#WE AS A SOCIETY DO NOT TALK ENOUGH ABOUT THE FACT THAT WHEN MADARA ASKED HASHIRAMA TO EITHER KHS OR KILL TOBIRAMA

[moldy-flowers]

The interesting experience of being pro Sasuke, anti konoha, pro tobirama, anti Naruto ending, pro Sasusaku, anti Itachi, pro Sakura, anti SasuNaru, pro Tobirama×Izuna, anti Madara, pro karin, anti Orochimaru, pro Uchiha and anti Hashirama. And also as much as I hate the guy danzo was kind of hot when he was younger...

[the-roadkill-cafe]

I like your writing and answers so I'm going to do another. 50: How does Himiko react to the sexism in the Uchiha? And an anon once asked how Himiko would Touka as a stepmom, but what I want to know is how she would view her father after he goes into this relationship where the consent is grey.

adv;ands;vansdv;dlvna;jhaf;hdsv I LOVE these questions, thank you 1192ibelin!

50. Create your own/How does Himiko react to the sexism in the Uchiha?

Well, this is a doozy of a question (that is, it is an excellent question but my answer is very long, lolol). So first of all, it is my opinion that society at large during the Warring Clans Era (and probably still in contemporary Naruto) is sexist. It is not at all unique to the Uchiha. There are of course people, whether because of their personal beliefs or their personality who aren’t sexist, and people are sexist to different degrees, but it is very prevalent. 

Among the Uchiha, this most commonly takes the form of “I am your father/brother/husband and I may or may not make major life decisions for you.” Women in general in the WCE don’t tend to be active shinobi; my idea is that they’re trained, but their training usually starts later, may or may not be less intense, and is more centered on defending the clan compound. Basically, they’re a reserve force, not the active force (men). Some men take this further and say it’s not because of practically but because women can’t fight or shouldn’t (”their job is at home”). But!! All of that said, women do most of the logistical stuff and day to day running of *everything* at home. For instance, while Izuna helps Madara with planning and what not regarding missions/patrols/etc, when it comes to supplies and things not directly related to fighting, Madara’s primary aid comes from a woman in the clan (who would ordinarily be his wife but well....he doesn’t have one so there, lol). 

Each clan is slightly different, and civilians are even more different besides. Therefore, what sexism looks like *exactly* in each clan is going to differ. For Himiko specifically, her case is special because she’s the only daughter of the main family. Ordinarily, because she has no brothers, her husband would be the next head of the Uchiha clan. Depending on how long Madara and/or Izuna live, it would be the case that they choose Himiko’s husband for her, or, depending on the state of the clan and their mindset, just provide her with a list of candidates that she can choose from (which is more likely - it’s not enough to have a shinobi with strong martial abilities running a clan, they also have to be intelligent and able to handle other aspects, which Himiko, as the highest ranking woman, would be the judge of). As a final judge in a lot of matters, this gives her a *lot* of power....but the fact is that her life is very much laid out for her and it doesn’t matter if she likes it or not because she has a duty to her clan. 

In short, Himiko has a lot of the privilege of being born in the main family, but because she has no siblings, she also bears the burdens of it all alone. Compare to another girl in the clan who is born to a foot soldier, or who has several sisters - there is less social status, but also no one is putting very specific expectations on her.

Which comes to your actual question, how does Himiko react? The answer is: poorly. Himiko sees a lot of this as a child, but it doesn’t really sink in until she’s a teenager when suddenly she’s required to behave a certain way and think of the clan all the time etc etc. Himiko wants to make whatever choices she wants, not be beholden to what someone else thinks is the right choice. And there’s not really a good way she can show that she can still be responsible to her clan *and* have the freedom to do whatever she wants. Unfortunately, rejecting the hold that the clan has over her means rejecting the clan as a whole - which means she’s a traitor and needs to be killed. 

And adding on to this - certainly there’s other women who aren’t exactly thrilled with this system. It’s not like they’re all passively accepting it. Some work to change it, some don’t - just like any other social movement at any time. But Himiko’s version of feminism and what women should be allowed to do (which is everything) reads as very extreme to many of the women around her, even the ones who, if they knew the word, would call themselves feminists. It’s like...compare women’s rights movements in history. Depending on the time and the region, what women’s rights movements actually wanted all differed. Even today we see that with the difference between American feminists and, say, Japanese feminists. (and of course, this also isn’t to say that women never imagined until fifty years ago that they could be equal to men, just that, in general, what people consider extreme in social movements can be somewhat considered relative). 

Anyway, this last paragraph was probably a bit clumsily written (I’m on mobile and keep getting distracted) so if you want me to clarify or add anything on this point or anything in this first answer, let me know. 

And the next question...

How would Himiko view her father when he enters into a relationship with Touka where the consent is grey?

Quick recap/summary for people who aren’t familiar: I wrote an Izuna/Touka fic called “the devil and the deep blue sea” (which I will link once I am off mobile, but it is available on ao3 and tumblr in its smutty entirety, and the non smut is on ffnet).The premise was that as part of the Uchiha-Senju peace treaty, there was to be an arranged marriage. Eventually both Izuna and Touka volunteered to marry each other. What makes the consent gray is that they don’t like each other in any fashion (nor do they by the end of the installment) and they don’t really want to get married. Even though they weren’t tricked/forced/coerced into marrying each other (and having sex with each other), it isn’t something they would ordinarily do except that they both want peace enough that they’re willing to try. 

I later received an ask from an anon about what would happen if, in my SI fic, Himiko’s mother died and Izuna remarried Touka. I immediately thought of my fic, and answered the ask as if the premise of their marriage was the same as in “devil and the deep blue sea”; that is, Izuna and Touka married under very tense conditions for political purposes. In that ask, I focused on Himiko and Touka, but here I’ll talk about Himiko and Izuna. 

With all of that said, Himiko knows that for *both* Izuna and Touka, the consent is grey. Izuna is in fact more conservative than Madara; he’d rather not have peace with the Senju at all except that Madara wants it. So she knows it’s not a case of Izuna coercing Touka (though of course Himiko doesn’t know for certain until later that none of the Senju didn’t pressure Touka and that she actually volunteered, like Izuna). Himiko knows that Izuna volunteered to do it, and while he isn’t thrilled to be married to Touka, she’s also fairly certain he won’t mistreat Touka, if only to make sure the treaty succeeds (and also because later Touka is pregnant with his own child). Overall, her opinion of him, based solely on the fact that he entered into the relationship, wouldn’t really change. It’s not a mystery to her that Izuna would do everything he could if he thought it would benefit the Uchiha. 

On the other hand, Izuna isn’t exactly welcoming of Touka when she finally moves in, and he avoids her as much as possible. He also does his level best to keep Himiko from Touka, because he doesn’t trust Touka around her. The avoidance and distrust is something that, though Himiko understands *why*, she doesn’t approve of. To Himiko, this is not the way to show that the Uchiha are serious and that Izuna is taking it seriously. And also if Touka was planning on assassinating someone, leaving her to her own devices at all times isn’t really a smart idea. 

But Himiko tries not to be too hard on Izuna. She can understand why he’s behaving the way he is, and also that he’s stressed. Since she’s a child, her version of not being too hard on him is basically behaving and going with the flow, and not causing him any problems. Honestly what she wants is for them both to get along so that this peace thing works out, because living in a constant state of war is not really on her list of enjoyable things. 

I hope I answered this well! I really loved your questions; feel free to send me more! And as always, this goes for anyone else too; you can check out any memes I’ve reblogged or just send me in questions you’ve made up. Thank you!

[animeride-blog]

Kagami Uchiha's Importance In Naruto Series https://animeride.com/blogs/6688/kagami-uchihas-importance-in-naruto-series/ #Hashirama, #Izuma, #KagamiUchiha, #Madara, #Naori, #SenjuClan, #Uchiha

New Post has been published on https://animeride.com/blogs/6688/kagami-uchihas-importance-in-naruto-series/

Kagami Uchiha's Importance In Naruto Series

Today we’ll be discussing my favorite Uchiha out of the bunch

Kagami Uchiha

I know the unfamiliar name may already have many of you Googling just who this character was. When thinking of all the Uchiha’s, the list goes something like this: Sasuke, Itachi, Madara, Obito, Shisui, Sarada, and some people tack on Izumi, Fugaku, and Mikoto if they really like the Uchiha enough to remember those last three.

However, there are few Uchiha that people would do good to remember that are of utmost importance to the plot of the Naruto series: Izuna, Kagami, and Naori, all respectively.

And if you don’t remember any of them? That’s perfectly alright! Combined, the three of them hardly have more than five minutes of screen time. Unless you felt the need to explore the characters thoroughly, or have an interest in the Warring States Era, you should hardly have recalled who they were.

This is beside the point though – my main focus is of Kagami and his analysis, though I will often be deferring to Izuna and Naori as examples, along with Tobirama Senju, Danzo Shimura, and Hiruzen Sarutobi as character buffs due to their relation with Kagami.

So, where to start? Let’s have a brief rundown of Kagami’s backstory pertaining to the story: this is what you probably know of Kagami at first glance if you remember him.

Kagami Uchiha was on Tobirama Senju’s task force and was a close body guard of the second Hokage, especially during the First Shinobi World War. Multiple times throughout the series, Hiruzen and Danzo both revere Kagami as having been an incredible fighter, and sometime before the age of twenty five, he had a child and died at that young age. I’m total, he has about less than a minute of screen time, and the most notable screencap he is in, is the one in which Tobirama named Hiruzen as his successor.

After that brief synopsis, you must be confused as to how I could go into any more detail about such a minor character. However, for someone who never spoke a single line in the series – Kagami himself speaks volumes about the Will of Fire and events leading up to the Uchiha Massacre.

Kagami’s main purpose in the series is to be the first Uchiha who willing revokes his status from the clan to follow the Will of Fire that Tobirama had hoped to instill across the village.

Now, it may never be stated that he had done something as harsh as remove himself from the clan, but I would like to turn our attention to the Naruto universe’s real life counterpart: Japan. More specifically in the Warring States Era of the series, Feudal Japan.

If you ever decide to pick up a history book or two about East Asia, you’ll be surprised to discover just how extensive loyalty to your own family went. Westerners hardly realize that last names were something that held more significance than sometimes even religious deities in the East Asian cultures. It was perhaps preferable to lose limbs rather than lose your family name – your loyalty was to your own blood, and those who controlled the government were afraid of that. Family was your law, your government, loyalty to your own blood was your society. In certain parts of Asian history, surnames were even banned in the hopes of severing the familial loyalty civilians clung to.

And from this I see people always ask: Why were the Uchiha so against integrating into Konoha like every other clan? And I give you that as an answer. The Uchiha were fire and passion – to lose their tradition, to meld within other clans was against their ways. They were selfish for the need to maintain status and power, keeping their sharingan closely guarded from those who are not to be blood related, enough to intermarry.

Might I remind you of the instance of Izumi Uchiha? Due to her father not also being of Uchiha decent, her mother and her were shunned by the rest of the Uchiha, labeled as outcasts.

And here I am to turn back to Kagami. For someone raised in a lifestyle, taught nothing but to see the clan as the only thing to pledge loyalty to, how could he ever revoke his status and turn his back on the clan?

And I tell you this:

Kagami was a dreamer.

Growing up quite possibly during the Warring States Era, or at least the bare end of it, Kagami must have seen nothing but endless deaths after deaths. Children his own age, his friends, his uncles, sent out to fight and never return. And for what? To maintain the clan’s pride and foothold in the world.

Imagine you’re in Kagami’s shoes. Unlike those around you, you don’t understand why you must die for the clan – all the meaningless, senseless deaths. It must have been an abhorrent childhood enough to give anyone series mental illnesses.

But as he grew, Konoha was formed, and although the Uchiha were still loyal only to themselves, Kagami found stance in Tobirama’s belief: The Will of Fire.

Unlike his clansmen, Kagami must have found purpose in Tobirama’s belief for peace through absolute loyalty to only the village. Time and time again he proved himself, not just to Tobirama, but the Uchiha themselves that they lost a major playing card within Kagami.

But just what is so important about Kagami joining Tobirama instead of the Uchiha? What did they lose?

In the many references Hiruzen and Danzo had stated of Kagami, they mentioned that he was incredibly powerful, and Shisui himself had admitted in that Kagami was much stronger than he ever was. And the most interesting part? It’s hinted that Kagami never obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan. His strength didn’t rely solely upon his bloodline.

Kagami’s influence of his passion for the Will of Fire was most obviously passed down to Shisui. This, of course, then influenced Itachi and soon the series spiralled from there.

But what else is there to examine? Surely, Kagami didn’t join Tobirama just for some silly belief in peace? Let’s look at Tobirama’s actions for a brief moment.

Contrary to popular belief, Tobirama himself didn’t hate the Uchiha. In fact, he was perfectly accepting of Kagami, as seen to why the other was placed as his body guard.

So why do so many accuse Tobirama of hating the clan so much? Like previously said, Tobirama firmly believed in the Will of Fire, and the Uchiha were against it. However, many may take Tobirama’s action of killing Izuna Uchiha, Madara’s brother, as a sign of his hatred.

I am here to say Tobirama’s actions were anything but pure hatred – it was for his loyalty and devotion to his brother. He had thought eliminating Izuna would keep his clan, and his brother, safe from harm. He followed in what he thought best for his brother. Nevertheless, such an action was a backhand to Hashirama’s dreams, as Tobirama soon discovered.

This is what had Tobirama so devoted to the Will of Fire. He wanted to keep his brother’s dream alive after he almost shattered it with his own selfish actions.

And I am sure the Uchiha talked about Izuna’s murder at the hands of Tobirama during his reign as Hokage. It was most likely their quipped used the most as to justify just how much Tobirama hated them – but Kagami must have seen the other side of Tobirama’s actions, analyzed them to see Tobirama’s true devotion and attempts to make the Uchiha remove themselves from selfish thoughts.

And there I said it again – the Uchiha are selfish. They are infected with the Curse of Hatred, which lead to many negative connotations as far as to many being power hungry.

However, Kagami, Shisui, Itachi, and Naori were the few who never were infected with such a curse – the first three due to their devotion for the Will of Fire. But what of Naori? Does she play a hand in discovering Kagami’s true analysis?

Naori, despite seeing horrors that unlocked her Mangekyou, was a kind soul who sought to stop others from falling into the Curse of Hatred. They sought power, and she sought the need to quell their macabre intentions. Her Uchiha passion wasn’t for hatred – it was for love.

And that’s the last key to Kagami’s personality – he was an Uchiha, yes, but his passion was not for revenge, hatred, power, or any other of the common Uchiha traits. No, his passion was for his devotion to his friends and Tobirama’s beliefs. He considered Hiruzen and Danzo as his great friends, and maybe that was the exact reason he had died so young, protecting his loyalty to those he had bonded with. He chose to bind himself to those he wished, not those he was born into.

All in all, Kagami’s decision and personality had greatly effected the series as a whole – not just with understanding the Will of Fire, but also his lineage within Shisui and by extent, Itachi.

For such a minor character to play such a large role within the series, it’s hard to imagine. But who knows? Maybe Kishimoto had meant to do this, to leave subtle hints in discovering the true reason behind actions within the Uchiha and prove the Curse of Hatred can be dispelled. Maybe it was an excuse as to why Shisui was never infected? At this point, we may never know. However, Kagami as a whole, for a character who hardly existed, had layers of subtext to him that makes him a special gem out of all the minor characters of the Naruto series.

I hope you all enjoyed me never shutting up about such a small character. I may do some other of my favorites in the future, but I just had to talk about Kagami because he’s so overlooked, but such in interesting character.