#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.

[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���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!

[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.

[please-read-the-manga]

I re-read the manga/get back into thinking about this series like once or twice a year... needed a place to post my thoughts amid the sea of disingenuous, bad faith takes I often see regarding too many characters (mostly Uchiha) and their related scenes.

Wondering about my general takes?

Here's a list:

Sasuke deserved better, mostly from fans who willfully misinterpret or trivialize his character arc/motivations.

Sasuke's worst 'crime' (imo) is stabbing Karin and nothing else even compares. In fact, throughout Shippuden he mostly helped Konoha indirectly (even if that was not his intention). He killed three rogue ninja (Orochimaru, Deidara, and Itachi), he freed Orochimaru's prisoners, he stopped Kabuto/the edo tensei with Itachi, he summoned the past Hokage who helped with the war, and he was fundamental in saving the world and defeating Kaguya - you wouldn't even have a prison to 'lock him up' in (as if he could even be held at this point lmao) if not for him helping save the world.

Actually, let me keep ranting about Sasuke's 'crimes' for a minute... Re: Danzo, the guy was already about to be jumped at the Five Kage Summit for his multiple unraveling deceptions (and generally being a bum ass lol) even before Sasuke got there. Fr, dude had so much blood on his hands/insanely dirty laundry it's not even funny... so, again, Sasuke did Konoha another favor by taking him out. And bffr about the nameless, faceless samurai for 3 seconds OR acknowledge that others, like Gaara when he invaded the Leaf, should be locked up for life for also killing 'innocent' fodder in the background... like c'mon, we're not going to be that disingenuous about the world/setting are we? He also went to the 5KS under stealth which was only ruined by Zetsu announcing his presence and kickstarting an insane gauntlet with the kage that Sasuke didn't give a shit about/hadn't intended. Re: Akatsuki, he joined them for 0.5 seconds, failed the mission to capture Bee, and then immediately dropped them after getting Itachi's eyes. He also claimed he wanted to 'destroy Konoha' and be 'darkness incarnate to unite the world' and, again, didn't do anything truly actionable about those fleeting plans before immediately dropping the ideas altogether after another 0.5 seconds of consideration. And during this series of events we even have rare insight into Sasuke's psyche which reveals that (at this point in the story) he was notably lost and confused, deep in his grief, and very desperately trying to wrap his head around how the world could be so cruel that his own beloved brother was groomed and manipulated into mercilessly slaughtering their entire family/clan (and for WHAT) - he's hopelessly searching for answers/solutions during this time because the reality that the Hidden Villages/Shinobi World are 'just like that' (ie. fundamentally cruel/broken), is too much for him to bear. You could argue one of his 'big crimes' was being a rogue ninja (which in-universe is stated to be treasonous) after he left the village at 12 to train with Orochimaru... but to that I'd counter, even if he didn't know the full truth behind his clan's indiscriminate slaughter, he was still willing to make such a personal sacrifice/abandon the village because he knew by then that Konoha didn't actually give a shit about his quest of justice for the Uchiha. So Sasuke, even then, out of his deep love for his family and an intrinsic need for justice, decided there was nothing left for him in a Konoha that wasn't going to help him achieve his righteous goals of avenging the clan. He left and became a rogue ninja for what he saw as a higher (and certainly a more moral) calling.

Sasuke wasn't constantly 'arrogant' and Naruto's POV often gets this wrong about his character. While Naruto can be excused for how he interpreted/viewed Sasuke from afar as it's his own bias, it's still the reader's responsibility to realize Naruto's perception is often flawed and should not be simply accepted at objective face value. We, the reader, know that for much of his childhood Sasuke was a severely depressed and traumatized child who had been given the monumental task of seeking justice for his entire clan and their legacy. We often see Naruto wrongfully interpret this as Sasuke being aloof and cocky when really we know that (most of the time) Sasuke was just barely hanging on by a thread and none of his peers could even begin to understand/fathom what he had been through or why he felt compelled to work so hard and undertake his incredibly grueling quest.

The Leaf owes the Uchiha reparations and were/are fundamentally wrong in orchestrating the genocide of ANY clan, let alone a founding clan. There is absolutely no justification for genocide so don't even try to make one with me. The Leaf should be groveling at Sasuke's feet, begging for his forgiveness of their egregious crimes to him and his family. The fact that today (Boruto-era), Sasuke instead chooses to quietly protect them is testament to Sasuke's incredible generosity/capacity for forgiveness - not theirs.

Sasuke is/was the glue that holds Team 7 together. Until Itachi came back in part one to 'kidnap' Naruto and violently torture/mentally destroy his brother again (ie. remind Sasuke of the ultimate task of justice he had bestowed on him/keep him 'on track' with Itachi's plans for his brother), Sasuke had really been opening himself up to his team which was no small feat after the enormous tragedy of the Uchiha Clan Massacre and how badly he had been scarred after horrifically losing everyone he'd ever loved. Sasuke is the reason Team 7 passed Kakashi's bell test and remained shinobi, Sasuke decided that Naruto being fed mattered more than their sensei's arbitrary rules, Sasuke showed Naruto kindness that literally no one else ever had (let alone a peer), Sasuke was willing to DIE for Naruto and give up on his dreams just to make sure Naruto survived (and this resulted in Naruto's life fundamentally changing for the better - this is one of the key reasons why Sasuke is Naruto's most important person/personal mission), Sasuke was the one who led Team 7, Sasuke called Team 7 his precious people and wanted so desperately to keep them safe. Team 7 has always been Sasuke leaving a lasting and profound impact on his teammates and him, in turn, choosing to love and protect them even though he intimately knows how great the cost of loss/losing those he loves is.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre was a horrific event that should not be undermined or underplayed. If you don't remember it this way, then you need to re-read the manga. It was so bad that at seven years old (SEVEN) Sasuke unlocked his sharingan, that is younger than any other Uchiha character we've seen. It's even worse when you remember that Sasuke tried to dissociate so completely from this traumatic event that he didn't re-unlock his sharingan until he was twelve and risking his life to protect Naruto. I hate playing the 'Trauma Olympics' this fandom tries to encourage but don't even go there with me on the Uchiha Clan Massacre OR Sasuke's subsequent torture over it at his brother's hands.

Sasuke is not an 'edge-lord' or an 'emo' or a 'cry baby'... it is 2024 about to be 2025 and if you're still serious about those interpretations of the character then I'm going to assume you've only consumed Naruto through TikTok/Youtube clips and therefore don't have any meaningful grasp on the source material/its themes. The fact Sasuke was able to keep going after what Itachi did (which, as another reminder, was annihilating his entire family, culture, and sense of safety on top of violently torturing him as a seven-year-old) speaks so much to Sasuke's resilience and strength.

Actually (re: UCM), I consider this thread fundamental reading: Kishimoto's Writing on the Uchiha Is Unironically A Good Example of Real Life Pro-Genocide Propaganda (by u/livingwithstupidity).

Itachi is a complicated character to me. I greatly enjoy his pre-massacre relationship to Sasuke and believe he was a loving brother. I also greatly struggle with the way he violently tortured Sasuke in an attempt to mold him into own his perfect vision of 'strength' rather than see Sasuke for the individual he was. Itachi even vaguely tries alluding to this mistake when he dies. That being said, I think Itachi is also a victim of the ninja system and he was far too young to be given the responsibilities he had... buuuuut, the fact he still doesn't acknowledge that the shinobi world (and by extension Konoha itself) is inherently flawed and was wrong for putting him through it all, irks me. So he's complicated in my book.

I like Kakashi, but sometimes I can't stand his fans and it can bleed into my views on the character (though I do try to couch my biases). And I recognize that the reverse is probably true for them of us Sasuke fans lol. You like what you like, I get it. I'm just saying my piece. Kakashi has a lot of heavy baggage from his past and is mentally unwell but shown to be 'managing' it. Like Itachi, he is also a victim of the broken/corrupt shinobi system and it's important to recognize that he responds to his trauma within this system differently than Sasuke, differently than Naruto, etc. while also being an adult with additional experience under his belt. But, when his fans cheer him on for being unable (and many of them think he is actually 'unwilling', which I'd argue is not true nor would it be in-character) to help Sasuke who is drowning in grief... it just rubs me the wrong way lol. I can completely understand/recognize that Kakashi was out of his depth with handling Sasuke... In fact, after what Sasuke has been through, I personally don't they should have even trained him to be a child soldier to begin with, but whatever the Leaf has to make its money. It's weird to me that, rather than acknowledging this as a difficulty Kakashi is navigating as Sasuke's mentor, some of his fans will just completely villainize Sasuke's valid-but-raw emotions in favor of hyping up Kakashi's stoicism as the preferred/'better' trauma response. Ignoring the fact that this 'stoicism' is really a way for Kakashi to (literally lol) mask his own barely healed emotional turmoil, they're also refusing to explore the far more compelling idea of how varied the processing of grief/trauma can be and how under-explored/understood it is within the shinobi world (especially to the extent that Kakashi was set up for failure here). Not to mention the fact there's a really interesting connection between the two characters and their emotional pain that Kakashi himself recognizes/is reminded of when he sees Sasuke struggling. I just think some fans, in their attempt to woobify Kakashi, diminish the character's agency and his personal journey of navigating how to be an effective mentor to the next generation of struggling kids while still not being completely mentally well/healed/adjusted himself.

Sasuke is Naruto's best friend and most important person. Full stop. It's not Shikamaru, Hinata, Gaara, or Sakura. The narrative repeatedly, constantly, blatantly, underscores Sasuke's fundamental importance to Naruto and who he is as a person. He can be great friends with all of these other people, but each and every one of them will pale in the way he views and holds Sasuke in his heart. This is directly from the text.

Sasuke worked incredibly hard to be where he is today. I think the misconception that he didn't maybe comes from a few comments made in part one by characters implying Sasuke was 'only' good because of his clan's legacy... but again, we know this is untrue. We see Sasuke training constantly. Even as a young child, he works tirelessly to grasp the fireball jutsu to impress his father - it didn't come naturally to him (in comparison to someone like Itachi), but he worked nonstop to make up that difference. At the academy, especially post-massacre, if not dissociating/slipping into depression we see that one of the only things driving him is continuing his training/performing at the top level in hopes he can one day avenge his family. Naruto also gets flak in this 'hard work v. natural talent' debate and even if both he and Sasuke did have natural advantages, they still had to work hard to fully harness and utilize those talents and I don't think that should be negated.

Tobirama's design is sick (in a good way) but his politics are also sick (in a very bad way lol). If you know, you know.

I think Hashirama owed more to Madara. He kind of acknowledges it in the end when they're together/dying once again, but really Hashirama flagrantly ignoring/not doing enough regarding Madara's concerns about his brother's bias against the Uchiha (which we see still remains when Sasuke summons the past Hokage) is a major misstep that I feel falls on Hashirama's shoulders. Madara has his own many faults (no question about that lol), but it's a two-way street and the foundation for Konoha was rocky from the very beginning (and don't even get me started on 'We-Should-Vote-For-Hokage' Tobirama who then goes on to field promote his own successor to the role and continue the lineage nepotism/Senju concentration of power in Konoha lmao). Oy. That said, I do really enjoy the Founders era and wish we had a prequel centering on the Senju/Uchiha instead of Boruto.

Madara and Naruto parallels are awesome/fascinating as are Hashirama and Sasuke parallels. That's it, just wanted to state that. I really appreciate all the talented people who have brought forth that analysis as it's definitely altered the way I re-read/examine certain scenes now.

In general, I'll just never understand Uchiha haters who wish the Uchiha didn't exist... like wdym lol, there'd be no narrative or story without them. They are the drama, they are the moment. Naruto without the Uchiha constantly bringing their best (and worst lol) is nothing.

Neji deserved better - the Hyuga should have been called out and brought to task for their horrific practices.

Ame deserved better. I don't like to venture into Boruto because I don't keep up with the chapters as often (the art style is so bad to me, I'm sorry) but the fact that two sitting Hokage (Kakashi and then Naruto) have done nothing to repay what Konoha did to them is egregious.

Team Taka deserved better. I just really like them and what they represented. The way each of them reflected different key aspects of Sasuke's character was woefully underexplored. I also wish we had gotten to see them accomplish their individual goals/how those goals would evolve over time. Suigetsu reviving the legendary swordsmen, Jugo finding a way to tame the curse inside of him, Karin maybe carrying on Uzumaki culture/lineage as one of the very few remaining members of the clan -- I don't know, I just wish it had been more developed because I really vibe with the concept.

The Hidden Villages can talk all the shit they want but we still never really had a conclusion regarding the impact of their involvement in atrocities against one another nor their latent support of the Akatsuki as an organization and the role that played in the overall war.

The Elders who helped Danzo plan the massacre should have been called out and brought to task. The fact they continue to sit on the Hokage's council even now is insidiously evil.

Fugaku wasn't a bad father. He was simply stern and struggled to sometimes connect with his kids... but he obviously respected and loved them. Sasuke was an incredibly happy and dedicated child growing up (albeit a bit shy) and he clearly felt comfortable enough going to his parents with honest questions - he does this with both Mikoto and Fugaku who reassure him that he is loved and his own person (ie. he doesn't have to be Itachi). The Uchiha are a clan of deep love/loyalty and even if bad actors like Tobirama want to twist that into a terrible thing, I think it's wonderful and I won't tolerate Fugaku slander lol.

Naruto filler/anime-only changes are the bane of my existence. The manga is superior for many reasons, but a big one for me is that so much is lost in the original work's expressions when it is animated. The way certain filler goes out of its way to assassinate certain characters as well (Sasuke and Sakura, in particular) is just... awful. If I have to see the 'Sasuke would have still been an asshole even without the massacre' take one more time and watch that person cite the horrifically bad, non-canon filler that was Tsunade's stupid Infinite Tsukuyomi dream then I'm gonna lose it lmao.

This matters very little to me, but I've been asked before so I'll put it here - I really don't care about romantic pairings at all in Naruto. I think sometimes fans make fun/funny content with the pairings, but the purpose it serves in the narrative doesn't really do anything for me.

Maybe I'll add more to these as time goes on lol. Interestingly, I've held many of these thoughts/opinions for years now. Even as a young kid reading the manga religiously after school in the public library, Sasuke and his pursuit of justice really resonated with me... so it's nice to see that some things never change haha.

That being said, outside of a few of my hard lines (trivializing genocide, for example), I'm largely fine with reading alternative interpretations/analysis when it comes to Naruto and its characters -- especially when it is backed up by the text. I really appreciate anyone who backs up their thoughts with evidence from the manga because I think it goes a long way in combatting the wild misinformation that gets circulated through fandom groupthink and the far too common consumption of Naruto through limited/edited videos of the anime (including filler that gets treated as canon).

TLDR: Most of my opinions/takes revolve around the fact that I think the fandom owes Sasuke a lot more grace and that, in a better timeline, the Uchiha clan (and many other characters) would have received better, more satisfying narrative conclusions than what we were ultimately given.

[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.

[theheirofthesharingan]

Things to keep in mind before interacting with this blog

This blog is a safe place for both Itachi and Sasuke and their fans. I defend Itachi a lot.

Bonds important to both Sasuke and Itachi are respected here. There will be some criticism to everyone, but no hate.

I don't have any strong negative sentiment towards any character. It varies from unhinged kind of love (Itachi and Sasuke) to like and indifference to other characters. I don't invest my time hating on other characters, so you might not find hateful posts on most the characters.

The posts tagged as anti are not hateful. I tag them as such because I don't want confusion or misunderstanding.

I do not entertain the powerscalers and fandom activists. Anyone coming here with these ideas will be blocked without any explanations.

Strictly anti S*suSaku and It*Saku. If you ship them, it's fine by me, but please don't talk about the ships in my notes. Just because I'm anti these ships doesn't mean I hate the characters or want them to be hated in my notes. I will never write about them in my fics and will not read the fics featuring them.

Likewise, anti incest-ships as well. Itachi and Sasuke have the deepest bond, and it does not have to be misconstrued into something it's not. If you ship them, again, it's fine, but I will not be sharing the arts and fics on the ship here.

Regarding Asks

I try to respond to all the asks. If it's ever delayed, it's because I'm really, really busy or I need to be in the proper state of mind to be able to answer it. I don't like throwing half-baked replies, so please don't think I'm ignoring you or your asks.

I don't mind long asks, and please don't ever apologise for sending me long asks or ranting in my ask box.

I block people who send rude asks as well. I can answer usually everything other than the rude ones or those with Y/N.

I have already written about S/a/kura and SS. I don't plan to write anything about the character or the ship. Please do not send me the asks about her or the ship. I will not be answering them from now onwards. There's already enough content on them in both the anti and pro tags. Please visit relevant tags on Tumblr.

On my fics

I love to write about the brothers and have written 4 Naruto fics so far.

I take a little bit of time to update them because the stories about Itachi and Sasuke are emotionally draining sometimes.

Some important links

On the reasons Itachi gets unnecessary hate

On Itachi's mannerisms

Itachi was not retconned

On Itachi and Sasuke

On Itachi and Shisui

On Itachi and Kisame

Reasoning behind Itachi's actions

On Itachi's relationship with his parents

On Itachi's role in the Uchiha massacre

On Itachi's illness

My Webweaving posts

Tragedy

Death

Brothers

The Parallel Lines

A Moment Lost in Time

Death before Death

Regret