#im being mean to kishimoto but i do not care.

[sasukeless]

2 If you’re still doing the controversial ask game

hi

2) was sasuke right?

ahh this billion dollar question isn’t it. i feel like this is the top 1 most discussed thing on this app for years, i have read every side of it.

to give #my opinion, im gonna go with yes. but its far more complicated, like most things are with naruto lol. i believe sasuke is right because he sees there’s a flaw in the existing system around him and to finally do something about it the only way to do that it’s to get ride of the system from the root.

now, as much as i agree with sasuke there i don’t agree with the way he tries to do that revolution. i dont mean this in a “oh violence wont be fixed with more violence” bs. i mean this because where sasuke’s goals are born for and how they affect his plans.

when sasuke finishes listening to the kages and it’s coming up with his thoughts, he immediately is bombarded by memories of itachi (itachi only, not his clan) and itachi’s words to him. when he states he will not let the village be destroyed he does it by adding “itachi’s will”. when sasuke is dying in the war arc his only thoughts again are that he doesn’t want to waste what itachi wanted to die. this shows us very clearly that sasuke’s revolution is very influenced by itachi’ wants. a little different, sure but still the same. which makes sense why his goal at vote2 is destroy the last person he loves and bear the hatred of everyone so the villages can have peace between them as long as they focus all on him. and this is quite what itachi did, just on a bigger scale. naruto = uchiha clan. the villages = konoha. sasuke = itachi.

^this is where many people complain that kishimoto had to turn sasuke ooc to make him evil and i can see what they mean but personally i dont view it as such when i look at what sasuke’s arc has always been. i have seen also that they dislike that post reveal sasuke’s character seems to be focus on itachi more than in his clan like in part 1 which i also disagree. itachi has been sasuke’s main influence in his character since day one. even in part 1, sasuke’s hate towards itachi isn’t just because he killed his clan, kishimoto focuses alot in showing itachi and sasuke having a loving relationship. kishimoto is very specific that sasuke’s biggest grief at the end of the day is not the massacre alone but the fact it was itachi who committed it. this is essentially what sets sasuke aside of other characters that lost their family/clans/parents etc. its not only what he lost but by who’s hands he lost it. so his focus has always been in itachi. so i dont think it was only part 2 that sasuke became more driven by itachi than anything else… anyways going back to the topic because im going off the rails (sorry).

sasuke has always had itachi first imo. and sasuke has always been defined by love too so ofc he’s gonna forgive the person he loves even if he doesn’t deserve it, ofc he’s gonna try to achieve that peace his brother “sacrificed” his life for (even if thru different means that he wanted you to). but while i understand and love sasuke’s character, i still think these are all very personal reasons for his revolution plans and thus why it fails.

his revolution plans are also self destructive but he doesn’t care because he still views it as his ultimate duty (again why he was so distraught when he was about to die without doing anything). he wants to become the bearer of all evil, and pain and hatred and wants to be all alone, even tho that is something that has caused alot of his pain in the past, he even talks about possible immortality and its just, well sad. you can tell hes about to sell his own doom because he thinks thats what he has to do to fix everything. he is ready to become a martyr. and forgive me but i view as that as a very tragic

so while i will always view him as being in the right, because when you put him in comparasion to most characters that doesnt realize whats wrong w the shinobi world, he will always come as one of the few that actually isn’t blind (even if its framed as bad for pointing that the system needs to be destroyed), i still dont think his plans are the right ones

[sasubaeuchithot]

Thoughts on naruto antis? I've seen a lot of sasuke stans hate on naruto, saying that he's barely better than sakura, and it always leaves me with such a bad taste in my mouth?

I'd never say that naruto and his ideals are beyond criticism, as dear as he is to me. That'd be foolish.

But it just. Rubs me the wrong way when naruto is made out to be some sort of horrible selfish bad guy that wanted to control sasuke

(im ignoring anything beyond chapter 699 for my sanity because both naruto and sasuke got seriously messed up after that im still horrified 😮‍💨😮‍💨)

i mean, people are allowed to anti as long as they anti away from the character tags and shit, so for antis themselves I don't really mind them lol. i do think they very badly misjudge his character, but i can understand them calling him a bootlicker and whatnot- especially with how they concluded the series. but naruto at his core has shown me that he's too ready to break rules for his own morals to truly be a konoha bootlicker.

from day one we see naruto undermining authority and rejecting the notion of leaving the people he loves behind for his village. when he chooses to side with the village, it's because he sees the village as all individual people that he cares about. he wants what's best for everyone, and he's determined to always find an outcome to make everyone happy, even if that notion is inherently idealistic and impossible to actually achieve in nature. but goddammit is he going to strive for it anyway, because that's what he views as right.

in the end, naruto's radical idealism is the perfect balance to sasuke's radical realism. I believe they both need each other to find the answer to the shinobi world's problems. sasuke had given up hope on the good in people while naruto is blind to the bad in them. both are one-dimensional ways to think of a person and lack the depth that people need to be truly understood.

i think the problem with naruto that i would agree with from antis lies in that last sentence's use of past and present tenses. sasuke HAD given up while naruto IS blind. we don't get to see naruto truly be balanced back out the way we saw happen with sasuke. that is a narrative mistake with the way kishimoto ended the series (and the way the sequel continued without acknowledging needed to happen). the series ends with sasuke realizing that ✨🦋🌸humanity is worth saving and even people who did bad things can still be good🌸🦋✨ without letting naruto truly see that some people are beyond saving and the ideals they hold should be eradicated before they infect more people. kishi chose to redeem nearly every single antagonist, choosing the final big boss to be some random bitch we weren't introduced to until the story's fucking eleventh hour. that he made an alien. so naruto didn't have to face his own morality because she wasn't human so like it's fine to lock her away for all eternity in a big fucking rock. so i get people who don't like naruto for being upset that we got to see sasuke's views be swayed by him without getting a truly satisfying parallel from naruto in turn that would justify sasuke's morals shifting.

anyways, as always, i blame shippuden's ending

[p8567899754nhu]

sakura making fun of naruto for being an orphan is B.S.

sakura never made fun of naruto for being an orphan . yeah thats it . no matter how much naruto dude-bro's may lament over it she never did it. i mean their sakura hate is so comical they keep inventing weird shit to back it up , but here are the panels from the manga for reference:

she is not "making fun" of naruto in either of these panels though she says a bunch of stuff-

"naruto was badly brought up"

-im sorry ? do you object to this? do you think naruto was not badly bought up? idk what to even say here, when usually naruto wankers' lament over how sad were the conditions in which naruto was bought up and how hiruzen is a trashy caretaker , also notice how sasuke doesnt care when she says that and continues to walk past

"how he always comes between us"

um.. considering the shit naruto was just doing(beating sasuke , tying him up, and then fcking trying to kiss sakura disguised as sasuke!! ) and before that (sitting on desk and glaring at sasuke because sakura likes him and he is popular) i dont think sakura's complaint is very misplaced , and it could be that he might have done similar shit prior to this

"dont you envy him for being alone, not having parents to nag at you all time"

This is somewhat insensitive and not to naruto , who isn't even present at the moment but to sasuke because she is ASKING sasuke if he envies naruto because his parents dead .sakura saying to sasuke (indirectly) that lack of family is something one should feel good about and is lucky for .(although compared to the shit naruto and kakashi and even lee give sasuke on his clan in particular this is something that is indirect and somewhat subtle and is not intended to berate sasuke in anyway )

P.S.: she is not a psycho who wants her parents dead or anything she wants to be alone and to not have her parents nag at her or ground her

but I never saw this as delinquent or unsual behaviour from sakura's POV, because sakura is a normal 13 year old !!

it would make perfect sense for a teen to want to be alone , to be rebellious, and to not want your parents tell you how to do everything!

especially since kishimoto wanted sakura to be a charechter that is relatable to young girls

however post time skip sakura's views have on family seemed to have changed a bit when she asks sasori "what is family to you?!"

i really really cant understand how psychos of naruto fandom would give a pass to-no askchually WORSHIP charechters like Itachi (who is a fucking remorseless genocidaire!) and hate this girl , i made a post before but it seems its a lot of misogyny acting up, aint it - for she not only rejects naruto(which is a big sin in itself) , she HATES him , and doesnt coddle him (most of the time-although there are moments when she does), she doesnt give two hoots about him a lot of the time and is fangirling on sasuke -oh the misery!! - arent these reasons enough to take petty things about her and constrew them as though they were on a whole different league of evil .

"he doesnt have to answer to anyone, its made him selfish, if i did something similar, id be grounded for life"

well.. sakura's speculation on why naruto is selfish is sort of misplaced but somewhat makes sense comparing to the shit naruto has done up to now i dont think she is wrong in calling him selfish -he does what he wants without giving a damn about anyone else ,that is selfish -isnt that what he did just now, he beat sasuke, tied him up and went to kiss sakura without giving 2 hoots bout either one of them, and got no consequences for it ! if sakura wouldve attempted something similar then she would've been punished severely by her parents, who would perhaps also make sure that something like this never happened again. - is there something wrong in what she said here ? i dont quite understand...

To sum up everything , all she says is :

1. Naruto is badly brought up

2. He does fucked up shit because he's badly bought up

3. He has no one to watch over so he does selfish things

4. Sakura wishes she could do a lot if the things naruto does and is envious at how far he can go without getting reprimanded

[mahoushojoe]

hiii!!! as the authority on neji, I wanted to ask your thoughts on how you would've written the hyuga clan plot, because you actually have good opinions - where I struggle to reconcile it is how im stunned neji almost sent hinata into cardiac arrest and hiashi didn't like. kill him over it. I'm not displeased but it does surprise me!

HIYA!! first of all thank you for the ask hehe its very flattering when people genuinely ask for my (humble) opinion about neji stuff considering i am Just A Guy That Likes Neji so thank you 💖

hoooo boy how i would have written the hyuga plot. oh well okay. under the cut bc this got AWAY from me.

so first of all before all of that i'll answer your question about how neji got away with almost killing hinata. here's the the doylist interpretation of it: kishimoto just Did Not Care. there's a billion contradictions in just the way he wrote the hyuga plot alone bc he wrote it to serve a certain agenda and that was:

1) establishing neji as a powerful antagonist - an antagonist similar to sasuke in abilities and attitude and, maybe unintentionally, position within the shinobi system. making neji similar to sasuke is important bc in the context of shonen his Biggest rival at the time was sasuke, so setting naruto up against someone similar to him and having him win would be a way to (weakly imo) establish naruto's growth as a ninja and the ways in which he has approached sasuke in terms of skill or ability or power

2) establishing hinata as a....idk ally to naruto. character in a similar position to naruto. maybe even love interest for naruto. in any case, it was an introduction to hinata who would provide an emotional stake for naruto in the plot that leads up to naruto vs neji.

3) write the dogshit "fate vs free will" type themes he was trying to go through with. kishimoto needs naruto to smash the idea of being predestined to fail and what other opponent is better to have than someone whose fate is literally tattooed on his forehead?

4) provide worldbuilding for the hyuga clan, which, by the way, was intended to make us feel sorry for HINATA, chiefly, not neji. sure, we get neji's side of the story later, but that is more of an explanation for his behavior and not given as a reason to root for him. WE root for him bc we have common sense.

moving past all that, the point i'm trying to make is that the reason neji doesnt face consequences for what happened with hinata is that this story and this arc literally ISN'T about neji. it's about naruto, and, very peripherally, hinata. for us to know or witness whatever consequences neji faced for his actions -his cruel but PERFECTLY ALLOWED ACTIONS WITHIN THE RULES- we would actually be provoked into feeling bad for him, and, god forbid, taking his side, which kishimoto doesnt want us to do bc this arc's power entirely derives from hinata being the victim of this narrative and naruto being the one to avenge her. neji is genuinely, and i say this with love, a means to an end here. he is there to serve a specific purpose, and he does a lovely job of being shit at it.

but that's the doylist analysis of it. the watsonian analysis would be that neji DID face consequences, we just don't see them. what happened was a huge rebellion against the head family, i suppose, and assuming that there is any type of consistency in the way kishimoto set up the hyuga, he would have been punished with the curse mark at the very least. we just see the story from naruto's point of view, so we don't see it literally happen. maybe. people like to argue that neji wasn't punished because hiashi doesn't give a shit about hinata, and like, okay, fair, except even in a world where hiashi wouldn't bat an eye at his nephew almost murdering his oldest daughter, hiashi would still care that this prodigy from the branch family is running around seriously injuring head family members with impunity. its not about hinata here, its about neji. like, if this kid can literally attack and almost KILL the heiress of the clan and get away with it, what's to stop the rest of the branch members from doing the same? from the way the hyuga clan is presented, branch members do most of the actual physical labor for the hyuga clan- including protecting it of course- which means they're better fighters, which means there's only one thing holding them back from fighting back, which is the Brain Melting Curse Mark. which is why, in my perspective, neji totally got punished for it, just like his father got punished for just THINKING angrily about hinata all those years ago. it's not about hinata, it's about branch members rebelling and getting away with it. so yeah. i think neji did face consequences, we just didn't see them because kishimoto Literally Did Not Care and because it would have poked holes in naruto's free will spiel and it would have made hinata look like kind of an asshole. neji went on defying the hyuga anyway because he's a bad bitch!

why hiashi didn't KILL neji over it- hm. hm indeed. i think he could have. he'd have grounds for it, in the fucked up system they live in. and its frustrating because the story can't seem to decide on a correct characterization for hiashi. does he care about hinata or not? does he care about hizashi or not? does he care about NEJI or not? is he genuinely emotionally attached to him or is that just guilt bc of hizashi? i don't know. he could have easily gotten away with killing neji outright and it would have been a lot less trouble for him. im just gonna assume he felt like he owed his brother to keep him alive or something, or like, he was astute enough to realize that the whole situation was his fault anyway, although that implies that hiashi has anything resembling a conscience or backbone or common sense or self awareness or- whatever. hiashi didnt kill neji. yay. neji died anyway so its all wins for him in the end

now.... for how i would write the hyuga plot....oh, tumblr user jewchihas, the can of worms you have opened...

well, for the hyuga plot to go the way i want it to, a lot of things about naruto as an entire story would have to structurally change. we have two options to use with hinata here, but im going to go with making her someone sympathetic and not an annoyingly privileged artificial victim.

hinata could have easily been a great character during the fight with neji. and all it would have taken was someone mentioning the curse mark.

it was already established that hinata witnessed the time hiashi tortured hizashi for thinking angrily about her. she was hiding behind hiashi, but she saw it, and thus she knows the position of branch members relative to her and the means with which they are disciplined and prevented from harming her. she herself is a head family member, meaning she would theoretically be taught how to activate the curse mark herself - especially after it's established that neji's father held ill will towards her.

now, that presents us with a situation where, during neji vs hinata, hinata, being beaten to hell and back, could EASILY win the fight - and humiliate neji even worse than he was humiliating her- by just activating the curse mark. and yet, it needed to be shown that she Actively Chose Not To Because It's Wrong, and because she feels empathy for neji that hiashi didn't feel for hizashi. THAT is what would have made her character someone I could genuinely believe had a kind heart and a genuine desire to have a fair fight and improve. in reality, all hinata actually did was taunt neji about their differences in status, which just really makes it even more understandable why neji was so fucking pissed at her.

so, yeah. that would just be for hinata's character. not a lot of time is spent showing what actually happens to hinata hyuga-politics wise but i guess we could say that she learns about her privilege and works to make things equal. maybe even rejecting heirdom if it means being the heir to all this suffering. but whatever what do i know.

neji and hiashi's relationship needs to be more accurately defined. i dont know, like, how exactly does neji feel about hiashi? how does hiashi feel about neji? and if hiashi actually loves neji which is what is implied later in the story, how can hiashi just go on upholding the branch system? once these parameters are defined, we can go about actually having neji using that to poke holes in the hyuga system.

but the actual hyuga system can't fall on its own, because it serves konoha's purposes. the byakugan remaining konoha's exclusive property via the insular ways of the hyuga and the endless supply of cheap soldiers in the form of branch members it provides is too beneficial. konoha's leadership actually doesn't care about the hyuga people's wellbeing similarly to how it doesn't care about the uchiha's wellbeing- to them, they are an endless well of powerful ocular jutsus and nothing else, because that is how the dehumanizing shinobi system treats people's bodies, lives, and ethnic identities. the difference between the hyuga and uchiha's positions re: konoha politics is that the hyuga - at least the head family hyuga - aligned themselves WITH konoha's leadership whereas the uchiha aligned themselves, as whistleblowers (a job they were purposely marginalized and forced into, by the way!) against konoha's leadership. thus, in order to topple the hyuga branch system and keep it toppled, one must topple konoha's shinobi system, and neji and the other branch members (and hinata if she's a good person) must believe in this wholeheartedly.

i dont know how it would go down. it would require a total rewrite of literally all of naruto and i genuinely dont have the facilities for that 😅😅😅 all i can say is that it would be rad if neji and sasuke allied somehow, or if one or both of them led the branch hyuga into total revolt against the head family. the only thing we have to lose is our chains etc etc. naruto needs to grow tf up regarding the hyuga and realize that the stuff he said to neji was a bunch of horseshit. or, funnily, neji takes naruto's words to him in the chunin exams to mean "okay LITERALLY break your fate like literally get rid of those people lol". so yeah. i dont think neji should go full itachi im just saying that the branch family needs to run the show now and the head family wouldnt exactly lie down and let it happen. big mess. so um tldr as most of my naruto opinions go: neji was right, sasuke was right, fuck hiashi, fuck the hyuga, and fuck konoha.

i am so fucking sorry at how long this reply is by the way

[skalecsz]

If you could how would you fix ino's development

i love you and also im sorry.

ino is such an interesting character, kishimoto took your average pretty mean girl and made her actually super sweet and caring, adaptable, and intelligent

i actually like her personality a lot, she values her looks and can be a bit crabby but compared to sakura, ino is a lot more willing to work with her teammates. she actively takes charge to the point that shikamaru and choji look to her for what to do

id keep her "crush" on sasuke but id instead make it something that sakura misinterpreted and ino went along with bc she thought sakura just didnt want to be friends anymore. she still flirts with sasuke but in a joking way.

id keep her rivalry with sakura but makes it explicit that she wasnt the one that instigated it, id also make her less "mean" in a stereotypical bully way since she was the one that defended sakura from bullies in the first place. she should still be sassy and a bit of a hot head but not overtly rude to others.

also id have her win her fight with sakura, just bc i think it contributes better to sakura's development, but also opens up an extra fight in the chunin exams. not sure who id pit her against but im just saying it would give her more stuff to do (maybe shino? they were both top students at the academy)

she goes on the sasuke retrieval mission and stays behind to help choji fight. theres no reason that she shouldnt go, choji can still almost die and ino can use the time he bought her to finish off orochimaru's lackey but ino has PROVEN to be a good ninja, even if her fighting isnt that great shes fantastic crowd control…come the fuck on.

development wise…no healing abilities…it just felt so tacked on and she didn't nearly have as much passion for it as sakura did. id focus 100% on her clan's reconnaissance bc their abilities are super interesting. would def give her an upgrade regarding her body switching jutsu so shes not left unconcious on the ground with every technique. when shes a genin thats fine but ur telling me sasuke can summon God and ino still can't control people without falling asleep?

okay the puppet scene with the "Mind Puppet Switch Cursed Seal Technique" literally has not left my mind its SO cool and I wish ino learned to use it. is it "ethical"? no. might even be a war crime. but thats fine i think. let ino be a little scary.

AND!!! SUNA LITERALLY HAS A PUPPET MASTER!!! Ino can train with kankuro or at least ASK for assistance

ALSO. OH MY GOD. GIVE HER MORE TO DO IN THE HIDAN AND KAKUZU ARC HOLY SHIT. that arc literally just ended up being about shikamaru (based) and naruto (???) why weren't ino and choji more present!! naruto literally appeared to save the day with his new jutsu when this mission shouldve been team 10 and team 10 ONLY (kakashi is on thin ice)

i like the confrontation between shikamaru and hidan in the forest, thats fine, but ino and choji should be absolutely duking it out with kakazu and his family of puppets! you know who else uses puppets/external tools? INO. Have her try to control kakuzu's external guys while choji beats him up, naruto arriving on the scene feels cheap :/ have kakuzu remark that "oh the strategist is gone" and then ino just immediately takes over as the leader and thinks of a plan because shes teammates with shikamaru's lazy ass and also BEING SMART IS LITERALLY SO IMPORTANT TO HER CHARACTER

AND GIVE HER (AND CHOJI) A SCENE WHERE SHE MOURNS ASUMA. OH MY GOD. HER FUCKING TEACHER JUST DIED. Ino is sidelined sooo much in team 10 its insane. maybe she and her dad (while not super close) talk about what its like to lose people you love, her dad has been a ninja for decades, he would comfort her. have her arrange a bouquet and place it on asuma's grave, have her break down crying over her teacher! this would also be interesting since we dont spend as much time with team 10, but would be able to see that the side characters have their own lives and feelings outside of naruto.

regarding romance ive personally always seen her as a lesbian but her relationship with sai is fine i guess. if she and sai are endgame id like more of a buildup to it. but if i can get my way she and sakura end up together <3

i think shes fine in the war arc, but the war arc itself is something i just wouldnt include if i were to rewrite naruto

also her blank period outfit is UGLY throw that shit OUT girl

[mokutone]

after seeing ur hiruzen/third hokage thoughts i was wondering what u think abt tsunade ?

thank you for the question! well as far as villains go she's—

no im just kidding. i know she's not a villain. of all the hokages, she's probably my favorite, but...i suppose that's not saying much, since i dislike literally every other hokage skdjghsdkjghdkgh (it's true i don't dislike kakashi or naruto. but i don't like that they become hokages)

i struggle a lot with her because she's one of the most compelling female characters in the show, but she's also written into a lot of sexist tropes.

mostly, when i think of her, i think of this quote from john berger's Ways of Seeing

“You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting “Vanity,” thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for you own pleasure.”

obviously, tsunade is not naked, but she is a 50+ yr old woman, who is drawn to look like she's in her 20s because she's doing a henge to look youthful always. all of the characters make asides about this, condemning her for her vanity, and we the audience are meant to agree. she never gives a solid reason for wanting to look like she's in her 20s, so we're meant to assume that she values her own beauty over everything else, and is afraid of losing that beauty. i have a lot of trouble getting over this point when it comes to her.

there could be something really interesting and fucked up to explore about a woman who is unable to let go of the youth that, due to war and loss and trauma, she never got to live out! about hanging on to that impossibly because she doesn't know how to grieve or move past a loss like that—but. the fact that nothing in the series gives that visual choice any emotional weight aside from a punchline about the vanity of women mean's that's not what's happening. she's just "vain." lol.

the reason she looks like she's in her 20s is probably just because kishimoto didn't want to draw a middle aged woman. that sucks. i have a really hard time forgiving him for things like this.

but, ah, whatever. this is turning more into me talking about kishimoto than it is talking about tsunade.

I'm disappointed that we see more of lady chiyo working with sakura than we do lady tsunade. not that i didn't enjoy the fight vs sasori but. tsunade is sakura's shishō...why don't we get to see them together....that would be so entertaining...

her gambling addiction and tendency to lose are interesting too, but i feel like i want to see that influence her decision making? like, the choices we actually see her make for the most part, she seems like a very cautious and calculating person, somebody who stares at tempting problem for a long time before deciding it's not worth it to risk that.

why is she so different at a gambling table?

i think i want to see a little more dysfunction from her. she's maybe the most functional hokage konoha has ever seen. I think I would've liked to see her try and make really rash calls, and either learn from the mistakes, or have to rely on the people around her to help her NOT risk it all on an off chance they'd succeed. basically. i want her to have a bigger character arc about handling power than "no i dont want to!!!" —> "oh well this little blond guy convinced me. guess ill do it."

her having lost her family is a backstory. I don't really have much to say about it. It's fine, I guess.

her relationship with the other sannin...i dont know what to say. i think i've seen more fanworks of them interacting than actual interaction, so I don't want to speak on that, my opinion will be skewed.

I think it's fucked up that she's the best medical ninja in the world, but technically Yamato's self healing properties are probably on par, let alone Hashirama's. don't you think that's fucked up? like, that's the one title she's got to herself, and just.........ugh. whatever. sorry im ranting about kishimoto again.

i think a lot about her relationship with yamato. it seems, in canon, that she doesn't feel she has any duty or connection to him (and! rightly so. just because he's connected by her former squadmate to her grandfather doesn't technically mean she's in any way responsible for him)

BUT obviously. i personally think it would be interesting regardless, if she did. I think that her having tea or meals with him sometime and just connecting with him over this shared fucked up little attachment would be funny.

I'd like to see both of them (Yamato who never had any family) and Tsunade (who lost her family) try and forge a connection where there really doesn't have to be one. I think that would be sweet. Not necessarily a mother and son thing bc. well. Idk.

like tsunade seeing naruto as like her son, canonically, is kind of sweet, but it sucks that its like. you know. she has to be hot. she has to be a mom. and we can say she's a total trainwreck but we can't actually explore what that would look or feel like for her because she has to fulfill those rolls, and being a trainwreck is neither hotcoded, nor momcoded and also she can't be old. we're kishimoto and we hate women. blarg blarg blarg.

i don't knoooowwww. i struggle with her a lot. I wouldn't have this many problems with her if kishimoto was better at writing women, or if he wrote more of them and gave them more screentime so I didn't have to look at the few crumbs he offers as intensely as I do.

[sueske]

Im gonna ask for some grace in this question because im autistic and I can barely understand social stuff from my culture, none the less Japan's culture. So basically, all the not-het stuff Kishi did is not common in other Shounen? If so, has he ever commented on why he did what he did?

I guess the only two options are he really did this intentionally in the only way he could. I'm not sure how homophobic Japan is, but I assume being overt would've made Naruto a failure of a manga/anime. So he had to be subtle.

Or maybe he is genuinely not a socially aware guy?

Am I understanding the situation here?

Regardless, he must be aware of the loud conversation around SNS. Has he ever acknowledged it at all?

well I’m not Japanese so I can’t really speak on behalf of their culture/fandom, all I can do is give my two cents from an outsider’s perspective, but what I can say from my 20 years of watching/reading anime/manga is that no one does it like sns, especially not in shonen. If I were to list all the reasons this reply would be thousands of words long so I'll redirect you here.

No one’s ever explicitly asked Kishimoto as far as interviews are concerned whether sns are actually gay or not, but the topic of their bond has been discussed. Kishimoto said that he finds their relationship hard to put into words, that he’s not sure if he explained it properly, that sns might look insane to some people, and that people who grew up lonely wrote to him saying how much they identified with the characters (paraphrasing here). The fact that even Kishimoto finds it hard to define their bond using the usual labels is very telling. So we have to read in between the lines cuz the answer lies in the words left unsaid. The words he probably can’t say.

Japan is home to a homophobic society, as is most of the rest of the world, and the fact of the matter is naruto is a shonen manga. How can teenage boys self insert into the main protagonist if he’s overtly gay after all? Kishimoto still wrote a love story though and while it was never explicitly stated in the normal way, ‘I love you!’, it was explicit in all the other ways that truly matter.

Kishimoto 100% wrote sns gay intentionally - reasonings specifically in this ask here. As for whether he’s socially unaware... I’m not sure what you fully mean by this question. As in, he can only write a gay story if he’s socially unaware? That he's socially unaware, so that’s why he just wrote a gay story for the fun of it? Kishimoto is very socially aware, which is why he took such great care in crafting his work in the first place. Also take a look at some of the works that inspired him previously. 

As for whether he acknowledged the speculation around sns, well. If you were a mangaka of one of the most popular series in the world wouldn’t you be curious as to what people were saying about it? So he had to know. He 100% knew what he was doing when writing his work, so I’m sure he also became curious if people actually picked up on it. Not to mention the editors/higher-ups would have brought to his attention certain things the fandom were saying. SJ’s mission is to make money, so giving the people what they want is a sure-fire way to do that, which means listening to what they want (and what they don’t want) and relaying that information to Kishimoto. And, well. That’s how Boruto happened.

[maoam]

im kinda mad at kishi for like,,,, making such a big plot on narusasu but in the end,, having them end up with other ppl? its so unsettling like it how someone can write 700+ chap about gay angst & longing/pining only for them to not end up with eo

I mean I never expected them to end up with each other officially because it’s both Japan and on top of that SJ, a conservative country and a conservative industry. While American homophobia is often based on religious beliefs, or just “different = wrong”, Japanese homophobia frequently stems from sociocultural pressure to get married and have kids. It’s seen as a way to honor your parents and your ancestors. Choosing a “gay life style” can be seen as selfish and disrespectful to your parents and going against the whole society. While this is not the case for everyone many gay people in Japan get married to the opposite sex and have kids to conform to society’s expectations.

With this in mind, a lot of media is of course influenced by the general mindset and politics, SJ as well. SJ also targets boys. Japanese male fans of shonen don’t like gay any more than the ones in the USA. Hell, a lot of fujoshi don’t want the characters to be actually gay, they only like it in fantasy.

Editors are working together with the mangaka, and they also care a lot about mass appeal, what sells. Did you know Kishimoto talked about a “new perv jutsu” 5 years before reverse harem jutsu appeared in the manga?

So yeah this is the one that was so “controversial” that it took 5 years to get it in... Of course Jiraiya and other cliche perverts in shonen are totally okay even when peeping on women and being creeps, but creating an illusion of a harem of naked men is just too much. Also just like in the West, there are also parents who don’t want material that they see as inappropriative for their kids to read.

A few years ago there was talk about Isayama commenting on one of his friend’s manga that had one gay subplot (as in, it wasn’t a gay manga, but had a gay romance plot line) and Isayama mentioned on his personal blog that he thinks he might like BL. To this his friend responded; “Thank you so much! It seems like I was unintentionally able to invite Isayama-san to the world of BL so I got some strange courage!” Sooo mysteriously said manga got axed right after the BL subplot hmmm I wonder what was the reason 😶  People also said Isayama was being “gross”. Same way when Isayama made a comment about questioning whether Levi likes women at all, it pissed people off, or when Reiner and Ymir made their comments about not liking the opposite sex.

So it also reflects negatively on the authors. People question why do you want to show such degenerate things especially in a neutral or positive light. Like I mentioned earlier I saw even naruto threads discussing about it, saw people calling Naruto a psycho bisexual or that his obsession with Sasuke makes them uncomfortable, or asking why does he have to be so homosexual. At the same time, I saw one comment saying if this was another world maybe Naruto could be the hero, the president and also have his husband as the adjudant. So there are open-minded people too, even if the most loud ones are the homophobic ones, or people who try to avoid the discussion alltogether.

So as you can see there are many reasons. Kishimoto’s own fixation with N.S. is amusing though, aside from his favorite panel being the usuratonkachi one from 698, he wrote the disaster that is Gaiden where Sasuke looks absolutely miserable when asked to draw something for SS, but wrote Boruto movie where Sasuke looks actually happy with Naruto and Boruto and also helps fixing the relationship between the two. Naruto even wonders which one does Boruto resemble more lol. But SJ wants to milk the series with the next gen sooo this is what we got.

[gayninjas]

(1/2) Okay so I'm still new to Naruto so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Also, this is long. I'm sorry. I'll split it.😅

Out of the K12 kids, Naruto, Sasuke and Neji were fucked over by Konoha (either by their clans, the old man hokage or the villagers). I'd include Rock Lee but I think he was just bullied as a small kid for being... weird? or not having chakra?? And he worked super hard and that didn't last long.

Anyway, I've read plenty of reviews about how the series ended poorly and how messages like "you can change your fate" were disregarded. That the the Naruto franchise would've done better staying an actiony, ninja shonen that focused more on changing the shinobi system instead of turning into the forced romantic shojo that it became. I agree with all of that.

And I said that to say this, I really am disgusted with how things went for Naruto, Sasuke and Neji. Naruto doesn't receive any apologies from those who should give him one (like the villagers! I think the old hokage bastard died so.. no apology there I guess). Like, I know Iruka apologizes to him and I don't know why. I know Iruka was Naruto's first bond, what'd he and only him have to apologize for.

Not only that but Naruto just accepts everyone and then hides the fact that those in charge of Konoha planned the Uchiha massacre!!! (Does Sasuke know he's doing that?) It's ridiculous to just hide the genocide committed by the state (because he's patriotic? Wants to stick to the status quo as much as possible while trying to change things??). And it's somehow worse to hide it when you have this intensely close relationship with the lone survivor of that genocide.

Like, why write Naruto like that? To receive no actual closure (imo) on how he grew up in Konoha and tp make him a top tier bootlicker

included the second part of the ask

(2/2) With Sasuke, that genocide happened and he was just left to his own devices on the outskirts. And he's treated as a villian for justifiably wanting to "destroy" Konoha and wanting a revolution. It gets under my skin how much the K12 kids don't give a fuck about stuff like this. (I like all of them (except for 2) and stuff like this sours my opinion on them)

Not only is he treated as a villain, it appears that no one pay's for the Uchiha massacre (except for Itachi?) which is bullshit. It's just swept under the rug. And THEN Sasuke is written to become another Konoha bootlicker??! He has to go off on his own to atone for his sins? What!

And finally Neji. He died as he knew he would, for the main house family. I will hate that forever and always. His destiny didn't change. Little!Neji in the chunin exams exposing how fucked up the Hyuuga clan is, no one (except Naruto?) cares. He gave Hinata a chance to back out before he killed her, which was allowed, she didn't, he was about to end it and then 4 teachers(?) jump in to save her because, special treatment. Can't let the (former) Hyuuga heir die, she means more than the other kids.

And he was treated as an antagonist for being rightfully pissed off. But no, he just gets over it I guess after befriending Naruto, the Hyuuga clan continues with its slavery bullshit and he dies sacrificing himself for Hinata. What a way to go.

And I know they don't address the slavery Neji wanted to abolish in Boruto. They just ignore it and act like everything's fine and dandy. Naruto isn't one of those series where things just happen offscreen and we know it's cool, right? They can't just expect ppl to think the Hyuuga clan changed right? They don't even focus on them, Neji died and so did any relevance to the Hyuugas because Hinata doesn't do anything.

(Had Neji lived I know he also would've been turned into a major bootlicker too)

In conclusion I can't stand how these 3 boys were screwed over by the village in many ways and then screwed over by bad writing. It's irritating. I love Naruto but there's so many problems with it.

i tried to be concise, hope i covered everything!

I agree that if the Naruto franchise didn’t end off with lackluster romance plots and instead gave closure for all the things they left open ended after the end of the war it would have made a much better ending to the series.

Kishimoto had even admitted he had trouble writing romance in as he hadn’t ever planned on it. He never considered it that relevant so when they did include it, the whole thing felt so forced and awkward it was even kinda ooc for Naruto and Sasuke (scenes like narutos flat ‘im not in touch with my emotions’ reaction to hinatas confession that butchered his character were an absolute pain to sit through)

Nejis death being an awful plot devise to develop NH was a terrible move, like neji sacrificed himself for someone who moments later held narutos hand and went "his hands are warm"??

Don’t even wanna list anything I dislike about ss cause their marriage is so lifeless i feel dead thinking about it.

As for the villagers, they were happy to alienate a poor kid who couldn’t fend for himself and let him believe he was a demon and was deserving of it all but then started licking his boots when they realized they had the equivalent of a nuclear weapon desperate to protect them, and even then they weren’t remorseful of their actions, its all very sickening really,

I think the whole end of Naruto was handled in a way that went against the characters values? like I can easily imagine Naruto being rightfully enraged at the people who issued the massacre of hundreds of innocents, and he wouldn’t ever think of hiding anything like that, especially from the victim who was also his friend??.

How they wrote sasuke as someone who now fucking bows down and becomes a soldier for a village that destroyed him and has done nothing for him is just absolute bs. Although with sasuke, even if one argues his loyalty was for Naruto, the patriotic lines are just too much.

As for the rest, I don’t have much to say cause they never tried to understand why sasuke was doing what he did, they only saw a power hungry uchiha who was seeking revenge.

And yes nejis end was tragic for all the wrong reasons, i was more pissed than sad watching it. He was treated as a tool for nh and his anger at the hyuga clan and their issues was brushed off without much thought because the series never delved into it or resolved it.

And yes we got no real closure for the uchiha massacre, all the messed up things in the hyuga clan and the way Naruto was mistreated his whole life etc. Its aggravating how they expect us to believe its all fixed and fine now

I really do love the pre shippuden arcs like the zabuza and haku arc especially though. They were the peak naruto experience for me and are always the scenes I reminisce and often get nostalgic over.

[nekisui]

NH being irrelevant and SS being not

Im pretty sure that Kishimoto thinks that NH bond is so irrelevant that he barely consider it. I mean, it's not like he intentionally thinks that Naruto doesn't love Hinata, no, if you'll ask him he'll say that "Sure, Naruto loves Hinata. They love each other, they were meant to be" bc it's the right thing to say, bc Kishi wouldn't make a tragic marriage intentionally (it's a shonen and apparentely he doesnt care a lot about romantic love stuff), but a simple and well... normal (?) marriage where two ppl love each other. What I'm saying is that: even tho he says this, he doesn't truly think that NH bond is smth special. It is... just there, existing. Bc Naruto had to have a wife and Hinata loved him since the beginning, so he goes with her. Im sure that that in "Top 10 best bonds in the Naruto's serie" in KIshi's head, NH is not even there. He doesn't care, he treats NH as a side couple most of times, giving sometimes some attention bc there's the MC in it. Why im saying this, that Kishi thinks that NH bond is nothing special, that is irrelevant?

Well, first of all, the development he gave to them. Which barely exists. The way he made Naruto ignoring Hinata's confession and the way he didnt gave an hint in chap 699 that these two would have end up together, or that there was a bond.

He gave instead an hint with SS, with the forehead poke, and the excuses from Sasuke to Sakura, which maybe didnt make ppl think for sure that these two would have end up together, but that there was at least something going on, a bond. A bond that was already formed through the whole Naruto OG, yes bc Sasuke cares about Sakura. Yes WOW. Sasuke cares/cared about his teammates, about Team 7, and saying he didnt it's an insult to his character and to his hided pure heart. Kishi gave also other various hints through the manga, with his comments in the end or in the beginning of chapters.

With NH, this didnt happen, like- at all. We have this scene during war arc, but after that scene Naruto says that Sakura is his girlfriend, and always after the NH scene he touches the hands of everyone to give chakra. There are always Hinata's feelings, but almost never NARUHINA feelings, smth mutual yk. If the Konoha Hiden novel didnt exist, if the Last didnt exist (smth that was a SP's idea, not Kishi's), then we wouldnt have a deeper view on NH's mutual bond.

Kishi decides to do a chapter about NH first date after the manga ends, nothing really significat that talks about their bond and how is special and amazing. He does it bc he probably felt that NH being endgame wasnt easy to understand in the end of Naruto manga, bc he forgot them. Just a date, to confirm that Naruhina was endgame.

He never wrote in a genuine way about their love. If in interviews they ask, he'll answer.

But yk what does he do then? He writes Naruto Gaiden, a story centred on the Uchiha Family and their bond. To explain in a deeper way, even tho databooks and his comments already gave smth about Sakura and Sasuke's, their bond and also Sakura and Sasuke's bond. in the same story, NH bond is barely mentioned, and when Naruto reiceves the bento Hinata made for him, he thinks to team 7. It doesnt seem disprectful, but actually is: bento is smth with an important meaning in Japan. When a person eats a bento prepared by a loved one, the preparer's feelings are transmitted through the food. In other words, the bento serves as a vehicle for communication between the maker and the eater. A bento prepared at home is imbued with the love of the eater's family. Kishimoto WROTE Naruto Gaiden, and he thought it was right for Naruto to think to Team 7 instead of his wife, this just shows how much NH bond is irrelevant for him. He literally FORGOT IT. I also feel like Kishi wanted to clear things about SS bond, bc he heard of ppl hating on it. Idk if yall notice, but Sarada's doubts are all antis doubts. "Why papa is never home?" "I can't understand if they love each other" "Is mama my real mom? Papa loves mama?". Maybe he didnt do it in the best way, making it ambiguous wo wanting, but i really dont care about antis' logic on this story, since they see more that it was implied. Kishi sure meant in a positive way the sentence that Sasuke said, also bc in the end of Naruto Gaiden he writes, wo no one asking but genuinly wanting to say it, this statement: “What reflected there was the real deal- LOVE”.

[char-lotteral]

I agree with Kishimoto never trying to use the girls. The hate they get is not fair. I used to defend Sakura back in the days because I hoped kishi would do her justice. When shippuden started I WAS SO HAPPY because I thought this was the start of something great for Sakura and the girls but NOOOOO. Every time, Sasuke showed kishi turned her brainless. If you compare Naruto's actions and Sakura's actions to sasuke, you'd see they're completely different. What's up with that weird fake love confession scene 😭? It makes her look like she was manipulating Naru. JEEZ.

Also he literally had badass Tenten and Temari with cool useful abilities and he didn't use them ?! TF ?! Thank god for modern authors who treat their characters with respect :)

okay2 you know how i am with these longass rants so click readmore and brace yourselves

The way I see it, Sakura's character development in shippuden was always one step forward, two steps back. She gets this really badass scene (like her fight with Sasori and those cool ass medical skills) but is then regressed back into a pining girl in love every time Sauce is on screen or Kishi just throws her in the background YET AGAIN.

I love Sakura's abilities actually. Her brute strength, intelligence, vast knowledge and skill as a medic nin. But what I dislike about her character is how kishi handled her feelings for Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura's obsession with Sasuke was so???? huh??? it was so damn toxic and i never once understood why both Nardo and Sak were so obsessed with him. They were a team for one year???? I mean its great that they care about him alot but Sauce's feelings were kinda valid. His freakin clan died. Id go batshit crazy against my own village too. BUT BESIDES THAT. Both Nart and Sakura's Sasuke obsession was so annoying. 80% of shippuden was literally Keeping up with the Uchihas or Naruto yelling SASUKEH. BUT what irks me so much is the fandom's double standards with both Naruto and Sakura. "Oh Sakura shouldve gotten over her Sasuke obsession" but then turn around and call Naruto's obsession cute and gush about how he's so in love with him!!

Hot take but the only reason why sasunaru is "the most developed ship with the most chemistry" is because theyre both male characters.

I guarantee you if Naruto was a girl and SHE would be the one to have this unhealthy obsession who was chasing around Sasuke, the fandom would shit on Naruto just as much. And if Sasuke were a girl, Sauce would be sidelined like the rest of the female cast and Naruto would have another male character to have a "brotherly bond" with, because thats the only bond Kishimoto is actually good at developing. Yey for male characters having all the screentime and cool assets <333

And about that confession scene, I get her intentions. I really do. I understand that she did that in order to bring him home and that she cares about him but honey, w-why?? Why lie to him about your feelings?? Supposed he DID believe her, then what? then what kishi???? huh??? Some of her fans point the blame on Sai or whatever but I personally dont see why that scene was at all necessary. Maybe to establish Naruto's feelings for her wasnt all that serious? or his maturity? idk man. That scene was such a clusterfuck.

In the end her development in The Last and in Boruto was immaculate. She had one of the best glow ups in the old gen and ironically enough, her character wasn't butchered in Boruto. She got badass scenes she was cheated from in shippuden. I also love how she's finally getting the spotlight she deserves. Unlike the other konoha 12 :,)))

Okay onto the next female character that Kishi completely wasted. My baby. My light. 🙈 AAAHHH HINATAA.

I DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN OKAY2 DEEP BREATHS.

Let me just establish this real quick. Hinata's goal was to get stronger because of Naruto, her goal was never to be with Naruto. She wanted to become someone who is worthy enough to stand beside him, someone whom he can consider as an equal, as a partner. She NEVER once said "marrying Naruto-kun is my all time goal UwU" (if youre one of those weirdos who interpret her character that way, youre immediately invalid, go take a hike)

I personally dont have anything against their crushes but to the point of making their personalities revolve around these guys every time theyre onscreen is so fucking frustrating. And with the way he writes their dialogues is so.damn.cringey. Like that one scene in the war arc with Tsunade and Madara

"I mAy bE a WomAn but I aM nOt WeAAKKKK"

BAAHAHAAHHA WHAT?? Everyone else gets coolass monologues and one liners but thats the best you can come up with Kishi?????? Hilarious.

If im being honest. Hinata's character is actually kinda well written. Not well executed. Dear God no. But with the way he set her story, her personality, her chracterization. She's honestly one of the best written female characters on the show. IMO. By Kishi's standards of writing women ofc. She's hands down one of the most complex characters. Her shy personality wasnt out of the blue, it wasnt a cutesy waifu trait. Her abusive upbringing made her that way. Her trauma turned her that way. So yeah, sue her if she looked up to Naruto as an inspiration when everyone else in her family treated her like dust. Shit on her for having Naruto's love light in her dark when her own damn father wouldnt even look her in the eye and her entire clan shunned her because she was "weak." She doesnt owe her family shit so idgaf what they do with the Hyuga clan. Neji and Hanabi aren't included btw

Im not gonna deny that her role in the show was only as the love interest but tbh for a love interest, Im glad her character wasnt so one dimensional. It just pains me SO MUCHHH how fucking wasted she is. Every time she's with Naruto, they always make her into a damsel in distress. They always feel the need to turn Naruto into the heroic prince. How cute.

LIKE THAT ONE SCENE IN THE LAST WHERE SHE'S THROWN IN THE CAGE?? WHY??? LET NARUTO AND HINA FIGHT THAT FREAKING ALIEN GOD TOGETHER. QUIT WITH THE TOXIC MASCULINITY. WE GET IT. NARUTO'S STRONG. GOOD FOR HIM. NOW LETS SEE HINATA THROW HANDS AND PUT NARUTO IN THE CAGE GODAMMIT

Hnggggg dont get me started with her role in Boruto. She's as relevant as a damn houseplant in the manga. They made her into an invisible trophy wife and "the mc's mother" and we all KNOW what happens to the shounen mc's mother once mc is in need of character development :) Quit putting her in the background. Give us that scene where she won against Hanabi DESPITE being retired for years. Give us that scene where she trains Boruto. GIVE US ANY FIGHT SCENE OF HER WHERE HER POTENTIAL ISNT WASTED WTF?¿

Now if you say that Hinata didnt have development. YOURE INVALID. She came from an abusive household, the shyest girl in her class, her insecurities got in the way of her own confidence, had difficulty of standing up for herself now became a loving mother of two, has the guts to kick her husband out of the house(with whom she couldnt even keep eye contact with when she was a kid) became the strongest hyuga, most supportive wife and mother, and has given her kids the comforting childhood she never had as a kid.

She has one of the most beautiful stories in the show and if you think her personality is only Naruto-kun and big boobs, then im sorry that you cant appreciate such a heartwarming story.

And I agree, killing her would honestly make me feel more at ease than continue to see her suffer because of godawful misogynistic writers. But at least let her die in an epic fight. Please. PLEASEE. She got nerfed so bad, i feel a physical pain every time i think about it

Okay what else. I think Ino got pretty good development. Another wasted potential in shippuden but she's doing good for herself in Boruto. I dont know what Temari is up to. They basically made her into another classic angry mom who beats up her husband for comedy trope. Haha very funny and original! Im not sure with her career, im not that invested in the anime.

Tenten??

oh G O D Tenten. The dirtiest of all. Her jokes about her screentime is so mean and i hate that its true ahsjhs. She was the only female character in OG who's goal wanted to be as strong as Tsunade but what did Kishi do to her?? Sidelined. Forgotten. Irrelevant. Like every damn female on the show :D

Konan shouldnt have died. I blame plot armor. I know in my heart that Konan wouldve kicked Obito's ass if it weren't for Kishi's boomer mindset.

Tsunade had so much hype when she was introduced but died down in the war arc. Madara wiped the floor with the kages. Holy shit. Not only that, but yipee! Naruto is there to save the day AGAIN!!!!

AND UGHHHH If the female characters were given proper treatment then maybe MAYBE all the endgame couples wouldve made fucking sense????¿¿¿

I think that ends my rant. Im not sure how the female characters in Boruto are handled. Except maybe Sarada (she's pretty well executed in the manga imo). But arguably they are sooo much better handled in Boruto than how the old gen girls were. And thats because Kishi isnt anywhere near the new gen female cast. I cant formulate a solid opinion with the other new gen female cast since im not entirely invested in the anime. Not ashamed to admit that I only watch it for the sunshine moments and for Hinata :DD

[narutowoah]

my thoughts on sakuras funny fake lil confession even tho nobody asked😐

OK. obviously it was wrong for sakura to lie to naruto. it was selfish, it was naïve of her to believe that the promise was THAT important to naruto. it was her ignorance and just totally like MISSING how important sasuke is to naruto personally; she didnt get their relationship, she COULDNT!

HOWEVER, can u really REALLY blame her? sai literally took her aside and was like Hey you know you put so much pressure on naruto bc of that promise right? which made her feel so guilty she fr started CRYING bc she didnt want to hurt her best friend. and also naruto did tell her several times like “i havent forgotten our promise!! ^_^” so liek. of course she wld believe the promise held some weight.

additionally, she wasn’t going at it from a place of maliciousness. she wasnt rubbing her little kunoichi hands together going hehehe how can i make this about ME how can i HURT and MANIPULATE stupid naruto >:))) she was thinking “how can i ground him? how can i give him something to make him happy and take his mind off sasuke so he isn’t hurting himself over and over for someone who continues to distance himself and cause destruction?” she knew naruto had had feelings for her, and she was willing to set her own feelings for sasuke aside to try and give her friend something to make him happy, something to get him to come home safe.

additionally, i dont think all of what she said was a lie. this is just me bc i like narusaku, but i mean.. she said things that were true! “you have never left my side, you always cheer me up. you comfort me. i care for you from the bottom of my heart.” she was blushing, she hugged him and clearly was saying things that were true to her feelings for naruto. i do think sakura may have had some degree of feelings for naruto, and had she told him earlier like before Pain, or maybe later, privately in the village, i think naruto would have been psyched!!!

but it was the timing that was fucked up. the timing and circumstances. naruto wasnt an emotionally blind idiot. she was ripping on sasuke, and also naruto had that hero complex. he was already insecure abt the fact that like. Oh the villagers love me now that i saved them, even though i was worthless as a human being to them before. and now to hear sakura bring up how he was the hero, and she saw him grow into that, of course he’d be hurt and think she only valued him now. of course that isn’t true, and i’m sure naruto doesn’t think that sakura only started caring for him after pains attack but still, it must hurt.

Also sort of interesting that naruto was like “i hate people who lie to themselves” but im like Oh but ur totally content and calm and happy and forgiving to the village for treatingg you like shit ur entire life and not even giving an apology, let alone reparitions and only accepting u once u saved their asses? Ok king live your “truth”.

BUT IDK i really liked this moment bc it was one of the only times kishimoto gave one of his female character DEPTH. like SHADES. she made a decision to lie to her best friend in a heart breaking way. but it clearly made her feel sick with guilt. but if she didnt, she’d feel horribly guilty for the pain and pressure she believed she was holding him under. she wanted him to be happy, safe, worry about himself, be present and back home at the village, and if she truly believed she could do that by entering a romantic relationship with him, then by all means she will lie and hurt and manipulate and set aside her own feelings to try and do that for him, and his safety. it was a mistake, it was wrong, but it was well intentioned and made her seem so human. she was self centered: literally Centering Herself in the drama and depth of sasuke and narutos relationship that she DID NOT understand, while also being self sacrificing. that is something that i love about sakura is that, especially in lieu of the LACK of crazy powerups she gets, she feels like a human yk?

[okamirayne]

Hi Rayne! im curious.. what's your opinion with Neji's death? Do you think he found freedom or he ended up being a sacrifice like his father? Do you think his death held any significant change to the other character's development?

Hi there, Anon! Hope this reply finds you well. <3

[...] what's your opinion with Neji's death? 

...honestly? I kind of think Kishimoto was doing this at the time, Anon...

Do you think he found freedom or he ended up being a sacrifice like his father?

Arrgh....so, this is where I struggle. Because I’m trying to be objective and impartial without my fan-heart getting in the way.  While I still think it was a big case of ip dip and "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"...one CAN argue that Neji CHOSE his end in order to give up his life for something/one he cared about (similarly to his father) and it is in having the choice that enables him to secure freedom. Whereas, if he’d been ordered to die, then where’s the freedom in that?  Do I feel he found freedom...*silences rabid fangirl screaming side*...to a degree, yes, I suppose he did. I’d be very blinkered to ignore the fact that he made a choice in this tragic situation.  Do I believe he ended up being a sacrifice like his father? Yes, but again, to a degree. He made the choice to die, he was not ordered. In that, there IS freedom. I just don’t feel there was that much depth or thought put into it when it was written.  

I mean, my reaction after Naruto asks Neji why he’d sacrifice himself and Neji answers “Because you said I was a genius...” was....

Yes. I laughed. It just didn’t make sense to me other than to be inappropriately hilarious...I actually, honestly, for one-psychotic-breaking-fraction of a second, thought “dude, Neji’s developed a wicked deadpan sense of humour in his final hour”...but then I realised it was supposed to be serious and it all fell flat for me personally.

I feel that Neji’s arc could’ve been so much more interesting and powerful if he’d survived...but to be fair, he wasn’t really given much focus, so in that sense, having him die fit enough of his inherited backstory to make it a heartbreaker without having to account for any potential development he might’ve had, if he’d been explored more.

Did I enjoy Kishimoto’s sacrificial lamb as a Neji fan? No.

Do I try to look at it impartially as a storyteller? Yes.

Does that create huge cognitive dissonance in my rat-shit crazy brain? YES.

Did I think it did anything big for Neji’s development or to further the narrative? No. Not really. 

Do you think his death held any significant change to the other character's development?

Not that I can tell. That’s what sucks the most. You’d have thought it would’ve given Naruto extra incentive to do something about the Hyuuga clan (as he said he would as a kid). Did he? Who knows? Maybe Neji’s death led to Hiashi’s massive turnabout in character (from what I can gather from my limited knowledge of Boruto) but even that just feels...meh. Again -- who knows? Did it affect the Hyuuga clan? Did Naruto or Hinata ever feel guilty? Did Gai sensei or Neji’s team suffer long-term from the loss? Who. Bloody. Knows. 

It didn’t seem to impact massively IMHO. Am I being unfair by having high expectations for this dear side-line character? Oh yes. More than bloody likely, but that’s how fangirls roll, I guess. I’ll always want more for Neji. <3 

Thanks for the ASK, Anon! <3

[asotin]

yo, you wrote the fic "shopworn" right? bro it was so good!! i can't believe you gave naruto more character development in 7k words than 700+ chapters of manga ever did. i loved your characterizations for kakshi and iruka's relationship. everytime i read your fics where naruto and iruka have a father-son relationship i go absolutely buckwild. more dad!iruka 2020! can you believe that he took a shuriken to the spine for naruto and people still have the audacity to call jiraiya naruto's dad?? (1/2

(2/2) hi this is the same anon as before! anyway, your fic shopworn is literally the only fic i've seen that deals with naruto not wanting to be hokage in a way that i liked. tbh it never really made sense to on why naruto wanted to be hokage. i always got the feeling that he just wanted the village to acknowledge him, which they did by the end of the pain arc. and honestly i don't think he'd enjoy the responsibilities that come with being the hokage.

(3/2) srry bout flooding your inbox but i just have so many feelings about your fic. like i was saying in my previous ask, i think naruto should've just settled down and had a quiet life with hinata and their kids. he deserves that much at least yknow? and that line in shopworn "He really wasn't meant to be a ninja. He wasn't meant to be a soldier either.” wow!! iconic!! your mind is incredible!!! bc it's so true naruto really shouldn't of been a soldier or a ninja.

(4/2) (last one i promise) naruto was always way too caring to be a ninja. i guess he got that from iruka. wow the parallels. im fucking sobbing over this fic. jfc. (p.s im still mad about the way kishi developed naruhina's romance. neji died for what kishi?? im still mad about half (read: all) the choice kishi made in manga. if i have to sit through another expo about the uchiha clan i'm gonna fuckin riot. and what he did to the girls i'm so fuckin tired. n e way,,, i hope you have a nice day!)

Yep!!

Omg thank you so much 🥺 and you don't have to apologize!! I live for attention and Naruto, so I'm on cloud 9 rn

Iruka as Naruto's dad is my favorite thing canon didn't *quite* satisfy if only because Kishimoto forgot about Iruka for most of it and I'm so glad other people like it, too! Absolutely more Iruka 2020! Give my man the hot single dad who dotes on his beloved son status that he deserves (as does Naruto tbh)

I complain about this constantly, but Iruka is in a league of his own wrt parenting and loving Naruto. Maybe I've watched the scene too many times when I'm in need of a cry, but Iruka taking a shuriken to back just fucking... it kills me. What did J*raiya do? Uhhh nothing like what Iruka did!!

I totally agree about him just wanting acknowledgment and that he got that at the end of the Pain arc. The kid doesn't understand what being hokage means. He has the same concept of the job at 17 as he did at 12, and it's so damn sad. Just give this boy some affection (and like... milk that isn't expired). That's all he wants. And honestly, I really think he'd be stoked to do something like learn to cook ramen and work at Ichiraku or teach kids in a hands on way at the Academy

I would like to fight Kishimoto with my bare hands. Neji had no business dying, Naruto had no business suddenly being in love with Hinata when he's lying about Sakura being his gf (by which I mean both girls are being done wrong bc I have no stake in Naruto/anyone fights). How can Kishimoto say he's been planning the big get together and then do what he did? What was he planning??

The girls... the women... I'm so... Every single one of them was done so dirty...

Thank you SO much again omg these made my day! I love talking about Iruka and talking about Iruka and Naruto as father and son is the best thing ever. And I got to ramble about them!

I hope you have a good one, too!!

[mokutone]

kiba for the ask game?? 🤍

kiba!!!

the reason he looks the way he does in this art will b explained below the cut sdhghsdgh

favorite thing about them — DOG THEMED NINJA!!! i LOVE dogs and so as a concept, i am thrilled by the idea of a dog themed ninja from a dog themed ninja clan. very cool very awesome!

least favorite thing about them —that said, i have some criticisms about Kishimoto's depictions of them. Clearly, the inuzuka eyes (huge whites of the eyes with narrow, slit irises/pupils) are meant to make them look more animalistic/feral, BUT. THAT SAID. dogs usually have huge and dark eyes!

so much so that one of the main ways to recognize if a dog is anxious is to see if they're showing "whale eye" or; if the whites of their eyes are surprisingly visible. the fact that Kiba's eyes are almost ALL whites, therefore, is. super annoying to me on a character design level. I think he should have big dark eyes like Yamato, with limited whites. thanks for coming to my ted talk, I know I'm unhinged. it's fine. its fine.

favorite line —I like when Tsume is proudly saying "Yeah, they must've run off when they saw how strong I was," during the pain attack, and Kiba's saying, under his breath: "I mean, that's definitely what happened with Dad..." LIKE. LMFAO. help.

brOTP — akamaru!!!! akamaru is his best friend and his dog and theyre so cute. did you know in the naruto fighting game, clash of ninja, if u play kiba akamaru just kind of...follows you around? like he's not fighting, he doesn't defend you. he's just like boredly following u around. sometimes he sits, or lays down. sometimes he stretches. i'm dying boy please save me. akamaru you coward get in the fight with me!

OTP —i don't care too much about this kind of thing, no opinion!

nOTP —i don't care too much about this kind of thing, no opinion!

random headcanon —I think he was able to smell weird fox on Naruto from the beginning. Weird vibes from that kid. When he found out Hinata had a crush on him he was like "LMFAOO WHAT...HIM? you like HIM???? he smells like a fox den after a forest fire. get better taste, christ. "

unpopular opinion —ok im gonna be annoying again. I think it's great that he communicates with Akamaru, but I think Akamaru should either be speaking (like Pakkun) or Kiba should be getting information from Akamaru that could reasonably be communicated thru dog body language??? but instead we've got a fucking. lassie situation. where Akamaru goes like "woof woof" and Kiba is like "youre so right, boy. despite there being no ethical consumption under capitalism we DO need those calories because tomorrow IS leg day and you've got four whole legs :/"

song i associate with them —Everything Reminds Me of My Dog by Jane Siberry

Smiling at strangers reminds me of my dog (Better let them know you're friendly) The way people dress reminds me too Pissing on their favorite tree Sad things remind me of my dog Cockroaches and other insects Reminds me too, don't eat them The blank expression of the little boy with thick glasses Who picks himself up from the sidewalk And stands there blinking in the sun Ho oh! If you remind me of my dog We'll probably git along— —little doggie Git along git along little doggie git a–

favorite picture of them

i love this one. i was recently watching the pain attack and kiba and his mother both entered a room at once, and he was riding on akamaru like a cowboy (LIKE THIS PICTURE) and his mother, tsume, fucking.

scuttled in on all fours. help???? i'm obsessed with her. i want to swear fealty to her. why did she scuttle in on all fours??? i love her so much. i think she should be hokage.

[bengalisasuke]

Hinata for the character thing!

ooooh man. here comes izzy’s inner misogynist about to jump out. 

How I feel about this character:

for the sake of this question, we’re going to go ahead and split hinata into three distinct characters because my feelings on her are so complicated i feel like i might be here for a while if we have to talk about her as one complete being but here we go. 

part 1 hinata was EASILY my fav i mean like who couldn’t relate to her shy girls #represent and her refusal to give up in the face of her clearly more talented cousin was inspiring! she was strong and brave and i loved that and the fact that she was one of the first characters to like...find strength in naruto’s words? iconic i really loved that little girl sm 

part 2...i dunno i dont think she was that relevant i liked the pain fight and how she stood up but ahwiujnsdlkwe if you want me to be honest? i...i didn’t like it that much because i remember my stomach literally dropping when i was watching it because i used to be a naruhina shipper but like. not like this! not like this! god not to sound like a hypocrite but we all say that naruto’s devotion to sasuke is unhealthy but also like...in an extent its kind of worse with hinata because from a narrative point of view she exists as nothing but naruto’s like. for his constant affirmation and adoration and love and love and she loses any semblance of personality after that she’s still the same blushing girl in shippuden despite her not having seen naruto for two and a half years and it was just...painful to see a young girl (who could have had the potential to still be strong!!!) be reduced to like. a blushing fainting and stammering mess when naruto so much as looked at her outside of combat situations ITS JUST. AGONIZING. like i dont care that she had a crush on naruto but to make it her ONLY defining trait when shes around the motherfucker gets on my nerves and i want to grab kishimoto by the balls and tell him that GIRLS ARENT LIKE THAT YOU STUPID BASTARD

the last and boruto and blank period: i hate i hate i haaaate what they did to her i hate the fucking titty belt i hate that she became a housewife i hate that whatever she had going for her was gone forever and ever i cant even be happy for her because she doesn’t have anything going for her like SHE GOT PREGNANT AT 20? 19? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? 

All the people I ship romantically with this character

sakura....but honestly kibahina should have been endgame i know that kiba had a crush on hinata i KNOW HE DID AND HE WAS SO NICE TO HER AND EVERYTHING and like...naruto...sorry man but naruto is just so ignorant of her i cant help but think she definitely deserves better like hinata is always so conscious of naruto’s needs but rarely the other way around i wanna like. DIE i hate that she’s become the perfect waifu so people can self-insert w naruto like. kibahina rights NOW

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

naruhina i feel they’d be good friends tbh AND sakuhina...scream naruto and sakura egging hinata on to ask kiba out would be so cute 

My unpopular opinion about this character:

i think she can be very cruel sometimes like...to neji? like everything she said to him? screams. i wish we got to see more of that side of her instead of the rest of the series just softening her and like already warping her into this absolute caricature of a woman like. shoutout to girls who reclaim her but i absolutely cannot do it im sorry couldn’t be me 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

literally end the fucking branch system like what’s going on what’s happening can we please get some common scents can we please get some plot development please she’s the love interest of the main guy youre gonna tell me she’s going to sit around and knit scarves and NOT DO ANYTHING? HELLO?