#anti-naruto ending

[chattegeorgiana]

Hello Chatte,

How have you been doing?

I have this thing that's been pestering me for a while now. A lot of NH defenders/shippers swear on their life that there are strong parallels between her and Kushina and it's a hill these people are willing to die on.

They love to cite examples from that god forsaken series called Boruto, where they have comical moments of Hinata being the ''scary mommy'' trope and a ''hot headed wife'' just like Kushina. This doesn't sit well with me and I just see it as SP being SP, nothing more, nothing less; and for the NH fan to be like ''ohh..... look...... there are so many parallels between MK and NH. NH was planned from the beginning. yay...... '' Those sorta BS (pardon me my French).

Also, I'd like to point out that I'm an anti ender not because of the pairing reasons but because of how the ending happened. All thanks to each and every character being nothing more than a pairing fodder, the show has left many debates as to what it's messages and themes are.

I really have zero reasons to like female characters like Sakura and Hinata but this, this is beyond character assassination and also an insult to the fan base, especially those who gave common sense and aren't blinded by pairing choice. For me how the characters are treated is way more important than shipping.

Also, when is your next YT video on Boruto being Oro's genjutsu gonna be released?

Thank for reading my somewhat lame and a long comment and I wish you the best with Kaika Saisei

Cheers!

Hi there,

Well, for the whole NH thing, the reason why they insist is because the sequel did a 180 and changed her characteristics, so ofc they are willing to die on that hill.

But we all know if we look at the actual content from the manga that she has nothing in common with Kushina nor Minato like they like to say. Kushina is loud and passionate. Where have you seen Hinata display those qualities? Whereas Minato is calm & calculated, something that she isn't once again. She's quiet & shy but that doesn't equate the calmness Minato displays. Not to mention we've seen even in this one shot that Kishi wrote that Minato can also get super passionate from time to time, whereas Hinata has never displayed that feat.

All in all for this whole thing to work they had to turn her into Sakura. It's clear as daylight to anyone who isn't a NH. Even a neutral. So why consume your energy with what they're saying? It's not like it's true. The evidence to support that is those 15 years of serialization prior to the ending that holds all the weight.

We all know TL & the other products at the end were made so that they can retcon the pre-established narrative.

The show ending the way it did basically destroyed everything Naruto once as a story stood for. Sad, but true.

I always said I wouldn't have had any issue with the choice of pairings if done correctly. After all, I used to be a multishipper once. I saw the potential that all had in the beginning. It's just that when part 2 launched, the story was clear of its direction - of course, until they decided to retcon again and to hell with everything.

And sadly, the girls got the short end of the stick. Both Hinata & Sakura, if we're being true to ourselves. But these people are ready to die on a hill just because they're so attached to their opinions rather than seeing the story for what it is - a great emotional impact story, but with a lot of issues underneath it if you put aside the emotional impact.

It's the reason why it pulls so many people into it. Because it's filled with emotional manipulation, in a way. Look at the way the franchise also directs its marketing campaigns for other materials/products. They scan the internet, see what the talk is in the fandom & then bam, there they are with their products that just so happen to have the thematic of whatever talk is in the fandom - like when they are some sort of servants because at some point NH & SS were arguing about who's richer and who's the servant and who's the patron and all kind of BS like that.

Or when we in the NaruSaku fandom had an extensive talk about tarot and the symbolism that surrounds NS and 6 months later bam, there they are with products with tarot themes.

Or that game they have and I saw two of the concepts I had for Sakura combined into a third one.

They basically combined these two artwork concepts into the third one that is their image from the game.

So what can I say? As you can see, Pierrot be doing whatever it is to get their way, lol.

If you think about the girls - when they thought Hinata was more profitable, they pushed her in everybody's face so much so that it affected the story's ending.

Now that Sakura's more profitable, they discarded Hinata like a used toy and she barely makes any appearances outside her mom-like persona.

This only shows anyone with a little critical thinking that SP has no respect for any characters nor the story. It's just about the $$$ and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

But meh, anyway, at this point is more than funny lol. It's just Pierrot being Pierrot tbh... Nothing good can be expected of that studio.

As for my next video, I'm planning on getting back to work on these somewhere in March.

Last year I've been caught up with a major life event so it really hindered my capacity to take care of everything that I wanted to do, but as I said, I'm planning on getting back to these.

It's just that I'll need to edit some things since I initially envisioned it in a certain way and there are certain changes that happened in the meantime, that kind of rendered some of the things I worked on obsolete, so I'm trying to adjust to that. But yeah, as soon as I have everything up and running again, I'll definitely start working on it.

And aah dear, don't worry, your question was not lame! Thank you for dropping into my inbox and for your wishes regarding Kaika!

[uzumaki-sayuri]

"SaKuRa DeSeRvEd BeTtEr"

After she harassed and guilty tripped Sasuke since FOREVER despite him telling her clearly more than once that nor he loves her nor he has a reason to, because that's true seen how ugly she has behaved towards him.

Look I'm a fan of Sakura and also NaruSaku, I also love Naruto and Sasuke as individuals, but let's keep her accountable for the bad things she too has done.

Sasuke doesn't love her. And him staying away from someone who has EXHAUSTED him into a one-sided relationship is fair and also a consequence of Sakura's action, simple as that.

Sorry anon but I gotta disagree. Sakura has her problems but she's still one of the most morally virtuous characters in the manga. Having Sasuke- a boy grieving over his lost family- actually abandon his wife/child in adulthood is exceptionally tragic. Don't know how long you've been following me but I've made more than a couple vent posts about the way Kishi writes women specifically, and the outrageously sexist ending he wrote for them. My lil' flowers deserved way better T.T

[narutobyari]

ss is shit

I tell you, most neglect|cheating fics from anti-croud were way more merciful and respectful to SS than all this

Kill me now. They did it. They really did it! They REALLY went ahead and honestly admitted that SS is shit and their marriage didn’t work out (even IF it ever existed)! I am genuinely shocked right now. My head spins and my hands are trembling.

Who is this? What is this? Is this broken sad and void woman the girl I cheered for for 10 years of my life? Is this the one girl who once held promise to become the greatest kunoichi of Konoha? Also, good job, she is an apron again, doing housework again.

Seriously? It wasn’t enough that she was portrayed as a sad wreck of a woman in a broken marriage a moment ago? It wasn’t enough that she couldn’t handle righteous questions from her child, snapped and threatened her? Now they have to say that she is also dirt poor and can’t handle a situation she herself caused? Can’t handle to a point where she just falls flat in front of her child, whose house she blew up?

………….. I know, I know. I should be ready for such things already. Sakura is a sad woman in a dysfunctional family, a sore excuse for a ninja, a failure in life, an emotional wreck, a poor housewife, a complete ambition-less shadow of her former self. OMG, one can handle even a bad life scenario in a more dignified way. This is a disaster.

……….And now this child is not even hers by the looks of it. Yes, this is the end. In my wildest dreams I didn’t ask for this atrocity.

I have such mixed emotions right now. On one hand, I am utterly disgusted and saddened by this senseless Konoha, by Naruto who doesn’t smile, by these purposeless adults with no spark in their eyes. Most of all I am obviously destroyed by this image of a complete failure Sakura. They stooped so low with her. They took all her potential and all her dignity and threw it away for the sake of drama. There is NOTHING left to respect in Sakura.

On the other hand, I obviously want to sing in extasy, because BLOODY HELL SS burnes! It burns to the ground! There are only ashes in the air. The scorched smell intoxicates me. I swear to you, the most hardcore anti-fics with cheating and neglect were much more merciful to SS.

[watermelonsloth]

I think the reason why Naruto fans get so passionate and upset about the series is because of how real it can be. Naruto isn’t about paragon heroes outdoing dastardly villains. It’s about human beings fighting tooth and nail to survive in a world surrounded by death. It’s about broken systems made and perpetuated by broken people.

The Hyuga clan isn’t just antagonistic or pretentious, they practice slavery.

The Uchiha clan weren’t just killed by some raging psychopath, they were systematically massacred.

Itachi isn’t just cruel to Sasuke because he’s a bad brother, he’s cruel because he’d been told time and time again that you can only survive by being cruel and he wants nothing more than for Sasuke to survive.

Nagato isn’t trying to take over the world just for the sake of power, he’s trying to take over the world because it beat him down to the point of believing that the only chance at peace there is is the world being forced into compliance through fear.

Iruka isn’t hard on Naruto just because he’s a strict teacher, he’s hard on Naruto because he knows from experience how unforgiving the world is towards orphans.

Kakashi isn’t just some silly and slightly lazy teacher, he’s a contract killer still grieving his loved ones and struggling to do better without knowing how he’s supposed to.

Sakura isn’t just a fangirl, she’s a normal girl in a very dangerous and abnormal world constantly being made to choose between what she’s supposed to do and what she feels.

Sasuke isn’t just some edgelord, he’s a survivor who lost everything then gets repeatedly told that he has to choose between keeping what he’s gained and doing better than his brother.

Naruto isn’t just trying to be the best Hokage there ever was, he’s trying to prove his worth to a society that abandoned him just for existing and, in a way, confirm his worth to himself.

The Naruto story is about humans trying to force themselves into the role of weapons because that’s what they were told they had to be. It’s a story where everyone is a perpetrator but no one is trying to do wrong. It’s a story where everyone is a victim but no one is a perfect victim.

The world and the characters aren’t simple and trying to simplify them only takes away from them. So of course we get passionate about showing off all the reasons why they shouldn’t be simplified and all of the ways they’re complicated. Of course we get upset when we see others simplifying them or selling certain aspects of their characters short. Of course we get upset when the series itself simplifies them. Of course we get upset when the series chooses to abandon them. Because it not only feels like the characters are giving up, it feels like the series is betraying anyone who chose to get invested in its complexities.

[meowmada]

Nothing just this

[sasucaty]

i am not a sasuke uchiha apologist because he has nothing to apologise for.

[badgalsasuke]

My thoughts on the Naruto ending

So I had said I was gonna post about my feelings and thoughts regarding the Naruto finale that might contain a few hot takes for some people, so here it is.

THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG POST.

The Naruto ending is universally disliked, there's not doubt in that. Veteran SNS shippers don't like it because Naruto and Sasuke end up with women they don't love and aren't attracted to, and believe Naruto and Sasuke could've end up "single" with no ships confirmed; younger SNS shippers that weren't there when Naruto was still coming out believe they should've ended up together even though that could have not been plausible due to the manga industry quite conservative practices. Het!shippers on the other hand, believe the ending is bad for two different reasons: the first being that some believe that Narusaku and Sasukarin would've made more sense than SS and NH (some say just Narusaku and Sasuke should've stayed single); the second being that although they like SS and NH and the potential they believe these ships have "but wasn't explored further", Kishimoto can't write romance so he messed up both ships, making them bland and barely romantic.

Another reason why the ending is disliked for non-shipping reasons and mostly by Sasuke stans, is that even though in the couple chapters before the 700th one Naruto and Sasuke talk about changing the shinobi system, we see in Boruto that the system has not been changed at all and instead Naruto and Sasuke are reinforcing it despite all the oppression and suffering they were put through it in its name. We even see Itachi, the man who committed genocide being lauded as a hero for his actions and zero reflection on Konoha as a genocidal State. Oh and the Hyuga clan still practices slavery.

So here I come to say the following: Naruto's ending makes sense.

Now before y'all tear me to pieces let me explain myself. The first time I read the finale I thought it was stupid, one reason being that the ships make no sense no matter the angle you try to look at them and the other reason being that Sasuke was now working for the same State that murdered his clan with Naruto now as the head of that same State and making no changes to the Shinobi system (not a very good look on him, right?), so I thought for many years that the ending sucked.

Then The Last, Boruto and Sasuke Retsuden came out and all I could think was "woah this is all really shit from the butt".

But then one day when I was thinking about the manga as a whole, mostly because I was starting to realize that Kishimoto was being intentional in his writing of Naruto and Sasuke's romantic bond and it wasn't accidental like most of the fandom thinks, I just started connecting dots and trying to make sense of the whole story and seeing how the ending fitted into that. I'm someone that whenever it comes to literary analysis and criticism always tries to think about what was the author intention before I label something as bad because it wasn't my personal preference how something was written.

And that's how I realized what there was theme to the Naruto ending is. It's all about conformity.

Now, don't get me wrong the Naruto ending still has flaws, two big ones in my opinion, which I'll point out further down the post, but what I want to do is show you the forest because I feel the fandom is mostly focused on a couple of trees when it comes to the finale. I want you to see the thread of events Kishimoto created and how he was trying to keep it as in character as possible.

So first things first. If you've read Kishimoto interviews over the years then you would know what was the ending he had envisioned: chapter 698. He talks about how he wanted Naruto and Sasuke to have their final fight, make ammends and change the shinobi system together. He achieved two out those three things he intended.

In a quite controversial interview that most of the fandom likes to ignore, Kishimoto stated that he had no emotional attachement to Naruto and Hinata as a couple and it was Studio Pierrot who had pitched the whole thing about The Last movie. He also states that he decided to make NH endgame after Shippuden had started and he had also considered Narusaku as well, but then in another interview that came later he started saying he had intended to make NH canon since the very beginning. He was constantly contradicting himself in these interviews over the years. Kishimoto has also expressed his distate for SS and Sakura's character in general in different interviews.

So what I personally believe is that Kishimoto's editorial, Shueisha, made him change his statements because saying he had no plans for NH and it was Studio Pierrot idea was quite damaging to the franchise (no wonder the interview got kinda buried too, lol).

I think the biggest challenge for Kishimoto was giving the editorial, the studio and most of the fandom the het!ships they wanted without compromising as much the characters the story of his manga revolves around, Naruto and Sasuke.

So we get to ch. 699 where I believe Kishimoto is laying the ground for the finale we ended up getting.

In ch. 698 it seemed like Naruto and Sasuke had been able to resolve their issues and been able to talk about their feelings for each other. Something Sasuke repeats in ch. 699, a chapter entirely narrated by him. However right at the end of ch. 699 we get what seems to be a regression of what we had seen in the previous chapter.

It is implied that Naruto and Sasuke had an argument off-screen hence why Sasuke thought Naruto would not come to see him and bid him farewell before his atonement journey. What was the argument about is never really explained, some fans speculate Naruto was upset about Sasuke going on an atonement journey considering Naruto had pleaded for Sasuke to not be imprisoned and saw no reason for Sasuke to go on a redemption trip. I personally believe it had something to do with Naruto failing to come to terms with his feelings for Sasuke because, as we see right away, Naruto gives Sasuke back his headband and Sasuke says he'll keep it until they have their real fight which is interesting, to say the least, because didn't we just see their real fight the literal prior chapter? basically, we're being told Naruto and Sasuke haven't been able to truly talk about their feelings and put into words what their relationship really is about hence why Sasuke keeps the headband. As long as Sasuke has the headband, it will mean Naruto hasn't been able to truly accept what he feels for Sasuke. In essence, ch. 699 is Kishimoto retconning ch. 698 to give way to what comes later.

After chapter 700 came out we started getting so much content, both filler and canon, that tries to explain how we got there. Let's start with The Last, the movie that tries to explain how the heck Naruto ended up with Hinata.

The Last is sort of a hybrid, it's written for the most part by Studio Pierrot employees who had the idea in the first place and Kishimoto corrected a few things here and there and is also what for me, makes the ending flawed for one big reason: Naruto's character assassination.

Naruto is a shonen manga that's more focused and concerned on it's emotional battles and communicates it to the audience through it's physical battles rather than the powerscaling stuff Naruto dudebros would have you thinking the manga is actually about. So this means that Naruto, its main character, spends the entire manga learning about his feelings and putting them into words. That's what his story is mainly about; learning to love and to be loved.

The Last undoes this in the stupidest way possible. To give Naruto an excuse on why he always ignored Hinata they intend to make the audience believe it's because "Naruto doesn't know what love is" by writing Naruto not being able to differentiate between loving someone and liking ramen. This is absolute nuts. We know that Naruto understands what is love, what is not love and that love doesn't come out of nowhere, we see that when Sakura fake confesses to Naruto, he's able to spot right away she's not being genuine because he understands those three things. So this is the first flaw of the Naruto ending for me.

The second flaw is the dismissal of Kurama and Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki. I find the most embarrasing thing about The Last to be that they had to put Naruto through a genjutsu so he could hallucinate "memories of Hinata being there for him but he was too dumb to notice" but it's even worse once you remember that Naruto canonically should not be able to be put through a genjutsu in the first place. Studio Pierrot had to break rules of Kishimoto's universe in order to give NH some mediocre development and to me this will always be the worst part of the finale. If you can't make a ship work within the universe rules, then why make it a thing at all?

Some people didn't like that Hinata is totally useless in the movie, but for me this is not a flaw, as it is entirely in character with who she is in the manga. Making her a mary sue out of nowhere on the other hand, would be a flaw of the story.

Now that I've talked about what I think are the flaws of the Naruto ending, let's talk about the things that work in The Last (and I believe is where Kishimoto put his input) to make the finale make sense. The first one being that Sakura is the one that pushes Naruto to be with Hinata. In the manga we see several times Sakura is insecure about Naruto and Sasuke's bond and being jealous of Naruto's spot in Sasuke's heart. Even Hinata is baffled by Sakura wanting to help her and asks her why she's doing all that because she knows they're not friends. We then see Sakura think about Sasuke (who's also conviniently excluded from the movie) and simply say "we, girls, should support each other", she wants Naruto out of the picture so she can have Sasuke for herself and she succeeded. It's also important to note that once Sakura got what she wanted she no longer pretended to be a friend of Hinata, she didn't even kept close contact with Naruto either as we see in Naruto Gaiden, Sarada and Naruto don't know each other like that at all, if Sakura was being a genuine friend to Hinata and Naruto, she would've kept her family close to Naruto's but she didn't.

One more thing that I find works about The Last is that Naruto doesn't passionately fall in love with Hinata, but instead is constantly guilt-tripped into liking her, which is more true to his character. You have a man already struggling to accept his sexuality, who also has his deceased mother's expectation of marrying a girl and on top of that is a pathological people pleaser, of course he's gonna marry the first girl that tells him she loves him. It makes sense this all happened while Sasuke was not in the village. Naruto panicked about his sexual identity and rushed to marry an "acceptable woman" in the eyes of the people whose approval he craves, as we see in the special chapter Kishimoto wrote that came out after The Last: the villagers fawning over Konoha's hero dating the Hyuga heiress.

Likewise, Sasuke not attending Naruto's wedding helps the ending not be as contrived or out of character of them. Kishimoto never wrote anything on why Sasuke skipped the wedding as far as I can recall, but in the episodes that Studio Pierrot made dedicated to Naruto's wedding we see a Sasuke completely absent and detached from the event, something Naruto dudebros use to dunk on him because that made him a terrible friend from their perspective, but as usual they're not paying attention to the full narrative Kishimoto is creating here.

Making Sasuke be happy for Naruto and attend his wedding and give him a gift and all that crap, would've made het!shippers and Naruto dudebros happy but it would be at the expense of his character and the story Kishimoto was writing. Remember, Sasuke had kept the headband all these time until he could have his real fight with Naruto, meaning he was waiting for Naruto to be honest about his feelings for him, so him not attending Naruto's wedding is a way to communicate to the audience (at least the part that's paying attention) that Sasuke is heartbroken by the news.

I believe this is why Kishimoto designed adult Sasuke the way he did and makes him dress the way he does as an adult. All black and depressing. I also believe that Sasuke will stop dressing that way the minute he and Naruto have their real fight, if they ever have it, that is.

Additionally, Kishimoto nailed making NH canon before SS would be canon. Naruto, as I stated before, is the one that struggles with his identity and feelings for Sasuke and the one that has the expectations to marry a woman so it makes sense that he would be the one to marry a woman first. SS becoming canon first wouldn't make sense because not only is Sasuke more outspoken about his contempt for Sakura, whereas Naruto remains polite and neutral to Hinata's feelings, but Sasuke also has no reason to be with Sakura if Naruto is still available, in fact, Kishimoto making Sakura be the one to chase Sasuke after Naruto's wedding because Sasuke never came back, as we see it stated in Naruto Gaiden ch. 10, is also in character for both Sasuke and Sakura, instead of writing it the other way around like SS shippers wished, y'know their whole thing about Sasuke coming back to the village for Sakura and apologizing to her because he didn't realize how much he actually loved her because he was trapped in the darkness blah blah blah (I think this is what happens in filler novel Sasuke shinden lol).

If Naruto is not available, then Sasuke is in a very emotionally vulnerable position and Sakura took advantage of that. You see the narrative Kishimoto is creating here? There's a thread to follow on why stuff happened they way it did.

Now, I mentioned before that the theme of the Naruto finale was conformity. Here's where I explain how:

The first thing is Naruto's physical appearance. Kishimoto liked to draw a young Naruto all punk and grunge. He even had already made a design of adult Naruto where Naruto looks, well, cool and HOT.

Yet, for the actual finale he gave us an ugly Naruto, but also a Naruto that looks tired and exhausted. How does this tie with the conformity theme? when Naruto was young he used to go against the rules, defy expectations people had of him, tell authorities to fuck off. Like, when he was told to give up on Sasuke when he was 12, Naruto responded "If giving up on Sasuke makes me wise, I'd rather be fool my entire life", this man was a rebel. But as an adult we see him become the head of State that continues to reproduce the status quo that had once oppressed him. Naruto turned apathetic, his appearance reflects his attitude.

And this is consistent with the narrative Kishimoto's been crafting. Just in the same way Naruto conformed to society's expectation when he married a woman he doesn't love and barely knows, he also conformed and succumbed to the shinobi world status quo. It would *make zero sense* for Naruto to revolutionize the shinobi world while married to princess slaver Hinata Hyuga, that'd be an oxymoron, completely contradictory narrative wise. Certainly, Naruto always struggled to find an ideology, to put it in some way, when it came to Konoha and its ninjas practices and had a messed up perception of its villagers (see: the whole Dark Naruto mini plot) but he still wanted to change the shinobi world WITH SASUKE by his side, once the story established they don't end up together and Sasuke isn't by his side, Naruto doesn't care anymore.

This is why I don't find strange that Kishimoto wrote Naruto oversleeping in the eve of his name day as Hokage, a day Naruto had once dreamt about when he was a child. The spark is gone.

But the spark isn't just gone for Naruto, it's also gone for Kishimoto. Naruto didn't even attend his name day because he was knocked out by Himawari. This is Kishimoto being petty. He spent 15 years writing a story where the goal was to see Naruto become Hokage and he knew how anticipated this moment was and he still went and ruined it for the fans anyway. Naruto dudebros were furious about this, but not once did they stop to wonder about the implications of this, what it said about Kishimoto's relationship with his work if it had gotten to the point he went and "fucked it up".

Naruto cared about the state of the world before he became indifferent to it. This is why when Sasuke stans complain about Naruto not actually caring about Sasuke's trauma but can never really explain why Naruto is like that as an adult. They try to pretend Naruto never cared but this is a lie, kid and teenage Naruto was compassionate to Sasuke's trauma and pain even if he didn't always managed it in the best way possible. So, I always feel like they're missing this particular piece of the puzzle: if Naruto can't be his true self then he cannot change the world and neither can Sasuke.

Because the same thing occurs to Sasuke. One blog once posted that Sasuke not caring about his child is out of character, but Sasuke not caring about Sakura's child is very much in character and I feel that sums up Kishimoto's writing of both adult Sasuke and Naruto. This passiveness you wouldn't imagine from their younger selves, takes a hold of them once they become adults and gradually "get in line" to be a part of the real world. Sasuke doesn't care about his child because he had her with a woman he doesn't even like or respect. Sasuke is stuck in time still holding onto that headband, hoping he and Naruto will one day have their real battle.

Sasuke uses the forehead poke, a gesture he always hated, on his wife and child because he, just like his brother to him, wants to distance himself from them. Sasuke now serves the same village that plotted the mass murder of his clan and family because why not? his brother is lauded as a hero for killing his entire clan after all. Sasuke too, has conformed.

I actually wonder if this is in some way linked to modern Japanese culture. Japanese culture and society are deeply conformist with everybody is always trying to fulfill roles imposed in them, always trying to achieve what is expected of them. It could also be about how adulthood sucks the passion and hopes out of the youth (Kishimoto started writing Naruto when he was 24 and finished when he was in his forties). And of course, the closeting of queer people leading miserable lives as pretenders.

If Sasuke is meant to end up with Sakura and Naruto is meant to end up with Hinata then Kishimoto cannot make them happy marriages and give them happy families, he also cannot keep Naruto and Sasuke as revolutionary outcasts that stand up against the status quo, that fanservice would be out of character and out of theme.

This is what I mean when I say the ending makes sense, once you see the finale is all about conformity the thread of events becomes understandable and more heartbreaking too. You don't have to like it, but I do think we have to understand where is Kishimoto coming from when he wrote it the way he did.

The Naruto fandom wanted black and grey from Kishimoto and that's exactly what Kishimoto gave them, black and grey.

EDIT: I've written more on how the conformity theme starts to become present in the series as far back as in Neji's death, check it out HERE

[lavender-phoenix-flames]

"Sasuke and naruto are just friends"

The just friends in question:

Naruto:

Sasuke:

[the-real-sasuke-uchiha]

There are no good hokages. Not a single one. Hashirama enabled his racist brother knowingly, and let him perform his deranged jutsu experiments. Hiruzen was a fully aware accomplice of a genocide instigator and let him roam free with no punishment. Minato did nothing against the oppression of the Uchiha and made a nuke out of a baby. Tsunade turned her head away from Danzo's conspiracies, it was under her rule that Danzo aimed at Sasuke's life when he was doing nothing against Konoha. Kakashi and Naruto swept a genocide under the rug and had genocide instigators working for them.

There isn't a single good one. All of them are criminals. All of them are guilty.

[madaras-tits]

Listen, I really love characters like Obito and Madara as they are, but can we please talk about how Kishimoto has been consistently incapable of writing a character that doesn't like the leaf village without instantly making them irredeemable or wrong in some way, shape or form?

It feels like Kishimoto is trying to make Konoha seem like the good guys, by making everyone who criticizes konoha an absolute nut case. This doesn't only apply to Obito and Madara, this also applies to characters like Pain and Sasuke. It's not like any of these character's criticisms of Konoha are invalid; it's more that people don't look at that stuff when it's followed by a myriad of war crimes, and I will not pretend like this wasn't intentional on Kishimoto's part.

(by the way, I think the reason why Kishimoto tries to defend konoha and the shinobi system so much towards the end of shippuden, is because Kishimoto set himself up for failure by writing a heroic protagonist that wants to become the leader of a village that is revealed to be more and more corrupt as the series goes on, but doesn't want to betray the original story line of naruto wanting to become the hokage and soforth starts backtracking to make naruto wanting to become hokage justifiable again) this is a story for a another post))

[antisasukeretsudenantisasusaku]

Sakura would have never even noticed Sasuke if he wasn’t so hot.

Let’s be real: if Sasuke wasn’t so attractive, neither Sakura,nor Karin,nor Ino,nor any other female character would not chase after him.

[uzumaki-sayuri]

Nahhh girl, I really think Sakura has some mistakes upon her too and you guys should held her accountable for them regardless of her gender, if you really are a fan of hers.

Sasuke is in the wrong for abandoning his "wife" and child, but then Sakura shouldn't have harassed him to the world's end if she wanted him to at least hold some little respect for her.

Put this situation on reverse: the girl on Sasuke's place and the boy on Sakura's, you wouldn't say the shit you're saying right now.

She's someone selfish, egotistical and narcissistic who has no respect for other peoples' feelings (especially Sasuke's) and that's okay, not everyone is perfect.

Just like every other character in the serie, she has her share of faults too and it's fine to acknowledge them.

You think Sakura...a doctor...who created her own orphanage... has no respect for other peoples' feelings? Narcissistic? What manga did you read? Sorry anon but I'm still putting a lot of blame & shame on Sasuke here. Nothing to do with me being sexist. Even if you think Sakura deserves to be abandoned Sarada doesn't.

<3 Peace and Love

[saschuv]

Thinking about how sad the end to Sasuke’s story is and how his grief and anger is minimised.

Rewatching parts of Naruto and seeing Naruto declaring to sasuke to put all of his hatred onto him and that he’s the only one that can take it is actually so strange. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t hate for his character (okay maybe mild hate because he does do a lot wrong, but so do most Naruto characters and I’m not here to get into that rn). It’s just I find it kind of off… (I know people use this moment as a great sns scene and I have no hate against that ship! This is nothing to do with sns) Sasuke’s grief for his clan and deep seated anger at the village and world is beyond valid. Naruto’s declaration feels slightly entitled? I understand they were friends for a bit and went through a lot together during the short time they were a team and how sasuke is one of Naruto’s first proper connections so it’s all very important to him and so on. It’s just… this isn’t about him? He’s got nothing to do with this? I know it’s about trying to “help” sasuke who is self destructing to get revenge and justice. I’ve spoken before how this fandom compares characters’ traumas a lot and how that’s odd, including how Naruto doesn’t compare to sasuke - both had truly dreadful childhoods, I just think they’re two different traumas and whilst both lonely, are lonely in different ways and for different reasons. And also sasuke is so much more than just lonely. Naruto doesn’t understand Sasuke’s trauma and doesn’t understand his anger. The whole of team 7 disregarded his grief and trauma. At the end of the show Naruto fails to give the Uchiha any justice as hokage and sasuke is manipulated into believing he needs to “repent” and to protect the village. It’s such a sad story. I could say a lot more and this isn’t well articulated at all but anyways… if people disagree or have another interpretation I’d love to hear!

[liz-thinks-too-much]

Can't blame Naruto for looking like that in Boruto, if I had to pretend to be straight I'd also look like shit

[please-read-the-manga]

I know a Kage Summit hates to see them coming...

B&W below:

[sklives]

So, I started reading an alternative history fanfiction where Sasuke saves Itachi and I'm just at the first chapter, but even so I loved how faithfully the taka team was represented in this first part because they would follow Sasuke without questioned him, without any judgment or hesitation...

Kishimoto just made them for Him and nothing cam change my mind, they are similar to him and so do Sasuke to them.

The everlasting love on Ao3