#i hope this makes sense aslkdfjas it's late and i love who sasuke could have been

[asotin]

Where do you think sasuke's character went wrong? I think the big turning point was seeing itachi at that inn? What do you think could've made sasuke a better character?

hmmmm i agree with your timeframe, yeah. i think the three biggest problems with his character come to light around then

1) he has no support

a competent adult/responsible teacher a la kurenai would have seen sasuke going off the rails and intervened as soon as sasuke got the curse mark. kakashi doesn’t bc he’s a shitty teacher (a deeply traumatized man, absolutely, but he’s also an adult and trauma doesn’t excuse neglect)

tbqh sasuke isn’t really a part of team 7. naruto cares about him because naruto has a fear of being on his own (not his fault- he’s a traumatized 12 y/o), and sakura isn’t allowed to be a human with thoughts (not her fault- she’s a girl in a misogynist’s story). nobody gives any real weight to sasuke’s obviously genuine desire to kill itachi. 

2) his story isn’t his

we don’t really see sasuke’s thoughts. there are hints, but in a story with like 1 ounce of nuance, that doesn’t work. his attachment to naruto isn’t shown in a meaningful way. he doesn’t reflect on things other than itachi. yes, he should be fixated on itachi, but losing his family is traumatic because sasuke was attached to them. yet he doesn’t have any flashbacks to happy memories. he doesn’t draw any strength from things he loves. that doesn’t work when he’s supposed to be from a clan whose power comes from their dangerous type of love

he doesn’t move his story. other people move the plot and he deals with what comes at him until he does something inexplicable

3) nobody respects him

this is tied to the earlier points, but when does anyone listen to sasuke and respond in a way that’s helpful? orochimaru comes closest. what sasuke wants is to kill itachi, and orochimaru promises to help him. nobody in konoha does that

yet one of the recurring themes in naruto that kishimoto definitely didn’t mean to include is adults not taking responsibility for or listening to children. itachi is the only person who apologizes to sasuke, and he’s a traumatized kid, too

honestly i think the lack of respect he’s given bleeds into the way he treats other characters, especially karin and sakura, but the narrative won’t acknowledge that because doing so would require acknowledging that konoha isn’t perfect

a possible fix

i think he’d either need to find agency for himself or be the traumatized, confused kid who can’t take control. as it is, he goes back and forth between the two, which doesn’t work in this story

if he finds agency, he should do something like disappear with taka and only join the war because it’s endangering the family he finally has and he's terrified and angry about that

if he can’t take control of his life, then the war needs to come to him. again, he should still be with taka, but rather than hearing about madara and his amazing plan to fuck shit up, he’d need to run into a fleet of white zetsus or something and nearly lose someone

he never should have had that showdown with naruto. he should have been in control enough to know he doesn’t want to be in charge of the world or too fucked up even to consider it. regardless, he should have left with taka again and accidentally adopted some orphans