#Tumblr what have you against Sasuke

[moldy-flowers]

Sasuke and Itachi in canon:

Sasuke: I'm going to kill you, Itachi.

Itachi: Whaaaat? Oh no don't do that...

Road to Ninja Sasuke and Itachi:

Itachi: Sasuke please stop telling everybody that I'm the ugly brother.

Sasuke: Get ratioed NERD.

[thesonicpunk]

My favourite SNS fanfics (part 1)

Someone in the comments of my own fic asked for NaruSasu recs, so I thought I'd also make a post compiling my absolute favourites here! I've been so fortunate with the response to my work on AO3 so I hope this is a nice way to share the love around:

Inside this place is warm by magma. One shot, a cozy night in with Sasuke and hokage!Naruto where they figure out what they are to each other. It's short, so well written and the author really grasps the subtleness/complex nature of their relationship! (the author is @magmavox on tumblr!)

Swimming against the current by GODZILLA90095. Part 1 of the series with the same name. College AU. When I tell you I devoured this fanfic........ Lowkey-emo!Sasuke, hockey-player!Naruto. It's funny, it's got lots of pinning, it's got feels, it's got Naruto figuring out his sexuality in the most typically Naruto way, basically it's got IT ALL. And the writing is amazing. It was the fic that inspired me to get on the website and post my own work.

Tears don't fall by GODZILLA90095 (again bcs they rule). Part 1 of the series A different way but just as good. Modern AU. It's kind of a Naruto and Sasuke get a second chance in their 30s after a huge break-up. Naruto has kids with Hinata, but he's gay. It's heartbreaking, raw, real, beautiful.... fuckkkk read it!!!

The Symposium series by candlewix. Told from the perspective of ace!Kakashi. We see Naruto and Sasuke's love story across the years from his eyes. No one, I mean NO ONE, is as funny as this author. The way they write Kakashi's POV is hilarious, but so well balanced by the profound and beautiful descriptions the author writes about what Nart and Sake mean to each other. ugh.

We Deserved a Better Ending My Love by narutophobia. Reencarnation babyyy! Naruto and Sasuke in modern times, but everything that was in canon was real just reaaally long ago. Naruto remembers, searches for Sasuke (who doesnt remember!!). SHENANIGANS ensue. Beautiful love story and such an interesting take on things.

love like this is forever by moonplums.  Part 1 of the series forever. It's set in Boruto era/world - I am not usually into that tbh, it gives me anxiety to think about Sasuke and Naruto not getting together after the war BUT this series does it quite nicely, kind of like they have their awakening later in life and it's very cute how they have a family with the kids. Sarada's POV. Worth reading for sure!

when it all comes together, there's just you by kintou.  It's short fragments of both Naruto and Sasuke discovering their sexualities across the years, with and without each other. Super cute and interesting, and smutty! I love the concept. (author is @ao3-kintou on tumblr!)

I might one day make a part 2 to this, but so far these are the ones I've read that I really love! I hope it was ok to share these on here, if you are the author and would like me to remove (or tag you!) just message me.

If you read any of these and you like 'em, remember to leave a comment (any comment!). You can make the author's day with just a little emoji. <3

[comikadraws]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[leportraitducadavre]

It is quite striking how the main plot of Naruto focuses on the problems brought about by a military system whose foundations are intrinsically patriarchal and how much of the “feminist fandom” focuses on the little to no inclusion of women within that system, rather than its dismantling, which was proposed to and tried to be carried out by other characters such as Konan (to mention a female character as bringing Sasuke to the picture might “compromise” the fandom’s idea of “feminism” that upholds itself under the notion that only women can be part of it).

To quote @dushman-e-jaan:

What’s even funnier is that the military as an institution is deeply patriarchal: it’s patriarchy at its best. So wanting Sakura’s inclusion into its apparatus is just a dull, neo-liberal contextualization of locating a “middle-class side-lined girl” into patriarchy and its state strongholds, its militia arms, extensions that are extensively, liberally, and fully utilized to maintain state’s oppression. Something which we saw in the case of Ame’s mass-starvation, Uchiha Massacre, Hyuuga Clan’s slavery, etc. In this regard, to Sakura fandom, inclusion in this oppressive-apparatus is a power-fantasy, a means to cut in on the action not cut it out; so therefore, the question shouldn’t be as to why Sakura isn’t included; it ought to be that why should there be any expansion on the basis of inclusivity into patriarchal institutions in lieu of smashing these systems? However, Sasuke’s just a mean “terrorist�� who made “weh-men tears” flow, so the misogyny is just Q-anon deep, and nothing but tumblr feminism can unfurl its insidious tentacles.

In lesser terms, the problem with this idea of “inclusivity” within an intrinsically repressive patriarchal system is that it is sustained on a smoke screen that hides the rottenest veins of the state, because then what is relevant is not the dismantling of an oppressive, enslaving, and genocidal political system, but the lack of female participation within that oppressive, enslaving, and genocidal political system. To this specific “woke feminist” fandom that is the real problem, that is the real issue within such a mindset.

Women are forbidden or diminished from positions of power in a structure specifically designed to oppress different groups of people to keep others at the top of the pyramid, and instead of seeing such a construction as a direct reflection of the real world’s dogmas and the characters that oppose them as real world’s feminist, you lot complain about the lack of female representation or “female power” within that maniacal structure! You’re more concerned about women not being “housewives” inside a military state that rewards blind nationalism and punishes criticism with literal genocide, than dismantling the entire structure upon which such a patriarchal notion is built.

[The idea that women cannot show off and are forced into a lesser role or have their capabilities diminished in pursuit of the enhancement of male abilities is absolutely in line with the patriarchal structure that Naruto's military system reflects. Even the "sexism" that Kishimoto reflects within the manga is consistent with the political system he puts forward and disputing it to make it more "feminist-friendly" does nothing but detract from its verisimilitude.]

Funnily enough, even when I point this out, they will find a way to twist it to their own benefit, because then Kishimoto is the one responsible for not “allowing” female characters to rise against such a patriarchal system (despite Sakura never suffering any of its worst consequences as she was taught by the Hokage herself, or even Hinata getting to be a slave-owner). Inclusivity is everything that this argument boils down to, your twisted wish to see women at every single panel whether it’ll be against or in favor of a genocidal state.

That’s what “woke feminists” taught you and that’s what you’ll defend with your breath, the problem gets again individualized and the real issue, the real problem that the plot is trying to reflect, gets buried upon piles of these arguments.

“The problem is about the military state that at its core it’s patriarchal” =/= “Then why did he write it as a patriarchal state?”

“The military state it’s patriarchal at its core so it’s the real world one” =/= “Then why didn’t he write female characters rising against it?”

“There’re characters that oppose such structure, which is feminism at its finest.” =/= “But they aren’t female.”

And so on… it’s impossible to “win” or get our point across as you move the end goal every time a new argument arises. It’s about fulfilling your power fantasies of invincibility rather than bringing down the patriarchal structure; just like with Naruto’s character, is about gaining acknowledgment within the oppressive system (becoming a renowned/desired individual) rather than dismantling the power sphere to guarantee other minorities’ safety.

Their idea of feminism comes down to women having a more important part inside that tyrannical paradigm, bringing the power scale towards them. It’s not about stripping oppressive institutions of their power, but rather having influence over such spaces.

This is an example of White Feminism’s victory; white feminism doesn’t want the oppressive structure to be questioned, they don’t want their faint position of power to be argued; they want to expand their influence and reach beyond the usual cultural “female” spaces, so they bring down the discussion to simpler topics, like the idea of female participation in such affairs; if they are involved, then it’s good if they’re not, then it’s not.

Even the fact that many of these "feminists" jump to the other side and incur either in the over-festivity of the capabilities of female characters (some being basic skills such as moving with speed) or in the minimization of such to compare them with the "better" male capabilities (which only serve in more violent, clearly patriarchal issues to which these people consider superior given a clear misogynist internalization of the little relevance of powers that are not aligned with the intrinsic violence of the military system) contradicts their supposed dogma.

Under this premise, and I repeat myself because I must keep my arguments as simple and repetitive as possible, the patriarchal system against which they claim to rebel is sustained and deepened since the women who claim to subscribe to the feminist movement have modified their bases to obtain greater relevance, greater individuality among the exploited community -they stop being oppressed to some degree as a reward for their contribution, they become what they swore to destroy in exchange for “inclusion.”

True feminism is about the dismantling of an oppressive structure, passing through the various spheres of repression; gender disparity is only one of many power relations to be questioned, not the only one.

[itachi-uchiha-week]

『ITACHI WEEK 2024 RULES & GUIDES』

Last updated: October 27th, 2024

Most of the rules are no-brainers. If you still have any specific questions, however, you will likely find an answer in the guidelines outlined below. It is possible that breaking the rules will get you banned, so we at least recommend reading those marked with an asterisk [*].

Participation

• Any and all Itachi fans may participate! Haters will not be tolerated and may be blocked preemptively. * •  Similarly, we may block and ban users from the event due to abusive behavior or other transgressions. For that, please refer to all rules marked with an asterisk [*]. •  We do not require signups or otherwise committing to the event. Feel free to show up and leave however you like or your schedule allows.

Event Period

•  Our event period is 23rd-29th of December, 2024 per your own individual timezone. •  We do not accept early submissions, though you may post WIPs and we will gladly reblog them onto this account. Late submissions will be accepted until the end of January.

Submission Guidelines

•  Eligible submissions will be reblogged to @itachi-uchiha-week. If we forgot or didn't see your submission, feel free to send us an ask about it. •  Submissions should tag the @itachi-uchiha-week blog. We also encourage using the #itachiweek2024 tag for all submissions but that is not always a reliable submission method. •  You are not required to depict any of the suggested prompts for as long as your submission is Itachi-centric. But if you do, mention the prompt that inspired your submission either in the body of the post or down in the tags. •  This event is strictly Tumblr-centric. If you wish to submit content from an external site, you will need to link it on a Tumblr post for us to find it. •  Preferably, all long posts should utilize a cut to facilitate scrolling through posts. •  You may dedicate a new installment (eg. a fanfiction update) to Itachi Week or repurpose an unfinished WIP but please do not repost old projects. This is a creation event, not a promotion event. •  Similarly, even with explicit permission obtained, you shall not republish work (ie. copy-paste) from other users.

Content Guidelines

•  We accept various forms of media. Here is an incomplete list of what we accept: Writing: Fanfiction, Poems, Drabbles, Headcanons, Analysis/Meta Art: Fan Art, Fan Animations, Cosplay, Crafts Edits: Manga Edits, Anime Edits, GIFs Mood: Playlists, Moodboards, Web Weaving Posts •  NSFW, kinks, gore, and otherwise contentious content is permitted but has to be tagged accordingly and tucked behind cuts. * •  In addition to the above, we recommend you tag ships ("kakaita", "itaizu", etc.) and anti/pro opinion pieces ("pro sasuke", "anti konoha", etc.) to avoid unnecessary conflict. •  Due to Tumblr's ToS, you may want to censor explicit material (and post an uncensored version to an NSFW-/gore-friendly site) to avoid any complications. •  AI content will not be permitted in this event. That does also include Chat Bots such as Character.AI. *

Conduct

•  We are open to different interpretations of Itachi Uchiha for as long as they are not hateful. Do not mock other users for their opinions. We do not gatekeep. * •  We do not condone any forms of abusive behavior against real people, be it part of your submission, on your own blog, or even in the confines of your DMs. Harassment and bullying will not be tolerated. * •  You may report abusive behavior to us via Asks. However, we will ask you to provide sufficient evidence. We will contact you via DMs. •  We are not responsible for the kinds of content produced during this event. Any content reblogged to this account will be thoroughly tagged. If you dislike any specific ship, opinion, character, etc. we recommend blocking the tag. You cannot control what others post, only what you yourself will see.

Copyright

• The copyright of the submitted works is your own. We do not acquire any rights over your creations through your participation. •  Unauthorized editing, stealing, or otherwise infringing on another user's copyright will not be tolerated. You may utilize their content but only with their explicit permission. * •  You may utilize official content (ie. Kishimoto's illustrations, Studio Pierrot's animations, etc.) but only at your own risk. We are not responsible for any copyright transgressions committed by other users.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via Asks.

| About | Prompts | Rules&Guides |

[13as07]

Birthright #1

(Itachi Uchiha)

[Artwork is not mine! Credit to DinocoZero]

Requested by: My Issues

Word Count: 3,590

Warnings and/or Pre-Notes:

Massacre didn't happen :)

Incest (brother/sister)

Titty Play

Name Calling: Onii-Chan, Princess, Good Girl

Fugaku being a shit father

Child Abuse (Smacking)

Misogyny

Spanking

Finger Face Fucking

Repost since tumblr is being weird

———————————————————————

     "Princess," Itachi calls from my bedroom door, softly knocking on it as he lets the light from the house filter through the crack. "Princess, you need to get up," he mutters, pushing the door open wider, coating more of my face in the bright light. I groan, rolling over in bed to bury my head into my pillows.

He shushes me, closing the door, and cutting off the light from the hallway. "You're fine. Princesses don't whine," he coos, settling on the edge of my bed. "Why are you so whiney?"

"Daddy wakes me up a lot nicer than you," I mutter, trying to bury my head deeper into my pillows. It doesn't work, Itachi's presence still disrupts my groggy half-asleep state.

"Well, Dad is already gone for the day. You need to get up so we can make it to the Clan Hall in time for the clan meeting," he hums, his hand sliding up and down my back, slowly pushing my blanket down to my waist.

"I don't want to," I whine, shivers sliding down my spine when his hand dips under my shirt, slowly inching its way up my bare back.

"You have to, Princess. Good leaders don't blow off meetings. Don't you want to be a good clan leader?" His hands are warm against my back, rubbing slow circles, his fingertips sliding down my sides the further up he gets. "Roll over, Princess."

     "No," I grumble, hugging my pillow closer to me. Itachi uses the slight arch in my body to slide his hand underneath me, curious fingers dancing around under me. "Maybe I don't want to be a clan leader."

     "You don't have a choice, Princess. You know that," he mutters, lightly cupping my breast. "Be good and roll over for your Onii-Chan," he repeats, his hand softly massaging my chest, and sending more shivers down my spine.

     I let out a huff, determined to keep my whiney act up. If I'm lucky - and if Itachi and Daddy aren't at each other's throats by the end of the day - I might be able to convince the two of them to take the family out to eat tonight. "Good girl," he coos, shifting his position when I turn over.

     Itachi's eyes fall over me, slow and steady as they climb down me. It's hard not to squirm under his stare, partly because it's so intense, and partly because you can never tell what he's thinking. However, the growingly rough pawing of his hand tips me off a bit. "Princess?"

     "Onii-Chan?"

     He stays silent, eyes drinking me up again. "Dad is retiring in a year or so." I nod my head, sinking my teeth into my tongue as his thumb rolls over my nipple. "Then I'll be the chief."

     "I know," I breathe out, snapping my eyes closed.

     "Do you know why?"

     "Because Daddy is the chief and you were born before Sasuke."

     He hums in approval, his other hand snaking under my shirt to toy with my neglected breast. "That's right, Princess. Since I'm the oldest the clan is my right, being chief is my right, you are my right. All because I was born first. You're my birthright, Princess. Your future, Sasuke's future, I get to decide all of it as soon as Dad retires."

      "I know, Itachi," I mumble, the boob he's been playing with the longest starting to ache from the constant attention.

     "Open your eyes," he whispers, his voice closer to my face, and his nose barely touching mine. "I want to see your pretty eyes." Slowly, I do as I'm told, peeling my eyes open. That gets me another approving hum. "You're going to be such a pretty chieftess. Do you know that, Princess? Do you want Onii-Chan to make you a pretty chieftess?" I nod my head, letting a whine slip out.

     Itachi drops his hold on my chest, pulling his hands and his face away from me. "Then get up. A good chieftess isn't late to clan meetings."

     I whine again, louder this time as I roll back over. This time a disapproving hum spills as he rolls off my bed. His footsteps fill the room, followed by the snap of a switch, and then bright light inviting itself into my sights. "Onii-Chan," I groan, tugging the blanket over my head.

     "Princess," he calls back, paired with more footsteps and then my closet being snapped open. Itachi walks around my room, pulling out whatever he wants me to wear today.

     Daddy has been very open with us since childhood, and because of that he's let Itachi do as he wishes with me, for the most part. Even now I can hear his voice rattling around my head. 'What use does a princess have to our clan? You make heirs, you keep your chief happy, and you make our people hopeful for the clan's future'.

     Once, when I was younger and heard some of the girls in my class talk about taking over their clans, I asked Daddy what would have happened if I had been born before Itachi. He chuckled at me and then said nothing would have changed. Itachi still would be taking over and I'd still just be a 'silly, pretty girl responsible for giving Itachi a son'.

     Itachi is back next to my bedside, his hand sliding under my shirt again to stumble over my spine. "Sit up, Princess."

     "I don't want to."

     There's a swat to my butt, followed by a soothing rub to the smack. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Sit up and let me dress you. I'm not in the mood to deal with your attitude."

     Well, so much for going out for dinner I guess. I pout, making sure to make it audible as I sit up in bed, settling on my knees as I rub my eyes. "Why are you so moody today?"

     "I'm not moody," he grumbles, gripping my shirt to pull it over my head.

     "You waited five seconds to grope me this morning and now you're bitching."

     Itachi grips my neck, pushing my head back into my pillows before landing two more swats to my butt before releasing me. "No potty mouth," he mutters, leaning over to kiss my cheek before he walks away. "Come on, Princess," he adds, tapping his thigh.

     I crawl out of bed, grumbling the whole time and rubbing my backside to help with the stinging. "You're being mean today."

     "I'm not being mean," Itachi mutters, hands on my waist to position me how he likes. His hands fall, pushing off my pajama pants and letting them tumble to the floor. "You're being an improper Princess," he adds, toying with the waistband of my panties. "How are you supposed to be my pretty chieftess if you can't keep your mouth clean?"

     "I'm sorry," I murmur, more sparks collecting in my belly from Itachi's lingering fingers.

     "No, you're not," he deadpans, eyes locked on me as he finishes stripping me. "You get off on misbehaving, but you better listen closely," he starts, his hand jumping up to cling to my cheeks.

     "Itachi," I whine, slouching and letting my head lull around. "I don't care about this stupid meeting - "

     I'm cut off by the fingers of his free hand being shoved into my mouth, pressing down on my tongue, and slowly inching their way down my throat. "Be quiet, listen, and suck. I already told you I'm not in the mood for your attitude," he grumbles, letting his fingers rest. Itachi stares into my eyes, waiting for me to obey.

     When I do finally listen, starting to suck on his fingers, his eyes widen a bit, and a visible shiver slithers through his body. "Dad and I already got in a fight today. Don't go stirring more trouble for me, do you hear me?" I nod my head in understanding, already planning to sideline this agreement. "I'm being serious, Princess. Behave today. Sit still, look pretty, and don't talk unless you're spoken to first." Again, I nod my head in agreement.

     Maybe I should behave, especially if Itachi is being this strict. Whatever he fought with Daddy about must have been heavy if he's this wound tight. He lets out another sigh, visibly relaxing from my agreement. His attention fixates on me harder, his fingers starting to thrust in and out of my mouth as he releases my cheeks.

     Slowly, the red of Itachi's sharingan melts into his eyes, the three pretty tomoes of them standing out against the bloody color.

     I always hoped I'd manage to awaken the sharingan, but when Sasuke's awakened and mine was still nowhere to be found, I gave up hope of being blessed with our clan's greatest gift.

     Despite not having the power, I still notice the little ticks of Itachi's body. Least noticeably, his picked-up breathing, and most noticeably, the way he grips himself as he finger-fucks my mouth. After a few more pumps, he tugs his fingers out of my mouth, turning away from me as he sucks my saliva off them.

     Itachi's focus stays on my clothes, slowly pulling them onto me and avoiding looking at me as he does so.

     "Onii-Chan?" I ask once I'm fully dressed, trying to fill some of the silence.

     "Princess?" He mutters, face still scrunched up in discomfort as he messes with the collar of my over-cover, making sure it's popped up, and perfectly straight.

     "Do you want me... to... suck you... again?" I whisper, flickering my eyes around the room. Despite Daddy letting Itachi pretty much do whatever he wants concerning me, he still has a few rules. Most of which has to do with keeping up appearances with the village and the clan. Though, he has always told Itachi we're 'not allowed to lay together in compassion or perform any such acts until after your inauguration'.

     Growing up being told that was confusing but Itachi seemed to always know what it meant, like he always does. I swear, he knows everything.

     Despite that being one of Daddy's only rules, Itachi doesn't listen to it very well. He kisses and makes out with me a lot, and he likes to play with my breasts when he's stressed. Last week he talked me into giving him a blow job and I've been nervous about Daddy finding out ever since. Most of the time he'll turn a blind eye to the stolen kisses, but I don't think that's something Onii-Chan can talk us out of.

     "No, Princess. I'm fine," he mutters, leaning down to peck my nose with a few kisses. Itachi shifts, rubbing his nose against my cheek before his lips press against mine. "I don't want Dad mad again."

     My eyes widen a bit, quickly adding two and two. "Did Daddy and you fight about - "

     "Our little fun on the dock?" He teases, chuckling a bit as he holds my chin, continuing to pepper my lips in soft kisses. "Yes, we fought about it this morning, which is why it's so important for you to behave today, okay?"

     I mutter a yes, my obedience being rewarded with something more than a hum this time. Itachi tilts his head, his fingertips sliding up to squeeze my cheeks and force my lips apart. His tongue slides in, rolling over mine as his lips dance against mine. His free hand wanders around my body, ending up on my boob again.

     Small noises tumble from me, being eaten up by him. The longer Itachi violates my mouth and fondles my tit, the louder my sounds get. A knock at the door is what finally pulls him off of me. "Yes?" He calls, wiping his mouth on his sleeve before sliding his thumb across my lips, cleaning up the mess he left behind.

     "Daichi here. He says he's here to collect us and Princess for the clan meeting," Sasuke answers, his voice muffled by the door. "Are you guys ready to go yet? I don't want to be late."

     "We'll be out in a second," he grumbles, slamming his lips against mine and shoving his tongue back into my mouth. A soft huff of warm breath coats my face when he pulls away, Itachi's stress about the meeting and his fight with Daddy slowly becoming evident in his body language again. "If Dad or me or Sasuke isn't around and a guy tries to talk to you, what do you say?" He mutters, running his fingertips over my bottom lip.

     "My Onii-Chan will be right back. You'll want to talk to him instead."

     "Good girl," he coos slowly, dragging out the words as his eyes trail after his fingers. "Alright, we should get going before Dad comes banging down the door himself." Itachi steals another kiss before gripping my hand and pulling me out of the room.

     As we head out of the house, an annoyed Sasuke trudges behind Itachi right next to me, his eyes flickering between us as we all follow after Daichi. "Why couldn't Dad and Mom have had another kid?" He grumbles to himself, eyes stuck on our knotted hands before he rolls his eyes.

                     ———————————

     Itachi's impatience might not be showing on his face, but evidence of it will be left on my skin. He's hiked up my skirt, the hem of it lying on his knuckles as he clings to my thigh, promising to leave bruises behind.

Both he and Daddy are listening intensely to this month's civilian compliance; ninety percent of them falling under village territory instead of clan territory, five percent being unreasonable complaints, and the remains being the complaints of a sane man.

Itachi's notepad is covered in ink, half being actual notes and the other half being random doodles and games he's been playing with me. Well, he was playing with me until Daddy shot him a glare. The biggest benefit of me 'being Itachi's property' as Daddy says, is that he gets blamed for everything and I usually get off scotch-free, this being one of those times.

Sasuke's eyes keep flickering to me, his spot securely next to me. He's just as bored as I am, the two of us and Mom just being here for show. Everyone knows Daddy and Itachi hold all the power, at least until Sasuke becomes of age and takes over as the clan's advisor; more specifically, Itachi's advisor. "Hey," he whispers, leaning towards me.

"Hello," I whisper back, glancing at him as I mess with Itachi's fingers, playfully tugging them off of me one at a time, just for him to drop them back into place.

"Do you think Dad would take us out to eat after this?"

"Probably not," I mutter, abandoning my losing game against the older of my brothers. "He got in a fight with Itachi this morning."

"Of course he did," Sasuke grumbles, slouching in his chair. Itachi picks up the 'misbehavior' right away, shooting a warning glance at our brother who instantly straightens up. He's silent for a moment or two until he leans towards me again. "Do you think Dad would let Itachi take just the two of us out?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"When you ask."

"Why do I have to ask?" He grumbles, slouching again, but only for a moment before he fixes his posture. "Dad says yes to you more than he says yes to Itachi and me combined. You ask."

I roll my eyes, dropping them back down to the hand on my thigh. "Fine but we have to wait to ask until the religious elders have him cornered."

"Why?"

I roll my eyes again, this time landing them on Sasuke. "They all talk at the same time so he's usually having three to seven conversations at once. The busier his mind is the less he thinks about the question we ask and the more likely he is to say yes just to get us to leave."

"That's - "

"- smart?" I butt in, causing Sasuke to laugh, which then gets him pointed looks from both Daddy and Itachi.

I shoot them a soft smile, which is good enough to wiggle him out of trouble with Daddy, who smiles back and nods his head to me; his silent 'it's almost time for recess'. For every two hours the meeting takes, Daddy calls a recess. The two-hour mark is approaching and we're still on the first bullet point of the meeting. It's going to be a long day if this is how slow the meeting keeps going. Hopefully, there are just more complaints than usual.

The smile doesn't work on Itachi though. His hand tightens on my thigh, using it to pull my chair closer to him. His head tilts a bit before he turns it, his lips pressed against my ear. "Behave. Stop egging Sasuke on. Just because Dad won't yell or punish you doesn't mean I won't. Behave," he repeats the word, hissing it to enforce it more.

"Yes, Onii-Chan," I mutter, lulling my head away and scanning the Clan Hall room for the millionth time. Itachi's hand loosens on me, his thumb rubbing circles into my skin.

"Alright," Daddy's voice booms, the slam of his hands echoing in the room just as much as his voice. He's standing now, getting ready to announce our recess.

I lean forward, making sure he can see me around Itachi, and doing my best to pout my way into a longer break. The dropped pursing of his lips lets me know he does see me and that I'll probably get my way.

"Let us take a thirty-minute break. Feel free to leave the room for food, water, a smoke break, or to simply stretch your legs. Just a reminder, after the thirty-minute mark, the room's doors will be closed and locked. Do not bother returning if you're going to be late."

"Yes, Chief!" The room replies before people start jumping to their feet, scurrying out of the room to do whatever they wish with their free time.

"Of course, you got your way like always," Sasuke groans, hunching in his chair with a pout on his face now instead of mine.

Daddy takes the short strides over, smacking Sasuke upside the head and glaring down at him. "I don't know why you're complaining. A longer break benefits you too. Thirty minutes should be more than enough time for you to go hunt down that civilian girl and disappoint me again."

"Sakura is a kunoichi, not a civilian," he grumbles, getting another wack upside his head. Itachi is stirring next to me, his patience with our Father already low and quickly shrinking with the constant assault on our brother.

"That's not how I meant it and you know it," Daddy fumes, the flames of his anger cooling when I start moving my chair. His hands fall on it, pulling it back, and offering his hand to help me to my feet. "I'm sorry the meeting is going on so long, Princess. I'm sure you're bored."

"I'm bored too."

I jump forward, gripping Daddy's hand before he can hit Sasuke again. "It's fine, Daddy," I coo, rubbing my cheek against his hand as I cling to his wrists. "I have a question though."

"What's your question, Princess?" He mutters, cupping my cheek and rubbing his thumb over it.

"Well, I want ramen for dinner so I was wondering if Itachi could take me out to get some tonight? Sasuke too, of course," I add, cutting off any possible protest left over from his argument with Itachi this morning.

Daddy's jaw clicks as he simmers on my request, his eyes snapping towards Sasuke before settling on Itachi. "If I find out that this is a plot for Sasuke to sneak over to that girl's house or for you to have another 'deck date' I'm going to hurt you, and then I'm going to hurt you again for dragging your sister into it. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir," Itachi answers, his glare dipped in just as much venom as our Father's.

With that, Daddy lets out a sigh, bending down to kiss my forehead before wandering off to wrap Mom up as his arm candy and to mingle with our people.

"You need to drop that girl," Itachi says, rubbing his eyes before he stands up.

"I don't get why I have to drop Sakura," Sasuke mutters, slouching in his chair and leaning his head back.

"Because," Itachi barks, taking a second to calm himself before he continues. "She's not a Uchiha. We marry within the clan, so unless she's going to wait around long enough for me to fix that policy, you're going to get stuck marrying a fellow Uchiha."

Sasuke widens his eyes before rolling them, joining the two of us standing up. "At least Dad is letting us go out tonight. Do you think we'll be able to stay out long enough for him to go to bed?"

"Hopefully," I sigh, starting to head out of the room. I don't care what Itachi decides we're going to do during the break, as long as I get to stretch my legs.

The boys follow after me, each a step behind. "So, are we going to talk about the 'deck date' thing?" Sasuke asks a smile back in his voice.

"No," Itachi deadpans, causing Sasuke to laugh. One more year. We just have to survive one more year and then Daddy won't be in power anymore.

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

[theheirofthesharingan]

Hi, sorry to bother. There is something that has been bugging me about Itachi and maybe you are the right person to ask this to. I found on Tumblr that a lot of people in the fandom hate on Itachi based on something he said during the fight with Sasuke against Kabuto. Apparently, when he is about to release the Edo Tensei, he says that he was able to defend the village as Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf, and that he has "no regrets".

I was super confused by this because it is not at all what he says on the anime version for my language. Here he says he will dispel the Edo Tensei, Sasuke asks "then you will leave as well", and Itachi answers that, as he managed to defend Konoha again, there is nothing left to keep him in this world. To which Sasuke reacts angrily because he demanded answers for him and Itachi seems to want to leave without telling him anything, and he does not understand why he wants to protect Konoha after all they did to him. I watched the arc many times, and Itachi never says he has no regrets. Quite the opposite.

Do you think this is maybe a translation problem? Do you have any idea of what he says in the original version? Because "I have no regrets" really does not fit with what Itachi had said all the time in that fight. He kept mentioning his fails and his regrets. And it does not fit Sasuke's reaction at all. If Itachi had said he had not regrets, Sasuke should have been confused and enraged.

Anyway, sorry for the rant and have a nice day.

I'll say the people in your country's dubbing made a wiser choice, because 'I have no other regrets' is what he says in the anime and manga both. I don't have the original Japanese manga, because it's hard to find it, I think. Every time I read or watch that part, I roll my eyes, not at Itachi but at Kishimoto's writing. He just knew how to ruin a perfect character development for silly drama. Now, I'm not the kind of person to blame the authors for the characters saying things and I'm not overly critical of Kishimoto either, although I'd still make some changes in how he wrote Itachi. But Kishi just inserted that one sentence that sticks out like a sore thumb that has no connection with what he's said so far or behaved with Sasuke.

Like you said, his entire interaction with Sasuke as well as Kabuto leading upto this moment bleeds of his regrets and guilts. He didn't have just one regret, but a cluster of it, which he had to face eventually accepting in the ways he failed.

The first time he meant Sasuke this was his first reaction.

He wasn't denying Sasuke was wrong - a criminal, at that, but he knew it wasn't Sasuke's fault either. It was his own doing, the hatred Itachi wanted to exploit to make Sasuke stronger ended up backfiring badly. There was no positive outcome that came out of him handling Sasuke the way he did.

Here, too, Itachi knew he had no right to lecture Sasuke on the paths he had chosen or what he wanted to do. He couldn't just say "you're wrong" when he himself had pushed Sasuke on that path, and he acknowledged it. If it's not regret, I'm not sure what else does it look like.

Itachi spent his whole life lying and as good as his intentions were he messed up real bad, especially Sasuke. One more admission of his failure. No one without regrets will ever say something like this. It's also to note that he's dead, so he can't make up for the damage he's caused, so the least he can do is accept he failed. And he does.

This particular page is so much more important than anything to assess Itachi's character. After he's shown Sasuke the truth he admits he's been wrong and he's nothing but a man built on the skeletons of his kins and lies he himself protected. He admits Sasuke is a better person than him, purer than him, who could have succeeded where Itachi failed; and it was his fault that he never trusted anyone, not even Sasuke. He can't do anything else now, but he at least can be truthful and let Sasuke have his share of truth he rightfully deserved.

At long last this. He knew he can't be forgiven so he doesn't beg for Sasuke's forgiveness. He knows nothing - no words, no tears, no apologies can ever make up for what he did. And sasuke isn't obliged to forgive him. He's still okay if Sasuke continues to hate him. He didn't think he was worthy of Sasuke's devotion, love, and his forgiveness. If he'd lived, yes, it would be a different story, but his death prevented him from making up for the things he'd done.

With all this available info, I'm not going to let that one phrase decide that "Itachi had no regrets". These are the instances that are in sync with his actual character and personality, and what he know about him from the beginning (that is, Sasuke's flashbacks). He loves Sasuke and throughout their fight against Kabuto, he protects Sasuke on his instincts. Like I said, he didn't have just one regret, that of ruining Sasuke's life, but so many more. People really expect Itachi to fall to Sasuke's feet and beg for forgiveness with tears in his eyes. I'd love a scene like that too, but Itachi lived his life suppressing his feelings, never verbalized them. Here, talking to Sasuke is literally the only time he expresses himself honestly. It's the only time he openly admits he was wrong, he failed, and most importantly, he loves his brother so much. Being dead didn't mean he was in therapy for the time being so he could communicate with Sasuke more openly and in a "healthy" way. He does try to be the kind of brother he would have been had he not been in the circumstances he was put in, thanks to the village.

Although, I don't entirely hate that one line, but that has more to do with Sasuke's reaction to it. Many people comment that Sasuke was just blind towards Itachi's flaws because of his love, which is why he forgave him so easily, but when he calls him out for this, we know that's not true. He doesn't go "I understand you were trying to help me and save my life so it's okay you put me through hell." He never tries to justify Itachi and neither does Itachi defend himself using this "excuse". They both knew Itachi's actions had no justification, which is why Itachi was okay with still not being forgiven and Sasuke, despite forgiving him doesn't use this as an excuse to defend his brother.

As far as Itachi's haters are concerned, I've stopped taking them seriously. Once upon a time I used to think it was probably a matter of different opinions because he's a "minimalistic" character where most info on him comes from unreliable narrators and can be taken either way. However, when I got into reading manga, it turned out that haters usually have no basis other than being angry on the things he's already acknowledged himself. So, why are you so outraged? What do you want to prove with the longish gibberish you call meta? This website is infested with his rabid haters so you'll find them even if you block the anti tag. I just see hypocrisy, ignoring canon for their own convenience because it feeds their hateful bias. This one is one of those countless instances. They can just seethe.

[madara-fate]

Being recent on Tumblr and in the Naruto fandom in general (I've been there for 04 months), this fandom has really made me see all the colors.

As a die-hard fan of Sakura and Sasuke who didn't particularly care about the prospect of them as a couple before, I tended at first to subscribe mainly to individual pro sakura and pro sasuke accounts, something I I quickly regretted it because lord, these two fandoms suck. I love both of these characters and it's very difficult to see their two fandoms being so vicious towards each other. If you don't like one of them, why talk about it? why make so many passive-aggressive comments to provoke the other party? They despise each other so much that it's difficult to have a moment of peace for those who truly love both.

And then, let's not even talk about the strange takes they have about them.

I swear if I ever come across something like "Sasuke was right" or "Sasuke Revolution" or "Sakura deserved better - that is, she deserved everything except Sasuke - or "Sakura lost all its development", I'm going to lose my shit.

Their views are biased, self-centered, misinformed and so oc for many that it sometimes makes you wonder if they even understand the characters they say they love. It seems more like they… project their problems and their insecurities onto these two and it's frankly disappointing to see. They like the fanon version of Sasuke and Sakura that they have built in their head and not their canon character and it's quite sad that such characters are reduced to stereotypes by their respective fandom. Not all of them are like that of course, but I've encountered so many of them that it ended up exhausting any good feelings I had towards these two fan bases.

All of this ended up pushing me towards the SS fandom because it's easier to find fans who like both characters. And finally, even though this fandom also has its own absurd points of view that sometimes make me want to throw myself out of a window as well as a blatant bias towards one of the two characters that bothers me, it's still better than the shit I've seen before. here at least I don't have to worry about reading crap like "Sasuke is toxic", "Sasuke didn't do anything wrong", "Sakura objectifies/is obsessed with Sasuke", "Sakura is poorly written" etc and I admit it's a relief. Plus, it's nice to see the fans celebrating them and their relationship, which is what I signed up for after all.

Not to say one is better than the other because the whole Naruto fandom is shit anyway but at least there is more room to like these two characters without getting attacked in this fandom than in the other two.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

You know, your experience of the pro Sasuke and pro Sakura fandoms hating on each other, essentially being what pushed you towards the SS fandom, kinda echoes what pushed me to being a SS fan as well. When the series ended, I was fully neutral on them, but I definitely expected them to get together because it was just obvious. But after seeing some of the absolutely absurd takes that a lot of the fandom had towards them, it made me want to defend them because what they were saying just wasn't true. So much like you, I was also pushed towards the SS fandom due to fandom hatred.

And yes, the SS fandom also has it's fair share of absurd points and biased takes, as I've certainly had to argue against some of them before. Yet, it's still better than the toxicity and the sheer delusion exhibited from a very loud portion of the anti fandoms.

[homoerotic-shonen-rival-showdown]

Round Two Match Eight: Sasuke and Naruto (Naruto) vs Gojo and Geto (Jujutsu Kaisen)

why should you vote for them?

Sasuke and Naruto (autoqualified but still got 4 submissions):

duh

Idk I don’t go here I just wanna help them for all the tumblr girlies

because of every single crazy quote they’ve said

Gojo and Geto (3):

uh…divorced. i love them

STSG ESSAY TIME >:)))))) Warning for Jujutsu Kaisen anime/manga spoilers ahead! I had to explain deep dark depths of the story to prove that they deserve to win the crown. Here I go. Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru (also known as Satosugu or simply stsg) deserve to win the crown for the following reasons. Please bear with me throughout this whole essay because I am unequivocally insane about them. First of all let’s get into the rivalry side of things.

In high school, Gojo was an absolute menace. The first time Gojo and Geto met, the latter hated the former because he was annoying, rude, and arrogant. Now eventually they became best friends, but you see, their rivalry returned when Geto was exiled from the school because they had a stark disagreement in moral ideologies, which resulted in a dramatic breakup in front of a KFC (yes, this is actually canon). Gojo was supposed to execute Geto because he did some Bad Things (that we don’t need to get into right now) but as Geto walked away he said (paraphrased) “Go ahead and kill me. There’s meaning to that.” And My Lord is that a line. So for the next ten years of their lives, these two were separated, now on opposite sides, now each others’ enemies. Eventually this came to a climax when Geto declared war on Gojo, but before we get to that, let’s pause for a second, and talk about the meaning behind this all. I’ll try to make this part quick because without restraint this would become excessively long. So technically, Gojo and Geto’s breakup directly caused the plot of Jujutsu Kaisen to unfold. If they hadn’t broken up, then Geto wouldn’t have declared war and then died. If they hadn’t broken up, Geto’s body wouldn’t have been possessed; his body wouldn’t have, completely against his will, trapped Gojo in a prison, as Geto sat back helpless, unable to do anything to stop his best friend from being sealed *by his own hands*. Every single other tragic event that happened in Jujutsu Kaisen would not have happened, because, assuming you have never watched/read Jujutsu Kaisen, no, Gojo and Geto are not the main characters, and the whole rest of the cast was affected by this event. Yes, this homoerotic rivalry breakup is the very Big Bang for Jujutsu Kaisen, because if it didn’t happen, Jujutsu Kaisen wouldn’t have the incredible plot that it has. Butterfly Effect at its finest. Anyway, now that their rivalry is out of the way, I will now get into their homoeroticism.

My first piece of evidence for their homoeroticism is that… it’s in the name. Both of their first names start with “s” and end with “ru”. Both of their last names start with “g” and end with “o”. And both of their full names have the same amount of syllables. There is no possible way that this wasn’t done on purpose to get the point across that they are literal soulmates. Do I sound insane yet? In addition, Gojo called Geto, and I quote, “my one and only”. Now if that isn’t some fruit ass shit then idk what is. And now the most damning evidence of homoness, comes when Geto died by Gojo’s side. This was after the war that Geto declared on Gojo, and Geto ended up on the losing side. Even though they had been rivals for ten long years, they still had an important and heartfelt history together, so as Gojo walked over to his dying best friend, Geto smiled, glad to see not only an old friend, but the most important person in his life, for the last time. Gojo’s last words to Geto as he died were NEVER REVEALED. Only very very few producers of the anime know the words. They will be released soon but for now we don’t know. But it was confirmed that his last words were THREE WORDS. Now I don’t wanna put any words in Gojo’s mouth but the most obvious theory here is that he said “I love you” as his best friend and rival of 10+ years died by his side. This is even further affirmed when, after hearing those three words, Geto BLUSHED, SMILED (as he was in the process of bleeding out!) and described the words as (paraphrased) “embarrassing words that they had never said to each other before”. IT’S BARELY SUBTEXT AT THIS POINT YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THEY’RE GAY AS HELL!

Now before this gets any longer I will cut myself off here. Thank you for coming to my way-too-long Ted Talk about these stupid ass anime men who have been plaguing my mind for months, I hope you take my submission into consideration! I don’t expect them to win but I’m just happy I get to aggressively type an essay about them in this google form :D

[sokkastyles]

I'm not sure if people know what rival means or not. Like the definition I found said that they at least have to be equals in the same field but I have seen people call Zuko and Azula rivals and Lance and Keith rivals when one is clearly better than the other at the things people call them rivals for. Keith could fly circles around Lance and Azula (at least for most of their childhood) could beat Zuko without breaking a sweat. Sonic and Shadow are rivals and Sasuke and Naruto are rivals, but Zuko and Azula have never been rivals.

So do people not know what rivals mean or are they just trying to make it seem like Zuko had an equal hand in making their sibling relationship as bad as it was? I feel like with the number of excuses people make for Azula, it's the second one, but this is Tumblr so you never know.

It's the second one. It's literally that quote that's like "not an unspoken rivalry, you're just mean to me, and you talk about it all the time."

I wouldn't say that rivals necessary have to be equals in skill level, and that's not what differentiates Zuko and Azula's relationship from a sibling rivalry. If that were the case, then Zuko by the end of ATLA would be a rival to Azula.

What makes them not rivals is that they do not fight on equal terms and they aren't equally motivated to fight against each other. They have a pretty classic golden child/scapegoat dynamic, which is very different from a sibling rivalry in some very important ways.

I think to an extent you can say that Azula sees Zuko as a rival, but Zuko does not see Azula that way. He definitely resents that she has Ozai's approval, but he never fights her for it. With Azula it's a little more complex, because while I think she would never admit that she feels that she needs to fight Zuko for Ozai's love (because she prides herself on being better than him) she does, deep down, know that her position is tenuous and relies on Zuko being the scapegoat. You can't treat me like Zuko!

However, when the scapegoat/golden child dynamic is firmly in place, there's no rivalry at all. Azula is perfectly content to bring Zuko back into the fold as long as she can find a way to keep him from upjumping her (hence her plan to blackmail him about Aang's death). And if Zuko thought he had to fight Azula to get Ozai's love, as it would be if they had a rivalry, he would never agree to go back with Azula in the first place. He would think he had to defeat her to gain Ozai's love. But that's not something that he ever thinks. Whenever he battles her it's for survival.

Nor does Ozai ever encourage them to be rivals with each other. He encourages Azula to be cruel to Zuko, and enables her to do so, but is furious any time Zuko contradicts Azula in any way or attempts to prove that he's even just as good. Which is also typical of a golden child/scapegoat dynamic. If the designated scapegoat were to ever surpass the golden child, the parent usually either ignores it or sabotages it because it's not really about who is better, it's about who the parent favors and wants to believe is better. That's also why I think Zuko wasn't sent to school like Azula was, because he doesn't want Zuko to compete with Azula.

And while Ozai can praise Zuko for (he thinks) killing the Avatar, he still doesn't surpass Azula in Ozai's eyes. In fact, when Ozai tells Zuko about it, he talks about how Azula told him about how impressed she was with him. He's still seeing Azula as an authority who is bestowing this praise on Zuko, which still enforces the hierarchy of Ozai > Azula > Zuko. If the dynamic were something different, with Zuko and Azula equally vying for second place, then Azula would not tell Ozai how impressed she was with Zuko, and she definitely wouldn't let him get credit for doing something she did, and she wouldn't be able to use the truth against Zuko. Azula would try to keep Zuko from that war meeting. And no way would Zuko believe Azula when she tells him that she can help him restore his honor in their father's eyes. He'd try to prove to Ozai that he was better than her instead of letting her do the talking. Ozai never gives him that chance, no matter how much he praises Zuko, because there was never a question of who was going to be his golden child. Azula knows it, and Zuko knows it.

That's also why the absence of them fighting doesn't mean that they are "getting along." Usually it just means that Zuko is back in his position as the scapegoat. Which is fine for Azula, but not so much for Zuko.

[kishimotomasashi]

A symptom of having been in the online Naruto fandom for a few years now and having Sasuke as my favourite character means that I’ve been incessantly exposed (at the very least, on Tumblr) to arguments about Sasuke not receiving his due justice, being condemned by the narrative for expressing anger at the crimes committed against him and his family, and how the ending of the Naruto manga completely dropped the ball regarding any and all of its political plot threads, leaving the status quo intact, and the only change regarding Sasuke in particular is that he is now complacent with it.

These are arguments that I entirely agree with! And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with their frequent discussion, seeing as Naruto is a very popular manga and new fans will take the place of the old ones. It doesn’t surprise me that the discourse hasn’t slowed down, because new people are discovering it and will want to chime in. This is fine and natural.

But for me, from the perspective of someone who’s been here a while and has seen talk of this happen over, and over and over and over and over again, it understandably gets a little... exhausting. Especially since, as far as I’ve seen, the discourse rarely goes outside of “here is how Sasuke was wronged, here is how the shinobi military industrial complex is fucked up”, and so it feels like I’m seeing less interesting conversations regarding it and more parroting the same universally agreed upon ideas over and over.

It’s just... boring. Because even when the discussion goes outside of “this is why it’s wrong” and enters “here’s how it should have gone” territory, I rarely see it go anywhere beyond “Sasuke should’ve remained angry” “Sasuke should’ve never gone back” “Sasuke should have rejected—“ etc, etc. Sasuke and the Revolution discourse rarely goes beyond Sasuke’s personal vindication regarding Konoha. And to me, it’s just... is that really as far as our imagination extends? Is Sasuke’s anger really the most important thing to focus on? Should anger be the main driving force behind changing a world that is undoubtedly unjust?

My answer to all of those questions is, obviously, no. And I’m writing this to explain why, to propose an alternative to the vindication tunnel vision there happens to be regarding Sasuke vs Konoha/Shinobi System discourse, that I believe even the ending of Naruto (barring chapter 700 and onward to Boruto) provides a solid basis for.

First let’s talk about chapter 699, and Sasuke’s decision not to stay in Konoha but to journey around the world instead.

Now when people talk about Sasuke’s journey, they mostly focus on the part where he calls it a “journey of redemption” and so a lot of discussions concerning whether or not he should have stayed in Konoha revolve around that line and its reasoning. It’s all “he doesn’t NEED redemption” or “oh please journey of redemption is bullshit, stay in Konoha to heal with your friends”.

Which is a damn shame because what he says in the panels above? Before the “you have nothing to do with my sins” thing? Is significantly more interesting. In fact, I consider it a monumental statement for him to make, indicative of his development; it’s the culmination of all he’s been through to get him to this point.

This line is Sasuke recognizing his own limitations related to the volatile emotional state he was nearly constantly in beforehand; Sasuke’s view of the world was incredibly selfish. It was selfish in the sense that his own goals mattered before anything else, that anything slowing him down in his hurry to reach them was an obstacle; it was an incredibly unhealthy view of the world, one that ended up making him hurt himself and others. That his goals are sympathetic and understandable doesn’t really change the reality that he did put himself in danger and was a danger to those closest to him. When we meet him for the first time in Shippuden, at Orochimaru’s hideout, he says word-for-word:

“I don’t care what happens to me or to the rest of the world, so long as I can get my revenge. Nothing else matters.”

And even when the truth about Itachi is revealed to him, this doesn’t exactly change. It’s only his range of targets that expand, and what he did to get to those targets in the 5 Kage Summit arc are unarguably his lowest points in the entire series. While there is a double-standard regarding how Sasuke’s anger and hatred are treated in the narrative, it’s not incorrect to say that his laser focus on them were ultimately harmful in the end, and that to grow he could not continue to rely on them indefinitely.

In fact, Sasuke is always shown to be at his best when he’s not so angry his view of the world is only concentrated on what he alone can see. Sasuke when observant of others is kind, has compassion and understanding and a willingness to prioritize others’ safety: we see this when he protects Team 7 all throughout part 1, and when he protects Team Taka in the Killer B fight. When he’s not clouded by his own rage, Sasuke also has a better willingness to learn: when Itachi left him after their fight against Kabuto, he went out of his way to learn more about the village he’d come to justifiably despise, to understand Itachi’s own point of view, and to learn the point of view of those that had built it. Sasuke in general is someone who doesn’t accept things so readily and is constantly questioning things even when he’s set his mind to them, and he is also someone who does have a clear idea of justice: needless human suffering on a large scale is something he’s disgusted by (see how he reacts to Itachi before he learned the truth and to Orochimaru). When he’s truly of the mind to sit down and listen, that potential is increased tenfold. He came out from under the Nakano Shrine after speaking with Hashirama and the other Hokage seeing the shinobi system as something that causes needless human suffering on a large scale, and though he’s not quite at the ideal point yet, the idea to do something about it (to dismantle that system) is there.

And now here we are, chapter 699: Sasuke’s anger is no longer his main driving force, and he is learning to accept love back in his life, and what does he say? That he’s going to look at the world, now, with new eyes. That he’s going to take advantage of this new healing state of his, to properly observe the world because his perception of it isn’t obstructed by his unhealthy vengeance fixation anymore. Sasuke, who already has the capacity for compassion, who already has a sense of justice, who knows how to listen and observe, is now going to take the time to use these foundations to build himself a more expansive perception of the world. He’s showing willingness to look outside of himself!

Now before I talk about the point I really want to get to, I want to talk about anger. I know anger is often portrayed as something awful in many stories (including this one), as something that is a personal failing next to those who can just endure what is thrown at them with little complaint, and that it’s a narrow view of it. Anger is a very useful emotion, and sometimes a necessary one: anger helps you perceive injustice done to yourself or others, anger can help you prevent people walking all over you and help you to recognize that you’re not getting something that you deserve. I’ll never condemn anger.

And I don’t condemn Sasuke’s anger! I am very firmly in the “Sasuke was right” camp; I don’t think he has to kiss up to a government so cowardly it wiped his people from the face of the Earth in the dead of night, I think a system that can justify a crime that outrageous while it continues to perpetuate itself needs to be entirely dismantled. And I believe that though there are limits to how seriously you should take this shounen animanga, the fact that these plotlines were introduced in the first place as well as every other time shinobi militaristic violence was clearly shown as being evil but were given shitty resolutions means that it is both normal and in fact encouraged to point out that these introduced plotlines were given really, really shitty resolutions.

Though while anger and pointing out how wrong things are are incredibly useful, when you really want to start talking about revolutionary action, incentive to change the world, I think that anger alone is insufficient.

Specifically in Sasuke’s case, as I’ve said above, Sasuke’s anger is ultimately selfish. He sees how he himself was wronged, and that’s great, but like... he’s also not the only one who suffers under the shinobi system. He’s not the only one it’s brought incredible wrong toward. Even when he demonstrated growth during the 4th War and was willing to expand his own knowledge to better understand why Konoha exists as it is, he wasn’t sharing what he’d learned with others, he wasn’t reaching out to build connections, to build solidarity— he was working on his plan entirely alone.

(And yes, we can talk about how the narrative purposefully makes the villain characters seem more unreasonable though they have justified feelings on why the system cannot continue as is, but again, as I’ve said at the start, we’ve had those conversations at length already.)

I believe genuine change, the desire to see a better world, has to fundamentally come from the desire to see people in a better place, not from vengeance. I think to get there, you need to see how other people live aside from yourself, you need to work at helping them see their lives becoming better as well. “No one’s free until we’re all free”, etc. I think your outrage at injustice has to extend to everyone outside of yourself, and your fight against the injustice be also a fight for them.

As I’ve demonstrated, Sasuke in chapter 699 in the space where he can actually work at doing that, to work at doing direct, radical action. Travelling as he wants to do will introduce him to more people, to more perspectives, to more ideas on how to meaningfully combat the injustices of the shinobi system and to directly help people to escape suffering the worst of it.

Recently I watched the Sasuke Shinden anime, and though it was still incredibly imperfect in its politics, it introduced the idea of Sasuke doing the closest thing to everything I am saying right now: it introduces shinobi being forced to fight in a human trafficking coliseum, and Sasuke being told by one of the characters, Chino, that being an inactive third party to injustice makes you just as guilty to it, which leads Sasuke in the end to free all shinobi forced to fight in the coliseum.

It also introduced the idea (and I was genuinely surprised that anything Naruto-related was actually willing to go there) of the Uchiha Clan, and by extension Sasuke, being victims but also being perpetrators of the same system that got them killed. In Shinden, they were hired by a feudal lord to deport another oppressed kekkei genkai clan called the Chinoike (that Chino is apart of) to a land unsuitable for any human to live in, and rather than help the Chinoike escape this fate, they simply carried out the mission order, which caused suffering for the clan. While I don’t think that that plotline was handled as well as it could’ve been, it really hammers in the point of it being important to learn about the position and suffering of others and to do something about it, because despite your own suffering, your participation in the system that perpetuates it still makes you complicit. And Sasuke accepts this! When he learns about the Uchiha and the Chinoike, he relates it to when Chino told him about being an audience to injustice making you just as bad if you don’t do anything about it. I think Sasuke Shinden is a good, if imperfect, snapshot into the very potential I’m talking about.

In fact, all of this is why I really believe it to be important that Sasuke travels and works outside of Konoha rather than within it; because as we’ve seen with Nagato and Amegakure, being apart of the Hidden Villages themselves, fighting in their wars and participating in their ranks, makes you complicit in the crimes they commit against the other smaller nations. Everyone we’ve seen fight in the wars, the Sannin, Kakashi, everyone in allegiance with Konoha and yes, including the Uchiha Clan, share responsibility in the crimes the village commits, even if they’ve personally suffered at its hands as well. Nagato, Konan and Yahiko are certainly justified if they don’t care that your war buddy died in front of you since you both had a hand in the destruction of their village for your military village’s interests.

This is also why on my blog, I am constantly advocating for the potential Team Taka represented. They were all shinobi working outside of the framework of the Hidden Villages, with little allegiance to them, and given that Sasuke in the ending is open to apologizing for his behaviour and accepting bonds again, they could’ve easily travelled together again in the ending and done just exactly everything that I’ve been talking about in this post. And they could’ve become closer than ever!

I think it’s telling, in a way, that what finally got to Sasuke in the end was genuine empathy; acceptance to realize there are other people around like him, that might share what he feels, and this is done through Naruto, someone who saw his own loneliness in him but that Sasuke rejected because he felt (understandably) defensive that anyone should get how he felt at all. Sasuke healing in learning that he can understand people other than himself, safely, is a big step into learning to properly observe and accept others, and then that’s another step that could lead into genuine revolutionary consciousness.

My conclusion here isn’t that any of this was something Kishimoto was actually going for. It’s that despite everything, there are already interesting building blocks in Sasuke’s canon characterization in place where you could create a meaningful story about resisting oppression and fighting for change, one that doesn’t surround a myopic, vengeful idea of it. I dont think of that as an interesting path for Sasuke’s character, especially since he already spends most of the series with nothing but vengeance in mind. I think he has the potential to do better, and we have the potential to write fix-it stories in which he does better than that.

[riversimmone]

Three's A Crowd - Chapter 20

Summary:

SasuSaku. He didn't mean to kill that man. He had simply reacted to being attacked. And now Konoha is forced to hunt down the rogue members of Team 7, or risk open war. Eventual NaruHina.

XXX

OFFICIALLY COMPLETE ON HERE AND AO3 NOW.

To read from beginning:

Tumblr.

AO3.

FF.NET.

Thankyou to everyone for reading!💛

[All tumblr posts are tagged ‘Three’s A Crowd’ with their corresponding chapter for quick and easy access.]

Enjoy. :)

The house was large enough, without holding the splendour of the Uchiha clan, but Sakura found it quaint, having never had anything lavish growing up anyway. She was fine with it, and had been for the past ten years. At that thought, she felt a pang of sadness for what she had left behind, and what she was going to be saying goodbye to very soon.

She was at a point in her life where the things she'd wanted as a teenager were finally coming to fruition. She'd learnt to drop her preconceived notions of time, of pain and of friendship; they were never quite the experiences people would have her believe. But she was content – nervous, exhilarated, but content.

Sakura shifted in her seat, her arms tightening comfortably around the sleeping infant resting against her chest.

The events that had led her to this place ‒ this wonderful nest in the middle of a dense forest just north-east of the land of tea ‒ plagued her mind every time change entered her life. She remembered how angry the Kumo ninja were, how they'd chased the trail she and Sasuke had purposefully laid for half a day before getting it through their thick skulls that it was just a distraction. And by the time the idiots had made it back to where Sasuke had killed their fellow Shinobi, the Hokage's group had already retrieved both Naruto and Hinata.

But Sasuke had insisted on not trying to contact Hinata for a month – to circumvent the standard protocol that would be put in place on Naruto (having him followed around the village by ANBU).

Sakura smiled at the twinge of orange peeking over the tops of the tree-line barely ten feet from the porch of her house ‒ and she had watched every sunrise since that fateful day. Not even Misaki could tire her out enough to make her miss it. Her four month old daughter fluttered awake at that thought; Misaki meant 'beautiful blossom', and Sakura had chosen it specifically (thankfully, she also had her pink hair…). Her only daughter had a name with a similar meaning to her own.

She'd dreamt of that from the first moment she knew she would be with Sasuke for the rest of her life.

For a few minutes, Misaki fussed before falling asleep again. Sakura was considering joining her when the sound of a particularly boisterous child racing through the house distracted her.

"Mummy! Mummy!" The small, raven haired boy came running out of the house, his dark eyes wide and excited. "I did it! I finally did it!"

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew what he was talking about, and if she was right, he was lying again. Shou was five years old and the very image of his father – complete with that hairstyle that looked like a chicken's arse, except Shou thought it was funny rather than humiliating. His name meant "soar" or "fly", and he was often buoyant and lively, just like his namesake. In fact, he often reminded her of Naruto – though where he'd picked that up from, she was too scared to contemplate.

Sakura hushed him and Shou's head drooped as he finally noticed his baby sister, sleeping peacefully in his mother's arms.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"What did you finally do sweetheart?"

Shou grinned like a maniac. "I activated my Sharingan!"

It had taken him months to pronounce that sentence properly, and now that he was practically an expert, he wouldn't let it go. But of course, a five year old, no matter how talented, would not be able to activate their Sharingan – especially since Shou had never been in a fight before, other than training with his father. Sakura said the same thing she said every time he claimed to be a prodigy.

"That's lovely honey – show me."

He squirmed immediately, rubbing the soles of his little feet against the wooden floor and actually had the decency this time to blush. Sakura grinned at him.

"Come here," she said, waving him over.

Shou climbed onto her lap, being mindful of his sleeping sister, and let his mother embrace him. No matter how many times he cried wolf, she'd never rouse on him. She was just wondering if he'd finally give up the whole "playing Sharingan" once he actually did activate it, when she sensed two chakras approaching – they were just short of the tree-line, and even Shou noticed them before they finally appeared.

Sakura smiled, remembering that while she had her daily tradition of watching the sunrise, Sasuke had eventually decided to substitute joining her with teaching their eldest to hunt. Her husband was carrying a boar, looking slightly put out, while the boy next to him (he was tall for a nine year old) was decidedly unimpressed.

"Ooh!" Shou shifted off of his mother's lap and ran up to his brother. "Did you kill it? Did you, did you?"

Isamu had long since stopped rolling his eyes at his brother's antics, calm as he always was; he placed a hand on Shou's head, patting his crown in a similar manner to the way Sakura had once seen Itachi poke Sasuke's forehead.

"Father showed me how he once killed a boar," Isamu said evenly, his gaze on his mother. "I think he was lying."

Sakura chuckled as Sasuke frowned at their oldest son. "You're right," she said. "It was your Oji-san."

Isamu sighed heavily. "I thought so." He moved toward Sakura hugging his mother formally before stepping back. "Good morning Okā-san."

Very much like Itachi Uchiha, Isamu was a quiet, respectful boy. He'd even grown out his hair and wore it back in a low pony tail, like his late uncle always did. Unlike his father, he used the appropriate suffix, both in and out of his family. Sasuke had always been considered quite rude in the fact that he never did this, not even once. And unlike his younger brother, Isamu had activated his Sharingan. He was so much like his uncle also, in the fact that he'd mastered it at the age of eight. If he'd been able to enter the Konoha Academy, he'd have been hailed as the same level of genius.

"Isamu," Sasuke said. "Take the boar around the back of the house."

"Yes father."

The boy quickly did as he was told, moving with the speed and agility of Shinobi twice his age – Shou let out a "woah! I wanna learn how to do that!" and then bounded back over to his mother and started playing with his sister's foot, trying to gently wake her up.

Sasuke sat down in the chair next to Sakura and took her offered hand. "Are they actually coming this time?"

Sakura nodded. "Today's the day."

Shou stopped pulling on Misaki's foot and gazed up at his mother. "Today's the day for what?"

X X X

Naruto and Hinata had never visited this neck of the woods before. The land of tea had been good to Kitsúne, and after their separation, had harboured Sakura and Sasuke without anyone realising (except for Hinata and Naruto). It felt right that they'd built their home on the stretch bordering the two countries.

As predicted, Naruto and Hinata arrived without a procession, even as highly connected as they were, and Hinata spent the day reminiscing with Sakura and informing Sasuke of all the political changes (he was more interested in that than his old friends) that were giving them another opportunity to return to Konoha. Meanwhile, Naruto was on guard the entire time, since Isamu saw him as a worthy sparring partner and would attack him without warning, while Shou treated him like a clown.

It was around lunch time that a pouting Naruto finally snapped. "Oi! I'll have you know I am Hokage!"

Shou just laughed. "Yeah, right!"

Hinata giggled and sat down next to Sakura rather elegantly for a pregnant woman. "Like father like son – Shou thinks Naruto's a joke as well."

"Father doesn't think Naruto-San is a joke," Isamu said, not lifting his eyes from his book. "He merely believes him to be beneath him in skill."

"So does Shou," Sasuke added, not hiding the cheek in his voice.

"What is this?" Naruto wailed. "Pick on the Hokage day?"

"You gotta be Hokage first!" Shou screamed back.

The bickering continued… and Misaki slept peacefully through the entire thing.

X X X

The weeks had gone by quickly, with Sakura hearing from Hinata about her newborn baby boy, not to mention how the last of the disgruntled leaf council members had finally been deposed.

"It's time," Sasuke said. "Are you packed?"

Sakura nodded, lifting Misaki into the bjorn as she fussed. The last of their heavier belongings had already been carted away by movers and they were living on bare necessities. She was ready to finally face the music, so to speak. They'd returned to Konoha before today, having experienced the court trials that allowed their removal from the bingo book, not to mention S rank status. It had been completely erased from all documentation. But at the time, they hadn't been allowed to return permanently, with the council and the daimyo refusing to budge on that. Tsunade had stepped down from Hokage once she was sure Naruto would get the position, and this opened the way for Sasuke and Sakura to return, along with their children.

Konoha did not yet know what it was about to inherit – Sakura was excited at the prospect of seeing Isamu showing up all the academy students, not to mention prove more than a lot of the adults could handle. Shou of course, she was wary about – his tendency to disrupt others and lie about his abilities was going to be… interesting. But Sasuke assured her he'd spoken to him about this: "Uchiha do not brag to those beneath them."

It wasn't what she'd wanted, but it was all he was going to give.

Sakura hummed softly as they walked, making the already sleepy infant in her arms giggle before drifting off. Sasuke held her hand the entire time, Isamu spent the walk just reading (though his parents knew very well he was watching everything that was going on around him regardless), and Shou found himself utterly fascinated by every inch of flora he laid his gleaming dark eyes on.

And Sakura wouldn't trade them for anything – not even being able to turn back time, and return to Konoha earlier. There were still lingering feelings of regret over leaving Naruto in the forest that day, and not being on the leaf squad that finally tracked down Orochimaru, but nothing compared to the family she had now.

The sight of Konoha made her nostalgic.

The faces that greeted them, the arms that embraced her; Sakura let go of her regret. She didn't have anything to be ashamed of. She shared a knowing smirk with Sasuke. They were finally home.

X X X

[definitelynotaminion]

Evil Purging Seal pt. 3

Warnings: teenagers doing teenage things, a time skip but Kishi's ages never make any sense so underage still

I'm going to be posting the rest of the parts here periodically, but if you want to jump ahead and see all I have written, the entire WIP so far is on patreon (JUST for early reading, the entire thing WILL be up in time on tumblr eventually and when it's all done I'll post it on ao3). The full fic is 7k+ so far.

-

TIME SKIP. A YEAR PASSES (roughly). The LAND OF SNOW MOVIE begins. Fights happen. KAKASHI is UNCONSCIOUS. The GENIN are left alone to FEND FOR THEMSELVES.

They must GET SASUKE OFF for plot reasons.

ZERO (0/3) Genin know how to OPERATE A VULVA. Sakura has a dick in this it's the blind leading the blind fr

-

“Ne, ne, Sasuke-- so you’ve really--?” Naruto’s hands were twin brands on his knees, hot where his shorts met his knee. The bare skin contact was distracting.

“Shut up,” Sasuke snapped, half a snarl, but rather than back up, Naruto only drew in closer. The fourth gem on his bracelet, the second largest, was already a deep pink. There were no black marks leaking from his curse seal, but he was too angry to sit still.

Not too angry to want to fix this, though-- that, Kakashi had said, would come when the fifth gem lit up. When enough evil chakra had corrupted his emotions that he wouldn’t want a fix, would only want more power, and might turn to the traitor Sannin himself.

Naruto refused to let that happen.

He tightened his grip on Sasuke’s knees and forced them wider. Sasuke resisted at first, but since he wasn’t at the fifth gem, he had to accept it, had to-- to let it happen.

Naruto swallowed hard.

“Get your buttons for me, teme.” He instructed, not wanting to let go out of the strange sense that Sasuke would pull away, or retreat in such a way that they’d have to fight to get back here.

Sasuke swallowed his first and second responses, gave a short, terse nod, and undid the button of his shorts with jerky motions. He got the zip, too, and Naruto helped ease the material down.

Sakura made a shocked sound behind them, only to immediately squeak out an apology. Naruto’s hands paused, cheeks flushing, and Sasuke inhaled very slowly to keep a lid on his temper.

You couldn’t even see anything yet, really. Sasuke wore dark blue boxers under the grey shorts. The only thing was...

Where Naruto would expect to see a bit of a bulge, the boxers basically stuck to his skin like there was nothing there.

He leaned forward to see better and Sasuke made a little noise, like surprise. Naruto almost paused, but... well... 

It wasn’t like they really had a choice here!

So he leaned in and rubbed his thumb along the seam, trying to find out what was really under the fabric. Sasuke jerked under him.

“Dobe!” he shouted, and his tone was one Naruto hadn’t heard before. Like he was struggling to breathe right.

He really didn’t have a dick! Naruto rubbed all around, moving the fabric against Sasuke’s skin, and while it was weirdly wet, there wasn’t anything like a dick. Not even a small one.

Naruto found the slit in Sasuke’s boxers and stuck his fingers in curiously. He’d caught glimpses in dirty magazines, once or twice, and almost knew what they were talking about, here.

[leportraitducadavre]

Naruto re-read XXXI

Chapters covered: 245 - 262 Thirty-one Volume of the manga / 2nd Volume Naruto Shippuden

Site used: https://manga4life.com/manga/Naruto (VIZ translation of the manga)

Disclaimer: This is intended as a list and simple observations of the topics that particularly interested me in the aforementioned chapters, in that sense, do not expect a linear -or totally deep- analysis.

Tumblr’s update doesn’t allow me to attach more than 10 pictures, therefore, all of them will be LINKED. Apologies.

649) I’m guessing since this arc is Naruto’s reintroduction after a few years the reader needs to be reminded of Naruto’s importance to others but it gets annoying after the fourth time another character spends four pages remembering how good guy he is.

650) With a total of nine members (eight in the fingers of the Gedo Mazo, plus either Deidara or Sasori who is outside the panel), it takes Akatsuki three days to seal the one tail inside the statue (here’s a better view of the number of members). The only one whose absence is mentioned is Orochimaru. Zetsu seems the only one capable (or at least asked to), move one of his physical beings while maintaining his ethereal connection with the sealing of Shinkaku. Ichibi’s chakra seems to be red, like Kurama’s.

651) Kisame is mentioned to have the largest amount of chakra, to use “that Jutsu”. It’s unclear if Kisame has the largest amount of all of them or the largest amount in comparison to Itachi (plus them being the closest by since their objective was likely Naruto). It’s established that Naruto, Kakashi, and Team Guy fought two pawns to which they each gave them 30% of their chakra. The copy’s strength is determined by how much chakra of the original they’re given. 

Kisame was able to use multiple water-jutsu-based attacks and create three water clones, trapping most of Guy’s team in the process with only 30% of his strength (not to mention Neji mentioned Kisame had a similar amount of chakra to Naruto when Kurama induced during the Chünin Exams). Itachi had more difficulties when against Kakashi. Regardless, they gave up thirty percent of their chakra and controlled their copies whilst sealing Kinkaku.

652) Team Guy must be the fastest and the cell with the quickest reflexes out of all K11, the three youngest members were able to deflect Kisame’s attack (Lee), push him away (Neji), and throw a bomb at him (Tenten) in mere seconds.

653) Akatsuki’s reason for waiting almost three years to move: Sealing bijuus requires “preparation”, it’s mentioned that this is when sealing a bijuu inside a human’s body, the Gedo Mazo doesn’t look human so the setback seems strange, is there a little hint at Kaguya already? Sakura knows about the nine tails yet doesn’t know what a bijuu is? It’s established that the tailed beasts are top-secret, so Sakura just knew about the existence of Kurama, not Ichibi or the rest (x). Naruto also didn’t seem to know the quantity of bijuus across the world.

654) The Gedo Mazo opens its eyes when receiving bijuu’s chakra. Each complete eye means a specific tailed beast has been trapped inside the statue. There’re two bijuus already sealed when Gaara is brought in (x).

655) Sakura doesn’t know how Itachi looks nor notices any resemblance with Sasuke, apparently (x). Itachi doesn’t seem to know Sakura’s name (x) there’s truly no reason for him to; he knew Kakashi’s as they met before he fled Konoha and Naruto was his main objective, Sakura was just Sasuke’s teammate and he never showed interest in that knowledge. He seems to learn each of the names at some point, tho (x)

656) Sharingan-induced regular genjutsu can’t be broken similarly to a regular (non-doujutsu invoked) genjutsu can: For starters, you need at least another person with you to either disturb the victim’s chakra and release them from the illusion, either that or physically harm them to awaken them. In Itachi’s case, his Mangekyou Sharingan-induced genjutsu (Tsukuyomi), simply can’t be broken by anyone other than Itachi. According to Jiraiya, to break free from a Genjutsu (genjutsu being a technique that controls the enemy’s chakra flowing through their cranial nerves) you need to disturb or stop your chakra.

657) Kakashi knows about Itachi’s loss of eyesight, it’s implied that the reason he knows is because he’s been using Obito’s MS and lost some of his eyesight too. 

658) Itachi is so proficient in Genjutsu that he can cast it through his finger (x), Naruto didn’t even realize he was in a Genjutsu until Itachi made it clear. 

It’s interesting how Naruto dreams of each of his friends/comrades and how it reflects their dynamic: Sasuke wants to kill him = lack of acknowledgment / Sakura’s illusion is subjected to her desire for Sasuke = broken promise / Kakashi calls him a disappointment = couldn’t protect his friends, and Gaara speaks about how unfair it is that only Naruto gets to be happy = couldn’t reach him.

659) Genjutsu (regardless of its origin) can’t affect shadow doppelgangers (x).

660) Okay, what does Sakura exactly know then? (x). She read Tsunade’s reports, knows about Kurama but doesn’t know about bijuus or what a Jinchuuriki is despite knowing about Naruto’s nature as a vessel for the fox; how come she can’t connect the dots? Naruto also doesn’t seem to know why he is a Jinchuriki (x, x), so what did Jiraiya teach him, exactly, besides Rasengan? Sakura’s concern about the injustice Naruto faces is to take Kurama out of him (x), to seal a bijuu there needs to be a sealing jutsu with a power equal to that of the tailed beast (x) and no one can survive bijuu extraction. 

All jinchuurikis are created before the former host’s death, so it is likely that they all just… decide on a time of death, a successor, and they kill the prior host by extracting the bijuu.

It’s touching how Sakura cries for Naruto in this scene.

661) Naruto doesn’t seem affected by having killed Itachi’s vessel (x), I wonder if he killed before this.

662) Chiyo was the one who created the Seal that sealed Shukaku inside Gaara. The seal seems to be faulty, or the merge incompatible, as Shukaku tortured Gaara constantly through his mind (previous post) - (next post)

[captainshadowgirllostfan]

I'm putting this out to vent because I need it laid out, especially since it's pretty obvious from the Naruto opinions blog which side they're on. That blog has had so much Sasuke fandom hate that legit has no basis to it. It feels like legit lies, and it attacks our fanbase, particularly, which I find nefarious. To talk about a fanbase and claim it to he racist without any sort of receipts is a humongous accusation and I have half a mind to want to report if not for the fact that I know Tumblr won't do anything about it...perhaps I will. Idk. But this accusation is not an opinion. It's an accusation and if you clearly have met someone like this, someone who has racist takes then perhaps you should report them instead of putting it on a blog that claims to be an opinions blog and generalize an entire fandom or a portion of them to be like this. We are not racist. I know many POC and black fans of Sasuke, and nobody I know has ever thought, claimed this sort of accusation and opinion on Killer Bee. Hell, this opinion of Bee being an aggressive black man has got no basis in the manga/anime! He is the most chill black man there is! If anyone said this, they would literally laugh!

EDIT: After writing this, I decided to report that post. It's literally a libel post against the Sasuke fandom. There is literally no basis to it and OP wants to pretend it's an opinion about general experience. If you got a bad experience be more specific and what's more report them or call them out. It's really that simple! Everybody's experience is not the same but to make a general statement that bottles almost half the fandom as "racist" just because of one or two bad experience is literally... defaming the fandom! I'm sorry it is!

As a POC, and when you say something like that, do you have any idea how unsafe, hurt, and angry can make some people participating in the fandom? You don't put something like that and call it an opinion because it's not. It's an accusation verging on defamation against a group of people just because you had what one or two bad experiences with people.

I've had some bad experiences with people in other fandoms. You're not gonna hear me claim that a fandom is this or half the fandom is this just because of that one or two experience! I'd be attacking an entire fandom that way with an accusation that had nothing to do with them

This post is NOT the only post that has been accusing and posting lies about the Sasuke fandom. It literally mocks the Sasuke fandom for rightfully being angry. You can check the blog right now. It's the most recent post on its blog.

Right after the moderator of said blog posts that it won't be putting any more replies because it's gotten "heated"

Because God forbid someone is angry at you for posting libel and calling it an "opinion".

I mean, omg, you got pushback for literally stating that there's a group in a certain fandom that is racist and think "oh this is just gossip?"Oh, I'm just saying my opinion or talking about an experience and saying yeah the entire fandom is that way."

And the negative Sasuke posts keep coming because I looked back at it again, and there's clearly an anon there with an agenda against the Sasuke fandom. And nowhere there is a defense against this. The other side apparently has no say on this blog. And by other side, I mean the Sasuke fandom. OP closed replies because it got heated.

and tbh there's rarely a positive post about any of the Naruto characters, certainly not Sasuke, in a blog that is called the " Naruto General Opinions" blog. What is so general about this blog? It seems to side heavily on one opinion over the other. Right after posting a negative Sasuke fandom post that accuses the fandom of racism, anti-blackness, and micro-aggressions of black people with the baseless claim that Sasuke stans say that Killer Bee is an aggressive black man which I have seen that absolutely no where and even the claim of Killer Bee has no support in the manga so why would anyone say that? But right after posting that, they won't be putting any sort of heated replies because, again, people got anger, why? This person posts about Sasuke "bad decisions" as if characters aren't allowed that, and we all gotta stand perfect characters who do pretty much nothing.

Basically, we should all stand Hinata since you don't get a more inoffensive character than that, right?

Also what is anon talking about? You think we're angry at people criticizing Sasuke's decisions. People have been criticizing Sasuke's decision since day on. Hell the post creates another falsehood about why Sasuke stans are angry.

Y'all called us racist and anti-black. As a POC, Idk whether to laugh or be angry at such baseless claims and I'd again rant about why but I've probably repeated myself a number of times on why I feel like that post is nothing more than libel especially since OP wants to pretend that it's an opinion of an experience that a number of times could've been much more clearer but isn't, and defame an entire fanbase as that way.

OP wants to pretend they care about safe-spaces but they do not. Their lack of clarification and the majority of their anon posts of "general Naruto opinions" being basically negative, not just to the Sasuke community but to many character fanbases such as Sakura, Hinata, Naruto etc tells you everything. And it's the fanbases that are generally attacked and mocked. Never anything about the characters.

OP has a post pinning Sakura and Hinata against each other...

Is it any wonder people think the Naruto fandom is so toxic?

In writing this vent, I relooked at the blog and found yeah I agree with some of the takes the blog has but as a Sasuke fan who feels very attacked, especially when a majority of posts about Sasuke are negative in a blog that claims to be about general opinions of Naruto, I can't help but sympathize with Sakura and Hinata fandoms and any other fandom that has been criticized. How ostracized they must feel when there's a blog claiming to be about general opinions of Naruto, but it's about them...

Like opinions are not...general. A majority of us don't share the same opinions. We're all different and we absorb and express content in different way. While annoyance and irritation of how some people absorb and express content is valid, it's quite something else to post these opinions in a blog that claims to represent the general Naruto fanbase.

And even if the majority do feel the same way...is it fair for the minority to be excluded? Is it fair to have one blog be the space of "opinions," especially when the majority are nothing more than toxic angry anti takes

And again, some of these anti takes, I do agree on...but I'm going to be honest, I will never reblog from them because no way do I think my opinion is just a general opinion especially when it excludes a group of people in the fandom who may not agree. I will reblog from blogs that have similar opinions to mine and backs them up with evidence.

If you have these sorts of opinions, post it on your own blog. A general opinion blog is honestly not necessary...it's clear everyone has different opinions about different things... I mean...it's Tumblr. Unless sourced and backed up by proof, it's just an opinion.

But opinions can be hurtful and verge on to seemingly defamatory when opinions feel like falsehoods, especially when it's not backed by proof. I've looked, and many others have looked to see where this claim of Killer Bee being an aggressive black man comes from, and...it's nowhere!? And OP will not ask or show proof because apparently it's an "opinion about an experience.". If you're gonna put baseless accuations of opinions there, I'm gonna tell you what that's called. It's called libel. Spoken, it would be slander. And all of it is just defamation against an entire fanbase who likes a character you don't like.

And as the moderator of that blog, which frankly I find them questionable and toxic in many ways, they have a responsibility to ask for clarification because spreading lies about a certain fandom base is not right. It's not. Clearly, the blog is very biased, but it verges on harassment and abuse and a hate campaign against an entire fanbase of a character they don't like.

Like I don't think I'm over-inflating, this becomes I personally feel like my character has been attacked by this. I don't write metas or analysis. I've been thinking about it... but it almost feels like both OP and Anon want to silence an entire fanbase because they just don't agree, and they do so with this slander!

This isn't just about the Sasuke fanbase. This is also about every fanbase in the Naruto community. Racism is serious so if an accusation is made, we have a responsibility to answer it and separate ourselves from that or at least if we've engaged in such behavior, to better ourselves for other members in the larger Naruto fandom.

This is just a rant I needed to get out, but I'm deciding to take action. I've had some friends that have been hurt and have seen some defamatory statements online about the Sasuke fanbase and I will no longer stand idolly by. It's one thing to insult and criticize my character, you are entitled to your opinion, but when someone is attacking my character for liking a character they don't like, expect some pushback.

I came into the Naruto fandom because I like Naruto, the manga, and anime. I didn't come in to be harassed for liking a character you don't like. Feel free to rant about it on your own blog, but the moment you spread lies, especially on a blog that claims to be a blog about "general naruto opinions"is the moment I can't stay silent about this.

Okay, I'm gonna end my rant here. I've wasted enough time thinking and writing this, but I mean it when I said, I've had enough when lies start coming into the picture.

EDIT 2: I've decided to take out screenshots because I'm unsure if I should put screenshots. It could be wrong or taken wrong.

[ehimemo34]

I haven't posted on tumblr in a hot minute but I came back to say this.

Sasuke x Naruto shippers, get your asses out of the Sakura x Sasuke tag. Ur legit bitching over nothing.

We don't go all up in your tags and complain. And even if we do, it's bc y'all did it ours first.

More on this rant:

Not liking Naruto x Sasuke does not make you homophobic. Period. You don't have to like the ship at all, and there are legit REAL and CANON reasons people dislike the ship.

You do not have to like sakura x Sasuke either, I understand if someone would dislike the ship bc of how the relationship started and such.

Naruto x Sasuke shippers, please kindly take ur bullshit somewhere else. Sasuke and Sakura are canon, please kindly get over it. They are together, they have a child, they have had romantic moments in the anime, novels and manga. Get. Over. It.

You use the excuse that the relationship is dead, or that Sasuke is a shitty husband or father, or that Sakura is a shitty wife or some shit about her character and achievements, blah blah blah, I read a post about it and the person admitted they haven't watched Boruto, so they have zero idea of what's actually happening.

Sasuke, for one, isn't a shitty husband. Yes I will admit he is absent, but he feels deeply guilty for it, and tries his hardest to make up for it in the way he can.

Sasuke being a deadbeat dad, is so far from the truth that is actually shocks me. People say he only trains Boruto, which is very much not true. He trains sarada quite frequently. An example of this being the fact, he came back for the chunin exams to watch her, he actually states that to her and Sakura. He teaches her chadori (I can't spell it okay? Gimme a break) and water style actually. And it's even in the novels that when he does come home, he spends a lot of time with her, training her or even just spending time with her in general.

The idea he is a shitty husband, is so far from the truth, and you clearly have zero understanding of his character. (Also while where on this note, I would like to add; he would treat Naruto exactly the same as he treats Sakura, if him and naruto where canon that's the truth) he does small but powerful gestures to show his love and care for her. Such as tapping her forehead, holding her hand, saying thank you to her (which is the Japanese way of saying I love you), protecting her, eating the food she makes him and complementing it. There's more but I'm not gonna list em all here.

Now onto Sakura.

This idea that her achievements are fanon and not canon are just..insane to me.

Its literally stated in data books, anime and novels that not only is Sakura the head of the hidden leaf hospital, but she also OWNS hospitals/child mental health services in the sand and leaf.

It's stated that she is one of, if not the best medical nin, in the leaf and practically everywhere else.

She's also fought and defeated mostly everyone she's ever battled against. (not including Sasuke bc let's be real, that was not even a fight)

She's known for having monster strength, or superhuman strength.

She went up against shin, who had so many bloody sharigans he may as well be called Danzo 2.0 and kicked his ass.

Shes saved the lives of thousands.

This is getting super long so I won't list anymore, but please, if ur gonna argue about sasusaku or hate on either Sakura or Sasuke, please at least have your facts correct.