Tobi was incapable of slipping up. He couldn’t tell the truth with a kunai to his throat at this point.

“What sort of mission is it?” Tobi asked excitedly, ripping open the folder. He held the paper up and slowly mouthed the words on the page, fighting to get through the page. Look at him, he filled out his mission reports in crayon and could barely read. “Mission report…assignment duration, promotion or release…pay…oh, ew…assignment…jounin sensei…”

Tobi trailed off.

Distantly, he heard himself say, “Um. Maybe this is a mistake?”

As promised in last post. Kakashi & Obito roleswap. Barely. It's complicated. Please pay no attention to how many roleswaps I have written. Just ignore it. Do me a favor and do not think about it. OK? Thank you.

Snippet from a much longer, much messier document. This part was the very first part writiten and very much a proof of concept. I'm trying to figure out if I should overhaul the thing and turn this into an actual story, so let me know.

Short beginning scene of Tobito's Wild Ride under the cut.

“Tobi. Thank you for coming.”

Obviously, Tobi didn’t bow or kneel. That wasn’t the sort of person Tobi was. He just grinned broadly, waving so broadly that his body swayed with the motion. “Gramps! Hello! Wow, you’ve gotten old since I’ve seen you!”

Sarutobi chuckled, raising a pipe to his mouth. The pipe - either ‘I’m thinking hard’, ‘I want to pretend I’m thinking hard and giving due consideration to your idea when I don’t really care’, or ‘I’ve already decided and I’m pretending that you have a say in this’. What was the point of the last one? This was a literal military dictatorship. Tobi forgot how exhausting this man could be. 

“It has been a while,” Sarutobi said indulgently. “Since…the T&I incident, I believe?”

Tobi giggled, high and childish. “Inoichi-san got sooo mad. But Tobi said he was real, real, real sorry, so I hope he’s not still mad…oh, no.” Tobi gasped, face falling in desolation. “Is Inoichi-san still mad at me? Oh, Tobi can go apologize again -”

“It’s water under the bridge.” Tobi exhaled gustily, wiping the back of his hand against his brow. It wasn’t his fault Inoichi hated him. Apparently his mind was absolutely impenetrable. Something about constant children’s lullabies just playing full blast in his head. Or songs regarding a specific time of day someplace in the world. “I have to apologize, Tobi. I always feel as if I should keep a better eye on you. There’s never enough time in the day for all of the people we care about. Please forgive me for my inattention to you.”

Manipulative old fuck. Tobi panicked, embarrassed by the attention and affection. He waved his hands quickly, almost jumping up and down. “Gramps! It’s okay! Tobi’s not lonely or sad! He still has Sasuke-chan! Sasuke-chan wasn’t brutally murdered, so Tobi’s A-OK!” Tobi had to tell himself that a lot. Every morning after a nightmare, which meant every morning period. “And I met a really nice old lady yesterday and helped her down the street. She gave me an apple sweet. It was delicious! So there’s nothing to forgive, Gramps!”

“I’m glad,” Sarutobi said warmly. Ugh. Tobi knew objectively that Minato-sensei had tried to imitate that tone, but he still liked to convince himself that Sarutobi was mimicking Minato-sensei. That was a good one, he’d have to use it. “Sasuke-kun is actually why I called you here today.” 

That kid. Tobi sighed. “Tobi is sorry that Tobi cannot control Sasuke-chan. I’ve told him that punching Naruto-kun is bad, but he just doesn’t listen…”

“I’m sure you’ll find a method somehow.” Sarutobi pushed a thin file folder across the desk, and Tobi curiously stepped forward and picked it up. He’d know a file like that anywhere. It was a mission assignment folder. “I’m afraid I must call you out of retirement for a final mission.”

Cold ice shot through Tobi’s chest. Fuck.

Did he know? He couldn’t. If he knew, he wouldn’t show it like this. His visit with T&I would be a lot less cheerful, that’s for sure. Was he prodding Tobi, watching for his reaction? Did Sarutobi honestly think he’d slip up? Tobi was incapable of slipping up. He couldn’t tell the truth with a kunai to his throat at this point.

How did Tobi feel about this? Tobi sure as hell knew how Obito felt - desperately wondering if a T&I visit was in his future. Tobi was scared of the missions, sure. But he was a five year old. How would a five year old react to these things? 

Well. Tobi knew how he would have reacted. He would have sighed and rolled his eyes about yet another mission. Pretty impressive when you were burned out of your career at five years old. He blamed the two month graduation for years before he learned of Rin and Kakashi’s hell and eventually concluded that it could have been worse. At least Tobi was paid for his war zone. 

“A mission?” Tobi gushed. He clenched on the folder far too tightly, like a child clutching a wheezing frog. “I’m going on missions again?” He jumped a little, his usual little show of excitement. Kept his energy up. “Does that mean Gramps isn’t mad at me anymore?”

Tobi carefully snuck a glance up from the folder, checking Sarutobi’s expression. Sarutobi’s face was impassive stone, as usual, but he looked a little worn too. “We were never angry with you.”

Tobi fully looked up, tilting his head and frowning. “Nuh-uh. Tobi remembers. Everybody was so mad at Tobi. Just because his hand slipped…it wasn’t Tobi’s fault.”

“We know,” Sarutobi said gently. “Minato didn’t retire you because he was angry with you. He was only looking out for you.”

Well, Tobi didn’t want to be out of fucking retirement. It was objectively insane to put him on any mission. Tobi had gotten sabotaging every attempt to make him a useful member of society down to a fucking art. He had a shitton of inheritance to blow and a nice long civilian life to blow it on. Maybe he was too stubborn about it - Iruka was definitely convinced that he was the second laziest person in the village and sabotaged his assigned jobs on purpose, which Tobi would have resented if it wasn’t absolutely true - but spite was important. Spite woke him up in the morning. 

The only thing that helped him tolerate this stupid village was his hate for it. Ain’t that just the way.

“What sort of mission is it?” Tobi asked excitedly, ripping open the folder. He held the paper up and slowly mouthed the words on the page, fighting to get through the page. Look at him, he filled out his mission reports in crayon and could barely read. “Mission report…assignment duration, promotion or release…pay…oh, ew…assignment…jounin sensei…”

Tobi trailed off.

Distantly, he heard himself say, “Um. Maybe this is a mistake?”

“Trust me. You’re hardly our first choice.” Finally, they agreed on something. “But you’re the only one in this village with a Sharingan, Tobi. You’re the only one who can teach Sasuke how to use his power.”

“Nuh-uh. Um. This is a mistake. Ha ha.” Tobi ripped the paper from the folder, crumpling it into a ball and tossing it over his shoulder. “Because, um, I can’t use my Sharingan. Did Gramps maybe forget that? Ha ha?”

“But you still remember how to use it. Even if you can’t use it yourself, you can still walk Sasuke-kun through using his.” Sarutobi eyed Tobi knowingly, the dim glowing embers of his pipe reflecting a soft light in his eyes. “You were once a genius with the Sharingan, Tobi. They said you were the best since Madara.”

Yeah! Yeah, they did say that, old man! That was the whole fucking problem!

Mention of the Sharingan or Tobi’s old talents always upset him, so this was a great springboard into nipping this in the bud. He’d throw a hissy fit if he had to. Tobi had killer hissy fits. That was how Sasuke was given a seat as head of house in the Clan Council. Tobi’s wail could pierce eardrums and Sasuke had deserved that fucking seat. 

“Tobi doesn’t like the Sharingan anymore!” Tobi exclaimed. “Tobi wants to help Sasuke-chan, Gramps, cross Tobi’s heart! But Tobi doesn’t like the Sharingan and the Sharingan don’t like Tobi. And that’s just the truth.” Tobi crossed his arms, sniffling and scrunching his nose. “And don’t say what you’re gonna say. Tobi knows what’s up. Minato-sensei’s little boy is on that team too, isn’t he?”

He absolutely was. Tobi had speed-read the entire document while he was reading it out loud. But even the remnant of Obito’s genius was still considerable, and Tobi’s moments of keen insight were useful for pushing the enemy into a corner. 

“I thought you might appreciate the chance to look after your sensei’s son,” Sarutobi said mildly, removing a silver lighter from his pocket. Engraved, a gift from Biwako. Was that on purpose? A mind game on Tobi, an unconscious memory on his part, or a purposeful evocation of a memory just for him? Was he trying to remind Tobi of something or corner Obito? Damn this man. “Help him like your sensei helped you.”

The really great thing about Tobi was that he could get away with saying this. It was only to the left of cathartic, but at least it was in the zone. “I’m not stupid, Gramps!” Tobi yelled. The ANBU in the corners twitched, but when Sarutobi’s fingernail clicked on the silver lighter they subsided. “You’re giving Minato-sensei and Kushina-neechan’s little baby and his fox to the last Sharingan because you want the Sharingan to eat the Fox! Why are you doing what you want when you know it won’t work? Tobi’s tried, he can’t - he can’t, Gramps.”

It wasn’t the sort of thing any self-respecting Uchiha would admit. Half of them would kill themselves if they lost their Sharingan. Uchiha Obito, whose Sharingan was the pride and joy of the clan - who was the Uchiha’s Uchiha before Itachi-kun was even a twinkle in his mother’s eye - would never abandon his one point of value. 

And everybody knew how prideful the Uchiha were. There was no Uchiha alive who would pretend to be Tobi. Could you imagine? What Uchiha would humiliate themselves like this with a goofy smile on their face? A regular human being could barely do it. An Uchiha? Forget it. Impossible.

But Kushina-neechan’s favorite shinobi was always the most surprising of all. And Obito cared about that more than all the rest. 

The only ninja who would have ferreted him out was Kakashi. Kakashi and his dopey, stupid smile. His ridiculous porn books and his clumsy pratfalls. His laziness, lateness, and utter underachiever lifestyle. Only Kakashi ever said those words, with a wink and a smile: a true shinobi looked underneath the underneath. So save your energy and watch the clouds with me, Uchiha-kun. No? Maybe next time…

The next time never came. Being a good Uchiha had always meant something, and the useless son of a disgraced clan meant nothing at all. Nothing to anybody but Minato and Kushina and Rin and Obito.

“You’re better than nothing.” In that second, Sarutobi really did look very tired. He didn’t look like he was lying at all. “You’re the best we have, Tobi.”

Tobi was silent. Sarutobi knew it wasn’t much of a compliment. Even somebody like Tobi would know that. 

“As a favor to Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun,” Sarutobi said, “and as a favor to me. Please give these children the help you can. Don’t worry - I’ll ask the other jounin to pitch in and help.” 

Tobi lowered his voice, and he allowed his tone to grow a little more serious. “I’m not strong. I’m not good at molding chakra and I haven’t really fought anyone in a long time. I can’t protect the children.” 

“We’ll be careful,” Sarutobi allowed. But there was something in his eye… “You may be rusty, but I doubt you’re out of the ring yet. Have a little faith in yourself.” The look in his eyes glinted and grew, and for the first time he stared right at Tobi. “You did hold your own against Uchiha Itachi.”

They stared at each other for a long second, two. A little too late, Tobi laughed and scrubbed the back of his neck. “Silly Gramps! I said a billion times. Tobi hid. I don’t think Itachi-kun thought it was worth it to kill me…I don’t think Itachi-kun ever thought I was a real Uchiha. But we’ve showed him, huh?” Tobi grinned, jabbing a finger at his chest. “Now there’s three whole Uchiha in the whole wide world! One third’s a serial killer, one third’s twelve, and one third is…drumroll please…Tobi! Konoha’s in good hands, ne?”

Tobi smiled at the man who ordered Uchiha Itachi to kill their entire family.

Sarutobi smiled back at the man who was currently pulling the most intricate and improbable lying campaign in a village of ninjas. In Obito’s defense, it was to save his own life. Sarutobi had murdered his family to - well, save the village, but Tobi didn’t have to like it. 

“Thank you for accepting the mission. I trust you’ll do splendidly.”

“Uh. Tobi didn’t -”

“The children ought to be waiting for you in the schoolroom at 1000 hours. You ought to head over - I expect you’re already late.”

Tobi squealed, looking at the unwound watch on his wrist and slapping his head. “Oh no! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late! Bye, Gramps! You promise-promise to get back-up for Tobi, right?”

Pleasantly, Sarutobi said, “I would not trust you alone with those children, no.”

“Yay! Okay, gotta goooo!”

When he left Sarutobi’s office, he was about ten minutes late to his meeting with the children. By the time he arrived at the school he was over an hour late. Lost on the road of life and all that. It didn’t matter - venting about this ridiculousness to Kakashi was way more important than meeting the brats on time.

This would be a disaster. There was no way this would end well. Tobi was a brain damaged, traumatized moron who couldn’t use his one skill and who hadn’t been on active duty since he whoopsie-daisy’d his sword into his best friend’s heart. If Sarutobi didn’t keep up his promise and drag in the other jounin to take up his slack then he’d riot. Did he want Tobi to do work? Tobi? He had resigned from capitalism and the military industrial complex. Pulling him into this shit again - as if he hadn’t suffered enough -

As if Sasuke and Naruto hadn’t. Maybe one of Sarutobi’s stupid-ass motivations was because he knew that only Tobi would be nice to Sasuke and Naruto. Damn Naruto especially. For that, at least…if only as a favor to Minato-sensei…

To make up for it…maybe a little bit of real work would be the least he could do.

Ugh. Hopefully not that much.

Tobi finally touched down at the school, following the Academy hallways to Sasuke’s classroom by route memory. He dropped off Sasuke’s lunch a lot. It embarrassed him so much. It was classic.

Tobi walked into the classroom and allowed a large basket of glitter to fall on top of his head.

A peal of laughter squealed throughout the room, and Tobi opened his eyes to see Uzumaki Naruto clutching his sides and laughing his ass off. Quite rudely, Sasuke had his feet propped up on a desk. That third girl was sitting primly in her seat, terrified. 

“What an idiot! Our new sensei actually fell for - wait.” Naruto straightened, squinting at Tobi. He yelled, jabbing a finger at him. “Hey! Number Two Ramen Fan! What the hell are you doing here?”

Sasuke almost fell out of his seat. He scrambled to his feet, panicked in his special Sasuke way - that was, eyes a little wider than usual. “Tobi? Did I forget my lunch?”

“Um?” Sakura Haruno hunched her shoulders in her seat, picking at the corner of a scroll. “Uchiha Obito’s our sensei. I thought you knew. Did you…not know?”

“Is this a joke?” Sasuke cried. “Who the hell thought this was funny? Tobi couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag! If they’re bullying us again, I swear to god I’ll strangle whoever -”

“Whoah,” Naruto cried, impressed. “Violent!”

“Everybody’s always bullying Tobi,” Sasuke snapped. “I’m an Uchiha. What sort of Uchiha would I be if I tolerated that?”

Glitter dripped down Tobi’s hair and sprinkled onto his clothing. He smiled, big and bright, and clapped his hands together. Sasuke was groaning, but Naruto and Sakura just leaned in closer - caught in a morbid curiosity, desperate to meet their own fate. Signed and sealed. “Tobi’s first impression of you all is…you’re so funny! Tobi likes you!”

The kids paled. 

[mochiajclayne]

Hi there,

I hope you're doing well.

i read your post regarding SasuSaku and Sarada as a family and you stole the words right off my mouth.

I'd like to know your thoughts and opinions on Sasuke Retsiden because from what I can see, its only Jun Esaka (a mere light novel writer that writes non canon stuff) all over the internet being equally all over about her Sasuke Retsuden. I haven't seen any other light novel writer being more active about something non canon. Even kishimoto himself doesnt behave like this regarding his own work.

I'd like to also know about your opinions regarding Jun Esaka ATTEMPTING to remove or metaphorically kill Karin Uzumaki by making the main villain a Karin look alike and giving her sensory abilities to Sakura, which again, makes no sense. Does that woman hate Karin and SK so much? Is that woman so threatened by the very thought of SK as a couple that she had to incorporate a villain that looks like Karin Uzumaki down to a tee?

These are just my thoughts and speculations but I'm also really interested in knowing your side of the story.

Thanks for reading my long comment and i wish you a wonder day/afternoon/evening/night

Hi, @theuntamedangel! I appreciate the long comment! I hope you have a wonderful day/afternoon/evening/night, too!

Before I share my thoughts about Sasuke Retsuden, let me share that I did, unfortunately, have a sasusaku phase. I know. Shocker. The entire lore is here in case you're interested (promise it's relevant to my explanation).

I did hear about Sasuke Retsuden when I was still in college. Bits of information, specifically, about the chakra ring and from a perspective of someone who used to ship sasusaku casually, my initial reaction was okay good for them and I went on with my day. Note that I wasn't as heavily engaged in the Naruto fandom like I do now so for me to isn't active back then, hearing about Sasuke Retsuden, speaks volume on how it is over the internet that it even reached me.

I hate Sasuke Retsuden. It's badly written, it's OOC especially for OG Naruto characters, and the canon inaccuracies are more than enough to drive me into aneurysm.

Below this cut is my detailed thoughts about Sasuke Retsuden.

The villain looking like the male version of Karin caught me off guard. I don't know what the intentions behind the character design but I think they aimed for association as Jiji, one of the characters from this godforsaken novel, reminded me of Juugo.

I am not a sasukarin shipper but I do understand where the shippers are speaking from. I think they'll make a cool couple because Karin actually freaking cares about Sasuke when shit gets serious and outside of her "gag", she respects Sasuke's boundaries. Might be speaking out of the box but this novel in its existence was meant to be sasusaku-centric so the possibility of being threatened by all Sasuke-related ships, especially those making far more sense than SS, is high. I don't think Jun Esaka hates Karin. I would dare say that she picked a random character that could work as a direct contender to Sakura and unfortunately, she decided to scapegoat Karin. Moreover, the entire sensory ability shtick added to Sakura was uncalled for. I would go even further and say that Esaka's version of Sakura is what her stans hailed her to be--a superior version of [insert any Naruto's female character]. Even their pink haired kunoichi is incredibly OOC here and you expect me to take her seriously?

The funniest thing about Sasuke Retsuden is the way that they had to use SNS at first, specifically, Sasuke's mission is to find a cure for that chakra illness that Naruto alone suffers. Sure, this is SS centric but it all comes down to Sasuke and Sakura working together to find a cure for Naruto. Now, she could just write a novel about SS without using Naruto's "sickness" as some kind of a plot device, right? But no, she had to convince us somehow and an effective way to do that is literally Naruto and Sasuke.

The dinosaur. Don't even get me started. Even tailed beasts cannot fight against Sharingan to the point that canon graciously provided us evidence of both Madara and Obito controlling the Nine Tailed Beast. The very same Sharingan that made the higher ups of Konoha suspect the Uchiha clan as mastermind for that same incident. We're talking about the same dojutsu that manipulated the Fourth Mizukage. The canon inaccuracy throws me off the loop.

More inaccuracies. Suddenly Sasuke is an Earth and Ice Style user. Wow. Conveniently forgetting about Kakashi mentioning in Part 1 how Ice Style is a Kekkei Genkai that even Sharingan can't copy. As far as Naruto canon goes, Sasuke is a Fire and Lightning Style user. I don't consider Boruto as canon but even that animanga doesn't show any moment of Sasuke using Earth Style. It's insane that people claimed this as canon.

THIS DISTURBING INTERACTION. I did say that the OG Naruto characters are OOC in this shitshow novel and yes, unfortunately that includes Sakura. We've seen the way she react around Naruto's sexy ninjutsu antics. Unless objectification of women or the mere implication of it doesn't perturb her, then it says more about how Esaka portrayed her. I'd personally file a restraining order when a guy says he'd settle for my old, half smoked cigarette butts. I'm surprised that she didn't throw any snide remarks here.

WHO IS THIS SASUKE AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM. This panel made me laugh so hard because I feel like Esaka straight up ignored that Sasuke canonically spent years with his family before the Uchiha downfall happened. I don't think he'd be this clueless about how a married couple acts. Even in flashbacks, Sasuke was shown around his parents or Itachi, literally with his family. I think he knows well enough about married couples.

The ring part as well makes me cackle because Kurenai literally wears a ring in Shippuden. Trust me, Juugo-look-a-like, rings are used in Konoha by couples.

The Uchiha clan symbol takes me out because AREN'T YOU GOING UNDERCOVER IN THIS PRISON? WHY ARE YOU SHOWING THAT OFF?

The Chakra ring in question. Finding out the lore behind this further upset me and I am thankful that I no longer ship sasusaku. Show these panels out of context to someone with little to no exposure to canon and it would be romantic but if you know Narutoverse like the back of your hand, this novel served nothing. Seriously, the fact that Sasuke is incredibly OOC on this novel speak volumes. Imagine annihilating Sasuke's character to make SS work? Insanity.

Writing Edo Tensei with rose tinted glasses disgust me. That jutsu is straight up manipulating a dead body at your bidding. Tobirama shouldn't have invented that jutsu. Hinting that jutsu to be used to revive a loved one that passed away is vile and disgusting. The lack of attention to canon isn't a new thing for Esaka at this point.

Even this novel can't cover up the fact that Sakura doesn't know Sasuke well. If there's one thing that's consistent in the prequel, it was Naruto that gets into trouble. Sasuke doesn't use honorifics and he got away with it. His bluntness doesn't get him and everyone around him in trouble. Sasuke only began resorted to extremes when he was batshit blind and sinking into the unhinged depths of his hatred. Probably the only things that Sakura got correctly was Sasuke's kindness and his nonchalance about his looks but that's it. So the claim of knowing Sasuke inside and out is preposterous. The one who can say that is, guess who? Naruto.

Ending this long analysis with this panel because honestly, Ino is asking the questions for me. Unfortunately, despite being "married", their dynamic stayed the same. Sakura is still that same girl that has a crush on Sasuke, except she's in her 30s and Sasuke is still the same boy that rejected her date offers and the idea of being together with her, even reaching the point that he's away from her a lot.

I do apologize for going off to the point that I decided to pull a meta post about this. I do hope you're doing well and I appreciate the ask!

[primnroses]

— An insight about summons: Katsuyu, the slug of the Shikkotsu Forest

The information presented in this post has been checked and revised. My aim is not to hate or to discredit any of the characters mentioned. Please read about me for further information.

This post will contain evidence in picture format directly from the manga Naruto (1999 - 2014) created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in 1999. I will also use information from the official databooks of Naruto.

This informative post will analyze the concept of animal summons in the world of Naruto and highlight Katsuyu’s unique abilities throughout the series providing evidence. This meta will also mention other animal summons from the Three-Way Deadlock. I will not use information present in the novels because there is none.

This meta is crossposted in AO3.

I give my permission to use or share this thread with informative purposes as long as you credit me.

I do not support the anime or the work of Studio Pierrot in regards to Naruto because I consider it over exaggerated and beyond biased. Furthermore, these fillers include some actions that these characters are unable to do in the canon according to official sources and they also generate unnecessary debate.

Please, take this into consideration.

Katsuyu, also known as Katsuyu of the Shikkotsu Forest, is a giant slug from the Shikkotsu Forest, a secret and legendary place from the Three Unexplored Sage Regions (仙人三大秘境, Sennin Sandai Hikyō). 

The Three Sage Unexplored Regions according to the Fourth databook.

She is the personal summon of the Fifth Hokage Tsunade, and later, her disciple Sakura Haruno; both women are probably the only people in the world that have been able to summon the slug.

Katsuyu possesses one of the most unique qualities and abilities among animal summons, most of which are still a mystery within the series. 

— WHAT IS A SUMMON AND ANIMAL SUMMONS?

A summon is the ability to invoke objects, weapons, people or animals. This action is carried out through a Summoning Technique (口寄せの術­, Kuchiyose no Jutsu), a special hand seal based jutsu to transport any element to the user’s location for a limited amount of time. 

A Summoning Technique is classified as a space-time ninjutsu and a C-Rank (chūnin level) difficulty jutsu. 

Summoning Technique according to the First databook.

Usually, in order to summon objects or weapons, users apply scrolls or special sealing techniques to contain the desired material. This is the case of Tenten, for example; she uses scrolls to seal multiple kunai, shuriken and any weapon of her choice, granting her the title of “Master of space-time ninjutsu”.

However, for animals and living creatures, this is different.

An animal summon is a technique that adds to the ninja’s ninjutsu repertoire, as a shinobi can take advantage of the animal’s abilities for battle or other purposes.

Before any animal can be summoned, the animal and the user must sign a contract with the species or the specific creature using their blood. In order to summon said animal, the user applies some of their blood, normally by biting their fingers, and channels their chakra to their hands thus invoking a sealing pattern that transports their summon to that same location. The amount of chakra used to summon the creatures determines the size and number of summons. 

The summoning contract of the Toads of Mount Myōboku, Naruto chapter 92.

In the case of the Three Unexplored Sage Regions, the summoning contracts vary. 

Naruto Uzumaki Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze sealed a contract with the toads of Mount Myōboku using their own blood, so when they perform a Summoning Technique, any available toad can offer their services to them. 

Orochimaru has his contract with the snakes of the Ryūchi Cave tattooed on his arms. The methods his disciple Sasuke Uchiha uses to summon snakes from the same location is unknown. 

Tsunade and Sakura Haruno do not have a physical contract, or at least it has never been revealed. However, by reading the manga, the contract with the Shikkotsu Forest might be through their Strength of a Hundred Seal, as it is only possible to summon Katsuyu if the summoner possesses this seal.

It is unknown if there is a blood contract involved, but it is likely that there is since the method of summoning is blood like his companions. 

Orochimaru's contract Naruto chapters 165 and 344.

— KATSUYU AND HER ABILITIES, WHAT MAKES HER SPECIAL?

Katsuyu is a very intriguing and interesting animal and the only one whose past has never been explored.

Summon’s habitats and the Three Unexplored Sage Regions are home to a single species of animals. 

The Ryūchi Cave is home to snakes such as the White Snake, Manda or Aoda, and Mount Myōboku is home to toads like Gamakichi, Gamamaru or Gamabunta.

But, unlike those, Katsuyu is the only organism living in the Shikkotsu Forest. She does not have any other slug companions. 

Following the same scheme as the rest of summons, Katsuyu resembles a real slug. 

She is white or ivory in color, with three turquoise stripes running on her head and sides that start on her head and end in her tail. 

One special feature about her appearance is that her true size has never been seen. Using one summoner, Katsuyu is bigger than the Hokage Residence, and using two summoners, Katsuyu is the size of the roots of the God Tree, which is just one tenth of her real size according to Tsunade. 

Katsuyu's size summoned by one person or two, Naruto chapters 422 and 650.

Her size changes depending on the amount of chakra used to summon her. She can appear as a small slug used to gather intel or help in supplementary tasks, or she can appear as a giant creature using one or two summoners. 

Small Katsuyu summoned to assist Headquarters Naruto chapter 561.

Her age is a true mystery. It is known that toads and snakes live many years and have descendants, such as Gamabunta and Gamakichi’s father and son relationship, or Aoda having great grandchildren; or certain summons retiring when they reach an age while their companions or children replace them. 

The Three Unexplored Sage Regions are legendary places known for many generations. 

Katsuyu, on the other hand, is the only inhabitant of the Shikkotsu Forest. She does not have descendants or companions in her home habitat. Her age or her true origins are a mystery. The first shinobi to discover her existence or previous masters before Sakura Haruno and Tsunade are also unknown.

The first and most important thing to point out is that Katsuyu can only be summoned by users of the Strength of a Hundred Seal. This seal is an extremely difficult jutsu to learn and achieve, so there have only been two summoners in history.

The reason for this is that Katsuyu is such an enormous animal that it requires an immense amount of chakra to summon, and that chakra is stored inside the seal. 

Tsunade and her disciple Sakura Haruno are the only beings able to summon Katsuyu Naruto chapter 650.

The primary skill Katsuyu has is the ability to divide herself in many fragments, hundreds or thousands of them in fact. This technique is called Slug Great Division (蛞蝓大分裂­, Katsuyu Daibunretsu) and it can be used for supplementary purposes, as well for battle. 

In a fight, thanks to her rapid ability to transform her body and divide herself, she can separate herself to nullify attacks by avoiding any strike at incredible speeds. She can do this as many times as she wants without exhaustion. Each of these fragments are also quite fast, able to throw themselves in front of people to shield them from danger.

Manda trapping Katsuyu but she escapes Naruto chapter 170 and Second databook.

She also has the ability to spit a sticky and elastic acid, a jutsu called Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid able to melt stones and vaporize everything it touches (probably senjutsu although never truly revealed). It is also very difficult to dodge due to its unpredictable nature. 

Slug acid, Naruto chapter 170 and Second databook.

Unlike Shadow Clones or other regular clones that are independent from each other and are not interconnected, what Katsuyu does is divide her own body in equal parts, so she is in as many places as she wants at once. She is one entity divided into many other independent and interconnected parts while remaining one single body. Each of her divisions behaves like their own person, so she can complete different tasks while also knowing what her other parts are doing in other places.

Being the summon of medical ninjas, Sakura Haruno and Tsunade take advantage of Katsuyu’s ability to divide herself in order to channel their healing chakra and treat as many people as necessary. 

With a technique called Immense Network Healing (蛞蝓・網療治夥­, Katsuyu: Mōryōjika), Katsuyu collects chakra from the Strength of a Hundred Seal to transform it into healing chakra and treat the injured. 

Using the Great Division and Immense Network Healing in tandem, Katsuyu has the ability to heal and protect everyone she makes contact with. Healing any kind of injury or absorbing people inside her in order to shield them from attacks or sudden explosions is her specialty. Her body is able to resist explosions and even Kurama's corrosive chakra.

Katsuyu divides her body and heals the Alliance Naruto chapter 634 and Fourth databook.

In fact, Katsuyu's power is not only limited to healing wounds, but regeneration too. One of her most impressive feats is the ability to maintain a patient in suspended animation, keeping them alive for as long as she possesses chakra from the seal in order to ensure their survival. 

Katsuyu was able to keep Tsunade alive despite having her body bisected, which on normal circumstances, would mean instant death. However, the slug's regenerative abilities allowed Tsunade to remain alive until she obtained a chakra boost from a third party. This fact is known as Tsunade does not really present the unique Uzumaki Clan ability to keep themselves alive for as long as possible.

Katsuyu kept Tsunade alive despite having her body cut in half, an impressive feat Naruto chapter 635.

This jutsu also acts as a sensing technique due to Katsuyu being connected to the chakra of the injured in order to heal them and her master. Katsuyu is able to relay Kakashi Hatake and Chōza Akimichi’s conditions to Tsunade through their connection, as the slug is connected to the Strength of a Hundred Seal; as well as being able to tell Sakura that Kurama’s chakra was still connected to the Allied Shinobi Forces.

Katsuyu can transmit the chakra levels and the condition of everyone she is in contact with Naruto chapter 427.

This way, Katsuyu was able to protect Konoha’s citizens from Pain’s Shinra Tensei and even survive Kurama’s toxic chakra. 

Able to be in many places at once, her ability to cover infinite distances while her parts remain interconnected allows her to fulfill communication and intel gathering roles. Being in many places and her clones being part of the same body, Katsuyu relays information to one person or multiple people, something she could do by attaching herself to someone’s shoulder and speaking. 

It was Katsuyu the one giving Naruto Uzumaki information about Pain and also told him that Nagato had revived Konoha citizens through the clones that stayed in the village, kept every villager informed about the situation and followed evacuation protocols when Naruto transformed into six tails, and told Tsunade everything that was happening in the battlefield thanks to having another body summoned by Sakura on the other side of the country, and vice versa.

Sakura instructing Katsuyu to evacuate the area through the multiple clones Naruto chapter 438.

This communication ability can cover immense ground at once because the communication is instant. It works similar to regular telepathy, but instead of hearing the other person's voice in their head, people are talking to Katsuyu, and Katsuyu in turn is actually talking to herself through her clones.

Katsuyu's clones on different parts of the Land of Lightning tell Tsunade and Sakura the events that have taken place on both ends Naruto chapters 635 and 647.

An animal summon can only perform at the top of their abilities for a limited amount of time, what is known as the summoning time limit. 

It is unknown exactly how long the invocation lasts, or whether it varies between animals. A summon will help its master before the jutsu runs out or the summon has exhausted its power. 

Gamakichi mentions the summoning time limit Naruto chapter 642.

However, for Katsuyu, this is not the case. 

The slug can be summoned for unlimited periods of time and several times a day, as seen when Katsuyu spent the Fourth Shinobi World War by Tsunade’s side in the Headquarters, primarily helping Shikaku Nara and participating in the planification of the troops, and later with the Five Kage against Madara and Sakura with the Allied Shinobi Forces.

This could be explained by the symbiotic bond Sakura and Tsunade share with Katsuyu through the Strength of a Hundred Seal. 

The seal stores unimaginable quantities of chakra inside, which are used by Katsuyu to perform healing on people. As long as Katsuyu has been transmitted every drop of chakra in the seal, she will continue her work, as seen when Tsunade gave the slug all the chakra inside her Byakugou to the point it disappeared but Katsuyu physically remained in Konoha until her services were no longer needed.

Tsunade's Byakugou disappears but Katsuyu still serves her purpose as a summon to evacuate Naruto chapter 430.

Still, like any other summon, Katsuyu can be exhausted from battle and disappear. When the Ten Tails absorbed the chakra of every shinobi in the battlefield as the Kurama Chakra Cloak, every Katsuyu fragment attached to them was also absorbed and vanished, but the main body remained intact protecting Sakura Haruno form the tree. 

Katsuyu's clones disappeared absorbed by the God Tree Naruto chapter 647.

— THE PERFECT SUMMON?

Katsuyu is very different from the rest of summons. 

From the immeasurable amount of chakra it requires to summon her, to her multiple multitasking and supplementary abilities and her mysterious origins, Katsuyu might be the perfect summon and the strongest animal summon of Naruto and Boruto.

Her ability to divide herself in thousands of fragments, a body and chemical composition resistant to blasts that can reshape her own state, no summoning time limit, outstanding healing and regeneration factor, the unlimited wide range communication she offers, acidic attacks, useful to gather intel by herself and turn small enough to offer battle assistant, and a sensory connection with her master and other people she is attached to. 

Katsuyu is the ultimate creature.

Without a doubt, the most essential ally in desperate times. A valuable help in case a village is being attacked by powerful enemies that threaten to destroy everything around them, Katsuyu is the only weapon able to protect thousands of people from any attack and offer assistance while in contact with her master and everyone she is with.

Thanks to her, every Konoha villager that had not been killed by the Pain Paths previously could survive the Shinra Tensei explosion that destroyed Konoha, which later allowed the surviving shinobi to handle evacuations, as well as allow Naruto to obtain intel about Pain and Nagato or be told that Konoha's villagers were revived.

Katsuyu is an unrivalled intel summon Naruto chapters 431 and 449.

She was also the main link of communication between the Headquarters and the two different fronts of the war, Five Kage and Allied Shinobi Forces, and the reason why the Five Kage survived the fight despite their fatal injuries.

Lastly, it was also Katsuyu who protected the Allied Shinobi Forces against the roots of the God Tree, saving a large portion of the shinobi from death, and later offered a healing area for their future fight against the Kanzeon Lotus King.

— CURRENT WHEREABOUTS.

Ever since the death of Madara Uchiha, Katsuyu has not been summoned again.

With no threats to the destruction of Konoha or the need to establish connections between battlefields, Katsuyu was not summoned in the Blank Period. 

In Boruto, Katsuyu’s debut is strictly linked to Sakura’s appearances: if Sakura does not appear, neither does the slug. This is something that is hard to fathom considering that the village has been exposed to explosions, invasions and multiple deceased shinobi ever since the start that could be prevented by Katsuyu like previous times.

Katsuyu appeared in the anime arc “Kawaki and Himawari in the Academy” where the students had to put on a play about the Sannin and Kawaki dressed as Katsuyu.

Kawaki representing Katsuyu in Boruto episode 267.

-

[purpleajisai]

Uchiha Observation n°1: Sasuke’s lineage - headcanons, storyline and hints in canon

This post is part of the worldbuilding process for a fanfic idea that I’ve been maturing over the past year, so I will update this if needed. I have wondered about the relationship between Madara and Sasuke for a long while now, and I knew there has to be a deeper connection than just reincarnations of Indra. The moment that piqued my interest was the point that Hashirama made about Sasuke looking like Izuna, implying that if Madara saw someone so similar to his beloved younger brother he could listen to what Sasuke had to say and perhaps change his mindset in regards to the war.

This cannot be a coincidence. Today, I’m going to share my headcanon regarding Madara and Sasuke’s kinship: Sasuke is Madara’s great nephew, connnected through Izuna. Here is the genealogical tree:

First of all, let’s explain Izuna’s generation. Of course, you can see Madara represented there as an older brother as well as the 4 unnamed younger siblings mentioned in the river flashbacks. The language used by Madara suggest that there were 5 other siblings aside from him, not 5 in total and including him. In the case of Izuna, according to the databooks he died at age 24, which is definitely old enough to be married and have a child.

And perhaps the readers are wondering why I’m not considering Madara to be married as well since he’s not only older than Izuna but also the clan leader. The only reason why I’m not giving him a wife and kids at the time of Izuna’s death is because I want to adhere to canon in this regard (no spoilers about the fic’s plot).

In the storyline I’ve planned, Izuna would die and leave behind a little baby or even a pregnant wife. The exact moment is yet undecided. However, it is through this only son of Izuna from which we can connect him to Sasuke. Once Izuna’s son grows up, having the pressure of being the last surviving heir to the clan, it’s not far-fetched for this man to have more than 2 children to ensure his legacy and prevent the clan from descending into anarchy. The reason why his firstborn son, who would be Izuna’s eldest grandson, is marked as “disgraced” in this chart is because the existence of this generation collides with the 2nd Great Ninja War. A possible reason I may consider to add for his fall into disgrace and shunning by the clan is that he would’ve left some Uchiha comrades to die in order to protect important Konoha intel, therefore gaining the reputation of a traitor and not being suitable for inheriting the clan’s leadership.

With the eldest son banned from the position of clan heir, the younger son would immediately take his place. From the disgraced eldest brother, we get Obito’s ancestry, and from the younger brother we get Mikoto’s generation. For Obito’s case, I theorize a normal Uchiha picked at random wouldn’t be able to handle the toll of Madara’s eyes, whether in EMS or Rinnegan form. Technically speaking, these eyeballs are actually Izuna’s, reinforcing his importance for this lineage. Please consider the importance of genetics in handling kekkei genkai in the Naruto universe. For Mikoto’s case, I added an older brother for her. Why? Because it used to be a custom in the Sengoku period and the subsequent Edo period to follow agnatic (male-only) succession for leadership. The death of Mikoto’s brother would put Fugaku as a leader, given that he’s the husband of a bearer of the lineage of clan leaders.

Finally, we get to Itachi and Sasuke. Neither one nor another were “normal” Uchiha: both unlocked the mangekyo sharingan and handled the toll of the Susano’o, among other remarkable feats. If Sasuke is connected to Madara through Izuna’s descendants, it would imply the existence of a direct line of ancestry that starts with Indra himself. The headcanons regarding the internal structure of the Uchiha clan will be discussed in a future post. The direct family line from Izuna to Sasuke can therefore explain why both looked so similar (recessive genetics) and why Madara felt nostalgic or touched at the sight of someone who resembled his beloved little brother so much.

Thanks for reading thus far, and if you have any questions plkease use the blog’s ask box.

[leportraitducadavre]

Alright, since I’ve received multiple asks about who I ship Sasuke with (or if I have a problem with specific ships), I’ll reiterate my posture regarding shipping culture:

I think it’s very poor, borderline shortsighted, to focus so incredibly much on the possibility of a character –that never specified being sexually interested in anyone, having a romantic partner. Besides the fact that Sasuke is a very traumatized man, a survivor of state-sanctioned genocide which affects his libido to the point of it being non-existent, the entirety of his characterization revolves around him seeking justice for his family. No. It’s not about his bond with Naruto, it’s not about his apparent sexual tension with Karin, nor is it about his crush (the fuck?) on Sakura. 

It’s Naruto the one whose characterization revolves around his bond with Sasuke, it’s Karin the one whose characterization revolves around her sexual desire for Sasuke, and it’s Sakura the one whose characterization revolves around her crush on Sasuke –Sasuke’s entire arc differs completely from theirs, as his entire goal, through the entire series, is about seeking justice for his family. 

What happens once Sasuke realizes he won’t be able to kill Itachi if he stays in Konoha? He leaves because he chooses his goal as an Avenger before his connection with Team 7 (yes, Itachi’s presence also reminded him of the imminent threat of having bonds that Itachi could easily destroy, but he doesn’t leave to protect T7, but to seek power to kill his brother). What happens once Sasuke kills Itachi? He learns about the truth behind the UCM, and decides to barge into the Kage Summit to kill Danzo and not return to Konoha. What happens once he kills Danzö? He still decides not to return and plans to bring the entire system down. I mean, where is his “bond with Naruto” in all this? Where is his “sexual tension” with Karin in all of this? Where is Sakura’s relevance in all of this? At no single moment does he focus on these bonds, often questioning the reason why these people are so adamant about pursuing him. Am I saying that they don’t matter at all to him? No, and you know that’s not the point of the post unless you’re looking for a reason to get upset in which case, I cannot help you. What I’m saying is that they’re not relevant to his main goal or characterization, as that power rests upon Itachi’s shoulders. Each character here mentioned has either more or less importance throughout his journey, but none of them are detrimental to his objective and none of them are important enough for him throughout the manga to deviate from his ambition (he even tried to kill each one of them when he deemed them a liability or they threatened the continuation of his mission).

Who do I ship Sasuke with? Nobody, I don’t enjoy a single pairing that is attributed to him, and I wish the fandom would realize that the entire plot revolves around the actions and consequences of a fascist regime, and not about who wanted to secretly or not so secretly fuck who, or who deserve his dick and who doesn’t. Yes, I’m being blunt, and some of you will think I’m exaggerating, but if you don’t see me talking about ships as often as you see me speaking about feminism or politics inside the Naruto manga, well, what a shocker, there’s a reason for it.

And to prevent people from putting words in my mouth, let me say this: I’m not saying you can’t enjoy a ship –go crazy if that’s what you want, do art, fanfics, and whatever rocks your boat, I won’t go after you trust me, but oh my god how come some of you would give a “potential romantic couple” so much more relevance than the actual plot?! Sasuke plainly and continuously reminds the characters and the readers what his true goal is and what he wants, and still, some of you will force a deep reading of a bubble of speech detached from his overall characterization to prove that he was smitten with x,y,z all along!

[comikadraws]

sasuke stans on this site perceive any discussion of sasuke's behavior that isn't 100% endorsement as "hate" and even aggression towards them as fans. that's why they think the fandom actually hates him. it does not, and it never has.

Okay, dear Anon. As you can see, I delayed this ask for a week before responding to first get a couple of additional opinions by running polls and collecting data (I was hoping it's just my perception for a while, haha).

The thing is, the majority of my followers and I seem to agree with this sentiment (at least to a degree). And not just them, but the statistics I've gathered in regards to Tumblr tell a similar story of Sasuke stans perceiving Sasuke and his fanbase as victims of a cruel fandom (though I did not measure the legitimacy of Sasuke criticism in any way, but I commented on it here).

And frankly, all of this effort is probably making me look rather silly. However, this is actually pretty important to me because Sasuke stans are the bane of my existence as a regular, not die-hard Sasuke and Itachi fan.

Before I continue, let me clarify that I personally differentiate between Sasuke fans and Sasuke stans. There are Sasuke fans/stans (a minority) that match Anon's description and there are those Sasuke fans (the majority) who don't. Also, the polls and counts I made are not necessarily representative - if at all. But they are the closest thing to objective data I have.

First of all, people's opinion about Sasuke stans (particularly what I assume to be Itachi fans but that is not to say non-Itachi fans don't agree*). The overwhelming majority agrees that Sasuke stans are very defensive when it comes to legitimate criticism of Sasuke and will be particularly hateful toward other characters.

Second, people's opinions about Sasuke and Itachi and who gets more hate/defense posts in comparison (particularly what I assume to be more Sasuke fans than Itachi fans*). The overwhelming majority perceive that Itachi gets better treatment from the fandom than Sasuke.

Also, beware that many of my followers are pro-Itachi and that several Sasuke stans may have already blocked me. This may have affected the results.

Now, let's compare this with actual numbers. I counted Tumblr posts with the following tags from 01.01.2024-06.09.2024:

Posts tagged "pro Sasuke": 247 Posts tagged "anti Sasuke": 16 Posts tagged "pro Itachi": 27 Posts tagged "anti Itachi": 54

The method is not perfect (there are most certainly anti-posts and pro-posts not tagged as such; it is entirely possible that Sasuke fans and/or Itachi fans are better at tagging) but this result seems to contradict the perception that many people apparently have, which is that Itachi gets treated better or is more loved than Sasuke by the fandom on Tumblr.

In fact, the pro-Itachi posts on this site get drowned out by anti-Itachi posts. Sasuke-positivity, meanwhile, overshadows absolutely everything else.

To visualize this discrepancy (even though the nature of the statistics is not exactly comparable), I put the statistics and poll results in comparison. It highlights just how many fans believe that Sasuke is more hated than Itachi when Tumblr (the site where that poll was conducted) shows the reverse.

The truth is, of course, that Sasuke is one of the most beloved characters in Naruto. Take follower counts, for example.

On Tumblr, the #sasuke tag has 15k followers. For Itachi, it is 9.8k.

On Twitter, the daily Itachi account has nearly 6k followers. For the daily Sasuke account, this number is nearly 41k.

In 8 out of 9 character polls, Sasuke won against Itachi - the only exception being a contest for "who gets a designated manga chapter" that is not representative, considering the attention garnered by minor characters like Sakumo Hatake and Shisui Uchiha (who, until that point, never even made it into the top 50 during character polls).

But back to hate, characters that are not Sakura or Hinata (who usually become the victims of ship wars instead) usually receive most of their anti-posts through Sasuke fans.

Specifically, the statistic about "anti Itachi"-tagged posts reflects my personal experiences, which is that almost no Itachi fan on Tumblr will be a Sasuke hater, but conversely, particularly hardcore Sasuke fans often tend to be Itachi haters.

Results include posts from @/naruto-general-opinions and @/naruto-shipping- confessions which cannot be attributed to either "pro Sasuke" or "not pro Sasuke" accounts due to their anonymity. They have been counted in as "not pro Sasuke". Had they not been counted, the results would've turned out in favor of the notion that "pro Sasuke" accounts post more hate.

And we are not just talking about legitimate criticism in these cases. There are posts literally calling Itachi "born rotten" or a "bootlicking shitstain on the world". Somebody reblogging my poll requested more Itachi hate from the fandom while tagging it #pro sasuke. And I still hope it was all bait.

If you want to read more about me venting about the double standards that Sasuke stans have for Itachi and Sasuke, you can read this rant, which further comments on Anon's ask.

But without getting into details, Sasuke stans are souring my fandom experience - both due to their hatred of Itachi as well as their opinionated behavior when it comes to Sasuke (which, sometimes, seems inseparable from one another, even when hypocritical).

I've personally gotten harassed by a Sasuke stan before for an opinion unrelated to Sasuke (same post was then miraculously tagged #anti itachi). Other people had their intelligence insulted. When I see fanart of Sasuke, memes, shitposts, or analyses of his character, I wonder to myself "is this a hardcore Sasuke stan willing to be hostile to me at the drop of a hat" rather than "hey! what a cool post. can we be friends?".

And I don't want to play any victim cards about "oohhh, my favorite character, and his fans have it so much worse than you" because that is honestly not the point. The point is that I am tired and that my followers and I wish for Sasuke fans on this site to dial it down or call out this type of behavior. I don't know what makes them act this way, whether they just feel justified to hate on Itachi because they personally feel Sasuke is over-hated in an act of revenge or if they have just somehow managed to conflate anti Konoha with anti Itachi opinions. Regardless, many of us Itachi fans are Sasuke fans as well but we cannot engage with this part of the fandom because it has become so toxic as of late.

It is genuinely driving down my motivation to create or engage with any pro-Sasuke content and I am considering just stopping engaging with any of it altogether.

*I've managed to somewhat identify the fan groups who voted based on my other polls. The main takeaway is that my blog is very pro-Itachi, hence it attracts more Itachi fans than posts appearing in Tumblr's #sasuke tag would.

The first poll (opinion on Sasuke stans) was designed not to be shown to Sasuke fans. The second (anti vs defense posts) had multiple sister polls. An origin poll about "who gets better treatment" from the fandom (which appeared in the #pro Sasuke #pro Sasuke Uchiha #Sasuke #Sasuke Uchiha #anti Itachi #anti Itachi Uchiha tags and scored similar results to the hate vs defense poll above), two polls about "who gets more hate" and "who gets more defense" (that did not appear in any tags, only on my followers' dashboards, and scored results contradictory to the ones above), and multiple other polls about "who has worse trauma", "who is prettier", and "who is more genocidal" (all of which had more sympathetic results toward Itachi, which is typical for my blog but, evidently, not the majority of Tumblr).

It is safe to assume that my other polls genuinely did not breach into the pro Sasuke bubble.

[theheirofthesharingan]

Hello, may we know what are your thoughts about ita/saku

I dislike ItaS*ku. A lot. Detailed answer below the cut.

I don't understand this ship and it's the only Itachi ship that makes no sense and that I cannot tolerate. Everyone else he's shipped with acknowledged him in some way, understood him to some extent, and thematically they were compatible. Even if I see Itachi and Sasuke's relationship as perfectly, strictly platonic, I understand why people see the potential for more in them and why they want to explore this in their fics or art. It's the same with ShiIta and KisaIta and the rarepairs like KakaIta and ItaDei. But ItaS*ku is a pairing that makes zero sense to me.

Itachi is perceptive, thoughtful, puts his own needs aside, takes up the responsibility when he does wrong and tries to change his approach, doesn't need and ask for other people's help, and has self-respect. Sakura is the complete opposite but in a bad way. She isn't perspective, is selfish, her own needs come first - the world can go to hell, and has no self-respect. They aren't a match in any way. Their "polar opposite" isn't endearing under any circumstances.

She has a "girlboss" like personality or that's how she's presented. She's badass, a quick learner, strong, powerful etc., but she's not compatible with Itachi just for those reasons. To make them work as a ship, Sakura's characterization would have to change enormously. She'd have to be completely ooc for that.

In canon too, she saw Sasuke change his mind about Itachi, and while Naruto and Kakashi at least acknowledged it, Sakura never bothered to know about the truth. He, too, never acknowledged her presence except for a scene in one of the movies. In canon, never. She was nonexistent to him and he was just Sasuke's enemy to her. Why would I really ship them together.

With Itachi's other ships there's love, understanding, and compassion, and/or at least some thematic relevance which Ita/Saku entirely lacks. It's not the case of 'she's too good for Itachi' as many of her fans want to claim in regards to both Itachi and Sasuke. She's not a bad character and I like her, but ItaS*ku doesn't work as a ship.

I'll be tagging this post properly, so if anyone comes here with flaming response they'll be blocked. In case you read it this far, feel free to ignore if you ship these two characters or are a Sakura fan.

[tamelee]

i just saw a posts about novels that went like

sarada told sasuke he has lipstick stain, sasuke tries to wipes it off and she says he doesn't have one and sakura doesn't wear lipstick.

how do they defend this novels with their lives? it confirms sasuke never kisses sakura and doesn't know if she wears lipstick or not and kisses someone else who wears lipstick. it also confirms naruto likes to wear lipstick XD.

Please. These novels are ridiculous. Kishimoto already confirmed they’ve never kissed in Gaiden. Twice. 

(* something nicer = meant the forehead poke)

Though I wouldn't believe anyone if they said they actually like these novels, because the story (or lack thereof) is complete shit, but it’s fine if they do. A good story isn't the intention unfortunately. I genuinely wish that people understood what exactly it is they are defending. I’m writing a post for someone who asked something regarding canon, but I need to take brakes from it because it pisses me off that this happens constantly to franchises— not just Naruto. 

And in this case it’s even worse, or perhaps it’s just a prime example, because Jun Esaka (writer for some of these novels) made such a fool of herself on twt by making it all too obvious what her intentions were by writing them. (If it wasn’t already obvious.) First, when people pointed out the many flaws, she admitted that it’s “just her story” and “just her interpretation” (she had only read 'Naruto' for the first time a few months before that), but when other ss-shippers started to defend her and said she was a better writer than Kishimoto (as there’s 0 love between SS when he writes), she basked in that glory and went along with it. Even to the point that she completely disrespected Kishimoto, the story, the craft, openly made fun of other characters (mostly Hinata) and ships like NH and demanded her other novels to be animated as well. It’s unprofessional af. And then when fans asked her for a nsfw novel for SS she agreed and told them to harass the company about it. (She didn’t say ‘harass’ exactly, but come on you can’t be that dense given their reputation with staff.)

What are they defending? 

How can you defend anything when the motive is so obviously just personal bias/gain and/or financial profit to a company where both in this case don’t give a shit about the original story. It's not about shipping though, it happens all the damn time to all my favorite franchises and I'm genuinely sick of it. And it's not even about a writer writing about what they want either because I already expected that, but Esaka did her absolute best to try and disprove the bond between Naruto and Sasuke and change narratives completely even for individual cases for the sake of telling her "story". SNS-moments weren’t romantic to her and she quite literally made fun of it by copying them in her story to point out its "irrelevance", but give them to her het-ship and now all of a sudden it is romantic???? She basically calls Kishimoto a liar because ‘Sasuke Retsuden’ in particular is a direct response to ‘Gaiden’ (made by Kishimoto). She blatantly tried to disprove anything he said and indicated about her ship. She wrote about characters that, yes, have the same name as those in ‘Naruto’, but are so out of character it hurts. It took me months to recover my lost braincells. 

I don't think my post about it is still up, but to name a few things in that novel if you're interested: Sasuke resents Naruto and his test-tube daughter because he’d rather travel with Sakura, his wife whom he loves so much. But he has to do stuff just because Hokage Naruto said so and his daughter wants to stay in Konoha so he has no choice but to comply. Being apart from his wife-(did we mention he loves her so much? because he does. so much.)- makes him feel so very lonely and he misses her body so much because he knows it so well. He fails to do anything other than being jealous about the women-deprived prisoners going after the new hot doctor, Sakura, who is his wife btw. that he loves a lot in case you missed it. and he rather stares at trees that remind him of her than helping his friend Naruto who’s apparently dying from his own chakra or whatever kind of bs. Sasuke lets himself be bullied by prison-guards that aren’t even Shinobi, for having long hair and looking like a girl, though Esaka makes sure to mention how so very handsome he is and he looks like a cat. Sasuke loses a battle against an overgrown lizard and tries the same damn jutsu 4 times(!!!!) before realizing it may actually not work, I think because he forgot how to fight, but he can however create anything from ice like Elsa (Frozen), or from dirt like some Gaara-hybrid to make Sakura a ring because he loves her so much ofc… oh and he’s now a healer too. Sasuke sacrifices people’s lives even when it’s not necessary at all bc ig Esaka thinks he's a killer, and also he wouldn’t mind being brought back with Edo Tensei if it means he can stay with Sakura, because fuck everything they’ve been through in the original story, yeah? They also immediately forgive the bad guy cuz he's so relatable even though he just murdered I dunno how many people. SS kiss while an injured Naruto is squished in between them because SS-shippers have some sort of “Naruto has to watch our ship being in love to really make it legit because that’ll learn him for getting in between!”-kink (that's real actually) and according to Esaka, Sasuke is so worried about his daughter and in fact did meet up with them during those 10+ years because he loves them oh-so-much and fuck you Kishimoto that’s why. 

Be so fr right now. It’s such a joke. And these are just the few things on the top of my head that I remembered ;-; ...

Again, what are they defending exactly? It would be nice to just have a genuine fan of the story write an actual story. No other motive other than "I really like the story and would love to explore some options while respecting Kishimoto's work because it'd be fun!" Except, that's unfortunately not very marketable and ffs it's just sad. (I know there's a Kakashi version and I personally really want to know more about his role as Hokage and what he's done etc, but alas.)

[chillbusinessax]

Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 10 analysis & Implications

Sarada vs Hidari & the Mangekyou of Sarada: As we know, the fight between the last survivors of the Uchiha lineage is approaching: Sarada & the Shinju of Sasuke. Sarada’ll face a Shinju that’s absorbed Sasuke’s chakra & powers, plus the power of the Ten Tails. It’ll undoubtedly be a fight that’ll offer one of the most impressive battle choreographies & 'll foster necessary character development as she faces a formidable enemy. The first time Sarada encounters Hidari, he automatically attacks with Chidori. Sarada dodges & counters with Chidori. This symbolic act kicks off the fight, as only two living people can execute Chidori: Sasuke & her. However, she’s confused; although it’s clear her opponent possesses Sasuke’s chakra & powers, Hidari isn’t Sasuke. (This topic’ll be addressed in another section of the post). Sarada holds one of the most important positions & stories in the manga, being the heroine of the story, heir to the Uchiha power, immune to omnipotence & possessor of the Mangekyō. Why have 10 chapters passed & nothing has been revealed about the Mangekyō? Even the rebirth of the Kyubi was revealed before the powers of the MS; the answer is simple: the abilities Kishimoto’ll grant Sarada in the Mangekyou’ll be convenient to the story’s context. When the power of that Mangekyō is discovered, it’ll be a pivotal axis that’ll mark a before & after in the narrative of Two Blue Vortex. The Mangekyou Sharingan is meant to be a decisive point in the plot. To contextualize, among the special abilities known so far in Mangekyou users, there are dangerous & high-level powers like Kotoamatsukami, Tsukuyomi & Kamui. Theoretically, Sarada should awaken with the Mangekyou two special abilities (they can be both new & those already mentioned, for example, Itachi & Sasuke had Amaterasu in common), in addition to the Susanoo (considering the divine weapons of Susanoo). The Sharingan is a dōjutsu of Ōtsutsuki lineage that comes from the Rinne-Sharingan; it was Indra Ōtsutsuki who awakened & bequeathed this ability to the Clan descended from him, the Uchiha Clan. It’s important to highlight that, with just the Sharingan three tomoe, definitive techniques like Izanagi, a technique based on Hagoromo’s Banbutsu Sōzō no Jutsu, & Izanami, both Kinjutsus characteristic of the Uchiha clan, could be used.

The last thing to discuss in this section (which’ll likely generate antagonistic opinions in the fandom) is the fact that, observing how events are unfolding in chapter 10, where Kawaki had (and was the only one who could) intervene in Himawari’s fight against Jura, the complexity of these enemies, representing not just an individual but a collective problem, being a monthly manga & mainly, the way Boruto is (and has always been) emotionally involved with Sarada, I wouldn’t be surprised if, sooner or later, he joins in Sarada vs. Hidari. He knows the danger these enemies pose & won’t hesitate to support the fight. Only two people have, on an emotional level, the authority to intervene & support this fight: Sakura & Boruto. This position of Boruto is something Kishimoto has made clear from the beginning of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, just as Sarada intervenes without regard for her own life when Boruto needs her. This feeling is mutual between them & is fully justified. Although some of the fandom may see it as a regression in Sarada’s character, it’s actually an enrichment of the characters & an added value by Kishimoto, a shōnen where, beyond the fights, bonds & expressions of human feelings are valid to show & are present. Additionally, it would allow us to see quite an interesting team battle choreography, as Boruto & Sarada have always formed a formidable combat team. The heir of the Hiraishin & the heiress of the Mangekyou united in battle.

2. The Shinjus: They’re still a mystery. In fact, they don’t even know exactly what they are. Hidari asked himself & the other Shinjus: “Exactly What… are we?” We know they’re the result of a “claw grime” absorbing a person’s chakra. They’re a divine tree evolved & self-aware, produced by Code’s Ten Tails, created from the chakra of the person they’re absorbing, but the implications of this are still unclear.

We also know that the people the Ten Tails has absorbed are still alive. However, how long’ll they remain alive after the “claw grime” absorbs them? Will there come a time when Sasuke & the others sealed’ll die if not released? If Sarada kills Hidari, or if someone kills one of the Shinjus, does the person get released or die? And when releasing the person, does the Shinju die? These are questions still without definitive answers. Only time & the plot’s development’ll provide us with more information about these mysterious beings.

We could see this as the birth of a new species, or rather, the Ten Tails’ species becoming conscious. Moreover, they have a goal linked to the person from whom they’re absorbing chakra, which, if they manage to fully absorb, they’ll find a higher degree of evolution. The powers of the Ten Tails, the human abilities of the “sealed” person, the Rinnegan, the ability to launch bijudamas with their eyes, & even their wisdom & thirst for knowledge, make these enemies something totally unknown & formidable. Keep in mind that, in addition, their main goal after their “target” is to devour an Ōtsutsuki, therefore, they have the capacity to face enemies with levels of power that humanity isn’t capable of facing.

It won’t be a short battle & everyone’ll probably have to support each other to achieve something against this threat. Kawaki, upon learning that Himawari was in danger, quickly headed to the battle. Boruto, due to the resonance between the Karmas, can’t be near Kawaki, so he’ll likely assist in the battle within Konoha.

The battles against these enemies’ll be fought in teams & will likely be more than one confrontation. Although symbolically each Shinju has its target, it’s clearly a global problem, so it’s normal for third parties to be involved, even mixing scenarios. Everyone is in a conflict on the scale of the Fourth Shinobi World War, where everyone had to ally to achieve something against the common enemy. But, to summarize, the protagonists of the battles go like this:

Kawaki & Himawari vs Jura

Sarada & Boruto vs Hidari

Konohamaru & Team 10 vs Mitsuri

Eida & Daemon vs Bug

3. Himawari & Kurama: It’s interesting to see how they’ve imprinted on her the concept they initially had with Boruto (Byakugan + Kyubi). With lineage from Hamura’s line (Hyuga clan) & Ashura’s line (Uzumaki clan), & now with the Kyubi, she’s placed among the most powerful characters with raw chakra of the new generation. It’s surprising that Kurama’s return has caused astonishment in readers, considering it’s predefined that the tailed beasts don’t die definitively but reincarnate. A precedent for this is Isobu. Moreover, there’ve been hints (especially in the anime) that Himawari would somehow be related to the tailed beasts. She’s always shown interest in them; she even coexists with Shukaku in an anime episode.

The relationship between Kurama & Himawari started on good terms. Kurama retains his memories, including his time with Naruto, with whom he formed a bond of friendship & familiarity after they understood & accepted each other as equals. This precedent opens the opportunity for a friendly & mutual collaboration between Himawari & the Kyubi. An interesting fact to consider is that Kurama retains his past memories. There’s a possibility that they haven’t been altered by omnipotence, & if that’s true, he could convey to Himawari that her brother is actually Boruto, & that all the experiences she believes she shared with Kawaki (before omnipotence) were lived with Boruto.

Some believe that Himawari’s suspicions are due to the hidden power in her (the Kyubi), but that’s not the case. Sadly, Himawari was affected by omnipotence, & the fact that she feels Naruto & Hinata are alive & that “Boruto” would never harm them is because, due to the effect of omnipotence, her experiences lived with KAWAKI make her believe they were actually with Boruto. In short, what’s really being conveyed to the reader is that Kawaki would be incapable of harming Naruto, & that’s why she feels Naruto & Hinata are alive. Remember that omnipotence exchanged in people’s subconscious the memories & concepts they had of Kawaki & Boruto, but it didn’t alter reality.

4. Regarding Inojin: Another event that caused a stir is that Inojin was impaled by Jura. There’re already people who’ve prematurely concluded that Inojin is dead, but the truth isn’t definitive.

If Inojin survives, this’d mean 2 things:

Himawari might use some special power of the Kyubi to heal Inojin.

Inojin could be saved by the ninja medical unit, or by interference of ninja technology, although it’s important to understand that ninja medical jutsu & ninja technology have their limits.

Otherwise, it’d bring many implications to the plot. It’d be an emotionally shocking blow for many characters, starting with Ino & Sai, the Ino-Shika-Cho team that was raised as siblings, & other close friends of Inojin. It’d be the first character from the descendants of Naruto’s generation to die in battle just as the conflict begins, showing how dark the situation in TBV could start to turn. For Himawari, already the fact of losing her parents hardened her character, seeing the death of a special friend for her, who also died trying to protect her, would awaken a deep desolation.

For others like Boruto, Sarada, Sumire, & Mitsuki, who’ve known & shared time with Inojin at the academy, & Sarada & Boruto who’ve known him since childhood, it’d be an important before & after. It’d show them that no one is safe in the situation they’re living & that they’re facing dangerous enemies who don’t value human life. For Boruto, it’d be a hard blow to know that he might’ve helped, but the activated karma didn’t allow him to do anything in that situation. For the older generation, the loss of Inojin would make them aware that they failed in their mission to bring an era of peace to their children & the new generation, & the harsh reality that a new war has begun.

5. Boruto & Kawaki: Kawaki identified Boruto’s weak point in the previous chapter. It’s impressive that all of Boruto’s shinobi feats in the first 9 chapters were due to his pure training, without relying on the power of Karma. This is a great source of power, but at the same time his greatest weakness. Something must’ve happened over those 3 years that led Boruto to radically avoid karma. That fear has to do with Momoshiki, who finds a way to materialize & take over Boruto’s body by channeling through karma.

As we know in advance, in the battle Boruto vs Kawaki on the faces of the Hokages, Boruto can already activate his Karma at will. That is, by that point, Boruto’d probably have full control of his powers. But, seeing that Kawaki noticed that Boruto’s weakness is the activated karma, a possible scenario is envisioned: The cause of the destruction of the Shinobi era & what subsequently leads to the last confrontation between brothers is that Kawaki exploits Boruto’s weakness, causing him to lose control & Momoshiki to cause destruction. For some reason, Boruto regains control of his body & enters battle to defeat Kawaki.

Considering Boruto could lose control of the Karma at any moment & is emotionally affected by it, you can be sure that Sarada’ll be the one to help him channel those emotions. She’s the person he calls home, the intact fragment of his past, & she’ll be the one to show him he has the strength & will to stop Momoshiki. Sarada has always been a light in his life & was the one who thwarted Momoshiki’s plans to take over Boruto. The fight against Momoshiki is a battle waged on the plane of emotions & wills. And rest assured, Sarada won’t let Boruto fall into darkness; she’s the love that’ll turn Boruto’s vortex into a spiral. As always, Kishimoto gave us a great reference to this in Minato’s one-shot: Sarada is to Boruto what Minato was to Kushina & what Hashirama was to Mito.

There’re many more points that could be discussed, but this is what I wanted to highlight from the chapter. Boruto TBV is just beginning, there’s a lot to go through before drawing definitive conclusions.

Before closing, I’d like to point out that to know what ideas & projections Kishimoto has for the characters & their interactions, it helps to know chapter 700 of Naruto, “Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring”, & the novels belonging to Boruto’s timeline, some of which are written by Kishimoto & others directly supervised by him. These fit very well with how the characters are behaving in TBV. After Kodachi delegated the writing back to Kishimoto, a change in perspectives is noticeable. TBV is a pure concept of Kishimoto, so for those who like to theorize, analyze, or simply have a more complete understanding of the work, I suggest reading those stories that are part of the canon.

And lastly, beyond criticizing or causing fights in the fandom, enjoy the canon! Kishimoto has great things prepared.

[breithenua]

Probably gonna get some Sakura haters (probably including the misogynist troll variety, kill me now lmao) on this post but... here goes.

Rewatching the episodes where the majority of the Konoha 11 decide to "deal with" Sasuke and the fallout from that. And well, I think people's reaction to Sakura's "confession of love" to Naruto is unfair.

Yes, it was emotionally manipulative of her. Yes, if it had worked it would've resulted in a relationship based upon a lie. Yes, she hurt Naruto with that attempted manipulation. And yes, she's normally smarter than to think that's a good idea.

But y'all forget how emotionally broken she was at the time. She'd just gone through witnessing the entire village of Konoha being razed to the ground. People she had been treating at the time probably died in that Shinra Tensei attack (yes they were brought back afterwards but it was still traumatic). Her sensei and the 5th Hokage was in a coma that no one knew if she'd ever come out of. Danzo had just undermined and replaced Tsunade as Hokage, with her still being in a coma and being unable to defend herself from being deposed in any way, and then basically sent out a kill order on Sasuke. Sasuke, the man she's loved since she was a child, that she begged to not leave Konoha, had been directly involved in *two* different missions to bring him back, both failed, one of which was only a few weeks earlier and they had come *this* close to making it to him in time. Sasuke, the man she had only just found out had joined the Akatsuki and "kidnapped" Killer Bee, making Danzo's order all but justified. Sasuke, the man Naruto just willingly got the shit beat out of by Hidden Cloud ninja, in an attempt to appeal to their senses of mercy in regards for Sasuke. She has to be feeling absolutely powerless at this point. Afterall, she wasn't able to do much during Pain's assault (or probably at least perceived herself that way), can't do anything to help her comatose mentor, can't do anything to stop Danzo from taking over her mentor's position, and so far has been unable to bring back Sasuke. She feels powerless.

And then Sai comes up and tells her that she's part of the reason Naruto is in so much pain over Sasuke. That his promise to her to bring back Sasuke is causing Naruto even more pain and his shouldering of that burden is getting ever harder. And mind you, Naruto only recently lost his greatest mentor. And she's told that the rest of the Ninja of her generation (with the exception of her and Naruto obvs) have decided that they'll go and kill Sasuke themselves to avert war with the Hidden Cloud.

Sakura is incredibly fragile at this point in the story. And now she's told that she's causing one of her closest comrades and friends immense pain, and that said comrade's love for her is only intensifying that pain. She's feeling like a failure in *multiple* ways at this point, she's terrified she's going to lose her mentor, and her lifeling love interest, and she's struggling with the fact that her peers in the Konoha 11 *might actually have a point* in thinking everyone would be better off if Sasuke were dead. She's under so much emotional distress from so many sources, feeling guilty for not being able to bring her sensei put of her coma, not being able to stop Danzo from taking over as Hokage, not being able to stop Danzo from issuing an order to hunt down and kill Sasuke, etc etc. And there's nothing she can do about any of it. But she perceives that there is at least *one* thing she can do something about: The pain that Sai just told her she was putting Naruto through. And in her desperation and guilt, she decides she's going to sacrifice her own happiness and aid in killing Sasuke, and is willing to give Naruto what he's wanted from her for a large portion of their childhoods as extra insurance that he'll give up on aaving Sasuke.

No, her and Naruto probably would not have been happy in the long run in a relationship built upon a lie like that. But again, she's not in a stable emotional state right now. She's probably not thinking long-term consequences. She tries to put on an act to convince him of it.

My point being that yes, maybe normally she'd be smarter than that. But there were a lot of extenuating circumstances that affected her emotional stability and judgement in those few episodes.

Not only that, but something I neglected to mention earlier in this post is that *she is a child* at this point. A teenager yes, but still a child. Her emotional maturity (outside of moments of cartoon gag violence, which imo should be given a pass considering the medium and the genre) is incredible for someone of her age at this point, sure, but at the end of the day she is still a child soldier in a world without mental health professionals and therapists. Under the pressure of what she was going through at the time, just about anyone of any age would have likely snapped, much more so someone that's only 16.

I have my issues with how Kishimoto writes Sakura, but this particular incident is not one of them for me.

[asukakuro]

How The Last shot on NH themselves

After having written the latest post [here] and drifting around Threads the social media, I got some inspiration to enlarge the gamblings.

The Last romance was built based on these basic clauses:

'Naruto has a crush on Sakura'

'Naruto and Sasuke are rivals'

'Naruto doesn't care (much) about Hinata'

Accordingly, they had combined 3 clauses into only one issue that we all know that:

'Naruto doesn't know about his feeling for Hinata'

As you can see it. The anime itself promoted the relevance of Sakura in Naruto's character. They supported the basic settings in his profile that "likes/loves Sakura", so audiences received:

'Naruto had been having a crush on Sakura just because of his rivalry with Sasuke'

Yeah. It's the worst thing The Last had done to slap on NH in the course of protecting the hero's wife. Some people read this and thought it was pretty good. But let me prove that it was such a wacky match, both in thought and done.

1. They confirmed that Naruto has no interest in Hinata. It also means he doesn't consider her as a potential love interest. Hinata stans freakishly admitted this without any semblance of a breakup.

2. The Last still did the same like they had done to promote Sakura - emphasize the relevance of Sakura in Naruto's character. No wonder Sakura stans are boasting about their bias was loved by the main character for at least 699 chapters, or 'Sakura let Hinata have Naruto' lol. Even in a NH movie, NSK still had their advantages.

3. Hinata herself prefer her crush than her sister who was in dangerous. The way SP portray her make her more useless. Hoping her rivals were fangirls of Naruto but... The fact Sakura push Naruto to Hinata actually mocking on NH.

Not regarding The Last movie stealing main couple tropes (you knew it), just a little oddity existed in how they lead scenarios would trigger the war between two ladies.

Sakura fans have put up with SS's unclear marriage and will surely cling to any clue that would indicate Sakura was attractive. NH was already the lowly compared to NSK. The only thing keeping them safe is the whole wedding and 'after The Last' dating. Those two factors are enough leverage for NH. As you can see, Hinata fans are winners in any S-H war.

SS obviously sucks. NH sucks in a subtle way. A normal reader who is somewhat confident in his or her own intelligence will come to the erroneous conclusion that Naruto manga's het relationship isn't as good as family and bromance.

[leportraitducadavre]

Sakura & Naruto I

After much consideration, I've decided to write a post about Sakura and Naruto's dynamic, since I've received some asks regarding them (as friends and/or a romantic couple); in that sense, this will be an analysis of their interactions and how their relationship developed from the first time they met until the very end of Sasuke's Retrieval Arc in Part 1.

Everything will be under the cut, as I wish to add or edit my posts as I please even after the original publication.

Sakura is introduced during chapter three of the manga (Enter Sasuke!), being described by Naruto himself as "a total babe":

There's no telling how Naruto actually upset Sakura prior to this hostile interaction, and since there's no mention of it (rather, Sakura reflects the usual manner in which Naruto is treated by others), we can infer that Sakura dislikes him, often treating him and calling him annoying.

Furthermore, after Naruto accidentally kisses Sasuke, Sakura threatens him with physical violence (something that she ends up doing) and specifically tells him that "he makes her sick".

He ruins everything... he enjoys tormenting me! (...) I can't stand to have him anywhere near me!

Again, their interactions during their infancy are never shown, so we have yet to learn how Naruto and Sakura interacted prior to their graduation. It's true that Sakura could be lashing out about Naruto in an attempt to paint him as a non-threat to Sasuke's romantic status, but she appears to be sincere in her statements.

It's because he was badly brought up!! (...) He doesn't have to answer to anyone, ever, and it's made him completely selfish!!! If I did the kind of things he gets away with, my parents would ground me for life!

Her lack of sympathy for Naruto and his situation as an orphan is what gets her in trouble with Sasuke for the first time after he escapes Naruto's trap. Sakura, likely used to Naruto's own reaction when she badmouthed him (they were about to kiss after she specifically said she couldn't stand him), continued within the same line of speech about their teammate, not knowing Sasuke wasn't the one she shared her prior opinion nor the intimate moment.

Sakura was unaware of Sasuke's own condition as an orphan, which is why Sasuke is so harsh against her and why he uses her previous line about Naruto:

In response to Sasuke’s outburst, we get Sakura to reconsider her attitude towards Naruto.

I make him sick...? I wonder if Naruto feels that way, too... maybe, from now on, I could try being a little... nicer...?

It’s important to mention that she does not reconsider her words (which means, proclaiming that being an orphan is good), but the use of the phrase "you make me sick", which she earlier used against him.

Since she had used similar wording when trying to push Naruto away from her and Sasuke, and Sasuke did the same to her, she wonders if this is what it feels like to be dismissed in such a manner.

These two instances happen in the exact same chapter, making the parallel all the more obvious.

It's clear by the way she internally reacts to Naruto's pranks that she's far more similar to him than what she lets on, as inner Sakura is likely the consequence of her suppressing her "non-feminine" traits or true thoughts/emotions.

Sakura's presentation consists mostly of her feelings toward both her teammates, one (Sasuke) is presented in a positive manner while the other (Naruto) negatively. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto actually mentioned her during their introductions.

You Sakura, ignored Naruto, who was right in front of you while you focused your attention on Sasuke, though you didn't know where he was (...) Naruto tried to do single-handedly what should have been the work of all three!

It's interesting to note how on point Kakashi is about their characterizations but also, how Sasuke and Naruto acted in the exact same manner albeit with different reasoning. Naruto wanted to win against Kakashi alone in order to prove himself while Sasuke wanted to fight Kakashi alone because both Sakura and Naruto were nuances to him. In that sense, Naruto and Sasuke are extremely similar with the difference that Naruto believes his reasoning has a more positive value and therefore, is more understandable and achievable; while Sasuke's reasoning gives him a negative acknowledgment, as he's seen as inferior to Sasuke, who he admires.

Sakura decides to share her bento box with Naruto after Sasuke shares his own, she specifically does so after Sasuke says "You're no good to me if you're just going to be a liability," something that's quite significant as Kakashi priorly established how Sasuke saw them both as people who "got in his way", here Sakura is likely feeding Naruto to help Sasuke and not become a "liability" for his goals.

It's interesting how Sakura can't admit (or won't admit) her own emotions and/or appreciation of Naruto at least until they're not pointed out by somebody else, either because she doesn't feel confident enough to make what she believes could be a "valid" assessment or because she refuses to give him the relevance he has to her or the acknowledgment he seeks.

Source

This is even quickly mentioned during her entry in the Databooks, although it's specifically stated her great love is Sasuke (who doesn't love her in return).

Sakura is aware of Naruto's praises for her, as she mentions it during the tree-climbing training:

It's true that she frames this admission negatively as she was actually looking for Sasuke's compliment, yet this knowledge is what later pushes her to seek his appraisal once Sasuke leaves.

Naruto is shown constantly refuting Sakura's prior assessment of him, which is their particular narrative subplot within Wave's Arc. In this specific portion of the manga, we get to see the improvement of dynamics like Naruto-Sasuke and Sakura-Naruto specifically, as these are the relationships mostly shown and explored. This can be easily proven through various interactions:

Naruto disappears every day and goes to train on his tree-climbing, as apparently Sasuke does as well, when Naruto falls later in this scene, is Sasuke who saves him -having mastered the technique.

This specific interaction is so interesting that I don't know why I skipped over it during my re-read. Sakura encourages both Naruto and Sasuke (who are fighting Haku) to win or rather "not lose to a person like him [Zabuza]", and is immediately chastised by Kakashi, who tells her that her teammates aren't up for the task of defeating "that boy", as they haven't "developed the psychological strength to turn their hearts to ice and take a human life" (x).

This interaction implies that Sakura is somewhat more prepared than both her teammates (although I genuinely think she is as vulnerable as them to perform the exact same task at this point in time, when Sasuke attacks in order to kill during the Chünin Exams, her reaction isn't from someone willing to perform the same thing), Kakashi specifically leaves her out of the equation when her addition involves neither more time nor more analysis, and all three share the same kind of military experience outside of Konoha.

We can clearly see that Sakura, despite the improvement of her initial relationship with Naruto, still focuses her entire attention on Sasuke (x, x), despite knowing Naruto is inside Haku's glass dome.

I’d like to say that this page, which is located after Sakura asks Naruto where is Sasuke after their fight against Haku is incredibly pretty and emotional, Sakura is a child here, a child that desires nothing but to run towards the boy she likes once she hears he’s “wounded”, yet she doesn’t want to disobey her leader, which is why Tazuna offers to run with her. Sakura grabbing Tazuna’s hand and saying “uh-huhn” is meant to show her as the small child she is.

Wave Arc comes to an end and Sakura asks Sasuke out on a date, to which he declines "uh, no. Thanks", to that, Naruto offers himself to go out with her to which she replies "Naruto! No! Knock it off!", rejecting him quite harshly still (perhaps to, once again, build him as a non-threat on Sasuke's eyes, who is present).

[The SasuSaku dynamic present in the Chünin Exams, which is an important aspect of Sakura's character, has been analyzed in their own post, here]

We start the Chünin Exams Arc by seeing how Sakura reacts to Konohamaru calling her "Naruto's girlfriend", while Naruto doesn't dispute it (here). She reacts violently as she might feel disrespected as Naruto is talking about the nature of their relationship while she's present, but she is also likely reacting in such an out-of-proportion manner as she's venting her frustration and disappointment with herself (as she failed to impress Sasuke in any manner, earning a rejection in the process).

[On another note, Konohamaru and his friends' play of "being ninja" is an educational method on techniques and possible strategies that is surely driven and nurtured by the system for children of Konohamaru's age. Sakura reacts negatively because she considers her own profession unworthy of being seen as a "game", without realizing that it is a propagandistic method of the shinobi system.]

During the Chünin exams, Sakura appears to be worried about Naruto’s well-being, she seems to think that he’s shaking out of fear for what is to come, so she approaches him to comfort him (this would be not necessary later on, but it shows an interesting development in their relationship and how Sakura starts to care for his well-being).

This is an important moment in Sakura and Naruto’s dynamic since it shows Sakura acknowledging Naruto’s dream, she's willing to sacrifice her reputation (accepting the blame for the failure of all Team 7, and likely Sasuke's grudge) to prevent Naruto from staying forever as a gënin (Ibiki had threatened them with, should they fail to reply correctly the tenth question of the exam, they’ll stay as gënin forever).

Sakura is probably considering the previous nine questions as a model of what the tenth question will be, which is why I believe she thought Naruto wasn’t smart enough to answer.

In chapter 46, after Sakura is tricked by a henge and Sasuke saves both of them from an attack, we get this moment, in which Sakura is tricked again by a henge and has to be saved once more by Sasuke. The relevance of this particular moment, for this post at least, is the fact that Sakura's knowledge of Naruto seems to be superficial enough not to realize Naruto would never remember the Ninki. It's not surprising nor contradicts Sakura's previous knowledge of Naruto's dream, as the MC's main goal is something he's extremely vocal about, unlike this particular behavior.

We jump to Chapter 48, where both Sasuke and Sakura are struggling against Orochimaru and Naruto arrives to find Sasuke forfeating. After some words get said (in which Naruto calls Sasuke a coward and gets knocked out by Orochimaru). 

Sakura saves Naruto (CH 49) when Orochimaru tosses him, showing an improvement on her reflexs and commitement to the Team (previously displayed in the first stage of the exams):

And later on uses Naruto’s words to encourage Sasuke to move:

She’s not exactly nice -but she still gives Naruto a credit that she wouldn’t have given him before, particularly if it meant critiquing Sasuke in the process.

She calls Naruto for help when Sasuke starts agonizing due to the Cursed Mark Orochimaru implanted on him and, after seeing him unconscious, starts to cry at seeing herself alone. It’s here that she understands some more what being a ninja actually entails.

I've got to protect them both

It's particular to the relationship between Sakura and Naruto how similar they are in terms of personalities, but also with regard to their lack of contemplation about the possible consequences of their actions. Sakura knows that they are forbidden to look inside the scrolls, however, as Naruto himself, who is aware of the threat, they are stopped from looking inside the scroll by Kabuto (who helped them in order to ensure Sasuke reaches the preliminary rounds). In this sense, Sasuke acts as both their opposites.

Multiple times Naruto's vast amount of chakra is mentioned, by various characters, and in no moment of these is Sakura the one noticing Kurama's energy (x), she seems to be not sensitive enough to notice even the tremendous amount of Naruto's stamina.

During her match with Ino (and I made an entire post regarding this relationship), Naruto encourages Sakura to fight back against the Shintenshin, telling her she's come too far to lose against that "crazy Sasuke chaser" (x). Sakura even thanks him for helping her during the match.

(I've mentioned how Ino actually won this match because hadn't Naruto interfered, Sakura would've succumbed, furthermore, Ino quite literally resigned fully to the match when inside Sakura, yet Hayate, for some reason, doesn't respect such a declaration),

It’s after (during the preliminary rounds), that she encourages Naruto not to lose against those from Sand.

It’s to be noted that her fight with Ino had already finished by then and that Sasuke was nowhere to be seen -furthermore, Gaara and Temari had insulted both Lee and Tenten, and we already know that Sakura cares for Lee. Their relationship has developed into, perhaps not a friendship, but a good camaraderie dynamic.

Sakura believes in Naruto.

Weirdly enough, Sakura was able to notice Hinata always watching Naruto (x). It's unclear if Sakura noticed this after they became a team and during the Chünin Exams or prior to that, yet she's perceptive enough to notice something Naruto himself ignores.

During the Third Stage of the Exams, Sakura's concern for Sasuke is understandable, as Sasuke ran from the hospital to an unknown location (he's training, but she doesn't know that as she wasn't informed), is Ino who cheers her up and tells her to cheer for Naruto, who's about to fight Neji (x).

She even admits to being somewhat jealous of Naruto (here) and wanting to train harder in order to catch him.

Sakura puts herself in between Sasuke, who has a hard time suppressing the Cursed Mark as he wasted almost all of his chakra, and Gaara (x), when Sasuke asks Naruto to protect her and run away (as he wants to protect both his friends), Naruto finally understands Haku's words about fighting to protect something dear to them (x, x, x).

After the fight, Sakura thanks Sasuke for saving her, who in turn tells her that it was Naruto the one who actually did it (x) to which she softly smiles.

After this, there's an entire Arc dedicated to Sasuke encountering Itachi and Naruto seeking Tsunade to both help Sasuke and to make her the new Hokage, so we need to jump to Chapter 172 to have something revolving around Naruto and Sakura.

I've said this before and I'll say this again, this first interaction between Sakura and Tsunade is the reason why Sakura chose to become a medic (x, x), Sakura considers Tsunade to be beautiful, and she was the only one who helped Sasuke when no one else could, we already saw Sakura being at Sasuke's side while he was in a coma, so it makes sense she'll choose a profession where she can help as she's aware she's incapable of fighting people like Gaara, for instance (who Sasuke was barely able to survive and who Naruto won against).

Naruto decides to leave the room once Sasuke awakes (x and x) as he considers that Sakura, who was next to Sasuke the whole time, deserves to have some privacy with him; he enters the room ready to talk to him ("Sasuke, you...") but once he sees Sakura's reaction to Sasuke waking, he leaves, allowing her to cry and hug Sasuke without his presence. She has been very clear about her feelings for Sasuke, so Naruto is starting to respect her emotions and decides not to interfere during their reunion.

After Sasuke and Naruto's fight, which Sakura tries to stop and is saved by Kakashi, who deflects both her teammates' attacks, Naruto approaches her and warns her not to get in his way.

This is incredibly significant because is the first time Naruto has shown such emotion or has spoken to Sakura in such a manner (he's usually submissive to her and her outbursts, and every time she badmouths him he usually endures), Sakura is shocked by this, as we see, and decides to tell Naruto about Sasuke's cursed mark; thinking this is the reason Sasuke's behaviour became so violent. Naruto reassures her that Sasuke will not be tempted by him, and they resume their usual dynamic.

After Sasuke leaves, Sakura approaches Shikamaru's team, and this happens:

People who hate Sakura for “crying and asking Naruto to bring back Sasuke instead of doing it herself” are not as valid as they think they are. She is aware that he rejected her romantically as he also refused her help just as much as she knows she isn’t even close power-wise to him in order to fight him to bring him back; something naruto was closer to being as Sasuke specifically told her naruto was able to save her from Gaara when he himself couldn’t, so she has that prior knowledge. Asking for help doesn’t mean she gave up on bringing Sasuke back but rather refusing to quit the idea of him returning to Konoha, as she was aware she could do nothing on her own.

Furthermore, this is the moment Naruto shatters all her previous pre-conceptions as Sakura finally understands that Naruto does seek her happiness: he left the hospital room when Sasuke woke up and gladly looked for Sasuke in order to bring him back to her. This, of course, isn't the whole reason why he does it, as Naruto and Sasuke's relationship is far more profound than what Sakura thinks it is (and will continue to think until Shippuden), but it's of utmost importance to Sakura and Naruto's relationship.

However, Sasuke leaves; yet Sakura refuses to accept Naruto's apology (x, x) and pretends she's okay for his sake, which is incredibly sweet.

Sakura is constantly shown to be mean-spirited, particularly towards Ino whom she's constantly trying to downgrade since she sees her as her rival (it's likely that since she tied her self-esteem to Ino's perception of her when she was a child she now inevitably compares herself to her in order to measure her self-worth, which is why she tries to diminish Ino's relevance, beauty or capacities, as in doing so, she elevates hers). Yet with Naruto, and with something as important as Sasuke's departure and during Naruto's recovery, she tries to help him and cheer him up, trying to uplift the burden of the promise he gave her.

Naruto's first half ends with Naruto promising her, again, that he'll bring back Sasuke (x, x) and Sakura assuring him she'll be right next to him (x), which is why she later seeks Tsunade's mentorship (here).

I really do enjoy their dynamic, actually; to go from a place of hostility towards a place of mutual care for each other is something quite nice and very well done by Kishimoto. Naruto starts to respect Sakura's feelings and tries to protect her happiness rather than seeking her romantical reciprocation, and Sakura starts to care deeply for Naruto, seeing him as someone inspiring as he earns her respect.

We'll see how their dynamic shifts (or continues to grow), during Shippuden.